Don't Know How I've Missed The Viking Hat GM Uptill Now

The Viking Hat GM Blog is my kind of awesome. Forget the title, read about the rad Car Wars battle.

"Li'l Joe, the fat greasy hairy-manboobed trucker spilling soggy burger lettuce all over himself as he drove."

"Jean-Claude Van Waffle, the Belgian kickboxer with learning difficulties but great stretch (he could kick people out both car windows while driving)"

"his mulletted hair blowing majestically in the wind"

Car Wars is a Game, not an RPG. But it is a Game without rules telling you how to Roleplay. And thus wide open for fabulous people to RPG the hell out of it.

Tuesday is God Day - Airlan Synarion, Beaho, and Brogine of The Nine

Tuesday is God Day cause it's named after Tyr. Since I learned about him as a little kid Tyr has never been replaced as my most favorite god of all. Although I really like Beaho.

This post continues a series on the gods of Pelos, the major power in my high magic, epic, pseudo Roman/Ancients campaign. This glossary might be helpful.


The Nine
Confusingly there are more than nine gods in The Nine. Different areas of the Known World elevate different gods into this group.

The Nine are the "movers and shakers" of the pantheon. Powerful and having large spheres of influence. Airlan Synarion, Beaho, Brogine, Creegus, Ealnor, Elondar, Mylien, Ryllan Synarion, Sineiri Syl, Zoryd.




Airlan Synarion
"a-earl-an se-na-ree-on" - Intermediate Deity (Chaotic Good)

The Watcher is one of The Nine. She sees and knows all but these heavy burdens have driven her insane. She warns the other gods of their doom but her cryptic mutterings and crazed rants they cannot comprehend.

She is a middle-aged comely Pelosian with unkempt "crazy woman" hair. Her arms are twisted at odd angles, clawing at unknown worries. She contorts her body in an effort to see or hear better. See or hear what, others dare not ask. Airlan's normal attire is an over sized, dingy, white smock, but, she sometimes forgets to dress. Airlan Synarion's holy symbol is a crystal ball. Her favored weapon, the whip.

"They come!"

Portfolio: divination, knowledge, protection, madness

Domains: Protection, Community, Knowledge, Oracle, Madness

Cleric Training: Only females become priestesses of Airlan. They are not trained as much as "chosen". Once touched by her madness a priestess has little choice but to tread Airlan's twisted path. None stay coherent for long, few last more than three years before Airlan's madness consumes their bodies as it has their minds.

Quests: Warning those who will listen of The End. Studying, recording and expanding knowledge of the past, seeking out musty tomes in long forgotten ruins. For in the past one finds the future.

Prayers: are given in a muttering, halting chant, punctuated by inexplicable bouts of screaming and violent thrashing.

Temples: No one builds temples to Airlan. But she has her place amongst The Nine and a surprising number of shrines are dedicated to her.

Rites: None

Herald and Allies: Doom is Airlan's herald and has no allies as all fear her divinations. Even her brother, Ryllan Synarion, cares little for her other than as a tool to sow strife and argument amongst the other gods.


Beaho
"bay-ho" - Greater Deity (Lawful Neutral)

Beaho is one of The Nine. It lurks in the heart, ready to strike at anytime but preferring to fester and grow. It chases the wicked and destroys those in the wrong.

Representations of Beaho are either a formless pool of blackness or a warrior clad in black Eldar style armor. A black iron bar held horizontally is Beaho's holy symbol. Beaho's priests wield it's favored weapon, the dire flail.

"Beaho sends his regards, prepare to die."

Portfolio: vengeance, punishment, destruction

Domains: Destruction, Inquisition, Celerity, Travel, Law

Cleric Training: Priests of The Nine, Pantheists, and Beaho specifically are common. They start training together at various temples, monasteries, and religious schools. Clerics of Beaho are destined to be inquisitors, prosecutors, and often judge and jury. They study the laws of Pelos and are charged with punishing any who violate them.

Quests: Followers are often tasked with tracking down and delivering justice to dangerous criminals and creatures.

Prayers: are accompanied with sacrifices / destruction.

Temples: The typical Pelosian temple will have statues or altars to The Three in the middle surrounded by altars to The Nine. Which in turn are surrounded by nooks and crannies for alters to the many others. Shrines and temples dedicated specifically to Beaho are rare. Although prisons, inquisition(torture) chambers and execution sites are dedicated to it.

Rites: Priests of Beaho are common in courtrooms, as prosecutors, judges, often both. Certain punishments (treason, adultery, crimes against one's family) are traditionally exacted by them.

7-05 Naynano, First Pentad is known as "Judgement Day" the day Beaho runs wild and those who have thus far escaped justice, meet their fates. It is a day most remain locked in their houses.

Herald and Allies: If you spot a faceless warrior clad in black Eldar style armor do not bother to run, Beaho has come and justice will prevail. Lirlenion, Creegus, Ryllan
share goals with Beaho and their respective priests often work together.


Brogine
"bro-gine" - Intermediate Deity (Chaotic Good)

Lord of the Forests, he is one of The Nine except in Darsis and parts of the Wildlands where Elondar takes his place.

Brogine is a woodland deity that usually takes the form of a large Treant, though on occasion he has taken the form of Satyrs and Centaurs. He never appears in humanoid form.

He will aid any creature that respects the woodlands and forests that he protects. But Brogine has a great fear of fire and will do anything to prevent the spread of fire in his forests. For this reason priests of Brogine may not use any magic that involves the use of fire, neither spell, scroll, or magic item. His holy symbol is a Treant. His favored weapon is the club.

"Treat the woods well or abuse them, either way Brogine will respond in kind thrice fold."

Portfolio: woodlands, forest gnomes, druids

Domains: Plant, Protection, Animal

Cleric Training: Priests of The Nine and Pantheists train together at various temples,
monasteries, and religious schools. Priests of Brogine continue their training in the forests where they learn about the plants and animals that dwell there.

Quests: Protecting and expanding woodlands. Secret rituals performed on dark nights.

Prayers: Most prayers to Brogine are in the form of haunting melodious songs sung acapella or accompanied by the flute.

Temples: The typical Pelosian temple will have statues or altars to The Three in the middle surrounded by altars to The Nine. Which in turn are surrounded by nooks and crannies for alters to the many others. Shrines and temples dedicated specifically to Brogine are common amongst the forest gnomes. They are always in wooded areas and are often made from living trees and plants that have been molded into the proper shapes.

Rites: Brogine is central to many ceremonies and traditions of the forest gnomes.

Herald and Allies: Treant, other woodland creatures. Brogine and his priests are somewhat isolated and stick to themselves. He does not have much in common with the other except Myri who overshadows him in importance to all but the forest gnomes.



Most Tyr's days I'll post about the gods, religions, cults from my campaigns. Next time, Creegus, Ealnor, and Elondar of the The Nine.

Free RPG, Why Buy?

Look at these Free RPGs!

That's only the ones reviewed by the Free RPG Blog. If you can't find something interesting there to play or riff ideas off of, man, I just don't understand you. And if you think it's all low production, amateurish schlock. One, you're wrong and two, get off your high-horse you pretentious wanker.


There is a nearly endless stream of creative, innovative fan-based material on the net or printed at cost like Fight On! More than you could easily get through. Tis why the Free RPG Blog is one of the most important blogs/resources the RPG community has. Finding, filtering, and reviewing some of the hoard that is out there for all to use. Rob Lang is most deserving of a Tip of the Hat.


From that list of reviewed free RPGs I've played (and would recommend) FUDGE, Brutal, the unrevised JAGS, FATE, Star Frontiers (back in the day). I'm really interested in trying out Midgard and Dominion Rules. And so want to run a short campaign of Digitally Remasterd Star Frontiers. Also ripping tons of great ancient flavor from Zenobia.


There's really no need to buy another RPG product ever. For me games have always been a hobby, not an industry. Never wanted to make it a job and after discovering FUDGE I understood there was no need for publishers. Of course I still buy stuff (although often used and mostly from small pubs). Except for a few major players, publishers are all right. They just don't provide a needed service anymore. But neither does Starbucks.

BuffyPunk

Bay Area, 2103
As the Internet expanded into every aspect of life and each successive generation remembered less about any other way of living or communicating, crowding consumers together in cities and going places to buy stuff and services became less and less important. Eventually corporations abandoned the cities. Lacking property and other business taxes cites deteriorated, encouraging more people and business to leave. Eventually, everyone that could had moved out.

May 14, 2070 a magnitude 8.9 earthquake rocked the Bay Area. Later called "The Shake". The Golden Gate's north tower crashed into the bay dragging most of the span with it. BART2 and the Coastal MagLev up and down the peninsula were devastated. Nearly all local utility and transportation infrastructure was destroyed. The Pepsi Cola Dike, built the previous decade to hold back the rising oceans held, mostly . Over 40% of all private property was knocked or burnt down. Most of the rest was condemnable or destroyed during the ensuing month long riots, "The Burn".


No one rushed to rebuild a city that was half-empty anyway. Plans were drawn up to repair the Coastal MagLev up the eastern side of the bay, but money for the project never materialized. The Bay Bridge newly hardened vs terrorists in 2043 was one of the few large structures to survive. But within a decade CALTRANS elected to tear it down rather than pay to maintain it. Most corporations had already relocated their data centers and network infrastructure to geologically stable Sacramento or further afield. 90% of their workers telecommuted from PRDs (Planned Rural Developments; gated communities and various other quiet, safe, corporate controlled areas). The USA and the world wrote the Bay Area off as a bad investment.

Soon after the Shake and Burn San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the rest of the Bay Area fell into near anarchy. Only a few enclaves maintained any semblance of order and stability. The largest of these, based around the old public power generation facility and grid, slowly united the enclaves and "reclaimed" much of the city. By 2103 there is a democratically run "city-state", the GBA (Greater Bay Area). It controls large parts of what was once referred to as The Bay Area. Gaining defacto autonomy since, as of yet, the GBA leadership has been careful not to give anyone a reason to care what happens around SF Bay.

Oh yeah, the earthquake also opened a hellmouth & legions of the dead are conveniently close in Colma.


Welcome to BuffyPunk, a BtVS Campaign

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG "Series". Set a century into the future, slightly cyber punkish; dark, violent, corporate ruled future. Mostly, it's about kicking vampire ass.


Player Background

By the time Buffy's replacement slayer made the scene the forces of evil were enjoying an upswing. The dual slayers and other anti-vampire forces slowed their resurgence to a creep. That worked like a charm until one of the slayer's went missing in the last decade of the 21st century. She is not dead as no replacement slayer has appeared. Through powerful divination magic The Reformed Council has come to believe she is cyrogenically frozen and in orbit. Whether put there by vampires, a government agency, or a corporate research lab and for what purpose they remain at a loss.

Although, the general population remains clueless most corporations are aware of vampires and the occult. But, few corporate boards "get it" when it comes to supernatural blood-suckers. Fewer still realize vampires are the low-end of the demon power scale and that there are bigger bads to worry about. Corporations by and large view vampires as just another risk to be budgeted for. Magic, mysticism, and other occult powers aren't products C-levels can wrap their business school trained minds around. They try to ignore the para-normal and when that fails specially trained black-ops units are sent in but often do not come out.

Shamans, witches, sorcerers and other practitioners have little use for the mundane power corporations offer and by necessity nearly all gravitate towards a more or less active anti-demon lifestyle. They infrequently cooperate but their combined efforts have saved the earth, nature and humankind from the worst deprivations of demons and corporations.

Demons are the bestest with the mostest but they lack organization and direction. They await a leader badassed enough to unify them...

[Thus started a campaign that ended up being a 1-shot that I regretfully did a poor job at DMing all back around 2003 or so. More to come.]

Is the Old School Bloggosphere Loosing Steam?

I believe my RPG Reading List has the Blogger portion of the OSR pretty well covered. Recently I've noticed some trends that point towards us having reached "Peak Old School". And that it's maybe downhill from here. Several bloggers have quit, others taking breaks/burning out, and several more withholding content so they can commercially publish it. Seems only about a third of my enormous blog roll updates regularly 1/week. I'm assuming some of the remainder have quit/burntout/are on haitus without notice.

Also seems like larger percentage of posts are rehashing meta junk. "What is Old School", "My idea of Old School", "Edition War", "Old Artists are Great", "Why I like Old School", "It's Neo-Classical!", "Clerics/Thieves/Accending AC sux/are great."

Is the bubble bursting? Have you said all that's worth saying this time around? Do we have to wait till 5e for another spurt of new blood/creativity/posting?

On the other hand during this same time I've added 5-10 new blogs to my blog roll. So maybe like Peak Oil Peak Old School will never be reached because we keep finding new sources to plunder.

Gold and Glory, but mostly Gold

I like creating campaign details such as various coinage systems used by different "powers" past and present. They provide a little touch of verisimilitude. And also, open up a great many plot hooks and questions for the players to pursue. "Why do the bandits have sacks of Gilder (the King's rival) Florens?" "Nobody will touch coins embossed with Frog Gods except maybe that sorcerer who lives off in the wilderness to the North." "Even the sage doesn't recognize these coins we pulled from the lower levels. Maybe there is more lost treasure and forgotten knowledge to be had. Or maybe it was buried for a reason."

It all started with the Dwarven system of coins is hinted at in the description of this character. Lately I've been working up details on a few coinage systems I plan to use in my next campaign.


Keeping it Real
I don't remember were I picked up this hint but it's a good one. The basic idea is to peg one gold coin (or silver if you prefer the silver standard as I do) to one dollar (or euro, rupee, whatever your local modern currency is).

1sp = $1

This makes it easy to price goods and services and in general reason about wealth. Cheap peasant meal = price of a big mac & fries $5 or 5sp. Skilled labor $25 25sp / day Cheap lodging No-Name motel $14.99 or 15sp / night. Luxury inn $100 or 10gp / night. Buy a townhome $150,000+ or 15,000gp. Some things don't translate well cause industrial economy not so much like agrarian one*. I'm not after perfect historical simulation, just want handy & useful rule of thumb.

* In truth most D&D settings esp. newer ones are far closer to modern society / economy than they are to any historical one.


Coins of the Kingdom

name         value  metal   size     notes
----         -----  ----    ----     -----
bit          ~$.12  tin     dime
ha'penny      $.50  copper           literal penny cut in half
penny           $1  copper  dime
tenpence       $10  silver  nickle
farthing       $25  silver           literal crown cut in quaters
half crown     $50  silver           literal crown cut in half
crown         $100  silver  lg dollar
royal         $500  gold    quarter  aka half sovereign
sovereign    $1000  gold    sm dollar
baby dragon  $1250  plat    sm cube  small cubish 1/4 size of dragon
dragon       $5000  plat    sm bar   bar w/ dragon imprint

Increments & Equivalents
1 bit       =             cp $.10
8 bits      = 1 penny     sp $1
10 penneys  = 1 tenpence  gp $10
10 tenpence = 1 crown     pp $100
10 crowns   = 1 sovereign    $1000

Heads and tails:
Many designs for coins have been minted since the Kingdom was founded. Below are the currently favored ones.

Bit's are minted by various Dukes and Free Cities and have portraits and heraldry on their faces.

Royal pennies have portrait of the reigning king and on the obverse is the kingdom's heraldry. A couple Free Cities have also been granted the right to mint pennies and they have the cities emblem on front and the kingdom's heraldry on the obverse.

Tenpences "head's" depict the great gate house of the King's Castle and the obverse portrays various events (victory, wedding, birth of heir) the King wanted to celebrate.

Crowns depict the gods crowning a king (in spirit the current one but it's too abstract to tell) and the crossed swords and shield of the Kingdom.

Royals have portraits of queens, princes, princesses, other favored family members and the kingdom's heraldry.

Sovereign has been in the past a portrait of the current king but it became burdensome to collect and remint them with each new monarch. So, now they have scepter, staff, sword (sacred symbols of rulership) and a stylized map of the kingdom on the back.

Notes:
Cutting of coins is not official practice but happens with frequency to "make change". Esp in rural, gray and black markets where access to legal exchange is problematic. It is illegal to cut gold coins. The minting of silver, gold and platinum is strictly the purvey of the King. Others caught melting, minting, or altering coins any of these metals suffer the gruesome punishment of halving hot lead poured down their throats. Various guilds have received royal dispensation to melt and smith these metals but are very closely watched.

Daily commoner coins are bits, pennies, and tenpences. Ha'penny is uncommon and tends to be found only amongst the really poor. Regular folks would rarely every see a crown and when they do they tend to cut them up into reasonable sizes, half crowns and farthings. A commoner with gold (royals or sovereigns) will attract the attention of the local authorities for how other than stealing it from their betters could such wealth enter their hands.

Tenpence, crowns, and royals are the regular coins of the wealthy. They use pennies as needed but bits and the various cut coins are viewed as too "low" to bother with. Dragons aren't normally carried. Along with sovereigns they are for wealth storage and large transactions between the very rich.


The Many Coins of the Elven City States

name         value  metal    size     notes 
----         -----  ----     ----     -----
chalkoi       $.50  bronze   sm dime
obolus          $4  bronze   quarter
drachma        $25  silver   quarter      
tetradrachm   $100  electrum quarter  4 drachm
pentadrachm   $500  electrum quarter  5 drachm
octadrachm    $800  electrum dollar   8 drachm
decadrachm   $1000  gold     dollar   10 drachm (issued to celebrate victory)
several other "denominations" of drachm have been minted in the past

Increments & Equivalents
1 chalkoi    =              5cp $.50
8 chalkoi    = 1 obolus     4sp $4
6 obolus     = 1 drachma  2.5gp $25
100 drachma  = 1 mina     250gp $2500
60 minae     = 1 Talent 15000gp $150,000 (a unit of weight not an actual coin)

Heads and tails:
Elves organize themselves in to city states, much like Ancient Greeks did. Each city state mints it's own coins. Although, they all follow the same system and use standard weights and metals. Each city state embosses its coins with their own symbols, gods, leaders, and designs.

Notes:
I thought the following from the Wikipedia page was interesting...

Wage is 1 drachm per day skilled laborer

Talent mass equal to 25.992kg, as well as a unit of value equal to this amount of pure silver. A talent was originally intended to be the mass of water required to fill an amphora (39 liters). 200 rowers was paid a talent for a month's worth of work, about 4.4 grams of silver per rower per day. According to wage rates from 377BC, a talent was the value of nine man-years of skilled work. This corresponds to 2340 work days or 11.1 grams of silver per worker per workday.


The Forgotten Curious Coinage of the Dreaded Frog God Empire
Long ago cults of the Frog Demons spread from their foul swamps and created a vast empire. Although the empire has since fallen and faded from memory it's treasure remains stashed, hidden and buried deep within the bowels of the earth. But beware wealth is not all that remains of the Dreaded Frog God Empire.

name         value  metal   size     notes
----         -----  ----    ----     -----
????          $.10  tin     quarter  triangle shaped
????            $3  bronze  quarter  triangle shaped
????            $4  copper  quarter  triangle shaped
????          $500  gold    quarter  triangle shaped

Heads and tails:
All coins depict Frog Demons doing Frog Demon type things; eating sacrifices, slobbering, and the like. The "tail" of each coin is embossed with the Elder Sign.

Notes:
Value listed is the worth if melted down as normal folk won't accept triangular bits of metal embossed with froggish horrors as legal tender. Collectors and current followers of our amphibious masters would probably pay much more. Of course the latter are as likely to rend your body into fats and juices with which to lubricate their vulgar frog demon statues.

Locks, Magical, Three Each

Inspired by taichara's post on 3 locks, and being shown the way by chgowiz's Three More Magical Locks I offer my humble contribution.


Lock of Remote Action
These fixtures appear in many forms from simple catch to complex clockwork mechanism. They may be found loose or attached to all manner of objects, walls, floors, columns, furniture, even doors, chests and other normally locked items. The faintly detectable magic of them is that what they unlock has no relation to what (if anything) they are attached to. It maybe the door next to them or a gate on the other side of the dungeon.

The inventor, one Archmage Zlul the Ever-laughing, is said to have constructed a most devious dungeon beneath his tower. Consisting of many small chambers interconnected with doors whose Locks of Remote Action were all in a "control" vault. The chambers were stocked with oozes, undead and other dangers most foul. Into this ever changing maze he would drop hapless adventurers. Zlul, ensconsed in his control vault would observe their progress and occasionally release a horror if they proved too dull.


Lock, Most Disturbing
This simple lock is always combined with a trap of some sort. Although the lock will detect as magical no manner of skill or sorcery will reveal it's trap. For until the lock is bypassed the trap is held in an extra-dimensional space. The act of unlocking summons the trap from it's hiding place at which time it is detectable via all the normal means. Locking the device returns the trap to it's extra-dimensional space. For most locks of this type use of the proper key keeps the trap safely outside of our dimension. Some are safe only if opened via magic. Others are never safe... Most disturbing.

The lock itself is not overly hard to pick for those skilled in the art. The maker of the lock trusts that interlopers will follow the tried and true sequence "detect for traps" -> "pick locks" -> "rob treasure" and thus be lulled into sense of safety just as a deadly trap is poised to strike.

[DM's Note: Things that exist beyond do not take kindly to their home being used as storage for our traps and there is a small chance that a Lock, Most Disturbing will attract their attention. Hitching a ride into our reality when the trap is summoned.]


Eward's Enigma Bolt
This ordinary looking crossbolt might be encountered securing a room, chest, drawer or the like. It, being a simple bolt, requires no skill to "unlock". Not designed to bar physical access its strong enchantment obstructs mental and mystical access to the contents it secures. As long as the bolt is in the closed position nothing short of a wish or godlike power will allow scrying, detecting, teleport into/out of, reading thoughts of, summoning, banishing, or the like any thing, person, creature within the protected object. The weakest Eward's creations are small and will only work when attached to a coffer or drawer. They range up in size and power all the way to huge bars which are suitable for securing an entire castle.

Facing, Flanking, and Blocking

So, for wanting a rules lite game I'm sure talking about a lot of rules in this this series. I've read and do read so much RPG stuffs that all Phillip K. Dick like I forget what's mine and what I only imagined. I need to fixate in my mind how I'd like to adjudicate situations in a "rulings over rules" type campaign. The other big reason is to provide a place for people to tell me I'm doin it wrong.

Goals and assumptions: Rules-lite & slightly crunchy. Want to encourage tactics but not tactical miniatures combat, no tactical map. Although miniatures might be used to show marching order, general positions/groupings of combatants. Melee combat is abstracted and represents many (6-60) seconds of feinting, dodging and maneuvering aka "the dance". Melee is dynamic, participants are not stationary but do stay in a general area.


Facing
Is the direction a creature* is oriented towards.

Melee facing is abstracted and folded into the Flanking rules.

Ranged facing only matters when using a shield to defend against ranged attacks and is folded into Cover & Concealment. When it matters it must be declared during your initiative and lasts until your next turn. If facing is undeclared (e.g. during surprise or due to forgetful player) it will determined by logic (the DM's, not yours) or die roll.


Flanking
Is attacking from the side or rear. Either of which negates the benefits of a shield and provides a melee to-hit bonus +2 side, +4 rear. Note: attacking a totally unaware opponent garners a +4 to-hit bonus (separate from flanking). Flanking bonuses are due to not being able to clearly see attacks. Creatures with multiple eyes, > 270deg vision, special senses, special training (monks), or super speed generally provide reduced (+0 / +2) to-hit bonuses or none at all. They can still being "flanked" though, which is important when determining Blocking.

Ranged attacks do not get to-hit bonuses for flanking but may get the unaware bonus which often applies when shooting someone in the back.

In general a creature with room to maneuver can always keep a single opponent to their front. A second opponent will generally be able to attack from the side and a third could get around to the rear (4th front, 5th side, 6th rear). At most six (2 front, 2 side, 2 rear) creatures may attack a given opponent given that they are all of similar size. Attackers decide in what order they attack and thus generally decide which among them get flanking bonuses, but fast, sneaky, or tricky opponents might override that.

Two creatures fighting next to one another can keep two opponents (regardless of who those opponents are attacking) to their fronts. A third opponent would side flank. The general formula is # of creatures fighting together = # of opponents denied flanking. Fighting with friends also limits the total number of opponents that may assault you. If needed, place figures on a hex grid, max attackers = number of exterior adjacent hexes.

Two or more creatures can fight back to back or in a ring thus preventing any opponent from getting a rear attack. This is trades defense for ability to block movement. (see Blocking below)

Restrictive terrain tosses the above guidelines out of the ring and slams them with a folding metal chair. To be adjudicated on a case by case basis but should be pretty darn obvious. Ex: If you're up against the wall then 3-4 opponents max only two of which would get side flanking.

Optional Rule: Weapons with reach (pole-arms, long spears, etc.) allow 2x the number of attackers. Thus the idiot fighting alone in the middle of the room can be attacked by 6 scimitar wielding orcs and 6 Glaive-Guisarme wielding orcs.


Blocking
Is preventing opponents' movement around your position or around your defense to engage something you are defending.

In general a creature can prevent one creature from moving "past" (assuming size, speed differences are not great). [visualized in the scene to the left from "The Princess Bride". Alternatively, a creature can prevent all non-rear flanking opponents from moving through it's area. [best combined with formations or terrain.] The area for humans and the like is 5'. In a similar way a creature can defend another (deny option to attack defended by interposing themselves) from all non-rear flanking opponents. What this generally means is you can keep two opponents from moving round you, but once you face three or more they will slip by. General formula is # of creatures fighting together + 1 = # of opponents blocked. This is all "automatic", no need to declare anything, the DM will handle it.

Again terrain is were it gets interesting. When the situation is non-obvious laying it out on a hex grid is sure to elucidate. But melee is messy and fluid, best effort guess is fine as well. In general, if creatures can make a continuous line (based on their areas) between two obstacles they block all movement. Ex: Two 5' area creatures or one 10' area creature can block movement down a 10' corridor. If creatures can make a nearly continuous line but with gaps where an opponent could side flank them they block movement until overwhelmed by superior numbers (those side flankers start slipping through). One 5' creature could hold up movement down a 10' corridor, but would probably have to give up space to keep a third opponent on his side from passing.


Commentary
Simple (in practice, annoyingly hard to describe) algorithmic method to determine flanking. Given open ground, circle formation and X defenders, the attackers get X front, a side flank, a rear flank (convert to side cause of circle formation), then repeat until run out of attackers or spots for them to attack.

Ex: for one, two, and three defenders. Front, Side, Rear attackers.
1 FSR FRS
2 FFSS FFSS
3 FFFSS FFFS_ (underscore cause 3 defenders face a max of 9 attackers)


No flanking to-hit bonus for ranged. Saying ranged weapons are too fast that the feinting, dodging, maneuvering one does in melee don't apply. And inability to do the "combat dance" effectively is origin of the flanking bonuses. If you know there's missilery about, you keep your head down, you weave and hustle. It doesn't matter much that projectile death comes from behind. But, if some yahoo is standing up picking his pignose, thats the +4 unaware bonus. Again front, side, rear don't matter. One moment orc happily picking your pignose, next arrow in the eye. The only time I can see the unaware attack applying to melee is thief's surprise backstab from the rear, +8 total to-hit, wowza!

I originally had this in flanking: "A creature normally gets to decide which of several opponents it is keeping to the front, but fast, sneaky, or tricky opponents might override that." Which seemed realistic. But, thinking ... that giving players a new "decision point" outside of their turn (i.e. when they are being attacked) would bog down combat. It's better to be the attacker's decision as it will be made on the attacker's turn as an integral part of their decision on whom to attack. It also promotes players to think tactically as a team. "Gor and Thumak will attack first so thief boy can get around and poke'm in the ass." [btw Assumes team based initiative that is players roll one initiative and all go together.]

Blocking is how meat-shields keep the nasties from bothering the casters while they are busy talking in tongues and making funny shapes in the air. Or how one heroically saves the virginal sacrifice from the EHP's obsidian dagger. Basing off of flanking isn't perfect but having only one set of rules is better than perfect. Also, allowing one dude to block two attackers is a bit off but creates tactic possibilities.

I've thought about not allowing weak fighters (wizards) to block nor be able to keep an opponent in their forward facing. But there is already strong enough incentive to defend the paper cannons and enough "I am the lord of combat" stuff for fighters. That there was no reason to complicate.


Tactics:
- Find and use terrain to defend your flanks.
- Fight in teams of at least two or get poked in the ass.
- When overwhelmed in the open form a circle.
- Defend your casters.
- Casters, hire some body guards.
- Hirelings are cool, even if all they do is sit there and defend themselves they are protecting your flanks and rear.
- Archers, hire a shield bearer.
- When you have superior numbers gang up and get those to-hit bonuses.
- When facing hard to hit foes it might be better to gang up to flank one at a time, even if the others will get round and rape your wizard. (He should of hired some guards.)
- Blocking is not symmetrical. A shield bearer can deny two creatures from attacking you but you can attack them back, even without a reach weapon. Note: life expectancy of shield bearer, low.


* "creature" means monster/character/npc/etc.

4th Edition Dungeon & Dragons becoming Free to Play

Great news 4ed D&D, everyone's favorite MMORPG, will soon be free to play! Or, I think so. Page mentions a "Beta but 4th's been out a whole year now. Confused.

Ha! Sorry, couldn't resist. Maybe it will bait some 4tard into posting a scathing comment. This is the Troll & Flame blog after all.

Steam Punk Carnival

SteamPunk is not my favorite genre, this will probably be the worst RPG Blog Carnival contribution ever. I despise tech vs magic (which is usually done in the name of "balance") settings/systems.

Troika's Arcanum is an excellent SteamPunk / Fantasy computer RPG. It has a posse. You can probably find a copy "around". The Diamond Age is a sort of reverse SteamPunk (highly advanced civilization reproducing Victorian society) sci-fi novel that is pretty good reading.

I blogged about a steampunk campaign based around the characters operating a train. Called Fantasy Rails inspired by Iron Dragon board game and a RPG I played in at the Seattle Game Con. I was into it until Eberron & everyone else did steampunk.


Fantasy Rails

Steampunk tech, powerful but semi-rare magic. Powerful wizards, items, dragons, mystical and fantastic creatures. Only five wizards around, one known dragon, rare to even see magic.

Players operate a train, hauling cargo, taking odd jobs, slowly building up their train's capabilities and power. If "Firefly" was cowboys in space this is Firefly on a train in steampunk fantasy land. The party would start with a 2nd hand, old, broken down. simple engine + tender, falling apart, crappy, war surplus caboose, and some coins to customize/buy rolling stock. The goal would be to haul cargo, do jobs, raid the occasional indigenous peoples (aka orcs) camp earning enough coin to maintain and upgrade their train. Thus opening up more dangerous and lucrative jobs.


Adventure Hooks

• Great Train Race - long distance with required specific odd ball deliveries (orc tears, 3 harpy feathers, dust from the Dungeon of Despair) .
• Deliver valuable cargo which of course is the target of train raiders.
• Deliver mundane cargo which has secret hidden valuable cargo that every low down dirty dog except the characters knows about .
• Deliver circus full of mystical beasts with challenging requirements and they totally all escape along the way.
• Patrol border / area with monsters, bandits, etc for local authority.
• Train refit/upgrade vacation (aka go dungeon delving, tomb robbing, planar adventure hopping, etc)
• Train stolen! - must pursue scoundrels and take it back only to discover the scoundrels were good guys who needed the train temporarily for humanitarian cause. But now that characters have taken it back orphan kids are gonna die.
• * Support/protect railroad work crew expanding track.

Encounters

• Ye olde train robbery by druids and treants angry about despoiling of the prarie, by a dragon (of course),
  
• Rail blockage 1d4 1) Gelatenous Cube 2) nypmh tied to tracks 3) bandits demanding toll 4) Tarasque
  
• Missing track, repair crew, bandits, bridge out
• Track goes into magical mist/portal
• Bridge flooded out by lava!
• Rampaging beasts up ahead over track/
• Train to rear, the personal transport of noble/wizard demands right of way.
• One track, two trains, with or without operational breaks
• Giant has torn up and looping tracks turning train around back the way it came
• Unexpected switch sends train wrong way.
• Camp along tracks d6 1)gypsy 2)bandit 3)pilgrim 4) luddites with attitude! 5) humanoid 6)
  
• Fire (forest, brush, plains) up ahead either side of tracks.
• Caboose, other rolling stock comes loose.
  
• Weather screws with boiler / makes track slippery / other hazards and delays.