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).

Going dark for a Week

Hey folks, I need to take a week off of posting.  You may recall back in April, I spent a few weeks in Africa as the first part of an international adoption for an orphaned youngster.  Part 2 is here!  My wife and eldest son just returned from Ethiopia with our new son, so I'll have my hands full this week while we figure out the new work-family-writing balance.  Don't worry, there will be plenty of work on the Black City and regaling tales of Gothic Greyhawk in the near future.  Wish me luck, and see you all online again shortly.

Get your reality out of my fantasy

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

Which way do you go as far as using social conventions in your game world?  Humans are not nice to each other.  Reading history is more shocking than any horror movie could be.  Forget about the large scale horrors of genocide and colonialism and war - even more mundane elements of past societies - the degree of racism, slavery, sexism, casual attitudes towards infanticide or child abuse - are revolting to the modern person.  (I hope they're revolting to the rest of you, too).

So the question is, how much do you aim for historical verisimilitude in representing your fantasy world?  I suppose I can see a number of common positions.  One is to put all the historical elements in place, and turn the past into a foreign country - the players need to learn the social conventions - "Slavery is okay here!" - in addition to adventuring.  Sword and Planet stories, right here on Earth!

Another approach would be to use anachronistic, modern social conventions - women and children aren't just property, for instance.  Modern players then don't need to grapple with social problems and can focus on adventuring.

Finally, in a fantasy world with an alternate power structure than 'might makes right', there doesn't seem to be any problems ignoring real world social conventions.  There are many leading female characters in fantasy worlds that don't have to deal with glass ceilings and double standards.  Magic is a great equalizer.

I see myself working more in the quasi-historical space going forward (not the Black City, mind you, that's 100% fantastic) so it's an interesting question to me.

The Black City - more surface areas - E, G, and H

A continuation of the series describing special surface areas in the Black City.  As has been the case lately, I'm posting mainly descriptive stuff and saving stats and encounter details for the upcoming pdf.

E The Misty Hollow
There are a handful of prominent holes in this part of the city, deep shafts that extend down to the steaming caverns of the level 2 Warrens of Decay.   The caverns are heated with geothermal water, and excess moisture and warmth is vented up through the shafts that empty here.  The rocky ground surrounding each shaft is consistently slick and icy, and misty water vapor clogs the air.  The letter E hex and surrounding areas are perpetually foggy.

If any character is unfortunate enough to slip near one of the open shafts, there's a chance they'll slide into one of the deep air vents and drop 80' down a slide before emerging from the ceiling of the Great Warren, another 60-80' above the cavern floor.

The Misty Hollow surface area is particularly dangerous to explorers due to traps, the aforementioned ice, and the predation of a deranged killer, "Bonecracker".  Collapsed buildings have formed a deep cave, and the murderous Northman, Bonecracker, lairs there, sucking the marrow from the bones of victims dragged back to the cave.  While Bonecracker used to be from Trade Town, he has mutated beyond recognition due to roid worm infection (see the article on Black City berserkers for the details).  Bonecracker is a Stage 3 berserker - he stands over 8' tall and has stats similar to an ogre in combat.

The hexes surrounding the Misty Hollow are riddled with various man-killing traps, set by Bonecracker with wicked cunning.  Spiked armatures whip out of the mist without warning after a tripwire is triggered, impaling the unwary; booms sweep across a trail at knee height, hobbling trespassers; always there are the simple pitfalls, designed to detain a group long enough for the lord hunter of the area to arrive and claim his victims.

Despite his size, Bonecracker moves quietly and knows the terrain of the Misty Hollow intimately.  The infection has heightened his senses such that he can hurl giant-sized spears out of the mist with minimal blindness penalties.  Fear and terror are his allies.

G The Great Ramp
This colossal hole in the ground leads to a 40' ramp that descends into the darkness  at an incline, making a right turn every 120' or so in a great spiral.  The top area of the ramp is clear of ice and snow, but once the group gets beyond the first bend, the ramp is coated with ice and requires appropriate climbing gear to continue the descent.  The ice clears after a few more bends in the spiral.

The ramp circles downward until it connects to level 4, the Halls of Machinery.  The ramp is essentially a service entrance to allow oversized automatons in and out of the lower levels without using any of the vertical shafts / elevators in the Transit Tunnels that were reserved for lighter duty traffic and inhabitants.

Near the bottom of the spiral, the party will approach an opaque, shimmering wall of light (treat as a Wall of Force).  They will be unable to proceed further unless a member is carrying a green passkey gemstone.  Bringing such a gemstone within 5' of the wall of force will cause it to disappear, reappearing once the gemstone holder passes more than 5' away.

Tidewater glacier in Spitsbergen (inspirational)

H The Great Glacier
The great glacier is a river of ice, issuing from the nearby mountains, that splits the city.  Over tens of thousands of years, the ice has gouged a moraine through the center of the city, reducing everything in its path to rubble as it pushes onward to the fjord.  60% of the island of Thule is covered by glaciers, and its common for smaller ones like this to find their way to sea.

Crossing the glacier requires climbing ice that crests over 50' in the air and covers nearly half a mile across in places.  It's common for there to be variations in the ice flow that create crevasses and other climbing hazards.  Unless a group scouts ahead properly, there's a 1 in 6 chance the path they've chosen for ascent causes them to retrace their steps due to an impasse such as a large crevasse.

Unencumbered characters will have a 3 in 6 chance to climb the glacier without incident (roll per hex).  The group can improve their chances with climbing gear (spikes and hammers and axes), +2 per person.  Proper rope use won't reduce the risk of a fall but will negate much of the damage.  50' of rope is sufficient to rope two characters together.  Having a trained mountaineer, or specialist/thief, scout a proper course will also increase the chance per person by +1.  Encumbered characters take penalties to the climb roll, -1 per encumbrance level above unencumbered (-1 for light, -2 for heavy.  Severely encumbered characters can't climb).

Climbing the ice is extremely slow, and will take an unencumbered group an hour per hex to cross.

DM's note:  the glacier serves to separate the northern and southern halves of the city; the northern half is quite a bit more dangerous.  Enterprising groups might consider taking longboats or even long ships up the fjord to bypass the glacier, but it's crucial to avoid calving ice in the misty waters of the fjord; icebergs are common near the ruins of the city.

Glacial predators often follow the ice out of the mountains, and the glacier provides the chance to introduce unusual ice monsters (like whatever will be the Black City equivalent of Rhemorhaz or similar ice worm).  The glacier has its own wandering monster table, but it's likely I'll add something more bizarre when we start the playtest.  I may need to adjust the scale/size of the city as well, depending on how quickly players traverse it.