WHAT ABOUT MY BOOK ON COSMETICS?

Know what annoys me most when playing a fantasy "RPG" video game? The story element of the game & the huge learning curve that comes w/ its plethora of lore... Coincidentally, it seems that the most successful video games of the day are those that allow players to wander away from the story for long stretches @ a time: Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, etc. These games lean more on the strengths of modern video game technology, but are also limited by the trappings of the robot's mind: whether you or I enter Riverdale when we turn on the game, the NPCs will say the same things & act the same ways & all of the items are in the same places, etc.

When it comes to old school pen-and-paper D&D though, my views on story are quite the opposite as it's actually one of my favorite elements of the game. It's an organic & creative process that develops as multiple human brains play off of one another. You never know what will happen, or what someone may decide to do or create. That, to me, is the strength of a true role playing game & it cannot be duplicated by a computer.

That said, it bums me out when my character finds a book in a video game & I am expected to actually sit there & READ THROUGH six pages of generic fantasy fiction to obtain some nugget of player knowledge about the game world, etc. Why cant my act of opening it just tell me what my character now knows? Or what I need to know? Or how my character is better @ carpentry now?

So, what about that book your character found on cosmetics? The character can read it when they have time. A high intelligence will speed up their reading/comprehension. If what they are reading is a specific history topic, the character will be given the specific information they learn from reading the book. If the book is a general topic, like cosmetics, or say, taxidermy, then reading the book would be noted on the character's sheet for future negotiation leverage w/ the DM, e.g. the character is trying to work up a disguise ("also, remember a week ago I read that book on cosmetics?"), or perhaps trying to embalm a slain creature. Their having read each book respectively will aid them in the appropriate task. In a way, this adds skills to the game w/o adding a skill mechanic.

ERIC TALBOT & THE GREAT CHURCH

The town of Talbot was originally referred to as Talbot's Fee & was land given to Dagwood Talbot by King Stamos after Dagwood's admirable leadership during the Shadow War in NW Furthermoor, which ultimately led to human victory.

Dagwood Talbot

Dagwood, along w/ his wife Gesturine, had seven children: 2 sons, Zimbo & Kinchen, & 5 daughters, Relay, Chimay, Light Heart, Lucky & Golden Bough. Zimbo being the oldest, was about nine years of age when Gesturine died from unknown causes. A few years later, Dagwood married Ellie Fintup, the eldest daughter to the Lord of Moor's End, & they had one child, a son, named Eric.

Zimbo & Kinchen Talbot

By the time Eric was 12, Zimbo & Kinchen were adventuring in foreign lands & almost done w/ an underground structure, built by orc slaves, called Crackenmore, that was just outside of Talbot's Fee on the northside (back then there was not much other than the Talbot's Estate, other than a small store & a few other houses). Eric, by his mother's influence, became quite involved w/ the Great Church, & after visiting Furthermoor City, decided to start a church in Talbot's Fee. Though after one month he only had five regular churchgoers, @ the same time, he began to venture out into the nearby lands, specifically up around the Enchanted Waste, where the Shadow War took place. He became a paladin for the Great Church & @ one point, helped save Talbot from a goblin attack when Zimbo & Kinchen were far away. 

Eric Talbot's Crest

But then something happened: some strange folk appeared one day outside the wood building that Eric had set up for his branch of the Great Church. They were looking for Zimbo. "Why didnt you join us?" Eric asked, as the other churchgoers trickled out, about fifteen of them... Eric was left alone w/ these hooded folk, five of them. "We need Zimbo," they said, "We need Zimbo now." This is the last thing that anyone (one of the churchgoers heard this as they watched from behind a tree) heard of Eric. The same person saw Eric welcome the hooded figures into the church, then left.

No one knows what happened to Eric, as he was never seen again. Some say the hooded folk were werewolves & that the Black Dog is in fact Eric Talbot (even though some stories of the BD date earlier than Eric's disappearance). Then there are those that believe that Eric learned something beneficial to himself & went w/ it. Many other ideas exist, but either way, the Great Church @ Talbot ended up in a large blaze by many of those that thought Eric's demise was witchcraft. It took some time to sell the land, but eventually, many years later, Tyler Jenson built Talbot's Gambling Hall in the spot. As they cleared the land & built, rumors rolled that a few tunnels were found that led below the ground... Some search was done, & some rooms were found below the ground, which served the militia for some time in regard to regulating for the town when certain characters appeared... That said, it is well known that there is a door down there that leads to places that no one - @ least no one that talks openly - has been...

SESSION 7 - CRACKENMORE

So the two gnomes seem extremely interested in Gnolan, & Magus begins speaking w/ them, first asking if they know Common. They do not, as they come from an area far from those that speak Common. They go on to explain that they teleported here from their home, not "here" but nearby, to a place they cannot devulge; they explain that they heard of this rock from others that have ventured here & returned w/ great powers & treasures. They have been examining the rock now for 3 days, but have yet to figure it out. The party begins focusing on the glowing rock, & Leif begins rubbing it a bit, slowly, feeling a bit of tension in a small area, he breaks off a chip. The party debates about what to do w/ the chip until they have Gnolan put it in his mouth. Everyone watches as Gnolan just shrugs a bit, but then speaking to Leif, Leif notices that Gnolan's voice is slightly different slower, sloppier... A great debate arises about what to do, whether they should simply leave the rock alone, etc. The gnomes, however, who agree to guide the to an exit they know of, say they will not leave until they figure the rock out. So more chips are chipped & passed around. One by one, they decide whether to put it in their mouth or not, but ultimately all succumb to the temptation & realize how the magical rock affects them: Magus will eventually realize his CHA has lowered by 1, Amadi feels a surge that would heal all his HP, but he is already @ full, so just feels good all around, Leif eventually realizes he is stronger than before, +1 STR, Telal notices no effect whatsoever, & then Djarel is suddenly blind. The gnomes on the other hand, as far what the party can tell visually, one of them shows them a beautiful pearl gem that suddenly appeared in their hand once they put the stone in their mouth. Magus can tell it is of some value, @ least 500 gp. The gnome is extremely excited & seems fulfilled in his mission. The gnomes agree to guide the party out of the dungeon, mentioned that though they did notice some Troglodytes, they should be able to get past them. The party is eager to get back to Talbot. They follow the gnomes & within an hour & a half they are inching out of of a crevice into a field that is directly north of the Talbot Cemetery.

As the party collects themselves, they turn to find the gnomes gone. They talk about returning to town, but Djarel, still blinded, begins speaking of his warhammer left in the statue. The party agrees to guide him there to retrieve it. They move west & then down to the cemetery gates where they enter & move to where the statue of Dagwood Talbot rests. There in his left hand, he is gripping Djarel's warhammer. Someone guides Djarel's hand & when he grips it & pulls, it comes free, & a creaking can be heard from behind the statue where the door to Crackenmore is closing, rock rubbing rock. Subsequently, as the party heads back out of the cemetery, Djarel begins to perceive from his eyes, until he can fully see once back into Talbot proper. The party moves to the Green Lantern. It's 5 AM. Full of excitement, the party doesnt really wish to go right to sleep. Djarel retires to a room to worship for a while, refreshed w/ Detect Magic, he steps out & finds the others already into heavy conversation & cups w/ Goody Threeshoe. Djarel has them pile up all of their booty & casts Detect Magic on the pile. As it turns out, the shield that Djarel found, Kinchen's shield, is a magic shield (+1). Amadi, inspired & excited to study the scroll he found, insists on buying for everyone, round after round... It is quite a scene, the party slowly blitzed around the table now around 7 AM. Leif decides to venture out for a toke on some Hallowed Hash, comes back in, more drinks are had by everyone... But then, heading back out, Leif is accosted by about five men, & in his state, doesnt really catch it all, until he cant really fight back... Next thing he knows, he is in a cell of some kind & he can hear the men down a hall speaking of catching the person that robbed Lyla Dimmings. Apparently she told people it was an elvish type, that carried a bow. Otherwise, back @ the Green Lantern Inn, Djarel has a strange dream: he sees Dawnbringer, the Great Tulip, silver & yellow, wide open in the sun, & from out of it, orcs clad in black leather. He is standing behind a stone, & watching sees that they have a prisoner they are bringing out, a human prisoner, who is not moving, but whose eyes are wide. The prisoner is wearing a red vest & also has something in front of his eyes, on his nose that Djarel has never seen. As the prisoner is finally taken out, Djarel watches as he is set down & a number of orcs circle him. He reaches into a tube & pulls out a scroll of some sort & begins to unroll it... It is @ this moment that Djarel is awaken by Telal, "Djarel, get up, get up, did you hear about Leif?"

3 PM

MONKS OF THE GOLD MOUNTAIN

Three Monks of the Gold Mountain spotted early this morning in bustling Furthermoor City.

The Gold Mountain is said to be in the Far East of Furthermoor, much further east than the current map shows. A renowned, wizened sage is believed to live there in a cave @ the top of the mountain; known simply as "The Old Man", he is said to be the oldest human in all of Furthermoor.

OLD SCHOOL MAPPING IN THE ONLINE AGE

Been thinking about mapping a lot as I began a G+ campaign using an old school module where the task of mapping is a lot of the challenge & though at first I felt some responsibility in aiding the players in finding an "online" mapping solution, I finally had to step away... Mapping should be the players' responsibility, not the DM's.

As the players started getting dazed & confused in the dungeon & mapping became of ultimate importance (we've been walkin past this same freakin doorway for three hours now, wait, is that the same door? is that the iron spike i left?), it became clear: if one provides instant mapping for players (reveal-as-you-move mapping, etc.), a key element of the game is being nixed. All of those old school dungeon tricks to confuse the mapper(s)? Out the window. You're now holding your players' hands through the dungeon.

You may be using reveal mapping if you do not consider this bit from Mike Carr to be sage advice:

"...allow them to draw their maps from your descriptions as they wish - but make certain that your verbal descriptions of the areas they explore are accurate... avoid the considerable temptation to correct their maps once they have drawn them. It will not be uncommon for players to show you their map (especially if they're confused) & ask you, 'Is this right?' In most such instances, you should avoid correcting any mistakes there, unless it would be obvious through the eyes of the adventuring characters. Encourage good mapping skills & an attention to detail rather than falling into the rut of continual player map questions."

P.S. We do use Twiddla, though not for actual mapping (was initially a disaster for the players). We use it for situations like battles, deeper explanations of a room, etc.

MOOR'S END

NICODEMUS CASTLE: RINGO'S TALE

Me & Dunwoody were passin through the Black Forest as part of a caravan led by a tangly, black-haired sot goes by the name, Migellito. He put up a tent, but prolly woulda looked more at home in a tree, me & Dunwoody got to wanderin & fell in w/ another dwarf named Farley, two fighters walked from back talking bout a nearby town called Bridgewater, maybe go to the tavern for some cups…  we saw some smoke risin up over there & walked toward it in the road when we come up on an old fellow luggin round a batch of kindlins on his back, asks us where we headed, tells us not to keep on this main road, a band of orcs been trashin this place called Bridgewater, we ask him some other questions but the fellow don’t seem right, he guides us to a hidden door to get into the town unnoticed, I’d tell ya where that is, but I’d hate to be leadin ya to trapped, so we didn’t feel right bout it, turned round, decided to head up where Migellito said some ruins of a castle were he said it was Nicodemus Castle, the old man said he’d never heard of no Nicodemus…

It didn’t take us too long to get up there, Dunwoody helped me take some load off so I could keep up & the fighter Taurus started movin around all stealthy, talkin bout scouty orcs, sayin we needed to get in these ruins quicklike, I spotted where some breakage in the walls may let us in northeastside, I tied Dunwoody up to some branches & we all upped over rubble & into the wall, I could hear Taurus sniffin & he started talkin bout smoke & orcs, we could see to the west what may be the main tower up a slopey bit & Taurus was talking bout probly a good place to start or get down underground but then we decided to near some stairs east that were closer to where we'd entered the rub, I worked the stairs, slow eyeing where they meet lookin round for anything tricky seemed okay & Farley was up behind me checkin it out as well we got up to where we could see down another corridor where it got darker & led to a dark doorhole… me & Farley moved through the hole & crept inside, Taurus & Leo, the paladin, who kept tellin Taurus on the way here orcs were no deal cause he’d slayed 100 of’m in one sittin before, me & Farley's eyes adjustin see it’s a pretty big room, a courtyard or somethin, stuff wasted & broken all about, Taurus & Leo come in, Leo now talkin about his collection of light stones… I get to creepin round the west wall & not too far from the doorhole I notice another door not too far way, an old, wooden door, it opens up w/ no problem, I listen for a bit & then move into wherever it goes wanderin if maybe this’ll lead down somewhere, but then somethin furry hits my helm & I jump back & there’s a spider wigglin hissy beside me, I hop to the side of the door & Leo is on the spider before I know it, I pull my flail, Leo slashes the thing & then I pound it w/ my flail, it retreats up into the sky by some rubble & wood where we look up & see its webs up there, Taurus inches in, pullin on his bow, readies up & darts the spider down, pop onto the ground; Taurus throws a lit torch up at the webs but it just comes back down again & Leo throws down a light stone we notice some tinkling over in the corner of the closety room, looks to be silver & copper all sprayed about, we get to pickin some up & I started goin through some refuse over in a corner & come up w/ a small, empty, ivory box, I put it in my backpack, help gather the rest of the coins, then as there’s a thin stair @ the back of the closet, going up, against the wall, I decide to climb up there, get my head up over a rotten, wooden flet & see where rub has caved in all above it but not onto it, there’s a dark space between the rub & flet but I cant see nothing in there & I inch back down look to see maybe what Farley's seen in the rest of the room which isn’t much, but as we all wander further we see a stair leadin up in the northeast corner & move that way, gettin up there to find lots of broken marble about, Taurus is goin round w/ his torch collectin a few sizable chunks that may be of value & I spot him one that's an intact, small statue & after snoopin a bit more we see there’s a west corridor on the west wall, we peak into it & see two doors to our left & right & then down the corridor bout thirty foot there some double doors, Leo busts into the door on the southwall of the corridor & we funnel in, there aint much there, bunch a trash, not even worth goin through it doesn’t seem but then there’s somethin about the west wall of this room that looks fishy to me, perhaps somethin on the other side may lead to that room behind the double doors, I start talking bout lookin for a secret door, passageways i got a thing for secret constructions & Leo gets miffy & starts arguin about how he doesn’t wanna take no time, he just wants to bust down doors & no need to have a secret door to a place he can just bust into but when he gets back out in the hall he realizes those double doors don’t lead to the south but the east & he’s all turned around while I’m back in hall now thinkin I woulda been done creepin the wall by the time he stopped goin on about it anyway so Leo steps up & pounds in the door across the hall now, on the northwall of the corridor & we funnel in where there’s a fireplace back on the northwall, we all split to search different stuffs & Farley nearby has the same thing happen when he examines a cask as I have touchin some cabinet, collapse & crumble & then Leo now back there @ the fireplace w/ Taurus, throwin one a them light stones in there & stickin his head in the flue & next thing he knows he’s got a giant tick problem comin down that shoot onto him he’s shakin around, Taurus swings his torch @ it, but it doesn’t light fire, but like I always heard, you put that fire on it, it at least keeps that head in retreat from stickin in ya, so Farley runs over there, I'm movin that way so lightin another torch to maybe by time I get over there delay that head from gettin in there but Taurus sayin he already tried w/ the fire…  they’re all scramblin & I watch as the tick finally gets splattered all over Leo’s shiny, plate mail who knows what kinda blood that thing had last sucked on & so we all go back to lookin around & find some various things under the collapsed cabinets I pull out a large, iron spoon & slip into my pack…  talk turns to getting back to the caravan before everyone's sleep & so we rest for a few moments, bag up turn back out we came, takin us a bit, & it’s pitch black out there now, I light a torch up too & when I get near Dunwoody I can hear him makin that noise he makes when he knows it’s me, we get back to the caravan where a gypsy lady likes that ivory box enough to fork 50 gold for it, though I only got three silver for the spoon, it was better than nothing we split it all up which came to bout 14 gold, 9 silver & 17 copper each. Found a nice little niche to ride out the night, pulled out my drum & Dunwoody got to hawin until someone started yellin, perhaps I’ll run into these blokes another time…

- Ringo the Dwarf