City of Scorn

City of Scorn is one of the centerpieces in my current Shadowdark Campaign. I've never spent the time to draw each sector. Each of those black squares is not a building, but a block that could have several buildings. So its a lot. I've been drawing a few of the blocks out. Out of need. 

Here is a sample of Sector 54. It has eight blocks broken down into the different buildings. It provides a lot of details like main streets, secondary streets and alleyways. I created a list of 120 business, professions, and other miscellaneous types of services to determine what is in each block. I have six d20 tables. Each block I roll a d4 to determine how many of the buildings I will determine what they are. Some have generic names, like maps to signify this is a cartography shop, but I couldn't think of a name I liked. Some do have detailed names.

I leave a good portion of the buildings blank for future use. 

Join Us

Each week, Mondays at 7pm EST, Joe, Vance, Ken and Paul get together as I run them through my ShadowDark Campaign. There is a lot of interaction and general chaos. Hope you'll join us. 

 

Far Away Land 2nd Edition Kickstarter is Amazing

Fay Away Land RPG Ed. 2 is now Kickstarting! It funded quick and has 22 days remaining as of this post. It is a unique setting and RPG that reeks of fun.

Dirk Stanley released the first edition 10 years ago and I remember playing it and having a blast. The artwork you'll find reflects the whimsical nature of Far Away Land. While I am a veteran of RPGs this game made me feel like a kid again exploring places and fighting monsters where I had no idea what to expect. It's got gonzo elements from everywhere. 

Far Away Land has already zoomed past two of the stretch goals. 

The first is png files of the monsters so you can print them out and show them to your players. I guarantee you'll get a laugh and the players will wonder what the heck it can do. 

The second stretch goal is one of my favorites, hex map icons! These are fricking cool! No, I mean cool, cool. Colorful and quirky, and over 400 different elements. Whoever makes maps with these its going to look fantastic.

The third stretch goal is absolute candy. A digital generator for monsters, PCs, settlements and more things to come. He's just shy of this goal and I have no doubt Dirk will crush it before it's over. 

If you need more convincing, Dirk has a Facebook group dedicated to Far Away Land so you can see all of what he has to offer. 

Please check out Far Away Land, you won't regret it. Unless you don't like having fun. If you do back on of the best gaming creators we have.

Session Zero

I'm starting a new ShadowDark Campaign. Four players. Roll 20. Mondays 7pm to 10pm. And for the first time, for me, livestreaming the games on YouTube. Something I, and the others, swore never to do. But here we are. 

Session Zero(s)

Each time I start a new campaign I like running one-on-one sessions for each player coming into the the game. I feel this is the best way to get players invested into a campaign world by allowing them to create relationships independently from the party. They can carry these into the game and their significance lasts as long as the player wishes it to last. Here is a quick list of things I try to address during a session zero. 

• This time around players rolled up their characters independently. Expect Joe. I have to keep an eye on Joe.
• I have a handful of house rules and go over them and answer any questions.
• We discuss the particulars of the character. Sometimes (rarely) do they have goals or traits that would drive them. Old school players tend to go light on this because the character could die before Charisma is rolled. 
• I usually do short write ups about their character and how he or she fits into the campaign world. This includes what knowledge the character would possess going in. A guide. A short one. One of the frustrations I always had as a player is going into a campaign world then doing something my character would have known not to do. Well. Maybe.
• I introduce NPCs through a role-play. Who knows the character. Friend and foe. Possibly and employer. Family. A pet. Whatever jives with the character.
• The latter half of the session is used to go exploring. A short adventure. I use this time to work out kinks in the character and to explore the system of combat and how house rules come into play. This is not going to be a deadly adventure (but damn near). 
• My session zero can creep into two sessions. I think two sessions are the best. I think a lot of character building can happen in those sessions.
• Then the characters come together. With them they carry their own experiences, friends, enemies and knowledge separate from the group. I believe this adds a nice dynamic to play.

Let me present you the cast of characters. When I say characters I mean the players.

JoetheLawyer. A master level shit stirrer and moocher. My cohort on Monday nights where we talk about gaming things. Soon to be transformed into the ShadowDark game. He rolled excellent. He made Columbo a dwarven fighter. His name theme is of 70s TV detectives. Joe decided not to roll up a backup character because he is overconfident in his ability to keep his characters alive. 

Paul aka Flint Fireforge on YouTube. Paul is new to the group. I do like introducing and getting a new player into my games. Paul played in a couple of one shots and fit right in. Glad to have him along for the ride. Paul is playing Elinar Digby an elf witch. Digby the name. His backup character is Wulf a half-orc wizard. 

Ken, who used to author The Rusty Battle Axe blog in the way back. Ken is my veteran player. He's been in many of my games and I've been in his games. Ken always comes up with great characters. He chose to play...well, I don't know. He hasn't sent them to me. It's always the ones that you've played with for years that take advantage of you. 

Lastly, Vance A of the Leicester's Ramble blog has joined the group. Known Vance for years and we've played on and off, but I think this is the first long campaign he's joined. I think. He's decided to play Bolggah a goblin wizard. We got together earlier this week and ran through his session zero. That'll be the next post. And his backup character is Estol an elven priest. 

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So that is how I use my session zero. I'm aware a character may die quickly. I don't fudge dice and sometimes it sucks when a PC goes down, but that's part of the fun playing an deadly game. 

ShadowDark Magic Items

The next campaign I run will use the ShadowDark RPG. I'm not sure when that'll be (I'm hoping a little later this year), but ShadowDark is my choice. I've only experienced it with one-shots. I want to kick the tires on a campaign. 

ShadowDark is a grim, gritty, and other words that begin with g system. It is geared for low-level play, only going to 10th level in the rulebook. There are several low-level magic items included. Some familiar, some not so much. I needed to play around with creating a few of my own. Here is a quartet of magic items I offered on my Patreon. The PDF is free to grab. Some folks prefer the actual item can join and get some cool stuff in the mail. 

These magic items are very specific to my setting, but adjusting them to your setting would only take a little elbow grease. I just thought to myself younger people have no idea what elbow grease means. 

A trio of artists with their fanatic black and white artwork made these cards possible. Carlos Castillho did two of the pieces, Daniel Whitehall, and William McAusland. I used the format of ShadowDark and I like the section dedicated to the history of the item. It helps ground the item within a setting.

I hope this finds everyone well and gaming. Enjoy.

Fun Facts About Medieval Stairways

I'm always writing adventures of some sort and I like to explore the intricate details of  'things' in an attempt to ground the adventure with these details. My Pintrest has a section dedicated to the anatomy and or terminology of things. Tonight, I was checking for names of stair parts. I went down a shallow rabbit hole and thought I'd share some of the things I thought were interesting. I have no idea if these are fact or fiction. 

• Stairs were build in tight, steep spirals when castles were fortifications, before they became noble homes. 
• Stairs were built clockwise. To give the defenders an advantage. They assumed the majority of soldiers would be right-handed. Some militaries required their men to fight ambidextrous. I've never read this before, but I think it could make an interesting nuisance.  
• The above fact is disputed (but still cool) and some say stairways were built clockwise so folks could run their hand on the righthand wall for balance. To compensate for the too-much-grog-walk?
• Some argue that the newel staircases are so small with no handrails that there was no room for swinging weapons (although it would be a hell of place for a dagger fight) and both combatants would fall to their deaths. A step does1d6 damage. 
• One other point, I think the best one, if the attackers are already inside running up the stairs, the fight is lost. The attackers are now mopping up and looking for loot. 
• Steps were built uneven. This gave defenders 'homefield' advantage as they were accustom to the idiosyncrasies of the steps and could take advantage of the situation when an attacker tripped on the uneven step. Also known as a trip step.

If you have any other fun facts about castle stairs please let me know. I was looking around and these seemed to be the ones that came up frequently.