Parlez-vous Glantrian?: Dialects and Alignment Languages
Just Say No to alignment languages. Though I have tried using various human/regional languages before, we usually just revert to “everyone understands each other” except for some monsters. Even humanoids and tribesmen usually seem to have at least one available who can act as translator. Not realistic, I know.
Regions Sizes in a setting
Great summary of guidelines about sizing various realms on a fantasy map.
Touch of Pain
Another Bat creation. Nice alternative to shocking grasp. I’d make it 1st-level, personally.
Random Ruins
“No proper ocher wasteland or purple fungus forest would be complete without a smattering of bizarre monuments, relics, and ruins.” Developed for sword & planet but very usable just about anywhere.
OD&D+ Damage & Theory
I love the d6 and simplified monster attack/damage in the original. I will be adapting my LL game to something similar if I can work out a system that I like.
Fudge You
Either roll the dice or don’t roll the dice. But don’t pretend to roll the dice.
Fiend Folio
The FF seems to attract a lot of hate and I can’t really understand why. Plus, I had totally forgotten about a couple of those totally awesome full-page art pieces.
What Killed the Dinosaurs
No, it wasn’t Chuck Norris.
Kilgore’s site suffered a level drain at the hands of an undead host server. The unholy abomination has apparently been turned and the adventure can now continue. Unfortunately, a small amount of content (including some reader comments) have been lost.
UPDATE: Hmm. I seem to have lost more content on this site than on some other sites that I run which are hosted on the same server at my hosting provider. I’m not sure if it will be able to be restored from my own back-ups or not.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I think I’ve got everything here more or less restored except for the post I accidentally published with some notes about the Forbidden Jungle. That wasn’t supposed to see the light of day (at least in that format) and was only the beginning of a new idea dump for my own use.
Got in more hours of gaming on Friday and Saturday than I’d managed in the previous six months, I think. The first session with my son on Friday night was one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever played, and we followed it up on Saturday morning with another (shorter) successful session.
His ranger was dismayed to discover that the trolls are keeping a closer eye on their hoard now that he’s stolen some of it while they were away from their lair, but was excited to check out a little more of the tower he’s been exploring and managed to get back to town with another ivory tusk. Another NPC bit the dust, this time a thief who fell victim to the undead monkeys within the tower when the characters failed to take sufficient precautions.
That evening my wife and daughter rolled up PCs and we had our third-ever whole-family game. The two new PCs joined my son’s ranger and yet another NPC and headed into the wild. After some tense moments when they became disoriented in the trackless jungle, they managed to find their way back toward town and drove off some jungle goblin raiders near town. Unfortunately, the next morning they ran into more goblins and were wiped out.
The first time we all played together, the party was captured out by goblins. The second session we all played together was a successful rescue mission with new PCs. And now the third time was a TPK. Though I want the threat of danger to be very real and want 1st-level characters to be justifiably frail, the death rate is discouraging. My son, in particular, was pretty upset about losing the ranger that had done so well in the first two sessions.
He and I have discussed this extensively and we are going to be making a few tweaks to improve the survivability of PCs. I’m going to up the binding of wounds from 1d4-1 hit points per battle to 1d6, and the overnight healing is going to be upped to 1d6 hit points as well. I think this is in keeping with the sword & sorcery vibe I’m going for. Battles are savage and death is not uncommon, but soon the characters are back into the thick of it. So we’re going to give it a try.
I’ve got another change, much more significant, in mind as well, but I want to think on it a bit. The goal is to increase survivability at the first couple levels without altering game balance or making mid-level characters TOO powerful. I also want the risk of PC death to remain significant, and even a threat to well-played characters. It’s a fine line and one that I think a lot of people have trouble with.
Tags: Forbidden Jungle, session
One of the projects I started working on nearly a year ago was a sandbox game centered around the classic module Dwellers of the Forbidden City. The plan was to use Swords & Wizardry White Box and really go for an old school swords & sorcery approach. Alas, as the year wore on and I ran short of time for gaming, I went All Labyrinth Lord All the Time and shelved the idea while still in the early stages. Now, unexpectedly, I’ve not only re-started things but actually just finished the very first session!
The hope had been to have a few of my 15-year-old son’s friends over for a night of gaming, but short notice and busy schedules meant that no one else could make it for a Friday night game. Rather than hold off, I went ahead and launched things with a one-on-one session with my son’s latest PC, a half-elf ranger rolled up using Labyrinth Lord’s Advanced Edition Companion. We hadn’t played for months, and I was worried that launching a major campaign with only one player was going to be a let-down. Instead, it was probably the best single session I’ve ever played with my son and one of the more memorable in my whole gaming career. For four hours at our table, not only did the Forbidden Jungle at last come to life, but my son braved the treacherous place with a character class he had never played or seen played before. And he rocked.
I don’t know how everyone feels about lengthy session write-ups. I know that I don’t always read all of them on other sites all the time, but I’m going to go into a bit of detail on this one. If the campaign takes off and we get a number of regular players, I’ll be getting a wiki going (something I’ve never done before) and this sort of stuff, hopefully written by players, will go there. But I really enjoyed this and want to give it the royal treatment. So read on if you dare.
Heart of Darkness: The Forbidden Jungle
Session 1, Starting on Jan 6, Year 783 of Gann
The PC, a half-elven ranger named Brundo (S11 I12 W13 D10 C17 Ch8) and an NPC half-orc cleric called Gushgar (S13 I9 W11 D10 C11 Ch9) arrived by ship in the fortified town of Shadella on the mouth of a huge river snaking up into a dark and mysterious continent. The town is held by a count and serves hunters, explorers, and prospectors who have come to this new world in the hope of finding a new life out of reach in the decadent society of the old world. They learn that ivory is main treasure to be found and that ship loads of it return regularly to the king of Gann. They gather rumors, learning that:
- A hunter led a large expedition up a narrow side river into an inland swamp some miles north and never returned. A week later a porter, apparently the lone survivor, staggered into town before expiring.
- Legend tells of a tower across the river to the southeast that has a huge labyrinth below. No one knows anyone who has actually seen this tower.
- In the hills to the northwest, there is a hill called Wolf Rock that apparently has ruins filled with treasure.
One of this week’s Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster:
thaumaturgy
\THAW-muh-ter-jee\noun
Meaning
: the performance of miracles; specifically : magicExample Sentence
After reading all seven Harry Potter novels in a span of two weeks, Audrey was hungry for more thrilling tales of mysticism and thaumaturgy.Did you know?
The magic of “thaumaturgy” is miraculous. The word, from a Greek word meaning “miracle working,” is applicable to any performance of miracles, especially by incantation. It can also be used of things that merely seem miraculous and unexplainable, like the thaumaturgy of a motion picture’s illusions (aka “movie magic”), or the thaumaturgy at work in an athletic team’s “miracle” comeback. In addition to “thaumaturgy,” we also have “thaumaturge” and “thaumaturgist,” both of which mean “a performer of miracles” or “a magician,” and the adjective “thaumaturgic,” meaning “performing miracles” or “of, relating to, or dependent on thaumaturgy.”*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Just fired off my entry, The Heart of Darkness, into this year’s contest.
You’ve got a couple days left: contest closes March 1, 0:00 GMT. That’s GMT, folks, so American dungeon designers do not think you’ve got until midnight Sunday night, February 28th. You’ll miss by a few hours.
The original concept I’d been thinking about for a while turned into something else completely as I started, based in part on an audiobook I was listening to at the time. It really stretches the definition of “dungeon.” As in, “um, Kilgore, do you even know what a dungeon is?” But I entered it anyway.
Last year I scored an honorable mention, so I figure I’ve used up my chances. So why not have a little fun?
I’m hesitant to post it at this time because I am going to be making use of it in a game that begins on Friday, so I’ll hold off for now.
Locklar looked down at the rotting body at his feet. “What the hades just happened?”
Emma poked at the putrid flesh with her spear. “One second he was trying to get rid of those skeletons, the next, he…he looked like…that.”
“I didn’t want to attack him,” Locklar said. “But I had no choice. You all saw.”
“Yeah, we saw,” Emma said, putting a hand on his arm. “But we don’t know what it was.”
Scepter of Turning Undead
In the hands of a cleric or paladin, this scepter carved from bone grants a +2 bonus to attempts to turn undead. When used by others, it grants the ability to turn undead as a cleric four levels lower than the user’s current level. In addition, holding the scepter grants immunity to the special attacks of undead, such as a mummy’s rotting touch, a vampire’s charm, a ghoul’s paralyzing touch, or the feared level drain. It does not, however, protect from physical damage from melee attacks or from standard magic such as that used by spell-casting undead like vampires and liches.
These benefits do not come without risk, however. If an attempt to turn undead fails, the character must immediately roll again on the turning table and turn into the form of undead their roll specifies. (Example: if they normally need a 7 to turn a zombie and a 10 to turn a wight, a roll of 7 indicates that they have turned into a zombie and a roll of 9 indicates that they have turned into a wight.) This effect lasts for 2d6 turns. Those who turn into intelligent undead retain their mental capabilities but may be overcome by the undead’s instincts.
A roll higher than the highest required turning number indicates that the character has saved against turning into undead (Example: if the most powerful type of undead a cleric can turn is a mummy with a roll of 11 or better and the character rolls a 12, he avoids turning into undead.)
“Turning undead” has a whole new meaning if you find this item. Inspired by this thread at OD&D Discussion.
Whippersnapper
No. Enc.: 1d4 (1d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30′ (10′)
Armor Class: 4 [14]
Hit Dice: 1d4+2
Attacks: 1 per HD (whips) / 1 (bite)
Damage: 1d4 subdual (whips) / 2d8
Save: F3-6
Morale: 10
Hoard Class: V (x2)Whippersnappers appear to be smaller cousins of the roper, standing about 6′ tall and easily mistaken for stalagmites in the shadows of the underworld. Each whippersnapper has 1d4+2 20′ tentacles which can whip targets for 1d4 subdual damage. If a target is knocked unconscious, the whippersnapper will attempt to drag it toward its maw at 10′ per round.
Whippersnappers suffer only 50% damage from cold-based attacks, and are immune to electrical-based attacks. However, fire is disagreeable to them and they suffer -4 to save versus fire-based attacks.
