O is for Originality

[over the course of the month of April, my plan was to post a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, every day of the week except Sunday. While I was unable to complete the project on time, I find I still have things to say. Our topic in question is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: how to approach it, how to run it, how to enjoy a system that deserves to be played NOW, nearly 50 years after its inception. Consider this a 'crash course' in the subject]

O is for Originality...something that is overrated within the so-called "Old School" community.

Not that this series is meant to slam the (mostly commercial) venture that is the OSR these days. But many of the new DMs coming to the AD&D game these days...or even old DMs returning to AD&D after decades of hiatus...are doing so by way of the Old School Revival that's rumbled along these last 17+ years. And in the commercial offerings that carry the "OSR" branding...specifically the for-purchase, pre-written adventure modules (of the kind that new and/or rusty DMs lean on to both inspire themselves and polish their chops), you find a particular type of pathology on display: the urgent need to add "original content" that never was to their offerings.

As if the game didn't offer enough content already.

I write quite a lot of adventures for use at my own table (both for my home campaign and for gaming conventions I attend). And when it comes to designing adventures, especially for convention play, I do not include "original content;" that is, I do not create "new, original" monsters, or magic items, or spells. Oh, you'll see some adventures I've penned for various writing contests that include one or two of these things (because they are elements of the contest), but these adventures don't see actual running at my table except when/if "play-testing." For my own campaign...and when demonstrating AD&D at cons...my adventures don't include anything you wouldn't normally find in the books...for a number of reasons:

1. The content already included in the books is (for the most part) tried and true and already tested within and against the (long-tested) rules of the game.
2. There is more content in the books than I have ever used in totality...which is to say, I've yet to use EVERY monster, or EVERY magic item, or EVERY magic spell over my 40+ years of gaming.
3. For purposes of playing (and "mastering") a game, players need a consistent structure within which to learn and hone their skills, not a rug that gets pulled out from under them with every new dungeon. As I wrote earlier, I am all for metagaming as it IMPROVES player engagement.

Thus, I have no need or desire for adding "original content" to my games...in fact (as per reason #3), I find original content can be detrimental to one's campaign if used in a less-than-judicious fashion.

And it's really not needed! Again, I will make use of a metaphor suggested to me by a DM of far more experience and wisdom than myself: AD&D can be compared to a piano. Consider the ubiquitous piano with its 88 keys...the industry "standard" since 1890. How many people have studied and learned and composed music on a piano over the years, challenging themselves and entertaining others? And how many of them have attempted to add "more keys" to the piano to make the thing "more original?" How many have said, man, these 88 keys aren't enough...there's just not enough sound here to make a decent song!

The idea is ridiculous, as anyone with the slightest  passing interest in music might tell you. And, yet, how many DMs are unsatisfied with the content of the core D&D books? How many have said that the 350+ monsters in the Monster Manual or the 300+ magic items in the Dungeon Masters Guide or the 400+ spells in the Players Handbook are insufficient for their crafting of adventures? Are you kidding me?

There is a TON you can do with the "limited" amount of content in the books: writing an adventure is much like composing a piece of music on a piano. And just as a piece of piano music can be played differently by different musicians (softly, loudly, quickly, slowly, jazzy, or arranged with other instruments, or whatever), a single adventure can be "interpreted" differently by different DMs...or run differently by the same DM on different occasions depending on the players involved.

Orcs aren't "boring." YOU are boring. What is needed is NUANCE, not novelty. Situationally, there are as many different ways to use orcs in your game as there are to use humans...these are intelligent (if imaginary) creatures after all. Consider all the way humans can differ...not just in form or function, but culturally.  I know that many of my fellow American look at all Latin American people as one big mass of brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking people (I know this as I was once one of those Americans) but it is so, so not the case. Even if you ignore the individual differences of individual Mexicans (for example), Mexicans are VERY different from Ecuadorians who are VERY different from Panamanians who are VERY different from Paraguayans who are VERY different from Brazilians who are VERY different from Argentinians or Chileans, etc., etc.. In fact, they are SO DIFFERENT from each other, that unless their country is right next to another they tend to know NOTHING about the differences they have...yeah they know the people there speak Spanish (and, perhaps, have a decent soccer team) but they are often completely ignorant when it comes to someone else's history, politics, customs, food, etc.

It's like the way MUCH of the western world thinks of Africa as one big, homogenous country with border lines drawn on it. There are THOUSANDS of different ethnic identities in Africa and wildly differing genetic diversity even amongst people who share the same color of skin. Would a westerner consider all white people to be one big group? Is a Dutchman really the same as a Sicilian? My Basque friends from Bilbao certainly don't consider themselves "Spanish" in any way, shape, or form. "Your Catalan is getting quite good" they tell me (in English). 

As an American I know there are huge differences of culture between our 50 States. Yes, there are plenty of similarities, but a Washingtonian is a LOT different from a Hawaiian or a Georgian or a New Yorker or a Texan. It's not just politics that divides my country: we are (and always have been) separated by regional and cultural identity, even if we've been united (for most of our history) by some rather singular and lofty ideals that...once upon a time...we all agreed on. But are we different? Do we vary? Hell yes! Even within my own State of Washington, there is a vast difference between the "island folk" of the San Juans and the hard drinking/snorting fisher folk and lumberjacks of the Olympic Peninsula and the multi-generational farmers of the Palouse and the military folks in Everett and the very complicated metro area that is Seattle. Seattle, itself, is large enough that different neighborhoods have their own cultural identity...we're not all elitist tech-savvy "Lib-tards." Far from it! I've lived here since I was born (in '73) and MOST of that time, Seattle was pretty darn "working class" and that's how a lot of us "long timers" still see ourselves. Besides, everyone knows the elitist, tech-money d-bags live in Bellevue.

[haha. I joke. Bellevue is full of wealthy Asians, duh]

The POINT is, just saying an orc is a 1 HD antagonist and that we need a blue-skinned version that explodes when you hit it or one that has feathered wings or an orc that shoots lasers from its eyes in order to "spice things up" is simply showing a profound LACK of imagination. And it's short-changing both your players (who are trying to master the system...something they can only do when there is consistency of application) and yourself (as a designer and Dungeon Master).  What? Are you afraid that if you start "humanizing" orcs (or goblins or lizard folk or giants, etc.) by giving them nuance and ethnical variety that you're going to somehow turn them into something the players don't want to kill and then there goes the game? Have you not noticed how many different motivations, excuses, and justifications humans have found to kill each other over the centuries? My cup runneth over!

Yes, I am well familiar with the classic TSR modules of early days of AD&D and how the MAJORITY of them (pre-'85, i.e. "the good years") would include a new monster or two. I would just point out the following for consideration: A) you almost never see new magic items or spells, things which (in my estimation) have the highest potential for unbalancing or "breaking" the game, B) many times these new monsters are unique encounters and/or thematically linked to the adventure (i.e. not likely to show up elsewhere in a campaign), C) compared to the MAJORITY of the monsters in a 30-60+ encounter area, one or two new critters are a pittance, and D) you generally do NOT see these shenanigans in adventures designed for introductory, low-level play (no new monsters in B1, B2, N1, N2, etc.). Players have to learn the ropes before you start serving up curve balls!

SO...to bring this entry to a summation and close: it is NOT a mark of "creativity" or "good Dungeon Mastery" to be adding new, unique content to your game. Anyone can do that; the Fiend Folio is an entire book filled with new creatures created by a wide swath of designers (more than 70). Pursuing "originality" (in terms of content) as a goal in and of itself isn't the best use of your time and energy as an adventure designer. In my estimation, you'll get far more value out of finding ways to use that which is already present in ways that are unusual, challenging, surprising, and in ways both deeper and more nuanced. Engage your players through good system use, rather than novelty. 

AD&D campaigns can last a long time and you can get a lot of mileage out of it as written. However, when it comes to the vehicle's actual components, there's still a lot of tread left on the tires; no need to change them out so soon!

; )

Year's First

Happy 2026!

It's 4:54am, Mexico time, and everyone has finally gone to bed. Well, everyone in our house anyway...there's at least two parties still going on this block (I can hear Achy Breaky Heart playing in Spanish outside my bedroom window...and it's playing LOUD).

*sigh* Mexico.

But I'm not tired (note that I'm blogging instead of sleeping). Might have something to do with the caffeinated coffee I've been on since I got here. It doesn't help to be up till 3am every night and then drinking coffee from noon till 4pm. Just...rough. But a good time, too. I'll be back in Seattle by Saturday night, but I'm not sure how long the readjustment will be. 72 hours? Hopefully.

Looking back at last year's resolutions, I see that I hit on two of them. Which kind of sucks but whatever. THe main thing I wanted to do was sell my (deceased) mother's house. Unfortunately, I had to evict my brother first, which was an eight month legal process, lasting from April till October. Now that he's gone, that's again at the top of the list and will be my "January project;" the holidays were just too busy to get shit done.

SO, let's see; here's the list of resolutions for 2026:

• Sell the house.
• Coach Sofia's volleyball team to the playoffs.
• Coach Sofia's soccer team (in the fall) to the playoffs (again).
• Publish my two Blackrazor Cup tournament adventures.
• Finish the first draft of my "How to DM" book

That's it...still a fairly modest, fairly doable list, so long as I don't get too sidetracked by "stuff."

I would like to keep up a good pace of blogging...158 posts in 2025 was my most in a single year since 2011 (although 2012 saw me post 157 times). If I can just keep a 100+ pace, I think I'll be doing fine...better than fine, really. But that book needs to get written, too. Maybe I'll just post some excerpts as it comes along? Maybe. 

Okay. That's it. I can't keep my eyes open and the screen is swimming in front of my eyes. 5:21am and it's time to call it. Good night everyone...hope your New Year turns out excellent! Cheers!

: )

Merry Christmas To All

Currently in Mexico, staying up way too late and eating way too much. Tis the season.

; )

I know not all of my readers share my religion, but know that I wish you all peace and love and happiness and joy on this day, and in the days and New Year to come, and that I hope more of us will endeavor to embody the spirit of Christ in our relationships to our fellow humans. I know I'm going to try.

In gaming news, there's a new Classic Adventure Gaming podcast episode discussing this year's (2025) Cauldron Convention. I was originally going to appear on this one, but I totally flaked (mea culpa) but the guys do a great job of describing the new venue, etc. all on their own. Voices heard include Prince, Melan, Attronarch, and Grützi (winner of the Best DM award this year)...as well as podcast host Gus, who made his first trip to the con this year (a very nice man, with a VERY impressive mustache). Not a bad listen on a lazy, holiday morning....

Also, speaking of Cauldron, Iudex sent me his write-up of his running of my tourney adventure at HOOT, the Hungarian Oldschool Open Table, a monthly gaming even in Budapest. More on this later, but...what fun!

Aaaand...that's it. I just didn't want the day to go by without wishing people a happy one. Enjoy your families, your loved ones, and your gaming, folks. Best wishes!

Tis The Holiday Season

Just pumping out a post 'cause I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to blog this week. Sofia's out of school, so while he's sleeping in (at the moment), I'm going to be hanging with her in my "free" time. Parent-teacher conferences at the middle school today...it will be interesting to hear what they have to say about my 6th grade daughter. I'm genuinely curious.

I don't talk as much about my daughter as I do my son. I don't know why other than I'm constantly amazed by his accomplishments. Sofia's amazing, too, but her "magic" is so much less demonstrative. I have a feeling that she will probably have the "bigger impact" on the world when all is said and done: she'll either end up some scientist that invents something brilliant or else she's going to wind up being some sort of famous film or music-related celebrity. But none of that is anything happening right now (other than she can astound people when she sits down at a piano in a hotel lobby)...right now she is this incredibly sweet, funny, friendly kid who just likes to smile and snicker and play. Since we brought my mom's piano home, not a day goes by without the sounds of music filling the house at some point. Right now it's a big Christmas piece she's working on. Delightful.

Yes, you heard me...delightful. I'm one of those curmudgeonly types that gets annoyed with people who start their Christmas-ing before Thanksgiving. Usually. This year has been...different. The "yacht rock" radio station that has long been on our satellite car radio...since at least 2019 as it helped soothe our nerves through the entire pandemic...disappeared a couple weeks ago to be replaced by the "Hallmark" channel which plays nothing but holiday music. And Sofia, of course, LOVES holiday music and so we've been listening to it, whenever we're out driving to one of her various things: school, church, soccer, basketball, piano, guitar. Whatever. And darned if I haven't gotten in to it, too. Like the yacht rock, it's soothing on the nerves.

Well, most of it (I'm not really into the "hip hop Christmas" stuff...give me Andy Williams or Nat King Cole any day of the week).

So, yeah. I've started the holidays early. I think we got our first thing of eggnog the week after Halloween? That went fast, and I haven't replaced it yet. Still have our "Autumnal" wreath on the door, but evergreen one is coming. We've got tickets to Mexico for Christmas...took us a while because they're so damn expensive (you can fly to Japan for half the price!). Not sure if that's just because the current administration is only interested in people taking one-way trips south of the border or what (*sigh*), but since they've made damn sure that's my in-laws can't renew their visas till 2027 (*sigh*) we must purchase four tix if we want to see our family, rather than just flying mis suegros up here. Too bad for the local economy, of course, as we'll be doing all our shopping down there...but then Trump has been nothing if not hard on the local economy. 

But enough of that...I've been in the holiday spirit, as I said, and I've been focusing on other things. My son, who I gush about far too much, has his first national volleyball tournament for his club in Los Angeles in a couple weeks, and he and I will be flying down there with the team. The last couple days we were at a local "exhibition" tournament...it was pretty wild. He's a U15, but his team was playing in the U16 division...four matches in the group stage on Saturday with two matches on Sunday in the playoff bracket; when not playing or warming up he and his teammates acted as line judges and scorekeepers for the various games going on non-stop on four courts in an airplane hangar-like gymnasium (they were running U14, U16, and U18 divisions...all men's volleyball). Holy smoke...what an event! And the L.A. one is supposed to be a LOT bigger...I can hardly imagine.

Anyway, their team is great and pretty talented. They ended up winning their division, winning in straight sets for both of their playoff games. They were rotating liberos between Diego and another, more experienced kid (except for D and Jesus, all the other kids have been together for two or three seasons), but by Sunday's championship game it was just Diego, clearly in command, exhibiting presence and leadership on the court, making spectacular saves, picking up his teammates...all the usual "Diego" stuff. When they were down 18-9 in th second set of their first playoff match, Diego came in as a DS to serve 15 straight points and put them up 24-18...he didn't come out after that. Just great stuff from the kid. We had been contemplating trying to get to his soccer game Sunday afternoon and said we'd think about it after we saw how the morning match went...he came of the court and just said "I'm staying for the volleyball." 

[fortunately the club was playing the no-win bottom of their division and got a 4-2 result even without their captain]

But it was an exhausting weekend. Diego had a hard time getting up this morning (he still has a couple days of school before break)...though he's excited because "cousin Spencer" is picking him up from school today! Yes, my 27-year old "nephew" is back in town...all 6'1", 205# of baby-faced kid. He just finished up a year long stint of chefing at some fancy restaurant across the street from the Opera House, and now he's back in the PNW before doing another jaunt, this time in Japan (his dad's originally from Canada so he has joint citizenship and can do a work exchange on the maple leaf passport). Anyway, hanging with us all weekend at the volleyball stuff, he's taking Diego rock-climbing this afternoon (just what my kid needs...to be introduced to another recreational hobby...). Fingers-crossed that Diego doesn't fall asleep in class or on the boulder....

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to run some D&D for Spence while he's in town...I know he digs that. He's heading out to Spokane on Wednesday (Thanksgiving with his mom's mom), so our window is tight, especially with the kids' soccer practice on Tuesday. Wait, wait...just checking and it looks like they might have the night off!. All right, maybe Tuesday evening then. If we DO get our game on, I've already decided I'll be breaking out C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan...a perfect little scenario for Diego, Sofia, and Spencer.

Mmm...looking through Ye Old Blog archives, I don't see I've ever written much of anything abou Tamoachan. It's a decent enough tournament adventure...probably my favorite of all the old TSR tournament modules (looking at both the A- and C- series). I've run it at least two or three times in the past, usually with the three pre-gens designed for the scenario. It's pretty tight, design-wise, and even though it's a fairly linear gauntlet (much like the tournament portion of S1) it has a ton of flavor and a lot of interesting bits and bobs. Though, man...I don't think I've run it since the early 90s (maybe the early 2000s...?). I should probably give it a quick re-read. I have no idea how the thing holds up in my current "paradigm" of game play, but Philippe ran it at Cauldron for some folks who had a good time...it should still work for a one-off.

Other than that....

I'm working on the book. It's slow going. I started writing the section on running combat...turns out this could probably be a whole book, in and of itself. Which is not really what I want, so I probably need to rethink the section. 

It's tough. I'm trying to condense and consolidate decades of knowledge and essays into a practical guidebook that IDEALLY would have a smaller page count than any of the existing (AD&D) rulebooks. It's a rather daunting prospect. This is far less about writing "AD&D for Dummies" and more like a Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Lord, how I wish I'd studied technical writing in college. Maybe I should go back and re-read my Strunk & White...it's still on the book shelf somewhere. 

Yeah. Probably going to end up bigger than S&W.

But I am writing.  A little bit óvery day. Except when I'm at all day volleyball tournaments. But OTHERwise...one brick at a time. Just laying one brick at a time. 

*sigh*

I should be publishing a couple adventures soon, too, depending on my illustrator's time schedule. Hopefully I'll have a couple PDFs out by year's end. We'll see. December tends to fly by when you're in the midst of holiday cheer with friends and family. And  now that my brother's hash is finally settled (he was evicted on the 12th...a day before my birthday)...I need to put the sale of my mother's house into overdrive. Sofia and I might be working on that a bit the next couple days, depending on when I can borrow my buddy's junk hauler. A lot to do but it is finally getting done. Finally.

Mm.

My apologies...did not mean for this post to slide into a downer note. It's the gosh darn holiday season! And I'm excited about all the stuff I've got on my plate right now. Yes, the busy-ness is off the charts. Yes, finding time to take a breath is a challenge. BUT:

- volleyball tournaments

- guitar recitals

- holiday feasts and get-togethers

- trips to see family and friends in Mexico

- school Christmas concerts

- running D&D

- publishing adventures

- writing books

- closing my deceased mom's estate

And just listening to cheerful music as I drive around town on my various errands...man, that is all GOOD STUFF. I am enjoying myself. I am really, thoroughly enjoying myself.

And I'll admit, part of it is that I'm home in Seattle for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday of the year) and that I get to eat some God-honest turkey for a change. I seem to be the only person in my family that craves a drumstick and a pile of apple-sausage stuffing drenched in gravy. My goodness! I am SO looking forward to Thursday!

Hope ALL of you have a happy one...I pray that all of you find some joy in season, and find a way to share that joy with others. Even a smile goes a long way this time of year.

Cheers.

: )

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am currently in Orizaba, Mexico (and very tired from a loooong journey here...both my flight and our bus were delayed getting here).  For my fellow Americans who celebrate the holiday, I wish you nothing but happiness for all that the next two days (generally) bring: good food, family gatherings, parades and football on the TV and...hopefully...a bit of tabletop gaming.

My best to everyone. I'll write as I can.

News & Notes

Good morning! Hope everyone fortunate enough to have the day off today is enjoying their holiday (it's Veterans Day, here in the States). My kids are out of school, so they are sleeping in this morning...I, myself, woke up at 6:30am (not unusual) and went back to sleep till 7:40 (very unusual). Brewing myself some coffee at the moment...ratio of decaf-to-caf is approximately 5:1.

I appreciate all the condolences and kind thoughts expressed over the passing of my dog...thank you so much. Life continues to move on (as always), and everyone here is fine (more-or-less). It's still a little odd the small ways I miss her...many of my habitual behavioral patterns (closing doors, locking gates, guarding food, sealing off trash cans) were adapted over the years to compensate for my incorrigible rascal of a dog, and now every time I brush up against that, I feel a small void of emptiness. It's a bit more immediate than the loss of my mother...though it brings up a similar feelings, as this is the kind of thing I would get on the phone and call her about, causing me to confront (again) her absence. 

*sigh*

ANYway...moving on to the "news and notes." Apologies for not yet get my AP reports out from the Cauldron convention; those are still coming, and should get typed up (*hope*hope*) before the end of the month. Others (Ghoul, Melan, Prince) have provided their own post-con reports, so if you're interested in the German, Hungarian, and Dutch (respectively) perspectives on the event, I'd direct you to their blogs:

Ghoul Tunnel

Beyond Fomalhaut

Age of Dusk

(yes, they're all written in English)

For myself, I've been rather busy lately with the current writing project (writing? What a shock!). The deadline for the NAP III contest draws near, and I have only begun writing up my entry. It's a rather large one. My first NAP submission (Hell's Own Temple) was all of ten pages and 18(ish) numbered encounters. My second NAP submission (Ship of Fate) doubled the number of encounters and ran to 17 pages PLUS an additional six pages of pregen characters. Those I knocked out in a couple-three days.

This one's...a bit bigger. Double+ the size of my last adventure in terms of numbered encounters, three appendices, plus a dozen pregens. The thing is currently in a "mostly outline" state, and it's already 14 pages. 

Have not yet started the stocking spreadsheets; have not yet drawn a single map.

Instead, I've spent the last ten days "sharpening the axe," diving deeply into the lore and figuring out how...really how...the adventure works and interacts with my own campaign world. There may not be a lot of the Emerald Empire in the thing, but there will be some. The adventure is set in the Idaho Deathlands, after all. Troop numbers and resources and geography are all being drawn from my home setting. It's a doozy.

And while I'm pretty sure I'll be able to finish the thing with alacrity (my push to have adventures ready for Cauldron showed me what's possible), I am running up against an additional time constraint: my imminent trip to Mexico. The family is leaving town next Friday...the first time we'll be traveling to see our family and friends down south since 2020 (2019? maybe). Everyone is, of course, excited. But if I don't have this thing knocked out (or mostly written) before I leave Friday morning, chances are slim that I'll be able to complete it before the end of November. Polishing I can do in my in-laws house. But scanning maps? No...and I'm not going to be bringing a bunch of books and reference materials either.

SO...six-ish days is about what I have left to finish the thing (we'll be back on the 27th, but a day or two to recover from the trip will mean almost no time before hitting "send" on the email). And it's not like I have six full days...my weekends afford me very little time to write. The bulk of my work comes when my kids are at school and the wife is at the office. 

Or early mornings. Hmm...maybe I shouldn't have slept in...

But, there it is...I'll be pushing through and (if the blog is sadly silent) my readers won't be wondering whether I've fallen off some cliff or something. Just busy. In fact, I should probably log off now and clean the kitchen. The damn dishwasher broke down a couple days ago and I have to do all the washing up by hand...and last night I cooked a rather large feast of pork shoulder, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes.

And...oh, crap. It's my birthday in three days. The Big 5-0. And I'm sure the fam wants to do something for me. Something that will no doubt eat into my time. Crap.

All right, all right...I've got to go. More updates in a few days!

En Español

As I wrote, I've been doing far less "D&Ding" of late. Probably doesn't help that the last game session I ran (April 5th, per my records) resulted in a Total Party Kill, including three PCs and at least as many henchmen and hangers on (I believe the total was eight, mostly seasoned characters). Damn harpies.

However, even though I haven't been playing D&D, it feels like I keep getting called upon to evangelize the Dungeons & Dragons game...especially concerning the way I play and the reasons inherent in...well, in doing what I do. Running into folks who I haven't seen or talked to in decades, the subject just continues to...strangely...come up. Some examples:

• One of my mom's best friends (and past supervisor or mine) ended up having an extensive conversation pertaining to the history of the game, detailing the entire history of the game its various editions and the state of the hobby. Her son-in-law is, apparently a rabid D&D fan who is teaching his own children (her grandkids) how to play.
• A woman who was one of my mother's oldest and most beloved friends (they were maids-of-honor at each others' weddings), told me how my authorship of D&D books has made me something of a minor celebrity (or at least "impressive figure of lore") in their family as her adult grandchildren are now big D&D fans, like their mother (whom I grew up with and introduced to the game...waaaay back in the day).
• A local attorney and old family friend who I contacted about my mom's will and testament (and for whom I used to run games: he was in my brother's class)...the first words out of his mouth were "Have they put you in the Dungeon Masters' Hall of Fame yet?" He had no idea I wrote a blog (or books) or was still gaming; he was just remembering the games of our youth. His own daughters, now in high school, play D&D, but it's a different game from what he remembers (duh) and after long discussion, there was some thought that I might run a game or two for his family to show them what it was like.
• Had lunch with my old college buddy, Joel, who I NEVER played D&D with (we were balls deep in the White Wolf back in the 90s), but who is now playing Pathfinder 2 on a weekly basis. Ended up having an incredible 3-4 hour discussion about the fantasy gaming hobby, its evolution the last 20 years, and why I'm playing AD&D these days (hint: it's not nostalgia). I think I might have even convinced him to come over to my side of the fence, though he's one of those types that stubbornly maintains it's all about the quality of GM, not system (and perhaps it is, but system certainly helps). At least he remembers my GMing in a positive light.

But here's the real kicker: the last week-and-a-half we've hosted some friends from Mexico in our home. These are very old, very beloved friends: the woman, Heidi, grew up with my wife (they were neighbors as kids) and both she and her husband, Carlos, hosted us in their apartment in Mexico City the first time I visited Mexico (in 1998). They were at our wedding (Heidi was maid-of-honor) and we've watched their kids grow up (their youngest is 21 or 22 now??!). We all get along quite famously, Carlos and I especially (he is fluent in English and we share a passion for beer, music, Star Wars, and American football), despite him being a couple years my senior.

However, I've never had a conversation with him about Dungeons & Dragons...until yesterday. Like, never ever. I think he knows I did the writing thing (??) but usually when we've hung out we've spent our time discussing family or sports or culture or food or beer (these days he is a master-brewer and owns/operates a good-sized micro-brewery in Mexico...one of the few). This trip we've spent a LOT of time talking about beer (he's been touring the local breweries) or the inconveniences of death (his father just died in December and he's faced many of the same estate issues as myself). I mean, he and I have plenty of non-gaming stuff to talk about: Carlos is one of those bright-eyed, intelligent folks who goes through life with curiosity and thoughtfulness and a mind open to discussion and dialogue.

But (perhaps prompted by my wife) yesterday he brought up that his niece "really wants to learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons" and wanted to know what I recommended. Hoo-boy...what a can of worms!

What followed was an attempt to explain one of the world's stranger concepts (RPGs) to our friends in some combination of English and Spanish with a constant barrage of interruptions (er...helpful interjections) from my wife and kids. The strangest bit might have been my non-gamer wife enthusing over how much fun (?!!) the game is and how they (Carlos and Heidi) should try playing as well. Diego even offered to have me run a game for them while they're here (thanks, kid) though my wife told them we could always do it on-line (???!!!) when they returned to Mexico.

[you have to understand that my wife is fairly obstinate in her refusal to play RPGs; and, yes, she's tried them on more than a couple occasions]

Of course, there exists some significant challenges with the lack of Spanish language clones for my preferred edition(s) of the game. Even native English speakers get lost in the complications of a game like D&D (forgetting, missing, or misunderstanding rules)...throwing an English copy of B/X or Labyrinth Lord at a native Spanish speaker (even one fluent in English) and telling them to learn the game and teach it to their friends unassisted is a tall order. Never mind something as convoluted as Gygax's 1st edition manuals.

SO, despite many misgivings, and out of an altruistic desire to be helpful (and an ambassador for the game) I did pick up a copy of the D&D Essentials box set en Español for my friends at the local game shop (let's hear it for WotC inclusivity!). I own a copy of the Kit Esencial (as it's labeled) myself...though in English...and it's not a terrible way to introduce some of the basic D&D concepts. I mean...

*sigh*

Okay, I'll be honest: It actually IS a terrible way to introduce D&D concepts, but it is also the easiest way to do so, when you're talking about young teenagers from a different culture needing concepts (like class and race and hit points, etc.) in their own language. For a game taking place primarily in the imagination and constructed almost entirely from words, it IS "esencial" that the instructions be conveyed in a readily comprehended idioma. 

And it reminds me again of my own failure to produce a Spanish language retroclone, something I started working on back in Paraguay. Español isn't MY native language, of course, and translation is hard enough without needing to translate fantasy concepts (how do you say "halfling?"). Even doing a SMALL clone (I was using the 40-some page Holmes Basic as a foundation text) is grueling, thankless work...especially when considering the unlikeliness that I'd ever use it myself. Why would I? I already own all the instructions I need in my own (native) language.

But...now...here I am, exactly where I feared back in Paraguay (when my kids were young and I was surrounded by a culture of non-English-speaking, non-gamers): in a situation where I want to teach the game, and without the instructional text to do so. And so I am giving my beautiful friends WotC box sets that feature dragon fights with dragons that have no treasure. NO TREASURE. Does a hoard-less dragon scream "D&D" to you? Does that say "fun adventure?"

*sigh* (again)

SO. I got my friends the box set to give to their niece, which should tide her over till I have something more useful to provide her (at least the thing comes with dice). And I also purchased a copy of the Spanish language PHB (5E) which I will use alongside my son's dust-gathering English copy to reverse engineer RPG concepts and vocabulary for a better (Spanish) basic set. Just something I've put off for too long, considering the culture that shares my life and household.

OH: And to all my Spanish-speaking (and, sure, Portuguese-speaking) readers...you know who you are!...if you have suggestions for already-existing retroclones of "old edition D&D" that you prefer, I'd love to hear about them. Thanks in advance.

; )

Plans Change

Turns out my in-laws (who have been staying with us since June 17th) will be staying longer...till August, in fact. Which is fine (we all get along well) and generally fun (especially for the kids), though it means the diet, etc. will all be put on hold for another ten days (pretty hard to quit drinking the beer when they want to tour the local breweries...of which there are many 'round these parts). 

The reason they're staying isn't quite as fine or fun, however: my wife's brother and his family and in-laws have all contracted the COVID. Which is, frankly, horrific and tragically, tragically stupid (most of them, including his wife's aged parents had the chance to get vaccinated, and passed for...reasons). But there's a lot of stupid in Mexico (just as there is up here)...difference is, our government, provides a lot more infrastructure and support for folks (not enough but, hey, people hate paying taxes, right? Plus we have to fund this freedom-saving war machine of ours...) that Mexico simply can't...or won't...provide.

So, we'll see what happens. In the meantime, we're keeping my wife's parents here while my brother-in-law disinfects their house (that he and his wife were watching). *sigh* 

Now, if y'all will excuse me, I'm going to work on my submission for Prince's "No ArtPunk" adventure contest. The thing is due by the end of August and I've still got a lot of writing to do (not to mention drawing the map). I was just thinking about it this morning while brewing coffee and have decided I probably need more half-orcs than originally anticipated...at least two more. Can half-orc assassins be disguised as elven captives? Does that really make sense (i.e. would it fool anyone?)? I guess, by the PHB rules it should...even if they were disguised as elf maiden clerics individual PCs would only have an 8% chance to see through the deception. And if they're female half-orcs, why, that chance drops to 6%. Mm. Who needs dopplegangers in a world of Faceless Men?

Later, gators.

I, Jackass

Was just informed by a potential Patreon supporter that his contribution to my cause was denied. I assume that's due to me failing to complete the set up of my income information with the Patreon site.

Obviously I don't really want folks' money. (*sigh*)

Things should be working now. And I should be starting to post again soon...I'm leaving Veracruz this afternoon, and should be winging my way back to Seattle tomorrow. I hope everyone's having a happy Thanksgiving today...probably my All Time Favorite holiday (the food, the family, the football...plus the next day off!). Wonderful as Mexico is, they're a little short on starch and gravy combinations...which I, as a natural born Americano, sometimes crave.

Ah, well. There's a sandwich shop in my neighborhood that does a Thanksgiving-style sandwich all year long. I'll be sure to stop by in the next few days and indulge.

Cheers to everyone!

: )

The "Thanksgetting:" turkey, stuffing,
cranberries, and gravy + bacon.

Vanilla DM

I have a tearful confession to make. I have all but abandoned my "grand plans" to run a D&D campaign set in the post-Columbian South America. I am, perhaps, being overly sensitive to the historical (and continued) atrocities perpetrated on the indigenous people and resources of the region; however, if anything I'd chalk up my resistance to laziness, seeing as how the sheer effort to create an adventure-worthy setting that neither disrespects nor ignores the actors of history feels like more than I'm willing to tackle.

Here's part of the deal: I'm 45, folks. I might incorporate aspects of Mayan or Incan or Aztec or European culture in my campaign, but I don't want to bother devising and adapting whole new systems that take into account the complex pre-hispanic cultures and crafts...things like advanced technology despite a written language (necessitating swaths of re-modeling for spell-casting), cloth armor and the effects of terrain and climate, manners of advancing in a way that doesn't require treasure-hunting (for the cultures that don't value gold in the same way as Europeans)...or that allow portage with the lack of beasts of burden or development of the wheel (without the need to harness slave labor).

Besides which, the more I delve into AD&D and its rules and systems, the more I find myself wanting to run something closer to the pulp S&S source material. There are fantasy game systems that have done a good job of modeling the pre-Renaissance world (at least in Europe)...Chivalry & Sorcery (1e) springs immediately to mind, though I've owned, and played, others. But while other, brighter minds than mine (like Alexis) have managed to shoehorn elves and dwarves and half-orcs into an historical Earth-based setting, I don't want to do that. I don't want a "real world" setting that has infravision, psionics, clerical spells, or "giant-class" creatures inserted into it. Yes, you can do it without creating a whole "alternate history" for planet Earth...but why would you? I assert that a world with dragons and Drow (let alone mind flayers and aboleths!) would completely and radically change the structure of human history as we know it. You can disagree. But if I can't suspend my own disbelief on the subject, how the heck can I expect to create a game or an experience where my players can?

I don't think I can. Not in a sincere fashion.

Consequently, I find myself wanting to run a game in a setting akin to the ones found in fantasy literature: the same fantasy literature that provided inspiration for the writers of the game. Maybe not Lovecraft or Vance, but certainly Leiber and Moorcock. Some kind of cross between Howard and King Arthur...less Tolkien in scope, more Bradley-type weirdness. With at least a sprinkle of Robert Asprin mixed in.

I know some folks will be a little disappointed by this turn of events. Truth be told, I'm a little disappointed myself, though probably not as much. After all, it's not like I can't (at a future date) drop the PCs through some sort of magical portal that drops them into 16th century South America. Have their sailing ship cross an inter-dimensional curtain and end up broadside of a Spanish galleon, or enter a pyramid in some lost fantasy jungle and end up exiting the Tower of the Sorcerer in Uxmal. Starting with "vanilla fantasy" may be a lot less ambitious, but it's utilitarian, and it provides a lot of possibilities that aren't necessarily present with a setting grounded in real world history and geography.

Plus, it's recognizable. I agree with much of what Anthony Huso writes with regard to using banal fantasy tropes as a starting point. It allows easy entry and buy-in to the players. I am absolutely certain there are plenty of individuals who would LOVE to play in a fantasy Latin America, especially one that is thoughtful, well developed, and semi-authentic/accurate. That being said, there are many, many, many players (including an awful lot of the ones who want to play in the setting) who are absolutely UNinterested in learning the ins and outs of the historical cultures that we'd be playing in...at least prior to play. Most folks (I think) would prefer to have information about the setting unfold in-play over time...the way we're used to learning information about most fantasy settings (in literature and celluloid).

Consider, for example, Tolkien. The Hobbit introduces us to the Shire then the background of the Lonely Mountain dwarves then Elrond and Rivendell then Mirkwood (with rumors of "the Necromancer") - all gradually unfolding background. The Lord of the Rings introduces more history, more geography, more cultures...and not all in the first book (neither Rohan and Gondor, for example, appear till the second book of the trilogy, and Mordor not till the final book). Even then, the events of the prior two ages are only hinted at in any of Tolkien's first four novels, and it's not until the Silmarillion that we even hear the name Illuvatar or the story of Feanor, etc.

Consider, as a different example, the television series Game of Thrones. Even in the first season, we are introduced to very few places and a very small section of Martin's world. We have King's Landing and its politics, the North and its Old Religion, the Wall and the Night Watch, and a bit about the eastern lands (whatever it's called) following the trials and tribulations of the Targaryan girl among the Dothraki plains folk. But huge and important aspects of the setting don't even come into the story until later seasons: the Army of the Dead? the slaver nations? Highgarden? Dorn? The Faceless Men and the Maesters of Old Town and the Three-Eyed Raven? The setting, its geography, history, and cosmology are all revealed over time, as needed.

With a fantasy setting you can do this...you can have only the haziest of outlines, the roughest of sketches, and crystalize things (as necessary) to fit the needs of the campaign as situations arise and adventures happen. The DM is making stuff up, after all. I suppose it's possible to do this with a historical setting, but it requires much more up front work from the DM (unless the DM is already versed in the history and geography of the setting). I suppose I could do this, given the knowledge, notes, and information I've already acquired...I could do it...

But, again, if you (like me) want to incorporate the weirdness of D&D fantasy into your game (aboleths and elves) AND they're not naturally occurring parts of the setting (as they don't in South America), then you need something more open and vanilla-bland to start. At least, I do.

Just so folks know.

A is for Archduke Stefan III

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic for this year's #AtoZchallenge? Revamping the Grand Duchy of Karameikos in a way that doesn't disregard it's B/X roots]

A is for Archduke Stefan III. Yeah, that guy. Best to start at the top.

The much beloved archduke (later king in the 2nd Edition AD&D setting, following events in the Wrath of the Immortals box set), has his history described in detail beginning with Allston's setting Gazeteer for the Grand Duchy. In brief, Stefan was a Thyatian nobleman who traded his ancestral lands to the Emperor of Thyatis in exchange for independent rulership of the "undeveloped" Traladara territory (Traladara having been conquered and claimed by Thyatis some 70 years before). Taking its main city (Specularum) for his capitol, the 22 year old Stefan renames the land for himself (Karameikos) and puts down the armed insurrection that follows. Over the next 30 years, the now-Archduke parcels out land to his (Thyatian) followers, builds roads and a strong military, and works to establish his Grand Duchy as a maritime power and resource rich exporter, while uniting the mixed Thyatian and Traladaran people in a shared "Karameikan" identity. He does this by using his natural charisma, being an "exemplary leader," recognized throughout the region for his "fairness and honor" and while there is some resentment to his rule (and some outright plotting against him by certain nobles), he is generally considered an "even-handed," "stern but fair ruler" whose main flaw is being "baffled by raw evil" (like his cousin Ludwig von Hendriks). In game terms he is Lawful and good, caring most for his family, his people, and his legacy...in about that order.

Sheesh.

Let's talk a bit about conquered people, shall we? Historically, folks are pretty averse to being conquered and ruled by a foreign power, especially when there's any perceived social injustice like, for example, the invaders being in the nobility and the indigenous folks being stripped of their lands. It's not something that a people with any type of national identity (say, a shared language, religion, and/or cultural values) gets over easily. One might say, well it's been a hundred years since the Thyatian Empire first marched into Marilnev (the regions main community) and renamed it Specularum...that's four or five generations to get used to Thyatian (i.e. fantasy Roman) supremacy, yeah?  Sure...and I can see the Palestinians being okay with this whole Israeli state thing one day, too, huh?

You can see how well that kind of thinking worked in Latin America and Africa and Asia over the centuries. India was effectively ruled by the British from the 18th century until achieving independence in 1947....they never really "got used to it." I'd imagine there are still plenty of "north Irish" who would rather just be Irish, just as there are still Scottish folks who would prefer to be their own country. I have good friends in the Basque region of Spain who absolutely hate being associated in any way with Spain (who they see as attempting cultural genocide) and still hope someday...and work toward...having an independent Basque country. And the Basque region was annexed in the 15th century!

Are folks familiar with Maximillian I of Mexico? He was an Austrian nobleman who gave up his lands and titles in Europe to become Emperor of Mexico. This was with the help of the French (and Napoleon's army) in the 19th century.

["Cinco de Mayo" commemorates the Battle of Puebla (where all Volkswagons in North America are manufactured) when the Mexicans won a small victory against the French forces during this time period]

Historians write that Maximillian genuinely cared for the Mexican people, helped institute reforms to help the people, enacted institutions to help the poor, abolished child labor, broke monopolies held by the wealthy, and worked to make a strong, modern Mexico. He was fought tooth-and-nail by a people who had already thrown off the yoke of Spain in their war of independence, and after "reigning" for about three years, he was overthrown captured, and executed by firing squad. Mexico has only been ruled by Mexicans ever since.

Duke Stefan, per GAZ1, survived a single armed revolt and a single assassination attempt and then...nothing. For thirty years (forty, if you count the 2nd edition material). Just schemers working behind the scenes to undermine Stefan's authority.

Doesn't really wash for me. Even if Stefan was the "bestest ruler in the world" it's hard to see a conquered people (even one that's not particularly "oppressed" - though what constitutes "oppression" is probably a matter of opinion) celebrating Stefan's rule or simply content to go quietly into the night. The Traladarans are supposed to have a proud history, legends of being enslaved by "beast men" and of eventually throwing off that slavery to become free, independent people. And now they're just going to go about their business? With Thyatians in their castles, taking the bounty of the land? It's not like Stefan has been systematically exterminating them and pushing them onto tiny reservations...they should be taking advantage of his (written) naiveté to arm themselves and organize!

[maybe it's just that archduke has the indiginous demihumans on his side...but why? Were there centuries of antagonism between the demihumans and Traladarans before the coming of Thyatis?]

It's important to note that the character of Stefan Karameikos, his personality and background, changed substantially with the advent of 1987's GAZ1 (the Gazeteer detailing the Grand Duchy of Karameikos). Very little, in fact, was said of the archduke (even in B6, the adventure module detailing Specularum); until the publication of GAZ1, he seemed to be nothing more than a high level fighter who had carved out his own dominion. Even Aaron Allston's own adventure module X12: Skarda's Mirror (published just prior to GAZ1), paints a different portrait of the character:

"A distinguished military commander and adventurer by the age of 20, he was offered a baronial title if he settled in and developed the unclaimed wilderness west of Thyatis.

"Stefan Karameikos III built himself a seacoast town, a village which he named Specularum, and began settling his followers all through the region. Eventually the region became the Barony of Karameikos, then the County, and finally the Duchy. Now, 30 years after the initial landfall, the Duchy is flourishing, and the Duke is a powerful and well-liked ruler, the father of strong heirs."

See? That's a perfectly acceptable elaboration on the character's original portrayal in the Cook Expert rulebook. There's no conquered peoples, no political machinations, no Thyatian noble-class ruling over displaced Traladarans. At this point, "Traldarans" were only a primitive, degenerate human subspecies fighting endless battles against the Hutaakan beast-men (to be discussed later) in a lost valley (see B10: Night's Dark Terror). The earlier, pre-GAZ Stefan was just an adventurer made good...just one of us, you know?

Which is how I prefer it, mainly because it's "more B/X." Still, things are not all rosy in Karameikos. There are still ravening hordes of humanoids (goblins, gnolls, frost giants(!), etc.) to contend with throughout the area. And then there's that darn Black Eagle Barony over on the western border about which the Duke seems wholly unconcerned. What's up with that exactly?

Welp, as with the good Baron Ludwig, I can think of a number of different ways to "re-skin" Duke Stefan explaining his lack of progress after a couple-three decades sitting on the throne. Here's a few of them for your enjoyment:

Couldn't find a good
pic of Duke Avan.

Archduke as Absentee Adventurer: Duke Avan Astran of old Hrolmyr is a good example of an adventuring noble of the most doomed sort; of course, most (all) folks who travel with Elric of Melnibone are doomed to a horrible end eventually.

Archduke Stefan as Duke Avan is a fairly easy re-skin: the explorer/adventurer who just can't settle down, even after a life of achievement. He keeps getting on that damn boat and setting sail, looking for lost cities, legendary shorelines. and forbidden knowledge...all when he should be back minding his duchy. Instead, he is gone more often than not on a life of perilous adventure, leaving his dominion to be ruled by henchmen and underlings while his noble wife tries to raise/shape children grown restless with an absentee father. Perhaps, the player characters will end up accompanying him on some random quest or other; more likely he'll disappear and they'll be tasked with finding his remains. Lots of possible adventures in a land left un-ruled by a glory hound and thrill seeker.

"More wine! And where's
my armor stretcher?!"

Archduke as the Life of the Party: who doesn't like a little wining, wenching, and feasting? Robert Baratheon is a great possibility as an archduke resting on his (ever expanding) laurels.

Once a formidable warrior, years of the good life has allowed those muscles to atrophy and those jowls to drop. But it's not a bad life. Who needs to worry when you've got that Black Eagle fellow shoring up your western border? And the elves and gnomes to your north? And that...well, there is a haunted and mysterious forest to the east, but there are hardly ever any monsters popping their ugly mugs out of it. Besides, young adventurers are always happy to go on a quest, and knighthoods are cheap to grant. Maybe they'll take some of my (illegitimate) kids with 'em...show 'em the ropes.

Sure wish the duchy wasn't in so much debt...

"What of it?"

Archduke as the Scheming Legacy Builder: or maybe your debt is just a means to an end. Tywin Lannister is a different kind of warlord: one who is ambitious, ruthless, and utterly dedicated to furthering the fortunes of his family and ensuring its legacy.

Stefan as Tywin would be perfectly happy to allow an equally ruthless warlord to rule the western marches...so long as the tool could be sufficiently controlled. Of more importance would be growing his own family, ensuring his own estates were secure, and building political alliances with other, rival nations. The infrastructure of the interior? Low priority compared to keeping up appearance in duchy's capital. A powerful naval force. Plate armored cavalry and perfectly drilled infantry. Evidence of pacified natives. And an open invitation to extra-nationals seeking to exploit the rich resources of the territory's interior.

No petty baron would do as a marriage partner for the ducal offspring; the archduke's children would be yet another resource to exploit and sell and help build the family's dominion and legacy.

"My followers were chosen as carefully
as the disciples of Christ."

Archduke as Bloody Handed Conquistador: But perhaps we'd like to use the native Traladarans...or some sort of indigenous prior inhabitants. Duke Stefan as Hernan Cortes could still be a B/X style adventurer...just one not conflicted about carving an empire out of an existing civilization.

This could be an archduke motivate by religion (slaying or converting the heathen pagans), riches (harvesting timber, mining precious metals), glory (etching his name on history), or bloody savagery (an excuse to kill). Truth is Cortes was a little bit of all those things, and while I've never met or read anything that ever praised the man or his actions, the fact remains that he made an indelible impression on the history of Mexico...and his descendants survive (comfortably) to this day.

Archduke as Chaos Cultist: AKA "Something Rotten in Specularum." Last one, and then I'll get this posted (man, I'm hopeful the next post in this series will be shorter!). Here's a quote direct from the 1st edition of Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness...though with some [words] replaced:

"[Stefan] was regarded as the finest military commander that the [Empire of Thyatis] had produced. His abilities were faultless, and eventually the Emperor granted him the title of [Archduke]. This was a high honor...

"Before [Stefan] could travel to [the Thyatian capital] to receive [additional reward] he fell ill [in] the [primitive territory] of [Traldara]. This was his undoing. During his convalescence [in Specularum] he was inducted into a secret warrior's lodge, which proved to be little more than a coven. A change of character became evident in the [archduke] - he had been possessed by a Daemon. [Stefan's] membership of the secret lodge was not unusual; Imperial soldiers were often encouraged to join warrior societies of this type..."

Late stage cultist Stefan.

Stefan Karameikos as Warmaster Horus may seem a bit of a stretch, but individuals in the Warhammer Fantasy setting fall prey to Chaos worship for all sorts of reasons (though, sure, it's usually tied to some sort of lust for power). Here's the great thing about it though: Chaos cultists usually strive with all their might to keep their allegiance secret. No one's going to pay taxes or follow the laws of a mutant scion of evil! And in a feudal society with a rigorously enforced social caste system, it's actually fairly easy to hide such worship...at least until your arm turns into a tentacle (then out will come the witch-hunters and the torches). See Shadows over Bogenhafen, etc. Anyway, the point is, an archduke that's fallen to Chaos has a lot more things to worry about then whether or not the roads are getting built...

All right, that's enough. More tomorrow!

[EDIT: I promise I'll come back and polish this post at a future date...when I have more time!]

Feeling Tekumel

[FYI: this may turn into a weird, haphazard series of posts]

Just got back into town...um, Paraguay Town (i.e. Asuncion) yesterday morning after a delightful 5- or 6-day (who can count?) mini-vacation in Mexico. Hope everyone had a happy Easter, by the way.

I've got a lot on my mind (as usual) but with regard to gaming, most of my thoughts these last few days have centered around M.A.R. Barker's world of Tekumel, a campaign setting familiar to folks who are familiar with the game Empire of the Petal Throne. Most of those readers fond of frequenting "old school" blogs have probably encountered articles on EPT, though it's not one I've written much about. However, being in Mexico got me thinking of Tekumel, and I've dug out my PDFs of EPT (purchased back in 2014) and took the time to reread them. I find there's quite a bit I'd like to say on them.

But  the question might be asked "what brings JB to the subject of Tekumel in the first place?" Well, Mexico, of course. Some of my readers may be unfamiliar with Oaxaca region...that's where I was over the Holy Week/Easter holiday. Oaxaca is a mountainous southern state in Mexico, bordering the Pacific Ocean. It has some great beaches like Puerto Escondido and Hualtuco...some nice resorts if you're into that kind of thing (I prefer the rinky-dink beachfront hotels with the hammocks), and good surfing. But we weren't at the beach, this trip...we were in the capital (the city of Oaxaca) up in the mountainous center of the state.

Oaxaca is a region of many cultures...eight major ones, by their count. The Aztecs really never conquered it because of the difficulty assaulting cities in a mountainous region (up until the last couple years, even the "good" highway to Oaxaca was incredibly long and curvy, if not downright treacherous in some parts). There is a lot of cultural pride in Oaxaca...they celebrate their indigenous traditions and dances on an annual basis (think "Hawaiian Luau" style at the hotels plus weeklong festivals in the summer), and the place is a center for traditional handcrafts ranging from elaborate brocaded shirts and dresses, to ceramics made from black Oaxacan clay, to elaborately painted wooded figurines, to painting and sculpture and music.

Their cuisine is considered the best in Mexico, which is saying something considering the overall quality of Mexican cuisine, and a lot of American chefs study in Oaxaca. They pride themselves on traditional foods including grasshoppers and grubs, worms and ant eggs...but they also have mariscos (seafood) from the coast, and their own tesado-style of cooking meats. They are probably best known for their mole salsas (you can get four or five different kinds in most restaurants: black, red, green, yellow, etc.) and their mezcal (that's the drink like tequila that has a worm in the bottle...I prefer it to tequila as it's generally smoother, more refined...plus, tequila is the devil). Their food tends to be more sweet and less spicy (they're big on chocolate)...but that's a trend one finds the farther south you go through Mexico and central America.

Religion is a pretty big deal to Oaxacans and they have a couple incredible cathedrals and old monasteries, the stonework and facades of which rival some of the better churches in Europe. The temple of Santo Domingo de Guzman is spectacular, its huge interior completely effaced in gold to a degree that would make a dragon blush...I kid you not (the screenshots I can find on the internet really don't do it justice). Holy Week in Oaxaca was packed to the gills with tourists from around the country as well as other parts of the world.

But the real highlight for me is Monte Alban...the 2000+ year old ruins of a pre-hispanic city-state that sprawls in an elaborate design on the top of a high hill. My son was very excited at the prospect of seeing pyramids and "looking for treasure" and while he didn't actually discover any gold (he did get a few keepsake souvenirs) he was duly impressed. Again, it's hard to find images on google that really do justice to the place...it's so extensive, so well preserved (being situated where it is and abandoned prior to the coming of the Spanish, it was protected for years before archaeologists started excavating in earnest), you really have to see it to take in its magnitude. And these are just the skeletal remains of a nation that thrived and conquered at the same time the Jews were chaffing under the yoke of Roman dominion. The culture that built it was every bit as sophisticated as anything found in Europe or Asia or the Middle East at the time...even without the large domesticated animals and iron/steel production.

Amazing stuff...especially when you factor in all the artifacts and actual treasure that was looted from the ruins and now resides in Oaxacan museums. I took a lot of photos of placards and historical texts that I need to translate into English (I might post some here, eventually). But it was looking through these things, and the museums, and the preserved culture, that got me thinking about Tekumel...because Barker based so much of his world on Mesoamerican culture. And the main thought that went drumming through my head was this:

It is so hard to hold onto one's culture.

Barker's campaign setting is an amazing one. Truth be told it's an infuriating one (to me), because it is so damn good...but I digress (I'll talk more about EPT's setting in a different post).

However, despite its excellence, his date/age ranges feel like their off by at least a decimal point. The premise of the setting extends over a timeline of more than 100 millennia...Tekumel is a lost Earth colony that was terraformed some 60,000 years from now before falling into a pocket dimension and "evolving/devolving" culturally over the course of another 50,000 years into the setting in which PCs find themselves.

That's just an incredibly long time, even in terms of science fiction. The idea that ANY remnants of human culture would remain after such a length of time is terribly far-fetched. Some of my readers are old enough to remember a time before wireless telephones and personal computers and television sets with more than half a dozen channels...and that's a piddling amount of time ago. Consider how different the human race is, culturally, from just 1000 years ago. Hell, consider that the Golden Age of classical Greek culture was only (approx.) 2500 years ago...and the rate at which we've advanced...politically, philosophically, and technologically...only continues to  speed up, the more we grow. 2500 years from now our advances...and changes...in culture should be more fantastic than anything present day folks can imagine.Will we even think like (what we call) humans 10,000 years from now? How about 20,000?

110,000 years? It's hard to even imagine what the next 20 years will bring to the world.

Look at how hard it is to hold onto one's culture. Many of the ideas about Monte Alban are based on pure speculation...we don't even know what it's founders called themselves (for that matter, etymologists are unclear of the origins of the name "Monte Alban")...and that's a culture that lasted for over 800 years, only dying out (well, being conquered by the Zapotecs really) around 750CE. That all the hard information on a culture that lasted for nearly a millennia, and that only disappeared around the time of the European middle ages, can be LOST...just gone!...is incredible. All that remains is a love of eating bugs.

[I should mention that the crickets are pretty tasty...I mean, they're toasted and salted, and if you throw 'em into a batch of scrambled eggs, you'd just think they were bacon. Chile and lime, or rolled into a taco is the common way to eat them, and I have. I just prefer smaller ones, as you're less likely to be picking insect legs out of your teeth]

Even the Zapotecs lost a huge amount of their culture...family trees and oral histories and their natural writing system and religion. A lot of that was, of course, by Spanish design and, while I think we can all admit that violent conquest, repression, exploitation, and cultural destruction are BAD, it's difficult to argue that human sacrifice, an extremely large part of Mesoamerican culture and religion would have been a GOOD thing to retain. In Oaxaca there were laws preventing the depiction of Christ on the cross for a couple-three centuries (despite the forced conversion to Catholicism), because they didn't want anything that had any appearance of human sacrifice as "spiritual." Stamping out the indigenous blood rites was at least as high a priority as digging the gold and silver ore out of Oaxacan mountains.

It is so, so easy to lose culture and cultural identity. Do you know what your ancestors were doing 100 years ago? How about 150?

I know I give Paraguay a hard time...often...but at least they retain their indigenous language (Guarani) and something like 80+% of the people speak it. There's no other country in South America that comes remotely close to that...and we're talking about a country where the poor people are as likely to be white and the rich people as likely to be brown as the inverse (THAT's not something you can say about most Latin American cultures...certainly Mexico's economic caste system can be distinguished in large part by the amount of melanin in a person's genetics). And they only managed that due to iron-fisted, isolationist dictatorships, and a subsequent backwater history (perhaps due in part to the former).

[even so, how much have they lost? Aside from their language...and perhaps chipa and a few handicrafts...Paraguay has no cultural identity of its own. They celebrate nothing of their pre-hispanic history, have no real cultural traditions. Their main "big" tradition, besides tea drinking/sharing, is the asado (grilled beef get-togethers) that occurs weekly, where family and friends gather and partake of their beloved cow meat. Oh, how they love their beef! But cows were only introduced to South Americans by the Spanish...what, then, was their "asado tradition" prior to the conquistador's arrival? Knowing a bit of their prehispanic history, I have my suspicions, but it's really not the kind of thing you can bring up with Paraguayans. As far as they're concerned, it's always been beef on the grill, forever and ever, Amen]

Tekumel is a fantasy world based on a premise that strange cultural evolutions occur when you submit people to a crucible of hardship (like being cut-off from your spacefaring empire, marooned on a resource-poor planet, surrounded by hostile lifeforms). Strange things occur, and strange cultures arise. Whose to say that, given the speculative theoretics of Tekumel's situation, it's impossible that a culture like the Tsolyani could arise after 50,000 years? Well, me, I suppose...but only because I've seen up close how easy it is for a sophisticated culture to disappear. AND I've yet to see a case where the culture that replaces is can in any way match the level of sophistication of the culture that was lost.

Does that make sense? It takes hundreds and/or thousands of years to reach a level of cultural sophistication (architecture, art, government, religion, philosophy, etc.). When that is DESTROYED...whether by natural forces or a savage conquest...it doesn't just get replaced with a new sophisticated culture. Cultural sophistication takes TIME; Oaxaca, despite clinging hard to its past, is only a shadow of what it once was. Like its people, its culture is a mix, a mestizo. Beautiful  in its own way, wonderful in its own way, but hamstrung in part because of its synthesis. Because it hasn't had enough time to cook yet.

Which I suppose would make Barker's world appear even more plausible...it's had the thousands of years to "bake" and (culturally) establish itself. I guess I just find it difficult to believe that the people struggling to survive in the wake of a post-apocalyptic galactic catastrophe could get it together enough that they'd survive the overt hostilities of the Hluss and Ssu. With everything else going against them, how did humans manage to fight off those homicidal maniacs AND build multiple thousand year empires?

I guess that's why it's a fantasy game.

I plan to write more about Tekumel and EPT in the coming few days (and probably more stuff about Mexico), but I also want to do this A-Z Challenge thang (it's a good "blogging" exercise). If I get to everything I want, it's probably going to mean a LOT of text. I better wait till Sunday to post this.

Craft Beers and Caballos

Welp, I'm back in Asuncion.

(*sigh*) It's hot.

While eating a somewhat crappy meal at the local TGI Friday's last night (boy's choice for dinner...at least Wednesday is 3-for-1 drink night and they had a decent, if weak, mojito), my wife remarked "it feels like we never left." That's because this is our home...our second home, sure, but a place where we live and work and shop for groceries and take our kid to daycare. If our family or friends ever came to visit (a highly unlikely prospect) it would be us showing them around town, playing the role of tour guide...even though we are hardly "locals." But for whatever remains of our stint here, we have become a part of the fabric of Paraguay. Such is life.

Spent the last few days in Valle de Bravo in Mexico. Most of you probably haven't heard of it...there was an okay article on it in the NY Times the other day, comparing it to "the Hamptons" of Mexico City. Personally I find the comparison to be wildly inaccurate. Instead, I'd say it's a lot like Orcas Island (save that it is an inland lake community rather than an island), though the downtown area is bigger than East Sound. And the ongoing (residential) development is different from Orcas (where anyone building a house is doing it out in the woods, down a private road, away from prying eyes). Maybe more like Bend (Oregon) or Lake Chelan...but the climate and greenery was very much like the San Juan Islands. It had that "hippy islander" kind of feeling to it.

Except that the lake in Valle is man-made (from damming a river) rather than natural.

Our friends (who are currently renting a house there) are enjoying it immensely, and seem on the verge of a permanent move to "island life." This is not a weekend retreat for them...it is a complete retreat from the stress and urban life of Mexico City. Their teenage children are going to hippy-ish prep schools away from the sex, drugs, and trouble that occupies the lives of their City schools...though I'm sure there are plenty of Valle kids minoring in marijuana while taking courses in "paddle board" and "macrobiotic nutrition." But it's still an escape to a peaceful, natural setting...one where you can walk or bicycle without fear of...well, without fear.

Having even a small amount of wealth in Mexico is a double-edged sword. You become a target. Carlos at age 46 has achieved a degree of success over the years by owning and running a couple small store fronts that deal-in high end (i.e. American) electronics of a very recognizable brand. He studied computer systems in school, speaks English, and is equal parts sharp-witted and gregarious. Even though there the products he sells are expensive by Mexico standards, there are people in Mexico City that have the money to buy them and are willing to do so if it means getting top flight American goods (without flying to San Antonio). He provides a pretty good standard of living for his family of four.

But in addition to robbery, shake-downs and extortion rackets (not to mention needing to be on guard against internal employee theft), you face very real, physical danger. A few years ago, Carlos was kidnapped right in front of his house; forced into a car at gunpoint and driven away from his neighborhood within sight of his driveway. He escaped his kidnappers by diving out of the speeding vehicle, tearing up his arm pretty good in the process...but that's better than having pieces of your body cut off and mailed to your family so they'll drain your bank accounts.

You pay a premium price in Mexico if you want to enjoy the same type of security that folks in the United States enjoy. Sure, the uber-wealthy in all countries live in walled fortresses with private security and bodyguards...but average American Joe is usually pretty safe to walk the streets, even in "bad neighborhoods," so long as you look halfway alert and not like fresh meat. The same can't be said in Mexico...even in "good neighborhoods." It's sad because other than the crime (and the lack of respect/faith in law enforcement), there is a lot to recommend Mexico as a great place to live and raise a family.

ANYway...Carl has reached a point in his life where he doesn't need to be in the city anyway. He's renting out his businesses, and working on his new passion: craft beer. Well, that and writing (he writes short stories, most recently of the noir detective genre, though SciFi in the past), but that's something personal, for him. The beer thing...well, yes, he enjoys drinking beer but he doesn't like drinking alone. Beer is for sharing. And being good at what he does, and being of an entrepreneurial spirit the guy has already got his bottles in three restaurants in Valle. He's actually run out of beer and has to get a new batch brewed to fill his orders...but all his brewing stuff is still in Mexico City. He wants to move the equipment out to Valle, but first he needs a place to set up shop. Such are the challenges when you place well at a national craft beer festival.

[the Mexican craft beer movement is a few years behind the USA...Carlos reckons about eight, but I think it's more like double, especially compared to places like Seattle. Part of the problem is the monopoly on hops possessed by the giant beer corporations of Mexico...all ingredients need to be brought in from outside the country, unless you want to buy some farmland and figure out how to grow your own...of course, there's the additional problem of hops only growing in particular climates of northern latitude. But like I said, the area around Valle is very similar to the Pac NW...even getting under 50 degrees (positively cool) while we were there]

Monday, I spent the day riding a horse through wooded mountains in order to see the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary just outside of Valle de Bravo (you can hike there if you like, but it takes a lot longer...vehicles aren't allowed up the mountain). I'm not much of a horseman...the last time I sat a horse I was probably 10 or 12 years old...and trotting up the side of a mountain on a crumbling dirt trail made for a harrowing excursion. Especially with a baby strapped to my chest, as I had to use one hand to cradle her head the whole time (she did not appreciate the bouncing on the way up, but managed to fall asleep on the way down). Still, it was a neat experience...even if butterflies (to me) are just big bugs (thus "icky"), seeing the thousands of them fluttering around the treetops was worth the hike. A couple of Monarchs landed on Carlos, which is considered lucky...but then Carlos has always been a lucky guy. I'm glad we had the chance to see it.

But now we're back in PY...had to fly to north to Miami in order to get here since there's no direct flights from Mexico. After a day to recover (more or less), I'm back on my laptop and...well, I find myself thinking a bit about my conversations with Carlos (over his craft beer). Discussions about Paraguay...what it's like, what I've learned, what I'm likely to "take with me" when I move back to Seattle. About maybe blogging about my time here and my (American) perspective on this part of the world. I'm definitely going to be in Paraguay for awhile...at least another six months and maybe longer. Some folks might find my experiences interesting reading...if not particularly "insightful." For me, it would be easier to start a blog on the subject than keep a journal. I've always been shitty at journal writing.

Let's just say I'm considering the idea.

My migrations cover more ground than THIS bug.

Happy New Year!

[somewhere in Orizaba, Mexico]

Hope everyone had (and is continuing to have, if possible) a great holiday! Sorry, I dropped off the face of the earth. I actually started writing a post about how my blogging would be slim as I'm heading out to Mexico to celebrate Christmas with the in-laws...but then I had to hop a plane before I finished writing it. And I've been extremely busy since I got into town, round about the 23rd.

Busy, but busy in a "fun, vacation-y" type way, of course. Lots of good food and family, and for a change I can hold some conversations with folks (seeing as how my Spanish has improved immensely the last couple years) which makes life here a lot less nerve-wracking, let me tell you...the inability to communicate has been a major source of stress in past years.

But just being back in a developed country is relaxing. Look: paved streets! Look: highways! Look: Starbucks!

[actually, they don't yet have Starbucks in Orizaba, but they've got two or three in Xalapa, and I got a giant frappucino at the Mexico City airport, just for the helluvit. And you can't seem to throw a rock in this town without hitting three Subway sandwich franchises]

And, of course, delicious, spicy food. I've been trying not to over-do it, but I'm going to be back to starch and red meat soon enough...my stomach lining can take a week or so of pounding. And my son's been stuffing himself with tortillas.

Anyway: busy-busy-busy. No time for writing, I'm afraid. I dragged my ass out of bed semi-early today (it's 9ish) to write this, but my baby will probably be up pretty soon, and then I will be on daddy duty while the wife grabs an extra hour or two. I'm hopeful my son will sleep a little longer as well, but we'll see. Ugh...need some coffee.

[just a minute...ahh, mucho mejor]

Santa was especially kind this year, bringing me the only thing I really wanted: home field advantage for the Seahawks throughout the play-offs. It just doesn't get much merrier than that for my money. I'm going to try to get up to Seattle for the conference championship (assuming they win their division in the next couple weeks, of course)...yes, I already have tickets to the game, I just need to book my flight.

[mmm...I should probably do my post-seasons reflections and analysis, huh? Before the play-offs start? Yeah...but in a separate post]

Okay...so now you know what I've been up to. Regular posting will commence...um...probably sometime after I get back to Paraguay (next week). I've got "stuffs" to talk about: superheroes (of course), Maleficent, zombies, some RPGs I picked up (PDF-wise) over the holiday, my thoughts on the Oakland Raiders and Disney (um...separate topics). There's also a couple-four other game-related topics that are not coming to mind at the moment, but they're in the ol' noggin somewhere.

One thing about 2015: I have some intentions (game-wise, writing-wise) that I wouldn't mind hammering into hardcore resolutions. I'm just finding it a little tough to focus at the moment, being in the middle of all this holiday cheer. But as the cheer fades away, some more practical thoughts should be emerging from my addled brain, and I'll be sure to share 'em with folks. Ho-ho-ho!

: )