The Weird That Befell Drigbolton: A Bit About the Layout

If you've not heard the word on the street about the impending fall of a star into Dolmenwood, check out this post first!

Now that we're on the same page, I wanted to share a few ideas on what went into the layout design for the adventure. I wanted to create something that's as usable at the table as possible. Of course, there are many different ways to approach this and I don't claim to have found the perfect solution or anything like that, but I did put quite a lot of thought into it. Here are the main concepts:

1. No chunks of information split across spreads. In book form, it's possible to view two pages of information at once (the left page and the right page) -- one spread. Anything that splits across spreads requires page-flipping. In an adventure, where the DM needs a quick overview of information and the ability to quickly scan and absorb chunks of description, page-flipping is a real drag. (Aside: I'm actually continually surprised how few RPG layouts pay any attention to this. The D&D 5 books are, for example, terrible in this regard.) So, while some of the longer sections of content in TWTBD span multiple spreads, this is consciously kept to a minimum and no individual chunks of information (i.e. individual or connected paragraphs) do so.
2. Boxed-text summaries. As is to be expected from an adventure, a large part of the book consists of wilderness or dungeon area descriptions. Some of these are very minimal, but some describe relatively complex scenes with a lot of "moving parts", so require more text to fully describe. All area descriptions begin with a short paragraph of boxed-text. This does not play the role of read-aloud text for the players; it provides the DM with a brief summary of the area. The intention is that, once the DM has fully read through the module, these boxed-text summaries will aid as a memory jog for what's in each area.
3. Further details in headed paragraphs. Leading on from the boxed-text summaries of the adventure areas, further points of interest are elaborated in short sections, each preceded by a heading. This makes them very easy to quickly jump to when players say they want to investigate a certain feature of a location.
4. Monster stats. A simple thing, but worth noting: monster stat blocks are standardised and all begin with the name of the monster highlighted in a character style which is only used for that purpose. Again, this makes them easy to visually pick out and jump to.
5. Cheat sheets. Finally, I created three cheat sheets summarising all locales in the adventure, one for the titular hamlet of Drigbolton, one for the surrounding wilderness, and one for the main "dungeon" locale of the adventure. These are not included in the printed book -- instead they're a separate PDF designed for home printing. Each cheat sheet consists of a map marked with numbered locales and very brief summaries of each marked location, along with the page number (in the main book) of the full description. In this way, the cheat sheets form the "backbone" of running the adventure, with the book referred to for more detail when the PCs investigate different areas. This kind of high-level summarising is something that I often feel is lacking in published adventures and I hope these pre-made cheat sheets will be a useful addition to this adventure!

So, there you have it. I really hope that the thought that I put into the layout pays off and makes the adventure easy to run. The book is intended to look nice, too, of course (and Andrew's artwork certainly looks wonderful!), but the main intention is that it's usable as a gaming artefact that will provide quite a few sessions of fun exploration into the weird. I'm looking forward to hearing what people think of it, once it's out in the world...

Coming soon! (Still waiting for those print proof copies to arrive...)

The Weird That Befell Drigbolton: What's This All About Then?

As announced recently, the first module in the Dolmenwood Adventures line -- The Weird That Befell Drigbolton -- is primed for publication and should be unveiled some time in the next few weeks.

Thus far, little concrete information on the module has been revealed, merely that it is "An investigative, event-based module for characters of 3rd-5th level, set in and around the backwater hamlet of Drigbolton, on the northern verge of Dolmenwood."

So, to whet your appetites, here's a bit more info:

• The adventure revolves around the fall of a star to earth in the Dolmenwood region. (Though the events and locations in the module are trivial to transplant into any campaign setting.)
• The core of the star has crashed on the moor, close to the rustic hamlet of Drigbolton. The crater is surrounded by a phosphorescent, pinkish jelly to which the local wildlife has taken a liking.
• The people of Drigbolton, investigating the site of the crash, have also discovered that the pink jelly is delicious and nourishing and have taken to mixing into their food and drink. They have interpreted the fall of the star as a gift from heaven and the jelly as "manna". The hamlet is now in a state of perpetual festival, as the need to farm, hunt, and forage no longer dominates the villagers' lives.
• As the star fell, parts of it broke away and crashed in other locations in the Drigbolton area. The presence of these star-parts has begun to warp the nature of reality in the sites where they have fallen -- the stuff of stars is not meant to mix with the rude matter of the earthly plane.
• The core of the star, while currently brooding in dormancy, is not, however, inert -- its bitter consciousness remains intact and is scheming to reassemble the missing parts, restoring itself to full potency.
• Left unchecked, the presence of a fully conscious star on earth may have grave repercussions. Will a band of bold, wily, reckless, or simply unlucky adventurers stumble onto the scene and interfere with the star's plans? Only YOU can say.

The crater and the core of the star, by Andrew Walter

As the module is set up, the player characters come onto the scene a few days after the fall of the star, having heard rumour of odd astronomical phenomena. The referee may have players simply stumble onto the weird goings-on around Drigbolton, but several other hooks are detailed:

• The adventurers may be hired by a wizard or alchemist to collect chunks of valuable star-metal which broke away during the star's descent.
• They may be commissioned to investigate the cause of the star's fall, which is surely not by accident. The secret machinations of a wizard of great power are suspected to be behind this.
• They may be sent on the trail of an occult tome of ill-repute -- the Black Book of Llareggub -- which is believed to be in the possession of someone in the Drigbolton region. (Could this book be in some way related to the falling star?)

So, there you have it. Keep your eyes peeled for further details and announcements!

The Weird That Befell Drigbolton: A Dolmenwood Adventure -- Coming Soon!

THE WEIRD THAT BEFELL DRIGBOLTON

A Dolmenwood Adventure

Written by Gavin Norman and Greg Gorgonmilk

Illustrated by Andrew Walter

Cartography by Kelvin Green

An investigative, event-based module for characters of 3rd-5th level, set in and around the backwater hamlet of Drigbolton, on the northern verge of Dolmenwood.

More info / tantalisation to follow!

Coming Soon! (Like, the next few weeks? The files have been submitted to the printer and are being analysed as we speak!)

Psychedelic Fantasies: The Fungus that Came to Blackeswell -- Review

From the moment I heard  about Geoffrey McKinney's Psychedelic Fantasies line, before the first module had been released, I knew it was a good thing, and my kind of thing.

Cheap but solidly produced modules. A short format for ease of digestion and use at the table. A focus on unrestrained imagination, as opposed to "the standard D&D tropes".

Now we have the third module in the series: THE FUNGUS THAT CAME TO BLACKESWELL.

Full disclosure: the module is written by my friend and Berlin RPG cohort Yves Geens. I guess that makes me totally biased. I do feel though that if the module was crap I'd say so. It's not. And of course Geoffrey wouldn't have published it if it was :)

Now to the reviewing part.

I received the module in the post last night, and read through it in one sitting (the advantage of the short format). I've not run it yet, but am very much inspired to do so, having read it.

The short overview of what's going on in this module is: a subterranean village famed for its odd inhabitants (a wizard and an inventor) and its unusual riches (Blackeswell pearls) is overrun by a hostile fungal infestation from the nearby Fungal Jungle. The village and its inhabitants are decimated.

(Note that, although Blackeswell is described as being a subterranean settlement, this has little impact on the adventure. It could be easily placed in an above-ground setting such as a forest, swamp or mountains.)


The main theme of the module, from my reading, is one of despair. There's an almost Raggiesque atmosphere present. Although there are none of the player-screwing-over moments or twists which we know and love(?) from the pen of Mr JER the 4th, the fate of the villagers of Blackeswell is unremittingly tragic and gruesome. I seem to recall there is one single house in the village whose inhabitants have survived with their lives and sanity (seemingly) intact. As for the rest, a twisted variety of fates has met them. Many are simply reduced to pools of gore, their only memorial being the now-futile shop signs advertising their now-ruined wares.

Good stuff. This could be the kind of module where PCs come in hoping to make a quick buck, but end up getting embroiled in trying to work out what on earth befell the village, and what can be done to stop it spreading or happening again elsewhere.

This is one interesting point about the module -- the reason why what has happened has happened is not (unless I've missed something) explicitly revealed. There are hints, and a locus or point of emanation can be discovered, but from my reading it was not clear what exactly caused the fungal infestation in Blackeswell. I'm not totally sure if this is intended or not, but it's something to bear in mind. Referees wanting to work this module into a campaign would be advised to give this topic some preparatory thought, as players will inevitably begin to wonder about what's happened in the village and try to find out what caused it.

In terms of the encounters in the module, each house contains something different. There are plenty of weird fungal horrors to fight or (in many cases more wisely) avoid, some nice treasures to be dug out from the clutches of the ever-present mycelial growths, and some interesting NPC encounters (a few villagers are still alive, and another adventuring party is holed up).

The main theme is (obviously) fungal monsters, which appear in pleasing variety. There are also elements of dimensional magic and sci-fi robotics, which lend a gonzo sub-tone to the module. Personally I'm a big fan of fantasy / sci-fi mash-ups, but strangely I felt that I would actually tone down the gonzo elements when running this adventure. I felt like I would place the focus more on this being a horror adventure, which the wackier elements could detract from. This isn't meant as a criticism -- the sci-fi elements are really well done -- just an aspect of taste as to how I would imagine running this module myself.


All in all, an excellent adventure with a deliciously weird and creepy tone. I am very much looking forward to running it! Highly recommended.

Within the Radiant Dome -- Review!

I just came across a very positive review (auto-translated from the original Swedish) of my adventure module Within the Radiant Dome, published in Geoffrey McKinney's Psychedelic Fantasies line.

Thanks to Jonas for writing it!

Within the Radiant Dome: My First Published Adventure!

Sitting proudly alongside Alex Fotinakes' Beneath the Ruins, my new adventure Within the Radiant Dome is the second module in Geoffrey McKinney's awesome PSYCHEDELIC FANTASIES line.

16 pages of weird D&D fun ready to place in any campaign. Everything in the module is a new creation -- new monsters, new magic items, new spells.

Great for a grab-the-loot one-shot, or to be explored over a longer period in a campaign.

Check it out!

Mini Review: Beneath the Ruins

I just received my copy of "Beneath the Ruins", written by Alex Fotinakes, and published by Geof McKinney.

Contents:
1 bright orange detachable cover with dungeon maps on the inside
3 pages intro
11 pages room descriptions
2 pages monster / treasure descriptions

Random Thoughts in No Particular Order:

This module is awesome.

It comes in a totally practical format, which I absolutely love. The tall booklet orientation works really well -- it feels great to hold and read. It really has a gorgeously usable feel to it.

The page count is also delightfully low, which is a major plus point in my mind. I can never be bothered to read and comprehend longer than about 30 pages for an adventure, so Beneath the Ruins really hits the mark.

Apart from the maps inside the cover, the module is completely free of artwork. Of course, I love cool artwork as much as anyone, but the decision to go art-free was a shrewd one, and works great. It serves, in my mind, to increase the pragmatic feel of the module, and to maximise the content within the small number of pages.

As Geof says:

"These are not works of art. They are utilitarian modules meant to be inflicted upon your players."

Totally.

How about this then:

"Every monster, every magic power, and every magic spell is a unique and never-before-seen creation of the author. No orcs, fireballs, or +1 swords will be found within."

That's part of Geof's description / mission statement for his Psychedelic Fantasies line of modules, of which this is the first. A very cool sentiment indeed, and one which I find myself moving more and more towards in my own creations. With this in mind, though, one thing I couldn't help noticing was that some (well at least one) of the totally unique creations do verge on being simply renamed standards. I suppose this is extremely difficult to avoid, in the genre of D&D adventures where so much has already been done. The specific example from Beneath the Ruins which I'm thinking of is the room guarded by "cursed corpses". Yes, you can guess what those are. I suppose perhaps the intention is that the act of giving them a different name increases the likelihood of the referee improvising unique details about them, rather than just saying "6 zombies" directly to the players.

In terms of the content of the module, it's top notch dungeon weirdness. The room descriptions are short enough to be eminently readable, while really packing in interesting details.

Before buying this module, I was totally convinced by the simple, pragmatic format but high weirdness marketing on the Psychedelic Fantasies blog, and now I've actually got the thing in my hands I'm even more convinced.

An awesome D&D accessory, and one which I can't wait to use. I've already got it placed in a map for my upcoming Dreamlands campaign.

Highly recommended.

Just ordered...

James Raggi's latest. Very much looking forward to reading and running them. In fact a future campaign I'm currently contemplating sounds like it'll be the perfect setting for the Monolith.

I wish Death Frost Doom was available in print still :(

Supporting My First Kickstarter

Over the last six months or so, we've seen many many RPG kickstarter / indiegogo / crowd-funding campaigns come and go. Up till now, though I've been very close to supporting a few, I've never "bitten the bullet".

My first support has gone to John Adams' Appendix N Adventures kickstarter!

Why this campaign? ...I want adventures! After a lifetime of only running adventures I've written, I've recently started running bought modules as one-shots, outside of the on-going campaign, and have really enjoyed it! I don't own the DCC RPG (well, I have the beta PDF), so I guess I'd run the adventures with Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry, assuming they're easily compatible.

John / Brave Halfling is a trusted name in the old-school scene, and from everything I've seen of him around on forums and so on, seems like a super nice guy. Even if only the basic goal had been met, we'd be getting two modules for $20, which is pretty good value I think. Now the campaign's nearing its end, we're getting six modules for $20 (the minimum pledge required to get everything), and possibly a campaign setting tying them all together, if the final stretch goal is reached! Now that's what I call amazing value!

I think John's honesty is what attracted me to the campaign. It seems he's got these modules he wants to get out there, has worked out a realistic amount of money he'd need to get things going, and that's that. Here's what he writes on the subject:

"Lots of folks have asked me why I set the “sweet spot” for this Kickstarter so low ($20) and how could I possibly be making any money off of it? That is a fair question and I would like to answer it here. In my 4+ years of hobby publishing I have learned a few things by trial and effort, by researching the industry, and by making many mistakes. This new line is exactly the kind of products I love to create! And this Kickstarter will enable me to create each of them in the quantities and at the level of quality I desire for them. For the first couple of years of BHP, I was able to fund projects out of my own pocket. But like so many people in our culture, I ended up being unemployed and underemployed for 13 of the last 24 months - and that reduced my ability to fund new projects. On the bright side, as our budget became tighter and tighter, my family and I have ended up spending more and more time playing games around the kitchen table. I know other families have as well. Times are still hard for many people. Each of these digest modules will retail anywhere from $5.95 to $8.95 (depending upon their size) and provide a session or two of gaming. That is very affordable. My goal for this Kickstarter has never been about making as much money as possible. Honestly, I am not sure using Kickstarter that way is very ethical. No, from the beginning, my goal has been to raise enough money to get this new line of products going and I am more than happy to provide all the modules and bonus goals in this Kickstarter to supporters at a greatly reduced rate (compared to the retail price) as my way of thanking them for providing me with the funds to release these modules in the quantities and at the level of quality they deserve."

The Grinding Gear: referee's report part 1

So, the Grinding Gear by the inimitable James Raggi.

I like it a lot.

In the message I sent around looking for interested players, I specifically stated that it was a trap / puzzle heavy module, and a very challenging one at that. I'm glad I did this, as the players came prepared with that knowledge, and took things methodically and cautiously.

We started early (10am!) so as to have plenty of time to play through the module, and even then the players only got to the first room of the dungeon after 7 hours! That included about an hour of introduction, general chat and equipment buying, and I guess my DMing style is reasonably slow-paced (I like to savour those feelings of mystery when the players don't have a clue what's happening), but I was still surprised how long the surface area took to explore.

I think this is the one thing I'd change about the module -- the extent of the surface areas. I did actually foresee this issue, and removed one floor of the inn, conglomerating the 1st and 2nd floors into one. I think if I were to run it again for a completely new group, I'd consider trying to further reduce the surface area, in order to get into the dungeons proper a bit more quickly. Not that it ever got boring -- there are enough interesting clues and odd items littered around the empty inn to keep interest up -- but I think it would have been nicer to get into the real "meat" of the adventure a bit sooner.

As it was, at the point of finding the entrance to the dungeons, the PCs had been seriously wounded by multiple encounters with the stirges on the surface, and decided to retreat to civilisation at this point, ending the session there. The idea being that the PCs would return to the abandoned inn with reinforcements at some later date.

I look forward to seeing how they fare with the rest of the module! I think they have a feeling for its deviousness now, which should set them in good stead for what's to come.

So how was my experience in terms of this being the first ever purchased module I've run? I enjoyed that as well. There were a few moments where I briefly had the fear that I'd totally forgotten to mention some important fact (which is far less likely with material one has written oneself), but on the whole I found the module was written well enough and concisely enough (a very manageable 16 pages total for the whole adventure) that I didn't have to worry about scanning through pages of descriptive text to find the important bits.

A very impressive adventure overall.

I definitely hope to run more modules by James Raggi, and would definitely be up for running other pre-written modules, as long as they were written in a similarly concise style.

I tell you what -- I've got the urge to run the Tomb of Horrors now! :)

Two firsts

I am about to perform two gaming related activities for the very first time this morning.

1. Run an adventure module which I bought rather than writing myself.

2. Run an adventure written by James Raggi.

Seriously, I've never run a pre-written module before, ever! (Actually, thinking about it, I seem to remember running the sample adventure in the Mentzer basic set... but apart from that.)

It's also going to be the first session of D&D (well, Labyrinth Lord) I've ever run where the PCs have firearms.

I shall post a report of how it went later...