Microblog: Zodiac Constellations in Bite-Sized Dungeons

Marcia at Traverse Fantasy had the idea of bite-sized dungeons--six room layouts that contain a normalized array of the types of rooms you can get in procedural generation in B/X. 

Here's a twist: What if the dungeon maps were constructed of geomorphs based on the zodiac constellations?

What is a constellation but a series of nodes and lines?
What is a dungeon but the same?

As a quick proof of concept, I mocked up a dungeon by combining Leo, Libra, and Aries nodes. It doesn't look bad! I can imagine stating up this little dungeon with an afternoon of work.

Just an idea! One might use it to either do themed dungeons, or just mock up little weird paths and avenues in a lair.

Starting Equipment Packages

Here are some equipment packages you can use when generating new characters. The goal is to make it quick and easy to pick some gear based on your motifs/failed careers without pouring over long equipment lists. Each equipment package has 7 slots of items in it. These were written with His Majesty the Worm in mind, but should be pretty applicable to any old-school game.

Using in your Game: Have players choose their motifs from this list. Ideally, players choose motifs first and get equipment packs as a nice bonus, not something they "build."

A candle or a ration can be substituted for any item in a package. Good adventurers always pack extra of these.

Big Caveat: I didn't write a lot of these. They were created by folks on the Worm Discord, and clumsily misappropriated by me. Thanks to users autocastratrix, dadstep, Eric Minton, Rabenvogel, and Teaspoon.

Cleric of Mythrys

1. Blank book
2. Quill and ink
3. Religious tracts (5)
4. Portable shrine (as religious paraphernalia)
5. Butter candle
6. Shrove bread 
7. Sacrificial dagger

Dominatrix

1. Manacles
2. Chain
3. Leather harness (light armor)
4. Scourge (as flail)
5. Pornographic playing cards
6. Poultice
7. Masquerade gown and mask (luxurious clothing)

Jongleur

1. Seven balls, one of each color of the rainbow
2. Torch
3. Bottle of methanol (for fire breathing)
4. Lyre
5. Rope
6. Tightrope walker's balance pole (10' pole) (oversized)

Vampire Hunter

1. Wooden spikes (6)
2. Mallet
3. Garlic
4. Wolfsbane
5. Amulet of the Unconquered Sun (as religious paraphernalia)
6. Book titled Discoverie of Ye Un-dead
7. Silver warhammer

Man-at-Arms

1. Pipe & pipeweed
2. Cram
3. Armor with elaborate codpiece (iron)
4. Light shield with personal coat of arms
5. Sword, hilt shaped like a nude woman
6. Bedroll (2 slots)

Necropolis Architect

1. Pick (oversized)
2. Salt
3. Torch
4. Chalk
5. Flint & tinder
6. Potion of Invisibility to Undeath (derived from ghoul's eyes)

Alfheim Tinker

1. Length of tied-together ribbons (as rope)
2. Tinker's kit (2 slots)
3. Pan flute
4. Elf candle (burns blue, otherwise normal)
5. Bow strung with elf hair
6. Quiver of whistling arrows

Hedge Wizard

1. Handful of d4 (as caltrops)
2. Small cauldron (as cooking gear)
3. Owl feed
4. Owl feed
5. Mummified dire spider eggs (Speak to Animals component)
6. Ungoat stomach-leather bag (Protection from Elements component)
7. Staff, growing with mushrooms

Salty Dog

1. Spyglass
2. Rope
3. Cutlass 
4. Buckler (as light shield)
5. Jug of rum
6. Fishing gear
7. Hammock (as bedroll, only one slot, must be hung up to use)

Master of the Hounds

1. Cooking gear
2. Firewood
3. Flint & tinder
4. Hound feed
5. Hound feed
6. Tarpaulin 
7. Bear-hunting spear

Pig Farmer

1. Pitchfork (as polearm)
2. Cured ham and sows-milk cheese 
3. Pork rinds and small beer
4. Lard
5. Swine-leather jerkin (as light armor)
6. Shovel
7. Book of poetry (mostly about hogs)

Master Burglar

1. Lockpicks
2. Candle
3. Silk rope
4. Grappling hook
5. Crowbar shaped like a muscly arm
6. Caltrops
7. Cool black ninja outfit (common clothing)

Knight Errant

1. Former jousting lance splintered on a rivals armor or a windmill (as 10' pole)
2. Well-polished full plate steel armor (3 belt slots)
3. Well-polished inherited family sword
4. Lard, for polishing
5. Quill & ink
6. Blank book, half filled with scribbles of the love of their life, as well as unfinished love letters and poems

Link-Boy

1. Brass lantern
2. Bottle of lamp oil
3. Icon of the Sun (as religious paraphernalia)
4. Standard issue torch (pine-tar and straw)
5. Experimental alchemical torch (2 flickers, only 25% chance to go out when dropped)
6. Beeswax candle
7. Linkboy's lunchbox (ration)

Antiquarian

1. Kukri (as dagger)
2. Censer (Can deliver an alchemical bomb with an Attack. Must be held in belt slot.)
3. Alchemist kit (2 slots)
4. Hermetic bottle
5. Book titled Tomb of Ancient Treasures and Relics
6. Torch

Flagellant

1. Capirote-helm
2. Flayed-skin shirt (falsely claimed to be a martyr, as light armor)
3. Bread and water (rations)
4. Poultice
5. Icon of the Hanged Man (religious paraphernalia)
6. Torch
7. Sword shaped like a tree with thorns

Beekeeper

1. Beekeepers robes (light armor, immunity to youknowwhats)
2. Beekeeper's cowl (when worn you require bright light to see, but you have an extra turn to react to foul vapors and you are immune to Blinding effects, and oh yeah bees)
3. Honey mead, bread, and honeycomb (ration)
4. Straw skep hive with straps for carrying (2 belt slots, 2 notches. If Notched the bees retaliate against nearest available target)
5. Pipe and Pipeweed (for bee pacification)
6. Khloris Compendium, a book of flowering plants found in the Underworld.

Barber-Surgeon

1. Straight razor (as dagger)
2. Pliers
3. Poultice
4. Poultice
5. Jar of laudanum
6. Jar of leeches
7. Bottle of orcish vodka

Necromancer

1. Grave-poppet (Control Undead component)
2. Hand of glory (Darklight component)
3. Vial of mithril ink (Raise Zombie component)
4. Candle 
5. Flensing dagger
6. Skull mask, made from a real skull!
7. Fresh corpse (oversized)

Augur-Haruspex

1. An illuminated copy of the Codex Sophia (Augury component)
2. A crystal ball (Scry component)
3. A deck of tarot cards
4. A walking staff (as polearm, 2 slots)
5. An ornate lantern in the shape of an eyeball
6. Flask of oil

Plague Doctor

1. Poultice
2. Beaked mask (As long as you prepare and fill the mask with sweet smelling incense as a Camp Action, you may ignore catching 1 Affliction caused by bad air)
3. Alchemist kit (2 slots)
4. Herbal sachet (as hermetic bottle)
5. Jar of leeches
6. Foul Flora, a manual to identify and locate toxic herbs 

Merry Brigand

1. Crossbow
2. Quiver of bolts
3. Bag of apples (ration)
4. Forest-green linen cloak, cloth mask, and a feathered cap
5. A small purse with treasure (25g) taken from the rich, to give to the poor
6. Hatchet
7. Pipe & pipeweed

Diver

1. Metal diving suit (steel armor) for the greater depths (3 belt slots)
2. Air hose (rope)
3. Trident (polearm)
4. Basket of oysters (ration)
5. Magnesium torch (burns underwater, just 1 flicker)

Cave-Scout

1. Ant-wax candle
2. Shroomsap torch
3. Blindworm Jerky (ration)
4. Spider-silk rope (weighs less - stacks to 100' per slot)
5. Bedroll (2 slots)
6. Axe 

Librarian

1. Flameless safety candle (It's a glowstick. Only 1 flicker and can't be extinguished and relit, but doesn't go out without a Torches Gutter.)
2. Rod of Silence (as club, no magical powers)
3. Book titled On the Killing of Monsters, a guide to the horrible fauna of the upper levels of the Underworld
4. Book titled Overdue Loans Ledger, Part J: Books Lost Below, a guide to library books that went missing somewhere in the Underworld
5. Empty book (actually a palimpsest of a volume of ancient and terrible erotic poetry; most of the text has been scraped off, but every so often you'll encounter a "worshipful spear" or a "dew of thy thighs" that's still legible)
6. Quill & ink
7. Magnifying lens

Cook

1. Cooking gear
2. Ration of beans and bacon
3. Garlic
4. Salt
5. Carving knife 
6. Large lid from a jar of pickles painted with the motto “Kiss the Cook” (as heavy shield, 2 slots)

Henchman

1. Master’s bedroll (2 slots)
2. Master’s ration
3. Master's ration 
4. Coil of all-purpose rope
5. Wooden shield blazoned with a bedraggled mule
6. Torch

Trapsmith

1. Torch
2. Tinker’s kit (2 slots)
3. Mallet
4. 6 iron spikes
5. Crowbar
6. War hammer, the haft etched with the words “Traps smashed:” followed by a series of tick marks

Disgraced Crusader 

1. Long sword
2. Plate armor, once expertly fitted and gleaming, now missing pieces and battered. (iron armor, 2 belt slots)
3. Great helm, visor rusted shut (1 belt slot)
4. Horse’s jawbone dipped in silver, blue rose vines ornately engraved and painted encircle the name “Marengo”.
5. Whetstone and dire whale oil, 4 uses (If used on a bladed weapon as a Camp Action, add a special notch to your weapon that does not count as durability. Mark this special notch to deal an additional wound, but only if unblocked by armor)
6. Scroll Of Ancient Oaths (The oaths nobility of yore swore to the god-kings when pledging fealty. As a Speak Incantations action you may hold the scroll aloft and cry aloud. On success you may speak one command to any undead knights or similar noble spirits of bygone ages in your current zone as if you were commanding an animal companion. The scroll then dissipates into righteous flame)

"Iron Man" (aka Mage Hunter)

1. Iron armor, thin plates, covering the whole body (2 belt slots)
2. Iron helmet with an iron face mask (1 belt slot)
3. Light legionnaire's shield (1 belt slot)
4. Iron mace 
5. Specialized iron manacles (which are fixed around the neck and also function as a gag)
6. Iron bolas, adds favor to Roughhouse to trip 

Running a Tolkien Game that Does Not Exist

The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game is one of my favorite licensed Tolkien games. It was released in 1991, and was largely the work of long-time ICE designer Jessica Ney (credited variously as Jessica Ney and J. M. Ney in different parts of the credits). It is a "starter RPG," designed to ease new and younger players into the hobby. To this end, they stripped the game down to a super simple, super streamlined system. The eventual goal was to get these new players to eventually graduate to the "advanced" MERP products, of which there was now a significant backlog. 

A lot of modern OSR folks prefer Basic to Expert because, well, you can do more with the simpler version. Similarly, I prefer Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (curiously shortened to "LOR" in the book). There are so many rules in LOR that feel like cutting-edge OSR innovations: slot-based inventory, HP-powered spellcasting, starting equipment packages. It has an early iteration of D&D4E's skill challenges (called "action sequences" in the book). The rules were even called "Guidelines," as the author demurred from putting too much emphasis on their own intention and wanting each GM to make their own rulings (guidings not guidelines, anyone?).

LOR was supposed to be released as sort of an "adventure path" of five books, two adventures per book. However, only three made it to print.

• (1991) Lord of the Rings Adventure Game, Dawn Comes Early (Boxed Set)
• (1991) Darker than the Darkness
• (1993) Over the Misty Mountains Cold

Two more sequel books were promised to be available (Before the Goblins in 1993 and Greatest of the Forests in 1994), but never reached publication. Why? Well, at the same time period, ICE was also publishing a series of choose your own adventure books called Middle-earth Quest. Tolkien Estate claimed this violated their license, since they were only allowed to publish games based on the license, not books. The fourth Middle-earth Quest book was actually recalled and destroyed en masse. Are CYOA books games or books? Regardless of the epistemological answer, ICE went bankrupt with the suit, and the LOR series was scrapped.

Let me be clear: The LOR adventures are not good. They are pure railroads. Every roll behind the screen is made to be fudged. Designed for parents to run for their children, there are no consequences. Every failed roll by the players culminates in a rescue by a named NPC like Gandalf with a finger wag telling them to get back onto the railroad.

But the writing! The writing is good! You just need to deconstruct the railroad and repurpose it into an antique iron sculpture. All the guts are worth reusing. Decouple it from the idea of faux rolls and intended outcomes, let it be an open-ended sandbox, and I think the game is absolutely worth playing.

Anyway, this weekend, I'm running a game based on my Wilderland series and the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game. It's sort of a retroclone and reinterpretation of a flawed text, in true OSR tradition. I'm calling it "LORE." 

Here is a picture of me prepping the game.

And here are the character sheets I'm handing to my players. You can download them all here, if you were interested in doing so. (The background color is on a non-printing layer, so don't worry about your ink.)

I hope my little experiment will be fun! 

Mechanics Microblogging: Lore Bids, Resolve, and Disassociated Mechanics in HIS MAJESTY THE WORM

With the dissolution of so many things I once enjoyed (Twitter, America, etc.), I'm going to try and start doing more microblogging. Too many of my previous thoughts were placed into tweets and became too ephemeral. 

Glossary

Some quick definitions of terms:

Lore Bids: In His Majesty the Worm, you can ask a question of the GM and receive as much information as the GM can tell you about a subject related to one of your motifs. This is called "bidding lore." You can bid lore 4 times per Crawl Phase.

Disassociated Mechanic: A dissociated mechanic is one which is disconnected from the game world. A player character knows that they have six pitons in their backpack. They do not know that they have 12 HP or 4 lore bids left. In a word, non-diegetic. 

What are the goals behind using disassociated mechanics like Lore?

In old-school D&D, you have to rest every sixth turn (that is, for 10 minutes out of every hour of dungeon exploration). If you fail to do so, PCs get a –1 penalty to attack and damage rolls. This is one of the ways that time pressure is put onto PCs, and one of the limited resources that incentivizes the "deeper into the dungeon for loot or retreat" loop.

This loop is something I was interested in evoking in His Majesty the Worm. And as someone who does a fair bit of hiking, it makes sense to me. Dungeon crawling would be scary, exhausting, stressful. It would fatigue both body and mind. How do you translate that feeling into the game design?

Here's my pitch: Players will feel that they are becoming weak and tired when their characters begin to lose resources. But "loss of access to powers" feels different than "takes penalties." I think penalties are less fun. There's something in our ape brain that interprets "You start your day with a +1 bonus!" vs "You must rest or take a -1 penalty" differently.

Also, beyond the simple grind of "rest 1 turn in 6" from old-school D&D, I think that giving players a choice when they use their physical abilities (Resolve) and mental abilities (Lore) feels better. Making choices is what is fun about games.

Why 4?

Well, 4 is sorta the magic number in His Majesty the Worm, isn't it? 

But more than that, I think that 4 is a nice round number that lets players translate the disassociated mechanic into something they could talk about in character because you might feel 25/50/100% exhausted. 

I think this is a lot cleaner than the way we talk about HP. 5 damage means something very different to a magic-user with 4HP vs a fighter with 36 HP. Is 5 HP a heavy wound or not? If a cleric asks how much healing you need, would you say out loud in character: "Well, if I was to gauge my life on an arbitrary scale from 1-36, I would say about 12 points of life would feel good to me right now."

If I can run 4 miles, I know that I've hit 25% of my limit after the first mile. 

If I spend 3 lore bids, I know that I'm getting fuzzy brained and can't think straight. I can use those sorts of words to describe the disassociated mechanics in an associated way. It's like using the word "bloodied" in 4E. It makes sense at a certain level.

Questing Beast reviews HIS MAJESTY THE WORM

I expect the Venn diagram of "people who have already seen the notification that Questing Beast has a new video" and "people who read my blog" is a perfect circle, but was very excited this week that Ben gave His Majesty the Worm a review. 

(Ben, if you're reading this, thanks!)

My only regret is that he didn't spend longer talking about the questing beast monster in the book.

The Lady and the Unicorn (Steal this Puzzle)

At the Cluny museum, there's a gallery that displays a sequence of six tapestries called The Lady and the Unicorn.

You can see them all here.

To quote Wikipedia: "Five of the tapestries are commonly interpreted as depicting the five senses – taste, hearing, sight, smell, and touch. The sixth displays the words "À mon seul désir". The (sixth) tapestry's intended meaning is obscure."

Here is a puzzle inspired by these tapestries. 

A Sequence of Illustrations and Empty Pedestals 

A gallery. The floor is a mosaic of a noble woman with a speech bubble saying: "Bring me what I desire." 

On the walls there are five tapestries, each depicting a woman and a unicorn in various poses. In front of each tapestry is an empty pedestal.

The tapestries are:

• A noble lady petting a unicorn, one hand on its curling horn, another stroking its mane. (Touch)
• A noble lady eating sweetmeats. A unicorn grazes nearby. (Taste)
• A noble lady making a garland of flowers, a unicorn nuzzles in curiously. (Smell)
• A noble lady playing an organ, a unicorn rampant. (Hearing)
• A noble lady gazes into a mirror, a unicorn kneels and lays its head in her lap. (Sight)

The gimmick

Each tapestry depicts one of the five senses. The puzzle is solved by placing something of high quality that can be enjoyed by that sense. For example, a bouquet of flowers or a bottle of perfume would "unlock" the smell pedestal; a work of art or a piece of jewelry would "unlock" the sight pedestal, etc.

There's not a single answer for any pedestal, but the item should be considered a "nice gift." 

If all five pedestals have appropriate offerings on them, a secret panel opens in the wall. In it is a unicorn horn lance. 

Look at this thing. You just KNOW it's magical.

Puzzles and riddles can be frustrating at the game table if they are blockers to progress. But if they offer rewards, like treasures or shortcuts, puzzles become optional, opt-in fun.

Words of Power for the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game

The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game is one of my favorite licensed Tolkien games. Pipedream is one of my favorite unlicensed Tolkien games.

In Pipedream, there is a very admirable system for Words of Power, where you invoke the names of not!Valar to perform some magical feat. This blog post adapts this system for Lord of the Rings Adventure Game. 

A continuation of posts that could be subtitled: "Why do I spend my time on these things?"

Words of Power

by Jian Guo

"Gilthoniel A Elbereth!"

And then his tongue was loosed and his voice cried in a language which he did not know: 

"A Elbereth Gilthoniel

o menel palan-diriel,

le nallon si di'nguruthos!

A tiro nin, Fanuilos!"

For every +1 bonus you did not assign during character creation, your character can call on the name of one of the Powers of Arda. 

Valar	Auspices	Invoke to:
Manwë	Lord of the Breath of Arda; the winds, airs and birds are his servants	Bless fulfillment of a duty Curse an oathbreaker
Varda	Elbereth Gilthoniel, Lady of the Stars; kindler of the stars	Bless travel by night Strike creatures of Shadow
Ulmo	Lord of Waters, Dweller of the Deep; devises the music of waters, bays, and rivers	Bless travel by water Heal magical curses
Yavanna	Queen of Earth, Giver of Fruits; responsible for all growing things	Bless agriculture Heal growing things
Aulë	The Great Smith, Father of Dwarves; concerned with rock, metal, and work of craft	Bless stoneworking Curse thieves
Mandos	Ruler of the Dead, the Judge, the Doomsman of the Valar; summoner of spirits of the slain, who forgets nothing	Bless funerals Compel a guilty party to confess Strike the un-dead
Nienna	Lady of Pity; acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered	Heal 1d6 Endurance or major illness
Oromë	Lord of Forests; hunter of monsters and evil creatures	Strike with a missile weapon Compel hidden monsters to reveal themselves

Speaking Words of Power

When you invoke one of the words of power, make an maneuver and add your Magical bonus. The Δ is equal to how dire the situation is at hand; the Powers of Arda are not to be frivolously called upon.

In the sunlight of a Sunday morning in the Shire - Δ15

In the lonely lands and wastes - Δ11

While fighting servants of the Shadow - Δ8

In the land of Shadow - Δ6

If successful, you may choose one of the invocations of the Power that you invoked. If unsuccessful, you are fated to not receive such aid at this time. In either event, you may only invoke a word of power once per game session.

Invocations

Bless: When you Bless an activity, anyone participating in that activity can also roll a d12 whenever they would roll a maneuver. They may use the d12 result instead of their maneuver dice's result, if they wish.

Compel: When you Compel a target, they must obey your command or lose 1d6 Endurance.

Curse: When you Curse a target, they permanently lose all Endurance. This Curse can only be lifted if the invoker wills it, if the invoker is slain, or if the target receives Healing from another Valar.

Heal: When a target is Healed, they regain Endurance or are cured of a major illness, a curse, or magical affliction.

Strike: When you strike in the name of the Valar, you gain a +4 Offensive Bonus to your attack roll against the specified creature. Oromë can bless any attack with a missile weapon.