Hex Stocking Density

For interest sake I pulled out one of my copies of Isle of Dread. For most, it is the benchmark for hex-crawling modules. I wanted to approximate the ratio of hexes-to-encounters. Using the methodology mentioned in my last post there is a 1-in-3 chance of a hex having a monster for a hexes-to-encounter ratio of 3:1 which gives me approximately 133 monster encounters in my 400 hexes.

Just eyeballing the number of hexes on the island, I would guesstimate that there are approximately 400 hexes (has anyone actually counted them? I am far too lazy). Using the numbered island map from the module which as 24 encounters and adding 5 for the number of locations on Taboo Island, there are a total of 29 encounters on the island. Let's round up to 30. I am assuming that all numbered encounters on the map are with monsters which may not be correct. I took a quick look and didn't see any exceptions but I could be wrong. This gives a ratio of 13 hexes to 1 encounter.

My hexes are far more densely populated with monsters than those on the iconic island.  I'm okay with this. One reason I am okay with a higher number of encounters on my map is that it is for an open, exploration focused game in the West Marches style. I want the PCs to go out into the wilderness and find stuff. Also, the there is an explicit social contract that characters will try to return to town at the end of a gaming session so the quicker implied consumption of resources that will result from more encounter will not be an issue.

Northern Marches Table Map

Here are images of the players' Table Map and how it evolved during my old Northern Marches campaign.

Wilderness Encounter Tables

I have been emptying out my Northern Marches binder so that it may serve as my Borderlands Binder. I found the table below in that binder. It was the wilderness encounter table for a small coastal mountain range called the Goblin Teeth.

Roll d6:
1 & 2: Encounter (roll 2d6):

2 - roll twice
3 - Griffons
4 - Giant Hawks
5 - Mountain Goats (see Antelopes)
6 - Black Bears
7 - Goblins
8 - Hobgoblins
9 - Mountain Lions
10 - Brigands
11 - Neanderthals
12 - Roll on Dim Forest Encounter Table

3: Obstacle (roll d6):

1 & 2 - Coastal storm (rain, snow, low cloud, freezing temperature, etc)
3 - Rock slide / Avalanche
4 - Box canyon
5 - Goblin snare
6 - Crumbling ledge

4: Clues / Signs (roll d8):

1 & 2 - Goblin totem
3 & 4 - Hear goblin drums
5 - Griffon feather / abandoned griffon or giant hawk nest
6 - Hear griffon or giant hawk call
7 - Goblin trail
8 - small forgotten shrine to (d6) 1&2 Orcus, 3&4 Zeus, 5 Ares, 6 Demeter

5: Special (roll d6)

1 - 15ft tall statue of (d6) 1&2 Orcus, 3&4 Zeus, 5 Ares, 6 something bizarre
2 - Stone stepped pyramid (stock as dungeon, level = 1d4)
3 - Statue of Athena - will answer 1 yes-no question per day, asker will be struck by a 6d6 lightening bolt of question is not a yes-no question
4 - Pile of rusted goblin swords, spearheads, etc
5 - Small 3-level tower (stock as dungeon, level = 1d6)
6 - Abandoned climbing gear

6: Good fortune (roll d6):

1 to 3 - find enough wild food to eat, don't have to use any rations for next 1d4 days (10% poisonous)
4 & 5 - Find hidden cache of 1d6 items of normal adventuring equipment
6 - Find medicinal plant that will cure poison (1d6 doses that will keep for 1d6 days)

Hexcrawls

Lots of talk today about hexcrawls, for instance: Here and Here.

I was going to post a reply on Chgowiz's blog but I decided to make a quick post about it.
There are three basic points of Chgowiz's post:
1. Hex scale;
2. Stocking; and
3. Finding stuff in the hex.

I typically use 6 mile hexes. I do this because in B/X all of the base overland daily movement rates are divisible by 6. Also, all of the terrain modifiers are 2/3's, 1/2 and/or 3/2's. So typically we are still dealing with multiples of 6 or easy fractions of 6.

To stock the hex map I use for the Northern Marches I use the same method to stock a dungeon as given in the Basic Rulebook.

Roll a d6:
1-2 Monster - these can either be lairs or dungeons
3 Trap - I use this for actual traps, difficult terrain such as a river crossing, cliff face, etc., or clues such as trails, totems, footprints, etc.
4 Special - I often use the Judges Guild Ravaged Ruins table
5-6 Empty

The Northern Marches wilderness is designed so that the further the party gets from the town of New Hareth the more dangerous the encounter, I can then pick monsters of the appropriate difficulty and terrain.

Now a 6 mile hex is a lot of space. Finding a specific feature, such as a cave mouth or a lone cabin, in an area that large could actually be quite difficult. With regards to the party finding something in a 6 mile hex I take two approaches:
1. If they are searching for something specific I will either let them find it automatically if it is large or make a Find Secret Doors check to find a smaller object.
2. If they are just passing through a hex, I usually give them a 1 in 6 chance of spotting what is there unless it is really large, tall or otherwise easy to spot. I like the fact that the party can find something new on a subsequent trip through a hex.

Prison Break

Over at B/X Blackrazor, JB has been discussing the Slave Lord series. In his most recent post he quickly talks about having the PCs be captured.

I have mentioned a number of times how much I like to use the Reaction Roll subsystem in B/X. One of the things I decided early in the development of the Northern Marches is that a very poor reaction roll when meeting with an NPC with authority (a high priest, a lord, etc.) could result in the PCs insulting the NPC so badly that a large group of guards (big enough to be either foolhardy or extremely risky to fight against) would be summoned and the PCs be put under arrest.

So, I needed a quick method to adjudicate the seriousness of the offence, what happens in the dungeon and the possibility of escape. I took a page from Barbarian Prince and came up with a very quick system.

Gravity of Offence (d6 +/- Charisma modifier)
1 or less: Marked for Death - You have committed a very grave offence. The death penalty is demanded. Until then, you are imprisoned. All your money, possessions and mounts are confiscated. You are provided with food and lodging while in prison. At the start of each day in prison roll one die: "1" means you manage to escape (see below for details), "6" means you must finally meet the headsman and are taken to a public execution. Any other die roll means you continue to languish in prison.

2: Thrown in the Dungeon - You are thrown into a deep dungeon. You lose all your wealth, possessions and mounts. While in the dungeon, you are provided with food and lodging (of a sort). At the start of each day in the dungeon roll 2d6, a result of 2 or 3 means you escape that day, any other result means you continue to languish in captivity. Every full week (seven days) you spend in the Dungeon inflicts 1d6 hit points of damage on you, due to unhealthy conditions, disease, and gradual weakness and starvation.

3 & 4: Imprisoned - You are imprisoned. All your money, possessions and mounts are confiscated. While in prison, you are provided with food and lodging. At the start of each day roll one die, 1 means you escape, any other result means you continue to remain captive.

5 & 6: Minor Offence - You are held overnight. Tomorrow you are assessed a fine of 1d6 x 10 x level gold pieces. If you can't afford it you are Imprisoned (see above).

Escape: If the result indicates a successful escape, present the prisoner with the opportunity (loose bricks in cell wall, a bribeable guard, the means to pick the lock, etc). If they are successful in their escape, have them make an Evasion check being pursued by a suitable number of guards. An alternative is to quickly develop a dungeon map and have them explore their way out.

Northern Marches Reboot

I have been thinking about my old Northern Marches campaign a lot recently. I have really been enjoying my 2nd edition AD&D campaign but it is an adventure path and doesn't scratch my B/X or sandbox itch.

I have been doing some reconstruction on the Northern Marches. I have redone some maps, changed some of my setting notes and implemented some changes based on lessons learned (mostly regarding retainers and treasure levels).

I have mentioned it to my current group as an alternative for those times when we aren't able to get the whole group together and I will again begin recruiting by put up a flyer at the Sentry Box.

If you are in Calgary and want to take part, drop me a line at p_armstrong [at] email [dot] com.

You can also check out my cleaned up and rebooted campaign blog at http://northernmarches.blogspot.com/

9-Minute Campaign: The Northern Marches

I have had my old Northern Marches campaign on my mind recently. Earlier today I saw the 9-minute Campaign Design on the Mule Abides and I decided that for fun I would take a fresh look at the Northern Marches through this framework.

1. What is the Look & Feel of your campaign?
The idea of the Northern Marches was based on the similarly titled West Marches campaign. It would focus on exploring the unknown, ancient dangers, vast treasures, mythic underworld, forbidding wilderness, and harsh environments. It is an open campaign which features drawing from a loose group of players.

2. What’s the high concept of your campaign?
The elevator pitch. Exploring the dangerous frontier that was abandoned many generations ago - haunted ruins, valleys containing Lost Worlds, and mythic underworlds containing cosmic horrors and amphibious frog demons.

3. What’s the core story? (or: “Loveable misfits who…”)
The game is an exploration-focused sandbox game set in a dangerous frontier region away from civilization. There’s a convenient fortified town, New Hareth, that is an outpost of civilization and law, but beyond that is the haunted ruins of Old Hareth and dangerous wilderness. All the PCs are all loveable misfit adventurers based in this town seeking fame and fortune beyond the safety of the town's walls. Between sorties into the wilds PCs rest up, trade info and plan their next foray in the rowdy taproom of the Dancing Dragon Tavern.

4. What rules will you be using in your campaign?
B/X baby! As if there was any doubt. However, this is not just because I love B/X but also because I feel it is a great ruleset to give the appropriate feel for the campaign. The fragile nature of the characters, the roster of monsters, the clear rules regarding exploring the wilderness... it fits like a glove.

5. What are the big-scale social institutions or groups in the campaign?
New Hareth is a relatively self-sufficent centre of civilization. It would contain all of the major institutions required.
- Churches/Shrines for the Lawful and Neutral religions. In the Northern Marches these include the Church of the Great Dragon (Lawful, faux fantasy stand in for the catholic church) and the Dodekatheon or "The Twelve" (the old pantheon religion - mainly the 12 olympians).
- A small wizards guild.
- Town guard and courts that efficiently keep the law inside the town walls.
- Baron Hareth - authorized by the kingdom to award other baronies to those able to establish a stronghold in the wilderness.
- Blind seers, learned sages, mystic oracles, covens of witches, etc.
- Armourers, blacksmiths, merchants.
- The Dancing Dragon Tavern which serves as the meeting place for the informal group of adventurers.
- The Bounty Post for posting wanted posters.
- A small thieves guild.

6. Who are the major supporting cast?
Baron Hareth
The Striped Mage
The Lama of the Great Dragon
The Bishop of the Twelve
The Sage
Captain of the Guard
The Hood (head of the thieves guild)
A small number of NPC adventurers that have already established strongholds in the wilderness

7. What are the major threats in the campaign?
The Wilderness - getting lost, rugged snow covered mountains, hoarfrost crusted swamps, cold weather, hunger, monsters, rolling on the Triple Secret Random Horrific Fate Table of Very Probable Doom if you don't get back to civilization before the end of the session.
Castle Hareth - the ruined castle (megadungeon) of the abandoned settlement rumoured to be haunted and built on the ruins of a very ancient fortress.
Dungeons & Lairs - out in the wilderness
Barbarians, bandits, ancient ruins, cosmic horrors, huge dinosaurs, marauding orcs, blood-thirsty amazons, etc.

8. Draw a map of the campaign setting.
Got one.

9. Draft up your first adventure.
While it is a sandbox and the players can do anything they want, if they are new players I usually say one of the party members inherited, stole or otherwise procured a treasure map leading the party to somewhere out in the wilderness.

The Fate of the B/X Online Game

With me being AWOL for a while the fate of the online B/X game is a bit up in the air. What does the future hold? I don't know.

I have a few observations from the skype game.

1. I was either too polite in inviting/accepting people into the game or I needed to structure it differently.
Now, I want to make sure this is not misconstrued! I really enjoyed gaming with everyone that played and I am glad to have met everyone that participated but I think the game would be better with either a fixed group (making scheduling more difficult) or a setup similar to the Northern Marches campaign.

The Northern Marches campaign was an open campaign which accommodated the busy schedule of adults. It was structured so that whoever was in attendance could participate. This was partially accomplished through having everyone return to the one site of civilization in the setting or face Jeff Rient's Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom. By having everyone return to the starting point, it allowed for a full roster of characters for the next session. One thing I found about the skype game is that the pace was slower than a face-to-face game so not as much was accomplished each session. This would make the Northern Marches structure a little more problematic.

2. The DM/Player interaction required to pull off a sandbox-style game is more difficult using an online medium.
A sandbox requires players with the ability to provide goals and this is amplified using something like skype. I find that in a face-to-face game a lot of this information is exchanged either when the group is just BS-ing or talking about the session just completed. This BS-ing is just not as natural with 4 or 5 people on skype. There are other ways of generating this communication such as a group email or blog for the campaign but they just don't work as well as when you can sitdown with the person.

3. I haven't gotten past the lack of visible feedback during play.
I mentioned this a while ago but it still bothers me.

I would definitely run more games using skype but I would likely do a few things differently and place more constraints on it.
Maybe by running a specific adventure module.

Open vs Closed Gaming

The last few D&D games I have been part of have all been "open" games. By open I mean that they are played with varying participants. The Northern Marches campaign was specifically designed to be open. It was created to accommodate busy adult lives and was designed so that it did not matter who showed up to play from week to week. The 4E games I am running at the local meetup are by necessity open and the skype B/X game is open in that I just made an open invitation for people and accepted a couple more than I expect to be able to make each scheduled session.

An open game contrasts with a closed game which I think of as how I have previously mostly played D&D in that I was part of a set group. Closed groups may or may not play the same game from week to week but they a fairly consistent in who shows up to play.

Whether a game is open or closed has an impact on social aspects of the game, the campaign design and the game mechanics themselves.

1. Social - a closed game has a slightly different social element than an open game. This is pretty evident since in an open game you never really know who might wind up sitting down at the table. I have found two interesting social dynamics in the open games I have run. The first is that I had the first fight between players during a Northern Marches game. The players did not know each other and it stemmed from a roleplaying incident where a character reacted to having another character accidently gunned down by friendly fire. I don't think that the reaction would have been the same if the players knew each other and had been party of a closed game. The second, an honestly one I tried to cultivate for the Northern Marches, is a bit of competitiveness between players. I wanted to try to get people to want to play frequently by giving them FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). If they new that another player's character found a magic sword during a session they were not able to atend maybe they would be more inclined to show up the next session.

2. Campaign Design - If a DM doesn't know who is going to be at his game, it makes it tough to carry on a plot. I think this leads to one of two reactions from the DM. Either they railroad the adventure to make sure that their "story" gets told or they adopt a sandbox. A sandbox doesn't have an overall plot so continuous attendance isn't required. An open game also encourages more episodic play with each session being more self contained.

3. Game mechanics - I find that closed games lead to more house rules. If you have a long standing group, everyone gets to know preferences and can take the time to learn house rules. Open games make communicating a long list of house rules more difficult.

What do you think? Are there other aspects that are impacted by open or closed games? Are there advantaged to open or closed games? Which do you prefer?

Northern Marches Session - Back to the Ruined Castle

I am a little late with this post as I have been away on a family camping trip. A week ago three intrepid adventurers (Konrad the Swordsmaster, Dolanic the Warrior and Ellorin the elven Veteran-Medium) and one retainer returned to the ruins of Castle Hareth. The story of the wraith that was encountered way back in session 2 has kept PCs from returning to the castle.

Some notes about the session:
1. It was the first time I had run a session at The Sentry Box. We played on the mezzanine level on a sunday afternoon and we were the only game going. I have booked table space there for every sunday afternoon even though I will likely be spotty in scheduling a game there through summer.

2. The PCs returned to a storeroom they had found previously and rolled out a number of barrels of ale. I love treasure like this. They had to make a couple of trips in and out of the castle to get all of the barrels out and had a number of wandering monster checks pass by uneventfully until the very end when they were discovered by a patrol of orcs. Now they have to figure out how to get a bunch of extremely bulky and heavy ale barrels back to New Hareth. Will they find a way to get them back all at once or will it take a bunch of trips? If it takes a bunch of trips will anyone take notice of what they are doing?

3. The final encounter of the afternoon was with a large group of goblins. The action was fast and furious and a few unusual maneuvers were executed. The encounter ended with Ellorin dead and the rest fleeing. Afterward we had a discussion about tactics and what had worked and what hadn't during the fight with the goblins who outnumbered the adventurers 3-to-1.

4. I tried the "Lucky Number" idea from the Unofficial Games blog but no lucky numbers were rolled during the session. I will try again next time.

Northern Marches Session

I sat down with three players last night for a session of Northern Marches. It was the first time I had pulled out my Northern Marches binder in about 6 weeks. Of three players, one (K-Slacker) is an old-school gamer in very much the same mold as myself. Players two and three were the previously mentioned Former Northern Marches Players. That is right - they actually came back!

The session itself was fairly basic but it was in its basic-ness that showed me that my previous conversations with them had an impact. The first couple of hours were spent talking to a local sage, tracking down the "Old-Timer" that loved to spin stories of his exploits when deep in his cups, talking to off-duty guardsmen about the goblin menace, and seeking out tougher retainers than the drunk misfits they had hired up to this point.

After that, they stole a small rowboat to head across the river as the ferry service has stopped due to lack of demand and the threat of goblins on the other side of the river. They then proceeded to explore the wooded mountains of the far side trying to scout for these goblins. They smartly avoided a couple of encounters with giant animals and quickly dispatched a lone Ogre. The session ended after they overcame an encamped hobgoblin patrol. My favorite part was when one of the players said, "wouldn't it be cool if they had a damsel to rescue?"

Well guess what - I made sure there was a damsel. She turned out to be a cleric. One of the most basic DMing skills there is.

It was actually a fairly mundane session. It had been a few weeks since we played last and I wasn't sure what they wanted to do so I treated it as if it were the first session. It worked well as it gave them a chance to try out their new "old school" skills. I had alot of fun!

As an aside, Konrad the Fighter is the only PC to remain from the first Northern Marches session. He is K-Slacker's character and is a foppish, vain fighter who the other players love to see get wet, dirty and otherwise covered in filth.

In Defense of Dogma

The word dogma (Gr. dogma from dokein) signifies, in the writings of the ancient classical authors, sometimes, an opinion or that which seems true to a person; sometimes, the philosophical doctrines or tenets, and especially the distinctive philosophical doctrines, of a particular school of philosophers, and sometimes, a public decree or ordinance.

Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia

The Northern Marches have been specifically designed to do 3 things:

1. Allow for easy scheduling and flexibility in attendance. - It uses Jeff Rients' Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom to encourage everyone to get back to safety at the end of the session. This is important so that the entire roster of characters is available for the next session. Also, it has been an open game where anyone who is interested is welcome to play. There have been sessions at a local game store to put it in a neutral location.

2. Get back to a "beer 'n pretzel" game where fun is the key. Everyone is aware that it is a game and can enjoy as such. This is not high drama. It is busting down doors and taking monsters' stuff. It is puzzles and traps. The only person that should take it seriously in the least is me and that is because of reason #3.

3. Just as Dwimmermount is James' experiment Northern Marches is my experiment to look at my interpretations of the tenents of Moldvay and Cook's Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons. By reading my previous posts about why B/X is my favorite and the comments from the last couple of days I think one can get a pretty good idea of what I believe those tenets to be.

Possible DM Lessons from the Northern Marches

After considering the feedback from players and the comments in the previous post here are a few lessons that I will try to implement:

1) More treasure. I made a post HERE that I knew I was being too stingy with the loot. This may have fed unwittingly into the issue where the party was unwilling to hire retainers or spend money to gather information.

2) Have explicit out of game discussions about philosophy and design instead of have these things discovered in game. I'm still not too sure about this one. I learned how to play B/X D&D without such hand holding. In fact, some of the most memorable sessions were the ones where lessons were learned. But if it is what it takes to get players to learn and appreciate B/X then okay. [EDIT: Not that this is tough to get anyway with this blog which is linked on the campaign website which also contains a bunch of stuff]

3) One thing I have been considering is inserting an NPC party that can play the role of competition and foil. The characters can then see the NPCs hire retainers, buy drinks for sailors, etc. I am still not 100% sure on this one. Does it take away from the party's sense of accomplishment?

Things I am not going to do:
1) Reduce the danger level. The encounters in the Northern Marches have been by-the-book in terms of difficulty and I even took it easy on the party tactically a couple of times.

2) Change my underlying philosophy about B/X and my "gameist" preferences.

Are there any other suggestions? Any comments?

Feedback From Some Former Northern Marches Players

I have been having a discussion over the last couple of days with two players that had participated in some of the sessions for the Northern Marches. They had stopped participating and I wanted to get some feedback from them as to why. Both of these players are experienced with d20 and were not familiar with B/X and especially my style of B/X. I am really interested in what they have to say as I feel that it is important that everyone have a good time - it's a game after all.

The feedback that I received basically broke down into 3 categories:

1. They didn't like the power level of the characters and the corollary dependance on retainers.

This is strictly a preference issue to me. They prefer the d20 power level and being the heroes. I have told them on various occasions the quote I posted the other day:

Basic & Expert D&D requires a different play-style than later editions. It is not a game of heroes doing superhero things. The power level doesn't ramp up like that. It is a game of exploration and discovery. Imagine if you, yourself, were thrust into a D&D adventure - you would take all steps necessary to ensure that you survived. You would investigate for knowledge of what you were up against, you would make sure that you had all the resources necessary and available to overcome obstacles and you would make sure you had enough muscle to survive. Instead of Superman think Dr. Livingstone.

If they don't care for this style of game then they should not play in the Northern Marches.

As I have mentioned previously, as one goes farther back towards the origins of the game the closer it resembles and plays like a wargame. By this I mean that combat is about resource management. The more hit points, attacks, protection, information and spells you have while minimizing those of your opponent the better off you are. B/X characters are fragile so you need to have as many advantages as possible. Some people don't like that style - that's cool.

2. They didn't feel like they were getting anywhere in terms of the story.

My thoughts on this are threefold:
A. Story? What story?
B. One thing that is perplexing and frustrating to me right now is that the party has not asked any questions and has not done any investigating. They don't ask questions about the who, what, whys of what was going on. The party does nearly everything blind which is very dangerous. I have given out about 4 of my 30 rumours about the ruined castle, 1 or 2 about the abandoned mine, only 1 regarding one of the local rulers and nobody asked what might be in the forest or mountains near the witches hut where they were searching. No one has asked about the paintings or statues in the castle. No one asked where they could get a scroll of protection against undead to get past the wraith.

Not investigating has done a few things: a) it has made things more dangerous and it has been reflected in the mortality rate, b) it has kept a number of nuggets about treasures, mysteries, and history hidden. By asking questions the party could have gotten a sense of being part of a bigger world and a sense that things were going on around them, c) it has also made it more difficult for me. I feel that I am a better DM when I get to react to proactive players. There were glimpses of it when they were getting ready to ambush a bandit to claim the bounty but the party never followed up. I felt I had to keep handing out hooks because there was no direction from the players.

C. Connected with the lack of investigating - in a game where most characters who can use platemail can buy it at the start and where you cannot buy magic items to me there are 3 main uses for treasure (after the XP of course): a) buy information, b) hire retainers, and c) eventually build a stronghold.

As for buying information, I have talked a couple of times about my use of the Retainer Reaction or Monster Reaction tables to handle most social interaction. This does not mean that everything is at the whim of the dice though. There are a number of ways to improve the odds. Spending 25 gp buying drinks for the off-duty captain of the guard will get you a +3 bonus on the roll. When using a 2d6, a +3 bonus makes it hard to really screw up, especially if you have any kind of charisma modifier.

RE the hiring of retainers - it is important in B/X. It just is - see above.

3. "I am more of a roleplayer..."

Honestly, this one burns me a little. Even with my "Gameist" preference I still believe that my style - especially with the low power style of B/X - is very encouraging of roleplaying. Now I don't do a lot of talking in 1st person or, to quote the Pundit, "sitting around talking melodramatically in your character's voice."

As the Pundit also says, "Roleplaying is ANYTHING that you do from the point of view of your character, any in-character action."
From this perspective, I feel that the Northern Marches has the potential for GREAT roleplaying. If you want to roleplay a character instead of roll dice for a piece of paper, put yourself in your characters shoes and figure out a way to overcome the obstacles and figure out a way to survive! In character decisions do not have to be stupid decisions. Again, imagine if you, yourself, were a character in a D&D adventure - you would take all steps necessary to ensure that you survived. You would investigate for knowledge of what you were up against, you would make sure that you had all the resources necessary and available to overcome obstacles and you would make sure you had enough muscle to survive. If you are roleplaying does you character deserve any less? The odds are against you so step into your character's shoes and figure out a way to improve them.

B/X is more dangerous for characters than 3.5. By ignoring this fact and marching into near certain doom is actually poor roleplaying unless your character is a suicidal adventurer with a death wish. Why is it not roleplaying if you have 3 retainers to help protect you? Or if you have to figure out a way to get past the monster that is way too powerful to fight head on?

To me that is smart roleplaying...if I have a character who is doing anything as dangerous as exploring vile dungeons for a living and I put myself in their shoes I would be sure to have lots of help!

Do you feel that the fact that I use the Monster Reaction Table for social interactions makes it not roleplaying? I feel the opposite as I then have to step into the NPC's shoes and come up with a reason for the result. Just because I don't use funny voices doesn't mean I don't have to make in-character decisions for them. In fact it might even be tougher as I am constrained as to the decision I make.

There was also a comment related to the roleplaying one about how the mortality rate was de-motivating. By understanding the points I made above I believe that this issue goes away or they go play a game they prefer.

Northern Marches Reaches Another Milestone

I am pretty excited!

Everyone actually took last week off from the Northern Marches. I was okay with this as we had a great run for a number of weeks getting one or two sessions in each week. I was actually starting to worry that I might get burnt out at the pace we had set.

During the week off two interesting things happened:
1. I emailed a very short (4 questions) multiple choice questionnaire to all of the players which I got some great feedback from, and
2. I was contacted by a couple more players that are interested in joining the campaign.

As for the feedback, it confirmed something that I suspected. I have been stingy with the treasure. I suspect this has been because of 2 reasons. The first, is that I fear and loathe twinkie superheroe PCs and I believe that I have unconsciously kept treasure light to keep the power levels down. In looking at this I see the error of my ways. What can they spend the money on to increase their power? Nothing. Those that can wear platemail already have it - it costs only 60 gp. There are no magic shops to buy a Flaming Sword. It is time to loosen the purse strings.

The second reason I have been stingy with the loot is that I have been using some non-B/X adventures and even some non-D&D adventures. I have also been lazy and not converting the treasure to the proper B/X scale. I will have to ensure that treasure does a better job of keeping up with the system requirements.

But, the thing that has me really excited is that more people are interested in joining the campaign. We are quickly approaching a size where we might be able to get 2 different groups adventuring in the Northern Marches. The idea of having somewhat competing adventuring parties in the campaign is really exciting to me because it has the potential to create a frenzy of activity when players know other players are out there exploring and taking treasure that "they" could be getting. It will also make the sharing of information more important. With two groups of players each individually likely to miss some of the sessions, the sharing of information is vital to ensuring that everyone feels they are part of the same game. I also love the idea of the actions of one group of adventurers having a lasting impact on the campaign world and having that impact noticed by another group of adventurers.

A Day in the Life or When We Next See Our Heroes?

Over at Tankards & Broadswords the subject was raised of Episodic vs Campaign focused games. This came at a interesting time for me as I am finding myself increasingly focused on episodic style games. I know that this is a result to all of the heavy lifting I have done for my Northern Marches campaign and prior to that the work I did for my Castles & Crusades campaign.

I am enjoying the Northern Marches game immensely! It has been great to see so many things come together into a very enjoyable campaign and I am hoping it goes on for quite some time. But I have been discussing getting my old C&C group back together for some gaming and the thought of putting together another long-term campaign does not interest me. If they were interested in the Northern Marches game that would be great but they are not.

Ideally, I would like to run a series of short "arcs" each one taking approximately 6 sessions - micro-campaigns if you will. Each micro-campaign could be kicked off with a collaborative brainstorming session. What does everyone want from the game? What flavour? Epic or gritty? Sword & sorcery or high fantasy? Political or dungeon crawling?

This would also allow for players to say, "Hey, remember Oscar the fighter I played a couple of months ago? He was fun. I want to play him again and try to kill that rat bastard wizard that fireballed his horse...". Or they could say, "I have always wanted to try a political game set during a war. How about we roll up various advisors to the king and try to win a war?".

Favorites could be revisited or new things could be tried.

Now admittedly these small mini-campaigns would be slightly railroady but I don't have a huge problem with that as everyone would have agreed during the brainstorming session as to the goal of the game.

The ideal of having a finish line is attractive to me right now. The Northern Marches game scratches my ongoing campaign itch. To mix my metaphors, the horizon of the Northern Marches is vast and unexplored. I can't wait to see what is over the next hill. But for starting a new game, I want a light at the end of the tunnel.

What type of games do you prefer? what type do you usually play? Are there any pitfalls to watch out for in an episodic game?

Northern Marches on the Road

I ran a session of the Northern Marches campaign at Revolution Games this afternoon. It marked the participation of the 9th player in the campaign. There has been a "core" group of about five players that have participated in the bulk of the sessions and another, now, four players that have participated in one or two sessions each. Today's session had three players that have been in most of the sessions and a newcomer that saw my posting at the store.

My hope is to get the roster of players up to about 12 to 15 from which to draw for any particular session. I am hoping that, with this number, different groups of characters begin going in different directions.

From the beginning of the campaign I adopted Jeff's Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom. This is to heavy-handedly encourage characters to get back to civilization by the end of the session so that the roster of all characters is available in the same location at the beginning of the next session. So far, there has not been the opportunity to subject the characters to random fates but it was close today.

Today was a fun session from my perspective. I went to the game store thinking that the party would once again descend into the haunted silver mine that they have spent the last few sessions exploring (last session they found the entrance to the second level). Instead they decided to talk to a few of the important local NPCs and see what rumours/information they could dig up and then decide what to they were going to do. This gave me the opportunity to roll on a couple of tables. I have mentioned numerous times how I enjoy DMing when I get to weave together a number of random elements.

First, I rolled on a table from Dragon issue 145 "Holding Down the Fort" that gave me the result of a disease outbreak.
Second, through the interaction with the local NPCs a couple of reaction rolls resulted in the local ranking cleric (actually not that high level) sending the party to a local midwife.
Third, a good reaction roll with the midwife resulted in her asking for aid from the party.
Fourth, I then rolled on a "Quest Generation" table that I have adapted from a couple of sources. This resulted in "Recover an Object". I just recently read an entry about an abandoned witch's hut in Points of Light, so I decided that the midwife would send them to find an old witch that might have a cure for the disease.
Fifth, where was this witch? A d6 roll to see which direction and another d6 for distance showed that the witch's hut was rumoured to be located 3 days travel north of the village.

To this point most of the dice rolls and development of the adventure hook had been done while the party was talking to NPCs, making plans, etc.

The party decided to go so as the party was traveling north and amid rolls for encounters, I made a few rolls to see if the witch was there. The result was that she was not there but instead the hut was occupied by a Living Crystal Statue. I decided that the Statue was an old servant for the witch that was left to guard the hut while she was gone. The witch had been gone for a few years now and the statue was hoping the characters would find her.

Another roll on the "quest generation" table and a couple more rolls to see why and where the witch had gone resulted in the party finding a notepad/diary where the last entry was about how the witch was going to a seek a "treasure" in a glade in a nearby forest.

A couple of rolls more and I had a ruined temple in the glade with goblins and wyverns. I decided that the wyverns would be very young and thus have only 1 hit die. A tough battle ensued and the young wyvern killed a hireling and nearly killed a Elf PC.

Will the ruined temple contain the answers to the whereabouts of the witch and/or the disease in the village? We'll have to see what I roll next time. Unfortunately, I had a mind blank and forgot to take pictures.

Taking the Northern Marches on the Road

I made arrangements to run a session of my Northern Marches campaign at Revolution Games in Calgary this Sunday afternoon. It will be an open game and anyone that wants to stop by is welcome to join in.

I have mentioned in a previous post that this is an important part of the Northern Marches campaign. When I started the campaign it was with the idea that it would specifically be designed to allow for people to drop in. Hopefully they enjoy themselves and continue to participate or maybe even look at setting up their own old school game.

Another Northern Marches Session

We have had a good run of gaming for the Northern Marches campaign the last few weeks. Last night we had another game with three players and myself.

The party was light on manpower but decided to return to the mines and fight goblins and bandits. Wandering monsters were their downfall. Only Konrad the Fighter made it out alive and he was grievously injured.

He went to the local temple to seek aid for himself. This gave me the opportunity to try out some more subsystems I have developed. A good reaction roll with the high priest, with some bonuses for helping the community with the bandits, resulted in the PCs hearing the tale (a Key Rumour) of a self-proclaimed Duke that has a stronghold to the west who is actually an evil undead that lives off the suffering and torment of the living. Also, in return for some healing, the high priest had Konrad the Fighter swear to investigate a recently discovered nearby tomb.

Investigating the tomb resulted in the PCs finding the first large treasure trove for the campaign. They have been unlucky in that regard to this point.

My goal in the development of the Northern Marches is to use a handful of simple subsystems based on existing mechanics in the B/X rules so that the campaign is nearly usable for solo play - something akin to an open ended version of Barbarian Prince. Then I, as the DM, can just sit back and enjoy meshing the results of these subsystems into a workable campaign for the players. I have mentioned in previous posts that the thing I enjoy the most about DMing is when I get to take a few randomly generated elements and use my imagination to mesh it together into something usable. Using the subsystems allows me to determine a larger history and story to the setting without a metaplot thus keeping the sandbox nature of the campaign. By parsing out random rumours and elements of the setting the players can ignore them if they wish but still get a sense of a larger world with a past and other forces present.

I have been enjoying not only the gaming sessions but also the construction process.

Rumours in the Northern Marches

The players in my Northern Marches game are very exploration focused which makes things easy for me since the it is an exploration based sandbox game. A key thing that is making the players get out there and explore are the rumours that they hear. I am using two types of rumours - the General Rumours one picks up in taverns, markets, etc. and what I am calling the Key Rumours for the Northern Marches. I am working with a very basic structure for the General Rumours:

Goals + Location + Obstacles = Adventure

To begin with the Goals have been very simple - the hint of the unknown and/or treasure!
The locations and obstacles to date have been my megadungeon (which has taken much of my time away from the Pit of Tortured Souls, sorry) and four pre-placed, published adventures.

As the campaign continues, I will begin to use the players to generate the Goals portion of the rumours equation. For example, the magic-user reaches 2nd level and is looking for someone to teach him Read Magic. He approaches the Striped Mage of Hareth but learns that for the Mage to teach it to him, the magic-user must bring back the feet of a Bugbear. The goal then becomes Find Bugbears.

The Location portion of the rumour equation will be handled in one of three likely ways: 1) I will have already placed some Bugbears somewhere in the Northern Marches, 2) I will randomly generate the location for some Bugbears, or 3) I will just pick some place cool to stick some Bugbears.

The Obstacles will also be handled with a similar method. For this example, the obvious one is the Bugbears themselves. But what if they are looking for a Potion of Fire Resistance? I can use the Wandering Monster tables or just pick something I want to use - maybe a Cave Bear.

Things won't be so random for the General Rumours about the megadungeon. As it is the so-called "tent pole" of my campaign it will be much more structured and thought out. And since I want to stress not only the megadungeon but also the exploration of the wilderness of the Northern Marches most of the locations of these General Rumours will be rather small - for example, a 20 room dungeon, a small shrine or a beast's lair.

The final component of these General Rumours will be whether they are true or not. I will use a dice roll to determine if the Goal, Location and/or Obstacles are true or false. So if the party was looking for the legendary sword of Cirso and they heard that it might be found in the Forest of Terror and it is rumoured to be guarded by the Fire-Breathing Giant of Belal, some or all of that may be true. Maybe the sword is in the forest but it is guarded by a normal Fire Giant, maybe the Fire-Breathing Giant of Belal makes his lair in the Forest of Terror but the sword is not there or maybe the Fire-Breathing Giant does guard the sword but his lair is actually in the Mountains of Nyght.

The second type of rumour, the Key Rumours, are specific rumours I have developed about the key figures in the Northern Marches. These rumours can only be obtained from other key figures such as the Lords, Mayors, High Priests, etc. Each key figure has been given two things; a Key Rumour about another key figure and a desire/quest (think video games). By gaining an audience with these key figures and rolling a very positive Reaction Roll, the party can learn either one of these. These Key Rumours are always true and they are designed to tell the story of the Northern Marches. The desires/quests are designed for more significant adventures and may give the party other benefits, for example Duke Belamor desires a famed diamond called the Heart of Zeus. If the party brings it to him he will reward them by making the Fighter with the highest charisma a General of his army. I am also toying with the idea that to learn a Key Rumour from a figure the party must first fulfill the figure's desire (once again think video games).

The Key Rumours may be such things as "the Lady Estir is actually a succubus and is harvesting souls to activate the Gate of Xull and allow her master to enter the world." If you string a bunch of these Key Rumours together you get a picture of the history and goings on in the Northern Marches.

In the last session of the campaign, some of the adventurers travelled to Silverton and heard the rumour that there was an abandoned mine near by that might be the hideout for some bandits (a General Rumour) and had an audience with the Mayor and rolled a very good reaction roll to hear his desire - to find the bandits that have been raiding near by silver mines. If they had rolled a bit better or maybe if they succeed in ridding the area of the bandits, the Mayor may tell them a Key Rumour.