2021 Ends, 2022 Begins

Coming to a close with 2021, and doing some reflection on my adventure, this blog, and the state of things. Here is the one from last year, in case you're interested.

On the personal side, and as can be inferred from the low number of posts and ideas flowing, I've been BUSY and STRESSED. This year felt like a constant heart attack, jumping from crisis to crisis, navigating this never ending pandemic and its burdens. I barely have uninterrupted free time, more than half an hour through the day. And the less gaming, bizarre media absorption, and idle regurgitation, the less productive and exciting the blog gets.

A note of pride is that the Pywawa monster I put on the blog a while ago got published in the Knock! magazine issue #2. I'm a massive fan of the publication and the work being put out by the team, excellent OSR.

Gaming

Of course, my involvement in games slowed down dramatically, especially so in the second half of the year:

• We finished our 5e campaign of Tomb of Annihilation, where I was playing Oswald Lach the whispers Bard. It was a satisfactory ending to a bizarre campaign (the jungle trek vs the grand dungeon contrast). Great players and GM!
• Ran about 16 sessions of a Stonehell open table using OSE. My life circumstances halted the game. Some great players, but the voice-only nature of open online game means a lot of sifting through undecided and flaky players.
• With The Calaveras we completed a full run of Skerples' Magical Murder Mansion - here my thoughts on it. It was an absolute blast! We also played a few sessions of a heavily modified B2 (on hold), and completed The Waking of Willowby Hall (want to review it). All in all, we slowed down to play a couple of times per month.
• Joined an asynchronous play-by-post game run by vilecultofshapes as Sir Jaxon the Swine, a petty knight. We are playing Cairn, and the world is oozing with flavor and character, I love it! So far this form of gaming is quite different to the usual fare, but adjusts to my hectic life quite well.
• Also played about four "sessions" of solo Ironsworn. Still getting used to this type of play.

The Blog

It is no secret. Face-to-face gaming is still burdened by difficulties for obvious reasons. I've had some slight disenchantment with the whole online gaming experience, and the difficulties of finding a reliable group with my sensibilities. So here I am. 19 posts (20 if you allow this one), and a wish to ramp up the creative front in 2022. Some of my favorites of 2021:

• d10 Bulky Treasures
• Five Inspirations 1
• OSE Stonehell Rival Adventuring Parties 

The Future, 2022

First, about my gaming. I want to find some regularity to it, which would also mean that my life situation settles down. The success of this is unfortunately not solely down to me. An OSR open table with a weekly cadence would be my ideal. But for that have to strike the right avenue and audience. Castle Xyntillan is one option. Rolling my own hexcrawl another. Then I might veer The Calaveras to try indie games instead of an irregular OSR affair. We shall see.

Second, I would like to ramp up the state of the blog. Despite the myriad of material out there, and my fear of being an irrelevant and callous voice, I find the act of sitting down and dumping and present ideas therapeutic. My aim is to beat the 20 posts of 2021.

Third, I want to publish some material from past games into the blog, itch, drivethrurpg, or another similar platform. This will prove hard, since as a solo show you either have to wear a ton of hats (layout, art, information design, and of course writing), or pay for it. One project that excites me is a bestiary based on my sister's illustrations.

As we say around here, good slip to 22!

d10 Striking Headwear

1. Wooden bucket
Good for retaining liquids. Or pouring them.

2. Helmet with oversized-candle up-top
Good for illuminating the dark beyond, leaving your hands free. Need good balance, and a steady head.

3. Ramming rhino-horn
Good for charging at the unaware foe.

4. Porcelain Mask of the Lunar
Impossibly ornamental alien patterns translate into a flabbergasted reaction from anyone lying eyes on this piece of art.

5 Air-filtering Buffe
Rags around the mouth. Makes it hard to breath, which is exactly the point; dungeons are filled with excrement and maleficence. Plus, it keeps neck biters away.

6. Shielding Beret
Perl-dust coated beret. Keeps the head warm and the thoughts sharp. A famed enchantress put a spell on it. Said to shield the wearer from curses, illusions, and mind-altering effects.

7. Great Helm of the Silver Lioness Mercenary Company
Striking piece with intricate ornament, some motifs in silver. Every being in the continent has heard of the spoils of the Company. Inspires confidence in the ally, and fear and despair in the foe.

8. Turban of Sufrith the snake-charmer
When unrolled and laid on the ground, and pouring a droplet of one's blood, the turban animates. Encroached by a snake's spirit, it is anywhere from indifferent to helpful to the owner.

9. The Sun blockadder
Straw hat, impossibly wide. Wearing it is a balancing act. Blocks the sun, and restricts vision. Can double as a shield.

10. Dragonglass visor
Attached to a regular helmet. Precious and near indestructible material. Gives visions of nearby vital power to whoever looks through it as a lens.

Gamey Effects

#2: illuminates as torch. But running, attacking, or any other significant activity has a 4-in-6 chance of extinguishing the flame.

#3: get an extra attack (d6 damage) if charging against an enemy.

#4: +1 to reaction rolls.

#5: +1 to saves vs poison against anything breathable; +2 AC against vampires and their ilk.

#6: probably utterly useless. But it does keep the head warm.

#8: duration as the spell snake charm, summoning costs 1HP. Roll reaction when summoned. Probably a pit viper.

#10: after a round observing, learn the HD number of the target on display. 1-in-6 you also get the spell list of the target (if applicable).

Magical Murder Mansion Review

Disclaimer

- In the interest of full disclosure I bought this with my own funds. Paid 6.99US$ in October 2019 for the PDF version of this adventure.

- Nobody is paying for this review. All of the opinions you see are my own.
- Nobody is approving or reading this post before it goes up.
- I have no relationship with any of the authors of this product.

- Also, check my review standards for more context.

This thing contains spoilers (duh..), so if you're sensitive to them, stop reading!

 

Enter the Magical Murder Mansion

Let's take a closer look at Magical Murder Mansion, "A Challenging Funhouse Dungeon". Writing by Skerples, with fitting illustrations by Frenden, editing by Shane Liebling, and layout by David Shugars.

My take here serves as both a review of the module, and the broad impressions of running the adventure over the span of two different groups and 15 gaming sessions. With the first group we ran 3 sessions before the game fizzled out, using Knave. The second group (The Calaveras) however, managed to clear the mansion in a whopping 12 sessions, with lots of shenanigans and fun, using Macchiato Monsters. Despite their extreme caution and cleverness, yeah, MMM is rather unforgiving:

our body count: 3 PCs and 6 retainers

Product Details Quality

The PDF comes with bookmarks, and is easy to print and annotate, since it is completely black and white. This is a core strength of all of Skerples' products, and one I greatly appreciate. Font is big and easy to read, and there is plenty of space in the margins for my own notes and scribbling.

 

Art is a  mix of Frenden's pieces, mostly monsters, and selected public domain works. The cartoon-like quality of the former is fitting for such a tonally light adventure. My only minor criticism is I would have appreciated more of it! I get that art is expensive, but more dynamic pieces, like the one on page 12, would've been a nice addition.

 

About the map. It's utilitarian and annotated. Most room names are self-explanatory. From the inferred reading I learned (assumed?) that a square = 10 ft, but a scale on the provided maps would have been welcomed. We get map snippets of the relevant section accompanying the room descriptions. Nice!

Skerples encourages us to read from cover to cover, and take copious notes. And thus that's what I did. Layout is clear and functional, monsters and magic items get some italics, and cross-referenced room numbers are bolded. But, I feel descriptions could get wordy, I would've appreciated key elements been bolded or underlined, to draw attention when skimming at the actual game. Or more generous bullet point use. Is this lack a decision to hand-force the referee read the module beforehand, perhaps?

my mad method: traps in red, monsters in green marker, treasure underlined green, monster HD on margin, purple marker things to interact with

About the Adventure

This is a funhouse dungeon, citing inspiration in classics like Tomb of Horrors, Tegel, or White Plume Mountain. I've played the former, and ran the latter. However, MMM does have a distinct feature separating it from those touchstones. It tries to make sense and justify its bizarre attractions.

 

There is a two page introduction, covering important bases: what this is, who is it for, adventure hooks, and also important details like unorthodox ways to enter the dungeon (since it's a mansion, there are many!). I wish other adventures would take notes of a nice introduction like this one. One thing I'm missing is an overview of the treasure and magic items, something I've complained about in the past, and where Necrotic Gnome took note. This is a minor quibble, and in fairness a ballpark to treasure in the dungeon is given, as well as assumed HP and damage levels for PCs. The introduction is well above most.

 

The adventure proper is a hefty undertaking for any group, falling into the kilodungeon category in terms of size. 90 rooms of different sizes and content densities, and on the heavy side when it comes to interactivity.

Careful and finessed danger telegraphing is demanded from the referee in this one. There are enough deadly traps, levers to pull, fountains to drink from, and statues/memorabilia to interact with, where failing to do so can result in dangerous or fatal outcomes. This is a must in MMM, given the sheer amount of such content. Players hate if things are capricious and absolutely arbitrary. Luckily there is a primer on how to run traps in an OSR game at the end of the product (akin to something like Quick Primer by Matt Finch).

 

But on the flip side there are plenty of chances for the players to learn how the mansion operates, and what Mr. Nibsley favors. Carpets should be carefully poked, lifted and inspected. Ghosts are best kept at a fair distance. Also, there are plenty of chances to turn deadly traps (and in general the mansion) against its own denizens.

It has enough absurd goodies in terms of magic items, laser guns, an accelerator, etc. to make it tougher to integrate into an existing campaign or running game, in case your players walk out with such treasure. There is good design here, several of the most bizarre and explosive curios are in the upper level. An option would be to replace that level with just room 90, also shortening the adventure after getting the four keys.

 

Our Run

Here I for the most part focus on the group that did the complete run, using Macchiato Monsters.

 

As mentioned above, we ran for 12 gaming sessions. Players were ultimately successful (sans the overgrown graveyard), and secured the ultimate spellbook objective of MMM. For our slowness I blame both me and my players for taking our sweet sweet time to explore every corner of the MMM. They really left almost no room explored and interacted with. Also, our sessions are on the short side, I would say between 2-2.5 hours of actual game time.

screenshot from Roll20; few rooms were left untouched

A lot happened in our run. So for brevity's sake I'll condense some highlights here (in no order):

• A sneaky doppelgänger infiltrated party, after the PCs returned to town for supplies leaving a dead retainer behind in the mansion. She's alive! (yeah...). We later had both the false retainer and a PC killed by reading a false tome with explosive runes. Self immolation; first and only TPK.
  
• After blowing the blue whistle, unaware of what it would unleash, they summoned a blue behemoth. Causing great havoc amongst the veggie-mites, enough to distract them and steal their key. A PC had to play a bit the toreador role, though.
  
• Sampling weapons of the futuristic armory (85: Weapon Alcove), one by one, to fend off against three not-so-hidden mimics. The rat-in-a-stick-shooting-laser-beams-through-eyes staff was a highlight for the players!
• They convinced a complacent kiln-fired-zombie-maid to take an acid shower.
• They used the garbage disposal sphere of annihilation hole to get rid off probably the biggest threat of the dungeon, the Callowfex, by meticulous and slow herding. This is after a previous PC died in there by the doppelgänger (see first point) pulling the lever at a capricious moment.
  
• Deducing with careful note-taking, and thanks to careful reading of the 47: Record Room who the real Esmeralda is (19: Prison).
• Quickly skadoodling out of the mole dragon's den with a pissed off and rampaging mole by "sacrificing" Sophie the thief hireling. All of this with pissed-off teeth eating feys on their heels.

You probably can detect a pattern here. There were a lot of dangerous situations, and my players had great success in turning the mansion's traps against some of the most dangerous monsters. This emergent play is one of my favorite parts of the OSR, hands down.

There were also a good number of "nope" situations. Where the players hesitated, decided to circle back to another section of the mansion, etc. They suspected furniture or another room feature and immediately closed the door, didn't pull the lever, etc. This of course got penalized with more random encounters, draining HP, abilities and so on. Their choice. But we had enough of these instances where I do wonder if the dungeon was too "passive". Or setting a timer to the adventure would have worked better: the manor will self-destruct in two days, the local authorities will seize the contents themselves, etc.

To spice things up, and because I hoped to continue the game after MMM, I introduced a rival adventuring party. Against my expectations, the PCs ended up befriending them and joining forces to clear the upper workshop portion of the adventure.

Growing Points

A very few rooms could use some massaging. Nothing deal-breaking. Just careful reading and changing beforehand. For instance

• 47, Record Room: this meta game gimmick has the trouble of voiding the players of useful information. Latest visitors are not listed, and I feel that could have helped the referee (for instance Esmeralda Spugs in room 19). In the first game, the group felt deflated. In the second I added that and it was a success.
• 54, Art Gallery: there is a ton of information to hand out when describing this room and the paintings. The lack of doors to nearby rooms didn't help us resolve it.

Non-talking monsters. There are perhaps too many, clearly outweighing those players can talk and negotiate with. My group had to deal with a considerable amount mimics, giant spiders and paper snakes. Perhaps granting a bigger role to the doppelgängers and the ghosts could have helped here? Making them proper factions? Not sure.

Also, the aforementioned point of bolding or underlining of important room keywords to make the descriptions easier to parse during play is another quibble of mine.

---

Conclusion

This concludes the review.

The adventure has a clear goal in what space it's trying to fill, and it delivers in spades. Increased verisimilitude compared to other funhouse dungeons was something I liked and worked well, and the main adventure structure (with the 4 keys) was well received by my players. Deadly traps and situations are not too capricious or random; clever players will be rewarded. The whole adventure evokes a Saturday morning cartoon feel.

Plugging MMM into an existing campaign is likely tough and not advisable (too many crippling traps, or wonky magic items). We didn't do it. Rather, it should be used as a singular affair for experienced players seeking some challenge. Removing the second floor and placing the spellbook directly after the 4 keys could make it a shorter run, perhaps for a single sitting? This is pure speculation on my part.

The PDF version is more than enough, ideal for print & play, there's really no need for a physical version. Price to content ratio is a steal, and it belongs to any OSR collection as a masterclass in the space it's trying to fill: funhouse dungeons. Very much recommended.

Gobbos, Goozs, Boblims

Short, obnoxious, beligrant, capricious, numerous. Deal with one and five more will appear. They have many names: boblims, goozs, goblins, or the more widespread gobbos. Short, mean, serrated teeth, fiery red eyes, altered skin: buggy green, vomit yellow.

Sunlight makes their eyes weep and skin burn, sprouting festering boils. So they dwell underground, rarely venturing out at night, only on disorganized guerilla raids. Their red eyes are accustomed to darkness, perfectly seeing in the dimmest of lights.

Their origin, a mystery for all but the fiercest sages or academics. (Keep this secret from your players unless there's a reason not to). A gobbo sprouts when a child is exposed to continuous inhalation to an underground mushroom's spores called the Green Dream. Makes them to stop growing, developing the characteristic qualities of a gobbo. Adults don't suffer this effect, instead giving them a mild hallucinogenic effect. Something to do with hormones, or lack thereof? Any big city pays good coin for a sack of fresh Green Dream, priced drugs and all that.

So how do kids end up in mushroom infested caves? Delusions of grandeur from a minor Fae, who self-proclaim themselves King. Or Queen, Prince, Duchess or another made-up righteous title. Let's stick with King for simplicity for now. A king without subject is like a land without water. So they do the deed. A few children go missing from the local village. Kidnapped by their soon-to-be King.

Underground calories are a premium, however. Subsistence is met on a diet of mushrooms, roots and cabbage. In terms of preference, however, gobbos get ecstatic on the thought of raw pink flesh. Cattle and dogs are ok. Pigs and humans are best.

Despise cats, they think them devils in disguise. Will hunt them, skin them, and burn their bodies, leaving the pelts as warning for other cats all throughout their lair's entrance. (side note: sometimes right, 1:666 chance of cat being a minor devil).

Gobbos don't respond well to authority. At all. Actually, a good strategy when running into the buggers is to ask who's in charge. Has a 1:6 chance of starting a heated argument, often escalating into fisticuffs among the little ones (allowing the clever PCs to flee). Obey the priests of the great grub, and of course the gobbo King, who's above all orchestrating this madness.

Worship the great grub, a worm that should grow in size like gobbos do in numbers. Looking for a Burrowwurm, yet gobbos don't really know what they're doing. It's a certainty that past some days their current grub will die, no matter the care taken. Gobbos clench to their unworthiness as the plausible cause. But the cycle repeats with a new grub. Who knows, perhaps someday they might be right? Few priests of the great grub oversee this fanfare.

Gold, silver, coins and gems will get indifferent stares from a gobbo. Value is in what's actionable: food (flesh), booze, weapons, toys. Their currency comes in three forms: teeth, toenails, dried dungs. Conversion rate is 7 to 15 to 1 (yes, you need a heavy sack of dried dungs for a single tooth). Gobbos hardly know how to count past five, so most exchanges are just eyeballed.

Gobbos are numerous like a colony of ants. Instead of relying in the local children supply, they use their hard-earned currency to sprout more siblings. More to that below. Kids Gobbos love the idea of siblings until it becomes a reality and it turns into a huge jealousy-ridden mess.

Paizo's gobbos are more interesting than the Ha$bro ones

Gobbo
HD: 1 (3hp)
Armor: as leather (they're naked, but smol and fast), maybe shield
Weapon: serrated bone, rusted dagger, club (d4), sling (d4) or bow (d6)
Number appearing: patrol (d6), 2d6, 5d6
Morale: 7 (9 with King)
Intelligence: capricious toddler to teenage brat.
Speech: like a 5 year old child who mispronounces their "s" as a "z".
Drama die*: d6 new gobbos appear through cracks on the walls, hidden trapdoors, out of crates, etc.
Want: fresh meat, grubs, shrooms, teeth, toenails, dried dung.

Priest of the Great Grub
(Otherwise like a regular gobbo.)
HD: 2 (6hp)
Morale: 8 (9 with King)
Intelligence: entitled/spoiled child.
Spells: cause fear, darkness (no light). Improvise some spell effects from the following: dancing bowels, castle of sand, spoil food & water.

d6 Gobbo Trickz
1. Bone Netz - 20' x 20' area, save vs petrification to avoid being trapped.
2. Dissonant Bagpipes - bloody annoying, they have no clue how to play. Any attempt to cast a spell needs a successful save vs devices.
3. The Hot Stick - a branding stick they stole from the latest farm raid. Glowing hot. Deals d8 damage, and if the target is hit they are either marked or if wearing metallic armor receive 2 extra damage (player's choice).
4. Thunderplate - actually a big flat stolen shield. Acts like a deafening gong if struck. Reverberates, causing part of the ceiling to collapse. Applicable damage.
5. Grabby Shiny Rock - cartoon-like oversized magnet. Takes metallic weapons, coins and other valuables from the PCs.
6. Black powder - improvised or stolen, terrible quality. All flash, little bang. But deafening and obnoxious. Makes animals, beasts of burden, dogs or torchbearers flee.

Fighting gobbos should always be a messy business, shenanigans ensuring. Spice up the encounter. There's tons of them, and more if PCs stay to fight back. They go for the kneecaps, balls, and toes (mmm juicy toenails). Good chances they'll bring their newest eccentric toy to the fray. Or whatever big and nasty creature they captured this week.**

d6 Gobbo Shrooms & Plants
1. The Green Dream - if inhaled by an adult has hallucinogenic effects. Save vs poison -2 to hit and AC. No effect on animals. For children see above.
2. Tummy spore bomb - 30 ft cone. Save vs poison or vomit uncontrollably for a round, unable to act.
3. Sweet Baby Blue - tiny plant that only grows underground. Mild sedative, any respectable barber is aware of it, paying up to 3d20gp for a sack of these dried plants.
4. Firefly - an orange shroom that glows in the dark with fluorescent light. Treat like a lantern, but light is dim.
5. Broomz - explode in d3 rounds after ingestion, causing 2d6 damage to anyone within 10' radius.
6. Yellow Phoenix - put in teeth, nails, dung (or any fuel) to get a replica of a humanoid after d20 hours. Only a child fits in the flower. Extremely delicate, worth 1000gp to the right buyer.

d6 Gobbo Kings
Assume they all have the same stat block***, plus a couple special abilities.
1. Erimea - face like a porcelain doll. Body of a fox, the size of a horse, with blue fur. Speaks in whispers. Wants to be the most beautiful thing in existence.
2. Mooog - strong, muscular, dim-witted. Actually, Moog is just a troll.
3. Fuh - Fae patron of untied shoelaces and other bitter annoyances. Likes to turn invisible and go to town with the latest prank. Probably the least dangerous of the lot.
4. Bowie
5. Three Nights - slick and elegant. Mysterious and dangerous. Deals in gossip and secrets. Seeking more capable minions, to step up the competitive fae political ladder.
6. The Green Man - an actual honorable fae, worshiped in some human settlements. Religious roots. Wanted to stir things up a bit, start some mess to then clean it up his-self. Backfired tremendously, is now trapped within the colony of gobbos.

* This is what ICRPG does, I think? Don't remember what it's called there. You essentially roll a d4 when combat starts, and after that many rounds shit hits the fan.
** Ogres. Domesticated giant centipedes, rats or badgers. Trolls. Ravaging swines. Geese. You name it.
** Don't have one at hand right now. Might add later. 4HD or so? Decent saves, few trickery spells?

Reading List  

This post is fueled by the most recent sleepless night (yesterday). With little research or care for coherence, I decided to just spitball those ideas. It might come in handy for a future campaign, or something. Here some sources that were rummaging in my mind:

• A lot of the above was lifted from the Dungeon Craft youtube videos.
  
• There's also been a few interesting recent takes within the OSR, like the one at Lost Pages or the one in the Knock#1 zine.
• Terrible Beauty for Shadow of the Demon Lord.
• I'm probably missing a gazillion excellent blog posts on goblins. Have any interesting take? Let me know.
  

The Single Biggest Bugbear in Gaming

Deciding on a title for this blog post wasn't easy. Don't be fooled. This is both ramble and rant, with varied and disjointed thoughts on gaming groups and culture, and my recent experiences with them. Take the following words with that in mind. Or skip this one entirely.

My gaming has come to a sudden halt. Personal circumstances have seen my days filled to the last minute. Average sleep these past weeks hovers around the 5 hour mark. I can function professionally, but that's about it. Hobby time has been squashed like a bug, and I get the odd half hour break here or there, when the moons align.

How do people cope and find the time and energy to game? I'm not interested, at all, in the streamer superstar scene. All hell to the Manganiellos, Ann Wolls, Critical Roles and other actor fanfare. I want to know how the single mum with two kids gets a game going. How the guy with two jobs making minimum wage runs a game every week. And the person with insomnia and a gazillion responsibilities.

This frustration conflates with several recent observations.

I'am Pramudya

Scheduling

Remains the beast of the game. Postponed games. Cancelled games. Shall we shift to next week or wait for Mike? Summer holidays, anyone? And so the innuendo continues. This is the main reason I (and I reckon many others) started running games, instead of playing. To dictate scheduling. Open tables, west-marches, and megadungeons help mitigate this, but are only a patch.

Online Gaming (for the most part) Sucks

The bulk of my gaming has been online. So I've encountered a fair deal of bizarre situations when dealing with both anons and friends in this medium. I get that remaining focused† is much harder when dealing with so many distractions at your fingertips. But still...

I've seen people drop from a planned game 10 minutes in.

I've had my fair deal of Irish goodbyes. I get that there's anonymity, but a short message signing off?

I've had a player straight out tell me at the end of a session that during that same game they were in the background working AND getting high (what? how? seriously?!).

Players throwing insults at each other & me? Check.

Players clearly not paying attention to what is going on in the game? No bloody clue? Check.

Mitigations for online play could entail shorter sessions, everyone using cameras, rolling physical dice, avoid looking up rules, sharing visuals (maps, NPC portraits, etc). But it's tough to implement these without plenty of resistance from the gaming group.

Face to Face?

Yes please and thank you. But what if you can't host? Also, securing space in neutral ground (a café, bar, hobby shop) in my location is both expensive and impractical.

There's a local meetup group! Hurray! Rejoice! But... the interest is almost exclusively dominated by 5e. Oh, I could still launch my game and bait some players? But the group shoves a ton of donation links and buttons to any announced games, even if you, the person running and hosting, objects. Makes my stomach irk. Oh, and taking whatever players sign up fastest on the platform (and not the ones you gel with) is mandatory. Yikes to byzantine bureaucracy.

How do folks in my age group meet new people? In the age of the nerd one would think this is trivial, but the plague has exacerbated this problem. When approaching friends and colleagues I'm met with either courteous interest or a completely puzzled face. Got the feeling I slept through my younger years, and the deep pool that it can bring in from school and university.

Getting 3-6 adults in the same room at the same time for 2-4 hours? Worthy of the highest of praises.

Wat Do?

I don't know.

I will try to launch a game with The Calaveras (online), since we finished Magical Murder Mansion. With some adjustments, mind you. Have to prepare a pitch doc (all'Colville) of games I'd want to run. And try to play a couple times per month.

But other than that, I'm drained.

Perhaps a deeper delve into solo games? Yet many fall into the journal proposition, and there the blank page is a block. I'd rather take on something more passive (reading, watching), or take on a proper boardgame.

I found the time and energy to write this post, so that's a win, right?

EDIT: it appears, once again, that xkcd is reading my mind:

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† This, alone, is worth another rant on its own. Attention spans in the smartphone age with constant distractions flocking, is TINY. Multi-tasking kills absorption. But this has little to do with a gaming blog, alas...

OSR: How much is a potion of healing in OSE?

Inevitably, players will sooner or later inquire about purchasing or selling magic items in the safety of town. A lot of common advice dictates to leave such discoveries to adventuring, and ban mercantile activities of this sort. Otherwise, why risk the dungeoneering?

These are just my random notes for OSE (or your B/X scoop or choice). Giving my inability to grok the game at first, and doing a cursory reading of the text I landed on something that wasn't obvious to me from the beginning.

Enter the Alchemist

An alchemist costs 1000gp/month in wages and they bring the following to the table if hired:

Recreating potions: Based on a sample or recipe, an alchemist can produce a potion at twice the normal speed and for half the normal cost (see Magical Research).

Researching potions: An alchemist may also research new potions, but this takes twice as long and costs twice as much as normal.

A potion of healing is nothing more than a 1st level clerical Cure Light Wounds spell. And the magical research estimates the cost to make them a week of labor and 500gp/level in costs by a Cleric of 2nd level or higher. Assuming they have the recipe, the Cleric is no longer needed.

N: number of weeks in a month

Potion of healing Price = (N * 500 + 1000) / (N * 2)

This yields 2 potions available per week, and no Cleric PC has to assist (this is my reading).

Alchemists, I would reckon, are rare enough in most settings to be only present in larger towns and cities.

The Calendar

So, turns out that, as in many open games and the overused Gygax-attributed credo goes, a calendar is important for potions. The alchemist specialty gives wages in gp per month. But magical research is on a per week basis. How many weeks are a month in this world?

Only with that answer we can get the price of healing potions.

With an alchemist:

Simplifying a month having 4 weeks -> 375gp/potion, 2 available per week

Simplifying a month having 5 weeks -> 350gp/potion, 2 available per week

Without an alchemist:

Regardless of how many weeks are in a month -> 500gp/potion, 1 potion available per week (per PC Cleric actively working on it)

Gustav Doré

What Do?

This is of course an abstraction, but an interesting guideline nonetheless. More than one alchemist could be hired? Magic might not be readily available in your world. What about the formula for the potion, is it common enough? Etc

In my OSE Stonehell open table game I settled to 300gp/potion cost, with only 50% chance of availability each week. With an upfront (one-time) cost of 1000gp to bring the alchemist to town.

Appendix

1. Consider also this article as a good resource on how to price potions of healing in games.

2. Also, while flipping through Electric Bastionland this morning, I found the general advice that TREASURE FOR XP should be bulky, expensive to the right person, and useless. On the other hand, TREASURE FOR GEAR, meaning items that will boost the PCs capabilities, should be useful for adventurers, but have otherwise little value. This is awfully untrue for potions of healing. They are both expensive and tremendously useful for everybody. Taking a magical vial to recover illness and wounds sounds too good to be true, and would be highly sought after by anyone with enough coin. Right?

Five Inspirations, Issue 1

In no particular order, and with no cohesive fabric between them, here go five sources that have I have recently consumed, and provided great inspiration.

As my disclaimer usually goes, these are things that I personally like, paid with my own money, and nobody is pushing my way. Other than the sophisticated advertisement apparatus of the tech giants, of course.

1. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, by Ken Liu

Just finished this book, and my mind has been blown.

 

This book contained, by a wide margin, the best writing I've had the privilege to read in all of 2021. And possibly including 2020 as well. My reading habit is certainly not what it once was, so take that statement as you will.

The collection of short stories is insightful, paced, and thought provoking. Evocative writing flows from the page. There is so much sentiment and soul embedded in every single sentence. Fantastical elements, science-fiction and alternate history are blended with gusto. Doesn't really matter.

The titular "Paper Menagerie" story had me literally crying, its themes of migration, culture, and heritage strongly resonating.

"Good Hunting" was adapted for the brilliant Netflix show "Love Death + Robots", and deserves high praise. Industrialization, and our land and culture losing its magic.

"The Perfect Match" could change its entity to Facebook, Alphabet or Amazon, appear on a newspaper, and I would strongly believe it true.

"The Literomancer" is a gorgeously saddening story on the magic of words and language.

"The Regular" tells in 50 pages a credible and engaging neo detective story.

I could go on and on. Stories range from great to brilliant. There are repeating themes, heritage, language, communication, history, industrialization fantasy and futurism.

This book is a must read. Broadened my view and mindset. Pick it up, and thank me later.

2. NOD magazine, by John Stater

Ran into this series of zines in the OSR space, where John Stater has consistently been throwing together very complete material. Mainly centered around his land of NOD, they include robust hexcrawls for OD&D, with interesting flavor, including bestiaries and interspersed articles. They are a tour of the world in terms of flavor and influences. You have your pseudo-european setting (issues #4-#7), but also one based on african mythology, another with east asian roots, and even a tour of Hell!

The PDF pricing is extremely fair for the amount and quality of the content. I would highlight issues #7 and #34 from the dozen or so I purchased thus far.

In all likelihood one of these will form the basis of what we do in The Calaveras campaign. I'm thinking of issues #19-#21. After we rebooted our game with 1 less player, we should be done with Magical Murder Mansion in a bit (it's taking us a while, but we're getting there...).

3. Watchmen, the 2019 TV mini-series

Swinging in quality from episode to episode, and very derivative from the graphic novel, I still enjoyed the first six episodes of this mini-series. The last third is a bit of a hot mess, losing its grounded reality, and going into realms that made my eyes roll... I would have dropped it if it wasn't for Jeremy Irons' performance. The original Watchmen graphic novel was a favorite of mine, so take that as you want.

The topics are ominous and worryingly prophetic, given its release was end of 2019. Before the mask reality. Before the BLM movement exploded.

Other than the great portrayal by Irons, I felt the secondary characters also had strong performances.

4. A series of Bloomberg Quicktakes

My failure to latch to the Expanse hype train has not prevented me from enjoying and consuming more quality science-fiction than in recent years. Books, serials and movies. I ran into this series of videos with interesting cutting edge technologies. Interesting topics.

5. James Bond Movies

Slowly making my way through the Bond movies of old, with Connery and Roger Moore on display. Man, pacing in these movies was completely different experience back then. Cheeky, campy, and a good deal of relaxed fun. Sometimes my pandemic brain can only take this amount of complexity, and I'm ok with that.

OSR: Stonehell Rival Adventuring Parties

There are good guidelines on Old School Essentials regarding the generation of rival adventuring parties (SRD here). And even a handy online generator to quickly have a new party created!

But as useful as that is, I want to shake things up a bit...

Generate a rival adventuring party with a dice drop, taking each of a kind from the full array (d4, d6, d8, d10, d%10, d12, d20) and reading all results at once from tables below. Let's assume the following example is for your favorite flavor of B/X, OSE, and for the Stonehell megadungeon.

Mind that there are light spoilers for Stonehell in the entries below!

 

d4-1 Thiefs
Number of Thiefs

d6 Fighters
Number of Fighters

d8 Level
Party member level (HD).
Divide by 2 (rounding up) unless in the levels of Into the Heart of Hell.
Leader is one level higher.

d10 Goal
1. Treasure!
2. Archaeological and architectural discoveries
3. Document Stonhell's inhabitants and the most exotic creatures therein
4. Holy quest to desecrate unholy shrines
5. Extract a specific magic items or bizarre curio
6. Make contact with the Vrilya
7. Find an exit to the surface. Utterly lost
8. Kill unaware targets with absolute impunity
9. Capture a high level Magic-User (1-in-20 they know about the Plated Mage [3B,3C,8E])
10. Redistribute wealth plundered in a stroke of altruism

d%10 Additional Members*
1. Magic User
2. Magic User
3. Cleric
4. Cleric
5. Dwarf
6. 2 Magic Users
7. 2 Dwarfs
8. Magic User and Dwarf
9. Magic User and Cleric
10. Magic User, Dwarf, and Cleric

d12 Unique Members
1. Halfling
2. Halfling
3. Halfling
4. Elf*
5. Elf*
6. Elf*
7. Pack of trained wardogs (2d3, as normal wolf)
8. Pack of trained wardogs (2d3, as normal wolf)
9. d2 trained bears (can use basic equipment), smoking cigars
10. d2 trained gecko lizard
11. Ogre
12. Troll, in search of the Great Hall [5C]

d20 Oddity
1. One of them is a doppelgänger
2. d4 are lycanthropes, werewolves or wererats (they are aware of the inhabitants of [3A])
3. They have a hefty bounty on their heads
4. Religious zealots, blessed (consult the d6 rolled: 1/ St Ras [0A] 2/ Lady Chance [1A] 3/ Duke of Bones [1A, 1B] 4/ Father Yg [2B] 5-6/ The Emperor God)
5. Are high on drugs, severe addicts. Hope Vaedium is the new hot narcotic
6. Armed with imported muskets, pistols, and blunderbusses. Know enough to operate them
7. Carry a cursed, chained magical tome. Dripping ichor and excreting fumes
8. Hungry and out of food. See the PCs as a source of calories
9. Roll on the section's random encounter table. Adventuring party at half HP, running away from that threat
10. Members of obscenely wealthy & famed mercenary company. Sigil visible. Wearing expensive capes and hats. PCs' retainers check loyalty or refrain from attacking/flee
11. Scarred and maimed delvers. 1-4 to surprise and detect/disarm traps, given extensive experience
12. Carrying a monster carcass, to be sold to the gentlemen ghouls [4D]. Are the PCs a score too?
13. This isn't the world they were born in
14. Followed by a retinue. Consult results on d4+d8. Beggars, cooks, barber-surgeons, bards, prostitutes.
15. Covered in flamboyant jewelry. 50% it's fake
16. Have d6 tablet scrolls (each 100 coins heavy)
17. Mercenaries of the Hobgoblin Occupational Army [2D]. Have orders to capture surface-dwellers if possible
18. Tons of inter-party conflict. Betrayal at the slightest chance
19. Have a magical compass that points to The Casino [7E]. If they have 4+ HD, they know where compass leads
20. Corrupted, mutated (unaware to them, by the Nixthisis)

ma-ko

*Notes:
-Magic Users and Elfs have sleep, and 2-in-6 chance of having whatever spell they need for the situation.
-Clerics have cure light wounds and 3-in-6 chance of having the appropriate spell prepared.

OSR: Stonehell OSE Open Table 1-10

Have been running an open table of Stonehell by means of OSE.
Players come and go, we do 1 delve = 1 session, and they have to return to town before we finish the game.

What follows are my highlights on how it's going after 10 x 3h sessions into this megadungeon.
No detailed notes this time. I lifted myself of that burden by giving the players an XP incentive for writing those, and posting them on our discord. So far they've proved a great resource (?).

Mild Stonehell spoilers ahead, be warned!

Some Highlights

• Party scared to hell and back to enter a soot-filled room.
• Wulfa the fighter wrestling with the orcs, with members of the party betting behind.
• Getting treasure from the Keeper of Secrets by using their wits.
• Sheperd the zombies from the crypts to attack the giant fire beetles.
  
• Methodically hiring a small army to (magically) blind and hunt the dragon.
• Pools of hot water? Future saunas?
• The group getting peppered by arrows coming from the invisibility trees when leaving from the dungeon.
  
• Mylo the halfling dying due to peer pressure to spin the wheel of Lady Chance. The group quickly pulled funds together to make the Mylo memorial wing at the healing house back in town.
• Portcullises posing the biggest threat in the dungeon.
  

Stonehell Referee Notes

• Dungeon is vast and dense. We have explored bits of the canyon and about half of level 1. Price to gaming ratio is just ridiculous. Stonehell should easily be 50$, the team who put this together is being robbed.
• Awesome ideas abound! Probably Stonehell as written gets you 80% there, and filling in the remaining 20% with your own material is the way to go. Some new monsters were really good to read (e.g. doom lure), can't wait for them to appear.
  
• That said, I have my gripes and terseness comes at a cost.
•  ... factions are outlined, but are missing some strong motivation and extra oomph and flavor.
•  ... some traps are just a "T" on the dungeon map, or secret doors a simple "S". Expanding this aspect is a must for the referee.
• Treasure is scarce. Feast or famine. It's a design decision by Mr. Curtis, and I can see the reasoning behind and what it's trying to reinforce. But my players have complained about it, and it can get frustrating.
•  ... have been giving extra XP for number of rooms explored in a session.
• ... and for session reports. These are crucial given the open nature of our table to bring new players up to speed.
• Stonehell could benefit from more loops and connections. Jaquays and Melan would wince at some of the sections.
• Downtime is the big left-out in the OSR. There are a gazillion dungeons in the space. But common questions on how to pace and structure the game between delves is often neglected. Products and advice for this are missing. Although I get this is very personal from table to table: some people skip it, some allow magic items/potion purchase others not, etc. I don't blame Stonehell here, but it's just an observation.
  

OSR: Why is damage left as a die?

Going through recent adventures in the OSR space, it is very common to see an attempt at generic or system neutral statistics. This is done a lot, with armor as chain, saves as Fighter 1, etc. This is very useful if say, you are running your game for B/X but then change for Swords&Wizardy (different saves), or LotFP (different AC baseline).

An exhibit from the Dust Elemental in the remastered Stygian Library

BUT very often monster descriptions use original die size. D8 in the picture above. Why? Why not take instead an equivalent damage as sword, or damage as polearm? Main reason I can think for this vestigial limb to persist is that some monsters inflict greater (or different) damage than what standard weaponry allows, surpassing damage dice.

*End rant*

My solution would be to have extended weaponry values in the equipment section (grenades, bombs, pistols, muskets), or use damage from spells (which are meant to surpass mundane weapons).

Don't have a solution to this trend. Just my observation. What do you think?

d10 Bulky Treasures

1. Rugs of exquisite quality, very bulky, each 10 x 10 feet if unfolded. Red background, with floral patterns in gold and purple.

2. Barrels filled with deliciously aged wine. Hanging from over a net, on the warehouse's ceiling (20' high). Be quick, or the smugglers will return!

3. Tablets with engraved religious scriptures, valuable for a sage, historian or church.

4. A golden bell, the size of a stocky dwarf. When carried, sudden movement, the slightest drop or altercation makes it ring, echoing through the dungeon. And attracting monsters!

5. Accurate sized portraits that almost come to life out of the canvas. A ghoul is disposing of them by throwing these pieces of art into the fireplace. Too many memories of past lovers.

6. Dragon carcass. Recently slain beast, still fresh. Has to be transported swiftly back to town to salvage as many parts as possible. The smell attracts other vermin in the dungeon.

7. Blue lotus flower: have to bring back absurd quantities! Sacks and sacks! Then, the petals are dried and treated by the local alchemist into a single vial of concocted poison.

8. There's a map of the stars carved on the cathedral's dome, details never before revealed elsewhere. Incredibly detailed, hard to read, and byzantine. You can spend time copying it (hard to see details from down here), or get up there, hire a mason, and chip the stone out. Or with enough paper and charcoal trace the whole thing out.

9. 2d6 delicate, crumbling scrolls. Have to be packaged individually in linens, and in a scroll case (light but obnoxiously bulky!)

10. An immovable ladder made of solid platinum. Fixed to the white marble ground.
Where does it lead?

Solo: Sealed Library AP

These are my notes of a solo play-through of the Sealed Library, a solo game by Matt Sanders based off the mechanics of the Wretched by Chris Bissette (and their SRD). I'm a neophyte when it comes to solo or journaling games, with only a short stint into Ironsworn, but here we go.

Day 1 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. The doors and windows remain secure though the ceaseless banging and distant screams still fill me with dread. I tell myself some of the others left outside might have survived. Today, I must begin choosing and moving the most important works, or what remains of them, down to the catacombs. I hope my food and water will last until my task is complete.

Roll a 6 on the die.

Draw, in order, 7 of ♡, 2 of ♡, 7 of ♧, 2 of ♧, 5 of ♡, 7 of ♤.

Day 2 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. I first locate as if by miracle an exquisite tome with exotic flora and fauna, pages animating as I assay the work. An image of the Bürokraken within will haunt me in tonight's sleep. Next, I choose a tome by Aarimar Calvoso, in hopes to salvage the best poetry known to mankind. Paging through, masticating the words, my mind away from the library for a split second. A boulder smashing through the northern window makes me jump. The re-enactment of the Old Ones' Demise in the glass gone for good. Who will come behind me, to pick up the ruins? Who will rebuild? How often does the cycle repeat itself? To reassure myself I start barricading the main entrance with shelves of newer works, their worth no less significant.
heavy tablets, showing the decapitation of King Vlademar. He was the last monarch after the revolution of the three roses. A tyrant, yet responsible for paving the way for the more civilized ways: roads, hospitals, and the ancient shell that turned into this library. This will do for the day. When I return to rest for a few minutes, I find my bread moldy. Cutting the pieces and eating the scarce remains. My stomach protests like a band of angry cats.

Roll a 1 on the die.

Draw, in order, 7 of ♢.

Day 3 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. A respite from outside. Have the invaders lost interest in our library, turning to other parts of the citadel? Did help arrive? During my search and cataloguing of the day, I run into the skull of Italvo Klakk, famed royal assassin. Judge and executioner of mischievous revolutionaries of her time. A person of unquestionable law, with what that rigid view entails. Her brain analyzed by our library. Her skull archived as a sign of warning for future generations.

Roll a 3 on the die.

Draw, in order, A of ♤, 3 of ♡, A of ♡.

Day 4 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. With the first rays of light in the morning, a section of wall on the river side of the library springs a leak and destroys priceless works of calligraphic art. On the upside, I have now access to clean, cool water.
I think after clearing the classic philosophy section I need a rest. Negationismus seems like the worthier of them to save, if anything to prevent future generations to make our same mistakes. The invaders were able to drop from the cliff to our weaker roof? Have they employed cranes or other works of engineering to assail us? It is then and there, that an idea appears on my mind... what if I check the destroyed sector for further underground rooms? And then and there, I find the vault my masters claimed as only hope! It will take me days to figure out its opening mechanism. But there is hope now.

Roll a 6 on the die.

Draw, in order, 2 of ♢, 3 of ♡, A of ♡.

Day 5 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. My work must continue! The chamber of maps! I snatch one to save. From the stars, galaxies and the endlessly spanning Universum. Claimed to be a token sent form the lighthouse at the edge of the Universum. We are but a speck of dust. As a next stop, I have to move to the medical ward. Since magic flourished we made a prominent leap. A volume detailing salves and roots for common ailments and viruses seems the most valuable for our future. To the vault with it!

As I take these relics to the vault, I discover Master Justus resting dead on my return to the underground safe. I feel like a scavenging rat, picking his pockets for any valuables. Smoked beacon! If only I had been more thorough in guarding the kitchens... Tonight I'll feast! Passing adjacent cellars, a swarm of foul rats jump on me, surely judging me for stealing from the dead. I get repeatedly bitten until I find a safe place. These wounds will haunt me in the coming days.

After I calm down, and my eyes adjust to the dark, I see Master Braulis cold dead on the ground before me. A blade sticking from his back. Few paces away an invader, his neck trickling with blood from a wound caused by a letter opener. Braulis taught me the letters, and was the architect of my place within the library. He deserved a better death.

Baffled, depressed, and more alone than ever, I return to the main hall. The invaders have the audacity of unleashing scores of snakes through the cracked doors and windows. I have no alternative but to show them fire, always with the dread of adding their bites to my already festering collection from the rats. And the risk of scorching some precious volumes in the process.

Roll a 5 on the die.

Draw, in order, K of ♧, K of ♡, J of ♤, Q of ♢, K of ♤.

Day 6 after the barricade. The diary of Junior librarian, Thaddeus Blocher. I wake up cold and tired, from my hiding place underground. How long have I been out? A wide-eyed, gaunt invader walks out in front of me, coming out from the cellars. How did he get here? We struggle, he with sword and me with my bare fists, meant for writing and not barbaric acts. I eventually win, but not without a bit gash on my side. I need some time to recover. But there is none to spare. Deep in the basement of the library, damp, and mold has claimed the legibility of many ancient maps and scrolls. Spores from purple mold fill your lungs. Hours later, you begin to cough up blood and hallucinate. I see my mother, before she had to abandon, her smell of lavender filling my nostrils. I don't blame her for what she did. Not now.

I move upstairs, to look through the Head-archivist Qualius' quarters. I find a bottle of fine Valindian wine in the lower drawer. He always had his vices, despite his virtues. I pour a third to my still open wound, and drink the rest in fast gulps. Alcohol gets to my head, and I am intoxicated again. I start scribbling all my sins on the walls. Maybe this will exempt me from judgement. I tumble down to the library proper. In a fall, I knock over a neatly stacked tower of books. As if calling to me, the open pages of a tome of restorative magick show up to me. I have little training in the arts, but I mumble the enchantment, which seals some of the blade's wound, but not all. Why didn't I pay more attention at the teachings from Braulis?

The kitchens? I already checked them, but what if there's something left? I go in quick pages, leaving a red trail behind me. Finally, I reach it, and start searching in a desperate fit. Sausages! They smell of rot. Might have gone bad? I need the energy, so down they go.

Not an hour later, I have a strong fever, unable to walk even. I hear loud thumps from the ceiling. I get sick. What's next...

Aftermath Debrief

• Overall a great experience. Can't wait to try Sealed Library again, and other games in this Wretched SRD family.
  
• My game was cut short by those 4 almost consecutive kings. Despite that, seems like a punitive game with many ways to lose, that state being the default and assumed outcome. Will make the few victories more joyous and unique.
• Being in control of pulling the blocks gives a sense of self-inflicted perish.
• It seems the game could run for several hours, I was at it for 1h30. If the A of ♡ is not placed at the top of the deck at the beginning. In the future, I'll try that.
  
• Detailed journaling is an exercise I'm not completely fond of. I also chose direct digital notes, which are probably detrimental here. In future games I'll just jot down bullet point notes on a piece of paper as I go (just key details), and day-dream/meditate the rest.
• How good is it on a second, third play? It seems there are a handful of plays here, before having to start the tinkering machine by changing entries on the cards, questions, etc.