% In Liar was a famous typo in the Original D&D books. It was found on the header of the monster listing on Page 3 in Volume 2 Monsters & Treasure. Now I know how those guys feel. The PDF I uploaded to RPGNow had several tables trashed. Namely the Viridian and Half-Viridian spell tables and the Trade deal table.
I fixed the problem and updated the RPGNow. I noticed that when I selected the option to let customer know about an update the number was less than the number of people who had bought the product. So hence a blog post letting everybody know the problem has been fixed.
The Lulu version I haven't released yet until I throughly check the first print copy.
I also want to thank everybody for their comments and to my fellow bloggers for their shout outs.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
The Majestic Wilderlands PDF has been released!
From the City-State of the Invincible Overlord to the ancient city of Viridistan the wilderness is thick with dungeons and ruins. Contained in this book are the background and rules used in a campaign thirty years in the making. You will find over two dozen classes ranging from Soldiers to Mountebanks and races of Reptile Men to Half-Viridians. New races, magic variants, creatures, and magic items can be found within these pages. Also included is a complete overview of the Majestic Wilderlands. Begin your journey into the Majestic Wilderlands and become the next person to carve their mark in the hall of destiny.A 140 page rules supplement compatible with the Swords & Wizardry rules and a guide to the Majestic Wilderlands.
Printed copies of the rules will be available through lulu.com in one to two weeks
Print $12 at lulu.com (coming in one to two weeks)
PDF $7 at RPGNow
Licensing Agreement between Bat in the Attic Games and Judges Guild
Bat in the Attic Games and Judges Guild are pleased to announce that a license agreement has been signed to allow rules and supplements to be published for the Majestic Wilderlands. The Majestic Wilderlands is a setting developed by Robert Conley based on the Judges Guild\'s Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Bat in the Attic Games first product will be Supplement VI, the Majestic Wilderlands, a rules supplement adapting the Swords & Wizardry RPG to the Majestic Wilderlands. Also Included is a guide to the Majestic Wilderlands setting.
For further information please contact Robert Conley at robertsconley@batintheattic.com or read the FAQ at http://www.batintheattic.com.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
A map on medieval times
Many fans of Columbia Games Harn go the extra mile in researching the medieval landscape. Here Chris and Andy of the Penultimate Harn Paget worked up a map of Notthingham shire as it existed in the 12th century.
If you want go crazy with all thing Harn there no better place than Bill Gant's Harnlink.
If you want go crazy with all thing Harn there no better place than Bill Gant's Harnlink.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Regalia of the Demon King
These items were a major part of a campaign I ran in the middle 80s around the Viridistan Empire. During a tense fight within the city of Viridistan one of the PCs panicked and put on all three items. Possessed by the Demon King he proceeded to lay waste to the city's hierarchy. (this was after the death of the Viridian Emperor in a previous campaign) Afterward when the PC were all gathered, he thanked them and was going to send them all back to the realm they came from (Harn).
One of the characters, Bolothous, stepped up, played by Dwayne of Gamer's Closet, and stated he did not wish to return and offered his allegiance. The rest of the party was angered because they knew the character was evil being a priest of an evil god, Agrik. The PC wearing the Regalia happily accepted and allowed Dwayne's character to stand by his side. However when Dwayne got there he pulled out the one magic item the party had of nullifying the regalia and zapped him. Then proceeded to cold cock and knocked him unconscious.
-see the first comment for a more detailed account.
The PC that put on the items apologized while everybody else rolled their eyes as he was known to panic in pressure situations. The good thing is that PC stepped into the power vacuum caused by him killing just about everybody in charge and took control of Viridistan as the Council of Viridistan.
Regalia of the Demon King
The Demon King was one of the lords of the demon host during the Uttermost War. He created several items of jewelry to increase his powers.
The Scepter
This is an ebony rod ¾” inch in diameter and a foot long, topped with a carved quartz figurine in the shape of an ouroboros (a worm eating its own tail). The ouroboros is the universal symbol of demons in the Majestic Wilderlands. Every round it can cast a Finger of Death.
The Diadem
This is a cloth of gold strip two inches wide and about 36 inches long. It can be wrapped around the head and knotted in the back with the ends resting on the shoulders. It confers the ability to fly at a movement rate of 180 ft/rd. Embroidered within the strip is a continuous row of ouroboros in black silk.
The Usekh
This Egyptian style neck collar is made with strips of silk interwoven in with beads of lapis lazuli and pearls. The Usekh is enchanted with +5 protection to armor class. The lapis lazuli beads are woven to form an Ouroboros encircling the wearer’s neck.
The Combined Regalia
Through centuries of use the three Regalia became infused with much of the will and personality of the Demon King. The following effects occur when one or more of the items are worn.
When one item is worn it will send hints in the wielder’s dream and daydreams of the location of the other two items. If the player enjoys roleplaying then have his character become obsessed about other items and devote their energies to finding them. If your player is uncomfortable with role-playing this obsession an alternative is to start throwing hints of the locations of the other items into your plot hooks and events. The player will be bombarded with reminders until they take off the item. Dealing with annoyance will have much of the same effect as roleplaying an obsession.
When tw
o items are worn, a shadow of the Demon King will appear in the character’s mind. The objective of the shadow is to tempt the character into evil and to find the final item to complete the Regalia. The shadow will assume any form (male or female) that works best to tempt the character. The shadow has ability to act as a Commune spell 1/day. The shadow will try to twist the answer to bring the most benefit to the character while doing the most evil to others. The shadow has complete access to what the character knows.
When all three items are worn, the will of the Demon King will fully manifest and fuse with the character. The main goals of the character now are: liberating the Demons from the Abyss, seeking revenge against the gods, against their followers, and achieving dominion over the Wilderlands. In the Majestic Wilderlands the first thing the reborn Demon King will do is go to Viridistan and seize control.
The character will be considered an enchanted creature and a demon for the purposes of spell casting. It is up to the referee whether the fused character is under the referee’s or player’s control. In either case the campaign is likely to be going in a radical new direction.
One of the characters, Bolothous, stepped up, played by Dwayne of Gamer's Closet, and stated he did not wish to return and offered his allegiance. The rest of the party was angered because they knew the character was evil being a priest of an evil god, Agrik. The PC wearing the Regalia happily accepted and allowed Dwayne's character to stand by his side. However when Dwayne got there he pulled out the one magic item the party had of nullifying the regalia and zapped him. Then proceeded to cold cock and knocked him unconscious.
-see the first comment for a more detailed account.
The PC that put on the items apologized while everybody else rolled their eyes as he was known to panic in pressure situations. The good thing is that PC stepped into the power vacuum caused by him killing just about everybody in charge and took control of Viridistan as the Council of Viridistan.
Regalia of the Demon King
The Demon King was one of the lords of the demon host during the Uttermost War. He created several items of jewelry to increase his powers.
The Scepter
This is an ebony rod ¾” inch in diameter and a foot long, topped with a carved quartz figurine in the shape of an ouroboros (a worm eating its own tail). The ouroboros is the universal symbol of demons in the Majestic Wilderlands. Every round it can cast a Finger of Death.
The Diadem
This is a cloth of gold strip two inches wide and about 36 inches long. It can be wrapped around the head and knotted in the back with the ends resting on the shoulders. It confers the ability to fly at a movement rate of 180 ft/rd. Embroidered within the strip is a continuous row of ouroboros in black silk.
The Usekh
This Egyptian style neck collar is made with strips of silk interwoven in with beads of lapis lazuli and pearls. The Usekh is enchanted with +5 protection to armor class. The lapis lazuli beads are woven to form an Ouroboros encircling the wearer’s neck.
The Combined Regalia
Through centuries of use the three Regalia became infused with much of the will and personality of the Demon King. The following effects occur when one or more of the items are worn.
When one item is worn it will send hints in the wielder’s dream and daydreams of the location of the other two items. If the player enjoys roleplaying then have his character become obsessed about other items and devote their energies to finding them. If your player is uncomfortable with role-playing this obsession an alternative is to start throwing hints of the locations of the other items into your plot hooks and events. The player will be bombarded with reminders until they take off the item. Dealing with annoyance will have much of the same effect as roleplaying an obsession.
When tw
o items are worn, a shadow of the Demon King will appear in the character’s mind. The objective of the shadow is to tempt the character into evil and to find the final item to complete the Regalia. The shadow will assume any form (male or female) that works best to tempt the character. The shadow has ability to act as a Commune spell 1/day. The shadow will try to twist the answer to bring the most benefit to the character while doing the most evil to others. The shadow has complete access to what the character knows.When all three items are worn, the will of the Demon King will fully manifest and fuse with the character. The main goals of the character now are: liberating the Demons from the Abyss, seeking revenge against the gods, against their followers, and achieving dominion over the Wilderlands. In the Majestic Wilderlands the first thing the reborn Demon King will do is go to Viridistan and seize control.
The character will be considered an enchanted creature and a demon for the purposes of spell casting. It is up to the referee whether the fused character is under the referee’s or player’s control. In either case the campaign is likely to be going in a radical new direction.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Packing stuff inside the Hex
When people make maps of the countryside they often think of this from T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil
In a 30 by 30 square mile region no more than another 30 miles from a city (Verbobonc) there are only two villages!
This section from the Trierzon Map by Columbia Games for the Harn line show more accurately the situation was in the high middle ages. (1200 AD to 1400 AD). Each 12.5 miles looked like the below map
Each hex had one or two castle towns/keep villages and 20 to 30 manorial villages and abbeys. This was because urban populations needed a LOT of rural population to trade with to get the food they need. In addition because everything by horse or foot the rural villages need to be relatively close the market they sell too.
Despite the packed nature of the above map it was not that dense. If you were visit the region it would be like visiting a rural area in the eastern United States. There is plenty of woods and green space but you can't travel for a few miles without running into local inhabitants. Further from the core regions villages spread out until you reach areas like Russian Steppes. There the situation is like the map from T1-4 with village spaced tens of miles apart.
The historical setup is nice for a campaign where the endgame involve characters commanding armies. The density give a lot of places for the PCs to raise the troops they need for their armies. But even with that consideration it still too realistic, too packed for my taste.
My solution is somewhat like this. This is 12.5 miles per hex.
Blown up it looks something like the below. Note I don't have any detail for the above map so I put a insert below to show how it looks on the campaign map.
To me this is a nice compromise for having a dense population so PC have lot of places to interact with (and raise troops :D)
Recently I experimented with the following.
What I am trying here is to have every village on the map. In the campaign write up I will note how many hamlets are around the village so that the overall population is where I like to have it for the endgame stuff I run.
In the end the focus of your campaign is going to determine how much work you need to put into this stuff. If you are going about dungeon crawls and exploring vine covered ruins then the T1-4 style map may work perfect for you. But if you want to run battles or have players run realms then some thought is needed to as to how many people you are going to need and where they live.
Finally S John Ross' Medieval Demographics Made Easy is still the best and easiest to use source to crunch the numbers on this stuff.
In a 30 by 30 square mile region no more than another 30 miles from a city (Verbobonc) there are only two villages!
This section from the Trierzon Map by Columbia Games for the Harn line show more accurately the situation was in the high middle ages. (1200 AD to 1400 AD). Each 12.5 miles looked like the below map
Each hex had one or two castle towns/keep villages and 20 to 30 manorial villages and abbeys. This was because urban populations needed a LOT of rural population to trade with to get the food they need. In addition because everything by horse or foot the rural villages need to be relatively close the market they sell too.Despite the packed nature of the above map it was not that dense. If you were visit the region it would be like visiting a rural area in the eastern United States. There is plenty of woods and green space but you can't travel for a few miles without running into local inhabitants. Further from the core regions villages spread out until you reach areas like Russian Steppes. There the situation is like the map from T1-4 with village spaced tens of miles apart.
The historical setup is nice for a campaign where the endgame involve characters commanding armies. The density give a lot of places for the PCs to raise the troops they need for their armies. But even with that consideration it still too realistic, too packed for my taste.
My solution is somewhat like this. This is 12.5 miles per hex.
Blown up it looks something like the below. Note I don't have any detail for the above map so I put a insert below to show how it looks on the campaign map.
To me this is a nice compromise for having a dense population so PC have lot of places to interact with (and raise troops :D)Recently I experimented with the following.
What I am trying here is to have every village on the map. In the campaign write up I will note how many hamlets are around the village so that the overall population is where I like to have it for the endgame stuff I run.In the end the focus of your campaign is going to determine how much work you need to put into this stuff. If you are going about dungeon crawls and exploring vine covered ruins then the T1-4 style map may work perfect for you. But if you want to run battles or have players run realms then some thought is needed to as to how many people you are going to need and where they live.
Finally S John Ross' Medieval Demographics Made Easy is still the best and easiest to use source to crunch the numbers on this stuff.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Scale Comparison
Sometimes it is hard to figure exactly how big a setting or place is in relation to the real world.
Here is the City-State of the Invincible Overlord super imposed on the city of Pittsburgh.
The following two I made the map of Greyhawk transparent and super imposed on Europe. Because the two continents are point in opposite direction I flipped Europe around to it is facing east instead of west.
The next two are of my Majestic Wilderlands which at 12.5 miles per hex instead 5 miles per hex of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy
The Main Campaign Area where most of my campaigns were set. It is superimposed over Greece and Turkey. Doing this actually opened my eyes to doing a fantasy Greece sandbox. I thought the area was a bit small for everything that happened in it but comparing it to the Majestic Wilderlands I started thinking of how to tuck various adventures around the Aegean Sea.
The essential trick is too use Google Maps or a graphics file of a map that has a scale on it. Scan in the map you want to compare as a separate file. Then measure in pixel a known distance on both maps. Say you find that the scale on the real map is a 200 pixels per 100 miles and the scale of your map is 50 pixels per 50 miles. The first map has 2 pixels per mile, the second maps has 1 pixel per mile. So either I shrink the real map by half, or enlarge my map by double.
Then you need a paint program that supports layers and transparency. I recommend trying out Paint.NET for this. Paste your map on one layer and then the real map on a second layer above the first layer. Lock the first layer and then set the opacity of the second layer somewhere between 40 to 60%. You will find it under the menu Layers->Properties. Save it and you will get a map like above.
Here is the City-State of the Invincible Overlord super imposed on the city of Pittsburgh.
The following two I made the map of Greyhawk transparent and super imposed on Europe. Because the two continents are point in opposite direction I flipped Europe around to it is facing east instead of west.
The next two are of my Majestic Wilderlands which at 12.5 miles per hex instead 5 miles per hex of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy
The Main Campaign Area where most of my campaigns were set. It is superimposed over Greece and Turkey. Doing this actually opened my eyes to doing a fantasy Greece sandbox. I thought the area was a bit small for everything that happened in it but comparing it to the Majestic Wilderlands I started thinking of how to tuck various adventures around the Aegean Sea.
The essential trick is too use Google Maps or a graphics file of a map that has a scale on it. Scan in the map you want to compare as a separate file. Then measure in pixel a known distance on both maps. Say you find that the scale on the real map is a 200 pixels per 100 miles and the scale of your map is 50 pixels per 50 miles. The first map has 2 pixels per mile, the second maps has 1 pixel per mile. So either I shrink the real map by half, or enlarge my map by double.Then you need a paint program that supports layers and transparency. I recommend trying out Paint.NET for this. Paste your map on one layer and then the real map on a second layer above the first layer. Lock the first layer and then set the opacity of the second layer somewhere between 40 to 60%. You will find it under the menu Layers->Properties. Save it and you will get a map like above.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Iron Spikes for the Win!
For some time now I been playing a GURPS game with Tim (of Gothridge Manor) and Dwayne (of Gamers Closet) using a combination of Skype and the GURPS toolkit for Fantasy Grounds. He plays Torrun the Red Hand a Paladin of the Maiden and I play Ambrose a Scholar in the service of the Maiden. Torrun is the brute fighter of the group while I can heal and cast body control spells like Pain, Rooted Feet and Stun. Also I have high skill in Occultism and Natural Philosophy (low tech version of Biology, Geology, etc)
The campaign is based around a Castle of the Order of the Maiden transported to a world dominated by demons and other bad guys.
Currently we are exploring the B4 The Lost City. We were in a desert region in pursuit of demons that kidnapped one of our own, Celene an acolyte of the Maiden. We successfully rescued Celene although she is badly injured and in the frantic escape we stumbled onto the Lost City. We encountered the Brothers of Grom and convinced them to give us shelter and heal Celene. However the price was that we had to deal with the factions they were at war with.
This week we encountered the Maidens of Madara (sp?) We really thought we are going to die as we were outnumbered 11 to 2. But Torrun rushed the door of the room we were in and was able to hold them off with spell and magic item support from me. However we saw several break off and we deduced they knew of another way around to the door we entered from.
Torrun yelled at me to deal with the door. Looking at my inventory I noted I still had two iron spike left and ran like a bat out of hell at the other door. I reached it in time and started pounding in spikes. Since GURPS has 1 second combat rounds things can get real tense when doing things blow by blow. The first spike I pounded into the crack between the door and the wall where it swing opens. Since the door opens into the room, I figured it would make the door difficult to open. My rolls were successful (DEX and STR) and I got it in in two seconds.
I knew that it would not be sufficient so I knelled on the floor and started pounding on under the door on the opposite side of the first spike. This time I was no so lucky and it took me 7 seconds (7 rounds) before I had damn thing jammed in there.
By then two archers and a fighter moved into the room. Torrun was dealing with the fighter and the archers moved on me. Bobbing and weaving I managed not to get hit when I successfully unleashed a stun spell on one and then attacked the other with my wand of steam jet. I put 3 points of energy into it so I was able to roll for max damage (3d-3) , I hit, and the second archer failed to defend! I rolled damage which was a 2,2, an 1 for a measly 2 points of damage. My "big" moment sputtered out. The next round I got shot in the shoulder by an arrow and got floored.
However thanks to the spiked door Torrun and Ambrose were able to take down the remaining fighters in the room . By then the spiked door was smashed open. But Torrun was able to hack down two of the remaining four fighters and they surrendered.
It was the first time that I ever used Iron Spikes in a dungeon crawl. I heard about it, read about it, but never actually used Iron Spikes.
So today it was Iron Spikes for the Win!
The campaign is based around a Castle of the Order of the Maiden transported to a world dominated by demons and other bad guys.
Currently we are exploring the B4 The Lost City. We were in a desert region in pursuit of demons that kidnapped one of our own, Celene an acolyte of the Maiden. We successfully rescued Celene although she is badly injured and in the frantic escape we stumbled onto the Lost City. We encountered the Brothers of Grom and convinced them to give us shelter and heal Celene. However the price was that we had to deal with the factions they were at war with.
This week we encountered the Maidens of Madara (sp?) We really thought we are going to die as we were outnumbered 11 to 2. But Torrun rushed the door of the room we were in and was able to hold them off with spell and magic item support from me. However we saw several break off and we deduced they knew of another way around to the door we entered from.
Torrun yelled at me to deal with the door. Looking at my inventory I noted I still had two iron spike left and ran like a bat out of hell at the other door. I reached it in time and started pounding in spikes. Since GURPS has 1 second combat rounds things can get real tense when doing things blow by blow. The first spike I pounded into the crack between the door and the wall where it swing opens. Since the door opens into the room, I figured it would make the door difficult to open. My rolls were successful (DEX and STR) and I got it in in two seconds.
I knew that it would not be sufficient so I knelled on the floor and started pounding on under the door on the opposite side of the first spike. This time I was no so lucky and it took me 7 seconds (7 rounds) before I had damn thing jammed in there.
By then two archers and a fighter moved into the room. Torrun was dealing with the fighter and the archers moved on me. Bobbing and weaving I managed not to get hit when I successfully unleashed a stun spell on one and then attacked the other with my wand of steam jet. I put 3 points of energy into it so I was able to roll for max damage (3d-3) , I hit, and the second archer failed to defend! I rolled damage which was a 2,2, an 1 for a measly 2 points of damage. My "big" moment sputtered out. The next round I got shot in the shoulder by an arrow and got floored.
However thanks to the spiked door Torrun and Ambrose were able to take down the remaining fighters in the room . By then the spiked door was smashed open. But Torrun was able to hack down two of the remaining four fighters and they surrendered.
It was the first time that I ever used Iron Spikes in a dungeon crawl. I heard about it, read about it, but never actually used Iron Spikes.
So today it was Iron Spikes for the Win!
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