So, I'm building a city to serve as an adventure springboard for a Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, and when it comes to DCC my attitude is to be as over the top as possible. I've always liked the idea of a castle built from the skull of a dragon. But then I thought to myself, "No, let's go bigger."
So I came up with Reaver's Reef.
Reaver's Reef was created when a massive dragon crashed into the sea. Some say it fell from the stars. Some say it fell through ten thousand realities before crashing on this world. Others say Hell itself spat the beast up because it was too vile. When the dragon fell into the ocean waters, the seas began to boil and hurricanes formed around it. This lasted for days, weeks, or even years - depending on who you ask. When the seas calmed and the cloud parted all that remained were the creature's bones. A great, gaping maw. Sea water ran over the jaw bone, crashing against the towered fangs.
It was eventually discovered and explored by pirates, who began to use it as a cache to hide their plunder. The fear and superstition surrounding Reaver's Reef kept honest seamen and merchants from coming near. As more pirates came to the Reef, there were skirmishes between warring fleets and feuding captains. Eventually the worst came to pass: Laws were established and order began to take hold.
Fast-forward several hundred years and you've got a bustling city. Streets and stairs are carved into the great beast's bones. Its teeth have been turned into wizards' towers and multi-floor marketplaces. Rope and wood ladders criss-cross the city at various points. At its center is a massive harbor with all manner of trading vessels coming and going.
Now, I think this is freakin' cool. But, I don't really feel like establishing much more about Reaver's Reef. Its a bustling trade port out in the middle of a massive ocean. It's got all manner of seedy residents and transient ne'er-do-wells. That's really about it. I imagine there are all kinds of factions running around. From cults who worship the long-dead dragon-beast whose corpse serves as home, to pirate gangs, to mercenary companies, to some form of government. But, to be frank, I don't feel like fleshing the thing out.
So, I had the idea of intentionally leaving the details of the Reef as pretty much a blank slate. Make a map, but don't detail it. Instead, fill it out as the campaign unfolds. Base what's in Reaver's Reef on the actions of my players and their desires in the campaign.
Has anyone else tried this method of location "construction," and if so what were your results? I've never done it like this before and it makes me a little nervous, so I'm looking to the OSR community for their insight.
Thanks in advance, and watch your back. I hear the Fang Pirates have taken hold of the western docks and are press-ganging unwary fools into service...
Showing posts with label DCC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DCC. Show all posts
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Sunday, July 31, 2016
I Believe in DCC
So the past few sessions of my local group have been... odd. We finished up the first major story arc in our Star Wars campaign, and I wanted a few weeks to prep for the next arc. I offered to run a brief D&D 5e campaign between arcs. We sat down, made characters, and did a brief intro session. It was by no means bad and my local group is awesome - but it didn't... pop.
This happened a few more times. We'd try a different game and while my awesome players had a grand ol' time. I didn't feel it. It didn't grab me. Not like the Star Wars campaign. So looking at my newly paired down gaming collection, I thought "What are some of the coolest games I own. The ones that I've always wanted to play regularly, but always had some excuse or another for why it wasn't quite right."
I kept going back to Dungeon Crawl Classics. This balls-to-the-wall love letter to the halcyon days of 1970s gaming is one of my favorites. From its mission statement, to its awesome art, to the unbridled insanity of its adventures - it just oozes fun. Also, DCC recognizes that its a game. It doesn't try to take itself too seriously.
Then the voice in the back of my head started muttering. "But it's a 500 page rule book. It's got extra funky dice. No one's going to buy into a funnel. They just won't get it." The bitter, jaded, know-it-all grognard in me thought that he knew the future.
But Thirteen Year Old James said "But it's so damned cool!"
Grogndard James replied, "Yeah, but you're the old guy in your group. These guys were raised on Third Edition D&D and Classic World of Darkness. They won't get it."
Well, I decided to take a shot. I gave way to my younger self and went in full tilt. I put my faith in this game and faith in my players. I told them that I was canceling the last thing we'd tried to start and they had to "Trust me." They were understandably nervous. My mercurial attitude lately was undoubtedly starting to bother than and they probably just wanted me to pick something and stick to it. But I asked them once more to trust me. Please trust me.
Well game night rolls round. My game prep consisted of spending two weeks re-reading DCC, Sailors on the Starless Sea, and printing out 200 0th level characters face down. I laid out two stacks of these sheets and everyone at the table looked at me strangely.
"Pick four," I said. They dutifully did so. When they saw their stats (3d6 down the line, as Crom intended!) they were nervous. I could see it on their faces. This was definitely not what they were used to.
"I'm a radish farmer with a Strength of 7?!"
"This guy doesn't even have more than a +1 modifier for any of his attributes!"
"What's a costermongerer?"
I calmed them down and said, "Give your four characters names and we'll get started."
So they did. Then they started looking at the sheets.
"Wait? My weapon is a trowel?"
"Alright, this guy's stats suck - his name's Chicken Noodle Boy."
Then, the game started. It was twenty minutes before we even got to the first encounter because something truly magical happened. With just a name and a profession, I started watching five players roleplay twenty characters. They started building connections, motivations, and interacting with one another. My group is awesome like that. They love to RP, no matter what you give them. They gave a little bit of investment, a little bit of faith.
Then game began. They got creative immediately."I take my sail canvas and throw it over the creature," and the like. They started using the meager resources they had. This is when I started to see that this just might work.
Two hours later, we're neck deep in awesomeness. These players and their funnel monkeys are all in. In a single session they've made a deal with a demonic sword, they've murdered some of their own fellow PCs for cowardice. They've watched as a horrible monster with a lobster mandible for a head bursts the skull of one of their beloved funnel monkeys like an over ripe melon - to which one player cried "That's so fucking metal.". They've fired laser beams from a magic ring at a leviathan.
When the smoke clears we've gamed for two hours longer than normal, and no one has noticed. One of the funnel monkeys has set himself up to become a villain at a later date. They all walked away from that table with a sense of "Holy shit, that was close - but we did it." And the survivors felt as though they'd truly earned their right to be larger than life adventurers - a Warrior, a Dwarf, a Thief, a Wizard, and a Halfling.
As we packed up the dice and closed shop for the evening, one of the players said "This is awesome - this game needs a soundtrack." I didn't ask them to be "heroes" and I didn't ask them to treat it like some serious high fantasy. It was pure schlock fun and when everyone (myself most of all) accepted it as that, we had a blast. My players are all looking forward to where the road to gold and glory will take them - and they've all got faith that it's going to be a helluva a ride.
Oh, and Chicken Noodle Boy? He survived - and at this rate, he's likely to become one of the most famous cut-purses in the world. And it's got nothing to do with numbers on a sheet. All it took was a little faith.
This happened a few more times. We'd try a different game and while my awesome players had a grand ol' time. I didn't feel it. It didn't grab me. Not like the Star Wars campaign. So looking at my newly paired down gaming collection, I thought "What are some of the coolest games I own. The ones that I've always wanted to play regularly, but always had some excuse or another for why it wasn't quite right."
I kept going back to Dungeon Crawl Classics. This balls-to-the-wall love letter to the halcyon days of 1970s gaming is one of my favorites. From its mission statement, to its awesome art, to the unbridled insanity of its adventures - it just oozes fun. Also, DCC recognizes that its a game. It doesn't try to take itself too seriously.
Then the voice in the back of my head started muttering. "But it's a 500 page rule book. It's got extra funky dice. No one's going to buy into a funnel. They just won't get it." The bitter, jaded, know-it-all grognard in me thought that he knew the future.
But Thirteen Year Old James said "But it's so damned cool!"
Grogndard James replied, "Yeah, but you're the old guy in your group. These guys were raised on Third Edition D&D and Classic World of Darkness. They won't get it."
Well, I decided to take a shot. I gave way to my younger self and went in full tilt. I put my faith in this game and faith in my players. I told them that I was canceling the last thing we'd tried to start and they had to "Trust me." They were understandably nervous. My mercurial attitude lately was undoubtedly starting to bother than and they probably just wanted me to pick something and stick to it. But I asked them once more to trust me. Please trust me.
Well game night rolls round. My game prep consisted of spending two weeks re-reading DCC, Sailors on the Starless Sea, and printing out 200 0th level characters face down. I laid out two stacks of these sheets and everyone at the table looked at me strangely.
"Pick four," I said. They dutifully did so. When they saw their stats (3d6 down the line, as Crom intended!) they were nervous. I could see it on their faces. This was definitely not what they were used to.
"I'm a radish farmer with a Strength of 7?!"
"This guy doesn't even have more than a +1 modifier for any of his attributes!"
"What's a costermongerer?"
I calmed them down and said, "Give your four characters names and we'll get started."
So they did. Then they started looking at the sheets.
"Wait? My weapon is a trowel?"
"Alright, this guy's stats suck - his name's Chicken Noodle Boy."
Then, the game started. It was twenty minutes before we even got to the first encounter because something truly magical happened. With just a name and a profession, I started watching five players roleplay twenty characters. They started building connections, motivations, and interacting with one another. My group is awesome like that. They love to RP, no matter what you give them. They gave a little bit of investment, a little bit of faith.
Then game began. They got creative immediately."I take my sail canvas and throw it over the creature," and the like. They started using the meager resources they had. This is when I started to see that this just might work.
Two hours later, we're neck deep in awesomeness. These players and their funnel monkeys are all in. In a single session they've made a deal with a demonic sword, they've murdered some of their own fellow PCs for cowardice. They've watched as a horrible monster with a lobster mandible for a head bursts the skull of one of their beloved funnel monkeys like an over ripe melon - to which one player cried "That's so fucking metal.". They've fired laser beams from a magic ring at a leviathan.
When the smoke clears we've gamed for two hours longer than normal, and no one has noticed. One of the funnel monkeys has set himself up to become a villain at a later date. They all walked away from that table with a sense of "Holy shit, that was close - but we did it." And the survivors felt as though they'd truly earned their right to be larger than life adventurers - a Warrior, a Dwarf, a Thief, a Wizard, and a Halfling.
As we packed up the dice and closed shop for the evening, one of the players said "This is awesome - this game needs a soundtrack." I didn't ask them to be "heroes" and I didn't ask them to treat it like some serious high fantasy. It was pure schlock fun and when everyone (myself most of all) accepted it as that, we had a blast. My players are all looking forward to where the road to gold and glory will take them - and they've all got faith that it's going to be a helluva a ride.
Oh, and Chicken Noodle Boy? He survived - and at this rate, he's likely to become one of the most famous cut-purses in the world. And it's got nothing to do with numbers on a sheet. All it took was a little faith.
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Less is More: Purging the Libray
So, as many of my G+ friends know, I did a massive cleaning out of my gaming book library. This is because the room where the books were being kept had become known as the "Spare Room." It wasn't a library. It was a room where we stufed things to ignore them - and I don't buy gaming books to ignore them.
I'd love to be a collector. I'd love to have a copy of every OSR product out there, simply to support the creators. But that's not a realistic expectation for me. My life, at the moment, doesn't accomidate that kind of luxury. At first, I was bitter about this. Angry, even. Then my wife looked at me and said, "When was the last time you played or referenced any of the books you own? What's the point in owning it if a book just sits on a shelf?"
Well clearly she just didn't "get it," right? Then I caught a post from +D.j. Chadwick discussing his own book purge:
All said and done the survivors were: Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry (Complete and White Box), Adventures Dark & Deep, AD&D (1st Edition), Dungeon Crawl Classics, Star Wars (d6 and Fantasy Flight Games), The One Ring, Rocket Age, Call of Cthulhu, Changeling: The Lost and Changeling: The Dreaming. Everything else went out the door. Eighty pounds of AD&D (2nd Edition) and almost two hundred pounds of other games went.
Suddenly, I'm free. I'm not second guessing the games I want to run because those are the only ones I kept. Well, what if I want to run Cyberpunk 2020? Mage: The Ascension? Well, I barely play physically these days, and the PDF market means books are available on tap for a few bucks. Along side that, if I do get a chance to play at a table and I need a copy of something, between Ebay and OneBookShelf, I can repurchase damn-near anything. But as it stands right now I can't get cornered into running something I'm only vaguely interested in, because I don't own anything that falls into that category.
It's a pretty awesome feeling. I went from 3 floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, to 3 1/2 shelves on one bookshelf. But these are all games I'm really excited to play - and that's a feeling I've missed for a long, long time.
I'd love to be a collector. I'd love to have a copy of every OSR product out there, simply to support the creators. But that's not a realistic expectation for me. My life, at the moment, doesn't accomidate that kind of luxury. At first, I was bitter about this. Angry, even. Then my wife looked at me and said, "When was the last time you played or referenced any of the books you own? What's the point in owning it if a book just sits on a shelf?"
Well clearly she just didn't "get it," right? Then I caught a post from +D.j. Chadwick discussing his own book purge:
It is the most freeing thing I have done since discovering the OSR. I'm actually focusing on my current campaign and creating new stuff for my players. I work with what I have and don't really worry about anything else.I was reluctant to believe it. But ya know what? D.J. was right. I went through my book collection and if I hadn't played or run it in the past year and I wasn't either writing for it as a self-publisher or freelancer I put it on the potential chopping block. The only books that went outside those rules were Changeling: The Dreaming becuse my wife and I bonded over that game and Star Wars, because the d6 incarnation is my first game and has deep sentimental value. Everything else went to the chopping block. So I sold about 75% of my gaming collection at ridiculous prices.
All said and done the survivors were: Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry (Complete and White Box), Adventures Dark & Deep, AD&D (1st Edition), Dungeon Crawl Classics, Star Wars (d6 and Fantasy Flight Games), The One Ring, Rocket Age, Call of Cthulhu, Changeling: The Lost and Changeling: The Dreaming. Everything else went out the door. Eighty pounds of AD&D (2nd Edition) and almost two hundred pounds of other games went.
Suddenly, I'm free. I'm not second guessing the games I want to run because those are the only ones I kept. Well, what if I want to run Cyberpunk 2020? Mage: The Ascension? Well, I barely play physically these days, and the PDF market means books are available on tap for a few bucks. Along side that, if I do get a chance to play at a table and I need a copy of something, between Ebay and OneBookShelf, I can repurchase damn-near anything. But as it stands right now I can't get cornered into running something I'm only vaguely interested in, because I don't own anything that falls into that category.
It's a pretty awesome feeling. I went from 3 floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, to 3 1/2 shelves on one bookshelf. But these are all games I'm really excited to play - and that's a feeling I've missed for a long, long time.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
There and Back Again: A Long Expected Blog Post
So it's been a few months since my last blog post and I've been a bit busy. White Star has been a monster success - way bigger than I ever expected. Its success and the G+ community for the game have kept me hopping from one foot to another and when you couple that with a few freelance irons in the fire and a toddler it makes for a busy man. Also, I'm delayed on getting Class Compendium available in print due to constant issues with the proofs. Hopefully this - the third pass - will put that puppy to bed.
Class Compendium has been a real beast too. It came out to 230 pages and the inclusion of a spell compendium appendix coupled with formatting errors through out really burnt me out. I was sick of Labyrinth Lord by the time I came up on the home stretch. I think that's what lead me to focus on White Star - which obviously turned out to be a good thing. Still, I was seriously burnt on fantasy gaming.
With both Class Compendium and White Star prints being finalized for print on demand service I have to admit that fantasy itch is coming back. I blame +Joseph Bloch in part. I was taking a look at his Adventures Dark & Deep and there's something about it that really has my interest piqued. I already have a plethora of OSR fantasy games, but the premise for AD&D looks like it'll add a touch of freshness to the traditional fantasy genre of RPGs. Besides, Mad Castle of the Archmage was a great product, so I've faith it'll be good stuff.
Close behind it is the Mutant Crawl Classics because it just looks so damned sweet. DCC blew the doors off for my gaming group and I suspect MCC will obliterate the room. Along with that I've also got Star Wars: Force & Destiny and Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed. on deck.
Sure, there are some great games coming my way on the horizon - but the problem is when will I get the time to play them? As mentioned earlier, I've got a lot of stuff going on and even when Class Compendium and White Star are finalized I've still got a plethora of freelance work on my plate, the White Star Companion in draft (which I hope to get out before the end of the year - but no promises, at this rate), along with a 55 hour a week job and an awesome one-year old daughter. When I'm lucky I manage to squeeze in an every-other-week Star Wars game, I'd love to run or play something in the off week for that, but at this rate I feel like I'm writing too much gaming to actually game.
Class Compendium has been a real beast too. It came out to 230 pages and the inclusion of a spell compendium appendix coupled with formatting errors through out really burnt me out. I was sick of Labyrinth Lord by the time I came up on the home stretch. I think that's what lead me to focus on White Star - which obviously turned out to be a good thing. Still, I was seriously burnt on fantasy gaming.
With both Class Compendium and White Star prints being finalized for print on demand service I have to admit that fantasy itch is coming back. I blame +Joseph Bloch in part. I was taking a look at his Adventures Dark & Deep and there's something about it that really has my interest piqued. I already have a plethora of OSR fantasy games, but the premise for AD&D looks like it'll add a touch of freshness to the traditional fantasy genre of RPGs. Besides, Mad Castle of the Archmage was a great product, so I've faith it'll be good stuff.
Close behind it is the Mutant Crawl Classics because it just looks so damned sweet. DCC blew the doors off for my gaming group and I suspect MCC will obliterate the room. Along with that I've also got Star Wars: Force & Destiny and Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed. on deck.
Sure, there are some great games coming my way on the horizon - but the problem is when will I get the time to play them? As mentioned earlier, I've got a lot of stuff going on and even when Class Compendium and White Star are finalized I've still got a plethora of freelance work on my plate, the White Star Companion in draft (which I hope to get out before the end of the year - but no promises, at this rate), along with a 55 hour a week job and an awesome one-year old daughter. When I'm lucky I manage to squeeze in an every-other-week Star Wars game, I'd love to run or play something in the off week for that, but at this rate I feel like I'm writing too much gaming to actually game.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)