Dark Fate RPG Blog

Dark Fate can be yours

2012-01-12T15:45:00.001-02:00

I was thinking about this for a while now. As I'm writing novels in Portuguese these days (most based on Dark Fate, mind you), I really don't have time to develop and keep Dark Fate alive except on my weekly gaming table.

And that's a shame since a few readers really liked it.

What I'm proposing here is to give Dark Fate to someone who wants to keep it alive. Change it, get a better proofreader, use a different game system... Tell me what you want to do with Dark Fate and we'll discuss this matter.

I'll still be around. I will offer advice when needed. I just think it's time to let someone else to grab my fantasy setting and give it a better home. I know there are lots of ideas here even if you don't want to use the setting as it is, but I'm not as focused as I should to keep Dark Fate alive.

So, if you want to talk about this, just send me an e-mail: m.paschoalin@gmail.com. I'll gladly discuss the future of Dark Fate with you.

Keeping the blog alive...

2011-08-18T12:07:00.000-03:00

Marcelo Paschoalin took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 40%!

You are a Gary Gygax Hero. You know much of Gary Gygax. You are probably the DM of your game group (but you might insist on being called 'referee').

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

World vs. Hero: The Someone Gem

2011-04-04T08:00:00.002-03:00

The rumors regarding my death were exagerated...

Yes, I know I'm neglecting this blog, but I'm writing--a lot. Another novel in Portuguese is about to be published, and I'm working doing covers and layouts to a Brazilian publisher in a freelance basis. But I've never let the roleplaying games out of my life.

Speaking of that, let me talk about a nice piece of writing I've made with John Fiore a few months ago...

Soon after I've purchased World vs. Hero I started a solo game (The Maiden's Monastery), posting the play-by-play on the Mythic Role Playing Y!Group. About the same time, John Fiore and I started a play by e-mail game of World vs. Hero.

Back on the day I've asked John about compiling everything and posting later. He gave me the green flag, but I've never managed to do it...

...until now.

I've created a PDF file and uploaded it to Lulu!
You may find the hardcopy here.
The direct download link to the PDF file is here.

The download is free, and the hardcopy costs are the minimum asked by Lulu (I doubt anyone will buy the hardcopy considering there's a free PDF, but who knows). The thing is I haven't even proofread everything, so maybe you'll find a few typos since I'm not a native English speaker--in my defense, the emails are transcript as they were written at the time.

The file has all the content of our e-mail exchanges, so the newcomers to the hobby may learn a thing or two by reading everything. I confess that was a good learning game for myself, and John is a great storyteller.

Enjoy the reading. It was a pleasure to compile everything.

Colorful people

2010-12-16T18:03:00.002-02:00

I often see myself "categorizing" people. Pink people, gray people. I see the person and I can imagine what color they are.

Pink people are girly girls, with lots of make up, make up talk and not enough brains. Gray people are work-a-holics, that have no fun or that just gave up. Green people are eco-boring people, who can't have a conversation with you without trying to make you go vegetarian, and so on.

But there are some people who are not one color. The are a rainbow. The have their pink moments and their gray moments, they can be green for the length of a conversation and then go all red by night.

And that's how it is for books. Pink is for chick lit, red is for erotica. White for Chistian Fiction, black for horror, brown for mistery/suspense (for me anyways, don't ask me why)...

But how many books are just the color of the rainbow? They can go from comedy to drama in a few pages, be all horror, but have that little romance in it that makes it a pink-ish-black.

We always hurry to classify things and people, that's our nature - mine anyways - but we can't hurry. I don't like terror in general, but it doesn't mean I won't like ANY terror book. Maybe with the right touch, I'll like it - I like Dracula, I don't like books that are brainless terror, I leave that for the movies.

I don't like chick lit or anything that tells me women need their own literature and books, because they (we) are "special". That special means different and that different means we need special care and sheltering and ... yeah no thanks. But it doesn't stop me from reading chick lit, hoping I will see a strong man character that doesn't sit and sigh for guys to protect and love her, but goes and gets whatever she wants. A pink-ish red book is cool. A gray-ish pink too.

What do I want to say with ALLLL this? Don't be so quick when judging a book as "too girly" or "too boy-ish" or "ew drama". Books surprise people, more than people surprise people. And that's a lot.

About books that change everything

2010-11-25T22:43:00.002-02:00

Hello there, guys and gals! As you can see from my title, I'm here to speak of books that make a difference, so you mya be a bit scared when I say the two main subjects of my post are the Harry Potter and Twilight sagas.

Yes my dears, but fear not, I'm not completely insane, yet. You see, go back around 10 years. Can you remember of teens reading? I can't. I was 13, my classmates wouldn't read... And then there was Harry Potter (ok that was already book 3 being released, but Brazil is sort of... always late to the party).

I was always a reader, I'd read Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, even thought they didn't belong to my favorite genre. My friends suddenly started reading Harry Potter and I did too. Now fast-forward to a few years ago... All teens know Harry Potter (maybe it's the movies?). But still, they read all 7 books. And Percy Jackson ("the new Harry Potter"), again maybe due to the movies but several teens have read all books.

When I was 13, it would be unbelievable for a teen to read a 400-page book (or a 200-page, even). And yet, Harry Potter books 4 and on, if I'm not mistaken, are all above 400 pages.

Oh yeah, where is Twilight in all that? Sure this might be a girls' thing, even though I know several boys who liked the series, I do prefer to think of girl fans, and it might have to do with the movies too, but I've been hearing about these books way before the movies... And if you think about it, there are 5 books (4 plus the spin off Bree Tanner) that are getting young people interested in all those "let's be successful too" vampire books (and then angels, and then faeries... you get the point). I'm a major Anne Rice fan ad I've really liked Dracula, despite and maybe because of it's simplicity, so I do understand how hurtful it is to see vampires portraited as... teen love idols. I do, really.

But see it this way: teens are reading. And some of them may actually wander around to really good books (not that Harry Potter or Twilight are bad books, I actually enjoy both series, but they ARE teen-like, not 'grown up' books).

And why am I talking about that? Because it changes EVERYTHING! Have you seen bookstores lately? They're pretty, they're colorful, they're full of young people giggling and talking abou their favorite books and characters and discussing plot details... Which means we'll have reading grown ups soon--and they won't be a few exceptions, but mostly everyone (ok, not EVERYONE, but many more than it used to be) and that IS all thanks to those silly, catchy, easy books. I give them that, they ARE life changers, they show people reading is not hard, boring, time wasting, but fun, magickal and takes you to worlds you never dreamed off (sort of like Peter Pan hehe).

So, there, a toast to a new generation, a readers generation!

A game of thrones

2010-11-11T22:18:00.003-02:00

Hello there!

I've thought very deeply about what I wanted to talk to you about this week. I don't want to sound silly or unexperienced on something you people know a lot, so I'll stay on the "kingdom of books" and I'll let you link the dots. ;)

I've recently finished reading A Game of Thrones. Even tough it was published back in '95 in the UK and USA, "down here" it was just published last september. I saw people saying how different fom LotR it was, but frankly, I see them both on the same level. Language is a bit above the "ordinary reader", lots of places, people... I mean, really, they have MAPS and family trees on the book--that alone screams fantasy and screams RPG, at least for me--as it gives room for imagining other places and other people that didn't really appeared on the book...

It's a book loosely based on the War of the Roses, but with some supernatural characteristics, like dragons and walking dead (zombie-like creatures are always a plus on any book, I'm sure)... And, of course, a land where winter and summer are pretty much random and can last about 10 years. It follows, mostly, the Stark family, "rulers of the North", and talks about the crown of the Seven Kingdoms, stolen (conquered) by Robert Baratheon from the last Targarien king, for hate of what he did to the woman promised to him. Also it goes about the two last Targarien survivors, isolated form their real land. I like the female characters on the book too, shy and obedient at first, but capable to grow strong and show their real power and strenght during the narrative.

I'd really like to write a story (or play a game) with characters like the first Targarien to ride the dragons and conquer the Seven Kingdoms, or with the Forrest people when the First Men arrived and so on--things that are barely mentioned, but could be something really interesting to work with.

I do believe every book gives room to more story and some roleplaying--some more than others--and A Game of Thrones is a wide universe to be played with, full of war, humor, drama, romance, politics and so many things that you could get lost there and mix it up with real life if you're not *erm* much normal... or don't have a perfect mental health...

Anyways! The book. It's a large series, with 5 published books (or is #5 not released, yet? I've lost track of that a while ago) and I can sense that some of those gaps will be filled in, until the end (of 7 estimated books) but, like Tolkien and Middle Earth, it will never be 100% complete: since it's a whole world, you may always ask more about the far east, where the dothrakis came from and where dragons were born, for example. It will always be a fertile land where more and more stories and games can be told and played.

Now I want to hear from you. Have you read this book? Have you heard about it? Have you read he sequels and are they as good as this first one?

Please welcome May!

2010-11-05T18:20:00.000-02:00

Hey there!

You don't know me, but my name is Mayara. I prefer to go by May, please!

I'm Brazilian, 23 years old, I work in digital advertising (social networks, online media and some weird stuff like that) and I study Marketing.

But what is more important here: I'm a major book-a-holic. And even though I do not play RPGs (except for the ocasional MMORPG) I think I can contribute with a few things here and there for you.

And why do I think that? Simple because there are lots and lots of books that are just like RPGs. And RPGs that are like (or based on) books. Take Lord of The Rings for example. I mean, really, can anyone say it's not a full RPG? I believe (and you may correct me if I'm wrong) but the whole D&D series and it's offsprings are based on LoTR.

Also, the WHOLE vampire myth is as it is because of Dracula. Sure, it was a real myth before, people actually believed it... But Bram Stoker was the one to set it all into one kind of vampire, it's really rare that people consider other vampire myths when thinking about the creature (and please, let's just leave aside "modern" vampire stories. I like Anne Rice, but anything more recent is sort of... creepy in a very bad way).

Bernard Cornwell is the MASTER of the battle and also heroic quests--his Graal Trilogy is amazing and even Stonehenge... He can mix magic and reality in such a way that no one else can--he can make history sound much much more interesting than it ever will during History Lessons. ;)

I'm no RPG player, as I said before, but my best friend since we were 12 (as in bestest friend forever and all that teen thing) has been a major RPG addict for the past 10 or so years, playing all sorts of RPG, collecting books and characters over the years, so I've heard ALL about lots of systems, characters, classes, races, gaming schemes and adventures--don't think I'm just a newbie, even if I've never played it myself, I'm a major listener!

What I'll bring to you, every week, is a bit about the literature world, about books that can make you wonder into a world of adventure, suffer with characters that you can't (unfortunately) control and even improve your gaming and storytelling skills! I'll also talk a bit about my love for books and why they're so cool and... loveable!

Please, if you have any book you want to hear more about, do comment and let me know! See you next week.

Contest

2010-09-17T13:13:00.000-03:00

My 2d6+1 readers are already aware of how fantastic World vs. Hero is, right? If you don't remember that amazing storytelling game, here's my review.

And now John Fiore has offered a free copy of the paperback release: you should enter the contest and take a shot!

On other news, my computer is not dead anymore, but I'm not so sure I'll recover the lost data...

Spirit of Star Trek

2010-09-02T10:03:00.000-03:00

Looking on the files section of the FATE Yahoo Group I've found a few character sheets I've made in the past... and they were down with my computer (I've lost the source files anyway, so this is no big deal now).

As I'm watching ST: TNG series again with my wife (it's her first time), I've decided to upload them here too.

Prety, but ink draining, right?

A lot better to print, I think.

Just an idea for a char I've had when creating the sheets a few years ago.

Meanwhile

2010-09-01T17:44:00.000-03:00

My computer continues dead, but a friend of mine is verifying if it will revive after some procedures... Meanwhile, I was able to finish one novel I was writing for a looong time.

Yep. No computer and no videogames help when you write on your smartphone.

My 2d6+2 readers, however, won't be able to read it so soon: it's in Portuguese. And, frankly, I don't think I'd have the will to translate it into English--I'd rather write something directly in English than trying to translate it.

At least I know a few old fans who are not English-speakers that will smile when see the 200-page book on their hands.

The only thing that really bothers me is the waiting. True, a publisher had already contacted me about the book. And I can't print more than few copies as I need to rely on someone else's printer at the time (no, no Kinko's here in Brazil).

So, for a few days I'll try to do the first proofreading step. As I'm without computer anyway, this won't take me too long.

Dead computer

2010-08-26T09:54:00.000-03:00

Yes, my computer is dead. It powers up, but nothing else works.

When, and if, I get it running again (or get another one and transfer everything to it) I'll let you know.

For those who got Dark Fate RPG in print

2010-08-18T01:00:00.000-03:00

I'd like to give all my readers who got Dark Fate RPG in print a free PDF copy. Yes, maybe it's a bit late for some, but I've decided to do so, and here's the chance.

If you've got a printed copy (from Lulu) of Dark Fate RPG and want this free PDF, just send me an email.

And, if you were waiting until now to buy your deadtree version, the time has come!

Musings

2010-08-17T13:28:00.000-03:00

Yes, I've bought an e-reader. It's a Brazilian one, called Alfa, made by Positivo. It has a 6" black & white screen and its battery should last two to three weeks.

It has more than enough space for the books I usually consult, and it accepts ePub and PDF formats. An image intensive PDF (one with full color background images on every page and great artwork--A Game of Thrones d20-based Open Gaming in this case) takes a good 30 seconds to change pages. A less intensive PDF (one with line drawing images and lots of text--Barbarians of Lemuria Legendary Edition in this case) takes less than a second to change pages--almost as quick as an ePub file.

Now I wish more publishers invest in ePub RPGs... Maybe I should even make an ePub version of Dark Fate available too.

Which game do you wanna play?

2010-08-12T15:09:00.000-03:00

This morning, while reading my tweets, I've saw a quick (everything is quick when there are only 142 characters of info available) post by @newbiedm:

At this point, I would ask this guy why he just doesn't play another game. http://www.daneofwar.com/2010/08/4e-house-rules.html #dnd

After following the link I've found a mash up of house rules that makes 4th edition a whole different beast. But I'm not here to judge if the changes are good or bad--to each his own. In fact, all the OSR movement uses house rules on a way or another (from the single saving throw from Swords & Wizard to the cleric spell progression of Labyrinth Lord). And, let's face it: we love house rules.

But which game do we wanna play? Is there a line that, once crossed, makes the game a different one? How many house rules can one add and still claim to play the game?

I don't have a definitive answer. Maybe there's one, but I didn't find it yet. In any case, I can't judge any 4th edition modifications as I am not familiar with its rules (and no, thanks, I don't intend to learn how to play "Final Fantasy Tactics" on a board and call it a RPG).

So, speaking of what I know, if one tried to include powers used once per encounter on my Swords & Wizardry I'd find it strange, but I wouldn't call it another game. I could even understand the use of miniatures if I play at someone's else table, but when I'm the Referee I would ignore them completely. Including skills? I'm on the fence, as Dark Fate has a simple skill resolution (x-in-6 chance of acomplishing something, but mainly used with NPCs), and maybe because my background as a long time GURPS GM. Aspects (a la Fate)? Maybe it's too much...

Then, my dear 2d6+3 readers (did you notice the change?), I need to ask you: when the house rules are too much for you?

Wilderness Geomorph #15

2010-08-08T21:56:00.000-03:00

What surprises could lie in that underwater lair? Is it an old temple? A lost city? An ancient cave system?

Wilderness Geomorph #14

2010-08-06T09:40:00.000-03:00

Another heavy forested region, but including a long mountain range too.

Turning undead again

2010-08-05T16:21:00.000-03:00

I'm thinking about the clerical ability take for granted: turning undead.

It's all and good, and we love it (at least it's the ability I like most, even more than spellcasting), but let's consider a different approach.

Think about a setting without undead beings.

I know undead is an iconic condition on many fantasy worlds. Let's face it, Dark Fate has a whole Necropolis full of undead! But let's take this as a creativity exercise.

Consider a world without undead creatures of any kind. No skeletons, no zombies, no ghosts...

Dead is dead and that's it. No animate dead or raising from the grave or letting unfinished business behind to hold your soul.

Ok. It was not that difficult to think about it, right?

And now... picture the Cleric.

The great bastion of faith now has nothing to turn. Turn undead is of no use when there's nothing to be turned.

A few could argue that it's a way to blend the wizard & cleric spells together and get rid of one of the classes.

But what if we wanted to keep the Cleric? What to do with his Turn Undead when there are no undead creatures? Would it act as an aura of protection keeping "evil" beings at bay (and now we have another problem--defining what is "evil")? Would his faith act as a constant bless to his peers?

Or should the Cleric be removed?

I don't have the answer yet.

Wilderness Geomorph #13

2010-08-05T00:20:00.000-03:00

A large forested zone full of perils.

And we are back!

2010-08-04T14:14:00.000-03:00

Apologies to my 1d6+3 readers for the few days without access to www.darkfaterpg.com and, as a consequence, without access to the Random Wilderness Hex Map.

But now everything is back to normal. Enjoy.

Is this how I write? (update)

2010-08-04T01:00:00.001-03:00

I write like
Daniel Defoe

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

...or...

I write like
Ursula K. Le Guin

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

...or...

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Three texts of mine (intro to an unpublished work, excerpt of Dark Fate, game transcription) and three different analisys. Do you know what that means?

I write like
Marcelo Frossard Paschoalin

This pastiche by Marcelo Frossard Paschoalin, based on Mémoires using Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Microlite75 - New playtest version

2010-08-03T12:52:00.000-03:00

Randall Stukey has put a lot of effort on his Microlite75 rules, and I'm following each playtest release closely as it seems to me a great way to play games with great but light rules. Like Microlite20, the rules are distilled to its essence and it's one of the greatest roleplaying inventions of the last few years.

One more page from the past

2010-08-02T01:00:00.003-03:00

Amethyst, Princess of the Gemworld, volume 3, issue 3 of 4

Off-line!

2010-08-01T09:56:00.000-03:00

My host provider simply didn't tell me that www.darkfaterpg.com domain expired... And they don't answer during weekends!

Wilderness Geomorph #12

2010-08-01T01:00:00.000-03:00

A plains lair, a montains lair, a forest dungeon and a village nearby them...

Another page from the past

2010-07-31T01:02:00.001-03:00

Amethyst - Princess of the Gemworld, volume 2, issue 12, page 5

Wilderness Geomorph #11

2010-07-30T01:00:00.002-03:00

Petrified Trees (southeast) -- EL 4

Two oddly looking trees next to each other seem to have webs instead foliage, and indeed they have. Small holes on the petrified trees guard the eggs of 12 (Smaller) Giant Spiders, but a large one contains the shiny round objects that constitute their treasure (48 silver kingdoms and 1 agate appraised at 11 silver kingdoms). The dead body of a horse hangs on a large web cocoon, acting as an unforeseen warning to anyone approaching the lair.

Ruined Keep -- Dungeon (north) -- EL 3

The battered stones of a ruined keep act seem omnious and covered by an eerie fog, as the old building is the lair of undead creatures. The immortality conquered by the price of their wills forced the unliving beings to protect their last bastion, but on the quiet nights some skeletons can be seen acting as messengers carrying the orders of the demonic creatures that live to the southwest. A large and hollow onyx orb (327 gold baronies) is the perchten's treasured possession--it's a small mystical item, protecting him from being target by magic missiles of any kind (the orb is 2' large, so it's awkward to carry).

Level 1 - 8x Skeletons (24 silver kingdoms, 120 gold baronies, 200 copper counties)
Level 2 - 1x Perchten (10 silver kingdoms, 110 gold baronies, 600 copper counties)
Level 3 - 25x Skeletons (51 silver kingdoms, 210 gold baronies, 1000 copper counties)

Standing Stones (north) -- EL 5

An old stone circle is the home of 9 Erges, devoted to the furthering of the Undead Menace. The creatures also seek giving eternal unlife to those who they deem worth--anyone who dares to fight them would be considered. The ritual needed to cast their corrupted version of raise dead is carved on an altar on the center of the stone circle. Beneath the heavy stone of the altar lies their treasure (65 silver kingdoms, 150 gold baronies, 1080 copper counties and a large jade ring appraised at 100 silver kingdoms).

Wilderness Geomorph #10

2010-07-29T01:00:00.001-03:00

Spider Grove (forest, center) -- EL 2

The woods seem to be a bit more dense around a large slanted stone. Small wild animals usually evade this area, but sometimes a loner becomes prey to the 4 (Smaller) Giant Spiders that live there. There are 4 web cocoons hanging on the highest tree, one of them containing the remains of an adventurer, including a broken silver necklace missing a gem (agate, appraised at 6 silver kingdoms), a small pouch with 26 gold baronies, and a dagger with wolf teeth on the hilt (a trinket: dagger +1 against wolves and lycanthropes).

Ancient Wedding Site (grasslands, north) -- EL 10

Many years ago three systers were to be wed on a big cerimony under the moon, but their would be husbands never shown, causing them great shame before their village. The three maidens left their village at midnight, silently crying, wishing to return to the site where their weddings would happen, but they were not match for the perils of the land. Killed by wild animals, their souls never rested, and they became Kiskils. Near a large boulder, covered by wild flowers, lie their old wedding gifts: a golden crown with a topaz (appraised at 600 silver kingdoms), a bracelet with an onyx (50 silver kingdoms) and a pair of agate earrings (11 silver kingdoms).

Cave -- Dungeon (northwest) -- EL 5

On a small cave by the foot of the hills there's the trapped entrance to a bandit lair (15 Bandits total). There are always 2d6 Bandits there (the others are hunting or preying on the nearby village), but lately they've heard moanings on the back of the cave. They blocked the inner passages near the natural descending shaft, fearful of what could exist beyond, but they are not fond of letting strangers near their lair. A treasure chest on their lair has around 300 gold baronies, but the inner levels have even more riches.

Level 2 - 11x Skeletons (23 silver kingdoms, 130 gold baronies, 180 copper counties)
Level 3 - 24x Skeletons (74 silver kingdoms, 280 gold baronies, 720 copper counties)
Level 4 - 56x Skeletons (68 silver kingdoms, 410 gold baronies, 2620 copper counties, one agate button appraised at 9 silver kingdoms)
Level 5 - 4x Reahus (147 silver kingdoms, 280 gold baronies, 1150 copper counties, one jade idol appraised at 120 silver kingdoms)

Guidelines on Hex Map generation

2010-07-28T10:21:00.003-03:00

Based on the advice found at The Escapist, I've decided for the following guidelines on making the next geomorphs.

Considering the 11x10 hex map each geomorph is, and agreeing each hex should be 6-mile wide (roughly 30 square miles on each hex), each geomorph represents an area of 3600 squared miles (give or take a few).

Include the following Encounter areas:

1 dungeon/lair designed for 1-2 sessions of play
1 small lair designed for a half-session of play

Then roll 1d6:

1: 1 megadungeon designed for about 6-10 sessions of play
2-6: 1 small lair designed for a half-session of play

Include the following Settlements:

1 village

Then roll 2d6:

2: mines/monuments/points of interest
3-7: nothing
8-9: village
10-11: castle
12: town

Terrain generation

Starting at a random hex, roll 1d20:

1-6: Hills
7: Swamp
8-11: Forest
12: Farms
13-20: Clear terrain

Then roll 1d10 to create the "path" the terrain will follow:

1-6: Next terrain feature will be straight ahead
7-8: Next terrain feature will be 1 hex-side to the right
9-10: Next terrain feature will be 1 hex-side to the left

After the placement of a terrain feature, roll 1d6. If it's 1 or 2, don't roll the next kind of terrain, using the same instead.

If the next terrain to be placed would go beyond the borders of the geomorph or would go over an already placed terrain, just continue following in a straight line (looping around when needed) until finding an empty hex.

Also keep in mind that there are no farms nowhere, nor swamps without water. So, half the swamp hexes should be converted to water, and at least one farm hex should be converted to a settlement. If there are more farm clusters than settlements, convert the remaining farms to grasslands.

Any cluster of hills should include 1/3 of mountain hexes (convert hill hexes as needed). Likewise, any cluster of forests should include 1/3 of heavy forest hexes.

Ideas?

Random Wilderness Hex Map!

2010-07-28T08:29:00.000-03:00

It's alive! It's alive!

Yesterday I've put together 9 Wilderness Geomorphs, not paying much heed about their estetical values or anything like that--my goal was to know if a Random Wilderness Hex Map could be done.

And it can!

So, without further ado, here is it!

Now I have the templates in place I may start preparing better geomorphs, following a theme or some other more elaborate plan. Until then, you may play with the small little generator, based on Dyson Logos' and Risus Monkey's, using Rob Lang's code.

By the way, here are the first 9 geomorphs used, just FYI:

I hope you like it, my dear 1d6+3 readers. The full url is this: http://www.darkfaterpg.com/geo/geomorph.html.

WIP - Wilderness Random Geomorphs

2010-07-27T15:30:00.000-03:00

Inspired by Dyson Logos' Geomorphs and The Risus Monkey's Random Map, I've decided to try my hand at a random geomorph wilderness map. So far the initial tests are a success, but I'd like to have a few more geomorphs ready before showing them.

At least I'll have something new to show to my 1d6+3 readers soon. Maybe even linked to some "sandbox outline generator", but one step a time, right?

World vs. Hero - Review

2010-07-23T17:08:00.000-03:00

World vs. Hero (WvsH from now on) is a small game from John Fiore, recently published by Word Mill Publishing (the makers of Mythic--and the favorite Mythic: Game Master Emulator, or Mythic: GME for short). It's subtitled The strategic storytelling game for two players, but does it accomplish that?

Yes, in fantastic ways. First of all, we have two competing players, the World Player and the Hero Player. The Hero Player controls, basically, the actions of the heroes of the story (it's a storytelling game after all), and the World Player, basically, controls the rest (other characters, the whole environment). I say basically because both players have some limited narrative control, but let me tell you first what you'll need: pencil, paper, a standard deck of cards and imagination.

The PDF file has 79 pages (accordingly with Adobe Reader), and it's full of good things. If you print the file (like I did), I recommend making a booklet (A5 size, or about the size of the old LBB), as the low page count seems better fit for that (or at least a digest sized paper). But what will you find inside?

After a two-page Introduction where the basic concepts are presented, the book moves to the first chapter, dealing with World Creation.

By World, and I assume my 1d6+3 readers are familiar with RPG concepts, the WvsH assumes it is your game/story setting, your blank canvas ready to be painted with broad strokes (and I really mean broad in this case, as you'll see). The ideas of Genre ("a category of fiction determined by the style and subject matter of
the story") and Size (your World doesn't need to be a planet--it could be a dungeon, a city, a realm, a space ship or whatever you want--and usually smaller settings are better detailed than larger ones) are presented, followed by the World Description--this is a one or two-paragraph showing the scope of the created setting, like what you would find on the back cover blurb of a RPG Campaign Setting. I really like the idea of summarizing the important aspects of a setting like it was proposed, as it gives the players the rough guidelines of what someone would expect from the scenario. Closing this chapter there are a few tips regarding the expected heroes that dwell in the created setting, once again in broad strokes, in the manner of Hero Types, Races, and Affiliations.

The second chapter deals with Hero Creation. Based on the World, it's expected the Hero Player create one to N heroes to adventure on it. I say N because each kind of story may require a different number--a dungeon delve may have six heroes as a "party", a noir story may have a lone PI, a romantic soap opera may have four, and so on. Each hero has a type (character class, anyone?) a race and may belong to some affiliation--in other words, each hero will be tied to the World on those most basic levels. However, each hero also has a description (much like the World Description), a mix of background story and goals, all in five sentences or so. That description will be used over and over again during the game... but there's more: each hero has a roll of Suit Abilities ("incredible skills, powers, and feats that a hero possesses and utilizes more effectively than ordinary folks do"), alpha-numerical stats that can be used to manipulate the story.

They are called Suit Abilities because they are linked to one of the four suits of a standard deck of cards: Clubs (physical strength and body-related abilities), Spades (dexterity and agility-related abilities), Diamonds (intelligence and mental-related abilities) and Hearts (wisdom and spirit-related abilities). Like FATE Aspects or Risus Clichés, those Suit Abilities must be described by the Hero Player, fitting them to the card suit most related to the idea he makes of the ability. For example, an ability like Dark Blessing (the player indicates the hero is able to channel spells of the night and healing invocations) could be tied to Hearts if its seen like a spiritual power of sorts, but it could be tied to Diamonds indicating the hero comprehended his powers to the point of being something he could apprimorate through study.

Those Suit Abilities also have a level of impact on the story, from Low Impact to Extreme Impact. While they are subjective, they provide rough guidelines about the way each scene will develop. They are also used as a riposte to the actions of the World Player, so while a good range of abilities are important, it's also fundamental to have means to trump once a while. In addition, each hero has a Special FX ability, that represents the kind of effect that can only happen rarely but it's able to change a story.

Then we move to the third chapter, Adventure Design. The chapter begins with an Adventure Premise (the World may be big, but what this particular story is about?) and complements with Adventure Locations (where the action will happen). Yet, the most important part of this chapter is the Conflict Lists.

A story is made of conflicts. There's a problem, the heroes deal with it and move on. The Conflict Lists are the way the World Player will affect the heroes, creating the threats they need to overcome. Each Adventure Location will have 10 Conflicts, each one tied to a card value... and why is this important? Because not every conflict may show during an adventure, and the World Player may not impose all of them on the heroes.

This is a two-player game, and there are rules that prevent the World Player to become a Game Master, a Dungeon Master or a Referee. He is just one of the players... one with big powers, but still limited to the rules of the game.

Now we reach the fourth chapter and the heart of the book: Playing the Game.
As we've seen, one of the needed elements of WvsH is a deck of cards. The cards will be sorted accordingly with the book, shuffled and on the end you'll have 40 cards that must be used during the whole game, five cards a time (consisting an entire round of play). So, after those 8 rounds, the game (and hopefully the story) will be over.

Basically a round follows the sequence below:

The World Player draws 5 cards at random, placing them between the players;
The Hero Player establishes the adventure location (describing how the heroes get there and sets the overall tone of the round);
The World Player accesses 1 card, using its face value to initiate a conflict (remember the Conflict List has 10 entries, each one numbered), narrating a scene involving it;
The Hero Player accesses 1 card, using its suit to activate one of the Suit Abilities of his heroes, narrating how the conflict is dealt with.
Return to 3 while there are cards to be accessed.

So, while both players have narrative control during their turns, the cards on the table limit what they can do, forcing them to focus on them. This way, it doesn't matter if the World Player put a "9- Meteor Shower" on his Conflict List if there are no 9s on the table now. But as the Hero Player doesn't have access to the list--yet he will have access to the effects of the cards, so indirectly he will access the list.

That's the beauty of WvsH. The need of focusing on the cards on the table allows the players to create an exciting story without being overwhelmed by all the options they normally have on free-form storytelling games--they must consciously use their resources (the cards and their abilities/conflicts) in order to develop the whole adventure.

The book goes on with a chapter dedicated to Optional Rules--including clever ways to use WvsH with published RPG Campaign Settings and, my favorite, play by email tips--and ends with an Appendix (with lots of examples of World Premises and pre-made heroes) and a Glossary.

So, if you like storytelling games, or want a more focused approach in play by email games, or even if you want some one-on-one fun, World vs. Hero is the game to grab. It's a fantastic storytelling rules system and it has replaced some of my gaming nights when there's just another player around the table.

By the way, there are also ways to play WvsH solo, using the good Mythic: Game Master Emulator mentioned earlier and the tips on the WvsH blog.

ENnies 2010

2010-07-16T15:15:00.000-03:00

And you should vote too! You know those guys: Bat in the Attic, Mythmere Games, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Evil Hat...

They make great games and we own them our vote. It's not an OSR thing--it's our payback for the hobby we love so much.

It'll take you less than 5 minutes to cast your vote. Do your part.

Too much to read

2010-07-12T12:45:00.000-03:00

And then we find ourselves with a good pile of books while considering getting a few more. At least I may always consider them "research material" and keep buying a few others.

And yes, as soon as I get home I'll make another purchase, this time on DriveThruRPG. I don't keep wishlists, but there at least three books I'm eager to read as soon as possible.

Initiative roll idea

2010-07-09T03:00:00.013-03:00

Alex Schroeder suggested the following on his blog:

Roll initiative at the beginning. Take the highest initiative modifier for the enemies and just roll once. Announce the number. Any player character who beats this number can go. Then the enemies go. Then all the player characters go again, in any order. Either by how quickly they can decide, or go around the table. This works because they could delay for another anyway. The only thing that you loose is unconscious and dying characters effectively get to delay as well, but that’s not problem for me. The benefit is that you can just ask “has every body gone?” and if nobody says anything, enemies go. Plus: indecisive players automatically have more time to decide.

What I like here is how it simplifies the initiative roll while still giving it the importance it deserves. While he meant his suggestion should be used with a large group, I don't see any reasons not to use it even with four opponents involved. I'll probably use the following steps on my next combat:

Take the quickiest enemy NPC and roll initiative for him;
Announce the number;
Let the players roll their initiative;
Players with rolls equal to or higher than the announced initiative act;
All the enemies act;
All other players act;
Back to 1--allowing the initiative number change from round to round.

I'm interested to see this in action. Let's see what my players think about it.

AD&D 2nd Edition

2010-07-08T12:22:00.000-03:00

Thanks, Greyhawk Grognard! Your post led me directly to New Haven Games' Realms of Eternal Epic page, and I'm really intrigued by the whole concept.

You see, most of my D&D games back in the day used the Rules Cyclopedia--the holy grail of D&D for me--but AD&D 2nd Edition was the "other" game I've played a lot--including two weekly online campaigns using WebRPG when it was still free.

I won't hang on their forums too much, except as a lurker, but I'm interested to see how the game will develop. But even if they follow a strange path on their remake x retroclone concept, the final result will surely deserve a good reading.

Rules lite

2010-07-07T13:57:00.000-03:00

Blame my GURPS background, back on the days I could create a 100-point fantasy hero without looking at a single page of the Basic Set. It was not that I had everything by heart, but I simply had made enough characters that I simply didn't need the book anymore (but don't ask me a single question about Psyonic powers, as I barely read that chapter).

So, whenever I got a new rules system, I usually considered it easy to learn. And then we are back to the present where one can find the retroclone (and the indy game) that really pleases him. Wanna a rules lite system with much room for customization? Try Risus. Wanna to emulate the way you played back in the day? Try Swords & Wizardry, OSRIC or Dark Dungeons. Wanna something more story-related? Try FATE. Wanna a system that seems old school but created on a new school environent? Try Barbarians of Lemuria (and Barbarians of the Aftermath). Wanna all the goodness of the 3rd. Edition without all the books? Try Microlite20.

And this list is far from complete.

Nowadays I admit I prefer rules lite systems. I don't want to spend a couple of hours creating a hero, or an entire afternoon thinking about the NPCs my players will find. I want the ability to make everything on the fly, with low prep, and still feel the game is going on, being surprised by my players' decisions and the roll of the dice.

Confession: a big GURPS campaign I've GMed (7 years) was made completely on the fly. I didn't write down a single ability or attribute of any of the NPCs or monsters my players found, simply deciding "this NPC should have 14 as his main fighting skill, and this one has only 6 as his best active defense" without worrying about game balance. If a complex system like GURPS allowed that, simpler systems are even more likely to grant me that kind of ability.

So, when my players asked me to change the game system of our weekly campaign from Swords & Wizardry to Microlite74, I was really pleased. Not that S&W is complex--it was just Microlite74 that was even simplier and gave us more room to play. But, looking back at the gaming table, even that simplification was not needed.

Or, in other words, I really don't know why we now prefer using Microlite74 than Swords & Wizardry. We just did it. And we liked it.

The RPG conventions model

2010-07-06T13:18:00.000-03:00

Yep, we want to promote our hobby. We want to unite the roleplayers under a single banner and march onward.

Okay, maybe not. But we would like to see the hobby grow.

Here in Brazil we have a big problem. Disregarding the appeal of the media telling some RPGs are the source of murders, illicit behavior and such, we don't have many RPG conventions.

Let me tell you: we have 1 (one) yearly RPG convention in the biggest Brazilian city. Nothing more than that. (right, some might claim the group "RPG Arautos" organize monthly games, but they follow a tournment format with D&D 4th ed. rules, so while I admire their efforts, it doesn't matter much when we have only a single yearly big event).

Once a while someone has some brilliant idea and organizes a con somewhere. However, without advertising, the ones who play there are usualy the same who organize the event...

What I think we need is more regional RPG conventions. We don't need anything really big: 5 Referees with six players each (35 people playing) would be enough to make the people notice the hobby is alive. If that happens bi-monthly, we'll sure have a lot more roleplayers in the end.

RPGCon impressions

2010-07-05T09:04:00.000-03:00

It was a wonderful weekend at RPGCon. The local was the same--it was the second yearly event there--and the organization had improved a lot (not that really mattered, as last year's RPGCon was great too). It was good to see the Brazilian roleplaying community once again together...

What I really like on those kind of events is the opportunity to see the old acquaintances year after year. There are some I knew in the first roleplaying events help in Brazil, others I've met once on a gaming table and seem to always be there to chat a little... Another great thing is meeting players that were once in one of your past year's adventures wanting to find a spot on your gaming table this year again.

A few years ago, when we had what was called "Encontro Internacional de RPG" (Internation RPG Convention), bringing every year some international writer or designer (from the top of my mind: Steve Jackson, Margaret Weiss and Monte Cook were here at least once), it was said we had the world's second largest RPG con--first place goes to GenCon, obviously. I don't know if we can keep the title nowadays, but I believe there were around fifteen hundred people there--of couse I may be biased, as I didn't walked around the whole place.

I had the chance of playtesting the "Red Plague" adventure thrice. Some things that happened on every session gave me insight on how to change some details of the adventure (what I did on the fly), but the main structure is still the same. I'm truly grateful for my players, and I know I own them that much.

Giving that I wanted to playtest some things, the first and the third time I've ran "Red Plague" I've used Microlite74 rules--the second time I've used Swords & Wizardry. Both systems handled the adventure well, and I don't really have a favorite on this matter. Maybe that's due to both having the same old school principles, but I'll let my 1d6+1 readers judge that.

I also had the opportunity to play a quick game of Ticket to Ride: Europe, a nice game designed by Alan Moon and still embark on a fun journey as a player! Yes, this year, for a change, I sat down on a fellow GM's table and could see what was to feel like the other side of the GM's Screen (not that I use a screen, but the image seems classical enough to be ignored). It was an intersting Big Ears Small Mouse game (a supplement for BESM, or Big Eyes Small Mouth, an anime-focused RPG), where Nazi-like white and albino rats were behind a great conspiracy to kill all other colored rats, backed by a twisted logic (if all the remaining rats are white and, therefore, "cute", the humans won't kill them anymore).

Anyway, it was a fun weekend. While my fellow readers from USA were enjoying their Independence Day (without flying soucers or Will Smith piloted jets), I was having a hell of a good time roleplaying.

Total Party Kill

2010-07-02T13:18:00.002-03:00

Or kind of...

Brazil lost the quarter-final match to Netherlands...

No more posts today.

New trap: it's not just a Save or Die roll

2010-06-30T16:32:00.000-03:00

A small excerpt from the adventure I'll run on RPGCon. I just hope no one wanting to play on my table reads this... but it'll be easy to spot any offenders.

On a corner lies an alcove-like formation with a large stone tablet strongly attached to it (marked as a square on the map), covered with some green moss. Around the stone tablet lie three skeletons, long dead, wearing robes and holding (non-magical) wooden staves. Anyone who approaches the stone tablet (10’ radius) will begin to hear the words “Predlagat mi zhivot do mozhe na pochinaliya sega” spoken by three different voices in sequence, always repeating itself after a brief pause, like a mantra or chant. If the green moss is removed (burning is an option), the same words will be found engraved on the stone, albeit some seem defaced. Anyone who says those words aloud must roll a Save or die, as those words will take the spirit of those who utter them from the flesh, tormenting it to never leave the place and continuously repeat them until the end of the ages.

Does anyone think this is a good one? I'm sure it will be interesting to see it in action.

Adventure/Module writing and RPGCon

2010-06-29T12:43:00.000-03:00

Next weekend I'll be at RPGCon, today's biggest RPG con here in Brazil. There are four slots to GM, mornings and afternoons, Saturday and Sunday. I'll be GMing during the whole event, carrying Dark Fate around and rolling some dice.

I've been working on the adventure I'll GM (same adventure during the whole event, but ready to do some things on the fly if a group of players decide to play more than once with me) for a while. In fact it's a redesign of an old adventure my old publisher asked me to write but he never had the chance to publish (his company went bankrupt after deciding to invest in comics).

So I'm doing the layout of the adventure, hoping to give it a face lift while proofreading everything. The adventure has changed a lot since its first inception, but still fits the 4-hour assigned time and scales well from 2 to 6 first or second level characters--true, there's room for a little high level adventurers, but I don't intend to have them on my gaming table during the event.

Yet I could use an extra pair of eyes to read the adventure while I'm doing the layout and artwork, as I could have missed something in the middle of those pages. I'd not call this adventure a module yet, but if everything goes as planned, eventually I'll do that. But I want to walk before running, so I'm setting lower goals this time.

But I'm also thinking about writing more than one version of this adventure, including a Barbarians of Lemuria version of it. Everything would remain the same, but all the stats would be converted. BoL's author gave me the green light, but this is not a priority right now. For now it's a Swords & Wizardry compatible adventure.

But if you are curious regarding the adventure, let me tell you this: what if three knights of the Prismatic Order arrive to the city where you and your companions are and tell they came to prevent a tragedy that didn't happen yet? Before too long people begin to be sick and they seal the gates in order to prevent the plague to escalate... Will you be able to eradicate the plague before it's too late?

And the World Cup goes on

2010-06-29T12:25:00.000-03:00

What can a roleplayer learn from the World Cup?

2010-06-27T20:42:00.000-03:00

We have lived thousands adventures, making our characters defy terrible foes, gaining experience, glory and gold along the way.

But we also have faced a few bad referees along the way.

They have some characteristics: sometimes it's unfairness, others it's grudge, yet there are oversights and unfun railroads. Once a while they give hundreds of treasure without reason or force you to choose certain death or painful death (not a choice, by the way, since the result is the same)...

And World Cup 2010 in South Africa has it's fair share of bad referees.

Legit goals denied, invalid goals allowed, excess of violence overlooked, sent-offs without reason...

Let's face it: a bad referee is bad for the game. On the soccer field or on the gaming table.

Think about being a referee. It's not his job to provide fun for everyone--yet he can't bend the rules to favor one or another.

On our gaming table, however, once we find a bad referee we usually dismiss him and don't allow him GMing our games.

On the World Cup, that's not the case.

Winter Time

2010-06-25T13:17:00.000-03:00

Quote of the week

2010-06-24T12:38:00.000-03:00

"Pencil. Paper. Dice. Imagination. A traditional role-playing game requires all of these, and traditional role-playing is my hobby. I don't care if you have an app for that, if you show up to my games without any of the first three, they will be provided for you and you will use them. If you don't have the fourth, well, shit, wrong hobby for you!"

James Edward Raggi IV, June 23, 2010

Barbarians of Lemuria: a quick review

2010-06-23T10:26:00.000-03:00

There are few RPGs one would call a gem. Some are called that due to nostalgic reasons, others due to overdo hype... Barbarians of Lemuria is neither. It's not an old game we played when we started in the hobby back in 74, 80's or 90's (your milleage may vary). Yet, this 110-page PDF feels like an old school title and it's very welcomed in my gaming table.

I won't dare to compare Barbarians of Lemuria to that old science-fiction game where you could die when rolling your character. Each one has its own strengths and are completely different systems, but somehow when reading Simon W.'s book my mind drifted away to that old RPG...

Let's see... We have careers, we roll 2d6 and must reach 9 or more after adding some modifiers...
Yes, I was mistaken. In that old sci-fi game we needed to reach 8 or more. It's completely different. ;-)

Okay, jokes aside, I really like Barbarians of Lemuria. Let me tell you what you'll find in the book.

It's a 110-page PDF with a 2-collumn layout and line drawing artwork. It has a clean design and my printer didn't screamed "Ink!" when printing. The artwork is simple and evocative, but I didn't like the style so much--and a word of warning to the puritans: there are a few bare breasts, but this in any way detracts the book (it's my humble opinion the artist followed the sword & sorcery genre art to the letter, as many S&S tales depict partially nude women ready to saved from eldritch horrors or ready to be sacrificed).

I am not too qualified to review the setting background as I've never read Carter's Lemuria, so I won't dabble in those areas. However, having played a mini-campaign using Barbarians of Lemuria rules and Howard's Hyborean Age background where a barbarian becomes king, I'm apt to say the game instills the creating of great characters and even--dare I say that in a S&S setting?--heroes.

Speaking of characters, a group of four players who had never played Barbarians of Lemuria before was able to create their chars in less than 10 minutes. And that's a plus in my GMing book.

But how a character is created in these rules? It's a point buy system with few attributes and few abilities. Once you've made that choice, you almost finished your character creation. What is missing? The careers.

And here is one of the points where the rules shine.

From a roll of 24 (give or take a few as I don't have the book in my hands now) careers, you'll be able to pick 4. Then, using a few points (remember this is a point buy system!) you'll select which careers your character has more aptitude or has spent more time as. This choice almost determines a kind of character background, as you'll be able to see how your character started as a Farmer and became a Pirate (for instance). Instant character background is always another plus in my book. Add the equipment rules (simply give whatever the players want--if it's too much make them lose it somehow; if it's less than you think they need, give something to them during the adventure) and you're set.

And how the system works?

In combat, you'll roll 2d6, add the appropriate attribute, add the appropriate combat ability, add/subtract any modifiers. If the result is 9 or more you succeed.

Outside combat, you'll roll 2d6, add the appropriate attirbute, add any appropriate careers, add/subtract any modifiers. If the result is 9 or more you succeed.

There are a few more details, like using Hero Points (meta-gaming abilities, auto critical results and such) and using magic (true to the genre, it's dangerous, time consuming, and corrupting), but they are equally simple and fun to use.

What about the fun factor?

High. Extremely high. One of the first adventures I've GMed to the group was a variation on Howard's The Tower of the Elephant, and the group instantly was drawn into action. There was no downtime looking for rules (hey, the main rules of the game were described ahead, so believe me when I tell you this is a rules light system!) and the fights were interesting: rabble monsters fell like the cannon-fodder they were and the main villains fought well in a epic combat.

This is a masterpiece. I can't deny it. Or, better yet, like I've said at first, this is a gem. Grab it. You won't be disappointed.

Graveyard Pledge

2010-06-21T10:44:00.002-03:00

Magical Friday: Dagger of light

2010-06-18T19:16:00.002-03:00

The small blade accumulates light and gradually releases it when in darker environments--a lot less brighter than a torch, but enough to provide lighting to read scrolls and spellbooks. However, the blade must receive light for an entire hour in order to be able to generate ten minutes of light.

In combat, the Dagger of light doesn't provide any bonuses at all, except when fighting Shadows or shadow-like creatures, when it gives a +1 bonus to hit and causes double damage.

Donation made

2010-06-17T22:48:00.000-03:00

I'd like to thank each and every reader who helped during this month purchasing Dark Fate as the net profit of all sales was already sent to Randall Stukey's RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund.

I'm glad we were able to help, even in this modest way.

Thanks. Thank you a lot.

Reminder: Randall Stukey's RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund

2010-06-15T12:45:00.000-03:00

Just a gentle reminder: All Dark Fate sales made today will revert to Randall Stukey's RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund! If you wanna help a fellow roleplayer and receive a RPG book while doing so, this is your chance!

More than a review

2010-06-14T08:04:00.000-03:00

The blog World vs. Hero, an excellent reading for everyone who likes story games, put Dark Fate on the spotlight this weekend. More than that, the author made an in-depth analisys of Dark Fate's campaign world like I rarely see.

What are you waiting, dear 1d6+1 readers? The spotlight is here!

Magical Friday: Tetrahedron of Balance

2010-06-11T19:21:00.000-03:00

This small d4-like piece will never tilt to the side, even when placed upside down or under a powerful force--once it is on the ground, it'll remain perfect balanced until removed vertically.

Some say the Tetrahedron of Balance was a joke created by a sorcerer who disliked gamblers. Others still try to figure out the real reason it was created.

The Tower of the Elephant

2010-06-11T13:36:00.000-03:00

Do you know why I love that short story by Howard? Because it's a complete adventure in itself, full of everything we like. I'm trying to be spoiler free here, just in case one of my 1d4+2 readers hasn't read the tale yet.

Plothook: someone telling tales regarding an awesome treasure no one could grab.

Warm-up combat: sneaky killing on an unlit tavern.

Initial challenge: a wall hiding mysterious guardians.

Face-off with a NPC: Is he a friend or no? Can we trust him?

Dubious challenge: There are enemies hidden. Do I trust the NPC to ward them off?

Combat: One guardian left. Can he be defeated?

Second challenge: Climbing the tower is not an easy task.

Trap (or traplike situation): Mortal enemy hidden in shadows.

False climax: Too many riches here. Is that the prize?

WTF: What is the secret of The Tower of the Elephant?

Final confrontation: The climax of the adventure.

Considering the format, I could even call the tale a fantastic example of a 5-room dungeon, but I'll let you decide if that's a fair call.

Lost

2010-06-08T23:49:00.000-03:00

When travelling on the wilderness and not following a road or a river, there's a chance the party will get lost.

Roll 1d6.

-If the result is 1, the party is deviating 60º to the west. If the result is 6, the party is deviating 60º to the east.

-If the party is not following the intended route, roll another 1d6.

--If the party has a hired guide, add the guide's Wisdom modifier AND the party leader's Charisma modifier.

--If the party has no guide, add the party leader's Wisdom modifier.

--If the result is 3 or less, the party has no idea they are lost. Otherwise, the party will notice they are not following the right route midway through the day.

Magical Friday: Rust-proof scabard

2010-06-04T00:52:00.000-03:00

Tired of losing the good edge of his dagger everytime he explored the jungles on the border of the kingdom, Aleste Jax sought creating a magical item that would be his greatest achievement: the rust-proof scabard.

All blades firmly sheated on the rust-proof scabard will never rust while remaining there--the metal scabard itself is rust-proof. Desperate users could even use the scabard to hit someone as long as the weapon is firmly sheated (-2 to hit, -2 damage--but hey! you can hurt rust monsters this way!).

Hex map almost done!

2010-06-04T00:44:00.002-03:00

Surely this is not the regular hex map using only symbols. I've had a little trouble drawing everything, but with the invaluable help of the Cartographer's Guild users this map is almost done.

At first I've thought about placing the rivers on the hex edges, but now I decided against it. Yet I may be convinced otherwise if someone has a good point to share about it.

Hex map on the works

2010-06-01T10:18:00.002-03:00

Remember this post?

What about this now?

Barbarians

2010-05-31T13:04:00.000-03:00

"For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm."

-Conan the Barbarian, 1982

Who are those we dare to call barbarians? Are we still locked to the ways the old Greeks used, thinking everyone who didn't belong to their almighty civilization was a barbarian? So, is a barbarian an uncivilized man? Is it enough to define a barbarian?

Will we consider then a Gaul, a Celt, a Norse, a Hun and a Visigoth as equals? Who is this barbarian then?

Is him a lone warrior of mighty prowess and flaring temper? A strong warrior and a savage?

So, our barbarians are just another kind of Fighters? Or crude rogues? Or shaman-like Wizards and Clerics?

A witch doctor is a barbarian too?

I don't think there's a catch all category for barbarians. As diverse as they are, I can't simply put all of them in a single basket and call them the same.

In fact, I may have barbarians in my games, but they belong to a specific archetype. They have a history. They belong to some group.

They may not be considered civilized, but they are not generic barbarians.

I'm re-reading Howard these days. Yet I defy the writer calling his protagonist Conan the Cimmerian, not Conan the Barbarian. If he was just a barbarian, he could be as well known as Conan the Vanir or Conan the Aesir--all barbarian nations, but with peculiar characteristics that make them unique.

And if they are unique, they can't be known solely by barbarians the same way I can't conclude a Celt and a Visigoth are equals.

Magical Friday: Dear Backpack

2010-05-28T08:37:00.000-03:00

This ordinary looking backpack has an uncanny resistance to all kinds of damage, but no one can untie (or cut) the leathery knot that keeps it closed. No matter how hard one tries, the backpack will not open.

Until someone says Dear backpack, please open.

When that phrase is told, the backpack will untie all knots and it'll instantly open. All items will be on their expected places and ready to be used. Once the backpack is closed, it won't open again until the magical phrase is said once more.

As the only clue to that phrase is the engraved word dear on the bottom of the backpack, not cleverly hidden, but also not in plain sight.

Do we need fantasy races?

2010-05-27T17:22:00.000-03:00

I'm not sure every fantasy setting needs Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits (Halflings, Little People) or Orcs. I remember an old GURPS Fantasy (way before GURPS 3rd or 4th Editions) campaign where all heroes were human--that campaign forged part of what Dark Fate would be. I don't know for sure if the players really didn't want their heroes to belong to fantasy races or the 40 points needed to be an Elf in GURPS was too high for their tastes...

Anyway, for a few years, every single PC was human.

They met a few non-human characters along the way. A few cannon-fodders (Orcs and Kobolds), an uncommon NPC (Elf) and even a few antagonists (Dark Elves)... But they main enemies were humans, the nature, and monsters.

Nature was an enemy that couldn't be defeated, but it was there, threatening them once a while.

Humans produced wonderful allies and dread enemies since the start. Not knowing who to trust was a paramount during the first sessions.

And monsters were there to be defeated. Not regular monsters, but the ones a bard could tell epic stories about. It was not a combat, but a battle against the monster who dared to cross their paths. The PCs were heroes, after all, and they were living their own saga.

In a retrospect, that fantasy campaign had more in common with Sword & Sorcery than with Tolkien. And that was a good thing.

And somehow re-reading Barbarians of Lemuria (BoL) bring back those memories.

So, I don't think we need fantasy races, even in fantasy settings. Greyhawk would be still be Greyhawk without them? Would Blackmoor? Or even Forgotten Realms or some heavy story-driven world like Dragonlance?

I don't think anyone would define the main characteristic of those settings as being non-human driven.

Or maybe I'm just too fond of humancentric worlds after all.

In defense of 3d6-in-order

2010-05-25T15:36:00.000-03:00

My memories of the old days are fainter. Blame my late start (1986, when I had 6-years old) or my actual age. In any case, all my classic D&D heroes were rolled using 3d6-in-order method.

Now, if one asks me about my AD&D heroes, I'll quickly say almost every single one was rolled using 4d6-drop-lowest-then-arrange... And there were a few others rolled using 7d6-to-add-to-all-stats-beginning-with-8.

Looking back, I really liked the 3d6-in-order.

Sure, it could give me the surprise of needing to have another cleric when I really wanted a fighter. But that was not a disappointment--see I've used 'surprise' as the descriptive. It was another challenge on my eariler days, one that I took with pride.

There was no pride in bragging all about your STR 18/00 fighter in AD&D who reached 5th level--a true effort was to bring your wimpy STR 11 fighter all the way through 3rd level in D&D.

I was 6-years old and that was a game. And it was fun to find a way to roleplay that WIS 4 hero who was gullible above and beyond belief.

My gaming table today is filled with 3d6-in-order heroes. We still laugh a lot.

And we have a blast of game every night.

Dynamic Sandbox

2010-05-24T13:04:00.000-03:00

So a few fellow gamers told me they were interested in playing a sandbox game. They are all experienced roleplayers and the usual DM wants to take a break (they just finished a Metamorphosis Alpha campaing and want to go back to the fantasy roots of the hobby).

And they asked me to run the game.

As my current group is exploring an old ancient prison I've conveniently put just south of a city in Pontad--and I hope they will spend a good amount of time there (thanks Michael Curtis!), I've decided to host the other gaming group.

In part, that was the reason of my yesterday musings. That hex map I've put together is possibly the area where they will explore.

This time, however, I've decided to follow a completly dynamic approach. Apart from the starting port city on the north where the adventurers will meet, I've not written a single line about the other locations yet. They first task, considering they will accept it, it'll be to deliver a message to the neighboring village to the south. It'll a quick trip (I still need to draw the rivers and roads in that map, but I want to make the map look good before), but I hope they will discover more interesting things while they journey on. I've prepared a few random tables with a variable amount of possible events and I intend to roll a lot of dice this time--even the destination village is not pre-planned (when they get there we'll see how that village looks like).

Let's see how this dynamic approach will fare. During a few playtests following different routes, the simulated trip had a few interesting twists every time--if any of those happen during the real game I'm sure they will love the adventure.

No prep. Just a few random rolls.

While fate dictates the game, I'll interpret it. I'm positive I'll also be surprised during the adventure.

Hex map musings

2010-05-23T23:46:00.000-03:00

Something to think about...

Words of wisdom

2010-05-22T01:00:00.001-03:00

"It's the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players."

E. Gary Gigax (AD&D DMG 1st Ed., p. 230)

Magical Friday: Infinite Piece of Chalk

2010-05-21T15:57:00.000-03:00

I've decided to start a new topic to make me busy at least one day a week: meet Magical Friday.

Every friday I'll write a post about a singular magical item that is not übber powerful. It's in fact almost powerless, but clever players may have useful ideas regarding its use.

Let's start with one favorite of mine.

Infinite Piece of Chalk

Tired of ending with small pieces of chalk when teaching her apprentices the principles of arcane arts, Zoradva Verilova enchanted some of them.

The great sorceress is no more, but a handful of those infinite pieces of chalk still remain, treasured by many teachers and some cunning underground explorers. Each enchanted piece of chalk will last forever, never becoming even a millimeter smaller, but otherwise functions as a normal piece of chalk--and everything written with it may be erased as if a normal piece of chalk was used.

However, Zoradva knew those pieces woudn't be able to contain so much magical energy, and created a way to free all of it at once. If an enchanted piece of chalk breaks (it's as solid as normal chalk), everyone in sight must Save against the luminous release of the energy or be blinded for 1d4 rounds--keeping the eyes closed prevents any ill effects without needing to rely on the Save roll.

Scripted sandbox?

2010-05-21T11:12:00.000-03:00

I was pondering about sandbox adventures. Having played and DMed using JG material in the earliest years, and considering the thousands of random tables we have at our disposal today, I could almost consider the Wilderlands of High Fantasy as a scripted sandbox.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about scripted plots or something like that. I'm talking about all the pre-made "described hexes" on the map.

You have lots hexes with some description like this:

(1305): Abandoned hut. Some bandits use this wooden hut as their lair, keeping a cache of valuable items under a massive rug. Two bandits are always posed as sentinels, while the others (2d6) prey on the nearby road (hex 1308).

While this is a good approach to develop a world full of things to be discovered, it also implies on scripted events all over the place. Add a few random encounters (including non-combat encounters) and you have the tapestry of a sandbox.

And yes, there's more than that when we talk about sandbox settings, but I won't discuss everything here. There a lot of people out there with better skills to do that.

But consider another approach. What if that Abandoned hut was not described on that specific hex, but it was part of a larger random table? That Abandoned hut would still be there, but only when the adventurers explore part of the world that triggers that random roll.

So, let's say we have many random tables, one of them titled Encounters on a Road. When the group follows a road hex you roll a d% and consult the table. You could read the following:

67-69: 2d6 bandits preying on the road, attacking only smaller groups or pilgrims. 2 hexes in a random direction (1 is north, 2 is northeast, and so on) there's an abandoned hut that acts as their lair. Guarded by 2 bandits, all their valuables are hidden on a cache under a massive rug.

Following this approach, the bandits' lair and their prey area is never known until the players do something to trigger that. The sandbox becomes more dynamic, and the world is driven by the adventurers. You could even have a special entry on a table that can only be rolled once, preventing duplicates of some special location.

I think this could be a good approach on a sandbox campaign. As my players just bought a galleon, I'm sure I'll try something like that as soon as they reach the next hexplorable island.

Ruslan and Lyudmila

2010-05-20T15:00:00.000-03:00

Last night I enjoyed once more one of the most wonderful pieces of music ever wrote: Ruslan and Lyudmila. Glinka really was a great composer and his notes still echo on my mind.

But this is a RPG blog, right?

What drove me to write this post? Last night's conductor.

Maestro is truly a great title. It means Master. His powers go beyond the moment he waves his hands on the air, drawing circles of energy over his read, yielding his "magic wand". Like a sorceror, he points his "wand" and music is made, tones are changed, instruments are silenced and others come to live.

And, somehow, while I enjoyed that marvelous music, I was thinking about the Referee's powers. The Referee creates a world, from scratch or based on anything at hand--a pre-made campaign setting or a hex map screaming for sandbox campaigns--and his words are that white "magical wand". He makes NPCs go live, describe hundreds of sights to be seen, orders clouds above the heroes and shakes the earth beneath their feet.

Referee or Maestro, the result is the same: in the end, notes and words become music and adventures, and the crowd is there, ready to cheer.

Dunir

2010-05-19T09:58:00.000-03:00

I've finished the barebones of Dunir hex map, using 6-mile hexes. I still need to provide a lot of descriptions, but so far I believe this is how the final map will look like.

Kingdom of Dunir - 6-mile hex

I'm not too satisfied how the Restplace Forest turned out that way, but this is just food for thought. The plains seem to be organically created, but the forest still seems to be a little blocky to me. Any ideas regarding that are more than welcome.

Virada Cultural

2010-05-17T10:22:00.001-03:00

I'm wondering how my 1d4+2 readers (who are mostly English speakers) will understand the title of this post...

Last weekend (May 15 and 16) São Paulo hosted the Virada Cultural, an event all around the city with many cultural activities happening at the same time, varying from Orchestral music to hip hop, to regional food standings to boardgames and roleplaying games. It's an anual event and this was the first time I took part on it.

One of the areas was called Dimensão Nerd (Nerd Dimension, but I'd rather call it Geek Dimension If I could), where boardgames could be played, live action roleplayers could wander with their dark cloaks (and more colorful attires holding wooden wands and wearing scarfs), and roleplayers could gather around the tables...

...or, at least, that was the idea, as the City Hall promised the tables and all of sudden one of the organizers needed to find some by himself.

Anyway, after playing a game of Crokinole (a game I'm known by the great rules explanation and the lousy flicking skills--give me Carabande anytime, please!) and another game of Betrayal at the House on the Hill (which the explorers won by returning the house to our own dimmension--fantastic plot idea for an extraplanar game someday), I've invited some of the fellow boardgamers to play some RPG. Yes, of course I had brought some sheets and dice. ;-)

We started with six players, all rolling 3d6-in-order. The initial party was composed by two fighters, two clerics and two sorcerers (one with 1 hit point, the other with 2--due to high Constitution score).

During the game, more and more people gathered around us. As that was not a RPG only event, many people who didn't have a clue about what was a RPG watched us play. The funny thing was the game took almost an official stance on the event...

Let em explain. There were a few booths there, and some of them were not occupied. Without a proper place to play--due to the lack of tables and chairs, I proposed using one of the vacant booths. We sat around in circle, dice on center, sheets before the players, and played. As we were on a booth, many gathered around us, asking what were were playing.

We added some players on a half-hourly basis. I created a good plot-reason for the people joining the group even in the middle of the dungeon and we had a fairly diversed party... Sometimes we had 12 people playing, most of the time we had 7, but we ended with 4 surviving heroes in the end after the battle with the BBEG.

Thanks to the quick character generation process, all the new players--even those who never roleplayed before--were able to play with their newly minted heroes. That included sorcerers with point hats and fighters with 3 hit points. One of the mages could only hit throwing bones of the defeated skeletons--his rolls were crappy when using his staff, but great when throwing splinted undead bones.

The game was a blast, lasting around four hours. Everyone had a good time, including the few LARPers who joined the game for half an hour while waiting for they live-action begin and the 3rd and 4th edition players who joined us to see how the old school way of gaming was... Maybe Mythmere will have a few more Swords & Wizardry downloads this week...

Another mini-review

2010-05-16T01:00:00.003-03:00

Okay, this was under my radar until now, but I was able to find it somehow. Tenkar from Tenkar's Tavern just posted a mini-review of Dark Fate on his blog!

(I know the post is a little old, but for me it's 'just posted' as I've only learned about it now.)

Here's the link.

Free shipping!

2010-05-15T12:36:00.001-03:00

Great news!

I've just received an email from Lulu telling me there'll be FREE SHIPPING for any purchases of at least US$ 19.95 during the summer for all US valid address.

Here's the deal:

That’s right! FREE Shipping is here for the Summer in the US on Orders of $19.95 and over (some restrictions apply). How do you take advantage of the Lulu FREE Summer Shipping, you ask? Well, it’s easy!
1. Proceed to checkout
2. Enter shipping address (must be in the US to qualify)
3. Select mail rate shipping
4. Coupon FREESHIP will automatically appear in your cart if you qualify. You may enter another coupon code but this will cancel your free shipping until you re-enter FREESHIP
5. Place your order, and enjoy Lulu FREE Summer shipping.

So, what are you waiting for? You now may contribute with Randall Stukey's RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund and get your Dark Fate book with free shipping!

Randall Stukey's RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund

2010-05-15T08:30:00.009-03:00

I have an announcement to make. For months I've seen the struggle of a friend roleplayer, blogger and designer whose wife was recovering successfully from oral cancer. It was a harsh battle to pay all the cancer treatments, and even with the glorious help of hospital fundations, they still have a long road ahead of them.
But I don't think this is a battle he and his wife need to fight alone. So, in order to help them, I've decided to donate a month of Dark Fate sales to them, starting May 15, 2010.
While I'm donating this month of sales, you are encouraged to also donate any amount. Just follow this link and make a difference.
Anyway, here are his words regarding this. I really hope all my 1d4+2 readers help him.

I received a wonderful offer for the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund from Marcelo Paschoalin this week. Marcelo had contacted me last year about using Microlite74 basis the basis for a rules light introductory fantasy RPG for players in Brazil. I thought it was a wonderful idea and wished him luck. Sometime time later Marcelo released Aventura e Magia. As I can't read much Portuguese, I can't say much about the game. Marcelo later released a English version of an old school campaign setting for Swords & Wizardry called Dark Fate. I somehow missed this release as I had not heard anything of it until Marcelo emailed me this week. He was kind enough to send me a PDF copy and I have to say I'm very impressed. Marcelo has offered to donate the proceeds from one month of sales -- from May 15, 2010 to June 15, 2010 -- to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund!

What are you waiting for? Head over the the Dark Fate web site and buy a copy. It's available in PDF as well as in paperback and hardcover.

Oh. You made your high pressure sales saving roll and want to know something aboutDark Fate first? Instead of me telling you all about Dark Fate, please go read this long review at The Underdark Gazette. Then head back here and I'll add a few comments...

The review is right, Dark Fate does have some grammar and phrasing issues in places. However, they really aren't much worse than some of the problems I see in many publications originally written by native English speakers and published in English. Of course, since I'm known as the "Typo King" my position on this may be somewhat biased.

The review implies that the Dark Fate setting might not work too well for sandbox play. I disagree. There are two major types of sandbox campaign. The type one hears about most these days is a static sandbox where the GM sets things up and little happens in the world except where the PCs involve themselves. The second type of sandbox, the dynamic sandbox, has a world that moves and shakes and changes even when the PCs are doing other things. In both types, the PCs are the center of the game action and freely pick what they want to do, but the dynamic sandbox has other events happening in the world that the players may hear about and choose to react to -- or ignore. The dynamic sandbox is less common because it is a lot more work to create. With a static sandbox, you can just design a small part of the world (a few hexes will do) and grow the world as the players explore. A dynamic sandbox requires that a large area be set up before play begins with a history and various countries, political figures, etc. created before play starts. Dark Fate provides almost everything a GM would need to run a dynamic sandbox.

I really like the art in Dark Fate. It has a strong swords and sorcery feel without trying to duplicate the 1970s TSR art style. It's also very well done art. Check the gallery at the Dark Fate site for a hundred or so samples of the art from the game.

I'll post more of my personal views about Dark Fate over the next four weeks. However, take a look at the game for yourself. Here's a chance to get a very nice old school campaign setting and help raise money for the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund at the same time. You can click here to Buy Dark Fate. The net proceeds of all sales from May 15th to June 15th will go to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund.

My wife and I would like to thank Marcelo Paschoalin for this generous contribution to The RetroRoleplaying Cancer -- not to mention the PDF copy of Dark Fate.

Roguelike

2010-05-14T14:43:00.001-03:00

A friend of mine who never played tabletop roleplaying games before was telling me his last unfortunate delve on one of the many levels of a roguelike game he was playing the night before, ending with JASD (just another stupid death) when he tried to quaff a potion. A few instants before that tragical death he was hit by a monster that caused an amnesia-like effect so he forget all the items he previously identified--and as he was dangerously low on Hit Points and a few creatures were chasing him, he decided to quaff a potion at random.

Poisoned. One turn after that he died.

Yet he enjoyed the delve, and once again told me how dungeon crawls were a lost art.

I grinned. "Maybe you should try to play roleplaying games once for a change."

"No way I will talk in funny voices and wear fake armor," he said.

I probably raised my eyebrows at that. So that was his opinion regarding RPGs?

"What if I told you your roguelike adventure is very similar to the way many people play RPGs, no funny voices and no fake armors."

"I could give it a try," he answered, and my smile grew wider.

Moments later he was rolling dice and fighting skeletons on the first level of an improvised dungeon. His glorious hero managed to descend to the second level, but a pit trap was his demise. It was not JASD this time.

Did he like it? Yes, for sure. He asked me for more.

And I wonder why many people despise random tables... A dungeon created on the fly, populated on the fly, trapped by the whims of a dice roll was everything I needed to have a new player on my table.

Of course, my own roguelike experience helped. But that was not the main point.

Let's see what he'll say when he has a full party to help him retrieve the treasures... If I'm not mistaken, I may already consider him part of the gaming group.

Thinking little

2010-05-13T14:44:00.001-03:00

In fact, thinking micro! I was perusing some forums I've used to visit and then I've found the new Microlite20 forum. I know M20 was sold and this is no news, but I haven't logged in to read the posts on that forum since... since last year? Yep, I think so.

Anyway, I'm thinking about the neat M20 system rules. To be true, I'm thinking on Randall's M74 approach--all the goodness of the 0e in 10 pages.

I've considered splitting the nations of Dark Fate in few little books and adding a small rules lite system like M74--for a while I even thought of using M74 instead S&W for Dark Fate...

...and the idea comes to my mind once again.

But this is just food for thought now. I need to think more about that before commiting to writing anything now.

Free shipping (kind of)

2010-04-16T10:51:00.006-03:00

Okay, the rumors of my trip to a nice island full of female dancers who also roleplay were not true--I was just overwhelmed with some projects of mine, so I neglected this blog for a few months. I know this somehow have offended my 1d6+3 readers, and apologies won't repay their patience.

In any case, here I am once again. And, at least, I bring you good news.

Wanna grab a copy of Dark Fate RPG without paying the shipping costs? Buy it on Lulu.com (links on the sidebar at right) using the code FREEMAIL305! For US residents that will mean free shipping! For everyone else, it'll be a discount--better than nothing, I guess.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T21:21:00.002-02:00

My dear 1d6+3 readers,
2009 was a very good year. Dark Fate was published, one of my
illustrations was featured in a fellow old schooler book, but this was
not a good RPG year.
I was married in February, my sister was married a few months later,
I've graduated in Psychology in June...
Yep, 2009 was a very good year.
And may The One Who Roll All The Dice give us a great 2010.

Xmas

2009-12-22T18:15:00.001-02:00

I wish my 1d6+3 readers a Merry Xmas! May Santa send you all the RPG books you want and all your dice become snowflakes.

Okay, not snowflakes, but that could be a nice effect.

Enjoy!

1983

2009-12-19T11:12:00.001-02:00

A page from the past.

Review by The Underdark Gazette

2009-12-09T08:05:00.001-02:00

The Dark Fate review is here.

Featured

2009-12-04T01:36:00.001-02:00

Dark Fate was featured on RPGpundit's blog! It's always nice to read people talking about the campaign setting.

Scale

2009-12-03T02:00:00.003-02:00

Maps are really the great subject of the week! It's true fantasy cartography is a fun subject to discuss, but it seems the map makers are having good ideas lately.

Yours truly is creating a 5-mile hex map of Dunir, and the result is becoming interesting (see yesterday post). But I'm not the only one.

Chgowiz is asking how can you find things in a 5-mile hex and Rob Conley is talking about scale comparisons.

So I decided to compare the Dark Fate map with some real-life region. I always thought the map was not that big...

Maybe the size of America? Or the size of Europe?

First attempt was Europe... Too small.

Second attempt was Russia... Too big (thank god I didn't create such an enormous map).

Third is the charm. Let me show you:

This is an inverted and rotated Africa. Almost the same size of Dark Fate map. I was impressed.

And you? Are your campaign maps that big?

WIP

2009-12-02T11:08:00.001-02:00

Okay, following some suggestions I've received yesterday, I've made a few changes. This time I didn't place the settlements and the encounter areas, as it would be an unnecessary work if the base layout continues to be a bad one.

Is it better? Are there many things to fix yet?

Cartographic

2009-12-01T13:09:00.001-02:00

Here I am once again thinking about the map I'm creating. Something just doesn't feel right with it, and I'm not sure about what could cause that feeling. In fact, I think I do know, but I'd like to hear some opinions regarding that.

Zoomed map (5-miles per hex) and original map (25-miles per hex, on the detail)

The idea is simple: as the main terrain is plains, so the "zoomed" map should have more plains than anything else. Now the first question arises: are the other terrains really "embeded" on the map or they seem too "pasted on"? We have lakes, hills, forested hills, mountains, medium and dense forests... When there are 3 or more hills clustered, one of them becomes a mountain. It seemed simply enough to consider this a Good Thing™.

Now, please don't worry (too much) now about the settlements and the encounter zones. There's a port city (that boat-like symbol), and many villages/hamlets/thorps (those two-hut things, but I'll differentiate them in the future). It's supposed that the settlement hexes also have farms (we are talking about 21 squared miles if my math is not too wrong), but there are other possibilities for many other kinds of encounters.

In the future I'll also work on the "encounter" zones. Those may mean lairs, ruins, high activity wandering monsters and so on. But don't think that there are no monsters in the other hexes--these marked hexes are places where it's expected to see some fight/flight/(f)bargain. Anyway, I'll probably eliminate all encounter zones adjacent to settlements (after all, the settlement is active, so the people need to have dealt with the monsters somehow) but a few key ones. In the meanwhile, I'll also convert some settlements into lairs (places too far from the big cities are taken by the undead army--never forget that!)...

Well, I need some ideas. Please jump in. This will be a bumpy ride.

CyberMonday!

2009-11-30T16:18:00.001-02:00

Dear 1d6+3 readers,

Lulu is offering a 25% discount only today. Grab your Dark Fate copy
while this offer lasts.

25% off to Paperback and Hardcover Dark Fate--Use coupon code: CYBERBOOKS

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T14:06:00.001-02:00

Here in Brazil we don't hold the tradition of Thanksgiving, but as I
know my 1d6+3 readers are eating turkey, I decided to say just this:

Happy Thanksgiving!

About thorps and hamlets

2009-11-25T17:04:00.002-02:00

The cities of the land are the real safe harbors from the undead menace, as the unliving prey on easier targets--fool travelers and small settlements.

This raises a question: Are there thorps and hamlets in Dark Fate?

The short answer is yes.

Consider each city as a beacon of safety. The light of that beacon can reach some distance... everything in that radius is protected, for now.

So, the villages, hamlets and thorps near the cities (and how many miles is "near" varies) are shielded from the undead threat.

Other settlements are not so safe.

Yes, there are few isolated hamlets throughout the land the undead creatures don't dare to approach. No one really knows why that happens, but a few claim they are built over sacred ground.

But other thorps and villages became ruined undead lairs.

Imagine that isolated village in the middle of the night. "I really need some rest and good food," says the sorcerer, eager to find an inn or, at least, a spare bed somewhere. Will he be ready for a fight with the undead denizens?

Dark Fate Campaign Setting available at DrivethruRPG and RPGNow

2009-11-24T10:33:00.000-02:00

Available at Drivethru RPG.

Available at RPGNow.

Also still available at Lulu via Old School Renaissance store.

Kingdom of Dunir

2009-11-24T04:00:00.025-02:00

I was designing the Dark Fate Hex Map during the weekend, and in despite of having almost finished it, some ideas came to my mind.

See, when we starting rolling, it's downhill until the end. ;-)

So I decided to create a smaller scale Hex Map too. The 'large' map will have 25-mile hexes, and it's good for an overview of the land (and it's also the amount of miles a party can usually travel if not exploring throughly each hex). But I wanted something more, a more local approach, like the old Judge's Guild approach.

Okay, not that detailed (I won't create 0.2 mile hexes, no sir).

But I found a good compromise: 5-mile hexes.

The best part of using 5-mile hexes is the local approach. It's a zoomed view of the overland map, treating each place with much more detail.

You may see a particular hex (on the overland map) as a plains area. When we look closer (5-mile hexes) we find that specific area is composed by plains, forests, a small lake... Yes, it's mostly plains, but there's also other features that only a ful exploration of the 25-mile area will allow.

But I needed to test that. First option was Siarit...

But that huge nation would take me a while to be completely done. I needed something else.

Why not Dunir?

Yes, why not? The Kingdom of Dunir is one of the smallest (which doesn't mean Dunir is small... the area of the kingdom is still vast) of the land, borders almost all other nations, houses the dreadful Necropolis, is bound on tradition...

Yes, I can imagine an entire campaign spawning there. In fact, the majority of my campaigns had Dunir as background.

And I must say: the detailed hex map is making me smile. It's beautiful, great for playing, and has that vibe I was really looking after.

I'll keep you posted. This won't be a solo endeavor.

How to handle horror

2009-11-23T12:17:00.002-02:00

During the weekend I've read an interesting blogpost regarding horror and roleplaying. The comments had merit, but the praise must be given to the author for starting such great discussion.

Let's try to give some food for thought as well. Consider the following scene:

"The heroes approach the marble idol, their torches barely allowing them to see the walls behind. The emerald is at hand, but as soon as it's removed from the pedestal a pack of zombies appear from the shadows, as if called by a malevolent power... What do you do?"

The point is: the game system does matter in this case. If we play a game that handles psychological conflicts, or a system that gives more power to the players in a metagame sense (Fate comes to my mind, but there are others), the GM may "force" a fearful situation to the characters. The GM can say: "The fear is overwhelming, take this Fate Point and act accordingly." And, of course the players can accept that or ignore the fear and lunge forward.

Other systems could handle the situation with a Fright check. Or even a Sanity check. There are ways to handle the situation using the system rules.

And the rules are a social contract. The GM and the players abide by them (or by their own house rules), but this is a subject for another post.

Now, let's talk about OD&D--Dark Fate (Swords & Wizardry) in particular.

There are no rules for fear checks. There're no "mental hit points" or sanity attribute. Yet, horror is there.

What kind of horror does Dark Fate try to emulate then?

The sword & sorcery horror.

Dark creatures live in the obscure corners of the land, and common people fears them and flee like rabbits. Heroes also fear them, don't think otherwise, but usually overcome their fears by steel and blood.

I'm not a scholar regarding the writings of Howard--Conan in this case--but I don't recall the cimmerian fleeing one of the dark monsters (gods) for good... Heck, even in the first tale of Conan, when he is still a boy with his 15-years old, he doesn't flee the skeleton on the cave--he fights him and slays him.

This is the horror of Dark Fate. And for that horror there's no need of fright checks or sanity. A Referee won't impose a player to act in fear if he doesn't want to--it's her character, after all.

In the same vein, it would be silly to force a player to feel "love", "hatred", "compassion", "mercy"... At least using Swords & Wizardry game rules.

Stick to the system you like. Play in the campaign worlds that you love.

And let you feel the fear the way it pleases you most--by rules or by roleplaying.

Roleplaying in Brazil - the earliest years

2009-11-19T15:54:00.001-02:00

This is not part of our regular series of post. This is a walk through the memory lane. I've warned you.
Roleplaying games in Brazil began to be known around mid 1980's. And that was not due to national publishers--gamers who lived in Brazil visited friends on USA or simply travelled there to enjoy their vacations and found out the marvel of D&D. A few bought some books and brought them here. The hobby then had their genesis in Brazilian lands.

As few gamers had access to books, and in that epoch intelectual property was not respected as such--it was a dark age, I know, but it was part of our hobby history, so I can't deny its existence just to make us Brazilians appear to be "good boys" on that matter--reprography was the only way the earlier roleplayers had to read the rare books and play. Some might argue that, as there was no means for a regular gamer (13, 14 years old) to buy the books, reprography was not a cardinal sin, but I digress--this should be a matter for lawyers, not gamers.

In a way, those earlier gamers begun to be known as being part of the "Xerox Generation". The few who had their books treasured them to the heart, acting as lorekeepers and guardians of the hobby. But that would soon change...

We didn't have any FLGS at the time. It took a while to store owners begin to carry RPG products, and even them they were few. Wikipedia lists 1987 as the debut of the first Brazilian publisher--Devir--but at the time they carried only imported titles--yet, if I'm not mistaken, it was around 1989 that they translated their first RPG book (GURPS) and became truly a publisher.

There was just another single store that carried RPG products at the time--Forbidden Planet. In any case, their two stores (that I know of) were located at less than 60 miles from each other, making the already niche of roleplayers become more tight. Considering Devir and the two Forbidden Planet stores I knew at the time, if you lived outside the São Paulo metropolitan area, you would have a hard time finding any roleplaying books.

But, at least, major bookstores carried Fighting Fantasy books, if those count.

Talking about FLGS, I must say they really were friendly until mid 90's. Their first years were founded on the principle of gathering players together and creating a good environmental gaming area. There were not so many tables available, but the employees were very interested in providing a good atmosphere. I can even remember my first Cyberpunk game--I didn't know almost nothing about the setting, and the rules were completely unknown to me as well--happening on a saturday afternoon with a six player group... But that changed. Forbidden Planet closed their doors (I was lucky to buy a few good books at a great price when they were closing their store at Guarujá, a city by the shore) and Devir was translating even more GURPS books (there was no hint of D&D in portuguese at that time, but you could buy several imported books in English--at least, those who could read English could do so), losing the F on FLGS while the titles were flooding the market. Years later Devir would translate the Storyteller line and, after that, D&D, but consumers would usually complain about the hiatus between a release and another.

Gaming groups were formed and disbanded while all that fuss happened. The "Xerox Generation" was now working on their day jobs, and the newcomers were too involved with cRPGs and expected tabletop gaming to be the same. In the meanwhile Brazilian authors wrote books that were published, had usually low sales, and vanished. Titles as "Desafio dos Bandeirantes", "Tagmar" (the original one, as the second edition took about a decade to be released on the past two[?] years), "Demos Corporation", "Monstros", "Millenia" are not heard anymore, except with some notalgic look on one's eyes.

Were those titles good? They had good settings, but sometimes they had flawed rules... and in some cases it was too easy to compare their rules with some imported RPG rules, as if they drank on the same inspirational fountain... All those Marvel Super Heroes from TSR tables could be incredibly similar to one of the first Brazilian RPGs tables, for example. But few knew that, and even fewer cared.

Maybe that was the reason why Brazilians roleplayers don't like Brazilian RPGs very much, considering them as a second line of books when compared with "true" RPGs published in the USA.

Yet, while our rare FLGS were becoming extint, a few new Brazilian RPG books were written. It was now a "second generation" of roleplayers, who played gaming systems sold on newstands. The number of roleplayers really grew with those 'newstands books', but almost everything one could find in them was satyrical rules or videogame emulations...

So, in retrospect, I truly miss our "Xerox Generation". It was 'our' Old School.

And I was part of it.

West Tower as starting point

2009-11-17T13:53:00.001-02:00

I'd like to present the players a glimpse of Dark Fate. For this I'll
need to show them the different nations of the land and allow them to
adventure without barriers.

But I'd like to give the Referees some starting point for that 'long
travel'. How may I do that?

My first answer was: a series of modules. By allowing the Referees and
their gaming groups to pick a starting point I'll give them more
tidbits of fun which will be used to build their games.

But even then I'll need MY starting point. I chose West Tower.

The city is in fact a large stronghold, the first line of defense if
the Glorious Wall is surpassed by the Orcs of Zenev--and Orcs in Dark
Fate are not the run-of-the-mill you see in other places... they are
strong enough to provide a nice challenge for years to come.

Given that, I have a few ideas I'd like to see on paper. And I'd love
to discuss them, but without giving enough info to ruin any surprises.
However, as I don't know yet what I'll include on this first module,
I'll need to playtest a few things before going on.

But I'll keep you posted.

Oh, by the way, this is not the "secret" I've mentioned yesterday.
There's more to come...

Upcoming projects

2009-11-16T12:42:00.002-02:00

Now that Dark Fate is done (remember you may buy it at http://www.darkfaterpg.com/store.html), I have a few projects I'd like to work on.
-Dark Fate Hex Map. Yes, I know it's a must for all wilderness adventures and hexcrawlers. It's done, really, as I've used it many times before, but I need to give it a 'facelift'... My personal notes are not pretty, you know?
-Dark Fate Modules: I've tinkering about adventures, and maybe I begin to work on a few modules (32 pages is a must?). This will take me a lot of time, but it may be a feasible idea...
-Secret: The Modules' project will be already a daunting one, but I still have an idea I want to work on... It'll be something that, if done right, will make me proud... Let's see if I can keep a secret for a few weeks.

Dark Fate RPG is available!

2009-11-14T23:10:00.002-02:00

My dear friends,

Dark Fate is more like a framework for adventures. There are no major metaplots or ubber-NPCs on every village--in fact, most NPCs are in the 2nd-to-5th level range. The idea is providing a good background to the adventures, allowing a party to explore the unknown or even meddle with courtly life and polictics accordingly with each Referee's style of gaming.

Dark Fate is a world where the Goddess of Magic died recently, causing the death of countless fantastic and mythical creatures--you won't find a plethora of demi-humans, or even great sorcerers at every corner. And it's also a world where a dreadful Necropolis arose and spawned legions of undead creatures. For now the cities are the only safe heaven, but for how long they'll remain as such?

So, ladies and gentlemen,

I'm proud to announce the Dark Fate Campaign Setting is now available at Lulu (I'm thinking about Amazon too in the near future, but that may have to wait a little)!

Here's a quick link to the book: http://www.darkfaterpg.com/store.html

With a foreword written by James Maliszewski of Grognardia fame, Dark Fate is a testament to the epic worlds of adventure! You’ll learn the Dark Fate of a land that is recovering from the death of the Goddess of Magic, where mystical and fantastic creatures no longer live alongside the mortals—trying to survive the ravaging undead creatures of the dreadful Necropolis is not only a matter of hope, but also of luck.

So grab your pen and paper, be ready to roll your dice, and discover the world of Dark Fate!

Final countdown

2009-11-13T13:44:00.003-02:00

When I was little one of the music pieces I was really fond of playing was The Final Countdown. Not having enough English skills and misguided by the little knight with joust lance depicted on the same sheet I've considered the title as "The final tournment"... And yes, when you play the music with English Horns and violins there's something epic about two knights facing each other.

What does that mean regarding Dark Fate? Well, I'm in the final moments of having everything ready now. I've received the introduction--a fantastic work, you'll see--and as soon as I'm back from work I'll include those most important pages, re-index everything and upload the final book to Lulu.

It's my final countdown now. Expect everything online in less than 12 hours.

(And apologies for my lack of posting. My grandmother died recently and it was a difficult time for all of us.)

Designer's Notes

2009-10-28T10:36:00.002-02:00

Years ago I took the mantle and the scepter that once was in the hands of many others before me: I’ve became a Referee. Good and bad game sessions resulted from that—mostly good, I hope, as my players kept coming for more each week—and we all had tons of fun. Then I’ve compilled all good things in a book.

Roleplaying games in Brazil were just a fad for many years, except for those who really were part of the hobby, creating fantastic sagas where a party of would-be heroes delved deeper in order to find treasure and glory. Then there was the storytelling age, when neo-gothics dressed like creatures of the night and lived their characters away from the gaming table. It was back then my frist RPG book was published.

I was true to the spirit of my games, so I’ve embraced the fantasy of our long lost worlds, where mythical creatures and magic existed, albeit in a different form. Then there was the satisfaction of meeting people who liked my writing and allowed themselves to create their own sagas in the world I’ve imagined. The story would go on, and I was only the one who instilled the first spark, almost if I’ve told them “Once upon a time…” and they finished the story by themselves.

Other books followed that, including an Old West campaign setting and two novels (one still unpublished), but the roots were always in the fantasy grounds—knights in shining armor, sorcerers in mystical robes and clerics defending their faith.

But let me tell you a short story. Once I was asked what is the unique, intrinsic “mover” of the Roleplayer? I don’t think my answer is definitive, but it’s my answer, and I’d like to share it with you:

Be a hero.
The same reason why Old West and Science Fiction pleases so many people also apply here—be a pioneer. Roleplayers create their heroes and live adventures no one else has lived before. They have surpassed the limit of the skies, they have found myriads of worlds in their imaginations!
And they may also be heroes. They can live their normal lives behind and be whatever they want to be in those hours of fun around a gaming table. They can be what they most desire, and they will learn from the experience.

See that emphasis. Roleplayers may also be heroes, but they don’t need to. The world is vast, and the game world is still larger than our own, so there are too many possibilities for each one of our players around the gaming table. They may be heroes, or they may be mercenaries, or bounty hunters, or even survivors with no other chance than adventuring on the world the Referee shows them. In the end, they might become heroes, but until that happens they are only matter of legends—not the legends themselves.

So the book you have in hands is a testament to those worlds of adventure we dreamed of in our gaming tables. At least, this is my own world of adventure, but let me tell you a secret: now you have this book, my world is not my own—it’s yours, to use it as you see fit. You may modify anything you think it would be better in your own game, or even use parts of this book in your own campaign. The world I present here was once my own, but once it becomes yours I don’t have a say in the way you use it.

For example, let me tell you about two optional rules presented here, one regarding clerics and the other regarding sorcerers (wizards). And let me tell you again: these are optional rules, and you are free to consider them void if you believe your gaming world is better without them.

As this is a world where undead armies ravage the land, turning the undead is a more difficult task. In fact, the undead creatures are treated as if they were a few hit dice greater than they are, making the turn undead roll more unlikely… but as the unliving being is damaged, they natural defenses against the faith weaken, and they become more prone to be turned. In fact, it would be a good strategy to risk a few blows before trying to turn them, and teamwork may be the cleric’s best ally when facing the perils of the Necropolis.

Also, as the Goddess of Magic, Berilla, is dead, the mystical forces are not what they once were, being more difficult to be mastered. Those who want to control them must comprehend the source of magic, becoming sorcerers. But what has really changed? Nothing but needing a higher intelligence attribute in order to cast powerful spells.

Of course there are a few more tiny bits, but I’ll let you discover them by yourself.

Anyway, the world I present you is just a rough sketch on an old canvas. You’ll be able to choose the right colors and patterns to create your own artpiece—it’s your game after all.

So this is my little Swords & Wizardry Campaign Setting. For those wanting a quick home base for an eventual megadungeon delve, there are dozens of cities to choose from. For those wanting a strange new beast, there are tens of monsters to pick. And not to mention the vast myriad of NPCs ready to be dropped in singular encounters. This Campaign Setting will give you a world full of conflict and opportunities, and it will also give you all the freedom you need to choose what to use in your game.

That was my goal—giving the Referee tools for his game. I don’t intend this book to be used as is, but I assure you it can if you want it. This is not the Swords & Wizardry Campaign Setting, and it was never my intention to make a definitive gaming world—this is just one of many wondrous possibilities, but one I believe you’ll like to use once a while.

October 28th, 2009
Santo André, Brazil

Getting an ISBN

2009-10-08T17:42:00.002-03:00

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and is a kind of Social Security Number for books, identifying that single one from the rest. The primary function is commercial--bookstores can add new books to their catalogue by using a simple barcode reader and quickly allow a vendor to check the price of any book--but one can't deny the whole indexing stuff as something good too.

Here in Brazil getting the ISBN is easy. At least if you know what to do.

First of all, the publisher needs to register at the ISBN Agency. It's a simple but costly process (around US$120.00 if I'm not mistaken), but it's a cost you only need to pay once in a lifetime.

Then there's the ISBN cost for each publication (around US$7.00), plus the cost of the barcode (around US$13.00) if you can't generate one by yourself.

You send the money via money fund transfer, send the forms printed and signed to the ISBN Agency and wait. I don't recall the exact amount of days, but I guess two weeks are what one should expect.

I'm curious about how other countries deal with ISBN. Do the fees change too much? Are there fully automated ways--internet forms, for example?

TARGA

2009-10-06T13:05:00.002-03:00

I'm certainly the least qualified person to speak about TARGA.

As a Brazilian, I'm away from the major cons (in fact, we have 1 big
RPG con here and a handful of others, usually hundreds of miles away
from me), yet I've took my Swords & Wizardry rulebook with me in the last two I've attended.

I don't foresee the chance of hosting any RPG cons in the near future,
but I do think I do my part: running Swords & Wizardry is a way to
create more interest for classical era roleplaying. It's not much, I
know, but it's a start.

Is this what TARGA expects from me? I don't know--some objectives
still need to be traced. Meanwhile, I'll fool myself thinking I'm
doing something good for the hobby--besides writing, that is it.

Back cover blurb

2009-10-05T12:50:00.002-03:00

Are you an adventurer?

So are you brave enough to fight the undead army, delving deeper in unknown dungeons hoping to find treasure, fame and glory? I may have a task for you. There are perils ahead, and your survival is not assured, but I promisse the rewards are more than enough. Face your own Dark Fate, adventurer, and discover a land of struggle where a common man may one day become a true hero!

The book you hold is a testament to the epic worlds of adventure. In these pages you'll learn the Dark Fate of a land that is recovering from the death of the Goddess of Magic, where mystical and fantastic creatures no longer live alongside the mortals--trying to survive the ravaging undead creatures of the dreadful Necropolis is not only a matter of hope, but also of luck.

So grab your pen and paper, be ready to roll your dice, and discover the world of Dark Fate!

This roleplaying game is fully compatible with Swords & Wizardry (tm) (and other retroclones) game rules, and also contains some variant rules specially designed to enhance your adventures.

Random thoughts

2009-10-02T17:13:00.000-03:00

Roll 1d6:

1: This week has been tiresome. My wife has been sick for the last two
days with a bad case of kidney stones (or crystals, like she usually
reminds me). Yet there are plans for the weekend that can't be
changed, including an event I'm not too sure I want to take part.

2: I've searched for several indexing methods and even if I decided to
spend 30 dollars on some PDF Index Pro or something, I would still
need to edit most of the work. So far the best option is a manual
indexing, as I've found a few typos that escaped the initial
proofreading. I just don't know how much time it'll take me to finish
that.

3: The book's Foreword still needs to be written. Thinking about
someone who could honor me by doing that...

4: Suddenly I remembered the back cover needs to be done. The main
artwork should be the archetypical tavern scene, but I don't know how
it will turn out. The idea seems fine, but I'm not sure about the
final piece will be as good as I want. I also need to think about the
back cover text--time to dig other RPG books for inspiration.

5: Tonight's game will be fun and I'm looking for it. The heroes are
ready to explore the second level of the ziggurat, but will they find
everything lies there? The gem on the idol's eye is a classic, and yet
not too overused scene to include.

6: Referee's call.

Encounters past midnight

2009-10-01T12:55:00.003-03:00

Members of the Thieves' Guild usually have nocturnal habits, preying on those fool enough to leave their homes unprotected at night. However, while the general populace sleeps, there are few types that a nocturnal wander may find on a city. Roll 2d6:

2-3: Night damsel. A lady is entering a house. 2-in-6 chance of noticing the heroes before closing the door.

4-5: 1d3 burglars. 50% chance of carrying the riches of their last job.

6-8: 1d4+1 watchmen. The night watch patrols the streets and fine (2d4 gold baronies per person, twice the amount if armed) those who wander without special permits.

9: 1d3 drunken citizens. They are coming from the nearest tavern.

10-11: 1d6+2 bandits. Those armed men bring terror to the poor areas of the city at night while the militia looks for trouble somewhere else. Defeating them will bring good reputation to the heroes when among the poor and beaten citizens.

12: Cleric of Dalya and 1d6 followers. A quiet ritual is taking place on a groove or another secluded area.