Preparing Quasqueton

It spent a few days of my isolation stocking B1: In Search of the Unknown. I have a brown cover version of the module and the digital version. I could have just created a spreadsheet and stocked the monsters and treasures that way but instead, I decided to copy and rewrite parts that I did not like.

In the process, I created a few images in Blender that are homages to some of the artwork in the brown cover version module.

The Pit Trapped Hall

 

The Room of Pools

I decided to do the write up using Swords & Wizardry which is a really simple ruleset I have always wanted to use. I set the adventurer in the Duchy of Valnwall.  I was part of the Kickstarter for Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay so I wanted to get some use for it. I had thought about using Mystara or the earlier Known World variant or even Greyhawk. But Valnwall actually fits the module really well.

I placed Quasqueton in the hills north of Larm. So I also re-wrote Larm and created a new map for it (below).  I only changed a few things in Larm and changed it to Swords & Wizardry.

The next step will be to figure out one of the online tables (likely RPGNow) and find some players to go through the dungeon.

In Search of the Unknown

"WHO DARES ENTER THIS PLACE AND INTRUDE UPON THE SANCTUARY OF ITS INHABITANTS?" 

"ONLY A GROUP OF FOOLHARDY EXPLORERS DOOMED TO CERTAIN DEATH!"

TSR Adventure Module B1: In Search of the Unknown is an introductory module designed to help teach novice gamemasters. Back in the 1980s, just about everyone who played D&D had run it at some point because there were so few modules and because it was in the blue box version of the rules.*

I did not drop it into my B/X campaign until my player’s characters were around the 4th level so rewrote it more than most. But everyone rewrote B1 because it has the unique feature that most of the dungeon stocking was up to the DM. A list of 25 monsters and 34 treasures was made available for stocking the dungeon (not all of which was designed to be used) so everyone’s dungeon would be slightly different.

In the published In Search of the Unknown, the players find a map to the lair of a pair of famous adventurers of questionable reputation who are reputed to have died far to the north some time ago. Hints in the text suggest that their stronghold, Quasqueton, may have been abandoned up to three decades ago. All that remains now are some of the former inhabitants, human berserkers, orc slaves, and kobold slaves and creatures that have wandered into the caves.

When I ran the adventure using the B/X Moldvay rules in 1982 I stocked the dungeon for levels 3-6 (the original was for levels 1-3) and I had a background plot to make sense of the monsters that the players came across.

I also redrew the maps. I do not remember exactly why I bothered because looking at a copy of the maps now they are not a lot different.  I am posting my maps here.

My Version of Quasqueton

The big difference in the plot in my version was that the owners, Rogahn and Zelligar, had very recently returned. But in their absence, the stronghold had been overrun by Orcs belonging to a tribe the pair had been fighting in the north. The orcs trapped the pair in a magical vault in the cavern level of the stronghold. It was up to the player’s characters to discover that the pair had returned, what had happened to them, and how to release them.

Reading through my version of the adventure I am not very impressed. If I was to redo it now, and it occurs to me that I might, I would go back to something closer to the original plot. Perhaps the kobolds worked for Zelligar and the orcs worked for Rogahn. When their bosses disappeared the Orcs wanted to take over but the kobolds remained loyal and blocked access to the upper levels. Now the orcs use the lower level secret entrance as the main entrance (it is two way now). The orcs have been raiding the local valley and the players’ characters follow their trail up into the hills to the lower level entrance, not even aware that this was once Quasqueton. They have to fight past orcs and then kobolds to gain access to the best treasure in the upper level of the stronghold.

Perhaps it would make something interesting to run online now that we are all trapped indoors because of the pandemic. It would certainly be easy to write up.

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*I was lucky enough to purchase a copy of the 1979 printing in the 1990s when I bought a battered blue box version of the rules at auction.

Dragonlance Sandbox

I keep thinking about running the classic Dragonlance modules from the mid-1980s as an open sandbox.  I have even done a little planning on how it would work.

When the modules came out, (I think the first was in 1984), they were really something different. First of all, they grabbed your attention with first-class artwork, and more famously, the style was very different and had a focus more on role-playing. I was in the middle of a long B/X campaign so it did not make sense for me to buy them. But I did anyway because of the production values and because of the accompanying books. The modules were not of a style to easily allow you to drop them into another campaign so I never used any of them.

The Dragonlance modules followed a defined plot to an extent that seemed just as odd when they were released as it does today. Even with most of my players loving the books we had no interest in playing the modules if we were going to be held to a plot. This was far more than a railroad. The motivations and to some extent the actions of the player’s characters were controlled. Famously, characters and important NPCs were to die off stage (the obscure death) so they could be brought back when the plot demanded. None of this was a motivation for me to play the modules. What is motivation is the fully realized world, events, and some really cool locations.

Xak Tsaroth and the Dragon Onyx

Locations

There are some pretty neat dungeons scattered through the Dragonlance modules that I have in my possession. Xak Tsaroth which is an underworld greek style ruin in a swamp. Pax Tharkas which an enormous gate to a mountain pass. Skullcap mountain which is the classic skull-shaped mountain with a dungeon. Finally, the floating dwarven tomb is one of my favorites.

Cosmology

One of the things I did borrow from Dragonlance when I was creating a new campaign in the 1990s was the idea of the balanced group of gods. There is no real precedent for this but it is pretty interesting. There are 21 gods, 7 are neutral, 7 are good and 7 are evil. It makes it feel like any outcome from the coming war is possible.

Uniqueness

There are some unique things in the Dragonlance setting. I would set it the game in the same timeline as the modules. Civilization is broken. There are small communities but not much in the way of central authority. The gods have seemingly abandoned the world, and at first, dragons are creatures of myth. I can take or leave the idea of steel coins being the standard rather than gold. I do not think it is central to the idea.

Sandbox How?

First off, if I want to run Dragonlance as a fairly open sandbox, the whole idea of playing the novel has to go. I want to get rid of all of the Heroes of the Lance. The players would just create their own characters as normal. Probably using something simple like the Swords & Wizardry rules. Important villains from the books may exist but there are no reasons characters could not avoid them, never meet, or even kill them. Any character that chooses cleric magic would start without spells or possibly should start as a fighter and if they discover access to a god could multi-class as a cleric.

I would definitely want to start with DL1 Dragons of Despair. I think the idea of having everyone’s origin be in the town of Solace is a good start. I would not have them all off searching for gods and meeting up years later. The idea that a group of friends could spread out into the world for 5 years and all arrive back in Solace on the same day seems pretty far-fetched. I also would not want to put the quest to find the lost gods on all of the players. I would rather everyone create characters and decide what they have been doing and what is their motivation. No matter what they have been up to they are all currently in Solace. They either live in Solace or are passing through.

The Dragons of Autumn compilation module that was released for D&D 3.5 in 2006 actually does provide some of this concept already. The option is laid out for the players to play their own characters. Although these characters are expected to fill archetype roles in the party. Basically, playing the Heroes of the Lance characters in all but name. The module also allows for the characters to drift into Solace separately and provides more than one encounter for separate groups. One of which is the classic DL1 encounter with Fewmaster Toede.

From this start in Solace, I would more or less follow the timeline of the world events laid out in Dragons of Autumn. Other than slowing down the advance of the Draconian army to allow more time to get things done. But this timeline would be background events for the characters. They can interact or not. At some point, in this region of the world, they are going to want to flee south to avoid the Army of Draconians coming from the north.

I am still going to want to provide a hook that will make the players consider heading to Xak Tsaroth. I have not completely worked that out yet. The modules are written with one of the characters having the Blue Crystal Staff.  But I resist that idea somewhat. It could be something as simple as finding a treasure map showing the ruins or a prophecy suggesting a weapon could be found in the ruins. I would have the Blue crystal staff in the temple ruins and information allowing a character to become a cleric of a god.

Once the Draconian army sweeps through Abanasinia the players are going to want to get their characters to the south to avoid the army which kills or enslaves everyone in its path. This will make DL2 and Pax Tharkas an option, but I would like to allow the characters to choose any method of getting to the south. There is the possibility of a ship leaving New Ports.

I do not have it all worked out but I do have some thoughts on running at least a part of the Dragonlance saga.

Open d6 Fantasy Rules

It has been a while since I posted but I have been busy. Several articles were started and never made it being posted. I just finished reading and creating a primer of the Open d6 Rules.  I am not going to do a detailed review of the rules since they are long-established and available free online. The rules were made open-content some number of years ago. Originally, I believe the rules were developed by West End Games.

I have had the Fantasy d6 rules for a number of years. I bought the hardcover rules back in 2007. I read through them a few times but they never really stuck. The layout of the rules is a lot different from most rules presentation. There are large sections of the d6 rules that require development or decisions to be made by the Game Master.

I recently downloaded a number of the d6 Rules and decided to read them through again with the intent of maybe writing something for them. I also bought the Open Fantasy Rules which provide the same rules format but promise to add more spells and creatures.

I have not read any of the earlier editions of the Open d6 Rules. I have never managed to get a copy of the Ghostbusters rules or the d6 Star Wars rules from which they came.

Core Mechanics

In the Open d6 Rules as expected you use only d6 dice. The attributes are determined by the number of dice you get to roll. There are seven attributes and each one must begin with at least 1D and no more than 5D. The skills available are based on the governing attributes and can be further improved.

Dice rolls are tests. Every time you roll dice one of the dice is a Wild die. If the wild dice comes up a 6 it is critical and explodes. Conversely, a 1 is a fumble. To pass a test you roll higher than a target number.

Combat

In combat, defenders have a passive defense value of 10. Defenders can use active defense to improve the difficulty of hitting them. Once the Combat difficulty to hit is determined, the attacker rolls the die code of his combat skill and compares it to the difficulty. If it is equal or higher he hits the defender. Having both the attacker and defender taking actions in combat to a degree is quite a departure from fantasy games I am familiar with and I am not sure how well it will work in practice.

One of the things a Gamemaster must decide in advance is how damage is assigned. Either Body Points (which are like hit points) or Wound Levels which are more deadly. It seems very odd that both options are presented in the combat and healing chapters. It would have made more sense to me to make one option the default and offer the other as an optional rule. The first time I read the section I was confused as to whether both were in play at the same time.

Magic

Magic and Miracles are extranormal attributes that can be taken. More often than not at Character creation, although there are ways to do it in play. This section needs a lot of work in the basic open d6 rules. A few example spells are provided but the players and gamemasters are expected to design their own spells. A full chapter details what can be created and what it will cost. I know a lot of players who will love this, and an equal number who will not have any time for this. One reason I bought the Open Fantasy rules was the promise of more pre-calculated spells.

Thoughts

There are no levels or classes in Open d6. It is one of the things that I found really interesting about the rules. Any type of character can be created, including a sword-wielding spellcaster. It just might make more sense to specialize. But if you want to have your barbarian learn the ability to pickpockets it is certainly possible. This means that all characters are going to be really unique. A really big plus of the rules.

I really like these rules. I want to try them out. I plan to write something and perhaps run a game on Roll20 or something. As someone firmly grounded in B/X, 5th Edition Fantasy games I find different rules systems to be a struggle to master as I find myself falling back on familiar rules. But Open d6 is sufficiently different that I think I should be able to master it.