Dungeon Mastering - Micro Kingdoms

I have recently been thinking a lot about creating a new campaign world and have been inspired by quite a few different sources. One of the ideas I am kicking around is that of micro-kingdoms.

My idea is that there would be many small kingdoms each basically ruled by a stronghold, keep, wizard's tower, temple or the like. While the players go about their adventures there would be many small turf wars, rivalries or outright battles between these factions, their allies and their enemies. Think Game of Thrones but on a much smaller scale.

A large faction would have around 100 to 150 men at arms or troops to call on. A small one might have as few as 25 or 30. I feel that this will allow me to build a campaign world where the political lay of the land is always in flux, with smaller factions grouping together for strength and larger ones always attempting to grow and expand.

One inspiration is a forest with too many trees. All are trying to thrive and get sunlight but sometimes there just isn't enough room. Some wither and die others thrive. This is where player characters come into play in the early game. They become the foresters so to speak, either trimming down and paring large trees or destroying small ones, either way they change the landscape of the forest.

By having smaller kingdoms characters are able to put their stamp on the world as a whole in a large way. Even a large kingdom that loses 30 of 150 men at arms will be highly impacted. They now are forced to rebuild and regroup while others may fill that power void. The landscape will change and the players are the fulcrum throughout their entire careers.

Another advantage comes in the late game when characters may be building strongholds and trying to forge territories of their own. Do they gain these through force, subterfuge or by way of reward for loyalty and service? These are all viable options in this sort of setting. This also gives all alignment types and play styles a viable way to gain power. Whether they decide to be an assassin or a paladin there are large gains to be had. Would they prefer to rule behind the scenes through a figurehead or sit on a throne themselves? Anything seems possible in this sort of setting.

To me this seems like the ultimate in sandbox play. Many times kingdoms and worlds are static and merely a story that the DM has already written. My goal is to design a place that makes players feel like their actions matter in huge ways. I want them to be those few touched by fate. Destinies, lives and kingdoms rise or fall, live or perish, and are dependent for the most part on their actions or perhaps even their inaction. Well, I think I have a lot of work to do...

 

 

Community - ...and now for something completely different

Today was a nice relaxing day spent catching up on some reading. While doing so I noticed that a couple of blogs that I enjoy have fewer followers than my own.

I don't mean to brag about my massive following of thirty some souls, far from it. Thirty some followers is laughable, not that I care much anyway but I would like to thank you all for coming here and reading my ramblings. What's the best way to do that, you ask? Well, maybe by sharing a bit.

So without further delay I direct you to something completely different, Wampus Country and Carapace King.

Wampus Country takes DnD into the 1800's, granted it's an 1800's with trolls and whatnot but hey thats what makes it particularly interesting to me. Erik has put a lot of thought and effort into his campaign setting and it really shows. It is also fairly unmined territory ever since Boot Hill. I very much enjoy his efforts and highly recommend the blog.

Next up is Carapace King by Christopher, a bit harder to describe, but here goes, think of an era when metal is scarce and giant insects and their corpses are not. Weapons and other things are manufactured from their chitinous exoskeletons.

As you can hopefully tell by my inadequate descriptions both of these blogs give the community something quite different from the norm and both are fertile idea mines for any DM. Enjoy their hard work!

 

Oubliette Goodness

Man. I'm speechless. I hate to gush, and I know I already posted about the magazine but I just got all the back issues of Oubliette I ordered and I cant resist. I knew the content was great from the PDF's but just take a look at this goodness. Something about holding them in your hands and then putting them on your bookshelf speaks volumes to me.

I had to put a picture up for size comparison. If you dont have the physical copies you are definitely doing yourself a disservice. Damn, my only complaint is I can't subscribe...

 

Dungeon Mastering - The Wilderness Survival Guide

The WSG by Kim Mohan or The Wilderness Survival Guide if you're not into the whole brevity thing, can be a fairly divisive book among First Edition faithful. In fact, some will say it is not even a First Edition book, labeling it as a 1.5 offering. I personally don't differentiate a 1.5 edition of ADnD, but that is a topic for another day. What makes this book a point of contention?

In order to answer that question, we must take a look at the evolution of the game up until the WSG's publication in 1986. What started out as an open, free flowing, organic, system in the White Box was growing into an ever more rules orientated beast. Moving from Chaos to Law if you will permit the analogy. Naturally, this trend rankled some and unfortunately some of Gygax's own words in his introductions and throughout his works exacerbated the situation. Gygax was most likely "towing the company line" when he seemed to say at various points, in various ways, that these are the rules and it is strongly suggested you follow them. Clearly it was not something he subscribed to in his own games and differed greatly from his early stance of the DM using his best judgement and common sense for rules resolution.

By this point you may be asking, "Okay, but what does this have to do with the WSG?" Well, to answer that question, quite a bit. I feel that a lot of the animosity toward the book is not so much directed at it's content as it is at the misconception that it must be used. I believe many felt required to use it's contents due to some of Gygax's earlier statements covered above.

The fact is that many of us are now used to mixing and matching bits and pieces of systems that we like and discarding those that don't work for our groups or play styles. The OSR has made this a perfectly acceptable practice but back in the day there was a perception that you were either following the rules or you weren't. I would posit that higher adherence to the published books was the norm at the time. Therein lies the problem. No one could be rightly expected to follow and use every rule in this book. Doing so would be an exercise in tedium. However, I would argue that as a sourcebook and supplement the volume is excellent.

There are a lot of wonderful ideas, charts and systems in place for those who choose to delve into them. In fact for a book with a $15 dollar price point at the time (likely even cheaper now in most cases) this was/is an absolutely spectacular value for the amount of data and content it provides. $15 dollars at the time was basically equivilant to two modules by the way. Quite honestly if you are running outdoor adventures or a sandbox style campaign this book really is a no brainer.

If you have ever had qualms about picking the WSG up set them aside and try it out. Even if you can find nothing of value in the text of the book, which I believe is virtually impossible, the art alone is worth the $10 to $15 dollar investment. As a bonus most of these books tend to be in excellent condition due to the large amount produced at the time.

 

Dungeon Mastering - What I Run

What am I running? Well... Almost everything! I love the Byzantine complexity of the First Edition game, plus I love Gary's voice. Jeez, it is a tad bit complicated though. Even more so when I insist on utilizing portions of The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and The Wilderness Survival Guide, both of which I am quite fond of. Hmmm, let me think for a second.

Hey! I know! I'll just use OSRIC in addition to streamline things! There is some pretty great stuff in Swords and Wizardry too, gotta love the simplicity there, it's almost zen like, and since I am running a first edition game I might as well utilize Swords and Wizardry Complete too (plus some Core).

As you can tell by my last post I am starting to develop an appreciation for Moldvay as well, there is a gold mine there. I have to use a pinch of that. Oh yeah, Labyrinth Lord! Duh! I have to use some of this, and again since I am running a First Edition game (he said haughtily), I might as well be using the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion.

Whatever I do, I can't forget about house rules of course, Akrasia's fighter subclasses are a must for instance. God only knows how many random tables and charts from obscure sources I am utilizing or even worse, trying to find a way to utilize.

What am I playing, HA! Even I don't know anymore! But you know what? I LOVE it! Can you do this with baseball? Football? Gin Rummy? Hell no! You can do it with Dungeons and Dragons however, I know, because I'm making it work.

The great thing is that the DM is in charge and to me there is only one law that they must live by. Impartiality. Above all else. First and foremost. If you can maintain impartiality as a DM you can run ANY set of rules or any amalgamation thereof. To me that is beauty of form in what many might consider Chaos. Plus, you never know, that jaded party who thinks they know every stat and law of the game world might just have to think outside of the box for once. Always keep 'em on their toes and never let 'em see you sweat. They'll thank you for it later.