I think the Diptic collage below sums up the last couple of days fairly well.
I managed to get into the beta for the A Game of Thrones (AGoT) board game app. So I need to work through the tutorial now, and then get some games in.
I like the physical game a lot. So I’m pretty keen to try this digital version. The hope is once it’s out of beta that I can convince some of my friends to get it and we get a game or two in.
But like my physical collection, my digital board game collection has the same problem. Too many games too little time!
I could play against random strangers online. But I don’t get much enjoyment out of that. For me if I play online I like playing with friends.
Sadly even with app gaming being the only real way to game with friends during this pandemic. After a brief flurry of interest, it died off pretty quickly.
It’s a pity.
But engagement within our gaming group online seems to match that of attendance of gaming sessions. Pretty low.
I started a Discord server for the group so that members wouldn’t get spammed on Facebook from the club page, and/or miss posts. Facebook does seem to have a knack of being inconsistent in what it shows on peoples timelines.
The other positive for Discord for me is that with separate chat areas set up for different gaming interests, members can filter out the stuff they are not interested in. Not to mention the voice functionality it offers whilst gaming.
However the engagement on Discord is just as low.
My latest attempt to help improve things is to try running games of Mastermind (which died off pretty quickly), and the latest attempt a game of Chess.
I’ve not played Chess in decades. And even then I wasn’t very good at it. But we’ll see how it goes.
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
Despite the next session of our D&D campaign still some distant time in 2021, session planning is still happening. Just without the immediate time pressure.
I’ve already discussed in a previous post as part of the belated #RPGaDAY2020 some of the plans for the session.
Luckily my friend Duncan very kindly said he would print some 3D models for me to make up a gift box of 3D stuff as a Christmas present for me.
Using a shared Dropbox folder I shared the 3D models for Duncan to use.
I tried to pick models that could be used in the next session and also in other encounters. So I went for statues, pillars, stairs, doors, oozes, and other bits.
That gift box of 3D models arrived this morning.
As you can see Nan enjoyed seeing what Duncan had printed for me. Although Nico wasn’t as impressed.
Now the priming starts as does perfecting painting stone.
Below is an annotated version of the players map for the Dwarven Excavation scenario from The Essentials Kit. Basically I’m using this to help myself work out and keep track about what scenery I need to bring the map alive on the table.
I did also stumble on the fact that Games Workshop sell some Middle Earth terrain that is not only affordable but perfect for what I need. So that has ended up in my grubby mitts.
Once I’m ready I’ll start sharing some test mock ups.
A big thank you to Duncan for such a generous gift.
I’ve developed a little addiction to making my own hot sauce in the last couple of weeks.
Cue the obvious music reference…
I do love hot sauce. And have been partial to splashing Frank’s hot sauce on mash potatoes or even bread crumb covered fish.
Plus I’d made my own chilli oil that I use to spice up a korma or add a warmth to scramble eggs.
So when I found out how easy it is to make my own hot sauce I had to try.
On one of my rare forays into the outside world I found that my local Asda had a better selection of chillies than Morrison’s. So four packs of scotch bonnets ended up in my shopping basket.
After making my first hot sauce with them (link to recipe used below) I was sold.
I currently have four different hot sauces made up.
The recipe I’ve been using as my base recipe to play with is this one.
It’s a slight variant from what I can tell is a Louisiana style hot sauce. Take away the garlic and it is one!
But each hot sauce I’ve made so far has seen me playing with the recipe. Either using a different vinegar, adding garlic and onion, just using garlic and different chillies.
I decided (and this is the loose link to tie this post in with this blog) to be inspired by D&D to name my hot sauces.
So I came up with a naming convention.
If I use a chilli that falls in the top third of the scoville chart then the hot sauce will be named after a dragon in D&D.
If the chilli used falls in the middle third of the scoville chart then the hot sauce will be named after a spell in D&D.
That leaves the bottom third of the scoville chart and the influences for those names will be monsters that have a challenge rating of one or less.
The annotated chart above shows the chilli used, where it is on the scoville chart and the name I gave the hot sauce.
My Magic Missile hot sauce (not shown) only used four scotch bonnet chillies (I had a spare pack left to use up). Made with a cider vinegar, and an apple,maple and spiced fruit juice along with garlic and onion, and salt. I liked the end result.
My next hot sauce will be using Carolina Reapers. Which at one point was the hottest chilli in the world. It still clocks in at around the 2 million scovilles mark. So it’s going to be pretty spicy! I have a name already for this new hot sauce Tiamat.
That will keep me going for a while in hot sauce. But I have plans!
I’ve got seeds for the reaper, scotch bonnet, Trinidad scorpion and one called the Armageddon chilli. So during January I’ll be planting the seeds, and hoping to have a good crop of each to use next year.
And I’m back with the second example of generating ideas for an adventure using random content from tables using dice rolls.
For this example I will be using the Tome of Adventure Design (ToAD), and following the steps used by Kelsey of The Arcane Library and the enewsletter that you can subscribe to.
Like the previous example using the DMG I will not be creating the map for the adventure idea. That’s beyond the scope of this little exercise.
Right let’s get started on generating this adventure idea.
First up I need a location.
For this I am going to use the locations table 1-1A from ToAD. It’s a d100 table. I roll four times against this table, once for each column. I rolled 18, 72, 85, and 63.
Which gave me the following location name “The Coiled Manse of the Secret King“.
I’m big enough to admit that I had to google the meaning of manse. It was a “what the heck is that?” moment. Well a manse is a person’s house or home, or a clergy’s home, or a large imposing residence. That fits really nicely with the secret king part of the name.
If I look up the meaning of coiled I get the definition of “arranged in a series of circles, one above or inside the other.” I had thought that this was going to be a word I rerolled. But with that definition I’m getting an image of this large circular house that has inner circles for the rest of the building. I like that. It could almost be a maze of some sort!
Using table 1-6: Location-Based Missions I will generate an adventure hook for this great location “The Coiled Manse of the Secret King“. Just like the locations table this is a d100. I roll a 38. This gives me “Find or locate“.
I like this. I like this a lot. I’m going to have the adventurers venture into the coiled manse to find the Secret King.
There needs to be a reason why the adventurers have to do this. Like Kelsey I will go with a time pressure event. The adventurers need to find the Secret King and return them to claim the throne before the false heir to the throne is crowned in two days time.
Time to use table 3-6: Big-Picture Backstories to get a reason to get an idea for why the adventurers need to find the Secret King. Once again this is another d100 table. I rolled 80. Which gave me “A cataclysm or natural disaster took place.” This didn’t click with me. I just wasn’t feeling it. But looking at the Big-Picture Backstories table the entry for 91-95 is “Leaders were slain or imprisoned.” This did inspire me. Remember you don’t have to go with the entry you roll if it doesn’t work for you. You can reroll or as I have just done pick one from the table that does inspire.
So the Secret King has been imprisoned by the false heir for years, long thought dead by the population. The false heir has now made their move and slain the King and about to claim the crown as their own.
I think that’s it.
“The Coiled Manse of the Secret King
Our adventurers hear rumours of a mysterious person thought to be the true heir to the thrown being held prisoner in a nearby location known as the Coiled Manse.
News of the death of the King spreads through out the kingdom. Along with the news that the false heir has declared themselves King and will be crowned in two days time. There is also a decree that the people will have to pay more taxes to pay for the coronation celebrations. Soldiers start raiding homes to collect those taxes.
The adventurers decide to investigate and free this mystery prisoner and help them claim the vacant throne before the false heir is coronated.”
I can even think of inspiration for the story. Such as Robin Hood, The Man in the Iron Mask. And I might watch the movies for some more ideas.
I actually like US Hospital Dramas. More so than UK ones, which I dislike.
There I’ve said it. You can hate me now.
As I was watching the penultimate episode of season five (S05E19) “Just a River in Egypt” I noticed that one of the main characters was playing MtG with a child patient.
It was a pleasant surprise.
Now this isn’t the first time MtG has been featured in a mainstream tv show or movie.
There is the obvious now infamous cock magic episode of South Park. In which Kenny gets involved in underground games of MtG against cockerels.
A much less obvious one is Zombie Land 2: Double Tap. It’s almost an Easter egg. Blink and you miss it. I can’t claim to have spotted this one. I must have blinked. My friend Duncan pointed it out to me.
Have you spotted MtG in any other film or tv show?
Yesterday I wrote briefly and poorly about my fascination with random generated stuff within D&D.
I also threatened to do a couple of examples.
And I’m a man of my word.
If I make a threat I like to keep it.
You know or how else will people know to take me seriously?
Ok this first example will be using the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) to create/inspire a location-based adventure. The tables being used can be found on pages 72-75 in Chapter 3: Creating Adventures.
The first decision I need to make is whether this adventure is wilderness or dungeon focused. For this example I am going to generate a dungeon. I will look at wilderness adventures in another post.
Next I need to provide a goal that gives the adventurers a reason to enter the dungeon.
For this I roll a d20 against the Dungeon Goals table. I rolled a 3. Which gives me the goal of “Destroy a magical threat inside the dungeon.”
Already this is sparking ideas for what the magical threat could be. The magical threat could be a magic user of some sort threatening to cast some spell to destroy a town or open a portal to another dimension. It could be a magic item of some sort leaking magic into the surrounding area corrupting all that get close to it.
Next up is identifying important NPCs.
So who will be our villain for the adventurers to go up against? I rolled low again and got a 6. This gave me “Undead with any agenda.” On the Adventure Villians Table.
This fits very nicely with one of the ideas I had above. I’m going to run with that.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to run the Undead Monster Mambo by Jim Murphy (YouTube video below).
This is looks like the perfect opportunity to use this. Finally I can use the small skeleton horde I have built. There was a reason I pointed 15 odd skeletons, 2 minotaur skeletons and the dragon skeleton (I do want to add other creatures to this horde at some point). This is it.
So what is the lich doing?
Ok I’ll come back to that for the lich motivations and cunning plan.
I do feel that the adventurers might need an npc ally or two for this adventurer underground.
For this I have to roll a d12 on the Adventure Allies Table. I rolled a 12! That gives me “Villian posing as an ally.”
I like that. It gives a nice plot twist. Could also set up the next adventure. But I’m going to have this npc acting as an agent for the lich, who is luring unsuspecting victims to their masters dungeon to die and become part of the lich’ s army of undead.
I did say two allies. So lets give them another ally. This time I rolled a 3. So ally number 2 will be an “enthusiastic commoner.” The commoner will be some-one that the other npc has managed to convince to join them on stopping the lich.
Let’s give the adventurers a patron. So back to the d20 and rolling a natural 1! Against Adventure Patrons Table. This gets the adventurers a “retired adventurer.” As their patron.
The next step has me jumping to chapter 5 pages 99 – 101 for building the dungeon.
Our dungeon needs a location. Which is a d100 against the Dungeon Location Table. A 53 gives me “In a gorge.”
But who created this dungeon? I’m not going to roll on this one. We already have our dungeon creator with the lich.
However I do need a purpose for the dungeon. I rolled a 3 on the Dungeon Purpose Table. This means the dungeon is a “Lair“. It fits in nicely with the plot that is developing.
I don’t think I need to give the dungeon a history considering that the creator is still in the dungeon.
Back to the earlier tables and using the Adventure Introduction Table and a d12. I rolled an 8. So “An NPC the characters care about needs them to go to the adventure location.” I like this as I think this ties in nicely with the patron rolled above.
Finally I’m rolling a d12 against the Adventure Climax Table. A 5 gets me “The villain and two or three lieutenants perform separate rites in a large room. The adventurers must disrupt all the rites at the same time.” Nice. This can be the magical threat
So this is what I come up with when I tie it all together.
“Our party of adventurers get asked by an old friend (a retired adventurer) who has been hired to recruit adventurers, to help stop a lich opening up a portal to the Shadowfell Plane to unleash a massive army of the undead at the next full moon in 8 days time.
They are told that the only way to stop this from happening is to disrupt the lich and his lieutenants as the same time as they perform the rites to open the portal. This is when they will be at their most vulnerable.
The old friend has already recruited two others to help them (the enthusiastic commoner and the villain posing as an ally). The reward for stopping the lich is a treasure chest of gold.
The old friend gives the adventurers a map showing the location of the lich’s liar at the end of a gorge in a nearby mountain range that is a weeks travel away from their present location. The adventurers are given supplies, healing potions and some scrolls that will give their weapons a temporary magical bonus.”
So there you have it a dungeon adventure created inspired by using the tables in the DMG.
As for a dungeon map. I’d first look at Dyson Logos for something that might be suitable. I’d then just have to populate it. Otherwise I could use Appendix A to randomly generate one (I can do that another day) or just use the decks I have.
Phew! I needed that two day break from blogging after doing the rather late #RPGaDAY2020. It didn’t seem like a marathon while doing it, but now, afterwards. It sure does.
During this mini break the idea for this post started to kick around.
I think it’s fair to assume that some may have noticed from the random dungeon and random character posts (these will return btw), and the recent #RPGaDAY2020 Day 19 post, that I like randomly generated stuff.
What you won’t know, unless you really really know me, is that I’m a big fan of video games that use procedurally generated content. Be that the old school Nethack and Rogue, to the more modern Spelunky, Diablo, The Binding of Isaac, or Minecraft to name a few examples.
It’s not just the game play experience I like, but also the algorithms that lie behind it all. After all I am still a programmer as well as a gamer (both video and boardgame). I’m fascinated by the theory and application.
Within D&D and other RPGs this randomness is recreated by using dice and numerous tables.
But for this post I’m going to focus on D&D and what I use to create random content for my campaign and some of the posts here.
Let’s start with the good old Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG). It’s something every DM will have.
The most obvious random content that I would guess 100% of DMs have used at least once are the tables for random encounters on page 85. But there are many official and unofficial random encounter tables. These tables cover any situation that a DM could possibly imagine or need. Sly Flourish and his patreon is a good source for tables, as is the DM’s Guild.
How about creating a dungeon?
Well on page 99 of the DMG we get tables to roll against to define the location of the dungeon, who created the dungeon and why. But my favourite part of the DMG is Appendix A: Random Dungeons. This appendix is chock full of tables to generate a random dungeon.
Another source of great tables that combine both those sections from the DMG is the Tome of Adventure Design. I’ve mentioned this before in that Day 19 post (link above).
I think by the random dungeon posts you know I am a fan of the Map & Dice Playing Cards, and the Deck of Many Dungeons for creating a random dungeon. Like any good procedurally generated content there are rules to follow while creating the random dungeon using them. These rules govern how to start and exit the dungeon. But they allow you to create a dungeon on the fly during a session, or act as inspiration during session planning.
Thanks to the Kelsey of The Arcane Library and her rather wonderful YouTube video about her minimalist DM kit I got put onto Jade Gaming Character dice. I can roll these and create a npc on the fly. Combine this with a handy table of names to use, and away you go.
The thing I like about the above is they are a tool to use to inspire during session planning. If you don’t like what you roll, just roll again. Or maybe there is something on the table you are currently using that sparks the imagination, so you just go with that instead.
I think the next post or two should be some examples of me going through the process of using these tables.
It’s been a long and drawn out journey. But I think we have all grown because of it.
Heck I didn’t even do the obvious quote for yesterday’s post. Ok that might be more to do with me forgetting to add it than a deliberate action on my part.
But here we are the last day, the last post of this hash tag.
So once more with feeling, this last theme for me to share my shallow thoughts on is…
I’m going with the obvious interpretation of this theme. Which is probably the interpretation that the majority went with.
Within D&D players improve their characters by earning experience points (XP).
The DM’s Guide mentions a handful of ways to level up a character.
The players can earn XP during a session by completing combat encounters aka killing monsters, role play, and anything else the DM can think of as an excuse for awarding XP.
Another way giving XP is allocate XP for achieving various milestones within the adventure. Such as delivering a message, rescuing a victim from a dungeon, etc.
The DM’S Guide suggests a couple of ways to do away with XP all together for advancing characters.
The first is a session-based advancement. This sees players levelling up after completing a certain number of sessions.
The other non-XP way is story-based advancement. It’s not to dissimilar to the milestones way of awarding XP. Except instead of getting XP for completing significant goals the characters advance a level instead.
In Xanathar’s Guide to Everything in Appendix A: Shared Campaigns suggests a way of rewarding players for taking part in a play session by using experience checkpoints.
“A character reaches 1 checkpoint for each hour an adventure is designed to last.”
I like this method of levelling up a character because as Xanathar’s says “this approach ensures that a player’s preferred style is neither penalised nor rewarded. … this system gives credit where credit is due.”
It just seems fairer to me because of that.
So far (touch wood) the players in our campaign are also happy with this as well. I’ve found it makes my admin in tracking when a player advances to the next level easier. And takes that burden off the players as well as they are not having to track XP and keep a record of what they have got.
If I had to choose one of the other methods from the DM’s Guide it would be the milestones.
These two seem the most flexible and allow for sessions to take unplanned paths based on decisions at the table, and keep the admin down during game play and in preparing for a session.
I hope this last post has been a handy very brief summary of earning XP in D&D.
Phew that’s the end. No more until next year. Hopefully I’ll remember to do it at the proper time.
In hindsight this next paragraph should have possibly been placed into a couple of the previous posts for this #RPGaDAY2020 thing. But it’s ok late now, and I’m not retro editing the posts. I’d have to reread my own words. Who’d want to do that?
SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one.
When we get back to our campaign once this who pandemic thing allows the adventurers will be exploring an abandoned dwarven mine that once was home to small number of dwarves belonging to the Ironstar clan.
I’m going to be using the Dwarven Excavation map from the D&D Essentials Kit. Naturally the map will need a tweak or two. For instance the party will not be meeting the two dwarf prospectors. So how do I warn the party of the threats inside?
In the Ruined Settlement part I plan to have fragments of an ancient diary lying around for the party to discover. Naturally these will be written in dwarven. So depending on who discovers the fragments will determine what version I hand over. A non-dwarven reading character will get a sheet that is just dwarven runes. Whilst a dwarven reading character will get an english version to read.
The fragments will talk of a rift opening up in the Hall of Greed. From this rift oozes spewed. So the party will still encounter ochre jelly. But I’m going to throw in a gelatinous cube, maybe even a black pudding.
I got the idea for the rift from the following post from the Role Playing Tips website.
Rifts are a kind of portal in my mind.
I do like the idea of using portals within a campaign. They allow adventurers to travel to other planes. Or in this case provide a story element, and even problem for the party to solve.
In a MtG inspired campaign whether using the Ravnica or Theros source books, or the Planes Shift pdfs a portal is how your party will planes walker between realms.
In a regular D&D campaign they are how you get to Avernus or one of the many planes that exist in the D&D universe.
In the Hall of Greed the party will encounter the rift which they will need to close before they can make use of the Brazier of Green Flame to enchant their weapons. I’m borrowing this brazier from the Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign that comes with the D&D Starter Kit. If you want specifics it can be found in the Forge of Spells in the Wave Echo Cave map.
The brazier for me explains the “secret” of how the Ironstar Clan were able to imbue their weapons and other items with magical properties.
I think this plan of mine is a good example of how to take an existing encounter, and make it your own by mashing several ideas together to create something semi original.
Before we have the penultimate post of my late posts for #RPGaDAY2020 we need to cover today’s theme, which is…
Today’s theme got me thinking about halflings and the creatures they ride.
Halflings can have some pretty cool mounts.
In the Forgotten Realms Ghostwise halflings can have giant owls as a mount.
These halflings are usually “Clan warriors known as nightgliders…” As a DM I would not insist that anyone playing a Ghostwise halfling who wanted a giant owl as a mount also had to be a warrior also. I think it could be made to work backstory wise how they ended up with a giant owl.
In Eberron Talenta halfiings “…are nomads who ride domesticated dinosaurs across the wide plains.”
I’ve said this in a previous post, frickin dinosaur mounts! How cool is that? It’s one of the reasons I want to be a player in an Eberron campaign.
In fact I’d be half tempted to “borrow” the idea for a Forgotten Realms campaign with the halfling coming from Chult to explain the relationship between halflings and dinosaurs.
And let’s not forget in D&D it’s possible for a halfling to have a wolf as a mount. Which would be pretty cool. I love the idea of a tribe of halfling wolf riders. It would hark back to a comic book that I loved back in the late 80’s, early 90’s called Elfquest.
See you tomorrow for the penultimate post tomorrow.
