The Many Crypts of Lady Ingrade and Zine Quest #3

 

My good friend, Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor is in his last three days of his kickstarter, an adventure zine called the Many Crypts of Lady Ingrade. Written for Old School Essential it is a series of adventures around the various crypts of Lady Ingrade. It also part of Zine Quest, an effort by Kickstarter to promote various types of RPG zines. 

Tim has tapped me to do the maps. Here is a sample below.

It represents an evolution of my black and white style. I recently stumbled on a source for old screen tone, dry transfer sheets filled with patterns and symbol that were used prior to advent of illustration software and desktop publishing. I bought a few to fill in gaps in my collection and some of them are found in these maps. The ones below are scrubland, jungle, and tidal flats. 

 

Two old friends get interviewed

My friend Tim Shorts and I have been gaming together for a long time starting around 1984 or so. Since then both of us have published works, me with Bat in the Attic Games, and Tim with Gothridge Manor. Because of Roll20 and on-line tabletop gaming, Tim and I have played with a lot of folks around the hobby and invariably they hear stories about what we did from Tim or myself.

Joethelawyer is a long time blogger and podcaster as well as playing in some of Tim's campaign. A while ago he wanted me and Tim to appear together on his Not So Wondrous Imagining podcast. It finally happened on Sunday.

We talked about our project, about our campaigns, and about we did as players along with some stories about our mutual friends. It was a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as Joe, Tim, and I did.

You can hear the podcast at Not So Wondrous Imagining

Hunters in Death the last 24 hours

I want to thank everybody for their show of support throughout the week. It meant a lot and I got to talk to a lot of new people. I regret it wasn't under better circumstances.

I will be talking in a later post about Bat in the Attic Games. But right now it is last day  of one of my best friends kickstarters.

Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor and I have been gaming together since high school along with our friend Dwayne Gillingham. In recent years he has been publishing his ideas along with some kick ass maps.

Now Tim is taking a stab at a kickstarter by offering Hunters in Death, an old school hex crawl. It part of Kickstarter's zine quest 2 encouraging and promoting various zine authors.

Here is a summary of what it is about.

Hunters in Death is set in the Komor Forest. A place that's consumed civilizations and birthed abominations. Yet there is a single outpost, Hounds Head, that holds back the darkness. It's a beacon for adventurers. Silver and blood are promised. And delivered. Some adventurers return with sacks overflowing with coins and jewels, but most fertilize the forest with their blood.

I have adventured in the Komor Forest and it is an interesting place to explore. The zine itself is a good deal at $4 for the PDF and $8 for print + pdf. Hope you check it out.

Hunters in Death, an old school hex crawl.

Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor and I have been gaming together since high school along with our friend Dwayne Gillingham. Over the years through our respective campaigns we came up with a lot of ideas.

Print on Demand and the Internet made it possible for each of us to share some of what we created. Now Tim is the first to take a stab at kickstarter by offering Hunters in Death, an old school hex crawl. It part of Kickstarter's zine quest 2 encouraging and promoting various zine authors.

Here is a summary of what it is about.

Hunters in Death is set in the Komor Forest. A place that's consumed civilizations and birthed abominations. Yet there is a single outpost, Hounds Head, that holds back the darkness. It's a beacon for adventurers. Silver and blood are promised. And delivered. Some adventurers return with sacks overflowing with coins and jewels, but most fertilize the forest with their blood.

I have adventured in the Komor Forest and it is an interesting place to explore. The zine itself is a good deal at $4 for the PDF and $8 for print + pdf. It funded in the first day so it will be seeing the light of day. Hope you check it out.

Manor #8 is for sale

Just a bit of a remainder to say that my friend Tim of Gothridge Manor has Manor #8 out for sale. It contains nice set of grappling rules as well as tips on torchbearers among other goodies.

Gothridge Games Starter Adventures, a story about a lot of maps.

+Tim Shorts finally released Starter Adventures. For those you who liked his Knowledge Illuminates, you will like this. Moreso because you don't get just one adventure, you get about a dozen and a half adventures, locales, creatures, and items. Along with great art from +Jason Sholtis and maps from me.

RPG Now PDF
Lulu PDF
Lulu Print

The Map from Bender's End.

I tell you need to be careful around Tim with cartography. He just might have you redo the trees ....

Nope. But to be fair showing just the tree trunks was not a good idea. 

Nope. Didn't like the spiky branches or gray transparency. So tried round trunks and transparent foliage.

Nope. now I tried a general fill.

Nope. He finally made up his damn mind combining the branching trunks with transparent foliage.

I can't complain as Tim as been putting up with my bad grammar for years when editing my stuff.

The Good, the Bad, and when it gets ugly.

Last Thursday, Tim of Gothridge Manor ran a one off game to try out the hybrid RPG he is working on.

Two kudos, first off to Tim whose enthusiasm really showed for his new game and campaign. How can you not get excited when the referee hands you stuff like this.

Second is to Ken, Dan, and Chris for their strong roleplaying of their characters. Even with the off-color jokes and laughter the game had a strong sense of immersion because of all of you.

So what went down. In Marricks own words.

---

Ah was leavin' th' Manatine figurin' t'resupply in Baludar. It was jest past nightfall when ah come acrost these fellas betchin' their boat. ah hide mahse'f an' sar thet they uncovahed an old tunnel intrance.

Th' uppity villagers like t'call us fo'ess rats but ah c'd see this hyar is no kind of trouble thet ah wish fo' them, dawgone it.

Thar six of them an' two of them had bows an' climbed up trees t'hid themselves.

Sumpin was gwine down an' it'd be bad. So ah foun' a fine spot an' climbed a tree mahse'f.

Mah legs were startin' t'ache an' th' chill a-gonna mah bones when out come three mo'e fellas.

Whutevah they were talkin' about didn't hoof it fine on account o' sooner then shit flies outta an ass ind of a shot raccon thar were swo'ds drawn an' th' fightin' started.

Even eff'n th' noo fellas were up t'no fine thet fight warn't fair. So ah plugged th' two archers outta th' three. Then started wawkin' on them on th' groun'.

It was jest like them goblins an' th' ban'it thet attacked Cleese, they went down faster than Old man Holt at th' tavahn.

So th' fight inded wif three of them givin' right up. Howevah one of th' noocomers muss had it hard on account o' he jest went an' slit th' one fella throat like mah uncle wif a pig, acco'din' t' th' code o' th' heells!

ah figgerd thet th' knight an' th' steward ought t'knows about whut gwine on, as enny fool kin plainly see. So ah climbed down an' went into th' tree line.

ah shouted t'th' noocomers thet we need take a step back an' brin' ev'rybody back t'th' gate an' let th' knight an' steward so't it out.

They soun'ed friendly an' seem like it was a-gonna hoof it all right. ah came outta th' woods an' intrydooced mahse'f. ah didn't ketch their names 'cept fo' one in robes who called hisse'f Hythom.

Jest when ah thunk we a-gonna leave, thet son of bitch start mumblin' an' gyratin' an' befo'e ah knows it a bright flash sploded an' ah felt burnin' ah ain't felt on account o' thet dadburn fool fall into th' fire when ah was 8.

ah shoot th' bastard an' high tailed it out thar. ah reckon ah got him fine on account o' he screamed like a li'l gal. Th' bastard nailed me in th' back, thet hurt like a son of a bitch.

But ah made it back into th' woods an' circled aroun' t'th' town gate. Dawgone fool guards made hoof it back. Shet mah mouth! Th' smell of burnt leather makin' me be hankerin' t'retch an' mah ribs an' kidney hurtin' like hell. Do yo' knows it too four days of oilin' an' ah had t'buy a pot of lavendar t'mix in befo'e thet smell got out.

Ennyway

But ah reckon ah can fo'give on account o' as it turned out th' haids of th' daid rivahmen were wo'th a lot.

Convinced they let me see th' knight an' th' steward an' mah repo't. Th' one daid guy was wo'th on over a hundred silvah. Plus th' steward was kind inough t'gimme some healin' salve.

Thet night ah barely got enny sleep wif mah ribs an' kidneys hurtin' like hell. ah tell thet mage has sumpin a-comin' t'him when ah see him next.

So ah woke th' next mo'e an' had t'repo't back t'th' knight. ah will tell ress of it af'er we finish our dinner.

Manor #4 is out!

Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor just released Manor #4. This issue has two major section, a short adventure and a mini-monster manual that has been illustrated by Jason Sholtis' excellent illustrations. I contributed two monsters myself, the Temple Guardian which include a bonus section on how to create them. And I contributed the Boglings, a frog-like amphibian race. I am not quite sure what to make of Jason's illustration of those guys. You will understand when you see the picture.

The print version of the Manor can be purchased from here. It comes with a cool extra that reminiscent of a old TSR Product.

The PDF Version can be bought from RPGNow or Lulu.

The Manor #2 is out!

My good friend Tim of Gothridge Manor has just released the second issue of the Manor.  It has the following

Introduction
Where Tim talks about how he finally found the one true desktop publishing software.

Hugo's Healing Potions
A interesting potion shop with a map drawn by myself. Includes a random customer table to spice things up along with adventure hooks.


Smuggler's Inn
A inn serving an illicit clientèle made secure by being build into the side of a cavern reachable only by water across Ten Killer Lake. Includes details about the lake itself and the inn.

Finally winds up with another excellent random table by Jason Sholtis.

Like Manor #1 it focuses on locales that you can easily drop into your campaign.

The other side of the Screen: A Player's Loss

Tim at Gothridge Manor talks about experiencing the loss of his magery during a GURPS campaign I ran.

RPGS are supposed to be deadly. Without the risk, the challenge is meaningless. However not all risks involve the death of the characters. By 1990 I began to try different consequences for really bad mistakes made by players. I read enough real history by now to know that the consequences for misfortune isn't always death.

The incident with Tim's Mage occurred during the all mage campaign where everybody played a Mage using GURPS Magic. The idea of the campaign was to flesh out the background of magic in the Majestic Wilderlands.

Most of the guys I play with are very good gamers. Either they are great roleplayers or are expert in the rules. As far as rules goes Dwayne is the best of all us. Every advantage that was available in GURPS Magic was exploited. By this point in the campaign the characters and players were very competent. It has gotten to the point where a little arrogance was creeping in.

One thing I established early on is that the Magic Wilderlands the clerics are the preeminent users of magic. Due to historical circumstances the last thousand years has seen the rise of independent traditions of magic. The existence of the clerics and the churches is one of the main reason that mages have not taken over. When the Tim and Dwayne assassinated the Baron they found out why.

The Baron was a Tharian Horselord, High Chief of his clan. The Tharians in the Majestic Wilderlands believes in the gods however they don't worship them directly. Instead they venerate the Lars. The Lars is a spirit assembly of the clan's ancestors. The ceremonies and shrines are maintained by Mystics who have powers similar to clerics of other religions.

During the assassination, the clan realized that they were under magic assault. The Mystics swung into action. Dwayne got away but Tim was not so lucky. Tim was sent to the spirit realm to stand before the Lars. His speech to them was arrogant. It's tone was "Go ahead and kill me. I know I am morally superior to all of you.". In some ways he was right. City-State was a cesspool of hypocritical politicians that effected everything including the Mage's Guild the players were part of.

It was then I figured out that stripping away his magery and letting him live would be a far better way to go. So say the players were shocked as an understatement. When I pronounced sentence there was an audible gasp in the room. It got the feeling that afterwards none of the players felt safe.

The campaign afterward veered in a new and interesting direction. The political and social consequences of the assassination still had to be dealt with. Tim needed to find his Magery again. Plus the other issues they been working on were still out there (like a Dragon in Warwick).

Ultimately the lost of Tim's Magery split the four person party. Dwayne and Tim became steadily more radical in their belief in the Independence of mages. To the point where they abandoned the Guild of Arcane Lore in City-State and established a new conclave in Dearthwood. The other two players, Dave and Jesse, decided to remain loyal to the Overlord. They stayed in the Guild of Arcane Lore and used it as a power base to rise in the Overlord's court.

The ramifications of Tim's loss of magery continues to this day. If you were to play in the Majestic Wilderlands one of the conflicts you will find are between the mages of the Guild of Arcane Lore and the mages that follow Jeremy and Barton, Tim and Dwayne's characters.

For you reading this, my best advice on using this post is fourfold. Death need not be the end, consequences can have unintended effects, allow your players to have a lasting effect on your setting, and record what you player do so you can use it as part of the background of the next background. Even if they are an entirely different group your campaign will be all the richer for it.

Boris the Bagger moves to Gothridge Manor

My good friend Tim Shorts aka Boris the Bagger has started a blog here Along with Dwayne and myself the three of us has been gaming together for 25 years. He has a lot of stories, and insights to share so head on over and see what he has to say.

It is because of Tim that my writing improved enough to be published professionally and he continues to edit much of my work. So I look forward to see what he has to say.