Cargo: Boxes of Carpathian Soil: A narrative game microblog

I had an idea for a narrative game while watching Nosferatu. Not my usual deal. Jotting down the idea as a microblog for posterity.

The game is called...

Cargo: Boxes of Carpathian Soil

The game is on a boat, taking an odd shipment from the Old World.

One player is the vampire. All other players are sailors.

The game is played out in a series of scenes between the vampire and one sailor. Only these two players talk each scene, but all the other players listen silently.

Each scene, the sailor tells the vampire their life story, then asks the vampire 1 question about theirs. At the end of the exchange, the vampire and story-teller vote simultaneously.

If even one player in the pair votes "negative," the vampire devours the sailor. The sailor describes how they're killed. It's probably messy.

If they both vote "positive," the vampire allows himself to be caught by the story. The vampire dies, crying, stepping into the sun.

Treasure Thoughts Microblog

Every time I go to a museum, I think "Wow, these artifacts are so interesting. The real world is so much weirder and more fantastic than the loot described in the pages of dungeon modules. Treasure should be WEIRDER."

I think that might be broadly true, but it also carries some risks for usability at the table.

Because the real world does have these layers of history (that's why I'm in the museum! to learn about this stuff!), the baseline for my expectations is different. If I were to just straight port the treasure I am looking at into a dungeon I ran, I'd have to explain what the hell I was talking about to my players. Saying "Golden idol with ruby eyes" is probably aligned with me and my players baseline. 

Torque, Virginia Museum of Fine Art

Saying "Torque, which is used as a trading currency," I'd have to act as a museum plaque for my players for a minute. Which is fine, but does take some extra time at the game table, and that carries a cost if you do it too much.

I wrote about my experiences running the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game. Check out the loot that the players find in the troll hole in that module. It was a lot of treasure!

I think having rooms full of treasure make sense. A hoard should feel like a hoard, you know? Be overflowing with goods of different types. Coinages of different make, for instance! But when reading a list of 50 items to the players, you can see they get overwhelmed. 

Anyway, here are some things that I think would be good treasures for your dungeon, if given in moderation.

Kovsh, Virginia Museum of Fine Art

Shabits, Virginia Museum of Fine Art (Should be animated servants instead of just like, raw treasure)

Cloak of duck feathers, Virginia Museum of Fine Art

Arms and armor, Musée de Cluny

"Unicorn horn," Musée de Cluny (I already wrote about this one)

Relic of a Saint, I forget which one, Musée de Cluny

Designing Dungeons Course

Hello, happy New Year! 

As we start 2025, I have noticed that many people are spinning up dungeon-creation projects (Dungeon23 continues into its third year, and the Zungeon Manifesto has launched a Zungeon Jam). To help with this effort, I have teamed up with Warren at ICastLight to launch:

Designing Dungeons Course

Or, How to Kill a Party in 30 Rooms or Less

Click the pic for the link

This course is a series of discussions, practical examples, and exercises designed to walk new Game Masters through the process of creating a new dungeon from scratch. The course provides a hands-on approach to the act of dungeon writing in an attempt to demystify the process. By following along, you’ll construct a dungeon for your players to explore.

If I didn't chunk the work into sections and release them incrementally, I'd never get it done. Therefore, I'm just launching with the first two chapters, with a goal of releasing a new chapter every week.

So, if you're interested in this, please give it a look and get in on the ground floor. Every week, you can follow along with me and Warren as we make our respective dungeons. 

If you find this helpful, let me know what you create with it!