Game Design Hoots 1

I love old school D&D, but I don't want to tie all my work to it. The setting implied or described in Black Pudding is important to me and I want it to have its own original RPG at some point. Of course the Black Pudding Play Book will always be around, but I'm probably going to do another game at some point for the world of Pan-Gea > Yria.

Here's a system I'm mucking around with right now. It's from 1998 or so, before I even got online. It's very basic, which is what appeals to me. I ran it many times back then and it was mostly GM rulings because there was almost no rules written down for it other than this:

Spend 20 points on any kind of traits you like. Roll 1d20 + Trait vs. a target number or an opposing roll. Each adventure you earn 1-3 points and you can spend them to add or improve Traits.

In recent times I've developed the idea further to give it more tooth and grit. I like it.

Of course it's also very possible that the game will use GOZR rules. Right now I'm torn between these two darlings of mine. Story of my life.

But both feature rolling 1d20 + mods vs. a target number so you can call me a basic bitch all you want. It's fine. I own that shit.

Snake Charmer?

I love drawing in these square sketchbooks. I bought a 5-pack and gave a few to my kids. Now I'm down to one empty and I can't find the 5-packs for sale anymore! Bulk is cheaper, dammit.

Anyway, here's a guy who started out as a Conan but just didn't hit the vibe. So he's just a random guy. I think he might be an incarnation of Snake Charmer, one of the deities of Yria.

 

Black Pudding #7

I'm very proud of Black Pudding. What started in 2016 as an experiment to create the kind of OSR stuff I liked to see has persisted, albeit at a slow pace. This post is about the latest issue, #7.

This issue is a milestone for me because it includes a 16-page gazetteer (17, counting the names tables) setting of my fantasy world of Yria. I had toyed with this idea for a long time, assuming I would have to devote an entire 100-page book to the topic to do it right. In the end, I realized all I needed was a quick-and-dirty GM's guide to the setting. And 16 pages did the trick, at least for me.

It starts with a map, as is often the case. I have a love-hate relationship with maps. They define things a little too much up front for my tastes, but they are also beautiful and inspiring - and the whole point of any Black Pudding zine is to inspire. The Yria map is one that has went through a lot of incarnations over the years, but the one showing up in BP7 is as close to legit as you're gonna get. Hell, in a future edition I might utterly change it. I don't know. Each TTRPG table is its own world, after all.

Next you get a list of the major areas on a d66 table. So 36 areas are given as possible birthplaces
and/or adventure locations. I also include a d20 inspiration table for adventure keywords, something I've always done for myself. I often call these "beats". So when I'm coming up with an adventure to run I might list 3 or 4 beats such as ritual, paranoia, moon, and dead crops. Beats sort of paint the images in your head. The keyword table in BP7 includes words that are essential to the Yria setting. They are not random words, they all have meaning to me. They are deliberate choices.

The next two pages are an actual gazetteer of the 36 locations, ala X1: Isle of Dread. Less is more. I went with broad strokes, planting images using keywords for each location. Instead of describing the government structure and ruling elites of Seapath, I just tell you the vibe: One of the five cities. Serpentine across the mountain pass, ruled by the rich, sought by the desperate. Come to trade, stay to dream. You get an image of the city (serpentine across the mountain pass... it lays like a snake, humped over a mountain). You know who runs the show. You know why folks would go there and something about why they might stay. It seems to be a place rife with corruption, but also full of hope or at least potential wealth.

Next five pages are devoted to the five cities. Yria only has five cities of note. Any other cities are either ruins, cursed, or not very big. This concept is very much in the vein of the "points of light" across a "dark wilderness" motif. That is, I believe, a super-effective way to game*. Each city gets one page with imagery and various tables for what you might see or encounter. The rulers are noted, and a very brief description is given, akin to the 36 location gazetteer style. So if the short description of Seapath from above isn't enough, the one page for Seapath gives you a little more.

The second half of the section is the mythos. This mythos (100% using that term because of Deities & Demigods, the most inspiring D&D book of all time) has been with me for many years. Decades. It underpins almost every fantasy setting I've ever created or tried to create. It is based on one dozen beings, each of which I sketched onto small blue cardboard cards sometime in the early 2000s. Those images appear in the book, though in gray scale of course. The section gives you that list of beings and their general powers, broadly-speaking. Being heavily influenced by Deities & Demigods, I wanted/needed each of them to be corporeal as well as spiritual and eternal. They have bodies. They have stats. You can interact with them.

Rather than giving the specific stat block for each deity, I opted to merely suggest them. Each one is based loosely on an existing B/X monster. So for example Black Wing (death) is based on a giant roc with 300 hit points. Each god is described loosely, focusing on their demeanor and concerns. Some sketch is given of how you would worship them and what their clerics are like. And the final detail, which I really liked, is that each one has some lists of keywords to describe being in their presence. I think that's all you need.

The whole thing wraps with 5 d66 tables of common names, each keyed to one of the five cities.'

In case you ever wondered, this is my favorite thing so far in the series. I realize it isn't exactly the same kind of stuff that made the zine popular. It isn't hand-scrawled, it isn't universally useful. It's very specific to my world. But I designed it as loosely as possible to allow easy access. It is very easy to steal from.

Other things in the issue are more typical of the zine. There are 4 new character classes, one of which is the Rat Bastard. I created that one way back in 2017, which is why it, more than any other, has the tone and vibe of early BP issues. It was meant to go into issue 2 but somehow I left it out. I have no idea what happened or how I missed it all these years. Happy to finally include it.

The other class I really love in this one is the Eyeball. That one is a keeper, for me. And we also get some coolness from contributor David Okum! A handful of monsters and a character sheet round the thing out. In fact... this one features my favorite character sheet so far. I love this one because it is the cleanest and most useful that I've ever created.

*The first proper D&D campaign I was ever in, way back in 1987 in high school, started as a crude 8.5 x 11 map of a town. It was the DM's setting at that point. I think he only knew the town and nearby areas, so that's where we adventured. It grew a bit over time. It's a brilliant way to do a campaign: don't flood the players with information! Just paint the image and start playing.

Black Pudding 7

Finally, it is HERE. Black Pudding 7.

This issue features the following awesomeness.

Character Classes:

Rat Bastard

Iggy (by David Okum)

Flamer

Eyeball

Monsters:

Rocky

Grave Crusader

Dracowisp

Tyrano-X

Queen of the Dark Light

And the rest of the issue is a gazetteer of Yria, the setting of Black Pudding. It is an iteration of Pan-Gea. The five cities described, many areas sketched out, lots of random tables.

Go!

Dwarf Gambling WIP

Working on some dwarf art for the Rock Hardy Book of Dwarfs... not sure when it will be ready but the thing is actually mostly written so maybe I should finish it up already.

Hunter Ravn

I did a few comic panels recently. Started out as a guide to my fantasy world of Yria. I have no idea where this is heading now.

The character Hunter Ravn was formerly Hunter Raven... but I left out the "e" on the inked version and didn't want to adjust digitally. So now he's officially Hunter Ravn. Maybe that's why I took the whole thing in a slightly different direction. Is this God of the North a frat dude?

Anyway, I've just been having fun with my old traditional art tools and these panels were an excuse to use them. Digital colors to follow...

The Paint Job

No, this post is not about painting or art. It's about old school gaming, house rules, and hacks. It's a bit meandering. Apologies.

I've been thinking about the many, many ways I've hacked B/X to make it play closer to my ideal way. This is no more evident than in all the different posts I've made about fixing the broken Thief class.

I've been working on various ways to alter the standard rules for my upcoming Doomslakers B/X project. I have wrestled with lots of ideas and found them all too fiddly, too trivial, or just too much.

Lately I've hit upon an idea that seems promising, though. It's a simple one, nothing rocket-science about it.

Instead of hacking the rules, maybe I'll just present my "meta rules" as an option, then keep the rest of the content more-or-less defaulting to the standard rules. For my own games, I use the meta rules, But you don't have to.

Most obvious example is luck. I always include some kind of luck mechanic in my games because I feel like without some degree of direct player-facing mechanic other than mechanics tied explicitly to character action, players often feel frustrated by game play. I know I do, and this is why I include such mechanics.

But luck doesn't modify existing rules, it just goes on top of them like a nice paint job.

What other kinds of rules could function in this way?

Well, Death or Debasement is definitely going to be part of the project. This comes from GOZR. It basically says when your PC dies, you get to decide if they are actually dead or not. I mean, why not? It's your character, after all.

Choosing Debasement means your PC is miraculously alive, has 1 hit point, and will be down for 1d6 rounds (probably out of the fight). Alternatively, perhaps they need to pass a Death save to recover and act.

Choosing Death means they are dead and you get some minor perk for your next PC, such as a bonus to an ability score or something.

Meaningful choices. More interesting that flat out death at zero hp.

EDIT: Choosing Debasement also means you randomly roll (or maybe choose) one permanent effect, such as losing some HP, dropping in an ability score, or something more in-world, such as losing a hand or whatever. Surviving death isn't free.

Another meta rule concept isn't so much a meta rule as a setting rule. Not unlike the old AD&D 2e "kits", the setting itself will modify character classes and PCs with choices the player can make, such as rolling on random character traits tables.

Here's where the Thief gets a lot of love, too. Because in Yria, the world of Doomslakers and Black Pudding, all Thieves are trained by a guild and there are five guilds, one for each city. And each guild's training impacts a Thief's skills and abilities in specific ways. The player who chooses Darkmirth as their guild (and perhaps home city) will be much better at stealth while the Thief of Kanebok may be more acrobatic and better at stunts. For example.

The net result of all this is that to play games set in Yria or to just mine Yria for ideas and adventures you don't have to adopt any of the meta rules if you don't wanna. It's fine. My feelings will be hurt but that's ok.

I'll ramble more later.

Up From Hell

Zasto Filistian, wizard of Seapath, returns from a trip to Hell, emerging from a sewer well. His mind struggles to contain the lost spell of immortality, the object of his quest. His imps offer him a special book in which to transcribe the spell (and a towel).

The city of Seapath is one of the five cities of Yria. It is perhaps the most accessible city, especially for the low-minded and adventure-ready. It is sprawled across a mountain pass leading to the western seas and you can see it in all its glory on the cover of Black Pudding #5. Note the angry assault by Url'Armagog, one of the Children of the Worm Witch, his slumber disturbed from the depths of Lake Drowning.

Ah, Yria.

You know how every Dungeon Master worth their salt has a world of their own? It's true. Mine started the day I learned about the existence of D&D. I spent my first few years as a gamer gaming alone. I spent countless hours in my room making D&D characters, writing elaborate histories, drawing them, making ornate character sheets for them, and running them through solo adventures. Eventually I compiled all my notes and ideas into a three ring binder labeled "Midaka", my campaign world.

This morphed over time. Much of the juvenility of Midaka was left by the side of the road on my journey into proper adult elfgamehood. But much of the DNA is still there, along with all the other stuff I've added over the many years.

Sometime around the mid-2000s I had an explosion of ideas that lead to the Pan-Gea comic book and the creation of Yria - my fantasy RPG "campaign setting".

Sometime soon, perhaps in 2022, I hope to create an iteration of the setting for proper use in fantasy TTRPGs. A reference work, a user's manual, a tome of inspiration (or two). Working title has been "Doomslakers B/X" for a while, but I'm not sure what will stick. What makes the most sense is to just call it Yria. Not a D&D Gazetteer style work full of epic levels of detail, but more of a art-before-function work of inspirational material very lightly sketching out a fantasy world. The imagery will do most of the talking. Random tables will fill in most of the detail. The actual prose bits will be more akin to what you see in X1: Isle of Dread... short and high level, more a collection of descriptors than a fleshed out narrative.

But we'll see how it goes.

Umbrashade

 

Umbrashade, +2 Sword: User can see clearly in any darkness. Infernals take max damage on every hit. 1/day, user can cast Darkness of dispel it. If sword exposed to light more than 3 rounds in a row, user must save vs. Wands or the sword crumbles to dust.

Perhaps a million years ago the great Shadow Knight of Darkmirth, in their war against demons, drew Umbrashade from the obsidian mountain far beneath the city and imbued it with the Knight’s own will. The sword remained true and hard for centuries until the city fell to ruin. Now Umbrashade itself is falling into ruin and must be kept hidden away in darkness, locked in a magically sealed tomb somewhere in that black city.

Gootmaul

Gootmaul, +1 war hammer, +2 vs. reptiles: User can cast Fear, Snake Charm, or Hold Person 1/day. Weapon speaks a Contact Outer Plane spell 1/week, but user must make an offering to strange gods first. Speaks its mind when it chooses.

Deep in the Ovens of the Earth, where orcs are spawned on the regular from the passing of demons, there roamed a pack of giant snakes. These snakes were called Igg, Zind, and Broo and other than being smarter than the average serpent they were self-assured of their dominance. Though few mourned the swallowing hole of many orcs, some orcs took issue with the situation. The little-known Orc hero Bant Brashlin, an accomplished metalworker, took to the forge and, with the help of unknown magics, emerged a year later brandishing Gootmaul. Within three weeks the three dreadful snakes of the Ovens were smashed to pulp.

Battlevolf

 Battlevolf, +1 mace, +2 vs. Lawful: Smashes doors open on a 1-4 on 1d6. The mace’s head speaks with Chaotic creatures and bites Lawful creatures trying to wield it. It vomits acid as a Magic Missile once per day. The user suffers -1 on Reaction Rolls except with Chaotics.

The powers of Chaos give rise to many faces, many weapons of war. Battlevolf, an agent of Chaos, is one such weapon and its willingness to serve the cause is unquestionable. It will tell any who listen that it was forged a million, billion years ago and that it desires to wade through gore.

Wingsbane

Wingsbane, +1 battle axe, +2 vs. flying: On a Critical Hit vs. a flying target, the target is grounded for 1d4 rounds and must Save vs. Paralysis or their ability to fly is destroyed. The user can understand the languages of flying creatures.

Forged on the peak of Old Gnarly in the Rock Hardy Mountains, this axe was made for the purpose of killing wyverns. According to legend, the dwarfs at that time were engaged in a massive war with an army of wyverns lead by a cunning and powerful wyvern master. With the aid of Wingsbane, the wyvern master was brought down and since that day wyverns have not been prone to or receptive of organization and are merely flying, meat-hungry pests.

 

River Tickler

River Tickler, +1 sword, +2 vs. aquatic: The user of this flamberge can swim like a fish and can breathe water for 6 turns 1 time per day. Aquatic monsters will always attack the wielder of this sword first.

The Wizard known only as The Dolphin used this blade for many years on her exploits along the Waving Wyvern River before she was eaten by the terrible Helligator.

 

Slowpoke

Slowpoke, 1+ short sword: Each round the user waits to attack, add +1 to hit or to damage. On a Critical Hit, the target must Save vs. Poison or take 1d6 damage per round for 1d6 further rounds.

Among the Goblin peoples, patience is not a virtue. But the Goblin hero Gog the Looming (he was almost 5' tall) prided themselves on being a patient warrior. After Gog aided the wizard Gim, the old magician repaid him with the gift of a sword with patience to spare. Unfortunately for Gog, he waited too long in a battle with the Elf assassin Lier Landor and died a mere month later.

Cascade

 

Cascade, +1 Sword: Each consecutive hit after the first deals +1 additional damage. Any missed attack deals 1 point of damage to the user. 1/day, the user may speak to the sword's devil spirit as if by the Commune spell (1 question, 20% chance it is a lie).

Stormdriver Thornheart, one of the greatest of the old dwarf forgers, was challenged by a powerful and mysterious hero to make a weapon that could contain his dark soul's fury. He then heaped sacks of gold upon the table and added "If it is within your skill to do so." Thornheart, being a proud artisan, immediately agreed. When the forging was finished and the dweomers sealed, the dark stranger marveled at the blade's beauty. "And now" said the dark hero, "let us see if it can contain the fury of my soul." The dwarf's final payment was the full length of Cascade in his heart. The sword drank, the eyes of the pommel glowed, the enchantment was complete.

Straightedge

 

Straightedge, +1 sword, +2 vs. chaotic: Lawful blade cannot be drawn by Chaotic users. User can repair mundane item or heal 1d6+1 damage, 1/day each.

No one knows the origin of this perfectly straight, pristine blade. It’s first recorded use was in a great battle between Nylar and Skyler just before their fall. Since then, stories abound of heroes tiring of theft and murder in their homelands and taking up Straightedge to deal out justice. Then, as quickly as the sword appears, it vanishes again. Could it be that the sword has a purpose known only to itself and uses Lawful warriors to its own ends?

Cutting Lass

 

Cutting Lass, +1 sword: Re-roll 1s when rolling damage. Cuts bonds such as chains or door hinges in 2 rounds. On a hit, deal max damage automatically, 1/day.

No Elf of Summertop was quite as well-known as Misty Morn Nighthand, a steadfast defender of The Great Stump. Neither aligned with Law or Chaos, Misty was known to cut through the manure of diplomacy with a steely edge. During the invasion of Summertop by the menacing army of dark Wizard - and former lover of Misty Morn Nighhand - Thrall Omvar, Misty and her trusty blade disappeared. Even as his head was removed from his body, Thrall Omvar merely smiled when asked what became of her.

Whiplash

 

Whiplash, +1 sword: Target gains no bonus for shield or cover. Can be thrown like a hand axe and will boomerang at end of round on a miss. Mirror blade reflects invisible things and allows user to see through a door or wall, 1/day.

This elegant blade was not forged, but was formed from a whirlwind of supernatural origin. It was the weapon of the infamous Seapath crime chief Krolton the Many Storied. He used the blade to slay a dozen crag demons in a long lost hall of pillars. The demons thought hiding behind the pillars was a good strategy. It was not.

Kneebiter

Kneebiter, +1 Two-Handed Sword: 2d6 dmg vs. giants. On a critical hit, target is knocked prone 1d4 rounds and suffers -3 Morale until regaining their footing.

Kneebiter was used by the giant-slayer Uuldskol of Red Peak to defeat the master of giants, Zeektara the Cloud Rider, along with their nine sons and daughters. The battle lasted 3 days and leveled 3 great giant halls. At the end of it Uuldskol unbuckled his magic belt which granted him supernatural strength, placed Kneebiter gently in its sheath, and promptly died.

 

Fang

Part of the Doomslakers B/X project.

Fang, +1 sword: User can speak with serpents at will and transform into a pit viper once per day for 3 turns. Snakes will not strike the user.

Fang's history is obscure. It seems to have started life as a fairly mundane scimitar that was perhaps used to slay various foul beasts roaming the darks of Underwood. It seems to have gained notoriety when a particular hero named Low Hill (so named for she hailed from a low hill) wielded it on many an adventure, many of which involved the slaying of giant snakes. She hated snakes, apparently. Low Hill was known to run with three wizards named Bo Zun, Tala Dulak, and Epizidimus the Wary. Perhaps one or all of them conspired to enchant their companion's sword as a special gift. Low Hill was eventually swallowed whole by a purple worm.