Going Through the Spells: Detect Magic

Art by Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art ©Rick Hershey Fat Goblin Games

Detect Magic is one of the most used utility type spells. Gold and gems are great, but let's face it, we're going into tombs to grab the magical trinkets hidden behind secret doors, protected by deadly traps, and worn by those who have no interest in giving them up. It's straight forward.

Old School Essentials Mechanics
Duration: 2 turns

Range: 60'

Enchanted objects, areas, or creatures are caused to glow. Both permanent and temporary enchantments are revealed.

Another unspecified glow effect. Again, no real specification if everyone sees the glow or only the caster. Again, with these types of spells I default that only the caster can see the glow.

I am curious  why Detect Evil last for 6 turns and have a range of 120'. Is evil easier to detect than magic?

Here's the aspect of the spell I don't understand and that's the crossover. I mean it might be ticky tacky, but why would a cleric have the spell to detect magic? I understand there are magic items only clerics can use and if a cleric worships a god of magic, but it seems out of the cleric's realm. I'd love to hear what others think about this.

AD&D Mechanics

Duration: 1 turn

Range: 3"

- The cleric detects magical radiations in a path 1" wide, and up to 3" long, in the direction he or she is facing.

- The caster can turn 60 degrees per round. 

- Note that stone walls of 1' thickness, solid metal of but 1/12" thickness, or 3' or more of solid wood will block the spell. 

Wow okay. I need a carpenter to help with all these measurements. It's a shitty description. The entire description focuses on stupid thickness and how it won't work. Focus more on how the spell works. End of complaint. Nope I lied. How many times in an adventure are the thicknesses of walls given? Thickness of a metal chest? I mean 1/12" thickness, really dude?  

And the whole flashlight vision thing make no sense. So the cleric becomes a lighthouse and spins in a circle to attempt to detect magic? 

The most important absence is no information about how the cleric detects the magic. I guess rely on the old tried and true, glow trick. 

I wouldn't use this spell as written. Not at all. The Old School Essentials version is easier to use. You don't even need a ruler. 

However, it does specifically states that only the cleric detects the magic. Bravo. 

Our special guest star system tonight is OSRIC. The mother of the OSR systems! 

OSRIC Mechanics

Duration: 1 turn

Range: Caster

- Creates a tunnel of magical vision in the path of 10' wide and 30' long in which the cleric see the aura of any magical item as a glowing blue nimbus.

- The spell is blocked by solid wood 3' thick, by stone 1' thick, and by solid metal 1" thick. 

- The cleric can only scan 60 degree arc during the course of a round. Turning more quickly does not allow magic auras enough time to form in the cleric's vision.

The description on how the spell works is better in this version. I'm not a fan of measuring the thicknesses. If you can't see it, the cleric can't detect the magic. Boom.

That concludes the third entry into this series. Thanks to everyone who's participated with comments and taken the time to read the posts. It has been an education by taking a closer look at these spells. 

Going Through the Spells: Detect Evil

Artwork by Jeff Easley

Up next are the 1st level detect spells, Detect Evil and Detect Magic. I was going to combine them, but I've separated them for a reason. Detect evil is an interesting spell because it is a judgement spell. And in this case, alignments, if you use them, don't come into play. Only the immediate intentions. 

Old School Essentials Mechanics
Duration: 6 turns

Range: 120'

Objects enchanted for evil purposes or living beings with evil intentions are caused to magically glow.

-Intent only: it does not grant the caster the ability to read minds

-Referee must decide what is 'evil'.

An interesting line in the B/X description "The exact definition of 'evil' is left to the referee, and players should discuss this point so all are in agreement; Chaotic isn't always evil."

I'm not sure when this conversation is to occur. Different factors come into play each time Detect Evil is cast. I might explain my interpretation to my players (I might not to be honest). I remember only a few times when this spell was used.

The objects sentence is something I hadn't taken too close a look at until now. It specifically states 'enchanted for evil purposes'. Further description of the spell, traps are not considered good or evil. In the B/X description it states that poison is neither good nor evil. Huh? So I'd interpret this spell as only evil 'magical' items are detected. I would also include obvious evil artifacts from an evil god.

However, I find this description confusing. Interpreting intentions is difficult, even though most everyone on the internet deems themselves experts in this area. Let's say an evil cleric uses this spell. He sees a mother or three standing in a crowd and he is about to select a stone from a bag to determine which child is to be sacrificed to the god of death. She glows. She wants to protect her children and imagines herself slitting the priest's throat. Are her intentions evil? I'd argue no, because it's to protect her children. But the priest would consider her intentions 'evil' because he'd prefer to keep his throat uncarved.

Then there is this bit about glowing. It doesn't specify if it glows for the world to see or if it is only to the caster. As a referee I tend to side with whatever would give my players the advantage, but I rule this one, as in most of the detect spells, only the caster can see the glow. 

Let's take a look at the AD&D version. There are slight, but significant differences.

AD&D Mechanics

Duration: 1 turn + 1/2 turn/level

Range: 12'

Discover emanations of evil, or good in the case of the reverse of the spell, from any creature or object. For example, evil alignment or an evilly curse object will radiate evil, but a hidden trap or unintelligent viper will not. Followed by about 5 sentences giving examples of the duration.

Okay, first of + 1/2 turn/level...really. Come on Gary! But I do enjoy 'evilly'. 

The AD&D version makes a distinction, this spell focuses on the alignment or an evilly object. It is not based on intention. No interpretation needed. Or at least no group confab is needed. And because it is reversible and detects goodly people and objects removes the shades of gray. And there is no glowing. 

But we lose the subtleties. Let me give you a scenario where a neutral NPC loathes one of the PCs. Maybe the PC "accidentally" pissed in his Cheerios or something. The PC being paranoid cast his Detect Evil spell. No evilly detected. Eats his dinner and dies from the poison the Neutral guy slipped in. You could argue that would make the NPC evil, maybe. But not necessarily. Maybe he honestly considered the PC a threat to his safety. Nothing detected, but now the player is throwing d4s across the room because his spell did not warn him. 

I think that version is a little to colored in the lines. Too black and white. I like my gray. 

Here's something you don't hear often. GURPS has a simple solution. Sense Foes.

GURPS Mechanics
Cost: 1(minimum 2)

Range: Area

Tells the caster if the subject has hostile intent, and to what degree. It can be cast on one person or an area. If cast over an area it only detects someone is hostile, but not who. 

Boom. Ambiguity gone. Subtlety remains. There is no need for philosophical discussions about the essence of good and evil. And I like that it tells the caster the degree of hostility. Like the difference of "Fucker took the last jelly doughnut" compared to, "He poisoned my dog."

Sense Foes gets my vote. It fulfills the need that Detect Evil doesn't fulfill.

What say you dear reader? Thoughts? Concerns? Or are you the evilly one in the corner who wants to keep it a secret?

Going Through the Spells: Cure Light Wounds

I decided to go through each of the Old School Essentials spells, starting with the 1st level cleric spells and working my way up and then over to the magic-user spells. I'll compare the spells to their counterparts in different systems such as AD&D, and other random systems I pull off the shelf at the time. Let's get started. 

Cure Light Wounds is the first entry into the cleric spells at first level. All other characters in the party want the cleric to load up all his 1st level slots with this spell. The party medic. 

Gameplay Trend

I've read and seen a trend of games attempting to shy away from this. The cleric loses his band-aids and charges into battle as a holy warrior. I've got my own philosophy about that, it comes down to the god they worship. 

Cleric is a class that has the chance to be more diverse than any other class. A cleric that worships a war god acts/looks much different than one that worships a healing god, or a nature god. In my campaign it makes a huge difference. And just because a cleric has a healing spell doesn't mean it works automatically. Sometimes you've got to check in with the boss. And if the boss doesn't want you to heal a warrior who serves a different god, then the spell doesn't work and the cleric loses the spell slot. 

Old School Essentials Mechanics
Duration: Instant

Range: Touch or caster

2 Uses: 

- Heals 1d6+1 points of damage

- Cure paralysis

Reversible: Inflicts 1d6+1 points of damage

The cure paralysis is something I've known about for a very long time, but I don't ever recall a group using it in a game for that purpose. And the spell is loose in its interpretation of whether it is an either or proposition. Does the cleric have to choose between the two properties? I say both would work at the same time. Think of it as medicine, like NyQuil. It'll get rid of your cough and knock your ass into a coma. 

Lets look at AD&D Cure Light Wounds Spell.

AD&D Mechanics

Duration: Instant

Range: Touch

- Heals 1d8 points of damage

Reversible: Inflicts 1d8 points of damage

This version of the spell specifically states the creature being healed must have a corporeal body. And it doesn't work on those creatures that are only harmed by iron, silver, or magic. This spell is also reversible, but I have a question. If this spell cannot heal creature are are only harmed by iron, silver, or magic, doesn't that suggests it could not harm that same creature?

Again, this is something I haven't run into during a game. And to tell you the truth, Cure Light Wounds is one of those spells do people rarely read into too much. We all want to know how much we get healed and we're good. 

The other thing you'll notice is the lack of curing paralysis in AD&D. Ghouls and ghasts got a little more dangerous.

Let's take a look at the latest version of Cure Light Wounds in 5th Edition D&D. It is list as Cure Wounds.

5th Edition Mechanics

Duration: Instant

Range: Touch

- Creature regains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + spellcasting ability modifier.

- No effect on undead or constructs.

- casting this spell using a higher level slot the healing increases 1d8 for each level above 1st. 

In 5th edition they made it a spell of some flexibility. It is not dedicated to a single spell level slot. This adds a nice strategic situation when it comes to selecting spells for the cleric. And interestingly, there is no reversible effect. No curing paralysis. This is a strictly, get healed and move your ass spell. 

My limited time with 5th edition the party did not have a cleric and the other time I played was in Adventures in Middle Earth where I played a scholar with healing ability, but it worked much differently. 

The Aside

Healing potions are found in magic-user shops or alchemist shops. Potions are considered magic items, created by magic-users, who have shown no aptitude for healing magics. Seems odd. And lets say they have a formula, add some troll's blood, with cinnamon, apple juice from first apples of spring and wala, you got yourself a Slurpee of Healing. But if they can do that, why aren't they able to use that same knowledge and create a secular healing spell? 

Fireside Chat with Tenkar

Erik and I got together Sunday night and did one of his fireside chats. Here is the link. And that's what it was, a chat. More like two friends sitting around a table talking about gaming stuff. We covered my Kickstarter of course. Hunters in Death is nearing 400 backers. That's nuts. But we covered a lot of different topics. 

Erik and I have known each other since I started blogging in 2009. I think Ivy spoke to him before I did. I can't remember that far back. Erik has always been a big supporter of mine and has always helped me get the word out when I released whatever I was working on. But it's the first time we recorded our conversation. 

If you'd like to hear our chat please check out Tenkar's, Tavern Chat. It was a good time.

PS. Joe the Lawyer said that he just listened to the parts we talked about him and that those sections were too short. heh

Hunters in Death: An Inside Look

Hunters in Death has done well. The process of learning the ins and outs of Kickstarter has been a great experience. Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the first week of my first Kickstarter.

Let's get to the numbers and the different metrics I find interesting. These are the current numbers as I write this.

350 Backers

This number still baffles me. When I considered doing a Kickstarter I figured with the price points I established that I'd need 60+ pledges. I was confident I could get that. But I hoped to reach triple digits. Maybe squeeze into the 110 range.

- I blew past that the first day with a 155 backers. 

$3308 Pledged

I considered setting my pledge goal at $1000. But I decided $500 was better because I wanted to make this zine and learn the entire process of Kickstarter.

- The first day I already had $1466 in pledges.

Shipping Costs are Included in the Pledge Total

Another thing I did not know. When folks pledge, the shipping costs are included in the total pledge amount. It seemed a strange thing to me. But after some consideration it makes sense, as in Kickstarter wants 10% of it all. 

- The money collected for shipping is $710.

- 21.4% of my funding total. 

Super Bowl Affect

I was concerned that Zine Quest 2 starting on Super Bowl Sunday would sap the energy and excitement away. I figured people would be prepping or getting ready for Super Bowl parties and would forget about this zine thing. Ahh, nope. As soon as I posted Hunters in Death I received a handful of pledges before I even announced that I did it. People were searching for entries for Zine Quest and were looking to back them as soon as possible.

Reduction or Cancelled Pledges

I've run a Patreon for several years now so I am no stranger to cancelled pledges. It is a running joke at the Manor that when I watched my Kickstarter pledge page, it went down. So I stopped. 

- So far $185 in pledges were either cancelled or reduced to a lower pledge level. 

Increase of Pledges

It works both ways though. I've had a few people increase their pledges. Some have even pledged more than needed. I've had $55 in increased pledges. Granted $35 of that was from my mom, but it still counts. Thanks mom. 

Mailing Costs Scare

There has been some concern about my shipping costs. That I've charged too low and I'm going to lose money on my Kickstarter. And while the concern is flattering, I've got it covered. I ship out zines all around the world every month for my Patreon. I think most of the confusion comes when folks look at the package rates in which case I would be in trouble. These are considered letters. A 1oz. to 2oz. letter, my zine averages around 1.6oz. costs $2.24. The USPS increased their rates on January 26th, 2020. It used to cost $2.13 to mail. So please, do not worry about the shipping. I have it covered. Not my first time.

Project Followers

This was something I didn't know about. These are people who are following a project and want a reminder before the campaign is over. I asked a few veterans of Kickstarter about the conversion rate. There are Project Followers, Converted Followers (you know the person who came up with that term is a D&D person), then there is the conversion rate given in a percentage. The average was about 10 to 35%. Quite the range. 

Right now I am sitting on 322 followers, 31 have been converted, at a 9% conversion rate. 

The Pledge Pattern

It is well known that the first and last are the largest pledge days. Then there is all that space in between where pledges flat line. I expected it to drop to a pledge or two a day. Maybe have days where no one pledged. But it has been fairly consistent, after the first two days it has stayed steady and I feel I'm still going strong. I'll share the daily numbers at the end.

Excitement of Friends and Family

The first day I kicked off Hunters in Death I had people texting me, IMing me, letting me know when I received more pledges. It was fun. It was fun to see my friends online getting as excited as I was. And Ivy, she kept on announcing new marks hit. Each time I'd get 10 new backers or $100 more in pledges. 

Kickstarter Hangover

This is a thing. I released my Kickstarter. A flurry of social media posts to make sure as many people know about it as possible. Then follows the flurry of congrats and backed! and general support. I am not a social media person so while it was all great and positive it still took a lot out of me to be honest. At night it was difficult to settle down. I was wired from all the excitement of the day. On Monday I downloaded the Kickstarter app onto my phone so I spent the work day checking my pledge level. 

- Next year I'm taking that following Monday off.

Fighting the Stretch Goal Demons

With the success I started thinking of stretch goals. People asked me about stretch goals. I knew I couldn't offer physical items (see mailing costs scare above), but maybe a PDF stretch goal? Ivy gave me a good Gibbs smack. Because I swore ahead of time to keep it simple and focus on creating the best zine I could.

DIY

I don't know what the rate is for people making what they Kickstart in there own homes is, but that's what I'm doing. I'm printing and mailing everything from my home. I wanted to do this, for some reason, my first time out. Of course I thought I'd only get a 100 backers at most and knew I could handle that without an issue. I'm at 283 backers who will get a zine mailed to them. With my beautiful assistant, Ivy, we can handle that. It'll take a little longer, but it's worth it.

Costs

This goes with the DIY section. Because I am fulfilling this myself there are many costs to consider. Let's break it down.

0.06 to .07 for the 6 or 7 pages of paper

0.07 for the cardstock cover

0.04 for ink (best estimate)

0.14 envelope

0.70 postage in the US

2.24 postage to Rest of the World

1.01 made and mailed in the US

2.55 made and mailed to the Rest of the World

- Kickstarter and processing is 10% off the top.

- Taxes, I'll need to hold back 25% of the net profit.

- A $100 down for art plus I'm giving Jim a cut of the profit. 

- Editing, while Joe doesn't want any money I want to make sure he gets paid for his time. I'm thinking $100.

I'm estimating after all expenses and folks are paid, I might land about $1300. And that is a rough estimate and not taking into consideration any mistakes. 

Pledge Days Totals

Day 1

Total Pledges $1466

Total Backers 155

Day 2

Total Pledges $2406 (+$940)

Total Backers 257 (+102)

Day 3

Total Pledges $2704 (+$298)

Total Backers 284 (+27)

Day 4

Total Pledges $2917 (+$214)

Total Backers 307 (+23)

Day 5

Total Pledges $3111 (+$194)

Total Backers 327 (+20)

Day 6

Total Pledges $3244 (+$133)

Total Backers 344 (+17)

Day 7

TBD

7 day remaining in the campaign.

That's all I got for now. I hope this little shot behind the curtain is helpful. Thanks to all who have pledged and if you haven't please go on over and check out Hunters in Death. It's taking shape to be the best zine I've made. 

Kickstarter Zine Quest Selections

You may have heard there is this thing on Kickstarter called Zine Quest 2. All the cool kids are doing it. I wanted to share a few of the excellent zines I've found. Some will be bias because I am friends with the authors, but that doesn't mean their zines don't kick ass.

The creator of Dice Roll Zine #3 is Steve C. He's one of the guys I'm bias about. We game together and he's a cool guy. Man are his zines good. And big. My zines come in at 24 to 28 pages. Dice Roll Zine comes in at a punching weight of 40 pages. And it's full of good stuff. And he's also has a pledge level to get issue #2. Get it.


Hidden Hand of the Horla is written for Old School Essentials. I didn't need to hear any more to back this one. This Kickstarter is part of their 'Make 100' campaign. The premise is, you make a 100 of your thing and sell them. Cool idea. Ryan of Appendix N Entertainment has sold out of print copies, but there are unlimited amounts of PDFs. Grab a copy.


Here's another Kickstarter I am biased because I enjoy Dave Aldridge podcast, dpercentile so much. A fellow anchorite. Mudharbour is not just any zine, it's a kung fu fantasy zine. I shouldn't have to write anything else. I mean it's a kung fu zine. duh. It looks like he is using Black Hack for the base system. And there are a lot of interesting possibilities in here. Three Kung Fu dungeons? Whaaaat? I wanna know what a kung fu dungeon is.


The Hidden Necropolis is one I am very curious about because it uses the Five Torches Deep system. I have that system in PDF, but I've haven't played it. It's a 3rd level adventure that is written and playtested. He's has a stretch goal to convert it into 5e so you fifth edition folks, a few more pledges and you'll get a version for your game.


Phylactery says it focuses on the strange and bizarre. Cursed objects. Nefarious tomes of magic. Forbidden demon gods. And there is artwork by Karl Stjernberg, Adrian Landeros, and Ed Bickford. Amazing. It looks like a solid entry into the OSR zine scene.


The Forgotten Rites of the Moldering Dead isn't part of zine quest, but I had to put it here. There is one day left to get in on this one. Donn Stroud just makes good gamable material. Listen to this, RPG supplement containing tables to enhance and generate all facets of the dead, the un-dead, funerary rituals, and death rites. Huh? Huh? Come on, that is frick'n cool. He's also offering his former product, Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion. Get that one also. I have a small bookshelf on my desk for the RPG books I use the most. Lesser Key is on that shelf.

Alright folks. That's a wrap. Checkout these gorgeous pieces of art. These zines. These wonderful nuggets of gaming material. 

And oh, before you go, a shameless plug for me.


I heard Hunters in Death is pretty good also. 

Hunters in Death Kickstarter: First Day

Hunters in Death, for Zine Quest 2, was unleashed on Kickstarter today. An old-school hex crawl for low-level adventurers to explore. It exceeded my expectations by a lot lot. My goal was set at $500 and in the first day I'm approaching $1300 with a 135 backers. I was hoping to reach $1000 by the end of the two week campaign. So thank you to all the backs so far.

It looks like I have a 115 other people following my Kickstarter, so if I only get a portion of those also, consider my mind officially blown.

Here's a bit of a preview of what's inside.

• I've done the writing and maps. I'll add a few map samples. 
• Jim Magnusson created all the art. Check out that cover. Scroll down to see more of his work. 
• Matt Jackson created a new logo for me. I wanted a fresh logo for this project. 
• Joe the Lawyer is editing. Along with Happy Whisk. Between the two of them they should tighten up and sloppy writing I might have let slip through. 

This product is a look behind my GM screen, how I run my campaign. I've included house rules and other additions to make the Komor Forest a distinct setting.

In addition, the adventures that are included have threads connecting to them to what is going on in Hounds Head and the other adventures. The fun thing is when the players discover these on their own. I know its one of my favorite things when running a game and hearing them put hints, clues, or rumors together. 

The random tables I create have their own adventures within them. Some have ties to other adventures. I try to cram as much gameable material as I can into the pages. 

It's been a busy day full of social media. I'm not used to being on-line for so long. A lot of today's success is due to a bunch of folks who have shared, blogged, and podcasted about it. Thanks to all of you. And thanks to all my backers.

I'm now enjoying the Super Bowl. Almost the 4th quarter. Time to try and wind down and get ready for work tomorrow. Good luck with that.

As I end this post I'm at 142 backers pledging $1346. Wow. 

Forgotten Crypt of Sir Reginald

Click to grab the PDF

I've been grinding away this month working on a hex crawl adventure that I plan on adding to Zine Quest 2 on Kickstarter. Last year was the first time Kickstarter took the month of February and featured old-school zines. I missed it. I'm not going to let that happen again. 

But I needed a break. So what do I do to take a break from writing an adventure. I write a different adventure. 

The Forgotten Crypt of Sir Reginald is my 86th micro-adventure and my 140th offering created for my Patreon. Everyone of them I've released for free on PDF. And those who wish to get a physical copy push a pledge button. Or if you just like what I do, there is the option to throw a tip into the jar. 

This adventure has been laying around for a while. Sir Reginald's Crypt is actually one of the many entrances into a mega-dungeon I work on occasionally. I believe there are over 350 keyed areas and I've written about 50 of them. I haven't had a party plunder those depths yet. Maybe someday soon.

Sir Reginald is a regional hero in my campaign. For a small group of people he's the shit. He's the one that helped them when no one else would. This adventure is an introduction to the end of his story. I may have a couple more adventures coming out that feature different deeds through out his life. 

I should mention I used a piece of artwork from Rick Hersey of Fat Goblin Games. And I am using another piece of his art (I'm hearing Janis Joplin in my head) for this month's NPC card, coming soon. 

I created a new undead using this piece as the inspiration, skull collector. He's a weird skeleton-like undead who can grab the skulls off of corpses and adhere them on its shoulders. Then use them as missile weapons that do d4 damage. I liked the idea of it. Kinda creepy. It's good to throw an unknown at the players every now and then. 

I also added an element of where nature interacts with magic. I love weaving those elements into my campaign. In this case moonstones are used by necromancers to enhance their raised undead. Effectively they get their max hit points while wearing a moonstone. 

And lastly, poor Reginald suffered one of the worse fates he could have ever imagined. He became one of the undead he hunted all his life. A victim of a wight's drain. Sometimes fate has a cruel sense of humor. 

Alright folks, thanks for stopping by. Again, please stop by Micro-Adventures Patreon and grab some PDFs and consider pledging. But only pledge if you like getting cool gaming stuff in the mail. If you hate that kind of thing...why?!?

Take care!

Big Battles

Mounted Battle by Neil Blade

The adventurers enter a dungeon, a ruins, sewers, or abandon temple and find themselves in a series of personal battles. A group of goblins pepper them with small black arrows before they repel down to the floor and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Skeleton warriors emerge from their earthen graves, exploding debris throughout the crypt, rusted and jagged weapons slicing at their moral opponents as they charge in a silent rage. The floor collapses under the party's weight, the rotten boards shower down on them and that's when they notice the soft, sticky floor moves. A family of green slimes quickly move up the hands and slip beneath armor and clothing.

All scenes from close battles. Something we all have some skill in. However, what happens during large battles? There are many different systems out there to manage large battles. No GM wants to roll for each individual participant. But the personal touch is lost in these systems. It becomes more of a practice in accounting. Calculating numbers of troop strengths and giving various advantages in battle a score to be considered in the column of numbers.

I don't have an answer, but I've been involved with many of the sub-systems during play. What should be a climatic battle came down to number crunching. It detaches the personal heroics from the game.

From Total War Rise of Mordor

Like I mentioned, I don't have a clear answer. However, I have run a handful of big battles over the past year and I found my non-system works fairly well. This works for me, your mileage my vary.

• I keep the battle as personal focused on the adventurers as much as possible. 
• The massive battle that happens around them is part of the setting. Assign a few rolls with advantages worked in and have the players roll these.
• Allow for heroics that you wouldn't normally allow in a regular game. For example, say a fight is surrounded by goblins and he does 15 points of damage. Each goblin has 3hp each. Fighter killed 5 goblins in a single swing. 
• In addition, if the players come up with crazy ideas let them attempt them. Give it a roll, if they succeed fantastic, if they fail fantastic. Even in success and failure, results are not always what the players expect. 
• Use tactics for the enemy to make it interesting to keep the players on their toes because they will have been scheming what to do. I know mine will.
• Always have one or two twists ready for the battle. Good or bad. 
• Make sure you keep the pressure on the party.
• Allow death to occur. If one of the party goes down, allow one last heroic act.
• Then after the battle is over, consider the repercussions of it. It will have a ripple effect. 

While this is not a comprehensive list, nor an organized system, it is a loose philosophy to enter into larger battles to keep them personal. 

The Constant Reshaping of a Campaign

The Northmen temple the party explored. They expected something bigger. 

Last night's game session three of the five players showed, one was an hour late. The two weeks before, two players showed. And the week before that, one player showed. And the week before that, all five showed.

What is the common denominator of all those weeks? 

We played. 

I've been running this campaign for a little under a year and attendance is sporadic at best. One player left completely. It happens. There are a ton of legit reasons players don't show. And there are some bogus reasons, but we won't dwell on those.

I run a hex crawl, with lots of things going on. Different groups grabbing for the same pot of power. And monsters. Yeah, lots of those. I build off the characters' backstory and their actions. I morph the campaign to reflect the consequences/rewards of those actions. Because I do this, no two campaigns are alike. The maps don't even look alike. I create what best suits the party I'm running.

This is Monday's group map.

This is Wednesday's group map. 

These are the same hand drawn maps. Hounds Head remains in the same spot, but little to nothing else is the same. For example, take a look at the hills just north of Hounds Head. Monday's group encountered a gnoll fort there. Wednesday's group discovered it was territory run by a bugbear tribe. While not all that big of a difference, each change served that particular game. 

A lot of these changes were due to who showed up at the table that night. I will run a game for one person or all of the party. Trying to weave personal story lines to play off a character's backstory is difficult when that player doesn't show on a consistent basis. I built story lines that would flesh out one of the characters and the impact would be felt campaign wide. Then they don't show. And don't show the next week.

Move on.

There are going to be times when story/plot lines don't go anywhere. They abruptly end. It's okay. Work them into the background. While the party is off slaughtering the next batch of orc babies the Temple of Sarrath is establishing fortified locations. Shit happens while the party is crawling in a dungeon.

Focus on the people that show. It's okay to mess with the time continuum. In a recent adventure where the entire party showed I had a climatic end. To be continued the next week. Only two people showed. I still ran a game. I put them a few days back and they got to explore details of what was going on in more depth. The next week it was the same. One person showed. Finish this side quest while we waited for the rest of the group to show. 

This last week, still only two showed (third joined later), the freeze on the climatic end was unfrozen and that scene played out. Nearly exterminating one of the party members. He's okay. A little scarred and scared, but his soiled britches have been changed and his boo boos have been kissed. 

While it wasn't what I wanted, A GM rarely gets what he wants, but I got to play. Have fun. Roll dice. You know. So I did get what I wanted.

Running this past year has taught me to be more flexible when running a game. To run the game with who shows. Adjust your adventures and expectations. Just because you planned the party to enter a hell dungeon this week, but only two show, you decide to run something a little smaller, shorter, but no less deadly. Work in a little backstory or something the players have taken an interest in.

So yeah. That's it. Don't call the game if not everyone shows. Be flexible enough to run with one person or ten.  

Peace out!

The Hag Moth

Click on the picture to get a PDF copy.

I've been working all weekend on my Zine Quest 2 project. Its been slow going. I've got bits and pieces spread out. Beginnings of an adventure here, notes over there, and somewhere in the mix is the hag moth. How the hell did this guy get into the mix?

I was writing an adventure and thinking of the dangers in the forest, or more exact the nuisances. Bugs! One of my least favorite things. I figured in the ever darkness of the Komor Forest what would happen when an adventuring party brings in light. Swarm!

I tweaked them a bit so they are only attracted to normal light, not magical. 

I guess hag moths are a real thing. I did not know that. And the pictures I found are creepy. Especially the cocoon. A bit HP Lovecraft looking if you ask me. And the poison, that is true, real life, no shit accurate. 

This little write-up was a nice break from the zine. You can click the picture to grab the PDF.

Enjoy!

Four Phases of a Map

I was looking for some generic dungeon maps in my stash of hundreds I've already drawn, but couldn't find anything I wanted. Yes, I was being picky, but none of the maps inspired me. So time for a new batch. 

I kept the map to minimal detail. I didn't want room details. I wanted a dungeon map where I just add numbers. Write the description and not be constrained by drawn room details. This way the map is usable for any of my projects. 

Ingredients for my map.

• sheet of graph paper
• no.2 pencil
• hi-polymer white eraser
• micron pen 5
• micron pen .005
• and a Steelers game where they lost, stupid Steelers

I skipped one of the steps. Where I simply outlined the shape of the dungeon. This step involved creating interesting border to define the walls. This was done in pencil.

Phase two I inked all the stones with a Micron 5 pen. Then erased the pencil marks with a hi-polymer eraser. I love those erasers because they do the best job of eliminating the pencil marks without staining the paper.

In the third phase I took a Micron .005 pen and highlighted the grid a bit. I think it adds to the look. A thing I stole from Glynn Seal's maps.

The last phase is adding the shadowing in the stone to help define the layout of the dungeon. I used a pencil. Then used my Micron .005 pen to add bits of rubble detail. It adds a nice touch to the look.

Now my dungeon is ready for words. 

Thanks for reading. 

Preparing for the Couch

I'm one of seven people that didn't go see the latest Star Wars movie. I was supposed to go this morning, but I got a bad case of the anti-socials. Plus, there were probably too many fanboys there critiquing the movie as it played. I want to go and just enjoy the movie on the big screen. Even if its a crap movie, I'll still enjoy it. 

But that's not what we're here for.

Christmas is less than handful of days away. I'm getting a very cool gift, yes I know what it is. A small couch (loveseat) for my office. I wanted a nice place dedicated to reading. A place to sit, have a small table for my book(s), and a window nearby for light and a view. A chill place. No electronics. Just a place to get lost in a book for hours at a time.

This picture is from the website of what should arrive Monday.  

Now I'll need to rearrange my gaming book shelves. Sigh. But it'll be worth it. 

Oh, and as a cool bonus, I now have a d20 pillow to put on my couch. 

Small Details: Floors

 Art by Inken Moran

This is a series of posts I've done in the past where I take an feature of a dungeon and create a random table.

Doors

Strange Bottles

Stairs

Today's offerings are floors. Packed earth, rough stone, cobblestones, mucus membrane of an otherworldly being, floors are not limited. A short table that adds a few interesting ideas to inspire your next encounter. I don't provide answers for the strangeness. Run with it. 

1. Thick, wooden planks have fresh scars, as if someone drug something/someone across the floor.
2. The soft dirt floor grabs at the adventurers feet. Each step causes a rippling effects as if it were thick water. The dirt moves and settles as several dozen bones of various sizes surface all around the room. 
3. The rough stone floor gives away to precise cut stones organized into a spiraling pattern. The center stone has an inset handle. It takes two turns to ‘unscrew’ the center stone. The stone is hollow, within the hollow section is a large, brass, double-pronged key with dwarven runes etched into the shaft. 
4. There is a section of the wooden floor that is a different color. If tapped or walked upon, it is hollow beneath. If the boards are removed an ancient well is revealed. Once the well is exposed the area turns cold and frost forms on everything and everyone in the area. From the depths, a horrific rumbling roar erupts.
5. The floor is made from ancient brown, skulls. Walking is difficult. Running impossible. When the skulls are stepped upon some crumble and collapse. Beneath the layer of skulls is another layer skulls.
6. The floor's surface has a yellow viscus-like consistency. Footing is slippery. When light source is brought close to the floor it has a foggy transparency. Dark snake shaped things move beneath the floor. 
7. There is a hole in the middle of the floor as if something erupted out of the ground. A sickly sweet acidic smell is nauseating. A frothy green liquid slides out from the damaged area of the floor.
8. The floor is made of small metal slivers. If a spellcaster enters the room, the metal slivers vibrate, and mover towards the spellcaster.
9. A fine, white sand makes up the floor. It has series of perfectly formed ripples. In the far corner, the sand is disturbed, and dark green grit spoils the sand. 
10. Black glass floor is nearly impossible to walk upon. It is friction-less. It slants slightly so anyone who steps upon the floor is immediately swept down to the other side of the room. 

That's all for this entry of Small Detail. Please add your own entry in the comments. 

Thanks for reading.