Respeth Kingdom - How The Dwarves Have a Kingdom

As it came up in a character conversation, I've decided I do need to come up with a reason why the Dwarf King Khermumi Axechest rules over a kingdom of a few hundred square miles.

From the By This Ax book:

The process of becoming a ruler begins with the acquisition of an area of land, known as a domain. Domains can vary considerably in size. A very small domain is a 2-square mile area of land (one 1.5-mile hex on a local map). A typical domain is a 32-square mile area of land (one 6-mile hex on a regional map, or sixteen contiguous 1.5-mile hexes on a local map). A very large domain, fit for a king, is 500 square miles (one 24-mile hex on a continental map, or sixteen contiguous 6-mile hexes on a regional map). The area of land making up a domain is called its territory. A domain’s territory is often contiguous, but it may be noncontiguous if desired. While there are no restrictions on a domain’s size or shape, large and noncontiguous domains are harder to control, as explained below.

Domains are classified as either civilized, borderlands, or wilderness. A newly established domain is civilized if all of its territory is within 48 miles of an existing dwarven vault with at least 625 urban families. A newly established domain is borderlands if all of its territory is within 72 miles of an existing dwarven vault with at least 625 urban families. All other newly established domains are wilderness. Dwarves may not establish new vaults within 72 miles of human settlements with 625 or more families. 

As the Respeth Kingdom is (quickly pulls out a number) about 70 miles x 30 miles along the mountains mostly, but a bit into the Ocean Trade Route in order to tax the caravans. Using 6-mile hexes, it is roughly 11 x 5 hexes along that mountain range. Which I should really name. Though the name may vary based on what side of the mountain you are on, or who you ask. 

Reading through that, I realize that the much larger Respeth Kingdom is larger than Dwarven domains usually are. This one is a special case: they have essentially taken over the defunct previous kingdom. Their original domain was centered in the Thuluhm mountains for a few miles around that. But, seeing the potential riches in those western, and as yet untapped, veins of ore and crystal as well as there not being a ruler of any sort for more than a century, gave King Firbear Axechest ideas. And the non-Dwarves in the former kingdom, while now paying taxes again after a few generations of not paying taxes but getting Orc raids, are willing to pay their bit for the protection Axechest proffered. And thus he assumed the previous kingdom.

Considered a borderlands domain by the Dwarves as it has been ruled by the Dwarves since Axechest's father, King Firbear Axechest took the ancient Tuvano Kingdom as his own. Centuries ago, the Wizard King Kalinore of Tuvano, after his wife's death, slowly descended into madness. Though rumors of his still being both alive and dead remain to this day, the kingdom itself was dead. Firbear Axechest, having a holdfast in the Thuluhm Alpine, had always kept his eyes above as well as below ground. Seeing a way to expand his vaults into the western ranges, and having no real opposition, started Dwarven patrols along the Ocean Trade Route. He re-established the borders while scouts and explorers studied the mountains. A rich vein of ore sits on the border shared with the Kingdom of Ismelkonia. The current Queen Belion, known as the Prodigy for her tactical skills, is aware of the ore and did not want to give that potential treasure up. Her son, Prince Artwain, is rumored to have a contact in the Respeth Kingdom that keeps him informed.

For 30 years, there was a stalemate between the kingdoms. King Firbear was killed by an unknown assassin, whose only trace was a short run of mucous slime and the poisoned dart in his neck. King Khermumi was just under 100 years old when he took the crown four years ago. Since then, he has started increasing some of the taxes and has been building up his own garrisons at the vault. The trade route has remained untaxed, though selling wares from the caravans invokes a tax of about 1% the value, which is about average for the southern kingdoms. Dwarven tax collectors have been known to be fairly zealous when inspecting caravans at major trading cities. In Windemere Crossing, this is Henrutha Alerock. Our characters never met her, but the caravan master did (which reminds me, I probably should have him or her set up just in case they go back to town and inquire about the caravan. It will give me a chance to see about a merchant NPC as I do have a merchant class).

King Khermumi Axechest

The By This Ax book has a chapter devoted to Dwarven domains, so I am using some of that. And yes, I've decided to also back Kobold Press' Castle & Crown KS even though I barely use the 1st book in the series (Cities and Towns). But I like books and I do re-read these and get new ideas once in a while. Even if most of the world building stays in my head. Though I did use the battle maps the 1st one had, and yes, I did back at a level where I get those maps in the new campaign. And we do meet for face-to-face gaming every other week so these will eventually get used. Regardless, these books are really aimed at player characters creating their own kingdoms and towns which is what a lot of higher-level players end up doing. While at least one other player like to do this, not sure it fits with the others as anything other than background they usually don't care about. But who knows - perhaps we will level up faster than by the 2031 estimate given by one player based on the entirety of 300XP split among 4 players from killing that giant python. The next session, assuming they survive, actually has a fair amount of treasure. But there are a LOT of skeletons!

Tuvano is actually a Fantasy Trip adventure. The actual city is over the mountains south of Windemere Crossing. My TFT players were heading in that direction before that group fell apart. If push comes to shove, it will be easy to adapt to OSE. Or hey, we could always translate the characters to TFT and play it that way! The group did not stick around in town long enough to pick up many rumors, which may have covered some of this. Or not.

And to close out this length world-building post, my perpetual refrain of "how much of this is really useful?" The main point is that I do this for fun, so useful or not, in the end that does not really matter as this is one of my forms of entertainment. But how much is useful at the actual table? If I could present it well enough, I think it adds to the verisimilitude of the world. The Ax book gives me the information needed to help calculate the number of families per hex based on the Dwarf expectations and world model as presented in that book. I need to cross-reference the Organic Town and the Campaign Builder: Cities and Towns to see how they all compare in terms of populations. The Ax book does have peasant Dwarves that farm and do other regular things. Someone has to supply the grains for that Dwarven bread! Not all Dwarves are fighters or blacksmiths. In fact, the majority are just doing regular things which is all background. But the background actors are also important, I think. We just don't interact with a lot of it. 

For those of you who are Traveller fans - yep, list like Scouts Book 6: let's generate the entire system, dozens of moons and calculate orbital mechanics. Why? Because it is fun!

OSE Game Session 1: A Slow Start

It was a bit of a slower start than I was hoping. First, an introduction to our characters:

• Quinby Glimmertouch, Halfling Thief who is more a kleptomaniac than a thief. 
• Enoki Matsutaki, Mycelium (aka Mushroom Person) fighter
• Baldur Woodburn, human Druid Ovate
• Kragh the Unshackled, half-Orc Barbarian

Our characters get to Windemere Crossing near sunset. One of the guards, Tara Serk, seemed awfully anxious and rushed through the gates into the walled trade town. Quinby tried to stop her but she was in a rush and hurried on, not hearing his cries. As the party hesitated outside the town walls (Baldur really does not like being inside or in walls), Rennor came out, carrying her knife on a pole. She introduces herself and greets the travelers. She recommends the Nimble Priest Inn if they want food (as she really does not like the half-Elves running the Silver Pirate). 

Our group eats and drinks, or at least those eat and drink do so. Enoki just needs a pot of soil and is in fact in search of an Earth Stone that can produce a cubic yard of earth per day. At the inn they hear the ballad of Grace Carver and Quinby joins in. At one point, Deputy Newtonson comes by and retrieves the drunk Sheriff Sprigbasher to take him home. They overhear that it must be that time again. And by the end of the night, Quinby has managed to keep the lute from the bard. Having more coin than they can really understand (this group has no one that really understands the concept of money, not even the very odd thief. It will make for some peculiar and interesting sessions if I can remember that and not always play the honest merchant!). The head priestess. Zhou Smithensonne, rents them the room upstairs.

Spending the night at the inn, they awaken to the sound of fighting in the back yard of the inn. The priestesses, all shave-headed, are fighting. They are amazingly fast, and Zhou is taking on three others. Quinby rushes down to help her only to find out that this is the morning practice and a form of prayer to the First Lady. He tries to stick with it but is easily outclassed but seems to have a good time.

Tara Serk pays them a visit, dark circles under her eyes. She has interrogated the other passengers/guards on the caravan and our group is the last one. She somehow rolled a natural 20 n perception so strongly believe Quinby does have her message tube, but his dumped-out backpack revealed nothing. But she has her eyes on him.

They head to the job board and have a few options. But first, they decide to find Zesp Zrag, the Goblin merchant whom Enoki had heard had an Earth Stone. Finding the store, and Zesp surrounded by a wreath of pipe smoke, Enoki comes to find that Zrag had traded the stone for an obsidian staff. Letting Quinby play with it, he manages to coat the floor in ice, causing Enoki to fall into Kragh. But they find that Carrabus Blue, a Tradewalker, had left a few days before heading south into the mountains.

Deciding that the stone was to be the first thing they needed, they go to find Lurbuk, the Orc stablemaster, outside of town. Not wanting to buy but rather rent a wagon and horses, Lurbuk has nothing to do with that. Part of that is cart rentals for outside the city, especially from strangers, is just not a thing. Credit history is NOT a part of my fantasy world! But another part of that is Kragh: half-Orcs are not welcome by Orcs or humans. But he may be willing to trade for a discount: the family sword has been stolen by thieves, known to be hiding at the barrows perhaps three leagues southwest of town. Baldur heads off at a trot. Entirely ignoring that they could have been paid and had companions to go these very barrows as it was on the job board....

On the way there, they encounter a giant snake! Baldur recognized the crushed grass and the large snake scales. Seeing the snake up ahead, they attacked! The fight went on for about 4 rounds. Quinby I don't think ever hit it, Kragh did 1d4 damage initially with his shield, his only weapon, and Enoki actually got a critical hit. Baldur hit it a few times with the sling. Unfortunately, the snake attacked Kragh, managed to both bite him and get around him to crush him to death. Fortunately, they did manage to kill the snake. And a python does 2d4 automatically per round when constricting someone. They took some teeth as a trophy, and Quinby actually had a healing potion so Kragh is not entirely spent. Recovering a bit, they make a really good check & find the barrow door, which is where we left it for the next session.

I tried not to do too much of an info dump (though I obviously have a LOT of info!) but hopefully it was not too overwhelming. The first and only combat was a little rough as I reversed one roll, but it got a bit smoother as each round went on. I also think it helped our newest player (and follower of the blog - thanks!) realize that this game is unforgiving. His character only survived because he did some amazing rolls on Discord on his constitution as well as hit points. It would have killed two of the characters. And I rolled who the snake attacked in front of everyone so I was not fudging the dice there.

What they all missed was, while at the shop, as they have no healers, they really should be buying a crapload of healing potions and the like! But they rushed in, rushed out, and rushed into meeting a giant snake. That only attacked them because they attacked it. Even just bypassing the snake peacefully they would have received the 300XP without Kragh getting hugged. And Kragh, though he likes milk, does NOT like hugs apparently. 

The obsidian staff, Carrabus Blue and the Tradewalkers are part of the RPG challenge: I'm bringing in some of the things we come up with. Some may not make it into the first game, but I'm adding these pieces to my document of RPG things and, if allowed, will post that final list at some point. Possibly over several posts as some of us are quite wordy! 

NPCs Encountered and Where

Tara Serk, Human female fighter, caravan guard.

Rennor, Orc female, teen, outside of town and at her father's stables the next day

Zhou Smithensonne, Human female priestess, owner of the Nimble Priest Inn

Deputy Newtonson, Human male, picking up the sheriff at the Nimble Priest Inn

Sheriff Sprigbasher, Human older makle, passed out at the Nimble Priest Inn

A bard who is missing a lute, at the Nimble Priest Inn

Zesp Zrag, Goblin male, at Zrag's Mercantile

Lurbuk, Orc male, stable master

Our Own RPG Challenge, and final OSE game prep

We decided to run our own personal RPG thing a day challenge. Anything, stream of consciousness sort of thing. Part of it was because we just finished a pretty epic arc in the Delve game. We managed to clear the city of Calion of the Grendle (aka Hobgoblins), my character's mother was still alive, as were two of my missing Goblin cohorts that we lost months ago. My grumpy goblin Fugh, now King of the Goblins, and his boon companions Flick the half-Elf bowman and Orrum the fighter Dwarf, along with a hired mercenary group and an awakened basilisk, triumphed. There were some losses, including some of Fugh's guards and not one but two of our mage companions. We seem to run through our NPC companions no matter how hard we try to keep them alive!

Anyway, one of Fugh's royal guards is Gookin, a not-quite-right-in-the-head Goblin. He has attacked a giant snake by biting it, charges literally headfirst into battle. He has been both the clown in the party as well as someone who we've grown to respect, even if we need to keep him away from tasty goats.

In light of that, my first RPG item is for Gookin, Ogre Killer. And yes, he did kill off an ogre and kept an, err, interesting trophy. Later replaced by a leather bag with walnuts as it was getting a bit ripe. 

GooGookin’s Headbutter

A thick club sized for smaller humanoids such as Goblins or Halflings. Gookin’s Headbutter is an enchanted club when wielded by chaotic smaller humanoids. Giving a +1 (or +10% depending on mechanics) on a chance to hit. Legends have it that the mighty Gren, Gookin Ogre Killer, crafted this weapon and the Elder Viwulf enchanted it so that Gookin would not always use his head in attacks. Other stories indicate he may not have had the brains for this, and his fellow Gren crafted it for him. Critical hits roll on the table below:

1	Kneecaps the opponent. They cannot attack next round as they drop to ground this round
2	The Gookin special: a groin hit and the opponent cannot attack for the next 1d4 rounds
3	Dazed and confused: somehow managed a blow to the headpan. The target’s next 1d2 attacks are at disadvantage or similar mechanic
4	The Toe Smasher: the target is at a disadvantage the next 1d2 rounds and speed is decreased to 50% of normal speed
5	Lights out! Stunned so hard the target is seeing stars. Double damage but as stun (i.e., may knock them out but not kill them)
6	Glass Jar: the blow knocks out the opponent for 1d12 rounds

AI Goblin has some peculiar legs!

I actually prepped a bit as I am often out of time for the fun stuff. Well, out of time and inclination overlapping. I always want to be doing something other than what I am doing. A perpetual "the grass is always greener" sort of thing I think endemic to human nature. I have almost a dozen things ready. Several are overlapping and I'll do post on that set of things as it helps expand out my little fantasy world, as well as adding another god to my growing pantheon.

As for the final preparation, I've actually got a notebook and have printed out my players' character sheets (thank you all for getting them in!). I've been updating my Windemere Crossing PDF, and found I can cross-link within that. Those links persist in the PDF (which I'll include the still WIP thing. But it is allowing me to link my character descriptions to the locations they are normally located at. So that should make that part a bit better. I plan on actually using the OSE DM's screen as it has a lot of the rules I'll need. I will print out my NPC tracker to keep track of when the players meet the NPCs and try to take better notes. There is also a Dolmenwood calendar so we're going to use that to track the days. I'll add a few local holidays. And of course, I plan on doing a game recap within a few days. 

Interestingly, I've managed to get a coworker in to join us. He's never played an old-fashioned RPG, just the various video games. So this will hopefully be a good introduction for him! 

my set up for gaming (sorry, apparently panorama mode does not do monitors well!) and add books, pens, paper, etc.And yes, there IS a giant pile of LEGO behind that wall. 

Windemere Crossing (WIP)

More Pantheon Expansion - Druid Edition

The upcoming game (only a week away!) and I have all the character sheets. Actually printed them out, and I have them in notebook. And I printed out one of the potential adventures as I only have that in PDF form.

Anyway - the druid is following Hern the Horned God. I found a few interesting references:

From this reference:

Unlike the majority of deities in the Pagan world, Herne has his origins in a local folktale, and there is virtually no information available to us via primary sources. Although he is sometimes seen as an aspect of Cernunnos, the Horned God, the Berkshire region of England is the home to story behind the legend. According to folklore, Herne was a huntsman employed by King Richard II. In one version of the story, other men became jealous of his status and accused him of poaching on the King's land. Falsely charged with treason, Herne became an outcast among his former friends. Finally, in despair, he hanged himself from an oak tree which later became known as Herne's Oak.

In another variation of the legend, Herne was fatally wounded while saving King Richard from a charging stag. He was miraculously cured by a magician who tied the antlers of the dead stag to Herne's head. As payment for bringing him back to life, the magician claimed Herne's skill in forestry. Doomed to live without his beloved hunt, Herne fled to the forest, and hanged himself, again from the oak tree. However, every night he rides once more leading a spectral hunt, chasing the game of Windsor Forest.

Which is a pretty sad tale! But there are other references such as this one, which is the one I think we're going to go with:

In Celtic mythology, Cernunnos was the Horned God who ruled over wild beasts and places. He’s most commonly associated with forests, wild animals, fertility, and wealth. Cernunnos is often depicted with prominent stag antlers on his head and was known as the Lord of the Wild Places or God of the Wilds

Which works out well as I am really wanting to lean a bit more into the Fey as a darker, richer world. While the Fantasy Trip treats Orcs mostly like a different branch of mankind, most game systems have them a bit further apart. Same with Goblins: they are not just small green (or whatever color your goblins are!) people that act like humans: they are a mischievous and dangerous folk that think and act a lot differently than humans do. And should have minor glamours and things like that (which does not work well in the TFT game system though OSE supports it. But we can make it work!) Though getting the idea of the Fey across well is hard (at least for me). Though I am backing the Secret of the Fey and the Dolmenwood kickstarters which are heavily fey! And still want to plop the characters into Rackham Vale. The murder hobo approach in any of these settings would not go well! I will have to place gates in various places, including that mushroom ring in my mountain scene where Thiseas currently calls home.

The more gods the merrier. Nope - Hern the Horned God is not part of my little pantheon, but I run a very open world and like what other people bring to it. The universe (or at least my gaming universe) has lots of room for all sorts of deities. My Centaur Druid did not specify a god. Looking over my ancient pantheon, the druids are normally associated with Tonna, Goddess of the Lesser Creatures. However, Centaurs are generally affiliated with Aronius, Goddess of the Lands. Which explains why he had to leave and now lives in that forest glade several miles from Windemere.

And I decided to roll reaction rolls for how Tonna feels about Hern, and vice versa. Gods can be capricious! In our case, Tonna is open armed to Hern. He is not part of her family of deities. Hern, on the other hand, is not as open towards Tonna, but has no problems with her. No outright antagonism. How some druids or clerics feel may be different, but the gods themselves have no issues with each other.

Thiseas of the Gallantos Herds of the Western Fields worships Tonna. While raised to worship Aronius, he felt a calling from wide open plains of the Western Fields, and slowly roamed south and eventually ended up in the Vele Hory Range (which is actually close to Czech for large mountains - one way of coming up with names: get translator to translate to a different language!). Here is communes with the animals and helps protect this side of the mountain. While he is gaining affinity with Tonna, there may be some animosity from Aronius: she may not want to lose a single being to another deity. And centaurs need wide open fields to run as much as they like! Something to think about at any rate.

I asked whatever art engine Bing uses for a fantasy goddess of small animals and got back some interesting results. Not sure which one I like and they may all be aspects of her. Interestingly they are all very similar, though I did ask for standing in the woods surrounded by small animals. Images at the end.

And digging out my Lesser Keys for avatars, let's see what sort of avatar she will have. 

Tonna's Herald is roughly humanoid, about 6' tall and proportioned normally but looks to be made out of air. Its eyes have the appearance of stars. There are 6 mouths that when speaking, create a chorus that can be disconcerting. When appearing, there are also 1d6 rodents/skunks/weasels (roll 1d3 for each animal). The Herald rises up from the ground, and mortals witnessing this become sycophant bootlickers until it goes away. The Herald also fluctuates in size, from rabbit to giant-sized. And smells of fresh rain when it appears. The Herald does have a name: Iaharuyauh, though few know or use it,

Tonna's holy symbol sits on a trapezoid base and depicts a field of grain under the stars, usually carved in bone or ivory when near the sea. The grain is to feed the animals, and the stars represent Tonna herself. Most clerics or druids wear a modest robe during ceremonies, with ribbons adorning their hair (Thiseas even has ribbons in his tail). Reading from the sacred texts is accompanied by percussion and acapella singing. Mead is often poured out as a sacrifice. The ribbons are often knotted, which is also how messages and doctrines are passed along (part of the Druid's cant for Tonna is being able to read and write using the knotted ribbons). 

The planting of crops at the end of winter is when Tonna's adherents celebrate. Quiet prayers at the edge of the crops at dawn and pouring out mead from the previous year's harvest.

Priests of Tonna, if they become sainted, have their body interred in a moveable shrine. In a seated position with their hands at their sides, wrapped in linen. This shrine is guarded by 2 types 1d4 animals. 

The Lesser Key To The Celestial Legion also has a list of boons. I may use that as needed if we need a deux ex machina at some point.

and one of my game group got me a cat dice tray!

Traveller: ISS Emergency Water Flask

I know I've tried to outline this before, but as my game group has decided on an RPG Item A Day Challenge for ourselves (and for the OSE game coming up - starting in less than 2 weeks!) I decided I could at least do 1 Traveller item. Previously I tried to draw or find an image. This time AI to the rescue. 

The ISS Emergency Thermos is part of the standard emergency survival kit found on all ISS craft. This versatile thermos can carry just under 2 liters of water. It also has sensors and purifiers built in to be readily replenished from liquid water sources. If there are no water sources available, it can fill itself back from atmospheric humidity in 12 hours - the planet's hydrographic value. The purification system is good for up to 12 weeks before filters need to be replaced depending on usage and water conditions. 

It also has an inertial compass, flashlight and emergency beacon that may be used. Solor powered via a multi-spectral detachable solar screen, it may be used indefinitely requiring only a couple hours a day to recharge. 

Pretty sure I got the size/volume about right: volume of a cylinder being V=πr^2. I decided 25 cm seems like a good height and 10cm diameter gives just over 2 liters. A bit goes into the electronics and double-walled shell. See - RPGs make you do the maths!

ISS ST-01

Weight: 350 grams empty with charging panel stowed

Height x Diameter: 25cm x 10cm

Price: Cr350

Replacement filters: Cr25 for 5 pack

Device can purify up to 200 liters a day or extract 2 liters of water from the atmosphere in 12 - world hydrospheric value (i.e., a desert planet would be 12 - 0 or 12 hours, Earth at 70% water or so is 12 - 7 ore 5 hours to refill). An extendable multi-spectral solar array can recharge the system in 1d6 hours depending on available solar activity. Batteries will last for 2 weeks before recharging is necessary. Replaceable parts are the biofilters, which last for up to 12 weeks depending on usage and water quality. A double-walled polyplastic shell can handle a large amount of abuse.

Also includes an inertial compass, flashlight and emergency beacon. Usage may impact battery usage.

Civilian versions are available in a wider variety of colors and options.

edit: I actually added a new blog site today. For some reason I randomly clicked one of my latest followers (hey, I am curious about you too!) and liked his blog. So *poof* I added it.

The Skirmish That Wasn't, and Windemere Crossing Organic Towns Month 5

After several weeks of missing our Saturday Skirmish, the stars finally aligned and we all got together. However, we got side-tracked by a couple of things. We were going to do a larger set, with 900 points per side using the One Page Rules. Alas, my partner & I only remembered that half of that was 450 points and then we split that so we only had 225-point armies that were going to be fielded. And then that discussion segued into a broader range of subjects and suddenly it was dinner time. And I had even set up a skirmish board ahead of time!

 The goat and goblin are an in-joke to the current Delve game we are playing: one of Fugh's (my Goblin King character) retinue/guards has been stealing goats to eat a couple of times. And a goat image now shows up on Owlbear.rodeo whenever our hapless Gookin (the Orc Killer Goblin) shows up. We are easily amused.

Anyway, it was a pleasant afternoon talking about a wide range of things, even though we definitely have some different views about a few things, it is always good to listen to other people. 

And back to Windemere Crossing. I've got a work buddy who may end up playing. We generated his half-Orc barbarian last week, and I can introduce him as one of the guards in the caravan that the characters all talked to. I'll have to dig through my notes and see what sort of secret I can give him that may lead to an adventure. As I left the guards mostly unspecified that works well I think for bringing in a new character. And having a small trade town full of people I've not even talked about, there is always room for more. 

Coming into month 5, we have two projects finishing up: we have a new pasture south of town towards the mountains, and our western gate is now complete! There will be some sort of minor celebration for the new gate. While I don't think they'll break a bottle of champaign over the bulwarks, at least some sort of day off for those hard-working laborers. The market expansion and cleanup is going well and should be completed next month. This will be outside the actual walls of the town: as originally designed as a garrison and outpost, it is not large enough. As the gates open east and west, it would be nice to have it on the route. Rolling one of my rune dice so that 1-2 is west, and 3-4 is east, they decided to add the market outside the western gate. Part of the construction for the gate included some extra walls for the new marketplace. While still open for the most part, there are some walls and buildings added that the regular merchants can use to lock up their goods. But because it is open, we may need to add more guards. Fortunately, the pasture adds food for 500 people, and as we have a bit less than that still, we can add more guards and expand out our city troops and guards. 

We already have a town guard of 4 (our two new guards from a couple months ago along with Sheriff Sprigbasher and deputy Newtonson, but we are going to add a swordsman group to the town military. Our barracks are filling up with the two squads. Not sure how many spearmen or swordsmen (and obviously may not all be men, or even humans). Which is also why the main market is moving out of the central area of Windemere Crossing: training is taking up more space. Though there will always be a few small merchants and things there. Some that may cater to our military. 

This month, when rolling on the tables, the following results:

• the economy is booming! We get an additional 3 SP (1/100 citizens). Think we'll actually hold a celebration for the western gate (before starting on the new eastern gate).
• while everyone enjoyed the festival, there was no change to morale. Though as it was already pretty good already, all is well. 
• oh no! a merchant was trying to smuggle in some low-level monsters! They have escaped and are somehow hiding in Windermere Crossing or nearby! A small flock of alicanto (from the Monster Overhaul) are eating precious metals in town! Rewards for getting rid of them! The merchant is currently in the jail. There will still be some left when the players show up.
• and oh no again! The well got tainted - one of the alicantos fell in, which is how they found out about this attempt. Water is being boiled for the next few weeks until all the contaminated water is cleared. This does reduce our wood availability.

  

  alicanto from Wikipedia

And we're starting on the eastern gate, which, after the well incident, will take 3 months instead of two due to the lumber shortage. And between that, the new swordsmen and the festival, our settlement points are about filled up. We also add 14 people this month, of which most are the swordsmen. I am going with there are 10 per group, so we also have a new baby, and some of the gate workmen, from the Dwarven capital no less, have decided to stay. Being Dwarves and there are some mines nearby, they have decided to stick around a bit more.

So interesting things are still going on, and now I have a potential quest in town for our adventurers. There is a nice d10 table for the alicanto beast, and as they just scratch, are unlikely to kill our adventurers! 

Next month the market will be completed which brings in 40 AP per month. Part of that is getting eaten up by our strengthening military, but we'll find other usages for it. 

And now thinking about the Dwarves - would they like or dislike the alicanto? As that beast eats gold and other precious metals, I would think they would hate it. Yet it can also lead them to precious metal veins in the earth. Makes you wonder if they think that is cheating from a Dwarven perspective. I'm going to go with most Dwarves hate the beasts and will kill them on sight. Yet Monda Barkwright (human male owner of the salt mine) was importing them to take to Crevice Creak (the salt mine and described in the Oracle Special issue #1 (Grinning Frog). Tada - linking things together. Though the characters won't know the why, it may come up in play somehow. Which really means I may have to get a merchant NPC and oddly, I was looking at the Merchant OSE character yesterday for some reason. And apparently merchants belong to a merchant guild so I can use my guild book and either use an existing guild or create one. Next post ideas! Or at least a post soon coming to you: I need to do a Traveller post. And run a Traveller game (and that did come up in our Saturday talk-fest so it may happen yet).

And finally - think I'll see about running an OSE game on the terrain I set up. Unless the cats destroy it first. So now I have 2 potential posts to write. And never enough time (this weekend flew by, but as I mowed a lot of grass, at least I did accomplish something outside of my head. And I cleaned the basement as well as that is where we game. Or in this case, talk)

Rune Dice - A Druid's Friend

My rune dice showed up, and having a Druid in the next OSE game, figure I could try & come up with a random Druid table. As there are d4s and d6s, figure a d64 table works pretty well!

Going with low rolls are better for whatever reason. So, a 1-1 is great, and a 6-4 is doom! Ask for help from the gods at your own risk! 

As my upcoming OSE game does have a druid player (and an NPC they may get to meet!), and I feel these dice are very druidic, I've made up this table should he decide to roll. And really need to decide how often. Think I'll add some notes above the table about that. 

While TFT does not have a druid class (or any class) a player could pick a lot of the nature-based spells and choose a druidic type of god to follow and call it a day. One of the many reasons I do like TFT - you can create any sort of "class" you want. Though I also like games where there are classes and specific traits, abilities and skills for that class. What can I say - it all depends on how I want to play.

This is a fairly generic table other than the sentient sword abilities and the major and minor healings, but those should be simple enough to map. For example, in The Fantasy Trip I'd do 2 points for a major healing, and 1 point for a minor healing (hey, TFT is brutal though I do house rule the "big boy" healing potion which is a d4 I have in what looks like a potion bottle. We like to roll it & see what comes out! There used to be a cork, but my cats have absconded with it.)

the "Big Boy" healing potion

And just how often can you roll? Depends on when you last rolled. The first roll counts as never having rolled before.

If it has been a month or more, subtract one from each of the dice.

If it has been 2 weeks or more, subtract one from the d6.

If it has been 1 week or more, subtract one from the d4.

If it has been less than a week, add one to the d4.

If it has been less than a day, add one to both the d6 and d4.

If it is in the same day, add two to each die.

So best used sparingly! The gods do not like to be bothered all the time it would seem!

1 1 Ask the GM any 2 questions

1 2 Ask the GM any 1 question

1 3 Ask the GM any 2 yes/no questions

1 4 Ask the GM any 1 yes/no question

2 1 Bear companion for 1d6 hours

2 2 Owl companion for 1d6 hours

2 3 Bear companion for 1d4 hours

2 4 Owl companion for 1d4 hours

3 1 A nearby plant suddenly glows and will cure serious wounds. It will last for 1d6 hours before the magic fades

3 2 A nearby plant suddenly glows and will cure serious wounds. It will last for 1d4 hours before the magic fades

3 3 A nearby plant suddenly glows and will cure light wounds. It will last for 1d4 hours before the magic fades

3 4 A nearby plant suddenly glows and will cure light wounds. It will last for 1d4 hours before the magic fades

4 1 You find a four-leaf clover. Use up to twice to re-roll your last roll

4 2 You find a four-leaf clover. Use once to reroll your last roll

4 3 a piece of nearby nature gains a random "sentient sword sensory power" for 1d6 hours. Roll on that table for the ability

4 4 A piece of nearby nature gains a random "sentient sword sensory power" for 1d4 hours. Roll on that table for the ability

5 1 You hear a wandering monster appropriate to your environment

5 2 Wandering monster appropriate to your environment surprises you

5 3 A light rain (or if cold, sleet) starts

5 4 A heavy rain (or if cold, sleet) starts

6 1 Your shoes soles have worn out; if barefoot, you have a painful bunion

6 2 Your water bottles have all sprung leaks, leaving them empty and your clothing wet

6 3 Your rations have all spoiled

6 4 A sudden change in your surroundings blocks you in. A cave may have a ceiling collapse, the woods may surround you with thorn plants

OSE Game Prep Again - Getting Closer!

The current Delve game we're playing will be at a good stopping spot shortly (and we've been playing it for several months now - quite a bit of leveling up!) We either takeback the city of Calion from the Hobgoblins or die trying. I may have mentioned my character: a grumpy Goblin who is now king of the Goblins (no, not THAT Goblin King, just king of the local group in this section of the world). The Hobgoblins (Grendle in this world, and the goblins are the Gren. I'll admit to getting the two names confused at times).  It has been a tad uncomfortable for me as I play to get away from responsibilities, not take on more! 

Which keeps bringing to my mind how different people play and how they want to play. There is a discussion over on COTI on Space Opera vs hard SF in Traveller. And as my readers know, I prefer the every man being thrust into an extraordinary situation mostly. Low level games that, while still a fantasy or SF world, I can wrap my head around and the consequences are there. Of course, I also like playing superhero games though I tend to the underpowered in that genre as well! And as for responsibility, in the real world I've been thrust into that as well: being a parent (well, he did just graduate college) was a choice but also the biggest responsibility I've ever had. And work, well, somehow, I am in charge of more than I want to be. I told my last job I just wanted to write code, no management. Sadly, now I am sort of managing. But I digress from the topic of this post: game prep!

Looking back at my notes as this has been a long-simmering process as we're having a lot of fun in the current game, our group will have met on the caravan coming into Windemere Crossing. To remind myself, as well as my readers and my players assuming they read my notes, we have the following characters:

Enokli Matsutake (mushroom warrior)

Danny: Human Druid

Halfling Thief: Quinby Glimmertouch

They each have a secret I've passed on to them via emails so that they have their secrets that they may or may not want to share. Though I may redo one secret as it can link to a low-level adventure from one of the Delve magazines (which I've stopped backing, but I am on his Patreon so he is effectively getting more money from me. Heck, just backed the Oracle for a 6-month physical and PDF subscription - expensive but I think worth it as those are a good source as well. In fact, the salt miles of Crevice Creek a few miles up the mountains from Windemere is from their mining issue).

I'll have a precursor to their entrance to Windemere Crossing, so below is my rough draft for that:

The Western Ocean Trade route is a well-travelled trading route, bordered on the north by the Kalor Desert, and the mountains of various kingdoms to the south. Caravans travel 20-30 miles a day and stay at various small trade towns, established camps, or small trade villages such as Windemere Crossing. The small caravan you are in is heading east, coming from the Kingdom of Ismekia and currently in the Respeth Kingdom ruled from the Thuluhun Dwarven fortress by King Khermumi Axechest. During this trip you have gotten to know each other as well as others in the caravan: 5 other people using the caravan to get further east more safely in a group rather than by alone, the dozen guards and the caravan master. Talking with the guards, there are a couple from the Feathered Guild based out of Windemere Crossing. There are also about ten large bison, but fortunately your horses are in front of those lumbering beasts and what they leave behind. There was one small Orc raid about two days before getting to Windemere Crossing (one of the reasons you are level 2 instead of 1) and you may have helped out with that incursion. The winds from the north are dry and very prevalent in the late summer you are travelling. Though in the mornings, before the sun rises, there are cool mountain breezes from the south. The caravan route is a well-worn path, wide enough for two large groups to pass each other, with trees widely scattered to the south and nothing but soft rolling hills to the north. Glimpses of the bright desert are common as the road borders the burning sands. There was talk of the Silent Ones, large, rough humans that occasionally strike at caravans, but are not usually this far south. There is some political talk: Axechest is greedy for the gold that lies in the mountains bordering the Respeth and Ismekia kingdoms, and there may be heavier taxes. Windemere is slowly building up forces, working on replacing the western gate and a small cadre of spearmen have recently been added to the new barracks. Though Tara Serk, one of the caravan guards, snorts at the new barracks: "Windemere is almost 500 years old, part of the old Tuvano reach. Used to be an outpost but with the king going crazy for his dead wife, things fell apart. The caravans started using Windemere Crossing maybe 50, 60 years ago and just used what is there. Though the new Burgermiester seems to have plans for making it a better place. We'll see."

When asking about the caravan, you are told it is carrying magic crystals, herbs, hardwoods, magical contraptions, crystals, Dwarven tools, armor plating. "And cigars for Zesp. Loves those stinking things." There are 12 wagons behind horses, though one is pulled by a larger beast pulling one of the larger wagons (from De Architecture). 

Anyway, I need to refresh my memory on the rules and the various rumors I want to have about. I've a single sheet with most of this information in place. I also need to go back over my Organic Town posts for Windemere Crossing so I can have those rumors and notes ready. And I need some fun random caravan passengers and names if they ask, as well as the other guards. In fact, I'll use the book that just showed up as it has a lot of interesting tables and things. Got it primarily as another monster book for OSE, but it is really so much more than that. The author wanted something that could be a good resource at the table, and I think he succeeded in that. I may have to do something of a review for the Monster Overhaul. Not that I've really done any reviews here - not sure there is any real interest. And this is a Traveller blog mostly so reviewing an OSE book, well, you could use parts of it for Traveller as there is a SF section to it.

I don't want to overwhelm the players too much: there was a lot of information in our current game, and most of it has been organically gathered. But it is a lot and sadly, while I take notes, I'm not going back over those so forget some of the people we meet. Though the other players are really good about it. And I was good for a while - I had Fughs's journey and notes on the people but sadly have neglected keeping that up to date. I blame laziness on my side, and the stress of getting laid off and a new job (and I've noted that I do NOT do well with stress!). It is about 3 months out of date! Maybe I could add what we've done the last couple of sessions later...

I even color-coded it for easier reference!

And I'll just end this blog post with noting that I do try & link the things I talk about. Not to sell them or anything like that, but figured you may want to get a look at some of things I talk about. I am not sponsored or anything like that, just figure I can share where to find the things I talk about. And I may turn off the advertising: I am not going to make any money off of it, and it is pretty annoying I think.

Random Traveller World: Felid/Orret in Far Home

Realizing that most of my "popular" posts are Traveller posts (well, this is ostensibly a Traveller blog! I just throw everything else as well into it) I decided to do a random world map. Hit up the Traveller wiki and hot random page until a world came up, Felid. From the wiki entry:

Felid is an agricultural garden world with a near-ideal, utopian environment conducive to most sophonts.

As an agricultural world, this world is a near-ideal environment for producing quality foodstuffs of plant, animal, and other forms. Quality foodstuffs are a major export commodity for this world.

Its economy and population are rapidly growing and living conditions are expected to incrementally rise barring outside forces.

It is a Non-Aligned world dominated by human sophonts located in the Orret Subsector of Far Home Sector.

This world-system hosts a Military Base, usually associated with military ground forces, which may be located on or off-world.

A757746-A is the UWP, a nice class A port, a bit smaller than Earth with a thin atmosphere, 60% water and a representative democracy of about 50 million people. 

First, a world of 60% hydrographics:

Then some sort of IIS forms perhaps. Though this will sort of work. Just don't print it! Grabbed some of the info using Heaven&Earth. I still really like that program!

Anyway, a quick pure Traveller post put together with Fractal Terrains, GIMP, TravellerMap.com, the Traveller Wiki, Google Draw and Heaven & Earth. 

One of the members over at COTI wants more than a simple explanation - they wanted flavor text as well. As in - what does the world smell like and similar things. Guess I have a hard time with that since a world is never a single thing. Though smell could be omnipresent for a hellworld or something, but anything with a biome habitable by humans I would think would smell and feel different depending on where you were. And having said that - perhaps a world has a slightly higher level of methane or something, and so yes, in that case the world could smell like rotten eggs. So hmm, maybe...

Oh, and I did correct the freight part of the software - it is the number of lots, then for each lot you do the size in dTons. Still stuck on figuring out how to get it signed and all that for upload into the Android app store. They don't take personally signed apps, and while I have an app key from them, cannot figure out if that is somehow used to generate the signing certificate. I think it is, but I'll admit to getting confused over all that other than a vague idea of signing sofware. *sigh*

Organic Towns Month 4: Windemere Crossing and solo Traveller

As I do my monthly organic towns, I am reminded of not one but two TAS articles: in JTAS 13 and JTAS 18. In JTAS 13, Real Time Traveller:

The boardless nature of Traveller, however, permits greater flexibility. With some ref's notes small adjustments, a satisfying solitaire Traveller campaign can be conducted on the basis of a few minutes each day, by playing the game in "real-time" terms. Make one day in your life match one day in the game. After breaking down Traveller events into daily steps, most actions (a patron search, selling cargo) can be handled in the few minutes it takes to throw dice, consult a table, and note the result in a continuing log. 

In JTAS 18, Travelling Without a Starship:

A single planet alone can furnish multitudes of adventure ideas. Tens of millions of square kilometers of surface area are open to ventures in dozens of climates and terrain types, among many cultures and subcultures, and among different levels of civilization . . . any referee could keep games going for years on a single isolated planet, with no need for repetition of adventures and no need for a spaceship. Some vary successful adventure novels have worked this way. 

Of course, I have tried the Zozer Solo rules and while that works, I may have to expand out to see about the mythic DM or some other process. But anyway, doing my monthly turns at Organic Towns is essentially the same sort of thing - roll some dice, note the results, and move on. While I'd much prefer a real time game with people, adulting is hard to get everyone coordinated! Though our group does have 1 retired gamer, I'm still 6 years out (unless I win the lottery, but of course, I'd have to actually play to win!) Not sure if I'll return to that solo Traveller game - it was not as much fun as I was hoping. In fact, I do find most solo games pretty boring. Though world-building is fun, I am not sure it will actually go anywhere.

And I seem to recall a trading without a starship article as well - I may have to dig through my actual print copies as pretty sure I read it (and yes, I do have the Journal CD but as I've said so many times, I much prefer reading "real" books. I'm old, so get off my lawn!)

Month 4 of Organic Towns for Windemere Crossing

Moving on to month 4, we are still constructing our western gate: workers are expecting to have it completed next month. In the meantime, the taverns in town have benefitted from the workers thirst and hunger.

First, our building roll: the tower (which honestly I had forgotten I stuck there but as this was a military outpost in the past, it was part of the infrastructure!) And it is a level II tower, so, this morning the guards spotted an ominous sign: hundreds of birds migrating the wrong way!

Next, our moral roll, slanderous graffiti regarding the settlement leaders has been appearing more frequently. Wonder if this is the same graffiti artist that was writing those bawdry limericks on the barracks a couple of months ago?

Interestingly, other than graffiti, there are no reports of crime. Could be our newly enlarged town guard is having a beneficial effect on our fair trade town.

At this point, the town hall is complete, and the first town meeting took place with a bit of festivity. The Sea Elves are still looming in the back of the meeting hall, with the grand table for the Burgermeister, sheriff and Nomehi Wirididea representing the town, the police and the local merchants. A decision was reached to expand out the market. As caravans pass almost daily along the Ocean Trade Route, they want a bigger piece of that pie. And it could make Windemere Crossing a destination instead of a waystation. This will cost us 36 SP and take two months to build. We're also going to add a pasture to help feed the town, and the fencing should be completed next month.

There was rumor of a retired merchant fightng a weaver outside of town, but no one is certain of that, and Rennor, who seems to know everyone, has not said anything. And she does like to break up fights. The new fine tooling from Bernice Lister (town guard who dabbles in leatherworking) and Durdo's wife Viola have started selling some wares in the merchants' quarter. Sheriff Sprigbasher did buy a nice new coin purse with his initials stamped on it from them. As he did get a small raise now that he is leading two new guards. 

The spearmen train daily in the space behind the barracks. They also patrol outside the city walls in pairs, while the town guard stays inside the walls. 

With the new housing, pastures being built, and Durdo and his wife welcoming twins, our population is now 348 residents. 

And asked for some fantasy spear carrying soldiers patrolling outside a walled townvnext to the desert and got this. Though I could also image dive in the web but then I feel bad when I don't attribute who did that art, then I remember the AI is trained on that and also does not give proper attribution. We do live in strange times! But I do like to browse through art and find things that seem interesting. I am so glad people do share their stuff online!

I am also tracking a lot of these updates in the Windemere document (and got lazy and just doing some copy/paste) but thinking some stuff I really need to consolidate better. And I know - I keep saying that! For someone who likes organization, I am not that good at it!

World Explainer

I've stalled on this (really, me, stalled?) Work got more interesting than I like (we lost one of our developers as he moved on to a better position, and he was the primary source of a lot of institutional knowledge. So just me and a junior developer, though I am trying  to get a friend from my last job hired as he was laid off last week, and would be a really good asset for my new job). Just need to figure out the OAUTH and signing thing and should be good for the Android store. Though I do need to re-read the freight part as that is not 100% correct - think I need to do lots and tons per lot or something. I may finish that, but the deploy as a test application is swirling around the "I've already got too many software things I need to keep track of" situation.  Plus I've not heard back from Marc Miller so that also is a bit bothersome. Though he does have a fairly liberal view of this sort of thing, I don't like to make assumptions!

Zombicide Writ Large, Android Developer

We played a round of Zombicide this morning. Between a 2nd set of tiles and an expansion, we decided to do a large run from the top of the board to the bottom. Only 1 player character (out of 8 - there were 4 of us playing 2 characters each) managed to barely get out.

We placed a few targets which had the red-level weapons, though we cheated and allowed their use before you get to the red level of experience. As with most Zombicide games, we were really close to at the end then a series of very unfortunate spawnings killed us all. If I had more zombies we may have had more than one survivor. I need to remember to bring spare zombies as I do have a few from various Reaper and Fantasy Series that would work just fine! I've also started painting some of the characters. It is slow going of course! And now wondering if I should paint her skates white along with her apron. Probably will! and then figure something for the base. I just like her as a roller-skating waitress carrying a chain saw seems like a bad idea, but a lot of fun to play!

The Abomination is painted as is one of the new characters I got in an expansion pack. As always, we had a pretty good time even though we all died. Again.

I also am moving forward on the Traveller World Explainer. I've opened a Googe Developer account, and I am working on figuring out the remaining things I need to do to get it there. It will be in test mode, and so far I've only assigned my email as a test account just to see how and if it will work. But I am slowly making progress. I need to also follow up and see if the Windows store has the same sort of thing: I can put it in test mode and only have a few emails with invitations to test it.

That's my immediate goal. Longer term I do really want to get an entire trade tracker back up and running on the two operating systems and integrating with TravellerMap. It would look good on my resume to be published in 2 app stores. Though I don't plan on changing jobs (despite losing the 1 developer who had been there the longest and had the most knowledge. I am still fairly lost in all the systems and how and where they go. Makes me think the computer skill in Traveller is very, very broad and powerful! But as that is a game and not a simulation, all good!) Hoping this job will last until I retire in 6 years. However, I've found that no developer seems to last more than 2 years at this place. And the biggest reason I think is the company itself: it is an actual manufacturing plant. The benefits are wrapped around factory workers, which, coming from a technology worker background, is an entirely different thing. I now know just how spoiled I've been for a lot of things in my working career. Though things are changing as I think the owners are becoming aware that this is really an issue (institutional knowledge is something that cannot be under-estimated!). Hoping I'll last long enough to both get that institutional knowledge and manage to document everything so it is not as crazy as it currently is.

Next post should probably be another Organic Town turn to see how Windemere Crossing is going. I need to actually put some of those details in a better format so they can actually be used. One of these days I'll figure out the best approach is for me! And pretty sure I say that every 5th post or so...I am nothing if not consistent!

World Explainer Part 2: Passengers and Freight

I finally decided to email Marc Miller about publishing my little software application in the Windows and Android store. So far, no response, but hey, at least I am finally getting the courage to ask. It would be pretty cool to have a published application! I could hang out with the other cool Traveller developers on COTI ☺. 

I've also started on the next phase of things: passengers and freight. The downside of that is we need the destination world info for those calculations, so I'll have to get at least the population for the destination system. The previous time I did this, I actually had all the worlds within the jump range of the ship and calculated for each of those. I'll probably end up back there. Almost wondering if I could resurrect that version as I do have the source code. It's just a non-supported version of .Net and had some limitations. Though I am using parts of the code still.

Anyway, I still think if I share the directory, you can install the software via the PowerShell installer, which does ask if you want to trust that self-signed certificate. Why I do want to get this published with a real certificate. Well, that, and it would be pretty cool to have software published in at least one application store. 

I should have this 2nd part completed in the next few days, depending on work and other things. I've added the passenger table to my set of text files that get included with the application on install. Though I could not find them when I installed it, though I did look in all the usual places that Windows hides these things.

The button does not do anything yet, but I did some code cleanup behind the scenes that should help make it easier to expand on it. 

I think a lot of those things will eventually move back into a SQLite DB and then I'll have to give the users some access to that. I'll definitely do that when I add in "search the TravellerMap for systems". Though in all honesty, if you have internet access then that map gives you everything you need. But I'll be caching that data, so in theory once you download a sector, you have a local copy so have off-line access. At least that is what I did before. 

And sadly, my Kahrun character in our random-roll Tiny Dungeon game was killed by a lizard. She was often the most-hurt character in that game - a magnet for damage. Ursa Major (she was a bear person) was a lot of fun to play. Not too bright. As the group ended up outside dungeon at a random evil temple thing that was oddly adjacent to a grain silo, and our mission was to find food for the town, she attacked the lizards at the silo. First death of the group. Fortunately for the game, as it was on a marshland, and they did kill off the lizards, I now have a lizard character that will join the group. Not quite as powerful (we had gained another trait after our 3rd session) but should still be fun. I found it odd that they wanted to give me a freebie trait to be on a level playing field. I'm quite happy with starting all over - Ursa took some risks and died, so I start new. All the characters in a game don't have to be the same level. Most systems it becomes harder to level up the higher you get, so it all works out. This game we were just upgrading every 3 or so sessions, so in theory I'd never catch up. But hey, I am not a power player, I just play and have fun.

Pretty sure I've posted before about playing RPGs with mismatched characters in terms of skill sets or abilities (heck, this blog is a couple decades old so probably covered a LOT of things over the years!). Seems like most people want all the PCs to be the same power-wise. I think more interesting dynamics is a mismatched set. In fact - we have a little salamander type of character: he has to hang back as if he gets hit, he is pretty much toast. But he is our healer, and rides around on the treant character. Anyway, perhaps I'll post about that adventure soon.

And for those living in the USA - Happy 4th of July!