High Weirdness Campaign Generator

Having been in a bit of a pulpy mood lately, I was pretty pleased to come across this generator over at HeroPress:

True, it does have a few elements that lend themselves more to The X-Files than Indiana Jones, but there's a lot of overlap in those elements, especially if you up the gonzo quotient in your pulp. And while you can use the name-initial method to run the generator - "Fairies Ran the New World Order" sounds kind of like the start of an urban fantasy campaign - it's also perfectly situated for dice.

What's that? You don't have a d26 handy? Actually, neither do I. Happily, d20s and d6s are both standard, and if we use both that just gives us more elements to work with. For example, if I roll 18 + 3 on the top half that gives me Nazis, Dragons, and Gnomes (. . . maybe this is also a fantasy generator), and 14 + 4 on the bottom "Ruled the Hollow Earth", "Built Atlantis", and "Created the Nazca Lines". These all have possibilities by themselves, but you can't tell me that Hollow Earth Nazis fighting ancient Atlantean dragons for control of places of gnome-made power doesn't sound amazingly off-the-wall.

Thanks to Tim Knight of HeroPress and the original maker of this generator!

'Zines Without Number

Well, perhaps not literally, but there are certainly a large number of fan-produced gaming publications that have started in recent years, many of which focus on one OSR game or another. I suppose this is no surprise, as it is my understanding that in the early days of RPGs that the Old School movement looks back to, this kind of thing was also common. Nowadays, of course, with desktop publishing and the Internet for distribution, it's easier than ever to do.

The other day, thanks to a tip from Tenkar, I picked up the latest entry into the field. The Sandbox #1 is a product from Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing, which has produced such gems as the Stars Without Number sci-fi OSR game, the Spears of the Dawn and Red Tide fantasy settings (the latter incorporating the Scarlet Heroes solo-hero rules), and - most recently - the Silent Legions Lovecraftian game based on the same ruleset. The Sandbox, Kevin says, is a vehicle for passing along a "passing idea or small notion" that could work with any or all of these.

 In this inaugural issue, we find four items:

• "The Last Prince", a custom class for Scarlet Heroes based on being the last survivor of a vanished people. Really, this is more of a background than a class, as it is "treated as a Fighter for all general purposes". It would be, I think, an interesting exercise to port over the more flavorful items onto other classes to create, for example, a Last Wizard or Last Assassin. The d8 Doom table looks useful for general backgrounds, as well.


• "Kickstarter Production Guidelines", taking up more than half the issue's pagecount, offers an inside look at the process that has made Sine Nomine one of the most reliable crowdfunding brands in the RPG market.


• "A Quick Backwater Spaceport" is a set of random tables designed for use with Stars Without Number or similar games (I get a very Firefly vibe from it) that, with just the teensiest bit of modification, could also be used for settings focused on regular ships - a pirate-era game, say, or a Pulp game based out of a tramp steamer.


• What's That Abandoned Strucure?" is a similar set of tables for, well, abandoned buildings.

All in all, it's worth taking a look at (especially as it is being offered for free), and in spite of the announced production schedule of "irregularly" I await the second issue with great interest.

(Almost) d12 Reasons to Buy Dungeon Dozen: The Book

1) It's now Pay What You Want at Drive-Thru.

2) . . . Because it's good? I mean, Jason Sholtis' blog, The Dungeon Dozen, is page after page of inspirationally quirky and system-neutral* charts, whether for treasure, encounters, or world-building. The announcement says that the book will only by PWYW for a limited time, however - I wouldn't expect it to last much past Christmas in July. So, if you're a fan of Jason's work, this weekend looks like the time to take the plunge. And if not, let me whet your appetite with some of the subjects this book covers:

3) "Apocalyptic Visions in the Crystal Ball"

4) "Those Blood-Curdling Screams off in the Distance are Actually . . ."

5) "Dungeon Conspiracy Theories"

6) "Semi-Unknown Were-Things"

7) . . . OK, that's probably enough. Although many if not all of these tables are also found on the blog, the book adds some terrific art and the convenience of having them in one place. Plus, they're just fun to read, even if you don't need really need to roll for "Items of Moderate Interest in the Ogre-King’s Hoard."


*Albeit obviously designed with old-school D&D games in mind.

"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.

Dwarves on the March

Art by DusanMarkovik

There's been quite a bit of discussion lately about a certain Dwarf-themed RPG Kickstarter that's been, well, failing to live up to its awesome-sounding premise. Happily, I didn't end up being one of the now-disappointed backers, but from time to time I've pondered the idea of an all-Dwarf fantasy game - I'm quite fond of them, even if they can get a bit stereotypical. Such a campaign would probably involve either the building of a new Dwarven stronghold (ala Dwarf Fortress), or the rather similar activity of resettling a previously abandoned one (ala Balin in Moria in between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).

If that project ever gets off - or under, as the case may be - the ground, there have been a few interesting resources lately being posted around the 'net that would be worth consulting.

The first and most amazing of these is "Beards & Beers: All Dwarf Campaign Generator" by Jack over at Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque. Nine different random tables are involved, either d10 or d12, mostly describing clan trappings that can be used to combat a bit of the Dwarven sameyness that tends to crop up.

Possibly inspired by this, we have the d100 Dwarven Dungeon Dressings table from Elfmaids & Octopi, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I'm particularly intrigued by the thought of traps that only affect those taller than Dwarves.

This one is from a month or two ago, but Dyson's Dodecahedron has the d12 Dwarven Subclasses list as part of an ongoing series of Subclass posts. And of course, while you're over there you should check out the maps for which Dyson is deservedly famous (the Mapper's Challenge, in particular, looks like some maps I've seen of Moria. Hmm . . . )

Via Subterranean Design

And of course, I have previously mentioned the Random Clan Feud Generator hosted at From The Sorcerer's Skull, just the thing for giving the PC Dwarves a break from endless battles against Goblins, Orcs, Kobolds and Elves.

Actually, that gives me an idea - so you have a huge, semi-abandoned dungeon your player's clan of plucky Dwarves are intent on colonizing. Why, if there's any benefit in doing so, wouldn't other clans -especially of course, Those Guys that the PCs have a particular problem with - want to do the same? Have the players generate their clan with the Beards & Beers rules, do the name for the antagonist clan, stick them both in the same dungeon - sounds like a pretty Dwarvish campaign premise to me.

Generations of Feuds

In certain sorts of post-Tolkien fantasy, it's become popular to ascribe to Dwarven cultures certain traits in common with the Scottish - the highland accents and love of strong drink come immediately to mind. Strangely, to my admittedly incomplete knowledge, although Dwarves are often portrayed as "clannish", these clans hardly ever end up feuding with each other, only with Elves and Orcs.

Thankfully, this oversight has been corrected by Trey(EDIT: Upon re-reading the original post, I have discovered that the author of this is not Trey, but Thomas Molyes) of From the Sorcerer's Skull, who has not only written up a handy list of inter-Dwarven feuds, but created a random generator to whip up even more of them. It's a 3d10 chart, so let's give this thing a spin:

• Level of Animosity: 8 - Vicious - Any meeting between representatives of the clans will eventually result in violence unless a third party mediates somehow. Both clans are actively scheming to attacking/weaken the other clan, with multiple dwarves having lost their lives recently.
• Reason for Feud: 8 - Differing (and often trivial) interpretations of one section in the extremely lengthy and boring dwarven legal codes, often relating to dwarven brewing laws.
• Flavor: 5 - One clan is suspiciously tall for dwarves.

The impression I get from this is that what might have been a fairly innocuous difference over brewing standards has mushroomed into violence, probably based on accusations by one clan of Dwarves that the others are "No True Dwarves" at all. Heck, they might even have a point - if human armorers on the Discworld can try to take advantage of the perceptions of "Dwarven Quality", why couldn't brewers? I'm also reminded of Doctor Cornelius in C.S.Lewis' Prince Caspian - he was a half-dwarf who was sneered at by some of the other dwarfs.

So, let's roll with that: a violent feud between a clan of Dwarves, some of whom have intermarried with local Human populations, and another clan not so interbred, ostensibly over an arcane point of brewing law - perhaps, say, whether certain kinds of booze can be sold "outside the family"?

I like it, and it happens to fit in with a fantasy setting I've been toying with recently, so I'll hang onto it until later. It does have an undercurrent of racial animosity that could lead to some . . . unpleasant real-world associations, but I believe I'll let that lie as subtext. Overall I think the generator worked rather well - I enjoy a focus on Dwarves in this genre, so I can see myself coming back to this one. Thanks, Trey (EDIT: Sorry, Thomas)!

Fun with 4dF

Via Fred Hicks' blog Deadly Fredly comes this neat chart for using the standard FATE complement of four Fudge dice to determine "the mood of the room":

Not only is this interesting for the idea that the ratio of friends to enemies in a given location is something that can be tracked and accounted for, but the use of Fudge dice gives the chart some interesting characteristics.

For example, as with every such chart that uses more than one die, not every result is equally likely - note the probabilities helpfully provided for determining whether a given result is more or less likely. This could be useful for a "random encounters" sort of table, where you would expect to find fewer, say, Plutonium Dragons than Potted Plants.

Using Fudge dice, in particular, adds another layer of complexity in that results can be largely sorted into "positive", "negative" and "neutral" groups. A couple of ideas here might be "Fellow Travelers on the Road" (admittedly conceptually similar) or "Contents Discovered in Storage Crates".

Thanks again to Fred for sharing this idea!

On Random Name Generators

When I write, I tend to pay a great deal of attention to names, whether of places or characters. Sometimes, especially for an important name, I'll try to attach a double-meaning to it, but for most applications if I don't have something in mind from the beginning I'll hit a random name generator or two to get the ideas flowing. Seventh Sanctum is my favorite website to find these, but occasionally I'll venture farther afield.

For example, the other day I was working on a fantasy-setting project and needed a quick NPC name. I knew that I wanted it to sound vaguely Arthurian, but didn't want to crib it directly from the Round Table. Lo and behold, a quick Googling brought me to the Dragon's Mark Name Generator, "Dragon's Mark" evidently being a forum name.

It's quite a slick little gadget - the interface is nice and clean, and whatever mechanism is used for generating the names does a fairly good job at making them sound consistent with various origins, though I doubt they (especially the Tolkien ones) actually mean anything. If I knew more - i.e., any - of the languages in question I'd probably try to deconstruct them for the humor, but since I don't, I'll settle for pointing the way towards what could be a very handy writing tool.