No Longer Mostly Dead

It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.

Since sometime in May, I had to go on hiatus from the OSR gaming scene due to health issues. This also included, regretfully, my blog.

I am no longer mostly dead and am mostly alive. While I still have some obstacles to overcome, I feel a bit better and am able to rejoin my friends on GooglePlus and other places on the Net (as well as in r/l) for gaming and game talk once again :)

Today was the first day I hit G+ in earnest since May. I was pleased to chat with a few of the peeps after listening in to Michael Moscrip's Castle Nicodemus session. As Brother Damien, whom I used to run in Nicodemus, is retired as an NPC in my own setting, I need to create another character to run. I will also use the same character for Evan Elkins' Nightwick Abbey.

Brother Damien was built for FLAILSNAILS games using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess ruleset. I am considering that again, but since I am still unsure as to what kind of character I want to run, I will leave the decision to later as to which flavor of Original system I will eventually settle on. Swords & Wizardry and "real" OD&D are certainly in the race.

As I get back into the swing, I will start playing games again and ease back in GM'ing as soon as I feel up to it. I will return to blogging here and until I get more posts going (which should be almost immediately!) I remind people that besides the archive posts here at the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon, my old blog, RETRORPG still exists for you enjoyment :)

http://retrorpg.wordpress.com/

Peace, peeps!
Jeffrey

Brother Damien Bernard Becomes an Abbot

CHAPTER LII

Of the Oratory of the Monastery

Let the oratory be what it is called, and let nothing else be done or stored there. When the Work of God is finished, let all go out with the deepest silence, and let reverence be shown to God; that a brother who perhaps desireth to pray especially by himself is not prevented by another's misconduct. But if perhaps another desireth to pray alone in private, let him enter with simplicity and pray, not with a loud voice, but with tears and fervor of heart. Therefore, let him who doth not say his prayers in this way, not be permitted to stay in the oratory after the Work of God is finished, as we said, that another may not be disturbed.

(Chapter 52 of the Rule of St. Benedict)
=====

Through his travels and adventures, Brother Damien Bernard has acquired a piece of land and an abbey. It is built in the Cistercian style. Brother Damien gave this monastery to the Holy Church, as is proper to his vow of poverty, which forbids the accumulation of wealth or goods beyond daily necessity. Damien's Father General reported this to the local Bishop, who in turn brought the matter to his own superiors.

The ecclesiarchy of the Holy Church has placed Brother Damien in charge of the abbey. Brother Damien is of sufficient level in game terms now to undertake such a task, so I have decided to "retire" him from Flailsnails games to pursue this as an NPC in my own games. (I would like to thank here all of the GMs and players that I have had the pleasure of gaming this character with).

As an abbot, Brother Damien Bernard is quite intent on making sure the Rule of the founder of his Order, St. Benedict, is adhered to devoutly. Of great importance to Brother Damien is the practice of praying the Daily Office of the Breviary and the celebration of daily mass.  He has called chapter 52 of the Rule to the attention of the Three Followers and Nodger as a solid foundation upon which to begin this new work of God. -|-

With four monks being the initial basis of the abbey of St. Benedict, Brother Damien begins his existence as an NPC abbot.

What does WFRP have to do with China?

my recently (re-)acquired WFRP 1st edition hardback

Yeah, what does Warhammer Fantasy Role Play have to do with China?
To be honest, not a whole lot, unless you take the weird fantasy elements of WFRP, mix in Kung Fu movies, a bit of twisted history, some gonzo from Big Trouble in Little China and mix them all together. I will be giving some more teaser information in an upcoming post.

That is going to be some of the flavor of my Allterra Project setting: Legends of Wei - The Celestial Empire. It is a fantasy faux-China setting.

Allterra is a shared settings "world" which will have several GMs. Each will run their own setting, with PCs transferable between settings. My portion of the Allterra Project is humming away.  I am currently working on game mechanics and my sandbox setting, itself.

Allterra will run on several different game systems, with characters converted back and forth for transference between settings, if need be. Allterra will also be Flailsnails Compatible. Indeed, if it were not for the original Flailsnails Conventions, this in-progress project would possibly not have even been conceived. In this regard, much is owed to those original masterminds, Flailsnails GMs and players that have participated in it. I have enjoyed Flailsnails games much myself. It is in that spirit that I am hoping Allterra will give back to the Flailsnails community by being Flailsnails Compatible.

In fact, Brother Damien Bernard, my now 5th level Cleric, was made specifically for Flailsnails. I used the Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Grindhouse Edition to generate Brother Damien. As a retro clone, the LotFP system had the feel of weird fantasy to it, so I chose it above others.

an interior shot of the score I got for 20 bucks...and it's a first GW printing straight from the UK!!!  (Click for a larger image)

With Legends of Wei: The Celestial Empire, I want to impart a flavor that is a bit sweet and sour ;)

The influences that I choose besides those that come from my own head are an important factor, so I guess that is what Warhammer Fantasy Role Play and a host of other things have to do with China.

(more to come...)

Core of the Asian Fantasy Project

Recently I made a post to my RPG circle in GooglePlus:

"After talking with a few people and getting some possible co-Dungeon Masters, we are planning a shared world in a Fantasy Asia-like setting.

This would be a FLAILSNAILS game. I chose the faux China portion, others doing the ancient Japan part. Tentatively, I thought the Asian Fantasy Project would be a fair enough overall working tittle, with each DM having a game name for what they run. My section I was thinking of naming:The Legends of the Celestial Empire.

The rule set [Edit: that I will be using] would be based upon Swords & Wizardry or LotFP + Ruins & Ronin (with whatever home brew rules each DM wanted).

I have been working on some classes specific to the Celestial Empire. I also have the basis of just what the FLAILSNAILS characters would be exploring. Typical "Medieval Western" type characters will be welcome in my game, but some incentives for playing my classes will also be given.

Hopefully within a couple of weeks I will have a definite timetable for my section's launch. I am also hoping that much FLAILSNAILS madness will ensue! :)  "

====

I don't want this project to take away from the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon campaign, so it is slowly progressing, but Sylvaeon takes precedence. Still, I am happy to be working on this co-operative setting. 

There is a bit of nostalgia related to this, because I played a few AD&D 1e Oriental Adventures in a campaign that had over a dozen friends in it back in the late 80's to the mid-90's. One of them was a pacifist Shugenja (a Soto school Zen priest) and the other was a Ninja (who eventually became an incarnation of death).

Having had so much enjoyment playing those characters, I thought bringing some of that fun to the G+ Flailsnails peeps would be a fun idea.

Above and below are some pics of my much beloved and much used OA book (click for larger images)

Clerical Conundrums - a FLAILSNAILS alternative for Clerics to the Carousing Table

 

Clerical Conundrums:
1. Called upon to preside over a funeral, you trip and knock over the casket, dumping the body in front of a horrified congregation. (1 or 2) Fall in the open grave during a funeral service. (3-6)
2. Recruited into a cell of heretics corrupting the church from within. You are clueless as to their real intentions.
3. Unintentional political allegory in sermon angers local law enforcement. 1-2 You are banished from town. 3-6 Fined 200GP for the crime of Subversion. Failure or (inability to pay fine) indicates d6 days in the pokey.
4. Bungle conversion mission, natives begin worshiping your version of Satan.
5. Drop lit ceremonial candles, torch church.
6. Inconvenient miracles, i.e. weeping blood (pick something campaign appropriate). People outside the faith are freaked out, but members may begin following you around as a messiah figure.
7. Tasked by your church to perform exorcism. 1-4 successful 5-6 unsuccessful, lose 2 points of Wisdom temporarily for d6 weeks and watch over your shoulder for that time!
8. Accidentally insult bride at a wedding ceremony you officiate at. Offerings drop at the church for a time because of the incident. You must tithe d6x100 GP to make up for it.
9. Donate a cursed coin to the church.
10. The spirit of doing good works and giving runs away with you. Lose 50% of all possessions and money you have.
11. You drink too deeply in the ceremonial wine and become drunk during service. Your superiors are not impressed. Lose all XP from the previous adventure.
12. In an effort to help the poor, you were mugged. Start the next adventure minus d3 HP.
13. You unintentionally anger your deity – wear sackcloth and ashes for d6 days to atone.
14. Townsfolk are enamored by a younger, populist clerics message – make a successful Charisma check or lose any popularity you have with the people of this town.
15. You accidentally lose a sacred relic – you superiors are very distraught. You are sent on a pilgrimage for d4 weeks as penance.
16. Talked out of any spare cash you have on you by a sob-story-telling swindler. You have a big heart, but need to work on that Wisdom a bit more ;)
17. Accused of heresy. Make a Wisdom check to avoid the sanction of your Church against you.
18. Rival religion is jealous of your good works. You gain an enemy.
19. Accused of embezzlement of Church funds. Roll a Charisma check to clear your name.
20. You wore yourself out doing good deeds for the less fortunate. -2 to all To Hit Rolls and Saving Throws for the first day of your next adventure.

(This table was inspired by Jeff Rients' Carousing Table and input by: Jeremy Deram, John Johnson, Tim Knight, Michael Moscrip, Jeffrey Osthoff and Robert Parker)

A free PDF of this table can be downloaded here:
//docs.google.com/open?id=0B_hxdwpr8o2oZWY0MWE3NmMtZWVlNy00MjVlLWJmOTQtODk2MGMxODRmMTVm

For the original Carousing in Wessex Table please go here:
http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/09/carousing-in-wessex.html

For Evan Elkins Magical Mishaps Table for Magic Users please see: http://inplacesdeep.blogspot.com/2012/01/crowdsourcing-magical-mishaps.html

Castle Nicodemus Session Report

"I, Brother Damien Bernard, unwitting wanderer far from home in service of the Holy Church, do faithfully set forth the continuing travels of myself and my acolyte companion, Nodger, in this the Year of Our Lord Unknown…

After phasing into a strange land much like the one I am from, the acolyte and I went overland via caravan. It appears it is run by heathen Gypsies. The acolyte, following my orders,  accompanied me and several other adventurers to the ruins of Castle Nicodemus. It is my experience that such ruins contain many things of potential interest to the Holy Father and to the Inquisition, so I willingly went with my strange companions. It was hard to tell the nationalities of each, as they appeared vaguely like the pure strain of my lands, but not exactly the same. Nevertheless, I treated them with respect, as befits the conduct laid forth by the Rule of my order.

 After creating an entrance into the ruins by pickaxe, we entered into the darkness. Of interest were some writings and embellishments in the ruins of the castle, which I had Nodger dutifully copy for later examination. I appropriated two tarnished candelabra for restoration and possible donation to a chapel, should I ever find or establish one bearing the name of Mother Church.

We encountered some bear-like humanoids that a few of my companions seemed to recognize. They conversed together in a  foul tongue that is nothing like the beautiful language of the holy liturgy. I crossed myself several times, in case evil influences were about the place. The bear-creatures accompanied us, but since I did not understand what was happening, I dismissed my reservations for the time being and continued on with the party. They led us through passages to the lair of monsters known to me only in childhood folktales. I heard their name spoken: trolls! I knew them when I saw them, because they resembled pictures of such creatures in children's tales and bestiaries of fanciful beings.

One brave warrior and I set fire to the first troll with flaming flasks of oil I had readied for the occasion. The burning hulk stood at least ten feet tall. I must admit, I was extremely frightened, but praying for courage I continued to press the attack with my comrades. Humbly, I also report that I smashed the arm of the first beast and made several other strikes upon it with my holy mace, as my companions helped deal with it and the other devil-spawn. Eventually we vanquished the monsters after a fierce battle, in which one hired hand died. I tried to save him, pulling him from the savage blows of the first troll and pushing him back to the acolyte, but he was dead before we could render any other assistance. May God have mercy upon his soul. +

Acquiring a share of the treasure found in the lair, I have decided to donate it all, as is my custom, for the glory of the Church. As I am away from her protection and unable to give it into her safe-keeping, I have decided to give alms and food to the poor with it…"

[Jeff: At this point, I had to roll on the equivalent of the Carousing Table to gain XP for my character's good deeds. I totally failed the roll, fumbling the saving throw with a "1" !!!
Michael Moscrip, the GM, is having to make a special table just for my character to see what befalls him in this mishap. Needless to say, I am a bit nervous as to what will befall Brother Damien.  ;)
It was a really fun FLAILSNAILS session and my first time in Castle Nicodemus. Please check out Michael's blog for more info:  http://migellito.blogspot.com/
My favorite part of the evening was using the Arduin Critical Hit Chart for my natural 20 against the troll and another player doing the same to the other. I am glad i had my copy handy when Michael said he wanted to use that :)  I haven't rolled on that chart in over twenty years! ]

EDIT:Failing your "Good Deeds" roll

1.) Donate a cursed coin to the church
2.) Try to feed the hungry and end up giving them food poisoning
3.) The candelbras you brought back only emit smoky light
4.) In trying to give alms to a poor person you unwittingly gave them to the daughter of a local VIP.
5.) You were an unwitting participant in a crime most foul.
6.) You went out with the guys to celebrate good fortune and woke up in a bed next to a naked wench. You have no memory of the event.
7.) You went out with the guys to celebrate good fortune and woke up in a bed next to a naked wench. You remember all the details vividly.
8.) You tripped over your only robe ripping it badly. Now you must go around naked until you fix it.
9.) As you were chasing a thief down the street you got your cross caught on a post and it yanked you off your feet, wrenching your back badly.
10.) You found a temple to give the candlebras to but because you were all sweaty, smoky, and stinky from the caves they thought you were a beggar and threw you out on your head.

-  UGH! If that is the one that is use for FLAILSNAILS, I am afraid to roll!

HAH! I rolled #10... it figures. In FLAILSNAILS games, no good deed goes unpunished.

The Hex Crawl Adventure

As I try to finish the prep for my first session of my new Sylvaeon campaign, I am excited to be getting back into the DMs chair again. I haven't game mastered in about two years, because my old group broke up, but I have been playing a few face-to-face games. Also, the goodness that is Google+, ConstantCon & FLAILSNAILS games via Googleplus Hangouts has been a joy to engage in. I mentioned some of the games I have played in previously and I have tried a few more since. I have to say that the gamers on G+ are a great lot and I am thankful that they are so passionate about RPGs. This Sunday I will be running Sylvaeon. I hope the rust is shaken off of my DM'ing skills quickly ;)

I will eventually be running pick-up sessions for FLAILSNAILS characters, once I get into the groove of things. This first iteration of the game will be a modified version of OSRIC. I chose OSRIC because I think it does a good job with the numerics of an AD&D-like experience - I feel it is slightly more balanced in that respect.

However, I am going to be using a Hit Point system in this first campaign that is similar to the Arduin Revised HP System. I will use standard OSRIC hit points for the FLAILSNAILS sessions, but since I have played Arduin in the distant past and am enamored with its particular approach to this, I have decided to give it a shot in the 21st century!

Over the past couple of days, I have been working on an area of my world map for a wilderness hex crawl. I have found some article that have encouraged me; a few I will post links to below. When it comes to hex crawls, I feel they can be somewhat challenging, but I wish to make it as easy on myself and the players as possible.

I enjoy hex maps - they are a bit Old School and they make mapping fun to me. There are different methods of dealing with overland travel, but the hex map works for me. I believe it is essential when creating wilderness maps for a sandbox to not reinvent the wheel. Using such things as : Hexographer, paper and colored pencil or hexGIMP, I can make maps quickly and populate them as I see fit.

Taking advantage of what is already out there to make something that works for you is a great way to cut to the chase in hex crawls. I do not see anything wrong with doing it all by hand or from scratch with some sort of mapping software, but not all of us are cartographers. Just as in coding, in the game world, there are "libraries" to use to find things you need, without having to recreate what has already been done.

From the growing re-interest in the gaming blogosphere, I think 2012 may be the year of the Hex Crawl. I am happy to give it a shot again after so long.

I appreciated these articles for sandbox/hex crawls. There were more that I may post later, but these are an excellent start:

Robert Chandler  @ http://rwchandler.blogspot.com/2012/01/hexcrawling-and-its-fundamental-use-in.html

http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html

http://inkwellideas.com/worldbuilding/worldbuilding-local-area-design-example-part-1/

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/search/label/Maps