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Direbane is an abode to share artifacts, simulacra, histories, and other items of note related to ongoing years adventuring.
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Showing posts with label Objets d'art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Objets d'art. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Splendid Isolation

(My original Judges Guild Judge's Shield (1977), DM view.)

Almost always I have used a dungeon master shield. 
  • In 1978 I picked up the original first published Judge's Shield by Judges Guild. This was really made for OD&D using the Greyhawk supplement, but it worked for our D&D gane until the Dungeon Masters Guide was released around the summer of 1979. (I made a canary yellow Advanced Labyrinth Lord screen in honor of my old and worn Judges Guild screen.)
  • During this period of the late 70s through the 80s is was also common for Dungeon Master's to just use gatefold record albums. This did not provide any helpful tables, but did hide the DM's notes and often the record albums were chosen for their trippy art.
  • Later (not sure when) I acquired or most likely shared the T$R AD&D (1st Ed.) Dungeon Master's Screen. This is probably the most classic and well known screen, even had a separate 2-panel screen just for psionics!) 
  • When I restarted our game with new rules in 2004 I used the Ver. 3.5 D&D Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen which was my first landscape paneled screen (my older screens basically had panels in portrait orientation). I really enjoyed being able to see over the screen better without having to stand up.
  • When I developed a 3rd Ed./AD&D hybrid rules we used in our game starting in 2012 I found the original 3rd Edition DM screen from 2000 and just clipped a whole bunch of alternate tables on top the screen.
  • During 2018 when we switched to a modified 5th Ed. I used Dungeon Master's Screen, Reincarnated (2017) which was the first screen I used in game play that was hardbacked instead of cardstock (4th Ed. had the first landscape/hardback screen I ever purchased, however we never ran our campaign in 4th Ed.). This was a superb improvement, especially when players in our game "sieged the DM" by launching volleys of dice attacks. The hardback screen repelled dice attacks where the cardstock screens often fee. I ended up over time covering this screen in stickers.
  • When we switched to Advanced Labyrinth Lord retro-clone in 2019 I made the aforementioned canary yellow Judges Guild tribute screen.
  • I also created homemade ref screens for Arduin games I've run for Green Hell in 2022 and a more generic Arduin screen in 2023. And also made a little mini-screen for Lamentations of the Flame Princess off of art for a future screen that hasn't yet been published.
  • During 2024 we first started our new 5th edition campaign I used the 5e screen from the 5e Wilderness Kit (the screen art is very cool), then when the 2024 revision books were released switched to the 2024 standard screen.
So what is the deal? I often have DMed without a shield, in particular by the 1990s when I knew the AD&D (1st ed) rules like the proverbial back of my hand. We also did a lot of "theatre of the mind" style games without miniatures and adventures were built out of imagination in real time improvised off simple maps and small sets of notes.

For me at least I enjoy having a wide variety of tables and notes for situations that might come up during a game. I am also often translating scenarios from different rules editions so want to make adjustments on the fly. Also cool and provocative player-facing art on a screen helps set the vibe a little.

And I guess I do like DMing from the far side of the table, away from the door, where a screen provides some privacy when I get up to pee and still have my maps and notes somewhat hidden. Unless someone wants to obviously sneak a peak.

Ha. mostly though, if I am being honest, when I am furiously going through a variety of materials trying to find that note or rules section or piece of a dungeon I am hacking for my campaign, it really is best for my players not to see that.


Friday, January 26, 2024

Happy 50th Birthday Dungeons and Dragons!

 


Per D&D Historian Jon Peterson, D&D was first released in late January 1974, so Jon picked Sunday, January 26, 1974 as Sunday was the day each week Gary Gygax invited folks out to his home in Lake Geneva to demonstrate the new game.

(I began playing about 4 years later, the last week of December 1977, after Dr. John PhD received the Holmes Basic Set as a Birthmas gift.)

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Iconic RPG Author and Artist Jennell Jaquays Passed On Today

 
 Jennell Jaquays left us today. She wrote many Judges Guild scenarios for D&D that were used several times over during my early gaming,  most notably Dark Tower. Ha, I played a lot of paladins and always braved the tower for its Mitraic artifacts.

Later on I ran The Lost Tower for my ver. 3.5 Wilderlands campaign back in the ought's, converted Borshak's Lair for Empire of the Petal Throne, and used The Crypts of Arcadia as the underlying framework for a dungeon set in Arduin beneath the capital city of Talismonde.

In 2017 I was adapting Night of the Walking Wet to 5th edition rules when I read a post by Zak Smith that D&D was too male dominated, and a good exercise was to take that idea for a dungeon module you created and reverse all the genders, so kings become queens, dukes duchesses, lords ladies, and so on. Which is really interesting when for example an evil butchering baron who runs a keep is the evil baroness butcher.

I was working on that and having a great deal of fun, when I realized "woh" this could be seen as something mocking Jennell. I hold Jennell in such high esteem that, although probably she would never hear of my Walking Wet conversion, I wouldn't want to even throw that out in the world that this was some sort of personal satire about Jennell. So I searched for her contact information, discovering a contact form at one of her production companies, and wrote Jennell about my predicament. Offering just to scrap the whole project if she thought it was bad form.

Jennell wrote back:

Hi Matt.

Thank you for the letter. No worries about cheap stunts, etc. I jumped across the stream six years ago already. I'm surprised these days if someone HASN'T heard about it. And to answer the question that many ask, "Yes, I'm a LOT happier now."

I'll try to give your version of The Walking Wet a look over sometime soon. I ran a Swords & Wizardry version of it (with many modifications) two years ago in Texas and am currently doing a complete overhaul and expansion of it for one of my own projects. I set the events of my original adventure in the past of the one I'm working on. Lots of map expansions and revisions, new world content, some new monsters, and more. My current working draft is about 80 pages, typeset. I'm doing the same with another adventure Morkendaine Manor, that I wrote for issue 9 of the Dungeoneer as well. Unsurprisingly, a lot of my characters are female and unashamedly LGBT as well. 

 I currently have four different RPG adventure projects in the work and really need to finish one of them (I did, earlier this year, something called The Dragon's Secret for a fund raiser).

 Anyway, I hope the convention run goes well.

Folks that work in this niche hobby of ours are gracious as all get-out. I can think of only 1 single author of adventures I've enjoyed over the years who did not respond to a question or comment about their work. (Ha, and that query was really about obtaining something super rare that had been taken out of production.)

This particular response, however simple to Jennell, was poignant to me and stretched me back 3 1/2 decades to my 16-year-old self.

Thank you Jennell, you are missed. 

If folks want to help out Jennell's wife, there is a Go-Fund-Me page that was to help with refitting Jennell's home to help with her disability. This will now go to pay down medical bills and cover funeral expenses. 😢

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

New Arduin Ref Screen

 

Now that Arduin is my "go-to" convention game, I put together a referee screen with more general Arduin player-facing art. Different than my previous screen which was more tied to the "Green Hell" jungle scenario I ran at the time.

The re-facing tables are all the same, although I have been assembling a rules cheat-book to capture many of Dave's particular rules that made Arduin a different flavor than regular OD&D (ha, some of Dave's variances were later somewhat adopted in other versions of D&D).

I had several pieces of art with different styles, the centerpiece being the art by Frank Kelly Freas from the cover of Complete Arduin. I created a unified motif by running each piece through the A.I. art generator "Deep Dream Generator" which created from the originals similar art in a new style that was the same for each piece.

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Aftermath of Pig-Faced Ork Con Arduin Game

 

The "Pig Faced Ork Old School Role Playing Game Convention" rolled into Fresno, CA and was a smashing success! 

Tom Wendt who runs the damn thing pours his heart and soul in - No reg fee, free giveaway contests and raffles, candy, waters, game judge badges, PIZZA, plus Tom does all the decorative art himself (not to mention advertising fliers) and secures the venue room at the Fresno County Woodward Park Regional Library.

I figure about 9 games were running including AD&D, Arduin (which I GMed), Holmes Basic D&D, Star Frontiers, Traveller, Weird Frontiers and more. Probably 50 gamers in attendance which is pretty good for a one-room con.

Emperors Choice Games and Miniatures asked if I would run an Arduin game there which worked out perfectly 'cause my partner Heidramor happened to be attending to a friend's baby shower in the area that day. I had run an Arduin game at DunDraCon last February. Each session is getting me better and better versed in the technical adjustments Dave Hargrave included for his game.

The end result is that now I have an Arduin-specific game bag set aside to run Arduin adventures.

I'll be back...

Friday, July 22, 2022

Honor Among Thieves


Trailer released for the New D&D movie "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves"

I spy...

Neverwinter(?)
Black Dragon
Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love"
Vecna(?)
Giant Spider
Owl Bear
Gold Dragon
Underdark
Drow
Fireball
Mimic
Displacer Beast
Gelatinous Cube
Tarrasque

Party: Barbarian, Bard, Mage, Fighter, and Druid.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

The Combat Discharger


I can't find out too much about Matan Thunder (except maybe he's this guy), the author of the probably the most gonzo magic item for the most infamously gonzo setting.

A little background...

There really were some evil Time Lords that attacked the World of Khaas. According to the Arduin Grimoire II, "Runes of Doom," it was all the Rune Weavers could do (after being much weakened from defending the world from Titans and Star Powered Mages 20,000 years earlier!!!) to seal the Time Lords in the Cavern of the Ancients located in the Great Rift.

The Nexis Points within the Kingdom of Arduin would not be discovered for another 8,000 years, and it was not until after 10,000 years of fighting the Wars of When (aka The Nexis Wars) that the Accords of Arduin came about. The time of the Arduin Grimoires is 1,211 years following the Accords.

So keep in mind that when Thunder refers to "The Arduin Consortium" and "Time Lords' Battle Sphere" these events must take place after the time of the Arduin Grimoires, likely a home brew and not Hargrave canon. BUT WHAT A FUCKING GAME!!!

(Also, crunchy note that Thundar seems to be using Arduin Trilogy/OD&D-style rules or maybe AD&D 1e.)

Anyhew, without further adieu, THE COMBAT DISCHARGER!

-----------------------------------------

"Combat Discharger" (by  Matan Thunder)

These devices were originally created by the Arduin Consortium as a means of conveying attack routines outside the Time Lords' Battle Sphere, while limiting the party’s potential to be injured in combat. These devices were much sought after inside the Consortium after their creation as they could serve as a very effective attack platform when present on any device with enough room for their user to project a specific attack sequence from. 

This 8’ diameter pad is 3” thick, and is made of a living symbiotic lifeform with the appearance of a brown leathery bouncy material backed that possesses a resiliency of steel. The primary function of this device is to provide for a distance attack system for melee weapons as well as any other type of attack. It can also serve as a mobile attack platform, as it can even fly and reach spelljamming speeds. 

The pad is activated whenever some creature places their feet on top of the device. This activates a 360 degree vision sensory field that can represent any place within 1 mile of the pad. The perspective presented is as if the user of the device were on the ground in the location currently occupied by an illusion (projected image) of the occupant of this device. The creature on the pad then may initiate any attack routine they have access to, which is then transmitted via a Remote Access spell affect. This conveys the attack to the site of the user’s wishes in precise synchronization with the user’s movements. 

The Combat Discharger will read/sense all movements of a creature on top of it, and it is then able to translate their attack routines with perfect precision to the target location through the remote access affect, as if the user were actually there. The only difference is that the damaging end of the attack materializes at the location within range Combat Discharger’s affect at the moment of the attack. This attack can be accompanied by an illusion of the attacker that the victim may key on to initiate counter moves, but there is no substance to this affect, except at the moment the Remote Access projects the attack to the victim. 

Device Sighting System The viewing sensors of the Combat Discharger come from 3 small black sapphire nodes spaced equally around the discharger pad (flawless stones worth 10,000 gold pieces each). These sensors have a combined projected image & programmed illusion working in tandem to project a point in the surrounding terrain within a range of 1 mile. These provide a view of the location present near the location of the viewing powers of the device. They are the source of all the use of the Remote Access Powers of the discharger, but the sensors are intangible, and they can move about at the will of the Combat Discharger to move about freely at the users wishes. 

The sensors of the device are 3 invisible illusionary phantasmal sensors about 1” in diameter that can move anywhere within 1 mile of the platform discharger. The range of these devices when not aboard the Time Lords Sphere is 1 mile from their set up location.

In situations where they are in the Time Lords Sphere device, all range factor are related to the position of the Time Lord’s Battle Sphere’s outer hull (or 1 mile from the discharger if outside the sphere. They move about at quickling speeds throughout the area of affect. 
The primary sighting system provides a 360 degree panoramic view of any position within the 1 mile sensor range, with an illusion (like a projected image) of the creature occupying the Combat Discharger occupying a location that is directly in the sync with the illusion’s viewpoint. The view shows up as a light transparent blue bubble 10’ around the device’s user, that presents the view as he would see it if he were the illusion.

The user is allowed to emit his remote access power anywhere within 10’ of the illusion regardless of the illusion’s view, even behind a target. This primary sighting feature can zoom in/out with 1 segment of thought by the devices user. 

The viewing surface can also be oriented by the mental will of the user to make a secondary transparent target tracking option anywhere on its surface with 1 segment of thought. There is a slightly darker blue illuminated field 2’ x 2’ that will track targets within the 1 mile range. This second targeting viewpoint can zoom in/out anywhere within the 1 mile radius. The targets will be viewed as if from above, but the user can alter the viewpoint of this second view to any axis they wish. The sight surface can appear anywhere the user wishes in the 360 degree field, and the images on the surface will be red with the image of the target creature, (which is viewed by the sensors) appear on the surface. The system can track any creature moving throughout the 1 mile radius, regardless of size, even if invisible or out of phase. 

The viewing nodes of the discharger have each been also been True Adamantine & True Tin dipped for additional magic powers in visual and other spells for the discharger’s use. 

Node 1 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers:

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc…

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 
1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)
2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)
3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)
4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)
5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)
6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)
7. Lv 6 Balch’s Double Blow (3x) (Attack Augmentation)
8. Lv 3 Tenser’s Deadly Strike (Attack Augmentation)
9. Lv 8 Spell Holding (For the Above Spells)
10. Lv 2 Shadowstrike (Strobe-like Strike Attack Augmentation)
11. Lv 3 Quevven’s Draining Blades (Vampiric Drain Attack Augmentation)
12. Lv 5 Master of Arms (Weapon Proficiency Boost of 2 Slots In Specialization)
13. Lv 9 Envorpal Weapon (Confer Vorpal Strike to Bladed Weapons)
14. Lv 5 Quickblade (Weapon Bonus of +3 To Hit/Damage and -1 Weapon Speed Factor)
15. Lv 2 Amplify Damage (Bonus 2d6 Damage to Weapon)
16. Lv 6 Critical Hit ({Attack as ½ Lvl Fighter For Mages} & Double Damage)
17. Lv 4 Sakratara’s Triple Stirke (Two Arcane Weapon Duplicates (Normal Damage By Weapon)
18. Lv 2 Blinding Strike (-1 Initiative Bonus & Once Double # Attacks)

Node 2 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers: 

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 
1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)
2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)
3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)
4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)
5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)
6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)
7. Lv 8 Thrice Supreme (4x) (3 Rolls Keep Best For 4 rounds)
8. Lv 8 Spell Holding (2x) (Holds Spells On)
9. Lv 9 Life Field (Damage Augmentation to Attacks)
10. Lv 9 Return (Keeps 5 HP In Contingency of Death)
11. Lv 5 Conduit (Spells Into Multiple Arrows/Bolts)
12. Lv 2 First Strike (Auto Initiative For Multi Creatures)
13. Lv 7 Alter Occurrence (Alters a Recent Past Event Only 1 Chance)
14. Lv 5 Missile Multiplication II (Creates 3d6 Missiles From 1)
15. Lv 2 Whirling Blade (Around the Casters Wrist)
16. Lv 4 Darkray’s Anti Magic Ray (Dispel Magic Strike With Weapon For Dur)

Node 3 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers: 

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 
1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)
2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)
3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)
4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)
5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)
6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)
7. Lv 9 Nrok’s Lethal Weapon IV (Weapon Forces saving throw vs Spells -2; 70% Death/30% 6xDmg)
8. Lv 9 Nondeath (Prevents Instant Death Magics/Damage Death For the Duration)
9. Lv 7 Fiction (Allows For a Tailored Outcome)
10. Lv 7 Eldron’s Second Chance (Time Alteration Spell To Repair Past Event)
11. Lv 6 Diamondblade (Vorpal Like Affect)
12. Lv 7 Luck (+1 Bonus to Rolls)
13. Lv 1 Kitric’s Dweomer Strike (+2 Weapon Damage Bonus For Duration)
14. Lv 1 Thellum’s Edge of Blasting (Damage Bonus to Weapon 1 pt Per Caster Level minus 1
15. Lv 3 Zorn’s Aerial Accuracy (Never Miss Thrown Missiles For 5 Missiles)
16. Lv 7 Anticipation (Know Attacks/Actions of Those within 60’ For 1 Round)
17. Lv 7 Dancing Weapon (Animate a Weapon Move 28” MC:A)
18. Lv 3 Lesion (Weapon Augmentation Treats All As AC 10)
19. Lv 7 Dimensional Blade (Blade Becomes 2 Dimensional Damage Augmentation)
20. Lv 9 Matan’s Magic Self (Create Mobile Magic Field Emanating From Self)

***************************************************

The substance of the Combat Discharger is made of specially created homunculus fashioned from tissue samples of: Living Scroll/ Tween/ Quickling/ Phaerimm/ Retriever/ Astral Dragon/ Star Selkie/ Carbuncle/ Living Steel/ Overseer Beholder. These creatures were melded together via successive Monimerge spells and the resultant creature was turned into a homunculus form through alchemical processes that allow it to gain further powers during this creation process. 

1) Living Scroll: This created lifeform creates a living scroll that can cast the spells on it. This device possesses a 17 intelligence with magical powers similar to those granted on the intelligence sword tables of the Dungeon Masters Guide. Furthermore, if the mage possesses a spell book the scroll can memorize 1 spell per intelligent point above an 8 intelligence. The 9 spells at this time are:

1. Lv 9 Absorption (Magic Absorbing Affect)
2. Lv 9 Meteor Swarm (Attack Spell)
3. Lv 7 Teleport Without Error (Evasion Spell)
4. Lv 7 Duo Dimension (Evasion/Concealment Spell)
5. Lv 6 Chain Lightning (Attack Spell)
6. Lv 9 Shape Change (Alters Device to Evade Capture)
7. Lv 7 Devastate (Spell Power Increases)
8. Lv 9 Time Stop (Attack & Evasion Spell)
9. Lv 7 Volley (Spell Protection Reverser)

Whenever a spell is used by the living scroll it disappears from their memory and must be replenished with the new spell as if the spell caster were relearning the spell on a daily basis. This device can use any level of spell out to ninth level. 

2) Tween: This symbiotic denizens of the ethereal plane are smoky outlines of their host for those viewing them on the prime. The tweens have the ability to see seconds into the future which allows their host to make two dice rolls and take the best of the two rolls. Unfortunately others within 50’ are forced to make two rolls and will always take the worst. (These devices are immune to the affect, so if two dischargers are within the 50’ range they are not affected).

3) Quickling: These creatures offer the Combat Discharger user great speed and tremendous agility for the device, and to gain the following powers when using it: Move 96”; 3/1 Number of Attacks; 100% Invisible when not moving; 90% Invisible when moving (during attacks); Spells each one use and simple will activation: ventriloquism, forget, levitate, shatter, dig, and fire charm.

4) Phaerimm: This cone shaped creature serves as a great deal of the power for these devices. They offer vast mage spellcasting powers that are activated by silent act of will. This creature conveys the device the following powers: 44% Magic Resistance to all but petrification/polymorph attacks witch are 77% Magic Resistance; Those spells overcome by the Magic Resistance% that cause damage become part of a defensive reflex that will confer healing to the creature or have the spell affect 100% reflected back to the source (Healing is at the rate of 1 hit point per spell level & otherwise a reflected spell affects the rebound victim normally); Supra Genius; Operate as a 22nd level spellcaster (5,5,5,-5,5,5,-4,4,2); The device also has adopted one spell per level as a spell caster that they can cast at will one time per day: They are: Innate: 1st Chromatic Orb & Magic Missile; 2nd Detect Invisibility & Mirror Image; 3rd Non Detection & Wraithform; 4th Firecharm (Fire) & Rock to Mud; 5th Cloudkill & Demi Shadow Monsters; 6th Mass Suggestion & Permanent Illusion; 7th Limited Wish & Duo Dimension; 8th Polymorph Any Object & Trap the Soul; 9th Foresight & Time Stop. Spells by casters lvl: 1st Magic Mssl x3; Enlarge, Mount; 2nd Knock, Improved Phantom Forces x2, Web, Flaming Sphere; 3rd Blink, Water Breathing, Hold Person, Hold Undead, Explosive Runes; 4th Improved Invisibility, Evard’s Black Tentacles, Phantasmal Killer, Ice Storm; 5th Magic Jar x2, Wall of Force, Passwall, Cone of Cold; 6th Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Globe of Invulnerability, Mislead, Projected Image; 7th Mass Invisibility, Phase Door, Delay Blast Fireball, Control Undead; 8th Glassteel, Incendiary Cloud, Symbol; 9th Time Stop, Foresight.

5) Retriever: Multiple eye attacks from this part of the homunculi are part of this creature’s legacy to the Combat Discharger. These can be projected through the Combat Discharger by the mental command of their user. Each of these rays has a 60’ range & can be used per round (but must recharge 6 rounds after use): fire blast, cold blast, lightning blast, & transmutation (mud, stone, gold, or lead st vs. petrifaction). The eye powers offer damage equal to the device’s current hit points, which are related to the creature’s 10 hit dice (roll randomly for each discharger).

6) Astral Dragon Age 10: This creature offers the homunculi and Combat Discharger a number of powers. They are granted to the user of the discharger by silent act of will. They can: Sense psionic use/creatures within 240’ of users remote access location; +6 psionic blast; Breath weapon 6x day magical force blast 10’ wide x 160’ long which causes damage (per dragons current HP) & saving throw vs dragon breath or be feebleminded for 1 turn per age level; Spellcaster’s at age 10 = 9th level spell caster (higher level casters have been alluded to in githyanki lore). Its spells are: ?? (7th Lvl 4,3, 2, -1) = 1st Mount, Alarm, Gaze Unseen Servant, Sleep; 2nd Mirror Image, Magic Mouth, Detect Evil; 3rd Fireball, Tongues; 4th Confusion

7) Star Selkie: This creature is an ethereal shapechanging race that provide a Combat Discharger (and its user) motive powers that can allow for travel while riding the device and still using its powers. The creature conveys to the rider: In space an SR of 5; Encapsulation of the rider/user in their bullet-like shaped bodies for a ram attack that does 11-20 damage (or 1-2 hull points damage); the final power of the homunculi device is to allow it to shape change to a human like form for transport with the user.

8) Carbuncle: This luck generating doglike creature conveys additional powers to the device. They are: Fly 32” MC:A; Immune to psionic attacks; Double strength LUCKSTONE powers (10d4% to luck/5d2 on saving throws, etc..)

9) Living Steel: This creature offers some very useful components to the homunculi component of the device. The creatures grants: A solid texture to the skin-like material that makes up the surface of the discharger; Immunity to all weapons of up to +2 to the discharger itself; It can alter its from to anything, which included a number of forms that create armor for the user, while still retaining its Combat Discharger powers (i.e. the mat can become an armor that still allows for the use of the devices powers); It takes 1 round to change forms; It grants immunity to electricity/fire based attacks of less than 55 hp in strength (if exceed the discharger will take full damage, but will reform in the following round); Cold attacks that make it through Magic Resistance can slow the discharger by 50%.

10) Beholder (Overseer): As you can imagine the device gains the full gamut of eye powers for the overseer: These powers include: cone of cold; paralysis; telekinesis; mass charm, mass suggestion; spell turning; temporal stasis; dispel magic; chain lightning; emotion; domination; major creation; Serten’s spell immunity. Each are useable in a single round as these eye affects have access to remote access spells to shoot their eye rays through.

*********************************************************** 

The nature of the homunculi creation has further augmented the powers above. This creation was granted (as part of being a new lifeform) a great increase in speed that effectively doubles all speeds that the tissue supplying creatures above. This means that the user of the discharger is granted the following adjusted speed augmentations: Speed of movements 192” move/ 64” Fly MC:A; SR 10; 6/1 attacks per round; 2 spells cast for each round (or 2 times the number of powers used i.e. eye rays, etc…). 

Each Combat Discharger has also had the True Adamantine Treatment applied to its surface. This coating will has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers:

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

There are 1-20 spell affects that are capable of activating over the entire surface. The following spells are applied via this procedure. The spells are all cast as if by a 26th level spell caster in duration, range, etc. The spells are the following: 

1) Lv 5 Tempus Fugit (Time Alteration)
2) Lv 4 Remote Access (x5) (Distance Attack Facilitator)
3) Lv 5 Awaken From Afar (Activates Magic Items From Distance)
4) Lv 5 Telekinesis (Grasp/Grab/Attack Force)
5) Lv 7 Silent Accord (x2) (Mind Attack Spell Even a Miss is a Failed Save Later)
6) Lv 6 Projected Image (x2) (Distance Illusion of Combat User)
7) Lv 9 Matan’s Hydra Head (Multiple Head & Actions)
8) Lv 9 Morg’s Contemplate Fate (Future Decision Help)
9) Lv 9 Morg’s Duality of Mind (2 Minds In One Body)
10) Lv 8 Continuous Spell Holding (Locks Another Spell On)
11) Lv 5 Dart’s Multiple Arms (4 Arms For User)
12) Lv 5 Visions of Future Clarity (See 1 Turn Into Future)
13) Lv 9 Ageless’s Force of Will Spellcasting (Instant Spell Casting)
14) Lv 9 Matan’s Magic Self (Create Mobile Magic Field Emanating From Self)

You should note that all spells could be changed out for others allowed in your campaign, and by the same extension you could go for a wider range of monstrous homunculus components in the creation of your own customized versions. Of course you might be careful with the flight components, as their loss makes the mat somewhat difficult to move.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Everything Is Connected

 

(Wilderlands imposed on Ghostring)

My present Judges Guild Wilderlands campaign has been running for 15 years, and has direct linkages back through our "Blipping" campaign running between 1988-2005 and somewhat looser connections from our earliest campaigns there and elsewhere from as far back as 1979. (Ha, however, in a sort of "Groundhog's Day," every Wilderness campaign restarted the jumpstart year of 4433.)

Unfortunately, fast-forward back to nowadays after Bat in the Attic Games announced in February 2020 it would suspend all future dealings with Judges Guild over a series of racist and antisemitic posts made by Judges Guild owner Bob Bledsaw II, and it has become complicated to support the old-school brilliance of these Wilderlands works by the Senior Bob Bledsaw, who passed in 2008 and is unconnected to the present drama and controversy.

I sort of pulled a fast one on our shared referee "New Old Weird World" campaign and slipped the Wilderlands into a world map there, albeit in a Tekumellian, post-apocalyptic scene more than 20,000 years in the future.

Basically, I had found some time back a Judges Guild adventure for the sci-fi game Traveller call "Marooned on Ghostring." The setting is a planetary system missing from records of the galactic Imperial government, and several (but not all) of the attributes are similar to the system of Ghenrek IV, the planet where The Wilderlands exist.

I ran with this information adopting what I needed and changing the rest to fit the world into the Imperial empire of the far future.

Ha, so myself, I have been running essentially one campaign all this time. Everything is sought to fit (not always smoothly) within an ongoing story of our group's adventures where I've refereed.

  • Furthest back, circa year -30,000 BCCC, Agent Smith (High Fantasy campaign) from an alternate or far-away galaxy future had dabbled in forbidden arts and ends up on Ghenrek IV during the Uttermost War between the intergalactic Elder Alliance and the forces of a single Markab prince from The Void. Smith is attacked by "Grey Goo" (a nanotech swarm) and only saved when Elder Alliance engineers transform Smith into a cyborg. Smith is secretly left behind on Ghenrek IV when the Elder Alliance abandons their starbase there under terms of a cease fire with the Markrab Prince.
  • During the year 4433 several large masses of combatants ranged across the Wilderlands (High Fantasy campaign). A humanoid and giant force that sieged City State of the Invincible Overlord. Githyanki sent by their Lich Queen to establish a massive hatchery helping combat future Mind Flayer domination. The traitorous Drow Necromancer who plotted with the World Emperor to field an undead army. And finally the undead horde released from Mount Doom across the Wild North above Valon.
  • Also during 4433 an adventuring party (High Fantasy campaign) resisting the Githyanki incursion assembled the Tripartate of All Evil, inadvertently releasing the dreaded elder god, Tharzadu'un. As the elder god attempts to access a hidden portal to escape from this prime material plane, a massive magical-thermonuclear explosion occurs and the party/world (?) only survives through intervention from Codex of the Infinite Planes. This adventuring party is soon after imprisoned in a stasis field as when they moved to defeat the Drow necromancer.
  • At some point by 4434 the Baron of Blackmoor sends a group of adventurers (Blipping #2 campaign) to acquire what he believes to be a powerful weapon to defeat the various forces threatening Blackmoor. Unfortunately the "weapon" activates "The City of Gods," a terraforming installation left over from the Elder Alliance/Markab days which was never put into use. The Baron activates terraforming force beams to manipulate flows in the molten core of Ghenrek IV altering the planet's tilt, spin, magnetic field, gravity, etc. and creates a world-wide apocalypse.
  • The adventurers (Blipping #2 campaign), after messing with a faulty Mind Flayer time ship, are deposited sometime around year 8400 in the northern post-apocalyptic dry barren waste. They are only able to escape back in time after discovering the Comeback Inn situated on a barren outcropping of magical black rock. The inn has a somewhat randomized time portal in its basement. This is how the adventurers meet the Baron of Blackmoor in 4433.
  • After these adventurers (Blipping #2 campaign) fell through an interplanar transtemporal "rabbit hole" into an alternate prime material plane where they meet Matsuhara Yatsuya, a Time Lord, who sends the party through using his TARDIS to a number of alternate far, far future scenarios, which seem to ultimately resolve in either a "Matrix"-like AI generated artificial existence, or a fiery ecological disaster of acid rains and marauding demons.
  • The adventurers (Blipping #2 campaign)are abandoned in the Wilderlands approximately in year 5,433 where there is only a barren, icy wasteland populated by cultish white elves who are in transdimensional communication with Githyanki. Ultimately, they discovers a Githyanki plan to infiltrate the Mind Flayer home planet, a discworld.
  • In our latest campaign (New Old Weird World campaign)adventurers are back on Ghenrek IV circa 25,019, utilizing the Ghostring world map to provide new terrain, and the planet is still tilted from the terraforming 20,000 years previously which has altered the original climate.
We are now rotating referees, so while I started the campaign I have little control over where the campaign will end up (although I did hit up Sick Rick our next referee about the Wilderlands connection).

Despite the recent drama of Bob Bledsaw's son, the Wilderlands for me continues to be our longest running campaign setting which still pays dividends to our imagination.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Cube World DIY Print


Cube World is an electronic-only product created by Zak Smith and available in installments (presently 20 of them) in PDF format that also comes with hi-res JPEG files of the source material.

What I've done for myself is print out all of the installments in a comb-bound book, and also (because I am a nutter) have printed out photo-quality images of the source material to make a Cube World Atlas for my home use.

I will reiterate my message from the video that there is nothing else like this being published in the OSR today. The breadth, artistry, and utility of the installments as a whole is phenomenal, I mean absolutely incredible.

Cube World Installments may be purchased here...


If you are going to print the installments for personal use you need a color laser printer (inkjet ink would cost a fortune). In the long run laser printers are way more economical than inkjet, especially if you search around and find a good third party ink supplier.

Because I do a lot of personal binding of my gaming stuff I already had a comb binding machine (they run about $50-$75 plus you have to buy the plastic combs). If you do some DIY books comb binding is an inexpensive method to bind a book if you don't mind a cardstock cover (not hardbound).

Note: I DID NOT trim the Cube World book of installments because I wanted to add as time went on, but longer books, if you do this a lot, require a machine-cutter to trim the edge or you can pay a print shop to trim (I bought a machine-cutter because print shops sometimes over trim). I think about 8 years ago I paid around $120 for a machine hand-press cutter that will cut I think up to 300 pages at a time.

You can pay always pay a print-shop to do all of this but $$$.

The Atlas pages I printed on photo paper and placed in one of these Pioneer Leatherette Post Bound Album, 8.5x11 pages, because the "bolt" page binding is concealed, and these are hardbound more like a regular book, but also expandable.

The album itself comes with 10 pages (enough for 20 prints). You can get all kinds of cheaper expansion pages, however if you purchase the Pioneer Albums Postbond Top Loading Page Protectors with 5 8.5x11 pages (this is a 3-Pack) these include the expansion bolts to increase the size of the album.

I put photo-paper prints of Zak's notebook pages (which are smaller, original page size 8.5x5.5) in this Filexec Products Art Presentation Book, 5"x7", 24Page/48 Views, (Pack of 2). I printed these 2 per page and then trimmed them down with a simple paper trimmer that run about $20 and are useful to have around.

Here are images of Cube World maps discussed in the video:





Oh, and here is the "unauthorized" cover I put together...



Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 4 (World Geography)



A delve into the original gonzo DIY RPG setting of Arduin.

In this video I go through the continents and oceans of Khaas.

Some Arduin Pronunciations (Mark Schynert):

My initial observation is that Dave tended to stick 'H' into proper names as a trailer for some other consonant with abandon, but I never hear it pronounced, except for ph/sh/ch/th. I've never seen a written phonology of any of this, so I have to rely on what I've heard, and do some extrapolation. My best guesses ...

Pronunciation guide for the following:

    • Fhedlspaera = fed•is•PAY•ra
    • Khaora = ka•O•ra
    • Extaercara = ex•TAY•ka•rain
    • Archaela = ar•KAY•la (pretty sure about this one)
    • Laenkrwat = I dunno...LAYNK•ur•wat? Never heard it, not sure it was ever said.
    • Orichalcum = or•ï•CHAL•cum, but colloquially or•IK•cu•lim. 
      Yeah, maybe because the formal term is an uncomfortable mouth full of raw squid to an English speaker. 

Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures


Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Fireworks Hailing Over Cube World

(Artist unknown, embellished from a t-shirt)
Sandy is how I enjoy my D&D campaigns. Roll some PCs then let things run amok. Ha, enough about me. What's up with Cube World...?

A month ago I wrote what I knew about new Cube World releases (table top RPG, not computer game), what that world appears is thus and what I saw as Cube World installments' significance to the hobby.

As a refresh, Cube World is the overall campaign setting that contains Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, Red and Pleasant Land, Maze of the Blue Medusa, and Frostbitten and Mutilated rpg supplements. It is literally a cube-shaped world with the campaign taking place on one of the six "faces" of the cube. However, "The entire planet is a hive of stone tunnels carved by long-dead civilizations."

Since new releases began last April began there have been roughly 200 pages of new campaign material published in 13 separate installments.


Couple things common to each installment:

1. These installments are MODULAR. You can just as easily drop them into your own campaign as run them in conjunction with a Cube World campaign. You can also break them up and reconfigure them to suit, and often suggestions are included how you might adjust elements for a one-shot or, conversely, an even larger adventure.

2. The adventures are ACTIVE. Meaning, stuff's happening independent to the adventuring party that reflects NPC and monster motivations; chains of circumstances to alter the tone, complexity, and/or nature of specific encounters depending on PC actions or lack thereof.

These are aspects of every installment and adventure by design, so you can expect being able to utilize all the material either within setting or out, and that adventures engage players from the outset with situations that demand decisions. Freewill? Of course... with consequences planned out for you ahead of time. (Fuck, Rush, there is a host of holy horrors pulling strings!)

Note Also: Maps and art are FULL COLOR with separate hi-res JPGs included. Many adventures include suggestions for running in the Weird Earth early modern Lamentations of the Flame Princess setting.

Perspective of a Cube World campaign from the new material:

You can check the link to peruse according your taste for individual characteristics of each installment. Below is my version of a topographical flyover lending an eye on how new pieces fit.

1. Still centered on Northern Continent, but further south.

(The fairy tales of Charles Perrault; Illustration by Harry Clarke; Harrap, 1922)

Vornheim and The Devoured Land are previous major regions detailed for Cube World's Northern Continent, both being north of the goblin empire Gaxen Kane. The largest area by far contributed from the new installments are to the Northern Continent land of Broceliande.

Broceliande is south to the horrible goblin empire of Gaxen Kane. Various nations of Broceliande, in particular the gray elves, have warred with the goblins since Cube World's primordial time. Broceliande is "unusually lovely and green, with tall castles, jousts, quests, wild forests, foxes, frogs and fae, elves in the north, halflings in the south, dwarves in mountains..."

Broceliande information is contained among several Cube World installments about seven kingdoms/baronies/duchies and discrete geographic regions, eight cities/towns, and six dungeon/adventure scenarios. Most all receive at least a half-page to a page of detail (much more for adventures), with major adventures there being political schemes and hidden dungeon treasures in the Duchy of Teeming, a siege to the eastern port city of Ortheque by Chaos Pirate warbands, warring mutant tribes from a spawning lake, rescuing treasure from a castle on the back of a mountain-sized giant, and two dungeons, one very dangerous and the other very mysterious, in the Barony of Eeping.

Lest you begin to consider Broceliande a region of mostly mere classic fantasy sorts, hidden areas are also occupied by strange psionically telekinetic/telepathic creatures: The Philosophers. An entire installment (#13) is dedicated to descriptions, environs, and four adventure encounters with this near-Lovecraftian species from another dimension.

2. Sea of Ignorance and Pain bits to the Scorpion Lands, "sailor's legend" of Drownesia, and hints of Southern Continent to points far east.

(The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, by Lotte Reiniger, 1922)

Should PCs take to water off the east coast of Broceliande upon the Sea of Ignorance and Pain, they'll find scattered islands and island-fortresses.

Traveling southward in the sea one installment (#4) provides an adventure encounter on Iguana Isle just off the Scorpion Lands on the north coast region of Cube World's Southern Continent. The island hosts a pirate queen's fortress, and the queen is in need of some "engineering" assistance obtaining a mysterious artifact lodged in the coral beds nearly 200 feet beneath the sea's surface.

Rumors heard at pirate island can help lead an adventuring party west to the jungle-thick collected islands of Drownesia, a mysterious land of dinosaur-riding dark elves. That same installment provides elements for the Drownesian island of Palafesh Opnow with two on-island adventure scenarios plus a megacorpse floating somewhere off the island's coast.

Should adventurers sail east from Iguana Isle another installment (#12) contains two islands with adventures that also hint to what lies on the Southern Continent mainland in those areas. PCs would likely first encounter the "sorcerer-tyrant and his monstrous pets" on The Isle of Massive Crustacians. Moving still further east might choose to become involved in a pair of rival sorcerers skirmishing over a powerful item come lodged beneath the midpoint of a thousand-foot bridge between their two isles in Peacock Isles.

There is another far east scenario for PCs to engage with maritime battles of an ancient wizard. The wizard possesses a terrible item used to take lands adjacent to Eight Demon River there as the wizard's own.

3. Nephilidia and the western sea.

(Photo by unknown)

If you happen to be running a campaign set around Vornheim (or just be keen on amphibious vampires), there is a sea west to the Northern Continent named, respectively at least in the sea's waters off the west coasts of Broceliande and Gaxen Kane, Goblin Sea or Sea of Dead Elves. Nephilidia, Eversinking Isle of seafrost and rime, is up in the cold northern waters of the western sea.

Nephilidia is home to Nephilidian Vampires, most preferring never to leave their half-drowned empire knee-deep in black and stagnant water. Another single location installment (#11), the adventure scenario includes random encounters for waters surrounding the island, an island map for overland encounters, tools for generating random dungeon ruins as needed, and The Last Palace of Queen Naxxala.

Nephidilia is, apart from encounters with The Philosophers, singly the most dangerous from these recent installments. A commensurate table of 1,000 Nephilidian magic items provides just rewards for survivors.

There is also one more island of note for the western sea from the installments, Isle of the Lava Trolls. The encounter has some nice terrain features that would provoke interesting exploration and combat, plus throwing the adventuring party on a volcanic isle in the middle of an icy sea. Ha, there's that.

4. Miscellany.

The installments do have a couple of scenarios related from the previous works. One is A Place of Garments horrific dress maker set in the kingdom from A Red and Pleasant Land. Another is Temple of the Mantis set near Vornheim that travels through a secret portal to the extradimensional place of the Mantis Cult. 

A special setting that may be used in a variety of places is Curated Destruction, a elvish library containing all knowledge and art deemed important by elves.

Likewise The Tracery along with echo chambers may be used as a strange and otherworldly means to link any dungeon sections, although a scenario involving heresy and lycanthropes is provided to draw PCs into the dungeon.

There are a number of items in the installments in addition to expanding the Cube World setting: Several particular d1000 treasure tables, book generators, useless book generators, and varied random dungeon tables along with a sample dungeon, Lair of the She Jackal, as example of randomly generated dungeon.

CONCLUSION...

BUY THIS STUFF! Cube World installments have two things every dungeon master needs: Utility and surprise! These installments are dense because everything needed at the time fits on one or two pages with color-codes on the tables to move expeditiously to the information you need. 

The scenarios are varied and often with multiple decision trees such that I expect many of them with a tiny bit of re-skin you could run your same players through more than once without them catching on you're recycling. At minimum these are privately published ideas from a professional and award-winning author that your average gamer can't get at their FLGS.

Nearly all of the installments are just $5 each so you can afford to pick and choose to see how they run - either in your own game setting or that of a full-fledged Cube World.

Next up I am going to get a group to run through some of these, probably starting in Broceliande using our standard Advanced Labyrinth Lord. When that happens I can share play reports. Until then, ha, go easy, and if you can't go easy go as easy as you can.


Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 3 (Home Brew)




A delve into the original gonzo DIY RPG setting of Arduin.

In this video, while working out new audio, I take an interlude to expose some of my personal Arduin home brew from a long ago campaign.

Note: I mention that each DM's scenario lasted for 3 sessions. Understand at this point in our gaming (late 1980s) our gang is mostly in our mid twenties, some are married, some with children, so we gamed probably once every month or two in Saturday night marathon sessions lasting 10-12 hours.

Also, I think now looking at the overland map that the party never made it across Moon Water to Bordertown. It looks like Black Bog is right on the way around Moon Water and that just happened to be where things ended up after my last session.

Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures

(Arduin home brew map...)

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Notes from the Underground: Zak Smith's Cube World, Installments #1, #2, and #3

Yea acutely conscious adventurers be bloodthirsty horribles infected unable to truly appreciate precious jewels and sublime artifacts without to suffer blood-soaked agony while smashing things. Spurred not by reason rather their desire.

So lie our way through space and time with elaborate vividness possessed judges only weep to flagellate perpetual and efficient lack of originality. 


“I want more life, fucker.”

My olde-homey-group-game game was steeped in Dave Hargrave's gonzo-DIY Arduin and the idea of "Multiverse" with 4,000 or so parallel universes discovered in the Arduin Nexus (so far). So our home games had no trouble bouncing campaigns and intra-campaign from any of our home brew settings to Hargrave's Arduin (Empcho is MIA, only used resellers) to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor First Fantasy Campaign (Only used resellers for FFC, can get Mystara or Zeitgeist versions) to even Cyberpunk and friggin' Star Trek.

The particular products Arduin Grimoire Trilogy and Blackmoor/First Fantasy Campaign are basically DIY campaign notes resulting from how parties in the author's home campaigns gamed and what the judges learned worked as a result of gaming in an actual, home campaign among friends - exactly the way RPGs are played by the rest of us. With ideas fleshed out informed from interactions with their friends (not employees or testers), Hargrave and Arneson educated us in an often gritty fashion, not merely what to play, but how we could play using their own campaigns as examples. And we did play.

40 years nothing similar to these early works has come along since, until now.


(Earth and cube with same volume, from Possibly Wrong)
Recent legal development (Note: 4/8/2020 statement/tweet by Paul Matijevic/ettin64 acknowledging "defamatory" statements that "...did not undertake any suitable fact check" contains brief description of abuse that may be triggering to some readers) being what it is, award winning game author and artist Zak Smith (D&D With Porn Stars, Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, A Red and Pleasant Land, Maze of the Blue Medusa with Patrick Stuart, Frostbitten and Mutilated) announced a decision to release the entire write ups for his game's campaign, "all the D&D," for Cube World.(*)

(* Not to be confused with the 2005 Radica Cube World electronic toy or Picroma Cube World video game released in 2013/alpha and 2019.)

What is Cube World?

1. Well first off we know (meaning me and the general public) everything Zak published for OSR D&D has a place in his home campaign:

On Vornheim Zak writes "These are our rules and tables and monsters and places. I wouldn’t want to spend all this time writing a book I couldn’t use." 

Of A Red and Pleasant Land "You can set an entire campaign in Voivodja or (and this is what I did) just have it occupy a spot on the campaign map in case your players want to go there..."

Maze of the Blue Medusa Zak put on his blog a Digital DM Screen that has a button for "Random Cube World Hex." This also provides a clue to the overall size of a campaign map. I fiddled about with the button and the largest number I came up with was hex 2020. Calculating the square root is about 50 (49.9444) and given Zak's penchant for 6-mile overland hex results in a square campaign map roughly 300 miles by 300 miles.

Zak in MotBM also references Nyctopolis, "... the annihilated capital of the Reptile Empire." In a blog post from July 2016 Zak indicates Suarians of Nyctopolis may become "Knights of Tittivila," the goddess of flesh and change. This religion is also found in Vornheim and "... operates out of ordinary buildings all over the continent." 

There is a history in MotBM that provides some details about the rise and fall of the "Reptile Empire" where also Vornheim mentions some traditions descended from "Reptile Men." It is easy to presume these details are related and Nyctopolis is out there somewhere.

Finally, Frostbitten and Mutilated has a bare campaign map roughly 340 miles north-south by 250 miles east-west with the city of Vornheim located toward the southern end and the "Devoured Lands" of Frostbitten and Mutilated located toward the northern. This map from F&M is likely the area of the main campaign map.(See MotBM note above) 

2. We know Zak's campaign takes place on Cube World, a cubic, hollowed-out gigadungeon, where different sides of the cube are essentially different regions of reality:

When Zak released Vornheim back around May 2011, he included this little tidbit paragraph at the bottom of the map key on page 3...

"The entire planet is a hive of stone tunnels carved by long-dead civilizations. Familiar landscape features – trees, grass, seas and oceans – form but a thin layer on top of this gigadungeon, and the ruins of nameless cities punch through the crust in every direction."

Later that same year in a September 2011 blog post Zak writes "I have long casually assumed that the world Vornheim is on is cube-shaped. I figured: the whole planet is artificial and made of solid dungeon beneath a thin layer of vegetation, so of course it's a cube."

Implications of a cube-shaped planet are "... because the atmosphere would still radiate outward in a sphere from the planet's core, the habitable areas would be limited to non-communicating separate circular zones on each face of the planet." (See image from Possibly Wrong above.)

(Both Vornheim and F&M reference a single, round moon, so perhaps with moon phase/eclipse math inhabitants might have discovered their planet is squared, not round, and thought to tunnel over to another side.)

The six faces of the world would also aptly develop together as environments of a quasi (i.e. non-traditional D&D) multiplanar system. "... (T)he best way to get to these other biospheres would be to go through the earth and come out the other side. Bam, you're in a new world or--literally--on another plane of existence. And that's why they're called planes."

What about Cube World Installments? (Not for players, some spoilers)

1. There are several hundreds pages of new and updated material Zak has decided to publish:

In a blog post this past April 8, Zak wrote he has over a hundred pages of material originally intended for Lamentations of the Flame Princess (including Violence in the Nympharium and Bards), hundreds of pages of new material such as hex locations, new monsters, weird religions, "... new rules, tools, creatures, classes, every country, every continent, from to Vornheim to the goblin kingdom of Gaxen Kane to Drownesia plus a vast megadungeon beneath. The whole Cube World."

Zak had not planned to publish any of this, but an unnamed DM asked Zak to write her a scenario involving a Tiger-King which Zak decided to sell and donate the first week of sales as a benefit. Zak wrote that positive experience "... maybe there are some people in the online RPG scene who aren't gullible psychopaths" motivated him to release all of it. "Everything. Nothing piecemeal."

The caveat is that the material isn't being presented according to "publisher quirks" of an LotFP or Satyr Press. It is Zak's art, maps, and words. Zak is taking time to write up his notes. But the appearance of the text thus far is nitty gritty if that matters to you.

2. The first set of installments are each separate sets (not linked between them):

Rules are LotFP and compatible with old versions of D&D like 1st edition AD&D and B/X, or OSR retroclones such as Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry (note: LotFP skills are used). Zak includes a very simple rule to modify encounters for 5th Edition D&D. And Zak helpfully provides variations for either LotFP early modern Europe or medieval fantasy settings.

Zak also includes notes with each installment suggesting alterations for each scenario to run piecemeal if necessary for your campaign. (If you aren't familiar with Zak's prior work, one hallmark is that it's modular.)

All of the scenarios contain new monsters and unique ways adventurers interact with the various environments.

Cube World #1: Castle Terravante, Vault of Omnilex, and Crypt of the Wretched is two linked scenarios and what Zak's home group is gaming right now. "A social-interaction clusterfuck involve shenanigans in a castle (a duke, a count, a scheming priest, a dark secret etc) and the rest about the dungeon beneath." The dungeon will be supplemented by a megadungeon, but not yet.

Cube World #2: The Inquisitor's Road, The Gray Fortress, The Echo Chambers (plus d100 potions with ingredients) has three distinct parts. "In the first scenario, the party heads through the wilderness to investigate a heresy at the behest of religious authorities, in the second section the party encounters an evil cult in a once-abandoned fortress, and the third section is a dungeon."

Cube World Installment #3: The Curated Destruction "is a semi-legendary library created by the elves to contain all useful knowledge and literary art." This scenario, in addition to tables of interesting books and tables of uninteresting books, has regional descriptions of the campaign world.

3. How does one purchase installments?

Zak has been selling installments for $5 and some pennies ($5.01 for #1, $5.02 for #2) except installment #3 is much longer and goes for $10.03. The text is PDF and maps hi-res JPGs.

The most punk, DIY, and underground way to buy these is to visit Zak's "Only Fans" pay porn site (no porn there, just RPG). Just a side note, I got hit with a bogus ransomware email threatening to send my contacts video captured from my webcam watching videos from the site and "self-pleasuring." Ha, bogus because I watched no videos and don't have a webcam.

If you don't mind missing Zak's message updates on "Only Fans" there is also a Venmo setup.

**** UPDATE 4/22/2020 - Updated blog post about what's out and how to get it.

What do I think?

I have enjoyed Zak's RPG work for a decade. On the installments, these are the wordsmith and art I grew accustomed to from Zak's blog and prior books. Not instructing you verbatim how a scenario should be run but rather where you might want to end up and a variety of thoughts on how to get you there.

Published campaign settings, however, are really no big thing, the difference here is this is Zak's personal campaign. Nothing matches the time, effort, and love for your players than what a game judge makes for the home group and setting you actually game in. Rarely for the rest of us are works available combining that personal effort with an award-winning author and an existing body of professionally published works. Jesus, I can only think of one predecessor: Dave Hargrave and Arduin.

Dave Hargrave was cut short at age 42 though, and most of his campaign notes, additional dungeons, maps, etc. are said to have likely ended up in a landfill. When a bit of interest in Arduin came up again during the early OSR, there was almost nothing written by Hargrave to add to the dozen or so Arduin works Hargrave published during his lifetime. That didn't stop Empcho from publishing an 800-page Arduin world book though, and a game map. The huge main difference is it wasn't Dave's voice in the words.

Ok Zak, please don't die, and I'll look forward to your vision for Cube World. Thanks!