Last Minute Revisions

So it’s all done, you’ve fixed the immediate problems with your adventures, your tweaked a few things, added some extra details and completed that player handout you promised yourself you would be doing. Finally your adventure is done.

Really, it is.

You’ve done all you can for the adventure.

Seriously, you’re done.

Then why do you have a nagging feeling something is missing, that you missed a flagrant flaw, that the adventure is missing some added combat capability, that a new monster you just read/thought about would suit your adventure, or that you could fit that cool NPC you just made up watching TV?

That feeling is the revisionist in you trying to get out. It’s not a bad one to have, but one you must keep in check. The problem with over-revising is that you may invalidate your play-test! Yes. The last-minute addition you are thinking about may completely change your adventure, its flow, its own "thing". So you have to be careful.

So the question becomes… What do I revise?

Tricky.

The Encounter Flow

What you want to avoid is anything that could significantly alter the adventure or one of the existing encounters. Sometimes the alteration is in-game while other times it is a meta-gaming. As an author, you must seek to keep that flow.

Example One changing an encounter from a bear to a small dragon significantly alters the encounters and leads to a number of collateral damage. Dragons, even small ones, have hoards and thus players want to get their hands on them. Dragons often have servants. But the most important thing is… small dragons usually have a mother. So an encounter where the PCs walk through the forest, fight a bear and keep going turns into a risky and scary affair where they look over their shoulder all the time for Mama-dragon to show up or where they begin searching for a treasure hoard instead of being on their way through the forest... That does alter the flow and the adventure itself.

Example Two we replace the bear with an owlbear. Similar monster and its base purpose (a goon) is unchanged. No one thinks much of an owlbear in a forest. They don’t really have major treasure (except maybe in their stomachs). So we can change the bear to an owlbear without serious alteration.

Sometimes you may alter the flow so that the simplification completely alters the encounter. Reverse example 1. You have a small dragon, making the crossing of the forest fraught with peril and worry about the mother showing up. Instead, with the bear’s appearance the forest trek because rather mundane and not so worrisome. That can also alter the flow.

The story flow

This one is harder to spot and remedy. Here, through the addition or modification of a non-combat encounter – usually a non-combat encounter – the story changes significantly. Many of those are linked to in or out of character knowledge about an NPC or NPC groups.

Example One in the original document, the PCs met with a generic merchant who told them about the king’s evil plot. But you decide that this information should come from the local crime lord whose minions the PCs have been fighting for the last while. His inclusion into the adventure may lead to all kinds of unique tie-ins. Why is he suddenly helping us? Is the information reliable? Should we trust him?

Example Two instead of some existing NPC, replacing the generic merchant with someone you thought of and plan on using later on. Many players will catch on that "NPC joe" has a name and is not portrayed like everyone else. While the players may notice the man, they may simply note him down and continue. This does not alter the flow too much.

What to do?

Well, if your revision caused something you believe might alter the adventure in a significant way, the best thing is to run another play-test. I cannot emphasize this enough.

But if you do not have the luxury of doing that – and let’s face it running two play-tests of an adventure is a luxury, then you must sit back and play the adventure through your head, using the "QA Method". Be VERY thorough and exhaustive when doing that. If you can find a potential flaw, the best thing is to remove your fix. If you think fixing something will make it worse, then it’s not worth doing.

Why drop it? Your text is written taking into account what you had originally, not what you changed and creeps and other mistakes may appear because of the change. Many adventures in LG were branded as poorly edited or written when they were the result of last-minute edits or revisions.

JP

Play-testing: What to evaluate?

During my latest trip to Montreal - in the grips of Hockey fever - I play-tested this setting I’ve been posting about for the last few months. I was very excited about finally bringing my creation to the game table. There was a lot to prepare: writing up the pre-gens, sending a short background to each character, giving some details about the gods to the players, finish the adventure, pack everything up and then set up the game itself. All the players were on time and ready to go.

In short, things went well or as good as could be. The PCs "got" what I was trying to do, and did the kinds of things I wanted them to do. Their evolution through the adventure was as expected.

I could simply pat myself on the back and say how awesome I really am. But that would not be who I am. No, I have to dig to find some dirt, something to improve. So by trying to find out what was wrong, let’s see what went right with the adventure.

The timing is good since I was aiming for an adventure that would run around four hours. Including a lunch break, giving a description the world and its particularities, and the chit chat of a bunch of gamers who hadn’t seen each other in months, the whole thing took about five hours. By focusing on the game, the timing is fine.

The plot hook works finding a plot hook that works, that is original and that is engaging for players with different motivations. That is one thing I reproach to the Pathfinder Society, its plot hooks are terrible! I’ll let you in on a secret: they’re all the same. You have to do that because I tell you to.

The players’ flow make sense this is always one of those points that I personally find to be the most important. The "flow" is the player’s thought process and discovery of the adventure. Do they go from conclusion to conclusion based on the clues / discoveries logically? Do they have to reach very far to come to a discover something that’s in the adventure.

For example, that the PCs deduce that their employer is evil when they see a letter with his name on it is a natural deduction. That they come to the same conclusion because a painting on the wall shows him being dressed in black and sporting a goatee is not.

The fights are interesting This one is particular. LFR (the wrong-standard) defines an interesting fight by having something cool and unique in the encounter, over story reason. While that is a part of it, coolness and uniqueness are not the only factor in creating fun fights. Why are the villains there? Why do they fight the PCs? Is there a good reason for them to be there? Would other monsters be more likely? Should they be toughened up? Wussified? Diversified? Those questions all go through my head as I try to review a combat encounter. Do the players have fun with the encounter?

JP

Playtest Jitters

Saturday the 24th, I ran a trial, “alpha” version, of the adventure and setting I have been blogging about for the last few months. The game was an opportunity to sit down and play with my buddies in Montreal: Steve, Alex, Yves, Dan, and ET. Such a “reveal”, I always found nerve wracking as so many things can (and usually do) go wrong. Such things like impossibilities in the system, aspects or perspectives that were missed or overlooked in previous phases of development.

Again, many things can go wrong.

For one reason, play-testing always bring image of my good friend David (Bibi)’s vampire game for Helios 2000 where the adventure came to a screeching before we (the players) followed a path that was sensible but that he did not expect. Btw, this says nothing about the adventure, it was very good, but we put ourselves into a corner.

As I said, nerve-wracking.

So I was thinking. What are the best ways to avoid such pitfalls? This article aims to work on “convention” or “tournament”-style play, those games where the DM is not necessarily the author. A regular DM often gets the option to “explain things later” (and I do that a lot myself).

Use the QA approach

I am a computer engineer by trade. And thus, I often approach problems (and solutions) in gaming in software development terms. As a developer (author), I try to come up with code that work the way I want and I strive to make things work according to my vision. The QA guy’s role is to find ways to break my code. So he throws all kinds of weird things at it. As an author, the QA guy’s role is to try and solve problems by sending unique or strange case at it. “What if the PCs have a protection from evil spell up?” or “What if the party has a character with a ridiculous score in [Perception/Sense Motive/Diplomacy]?” See how the adventure reacts to it. Be realistic in your evaluation here.

Of course you cannot catch every single possibility, but try to catch most of it. The goal is to figure out how to break the story. Again, I say story because the artifices you can use are many to reach your goal.

Here is one example. The PCs are invited to a feast as guests of honor where a noble NPC will be poisoned by the villain. Sounds familiar? Yes. It’s a simple premise.

What if, one of the PCs, ignoring the laws of etiquette stands up and casts a detect poison spell? What happens to the adventure then? Here, using a simple spell, your premise may be broken. When thinking in D&D terms, I try to think of low-level spells and powers as those the PCs are most likely to throw around without any reason. Perhaps the villain uses a poison that is in two parts. Say something that reacts to wine?

At some point, however, the game must be allowed to go on. The rules for etiquette must apply and a certain measure of common sense and consequences must be applied. PCs that constantly break the rules of etiquette should be thrown out of the hall. They may also become suspect, “how did they know the food was poisoned?”

No substitute for experience

I said it a million times, nothing beat playing the game. Someone I strongly dislike comes to mind (Greg-I) immediately comes to mind as a good example (don’t worry the dislike is shared). The guy knows what every DM & author should and should not do. I played one game under him and it was as tedious as most of the lectures I had to endure while in college. He would read two lines, then whine about bad adventure design, then explain what is wrong and why he wouldn’t have done thing one way. Reading the adventure after playing it under him, I found that it really wasn’t half as bad as he said and in fact, enjoyed running it.

He knows everything. But he doesn’t DM for a million bogus reasons (truth is: he may find out he’s not as right as he thinks he is).

Be flexible in the design

Many adventures are made so inflexible that it’s like watching a movie. The players have no real say or impact on what is happening. You keep thinking “you know, I would do something different.” Slasher movies… WHY oh WHY does the hot girl run up the stairs instead of running for the back door? Dramatic effect, yes, but in an RPG, many will go to the door OR through a window if need be.

Now, certain types of adventure (such as dungeon crawls) are by nature linear, but putting some thought into the design and rooms is a big one. I generally prefer to write “point A” and “point B” and assume the DM/party will make their way through.

Come up with options/alternatives

Your ideas and writing are not sacrosanct and a holy gift from God (you) to the world! No. They are not. Really. Most of what I write end up in a “see you later” bin. Play-tests are an opportunity to expand and flesh out what is happening, with the benefit of having 4-6 heads and ideas flowing through into your adventure. Use the input they give you to make your writing better (and without necessarily telling them…).

Again the goal is to have a product that is very fun, interesting and that almost any DM can take and use in their game world. The more alternatives you have, the better the result.

Finally

I’ll detail how the play-test went next time.

JP

Farewell Brian

Today I learned of the passing away of my good friend Brian Glose.

I remember the first time I met Brian. It was during Weekend in Dyvers ’05 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I had a car full of stuff and was moving to Colorado. Brian’s smile and friendly attitude really made me feel welcome in this new place. Ever before settle in to my appt, I knew I had a friend in the area.

Over the years he and I worked closely together, particularly during the days of Living Greyhawk when Brian would organize the “Big Two”: Weekend in the County in April-May and Brookfest in December. His tireless work allowed me to focus on other things and make the campaign what it was.

With the coming of LFR, we drifted somewhat apart (the fact that I live in Colorado Springs and he in Denver helped) but kept in contact on an irregular basis, thanks to modern technology. We’d talk through Yahoo messenger, through Facebook and even griped about a few things when we’d cross paths at one of the larger cons.

Today, I can truly say that the world is a sadder place than yesterday.

Thank you for being my friend. See you on the other side.

Farewell Brian.

ONE DOWN!

There! I’ve done it! After procrastinating for quite a bit, doing other things, painting models, playing D&D Online, watching whole seasons of the Real Housewhores of […], I finally have written the first adventure in this world I’ve been blogging about! It feels real good. With an adventure behind my belt, the project begins to feel more concrete to me. I mean just talking and talking is fine… but getting something you can look and read is real.

Real is good.

Now that the first round of writing is over, begins the second phase, the editing and tweaking. Sure writing an adventure is fun and joy, but the second phase, which is often more tedious and annoying begins. Although it’s not as enjoyable, the editing phase is when an adventure really becomes alive. I’m not talking about self-edits or style changes. I mean when ideas are merged, reformed and tweaked. That is when good adventures are made GREAT.

Those who worked as authors for me know my near-tyrannical tendencies during that phase. I am merciless (and I expect my editors to be as merciless with me as I am with them). The proof of this is, I believe, in the pudding. Great adventures were born of the synergy of both the mind of the author and the direction of the editor.

So that’s the news right now. And with one adventure… this means the next one is just around the corner! So now I must start on a sequel. Something to make into a memorable campaign…

What is the adventure about you ask? Well that’s pretty simple… It’s a dungeon crawl with some RP elements to introduce the particularities. What!? You expected a deep and intertwined storyline from the get-go? That would be foolish of me. Don’t worry I must set a few strands before starting to work on a full-on web! Baby steps. Remember. Baby steps…

Late Ptolemaic List for WAB

WAB is Warhammer Ancient Battles, a set of wargaming rules that is close to my own heart. It uses the same mechanics as the popular Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but strips out all of the magic and monsters, leaving only human soldiers and cavalry. I have found that it represents battles of the period well enough and that it is fast-paced.

A little History

The Ptolemaic Dynasty was the last dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs. After Alexander the Great liberated Egypt from Persian control, Egypt became part of the Macedonian Empire. With Alexander’s death, one of his top generals (Ptolemy) took control of Egypt and became embroiled in the many wars of successions that followed the breaking up of the Macedonian Empire. Ptolemy and his successor (also named Ptolemy) were foreign rulers in a conquered land. During its three century existence (323-30BC), the dynasty’s fortunes waxed and waned.

When Cleopatra was crowned in 51BC, Egypt extended south to Nubia (mod Northern Sudan), west into the Libyan desert (the exact location of the frontier is about where it is today), into the Sinai Peninsula and a few sea-side colonies. The Ptolemaic empire had diminished significantly since its heydays, but it was still a powerful state. It was a state where the leaders were Greek and the population was Egyptian, Libyan, Nubian and Jewish. The Greeks distrusted the local populace and kept separate from them.

The armies of Egypt were drawn from this group of Greek descendants and mercenary units the state was able to pay. Thus we have reports that the Egyptian army included: Gallatians, Gauls, Germans, Syrians, Nubians, Libyans and Cilicians.

Writing the list

I first came up with the idea of building an army centered the conflicts of Cleopatra VI's reign. She ruled over a period of history I really like and for which I own numerous armies for (Romans, Gauls, Illyrian/Thracians, Parthians). I had a few packs of Macedonian / Successor infantry and some Nubian archers. I began thinking about a way to use those minis. Then the idea dawned on me. So I decided to see what an army of Ptolemaic would look like.

I went to look for WAB resources: no army published. I looked through some on-line site, WRG's (Wargames Research Group) and DBM (De Bellis Multitudinis) books to see what those games had as far as resources. There were some useful tidbits. From those sources I was able to gather that the Egyptian Army was centered on a core of phalanxes and “imitation legionnaires”. Phalanxes were pike-armed units that fought in dense formation using 18-20 feet long pikes. Imitation legionnaires were a different best. Most sources agreed that they were most likely equipped as Roman legionnaires: pilum or throwing spear, sword and an oblong shield with a Roman-style helm, they were a number of divergences on their quality, training and distribution of chainmail or padded amongst the troops.

I contacted Jeff Jonas, the author of Alexander the Great for WAB and web master for AncientBattles.com. He pointed me to an army list he published for his yet-unreleased Successor supplement (which has been on my must-buy list since AtG came out). As luck would have it, he was willing to share! I sat down and devoured the list. Immediately I saw a few tweaks to make to it. But I had a basic framework to work up from. So I did research aimed at learning about those mercenary troops in Egyptian service. How should they be classified in the game? Here, a little intuition and game experience can go a long way.

The list

So finally, I completed the army list and posted it to my website WAB page I completed the exercise by building a few sample armies to try out the rules. I like the mixture of pike and other units. If you have comments or thoughts, do not hesitate to contact me!

JP

World Building: Building Methods

Last I touched this topic I was over religions and nations, all from a high-level perspective and not being too attached to anything. With me actually working on something more concrete, now is time to begin tying knots and setting some bases in stone. While I am far from being done, first I must decide a few things.

You must decide ahead of time how you want to define your world. No matter which method you choose to use, review is a major factor in the creation. Write it out first, then edit. Don’t do the other way around.

Home group

After setting the basics of the world and the locations of the first few adventures, run the game. Seriously. Just run it. Take notes about what happens in the adventure and build or expand as needed. The home group approach evolves the world with the PCs as they grow in power. The biggest advantage of this is that you do not need to create too much ahead of time.

All that you really need are some of those high-level questions that directly relate to players making their characters. What are the common languages in this country? Who is the ruler? What is it like overall? Are there elves/gnomes/dwarves? For that, the Ten Questions are a great starting framework (see my other post about this).

The "Home Group" approach is a great way get into the setting and to try it out as soon as possible. Instead of thinking of some great over-arching world-spanning plot, you can let it evolve from play.

The problem of this method is that it is that as you work for your group, you might forget some important aspects precisely because of the play focus.

Thought-out

This one differs from the Home Group approach because you write as much as you can about the world, giving it flavor through writing, instead of play. There is more design work to do before playing. The world here is designed around itself instead of a group’s preference and style. Not to say that players will not bring valuable input later, but what you will present to them is a product that will be more elaborate.

Okay, okay I can hear some of you (and you know who you are) scream at me. "When I put together a campaign, I do not do it haphazardly!" You are right. The difference is that here, you try to cover more before taking it to the table.

The main problem with this approach is that it can make a setting become stale and hard to change. Say that you really liked an NPC you created but your players keep hammering home that he makes no sense (is stupid or someone cracks a joke at him that sticks). It’s hard to go back and change some of the core things you have already thought of but you have to.

The Mixed Method

If you follow this blog, you know that I can never be too attached to one method or another. I always mix it up. The two methods above are good, but it is unrealistic to only build from what your PCs give you or to write everything then play. The (obvious) solution is to mix and match.

Where you plan on starting your PCs and the focus of the game should be a lot more elastic than region where you do not think they will be going (at least in the short term). So if the PCs start in one region/province/country. Define it, by giving it basic shape and information, but be ready to tweak a lot more and evolve from the "Home Group" approach. The province next door, unless it plays an important role in your main region, can easily evolve from the Thought-out method.

Do not kid yourself, unless you have absolutely no life, family or job and your friends/players are the same, you will NOT be able to play-test everything. You won’t. Unless your world is VERY small. Very, very small.

JP

Back in the Saddle

Well, last time I said I was not doing much... well the slump is over! Huzzah! As of this past weekend, I am very happy to say that I am writing again! My world building is growing by the day. I have written down a series of things and I now have a decent foundation to begin writing to. I started on a short intro adventure to present some of the intricacies of my new creation. An intro, I hope to begin play-testing within the next few months with select groups.

Last week, as I was busy trying to prepare for Microcon (it’s a one-day 2 hour slots games), ideas kept coming in my head for other things. Which proves my theory: when you need to get something done, get really busy. It seems that whenever I have time to relax and really sit and write, I get nothing done. But when I have a super-tight work deadline, plus a million things to do at home, and adventures to write... I get so much of my writing done (and the rest).

When I took over Tusmit and the County of Urnst in LG, both those regions had vibrant history and a baggage of stories and unique NPCs. When starting from scratch, there is no such history and everything has to be built from scratch. The storyline cannot be formed out of things that were already detailed and fleshed out. Now I’m the one doing all the fleshing out! However, in keeping with my personal philosophy, only that which may come up during a game is detailed. The rest is done using broad strokes.

Any storyline has to start from the bottom and work its way up, from the low level to the high level. One of the principles that I kept from my LG days is that the high level of society do not appear to low-level mooks (like starting PCs). They show up when the PCs have gathered some influence among the powerful of a nation. In spite of its many flaws, the Heroic/Paragon/Epic system that 4e has created actually fits my vision of this (except where in 4e its 1-10/11-20/21-30, in PFS/3.5 it is roughly 1-6/7-12/13-20). As long as the PCs do not reach this "paragon" level, they should not be involved in the highest spheres of power. They work for underlings and other minions. Gradually, they get contacted by bigger and more important NPCs.

I will post an update later!

JP

LFR: All Good Things...

I am writing this entry to answer everyone at once. Ever since my announced departure from my position as a Writing Director, I received a number of email regarding my departure "Why are you leaving?" or "Who pissed you off this time?" being the two most common questions. So I decided to post it up here for everyone at once.

I have a strange personal habit. There are two albums I absolutely adore, yet every time I feel drawn to those two albums, I know something in my life is bothering and it is time for a change. The first one is Genesis’ Wind and Wuthering and the second is Marillion’s Clutching at Straws. Not that there is any specific lyric that draws my ear. It’s more of a mood thing. It’s one of those ethereal things that you just cannot explain. It just is. Though I used to consciously listen to them (particularly when I traveled in the metro or bus), I found myself looking at my Winamp playlist. And yes... There they were. The entire Wind and Wuthering and most of Clutching at Straws was there (minus one song).

BAM!

I had a sudden realization. Something had to be done. Something unconsciously was trying to tell me something. It was neither long nor difficult to find out what had to change. It was a decision I had been contemplating for some time.

It has been six years since I met with Daniel Mayrand in that small, freezing empty bar in Montreal and I had my start in the RPGA, and I got back into Dungeons and Dragons after a ten year hiatus. Six year later, everything has changed. It is one and a half edition later. The campaign that got me in is dead and gone. The faces have changed. My life has changed a lot (moved 3 times in that time, including a move to Colorado, three kids). The game remains.

During the Holiday season, I was sitting in my parent’s kitchen in Phoenix (AZ) looking at the tasks I had set before me: complete an adventure, make sure my storylines held the road, play with my three kids, play golf with my father and other writing projects. I found myself lacking the motivation to do either of the first two. I had no desire to write, edit or design a storyline anymore. At least, not with the tools I had before me.

That’s when I knew.

I knew it was time to move on. I thought I’d be annoyed, worried, angry or even sad. But far from it all, instead I found myself at peace with myself and my decision. I have been thinking about it for a while now but every time, I felt some pang of attachment pulling me back. But this time, I was so Zen about the decision that my lovely wife (Julie) even commented that I looked "oddly relieved".

So I came back to Colorado Springs with the firm intention of sending that email as soon as I got back. But life got in the way and I had to attend other things. I posted some of my thoughts on Facebook about my decision. My good friend Troy recommended that I give it an honest try. So I went to one of Lenny’s game days at Gamers’ Haven (my FLGS) and played what turned out to be the best LFR game I ever played (thank you Tena & table). That delayed the sending of my email a few days. But when I had to go back and put my nose to the grindstone, I found I could not, not with the enthusiasm and energy it deserved.

I told Lenny and Mike of my decision, two guys for whom I have the greatest respect. Their dedication and their enthusiasm for the campaign have pulled me through a lot for a long time. Two things I could no longer match or find support in. So I composed my email to Chris Tulach and Dru Moore and that was it. A few days later, everything was done. Email sent. Decision done.

Signed. Sealed. Delivered.

There it is. The inner and outer journey that led me to this decision. I see many interesting challenges ahead and have a calendar full of things I want to do and write. Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, miniature gaming and this little project of world-building I’ve been blogging about, I'm also open to writing for LFR/4e if anyone needs a reliable author. In fact as I write this, I am finishing work on BALD2-2 Broken Pride, an adventure I'm doing for my friend Otavio in Brasil, based on his original idea. Should be a nice departure from the usual crawl. I want to organize some special events locally.

That's it really. As a free man, I wish everyone in LFR the best of luck and to continue all their hard work for the campaign to make it better all the time. I leave with my head high, with a feeling of having accomplished as much as I could within the RPGA, but now its time for others to carry the torch. As is written in the Montreal Canadien's locker room (that's the Hockey Team) Nos bras meurtris vous tendent le flambeau (Our tired arms pass on the torch).

Most of Clutching at Straws and Wind and Wuthering is off my playlist now. Odd. As I write this, Marillion’s Made Again came on. I’ll leave you with the words from that great song. Fitting.

I have been here many times before

In a life I used to live

But I have never seen these streets so fresh

Washed with morning rain

Like the whole world has been made again

So, I’ll see everyone around the gaming table, where everything happens. The rest is just talk.

JP

The Slump...

It seems the holiday slump has me firmly in its grip! I have done very little actual (rpg/mini) work these past few weeks. The good news, however, is that I get to play a lot more! And playing more is the core of everything. In addition to my regular game nights (Wednesday night CoC and Friday night WHFRP), I’m getting a lot of Pathfinder playing time.

With the Pathfinder Society really getting up to speed in the Front Range (that’s the Denver/Colorado Springs area). Dave-D, the man solely responsible for getting this proverbial ball rolling really hooked us up. The monthly game night at Enchanted Grounds in southern Denver now runs with two overflowing tables, I expect we will go to 3 tables before long.

This past Saturday (Jan 9th), I ran the first of what I hope will become a regular game day at Gamer’s Haven. We ran two adventures (unfortunately for me, I was recalled home at the start of the second adventure). I am very encouraged by this and look forward to running some more. Dustin is working with the people at Castles’ Games and Gifts to run some more (at least it’s not at Heroes & Dragons). That makes for many play opportunities.

I am still working on my Cthulhu Invictus campaign, called “The Past Rises” as I currently run it for a few brave martyrs. I do take an approach that is a lot more fantastic than the usual CoC games I run, and that makes it fun. My players are losing a lot of sanity and that makes me happy. Disorders are starting to appear, NPCs begin to re-appear, and the horrors of the Mythos (and its servants) are doing a lot of bad things.

I am still working on my new World Building, but mostly fleshing out things based on what I already posted. It’s really odd. I find world building to be difficult and slow. Too slow for my own taste actually… But I need to keep my nose in the grindstone and work through this slump.

What about LFR? There is nothing to say about it that hasn’t been said already. I haven’t done anything and need to get my butt in gears to finish the latest adventure I’m working on. But motivation is not there, so it is even more difficult to get things done.

I know, I know, I said in my intro that I haven’t been writing anything. I meant to say that I haven’t written anything I liked. I did a lot of poking and tweaking of text, but nothing tangible I could show the world. And that, to me, is akin to doing nothing.

JP

The Holidays are over: I did nothing

Before the holidays, I had lofty goals of writing a mod. Going over a number of complete and half-complete manuscripts, I had some world-building things I wanted to do, and a number of articles to write.

But I did nothing.

Zip.

I took those 2 weeks and did other things with them: I played golf with my dad (and my wife). I took a trip to Phoenix, AZ to see my parents. Then lounged around, painted some minis, made some terrain (more of that in a coming article).

But nothing I was planing on doing.

JP

World Building: Pantheons and deities

I have always been of the opinion that pantheons are as tied to the world as the names of its nations and the uniqueness of a game setting. Each world should have a pantheon of its own giving it flair, flavor, and distinctiveness.

When one creates a cleric or a character with a divine-feel, the choice of the deity greatly influence what type of character will result. A cleric dedicated to the god of death as opposed to a god of healing and life usually play very differently. A holy warrior of the god of war or the god of commerce does not have the same outlook on things. Their choice of deity changes how the PC will approach certain situations.

Existing vs. New Pantheon

There is much to be said about reusing a pantheon when creating a new campaign world. First, it allows the creator to use something he and his players know. No need to spend a long time explaining the god represents what. "You reached the temple of Zeus in town." Most players would know that he is god of lightning and royalty. However, he brings with him a lot of baggage and myths you may not want in your world: his constant womanizing may not be something you wish to include in your campaign, or Hera’s jealousy and constant vengeance upon his loves.

Creating a new pantheon is exciting. It is an opportunity to create a unique cosmology for your world. How was the world created? Did the god of the sea and the god of fire wrestle? Did the sky god and the earth goddess fall in love? However you wish to spin it, the gods and the cosmology of the world are tightly woven together.

What are the relations between the gods? How do they interact with each other? Why is there one who rules over them? Is there a head of the gods? Why?

Regional vs. Global Pantheon

I like having a common, core pantheon of a few greater deities who are worshipped pretty much everywhere. Those deities should be few in number: six to twelve are a good number. Other deities would be local and add flavor.

Changing the pantheon when one travels throughout the world is just complex. It forces so much work on the DM/creator and generally confuses the players. Isn’t Abagug the god of fire? Regional pantheons should add a few gods to the overall, and not make the world much more complex. Locally certain deities might appear major, but when one leaves their centers of worship, they are quickly forgotten.

How many Gods are too many?

If there is more than twenty major gods, there are too many for a unique world. Most of the others simply become redundant or lacking in flavor. Local and minor gods can be added in infinite numbers, being limited in influence.

Yes, the Greeks had hundreds of Gods, but of those only twelve were widely worshiped. The "big twelve" were: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Hermes, Apollo, and either: Demeter, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Hestia OR Alpheus, Cronus, Rhea and the Charites (the three Graces) (depending on the source). Of those big twelve, each city usually had a patron they worshipped over the others. Thus there were usually two or three main gods worshipped in a given town.

How many Gods are too few?

Obviously, this is a fantasy game and a monotheistic model is not the most interesting thing to have. Similarly limiting a players’ choice to ten or less deities is overly restrictive. I think twenty is a good medium. It allows for variety.

Unclear Pantheon: The "Arcanis" Model

I think Paradigm (creators of Arcanis) first came out with this concept I call the "unclear pantheon". In traditional D&D, a god is given a clear alignment and his church follows that alignement. Any off-the-path cult is usually manipulated or masquerading as worshippers of that god. The unclear pantheon is fuzzier. The gods or their church do not have alignment. A deity can have chaotic, evil, good, lawful or neutral followers. Cults regroup people of a similar mentality (evil people flock to evil cults, good to good, etc). This blurs the line between factions and alignment.

This model is best, I believe for a campaign where the line between good and evil are is not clearly defined and where the PCs must decide on the lesser of two evils.

Portfolio: stick to the important stuff

It is impossible to cover everything when creating a pantheon. The major gods should have defined portfolios that cover whatever is most important in the world. Common themes include the sun, water, family, fertility, fire and death. However in a primeval world, the seasons might be most important.

Don’t try to cover everything. Cover the important things first.

The Forgotten Realms Fiasco

Frankly, I include this one for completeness, but I doubt you will ever see a JP setting with this as a premise. I can often be said that "in Forgotten Realms, the gods play poker and they trade followers, portfolios and influence." That is, gods rise, fall, change folio, all within a ridiculously short time span.

To me, the gods are something that hold the world together and while they can either interact with the world a lot, a little or not at all, who they are and what they represent is mostly immutable. The sun god is the sun god! Not the sun god today, the torture god tomorrow and the god of thieves next week.

Add to that the ridiculous number of deities in Forgotten Realms and you have it. As the title reads: Forgotten Realms fiasco!

Classifying the gods

I think there should be three classifications of god:

Greater A greater god is a deity that is commonly worship throughout the world, or a large portion of it. Finding temples and shrine to this deity is common anywhere. Usually, the church of this deity is powerful and rich, having fortresses and militant orders. Most people can easily identify the symbol of this god. A good example is Pelor in Greyhawk: his followers can be found pretty much anywhere.

Regional A regional god is a deity whose worship is usually limited to a finite geographical area. Regional gods are well-known and their worship might rival that of a greater god in that area. However, beyond that, they are either unknown or with very limited means. An example of this would be Pholtus in Greyhawk: they are extremely powerful in the Pale, but have limited influence outside the theocracy.

Saint or Hero-god A saint or hero god is usually associated with a single location (lake, mountain) or city. The church of the god is limited outside that area. An example of this would be Marduk, the patron-god of the city of Babylon. His influence was initially limited to the city and the land it controlled.

Final Choice

Even after I wrote this, I am not certain of the avenue I wish to take. I like the core and regional pantheons approach, I like the unclear pantheon, I like to categorize the god with their sphere of influence...

This really has not helped. I am still exactly where I was before!

JP

It’s Christmas!

Now comes a time where most of us head out to see family and friends, it also means a time when gaming is meager as getting table together is hard, particularly if you have a non-gamer spouse or family (hey look! That’s me!) During this time, I always try to get a quick gaming fix, but that’s not always possible (especially this year). So what to do when you can’t play? Well, you WRITE of course! I find it is a great time to sit down and put all kind of ideas to the e-page! So I will be writing for Christmas!

Here’s a little Christmas carol for all of you…

Merry Christmas all

JP

World Building: Nations

Last night, I found myself thinking about a new campaign world, something that was both new and old with some interesting twists. A million unclear ideas came to mind, twists on existing nations from other worlds, from the real world, campaign plots and subplots, adventure locations and unique NPCs. I tried to make some sense out of it all and come up with a way I could quickly separate them from one another. Before getting into the hot and heavy of everything, I needed locations. I needed countries to set my world.

My next step was to come up with a way to break down into a few sentences what I would like to do. Since I did not plan to write a whole gazetteer from day one, I could only define those elements I needed and work from there. The point-of-light theory that WotC used to talk about in the early days of 4e is the path I wish to take when defining this world, build from small to large, adding adventure locations, villages and other towns. The big towns are just dots on the map until they are needed in an adventure.

For now, I am not worried about a pantheon, a cosmology or even a game system (although I do have one in mind). I am only worried about defining a few nations in my world.

The 10 Questions

Describe your country/region using as few words or sentences as you can.

1. Using a base human culture (ie: Vikings, 13th Century France, Ancient Egypt)
   
2. Using an earthly location (ie: Himalayas, South American jungle)
   
3. By its main villains (ie: undead lord, humanoids horde)
   
4. By its ruler(s)/government (ie: feudal monarchy, council of nobles, druidocracy)
   
5. By the major alignment of the government
   
6. By the major alignment of the population
   
7. By the major races to be found in your country
   
8. One strange/unique law
   
9. What to do in that country?
   
10. Give it a name.
    

Example 1: Amoran

1. Byzantine Empire (about 10-11th Century), the central authority is seen by most citizen as important, but a series of weak rulers has eroded its actual power. Provincial governors and an endless stream of viziers really control the bureaucratic government.
   
2. Aegean Sea (Archipelago of smaller island surrounded by bigger landmasses)
   
3. Humanoid hordes: the kingdom is threatened by roving bands of goblinoids. Though not united, the goblins are lead by 3- a tightly-knight group of shamans. Many oultying provinces have been lost to the goblins.
   
4. The government is a traditional feudal monarchy ruled by King Alexos III. The king is a sickly young man of about 20. Although his health is failing, he wants to restore his prestige and power. Real power is in the hands of the many Viziers, local prefects and ministers.
   
5. The king is N(G) but the many administrator make the government as a whole a CN state. Provincial government' alignment cover all of the neutral alignments (LN/NG/N/NE/CN).
   
6. As a whole, the population would be described as N.
   
7. Humans, half-orc and halflings mostly. Elf, half-elf and gnomes uncommon. Dwarves are rare (usually foreign mercenaries).
   
8. Permits have to be obtained for any excavation or exploration of any dungeon or crypt. Those permits grant the state a 40% share of any loot found AND first pick of any treasure found. Fines for "smuggling antiques" are very steep. However, the many ancient crypts and ruins are often filled with treasure which makes the permits a good idea for most adventurers.
   
9. The King is seeking to redress the country and regain the power the crown once held. The Viziers & governors wish to keep their power.
   
10. The Kingdom of Amoran
    

Example 2: Dwarven Lands of Enmel

1. Early Celtic Ireland: scattering of clans and tribes linked together through a complex system of alliances.
   
2. Switzerland: hilly valley separated from the world by tall mountains
   
3. Foreign Influence: a neighboring power is attempting to invade the valley. The foreign power tries to take over by any means they can.
   
4. One of the clan leaders is elected by the other kings as High King for 10 years. The High King is King Kernan, a lazy hedonist with no redeeming quality.
   
5. The government of the high king is clearly CN. Most clans lean towards N, NG or CG.
   
6. The people are of the same alignment as their local government: N, NG or CG
   
7. Dwarves and Gnomes are most common. Humans and Halfling are rarely seen. Elves, half-elves and half-orcs are rarely encountered
   
8. Family legacies are traced through the mother. Thus the eldest woman (or the one with the most children) holds the effective power in a clan. Her word is law to her children.
   
9. There are few ruins and crypts, but there are many ancient mines and tunnels. Many of which are controlled by derro and other creatures from the Underworld.
   
10. The Lands of Enmel
    

Example 3: Selimen of the South

1. Ancient Egypt: central government on mostly docile people
   
2. One could hardly think of an Egyptian-style country without the desert and a large, Nile-like river. As a twist, the country is composed of a land of many lakes of varying sizes, mixing to Minnesota and Venice together. Around those lakes would be a vast desert.
   
3. The main villains here would be dark creatures from the desert, the Aredjim. They would be a mix of genies and undead, a race of creatures that in the long-long ago ruled the land. They now wish to sink the country beneath the sands.
   
4. The God-King is Horemheb, an aging king who was a great warrior in his youth. Most of his sons have been killed fighting against the Aredjim or invaders. Only a few are left and there is much discussion as to which one he will chose to succeed him.
   
5. The government is strongly LN.
   
6. The people are LN, but LG, LE and N are also very common.
   
7. Humans composed the near totality of the population, most other races are rarely found here.
   
8. Every citizen must serve as a slave in one of the great building project every 10 years. This service is unpaid, but they are fed, clothed and sheltered. The only way to avoid this service is to join the army.
   
9. The desert is full of Aredjim ruins hidden in the sands.
   
10. Selimen
    

Diversifying: Writing Wargaming Articles

As most of you know by now, I have an intense love affair with history. The Roman Empire, 17th Century France, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Era, the 19th century and the early 20th, hold a dear place in my heart. I read many things about the subject as a point of personal interest. My love of history extends into my other hobbies: role-playing and miniature gaming. I own an extensive collection of miniatures for most of the eras above.

When Wargames Foundry (a UK-based company that produces some of the best miniatures around) posted on their mailing list that they were looking for new writers to write miniature gaming, modeling and historical articles, the temptation was too strong and I sent my name.

I was very happy when, a few days later an email from Foundry popped up in my inbox with instruction and guidelines. I devoured the whole thing, had a look at their website for ideas. I did not wait long for inspiration. Hitting a few choice websites, books and wargames magazines I owned, I tried to find something about the Great Illyrian Rebellion. Although there was some information, I could find nothing I could take with me to a gaming table. My choice was made. It would be about the Great Illyrian Rebellion of 6-9AD. The conflict pitted the elite of the Roman Empire against the wild mountain men of Dalmatia (pretty much Yugoslavia).

At this time, I asked some friends to review my work and give me their impression, the Colorado Spring Historical Group and Linda chief among them. Reviews are positive so far. I can’t wait to submit the final draft. I think the article is solid, but I want to be sure.

More details later.

JP