Dangerous Adversaries

Eons ago, I bought a new (at the time) book written by Gary Gygax about all these sorts of monsters. I think the older folks understand what I mean. There was a monster in there - I can’t spell it and I certainly can’t pronounce it, but it was like the creature from the black lagoon, only from the deep seas. From what I remember, one paragraph was devoted to the description of the creatures and several paragraphs were devoted to how many troops each type of noble led.
See it through my 13yo eyes for a moment: “Hey - That’s 40,000 of these things! That is going to be the most boring battle ever! 40,000, underwater with no fireballs, my die rolling hand will cramp up.” I used them, but in a very altered form
See it through my 40something eyes now: “40K troops? How many fishermen do they need? Even if it’s only 200K fishermen, why aren’t they bumping into everyone else? They’re really aggressive and raid, so they should be a common nuisance. They are tougher than humans, elves or dwarves. Why haven’t they taken over the world?”
I ask that a lot. When I was building Fletnern and wanted to put in something that seemed super powerful, I had to ask - Why haven’t they taken over the world?
So that’s what A Baker’s Dozen Dangerous Adversaries (still working on that title) is going to be about - Why haven’t they taken over the world. Hopefully you’re familiar with our Baker’s Dozen books by now. They’re a few pages fully developing an idea, typically a person, a group of people, or some setting. Obviously there are 13 of them. In many ways, these are source books or perhaps you might think of them as summary source books. Tons of info to get you thinking, and enough details so you don’t have to work that hard.
Each entry in Dangerous Adversaries will lay out a couple of different paths by which one of these seemingly unimportant races could pose a threat to the world at large. It will lay out their powers, their weaknesses (assuming they have some), and some strategies that just might gain them world domination. As a GM, you don’t want to use them all in your world, but a legitimate threat to the “human-elf-dwarf” world might be just what you were looking for to spice things up in your campaign world.
Look for it soon! and if you have a better title suggestion - I’m all ears!!

Urban Development

Our Urban Development supplement is being pushed ahead of Coins of the Road for a couple of reasons - #1 - It is practically done. #2 - I’ve discovered a fantastic source book on medieval economies, and want to see if there is anything I need to add or tweak in Coins of the Road.
To save you the trouble of searching back - Urban Development is a step by step approach on how to build villages, towns and cities for your world. Whether you are building from scratch or taking a look at cities that you’ve been playing for some time, this book will be a great source of factual information and more importantly idea sparks that you might not have thought of before. The book is laid out in the same fashion as Grain Into Gold, and we’re hoping it will be as popular as Grain Into Gold has been for us! Expect it in the spring!

Empire

{Read the title of this blog like that old Queensryche song - all ominous and stuff! Oh, sorry, back to the blog.}
How long do empires last? Seems an odd question, but I have a point. Looking at a ton of different empires throughout history, I’m going to say 400 years. OK - It’s not a real estimate or anything, but it’s not a bad estimate as things go.
Who cares? Right - You’re wondering what in the world this has to do with anything. It really comes down to the history of the world. I have a lot of time in the history of Fletnern where there really isn’t much history written. I’ve sort of designated it as a “dark ages” kind of thing, but that is a little cheesy when it sucks up too much time. It works similarly to the holes in the map (see the earlier post), but I feel I have way too many holes in the history.
So I need to know how long empires typically last, so I can establish a couple without having them become too much a part of the history of the world. Well, a part, an important part, but not the focus. Example time, because this isn’t making any sense: The Mughal Empire - ever heard of it? Probably not, at least you can’t place it. They really didn’t change the world, but they left a whole bunch of ruins behind. (still not clicking for you? The Taj Mahal? You know that one right? The word “mogul”?) So what does this mean? Well, they were really cool, or at least are very interesting to us modern folks, but their rule probably didn’t bring world peace, except maybe to India for a couple of generations. But you’re likely a game master - someone looking to create interesting adventures, which typically have interesting loot and interesting back stories. Yeah - the ruins of an ancient empire fill in a lot of that. Even if the ruins are gone and not taking up space, the artifacts left over form those empires can be great adventure hooks. Whether it is a priceless treasure or a magical wonder, old empires make for great loot!
So if each empire lasted between 150-450 years, now I can plan out some of these historical empires. You know, how they ended can make for fantastic story lines too. After all, when an empire collects taxes and tribute for four centuries and then gets conquered, the conquerors will likely move all that wealth and treasure somewhere. Well, maybe not all of it, unless that is the adventure.

Demons

By now most of you who read this blog know that we use the World of Fletnern (available at this link for FREE!). On Fletnern, there are several races that are not considered to be “native”. Yep - They are from other planets. Planets, dimensions, realities, does it matter?
Eons ago I remember reading a series of novels (that were turned into comics if I recall correctly) where “demon” was short for “dimensional traveler”, and “demons” were simply people from other dimensions and not actually evil creatures from hell. I kind of like that. Sure I call some of the minions of the less nice gods “demons”, but those are different. When you need something truly creepy, you can just have someone summon something from another dimension. It doesn’t have to be a magical creature, just something so alien (sorry but it is the best word) that it seems to be perfectly evil.
Why? Well magical creatures are magical. They likely don’t have to eat, they are more likely more esoteric, and well, magical. I like having things like aliens rats - sort of a cross between an armadillo and a retriever. I had a slime dog that looked like a glowing dog, but its bones were able to smush. It was a real dog, but it could go through tiny cracks under doors and such. These are creepy creatures, but they’re flesh and blood. Sometimes, you don’t want the glowing dog to be some astral/ethereal ghost creature with a death gaze, but instead a really nasty predator that eats its prey and leaves a trail.
How do you bring them in? Here’s an easy way. Think of a double helix - you know, like DNA. Now have each strand spin in the opposite direction. Well the two strands will bump into each other, at different points as they go. That’s what the spiral stairway is like. Not exactly (I can’t have it too easy to figure out), but sort of like that. That means that every once in a while the worlds arranged on the spiral staircase will bump into each other and the “shells” around the two worlds will break down, allowing people to travel from one to the other. Better hurry or you’ll get caught there and won’t be able to get back until the worlds bump again. Might be a couple years or 500. (The spiral stair is NOT physical; it is sort of a ley lines kind of thing where the magical aspects of the worlds bump. That makes it even easier to keep the players from figuring it out.)
How’s it work? Well, random critters might wander across and now you have some truly monstrous creatures, but very rare. (Bigfoot anyone?) You can have nomads wander across and not be able to get back, setting up weird race villages hidden in the ______. You can have invaders or explorers come across with full knowledge of what the stair will do. Maybe they’re raiders looking to loot and get back before the doors close. Lots of possibilities! Single adventures or whole campaigns, use it as you like! Of course, they could use starships, but that seems to take the fun out of it.

Worldly Weather

I spend time trying to explain/write down/document the weather patterns on Fletnern. I do this both for an understanding of the “regular” weather, but also because a good storm can make for an adventure by itself. The problem is that I keep thinking from a scientific point of view, and Fletnern is a magical world. (Let’s not kid ourselves; it is not like Earth being a scientific world means that the meteorologists have any clue what’s going on.)
What does magic have to do with weather? Well, there are weather spells, but that’s pretty localized stuff. I’m talking about the gods and spirits and elementals. In Rhum, the wind should blow from east to west because of the way the world spins, but it blows from north west to south east. The explanation is that the mountains nearby upset the wind patterns, but it is more than that. The spirit of the north wind brings cold weather to Rhum and the people fear him. That fear strengthens him, and they must appease him. If they do not, he blows hardest and brings the cold down from the north. The spirit of the south wind is only remembered as an afterthought and does not receive much adoration from the Rhorics. For this reason, he is willing to concede the region to his rival and allow the “normal” wind patterns to change.
A huge nearly god-like-in-power earth elemental walks north underground along the eastern coast of Hughijen. He frequently encounters barriers that prevent him from continuing on his way. When he encounters such barriers, he starts pushing. It may take him decades, but eventually, the barrier gives way and he will move ten, twenty, maybe fifty miles north, before encountering another barrier. Then he pushes again, possibly for decades. When a barrier gives way, it causes an earthquake, some of them have been massive, including the recent one that sent Detheb refugees by the boat load to Drentae. (This is in some ways a mythic explanation for “earthquake storms”.)
So, I guess I can make up whatever weather I want as long as I can explain it with the right gods, elementals and magic. I’ll keep pretending there’s a science to it, but sometimes it really is an “act of the gods”.

Board Enterprises Reviews

You know what - Some people get us and some people don’t. No really, we’ve had reviewers write things like, “I just don’t get where they were going with this.” You know why? Because they’re gold farmers. I’m not just trying to belittle people who write bad stuff about our products. But Board Enterprises products are focused at an underserved portion of the market - Those mature players who want help building their worlds and enhancing the role-playing aspects. Hopefully you can tell by most of our blog posts - We’re trying to get your players to become invested in their characters and your world. A little bit of passion there will go an enormous way to everyone having fun and coming back time after time. That is what I always strive for as a GM - To get the players to care at least a little bit.
There is an enormous segment of the market out there who see FRPGs as they do their video games - How much damage does it do? How much gold do I get? How quickly can I make my next level? If any of those three questions defines your style of role-playing, then Board Enterprises products are not for you.
We focus on role-playing - What happens to your character between missions? Who are the people who inhabit the world (the ones you are not out to kill)? Can a weapon be cooler than it is effective? Would my character actually agree to do this mission, and if not, what else would he do? If any of those questions appealed to you, check out our stuff, but be careful when you read some of the negatives reviews.

The Royalty

The Royalty, our newest supplement is now available for sale. The Royalty is a combination of our Baker's Dozen and our 100s. There's A Baker's Dozen Royal Persons, 100 Noblemen, and 100 Castle Staff. That's 213 NPCs to fill any castle, palace or capital that you can use together, alone or as adds to your existing campaign. That's a lot for only $3.98. (Get it, $1.99 per book - so it's buy two get-one free.)
Click this link to learn more.