FASERIP: A Campaign World

I have to make a confession. My kids want to play RPGs with me, but I have traditionally struggled with creating a campaign suitable for them and what they expect from a game with dad. As you might expect from a guy who has a quote from HPL over on the sidebar, my default position (especially when it comes to fantasy) is rather dark. Even when I specifically set out to create a world in which I expect my kids to play, inevitably my creativity takes me down a dark ally out of which I can’t remove myself or my train of though, especially given that mechanically old-school D&D is pretty deadly.

One of the reasons I am so enthused about FASERIP is that it is an opportunity to play a game as written that is lighter and less gritty than my usual RPG fare. As such, I plan to rip off an idea I was originally toying with for a game with my kids that seems to fit really well with a ‘K’-inspired FASERIP campaign.

One of the themes found in ‘K’ is that the power that the Kings are able to wield is significantly greater than any of their vassals. This power is of such magnitude that a misuse of it in the past changed the geography of Japan. In FASERIP terms, the Monarchs are Shift 1 + in terms of their power; however, they will not use it unless absolutely necessary. Thus, all of them operate through their vassals who are incapable of wielding the kind of power the Monarchs can bring to bear.

One way in which I want to play this up is by placing the city in which the campaign takes place in a fairly precarious situation. As in the series ‘K,’ there will have been a major disaster which to the people outside the city resulted in the complete disintegration of that city. In reality, the city and its immediate environs were not destroyed, but rather “shifted” in-between time and space. The Monarchs all suspect that this event took place as a consequence of their use of their power. Thus, all of them fear what might happen if they do so again.

This “shifted” reality allows me to have dream-like elements to the campaign such as buildings, doors or other such anomalies that can show up inside that city and then disappear. These places can contain beasts and devices and things of all kinds of genre-bending goodness.

The conflict that occurs between the Monarchs all comes out of how each wants to solve the problem of the “shifted” existence of the city and the anomalies that occur as a result. Some want to return to the time and space from whence they came. Others fear further harming the world they came from. Still others want to explore the possibility of pushing the “shift” into another dimension or parallel world.

Thus, when a mysterious door shows up on Main Street, the vassals of all the Monarchs come out of the woodwork. Some want to find out what is on the other side of the door, some want to destroy the door and yet other will try to prevent either from happening.

Saintly Saturday: St. Musa

Today is the Feast of St. Musa. Rather than have me summarize her life, I am simply going to quote St. Gregory the Dialogist and his account of her life:

Neither must that be forgotten, which the servant of God before mentioned, called Probus, used to tell of a little sister which he had, called Musa: for he said that one night our blessed Lady appeared unto her in vision, shewing her sundry young maids of her own years, clothed all in white: whose company she much desiring, but yet not presuming to go amongst them, the Blessed Virgin asked her whether she had any mind to remain with them, and to live in her service: to whom she answered that willingly she would. Then our blessed Lady gave her in charge, not to behave herself lightly, nor to live any more like a girl, to abstain also from laughing and pastime, telling her that after thirty days she should, amongst those virgins which she then saw, be admitted to her service.

After this vision, the young maid forsook all her former behaviour: and with great gravity reformed the levity of her childish years: which thing her parents perceiving, and demanding from whence that change proceeded, she told them what the blessed Mother of God had given her in commandment, and upon what day she was to go unto her service. Five and twenty days after, she fell sick of an ague; and upon the thirtieth day, when the hour of her departure was come, she' beheld our blessed Lady, accompanied with those virgins which before in vision she saw to come unto her, and being called to come away, she answered with her eyes modestly cast downward, and very distinctly spake in this manner: "Behold, blessed Lady, I come, behold, blessed Lady, I come": in speaking of which words she gave up the ghost, and her soul departed her virgin's body, to dwell for ever with the holy virgins in heaven.

St. Gregory is a very interesting person. He spent many years in Constantinople as a papal legate, returned to Rome to become bishop, is credited with one of the liturgies that the Orthodox Church uses to this day and, using Byzantine Chant as a basis, created what is now called Gregorian Chant. The above quote comes from one of his many writings, most of which were written in the literary form of the dialogue (thus his title).

St. Gregory the Dialogist

It reminds me that dialogue plays a critical role in the history of this hobby. For me, at least, the most useful and formative texts found in the various editions of RPGs still are the examples of play, which take the form of the dialogue.

These introduced me to the idea, not only of how to play the various games we play, but that the creative process can be a collaborative experience. Indeed, I must confess that as much as I enjoy writing, drawing, painting, etc. all of these pale in comparison to those moments when my own creativity collides, conflicts and cooperates with someone else’s creativity.

RPGs are, in a way, a singular form of creative expression. I have spent many hours of my life creating worlds with their own rules, characters, histories, etc. I have, however, never really been interested in producing novels, novellas or short stories about any of them. As much fun as it is to create them, they never become alive to me with out the interaction with other people via an RPG.

Life is full of surprises and it is only when one of my worlds collides with the manic force of other people’s creative personalities that my worlds truly surprise me and become living things. This is especially true when dialogue happens at the table when NPCs and PCs interact. When it comes to the most important and critical moments in any campaign I have ever run, all of them are because of a relationship the PCs formed with a monster and/or NPC.

The wonder that I hold for that moment, when a world breathes for the first time because someone else’s creative spirit collides with my own is why I have played RPGs most of my life. This moment in time cannot be found in writing novels, plays, or movies. It cannot be found in playing or writing computer games. It cannot be found watching great TV or movies. It can only be found at the gaming table. It is why when (as now) I have not been in places, times or situations where I can play, I pine for the moment when I can. I expect to feel this way for the rest of my life.

FASERIP: Inspirations

I would not call myself an anime fan. Giant robots and demons bore me and these seem to be the focus of much of the genre. There are, however, a fair number of exceptions that I do enjoy, so I occasionally poke around to see if anything piques my interest. The most recent of these finds was the series K.

I really enjoyed this, because it is a meditation on what it means to be a king and what it means to be a good king. In the end, the person the series declares to be the best king is rather unexpected and, frankly, quite moving.

I mention this, because it has got me itching to poach a bunch of ideas from the series in order to make a rather non-traditional superhero campaign using FASERIP. Therefore, a little background about the world of K:

Back in WWII there was a German scientist working in conjunction with the Japanese to create a super soldier. There is a McGuffin that endows an individual with superpowers that they are then able to impart in limited form to people who choose to be their vassals. In the end, the McGuffin creates seven “kings.” These kings are categorized by color, of which six are referenced in the show:

First King: Silver
Second King: Gold
Third King: Red
Fourth King: Blue
Seventh King: Colorless
Green is mentioned in passing.

The people endowed with powers by their kings are called Clans, differentiated by color — Red Clan, Blue Clan, etc. Conflict does occur between the clans, although the kings all seem to be on relatively good terms even if their own personal goals seem to differ. The powers of each clan manifest in the color of their clan and seem to have similar special effects, even if each individual might be more effective than another at pulling interesting maneuvers with the power. For example, the Red Clan uses fire and the Blue Clan uses katana as a focus for their powers.

All of this takes place in an alternate, high-tech version of Tokyo. The average citizen seems to be rather oblivious to the existence of the Seven Kings and the Clans. Indeed, only members of the clans refer to each other as clans. Outside of their small world, they are referred to by a public name. The Red Clan is called Homra and the Blue Clan is called Scepter 4.

The general public are under the impression that the Prime Minister is the most powerful person in Japan, when in reality he is answerable to the Kings. When conflict between the clans results in widespread damage, it is generally reported as gang activity or even terrorism. There is also a precedent for “normals” forgetting specifics about clan members.

Interestingly, members of the various clans seem to be friends, despite being rivals. There are several of these relationships that are highlighted throughout the series.

In addition, there are beings called Strains, which are able to tap into the McGuffin without directly becoming a vassal to one of the kings, although these seem to be rare and strictly controlled by the clans.

This all suggests a really interesting superhero world that lends itself to a lot of adventure possibilities. The source of all superpowers are the Monarchs, of which their are five: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. All of the Monarchs and their vassals operate within a modern setting, but slightly out phase, where the average citizen will perceive all their activities from a perspective that explains away all that they see as “rational.”

Each Monarch has the best interest of the normal population in mind, but how that best interest is defined can differ greatly from Monarch to Monarch. Red and Violet are two ends of a spectrum and those two clans are not only arch-rivals, but largely operate outside of what might be considered civilized. The Green Monarch represents the status quo and the Green Clan largely plays the role of peacekeepers.

The X-factor in the campaign would be the existence of Strains — beings that have powers, but are not vassals to the Monarchs. This could be the main source of a lot of adventures, where Strain(s) show up and each Monarch wants to take advantage in order to fulfill their end-goal. Thus, clans could ally with each other depending upon the threat/use of the Strain and how it manifests.

Thus, characters would be low ranking clan members who are sent on missions to further the goals of their Monarchs. In a very basic version of the campaign, all PCs would be from the same clan; however, if I ever had the time and the right group I could see PCs being friends from different clans who try to balance their allegiances throughout the campaign.

The thing I love about FASERIP, is that its character creation system would easily support this campaign concept. All the characters would be of similar level and players would have a basis for how to describe the special effects of the powers they roll up for their characters.

FASERIP

While there seems to be a general buzz over the release of the new Swords & Wizardry White Box compatible sci-fi RPG White Star by James M. Spahn, I find myself far more excited about another old-school retroclone that has recently been made available: FASERIP by Gratis Games.

Some background: in terms of hours playing RPGs, superhero games come a close second to fantasy in my life. Of the various systems, my favorite historically is Villains & Vigilantes for two reasons: I love the character generation system and the longest running and most successful superhero campaign I ever ran used this ruleset. The most hours logged, however, belongs to Champions. While I am a huge fan of random character generation, most folks who play superhero games generally have a very good idea of what they want to play and Champions does one of the best jobs of giving players that kind of control over character generation.

The most fun I have ever had playing a superhero game, however, is with Marvel Superheroes. It terms of actual system mechanics, this is by far my favorite system for playing a superhero-type of game. It does an awesome job of making me feel like I am playing a character straight out of a comic book.

Historically, however, I have never liked the character generation system nor the idea that campaigns took place inside the Marvel Universe. PCs varied in power so dramatically that it was often impossible to sustain a campaign because players would feel left out and powerless to make any impact on the game. I have never been a fan of parading around in someone else’s universe, let alone my least favorite comic book universe.

FASERIP solves both of these problems. It obviously has to divorce itself from Marvel, as does any ruleset that seeks to emulate the system. The real strength of FASERIP, however, is its character generation system. While still maintaining a random generation system, it ensures that all PCs will be of a similar power range. It also empowers the player to customize what has been handed them via a random dice roll.

Another really interesting touch that I appreciate is a section on non-traditional campaigns and how to handle them using the FASERIP system. Included are a Shadowrun-type setting, a fantasy-type setting and a sci-fi alien taking over the world-type setting. This has got my non-playing Gamer ADD revving up. Expect some FASERIP meditations coming soon.

Saintly Saturday: The Prophet Isaiah

Today is the Feast of the Prophet Isaiah. The book attributed to him is one of the longest in Scripture at 66 chapters and over 25,000 words. Given how much life is demanding my time these days, I am not going to spend a lot of that time on that text. Rather, I will focus on the historical context and share some of the extra-biblical stories attributed to Isaiah.

The prophet was of royal lineage. He was the nephew King Amaziah of Judah (796-767 B.C.). His name means “The salvation of God.” He married a prophetess and had a son named Jashub. He prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Joatham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. This places him in a very turbulent time.

After the reign of King Solomon, the kingdom was torn in two. Sometimes the two are referred to as the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. They are also called Israel and Judah. During Isaiah’s lifetime, the Assyrians were busy conquering kingdoms all over the area, including the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah criticized both kings and the people for turning away from God and declared that the various military defeats suffered by Judah were a consequence of this disobedience.

Isaiah influenced Hezekiah to turn back to God and re-instate the liturgical practices specified in the Law. When Assyria came before the gates of Jerusalem, they were turned back through the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah.

Isaiah was killed by King Manasseh. Though not specifically named, his execution is mentioned in Hebrews 11:37 where a prophet is said to have been sawn in two. According to tradition this was Isaiah and it was a wooden saw.

Another interesting attribution to Isaiah is the Pool of Siloam. During a siege, Jerusalem’s water supply was becoming exhausted. Isaiah prayed and water started to flow from beneath Mount Sion. It is the same pool in which Christ has the blind man wash his eyes in order to restore his sight (John 9).

The Pool of Siloam had an interesting liturgical role during the Festival of Tents during the Temple era. There would be a procession from the Temple to the pool where water was drawn using a golden pitcher. This water was then processed back to the Temple with the sound of the shophar (trumpet) and around the altar while the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) were chanted. The men would wave fruits, palms, myrtle and willow to various verses in the Psalms. The water would then be offered along with the drink offering made at the altar.

In context of FRPGs, this is an excellent example of the kinds of little details that make exploring a dungeon really interesting. As I have noted before,  I like to have three basic eras that a dungeon exists through: Ancient, Old and Present.

In this case, we can understand the Ancient source of the Pool to be Isaiah’s prayer during the siege. The Old era would be the temple worship and the Present as the ruins of Jerusalem after its destruction in A.D. 70.

These kinds of detail really give a dungeon a sense of place and history. Personally, discovering these details while my PCs explore dungeons or revealing them to players as they explore are some of my favorite moments while playing RPGs.

Saintly Saturday: St. Athanasius the Great

Today is one of the Feasts of St. Athanasius the Great, who is also celebrated on January 18 with St. Cyril of Alexandria.

Let me get this out of the way: I love this man. As one might expect from someone who has written blog posts entitled Saintly Saturdays I have relationships with many of the saints, and many of them are special, formative and important to who I am; however, if there is one saint who has had more influence on who I am, how I think about God and how I read Scripture, the one that comes to mind is St. Athanasius.

One of the central players in the Christological controversies of the 4th century, Athanasius was only a deacon when he attended the First Ecumenical Council as an aid to the Patriarch of Alexandria. This did not stop him from influencing and convincing that Council to adopt what would become known as the Nicean Creed (which is an inaccurate translation historically, conceptually and linguistically — it should be known as the Nicean-Constantinopolitan Symbol of Faith).

He would go on to not only become the Patriarch of Alexandria but THE defender of the First Ecumenical Council. At times, he stood alone against the world, spending seventeen of his fifty-seven years as bishop in various exiles. Several times he escaped the clutches of imperial soldiers intent on placing him jail or even executing him. One of my favorite of these escapades sounds much like a story told of an RPG party getting out of a tight spot.

During the reign of Julian the Apostate, soldiers seeking his execution were in pursuit of him as he fled down the Nile on a boat. When Athanasius realized he was being chased, he had the boat turn around and calmly head down the river towards his pursuers. When they caught up with him, none realized who he was and when questioned as to the whereabouts of Athanasius, he responded, “He is near.” This caused the soldiers to rush away past the bishop in hot pursuit of what was nothing.

At the center of the controversy was (is) two seemingly contradictory experiences of God. One is best summarized by St. John Chrysostom in his Anaphora:

You are God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always the same

The other is described by St. Peter in his Second Catholic Epistle:

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature (1:4).

All of the various heresies throughout the history of the church have tried to explain this apparent contradiction away by minimizing or ignoring one of these experiences. The Orthodox Church has always insisted on both.

St. Athanasius was one the first in a long line of Church Fathers to wrestle with how the Church has always experienced God as both intangible, etc. and tangible, etc. He did so by differentiating between the being of God (which is ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always the same) and the activities of God (in which we can partake of His divine nature).

To this end, he scoured Scripture to find what he called παραδείγματα (paradeigmata) which is the root word for the English word paradigm. He found that whenever there was a simile or metaphor that referred to God, it would do so in a consistent manner for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

For example, the Father is fountain (Jer. 2:13), the Son a river (Ps 65:10) and we are said to drink of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 1:13). His point is that the Trinity is one in being, but distinct in the activities of the three persons. The Father cannot be a fountain if there is no running water (the Son) or if we cannot drink of it (the Holy Spirit). Remove any one of the Trinity from this paradigm and you are no longer referring to the same God that is found in Scripture.

I find this use of paradigms to be extremely useful in terms of inserting a Christian/Church-analogue into an FRPG setting. One can cast the Trinity in terms of paradigm:

Father = source of the metaphor
Son = the embodiment of the metaphor
Holy Spirit = the means humanity participates in the metaphor

So, to use the example above, a fountain is the source (Father); the river the embodiment of a fountain (Son); and we participate in the fountain by drinking of it (Holy Spirit).

Thus, it is possible to insert a Trinitarian understanding of God in a simple way that is not only interesting, but also feels just alien and familiar enough to fit in even the most Sword & Sorcery-influenced settings. For example, I use these Trinitarian paradigms with the Christianity analogue in my Lost Colonies Campaign.

The source (Father) of the metaphor is Law. The embodiment (Son) of Law is Crown or King. The means by which humanity participates (Holy Spirit) is Citizenship or Righteousness. Thus, the three persons of the Istenite Trinity are as follows:

Nomos (which roughly translates as Law)
Isten (which roughly translates as Crown or King)
Thikeosyni (which roughly translates as Citizenship or Righteousness)

In the Istenite’s understanding of their trinitarian god, the second person of that god, Isten (the embodied Crown or King), became incarnate in order to serve and protect his people rather than seek power. In this way Isten is an ideal king and therefore embodies the first person of god, Nomos (Law). Istenites participate in Isten through the third person of god, Thikeosyni (Citizenship or Righteousness). In doing so, Istenites become embodiments of Nomos as well.

All one has to do is choose what concept or title of God you want to emphasize in your campaign and then plug in the source, embodiment and means of participation and you have a taylor-made trinitarian analogue that adheres very closely to the way St. Athanasius argued for the Orthodox understanding of God.

Doodled Maps

This has been an incredibly busy month for me, which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting all that often. One thing that has taken up much of that time are meetings. I am a big fan of meeting with individuals or small groups, having conversations and taking care of business that way; however, my brain does not do well with large meetings where one person stands at the front of a room with a microphone and blathers on about various administrative issues pertaining to whatever is the hot topic of the hour.

Fortunately, my life involves a lot more of the former than the latter, but that latter are seemingly unavoidable. In defense, I doodle. Normally, I do cartoons or bugs or just random patterns. During this last spate, I wasn't much inspired to survive with normal fare. Thus, I started doodling maps, but I wanted something that looked as much like a pattern as it did a map.

I liked the results enough to share:

The boxes in between rooms and corridors are doors. I imagine them to be made of stone and are rolled/slid into a space in the wall to open them. These are a little sloppier than my normal maps because I usually start with pencil and then ink the finished product after cleaning it up. For these, I had to go with a blue ball point from the get go. Thus, I chose to go with the old Reflex Blue look on these when I brought them into the computer.

I have absolutely no idea what these dungeons are, what purpose they have, who built them or who lives there now. I am curious if they inspire any interesting ideas for answering those questions. Let me know.

Saintly Saturday: St. Sylvester of Obnora

Today is the Feast of St. Sylvester of Obnora, which is a monastery in the southern part of Vologda Oblast in Russia. Originally founded in the 14th century, it was destroyed by Tartars in the 16th century. It was later rebuilt in the 17th century.

St. Sylvester was a monastic at Holy Trinity Monastery and was a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, who gave him the blessing to become a hermit, which he was for many years. As often happens with hermits, people were drawn to St. Sylvester for advice and spiritual needs. He fulfilled this role at Obnora by becoming abbot.

Despite this, St. Sylvester still yearned for solitude. Therefore, he found a grove of trees which he commanded to be left alone so that he always had a place to pray in peace. This became known as the Commanded Grove or Sanctuary Grove.

St. Sylvester died of illness in A.D. 1479.

In 1645, the hieromonk Job, who re-built the monastery, ordered trees from the Commanded Grove to be cut down. He was struck blind and only regained his sight after repenting and going to the reliquary of St. Sylvester.

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I am not a fan of the Druid as a PC class, although I am happy to use them as monsters. Given that Earth Day was this past week and the seemingly druidic command of St. Sylvester to keep and defend a sacred grove of trees, I thought it apropos to scratch that itch again.

Whenever I introduce the idea of druids as monsters, a common reaction is to understand them as eco-terrorists. While I suppose interpreting them as a fantasy version of Earth Firsters might work, I have never imagined them that way. For me, the most terrifying monster is a human being who embraces sin as righteousness and consequently does horrible things. The best way to tell a horror story is to hold up a mirror to ourselves. For me, the druid is a fantasy version of Earth Day taken to its logical conclusion.

I doubt there are many people who are against the basic concept of environmentalism, which can be simply stated as: Don’t defecate where you eat.

From a theological perspective, Christianity is (for a lack of a better word) green and has always been green. Human beings are the pinnacle of creation having been endowed according to the image and likeness of God. We fulfill a priestly role of presenting God to creation and lifting up creation to God by being co-creators with God.

In the LXX Greek translation of the OT, the word “to create/make” used in Genesis and attributed to God shares the same root as the English words “poem” and “poet.” God is an artist. In other words, we are expected to use nature and the environment in creative ways that are beneficial for everybody and everything.

This POV can be expressed with this diagram:

God --> Humanity --> Creation (Co-Creation)

The proponents of Earth Day turn this diagram upside down. Nature becomes more important than humanity and humanity is more important than God. Thus, as I have heard from several sources, humanity becomes a virus that endangers Nature that needs to be reformed and controlled in order to save the Earth.

There is a dissonance in the logic of modern environmentalism that is frightening. Humanity is both undesirable and the mechanism of salvation. It is within this logic that I find the druid-as-monster. Nature is better off without humanity, which needs to get wiped out. Humanity, however, won’t go away without help. Thus, druids seek to destroy Civilization while abandoning their own humanity (in my own rendition, they seek to become one with Nature by becoming Elementals).

The mirror that needs to get held up to modern environmentalism is this: Since human beings are a part of Nature (whether you accept that God created it or not), mistreating and dismissing humanity is a misuse and abuse of Nature.

Saintly Saturday: St. Basil Ratishvili of Georgia

Today is the Feast of St. Basil Ratishvili of Georgia. He was a monastic saint of the 13th century who lived on Mt. Athos at Iveron Monastery. He is considered a wonderworker and was endowed with the gift of prophecy, the most famous of which was leveled at King Denetre of Georgia.

St. Basil received a vision of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) to travel to Georgia to censure the King and his court for their profligate lifestyle (in his youth, Demetre took more than one wife). The saint appeared in court and implored the king and his court to turn away from their lifestyle. When they dismissed St. Basil, he was impelled to respond with this prophecy:

A vicious enemy will kill you, and your kingdom will remain without refuge. Your children will be scattered, your kingdom conquered, and all your wealth seized. Know that, according to the will of the Most Holy Theotokos, everything I have told you will come to pass unless you repent and turn from this way of life. Now I will depart from you in peace.

At the time, Georgia was a client state of the Ilkanid Mongols under Abaqa Khan, who died in 1282. What followed was a turbulent period of succession wars. Abaqa’s brother first took the throne but was overthrown by Abaqa’s son Arghun. Another of Abaqa brothers, Qonguram, plotted to overthrow Arghun but failed.

King Demetre’s son was married to the daughter of Mongol Chancellor Buqa, who was one of the conspirators against Arghun. Thus, the armies of the Mongols were poised to fulfill St. Basil’s prophecy. Seeing this truth, King Demetre repented and acquiesced to appear before the court of Arghun Khan in order to sacrifice himself for the safety of his Kingdom. He was imprisoned and executed and the anger of the Khan was sated.

At his death, those present witnessed the sun grow dark and the city enshrouded in gloom and shadow. His body was guarded by the Georgians present and then secreted away with help of fishermen back to Georgia. Today he is revered as a martyr saint with the title “the Devoted” or “Self-Sacrificer.”

Prophecy is a trope in fantasy and sci-fi storytelling because it is great tool for crafting interesting and exciting tales, as can be seen above with the story of King Demetre. In RPGs, however, prophecy is a tricky and even dangerous thing to play with. An author has complete control over everything that happens in the worlds she creates. A GM, however, has ceded that complete control to the players. Thus, if a prophecy is leveled at PCs, it can be abusively used to wrest that control back from the players begging the question: why play an RPG when the story can more properly be told as a short story or a novel?

If prophecy is to be used in an RPG setting, it really should to be part of what I call background noise. In other words, in context of St. Basil and St. Demetre the Devoted, the PCs would hear the rumor that the King had a prophecy leveled against him. The PCs can get involved if they want, or simply ignore it. Note that a good prophecy is one that has an “If…then” statement so that should players want to mess with it, they can be part of the force that can place pressure on whatever variable they wish.

At some point in the campaign (or even prior to the campaign) the prophecy is fulfilled and the PCs then have to deal with the consequences. To continue the example of Sts. Basil and Demetre, the PCs could be called upon to be those who secret the body of the King out of enemy hands.

In other words, prophecy in an RPG can still be a great tool; however, it needs to be a source of adventure background that players can interact with rather than something that is leveled at PCs that then players need to deal with.

Saintly Saturday: St. Hilarion the New

Today is the Feast of St. Hilarion the New. He was a monastic saint who lived much of his life as a hermit. Eventually, he was ordained as a priest and became the abbot of the Pelekete monastery in Bithynia during the eighth century A.D. This places his life at the time of the first wave of iconoclasm.

On Holy Thursday in A.D. 754, soldiers stormed the monastery under the auspices of rooting out icon-venerators. They disrupted service, threw the Holy Gifts to the floor and put forty-two of the monks in chains. They were then sent to Edessa to be murdered. The remaining monks were horribly mutilated and tortured. Noses were cut off, beards set on fire. St. Hilarion died during this persecution and is today venerated as a martyr.

***

Given that several of my recent Saintly Saturdays have coincidentally been about various saints from around the Sea of Marmara and Bithyina, it seems as if this nascent campaign is going to get further developed.

The story of St. Hilarion and the Pelekete monastery suggests a background story for the center-piece dungeon of the campaign. In past posts, I have suggested a new take on the sample side-view dungeon in Holmes where Skull Mountain becomes the Mountain of Skulls. The monks originally built the monastery to protect the surrounding countryside from an ancient evil buried beneath.

I have also suggested that the monks therein were not wiped out by monsters, but by forces of Law. These forces would have been backed by an authority that is actively supporting a heresy that the monks at the Mountain of Skulls were opposed to (and might possibly be the original rebel monks also suggested by a previous post).

To that end, I’d like to gather some pictures from a few monasteries for the purposes of inspiration. Somewhere in here are the pieces necessary to bring this adventure location to life:

Especially interesting to me are the skulls with names, dates and even icons painted upon them. These are the skulls in question that need to be found and restored to make sure that the ancient evil is once more contained.

On Vitriol Part 4

My last post on this topic elicited this response from JB over at B/X Blackrazor:

I haven't thought too much about the relationships that this corner o the blog-o-sphere creates, but I think you're right...the interaction that takes place within "blog space" is just as important (if not more so) than in having a pulpit from which to shout our ideas. And with that in mind, it certainly does behoove us to "just get along" and rise above the petty squabbles.



I say that...but then there are folks that I've simply divorced myself from who might otherwise be part of my communal community. Folks who have beliefs that I can't (in good conscious) support, and who I don't want to publicize...not by talking about them, not by creating links from my blog. For me, these are folks who have consistently put out really hateful shit (NOT "game related"), and while we may share a love of gaming (regardless of system or edition), they're beliefs are such that I don't find "value added" by including them in the conversation.



Is that un-Christian of me?

This is a very important question that needs its own post.

Let me begin by saying that when James Raggi of Lamentations of the Flaming Princess made the business decision to start using graphic images and nudity in both his products and his blog banner, I removed his link from my own blog. I also did not purchase the Grindhouse Edition of LotFP because of that artwork.

At the time, I explained that I disagreed with his choice. Personally, I think the artwork that has real staying power is that that which does not titillate. I also have two daughters and I certainly did not feel comfortable linking to or looking at a website or reading game material with those images when my girls are often in the same room when I am using my computer or looking at my games.

However, one of the purposes of relationship is to follow the command of Christ to love — not just your neighbor who looks and thinks like you, but the radical other and your enemy.

One could quote Matthew 7:6, “Never give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs. Otherwise, they will trample them with their feet and then turn around and attack you.” But this is specifically in context of preaching the Gospel — holy things. This does not excuse completely cutting off a relationship.

This is where it is very important to understand two axioms that are commonly forgotten in an era where the rational mind is overemphasized:

• Emotions are not Ideas
• Ideas are not People

When confronted by an idea that elicits a negative emotional response, we often reject the idea as bad because of that emotional response. Therefore, we often mistake a negative emotional response as an idea and therefore a legitimate argument. Thus, one might be tempted to say that James Raggi is wrong for using the artwork he does because it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Emotional responses, however, are not a legitimate counter-argument against ideas. For example, Raggi’s business model has been successful. Therefore his idea has some merit (at least in terms of using that artwork as a tool for selling his product). For a less controversial example, Gallileo’s hypothesis of the sun being the center of the solar system probably created a lot of negative emotional responses. I hope we all realize how illegitimate those emotions are for arguing against the make-up of the solar system.

We also like to use all kinds of labels in order to categorize things and people into easily digestible nuggets of information: Democrat, Liberal, Progressive, Conservative, Tea Party, Libertarian, Fascist, Nazi, Communist, etc. The vast majority of these labels encompass an idea or a set of ideas. We cannot make the mistake, however, of confusing that idea with a person.

Let me give you two examples:

St. Justin Martyr was a millennialist. This is a belief that Christ will reign for a thousand years on earth after His second coming. This was rejected by the Church. Yet, Justin is still revered as a saint. Thus, St. Justin is more than merely a millennialist — more than just an idea.

I have a painting hanging next to my computer by a man who volunteered to fight with the Nazis against the Soviet Union. I could very easily dismiss him and his art because he is a Nazi-sympathizer. To do so, however, would ignore and miss out on a great story, a good man and a great artist. He was an Estonian national who saw the Nazis as liberators and ended up having to flee his homeland until after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I use these illustrations to point out that it is not only possible to have relationships with people who hold to ideas we disagree with, but to have fruitful relationships. Thus, if we dismiss people because they are associated with an idea, or are labelled because they hold to that idea, we are doing ourselves and them a disservice for not looking beyond that idea to find common ground, to find relationship, to find something worth while and fruitful.

Thus, my answer to JB is this:

Is it okay to have a negative emotional response? Absolutely.
Is it okay to give yourself space in order to minimize the occurrence of those negative emotions? Yes.
Is it okay to cut off any possible interaction or relationship with the person who is the source of those negative emotions? I am inclined to say no, with a caveat. I’ve dealt with enough domestic violence to know that severing all contact can be the only really healthy solution; however, I want to challenge everybody who has encountered what generally gets labelled as HATE on the internet:

Go back and look at it again. Wrestle with it. Does your problem with the person stem from ideas or emotional responses? If it is from emotional responses, why are you or they having those responses? This is a really important question, because emotions need to be dealt with in a fundamentally different manner than ideas.

Here is another axiom that I find really useful when dealing with people of all stripes in any situation: if you are involved in an argument, especially when there is a strong emotional response, it is your fault. I will grant that the other party has also contributed to the damage, but the only person you have control over is you. In order to get past that argument and to move beyond that emotional response you need to take responsibility for what you did in order to contribute to the situation — even if that contribution was .0001% of the problem.

At the very least, you can be confident that you have left the door open and done what you needed to do to help the other party — even if they never decide to go through that door.

It also gives us the ability to say: the manner in which you expressed that idea made me feel [insert emotion here]. If you don’t want me or others to feel that way, please express yourself differently. As to the merits of the idea itself…

I will grant that this is not a foolproof method. Again, the only person you can control is yourself; however, it is an approach that helps differentiate emotions and ideas so that both can be dealt with in an appropriate manner. In the end, even if the people with whom we disagree or have strong emotional responses toward never change, we have at the very least given them the opportunity.

From personal experience, the gift of that opportunity has resulted in far more fruit than I ever considered possible.

Saintly Saturday: St. James the Confessor

Today is the Feast of St. James the Confessor. He entered the monastic life at a young age, living at the Studite monastery in Constantinople. He was then made bishop of Catania in Sicily. His bishopric took place during the first wave of Iconoclasm in the middle of the 8th century. While emperor Constantine V Copronymos (A.D. 741-775) was on the thrown, St. James was imprisoned for venerating the icons. Thus, he received the title Confessor. Eventually, his tormentors gave up trying to get St. James to abandon his defense of the icons and sent him into exile where he died.

Whereas I have reflected quite a lot on heresies, iconoclasm and confessors I don’t think I’ve ever talked about exile. One of the interesting practices of the Roman Empire (by which I mean the one with Constantinople as its capital) was the use of exile. Both heterodox and orthodox emperors would send their religious opponents into exile either on the fringes of empire or out into barbarian lands. This seems to suggest a really interesting twist on the classic Keep on the Borderland trope.

Part of the makeup of the Keep is this concept of exile, which can take any number of forms:

• The PCs belong to an exiled group (whether political, racial or religious). The powers that control the Keep represent those who exiled the PCs. They are free to venture into the wilderness, but not go back to civilization. This would put some serious dampers on help at a party’s home base. It would also begin to get dangerous once they started accumulating wealth and magic items.
• The entire Keep is controlled by an exiled group of which the PCs may or may not be. This variation would play close to the typical trope, except that higher-priced items would be more rare and their would be even more emphasis on clearing new land. The big change would be the end-game, where the powers that exiled those at the Keep would be more likely to meddle in the affairs of players once they started building strongholds.
• One of the patrons of the PCs is in exile. This could either be open knowledge, done in secret or kept secret from the players. The patron is trying to accumulate enough power in order to return home. This could get complicated in the same way the first two options do. This option offers another hitch if the players do not realize that the guy they have been helping is actually a secret go-between and they are now accomplices in helping a traitor/heretic/poltical troublemaker start up another civil war, etc.
• The PCs are part of a group whose mission is to inform on a group of exiles. Thus, they are set-up as adventurers for hire in an area dominated by an exiled power. They are then to get info from their employers and report back to the powers that be. My favorite twist on this set-up is when the PCs realize that those they have been sent to spy on are really the good guys.

One of my favorite treasures of all-time that a character of mine ever came across was a history book that detailed the royal lineage of an empire within the campaign world. My character’s desire to use that information to start a civil war never materialized (my character was a former slave in that empire, but my GM and fellow players weren’t ready to go there), but this is the kind of treasure that could be the centerpiece of a Keep-on the-Borderland-in-Exile. The information contained therein could inspire all kinds of mischief by players, whatever variation the “exiled” part of the trope is extant in the campaign.

Happy St. Cuthbert's Day

Today is the Feast of St. Cuthbert, who has been a part of this hobby since the 1970's. Here is a link with which to peruse the various thoughts I've had through the years about St. Cuthbert and the games we play. Enjoy.

On Vitriol Part 3

I have spilled a lot of virtual ink in my last two posts trying to point out the limitations of reason and logic and arriving at some kind of appreciation for and understanding of the nous — that part of the human mind that experiences beauty. The reason for this is that it is my answer to all of the vitriol we see flying through the interwebs.

The nous is not only where we experience beauty, it is also where we experience relationships. There is nothing particularly rational about why I have the friends that I do, or why I love my wife or why my children are some of the most important people in my life. They just are in the same way that beauty just is.

The irrationality of relationships is what makes them so critically important. If they were rational, most of us wouldn’t have many friends, nor would the human race have much of a chance at having enough kids for the species to survive more than a few generations.

Relationships have a way of existing despite the fact that we disagree on so many things. Just as an example: I am an Orthodox Christian. The vast majority of those who read this blog are not. Indeed, I would venture to guess that the average reader isn’t even Christian. Yet, here we are. We all have a relationship playing the games we love to play.

Ultimately, this reality forces us all to engage that rational and logical part of our mind to understand why we have these relationships and how it is possible that someone else who can be be called a colleague or even friend can so radically disagree with us on a variety of subjects. It is within this space, where the nous and the rational mind work together that understanding those who disagree with us happens. It is in this space where minds are changed and transformed.

Again, for example: I don’t like Thieves or Paladins. Thieves tend to lead to skill systems which I don’t care for. Clerics are paladins, why do they need a separate class that doesn’t do as good a job of being a paladin as the cleric does? Yet, my Lost Colonies campaign had both paladins and thieves because the friends that I made while playing the game do like thieves and paladins. I found myself asking the question: what is more important? The mechanics of the game we play or the relationships I have around the table? In answering that question, I found a way to include those paladins and thieves.

One of the reasons why I have been blogging as long as I have is because this corner of the internet has been focused so much on relationships. We play games we love to play. We love tinkering with those games. We love sharing ideas about those games. All of these things rise above all of our differences. The OSR exists despite the fact that we disagree more than we agree. Whether we know it or not we have been occupying that space in the human experience where the rational mind and nous cooperate. As a result this hobby has been transformed.

Vitriol exists when we forget the nous and abandon the possibility of relationship. I will grant that there are times when it is warranted, but the vast majority is wholly avoidable and we’ve proved it for years.

On Vitriol Part 2

One of the reasons that human secularism has become normative is the belief that such a system is rational and logical. Indeed, I argued many times in my life that both atheism and human secularism are more rational and logical than any form of theism. I am confident that today many atheists and human secularists would agree.

This shouldn’t be very surprising given that we are so dependent upon science and technology; however, I would point out the fact that reason and logic only make up part of the human mind. Although the Greek word nous is translated into English as mind, it does not refer to rational thought, reason or logic. The best way that the concept of the nous can be exemplified is with the idea of beauty.

No one can deny that human beings find beauty in the world. Indeed, we manage to find it in the most remarkable places. Beauty, however, is not rational. There is no hypothesis of beauty that can be tested in a repeatable fashion. There is no rational reason why I prefer German opera and my wife prefers Italian opera. There is no logical explanation why we, as human beings, experience beauty when we encounter it. Yet we do.

The part of the human mind wherein beauty happens is the nous. To dismiss or minimize this aspect of the human mind is to dismiss art, culture and and a huge chunk of human experience. Yet, that is exactly what we do when we insist that every aspect of our lives be ruled by reason and logic.

As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No amount of evidence or rational thought or argument or logic is going to change the fact that I like this cover of T1: The Village of Hommlet:

better than this one:

Sure, I could rationalize it by pointing out my first exposure to the module was the later printing with Jeff Dee’s illustration, or that I really want to play the halfling fighter as a PC one day. At the end of the day, however, I just find it beautiful. It just is.

This reality can be expanded to the entire hobby. Some gamers prefer the style of play offered by 3.5 and Pathfinder. That game is beautiful to them. I prefer the simplicity of B/X and Labyrinth Lord. They are beautiful to me. Sure, a lot of virtual ink has been spilled justifying and rationalizing that beauty; however, there is no rational or logical explanation as to why we find the games we play to be so beautiful, so fun, and so endlessly entertaining.

While I could expend a tremendous amount of time and energy explaining why all of those people who find beauty in 3.5 and Pathfinder are wrong, pointing out all of the rationalizations and justifications that prove how much I am right to find beauty in B/X and LL (and you can probably find posts on this blog that do exactly that), the reality is that I can no more prove that someone who enjoys Pathfinder doesn’t enjoy it than I can prove that red is really green.

That’s because the reasons we play these games really has little to do with rational mind, but everything to do with the nous.

On Vitriol Part 1

So, while I was away from active blogging, I got to miss a whole lot of vitriol about gender politics in gaming, a fact which I am actually kind of relieved about. Unfortunately, it is a subject that will not go away. Last week both wundergeek and Zak S. launched salvos at each other, both in the name of defending themselves from the other.

While gender politics are a hot button issue that repeatedly finds people from all sides being attacked, this situation is by no means unique because attacks against various people and groups are a regular feature on the internet.

I highlight wundergeek and Zak S. because this situation was/is rather high profile in our corner of the internet and because I don’t particularly agree with either of them. I may very well be wrong, but neither seems to think much of Christianity and I have the distinct impression that if push came to shove they would each probably describe themselves as human secularists or even atheists. I say this not as an attack on either of them, but rather out of personal experience.

I sympathize with both of them tremendously. I believe that ideas are important. I hold that human reason has been, is and will be capable of wondrous and amazing things.

They both look and sound like I did when I could proudly claim that I was an atheist and a human secularist.

Therefore, in order to really speak on the situation (and all of the various attacks that so many of us who inhabit the internet have to deal with in some way fashion or form), I need to discuss why I am no longer an atheist and human secularist and why that is so important.

This story begins in Eastern Europe.

Back when Yugoslavia still existed and was embroiled in a civil war, I lived within a stone’s throw away from the border. Thus, I was a peripheral witness to what was going on there. I heard gunshots. I felt shockwaves as bombs were dropped. I saw MiGs violate airspace. I was actively propagandized by the Croatians. I met and befriended Serbian refugees. I saw things I wouldn’t wish on anyone — things that I cannot un-see.

This experience broke me. I found myself reexamining my entire life. Rather than breaking down the logic of theism (as I had spent so many years of my life doing), I look a good, long look at atheism and human secularism. To my horror, I found it lacking.

If there is no God, what is good, ethical, moral or truth? Rather, what is the source of what is good, ethical, moral or truth? While laws, constitutions and/or societal norms might help us define these things, they are not the source. Laws, constitutions and societal norms all come from us — human beings. Therefore, sans God, we are the measure of what is good, ethical, moral and truth. Given this, what makes what I believe to be good, ethical, moral or truth any better than someone else’s? By what justification can I say that Hitler was wrong?

One might be tempted to point to logic, reason and/or science. These are things that Western society has, for some time, agreed are beneficial to help us come to a consensus as to what is good, ethical, moral or truth; however, in a world sans God, logic, reason and science had nothing to do with Hitler being wrong. Although we may try to convince ourselves otherwise, the real reason that Hitler was wrong in a world without God is that the allies were able to marshall enough military strength to force and coerce the Germans into their version of what is good, ethical, moral and truth. Had Hilter won, his version would be the norm.

Without God and with human beings as the source of what is good, ethical, moral and truth, the only criteria that matters when it come to who is correct or not is force. He or she who is the most willing to coerce with force their version of what is good, ethical, moral and truth wins. There is no external, eternal measure by which to justify how Might Makes Right isn’t correct.

Thus, as our society becomes more and more convinced that God is passe, and that human secularism is accepted as normative we can expect the kind of vitriol that has wundergeek and Zak S. at each other’s virtual throats. While wundergeek and Zak S. have diligently defended themselves by pointing to a variety of examples of what they actually have said and actually believe, it doesn’t matter in a world dominated by human secularism. What does matter in a world without God is that whoever is going to win this fight is the one who is willing to use any and all means of coercion in order to force their world view on the rest of us.

In other words, in a world without God, goodness, ethics, morality and truth mean nothing.

OKW: Half-orcs

This post is going to be a bit convoluted, but bear with me it will eventually make sense.

One of the major challenges of doing a campaign in OKW Cezavy (at least as I have conceived it) is that Thyatis isn’t really available as a source of ancient ruins. In my normal background scheme of Ancient, Old and Present, the Thyatis Empire really only becomes relevant in the present, even though it no longer exists.

Thus, in order to make any kind of dungeon-delve interesting via a multi-layered backstory (especially a center-piece dungeon), I’ve had to wrack my brain for other possible ancient civilizations that could litter the high steppes of Cezavy with ruins. Again, I have to credit Matt Lynch and his Tome of Adventure Design, because rolling on the various random tables found there-in gave me a very interesting idea with several ramifications for the campaign.

Since it is already established that Tharks roam the southwestern regions of the OKW, I figure that it is plausible that other barsoomian races happened to find their way to the OKW as well. My first choice would be the Lotharians due to their decadence and mental powers. This decadence would have lead to their downfall and possible extinction.

It also introduces the possibility that the various ruins that dot the Cezavy landscape have incubators and other reproductive devices, since all the various humanoid races of barsoom reproduce by laying eggs. This also allows me to put a twist on the reproductive antics of the Quastogs. According to Lawrence Schick, the Quastogs suffer from a curse that results in a very high rate of still births. This necessitates raids far and wide of other races to kidnap children to bolster their ranks.

Given the amount of risk and effort such an endeavor would entail, I postulate that the Quastogs would leap at other reproductive options. One of these could very well be a birthing chamber used by the Lotharians before they passed into the mists of forgotten history. The problem with using such a device is that orcs are not egg layers like the Lotharians. Thus, their use of the device tends to end in various mutations; however, these are successful births and the mutation rate is far less than the stillbirth rate.

Mutations, however, are still seen as a stigma and most are culled in infancy. Some do survive, however. Either rescued by their mothers (who may have been kidnapped in their youth) or their mutation didn’t manifest until they were able to escape on their own, these “half-orcs” can occasionally be found on the fringes of Cezavy civilization.

In order to represent the various mutations exhibited by these half-orcs, I decided to take the Replicant class from Mutant Future and run it through the custom class creation system found in the ACKS Players Companion. Here is what I came up with:

Half-Orc

Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d6
Damage Die: 1d8
Maximum Level: 14

Half-orcs are the mutated off-spring of the Quastog orc clans. Rejected by their own people, they live on the fringes of civilization.

Upon creation, the player rolls on the following table until three mutations (or the equivalent) are rolled. Duplicates may be re-rolled or stacked, depending upon player/Referee desire. The mutations are expressed as a mechanic. An example of how that mechanic might be expressed in game play is given; however, players are encouraged to create their own “special effect” for each mutation, thus making their character unique.

Mutations (d20):

1. Cast Scare 1/8hrs (Xenomorphism)
2. All saving throws at +2 (Extra Organs)
3. Cast Invisible 1/hr takes 1 turn to cast (Chameleon Epidermis)
4. Equivalent of Infravision: 30’ (counts as 1 mutation); 60’ (counts as 2 mutations) (Echolocation/Nightvision/Thermal Vision/Ultraviolet Vision)
5. Lay on Hands — heal 2hp per experience level once per day (Epidermal Photosynthesis)
6. +1 damage w/TH weapons; may use w/shield (Gigantism)
7. +1 surprise and initiative (Prehensile Tail)
8. 1d2-1/1d2-1/1d4-1 (counts as 2 mutations); 1d3-1/1d3-1/1d6-1 (counts as 3 mutations) (Spiny Growth/Natural Weapon)
9. Flesh Runes — When not wearing armor, the character receives +2 AC and reduces damage from non-magical attacks by 1 hp per die; this increases to +4 AC and 2hp per die at 7th level and +6 AC and 3 hp per die at 13th level; damage from creatures of 5HD or more are considered magical attacks (counts as 3 mutations) (Energy Retaining Cell Structure)
10. Glamorous Aura — +2 to reaction rolls to impress and/or intimidate; if the result is 12+ the subject acts as if charmed (Fragrance Development)
11. Climb Walls as a Thief (Increased Balance)
12. Cast Strength 1/hr takes 1 turn to cast (Increased Physical Attribute)
13. Cast Jump 1/hr (Increased Physical Attribute)
14. Cast Resist Fire 1/8hrs (Increased Physical Attribute)
15. Detect Traps — may detect traps, false walls, hidden construction, and notice if passages are sloped with a roll of 1-4 on a d6 (Increased Sense)
16. +1 AC (Natural Armor)
17. Cast Blindness 1/8hrs (Optic Emissions)
18. Cast Deafness 1/8hrs (Shriek)
19. Cast Magic Missile 1/hr (Toxic Weapon)
20. Arcane Dabbling — 15% chance of being able to use Magic-User-only-type magic items (like wands); increases by 10% each level to a max of 90%. Failure may have unindented consequence if Referee so desires (Mystic Sense)

Half-orcs fight and save as fighters and may use any weapon and any armor.

Reaching 9th: At 9th level, a replicant may build a stronghold.

XP         Level
1700         2
3400         3
6800         4
13600       5
27200       6
55000       7
110000     8
230000     9
350000   10
470000   11
590000   12
710000   13
830000   14

Saintly Saturday: St. Benedict of Nursia

Today is the Feast Day of St. Benedict of Nursia. Born in A.D. 480 in Nursia, a small town northeast of Rome, he took to monasticism at a young age. He lived as a hermit for several years. As happens so often in the history of the church, people started hearing stories and were attracted to his presence, seeking spiritual guidance. Many decided to become monastics themselves.

As a consequence, St. Benedict wrote a monastic rule, based upon the works of St. Basil the Great. This, then became the foundation upon which Western monasticism was based — Benedictine monasticism. He built a monastery on Mount Cassino (Montecassino) and died there in A.D. 547.

For those interested in a detailed examination of the Rule of St. Benedict and how I have used it as a source of gaming inspiration, I would direct you here. Today, I am much more interested in writing about WWII.

The Montecassino Monastery was sacked and destroyed several times throughout history, but one of the most interesting and tragic of these events occurred during the Allied offensive in Italy. Montecassino was part of the Gustav Line, which was a German defense designed to stall the Allied push through Italy.

American forces were convinced that the Nazis had occupied the monastery and were using it as an observation post. On February 15 in 1944 the monastery was almost completely destroyed by American air raids. Tragically, it turned out that the Germans had stayed clear of the monastery for fear of the artifact being damaged by the allies and the only people killed in the bombing were some 230 Italian civilians seeking refuge.

Ironically, after its destruction, the Germans did occupy it and it helped them stave off four Allied assaults prior to withdrawing in May of 1944.

I mention all this because this suggests an interesting twist on the abandoned monastery trope of dungeon design. There are plenty of examples of Chaotic monasteries being sacked by Lawful forces and subsequently re-occupied (Temple of Elemental Evil immediately comes to mind). There are also example of Lawful monasteries that were sacked by Chaotic forces and have yet to be recovered (my own Lost Colonies campaign uses this trope).

The story of the Montecassino Monastery suggests a scenario where a Lawful monastery is destroyed by Lawful forces because of a misunderstanding and then subsequently occupied by Chaos. Such a background story could be the source of all kinds of interesting mischief as those same Lawful forces could very well be actively covering up the story in order to maintain their power. Thus, PCs could run afoul of the authorities back home should they learn too much...

OKW: Cezavy Regional Map

Cezavy refers to a common language spoken by various tribes in the northeast of the OKW. The are a barbarian peoples who have only recently stepped on the road to civilization. As such, the word “Empire” is more symbolic than actual, though there is a foundation in place on which to build.

Historically, the Cezavy peoples lived in various Principalities (also called Duchies) controlled by city-states. Each city-state had its own method of choosing a prince (traditionally called a Graf). As such, there really isn’t a well-developed aristocracy. There is an acknowledged difference between land-owners (boyars) and those who don’t own land (peasants and, in some cases, serfs), but this line has always been fairly easy to cross.

The seeds for empire were first planted when missionaries arrived in Cezavy lands from the Thyatic Empire. The first to convert were the Grafs of Sclavak and others soon followed. Thyatic bishops started establishing churches and the Cezavy people had something larger than their own city-states to aspire to. They were now part of the Thyatic sphere of influence.

When Chaos overran the Thyatic Empire, the Grafs of the Cezavy saw themselves as the last bastion of Civilization. A Tsar (meaning “emperor”) was chosen, and a shaky political alliance has formed. Whether or not this new political reality can withstand either the forces of Chaos or internal strife, only time will tell.

Here is a regional map, showing the six Principalities that make up the Cezavy Empire:

The area shown in the map is approximately 425 miles by 300 miles. Spheres of influence are indicated by color:

Grand Duchy of Sclavak (Red) 

Along with Beloz, Sclavak is the oldest of all the Cezavy states (thus the title “Grand” Duchy). Though it is not the richest nor does it have the largest military force of all the Cezavy states, Sclavak has traditionally had the most political influence. This is, in part, due to the fact that Sclavak is home to the Archbishop; however, even before the coming of Thyatic missionaries, the Grafs of Sclavak had invested heavily in a very well developed spy network. Colloquially, the Graf of Sclavak is known as the Old Fox or the Silver Fox. In part, this is due to the heraldry of Sclavak, but also due to the way they have always managed to get the upper hand through information brokering and manipulation. As a result, when the Empire was formed, the Graf of Sclavak was selected as Tsar.

Grand Duchy of Beloz (Purple) 

Beloz is a long-time rival of Sclavak. They have the largest military of all the Cezavy states and boast of a long and proud military tradition. This might have been enough for the Grafs of Beloz to lay waste to their rivals had not much of their military effort been focused on defending their long southern border from the Vanog Orcs of the Altan Tepe Mountains. They are most closely allied with Shuyusk. Colloquially, the Graf of Beloz is known as the Eagle, and sometimes the Black Eagle if they should take a despotic turn.

Republic of Pleskov (Green) 

Pleskov is singular among the Cezavy states because the Graf of Plaskov is indirectly elected by the gatherings of the people in what are called Veches. These institutionalized assemblies directly elect an advisory council of six members who then go on to elect a Graf. Electoral ties are traditionally broken by the bishop of Pleskov. As a result, the burgher class in Pleskov has a tremendous amount of influence and has made Pleskov the most wealthy Cezavy state by making it merchant-friendly. There is a bit of a rivalry between the Archbishop of Sclavak and the bishop of Pleskov. Due to its relative political power, its wealth and its traditional proximity to the Thyatic Empire, there are many who have argued that the see of Pleskov should be the seat of the archbishop and not Sclavak.

Principality of Shuyusk (Brown)

Shuyusk may not be the oldest Principality in the Cezavy Empire, but it is one of the most traditional. It was the last to see Thyatic missionaries, and it still chooses its Graf in the ancient Cezavy method: by trial of combat. This is not, however, simply a test of martial skill. Of equal importance is how one fights. A council of tribal elders decides whether or not any of the combatants are worthy to be Graf (there have been times when the answer was no). This emphasis of martial prowess is due to threats on two fronts: Vanog Orcs to the south and the Hagoth Clans to the east. There are rumors that the current Graf has formed an alliance with a group of werebears and may very well be one himself.

Principality of Azov (Blue)/Duchy of Chelyadin (Orange)

These two Principalities are the youngest of all the Cezavy states, having been formed at the birth of the Empire. The Graf of what was then the Great Principality of Azyadin was steadfastly against the formation of the Empire and several other Grafs were happy to allow him to be an impediment to the new Cezavy State. The Silver Fox prodded the recalcitrant Graf onto the battlefield where he was betrayed by his uncle and his illegitimate son. Azyadin was split between the two. Azov is now in the hands of the son and the uncle is now Graf of Chelyadin. They supported the SIlver Fox’s bid to become Tsar and the Empire was born. As a result, the two states are seen by many to be puppet states of Sclavak. Certainly, they are the most despotic of the Cezavy states, as neither Graf trusts their people nor do they have the confidence of their people.

Gamer ADD: An Original Known World Campaign

Thanks to all of the interesting information made available about the Original Known World (OKW) through the diligence of James Mishler and the generosity of Lawrence Schick (see the links here), I have a serious case of Gamer ADD. Admittedly, I’ve never been a big fan of Mystara and I certainly have never run or been a player in the Known World; however, I really like the idea of starting with the raw material of the Known World prior to publication and running with it.

The problem with it is its size. The OKW is HUGE. In order to really do a thought experiment about the OKW any justice, I will need to choose one of the cultural analogs and focus on that. Of those listed by Schick, three really interest me: Thyatis (Ancient Greece/Rome), Corunglain (Byzantine) and Cezavy/Sclavak (Kievan Rus).

One of the main reasons for this is that of all the various deities that end up on Moldvay’s and Schick’s grand table of gods, nothing corresponds to either Byzantium or the Kievan Rus. This, of course, is due to the fact that both were explicitly Christian civilizations. What interests me about Thyatis is that the existence of a Byzantine culture suggests that Thyatis is the same culture.

The word “Byzantine” was coined in the 16th century by a Frenchman long after what we call the Byzantine Empire collapsed. In reality, the Empire that had Constantinople as its capital called itself the Roman Empire. In other words, it is incorrect to say that the Roman Empire fell in the fifth century A.D. Rome fell, but the Empire persisted in the East for another thousand years. Thus, if we were to use this historical pattern as a reference, what was the Thyatis Empire still exists in a diminished form in Corunglain. This suggests that the Thyatis Empire had adopted Christianity or a fantasy analog prior to its collapse.

The “Byzantines” were also responsible for the Christianization of the Rus and were responsible for providing bishops throughout the Kievan Rus period. When Constantinople fell, the Russians adopted the concept of the “Third Rome.” In the same way that the Roman Empire continued to exist sans Rome in Constantinople, the Russians sought to be the center and protector of (Orthodox) Christian civilization after Constantinople became Istanbul. Thus, Cezavy has taken up the mantle of “Empire” in an effort to aspire to be the next Thyatis.

Of the three, I am least inclined to expand upon Thyatis, simply because it played such a large part in what became Mystara. Corunglain certainly has the most intriguing geography. It is the closest of the three to the Tharks and has immediate neighbors in Akoros (Mughal India) and Karameikos. Cezavy, though, has a couple of things going for it that really interest me.

Firstly, it exists only in the OKW and not in Mystara (to my knowledge). Therefore, I don’t have any canon I need to worry about stepping all over. Secondly, the Kievan Rus period is really interesting. It is familiar enough for players to immerse themselves into the setting, but also alien enough to make things interesting. The one factor, however, that really attracts me to Cezavy is its proximity to the “marginally human” Quastogs. Schick explains that they have a difficult time reproducing and go far wand wide to raid other cultures abducting people. This is great fodder for background noise and adventures. It also gives me an excuse to put a new spin on the half-orc.

Therefore, my currently non-playing gamer mind will be keeping itself busy with bringing an OKW Cezavy campaign setting to life. I hope you enjoy.

Saintly Saturday: St. Paul the Confessor

Today is the Feast of St. Paul the Confessor. The title Confessor refers to those Christians who were jailed and/or tortured for the faith but were not martyred. St. Paul live during the second phase of iconoclasm during the eighth and ninth centuries. He was bishop of the city Prusa in Bithynia. He was harassed, persecuted and exiled for his zealous defense of the icons. He died in A.D. 850.

In recent weeks, there have been several saints from Bithynia popping up here on Saturdays. This only adds another layer of detail to the slowly developing Sea of Mamara campaign setting. It seems that the rebel monks are fighting against heretical rulers. One now only needs to decide whether those rulers are in Nicomedia or Byzantium...

Having a despot who champions heresy, imprisoning bishops while rebel monks try to protect both the faith and the people or conversely, a group of heretical rebel monks wrecking havoc are both great backgrounds upon which to build a campaign. The question must be asked, however: what does heresy look like?

As St. Paul demonstrates, heresy can be as esoteric as whether or not icons should be used during worship. I suppose one could find a copy of the Panarion by St. Epiphanius which details eighty different heresies, but that is more of a scholarly exercise than I am willing to undertake at the moment.

Rather, I am going to try to boil down all of the various historical heresies into a few broad categories. I will then assign to each a general behavior pattern that follows from the internal logic of the heresy as well as the type of NPC most likely to adhere to those beliefs.

Man Saves Himself

These heresies remove God from the salvific equation in some way fashion or form. While atheism falls under this category, God doesn’t need to be completely ignored. Any heresy that minimized the divinity of Christ falls under this generalization.

The ultimate logical outcome of these heresies is Might Makes Right. Generally speaking, what is good and ethical derives from humanity, not from God. Thus, what is good and ethical is determined by those who are willing to use force to coerce everyone else into agreeing with them.

Those in power or those seeking power are the most likely to adhere to these kinds of heresies.

Dualism

These heresies attribute equal power to an evil entity or god that opposes the true god. Most commonly, this is found in the various gnostic heresies. Generally, the evil god is responsible for the creation of matter while the good god is responsible for the soul.

Thus, the material world is irredeemable. This leads to extreme forms of asceticism, where the fleshly body is seen as a foreign entity that needs to be conquered. Destruction of material things deemed too tempting or distracting would be understood as normal and beneficial.

Monastics, as well as intellectual and social elites are the most likely candidates for this kind of heresy.

Monarchianism

This is a fancy way of saying that god is one and only one. This includes those heresies that opposed to the Orthodox belief that God is not only one, but trinity. It also includes all of the various heresies which over-emphasize the divinity of Christ.

Chauvinism and fatalism are the two most common practical outcomes of these heresies. If god is one and he looks and talks like me, then he must not look and talk like them. If salvation is completely in the hands of god, then my fate has already been decided. Thus, violent acts towards outsiders are completely justifiable, as are suicide attacks.

The most likely adherents of these kinds of heresies are suppressed minorities, people with very strong ethnic or national identities or just those who are afraid of people different from them.

Thus, in the example above of the Sea of Mamara campaign, the heretical rulers are most likely adherents of Man Saves Himself although one could justify the rulers of Nicomedia believing in Monarchiamism...

Tharks!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but some really interesting info has recently been unearthed about the Known World which was originally published in Cook’s Expert Edition and which eventually became known as Mystara. Lawrence Schick (author of White Plume Mountain), who helped Moldvay create the Known World, has been kind enough to share with us a bunch of info about what the Known World looked like prior to publication. You can find the awesomeness here (with a big shout out to James Mishler):

• http://www.blackgate.com/2015/02/07/the-known-world-dd-setting-a-secret-history/
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/02/mystara-original-known-world.html
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/02/mystara-lawrence-schick-answers-qs-on.html
• http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com/2015/03/mystara-another-round-of-qs-answered-by.html

One of the most fascinating things about this whole exercise is the inclusion of various non-human/demi-human races from literature not penned by J.R.R. Tolkien — Tharks and Kzinti, for example. The latter were meant to be a PC race and ended up in D&D as Rakasta and Tabaxi. The tharks, on the other hand, were just too strange and were always going to be a monster-type that attacked everybody. Well, as those who are familiar with my playing style, I like weird. Therefore, I am really interested in working on a campaign to take place within the Original Known World and for that I want to give players an opportunity to play a thark.

To that end, I need to start with Champions (of which I played 1st-3rd editions). I am a big fan of Champions because of the way it approaches the special effects of super-heroes. Rather than try to come up with rules to cover every type of ranged attack found in comic books, they reduced everything to mechanics. It was then the player’s job to describe these mechanics with special effects. For example, a 10d6 ranged attack could be ice, fire, laser, an elongated fist punch, chunks of rock, etc. If one takes the same approach with the demi-human classes found in the ACKS Players Companion, all kinds of goodness can be found there.

For example, here is how a basic dwarf is expressed mechanically in ACKS:

• They require a minimum Con of 9
• They cannot use TH swords or longbows
• They cannot use arcane magic
• They have a +1 to surprise rolls in a given situation (underground)
• They speak four bonus languages
• They can spot traps
• They have bonuses to saving throws (+3 vs. Breath and +4 to everything else)
• They are limited to a 13th level maximum

If one divorces these mechanics from the "special effect" of being a dwarf, it is possible to apply all of these mechanics to other non-human and demi-human races, thus allowing us to create PC classes for all kinds of races from whatever source material we want.

These mechanics, for example, could easily be used to describe tharks. The no TH swords and longbows could be explained as a cultural bias. Or, better yet, one could expand that limitation to all TH weapons, explaining that such a fighting style is inefficient with four arms. If you throw in the fact that wearing heavy armor also interferes with their fighting style, there are two available slots for bonuses to represent having four arms:

• They can wear two shields, giving a total of +2 to AC.
• They can use the two-weapon fighting style (which normally gives a +1 to hit) while wearing shields. This fighting style also gives them a +1 to damage.
• For flavor, tharks could get a -1 reaction roll with all other races, but a +1 with other tharks.

Otherwise, they fight and save as fighters and can use any weapon that doesn’t require a TH fighting style.

Requirements: CON 9
Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: 1d8
Damage Die: 1d8
Maximum Level: 13 

XP       Level
2500         2
5000         3
10000       4
20000       5
40000       6
800000     7
160000     8
270000     9
400000   10
530000   11
660000   12
790000   13

So, you want to play a thark in the Original Known World of B/X? There you go, compliments of the guys over at Autarch via the ACKS Players Companion.