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

Delvers and Denizens: Experience Adjustments

Go to the Delvers and Denizens Index

It occurred to me the other day that I've written up and been using rules that I haven't talked about here. My ideas around these posts is to catalog my thought process and the context behind my rules, as I'm writing the rules strictly as a technical or reference manual with the assumption that anyone using them already know how to play the game. I've been thinking of eventually collecting these posts in a sort of designer's notes sort of document or book to go along with the actual rule books.

On to today's topic, I have modified how the adjustment applied to a PCs experience is calculated. the idea behind it was spurred on by this post by JB. Essentially instead of lowering the values of one ability score to raise the score a PC prime requisite as outline in BX, use those other scores to give a bonus to the XP gained based based ont eh prime requisite.

I've cleaned it up into a chart in my rules, each class has a 1st(prime) requisite, a 2nd(secondary) requisite, and a 3rd(tertiary) requisite, and they each give a different bonus or penalty as follows:

Ability Score |	Prime Adjustment |	Secondary Adjustment |	Tertiary Adjustment
3-5	-20%	-10%	-5%
6-8	-10%	-5%	-3%
9-12	+0%	+0%	+0%
13-15	+5%	+3%	+1%
16-18	+10%	+5%	+3%

the percentages are based on the original number in BX/BECMI, just extrapolated out to all 3 values. For the original 3 classes, followed by the thief in greyhawk, each requisite and its ranking was laid out inthe text, and for other classes such as elves and gnomes I base it on the prime req and required ability scoresin BX, and what if feel fits for the class. Below are the vaious reqs for each class as they are in their class descriptions:

Class |	Prime Ability |	Secondary Ability |	Tertiary Ability
Fighter	Strength	Intelligence	Wisdom
Magic-User	Intelligence	Wisdom	Dexterity
Ceric	Wisdom	Intelligence	Strength
Rogue	Dexterity	Wisdom	Intelligence
Sylvan Elf	Intelligence	Strength	Wisdom
Water Elf	Strength	Intelligence	Wisdom
Mountain Gnome	Strength	Dexterity	Wisdom
Garden Gnome	Dexterity	Strength	Wisdom
Forest Gnome	Dexterity	Intelligence	Wisdom

Using this means that each PC will have a customized xp adjustment and that more than one stat is important for each class. A fighter without a high stregth can make up for it with a high intelligence. It's not a huge change to the game, but I like how it shows the benefit of a well rounded character. This also takes away the choice of fiddling with your ability rolls; you just get what you roll and that's that.

Delvers and Denizens: Index

 So I realized I've written up more rules that I haven't posted here. Also it's a bit hard to keep track of what I have and haven't posted about, so I'm going to use this to index everthything and provide a link in each post back to here.

Core Rules and Ideas

Design Goals

The Little People

Training

Languages

Movement

Fatigue

Rolling for Abilities

Alignment

Experience Adjustments

Basic Classes

Gnomes

Elves

Rogues

Fighters

Mundane Classes

Merchant

Advanced Classes

Hermit

Magic

Vancian Magic

Vancian Magic-User chart 

Cleric Magic

Cleric magic using the Turn Undead table

Fae spell lists

Monsters

Dust Bunny

Equipment

Armour List

Weapon vs Armour adjustments

D&D Story 5: B10 Night's Dark Terror, Part 1

 I've had this finished for awhile; I was planning on putting it in one long post combining all 3 parts. However, seeing as I haven't really been working on any transcription work lately I figured I should put this out there since I do have it done. You can find the audio version here.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we're going to talk about B10, Knights Dark Terror. Before we get into the meat of it, talk about what player characters, you ran in this; Cuz you only ran it once, right?

Bruce Duncan  

No, but that's okay.

Lance Duncan  

You ran it more than once. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep

Lance Duncan  

With who?

Bruce Duncan  

Let's see, it was just my children for the first time. And then again, I think Christian and

Lance Duncan  

no Christian was, no, we never did it with Christian. 

Bruce Duncan  

Okay, it was someone else. 

Lance Duncan  

It may have been Cassie's friends. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.It was probably Cassie's friends, which meant it would have still been over at the other house. 

Lance Duncan  

No,I don't think so.

Bruce Duncan  

No, I know the first time I ran it, it was at the other house.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Well then I wouldn't remember it 

Bruce Duncan  

no

Lance Duncan  

so the time that I was in it Do you remember who all, which player characters were there? Cuz I know, I know my thief Dorthin was in that group, because he was part of the crossing to the lost Valley. I remember that.

Bruce Duncan  

I think you guys had gotten to the point where we could, you guys were playing two characters at the same time at that time, and so Bridget's elf

Lance Duncan  

Guinivere 

Bruce Duncan  

and Heidi's elf

Lance Duncan  

Heidi's? I don't think Heidi had an elf

Bruce Duncan  

okay Cassie's elf 

Lance Duncan  

cause Heidi had, Hiedi only had a couple characters

Bruce Duncan  

 yeah, Dorthin was definitely there. I don't remember. I'm thinking Gabriel, Jared's 

Lance Duncan  

fighter, Yeah

Bruce Duncan  

yeah. And he only had one he was only allowed one. And I don't remember what Heidi had if it wasn't 

Lance Duncan  

cause she's only got, she had Sienna the magic user.

Bruce Duncan  

That's what it was.

Lance Duncan  

That was that was on this one. Yeah. Okay. Cuz her other characters . . . I don't know if I still have her character sheet, her other character sheets if she even had them. She did play the vampire hunter Marissa a lot. But that was only like high level games. Yeah, it was that was not really consecutive with our other games. 

Bruce Duncan  

No. And then, I don't remember what Casey's other character was.

Lance Duncan  

But were Cassie and the girls playing two characters each? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

Does that mean that Bridget's Paladin was on this adventure?

Bruce Duncan  

That's what it was Bridget's Paladin. 

Lance Duncan  

Her name starts with an R . . . R something. We'll go into it when I talk about the characters we had. Rihanna that's what it was. or Rhiannon, Yeah

Bruce Duncan  

yeah.

Lance Duncan  

And Cassie her elf was there andshe had a couple other characters I don't remember . . .

Bruce Duncan  

the main body was not two for everybody, It was their main characters. And then in this town that starts with a K 

Lance Duncan  

Kelven 

Bruce Duncan  

in Kelven they picked up their other characters, as mercenaries, whatever you want to call it. 

Lance Duncan  

Right, Okay. So does that mean that we started with first level characters or some of the characters were first level and some weren't?

Bruce Duncan  

your main characters were like second or third. And then the new ones you picked up were first. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. So here it talks about a general overview of Kelvin as a frontier town. Did we as a party, spend much time there in this adventure or out of this adventure

Bruce Duncan  

it was just a waypoint. You may have spent one night in it as you're going up and then again one night in it as you're coming back.

Lance Duncan  

It wasn't a big part of any of our other adventures though

Bruce Duncan  

no. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Well, did you make up any other background information for Kelvin, Like who the ruler was? history? 

Bruce Duncan  

No 

Lance Duncan  

anything? 

Bruce Duncan  

No

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Oh, did we, in this adventure? Did we determine like a marching order as player characters?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, but it changed all the time depending on what the situation was.

Lance Duncan  

But we did have like a marching order that we would keep to, generally 

the paladin was out front, mostly.

 Along with that, did we set up a standard watch for nighttime?

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. And the Paladin usually took the second watch.

Lance Duncan  

So we so we actually defined who was doing what when and we kept to that schedule? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, along with that same type of thing. You're talking about scale and traveling and all that. That's where I get these questions. Did we, did you make us track provisions and other supplies individually 

Bruce Duncan  

individually no. there were supplies that you had to bring with you and carry with you and they would be gone after a certain length of time but you know it wasn't tracked specifically.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, we didn't track like we had ate one ration this day.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, right good. cuz you guys liked to do with iron rations anyway

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. When they last forever. Well, practically. but we did carry supplies. How did we carry them?

Bruce Duncan  

in your backpacks

Lance Duncan  

Okay, we didn't carry any pack animals or anything.

Bruce Duncan  

No

Lance Duncan  

Along with that, did you keep track of specific time, did you track of the days the hours, or What?

Bruce Duncan  

The time of day? Yes, the days of the year, only when it was essential to the storyline. storms, Only when I felt like it.

Lance Duncan  

So you didn't really keep track of weather, you just like decided that weather was whatever it was. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. Today you're all gonna get wet. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, did that, when you did have it rain or be a storm, Did you have that affect us mechanically like a minus one to hit or whatever?

Bruce Duncan  

I don't know about to hit, but to travel definitely.

Lance Duncan  

So just travel time? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And healing, How did you handle healing? Because here it talks about it recommends one hit point per day of bedrest. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. you guys never had to worry about that because you had a cleric and a paladin with you.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, that's an anomaly. A lot of people point out in the BECMI rules, you know, BECMI, the rules, we used. that, in the official rules There's nothing talking about natural healing.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, that's true.

Lance Duncan  

I mean, in modules like this and In a couple other modules and there's hints about it, like this, one per day of bed rest.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. Well, the thing is, once you've had a day of bed rest then your healers can do another full dose of healing on you if you need it. And so the bed rest wasn't really for the healing. It was for the healers to recharge their abilities,

Lance Duncan  

so we didn't ever have to deal, I remember we did do natural healing, but I don't think it was per bedrest 

Bruce Duncan  

No. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so did you ever use the calendar on the pullout page 2?

Bruce Duncan  

I tried a couple of times, but it just wasn't working. So I didn't. 

Lance Duncan  

and You already said you didn't really keep track of the individual days. Did you show this player map to us? How did that? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes I did. 

Lance Duncan  

Did that influence our journeys or did it influence how you ran the adventure?

Bruce Duncan  

Not really. what it was for is to give you a frame of reference of where everything was. This was the map that you guys were given in Kelvin. Or in karameikos or whatever that is correct. Krakatos. Because the original party was from Krakatos. 

Lance Duncan  

Are you sure? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. And then they traveled upriver to Kelvin,

cuz I know like, a lot of our characters are from Luln. 

Yes. Well,

Lance Duncan  

like Gabriel was from Luln

Bruce Duncan  

they went from Luln and went over to Krakatos. eventually.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, I'm gonna ask you about Krakatos when I talk about the maps later because, yeah, but also with this player map, this is the only place where you find definitive definition of the Moors. Like, it'll reference the moors than you look at the official, you know, the hex map, and it's like, "Where's the Moors?" but you look at the player map. So did that cause you problems or did you know where they were? 

Bruce Duncan  

No, the Moors were just, I played them as if they were the same as the bogs in England and Ireland. Where you just, you don't want to go there because it's just too hard to travel.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. Okay. On this page. Okay, so the next couple of pages are basic descriptions of NPCs. Did the notes on the personality help you to run those NPCs? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. I embellished some of them. But basically they are what the notes say they are.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Also on page, what is that? six. So it talks about the different clans and tribes. Did you use that? Like, I mean, how much did you use that as a guideline? Like the different symbols and the features of them? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes, 

Lance Duncan  

like they shave their 

Bruce Duncan  

I did use those 

Lance Duncan  

okay. And did we, Let's see. Yeah, I guess that was it. Also on page seven of the pullout sheets, there's a weather generator. Did You use that for the weather? 

Bruce Duncan  

I tried to, but I figured once we got up into the mountains, it was gonna be snowy and windy. Period. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Um, what about this bargaining mechanic? Did you use this for this adventure? Did you use it in the future?

Bruce Duncan  

I did try. But it just seemed I don't know. tedious, tiresome 

Lance Duncan  

right. it was too hard to use on the spur of the moment. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, I understand. Okay, on the last pullout sheet, there's a table of optional encounters. Did you use these? Did you embellish them? 

Bruce Duncan  

I used these as your random encounters. And yes, sometimes they were more powerful than what the chart says to have them.

Lance Duncan  

Anything else to say about that?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, some of these random encounters just aren't a challenge. And in fact, most of them aren't for characters that are third level or higher. So I made each random encounter a challenge or something leading you to something else,

Lance Duncan  

right. Okay, so that's it for the pullout sheets, if you want to. So going to the beginning of the adventure, on page two. So, here in the very beginning summary: talking about expert play, it talks about transitioning from a dungeon to a wilderness adventures. Did you have a problem with that?

Bruce Duncan  

No. Because by then you guys had already gone through several places of wilderness to get to where you were. 

Lance Duncan  

That's what I thought. So it wasn't, so like when you started doing wilderness stuff. Was it a challenge for you? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

In what way?

Bruce Duncan  

trying to keep everyone's attention. But basically that was the most of the problem. Just keeping it to where everybody is interested, and not plodding off into lala land, with adults it was easier because I played this once before with my friends when we were in San Diego, but with you guys, we only got to threshold with them and then we moved. we never got to the Forbidden City or hidden city.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, the last Valley. 

Bruce Duncan  

Thank you. But for them, it wasn't difficult to keep their attention. They were all adults.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. Yeah. They're all invested in the game. Okay, so page three. we kind of already mentioned this with the weather, talks about rainfall and wind. So during combat, did you have rain and wind affect us?

Bruce Duncan  

There was only one combat where it was. And that was over on the city that was to the far right of the map. There's an ancient city

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, the Xitaqa 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. And that was the first night you guys got there. And because of the weather you guys just hunkered down and so did all the inhabitants but you did have experiences there that, you know, others were trying to get  in out of the rain. And you, and they met you and had problems and you took care of them.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so here it talks about character hometowns. Do you remember where most of us were from? which hometowns? Because I know a lot of us were from luln. several characters Were also from threshold. I don't know if Those ones were in this adventure or not . . .

Bruce Duncan  

Well, one of them was from the Elven town.

Lance Duncan  

Rifflian. Yeah, well, I assume the Demi-humans are from Demi-human places,

Bruce Duncan  

right. But the humans, mostly they are just getting started adventuring, so they're all locals Really

Lance Duncan  

Okay. They would, they just were from wherever they happen to join the game. 

Bruce Duncan  

Right

Lance Duncan  

Okay, cuz like, Yeah, I know like a whole ton of our player PCs were from luln. Yeah. I guess it should be luuuuln.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, that town was kind of a training ground for most people to become adventurers because there is no real economic growth there. They raised their children to become adventurers and they leave and they never see 'em again.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. And everyone who lives there is retired adventurers Right? 

Bruce Duncan  

right.

Lance Duncan  

We'll have to talk about luln some other time. Okay. So here it talks about awarding experience points. Did you wait to award XP until we were at a safe place,

Bruce Duncan  

usually, if it was particularly long session. I would award the XP while you guys weren't there, so that I could just spend my time doing that. Because every time I tried to award points while you guys were there, it just took forever. Yeah, because you wanted to know "why did we get there? Why didn't we get this?"

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. Okay, it talks here about introducing new player characters. First of all, did any of us died during this adventure? 

Bruce Duncan  

No, well, yeah, no one died during this adventure. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. Did, so introducing new PCs In the middle of the game, how did you do that?

Bruce Duncan  

You guys go to a bar. And someone sees you and thinks that you might be an adventuring group and they Come up and offer their services. One was, not this particular time, but there was a time when someone was on the shores next, close to the bandit camp. I don't know which one it was but they were close to the bandit camp and they're trying to get to the town beyond the bandit camp and couldn't, And so they asked for your assistance, And when they saw how good you guys were, they decided to stay with you. I think that might have been going through to threshold.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, there's a camp On the way I think.

Bruce Duncan  

a bandit camp. Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, that's what I meant. okay. so here, do . . . In the section on page four, having fun. It talks about fudging dice If you need to. How much did you fudge and why and all that?

Bruce Duncan  

That's what the the shields, the screens are for, so that you guys can't see what I'm rolling. because you guys would have died almost every single time if I'd gone strictly by the dice, and therefore it would have been no fun. because I knew you kids well enough to know that if you can't play and actually advance a character, they always die, and then you're always at low level. Well then you'll lose interest. Once you guys got more skilled at it and had more higher level characters I fudged less often

Lance Duncan  

but basically you fudged because we were children, 

Bruce Duncan  

basically, yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

So when you were playing with your friends, 

Bruce Duncan  

there was no fudging. in fact, I barely Used the screens at all.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. so I've got the adventure background. It talks about the Empire of the hutaakans. Let's get the map out.

Bruce Duncan  

Those are the dog people, right? 

Lance Duncan  

Mm hmm. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

So, how big was the empire in your, in your version of the world? How big would you have said the Empire was 

Bruce Duncan  

it was the entire mountain range. and a few of the plains cities and maybe down to Kelvin

Lance Duncan  

Okay, cuz . . . Yeah, keep going

Bruce Duncan  

they were also on the other side of the hill

Lance Duncan  

because this is one of their cities. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. That was, but like they were on the other side down where the dragon city is

Lance Duncan  

North, north. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah,

Lance Duncan  

okay. Cuz these mountains are supposed to be impassable, but I'm assuming they went Through the other routes,

Bruce Duncan  

yes, they had, they had trails, but those trails eventually got avalanched out 

Lance Duncan  

or forgotten or whatever.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

so you had them as far south as Kelvin. Was that the farthest south?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

What about East? 

Bruce Duncan  

They went as far east as the Gold Mine 

Lance Duncan  

because there's supposed to be some statues in the goldmine 

Bruce Duncan  

right and they almost went to Selenica. almost.

Lance Duncan  

So north of the mountains, did it just go up to the edge of the forest or what?

Bruce Duncan  

 basically, yeah 

Lance Duncan  

what about West? 

Bruce Duncan  

West, They went, they went west, but they stayed mostly within the mountain ranges because for some reason or another, I had it in my mind that they were mountaineering people.

Lance Duncan  

Give me a sec. Okay, so exactly how far west, like how far? all the way into the five shires or? 

Bruce Duncan  

well, Just north of the five shires, but in the mountain ranges 

Lance Duncan  

so where the label Cruth Mountains is 

Bruce Duncan  

right.

Lance Duncan  

So basically they cover pretty much all of Karameikos around the mountains. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

The, well, the black peak mountains. Okay, So where are the mountains turn, take a take a southerly turn

Bruce Duncan  

all the, all the rivers that flow directly south were their's

Lance Duncan  

so these rivers, This is the achelos river, they went all the way there

Bruce Duncan  

right, and the rivers that have any flow to the east or west of any degree they did not have 

Lance Duncan  

okay, so basically from the achelos river all the way to the altan tepe mountains 

Bruce Duncan  

right. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And south as far as Kelvin and just just along the plains up here, but they didn't go South of the forest. 

Bruce Duncan  

No.

Lance Duncan  

So the forest acted as a barrier on both sides of the mountains. 

Bruce Duncan  

Right. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. what's my next question? . . .  the Empire, We already talked about the Moors. Oh, that's a typo. I made a typo in my handwriting. I wrote gnomes instead of gnolls. So, the gnolls in the foam fire Valley, I'm assuming those are a remnant of the invasions.

Bruce Duncan  

Right.

Lance Duncan  

did you have any background information on the gnolls in mind, or? 

Bruce Duncan  

Well, I had an idea that the gnolls were a descendant of the hutaakans

Lance Duncan  

so they're related genetically? 

Bruce Duncan  

right

Lance Duncan  

Okay, or evolutionarily, whatever we want to call it. so if they're related, how do you reconcile the story of the beast man invasion? Well, the in the background here it talks about it talks about . . . they're invaded by . . . yeah, it flourished, it was ill prepared, by gnoll hordes, in later publications they call them beast men.

Bruce Duncan  

Oh okay. Yeah the gnoll hordes they had forgotten most of their mountaineering skills and stuck to the plains but they knew out, further out in the plains there were way too many humans. And They couldn't hold their own against all the humans. So they moved back up into the valley. And anyone coming into the valley was fair game.

Lance Duncan  

This was after the invasion? 

Bruce Duncan  

right 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, well, did you come up with a reason that led to the invasion, or . . . because if the gnolls are related to the Hutaakans, right?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, they have, in ancient stories, but you know, how stories when done by word of mouth changes every generation. So they thought that they should own all the valley out. And they had forgotten that they were actually mountaineers, 

Lance Duncan  

okay. That they had come from the mountains, 

Bruce Duncan  

right. so they wanted to claim back what they used to have in the valleys.

Lance Duncan  

Right. Okay. Also with the hutaakans, did you, What was your general idea of their culture? Cuz the jackal headed humanoids that's reminiscent of Egypt, right? But if you look at like pictures of their architecture it looks kind of Greco Roman 

Bruce Duncan  

yeah it does. that really messed things up.

Lance Duncan  

So did you define it? Did you leave it vague?

Bruce Duncan  

I left it as vague as possible because what the book said just did not fit.

Lance Duncan  

Well. The book doesn't really described them that much. 

Bruce Duncan  

No, it doesn't.

Lance Duncan  

So you didn't you didn't define them as one or the other? 

Bruce Duncan  

No. Just ornate buildings,

Lance Duncan  

right.

So they're not tied to Egyptian culture at all?

Bruce Duncan  

Or Greco Roman or anything else. They're their own . . . kind of like Petra.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, yeah. Okay, here it talks about the iron ring.

It says the iron ring is based in the Black Eagle Barony, did you make it have connections to the Baron?

Bruce Duncan  

Oh, yeah, he was the one running the show.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, because it's kind of vague right here. 

Bruce Duncan  

I know . . .  

Lance Duncan  

in later publications it's very specific, but here it's vague

Bruce Duncan  

well, he wanted more power and the best way to get more power is subterfusion in other areas,

Lance Duncan  

right. Did the iron ring continue operating after we overthrew the Black Eagle? 

Bruce Duncan  

No. The ones that survived all became less powerful and thus more fearful of being discovered. So they kind of kept a low key and a lot of them moved out of the area. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. So basically destroying the black eagle will destroyed the iron ring?

Bruce Duncan  

right. and That's what your party was noted for.

Lance Duncan  

Right. Yeah. Next question. Oh, did you have difficulty in getting us to follow the original adventure hook of Stephen hiring us to guard the horses? 

Bruce Duncan  

Not at all.

Lance Duncan  

We just did whatever you told us. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. Because you're kids. Yeah. The adults that I had playing this game they really wanted to know what the benefits of gaurding the horses would be as opposed to letting them do what they want and you do what you want. 

Lance Duncan  

Right. Okay, now let's go into the actual meat of the adventure. Page Six, seige of sukiskyn.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, I never could say that word 

Lance Duncan  

sukiskyn. I've said it before, but yeah. Sukiskyn. so at the very beginning, so I guess we're traveling to sukiskyn, and there's an ambush by the iron ring while we're on a boat, did anything interesting happened there?

Bruce Duncan  

Well, 

Lance Duncan  

did the ambush work?

Bruce Duncan  

No, the ambush did not work because you guys moved to the other side of the river. And then when they were trying to come across there was a bear that was not happy with them

Lance Duncan  

That leads into the next question. Did we encounter the bear?

Bruce Duncan  

You did and he was a very friendly bear to you guys, but not to the others. of course he did want to eat all your food, and did, so, So you guys were without food for the next few days. 

Lance Duncan  

Right . . . Anything else interesting happen at the Ferry?

Bruce Duncan  

You did find . . . What was her name? Marcia. 

Lance Duncan  

Misha 

Bruce Duncan  

misha, you did find misha. 

Lance Duncan  

thought she's supposed to be dead. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. Well you did find her.

Lance Duncan  

oh We found her body. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, and you buried her.  you were you were thinking that you wanted to take the bear with you but I kept mentioning "how much food did the bear eat?"

Lance Duncan  

well that brings up another question. Did we have mounts while we were doing this? 

Bruce Duncan  

No. 

Lance Duncan  

We were all on foot?

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay

Bruce Duncan  

because it costs more to bring your horses

Lance Duncan  

right. Okay. So continuing from the from the ferry, basically at The . . . right before we reach sukiskyn we're supposed to be ambushed by eight goblins. How did that go?

Bruce Duncan  

Not well for the goblins. they tried to ambush you. But the thief, her skills were being used at the time to check for traps and other things and she saw the goblins sitting in the trees that weren't camouflaged very well. And so she let everybody know and Okay, walk in like you're being ambushed. and Just wiped the floor with'em. no die. No fudging of the die roll necessary on that one. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. okay, so here on page eight, there's a combat ability summary for the defenders of the, of the outpost. you've written different letters next to their names. What, do you remember what those meant? like you have a D and W and then S and W and . . .

Bruce Duncan  

yeah np . . . I'd have to go and look at the players stats.

Lance Duncan  

Maybe those refer to weapons? I don't know, 

Bruce Duncan  

no,

Lance Duncan  

no, because it has weapons here, 

Bruce Duncan  

right. No, I think that was referring to the which ones you would meet at which time . . . You know, depending on where you were, what you were doing, and all that. Okay. And it was a die roll. If you guys were going to do this, did you meet him? Yes. No, whatever. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. But you don't remember specifically. 

Bruce Duncan  

No, it's been too long.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. Okay, so during the night the the goblins are supposed to make an,  three hours before midnight, They're supposed to make an attack against the North door of the building. how did that go?

Bruce Duncan  

Well, they got in. but you guys were able to repulse them with Gabriel just kind of blocking the door. 

Lance Duncan  

Right, He was still awesome even first level. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes he was. and his armor class was just out there. Yeah, I don't know why I allowed that, but whatever. it made jared very happy. And all the missile range weapons from behind Gabriel never hit Gabriel 

Lance Duncan  

right, okay, . . . well I don't have any more questions till page 11 so, Again during the night, there's, around midnight there's a decoy attack, they try to lure us out and then attack us. how'd that go?

Bruce Duncan  

It didn't, you guys just ranged weaponed them until they couldn't. And you didn't go out until daylight, just before dawn.

Lance Duncan  

And then there's supposed to be an aerial attack with vampire bats.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, that didn't go well at all for the bats. Because you guys had enough range weapons. You know, vampire bats are not like vampires. any weapon will bring them down. 

Lance Duncan  

Right. Okay, well, just before dawn, so one tribe of goblins left and the other one, the . . . red blades make an attack. How did that attack Go? or not Go? 

Bruce Duncan  

they fell right into your trap.

Lance Duncan  

Which was?

Bruce Duncan  

which was you went, the adventurers went out to see what the military status of those that were there, and they saw that, they saw the other tribe leave, after fighting with'em. And so they figured, your group figured, okay, well, let's wait and see if they start attacking. They'll be attacked from the inside, and then you can attack them from the outside. in a pincer movement. You guys decided to do that on your own. So I figured, yeah, if you guys think of that, more power to you. that was Casey's idea. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, Cassie was leading us back then I remember. So we pretty much demolished that attack?

Bruce Duncan  

Oh, yeah. I was just not even a question.

Lance Duncan  

Did we capture any prisoners? 

Bruce Duncan  

One 

Lance Duncan  

Did we get any information?

Bruce Duncan  

Just enough to know which way to go 

Lance Duncan  

And how well did we treat our prisoner? 

Bruce Duncan  

not well, 

Lance Duncan  

we killed them in the end I guess? 

Bruce Duncan  

No, but the inhabitants of the fort did

Lance Duncan  

oh okay

Bruce Duncan  

and you guys had a hard time making them wait long enough to get information out of him

Lance Duncan  

right, but we did figure out where they went? 

Bruce Duncan  

yeah 

Lance Duncan  

from the prisoner

Bruce Duncan  

you guys got lost anyway

Lance Duncan  

okay, so after the siege. Well Is there anything else that happened during the siege that you remember?

Bruce Duncan  

No.

Lance Duncan  

after the siege did we immediately go chasing after the horses?

Bruce Duncan  

not immediately cause you guys needed to rest and so did the town folk. And I mean rest by rest securely, not knowing that you're going to be able to get a good night's sleep. And so you went for the next day. And as many horses were taken, it was not hard to follow the horses until they started disappearing. You'd see one horse go off this way one horse go out that way. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, because the goblins were supposed to take the horses away.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, well, they weren't very good horseman. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. So there's a scene of a battle that we're supposed to encounter when tracking the horse thieves. And at that battle scene there are some oil beetles. Yep. What was our reaction to them?

Bruce Duncan  

kind of surprised, never seen that type of creature before, not understanding what they wanted, until they got too close to you.

Lance Duncan  

I assume there was a fight. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. And Gabriel loved it. one smash, it split in half. You know, everybody else, they use their swords and, you know, sometimes it glanced off. But when Gabriel used his sword, boom, they're done.

Lance Duncan  

There's also supposed to be some Viper Goblin females who were hiding in the trees at that place. Did we ever find them? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. And you kept one of them because she had thought that you guys were there to help them regain their power.

Lance Duncan  

Interesting

Bruce Duncan  

because the Vipers weren't all that powerful in compared to the other two groups. So they want, Oh, now we've got two groups. You know, they're goblins. And they just watched you demolish the oil beetles, and . . . oh this is going to be good.

Lance Duncan  

So what did we do?

Bruce Duncan  

You took them with you and they helped you out and then when they got back to the group, the other Viper goblins didn't want anything to do with you Because they were the ones who were at the first ambush, And as such, and those girl Viper goblins weren't there, so they didn't know. And oops, you wound up killing them all. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we're supposed to follow the Goblin track to the the bandit leader Fyodorll. And she says she bought the horses from the goblins and didn't know they were stolen. Did we buy the horses off her? Did we fight her? did we kill her? what?

Bruce Duncan  

you told her To go and take all the horses to that place and you paid her to do the job. so that it wasn't a total loss for her and whatever, it was an amicable arrangement, and when you got back  to the fort and you found that she liked it so much shewanted to stay there with her group

Lance Duncan  

so she went back on her own, and we went back separately 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

but we did go back to the sukiskyn

Bruce Duncan  

Yes, you did, later, after getting rid of all the goblins in the whole territory.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so before we went back to sukiskyn we went and found the Goblin, the different goblin  lairs and wiped them out.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, even the one with piranha in the river. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we went, which lair did we go try to find first, did we . . . 

Bruce Duncan  

I'll have to look at the map because I don't remember the names.

Lance Duncan  

So there's the Vipers. There's the red blades and there's the wolf skull. 

Bruce Duncan  

Okay. So you went to this one first.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, that was the scene of the battle. And then from there we 

Bruce Duncan  

you went down here 

Lance Duncan  

somewhere. oh that, Yeah, that would be, W3 would be the bandits where we found Fyodorll and the horses. Okay, and from there

Bruce Duncan  

You kinda just drifted all over the place. You went and found this one first 

Lance Duncan  

the Viper goblins. Okay, let's talk to you about the viper goblin questions.

Bruce Duncan  

The reason you found that one first was because you had a couple of viper goblins with you.

Lance Duncan  

Oh, the hobgoblin vlack who was supposed to be in charge of the goblins did we encounter him before we encountered a goblin lair? 

Bruce Duncan  

No. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we didn't encounter him Until way later where he's supposed to show up at Xitaqa,

Bruce Duncan  

right. Oh, no, no, no. The, at the petrified. Forest place he was there, but he escaped and then you met him up again, there, he was not happy seeing you guys again.

Lance Duncan  

What's on page 15? Oh 15 is the red Goblin lair, but we first went to the Viper Goblin lair right? 

Bruce Duncan  

right.

Lance Duncan  

Is that even in here? Okay, so at the Viper lair. so the chief is in his lair and he throws snakes at us.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, Really

Lance Duncan  

What happened with that battle?

Bruce Duncan  

the snakes get cut.

Lance Duncan  

Do we have any problems with killing the goblins there? 

Bruce Duncan  

no. I mean it took a while and everybody got their fair share, but mostly the snakes fell or were flung and were cut while in midair by whatever weapons you guys had

Lance Duncan  

Did any of the Viper goblins escape? 

Bruce Duncan  

No 

Lance Duncan  

okay, yeah that's the only questions for the Viper goblins. anything else interesting to say about them?

Bruce Duncan  

Bunch of dunces

Lance Duncan  

Okay, and from there

Bruce Duncan  

of the Goblin groups, they were the worst. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. From the Viper goblins, Where did we go? 

Bruce Duncan  

from there You went down to the bandits and then you came to the Viper goblins, or no you came to the red blade goblins.

Lance Duncan  

Oh, we went to the red blades first

Bruce Duncan  

because the two Viper goblins wanted to get rid of them. 

Lance Duncan  

Oh well then Let me ask my question about the red blades. 

Bruce Duncan  

and then after you're done with the Viper goblins you went on to the red blades.

Lance Duncan  

You mean the other way around?

Bruce Duncan  

After you're done with the red blades, you went on to the Viper goblins.

Lance Duncan  

Yes, yes. Okay, so with the . . . Okay. Did we explore the red blade lair?

Bruce Duncan  

Yes 

Lance Duncan  

find anything interesting there? 

Bruce Duncan  

only the things that are in the module itself. Which wasn't much.

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, there's some rats and, and trees and other stuff. there's a  tapestry there.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, that's where you got the tapesty. you brought it with you.

Lance Duncan  

Well, it's a large tapestry of a red dragon. Did we took that? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep.

Lance Duncan  

There's also some wine.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, you didn't really want to try it. You tried it on the viper goblins First, the two female Viper goblins and they survived, but only because they're goblins. It was poisoned for humans.

Lance Duncan  

So it's just really bad wine.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. you guys would have had the runs. 

Lance Duncan  

Also there's a trapped chest. did We trigger the trap, did we unlock the trap? 

Bruce Duncan  

you disarmed the trap and opened the chest. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay the chest just has a glass, Oh yeah, the Ruby explodes . . . and then it just has some treasure. Yeah. Okay. And then we went to the Viper goblins, right 

Bruce Duncan  

and then you went to the Viper goblins 

Lance Duncan  

and from there did we go to Segenyev or wolfskull or 

Bruce Duncan  

you went to the wolfskull. 

Lance Duncan  

We went to the wolfskull lair.

Bruce Duncan  

That was the fun one. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, let me get to the wolfskull lair. Where is it? Here it is. PAGE 21. Okay, so the wolfskull, they're supposed to have a patrol three miles from their lair. did we encounter that?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, they didn't have that patrol anymore.

Lance Duncan  

It wasn't there when we got there. 

Bruce Duncan  

No, it was there. It just didn't survive . . . none of them were able to get free and warn them.

Lance Duncan  

Ah, there's piranha in the waters around the wolfskull lair. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes, there was 

Lance Duncan  

did we have problems with that? 

Bruce Duncan  

At first. Gabriel was going to walk across the river cause it wasn't deep. He could tell. And as he got into the water, he heard the clanking and stuff of teeth on metal, and decided that was not such a good idea. and you could see every time you crossed a bridge, the school of fish would follow you. 

Lance Duncan  

Oh. Trying to make it scary, huh? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

So babushka is in one of the, a prison cell? Did we free her? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. you used some Goblin armory to outfit her

Lance Duncan  

i'm trying to find where it is on the page. I can't find it. 

Bruce Duncan  

wait a minute, is babushka the girl or the guy?

Lance Duncan  

I'm looking for her that's why, let me pause . . . babushka is an old woman and she has a story that she tells us. did she tell us her story?

Bruce Duncan  

Yep

Lance Duncan  

Oh, she's supposed to be able to tell us that, So she told us that they took the prisoners to Xitaqa. 

Bruce Duncan  

Right

Lance Duncan  

Yeah, the other prisoners, Yeah, yeah. That's how we knew to go to Xitaqa. anything interesting happen with her? What did we do with her?

Bruce Duncan  

Basically everybody got sent back to the fort. cause everyplace else was so well demolished and there weren't enough people to make living in their towns safe. So they all went back to that one Fort

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And also in the wolfskulll lair. Did we loot the Chiefs treasure? like he has? where is that? he has a bunch of furs that are worth a lot of money. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. 

Lance Duncan  

And he has a coronet hidden beneath his stone throne.

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. You got everything 

Lance Duncan  

we found that 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep.

Lance Duncan  

Also vlack, so we encountered vlack at the wolfskull lair, 

Bruce Duncan  

right, and he's a coward.

Lance Duncan  

He didn't even fight us?

Bruce Duncan  

Well, he told everybody else to fight and then he disappeared. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we didn't even injure him at all. 

Bruce Duncan  

No. 

Lance Duncan  

Did we find his hidden treasure in the tree trunk? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

Was that easy to find? 

Bruce Duncan  

No. You guys, after you killed everything. And you started searching everywhere. You guys were leaving no stone unturned. No trunk unsplit. And so you were able to find it.

Lance Duncan  

And so after we had defeated the, destroyed the wolfskulls did we go back to sukiskyn? Or  . . . 

Bruce Duncan  

you were going to go back to sukiskyn? But . . .

Lance Duncan  

But we went to Segenyev? 

Bruce Duncan  

right, Yeah. And that's when you found out that the, it wasn't safe. and so you took all your survivors that you've collected on the way and gave them the furs and everything like that, that was too much for you guys to carry, gave them that and told them to go straight across and stay in the open plain. and they did.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. so my other questions that we skipped over. So we, there's the other villages did we go to ilyakana or any other villages that were smoking? 

Bruce Duncan  

No.

Lance Duncan  

So we never encountered, there's a guy, Kalonos, who we're supposed to learn about?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, you did go there, but Not until after you guys Were looking for the people that were taken up to xitaqa, but you got lost in the hills, and found yourself on the shores of this lake.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, So basically we went to segenyev then we went straight back to sukiskyn and from Sukiskin, What did we do there? Did we get the clue about going to loshad?

Bruce Duncan  

Yes, you did. And on your way you visited all these places.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so we visited those places and at those places we're supposed to. . . Oh, let's see. Yeah. There's kalanos. And he's, he's supposed to tell us his story. . . . Yeah, he's a boat man. Did we learn anything from him? 

Bruce Duncan  

Only about the iron ring

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Only that they burned the place down? 

Bruce Duncan  

Right 

Lance Duncan  

okay. but we just went on to the villages and saw them smoking? 

Bruce Duncan  

right 

Lance Duncan  

We didn't really do anything there? 

Bruce Duncan  

no one to save. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. And so from there we left and we went to meet loshad. Did we do the little silly thing that we're told to do by the villagers? stand on one leg and whistle or say his name or whatever? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes.

Lance Duncan  

And how did loshad react to that? Because it says we didn't have to 

Bruce Duncan  

he thought you guys were silly, What are you doing? 

Lance Duncan  

Right. Okay, so we did meet loshad. And what did he . . .?

Bruce Duncan  

Well, at first, he wasn't happy with you because you had harnessed your horses. But when he saw how well you guys were treating your horses, because he flanked you for a while, and that you didn't overload them or whipped them or anything like that. He was a little bit more, what's the word? I'll just say friendlier to you than you normally would have been.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. were we able to make the bargain with him? He wants us to go kill the werewolves.

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And from there we got lost?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, again. Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

So we met loshad in the plains or the hills or . . .?

Bruce Duncan  

almost at the edge of the hills and the plain. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And then from there, we were supposed to go north to meet to kill the wolves 

Bruce Duncan  

right 

Lance Duncan  

But we got lost, right? 

Bruce Duncan  

yes 

Lance Duncan  

So when we got lost we went to the lake of Lost dreams? Island? 

Bruce Duncan  

No, that was, you did that when you were trying to follow the trail and then you found that, and then you figured Okay, we're not where we're supposed to be, let's go back and you went all the way back to here. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. But wait, wait, so So when did we, when exactly did we encounter the island of lost dreams? was that . . . 

Bruce Duncan  

that was right after you did this 

Lance Duncan  

that was right after we went to segenyev? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, 

Lance Duncan  

okay so at the island of lost dreams there's a, so we meet elves at the edge of the lake, what was our interaction with them like?

Bruce Duncan  

I don't remember much about that. I just know that, that you guys went there first.

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And there's Pixies. And they didn't cause, did they cause us a lot of problems? No? 

Bruce Duncan  

not a lot of problems, they're pixies. 

Lance Duncan  

And so, we went inside the building on the island, I'm assuming? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. 

Lance Duncan  

And at the bottom of the building, there's a black mirror. was anyone, Well,  You already said elves were in the group. So we're any the elve's alignments changed because of the black mirror?

Bruce Duncan  

right, They were, they were going to be, but the Paladin had figured out what it was and broke it. Before they were taken hold on. 

Lance Duncan  

So while we were on the island, did we find or attack the Pixie village before we went into the building?

Bruce Duncan  

You guys didn't attack the Pixie village you just 

Lance Duncan  

well did we even find it? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, you did. But you just let it alone. It's not worth the effort.

Lance Duncan  

And then after, we we destroyed the black mirror. Oh, and there's the statue that the elves wanted. Did we take that? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

In front of the building? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

So we took that and then we went into the building? 

Bruce Duncan  

right. 

Lance Duncan  

and there's gargoyles. Did they just surprise us?

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. And it was a difficult fight, but you were able to get them. Mostly when the gargoyles would jump at you. If you stepped aside, When they hit the ground, If you hit them as soon as they hit the ground, the gravitational pull of them onto the The ground and then another g force from behind would shatter them. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. Did we loot the fram of the mirror after we destroyed it?

Bruce Duncan  

Yes. 

Lance Duncan  

cuz It's supposed to be worth a lot of money.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

And so after we came out of the building, were the Pixies friendly toward us? 

Bruce Duncan  

yes.

Lance Duncan  

And did they stay on the island? Did they leave? 

Bruce Duncan  

oh yeah They stayed on the island. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay. And so we brought the statue back to the elves. And from there?

Bruce Duncan  

from there you, the elves told you which way to go then. And you went back

Lance Duncan  

to Sukiskyn. And then we met loshad.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. And then as you were coming up to go to there, you got a little off course. And that's when loshad found you. Okay, and told you Okay, the wolves are here, where you want to go is there. And you guys were actually able to get to the wolves.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, so the wolves den. Okay, so at the wolf den Do we have any trouble killing the wolves and the werewolf?

Bruce Duncan  

not in the den, but they were dogging you for a long time after that, the ones that weren't in the den. You went to the tomb because, once again, 

Lance Duncan  

we got lost

Bruce Duncan  

you got lost,

Lance Duncan  

we got lost and we went to the tomb. I have questions about the tomb. Oh, here they are. So one tomb. There's some shadows which are immune to magic weapons, I think, right? And a ghoul which paralyzes people. Did that cause us trouble?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah, Gabriel got paralyzed.

Lance Duncan  

And then the zombie with mace. Did we did we get a mace? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yes, you did.

Lance Duncan  

did we take any of the curse treasure?

Bruce Duncan  

No. you Were going to, but the Paladin just didn't feel right about it. So she made sure that anything that was questionable was left, or buried.

Lance Duncan  

And then, okay, so one of the tombs it locks us inside after we enter, how did we handle that situation? Because there's an exit at the back but like, right when we were locked in 

Bruce Duncan  

because the thief could find her way out That was not a problem, but it caught everybody off guard. And there started to be a little squabble between Gabriel and the Paladin. Saying that somebody should have stayed at the door. cuz Gabriel would have been able to keep the door from shutting

Lance Duncan  

right, and in that area, there's a statue that's made of ooze. There's a ooze statue. did that surprise us? did we get hurt from that?

Bruce Duncan  

No, you didn't get hurt. But everybody was definitely surprised because as yet in our adventuring no one had encountered ooze

Lance Duncan  

in any of the dungeons?

Bruce Duncan  

in any of the dungeons, not ooze. 

Lance Duncan  

Yeah. And this is a statue. So it's not supposed to be ooze anyway,

Bruce Duncan  

right,

Lance Duncan  

okay, so we were able to easily escape or what? Yeah.

Bruce Duncan  

And being that you came out the wrong way. And you were lost when you found this place Anyway. I took you guys up to the gold mine.

Lance Duncan  

Okay, that's when we went to the gold mine. Okay, so we got to the wolves, then we went to the tombs and did all that stuff, then, did we go to the goldmine on purpose? What happened?

Bruce Duncan  

no

Lance Duncan  

We just wandered over there. 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

And there were, there's dwarves and they asked for help because there's orcs in their mines now 

Bruce Duncan  

right

Lance Duncan  

so we went into the dwarf mine. did we kill, so there's a spider that the orcs were worshipping, the shroud spider, were we able to kill that?

Bruce Duncan  

Yep. And you killed the

Lance Duncan  

because the shroud spider, it should have been a pretty hard fight. 

Bruce Duncan  

It was. you guys, before you could go back to the dwarves you had to spend a night to get enough healing spells and stuff to do everybody, so that they could move.

Lance Duncan  

Right. And then there's the orcs. Did we kill those too? 

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah. 

Lance Duncan  

And the orcs . . . Yeah, so in the orcs lair there's a stuffed lion with treasure in it. do we find the treasure in it?

Bruce Duncan  

yep

Lance Duncan  

How hard was that?

Bruce Duncan  

your thief was very was good. he can find almost anything, anytime, 

Lance Duncan  

right, Oh also there's 12 living statues, hutaakan statues, silver statues.

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah

Lance Duncan  

I don't know, how did we end up, we survived that fight?

Bruce Duncan  

I don't remember the living statues

Lance Duncan  

Yeah there's 12 of them. we may not have gone in that room, you know?

Bruce Duncan  

Yeah.

Lance Duncan  

What kind of connection does this place have to the hutaaka? Because there's 

Bruce Duncan  

it was a hutaakan and goldmine

Lance Duncan  

because They were obviously made by hutaakans in the first place, 

Bruce Duncan  

right. Yeah, it was a gold mine by the hutaakans. And then the dwarves found it after they were all long gone. 

Lance Duncan  

Okay, and so from there, where did we go?

Bruce Duncan  

Well, the dwarves decided to get you out of there. So they told you exactly which way you needed to go to get to where you wanted to go. And they told you and wrote a map for you and made it so obvious that you could not get lost. It was, go due West, follow the sun. And then when you get to the river, follow the river, So they did. And the river was shallow enough at that spot that you could cross it there. And then when you came here to the cliffs and stuff. you had to figure out how to get across to get over there and Not be spotted by anybody. There were the wolves and you guys got lost. that was a die roll. Rather than going west. You forgot what loshad, or whatever his name was, told you and you went east. That's what caused the lost. when when you guys came down the river you said, Oh yeah, we've been here.

The Known World: The Dunharians

I've recently been thinking about migrations and demographic shifts in my the Known World of Dracopolis. It got me inspired to go over my language lists again, look at the ethnographic history of mystara as developed by the fans, and finally I made some simple migration maps(just with colored pencil, I'll do better ones on the computer later) specific to fit my version of mystara. It ended up with me building a language tree of all the known languages. I then made this into a flowchart in illustrator which kinda acts as both an abstract migration maps and very simplified timeline. So I present the Dunharian Language Family as it developed after the Great Rain of Fire:

A brief explanation, which expands on the info I presented in this post follows. Immediately after the GRoF (keep in mind Blackmoor is in the Broken Lands in my Known World) the Dunharians were situated on the Isle of Dawn. During the Dark Ages following the disaster the Dunharians split into many rival tribes to the extent that they no longer saw themselves as the same people. These divisions resulted in two major groups, the Donn(so called because of their brown clothes) of the north and the Tal of the south. 

The Talians

The Tal fought many minor wars and fought off many invasions of  the various peoples of the mainland to the west. This eventually led to a mingling of cultures and language that separated the people on the western coast from those that had moved up into the central plateau. Over time the upland Nantalians were influenced by the Nithian descended Thothians on the west coast, yet over the centuries they have maintained a distinct cultural identity that harks back to their Dunharian roots. 

While the Nantalians were isolated by the plateau, the coastal Trantalians became civilized on the model of their neighbors to the west founding city-states and engaging in trade and diplomacy. Though having a different culture and language, a typical Trantalian city would be virtually indistinguishable from a Doulakki city to the west. Through the centuries, the empires of the west(Nithian, Thang, Thyatian) have always found it more useful to establish favorable trade deals and make allies with some of the more powerful Trantalian kingdoms or cities  than to directly subjugate them.

While the Tal were still warring with the people of the western continent, one tribe fled the Isle of Dawn and settled in the island to the south (Ochalea). Over a short period of time this tribe, the Kallians, either conquered or assimilated most of the indigenous population of the island. A few centuries later when the great flood sunk Taymora, a group of refugees fled to this island and called it Ochalea after the civilized people they encountered there. The two groups inhabited the island together for many centuries until the Thang Empire conquered it. During the the following centuries, the Thang language and culture came to dominate the island, though the people always retained some traits that spoke of their unique heritage.

The Donnians

Meanwhile, to the north the vast majority of the Donn left the isle of Dawn on a mass migration across the landbridge to the mainland(modern day Ethengar and the Northern Reaches); they became the Gwynish people and will be discussed below. The Donn who stayed behind were few in number and for many centuries their society remained tribal and simple. After the great flood which severed thier connection to the mainland, the Donn people became divided and many petty kingdoms rose up; these became known as the Dunael kingdoms. Over the centuries the great empires dealt with these northern kingdoms in the same manner as they did the southern Trantalian cities. 

Toward the decline of the Thang Empire, they often hired 'barbarian' mercenaries to fight their wars for them, and the the Dunael were considered some of the most reliable and ferocious warriors in the armies of the empire. Thus it happened that a Dunael captain, known as Atruaghin, became a great hero to both the Thang Empire and the Dunael people. Due to his great deeds for the empire, after his death Atruaghin's followers were given land in the western marches of the empire to settle. The people of Atruaghin keep their traditions alive and were some of the first to convert to the true faith of The Church.  

After centuries of division and outside powers influencing the wars and politics of the Dunael kingdoms, the vast majority formed the Dunadale Confederacy. Since the formation of the Confederacy, the Dunael people have had more independence, prosperity, and growth than ever before. Dunadale has become the preferred name of the people and their language in a show of loyalty to the Confederacy.

The Gwynish

After the GRoF the Great Bay north of Blackmoor emptied and became an expansive plain, also a land bridge was formed between the Isle of Dawn and the Northern Reaches. After the worst effects of the GRoF had dissipated and these new lands became viable for agriculture, a great flood of people spread into these new lands. For a time these people and the Donnian of the Isle of Dawn remained one and united. However, after the great floods sunk both Taymora and the land bridge the Dunael people of the continent were separated from those on the Isle of Dawn. Those on the continent, seeing the weakness of their neighbors, went on another great migration, this time one of conquest. They passed over the mountains and flooded into the Canolbarth plains(there was no forest at that time) slaughtering the inhabitants who had just suffered catastrophe during the quakes floods that had destroyed Taymora. 

Many settled the Canolbarth plains, while others continued on to the southern coast over the Cruth mountains. Those who continued to the coast slaughtered any remaining Taymorans and enslaved the native population of elves they found there. These tribes became isolated, developing their own idiosyncrasies, and became known as the Cruthin. Only a few centuries later the great Hin migration arrived at the shores of the Cruthin. Caught unprepared, the Cruthin were slaughtered and driven into the mountains. To this day a few Cruthin tribesmen can be found in areas considered uninhabitable by civilized folk. These 'wild men' follow their ancient traditions and have never converted to the ways of the one true Church. 

Following the great flood and subsequent conquest of the Canolbarth, the Donn people of the continent, though isolated from their cousins on the Isle of Dawn, shared a single culture and language which unified them. This united people, across Canolbarth, Ethengar, and the Northern Reaches, became known as the Gwynish. The Gwynish tribes flourished for several centuries unchallenged. this was not to last however, as first the Nithians from the east, and then the Thang from the west, built expansive empires and conquered the neighboring gwynish tribes; eventually the Nithians were defeated by the Thang and all the Gwynish became subject to a single empire. 

During this period of conflict between the Nithian and Thang Empires, a tribe of elves came to the Thang empire with an offer of an alliance. With the help of the elves, the Thang drove the Gwynish who had allied themselves with the Nithians out of the Canolbarth plains. The elves were given this now 'empty' land and cultivated a dense forest there. The Gwynish who were driven out of the Canolbarth fled north to their free cousins in modern day Ethengar. The refugees along with the bravest of the Gwynish in Ethengar headed to the snow covered peaks of the west and settled among the river valleys of Glantri. Eventually they too were conquered by the Thang Empire. 

During the decline of the empire, the northern frontier was abandoned to focus on threats from the west and south, and Imperial control was never reestablished over the region. A decade later 'barbarians' invaded the Gwynish provinces from the west. The Gwynish called on the empire for aid to no avail. In response to the plight of the Gwynish, a renowned warrior of the Dunael, named Atraughin, gathered an army and sailed across the sea to deliver his cousins. Once there all the warriors of the Gwynish united behind his banner and in a great battle drove off the invaders. Atruaghin was crowned King of the Gwynish and he built a great capitol city, Corunglain. He ruled for many years in peace and justice. He made an alliance with the Thang Empire and acted as the prime defender of both his realm and the empire, driving off several 'barbarian' hordes. He died in battle against an army of Gothic invaders from the north and his kingdom collapsed after his death

As noted above, his Dunael followers were settled by the Thang Empire to guard its western borders and became the Atruaghin Clans.

The Gwynish of the Northern reaches were slaughtered, driven off, or enslaved by the Gothic invaders who settled in their lands. The Gwynish who survived fled into the mountains and settled in the valleys of rockhome. These became the Dyffryn and are peaceful farmers and shepherds mostly who provide the mountain gnomes with food in return for protection. 

The Gwynish of the western mountain valleys in modern Glantri devolved into feuding petty kingdoms. Isolated among the river valleys they developed their own dialect and became known as the Gorllewin Kingdoms. To this day they have maintained their independence from any foreign power and the old traditions of their ancestors. After many centuries a new group, worshippers of the sacred flame, came to the Gorllewin kingdoms. Their were many wars that followed, but that is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that the wars resulted in the isolation of these newcomers, known as Flaem, to the magical city of Glantri.

The Gwynish Kingdom survived for another century and a half, however, with the limited territory of Corunglain and modern Ethengar. The kingdom falls to a tribe of western 'barbarians' in the same year as the Thang Empire is conquered by those selfsame barbarians. The Gwynish of Ethengar are slaughtered or enslaved, but a significant portion of the population is able to flee to the north. They reached the land of Wendar safely and built a new society there in harmony with the elves. They now call themselves the Carnuilh.

There remain a remnant of the Gwynish people in the lands of the modern Holy Empire. there is a significant population around in Corunglain, and most of the people living in the woodlands and hills surrounding the realm of Alfheim are of Gwynish descent. All these people speak the Canol dialect and are people of the Canolbarth. They live fairly rustic lives away from the big cities. Most have converted to the one true Church, but follow the traditions of the Church of Atruaghin, rather than the Church of Darokin.