D&D Story 15: Castle Mistamere

 The audio recording of this interview can be found here I have since talked with my dad again about this adventure recently because i was goin over his old maps of level 3 and 4. I wont reveal all the details here, but basically there was numbering discrepancy and my dad had drawn 2 different version of level 3 and also a mirror image version of level 2 and there were some teleporting dimensional shenanigans involved. And also at one point I drew my own version of level 3 and 4 with bargles final lair and a red dragon. I may up load all these maps at some point in a future post or I may not . .  .

Lance Duncan

OK. We're finishing up the last few modules/adventures. We're going back to the basic rule book from 1983. The DMS guide with Castle Mistamere. The sample, your first game adventure. In the very beginning of the book, we're starting at page 4, right before the adventure, there is a pregame checklist. Did you use that checklist?

Bruce Duncan

Sometimes.

Lance Duncan

It has. It tells you to go through the solo adventure, have all the players do the solo adventure.

Bruce Duncan

Which I did not always do.

Lance Duncan

And have you read the book up to this point? Have you Looked through the rest of the booklet?

Bruce Duncan

Oh yeah, always.

Lance Duncan

What else is on there? Oh, did you give the players the basic background of the adventure.

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

The who, Why, What, where, When

Bruce Duncan

Right, I did. Yes. Always.

Lance Duncan

And then it tells you to set up the, Make sure the characters are ready to go with their equipment, and then choose a caller and a mapper. Before doing this, did you set all that up?

Bruce Duncan

I tried to set a caller and a mapper, but generally speaking, when we were doing this, was when you guys were very young. And so Cassie got nominated for both. Most of the time she did pretty good, but in the later years when we come back to this several times with other people, she wanted them to do it rather than her. And they were never as good as she was, for either.

Lance Duncan

Right. Yeah, I know later we didn't really . . . Cassie did do a lot of the mapping early on. I still have some of them. But yeah, we didn't really do a caller later. As far as I remember. Did you keep an adventure record sheet? Cuz It talks about having an adventure record sheet. Like characters and . . . and anything else.

Bruce Duncan

I did not I, at that time, I was still technically learning how to be a good dungeon master as opposed to what I had been before, and because it was my children I figured, nah, no one’s gonna want to keep the record of this, you guys aren't gonna want to know and all that stuff so I didn't.

Lance Duncan

OK, into the actual adventure. The adventure background. As players did we learn about Gygar, King Gygar, the one who built the castle?

Bruce Duncan

A couple of times I went over brief information about him, But basically, That it was a powerful guy that died years ago.

Lance Duncan

We didn’t never try to find out about him.

Bruce Duncan

One time when you had other people with you, yes you did. But it didn't go very far. Because the information was old and As such, you guys, It wasn't pertaining to anything you did because anything he had was already looted, Mostly. Any loot that would be in there would be from adventurers going in and then getting killed.

Lance Duncan

Right. Did you ever have, like a developed background about him? Some idea?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. I had one, but like I said, we weren't really interested in it at that time. What I had developed was that He was trying to settle the area and he had a friend Who was a Magic-user who thought that he was doing too much and eventually he just left.

Lance Duncan

Well, I think Gygar is supposed to be a magic-user. Yeah, he's “a magic-user named Gygar”.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, but I have the other guy as the Magic-user.

Lance Duncan

Oh OK.

Bruce Duncan

This guy was just a kightish type person who wanted his own kingdom.

Lance Duncan

Right. Or are you mixing this up with B1. Robilar and whats his name.

Bruce Duncan

I am.

Lance Duncan

Or was it Robilar?

Bruce Duncan

Yes, I know what you're talking about, but yes I am mixing the two up.

Lance Duncan

LOL . . . we already talked about That adventure

Bruce Duncan

 we did.

Lance Duncan

No, this is. This is king gygar, it says he had a long and peaceful rule, never named his successor, and so eventually the castle Fell into ruin.

Bruce Duncan

No. Then I never gave you guys background.

Lance Duncan

You know, you know you never came up with something in the back of your head or . . .

Bruce Duncan

No, no. Basically what you said is what I said.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, cause it's just right there, It's like one paragraph and that's it. Did you ever connect the name Gygar to Gary Gygax?

Bruce Duncan

No.

Lance Duncan

Have you up to this point?

Bruce Duncan

Now that you mention it Yes. But I never, I never made that connection.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, it's Frank Mentzers ode to gary gygax. “Gare-Guy” just switched the order, the first syllable of each name. You never connected that.

Bruce Duncan

No, I never did. I can tell you just . . .

Lance Duncan

Oh, So it's so obvious. But you got to know Gary Gygax  is DnD.

Bruce Duncan

Yes

Lance Duncan

He is, He is in the credits here.

Bruce Duncan

Yes, he is, but that, That's a little bit farther stretch than I went with. Yeah, I didn't pay that much attention To it.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, there's a lot of other things like that, like Gary Gygax name gets twisted around So much in these modules.

Bruce Duncan

I’ll bet.

Lance Duncan

Oh, and then it says we meet at the Gold Dragon Inn.

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

So I don't think we mentioned. I don't think we ever went over this. So was the gold dragon inn in luln or threshold because You did have this Adventure next to luln, but Did you Have, did You specifically have the gold Dragon inn in luln

Bruce Duncan

I had the Gold dragon inn in luln, among a few other places that are noted in that module. I had all my adventures start in luln.

Lance Duncan

Yeah at first. Yeah, after a while we started doing threshold, but.

Bruce Duncan

Right. No, no, no. One started in threshold.

Lance Duncan

No, We had a couple players in threshold BCS.

Bruce Duncan

I don't remember them. The ones I remember are down in The city with an “S.”

Lance Duncan

Specularum

Bruce Duncan

Yeah

Lance Duncan

“Spectrolum” LOL . . . maybe I should change the name to Spectrolum, just to make fun of it

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. Yes, good idea.

Lance Duncan

But Specularum has, What was it? Greek roots? No Specularum is roman. it's karameikos that’s Greek . . .

Lance Duncan

We were talking about The name of Specularum.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. So Karameikos is literally. You change an A to an E somewhere in there. I forget where, but it's literally a pottery district outside of Athens, in the suburbs of Athens.

Bruce Duncan

Cool.

Lance Duncan

There's some interesting history behind it. But Specularum Is a Latin word. Comes from the same root Where we get spectacles, for glasses

Bruce Duncan

Oh really?

Lance Duncan

Yeah. So it's Specularum, depending on what translation you go with, can mean watchtower

Bruce Duncan

That would be a good name for it at that location.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, exactly. But it would be a funny  to change that to spectrolum because you always mispronounce it.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, that would be fun.

Lance Duncan

As far as names of other places Luln, I could never find, I've never been able to find anything. Never seen anything on the Internet of where the word Luln comes from. It May have just been made-up.

Bruce Duncan

I remember reading An adventure somewhere and it started in the town of Luln and I thought that would be a good name for an adventurers town.

Lance Duncan

I don't think any official adventure starts in luln

Bruce Duncan

What was the name of the town where the elf?

Lance Duncan

I know I’m saying it wrong too.

Bruce Duncan

Where, where the elf and the Sword of truth?

Lance Duncan

That's farstead.

Bruce Duncan

farstead OK. No, but there was an adventure that started in the town of Luln and I just don't remember What adventure it was.

Lance Duncan

I'd have to go through, it might be in one of the Dragon Adventures or dungeon. I don't think there is because I, I don't know. And I know I'm pronouncing it wrong. It's supposed to be like “luuuln” or something because it's L U L N.

Bruce Duncan

Now that might be. right

Lance Duncan

And I just say “luhn” because it's.

Bruce Duncan

Because it's what you were brought up with.

Lance Duncan

Well, I don't think you ever. I don't remember how you used to say it.

Bruce Duncan

I always called it “luhn”.

Lance Duncan

Did you?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, you know, me and pronunciations and spellings and.

Lance Duncan

Well, yeah, well, well, also I see L U L N. I’m Like how am I supposed to pronounce that?  I'm just going to say “luhn”.

Bruce Duncan

You darn American.

Lance Duncan

Yeah I'm american I can say whatever. So gold Dragon inn is in luln and I can use that, I can make that another company for the adventuring Guild. so it’d be the Gold Dragon Company . . .

Bruce Duncan

Well, The thing is, in luln, the people there don't know about . . .

Lance Duncan

Well, when I'm running that adventure, there 'd be the Gold Dragon Company centered in Luln. The Green ale Company Central in the Imperial City.

Bruce Duncan

OK. Right.

Lance Duncan

And the shady dragon, cause there's a shady dragon inn, in threshold.

Bruce Duncan

OK, yeah.

Lance Duncan

And as far as other places, I haven't decided yet. But that gives me a minimum of three. I need more.

Bruce Duncan

The drunk dragon is this in Dragon City.

Lance Duncan

Well, no, they all, so they all have a base in the Dragon City, but they also have a main base of operations in a specific city. They Each have a claim to a city and it's environs. So Luln, threshold, the imperial city, Specularum, Ylaruam . . .

Bruce Duncan

OK. Yeah.

Lance Duncan

I just don't have names for some of these other places and I have To figure out which places have places, you know.

Bruce Duncan

OK.

Lance Duncan

Like I haven't decided if they’ve gone out to Glantri yet or not.

Bruce Duncan

No, I don't think so.

Lance Duncan

Well, this is in the future

Bruce Duncan

Yeah But nothing in what I did.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, but this gives me a name for the one in Luln. And a reason to have one in luln. OK, on to the adventure on page five. The carrion crawler. I know we kind of talked about this in other times, We mentioned this, but just Going over it.  Were we always surprised by the carrying crawler?

Bruce Duncan

There was one time you guys weren't. The surprise check came out that you were not surprised and so the way I narrated that up was. You guys could see that there was a hole underneath the door. And one of you was suspicious of a hole underneath a door that's laying on The ground. And so you had someone go up and check. Tap on the door and around the hole, but the rest of you were at ready with all your weapons. And there was enough damage that he didn't get to do anything other than show His face.

Lance Duncan

Right. Anyway, Did we, when we encountered the carrion crawler, did we usually kill it or put it to sleep? because it mentions that we can use a sleep spell to defeat it. ever did. Of us ever die from the carrion crawler.

Bruce Duncan
No one ever thought of the sleep spell, ever
Lance Duncan

Did any Of us ever die from the carrion crawler?

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

Because it's got eight attacks a round, Paralyzes you, And then just eats you.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. Someone did die once. Luckily, it was a npc that went along with you guys.

Lance Duncan

Yeah.

Bruce Duncan

So no big loss.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, I killed a whole party at least once with The carrying crawler.

Bruce Duncan

A whole party with just one carrion crawler!

Lance Duncan

Yeah. It's got 8 attacks a round, dad!

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. Generally speaking, it goes after one at A time, though.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. And other times I was nicer and I had it, once The first person was down it started eating that one person and ignoring everyone else.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, that's normally how a carrion crawler would work.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, it depends how experienced the players are.

Bruce Duncan

That too, yeah.

Lance Duncan

you know, the, I had already run these players, they were still first Or second level. I think they might have all been second or third level, I don't know, but, so I was like, well, this isn't your first adventure, so. Here's what, the carrion crawler kills you off. You know, paralyzed, paralyzed, paralyzed . . .

Bruce Duncan

Ohh, you're worse than, you're worse As far as killing people than I was as far as giving things away.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, yeah, it depends who I'm playing with.

Bruce Duncan

Ohh! Prejudiced, I see

Lance Duncan

Yeah, I mean It's not like it was smart or anything, its Just like, you know, someones hitting me, I’m gonna hit them back. You know?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, yeah.

Lance Duncan

You know, I mean, if they had left it alone, they would’a just eatin’ the one person that Was left there,

Bruce Duncan

which is what I Normally have it do

Lance Duncan

you know if everyone else runs away. Then it's, You know, it's got its meal, It's not going to chase you. But you know, if you keep attacking it, what do you expect? You know. And how can you compete with eight attacks a round? LOL

Bruce Duncan

Send one dummy in to check it out and the rest of you are armed.

Lance Duncan

Again, you've got to be smart for that

Bruce Duncan

No, you gotta make your surprise check.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, OK. So did the party usually try to go through the main gate that was Shut, or tried to go through the hole in the wall off To the side?

Bruce Duncan

most of the time you guys went through the main gate, or tried to. But as always, the main gate.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, the kobolds are supposed to be holding it shut. But like, did we try, and then not do that.

Bruce Duncan

Well, a couple of times you guys tried to bash through the kobolds and were able to. But in doing so, the kobolds back aways were Able to start, They had their first shot at you guys. But only a couple of times Did you guys actually make the effort to go check out the holes along the wall before you went inside

Lance Duncan

Yeah. Then there's the peep hole too, where we can look through before we go through the big giant hole.

Bruce Duncan

Right.

Lance Duncan

Oh, and did you have, while we were discussing how to get in, did you have time pass? Like it says if, Oh yeah, it says, One minute of talking equals one round.

Bruce Duncan

Right, I did have that.

Lance Duncan

Did you sit to that strictly, or just in general?

Bruce Duncan

Just in general

Lance Duncan

OK. Cause that's an interesting way to interpret it. If people are making plans, you go OK, its Been a minute, Well, now it's been a round of combat.

Bruce Duncan

Right

Lance Duncan

Yeah, if you stick to that in game rules specifically, that'd be interesting.

Bruce Duncan

 After you kids were More experienced in how to play the game, If I felt you were taking too much time talking with each other, that's how I played it. This one, We never played it with everybody being of a Experienced level. There was always someone that was not experienced in the Game.

Lance Duncan

Really?

Bruce Duncan

Yep

Lance Duncan

because I know we did this several times, more than probably anything else.

Bruce Duncan

Yes, You did. And that's why I kept introducing new stuff in it. Like dust bunnies and other things of that nature.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. So when we got through the hole or the gate, was anyone ever killed by the kobolds?

Bruce Duncan
No.

Lance Duncan
I've had people killed by the kobolds. Not, not . . .

Bruce Duncan
the kobolds!?!

Lance Duncan
Yeah, usually only one person. It's really the carrion crawler thats the deadly thing.

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

But yeah.

Bruce Duncan

Kobolds?

Lance Duncan

Yeah exactly. The kobold are,

Bruce Duncan
theyre lame

Bruce Duncan

 They're pathetic. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, usually I wouldn't even roll hit points for the kobolds. I mean, well, I think it has the hit points listed here, but other times when I have people encounter kobolds I usually Don't roll hit points. Did we ever capture one of the Kobolds?

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

 OK. So it goes through a little scenario of if we let him go to show us where he is, he'll run off and run into the castle.

Bruce Duncan

Actually you scared most of them most of The time back into the castle, only once did you get one, and that was when you guys had scouted around And tried to see where everything was, and rather than go through the big hole, you guys threw a grappling hook up on this on this edge at this corner

Lance Duncan

We went over the wall. The right corner

Bruce Duncan

On this edge, and were able to come along the wall And shoot down At everybody, and one survived. Just one. And you guys interrogated him before you dispatched him.

Lance Duncan

OK. Yeah, cause, if we're careful. He's supposed to lead us to some treasure. His little treasure spot

Bruce Duncan

He said he was gonna lead you to treasure, and when he led you there, the treasure was booby trapped. That's how I did it different.

Lance Duncan

And then at the end of the, because you know at the beginning, it's like a step by step thing like a choose your own adventure, and then it says, after they go through once then you can have them go back and do the scenarios

Bruce Duncan

Right, right. Yeah

Lance Duncan

Did you do that for each group?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, kind of sorta.

Lance Duncan

or did you just explain what could Have happened?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, I explained What would happened if you'd have done this. But that was Like you guys first couple of times through this. Each time having a Different person that had never played before. So I explained if you'd have done it this way, this Could have happened. that kind of thing.

Lance Duncan

Okay. So on page nine, which room was this? I Think it's this one?

Bruce Duncan

The bedroom?

Lance Duncan

Yeah, Well, there's two bedrooms. The number’s 25. Yeah. So this, the first bedroom room, room 25. You have to make a save or Else you go to sleep on the bed.

Bruce Duncan

Right.

Lance Duncan

Did anyone ever fall prey to that?

Bruce Duncan

Yep.

Lance Duncan

And then in room twenty six, you can wake up on the other bed.

Bruce Duncan

Right. But then I had.

Lance Duncan

And also I remember there were dust bunnies in some of Those bedrooms.

Bruce Duncan

Right, depending on how you guys were playing, that would determine which bed had the dust bunnies,

Lance Duncan

Right. Well, it has. I think it's this one. Yeah, if you. If if you're tickled on the bed, the bed will magically sneeze and it causes the mold to fly into the air And I think that's where you have dust bunnies.

Bruce Duncan

Yes. The thing is, with the dust bunnies. As long as you did not disturb them They were not a threat. and Spraying water or liquid on them Only slowed them down, But if that liquid was flammable. good news. As long as you weren't in the room when they were. Because once you start a dust Bunny on fire, they begin to run all over the place, leaving burning bits all over the place.

Lance Duncan

Right. I think I'm going to skip the harpy room or the dining hall for now, because that's something you're not supposed to do until your second level.

Bruce Duncan

OK. Right

Lance Duncan

So, Which room was it? Let me look at the map. So 27 is dining  hall, so 31 would be the Trap room. Yeah. So the trap room, there's a . . .

Bruce Duncan

Which one? I need to see the map . . . Oh yeah.

Lance Duncan

So there's a log Tied on a rope and pulley system above a treasure chest, which the kobolds haven't disturbed cuz they're afraid that they're gonna you know, open the treasure chest and get hurt. but it's a fake trap, The trap isn’t actually hooked to the treasure chest at all.

Bruce Duncan

Actually, I had it hooked to the treasure chest. But you guys were so Alert that you could see how the trap worked. And anybody with half a brain could disarm it.

Lance Duncan

Right, right. Yeah.

Bruce Duncan

Sometimes though, when I had you doing that, I had it stuck. And you guys think it was safe and you go closer and then it unstuck.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, because how its Set up. There's a large log in the center of the room. One end is on the floor, but the other end is held up by a strong rope which runs through Hooks in the ceiling going to the floor tied to the chest, So the rope is tied to the chest, which is on the floor directly below the upraisedlog, If the rope is cut, the Log falls smashing the chest and scattering the contents. But the lid of the chest is not held by the rope and it can be opened. So as long as you leave the rope alone, you can open it and the kobolds see the log and the rope and they just stay away from it. But a smart adventurer,  you can do like, “um What?”

Bruce Duncan

Exactly! But . . .

Lance Duncan

Yeah. But you had it actually connected to it.

Bruce Duncan

No, I had it connected as this says.

Lance Duncan

Oh, OK.

Bruce Duncan

And you guys, you know, it might be an old rope, It might give way at any minute. and You guys would try and go up and disarm it so that no matter what you’d Safe, but sometimes I’d play a little trick on you and it was fun.

Lance Duncan

Right. Yeah. And it's only like five hundred. it's not even any gold.

Bruce Duncan

No, it's not.

Lance Duncan

Then. There is fifty gold,  five hundred silver, fifty gold and a gem.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, but The gem is what you guys were after.

Lance Duncan

Yeah,  it must be apretty small chest. That's got to be like. Maybe less than a foot wide to each side.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. what I used to call a Pound chest.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Realistically Treasure chests aren't ever that big. I mean to hold realistic coins.

Bruce Duncan

No, I would, in modern day I would call it a jewelry chest.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, exactly.

Bruce Duncan

And it's not a chest, it's Jewelry Box.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, yeah. So the statue room 32. where is that on the map? . . . The one with the statue.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, into the dining room.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. So 32 . . . Has the statue that spins and will hit you. did anyone fall prey to that?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, usually. The thing is Once you saw it spinning the once, you were pretty much aware of it and all You have to do is duck LOL

Lance Duncan

Yeah. Just stay away from it. And then there's Zombies. So there's two rooms of zombies, 35 and 34. I remember, I'm not sure, I'm pretty sure it was this dungeon, but I'm not quite sure. I remember a situation where there were zombies chasing us and we couldn't get them to stop, like we cut off their arms and their arms would still chase us. And so like, we like barricaded the door and the zombies were pounding on the door and stuff. And we were scared because these were the type of zombies that have the maggots and stuff, right? Which I'm going to ask more about later, but. Like was this this dungeon? You remember that situation?

Bruce Duncan

On one of your times through. Yes, most of the times through, No, they weren't Those type of zombies.

Lance Duncan

Because I remember, I was pretty sure it was this one that I remember that specific situation. where it was like we were running through different rooms trying, because we were faster than the zombies, but they wouldn't stop, no matter what we put in Their way. Like eventually it would get through the door too.

Bruce Duncan

That might have been our last adventure in here. Which is why you might have remembered it. And. I also remember in that adventure you guys knew about the kobolds in the watch room, down the stairs, and you were able to adjust your running so that the zombies then saw the kobolds.

Lance Duncan

Right. Well, maybe that was it.

Bruce Duncan

And that's how you got away from them.

Lance Duncan

Well, cause your special zombie, with the bugs and maggots and all that. Like We didn't want to get up close because then we'd get infected,  Arrows didn't really do anything because arrows to a dead body, really.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah.

Lance Duncan

You know, and we didn't have any Special weapons like holy water or flammable things, and so we couldn't do anything. We probably didn’t Have a cleric either so we couldn't turn them. Otherwise we would just turn them, right?

Bruce Duncan

No.

Lance Duncan

So yeah, so, I mean, I remember we specifically didn't have the right tools to fight zombies. And So that's why we were scared of them, and we were running.

Bruce Duncan

And especially those zombies.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, yeah. But that was this one probably.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, it was. Like I said, it was probably the last time you guys had ventured into that adventure.

Lance Duncan

Sure. OK. So let's talk about the dining, now that we've talked about the first level.

Bruce Duncan

OK.

Lance Duncan

We can just go.

Bruce Duncan

The harpies.

Lance Duncan

OK, so the dining room, so the harpies. So I know we mentioned this before, but you're not supposed to be even be able to open the doors to the dining room. Until You’re second level. Did you stick to that rule?

Bruce Duncan

Yes.

Lance Duncan

Strictly? like there was no way we could outsmart the second level rule?

Bruce Duncan

There had to be at least one person that was second level. Generally speaking, if one person made it to second level, there were at least two others.

Lance Duncan

OK. Right. But if we were all first level, you just, there was no way we could Open the Doors. OK, cause Last time I ran this, they took the log from the from the trap room and used it as a battering ram.

Bruce Duncan

Well, that would do the job, I never Thought of that

Lance Duncan

Yeah. And so I was like, well, yeah, that'll open the door, I’m Not gonna . . .

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, no one ever thought of that.

Lance Duncan

But we never tried something like that, like burning down the door, or something creative.

Bruce Duncan

No, you guys never did. No, no.

Lance Duncan

Or using wizard knock

Bruce Duncan

Yeah.

Lance Duncan

We didn't do that.

Bruce Duncan

No.

Lance Duncan

So we were all second level, So then we probably had, well second level doesn't even, you never get better Saves at second level either anyway.

Bruce Duncan

No you don't.

Lance Duncan

So how did we deal with the harpies? Cause the same situation where they battered the doors down, they all failed their Saves. Well, all except for one. And he didn't have much choice By that point

Bruce Duncan

yeah. Several different scenarios happened. the Very first time you guys came in there. You had enough girls in the group That were, it was easier for Girls to save on harpies than it is for guys. So because you had the girls, you had three girls. They were actually able to dispatch the harpies.

Lance Duncan

Even though the guys were charmed?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, well the girls saw the harpies and immediately went into battle mode. And the guys were just kind of going uhhhh… You know, decide what are you going to do, and by the time they had actually made a decision which both of them had failed, The girls had already taken care of the harpies.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. OK.

Bruce Duncan

That was the first Time.

Lance Duncan

That was the first time.

Bruce Duncan

And after that I kept making the harpies a little stronger because the players were a little stronger.

Lance Duncan

right.

Bruce Duncan

So the last time, Which was right after you guys figured out About the Treasure chest and that there was a door that way into the room with the harpies. And you guys Specifically made the girls go first. Because the girls were elf, thief, And cleric.

Lance Duncan

well elves are immune to it anyway, aren't they?

Bruce Duncan
 right

Lance Duncan

Elves are immune to  . . . or something, or they get a plus to save, I don't know.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, they get a plus, A big plus.

Lance Duncan

Right.

Bruce Duncan

So anyway, the last time you guys went in from the treasure Room in there, and The elf was able to put an arrow in Both of them. Not killing blows, but definitely it hurt them enough where they would not be able to affect the guys and the guys then came in and slashed them to pieces.

Lance Duncan

Oh and did they, cuz I think the Harpies have an escape right up the chimney. Did They ever run away?

Bruce Duncan

They do if they’re fast enough. If they see that they're not going to save it.

Lance Duncan

Right. Did they ever actually get out?

Bruce Duncan

They started, on one adventure They started going that way, and as they were going up the chimney, someone got underneath and started shooting arrows up the chimney, and killed them that way. They did not escape. Ever.

Lance Duncan

And, right, so after the harpies are dead. There's the yellow mold on the Dining table. Were we ever tricked by the yellow mold?

Bruce Duncan

Two times. Yeah, the first time, And then you guys always remembered the yellow mold

Lance Duncan

We always knew what yellow mold was. So we were always careful . . . because I remember always being . . .

Bruce Duncan

But It was always the new person that did not know.

Lance Duncan

Yeah, I always, Yeah, it's like every time we see gold goblets or plates or anything. I was like, no gold, no matter what it was, where we were. Yeah. We never actually carried ten foot poles with us, but from how we played, we should have.

Bruce Duncan

No. Yes. It would have been a lot safer.

Lance Duncan

I mean we always had quarter staves and Spears, or whatever that we used or the end of our bow or whatever. But yeah, we should have carried a ten foot pole with us. So the yellow mold . . .

Bruce Duncan

Well, Picking up a coin and throwing it Worked a lot.

Lance Duncan

Yeah. So the lower levels, so basically it just gives you a list of monsters and the map and you can place it however you want. And I've lost your key. I Thought, you know I had saved it and I saved it on purpose, And I have no idea what happened to it now.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, the first of the lower levels.

Lance Duncan

It gives you a list of monsters to place and stuff.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, and I placed every single one of them and Some rooms were empty.

Lance Duncan

And sometimes we changed it. It wasn't always the same key for the same level.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, that's true. But that was my first time in developing a preset dungeon, and I did it several different ways. Each time it was different

Lance Duncan

And I've still got your maps for the lower levels for like three and four.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah. Lower than this . . .

Lance Duncan

But Again, I lost the key.

Bruce Duncan

Oh darn.

Lance Duncan

So on That, that's the map with a Blue Dragon on it.

Bruce Duncan

Right.

Lance Duncan

Did, but, it suggests putting a red dragon in the bottom. Did you put a blue dragon on purpose, or?

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, because they aren't as bad As a red dragon.

Lance Duncan

Oh, so you made it a little less strong, cause blue Dragon is still pretty strong.

Bruce Duncan

It is, but at least the Blue Dragon is not ready to kill you immediately.

Lance Duncan

Right, because they're neutral.

Bruce Duncan

Right. And also because I did not have an adult blue dragon.

Lance Duncan

Oh, you put it in as a . . .

Bruce Duncan

It Was an adolescent. And He had been deposited there when he was a baby and you guys were able to actually help him get out.

Lance Duncan

Right, It also suggests putting, making the lower levels bargle’s lair, you know from the from the solo adventure Bargle, the Magic user, who kills Alena. It also suggests putting him down there. Did you ever do that?

Bruce Duncan

I did once.

Lance Duncan

I don't remember meeting him.

Bruce Duncan

Well, I didn't do it for you guys, but I did it Back in Claremont with our other buddies, My other buddies, and they were able to actually track him down, Take him out.

Lance Duncan

So he's dead.

Bruce Duncan

Well, he's not just dead. His body was taken back to the city.

Lance Duncan

But again, that was another, That was the other group Before, so not playing with us, so I can change that.

Bruce Duncan

Right, right.

Lance Duncan

But we never actually met Bargle as far as that . . .

Bruce Duncan

No.

Lance Duncan

I mean outside of us doing The solo adventure.

Bruce Duncan

Right.

Lance Duncan

Which I don't think all of us did anyway. I don't know. So that's pretty much all my questions, Do you remember anything else about the lower levels or anything else?

Bruce Duncan

There was a rust monster in there that you guys seem to always have a problem with.

Lance Duncan

Well there’s a rust monster in the solo adventure.

Bruce Duncan

Yes. And because you always had a problem with the Rust Monster, I always put them in there. To see, if you guys could overcome him, and more often than not, you guys would just run away. But there was one time you were actually able to dispatch him. But it was from magic arrows and magic spells, That you were able to do that. And it saved all your weapons Because of that. Always before you guys would start losing your weapons and would have to flee because you didn't have anything to play them with.

Lance Duncan

I guess, unless you have anything else to say, I guess that covers it for today.

Bruce Duncan

Yeah, I think the Rest Monster was the most fun for me.

Lance Duncan

Awesome. LOL All right, till next time.

 

 

 

The Known World: The Skandaharians part 2

 Continuing from the last post post, we explore the second Skandaharian branch the Antalians as they  became a hardened warrior people in the cold north. The sight of their longships has for generations been a cause of fear on the high seas  and among the rich coastal lands of the south.

The Antalians

Following the Great Rain of Fire, the Antalians(equivalent to the Ancient Norse) traveled north avoiding the frozen glaciers and mountains further inland until they reached the Great Bay where they took refuge from the harsh northern seas. Over the next few centuries the Antalians spread out covering the entirety of the Northern Lowlands, around where the modern Great Bay is now, and along the coast all the way down to modern Landfall. Many Antalian kingdoms rose and fell and warred with each other and the Giant and Dragon kingdoms in the mountains. 

After many centuries of Antalian preeminence in the region the great Orc horde of Loark shattered the southern kingdoms and leaving few survivors who fled to join their northern brethren in the Northern Lowlands. The remaining Antalians in the north took centuries to rebuild and they became a more united people of common culture known as the Norsenians(equivalent to the Old Norse). At this point there were no kings or great lords, only small scattered tribes and homesteads trying to scrape out a living from the dark northern seas, and interdependence among the people became essential to their survival. 

During this period many Norsenians seeking a new life settled an island far to the north, which they named Kat-har after a stowaway cat on a longship. For nearly two thousand years the Kattes(as they called themselves) were isolated in the cold north with minimal contact between them and their cousins on the mainland, developing their own unique though parallel language and customs(equivalent to Old Gutnish). And then the conquering Alphatians arrived. The Alphatians viewed Kat-har as a backwards island not worth the resources required to subjugate the people there, but also would not deign to consider the small island capable of governing itself. A compromise was reached with the King of the island to avoid bloodshed, resulting in the King swearing allegiance to Alphatia and agreeing to send yearly tributes to the Empire. Over the centuries, the island has been a backward province of the Empire and been mostly left to itself. Due to Alphatian influence the culture and language of the island has evolved, and the island is now known as Quedhar and the people as the Quedish(equivalent to Faro Gutnish).

The Alfish

After half a millennium of Norsenian growth and recolonization of the southern Coasts disaster struck. The sea gods poured out their wrath on the north as glaciers melted and great tidal waves washed away many settlements. The land bridge between the continent and the isle of dawn sunk beneath the waves, the shoreline of Norwold retreated creating many fjords at the edges of the mountains, the Northern Lowlands became flooded as the sea rushed in and created the Great Bay. This great flood separated the surviving Norsenians in the north around the Great Bay from those in the south along the deteriorated coastline. Those in the north became known as the Alfish tribes(equivalent to the Old East Norse) while those in the south along the coast came to be called the Norwold tribes(equivalent to the Old West Norse) by their southern neighbors. 

In the north the Alfish people gathered on the peninsula of Alfmark(i.e. Alpha to modern Thyatians) and the surrounding lands to the south and west, forming many petty kingdoms over the centuries. In AC 12 a group of refugees from the Thang empire came to the land of Alfmark, and with many Alfish outcasts and lowlifes built the city of Alfa which quickly became the preeminent trade hub in the region. Virtually any Thang influence has died out as all the Thang refugees comingled with the natives and became assimilated to the Alfish culture. Nearly half a millennia after the founding of Alfa the Alphatian Empire invaded the Great Bay. After many years of warfare against incredible odds Alfish tribes defeated the Alphatians. The City of Alfa played a key part in this war, and afterwards many of the tribes of the Great Bay pledged fealty to the new King of Alfmark who made his capitol the City of Alfa. 

After the Great Flood many Alfish tribes migrated to the west instead of remaining near Alfmark. Over the next few centuries they warred with the orc tribes in the western mountains until most of the orcs were driven out of the valleys, which were in turned settled by the Alfish. In the year BC 300 a legion from the Thang empire was cut off from home in the far north; a small Alfish tribe saved them from the depths of a cold winter. The legion and the small tribe together began to broker alliances with other Alfish tribes, or where resistance was met, conquered them. This new empire, the Kingdom of Alinor, among the western mountains experienced a meteoric rise and came to dominate the region. As the soldiers of the legion grew old they settled down with Alfish women and passed on the reigns of power Alfish comrades. From this point the Alfish people became culturally divided between the east and west: the Alinish of the west(equivalent to Early Old Swedish) and the Alfish of the east(equivalent to Early Middle Danish). The kingdom of Alinor was destroyed only a generation later during a series of devastating earthquakes, yet the cultural memory of the kingdom remains with the Alinish people to this day. Over the centuries many Alinish traders and warriors went north among the barbarians north of the Great Bay. There a great kingdom was established which still exists in the form of the northern Empire of Cezavy, yet the Alfish conquerors quickly assimilated into the local culture, so that story belongs to another people. 

The Norwolders

In the south the Norwoldic people scattered among the fjords, hills, and isles of the eastern coast. They continued to live as their ancestors, being simple farmers and fishermen, while some few traded journeyed on long voyages to the south for trade or sometimes plunder. In the middle of the second century BC many Norwold tribesmen were overrun by Gothic invaders from the south who in turn were fleeing from a horde of Goblinoids. After this event a traditional boundary was formed at the Saffir river between the Norwoldic people of the north and Nordurlanders of the south. 

In the year AC 250 many raiders, or "Vikings" of Norwold began voyaging to and plundering the rich lands of the south including the Isle of Dawn, the green isles of Ostland, the lowlands of Vestland, and even as far south as the rich cities of Thyatis. These raiders set up temporary camps on the northern isles of dawn and these camps eventually transformed into a stronghold called Helskir(equivalent to Dublin). Over the centuries this settlement has expanded and conquered much of the island becoming the modern day Kingdom of Helskir, and the Norwold descended people speak their own dialect of Helska(equivalent to Old Faroese). 

The Kingdom of Helskir was not to be the only conquest of the Norwoldic people. In AC 400 Cnute the Bold led the greatest army ever gathered among the Norwoldic people to invade the rich green isles of Ostland to the south. For centuries the Southern lands had been ripe picking for the raiders, or "Vikings" of Norwold, but never before had so ambitious a plan been set in motion, and in a few short months Cnute had set himself up as the new King of Ostland. After his death the sons of Cnute also conquered the Kingdoms of Vestland, excluding Ghyr. For many years the two lands of Ostland and Vestland were ruled by one king, heir to the realm of Cnute, but eventually the tyranny of the king could not be tolerated by his unruly vassals and the Jarls of Vestland revolted. After a long and bloody war a king of Vestland was crowned and a peace established between Ostland and Vestland. The kingdom of Ostland became more isolated and insular over the years so much so that the Norwoldic people there have altered their speech and speak their own specific dialect, Nutish(equivalent to Norn), distinct from the Norwoldic spoken in Vestland and Norwold.

The latest chapter in the legends of the Norwoldic people occurred only 300 years ago. A great leader and shipbuilder, named Heldann, had a vision of a new land where he and his friends could be free from the tyranny of petty kings. He built a fleet of ships and gathered many to his cause. They sailed forth and made landfall in Kamminer Bay south of the Skaufskogr hills. They were almost immediately beset by goblins, but were able to drive them off. Over the next few years many outcasts and Vikings joined with Heldann in driving the goblins from this new land. Since that time the region has come to be known as Heldland and is populated by many freeholds of Norwoldic descent. They suffer no king to rule over them and settle any major disputes at the traditional Althing. The people of Heldland have come to call themselves Heldannic in honor of their national hero and speak their own dialect of Norwoldic(equivalent to Old Icelandic).

The Known World: The Skandaharians part 1

Continuing from the last post, here is the Skandaharian language tree as it developed after the GRoF. The Skandaharians are the equivalent of the Proto-Germans. The Great Rain of Fire decimated the population of the Skandaharians due to their proximity to ancient Blackmoor. Most of the tribes had become subject to the superior civilization of Blackmoor and were destroyed along with it. The few who survived were more primitive hill tribes who occupied the southern hills of modern Heldann. Three major tribes, the Goths, the Antalians, and the Vanitar, formed out of the surviving Skandaharians and expanded into the northern territories as the long winter caused by the GRoF began to subside. 

The Low Goths

As the various Skandaharian tribes scattered among the frozen territories of the north, the Goths remained behind and settled the lowlands of the modern Heldann region. Over time some of the Goth tribes migrated to the fertile mountain valleys of the north, but a portion always remained in Heldann. The different Gothic groups began to separate and evolve over time and those in the lowlands became known as the Low Goths(equivalent to the Ingvaeonic Germans.) while those in the high mountain valleys became known as the High Goths. The Low Goths had some contact with the Dunharians on the Isle of Dawn and the remnants of the Thonian tribes to the south and their culture began to be influenced by both groups over time. They came to call their land Gotland and themselves Gotlanders.  

Over the course of the centuries empires rose in the south, first the Nithians, and then the Thang. Each of these in succession made attempts at incorporating Gotland into their domains but ultimately proved unsuccessful; the wild hills of Gotland proved to be too harsh for the armies of the south. Truth be told, the greatest threat to Gotland was the Mengul goblinoids from the mountains to the west; the goblinoids repeatedly conducted raids on the lowlands, pillaging and destroying homes and fields. A cycle of destruction and rebuilding became the norm among the Gotlanders.

This all changed in BC 160 when a massive horde of Goblinoids came pouring out of the mountains. Many Gotlanders were killed, but many others fled, some north and some south. Those who went north fled to the elves of the Rhien Forest who offered humanitarian aid. With the combined efforts of the elves and the Gotlanders the Goblinoid horde was defeated in a great battle in the Skaufskogr hills. The Goblinoids took possession of all the lands between the Gotland and Skaufskogr hills, while the Gotlanders spread into the lands north of the Skaufskogr hills and Rhien Forest. These Low Goths assimilated the few Antalian tribes living in this southern coastal region and called their new land Nordurland. This remnant of the Gotlanders have become known as the Nordur(the equivalent of the Old Saxons) after the name of the land the land they come from.

The majority of the Gotlanders who fled from the invading goblins turned to the rich lands of the south. The great Gotlander horde defeated the armies of the Gwynish Kingdom led by King Atruaghin, who was slain in battle. The native Gwynish who were not enslaved or killed by the Gotlanders fled into the mountains of Rockhome. The Gotlander horde dispersed as it settled this new land, some settled the eastern isles and some settled the coastal fjords and plains. The isles became known as Ostland and their inhabitants the Ostish(equivalent to the Old Frisians), while the mainland became known as Vestland and the inhabitants the Vestish(equivalent to the Old English). Shortly after the fall of the Thang Empire, missionaries came to the land of Vestland, and the King converted to the the faith of the one true Church. Through his influence many Vestlanders came to see the light and The Church grew in power and influence throughout the kingdom. 

This period of peace was not to last however. Lured by the wealth of the unprotected monasteries of the Church of Vestland, raiders from the northern regions of Norwold began plundering the rich land of Vestland. After a century and a half of constant raiding many of the raiders stopped simply raiding and began to settle in the lands of Vestland and Ostland. This was followed by the invasion of a great heathen army led by King Cnute the Bold who conquered the Kingdom of Ostland. After Cnute's death, his sons invaded Vestland. As a consequence of these invasions the Vestish and Ostish have been for the most part assimilated or oppressed by their northern overlords, and many have returned to the old ways and worship the old gods in imitation of their overlords, though a few maintain faith in the one true Church despite the persecution they receive for their beliefs. 

A single Vestland kingdom has been able to withstand the armies of the north time and again, this is the Kingdom of Ghyr(equivalent to Wessex). Ghyr maintains the true faith and the kings of Ghyr hold out hope of reuniting Vestland under a faithful Vestish King. Just 30 years ago the King of Ghyr entered into an alliance with the King of Ylaruam to the south, and with his aid was able to defeat many of the northern jarls and expand the domain of Ghyr.

The High Goths

While some of the Gothic tribes descended into the lowlands, many ascended into the nearby hills and mountains of the Mengul, Final, and Wyrmsteeth ranges, mostly settling in the high mountain valleys between the ranges. The goths in these upper valleys became known as the High Goths in contrast to their Low Gothic cousins to the east, and the dialect they spoke became known as High Gothic(equivalent to Irminonic German). The High Goths lived a mostly pastoral and tribal way of life adhering closely to the traditions of their ancestors. Over the centuries they have expanded into the harsh wilderness of the north while keeping a single identity as a people with a common heritage. Each valley tucked away in the mountains may have some quirks in language and tradition that make it unique, yet the valleys are never isolated from each other; there is a network of communication and traditions that connect the tribes of the various valleys across great distances and the centuries of history. On occasion a single tribe has risen to prominence crowning its chief as "king" in a sign of unity among the tribes when defending against some foreign power, but these "kingdoms" have only lasted as long as the life of the king, and then the tribes have returned to governing themselves. 

The centuries have wrought changes upon the language and culture of the tribes, but of all the gothic peoples they still adhere closest to the ways of their ancestors. The modern gothic language is still called High Gothic (equivalent to Old High German) despite these changes, reflecting a direct continuum of ancestry, while the tongue of the ancestors is referred to as Traditional High Gothic. In recent history many of the tribes have once again been united, not under the rulership of a king, or under the oppression of a foreign conqueror but as equal partners in the Federation of Denagoth.

The Denagoths

Not long after the Goths entered the mountains to the west of modern Heldann, many continued west until they reached a forested highland valley guarded on all sides by high mountains. There they found a group of Demi-Humans calling themselves the Deng. The Goths simply called them Brutemen and warred with them for many centuries, eventually driving them out of the valley and into the mountains. As the Goths became the dominant people in the valley they cleared much of the forests to make way for farmland until elves from the south were encountered and with their help toppled the last Kingdom of the Deng. Two centuries of peace followed between the elves and humans. However, this peace could not last and due to population strain the Goths, now calling themselves Denagoths(equivalent to the Istvaeonic Germans) from the name of the original inhabitants of the valley, began to expand into the southern forest, clearing trees to make way for their farms. What followed was two centuries of expansion into the southern forest of the elves until a dark magic mastered by the elves decimated the population of the Denagoths. What followed were many centuries of cycles of peace and violence between the Denagoth people and the elves of the of the forest.

When the Thang Empire marched its legions north, many Denagoth tribes united with the elves in establishing peaceful relations with the newcomers, while others remained wary and sometimes openly hostile. The empire made use of Denagoth mercenaries frequently in their northern campaigns. During the decline of the empire, a new goddess appeared to the Denagoth tribes around the Blackridge Mountains. A Denagoth chief who had served as a former mercenary general among the Thang legions gathered the Denagoth tribes together under his banner and attacked the elves on either side of the Blackridge mountains, who still maintained a loyalty to the Thang empire. The Denagoth chief was crowned the first king of the Kingdom of Denagoth which ruled all of the valley of Denagoth and the old elven kingdom of Forenath. This precipitated a series of wars with the elves to the south, and in the process of these wars Hobgoblin mercenaries were at first simply used as shock troops against the elves, but later became an essential part of the military of the Kingdom of Denagoth. The kingdom eventually fell to infighting among rival heirs, some of whom had converted to the new faith of the one true Church, until the Denagoth were driven out of Forenath and back into the valley by the elves. The Hobgoblins who had formerly assimilated into the armies of Denagoth retreated into the mountains, and formed the Den Horde by subjugating all the other goblinoids in the mountains; the Den Horde periodically raided the Humans of the valleys below.

Amongst the chaos left by the crumbing Denagoth kingdoms rose a great chief, Nebunar(a parallel of Charlemagne), among the southern Denagoth who made peace with the elves and established the Kingdom of Essuria. Nebunar expanded his kingdom to reign over all the Denagoth people in the valley. The peace he established was short lived however, as upon his death the kingdom was split between his two sons Arus, who remained the King of Essuria in the east, and Gereth, who established the Second Kingdom of Denagoth in the west. It was at this point that the Denagoth became divided as a people. The Essurians(equivalent to Old West Low Franconian) in the east, and the Avien plainsmen(equivalent to Old East Low Franconian) in the west. 

Over the course of a century the royal family of the Second Kingdom of Denagoth fell into degeneracy and the king murdered the entire royal court before committing suicide. Following this Essuria rose to its golden age, reestablishing dominion over the entire valley and even expanding beyond it to the north. At its height Essuria ruled over the valley of Denagoth, the Llancevale and Clearwater valleys and also over the people of the Hill and Dale region. This golden age came to an end however when the King of Essuria, Gallathon, granted the provinces more autonomy in both rule and religion; the cult of Idris once again gained followers among the Denagoth people. This led directly to the catastrophe which ended the rule of the Essurian kings abruptly. The last Essurian king, Landryn Teriak, came to power after a sudden illness slew his brother Vespen. Landryn Teriak established the cult of Idris as the official religion of the kingdom and began performing dark rites. The northern provinces, still following the faith of the one true Church, united under the leadership of one Henadin and made an alliance with the elves of the south and together they marched towards Drax Tallen, the capital of Essuria, where a great battle took place and Landryn was presumed dead. 

This great campaign cost the lives of many elves and humans, leaving the valley of Denagoth virtually uninhabited. This opened the way for the Den Horde to pour into the valley from the Blackridge Mountains to the west and the Mengul mountains to the south. Over the next hundred years the Hobgoblins of the Den horde drove the humans to the far north of the valley and killed every last elf. The forests quickly regrew and overtook most of the previous farmland of the valley. There remained only a handful of human Essurian settlements in the south and a single city in the north on the edge of the swamp of the beast to which the Avien people fled. All that remained of the Kingdom of Essuria was the former province in the Clearwater Valley. 

About a decade after the last elf was seen in the valley of Denagoth,  a pair of adventurers, Ryan and Johnny, were captured by a tribe of Denag Hobgoblins and almost sacrificed to their dark mistress, Idris, yet were miraculously able to win their freedom and the loyalty of the tribe. Over the course of the next few months Ryan and Johnny united the Denag tribes and established trade relations with the few Avien and Essurian humans of the valley. Through an unprecedented era of cooperation of diplomacy, the Denag Hobgoblins of the Denagoth valley, the Blackridge mountains, and the Avien and Essurian humans of the Denagoth valley, and the High Gothic tribes of the mountain valleys to the east united in the mighty Federation of Denagoth. Ryan the Hermit established a shrine in the Denagoth forest and began spreading the word of the one true God to the Denag Hobgoblins. The Federation has been challenged by The Guild of Alphatia from across the sea to the east, and the Holy Empire from the south. The Federation also narrowly avoided war with the united elven and human kingdom of Wendar to the South. A tenuous peace has been established between the two powers after a joint expedition went to the ancient ruins of Soreth to investigate a dark power that had been growing for many years, and there the Dark Lord, Landryn Teriak, was destroyed forever.

Dave Arneson Game Day 2024

In honor of Dave Arneson day, October 1st, I ran a session with ties to blackmoor. This is what I shared this to the Piazza forums:

Reporting on my blackmoor related session I ran on the 25th. I might follow it up with something this Thursday, the 3rd.

The players were hanging out in the shady dragon inn in threshold enjoying their morning coffee when a meteor came streaking out of the sky and crashed into wind rush lake causing a huge wave.

The adventurers went to investigate and found a large object was floating in the middle of the lake. They borrowed a small boat from one of the fishermen that ply the lake. When they got closer they found the object was some sort of metallic vessel of a saucer shape. After investigating for a few minutes a hatch opened and a cyborg humanoid stepped out. They asked for help, but the adventurers told them to wait. The adventurers went back to shore and talked to the patriarch who told them to be cautious and they can negotiate in his name. So they went back and brought the cyborg to shore.

After further interaction the cyborg makes a request for several barrels of alcohol in order to repair their ship. The adventurers decide to be friendly and start arranging for the alcohol to be prepared to ferry across the lake to the cyborgs ship. One of the adventurers is given tour of the ship, learns there are 3 cyborgs in total and given a pretty bauble as payment. Meanwhile another adventurer is talking to the cyborg on shore and learns they are from a distant world but their ancestors once hailed from this world.

After all the adventurers are reunited on shore and the alcohol is ready to shipped over, they decide to ask more questions following up on a mention from the cyborgs of a "protection device." They learn that the cyborgs assumed all the people had personal protection devices that would protect them when the ship launches. They discover the launch of the ship would cause the entire valley, where threshold is, to be obliterated in an explosion and the cyborgs don't really care that this will happen as regular humans are "lower life forms." So a couple of the a adventures ferry over to the cyborg ship and confront the cyborgs there. They manage to toss one of the cyborgs into the lake where he is disabled and sinks to the bottom. They also toss some burning oil inside the hatchway of the ship which melts and disabled some of the control, the ship tilts to one side, water pours in through the open hat h and the ship also sinks to the bottom of the lake. When they return to to shore they discover the 3rd cyborg has disappeared without a trace and none of the local fisherman know where he went.

DM notes: the cyborgs are a modified version of the ooard from CM6. They are the descendants of a colony blackmoor established before the great rain of fire on the planet "Damocles" (the planet that eventually breaks up into the asteroid belt), which they call Aelos. The blackmoor colony isolated itself and focused on perfecting the technology of blackmoor over the last 4 millennia, to the point that they evolved to a point where the entire population are all clones and cybernetically enhanced

Fantastic Fortress: Attacks from Below

Continuing the discussion I started here and here lets discuss the possible dangers from below a fortress in a typical fantasy setting might face. As outlined in the previous post the two major threats from below are 1) enemies digging tunnels to mine the walls or enter the city covertly, and 2) more natural threats which might threaten the foundation of the entire region such as nonintelligent tunneling worms(purple worms and their relatives) creatures that can cause earthquakes or other effects such as spells that turn rock to mud or move earth, etc.

1. Mining

For the first problem we can stick to historical solutions, as historical siege warfare regularly involved tunneling in both attack and defense. Essentially this involves counter-mining by the defenders, this can be done in one of two ways, digging a tunnel to intersect with the attackers tunnel and trying to overcome their miners in a "battle for the tunnels" with the goal of preventing them from finishing their mine, or digging a tunnel underneath the attackers tunnel, ie "undermining" them, and then collapsing the the tunnel below in the hopes that the attackers tunnel will collapse in turn.

These solutions sound simple enough but their are a number of factors that make them difficult. the first of which is detecting where exactly the enemy tunnel is. This is an even bigger problem in a fantasy world when there are entire groups of people who live underground and may already be beneath the fortress. 

In standard siege warfare it is almost always possible to recognize when mining is taking place due to the excavated earth that must be dug out. Mining costs a great deal in manpower and so is usually begun relatively close to the fortress walls allowing the defenders to realize that mining has begun even if the exact location of the mine below is not obvious. Luckily the sounds of mining can be quite loud underground and can sometimes be detected by sentries posted in cellars near the castle walls. Detecting the vibrations of enemy shafts can also be accomplished by setting out a bowl of water and observing the vibrations tin the bowl. Of course detection of mining can be made much easier by the use of magic in a fantasy setting.

Other options for detecting enemy mines involve digging test shafts under the wall in the hopes of intersecting the enemy mines, but this can often be a noisy affair underground warning the enemy that their mine is in danger and is not guaranteed to succeed. Another defense would be to dig defensive mines intended to intersect any probably places where an enemy might try to mine the walls. with these prepared mines, warriors can already be placed for defense. however this defense assumes the attackers wont undermine the defenders mines, and also that the defenders can hold the mines. if the defenders fail in the mines, that leaves a way open for the attackers to bypass the walls of the fortress altogether.

If the enemy is in the early stages of mining, the defenders might attempt to increase the width or depth of their moat, provided the fortress has one. Other defensive options once a mine is found involve introducing dangers to the miners themselves: such as flooding the mine, introducing bees into the mine, or other wild animals such as bears or wolves or attack dogs, this could include more dangerous monsters in a fantasy setting. The defenders could also release smoke or other poisons into the air to kill or drive away the attackers.

Another possible defense against mining is simply to simply construct the fortress on ground that it is impractical to tunnel in. This can vary from extremely hard stone to building over an area of sandy ground or wetland where the soil will not support a tunnel. Building near a wetland or body of water may prevent mining as the intended mine may be flooded by the high water table below ground. This isn't a guaranteed defense though as there are methods of draining or pumping the water out of these mines.

In conjunction with the above, the best defense against mining is really the construction of the fortress itself. By building the fortress with circular designs, ie round towers instead of square, the walls become harder to collapse; often the corners of fortress walls are the most vulnerable to collapse from mining. another method of defense via construction is to increase the sheer size of the walls. The larger or wider the walls are the less threat there is of a collapse. This is what happened historically with fortresses as cannons made stone walls obsolete; fortresses were built with large earthen ramparts that would not collapse in the same way as thinner stone walls.

In the case of miners from below such as goblins or dark elves many of the above defenses can be employed with modification. These attacker presumably would not have the goal of collapsing the walls of the fortress but tunneling directly inside it. Of course other methods to stop mining from below include building near water or on extremely hard rock, etc. the same would deter mining in a siege scenario. IN cases where this is not possible, defenses such as countermining, and detection of enemy mines would apply here as well. This is the case where a pre-dug series of mine galleries beneath the fortress may prove most beneficial. If tunnels are made by the defenders to stop enemies from tunneling from directly below so that they must encounter the mine galleries of the fortress first, that can slow them down or even stop them from reaching the fortress. These galleries can be constructed with chokepoints and appropriate defenses, such as caged beasts or monsters ready to be released when needed, sections of tunnel designed to be collapsed, etc. Creating these galleries in a mazelike fashion so that a someone unfamiliar with them would get lost, with secret passages for a more direct route of retreat could prove to be a common defense. Essentially we have invented the classic fantasy dungeon again but as a method of protection. 

2. Foundations

The second threat, that to the foundation of the fortress more generally is a bit harder to solve. some of it has been touched on above, building the walls to be wider so that they don't collapse as easily, but this only addresses the wall of the fortress and not the entre structure. Looking at methods of defending against earthquakes seems to be the most logical avenue of approach to this problem. 

The building materials of a fortress need to have some degree of flex to withstand the lateral forces of an earthquake or shifting ground. Unreinforced masonry(brick) and stone is the least stable and can crack or totally collapse when shear forces are applied; while wood(if properly anchored) and reinforced concrete allow the building to to flex when the ground beneath shifts. 

Another way to withstand the forces applied to a building during a quake is to isolate the base of the structure from the foundation. In modern buildings this done through the use of concrete columns reinforced with steel, or other methods such as the use of rubber pads. In a fantasy setting we can assume that steel reinforced concrete is out of the question, as is rubber. Instead we might assume magic could be used to accomplish the same goal; levitating the entire structure a few inches or feet off the ground. This could also be a method of deterring mining attacks. However, in this series I am looking to propose solutions that don't resort to the fantastical and could be made to work by a less technologically advanced society. As a result I don't see base isolation as a feasible solution.

Other factors can contribute to the stability of a structure. Avoiding load bearing columns on the ground floor, as well as decreasing the number of windows and doors that might weaken load bearing walls on the ground floor can make a structure more stable. Also using shear walls, ie walls that extend from the foundation to the roof, can reinforce the integrity of a structure; this precludes the stereotypical quasi-medieval building with haphazard floors in a jumble of patterns and designs that have been added over the years. Also the use of triangles in building design may prove to be more prevalent in a fantasy setting for the same reasons and triangles(and pyramidal) can withstand greater forces than other shapes under pressure. Another thing that might be counterintuitive is that taller building are more flexible than shorter ones; this is because tall buildings, if constructed of the right materials, can sway back and forth to relieve the forces applied at the base.

Another thing to keep in mind is that harder bedrock is more stable than softer or sandy soil. This may seem common sense, but with creatures that eat through rock, people may look to build on bedrock that is less prone to collapse. When the soil does collapse and the foundation of a building shifts, it might be prudent to have drains already built in to the structure in order to drain off any excess water or sewage from below ground wells, sewer systems, or septic tanks.

Domain Events Generator

I programmed an Excel workbook to create random events for a calendar year. I based it off the natural and unnatural events in the Companion set and the calendar from B10 Knights Dark Terror. It generates up to 4 events each year, and only 1 for each season. I have it connected to the calendar by copy/pasting the results into another tab organized by a list of domains. I intend to add all the domains in The Known World of Dracopolis and then fill out the calendar with more dates. This way I can know what's happening in each place the PCs visit, and also use it to develop rumours amongst the adventuring guild. I may edit it to have events tailored to the seasons, and I'll probably remove the weather related phenomena because that's covered by my weather generator. This is just a first draft really; I'm excited to start using it. 

domain generator excel file