A few weeks ago redditor hornbook1776 posted an alternate method of character creation for D&D 5E, hosted on The Arcana Times. Hornbook's Life Path Method is based, mainly, around three random tables which are used to determine starting ability scores. There is a table for randomly determining race and a table for class assignment and level advancement, but I am not going to analyze those as the first does not add an mechanical differences to character generation, and the second is both optional and more complex than it first appears.
Before going any further, I have two confessions to make. First, when it comes to my analysis skills, sometimes it is amateur hour in my house, but I eventually get it right. Second, I did not realize how deep the rabbit-hole goes when it comes to lifepath character generation systems.
After briefly reading through the PDF, I decided a quick and easy way to see how it Hornbook's Life Path Method works out would be to bulk generate a few dozen stat arrays. Ten minutes later I had a few dozen arrays and two results; there bias towards the Academic Path and all tables tended to generate results lower than the standard array option from the Player's Handbook.
Going back to see if anyone else had noticed the bias, I come upon Overpwred's post that had a much more rigorous analysis using a nifty little Python script that he whipped up. Fortunately my results were very similar, although my small sample size showed an even larger divergence from the standard array.
With the assistance of redditor /u/Overpwred I was able to analyze tables that I modified so that they all produce the same expected values, but with each table having the ability scores that are favoured. For the Academic table this is Intelligence & Wisdom, followed by Dexterity & Charisma, and lastly Strength & Constitution, [11.42, 12.06, 11.32, 12.95, 13.08, 12.03] being the result I got when when 1,000,000 results were generated for the Academic table.
This modified table does not necessarily give the same range of values found on the standard array, but it does give an expected value somewhere between the standard array and 4d6D1. There are still 5 results that either give no net ability score increase, or result in a penalty. These are not fun results, which got me thinking about how Backgrounds could be integrated into the tables.
I hope to get ahold of hornbook1776 to see if we can collaborate on releasing a revised version of his table on Arcana Times. While I work on that, my next post will look at life-path character creation in other systems, which were more numerous and diverse than I expected.
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Thursday, 13 November 2014
Tactile Maps: Redux
Yesterday on r/MapPorn (a safe for work part of Reddit focusing on the enjoyment of maps), someone posted another example of tactile maps and how they would be used for navigation.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
DMG Preview: Creating New Races
Today WotC published an article looking at a portion of Chapter 9 of the DMG, dealing with creating races, the examples being the Eladrin and a portion of the Aasimar. It looks like the guidance in the DMG will fall on the side of fewer powers rather than more, which makes sense since one of the main design principle of 5e seems to be the avoidance of powercreep.
In recent interviews Mike Mearls (head of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons) has said that instead of splat books WotC will be releasing two storylines/campaign settings a year. Some of these campaign settings will be accompanied by player's guides, which is where WotC is going to release rules for new classes and races.
This is a smart move, although it will annoy some who want to see specific races/classes now. Instead of a splat book dealing with psionics, psionic classes will be released alongside a campaign setting that focuses on psionics. Hopefully this allows allows us as a community to avoid published powercreep and instead give DMs and players the freedom to play with just the core three books without feeling like they are missing out.
In recent interviews Mike Mearls (head of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons) has said that instead of splat books WotC will be releasing two storylines/campaign settings a year. Some of these campaign settings will be accompanied by player's guides, which is where WotC is going to release rules for new classes and races.
This is a smart move, although it will annoy some who want to see specific races/classes now. Instead of a splat book dealing with psionics, psionic classes will be released alongside a campaign setting that focuses on psionics. Hopefully this allows allows us as a community to avoid published powercreep and instead give DMs and players the freedom to play with just the core three books without feeling like they are missing out.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Reskinning (or Refluffing) a Campaign Setting
When it comes to RPG games there are basically two types of resources: fluff and crunch. Crunch is generally regarded as the mechanics of the system, and fluff is all the stuff that surrounds it. Recently, although from the state of this blog it may not appear so, I have been bogged down in the minutiae of crunch. I have been looking at attribute score generation methods and the pros-and-cons of standard array, point-buy, and randomized attributes.
Going from six attributes to nine attributes is not as easy as just throwing more build points at a player and hoping they do not just consider four or more of the attributes dump-stats and max out their main stats. But that is a different post entirely, once I get the math down and my playtesters do not keep breaking the math. What I want to look at today is reskinning some rules that have already been designed for you, or in this case classes.
One of the methods I use for studying is to rewrite a chapter or an article while replacing key words with other words, forcing myself not to just skim and type the entirety out as fast as possible. This is what I have been doing with the 5e D&D players handbook. I figured that there would probably be some rules that I would not want in my game, but so far, other than changing which attributes apply to which proficiencies, my only erratas have been that choosing feats instead of attribute score improvements are listed within the class descriptions, and some of the names have been changed.
The goal I have with renaming some of the classes is to break the expectations that may come from veteran players, and to give some direction on the flavour of magic that can be found in the setting. Wizards are Ritualists, Warlocks are Occultists, Paladin are Oathbound, and Clerics are Oracles.
The name Ritualist goes in with my concept that the vancian magic that Wizards would normally use is just the completion of a ritual that they started to perform when they were "memorizing" their spells. Ritualists do not have an innate access to magical powers, and instead they learn through extensive study and the mastering of arcane rituals that have been passed down over the centuries. It should also lead players to look at one of the main strengths that a Ritualist has: ritual casting.
Warlocks have gotten a lot of baggage from pop culture, and video-games in specific. Changing the name to Occultist helps to illustrate the hidden source of their power, and also that they have a less formalized grasp of magic than a Ritualist would have. I am undecided as to whether I want to reskin the Great Old One patron option for Occultists, since that brings them fairly close to the concept of the cultists adversaries I have in my head. On the other hand, it is not like Mythos creatures are non-competitive.
The change from Paladin to Oathbound was fairly obvious, with the new found focus on oaths as the source of their magic. I also tend to find uncommon compound words interesting. Shadowfell, Feywild, Batman. All interesting. The new focus on oaths also opens the way to a class that is almost a reflection of the Occultist, with an oath made to an Archfae in return for powers intended to defeat other fae, or an oath made to a celestial being in trade for powers to defeat the servants of the Archfiend.
The most significant fluff change comes with the renaming of Clerics to Oracles. Priests at your local temple will not necessarily have access to spells, and cleric just reminds too many of my friends of clerical assistants, a common job title. No, Oracles are people you have direct access to their deity, although not necessarily the backing of a church hierarchy. I also like the idea, inspired by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, that deities are powered by their worshipers, and sometimes they have to take a direct interest in their followers well-being.
Going from six attributes to nine attributes is not as easy as just throwing more build points at a player and hoping they do not just consider four or more of the attributes dump-stats and max out their main stats. But that is a different post entirely, once I get the math down and my playtesters do not keep breaking the math. What I want to look at today is reskinning some rules that have already been designed for you, or in this case classes.
One of the methods I use for studying is to rewrite a chapter or an article while replacing key words with other words, forcing myself not to just skim and type the entirety out as fast as possible. This is what I have been doing with the 5e D&D players handbook. I figured that there would probably be some rules that I would not want in my game, but so far, other than changing which attributes apply to which proficiencies, my only erratas have been that choosing feats instead of attribute score improvements are listed within the class descriptions, and some of the names have been changed.
The goal I have with renaming some of the classes is to break the expectations that may come from veteran players, and to give some direction on the flavour of magic that can be found in the setting. Wizards are Ritualists, Warlocks are Occultists, Paladin are Oathbound, and Clerics are Oracles.
The name Ritualist goes in with my concept that the vancian magic that Wizards would normally use is just the completion of a ritual that they started to perform when they were "memorizing" their spells. Ritualists do not have an innate access to magical powers, and instead they learn through extensive study and the mastering of arcane rituals that have been passed down over the centuries. It should also lead players to look at one of the main strengths that a Ritualist has: ritual casting.
Warlocks have gotten a lot of baggage from pop culture, and video-games in specific. Changing the name to Occultist helps to illustrate the hidden source of their power, and also that they have a less formalized grasp of magic than a Ritualist would have. I am undecided as to whether I want to reskin the Great Old One patron option for Occultists, since that brings them fairly close to the concept of the cultists adversaries I have in my head. On the other hand, it is not like Mythos creatures are non-competitive.
The change from Paladin to Oathbound was fairly obvious, with the new found focus on oaths as the source of their magic. I also tend to find uncommon compound words interesting. Shadowfell, Feywild, Batman. All interesting. The new focus on oaths also opens the way to a class that is almost a reflection of the Occultist, with an oath made to an Archfae in return for powers intended to defeat other fae, or an oath made to a celestial being in trade for powers to defeat the servants of the Archfiend.
The most significant fluff change comes with the renaming of Clerics to Oracles. Priests at your local temple will not necessarily have access to spells, and cleric just reminds too many of my friends of clerical assistants, a common job title. No, Oracles are people you have direct access to their deity, although not necessarily the backing of a church hierarchy. I also like the idea, inspired by Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, that deities are powered by their worshipers, and sometimes they have to take a direct interest in their followers well-being.
Monday, 29 September 2014
Armored Combat
There is a video that is making the rounds that shows how effective full plate is, and how it little it encumbers your movement. This is not to say that the rules for armor should be changed, but it does give you an idea of how much brute force is involved in armored combat.
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Fantasy Races: the Planetouched
Taking inspiration from the new 5th edition of D&D, I looked at their planetouched race, but unlike most other races they only have one subtype/subrace rather than a selection like the other races. Therefore, in addition to an infernal bloodline, I will have a celestial based bloodline in my campaign setting.
Ability score increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Planetouched mature at the same rate as regular humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Planetouched may not have an innate tendency towards good or evil in respect to their lineage, but many of them end up there. The obvious infernal traits of the Tiefling often lead them to being social outcasts, and therefore a tendency to question authority, whereas people with an Aasimar bloodline are often revered in society and have a tendency towards lawful alignments.
Size. Planetouched are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is medium.
Darkvision. Thanks to your planar heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can not discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Aasimar Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Composure score increases by 2.
Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to cold damage.
Celestial Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the armor of agathys spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the daylight spell once per day. Composure is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.
Tiefling Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Manipulation score increases by 2.
Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Manipulation is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Planetouched Traits:
Planetouched share certain racial traits as a result of their planar ancestry. There are two separate bloodlines of planetouched, those with infernal blood, the Tieflings, and those with celestial, the Aasimar.Ability score increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Age. Planetouched mature at the same rate as regular humans but live a few years longer.
Alignment. Planetouched may not have an innate tendency towards good or evil in respect to their lineage, but many of them end up there. The obvious infernal traits of the Tiefling often lead them to being social outcasts, and therefore a tendency to question authority, whereas people with an Aasimar bloodline are often revered in society and have a tendency towards lawful alignments.
Size. Planetouched are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is medium.
Darkvision. Thanks to your planar heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can not discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Aasimar Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Composure score increases by 2.
Celestial Resistance. You have resistance to cold damage.
Celestial Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the armor of agathys spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the daylight spell once per day. Composure is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.
Tiefling Bloodline:
appearance text
Ability score increase. Your Manipulation score increases by 2.
Hellish Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage.
Infernal Legacy. You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hellish rebuke spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Manipulation is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Infernal.
Game Mechanic Hi-Light: Epic 6
Way back in 2007 Ryan Dancey put forward the idea that D&D has four distinct phases of play: gritty fantasy, heroic fantasy, as paragons, and superheroes. Another way of putting this would be looking at what the players save. From 1st to 5th they save the town, from 6th to 10th they save the city, from 11th to 15th they save the country, and from 16th to 20th they save the world.
Epic 6, commonly referred to as E6, is a game about the first two phases of play. Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per D&D, but upon attaining 6th level advancement changes. Each additional 5000 experience past 6th level gives the heroes an additional feat.
The rules for Epic 6 can be found at this website.
Epic 6, commonly referred to as E6, is a game about the first two phases of play. Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per D&D, but upon attaining 6th level advancement changes. Each additional 5000 experience past 6th level gives the heroes an additional feat.
The rules for Epic 6 can be found at this website.
Monday, 8 September 2014
Into the Darkness
I have been looking for a name for my campaign and I have finally settled on Into the Darkness. You would be surprised how many names have been taken for various dungeon crawl projects and how difficult is, at least for me, to actually wordsmith.
My last week has consisted of getting started on the new school year, and reading through the 5e Player's Handbook. I decided the easiest way to become familiar with the new rules, and decide on what homerules I want to include, is to type out the rulebook as I read through. This has basically turned into a project where I will have a somewhat custom ruleset, and an errata page to show what is different in specific.
Unfortunately, going back to wordsmithing, this lead me back to considering names for various custom races, and whether or not I should reuse names that other systems have already used. I am still not sure which direction I will go, but I have to admit if I had been the one who came up with the Aasimar race I would probably have a chuckle over the name, but having read it as someone else's creation I was less critical.
As with D&D 5e, I will be going with a few races/bloodlines, and each race gets two or more subtypes. An example of this would be the plane-touched bloodline, tentative called Soulborn, which give a core set of abilities, and then the Aasimar or Tiefling give different attribute modifiers and abilities.
To take an example directly from the 5e PHB lets look at elves. The base abilities you get from being an elf is +2 Dexterity, Darkvision, Keen Senses, Fey Ancestry, and a Trance you perform in place of sleeping. You can either be a High Elf, which gets +1 Intelligence and elven weapon training, a Wood Elf, which gets +1 Wisdom and some mobility related powers, or a Drow, which gets +1 Charisma and what we have come to see as the common suite of Drow magical powers alongside a weakness to sunlight.
Following this format gives the players, as it currently stands, ten different choices for racial abilities and ability score modification. This is more than an OSR retro-clone would have, which is what a lot of the recent dungeon crawl centric releases seem to focus around, but I see a lot of promise the the mechanics that exist in 5e, especially the bounded accuracy rules that are baked into the system.
My last week has consisted of getting started on the new school year, and reading through the 5e Player's Handbook. I decided the easiest way to become familiar with the new rules, and decide on what homerules I want to include, is to type out the rulebook as I read through. This has basically turned into a project where I will have a somewhat custom ruleset, and an errata page to show what is different in specific.
Unfortunately, going back to wordsmithing, this lead me back to considering names for various custom races, and whether or not I should reuse names that other systems have already used. I am still not sure which direction I will go, but I have to admit if I had been the one who came up with the Aasimar race I would probably have a chuckle over the name, but having read it as someone else's creation I was less critical.
As with D&D 5e, I will be going with a few races/bloodlines, and each race gets two or more subtypes. An example of this would be the plane-touched bloodline, tentative called Soulborn, which give a core set of abilities, and then the Aasimar or Tiefling give different attribute modifiers and abilities.
To take an example directly from the 5e PHB lets look at elves. The base abilities you get from being an elf is +2 Dexterity, Darkvision, Keen Senses, Fey Ancestry, and a Trance you perform in place of sleeping. You can either be a High Elf, which gets +1 Intelligence and elven weapon training, a Wood Elf, which gets +1 Wisdom and some mobility related powers, or a Drow, which gets +1 Charisma and what we have come to see as the common suite of Drow magical powers alongside a weakness to sunlight.
Following this format gives the players, as it currently stands, ten different choices for racial abilities and ability score modification. This is more than an OSR retro-clone would have, which is what a lot of the recent dungeon crawl centric releases seem to focus around, but I see a lot of promise the the mechanics that exist in 5e, especially the bounded accuracy rules that are baked into the system.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Tactile Maps
Going through the older posts on various blogs I found two posts on Telecanter's Receding Rules and Aeons and Augauries about tactile maps. At its simplest a tactile map serves as a map, but as seen in the Aeons and Augauries post, the map could also be a key, and decoding the instructions on the tactile map could be a mission in and of itself.
I may very well use a tactile map as a seed for one or more of the adventuring parties headed into the megadungeon. It serves as another motivator for heading into the megadungeon beyond the rumors system that I gave as an example in the Rappan Athuk rules hi-light. It also allows for the tactile map to function as a treasure that has a delayed pay off.
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
West Marches Style Campaigns
Back in May I came upon an old post by Ben Robbins about a campaign he ran called West Marches. I was not aware other people had considered this type of set-up, but that is mostly due to having focused my RPG reading on World of Darkness related ideas rather than more traditional fantasy/dungeoneering sources.
There are a few key rules that need to be adhered to when running a campaign in this way. First, the town should be safe and the wilds wild to help keep adventuring focused on exploration of the wilderness. Second, the DM should appear to be passive, giving the players a sandbox where they decide what they are going to do. Lastly, there is no set party and any players/characters can group up if they can get together.
Contrary to popular belief, the West Marches were not run as a hew crawl but instead used a vector based map. This front loads a lot of the development onto the DM requiring a high degree of detail when it comes to wilderness and dungeon sites. Especially when you consider that the players would be navigating via direction and landmarks. Personally, this mapping system would be too ambitious for me. As of now I feel more comfortable using a nested hex mapping system, starting off with a map consisting of 25-mile hexes, and then maps for more traveled or important areas consisting of 5-mile hexes, and if more detail is required maps consisting of 1-mile hexes.
There are a few key rules that need to be adhered to when running a campaign in this way. First, the town should be safe and the wilds wild to help keep adventuring focused on exploration of the wilderness. Second, the DM should appear to be passive, giving the players a sandbox where they decide what they are going to do. Lastly, there is no set party and any players/characters can group up if they can get together.
Contrary to popular belief, the West Marches were not run as a hew crawl but instead used a vector based map. This front loads a lot of the development onto the DM requiring a high degree of detail when it comes to wilderness and dungeon sites. Especially when you consider that the players would be navigating via direction and landmarks. Personally, this mapping system would be too ambitious for me. As of now I feel more comfortable using a nested hex mapping system, starting off with a map consisting of 25-mile hexes, and then maps for more traveled or important areas consisting of 5-mile hexes, and if more detail is required maps consisting of 1-mile hexes.
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 18: The Day I Stopped
Today is decided to stop with the 30-day worldbuilding challenge. It would be great if I was focusing on writing a story, but role-playing is not about telling a story but instead about playing a cooperative game. It did help me make me consideration to the cultures found within the region, but I already had the seeds for those ideas before undertaking the challenge.
Monday, 18 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 17: Moody Review
This exercise is to review decisions that have been made over the course of challenge and see if they still fit the moody that we are going for. I realize they do not as there are too many large settlements. The solution for this is simple: scale back the number of settlements. No division of imperial troops north of the interior mountains. A smaller settlement at the inlet. Just a railhead and the beginning of construction towards the interior mountain pass.
I lost sight of the fact that much more of the setting should be wilderness, and the infrastructure necessary to support such a large interior settlement would produce what would generally be considered the absence of wilderness. The effort does not need to be scrapped, but initial mining of magicite should be taking place in wildcat mines rather than large industrial pits.
I lost sight of the fact that much more of the setting should be wilderness, and the infrastructure necessary to support such a large interior settlement would produce what would generally be considered the absence of wilderness. The effort does not need to be scrapped, but initial mining of magicite should be taking place in wildcat mines rather than large industrial pits.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Worldbulding Day 16: More Speculation
Today's exercise is to look at another speculative element and to establish limits and boundaries for it. Works of fantasy often have fantastic intangibles that we cannot dream of encountering in real life, and they should act in a consistent way, as if governed by imaginary rules of physics. Internal consistency is what makes or breaks willing suspension of disbelief.
An obvious story element that needs examination is magic. Magic always comes at a price or otherwise it would be ubiquitous. Alchemical magic has the cost of components in addition to the proper education necessary to perform it. Theury as practiced by priests and clerics is limited by the faith that the practitioner has alongside whatever fickle limitations the granting entity decides upon. Device magic has the same limitations as alchemical magic. Inherent gift magic has fewer limitations, but it limited by the restrictive nature that grants the magic (ex: a magical bloodline). Magic that taps into ley lines is by nature geographically limited.
All parties involved will obviously attempt to use magic to their advantage, but magic using beings may also see advantage in restricting access to magic so as to increase their own value. Why spread arcane knowledge if that means you have a weaker bargaining position when it comes to the use of your magic.
An obvious story element that needs examination is magic. Magic always comes at a price or otherwise it would be ubiquitous. Alchemical magic has the cost of components in addition to the proper education necessary to perform it. Theury as practiced by priests and clerics is limited by the faith that the practitioner has alongside whatever fickle limitations the granting entity decides upon. Device magic has the same limitations as alchemical magic. Inherent gift magic has fewer limitations, but it limited by the restrictive nature that grants the magic (ex: a magical bloodline). Magic that taps into ley lines is by nature geographically limited.
All parties involved will obviously attempt to use magic to their advantage, but magic using beings may also see advantage in restricting access to magic so as to increase their own value. Why spread arcane knowledge if that means you have a weaker bargaining position when it comes to the use of your magic.
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 15: Resources
Today is somewhat of a cheat day due to the exercise just focusing on reading other resources on world building, so I am off camping for the weekend to get first hand experience on camping with what you can bring in on your back.
Friday, 15 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 14: Education
Today's exercise is an extension of the society and culture exercise: the education system the world uses. This will be brief because some of this will be addressed in character generation, but there are a variety of educational forms. Some people simply learn the profession of their parents. Others join guilds as apprentices. The empire has state schools. The city states have religious school. Some monasteries are dedicated to learning. A few universities exist in the heart of civilization. The range of education available is broad and eclectic, just like the population that has journeyed to this region in the hopes of making a better life or some quick money.
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 13: Plot Hooks and the Speculative Element
Looks like I will have to revise my speculative element. Today's exercise is to look at the speculative element and determine ten things that the speculative element can do for my setting. What can verisimilitude due for my setting? Well, examining the ecosystem, considering the impact of multiple entrances, and looking at NPC relationships within the dungeon should be able to give me a few plot hooks.
NPC factions that can not support themselves from the resources within the megadungeon will obviously have to control a route to the surface in order to acquire new resources such as food. This means that the monsters found close to the entrances will either be strong and able able to maintain firm control of the route or weak due to constant fighting.
There are multiple entrances to the megadungeon (currently a dozen mapped) so this means a system needs to used to determine whether a faction located near the surface is powerful or not. A simple rule will be that entrances located closer to the periphery of the megadungeon will be weaker, wheseas factions that control a route that provides easier access to the core of the megadungeon will usually be strong. There will be a couple exceptions to this rule due to fighting between various factions.
Some factions do not need access to the surface. Included in this list are slimes, undead, demonic beings, fungal creatures, and elementals (this is not an exhaustive list). This gives a broad range of enemies of various power levels to populate the lower levels of the megadungeon. It also leads me to consider that undead or demons should be one of the largest threats, which natural lends itself to clerics and paladins being stronger in the "end game" then they normally would be.
NPC factions that can not support themselves from the resources within the megadungeon will obviously have to control a route to the surface in order to acquire new resources such as food. This means that the monsters found close to the entrances will either be strong and able able to maintain firm control of the route or weak due to constant fighting.
There are multiple entrances to the megadungeon (currently a dozen mapped) so this means a system needs to used to determine whether a faction located near the surface is powerful or not. A simple rule will be that entrances located closer to the periphery of the megadungeon will be weaker, wheseas factions that control a route that provides easier access to the core of the megadungeon will usually be strong. There will be a couple exceptions to this rule due to fighting between various factions.
Some factions do not need access to the surface. Included in this list are slimes, undead, demonic beings, fungal creatures, and elementals (this is not an exhaustive list). This gives a broad range of enemies of various power levels to populate the lower levels of the megadungeon. It also leads me to consider that undead or demons should be one of the largest threats, which natural lends itself to clerics and paladins being stronger in the "end game" then they normally would be.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 12: The Speculative Element
Today's exercise is to think on what differences a particular speculative element of the store would have on the setting. This has been considered in great depth by many players. Why if clerics can make food are there still farmers? The question of why in a world with alchemy and healing magic should sickness and injury exist was recent discussed on Reddit. My answer is that there is a cost, either material component or faith, that makes it inefficient to just rely on magic. The real question that should concern me is: does a megadungeon make sense (or does it even have to)?
Ah, verisimilitude. Using monster relationships to improve megadungeon verisimilitude. Jaquaying the dungeon. Gygaxian naturalism vs the dungeon as mythic underworld. A lot has been written on trying to give megadungeons internal consistency, or conversely, no internal consistency in the case of the mythic underworld theory. I fall on the side of a megadungeon needing internal consistency. There should hopefully be no "gotcha" moments where the players die purely to blind chance. Every threat in the dungeon should be able to be predicted to a degree, as long as you have enough knowledge before hand. The acquisition of knowledge should be a key goal of the players.
I know it is not really a dungeon game, but I look at Portal for inspiration. You are given the rules on how the portal gun works and face a simple puzzle. From there you proceed to more and more complex iterations of effectively the same puzzle. Same goes to the megadungeon; introduce the logic for solving the problems they encounter and just make the problems more complex. This is not a perfect parallel since RPG's are more complex than Portal. The approach I will take is to either introduce information about a threat before the players encounter it or to introduce new threats in a way that is less likely to be lethal. A good example for the less lethal option would be discovering a trap that malfunctions. They now know what to look for for indications of that trap without causing them great harm. This hopefully has them avoid the "paranoia crawl" where players constantly try and roll for perception and constantly tap the floor with a 10-foot pole checking for spike pits.
Ah, verisimilitude. Using monster relationships to improve megadungeon verisimilitude. Jaquaying the dungeon. Gygaxian naturalism vs the dungeon as mythic underworld. A lot has been written on trying to give megadungeons internal consistency, or conversely, no internal consistency in the case of the mythic underworld theory. I fall on the side of a megadungeon needing internal consistency. There should hopefully be no "gotcha" moments where the players die purely to blind chance. Every threat in the dungeon should be able to be predicted to a degree, as long as you have enough knowledge before hand. The acquisition of knowledge should be a key goal of the players.
I know it is not really a dungeon game, but I look at Portal for inspiration. You are given the rules on how the portal gun works and face a simple puzzle. From there you proceed to more and more complex iterations of effectively the same puzzle. Same goes to the megadungeon; introduce the logic for solving the problems they encounter and just make the problems more complex. This is not a perfect parallel since RPG's are more complex than Portal. The approach I will take is to either introduce information about a threat before the players encounter it or to introduce new threats in a way that is less likely to be lethal. A good example for the less lethal option would be discovering a trap that malfunctions. They now know what to look for for indications of that trap without causing them great harm. This hopefully has them avoid the "paranoia crawl" where players constantly try and roll for perception and constantly tap the floor with a 10-foot pole checking for spike pits.
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 11: Focus In
Today's exercise is to expand upon one of the elements that we have already created. A lot of this guide is focused around creating the setting for a novel and fleshing out the personal history of characters. Obviously there should be minimal direction from the DM on character concept for the players since a lot of the fun in the game can be found in designing your own character. That leaves either focusing on the political economy of the region or writing a glossary or lexicon for your region's languages.
Muddy River Settlement:
This is a small city located near the mouth of the muddy river, with a population of 2,500. The ethnic makeup of the city is 70% city-state, 25% northerner, 10% empire, and 5% from other places. The major religion in the settlement is still based on the city-state pantheon, but their is an imperial orthodox presence within the city to serve the empire's garrison. The median income is lower than that found at the inlet settlement, but the city still does decent trade in precious metals and furs from the other side of the coastal range. The city is nominal controlled by The Empire, but true control rests with The Guild.
River Mining Settlement:
The river mining settlement is the supply hub of the muddy river region and provides supplies and services to furriers and miners within the muddy river region. The settlement has a population of around 500, with 80% city-state, 10% empire, 5% northerner, and 5% other. This does not include the several hundred to over a thousand trappers and miners further into the wilderness. There is an Empire fort to the west between the settlement and the great bog, a small chapter house of The Order, and a mage chantry in the foothills to the south.
Inlet Settlement:
The largest city in the region, and likely anywhere in the world that far north, the inlet settlement has more than 75,000 residents. The population is 85% empire, with 10% city-state, and 5% northerner. Even with such a small portion of the population being northerner, this is still the largest northerner settlement in the region. The city is built on the best deep water port in the region and services both an extensive fishing fleet and unobtanium freighters (from here on called magicite until I come up with a better name). Some magicite refining is done onsite to power the various magi-industrial devices in the region alongside the lightning rail. All factions have an extensive presence in the city, with The Empire having dominance due to their army division located just outside the city, and their large fleet base on an island just off shore of the city.
Valley Settlement:
Located at the confluence of two rivers, and the main crossing of the lightning rail, the valley settlement serves serves mostly as a logistics centre serving natural resource extraction and small-scale agricultural activity. The city has a population of 5,500, with 45% city-state, 50% empire, and 5% northerners.
Interior Settlement:
This is the largest settlement in the interior of the region, and second largest after the inlet settlement. The city has a population of 25,000, with 65% empire, 10% northerner, 10% city-state, and 15% from other regions. The two most significant sources of employment in the city are magicite extraction and the Empire government. There is a significant garrison in the city, with a full army division available. There is also a significant mage guild presence, with the oldest tower in the region being found here due to favorable ley lines.
The Order:
The Order has several small chapter houses located around the region. They often send squads to smaller settlements and hamlets that the Empire would not normally patrol due to rough terrain. There is some tension between The Order and The Empire, as The Empire does not like a military organization not under their control and The Order does not follow the orthodox faith. Since The Order is useful in keeping down threats in the wilderness there is an uneasy peace between them and empire garrisons.
Muddy River Settlement:
This is a small city located near the mouth of the muddy river, with a population of 2,500. The ethnic makeup of the city is 70% city-state, 25% northerner, 10% empire, and 5% from other places. The major religion in the settlement is still based on the city-state pantheon, but their is an imperial orthodox presence within the city to serve the empire's garrison. The median income is lower than that found at the inlet settlement, but the city still does decent trade in precious metals and furs from the other side of the coastal range. The city is nominal controlled by The Empire, but true control rests with The Guild.
River Mining Settlement:
The river mining settlement is the supply hub of the muddy river region and provides supplies and services to furriers and miners within the muddy river region. The settlement has a population of around 500, with 80% city-state, 10% empire, 5% northerner, and 5% other. This does not include the several hundred to over a thousand trappers and miners further into the wilderness. There is an Empire fort to the west between the settlement and the great bog, a small chapter house of The Order, and a mage chantry in the foothills to the south.
Inlet Settlement:
The largest city in the region, and likely anywhere in the world that far north, the inlet settlement has more than 75,000 residents. The population is 85% empire, with 10% city-state, and 5% northerner. Even with such a small portion of the population being northerner, this is still the largest northerner settlement in the region. The city is built on the best deep water port in the region and services both an extensive fishing fleet and unobtanium freighters (from here on called magicite until I come up with a better name). Some magicite refining is done onsite to power the various magi-industrial devices in the region alongside the lightning rail. All factions have an extensive presence in the city, with The Empire having dominance due to their army division located just outside the city, and their large fleet base on an island just off shore of the city.
Valley Settlement:
Located at the confluence of two rivers, and the main crossing of the lightning rail, the valley settlement serves serves mostly as a logistics centre serving natural resource extraction and small-scale agricultural activity. The city has a population of 5,500, with 45% city-state, 50% empire, and 5% northerners.
Interior Settlement:
This is the largest settlement in the interior of the region, and second largest after the inlet settlement. The city has a population of 25,000, with 65% empire, 10% northerner, 10% city-state, and 15% from other regions. The two most significant sources of employment in the city are magicite extraction and the Empire government. There is a significant garrison in the city, with a full army division available. There is also a significant mage guild presence, with the oldest tower in the region being found here due to favorable ley lines.
The Order:
The Order has several small chapter houses located around the region. They often send squads to smaller settlements and hamlets that the Empire would not normally patrol due to rough terrain. There is some tension between The Order and The Empire, as The Empire does not like a military organization not under their control and The Order does not follow the orthodox faith. Since The Order is useful in keeping down threats in the wilderness there is an uneasy peace between them and empire garrisons.
Monday, 11 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 10: Mood and Culture
The exercise today is one of consideration and revision. Currently I do not feel that there is anything necessary for extensive revision, so I think that I will expand upon a mechanic that I hi-lighted when I examined 13th Age: icons. I am going to try and brainstorm several icons/factions that play a role in the region surrounding the megadungeon.
There are a few things I need to consider when coming up with my own icons. Icons are all social by nature. Someone connected to the icon has to provide the benefit of an icon relationship roll to the player, be it money, a map, a henchmen, or just information. The icons themselves also have goals, and this helps make icons more than just vending machines for the player's benefit.
Icons/Factions:
Mage's Guild: This faction represents the local magic school in the region. They provide training and information and hold some political power in the main settlement.
The Order: This faction represents a militant paladin order that fights the forces of chaos northern of the main mountain range.
The Cult: This faction represents the cultists that have infiltrated the settlements in the region and attempt to sabotage and corruption life behind the defensive forts.
The Northern King: This icon represents the political power in the northern tribes. He is attempting to keep that status quo for fear that any change will leave his people at an even more disadvantageous position.
The Empire: This faction represents the imperial interests in the region. They control the town guards, the army, and the unobtanium mines in the region. They keep the peace and form the economic backbone of the region.
Chaos: This faction represents the raiders from the northern wastes that have been attacking the region for the last few decades. Their motivation and where they derived their power from remain a mystery.
The Guild: This faction represents the merchant guilds, but also the shadowy thieves' guild. They are not evil per se, but I would not consider them a force of good.
There are other factions that I have considered within the megadungeon, but they are not integrated with the social structure of the settlements surrounding the megadungeon so I do not see them as candidates to introduce as factions/icons.
There are a few things I need to consider when coming up with my own icons. Icons are all social by nature. Someone connected to the icon has to provide the benefit of an icon relationship roll to the player, be it money, a map, a henchmen, or just information. The icons themselves also have goals, and this helps make icons more than just vending machines for the player's benefit.
Icons/Factions:
Mage's Guild: This faction represents the local magic school in the region. They provide training and information and hold some political power in the main settlement.
The Order: This faction represents a militant paladin order that fights the forces of chaos northern of the main mountain range.
The Cult: This faction represents the cultists that have infiltrated the settlements in the region and attempt to sabotage and corruption life behind the defensive forts.
The Northern King: This icon represents the political power in the northern tribes. He is attempting to keep that status quo for fear that any change will leave his people at an even more disadvantageous position.
The Empire: This faction represents the imperial interests in the region. They control the town guards, the army, and the unobtanium mines in the region. They keep the peace and form the economic backbone of the region.
Chaos: This faction represents the raiders from the northern wastes that have been attacking the region for the last few decades. Their motivation and where they derived their power from remain a mystery.
The Guild: This faction represents the merchant guilds, but also the shadowy thieves' guild. They are not evil per se, but I would not consider them a force of good.
There are other factions that I have considered within the megadungeon, but they are not integrated with the social structure of the settlements surrounding the megadungeon so I do not see them as candidates to introduce as factions/icons.
Sunday, 10 August 2014
Worldbuilding Day 9: Language
I am going to go off the assigned exercise a little and look at which languages I am going to use as inspiration for my various in setting languages. Obviously neither the players nor I will be speaking these languages, but it will help with the direction of the nouns in the game and give some flavor. The exercise in the guide asks me to consider what sort of syllables and sounds I would like to hear to give various feelings. Two examples they give are a language that should sound soft like water or a language that should sound hard like Klingon. I have done a fair bit of traveling and worked with expats from a variety of countries during my time in asia, so I feel more comfortable just getting these sounds and names directly from various languages.
The native northern population is going to take inspiration from the Goidelic/Gaelie languages. The city states will likely be influenced by another indo-european language to feel more familiar, likely an Anglo-Germanic mash-up. The western empire will likely speak a Hellenic language for administrative purposes, with other dialects active within the empire.
Not trying to be racist, but the less familiar the race is supposed to be the less familiar the language will be. Dwarves will not sound like some sort of Scotsman if encountered, and will speak a language completely unrelated to other indo-european languages. I am not certain which I would take inspiration from, but it the spoken language will be less important in this case than the written language, which will definitely not take the form of stereotypical basic runes.
I suppose the Dwarven script should consist of straight lines since that would be the easiest way to carve letters into rock, but perhaps they are so skilled at stonework that they can have a flowing script that would be amzingly difficult for any human to duplicate into stone.
The native northern population is going to take inspiration from the Goidelic/Gaelie languages. The city states will likely be influenced by another indo-european language to feel more familiar, likely an Anglo-Germanic mash-up. The western empire will likely speak a Hellenic language for administrative purposes, with other dialects active within the empire.
Not trying to be racist, but the less familiar the race is supposed to be the less familiar the language will be. Dwarves will not sound like some sort of Scotsman if encountered, and will speak a language completely unrelated to other indo-european languages. I am not certain which I would take inspiration from, but it the spoken language will be less important in this case than the written language, which will definitely not take the form of stereotypical basic runes.
I suppose the Dwarven script should consist of straight lines since that would be the easiest way to carve letters into rock, but perhaps they are so skilled at stonework that they can have a flowing script that would be amzingly difficult for any human to duplicate into stone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)