In some of the threads about Sandbox campaign devolve into shouting match over whether it is was the default style "back in the day". The short answer of course not. RPGs are very flexible including the first version of Dungeons & Dragons. Very quickly RPGs campaigns grew in diversity once the game spread beyond it's minature wargaming and upper midwest roots.
However there is a reason for the "Golden Age" aura that surrounds the use of the term Sandbox.
The Campaign
Wargames have several ways they can be played. One is that you start with an order of battle, and a large scale map. Both side maneuver and where opposing forces come into contact a battle is fought using a smaller scale map. This style of wargame is called the campaign. And it shares many of the characteristics of a sandbox both RPG wise and Video game wise. There is little constraints on the player's actions other than the limits of the map. And sessions solely devoted to resolving individual battles. Sounds familiar?
More so than miniatures the campaign has proven to be the most enduring legacy of Roleplaying's wargaming roots.
It is also the source of the confusion over sandbox campaigns in the earliest days of D&D. But the connection is over hyped as RPGs campaigns quickly grew in diversity compared to their wargaming counterpart.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Picture issues
It appears that several of my pictures are not showing up well on various computers. Let me know which ones specifically and I will fix them. Note that Datha in Part XIV I believe is now fixed. I think the problem was that I was saving the jpegs using 32-bit CMYK and it there are issues with that on Apple Macs.
Worlds in Motion
While the gaming style is old the term Sandbox, applied to RPGs, is very new. Sporadically threads will appear about sandbox campaign on various forums. While some start worthwhile conversations many degenerate into rants with various antagonists intent on slagging each other. A recent thread on theRPGsite is more the former than the latter.
My point of view on Sandbox Campaign is somewhat limited. I view it as a method of organizing your setting in a way that makes it easy for you to referee when players go off wandering on a tangent. It is a compact way of organizing local information about a region.
Most threads on Sandbox campaign talk about the style of the campaign run using this format. Basically the big misconception is that referee is essentially a simulator running the NPCs and monster as the players wander from point to point. There is no plot adventure only happens when players run into a spot where it is located. Most folks write that when they try this the result are a bunch of unhappy players who are bored.
Most of the time this because the referee is too passive and the player don't context in which to decide where to go. Player that are highly motivated can make this work and sometimes this results in a great campaign. However most of time it doesn't work so well.
The Sandbox format can be used to create any type of campaign. You can even make a railroad out of it by having all your locales obviously point to a certain director or event. Some campaign go the realistic route and write up the locales as they were a slice of a living breathing world. Paizo's Kingmaker has many locales have clues about the ultimate menace of the adventure path. Other are a slice of life design to be exploited by the players as they build a kingdom in the Stolen Lands. And there are few randoms stuff thrown in to liven the mix.
I use the Sandbox format to create a setting to immerse the characters in. My style is that character are part of a living world where their choices have consequences both good and bad. If they choose to do nothing then world will simply go about it's business indifferent (and sometimes hostile) to character's well being. But if they choose to be involved then they will make a difference and leave their mark on the setting. I developed this because I found players love when their decisions have meaning.
The Sandbox format I use to describe the Majestic Wilderlands isn't enough. I need to add other techniques to make this work. First I work with each player individually to develop a background of about a page length. This give them the context in which to make their initial decision of where to go and what to do.
Second I generally insist on folks speaking in first person and roleplay, however bad their acting is, the character. More than a few just play a fantasy version of themselves which is OK, the important point they are actively interacting rather then looking at their characters as figures to pushed around.
Third is called "World in motion." I didn't make up the term. Lord Vreeg coined the term in response to a post of mine on theRPGSite. Basically a World in motion has events unfolding and NPCs living their lives outside of what the players are doing. You sprinkle news of what going throughout NPCs conversations or props like billboards or news items. Note that these events can be very local in scope. They don't have to be global.
World in Motion is how a referee injects a plot into his sandbox campaign. Rather being a choice of adventures the "plot" unfolds around the character through the events of the campaign. It is up to the players to interact with these events and resolve them however they like.
Fourth, culture and religion are important in my campaign. The conflict between different values both on a global and local scale provides many seeds for adventures. The background material that goes into this also give character additional stuff to use in interacting with the Majestic Wilderlands.
Your sandbox campaign may mix in other techniques to create your own unique mix. What is important is to remember that is a tool that has certain strengths. I think it is an underdeveloped tool, long ignored until recently. But in the end it is just one of many choices you have to organize a campaign.
My point of view on Sandbox Campaign is somewhat limited. I view it as a method of organizing your setting in a way that makes it easy for you to referee when players go off wandering on a tangent. It is a compact way of organizing local information about a region.
Most threads on Sandbox campaign talk about the style of the campaign run using this format. Basically the big misconception is that referee is essentially a simulator running the NPCs and monster as the players wander from point to point. There is no plot adventure only happens when players run into a spot where it is located. Most folks write that when they try this the result are a bunch of unhappy players who are bored.
Most of the time this because the referee is too passive and the player don't context in which to decide where to go. Player that are highly motivated can make this work and sometimes this results in a great campaign. However most of time it doesn't work so well.
The Sandbox format can be used to create any type of campaign. You can even make a railroad out of it by having all your locales obviously point to a certain director or event. Some campaign go the realistic route and write up the locales as they were a slice of a living breathing world. Paizo's Kingmaker has many locales have clues about the ultimate menace of the adventure path. Other are a slice of life design to be exploited by the players as they build a kingdom in the Stolen Lands. And there are few randoms stuff thrown in to liven the mix.
I use the Sandbox format to create a setting to immerse the characters in. My style is that character are part of a living world where their choices have consequences both good and bad. If they choose to do nothing then world will simply go about it's business indifferent (and sometimes hostile) to character's well being. But if they choose to be involved then they will make a difference and leave their mark on the setting. I developed this because I found players love when their decisions have meaning.
The Sandbox format I use to describe the Majestic Wilderlands isn't enough. I need to add other techniques to make this work. First I work with each player individually to develop a background of about a page length. This give them the context in which to make their initial decision of where to go and what to do.
Second I generally insist on folks speaking in first person and roleplay, however bad their acting is, the character. More than a few just play a fantasy version of themselves which is OK, the important point they are actively interacting rather then looking at their characters as figures to pushed around.
Third is called "World in motion." I didn't make up the term. Lord Vreeg coined the term in response to a post of mine on theRPGSite. Basically a World in motion has events unfolding and NPCs living their lives outside of what the players are doing. You sprinkle news of what going throughout NPCs conversations or props like billboards or news items. Note that these events can be very local in scope. They don't have to be global.
World in Motion is how a referee injects a plot into his sandbox campaign. Rather being a choice of adventures the "plot" unfolds around the character through the events of the campaign. It is up to the players to interact with these events and resolve them however they like.
Fourth, culture and religion are important in my campaign. The conflict between different values both on a global and local scale provides many seeds for adventures. The background material that goes into this also give character additional stuff to use in interacting with the Majestic Wilderlands.
Your sandbox campaign may mix in other techniques to create your own unique mix. What is important is to remember that is a tool that has certain strengths. I think it is an underdeveloped tool, long ignored until recently. But in the end it is just one of many choices you have to organize a campaign.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A Fantasy Sandbox in Detail Part XIV
Part XIII
This is the fourteenth in a series detailing the 34 steps I recommended for making a Fantasy Sandbox Campaign. Today's post will cover part of the following step.
Datha is a small fishing hamlet on East Bay. A hundred humans live here in mud and wattle huts along the shoreline. The headman of the hamlet is Danis Hobrun who is thoroughly loyal to Baron Argus. Danis’ brother, Helmar is the yeoman in chief of the Baron’s small coast guard. Helmar and his fellow yeoman patrol shores of Piall looking for smugglers.
This village is typical of the type of settlement I make. Grimy, very medieval, and lots of intrigue even though is not earth shattering in scope. Players that get involved in these plots often wind up with valuable friends and allies.
This village also showcases my hut and boat symbols. Because I kept at mapping for so long I managed to accumulate a variety of symbols that allow me to throw together maps quickly. They were originally developed for a map of the Village of Woe in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. I never finished it but you can see it partly done.
That it for part XIV next is Part XV.
This is the fourteenth in a series detailing the 34 steps I recommended for making a Fantasy Sandbox Campaign. Today's post will cover part of the following step.
Pick the 4 or 6 most important Population locales and draw a quarter page sketch map of the settlement.From Step VIII0403 Datha (hamlet) Human
Datha is a small fishing hamlet on East Bay. A hundred humans live here in mud and wattle huts along the shoreline. The headman of the hamlet is Danis Hobrun who is thoroughly loyal to Baron Argus. Danis’ brother, Helmar is the yeoman in chief of the Baron’s small coast guard. Helmar and his fellow yeoman patrol shores of Piall looking for smugglers.
- This is the home of Danis Hobrun the village headsmen. He supervises the planting of the village's 1,500 acres. He is also the Baron's baliff and is empowered to hear cases of low justice. He worried that his brother, Helmar, will get the village into a feud with the village of Carras. He longs to explore some of the ruins on the northern end of Piall Island and is willing to help supply in an adventuring party going north or a half or full share. He has 1,000 gp, two boats, 10 javelins he can use.
- Swordfish Tavern - this is the local watering hole. It is noted for it's locally brewed grog which has fermented fish oil as one of it's main ingredients. Roll vs poison or throw up the contents of your stomach for 1d6 round. Strung along the central beam is a 7 foot long stuff Swordfish.
- Antimus Boats - this establishment builds and repairs boats. Antimus Black can make up to 40 foot single mast coasters. He noted for carving elaborate decorations into the boat.
- This is the home of Helmar Hobroun and the headquarters of the Baron's Coasters the local coast guard. He hates Moran Lordar of the village of Carra and will do anything to bring him down and his pack of thieves. Typically a single boat will go on a week along patrol of from East Bay to Southpoint. The patrol at the end of the month will also circle the island.
- This is the home of Vanis Black the son of the Antimus Black the boat maker. He is friends with Helmar and many of his coasters and is secretly in the employ of of Moran Lordar. He goes to Mikva once a week to pick up lumber and supplies for his father. There he will meet with one of Moran's henchmen
This village is typical of the type of settlement I make. Grimy, very medieval, and lots of intrigue even though is not earth shattering in scope. Players that get involved in these plots often wind up with valuable friends and allies.
This village also showcases my hut and boat symbols. Because I kept at mapping for so long I managed to accumulate a variety of symbols that allow me to throw together maps quickly. They were originally developed for a map of the Village of Woe in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. I never finished it but you can see it partly done.
That it for part XIV next is Part XV.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Enter the J- Squad
About once a month I been heading up to Gold Star Anime in Edinboro play some Swords & Wizardry plus the Majestic Wilderlands. Last month's games is found in Part 1 and Part 2. When we last left the players were organizing the defense of the villagers while harvesting. Two new players jointed us. Jay who played a 3rd level dwarven rune-caster and another Josh who played a elven burglar. In addition to new Josh and Jay there was old Josh who played a human thug, big Jerry who played an elven cleric of Silvanous, and his son little Jerry who played a halfling fighter. John who played the mage Alagazar from the last session couldn't make it this time.
We all sat down and started to play. After a couple minutes we realized that that every player name started with J. Big Jerry and Jay were on my left, new Josh sat at the end of the table, Little Jerry and old Josh sat on my right. Josh "To my right" promptly named the group the J-Squad. Writing this post I realized that the last session was also a J-Squad as well. This is getting a bit weird. Next I suppose I will having playing a Jordan, Jane, Jennifer, Joshua, etc, etc.
Onto the session itself.
It started with new Josh, playing a elven burglar, and Jay a dwarven runecaster sitting down at the Greenhaven Inn in Denison's Crossing. The messenger from Kensla burst proclaiming that the village need help desperately. New Josh agreed to go after after being made aware that the Baron of Westtower would probably give a reward. Jay tagged along. Along the way they came across the remnant of the site where the tinker was attacked. The body and cart were long gone but the blood, debris, and tracks still remained. New Josh and Jay attempted to follow the tracks but go lost and wound up near Kensla, shrugging their shoulders they went into the village where they met the rest of the party.
There old Josh, a human thug, was working with the Village Reeve Tomas on how to defend the villager while the harvest was going on. The next day the harvest began. It was quiet for most of the day until it got near sundown when the wolves launched a mass attack on the party. The fighting was a huge mess and while everybody fought valiantly several members were injured grievously. Towards the end old Josh fell unconscious but luckily the fight was almost won at that point so Josh survived. Both the fight and being first aided.
The party straggled in the village and healed what they could. Elder Anselm, a priest of Mitra, also applied some healing spells. They faced the next day with dread but there were no wolf attacks. The 2nd night, Big Jerry cleric decided to mediate and commune with her god Silvanus.
Silvanus sent Big Jerry's cleric a vision of what happened. A young women wearing Thothian Robes was performing a demonic ritual at the site where they found the wolf den. The ritual apparently failed only later in the vision, after the women left, the cleric saw a wisp of smoke appear and enter the den underneath the rock.
The players then decided to head off to the Golden House a conclave of Thothian Mages several miles to the northeast of the village of Kensla. They spent another day guarding the village. During which they saw several wolves watching them from a distance. Neither side attacked. The next day they got Yoluf the trapper and had him guide them to the Golden House. Along the way they saw more wolves watching and old Josh Thug decided to attack it. However the wolf was bait for an ambush. The Thug got away and a timely sleep spells by the Dwarven Rune-caster felled five wolves.
Big Jerry's Cleric casted Speak with Animals. They found out that they considered the demon wolf the Master and there were several wolves that acted as lieutenants. One of the wolves was very defiant and the Cleric made an example of him causing the remaining four to consider the Cleric as their pack leaders. The players did a good job roleplaying this and wound up with four wolves to augment their numbers.
They went to the Golden House where they met the resident Thothian masters. Some were cooperative and other were hostile. Especially after it was revealed that the source of their information was a vision by the Cleric. However their Baronial Writ and the Satchel they found in the last session kept the conversation going. During all thisone the mages excused himself. Saying that he had some lab experiment he had to tend too. Unknown to the party he recognized the satchel and the description being one of his apprentices. He went to search his quarters and see what happened.
Jay's Dwarven Rune-caster happened to look out a window and saw the female apprentice from the cleric's vision riding away on a horse. After this the remaining mages became cooperative and went off to find the one that left. They found him in his room frantically searching. It turned out he kept a book on demon summoning that he found during his journeymen years. It was useful to his party in gaining a treasure in the dungeon and he swears that he never actually summoned or dealt with demons. From the description of Big Jerry's Cleric it appeared that the culprit was his apprentice Arbella.
The party borrowed some horses from the Golden House and pursued the wayward apprenticed. When they crested the ridge they saw that she was in the midst of another ritual and there were many wolves surrounding her. They debated their plan of attack for some time until the ritual reached some important point a circle of fire briefly erupted. Apparently something wasn't finished as it continued but it was enough to spur the party into action.
They thundered down the ridge in their horses and charged the leaders of the pack. In a single pass by the party they slaughter both wolf lieutenants causing many of the wolves to flee. Unfortunately Big Jerry's cleric rolled a 1 while shooting her Heavy Crossbow. The high powered weapon not only broke but the recoil caused the elven cleric to fall to the ground prone.
The four wolves under the cleric's command ran through and engaged the wolves as the party wheeled around and charged again. This time focusing on Arbella. She went down quickly and was catapulted off the summoning rock and laid still at the base of the 5 foot cliff that it was on top of off.
Then the Demon Wolf appeared and attacked Little Jerry's halfling. Some of the remaining wolves engaged members of the party leaving only the new Josh's Elven Burglar and old Josh's Thug to help the halfling in the fight. After several charges the demon wolf fell.
After cleaning up the remaining wolves the party rejoiced but then they saw the spirit of the demon rise from the wolf and possess the body of Arbella. A disqusting tentacled creature burst from her split skin and immediately went after the Dwarven Rune-caster who was nearest. However the party reacted immediately and the reborn demon fell under the onslaught.
With the demon finally dead the party returned to the Golden House to return the horse and explain what happened. Deeply embarrassed the Golden House bribed the party's silence by giving some choice magic items.
Then the party returned to the village and there was much rejoicing over the death of the demon wolf. However the party realized the Yoluf witnessed the going on at the Golden House. To get his silence they had to pay a hefty price of 1,000 silver pennies. Yoluf country bumpkin act turned out to overlay a pretty astute mind.
Then the party returned to the Baron of Westtower where they each received the promised reward of 5 gold crowns. They retired to the local tavern to plot their next adventure.
Some comments
Big Jerry Cleric of Silvanus was critical for moving the adventure to it's conclusion. His timely meditation request gave me the opening to feed the party critical information on their enemy. I need to look at my cleric and see if there are little tweaks to make them more flavorful and more in-tune with their deities believe. The idea of meditating with Silvanus who has dreams as part of his aspects fits the god well.
Jay's Dwarven Rune-caster was a bit of challenge as he was the first player to pick on the ritual based magic users. With those classes the resource management is not in your spell book or spells per day but how much silver (or gold) you are willing to invest into your spell casting. I need to be careful with the cost so that it reflect the relative power of those types of magic-users. Jay seemed to like the class and it didn't seem overpowering.
new Josh Elven Burglar is an interesting combination. What would drive one of the glorious race into petty thievery? They are immortal, enjoy nearly perfect health, really don't want for anything in their homelands. Boredom perhaps? It will interesting to explore this in future sessions.
little Jerry's Halfling was quiet and sometime seems to be dominated by the older gamers. But the halfling was a bastion for the party proved crucial in the majority of the fights. Without him I doubt the party would have survived. A little annoyed at his small stature as he couldn't use a broadsword except two handed. However one of his reward was a broadsword of lightness which allows him to wield it one-handed. Plus he crafted 12 arrow heads out of the bones the demon wolf. May prove useful one day.
old Josh's Thug was interesting classwise and character wise. While not as good as little Jerry's halfling fighter he was definitely one of the party's main fighters. His abilities came useful whenever the party had to deal with other people whether it was sweet talking, lying, negotiations, or just outright intimidation. I liked watching how he played the character and felt it really achieve my objective of having classes that were good at thing other than fighting or spell casting.
This session also helped me with the design of the adventure as I was struggling to figure how to reward the party other than a grateful Baron gives them X. The deal with the mage's buying the party silence will be woven into the adventure and be one of the best ways for the party get get material (or rather magical) rewards.
So now I got to come up with a new adventure for the J-Squad in June. Looking forward to seeing how they deal with that.
We all sat down and started to play. After a couple minutes we realized that that every player name started with J. Big Jerry and Jay were on my left, new Josh sat at the end of the table, Little Jerry and old Josh sat on my right. Josh "To my right" promptly named the group the J-Squad. Writing this post I realized that the last session was also a J-Squad as well. This is getting a bit weird. Next I suppose I will having playing a Jordan, Jane, Jennifer, Joshua, etc, etc.
Onto the session itself.
It started with new Josh, playing a elven burglar, and Jay a dwarven runecaster sitting down at the Greenhaven Inn in Denison's Crossing. The messenger from Kensla burst proclaiming that the village need help desperately. New Josh agreed to go after after being made aware that the Baron of Westtower would probably give a reward. Jay tagged along. Along the way they came across the remnant of the site where the tinker was attacked. The body and cart were long gone but the blood, debris, and tracks still remained. New Josh and Jay attempted to follow the tracks but go lost and wound up near Kensla, shrugging their shoulders they went into the village where they met the rest of the party.
There old Josh, a human thug, was working with the Village Reeve Tomas on how to defend the villager while the harvest was going on. The next day the harvest began. It was quiet for most of the day until it got near sundown when the wolves launched a mass attack on the party. The fighting was a huge mess and while everybody fought valiantly several members were injured grievously. Towards the end old Josh fell unconscious but luckily the fight was almost won at that point so Josh survived. Both the fight and being first aided.
The party straggled in the village and healed what they could. Elder Anselm, a priest of Mitra, also applied some healing spells. They faced the next day with dread but there were no wolf attacks. The 2nd night, Big Jerry cleric decided to mediate and commune with her god Silvanus.
Silvanus sent Big Jerry's cleric a vision of what happened. A young women wearing Thothian Robes was performing a demonic ritual at the site where they found the wolf den. The ritual apparently failed only later in the vision, after the women left, the cleric saw a wisp of smoke appear and enter the den underneath the rock.
The players then decided to head off to the Golden House a conclave of Thothian Mages several miles to the northeast of the village of Kensla. They spent another day guarding the village. During which they saw several wolves watching them from a distance. Neither side attacked. The next day they got Yoluf the trapper and had him guide them to the Golden House. Along the way they saw more wolves watching and old Josh Thug decided to attack it. However the wolf was bait for an ambush. The Thug got away and a timely sleep spells by the Dwarven Rune-caster felled five wolves.
Big Jerry's Cleric casted Speak with Animals. They found out that they considered the demon wolf the Master and there were several wolves that acted as lieutenants. One of the wolves was very defiant and the Cleric made an example of him causing the remaining four to consider the Cleric as their pack leaders. The players did a good job roleplaying this and wound up with four wolves to augment their numbers.
They went to the Golden House where they met the resident Thothian masters. Some were cooperative and other were hostile. Especially after it was revealed that the source of their information was a vision by the Cleric. However their Baronial Writ and the Satchel they found in the last session kept the conversation going. During all thisone the mages excused himself. Saying that he had some lab experiment he had to tend too. Unknown to the party he recognized the satchel and the description being one of his apprentices. He went to search his quarters and see what happened.
Jay's Dwarven Rune-caster happened to look out a window and saw the female apprentice from the cleric's vision riding away on a horse. After this the remaining mages became cooperative and went off to find the one that left. They found him in his room frantically searching. It turned out he kept a book on demon summoning that he found during his journeymen years. It was useful to his party in gaining a treasure in the dungeon and he swears that he never actually summoned or dealt with demons. From the description of Big Jerry's Cleric it appeared that the culprit was his apprentice Arbella.
The party borrowed some horses from the Golden House and pursued the wayward apprenticed. When they crested the ridge they saw that she was in the midst of another ritual and there were many wolves surrounding her. They debated their plan of attack for some time until the ritual reached some important point a circle of fire briefly erupted. Apparently something wasn't finished as it continued but it was enough to spur the party into action.
They thundered down the ridge in their horses and charged the leaders of the pack. In a single pass by the party they slaughter both wolf lieutenants causing many of the wolves to flee. Unfortunately Big Jerry's cleric rolled a 1 while shooting her Heavy Crossbow. The high powered weapon not only broke but the recoil caused the elven cleric to fall to the ground prone.
The four wolves under the cleric's command ran through and engaged the wolves as the party wheeled around and charged again. This time focusing on Arbella. She went down quickly and was catapulted off the summoning rock and laid still at the base of the 5 foot cliff that it was on top of off.
Then the Demon Wolf appeared and attacked Little Jerry's halfling. Some of the remaining wolves engaged members of the party leaving only the new Josh's Elven Burglar and old Josh's Thug to help the halfling in the fight. After several charges the demon wolf fell.
After cleaning up the remaining wolves the party rejoiced but then they saw the spirit of the demon rise from the wolf and possess the body of Arbella. A disqusting tentacled creature burst from her split skin and immediately went after the Dwarven Rune-caster who was nearest. However the party reacted immediately and the reborn demon fell under the onslaught.
With the demon finally dead the party returned to the Golden House to return the horse and explain what happened. Deeply embarrassed the Golden House bribed the party's silence by giving some choice magic items.
Then the party returned to the village and there was much rejoicing over the death of the demon wolf. However the party realized the Yoluf witnessed the going on at the Golden House. To get his silence they had to pay a hefty price of 1,000 silver pennies. Yoluf country bumpkin act turned out to overlay a pretty astute mind.
Then the party returned to the Baron of Westtower where they each received the promised reward of 5 gold crowns. They retired to the local tavern to plot their next adventure.
Some comments
Big Jerry Cleric of Silvanus was critical for moving the adventure to it's conclusion. His timely meditation request gave me the opening to feed the party critical information on their enemy. I need to look at my cleric and see if there are little tweaks to make them more flavorful and more in-tune with their deities believe. The idea of meditating with Silvanus who has dreams as part of his aspects fits the god well.
Jay's Dwarven Rune-caster was a bit of challenge as he was the first player to pick on the ritual based magic users. With those classes the resource management is not in your spell book or spells per day but how much silver (or gold) you are willing to invest into your spell casting. I need to be careful with the cost so that it reflect the relative power of those types of magic-users. Jay seemed to like the class and it didn't seem overpowering.
new Josh Elven Burglar is an interesting combination. What would drive one of the glorious race into petty thievery? They are immortal, enjoy nearly perfect health, really don't want for anything in their homelands. Boredom perhaps? It will interesting to explore this in future sessions.
little Jerry's Halfling was quiet and sometime seems to be dominated by the older gamers. But the halfling was a bastion for the party proved crucial in the majority of the fights. Without him I doubt the party would have survived. A little annoyed at his small stature as he couldn't use a broadsword except two handed. However one of his reward was a broadsword of lightness which allows him to wield it one-handed. Plus he crafted 12 arrow heads out of the bones the demon wolf. May prove useful one day.
old Josh's Thug was interesting classwise and character wise. While not as good as little Jerry's halfling fighter he was definitely one of the party's main fighters. His abilities came useful whenever the party had to deal with other people whether it was sweet talking, lying, negotiations, or just outright intimidation. I liked watching how he played the character and felt it really achieve my objective of having classes that were good at thing other than fighting or spell casting.
This session also helped me with the design of the adventure as I was struggling to figure how to reward the party other than a grateful Baron gives them X. The deal with the mage's buying the party silence will be woven into the adventure and be one of the best ways for the party get get material (or rather magical) rewards.
So now I got to come up with a new adventure for the J-Squad in June. Looking forward to seeing how they deal with that.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Unintended Consquences
Sometimes you should think real hard before allowing a magical effect in your game.
http://www.pvponline.com/2010/05/21/
http://www.pvponline.com/2010/05/21/
Friday, May 21, 2010
A Fantasy Sandbox in Detail Part XIII
Part XII
This is the thirteenth in a series detailing the 34 steps I recommended for making a Fantasy Sandbox Campaign. Today's post will cover part of the following step.
0204 Sandpoint (village) Halfling
This is home to over 300 halflings who farm the fertile bottomlands and tend flocks of sheep on the South Downs. Buck Hightower is the current Lord of Sandpoint. The Hightowers of Sandpoint have long been the most powerful and wealthiest family in Sandpoint. Recently their preeminence has been challenged by the Oldhams who have grown wealthy on the wool trade. Albrus Oldham has been recently appointed the Reeve of Sandpoint by the King’s Sheriff
to collect the various Royal fees and duties.
Sandpoint is located on a low bluff overlooking the coastal dunes of the regions. From here it is about a 1/2 mile to the high tide mark on the beach. The bluff is only 6' high however it is steadily eroding. This has caused the wealthiest halflings to live near the king's road and the poorest nearest the bluff. The wide spaces between the rows of houses are used as pastures and gardens. Many make a small sum of money renting their pasture during the annual sheep shearing.
Sometimes it is hard to come up with a village layout. In this case I turn to historical maps and other gaming products particularly Harn for inspiration.
There are several websites one can use as a resource. One I like particularly is The Aedificium a living history for England. Of particular interest is this map page which has several maps done in the Harn style which makes them very useful for gaming. The one that inspired Sandpoint was Serlby.
One interesting thing to do is look at the Nottingham map and at some of the village map. You realize that some of these places are literally a stone throw away from each. Not particularly useful for gaming as fantasy campaigns work better with a bit more wilderness between settlements. However it is interesting to see how the medieval landscape was laid out.
Finally a map making tip. Many probably wonder how I did the cropland. Many vector and paint programs have the ability to use textures. These are bitmap or bitmap patterns that you can use to fill shapes with. This particular one was done using Corel Draw using a cloth canvas pattern rotated 45 degrees.
I created two full 8.5 by 11 bitmaps in TIFF format at 300 dpi that you can use. One is grayscale and the other is full color CMYK. The full color use yellow and brown to give an impression of crop soil along with the texture. You can download it here.
That it for part XIII next is Part XIV.
This is the thirteenth in a series detailing the 34 steps I recommended for making a Fantasy Sandbox Campaign. Today's post will cover part of the following step.
Pick the 4 or 6 most important Population locales and draw a quarter page sketch map of the settlement.From Step VIII
0204 Sandpoint (village) Halfling
This is home to over 300 halflings who farm the fertile bottomlands and tend flocks of sheep on the South Downs. Buck Hightower is the current Lord of Sandpoint. The Hightowers of Sandpoint have long been the most powerful and wealthiest family in Sandpoint. Recently their preeminence has been challenged by the Oldhams who have grown wealthy on the wool trade. Albrus Oldham has been recently appointed the Reeve of Sandpoint by the King’s Sheriff
to collect the various Royal fees and duties.
Sandpoint is located on a low bluff overlooking the coastal dunes of the regions. From here it is about a 1/2 mile to the high tide mark on the beach. The bluff is only 6' high however it is steadily eroding. This has caused the wealthiest halflings to live near the king's road and the poorest nearest the bluff. The wide spaces between the rows of houses are used as pastures and gardens. Many make a small sum of money renting their pasture during the annual sheep shearing.- Hightower Estate, the ancestral home of the HighTowers of Sandpoint. Several extended families living under one roof make this place a madhouse.
- The Sandpoint Sheepfold. Every April the annual sheep shearing held here, thousands of sheeps are moved between the two stands and their fleece shorn off. Afterward the wool is washed and stored in dry cellars underneath the stands. In May the Great Island Sheep Fair is held with buyers from all over the Midland Sea coming to bid.
- The King's House, this is the currently the residence of Albrus Oldham, the Reeve of Sandpoint. The Oldhams are currently much in favor among the poor of Sandpoint for shoring up the bluff three years ago.
- The Mill Pond Inn, This inn is run by Janson Poundfoot. It is a warren of rooms both for the big folks and the little folks. Many patrons have gotten lost among it's three stories. For most of the year the inn is mostly empty with most of his business coming during the spring Sheep Fair.
- Sandpoint Mill, Gladys Yellowbottom runs the inn with a iron fist. Much of her family lies in terror of her legendary temper. Only her nephew, Manny Yellowbottom is not intimidated and livens up the day with his practical jokes.
Sometimes it is hard to come up with a village layout. In this case I turn to historical maps and other gaming products particularly Harn for inspiration.
There are several websites one can use as a resource. One I like particularly is The Aedificium a living history for England. Of particular interest is this map page which has several maps done in the Harn style which makes them very useful for gaming. The one that inspired Sandpoint was Serlby.
One interesting thing to do is look at the Nottingham map and at some of the village map. You realize that some of these places are literally a stone throw away from each. Not particularly useful for gaming as fantasy campaigns work better with a bit more wilderness between settlements. However it is interesting to see how the medieval landscape was laid out.
Finally a map making tip. Many probably wonder how I did the cropland. Many vector and paint programs have the ability to use textures. These are bitmap or bitmap patterns that you can use to fill shapes with. This particular one was done using Corel Draw using a cloth canvas pattern rotated 45 degrees.
I created two full 8.5 by 11 bitmaps in TIFF format at 300 dpi that you can use. One is grayscale and the other is full color CMYK. The full color use yellow and brown to give an impression of crop soil along with the texture. You can download it here.
That it for part XIII next is Part XIV.
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