Episode 42: Sight Unseen/ Putting your Money Where your Mouth is.

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Episode 42: Sight Unseen/ Putting your Money Where your Mouth is.
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How do you know whether to jump into a setting you have never used before? What can you do to help you figure out if it is right for you?

 

Know what settings you do like – it is easiest to know what you won’t like if you know what you do like or what it is you are looking for.  If you are in the mood for high fantasy, a game with a cyborg on the cover isn’t the best option for you. Similarly, a role playing heavy focus may want to steer clear of a cover full of explosions.  Trust the game to market itself to you for what it really is.

 

Look to a Licensed Property You Adore – If you love a part of the setting, it is easy to slip into it.  If you are a fiend for superheroes, and a game comes out in your favorite universe, take the plunge and grab it!

 

Friend’s Review/Recommendation – If you have friends that you trust, listen to their recommendations?  Ask your compatriots online (like the Seize the GM Facebook group) if they have heard of this game or this setting.

 

Know Your Tone – Remember how we talked about knowing what tone or theme you are setting so you can adapt to the your players?  

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

The Wanderer

He is known as The Wanderer. You would miss him as he passes near you. Who is he, he is that houseless man you just passed on the street. He didn’t ask for anything unlike the rest of the homeless in the area. His cloths are worn and patched but clean. His backpack is old worn and more patched then his clothes. He is hard to pinpoint as for his age. As he turns away like a stalking cat you thought you caught the glint of a knife strapped to his lower back.

The man was just a normal kid that wanted to be a teacher after he finished college. He had a turn that put him out on the street for a few days. During that time he was just outside of the area that a killer was running amok. He dodged the killer and has spent the last two decades hunting killers down.Be they normal mortals or things that go bump in the night. The Wanderer bumps back.

 

Joules-

Nothing this week.

 

Guard-a-Manger-

A Plain Worn Warhammer

Sometimes you don’t know what you are getting into, but other times it is plain as day. This warhammer has no other uses but as a weapon.  It’s balance and heft are most certainly intended to be deployed on the field of battle. What may be striking, though, is that the hammer is plain and unadorned.  No extra designs worked into the head, no fancy carving on the haft. No intricate leatherwork on the straps worked around it’s handholds.

 

The only hint to its history comes weeks later.  A small band of raiders, or so you thought, beset you and it became clear they were after the hammer.  This simple hammer has their attention. They share a tattoo or brand that you don’t recognize. One with a hammer motif worked into it.  

 

This isn’t the last time someone comes after you for the hammer nor the last time a merchant offers a truly impressive price for such a basic tool.  Maybe, your mind begins to think, there is something more to this hammer. How do you find out if this is anything more than mere coincidence? How can you put at rest the slowly growing doubts in the back of your mind? Where do you even start?

 

Lexicon

Zealot  noun zeal·ot  \ ˈze-lət \

 

Definition of zealot

1 :a zealous person; especially a fanatical partisan a religious zealot
2 capitalized :a member of a fanatical sect arising in Judea during the first century a.d. and militantly opposing the Roman domination of Palestine

 

Origin and Etymology of zealot
Late Latin zelotes, from Greek zēlōtēs, from zēlos

 

First Known Use: 1537

 

Popularity: Top 10% of words

 

Did You Know?
In the 1st century A.D., a fanatical sect arose in Judaea to oppose the Roman domination of Palestine. Known as the Zealots, they fought their most famous battle at the great fortress of Masada, where 1,000 defenders took their own lives just as the Romans were about to storm the fort. Over the years, zealot came to mean anyone who is passionately devoted to a cause. The adjective zealous may describe someone who’s merely dedicated and energetic (“a zealous investigator”, “zealous about combating inflation”, etc.). But zealot (like its synonym fanatic) and zealotry (like its synonym fanaticism) are used disapprovingly—even while Jews everywhere still honor the memory of those who died at Masada.

Closing remarks

Zendead- TMNT and other Strangeness

 

Joules- Child’s Play, Thomas T. Vincent

 

Guard-a-Manger- Go see live music and art exhibits

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

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Card Catalog – The Cermak Street Irregulars

This round of card catalog characters are from FASA Games 1879 RPG.  1879 is the FASA Game steampunk setting that uses the CoreStep mechanic that is part of the Earthdawn setting, and is actually the future of Earthdawn.  For those fans of history, Shadowrun was the future of Earthdawn when FASA Inc. owned the intellectual property to both of those games but over 15 years ago, that IP was split up and FASA Games has the Earthdawn license while CGL now has the Shadowrun license.  

Setting Notes

1879 is set in an alternate past in the year, surprise surprise, 1879. There are some significant changes, such as the advanced level of technology that you would expect in a Steampunk style game as well as the prominence of the British Empire, both the Union and Confederacy coming out of the American Civil War, and most prominently The Rabbit Hole.  A stable portal between Earth and what is being called The Gruv exists in London and its opening coincided with a surge of magical energy providing actual magic to Earth as well as the appearance of Boojums – elves, dwarves, snarks, trolls and the like. In this world, your adventures await.

System Notes

Like Earthdawn, 1879 defines the level of prowess of a character in “steps” that are the result of combining and Attribute with a Skill or Power for a “Step Number” that tells you how many of what kind of dice to roll.  Every player will select a Profession which has a set number of Core and Optional Skills that fit within that archetype. Unlike other games, however, the magic level is low and the opportunity for noncombat based challenges is high because Social Level is quantified in this game and the Professions include such things as Journalist, Investigator, and Scientist. When selecting your Profession, you get a limited number of slots into which you can use your starting ranks, and Free Skills that round out your character cannot be in the list of your Profession’s skills. Gear is left a little loose and in the hands of the GM and your social level has its own rank and requirements for upkeep – both monetarily and in terms of social standing. The game certainly takes care and pains to have the setting fleshed out and reflected in the mechanics of the characters.

The Cermak Street Irregulars

The Cermak Street Irregulars are a group of friends and acquaintances who habituate or live in the Hackney Borough of 1879 London.  The name is a tip of the hat to the original address of FASA Inc. on Cermak street in Chicago, but I’ll take a liberty to place a Cermak neighborhood in Hackney for these purposes.  This set of characters are all middle class or lower social levels. These are a group of people who do not hold the keys to power in the British Empire. Their exploits, however, may expose them to more and more of those powerful people and forces requiring them to see whether they can maintain a sense of self and honor while exposing the truth that is hiding just below the genteel surface of 1879’s London. In designing them, the importance of the Perception attribute, which also encompasses intelligence, became apparent.  There are some similarities between a number of the characters and they are light on the combat abilities. Because I set them in London, rather than the other side of the Rabbit Hole, Soldiers and Military Officers didn’t fit as Professions and Saurids are not part of this group as a race.

Reginald Blasterwait – Dwarven Journalist

If there was a leader of this group, it would probably be Reginald. Having lost his family profession when he became a dwarf, Reginald has discovered that his love of writing could take him even further.  Learning etiquette, protocol, and the gossip of the aristocrats at the knee of his father has prepared him to place the hard questions before the aristocrats and powerful people in London all the while making it home to see his wife and disabled father.  A bit of a stubborn and prideful person, Reginald has a weakness for exposing the truth behind the honeyed words of the upper classes.

Herbert von Kalben – Anarchist Byron

The son of one of the original Byrons who has a strong anarchist bend.  Byrons are the hackers of 1879 illicitly altering the programming of the Difference Engines and Analytic Engines being used to advance the world.  He sees the world as being too controlled by the powerful and that freedom from nations, from aristocracy, and from the difference engines should be the true goal of humanity.  Yes, the skills he possesses to manipulate these machines puts him at odds with the belief that humanity should find more freedom. Both agile and mentally acute, Herbert is skilled with a sword and well as with the inner workings of the great Engines.

Florabella “Flo” Barton – Irascible Brassman

Flo is pretty well known in Hackney as a tinkerer and Brassman.  She is a sight, though, as a human shorter than some dwarves with a cigar puffing away and a mouth that would turn a sailor blue.  Flo knows her way around the seedy side of London and nobody has gotten her story out of her yet. It’s probably for the best that the rst of Hackney doesn’t know her story, but for now she and Herbert are collaborating on some sort of clever or crazy or both experiment with Pleasance adding her expertise.  The most uncouth member of the Cermak Street Irregulars may also be the one that the Borough would most miss.

Richie Orlando – Snark Pioneer

Most Americans who wanted to explore went West after the bloody truce of the American Civil War. After spending some time on the range, Richie Orlando went East.  Popping across the pond in a steamer ship after seeing everyone and their cousin already heading to the Wild West, Richie knew he could find the next step of his passage in London.  Sure, he has spent some time being hired on by Big Game Hunters and sharing his know-how with Brits, but he really wants a bit more for himself. Big Game Hunters can hunt well, but they have their problems without the creature comforts of home and The Gruv means the basics of survival are needed by more and more people as they head to this new and wild land Richie hopes to visit.  Richie’s ten gallon hat and drawl make him stick out like a sore thumb, and coming down with Looking Glass Fever didn’t help any when he woke up a Snark. In Hackney, his skills of making do and basic sufficiency can be as handy in the crowded buildings that pass as homes, and with the Irregulars sometimes finding themselves out in the Country, Richie’s tagging along as the chance to get a ticket down the Rabbit Hole.

Pleasance Desdemona Aylen – Elf Weird Scientist

SCIENCE! is one of the greatest things of the British Empire! Here, Pleasance, pushes the boundaries of the world’s understanding of natural philosophy as a Scientist whose brilliance is not yet recognized! Her theories using phlogiston and electrostatic charges pushes the boundaries of what was thought lost 200 years ago.  Still on the outskirts of accepted theory, Pleasance has found Hackney to be a perfect place to continue her experiments and the Irregulars have been a perfect opportunity to field test her theories! And share a pint of bitter. SCIENCE! can be lonely at times.

 

1879™ is a Trademark of FASA Corporation. The Grosvenor Land™, The Gruv™, and the Samsut™ are Trademarks of FASA Corporation. This fan work does not claim or imply a claim to any marks or copyrights claimed by the FASA Corporation or other copyright holders.  Please visit FASA Games for more information about 1879. 

The Cermak Street Irregulars – Reginald Blasterwait

Design Notes

One of the Professions I wanted to work with when designing this round of characters for Card Catalog was the Journalist.  Simply put, this is a Profession or class that could be an amazing amount of fun in a game that isn’t often explored. Reginald is off to a slow start, however, because the choice of dwarf does make it harder for him to excel in his chosen Profession because of the Charisma skills associated with the Profession and the dwarven penalty to Charisma.   

First, I put a premium on getting his Perception to Step 7 with Charisma not far behind.  These are going to be the two most important Attributes for him. That left only 4 points to spread between the other Attributes so I made him a bit of a frail dwarf and reduced his Strength and Dexterity so I could trade that for an increased Willpower Attribute.  

As a Journalist, Reginald’s Professional Skill, tied to his entire Profession, is Artisan (Writing) which I bolstered by selecting Knowledge (Current Events), Eidetic Memory, Evidence Analysis, and Awareness from his Core Skill listing.  In his Optional Skills, he picked Bribery and Danger Sense. I would have selected etiquette from his background, but it is a Novice Tier Skill. His Free Knowledge slots to start were in Politics and Secrets of the Aristocracy, which we’ll explore the reason for in his Story Notes below. For his other Free Skills, I added a few ranks of a rank of Physician and added a Read & Write rank for German though he can’t speak a lick of it.  Reginald is quite competent in getting answers from Aristocrats and the Upper Class even if he is not a member himself.

When he advanced to the second rank of Journalist, he also advanced a Professional Tier to Novice.  With his additional slots for skills, he added Etiquette and Firearms slots as he discovered what he needed to do better as well finally learning to Speak German and Read French further enhancing his future as a Journalist. Also, the pretty much immediately useful rank in Durability is added as a requirement for longevity. Because Free skills are more expensive than Professional, Core, or Optional skills, bumping up his knowledges and free skills took a lot of Adventure Points especially by adding Knowledge (Court Politics) to two ranks and adding Melee Weapons.

On the low end of the social class scale, there is not much in the way of gear to worry about equipping.  Reginald is far more useful outside the fights than in the midst of them.

Character Notes

Reginald Blasterwait’s family has a long history.  A long history as household servants to the Aristocracy.  His father was regarded as one of the most accomplished Butler’s of his generation.  Reginald was schooled from the back of the great houses on what it meant for a Proper Household to be run.  He learned more from listening to his father explain the needs of the day to the staff than he did from running around outside in the yards and gardens.  

His life was unremarkable in many respects.  As a child, he played when he could, studied when he was told, and lived the life of a youth in her majesty’s Empire.  He met a girl and fell in love. He married and his parents were thrilled to see their family grow. Why, his father’s employer even sent a beautiful and well preserved quill and ink well as a wedding gift showing his fondness for the elder Blasterwait’s service. Despite training to be a household servant himself, Reginald wiled away what time he had reading and even trying his hand at writing stories and poetry.

Something about this relationship between the servants and the aristocracy had left Reginald feeling a bit odd, though.  It wasn’t until two things came about in the past several years that he took on a jaded view of the wealth and power that ran the Empire. The first was Looking Glass Fever – not long after The Rabbit Hole opened, scores of men and women came down with LGF as it was known, and for Reginald, he emerged from the sickness as a Boojum, and specifically a dwarf.  No longer could he “measure up” to his Father’s skill as he was told. Shortly after being let go from the Household, his Father befell a serious injury taking a fall that wrecked both his legs leaving him an invalid. His employer cut him loose without a second thought.

The Blasterwait’s quickly left the countryside for London to try to make a fresh start, but found limited success.  The entire family lives together in a flat just a little too small and a little too dirty while trying to make ends meet.  Reginald’s wife found employment as a maid easily enough, but the real surprise was Reginald’s newfound employment as a Journalist.  It turns out his ear for rumors and mind for words was a perfect fit in the burgeoning press of London. Now, along with the rest of the Cermak Street Irregulars, he finds himself balancing time with his wife, caring for his father, and traipsing into danger and adventure as a multitude of plots unfold in and around the Borough of Hackney.

He and Von Kalben spend a lot of time talking about where society is going and whether the British Empire is going to be the end of humanity as we know it – Reginald isn’t quite as much of an anarchist when push comes to shove.  

Cermak Street Irregulars Here

Reginald Character Sheet Here

Fillable PDF Sheet from FASA Games.  

1879™ is a Trademark of FASA Corporation. The Grosvenor Land™, The Gruv™, and the Samsut™ are Trademarks of FASA Corporation. This fan work does not claim or imply a claim to any marks or copyrights claimed by the FASA Corporation or other copyright holders.  Please visit FASA Games for more information about 1879.  

Episode 41: Interview with Ed Stolph from Scabard campaign management software

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Episode 41: Interview with Ed Stolph from Scabard campaign management software
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Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

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Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

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Callies Song – Sharvon

Design Notes

Our rolls for stats gave us a 13, 14, 9, 15, 14, and 15.  Aside from that low Wisdom, it is a solid stat line, but to make this thief, I dropped Strength by 4 points to raise Dexterity by 2 resulting in 9, 14, 9, 17, 14, and 15. There is some background information from the Darokin Gazetteer, but no additional special rules beyond what we covered from the Rules Cyclopedia in the overview. There is a special Merchant Class, similar to the Minrothad Merchant-Prince Class, but Sharvon hasn’t available himself of it yet – maybe once he learns the mysteries of Darokin’s certified letters of credit.

Coming from Darokin, and with good Intelligence and Charisma, I decided to lean into the Darokinian reputation as diplomats and design Sharvon around that idea rather than just a classic cutpurse thief. Specifically, I took the skills of Deception and Persuasion to go with the Knowledge of Overland Trading Routes and Quick Draw skills to begin.  He did start to pick up Detect Deception, but he isn’t very good with it.

For his weapon specializations, he started with Short Sword and Light Crossbow, and has really focused on that crossbow since they need as much missile weapon support as possible raising it to Expert.  Linguistically, I gave him a smattering of languages to reflect Darokin’s central overland trading experience after the Darokinian, Chaotic Alignment Tongue and Thyatian by adding Atruaghin and Ylari.

Optional D &D Rules Notes

As a Thief, Sharvon only started with 2 Weapon Specializations and has raised his crossbow to Expert which is where it starts to get much more difficult to advance.

Weapon Specializations

  • Light Crossbow – Expert

Sharvon now does 1d6+4 with the Light Crossbow enjoying an additional +4 versus opponents using a hand-held weapon but only +2 against opponents using a missile weapon or monstrous features like claws. The first two missile or monsterous weapon attacks against him are made while he receives a -2 bonus to his Armor Class and he can stun opponents at Short Range.  Short Range, by the by, is now out to 75 feet with his level of skill.

Thief Abilities

The Thief Abilities are not directly tied to any attributes in Basic.  Instead, there is a chart with the level of the thief and the percentage chance of success.  This is one place where many tables have made house rules to provide greater chances of success such as using existing skill descriptions and chances to replace the book’s chance of success.

  • Open Locks – 45%
  • Find Traps – 40%
  • Remove Traps – 38%
  • Climb Walls – 93%
  • Move Silently – 48%
  • Hide in Shadows – 35%
  • Pick Pockets – 50%
  • Hear Noise – 58%

Using the optional rules for General Skills, we could replace this list with a list of General Skills that come with the class, as well as several that wouldn’t be available to non-Thief’s. This would dramatically increase a Thief’s efficacy because the Dex of 17 would give us an 85% chance of success for any dexterity based skills.   

Additionally, Sharvon has an 80% chance to be able to read any non-magical language and the backstab ability.  If able to strike completely unaware, the backstab ability confers a +4 to hit and automatically does double damage.  

 

Character Notes

Growing up in Darokin can be an exciting time! Darokin is the power on the rise, or was before the warm that had found a way to truly thrive.  You see, the civilized areas of Darokin are very civilized as the rich merchants gladly pay for the services needed to keep them up while the wilderness is …. Very wild.  For a talented young boy like Sharvon, trying to find a way into the graces of a Merchant House and finding a fortune to be welcomed into the ruling class was quickly life’s goal. Skiff only comes with skiff.

Apprenticed to a trading company, Sharvon began to learn the ways of Darokin traders which include not only maps and navigations, but some of the hints from the Darokin Diplomatic Corps – the greatest negotiators in the Known World. One problem arose for Sharvon, his boss hated him.  It is hard to get ahead and earn a fortune when you are constantly given the jobs nobody wants with almost no chance for advancement. There aren’t nobles in Darokin, really, only the wealthy, and without a chance to strike it rich, Sharvon was trapped and his dreams stymied.

About this time is when he met Bors, a cleric who acted more than a little differently than the other clerics he had met.  As a cleric of Korotiku, Bors encouraged Sharvon to show the flaws in his boss’s plans and overall stuffiness. Unsurprisingly, Sharvon was fired and told never to return to that Trading Company.  That moment, though, helped him see where he could really make this life his own. He and Bors began travelling together, offering their services in an itinerant manner to towns and individual caravans.

About this time, they came upon Allyn trying to manage an overland route for trading success.  Can you imagine that?! A Minrothad sailor trying to take a caravan through Darokin! Nevermind the Ork, Dwarf, and Sindhi magic-user with him. Those flashy and ostentatious ornamentation of the Minrothad Isles just don’t go over well to understated Darokinians, even the Elite of the Republic. Well, Sharvon knew he could make some coin by helping and thought it would be a fun to poke at the eyes of the trading companies who kept him on the outside.  Gold is gold after all, and this was a way to get more of it.

He has found himself enjoying the company of the crew of the Callie’s Song, if not the actual sailing.  He and Allyn make a truly fearsome pair as merchants between their knowledges of the trade, ports, bargaining, and desire to make more wealth.  The one danger, as always, is that neither is good at looking before they leap. Sometimes this can get them into trouble, like with the Master of Hule and Hatim’s de facto exile but there is hope to be had and gold to be earned yet!  Sharvon has begun to consider petitioning to join the Merchant’s Guild and see if he and Allyn can reach an arrangement to split profits and perhaps begin a true trading powerhouse coupling the seaworthy trading of the Minrothad Guilds with Darokin’s superb caravanning abilities.

Sharvon

Callie’s Song Overview Here.

Fillable Sheet from  Left Rachael Strange Sock available at Pandius.com

 

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. © 2015 Wizards. All Rights Reserved. Seize the GM is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Seize the GM may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards’ Fan Site Policy. For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards’ trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

 

12/05/17

Callies Song – Bors

Design Notes

Starting with the attribute rolls of : 8; 11; 17; 14; 9; 12, we finally have a high wisdom character we can turn into our Cleric! He won’t be the classic tanking Cleric there to fill in the Fighter’s gaps, but we have a lot of fighting types already.  We will look to a different kind of cleric, one who pals around with Sharvon for inspiration instead. Korotiku is an Immortal of trickery and enlightenment through pranks and riddles – a classic “good” trickster figure.

Having started with Korotiku, weapons won’t be as important, especially with those low scores for STR, DEX, and CON.  The staff is actually an excellent defensive option with Weapon Mastery and it is not bladed so we can meet the Cleric’s weapon restrictions.  Similarly, the limited number of languages means that Darokinian, Chaotic, and Thyatian are all Bors has picked up.

With the General Skills option selected for this campaign, all Clerics must take the Honor (Immortal) skill as part of character creation. We will round out this clerical skillset with Lip Reading, Detect Deception, Pilot (Small boats), and eventually Storytelling.  This gives him a great opportunity to pick up on the truth as others know it around him by “overhearing” conversations, sensing when someone is lying, and eventually weaving a story or parable to try to catch them off guard in their thoughts. The Guidance skill will be next as he advances his ability to lead or counsel people in a more straightforward manner.

As a Cleric, Bors has access to all of the spells at each level he can cast and may change those out when he honors Korotiku daily and prays for spells. He usually has the following spells in his queue:

1st Level

  • Cure Light Wounds
  • Cure Light Wounds
  • Protection from Evil

2nd Level

  • Silence 15’ Radius
  • Know Alignment

3rd Level

  • Continual Light
  • Locate Object

Optional D &D Rules

As a Cleric of Korotiku, the optional rules allow Bors to be Chaotic and also to possess the Hide in Shadows ability as if a Thief of similar level.  This skill doesn’t have any restrictions on armor use, but common sense does place some limits on it.

With limited weapon specializations, this unusual cleric has focused on the staff and thrown objects.  Thrown objects, even though at basic level, includes flasks of holy water which are always useful to lob at the undead. When using the thrown objects, Bors can also break out a shield to increase, well decrease, his Armor Class for added protection.

  • Staff – Skilled

As a Skilled Staff fighter, Bors has +3 to hit his opponents (+4 for Skilled Weapon Mastery and -1 for his STR penalty) doing 1d8+1 (already factoring in the -1 from his STR).  While this isn’t much, he also gains an additional -2 AC bonus against the first two attacks of any kind in the round as well as two rolls to deflect missile attacks.

 

Character Notes

A Darokinian Cleric of Korotiku is a strange sight to be sure.  Korotiku is a Hierarch of Thought in the Mystara (™) Immortals, but more of a trickster deity that focuses on exploration of ideas.  He is one of the great Founders of The Hollow World, but is primarily worshipped on the Pearl Islands in The Thyatian Empire. How this influence makes it to the Callie’s Song is a story indeed.

As a good Darokinian youth, Bors was apprenticed to a trading house to get some experience and see what sort of trade work would best suit him.  He was the youngest of three children already and was not expecting there to be room as a Keeper (that’s Darokinian for a Shopkeeper) in his family inheritance. In those travels, he ended up in Thyatis.  Thyatis City to be specific. A chance encounter with a group of Pearl Islanders, including several Rakes (or non-thieving thieves), really did make him re-evaluate all he held dear.

Maybe trade and wealth were not as important as he thought.  Maybe he needed to challenge his family’s assumptions Abandoning his caravan and quitting on the spot, Bors booked passage to the Pearl Islands and became immersed in the culture.  He discovered the clerics of Korotiku and the idea that we can become too rigid, and too calcified, in our thoughts appealed to him. Certainly, the dynamism of Darokin was proof that change can be good but he struggled with how to carry that back with him.

Returning to home, as Darokin was still with his heart, Bors began to poke and prod his fellow Darokinian’s to challenge their beliefs.  An unlikely friendship was struck up with Sharvon, who embodies much of the Darokinian drive but this odd pairing became fast friends. When a strange Minrothad Merchant came through trying to drive a caravan overland, Bors knew that he had found a way to challenge many assumptions.  It certainly didn’t hurt that a Sindhi magic-user, fugitive dwarf, and freed Ork Gladiator were along for the ride.

In the aftermath of the Fall of Alphatia, Bors sees an even greater need to help people challenge their assumptions, change their beliefs, and adjust to a rightfully dangerous new world that resulted.  

Besides, he’s already seen more of the Known World than anybody else in his family.

Bors

Callie’s Song Overview Here.

Fillable Sheet from  Left Rachael Strange Sock available at Pandius.com

 

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. © 2015 Wizards. All Rights Reserved. Seize the GM is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Seize the GM may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards’ Fan Site Policy. For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards’ trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

 

Episode 40: GM Multitasking

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Episode 40: GM Multitasking
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As GMs, you are asked to handle a lot of tasks to make the rest of the world come alive.  While PCs have a lot on their shoulder to cover their characters, you have to fill in the blanks for the rest of the world, however large it is, while also shepherding the story and the mechanics of the game along.  

 

  1. Running the story of the game.
  2. Keeping the rules straight
  3. Helping to mitigate barriers to those things
  4. Keeping the voice of the story
  5. Keeping your friends entertained

 

A lot of these recommendations are when you are still getting established in a system or setting because with practice and experience, it usually becomes easier.  That said, there is nothing wrong with staying on the more detailed preparation side of the GM continuum.

 

Take Notes and have them organized – Use whatever method you prefer to take the notes, but you will rarely be able to store an entire campaign of details in your head. Jot down your ideas, your inspirations, and your plans as you go along so you have them recorded.  Keep the notes organized, or collate the information on the notes afterwards, so you have a ready reference chart of different categories – locations, NPCs, plot threads, et cetera.

 

Have those notes available during the game – You will usually need to have a wide range of information available at your fingertips as a GM and while computers have made it much easier to keep up with it all, nothing quite replaces the physical notes right in front of you.  Have that list of NPCs or even just names and occupations handy so you can just glance at it when the PCs ask who they meet. At the same time, keep taking notes during the game – if a PC makes an impression on an NPC, jot that down in those same notes! If they manage to become wanted men and women, make sure that location has it jotted down.

 

Take shortcuts – Those notes and NPCs can be nearly any NPC with a little improvisation! Keep index cards or electronic notes that are general enough to shape them into something different with minimal effort on the fly. Ballpark the stats for the faceless minions instead of using a full statblock. Find and use cheatsheets for the common areas and rules to have a wide range of references in one page.

 

Use your Players as a Resource – Make players who have specialist characters be the main rules repository for that specialty.  In Shadowrun, that is often Decking or Rigging, in Champions, the Martial Art system, in OWOD, Tremere Thaumaturgy. These specialty areas will have a lot of similarity to other parts of the game but you can leave the deep specifics to those players

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

Horn of Zaldoria

The Horn of Zaldoria is an object that might be hard to call an actual horn. It is a tapering piece of something that has a dark gray color and the flattened end has concentric rings. The last owner of this particular item was a gentleman known as Scaviolus. Not much is known about him other then he felt that he was entitled to this object. What is the horn used for? Some think is a tool to creating immortality. Others feel like it can cut holes in the fabric of reality. Others still feel like it can trick people into thinking it is some kind of mystical doodad. Well what is it really? That is so hard to say since it seems to be both here and not here. Several groups have killed over this item and many people have died in the pursuit of this strange and very real Horn of Zaldoria.

 

Joules-

 

Guard-a-Manger

Goudreaux’s Vintage

Goudreaux’s Vintage is a case of wine, port to be precise, that has been quietly aging for decades.  At the turn of the 20th Century, a vinter ahead of time Goudreaux, began to break from the traditions of his fellow countrymen to experiment with wines.  It was only in the 1950s that cases of his wine were discovered, and that the world realized he had stumbled onto innovations far ahead of his time.

 

An early experiment of his holds sway over the oeniphiles of the world now – a 60 year aged tawny port.  Goudreaux had the foresight to import and use American whiskey barrels to begin the port’s aging, before bottling it in his mid-20s with an instruction not to consider release until at least 60 years of bottle aging had occurred.  Making this port in France rather than Portugal let him use different grapes and different methods, but the result looks to be from his notes an exceptional wine. He even kept back some making an early example of Late Bottled Vintage Port that has been described at the time as simply revelatory. The problem is that while the notes about his port survived none of the vintage port did.  It simply could not be found with the remains of his estate.

 

Now, the case of port is being claimed halfway across the world, stored in a temperature controlled cave away from the rest of the world over the past 70 years.  And this delicate, potentially priceless, cargo is what you must transport. The wine itself is nothing more than a Macguffin – it’s there to be sought and nothing more, but how do you handle this piece of history, this wine that speaks of a time before so many of the modern complications arose, and what complications of the modern day will stand in the PCs way?

 

Lexicon

Ozone      noun \ ˈō-ˌzōn \

 

Definition of ozone

1 :a triatomic very reactive form of oxygen that is a bluish irritating gas of pungent odor, that is a major air pollutant in the lower atmosphere but a beneficial component of the upper atmosphere, and that is used for oxidizing, bleaching, disinfecting, and deodorizing
2 :pure and refreshing air

 

Origin and Etymology of ozone
German Ozon, from Greek ozōn, present participle of ozein to smell

 

First Known Use: 1841

 

Popularity: Bottom 50% of words

 

Closing remarks

Zendead- Wyloch crafting on YouTube

 

Joules-

Guard-a-Manger-

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

Find us on Patreon

Callies Song – Hatim

Design Notes

We have our Magic User! Rolls of: 8; 17; 12; 12; 10; 13, nearly destine you to be a magic-user in D & D because the one exceptional attribute is INT.  I have no problem with this as we have the other bases more or less covered, so a Magic User is a good thing for every party. In the character notes, we will get into the history of the character, but “underneath thehood” it won’t matter too much.

Weapon-wise, Magic Users are quite limited with a dagger or knife being a given and allowing an optional proficiency in the Whip just for fun. With languages, the extra languages came in handy as I expanded from the Thyatian (Common) and alignment argot to also include Sindhi, Alphatian, Yav for the bordering Serene Divinarchy of Yavldom, and  some Tanagoran for a complete oddball choice.

As a mage from a background that expect shim to end up creating magical items for his countrymen, Hatim had a pretty simple set of choices in Alternate Magics and Alchemy.  Leadership is a plus for him with the Knowledge: Politics as he spreads past his family’s original expectations. Finally, Planar Geography is always fun just so the party doens’t get lost if they end up off the Prime Material Plane for whatever reason.  

At sixth level, Hatim has access to First, Second, and Third Level spells. The following are the spells that he has managed to get into his spellbook:

1st Level

  • Analyze
  • Detect Magic
  • Magic Missile
  • Read Magic
  • Shield
  • Sleep

2nd Level

  • Entangle
  • Knock
  • Levitate
  • Web

3rd Level

  • Lightning Bolt
  • Protection from Normal Missiles

Optional D &D Rules

There are few optional rules to note here beyond the weapon specializations.  Using Weapon Specializations does require the GM to allow the Magic-User to have some optional weapons to use but that can add a lot of flavor, like the whip here.  

  • Dagger – Skilled

Being Skilled with a Dagger, Hatim has +1 to hit his armed opponents (+2 for Skilled Weapon Mastery and -1 for his STR penalty) doing 1d6-1 (already factoring in the -1 from his STR).  While this isn’t much, he also gains an additional -1 AC bonus against the first attack from an armed opponent in the round and scores double damage automatically on a natural 20.

  • Whip – Skilled

Using a Whip, Hatim can manage to do 1d4-1 damage with a +1 to hit missile or monstrous foes, but gains a -2 AC bonus against the first two missile weapon or monstrous attacks in a round. When successfully striking an opponent, they are entangled and cannot attack, cast spells or move.  To escape, they must make a saving throw versus Death Ray on their turn, but at a -1 from Hatim’s skill.

 

Character Notes

Hatim was a good boy from Sind.  His family felt great pride when Hatim demonstrated the spark of magic that had been seen in his father and his father before him and his father before him.  As a member of the Jadugerya caste, his life was better than many, though not as well off the truly exceptional castes. He learned from a young age to watch the way the adults spoke and the half-truths that peppered their ever polite speech.  One day, he would be like his Father and craft the magic weapons and rings sought after by his countrymen.

This sense of duty did not survive an encounter with Allyn, though.  Allyn’s foolhardy nature was on display from the very beginning when he was part of an ill-fated trading venture to Sind.  It isn’t that the Minrothad Merchants don’t trade with Sind, but that this ship and this Captain were wholly unsuited for the task.  Hatim was present when this literally washed-up foreigner was brought before the Rajah.

Something spurred Hatim’s curiosity.  While schooled in the ways of the world and the languages of many of the traders that came through Sind, he knew that he did not understand the world. After helping Allyn uncover a duplicitous trader in the docks, Hatim told his plan to his parents. His knowledge of politics and the way that the powerful thought had helped this foreigner and there was much to learn outside the boundaries of Sind. He would better serve his duties to Sind by travelling and learning more of this world and before he was expected to devote his time to crafting the magical items for the Sindhi as Jadugerya, he should see how other countries treat their crafting and magic-users.

Aside from the stories already recounted, Hatim currently faces a great sadness and longing.  During the War of the Empires, The Master of Hule managed to install a puppet as the ruler of Sind. Hatim’s family spoke against the depredations their people faced and for this they were imprisoned and stripped of their status.  Hatim’s family is imprisoned if not dead, his country in the thrall of one of its longest lasting enemies, and his sense of duty leaves him trapped.  How does he help his family and country? Can Allyn put aside his prodigious appetite for gold to help his old friend?

Hatim

Callie’s Song Overview Here.

Fillable Sheet from  Left Rachael Strange Sock available at Pandius.com

 

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. © 2015 Wizards. All Rights Reserved. Seize the GM is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Seize the GM may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards’ Fan Site Policy. For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards’ trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

Episode 39: Leading and Guiding Without Tracks

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Main Topic

Role playing games are collaborative efforts with parts of the story the responsibility of the players as well as the GM.  A temptation for a GM is to try to control the overall story to such a degree that you “railroad” your players potentially leading to an unsatisfying game.  The classic example of a railroaded adventure is a dungeon crawl – there is one way in, one way out, and a predetermined series of encounters along the way that the players cannot change.  How can you as a GM take part in the storytelling in a more planned way without leaving your players feeling like you have put them on tracks? There is always that player that just wants to see what is over the hill, off the map you drew and how do you handle that part of it?

 

The main tools you need are flexibility, openness, and a little trickery.

 

Set a Theme for the Campaign – decide what big picture theme you want to focus on in the campaign and where it starts.  Are you going to look at the conflict between order and chaos? Is this about how a growing empire deals with new territories?  From there, you can shape the campaign a step ahead of the PCs.

 

Let the Ending be Determined in Play – If your campaign focuses on a conflict between two corporate rivals, does it really matter which one wins in the end? Let the Players make decisions that shape how the campaign ends and have a tangible impact.  This style can require you to be a more prepared, and less improvisational, GM because you have to make those parts of the world react to what the PCs did, but it allows you to make it look like a seamless story when really the PCs were able to make it about them all along.

 

Don’t Discard Your Notes – Sometimes, you’ll have the PCs go “off the rails” and need to scrap some encounters and that is okay.  Keep those thoughts, notes, and ideas handy to slide back in later. If the PCs didn’t help the parents in the tavern find their missing child, the next chance to add something into the game replace the orc band with a larger gathering orc horde showing the danger these wild places are making to civilization.  You left a clue that you tied back in later, leading to part of the story you wanted, but without forcing the PCs to have the only clue to solve their problem in that missing child’s hands.

 

Plan set pieces, not Paths – Let the PCs find out “how” to solve a problem on their own.  Instead of worrying about making one solution for each problem, let the PCs decide how to navigate between the major plot points with their ingenuity.

 

Stat Blocks

Zendead-

The Cult of the Void

Also known as the Void by people in the know. They are a very quiet group that has been run quietly and in the shadows for decades. How large are they? Who is controlling them? What is their larger agenda? These are questions people that have looked into this secret group have asked. Do they know? Hard to say since anyone that is not a full member that goes digging has never been able to get information about them out. They have a dress code for when they are out and doing the deeds that they do. It is a white robe with a hood and a white face cover with a single black inverted triangle in the center of the face.

 

The current leader might be anyone but as of right now investigators are looking at this group for  number of missing teens and young adults from the nearby towns. While people have thought that the membership has grown no one is sure and the missing teens could be converted or just missing. What do they want? Well ask them since they are right outside your door and have surrounded your house. The power is out and communication seems to be dead.

 

Joules- The Deck of Moirai

At the end of the final quest, each great legend was bound to record their life’s journey.  The events of their life, both meritous and vile, are recorded in cards and sealed as a deck and buried with them.  Over aeons, some of these decks were unearthed. They now serve as a powerful divining tool, or rarely, as a test of worth.

 

Those that were born under a mystic sign or event often face the Deck of Moirai as a rite of passage.  It is already known that this person has a destiny, but facing the deck will give that person great insight and possibly a choice.

 

The person chooses one of many decks and then deals the cards.  When the cards are dealt they now face the life within. Some people may gain insight to their future, seeing where the Legend stumbled and swear not to make the same mistake.  Some may see virtues that they wish to emulate. Even others may see the quickest path to power and follow the footsteps of a tyrant. This is the standard experience that most have with the Deck of Moirai.

 

But in the rare case, a very unique individual will try and change the story within the cards.  Rather than be a passive observer, they will actively try and change the fate of the long dead legend.  They may try and redeem a fallen hero, corrupt a saint, or kill a tyrant. Usually those that try and change the story within the Deck of Moirai fail.  The strain usually ends up killing them. But sometimes, just sometimes, they succeed. They change the legend’s story through the strength of their own will.  When this happens, the Deck is destroyed and the chains of fate shatter around the Legend’s soul in the afterlife. The Legend’s soul is now free to reincarnate back to the mortal realm, to try again.

 

Afterwards, a new deck materializes in the victors possession.  A Rasa Deck of Moirai. Each card blank. You see, for these rare people, they are the lucky few who are now free to write their own destiny.

 

Guard-a-Manger-

The Last Scrap of Humanity – Or how to Put these ideas into practice

As humankind as expanded across the continent, planet, and maybe beyond, there is always a chance that they lose something of themselves.  The Last Scrap of Humanity is a record of what was human before the expansion, growth, and changes that happened. The problem is that not everyone wants a reminder of what once was and will go to great lengths to stop it from getting out.  

 

Let the players hunt for this scrap of humanity, this tether to the past across locations they have seen before in your game.  Leave them clues to backtrack and search for what they employer truly wants. It can’t be that far away, right? The PCs will eventually figure out where the Last Scrap is, and let them figure it out however they do, but make sure there is something held back.  You see, the Last Scrap of Humanity is a human child. He or she may have gotten to the age of 10, but the oral storytelling history he or she has shows the past in vibrant and descriptive terms. What will the PCs do? Now they have to face the question of what they value and whether to share this golden or terribly human past with the world, take the child and run, or fulfill their job and turn this child over to someone or something that may have other plans for humanity’s future once the past is safely locked away.

 

Lexicon

Parallax        noun par·al·lax  \ ˈper-ə-ˌlaks , ˈpa-rə- \

 

Definition of parallax

the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object; especially :the angular difference in direction of a celestial body as measured from two points on the earth’s orbit

 

Origin and Etymology of parallax
Middle French parallaxe, from Greek parallaxis, from parallassein to change, from para- + allassein to change, from allos other

 

First Known Use: 1580

 

Popularity: Bottom 30% of words

 

Closing remarks

Zendead- Ghost Files by Apryl Baker

 

Joules-Join the Anarchy (Youtube) (Twitch)

 

Guard-a-Manger-

 

Music is courtesy of The Enigma TNG you can find his music on YouTube or on Bandcamp

 

Find us

Show- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Zendead- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Joules- Email, Twitter, Facebook

Nulloperations-Email, Twitter, Facebook

Guard-a-manger- Email, Twitter

 

And Thanks to Merriam-Webster for our Lexicon segment

Find us on Patreon

Callies Song – Balia Kilaim

Design Notes

Starting with the attribute rolls of : 17; 13; 9; 16; 14; 11.  It is starting to look like this adventuring party will be sorely lacking in Wisdom.  As a Dwarf, this stat line works very well. If the CON roll had been a 15 instead of a 14, I would probably drop the Dexterity by 2 to raise the Con by 1 to enhance the tanking potential for the dwarf.

The weapon choices are the easiest thing for the dwarf because Demihumans like Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings, all have basic weapon proficiency will all weapons they can use at First Level.  As a classic dwarf, let’s double down on the Warhammer as the preferred weapon and raise that proficiency to Skilled.

Similarly, all Dwarves know Common (which I am using Thyatian for in this game), Dwarvish, their alignment tongue, gnomish, and common tribal languages for goblins, kobolds, and orcs.

For skills, Mining and Engineering are required of Dwarves in the Rockhome Gazetteer while Muscle plays into the classic, some would say stereotypical, dwarf persona.  Gambling provides some personality while Blind Shooting is a more functional choice. As far as learned skills, for purposes of our little crew’s story, I’ll add Brawling she picked up from Khaa Roark.

Optional D &D Rules

We’ve discussed the weapon specialization choices earlier, meaning the only option advanced for Balia is her Warhammer. She also has the common dwarven Demihuman abilities like infravision and stone cunning that continue for dwarves to this day.

  • Warhammer – Skilled

Balia has a +2 with her Warhammer against  hand held weapon using opponents, but only a +1 against missile wielding or monstrous opponents. She does gain a -2 AC bonus against the first two missile or monstrous attacks in a round and has a base damage of 1d6+2

 

Character Notes

Sometimes life deals you a bad hand.  Balia was born to parents who left Rockhome to settle in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the old Traldaran country that was being settled by Thyatians to expand their influence.  The unfortunate part is that Balia’s parents went to what would become the Black Eagle Barony instead of following the Strongbow clan with the other dwarves. Her father was an accomplished engineer and heard that there was much work coming in the building of this new Grand Duchy. In choosing the Black Eagle Barony, he was trying to avoid competition from other dwarves for his skills, but the Black Eagle Barony is ruled by the stereotypical mustache twirling villain, Ludwig von Hendriks.  The Baron is assisted by Bargle(“the Infamous”), whose name is often just used as a curse by players who started their D & D experience in Karameikos.

In trying to eke out their lives, Balia ended up working the docks using her strength and stout build to stevedore goods from ship to the warehouses while also learning the traditional skills and upbringing of a good Dwarf.   She kept her family’s pride alive proving that she would be a good dwarven wife, but rebellion was far from her parents’ minds. This too would pass and the Black Eagle Barony would recede into the past as the stony dwarves soldiered on.  Balia didn’t see it quite that way.

Perhaps it was the time around all the humans that led to such an outspoken youth.  Perhaps it was never truly knowing the depth of a mountain that spurred her dwarven pride.  Regardless of what it was, when Bargle had goods being shipped through the docks, she diverted them and set them ablaze.  With no choice left to stay behind, she grabbed a suit of armor from another ship and her trusty warhammer that her father planned to pass to his next son and ran.  If it wasn’t for the distraction Khaa Roark caused at the border, Baron Von Hendrick’s men would have found her straight away. In an odd turn of fate, a dwarf owed her continued life to an Ork stumbling through the woods.

She’s been a steady arm for Allyn and provided some expertise where appropriate, but her greatest fear is still in the back of her head – Bargle knew it was her and her parents are suffering.  One day, she plans to have Allyn head back to the Black Eagle Barony and rescue her clan, but for now she contents herself by good ale and some bar brawls with Khaa Roark. Besides, for an Ork, Khaa Roark isn’t that bad looking.  

Balia

Callie’s Song Overview Here.

Fillable Sheet from  Left Rachael Strange Sock available at Pandius.com

 

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. © 2015 Wizards. All Rights Reserved. Seize the GM is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Seize the GM may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards’ Fan Site Policy. For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards’ trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

 

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