How did I get in the middle of this?

My work on the Blood Moon campaign and setting has often felt like this. Somehow I got trapped in this mess of pipes as I tried to add and clarify more things in the game and setting. That does not mean that I have any intention of giving it up, just that it is taking more time and effort to work out the details then life affords.  The real enemy to my playing has been lack of time, while I tend to be a bare-bones type of planner and like to go with the flow created through the interactions with the players, planning for this "Frankensteined" setting has taken a little more time.

     Here's to hoping that 2014 affords more time and greater exploration of a hobby I truly enjoy. I think one of my goals for this year will be play/run a non-Dragonquest setting game. Right now Dungeon World is looking appealing to play with a group. I may also take another look at The Mutant Epoch. I think a post-apocalyptic setting could be a lot of fun to play again.  It's been a while since I played Gamma World back in the 1980's.

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.

Death from above

Normally I think of assassins as a bunch of putzes, this makes them a little more awesome.

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

Random Artwork - Justicar

Was looking through files on my computer and came across this great piece of art. No one ever took the profession of Justicar in Dragonquest, but I always liked the idea.

I blame Tenkar

There is really only one girl in my fantasy gaming life and that is Dragonquest. In all of her clunkiness I love my old girl and will never abandon her. HOWEVER, thanks to Tenkar and his constant mentioning of various kickstarters I have bitten the hook and set my sights on Adventures Dark and Deep.  I downloaded the player manual and was amazed at how much it felt like the the DM Guide from AD & D. The look, the reading and feel of the book made my think back on the original guide. I don't think there was ever a more bizarre book that I read.
        While the book made sense as a whole, it was an amazing hodgepodge of random  gaming goodness. With more logic and discernment the Player Manual to Adventures Dark & Dangerous is one of the heirs apparent, I could not help but think of the classic DM Guide when looking over the pdf.

Back in 1981

This image in Dragon magazine was enough to entice my imagination into buying it. The entire magazine was fascinating and I knew next to nothing about D & D, but this guy looked awesome.  I think it must have been sometime in 1981. It was Christmas of that year that I got Dragonquest instead of D &D and the rest is history. This race of "birdmen" was one of the first things I added to the game after I was comfortable as a GM.

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.

Our most recent session of Dragonquest - The Group

Happy feels like Monday to all!
Last Friday the girl group got together to play with two new members. All in all it was a lot of fun. Nothing big happened but it moved along the story line and they all seemed to have an enjoyable time. The two new players are both Pandora add-ins. One is her younger sister and another is her classmate in High School. So the make up of the girl power group is a total of seven (a size I wanted to avoid, but what the heck I am a sucker for more players.) For those vaguely interested here is their roll call:

Luka Dragonclaw - A Chromithian Dragoon armed with a her hand & a half and kite shield in service to her draconic master Rhakrosarddenar Grimdusk. Due to a recent trip to the world of the Forge in the Oathbound setting Luka has acquired some magical ability. Her training as a sage also comes in handy during encounters with various creatures.


Jayana - A Frey Dancing Knife who has  advanced enough in her profession to be considered a dangerous threat to anyone who dismisses a person only armed with daggers. Her ability to throw four daggers in any direction is a single pulse coupled with her high defense make her much more formidable than her appearance.


Pandora - A Frey who has advanced in training as an Acrobat and Beastmaster. Armed with her trusty cutlass she is a a quite but powerful member of their party. Pandora also supplies much of the artwork that has graced this blog or Grievous Injury. Her wolf has gained he ability to transform into a Kith which is a native animal of the Forge.


Rubella the Raven - A Hobgoblin warrior who is uncharacteristically kind and lenient for her race. She is steadily advancing in her training as an Ultimate Fighter and is often the muscle of the group. Thankfully Rubella does not throw her weight around except with the long ship of orcish raiders who occasionally need to be reminded of her authority and power.


Crystal-Rose - A Valco adventurer who recently joined the group and shows promise as a vital group member. Her private quest is the find the ever elusive "red elf."


Axella-Xia - A Quissian adventurer who also recently joined the group. Xia is fairly quite but will go on to be a vital and active contributor to the group. (I think I have her name wrong, but I don't have her character sheet.) When I get it from Pandora I will correct this.

Yet to be seen is Athena the Wolfen assassin.
For information on their races go here http://www.dragonquestfrontiers.com/generation.html

Reflections of a middle-aged GM

       As I cruise into midlife I find it rather interesting that there may well be more gamers out there than I ever imagined as a teen playing Dragonquest back in 1981. Perhaps its just that my circle of relationships is so much larger now than as a teen, but I seem to have an abundance of players and not nearly enough time to play the various games that I would like to with them. My hope is that some of them will decide to run games for themselves because my track record for consistent playing is pretty poor. While I enjoy gaming immensely, it is still only a hobby, one among many, that I try to find room for while tending to the realities of my life and ministry.  One player has taken up that task and is running his own Dragonquest game. He is the youngest of the players and I think he has become very fond of the hobby. He is also frighteningly smart, I mean beyond smart. So are his two brothers and sister, I think the plutonium enriched milk really payed off for their parents. I am hoping that he might look at some other games as well. There is an abundance of excellent games.
       The current crop of new gamers rounds out at about 8 girls and 2 boys and 1 dad. The boys have broken into their own group and may add a few other players that I or the gaming prodigy mentioned above may suggest for the game.  Of the girls playing the game 4 of them are really committed to the game and 4 are relatively new. We'll see how they all shake out in the wash as they move through high school and get involved in other things.  2 of the girls rolled up characters for the game, but I suspect only because they hear their oldest sister talking about it and it sounds fun. I hope they play, but I don't know that they really will. My old gaming group from 12 years back would like to strike up something and that would bring in another 3 to 5 players depending on the group size.  It's a great problem to have.
       I keep trying to get the oldest girl playing to consider running a game, but she is more interested in playing. She is the daughter of a DM so it is her DESTINY!  But I don't think she sees it that way.  :(   Gaming is just one hobby among many. She is another of those incredibly smart people and I think she would do great at running a game. She is right on par with the previous prodigy. She has a full plate with the demands of High School, and probably does a better job taking it more seriously than I did.  I tended to think about the game during the last two years of High School and other ways to waste time. I never got any bad grades, but I certainly wasn't working at my full potential.
          Anywhoseit, recent experiences rolling up characters has made me consider some revisions for Dragonquest and the Blood Moon setting for the game. One of my main problems as a GM is my inability to leave the game alone. I am always adding something or doing some minor tweak or revision.

Reality vs Myth

I was recently over at a friend's home for dinner and their two daughters play Dragonquest. In the course of the discussion the daughter that plays Luka Dragonclaw kept asking me if her old mentor/patron was dead or alive.  I have often told her that the bronze dragon mentor was dead. The group has been away from the main campaign world and things got ugly in their absence. One of the lines I blurted out was that I was God (as far as the gaming world went) but any good GM/DM/Narrative Provider can tell that is a myth. While one might fancy themselves the "god" of their little campaign world, the real truth is very much the opposite. You play a cast of thousands, mostly forgettable, many dead, and only a few memorable castings along the way. Memorable NPCs can add a lot to the game and its fun, however they are not the core of a campaign, the players are. Bad GMs flex their nigh-divine might more readily and will probably lose players in the end as a result of their indiscretions and erroneous decisions. Bad GMs tend to make their NPCs overshadow the players as the main agents of narrative flow. When this happens, one has to ask why the players even bother to play? Anyway, just a random comment on a slow morning.

All present and accounted for

Last night we played Dragonquest and everyone was present. 5 teenagers,  pre-teen and a dad make up the party and I get to supply the rest.  It was a fun evening light on the combat and more of piecing together the story line since we last played in June. Our brave adventurers have returned to their home plane only to find that a few centuries have passed and things have gone to pot in their absence. Many familiar faces and names are gone and replaced by newer hostile ones. They have found a few links with their past, but not many. Kelvin (The Dad in the group) always provides artwork while we play so I will be posting some of his random drawings here shortly. The evening culminated in the group splitting up with Rubella, Luka, Pandora and Jayana discerning the best course of action against the Draconic Kalz-Okrannian Empire (not much of an empire, but dragons do have egos) while Kevlin, Re and Tedzen plan on moving against the Drow who have conquered Marralion and renamed it Shadowfall. It was a fun evening and perhaps Luka will write some narrative accounts of it. (hint,hint)