What's in a Name? Redux Part 1

Way back when I started this blog I wrote a post about names. Now I get to revisit that topic thanks to the next in Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft series of articles. Ray has great advice for naming things (PCs, NPCs & places) in a campaign. I thought I'd take a minute to go back through and put a name to things that I've been talking about to flesh out the setting a little more and examine the choices I made. I've organized these by post in chronological order.

So you want to be a GM? Part 1
This is the first of the Dungeoncraft posts detailing my setting creation. Although I came up the the name of the setting before I started this series, it is worth mentioning the origin of the name Icosa. There is nothing mystical here, and most folks may have already figured it out, but Icosa is a root part of the word icosahedron, also known as the twenty-sided die (d20). Since this world is divided into 20 triangular regions, it seems like a good fit.

In the beginning there was only Chaos
In this post I mention Law and Chaos as primal forces constantly doing battle. This struggle impacts the nature of Icosa. I don't need any fancy names here as Law and Chaos have a long history in the fantasy RPG genre.

There's no place like Home
Here I mention a few names and give reference to a few more that will or should be named. This first the the PCs home base of operations which is named in a later post as Dragonsgate.

Next is the name of the human-controlled lands surrounding Dragonsgate. At first I only mention this as a league of city-states and don't really name it. This form of government is inspired by the Ancient Greeks and the League of Corinth. I'd like to give this government its own name, although stealing the name Corinth has its pluses. Since the humans of the setting have thrown off the chains of their oppressors I think they will refer to themselves as Fremen (free men). Both the Fremen League and League of Fremen has a nice ring to it. It can always be referred to as The League for short.

I make mention of three major poleis (city-states) that form the core of The League, but I do not name them. Time to  hit the books and see what I can come up with. One of these is martially focused much like Sparta. Why not call it Martialis and say it is named after the founder. Lo and behold, there was a Roman by that name so it sounds like a winner. The ruling members of this poleis and others under its direct control are know as Marshals.

The second major poleis has a more ecclesiastical focus. I'm sticking with the Greek influence since all these poleis would have formed around the same time. I find a Greek work that is a form of cleric: Kleriki. The ruling members of this poleis are know as Ministers and are added by their appointed Clerks.

The last major poleis is a center of trade and scholarly learning. Here I'm going to depart a little from the names I've taken so far. I found the word that works well for the original name of this city-state: Scholasticus. However, I want this city to have more of an Italian feel, so the new name is Scola. The ruling members of this poleis are known as Magistrates.

The race that had formally enslaved the Fremen are known as the Archons. Again, this comes from Greek and means the 'rulers' or 'lords'. You can tell how much the Archons think of themselves.

Arche is the name given to this region of Icosa. Since it is the first such region I'm developing and since I'm already borrowing a lot from the Greeks I call it Arche which means 'the first'.

More names continued in next post.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Let us pray, Part 3

William Blake's "Ancient of Days"

It's time to wrap up this series of posts detailing the major faith of the realm of Arche on the world of Icosa. I'll tackle the last two steps outlined by Ray Winninger in his Dungeoncraft article.

4. Create (at least) Two Myths

Myths help ground the characters in a world that seems more real. They also gives players ways to immerse themselves in the imaginary game world and better embrace their game personas. I gave some thought to the Trinity and came up with the following mythical explanations of worldly phenomenon. Keeping the First Rule of Dungeoncraft in mind, I won't develop too many myths for now. I have created one major myth and two minor ones.

It is believed that once two great orbs of light graced the skies as the father sent his eyes circling the world to see all that transpired. The light was cold and distant and the people of the land cried out for warmth and a respite from the endless day so they might rest from their ceaseless toiling.

The son took to heart the plight of the mortals and put out one of the father's eyes by stealing the flame within and gifting it to men so that they may warm their hearth. As a result, night was born. The darkness caused mortals to grow weary and and afraid as they huddled around their fires. Darkness also allowed Chaos to enter the minds of mortals.

To help light the darkness, the mother carried her shimmering shield across the night sky. Alas, the shadow of Chaos chased her through the darkness, threatening to cause her to lose her way and be consumed. Her son, shamed at the sorrow his deed had caused, pinned the glowing souls of fallen warriors to the dome of night, but even this was not nearly enough to hold back Chaos.

The father, fearing for his wife, took the twinkling points of light placed by his son and arranged them in a ward to banish Chaos. His power diminished by the blinding of one eye, the ward could not completely thwart Chaos, but it was able to hold it at bay. The sun now warms the land during the day and the shadow of Chaos still chases the moon and swallows it once a cycle, but the stars in the heavens help guide the moon out from under the shadow to continue the race another night.

As punishment for the crime against his father, the son is tasked with eternally stoking the fires warming the earth to ensure that they never go out. Earthquakes and volcanos are signs of the son's anger while performing his penance.

Souls of the just are gathered by the father's angels and placed in the heavens to keep Chaos at bay, while the unjust are gathered by the son to work the world furnace for all eternity.

Storms are believed to happen when the father and son are arguing, the rainbow after the storm is a sign from the mother that peace has been made between the two. When disputes are settled, peace is signified by the opposing sides clasping hands and a colorful ribbon wrapped around the joined hands.

Madness is believed to be a curse from the mother upon those who try to avoid the fate she has allotted them. As a result, many temples of the mother house the mad (for the proper donation, of course) in efforts to place them once again on their fated path.

5. Imagine Other Faiths

The final detail suggested by Ray is to consider other faiths of the land. In his article this is targeted at non-human races and the deities they worship. After giving it due consideration, I have decided (for now) to shy away from the traditional fantasy races included in the Lamentation of the Flame Princess core rules. I'm not, strictly speaking, using Tolkien as part of the inspiration for this setting. So what about the classes of elf, dwarf and halfling? Instead I give you the arcadians, homunculi and beast men, all of whom are offshoots of the human race.

Aracadians are the result of the unions between the chaos-worshiping Archons and humans. They worship no gods, but venerate their ancestors that first escaped the clutches of their sorcerous masters. They are represented by the elf class.

The homunculi were created when the Archons infused humans with spirits of the earth. As such, there were well suited to build the great Archon fortresses carved into towering mountain walls. They are represented by the dwarf class.

The beast men are the stunted and tortured remains of the humans twisted by magic to serve as feral hounds to their masters. Outside Archon lands they roam wild in warring pack-like clans, surviving off the land. They are represented by the halfling class.

Then there are the oft-mentioned Archons. While not a player class (at least for now) it is worth mentioning that they pay homage to the various chaotic beings. These beings have even found worship by small cults of humans seeking earthly power.

So I'm off to create a few GM secrets for these facts that I've laid out (Second Rule of Dungeoncraft) and look forward to tackling the next of Ray's Dungeoncraft articles.

--
Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Let us pray, Part 2

Clerics of the Trinity

Let's pick up where I left off on detailing the major faith in the Arche realm of my setting, Icosa. I'm stepping through Ray Winninger's recommended approach to detailing the gods and myths of a typical fanatasy RPG campaign based on his series of Dungeoncraft articles. This will help give background to the cleric class from Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotPF).

3. Describe the Faith and Worshippers

Ray spends a good deal of time talking about ways to take the deities created in the previous steps and creating unique AD&D 2nd edition priests. He does an excellent job describing how to best balance the abilities granted by these deities. This was a pretty big deal in the day. Prior to 2nd Ed. there was only one choice: the cleric. Using LotFP, a close relation of the Old School Renaissance, the cleric in Arche will be closer to that of Basic D&D - one size fits all deities. That's ok by me.


Let me digress for a second here to elaborate on why this approach doesn't bother me, especially because of LotFP. When I started playing D&D all the fighters had the same abilities. What set them apart was their choice of weapons and armor. Also, there was generally no restrictions to background so a player could make their fighter as unique as they wanted even though he had the same chances to hit and saving throws. One fighter really did fit all (or at least most) players.


The same is true of clerics. Most clerics were carbon copies of each other except for their holy symbol. They had a very limited selection of armor and weapons. But what did set them apart was their choice in spells. Even though all clerics used the same spell list, there was nothing preventing a player from selecting only spells that helped further the character's connection to their deity. And really that sort of flexibility is great.


LotFP takes it one step further - no weapon restrictions. There is nothing preventing a cleric from using a sword, which has always been the realm of them fighter types. Now, clerics can chose a suitable weapon to represent their deity. This freedom in an OSR game (as you should hopefully see) gives me enough room to make are essential the same, but have their own flavor. Ok, back from the digression...


So, even though I don't need to come up with a portfolio for each of the gods, this step will certainly help 'flesh' them out. These portfolios will certainly have an impact on many levels of the cleric as well as give some depth to the world.


The Father is the primary god of this trio. He is the law-giver and the light-bringer that nourishes the world.  His role is that of leader and judge, ruling from his heavenly throne with golden spear in hand. He is the blind god, yet all-seeing and all-knowing. His light reveals the truth and little can stay hidden from him for long. He is patient and brooding as ponders the great mysteries of the cosmos.


The son is heir to the heavenly kingdom. He is the war-maker and death-bringer. He is the oath-maker and vengeance-seeker. He is the war-leader and right hand to his father, meting out justice at his father's decree. His flaming sword strikes as quick as lightning and never fails to find its mark. The heavens sparkle with the souls of the honored fallen in battle.


The mother sits at the left hand of the father. She is the clever crafter and thing-maker. She is explorer and seeker. Her silver bow fells enemies from afar and is said to weave the fate of the living and guide them on their course. Fortune and prosperity follow her, but she may just as easily curse the wicked with madness.


With that taken care of, Ray next discusses selecting the correct Alignment for each deity and their followers. Here again, LotFP comes to my rescue. All clerics must be Lawful (which begs the question, why is there a reversed version of certain spells? That is a topic for another day).

The last thing Ray discussed for this step is to establish some ceremonies and restrictions for the faith. Because I'd like to get some variety between the clerical orders devoted to each member of the trio, I want to get at least a few defined before play.

Common duties and services performed by those worshiping this Lawful Trinity include:

• Clerics of the father act as advisers to the ruling class, are seen as philosophers, and oversee the courts and ceremonies marriage and baptism with services taking place at the beginning of the year, each month and at dawn.
• Clerics of the son work with the militia and oversee the ceremonies of the dead taking place at dusk as well as ceremonies taking place at the end of each month as well as the end of the year.
• Clerics of the mother oversee the guilds as well as travel between cities and rites of passage ceremonies taking place on nights of the full moon.
• Oaths are made while holding the blade of a sword.
• Evil is warded by making the sign of the Trinity - touching forehead, then right shoulder, then left shoulder or, in a less pronounced manner, by drawing a triangle over the heart.

Originally I had planned for specific restrictions to be associated with each of the three aspects of the Trinity. However, while thinking of it from a player's point of view I decided to create a list of restrictions. All clerics of the faith must tithe a portion (10%) of all money earned to the church. They must also take one of the three vows:

• Honesty- to always speak the truth (father)
• Chastity - to never marry or have romantic relations (mother)
• Service - to always offer their services to the marshal/magistrate of a town or city (son)

I've included which aspect of the Trinity each of these vows is normally associated, however, players can choose to ignore that if they wish as followers of the faith as a whole rather than just one aspect.

That's it for now, I hope to wrap up the Trinity in the next post.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Let us pray, Part 1

Representation of a Templar
(Duinenabdij, Koksijde, Belgium) **

Next on Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft hit parade is how to create the gods and myths of your setting in 5 easy steps. Here I'll develop some background for clerics in the Arche realm of Icosa. Since I will be using Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) as my game engine for this campaign, I will let the rules for that system guide me in making my decisions. Also, in keeping with the First Rule of Dungeoncraft*, I will stay focused on the major faith in the setting as it would relate to the player characters (PCs).

1. Choose Polytheism or Monotheism

This seems like a simple question at first, most fantasy settings are Polytheistic. There exist great pantheons of gods to be worshiped for all manner of reasons. This is great if you have a character class that supports varying faiths with unique abilities. LotFP has only a single cleric class to cover this option for players. 


I'm not saying this is a bad thing about LotFP, I love the fact that the game takes a simplified approach. It does make my life a little bit easier when it comes to making this decision. Even if there are multiple deities, they grant the same abilities to their clerics. So, no need for a huge pantheon, a pantheon of three will suffice (bonus points to readers who guessed the correct number) - a divine trio.


This, and my catholic upbringing, puts the Christian Trinity to mind. This also resonates with Lotfp. While the game does not imply a particular type of religion, much of the artwork associated with the game includes images of crucifix-wearing priests and adventurers. The historical old school prototype for the cleric are the Knights Templar, which is a very cool image for the clerics of Arche


So, for my first step I pick monotheistic religion with different entities that are considered as one.

2. Determine the Nature of the Major Gods

Here Ray suggests determining if the gods are personifications or not, use a few adjectives to describe personality and demeanor of each, and define their relationships and interactions with each other. I think in keeping with the divine trio approach, these deities will be personified as follows:

• Father - noble, stern leader; aloof and distant; wise, all seeing, all knowing.
• Son - swift to anger, vengeful; strong and powerful; frightening in visage.
• Mother - inventive and quick witted; practical and pragmatic; caring and kind.

The father and son will be seen as being at odds at times, with the son ignoring the council of his father. The mother is the peacekeeper between the two.

That's all for this time. We'll pick up next time with the remaining steps to fleshing out the faith of Arche.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

* "Never force yourself to create more than you must."
** By JoJan (Own work - own photo) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Money, money, money

Dragon's Blood Wine*

After hammering out some details about the character's starting  home base and government it's time to look at the economy, or, to put in terms Ray Winninger uses, the Ways and Means of the town. First, the means.

Means

By means, Ray is asking GMs to define the driving element in the economy of the PC's home base. How do people get what they need and want: food, necessities, and luxuries. The town needs something that it can produce or use for trade, or, at the very least, be a place where goods are gathered from different sources and shipped elsewhere.

I've already mentioned that the home base will be a shadow of it's former self. Long gone are the days where the town was bustling with visitors and commerce; now it's a town fighting to survive. This wilderness town is located on a lake at the mouth of a river and suggests to me a few things: fresh-water fish, animal pelts and tolls.

Perhaps there are not many large fresh-water lakes in the area. Fishing could sustain the town at a modest level as it tries to improve its way of life. Fish could be harvested, prepared, packed and then shipped down river to the larger towns and city-states in the more civilized areas of the League - remember, this is a frontier town.

Being a frontier area, it may also prove excellent for trapping and hunting. This could provide another source of food in addition to fishing and farming. The pelts and skins could be brought into town and prepared for shipment down river to be made into other finished products. Boy, fisheries and a tanneries in the same town. This place will have an odor all it's own!

Ok, so fishing and leather may seem pretty obvious, but tolls? Well, I see the lake and town being in the foothills. As the river runs towards the sea it is most likely travelling down hill, which may make it difficult for boats to move up stream. Maybe the town build a set of locks to raise the boats up to the level of the lake and back down again. The dock master could charge a toll for that, a portion of which would make into the Marshal's coffers, but that certainly doesn't seem like it could be very profitable. Not many people are in a hurry to head out beyond the borders of civilization.

Perhaps the locks are linked to the town's previous prosperity. So what would warrant a lot of traffic up and town the river? Since the town is in the foothills, that could mean lumber and mining. But if this traffic was the former source of the town's prosperity, what happened to all the logging and mining? A great question and one that is best answered by turning it into a secret (Second Rule of Dungeoncraft). This also servers as an excellent source for adventure locals - abandoned mines and lumberjack ghost towns!

I don't need to go into much more detail than what I have so far (First Rule of Dungeoncraft), so it's off to our second point: the way.

Ways

Ways refers to an interesting custom or aspect that makes this place unique in the realm of Arche. This will help solidify the town in the player's minds (and hopefully keep their minds off the smell from upwind). This could be something the town does or makes, a legend, a scandal...almost anything.

I like the sound of a legend, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Maybe if the legend is behind something produced in the town to help magnify it's value? Ok, try this on for size:

Legend has it that as the humans fought for their freedom from their former masters, the Archons, these vile sorcerers summoned an evil and powerful dragon to expunge the troublesome mortals from the land. A pitched battle was fought and only a great sacrifice was able to bring the dragon low. The dragon plumeted into the lake and sank below it's cold water.** Soon the lake water ran red with dragon's blood, giving rise to the lake's new name: Limno Drakos in Low Archean or Dragon's Blood Lake in the trade tongue. To this day, the lake retains its red hue.

But it doesn't stop there. Soon after the town was settled, the Marshal of the town, a soldier who fancied himself a vintner, discovered a bush of bright red grapes. He cultivated this bush, dubbed it's fruit Blood Grapes and experimented with it to produce a cask of exceptionally spicy wine. Given the dark red color and fiery flavor of the wine, the name seemed obvious: Dragon's Blood. The crest the Marshal soon adopted for him family quickly adorned every bottle of wine produced from his vineyard - a green dragon on a field of red with crossed  spear, sword and staff.

This little fact sparks another idea. Perhaps the salmon of this region have scales and flesh of a rich red color, supposedly stained by the dragon's blood. Perhaps they are known throughout Arche as Dragonfish. The river that leads from the lake to the sea could wind through the foothills for many miles, its course providing its name - The Serpentine. And finally, the name for the town seems obvious:

Welcome, weary traveler, to the town of Dragonsgate, ruby in the wilderness.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

*Image By Greg Wagoner [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
**Yeah, I know, this just screams The Hobbit, doesn't it? Well, that's ok by me.

LotFP Hardcover and Adventures Project LotFP

I've talked about using Lamentations of the Flame Princess as the rule set for my Icosa campaign, so I'm very excited to see that James has a
new IndieGoGo campaign to fund the publication of the Rules & Magic book as a hardcover. James talks about this new campaign on his blog. I've contributed and am spreading the word to see this campaign succeed.

Follow Your bliss,
JJ

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

There's no place like Home

Home Base, that is. The next in Ray Winninger's series of Dungeoncraft articles deals with two topics: Government and Economy. So I will now turn my eye to these arenas of development for my Icosa setting. This post will focus on the Player Character's home base and government while a future post will delve into economics.

Ray gives a nice breakdown of the possible configurations for the PC's home base as well as the format that principality's, and, by extent, the campaign at large's, governing body. According to the First Rule of Dungeoncraft, I should only develop what I need to get started. Ray goes on to say that the PCs will eventually outgrow and, therefore, move on from this locale so there is no point in putting extra effort into details.

I beg to differ on this second point based on aspects of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, the system I've chosen to run my games in Icosa. One very important aspect for both the magic-user and cleric classes is their ability to create magical items: scrolls of spells and protection, potions, wands, staves, and holy water. In order to produce these items efficiently and economically a spell caster needs access to a library or temple, respectively, of the appropriate size. Unless there is already one in the area (which there most likely will not be the case, see below) most PCs will need to build one of their own. Once built, players are reluctant to move elsewhere. For this reason I may spend a little bit more time on it to get the most bang for my buck.

Of the types of home bases Ray mentions, the one I'm choosing to go with is a somewhere between stronghold and a town. I could go with the stronghold and riff on that Keep-on-the-Borderlands-vibe that seems to run strong in those of us that first rolled dice in the module of the same name, but because I want to make it a little more substantial I'm going to beef it up.

It's a town that's seen better days. It is on the fringe of civilized lands and a shadow of it's former self. The dilapidated state of the town will be perfect for the PCs to inject some life into it with their adventures. Because things are bad now, they can only get better, right?

The town will be situated in the foothills of one the foreboding barrier peaks (wink, wink) at the northern mouth of a large lake where it narrows into a river. There will be small well-kept areas of town on either river bank and a keep in a strategic position to guard passage between river and lake. These will be surrounded by the less well-cared-for areas of town and several farms. Because the town is the gateway to the unknown and fords a river near a lake, the name will be something like Riverford, Rivergate, Gateford, Lakegate...I'll figure it out.

The town is part of a larger League of city-states. These city-states form the core of humanity in this realm. The (predominantly) human and (scattered) demi-human tribes have banded together once they threw off the chains of their former masters, the Archons, a race of nigh-immortal, chaos-worshiping sorcerers. Over the centuries since their freedom, the city-states have coalesced into three major powers: martial, clerical and scholarly/mercantile (the number 3 will be a recurring theme in this campaign).

Each of the major city-states have passed from anarchy, through monarchy into a comfortable oligarchy. This has allowed them to achieve a state of renaissance and expand their control over neighboring tribes to consolidate their power. The flavor for this form of government is certainly inspired by ancient Greece culture. I think this fact will influence many aspects of the upcoming design. For this reason I call this first realm of Icosa: Arche.

The League must work together to stave off the threats that surround them: the remnants of the power-mad Archons to the west, the barbaric tribes of Beastmen from the blasted lands to the east, and the marauding sea barons to the north. The PC's home base is on the southernmost edge of the League and staving off Archon slavers, Beastmen pillagers, and falls under the jurisdiction of the martial city-state and is therefore ruled by an appointed Marshal.*

In keeping with the Second Rule of Dungeoncraft I must now create at least one secret to go along with each of these points that I've developed. While I won't put the actual secrets here, I will say the secrets will deal with the origins of the Archons, the town, and the League.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

*If it seems like this came together rather quickly, it didn't. This has been percolating in the far reaches of my mind for some time now; I've finally committed to giving it form.

Icosa Inspirations

In an effort of full disclosure I want to list some of my sources of inspiration for environmental aspects this particular vision of Icosa. I've posted before about the inspiration of opposition & situation elements, so no need to reiterate here.

Well World

While I've never read this series of books by Jack L. Chalker, the premise has always stuck with me. I remember hearing about these books when a role-playing game based on the first book was released in 1985. The world, an experiment of a long lost race of advanced beings, is divided up into 1500+ hexes. Each hex is a self-contained world with unique life forms that would be used to seed life on new planets throughout the universe. This idea of a 'world full of worlds' has been lurking in the recesses of my mind ever since.

Campaign idea

A fellow gamer and friend from high school, Don, once proposed a campaign setting in which the mountain walls were impassible and that life was limited to the valleys formed within these granite 'bowls'. Here, the dwarves held sway over any passage between valleys, but have long since closed their doors, cutting off each valley from it's neighbors. This, probably more than anything else, was the seed that is developing into Icosa.

Moria

The parallels between the dwarven retreat in Icosa and those in Tolkien's Moria are intentional. Moria, as James Maliszewski points out, is probably the best example of a megadungeon in fantasy literature.

Dragonlance

The reclusive dwarves of the Dragonlance setting are yet a further refinement of the archetypal image created by their Moria cousins.

Rose of the Prophet

These books by Hickman & Weis detail a fantasy setting where there are 20 deities who are actually facets of one greater deity. The organization of these deities around a vertex of a icosahedron are more support for the faceted aspects of Icosa. While I don't plan to have exactly 20 deities (I'm actually not sure how many deities there will be), I would like to play with the idea that the aspects of the lines and vertexes Icosa's mountain ranges can add thematic spice to each of the 20 regions. In this way, neighboring regions may have particular themes in common.

And last, but certainly not least...

d20

The humble and instantly recognizable d20 is a symbol long associated with fantasy role-playing games. 'Nuff Said.

And there you have it. This, along with my earlier posts, should give a clearer picture of where Icosa, as I see it, originated.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

In the beginning there was only Chaos

I've posted before some of my thoughts about Icosa, but these were primarily musings as I toyed with the idea and theme of the setting that I was looking to create. Now I begin the development of this setting in earnest. Continuing from my last two posts, I'll use the next in Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft series of articles to plan my first steps. We'll see if it helps to go into this process with some idea of what I want to do.

Before beginning, it is worth mentioning Ray's First Rule of Dungeoncraft:

Never force yourself to create more than you must.

To begin with Ray suggests developing the hook for your setting; what is it that makes this setting unique among all the settings already out there? He goes on to show the five possible categories for setting hooks: culture, environment, class/race, opposition, and situations.* Icosa will be a combination of environmental and situation hooks with a fair amount of the opposition hook thrown in for good measure.

The main environmental hook is that the world is divided into 20 separate regions (so now the image in these posts should make a little more sense). Each region is segregated from the others by a ridge of high, impassible mountains. Each region is isolated and has developed it's own unique cultural elements. I'll start with one region and expand from there. This patchwork approach to the world will allow me to have a variety of settings within one framework.

Unpacking this idea a little further, the isolation wasn't always this way. I imagine that the dwarves once had extensive roads and tunnels connecting each of the regions. However, this is no longer the case as they've long since closed their doors, leaving their surface dwelling brethren stranded. This is also an excellent source of dungeons to explore.

So, isolation is part of the situation, the other part is the battle between Law and Chaos. Picking up some of the ideas from earlier posts, I want to explore the idea of these two cosmic forces in play on Icosa. By keeping it Law vs. Chaos, I'm divorcing it from any sense of morality. I feel that both sides can be as noble or corrupt as the mortal behavior allows. In this way, Alignment in the game is allegiance to one of these forces, tacit or explicit, and not a mode of behavior. This is in keeping with the philosophy of Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP).

Picking up the last idea from my previous posts, the Lovecraftian Mythos will be a major force for Chaos on this world. Along side the minions of madness will be the endless hoards of Elementals. These forces will become the primary opposition to the characters in the game. This, again, is in keeping with LotFP's element of horror or weird fantasy.

Keeping the First Rule of Dungeoncraft firmly in mind, this is enough to get started. Which leads us to Ray's Second Rule of Dungeoncraft: 

Whenever you design a major piece of the campaign world, always devise at least one secret related to that piece.

So since this blog will be open to all my potential players, I'm going to go make some secret notes now. I feel it is important for the players to discover the secrets as they go; be back in a moment.


I'm back (bet you didn't even get a chance to miss me). I've added three secrets to Icosa at this time, but have refrained from elaborating on them so that I stay in line with the First Rule. This is a good start and a good place to end this post. Next time I'll look at some inspirations for the environmental and opposition aspects of this setting.

--

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

* I'm not going to go into explaining these here since Ray does such a excellent job in his article. I recommend readers check out the article for yourselves.

So you want to be a GM? Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

So before beginning my work on Icosa, Ray calls for a sanity check (no, not like Call of Cthulhu, but close). He asks potential GMs* to answer four simple questions before embarking on this sometimes-daunting creative endeavor. So let me take a few moments and answer these questions here.

1. Should I GM?
Creating a setting from scratch and running it for a game is a major time commitment. Ray estimates at least 3-4 hours a week in preparation, this sounds conservative to me, having spent this much time on prep for published settings. It is important to consider time as a factor to avoid false starts in the game.

Time is not always my friend. When asked which super power I wished I had, I answer, without hesitation, super speed. I never seem to have enough time to plan and do all I want. But I do have a couple of factors that are working in my favor.

First, the only other game I'm running is an on-line game of Dresden Files RPG. This is not a prep-intensive game. We typically play for a couple of hours every 1-2 weeks. This is enough time for a scene or two. DFRPG works best for me if I create some starting conditions with no planned outcome. Make each scene start with a kicker and react to the players' actions. It's worked for me so far and the players seem to be enjoying themselves.

Second, I will probably be doing a lot of traveling for work in the near future. This means lots of down time in airports, on planes (like the one I'm on as I type this), and in hotel rooms. Not to mention the oxygen on planes seems to ignite my creative fires (some people get their best ideas in the shower, for me, I get them at 35,000 ft.).

Of course family and work take precedence, but I'm confident I can carve out enough time to make Icosa happen. One down, three to go.

2. How Many Players Do I Want? Where Will I Find Them?
This is an easy one. I have a built-in source of players with any of my gaming groups. Most likely I will run this for my bi-weekly group that includes my boys. There are 6 of us total, so 5 players hits my sweet spot. Two more questions.

3. How Often Should We Play?
Since there are already three rotating GMs, I'll get added to the mix. This also means I'll have more prep time. We may only play Icosa every other month or so; this could be a problem with players remembering all that happened last time. I plan to use Obsidian Portal to act as setting repository. Last question coming up.

4. What Rulebooks and Accessories Will I Need?
I've mentioned before that the system of choice in our house is Pathfinder. However, wanting to stay true to the Old School inspiration that spurred me to first start this blog, I'm going to go with something else.

In previous posts I've mentioned several retro-clones including Swords & Wizardry. For a long time, this system seem to fit the bill: it is simple and straight-forward with lots of flexibility. But time has a way of changing minds.

Recently I've been reading up on Lamentations of the Flame Princess by James Edward Raggi IV. I heard that he had released a free Grindhouse edition PDF of his rules and decided to check it out. I like what I read; the mix of fantasy and horror had the feel of what I was looking for. I think the design choices he made will make for an interesting game.

This does pose one potential issue related to prep time. James' philosophy is that all monsters and magic items should be unique. As such, there are no stat-ed lists of either in this game; along with the setting, I will have to create monsters and magic items from scratch. This could significantly increase the prep time for this game.

On the flip-side, this will also tax my creativity and make for a truly unique gaming experience for my players; I'm very excited by this prospect. Also, since the players will have no preconceived notions about the setting, it will truly be an adventure of exploration; this only adds to the air of mystery about the setting.

So the players and I will be using the same free PDF to play from. I may purchase the full PDF at some point, but the Grindhouse edition certainly has enough to get me started.

So there you have it, Icosa is a go. I would recommend these four simple questions to be asked by any DM/GM/MC/Storyteller/Referee of themselves before beginning any creation of a setting for any roleplaying game.

Follow your bliss,
JJ

*Ray refers to DMs, of course, as these articles were written for AD&D 2nd edition and published in Dragon magazine in the late 1990's, but since I'm not using D&D as the setting engine I'll use the more generic GM.

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So you want to be a GM? Part 1

If you read the laundry list of games I'm currently playing, you may wonder why I would be trying to setup another game to run, especially something as labor intensive as building an original setting from scratch. Let's chalk it up to temporary insanity.

Or it could be that I consider this style of game play an art form that I want to master. Hard to tell some days.

But, recently I've been playing in several home-brewed settings and it has brought back the itch to create a setting from the the ground up. I really am a grognard at heart and this style of sandbox play is an inescapable siren song to me. In all my 30+ years of play, I've never created something that I can truly call my own; I've run original adventures in published settings, but nothing where the setting has my DNA in it.

I've spoken in the past of my idea of a setting named Icosa. It's time to revisit that idea. Also, I hope that by developing this setting in the open the process will help me hone my world-building skills. But where to begin?

I have long been a fan of Ray Winninger's series of Dungeoncraft articles from Dragon magazine. I've long wanted to put the advice in these articles to the test, so I'll be using them as the blueprint for preparing Icosa for play.

More to come.

Follow your bliss,
JJ


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Researching Cthulhu - Part 2: Books

For my next research topic it's time to delve into the deep and research the many tentacled Mythos of Cthulhu: ancient tomes of magic and dark deeds. Lovecraft's writing make reference to several books that have become staples of the genre. I'd like to use this element to add some flavor to Icosa.

As a departure from the typical 'spellbook' and to help add to the chaotic nature of spellcasting, magic-user spells will only be found scattered about in various texts rather than collected in a wizard's spellbook. Each player could have their own traveling spellbook from which to memorize, but I see these as notes and shorthand, it would not be sufficient for a magic-user to learn the spell from one of these traveling tomes. This would be the equivalent to the researchers notebook. I'm feel that this, along with few starting spells, will give the magic-users reason to delving into dungeons dark and dangerous. It also gives them a reason to have a home base where they can store their library.

These books can take many forms. They can be studies on a partiular subject, writings of many authors, perhaps an enclave or coven. They could be the mad ramblings of a magic-user whose mind has been lost or warped by the chaos he casts. So in addition to spells, the book should impart some knowledge. This knowledge is a way of slowly unraveling the mystery that is the history of Icosa. Spells in these books would be limited to one or two which are related to the nature of the work.

These tomes also help build the feel of an ancient lost world, one where magic was perhaps more prevalent than today in Icosa. This will help me introduce figures of note from history. Most notably I'd like to introduce famous magic-users through their works, ala Melf and Mordenkainen.

I believe the text of spells would be in an ancient tongue; except for possibly one ancient magic-using race, the language would be considered dead. This language is passed down from master to apprentice and would be considered secret. Magic-users could identify one another through the use of key words and phrases.

This approach will allow me to do away with Read Magic. Blasphemy you say? Isn't it required for reading magic scrolls? Well, no, because I'm not going to have magic scrolls, at least, not the one-shot magic spell variety. The reason for this is that I don't see a basis for this in any of the text I'm using as source material; magic scrolls feels more like a game element than a literary one. Magic is a language, you have to know the language to learn and cast the spells, so every magic-user will start out knowing this language.

What about clerics? Good question. My approach is that clerical spells (or prayers) would be written in a language specific to alignment. I envision Lawful clerical writing to be in something similar to Latin and Chaotic writing to be in an offshoot or distant dialect of the text used by magic-users. While magic-users could recognize the writing as coming from the same source as their spell-casting language, they could not read it and vice versa.

As mentioned above, these works would contain knowledge on various topics. This dovetails nicely with the various 'magical' tomes that increase statistics like Intelligence or Widsom (remember, in Swords & Wizardry, higher stats means faster advancement). These books could be written in other ancient languages that need to be researched and deciphered while the spell portions are written in the language related to the type of spells. this makes Read Languages a useful first level spell.

But I'm not sold on keeping Read Languages either. Without it characters will need to do research and that may lead to more explorations and lead to more adventures or be on the lookout to hire a knowledgeable sage. In an effort to keep the characters hungry and motivated to keep exploring, this idea is appealing to me.

Now this doesn't rule out a spell that would specifically encrypt text to be undecipherable. This could be used for special messages, secret tomes and such. Taken a step further, what if each version of the spell have a specific counter version in order to decipher it? This could lead to interesting adventure.

Or, instead of a counter-spell, what if it had a trigger word to display the text normally. I like this idea better because it gives players a reason not to kill everyone the come into contact with so that they can discover word they need to read the text. But, then again, if they do slay someone, that might be a good reason to locate someone who can speak with the dead.

Obviously clerics and magic-users would want to learn more languages. To keep it simple, they could learn an additional language for every point of Intelligence over 10. They could start with a default set and add others as they find the need. I see these two classes being the only ones assumed to be literate. Fighters would be assumed illiterate unless their background deems otherwise, such as a noble.

Well my sanity is holding out so far, let's see where this research takes me next. Perhaps to the land of Dreams?

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Researching Cthulhu - Part 1: Horror

Picking up where I left off in my formula for Icosa (Elric + Cthulhu) it's time to visit the realm of horror that is the Cthulhu Mythos. I don't know why, but I'm really attracted to the idea of marrying fantasy with horror. Maybe it makes the heroes more heroic: standing up to the terrors that leave others running home and crying for mommy.

I think the seed of this idea was first planted after reading through Monte Cook's d20 Call of Cthulhu. The last section of the book was deticated to incorporating these horrors into an existing D&D campaign. It painted a facinating image of dark Druids and evil Clerics devoted to these mad gods of cosmic Chaos. I was hooked.

Coupling Cthulhu with Elric seemed natural after reading Moorcock's eerie description of Arioch, Duke of Hell in his natural form: a roiling mass of pure Chaos that would do Shub-Niggurath proud. Perhaps Elric's Chaos Lords were simply the Mythos in another guise.

My limited experience playing Call of Cthulhu has endeared me to the Sanity mechanic used in that game. I think it does an excellent job of instilling in the player the horror that comes from knowing dark secrets that should best be left alone. This seems to be a nice counterpoint the nigh-immortal and fearless heroes of modern fantasy. It makes those that survive to tell the tale more special when compared to other adventurers.

Swords & Wizardry has no built-in mechanic to handle Sanity, but it should be easy enough to reverse engineer. S&W already has the single Saving Throw which simplifies matters: a failed save indicates Sanity loss. Sanity itself can be a composite stat made up of (Intelligence x 2) + (Wisdom x 2) + Charisma. Failure means roll as many d6's as the horror rates on a scale of 1 to 6 and subtract those points from Sanity; i.e., horror rated 3 would cause a player failing a save to roll 3d6 and subtract the total of the dice from the PC's Sanity. Successful save could still cost Sanity points on some sliding scale. The scale here will depend on how frequent these horrors will be used. Too steep and I can guarantee a high rate of madness.

The frequency of these horrors is something that I'll have to play with. I expect to run into some as the players go delving into deep dungeons; the deeper they go, the worse it gets. I will really have to see how my players dig this. I have to remind myself from time to time that the low end range age of my players is 8 to 13. I'm not out for giving them nightmares, but they claim to enjoy books like Goosebumps and American Chillers. I hope to find a happy medium.

That being said, I do like heroic adventure. Unlike Lovecraft's bleak tales of helplessness in the face of cosmic horror, I want the PCs to be the only thing that is standing between Chaos and humanity (elfity? humanoidanity?); I want them to have a chance. Where Lovecraft's protagonists were leafs before the storm, I want the PCs to be mighty oaks. With deep roots (levels) they may be able to weather the coming hurricane and act as a protective bulwark for those seeking safety behind them.

More and more this campaign seems to be about the battle between Law and Chaos and surviving said battle. Perhaps the PCs can plot their own course through these stormy, tentacle-infested waters. How will they choose sides and what impact will that have?

Here's an interesting side note on Alignment as it relates to this campaign. Since OD&D was about Law, Neutrality and Chaos, I found this great (and strangely appropriate) post thanks to Grognardia on how to run OD&D Alignment from Jeff Rients.

Thats enough Chaos for now. Time to turn in before I fail a Sanity check. Next time around I'll be looking at a staple in Lovecraftian horror: ancient books of evil.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ


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Copy Cat

Some say there are no original ideas under the sun. Maybe it is true or maybe truly original ideas are very hard to come by. So it was no surprise to me as I was reading through James Maliszewski's blog, Grognardia, that I started to see some similarities between his Dwimmermount and my Icosa.

I stumbled on James' blog early on in my search for my RPG roots. He is well known and respected for his work. His blog was initially a reaction to the release of D&D 4th Ed. He, like me, went back to his roots of gaming to the first game he played, a much early edition of D&D. Plumbing those depths he created Dwimmermount. He was even so kind as to list his influences in designing that setting as a response to a post by James Raggi.

I've started from the premise that by picking specific influences I would create a unique and unusual setting. It seems that from the same starting point similar settings will develop. Now I know that not every influence of Dwimmermount will affect my progress with Icosa, but I do enjoy seeing how he progressed and using it as a benchmark for my progress.

I especially curious to see if I come to some of the same choices that he did. James started with Swords & Wizardry (Core Rules rather than White Box) just as I did. He has ultimately made the move to Labyrinth Lord with some additional material to supplement what he needs. As I've stated before, I'd rather start with a bare minimum of rules and add to it as campaign play dictates.

So for now, I'll keep going with my influences and see where that leads me. From time to time I will post ways in which Dwimmermount development seems to be mirrored in Icosa as well as seeing where we diverge.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Cutting Edge Weaponry

A while ago my youngest son had asked me why it was that clerics were not allowed to use swords and bows. I explained, from rote memory, that this was part of game balance as well as trying to emulate a particular archetype. He cocked his head at me which usually means he's not buying it.

Frankly, I don't like my answer either. I was spoon fed this explanation after years of playing and haven't really questioned it for a long time. I decided to take a long look at it since I've been formulating my plans for Icosa. I'm taking the 'question everything' approach.

Obviously the original three classes in OD&D (fighting-man, magic-user and cleric) were meant to bring to life a particular type of character from swords & sorcery literature and/or medieval history. The fact that magic-users (wizards) were limited to so few weapons and so narrow an archetype has rankled players for decades. Clerics too seem to be too narrowly focused.

My original thought was to free up at least the choice of weapons. S&W White Box gives 1d6 as the range of damage for all weapons (+1 for large weapons and -1 for small weapons). With every weapon essentially having the same mechanical effect, why not abolish weapon restrictions?

This line of thinking stems from the belief that amount of weapon damage is tied to the various classes - high damage weapons to fighters, average damage weapons to clerics and low damage to magic-users. This doesn't hold much water before some of the revisions in AD&D. Still, the White Box rules, based on OD&D, seems to level the playing field, so why the restrictions?

I stumbled on the answer as I was looking for aspects of D&D that would support elements of the Cthulhu Mythos. I was flipping through the listings of magic items searching for magical tomes when it hit me - magical weapons. The magical weapons, as well as other items, were clearly aligned with specific classes. Fighters get the widest selection of magical weapons, but they are the sole users of magic swords, the most common item in fantasy literature. This is why clerics can't use edged weapons - niche protection. So if I want to open up weapon choices in classes, how do I remedy this without seriously unbalancing the game and keeping the fighter's niche intact?

The solution seems pretty simple. Weapons of a magical sort could be used by any class just like normal weapons - a +1 sword works equally as well in hands of any of the classes. However, a sword +1, +3 vs. Dragons will only grant the additional bonus (special ability vs. Dragons) when wielded by fighters. A +1 blunt weapon that destroys undead will only act as a +1 weapon in anyone's hands except for clerics who can call upon the special ability. This opens up a world of variety now. The possibilites are endless for magical weapons (or armor) that only grant special abilities when wielded by a specific class or race.

Now this is not really a new thing. The venerable Holy Avenger has special properties that could be tapped by Paladins in AD&D and there have been many, many items before and after it that have done the same thing. For me this realization is the completing of a circuit in my brain that will let me do what I wanted to do with S&W for Icosa and not break the game. Now my son can have a sword-wielding, arrow-slinging cleric and not steal the fighter's thunder. Personally I'm looking forward some sword- or axe-wielding magic-users slinging spells into the fray. Maybe next I'll look at letting the magic-users wear armor (sacrilege!).

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Elric Explored - Part 5: Magic

I think this will be the last in my series before tackling the other side of the formula for my Icosa setting: Cthulhu. Magic in the Elric saga touches back on many of the previous parts of this exploration, but I wanted to give it it's own space to work through some ideas.

I've already spoken of the types of magic that result from summoning of elementals and other entities. This could be seen as channeling energy from other planes. In the Elric saga this is an exhausting task. The albino is not the only one who must rest after casting difficult spells. I'm not proposing any new systems here, I think the limit on spell casting is enough of a mechanic.

I still want to have 'regular' spell casting. The idea of learning ancient magic from dusty tomes fits right in. So I turned my attention to what is magic in general. Channeled energy is one form (which could work for clerical spells as well), but I want magic to be a force unto itself. I think magic will be Chaotic energy. Each spell is a formula master for directing Chaotic energy to perform a specific function. This seems to work well with the Vancian magic system of old school fantasy. Spells are limited by level because you can only hold so many in your mind at a time. As you progress in experience (levels) you are able to contain more spells including ones of a more powerful sort.

Spring-boarding off this idea I look back at my ancient civilizations and forward to Cthulhu. There will exist magic that is unlike anything currently in practice. These ancient spells could pose great danger to the caster (attribute/hit point loss) not to mention those around him - these spell are 'more' chaotic, if I can use that term. Gaining these spells will be the stuff of adventures. I think there will be spells of all levels that fall into this category, but more as you raise up in levels as well. This will require some research and play. I'm fortunate that S&W starts with a small list of spells, that it is easier to add on, rather than have to whittle away or reorganize a large list.

Another area that falls under the subject of magic are items of a magical nature. There are very few items in Elric that can be viewed from the traditional RPG sense as 'magic items'. Of course there is Elric's demon sword, Stormbringer as well as his Ring of Kings. But not much else. There was one mention of a suit of armor that was enspelled. This could have been a magical effect, like Mage Armor; I'm willing to go with that.

However, there were mention of items with a long history. For example, Elric starts out with the sword of Earl Aubec. We get a treat in the stories to go back in time to see Aubec use his sword. So what I'm proposing, is that most items of a magical nature are in fact items wielded by great historic icons. By being used in this way and passed down, they take on a magical quality over long periods of time. Most items in S&W are only +1 and that seems to fit. This also means that these 'named' items will have a history to them. adding to the depth of the world and setting. More work for me, but it's a lot of fun.

So this will bring the exploration of Elric to a close, even though I haven't finished the series as yet. I'll be turning my attention to the Cthulhu mythos soon.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Elric Explored - Part 4: Twilight Civilizations

An interesting aspect of the Elric saga is that it takes place late in the history of that Earth. Elric's line has ruled for 10,000 years. The story often speaks of those that came before - the Doomed Folk. The Doomed Folk had an advanced civilization that rivaled anything that came after it - it may even have rivaled the gods. Magic, technology, nothing could compare to those halceon days millenia ago.

This is a theme that is found in much of the literature that inspired D&D. One only has to look to Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels (from which D&D gets its distictive style of spell casting) to see Earth in its last days as the sun slowly burns itself out.

The world of the advevturer is then ripe for exploring. There is now reason for there to be ruins; reason for delving deep in the earth for treasures long thought lost. This twilight world presents a mystery that cries out to be discovered.

Now, I have no desire (let alone the time) to catalogue thousands of years of history and geneologies like the good Professor Tolkien. I'm more then content to sketch out a few key events and leave the rest a mystery even to me.

Leaving big blank holes gives me room to add details as play progresses. I can take cues from the players and provide detail as needed. What is important here is having a solid framework to build on.

The framework is made up of those key events in the past. These events are designed to spark ideas rather than dictate history. They're jumping off points. It is also important to keep it loose because I do intend for there to be ways to travel to other times. If I paint in too much detail I may paint myself into a corner and not have any room for the players to explore and interact with the setting.

Another reason for leaving blank spots is that it requires less of the players to get up and running. The last thing I want is to have required reading before players can get going. Players need enough details so that they can make intelligent choices during character creation and the rest they learn as they go. Again, the setting info should act as inspiration not dictation.

Elements that will definitely be included are: a lost and sunken birthplace of civilation, powerful magic and technology of the ancients, forgotten civilizations still thriving in hidden realms, buried cities of wonder, and layer upon layer of history. The acumulated history that is somewhat acurate only goes back a few hundred years. Beyond that it's legends and rumors. And legend and rumors are meat and drink of hearty adventurers.

Next time on Exploring Elric: Magic!

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

The Lost Lake of Eagles Peak

While Tweeting about my travels this week, the esteemed Daniel Perez, of The Gamer Traveler fame, threw a challenge my way:

Your mission: find one thing from your travel and blog about it as inspiration for a game.

So I heartily took up this challenge. Travel is a great way to get inspiration for any of a variety of endeavors, including gaming. A recent family trip to Hawaii helped me formulate the Black and Burning Wastes of the Beast Men for Icosa (no, faithful readers, you didn't miss anything, I haven't gotten that far in the setting to blog about it yet). But here is what I came up with from this current trip: The Lost Lake of Eagles Peak. First the fact, and then the fiction.

I settled on Lost Lake, Park Range, Eagle County, Colorado. It is near where I'm staying, although work prohibits me from visiting it. I took the information from the linked page and let my mind wander...

"Old miners tell of the Lost Lake hidden somewhere in the lofty summits of Eagles Peak. Legend tells of the a dried up lake that once in a great while - in the dead of winter when the stars and planets are in proper alignment - will house an expansive frozen lake and the abode of Isrisator, the Ice Titan. When the time is right, his towering ice castle, Islinna, can be seen reflecting the scintillating colors of the Aurora Borealis.

"Finding the Lost Lake will not be an easy escapade. Even if an intrepid band of adventurers is able to gain passage through the foothills of the ram-headed Beast Men of Vorland, they must also contend with the Stone Giants that roam the mountains. And if they are lucky enough to get by the dim witted giants there are always the Giant Eagles for which the peaks are named.

"Monstrous obstacles are not the only things that adventurers must contend with, oh no. They must battle the bitter cold and the thinning air as they climb higher and higher. If they have an expert guide they mayhap avoid bringing down a thundering avalanche of snow that will surely doom their party. And finally, they must deal with Isrisator himself.

"Isrisator is touted as a wizard mastering all forms of magic dealing with snow and ice. If the adventurers are lucky, they will only be transformed to ice statues and put on display in the vast sculpture garden that surrounds Islinna. If unlucky, they will be flayed alive by Isrisator's ice hounds for sport...or worse.

"But, if they are well prepared and press any advantages they can muster, there is untold wealth to be had in the depths of Islinna. Greatest of all the treasure is the fabled Mirror of Zoorziet with the ability to gaze upon any where and any when. But be quick, or be transported away to whatever plane Isrisator calls home when not among the Eagle Peaks."

*****

The planar conjunction which causes the Lost Lake of Isrisator appear is caused by a merging of the Negative, Air and Water planes - actual frequency of this event is left up the game master. As such, it is easier to summon elementals of those planes or of the para-elemental plane of Ice. In addition, all spells whose effects deal with cold or ice are maximized (maximum duration and damage as appropriate).

Isrisator is indeed a Titan sorcerer specializing in snow, ice and illusionary magic. His motivations and concerns are left up to the game master to determine to suit their campaign. If he is benign, Isrisator can be a great font of information; if not, he can be a terrible foe.

The Mirror of Zoorziet is a frozen pool in the lowest dungeon of Islinna. As such it cannot be removed from the castle without destroying it. However, the castle dungeons can contain great treasures from many planes and worlds as suits each individual campaign.

Other hooks for seeking the Lost Lake can include:

• Seeking the spell Ice to Flesh to restore a party member to health
• Seeking an ancestor that was believed to be made an ice statue in Isrisator's frozen sculpture garden
• Seeking the perfect snowflake as a material component for spell, ritual or enchantment
• Summoning a Lord from the planes of Water, Air or Ice
• Gaining access to same said planes
• Creating uniquely powerful undead
• Learning the secret of immortality
• Destroying a cursed magic item by shattering it against the diamond-hard frozen lake

I'm pleased with the outcome of this little mind exercise and look forward to placing it in Icosa.

Daniel, this one's for you. I hope your day gets better soon.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Elric Explored - Part 3: Law vs Chaos

One of the central themes of the Elric saga is the constant battle between Law and Chaos. These two forces are personified by various Lords of godly power.Their push and pull causes the friction which turns the wheels of the worlds and keeps things in motion. In re-reading these stories I find I like this as a backdrop.

Michael Moorcock credits Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword and Three Hearts, The Lions as the inspiration for the forces of the Higher Worlds that inhabit the Eternal Champion's multiverse. In these stories Chaos is more than just evil and Law is more than just the good guys. These are primal forces at work.

It helps that Swords & Wizardry uses Law and Chaos as the default alignments. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with its nine different alignments seems to be too much over thinking. There is a beauty to the simplicity of the Law vs. Chaos dichotomy. And yet, it's not just a morality play. By taking the ideas of Good and Evil out of the equation, Law and Chaos achieve and almost elemental aspect.

And while they battle it out, it is not anything that one side should ever win. If either side wins it could be the end of everything, as put so well but Orunlu the Keeper, minion of Chaos, in The Weird of the White Wolf:

"We exist only to fight - not to win, but to preserve the eternal struggle."

Orunlu may actually be more astute than the higher Lords of Chaos which seem determined that this is a war to be won. Which just goes to show that even gods look at things through a lens colored by their (warped) perception.

Which brings us to the concept of the Cosmic Balance. Some would argue this is simply the Neutral alignment, but I don't think so. Neutral is just coasting along, neither caring nor worrying about the struggle. Being committed to Balance takes work. Sadly, Balance doesn't get a lot of screen (page) time in the Elric stories, but that's ok, because the real action is between the two big guns.

Finally there is the question of freewill. Elric feels that he doesn't have such a thing. He labors under a destiny placed on him by his patron deity in addition to his mantle as the Eternal Champion. If he had his druthers, he would be back in the palace with Cymoril leading a 'normal' existence as king of his people. That doesn't make for good fiction, so I'm glad things turned out the way they did, because I really enjoy the stories as written.

So what does this mean for Icosa? Well, since this is an Old School Sandbox setting, it is important for the PCs to feel free to go wherever they wish and follow what ever path they desire. This doesn't sync well with the notion put forth in the books about a hero's destiny. Heck, we don't even know if the PCs will be heroes. So how to reconcile the two concepts?

In Icosa, all PCs will start 1st level as Neutral, or to put in it in 4E terms, Unaligned. A PC may choose to align with Law or Chaos at any point after completing first level. This works on a couple of levels. First Clerics (not sure what form they'll take in Icosa, but for now we'll assume that it is as written in SnW) do not get any spells at 1st level. They must prove themselves to their deity to gain the spells and thereby lock in their alignment. If they do not act in accordance with their intended alignment, they may stay Neutral and progress in hit points and such, but not gain spells until they are able to show their commitment.

Second, there is no pressure to play a certain way. The players make decisions for the characters and these decisions will slowly accumulate over time to reveal a tendency toward one or the other alignment. Also, this process will lead to consequences based on their choices. A player may not believe that his character is Chaotic, but he may sit up and take notice when he is visited by a demon to be recruited into the ranks of Chaos.

This is all still very sketchy. I'm toying with the idea that characters that summon demons must be Chaotic, but that is still a little ways away. Ultimately I want the process of Alignment to be organic not something that gets locked in and seen as a limit on play. For those that think this approach ignores 'plot' in Old School settings I think that James Maliszewski of Grognardia fame says it best here.

Another thing that this struggle implies is that the Lords of Law and Chaos are involved in the affairs of men. At the very least they will be providing spells to their Clerics and dreams and portent to their followers. If the PCs play their cards right the Lords may even put in an appearance. That's something worth looking forward to.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ

Elric Explored - Part 2: Planes

Another staple of the Elric stories that I'm particularly fond of is the concept of many and varied planes of existence. This concept goes to the heart of the Eternal Champion stories. The planes take many shapes and forms. These were no doubt the inspiration of the inner and outer planes of ADnD.

First there are the elemental planes, inhabited by the four classical types of elements: earth, wind, fire and water. Elric visits these on occasion and summons elemental minions to do his bidding from these planes throughout the saga. The elemental planes are 'close' to some planes and 'further' from others. There appears to be no set hierarchy as to the organization and location of these elemental planes. Passage to and from these elemental planes happens most frequently through the corresponding Earthly element (travel through the sea to get to the plane of water, etc.).

The next most common type of plane is that of alternate timelines. The Eternal Champion exists in all the various versions of Earth; each one of these versions is a distinct plane that can be traveled to. Sister to this type of plane is the concept of time as a plane. This provides the possibility of travelling to the past or the future not only within one's own plane but other planes as well.

Then there are all the various realms of Limbo and discarded dimensions inhabited by all manner of men, beasts and demons. The possibilities seem limited only by the writer's imagination. Again, no order or pattern can be discerned. The relationship between each plane is unique as are the properties covering the physical and magical laws of a plane.

There is one last type of plane in these stories, the eternal city of Tanelorn. This city exists in all planes throughout time. It is the final quest of many heroes seeking rest from their adventures. This could be viewed as a mobile plane of sorts, it's location within a given plane may be static (beyond the Weeping Wastes), but it may not always be accessible. From within the city it may appear that inhabitants can exit the city to visit a variety of planes depending on where they happen to be 'anchored' at the moment. This last one is a favorite of mine because it matches thematically with one of my favorite comic book settings: K'un L'un, the birth place of Iron Fist.

Looking at SnW White Box I see that there is no spell for travelling between planes; this is as it should be. SnW has its feet firmly planted in the Old School Renaissance which holds that the adventurers should be heroic, but not superheroic. Heroes who can plane-hop at will is the stuff of comic books. Adventurers of the OSR do travel to other planes, but I see these trips are accidental or arranged by some powerful entity; they are not the stuff of everyday fare.

So this begs the question of how the PCs will be able to access these planes. First there needs to be natural conduits to various planes closely associated to the prime plane of the PCs. This could be a deep sea tunnel that leads to the elemental plane of water, a dark dungeon cavern leading to the elemental plane of earth, and so forth. Also natural conduits should exist to different times and alternate worlds. The most common means of this in the Elric stories is becoming lost at sea; the Seas of Fate bridge worlds and times.

Another means of access would be through powerful entities or agencies. Demons, elementals and beast lords may be able to provide access to various planes. Agents of a particular power may have a magical device that allows passage through the planes - again, the black ship that sails the Seas of Fate is a good example of this variety.

Spells that access various planes are not out of the question, but I would like to limit this as much as possible. Certain planes may be more accessible through spells than others, or may only be accessible at certain times or only through great sacrifice. This will remain to be seen as development progresses.

Finally the eternal city brings an interesting possibility to the mix. Since this city can theoretically be any 'where' and any 'when' it provides the possibility of players creating any imaginable character as well as a way of accessing many planes. There was a time that this would have really bugged me when preparing a campaign. The concept is too big for most games, I didn't want to have Jedi running around in my quasi-medieval world. But now, with a few more years under my belt, I'm not so sure that it bugs me. One final benefit of the eternal city, it provides me with a way of explaining why there would be a monk in a quasi-medieval setting.

Adventurers-from-other-worlds has a solid foundation in fantasy literature: the D&D players in Quag Keep, Holger Carlsen in Three Hears, Three Lions, John Carter Warlord of Mars. Murlynd, one of the hero-gods of Greyhawk is clearly from Earth's wild west. So I'm in good company here.

The Deities & Demigods books of ADnD was the first to put a basic form and order to the inner and outer planes. These concepts were later formalized in the Manual of the Planes. Both of these are fine works, but I feel they are too rigid for Icosa. I may be borrowing some concepts - elemental, etheral and astral planes - but I think I'll keep things loose and flexible. This will let me handle things on a case by case basis. This may need more firming up when giving more depth to the Contact Other Plane spell.

Next time around I'll be looking at the battle between Law and Chaos.

Follow Your Bliss,
JJ