Well, 6+1, but hey, you found an extra
in the crypt...

Work has been keeping me occupied, so posting has slowed down a bit, but here are some other great works that are in the blog-o-sphere that will fuel inspiration!

Torches (6) is a collection of microblogging about cool posts I’ve come across. This feature is lit at irregular intervals

[Dungeon] Fruits Are A Great Source of Nutrients [/Paralysis]: Alice over at Dungeon Dolls is back with another solid post on fruit found in the dungeon. To my eyes, each example feels like a great take on potion/scrolls. I think the post does three clever things:

1. You can’t bank the fruit outside the dungeon- use it now or mark it for (maybe) later

2. Each comes with a risk

3. The risk and reward combined make eating them an exciting choice rather than a casual use item

Your Party’s Spirit: Goblin Punch is out there again with another anti-cleric stance! Given general D&D’s polytheistic stance and environment where the gods do tread the earth, it makes sense that PC would be far, far more religious than they often act. The key here is around incentives.

I think this would blend well with the shrine system I cooked up for a home game.

How To Run Arden Vul: This is a pretty amazing Reddit thread form a DM who’s run Arden Vul for 3 tables using 2e AD&D. I think the most interesting advice is how this DM ran each of the three tables at a set time and did not deviate. There was no West Marches player-organized time; the DM laid down the time, and you just had to show up. However, the knock-on effect was that scheduling is very simple and very consistent- food for thought:

[Arden Vul DM] I am a stickler about my schedule. Trying to arrange my schedule around when the player’s are available is a no go for me. I’m simply too busy. (In addition to running 3 private tables, and 1 public, open table, I also have a comic book podcast I record 1-2 episodes a week for, plus I need to spend time with my spouse. Literally almost all my time is spoken for between spouse, hobbies, and work.)

I’ve also found that if you don’t have a set schedule to game just doesn’t work well. We play every Monday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. We play every Wednesday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. We play every Saturday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. I’m not trying to get myself off in some scheduling hell with a west marches style set up. It just doesn’t work for me, and I’m of the opinion it would kill the tables.

There is also the limiting factor of, if I open sign ups for my place on Mondays someone might be at work and miss the chance to sign up. So I don’t get to see that person that week. Maybe they are always at work during the sign up time frame (2 of my players are teachers). So they always miss the time frame and I never get to see them.

Set groups on set days solves all my problems with scheduling.

And speaking of getting people to show up, a convo on Discord recounted how a DM running an open-table zombie campaign had a rule that if you missed 3 sessions in a row, your PC got eaten by a zombie off-screen.

Room Size & Geomorphs: Playful Void does the maths to examine average room size. I’m always interested in stuff like this. Much like average treasure, I think understanding the “environment” of D&D helps construct good DM tools for ideally more off-the-cuff play (see Human Centric Game Design). Using the calculations here, one could roll a set of 6 rooms to build out a dungeon, or better yet, fill in a dungeon geomorph

Human Centric Game Design: A Manifesto: Personable Thoughts is really zeroing in on what I think is one of the most relevant game design ideas in today’s increasingly digital world. What do human-centric RPGs bring to the table? And how can that be maximized? This is especially true as video game RPGs also offer, not nessarily competing, but different RPG experiences.

I think this is true not just in terms of a game system, but also in the raw running of games. For instance, when I run an encounter, what can I bring to that experience that a computer can’t? And how can I double down in that?

A Better Equipment List: This is a nice post with equipment descriptions to better highlight to players how equipment can matter- almost like low-key powers. Some examples:

CLOAK, DARK, HEAVY: conceal; disguise; pad; bundle; smother; shadow

ROPE, HEMP, 50 FT.: climb; bind; lower; haul; measure; rig

I am starting to believe that one of the best things the back of the character sheet can include is common equipment, price, and descriptions like those above. It also sorta feeds into my feelings on how ultimately equipment is interesting in how much the players choose to carry. But for that to matter, Paladin is right, they have to see it as valuable.

Folks of the Guild (Still Building a Better Thief): Love this Hags post for showing that ODD is still alive and well. And the “better thief” brain worm still wiggles. I like the way this post grounds the thief’s abilities in the world and creates a visual mark that is a thumbing-your-nose at the punishment the thief would receive. It also helps one back-calculate, to me, the laws of the land (and as such, you might need a sheriff). Example:

The Barbers

Automatically hit and double any damage when attacking an unaware opponent from behind.

Barbers wear scarves or cravats, a dainty reminder of both their trade - a slit throat - and the murderer’s sentence - a hangman’s noose. Neck adornments play a special part in Guild symbolism as one of the Two Ends: in this case, Death by the Law.

Continuation of my series to edit a quick “Friday Night Dungeon” using Dolmenwood.

TOMB of the TWIN-HEADED HAWK (Pg 4)

Link to the Draft Document: Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord

Key Detail: Room 07 is a door, so another roll on the heraldry table yielded “hawk” and for a room type I rolled “weird” so, I went with an animate door- a squawking two-headed baf relief. Its odd, will prompt discussion, and is an alarm obstacle

Initial Treasure Total (silver standard): 120sp with the opportunity to gain a large talking jug.

Three Initial Problems:

1. More Description of Important Things: The animated door and describe the jar heads of the barrowbogeys (peak Dolmenwood monster) with a little more flavor

2. Empty Crypt (#10 & 11a) Is Too Bland: I should know better since I wrote a post on it. Something needs to go here to punch it up.

3. More Treasure: Not enough for sure at 120sp. On average, level 1 treasure is about 600sp (or gp...whatever standard you use). Treasure shouldn’t be evenly parcelled because that is boring, but it should still be there.

Three Potential Solutions

1. Colorful Descriptions: Let’s see...

   • Door: The bas relief of a twin-headed hawk strains to grab the green grasshoppers that float past it; occasionally, the heads nip at each other in frustration

   • Barrowbogey heads: “...its clay head is a squat double handled jar with a black and white checkered glaze” or “...both heads are rustic wine decanters shaped like crowing roosters...”

2. Empty but Not Nothing: Well, let’s roll on the table for rooms #10 and #11a...to get... “a clue or password” and an “encounter clue”

   • Okay, #10 leads to a weird room where there is a toast to summer, so how about we put a banner hanging from the beaks of two very large taxidermied twin-headed hawks, that says “TO SUMMER”.

   • For #11a, since the northern passage leads to the crypt with the zombie mermaids, let’s put 4 frozen bodies in this room and an unnatural chill. They’ll all have gold coins frozen in their eyes. Does it completely make sense? No. But it will make the PCs pause.

3. More Treasure: One easy thing to do is to increase the value of the holy symbol in #12 from 100 to 300. And if there is a pile of frozen bodies in #11a well, how about if you move them (2 turns) then it will reveal a bronze, fur-trimmed diadem worth 300. Now our new total treasure is 600 plus the magical jug. Not bad.

Final Thoughts

I’ve actually started to play this dungeon a little bit and so far I’m happy with it. I think 07-12 set of rooms is one with a strong Dolmenwood flavor because it involves the barrowbogey, whom I’ve connected to a rumor of stolen pottery locally. Whimsy that could get you killed!

“We’ll stop here and finish it next session, no problem!”

In my current megadungeon home game, we have not played for almost 4 months now because of a mistake I made. It’s a mistake that makes sense at the time, but has had disastrous consequences for play since then.

The mistake: I ended a session in the dungeon right at the start of a big battle because we ran out of time.

I should not have done this. I knew it could be a problem. At the time, I didn’t want to risk having a PC die because we were in a “hurry up and finish” mode of combat. And I just didn’t have a clever way of resolving the fight in 10 minutes that would be satisfying. I figured that stopping at the beginning of a key battle and the potential rescue of an NPC would carry enough potential energy that the next session would be focused and start with a bang! Combat! Action! High stakes!

That was 4 months ago.

Now modern life of work, kids, and family life have understabily intervined. Don’t take this post as any sort of angry rant. My play group’s focus is rightly on the various important aspects of their lives and playing D&D is a minor aspect. However, it IS a hobby everyone greatly enjoys and consistency is a key aspect. Long absences can dissolve the game.

I wish I had stuck to my rule of ending the session at the end of our allotted play time, and if that meant the players could not save the NPC, then so be it.

Fail Forward...Into The Next Session

In general, I think splitting the session led to three general, unwanted downstream effects in addition to delaying play for an extended period.

Denial of Agency: At the time, I thought that making the player go back to town and have the NPC become a sacrifice was robbing the players of agency, a big no-no in old-school play. However, in not completing the town-dungeon-town loop, I ended up robbing the players (and myself!) of 4 months of agency by not playing!

Decreased Flexibility in Attendance: I also decreased the flexibility of the megadungeon set-up to host a variable number of players and not require the attendance of 100% of my player pool to start a game. It is often this strengent 100% attendance requirement that kills a lot of trad-games or even any game. Hence, the joke of modern D&D is that the BBEG is “scheduling”. In my experience running this game, I’ve been able to host a variety of out-of-town players who drop in for a session or two because we begin and end in the town. It creates a solid staging point and does the least to disrupt the narrative flow.

Yes, I could certainly have PCs with absent players be slightly off camera or function as sorta meta-ghost. But no one ever really likes doing this. And in my experience, it always results in awkward situations where present players will want to use the “ghost” PC’s abilities, but then it has to be explained away why they don’t directly come into harm’s way or some other setup.

Missed Opportunity to Shake the Status Quo: Finally, I think the big thing I also denied my world was the chance to evolve it around an unfortunate outcome. Just look at how awesome it was when Ned Stark got it in Game of Thrones. It’s a shocking twist, certainly, but it really drove home the feeling that the world moves under its own power instead of the author’s. It’s not true, of course. But that illusion is key in making an enthralling read AND an enthralling game.

Disruptions like the death of an NPC, particularly one the PCs witness, can be a catalyst for antagonist goal advancement AND a disruption of the status quo around the PCs. So not only do the bad guys advance but the good king now hates you for not saving the knight.

A Possible Fix...And A Suprise!

To remedy this problem, I turned to some of the RPG Discords I am on and was handed a really nice solution, which has since been turned into a blog post: Mindstorm’s Quick Stakes for Tense Situations.

Exactly what I was looking for. And I set up my own table below.

It provides plenty of player choice to decide what would happen, leaving some up to chance and forcing some hard decisions. I even ramped it up by allowing players only 3 free choices before they had to move some into the WILL NOT HAPPEN category in order to remove remaining items into the WILL HAPPEN.

My players ended up deciding that both the monster and cultist WILL NOT be killed in order to ensure no PC was grievously wounded, and they saved Ambrose. But in the end, we were able to actually get everyone at the game, breaking the no-game curse.

How the fight actually went down is that they were able to save Ambrose, kill the monster, and the cultist got away- ah well- time for a new villain!

CONTEXT & GOALS

I have a slight fascination with understanding how much creative mileage one can get out of the Basic D&D and a couple of sheets of graph paper. I hold this idea that a DM of minimal experience should be able to hammer out a dungeon with the creative energy of Monday bored-in-class and have a good time running it Friday night. But I might be putting too much faith in random stocking and shooting-from-the-hip ideas. There is a reason both Moldvey and the Designing Dungeons Course councils are brainstorming key items, monsters, and locations as anchors when building a dungeon. Those central idea provide thematic & aesthetic guidance for the dungeon.

So to test, I grabbed a Dyson map, the Dolmenwood campaign for flavor, and started stocking with an eye toward speed-to-play, not quality-for-publication. I also took each set of rooms, six at a time, to hopefully create unified micro-areas.

But what would be interesting would be to blog an editing pass at this dungeon. What works and doesn’t? What happens when you lean on a random stocking? And what are 3 things I can do to improve each section without a full re-write? I don’t think I’ve seen this done before. And I want your comments below too!

CRYPT of the MERMAID’S ANCHOR (Pg 3)

Link to the Draft Document: Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord

Key Detail: Room 01 is a key dungeon entrance, so I rolled a on the heraldry table and got a mermaid motif- sea theme it is!

Inital Treasure Total: 900gp, no magic items

Initial Problems:

1. Too Hostile: The six rooms have a total of 9 hostile skeletons, which feels too intense for 1st-level characters right in the first set of rooms. It promotes as sorta look-and-leave stance with little exploration. We want to draw players in.

2. Boring Treasure: The secret door is not too hard to find, and yields a helpful MU NPC, but not really an exciting treasure. They discovered a secret, so let’s get the fantastical rolling

3. Door to Nowhere: There is also a frozen fountain, 3 skeletons trapped in the ice, and a visible staircase which leads to a “level 2”- however, I don’t have that planned.

Edits to Punch It Up:

1. Unexpected Hostilities: How about behind the north door are zombie mermaids that spit freezing salt water? The skeletons around the frozen fountain will be inert, but those in the west coffins will only attack if the south door is kicked in. Honestly, maybe we should have more zombie mermaids in lieu of skeletons, which were rolled on the random encounter table

2. Thematic Treasure: Okay, so they fight off 4-6 enemies, so let’s give something cool. I made a list of treasures that is under 600 gp- on of these is a wizard pipe. This wizard accidentally fell asleep so maybe a spilled bag of sleeping sand (as sleep; 1 dose left). And since we have a sorta pirate theme, how about a treasure map- which is not often seen any modern modules. Because these treasures aesthetically match other elements in this area, I think players will be triggered to spin off conclusions about how the items all connect. Maybe those musings can be DM fodder.

3. One-Way Portal Fountain: Hmm, since I don’t have a 2nd level here, perhaps we can turn this into a one-way portal. One-way doors were also a feature of older dungeons, but I don’t see often now. So let’s pick an interesting place that maybe has a mirror or have them just fall through the ceiling somewhere else. Or maybe a ship moored somewhere else- a micro-dungeon?

Final Thoughts

Undead mermaids are just plain more exciting. A one-way portal feels “WTF!” from the player side, but surprising. But the treasure needs better work. I still like the idea of releasing a NPC who becomes a part of the base town.

A play report from a recent run in MARATHON.

***

I’ve accepted a contract from CYAC in return for gear, but importantly, an introduction to TRAXUS, another corp trying to claw a return back from their investment in the failed Tau Ceti colony.

IN ONE RUN [DIRE MARSH]:

[_] Hack the terminal at Intersection, Complex, or Bio-Research

[_] Acquire the Shipping Manifest from UESC Commander

[_] Scan the nearby stacked shipping container before it is picked up

***

I drop [ASSASSIN shell] in around MAINTENANCE with a TRAXUS-sponsored pack. Killed twice before with gear. Now I’m running the absolute minimum: gun, ammo, shield pack, and patch kit. Left with 6 open slots in my backpack.

I make a wide loop east around AI UPLINK, then north to COMPLEX, and specifically CMPLX-3 managing heat. Along the way I am grabbing mainly extra shields/health and any blue/purple items of value. My cloaking ability helps me get past most forces. I pick up a V11 PUNCH along the way.

At CMPLX-3, I realize the terminal is on a second story (good), outside walkway (bad). I’ll be exposed to UESC robots as well as runners. Cloaking I complete the easy part- hacking the terminal.

An alarm goes off (very bad) and the UESC security drops (bad but the second objective).

I pick off the 3 “recruit” robots (lots of noise) and take a few potshots at the commander. I realize if I don’t get aggressive, other runners will get in the area and pop me.

I heal up and drop down among the shipping containers, then throw out my smokes disks blanketing the area around the commander. It has an icon above its head, so I can unload slightly below it, and it can’t really get a bead on me. A series of icon flutter overhead, shields crack, dozens of hit markers, V11 ammo gone, and finally an 8-bit skull icon- commander dead. I grab the shipping manifest card.

I want to loot the slag heap of UESC force, but I’m almost dead, and I made so much noise. Plus I have 3:00 minutes to find and scan the shipping container. Tucking myself in a small corner, I begin to heal but freeze when I hear the tell-tale rapid put*put*put*put of runner’s feet.

$%&^(*! Just when I was done with this damn contract.

Fortunately, my cloak is ready, so pulling it on, I slowly creep to my right and catch a VANDAL shell coming up a ramp. I am a second earlier and unload my AR, shields break, and I hear an “ahhhgg!” on the proximity mic. Finish them off with a knife.

That was yet more noise! More potential runners.

I scramble to loot any health and ammo. No better shields- damn. But a better backpack +8 slots. Clean up the scap in the UESC pile. Worried about time, I scramble to the shipping containers. Again, I have to climb up and be exposed with no cloak, no smoke, and little health. SCAN COMPLETE.

$%&^(*! ME! I scamper down and take a blissfully easy EXFIL out covered by smoke that had recharged on my tense run to the EXFIL.

Total IRL time [minutes]: 10:00
***

Perhaps I don’t want my D&D games to feel exactly like MARATHON. They are short, tense affairs. But I do find the choice-making in extration shooters and dungeon crawls to be strikingly similar. And I’ve felt this way ever since I played my first extraction shooter.

This new type of FPS really does capture the essence of slot-based encumbrance with backpack and loadout evaluated against items you find by looking: loot, weapons, ammo, and health.

You are dropped off in a large, open location that becomes familiar over many live-die-repeat cycles. You have to avoid traps, random encounters (computer NPCs), and other adventuring parties (live players). Time, noise, and resources all have to be managed. Also, how much risk are you willing to take?

What you grab and extract with helps you level up with factions and afford better gear which allows better chance of success next run. Now MARATHON had a few nice ways of bestowing some gear and completing quests (contracts) without requiring 100% extraction success every time. This is nice.

There have been digital dungeon crawls before extraction shooters- DOOM is the big one. But extraction shooters seem to really bring it all together, including the town-dungeon-town loop! I wonder if there are lessons to be learned from these games, which took so much from D&D, that could be brought back to fantasy adventure games? What are the key elements?

I’ll leave that question open instead of further lengthening this post with attempted mechanics. I’m not even sure I know what I even want to add. I claim not the intensity and instead the importance of the choice- what to grab, how long to linger, loot vs objective.

But don’t we already have those in RPGs? What are they missing? Or how do we make those elements more exciting?

But the minatures really got me thinking about how much I like beast-folk over demi-humans in terms of class alternatives to humans for fantasy adventure campaigns. In fact, I think beast-folk have three specific advantages over humans because animals are: familiar & symbolic, mortal, and have extraordinary (but not supernatural) abilities.

Familiar & Symbolic

In terms of roleplay, its going to be easier understanding animals or animal-folks, than to imagine and role-play an immortal elf. Animals occupy our homes, surround us, and have been with most of us throughout many aspects of our lives.

Humans also have centuries of animal worship, either as god figures themselves, or as something adjacent to. They are central to our fables, parables, and tall tales. They are used to embody the qualities of our sports teams, from the strong to the ferocious to the quick. And they continue to be stand-ins for human personalities and class positions in pop culture, especially in animation or puppetry.

This all means that most humans can see an animal and describe its symbolic qualities, goals, and weaknesses far quicker than most any other non-human representation. For instance, if you show someone the picture of a lion, they most likely will list symbolic qualities: brave and strong, but also prideful and arrogant, with a desire to be king. Or at least give you very well-known characteristics of the literal animal itself.

Mortality & Other

The biggest issues for me with two common demi-human races, elves and dwarves, is that each is near-immortal or at least have increadbly long life spans. This singular facet would radically change one’s stance on almost every problem. Immortality lends itself to patience, thoughtfulness, and overplanning. Years can be spent in pondering and consensus-making. For human players, time-as-a-factor is baked into all of our lives. D&D itself, these days, is a 2-4 hour, once-weekly game because time is a factor. So, I don’t think human players can truly can model this behavior arising from immortality, consistantly, in a game. Animals on the other hand, are mortal and actually often more short-lived. But on the relevant timeline to fictional elves/dwarves, humans and animals are practically the same.

Short lives promote: action, risk-taking, decisiveness, and impulsiveness. All of which makes for a good session of dungeon crawling and D&D in general.

Extraordinary, But Not Supernatural, Abilities (Maybe)

Most animals have senses and abilities that far exceed those of a human. And because many of them evolved for survival, they often are oriented around solving an environmental problem- avoiding detection, and/or tracking prey- so very gamable! For instance, a dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than a human’s. A cat cannot see in total darkness, but requires only 1/6th the light of a human to see their surroundings and can survive falls up to 30 stories, versus a human’s 4 stories.

Now, sure, it’s not like players really understand what it’s like to see through a hawk’s eyes. But these abilities are not supernatural at a base level and so can easily be understood in fictional situations e.g. a dog can smell through a door, but may not smell the ghosts on the other side as they are incorporeal.

However, looping back to the familiar symbolism, some animal qualities could be cast on a “mythic” level, such as a salamander’s fire resistance or foxes’ natural ability to lie. Yet, again, these are abilities are still well understood by human players.

But I Like Beast-headed Humans Even More

Fortunately, there are some great beast folk already out there. Miranda of In Places Deep has some wonderful froglings. Carcass Crawler #5 has ratlings, which are cool and have a prehensile tail! And even Dolmenwood has a sorta cat and bat class in the grimalkin and woodgrue. Although the last two are technically fay and might bring on the problems above.

I have personally always enjoyed the idea of beast-headed humans. In particular, when the transformation is a curse bestowed on a human by the fay for some justified or trivial transgression. To me, this bestows the PC with a goal- to undo the curse. But it is also a very visible mark that the fictional world can react to. Which is often neglected in D&D, how your PC appears should affect how NPCs react to them. Much like it would in the real world.

And again, its even easier to role-play than a human-sized animal. What if you were you, but cursed to wear the head of an animal? You gain some abilities due to this new transformation, but also a set of assumptions and are an outcast.

Beast-headed Humans Or The Fay-Cursed

Too boorish, too clever, too desperate, and/or too ignorant to understand what you were agreeing to, who you were talking back to, or who you were stealing from, so you now wear a heraldic animal head as a mark and punishment.

Weapons & Armor: As Dwarf HD: At level 1, roll 2d8 and take the highest die; 1d8 per level there after Saves: As Dwarf Experience: As Dwarf Special Abilities:

Animal Senses: All beast-heads have a 2-in-6 to listen and smell, and a candle can provide as much light to see as a torch, but they cannot see in total darkness.

Curse: During character creation, roll 1d12 to determine what fate has befallen your PC.

1. Lion- Once a month, you may command a number of normal man-types (half your CHA) that will perform, with great bravery, one task. Afterward, they become lazy, indolent, and rest on their laurels, telling grand tales about what they did.

2. Stag- You can sleep in the woods as comfortably as you can in an inn. If you do so, the animals of the forest will tell you rumors of what is happening in all directions. Hunters believe your heart will grant them a wish.

3. Wolf- If you are clad in the skin of a sheep or the clothing of a grandmother, people will believe you are that until you attack. Children and dogs will have their deep suspicions. Abandoned by humans, you are embraced by the pack, you may call for a number of wolves equal to your hireling count by CHA

4. Fox- You can lie with ease. But no one will believe you when telling the truth. Any lie told in the service of the truth will backfire (e.g. Telling people there is gold in the well to rescue a trapped baby will delay rescue of the baby as people ask more about the gold).

5. Eagle- You are vigilant and a fierce guardian, if you fill 3 slots of encumbrance with the object/person you are in charge of protecting, you gain the ability to interpose between them and a threat as well as gain +2 AC when defending; if in a room for a week, you are only surprised on a 1 there. Horses hate you and your presence.

6. Pard- All royalty will be willing to believe you are a lost heir (3d6 under CHA). Their current children will think the opposite, and it’s difficult to erase this suspicion.

7. Rat- Any item a normal rat can carry can be brought to you in roughly 3 moons, provided it is something left unattended and you are in a location with rats. Mice are too provincial and Giant rats too unruly to command. Most people will assume your presence naturally fouls the air.

8. Bull- Duplicate your highest ability score in STR or if it is highest, add 1. No normal dungeon door can impede you and you are good at mazes. However, you are easily goaded into a fight (Save vs spells to avoid), and you will break anything delicate.

9. Boar- You require twice as much food, rest, poison, or potion. Even a basilisk must look at you twice. And by that same token, demand twice as much reward, gratitude, or grace. However, you are twice as generous than most. And require twice as many buttons to keep your shirt on.

10. Raven- You wear the head of a bird that exists both here and beyond; as such, you can sense the undead as others can hear noise (2-in-6). And a good mimic, you can cast first-level non-divine spells you see and hear.

11. Goat or Donkey- Contrarian as a profession. You can never be commanded and infact, if commanded, you will refuse to do it. Even a harpy’s song, a siren’s call, or a wizard’s charm will not get you to move.

12. Tygr- If you declare “I strike!”, then you may move up to 20’ and make a free melee attack at advantage, criting on a 19-20. If you discuss the use of this ability in the open, you must attack at disadvantage. You must then remain engaged with the target until you or it dies. People fine your gaze unnerving as if you are always on edge.

Stronghold: At 8th level, if you occupy a ruined keep deep in the woods, you will attract the following:

• Stronghold Lieutenants (roll 1d6): 1-2. Giant Talking Animal of Head-Type 3-4. Chaotic Figher (level 4 + 1d4) 5-6. 2d4 Fay Rakes (Hardly lift a hand, but throw good parties)

• Stronghold Guard: 3d6 x10 1HD brigands (75% human and 25% hound-headed)

• If there are 3+ levels, Stronghold Residents (roll 1d6, assume number as lair of monster type): 1. Werewolves 2. Hill Giant 3. Purple Wyrm 4. Minotaurs 5. Questing Beast 6. Wicked Trents

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2026 BLOGGIES

Well, 2025 was a banner year for I CAST LIGHT! given that I won an unprecedented two Bloggies for GAMABLE post, WHY MEGADUNGEONS?, THEORY post, RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLES AS ADVENTURE RAM, and an additional one with co-author with Josh at Rise Up Comus Bloggie for BEST SERIES with the Designing Dungeons course.

With great relief, the TOP POST went to elmcat for the Mapping the Blogosphere. This blogger is a far, far better candidate to lead the 2027 BLOGGIES, as measured by the substance of the mapping project which encapsulated the WHOLE blogosphere, but also the technical ability. It’s a post that will help not only the hobby but the scholarly study of RPGs as oral folk art. Extremely well-deserved top win!

Clayton, of Explorers Design, did a fantastic job on MCing the 2026 BLOGGIES. I think, by collapsing the format into two weeks, he set a great bar going forward. He also did a lovely job keeping everyone updated on the progress and getting the word out.

WRITE THY BLOG- FOR THY SELF!

YOU should start your own blog. I really can’t expand much more than I did when I originally posted on the topic in 2022 with the purchase of Twitter by Elon. Nor, can I write better than when I argued in KNOCK #5 that blogs are a slow, thoughtful medium that leaves ruins, as False Machine put it, for others to dig through.

But I can add now that by writing a blog, people will read your blog, and people will revisit your blog. Your thoughts are valuable in this hobby space, and you should not be shy about sharing them. Shockingly, your blog will be picked up by all sorts of people. But not shockingly, it won’t happen overnight (or hell, it could), but in either case, the blog must be started and maintained. Often it’s because folks will find one post, think its cool, then read through the rest of your stuff and find other posts that resonate with them.

I can also say only write for yourself! Seriously. Don’t chase a perceived blog ideal. I don’t say this to be condescending, putting on airs, or holding “office hours”. I say this because it’s a mantra I repeat constantly to myself as an antidote to the (strong) pull that social media has. It is one thing to mimic the focus of a particular blog, but another to want to copy the eyeballs-on or pull of another blog.

To me, when you write for yourself, your authenticity shines through, but far more importantly, your idiosyncrasy shines through. And it’s that individual, in-grown, feedback loop fermentation of ideas that gives blogs the pungent flavor people love. Are these tastes for all people, hell no! Are these flavors intended to appeal to all, hell no! Are they good- yup! “Good” here being distinct with a discernible intent, even if not “liked”.

Blogs are like cheese- the one that smells like feet is better than the unoffensive Kraft single. Be the feet cheese.

PONDER THY BLOG- I CAST WRITE!

If three BLOGGIES are proof of good feet-cheese, here is how those posts got written and a little bit on the origin of the blog itself.

I CAST LIGHT! was originally going to be a micro-blog with a post word-count equal to the light spell from D&D. More notes to myself rather than full posts. I thought I didn’t have a lot to say-- this lasted all of ~3 posts and would show up in a smattering of posts since. I pivoted instead to trying more to write about the practicalities of playing D&D. Everyday DM-level stuff that arises from trying to run D&D in addition to trying to implement concepts other people blogged about.

WHY MEGADUNGONS?: This post arose from a comment in a Discord, but I think what drove me to write it especially was (1) the connection between megadungeons as a historical D&D aspect, an interesting resurgence in popular media, and a D&D game structure that supports ~4-hour game once a week that doesn’t require the exact same players every time; (2) convey the enjoyment of my own experience in the Nightwick megadungeon.

I think by taking time to discuss some common misconceptions of the megadungeon I hopefully was able to draw a line between what they might be seeing in popular media (eg Dungeon Meshi) into actual play that was easier to pull off than one might think.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER AS RAM: This post is a great example you should just blog on what you want and hit “publish”. The idea arose out of trying to figure out how not to have “scripted events” but figure out how to store information outside of just notes. Again, this is a problem that arose from me playing my own dungeons. I wanted to remember player impact but also have it feed directly/immediately into the game. It is also an example of me trying to modify old-school procedures beyond their initial presentation into something more modern without changing it too much.

I would have never guessed this post would be up for any sort of award. But it also demonstrates that sometimes the things you blog about, which you think the fewest people care about, can be things that a lot of people care about. Or enjoy. Or didn’t realize they cared about until you posted it. So to repeat, write what you want, hit “publish”, and play your game.

DESIGNING DUNGEONS: I have to give Josh a lot of credit for the energy here. So I was lamenting out loud on Discord that while there are several books on running fantasy RPGS, several of them don’t really go step-by-step into building a dungeon. These books are often both too brief on dungeon design and too long to help a DM get going. Also a lot of modern dugneons are quite small, which really doesn’t give the format a chance to breath. Nor a lot of fantasy adventure games, dungeon rules a chance to be impactful. Yet, the old-school answer is to read like 20 blog posts scattered over a decade of OSR writing-- also not helpful.

So Josh agreed the idea was solid and was like “let’s write this”. The final document seems to have worked out really well. And it’s nice to have something out there folks can easily have access too to start building their own dungeon AND megadungeon. The document also pulls together several other very helpful posts on dungeon design which people can reference before or after they build any particular part of the dungeon. The writing reinforced to me the value to me of a writing partner to help maintain energy, consistency, and quality. So try out a two-headed blog. That’s something I’ve not seen a lot of.

FIN

I’ll stop here and hit publish because the risk of navel gazing is that one gazes too long and finds one’s head up one’s own arse. I’m thankful for my readers, my hobby friends, and the blogging community that has allowed my growth in gaming. Blog. Do it.

Hint: Its elmcat’s Mapping The Blogosphere project. An amazing effort that not only defines our DIY-fantasy-game universe, but also finally provides a more objective, contextual, and temporal description of this corner of folk art.

The first round of the 2026 Bloggies is now open. It’s run like a basketball tournament bracket where posts are paired off against each other. And the overall winner hosts the next years awards.

Here is Clayton doing a great job hosting this year’s awards. And if you don’t like reading, the blogging community just recorded all entries in an audio form here.

I have two up this year:

• Why Megadungeons? in 🤔 Theory

• Encounter Tables as Adventure RAM in 🎲 Gamable

But check out all the great blog posts in each of the 5 categories:

• Advice: forms.gle/LApoXPh7cVhy...

• Critique: forms.gle/5Qvwxxsvyhq8...

• Gameable: forms.gle/WjPxMyQunpPZ...

• Theory: forms.gle/VSa1fwjYLcrk...

• Meta: forms.gle/R26nY7qm7DaA...

Look at this crew! Who doesn’t want to play the motley band of weirdos?!

Mordheim:
99% Falling Rules
01% Grotesque Vibes

This post is one part “how I got into Mordheim” and one part “how I want to play Mordheim with Forbidden Psalms scope/engine”. Those steeped in Mordheim forgive me, I know how you feel, I play BX D&D. know the gritted teeth you get when people want to modify a ruleset before playing. We are all sinners in the eyes of the gaming gods...

Mordheim

The interesting thing to me about Mordheim is the kitbashing community that has sprung up around the narrative skirmish game. The DIY-hobby “jail-breaking”, via an out-of-print game, of an otherwise corporate IP, really gives off the same energy as D&D’s old-school scene when I stumbled upon it.

I was pulled into the scene’s orbit via the grotesque images in Mag28, enthralled by the phantasmagoric minatures stitched together in service of this old ruleset. A very familiar feeling as it was the same thing I felt when I found blogs modifying BX and OD&D.

And since I had played 40K and Battletech in the past, it was easy to answer this siren’s call and jumping in feet first. So lately I’ve been learning how to paint minatures but also committing to learning how to build terrain and do press molds. But more on THAT recent effort in a future blog post.

I think that what makes Mordheim, Mordheim is four elements: the Injuries Table, the Leveling Table, Exploration Procedures, and the community’s narrative/self-expression focus.

Why do I believe this? Because each of these sub-mechanics creates context and memory of each battle and prevents each conflict from being only about “kill everything- reset”. It’s the RPG element these mechanics allow that furthers the character of the warband. There is a promise of an emergent story of these plastic and pewter lives that is really cool and unplanned.

The “maths” of how hits are scored, life is checked off, and how much damage a sword does to me is rather inconsequential. But the fact that in the next game my captain has a hook-hand, my wizard is now a flesh beast, but my warband discovered the Copper Crown of the Queen of High Havok is exciting, and our sling-bearer had become eagle-eyed is the stuff of stories. Even in “losing” or, more specificall,y not capturing objectives and withdrawing, interesting things can happen.

The emphasis on kit-bash not min-max, really helps fuel creativity. It refreshes the hobby and draws new folks in. Together, these catapult a small skirmish game of 10 minis into the fondly remembered system it is today, and one of the Inq28-scene’s foundational texts, similar to BX for the DIY-D&D scene.

Forbidden Psalms

Seriously checkout 28-mag.com
Vol6 for more awesome stuff like this!

In 28-Mag, there were a couple of play reports about “Turm2023” which was a narrative skirmish tournament run by Anna from Gardens of Hecate. Like Mordheim it featured a ruined city, kitbashed miniatures, but the ruleset was Forbidden Psalms, a wargame based on Mork Borg. The ruleset was chosen for its simplicity: make a warband of 5 models, try to get 12+ on a d20 to do anything, and each model has four stats modified by picking one of 2 stat lines. Weapons and HP interact much like D&D.

Great. This is a solid. It’s simple, runs like D&D, so easy to teach, and doesn’t require a lot of models. In the time it takes of make one Mordheim warband, I can have TWO, 5-model Forbidden Psalms gangs. And if Ana is using it for her tournament, then its robust enough.

The second thing I like about Psalms is that it requires a 2 X 2 play area. Now, again, much like the “maths” of combat resolution, I don’t think play area size really means all that much except that a smaller area means quicker to the blood-letting, also less terrain to build in order to fill the space.

The third thing I do like about Psalms is the Omen cards. Each player has 5 cards or tokens that can trigger special effects, like max damage or passing a skill check. They basically help control the swinginess of the d20 and, since you only have 5 in your warband, even out potential early deaths.

Finally, I think Psalms has some versatility in case you want to use your warband in a dungeon crawl or something more RPG leaning. Again, Psalm stats are the exact same as Mork Borg as is the d20 vs DR resolution system. So there is an opportunity to transition your skirmish game into a dungeon-crawling game in the grand evolutionary tradition of Chainmail-to-D&D. Walking fish are awkward, but they are all-terrain.

Amalgamated Ruleset

But Psalms doesn’t quite have as robust a system for the RPG-elements like Mordheim does. It has a wound system and a treasure system that is more like searching a building, but is there a way to combine the two? So, with limited exposure, zero playing time, and hitching my neophyte wagon to a horse named “Naivete”, here is an outline for an amalgamated ruleset.

PSALMS for MORDHEIM

• Create characters similar as per Forbidden Psalms

• Each character counts as a “hero” except the “dog”

• Run scenarios based on Mordheim and award experience points as per the rules as written

• If a hero was taken out of action, but passed a death check (DR6+) roll on the Serious Injuries table

• After the game, resolve any downed heroes and then roll on the Exploration Procedures

  • Sum the total for treasures found and look for multiples to determine exploration outcomes

  • +1d6 for each surviving hero

  • For each Omen card unused at the end of the game, you may +/-1 from a single die

  • If all five Omen cards are unused, add a number of your choice to the Exploration Procedures final roll (example: a 3, 4,5 are rolled, a player can then choose to add any number on a d6, deciding “5”, they now have a 3, 4, 5, 5)

• Leveling (points)

  • May not exceed +3 in any stat

  • Roll 2d6 on the Experience Table when a PC has earned 2, 4, 8, & 16 points

  • Could convert some of the Mordheim skills into additional “feats”

  • Experience Table

Roll 2d6 OUTCOME…

2-4 A CLUE! or a New (UN) Clean Spell (random)

5 STR: 1-3 +1 to-hit STR weapon, 4-6 +1 inventory slot

6 AGL: 1-3 +1 to move, 4-6 +1 to-hit AGL weapon

7 ❦❦❦+ 1 HP ❦❦❦❦❦❦

8 TUF: 1-4 +1 to non-death, 5-6 +1 to DEATH SAVE

9 PRZ: 1-3 +1 to-hit ranged attk, 4-6 +1 morale

10-12 NEW FEAT or a New Clean Spell (random)

Clue Roll an additional +1d6 when performing your next Exploration roll

The Ultimate Warrior! Over at Save vs. Total Party Kill, Ram discusses a quick rule for determining death or unconsciousness at 0 hp or below by making a save versus Death. On a roll of a natural 20, the PC rerolls all their HD and gains that HP. I kinda like this idea for con games, its quick, but really impactful and has the same feel as Death’s Door in Darkest Dungeon.

Social Bonds: At the BREAK!! blog, Naldo helps us figure out how exactly our PC know each other. Again, another great trick for con games, but also plays very well at the table.

Shuddering Forms Crawl Forth!: Save vs Worm lists out some new undead for their King of Kings setting. I particularly like the named undead that they have listed out:

Dog-headed Dyan the Dreadful: The only known wraith of the dog-headed men, who are already known for their demon-haunted cruelty. He was known for injustices done unto babies and mothers. Just wants to taste succulent childflesh again, but for his burnt-out tongue.

Before You Crawl B2, Check This Hexmap Out: Over at Blog of Forlorn Encystment, WEC rebuilds the wilderness region around B2 into a fantasy ~20 hex area. Demonstrating how little you need to have a fully stocked campaign!

$7 Mordheim/Forbidden Psalms Terrain: Summon Lesser Maker did this video and it really drove my creativity into high gear. I have been working to complete four 1’x1’ skirmish boards using his techniques wth popcicle sticks and cardboard. Its really been awesome! I want to do some more posts about the painting/kitbashing folks that I am following.

Straight Up Villain: Bommyknocker Press writes about the “Nemesis System” which was found in the Shadow of Mordor video game. Glad to see other folks writing on it. I did here a little while back and recently need to use it again in my Nightwick game.

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There was a discussion in a Discord forum I inhabited about how realistic the encumbrance of rations are in BX D&D. That doesn’t interest me. What interests me is what the PCs chose to do with those rations.

But related interest is what do you do with the pack on your back?

I was a Boy Scout back in the day and the summer before high school, I participated in Philmont. This consisted of doing a roughly 10-day hike over 120 miles with everything I needed in a frame pack on my back. You can’t really fight in such a thing. Even a loaded school backpack is going to encumber you or throw you off balance when you are swinging a weapon. But how can this be gamified?

A dungeon delve is a raid not a camping trip. Let the hirelings carry stuff, you’re there to delve...

✤ If you drop your pack or are not carrying one at all, you are limited to 4 encumbrance slots +2 for hands, but you gain a +1 on all d20 rolls.

✤ However, if the PCs dropped packs are marked on the battle map and become a target for monsters. If monsters reach this marker, they destroy it or take a random item.

✤ If monsters take an action at this backpack marker, they now own a whole pack of items.

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Preamble: For reasons, I realized I might need to allow players to be Skeleton PCs. I’ve seen undead classes before that march from skeleton (1HD) to vampire (8-9HD), but I thought it might be good just to have the PC remain skeleton-oriented, hence ending this in the level title of death knight. But this class could be good for botched resurrections, cursed items, or angry gods. And no, everyone can’t dual-class as a skeleton just because they have one.

The Skeleton

Requirement: CON and CHA of 8 or less or PC has risen from the grave
Prime Requisite: STR
Hit Dice: d6
Maximum Level: 8
Weapons & Armor: All
Alignment: Chaotic
Languages: As those in life
To-hit & Save: as BX Fighter

• 1st: +0 & 12/13/14/15/16

• 4th: +2 & 10/11/12/13/14

• 8th: +5 & 8/9/10/11/12

Level:

1. Skeleton 1d6 +1 0xp

2. Fossil Footman 2d6 2,200xp

3. Grave Guard 3d6 4,400xp

4. Skeleton Warrior 4d6 +2 8,800xp

5. Crypt Keeper 5d6 17,000xp

6. Ossuary Outrider 6d6 35,000xp

7. Cadaver Calviler 7d6 70,000xp

8. Death Knight 8d6 +4 140,000xp

Starting Equipment:

• Burial Shroud (AC 10), Death Mask, Dried Roses, Hourglass, Shield (AC +1), 1d6 dmg Weapon

Special Abilities:

• Undead: Infravision, Move silently until the first attack, Treat as “asterisk undead” for spells and effects (i.e. turn undead, poison, sleep ect)

• Fear of the Grave: At 4th level, -1 to enemy morale; At 8th level, cast fear 3x/day

• Memento mori: Cannot be resurrected nor healed by magic; all reaction rolls are 1d6; cannot hire mortal hirelings, henchmen, mercenaries, or retainers

Stronghold:

At anytime a skeleton wishes (and they have a magic weapon), they may take over the dungeon they were killed in or rose from, claiming it as a stronghold after defeating all inhabitants. A stronghold attracts:

• Stronghold Lieutenants (roll 1d6): 1-3. Chaotic fighter (level 4+1d4) 4-6. 1d6 Chaotic clerics (level 2 +1d4 each)

• Stronghold Guard: 3d6 x10 1HD soldiers (75% skeletons and 25% will be chaotic clerics)

• If there are 3+ levels, Stronghold Residents (roll 1d6, assume number as lair of monster type): 1. Werewolves 2. Ghoul Salon (2d8+5) 3. Nightmares 4. Mummies 5. Spectres 6. Vampires

Being so enamored with the very cool class titles I got as part of Secret Santicorn 2025, I thought I would try a few here.

Meat On Them Bones: Optional Titles for Skeleton Class

Minor Relequary Saint

• Demonstrate a notable act of piety to the Church

• Recover an important religious relic

• Observe all taboos of a religion to shift alignment to lawful

Gelatin Skeleton

• Coat yourself in a potion of invulnerability

• Be engulfed by a gelatinous cube

• Make an EGO check to overpower the cube (gaining a geletin coating)

The Yellow King

• Obtain a 500gp crown (or equivalent in grave goods), mask, & costume

• Be colonized by yellow mould

• Kill everyone at a costume ball or party

I am currently trying to key Dyson’s Winter Tombs as a Dolmenwood-by-the-numbers dungeon. As I was pondering the question of dungeon history, I realized Dolmenwood has a pretty laid out timeline of the past. And it hit me that I can use that timeline to better place dungeons in the history of Dolemenwood, which could also help determine prominent motifs.

TABLE OF BURIAL SITE/CRYPT/DUNGEON MOTIFS in DOLMENWOOD

Roll 1d12 and add the dungeon level or number of hexes from a human town/keep/castle.

Alternatively, pick a date, and each dungeon-level deeper represents a 100-year change, but motifs only change when you hit a noteworthy period.

NB: Last thing, in order for a burial site to survive 100s or even 1000s of years, it must be well constructed. So, when I list burial sites below its implied “of surviving/identifiable sites.”

1. 100y Fall of Abbey, decline of Church

   • Church burial sites add this fall motif but smaller to demphsize

   • Human & Breggle burial sites increase heraldic symbols of House

2. 350y Staint Clewyd dies slaying the Atacorn

   • Church burial sites add fall motif as predominant

   • Nag-Lord allies will have the Nag-Lord as a motif if allied with the cult

3. 400y Nag-Lord arrival; as #4 with Triple Compact burial sites

   • Triple Compact motifs are more downplayed

   • Nag-Lord motifs are small and emerging if burial site is part of the cult

4. 600-850y Triple Compact Banishes Cold Prince; human and breggle burial sites predominate

   • Drune, Church, and Crown motifs play up the Triple Compact

   • Breggle are a mix of house and Triple Compact

5. 900y Cold Prince’s Wrath, unnatural winter befalls Domenwood for 150 years;

   • All burial sites have winter/snow/death motifs, also war/battle motifs between human and fay

6. 1,000-1,100y Brackwold settles and builds out; breggles and humans co-rule ; deep in the forest,

   • Burial sites are human & breggle; sometimes feature alliance motifs

   • Drune burial sites can be found remotely

7. 1,200y Arrival of Brackenwolders as a second wave of human population

   • Human burial sites motifs will feature different symbology than the previous woodcutter/Green Man motifs

   • New human motifs will also feature the Pluritine Church;

   • Drune sites become obscure

8. 1,500y Drune-Breggel war; Longhorn nobility begins as descendants of Hraigl

   • Drune depicts Hraigl’s work as betrayal

   • Breggel motifs show Hraigl as a savior and mother figure to all breggels

9. 1,700y Drune powerful and Breggles serve them, so burial places are drune with breggles in secondary positions

   • Drune burials feature motifs of power/domination with breggles in servitude

   • Breggle burials feature desires for salvation OR acts of Drune service

   • Human burials are “woodsman” motifs and might depicts the Drune/Breggles as hostile

10. 1,800y Non-Drune human wood cutters who venerate the wood god arrive; burial sites are human but feature wood god/green man-type motifs

    • Human burial are “woodsman” motifs and feature forgest gods/Green Man motifs

11. 1,900y Drune begin activity, and so have a burial presence

    • As #12, but burial sites will now contain Drune

12. 2000-2,500y Burial places mostly breggle, but rarely human- cold prince iconography might be featured prominently or at least snow/winter motifs

    • Burial places mostly breggle with few human

    • Cold Prince is a predominant, almost god-like figure at all burial sites

    • Snow & winter motifs also predominate

EXAMPLE CRYPT

In the dungeon I am keying right now, one sarcophagus is described as follows:

The Forgotten King (room empty): A finely carved granite stone work table of an age past forms the head of this hall; all four sarcophagus feature a relief of their occupant; the stone table in front features a crown, serpent, and sword with life-like fidelity

This is fine, but it doesn’t really ground this burial site into anything connected to Dolmenwood. King of what? When? Is there any motifs linked to anything? What do the crown, serpent, and sword (I like the ring of that triplet) represent in history?

I dunno! So let’s use the table above- [grabs 1d12, rolls]- a 5!

5. 900y Cold Prince’s Wrath, unnatural winter befalls Domenwood for 150 years; burial sites have winter/snow/death motifs also war/battle motifs

Okay, so now this tomb, which is a part of the larger complex, was built in the years of the Cold Prince’s Wrath. We can add some detail to the tomb now:

The Forgotten King of the Long Winter (room empty): A finely carved granite stone work table sits at the head of the room and inlaid with pale mother-of-pearl snowflakes; all four sarcophagi feature a relief of their occupant- all extremities, lips, and noses painted black as if frostbitten; the stone table in front features a crown covered in icecicles, a sword fashions like cold-iron, and a serpent with a snowflake pattern.

Great, so now there is a little bit more character to this empty room (1) its more than just “empty”, but (2) it grounds it in some era. As a DM, I’d let the PC puzzle out if this king was for or against the Cold Prince. Maybe it could be an adventure hook carried forward.

Okay, let me wrap this up by presenting how this could inform undead (monsters) and traps, which are other stocking instances that could come up around crypts and burial sites. This is nothing astounding, but helpful in a pinch:

• Undead: If this room did contain skeletons, zombies, or wights, we could use the table above to help decide the aesthetic and concerns of the dead. So for #5, I might say the king and his family were against the Cold Prince, but their undead hate all fay and attack them on sight while ignoring the humans. They might constantly question the intent of would-be intruders, perhaps even offering up cold-iron if the PCs can convince them they are against the Winter Wyrd.

• Traps: Same trick as with monsters, we can theme the traps. Let’s say the king was an alley with the Cold Prince; now the traps could be winter-themed. Howling winds that flow out fire. Ice that drops from the ceiling or grows as sudden crystals out of winter motifs. Maybe anyone human who touches snowflaked items suffers “Winter’s Bite”- 1d4 damage and numbing pain.

In summary, I think this helps turn a couple of pages of history from mere “lore” into more influential and actionable traits.

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OLD BUSINESS

How did I do on my 2025 goals? Well, let’s see:

• Post more “good enough” adventures 😃

• Finish Serpent Psalms to complement Serpent Song Hymnal 😐

• Run another “family & friends game” 😐

• Run Daisy Chainsaw 😐

• Learn to paint miniatures & play more wargames 😃

Hmmm... 2/5 is not very good but it’s a hobby so who cares! Let me talk about what I did do.

Post More “Good Enough” Adventures & Appendix N Jam

The “Wine Dungeon”: In 2024, I talked about running 10 sessions of “Wine Dungeon”, well I’ve been sitting on that thing for one more year. Mainly because I really like it and want to improve it. I shouldn’t do this. While not perfect, the dungeon is good enough for a blog post and as I used to say in my academic days, “The impact factor of the hard drive is 0.”

Tabaldak’s Geas: However, I DID participate in the Appendix N Jam 2025 and got an entry out there that I was pretty happy with: Tabaldak’s Geas, which is a 23-room dungeon, tersely keyed, a nice list of beasts, and includes a beholder and a Deck of Many Things. Check it out here!

Learn To Paint Miniatures & Play More Wargames

This year, I made significant headway in creating an environment to paint and wargame with more serious intent. Why this interest in wargaming above and beyond that which exists for anyone who plays a fantasy adventure game like Dungeons & Dragons?

The “INQ28” movement has really given me a jolt of creative energy in a way that reminds me of the early OSR scene. This scene is composed of games like Mordheim and Necromunda, which place an emphasis on small skirmish-sized bands fighting it out over ruined landscapes. This aesthetics of ruin share a lot of similarity with the old-school scene. And it even has a Mork Borg varient called Forbidden Psalms 28. Check out on the preminer (free) ‘zines of the scene 28 and a really cool creator in the space The Gardens of Hecate.

More specifically, I completed two goals here:

Honestly, the zenithal priming looks pretty rad on its own

Painted Villagers: For the Nightwick Abbey con games I ran this year, they set up was each player had two villagers they were trying to use to escape the abbey. I notice grey plastic wasn’t helping the players differentiate, so I worked do get a bunch painted up.

This had the knock-on effect of forcing me to set up a nice painting area with a paint stand, good chair, and a good light. This had been fantastic for allowing me to take advantage of a spare hour to really practice the techniques I have picked up from cons.

I’ve worked on a paint scheme from Stay Frosty and got some really cool models for it. And I’ve worked on another paint scheme from Gardens of Hecate for specters.

Its really relaxing and I get a really grounding sense of accomplishment when I have finished a model. Far better than when I play video games online.

Church of the Immaculate Eraserhead Baby

Mordheim Terrain & Kitbashing: This was completed in the last ~2 weeks. So, if I’m gonna get into narrative wargaming I need some boards to battle over. Sure I could just throw some stuff on the table, but I thought I could put a little effort toward building my own stuff. So I found this great video on $7 terrain from Summon Lesser Maker

Its been awesome! I was able to easily put together something cool with literal cardboard, popsicle sticks, and hotglue in about 3 total hours, but also can see how I can cut time down now that I have a better idea how to do it.

How To Kill A Party In 30 Rooms Or Less

The surprise of this year was working on Designing Dungeons with the creator of His Majesty the Worm Josh McCrowell. It was nice to work on a project to help advance the scene in terms of help maintain dungeons at the center of fantasy adventure gaming bit via a d20 or “d78”.

The project was kicked off by recognizing that while there were many different resources on being a game master, few of them really dung into what makes dungeons work. Furthermore, there were really 0 resources that were easy to access (free) that help people understand how to make a playable dungeon in just a few steps. A lot of this information is spread across many different blog posts. Easy to find if you know the scene, much harder if you are just starting out. Many kudos to Josh who was the engine behind this!

A related surprise was being asked to be on the Direct Sun podcast featuring Puzzle Dungeons! Also a really cool experience and wonderful to get an opportunity to rep the Dungeon Design course as well as hopefully provide a useful perspective to designing getting their own creation out into the world. Its a nice series to check out!

The Horrid Halls of Nightwick Abbey

Of course, I won’t close a review of 2025 without reflecting on the fantastic experience that is Miranda’s Nightwick Abbey. As a player, I have now delved this devil-besotted place 137 times. As a DM, I have run it for 46 sessions. Still one of the best megadungeons out there, and if this blog piques your interest in this hell-haunted place, then get thee to the Patreon!

NEW BUSINESS

So how do I frame 2026?

• Finish keying Dyson’s eastern third of Winter Tombs as a Dolmenwood-themed dungeon

  • Run it as a “Friday Night” Family & Friends D&D game

  • Post it here on the blog as an example of “playable but not perfect.”

• Complete a full 2 X 2 wargame board; that’s four 1x1 boards

• Paint a skirmish band (5 dudes + 1 “dog”)

• Play a game of Forbidden Psalms 28 mixed with Mordheim

• Run a game of Daisy Chainsaw

• Run a game of Stay Frosty

• Post 52 times in 2026, which is at least 1/week

• Get the “wine dungeon” published in some form

Cheers! 🥂

This series has been really good with videos featuring the likes of Arnold K, Gus L, Nick LS Whelen, and my Designing Dungeons co-creator Josh McCrowell

Click the image below to go to the video!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! In my last post, I blogged about what I gave for the 2025 Secret Santicorn. On this day of gift-giving, I wanted to post what I received.

My ask was for: Specific level titles for 4th level, and the requirements to earn them. I think you’ll agree my Secret Santicorn delivered!

Thank you again Anon!

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The Nightwatch by Rembrandt
An amazing work which is huge!

I participated in the “Purple OSR”’s 2025 Secret Santicorn and received the prompt “Never Meet Your Heroes: Encountering Infamous Adventurers”. I interpreted these NPCs through the lens of a home setting I’m rolling around in my head. I also tried to make the NPCs reference each other to give them a more grounded feel. I would stat each NPC as 4th level or 6th level, which is “hero” level by OD&D/Chainmail rules for fighters or magic-users, respectively, and a few of them are most likely best interpreted as 9th level.

Nicolas Bruno part of a tarot card series

Voulo the Unseated Or The Chevalier Who Rides The Unseen Horse

Once a marvelous fighter and regionally known as being unseated in the joust from a very young age, Voulo gained a modest sum for himself as a breeder of fine chargers and coursers. His fame rose to great heights such that he was invited to the 10-year Tourney held by Lord Acard, the Black Wolf himself. During the feast, Voulo received a reading from Ysabel the Seer at the table, via haruspicy, that said his 13th tilt would change the world. And true to the reading, Voulo unknowingly killed the young prince who had entered as a black knight. Not believing it an accident, the prince’s grandmother, a powerful warlock, cursed the knight that very day.

Now, Voulo is hated by all horses and is unseated from all he tries to ride save for the one he travels on to this day. But rumors say the stead he rides, draped in a black funeral shroud so it is unseen, moves via necromancy. Even darker whispers say that its a part of the prince’s soul that animates the animal, and it must be fed meat as one would a pard. This story is usually told when Voulo departs from an area, and the stable hand or innkeeper has gone missing.

Want: To make the soul of the prince leave the horse- no priest has succeeded, he slew the last one

Give: Can allow someone to sleep on the “horse” which will carry them to an entrance to the underworld, if they wake during this journey, they will be eaten

Mugwort Seer by Erica Peebus

Ysabel the Seer Or She Who Binds Fates To War

Once a savant with regards to haruspicy of the walking lionfish of the lower lakes, it is said Ysabel washed up on the shore of Lake Brilliant as the child of a naiad. Later, the financiers of Ib put her skills to use by allowing her to lead seven expeditions into the isolated vales of the Copper Kingdoms to the north to find ruins of the serpent empires. On her 8th expedition, Ysabel’s team descended into a shrine of Yg. At the inner chamber, she herself was the only one lithe enough to pass through a crack in the sealed door guarding the chamber. Once in the dark, she took a greatl pearl from the coiled alter of Yg, but reported the chamber was empty when she emerged. And also nursed a feverish bite mark on the back of her neck she told no one about.

Now, Vsabel’s visions have been as clear as ever, however, all of them link any individual seeking a fortune to the on-going Autum War which was touched off by the killing of a minor prince in a joust and a resulting cascade of unlikely involvements, suspicions, double-crosses, and marriages. All foretold by Ysabel before she went into hiding. Her foreign financiers stopped the expeditions but rumors say she’s still on retainer as an agent of chaos. Other stories say people DO seek her out in order to become involved in the war, figuring conflict brings fame and fortune. No one has tallied the success rate.

Want: To know what this “egg”, as she calls it, is and to find the shrine to Yg and to give the pearl back, but can hardly stand to not have it in her hands

Give: Can act as a middleman between contacts in Ib and PCs, will result in money, equipment, and an eventual reading should she be convinced.

Liona Autumn-Song Or She Who Sings To Murderers

Once a changeling of the Autumn Court with a voice that has enchanted 99 lovers over her preternaturally long life. With the unrest in the Summer Lands, monsters drew forth from the forgotten places to feast on the distracted population. Since many heroes have gone off to fight the war, Liona found a new stage as a pacifier of monsters. Her songs enchanted them to lay at her feet as would a lamb and eventually saunter off back into the woods. Her fame has quickly risen among the villages and towns along the rivers of the land. Even the clergy praise her non-violent ways as a shining example of virtue.

Now people ask, but never in the earshot of Liona or her many admirers, why the cattle, sheep, goats, and occasional shepherd that go missing where she stays? And why is Liona moved toward the mysterious war that has taken over the lands? She claims she will sing the kings to sleep, but she can’t be that arrogant. The source of this woe, hidden among the smiles, is three monsters that stalk Liona like jealous former lovers. They shadow her life as personifications of ill-fortune. Liona’s gift does not allow her to kill the monsters, and their oppressive presence has worn her down, so she has started working as a mercenary on the side, directing these vicious maws toward whatever she was hired to do all the while promising each of them in confidence she will be their beloved.

Want: To find a way to kill the monsters following her- three manticores named Demetrius, Chiron, and Alarbus

Give: For a price, she is happy to travel to a battle or fight and let the monsters do the work, she hopes someone will kill them– so far the beasts are too successful.

Breudrox the Wind Shepard Or They Who Have Forgotten Themselves

Once the Summer Lands were nothing but swamp, however, a clever wizard yoked the four winds and bridled two rivers to turn the land in between them into a fertile delta. This wizard was hailed for this terraforming feat, which made them the premier sorcerer of the kingdom. Breudrox went on to herd the sea inland, pull out the salt, and create the Lake Brilliant which gave rise to the bounty of walking lionfish the region is famous for as well as the sirens’ songs on the wind. As a final act, Breudrox emptied the riches of the earth unto the surface and tamed tongues of fire to melt them. And this brought forth mighty beasts of the underworld for great knights to test themselves against. Then, with these four great works done, Breudrox departed in a great whirlwind!

Now, Breudrox is known as “The Baffled” and appears often in sudden violent thunderstorms seeking effigies, paintings, and statues of himself. Chaos is seemingly sown, then the magus departs again, with or without sought items. Those who can hear the voices of the spirit world know what really happened. The four lordly winds resented their vassal status and sent 8 minor winds to gently blow away Breudrox’s memories of self. The magus now can’t control the four winds and are controlled by them instead, but they are still yoked nonetheless, and so is flung this way and that, driven mad by the howls of delight from the wind lords.

Place Breudrox the Baffled on the wilderness random encounter table as a “very rare” or as rare as a dragon- for instance, a “2” on a 2d6 roll. And there is a 1-in-12 chance Breudrox will appear when mentioned in conversation outdoors.

Want: Any information on the wizard Breudrox: images, statues, books, locations, rumors and prophecies. Any magic-user who starts with Geometry of Unsceen Potencies will be assumed to be a former apprentice of Breudrox’s and subject to interrogation- whether true or not.

Give: If convinced the PC have information, this Baffled will trade one-time use of magic of a 9th-level wizard for said information/wants. The spell must be employed locally, within the hour, and not require anything that is not immediately at hand. The Baffled won’t kill the king, for instance, as that’s just too much trouble/time. If PCs lie, the Baffled will remember and seek revenge next time they meet.

by Zigor Skruggi

Orry the Second-Sword of Fate Or The Left Hand of Winter

Every man, woman, and child around the Lake Brilliant knows the story of Orry or more accurately knows the story of Érard who fought the First Dragon of the Earth. Or the story of Érard who destroyed the scales of Molock. Or the story of Érard who slew the Greater Tarsque of the Valley. Orry, too, was there to in all instances to provide aid, but never quite delivered the killing blow, which was always by Érard’s hand. But Orry was never jealous in the stories, but always willing to play squire to Érard, and in some recountings was a squire. When Érard died, surprisingly, in the opening battle of the Strange War with No Beginning, it was Orry who bore him across the battlefield on a mysterious, shrouded horse. Later, Orry said that he wanted to deliver the great hero to the afterlife himself and bears a frostbitten left hand as a testament to pushing open one of the 13 gates of Death.

Now, Orry travels righting wrongs as the Second Hero of the land, a title he acknowledges with gritted teeth and a tight smile. And it’s true he delivered Érard to the afterlife, but after he slew him with a misericorde made from the coldest ice, which blackened his hand, then melted away. Ever dawn it reappears in his clenched left hand, cold and accusatory. Never again will anyone stand in the way of Orry the Hero. What Orry does not understand is that his fate was born from a bet between the two fay courts for which child could first deliver a world-changing event. He’s made an unknown spirit very rich.

Want: To accomplish great deeds for greater renown and status, and so seeks quests of importance and note throughout the land. To understand why the gods have cursed his fate so.

Give: Orry knows where a great many things are buried or kept as they come to him in dreams. And with the aid of ever-present magical misericorde, Cain, he can deliver a killing blow to most things both flesh and spirit. The problem is he is often driven to a deep jealousy and hatred of allies at the same time. Often turning whatever new found object on former friends.

The Unicorn Renalaut the Splendid Or The Ruin of Innocence

Once a symbol of hope throughout the war-torn lands, this shining avatar of bravery and justice was noted for its ability to cut down the villainous and champion the downtrodden. Renalaut often chooses riders from among the youth of the troubled delta villages. Renalaut fills their hearts with courage and hardens them against the fear of death all to rally the common people to a cause! These various irregular bands of Renalaut are the subjects of many new ballads in the lands as all of them are noted for their remarkable achievements.

Now, what those who were there will say is that there are never survivors of Renalaut’s irregulars save for the unicorn Renalaut, lamenting the death of the latest rider-martyr. Even the famous singer Autum-Song can’t remember one song sung about Renalaut where the rider lived. It is rumored the unicorn’s latest “victim” was a young prince who posed as a black knight for a joust. Others say this is because Renalaut values the eager and wide-eyed over the skilled. And while the unicorn fills their head with grandeur and goals it neglects to mention the hounds of ruin track which stalk the unicorn– not metaphorically, this is the curse that was placed upon Renalaut.

Want: To be the vanguard for truth, justice, and glory! To help right great wrongs. To vanquish great evil! Bring peace to the common folk of the land! To find a rider of true purpose, clarity, and purity.

Give: All the powers of a talking unicorn, plus the public renown that legendary status can bring.

I find it easier to be creative when I have a prompt or some starting point rather than a blank slate. Its a seed from which ideas spring. And once again public domain (not AI) provides!

Here are a (convenient) d20 heraldic shields which, while lacking historic accuracy, certainly contain easy icon imagery which can be the basis for your next kingdom or set of kingdoms. I like that we have a solid mix of mythic animals, astrological images, crosses, wheels, and tools.

Given that some of these icons are very similar, it is easy to imagine a few are related houses or united through marriage. Or roll 2d20 and mix two icons together. If you get the same one, have them be inverted colors representing a past rivalry now united into one house or bloodline-- or a recent split!

If you own Dolmenwood like I do, perhaps these could also be additional minor nobility under each of the larger houses in the setting. Dolmenwood’s heraldic images are only a little more complex so again these 20 would fit right in.

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While you are planning to carve up the turkey 🦃, here’s how to carve up 🔪 PCs.

Death & dismemberment tables are a bit of table “tech” I return to, because I think they are a nice middle ground between killing PCs off at 0 hp and allowing players to potentially save a good stat line (low levels) or a beloved character (high levels).

It also has the knock-on effect of forcing players to run 2+ characters, and gives additional reason for keeping a calendar. After all, how do you know your injured leg is healed in 6 weeks if you don’t track time?

One thing I’ve never been happy about is that most tables I’ve looked at have a much larger sub-table to deal with injuries. I, for some reason, hate rolling on it and always desire a more immediate result. Also, if they lose a hand or whatnot after they leave the dungeon, its hard, but not impossible, to rationalise how they made it out without bleeding out.

It should always be noted, though, that these sorts of tables will decrease the lethality of the game despite their scary-sounding name.

I decided to mainly affect attributes and saves because they are “chunky” pieces of the game that players can see and that have far-reaching mechanical effects, which I think better mimics the loss of a hand or foot than actually putting “loses hand/foot” on the table.

Here, I also included one result that gives a Darkest Dungeon resolve moment. That is always one of my favourite moments in the game.

DEATH & INJURY

Roll 1d10 on the following table when a PC reaches 0 hp and add any negative hp and CON bonus. For attribute statuses, either (a) lose any bonus or (b) if no bonus, gain a -2.

9 | RESOLVE! Gain 1d4+1 hp and immediately counter-attack!

8 | SHAKEN! Standing with 1 hp, but auto-fail the next 3 saves

7 | VICIOUS BLOW! Go to 1 hp, but go last in initiative order the rest of this combat

6 | BRUSH WITH DEATH! Go to 1 hp, but reduce your max hp by 1d6+1 (no lower than 1)

5 | BONE FRACTURED! Unconscious for 1d6 turns; 1d8 weeks invalid, then roll 1d6 and you are: 1-2 Feebled (STR), 3-4 Off-balance (DEX), 5-6 Sapped (CON) for an additional 1d8 weeks

4 | SKULL FRACTURED! Unconscious for 1d6 turns; 1d8 weeks invalid, then roll 1d6 and you are: 1-2 Concussed (INT), 3-4 Forgetful (WIS), 5-6 Terrorised (CHA) for an additional 1d8 weeks

3 | MORTALLY WOUNDED! Dead in 1d12 rounds unless healing is applied; 2d8 weeks invalid, then increase all saves by +2

2 | FATALY WOUNDED! Dead in 1d6 rounds unless healing is applied; 3d6 weeks invalid, then increase death save by +4

1 | YOU DIED.

0 | GHASTLY DEATH. Oh wow. Geez... So much blood... (All hirelings make a loyalty check)