DEAD BIRDS #3: COLLECTED NOVEMBER UN-THOUGHT

 

A burnt headless zombie chicken, walking upright on its stumps

I have a twitter account. If you're wondering why I'm not posting to it—and perhaps also why I'm not following you—you need to go outside more.

1. ADICE TO WOULD-BE WRITERS: listen to more drum 'n' bass while working. It  will make you type faster.
   
   
2. TRYING TO GET MY DESIGN COLEAGUES into random tables during the production stage, not just as outputs. A bit like oblique strategy cards but with dice.
   
   
3. For the record, find oblique strategy cards quite dry. Of course I love Eno (and Bowie) but I was expecting more... pictures?
   
   
4. For the above, you can do worse than re-purposing Dixit cards.
   
   
5. The OSR. Thoughts? I mean... is it actually a thing? I'm not sure. I think it might not actually be anything.
   
   
6.  

DEAD BIRDS #2: COLLECTED OCTOBER UN-THOUGHT

Two dead crows, hung by string from Chris Packham's gate. Image courtesy The Guardian

I actually did restore that twitter account, purely to protect my burgeoning brand, man. Follower count is a proud zero. You're here instead, welcome to my mind, October 2022. 

1. SEA TROLLS: Barnacle-encrusted and carrying driftwood clubs, they hide beneath the sands (or shingle, if you live on the Blighted Isles). Regenerate only by bathing in seawater. Courtesy Louis and family 
   
   

Inktober 2022

2nd "Cartography"

A friend on the Garblag Games discord asked if there were any D&D/fantasy based inktober prompts. Instead of looking them up, I suggested we write a set together, and waited.

I’m quite impatient.

I wrote this list:

DEAD BIRDS #1: COLLECTED SEPTEMBER UN-THOUGHT

Still Life with a Dead Bird by Marina Dormidontova

 It's good to have a filter. Here's what would happen if I did not.

1. OSR IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM: there's a post in this, it may become one. What FKR newbies don't realise is that old school D&D is just a framing device. DISCUSS. 2022.09.02
   
   

BECMI Intelligent Swords

During a recent discussion on the NSR discord server the subject of intelligent magic items popped up, and I was immediately reminded of the rules for generating intelligent swords in the Frank Mentzer Expert Set.

Drawing of a  magical—possibly intelligent—sword by Larry Elmore

There are other, similar rules for intelligent swords in Moldvay. Seeing as this is the go-to old-school ruleset (and likely the basis for any similar rules in OSE or Basic Fantasy), I'm ignoring those. Likewise—as with my [positively ancient] post about dwarf clerics— this is a paraphrasing of existing mechanics. I'm not adding anything original here.

I have a more interesting stab (ha!) at this topic over on Iconoclastic Flow:
https://flowiconoclastic.blogspot.com/2022/10/blades-with-brains.html

...and yes, it's swordtember, so I suppose the timing is germane.

Villainous Sidekicks

 

A villainous sidekick if ever I saw one

This was supposed to be several 1d100 tables spliced together, but I ran out of time. Enjoy my villainous sidekick generator, available below.

* * *

What I write about when I think about Zedeck Siew (a poem called pome)

 

The image above is a spread from Mr Kr Gr (Zedeck Siew, Centaur).
Illustration by Munkao

The people of the old world made these as prisons for their gods. They made them beautiful, so captivity would sting.

Wear your gold bells, o Lord of Dances, and leap for our pleasure! Cherish your ruby garlands, o Lady of Loves, chained to our bed!

The old world was drowned by the river. But its slaves could not be set free. So they wander buried hallways and vine-choked pavilions – maddened, hateful, plotting.

- Mr-Kr-Gr (Page 20) by Zedeck Siew

What has that wise one got on their head?

Wise-ones and witches, sorcerers and summoners, ghost-talkers and spirit-walkers...

...they've always got something on top of their head.

Sketch of a drawing of The Sorcerer, a 13,000 year-old cave painting

(Even as I write this I realise masks would be much more interesting, but I don't want to jump on the bandwagon of the latest psychedelic mesolithic RPG, Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland CW: images are "AI generated")

* * *

Heart: The City Beneath, sessions 0

Previously, I attempted to square the circle between the (light) simulationist tendencies within OSR games with the (non-diegetic) narrativist elements in storygames. Owing to a paucity of a) time and b) intelligence, this objective was not achieved. Judge for yourself at the link below:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2022/06/heart-delving-into-world-of-story-games.html

Better then to tell you how the actual session went....

Heart is available from RRD now

We began with session 0...

Atop the Wailing Dunes: A PARIAH adventure for Zine Quest 4

Since the publication of GENIUS LOCI in June, I've been "teasing" hexes from the sandbox adventure ATOP THE WAILING DUNES.  However, this has been something sitting in my slushpile since last autumn, and I think it now comprises enough material to publish as a complete set.

Partially completed hex map of the sandbox

My original intention was to have PARIAH: CITY OF GHOSTS ready in time for Zine Quest 4, but owing to the commitments of my collaborators it won't be ready in time. However, with so much work already complete on Atop the Wailing Dunes, I thought it would be a good chance to release my little sandbox.

Here's the link to the Kickstarter, now live:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sofinho/atop-the-wailing-dunes

The Ikau Mangrove (a hex for PARIAH)

A four-page pamphlet mini-hexcrawl, part of an ongoing series.


This will be the last of these small-format individual hexes: I'm finding that I want to go into more detail with the actual hex features, but can't because space is being taken up by information repeated from elsewhere. When I put them all together in ATOP THE WAILING DUNES I'll be able to avoid this problem!

If you want a PDF of this to print at home or to use with a text-to-audio programme, it's free to download via itch.io:

https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/the-ikau-mangrove

If all goes to plan, all 24 hexes (with additional notes for sites of interest) will be compiled into a zine for Zinequest 2022. Hope to announce that soon!

Links

Blogposts in this series:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/search/label/Atop%20the%20Wailing%20Dunes

All the itch.io PDFs:
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/genius-loci
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/hills-of-the-demon-bear
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/ebua-and-the-spirit-mountain
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/valley-of-mui-eiru
https://atelier-hwei.itch.io/the-ikau-mangrove

Valley of Mui Eiru (a hex for PARIAH)

 I've been working on making the larger map for Atop the Wailing Dunes more legible, as well as building it up into a more comprehensive sandbox. As I go through, 6 mile hex by 6 mile hex, I'm sharing them here as A4 double-sided zinis, which you can fold enough to make a 4-page pamphlet.

As with previous issues, there is a small map with key to the front, and several paths crossing the hex. The back page contains additional flavour for wilderness exploration, and might provide a template for additional hexes. This is designed to printed on two-sides of A4 and folded in half to make a zini.

A link to a PDF version will be posted here in the coming days.

Other links:

Genius Loci and FOOTHILLS OF THE TEETH

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2022/06/genius-loci-and-foothills-of-teeth.html

Hills of the Demon Bear:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2022/06/hills-of-demon-bear-pariah-hex.html

Ebua & the Spirit-Mountain

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2022/06/ebua-spirit-mountain-pariah-hex.html

Pariah character classes for OSE or Basic Fantasy

Made by Igor Gadreaud 

If you prefer to explore the implied setting of PARIAH with a more faithful old-school system (as hinted at in my previous post, a design analysis of my own game, it's perhaps worth giving the players something they can sink their teeth into. I'm more than a little wary of doing this, but in the words (paraphrased) of Skerples of Coins and Scrolls:

Writing a... class is easy. It meets what I'd call the "minimum creativity threshold". To write a wizard you just need about 20 decent ideas. To write any other kind of class you need between 4 and 10. It's not difficult to make a class based on any random idea you've ever had. It's also a lot easier to think of elements of a class than it is to, say, a fill in a d100 table or write a dungeon.  

It is known.

PARIAH design notes (part 1)

On 22nd May I posted a still image of the prospective cover for PARIAH: Volume 2 and I'm sorry to report that I don't have any dates for when that crowdfunder is going to happen. However, I did * hint * at posting "a long-winded post explaining the major changes to my RPG design philosophy"

Hyperbole aside, I thought it might be useful to reflect upon PARIAH Volume 1 and the lessons learned as I prepare for the next crowd-funded project.

Spire... in 24XX?

Jason Tocci's 24XX SRD is probably the most fun rules-light frameworks around and has led to a proliferation of superb games that can be played with practically zero prep. For my sins, I released my own interpretation of the format (obviously with a Pariah spin) which is free to download here:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2022/06/pariah-xx.html

Combining my new-found obsession with the format with my ongoing 3-year fixation on Rowan, Rook and Decard's Spire: The City Must Fall, I thought I'd produce a 24XX interpretation of the game as a design exercise, Flèche (/fleɪʃ,flɛʃ/):

There's also a back page:

HILLS OF THE DEMON BEAR (a PARIAH hex)

Having recently shared an additional hex for the Atop the Wailing Dunes sandbox (title: randomly generated) it occurred to me that I hadn't posted the second hex in the series, despite it being up on itch already. Anyway, here it is in JPEG format:

I heard a rumour: seeding a sandbox

 

A very silly superpower, now on Netflix. You might be better off playing Molotov College by WH Arthur

This post has nothing to do with Umbrella Academy, and everything to do with how to randomise rumour-mongering in a TTRPG sandbox. Sandbox in this context refers to any open-world campaign where narrative is emergent rather than plotted, though writing that maybe it's better to say it's "character plotted" rather than "player plotted". Anyway, another discussion, for another post.

EBUA & THE SPIRIT MOUNTAIN (a PARIAH hex)

 A fortnight ago I shared GENIUS LOCI, a wilderness exploration procedure based around territory-as-spirit. I included an individual hex to a) demonstrate how the procedure could be further "fleshed out" and b) to provide a bit of "gameable" content to PARIAH fans and readers.

Here's another hex: a volcanic spirit-mountain protected by the guardian EBUA.

Review: Gangs of Titan City Quickstart

THE BEST THING RPG bloggers can do to support RPG creators is to make additional gameable content for those games—especially adventures.  The second best thing to do to offer one's support is to review their content, bring it to one's readership and allow them to make a judgement as to whether or not it might be for them. Over the next few months I intend to do a little bit more of both, starting today with a review of  the Gangs of Titan City—Quickstart which is available to download for free, now: 

https://soulmuppet-store.co.uk/products/gangs-of-titan-city-quickstart

Disclaimer:

1. This game is published by SOULMUPPET, who currently distribute the print edition of PARIAH Volume 1[a game I wrote]. I have no other commercial stakes in this house however...
2. ...the game is currently being kick-started, I backed it, and part of the reason for me posting this review is that YOU back it and get it over the line so I can get my hands on the hard copy.

Here's the Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soulmuppet/gangs-of-titan-city-grimdark-urban-roleplaying

Index Update June 2022

Nearly a year since my last update to the index. This is now done and can be read here:

https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/12/200-posts-before-2021.html

Looks likely I'll have published 300 posts before the year is out. Any ideas for what I could for a milestone?

(BTW, index also accessible from the top of the blog)

EDIT JULY 2023:
The blog Index is now listed on this page:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/p/site-index.html

Heart of the Primal Delve: ANOTHER One-Sheet Adventure Powered by Hex-Flower Tech!

Announcing Heart  of the  Primal Delve, a one-sheet procedural generator made with PARIAH in mind (but easily adaptable to other systems):

GENIUS LOCI and FOOTHILLS OF THE TEETH

I think I've managed to distil the ideas of previous posts concerning landscape/hex/environment as NPC into a much neater package. Given that I've been enthusing the virtues of Michael Prescott's MOSAIC Strict I thought it would be a nice challenge to see how much of the concept could be squeezed onto a single spread:

The concept being that as a party of travellers moves through an unfamiliar territory, there actions and conduct impact the environment: the spirit-of-place responds to their presence.

The word "shaman"

Today I updated two of my games on itch and DTRPG, removing the word "shaman" and replacing it with alternatives. Henceforth, materials published on this blog and by Atelier Hwei are not going to use the words shaman or shamanic and — it is my intention to update the rest of published material so those words are no longer used. References within previous blog posts will remain.

For clarity: I have taken this decision for a number of reasons, all which pertain to real-world cultural sensitivity rather than aesthetic or game-related reasons. Apologies if you clicked on this hoping for a post about a "word-shaman" character class, but I think this is important.

PARIAH XX

Towards the end of last year I found myself fantasising about playing face-to-face RPGs again, and toyed with the idea of rocking up to a FLGS with a copy of PARIAH, a mini-hexcrawl and my winning (if somewhat crooked) smile. It did occur to me that the character sheet and the rules might be daunting for a new player... and wanted something lighter. 

Prior to that point, also last year (or the year before? Time is bendy) JFUR explained she'd made a game  called 17XX as part of a micro RPG jam all using the same SRD, which happened to be Jason Tocci's SRD 24XX. This was hot on the heels of my interview with Jim Parkin and a growing.. murmuration...about the FKR scene.

It took me until last week to finally bring these facts together and produce a lo-fi version of everyone's favourite psychedelic animist proto-Neolithic RPG...

HEART: Delving into the world of story games

Here's a shift in.. well, certainly not tone, but... game philosophy? Regular readers will know that my main frame of RPG reference is the OSR, meaning that the mechanical chassis to which I default is 1980s D&D. However...

Heart: the City Beneath is available to buy

...I am aware that other systems exist. 

This is a post about how and why I came to run a Heart: The City Beneath campaign, and all the people I had to kill along the way. 

ANIMA: MOSAIC Strict Spirit Magic

What's This?

I'm fond of the free-form magic system that was included in PARIAH Volume 1 and have written multiple posts about using hit dice in a similar way to GLOG magic dice, a number of ritual magic posts (including this one) and an attempt at summarising free-form spirit-magic for the post-kickstarter crowd. 

Fond, yes, but not in love... and perhaps it's time to take some advice from Jim Parkin (via William Faulkner) and kill my darlings...

PARIAH VOLUME 2: City of Ghosts

I had planned to write a long-winded post explaining the major changes to my RPG design philosophy and other nonsense that would not be fun for me to write and possibly much less fun for you to read.

Given that a picture paints a thousand words, please take this image instead:

City of Ghosts cover image, WIP by Jef Cox

We'll be launching a kickstarter for this at some point next month.

Interview by Weird & Wonderful Worlds

I was simultaneously honoured and humbled by Maxcan7 (of Weird and Wonderful Worlds) offering to interview me last month. That interview is available NOW via the following link:

https://weirdwonderfulworlds.blogspot.com/2022/01/alone-in-labyrinth-weird-wonderful.html

Be warned: it was conducted via instant message, so my tendency to ramble was indulged. 

Hope you enjoy it.

Check out the whole series, there's some great interviews including ScrewHead McDuff, Spwack, Semiurge and some other people whose names don't begin with "S" — including Patrick Stuart.

https://weirdwonderfulworlds.blogspot.com/search/label/interview

Demi-Humans & Alignment: Dwarfs

Continuing my extrapolation and twisting of original material to create a new chassis to run old school modules I'm jotting down some notes about so-called "demi"-humans. 

This was originally meant to be part of the "alignment" post. Likewise my post about elves (forthcoming) was supposed to go on the end of this one, but I started to ramble...

Previous posts in this series:

• Initial concept:
  https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/09/reverse-engineered-adventure-game.html

• Hit Points, Hit Dice, Death and Dismemberment etc.
  https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/11/generic-adventure-game-hit-protection.html

Most pertinent to this post... alignment:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/11/alignment.html

 

Image courtesy The Internet

DEMI-HUMANS 

What is a Demi-Human? 

Dungeons & Dragons has always taken a Tolkien-esque approach to "demi-humans" and "humanoids":  dwarves [sic] and elves are treated as "races" rather than the magical spirits that appear in our myths and folklore. This treatment is extended to orcs, goblins, gnomes etc. The clue is in the terminology used: they are human-like or human derived, or variations (or corruptions) of humans.

Folding that back on itself, what if they became "in world" what they are outside the fiction: projections of human ideals? These are spirits rendered flesh: they exist because of our stories and folklore, and our belief in tales of ancient kingdoms in forgotten mountains or slender gender-fluid aliens materialising in dark forests.

They do not have economies and cultures and taxonomies, they are archetypes.

Demi-Humans and Alignment

When I first started to think about alignment again, may brain did this:

• Law vs Chaos
• Clerics vs Magic-Users  
• Dwarfs vs Elves

As with other binary pairs, there are (multiple and interesting) exceptions, but I like this set up as a foundation.