Gygax Magazine PDF

Erik Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern reports that the first issue of Gygax, the Old School Renaissance gaming magazine inspired by Dragon, is now available as a PDF at RPGNow for $4.99. That is all.

Dungeons of Catan

There seems to be some interest in random wilderness generation lately, and there is always interest in worldbuilding in general, so it occurred to me that we already have what may be the perfect participatory, evolutionary campaign world generator in the form of the board game The Settlers of Catan. I haven't tried it yet (since I just thought of it about ten minutes ago), but the idea seems too irresistible not to have been conceived before now, so I'm not claiming to be its originator. If you've already written, posted, tweeted, or talked about this before, congratulations. Great minds ratiocinate similarly.

Consider the possibilities. The geography is determined by the random placement of terrain hexes. Hexes! The settlements are established by competing cultures (the players) in logical places. Newer settlements arise as the cultures compete for resources and expand into the wilderness. Roads are built to connect the settlements. By the end of the game you have terrain, resources, towns, roads, and nations. And that's just the basic game. Expansion sets allow you to introduce things such as trade routes and city improvements. Once the board game is over, the GM has a campaign world with all these things and even a history of the interactions of the various cultures. All the GM has to do is assign names to the nations, towns, and natural features (such as mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, etc.). Further details can be determined by the GM as needed, such as town maps, names of leaders, types of government, etc. The GM can create random wilderness encounter tables for each hex or use those provided by the preferred rulebook. If the campaign grows beyond the island, play another game of The Settlers of Catan to create another island. If an island is too small, call it a continent and treat every settlement as a collection of villages and towns with a city as its nucleus. The beautiful thing about it is that the worldbuilding process becomes more of a game than a labor, everyone gets to participate in shaping the world before role-playing in it, and the world arises organically from a process of evolution rather than creation. There is nothing wrong with authorial worldbuilding, but I think there are alternative methods that can be equally rewarding. Both methods, in fact, could be employed in building the same world. Certain lands, for instance, might be more recognizable to player characters whose players participated in their creation, whereas more distant lands might appropriately seem more foreign for having been wholly conceived by the GM. In a way, the board game worldbuilding phase serves to familiarize players gradually with their characters' backgrounds on a macro level.

The placement of dungeons, catacombs, and ruins is entirely at the GM's discretion, of course. Certain settlements could be designated as ruins or as having dungeons beneath them or nearby. Many important destinations, however, will be in remote locations far from any sign of civilization. It's good to preserve the unknown even in a land the players helped create.

LEGO Oubliettes

Peter Regan of Oubliette Magazine has posted an article about Lego Dungeon Geomorphs. They may not be as affordable as geomorphs made with 3x5 index cards, but if you happen to have some spare LEGOs (or LEGO Heroica sets), they lend themselves well to dungeon-building.

I have been tempted for years to build some dungeons on the LEGO Minifigure scale for role-playing and war game use, but the cost of LEGOs and the inability to purchase specific Minifigures of my choice (instead of the mystery Minifigures) have precluded such activities until I win the lottery.

(Incidentally, what is the plural of LEGO? Is it LEGOs or LEGOes? Or LEGI? Or LEGAE?)

Deluxe Ark of the Covenant Features New Packaging

Once again the signal fires have been lit across the Old School Realm: Wizards of the Coast announced the upcoming release (currently scheduled for 19 November 2013) of an Original Edition Dungeons & Dragons Premium Reprint consisting of the original three volumes and four supplements of the 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons. According to the product description, "Each booklet features new cover art but is otherwise a faithful reproduction of the original, including original interior art." The price is $149.99.

This is great for collectors, but I hope they will eventually release the PDFs for the frugal and/or merely curious gamers out there.

Oh, and the product description mentions that it "features new packaging." There is no actual description apart from the rulebooks, but there is a mock-up depicting a wooden box, ten dice, and eight booklets.

Alternative Megadungeons

Today, just a link: Why's There a Dungeon Under Your City? from Roles, Rules, and Rolls. This article is a treasure trove of setting ideas.

3x5 Geomorph Links

If you like the 3x5 geomorphs I have been posting recently, you might be interested to know that the originator of the idea, FrDave of Blood of Prokopius, is now gathering links to 3x5 geomorphs. If you have any 3x5 geomorphs of your own to share, just leave a comment there and include the link.

Painful Experience

Role-playing games traditionally reward player characters with experience points for their successes. In Dungeons & Dragons, of course, this usually means acquiring treasure and defeating foes. If it is true, however, that we learn the most valuable lessons from our mistakes, then perhaps experience points should be awarded to player characters for their failures. That is not to say that failing should be made desirable in itself, but perhaps something good should come from the battering adventurers routinely take. It should, after all, make them tougher if they survive it. Therefore, I am proposing a new optional rule: For every hit point of damage a character sustains, he or she automatically gains 10 experience points. I doubt this would be an incentive to anyone to get intentionally injured (although I could be wrong), but it would acknowledge that one of the surest signs of experience is the battle scar.

Specific 3x5 Geomorphs 1-4

Here are my first 3x5 geomorphs with labelled landmarks. The first was drawn with the usual Sharpie. The others were drawn with a fountain pen.

Magical Spell: Unseen Assistant

The following spell is a more advanced version of the first level spell unseen servant.

Unseen Assistant

Spell Class: Magic-user
Spell Level: 2
Range: 60' radius
Duration: 6 turns

By means of the spell unseen assistant, the caster may create invisible forces to perform repetitive tasks such as agitating test tubes, operating bellows, sharpening blades, stirring cauldrons, chopping vegetables, or any other light task that does not require extensive training. One unseen assistant may be created for each level of the caster, but each is capable of only one type of task for the spell's duration. In all other respects an unseen assistant is identical to an unseen servant.

Return to Blackmoor

Randall of RetroRoleplaying: The Blog has pointed out here that the Blackmoor module DA2 Temple of the Frog by Dave Arneson and David J. Ritchie is now available as a PDF at dndclassics.com. I remember seeing the Blackmoor modules at Hobby Center (my first FLGS, which is now nothing but a fond memory), but I never bought them. It probably had something to do with the fact they were Basic modules and I had abandoned Basic/Expert D&D for AD&D when TSR took the Erol Otus-illustrated editions off the market. I am wiser now, however, and Temple of the Frog is now near the top of my PDF wish list.