Beedo's Hierarchy of Campaign Needs

With apologies to Maszlow

Some things over the weekend got me thinking about where D&D and the OSR thing is going.  Folks have noticed that rules guys are moving beyond retro clones to keep the old games in print; designers are publishing new formulations that aim to smooth over some of the rough spots, incarnate common house rules into the base rules, or otherwise reflect the writer's take on the genre.  More rules are fine, but I'd also like to see the creation of more tools to help the DM run a better game.

The hierarchy chart is how I want my campaigns to go - start with a rules set I like and some monsters I like.  Present compelling adventures.  The setting isn't that important if the first two needs aren't met, but once you've got the basics out of the way - yeah, it's good to have a nice setting with some history and depth.  Then the goal is to see a campaign live long enough to reach name level.  The 1970's rules have some support for castle building and attracting followers, but it's limited - it's hard to go further and reach that pinnacle of the pyramid without making up a whole lot of stuff.

I used to love Mentzer's BECMI because it was an all-in-one system that included army building, mass combat, naval warfare, sieges, and economics, but then I realized my campaigns don't last more than a year or two on average, and no one was getting to level 36.  And the economics are a bit off.

Domain level play is an end goal each time out - I've talked here about converting all the Greyhawk armies to War Machine and statting out some of the nations with the dominion economic rules (I only got as far as Sterich for the current campaign).  The ghoul war has been played out using War Machine - so even in Gothic Greyhawk, I have that end-game in sight.

Isn't that how we should view a campaign - start by making sure the basic adventuring needs are met and the game runs well and folks are having fun, then focus on the long range goals - building out the setting and providing a framework for the players to seize ruler ship?  After all, Kings are for Killing.

As I look out onto the OSR publishing landscape, it seem like folks are starting to move up the pyramid with their projects.

Taking a look at my book shelf, here are the products I see on it that light up the pyramid for me - you've got 2nd generation rules items, like the LOTFP game or supplements like Realms of Crawling Chaos.  For adventures, my reviews page has a number of things in the 4-5 star range that have broken new ground and demonstrated some OSR muscle.

How about campaign support products?  I'm seeing lots of cool hex crawl books.  I liked the random ruin hex generation in Lesserton and Mor, and the urban crawl rules in Vornheim.  I seem to remember the Dungeon Alphabet just got an award, too.  I still keep Kellri's huge compilation of random encounter tables and NPCs handy.  So there have been some tools that support campaign play.  I'm not recalling any new settings that lit the world on fire, though.

I don't know that any other recently published rules have taken on the economics of D&D, yet, which is the lynchpin to getting army building (and ultimately mass combat) to work as a game element and not a story element.  Economics seems like a rabbit hole.  Every once in a while I check in on the Tao guy's place and see that he's still building spreadsheets that calculate the price of imported walrus tusks from Greenland to Central Asia in the 17th century, down to the penny, and I despair.  Oh that way madness lies, says good King Lear.  Or at least, if I tried to run my campaign with that level of detail, I'd lose my job and be divorced for neglect.  Perfectionism or OCD, right there.

What are you guys seeing as far as new projects out there that are developing campaign supplements and tools?  I'll be following the progress of the Domain Game effort over at Hill Cantons and the ACKS game over on the Autarch blog (Adventurer Conqueror King).  There's a trade off between minimal bookkeeping and abstraction, and realism.  If you go for minimal bookkeeping and abstraction, you get War Machine and the Companion set economics approach.  Or you could have oodles of spreadsheets calculating free market commodoties from the 17th century.  Not an easy balance to maintain without making the game Papers and Paychecks.

Seems like a good time for a poll.  How far up  the hierarchy of needs do you focus your campaigns?

ACK! Adventurer Conqueror King (System)

ACK - it was inevitable...

ACK - Adventure Conqueror King System, another wordy sounding "I'm not a retro clone" game has shown up on the radar, with a name almost as unfortunate as Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying - which I tend to just abbreviate as LOTFP these days, and refer to it as Lamentations with the group - as in, "When we're done with this campaign, the next one will be back to using Lamentations rules".  So now I can foresee a future where we're referring to the ACK rules like so; "We're still using Lamentations for classes, but I love the ACK system for economics and dominions".  Maybe saying it A-C-K (Ay-See-Kay) will work.  (Hopefully it's as good as LOTFP too).

After seeing a note on Mule Abides, I started following the new blog for it here (
http://www.autarch.co/blog/ ).  It's been super interesting reading so far and I highly recommend checking it out; as a world builder I love systems that address background demographics and economics, and so far the designer has focused on tackling those issues right up front.  The post on "The demographics of heroism" is excellent.

It's funny, a few weeks ago I remarked how this is such an amazing time in the RPG hobby for D&D players - the suits have left the building, and in the post-OGL world we can build the games we want and redress the omissions perpetrated by the corporate machinery.  James can put his frisky Medusa art in LOTFP, and build a better thief and a better magic-user spell list and beat the tar out of the cleric with the nerf bat, and Goodman can wallpaper Rolemaster-style critical and spell effect tables all over the place, and now these ACK guys can put together a rules set that fulfills D&D's early promise about castle building and army building and ruling your own kingdom and having it all make sense.

Anyway - it's way too early to say whether we'd play ACKS or just borrow from it, and it's even unclear if they'll get off the ground (unlike a lot of hobbyists, they're going with a kickstarter event up front to raise money).  But I'm willing to check out any rules-set that marries old school D&D classes, sandbox gaming support, beaucoup random tables, and dominion economics (done right).  After playing LOTFP, the old school percentile-based thief is a drag, and so is old style encumbrance - I want to port that stuff into every D&D game I play.  I foresee people's home games becoming more and more like "Frankensteins", as designers create incremental improvements to old school D&D - we'll pick and choose the best rules bits and subsystems for home use, not married to any one rules set.

Good luck ACKS guys, it looks promising so far.

PS:  I didn't realize the Hill Cantons domain game was going to be a print product too - looks like there will be two supplements in the near future that support name level dominion play!

Gothic Greyhawk Game 32 - Ravenloft!

Cast of Characters:
Mordecai, a Cleric-5: Adam
Forlorn, an Elf-4: Bo
Mister Moore, Magic User-5: Mike
Soap the Wizard, Magic User-4:  Nogal
Barzai, a Cleric-4:  Ben
Shy, a Fighter-4:  JR
Arden, an Elf-1:  Z

Henchmen:
Phat Kobra, a Dwarf-4
Zeke, a Fighter-4
Starkweather, a Thief-4
Grumble the Smug, Halfling-4
Serge, a Fighter-4

=========================================
AD&D 1E, I6 Ravenloft
=========================================

Our second episode of Ravenloft in Gothic Greyhawk began with the burning of the mayor.  His corpse was reanimated by the vampire during the previous evening's attack, and all agreed it was best just to burn bodies from here on out.  A pyre was built out behind the mayor's mansion.

The mayor's daughter, Ireena, attached herself to the group, which they didn't mind, seeing as she was, you know, quite beautiful - in an 80's feathered bangs kind of way.  Except that she claimed to have been bitten by the vampire.  Mister Moore began to wonder if there could be a Mrs Moore in his future and decided to take the comfort of Ireena as his secondary mission in life.  Primary was staying alive, which involved not getting so close to Ireena that she could bite him, if she were a vampire-in-training.  A dilemma.

They were off to see the gypsies outside of town - Madame Eva would know what to do with Ismark's magic sword and how it would help defeat Strahd.  Compared to the dreary, deserted town, the camp was vibrant - a half dozen covered wagons, at least 20 men tending camp and a few standing guard.  Madame Eva's wagon was the archetypical fortune teller's domicile - dark interior, velvet curtains, candles and a card table.  Not big enough for 12 people to enter, so 5 of the main characters got the reading.

This is one of the nifty things in the old I6 Ravenloft module - a number of the important elements to the adventure are randomized through the card reading.  I had a prepared deck and ran it straight up, but I can't really repeat the results here - one or two of the guys read the blog, and if they don't have good notes already, too bad.  But they learned that the sword had a missing piece (some place in the castle) and that the strongest weapon against the vampire, a holy artifact, was likely in his crypt.  I think the rest went over their heads or was promptly forgotten.  "Clues, blah blah blah!  Let's get to the killing."

Some gypsies had reported that Strahd's carriages had descended from the castle earlier that morning and were waiting  by the bridge up the trail - it was the master's classic invitation to visitors.  Willing to follow the script, the characters hopped in to the two horse drawn carriages and were taken on a hair-raising ride along twisting mountain paths, before crossing a drawbridge over a deep chasm, and finally ending in the courtyard of Castle Ravenloft.  The main doors of the keep were open, warm light spilled out from within, and the sound of baroque organ music.  (I had Bach's Toccata and Fugue playing in the background).

They followed the music and line of lit torches through some entry chambers and down a hall to a room with a sumptuous feast.  Across the room, a caped figure pounded the organ keys before bringing the piece to a suitable close, standing, and addressing the party.  "Velkome to my castle", spoken in a ridiculous vampire accent (more German than Romanian).  "You have something that I vant.  I vill see you this evening, and ask you for it, and you vill give it to me, or you vill die.  Until then, gut eating, and auf wiedersehen…"

The figure disappeared in a puff of smoke, and all the lights went out.  A wind roared through the castle, doors slammed, and a piercing scream echoed.  It was on.

The action started with a Scooby Doo moment.  Stuck in the dark, the characters debated the best way to start a light - rummage for flint and steel and light a torch, or just cast a light spell?  There was the sound of shuffling feet and a putrid smell overpowered the aroma of the feast - and what was that new noise?  Teeth chattering and champing?  (In Scooby Doo terms, the 12 pairs of eyeballs in the dark - the party - was joined by like a dozen more pairs of bloodshot glassy eyes all around them.  Everybody blinked.)

Mordecai cast a light spell and the group was face to face with a dozen twitching zombie villagers.  Fun!  "C'mon, this is easy, we totally got this one," said the fighters, and they waded into combat, forming a loose front line while the clerics 'turned'.  That's odd, remarked the clerics - we can usually turn zombies.  Mordecai banged his holy symbol on the side, is this thing on?  Batteries dead?  It got stranger when the hacked off limbs of the zombies kept moving, wriggling on the ground and grabbing ankles and legs in an iron grip.  "Definitely not regular zombies".

That's right, bitches, welcome to Ravenloft!  Where even the zombies are 4th and 5th level monsters… and they just keep coming.  Muhahahaha hahahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahaha hahahahaha hahahahaha hahahaha.

Maybe I didn't laugh that much - they beat down the souped-up zombies fairly quickly, and then scouted the nearby areas - including finding a secret door behind the pipe organ, and a floating vampire mannequin that was also totally ripped off from a Scooby Doo episode.

Our second night ended with some basic exploration, and a discussion about what Fred and Daphne would *really* be doing when the Scooby crew split up to explore a haunted house.  (If the Mystery Machine is a rockin', don't come a knockin').  That inspired Moore to chime in, "If we split up to explore, I'm with Ireena".

See you next time.

Beedo At Gencon

Wowzers, the summer is flying by, and here we are less than a month away from Gencon.

I've been to Comicon, Dragoncon, and numerous Colorado cons as a cards or minis gamer, but this will be my first year heading out to Gencon and doing a lot of role playing.  On the DMing front, I'm running a pair of Swords & Wizardry games - The Spire of Iron and Crystal, and an OSRIC 1E adventure - The Obsidian Sands of Syncrates, as well as something for Tower of Gygax (looks like I have a Saturday morning slot).  Running 3 games in 3 days shouldn't be too bad (and Tower of Gygax is only a 2 hour slot). If any readers are in those games (doubtful, but you never know!) be sure to drop a line - would love to put a face with the online avatar.

I plan on spending some time visiting the OSR booth (duh, of course!), Chaosium, Miskatonic River Press, Pelgrane Press, Mongoose, Fantasy Flight Games, and Wizkids - wait a second - it doesn't even look like Chaosium or Miskatonic will be at Gencon.  What the flip - !  Hopefully just missed them in the vendor list.  I'm hoping to get a couple of OSR products in print (I'm looking at you, Anomalous Subsurface Environment).  I want to try the (non-collectible) Fantasy Flight Cthulhu card game.  Over at Pelgrane's booth, I'm looking at either Ashen Stars (their space opera game) or maybe getting the Bookhounds supplement for Trail of Cthulhu.  Do people like reading about other RPGs than D&D?  Just curious, I'm finding there's way more than enough to write about on Dreams in the Lich House just sticking with D&D, so I haven't put up any reviews or notes on Chaosium or Pelgrane games.  Then again, this blog is only 6+ months old.

I need to spend some time ahead of Gencon doing some compare/contrast on a few sci fi games I'm interested in checking out - Mongoose Traveller versus Stars Without Number vs Ashen Stars (the Pelgrane game) - old school sci-fi exploration versus a new school narrative systems  Does anyone have thoughts on the comparison between Mongoose Traveller and Stars without Number?

Similarly, I could see myself picking up a Supers game out there - maybe Icons or Bash.  Once again, time to check out some reviews - opinions welcome.

I'll be prowling the dealer hall, looking for those funny Yahtzee Zocchi dice, some game science dice, and a D30 so I can be one of the kewl old schoolers.  As if that won't keep me busy enough, I'm hoping to have some time to hang in the Heroclix area and push around little plastic superheroes in a few sealed events and drafts.  One of my buddies driving out too will be playing some M:TG, so I could see doing a sealed M:TG event for kicks, as well.

Any readers or fellow bloggers in this neck of the blogging woods going out to Gencon?

Making a good megadungeon

Simon over at And the Sky Full of Dust was asking what makes a good megadungeon.  There are some stock answers around making a good dungeon (any dungeon), but to make a dungeon work as the focal point of an entire campaign, it needs a bit more to have longevity and stay interesting.   What follows are the ideas I hope to implement as the Black City project moves from the ruined city down into the actual dungeons; they're the synthesis of ideas seen on various megadungeon threads (especially over at Dragonsfoot) and lessons from running Stonehell last year.

Regarding the physical structure, it should be large - essentially too big to finish exploration or completely map (or with levels so large that the party chooses to go deeper before completing a level).  There are a couple of approaches I've seen.  One is to have extremely large graphed levels - like what you see with Stonehell's quadrants or the sprawling levels of the Castle of the Mad Archmage.  Another approach is to go with modularity - the ability to add in or remove levels and sublevels - something like Yaqqothl Grimoire's dungeon notebook built of one-page dungeons.  Regardless of approach, nature abhors a vacuum - so when players clear out an area and move on, the cleared areas will begin to repopulate.  The megadungeon DM needs to restock the dungeon (and the megadungeon design and back story should support restocking options).

In addition to large horizontal levels, the megadungeon should be vertical.  The levels below the first get progressively more dangerous.  Challenges should operate in multiple dimensions - some difficult encounters and combat challenges, situations that require problem solving, stealth, role playing and puzzles.  The size of the dungeon, along with tricks like slide and traps, should challenge the player's resource management.  There should be chokepoints that force the players to encounter certain areas or travel certain paths, and hidden levels and sub-levels off the main path that provide a sense of discovery.  There should be highways in and out of the dungeon to expedite future exploration and minimize future grind.

The levels should be designed to have some set pieces, named locations, or other quest-objects that are worthy of identifying as missions or destinations.  Treasure maps have a role here in providing quests, destinations, or ingress into hidden areas.  And some of the things found in the dungeon should lead to side quests in the wider world!  A related idea to set pieces is to have themes within the levels so that the different levels feel distinct from each other - the fungus level, the volcanic dungeon level, the haunted level.

The DM probably has some ideas already on stocking based on their themes.  I like to use the Moldvay stocking charts for percentages of encounters to empty space.  I like to see a 25-33% encounter density to provide a lot of room for exploration and travel.  One thing not to overlook is the use of named NPCs and factions within the dungeon.  These types of encounters allow some role playing, strategy, alliances or enemies, safe havens, and the gathering of information.  I also like to have multiple adventuring groups in the dungeon for all of the same reasons - including the development of rivalries with the players.

There is an end-goal for all of these elements, and this is where writing the megadungeon crosses over into running it and playing it.  The megadungeon needs to support informed player decisions.

Think about a few classic tropes - gold as XP, or dungeon level = danger level (and character level).  Both of these tropes provide a basis for the players to make decisions about the type of risk they want to undertake when planning delves into the mega dungeon.  But there needs to be  a lot more information - the players need to be able to learn about set piece destinations or named locations in the dungeon and plan missions.  They need to be able to learn rumors, or overhear other groups in the tavern back at town talking about their own expeditions.  One of the biggest reasons to include NPCs, factions, and rival adventuring groups, is to create a flow of information about the dungeon, so the group can make better decisions.

For the megadungeon to act as the main setting for the entire campaign, it's paramount that the players want to return again and again.  It needs to strike a balance between maintaining interest through mystery and the unknown, on the one side, and providing enough information for the players to plan and make good decisions about upcoming treks into the dungeon.

Finally, I like to have patrons back in town that know a thing or two about the dungeon and might hire the characters or otherwise share information - another source for missions or quests.  The ideal is to allow the players to gather information using their own faculties, and plan their own missions, but be prepared to introduce a few external plot hooks if the players draw blanks - especially with players new to sandbox play.

If I were to boil it down to a list of bullets, here's what *I'd* have:

• Many large levels
• Highways in and out
• Themed levels and sub levels
• Set piece locations
• Multi dimensional challenges
• Mostly empty - 33% encounter density
• Plan to restock!
• Gold as XP
• Deeper levels = greater danger
• Resource management
• Factions and NPCs
• Information flow - patrons, rumors, treasure maps

Mythic Monday: The Demon Azazel

And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals [of the earth] and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways.
-The Book of Enoch

Back to mythic Monday (er, Tuesday), and my study of traditional demons from a few weeks ago.  (Brief recap of the previous article - standard D&D demons as big stupid meat bags of hit points = boring; demons as foul immortal spirits that plague the world, possess people, and require dramatic showdowns with exorcists to defeat =  interesting).

A disclaimer is warranted: I'm basically just going out to the folklore and looking at how a mythic element has been used by past cultures and the popular culture, and only tangentially interested in historical criticism.  One finds that many demons were gods in pre-Christian cultures (like Beelzebub) and only get transmogrified into fallen angels or demons by later people; Azazel has similarly murky origins from the perspective of history and criticism.  Was it a mythic being or just  a place of sacrifice in the desert?  So instead of focusing on historicity, I'm going to weave together some of the folkloric elements to make a good story for gaming.

Azazel's History
From the apocryphal Book of Enoch, quoted above, we learn that Azazel was an angel sent to observe the earth, a Watcher.  He/it abandoned his original mission to teach men how to make metal weapons, and women how to use make-up (the arts of deception and vanity).   One of the sources says he "also revealed to the people the secrets of witchcraft and corrupted their manners, leading them into wickedness and impurity…"

Now we're getting somewhere… teaching people about make-up and guns seems a bit prosaic - I mean, anyone can get that stuff over at the Walmart.  How evil can it be?  Then again, my liberal wife tells me Walmart *is*the source of all evil - perhaps there is a connection?  But I digress.

The archangel Raphael shows up, kicks Azazel around the block, and the demon is chained to "rough and ragged rocks, to await judgment day".

Azazel shows up next in the Bible, in the book of Leviticus, in relation to the scapegoat ceremony.  Related to the Day of Atonement, the ceremony involves folks confessing all their sins and wrongdoings for the year:

And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel… and the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
-Leviticus 16:8-10

The priest performs a ritual, placing all the confessed evil onto the goat, and the goat is driven into the wilderness, to Azazel.  Pretty dark stuff - very primal.  The more gruesome descriptions of the ritual describe the goat being taken to a high precipice, pushed off and dashed to the rocks below.  There's irony in the juxtaposition of the staining blood being the agent of cleansing.

Those dashing rocks where the annual goats are slaughtered seems awfully similar to the rough and ragged rocks where the demon was first imprisoned by the angel Raphael.

Azazel

Is it any wonder the demon is associated with the goat symbol, or the upside down pentagram (supposedly a goat head, right?)?  The place of sacrifice seems like the spiritual equivalent of a modern landfill - the place to take all the trash and refuse in the world - including demons and all the wrongs done by mankind.  I kind of like the landfill approach - it'd be nifty if I could pack all my bad habits onto a goat and just send it out into the wilderness and be done with them.  I feel better already just visualizing it.  Or maybe those ancient cabbalists in the desert were feeding corruption and wickedness to the demon to keep it quiescent.

The ritual of appeasing or dumping on the imprisoned demon went from practice to story, from story to legend and eventually into myth, until the empire builders of a different age wiped out the indigenous cultures and colonized the area with their legions of foreign soldiers.  It was only a matter of time before the demon was able to slip back into a human host and be freedom to plague the mortal world again.

Using Azazel in a fantasy game
My approach to demons is rooted in the tradition of supernatural horror - regardless of how mundane the world might appear, there's another level where cosmic or universal forces of good and evil are engaged in a conflict beyond mortal comprehension.  Why hasn't good won?  Are the sides too evenly matched?  Has "good" withdrawn from the battlefield, such that the work of angels, demigods and gods is now carried out by humans?  Or is evil given free reign due to man's inherent free will?

Keep it ambiguous.  The epic forces of the divine that once strode the world have withdrawn - the gods are distant, and if they act at all, it's through proxies and indirect support (in game terms - clerics, paladins, saving throws, magical artifacts, spells, etc).  But it's up to mortals to fight their own battles.  Keep the attention focused at the character level, and only use angels and demigods as plot devices and deus ex machina 'heavy artillery'. Evil, on the other hand, has free reign to wreak havoc.

Trapped in the mortal realm and weakened by banishment and imprisonment, Azazel skulks from host to host and plots revenge against the divine forces that exiled him in the physical realm.  The demon's primary entertainment is torturing and corrupting clerics, paladins, and other combatants on the spiritual battlefield.  When it picks a target, it uses a variety of hosts to commit gruesome murders of the target's friends and family, slowly getting closer to the target itself.  The ideal end to a particular revenge crusade is to possess the target and commit a highly public murder, fleeing the scene in another host and leaving behind the unfortunate victim to face the executioner's axe.

In an AD&D type game, it's much harder to possess a paladin because of the ever-present Protection from Evil effect.  In these situations, the demon hopes to drive the victim into despair and committing an act that causes the loss of powers, creating a window for possession.  Azazel can likewise take the corrupter route, inhabiting the attractive bodies of members of the opposite sex in order to lure the target into compromising situations.

In all cases, Azazel favors arming it's host with the finest knives and blades available.  One avenue for tracking the fiend would be the various blacksmiths or armorers in the city might recall unrelated visitors all asking for the same unusual style of foreign blade, made from imported metal (perhaps a kris made of Damascus steel).  The demon will go to great lengths for successive hosts to retrieve these artifacts when lost by previous hosts.

Unlike most demons, Azazel is not a ravening beast that possesses a host and wreaks immediate havoc in a flashy demonic rage with obvious signs of possession; it has become a subtle, patient killer that methodically destroys its prey, one friend at a time.

The Demon Azazel  (flavored for Labyrinth Lord)
No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: as human host
Armor Class:  as human host, +1 to AC
Hit Dice:  as human host, +1 per hit die
Attacks: by weapon, +3 to hit
Damage: by weapon +3
Save: C10
Morale: 11
Hoard Class:  nil
XP: 3000

Abilities:
Clerical Spells
Azazel will be able to use cleric spells equal to a 8th level cleric.  It will feature spells that help it identify it's victim and avoid detection - here's a sample list:

1 Detect Good, Darkness, Protection from Good, Fear
2 Know Alignment, Hold Person, Silence 15'
3 Curse, Dispel Magic, Feign Death
4  Divination, Detect Lie (reversed)

Possession
When the demon is not in a host, it can perform an attack similar to Magic Jar attack once per round versus one target within a 120' range.  Unlike magic jar, the demon doesn't displace the possessor's soul; it dominates the victim and can override the victim's actions at will.

Immaterial
Demons are immaterial spirits, unable to move unless possessing a host.  When not possessing a victim, the demon is rooted to a locale or physical object.  Such an object or locale would radiate powerful evil if a Detect Evil spell is used.

Vulnerabilities
Demons can be turned; an immaterial demon can't flee, but would be suppressed for the duration of the effect.  A possessed victim will flee a cleric that turns it.  A demon takes a penalty to saving throws (-4) versus a cleric that know it's true name.  The spells Dispel Evil and Abjuration (new level 4 spell) are effective at freeing a victim of demonic possession.  When one of the spells is used in conjunction with the demon's true name, the caster can indicate a vessel for the demon when it is driven out of the previous host.

One Week Later, Family of Five

Growing the player base, one kid at a time

I'm back to Dreams in the Lich House after a week break.  I've got a few posts ready to go this week, and life should settle down enough to allow for some writing - although writing time is being split between the blog and adapting blog posts for the Black City manuscript.

Future Gamer!

Here's a pic of the new kiddo, from yesterday.  My wife and the other two kids were at a wedding, giving me the chance to hang out with the new kiddo.  You might think that integrating a hyper 5 year old from Ethiopia, who doesn't speak a lick of English, and has never been in a home with closets, drawers, desks, bookshelves, toys, and electronics, would be really hard... and you'd be completely right.  He's also a good climber.

So that's what I've been up to.

Looking ahead this week, Mythic Monday returns to look at a famous demon; I've got a bit for Simon on "What makes a good megadungeon"; more field reports from Gothic Greyhawk; and the ongoing development of the Black City.  Ciao!  (That's how they say 'bye over in Ethiopia).