RPG Blog Carnival - What Campaign do I want to Play Next?

This month's RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Age of Ravens is entitled "Campaigns I'd Like to Run".  The short answer to which is always "my next one".

The Lands of Dual

It's been over 2 years since I last ran my Castles & Crusades campaign world, The Lands of Dual, and high time that I revisit it.  Of course I can't go into much detail about what will be happening as some of my players may inadvertently read this blog and that would most definitely let the cat out of the bag.

Geography

The Lands of Dual (interactive map availiable via MapLib)

In previous campaigns I've asked players to pick an unexplored area on the world map as their birthplace and write up a little description of it as part of their background. 

This has been quite successful but there are a still quite a few parts of the world which could do with being explored or at the very least developed:

• The Frozen North & South - no-one has ever visited the northern icecaps so no-one knows what's there.  Perhaps a hidden valley with it's own microclimate, perhaps even a tunnel into a hollow world below, on the other hand it could just be the land of the long white death.
• Hjorselandte - The interior of the land of the horsemen is rumoured to be inhabited by a race of wild and savage centaurs.
  
• Kharis and Haki - These two warring domains, one a Matriarchy, the other a Patriarchy, could be of interest to the ladies in my group.  Think Amazonia, She-Ra, Xena Warrior Princess, Wonder Woman.

Races 

I'd like to expand on my demihuman races a little:

Salamankari (Lizardfolk) - Early on in my last Dual campaign one of the players chose to be a Red Salamankari (Red Lizardman).  We had a blast with the species racial history,  particularly in setting up some great bio-religious schism which caused the species to fork into two distinct coloured subtypes, the green marshdwellers and the red desert dwellers.  I'm thinking about adding at least one more subtype, but the details will have to stay secret.

Elfenkin - In Dual, Elves also have subtypes which are very closely aligned with their respective environments and elements.

• Sea Elves (Vassadhim) - I'd like these elves to be something like the mariner from Waterworld, semi aquatic they can breath underwater and cruise the deep oceans in boats crafted from driftwood and kelp.  Their magic is restricted to the elements of Air and Water crucial to their survival on the high seas.  Their skin has a lightblue colouring and shimmers like fish scales.

In my world Kevin Costner is blue, honestly it will make sense, I promise.

• Cloud Elves (Aerohimm) - The Aerohimm have broken the bonds of Earth and risen into the clouds in their glimmering floating cloud fortresses.  They keep a watchful eye over all the lands and are said to resemble angels being very tall and lithe with long flowing white hair.  They have a longstanding pact with the Grand Caliph of the Djinn, who supplies the Aerohimm with Elementals to power their great crystal castles.  It is said that they are the most cultured of the Elfkenkin and are fond of humans, often having relationships with them which bear children.  Their magic is largely concerned with the element of air although they are the only elfenkin who practice all forms of elemental magic.

• Green Elves (Woedhimm) - Woedhimm shun contact with the other races of Dual and are rarely seen outside their woodland kingdoms.  They are reclusive and secretive, the few sitings of them suggest that they are the most diminutive species and their mastery of camoflague is exceptionally.  Their magic is restricted to the sphere of Earth and Water.
• Desert Elves (Desierto, literally "The Abandoned") - Desierto are a peculiar species of elves in that they are a loosely knit community of fierce nomadic tribespeople who roam the great deserts in large caravans ekeing out an existence.  They are legendary masters of desert survival and their skills are highly prized by caravanserai who employ them as trackers and guides for journeys through the treacherous deserts.  They have ruddy skin, and wear brightly coloured gallebya, their dreadlocked or braided hair is woven with complex beadwork which is said to be a record of their life.  Their magic is restricted to the elements of fire and wind, but they are alo excellent desert animal handlers.

House Rules

I have been doing a fair bit of blog reading and some of the house rules I've seen have piqued my interest:

No Alignments at Level 1 - I first read about Character Funnels in the Giblet Blizzard article DCC: Funnel Runners, and it struck a chord with me.  One of the things that has always bugged me is the chasm of difference between what a PC's character sheet says their alignment is and how it ends up getting played.  This is sometimes the fault of the player but it can equally be a reaction to a party dynamic.

Whilst I don't think I could convince my players to go the whole hog by using the Character Funnel approach to create zero level PCs (check out Purple Sorceror's neat DCC Generator), I think it is perfectly acceptable to only let them decide what alignment their character is at the end of a few sessions of play when they level up.  I might even knock up some quick alignment tokens to award players during play or have Karma Points or something.

Magic Corruption - I wrote a little D20 table of Corruption Effects for Mage Levelling and I will be getting my players take on whether or not they like it and if they would still choose to play a mage knowing that this house rule would be in effect.

Magical Prosthetics - Loved this random table of 100 Magical Prosthetics so much that I will definitely have to use it in my campaign should anyone lose an appendage through combat or the above corruption effects I shall be deploying prosthesis.  This might become even become a bit of a hook (pardon the pun), King loses his nose in an ill conceived duel and requires PCs to find him a replacement.

Meat Shields - In all my years of DMing and playing I've never used or utilised hirelings.  The closest that I've ever come to is when my fellow Hobbits Holer, Richard Wells, had us playing each others sidekicks in his Victorian Science Fiction game, but they were more than just hirelings.  This worked brilliantly and gave everyone the opportunity to be in two places at once.  So I think I'll return the compliment and do it in my game with mandatory meatshields.  Perhaps I'll utilise the DCC Party Generator to furnish them with stats or just stick with the meatshield generator.

The Desert of Desolation

It's been my long term ambition to run the Desert of Desolation series of modules (I3-I5), but I think I'll be having a mixed 1st and 3rd level party this time around so they're safe... for now

Plenty of food for thought I think you'll agree.

---

Thanks of course go to Of Dice and Dragons for continuing to promote the RPG Blog Carnival.  This is my 4th entry and you can read the rest by clicking the RPG Blog Carnival tag below. 

Optical Illusions in RPGs

In a previous post I wrote about the Droste Effect, a form of optical illusion using recursion, which provoked an exploration of other illusions, particular those of a physical or architectural nature. 

Now I'm sure everyone is familiar with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and remembers the final Grail test where Indy has to make "The Leap of Faith" out into the chasm to find a hidden walkway.  This is a good example of a forced perspective illusion, the walkway is painted in such a ways as to  render it invisible from the only perspective that the hero can have, the ledge.



This limits your options in a collaborative group scenario, as either requires you to bottle-neck the party or limit the number of viewers to force the illusion to work. However, perspective can also be used to make something visible (or at least legible) from only a single point of view. In otherwords an Anamorphic Perspective, the word itself being derived from the Greek words 'ana' meaning back or again, and 'morphe', meaning shape or form.

Anamorphic Perspective in Art History

One of the more famous paintings to demonstrate this trick was "The Ambassadors" (Hans Holbein the Younger 1553). In this we can clearly see a strange random grey shape which floats at the bottom center of the image.

The Ambassadors (Hans Holbein the Younger, 1553)

If the painting is viewed at an acute angle from the left side (as demonstrated above) the strange grey shape resolves into an image of a skull. 

Many art historians have come up with explanations as to its symbolism, which is unsurprising as the painting contains many cryptic clues as to the identity of the two sitters, although my favourite is that Holbein did it to show off his skill as a painter.

The painting hangs in London's National Gallery and well worth a visit, if you can't and want to learn more, the curators have put together a few nice videos to explain the painting's symbolism and how Holbein might have achieved the effect.

At the same time Erhand Schön a prolific woodcut designer from Nuremberg was using the technique to hide naughty pictures in his art.  This example is held by the British Library.

Jonah and The Whale (Erhard Schön, 1537) containing the anamorphic Squatting Peasant (highlighted in red)

More Modern Examples

One of my favourite modern exponents of the technique is Felice Varini who uses striking geometric shapes painted on the walls of rooms and even on the outside of buildings.

Rettangoli gialli concentrici senza angoli al suoo (Felice Varini, Switzerland, 1997)

Here's a great example from Brusspup, which uses a sliding glass door and coloured paper.

So how the heck do I use this in an RPG?

Anamorphic Illusions can be simulated in RPGs in one of two basic ways, either:

Room as presented to players

In Plan View - By presenting presenting the players with a map of a room (either as a handout or as a battlemap) in which are contained several prominent architectural features. 

In the example below it would something like:

"Beyond the door lies an undecorated and austere looking 100ft square room with no exits.  Against each wall stands a large statue which appears to be pointing with it's right hand outstretched at a series of large urns which stand in front of the northernmost statue.  Each urn appears to be sealed shut with wax and is large enough for a man to climb inside.  On the front of each urn is pasted a label adorned with strange eldritch symbols".

Room with solution (in red)

The solution (if you spotted my deliberate misdirection) is that the statues are not pointing at the urns at all.  They are in fact pointing to a floor tile (red square) which if smashed will reveal a secret under ground tunnel.

You could of course allow the party members to make copious spot hidden checks to determine the true target of the pointing statues.  If they cross the red square whilst traversing the room to reach the urns, their footsteps will cause an echo in the tunnel below.

Or you could just fill the urns with unspeakable horrors and watch the party dash across the room to their doom.  Your game your choice.

As a Handout - One of the simplest types of anamorphic uses layers which need to be positioned above one another to produce the effect.  Consider the three images below, trace these out onto some semi transparent paper (such as grease proof paper) or print them on OHP paper.  Tell your PC's that they have been written on the finest almost translucent animal skin or that they are etched onto sheets of glass.

Handout A	Handout B	Handout C

Message is revealed when
the images are combined

Individually they don't really much, but when combined together they read "This is a Hidden Message".

It's best to keep the handouts square, as you should let them spend some time puzzling over each one before they get them in the right orientation.

This is a massively oversimplified example for a fantasy game.  In a modern or future game glass and other transparent materials are common place and the handouts should seem matter of fact.

I've been toying with the idea of presenting my players with some DNA Chromatographs where the little blobs spell out a message when overlayed.  Luckily the extent of our knowledge of biology or medicine is limited to CSI Miami, so the science of chromatography shouldn't get in the way of a good reveal.

On a Serious Note... Dwarves and other little people

Whilst writing this I discovered a real world application of an associated technology to produce a similar effect.  Lenticulars have been atound for years, you see them on stickers, movie posters, postcards, anything where you want to show movement, animation or to reveal a hidden image.

The Spanish organisation, Anar Foundation, has recently produced a poster campaign which uses lenticular printing to reveal a hidden message including the telephone number of an anti-child abuse help-line.  The lenticular is arranged so that the message is only visible to children (or people of children's height) and not any adults (or potential abusers) who may be accompanying them.  A great idea and I'm sure you'll agree a worthy campaign.


This technique is of course something you could use in a delve of an old dwarven (or other half person) stronghold.  The original builders may have left messages to their kin in the walls which are only visible to persons of dwarvish height.  These could be anything from simple sign posts, elaborate trompe l'oeil vistas or warnings about the trap a bit further up the corridor.

Enjoy...

Do you blog blog about the OSR from the UK

On the blogosphere the other day I spotted a list of Canadian OSR blogs (If it was your site thanks for the inspiration).  I thought this was a great idea and that us UK based Old Schoolers should have something similar.

Join the UK OSR BLOGROLL

Do you blog about the OSR? - Your blog doesn't have to be "OSR, all OSR, all the time" but you should lean towards the OSR side of the force.

Fanboys: "Rule number one, In my van, it's Rush. All Rush, all the time."

Are you UK based? - Do you know what Tizer, Irn-bru, Jaffa Cakes, Kinghtmare and The Adventure Game are? This is a chance for us UK based gamers to band together and fight the good fight using our unique sense of humour, quaint accents and stif upper lips.   

Walmington on Sea - "A great holiday hotspot" (Timeout 1943)

If you can answer YES! to both these questions and want to celebrate your unique UK centric take on the OSR, then add your blog to the list then post your URL in the comments below.

Thanks

DIY Rot Grubs

As I alluded to in my Monster Mini Box - Level One post, there's no point buying rot grubs unless you're a serious D&D mini collector or have oodles of cash to throw about.  So I'm gonna show you how easy it is to make your own.

You will need:

• Coins, washers or other basing material - In the UK our second lowest denomination coin is the 2p (worth about 3 cents) measuring exactly 1 inch across.  I've used them as bases for my miniatures for decades despite the fact that it's technically illegal (sorry Queen) but where else can you get readily available metal bases for 2p a pop?
• Modelling Putty - I use milliput (mostly because I have it) but other putty's like green stuff, fimo and DAS Pronto would work just as well.  Obviously you may have to modify these instructions if you your putty needs to be baked to cure.
• Modelling tools - I use a metal ruler, a craft knife and a cutting mat, but to be honest you can use just about anything as long a you don't tell your wife.

Rot Grubs A-go-go

Build up your base with putty

Step 1 -  Build up your bases. 

Tear off some putty and squish it onto your base to make a decent base for your pile of grubs and to cover up the face of whichever monarch or dead president is staring at you with dissaproving eyes.  Pile your putty up in the middle, if you want to have a big writhing mound of grubs or you can spend hours modelling a crazy paved floor for them to crawl over.  The amount of time you spend on your bases is entirely up to you.

Step 2 - Make some sausages. 

Make a putty sausage and score it

A sausage sandwich would go down really nicely at the point, but you should concentrate on your sculpt and start rolling out some putty sausages using the ruler and a flat durface.  These sausages can be any length but try to keep them about 2mm in diameter. 

Step 3 - Score your sausage. 

Using a sharp edge, like a craft knife, roll grooves all the way along your putty sausage to simulate the segments of your rot grubs.  Take care not to cut all the way through other wise you'll be making little slices of black pudding and we ain't modelling them this week.  Varying the spacing of the grooves can give you options for heads or tails when you get to the next stage.

Croissants or Chippolatas?

Step 4 - Chippolatas and croissants. 

Chop up your sausage into small lengths, about 1/2 an inch is perfect, and put a bend in them to resemble semi-circles or croissants.  You can try longer ones with more complex curves, it's entirely up to you.  In a short while you should have about 10 to 12 grubs, that was easy don't you think?  Try having longer segments at the ends to simulate either heads or tails.  If you're confident with your modelling skills you could even try opening up a mouth at one end with a cocktail stick.

Step 5 - Plate them up. 

Rot Grubs curing in the noonday sun.

Start piling your grubs onto your base in as random a fashion as possible.  You can rinse and repeat steps 2 to 5 as many times as you like to get the perfect pile of grubs, the great thing is that unlike a production miniature each one of yours will be absolutely unique.  When your satisfied leave to cure as indicated by the instructions for the material you're using.

Step 6 - Presentation is everything -

Your rock hard grubs will need a lick of paint to really finish them off.

Painted, but finished? the question is do I give a flock?

How to Play Them

Despite the fact that rot grubs feature in Head Injury Theatre's hilarious Celebrating 30 Years of Very Stupid D&D Monsters, they are an effective way of making challenging choices that bit more icky or just punishing failure.  Use them sparingly when your party has just got a little bit too cocky or blasé about this dungeoneering lark.  It reminds them "Who's the Daddy?"

I'm an Adventurer, Get me out of here!!

Let's make no bones about it, they live in shit (and other nasty fetid places) and that's nasty.  If you've not seen Jo Nesbo's Headhunters then I suggest you rent that puppy now.  Simply put, Aksel Hennie's lead character has to make an unpleasant choice to avoid a confrontation with Nicholas Coster-Waldau's bad guy Greve.  You can make the "eeeeuwwww" factor even worse by keeping this to yourself until they're half way across the river of merde and they start feeling the little blighters nibbling at their extremities or worse burrowing into their faces.

Where there's muck there's Brass

How easy it would be just to let the PCs root through that pile of corpses to recover the awesome treasure.  Woah Stop!! where's the fun in that?  Remember how fun it was to bob for apples as a kid? Well bobbing for booty is more fun when there's rot grubs in the pile of poop.

Don't Cross There!!

Sometimes you need to subtly railroad (also known as convincing or dissuading) your players using obstacles which, although not impenetrable, have obviously undesireable outcomes.  So you ignored my warnings, eh?  Well not only have you just fallen into the poop but you now realise that the poop is infested with rot grubs.  You get the point.

Related Posts:

• DIY Gelatinous Cube
• How to: Make a Pringles Can Scroll Case

Reaper Bones #1 - The Painting Marathon Begins

My Reaper Miniatures Bones Kickstarter Vampire Level miniatures arrived in the post on Friday and I am flabbergasted by the sheer weight of minis.  

I admit that I was incredibly foolish in not backing it originally when I had the chance and so I've had to resort to ebay to acquire mine.   Which undoubtedly means I've paid over the odds, but even at the £120 I paid, it's still less than 50p a miniature, ie: cheaper than chips.

A big box of Reaper Bones

The first bag unbagged

The conclusion to my Monster Mini Box Level One post highlighted just how expensive it is going to be to put together each Random Encounter level in lead and was frankly quite disheartening.  Therefore, my next project series is going to document painting all my newly acquired Bones minis, starting with those which appear in the Level 1 list.

Rats

Every dungeon needs rats, and mine are no different, so these puppies are first up for the "fun painty time treatment".  I've not painted this particular type of plastic, so erring on the side of caution out came the soapy water and an old tooth brush to wash off any mould release agent before they got primed.

A dozen Giant Rats based up and ready for black undercoat

The minis are mounted to my base medium of choice (2p coins) and then household filler on top to create the flagstone floor.  This takes an hour or so to set dry giving me ample time to score it with a knife to create the flagstone pattern.

I'm a black undercoat type of guy and just use a can of matt black primer from any car spares shop, and was glad it didn't react with the plastic.

Primed and pink bits base coated

Gone are the days when I had the accuity to paint very fine detail so I'm aiming for a stand-off gaming miniature level of detail.  These ain't gonna win any Golden Demons but they'll look a hell of a lot better than Pathfinder or D&D sweatshop paintjobs.

Rats x6 (Sandra Garrity SKU: 77016)

A dozen rats done.

So what do I think of Bones so far.

The plastic is okay, the density varies from sculpt to sculpt.  Some you expect to have weak points (ie: if the mini is on one leg) and don't and yet others you expect to be stiff and bend at the slightest touch).  This could be a quality control issue with the plastic recipe used in that particular injection mould on that particular day.  It's not a big difference, just noticeable. 

Sculpts are clean and flash free and they are far less flexible than the aforementioned Pathfinder and D&D Miniatures and the size and levels of detail are obviously comparable to their lead counterparts.  All this (and not to mention the cost) makes them a far more satisfying gaming proposition than expensive resin minis.

My only reservation is do I seal them or not?

Score so Far:

Total Bones: 245, Bones Painted: 12