Showing posts with label megadungeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label megadungeon. Show all posts

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Excerpts From Punkinberg

Excerpts From Punkinberg 
the up and coming
Supplement 
for
the
DUNGEONPUNK
RPG

DUNGEONPUNK
PUNKINBERG

NOTE: You the Game Master are now on your own on what the numbers are needed to roll. Make up a difficulty from 1 to 20 and see if they beat that number or just let them roll and interpret by how well they roll. You can also roll dice against dice and see how that goes. Just wing it. Give the example characters weapons as needed. Add more detail as needed.


One giant rotten stinking city state built upon layers of foul ancient ruins is Punkinberg. It sits upon atop a great mountain spire with high walls and a precarious road that one could drop off to the sharp rocks below. Once a small outpost, it grew into a vertical city and a kingdom. It's castles and noble districts glowing like a beacon into the night. It's the midway in a trade route so it's always full of out of towners. It also has an inland dock on a freshwater sea that has another nation across from it.

The Lord Mayor Rufus Malthus of House Malthus runs the city. He is a large fat heavily perfumed but still smells of shit and sweat type of guy. He has a huge greasy head of curly hair and has fancy clothing and white makeup. He is 35 years old. He has many piercings and quite a few pieces of jewelry as well as a silver grill. He is playing all sides and will do anything to keep in power. The Mayor controls the Town Guard and the Sheriff. Destiny 4

The Sheriff Gibby Sun is a little red haired man with a sick attitude. He is 45 years old. He has stabbed his way to the top of the Town Guard and became Sheriff and is stuck up the ass of the Lord Mayor. He is always in his fine chainmail and carries his magical sword Punkslayer and his magical shield Reflectoir. He has his “special” group of mercenary DUNGEONPUNKs he calls the Sun Dogs. They all wear some sort of bright gold tabbard with a sun symbol on the front and back. He has control of the Town Guard as well. Destiny 8

The King Reginald McManus of House McManus is a dashing tall man with long blonde hair. He is tattooed from head to toe with pictures from ancient tales. He normally walks around bare chested with white leather pants and high boots, dragging his family sword Goonkiller in one hand and a bottle in the other. He is 37 years old. He tries to hold onto power but his father left the royal house with too many enemies. Characters that do heroic things shall gain his attention. Destiny 12

The Prince X McManus of House McManus is a spitting image of his father just better looking. Yes his name is just X. He is 15 years old. He cares not for this life and yearns to be free of it all because the prince has no clue and has no knowledge of how shitty the world really is. The prince is stupid. Destiny 3

The Earl Markus Rothchild of House Rothchild is an old DUNGEONPUNK with a purple Mohawk and fine purple garb. His pale skin is accented by dark purple lipstick. He has many silver piercings and jewelry. He makes claim to the throne as his uncle was next in line but killed in childhood, SO thus the crown should have gone to him but he was imprisoned. He has his Rothschilds in their purple tabbards working as muscle for him. Destiny 8

Lord Dorfus of House Dorfus is a Nobleman who worked his way up the ladder as a former slave Bureaucrat in various positions. He is small, bald, and fair as he is a eunuch. He is always very well dressed and surrounded by his 10 or so other little men who are eunuchs as well. He is very knowledgeable in heraldry and everyone of the movers and shakers from high to low in Punkinberg. If you want to know something then talk to him. Destiny 5

Earl Contentious of House Contentious is a minor noble who has aspirations of gaining the throne. He is old and wrinkled with a white mass of hair that looks like a lions mane. He has many piercings and jewelry of silver. He is pretty much a low noble and is terribly in debt. He is vile and evil and is know as a total worm by everyone. He is a drug addict, alcoholic, thief, murder, and liar. He is famous for beating up his child servants for just sheer evil pleasure. In fact he makes a show of it at dinner parties that are not attended by any Noble with any face. His dinner parties are a great place to meet really bad people, cultist, and devil worshipers from the Low side of the city.

Lord Blackfire of House Blackfire is a sharply dressed nobleman with long black hair and beard. He wears leather and jeweled garb and carries a sword stolen from conquest. He is rumored to be a Warlock and devil worshiper. The rumor is true. He does not care if he burns down the world as long as he helps it burn. His tabbard is black leather with an eye on the chest. Destiny 8

The Bishop Isadorous of the State Church of the Fire God is always immaculately dressed in his robes and likes the young men as he always has one at his side. He always has hair and makeup like a weird old woman. He vies for power playing all sides sides and has the power of the State Church backing him with his Red Guard. He is a Healer of great power with a Destiny of 8.

The foreign Prophet Rasputin of the Church of the Mountain God has black robes and long wild deadlocked hair and beard. He is a healer of great power. He tries to incite the people for revolution with his soldiers he calls the Dreadlocks. Destiny 8

Garducci is a foreign diplomat. His two trusted men that accompany him are Porcellini and Bartolinni. They were weird fancy foreigner clothing with lots of jewelry and are heavily perfumed. Their public face is very sociable and kind. They are always throwing charity events for the poor. The Diplomats try and turn everyone against each other by planting rumors and framing up anyone they can. They plan on the Prince marrying their Foreign Princess and will have any rivals assassinated. They all have a Destiny of 6.

The Foreign Princess Nikita Polarmo is a beautiful girl with long black hair. She is sporting a left black eye. She wears Gothic medieval style. She is only 15 years old. She has been trained since birth by the King and Queen Polarmo to get what she wants at any cost and will do anything to marry the Prince. They will then assassinate him and take over the country. She will kill anyone in her way. She is so evil that she tends to kill at least ten or so servants a week. She always has a supply of fresh servants to torture and kill. Her servants are always looking down and show evidence of torture but are also immaculately dressed. She is smart enough to keep this evil side a secret. She has learned to use magic items and may have a few powerful ones. Destiny 5

The Escaped Foreign Servant Girl Mikki has been marked for capture, not death. That will come at the hands of the Foreign Princess Nikita! It appears this servant girl punched the Princess in the eye and escaped with her life when she was being choked out. She is 18 years old. Destiny 2


The Nobles families play all sides vying for position. Almost all nobles are cruel and evil. They will try and kill each other to move up in power. Make up different Noble families to add to these. 

The rest of the city will be detailed but left open for customization. 

Monday, May 16, 2016

Musings of a Mad Wizard Gamer.

Not going to shelve the game. GM burnout with bouts of creativity THEN bouts of doubt. Version 1.7 is going to stay for awhile longer as I just want to make modules and maps. Not as organized as I would like , but was the original game not a total mess? I fixed and streamlined the problems with magic (see document) on spells per day and such. In earlier version casters could cast so many spells that it made it hard to keep track of. That has been fixed. It is the game that I have always wanted to run. It has that simplicity of rules that allow one just to create with a few of the modern options pegged on. 



Was greatly inspired by stories of how they were first forming Blackmoor and then Greyhawk. Have also been inspired by Ed Greenwood's stories of his forgotten realms. The Ryth Chronicles also has made creative juices flow. Stories of the West Marches of Ars Lundi. The Dark Ages Campaign of Chogowiz. The Watchfires and Thrones campaign of Micheal Curtis in The Archive of the Rotted Moon. Philotomy's Musings of the Mythic Underworld. I want to create really cool worlds. Starting small and then continuing on. My Little Barony, Raven's Keep, and the megadungeon The Black Stairs is going on 7-8 years old now. I have ran it using Swords and Wizardry, OSRIC, LL/AEC, Pathfinder (too much work!), and finally Back to the Dungeon RPG!

The maps and the stories are about to expand! I have decided to flesh out my world a little bit more. 

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Back to the Dungeon RPG V1.4

 MAJOR CHANGES to MAGIC!

The spell points were simply too powerful so I decided on just giving them 4 spells plus Attribute bonus plus 2 spells a level. 

A Wizard with a 16(+2) Intelligence would start out with 6 spells a day and get two additional a level. He cast at 1/2 his level so a 1st level charter can cast cast 0 level spells and 1st level spells. 

I had multiple criticisms about the magic system being too powerful and the spells being hard to track. 

This fixes that problem. Thanks for the suggestions Tony and Tom.  

A few minor editing problems are now fixed but there are still more.  

ALSO book 6 Dungeon Arcana has been released as well as an updated Module: The Hills of Death!  


https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUflNIa3FvSVg0M0lDNDcwNzdBbWlhM1pQdUFyRFY2R21oNE4yZnBoYl9BRDg&usp=sharing

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Back to the Dungeon Zine for LL/AEC Issue 5 released today!

BACK to the Dungeon ZINE

Issue 1.1

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUVkNUNTNjRUpGMTA/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 2

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUcWpVRDJNY3RXcUU/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 3

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpURWJVcVhOSTFfYkk/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUSE5WTHprSW5NUWs/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUTFNuRHhtQ2I0LW8/edit?usp=sharing

Friday, April 26, 2013

A repost of a cool gaming session.

Expedition to the Black Stairs 

Written in very rough draft form.

PCs
Eachern M The Cleric
Dalkon M The Dwarven Warrior
Aowen F The Elf Thief
Eva F The Thief

NPCs
Marts MF With Plate and 2H Sword
Melenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Dagger
Belenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Hand Ax
Melenad and Belenad are two attractive foreigner twins.

NPCs not hired
Raph MF With Chain, Shield, and Sword plus Crossbow
Tran MF With Plate, Battle Ax, and Spear

The Black Stairs Servant's quarters.
Dalkon get's let down on rope and he gets shot at by 2 goblins. Aowen goes down below to help. As well as Eva, Belenard, and Marts. Eachern and Melenard tie rope to bush and go down. Belenard proves to be a great shot! Killing one of the goblins and the Dwarf kills the other but not until Melenard is horribly injured! Two goblins are dispatched. Three more goblins come out. The party quickly dispatches them all but poor Marts is killed. The adventurer's explore the rest of the servant's quarters and find much gold and an amulet of protection.

They find door on the western end on the main hallway with a warning written in goblin”No go in here” The Cleric feels unholiness in the area and decides to go to the door to the south instead that opens up into a three way hallway.

The western hallway has a smell (Now as a house rule Dwarves will be able to tell the different kinds of humanoids by their smell!) of some kind of humanoid but the dwarf can't tell what it was.
The southern hallway opens up into a green house.
The eastern hallway goes down to a room with a lit fire.
The players go south into the greenhouse and find two knotted ropes coming down. The cleric decides to cut the ropes ten foot up as the Elf decides to climb up the rope. She finds a mulemaster and a pack mule. The mulemaster is heavily question by the elf as the dwarf climbs up. The dwarf finds out that two of the NPCs that were not hired Raph and Tran have decided to come to the Black Stairs themselves. The Dwarf pays the mulemaster 3 gold and tells him to cut the rope when they get back down. The elf and dwarf climb back down and the rope begins to get pulled back up with the mulemaster explaining that he did not have a knife to cut the rope so he would just pull it up. The Dwarf runs and leaps grabbing the rope. The mulemaster surprised by this does not let go of the rope and accidentally gets pulled down headfirst to his death 20 feet below. The party rolls in laughter with this strange turn of events.
The party then decides to go down the eastern hallway and the elf scouts down the hall and sees three goblins completely distracted by something farther down the hallway. The elf decides to sneak up and gives a battle cry too early allowing the goblins a chance to attack but somehow they all miss. The party quickly dispatches the goblins and find an old mine, 6 slaves and a freshly dug gold mine with many nuggets of gold.

The party decides to get the heck back to Raven's Keep and right in the servant's quarters they are ambushed by Raph and Tran. Raph and Tran attack with crossbow and Spear and miss! They close in and the Dwarf is killed (CRIT!) by Tran as well as Melenad and Beledad. The cleric is taken out as well as the elf but she does manage to kill Raph. Only Eva the thief is left standing as she fires her arrows at Tran hitting him but he still is up. She drops her bow and draws her sword as the battle axe barely misses. They both make a last strike his axe cutting her nearly to death and her blade hitting the mark killing Tran. She tires to heal the cleric and fails and succeeds on the elf who quickly pours a potion of healing that they found earlier in the cleric's mouth.



They limp back to town.







I use the Dave Arneson method of spend the gold in order to get the Experience Points for it.

The cleric is a worshiper of Bobber the god of fishing. He find the temple of Bobber in great disrepair and their acolytes lax. The local priest of Bobber is an old man who claims to be 115 years old. Much gold is spent getting the temple in repair.

The Thief spends her money on much partying.

The Elf Thief spends her money of a fully armored warhorse. A new set of armor, some caltrops, a couple of tattoos, new fancy sets of clothing, and the rest is wasted on partying.

The brother of the Dwarf comes to the city looking for his brother. He is saddened to find that he is dead and is gladdened to find he died in battle with honor.

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready for Part 1.5 which I will tell later...

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready!

The party went back in and found the slaughter house. An animal pen, a blood pit that scraps and blood was drained to the unused 3rd level and the actual kitchen.

The party and their retainers bumbled around until they attracted the attention of some zombies. The cleric turned all of one of the dead but the party foolishly pursued the zombies and lost two dwarfs. The zombies were dispatched though.

The fighter Mark kept talking smack about the superiority of humans as the party explored the slaughterhouse area of the dungeon. The Player Dwarf pushed him down the bloodhole. He survived the fall but the party discovered he met a gang of ghouls who quickly dispatched foolish Mark but not before he beheaded one of them. A quick application of oil dispatched another ghoul but the party knows going deeper they will have to face them.

They explored a bit more and found a horde of dishes and silverware. The best find was a huge set of gold candle holders. The headed back to Raven's Fort where they cashed in the items for gold.

A party of legend has happened for the last three weeks as the Adventurers have unleashed a time of drunken debauchery right during The Summer Festival of the Lottery. With the huge amount of gold the party has shut down much of the city for the last three weeks. Crops have not been tended, cows not milked, jobs not done, the city has put in a virtual standstill. Drunken citizens lay all about the street for the last three weeks! The party is out of money and the Baron is now displeased. Time to leave town!

This was a Swords and Wizardyr game but I converted the world to LL/AEC.

Sadly some of the players claimed they did not enjoy the game. IF we would have been using 4E then the same game would have taken MANY sessions.  They only wanted to play 4E. 

Monday, December 24, 2012

Well it's time to start adventuring in BttDRPG

I have split the documents into five booklets totaling 104 pages that if made into fold over booklets only takes 26 pieces of paper and you have a complete (in playtest form at least) RPG.

I am going to concentrate on making a few simple dungeons and adventures and let the chips fall where they may.

All I have to do is get a few people to play it from both sides of the fence at one table.

HEH!

Book 1 PC Guide
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUUmU0Ym4tbS0zZVE

Book 2 Spells
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUV3hJRVU3Q012N3M

Book 3 Monsters
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUX2p1d24xMUJKRGs

Book 4 GM Guide
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUYTA2LURxck5TMkk

Book 5 PC Guide 2 Additional Races and Classes
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUdWh3RGtjYzJFdEU


SO print these out in booklet form and fold them over and read them.

If you decide to play it then let me know how you enjoyed it.


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Repost: Why do some think Dungeons Suck?

With all the talk of BORING Dungeons I decided to repost and update this old article I wrote back on 08/13/11.

Why do some think Dungeons Suck?

You hear this crap all the time from old and new school gamers. With a defiant sniff...

"Me and my players don't like dungeons. We believe in deep role-playing. Dungeons are so boring. Just going from room to room killing stuff, It's so boring and blah."

Well! Then whomever has been running (and writing) your dungeon needs a bit of schooling. If you limit your game to "no dungeons" then you are doing it wrong.

FIRST When creating a dungeon don't just make rooms, fill it with monsters, and start playing.

ADD FLAVOR!

All dungeons should have their first purpose before they were dungeons. In my huge megadungeon "The Black Stairs" it was originally an underground colony from some unknown time. The dug too deep and found existing caverns and structures

An underground city populated by humans long ago then something terrible happened! It seems they all just disappeared or left in a great hurry.

Nature should also play a role in a dungeon. In the Black Stairs water has worked it's way in many places. There are two waterfalls that now pour through huge holes that go deep into the dungeon never filling it up. In some cases if one drops down can access the dungeon from multiple ways other than the front door.

There are also chimneys that are pouring out smoke from unknown depths as well as tracks and trails showing that this dungeon is a living place.

Dungeons should also have factions and some some way of trade and commerce though some are connected to the mythic underworld and have no rhyme or reason to them.

If a dungeon is large enough then there should also be various interested parties other than the PCs. In my Labyrinth Lord (SOON to be a BttDRPG) version there is a huge group of NPCs that belong to the local adventurer's guild who have staked "official" claim to the dungeon. A large party of over 12 NPCs. Always increase NPCs if the players were foolish enough to go back to town and brag on their adventures and show off all the treasure they found.

In the Pathfinder version I did not have time to make them (Cause the system is a clunky mess of too many rules) so they are just found dead.

You should use various descriptions to portray a sense of ancientness and oldness. The players should be able to feel the textures and smell the smells of the place.

Also make odd traps and tricks that strike the fear of death into the players.

Add elements of video games such as doors that can ONLY be unlocked by certain magical keys.

Have various NPCs from civilization give the players quest to find certain objects within the dungeon.

Let many treasures not all be gold jewels and gems. Sometimes and ancient set of books, tapestries, furniture, clothing, wine, or whatever can be the most valuable treasure.

Many intelligent monsters will be ready for the next visit of the adventurers with ambush and traps.

Maybe even a less intelligent pet is corralled for the PCs to encounter...

ANON

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Back to the Dungeon LL/AEC Zine!

So here it is the first Back to the Dungeon Zine Volume I Issue I. I have been working 7 days a week and up to 12-14 hours a day but finally have a fatigue day so sorry for any incomplete or half finished crap. Hopefully the damn links work but on blogspot it never does, has, or will work.


https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzYaSvmA-OpUMlVUNDBTcGpTOEtVUTNMUjhoNHE4Zw

I really hope that more amateur publishers with delusions of grandeur start producing more Zines.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Back to the Dungeon Zine Part III

Getting closer! It's going to be 44 pages long. Can't fit the second level that will be next zine depending on response. Got to add treasure according to LL/AEC so the chart is generous.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Back to the Dungeon Zine Part II

Things progress well.
Editing will be horrendous, things will be "mostly" done with many holes for you to fill in, as well as grammar but that's what I like about a zine! The first two levels of "The Black Stairs" is really looking good. I am going to put the monsters back that my various players killed out in order to make the dungeon refreshed.

I hope to add a bunch of little worthless articles that just add flavor and background such as a postings post. Things like "Adventurers needed for Flying Potion Experiment: People with any loved ones need not apply".

I hope to release Temple of the Monkey God as a zine soon as well.

Things at work went haywire on day shift so I had less "ass time" to finish up my zine as planned. It does seem that the universe is against me gaming!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Back to the Dungeon Zine


Guess what in my exile from all life called a turnaround for at least the next few weeks I am going to be cutting and pasting my notes from "The Little Barony: Raven's Keep" and possibly the first two levels of the black stairs as well as the one level dungeon Bloodrock Castle. Also the area map where one inch equal five miles.

I am putting it in a little foldover zine pdf inspired by the Ryth Chronicles and the Mikidemia Towns of the Outlands and The Black Tower. Been reading that between the writing sessions.

My how far we have come in gaming and how far off the path we have went.

As long as my people behave on the job it won't be too much of a task for me to write my little booklet. If people like then I may write more.


Ryth Chronicles LINK
http://www.risusmonkey.com/2011/06/ryth-chronicle-1975-1977.html


Midkemia Press
http://www.midkemia.com/

FREE PDFs.
Towns of the Outlands LINK
http://www.midkemia.com/Towns.pdf
The Black Tower
http://midkemia.com/BlkTwr.pdf

Saturday, October 1, 2011

CFRPG Update.

Well my partner in crime D&D Charlie on my yahoo group has been pecking away as the editor of my CFRPG. So far he has the document looking professional. I got kinda teary eyed on how good he made it look.

I never seem to have time to keep this going but seeing all organized is well INSPIRING!

So far there has been no open bridge between the old and new school gaming and I hope this may be the answer for a few people. Old school simplicity of rules with new school options WITHOUT getting bogged down in huge rulebooks.

Easy to run and easy to play.

Free to very cheap, pay if you like it or not, free to kids, print it yourself, make copies for your friends, distribution model. Once perfected there could be a POD version but that is far away for now.

I hope other people take the rules and...
Make books of more spells!
Make monster manuals!
Make more races and classes! More options the better but still keep em simple.
Make Modules! Lots of modules!
Fanzines!
Living Campaign Based on your real world geography?
Would people oppose a free approval process where one's creation would be checked over and approved so not to come out with a game killing class or race?

So is there room for another retro-clone? Yes, No, and Maybe.

Is there room for a Bridge-Clone? OR whatever you want to call what the heck we are doing? I don't know. I will have to hear what people think.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Return of the Heroes

Return of the Heroes

So what is a Return of the Heroes? It's the game to get some of the old group back together as well as invite new ones. First of all you need to have everyone recollect their favorite characters or a combination of their favorite characters. Give them 6050 XP and start (re)making characters. You could also make the players the children of their favorite characters! Tell them to not buy equipment as you the DM will make an equipment list for them. Give them a minor few magic items and such.

Next start with the adventure. Try and reuse or rehash old villains (or the children of the villains). This automatically makes the party join together and be ready to fight. Remake and expand you dungeons of old. Really go all out on this.

Ronvug that evil wizard is now a Lich and he has many minions out there! The players will have to get more powerful to defeat him!

Deep in the the wilderness in the middle of a caravan attack is how it needs to start and the goal is the Tavern in the small walled keep or town!

Where were the characters coming from? Were they at war or on a quest that required them to all separate and years later come back together?

Now they have all received a summons to return to their old meeting place. They have heard dark news that their old enemy (or his offspring) have returned.

It is a time for the Return of the Heroes!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Why do some think Dungeons Suck?




Why do some think Dungeons Suck?

You hear this crap all the time from old and new school gamers. With a defiant sniff...

"Me and my players don't like dungeons. We believe in deep role-playing. Dungeons are so boring. Just going from room to room killing stuff, It's so boring and blah."

Well Then whomever has been running (and writing) your dungeon needs a bit of schooling. If you limit your game to "no dungeons" then you are doing it wrong.

FIRST When creating a dungeon don't just make rooms fill it with monsters and start playing.

ADD FLAVOR!

All dungeons should have their first purpose before they were dungeons. In my huge megadungeon "The Black Stairs" it was originally an underground colony from some unknown time.

An underground city populated by humans long ago then something terrible happened! It seems they all just disappeared or left in a great hurry.

Nature should also play a role in a dungeon. In the black Stairs water has worked it's way in many places. There are two waterfalls that now pour through huge holes that go deep into the dungeon never filling it up. In some cases if one drops down can access the dungeon from multiple ways other than the front door.

There are also chimneys that are pouring out smoke from unknown depths as well as tracks and trails showing that this dungeon is a living place.

Dungeons should also have factions and some some way of trade and commerce though some are connected to the mythic underworld and have no rhyme or reason to them.

If a dungeon is large enough then there should also be various interested parties other than the PCs. In my Labyrinth Lord version there is a huge group of NPCs that belong to the local adventurer's guild who have staked "official" claim to the dungeon. A large party of over 12 NPCs. Always increase NPCs if the players were foolish enough to go back to town and brag on their adventures and show off all the treasure they found.

In the Pathfinder version I did not have time to make them (Cause the system is a clunky mess of too many rules) so they are just found dead.

You should use various descriptions to portray a sense of ancientness and oldness. The players should be able to feel the textures and smell the smells of the place.

Also make odd traps and tricks that strike the fear of death into the players.

Add elements of video games such as doors that can ONLY be unlocked by certain magical keys.

Have various NPCs from civilization give the players quest to find certain objects within the dungeon.

Let many treasures not all be gold jewels and gems. Sometimes and ancient set of books, tapestries, furniture, clothing, wine, or whatever can be the most valuable treasure.

Many intelligent monsters will be ready for the next visit of the adventurers with ambush and traps.

Maybe even a less intelligent pet is corralled for the PCs to encounter...

ANON






Friday, June 24, 2011

My non-Perfect RPG

Well I finished my races, classes, spells, equipment, monsters, and NOT treasure.

Monsters ah Monsters, they are just mostly 3 stats. AC HD and Move with a brief description of damage and the monster.

After spells, Treasure Tables really suck. Have not made any yet. Oh how I dread.

I mean my spells are still only BARELY described hoping that GM Fiat and judgement will make the final decision.

The best part of the game is GM Fiat. The GM not the rules are the ultimate judge in this game. The other part is the GM not the players need to learn the rules. The players will just play their characters and have fun.

I also made the game to be played FAST! I decided on using the BASIC style of initiative.

It works.

It works with HUGE combats.

The game should be easy to run most of all and allow the GM to tell a story with fast action and deep story. EASY to run!

Hope to playtest this 4th of July with my Pathfinder Group as I am running out of patience with PFRPG.

I hope to start a spark and let it burn. This is not going to be another Simulacrum but a hybrid of old and new.

I hope that I can get comments good or bad to let me make this into a great RPG. I know that there will be many disagreement from those who have their own ideas but I have been gaming for 30 years and I know what makes a great game despite the intent of other designers.

No one purposely designs a game bad they just don't think of the practicality of their rules all the way through.

The Old School stuff I left out was Level Limits, Racial Limits, Weapon vs Armor Restrictions, and other stuff...

New School I left out Skills, Feats, Whole Page Monster Stat Blocks, Stupid Huge Hit Point Amounts, Level Adjustments and many other things.

Well been drinking and got to get ready for bed and work.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Black StairsNPC party idea

Well up till 3:40 in the morning drinking fine vodka(because I ran out of bourbon) and working on my huge maps. About a hundred rooms per level. It's going to be a massive undertaking for anyone to take on this dungeon.

Once again I came up with a twist. One of the monsters I rolled up was an NPC party.

Now that can be interesting in itself as on a previous session the NPCs that were not hired went to the dungeon to explore on their own and best of all attack the weakened party to steal their stuff.

But why not give them more of a story?

When the players reenter the Black Stairs there will be a letter claiming the dungeon to the Raven's Keep Adventuring Society. The letter will also say that only sanctioned RKAS members may enter the dungeon if not legal action will be taken on the offenders. On the back will be a waiver of liabilities and a HUGE list of more that 15 NPCs in the party.

How will the players react to this? This is the dungeon that they bled in many times and now some upstart is claiming it?

This should be pretty good...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

A Messy Recap of my Old School games.

Here is a recap of all the adventures that have been played in my Raven's Keep Sandbox Setting.

After this point I will be using OSRIC as opposed to S&W. Hopefully more to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJhVM930YXY

Listen to Dead Can Dance while you read! You can thank me later!

Wow I played Swords and Wizardry last night with my two girls. They were both elves. My 11 year old rolled a fighter elf and my oldest 13 year old rolled a fighter magic user elf. I had them hire four Men at arms and then sent them into the dungeon. They were there to rescue the Baron's Daughter who had been kidnapped by the Kobolds. Bloodrock Keep was the ruins they haunt and had never been a problem until now. The heroines went in swords swinging and lost the initiative and two of the four retainers died right away. The girls managed to fight off and kill the rest of the kobolds. They then went back to town and hired a set of twing chin and shield fighters, a thief, and a second level wizard. They kicked in the door of the next room for a surprise attack and did they ever miss! My two girls quickly dispatched two of the surprised guards and the Mage and rogue killed two as well. The next round one of the fighters were dead as well as the mage. The rest of the combat ended messily with all the guards being killed. Only one of the fighters and the thief was left. In the corner of the room was a cell that contained a 2nd level elf. While they were talking goblins busted in from the north room and killed the fighter and the thief NPC. The more experienced elf NPC showed the players the use of a bow and the goblins were killed. They will play again soon.

A Human Fighter and two Female Elves.

The Fighter had been traveling for the last 14 days from the Capital to Raven's Keep. A few hours before the city he met up with two female elves. Two Adarian Elves who told a story of the baron of Raven's Keep ravishing an elvish princess of their tribe and now they were at war with the baron. The Fighter groaned as he knew these elves would be trouble.

As they approached the city there was a great crowd of people and screams of pain! There was a man burning at the stake! A few rotting bodies hung by the neck from the wall, people in brass pots with only their heads sticking out who would be left to die slowly in their own filth. Stocks of ten with four unfortunates in them, to be left for days outside the city walls and anything could happen to them.

Then there was this raven haired girl with bright blue eyes and pale white skin. She wore strange black and red leather armor. She and two guards were at the top of the great stone wall some 20 ft high. She was abut to be hung by the neck until dead. The elves began to complain and the fighter told them this is the law and this is crime and punishment. As they were discussing the girl who was proclaiming her innocence and said she had spurned the baron, was throw off the wall and the noose caught on (1d6 damage) but it did not snap her neck but she would die (1 pt of damage a round) soon. One of the elves pulled out her bow and shot through the rope allowing the girl fall. The rather large crowd went wild and began to run into the town as someone screamed goblins attacking! The elf maidens quickly escorted the girl back into the city where she disappeared into the crowds. The fighter suggested that they do the same.

They found a rowdy inn and found rumors of all sorts of things going on. The baron was a womanizer, slavery was very popular here, two dungeons Bloodrock Castle and the Black Stairs beckoned adventurers to explore them and a few adventurer parties had went but never returned. Much adventure was to be found here.

A sage of great wisdom invited the party for a drink and told of Bloodrock Castle and a Tome that he wanted for a hefty price. He would tell them of the location and they would return him the Tome.

SO they went....


Drunk and stupid the Fighter and the two elf maidens were. The entire group of five hirelings had died in the first three rooms of Bloodrock Castle. The first room was a portrait room with pictures of great art that fell apart when touched. Filthy kobolds ambushed us and killed two of our nameless hirelings. The next room a former bedroom of a rich maiden, has human bandits that wiped out the rest of our retainers when goblins from the third room came in and ambushed from behind. It seems that old school has more deadly consequences than new school gaming. Lucky the players let their retainers die and they had to flee back to the inn to wait for another adventure. They sit there now drinking and regretting the senseless deaths of their retainers. Maybe they will be more careful next time

Expedition to the Black Stairs Part 1


PCs
Eachern M The Cleric
Dalkon M The Dwarven Warrior
Aowen F The Elf Thief
Eva F The Thief

NPCs
Marts MF With Plate and 2H Sword
Melenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Dagger
Belenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Hand Ax
Melenad and Belenad are two attractive foreigner twins.

NPCs not hired
Raph MF With Chain, Shield, and Sword plus Crossbow
Tran MF With Plate, Battle Ax, and Spear

The Black Stairs Servant's quarters.
Dalkon get's let down on rope and he gets shot at by 2 goblins. Aowen goes down below to help. As well as Eva, Belenard, and Marts. Eachern and Melenard tie rope to bush and go down. Belenard proves to be a great shot! Killing one of the goblins and the Dwarf kills the other but not until Melenard is horribly injured! Two goblins are dispatched. Three more goblins come out. The party quickly dispatches them all but poor Marts is killed. The adventurer's explore the rest of the servant's quarters and find much gold and an amulet of protection.

They find door on the western end on the main hallway with a warning written in goblin”No go in here” The Cleric feels unholiness in the area and decides to go to the door to the south instead that opens up into a three way hallway.

The western hallway has a smell (Now as a house rule Dwarves will be able to tell the different kinds of humanoids by their smell!) of some kind of humanoid but the dwarf can't tell what it was.
The southern hallway opens up into a greenhouse.
The eastern hallway goes down to a room with a lit fire.
The players go south into the greenhouse and find two knotted ropes coming down. The cleric decides to cut the ropes ten foot up as the Elf decides to climb up the rope. She finds a mulemaster and a pack mule. The mulemaster is heavily question by the elf as the dwarf climbs up. The dwarf finds out that two of the NPCs that were not hired Raph and Tran have decided to come to the Black Stairs themselves. The Dwarf pays the mulemaster 3 gold and tells him to cut the rope when they get back down. The elf and dwarf climb back down and the rope begins to get pulled back up with the mulemaster explaining that he did not have a knife to cut the rope so he would just pull it up. The Dwarf runs and leaps grabbing the rope. The mulemaster surprised by this does not let go of the rope and accidentally gets pulled down headfirst to his death 20 feet below. The party rolls in laughter with this strange turn of events.
The party then decides to go down the eastern hallway and the elf scouts down the hall and sees three goblins completely distracted by something farther down the hallway. The elf decides to sneak up and gives a battle cry too early allowing the goblins a chance to attack but somehow they all miss. The party quickly dispatches the goblins and find an old mine, 6 slaves and a freshly dug gold mine with many nuggets of gold.

The party decides to get the heck back to Raven's Keep and right in the servant's quarters they are ambushed by Raph and Tran. Raph and Tran attack with crossbow and Spear and miss! They close in and the Dwarf is killed (CRIT!) by Tran as well as Melenad and Beledad. The cleric is taken out as well as the elf but she does manage to kill Raph. Only Eva the thief is left standing as she fires her arrows at Tran hitting him but he still is up. She drops her bow and draws her sword as the battle axe barely misses. They both make a last strike his axe cutting her nearly to death and her blade hitting the mark killing Tran. She tires to heal the cleric and fails and succeeds on the elf who quickly pours a potion of healing that they found earlier in the cleric's mouth. They limp back to town.

I use the Dave Arneson method of spend the gold in order to get the Experience Points for it.

The cleric is a worshiper of Bobber the god of fishing. He find the temple of Bobber in great disrepair and their acolytes lax. The local priest of Bobber is an old man who claims to be 115 years old. Much gold is spent getting the temple in repair.

The Thief spends her money on much partying.

The Elf Thief spends her money of a fully armored warhorse. A new set of armor, some caltrops, a couple of tattoos, new fancy sets of clothing, and the rest is wasted on partying.

The brother of the Dwarf comes to the city looking for his brother. He is saddened to find that he is dead and is gladdened to find he died in battle with honor.

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready for Part 1.5!

The party went back in and found the slaughter house. An animal pen, a blood pit that scraps and blood was drained to the unused 3rd level and the actual kitchen.

The party and their retainers bumbled around until they attracted the attention of some zombies. The cleric turned all of one of the dead but the party foolishly pursued the zombies and lost two dwarfs. The zombies were dispatched though.

The fighter Mark kept talking smack about the superiority of humans as the party explored the slaughterhouse area of the dungeon. The Player Dwarf pushed him down the bloodhole. He survived the fall but the party discovered he met a gang of ghouls who quickly dispatched foolish Mark but not before he beheaded one of them. A quick application of oil dispatched another ghoul but the party knows going deeper they will have to face them.

They explored a bit more and found a horde of dishes and silverware. The best find was a huge set of gold candle holders. The headed back to Raven's Fort where they cashed in the items for gold.

A party of legend has happened for the last three weeks as the Adventurers have unleashed a time of drunken debauchery right during The Summer Festival of the Lottery. With the huge amount of gold the party has shut down much of the city for the last three weeks. Crops have not been tended, cows not milked, jobs not done, the city has put in a virtual standstill. Drunken citizens lay all about the street for the last three weeks! The party is out of money and the Baron is now displeased. Time to leave town!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CABVhBrm6Nk

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Expedition to the Black Stairs Part 1

Expedition to the Black Stairs Part 1

Written in very rough draft form.


PCs
Eachern M The Cleric
Dalkon M The Dwarven Warrior
Aowen F The Elf Thief
Eva F The Thief

NPCs
Marts MF With Plate and 2H Sword
Melenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Dagger
Belenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Hand Ax
Melenad and Belenad are two attractive foreigner twins.

NPCs not hired
Raph MF With Chain, Shield, and Sword plus Crossbow
Tran MF With Plate, Battle Ax, and Spear

The Black Stairs Servant's quarters.
Dalkon get's let down on rope and he gets shot at by 2 goblins. Aowen goes down below to help. As well as Eva, Belenard, and Marts. Eachern and Melenard tie rope to bush and go down. Belenard proves to be a great shot! Killing one of the goblins and the Dwarf kills the other but not until Melenard is horribly injured! Two goblins are dispatched. Three more goblins come out. The party quickly dispatches them all but poor Marts is killed. The adventurer's explore the rest of the servant's quarters and find much gold and an amulet of protection.

They find door on the western end on the main hallway with a warning written in goblin”No go in here” The Cleric feels unholiness in the area and decides to go to the door to the south instead that opens up into a three way hallway.

The western hallway has a smell (Now as a house rule Dwarves will be able to tell the different kinds of humanoids by their smell!) of some kind of humanoid but the dwarf can't tell what it was.
The southern hallway opens up into a green house.
The eastern hallway goes down to a room with a lit fire.
The players go south into the greenhouse and find two knotted ropes coming down. The cleric decides to cut the ropes ten foot up as the Elf decides to climb up the rope. She finds a mulemaster and a pack mule. The mulemaster is heavily question by the elf as the dwarf climbs up. The dwarf finds out that two of the NPCs that were not hired Raph and Tran have decided to come to the Black Stairs themselves. The Dwarf pays the mulemaster 3 gold and tells him to cut the rope when they get back down. The elf and dwarf climb back down and the rope begins to get pulled back up with the mulemaster explaining that he did not have a knife to cut the rope so he would just pull it up. The Dwarf runs and leaps grabbing the rope. The mulemaster surprised by this does not let go of the rope and accidentally gets pulled down headfirst to his death 20 feet below. The party rolls in laughter with this strange turn of events.
The party then decides to go down the eastern hallway and the elf scouts down the hall and sees three goblins completely distracted by something farther down the hallway. The elf decides to sneak up and gives a battle cry too early allowing the goblins a chance to attack but somehow they all miss. The party quickly dispatches the goblins and find an old mine, 6 slaves and a freshly dug gold mine with many nuggets of gold.

The party decides to get the heck back to Raven's Keep and right in the servant's quarters they are ambushed by Raph and Tran. Raph and Tran attack with crossbow and Spear and miss! They close in and the Dwarf is killed (CRIT!) by Tran as well as Melenad and Beledad. The cleric is taken out as well as the elf but she does manage to kill Raph. Only Eva the thief is left standing as she fires her arrows at Tran hitting him but he still is up. She drops her bow and draws her sword as the battle axe barely misses. They both make a last strike his axe cutting her nearly to death and her blade hitting the mark killing Tran. She tires to heal the cleric and fails and succeeds on the elf who quickly pours a potion of healing that they found earlier in the cleric's mouth. They limp back to town.

I use the Dave Arneson method of spend the gold in order to get the Experience Points for it.

The cleric is a worshiper of Bobber the god of fishing. He find the temple of Bobber in great disrepair and their acolytes lax. The local priest of Bobber is an old man who claims to be 115 years old. Much gold is spent getting the temple in repair.

The Thief spends her money on much partying.

The Elf Thief spends her money of a fully armored warhorse. A new set of armor, some caltrops, a couple of tattoos, new fancy sets of clothing, and the rest is wasted on partying.

The brother of the Dwarf comes to the city looking for his brother. He is saddened to find that he is dead and is gladdened to find he died in battle with honor.

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready for Part 1.5 which I will tell later...