Curious Dungeon #3&4 - Let the Year End with some Dungeons

The end of 2018 is coming close. This year i started this blog and, whilst my activity slowed down in the second half of the year i am still incredibly happy about what i am doing here and keep collecting ideas for new posts. I will write a anniversary post once that day rolls around so i keep the rambling about this short.

To close up this year i have a new entry in the Curious Dungeon Series. Curious Dungeons are not only among my most popular posts. They are also quite fun to make. The series is all about exploring Dungeon Design and Adventure design from different angles and creating new things to explore. So today i will do something else. I made two new Curious Dungeons, with one placed after the other. 

There are two main modes of creation for Adventures and Dungeons for me. Starting of with a story or starting of wit ha map. Most of the time i find myself in between those and not at one of the extremes, but some of my most fun creations have tended towards those extremes. This time i started just with drawing the maps and i filled it with life later. Naturally ideas started floating even while the maps were in work.

So to encourage creativity in this blogs readers i will only upload the maps to today's curious Dungeons. I know that many people reading this blog are no strangers to creating fantasy role playing content so i challenge all of you to fill these maps with life. Withing the next two weeks, to kick of 2019, i will post my own takes, my own ideas and my own design for what lies inside those two Dungeons, as i did for the first two in this Series. But maybe someone else will post his take. If you do so, please let me know, but yes... you are free to use those maps for you own creation. 

I'd really love to see some takes at these maps. Maybe someone even knows what lies beneath Curious Dungeon 4. There exists no map to there lower level yet. Maybe i have some ideas. Maybe i don't. Maybe your ideas are way better than mine. Who knows.

Here are links to the raw files for those maps if you want to use them. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RBAV9vsU3E0XMyvQS3DEh2Dv8mGGlsTf

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NNKXMkzBqhljyAZHPfPkh0TZ30BtjAgd

Thank you all for reading this blogs posts. This project has been close to my heart and used up way more time than i expected but it's worth it. There will be more content next year.

Connecting your Characters

At the core of most roleplaying experiences are the characters. When playing, the characters not only bond with the world and the story they are involved in, but with each other. Those bonds form the dynamics between the group and influence most of the experience. Not all of these connections have to be of positive nature. Tension within the group can lead to great roleplaying.

But there is not always enough time to forge those connections. In a small con-game or your typical one-shot session you normally don't have any relationships between the characters. While many players will forge them quite fast or might try to impose them upon their characters and the GM to make play more intriguing. All you need is a good idea.

When starting out running DCC i was looking for a way to easily connect 0-level characters, as a simple relationship between those peasants will help players forge more roleplaying opportunities, especially if they are not comfortable with the Funnel concept. I came up with a random Table to determine relationships and i have used it many times since. Not only for DCC but for many of my one shot sessions.

Now, over a year later, i reforged this table and turned it from a d66 into a d50 Table. I also translated it from German into English and cleaned up some entries that just didn't work out. So here i present to you. Character connections.

If the link is not working try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DwxvXadzhIrC4bGIE0g8e0c9CPdM8AGo

This Table will not only help to inspire one shot parties but can also  be used in the creative process of forging new places and connecting the characters that live there. Just give it a try!

I'm working on many things currently. I posted a second elf class and will soon give the dwarf and halfling a similar treatment. Also i am currently working on two DCC adventures one of which i will try to release on this blog, maybe as a new year present. Look out for it. I might manage to make two posts a month for a while.

So far and thanks for reading.

A curious look at: "The Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 - Issue 1" [2/2]

Let's continue our journey through the 2018 GFA by looking at the second half of the first issue. As with my last post I'll give the classes presented there a curious look and discuss some of their interesting mechanics. If you don't feel like you know what i am talking about you missed my last post and should go back to it, as this is simply a continuation of its predecessor.

Kith Of Kingspire by Aaron Clark & Ethan Miller

A Class inspired by a series of official goodman games DCC Adventure Modules, the Kith of Kingspire is a ancient descendant of the mystical Elder Kith. It's fine illustration shows a tall statue with a face, so evil it would outmatch most Disney villains. The introducing paragraphs not only detail the background of this ancient elven race, but also how the class was conceived and which modules inspired it. Look no further than DCC #88.5 and DCC #92 for the classes DCC Background

The elder Kith are a race of ancient, malevolent elves and the Kith of Kingspire are those few who survived the fall and demise. The survivors are of chaotic alignment and not conceptualized as nice elves. On the contrary. They thirst for violence and Bloodshed. The Kith of Kingspire are adept at the arcane and physical violence and train in both ways.

Mechanically the Kith of Kingspire is nothing new, but with one interesting twist. At every level they must choose between an arcane focus and a martial focus. The arcane focus enables them to cast spells and makes them act like normal elves. Casting spells, Critting on table II and having a d6 as Hit Die. The martial focus makes them warrior like by granting an improved Crit Range, mighty Deeds and a d8 as Hit Die.

While this allows a lot of variety within the class and makes the concept of running an entire group of Kiths of Kingspire less tedious than doing the same with most other classes, it is still quite limited, as level ups are rare and you can only change your focus at those points of enlightenment. I am not a fan of this restriction, as it breaks the feeling of an ancient noble warrior wizard elf who diversified his training to become the ultimate murder-machine.

In total i like the Kith of Kingspire as a class, but only within a limited scope. I would not include it in a normal party, as this class lacks the distinctive features that set it apart from the core classes or the core elf. But it has enough flavor to spice up a campaign or allow for a interesting spin off from the adventures mentioned in the intro to the class.

Lycanthrope by Marc Elsenheimer

Ok. Yeah. I wrote this one. I can't pretend i will give this an unbiased critique. So i won't. I will try to give some insight into the design of this class, but i want to get some things out of the way first.

I can't thank Maike Gerstenkorn enought for the cover illustration. I might be biased but even when i try to access this as objectively as possible... this is one hell of an illustration. The wizard-werewolf introduces the class with a humorous wink while still looking mighty and intimidating, thanks to his imposing physique. Speaking of Art. My class was honored with another awesome illustration on it's last page. If someone could tell me who drew this I'd be quite thankful, because i love the artwork.

The lycanthrope class was originally designed to be a "archetype", which could be applied to any other class, once the character gets bitten by another lycanthrope and fails some saves. After James Pozenel convinced me to approach this one more like a traditional class i shifted this from a core concept to a gimmick, introduced in the appendix. But still. This class was not designed as a core class. Not something you choose to be, but something you happen to turn into by curses or bad fortune.

This approach is still found in his abilities. He handles like a normal character most of the time, which only has some weird saves (negative will save progression) and nice regenerative abilities. He possesses no further special abilities, if he did not have a class prior, but can transform into wolf form, giving him a huge boost to his combat capabilities and making him an incredibly danger (to enemies and potentially even allies).

When enraged, by getting taunted or receiving damage, the Lycanthrope turns into a big, massive beast with stat boosts, bite attacks, monster crit table usage and a general disregard for the concept of not fighting. These abilities were mostly inspired by the (new) World of Darkness Werewolfs found in Apokalypse and Forsaken, since i do enjoy those games quite a lot. The core concept is unpredictability and savageness, as a transformed Lycanthrope can't stop fighting, even if he has only allies left. This massive drawback incentives treating lycanthropy not only as a blessing, but as a curse in many situations.

I like what i did here. It is even more campaign specific and situational than most classes present here, but it can take most campaigns in a totally new direction by applying it to an established character.

Pirate by Dieter Zimmerman

The illustration shows an older pirate with missing teeth and a "piraty" look on his face. The high contrast, line focused nature of this piece sticks out. At first i didn't like it, but the more i look at it the more i start enjoying this artwork. It's not up there with the best, but it is also not bad at all. The introduction paints a picture of the swashbucking, daring outlaw pirate and introduces him as a fighting class who lacks behind the warrior, but should outclass most others in a straight up fight.

With a d7 as Hit Die the Pirate has a hit die quite too small for someone who wants to swashbuckle fools in melee range. But a d8 would be boring and a d6 would be far to low. I sometimes wish the d8 was part of the dice chain...

There are three class abilities that define the pirate. His major ability is called swashbuckle and allows for a agility check in order to gain a bonus on his Attack equal to his level, while allowing for more mobility through free movement or free withdrawal. There are three Problems with this ability. First of all. For a core combat class with no abilities outside of combat, it is just not good enough. Yes. A flat attack bonus is nice, but it falls flat to the deed die, backstab and most other combat abilities. Maybe i am missing something. But i think there are better abilities. At least the Pirate has a good attack bonus to compensate.
Second. It relies on high agility stats. Failing the agility roll results in a fumble and if your agility is not high enough, then you just won't be able to make good usage of this class. A pirate with agility 10 is worse than a wizard with intelligence 10.
And last but not least. There are just too many rolls. What makes the deed die so elegant is that it is rolled simultaneously with the normal attack roll land there are not too many rolls in the way of a combat result.

With his second ability, buried treasure, the pirate can regenerate luck by throwing money away. I like this. Having multiple things to do with money increases the incentive to loot and plunder. Makes a simple "you want money" Hook work wonders once you really have things to do with that money. But there is no synergy with the Pirate class, as he can't use the luck in creative or special ways. He adds his luck bonus to his initiative, but that has got nothing to do with the luck spent or regained.
The third ability is a bonus to saving throws when allies are around. While this might fit the concept of some pirates it's nothing to write home about.

I am not a fan. I have to be honest here, but this one is quite lackluster. It has neither a strong theme nor good abilities. I'd rather just take a warrior or thief and give him a wooden leg. Sorry if i might seem harsh, but DCC has so much potential for great class design and this one is just bland.

Quantum Traveler by R.S. Tilton from Epic Meanderings

We just found the winner of the non existent most gonzo class. While this one might seem like a joke class to many, time and space travel have been quite popular in 1950s pulp fantasy literature and are represented in many Appendix N Books so this class fits DCC more than most might think

The illustration shows a quite modern man wearing many obscure artifacts. He has a weird smile and the twisting portal like background push home the feeling that he is not supposed to be here. Artistically this might be a weak illustration compared to some of the masterpieces here, but it just fits with the class.

A traveler through time and space with his origins in a "modern" highly educated society, who somehow got pulled in the world of your DCC campaign. There is much room for improvisation but you have to put in a little work to make the class fit, as it is nothing you'll just use without thought.

He can use luck exactly like a thief which makes him able to stand his ground in this weird world he got thrown into. Besides that, he has no real abilities to speak of. Ok. That's not true. But he is definitively not competent. His abilities allow for the use of player knowledge within the game world, which can potentially be incredibly powerful, but will most of the time be quite useless, as DCC does not rely on "your basic DnD" Monsters. In addition his doubtful, scientific nature grants him a bonus to will saves regarding the supernatural and he is as good as a neutral thief when it comes to hiding from danger.

This kit fits together to create Mr. everyday nerd to insert himself in a DCC campaign as a player character, which is actually quite a stupidly funny concept. Relying on the Thief abilities copy pasted is nothing i like design wise and the unique abilities kind of fall flat, but it sticks to his gimmick and gets away for that. Mostly because it is a class which is not designed to stick with the party for 10 levels of epic quests. At least that's how i see it.

Sage by José Luiz Tzi

 

A bearded man with traveling gear and a tired, but curious look on his face introduces the reader to this class. The illustration is fun and the clear drawing style clashes against the jagged background in a interesting way. I like this piece, although it is difficult to say why exactly. The Sage is presented as a travelling Scholar of the arcane, mundane and weird, filling the roll of a supportive knowledge based character with some tricks up his sleeve.

The Sage class is incredibly interesting from a design standpoint, but he is hard to properly access. I think i really, need to run a game with one of these in order to get a proper feeling for the class. There is just a lot going on. I'd say there are too many different abilities, but that's just my first impression as a reader.

The Sage gains an ability that depends on his alignment and they all affect the way they can interact with people. While they are all quite creative and fitting to the alignment, the neutral one relies on the judge to keep track of this ability which is something that i don't enjoy much in character classes. More on that later.

The Sage can and should have a patron and can cast his spells, like a wizard but can't access and learn normal spells. They only gain them through their patron. This turns spellcasting into a minor ability, of which they have many more. I won't talk about all of them, but will try to give a good overview. Sages can expend one point of luck to inflict a penalty on an enemy roll. The penalty itself is rolled with a dice dependant on the level of sage, mirroring the deed die progression on lower levels, but going up to a d16. Their luck also regenerates. This is cool, but the luck regeneration makes it quite strong. And adds to the list of things to remember.

His other abilities are knowledge and wisdom based.He is always trained with all Knowledge Skills and gains a bonus when dealing with his occupation. He furthermore has access to some thief skills using the thief's progression on those. His Action dice are weird. He starts out with 1d16 and 1d12, and only gains a d20 at level 4. He can use his secondary dice only to advice fellow party members, granting them this die to carry out actions. I like this ability a lot and consider it the core of the class, but i don't like him not having a d20 as an action dice. It's just a consistency thing. Even level 0's have 1d20. Why do you "downgrade" when gaining your first level? This adds to the huge pile of things to micromanage and remember

I saved the worst for last. While a bonus to his initiative is not that bad, all foes acting after the sage have to declare, but not execute their actions before he chooses his path of action. I actively dislike this. A lot. While i can see some thematic merit to it, this one just takes the breath out of every encounter. The more people are involved the messier it will get and this ability alone makes me want to not accept this class. Just because i don't want to micromanage and think this much when running DCC. Maybe it's not as bad as i imagine it. Maybe it is great. I don't know. But i can't imagine this being fun.

This class has some amazing design and amazing themes, but it just has too many of those. It is bloated with things to remember and things to make work. The class is (except for one ability) great. But i neither want to play nor run games with it. There is just too much going on. Way too much.

Scout (A Thief Variant) by José Luiz Tzi

  
This class promises to be a wilderness take on the thief, close to the well known "Ranger" from many iterations of DnD. It's competent at that. The introductory Art follows the same style as the Art for the Sage, but while the Background elevated the picture for the sage, i feel like the Background takes things away here. The scout just won't fit in right. Also i am no fan of the pose. Artistically there is not much wrong. But i just can't get behind it.

This is nothing but a small switch around for the thief. He looses some thief skills and gains new ones. Instead of backstabbing he can Ambush. This is not as versatile but way better, as you can set up an Ambush and let your peers profit as well. Hiding in the wilds is fun but not as versatile as hiding in the shadows and tracking is amazingly useful, as you would imagine.

His final ability allows him to set traps. Whenever he had time to prepare an area he can spend a point of luck to make a free "Trap attack" against anyone there. This is a great ability, but i fear the 1d6 flat damage won't scale into higher levels and this might drop off in usefulness.

While i liked the Writing in Josés other class i dislike it here. A lot of the text is just meta-references or unnecessary addressing of the audience which hides usefull information in some points. My biggest point would be the introduction to the Set Trap Ability.

This class is fine. It does nothing exciting, but i can see why you'd wanna play it. The Traps and the Ranger theme are great. But the writing hampers this one quite a bit. I get the feeling that it would be amazing if José would take this Archetype and turn it into a full class.

Now for something completly different

I promised to write more consistantly and i wanted to write this article as a direct follow up one week after the last. Here i stand, a whole month after the last article, writing this on a friday evening to get it out on my regular release day, at least two weeks to late. This one should have not taken me this long, but it did. And the worst thing is that i haven't even played a single session of DCC (or any other RPG if i remember right) since then. I will continue posting. I'm just quite busy recently.

But there are also great news. For those german speaking readers of my blog. The Project ARoMa which i am a part of, will release it's second issue next month. It's a 100 page fan-zine filled with ready to play adventures. And i wrote one of them.

Für alle Interesiierten. Man findet unsere Webpräsenz hier:

https://aroma-magazin.blogspot.com/


And while i am quite short on time, i am drowning in ideas. Some way to big to release here. Give me time and amazing things will happen. I promise.

As always. Thanks for reading!

A curious look at: "The Gongfarmer's Almanac 2018 - Issue 1" [1/2]

Writing a critical look at something free might see redundant to some. Everyone can check it out as they please so why should someone try to analyse something like the Gongfarmer's Almanac? 

The 2018 GFA is packed full with amazing, community created content for DCC RPG and every player and judge will find something interesting in there. Many people committed hours upon hours of amazing work to get this thing done and the labor and love involved in this project is hard to grasp for someone not involved in the making of the GFA. And while the GFA gets regularly praised it never get's a critical look. There is much to dig through and Ravencrowking regularly provides a great content overview. What you don't find there is critique for the writers to improve even further. So this is why i am about to dive into the 2018 GFA, starting off with "Issue 1 - New Class explosion" and want to give it a curious examination.

The Gongfarmer's Almanac is a free FanZine for DCC RPG. It is made by a big community with lots of authors, artists, editors and layout masterminds involved. This years Zine is divided into 7 Issues, with six of them providing approximately 60 pages of new content each and the seventh being the famed "Master Zine Index", providing a conclusive list of which fan creations can be found in which FanZine.The First Issue is called "New Class Explosion" and contains many new classes, which I will now examine closer.

Bias warning. I wrote a class for this Issue. I won't discuss it in this post, but yeah... i'm involved.

A quick rundown of DCC class design

Classes are a core Concept of DCC. And whilst nearly every character can be realized with the 4 core classes (and 3 races) provided in the DCC RPG Book, there are still many concepts which thrive with their own rules. A Interesting DCC class should have a nice core mechanic and should with increasing levels, only increase in quality of their abilities not quantity (except for known spells). Also every class interacts with Luck in some way. This at least is how the Core classes are designed and it works incredibly well. I will thereby look for a discernible core mechanic in each class and how their abilities scale with level. 

The quality of the class is highly dependent on how intuitive and versatile the class's mechanics are. While not every class should be able to solve every problem (quite the opposite is true), mechanics should always serve more than one purpose. The Deed die is a great example of a versatile mechanic, as it lets you execute nearly any combat maneuver you can think of and increases your combat prowess in general. The limits of this ability are often the limits of the players imagination.

Magic wielding classes are quite different. Since magic is a core mechanic in itself the class should give a theme or a special twist to the magic wielder. But let's not dive into that and get started.

Let's begin our curious look

Bardic Rocker by Jason Morgan. 

 

Illustration wise we are off to a great start. The mix of a classic fantasy tavern with an excitingly metal flying V e-guitar and a quite metal looking bard let's you immediately know whats up with this class. The introductory text paints the same picture. It's a bard with a sub tone of heavy metal and hard rock. Mechanics wise this is a bard. There is not much more to say about it.

The class table is fine. Using Crit Table III makes him martial and bad ass, when crits occur and a decent attack bonus, associated with a d8 HD causes him to be the man every rocker wants to be and stand his ground in most combat situations. I don't get why he has flat (thief) skill bonuses that don't increase with level. They just seem tagged on and for me, personally, work as a dnd Bard, but not as a crom-damned DCC Hard rock god. We don't pick locks. We kick doors in. Spellcasting is decent and relies on the disapproval mechanic, but with song requests added to it. Thematically nice but there are no real consequences except for those at judge's discretion.

There are many nice touches, like Spells working with luck as your main attribute and the iconic bardic performance working with a performance die, but in the end this is just one of many Bards, who has a Hard Rock theme associated with it. Don't get me wrong. I like it. The theme is fun, with a great selection of 80s rock artists referenced, but there are many DCC Bards out there and this one does not stand out. It is incredibly competent and the writing is evocative and top notch, but for my personal taste the Rock Theme is only suited to more light hearted rounds.

If you want a fun bard with some nice mechanics and a hard rock theme this class is for you. If you were looking for a completely new take on the bard as a class, then this might disappoint you. 

Berserker by José Luiz Tzi. 

 

I can't say how much i love the cover illustration. There are no words to describe it. The intro text offers a lot of backgrounds for such a character and paint a nice contrast to the fighter. While the fighter class allows for chaotic and wild characters, the deed die mechanic is a mechanic of calculated intend and this class is quite different.

Thankfully, unlike so many other attempts at a competent martial class, this class did not get a deed die tagged on to make him competent. The Berserker is different. There are many barabarian classes out there but this one is by far my favorite of the bunch. There are two savage mechanics at the core of the character. Cleave and Frustration. As long as the Berserker kills his target in combat he can continue attacking targets. This is brutal. The berserker can tear through weak foes completly lost in blood and rage. It's a great core mechanic. You could over think it but mostly squishing weaklings will be the way to go. 

Frustration is the other core mechanic. Everytime the Berserk misses he becomes more and more frustrated and gets a extra die (d3 and increasing) to his attacks and damage, until he hits. This is close to the deed die mechanic but it just suits the class incredibly. You want to attack and nothing else. If you hit, you wreak havoc, if you miss... you will hit sooner. In addition savage instincts help the character build anger and frustration by experiencing triggers like fighting weaklings. This mechanic is nice in concept but i don't like the execution. It's not bad, but not as stellar as everything else. The list of triggers increases with level and get's harder to keep track of. This is either challenging for the Berserker or for the judge. 

All in all this might be my favorite class from this years GFA and my favorite barbarian in DCC. The class has flaws but they are minor and nitpicky.

Faerie Class by James A. Pozenel, Jr.

 

Not only offering a new class, but also a new race, this article is just packed full of stuff. It originally appeared in Angels, Daemons & Beings Between, Vol. 2: Elfland Edition. Since i don't own this book i can't say if it was reworked or revised since it's first appearance. 

The Cover Illustration paints a malevolent picture of faeris, with a grim looking faery wielding a sharp and pointy knife. The introductory text is long and offers a detail of the faery race along with their two factions. The seelie and unseelie court. This, combined with the half letter sized format, makes for a not so easy to digest introduction, but the information in there is worth a lot. It's well written and well spaced out, but the level of detail might be too much for someone giving this a first read.

Faeries are fragile, low damage dealing, spell slinging, sneaky beasts. And they excell at this. Their abilities are quite befitting for the small folk, although they play it safe for the most part. They have their own spell list and can turn into a normal sized humanoid for a while to compensate for their martial flaws. Their most unique ability is the ability of flight, which not only makes them quite fast and mobile, but also predestined for exploring those nasty shafts in the ceiling. Their stealth abilities help to further this. Faeries have unique optical features, dependent on the court they align with, but those sadly have no impact on their abilities. One missed opportunity is their use of the luck attribute. It is simply added to their AC and Ref save. I was hoping for something more mythical, unpredictable and weird for those.

Then there are the other additions. Amazing new spells for faeries, faerie occupations, known languages and a new deed to use against fairies. This is just amazing and just fills in all the blanks for this class to be the most complete of them all. Making new DCC races is not as easy as making a new class, but James pulled it off. 

Whether you like this class or not depends on your enjoyment of fairies in general. I am not a huge fan of faeris and while i can see how well those core concepts were executed here, but this is no highlight for me. Its competent and well put together, but i think it could have gone weirder in some places.

Goat'O'War by Randy Andrews

 

Goats have been getting a good bit of love within the Gongfarmers Almanac. With two goat classes within the last few years, the aspiring bringers of chaos have more options than elves at their disposal. 

It's a goat illustration... and a quite goat one. There is a disturbing lack of intro text, which is quite sad. The introduction only outlines how to become a Goat'O'War and adds no flavor to that. But then again... it's a goat. What did you expect? This class is not meant to be taken serious but can do wonders if it is. Goats speak abyssal, naturally, and have the innate ability to headbutt the living shit out of everyone crossing their way. They can climb and bite but fail to offer anything else. 

While this class could have been a nice, fun class, it has shaved of too many words. Natural weapons, secondary attacks and the use of the deed die are all hidden within the "weapon training" section of the class and while i guess it's not the case, it is never explicitly stated that they can't perform mighty deeds of arms. But that's just one of the many problems with recycling the deed die to attack. Also some things get flat bonuses at levels, for example the charge bonus turning into a +2 at level 5. I strongly dislike this because it's a missed opportunity. One could have done more with the charge and the flat bonus increase is hidden within the text and not represented in the table.

This class has fun aspects, but i prefer the Doom Goat from a few years ago over it, as is relies on fun, new mechanics instead of putting a warrior on four legs. It's quite goat, but i hoped for more. 

Gongfarmer by Reece Carter

 

The Gongfarmer is a class now. You now have the ability to be a travelling night soil digger, solving problems with your own might, skill and the feces of others. The illustration is funny, as it perfectly depicts what the class does. This one is not meant to hang out with the cool guys. The gongfarmer is lacking an intro text and delivers all its "charm" through it's mechanics. 

The gongfarmer is not a good class. Not if good means well balanced and heroic. It's just the natural extension of the gongfarmer concept. He is not good at fighting, but can deploy some quite shitty (pun intended) tactics to deliver tons of damage to a single foe. He is not likely to ever puke or feel ill. He does that for a living. He regenerates luck. But far to few. Only a legendary gongfarmer (if something like this exists) will ever run around with a comfortable luck stat. That's it for this class. And it's fine. It's really fine the way it is. 

This one is hard to judge. It's a gongfarmer for crom's sake. He is not meant to be competent or fun to be. He is the butt of many jokes and a quite shitty companion. But he could be far, far worse. And i'd love to see him once thrown into a normal, regular group of DCC typical cutpurses.

So far and till next time.

I will spare you from the wall of text associated with me going through all the classes. I'll simply outsource the remaining ones into the next blog post. Stay tuned and feel free to discuss my curious look. It's just a opinion and observation from a biased standpoint.

The Elven Strider - A DCC Character Class

You are an outsider to most. Growing up as an elf, a long living demi-human, whose ancient civilization indulges in crafts and arts, magic and mundane, your lack of connection to the arcane world ensured, that you never quite felt at home. Traversing the thick elven forests you found your fulfillment in the martial ways, training in combat and patience alike.

Today's post is about a new character class for DCC RPG

The elven Strider

[If the link does not work try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZzOxw1JOwTl2vDziYnAUycg0GN_hKXzC]

Character classes are a stable of fantasy role playing games, ever since D&D introduced them into their game along with them. DCC uses a old school line-up of character classes and with those, classes and races are indistinguishable. Being a dwarf apparently is a full time job.

This system has many perks and one of them is streamlining characters and play as well as setting expectations to judges and other players. Character and personality in DCC are not about what is written on your character sheet, but what the character experiences and how the player expresses him, anyway.

I am normally not a fan of elves. I just don't want to play them most of the time. But DCC made quite interesting elves by combining them with patrons and making them into long living vessels for some of the most powerful entities out there. While i liked that concept i felt like i wanted to give elves another option. 

In the long run i am planning on giving all races (elves, dwarfs, halflings) a second class option, just to give their players some choice and make them compensate for the "wrong" stats better. I have not settled for a second dwarven and halfling class yet, especially as there are some amazing ones out there on the Internet and in Fanzines.

The elven strider is a elf whose focus lies more on physical and martial combat and who has only small arcane capabilities, granted through his patron. His defining class feature, the Aim Die came from a Discussion on G+ on a similar class. The Outlier by Nick Baran. Check it out. It's quite cool. I just wanted to have a combat capable class who does not use the deed die in the typical fashion and wanted to give it a unique spin. 

This is not the first character class i ever created. For this years Gongfarmers Almanach i wrote a Lycanthrope class. Feel free to check it out. I am quite proud of it. It can be found in 2018 Gongfarmer's Almanac Volume #1. Huge thanks to my friend Maike Gerstenkorn who contributed the amazing Werewolf Artwork for the Front page of this class. 

Did you know that the consolidated Version is out? No? Go buy it! Its only printing and shipping costs. Literally the cheapest option possible. Gongfarmers Almanach 2018

Please feel free to leave any feedback for the classes, along with fun anecdotes that arise from playing them. I plan on writing a more general post on class systems and am even working on some exciting alternatives to use with DCC. Until then. Have a good time

 

Curious Dungeon #2 - Cave of The Moths

It's been a while. Not only since i posted a Dungeon, but also since i posted in general. So here is the second Curious Dungeon. 

In my first Curious Dungeon (The Temple of Oyraka) i tried myself at drawing and designing Dungeons by making a map without concept and filling it with life after wards. This time i took a similar approach. 

I always wanted to try isometric dungeons. I love isometric dungeons. They look awesome. So i went out and tried it for myself. I was quite happy with the result and decided that i need to use it for more than just drawing practice. So as with the previous Curious Dungeon i turned this map into a full, system neutral, fantasy Dungeon along with Plot hooks and room descriptions. Enjoy

The Cave of the Moths

The Design Ideas for this one came fast. At the moment i started drawing the long staircase i noticed that i was making the stairs quite irregular. I was thinking of fixing it but then decided to completely roll with it, which gave the dungeon a crumbled and dangerous look. 

So the structural damage plays hugely into exploring the dungeon. Every step might bring the building to a collapse. 

Filling the Dungeon was not too hard. I started of with an excuse to visit it. As always, obtaining an artifact was enough of a reason for me. Since i just ran a quick, improvised session in which beings of darkness, hiding in a cave, impenetrable to normal light, were the main danger, an artifact to counter the light was necessary. So i created a lantern, bright enough to vanish all darkness. Instead of a well rounded Dungeon i decided that home of this artifact was the Place where it was built. Crumbled and long abandoned the light unfortunately does the same thing what my light in my room does in these short summer nights. It attracts pesky insects. And so the Cave of the Moths was born.

I am quite happy with this one. Creating a smaller Dungeon is just a fun experience. The first Curious Dungeon with it's 18 Rooms was quite tedious to write down, but this one was fun from start to finish. I always intended curious dungeons to be a series and i want to continue with them. Currently i feel more inclined to create short ones but feel free to tell me what you prefer!

Tell me how you like it. I'd love to hear of someone who incorporated this dungeon (and my other creations) in his campaign and if you just want to use the map, feel free to do so. I'd love to hear how other people fill these maps with life.

On a personal note... I'm back. I had exams in the beginning of august and despite my intentions to write something i just could not get things done. Holiday soon followed and i collected many ideas and began fleshing them out. I will keep a bi-weekly postsduring the summer and hopefully the entire autumn with posts occurring on Fridays. At least that's the plan.

When Magic goes critical - DCC Rules

Magic in Dungeon Crawl Classics is awesome. It really is. And one of the most fun aspects of magic is never knowing exactly what happens. Therefore DCC wizards are among the most fun classes to play in all of fantasy roleplaying. There is just one thing that has always bothered me.

One of the most important things about d20 Systems is, that when the dice come up with a 20, then something awesome happens. This is true for Wizards in DCC to some extent. The rules say that when rolling a natural 20 you get a even higher spell bonus than you already got. So you are incredibly likely to cast the best spell of your life. That's good. But not as fun as rolling a 20 for any other class can be.

To make this more fun for myself and my group i did the most DCC thing i could think off and crafted a new set of random table to roll on. Critical Tables for spells. All spell casting classes can use these tables to determine more awesome results should a natural 20 come up. The tables work incredibly similar to the way mundane critical hit tables work. 

Critical Magic

[If this link is not working try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cLvLnwdeSFyaCSfz6qPVC2nTYe57vgDb]

Those tables have not yet been playtested extensively, but my players like them this far. Feel free to leave Feedback as a comment or on G+

I can't guarantee that I'll keep a bi-weekly update schedule for the next few weeks but I'll try my best. I am definitely not running out of ideas. Just out of time.

Tzashazul - The Dimensional Terror - A DCC Patron

The Dimensional Terror is an ancient beast of magic. Not born, neither created it mindlessly traveled through dimensions, devouring mind after mind to fill its shell with thoughts. The pure basis of its existing was madness. Thousands of minds, living in a immortal body, struggling against each other, trying to seize control or escape this torturous state. As eons passed these minds slowly merged into one twisted, mad, but at the same time genuinely brilliant beast, which calls itself Tzashazul. 

Tzashazul - The Dimensional Terror

[If this link does not work try this one: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S8qJnzcz43vwsYMgRhOKWkCBqyPPgkVR]

I hereby present to you Tzashazul. A DCC Patron for those seeking madness. I have to give credit, where credit is due. This Patron is inspired by one of the finest DCC adventures i ever had the pleasure of running. Of course i am talking about the magnificent Sailors on the starless Sea by DCC legend Harley Stroh. If you don't know this Adventure skip the following paragraph.

Spoilers ahead. It is no secret anymore that one of the deadliest beasts in Harley Strohs adventure is a giant leviathan living at the bottom of the starless sea. During one of my playthroughs a character began, driven by madness, to cut out his enemies and allies hearts to pacifiy the beast. The elf took such pleasure and fulfilment in the task that it was only natural, after he sacrificed the hearts of the enemy shaman with a combination of suicidal stupidity and unjustifyable luck, to make this beast at the bottom of the starless Sea his Patron. 

Spoilers end here. The Patrons design changed a lot over the course of the last weeks as i was never happy with what i got so the final version has only small resemblence to what Harley Strohs Adventure suggested. The theme of madness and tentacles stuck, though. This is all for those familiar with DCC. I am quite happy with this patron, but i'd love any type of feedback on this one as it is my first Patron write-up ever. To all those who don't know what a Patron is let me explain it to you

Patrons in DCC

Wizards in Dungeon Crawl Classics are fun! DCC is one of the best fantasy systems to be a wizard in. It perfectly fits the theme of wild, unpredictable, yet powerful magic. And the constant struggle of wizards to push their power and knowledge to unprecedented hights is omnipresent within the game. 

Patrons are one of the best implementations of this idea. By learning the spell "Patron Bond" a Wizard can strike a deal with a Patron. A being of vast arcane knowledge and power. The character offers up his wealth, services or even his soul in order to gain more power from his Patron.

In game terms, when a character bonds with a patron they strike a deal. The character gets the ability to invoke his patron for help and might, over the span of his adventuring life learn new spells from his Patron, which are superior to most normal spells. But every request comes at a cost. The character has to carry out quests for his Patron or has to sacrifice his wealth, his allies or himself to the Patrons cause. The Patrons influence taints the character over time, as he uses his masters service more and more. 

There are many types of Patrons. Some are powerful, formerly mortals beings who achieved near immortality through arcane skill and knowledge. Some are gods, supporting their followers with powers beyond celestial magic. Many are demons, abusing weak mortals for their own goals by pretending they could achieve greatness. 

One last note: Check out the amazing Knights in the North Blog, if you don't know of it yet. They post tons of amazing DCC stuff and have recently posted an amazing additional system to further improve upon Patrons in general. I highly recommend using it! Seriously. Take a look at their Patron and Deity Demands!

Until next time, where i take another look at the Wizard Class in DCC!

Out of Curiosity: Designing One-Shots

Not every story has to be an epic. Sometimes a short story can be as exciting as a lengthy novel and a short 20 minute video can be more captivating than a feature length movie. Role Playing is no different. While many people want to play lengthy and epic multi-session campaigns, lasting months or even years. But there are more ways to play then this. One-Shots are roleplaying stories and adventures, play- and completable within a single session. But how do you design a One-Shot? How should you approach running a One-Shot? Is it even different from your regular campaign session?

What is a One-Shot?

One Shots are single role playing sessions that feature a story designed to conclude in the very session it started. One could also call them single session adventures. They are not built around weeks of character progression or complex, open ended, narrative structures. One-Shots have to rely on the strength of their story or gameplay in order to deliver a compelling experience. 

Does this mean that One-Shots have to be completely self-contained? No. Not at all. Some One-Shots rely on knowledge of the world, where they take place or the games systems they use. And this can be good. One-Shots in a familiar setting require less introduction and explanation, therefore leaving more time for the playing itself. 

One-Shots can easily be integrated into a campaign, if the premise is not too far off in order to spice things up and some campaigns might consist entirely of One-Shots. Every session tells its own story and a overarching theme, maybe a villain, brings everything together. But the focus always lies on the single sessions, not the bigger picture.

Why play One-Shots?

First of all we need to take a look at the many reasons, why people would even want to play a single session adventure. 

Time might be the main reason. Not every gamer has enough time to spare for a weekly meet up with his fellow gamers and even those who have might find it hard to coordinate this time with their group. It might just be a necessity that leads to playing one-shots on a regular basis, as full attendance is not required for having fun and those missing out don't need to be filled in on any major events.

One-Shots are a natural fit for any story based on mercenaries, so systems like Shadowrun, Cyberpunk or Traveller feel right at home with such a style of play. Characters are not doing things because they want to be heroes, but because they want to get paid. Not everyone is needed for every job and some might need time off to recover. When the job is done and the money is paid, everyone leaves with a nice story to tell. 

There is one place where, over everything else, One-Shots reign supreme. Conventions. There are few people who go to a convention to play their campaign with their friends. At a Convention you want to sit down at the table and jump right into playing. And it does not matter if you play your favorite system, in your own campaign setting or something new: you are there to have fun and you don't want to leave without the story ending. 

How to design a One-Shot

As with everything creative there is no formula for designing One-Shots. I am just sharing some advice from my personal experience and thinking. I don't wanna say that i know how to write perfect adventures. I really don't. But i trust in these advices and most good one Shots i designed and ran fulfilled those rules.

1. Stick to a Theme

Having a singular Theme at the center of your adventure is key to a good experience. Not only does it help yourself design further elements into a short, but coherent story, it also helps your players in getting a feel for the One-Shot. A strong Theme gives the One-Shot consistency and direction.

A One-Shots theme should not only influence the story, but also the gameplay. The players should be able to identify the theme without being told what the theme is. It does not have to be in the foreground. A theme can be as subtle as "Freedom or Safety?", "Vengeful Spirit", "Secret Ingredient" and "Fear of the Unknown" or as obvious as "Religious Journey", "Old School Dungeoncrawl", "Political Murder story" and "Double Agent Drama".

The only important thing is that your stick to your Theme. While a campaign might be fun, when it slowly turns from a political murder story into a hunt for the ancient treasure, this would be too much for your typical One-Shot. While some adventures might work without a Theme or with multiple Themes, fighting to get the upper hand, those will be the exception, not the norm.

While this might be incredibly vague advice, i will give you some practical applications. When making notes for your One-Shot, write the Theme you choose at the top of every page. This will help with keeping the theme in mind. Another idea to keep sticking to a theme would be writing key words, you associate with the theme, down on index cards. Then make sure you include at least half of them in the adventure in some major way.

2. Don't overdo it

Complex scenes and characters are compelling. Complex story arcs are intriguing. Gameplay does profit from depth, most of the time. But within a single session, there is not enough space for everything to be as detailed and complex as possible. If there are many NSC's and they all have tons of depth and complex motivations then players will be confused and are likely not too reach story's climax in time.

This does not mean that you should build a shallow story and flat characters. Quite the opposite is true. Make characters interesting and unique. But don't overdo it. You don't have the space for 20 interesting unique characters. The main characters in the story should be unique, they should be complex and have personal depth. But those characters at the edge of your story won't benefit from such depth. Cliches are great to convey characteristics through expectations and make interactions with side characters quick and intuitive. Those interactions don't distract from the main story and help give the characters a feeling of belonging into the world, as the players expectations of how they should interact were met by the world around them.

When it comes to the story itself, not overdoing it is even more important. Your goals for a One-Shot story are the following. The Story needs to be easy to get involved in, entertaining to play and it should have a achievable conclusion. Everything that distracts from these goals should be closely examined. While, for example, an unexpected plot twist might add to the entertainment value, the second and third twist will just stand in the way of reaching a conclusion. And even the first twist might be unnecessary if the narrative was strong enough until this point. 

3. Less Scenes, more Impact

It's hard to distinguish this one from the second point but the implications are quite different. Don't plan too many scenes. One-Shots often tend to feel rushed anyway, so giving each scene time to breathe and to develop itself is crucial for an amazing Adventure. But its not only about giving each scene time. Each scene has to leave a impact. Each scene has to be important. If you have a scene which does not advance the story or develop the characters, then why is it in the One-Shot?

Constructing a good scene can be challenging? What makes a scene great? A great designer or author could possibly write an entire essay about this topic and i am neither, so I'll keep this short. A great scene is driven by the characters. It comes into existence because the characters have something they want to achieve or discover. A scene without urgency won't be interesting to the characters.
The outcome of a scene should be up to the decisions of the players and maybe even chance. This does not mean that everything should be open ended. It is nearly impossible to account for everything in the design stage of a One-Shot, but the story should not have scenes with only one possible outcome. In a One-Shot, every interaction should matter and therefore should be rewarded or punished.

4 Raise the Stakes 

When the story will reach a conclusion eventually, when the end of the story might as well be the end of the characters, then why should there be nothing at stake. High stakes are rare in roleplaying. Too rare. And a self contained experience like a One-Shot might be the perfect environment to reintroduce them into your design. Why sit down to safe a small village from goblins if you could instead safe the entire kingdom from a demonic dragon lord?

What does having high stakes mean? High stakes are a combination of three factors. High incentive, high risk and high reward. A good story has a motivation for the characters, challenges to overcome and a rewarding conclusion. The consequence for success and failure should be big. If you ever revisit this world, then the impact of this single One-Shot might still linger around in the world itself. Not all plots work on a scale like this. Sometimes the consequences have to be more personal and sometimes they won't even affect anyone besides the main character. But they always should be severe for the character. When the One-Shot has concluded, something should have changed. And whether it changed for the better or worse might be up to the players.

In most stories the protagonists don't fail. While failure within a novel or movie is a device used sparingly to convey drama and suspension, it is always constructed. Role Playing is a game. You can't force people to succeed or fail without it feeling cheap. Success must be an achievement and failure a punishment. The risk of failure should always be there, but there are many forms of failure. While a characters death might be the most obvious form of failure, it should never be the only one. There are many interesting forms of failure, that create new scenarios and develop characters. Loss of a NPC, loss of an item, success on the villains part or a setback in progress are all interesting consequences for failure.  Including them in the design of encounters helps in raising the stakes and creates a atmosphere of danger and suspension once the players notice that success is not guaranteed.

 5. Go experimental

A One-Shot is the prefect place to get weird and creative. No matter what you want to try out, be it a crazy story element, a dangerous encounter, a new mechanic or a weird gimmick, why not try it in a One-Shot. You could even build the entire one-shot around this experimental feature and you don't have to smuggle the new thing in. You can put it front and center for the whole experience. Trying new things out is a great excuse to design a one-shot and those that are build from the ground up to support a creative new idea are among the best there could possibly be.

Just... Don't overdo it...

In Conclusion

A good One-Shot is a One-Shot designed around some interesting core ideas, with a good focus on whats important and what isn't. It involves the players and creates a narrative that can easily hook players and characters into it until the conclusion, in which the consequences of the players choices and characters actions finally surface to their full extent. 

But good is not objective and there are many things i overlooked. Take these rules as a inspiration more than a guideline. Not everything works for everyone, but thinking about what might work is never a mistake.

The obligatory house rule post.

As i started this blog i made a post about why i enjoy Dungeon Crawl Classics as much as i do. One of the points i made there was how easy it is to modify the DCC ruleset. I and many other judges out there made house rules to adjust the game to their personal preferences. I wanted to present some of my house rules for a long time and now i finally found the inspiration to do so.

This week the awesome Spellburn Podcast made an episode in which they talked about House rules in great depth and presented many suggestions. Go and listen to the episode if you have not done so already. It's a great one.

Two of the house rules presented here are already featured in the Spellburn episode but were heavily modified since then. I will discuss the reasoning behind every house rule and implications here. If you only want the crunch, then don't worry. I also posted all house rules as a PDF

OOC-DCC-Houserules

Attribute Checks

Instead of rolling 1d20 and adding the modifier of the corresponding attribute, players roll 1d20 and add the entire value of the attribute when making Skill and Attribute checks. All difficulties have to be adjusted by adding 10 to the DC.

Rolling the body is the only exception to this rule. You still need to roll under your luck attribute in order to succeed.

Reasoning

I never enjoyed rolling for attributes in d20 games. Big dice and small modifiers make your character and his stats feel irrelevant to the outcome of the roll. While DCC fixes this by rewarding creativity over dice rolling i still felt an urge to change the rulings.
My first attempt was, inspired by some AD&D and Cthulhu games i played in, making attribute checks by rolling under the attribute. While i liked it and still think it works fine this ruling had two major problems. First: Calculating Difficulties and factoring in modifiers is a mess. Second (as discussed in Spellburn): Rolling low is not fun. While i might disagree on the second one, the first one always bugged me.
This solution is mathematically equivalent to rolling under the attributes when it comes to probabilities of success. Also you don't have to house rule modifications. They apply per normal rules. Its still not that great to have a result of a 15 be "not that good", but i prefer it widely over a success difference of 15% between the weak wizard and the mighty warrior when it comes to strength checks.

Blocking with Shields

In addition to granting a AC Bonus shields can also be used to block any one melee attacks, which the character is aware of, even critical hits. The blocking of an attack has to be announced after the attack is rolled but before any damage or  critical rolls are made. The shield is destroyed by the attack and no damage is applied to the character.
Magical shields are not destroyed, they are knocked away, cut loose, stuck or otherwise made useless for the remaining encounter.

Shields can be used to attack, which uses the normal dual wielding rules except for dwarves.

New Equipment
Shield	Cost*	Damage**	AC Bonus	Check Penalty	Fumble †
Wooden Shield	20gp	1d3	+1	-2	+1d
Steel Shield	35gp	1d4	+2	-4	+1d
Tower Shield	80gp	1d6	+4	-6	+2d

* for use with base DCC. My Campaign Setting "Thireila" converts all costs from GP to SP
** If used to attack (f.e. by a dwarf using board and sword)
† In addition to any armor worn. 1d equals a step on the dice chain for armored fumbles d4-d8-d12-d16-d20-d24

Reasoning

 As i read through the hubris setting i found this rule and wanted to imply it into my game. The rule as i present were originally found in Crawl Issue 2 , which originally took them from the Trollsmyth blog. I made a way more complicated draft out of this, which allowed to block multiple attacks and tracked shield hit points. Damage overflow from shields could be applied to characters. It was a quite nice system i think. It just did not work for DCC. DCC is focused on actions and reactions, not on bookkeeping. Its inspiration is in heroic fantasy, where taking a hit to the shield is not a tactical choice but an act of desperation. This current draft encourages this epic style of play without complicating gameplay and the new shield types i included offer more choice for player characters.

Combat Actions

Charging grants a +2 bonus to damage (if the attack is successful) instead of the attack roll. As usual it also grants a -2 malus to the charging characters AC

A character may perform a reckless attack. This grants a +2 bonus to the attack roll and reduces the attacking characters AC by 2. This maneuver can be combined with a charge to get +2 to attack and damage at the cost of a -4 AC malus.

Reasoning

An attack performed with high momentum should be impactful. Charging should be awesome. In basic DnD and DCC a charge is just a way to get more reliable damage instead of a maneuver to get one hit of high damage. So i changed this around. But even in a normal fight one can recklessly go all out on the enemy. It won't put more force to your strike, but it will make it more likely to hit someone.
This grants more options in combat which are not hard to explain, don't need any specifications and help create more high risk situations initialized by players. The impact of this additional action will drop off towards higher levels as characters get more reliable results out of their class abilities so it will only increase choice for 0 or low levels characters. I have not yet play tested this enough to see if it makes it too easy for the characters, but mightier characters can easily be countered by mightier foes, right?

No Corruption and Fumble avoidance

Wizards can't burn luck to avoid corruption, Warriors can't burn luck to avoid fumbles.

Reasoning

Corruption is awesome but rare. And avoiding it with one single point of luck makes corruption so rare that its not even worth checking. But as i mentioned, corruption is awesome. So it should happen. Therefore should not be avoidable.
I gave the warrior the same treatment and made them not able to avoid fumbles. I just like rolling on tables okay? Maybe the warrior thing will get kicked out soon, who knows.

Curious Dungeon #1 - The Temple of Oyraka

Normally when designing i start with an idea. With a story to tell. When running fantasy games i always ask myself. Where do i want my party to go and what do they want to do there, way before i ask my self what this place looks in detail. I wanted to break out of this routine and try something else. I sat down and drew a Dungeon map. I had nothing in mind while drawing it, i didn't ask myself questions about the place or the layout, i did not want to know what was inside the rooms and who lived there.

I posted the Dungeon map about two weeks ago with the promise to finish it up within a week. whoops. At least it's done now. I finished the Details of the map and here it is. Curious Dungeon Number 1. The Temple of Oyraka.

I randomly determined what this Dungeon will be. I used the tables i created for rolling through regions and found out that this was a submerged Temple inhabited by Lizardfolk. I did not quite stick to the premise as i decided that the temple was abandoned, but the Lizardfolk left their mark on this place.

But what is inside? The first room was huge, so it obviously needed a Statue. The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis provided many inspirations for this Dungeon, its arrival at my doorstep was one of the reasons i made this dungeon. It has a quite neat table for creating random statues, so i used it to roll out the table in Area 1-2 and 2-6. The Altars in Area 1-7 got randomized in a similar fashion. But there were still many rooms left empty.

It was quite easy to determine the former use of most of the rooms but for some i had to randomly determine a use. At this point i just looked at any table i could find for inspiration. Room by Room the Dungeon came together. I stopped rolling out random things and just picked what i liked out of this book and many other resources i could find in my bookshelf.

Here is the result. The Temple of Oyraka.

If the Hyperlink is not working just follow this link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NJDRr0_w-FqRCvSVEUh8o5ZEbSErY48d

I liked the idea of having the Dungeon set inside a lake. So i did it. It was submerged anyway, right? Now one question was left to answer: Why should adventurers go into this Dungeon? A mighty artifact had to be placed inside this Dungeon. I found no good spot to hide it. No room that made for a nice final room. So i placed it in the entrance and made a journey through the entire Dungeon necessary to retrieve it.

Writing this Dungeon down was way more work than designing it and i did not expect it to take this long. But i did learn a lot from this and be ensured that this won't be the last curious Dungeon.

Hog - God of Beasts and Combat

Here comes another God of Thireila. The chaotic and destructive Hog - God of Beasts and Combat.

While most of the Gods want to carry their ideals out into the wide world of Thireila, Hogs goals are more simple. Hog wants to see the most impressive combatants, men or beast, have the most brutal fights one could think of. Those who follow him are warriors and savages, mercenaries and brutes, looking for evergrowing challenges and rewards on the fields of battle. Whether they go alone or in groups, they don't care. They pray through their actions, not with their words. And while some belief in the constant struggle and fight, most follow Hog because his powers reward those who spend all their life fighting. 

The whole deity entry can be found here.

And now for something completly different.

Yesterday some books arrived at my home. Goodman Games 4th Printing of the Dungeon Alphabet, as well as the most current edition of the Monster Alphabet completed their journey, from the printing press in america to my lovely home in germany. I had the Pdfs to toy around with for some time now but those books just screamed at me that i finally should put them to good use.

Most of the time, when designing a dungeon, i design an Adventure first. I know why my party wants to go there and what they want. i know what the locations purpose in the story is and i know what awaits them. Yesterday i drew a map without any clue what it's going to be. I just started drawing and ended up with this

But this is not just a attempt to hone my (quite lackluster) drwaing skills. No. This will turn into a fledged out Dungeon next week. I will use my Special Places Chart from Rolling Through Regions, to randomly determine what this location will be and then i'll sit down with nothing but a pen, this map and the Dungeon and Monster Alphabet to fill this one with life. And you'll get the result and a quick report on how it went. I am looking forward to this!

Fate of the Ruthless Wizard - A DCC Funnel

The old tower looms over your small village. In the past it was a sign of resilience, but now it has turned into something else. As you step out of your small homes into the Towers shadow, the fear of the wizard Broshgar creeps back into your hearts. He took your food and your goods, he abducted your friends and your family and without remorse he killed anyone trying to stop him. Only a few months ago he took four of your children at once. And you let it happen. But today is the last day you'll ever be afraid of him. Assembling in front of the towers entrance you are ready to end his reign of terror.

I hereby present to you my first Adventure posted on this blog. Fate of the Ruthless Wizard is a six pages long DCC Funnel, which can easily fit into a single session. Built for 12 to 16 level 0 characters it will set your party up against an evil wizard who terrorized your characters home.

 I have playtested it twice and alwawys had a lot of fun with it. If you want to send any feedback into my direction feel free to do so. I'd love to hear any opinion on this module.

FATE OF THE RUTHLESS WIZARD - A DCC RPG FUNNEL

Enjoy!

Travendra - Goddess of Fate and Death

Today i give you only a small update to the World of Thireila in form of another god, following up on last weeks entry for the Gods of Thireila.

There are many things uncertain in Thireila. But what remains constant is that humans won't understand everything that happens in the world and, that all humans will die someday. These are the domains of Travendra. Travendra watches over the fate of the world and teaches humans to accept what happens in their life and to them. She is neither cruel nor forgiving as she does not interfere with the world in direct ways. Nobody knows whether she only follows fate or weaves it.

The whole deity entry can be found here.

The Gods of Thireila

I am currently re-designing some of the aspects of Thireila. This article has not yet been reworked, but will soon be updated!

Today we're gonna take a closer look at the deitys of the World Thireila, which i presented last week. This post will feature specifics about the clerics of Thireila and as well as the detiled entry for one of the gods. others will follow within the next few months.

Thireila has seen many powerful creatures. Some mighty enough to claim the title god for themselves. The gods had powers far beyond imagination, not linked to the magic some weaker races wield. Those beings have shaped our world like none other, have sprouted and raised some civilizations, as well as they have brought doom to others. Some gods live in our realm, some have their own home in a distant plane, but most influence our world to this day. This Post will mostly focus on the Gods worshipped by humanity.

The Gods of the Human Race

The Gods that brought humanity into existence were among the first beings to wander this world. They spent centuries travelling and shaping the world, building friendships and rivalries among each other. The thirst for power lead the civilizations of Thireila towards magical experiments, which brought the first demonic invasion upon the world. The Gods could, after a long war, send the demons back to their home Ifrinn, but the damage was done.

The gods then proceeded to help fill the world with life again and brought forth the race of humans. As peace settled in and humans claimed the world the gods resigned from creating, as they fell enamoured with the humans and created avatars to live among them. Distracted by mortal pleasures the Hordes of Ifrinn could make their return.

The gods were overwhelmed by this army and as the full invasion began they could not stand their ground. After months of losses they struck one final plan: All Gods left combined their power to banish the demons once and for all. This Ritual lasted one day and shaped the world forever. The energies set free burnt land and cities. the living races had to pay a high bloodtoll but the attack hit the demons harder. Not many demons survived and those that did were without leadership and scattered across the land. The Plane of Demons was sealed again, but the gods were nowhere to be found.

As the world recovered from nearly beeing destroyed humans that lived by the rules and principles of the gods began to feel a power flowing through them. The gods were still alive but not among the living anymore. They became bodyless entities and the only way to impact the world they had left was to grant humans power to carry out their will. They became worshiped or feared but could no longer walk the land as they once did.

Those gods are the gods humanity worships today.

The Gods of Humanity
Lawful	Neutral	Chaotic
Imna - Goddess of Honor	Janu - God of Diplomacy and Secrets	Elyra - Goddess of Mysteries and Magic*
Parthia - Goddess of Justice and Nobility	Molyk - God of Creation	Hog - God of Beasts and Combat
Paturo - God of Wisdom and Age	Tirif - Goddess of Nature and Weather	Matho - God of Desperation and Hope
Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health	Tjorael - God of Hospitality and Alcohol	Olnoth - God of Pestilence and Illness
Torgej - God of Craftsmanship and Trade	Travendra - Goddess of Death and Fate	Shantu Sulfar - Goddess of Alchemy and the Moon
Vorlukay - God of the Undead	Urr - God of War	Zeyai - Goddess of the Sea

* Elyra has only few clerics and mostly acts as a patron to aspiring Magicians  

Clerics in Thireila 

The existance of the gods is not up for debate so the only question for most beeings is wheter they can identify with the ideals of a single god or a group of gods enough to worship them over all others. It is common for humans to follow the path of a god but some take it one step further and devote their entire life to a single god. Those people are called "clerics" and are able to summon the power of the gods.

Some clerics and faithful organize in churches or ordos but others find faith on their own. Not all people choose the god which they follow sometimes a god chooses a human to carry out his will. The Gods don't take the servitude of their followers lightly and reward them by helping them on their encounters and lending them powers. But a Human who abuses his powers or betrays his god might soon find out how the real wrath of his god can feel.

The importance of the churchs and gods varries on a regional basis, depending on the interest of the gods, the faith of the people there and the intents of the rulers. Some rulers even forbid the worship of specific gods. While the gods mostly lend their powers to humans some of other races have been able to follow their calling and join the ranks of the clerics.

Playing a Cleric 

 

Thireila hosts some changes to the way Clerics are played in Dungeon Crawl Classics. There are two major changes. Disapproval and Deity specific abilities. These changes all depend on the specific Godthe cleric follows. If no Entry for the god of the cleric has been released than these changes don't take place and the cleric follows the normal rules presented in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Book.

Deity Abilities

Each Deity alters the way of the core abilities in some minor or major way. Specifics are detailed in each gods entry. 

Deity Spells

Each God gives his clerics access to one or more spells only his clerics may use. These spells can be aquired once a cleric has a level high enough to learn spells of that level. Deity specific spells use a "Spells known" slot as normal spells do and a cleric does not have to learn them.

Deity Requests 

Each god entry comes with a table of six god specific deity requests. These can be used instead of the table in the core book or in addition to it. If combining both simply use a d16 and treat the results in these new tables as entries 11-16.

Disapproval

In Thireila the gods are more aware of the deeds of their faithful. So their punishment is more concrete. Every God has its own disapproval tables, which are divided into three categories. Lay on Hands, Turn Unholy and Spellcasting. Instead of rolling a Number of d4 equal to the result of the roll which caused disapproval, simply take the result and compare it to the table corresponding with the action, which caused disapproval. If the disapproval has come up as a result of a Divine Aid roll, then refert to the table best fitting to the request and deed.

Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health.

The Pure god, The savior of Mankind, the Helpful Hand. Ralwonir is all this and far more. He watches over the humans, protecting those, who follow the right path and are of pure heart. He rejects those who only thirst for power and fame, those who willingly put others at risk and those who have any malicious intent. His vision of humanity is a vision of humble, grateful, helpful and loyal beings and he will do everything to protect his faithful who are building this vision. Those who failed his Vision may have the chance of redemption, as Ralwonirs hopes for humanity are far too high to let people fall easily.

Deity Entry (click to open):
Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health

Welcome to Thireila

Most of Thireilas history lies buried in ruins. Before the wars there was a time of peace. Not peace all over the world. If all cultures have one thing in common, then it is their lust for conflict. But what brought our world close to death was no nation known to us. As the Hordes of Ifrinn rose from their home they brought death and destruction. The Demonlords and Archdevils easily dispatched most armies of our world and only the gods could save us, giving up their eternal bodies and banishing themselves from our realm. 

Welcome to Thireila. The world of demon ashes. This world is a setting for Dungeon Crawl Classic, which i use for most of my game sessions. While it might not differentiate itself too much from most DCC Settings, being a classic medieval fantasy world, it lies the simple groundwork easily to grasp, with enough depth to let players connect to the setting with ease.

History

 

Nobody really knows how old this world is. It has seen many civilizations rise and fall, as centuries passed by, leaving no one to tell the tales. But some tales outlast time itself. As magic was discovered the borders between the realms became only mere suggestion for the ancient wizards and war became horrific, as demons and devils joined in on the action. The ancient entities, we now refer to as gods, were among the most powerful to ever set foot on our realm. Nobody knows where they came from or how long they existed. 

In the early days of Thireila many species were created. Some were children of the gods, some just appeared on the face of this world. Those races of the first age were as diverse as they were powerful. The gods were excited about them but some feared they could rival them in power. As time passed, the ancient races discovered a new source of power to utilize. Magic. The wild and untamed energy of magic was as powerful as it was dangerous and only few of the gods could grasp it, as their power was something completely different.

Around this time rivalries and conflicts between the gods became more common. Wars were waged, Alliances were formed and broke, and the races of Thireila were forced into those without another chance. These conflicts all left their marks on this world and as the gods got carried away by their displays of power a new Threat emerged. A magical realm, Ifrinn, was discovered by the ancient mages and the barrier that kept those worlds apart got damaged by the experiments of the ever so curious wizards.

As the barrier lost its strength some of the inhabitants of Ifrinn made it into our world. Demons and Devils, beings of pure chaos and destruction, seeking to bring ruin to our world. Most gods were disgusted by those beings but a few aligned with them as they too sought chaos. The fight against the demons and their allies was short and those gods who could wield the magical powers tried their best at restoring the barrier to Ifrinn, but the punishment for those races who brought the Demons to Thireila was grave. Only few races of this time are still alive.

As time passed a new race emerged. Not created by a single god, but children of many the humans were different then those who came before them. Unlike others he humans acknowledged all the gods and were seeking their guidance instead of avoiding them. This led them to grow, building cities and keeps, founding nations and empires. And the gods rivalries calmed down, for a while.

As humanity grew in power they discovered more and more about the world and themselves. Most Gods were not opposed to the humans wielding magic, but quickly found out that they lacked the power and control to rival the mages of old. They thought, they could not tear down the barrier into the realm of demons, but they were wrong. Meanwhile the demons found other ways, breaking down the wall from their side and corrupting other races. The first to be corrupted were the elves of the black forest and they among many others joined them. As the gods noticed what happened it was too late.

The hordes of Ifrinn brought the biggest wave of destruction upon Thireila that was ever seen. The human empires fell within days and soon the Archdevils sat upon the thrones and the Demonlords killed every soul in their path. The gods had to save their world. In an act of desperation they performed a ritual, which changed the world forever. The ritual destroyed the hordes of Ifrinn nearly completly. The Leaders of the Invasion were torn apart by the ritual and only few demons remained. Humanity came close to extinction but survived, but the Gods themselves did not. At least not as they were before. Their bodies were destroyed and only their will remained alive.

Today, 300 years after the ritual, the barrier between the realms is as weak as it ever was, but Ifrinns hordes were stopped. Nobody knows if, or when, they will return but for now Thireila seems safe. The races of Thireila reclaimed some of the land, which was scorched by the Demons and Devils and the world slowly begins to recover. The gods are still there, but they lost most of their power. They gain some power through the faith and worship of those humans who still believe in their ways but it is only a shadow of their former glory.

The World of Thireila 

 

Thireila got twisted and damaged by the war waged with the Hordes of Ifrinn.

The place where human culture formally blossomed, the heart of humanity, lies now deep within The Ashes. This is where the Demons struck first. This desolate region is a demonic wasteland. Few humans still live there, and even fewer by their own will. Although the Demonlords where banished others claimed their place and the Ashes are still home of the demonic hordes.

What remains of the former Empire has fled to the south. Still run by the glorious empress and her bloodline, they hope to one day reclaim the Ashes and rebuild their reign.  Living in a hot region dominated by savanna and deserts the memory of fresh, green grass and the hope to one day return to such regions drives the people of the Empire. They are caught between desolation and hope, preparing for a war against the demonic hordes they can't possibly win.

The Free Realms were once part of the Empire but with the fall of the empire those with the power decided to keep it for themselves. No one rules the Free Realms. The Free Realms rule themselves. Kings, Barons, mighty mages, corrupt wizards, powerful traders and wealthy nobleman reign over their own land and conflict among each other is as frequent as conflict with the plundering hordes of the Ashes or the Traitors of the Land of the Fallen. 

Not all nations fought against the Demons. The Land of the Fallen once was the exile for enemies of the Empire. They quickly joined the demonic hordes and fell victims to the endless corruption. To this day they believe in the power the demons grant and plan to expand their reign, waging war against the Free Realms and the Empire.

The Wildlands have always been unconquered and remain so to  this day. Barbaric tribes wander through the land of snow and ice fighting for survival everyday. Some wonder what might lie buried beneath the ice, as ancient tales tell of long lost kingdoms ruling these lands.

In the northwest lies the Land of lost Hope. While the demonic siege has finally ended the, the corruption, ruining the ground and the people, slowly grows through the land. Sulfuric rain comes from the south and the rivers carry blood and acid. Their days are numbered and they know it.

The Eternal Coast has remained untouched. To the wonders of everyone, including the inhabitants, the hordes simply stopped and moved away. The coast is ruled by the Coastal Kings and has no real means of connecting to the remainder of the world. but they are safe. Somehow.

Far in the north there is rumored to be an island called De'thraga. Many ships have sailed there over the time but none have returned.

Religion

 

While there are many being of godlike powers, those the humans refer to as gods are of a special kind. While they lost their body during the war with Ifrinn their will is still strong enough to impact the world. Most Humans worship the gods and the gods may give their faithful some of their power, if it serves their will. Those gods are the gods which the humans worship.

Lawful	Neutral	Chaotic
Imna - Goddess of Honor	Janu - God of Diplomacy and Secrets	Elyra - Goddess of Myteries and Magic*
Parthia - Goddess of Justice and Nobility	Molyk - God of Creation	Hog - God of Beasts and Combat
Paturo - God of Wisdom and Age	Tirif - Goddess of Nature and Weather	Matho - God of Desperation and Hope
Ralwonir - God of Purity and Health	Tjorael - God of Hospitality and Alcohol	Olnoth - God of Pestilence and Illness
Torgej - God of Craftmanship and Trade	Travendra - Goddess of Death and Fate	Shantu Sulfar - Goddess of Alchemy and the Moon
Vorlukay - God of the Undead	Urr - God of War	Zeyai - Goddess of the Sea

* Elyra has only few clerics and mostly acts as a patron to aspiring Magicians

Playing in Thireila

This world is not a well defined place with established cities and routes. It is a backdrop towards your own creations and should be treated as such. If you want more than just a backdrop, why not "Roll out a region". This works especially well for the Free Kingdoms. Most Adventure modules can easily be placed in this world and i will post some plot hooks and modules in the future. Here are some general Suggestions how to improve upon this feeling.

- Literacy is hard to come by. Only characters with an appropriate occupation or an intelligence modifier of +1 or higher are able to read fluently. Characters with no intelligence modifier can read but slowly and badly. Reading a book is a task worth many years for those. Wizards will become literate over time, no matter how intelligent they are.

- Money is worth a lot. This is a general suggestion for DCC. Reduce all the monetary rewards and prices listed in modules and books by one step. For example 10 gold turn into 10 silver. This will keep gold a rarity as it should be, while also keeping the economy of the game working.

- Survival is not guaranteed. While many fantasy settings imply that food and shelter are given, settlements and even bigger towns struggle with providing this in Thireila. While the Free Realms generally have it better than the empire, the suffering of the people can be felt from small hamlet to big city.

- Magic is feared. Most commoners associate magic with demons and the unknown. If you are a wizard who openly and alone walks into a small hamlet, you should be expecting pitchforks and torches. At least in those regions close to the Ashes

What comes next

 

The next weeks will see many updates to this world and i will try posting something new every Friday. Next week we'll take a closer look at Religion and i will present some fleshed out gods. While this might not seem to be much more than a draft there will be more!

Until then... Goodbye