U is for Uprising

[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 its B/X roots. I got behind by a couple days because of the Easter weekend, but I'm trying to catch up as quickly as possible]

U is for Uprising, specifically the Marilenev Uprising, a suggested adventure for a campaign set in the Grand Duchy, and one of many included in GAZ1. The description reads like this:

The Lady Magda finally snaps. She and her subordinates begin fomenting revolution in the streets. The adventure is the riot that ensues in the Grand Market when Lady Magda is making the greatest speech of career; all her own soldiers are in the crowd, pretending to be passerby and whipping the crowd into a cheering frenzy. Then the city guard shows up and the riot ensues -- between the city guard and the Marilenev guardsmen, with more arriving to help both sides every minute. The characters can be on one side or another, or trying to keep innocent people from being hurt. (After this adventure is over the Estate of Marilenev will probably have another master and another name...)

Bleah. Just...bleah.

The background for this adventure takes place thirty years ago with an earlier uprising led by the Marlilenev clan. Well, actually, I suppose its origin starts 100 years prior with the Thyatia conquest. Marilenev, named (presumably) for its ruling family, was a flourishing trade city and the chief port of the Traladara region. After its conquest, the Thyatians renamed it Specularum, built walls, and stationed a contingent of Thyatian soldiers to ensure (nominal) taxes were paid and everyone knew who the new boss was. As the wealthy families retained their properties (if not self-rulership) business and life went on, more-or-less, as usual.

Some folks, however, appear to have been less than satisfied with the new situation. When Stefan took over (70 years after the conquest), "the powerful Traladaran families in Specularum saw the political change as an opportunity to reestablish Traladaran independence" and plotted to kill the Duke while still in the early stages of his settling in. The thought was that if they could take the town and erect a strong enough defense, they might make it economically unfeasible for Thyatis to launch a second conquest attempt. Unfortunately:

"...the Marilenev clan prematurely led an armed revolt against the Duke and was decisively beaten by the Duke and the garrison. Most of the Marilenev men died in the attack. Naturally, from that point on the Duke had his eyes on the other powerful families, especially the Radu and Torenescu clans."

The Estate of Marilenev remains, just outside of Specularum: a small farming village of 900 souls watched over by Castle Marilenev, "a Gothic monstrosity of depressing walls and crumbling towers." Lady Magda Marilenev is its ruler. "Magda was the young wife of Lord Marilenev 30 years ago, when the Marilenev Rebellion was put down." Now a bitter, resentful widow in her 50s, she is described as "a barrel of resentment:" resentful of the Duke, resentful of the other clans whose help she required after the Rebellion, resentful of her state of affairs in comparison to that of the city...she is primed with hatred and ready to "snap," as she does in the suggested adventure. Allston (thankfully) stats her as a Normal Human, rather than a classed character; a surprisingly average woman with an Intelligence of 10, Wisdom of 10, and Charisma of 13. Hardly, a scheming revolutionary or inspiring rabble-rouser, she's just a bitter old woman and (as I infer from the final line of the Marilenev Uprising adventure) an obstacle to the "heroic" player characters being given a castle and township just outside the capital city.

This is Lady Magda and her background as presented by Allston in GAZ1 (the first appearance of the Marilenev clan and its history). There's a little more embellishment in the later Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure. I haven't written much about K:KoA, an AD&D 2E campaign setting credited to Allston and Jeff Grubb, published in 1994 (seven years after the Gazetteer). While it takes into account the events of 1992's Wrath of the Immortals, advancing the GAZ1 timeline ten years and changing Archduke Stefan to King Stefan I, nearly all of the text is a reprint of the material in GAZ1...word-for-word content, with stats slightly altered for the AD&D rule system (BECMI was very close to 2nd edition AD&D at this point, so not much was needed).  If I had to guess, I'd suspect Allston receives co-credit because so much of the text is taken from GAZ1...Grubb's name is listed first in the byline and I imagine he's responsible for what little new material is found in K:KoA.

But as I said, there's not much (for Magda, especially)...but what there is, is very interesting. She's still the average ability, 0-level character, though aged a decade (she's now in her 60s); she's still the bitter, "barrel of resentment" waiting to "snap" (no Uprising has yet taken place in the advanced timeline). However, now we learn that Magda's own children, Britan and Caspar,

"...were captured by Stefan's forces, who were in turn ambushed by orcs, killing all."

Yowza! This is a much darker portrait of the Marilenev Rebellion (quick historical note: if it fails, it's a a "rebellion;" if it succeeds, it's a "revolution"). K:KoA provides genealogical ancestry for noble houses (each going back three to four generations), and Magda was the only known survivor of the Rebellion, with Magda's husband and his three brothers perishing, and her sister-in-law (Melanie Marilenev) disappearing and never again being seen (in 40 years!). Now "widowed, childless, and stripped of much of her power" no wonder Magda's ready to snap. I'd think she'd be closer to the edge of madness...after all, how old could her sons have been at the time of the Rebellion? Magda herself was only in her early to mid-20s at the time.

Lady Magda now...but
not at the time of the Rebellion.

Of course, now I have to wonder: why. Why has this woman been left to fester for four decades? A young widow, a landed, titled noble, still of childbearing age (and proven as such having had two healthy children), and yet possessing no heirs to her estates...WHY wouldn't she have married into some other wealthy or noble family (Traladaran or Thyatian)? This was no Lady Olenna Tyrell (yes, another Game of Thrones reference), long past her childbearing years who, upon seeing the death of her son, grandchildren, and heirs by the hand of Cersei Lannister, had nothing left to live for but "fire and blood." Lady Magda had EVERYTHING left to live for...including sweet, sweet revenge on Duke Stefan. She should have gotten herself married to someone ("Hey! I've got a castle! And lands!"), and got about the business of breeding new kids too carry on a legacy of hatred and vengeance against the Thyatian invaders. 30 years wasted (40 by K:KoA)?! Aleena was a 12th level cleric by the age of 22! Come on!

But, hey, let's talk about these dead children for a moment. Clearly, the authors want to steer away from the idea of any cruel impropriety by our "good" Duke Stefan. "Oh, yeah, sorry...orc ambush. Been known to happen." Yeah, sure, pal. How about having one of your MANY clerical cronies cast raise dead on my kids?! Both Sherlane Halaran and Oliver Jowett accompanied Stefan to Karameikos, and both were prominent Thyatian patriarchs (and, thus, high enough level to raise dead) prior to embarking on their Karameikan adventure. I can understand not raising the adult members of the Rebellion as a suitable punishment to their treason, but the kids? What was their particular crime, Mr. Lawful Good Archduke, sir? Just worm food (or orc food), huh?

A better Lady Magda

Sorry, I'm not buying any of this. If we make the Duke a more recent entrant on the scene (as I suggested a couple posts back), the Marilenev Rebellion can be a more recent affair as well, with the fallout still being sorted. Instead of a bitter, spiteful old woman, Lady Magda can be a vengeful, fiery young woman, ready to put the wheels of revenge in motion. This isn't Lady Tyrell; this is Cersei Lannister, trying to rebuild an empire on the smoldering remains of her family. She has absolutely no faith in the Duke's "orc ambush" story (and, of course, this is a barefaced lie...Stefan wants no young Traladaran nobles growing up with resentment over the deaths of their fathers), and she's willing to make whatever deals with the devil necessary to enact justice on the murderous usurpers. A good model would be the (fictionalized) Kwenthrith of Mercia from the Vikings television series. She's a complex character: manipulative, vengeful, and ambitious as hell, but still possessing some love and compassion that she supresses with ruthless practicality. The only thing she's truly "resentful" of is being born a woman in a society that makes her sex less worthy to rule than...well, than any number of flawed, terrible, male human beings. And, yet, she doesn't resent being a woman, she resents the patriarchy that would denigrate and devalue her for the fact of her birth.

Give Magda/Kwenthrith a real uprising, not some paltry riot quickly supressed by the Duke's Elvenguard. Give her a real chance at revenge, maybe some child-for-a-child payback (make sure you feed the bodies to orcs so they can't be raised...that's a Kwenthrith kind of thing to do). And make sure there are opportunities for the player characters to get involved, and not just "keeping innocent people from getting hurt." I just don't see that many innocent people in Karameikos.
: )

T is for Threshold

[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 its B/X roots. I got behind by a couple days because of the Easter weekend, but I'm trying to catch up as quickly as possible]

T is for Threshold, the "sample home town" found in Mentzer's 1983 (BECMI) Expert set. I'll be including Patriarch Sherlane (Baron Halaran) and his niece Aleena in the discussion.

Before I start "getting into it" I'd like to clear up something that may be less than clear. I've got quite a bit of positive feedback on this series (which is good, thanks) but I know some folks may have a very different view of what I'm doing. I know there's a LOT of love for the BECMI game and the Mystara campaign setting as written...and not just because of the "nostalgia of youth;" plenty of folks still keep BECMI (and the RC) as their edition of choice and continue to use Mystara as their home campaign. I understand that my critique and criticism (often expressed in a harsh or inflammatory way) can seem like a rather personal attack on something certain people hold dear and valuable. Hell, Aaron Alston is dead...I can see how criticizing his work now can be viewed as unkind (to say the least).

So, although I believe I've said this in the past, allow me to once again reiterate that I have great respect for the sheer amount of work and care that went into the creation of this material by Allston, Mentzer, and others (Jeff Grubb did a lot with the later Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure). More than that I have admiration for both the authors and their work, and not a little bit of love and nostalgia of my own. The fact of the matter is, if I didn't care about Karameikos, I would not put in the time and effort to do a series like this. I don't write about things I don't care about (and I generally refuse to write about things I want to leave dead and buried...there's no such thing as "bad publicity," after all). The Grand Duchy of Karameikos, as presented in the B/X Expert set, had very little to it...hardly enough to inspire much admiration, respect, or thought. It's the later works: Mentzer's BECMI, Allston's Gazetteers, modules like B6 and B10-12 (by Cook, Sargent, and others) that have contributed to the lore of the setting material, providing the grist that fires up my "think-box."

No matter how harsh I may appear, I write about this stuff because I care. I could write about other things that are important to me: my daughter starting piano lessons last week, my boy getting three hits on four swings of the bat (don't know where he gets it), or my 18th wedding anniversary with my wife. But my readers are coming here for the "game stuff." And what's more, I like writing about the game stuff...this is my place to do so. I can throw all that other stuff on Facebook, if I want.

SO...Threshold. Threshold first appears as a sample home town in Mentzer's Expert set, a replacement of the dirty, lawless town of Luln that is much more conducive to the "family friendly" style of fantasy that TSR began to produce in the mid-80s (Mentzer's Basic set contains no "inspirational reading list" packed with Thieves World authors and pulp sword & sorcery). And let me here and for the permanent record admit I really like the Expert set, AND Threshold...despite its BECMI-isms (like godless Clerics) it's my favorite book of the BECMI series, and I find it pretty darn good. Yes, a good part of this is Larry Elmore's illustrations which, I feel, really conveys what "expert level" characters should look like (I'm less fond of his monsters illos). But the layout and information conveyed is a great rehash of the Cook/Marsh books, and the setting building material is quite a bit better...and I LIKE the Threshold write-up immensely; it is space much-better-used than the terse gnome warren write-up in the original (B/X) Expert book.

Mentzer describes Threshold as "a thriving frontier village of 400 permanent residents plus over 100 other regular visitors. The main business of Threshold is to supply timber to the Capital." Later, he adds that the town contains about 50 demihumans in addition to the 500 human residents, the whole being ruled from nearby Tarnskeep by the Baron Sherlane Halaran. Patriarch Sherlane is a Lawful cleric, and a no-nonsense, incorruptible good guy leader-type, who looks over his barony as close as a priest would care for his "flock," yet still finds the time to go on serious and secret missions for the Duke (see adventures like B12: Queen's Harvest as an example). Per GAZ1 he is helped in his administration (really just running errands and messages to the town master, guard houses) is his niece/adopted daughter Aleena Halaran...the same cleric slain by Bargle with a magic missile back in the BECMI solo adventure of the 1983 Basic set. Apparently, her uncle brought her back to life (not surprising given that he's 14th level) and she has since managed to thrive, achieving 12th (!!) level and becoming part of the Order of the Griffon despite being only 22 years old and not seeming all that interested in adventuring (per the GAZ1 description). WTF.

Allston increases the size of Threshold to 5000 and paints an idyllic picture of the waterfront logging town:

"...it's not a tight-packed, dirty, squalid town; by Baron Halaran's decree, no house may be built within 50 feet of another, and so Threshold is spread over a large area, filled with nice homes usually surrounded by vegetable gardens and livestock pens." (GAZ1, page 39)

Where's my baguette?

Considering Threshold in light of its description, and the rather quaint/pastoral adventure scenarios presented in Mentzer's Expert set (stuff with rafting, gardeners, damsels in distress, gold dragons in disguise, etc.) one might gather this is a nice little fairytale town...something like the "poor provincial town" depicted in Disney's (animated) film, Beauty and the Beast. That is, in fact, the kind of thing I tend to picture.

However, looking at the map Mentzer has drawn for Threshold, one sees a set-up more typical of the medieval town, complete with a double wall (probably guarding the inner "old town" and later "new town"), one of the main reasons for the rather cramped and squalid nature of such places. When walls offer the main protection for a community of people, SPACE for building is at a premium...no one wants to live outside the wall (unprotected!) and buildings are by necessity built so close as to be right on top of each other, leading to all the usual unpleasantness: filth, disease, and fire hazard.  Interestingly, this is exactly how Threshold is portrayed in the (British written) adventure module B10: Night's Dark Terror. Published a year before  Allston's GAZ1, B10 has a substantial section on Threshold and describes it as:

"...a typical town: crowded, smelly and dirty. Except for the buildings by the river, all waste is emptied into the streets, and pigs and dogs can often be seen scavenging through it."

[two of the three designers of B10...Jim Bambra and Phil Gallagher...have credits with the gritty Warhammer Fantasy game and that particular aesthetic is on display in several parts of the module]

And B10 was still working with an assumed population of 500. Imagine increasing it by ten fold...more crowd, more smell, more filth. And that's not even counting the attached Fogor Island, which is "unofficially" under the control of the local thieves' guild, and shunned by law-abiding citizens (per B10). While Allston took Mentzer's work and ran with it in one direction, Gallagher and company did the complete opposite as far as tone, theme, and color. It ends up being a weird and strange mixture...a place less of a hometown, and (perhaps) not even one you'd like to visit. Sherlane's edict forbidding magic-user magic seems somewhat silly in Mentzer (though understandable considering an "expert level" spell-caster will have access to destructive spells like fireball)...in B10, the designers provide a Clerical Court of five clerics (appointed by Sherlane) who put convicted spell-casters on trial and bestow curses like insomnia (no ability to regain spells) and dumbness (no ability to cast spells without words), effectively crippling wizards completely. It's vicious and mean and says quite a bit about how the Patriarch runs his town. There's no shortage of inns (most streets having "at least one") serving wine, and no prohibition on characters carrying swords (unlike Specularum where any weapon larger than a dagger must be tied/bound), so I can see a lot of back alley duels being fought and general bloodletting (while B10 states townsfolk attempt to avoid combat, they're also quick to defend themselves with daggers, chairs, bottles, etc.).

It's an "interesting" place for the Duke to choose as a place for a secret coin mint, especially considering Kelvin is closer to both Specularum and High Forge, and is likewise located on the river. Perhaps the Duke has more trust in the good Patriarch Sherlane whom he knew from his days in Thyatis (Halaran was originally a priest of the Church of Thyatis). Or perhaps it's just that Kelvin was never established as anything more than a name on a map, prior to GAZ1.

All right it's late, and I'm still two days behind on this thing; best get to my thoughts on how I'd alter this thing. First off, I'd probably ignore the quaint little English village thing going on in GAZ1, and stick to the squalid medieval town found in B10, while still upping the population. While Luln is a fairly nasty little hole of a town to come from, I'd like players visiting Threshold to come away with a greater appreciation for their home of origin...far better to grow up there than under the rigid, religious patriarchy of Baron Halaran.

"Bow down,
ye of little faith!"

Halaran, to me, sounds like a fanatic with a bit of a god complex. I mean, he can raise the dead, cure the sick, etc...why shouldn't he have an ego the size of Texas? He has the power to keep the cholera epidemics under control! His people love him! Or they fear him...but better to live inside his walls (no doubt decorated with holy texts and religious screeds and sermons) than in the wilds of Karameikos where one might be attacked by goblin slavers or a vengeful chevall!

Allston writes (in GAZ1) that "the idea of the clerical stronghold is a strange one to most Karameikans. In the Grand Duchy, clerics don't generally band together and build mighty fortresses just so they can be jolly armed clerics together." However, that is just what Hallaran has done! In making Threshold "more B/X" I would certainly have be Tarnskeep a typical cleric castle, garrisoned with a small army of fanatically loyal troops, just as any Name level cleric would have.  These "faithful" militants would not only patrol the barony (keeping the peasants in line, repelling marauding humanoids) but would reinforce the town militia, ensuring all clerical edicts were obeyed without question, and enforcing "justice" as necessary.

"I have a message
to deliver."

Hallaran's niece, the lovely Aleena, would be the patriarch's personal protege, equivalent to a loyal retainer, and probably no higher than 3rd or 4th level. Being young and inexperienced, Hallaran would certainly encourage her to adventure in the wilds, albeit always with a small cadre of bodyguard zealots to ensure her safety. I'd probably keep the Cleric Council, making them a group of 6th and 7th level clerics, each dedicated to a particular god/goddess of the Imperial pantheon, all bent on converting the indigenous Traladarans to a more "civilized," pliable people. Sherlane himself I'd drop to 12th level or so, making him powerful but still beholden to his superior counterpart in the capital.

I'd probably ignore the entire "secret mint" subplot, moving the thing to Kelvin instead (and giving another reason for that city's importance). Threshold's strategic value as a loyal (if fanatical/crazy) military stronghold on the Duchy's northern border offers reason enough to allow the Patriarch the autonomy he craves to form a minor theocracy on the edge of the wilds.

Oh, yeah...and I'd axe Cardia's Carpet Service completely.

O is for Oligarch

[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 its B/X roots]

O is for Oligarch. I had a few other thoughts on what "O" might stand for...things like Order of the Griffon or Offensive Stereotypes. But this one seemed like a better fit for a "revamp," thus keeping with my theme.

[going to try to make this a short post, as I've got a lot on my plate today]

In the city of Specularum, capitol of Karameikos, three Great Families struggle for power, wealth, and influence. Identified by their family name, they are Radu, Torenescu, and Vorloi.

These families, and the basic concept of their conflict, was first introduced in adventure module B6: The Veiled Society. I've owned my copy of this adventure since it was first published in 1984; it may have been the last published adventure module I ever purchased new, until 2nd edition's Return to White Plume Mountain (which is the absolute LAST Dungeons & Dragons adventure module I ever purchased new, off-the-shelf). I have an absolutely enormous collection of modules these days, but most have been picked up from used bookstores and bins, and at least a couple from eBay or similar.

B6: The Veiled Society was written by Dave Cook, co-author of the B/X Expert set and an adventure writer of whom I've spoken highly in the past. Unfortunately, B6 is not his best work; I haven't gotten nearly the mileage out of it that I have of works like Isle of Dread, Forbidden City, or even Blizzard Pass (whose small, non-solo dungeon I've used as an introductory adventure on numerous occasions).  GusL's review is pretty spot on, but as written the module may be even worse than that: take out the gimmicky cut-outs (which I've never bothered to assemble/use) and you're left with a 12 page adventure, most of which is box text or snippets of fiction. The adventure itself is next to worthless...it requires new adventurers to care about a murder mystery without providing anything in the way of motivation (neither carrot or stick). Should their consciences fail to incite them to action, the adventure is all of two-three encounters (none of which involve treasure) and a tiny stretch of underground...five combat encounters, no traps, and the only monster possessing treasure is a nonsensical, and gratuitous zombie fight. That's it...nada mas.

And why should the adventurers care about the murdered niece of a wealthy nobleman? Can't he afford to pay one of the city's (multiple) patriarchs to burn a raise dead on her? The spell is available to any 7th level cleric, and there are at least three clerics of 9th+ level residing in Specularum. Small change "murder mysteries" just don't work (or make sense) in a game where any found cadaver can be quickly (and easily) returned to life.

But I digress...despite the not-so-great adventure, the idea of competing rival factions, none of which are particularly "good" (and only one of which is outright villainous) is a good one. Three groups keeps it from being a black-white dichotomy...and the fact that all of them are (more or less) independent of the Duke gives plenty of opportunity for players to align with one or another (or none) and still get up to all sorts of hijinks and adventures.

Allston found the factions good enough to retain and embellish in GAZ1 (and gave kudos and thanks to Dave Cook for B6 in his introduction). If you want to use Karameikos (close to) as written in the gazetteer, I'd recommend keeping these Great Families. Upping Specularum's population from 5,000 (as per both B/X and module B6) to 50,000 (per GAZ1) just means more power, wealth, and influence in the hands of these ruthless rivals.

They are a tad boring though. Here are some possible ideas to "spice them up:"

Radu: I'm fairly good with the Radu as the kind of medieval Cosa Nostra. If anything, I think I'd  want to "Medici them up," getting them all involved in banking and patronizing the arts, etc. Even though the Grand Duchy of Karameikos has only existed for 30 years, it's important to remember that Marilenev was a thriving trading port even 100 years ago when Thyatis took it over, and the Radu clan (a Tralaldaran family) was probably operating even before then. The Veiled Society should be even more weird and cult-y, less like KKK clansmen and more like "The Hand" or similar fantasy ninjas/assassins. These guys should have their own weird temples, some sort of weird ancestor worship, maybe a pact with a Deep One like species made long ago, back when their ancestors were just pirates raiding coastal Traladara villages.

Gao as Anton (12th level thief);
"Come at me, Flameflicker!"

The main thing that bothers me about the Radu is the lack of female representation. Anton & Co. (his brother, his sons) and all the Veiled Society thugs are male. It would be nice to have at least some women in the mix...maybe a strong matriarch (since I brought up The Hand I now have an image of Madame Gao in my mind taking the place of Anton Radu). It's not just that I'm screaming for diversity here...part of B6 involves the attempted recruitment of player characters into the Veiled Society, and it would just be a little strange if the propositioned character(s) were female and then brought into this group of all male thugs. It would be a lot less random to depict them as equal opportunity villains from the outset.

Torenescu: So, stop me if you've heard this one before: head of family is murdered by uncle, too young son is forced to assume the mantle of leadership and figure stuff out even as evil uncle tries to wrest control of clan away from kid. Yeah? Me, too...many times.

The really dumb bit, of course, is that this isn't Narnia's Prince Caspian or Disney's The Lion King or whatever...it's D&D people! It's really hard for people to stay dead! At least if they're anyone that matters (i.e. anyone with a bit of coin in their pocket). You just can't assassinate a nobleman or woman and leave the body lying around...not if there's a even vaguely competent cleric in the vicinity. So why is it 26-year old Aleksander Torenescu is the head of the family and not his father, Christoph? Hmmm...

Making Torenescu interesting hinges on answering this question. While my Game of Thrones addled brain goes immediately to some sort of incest problem (the son with the father, the son with the uncle, the uncle with the father...your choice) that led to the clan not wanting Christoph raised from the dead, that's maybe too cut-and-dry. What if, instead of poison (also easily neutralized about raising...if not before), Christoph had been murdered in "the usual fashion" (garrote or a Charley Manson Special) and it took the loyal clan members a fortnite to find where his body had been dumped? And what if, upon finding Patriarch Aleksyev (leader of the Church of Traladara) was unable to raise Christoph (having passed the max number of days as limited by his level) they had taken the body to Patriarch Jowett, the 18th level head of the Church of Karameikos? And what if he had refused to perform the deed, on the grounds that they were outside the True Faith (being native Traladarans, natch) and had been rumored to be behind several religiously motivated attacks on the church (or at least the culprits had been members of the Torenescu controlled guilds)?

Heck, if you want to retain Jowett as the goody-good guy he's portrayed as (we'll get to him in a later post), you could say he was indisposed at the time and only his fanatical #2 (the 14th level, Traladara-hating Aldric Oderbey) had been available...and no way he was going to raise a tithing member of the rival church! Do you think maybe the Torenescu clan might (because of this) bear a bit of a grudge against the Church? Even as they already bear a grudge against the Duke for his "invasion" of 30 years prior that cost the family so much of their power? Make Torenescu the REAL Machiavallian schemers behind the scenes, not Radu.

Aleksander Torenescu:
"Vengeance is mine."

And make young Aleksander the new Lareth the Beautiful...just for fun.

Vorloi: And speaking of "forbidden worship," let's talk about the Sea Kings. Because that's what these guys are, right? Baron Vorloi as a "successful merchant prince" by the age of 30 (and in Thyatis no less). He has made his fortune (and continues to undercut his competition) by having the biggest and best fleet of merchant vessels operating out of Karameikos. And it certainly doesn't hurt that the Karameikan navy is financially beholden to his house. From whence comes this maritime power?

Reading between the lines, Vorloi is a jerk, but I don't want him to be a chaos worshipper...at least not of the mutating, Warhammer variety. But I would like him (and his family) to be secret cultists of some forbidden, "pagan" sea god (or goddess or demon...your choice). "Neutral," not chaotic, but utterly inhuman and lacking human compassion, empathy, or morality. A force of nature whose worship has long been prohibited in Thyatis (and would be in Karameikos, too, if Stefan had any inkling that the Vorloi clan were perpetuating its vile worship). The "idiot, feebleminded" son of Baron Vorloi? A necessary sacrifice to their deity, even as Phillip's older sister Michaela was similarly offered up and replaced with fey creature. Every generation's firstborn is given to their patron, receiving a strange changeling in the child's place...the weird offspring of the sea god.

Puny mortal

Thus does the Vorloi clan ensure their ships' fortune. The Baron's daughter Marianna knows that she, too, will someday need to give her own child to the Sea, if she wishes to continue the success of her clan. Will she be willing to do so? And will the father of her child acquiesce to such a tradition?

All right...that's enough for tonight.

L is for Luln

[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 its B/X roots]

L is for Luln, the original "suggested home base" for players in B/X. I've posted the description in a prior post, but I'll quote the text again for convenience sake:

"Composed primarily of persons who have fled Black Eagle Barony, merchants who have come to trade with the Baron, and some non-humans who have left the wilderness, Luln is a base town for adventurers exploring the Haunted Keep, also called Koriszegy Keep and the surrounding land. Somewhat lawless and open, the town can provide most of the basic needs to any group of adventurers. The town is poorly defended, relying on the goodwill and capabilities of both the Baron and the Duke for its defense. Approximately 500 people live in the town."

(from Cook/Marsh, page X60)

The text in Mentzer's expert set is mostly the same, though any suggestion of Luln being a "base town" has been removed (that honor falls to the idyllic "frontier town" of Threshold).

I'll admit that I've never used Luln in any way, shape, or form: my first campaign started after acquiring the Moldvay Basic set (which has no mention of Luln), and by the time I acquired the Expert set we were not interested in "starting over" in Luln (we did visit Specularum, though only en route to The Isle of Dread). The next time my group started a campaign, it was with AD&D in a home-brew world of our own design. And years later when I actually ran a BECMI campaigns for a short while (in Mystara), I used Threshold as the starting location...in fact, I started two or three campaigns that originated out of Patriarch Sherlane's barony. My own B/X campaigns over the last decade have only ever been home-brew worlds.

Might leave the windmill, might not.

Reading over its description now, as part of my research into Karameikos, I can't help but feel rather charmed by the town's description. Somewhat lawless, outside the jurisdiction of both Duke and Baron, comprised of a small community of mixed humans and "non-humans," this is the perfect type of "fantasy western" village for starting off a band of adventurers. Maybe they're refugees or escaped slaves, maybe they're outcasts from their own communities (possibly by their own choice). Being on the edge of the wilderness, located in the foothills, but close to forest and swamp, the village seems an ideal place for starting a campaign. I would be strongly tempted to start any Karameikos-based group in Luln.

[you know, I should have mentioned back in my Indigenous People post that on first pass, I kind of liked the whole "shearing ceremony" idea, as a way for young people to become adventurers. A little closer examination though brings me to the conclusion it's a little too cutesy fantasy, and depending on the "grit level" of your campaign it doesn't make a lot of sense...what farmer wants to see their child, finally grown strong enough to work the fields, to up and leave? What noble wants to see their potential heir strike out into danger on their own? I would think most parents would have beat a sense of duty and responsibility into their children during their formative years to prevent this type of behavior. A place like Luln makes for a satisfying, alternative reason to start an adventuring career. The version of the "shearing ceremony" Allston wrote for his Thyatis gazetteer (Running Away from Home) makes a bit more sense, especially in the more civilized setting of the Empire]

However, I would probably dispense with the GAZ1 description of Luln. The population increase...eh, I'd probably play fast and loose with the population regardless. But the whole Mistress Sascia character? No, I don't think so. Much as I kind of love Luln, I kind of hate the Protector of Luln, someone who turns the place from a nice little hometown into an adventuring hook for tourist PCs. Here's the history of Luln's townmistress ("mayor"):

"Sascia was born 28 years ago in Luln, the unhappy town near the Black Eagle Barony. Like the younger Yolanda of Luln, she gradually developed a fierce hatred of the nearby barony -- a hatred of its occasional raids into surrounding lands (including Luln), a hatred of seeing the infrequent bands of hollow-eyed escapees just escaped from that territory. But unlike Yolanda, Sascia was very strong and convinced that she could make a difference right here in Luln. She learned the ways of the sword and of military tactics. She persuaded the leaders of Luln to set up sentries in the forest who could warn of an impending raid. She fought the raiders when they came, and inspired others to do the same. Eventually, when the last town master stepped down from his post, she took that position."

Allston cut his teeth writing for the Champions RPG long before working for TSR and this reads like nothing less than your average superhero origin story. Forget (for the moment) that Luln was a village of a few hundred souls comprised of discontents, wanderers, and refugees...a pretty loose community at best. Imagine for a moment that the cartoony Baron Black Eagle suddenly had this 12th level (!!) fighter-chick suddenly on his doorstep, organizing a defense against his "raids"...what do you think would happen? I mean, what's the story of Robin Hood suddenly becoming a nuisance to the good Sheriff of Nottingham? Except that instead of living like a bandit in the woods, she's sitting in a town of people trying to eke out a living in an area largely unprotected (due to it being outside the boundaries of any particular dominion).

Look, I realize GAZ1 is written for a particular brand of "heroic fantasy," but this is even more fanciful than usual. The only reason I see Baron Ludwig allowing the existence of Luln at all is that it isn't an inconvenience to him. 16 miles down the road from Fort Doom (just over the border of the barony) there is an unsanctioned, un-fiefed, vassal-less community? To the baron, it's useful to have this place there as someone to trade with, that he doesn't need to administer, and that can house merchants that he doesn't want to deal with (or that don't want to deal with him...at least not up close and personal). Plus, it's a place to occasionally raid for slaves and whatnot.

But Luln isn't under the Duke's protection...there's nothing preventing the Baron from just marching in and annexing the place. And IF the baron got word back from his spies and raiders that some warrior was organizing an armed resistance and building up the defenses of a town located a day's ride from his castle, you think that wouldn't give him cause for action? Especially if his agents in Specularum heard any whiff of the Duke considering Sascia for a knighthood (or even worse...a baronial title!), you don't think he'd act immediately?

Here's exactly what would happen: 200 elite Black Eagle guardsmen, all mounted with chain and shield, would ride into town led by Baron Ludwig himself, and backed up by the baron's 15th level pet wizard. "Mistress" Sascia, who appears to have never been outside of Luln on an adventure (and whose AC is calculated wrong in GAZ1...just by the way), wouldn't stand a chance even in single combat against Ludwig. But with Bargle hitting Sascia with power word stun (she only has 47 hit points), let alone disintegrate?  All zeroes.

[and, no, I don't think the townspeople would be any help. Bargle has protection from normal missiles and invisibility. In a world of magic, there is a gross advantage to the side of any battle that has has access to high-level wizardry]

We tend to frown on
organized resistance.

No, the only reason I'd include Sascia in a campaign is to have her executed in some spectacular fashion. Crucified on the Western Road perhaps, or drawn-and-quartered with her various parts mounted outside the walls of Luln. Definitely posted as a warning to the adventurers that the Black Eagle is not to be trifled with. Peasant hero indeed...sheesh!

But OTHER than the whole "Mistress Sascia" subplot, I'm digging the whole vibe of Luln. Perhaps some player character will decide to take up the same cause as Sascia (though with similar consequences), but I prefer the place to be a bit less of a town and more of a place to meet mercenaries and buy adventuring gear (from the wandering merchants camped there). I think Luln is plenty interesting as is, with a lot of B/X potential...especially if you knock down the nearby fort (Radlebb Keep).

Better yet, it would be easy to convert Luln with some AD&D goodness. I've been thinking a lot about the Village of Hommlet recently (by which I mean "for the last several months"), and can see resigning Luln as the nearby village of Nulb (described in the "super module" T1-4: Temple of Elemental Evil). I would not re-skin Luln as the titular Hommlet...I see Luln as too mean and miserable a place. But I'd be VERY tempted to place Hommlet near Luln/Nulb just southeast of Radlebb Keep. Instead of being the guard house for "Hell's Jailers," Radlebb would be re-skinned as the half-constructed fort of Rufus and Byrne, now being built (on Duke Stefan's command) to keep a "watchful eye" on the Black Eagle Barony. The ruins of the Temple would replace Koriszegy Keep (i.e. "the Haunted Keep") and be an afterthought to the duchy outside of Luln/Nulb...after all, it was destroyed decades before when Stefan/Thyatis was first conquering the region. Bandit raids and slaver kidnappings would be blamed on Baron Ludwig, not any kind of resurgent cult activity...right? Right?!

Thinking about this possibility, the idea of starting an adventure campaign in Nulb (as opposed to Hommlet) has its appeal. Nulb might not be quite so evil, Hommlet might not be quite so good...and with all eyes focused westward on the Black Eagle, it's easy to see how the higher powers of the region could have missed the renovated moathouse (or monastery) and the evil rising again. Perhaps instead of repurposing Duke's Road Keep as the new "Keep on the Borderlands" I could set Castellan Keep in the closer Riverfort Keep (in the foothills just north of Riverfork Woods, about 50 miles north and west from Luln). This puts the Caves of Chaos much closer to the player characters' starting location...but I don't know. That might be too many "chaotic outposts" in too tight an area.

Still a cool cover.

Nah. Best to just go with one or the other. I've run T1 before, but while it's a good starter adventure, the module lacked a bit of "oomph" as a campaign starter. For all its accolades, T1-4 is really a product of its time, and that time was 1985 when TSR really started to push the idea of players running company produced stories. And I don't really want to do a whole campaign based solely on this (or any) single concept. I'd rather run B2 straight and give Luln/Nulb as the "hometown" the PCs return to after adventuring in the Caves. Hommlet, down the road, is little more than a soldier's camp being led by self-righteous prigs ("the Duke's Men") threatening to catch the PCs families between the hammer and anvil of Stefan and Ludwig. The "Village of Hommlet" with its petty religious squabbles doesn't exist; the "moathouse" doesn't exist (or has been cleaned out and its foundation stones used to build the new keep). The ancient Temple of Evil could exist, and might still exert an influence on the area (explaining both the madness of Baron Ludwig and the misery of Luln/Nulb)...but the shape it takes may be very different from the one presented in Mentzer's super-module.

Considering this as an adventure for B/X (and not BECMI) I'd certainly hope such was the case!

H is for Halav and Hutaaka (History)

[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 its B/X roots]

H is for Halav and Hutaaka, both important parts of Karameikan history.

Or are they?

[maybe H should be for "Heck of a baseball game last night!" How 'bout those Mariners, huh? 10 and 2? In what is (supposed to be) Year 1 of The Rebuild? Crazy. Still, I've lived in Seattle long enough to see every brand of Ms failure you can find...they had a hot start last year, too. I shall curb my enthusiasm for the time being; the Sounders, on the other hand, are a whole different story...]

I realize these posts have been running waaaay long. It's rather obvious that I have a lot of thoughts flying around my head (at least regarding Karameikos) and no one with whom to discuss them...other than you, dear readers. But day-after-day walls of text can be a slog to wade through, especially when my posts run the gamut of meandering blah-blah-blah. SO, hear's the skinny on today's topic:

Halav: thumbs up. Hutaaka: thumbs down. Apologies to folks who love B10: Night's Dark Terror.

Neither of these topics are "especially B/X" by the way; the history of the region (other than Duke Stefan's recent arrival) is all documented in later (BECMI+) publications, mainly Allston's GAZ1. As such, the pre-Stefan history could be revamped any way you want it...an ancient pre-Glantrian colony of wizards (with ruined towers dotting the wilderness)? Sure. A dinosaur/reptile person infested jungle only wiped out by the recent Ice Age (but leaving ruined cities behind)? Fine. An advanced empire of tech-savvy faerie folk, now decimated and devolved into their pocket regions (i.e. the places marked "elves" and "goblins" on the B/X map)? Why not? And don't laugh at the idea of
hi-tech elves...check out the info on Evergrun and Grunland in the Alfheim gazetteer.

In other words, there are LOTS of possibilities for the "ancient history" of the region now known as the Grand Duchy of Karameikos...if you're happy to stick solely to the description given in the Expert rulebook and willing to cut the rest from whole cloth. But if you're NOT or (like me) you're lazy, pressed for time, and/or often stuck for new ideas, then you might as well adapt the history as given in GAZ1. Or parts of it anyway.

Most of this history is written by Allston, though he adapts from earlier sources (like Night's Dark Terror) for some of it. And it's not terrible. I'm sorry I even have to write that phrase, but I feel like so often in these posts I'm decrying how boring and awful and vanilla the ideas are...I could stand to be a bit more complimentary towards much of the work that's gone into this setting over the years. If a lot of it is a little bland or cheesy, a large part of the blame has to be given to the standards and cultural mandates of The Company (TSR) back in the period when these books were being published.

So anyway: not terrible. Before I get to my specific "likes and gripes," it's probably best to give a BRIEF ("Brief, JB, brief!") overview of the region's ancient history, as told in GAZ1. Please be aware that dates in Mystara ("the Known World") are based on the first crowning of an Emperor in Thyatia (i.e. "fantasy Rome"); all Gazeteers assume play begins in the year 1000 A.C. ("after crowning"). Got it? Okay.

[brief!]

The Nithian people ("fantasy ancient Egyptian") first sent a small colony to the-region-that-would-be-known-as-Karameikos circa 1500 B.C. ("before crowning;" i.e. 2500 years before start of the campaign). Within five generations (about a century) hard winters, monster attacks, and disease have drastically reduced the population and these "Traldar" people (the clan name of their Nithian tribe) have devolved to a "pre-agricultural" (hunter-gatherer) lifestyle.

[I have a lot of comments on this, but they'll have to wait for a later post]

What now occurs is something first described in the (British) module B10: Night's Dark Terror. An advanced civilization of jack-headed humanoids (the Hutaaka) conquers the Traldar, not through military might, but through "economic and cultural superiority," The humans end up working as laborer/slaves to these more effete/spiritual non-humans in a mutually beneficial symbiosis, until a giant horde of gnolls invade the region circa 1000 B.C. Devastated by the warlike humanoids, the Hutaaka decide to pull up stakes and retreat to their hidden valley in northern mountains with a handful of human followers. The Traldar left behind get organized under a trio of war-leaders, of whom King Halav is chief (the other two are Petra and Zirchev). Armed with bronze age gear, Halav slays the gnoll king in single combat but is himself slain, and the humanoids are routed back into the mountains.

The Hutaaka do not return and, bereft of a unifying force, the region descends into a Dark Age. By 500 B.C. the Traladara (as they call themselves) are widely dispersed across the region and share little common besides a common root language and "The Song of King Halav," their national epic. Their actual history is forgotten with legends of Hutaakan masters and gnollish invaders being mixed together to form a hodgepodge mythology explaining their past. This Dark Age continues until roughly 0 A.C. when the arrival of other peoples to the region (the Callarii elves and Highforge gnomes) help usher in a new cycle of peaceable trade relations and unity against humanoid (goblins, orcs, etc.) tribes. By 400 A.C. the Traladara have established trade with outside nations and by 900 A.C. they've grown large enough that Thyatis decides to "annex" the region before a rival (like Darokin) can do so. Stefan Karameikos III takes over in 970 A.C.

OKAY (*whew*). Now onto likes (and not likes).

I LIKE the whole Song of Halav idea. Despite the Czech-ish name (Vaclav Havel portmanteau?) this is just the Arthur myth retold with gnolls in place of invading Saxons and Hutaakans in place of the priestesses of Avalon. Sure, it's not super-original, but it's still a classic concept, and like the Arthur myth it is so far back in the pre-written history of the people that it's easy to embellish it (and, as a DM, determine what parts are fact and what parts are myth). It's the kind of thing you can hang big campaign ideas off of...can we find King Halav's tomb or sword (Excalibur?) or whatever. Likewise the shared identity that comes from this national hero-legend is cool. While I still ask the question why there isn't more revolt/resistance against the Thyatians (the second coming of the gnolls!), Allston offers the idea of a Halav mystery cult, whose priests/prophets are longing for Arthur-Halav's return...and who are preaching that Archduke Stefan may, in fact, be the reincarnation of their ancient hero king. Whether or not it's true (or a well-orchestrated bit of political opportunism) is left for individual campaigns to figure out. Regardless, it's a nice bit of fluff to work into the setting.

King Halav's last battle.

Also: gnolls are badass. For folks into Warhammer, they can be perfectly re-skinned as beast men, but I tend to like them as is. Even Yeenoghu is pretty awesome, at least in his first appearance (Ye Old Monster Manual).

That being said, I am rather "iffy" on the whole Halav & Co. as actual Immortal patrons of the region. I'm just not the fan of the Immortal rules that I once was...neither Mentzer's original BECMI set (the "I" in BECMI) or Allston's later Wrath of the Immortals, both of which I've owned for years (and used in the past). I just don't like the idea of codifying the gods and immortality...or maybe I just don't like BECMI/RC's particular formulaic approach to doing the same. The gods (or "higher powers" or whatever) should break the normal rules...or, at least, give DMs the leeway to do so. Same holds true for "artifacts" and relics...but now I'm digressing (sorry).

The part of GAZ1's history that I really dislike is the whole bit about the Hutaaka. It's not that I don't dig the whole pre-history, human-servitor-race to nonhuman mythology/fiction thang...I'm a fan of Lovecraft, Karl Wagner, etc. But this particular brand of the trope feels messy to me, for a number of reasons.

But I don't feel like enumerating them all (and I said I wanted to cut down on the length of these posts). I suppose, DMs running Karameikos as their campaign setting might get a kick out of throwing Night's Dark Terror at their players and then getting a "big reveal" with the Lost Valley of the Hutaaka and the real history of the Traladaran people. But, jeez: B10 is designed for low level characters, so it's not like there'd be a "big build up," establishing the confused "mythic" history of the land prior to said reveal.

And, dammit, it's just not a very good reveal anyway. I'm sorry (I guess I am going to go into this a bit), dog-headed mystics? Really? Finding out humans were force-evolved by completely inhuman creatures (a la the Mountains of Madness) or star-traveling lizard folk (Warhammer) or some sort of weird fallen angels (Nephilim) is far more interesting than these pseudo-Egyptian dog-people. Damn it, Stargate was more interesting! Conquered by "cultural superiority?" Are you kidding me?

And there's just a lot of inconsistency here: why didn't the Hutaaka come back after the gnolls were driven off? If Petra had the ability to raise Halav (per the background) why didn't he unite the Traldar into a nation afterward? Why didn't Petra and Zirchev? If the Hutaaka were such pushovers, why did it take the traldar slaves in the Lost Valley another 900 years to revolt? If the Traldar had adapted so much of the Hutaaka culture, why didn't they have the ability to write down their own history? Why end up confusing the dog-people with the jackal-people? And why do we have these terrible Gypsy stereotypes?

Here's the other thing: the Alfheim gazetteer established that elf tribes (Callarii and Vyalia) settled in Karameikos circa 800 B.C. and that elves live about ten times the length of a human (expected lifespan is 600 to 800 years with some elves living to 1000). Since this is smack-dab in the middle of the Gnoll War, what part did the elves play? Why didn't they keep records? Why didn't they play a more important role in keeping the region civilized and "out" of the Dark Ages? Yes, I understand that Alfheim was published after GAZ1 and that Allston's history has the elves arriving nearly a millennia later (and thus not being witnesses to the early days of Traladara), but even that strikes me as weird: this advanced species of intelligent, magic-using humanoids arrives from a far-off land and the barbaric, iron age villagers are just like "whatever." Come on, man! At least if the elves were there FIRST (before the humans) they might be treated as "spirits of the forest" to be worshipped and/or feared...but then, would they put up with the Hutaaka? Even if the Hutaaka had exited 200 years before, I'd think a highly intelligent species (the elves) would have been curious enough to follow up on these creatures before the trail got any "colder." Two centuries is hardly "ancient history" to a species that lives three to five times that long.

But maybe it's just me. Maybe I just don't like 'em. Probably I just don't like anthropomorphic animals in my D&D game (I'm not a fan of X1's rakasta species, either). Anthropomorphic animals are fine in their own games (Mouse Guard and Albedo being prime examples), but mixing them in with humans just isn't something I tolerate very well.

All right, that's enough for today.

G is for Gnomes

[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 its B/X roots]

G is for Gnomes. And dwarves, I suppose...but there aren't that many of those (comparatively) in Karameikos.

I've mentioned the gnomes before (briefly) when I was writing about the Elvenguard. Unlike the 'guard, the gnomish community of Karameikos has been established since the first light of publication, in the write-up of the duchy found in the B/X expert rulebook. Their description paints a fairly pastoral (if subterranean) picture of the demihumans:

NON-HUMANS

No solicitors, please.

Gnomes: Living in the hills, the gnomes are a quiet and solitary group. They make little effort to contact the outside world, but will deal with traders when such arrive. There are 620 gnomes living throughout this area. This number is divided between a large lair of 250 and several smaller outposts of no more than 100 each. A council of elders chosen by the gnomes, 1 from each outpost and 3 from the main lair, guides the members of the community in most decisions. This council will act as judges, handle trade, and distribute any money for the defense of the various outposts. However, any important decisions are decided by a general vote of the population. Strangers desiring to deal with the gnomes must first present their case to the elders for approval. Should this approval not be given (and the gnomes are extremely reluctant to involve themselves in the affairs of an outsider), the case will be closed. In the event that the council cannot decide, a general vote will be taken. If great differences prevent an outpost of the lair from agreeing peacefully on an issue, the dissident faction will leave and establish a new outpost in the area, In this manner, the gnomish lands are slowly growing, although disunity slows this somewhat.

[there are, by the way, no other species listed in the NON-HUMANS section of the expert set's Sample Wilderness text; they could have just headed the section "GNOMES"]

After this description is a paragraph about trade difficulties (already quoted in the aforementioned Elvenguard blog post), followed by a section marked Gnome Lair describing a sample...um, gnome lair (I love the use of the term "lair" by the way...this isn't a "home," "stronghold," or "warren," but a lair. Monsters have lairs, and in D&D lairs are meant to be explored...and perhaps plundered). The Gnome Lair section contains an un-keyed map of what might be a typical outpost or perhaps the main lair of the gnomish community (I always assumed the latter, but the text isn't explicit). It's decent enough with some evocative description, filled with pockets of trained ferrets that double as both pit traps and pens for the gnomes' hunting beasts.

The inclusion of gnomes is an interesting decision. Unlike AD&D, in B/X gnomes are not a player character race, but an NPC monster...though quite possibly a helpful one (alignment is listed as Lawful/Neutral). The monster entry for gnome in the Tom Moldvay penned Basic book is far more descriptive and outright different from any prior pass at the species; check this out:

OD&D: "Slightly smaller than Dwarves, and with longer beards, these creatures inhabit the hills and lowland burrows as opposed to the mountainous home which Dwarves choose. They are more reclusive than their cousins, but in all other respects resemble Dwarves."

Holmes: "Gnomes are similar to dwarves, whom they resemble. They are smaller, have longer noses and beards and inhabit low-land and hill burrows rather than mountains. They favor crossbows."

AD&D: Adds nothing besides notes on coloration, military formations, and AD&D mechanics (languages, magic resistance, etc.). Note their weapons are limited to short swords, clubs, spears, slings, and short bows; crossbows aren't even an option,

B/X (Tom Moldvay, B36): "Gnomes are a human-like race related to dwarves. They are smaller than dwarves, and have long noses and full beards. Gnomes have well developed infra vision (heat-sensing sight), and can "see" heat to 90' in the dark. They usually live in burrows in the lowlands. Gnomes are excellent metalsmiths and miners. They love gold and gems and have been known to make bad decisions just to obtain them. They love machinery of all kinds and like to use crossbows as missile weapons and war hammers in hand-to-hand combat. Gnomes like most dwarves, but war with goblins and kobolds who steal their precious gold. They will usually attack kobolds on sight."

[B/X also has a paragraph that details war parties, hit dice of chiefs, etc. similar to that of other humanoid species like hobgoblins and orcs. There is no mention of "leveled" leaders as gnome is not a character class in this edition]

Talk about going off the reservation! I'm not sure why they bother retaining the (earlier edition) AC of 5, when these "excellent metalsmiths" should probably be sporting at least chain and shield, if not better! The bit about their "bad decisions" based on greed speaks to their corruptibility, and their love of "machinery of all kinds" (!) can be read either as the primordial precursor to Dragonlance's "tinker gnomes" or something more sinister (like Tolkien/Lucas association of machines/technology with evil). For those who like to mix the SciFi with their fantasy, this is the perfect excuse to create a cyborg subterranean species, or a bunch of mechanical (rather than magical) automatons and "living statues."

Coupled with the politics and inter-clan relations described in the Expert set and you start to get this really interesting picture of what the gnome faction is all about...some sort of advanced egalitarian think-tank commune, an anti-Amish Amish group, something like a weaponized tribe of trapdoor spiders in humanoid shape...now just add some steampunk cybernetics to the giant ferrets and moles they routinely capture for experimentation, and you've got a vicious, powerful faction living within your borders.

I don't know why I tend to see gnomes as prone to evil...which is pretty weird considering I grew up reading (and loving) those Huygen/Poortvliet books. Maybe I've just seen too many "evil" depictions of them over the years: the insane followers of Keraptis (detailed in White Plume Mountain), the evil illusionist in Gygax's first Gord the Rogue novel...and who can forget their turn as a bat-riding, magic-wielding evil alien species in Marvel comics Star Trek (issue #16)? Certainly not me, True Believers; that story is indelibly burned into my childhood memories!

EVIL gnomes.

What it means is that I'm often writing up gnome assassins and assassin-illusionists with names like "Shoon Grinblade;" in my mind, D&D gnomes are always half-cracked/crazed and prone to psychotic episodes. Unless you're talking svirfneblin, of course; they are to my evil surface gnomes as the Drow are to their goody-good cousins.

*ahem*  ANYway, considering the potential of what can be done with B/X gnomes, the gnomes of Highforge (as GAZ1 names the community) is pretty banal. I mean, they mine silver for (and engage in trade with) the duke...and that's about it. Allston's GAZ1 increases the size of the community to 6500 (and adds a dwarf clan to the mix, perhaps to give the PCs an "in") and adds the following information:

Ruler: Dorfus Hilltopper, Gnome King of Highforge. Dorfus is a typical Gnome. He isn't too fond of humans -- though not impolite, he avoids dealing with them whenever possible; the annual Gnome Caravan is enough for him, and he doesn't even accompany it.
Population: 6500 gnomes and 1000 dwarves.
Laws: Within Highforge, the gnomes and dwarves ignore the Duke's Law and live by gnomish and dwarfish custom; they settle their own disputes, try their own criminals, and do not report law-breaking to the human officials. Additionally, they do not pay taxes to the the humans; they have their own economic system and only pay taxes when selling goods to humans. 

That's it for the gnomes; the only other notes are regarding the dwarves and their mines. No info is provided regarding the interconnectedness of the gnome silver and the the duchy's coinage. If it wasn't for the information in Mentzer's expert rulebook, one would never think the gnomes the source of the archduke's silver ore. One could even see Allston as working directly from the B/X source material...except that he sets up "King Dorfus" (a portmanteau of "Dork" and "Doofus?") in place of the egalitarian council of elders originally described.

Personally, I'd probably axe all of the BECMI/GAZ info on the gnomes...there's just not much there worth keeping. Not only does it set up potential adventures for B/X player characters (meeting and establishing relations/trade with the gnomes) but it allows the gnomes to be a powerful "wild card" faction in the region...for good or ill. However, here are some additional ideas you might want to run with:

Option #1: Gnomes as Escaped Slaves. Long time readers of the blog know I'm a big fan of adventure S2: White Plume Mountain...I even did a B/X conversion of it waaaay back in 2009. If I were to start a new campaign set in Karameikos, I'd probably set "the feathered peak" somewhere in the northwest Cruth Mountains. What if the gnomish community in Karameikos were descendants of gnomes that had revolted and escaped from the yoke of Keraptis (and their corrupt, evil brethren). They were probably evil themselves (once), having made "poor decisions" because of the gold and gems the evil wizard offered...but having repented their wicked ways, they've since sought a clean slate, far away. It remains their secret shame...one they do not want discovered as there are people who would consider them "war criminals" of the type that need to be expunged. What's more, they live in constant fear of Keraptis (or his lich or whatever) discovering their location and returning to claim them. Helps explain the reclusiveness and unwillingness to deal with outsiders.

Coming for YOU, man.

Option #2: Gnomes as Evil Racist Slavers. Racist towards humans, that is. The gnomes are the biggest customers of the Iron Ring slavers guild (or the secret powers behind the guild) requiring a constant influx of bodies to work their mines. Humans are a cheap, expendable resource, and the growth of the duchy has just meant lower prices. Plus, the gnomes have developed a taste for "long pig" (sure, make 'em cannibals, too) and used up slaves go straight into the cook pots. This becomes especially twisted if you decide to go with the BECMI idea of gnomes as the duchy's silversmiths: Does the archduke suspect how his silver is being mined? Is he complicit (or a secret participant) in the slave trade? Regardless, I'm certain the gnomes are "skimming" silver from the duke's shipments, using the extra for the purchase of gold, jewels, and (of course) more slaves. Evil, evil gnomes.

Option #3: Gnomes as Oppressed Species. Or perhaps it is the gnomes themselves that have been enslaved. Why have the gnomes become Stefan's silver miners? Because they have no choice in the matter! Having discovered rich veins of silver in the hills, and ready-made workforce on site, the Duke has used his army to put the gnomes to the task of mining the precious metal. Of course, it helps that the Callarii elves have a long history of bad blood with the gnomes...the Elvenguard was only too happy to aid in pacifying the "reluctant workforce." Let's face facts: gnomes aren't an adventuring species (like dwarves, elves, and halflings); to humans, they're a strange little species with a weird machine fixation. They're not that far removed from goblins or kobolds (probably related to both, seeing as how they speak those languages!) and there's nothing wrong with exploiting such creatures for the good of the duchy. Hell, the duke's being nice...he could have just put them to the sword (as he does with other humanoids)...they should be grateful he's giving them a chance to work his mines. Maybe if we upped their daily ration of gruel they'd actually whistle while they work.
; )

D is for Ducal Family

[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]

D is for Ducal Family, i.e. Stefan's relations.

A few years ago, while still living in Paraguay, I was working on a game design for a very fairy tale-esque RPG based on the Holmes Basic chassis. It wasn't bad, but...well, whatever. The point is, it had all these classic fairy tale tropes baked in; for example, the idea that the nobility was always good and kind and decent, like the "Divine Right" was really divine and kings and queens were all just and wonderful rulers, princes were always brave and charming (or growing towards that) and princesses were, well, the same. In this particular game, player characters wouldn't ever usurp or overthrow a ruler, unless that ruler was an evil usurper him/herself, and only then because the PCs were acting as divine agents (in other words, any such evil lord or lady would only be inhabiting a temporary throne).

Very different from D&D's premise.

Prior to Allston's GAZ1, the Archduke's family is never detailed, save that statement that he has "strong heirs" (Allston's X12: Skarda's Mirror). The Gazetteer is the first place to name and stat up Stefan's nuclear family and extended relations (the later 2nd Edition campaign setting Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure has an even more detailed family tree, going back a couple generations). GAZ1's (mostly Lawful and good) ducal family isn't a bad one, but it's definitely a product of its time and (TSR) culture. They're cute, with zero controversy...and, I suppose, I find them a little boring 30+ years after their initial publication.

[not that I'm asking for Game of Thrones level malfeasance here, with incest and whatnot...but you'll find more dysfunctional family dynamics in your average Shakespeare play than in the Karameikos household]

Still, it's mostly good. The main issue I have is with the Duchess Olivia (Stefan's wife) being classed as a 9th level thief. There is just no valid reason that a middle-aged Thyatian noblewoman should be picking locks and climbing walls like a master cat burglar. Some might fault the system here: "Where's the 2E "rogue" or 3E "noble" when you need it?" Personally, I DON'T need a class for every important NPC...there's a perfectly good monster type in the B/X basic rules that works just fine: the noble. Regardless, I don't have any problems with the the Karameikos children being adventurers (based on the whole "shearing" tradition...we'll talk about that in a later entry), but they're still a little bland.

And I really mean "a little;" I'm nitpicking here, partly because it's my nature and partly because I find a certain parallel "sameness" between the ducal family of Karameikos and the imperial family of Thyatis (whose Gazetteer was also penned by Allston). Still, Allston has some brilliant bits in the GAZ and he doesn't assume his NPCs have any sort of "plot immunity:" there's a whole section on how the PCs might become Dukes themselves (including open revolt and overthrowing the Lawful rulers). So there is that...very much D&D.

But since I've set a precedent with my earlier posts, I'll go ahead and write a few ways to possibly resin members of the royal family, just because I can and it's fun. Since there are a few of them, I'll try to keep these VERY short, and I won't even bother with "cousin Ludwig" because I don't think he should be related to the Duke anyway.

DUCHESS OLIVIA, the Duke's Wife

Option #1: While it's tempting to go "full Cersei" with the incest and bastard offspring and whatnot, that shtick has already been done. However, I wouldn't mind giving her an illicit affair an my best candidate would be the scheming Lord Cornel Osteric, Ambassador of Thyatis. The motives here are clear: Olivia is a stranger in a strange land who never wanted to leave Thyatis, hasn't ever adjusted, and just doesn't understand her husband's strange fascination with this backwater region and people. Osteric reminds her of the court life and Byzantine machinations she left behind; they understand and fulfill each other, and both long to return to the Empire and are looking for a way to do so (probably regicide).

Or a green dragon...or a
demon...or a seahag...etc.

Option #2: What if Olivia was the Duke's second wife, a native of the region, married to ingratiate Stefan with the people. And what if she were actually a polymorphed red dragon? Here I'm thinking of Angelina Jolie's turn as Grendel's mother in the (animated) film Beowulf...a beautiful seductress, destined to eventually kill the man who wronged her even as she (in her own alien, Chaotic way) somehow loves this short-lived, mortal man. Perhaps Stefan himself doesn't even know her secret; perhaps one or more of the duchess's "step-children" will discover her identity first (but would Steffan even believe them, being seduced by her charms?).

Option #3: You want her to be a thief? Fine...have Olivia be the secret identity of Flameflicker, the Thief-King. Flameflicker is one of GAZ1's NPCs, secretly a girl fortune-teller/palm reader on the streets of Specularum, she heads the major ("good guy") thieves guild in the region. Just discard the "Alya" identity/backstory and make Olivia the character. Perhaps she started sneaking out at night to amuse herself, but the last ten years or so (since her youngest child became old enough to "not need his mother") she's really ramped up the scale of her operation and ambition; fun consequences (for the DM!) likely to result.

LADY ADRIANA, Eldest Daughter

Sleeps in the saddle...if ya'
know what I mean.

Option #1: I know it doesn't work with the geography of the Known World as mapped, but what if the Ethengar Khanate was next door neighbors to Karameikos? And what if the Golden Horde had come a-knocking and Stefan had arranged for a prisoner exchange with the Great Khan, giving his eldest daughter over as a hostage to be raised, even as Stefan took on the Khan's own child in the civilized medieval fashion of negotiating an end to hostilities and providing a means of breaching cultural gaps? And what if Adriana, now returned to court, a young woman in her 20s had fully embraced the Ethengarian lifestyle, stomping around in furs and boots, cavorting like an animal, punching out courtiers, etc. and generally being an embarrassment and nuisance to the palace? And what if the Khan's own child (and perhaps heir apparent) didn't want to return to the savage, wind-swept steppes? That sounds fun.

Option #2: Or how about Adriana as "paladin of the realm?" Sure she's a 4th level fighter...what if she were struck by divine visions and charged with a holy mission, a la Joan d'Arc. A different kind of embarrassment and nuisance...but perhaps one who appeals to the superstitious Traladaran natives in a way her Thyatian-born father never could.

Option #3: Adriana is Steffan's presumed heir to his title (in the 2nd edition Karameikos, she is declared such and destined to be the first Queen of Karameikos). So what if his firstborn, the apple of his eye, was a secret lesbian? And what if the pseudo-medieval Church of Karameikos was as irritable about that kind of thing as religions in the (real world) historic middle ages...or even, you know, the present? And what if Adriana, as a strong, independent woman and fiery youth, was utterly at ease with herself and had no desire to hide who she was...had in fact already found a soul-mate in a fellow adventurer while out on her wanderings? Would she be willing to overthrow centuries of tradition to claim her natural birthright, but on her own terms? Could she do so?

LORD JUSTIN, 2nd Son

Option #1: Oh, turtle, how we love you. So quiet, patient, helpful, and unassuming. Born the eldest son of the archduke but being favored by neither parent and having no designs on the throne. Except that he does. And he became a chaos cultist some years back during his first merchant sailing voyage. Learning how to slake his lust for blood and depredations while hiding his true face from authority. But soon his plans will come to fruition...and once he sits upon the throne, there will be no need to hide anymore!

Pour some out...

Option #2: Ah, turtle...poor weakling turtle. The spirit is willing but the flesh, not so much. Still your head for numbers has served you well and you've found other...amusements...outside the stodgy facade of court life. Since taking control of the city's brothels and gambling dens, you've delved deeper and deeper into organized crime and methods of making a profit from the suffering of others. What would the archduke think, if he knew his eldest son was the iron ring slavers?

Option #3: Or perhaps Justin is as humble and a-political as he appears. Perhaps what he wishes most of all was that he had never been born the son of an archduke...perhaps his shearing was the first breath of true freedom he had ever tasted, and he would not have come willingly back to court life had the duke's royal guards not dragged him kicking and screaming. But he had to do so: his tyrant father made it abundantly clear that the only way to ensure the safety of Justin's peasant wife and sons was to pretend they'd never existed at all...

LORD VALEN, Youngest Son

Option #1: Valen is a delightful little hellion as written, and as a 1st level thief he's the perfect candidate as an NPC adventurer to accompany the player characters. Incognito, of course. Chaffing under court life (having inherited the same adventurous spirit from his father as his siblings), the kid would be happy to tag along with "real adventurers," perhaps even disguised as a woman to hide his youth (alternatively, you could age him 2-3 years). He would absolutely lie about his family and upbringing, refusing to divulge his relationship with the archduke unless in the direst of straits (for example, if the party is captured by goblins or something, and a large ransom is needed to secure their release). It's a simple use of the kid, but effective.

Option #2: Same as Option #1, but the little scamp already has some adventures under his belt and earned a bit of trouble: Valen is cursed with lycanthropy. Since it's hardly likely he'd have survived an encounter with a werebear or -tiger, I think it's safe to assume he was infected by one of the lesser types...most likely a wererat (though I detest the thief/wererat stereotype), and possibly from venturing too deeply into B/X's Haunted Keep.

Nothing like watching Rudy take
a hot shot...

Option #3: Valen isn't really fit to go on adventures as his wealth, privilege, and hell raising attitude has led to a fairly serious black lotus addiction, or other fantasy narcotic. Think Sean Astin in Where the Day Takes You...he's as likely a source of serious trouble as a source of adventure for the PCs ("Hey, guys...let's go knock-over my dad's house!").

LORD ALEXIUS KORRIGAN, Stefan's First Cousin

Option #1: Uncle Alexius as Joe Biden. 'Nuff said.

We love you, Joe.

Option #2: Drunken lout and embarrassment to the archduke ("Why can't you just retire to a villa like any other entitled nobleman your age?"). After a particularly costly social gaffe (or drunken flirtation with some ambassador's spouse), it might become necessary for Stefan to arrange some sort of "accident" for his cousin. Enter the player characters.

Option #3: Pawn for a foreign power. Probably not Thyatis (too obvious), but definitely Glantri or Darokin could have some sort of blackmail dirt on Korrigan, leading to all sorts of machinations. Perhaps Korrigan's nephew Milo (who first appears in Karameikos, Kingdom of Adventure) is the one being extorted and has been used as leverage against his uncle.  Or perhaps it is the Radu clan (merchant family and leaders of the Veiled Society) or the Black Eagle who are doing the manipulating. Regardless, as seneschal to the Duke's estates, such control would provide any faction with a useful tool.

As with my earlier posts, you can certainly choose to mix-and-match these options.