Clearing the Shelves

One way to solve the problem of too many RPG books

In a flash my old RPG projects are dead and new one has arisen Jesus-like from the ashes. 

Indeed I have resolved to play all my unplayed games. At least the ones I have paid actual money for. I seem to have a surprisingly large collection of RPG related books and PDFs I have picked up for nothing but I’m not counting them for now. Just the ones I’ve bought. 

At present that is a count of 19 different RPGS. Some of which I am more excited about running than others, it has to be said but the proof will be in the playing. 

The List 

• Runequest 2e
• D6 Star Wars
• Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP)
• Through Sunken Lands
• Call of Cthulhu, world war cthulhu/ dark ages/legend 
• Runequest Glorantha
• The One Ring 1e
• Crypts and Things Remastered 
• GOZR 
• Blood of Pangea pdf
• WFRP 2e
• Black Hack 2e
• Troika
• Empire of the Petal Throne
• Warlock!
• Electric Bastionland
• Macchiato Monsters
• White Star
• Advanced Fighting Fantasy

In order to make this achievable I plan to run one adventure in each system until they’re all done. This flies in the face of my usual methodology of running longer form games. Also some of these are big asks. I have no idea how to actually play The One Ring or Runequest for instance and they’re complicated. Or at least they look complicated. Some are much easier, Blood of Pangea is rules light and the OSR style games are right in my usual wheel house. Through Sunken Lands doesn’t even really need prep being a sword & sorcery version of Beyond the Wall. 

In order to determine what to do first I rolled a d19 and the result was Warlock! A modern take on old school British gaming Warlock! is like a mix of WFRP and Fighting Fantasy and it seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun. 

The Temple of the Toad Oracle, pt 2

The Grim North is no country for old amphibians

Calypso Seth, M1

Dögrenn, R1

Having entered the Temple of the Toad Oracle the PCs were faced with a large pool filled with sludgy freezing cold water and millions of thumb sized tadpoles. Attempting to cross it without disturbing the pool seemed unlikely and the failure of anyone to bring a grappling hook was keenly felt. Wading through the pool left them soaked with icy water and about an hour of activity before some form of hyperthermia set in. 

Not so lucky was NPC bodyguard Steve who was snatched and carried away by something under the surface of the pool. A hasty exit onto dry land was performed. On the far side of the pool now the PCs were faced with toad statues and stairs leading up to a slime covered door. Thorough inspection of the area revealed one of the stairs featured a pressure plate and also there was a lever artfully carved into one of the statues. So, to pull the lever or not to pull the lever? 

 They pulled it. A concealed door opened up across the pool and they were able to reach it using a handy coracle. In the chamber beyond they encountered an impossibly old being. Either a huge frog so old it looked like a man or a man so old he looked like a frog. Claiming to be the Brewer, he had four crucibles laid out in front of him. He stated that they were toad brews that bestowed the powers of the amphibian gods on the Champion of the Toad Oracle. A being the PCs would have to fight if they intended to consult the oracle. 

 Calypso decided to quaff all four brews and mutated hideously as a result. She began to manifest powerful frog-like legs, froggy eyes on the side of her head, a bulbous neck sack containing a powerful croak and a slimy paralytic secretion exuding from her very skin.

They took the coracle through a semi submerged cave rather than return to the stairs of found themselves in the arena of the Toad Dome. Calypso faced the Champion of the Toad Oracle within the Toad Dome but although two entered she did not leave, having been brained by a warty mace. 

 However the sacrifice to the amphibian gods was complete and so they progressed to see the Toad Oracle itself. After solving a frog related riddle, in record time, they were granted an audience with the tiny oracular toad. His cryptic croaks were not much use to their patron who may have discovered the location of the Well of Ophid or may not have. It depends on how many croaks means yes and was that one croak with a pause or two croaks. You can’t put your faith in oracles it would seem.

Solo Dragon Warriors: Creating My Character

That downbeat survivor look is about right for a Dragon Warriors character

With setting and tools squared away; and mechanics being kept simple and non-intrusive; next port of call is character generation: 3d6 down the line, as Gary intended.

Strength 15

Reflexes 11 

Intelligence 9

Psychic Talent 9

Looks 11

So this guy is a knight. His above average strength means he’ll have encumbrance (12 items instead of 10) and attack score bonuses. Dragon Warriors rules make knights inherently defensive fighters, using better armour and defence scores than the more offensive barbarian profession with its ability to go berserk. So he’ll be skilled with his shield and in tracking, as per the rule book. I figure since he’s travelling alone he is independent and probably come off worse in a few fights. I couldn’t think of a satisfactory name or back story so I’m leaving this blank for now, to be filled in later. Expressing all this in a more FKR style looks like:

Nameless Knight

Strong

Enduring

Scarred

Swordskill

Shield

Tracking 

Armour: Coat of Plates, mail-shirt 

Gear (12 items plus Backpack) 

1. Bedroll
2. Lantern (plus Flint and Tinder)
3. Oil
4. Sword
5. Dagger
6. Shield
7. Rations (7days)
8. Wineskin
9.  
10.  
11.  
12.  

Ok, then. Ready for adventure….

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Solo Dragon Warriors

This random encounter lacks balance

Currently I have time for one campaign. Prep time and play time enough for one session a week which is on a Sunday evening. As many of us would I would like to have more gaming time. My friend Alex is an advocate of playing solo RPG. I have been aware of this. For example The One Ring RPG has Strider Mode which is a supplement for you to play alone. 

Playing this way, as both player and GM, flies in the face of my preferred play style. I’m a traditional sort of gamer, I like the GM to provide the setting and the PCs to explore it. Having control of both sides of the equation is to have total authorial control of the game and we’re into the territory of the types of story games that are not to my taste. However I’m firmly of the opinion that unless you try something, your opinion on the matter is fairly inconsequential. For example when I was trying to get a game of BECMI D&D going at an RPG club in the city almost about ten years ago, I struggled for players. So instead I ended up joining a table playing FATE Accelerated every week for fourteen weeks. So I can unequivocally state: I despise FATE. 

So how does this solo thing work? I always want a Legend based game on the go. Dragon Warriors is in my blood after all. I mean for so many reasons, not just because it was my first RPG but the pull of nostalgia is strong. Also this is a setting that lives large in my brain, so imagining myself into it is less of a stretch than something more esoteric like Tékumel. 

In order to get started I took a lot of inspiration from Ironsworn, which is good and free; and conveniently also depicts a downbeat, pseudo Dark Age, low fantasy setting. For solo play Ironsworn uses Oracles, or random tables as I prefer to call to them, to provide prompts from

which to construct the scenario which your character is going to experience. I have conveniently created my own Spark Tables which will come into play here  Also as the themes on Ironsworn are somewhat similar to Dragon Warriors the tables therein don’t require much adaptation for Legend. Random Encounter tables and B/X D&D style reaction rolls are going to be extremely useful as well. 

For mechanics I’m intending on taking a fairly FKR approach to resolutions. There will already be potentially quite a lot of dice rolling involved in consulting tables for scenario construction and developing the environment. I don’t want to get bogged down with mechanics. Ironsworn uses a PBTA approach but fortunately the tables are system agnostic so I can divest myself of those rules and use my own. 

Basically I’ll keep everything to a 2d6 (with bonuses) roll as much as possible and add relevant rules as they come up. 

I’m going to journal the adventure as it transpires. It won’t be literature, or even a play report just recording what happens in whatever format suits at the time. The whole point of this is to be flexible, having short spells of gaming in random slots of free time and seeing where it goes. There is definitely space in my psyche for a game that doesn’t require too much thought or worry. I’m excited to see what happens. 

Other Realms of the Grim North

This way to adventure, and by adventure we mean death

It is explicit on the Big F’ing Rumour Table that it is possible to access other dimensions from hidden doors and portals within the city. 

For example:

1. The Copper Door in the Spirals leads to other planes of existence. 

Which planes of existence is obviously the subject of further conjecture. Such things are studied and debated in the draughty halls of the Immaterial University. Academics are somewhat divided on the existence of the Farthest Black for instance. How would such a place manifest? Are incidents believed to be caused by breaches from said dimension evidence of anything other than the fact that outside the reality of the Grim North things are not very nice? Also there is debate whether it is the same thing as the Outer Dark or they are in fact two distinct realms so alien to our own that comprehend of their nature is impossible. It is hard to determine such things when travel seems to be one way and breachers from both dimensions seem to be as far beyond demons, as demons are to humans. 

Seemingly, the Gloom is everywhere (and nowhere) at once. A shadowy reflection of our reality. Travellers there do so supposedly by detaching their spirits from their physical body, because to transport your material form there risks it being lost in the Gloom. While it is not as well populated as the Material Realm there are things that lurk, and they are nearly all hostile to humanity. 

The Wyrd is a hotly debated subject in places where such things are actually debated. The actual existence of the Wyrd as a force or as a dimensional location are unresolved in scholastic circles. That things, people and places are Wyrd Touched is evident by the strange effects it has upon them. There are no written records known of travel to the Wyrd Realms and if anyone living has achieved such a feat and returned they are not making themselves known. 

Similarly it is believed there are doors and pathways that lead to all sorts of other strange places. The River Skarrion is reputed to have secret branches that allow boats to cover vast distances in short spaces of time. If the River Priests even know of these it seems they’re not telling. Likewise the Plane of Gennera, which rumours suggest to be populated by talking animals and weird puppet children, can be access from various locations within the city. Travellers can even make their way to the Moon of the Grim North if they can locate the correct door, although tales tell of strange arks and temples of incomprehensible geometry populated by faceless monks and twisted giants. 

It’s probably safer to stay at home. 

Grim Sorcery

Like sorcery but grim, and northern…

The rules for Grim Sorcery are constantly subject to review. This is because I’m trying out various things to get the feel I want for magic in the Grim North, that Conan-risqué Sword and Sorcery vibe that is essentially missing from most versions of Dungeons and Dragons if we’re going RAW. 

In the Grim North we want magic to feel like something ancient, powerful and if we’re honest; something us mortals should probably leave well enough alone. Player characters are not generally renowned for their sensible approach to such things however so, let’s face it, they’re going to steep themselves as deeply as humanly possible in the darkest, most foul sorcery they can find. 

Good. 

So grim sorcery has spell lists. Each relates to one of the much vaunted (admittedly, only by me) thousand dead civilisations that the Grim North is built atop the ruins of. Each long dead culture has its own ancient language in which its magic is written and if you speak that language then you can learn the spells of said ancient civilisation. Hence we don’t need artificial constructs such as Read Magic spells; if you can read Sepulchral, the grave tongue of accursed Xidia then you can acquire the secrets of those ancient death magicians. Although clearly there is some small risk attached. Folk can’t simply go stomping all over the Grim North turning up forbidden secrets and expect those secrets not to stomp back. 

So it might be that OSR D&D isn’t going to cut it or maybe it will. We’re playing online where simplicity of rules seems to be king. So keeping it sorcerous but simple is probably the way forward for now. One of the players has rolled up a wizard as his reserve character do we’ll see how it works out in the game should that come to pass. Theorising will only get us so far after all, the proof is in the play.