Building a Setting in Four Images

Concept stolen from Twitter. Originally presented devoid of context, since this is not Twitter I can unpack my thought process somewhat.

What would we do without Frank Frazetta? I like this particular picture because it's not (as far as I can tell) one of his cover paintings for an established figure. The juxtaposition between the Old World knight and the New World visible on Earth is interesting, as is the fact that the moon seems to have a breathable atmosphere. Some sort of alternate-history cosmology, perhaps? 

Yeah, that sounds about right. This image I got from a post on What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse . . . , where it illustrated a great idea about a tidally-locked planet that feels like the Land of Faerie in the habitable band - a world of eternal twilight, sandwiched between an endless frozen night and an eternal scorching desert. Since we're doing a sword-and-planet style solar system, this is going to replace either Mars or Venus, and I think the latter works a bit better. 

So how are we going to get our premodern heroes off to these strange new worlds? Long-time readers may recall my thoughts about a pulpy dungeon-crawl setting riffing off Stargate, and I think a similar riff works here. This picture gives the gate idea more of a Stonehenge vibe, and the vaguely North American landscape (and the explorer's hat) imply a very interesting Colonial period.

Well, we started this post with a knight, let's end with one, too. Artist Shaun Keenan has a bunch of historical-warriors-riding-dinosaurs pieces scattered across the internet, any one of which could spark a whole campaign idea. What I like about this is that it implies that the gates from Earth to the rest of the solar system are not one-way. Sure, Sir Knight could have picked him up in the twilight jungles of not-Venus, but why not in Africa or the Amazon?

To sum up, then, we have a version of Earth that connects via megalithic portals to other bodies in the solar system that are weirdly different, in a way that encourages exploration. The inhabitants of these other bodies, which include dinosaurs and at least one kind of humanoid monster can also use these portals to visit Earth.

I like it.

Sol Survivors

The terms "OSR" and "Hard Sci-FI" may not seem especially congruent at first glance, but they combine like peanut butter and chocolate in Termination Shock, a nascent setting from Niklas Wistedt, aka Paths Peculiar.

Set in the early 22nd century, Termination Shock is the story of the recovery of Earth's space infrastructure after a passing particle wave put all the ships and stations on the fritz. It's a constrained setting in some ways - mankind has yet to leave the solar system - and yet there's enough planets, moons, asteroids, and stranded ships to keep a group of space adventurers busy, and that's before they inevitably land on Orcus.

Although he hasn't yet written a lot for the setting - just the initial pitch and a description of a typical outpost - was is there is very evocative. It helps when the premise can be illustrated with such cool maps as this one, and there are several like it on the original post. Not to mention the occasional spaceship:

This is the Swedish ”Cricket” modular starship. Presented with ”Puncher” rocket module, ”Hauler” cargo module and ”Viggen” gunship module. For my Termination Shock #scifi setting (https://t.co/K5AiesjKmL) #ttrpg #dnd #osr pic.twitter.com/jVUi2DhH39

— Paths Peculiar (@PathsPeculiar) June 18, 2020

It'll definitely be worth keeping an eye on the Paths Peculiar blog to see how this setting develops. I'm especially keen to see what's on Orcus . . .

The AD&D That Wasn't Quite

Last week, Eric Fabiaschi of Swords & Stitchery pointed me at some fantastic cover mock-ups by author James Panarella, in the style of AD&D's Oriental Adventures*:

Most, like Oriental Adventures, focus on a particular ancient-to-medieval culture such as the Norse, the Aztecs, the Celts, or the Egyptians, although a few go further afield, including a couple posted a few days later that take their inspiration from the Wilderness Survival Guide*:

 

Thus inspired, Eric wrote up a few alt-history posts speculating about the series of events that might have led to TSR actually writing and publishing some of these. I, on the other hand, look at some of these and wonder why the themes they represent haven't been picked up by the OSR crowd. Some have, I know - there's a couple of powerhouse sci-fi rulesets, a smattering of pirate-themed content - but most of the most well-known OSR stuff seems to me to be some combination of Howardian sword-and-sorcery, Tolkienesque high fantasy, or Vancian dying-earth gonzo. Which is too bad - some of these covers are far too good to not have a book inside them.

Comic Character Concepts

D&D Ability Scores Explained With Tomatoes

Based on a much-shared Reddit thread and brought to life by artist Max Marcil:

Also available as a PDF. And remember, if your first instinct is note that a tomato-based fruit salad is a salsa - you're the bard.

Requiem For Google+

Well, it's finally happened. After much sound and fury, the Google+ social media experiment is officially over. Being something of a late adopter to things like this I was only on for the last couple years, but during that time I saw a number of informative, amusing or useful things, some of which I was able to salvage:

Mappi Monday: Forgotten Ruins of the Middle Hyborian

For some time now, the minds behind the acclaimed military-space-opera novel series Galaxy's Edge, Nick Cole and Jason Anspach, have been working on a fantasy setting. There's not a great deal of information yet, although some bits can be gleaned from the Facebook page and the dedicated website. For example, yesterday the former revealed this amazing map:

Discovery of the Day

While noodling about on eBay this afternoon looking for cheap copies of old Conan modules, I happened across the most interesting thing - a book called Conan and the Prophecy, published by TSR in the '80s as part of something called "Endless Quest" books.

Probably not by the Bond actor.

Further investigation shows that this was a line of choose-your-own-adventure type books taking place in various TSR properties - mostly Dungeons and Dragons, but also including Star Frontiers and a total of three Conan books.

Details of the plots are a bit on the scarce side, but what information is available suggests that these books are based more on Arnold Schwarzenegger than Robert E. Howard. To be fair, though, this was pretty much right when Conan the Barbarian was first released, so this is to be expected.

Less expected is the pair of Tarzan books that are also part of the Endless Quest lineup.

Unless I missed something rather major, the presence of Lord Greystoke is something of a puzzler. Edgar Rice Burroughs is, of course, in the famed Dungeons & Dragons  Appendix N, but for John Carter and Barsoom, not Tarzan's Africa. I actually can't think of any RPG that's based on Tarzan particularly, though his archetype often comes up as a character option in pulp-genre games. I've only read a few of the Tarzan novels, but there's enough of them that now I'm wondering if it would make a viable setting (and what you would do there besides be Tarzan). I do know he visits Burroughs' version of the Hollow Earth at one point, but again I can't recall a Hollow Earth setting that is Pellucidar, specifically, rather than just being heavily influenced by it.

Sadly, all five of these books seem to be quite rare and expensive now, I know I'll be keeping an eye out at garage sales and thrift stores for them. Like their digital descendant eBay, you never quite know what you might uncover . . .

I Have Nothing More To Add

Via Bang Bang Clear.

The Dungeons Of Catan

Well, not quite, but that's what I was first reminded of by these neat new dungeon tiles being developed under the name of HEXOMOPHO.

". . . Does this Wandering Monster Table have anything other than Robbers?"

 With 54 different tiles, including a number of different entry points (my favorite is the dock), it looks like a bit of planning will allow a GM to lay out a practically infinite number of maps. Or, just have a stack handy and deal them out as the players progress, although this method will also require the use of some good random stocking tables.

The best part? The full set of designs is free to download, scaled to either 15mm or 28mm miniatures. Printer paper, glue, and cardboard is pretty much all you need to get started, and in a real pinch you could probably skip the glue and cardboard.

A big thanks to Dungeon Fantastic for bringing this to my attention.

Dungeongating!

A setting premise for the pulp-tinged fantasy or fantasy-tinged pulp RPG of your choice.

While knocking about in the East in the 1920s, an English explorer Sir George Lancasterwood-Smith came into possession of a curious stone ring of impressive size immense age. Naturally he had it shipped back to his estates in Berktonshire, where it stood for several years until one foggy, moonlit night when something came out of the ring and ate Sir George's favorite hound.

 In response, rather than do something sensible (like sticking the ring under an American mountain range for sixty years), Sir George moved the ring indoors and engaged all manner of scientists, cranks, boffins, alchemists, and mystics to figure out its secrets. Eventually, they determined that by illuminating sections of the ring in sequence, the inside would shimmer and thin and, if passed through, would deposit explorers - somewhere else.

Somewhere else, in this case, being an immense underground labyrinth, decorated in a vaguely familiar but unidentifiable style that seems to heavily feature skulls. This was, however, less important than the unique and valuable artifacts that kept turning up, inspiring Sir George to lead several expeditions further and further into the maze.

That, of course, is when the monsters showed up.

The bulk of them seemed to be long-dead bodies mindlessly shambling around despite various states of decomposition, but

there were plenty of other creatures seemingly torn from ghost stories and fairy tales, and others that defied sane descriptions. Despite this, Sir George is still recruiting interested parties to investigate the mysterious underworld, perhaps discovering whether the labyrinth has any exit, or whether three are any other living people inside. Some of those studying the ring - or the Gate, as it's now called - also wonder if, by changing the pattern of the light shone on the ring, the Gate could be made to open somewhere else entirely . . .

90s-Era Sci-Fi Horror Monster Stats From Ken Hite

The other day I was browsing Facebook and the most interesting thing popped up via the Timeline of the Alien and Predator Universe page, and cited as being from the July 1998 issue of InQuest Gamer magazine, specifically the article titled "Terminators: Five Movie Monsters to Torment Your PCs" by none other than Kenneth Hite. What three of these terminators may have been was not specified (though the cover of the magazine suggests, well, Terminators), but the two that were are, of course, a Xenomorph and a Yautja:

Dungeons And Dragons - 1930 Edition

From Doug Anderson at Blue Boxer Rebellion comes images from the long-lost true First Edition of Dungeons And Dragons:

OK, that last bit is a fib, it's not actually a period product. It looks like it could be, though - the pulp-magazine aesthetic is right on. And as if that badass-looking T. Rex-inspired dragon wasn't enough, Doug imagines how the line would continue to develop, with some familiar-looking names attached - for example, we see an alternate versions of two classic adventures with the attached bylines of A. Merritt and Robert E. Howard:

You just know that second one was playtested with Conan as a PC. And finally, of course, it's not truly D&D until you have a Monster Manual:

One can only wonder what the rules looked like . . .

Wheels Within Wheels

"He loved maps, and in his hall there hung a large one of the Country Round with all his favourite walks marked on it in red ink." - On Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit.

Like Bilbo, I also enjoy maps, particularly dungeon maps; and especially ones that have some kind of trick to them. Today, I happened upon what may be the tricksiest dungeon map of them all:

Just look at all those discs ready to spin around and completely befuddle any adventurers wandering through. This beauty is the brainchild of James Eck, who's also written up a short module utilizing the design. Stats, when necessary, are given for both D&D 3.5 and the author's own Mind Weave system, but honestly there are so few numbers involved it would be a cinch to use with any system you care to name. Plus there's a few other interesting tidbits, like the single-use keys that respawn in portable - but heavy - chests. Very Zelda-esque.

But that's just a bonus - the map could easily be re-stocked for better integration into a campaign, or you could use some random tables to just let the madness build. You might even transplant it to another genre entirely - I'm thinking Indiana Jones would have a field day with the place.

"You All Meet in a Tavern"

From the vast frozen plains of Canada and the band Scythia comes this highly entertaining look at one of the standard fantasy adventuring tropes.



Random Encounters At the Bear Claw Tavern

Roll d6:

1) Two rough-looking patrons arm-wrestle. The winner will accept any challenges for a 5CP bet.

2) A distinguished-looking wizard serenely reads from a small tome. He will ignore most attempts at interaction, but persistent annoyance may result in a retaliatory zap (lose 1 HP).

3) A love triangle fluctuates among a male patron, a female patron, and a barmaid - at any point, one might start flirting with a PC to make the other two jealous.

4) The tavern's owner displays its namesake, a seemingly authentic bear claw far bigger than it should be.

5) A flabby gnome wanders around trying to steal food and drink from the other patrons. If encouraged, he can consume a surprising amount of drink.

6) Minstrels sing of heroes and legends.

Start Your Month Off Right

. . . with a selection of fantastic architectural expansions from the Schusev State Museum of Architecture, discovered via Subterranean Design:

Monster Hunter Interdimensional

The other day, Tim Knight of HeroPress made a post showcasing various adventuring parties from fantasy films and television shows. This in turn inspired Mike at Really Bad Eggs to make a similar list of the various cinematic versions of the Three Musketeers. That in turn got me thinking, about other often-gamed genres that lend themselves to ensemble casts. As I've recently been reading over the backer PDFs from the Monster Hunter International Kickstarter*, well, this was probably inevitable:

The B.P.R.D.

The Ghostbusters

The Scooby Gang

The Other Scooby Gang

Angel Investigations

The X-Files Unit

The Winchester Brothers

Blade & The Nightstalkers

*Which came out great, incidentally. When it's available for purchase I'll be sure to mention it again. 

Real-World Dungeon Architecture

Via the always-interesting Subterranean Design Tumblr, I recently happened across this article, "10 Incredible Places Carved From Rock". It's positively brimming with images crying out for use in a dungeon of some sort. For example, check out this shot of Mesa Verde, a Pueblo cliff dwelling in Colorado:

Each and every one of those holes could be an entrance to somewhere different, depending on how deep it goes and suchlike. Even more impressive is Ellora, a temple complex and World Heritage Site in India:

And those are just a couple of the places on the list, any one of which would make for an excellent place to have an adventure or two.

Recursive Inspiration

So, it seems that there's an organization out there calling itself Fantasy Brewmasters, a craft beer company that takes its inspiration from classic fantasy tropes. About three months ago, it seems, they released their first flavor, Burdisson's Dwarven Ale. Old news, perhaps, but it's got a couple of ideas brewing*.

Helpfully, the brewers have provided something of an in-universe backstory for the beer (without actually tying it to any particular universe**, also helpful), with a short history and some in-character promotional material - all of which feeds back into fantasy gaming, for it seems to me that with the material provided a creative GM could craft any number of interesting encounters or adventure hooks. For example:

- Characters needing some quick coinage might take a job guarding the merchants on the trade routes to the brewery from their favorite tavern.
- The beer could suddenly develop an adverse affect - from sickness to mind control - on the drinker, prompting a visit to the brewery to find out the origin of the contamination.
- Or, instead of the beer poisoning the drinker, it's suddenly not being delivered on schedule. What manner of catastrophe has befallen the brewery?
- Finally, maybe the brewery just happened to be the biggest/only settlement around when some evil forces came tromping over the land. Huge vats and other industrial equipment would make a great arena for a running battle with the Armies of Darkness.

Even the artwork is evocative, as this Dwarven statue/waterwheel combination demonstrates. The same artist also drew a map that makes me suspect that Burdisson's isn't the only project from Fantasy Brewmasters that will prove so inspirational.


*Pun fully intended.
**Though there's some intriguing hints that future flavors may end up contributing to just such a thing.