More Original Zyn Dweomer

In this post I had some images for the races of my setting, Land of Hof, which I was calling Zyn Dweomer for a time. Here's a map I drew for the setting when it was Zyn Dweomer.

The idea at the time was to have three kingdoms.

Arcazia was the land of the elves, who were masters of spacial magic. In theory their domain was limitless because of the way they used their magic to warp space and time, bending it in ways that defy logic. The elves here were also darkly humorous and weird. Their customs were abominations to the puritanical humans.

Grynmere was a vast lake or inland sea surrounded by picturesque hills and fields. This was the land of the grimmers, a sort of mix between goblin and dwarf and gnome. Their deal was hospitality. You go to Grynmere if you want good food and relaxation. But don't start any shit because you'll be at the bottom of the lake wearing iron boots.

Ondwaland was the human lands. Humans in this version of my setting were just the most regressive dickheads imaginable. Loosely inspired by Rome and the Catholics and imperialism in general, they had this oppressive monotheistic religion and a mandate from god to dominate the world.

So the idea was to have this constant tension between these three peoples. There would be an uneasy treaty at any given time, with the humans trying to find ways to expand, the elves fucking with the humans, and the grimms trying to remain neutral and make mad cash off the stressed out humans coming to their lands for respite.

One of the ideas lounging around in my folders and my head that will probably never see the light of day (in this form anyway).

Podcast: Fear of a Black Dragon

I was afraid I'd start drinking tea and eating biscuits (the sweet kind) if I kept going with the British podcasts. Luckily this one is only half British, the other half American. Fear of a Black Dragon is an RPG podcast in which the hosts do an in-depth dive into an adventure module or setting in each episode. I talked about this podcast here. It's a good one. Go listen.

Examine the Body II: Rosemary Sunshine's Cloudy Day

In this 2008 sketch we have Rosemary Sunshine looking delightfully saucy. But this is one of those doodles that has elements I love (the figure is nice, I think) and elements I detest (the fuckin' sky).

Thing is, I do not remember doing that background. What I believe is that I used some kind of prefab filter to make a sky. It definitely looks like a cloudy sky. In isolation, the sky is fine. It does what it's supposed to do. But juxtaposed with the cartoonish figure and thick line art it looks garishly out of place.

And another bad, bad fade.

Podcast: The Grognard Files

Another British podcast I adore is The Grognard Files. I discovered it accidentally when they were on episode #3 or so and I've been addicted ever since. Listening to the first few episodes made me feel like I was in sitting in the bedroom with Dirk the Dice and Judge Blythy in the 1980s rolling dice and eating crisps. It's a proper podcast.

Each episode of this show feels like a long, slow, comfortable visit from old friends. And I'm from Kentucky, not Kent. I think it's because the hosts speak comfortably and naturally in soothing tones and because they break the show into various segments such as Open Box and Judge Blythy Rules so it's a bit like a variety show, but focused. They cover lots of old games but have a bias for Runequest and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Oh, and White Dwarf magazine... ever the White Dwarf.

The Original Zyn Dweomer

From 2008, this little race graphic is a visual note about the five races of my setting Land of Hof, which I briefly changed to Zyn Dweomer for a month before deciding ZD was gonna be all anthropomorphic animals.

Norg are horned giants and they actually have bluish skin.
Oribii are short cartoon people. You can see them in Black Pudding #5.
Mongra are animal people.
Grimmers are like goblins and orks and shit.
Arcazians are elfs. I actually drop some Arcazia on you in Black Pudding #4 on the elf page of the OSR Playbook.

My older ideas seep into my newer ideas, demanding that I use the most prominent elements of them somewhere so they don't fade away and die.

Here's another version.

Examine the Body I: Fade Out

Which is not to be confused with loot the corpse.

I've been looking back on old art. Specifically from 2008 because I just picked that year at random. Well sort of... I got my first graphics tablet in 2008 so it was a transitional year for my artistic life. And I fell into many of the traps and pitfalls that artists fall into when doing digital art. I made lots of mistakes.

I might post a few examples of where I think I went wrong and where I think I made something cool. These won't be highly technical because that's just not me. They might be a little self-deprecating, because that is just me.

2008 hottie elf with bad coloring job.

Podcast: What Would the Smart Party Do?

I should post more about the podcasts I listen to. When my mom's condition really started to take a south turn back in November I started seeking out and gobbling up RPG podcasts. I guess I just needed to have an escape from reality and gaming has always been my safe place. I like listening to cool people talk shop about gaming. It's soothing to my soul.

So let me start off with an excellent British treat: What Would the Smart Party Do?

This podcast features two hosts named Baz and Gaz who bang on about RPGs. On the faux-spectrum between OSR and Story Games, these guys seem to fall in the middle, possibly leaning slightly OSR. But that's all a bunch of bullshit so ignore that I said it. They really have a soft spot for Call of Cthulhu (as do all British gamers) and also Savage Worlds. In fact, they did a really nice series on SW that helped me understand that game a bit, as I've never played it. I might actually buy a copy now.

But better than that, they did a super cool episode on Earthdawn! I remember when that game hit the shelves and I picked it up a million times just to flip through and see what it was about, but I never pulled the trigger and bought it until around 2005 or so when I picked up a battered and bruised junker copy at The Rusty Scabbard. Their coverage of this and other games is more than you get on most podcasts, but not so much that you choke on it. Some episodes, such as this one, clock in close to or more than an hour. After listening, you'll understand what the game is all about, how to make characters for it, and how the rules work in play. For the most part.

This podcast pairs well with Hobnobs.

The RPG Folder Yer Uncle Randy Runned Over

Another installment in this exciting series.

Tall Tales is Mark Hunt's wild west B/X adventure game. It's a cool game. If you enjoy B/X D&D then maybe you'd dig the idea of doing it cowboy style.

I like how the classic 3 alignments here are Law-Abiding, Neutrality, and Dishonest. This nicely mirrors the way Law, Neutrality, and Chaos are described and used in B/X D&D. Yes, I know some folks argue that these categories are not necessarily about good and evil but if you have actually read the descriptions of them in the game then you'll know why those people are wrong about that. And no, that's not any claim about how alignments may have been described and/or used in other versions of the game. Just this one. Pay attention.

I like how AC is handled. It is exactly BX. But instead of leather and chain you have fancy duds and heavy clothes. Because if you kept the BX combat system and didn't have actual armor (no cowboy was riding around in full plate) then gunfights would be ridiculously lethal. Which would be realistic... but nobody plays these games because they want a realistic experience. They wanna have crazy gunfights that last more than five seconds.

So browsing the character classes I can see some classic western tropes at play, such as the Desperado and Gunslinger. But there's something missing here. Where's the lawma--- oh wait...

This is a small book of additional classes for Tall Tales. And here we find the Lawman, along with the Gambler and the Preacher. C'mon, Mark, how did you leave these out of the main book? Perhaps space or maybe they got dropped on the floor the day of layout? Hah.

Anyway, it's a welcome addition to the core game.

What's this? Check This Artifact? Why, it's a post-apoc, "gonzo" style RPG book by Wampler. Something you might use for a game of Gamma World. Or maybe, if you're feeling super crazy, a game of Mutant Crawl Classics! But what fool would try that??

Hey... wait a second... I recognize some of these nutty drawings. A guy shaving with a giant bee near his face? Yeah, I think I drew that. But don't let that deter you from picking up this slick little number. It's stuffed full of funky items. Like electric razors that attract giant bees.

Arnold Kemp of the Goblin Punch blog has given us the Goblin Laws of Gaming, or GLOG. I have heard rumblings about this in various online posting places but never really took a good look at it.

Ok. This is a simple document obviously not meant to be a nice, flashy, finished package. It's more like the author's personal way of running OSR style games. So I have no criticisms of the plain layout or any of that. It isn't a "finished" product and thus isn't eligible for my nay-nay-saying about it's appearance.

The core mechanic of the game was really weird for me at first. I admit I might be a little stupid because I had read the Base Mechanics section three times before it clicked. The idea is this: You roll under a stat. So if your stat is 11 you need to roll under 11. This is modified by the opponent's Defense, for example. The more the Defense is from 10, the bigger the modifier. So an opponent with Defense 12 means you need to subtract 2 from your stat. You need roll 9 or less to hit that son-of-a-bitch. If the guy's Defense was 9, you'd get +1 to your stat and you'd need to roll under 12.

I get it. This is a method that allows a roll-under-stat that still is modified by difficulty. But it feels a little clunky to me in me old head. I dislike adding complications like adding and subtracting where it isn't necessary. Still, it feels like it would work.

I read on later in the document about combat and I am more confused than before. I attribute this to my own brain because the GLOG seems to have a decent following so it can't be completely broken. I must be the one who is completely broken.

It seems that by level 4 a character is pretty much maxed out in terms of what they get for leveling up. The rules state that any advancement beyond 4 is a result of adventuring. And I quite like that idea. I like any sort of idea that shifts character development to actual play and away from pre-determined hallmarks. I'm actually writing a thing like that right now, so this is a funny little coincidence.

One of the design goals of the game was to eliminate some tables in favor of formulas. I also get this, and I'm not necessarily opposed to it. But if it's the difference between a little ability modifier table vs. a formula for cipherin' my ability mod gimme that fuckin' table. That's just me though. I have no fear of tables, man. No fear.

Convictions is a neat little mechanic that I think would lead to some fun times. A conviction is a thing you believe or that drives you and might make you act in a way that you know is not in your best interest. Doing this earns you 1 point of Conviction. You can spend that point later to get +8 on a d20 roll that is related to a conviction or +4 if it isn't related to a conviction. But then the text after this states that spending conviction has to be related to the conviction... so why the +8/+4 difference if the +4 isn't possible in the first place? I might be a dumbass reading this wrong. It's late and I'm not at my peak performance right now.

Initiative is handled much the same way as The Black Hack. You roll under Wisdom to go before your god-damned enemies instead of Dexterity.

It's pretty funny reading the blog post about GLOG because the author understood the writing yet another hack of D&D is not something a lot of people want to do or see. The accompanying picture of the author in the moment the dread deed was completed is priceless.

There are some interesting hacks of GLOG, such as this one by Skerples and this one by Type1Ninja. There are probably others but I'm too lazy to look.

That RPG Folder Over the Rainbow

Yet another post in this series, as I sort out my RPG folders, proper like.

Exodus System by Jacob D.C. Ross from Thunderegg Productions is a genre-neutral universal RPG loosely based on a D&D framework (6 abilities, class, level). The system also borrows from Savage Worlds (the abilities are rated by dice steps) and Cypher System (I'm not familiar enough with this to recognize the elements). I also noticed The Black Hack showing up via usage dice.

At a glance, I'm not into this at all. I typically don't enjoy universal RPG systems because it feels like when you try to please everyone you please no one. A lot of people disagree, which is evidenced by Savage Worlds' popularity. When I popped this open and just browsed it, I was turned off by a few things. One is that it's a generic system. Not my jam, but there's nothing at all wrong with that. This is just a preference.

Second thing is the layout. No one is credited with the work, which I think is a bad thing. Always credit your creators. Maybe Ross wrote the game and laid it out? Anyway, there's this HUGE border work that eats up about 40% of each page. That's kind of a lot. It includes chapter headings in big font, which is nice. But the main text is much smaller and confined to a rather small area of the page.

Third thing is the art and how it works with the layout. The art isn't bad, and some of it is really good. The cover isn't bad and there's a killer hawk man on page 5. The credits don't say which artist did which pic, not even the cover, so I don't know who to credit there. Some of the art just feels generic as hell*. And that's probably on purpose since this is a generic game. Some of the images are presented rather small on the page but they seem like they would work well if they were larger. I'm being super picky here, I know.

I haven't read the game. Just browsing how it works, there's some interesting ideas here. You "build your own class" by selecting a party role, combat role, and two flavors. So for example you may create a Face who is a Controller and also a Noble with Energy powers. This is kinda cool, but the language and arrangement is very D&D 4e and maybe World of Warcraft. It's the sort of vanilla treatment of high fantasy at the gaming table. I get it, it's fairly elegant, but it leaves me cold, personally.

This looks like a fairly complete little game and I bet you money it runs smoothly. So definitely check it out, even though I just can't get into it.

*I hate being critical of artists. These creators are good. This is a small, niche game in a small, niche market and they deserve respect and support. So please don't take my criticisms as me picking on them in any way. There isn't a single piece of art in this book that suggests a bad artist. It's just that not a lot of it jumped out at me, and some of that might come down to context. The huge border on each page is extremely sci-fi in an Alternity fashion, but a lot of the art is vanilla high fantasy and sometimes it's a little jarring seeing that juxtaposition. And this is coming from a guy who loves pre-80s fantasy that mixes lasers and unicorns without any concern for genre boundaries.

House of Dogs is a journal of RPG theory and practice. Which is lofty speak for "RPG zine about RPGs". Oddly, the first thing I noticed about this was how its table of contents looks like AD&D. The font is something like Futura and it has the gray bars like a DMG table. Nice touch.

The articles are cool. You got articles discussing Tomb of Horrors, Gardens of Ynn, Fuck For Satan, and more. I really loved David Shugars' discussion of Gardens of Ynn and its wonderful mechanic for travel.

Good read with some interesting art by Odysseus Jones and Evey Lockhart.

Animated Weapon Character Class

Ethan LeFevre created this awesome hand-drawn character class, which definitely fits the Black Pudding vibe, doesn't it?

Check out Ethan's podcast Audia Miskatonica here.