One of the first supplements Board Enterprises ever produced was our city supplements on the fantasy city of Rhum. It was the second city designed in the World of Fletnern, and extensive work was done on it. My Rhum Master file is currently 396 pages long. That’s about 680 locations described, and some of those are office buildings filled with service providers.
Anyway - One of the most common questions is how it is pronounced. OK, not a question, because everyone thinks they know. But a lot of people are getting it wrong. It is NOT Rome!!! It’s more like the sound a little boy makes when he is playing with his cars and trucks. “vrroooum”. But not “room” either, and not “rum”, though that’s a lot closer. No, I did not name all my cities based on booze, but yeah, “rum” is about as close as I can hope folks will come.
Years ago, one of our major distributors had a guy working there who’s last name was Rhum. I asked him how his family pronounced it, and yeah, we had it right. By the way - Sorry about all the hassles the guys gave you over us using your name; it was entirely unintentional!
So - Not the most earth shattering blog post, but possibly interesting to some of you.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Campaign Specialization
Every campaign is different. Because of that, it can be hard to write books of magic items or similar subjects. Sometimes you need something a little more specialized.
What if in this campaign (or story arc), the party is against a whole bunch of werewolves or were-whatevers. Now you need a list of magic items that are nearly useless in any other style of scenario. You’ll want enchantments that make it easier to turn, force a turn, special silver delivery missiles, protection spells, protection from silver spells, more powerful beast forms (spell? ability?) and what the value of a werewolf hide is, or maybe just the fangs. Do they retain their fur if killed as wolf or do they revert back and therefore there is no pelt?
The point is not to dwell on a lycanthrope based campaign, but instead to show that there simply are times that where the game master will want to put a little more effort into coming up with things that are not in any of the rule books. Honestly, Dragon Magazine use to be good for that. Truth be told, 30 years ago if you were reading the magazine, you either went, “That’s so cool! I’m using that!” or you said, “That’s so lame, why did they waste ten pages on something no one would ever use.” Chances are, different people said both those things about the same articles.
I like specialized campaigns, or at least the story arcs. Spend four missions going against a similar enemy, then take two or three off and then go back to the main theme. It really holds the campaign together! Making up magic items is so much easier than you think, and if you don’t want to make them up, just give the bad guys special powers. “Anytime Bart wants, he can summon a flock of seagulls.” No, not the music group. You don’t always have to put a die roll on it, just let him do whatever when it is cool.
Too many “traditional” campaigns have no continuity. They are just a series of missions performed by the same characters for no real reason, other than possibly because someone would pay. Fighting various types of weres, or undead, or dragons, or slavers, etc - players remember that. They remember how they had to work their way through the lesser critters to find the big boss at the end of four missions. They had to earn the fight. They’re also a lot more excited by getting some minor magic items that specifically relate to their immediate danger.
What if in this campaign (or story arc), the party is against a whole bunch of werewolves or were-whatevers. Now you need a list of magic items that are nearly useless in any other style of scenario. You’ll want enchantments that make it easier to turn, force a turn, special silver delivery missiles, protection spells, protection from silver spells, more powerful beast forms (spell? ability?) and what the value of a werewolf hide is, or maybe just the fangs. Do they retain their fur if killed as wolf or do they revert back and therefore there is no pelt?
The point is not to dwell on a lycanthrope based campaign, but instead to show that there simply are times that where the game master will want to put a little more effort into coming up with things that are not in any of the rule books. Honestly, Dragon Magazine use to be good for that. Truth be told, 30 years ago if you were reading the magazine, you either went, “That’s so cool! I’m using that!” or you said, “That’s so lame, why did they waste ten pages on something no one would ever use.” Chances are, different people said both those things about the same articles.
I like specialized campaigns, or at least the story arcs. Spend four missions going against a similar enemy, then take two or three off and then go back to the main theme. It really holds the campaign together! Making up magic items is so much easier than you think, and if you don’t want to make them up, just give the bad guys special powers. “Anytime Bart wants, he can summon a flock of seagulls.” No, not the music group. You don’t always have to put a die roll on it, just let him do whatever when it is cool.
Too many “traditional” campaigns have no continuity. They are just a series of missions performed by the same characters for no real reason, other than possibly because someone would pay. Fighting various types of weres, or undead, or dragons, or slavers, etc - players remember that. They remember how they had to work their way through the lesser critters to find the big boss at the end of four missions. They had to earn the fight. They’re also a lot more excited by getting some minor magic items that specifically relate to their immediate danger.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Spice of (Fantasy) Life
This is a puff piece - just wanted to warn you
I do far more research into fantasy era stuff than any sane human being would do. Even still, I have had a couple of folks challenge me on some of my assumptions and descriptions, so there are folks who are even more far gone than I am.
One of the things I love figuring out is what people in fantasy environments would do with what they have. Let’s take spices. First off, while modern “chefs” dump tons of garlic on everything in order to seem brilliant, I have my fantasy types dumping onions into anything that might be described as savory. But that’s easy.
Lemons and limes don’t grow well in most climates and don’t ship well, so what do you do? Verjuice! Verjuice is (typically) the juice of sour grapes. (I will spare you my sour grapes puns, they were really bad!) In so many ways it was used the way we use lemon juice now a days, sour, easily gotten, typically locally grown. You can use vinegar instead, but that completely changes the flavor. But speaking of vinegar - Fletnern’s cuisines are dependent upon what types of vinegar they use. Wine? Cider? Malt? I normally don’t like vinegar, especially the way it is frequently used in German cooking, but I do love malt vinegar on my beer battered fish.
The other big one I have had to add into my fantasy world is garum. This was a Roman condiment - a kind of fish sauce, typically the fermented guts of fish. Sounds disgusting, right? If so, then why did they use it so much? I’ve never had it, but I have to admit something in my life - I flavor things with anchovies all the time. I know a lot of you just threw up in your mouths a little bit, but I put anchovies in chili (not cooked in it, added afterwards or the flavor overwhelms the whole thing), in tuna salad, in salads, etc. Anchovies - not just for pizza anymore! I think the flavors must be sort of similar - fishy and salty.
So - verjuice, vinegar, and garum - three condiments that were extensively used in ancient times that can be added to your campaign world to toss in some realism and some culture shock. I still believe that if you can get your players talking about the fantasy world as though it were real, you have gotten them to invest in your game, and they’ll keep coming back!
I do far more research into fantasy era stuff than any sane human being would do. Even still, I have had a couple of folks challenge me on some of my assumptions and descriptions, so there are folks who are even more far gone than I am.
One of the things I love figuring out is what people in fantasy environments would do with what they have. Let’s take spices. First off, while modern “chefs” dump tons of garlic on everything in order to seem brilliant, I have my fantasy types dumping onions into anything that might be described as savory. But that’s easy.
Lemons and limes don’t grow well in most climates and don’t ship well, so what do you do? Verjuice! Verjuice is (typically) the juice of sour grapes. (I will spare you my sour grapes puns, they were really bad!) In so many ways it was used the way we use lemon juice now a days, sour, easily gotten, typically locally grown. You can use vinegar instead, but that completely changes the flavor. But speaking of vinegar - Fletnern’s cuisines are dependent upon what types of vinegar they use. Wine? Cider? Malt? I normally don’t like vinegar, especially the way it is frequently used in German cooking, but I do love malt vinegar on my beer battered fish.
The other big one I have had to add into my fantasy world is garum. This was a Roman condiment - a kind of fish sauce, typically the fermented guts of fish. Sounds disgusting, right? If so, then why did they use it so much? I’ve never had it, but I have to admit something in my life - I flavor things with anchovies all the time. I know a lot of you just threw up in your mouths a little bit, but I put anchovies in chili (not cooked in it, added afterwards or the flavor overwhelms the whole thing), in tuna salad, in salads, etc. Anchovies - not just for pizza anymore! I think the flavors must be sort of similar - fishy and salty.
So - verjuice, vinegar, and garum - three condiments that were extensively used in ancient times that can be added to your campaign world to toss in some realism and some culture shock. I still believe that if you can get your players talking about the fantasy world as though it were real, you have gotten them to invest in your game, and they’ll keep coming back!
All is Good
OK - All the computer issues are over. I have a working computer that will allow me to write books and blog posts as well as kill trolls and dragons. Not certain which of those is more important to me, but clearly, both are.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
What is it like to Role-Play?
So I know I make fun of “gold farmers” - those folks who only care about how much damage they can do and how many gold pieces are listed on their sheets. So I was watching Burn Notice. If you didn’t watch it, you need to. One of the best shows on TV in the last few years. Scene - Michael wants Fiona to help him, and then take her to dinner, but she’s pissed because all he ever does in things connected to his burn notice.
Michael is a gold farmer. He doesn’t have fun. His character never goes to a bar unless it is to meet a client. But Sam and Fiona, they know the hot spots around the town. They know the news around town.
I often try to make this point, so I’m willing to use popular TV shows to do it. Ever notice that Sam knows every bar and hot dog stand in Miami? and typically knows what the waitresses wear? That’s role-playing. Even if in the gaming session you just pretend - “Hey Sam, they’re at Micki’s Fiesta Bar, you remember that place as the bar with the best rum drinks in town.” You don’t have to play every encounter in every bar, but you need to establish that your character is a booze hound and hits every raunchy bar in town. Or your character sticks to one or two bars in his neighborhood. Or your character is a teetotaler and can be found in church every evening. You define your character, then the GM has the ability to use those things against you, and you have the ability to use them against the GM.
How do you use it? If you’re known in every bar, then when you need to have a bunch of people scour the city for you, you know where to find them. If you are an active member of your church, you can find friends there too. I usually think that if you don’t end an adventure with at least one new contact, you’ve done something wrong. Building a list of contacts (and then actually using them), that’s role-playing too. Hey, I know there are a bunch of folks out there who use voices and costumes when they play. I’m not that kind of role-player. But I do think that if your character is a bar hopper, then when you’re looking for help, you go to your friends, not necessarily the city guards. Think of what the character would do, not necessarily what the rules say will give you the highest number of damage points.
Michael is a gold farmer. He doesn’t have fun. His character never goes to a bar unless it is to meet a client. But Sam and Fiona, they know the hot spots around the town. They know the news around town.
I often try to make this point, so I’m willing to use popular TV shows to do it. Ever notice that Sam knows every bar and hot dog stand in Miami? and typically knows what the waitresses wear? That’s role-playing. Even if in the gaming session you just pretend - “Hey Sam, they’re at Micki’s Fiesta Bar, you remember that place as the bar with the best rum drinks in town.” You don’t have to play every encounter in every bar, but you need to establish that your character is a booze hound and hits every raunchy bar in town. Or your character sticks to one or two bars in his neighborhood. Or your character is a teetotaler and can be found in church every evening. You define your character, then the GM has the ability to use those things against you, and you have the ability to use them against the GM.
How do you use it? If you’re known in every bar, then when you need to have a bunch of people scour the city for you, you know where to find them. If you are an active member of your church, you can find friends there too. I usually think that if you don’t end an adventure with at least one new contact, you’ve done something wrong. Building a list of contacts (and then actually using them), that’s role-playing too. Hey, I know there are a bunch of folks out there who use voices and costumes when they play. I’m not that kind of role-player. But I do think that if your character is a bar hopper, then when you’re looking for help, you go to your friends, not necessarily the city guards. Think of what the character would do, not necessarily what the rules say will give you the highest number of damage points.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
World Changing Events - or are they?
I have a fully involved world. Stuff happens all the time, and story lines come and go. Sometimes I get a really cool idea for a story line, but I’m not willing to do it because it would force me to completely rewrite the world. But I have an idea. So here’s my idea: Some of you may see this as a mix of two story lines - one recent cult classic and one legend.
Eons ago, two demigods fought it out on the mortal plane. The battle ended when one cut the other in two, imbedding his sword into the side of a mountain. The seers foretold that only one of divine birth would be able to remove the sword, but when they did, it would cause the end of the world. The real problem is that due to the mysticism involved, removing the sword from the mountain will cause a divergent reality to form. If this tangent time stream isn’t destroyed, it could mean the end of the world.
It took centuries, but a mercenary general convinced an angel that if she were to pull the sword from the mountain for him, he would use it to bring good to the world. Angels can sometimes be suckers. Powered by the sword and the divergent time stream, the general starts a world war - starts and is winning!
The characters get involved because they start fighting the war. Eventually the angel explains to them that if they don’t get the sword back into the hole in the mountain, the world will come to an end, but if they do return the sword key, then this time stream will cease to exist. (Maybe returning the sword will destroy the angel as well, but she is willing to sacrifice herself for that. Is the party willing to sacrifice her?)
So this “mini-campaign” starts with the party getting involved in some minor skirmishes with the mercenary army, which grow as the war becomes a full on world war. Every mission you can think of revolving around wars and religions can work here, including some massive battles taking place, right up until they have to battle the general and get the sword away from him, likely right at the mountain. So as the time tear warps reality and the angel and the general battle over the sword, with tornadoes and other phenomenon, the party ultimately gets the sword and puts it back into mountain. The divergent time streams get sucked back into each other (violently), and the party finds themselves standing over the sword with the general and the angel both dead at their feet. It is now months ago - the date that the general originally obtained the sword.
So cool, right? You can have a massive world war, and then get a mulligan on it. I would let the party remember everything that happened (thus keeping the experience). They might also learn things during the tangent time stream - secret crimes that people have committed or secret treasure troves that they can take advantage of. Others who were closely involved might have dreams of what happened, but they wouldn’t believe the whole alternate time theory. Be careful though. You might all be too young to remember, but people got really mad when an entire season of Dallas turned out to be a dream. Your players might love this whole concept or they might feel cheated for having saved the world, but not getting any credit for it.
Eons ago, two demigods fought it out on the mortal plane. The battle ended when one cut the other in two, imbedding his sword into the side of a mountain. The seers foretold that only one of divine birth would be able to remove the sword, but when they did, it would cause the end of the world. The real problem is that due to the mysticism involved, removing the sword from the mountain will cause a divergent reality to form. If this tangent time stream isn’t destroyed, it could mean the end of the world.
It took centuries, but a mercenary general convinced an angel that if she were to pull the sword from the mountain for him, he would use it to bring good to the world. Angels can sometimes be suckers. Powered by the sword and the divergent time stream, the general starts a world war - starts and is winning!
The characters get involved because they start fighting the war. Eventually the angel explains to them that if they don’t get the sword back into the hole in the mountain, the world will come to an end, but if they do return the sword key, then this time stream will cease to exist. (Maybe returning the sword will destroy the angel as well, but she is willing to sacrifice herself for that. Is the party willing to sacrifice her?)
So this “mini-campaign” starts with the party getting involved in some minor skirmishes with the mercenary army, which grow as the war becomes a full on world war. Every mission you can think of revolving around wars and religions can work here, including some massive battles taking place, right up until they have to battle the general and get the sword away from him, likely right at the mountain. So as the time tear warps reality and the angel and the general battle over the sword, with tornadoes and other phenomenon, the party ultimately gets the sword and puts it back into mountain. The divergent time streams get sucked back into each other (violently), and the party finds themselves standing over the sword with the general and the angel both dead at their feet. It is now months ago - the date that the general originally obtained the sword.
So cool, right? You can have a massive world war, and then get a mulligan on it. I would let the party remember everything that happened (thus keeping the experience). They might also learn things during the tangent time stream - secret crimes that people have committed or secret treasure troves that they can take advantage of. Others who were closely involved might have dreams of what happened, but they wouldn’t believe the whole alternate time theory. Be careful though. You might all be too young to remember, but people got really mad when an entire season of Dallas turned out to be a dream. Your players might love this whole concept or they might feel cheated for having saved the world, but not getting any credit for it.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Fantasy Thieving Specialists
Think about your thieves. There are all manner of specialists: pick pockets, second story men, jewel thieves. They know their stuff. Jewel thieves need to know how to appraise gems and jewelry so they will choose the best stuff, and not get fooled by forgeries and paste. But how far does it go?
Are there fantasy era specialists? There should be. In the same vein that a jewel thief must know the good stuff from the fakes, a magic thief will need to be able to understand the real magic from the stage theatrics. But is specializing in magic enough? Wouldn’t there need to be different styles of specialist for stealing alchemicals? A separate specialist for acquiring components and other materials? What about someone who goes after the enchantments themselves? Even the necromancers would need someone who knew how to get the right things for them. After all, it would be incredibly embarrassing to send a thief after an important skull, only to have him steal the wrong one. (“Abby someone.”) In a similar fashion a mentalist in need of the proper psychometric items would need someone who understood which items held the proper mental vestiges.
These thieving specialists need to understand their targets, which means they probably need to have some skill in them. That means they might know a bit of alchemy in order to understand both the alchemical products and equipment. Or they may need training in magic in order to read spell books and mystic scrolls, in order to know what they are stealing. At the same time, sorcerers would use different styles of traps and tricks then enchanters or alchemists would, so once again, understanding your target(s) will benefit you, and knowing how to handle those types of items and magic would give you a significant advantage. The same should be said for their tools of the trade. Knowing how to beat a sorcerer’s traps does not necessarily position you to get past a necromancer’s.
Honestly, this subject is too huge to do justice in a blog post, but I hope I set your mind spinning. Need some ideas on what a magic thief would be stealing? Check out Alchemist’s Lab for all sorts of fun products and equipment!
Are there fantasy era specialists? There should be. In the same vein that a jewel thief must know the good stuff from the fakes, a magic thief will need to be able to understand the real magic from the stage theatrics. But is specializing in magic enough? Wouldn’t there need to be different styles of specialist for stealing alchemicals? A separate specialist for acquiring components and other materials? What about someone who goes after the enchantments themselves? Even the necromancers would need someone who knew how to get the right things for them. After all, it would be incredibly embarrassing to send a thief after an important skull, only to have him steal the wrong one. (“Abby someone.”) In a similar fashion a mentalist in need of the proper psychometric items would need someone who understood which items held the proper mental vestiges.
These thieving specialists need to understand their targets, which means they probably need to have some skill in them. That means they might know a bit of alchemy in order to understand both the alchemical products and equipment. Or they may need training in magic in order to read spell books and mystic scrolls, in order to know what they are stealing. At the same time, sorcerers would use different styles of traps and tricks then enchanters or alchemists would, so once again, understanding your target(s) will benefit you, and knowing how to handle those types of items and magic would give you a significant advantage. The same should be said for their tools of the trade. Knowing how to beat a sorcerer’s traps does not necessarily position you to get past a necromancer’s.
Honestly, this subject is too huge to do justice in a blog post, but I hope I set your mind spinning. Need some ideas on what a magic thief would be stealing? Check out Alchemist’s Lab for all sorts of fun products and equipment!
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