My Favorite NPC: Vert

This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is "Favorite NPCs". I have several that stand out in my mind.

There was Beldo, the Rhenee crime boss with the vaguely eastern European accent who complained that the player characters once paid him off with a golden frog statuette ( "I send you for money and you bring me frog? Why don't you go someplace and sell frog, then bring me money. Then everybody happy!").

There was also the witch who tormented a different group of player characters with a hand of glory, transmuted their rivals into mice, and was generally a ruthless and brilliant enemy.

But my favorite, I think, has to be Vert.

Upon entering an expanse of forest, the PCs made camp and were approached by a man named Vert, who demanded from them all of their coins in return for being allowed safe passage through "his" forest. The one party member who had been on guard duty, and who had witnessed his transformation from human form to that of a green dragon as a means to convince her of the folly of resisting, convinced the rest to comply, and most did so, albeit somewhat reluctantly. (All dragons in my campaign can shape-shift between human and dragon form.)

Upon reaching the village on the far side of the wood, however, they were informed by the locals-- with no small amount of mirth-- that Vert was indeed a green dragon, but one only three years of age, and eagerly accumulating his first hoard of treasure! He was something of a mascot to the town, as he never harassed them at all (probably due to the fact that they knew he could be beaten off with a broom handle if it came down to it), and they took particular delight in hearing the tales of travelers whom Vert had fleeced out of yet another few dozen coins.

I don't think the PC who was on guard duty that night ever lived that down.

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Gaming Out of the Rut

At our last Greyhawk game I had something very different lined up for my players. Rather than yet another expedition into the ruins of the Castle of the Mad Archmage, I wanted them to get a little more invested in the setting itself. I had hoped to introduce some of the notable NPCs that make Greyhawk so very special, wedge them out of the rut they'd trodden between the Blue Dragon Inn and the entrances to the castle dungeons.

They had already encountered the halfling Diggwell Biffson ("Biff" as he is known), who is one of the henchmen of the famed wizard Melf of the Green Arrow. The party had been hired to recover a magic necklace stolen from Melf's cousin Silverthorn. They did so, and thus came to be on good terms with Biff and agreed to be occasional agents for Melf; reporting odd happenings, etc.

That was several months ago (in real time) and I thought it would be a good hook to get them to see a little of the Flanaess. So last Friday they were approached by Biff with a very important mission; a pair of spies in the pay of Iuz were known to be leaving the city imminently with an item of great importance. What the tall skinny elf and wizened gnome (who will doubtless be familiar to fans of the "Gord the Rogue" books) carried was unknown, but it was known that the Old One prized it, and that was enough to attempt to deny it to him. The PCs were asked to canvass the inns and taverns of the River Quarter of Greyhawk, to see if they could scare up any information.

Long story short, the party managed to figure out what they were carrying (a scroll of some sort), how they were leaving the city (on a barge crewed by renegade Rhennee), and where they were going (Stoink, in the Bandit Kingdoms). Melf's other operatives were off chasing down other leads, and it was still not certain that they weren't on a wild goose chase themselves, so the party hired a ship of their own and struck off across the Nyr Dyv, catching up with their quarry at Radigast City after the requisite encounter with a sea monster.

I'll let Mollie's awesome-as-always rendition of events tell the rest of the story (click to embiggen), but suffice to say I personally found it a great change of pace, and hopefully the players did as well. Such jaunts won't ever completely replace dungeon crawls beneath the Castle of the Mad Archmage, but I might encourage similar diversions a little more often than I have been, just to give the players more options.

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More of Mollie's Musings from My Campaign

Here are another batch of drawings from one of the players in my Greyhawk campaign, chronicling not only what happens in the game, but also the (sometimes risqué) banter that flies back and forth at the table. This was a special "on the road" game, as many of us schlepped down to the Jersey shore to play at the house of one of our players who switched jobs a while ago and hasn't really been able to play since (I relaxed my normal limit of 6 players because it was a special event). As usual, I had a great time; the people really make the game.

They keep bitching and moaning about mapping the dungeons of the Castle of the Mad Archmage. I swear, it all fits together perfectly on my copy. Honest. Of course, I only give them actual distances for relatively short spaces; a lot of the time all they get is "the corridor goes on for quite a long ways..." because for some reason they never want to take the time to measure it out precisely. Just because I start rolling dice and all...

This one might actually want a little explanation.

Several months ago, while exploring the paradoxically very deadly first level of the Castle of the Mad Archmage, the party encountered several giant weasels being used as support by the kobolds who infest the level. One of them latched onto one of the party members and was draining blood, when the illusionist hit on the excellent idea of using the sneeze cantrip to get the weasel to release its victim. The stratagem was a resounding success and not only reinforced my opinion that lower level spell-casters can rely on inventive use of cantrips to participate more, but the incident also gave the party its name; the Sneezing Weasels.

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More of Mollie's Visual Game Diaries

About a month ago, I posted a few drawings that one of our regular players, Mollie, makes while we game. This time she's done it again (actually, she does it every time, but I don't always post 'em and sometimes they get a little blue), this time chronicling the misadventures of group in my own campaign as they explore beneath the Castle of the Mad Archmage.

What I love about these things is that they don't just capture what happens in the game, but you really get a feeling for the sort of cross-player banter and jokes that permeates our group. Sure, some groups get more actual gaming in (pfft!), but I'd put our amount of fun up against anyone else out there. Enjoy!

(Click to embiggen)

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NPCs in Premade Settings

In the comments of my previous post on "advancing the timeline" in Greyhawk, commenter scottz made a very interesting point:

"Characters/NPC's are canon 'mountpoints' as much as maps or gazetteers are, IMHO."

I take this to mean that, if one is running a campaign in a premade setting such as Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms, one expects to interact with, or at least hear about third-hand, some of the notable non-player-characters that have become associated with that setting over the years.

I agree wholeheartedly with scottz on this point; notable NPCs from the setting are as much a part of its ambiance as its notable dungeons and the names of its kingdoms.

In Greyhawk, this would mean the likes of Melf, Tenser, Mordenkainen, Sir Robilar, and so forth. In the Realms, the quintessential NPC is of course Elminster, but being taken on as an agent of the Harpers to thwart the machinations of the Cult of the Dragon would certainly qualify as well.

Now that I'm going to be restarting my own Greyhawk campaign, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can make it an exciting and enjoyable experience, and the role of these sorts of notable NPCs naturally springs to mind.

I've actually done this in the past with great success with some of the minor characters encountered in the Gord the Rogue books (and who are known from GH lore as well) such as Biff the halfling, who is a henchman of Melf, and it was a complete blast.

But I wonder how many DMs out there do this as well? Outside of published modules (because, naturally, anyone who runs the Temple of Elemental Evil is going to by definition have their PCs encounter notables such as Burne and Rufus), how many people who run Greyhawk or other premade settings also make a point of using some of the notable non-player-characters when they do so?

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Erseta Campaign #13

Glad to finally be back in the ruins of the dwarven city of Glitterdark, the party decided to explore in a direction they had hitherto avoided. This led them pretty directly into a very large chamber with a number of goblins. While the majority of the goblins were forming ranks, two of them were turning a pair of ballistas to face the intruders. Curiously, the ballistas were facing north originally, protecting a northern passage which had also been barricaded.

While the player characters proceeded to make short work of the 8 or so goblins in the ballista chamber, they also noted that a larger group of goblins was quickly assembling in an adjacent and even larger chamber with some sort of lower gallery accessible by a ramp. Many more goblins-- numbering in the dozens-- and at least several wolves were marshaling, and horns were being sounded, perhaps signalling that more goblins (or something else!) were being called to arms.

Both sides issued demands to the other to surrender, but neither was likely to acquiesce. While oil was prepared and the ballistas were rotated to fire into the mass of goblins, the party started to hear sounds of answering horns coming from the southern passage they had themselves come from. Sensing that they were about to be cut off, they decided to retreat, setting the oil aflame and firing flaming ballista bolts as they set fire to the engines just before setting them off (so the goblins would not have use of them later). The goblins answered with a volley of spears which caught the illusionist and the bard, but the party retreated to the gatehouse facing outside on the mountainside. The goblins, it seemed, had no stomach for following the intruders outside of the dwarven city, or perhaps hadn't been able to follow them at all in their headlong flight.

The gnome thief was sent back inside to determine what was going on in the passages. He only got as far as the large circular chamber with the magical gate leading to the town of Ritterheim (and presumably other places as well), where he could see a large number of goblins bustling to and fro in the passages beyond. Clearly, the party had stirred up the hornets' nest.

Wanting to give the goblins some time to lessen their activity, the party decided to journey to the nearby smithy of Klegg Ironbeard, who had previously provided them with the key used to activate the magical portal back to Ritterheim. He was still there, madly pounding away at something on his anvil, and as finally coaxed into answering a few questions. He's one of my favorite NPCs to do, a very haunted person driven mad by guilt (or so the assumption goes; he has a tendency to be rather non-committal in some of his answers). They got a little more information, picked up some of his works bearing his maker's mark, and returned to Glitterdark.

A brief debate ensued as to whether they should re-enter the city, or simply go into the room of magical gates and use their key to return to Ritterheim. Again the gnome thief was sent in to reconnoiter, and, having determined that the frenzied activity of before had calmed down somewhat, the party entered the gate and returned to the city, there to possibly track down the magical lantern that would activate the magical gate that led back to Glitterdark.

Another good, solid session I thought. A large tactical situation to be dealt with, followed by some stealthy recon and role-play with a key NPC. And of course the group makes the game fun in and of itself.

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Armies of Erseta: The Tamarian Army Takes the Field

Here at long last is the complete Tamarian army for my campaign, built as a starter army using the Field of Glory rules (using "Feudal French" as the basis for the army, and the whole thing can double for that when doing historical minis). It took a lot of work, and I don't consider myself a particularly good painter, but done is done, and any painted mini on the table is better than an unpainted one, so the saying goes. For all picks, as usual, click to embiggen.

 The whole army is arrayed. Javelins in front, crossbows on either flank (mounted on the left flank, foot on the right), the three commanders in the center, three groups of mounted knights behind them, two groups of spearmen, and a group of light archers behind the mounted crossbowmen.

 Close-up of the right flank...

 ...the center, featuring the commanders and standard bearers, all bearing the livery of Tamaria (the number of dots on the banners will allow them to be differentiated in a game, if needed)...

 ...and the left flank.

And here's what they're stored and can travel in. I bought a 5-drawer rolling cabinet from Staples, put some magnetic tape down in strips (you can see some of it off to the left in the photo above) because my FoG army has steel bases. They don't shift an iota when the thing moves, and the whole army (plus some of the demi-human auxiliaries I've also been painting) fits in a single drawer. I'll be moving my Ogre miniatures into the thing as well; just need to get the foam inserts put in for them, because they lack the metal bases and thus the magnetic strips won't work.

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Armies of Erseta: Last of the Tamarian Knights

Only the commanders to go and then the army is done, baby, done!

I stretched out with a few new colors for the knights (those two dapper chaps in the orange livery, plus some new blues and such). Once I get the commanders done, I'll have a complete starter army (either Kingdom of Tamaria for my own campaign, or Feudal French for historical minis, even if the paint job is a little ahistorical).

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Fighting Schools of Chevis

I don't really have any problem with having special powers, actions, moves, etc. in a game. What I object to is when they become just things that a player can buy off a list without any sort of investment, and with no real in-game justification beyond "I want my character to be able to do cool move X".

The skill system in Adventures Dark and Deep (based on that developed by Gary Gygax for Castles and Crusades, published under the OGL) allows for the development of such cool moves by a game master, and I thought the following example from my own Erseta campaign might be a good illustration of the concept. Basically, one spends experience points in order to get a level in the skill, and further study gets one additional levels in the skill.

The x.p. cost is given below, and is multiplied by the skill level being sought. If the character's highest attribute is the one given first in the "base x.p. cost" line, he can use that cost. If not, he uses the "all others" cost. Ties count, so if your fighter has a 16 STR and 16 DEX, he can buy the "My Blade is a Reed" skill for 4,000 x.p. If that same character had a 17 STR and 16 DEX, he would need to spend 6,000 x.p. per skill level.

Using the skill requires a successful roll on a d20 against the relevant attribute, with bonuses if you have more than one skill level (-2 per level). Easy peasy. In my campaign, certain skills are only available if one's character takes the time to actually seek out those who can teach them, and spends the money, time, and experience points to gain the skill. Not so easy, sometimes, because there's no guarantee that a teacher will take any jackanapes that walks through his door with a bag of gold!

The city-state of Chevis prides itself on its fighting schools. Lords, princes, and kings send their scions to such schools to be trained in the deadly fighting arts that they teach, and regular knights and warriors dream of one day amassing sufficient wealth to study there. Other cities have such schools of course, but those of Chevis are regarded as the best of the best (albeit usually not by the masters and students of other schools in other cities!), and each is noted for a particular style of fighting. Note that these skills can be learned by characters of any class, not only fighters and cavaliers. Here are three prominent fighting skills taught by some of the preeminent schools of the city. Needless to say, the competition between the fighting schools of Chevis is intense indeed; the right to be called "the best of the best" is jealously guarded.

My Blade is a Reed

Base x.p. cost: 4,000 (dexterity), 6,000 (all others)
Make skill checks against: dexterity
Specialities: n/a

This skill emphasizes the art of parrying with a sword blade, in order to draw a strong enemy in and gain advantage thereby. It can only be used if the character is wielding a sword of some sort other than a two-handed sword. At the beginning of each round, a character with this skill can declare that they are employing this style. If the DEX check is successful, anyone fighting the character with a weapon (of any type) will receive a penalty equal to twice his STR bonus "to hit". Thus, someone with a STR of 17 would actually get a -1 penalty "to hit" rather than the +1 he would normally receive. Additional skill levels will add an additional penalty of -1 per skill level to the enemy's roll. There is no penalty if the character attempting to use the skill fails his DEX check; he can still attempt to use the skill on subsequent rounds.

This style of fighting is taught by the Torontoro School of Chevis. The current Maestro of the school is Schivano Trithi (F13). He holds himself as an impeccable judge of character, and refuses entry to his school to anyone he perceives as being unworthy. Several princes of the blood from around Dornia have earned his disdain, and been refused admission. On the other hand, he has been known to take in students free of charge whom he believes "show promise". Learning each level of this skill will require 6 weeks of training per skill level, and cost 2,000 g.p. per week, unless Maestro Trithi deems otherwise.The colors of the school are red and white.

The Bulette

Base x.p. cost: 3,000 (strength), 5,000 (all others)
Make skill checks against: strength
Specialties: n/a

This skill emphasizes the channeling of physical strength in order to overcome the defenses of others. It can be used by a character wielding any sort of weapon. It can be used by a character wielding any sort of weapon. At the beginning of each round, a character with this skill can declare that they are employing this style. If the STR check is successful, any "to hit" bonus the character would ordinarily gain from his STR score is increased by 1. Further levels of this skill will increase the bonus by an additional +1. This skill will not work unless the character in question already has a "to hit" bonus due to strength.

This style of fighting is taught by the Morfino School of Chevis. The current Maestro of the school is Tormano Nosca (F15). Entry to the school requires that potential students impress Maestro Nosca in a contest of grappling. His strength score of 18/13 makes this a relatively high bar to pass. This skill requires 5 weeks to learn, costing 1,750 g.p. per week per skill level. The colors of the school are purple and black.

The Death of a Thousand Cuts

Base x.p. cost: 4,000 (dexterity), 5,500 (all others)
Make skill checks against: dexterity or strength
Specialties: n/a

This skill teaches the art of wearing down an opponent by eschewing opportunities to deal killing blows in favor of inflicting a flurry of smaller, minor wounds that end up laying one's opponent low. It can be used by a character wielding any sort of edged or pointed weapon. At the beginning of each round, a character with this skill can declare that they are employing this style. If the skill check is successful, the character gets twice as many attacks as he normally would in the round, but each is made with a damage penalty of -3. It cannot be used in conjunction with weapon specialization.

This style of fighting is taught by the Chorvosa School of Chevis. The current Maestro of the school is Giovano Hech (F13). In the last few years, the school has fallen on hard times financially, and Maestro Hech has opened up the doors of the school to any who have the tuition (he is unaware that it is Maestro Nosca of the Morfino School who has subtly manipulated Hech's investments over the last year or so). This skill requires 8 weeks to learn per skill level, costing 1,500 g.p. per week. The colors of the school are red and black.

NOTE: In the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting circa 576 CY (or later), these schools could be said to exist in any major metropolitan locale such as Rel Mord, Rel Astra, or Zelradton.

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Erseta Campaign #12

Several (real-world) weeks of being cooped up in Ritterheim, making glacial progress towards retrieving the magic lantern that would reactivate the portal to the ruins of the dwarven city of Glitterdark, got the players more than a little antsy. So, rather than move methodically towards finding the lantern, they decided to cash in what loot hadn't been yet traded in, paid for an identify spell to be (finally) cast upon the magic dagger they retrieved in the tower of the savant, and set forth for an overland journey.

They invested in a fair map of the barony of Rittergeist, so they had a pretty good idea of which way to travel. Most of the journey was overland on fairly good roads through settled farmland, so aside from fellow travelers, merchants, farmers, and the like, there was little of interest as they made their way to Treven, the jumping off point into the forest that leads, eventually, to Glitterdark.

They picked up the same forest trail that they had earlier, but this time were fairly prepared for the section of evil forest through which it led. At the first fork in the trail, they had turned right the last time, ending up out of the forest entirely and confronted by hostile Vanarian border guards. This time they took the left fork, which they calculated would lead them on a more direct route towards their goal.

They were first confronted by a swarm of giant wasps, and although no one was slain before the wasps were driven off, one of their number was brought to 0 hit points, paralyzed by venom, and barely escaped being injected with eggs. One thing I'm noticing is that putting in tougher opponents works very well when the rules for morale checks are used. Rather than fighting to the death, once the wasps were given a bloody nose and half of them were blinded by one of the illusionist's spells, they decided they had had enough and fled. The party was still bloodied from the encounter, though, and healing from the clerics was dealt out.

Unfortunately, as they continued along the trail, the party began to be shadowed by large black squirrels in the trees with evil red eyes. This understandably unnerved them, and they decided to press on into the night before camping, hoping to lose the squirrels. Around midnight, though, they came upon a creek with a troll on the other side. Kurbag, as he introduced himself, was collecting a toll so that he could afford to have a proper bridge built over the creek, under which he could live. Still weakened from their encounter with the wasps and not eager to fight a troll in the middle of the night, the party decided that 50 g.p. was a small price to pay to cross the stream without incident. The squirrels seemed to have lost interest in them and they camped a ways away from Kurbag's crossing.

The next day they avoided a large carcass of some animal on the path that was swarming with giant ants (they happened to choose the direction to avoid the ants that did not lead towards the ant's nest, thus neatly avoiding a potentially painful encounter). They later came across a stone arch near the path, well constructed but quite ancient, that bore a faint inscription in dwarvish: "King Drogo of Glitterdark slew the ogre champion Nurakug the Horrible on this spot, and drank ale from his skull." Lamenting that he had no ale to drink in honor of the long-ago king, the dwarven cleric paused to pull down some of the vines obscuring the arch, and the party continued on.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. They finally emerged from the region of forest with the evil aspect, and ended the session at the foot of Mt. Arak, ready to once again descend into the ruined dwarven city.

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Worlds I've Known

Thinking back, the overwhelming majority of campaigns I've either played in or DMed have been home-brew campaigns.

I love Greyhawk, of course, and have a vast GH collection and (at the risk of being immodest) knowledge, but even then, I've done homebrew way more often than Greyhawk. My current campaign, the world of Erseta, is a homebrew campaign.

On the other hand, I was quite a fan of the Forgotten Realms up until a year or two after the gray box was released; after that, it just got overwhelming (but never actually played in or ran it). We played several campaigns (and I DMed one) in high school that took place in the Wilderlands (back when Judges Guild was still putting out new stuff). We had a terrific Dark Sun campaign while I was in the Air Force (I played a half-giant). And I took a stab at Ravenloft, but mostly looted it for ideas (and monsters-- "if you try to conjure an earth elemental in a graveyard, you'll get a grave elemental") that I ported over to whatever campaign I was doing at the time. Other than that, I've never done Forgotten Realms, Mystara, or Birthright, or Dragonlance, or Kalamar, or any of the others.

I'm curious about something related to this. How many others have relied more on homebrew than published campaigns? (And if so, what rules did you use with it?) I ask because I get the sense that the homebrew campaign is a dying art, and more modern players rely heavily on pre-published settings and adventures.

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300 x.p. for 3 minutes

The new revision of the Savage Worlds RPG has something neat that captured my imagination and inspired me to an idea that could be used in just about any game that runs on x.p. This will piss off those who think that awarding experience points for anything other than hauling back gold coins and slaying monsters is akin to signing one's soul over to Mr. Pip, but so be it ("x.p. for plot points", they will cry, and I will simply shrug). My idea is thus (and it's not something that I would introduce to Adventures Dark and Deep, but it's definitely something I might do in my own campaign).

In "interludes", that is, times when the characters are on an extended journey, or an extended period of rest, one or more might be given the opportunity to do a little off-the-cuff exposition on some aspect of their character. The theme would depend on the situation, and ideally, I'd have a quick table (d6, d8, or maybe d12, depending on the circumstance and how inventive I feel) that would give a broad theme.

The player is expected to provide an in-character exposition relating to the theme. If they can keep up the banter for a full three minutes, they earn 300 x.p. (At higher levels, say 10 and above, I could see myself making that 3,000.)

One sample table could be, for a period of down-time while another player character was recuperating from a nearly fatal wound and nothing much else was going on:

1. A romantic encounter
2. A run-in with the law
3. The PC discovers a new personal goal
4. A friendship with an NPC that flourished briefly and ended suddenly
5. A religious revelation
6. An old skeleton in the closet emerges
7. The PC is the victim of a scam artist
8. A brief encounter with royalty, nobility, or some other high-echelon of society

The idea is that the player, in the course of describing the encounter, would have the opportunity to add a little something to the campaign. The GM would, naturally, have complete veto power, and be able to gently guide the player as he does his narration (filling in details and names and such), but the idea is that the campaign grows organically, and giving the players the opportunity to do so in a way that's particularly specific to their character.

I bought a nifty little hourglass-timer on eBay that goes for 3 minutes. Can't wait to try it out. Fair warning to my players-- 3 minutes is an awfully long time to talk.

EDIT: Some folks seem to have gotten something of an incorrect notion about this. It would be an opportunity to earn the x.p. through a little impromptu character development. As in, "Who wants to earn 300 x.p.?" and the first person to raise their hand gets the chance. Nobody would be chosen, randomly or otherwise.

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Erseta Campaign #11

We had a much more focused session this evening, due in large part to two new players (one the wife of one of our regulars, the other an old friend of two others, so nobody was a new newt dropped in the fishtank). This was a "caper" evening, where the players were presented with a problem that seemed pretty simple on the surface, but spent three hours planning how to pull it off.

First off was a little more intelligence gathering about "The Cleavers" and their leader Osterbeck. Since the party had learned last time that the magical lantern needed to reactivate the gate back to the ruined dwarven city of Glitterdark was in their possession, they decided to ask their shadiest contact in the city about them. Said contact, Thrivin Mossberg, a halfling fence, provided them with a little more information than they had; the Cleavers were a pretty low-rent band of thugs who mostly worked the area near the docks, but not exclusively. He didn't think too much of the Cleavers, apparently. He did, however, offhandedly ask if the group was open to another job-- several sessions ago they agreed to bring in some merchandise from the docks without it being inspected by the sheriffs for tax purposes.

At first they didn't bite, and that was fine with me (from a GM point of view). But then somehow they decided that the job might lead them closer to the Cleavers, and accepted. The job turned out to be bringing in two wagon loads of fruit into the city for a "secret society" in time for something happening on the Full Moon in 6 days. The catch? The fruit was a "surprise" and nobody could know that it was being brought in.

After being assured that the fruit was legal, and merely "a surprise", they set about their task, and this was where my fun began.

Was it really fruit? Was that just some euphemism for something else? They went to the farmhouse a couple miles out of town where the wagons were being kept and, yep, it's fruit. Bushels and bushels of some rare fruit nobody'd ever seen before. What was it for? The farmer's wife had no idea, but pointed out that the Feast of Deliverance, which commemorated the end of the Drowning Death in the town of Ritterheim, was going to be celebrated on the same day as the Full Moon. When this information was relayed to the party, you could just see the wheels turning. Why? What was this secret society going to do with rare fruit? The Cleavers were long forgotten.

Then came the planning of the caper. For three and a half solid hours, they argued and planned and plotted and schemed and came up with idea after idea. Our usual asides into movies, other games, and shiny things catching our attention were minimized as everyone focused on the problem of how to get two wagons full of fruit through a guarded gate and past the watchful eye of a tax-collecting sheriff. They'd use barrels, no, illusions, no, cover the wagons in straw, no too obvious, cover the fruit in dung, no, that would squish the fruit, maybe cover it in tarps and then cover those in dung, no the fruit would still get squished, maybe pack it in barrels and cover them in dung, no, fill them with fish, no, take out empty barrels, no, that would be suspicious, hire a third wagon and take it out to the farm to fill it up with fruit, no, that would attract attention, so go out one gate and return through another, no, there was no road connecting them outside the town... round and round they went. It was glorious.

They eventually settled on a scheme involving a facade of a third wagon, empty barrels, tarps covering the actual fruit, and the illusionist using his mirage cantrip three times to fool the sheriff into thinking the fruit was just empty barrels. While the two clerics staged a diversion at the gate involving a fascinate spell, because no plan would be complete without a clerical diversion. All the planning paid off, for they thought it through to the point where no obvious roadblocks stood in their way, got the wagons through the gate and to the home of the secret society. Which was known as The Shockers and whose headquarters was decorated with black and yellow bunting. The fruit was delivered to several men wearing masks and dressed in black and yellow motley (surely this had to be the most conspicuous "secret society" ever seen), the PCs got their pay from their halfling employer, and all was right with the world. At least until the mystery of the Shockers and their "secret fruit" is revealed...

What really excited me about this session was it was all role-playing. The players might be feeling a little frustration that there haven't been any goblins to hack through lately, but this time it was because the game just went in a different direction, not because we were distracted by other non-game-related things. And their forethought and planning paid off. The caper went off without a hitch.

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Mysteries in a Magical Universe

The Classical and Medieval worlds were rife with mysteries that were supposedly solved through complex theological, philosophical, and other means. We, in our modern scientific world, see these solutions as quaint superstitions at best; the setting of the sun is explained by a Geocentric universe, the origin of humanity is found in the myth of Adam and Eve (or, if you wish, Ask and Embla, Phaenon, etc. etc.), myths of afterlives, the existence of demons and angels, and so forth.

However, in a world permeated with magic such as those most often found in fantasy RPG campaigns, this becomes harder to sustain, as magic allows a level of certainty on these sorts of answers that is rivaled only by modern technology. Not sure what happens to souls after death? Use your astral spell to travel to the outer planes, and get a first-hand look. Is the world round or flat? A jaunt in a spelljammer ship can show you definitively. Do demons or angels exist? Well, yes, and so do gods; they take physical form and walk the earth. In many ways, "mechanistic" magic gives more certainty than technology ever could, thus robbing the world of mystery.

In such a world, mysteries come from paradox.

One mage ventures to the outer planes and reports three infinite layers of Hades, "adjacent" to which are four layers of Gehenna and six layers of Tarterus. A few years later, another attempts to recreate the journey and only finds a single plane, also called Hades, but which is home to both demodands and daemons. Who is right? Who is wrong? It's a mystery, and the Oinodaemon isn't talking. The mystery grows when the player characters, on two subsequent journeys, find both conditions, or maybe one that is completely different. Instantly, mystery is reintroduced into the campaign, through paradox.

In such a situation, the players will likely try to come up with a rational explanation. Was one an illusion? Let them attempt to come up with logical explanations, but never, as a GM, allow yourself to be boxed in by them. Even when they see what they believe is "conclusive proof" that one or another side of a paradox is "the truth", the inherent mystery of the universe is always there, lurking in the background, ready to turn their rational, machine-like understanding of the world on its head.

Allowing for paradox also allows for radically different cosmologies adopted by different cultures, none of which has to be The True Cosmology. The worshipers of the Holy Family in my own campaign believe in a Sacred Island where all the faithful go after they die, and a fragmented underworld of Hell, the Abyss, Hades, etc. for evil-doers. Does the fact that the people of the Golden Kingdoms believe that when they die their soul will go to dwell on one of the stars in the heavens, with each star being home to a particular family, invalidate (or is it itself invalidated by) that view? Can both be true? Could neither be true, despite the fact that both are based on direct observation or revelation at one time or another? Of course, all of the above.

Even in a world with magic, nothing says that the universe has to be cataloged, logical, and 100% rational. Much like with the concept of mythic time, don't let your own modern predilection for absolute certainty and logic get in the way of introducing a little mystery into your campaign now and again, even if it's a mystery that is destined never to be solved.

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Armies of Erseta: Spearmen and Crossbowmen

We're coming down to the home stretch in terms of the Tamarian starter army! This time up we have a battlegroup of feudal spearmen and a battlegroup of crossbowmen (foot, this time, rather than mounted). First we have a second BG of spearmen:

And here they are side by side with the first BG of spearmen that were painted to kick off the whole Field of Glory armies project in the first place. I can't wait to see the whole army arrayed!

Here's the battlegroup of crossbowmen. Since these are medium infantry, I'm mounting them 3 per base; fortunately they came from Old Glory 15s in such numbers that I could have based 4 per base if I chose; that leaves me with a few spare bases' worth.

In the home stretch-- one more BG of knights, a few commanders, and I'm done!

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Armies of Erseta: Dwarven Handgunners

Just wanted to quickly dash this one off; these guys were a bit difficult to paint, with all the bags and the poses they had. (Again, I'm going with not painting the demi-humans in any of the national colors, since they serve as auxiliaries and semi-independent vassals in armies across the continent.) But painted is painted, and I'm on to more spearmen, or maybe the crossbowmen, tomorrow. If I'm lucky, I'll have the whole Tamarian basic army completed before I return to work next week!

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Armies of Erseta: Knights and Halflings

One of the great things about the holidays is, well, that you don't have to work. And what does one do when one isn't working? Paint! (Well, that and write and write and write...)

This time I got through two battlegroups for my Field of Glory figures for my Erseta campaign. First up is a BG of halfling slingers (in FoG-speak: Superior, Unprotected, Undrilled, Light foot - Sling), which will be useable as auxiliaries in just about any army that takes the field. For these, I didn't go with any particular national color scheme, but a mix of earth tones for all of them. These figures come from the Essex 15mm fantasy line, and are a smidgen taller than they should be, but hell... that makes them easier to paint.

Next was another BG of knights, still going through the three that came with the Feudal French Starter Army I got from Old Glory 15s, which is serving as the bulk of my Tamarian army.

Next up I've got some dwarven handgunners primed, and am off to prime some crossbowmen and some cannons (yes, mine is a gunpowder campaign). Hopefully this will be a productive week painting-wise!

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Erseta Campaign #9 - 10

Not the second session we've played by a long shot, but my second post. I'm getting better about posting more regularly!

The players have been concentrating on how to get back to the lost dwarven city of Glitterdark. Having finally found the place via a lengthy overland journey, they zipped to the town of Ritterheim through a magical gate found therein only to discover the trip was one-way.

The party decided to have their gnome thief give the alley where the gate deposited them a thorough investigation. In order to avoid discovery, the two clerics engaged in a loud and spirited discussion of theological matters on the cross-street nearby, hoping to divert any attention from the tiny pilferer as he made a thorough study of the walls where the incoming gate had led. Unfortunately, there was nothing at all to be found; no keyholes, secret doors, or the like.

At the same time, investigation by the party's illusionist in the town led to the knowledge that the section of town in which they alley was found was one of the oldest in the town (Glitterdark having been sealed up against the Drowning Death plague 150 years before), and that there was a certain importer of ales, owned by a family of dwarves, on that self-same alley that had been there for several centuries. The bard also uncovered a reference to the "Short Road" that could have some bearing on the means of travel to and from Glitterdark.

Regrouped, the party then called upon the importer of ale, one Korved Ironbeard, a thoroughly dislikable dwarf who was clearly more interested in his ledgers (including one, apparently, where he keeps track of what other people are saying about him) than in recovering the glorious past of Glitterdark. Quite a long session of back-and-forth between the various members of the party and Korved took place, and eventually they gleaned that the means to activate the gate back to Glitterdark was not a key, but rather a magical lantern. Said lantern was no longer in the possession of the importer of ale, but rather was now held by someone named Osterbeck, leader of "The Cleavers". With these key pieces of knowledge gained, the session ended with a solid foundation for next time.

This session took place the Friday before Christmas, and several of the players organized a pot luck beforehand. It was blast, we got to meet one of the wives of the players we hadn't before (who played in the session afterwards, as a matter of fact), and there was much fun to be had before the game as well as during it. And as for my contribution...

Dijon Chicken

2 lbs. boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-2" pieces
2 lbs. red potatoes, cut into 1-2" pieces
mayonnaise
dijon mustard
dill
crushed garlic

Put the potatoes and chicken into a ziplock bag with 4 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of mustard, a tablespoon of dill, and a tablespoon of garlic. (You will probably have to split the potatoes and chicken into two portions, depending on the size of the ziplock you're using). Thoroughly mix the ingredients in the bag until the chicken and potatoes are thoroughly coated, then pour into a 9x11 baking dish. Cook at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through.Check the potatoes for doneness before removing; they should be fork-tender and the coating should be a golden brown.

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