Langbeck Castle Map: Free PDF Download

I have a bunch of commitments this weekend. So in lieu of my normal Riot Squad Saturdays post, I'm shamelessly uploading a rework of an old map that many of my newer followers may have missed. This new version has been updated to good ol' black and white so it's more laser printer-friendly, and I've re-keyed it, including the actual room area names/titles. You might also notice that I've changed the name from Wolvesey (the actual castle on which this map is based) to Langbeck. Since my map key is based partly on actuality, and partly on non-actuality, I didn't want historians finding my map years from now thinking the room assignment are accurate. Feel free to turn it into ruins or what have you, knowing it probably needs a second floor (including some bedrooms, wardrobes, etc.)

To download a free PDF of this map
from MediaFire, click here.

d30 Feature of the Week: Ruins Generator

This week's d30 feature is one of the main reasons I've been slow to update the d30 Sandbox Companion. I cannot believe that something that, at first, seemed like a no-brainer to me, ended up being so difficult. Honestly, it's been three or four months (off-and-on) of looking at it, putting it down, and coming back to it... just to figure out the inhabitants thing. In the end, the answer was so simple, I couldn't believe it took me this long to come to it. Instead of trying to create an overly-detailed inhabitant chart, I've opted for a "generalized" one that allows the DM to "shift" the results as need be, to fit the locale/campaign or, most importantly, the party level!

To download a free PDF of this d30 Ruins Generator from MediaFire, click here.

Cavern of the Darkmoon Talisman (Preview of Free Adventure Download)

Over the past few months, I've been posting some free "mini-adventures" (see the Old School Adventures™ page). Usually these are 1-3 pages long, including the maps, and contain very topline encounter information.

Partly spurred on by my recent conversion work on the Community Geomorph Project, I'm in a real map-making mood as of late. So I dug out an incomplete cavern map, and started filling it in. Before I knew it, I had all these ideas about the various parts of the cavern. So what I'll be doing over the next few weeks (in addition to the hundreds of other diversions with which I'm currently distracted), I'll be filling in each subsection of this map (pictured above) so that each area essentially becomes a "mini-adventure." As each area's encounters are complete, the PDf for that area will be posted. When complete, the pieces and parts will be compiled into one final "complete" version for download on the Old-school Adventures™ page.

The names and monsters indicated above are subject to change without prior written notice.

"Sandboxing" the Mysterious Mist of Foxpond (Cont.)

As originally mentioned in my post from Sunday a week-and-a-half ago, I decided to take what was originally going to be a "railroad the players to the dungeon" adventure, and take it in a more "sandbox-y" direction -- essentially, converting it into a set of smaller, related adventures instead of one large "forced" one.

To do this, I'm relying on one of my preferred storytelling tools, the flowchart. What this allows the DM to do, is quickly see the various relationships between characters, locations and clues. The strongest of these then act as "pointers" to other locations. The other thing it allows me to do when "scripting" the story (because that's what this really is), is to make sure that pointing the characters (players) to any specific locale is not dependent on a "thin wire" of a clue buried in some dungeon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of a red herring as much as the next guy, but there's no reason a red herring can't point the players in the right direction for the wrong reason, only to backfire on them.

One of the things I have to be careful of, however, is making any reference to a "higher level" encounter and diverting lower level players before they're ready. Hopefully, things like distance and danger will dissuade them. Why trek hundreds of miles away when there's plenty to explore in the immediate area before moving on?

I know this all probably sounds pretty nebulous, but that's sort of how the relationships stand right now; just look at the sketch of relationships (of locations, characters, and clues.)

New Oe/BX/1E Monster: Gaseous Lantern

If you've ever seen Robert Altman's 1992 movie The Player, there's a scene where Richard E. Grant's character pitches a movie to Tim Robbins' character. Grant describes a nighttime scene outside a jail where a group of people holds vigil for a man about to be electrocuted. It's raining, and the candlelight flickering under all the umbrellas makes them appear like glowing Japanese lanterns. That's actually sort of what inspired today's monster.

DESCRIPTION Gaseous lanterns are seemingly benign creatures that appear as a sort of veiny fleshy balloon approximately 2’ in diameter set atop 7-12 tentacles approximately 8” in length. As a biological by-product of their digestion process (their diet consists mostly of lichen), they “glow”, with each lantern emitting an amount of light equal to to a dim candle. It is said that viewing an underground cavern filled with gaseous lanterns is truly a sight to behold. Unfortunately, the gas that gives these creatures their luminous appearance is extremely volatile and highly explosive. If contact is made between open flame (e.g., candles, torches and fireballs) and a gaseous lantern, the gaseous lantern will combust, doing 1-2 points of fire damage to all creaures within a 5’ radius (unless a saving throw +1 vs. breath weapon is made) and producing a cloud of toxic smoke that will cause all creatures within the same 5’ radius to fall unconscious for 1-3 turns (unless an additional saving throw +2 vs. poision is made.) Any gaseous lantern within 5’ of a gaseous lantern that has combusted must make a saving throw at -1 vs. breath weapon or combust as well, creating the same flame/smoke effects, and pontentially continuing a chain reaction of explosions among other nearby gaseous lanterns. Any successful “to hit” roll against a gaseous lantern by an edged weapon will cause the gaseous lantern to explode and release its toxic gas, causing the same effects as the toxic smoke noted above (but will not create any of the flame effects or cause any chain reaction.) For any successful “to hit” roll against a gaseous lantern by a blunt (non-edged weapon), there is a 50% chance that it will burst the gaseous lantern, causing the same gaseous effects as an edged weapon. Exposure to (without contacting) a significant heat source will cause a gaseous lantern to expand, causing it to “burst” (as by a weapon) in 1-2 turns. Gaseous lantern spores are released during these explosions. Though the spores are not dangerous, the 5-30 spores that are released from a single gaseous lantern, will each mature to a full gaseous lantern in approximately 2 weeks.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Rare NO. APPEARING: 10-60 ARMOR CLASS: 9 MOVE: /1” HIT DICE: 1 pt. % IN LAIR: Nil TREASURE TYPE: Nil NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard INTELLIGENCE: Non- ALIGNMENT: Neutral SIZE: S (2’ diameter) PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 9 HIT DICE: 1 pt. MOVE: /10’ ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE: 1d6+2/1d6+2 NO. APPEARING: 10-60 SAVE AS: Normal man MORALE: 7 TREASURE TYPE: Nil ALIGNMENT: Neutral

Community Geomorph Project Update: 2nd-round of Conversions + Other Community Projects

I know that my last post on this was only this past Thursday and, at one-a-day, that can't be much headway. Well, I knew I'd have a rather busy week this coming week, so I used some free time over the weekend to "get ahead." By "get ahead," I mean finish plowing through the
multitude of submissions from Boric G.

I'll probably take the rest of the week off from the conversions because at this point I'm technically ahead of schedule. I do have some remaining submissions left in the conversion queue, but I'm still taking submissions!!! (see the Community Geomorph Project page for submissions details and links to the templates.)

SOME OTHER COMMUNITY PROJECTS THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU:

The Great Kahn's One-Page Viking-themed Dungeon Contest:
You can see my submissions here and here.

Sword & Shield's "Pocket Full of Terror Project":
The original deadline has passed with participation falling short, and I have not seen an update from Fenway yet; he's probably posting one as I'm posting this.
(Officially cancelled due to "vast indifference.")

Rended Press's "The Young Green Dragon Over The Next Hill".:
Mr. Schmeer's last project, "The Trouble With Troglodytes", is in the compiling/editing phase, so he's moved on to this new community project.

The Other Side's "Monstrous Monday":
This isn't so much a community project as it is a "blogfest" set for the Monday of Halloween week.

Dave's Mapper IBD Tile Drive:
Again, not quite a community project, but a good cause. Long story short, Dave is doing a tile for $ pledge drive (benefits CCFA) that ends in the next couple of days. I'm looking at offering a benefit version of the final PDF of the Community Geomorph Project and donating the proceeds to the CCFA, and providing the content to Dave's mapper. (Participants in the NBD Community Geomorph Project will be getting an official email from me later, probably when I send PDFs of your geomorphs for review/approval.)

Riot Squad Saturdays Sunday:Scale Considerations Revisited

Photo: "Officer Calls Paddy Wagon for Disturber of the Peace" by Yoichi R. (Yoichi Robert) Okamoto
(for the EPA, now in the National Archives.)

Yes, I know this post is officially a day late. But if you think about it... it's actually 8 days late (since I missed last Saturday as well.) Regardless, let's turn our attention to where we left off... scale considerations.

THE COUNTERS (A Short Recap)
Recalling the post from 8/25, the counters were originally intended to represent an individual type. Then, as I thought about what the game was meant to simulate, it made more sense to let each counter represent a "unit" rather than an "individual" (per my 9/8 post). Which brings up my newest consideration...

STACKING
Stacking hinges on 2 factors: 1) the map scale, and 2) finding a way to track unit "volume" should a unit lose individual "members." Let's say you're inside a building and dealing with a lone gunman situation. Scale and unit size for this type of simulation would suggest no stacking. However, on a city landscape, where the units could represent everything from paddy wagons to a dozen protestors/marchers, stacking should be allowable. Which brings me to a related consideration...

TWO SETS OF RULES?
I strongly believe that the game will need to accommodate both of these very different scales of play: 1) the "smaller" man-to-man scale, and 2) the "larger" unit-to-unit scale. The two are obviously related, but it does help me focus on one type of interaction at at time. And since the name Riot Squad suggests the latter, this is where I will concentrate as I continue over the following weeks.

To be continued...