Chuck's Greyhawk Webpage

Wow - my old Greyhawk Campaign website (on Geocities, back in the 90s) disappeared a number of years back (2002? 2003?). Little did I know that all (or most) of those old sites were saved by the Web Archive Project. So, I took a look, and lo and behold, there is a live Archive of my old Greyhawk campaign website.

It is not perfect - some of the images and linked pages are missing (curious), but most of it is there. I've since scraped it all, and am in the process of reformatting it for publication in a better format. I planned at one time to include lots of individual maps of countries, towns, geo-features - maybe I'll get around to it in the next 20 years or so. Also, the posting of military information in terms that a Wargame can make use of (DBA? BattleLore?)

Chuck

Tags: World of Greyhawk

DM of the Rings

You may have seen this, but if not, it's pretty funny reading.

DM of the Rings - A parody of Lord of the Rings, told as if it were a roleplaying game.Pretty funny, in my book.

Tags: Lord of the Rings, roleplaying, Dungeons & Dragons

Traveller Fantasy?

Just starting out looking at Classic Traveller for Fantasy. A couple of links come to mind. The first is the very nice (and concise) Aldreth RPG - as a free pdf on the internet.
Aldreth for CT and MT

More coming . . .


Tags: roleplaying games, traveller, frpg

High Elves. They give me the munchies.

What's all this about High Elves?

Tags: elves

World of Greyhawk miniatures

Greyhawk Grognard has a great article on the old Minifigs line of World of Greyhawk miniatures.

Okay, so they looked a little wonky, but they had something that today's batch of fantasy miniatures usually lacks - individuality and creativity.

I loved the Elves of the Valley of the Mage, and the forces of the Great Kingdom. I still have a good sized contingent of Amazons from the Wild Coast, and I recall having a bunch of those Cairn Hills Cavemen (although in all the years of running World of Greyhawk role-playing games, I don't think I ever populated the Cairn Hills with Cavemen). For a map of the Hills see the great collection of WOG maps at Maps of Greyhawk (a great site).


Good stuff, and thanks to the Greyhawk Grognard for posting the pix.

Tags: Greyhawk, miniatures, wargaming

Wizards

A modern post Snoop Dog look at Wizards.

One of the things sadly missing in the magic of fantasy gaming systems that is in things like fantasy movies and novels is the sense of wonder. When one is presented with a codified and systematized magic list, it doesn't seem to have much wonder any more, just a menu of powerups.

Tags: magic, bizzle

The Feast

The Feast

Because it's good to enjoy some good food while painting miniatures.

Tags: feast

Random Squid Encounter Generator

Every GM needs the ability to generate a random Squid encounter in most roleplaying games. This set of handy charts pre-supposes that the squid in question is capable of flight through the air, and of surviving out of water. Other than that, all details are determined from the following tables. Unless otherwise directed, determine a random character to be the focus of the encounter, and then roll once on each table, and let the good times happen.

Type of Squid?

1. Micro-Squid (1d4 inches long), 1d12 squid
2. Normal Squid
3. Normal Squid, in Appearance, but intelligent and capable of speech
4. Brightly Colored Squid, (1d4, 1 lime green; 2 hot pink; 3 electric blue; 4 shifting colors)
5. Really Big Squid (2d12 feet long)
6. Humongous Squid (1d100 feet long)
   

Where is the Squid?

1. On the ground, near the player (random direction, 1d6 ft away)
2. In the clothes of the character (1d6 - 1-3, pants or skirt; 4-5, shirt; 6 hat or helm)
   
3. Floating in the air, near the character's head
4. In a previously unknown nearby pool of water
5. Appears in mid-air 20 feet above the character, and falls on him
6. Squid appears in a dimensional crack (random direction, 2d20 feet away) and is driven towards the character by a servitor being to an elder god

Squid Special Abilities

1. Burst into flame
2. Secretes special oils that will grant the ability to perform pleasing, artistic renditions of Kuo-Toa poetry and love ballads
3. Squirt special ink that is invisible and can be seen through.
4. Emit psionic ink that negates all thought, magic, mental powers, and free will within 1d6x10 feet
5. Squid will "gate" in 2 identical squid every 3 turns, beginning with the 3rd turn after appearing. Additional squids have this same ability, but all other attributes should be diced
6. Squid has a glowing organ, that while still alive, will attract any members of the opposite gender to the character holding the squid
   

Squidquest

1. Escort the squid to the nearest salt water source, reward will be blessings from the priesthood of the high squid church
2. Curse of the squid - character has all limbs transformed into squidly tentacles - must defeat the squid in man-to-squid combat in order to remove the curse
3. Squid (and now his new friend, the character) are pursued by fanatical members of the anti-squid squad (bearing powerful weapons and abilities, and bent on the destruction of all squids and their allies)
4. Squid is the key to a dimensional portal that will EITHER be used by an elder god seeking to destroy reality, or the servitors of a promethean power that will help protect this dimension. Only the squid knows for sure.
5. The secret order of Hamis knows of the squid's value in opening the lost temple of Dev'Menkis Dev'Mall in the salt desert. The squid must be kept alive.
   
6. No quest, the appearance of the squid is the random and capricious act of a harsh universe
   

Runequest - it should be much cooler than it seems

Runequest and the world that grew up along with it (and boardgames such as Dragon Pass and Red Moon/White Bear), known as Glorantha, is home to some amazing mythology and wonderful fantasy creatures.

There are ducks, gorps, broo, jack-o-bears, walktapi and loads of others.

And while I really liked good old 2nd edition Runequest (from Chaosium), it always seemed to be much more popular in England than the USA. Then when Avalon Hill published their version, they sort of emasculated Glorantha, and also mucked with a simple magic system (battle magic and rune magic) by adding sorcery. For some reason they also renamed Battle Magic to Spirit Magic. Not sure why. The addition of sorcery, of course, wasn't just a rule change, it also changed the fabric of the runequest world. The older system (where the world, Glorantha, was an integral part of the rules) had a real reason for there to be the two main types of magic - battle magic was something that everyone could learn. Small, quick spells that you cast, and they would dwindle quickly. The more potent rune magic spells were part of the mythology of the world (love it, or hate it), and so had a reason to be in the game.

Then along comes sorcery - a new, and potent magic, that doesn't really fit in the game. BUT it did give a new type of scholarly type magic that fit most medieval European style RPG worlds. And Avalon Hill was targeting (at least in the basic release) a sort of mythic Europe setting for their version of the game. Eventually, due to fan demand, and the ability to sense a buck to be made, Avalon Hill produced much of the Glorantha material (and a lot of it was in a very good format). But the game was changed forever.

The faithful have since released Glorantha in a couple of (admittedly) very weak looking systems for roleplaying heroquests and epic mythic adventures. Maybe it appeals to some, but not to me and my group. Good news however, there does seem to be an adherence to things old with the Mongoose Publishing version.

EDIT - The Mongoose version seems to be a pseudo d20 version. Sad. However, in June of 2008, Chaosium released a version of Basic Role Playing. This is not the old 1980 version of BRP (which was a stripped down version of their d100 rules, sort of Runequest without the Runequest parts), but is actually a reprint of the four books that made up the Avalon Hill production, but with the name "Runequest" removed throughout, and with the name "Basic Role Play" inserted instead. So, if sorcery is to be included, and battle magic is spirit magic, then it seems like this is the best version currently in print.


Tags: runequest

Hilda Ironbottom - Fighter, Thief, and Duergar Hottie

There are those that doubt that Hilda Ironbottom has a softer side. After all, most of the time she is thought of as a stout fighter, companion to Annalise of Ehlonna, the Pope of Pain, Gilmore Badgerbreath (he's so cute, she thinks), and Dromeda of Underdark.

Previously, an image of the civilian side of Hilda was published, here. And certainly, if asked, Gilmore will attest to her feminine charms (but probably quicker after a couple of flagons of good Elf wine). But it is important to remember, that there is more to Hilda than just her business persona.

She might be a Duergar, and they have a history of having their women (and men) being bald (shorn of all hair, alright?), and certainly with a penchant for Evil, but she is really a good person. And she wears a right decent wig.

And the fact that she is a fighter/thief (3/3) makes her quite useful. She has exhbited exceptional rope use and climbing skills, and fights pretty good with the hand ax and the light crossbow.

Tags: duergar