Gamer ADD: Traveller Edition

Back in June, James over at Grognardia shared an amazing piece of lost GDW history: a map of the Imperium at the end of the Rebellion.

I have a love/hate relationship with Traveller. I love the setting and I think that the character creation system is one of the best mini-games in the entire history of RPGs, but I’ve never really known what to do with any of it as a GM. The scale is so large and the setting is so…settled.

As a consequence, I found the idea of the Rebellion to be really interesting. It created conflict, it broke the massive setting into a variety of smaller fronts…but I still had no real idea what to do as a GM. Nothing ever really inspired me.

The New Era was a mistake. It did an awesom job of radically reducing the scope of the Traveller setting, but it did so at the cost of everything that made the Third Imperium interesting. GDW went bankrupt shortly thereafter. Marc Miller produced another version of the game set at the dawn of the Third Imperium (I still have a copy buried somewhere on my book shelf), but it suffers from the very same problem as the New Era. It lacks everything that makes the Third Imperium so interesting to me.

Enter this wonderful map. This may very well be the most inspiring map I have looked at in a long time. I have found myself mentally preparing an actual Traveller campaign; however, what fascinates me is not the idea of the campaign itself (the likelyhood of actual play is fairly low at this point in my life), but the reason why I finally have a grasp at what a Traveller campaign might look like.

Over the years, the most successful campaigns I have run (regardless of genre or system) all have one thing in common: there was something lost that everyone is trying to find. The best way I know how to set this up for a D&D campaign is the Points of Light model, where the Bright Empire has collapsed and the PCs are now some of the main actors in trying to re-discover/re-establish the values of the Bright Empire in a sea of Chaos.

The Rebellion, the New Era, and Marc Miller’s Traveller all have the right idea: they are all striving to create a Points of Light setting for use with Traveller. The reason that they all fail is due to timing. Marc Miller’s Traveller chooses the wrong Bright Empire. Instead of trying to re-establish the Imperium that is so beloved (the Third), we are istuck flailing about trying to re-establish the First and Second. The New Era goes too far. The utter destruction of such a vast empire makes the dream of re-establishment nigh-impossible. The Rebellion comes the closest to success; however, it is set during the collapse instead of its aftermath. Rather than re-discovery and re-establishment, PCs are asked to fight for the survival of the Bright Empire.

Realizing this, I have come to understand why this map excites me so much: there are a dozen sectors on this map that could be used as the starting point for a Points of Light Campaign. The Bright Empire may not be what it once was, but it still exists and the dream is still alive. A PC may be beyond Imperial territory, and may even be within enemy territory, but they have the ability to become a Light in the Sea of Chaos.

The best part of all of this to me is that for the first time, I feel like the Third Imperium can now become my version of the Third Imperium.

Bonuses for Low Ability Scores

Over ten years ago, James over at Grognardia posited the idea that high ability scores ought to have drawbacks and low ability scores should have advantages. I have long agreed with the concept, but have always thrown up my hands once I try and figure out mechanics. As I was leafing through some notepads looking for some ideas for my series on Scripture and the Megadungeon, I ran across one of my abortive attempts at re-thinking ability scores. As a rough idea, I think it has promise.

I made a list of twelve combat stats, which theoretically allows each ability score to positively/negatively affect two — one for a high ability and one for a low ability. Here is the list of twelve:

• Armor Class 
• Damage Melee 
• Damage Missile 
• Extra Spells 
• Hit Points 
• Save vs Death/Poison 
• Save vs Paralysis/Petrify 
• Save vs Spells/Rods/Staves 
• Save vs Wands 
• Surprise 
• “to hit” Melee 
• “to hit” Missile

I did not include Save vs Breath because dragons should be scary for everyone.

Now for the hard part — deciding which ability should affect each stat. I will go through each ability score and give my reasons why I chose the stat that should be affected.

STR: High = Damage Melee; Low = Surprise

Traditionally, a high STR has resulted in extra melee damage, so I don’t have to explain that. I reasoned that a low STR would result in being perceived as less of a threat, therefore someone who is more likely to be overlooked. A literary example of this would be hobbits. No one really took them seriously, yet they continuously surprised people.

INT: High = Damage Missile; Low = Save vs. Wands

I decided to give INT the nod on Damage Missile due to the reasoning and calculations necessary to find weak spots in an opponent’s armor. Justifying a Save bonus for a low INT score is more sketchy. My thoughts are that it has to do with our perception of magic, especially magic that emulates technology as a wand could. The less we understand technology, the less useful it is, the more ineffective it becomes. I realize that this is counter intuitive, but it is all I have for now.

WIS: High = Save vs Spells; Low = “to hit” Melee

Wisdom has traditionally given a bonus to Saves vs Spells, so no real need to explain. I justify the bonus “to hit” in Melee because someone with a lower WIS might take more dangerous opportunities to attack than someone who is wiser.

DEX: High = “to hit” Missile; Low = Save vs. Paralysis/Petrify

DEX has been associated with Missile combat for a long time, no need to explain; however, like INT above, I am on sketchy ground with Save vs. Paraylsis/Petrify. My thinking is that someone who is clumsy is closer to a condition of paralysis or petrification than someone with a high DEX.

CON: High = Hit Points; Low = Extra Spells

High CON has always been associated with hp, so no explanation necessary. I justify the low CON with extra spells in a narrative way, especially in context of arcane magic. The spell caster with a low CON has sacrificed health for more spell casting ability.

CHA: High = AC; Low = Save vs Death/Poison

My justification for both of these has do to with a more theological understanding of the word charisma which has its origin in the Greek word for gift with the implication that the gift is from God. In this case a high CHA, this results in a kind of continuous protection from God. The low CHA results in a bonus to Save vs Death/Poison as a sign that God occasionally reaches out to protect, with the implication that a success results in more time for the person to repent/get closer to God.

This whole set-up ignores all of the non-combat related bonuses normally associated with high abilities scores, such as Encumbrance, Languages, Reactions, etc. Coming up with a list of twelve would have required including Thief Skiils and/or XP bonuses. I wasn’t quite ready to do that. For now, I am happy to see these continue to be associated with the abilities they always have been. 

Any thoughts? Other ideas?

Saintly Saturday: The Miracle of Archangel Michael at Colossae

…on Sunday 

It has been quite awhile since I did a Saintly Saturday, where I look to the Feasts of various Saints as an inspiration for RPG world-building and adventure. In my last post, I noted how James Maliszewski of Grognardia fame published a post about a map I drew for him about a decade ago. The map is of a ruined monastery that once guarded the world from foul aberrations of Chaos that bubble forth from the crags of Urheim. 

It occurred to me that the The Feast of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossae, celebrated on September 6th, tells a tale that could have been an inspiration for someone running a campaign around the concept of The Monastery of St. Gaxyg-at-Urheim. 

In what is now southwestern Turkey, there was a region called Phrygia and a city called Hierapolis. 

Roman Amphitheater at Hierapolis

Not far from the city was a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It was built by a pagan who had a vision of the Archangel directing him to have his mute daughter drink from a spring. After partaking, she gained her speech. He converted and had the church built over the spring.

The region had once been dominated by a pagan cult dedicated to some kind of serpent god. According to a 5th-7th century account of the Miracle at Colossae, Sts. John the Evangelist, Philip the Apostle, and Mariamne, Philip’s sister:

Slew the viper with prayer, as with a spear, putting it to death through the power of Christ.

The Tomb of St. Philip at Hierapolis

It should also be noted that there was a pagan underwater spring called the Plutonium. It emitted poisonous gas and was thought to be an entrance into Hades. 

Plutonium: Enter at Your Own Risk

About ninety years after the church was built, a boy called Archippos traveled to the Plutonium. Repelled by the gas, he went to the spring at the church and decided to dedicate his entire life to Christ. This was a pattern that repeated itself enough that the local pagans decided to destroy the church. For ten days, they worked to divert two rivers in order to wash away the church and the spring that was attracting so many to Christ. Archippos remained in the church praying fervently for the protection of God. Just as the pagans released their dam to unleash the rivers, the Archangel appeared and drove a staff into the ground, causing an earthquake that opened a chasm down which the waters flowed. 

Waterfalls at Honaz

The pagans ran and the locals changed the name of the place from Colossae to Chonae, which means “plunging.” Today the city is called Honaz. In subsequent years, the area was ravaged by Persian invasion, multiple earthquakes, and civil war. The ruins of Hieropolis are a tourist spot where people bathe in baths and springs to this day. 

Thermal Springs near Hierapolis

This story has everything for the beginnings of a megadungeon-centered campaign:

• A snake cult 
• The tomb of a saint that fought the snake cult
  
• A ruined church/monastery
• A chasm with a waterfall
• Magical pools
• An entrance into the underworld
• An earthquake revealing parts unknown underground
• A miracle describing the local geography
• Invasions and civil wars of civilizations past
  

I think the lovely part of all this is that implied in this story are multiple entrances into the dungeon where the snake cult  still harbors hatred for the civilizations of humanity that rejected it. How cool is this?

The Monastery of St. Gaxyg-at-Urheim

About ten years ago (has it really been that long?) I drew a map for James Maliszewski over at Grognardia. At the time, there was a bit of an effort to create a "crowd sourced" megadungeon that used contributions from a variety of volunteers. Being a bit of a map geek, I drew several that James was pleased enough with that he shared them with the world at large. 

If you hadn't noticed, after a long hiatus, James has started posting again over at Grognardia. He also let me know that he wanted to do something with one of those maps I drew all those years ago. You can find his musings here. 

As a thank you, I thought I'd share another map that I drew for my own version of St. Gaxyg-at-Urheim. It briefly showed up in my Lost Colonies campaign very early on when Hamlen lost his beloved spiked club down an underground river. That river led to an underground waterfall which is at the bottom of the map. The club was found, some orcs were felled and then the party went off on one of their many tangents. Enjoy!

 

Alignment Languages, the Scarlet Brotherhood, and Flutes

JB of B/X Blackrazor has been meditating how to go “Advanced” from his usual B/X D&Ding. As seems always necessary in such endeavors is the long, hard struggle with Alignment.

I myself have waxed poetic about the subject many, many times.

The thing that interested me about JB’s post has almost nothing to do with JB’s near abandonment of the system. D&D has several mechanics that depend upon Alignment and therefore one must deal with those mechanics on some level if any major changes are to be made with Alignment (like getting rid of it entirely). One such mechanic in AD&D is the much maligned Alignment Languages.

Back when I got into blogging, one of the bigger blogs was James Maliszewski’s Grognardia. At the time he was trying to wrestle with OD&D as written using the axiom that the rules were always right and therefore he needed to find a way to make them work. The results were often surprising and fun. It is a principle that I enjoy applying to various editions of the game for that very reason — I often come up with ideas that wouldn’t exist otherwise.

With that in mind, here is what Gygax has to say about Alignment Languages on pg. 24 of the DMG:

Alignment language is a handy game tool which is not unjustifiable in real terms. Thieves did employ a special cant. Secret organizations and societies did and do have certain recognition signs, signals, and recognition phrases — possibly special languages (of limited extent) as well. Consider also the medieval Catholic Church which used Latin as a common recognition and communication base to cut across national boundaries. In AD&D. alignment languages are the special set of signs, signals, gestures, and words which intelligent creatures use to inform other intelligent creatures of the same alignment of their fellowship and common ethos. Alignment languages are NEVER flaunted in public. They are not used as salutations or interrogatives if the speaker is uncertain of the alignment of those addressed. Furthermore, alignment languages are of limited vocabulary and deal with the ethos of the alignment in general, so lengthy discussion of varying subjects cannot be conducted in such tongues.

This largely harkens back to the 0e version of Alignment, where it was about which side of the larger conflict are you willing to fight with rather than a code of behavior. It also introduces the idea of secret(ive) societies that use various means of communication that those outside their clique cannot understand.

Which brings me to my favorite love/hate political entity within the Greyhawk campaign world. I love the idea of a bunch of racist monks working in secret to further their political agenda, but I hated the idea of there being a country on the map called The Scarlet Brotherhood. I always wished that they were a secretive society that were the real power behind several different throwns and were always looking out for a way to whisper sweet nothings into the ears of the rich and powerful.

Here is an organization that would definitely have something akin to an Alignment Language as Gygax describes. There is even an historical template on which to build this vision of both the Scarlet Brotherhood and Alignment Languages: the Fuke monks.

As I noted in my last post, many Shoguns took advantage of the Fuke monk’s anonymity and mobility to create spy networks. One simple way to identify oneself, in an Alignment Language kinda way, would be the music a monk would play on their flute.

This also suggests why characters lose the use of an Alignment Language once their alignment changes. Secret symbols and signs are in constant flux in order to keep them secret. Think about pitching symbols in baseball or sideline play signals in football. The form is almost always the same, but their meaning is in constant flux because other teams are constantly trying to steal signals. Once a character leaves and organization, they lose the ability to update the current meaning of the signals being given or to recognize if a signal is being given at all.

The exciting thing about the idea of Alignment Languages is the world-building implications: secret societies abound in a political climate that is cutthroat and in constant flux. That sounds like a really fun atmosphere to throw a bunch of Player Characters at.

Dwimmermount, 3x5 Geomorphs, The Tome of Adventure Design & Boring Adventure Design

There has been a confluence of events and ideas lately that are all peripherally related and I wanted to chew on them all in hopes of putting them all together in a way that will give every one a means of meditating upon the megadungeon/dungeon adventure if not a tool with which to make one.

Let me first break my silence about the Dwimmermount project by Mr. Maliszewski. There has been a great deal of disappointment when it comes to this project, not the least of which is the dead lock the project is in due to personal circumstances. I have four things to say:

1. In my line of work, I deal with disease and death on a regular, if not daily, basis. It can be emotionally debilitating and (especially in a culture that does its best to avoid the issue at almost all cost) the grieving process is a long and difficult road. And I am not even talking about what happens to the people I council and help through this process. When it happens to one of your own (as it has with me on more than one occasion) it is devastating. As such I am more than willing to give James as much room as he needs to get through this time of his life. Speculating about if and when the project will be done is not helpful and may very well make the process of grieving that much more difficult.
2. I am a backer of the project. I took a capital risk in order to get a glimpse into a world and campaign that I have been following for years. Even if the rest of the project never sees the light of day, I have gotten my money’s worth with what has been released to backers. It is easily one of the most comprehensive and well crafted megadungeons ever to be shared with this community and I am very much looking forward to playing it one day. The material I have in hand is, frankly, exactly what I was expecting and what I paid for.
3. I consider Dwimmermount, even in its current state, to be a major success. As an experiment with OD&D as written with the basic assumption that it is not wrong, we have all had to seriously wrestle with the concept of the dungeon and the megadungeon. One meme that is making the rounds is that the first levels are “boring.” The most insightful of these meditations is by Roger of Roles, Rules & Rolls. 
4. Patience is a virtue everyone desperately needs to reacquaint themselves with.

Personally, I have only recently started to read all the material available to Dwimmermount backers, and in context of what is available I do not see the first level boring at all, but (again) I got what I was looking for. However, I do appreciate the conundrum, especially since my own attempts at a megadungeon in my Lost Colonies campaign met with mixed results.

To that end, let me call attention to a number of my older posts and bring them into the context of the long shadow of Dwimmermount:

• I did a review of Matt Finch’s Demonspore. I highly praised its modularity — it was specifically designed to be placed into an extant dungeon and not a complete dungeon in and of itself. This modularity made it possible for it to be utilized as part of my megadungeon and ended up being a highly entertaining episode in my long-running campaign. My challenge to adventure writers and publishers to duplicate this modularity has thus far fell on deaf ears.
• In my own forays into improving my craft as an adventure designer and maker of megadungeons, I came up with the idea of the 3x5 geomorph. As a concept, it duplicated the modularity found in Demonspore on a smaller scale. Each 3x5 card has more room and flexibility than a normal geomorph and each can contain its own function and backstory. The dungeon maps that I made for The Slave Pits of Abhoth used this method. I challenged folks to start working on 3x5 geomorphs, but that, too, has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
• I recently purchased another of Matt Finch’s publications, The Tome of Adventure Design. In it, with the use of dozens of tables and a lot of sound advice, Matt lays out a formalized way to utilize the very modularity that I found in his adventure Demonspore and I tried to create with my 3x5 geomorphs. You can roll on a series of tables to determine the characteristics and size of a particular section of a dungeon, including what it looks like, how many rooms, what size those rooms are and how they are arranged. There are also tables for coming up with various kinds of landmarks that differentiate this particular section of dungeon from every other part of a dungeon. In essence, the results of each of these series of die rolls is something that could theoretically fit on a 3x5 geomorph. String a bunch of these together in various patterns and one can come up with several fantastic-looking dungeons that have a suggested history and use because of all the various landmarks that dot each section of the map. Not only is it a gratifying way to build a dungeon, I believe that the end result is much better than some of the more traditional ways of putting together a dungeon.

This brings me to my current project, my re-imagined version of The Caves of Chaos from B2: The Keep on the Borderland. I used The Tome of Adventure Design heavily as I constructed my vision of the caves and the result was a series of small dungeon sections which I pieced together to come up with what I feel is and rather exciting 1st level adventure with the potential to become a megadungeon should anyone want to take it that far. No boring here.

A huge reason that I feel this way about the dungeon is the fact that simply looking at a section of the map, with a title taken from a landmark derived from a random table is truly evocative. I could run this adventure on the fly simply from looking at these maps. For example:

This map is just brimming with possibilities and could be used in all kinds of different contexts. Indeed, it is specifically designed to do exactly that.

Thus, I challenge everyone, instead of whinging about how your latest Kickstarter is behind schedule get out a pack of 3x5’s, draw some maps, label them with evocative landmarks and titles, put them out there for people to use and let us see the fruit of this re-examination of the megadungeon that Dwimmermount has so successfully and beautifully done. I pray this challenge does not fall on deaf ears.

Finally, I need to acknowledge that both James and Matt have made me a better player and a better dungeon designer. I’d like to take the time to thank them both.

Saintly Saturday: St. Artemius of Antioch

Today is the feast of St. Artemius of Antioch. During the reigns of St. Constantine the Great and his son Constantius, Artemius was a prominent military leader. When Constantius was emperor, Artemus was sent to Patras to retrieve the relics of the Apostle Andrew and to Thebes of Boetia to retrieve the relics of St. Luke. In return for these services, he was made viceroy of Egypt, where he spread and strengthened the faith.

Constantius was succeeded by Julian the Apostate (a regular character in these Saintly Saturday posts). The new emperor had rejected Christianity and wanted to restore paganism to the Empire. In his zeal, he had two bishops of Antioch tortured and killed for refusing to forsake Christ. While this persecution was taking place, Artemius arrived in Antioch and publicly denounced the emperor. This, of course, enraged the emperor and Artemius was subjected to heinous tortures and thrown into prison. Eventually, once Julian realized he was not going to change the saint's resolute mind, he had Artemius beheaded.

If seen through the lens of a D&D character career, the story of St. Artemius primarily takes place in the mid- and high levels. His quest to retrieve the relics of Sts. Andrew and Luke are akin to wilderness adventures. He had to cross the Aegean Sea in order to get to Thebes of Boetia (which is in Greece, not Egypt) and then trek across to the other side of Greece in order to get to Patras (and might even have had to cross the Gulf of Corinth). Having returned with these prizes to the emperor, his appointment as viceroy is the equivalent of building a stronghold. His conflict with Julian, then, is akin to the end game, where high level characters are dealing with larger political issues.

Though I do not spend any time on the boards, nor have I paid much attention to the play tests of Dwimmermount, I have caught wind of a level of disappointment with both the format of Mr. Maliszewski’s project and the dungeoncrawl in general.

I have to admit that I really don’t understand either of these sentiments. Dwimmermount was explicitly an experiment in doing a megadungeon cleaving as close to the rules of OD&D as possible. Due to the nature of that ruleset, this naturally requires far more creativity from the Referee and a much larger emphasis on exploration. Personally, these are exactly the two things I love about the game. As a player, some of the best sessions I have ever had involved nothing but exploring ancient ruins with nary a hint of combat. As a Ref, I love dropping hints of the backstory of why there is a megadungeon in the first place and seeing the light go on as these hints get pieced together into a greater understanding.

Of course, I have found that a successful campaign (in which I include Maliszewski’s original Dwimmermount) includes a wilderness exploration component, as looking at the life of St. Artemius through D&D glasses suggests. From personal experience, however, the key to making the megadungeon work (as opposed to a series of location-based adventures scattered across a wilderness) is to tie that wilderness exploration to the backstory of the megadungeon.

I’ll give two good examples. When Maliszewski ran Mr. Raggi’s excellent Death Frost Doom, he tied it to Dwimmermount by having the history Cyrus Maximus intertwine with the history of Dwimmermount. It added to the mystery and story of Dwimmermount. In my own Lost Colonies campaign, my players have ended up both on a spaceship and on an alien planet. The first had the Two Swords, which Dn. Goram was sent to retrieve and return to my megadungeon and the latter had a gate that led to the bowels of my megadungeon. Each of these adventures added to the mystery and backstory of my megadungeon.

In other words, the megadungeon (when used creatively) can be the backbone of every aspect of the typical D&D character's career — the initial dungeon delve, the wilderness exploration and the end game. Having personally seen this happen, it not only can make a campaign sing, but something that you want to go back to over and over again.

Saintly Saturday: St. Phocas of Sinope

Today is the feast of St. Phocas who was bishop of Sinope (modern day Sinop in north-central Turkey on the Black Sea coast). He was martyred in A.D. 102 during the reign of emperor Trajan. He was burned to death in a bath house.

The most interesting part of his story, however, was almost three hundred years after his death when his relics were transferred to the imperial city of Constantinople. This past week James Maliszewski posted about some relics that were recently re-interned at St. Martin of Tours in Kentucky. I found it interesting how inspiring the accompanying photo was in that it invoked a classic S&S feel, with a solid nod toward CAS.

The city of Constantinople, being the city built by St. Constantine (the first Christian emperor), had very little in the way of a history of martyrs. Since the cult of the saints — particularly martyr saints — was so strong within Christianity, there was a perceived need to transfer the relics of martyrs to the the imperial city.

St. Phocas was one of these martyr saints. He was transferred from Pontus around A.D. 400 to the imperial city with great pomp and circumstance. There was a procession through the city streets and its water ways that lasted two days. The relics were accompanied by a flotilla of lamp bearing ships under the gaze of the emperor and the empress. There is an extant homily of St. John Chrysostom, who was the Patriarch of Constantinople at the time, commemorating the event:

Yesterday our city was magnificent, magnificent and renowned not because it has columns, but because a martyr was in our midst, ceremoniously conveyed to us from Pontus. He observed your hospitality and filled you with his blessing. He praised your enthusiasm and blessed the people present. He blessed those who gathered and shared his sweet smell…

Three things to note:

• St. John talks about the saint in the present tense. The relics of the saints are an integral part of the person of the saint. Their presence indicates the active presence of the saint himself. Miracles are worked through them. My wife, while sitting in the presence of a saint’s relics, felt the saint’s hand on a wound that would not heal. When she got up to leave, the wound was gone.
• Many relics have a sweet smell — the sweetness of the Kingdom of Heaven. This sweetness is unlike anything I have ever smelled. It is sweeter than honey, flowers, basil or any other fragrance I can think of.
• These are textural details of a real culture that formed the foundation of everything we know today in the West, and yet it feels entirely foreign, fantastic and worthy of an S&S story by CAS or even REH.

All of this is a reminder that not only is truth often stranger than fiction, but if we want to breathe the fantastic into our campaigns, we need not look much further than the history section of a library.

Meditating on Ability Bonuses

Awhile ago, I wrote a post about Charisma and Wisdom. In it I challenged the basic assumptions of both ability scores in an attempt to return to the symmetry of Prime Requisites vs. Combat Abilities found in OD&D with later versions of the game that include the Thief as a core class. While thought provoking, I am not sure I was entirely successful.

Recently, James over at Grognardia also wrote about Charisma in a very similar vein to what I was trying to get at in my own, earlier, post. This prompted a brief discussion of ability scores and bonuses that ended up admitting that while the balance found in OD&D is intellectually awesome, in practice it is hard to image a fighter with an 18 Strength not getting some kind of combat bonus since that is how we have played the game for 30+ years.

Yesterday, Jeff of Jeff's Gameblog posted this little gem. At first, I dismissed it out of hand because it made no real sense to me — why would a dumb fighter advance faster than a smart one? Why would a weak MU do any better than a strong one? It then hit me: a dumb fighter would rely more on his fighting ability than would a smarter fighter; a weak MU would rely more on their arcane magic than would a stronger MU.

Imagine for a moment a MU had to move a couch. With a STR of 10+ that couch is going to be lifted/dragged to where it needs to be. With a STR of 8 or less (especially 3!) it is more likely that a spell like Floating Disc is going to be cast in order to move that couch. Who is more likely to be more skilled, faster over time: the MU who uses arcane magic for everything or the one who can rely on other skills to do everyday mundane things? I am beginning to see that it is very plausible to argue the MU with a 3 STR would.

Using my previous re-tooling of Charisma and Wisdom, here are my own initial thoughts about XP bonuses:

Low Strength = Magic-User bonus
Low Dexterity = Cleric Bonus
Low Constitution = Thief Bonus
Low Intelligence = Fighter/Dwarf
Low Awareness = Halfling
Low Charisma = Elf

Here are my explanations:

• Magic Users — see above.
• Clerics are more likely to solve problems face-to-face therefore discouraging missile combat as a way to solve problems.
• Thieves that have lower hit points are much more likely to solve problems by avoiding combat and being sneaky.
• Fighters and Dwarves that are intelligent (able to form strategy and planning) are less likely to rely on their sword/axe arm.
• Halflings (Hobbits) are naturally inclined to live happily in their own little bubble without much awareness of the outside world. Those who are aware just aren't natural hobbits.
• Elves, being long-lived and the one race inclined to being two classes at once, represent the impulse to do everything sans divine help. The less in tune with God, the more likely the elf will succeed doing what elves do. This also gives elves a nice, sinister spin.

This all got me thinking about the inherent symmetry of OD&D vs. combat bonuses built into Prime Requisites and how I can have my cake and eat it, too. With XP bonuses divorced from Prime Requisites, it is possible to give every ability score a combat bonus/penalty.

Using my previous re-tooling of Charisma and Wisdom, here are my initial thoughts:

Strength = to hit bonus melee
Dexterity = to hit bonus ranged
Constitution = hit points bonus
Intelligence = henchmen number & loyalty
Awareness = damage bonus
Charisma = armor class bonus

The first three are pretty standard and therefore don't need much explanation. The last three, however, break the mold.

• Intelligence — This requires a bit of reverse engineering. If a fighter is more fighter-like by relying on their sword, than the opposite of that would be a fighter who relies on planning — leading a number of henchmen. In addition, which class is most likely to take advantage of henchmen — the Magic-User!
• Awareness — This represents the ability to be aware of weaknesses in an opponent's defenses.
• Charisma — Someone who has divine protection is going to be harder to hit.

It should be noted, that there are some editions of D&D where certain combat bonuses are only available to fighters. There are a couple of ways to simulate this. The first is to have additional bonuses associated with Prime Requisites that are only available to the given class. Here are some initial thoughts (some of which already duplicate some existing rules):

Strength = Fighters and Dwarves get a bonus to encumbrance (they are trained to move in armor). If that doesn't float your boat, how about DR when armor is worn?
Dexterity = Elves get a bonus to saving throws involving balance (death/breath)
Constitution = Halflings get a bonus to saving throws involving durability (poison/spells)
Intelligence = Magic-Users get to know more spells/get bonus spells
Awareness = Thieves get bonuses to Thief Skills
Charisma = Clerics gets bonus spells

Secondly, rather than getting all the the various combat bonuses, characters would only get the bonus associated with their class plus one other of their choice (thus giving classes a bit of diversity).

Thoughts?

A Monster Substitution Thought Experiment

Those of you who have read my blog for a while may have noticed that, when doing thought experiments, I like to limit the parameters (sometimes severely). For example, when I posted about finding future/sci fi monsters in D&D I limited myself to LL, Holmes and B/X. This resulted in some thoughts I knew wouldn't have occurred to me had I included the FF, as many commentators urged me to do.

When I was in elementary school, my school district would occasionally have in their budget the ability to bring in an artist in residence to do various projects with each grade level. The one that I remember best (because she had the most impact on me as a person) was a poet. One of the major life lessons I learned from her was that parameters and limitations can actually result in better work and more creativity. My free form poetry sucked, but my couplets and haiku sang. Thus, whenever I do thought experiments, the first thing I do is set limitations and parameters, because it almost always produces better work from yours truly.

I mention this, because there is really no reason for this particular thought experiment, other than it is a parameter that I think is really interesting and cool.  The other day, James over at Grognardia reminded all of us about the 3e SRD, especially all of the monsters listed therein. The post also reminded me that three of my favorite monsters from Homles and Cook are Not in the SRD:

• Caecilia (can anyone say baby purple worms?)
• Carrion Crawler (great for scaring the pants off of players)
• Displacer Beast (one of those monsters that inspires entire adventures)

I am sure that there are many who will gladly point out that, if push comes to shove, all I have to do is rename these wonderful beasts much like Dan Proctor did for LL (Gray Worm, Carcass Scavenger and Phase Tiger for those interested). But what if that wasn't possible? What if I had to use only those monsters in the SRD? What monsters would I use in their place? As I said, a useless (but fun) thought experiment:

• Frost Worm for Caecilia — I would have to reduce the number of HD (from 14 to 6) but I prefer the cold-based powers of the Frost Worm because it makes the creature more than merely a smaller version of the purple worm.
• Chuula for the Carrion Crawler — Again, there needs to be a reduction in HD (11 to 3+1); however, the basic concept of the two is very similar — a worm/insect-like creature with paralyzing tentacles. The difference is that the Chuula has a pair of claws that bring in its victim and can do some actual damage as opposed to just paralysis. Thus, it can put even more fear into players.
• Destrachan for the Displacer Beast — There is less of an HD discrepancy here (8 to 6) but more of a difference between the two concepts — phase displacement vs. sonic powers. If one takes into consideration the enmity with the blink dog, however, the sonic powers make more sense. Why would the blink dog ever develop the ability to blink in order to combat phase displacement (other than they seem to be related/have the same origin)? Blinking in and out in order to avoid sonic attacks, however, does make sense.

What are some of your favorite classic D&D monsters that don't show up in the SRD? What SRD monster would you be willing to substitute for them?

A Map of Averoigne

Here is the map I've been fiddling around with. Those of you who are acquainted with the works of Clark Ashton Smith will note that I have changed most of the place names. This, of course, is done on purpose. While I am quite inspired by Smith's work (obviously), I have little desire to traipse about the original version of Averoigne. Whether or not I like it, whether or not it is existentially true, I feel restricted by trying to stay true to someone else's creation. As I have noted before, running any RPG requires letting go of creative control. The truly rewarding part of play is the surprise of letting players do their thing. 

In order to permit myself the freedom to let go and just allow play to naturally develop as the creativity of various people affect the campaign world, I mentally need to divorce a world from its source material. Changing the name of Ximes to Ximera is a small and easy way to do this. This version of Averoigne stops being Smith's and becomes mine. In doing an homage, rather than a simulation, I have complete creative control and therefore the freedom to completely let go of that control. With a simulation, I never can get over the fact that though I play at having complete control, this world doesn't entirely belong to me.

Intriguingly, James over at Grognardia today tries to make the case that it is possible to play around in another's creation. The example he gives is a Judge's Guild module (The Nightmare Maze of Jigrésh) created for EPT. He argues that its relative banality proves that it is possible to run a campaign in Tékumel without getting bogged down in the minutia of Barker's creation.

I don't doubt that this is true. The number of successful Greyhawk campaigns through the years demonstrate its inherent truth. Despite the relative ease we all have with understanding the assumed culture of Greyhawk vs. the complexity of Tékumel they are both someone else's creation. 

I, for one, however, prefer the freedom of doing an homage rather than a simulation.

Give Me B&W Art

Today, over at Grognardia, James asked a very interesting question:

What are your feelings about the increase in the illustrations per page we see in a lot of contemporary gamebooks? Do you like it? Do you view it as essential? And, most importantly from my perspective, has this increase affected your feelings about games and game products that don't include as much artwork as you might see in, say, a WotC or Paizo offering?

I find it interesting because, when it comes to my gaming products, I much prefer B&W art over the elaborate art offered up by the likes of WotC and Paizo. One could argue that this is because I am an old fart who came into the hobby with that often amateurish art of the 70s and I am doing nothing other than indulging in nostalgia. While there might be some truth to this, I don't believe it is a fair assessment of my own feelings on the matter.

At the root of my feelings is the idea of freedom and participation. While there are exceptions, overwhelmingly B&W art is suggestive while full color art is authoritative.

B&W art invites me to participate in it by purposely leaving out details (color) and gives me the freedom to fill in the details. Indeed, the most endearing, enduring and evocative art in the hobby for me is all B&W. The art that has inspired is B&W. The art that has affected the way I imagine my worlds and specific aspects of it are B&W.

Full color art (4C) fills in all those details for me. It doesn't invite my participation at all — especially the high-detail 4C art of WotC and Paizo. They authoritatively state: "This is what this looks like. Period." I am not invited to the party. I am actively being discouraged from Doing It Myself. Though there are examples of 4C art out there that are endearing, enduring and evocative (Erol Otis immediately comes to mind), overwhelmingly, 4C art is absent from my imagination when I go about this hobby because its authoritative nature leaves no room for my participation.

Thus, if you want to invite me to the table, give me some B&W art and leave the 4C at the door.

Lost Colonies Session 22

One of the intriguing aspects of this campaign is the lack of interest in the tent pole megadungeon by my players. I've been wondering about this for much of this campaign — is it me, the players, the concept of the megadungeon, etc. When James over at Grognardia made the observation that too many monsters are not practical for encouraging exploration (a large part of the appeal for megadungeons) I decided to adhere closely to the 2/3 empty room model suggested by the LBBs and his experience. Having created an incentive to return to the megadungeon, I was looking forward to seeing if fewer monsters might encourage more forays into the megadungeon.

Interestingly, as a Referee, I felt that even this 2/3 empty room model coupled with Holmes' wandering monster pattern produced too many monsters. I felt as if the monsters were getting in the way of the exploration. It has made me reconsider my encounter tables. I plan on including more "events" in place of some monsters.

The players returned to the Lower Catacombs at the Abandoned Monastery and discovered a stairway that they had not found the last time they explored the area. This discovery highlights my players' creativity. Having found the utility of Speak with Animals while taking care of Pups the Dire Wolf, Dn. Goram has insisted on keeping it in his repertoire of spells. He used it to try and avoid a combat with some giant lizards, who now seem to be the main occupants of the caverns from which the catacombs were carved. He found out that there were "lizard killers" that lived "below" and that the entrance was guarded by a "sticky manylegger."

Having intuited that the location of what the party assumed to be a giant spider was in a passageway already passed over by the party (it was a partial cave-in where the party would have to forego weapons and packs in order to crawl over the top of the rubble), Dn. Goram volunteered to lead the way towards one of his greatest fears — spiders. He wrapped himself in oil-soaked rags, cast Resist Fire upon himself and then set himself on fire. When he came into contact with the inevitable web, he set about creating a deadly inferno. (I realize that real spider web does not burn, but allow this tactic because it is an accepted given in most of the games I've ever played). Despite the brilliance of the plan, Dn. Goram lost the initiative, got stung and had to save v. poison or die. Being a Cleric, his save was much better than most and he (barely) made the roll.

Once they cleared the area of webbing, they descended down some spiral stairs to find themselves in pit of Ochre Jelly. With a judicious use of Sanctuary, they minimized the damage prior to burning off the creature. The party hadn't got very far before they happened upon a wandering band of werewolves. They managed to kill two, capture one and drive the rest off. The interrogation revealed that there may be at least two antagonistic factions within the dungeon. Recognizing that an enemy of an enemy can be a friend (and the reality that there were twenty gnolls coming for them down that hallway) the party agreed to leave this particular level and redirect their exploration towards what the werewolf called the Fungal Forest.

After extracting themselves from the newly discovered level, they proceeded to go back down an underground river that they had previously explored when trying to retrieve Hamlen's beloved spiked club. They found their crude handholds reinforced and improved. When they came to the water fall, they found their rope used as the foundation for a rope ladder. Clearly someone had retraced their steps.

The cavern beyond was several thousand feet long and several hundred feet wide dominated by various kinds of fungal growth. On the left side of the cavern lay some kind of fortress. The last time the party ventured this way, they found the remains of a battle from the distant past. They also found the fortress largely unoccupied. After finding out that there is some kind of fey presence within the cavern, the session ended with the party's discovery that the battle remains had been cleared and the fortress was now occupied by orcs and possibly much worse.

Our Deracinated Hobby

One of the great things about reading Grognardia is the wonderful vocabulary that James pulls out every now and then. One such wonderful word is derancinated. I was as shocked as James when this etymological gem from Middle French garnered the reaction it did. It got me to thinking about a guy named Marcion.

In the second century, about A.D. 140, this guy named Marcion showed up at the church in Rome with a hand full of cash. By 144, however, Marcion's theological system was revealed. His money was returned and he was excommunicated.

Marcion believed that the Hebrew God of the Old Testament was not the same God that Jesus came to reveal. He could not reconcile the jealousy, wrath and legalism of the OT God with the love of the NT God. Thus, he insisted on the very first canon of Scripture in the Christian era: the Gospel according to Luke (the only Gentile of the Evangelists) and ten of the Epistles attributed to St. Paul. He tried to strip Christianity of its Hebrew roots in order to understand it.

The Church insisted on retaining the OT with all its warts, all its inconsistencies, and all its historical inaccuracies knowing that its primary purpose was revelation. All those warts, inconsistencies and historical inaccuracies had to be reconciled if one was to be able to answer the question, "Who is God?" and more specifically that most important question, "Who is Jesus Christ?"

Despite the problems that arise from all these books, written by different people, edited and redacted by others from different times, in different places, in different languages and in a variety of genres, the Church knows more about God and more about Christ from the OT than it does from the NT. Without its roots — Hebrew Scripture and Judaism — Christianity is rendered meaningless.

Let me be clear: I am not trying to place OD&D on some kind of biblical plane without which D&D's later editions are rendered meaningless nor am I trying to declare that anyone who prefers to play later editions of the game are heretics. I am trying to say that the endeavor to understand the roots and history of this hobby is not only something that we in the OSR enjoy doing, but it is good for the hobby as a whole.
Christianity left behind many liturgical practices and traditions from its Judaic past; however, it also holds onto some practices that modern Judaism no longer uses. Knowing the whys and the wherefores not only makes the Christian liturgical life richer, it makes all of life more meaningful.

It is certainly possible to play 4th Edition and have a blast doing so without ever knowing anything about 0e-3.5e. I would argue, though, that someone who does know the history, archeology and mechanics of our hobby is not only going to be a better player, but will be better equipped to get the most fun out of whichever edition they choose to play.

Take, for example, my own experience with this game we love. I have seen the game morph the Cleric from being "humans who have dedicated themselves to one or more of the gods" (leaving room for either a monotheistic or polytheistic world-view) to being necessarily polytheistic and pagan. On their own, every edition of D&D starting with 2e is incompatible with my world-view. I am forced to choose between what I believe and the rules of the game — not my idea of a good time. However, in going back to the LBBs and the history of the game, I have discovered not only that making up rules and doing things on your own where expected elements of the game, but Clerics have their origin in Christianity. Thus, I am free to play whatever edition I choose with a monotheistic world-view knowing that I am standing squarely in the traditions of the game. That is my idea of a good time.

AAC vs DAC

There was quite a hubbub over at Grognardia yesterday about Descending AC vs. Ascending AC. I find it fascinating that such a small thing can result in such an explosion of emotion and words. The reason for this, I believe, is that underlying this debate is the much greater issue of the universal mechanic, of which AAC is a part and which DAC flies in the face of.

If I am really honest with myself, I have to admit that the universal d20 mechanic of 3rd Edition is awfully attractive. In concept, it is elegant, it appeals to my love of patterns and it is so darn pretty. This beauty, however, does come with consequences.

By implication, a universal mechanic should be able to handle any and all situations that come up during play — whether or not the use of the mechanic is appropriate or even necessary. A natural assumption that arises out of this ability to handle every thing in play, is the belief that the mechanic should handle every thing in play. In fact, if your goal is to run tournaments that are fair — that reduce the human element to a minimum so that the system practically runs itself — this is even desirable. The die roll is left to handle everything.

I believe those of us who prefer DAC (which I do, for a variety of geeky reasons, including weapon vs. AC tables), tend to read more into AAC than a math equation. It reminds me vb of the universal mechanic that has not only successfully reduced the human element of the game, but has also reduced the amount of freedom and creativity in the game. Using the universal mechanic reduces the freedom of the DM to arbitrarily make a ruling based on a d8 or a d12. Using the universal mechanic reduces the freedom of players to role play, to try to solve problems creatively, and to act and think outside the box — because to go outside the box means to go outside the mechanic, which is designed to handle everything.

As a Christian, one of the the things I value most is human freedom. It is one of the foundations upon which the whole Christian world-view is built. Without it, my faith means nothing. As such, I prefer the older versions of the game, because they better express human freedom in their game play. It also means that I value the ability for everyone to choose their own path; however, I also encourage everyone to understand the consequences of their choice. Have I played 3rd edition? Yes. Do I enjoy it as much as I enjoy playing older editions of the game? No. I find the free-flowing creativity that results from a deliciously non-universal mechanic to be a lot more enjoyable — in many ways because I'm making it up as I go along.

At the end of the day, the choice to use AAC or DAC is loaded with far more than a simple math equation. To choose DAC clearly states that one rejects a universal mechanic and embraces the freedom that comes from the older styles of play. And, as we saw yesterday, those who make that choice can be quite emotional and vocal about it.

Map of the Western & Eastern Caves

This is a map for the caves from the Southern Ruins for the Erimia campaign. Please note: Glue Flowers and Ant Horrors can both be found in Mutant Future and Ranine are the creation of James Maliszewski.

Western Caves

1. A patch of rather large, phosphorescent Glue Flowers [7] (HP 14, 13, 11, 9, 9, 9, 6; #AT: 1 (glue); D: special; AC 9; Morale: n/a; MV: none) grow here. Adventurers must take great care to avoid the flowers or be attacked.

2. This cavern has a slight upward incline and is covered with a snot-like substance. While being completely disgusting, the substance is seemingly harmless when touched, tasted, or otherwise interacted with. However, the slime produces a tasteless and odorless poisonous gas. After 1d10 rounds of continually being in the cavern, adventurers must save vs. poison every round or lose a point of Constitution. These losses may be recovered by leaving the cavern and breathing non-poisonous air continuously for an hour. If an adventurer's Constitution reaches 0, they fall unconscious. If they are not removed from the poisonous gas for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution, they will die.

3. Within the walls of this cave is a rich vein of precious stones. Each stone takes 1d6 turns to extract and is worth 1d10x10 gp. However, the poisonous gas from Area 2 pools here. All saves vs. poison are at -2.

4. Empty cavern.

5. This cavern has a slight upward slope and is covered in the same slime as Area 2. However, the floor of this cavern is very thin. Any adventurer who steps into the cavern will fall through the floor, falling 10 ft. Note:The whole floor will not give way —it only breaks where an adventurer steps.

6. This is the web-covered lair of a pair of Giant Crab Spiders [2] (HP 10, 8; #AT: 1 (bite); D: 1b8, poison; AC 7; Morale: 7; MV: 120(40)). There are several desiccated corpses which were former victims of the spiders. One has a large sack with 200 sp.

7. Empty Cavern

8-10. These caverns are a teeming colony of Giant Rats [d10] (HP 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1; #AT: 1 (bite); D: 1b3, disease; AC 7; Morale: 8; MV: 120(40)). Each cavern will always have rats in them, no matter how many times the adventurers clear them out. For each encounter, there is a 1 in 6 chance that the rats have a Minor Chaotic Trait.

11. This is the lair of an Ant Horror [1] (HP 22; #AT: 2 (bites) or 1 (tail); D: 2d8/2d8 or 1d10+poison; AC 3; Morale: 7; MV: 150(50)).

12. The entrance of this cavern is partially blocked. Human-sized creatures can squeeze past, but the Ant Horror cannot. In the cave is the body of a Ipolian soldier. He wears platmail armor, a shield, a spear, short sword and silver dagger all in good condition. within the remains of a sack are 5 gems worth 100 gp each. He also wears a jeweled badge of rank worth 300 gp. Note: these items will be easily recognized by the citizens of Gate and difficult to sell there.

Eastern Caves

1. This is the lair of a Chaos Beast [1] (HP 19; #AT: 1 (bite) + gaze; D: 1d10; AC 3; Morale: 9; MV: 90(30)). This emaciated, beaked, serpentine horror is perpetually hungry and will attack anyone in the vicinity of the caves. Its gaze causes a breakdown of a person's ability to make sense out of reality. Adventurers who meet the beast's gaze must save vs. petrification or lose 1 Int. Adventurers who wish to completely avoid the gaze cannot attack. Any attack made trying to avoid the gaze is at -4 to hit and still has a 1 in 6 chance of meeting the gaze. Normally attacking will result in meeting the gaze on a 1-3 on a d6. Seeing the creature from afar has a 4 in 6 chance of meeting the gaze. All Int loss is regained after an hour. Anyone who is reduced to 0 Int becomes mindless and is unable to do anything. The Chaos Beast will not attack mindless adventurers, rather, at the first opportunity will drag them into Area 2.

2. This is a birthing chamber for the Ranine. Mindless victims are are chained to rock columns, seeded with eggs, and serve as the first meal for the Ranine young. The Chaos Beast feasts on the weakest Ranine, leaving the strongest to join the Ranines in Areas 11-15. At any one time, there are 2d6-2 mindless chained to various columns throughout the cavern.

3. Chaos energy has created a soft spot in space here. Anytime adventurers enter this cavern, there is a 1 in 6 chance that they are teleported to anyplace the DM wants.

4. This is a trash heap where the Ranine throw the bones that remain from the victims of the Chaos Beast. Thousands of bones are here, all tainted by Chaos. Any time adventurers enter this cavern 3d4 misshapen and mismatched skeletons will animate to take revenge on the living (HP 6 ea.; #AT: 1; D: 1d6; AC 7; Morale: 12; MV: 60(20)). Scattered throughout the bones are 1500 cp, 200 sp, and a potion of healing.

5. On each of the two rock columns in the middle of this cavern are carved a mockery of a mouth. When asked a question, they answer. One will always tell the truth, the other will always tell a lie. However, which one does which is determined at every question by a die roll.

6. Empty Cavern.

7. A number of chain and cuffs hang from the back wall of this cavern. The Ranine will go on hunting parties to capture victims for the Chaos Beast. Their prisoners are chained here, awaiting the Chaos Beat to eat them or render them mindless. At any time there are 1d4-1 creatures chained to the wall here.

8. This is the lair of a Ghoul [1] (HP 12; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d3/1d3/1d3+paralysis; AC 6; Morale: 9; MV: 90(30)). It wears a bracelet and a necklace each worth 400 gp.

9. There is a carving in the wall of this cavern that depicts a star that falls from the sky and is now buried beneath a mountain.

10. Empty Cavern.

[Caverns 11-15 are extremely humid]

11. Ranine [4] (HP 21, 13, 5, 4; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d6/1d6/1d4+paralysis; AC 4; Morale: 8; MV: 90(30)). The largest (21 hp) is a 4 HD creature and the one with 13 hp regenerates 1d4 HP per round.

12. Ranine [2] (HP 9, 9; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d6/1d6/1d4+paralysis; AC 4; Morale: 8; MV: 90(30)).

13. Ranine [2] (HP 9, 8; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d6/1d6/1d4+paralysis; AC 4; Morale: 8; MV: 90(30)).

14. Ranine [2] (HP 10, 7; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d6/1d6/1d4+paralysis; AC 4; Morale: 8; MV: 90(30)).

15. Ranine [4] (HP 9, 7, 5, 3; #AT: 3 (2 claws, bite); D: 1d6/1d6/1d4+paralysis; AC 4; Morale: 8; MV: 90(30)). The largest (9 hp) may cast darkness (30' r.) at will and wields a magic short sword. It functions as a +1 magic weapon, but when wielded in combat it makes micro tears in the fabric of space and time. This has two side-effects: 1) All monsters and henchmen sense that something is terribly wrong and are -2 morale; 2) Every time a 20 is rolled when attacking with the weapon, a larger tear is made and there is a 1 in 20 chance that something horrible crawls through. If a know alignment spell is cast on the blade, it will register Chaotic. There is a well here from which can be heard the sound of rushing water. This can be an entrance into a sub-level or a lower level of the dungeon below. There is a locked chest wedged into a recess in the wall. It contains 1000 gp. and 200 pp.

Being There

Over on Grognardia, James Maliszewski wrote:

I don't think pre-fab campaign settings need to be impediments to creation through play. Indeed, in some cases, they can be great spurs to creativity. I do think, though, that there's a danger inherent in such settings and that's the false perception that there's a "right" way to play in Tékumel or Greyhawk or Glorantha. Once this pernicious idea takes hold, you close yourself off to many terrific possibilities and contribute to the reduction of roleplaying games to an activity of passive consumption rather than active engagement no different than watching movies or television. This is the reason why analogies with those media tend to raise my hackles. It's not that I think there's anything wrong with wanting one's campaign to be as exciting and "alive" as the best movies or TV shows; it's that I don't think that worthy goal can be achieved by looking to those media as models rather than inspirations for good gaming.

This reminded me of an incident that happened back when I went to a tiny little college that was settled in the middle of a tiny little town of about five thousand people. While I was there, the local community tried to remove the book Being There by Jerzy Kosinski from the shelves of the school library. Amazingly, Kosinski came to town to defend himself, his book, and his understanding of freedom. I was privileged enough to be present when Kosinski made his defense, and his argument not only deeply moved me, but actually affected the way I understand the world.

He made the observation that fiction is the most democratic form of media. I can pick up any work of fiction anytime and anywhere I wish. I can read it at any pace I choose. I am the one who controls how I envision the world described in those pages. In contrast, newspapers determine what content I am to read. Non-fiction limits the pallet by which I can imagine what I am reading, because these are real people, in real places. Photography and painting determine exactly what it is that I am to see. Television and movies are the most autocratic of all. They determine virtually every aspect of the experience — when and where, what I see, what I hear, how I see and how I hear. Once I turn on the TV, push play, or sit down in the movie theater, I have given up control to the media. I attribute my utter refusal to see any movie on opening day weekend and a preference for watching movies and TV shows on the web or on DVD to this argument. By doing so, in some small way, I am taking back some of the control over the experience.

This argument is quite relevant to the world of RPGs and adds a layer of nuance to what James is trying to say. As James has so eloquently pointed out on his blog, RPGs used to list books to read in order to find inspiration. Now they list TV shows and movies. There is a direct correlation to the amount of freedom players have in the way these games are presented and played to these influences. Campaign settings are a unique form of media. They can act as literature or television in terms of their democracy vs. autocracy that Kosinski was speaking about. This relationship is determined entirely by how it is used. We, as gamers, can choose to use it as inspiration in order for us to freely create our own worlds, taking what we like and discarding what we don't. Or we can use them as canons to restrict not only what we ourselves do, but what anyone else can do with the material.

I am not at all surprised that old-school gaming, with its emphasis on creativity, house-rules, player freedom and sandbox campaigns is solidly rooted in literature. I am also not surprised that as TV and movies became increasingly influential on RPGs that campaign worlds became instruments of autocracy and that modern RPGs emphasize plot, story and adventure paths over creativity and player freedom.

I would be remiss if I did not reflect on how this reminds me of our own relationship with the world and sin. As beings made in the image and likeness of God, we are free beings. However, we exist in a fallen world overwhelmed by sin and death. When we ignore God and freely choose a world of sin, we concede control of ourselves to sin, in much the same way we do when we turn on a TV. It has the illusion of true freedom, but in reality we are slaves. However, when we take creation, and use it to bring it and us closer to God, we are taking control of both creation and ourselves. Our creative spirit is set free and we get to taste true freedom. Indeed, this is one the very reasons I write this blog and it is the model by which I play my games.