Random 5 Room Dungeon Generator

I had meant to do this for the August RPG Blog Carnival but missed it due to real-life problems.  However the idea stuck in my head so now it's here, hope you enjoy.

Image (cc) miszla

This generator uses the 5 Room Dungeon model, which I always think works better as themes/areas than explicit rooms so the results are designed as hooks and inspiration so it fits better into your campaign.  As always, roll a set of polyhedral dice or use the JavaScript roller at the bottom of the post...

[Update: I made a sci-fi RPG version too]

The d20 - The entrance:

1. is up (or down) a sheer cliff.
2. has become the lair of a beast.
3. is hidden by thorny undergrowth.
4. has soldiers camped outside.
5. has sunk underwater.
6. is guarded by a magical construct.
7. was magically sealed.
8. is guarded by an intelligent undead.
9. has collapsed, is there an alternative?
10. is haunted by vengeful spirits.
11. requires a lost key (or keys) to open.
12. is guarded by the local militia.
13. is not located where the maps say it is.
14. has been infested with giant vermin.
15. can only be accessed using magic.
16. is the home of an elemental or similar.
17. is opened by machinery that is missing a part.
18. is trapped in some way.
19. is known only to a select few.
20. is one of many, the rest are decoys or deathtraps.

Populating the RPG Planning Grid, or Filling Your PANTS

Let's imagine I'm starting my new campaign, and to keep prep low and help tie all the emerging plotlines together I'm using my 5x5 grid of Places, Antagonists, NPC's, Things, and Scenes.

Image (cc) AsymmetricButterfly

I need something going on in the background, so I'm just going to roll up a random plot arc:

Crafted long ago by Lizardfolk, from the bones of a gargantuan beast to be wielded in a war against Undead, this is a spear of destiny. It makes the wielder speak in the language of the creator until attuned and is well balanced, or somehow blessed or guided, adding +1 to attack rolls. The wielder must avenge the death of the last hero who fell using it to awaken its powers, when it will become a +2 magic weapon that blazes on contact and deals an additional 3d6 damage to the intended enemies

This might be the main plot arc of the whole campaign, or it may never get any screen-time.  It doesn't matter, it matters that it gives me some elements and a vague idea for a story.  The story can (and will) change, but that's cool. That's the point of the grid.  Quickly I scribble some stuff in:

Places	The graveyard of the Gargants
Antagonists	The massing forces of the Undead
NPCs
Things	The Gargantbone Spear
Scenes

Now what about our characters' stories?

One-Roll Random D&D 5e Characters

I have been working on a procedural character generator for 5e, as I find the system isn't necessarily built around making characters interesting, but it's involving learning a new language so is taking a while.  I'll post it when it's done!

Image (cc) Mikeypetrov

SO! Here's a quick generator you can use now, with a reason to take non-minmaxed stats and a life event to add some inspiration for background colour.

Why not grab a set of polyhedrals or use the button at the bottom to generate someone interesting?

The d8 - Race

1. Human
2. Elf
3. Dwarf
4. Halfling
5. Dragonborn
6. Tiefling
7. Gnome
8. Half Elf or Half Orc

Campaign Planning Grids for Plot Elements

I have been playing around with ways to make my planning easier, more dynamic, and more focused.  The idea I've hit upon is mainly inspired by Technoir's "Transmissions" and the sheets I had made to track the Enemies, Friends, Complications, Things and Places for each system in my Stars Without Number campaign.

Image (cc) Sheam Bo

I was using a 5x3 grid for SWN - one for each category for each tag I used, including the Trade tags from Suns of Gold, and it worked well.  However it didn't feel like there was much continuity in terms of the plot, and I was keeping notes elsewhere on what was happening on and off screen. Given that the system is designed for sandbox games that's fine, but in retrospect I think I overplanned here for my needs and should only really have had one of each category for background, side plots, and local colour - but that's for another article...

Campaign Planning, Reusability, and Separation of Concern

Some important concepts from my work in computer software can definitely be applied to campaign planning. Let's talk about two of them.

Image (cc) Tim Probert

Separation of Concern

Think of any dungeon* you've seen - or have written - with a map of the layout, lists of encounters for each room, key items and notes on where they are hidden.  How many times have you, as GM, had to skip, rearrange, shuffle or rebuild parts in response to the party's actions? Exactly.

Separating the elements means more flexibility.  Generally, the dungeon map doesn't care what monsters lie within and the monsters don't care what important treasures they guard. So if we plan loosely we can make it easier to change or add things on the fly.

Starting Infinity with Haqqislam, or What I Should Have Done

Infinity is an awesome game. I love how dynamic it is and the minis are brilliant. I hate how overwhelming it is for new players, which stems from:

• Having many, many, special rules and equipment choices despite the elegance of the core rules.
• There are no bad unit choices, so it's hard to narrow things down.
• Starter boxes contain a good mix of units but these are not necessarily beginner friendly - Haqq box I am looking at you!

When I started I bought as much Haqq as I could, mainly through bulk sales on FaceBook, and a few new pieces that I wanted because they were cool or because people on the internet recommended them.  Looking at my 7-800 points of unpainted Haqq and still having things I want, I can't help thinking that - especially as a casual player - I should have taken a different approach...

Building Robots (for World Domination)

Image (cc) Cameron Daigle

I happened to chance upon the brilliant Twitter bot @doskvolscores and it prompted me to start thinking about bots and automation.

I had been playing with some of the old automation stuff the blog was set up with long ago; it seems the feed aggregators are mostly gone, as RSS has gone out of fashion, but the feeds are still going strong. They're what power a lot of the links in the sidebar as well as the blogroll, so I started seeing what I could do with them.

RPG Blog Carnival - One Roll Fae NPCs

Since my last Carnival post I've been thinking about Faerie NPCs, what sort of things they might want and what interesting trades they might offer unwary PCs … grab a set of polyhedral dice or use the JavaScript roller below to find out!

The d6 - Type

1. Dryad or other female Fae
2. Satyr or other male Fae
3. Sprite or Leprechaun
4. Pixie or Faerie
5. Wild Elf or Gnome
6. man-beast of some kind: Faun, Centaur, Kitsune...

The d4 - It has an aspect of

1. spring - bright green shades, suggestions of flower buds
2. summer - vivid colours, suggestions of flowers in full bloom
3. autumn - red / brown shades, suggestions of fruits and seeds
4. winter - grey or white shades, suggestions of bark or twigs

Gaming With The Kids at Ambush Wargames Show

Yesterday I took my two eldest to Ambush which is run annually by my FLGS at our local showground.  I wasn't sure what to expect, and how long they'd want to stay...

• After a look round the stalls we enjoyed an introductory game of Blood Bowl run by the local gaming club Wolds Wargamers.  Both of them had so much fun they wanted to buy a copy straight away! It was a close and very swingy game, ending in victory for my daughter from the jaws of defeat.
• Both wanted to have a go at painting so we grabbed a free mini each and spent an hour or so in the painting area while the painting competition was being judged.  Suffice to say we didn't produce anything that could compete!
• We all got talking about all sorts of games - we didn't even get to play any of the boardgames which I thought they would make a beeline for - and my son even wanted to have a quick game of Infinity when we got home, so all in all a positive experience.

Is this a shameless plug? Maybe … but it was a great event, all very friendly, and the work put in deserves recognition. It's running today as well, and then hopefully back bigger and better next year.

Railroad / Sandbox / Other - The Third Alternative

Image (cc) Dean Peters

There is a sliding scale between the "Railroad" and the "Sandbox" when it comes to RPG campaigns, and between pre-planned and on-the-fly content.

Railroads are pre-set linear story paths that the players can break by deviating from them; this is the main criticism that tends to be levelled at traditional published adventures.  The storyteller in me wants a beginning, a middle, and an end for my campaign "season" just like a TV season, but I don't want to railroad the players. And I don't want to prep it all up-front!

Sandboxes are environments that let the plots be driven by the players; the GM leaves hooks and clues for them to find but the story follows the players' choices.  The storyteller in me loves this, I love to build in player stories, but I don't want to prep a load of stuff that won't get used and I don't want to wing too much

But these aren't the only structure options, these are just the options we see in modules because they are the options that are easy to publish.  I'm looking for a low-prep option 3.

9 Blog Posts I've Enjoyed Reading in June

Image (cc) Rachel Swallows

Here's a brief rundown of some of the gems I've found in the RPG blogosphere since the last digest, I'm going to try to do this every month...

Sheep and Sorcery breaks down what I always felt about how people build characters in D&D/d20 games vs other games. It's interesting reading as a player and a DM.

DIY and Dragons makes a very valid point about hallways and how to describe them, and provides a link to this very interesting post on how (not) to describe dungeons; we've all been faced with arbitrary left-or-right decisions...

I have enjoyed the idea of "The Best Blog You Are Not Reading" over at The Other Side, and the few of the featured blogs too, you should check it out.

Rolls, Rules and Roles provides thought provoking insight into "Post-OSR" gaming and the Interactionist mindset - which I never realised I belonged to until it was pointed out here.

I stumbled upon this (admittedly OLD) post on Coins and Scrolls about an OSR Pirate game - I've always wanted to play a Pirate game - and from there to the fascinating concept of the "Counter-colonial Heistcrawl"...

There's a very interesting article on Legacy of the Bieth on a Leftist OSR and PCs investing their spoils of adventure in the community - It appeals to me as a way to root characters in the world and have them drive and see change.

Meandering Banter meanders into player death and the brilliant idea of letting the rest of the party sit in judgement of where the character ends up in the afterlife.

Unlawful Games has a fantastic d100 Bottled Things table which frankly just about covers everything one could imagine!

And of course the Blog Carnival is focusing on Faerie/Fey themed content this month; head over to Pitfalls and Pixies for the prompts and links.

Please support the blogosphere and let me know any great finds of your own in the comments.

Dungeon World + Trilemma Adventures

Last week I got to run a one shot of Dungeon World - for all my enthusiasm about it I had never actually played it - but I'd heard good things.  I'd also heard good things about Trilemma Adventures so I decided to grab one of their free dungeons to play in.  How did it go?  Read on, bold adventurer...

We played The Sky Blind Spire by Michael Prescott

Dynamic RPG Plotting Project

Image (cc) paganjesus

I'm the kind of person who likes to have a project, so I'm setting myself one right here.

For years I've been looking for a way to weave the player characters into engaging plots while still keeping prep low and flexibility high, and it finally feels like things are falling into place. My hobby project for the rest of this year [EDIT: now ongoing!] is going to be formalising my ideas and getting them down on paper. Electrons. Like so:

1. How I Learned to Let Go and Embrace the Chaos
2. Railroad / Sandbox / Other
3. Reusability and Separation of Concern 
4. Using a Grid for Plot Components
5. Populating the Grid 
6. Using the Grid for Planning 
7. Reshuffling Items in the Grid 
8. Example Campaign 

Sounds manageable, and by the end I'll know if it works or not. Hope you'll follow along. I'll be using this post as an index as I go and post a retrospective at the end, wish me luck!

RPG Blog Carnival - A Band of Fair Folk

Image (cc) amorphisss

Fae don't seem to feature much in Dungeons and Dragons games (that I have played) and I think it's probably because they're low challenge in combat. But why would faeries, who are essentially physically weak extradimensional magic users, be interested in engaging in combat when they could be playing to their strengths?

By their nature, the Fair Folk are otherworldly, capricious, playful, powerful, and broadly disinterested in us and our world unless they can derive some entertainment or gain.

Here are my thoughts on how to take advantage of this nature to have fun at the table:

(WIP) Playbooks for Stars Without Number

Image (cc) BiPiCado

Midway through my recent SWN campaign I started reading some "Powered By The Apocalypse" games and I really liked the ideas of a) tying the story to the characters and b) character playbooks to help flesh them out.  It reminded me of what I liked about Beyond The Wall.

I started making some "playbooks" for Season 2 of the campaign when one of the players talked to me about not being sure where his PC came from or how it fit in.

They're not complete - by any stretch! - but you can download my Stars Without Number Character Playbooks in their current state from Google Drive and adapt them to your game.

Screenshot below:

Stars Without Number Ship Combat Control Sheet

Image (cc) desuran

I've talked about Stars Without Number a lot. I think I'll probably continue to do so; I love it. One thing I did find hard to keep track of was Ship Combat, fantastic system/minigame though it is, so I decided to make this control sheet. I also think I ran it slightly differently to the book - it felt right to me - so I'll explain how to use the sheet to run it the way I did. I'm sure you can adapt it.

I suggest you have:

• A copy of the Ship Combat Actions for each player (I printed handouts from the free SWN rules) for reference
• One SWN Ship Combat Control Sheet for the table - click to download from Google Drive
• A collection of minis, markers, or tokens to help keep track.  They can represent the players directly or indirectly, it's just for visual reference on the sheet.

5 Ways to Support The Blogosphere (And Why You Should)

Image (cc) Ivy Dawned, on Flickr

Way back when, round about 2010, there was something called the RPG blogosphere.  It was awesome. It was like some kind of interconnected network of blogs, a web that went worldwide. Then with the increasing uptake of "social media" the blogosphere dwindled - but now it's back I think it's important that we keep it running.

Comment
We like comments, that's why we have them enabled.  These blogs are public spaces to share thoughts, ideas, and resources where feedback is always welcome; nobody likes to think they're just shouting into The Void.  As a bonus, comments on blogs add links back to the author's blog and links mean a) more curious traffic shuttles between them and b) better SEO because it counts as a word of mouth recommendation as far as search engine spiders are concerned. It was part of the original design philosophy and it's why spammers spam and why some blogs have limitations on who can comment, or require moderation.

This is a social medium, so lets be social.  And it only starts there...

On DMing, or How I Learned to Let Go and Embrace the Chaos

Image (cc) Kridily

Dungeons & Dragons is a bad game.*  Bad naughty.  It's irresponsible in that it doesn't show us how to be Dungeon Masters - my favourite term for which is Apocalypse World's "MC" as we are, after all, Master of Ceremonies above all else.

D&D teaches us to build encounters, but not how to build stories and worlds.  It teaches us to think in terms of probabilities and not stakes.  I learnt to DM on 4e and I've spent maybe a decade unlearning how it was presented to me then.  It took Stars Without Number and Dungeon World to open my eyes to how a game could be run.

One Roll Weapons of Destiny for D&D 5e

Image (cc) Blazbaros

I'm always toying with ways to tie the PCs, the world, and the story together.  These are weapons that can be found and used by starting characters but are in some way destined for the end game, and requiring the completion of a mid-tier quest arc.  Roll a set of polyhedrals (or use the button at the bottom of the post) to discover your destined weapon!

The d20 - Crafted long ago by...

1. Dwarves, from rare minerals and alloys
2. Gnomes, from fine silver woven with spells
3. Elves, from a branch of the oldest tree
4. Drow, from darkness made tangible
5. Angels, from a fragment of a star
6. Elementals, from distilled elemental energy
7. Fey, sung into shape from some organic matter
8. Merfolk, from the horn of a narwhal
9. Slaadi, from the remains of a dead Modron
10. Mind flayers, from psychically infused iron
11. Devils, and was forged in the fires of the Hells
12. Demons, from solidified corruption
13. Centaurs, from finest polished bronze
14. Yuan-Ti, from the bones of a Naga
15. A vampire, and was forged and cooled in blood
16. A lich, by corrupting a hero's weapon
17. A banshee, and lost by her in death
18. Lizardfolk, from the bones of a gargantuan beast
19. A sphinx, from a treasure of the gods
20. Orcs, by melting down the weapons of their foes

Refocus and rebuild

Image (cc) Manuel Regalado

A personal update: due to time constraints and the current focus of my gaming this blog is going to focus mainly on RPGs from now.

I have loads of ideas for resources, and I want somewhere to share them, and I want to start on a big project about campaign and adventure planning, so any stuff on wargaming or boardgames might get lost.

Also to do:

• go through and update broken images/links
• follow more blogs and add them to the roll

Wish me luck!

Villagers Unboxing and First Impressions

My Villagers Kickstarter pledge arrived the other day, I must say I'm pretty impressed.

Is it half empty or half full?

Everything fits nicely in the box, although it seems half empty I realised the space is for those who got the wooden coins, so it's nice that it should all fit in the main box!

  

 

Rollin' around the 'sphere

Image (cc) Igor Esaulov

Having been away a long time I wasn't sure what was left of the blogosphere but it's great to see all these marvellous things already:

Library of Attnam has a handy list of d101 Sci-Fi gadgets, for when the players need to find something interesting out there...

Someone recommend Trilemma Adventures for one sheet (well, two page) dungeons and I'm glad they did.  The site has a Kickstarter for an adventure compendium which looks well worth backing and closes at the end of May.

I stumbled across d4 Caltrops' ongoing list of interesting forest hexes which is well worth checking out if you're a hexcrawler - or just looking for things to fill in the blanks!

I was intrigued by Roleplaying Tips' d6 ways to spice up next session as it made me think I must be doing something right; this sounds like business as usual at my group's table and if it's not the DM doing it to the players the players are doing it to themselves!

Charisma over at Stuffer Shack makes a very good point about ruling with players in conflicts - and it's great to see one of my old favourite blogs still running.

It's been great to see that the RPG Blog Carnival is still going strong too.  Drop by Roll4 and see what's going on before it moves on next month.

It's clear I need to update my blogrolls but I'm looking forward to exploring and finding new favourites and hidden gems, recommendations in the comments would be very much appreciated!

Friday Freebie: Stars Without Number

Image (cc) Phil Parker on Flickr

How could I not recommend the magnificent Stars Without Number as a top tier FREE GAME?

Stars Without Number is the game that changed how I DM.  It helped me prep just enough and forgot about "building encounters" and start enjoying the game so much more. It's the game I wish I'd run first, but more on that later.

But how does it play?

Mechanically, it's an odd mix of d20 (for combat and saves) and 2d6 (for skills) but the players didn't seem to mind.  Skills are distinct enough without being too granular and it all seems to work.  Being an OSR game there are hit dice and hit points, and my favourite method for rolling HP when you level I have seen so far: roll all your hit dice and get that if it's higher than your current total, or get +1 HP if you rolled lower.  It really helps to smooth the curve.

Making Skill Checks More PBTA

Image (cc) oxpal

One thing I loved when reading Dungeon World was how all the moves fall into the same basic pattern:

• 10+ (on 2d6 plus modifiers) means clean success
• 7-9 means success, but with a cost or limitation
• 6 or less means failure and the DM moves the story along

It's an easy change from pass/fail and it runs right through all "Powered by the Apocalypse" games.  Note how there's no DC. I like this. So often my players roll skill checks and announce the result before I decide the DC that I end up just eyeballing it - so why not get rid of it? This is all about stakes and not about difficulty.

RPG Blog Carnival - One Roll Festivals

Festivals can add colour and a change of scene and pace to our games, so grab a set of polyhedrals (or roll one at the bottom of the post) and let's see what's going on!

The d4 - origins:

1. It's ancient, dating back to before the current civilisation began.  Perhaps the current rulers are trying to stop it, or perhaps it's important that the people who celebrate it don't die out?
2. It's traditional and has been practiced for generations here.  Perhaps the original meaning has been lost, or prophecy states it must run for 100 years?
3. It's new.  Perhaps the organisers could do with some help getting things set up, or perhaps someone is trying to make sure it's not a success?
4. Outsiders. It's touring.  Perhaps some mischief - or wonder - follows in its wake?

Painting Progress - Infinity Demo

I'm painting up some Infinity minis so my FLGS can run demo games.  I'm even making resources too, because I love this game so darn much.  It's a hard slog, so I'm posting progress here to try and motivate myself as I'm a super slow painter.

I've got 12 minis to do as I'm doing 2 Demo Packs to get 6 minis a side and writing up some basic rules - wish me luck!

Character - Marigold Silvereyes

I'm playing in a 5e campaign from next week, and I find 5e can be dull and uninspired. So I left it to this generator for my 5th level starting character...

Marigold Silvereyes is a halfling barbarian, a war orphan who was good with her hands and left empty and angry by the war.

I rolled 16, 13, 12, 10, 7, 7 and decided to put the 16 in STR and use her halfling bonuses to bump DEX and CON to 14s. Not too shabby, but still with two dump stats to assign I decided to take CHA as the better one as I already had Persuasion from Guild Artificer and thought Intimidate might be fun from the Barbarian skill list.  Tough cookie.  I also took Athletics so I could run, jump, and climb trees as well as bully monsters.

Upkeep Phase

Hello. 

Image (cc) Kevin Dooley

I've been doing a spot of housekeeping with the intention of getting this blog back up and running, I'm now getting plenty more gaming in and have more time to talk about it!