Have crazy, will travel

       While dwarves remain my favorite fantasy race, the Blood Moon campaign setting is without them. The close runner up to dwarves are the often maligned and constantly condescended to gnomes. It seems that only orcs or halflings are be treated with more contempt.  In the Blood Moon setting there are races with more inherit attributes that are more awesome and fearsome than three feet of ingenuity. Gith, Dragon Blooded and Changlings are without a doubt more awesome and mysterious than gnomes.  However, gnomes are the originators of elemental-tech and armed with such power and maniacal devotion they are the driving force of freedom in the world. A few thousand years of isolation and paranoia have made them more than ready to sacrifice their sanity to accomplish their goals.
       Professions such as the contraptionists and tinker are all the result of gnomish innovation. Much of my source material for  Blood Moon tech is taken from Steamworks by Korey MacVittie. I have poured over a number of steampunk related PDFs and keep looking for ideas to borrow and incorporate into the setting.

Meet the Pickers

Tonight's artwork is courtesy of Pandora. She is a very gifted young player and artist. She was kind enough to draw and color one of the races in Dragonquest that was carried over to the Blood Moon setting. Pickers are a gecko like race of lizard men that live nomadic lives as merchants, scouts and explorers. While not all that powerful they are a gifted race with many abilities that have ensured their survival in a fallen world.

Hounds & Snifters

Hounds of Vengeance accompany Soul Snifters as both bodyguards and as a source of fresh souls. They are capable to turning corporeal undead and the living into spirits that are then collected by the Snifters. While only possessing animal intelligence, they are very responsive to their keepers. Stunned or unconscious opponents are particularly vulnerable to their decapitation attacks.

Soul Snifters prefer to avoid interacting with the living or corporal undead. Their singular mission is to collect souls and spirits for their masters. They are greatly fear by the undead. Often commanding a team of hounds, they scour the lands looking for ghosts and incorporeal undead to harvest. Because of their abilities, even great undead such as spectres and wraiths prefer to avoid them.

*Both of these monsters have been taken from the Book of Fiends and recommissioned for Dragonquest. The artwork in the book varies. Some pieces are well done, and others look pretty lame. These two work into the cosmology of Blood Moon as a world that is overrun by demons, undead and other planar creatures.

Fleshing out the undead

   

 As I prep for game play with the new characters I am slowly fleshing out the various undead that inhabit the world. Thankfully WOC have ample undead to incorporate into the campaign. My own home grown group of undead called the Graven come in a number of different flavors.
       Graven are available as a playable race in Blood Moon and for the most part resemble the race they were prior to their crossing into the world of undeath. Those that cross over but do not remember their past or long to continue it often roam out into the wilderness where they gather in enormous hordes for protection. These grey walkers are often harmless, but in a panic they can stampede and crush things underfoot. Some become undead wailers and summon other undead in their wake. Thankfully grey walkers do not often roam into towns.
      Blood Moon Ghouls or Red Runners are voracious versions of graven that devour any of thing alive. They posses amazing speed and strength and can empty out an entire town in a matter of minutes. They are able to infect others with their disease. Any of the living that die from this disease return to life as a Blood Moon Ghoul.

The New Groups roll out

Greetings all,
       Over the last few week a number of people have rolled up some characters. I have the prospects of two groups forming for future gaming.

The Adult Group (Two guys from my former days of gaming, looking for one to two more)
       Unnamed Githyanki Fighter. One of the uber-races of the setting. They are fearsome fighters and always have some magical abilities or are often equally competent spell-casters.  The one balancing act for the mighty Gith is the potential to backfire while using spells. Their presence in a group also draws the attention of Mindflayers and other enemies they have made through the ages. While no longer an evil race, the Gith are far from friendly and suffer from extreme issues of anger and paranoia. They still maintain an undying hatred of Mindlfayers and care little for the undead or demons that populate the lands of the Blood Moon. Most of the other races that one might find adventuring they view with contempt or suspicion. The emergence of the god of Vengeance has become a point of unity for them.

       Unnamed Graven Fighter. One of the stock races of the setting. They are among the recent dead and still remember their former lives enough to have ties to how they once lived. This particular graven has been strengthen by an influx of necrotic energies and possess above average stats and abilities.

The Teen Group (My most recent recruits to Dragonquest)
       Persephone - The Dragon Blooded  One of the uber-races for the setting. They are descendants of the long extinct dragons of the land. Some say the the Sire of All Dragons is their ultimate father and still exists in spite of not being seen for thousands of years.
       Sil - The Lomandrin One of the races created for the setting that bears a resemblance to the Owls from the Guardian movie. She resembles a Grey Grey owl. Both her and Persephone are armed with two-handed swords, one has a flamberge and the other a katana.
      Troxie - The Gnome Armed with a double-barrel saw off shotgun and a morning-star, she is more lethal than many realize. Gnomes are the only race to start with a gun of some type. Other races can acquire them during the game much like a magic item.
      Hadil - The Hellcat A race of intelligent felines that once formed part of the conquering hordes of demons that dominate the land. Over time they realigned themselves with others in the land and no longer serve or associate with their former masters.
       Pipa-Aramodor - The Haunt  A haunt (Pipa) using the body of a lowly mongrel (Aramodor) to make her way through the land.  Pipa is a rather hesitant haunt and is careful about the use of her contact with the world, her host body/friend/ride Aramodor.


Now the challenge becomes finding the game time!

Blood Moon Character Generation - Rough Draft

I am about ready to give the Blood Moon setting a run, assembling some players. If anyone would like a copy of the PDF I am assembling, let me know.

Changes in Dragonquest

Greetings all,
         For the less than .01% of Dragonquest players out there I have some thoughts and gaming ideas to share. Most of these are being incorporated into my test campaign of Blood Moon, but if viable will be used in the main game should I return to a traditional fantasy setting. Here are a few ideas that I am kicking around.

EXPERIENCE POINT SYSTEM
      Typically in the game I been following a rule of experience based on kills, appropriate use of skills and completion of adventures. In Dragonquest the completion of adventures was the big boost in exp for character development.  The game only had two levels of advancement.  One started life as a mercenary, became an adventurer and finished up as a hero.  Not a bad system, been following it for 30+ years.  In order for one to advance from one level to the next it was necessary to complete ranks in various skills.  8 ranks 4 was needed to become an adventurer.  For most players this was an easy enough feat.  The real challenge was becoming a hero. 8 rank 8's was not an easy accomplishment. Mages had a distinct advantage in gaining ranks in spells which as a whole require less experience than skills and weapons.  I have also had occasional players over the years try to take a cheap route and learn things like languages or other skills that rarely contributed to character development.

       My suggestion is to borrow from D & D a system of advancement based on accumulation of experience points.  Here is the rough draft so far.

Mercenary 0 - 7,200 (Roughly 6 adventures)

Adventurer 7,201 - 21,600 (Roughly 6 adventures at 2400 a pop)

Hero 21,601 - 51,600 (Roughly 10 adventures at 3000)

Champion 51,601  4500 exp per adventure

       Experience  points will only be award at the end of an adventurer or a playing session.  Points would not longer be awarded for kills, skills or other rolls in the game. I am also hoping that this change would encourage development of characters that is not centered around the quickest advancement to the next stage.  While that is not often a problem, over the years some player seem to have more of a video gaming attitude that the game is often about "leveling."  While character advancement is important, the game is really not about that.

STREAMLINING THE SKILLS
       One of the unique things about Dragonquest was various skills that characters developed. It was one of the things that set it in contrast to D & D and the classes that one had to take. One of the frustrating issues with the skills was weapons. A character had to get rank in each weapon they planned on using.  So even with weapons that were very similar, one had to get rank in that weapons in order to use it with any proficiency.  Classifying the weapons has been one of the issues I hope to resolve for Blood Moon and further editions of Dragonquest.

ELIMINATION OF MAGIC COLLEGES
       One of the things I want to test with Blood Moon is the elimination of Magic Colleges into larger grouping of spells. Right now I am thinking of 5 magical specialist. The 5 specialist would be Thaumaturgist, Psionicist, Elementalist, Necromancer and Diabolist. Characters are still limited in the number of spells they can learn as determined by their magical aptitude. I am not certain what I want to do with the College of Naming Incantations. As a College in the base game it has the potential to be the most powerful or the lamest college depending on its placement in a campaign. I may add it if I end up playing with Blood Moon enough.

NEITHER OSR OR d20
       While Dragonquest caught the tail end of the Golden age of RPG's, most of my additions to the game came during the late 80's from the 2nd Edition of the AD & D. What really changed the game for me was the advent of AD & D 3.X.  I have borrowed from many of the volumes of books that came out in support of that incarnation of the D & D. I often find myself stuck between the simplicity of the OSR games and the more detailed mechanics of the 3.X system. I doubt I will ever resolve that tug, but it doesn't concern me too much. The bottom line for any game and group is the enjoyment of the game. Wasting words or brain wattage on "better systems" and "role playing vs roll playing" isn't worth my time much anymore. Perhaps its the old fart taking over my soul, but arguing about hobbies like I would when I was younger doesn't interest me.
      Padre

Creating the Prospector Skill

As you may or may not know, Dragonquest characters do not fit into a class. One is not a fighter, thief or cleric. You build your character into the various skills or professions you desire.  One could be a ranger and an assassin in Dragonquest if they wanted to choose those skills. 

As I work on the Blood Moon setting one of the skills that will need creating is prospector. The new elemental industry is fueled by those who venture out to discover elemental claims. Does anyone know of  prospector skill that I might adapt for Dragonquest?

Death be not proud

So you die, then what? Is most settings your buddies would be responsible for taking your body to some sort of cleric to resurrect you. In Dragonquest they would look for a Healer and hope to have enough money to pay for the attempt.  My plans for Blood Moon rule our any clerics or healers. There is not an abundance of good healing magic to be found.  The corruption wrought by the failed eldritch magic has opened the door necromantic energies permeating the lands.  One might die today and return shortly there after as a somewhat intact person tainted by undeath yet still in possession of their person.

In terms of game mechanics Willpower (WP) will be  the determining characteristics of one's fate after death.  If one is lucky enough they have the ability to return to life after the grave as their old selves. They may need some sort of healing, limb grafting, or elemental prosthesis to return to a more mobile state, but they are still listed among the living.  Rolling under 3 X WP will bring about a return to life as it was before.  If your average WP is 15 you have a 45% chance to remain in the ranks of the living.  For those less fortunate, they return to life as a grave version of themselves and may need similar mending to become mobile and active. A roll between 3 & 4 X WP will result in graven transformation.   A roll higher then that causes one to pass into  unlife and return as an undead under the control of the GM.  How soon this transformation occurs is left up the the discretion of the GM.   It is rumored that Grave Wardens can prevent such a transformation.

Sendashi

  Back in the early days of the 3.X explosion of D & D I was into buying many books for resource material. Mythic races by Fantasy Flight provide me with seeds ideas for incorporating a number of new races into Dragonquest. The Sendashi (originally Sendasti) were a race that were interesting enough to merit my consideration. The picture fed enough of my imagination to make up the various stats and history of the race.  Considering that they were a marginal rave to being with in my home setting, they seemed like a good carry over for the new Blood Moon setting.

Abby - Abby Normal, I'm almost sure that was the name

Piddling away on the setting for Blood Moon and the quote from Young Frankenstein came to mind. I have been slogging my way through the character generation for the game. 25 races are in the complete version, 11 in the basic. While I thought about slimming it down some, I figure I am the only one who is ever going to seriously play or even consider it.  The problem with 32 years of gaming is the exposure to so much cool stuff that you never get to utilize in a game. This game is shaping up to be a fusion of regular D & D, the Oathbound setting, and the Iron Kingdoms all slapped on top of the Dragonquest system. Sometimes a setting wins me over with the artwork, Iron Kingdoms definitely did that.

Trollkins and Ogrun are plucked from this setting and I like its take on goblins. Anyway, enough rambling. Back to the salt mines. 

Gnomes: Not dwarves-lite

I was chuckling about some comments that Tenkar put over on his blog about 4e giving gnomes the shaft. For the most part gnomes are treated as dwarves-lite and overlooked by many gamers. It seems to be an all or nothing type of relationship, people either like the way gnomes are presented in a game or they hate them.

     Some of my original thoughts forming the Blood Moon setting had to deal with gnomes surviving their near genocide and living in isolation for a few thousand years. That time apart turned them from a fun frolicking race into a bunch of vengeance driven vigilantes. With nature still against them (too small, too weak, too frail) gnomes have developed technology to balance the playing field. Nothing like a gun to ruin someone's day.  

The Celtic Curse

       

No it's not alcohol, but rather the attempt to incorporate too many things into a game. While "frankensteining"  may not be unique to those of Celtic heritage, I think there is a genetic predisposition to think that more some how equates with better. Variety is the spice of life, but too much can be overwhelming  I often think of my mother's kitchen. When hot-glue guns made their advent in the late 70's wall space disappeared in the kitchen.  Every blank space had something glued to it. Cool, but WTH!?!
      As I look at my habits of GMing I tend to fall into that habit of adding more and more to the game. Any of my players can tell you that D & D 3.X provided me with an overabundance of professions, weapons and subskills for Dragonquest. I did a little raiding from the 2nd edition, but really only the psionics and a few professions were looted during that time. I wasn't  actively playing, so there was no urgency.
       As I assemble the pieces of Blood Moon I am already looking at 25 playable races for the game, 10 for the "basic" edition. I have 20 different firearms in the works, and will try to thin it down to a dozen or so for the basic game.  New skills need to be added to the game such as prospector, tinkerer, mechanik, fleshweaver and some others. I find all of this exciting and think of the gaming experience, but I certainly don't see it as a OSR endeavor, but more like an D & D 3.X infection gone crazy.  Be that as it may, if anyone should want a copy of my handiwork, it is there for taking once I  it get completed.

Fun with names: Flavoring your campaign

As I kick around ideas for Blood Moon I am working on a list of various locations to include on the map or to make know to the players as they adventure. For now, here are some generic names of potential locations in the world.

• Demonholds - Castles or fortress of demonic lords
• Maggot Pits - Where the dead go to wiggle
• The Dead Lands - Lands ruled by the undead
• Flayer Stockyards - Mind Flayer feeding pits
• Aboleth Bogs - Sunken citieis ruled by Aboleths
• The Dragon Marches - The rumored last hold out of dragons in the land
• Elemental Quagmires - Areas of extreme and dangerous elemental powers
• Jinn Citadels - Fortresses ruled by various jinn's
• Desecration Tundras - Blighted areas where the gods & titans fell
• Neogi Spires - Trading towers of Neogi
• Mongrel Gatetowns - Starting cities for the campaign
• Fleshports - Slaver cities 

Those are some preliminary ideas that I think will help color and flavor the setting.

Working on Blood Moon Basic

It's a rather tedious endeavor, but I wanted to try and create a basic version of Blood Moon before rolling out the more complete version.  While many elements of the setting are complete, there are a number that need to be fine tuned. Here is a short list of various features for the setting:

• 11 player races
• Mongrels - A mix a various races - the stock race for the setting
• Graven - A recent member of the undead that still retains a resemblance to the living
• Goblins - Every bodies favorite fodder modified and adapted for play
• Gnolls - Another fodder race revamped for play
• Frey - Anthropomorphized race of house cats taken from the Oathbound setting
• Haunts - A ghost that seeks to remain attached to the world of the living
• Lomandrins - A race of antropomorphized owls
• Minotaurs - The old classic with a change in attitude and diet
• Blickish - Teleporting halflings taken from the Mythic Races book
• Drow - The only elves left in the world 
• Gnomes - The creators of elemental-tech
• Elemental technology
• Think steam-punk that has been adapted to elemental sources of energy
• 4 primary elements and other minor ones as sources of energy
• Elemental guns
• Elemental transportation
• A different take on death - Dying does not necessary mean the end of a character. By force of will one can remain in play after the "death" of their character.

There is a short list of some the ideas that have been percolating around in my head over the last couple of years. Bringing them to fruition will be the challenge. 

Revamping Blood Moon

Originally I thought I would be playing Blood Moon by now, but that has changed as I have done more thinking about the setting. While I have no problems with launching into an idea half-baked, I would like to have a few more game elements nailed down before I give the setting/game a test drive with players. Right now I am restructuring the player races for Blood Moon into various categories according to their relationship to a world dominated by demonic & necromantic powers.

The Remnant - Mongrels, Gnolls, Nightlings, Asherake & Ogrun
The Undying - Graven, Haunts, Deathbonded, Eleti & Gaunts
The Drifters - Goblins, Frey, Darvoths, Pickers & Blickish
The Forsaken - Minotaurs, Outcasts, Trollkin, Drow & Gith
The Forgotten  - Lomandrins, Gnomes, Sendashi, Changelings, Dragonblooded

More descriptions on them later for any who might be interested.  IF,  I manage to get it into some set form I may offer it as a PDF for any who might be curious to see what is under the proverbial hood of the setting.

Back to Blood Moon

I hope to get back to preparing for the Blood Moon Campaign this week. I am still bugged that Grievous-Injury suffer a fatality, but I don't expect blogger to address that problem anytime soon. I hope to lay out the particulars for the campaign here and welcome any feedback from the community. Since I am using a system that is on the verge of extinction, I doubt I will get much Dragonquest specific feedback, but I welcome any thoughts and comments from the community at large. Collective experience and wisdom always has something to contribute to the creative process and its discernment. Some of the elements of the campaign setting include:

• A post cataclysmic world warped by elemental, necromantic and demonic magics 
• Elemental tech (think steam punk power by elemental energy)
• Life beyond death - the ability to play an undead version of a character