All posts by Darren

A Single Go To Map

D&D, RPG

Yesterday Sly Flourish put up a very interesting post called The Only Dungeon Map You’ll Ever Need.

Sly’s post itself was inspired by one by Dyson Logos (he of those awesome maps).

Having a default multi use dungeon is a great idea for a DM/GM to have in their toolbox.

As Sly says in his post “Which map is your go-to map when you don’t have anything prepared and need a map to run your game right now? What map can you print out, stick in your kit, and use for the next 40 years?”

Sly then goes on to present a list of criteria that should help you selecting your ideal map. Before then suggesting one or two maps that are worth considering.

And I will be choosing one or two to add to my DM’s folder.

However Sly does raise the question about why limit yourself to one map. And I do keep my copy of the Lazy DM Workbook with my DM folder. Plus the maps I have used previously during the campaign. This fits in with a bit of advice that Jim Murphy gave in one of his videos about being a minimalist DM and being a magpie for maps.

Also with either or both of the decks that allow me to generate random dungeons I have the ability to create a dungeon on the fly no matter what the party decide to do. Potentially this does away with the need to have one of these go to maps. However I don’t see them being an either or situation. Both could happily be in your DM toolbox.

What do you think? Is this something you’ll be adding to your DM toolbox?

Random Dungeon #7

#randomdungeon, D&D, RPG

Thought it was time to create another random dungeon. Once again using the latest addition I have for doing this The Deck of Many Dungeons.

Whilst I was creating this one it felt like I was doing a magic trick. The deck had been given a good shuffle before use.

I selected the starting/entrance card at random. Then before drawing a card cut the deck each time. And I be damned I drew nothing but spades.

Once again it came out as a small dungeon. Which I thought looked like it worked out nicely with out using any of the king cards to act as the stairs down to another level or completion of the quest. Although if I was going for a multi level dungeon the eight of spades is the card I’d replace with a random King.

I do like these little dungeons that are being created. They can be side quests, little distractions. Just something the party stumble upon.

The Voracious Goddess #1

7th Continent

Having reclaimed my dining table from the MtG cards (an act that should worry WotC but doesn’t) I’m ready to start playing once again The 7th Continent.

It’s been nearly three years since I last played this game. Which is a shame. It really deserves having the love that playing it gives it.

Since I last played it there has been a new expansion What Goes Up, Must Come Down. Which adds two new curses plus a hot air balloon, a raft, three new explorers and a goat. It was joined by two smaller expansions as well (The Flying Roots and Creature Comforts).

Having been an original backer when I backed the new expansion I was also given an upgrade kit that replaced a handful of cards to make my original version the same as the reprint (ie 2.0).

Yesterday I spent the afternoon replacing cards, adding new ones, and undoing my previous saved game state.

I wanted to start afresh with all the new stuff mixed in.

Naturally I’m going to be boring you with my tales of exploration and adventure on here. I’ve got nothing better to do, have you?

So before I set off on my travels across The 7th Continent I thought I would document the setup for this curse.

In to the action deck are the four cards that come with the new Flying Roots expansion. Plus the new Comfort Creatures (not sure what that adds but it will be interesting to find out). Which with the Face the Elements and Fear the Devourers from the original Kickstarter make up the extra stuff I’m likely to bump into.

Because this is my first play in such a long time I’m using the original games easy mode (card 777) plus the new Prodigy Mode (5 learning from mistakes cards added to the action deck) PLUS the new Immortal Mode (card 888). This later mode is aimed at those more interested in exploring than surviving.

I’m also using the Pocket Watch from the base game.


With the What Goes Up, Must Come Down expansion we also got this rather cool fake leather binder to use instead of the Satchel and Journal card. So all the cards that would normally go under the said card will go in this instead.

Oh and the dice I will be using to track the usage of items will be the cool bone looking dice from the original Kickstarter.

I’ve decided to go with one of the new explorers from What Goes Up, Must Come Down, Anjika Patel.

The curse chosen is the one advised in the rulebook for first plays “The Voracious Goddess”. I didn’t get very far into it anyway three years ago, and can’t remember what I did. So it’s a good starting point.

Right that’s the setup time to go off into the unknown…

Some inspiration for campaigns from MtG

D&D, RPG

It’s taken me two days. But I’ve freed up my dining room table from all the MtG cards on it. I had been using the table as a “staging” area for my deck building efforts.

But considering my lack of playing and deck building I finally gave in and tied up the space. I’ll stick with my Commander decks and just tweak them for the time being.

But whilst I was tidying up the table I came across the following two bits of cardboard from the Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation Pre-release kits.

I immediately after looking at them felt these are pretty good ideas to to use in a campaign.

Forget the MtG small text for each challenge. It’s the titles.

I love the idea of sending a party on five trials to earn favour from a God. Each trial faced being themed around it’s title. Each one testing the members of the party as a group and individually.

A harder one to work in is the other card with The Five Hours. At the moment this speaks to me as being event based around time. I need to think more about this one.

I might have to go back and look at the lore for this block to see what ideas get created.

Onitama App

apps

Here we are once more with yet another quick look at an app version of a boardgame. This time it’s the really awesome two player abstract game Onitama.

The app version of the game implements the base game and the 16 card Sensei’s Path expansion (an in app purchase, the other in app purchase you can make is basically a couple of themed skins.)

Naturally the game looks nice. Although for me playing on an iPad would have liked the game to use landscape mode and not portrait. Or at least swap between the two intelligently depending on the orientation of the screen.

I’m fine with the top down view of the board. But a 3D view would have appealed more.

I’ve played this both online with Jonathan and solo against the AI. Naturally my preference is against friends. But the AI was a cool alternative with the option of setting how difficult the AI opponent is.

This is a solid implementation of the board game. If you are a fan of the game it’s worth getting.

Santorini App

apps

One benefit of the lockdown is that I’m discovering that there have been app versions of some of my favourite board games released that I somehow missed.

A good example of this is that I missed Santorini hitting the App Store.

In physical form this is a great abstract game that looks beautiful on the table. It’s quick to teach and learn. But that hides a complexity especially when you are using the God cards with their different and unique powers.

This app version of the game looks beautiful and captures the real game fantastically.

For your initial investment you get 34 of the Gods selected from the base game, Golden Fleece expansion and a promo. You can also buy a further 24 Gods in-game.

I’ve only played against the AI so far, there is online play. The AI can be set at various difficulty levels, which includes a God level. Which I haven’t been brave enough to try yet.

You can rotate the board around easily to get different views of the board. Which you will have to do. It’s just a nature of this 3D game as an app and in real life.

I really like the job the developer has done with this. I’m glad I came across it.

In response to Jonathan’s comment:

Carcassonne 2.0

apps

Carcassonne has been on iOS for years.

I’ve owned it for years, had all the expansions they added.

It was a good implementation of a board game classic.

But things change. Never developers pick up licenses, old ones lose them.

For whatever reason a new version of Carcassonne got released, and given a make over.

Where the previous version was a good looking game that accurately represented the physical game. The art used was the art from the tiles. With a 2D top down view.

This new version adds an isometric camera view (bottom left) to go alongside the 2D top down view and other graphical flourishes that make the game seem fresh.

Naturally you can easily swap between the two views to your hearts content, and settle on the one you prefer.

Some of the flourishes include animating the meeples so that they bounce on the board in the isometric view. Or at the press of the button you get to see which areas of the board are covered by farmer meeples(top left). Or the dragon tokens that keep count of the number of moves the dragon has taken, along with possible moves and where it has been (top right).

I also like how a city only gets built once it has been completed. Until then it is just a muddy outline.

I’ve only played against the AI at the moment. Which was something that wasn’t possible in the previous version (there were puzzles/challenges you could do, but that didn’t work for me). Sometimes the AI can take a couple of minutes or longer to make a move, which is annoying. But on the whole I’ve found the AI challenging but not over powering.

There is online play across platforms. However I’m not one for playing against strangers. I much prefer playing against friends. Said friends have not got this app yet. So this isn’t something I’ve used in this version. There is also a text chat option to. But I refer you the just made statement about online play.

The main drawback for me with this new version is that I’ve had to buy everything again.

But it does have my favourite expansions as in app purchases. These are The Abbot, The River, Inns & Cathedrals, Traders and Builders, The Princess and Dragon, and the Winter Edition (not purchased yet). I like what these add to the game, they extend it’s playing time. But that’s a compromise I’m prepared to make, as they add so much.

I really like this new version.

D&D Free Stuff From WotC

D&D, news, RPG

After a couple of days break I’m back. I’ve got my mojo back.

WotC have joined the throng of designers and publishers giving away free stuff to help out during these unsure and worrying times.

D&D (and any RPG) is one of those games that plays really well remotely using the various tools out there. I’m not going to go into the options and how to here. There are some great videos and articles (D&D Beyond, Sly Flourish, and Matt Colville to name a handful) out there on the interweb that cover all that.

But once you have chosen your path to online play (or it could be round a table if playing in the home). You are going to need the rules and a scenario.

That’s where WotC come in.

WotC each week day are releasing an Adventure League scenario and other content for free. The other content is usually a colouring page for younger people (although it can be used by more mature folks if that’s your thing).

“Content will be added daily, Monday-Friday. Check back each day for the latest free, downloadable content. Please note that certain adventures are being made free on the DMs Guild for a limited time, so be sure to grab them now while you can!”

Also on the page are links to the basic rules and pre-generated character sheets.

By visiting the page and picking up the free goodies you basically have everything to play D&D (except dice, pencil and paper and friends).

I’ve also included a link below to the Unearthed Arcana rules for sidekicks for anyone that wants to play D&D at home with their partner/room mate. It would have been nice of WotC to have released the final version of this as it appeared in the Essentials Kit alongside some sidekicks. But we can’t have everything. Maybe that’s for another day.

Just remember to grab the stuff off the DMs Guild now, even if you don’t think you will need to right away. It’s not staying free for ever.

Here is the LINK you need to get the free goodies.

Unearthed Arcana Sidekick rules.

Random Dungeon #6

#randomdungeon, D&D, RPG

For this latest random dungeon instead of using the quick and easy dungeon map cards. Which do create pretty looking dungeons. I’ve decided to go “old school” and use the tables in Appendix A: Random Dungeons of the DMG along with the tables from Chapter 5: Adventure Environments pages 99 – 101 of the same publication.

So for this random dungeon I used graph paper, pencil, and dice along side the above mentioned sections of the DMG.

Starting Area (1d10): 7

Dungeon Location: 59

Exotic Location: 4

Dungeon Creator: 17

Dungeon Purpose: 20

Dungeon History: 12

The entrance to our dungeon is in a mountain pass buried under an avalanche. The dungeon had been created by a liche to hold its hoard of treasure and magical items. The liche was destroyed by internal conflict. That conflict could be underlings rising up hoping to take the treasure for themselves.

Taking into account the entrance is under the debris of an avalanche any party wishing to enter must either enter through the secondary entrance if they can find it. Or successfully complete a group challenge or skill challenge to clear away the rubble to get to the entrance.

Starting Area (Room 1: 20) – Trap or trick designed to kill or capture creatures that enter the dungeon.

This room has a well in the centre.

Current state: 10 – pool of water, chamber’s original contents are water damaged.

Room 2: 1 – Antechamber for visiting dignitaries.

Current state: 5 – Holes, floor partially collapsed.

Room 3: 6 – Guardroom to defend against intruders.

Current state: 9 – used as a campsite.

Room 4: 4 – Barracks for guards.

Current state: 16 – Furniture wrecked but still present.

Room 5: 14 – Strong room or vault, for guarding the treasure hidden in the dungeon, accessible only by locked or secret door.

Current state: 19 – stripped bare.

Room 6: 10 – Kennel for trained beasts used to guard the treasure vault.

Current state: 15 – Furniture wrecked but still present.

Room 7: 2 – Armoury containing mundane and magic gear used by the treasure vault’s guards.

Current state: 12 – Furniture wrecked but still present.

Room 8: 11 – Kitchen for feeding guards.

Current state: 16 – Furniture wrecked but still present.

Room 9: 15 – Strong room or vault, for guarding the treasure hidden in the dungeon, accessible only by locked or secret door.

Current state: 12 – Furniture wrecked but still present.

Obviously there are a load more tables to use in Appendix A to determine obstacles, traps, monsters, treasure and magic items, plus how the rooms are decorated.

Yes my map isn’t the prettiest to look at. But it’s functional and does the job. And boy is that cross hatching boring to do.

Hope you liked the change,