Lost Colonies Session 12

Having destroyed the "Gate" last session, the party reported their success to Bishop Iova; however, they feared that more evil lurked beneath the Necropolis. When the bishop mentioned putting out a call for adventurers, the party immediately begged for a first crack at the job (thus far, their exploration of the dungeon beneath the Necropolis has yielded a lot of combat, but very little treasure). The bishop gave them a week head start. Healed and with shields bought and repaired, the party set off to finish the job they started.

At this point, I have to make an admission. This dungeon did not turn out the way I originally planned it — at all. When I first loosely planned this campaign, I took existing dungeon maps, modules and adventures and placed them on the campaign map in order to be prepared for any whim of the players. Originally, I placed the castle of Ravenloft in The City (now Trisagia), knowing it to be a decent dungeon crawl if handled correctly; however, I forgot just what a major headache the map was.

Thus, after being frustrated for much of a session trying to decipher which part of the map led to which and what was supposed to be there, I abandoned the map and started making things up on the fly. At my earliest convenience, I grafted an old school map onto what had already been explored and went from there. This session saw yet another unplanned shift. My family has been beset with a lot of illness recently and, though I was loath to admit it, I was physically exhausted. As we began our session, I quickly realized that I was mentally exhausted as well. I was not going to be able to run an entertaining session if I had to do much thinking — handling monsters, running combat, etc. So, I pulled out some puzzles, in order that my players could do all the thinking. As the party made its way through unexplored sections of the dungeon, I placed puzzles in rooms instead of monsters. When the party got something wrong, they would get gassed, zapped, spiked, etc.

The end result was interesting and fun, tainted by a small amount of tragedy. While experimenting with one puzzle, Hamlen's favorite spiked club failed its saving throw when it took the brunt of a lightning bolt and was burnt to a crisp. I set each puzzle up in rooms that had mosaics on three walls. The left wall had visual instructions, the right wall contained a clue and the opposite wall had someone holding a chest. When the puzzle was solved, the chest could be opened like a drawer. Needing a future explanation as to why there were little or no monsters left, and a way for them to escape with little or no detection, each "chest" contained one of a series of keys needed to open another portal (as well as some other treasure).

Thus, the party ended up exploring much of what remained of the dungeon in an entertaining way that literally opened a whole new and unexpected door for further adventure. This is why I like the old ways as much as I do. When we allow ourselves the freedom to make stuff up on the fly, it can be awesome fun.

Taking Up the Challenge

Yesterday, James over at Grognardia challenged the OSR community to come up with tables for character background modeled after Aaron Kesher's article in Issue #1 of Fight On! Considering that I have defended them in the past, and certainly believe that they could use a good bit of contextual polish, I offer my own background table for the Cleric:

MANY CLERICS (Roll 1d20 three times):
1. Bless people and things by anointing them with oil.
2. Are ritually scarred to set them apart.
3. Pray by singing Scripture.
4. Take on the name of their patron saint when they are ordained.
5. Sacrifice the first fruits of their labor.
6. Are either married or celibate.
7. Wear a beard that they never cut or trim.
8. Are tonsured.
9. Fast twice a week.
10. Know how to read and write a special ecclesial language.
11. Regularly gather with other clerics to discuss issues facing Church.
12. Pray for those who can't or won't pray for themselves.
13. Know a non-ecclesial trade.
14. Rely upon the intercessions of angels and saints.
15. Cannot freely travel without permission of their hierarch.
16. Will not eat food that isn't prepared according to ecclesial law.
17. Wear different colored clothes according to the season.
18. Pray facing East.
19. Bow to the four winds of heaven before any large endeavor.
20. Are all related.

SOME CLERICS (Roll 1d16 once):
1. Wear dirt or ash on their heads and faces as a sign of humility.
2. Have seen God.
3. Will not enter a home without being invited.
4. Pray laying face down on the ground.
5. Eschew material possessions.
6. Are Hesychasts.
7. Speak with angels.
8. Are attached to a monastery.
9. Have spent time as a Stylite.
10. Are not native to the area and have travelled from afar.
11. Are in exile.
12. Wear a sackcloth or hair shirt.
13. Are former slaves.
14. Foresook a great inheritance and/or a position of power in order to be ordained.
15. Will not lend or receive usury.
16. Will not enter a tavern.

SOME COMMON TRAVELING GEAR (1d16, 1d3 times):
1. Some bones of a martyr.
2. A phylactery.
3. Incense and a censor.
4. A stole to wear during prayer.
5. A candle with a wick that never gets shorter.
6. Candy.
7. A piece of clothing worn by a saint.
8. A pouch full of ash.
9. An ecclesial hat.
10. A bell that tolls at the hours of prayer.
11. A letter of introduction.
12. A book of monastic order.
13. A keepsake from a former life.
14. A cup, spoon and knife which are never used.
15. An icon of a saint.
16. A bottle of myrrh.

Lost Colonies Session 11

This session saw the addition of a new player, who must get some old-school kudos because he immediately picked up 3d6 and rolled his stats in order without complaint or question. He then determined that a 5 STR, 8 INT, 9 WIS and a 15 CON would make a perfect Halfling. Thus, Ponshee joined our intrepid adventurers.

It immediately dawned on me that in 30+ years of gaming I have never once seen anybody play a halfling before, let alone want to play one at the outset of a campaign. The group I play with are fairly human-centric in their gaming. If allowed to arrange their stats in any order, 9 or 10 times out of 10 they would end up with a human (and I know for a fact that none of their characters in their 3.5/Pathfinder game are demi-humans). Yet, my campaign has seen two elves, two dwarves and now a halfling.

I have an hypothesis as to why — rolling stats in order increases the number of demi-humans in a party. Ponshee is a classic example. He does not fit into any neat category — he'd make an equally lousy Fighter, Magic User or Cleric. Yet, despite the level limitation, the racial abilities that come with being a halfling offset the lower stats and "fits" better than any of the three core classes. Indeed, the +1 to missile fire that LL gives halflings has defined the way Ponshee does combat and he has proved to be an extremely valuable asset to the party (even if he sometimes refuses to engage in any combat if pure HTH is required).

I'd be curious to know if any one else using the "stats in order" method of rolling up a character has seen a similar phenomenon.

This session was quite straightforward. The party contacted several powers that be (including Bishop Iova and Turgon's mentor) in order to explain the impending danger of "the Gate." As a result, they received several one-use magic items including a few potions, a couple scrolls and a wand. Thus equipped, they descended into the dungeon below the Necropolis and fought the remnant goblin population, which seemed to be poised for one last defense. Having spent most of our session in this running battle, the party finally came upon "the Gate" guarded by four tentacled zombies. Immune to both non-magical weapons and the party favorite (fire and oil), the party was forced to retreat and lure the creatures into a narrow, where they could deal with each zombie one at a time. Hamlen, boosted by a potion of Heroism and the healing spells of his brother and armed with the scimitar Liberator, stood in the gap and hacked away until all four were defeated.

The Gate itself was a pit, full of churning blood with a pedestal in its center. On the pedestal was some kind of control mechanism. Having sabotaged the machine that powered the gate, playing with the mechanism only opened the gate briefly — the blood turned into a portal to an alien city encased in a blue cloud. The session ended with the party successfully destroying the mechanism, which resulted in the pit disappearing — replaced with a stone floor as if it had never existed in the first place.

Meditating on Psionics

Although I have always had a soft spot for psionics in D&D (it is a great concept), I have never allowed them in any of my campaigns. This is due to my one experience with 1ed psionics. I had convinced a DM of mine to allow me to play the NPC Psionicist class from Dragon Magazine (I forget which issue) in a campaign of his. The exercise was not very entertaining. My DM felt completely justified in sending high HD monsters after us because, not only could my character easily dispense with them using a Psionic Blast, but he also felt the need to deplete my character's psionic attack strength so that when our party got into the meat of an adventure, I couldn't simply use my psionics to blast past something meant to be challenging for a normal party.

Though I won't label his tactics as unfair — he once pointed out that though he had purposely ambushed our 3rd-4th level party with a 16HD froghemoth, my character did kill it in one round (though not before it had incapacitated or killed most of the party) — I was acutely aware that he was doing this. In the end, it wasn't very fun for anybody. My DM was constantly threatened by the level of power psionics brought to the table, I had to play with a target on my back and my fellow players had to put up with otherwise outrageous encounters that would kill off the entire party in most other circumstances.

Over the years, I've looked with interest on attempts to make a more palatable version of psionics. To be perfectly frank, I've never been quite satisfied with any of them — mainly because they've understood psionics as a kind of alternate point-based magic system, which I have no interest in. Recently, I have taken to meditating upon how I might make my own version for use in some of the D&D retro-clones. I decided to start with psionic combat because that is the part of psionics that both interests me the most and is the least comprehensible aspect of the system as presented in 1ed.

The concept that inspired me to pursue this meditation was that I hit upon the idea of treating the various attack and defense modes of psionics as equipment rather than powers. Attack modes could then be seen as weapons and defense modes as armor. This leads to the very simple idea of attaching a Mental AC to each defense mode:

No Mode = No Armor
Mind Blank = Studded Leather
Thought Shield = Scalemail
Mental Barrier = Chainmail
Intellect Fortress = Bandedmail
Tower of Iron Will = Platemail

In turn, all the various Attack Modes would be assigned a different damage roll:

Psionic Blast 1d4
Mind Thrust 1d6
Ego Whip 1d8
Id Insinuation 1d10
Psychic Crush 1d12

According to the need to each campaign, each mode could have a cost representing how common or rare psionics are. It also allows for the concept that psionics need not be mental powers but actual pieces of equipment that can be found/taken away. In fact psionic training vs. psionic items could have different price points. This then opens up a whole new classification of magic items. For example, a common device in a psionic world might be a crystal mind shield which would serve the same function as an ablative shield. These small crystals could be worn anywhere on the body in order to make the wearer harder to hit by a psionic attack and be destroyed in order to negate the damage done by a psionic attack.

One option for psionic damage might be to use Psychic HP which would be based on Int, Wis and/or Cha. When employing a psionic attack, all damage would go towards reducing PHP (with the possible exception of Psionic Blast, which would always do damage to normal HP). When reduced to zero PHP, the character would then make a save vs. death or be rendered unconscious. Should the save be successful, the character could continue to fight, but all damage taken from a psionic attack would be applied to normal HP.

This system could be easily integrated into the existing combat system. Each attack would take one round; however, psionic attacks happen simultaneously with all other attacks, including other psionic attacks. Thus, if a psionic character killed a sword wielding orc with his psionic attack, the orc would still get to attack with his sword that same round because both attacks happened at the same time. Psionic attacks would have no range limitations, but require line of sight.

Although I like this set-up because of its simplicity, it does not reflect the kind of tactical mode vs. mode choices that seem apparent in the 1ed rules. This feel could be accomplished by a kind of Weapon vs AC chart where the "to hit" rolls remain static and different attack modes are more or less effective against different defense modes. As characters gained levels, they would gain a number of attack rolls equal to their HD (also making conversion for psionic monsters reasonably easy).

The table might look something like this:

.......................Blank.....Shield.....Barrier.....Fortress.....Iron WIll

Blast...............12.............14............16............18.................20

Thrust.............14.............16............20............12.................18

Whip...............16.............12............18............20.................14

Insinuation....18.............20............12............14.................16

Crush.............20.............18............14............16.................12

If you are wondering, these numbers are quite arbitrary. The only logic I am using is that Blast works better against the most accessible defense mode, where as Crush works best on the rarest defense mode. From there I made sure that each row and column had all of the following "to hit" rolls: 12, 14,16,18, & 20.

I invite comments and criticisms.

Metaphors

Every year, it seems, the beginning of Lent brings with it trials and tribulations. This past week I've been to the emergency room, everyone in my house has been sick and my youngest has been admitted into the hospital twice, once to the ICU. Thank God everyone seems to be okay, but I am always amazed at how the metaphysical plays itself out in the physical. With this in mind, the following hymn, sung at the cusp of Great Lent, caught my attention:

The stadium of virtue is now open; those who wish to compete, enter therein, girded for the good contest of Lent, for those who compete according to the rules shall receive their laurels rightfully. Taking up the full armor of the Cross, let us do battle against the Enemy. As an impregnable wall, we have the Faith, prayer as our breastplate, and acts of mercy as our helmet. Instead of sword, there is fasting, which cuts every evil from the heart. He who does this shall attain a true crown from Christ, the King of all, on Judgment Day — Lauds for the Sunday of Forgiveness

This hymn is based upon the words of St. Paul from his Letter to the Romans:

Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day — Romans 13:12-13

This reinforces my own understanding that the language of Scripture and the Church is full of metaphors. This allows us the freedom to plug in moments and events from our own lives, times and contexts into the stories and poetry of the Bible. For my own part, this freedom allows me to apply these metaphors to the way I game. Once again, I marvel at the genius of the early versions of RPGs — at how wide open and inviting they are to metaphors and applications of all kinds. I could play more modern games and apply Scriptural metaphors to them, but why go to all that effort when I can do the same thing with such ease when playing with older rulesets and the retro-clones that emulate them?

At any rate, for those who are about to undertake that great journey known as Lent, good strength and good travels.

More "Red Box" Thoughts

Over at Grognardia, James shared some of thoughts about WotC coming out with a new version of the "red box." To me, the most interesting thing about this particular product is its return to the core races and classes. I find this to not only be essential, but a no brainer. This is is clearly illustrated by my six year old daughter. She recently told me that she wanted to play with me. At my direction, she drew a picture of her adventuring party:


Please note the archetypes that she has already picked up in her short life: warriors use swords, priests wear crosses and wizards have pointy hats and use wands. The only anomaly here is the paladin (which she called a 'holy warrior') and even he is an archetype. These types were not drilled into her by me being her father. I have not expressly exposed her only to the type of fantasy I like — I have freely allowed her to pursue her own interests. This passive exposure, however, was enough to solidify in her mind these classic tropes expressed by the core classes and races of 0e and 1e D&D.

Thus, a basic, introductory version of D&D is best served by playing to these archetypes for the very reason that my daughter drew the party she did — they are at the core of what anyone might consider "fantasy."

Eradicating the Past

I saw Star Trek (2009) for the first time last night. This in and of itself demonstrates two things about me: 1) I have three young children and don't have the time or wherewithal to see movies in the movie theatre anymore 2) I found out a long time ago that being the first on my block to experience something "new" does not actually make the experience any better, it just usually costs more money. Therefore I am perfectly willing to wait until the DVD release (and take advantage of the pause button and subtitles).

Right off the bat I must say that I enjoyed watching the movie. It is a nice action flick that did a good job of making me suspend my disbelief about a bunch of things that are impossible and/or make no rational sense, had enough of a plot to entertain for a couple hours and was filled with some well executed eye candy. However, I cannot by any stretch of the imagination say that I liked it. In fact not only do I like this movie less the more I contemplate it, the more disturbing I find it.

I have spent much of my life studying history, both formally and privately. This is reflected in my long and steady participation in war gaming and rpgs. Although, as a Christian, there is much to criticize about Rodenberry's utopian vision of the future, I have to respect the loving manner in which this franchise has treated its own history. The best of all the Star Trek movies by a fair margin — Wrath of Khan — is an example of Star Trek paying homage to its own past.

Star Trek (2009) attempts to move forward from this grand tradition by eradicating virtually everything that has occurred in the Star Trek universe over the last 4+ decades in order to re-boot the franchise. They splinter the time line in the first minutes of the movie and never repair the damage. Everything that we ever knew about Star Trek is gone. I disagree with those that say this is an "alternate timeline." The elder Spock came from the Star Trek universe we all know. In order for him to exist in this "alternate" version, the original had to be destroyed. There have been plenty of times that Star Trek has played with time, but has always managed to correct itself within the course of a movie or an episode. This movie, however, deliberately refused to do that.

At the core of this particular decision is an attitude that says, "In order to move forward, we must (to a lesser or greater degree) eradicate the past." As an historian, I find this repugnant. My formal education concentrated upon those societies that lived through such an attitude at the socio-political level. The human damage is stomach wrenching and far-reaching. I know many who still have literal and emotional scars, including members of my own family.

This got me to thinking about the OSR. One of the questions raised in the wake of D&D IV is: how far does a game need to remove itself from its past to stop being that game? To frame this question in terms of Star Trek (2009): has D&D IV tried to go forward by eradicating the past? One of the things that I truly love about the OSR is that it is steeped in history. Even when we take the hobby into uncharted territory, we lovingly acknowledge the roots of the game. We pay homage to what has come before. In my humble opinion, the result is a richer experience and a better game.

Deities & Demigods: A Christian Perspective

Here is a scenario that seems to happen quite often: James over at Grognardia writes something that makes me reconsider some aspect of our hobby and look at it again from a different perspective. He's done it again with his retrospective on Deities & Demigods. I despise this book, because of the damage it did to the game — the systemization of a pagan world-view, the power creep, the awkward cosmology, the narrowing and solidification of the nine alignment system, etc. However, the one thing that bothered me most when I first picked up the DDG and what apparently still bothers James — the quantification of everything — is the one thing about the DDG that I now truly do appreciate.

Whether intended or not, giving stats to all these pagan gods as if they were monsters expresses a fundamental truth about the pagan world-view. These gods are quantifiable because they are part of creation. Ancient creation stories repeat over and over again how all the various bits and pieces of the world are made from some part of the gods themselves. Creation always happens from some kind of pre-existant matter — everything is quantifiable.

When St. Athanasius the Great expressed Christian dogma in On the Incarnation at the beginning of the fourth century:

(the universe) was not made from pre-existant matter, but out of nothing and out of non-existance absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word

he expressed an idea utterly alien to his audience — the pagan Greek mind.

Thus, the DDG, in its own way, reinforces this reality. It leaves alone the Judeo-Christian mythos, passively acknowledging that God cannot be quantified, while correctly reducing the pagan gods to a series of entries in what amounts to an elaborate version of the Monster Manual.

Lost Colonies Session 10

This session saw the party return to the site of their battle with the masked necromancer to find that the tower was now throbbing like a heart beat and that each beat revealed red, glowing runes that seemed to emanate from inside the rock itself. They followed these runes deep into the bowels of the tower where they found a machine powered by a river of blood and a water wheel made of some strange kind of black stone. Assuming that this machine was evil in intent and origin, they set about trying to sabotage it by jamming the golden mask of the necromancer into the gears of the machine, bringing it to a grinding halt and beginning a desperate battle as those who were using the machine began to investigate why it had stopped working.

It is at this point that I have to give a bunch of kudos to Matt Finch. I populated this dungeon with several of his creations from Monsters of Myth and the results have been spectacular. One design cue that I plan to steal whole-heartedly is giving seemingly innocuous creatures powers that change the way the battle field functions, and then adding a layer of strategy to the dungeon denizens who are able to take advantage of these changes.

For example, one of my new all-time favorite vermin looks for all intents and purposes to be a giant cockroach; however, it is really a denizen of the elemental plane of earth and has a defensive ability to turn rock to mud in a 50' radius. Here's the kicker: when the thing dies, all that mud immediately turns back to stone. Thus, the creatures can be abused by dungeon dwellers to set a battlefield trap for unwary adventurers — when the characters find themselves bogged down in mud, kill the bugs with some well-aimed missile fire and the characters are suddenly immobilized and target practice can ensue.

This scenario is what happened in the middle of the running battle after the sabotage, with the dwarf being the sole party member not stuck in the floor desperately trying to defend his comrades from goblins attacking from several flanks. Beautiful stuff — when the party pulled themselves out of the fire with some well timed spells and those trusty old iron spikes, they knew they earned victory. Or should I say survival? We had a very entertaining evening because Mr. Finch inspired me with an ingenious monster design.

The party did manage to capture a goblin and garner some information from him. He claimed that the machine opened a gate that would allow his people to wipe clean the surface world. When pressed, he bragged that machines like it dotted the landscape. All the characters were also haunted by a dream of a strange altar consisting of what could only be described as flailing tentacles barely conceivable by the human mind. The altar was situated on the top of a tower, surrounded by a blue fog. Far below, the outline of an alien city could barely be seen. In the dream, Arkmed the Dwarf and Dn. Goram were entranced an inhuman melody. When they awoke, they were compelled to do everything in their power to destroy the gate.

Our session ended with preparations to re-enter the bowels of the tower to do just that.

On d6 Weapon Damage

This morning I followed a link from James at Grognardia to this very reasoned argument for all weapons doing d6 damage. Even though I use d6 damage for all weapons in my own game, I find myself disagreeing with this argument for much the same reasons.

Combat in OD&D is abstract. Thus, we as players are free to interpret various elements of the combat system as we choose. In other words, whether or not we use d6 damage, variable dice damage, weapon vs. AC tables, critical hits, ablative shields, or any number of combat rules is all aesthetics.

In my own experience I love universal d6 weapon damage and I hate it. So far, my love has outweighed my loathing. Having d6 damage has given my players the freedom to use weapons that they wouldn't otherwise use. The main party fighter uses a spiked club, which he is very attached to. Once variable weapon damage is introduced (especially as written in AD&D) fighters almost always go for swords — why settle for club at d4 damage when the long sword does d8? In practice, the universal d6 damage has resulted in creative play — since everything does d6 damage, advantage in combat comes from tactical choices outside of weapon choice. As a gamer, I've really enjoyed this creativity — aesthetics.

At the same time, I have noticed that it has reduced the number of cool shaped dice in actual game play. Over the course of a night, my players will only use d6s and d20s. Since one of the reasons I started gaming all those years ago was the ability to use all these cool shaped dice, I miss them in game play — aesthetics.

My group uses a house rule where shields are ablative and can absorb a hit by being destroyed. I have really enjoyed this in game play — it adds a level of tactical choice that increases tension in combat at the same time that it increases survivability. It is powerful enough, however, that there is little incentive to use two-handed weapons. They get used, but only in very specific tactical situations like bracing for a charge. I am not happy with this, but not enough to scrap d6 damage — aesthetics.

All of this demonstrates, I hope, that d6 weapon damage and variable weapon damage are both perfectly legitimate choices in play. I actually like both of them, for different reasons. The wonder of old-school style of play is that it gives us the room and freedom to play with both. It all comes down to what we find most entertaining to play with — aesthetics.

Meditations on the Thief Class

As a Christmas present, I got a sampling of old-school modules written and published by various sources around the OSR. To one degree or another, all of them are excellent and one of my favorites (The People of the Pit) has already been integrated into my current campaign. When I was reading them, however, I noticed something that bothered me. The modules written for those rulesets that included the thief class — 1ed, OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord, for example — had some encounters that virtually required a thief to get past them unscathed. It made me remember why I dislike the class, but allowed me to view it from a new perspective.

When the thief class is introduced, player freedom is limited. The mechanical assumption is that the thief is the only class that can accomplish the tasks described under thief skills. Thus, traps suddenly require a thief to bypass. Players who choose to play a different class are no longer able to find or disarm traps.

Let me illustrate why I hate this using a different class — the cleric. In an encounter with the undead, clerics have at their disposal the ability to Turn. This ability, however, does not prevent any of the other classes from doing damage to the undead or otherwise participating in the encounter. If we were to apply the mechanical assumptions of the thief class to the cleric class, only clerics would be able to engage the undead and do any harm to them. All other classes would be completely ineffective against them. Encounters with the undead would suddenly be rendered completely unfun, which is how I feel about traps when thieves are allowed in the game.

Thus, thief skills, skill systems, or any mechanic that prevents anyone without access to a particular skill or mechanic from solving or otherwise defeating an encounter is not fun to play with. From a design perspective, every encounter in the game ought to be doable, solvable or able to be defeated by everybody — but some classes will be better equipped to deal with certain situations than others. Therein is the fun of the game — choosing a path (a class and its particular ability-set) and trying to overcome all of the various challenges adventures throw at us.

Where does this leave me in regards to the Thief? I still don't like the class, in large part due to where it takes the game mechanically. I am no longer going to say 'no,' however. As long as I don't get lazy designing traps — making sure I know how they work — then I can use the Thief skills as one might use a saving throw. I'll make the player describe to me how they might go about finding and removing a trap (or whatever other skills they might use) just as I would any other player in the same situation. When they fail to describe to me a legitimate way to succeed, the player of the Thief would then (and only then) get to roll against his skill. This way everybody can survive an encounter with a trap, Thieves are just better equipped to do so.

Lost Colonies Session 9

This was a happy pre-Christmas session that saw all our wayward players able to make it to the table after some absence. For those that had set up activities for their characters while they were gone, I rewarded their efforts with small special abilities. Tykris had spent time in the church tending to the sick, so I granted him the ability to heal anybody 1 hp per day. In addition, should he be able to use an action the round immediately following a character's death, I gave him the ability to allow that character a chance to Save vs. Death to be stabilized unconscious at 1 hp. Arkmed the Dwarf had been apprenticing with the bronze workers at the Dwarven colony north of Headwaters. I gave him the ability to craft bronze. If he gathered enough bronze, he could craft anything he desired between sessions. At the beginning of each session, he gets to roll a die to see if the task is complete. Turgon the Magic User has been collecting scrolls and tomes for a library. Should he have a specific question about something the party does not know and is willing to put in the research time, he has a chance to find the answer in his library.

The beginning of the session had the veterans of the party doing trial and error with some of the magic items they had found in the hoard of the giant winged ape. This is an aspect of the game I truly enjoy. As utilitarian as an Identify spell might be, it isn't nearly as gratifying as figuring out what an item does by actually using it. Indeed, there are still abilities yet to be discovered with some of the items.

Once the magic items had been distributed and treasure divided and spent, Dn. Goram insisted that he had delayed replying to the summons of his bishop too long. There were murders taking place in the City (now dubbed Trisagia) that he had been asked to investigate. The party agreed to travel with him, though they left their henchman behind (and this will become important at a later date). They attached themselves to a caravan and arrived in Trisagia with very little incident ten days later (sometimes random encounters randomly turn up nothing whatsoever...)

Of interest to me, the players have taken a decidedly religious demeanor in their play. They tithed to the church in Headwaters, gave a couple of gifts to the cathedral when they arrived and also spent some time giving out alms to the beggars they encountered in the bazaar. We role played the encounter with Bishop Jova and everyone got into their roles and seemed to enjoy themselves. Jova informed them that the murders took place almost exclusively in the slums. He was having a difficult time convincing the upper class and the local guard to act. Thus, he called the party in hopes of finding out what was going on.

Jova was also keen on one of the objects that the party found in the treasure hoard of the giant winged ape — an icosahendron with strange writing and symbols. He insisted that it was a map to an ancient city once inhabited by a people ancient to those that the colonists encountered upon their arrival on the continent. He openly wondered if there was a connection between that city and those who wore the golden masks.

Turgon then set out to meet with his mentor at the Magic College and Hamlen set about trying to find information from some prostitutes. Turgon learned that the expert on the ancient peoples of the continent was not currently in the city and that no one had seen the king in public for over a month. Hamlen found himself a one armed, one legged prostitute who was willing to tell him what she had seen — some kind of ghoulish monster collecting bodies and taking them into the necropolis at the edge of the city. Hamlen then took pity on her, paid her far more than he had offered and promised to return and take her to Headwaters with him should she so desire.

The rest of the evening was spent exploring the necropolis where the party encountered both hostile and friendly undead. They learned that something untoward was happening in an abandoned castle in the necropolis. They subsequently fought their way to the highest tower where they found a mask wearing necromancer sacrificing the drained blood from several corpses for some unknown ritual. In a tense battle with copious uses of Hold Person, smoke bombs, mirror image and fire and oil as well as the appearance of a lot of zombies, the party defeated the necromancer.

Hamlen then dragged the body into the magic circle the necromancer was using in his ritual, and slit the corpse's throat. As blood hit the floor, the circle glowed red, the entire castle shook and a low groan emanated from the bowels of the tower. Having barely survived the encounter with the necromancer, the party decided retreat.

A Kernel of an Idea

The other day I was reading a prayer which listed a number of things that God has done for us throughout the history of salvation. One of these mentioned was that He shattered the gates of brass. This brought to mind a hymn the Orthodox Church sings during the Vespers of Pascha (Easter):

Today, Hades groaning cries out, “It would have been better for me if I had not received the One born of Mary, for He came upon me and destroyed my power. He shattered the gates of brass and the souls which I held captive of old He resurrected as God.” Glory, O Lord, to Your Cross and Your Resurrection!

This image comes from Psalm 107:16, "For He crushed the gates of brass and shattered the bars of iron.” Read in context, from the perspective of of Christ (justified by verse 20, "He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from corruption"), it portrays the lost souls from the beginning of time shackled in Hades freed from their bonds by the crucified Christ.

This got me thinking, since my mind has been on world-building of late, about how to translate this image into a fantasy RPG setting. My initial thoughts would make it an urban campaign, because the image of the shattered gates requires some kind of limited space. The city could be called by several names (all derivatives of Hades or Hell): Adys, Adoon, Uffern, Kolasy. The city lies on a plain in the Land of Nod, where demons freely roam.

Many years ago, a dead man, who was also the Living God was brought to the city and broke down the Brass Gate — the only way out of the city into the Land of Nod. Thousands, if not millions poured out of the gate and few have ever returned.

Those living in the city are lost souls who, out of fear, forgetfulness or coercion choose to remain. The city could contain all the classic urban fantasy tropes including a megadungeon beneath the city that promises vast amounts of wealth to those that dare to delve its depths.

Players would play characters that forget that they are dead and forget who they were and what they did. As they adventure, the Referee could leave clues about who these characters really are. Character death would be relative. Raise dead could be readily available for those willing to pay the price. The underlying goal of the game would be getting through the Gates of Brass. This quest could be accomplished via a classic sandbox campaign where the city itself is the campaign world, or for those willing to do the work, could be as complicated as remembering their real selves (most probably horrible people who have rejected God and his creation whole sale).

I don't know if I'd ever actually produce such a campaign world, but I enjoyed the kernel enough that I thought I'd share.

An Experimental Map

I am a big fan of celtic knots and was wondering how one might look and function as a dungeon map. This is designed to be a pair of identical sub-levels in any existing dungeon. The entire map radiates of magic.

1) Entrance. At the center of this circular room is a set of spiral stairs going up. All the doors are of the same smooth gray material, open whenever anyone approaches within 5 feet and close when when no one is within 5 feet.

2) These rooms are featureless. The doors are similar to Room 1 except that they do not automatically open. The 'T' at the center of the room indicates a trigger for a teleportation device that teleports everyone in the room to the corresponding room in the other identical sub-level.

3) These rooms function as Room 2; however on the wall without any doors are four levers. They are colored Green, Blue, Orange and Black. Currently they are all in the down position. Unless the Referee decides otherwise, they have no function.

Merry Christmas

But you O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, from you will come for me a future ruler of Israel whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting — Micah 5:1-2

O House of Ephratha, the city that is holy, the glory of the prophets, prepare your house, for therein the Virgin will give birth to God — Prosomia of Tone 2

Your nativity, O Christ our God, has caused the light of knowledge to rise upon the world. For therein the worshippers of the stars were by a star instructed to worship You, the very Sun of Righteousness, and to know You as Orient from on high. Glory to You, O Lord. — Apolytikion of Christmas

Lost Colonies Session 8

There are two things that struck me about this session. The first had to do with maps. When exploring the ziggurat that seemed to be the source of raids against trade caravans headed to and from Headwater, the players took care to make a map and make notes of what they did not want to tangle with while only two players were available. This week, we had a fuller slate of players and a random roll produced an NPC magic user newly arrived with the first caravan seen in some time. The party hired him on and retained the services of the surviving mercenary they had with them last session.

The players then proceeded to take out the map and study it, planning their next assault based on what they had seen before. This delighted me, as this is an aspect of the old ways that (being a bit of a map geek) I truly adore. The party was well rewarded for their efforts — the tactics that they used as a result of their map worked brilliantly.

This leads me to my second observation. The party tackled a couple of monsters that they probably had no business trying to take down, and they succeeded because they used tactics and took advantage of terrain to great effect. Older versions of D&D allow for this — the system is mechanically wide open enough to allow players to be creative in combat situations. The Referee, in turn, is free to make ad hoc decisions on a case by case basis as to how much such creativity affects the situation. In other words, as a Referee I was free to reward the players for their planning, foresight, cunning and creativity. Please note: the creatures they attacked would have easily killed the entire party in a straight fight, and even with all that planning, forethought, cunning and creativity had it not been for a couple of lucky rolls, one or more characters would have died. Thus, the players came out knowing that they had truly succeeded on their own merit.

In my own experience, this is in contrast to combat in 3.5. The mechanics actually get in the way of the kind of creativity displayed by my players. When every aspect of combat is covered by a universal mechanic and a character is not a combat specialist, the mechanics themselves make creative play too risky to even try ("that sounds great, but the DC is still going to a 20"). I have even witnessed a combat where the mechanics actually made it impossible for the party to win. Understanding this, the DM allowed the party to succeed by fiat. This destroyed all sense of accomplishment and rendered the whole exercise meaningless.

The party defeated a pair of monstrous ape-like creatures with creative use of spells and coordinated attacks. The NPC magic user, Xerxes, proved to be extremely useful — his Charm Person and Light spells were used to great effect. He was also fun to role play — he comes off as an arrogant academic that plays well against the bravado of the party.

As an example of the creativity used by the party, they took the head of one of the ape-creatures and cast a Light spell on it. They then used it to intimidate a couple of groups of humanoids (I rewarded the party with morale checks, one of which proved critical).

This was the first time the party managed to find some significant treasure, including a couple of things that are magical. The party has not yet had the courage to try anything out, so we shall see what comes of that.

There are also a some new rumors that the party has come across. Dn. Guron has been in communication with his bishop. It seems that there is a single reference in an obscure scroll in the Church's archives to a lost city deep in the Giant Insect Jungle that is somehow connected to the mask the party found in session 4. There has also been a rash of murders in the city that has the bishop concerned. In addition, the party was able to confirm a rumor from the recent caravan arriving in Headwater — the orcs are no longer at the Monastery. The party noted tracks going into the Monastery, but none coming out.

World Building Part 9

Magic Items

You have given your sash to your flock, O Virgin most glorious, as a bond that is most secure, which carefully keeps us from all kinds of danger and which by divine power preserves us from defeat by adversaries — from the Aposticha for August 31

Within the tradition of the Church, there are plenty of things that can be translated into a fantasy RPG world as "magic" items. These can be broken down into three broad categories: sanctified items, holy objects and relics.

Sanctified Items

Several times during the year, various foodstuff is brought to the church to be blessed and sanctified. These include, but are not limited to: oil, grapes, bread, water, and cakes. In game terms, these items, when consumed, might heal a hit point or bestow a bless spell for a certain amount of time, etc. Most of these items would have limited availability, because the services that sanctify them occur only once or twice a year. Thus, a fantasy world could include a calendar with several feasts (the Orthodox Church has twelve major feasts besides Pascha, aka Easter). Foodstuff is usually blessed on or around several of these feasts. This could add an interesting dimension to any RPG world.

Holy Objects

Throughout the Orthodox world there are miracle working icons. For example, at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos there is a icon of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) that was stabbed with a sword by a pirate. The sword hit the Theotokos in the chin and the icon began to bleed. The encrusted blood is still there today. Other icons are known to "weep" — myrrh flows from the eyes of the saint depicted. In addition, there are several objects, such as the sash worn by the Theotokos from the hymn above, that were worn or used by various saints.

In game terms, these could act as spell storing devices that can hold and then cast a number of divine spells a day. The myrrh from a weeping icon, when placed on a wound, might bestow a healing spell of some kind. The use of this myrrh could be limited to once per day or week per person. Other items, such as shoes or belts could act as variations on regular magic items — like boots of leaping or a ring of protection. This way, however, the item has a name and a backstory.

Relics

In churches around the world, bones and body parts of saints are kept within churches and places of pilgrimage. As macabre as this sounds, it has to do with Christian anthropology, which has a holistic understanding of the human person. The body is an integral part of who we are. A saint has been transfigured by God and therefore their body — their remains — have been imbued with holiness. One of the most dramatic examples of this can be seen in Thessoloniki with the body of St. Demetrios. His body continuously exudes myrrh. So, when you go to his reliquary, you are assaulted by this sweet perfume that smells better than anything in the world.

In game terms, these would be more along the lines of artifacts that would be able to do miraculous things; however, there should be a danger associated with using them — if used in a selfish or evil way, curses, bad luck, or extra attention from evil organizations or creatures should quickly follow. On top of that, there should be no end to beings that would want to try and steal or destroy such objects given the opportunity.

Communion

This is a difficult subject to tackle in a fantasy RPG, given the metaphysical, spiritual and practical ramifications of including it in a game. However, I wouldn't discourage a player who wanted to play a character for whom taking communion on a regular basis was part of their story. Personally, I like to reward that kind of effort in my players and this reward often takes the form of home-brew mechanics, XP rewards or special abilities.

In terms of communion, I would want to do something that encouraged players to make it a part of their characters' lives without it breaking the game. Personally, I allow characters who have gone to the trouble to taking communion to have one re-roll during a session. This gives players another expendable resource that can increase the tension of a session, be fun, and not overpower the game.

World Building Part 8

The Church

Historically, the Church has existed in one of two conditions — tolerance or persecution. I use the word tolerance because even in times when the Church is seemingly in power, its fundamental principles come into direct conflict with those who are primarily motivated by money and power. I can't begin to count the number of times bishops came into conflict with Christian kings and emperors. Even under the best of circumstances, bishops were exiled for standing on principle. Also take a look at 21st century America where a lot of people these days are offended by the words "Merry Christmas."

In a fantasy setting, therefore, one must make a decision as to which condition the Church is in and if in persecution, what kind. Prior to the Roman Empire becoming Christian, it was largely illegal to be a Christian. This situation usually played itself out by trying to force Christians to make sacrifices to images of the Emperor. Failing to do so was seen as treason. There were periods when Rome actively sought out Christians to put them to trial, and there were times when it passively did so. Those killed were called martyrs — witnesses. Christians would take and bury these martyrs and then hold services around their graves. This is the origin of churches being named after saints — when churches were allowed to be built, they built them around those places where martyrs were buried. Thus, that was the church of saint so-and-so who is buried underneath. To this day, Orthodox churches keep relics of saints inside their altars in memory of this practice.

Both the Chinese and Japanese persecuted the Church as a negative foreign influence. The revolutions in France and Russia persecuted the Church as part of the old order. Although Islam has seen Christians as "people of the book", it still persecutes Christians as infidels.

In terms of organization, the Church has four orders of ordination — the laity (yes, baptism is an ordination!), the deaconate, the priesthood and the episcopate. In terms of the clergy, bishops are administrators, priests are teachers and deacons are servants. For about the first millennia, one was ordained to a particular order for life. In modernity, one becomes a deacon, then a priest, then a bishop. In the ancient Church, all orders allowed married clergy — though one was not allowed to marry after ordination. In the Orthodox Church, this still holds true for Deacons and Priests, but all bishops must be celibate. In the Orthodox Church, women have never been ordained to either the priesthood or the episcopate; however, they were allowed to become deaconesses. This practice existed through the ninth century and has seen some movement towards restoration in the 20th (Greece has allowed them to be ordained for women's monasteries).

For the purposes of a fantasy RPG, the order of clergy best suited for adventuring is the Deacon. Bishops are tied to a city. Priests are tied to a parish. Deacons can be tied to a Bishop. Thus, a Deacon can be ordained by a bishop for the purpose of adventuring. Thus, the class has a built in patron which can be a source for adventures. This patron can be as meddlesome and demanding (or not) as a Referee wishes them to be.

Using this set-up, the Cleric class can come in three flavors, only one of which actually does any adventuring. This severs class level from church hierarchy. In other words, a 1st level Cleric who is a bishop would have authority over a 9th level Cleric who is a deacon. So, priests and bishops need not be any higher level than 1st to have the kind of respect and authority that their positions demand. Thus, it is possible to have a fantasy world where divine magic has very little broad impact. Spells like Raise Dead would be extremely rare, if accessible at all.

In terms of the end-game, a Deacon could still build a stronghold. In a church structure where they are ordained as a deacon for life, they would attract a priest to fulfill that role. Otherwise, they could be elevated to the priesthood or episcopate and take over. The former, however, is more representative of the historical church. Monasteries are led by abbots — which are not necessarily priests. Thus, a stronghold built by a deacon would see the deacon as the spiritual leader and any priest that comes to serve fulfilling that particular liturgical role.

For those that use such things, Domains can be explained by way of religious orders dedicated to a particular saint. The Domains would reflect the life of the saint and their path towards God. Thus, Domains like Chaos, Evil, Madness, Death, etc. need not be left out of a game. For example, St. Paul persecuted the Church prior to his conversion. Thus, a fantasy religious order dedicated to a saint akin to St. Paul might have as one of their Domains Evil or Death. St. Paul transformed his emnity towards the Church into evangelism across the Mediterranean world. Thus, clerics dedicated to his order would be expected to transform the Domain of Evil or Death in a similar way.

World Building Part 7

The God Man

That which was not assumed is not healed; but that which is united to God is saved — St. Gregory the Theologian (also known as Gregory of Nazianzus)

This beautifully succinct statement by St. Gregory sums up the dogmatic necessity for understanding Christ to be both God and Man. If He is not God, then we have no means to be healed. If He is not Man, then we have not been healed.

Thus, in a fantasy setting, the Christ figure must emulate perfect divinity and perfect humanity. This means that He cannot become a God either through His excellence or by God descending upon Him. This scenario does not assume the totality of human nature — it ignores conception, growth in the womb and childhood. Therefore, all of these things would be left out of Christ's salvific activity. All of our experience and existence must be assumed in order to save it. This includes death.

The Cross

Psalm 22, written some 300 years prior to the invention of crucifixion, describes in detail Christ on the cross. Christ tells His disciples multiple times that He must be turned over to the Gentiles to be killed. In iconography, the Nativity depicts the manger as a deep, dark cave; His bed as a tomb; and His swaddling clothes as a burial garment. In other words, the whole point of the Incarnation is the crucifixion — the Christ must die in order to destroy death.

In terms of a fantasy world, we must understand the metaphor of the cross:

The message of the cross is folly to those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us on the road to salvation it is the power of God. — 1 Corinthians 1:18

Crucifixion is a heinous means of killing someone. It is designed to torture and kill slowly over several days. The amount of stress it puts on the body is extreme and it takes advantage of our own instinctual desire to survive in order to prolong agony. It was a death sentence reserved for the lowest of the low — outsiders and criminals. The Romans wouldn't dream of subjecting a Roman citizen to such a death because it was too horrible and too humiliating even for someone who betrayed the Empire.

God, in the person of Jesus Christ, was not only willing to subject Himself to such humiliation and horror, but transformed the instrument of death and torture into a symbol of everlasting life.

Thus, the cross need not be a cross in terms of a fantasy world. In fact, I would argue that we have lost the sense of divine irony that is the cross — we no longer see it as a device of extreme torture — and that using another device would actually more effectively communicate the true meaning of the cross. The holy symbol of those who follow the Christ is the instrument of torture used to kill the Christ. For example, in the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan is shaved, tied down upon a rock and killed by a knife. The holy symbol could be any combination of these instruments — the knife, the rock, or the ropes.

Of course the ultimate purpose of the crucifixion is the resurrection, the ascension into heaven and the enthronement at the right hand of the Father. Our human nature, in the person of Jesus Christ, is participating in the divine nature of God right now.

In terms of a fantasy world, this is the mechanism by which divine magic works. Clerics join themselves to the Body of Christ — the Church — and through their ordination have direct access to the power of God. Divine magic is a metaphor for the miracles of God worked through the people of God. The pseudo-Christian overtones of Cleric spells in 0e represent this quite well. It is all made possible because the Christ died and then took our humanity with Him to sit in glory and the right hand of the Father — in our humanity, we have access to His divinity.

World Building Part 6

The whole of the Old Testament is full of stories that are impossible to import into a fantasy setting — they are too specific to the geography and culture of what we call the Middle East. There are, however, metaphors and motifs that you can hint at in a fantasy setting.

The Law

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake — Gal 3:13

St. Paul calls the Law a curse because its primary purpose to reveal to us our sin — our separation from God. No mere human being is capabe of fulfilling the Law, because we all sin. When compared to the Law, our lives are all a sinful mess. Even the greatest of us are cursed by the Law because they, too, sin. Thus, when we see ourselves and all of humanity from the perspective of the Law, it becomes very clear that we are incapable of saving ourselves — we need God, because only God can save.

In a fantasy setting, there can be any number of things that are constant reminders of the distance between fallen humanity and God. These coud be physical monuments that dot the landscape, they could be progressive mutations that are manifestations of sin, they could be monsters that are born of sins humans commit, etc. The underlying point is that sans God, humanity is cursed and that God has revealed this through the Law (or its fantasy analogy).

Prophesy

Therefore the Lord Himself eill give you a sign. Look, the virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel (God is With Us) — Isaiah 7:14

For the purposes of building a fantasy word, one only need to understand prophesy in terms of Christ. The OT actually tells us more about Christ than does the NT. Thus, prophesy can be hinted at with no real details (unless you feel so inclined) because they all predict Christ.

The Pre-Incarnate Christ

Then King Nabuchadnezzar was astonised and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O King." He replied, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they ar not hurt; and the fourth has the appearnace of a god." — Daniel 3:24-25

There are several instances in the OT when a divine figure like that in Daniel 3:35, often call the Angel of the Lord, who the Fathers of the Church understand to be the Son of God before He became incarnate. In may cases, He prefigures the salvific action of the Incarnation, such as saving Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fire.

In a fantasy setting, there can be a few flavor stories about the Angel of the Lord — the pre-Incarnate Christ — making dramatic appearances to save people who are faithful to God prior to the Incarnation.

Types of Christ

Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people — Exodus 17:11-13

Throughout the OT there are people and things that prefigure Christ. The most obvious of these is Moses. His upbringing as an Egyptian and his self-imposed exile made Moses an Other — though he was a Hebrew by heritage, he never lived among them. Despite this, he went to his people as a Hebrew to save them from slavery. God finally freed them by having death passover their households — marked with a cross of blood. Christ came to us as a human being, despite being the radical Other — God. He saves us from the slavery to sin and death by being crucified on a cross so that death is destroyed by death — it will pass over us.

In the above quote, Moses prefigures the crucifixion. The saving action of having his hands lifted is accomplished in cruciform by having Aaron and Hur hold up His hands. King David is annointed (oil poured over his head) as King. Christ and Messiah mean "the Annointed One."

For the sake of a fantasy setting, there can be any number of people who prefigure the Christ — the story can be as simple as the quote above. Someone secures victory over the forces of evil by an action that suggests the means of torture and death suffered by the Christ.