DYVERS: D&D

Showing posts with label D&D. Show all posts

Friday, October 24, 2025

Greyhawk and Rivers

made by me

One of my favorite things to do is to draw maps. I really like making my own versions of the World of Greyhawk, as you can see from the map above. I tend to make more tributaries than the official versions have because I grew up around mountains and rivers and it's weird for there to be so few. Even the number of rivers that I have in this map are probably too few for how many there would actually be.

The below map, from databayou.com, provides a look at just how many rivers there are in the United States of America. It's rather eye opening when you think about this in relation to the sparse number of rivers in Greyhawk.

from https://databayou.com/american/rivers.html

Thursday, October 23, 2025

A Time for Heroes

Twenty years ago when I first started playing D&D the people I played with all wanted to play anti-heroes, and mysterious, self-indulgent loners that barely connected with anyone else. The truth, of course, is that you can't play a team game where everyone is a loner so no one really played that way - but they wanted to. God, did they ever want to.

In a lot of ways this predilection towards the anti-hero and the loner was a reflection of the wider zeitgeist of the time. Heroes had become boring and lame. They were things that only naive children really believed in and the world was all a bunch of shades of gray. Good and evil were subjective view points dependent on the perspective of the people involved.

Let's be honest, it was an excuse for the players to justify their shitty behavior in the game without real consequences. By consistently claiming that an action was "in character" or that their character believed that they were acting in a 'good' manner they could often excuse terrible things. It's the same reason why people can look at an obviously evil character like Homelander and argue that he's actually a good guy.

Homelander from The Boys

That sort of mentality is exhausting and over the last decade I've spent a lot of time pushing players who still cling to that style of play away from my table. I want to see my players be the heroes of the game and to see them rise above the worlds we play in to make the world a better place.

I think that may be why I have begun to play with an eye towards my players being the heroes of the setting rather than having them be just adventurers that are exploring the world. Both styles of play are a lot of fun, but right now the world is a bit of a scary place. We have the rise of authoritarianism throughout the globe, wars are sparking off, and civil unrest is found all over the world. It's a good time to find heroes we can believe in - even if they're just in our silly role-playing games.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Traps, Not Just for Ex-Girlfriends Anymore

When I first started running Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) I tended to treat traps as an exercise in dice rolling to overcome the challenge I had placed before my players. There was the roll to detect the trap and then another roll to disarm it. All this rolling tended to make for rather dull gameplay.

In an effort to remedy all this tedium I started looking for more complex traps, such as those found in Grimtooth’s Traps, and began to describe them to my players in detail. We still rolled to determine the chance of success but by actually describing the traps it made them exciting in the game and players spent time discussing how to conquer the challenge the trap presented.

I got so wrapped up in the process that I started neglecting the traditional, banal traps: arrow, pit, door, and poison traps were all too mundane. This neglect resulted in me falling back into the old habit of rolling to overcome. I was dissatisfied with this aspect of my Game Mastering but then Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition (D&D 4e) was announced.

Continue Reading at Dragons Never Forget

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

GM Toolbox: Things to Do from January 24, 2005

Shortly before I was going to run my first game back in the early months of 2005 I was sitting in the Den working on a list of things that I felt like I had to master before actually running my first session. Thought I'd share those with all of you real quick.

TO DO

Know all the rules
Internalize everything about the world of El Fantasma del Sur (a homemade world I was using at the time)
Plot out the path of the campaign for the first six months.
Create an award system to encourage the players to role-play correctly!

Not a long list but full of bullshit that cripples a game at the outset.

Know all the rules

This is the trap that a lot of players fall into when they first start talking about running a game as a Game Master for their friends. They convince themselves that the only way to do so is to know everything about the game - to achieve mastery over it - and as a result they never actually get around to playing the game. I was in that very stage of fucking off when my brother pushed me into running because he understood what I didn't at the time: that if I didn't actually run the game I would never get around to it on my own because the game isn't something that you can know perfectly. There are too many rules that are either conflicting with other rules, poorly worded, or vague enough that it's left up to the individual Game Master to come up with an understanding of how the rule is used with their group.

When it comes to running a role-playing game knowing the rules perfectly isn't the most important thing. Getting your players to become immersed in the game, to push their own creativity, and to challenge your conceptions of what the game could be is what's most important. The rules are a framework to build your home game around. They are there for you, and your group of players, to build a game that all of you can play in together and that will allow for an experience that kicks all of your tails!

Internalize everything about the world of El Fantasma del Sur

Fucking A. This is the one that would have hung me up forever if I had really stuck to my guns on it. A game world is supposed to this organic experience where you and your players discover it piece by piece until you've built up this wholly unique thing. Whether you're in a homebrew world like El Fantasma del Sur or in a published setting like the World of Greyhawk the story that you all craft together creates a unique experience. Those settings are your own. Let them live.

Plot out the path of the campaign for the first six months.

HA!

God, I was so fucking dumb.

Create an award system to encourage the players to role-play correctly!

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I once created a split in a dungeon. Down one path I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do on it so I made it supper fucking scary with spider webs, screams, and a troll dragging a crying drow. On the other hall I had path out the dungeon and some smoking hot elven women looking down to them. They took troll road and would every time because, as my wife later told me; "When ever something seems like it's going to be okay we get nervous. If you give us two paths and one has certain death while the other has hot chicks and hard dicks we're going to take certain death every time. We can beat that. We have before. But hard dicks and hot chicks brings on mystical chlamydia, jealous ex-lovers who will kill us in our sleep, and six months of demons, devils, and dragons trying to use us as biological weapons. Fuck that."

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

We Were Strange Before You Thought it Was Cool

I was sitting down this evening and thinking about playing Dungeons & Dragons when it occurred to me that I hadn't done a Greyhawk poster in a while. So I figured that I should fix that tonight.

The question though remains: how do we bring more eyes to Greyhawk? How do we get Dungeon Masters who have never plumbed its depth to start exploring it's caverns, forgotten citadels, and foreboding tombs?

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Well I Just had Tremendous Fun on The Greyhawk Channel!

Did the show on the Greyhawk Channel. Had a lot of fun even though my microphone had me sounding like a hillbilly Kermit the Frog. Still fun.

Watch Tales From the Green Dragon - With Charles Akins! from thegreyhawkchannel on www.twitch.tv

Right, so now that I've done that and had so much fun I want to do more. Hit me up kids!

Monday, March 5, 2018

I'm Being Interviewed!

That's right kids!

On Wednesday, March 7, 2018 I will be interviewed on The Greyhawk Channel by DM Shane at 3:00 PM EST. We're going to be talking about all kinds of nerdy shit and you should totally join us and talk shit with us on the chat! Got questions you've always wanted to ask me but don't want to leave a comment on the blog? Here's you chance to do just that!

I'll even be wearing clothes - I think!

So join us in two days on The Greyhawk Channel!

He didn't give me a banner yet so I'm using my own Greyhawk shit!

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Somehow I'm Getting Ready to Run Two Campaigns for Two Groups of Novices.

So in the last two weeks I've been approached by two separate groups of my friends looking for someone to run D&D for them. One group is going to be all the ladies and will consist of my Wife, our friends R and C - who have not yet met but I think will like each other. The other group involves my friends W and B and a whole passel of their homies. Other than my wife and R not one of these fuckers has played Dungeons & Dragons (or any other role-playing game for that matter).

Kids I am fucking stoked.

I know a lot of Game Masters aren't really all that excited to run for new players but I think it's fucking boss. There's nothing like seeing someone break that barrier between believing that you're only allowed to do so much and the realization that the only thing you can't attempt to do are the things you can't imagine doing.

I want so desperately to do them a solid and rock their fucking faces off.

I'm only really nervous about the group with W and B because they haven't got an experience player to show them the ropes. They're literally standing on virgin soil trying to figure out if how the fuck to open a coconut for the first time in history. That's fucking exciting shit right there!

Do you remember that moment when you're sitting in your den and suddenly it clicked for the first time? That you could do anything your imagination would let you do and the only thing holding you back was a dice? God I'm so excited for these cats! They're about to get to experience one of the best moments in gaming for the first time and all I have to do is give them the right nudge and let them run!

THIS IS WHY I PLAY THESE GAMES!

Ah, shit. I need to figure out what I'm going to run.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Ratik, as Far as that Goes.

Yesterday my brother was looking at the World of Greyhawk map and he noticed the land of Ratik. He was curious about the little nation, and I'll be honest here, I was too. In my years of running in Greyhawk I never ran across the province as I tend to focus south of the Nyr Dyv and out west towards the Sea of Dust.

Ratik was new territory for me to explore; and the thing is, Ratik appears to be new territory for everyone else too. As best as I've been able to tell it was only mentioned in four places: (1) the World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, (2) in an article in Dragon 57, (3) the Living Greyhawk website, and (4) the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. That's not a lot of information to go on.

Mounted Knight by Arthur Pyle

In the World of Greyhawk Boxed Set (pg. 32) the Archbarony is revealed to be an offshoot of Aerdi and to be a province ruled by the rather competent Ratik line. They have strong connections with the dwarves and gnomes of the area and are respected by the raiders and nomads surrounding them. When the hordes of humanoids began attacking Ratik not only weathered their advances but drove them out of their lands. Unfortunately this sent the humanoids south into the Bone Marches where they wrecked havoc.

Aside from the prosperous logging industry the only aspect of the Ratik description that I found worth noting was that in the north Ratik woodsmen were armed with bows and patrolled that boarder while in the south "hillrunners" were equipped with slings and watched the southern boarder.

The article from Dragon 57, Developments from Stonefist to South Province by Gary Gygax, (pg. 13 - 16) is largely a battlefield report. While there are some interesting tidbits here it largely points towards the steady development of the fractious area without anything all that substantive given away. The only thing that I found interesting was that the dwarves in the Rakers (the mountain chain to the west of Ratik) are largely holed up in their mountainous fortresses as they are being besieged by gnolls and like-minded humanoids.

After this all I found on the area is from the Living Greyhawk website and Gazetteer (pg. 88 - 91) which largely express the same information though with the Gazetteer providing more depth to the reader. Our leader is now Lady Evaleigh of Ratik and the barony is now completely divested from Aerdi. To be perfectly honest, while this provides the reader with the most information on the area from any of the sources I have it's largely a mess. This brings up one of the problems that I have with the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. While it provides players with some of the most current information on the setting as of its publication it also tends to feel a bit like the authors are attempting to throw everything they can think of at the players. It makes things feel rushed and discombobulated at times (especially in less developed areas like Ratik).

So that's as much information as I have on the nation of Ratik. If anyone else has anything to add from any of the official sources (Living Greyhawk, modules, the magazines, and so forth) please let me know because I would love to continue fleshing out the little nation-state.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Pre-Written Adventures and Me

Last night I was talking to my wife as we were cooking dinner and she made the comment that in the 11 years we've been together that she's only see me run a pre-written adventure a handful of times. I started to argue with her but it's true. The vast majority of the time that I've been running has been me starting the adventure by giving them a location, a few things around them they can shop at, and an assortment of adventure hooks. From there the players craft the story they would like to play by determining where they're going and what they're doing.

The idea of a pre-written adventure being pushed through my own, weird sensibilities has a certain amount of appeal though. I think I would like to explore this option a bit more in the coming days. And I think that I should do some actual gaming online again.

Think of this as a heads up.

The Monument of the Oppressor by Paul Lehr

And the painting by Lehr as a sign of where my mind's at today.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

I Don't Believe in the Session Zero

One of the things that I've been seeing a lot of role-playing advocates proselytizing lately is the idea of a session zero, a session where players first get together to learn about the world and the sorts of characters they will be playing. I imagine that there are some people out there who have friends and players that are willing to indulge them in such a session - Lord knows that I read enough people talking about their session zeroes - but I have a hard time envisioning the people that I have played with ever being willing to partake in such a lackluster session. Don't take me the wrong way. The idea that you would sit down with your players and describe your world to them as they make characters that would fit in it, and that would work with each other, is a dream I would very much endorse. I've just never known anyone willing to take that sort of time to be involved in a session like that. It's too boring and our lives are filled with too much that requires our attention for such a session. We have kids, jobs, and countless other hobbies that take up our time. Sitting around listening to one person telling the rest of us how the world works and what our places in it will be isn't how I would spend my day off; and I couldn't imagine asking anyone else to do that either.

If I don't use a session zero then what do I use?

When I first started running Dungeons & Dragons I tended to attempt to cram all the world information in while they were building their characters and then launch into the adventure. I quickly came to realize that it was a waste of time on my part. There's too much going on for them to retain anything important and often the only thing that matters is that they have a character ready to go and a connection to the other players. The world, and their place in it, will come as they play.

So over the years I have begun to cull anything that isn't immediately relevant to them. The world, as far as they're concerned, is what is within their vicinity. The town and their connections to the world around them (family, teachers, and so on) are all I worry about establishing. Then I read them the short - like a single paragraph long - introduction to the adventure I would like them to play. After that I just let them go. They are the ones that will develop the story as they adventure in the world and shape it around them

In the last couple of years I've also started using pre-generated characters and a one page Quick Reference Guide that I give them during that first session. Using pre-generated characters eliminates that opportunity for that first session to bog down and allows me to get right into the adventure as soon as they come up with names and connections (something that typically takes about five to ten minutes); and the Quick Reference Guide allows me to give them a rough idea of what's around them without haranguing them. This has significantly sped up how quickly we can get to adventuring and has allowed us to get to the "good stuff," as my Lovely Bride calls it, in that first session.

So what about you cats? What do you do?

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Greyhawk as a Post Apocalyptic World

At it's core the world of Greyhawk is a set in a post apocalyptic time period. The two great empires of old, the Suloise and Baklunish, waged a war that devastated both empires and reshaped the continents. The story that is told in official publications is that the end of these empires came about due to the "Invoked Devastation," a magical attack so devastating that it's like could never be seen again. The thing is that we're talking about an event that is millennia old within the timeline of the fictional world of Greyhawk and what could pass for magic today might have been advanced technology then.

Imagine for a moment that our world as we know it were to end in a thermonuclear war tomorrow. The very landscape might change depending on how many bombs were used and their power. Everything touched by the radioactive fallout would be changed. Mutations would run rampant on those that survived as their bodies would have to develop new ways to cope with the radiation and the new environment that the world presents them. In the survivors of this nuclear apocalypse we would see new evolutionary developments. As the millennia pass they would slowly crawl their way back into the arms of civilization and as they did so it is inevitable that they would eventually discover ancient technologies. What would they think of our phones, computers, statues, cars, and air planes? Would they know what they were or would they think us wizards who bent the very fabric of reality to our whim?

I think that their reaction would be as Arthur C. Clark once said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." They wouldn't have the understanding necessary to distinguish the difference between a gun and a magic wand. Our whole game world could be nothing more than the by-product of a civilization not understanding what they're dealing with. The monstrous creatures they encounter could be mutated animals and human beings or evolutionary excursions as life keeps trying to find new ways to exist. The various races of the planet could be aliens from the far corners of the galaxy who have been trapped here so long that they can't remember being from anywhere else. Demons, devils, and dragons could all be extra-dimensional beings who have made it here through tears in the fabric of space-time leftover from the nuclear devastation. Magic, in all its various forms, could be the expression of a particular mutation within the wider population that is either gaining prominence or being weeded out of the species.

Art by Moebius

With this understanding of the world of Greyhawk we could easily imagine it being akin to M. John Harrison's Viriconium, the wildest comics from Heavy Metal, or from the works of Moebius. It could be Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars. However you liken the setting, the point is that the world has become far more exciting and wide open again rather than bound by the trappings of a semi-Medieval world and that makes it reinvigorating to my imagination. I hope it does to yours as well.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Reader Mail: Where Would You Start an Adventure in Greyhawk?

Last night I received an email through my fancy little contact box over there on the left of the page that was a really good question. So I thought I would throw it up on the blog, along with my answer, so that other Greyhawk enthusiasts could join in with some suggestions to help this reader out.

Hi! . . . I'm starting a campaign soon that's going to be set in Greyhawk. No one in the group has played In Greyhawk. I've been reading up on the setting, and I'll be using the LGG [Living Greyhawk Gazetteer] as my reference. What are the top areas to start a Greyhawk campaign for players new to the setting? There's so much information in the LGG that I'm having trouble choosing where to get started . . .

Greyhawk Adventures Cover by Jeff Easley

Dear Reader,

Without knowing what your group is into it's hard to give you a definitive answer as to where you should start adventuring. The World of Greyhawk has so much to offer your group from swashbuckling adventures on monster infested waters with the Sea Princes; to crossing a seemingly endless waste in the Sea of Dust as they search for lost cities hidden beneath the ash of a ruined civilization; to infiltrating the dreaded kingdom of that vile demigod Iuz; to the political intrigue of the Great Kingdom with its mad king and devilish lords; and of course there's the dungeon that gave the world its name. Greyhawk just is a land of plenty and you'll find something for every interest you could ever have waiting for you!

But that isn't really helpful, is it?

No.

If I were to suggest a place to start adventuring I would pick the city of Dyvers. It's a free city located just on the southwestern portion of the Nyr Dyv (a lake of fathomless depths with monsters slumbering somewhere deep within that occasionally rise when particularly bad storms or earthquakes disturb their sleep) along the Verbobonc river. It's smaller than the more famous Greyhawk and has a natural rivalry with its sister city. I often describe it to my players as a city the size of Nashville; large and sprawling but not so big that you can't find your way around it. To the north you have the Kingdom of Fuyrondy (a land of noble knights standing against the ever present evil of Iuz and his demonic armies). To the south the Gnarly Forest where I usually put wild beastmen, goblins, and necromancers. Then there's the Wild Coast and the Orcish Empire of the Pomarj where all good adventurers go to die.

As for getting everyone together I usually start them off having just been released from the city militia or having just graduated from the various colleges, universities, seminaries, and academies that their assorted classes would use. Then I tend to provide them with a few close-ish locations for them to explore. Often I tend to tie their first adventure to a character's family or friends to help establish them in the world. I like adventures that have them hunting down someone missing as it's easy to connect them with the slavers of the Wild Coast or the machinations of Iuz's armies. Then I just let the players craft their story from there.

The other good thing about Dyvers is that it's fairly close to many of the big adventure locations in classic adventures like Maure Castle, Castle Greyhawk, the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Bright Desert, and so on. So if you have access to those adventures it will be fairly easy to get the players there from Dyvers.

Hope this helps and don't hesitate to contact me again if you need more,

Charlie

P.S. Oh! Before I forget you should always remember that while Iuz is the biggest threat to the world that the Great Kingdom is not to be discounted as an enemy if you want to avoid demons. The king is mad and periodically purges the nobility (and, well, if we're being honest here most anyone else he remembers exists). His agents are fanatical in their devotion to him and act on his word as though it were the Holy Word of a god. They're a great enemy to throw into the game even if only for a mild distraction.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

A Line in the Sand for One of the Oldest Settings in D&D

On December 19. 2017 Dungeons & Dragons Creative Director, Mike Mearls, did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit which I found an interesting read. Among the many questions he was asked was one about his favorite setting. Mike answered, "I'd love to tackle Greyhawk, but I'd want to approach it from the original [Gary] Gygax material, ignoring most everything post-1983 (unless he was the author)."

That's an interesting way to go in re-imagining the setting as it both eliminates a rather large swath of weak material but also some beloved adventures that came after Gary Gygax was forced out of TSR. Kick out the Greyhawk Wars, World of Greyhawk, all the Carl Sargent stuff, all the Living Greyhawk material, and all the stuff published by Wizards of the Coast throughout the tail end of Second Edition and all of Third Edition. Essentially it would reset the world at the Greyhawk Boxed set with the whole setting on a tenuous peace with armies posturing and occasionally raiding across the boarders but without the outright war that characterized the setting throughout the majority of its published existence.

I'm conflicted about this proposed reset. On the one hand I hate some of the changes that came to the setting after the Greyhawk Boxed Set and really hate the way that the world was reshaped by the Greyhawk Wars; but on the other hand I really love some of the Carl Sargent stuff (seriously, Sargent rocks and to completely lose his influence from the setting would really be a bit difficult for me). Still, at this point the Greyhawk setting has been largely neglected and pushed to the side so often that just to have some light from someone who loves it would be . . . amazing.

Rary the Traitor by Ben Wootten

Listen, as a setting the World of Greyhawk is just a few short years away from being a forgotten memory that used to be a place played in back when the game first started. It's a relic waiting to be discarded. That needs to change before it gets forgotten and left to those few of us still waving our flag out here on the boarders of ignoble oblivion.

Greyhawk deserves to have a new generation of players care about it the way that I do after reading Carl Sargent. It needs to have authors that love the setting exploring it and pushing the game in a way that the Forgotten Realms simply can't compete with anymore. It needs to have boarder wars and devils walking the face of Oerth again. It needs to be a place where players go when they've gotten over the triteness of Faerun and are looking for somewhere new to explore where the canon warriors haven't entrenched themselves on every hill and loudly proclaim, "That's not how it goes in the books!"

There is so much potential in Greyhawk for new players. It's the land where the greatest adventures are set and where the best game designers made bold choices. It's a place where the great experiments of D&D were often first tested and where many of the most beloved spells, items, devils, gods, and non-player characters were first pushed out in the world. It can be that place again, and if the way we get it there is to let go of things like Sargent and the post Gygax material, then we should.

Come on Mearls. Make us proud and do something breathtaking with the setting.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Hirelings in D&D 5e According to the DMG

Last night I was contemplating the uselessness of the hireling in Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. In this Edition, more so than in any previous edition, they're the faceless drones of our fantasy worlds carrying out the mundane tasks that our players find too trivial to do themselves. The Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) even goes so far as to describe them in the following way:

". . . Hireling NPCs rarely become important in an adventure, and most require little development. When adventurers hire a coach to carry them across town or need a letter delivered the driver or messenger is a hireling, and the adventures might never even converse with that NPC or learn his or her name. A ship captain carrying the adventures across the sea is also a hireling, but such a character has the potential to turn into an ally, a patron, or even an enemy as the adventure unfolds . . . (94)

Essentially what the DMG is arguing is that your average hireling, much like you average person behind the counter of a fast food restaurant, is a vapid memory that barely registers for your players. They are a means to an end and their fictional lives have no meaningful impact on your players. So what benefit is there to using a hireling in your game? A sense of the world's lack of technology? Tradition? Because you think your game should have them?

Works Cited
Mearls, Mike and Jeremy Crawford. Dungeon Master's Guide Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast, USA. 2014. PRINT

Monday, August 7, 2017

Dragon Warriors RPG, Part 2: Building a Character for Play (Barbarians and Knights Only)

Building a character in Dragon Warriors begins in a familiar fashion to Dungeons & Dragons players, but then it quickly deviates as the game begins to assert its own sensibilities. This game is attempting early on to differentiate itself as a quicker, more deadly version of Dungeons & Dragons. Let's go through the steps

Step 1

Like many other role-playing games Dragon Warriors has the players rolling their abilities using 3d6 for five characteristics that will define what the character is capable of doing in the game. Where Dungeons & Dragons had the players defining Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Dragon Warriors instead has the players defining Strength, Reflexes, Intelligence, Psychic Talent, and Looks. Of note here is that once these characteristics are rolled they will not advance or deteriorate unless the character is affected by some disease or magical spell. This is a huge difference from the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e game I'm used to and I kind of dig it.

Now when I first noticed the truncated characteristic pool that Dragon Warriors was using I assumed: that Strength and Reflexes would be the same as in Dungeons & Dragons; that Intelligence would be a combination of Dungeon & Dragons Intelligence and Wisdom; that Looks was as meaningless as Charisma; and I had a vague notion that Psychic Talent had something to with psionics. On the first four abilities I was largely correct, but on Psychic Talent I was off slightly. In Dragon Warriors Psychic Talent is defined as the ". . . basic ability to resist (and in some cases use) magic . . ." (Morris, 22). When I first read that Psychic Talent was actually a character's magical aptitude I was rather befuddled by the terminology. It would have been nothing for the authors to describe magical aptitude as Mystic Talent or some other such direct terminology, but to call it Psychic Talent implies that magic in this world is more than some arcane art as you find in other role-playing games. I suspect that we'll find a clarification on this in the second book, The Way of Wizardry.

Step 2

At this point the book begins to discuss the Professions (or as a Dungeons & Dragons player might address them, classes) available to the player of which there are four presented in the first two books (the Knight, Barbarian, Mystic, and Sorcerer) with an additional two presented in later books (Elementalist and Assassin). If I had been purchasing this game at the time it released the discovery that I would need to buy four of the game's six books just to be able to play the game's only available classes would have chapped my ass. Luckily the version released by Serpent King Games allows me to have all of the books in a single location instead of having to buy it across a series of books. The frugal bastard at my core can indulge in that.

Moving on.

Step 3

Health Points (HP) are to be derived at this point. All characters use a d6 to determine the random number that will be their base score and then add an additional, static bonus that is the same regardless of their characteristic scores. This static bonus is derived from the character's class with Barbarians having the highest bonus presented in this book. It's a simplified system that speeds up character creation in a slight manner as compared to Dungeons & Dragons modifier system. It's not necessarily better or worse but it has a simple format that I rather like.

Step 4

From this point forward there will be no more dice rolling in the character creation process which is an interesting choice when compared to Dungeons & Dragons where you're rolling throughout the majority of the character creation process. Instead you're going to be denoting your character's basic scores and then modifying them according to a series of charts.

It's here in this step that we really begin to see hints of the hard shift away from Dungeons & Dragons shadow and see the potential for where Dragon Warriors will be leading us as players throughout our learning of this game. We've moved to a passive role, and as you'll see in upcoming sections, it won't be the last time either.

In step four we're determining a character's Attack score and Defense score. For combat characters, the Knight and Barbarian, your Attack score and Defense score will be everything to you. You will need to make sure that your Strength, Reflexes, and Intelligence are your highest characteristics. We'll discuss this more fully in the next part of the Dungeon Warriors series, The Rules of Combat, but for right now it's enough to know that higher abilities in these areas will provide your character with better chances in combat. Your score modifiers will be found on pg. 25 in the first table.

Step 5

As with determining your Attack and Defensive scores in the previous part now you will now be determining your Magical Attack and Magical Defensive scores from the second table on pg. 25. Higher is again better than lower and I suspect that for many melee characters that they will want to focus their fourth highest stat in Psychic Talent as it provides them with the greatest opportunity for a bonus to their Magical Defense - a facet of their defense that they will need help in shoring up.

Step 6

In Dungeons & Dragons there are a lot of rules and saves that are used to take care of things that occur outside of your normal combat situations. In earlier editions you had things like Save vs Dragon Breath and Save vs Magic Wand; Third Edition introduced the Reflex, Fortitude, and Will Saves as a way to handle those earlier complex situations. In Dragon Warriors there is Dodging which allows a character to evade those sorts of situations. It's based on your Reflexes characteristic that determines your bonuses for this ability. You will find the modifiers for this on pg. 26.

Step 7

In this step, Initial Equipment, the player has again taken a largely passive role in the character creation process. Knights and Barbarians are presented with a list of their starting equipment and money (it should be noted that the Barbarian is the only one of the two who actually rolls for their starting cash). They may purchase additional equipment if they have the money but largely they're done with equipment after this point.

My initial reaction to this step was a bit of shock because I tend to enjoy spending a lot of time purchasing my equipment and preparing my characters for the sort of adventures that I envision them going on when I bring them to the table; but the quickness with which this dispenses with that step would significantly speed up my ability to bring a character to the game. And that brings me to an aspect of this game that I'm already falling in love with: speed. After working my way through the character creation process I can honestly tell you that I'm able to bring a Barbarian or Knight character into a Dragon Warriors in less than ten minutes - and that's with me taking my time, hand drawing my character sheet and making it look just the way I want it.

I love that speed and it's something I suspect we'll be seeing more of when we move into combat in the next part.

Step 8

This is the final step in the character creation process and it's here that you are given your rank, or as Dungeons & Dragons players would call it, your level. You start play at level 1 in this book though I'm sure that there are rules out there to allow you to start at higher levels if you're so inclined.

And that's it, our character is made. at least as far as the Barbarian and Knight are concerned. The process is a streamlined affair that allows the player to get quickly to the table and actually play the game. Comparing this process to my beloved Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons' character creation process is a no contest: Dragon Warriors is, far and away, simpler and faster.

I'm excited to see where this game takes us as we move on to the way that combat is handled. I hope you'll be joining me for part 3.

Dragon Warriors Index

Part 1: Introduction and Early Impressions

Part 2: Building a Character for Play (Barbarians and Knights Only)

Part 3: Combat

Works Cited

Morris, Dave, Dragon Warriors Book One, Dragon Warriors. Corgi Books, UK. 1985. pg 22

Friday, August 4, 2017

Dragon Warriors RPG, Part 1: An Introduction and Early Impressions

The Dragon Warriors role-playing game was a British publication that came out in 1985 by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson that I was recently turned on to, and that has been rocking my world since I first started reading it. Unlike more modern games that tend to provide players with everything they'll need in three, relatively, well organized books Dragon Warriors spreads its rules out across six books. Now these are relatively short things with beautiful art crammed throughout. Comic strips are even sporadically placed within to help illustrate the rules in a better way. The early impression all of this creates is that it's really brilliant stuff; but is it?

That's the thing that I want to figure out about this game because so often when you read a review of a game you have some loud mouthed son of a bitch haranguing you with how wonderful it is and the whole time that they're lecturing you they're not actually saying anything but the usual platitudes. The game mechanics are inventive and groundbreaking. The art is inspired. Combat plays quick, and is done in a streamlined format that makes playing a breeze.

It's a fucking bore that tells none of us anything important or meaningful. So instead of just telling you what I've gleaned from it in the first few hours of reading through the books I'm going to learn how to play the damned thing. If I wasn't a role-playing game blogger that would mean that I'd sit back in my room and read the books while I dreamed of convincing my players to try it one day - but that ain't me. Instead I'm going to be working my way through the books, learning the game as I go, and blogging about it along the way. I'll be highlighting things that I think are interesting and discussing the rules like I often do with Dungeons & Dragons. But more than any thing else I'm going to be working towards the goal of running an actual game on roll 20. This isn't me calling out in the void hoping that someone hears me. This is me getting my shit together so that we can play a game.

You up for this, kids? 'Cause I am.

The Dragon Warriors RPG project will be publishing once each week. My goal is to start off each week with Dragon Warriors because these books really make me excited about role-playing games and I find that writing about them puts me in a good place. You can look forward to Dragon Warriors each Monday as I work my way through.

Dragon Warriors RPG

Part 1: An Introduction and Early Impressions

Part 2: Building a Character for Play (Barbarian and Knight Only)

Part 3: Combat

Note 1: I began this project using a copy of the first book, Dragon Warriors, that I picked up from Amazon after I had been reading a copy of the game on SCRIBD. Since that time I have purchased a collected volume of the game from Drive Thru RPG. At the time of this writing getting a copy in both print and PDF, which I'm using currently while I wait on my print copy, is only $35.03 that will give you both a PDF of the game and a hardback printout. I receive no money from you clicking on that link and purchasing the game so you don't have to worry about me pushing the game because I'm getting something from it. I just genuinely like the hell out of this game.

Note 2: While it should go without saying I feel like in this modern climate where every Tom, Mary, and Joaquin is attempting to get your cash without disclosing that they're doing so that I should make it clear that I did not receive any compensation for doing this series. I just genuinely want to play it and would love to get some other people excited to play it with me.

Note 3: I contacted Serpent King Games, the current license holder for Dragon Warriors, before I launched this project as I wanted to ensure that I wasn't crossing any lines that would get me in trouble with them. They have given me the go ahead to proceed with this project and I wanted to take a moment to publicly thank them for giving me their blessings.

Enough notes, let's get on with this project!

Thursday, August 3, 2017

New Saddle, Same as the Old, Just Better Leather pt. 2

Click Here to Read from the Beginning

"Before we begin," I said as my Lovely Bride picked out her dice, "I just want to make it clear that all of you fuckers know each other. We're not going through that bullshit where you pretend like you don't know each other and then try to awkwardly work together."

"Aw," Brittle Betty said as she laid out her rules cheat sheet, "I kind of like that part."

"Why," Biggboy's deep, gravelly voice asked from the end of the table.

"Oh," Brittle Betty said as her eyes got big, "I didn't realize I said that out loud."

"Well, you did," Poot said as he laughed. "So why do you like that part?"

"Um, well, I'm new," Brittle Betty said as she looked at her sheet and began to rearrange her dice, "and I don't really know you guys too well."

My Lovely Bride gently patted her on the arm and said, "That's okay dear. We're all new sometimes, just not in Charlie's games."

"Okay," Brittle Betty said with a smile.

"Right," I said, "let's get to it then." Characters were made, names written down in my book, and we began.

"A month ago you were all hired as couriers for the TAB Trading Conglomerate. As condition of your hire each of you were provided with a horse for your journey and room & board until you were called up. Those you see next to you were bunked in the same room alongside you as a 'team building strategy.' Hard to say if it worked as your days were filled with the boring monotony of being constantly on the alert for your first mission and it seemed as though you were going to die of boredom before anything interesting might happen.

"Then came Tuesday night.

"You were roused from your beds, rushed out to the patio in a pouring rain where you and your bunk mates were brought your horses. In front of you stood an elegant woman that towered over you as a small man strained to keep her dry under a massive umbrella. Her voice was a deep baritone that sounded as though it started in her ankles before it ever came out her severe mouth. She looked your group over with a look that might have been called disgust if she could have just cared enough about you to form an opinion. 'Give it to the tall one,' she says with a dismissive hand wave before turning and going back into the office.

"Biggboy, a bedraggled goblin walks over to you with a sealed, leather scroll case in his hand. 'My Lady says you're to have this and to go east to Red Castle,' and with that he walks away."

Biggboy held his hand up and mimed handing the case to my Lovely Bride, "I'm not fucking carrying that thing."

"Oh, thanks," my Lovely Bride said as she tucked it into her belt, "knowing my luck Charlie's just given us a portable black hole that will break open and kill us all starting with my lady bits."

"Your lady bits," Brittle Betty chortled.

"It makes boys uncomfortable in their pants when you say vagina," she said.

"You know," the Master Planner said, "I've been trying to get one of those for the better part of the last two years."

"Oh," I said as I set my dice in a row, "how's that working out for you?"

"Fucking terrible. You can't get those things to grow for shit."

"So, anyway," Icarus said, "we were D&Ding."

"Right," I said, "so what are you guys doing?"

My Lovely Bride looked about the table and said, "So how are we doing this?"

"What do you mean," Biggboy asked. "I mean it's D&D. We're going to kill things and take there stuff."

"Naturally," she said, "but this reminds me a lot of Arabella and that has me worried."

"Arabealla," Brittle Betty asked, "what is Arabella?"

"Who," my Lovely Bride replied, "she was a cross-dressing half-giant that nearly killed the whole party back in '06. Icarus, She'rah who you haven't met but is fucking awesome, and Step worked for her for a while. Then we crossed her."

"As you do," the Master Planner added.

"And she came after us."

"Yeah," Icarus said as he set his abacus just to the right of his character sheet, "it wasn't a fun time."

"Good game, though," my Lovely Bride added, "but it ended with the first TPK I've ever been a part of."

"So are you saying we shouldn't do this," Brittle Betty asked. "I was kind of looking forward to going to the Red Castle."

"Oh no," Biggboy said, "no they're not saying that. They're saying we shouldn't fuck with this bitch."

"Right," said the Master Planner, "so we do this one mission and then bug out on her?"

My Lovely Bride turned her gaze on me, "Can we do that?"

"You absolutely could. You would have to return the horses and any additional equipment you have borrowed from the TAB Trading Conglomerate," I told her as I started making notes of their suppositions. I've always found it best to take the game in directions where their imaginations are leading them and do something along those lines. The game seems to have a deeper impact that way.

"Okay," the Master Planner said, "then I'm ready to go."

The rest of the group took a few minutes to purchase some last second supplies and off they went into the world. The rain came down hard and the paths they traveled were muddy morasses that found their horses hooves sinking into the muck. Still they persisted on through the night until early morning when they saw a light off in the distance, flickering dimly in the darkness of the pre-dawn hour.

"Is that where we're supposed to be going," Biggboy asked. "seems like we're awful close to the TAB house to be there so early."

"I don't know," the Master Planner said as he studied the map I'd handed him before the left, "we should be at the Red Castle about now if every thing went as normal but with all the rain and shit we could still be a few hours off."

"Do you want to wait until dawn and check it out then," Icarus asked. "It might be the best option."

"I don't really want to wait," Brittle Betty said in almost a whisper.

"What did she say," Biggboy asked.

"She said she doesn't want to wait," my Lovely Bride announced. She then smiled at Brittle Betty and gently said, "You're playing with a bunch of deaf bastards, dear. You're going to have to speak up."

"Okay," Brittle Betty said with a smile, "I can do that."

"A better question," the Master Planner said as he stroked his beard, "is are you a sneaky, little, rogue-like person who might make his way up the hill and tell what's going on up there."

Brittle Betty flashed a smile that lit up her whole face. "As a matter of fact," she said, "I think I might just be."

"Good," the Master Planner said as he checked his character sheet, "I'm pretty shit as anything dexterity based. Anyone capable of rolling up there with her or is she just better off on her own."

"I'd, um," Brittle Betty stammered, "I'd like to do it on my own. If that's okay?"

"Of course it is," my Lovely Bride said, "just scream if you need us."

"Okay," Brittle Betty said as he picked up her d20. "I'm heading up there."

As the party watched Brian of the Seven Fingers slipped off his horse and disappeared into the darkened woods. Brian of the Seven Fingers made his way up the slippery hillside, deftly finding secure footing along the way, and with barely any sound beyond the heavy drops of rain splashing off his clothing. For nearly ten minutes he carefully made his way up the hillside until he approached the edge of a clearing where the flickering torchlight had lead him.

The clearing before him stretched out into a muddy semi-circle about a dozen paces across at it's longest. In the center, against the back of the hill, stood a large red door half open with lit torches to either side of the entrance. The ground showed heavy traffic of large footed humanoids and deep, drag lines leading deeper into the hillside. Brian of the Seven Fingers noted all of this down before returning to his waiting companions.

"Ogres," Biggboy said with a smile. "It's bound to be fucking ogres."

"Ogres," Brittle Betty stammered, "are they dangerous?"

"They can be if we get surrounded," the Master Planner said.

"So what do we do," Brittle Betty asked as she looked about the table.

"I guess we should keep going," Icarus said, "I didn't really prepare to fight ogres this early."

"Ogres," Biggboy rumbled as he began checking his character sheet.

"We could," the Master Planner said, "but if that's their home then there's no telling how much loot they've got inside."

"Ogres," Biggboy said with a smile as he caught my Lovely Bride's eye.

"Shit," she whispered.

"Ogres," Biggboy said with a nod.

"What's going on," Brittle Betty asked.

"Ogres are what's going on," Biggboy boomed. "And we're going up that hill, kicking their asses, and taking their stuff!"

"Okay," Brittle Betty squeaked.

"Ogres," my Lovely Bride said as she began gently slamming her head on the desk. "Fuck you Charlie Akins. It had to be ogres."

"Ogres," Biggboy practically shouted!

"Ogres," echoed the Master Planner and Icarus.

"Ogres," I said with a smile.

"God damned ogres," my Lovely Bride said.

New Saddle, Same as the Old, Just Better Leather

Part 1

Part 2

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

New Saddle, Same as the Old, Just Better Leather pt. 1

I was laying the bed, watching the ceiling fan cast odd shadows in early Monday morning light, when my lovely wife rolled over and slid her arm across my chest. "Honey," she whispered before blowing a loose strand of hair away from her mouth, "what are you still doing in bed. Don't you have to work?"

"I've been thinking that I'd like to run a game this weekend."

She rose up on her elbow to get a better look at me. "Are you sure," she said, "you haven't run anything in a year."

I watched the fan wobble overhead for a moment before I said, "Yeah, I think I would like to run again."

There was a slight intake of breath and even with her face blackened by the cloying darkness I could tell she was pensively chewing her lip. Finally she said, "Can I play?"

"Yeah," I said as I smiled at her, "do you think anyone else will want to play?"

"Are you fucking kidding me," she said as she rolled over and grabbed her phone. "I'll send out the invites. How many do you want at the table?"

"I'd like to keep it small if you don't mind."

"Sure, Honey," she said as her fingers moved deftly across her screen. "I'll just invite our core group."

I got up from the bed, "I'm going to get a shower and get ready for work."

I took a quick shower, got dressed, and took my medicine as my Darling Bride came out of the bedroom. Her hair was a wild mane surrounding her face and she held her phone out towards me with her eyes closed, "the Master Planner, Brittle Betty, Poot, Bigg, and Icarus have all said they're in if you've got spots left."

"What are they doing up at five in the morning?"

"Who knows," she said as she turned back into the welcoming darkness of our bedroom, "but the game is set for Saturday at two."

"But I didn't tell you a time," I stammered.

"I didn't ask," she said as she closed the door.

"Right," I said to myself as I got up from my computer desk and switched off the light, "guess I'm running then."

Saturday

It's been a few years since I've been back home for longer than a weekend and as I pulled up to the new game shop, Dungeons & Dames, I found myself missing the old back corner streets with their busted streetlights where the dope dealers crossed to the other side of the street because two dozen nerds poured out of a metal door in the side of an old factory building billowing smoke and talking about esoteric nerd shit. Those dope dealers would stand under the flickering neon sign of Lucy's Dinner while we stood under the orange glow of the sensor light and I would watch meth heads slink up in the eerie, flickering neon to buy their latest hit. Once I even saw a girl I had loved with all my heart over there. The beautiful girl she had been, and woman she had grown into, had been replaced by an emaciated skeleton covered in sores that reeked of cheap cigarettes and cat piss. She saw me too, and then she pulled up her hoodie and ran off down the street into the cavernous back of a van with no windows.

I haven't seen her since.

I climbed out of the Blue Fox, a little Chevy Spark I had bought for my wife earlier this year, and watched as the Master Planner came out the door with both arms wide open. "About fucking time you ran again," he said as he enveloped me in a hug that nearly took my breath away. "God, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," I said as I squeezed him back.

"Come on," he said breaking our hug, "people are going to think we're fucking if we keep holding on to each other out here."

"Right," I said as I looked at the door of Dungeons & Dames and saw Icarus bent over while Bigg feigned humping him from behind, "we're the ones they're going to think are fucking."

As I walked into the shop, saying hi to everyone I had missed over the last few years, I found myself slightly underwhelmed with the Dungeon & Dames role-playing game selection. They had a single bookcase to the left of the counter that housed all of their role-playing games. Behind their glass counter were Magic and various card games; and in the big room they had a Warhammer table set up and more figures than were probably strictly necessary for their volume of business. We went past all of this with Icarus leading the way through a winding corridor of rooms and dead end hallways until we reached the "Gray" room where they all turned to me with these tremendous grins on their faces.

"It's the 'Gray' room," my Darling Bride said as she nudged me in the ribs.

"I noticed," I said with a repressed smile.

"Do you get it," she as she pointed to the gray walls and then to my notebook, "the gray room? Like, as in Greyhawk!"

"I get it, Darling," I said with a chuckle. "Gray and Greyhawk. You're all very sweet."

"So what are we going to be playing," Poot asked as he sat down beside me.

"I bet it will involve dungeons," my Lovely Bride said.

"There's going to be dragons," Brittle Betty said as she took her seat next to my Lovely Bride, "I just know it."

"Well," I said as I opened my notebook, "let's see where you guys end up."

Found on Pinterest, Artist Unknown

New Saddle, Same as the Old, Just Better Leather

Part 1

Part 2

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Monkey Business by Jens D., The Disoriented Ranger

For those of you who haven't yet heard Jens D of the Disoriented Ranger produced an adventure, Monkey Business. He's published it on Drive Thru RPG as a pay what you want venture and this is my not review, review.

Now what do I mean by that silly sentence?

I cannot divest myself from my feelings for Jens. I think he is a brilliant person and I love reading his blog every time he updates. I think that in each post he often puts together a more passionate and thought provoking piece than many of us do over the course of a dozen posts (myself included). As a result I find myself so predisposed to liking this adventure that I can't tell you that it isn't because I think so highly of him. And that puts me, as a reviewer, in a terrible place: I'm unreliable.

Let me tell you what I like about this adventure.

From the moment that I began reading the descriptions of the cast I found myself taken with this adventure and I have been actively working to incorporate them into the campaign I'm preparing. I'm a cherry picker of a Dungeon Master and the way Jens has created these characters makes them very easy to throw into my pulp heavy games. I love things like this, and Jens is always a fountain for such things on his blog, so it's good to see that in this adventure there's a lot there for me to use. It's also just zany as all get out and I fucking love that. I love the drug running gorillas, the world's strongest man, the carnival, and the aliens! There's just so many wonderful things here, and they're all strange, and funny, and just hitting right in my sweet spot.

Also, I've totally added the Mark Van Vlack Monkey Generator to my Dungeon Master's Toolbox. That thing is just a quick, useful way to describe monkeys beyond, "You see a fucking monkey flinging poo at you from the tree."

Should you go out and download Monkey Business?

I say absolutely. It's fun and zany - but here's the best part about about Jens publishing it as a pay what you want venture: you can try it for free. You can download the adventure, and if I'm right, you'll find that it's more than worth paying for at which point you can purchase it again from Drive Thru RPG and toss Jens some well deserved cash.

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