After the only gaming thing I did over the weekend was finally getting round to sorting my Star Realms collection (actually got the cards in the official big storage box now) I’m back once more for this #RPGaDAY2019 thing.

Today’s inspiring word for #RPGaDAY2019 is…

Today’s theme is a toughie.

Mainly because I’ve not played a horror or scary RPG. Or a scenario that is meant to be either.

There are plenty of opportunities to play a system where horror and being scared are a major element or the basis of the theme.

The image below shows a handful of them. So whether you want that Lovecraft mythology or more vampire/zombie theme there is a system or setting for you. You can even go Stranger Things inspired with Tales from the Loop.

I’d like to run a scary/horror one shot around the traditional time of year for such things (although I hate the commercial Americanisation that over shadows our traditional Guy Fawkes celebrations). My leanings at the moment are either The End of the World or Curse of Strahd.

The End of the World is a zombie apocalypse themed RPG. The hook is you are playing yourself in which every town/city you are living in. Your starting equipment is whatever is in your pocket and around you in the room you are playing.

The Curse of Strahd is set in Ravenloft and is a D&D fantasy horror setting. There are already all the creatures needed for the traditional classic horror setting, such as vampires (the main villain of the setting is one), werewolves and zombies.

A setting and theme alone do not make a session scary. I think good horror or scary movie is not just about the gore. It’s about the shocks, build up of suspense and sometimes not so subtle social commentary. Plus the many tropes such as the final girl or vengeful spirit.

So the problem is how to transfer these over to the tabletop?

If I run The Curse of Strahd then I have to hope that all this has been done already. Or I could take the book as inspiration and roll my own one shot in that setting, and attempt to do the job myself of including that stuff. Which I have no idea how to do (at the moment).

The End of the World is a great opportunity to explore social issues. Zombie movies, especially the Romero ones are great at embedding them into the setting. Considering that this setting is current day using current events is pretty easy.

The easiest thing to include are the tropes (apart from the final girl).

But I think the fact players playing themselves along with the traumas (ones they are happy to talk about publicly) is a great opportunity to dial up the suspense, and shocks. Especially if you know the players really well. Although I think this system really needs a good discussion before the game starts about peoples no go areas. What are they not comfortable discussing or dealing with. Not just the personal traumas but also situations. A player may not be comfortable dealing with family members dying and becoming zombies.

The decision about which system to go with may come down to the simple fact that I have The End of the World already. But having written all of the above, my curiosity and need to just buy stuff because, that may not be the deciding factor nearer the time.

Ok now go off and find some proper words on this theme.

Having skipped a day to tell you about the Fenland Gamers monthly meet up and have some technical issues with the blog. It’s time to write a little bit as my contribution to day 17’s theme for #RPGaDAY2019.

Today’s theme is…

The number one has a special meaning in D&D particularly.

Roll a 1 in combat and this is what the Players Guide says happens…

“If the d20 roll for an attack is a I, the attack misses regardless of any modifiers ar the target’s AC.”

But roll a 1 in an ability check, contest, whatever. Despite any modifiers you have basically failed.

Personally I use the 1 to aid storytelling. A natural 1 means that not only have they failed, but they have failed royally. So I try and add a twist to the outcome. It could mean they get lost, or drop an item, or smash the lock. A dramatic twist that is not in the favour of the player.

Naturally there is an exception. There are always exceptions. This time my favourite race Halflings are the exception with their racial trait of lucky. This is what the Players Guide says about that trait…

“Lucky. When you roll a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.”

The times that trait has been a life saver. A second bite at the cherry. Ok roll a 1 again and you are foobar just like everyone else. But still you’d have to be a pretty unlucky halfling for that to happen.

I hope you all enjoyed these short and predictable words on today’s theme.

And we’re back looking at some brief, poorly formed thoughts on the #RPGaDAY2019 theme for the day.

So let’s jump right in and look at today’s #RPGaDAY2019 theme…

I’m going to talk about the plural here. But first I’m going to briefly look at the singular, door and what it represents.

To me a door is an obstacle, a barrier. A challenge for the adventurers to overcome. How difficult that challenge is depends on the type of door and if it’s locked or not. It also represents a transition from one area to another.

As the image below of a dungeon map key shows there can be several types of door.

All of them present their own challenge to the adventurers. Are they locked or unlocked? Is the door hidden or wide open?

If the door is locked how do the adventurers unlock it? In my pirates lair the portcullis doors were opened by finding the nearby lever. It only hit me after I had created the pirates lair that this worked similar to the level design of first person shooters of the 90’s and still this day. Where a switch on the level opened a door somewhere on the level. And there is a similar comparison for finding the keys also to open a door.

As I write this post, and in-particular that last paragraph. It got me thinking there is plenty of great advice out there ranging from the DM’s Guide and stuff online for designing dungeons. But how much can we learn from the video game world and level design to compliment all that great advice out there already? I think from puzzle design alone a lot.

Another thing to consider if the door is locked, is the lock booby trapped? If so how deadly is the trap? What type of trap is it? Is the trap inside the lock itself or does it trigger a bigger more deadly threat inside the area the door is in?

For secret doors how will the adventurers find it? Can it be found? Or like in the Matt Colville’s “Delian Tomb” taster dungeon he created at the start of his brilliant YouTube series, will the secret door open if the adventurers solve a puzzle? What clues will be in the room to indicate that there is a secret door in the room? Scuff marks on the floor where the door has opened and closed?

In my pirates lair I used a combination of doors to provide a challenge to getting into the treasure room of the pirates. First the adventurers had to get past a portcullis, which could only be opened once they had found their way into the pirate leaders quarters and pulled the lever there. Once passed the portcullis they had a locked door to open. Which they would have to pick to open. So in total to get into a very well stocked treasure room full of gold, jewels and magic items the adventurers has to navigate 3 doors.

But doors also provide security, maybe not much for the adventurers as well. It provides a barrier to hinder creatures while they have a rest. If unable to lock the door, they can block it somehow, maybe with pitons to make it harder for any threat getting in. Slowing that threat down long enough for the party not to be caught off guard.

So there you have it my thoughts on doors in an RPG. I hope you found it of interest.

So we have time warped on this #RPGaDAY2019 thing and skipped 3 days. In that time I’ve bored you with some MtG stuff instead.

But we are back to that hashtag thing, and today’s theme is …

So what does mystery mean to me in relation to RPGs, and particularly D&D?

From my limited DM experience, the sessions I’ve run so far have all been mysterious in some way. That unknown of what the adventurers will do. How will they react to a given situation? Will they get the clues? Solve the puzzle? Which adventure hook will they follow?

For me that bit of mystery always gives at least one pleasant surprise. Such as when the bard in the group stepped out of the bushes and started singing/playing a song to distract 2 goblin guards. The dice decided that the bard did a really great job doing this. Enabling the rest of the party to get the drop on the guards and take them out.

But there is another interruption of mystery. That being a puzzling crime/murder told through some medium like a book or film. And I’m eager to explore that interruption within my campaign. It is possible and initial research has led me to believe that a mystery scenario is possible but difficult to create and run.

So I’ve tabled that mystery style of scenario for later in the campaign. A time when I’m more experienced as a DM, and more confident that I can create a fun, entertaining and challenging mystery.

From a players point of view, each session is a mystery. With the unknown unfolding before them based on their decisions and actions. Plus a little bit of luck for good measure.

Not great insight I know, but these are just thoughts. Not well thought out or put together. But still.

Today or tomorrow might see a double post day. Look on it as making up for no post yesterday. Which means I skipped day 8 of RPGaDAY2019.

In the meantime you have a post for Day 9 to suffer. And the theme/inspiration for today is…

This is a toughie. Critical can be interpreted a few ways. It can be used negatively, saying something is bad. It can mean something is of importance. Or finally it can be giving judgement or an opinion.

So I’m going to try and give an answer for each definition below.

Negative – I’m going to be unpopular for this one. My criticism is the likes of Critical Roll with the voice actors, or the one on Caffeine which hired actors that are good at improv. Whilst this may make good viewing, in my experience I don’t think this gives a realistic view of an RPG game. Not everyone does the voice, feels confident to do them, or are that “expressive” or hamming it up. And by that I mean the majority of players.

Important – this is probably the one everyone will go with for their entries for today. It’s the easiest of the three definitions. I’m going to choose a category of magic items for my important. I’m running a campaign that is at sea and island hopping. At some point the adventurers will end up having to go underwater. Maybe visit some merfolk, explore a wreck, or have to deal to rescue some-one from the sahuagin.

However they end up on the sea bed my adventurers will need some way to breathe underwater. This is where magic items that allow them to breathe underwater are pretty critical to their mission. These items could be manta ray cloaks or helms of underwater action. Possibly pressure capsules, or potions of water breathing.

Without these magical items the adventurers would drown, or worse not get to experience the underwater world. That makes them critical in my opinion.

Opinion/Judgement – this is probably the easiest one of these for me. So far after the sessions where I have been the DM, I have written posts that give my opinion/judgment on how I think the session went. In these posts I try and be honest and reflect on the session. These are notes for me to help me improve as a DM.

Ok not a great post. But hopefully though provoking.

Today’s inspiring word for RPGaDA2019 is…

I thought I’d look briefly at how my players will experience the familiar in our campaign.

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following part of the post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.

My players will be experiencing a bit of the familiar, even deja vu in our session 2 of the campaign when they exit the pirates lair that I created, and have fought their way through to come out in a tomb. A tomb with several sarcophagi in, and a passage leading south in the southern wall of the room.

Hopefully for one or two of the group this will seem oddly familar.

The party will have emerged into the secret burial chamber from the Matt Colville one shot he did that kicked off the whole being a DM series that he does. Three members of the party did that one shot as a taster session earlier in the year.

The only real threat to the party this time though is the skeletons still in the tomb, waiting for one of the party to get greedy and take the sword being held by an effigy of a long dead knight on one of the sarcophagi.

Otherwise as they work their way through the tomb they will come across the long decayed remains of the goblins and bugbear that they fought so valiantly in the one shot. It was their heroic efforts to save the child, and clearing the tomb that allowed the pirates to move in and use t as a secret entrance to their lair.

I hoping those players will like this little return to the one shot. Although it doesn’t link directly location wise. I’ve moved the tomb thousands of miles to a totally different location. I thought it would be a fun addition and end to their first dungeon in the campaign.

Ok I didn’t do this #RPGaDAY2019 yesterday whose prompt was Space. Playing MtG and not having anything really to contribute are my excuse for not posting anything. Although when I looked at the hash tag on twitter folks were interrupting it as the gaming space. Although that’s probably the angle I’d take as well. I thought I might have seen more talk about space themed RPG’s. When I didn’t see any, which doesn’t mean there wasn’t. Just that this old man didn’t see them.

Today’s prompt is …

Which is an interesting one. And I’m looking forward to seeing what people’s contributions to this one are.

Here is my contribution…

For me D&D and any fantasy based RPG is a mish mash of many influences. A few of them can be described as ancient.

Let’s start with the easiest and probably the most influential Tolkien. Who as we all know was a renowned scholar in old English. And throughout his work the influence of his subject specialism can be found. Tolkien even wrote an English translation of Beowulf. But as you read Tolkien’s work, there feels a depth and history within the pages. However although that’s the side I’ve discussed so far. Probably the biggest and easiest to identify influences are the races and classes, make up of a party (the fellowship of the ring) and the medieval feel.

The world that the likes of D&D and others are set in are often described as medieval European fantasy. And although it may not have the feudal society. I would argue (over a pint at the pub) that as a point of reference to describe the look, level of sophistication etc of the setting it’s a fair starting point. Especially to those that have not played the game before.

However the influences don’t stop there.

We only have to look at some of the monsters that adventurers can come across to see them. For instance Greek mythology with hydras, medusa, and minotaurs to name ones that spring to mind as I write this post.

D&D goes even further back than what would be considered ancient on the Monster front with dinosaurs. Yeah you can have a T-Rex stomping and running amok in your campaign.

Within my homebrew campaign set within the D&D realm of Faerûn it has been heavily influenced by the Ancient Greek stories of Pytheas and Jason and the Argonauts. Some of the islands my adventurers will come across will be inhabited by people that have a heavy Norse influence.

Definitely within my campaign the boats used to travel between islands and explore the seas are more Norse influenced with the use of long boats. Architecture (depending on the communities main influence) for the campaign on the islands will be either medieval European or Norse.

One thing I have found is that as a new DM, as I get further into the campaign and preparing the upcoming session the more I’m learning about these influences. Like Tolkien I want names whether they are of a person or place to feel authentic. Luckily Gygax wrote a book on names, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything have lists of names that can be used based on ethnicity and race. A bit of google magic helps me find pages to make place names that sound Nordic. So I’m learning history whether real or mythic as I go along, whether it be Medieval English history and legends (which I will include the Norse stuff here) or it’s Greek mythology.

It’s the mix of these ancient influences that help make D&D and any fantasy setting a rich and rewarding world to explore. They definitely provide a gold mine of ideas for campaigns and adventures.

What influences have you noticed within D&D?

Somehow #RPGaDAY2019 appeared in my twitter timeline this morning. I was curious what this was, so I clicked the hashtag to find out.

In the responses was the image below.

The image seemed to explain it pretty succinctly.

It also seemed a pretty cool idea.

So I thought I’d jump in and write this post for day 4!

What? This post doesn’t count even though it’s technically sharing that this Twitter/internet created thing is a thing?

Ok I get it, you want more.

Well regular readers of this blog will know I’ve only just become a DM/GM. And have been suffering posts where I have been writing about my session prep. Which have been basically me brain dumping and waffling on about ideas and stuff for the home brew campaign that I am running.

So here I present my poor notes for my session 1 of the campaign.

In the wake of Pytheas Campaign session 1 Notes

You will need the map created by Matt Colville (for new readers when I talk D&D I usually try and work in mentioning Colville at some point) for his intro/taster adventure he created. You can pick that up here.

I’ve removed all the copyrighted stuff. Well 90% of it. Although there are some paragraphs that are taken from a D&D Beyond Encounter Of The Week that I altered for use in my campaign left in.

If you have any questions about the notes, leave a comment below I’ll gladly answer them.

So I hope you liked what I shared. I can’t guarantee I’ll do this every day. But I will do more for sure.