Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG Creative Pursuits

Estates of the Eliari

My second book for the Basic Fantasy RPG project was published this week. Here’s the marketing copy.

What Secrets Lie Mouldering in the Estates of the Eliari?

Long ago, the enigmatic Eliari merchants settled in these lands, raising peculiar estates to house their families and fortunes. Then, as suddenly as they arrived, a mysterious catastrophe called them home, leaving their holdings to crumble. Today, these forgotten estates are the subject of fearful local legends, whispered to be the dens of bandits or the haunts of restless spirits. Brave adventurers may seek the riches left behind, but few are prepared for what they will find.

Estates of the Eliari is an innovative adventure creation kit for the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game. More than a single scenario, this book represents countless unique adventures based on a single map. With comprehensive tables for each area, the Game Master can create a new experience every time. Will your players face a cunning gang of bandits, or will they contend with a terrifying infestation of the undead? Your choices or the rolls of the dice ensure abundant replayability.

Will you craft an entire adventure before your players arrive, or roll the dice on the fly, discovering the secrets of the estate alongside them? With thousands of possible combinations, no two expeditions into the Estates of the Eliari need ever be the same. Open the gates, and let the dice decide your doom.

Print copies can be obtained from Amazon or Lulu.

This started as an experiment in seeing how far I could take the idea of random tables. I began with a map which I started keying, and with each location, I kept coming up with alternate results in a table. There is one, major fork where the old house is either populated by bandits or undead. Otherwise, the choices are all mix-and-match but work together. There was a fun challenge is making each option stand by itself while still working the the greater framework.

You can see development notes for EotE on on the BFRPG forum.

I had hoped this book would have been more collaborative, but I ended up writing it all myself with a few suggestions that came in early. Naturally, the text benefited greatly from the editing crew on the project and Chris Gonnerman’s leadership. I purposely held off from producing any art beyond the map, a contrast to Terror in Tosasth, in which I produced all of the art. A few people contributing interesting pieces.

Here’s what it might look like if you stumble into the basement, thanks to Hadrien Riel-Salvatore.

Undead basement result 4-6 (Water pools in a depression…) with challenge result 1-2: Four wraiths rise from each corner of the dank room, moaning as they advance. They swing chains attached to rusting manacles.

I used the text once in my ongoing campaign, and it worked well. I used the LibreOffice text, rolled results and cut out parts as I went along, thus preparing the whole adventure ahead of time. It should work to roll results in the moment, but I haven’t tried. At some point, I’ll translate all of the text back into my One Dice Six engine so that a whole instance can be built in one go.

There’s an fun conceit here in that the estates are all architected identically due to the peculiar traditions of the Eliari (about which nothing further is revealed). This gives the players a slight advantage after they’ve been through one of these places. This encourages some heist-themed planning. I could see a party spending months searching for these estates, clearing them out one by one.

Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

Spell Rhymes of the Third Level

Here’s another installment of my short poems mages and clerics can utter while casting spells, this time of the third level.

Clairvoyance

Precise direction and distance,
Over which my mind's arrow flies.
Vision reaches across expanse
To view the world through other's eyes.

Darkvision

Without the aid of any light
My eyes perceive the size and shape
Of forms that lurk in ebon night.
Beneath my gaze, let none escape.

Dispel Magic

Like weathered stone, like heavy rain,
Like ancient tree in forest felled,
End effects, so that none remain.
Let now this magic be dispelled!

Fireball

Where first there's smoke, soon is fire,
The element that consumes all.
My hand directs a threat most dire.
Emerge, explode and burn, fireball.

Fly

Without aid of avian wing
I drift into the azure sky.
Worry not. No chance of falling.
Where once I walked, I now can fly.

Haste

Quicken now each chosen being,
Powered by arcane promotion.
Strike twice swift. Let haste be freeing.
Double speed in fight and motion.

Hold Person

Hold in place. You've no defender.
My will is force, which I will prove.
Though mind is awake, surrender.
Limbs, be stiff, unable to move.

Invisibility 10′ radius

Descend yon darkened veil upon
Searching eyes now clouded, unclear.
Night's ebon womb expands anon. 
Let all within her disappear.

Lightning Bolt

Spark now flies from finger’s guiding,
Stretch and burst in lightning’s flashing,
Blast through foes with thunder’s riding,
Rend the air with power crashing.

Protection from Evil 10’ radius

Raise a veil of magic flowing.
Thwart the claws of evil pressing.
Steel our forms, their power slowing.
Circle holds, our will professing.

Protection from Normal Missiles

Ward my form from arrows flying.
Block the sting of bullets darting.
Turn aside all blades defying.
Missiles fall, their force departing.

Slow

Languish now each chosen being.
Halve their pace in fight and striding.
Strike but once where two were springing.
Time drags slow in dull abiding.

Water Breathing

Grant us gills, through water gliding.
Breathe as fish in depths unending.
Touch each soul, the gift dividing.
Air and sea, our lungs befriending.

The clerical spells follow.

Bestow Curse

By shadows deep, and ancient dread,
Your actions halt. Your true self dies.
Your strength fails. Your spirit, now bled,
By twisted fate, and whispered lies.

Cause Blindness

Let shadows fall, a world made dim.
The light denied, your vision lost.
No sight remains, on any whim,
By my lord's hand, a heavy cost.

Cause Disease

By tainted breath and sickness deep,
Your strength decays, your movements slow.
No healing comes, your secrets keep,
Till shadowed death, begins to grow.

Continual Darkness

Cast out light with god’s dark willing,
Shadow reigns, all brightness fading,
Holy void, a year fulfilling,
Blind the sight with gloom pervading.

Continual Light

Call forth light by god’s own shining.
Radiance spreads, dark defying.
Holy glow, a year aligning.
Bless the world with grace undying.

Cure Blindness

The darkened veil, I now dispel.
Let sight return, a world made clear.
No shadows hold, no magic fell,
But light reborn, and vision's cheer.

Cure Disease

The creeping rot, the fever's sting,
The hidden plague, the parasite's hold,
I banish now, on angel's wing.
Let health return, precious as gold.

Growth of Animals

By ancient root, and verdant might,
Let beast expand, with doubled frame.
Its strength increased, in sudden flight,
A titan's form, a wilder game.

Locate Object

By divine thread, and seeking gaze,
The hidden thing, I now pursue.
Through winding paths, and shadowed maze,
Its distant form, I bring to view.

Remove Curse

Break the chains with power holy.
Curses lift from flesh abiding.
Spirit cleaned by divine solely.
Untie binds with grace providing.

Speak with Dead

With sacred words, and hallowed rite,
Dead lips shall speak, a moment's grace.
The soul's last echo, brought to light,
Then silence falls, in death's embrace.

Striking

By sacred force, and righteous blow,
Let weapon strike, with added might.
A potent edge, where shadows grow,
And magic's strength, defeats the night.

See more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
D&D

Potion of Fireball

In traditional fantasy RPGs, a wizard can pre-cast a spell into a magic item for one-time use, typically as a potion or a scroll. Only Magic-Users (and maybe Thieves) can cast spells from scrolls. Anyone can gulp down a potion. Based on tables of magic items from the original texts, there are certain spells that go on scrolls and others that go in potions.

One argument made is that potions are meant to produce an effect on the imbiber rather than some effect directed outward. This explanation thins a bit when it comes to potions of control, e.g. a Potion of Undead Control. In 3E, it’s possible to brew a potion of any spell 3rd level or lower, which means a Potion of Fireball is feasible. Drinking and spitting fire seems very natural and evocative, so I’m going with it. Here’s how it works.

We have a flask. It’s warm to the touch. If you pop the cork, a small flame dances out from the mouth of the flask. If you pour it out or break the flask, you just get some lamp oil. If you drink it, it burns going down, just link chugging a flask of whiskey. And it wants to come back up immediately, but you can try to keep it down. If you let it come right back up, a fireball bursts from your mouth, exactly as the spell cast by a Magic-User of level 5 – 20.

If you want to hold it down, make a save versus magic. If you make it, it stays in your belly for up to a turn. If you fail, it comes right back. When you want to produce a fireball, make another save versus magic. If you fail, the fireball projects from the other end of your digestive system, probably exploding at your feet.

If successfully belched up, a fireball shoots a stream of fire of a hundred feet or more until it explodes at the point where the potion drinker intends.

Yeah, yeah, game balance. This does not particularly concern me, especially since I’ve got three high-level fighters in my long-running campaign that each have girdles of giant strength which allow them to throw boulders every round. If one of them has an accident with a potion of fireball, it will be worth it.

Categories
D&D Games

Wooden Tokens Instead of Lead Figures

As a game master, I default to theater of the mind, but most of the other players like to see maps, especially during combat. We compromise by me only going to the battle mat if the fight’s going to be long or complicated. I don’t have a big collection of figures. I do have a bunch of glass beads of difference colors, which are fine for monsters. I wanted a solution for individual PCs that wasn’t going to cost a bunch of money. I tried using binder clips with a strip of paper inside with the PC name. They were unstable. My new solution is a wooden token with a picture glued to one side.

I bought a bag of wooden tokens on Amazon. They are 1″ across and 1/8″ thick. About $10 for 120 of them.

I also bought a hole punch that makes 1″ holes in paper. It’s a supersized version of the tool you’d use in school. It cost about $11.

When you flip it over, you can see through a window of what you’re about to cut out. That means you can cut out a disc of paper exactly around some picture you want to glue to the wooden token.

I looked over my drawings I make for my game log. I have faces for just about every active PC in the game. So, I put 1″ circles in an image in GIMP and pasted in faces from drawings. I scaled them down and trimmed them into a disc shape. Then, I printed out the whole sheet and started stamping out the discs.

The punch tool will reach a couple of inches into a sheet of paper, so I did the first row, then cut that line off the sheet so I could get to the second row. Finally, I glued each little disc of paper to a wooden token. That took about an hour for about 20 of them.

The paper was a tiny bit bigger than the wood. I solved this with a quick pass with sandpaper that shredded off the extra. I used a glue stick, the kind that’s “disappearing purple”.

Categories
News

Alaska Trip

It’s been a few years since the four of us vacationed in a new and distant location. It didn’t seem realistic during the pandemic years, and travel was mostly limited to camping in California and visiting family in Utah, though we did make it to Tucson. This year, things worked out for a 10-day trip to Alaska. As is our way, Vicky did all the planning. She made sure it worked with everyone’s schedules: Henry’s concerts, Tre’s conventions, and college classes starting up in late August.

I didn’t have many specific expectations. I like to visit used book stores when we travel, and there were a few around where we’d be, but none that were particularly interesting. I was hoping to eat fresh seafood every day. I knew we’d be on boats a few times, but I didn’t think too much about it. I figured I’d be relaxing, reading and drawing. Vicky, naturally, was hoping to spot birds. I don’t know what Tre or Henry expected.

We flew out of SFO in the afternoon and landed in Anchorage around 9pm local time. This time of year, it doesn’t really get dark there until almost 11pm. The extra light distorted my sense of time. It’s already hard to sleep in strange surroundings. Shifting one timezone earlier and then having the sun still above the horizon so late was strange.

The next morning, Vicky and I walked around a lagoon in Anchorage while the boys slept in. She was looking for birds. I was trying to circle the whole lagoon, which involved walking through a neighborhood street. I snapped a picture of a magpie on the roof of a house. It seemed bigger than typical to me. A guy walking his dog quizzed me about why I was taking a picture of his neighbor’s house. I don’t know what kind of mischief he thought I might be up to taking a picture with my phone.

Later that day, we visited the museum in downtown Anchorage. Among the displays was unusual leather armor. It used a cone of leather strips to form a skirt held up by suspenders. Behind the head was a shield, meant to catch arrows fired from the rear. The next day, I sketched what a warrior in such armor might look like.

We drove down to Moose Pass, which is about 20 minutes north of Seward. Along the way, we stopped to look at wildlife and to hike up to see a glacier. The day in Anchorage had been sunny and cool. The drive to Seward dropped some light rain on us. The next day, we spent the whole day on a large boat that took us to the Kenai Fjords to see a glacier slowly dropping ice into the ocean. The overcast day enhanced the blue tones of the ancient ice.

On the way back from the glacier, whales were spotted. The first we saw were sei whales. They were just cresting the water in the distance. The real excitement came from the humpback whales. The boat had underwater microphone so that we could hear the calls as the whales chased fish to the surface with curtains of air bubbles. Soon, the gulls would begin diving on one spot followed by the sudden emergence of several gargantuan whale heads. We saw several rounds of this feeding activity.

The next day was Tre’s 21st birthday, and we celebrated with a vigorous hike up to Exit Glacier to see the Harding Ice Fields, which is the big expanse of ice over the top of the mountains. The ascent is about 3,000 feet of elevation over about 4 miles. It added up to over 10 miles of up and down. The first part of the trail was a series of stone steps, but then we climbed above the tree line and then across loose gravel and patches of snow. The change from lush rain forest to barren mountaintop was dramatic.

The next part of our trip was spent camping on a remote peninsula across Resurrection Bay from Seward. We left our rental call and half our luggage behind for a 40 minute boat ride to Shearwater Cove. Yurts sit on stilts in a narrow canyon. That night, Vicky and I went on a guided kayak tour to a nearby island and then we all relaxed in the yurt, which offered small kitchen and a heater. The weather that day and the day before was perfect. The following day, a storm rolled by the afternoon and delivered heavy rain. However, we managed another kayak trip in the morning to see spawning salmon in a nearby cove.

Shearwater Cove can only be reached by boat. A little creek runs through canyon. It became a raging river overnight. The operators have put in many yurts which are connected by series of decks and stairs. There are several trails to explore with wild blueberries and salmon berries to pick along the way. Propane powers a heater, a stove and a shower for each yurt. It was very comfortable except that we were four adults crammed into a 20-foot yurt.

This has been a challenge for us that’s intensifying over time. We no longer have the dynamic of the two adults who can dictate a schedule to the two kids. We’re four adults with different preferences, including some preferences for solitude that are hard to satisfy on the road. We definitely got cranky with each other at times.

We wrapped up our trip by driving north, past Anchorage to Talkeetna, which is a tiny town at the foot of Mount McKinley (aka Denali). The original plan was to catch a good view of the mountain, but the weather didn’t cooperate. We even tried driving north for an hour with no luck. The rain wouldn’t let up. The last day was spent driving back to the airport and flying into SFO.

Other places we’ve visited offered unique food. In Cancun, we’d eat mangoes every day, plus restaurants would serve regional dishes, all of which we’d want to try. I figured on lots of fish in Alaska. I imagined eating fresh salmon every day. It didn’t turn out that way. There are a lot of breweries in Alaska, but I’ve given up drinking beer and anyway, there are plenty of similar breweries in the Bay Area. The one delicacy we ran into was birch syrup in Talkeetna. None of the food was bad. It was just relatively generic American.

I also often look for used bookstores on trips. That didn’t work out. There weren’t any interesting places in Seward or in Anchorage proper. I think I saw more used bookstores near Homer on the map, but we didn’t make it that far.

I went into the fjord cruise with neutral expectations, but it was a really interesting day, and amazing to see the whales fishing. The experience at Shearwater Cover was probably the highlight of the trip. The vibe was so friendly. Other campers were sharing a good mood.

Overall, it was a good adventure.