I . . . Am . . . Alive!

Stretching and coming alive like the undead, searching for some bodies to write about.  Most everyone here in Canada is talking about the hipster talk-show host who was recently exposed as a covert junior-style male sadist who liked to take women around to his house and smack them around a little. Seriously.  While yes, I can make up shit like this, at the present that's not necessary.

The one thing I truly hate about being sick is how much at the mercy of such nonsense I become, as I lay about half-dead searching for things that will take my mind off the fact that I'm too tired to work. This is the thing.  I want very much to be working.  Projects are under way, inspirations have been had, I'm more than prepared to dig in and effect the 99% perspiration part of the equation . . . and I'm snorting out a baby's weight in phlegm every hour or so.

I'm feeling better now, thank you.

There are four projects specifically that I am working on.  I should only be working on one, but this is how I am.  It's probably the reason I haven't conquered the world yet.

First, there is the new book.  Within the next few months, this will become the only project I'm working on, which makes me a bit sad - but books need a lot of energy and eventually I'm going to have to stop scratching at the pages and actually fill them with words.  What I have is going quite well.  I expect I should be ready to talk about it in January.

Second, there is the wiki.  There will be new material for that from day to day, as I feel able.  There's been a lot added in the last couple of weeks and I expect to continue.  I had a fellow find me through the wiki yesterday without having any idea that I possess a blog.  Now that is progress!

Third, having completed the formatting for the distance tables, I'm now working on a redistribution of existing references in the sources table.  As a statement, I know that's not very revealing - I just want to write the words down.  Suffice to say it is a consuming, comforting project that I can do when I don't want to be creative.  Sometimes, I just want to lose myself in geography, numbers, design and troubleshooting.  Basically, I'm breaking down many of my larger market zones into smaller market zones, in an effort to make the whole system more gritty.  Yes, I know how crazy that sounds.

Finally, then, there is the trade video.

Let me apologize.  It has been a frustrating, difficult trail, mostly because I've been fighting with myself to stop going at it casually and to make an effort.  I am now working on a script.  I expect the end result to be edited.  I trust that this will make it more 'fun' to watch.  This does mean that a three to four minute video is going to take me considerably more time to produce that spitting into a microphone . . . but I feel I owe it to you and to myself.  After all, you paid me money.  It would be the height of indifference not to respect you for that.

Please be patient with me.  I am getting on my feet.  I will have meaningful product for you to consider soon.

Drivel

At least 9/10ths of the success of this blog depends upon how often I post.  The better posts, for me, are those like the last one - simple rules for managing intoxication in the game.  The more common posts are more like this the one I'm about to write: drivel designed to keep the latest post on this blog from drifting into week-old territory.

I think about 60-70% of this blog is fundamentally drivel.  I hope it's interesting drivel - I hope occasionally I mutter a line or two that someone finds useful - but just the same it's random thoughts off the top of my head, about people or ideas that I hate; about something that happened last week; about something I've read; or, less often, about some trouble I'm having with a table or rule idea.

A third of the time I spend hacking out the most recent episode of a long-term series I'm writing: the technology series; the how-to-DM series; the RPG-cliche series ... and so on.  And if I don't feel like writing one of those, or I haven't had time to do the research on one of those, I either don't write at all, or I write the sort of drivel I'm writing now.

I can't blame the gentle reader for wanting more.  I want more, too.  I wish I had time for more.  I'd get up in the morning, work at something fruitful (instead of something that only pays me more money than fruitful things earn), and post here in the afternoon.  T'would be a nice life.  But if I had that kind of time, and it paid me the kind of money I wanted, I'd probably be on a boat in Europe somewhere looking at shit or getting drunk on Italian wine.  I probably wouldn't be writing.  Or I'd be writing drivel about the kinds of wine your world should have.

Let me confess - prior to the tanking of the economy and the bicemation of the print industry (if decimation is every tenth, bicemation is every other), when I wanted to feel better about myself I would journey to the halls of the magazines for whom I used to write humor.  My editors would grin and smile, they'd offer me drinks, they'd chatter on about how funny and wonderful I was, and I'd enjoy the rewards that writing DRIVEL provides ... because that's all that magazine writing really is: interesting drivel.

Of course, when all those editors were fired, and humor was suddenly seen as an expensive luxury, my freelance jobs dried up.  Sadly, I no longer had places where I could go and pretend to be a writer.

The internet isn't the same.

Still, the rule about writing drivel for magazines is that the drivel must be written in a timely, monthly fashion.  Oh, we may not have a really good idea for a funny tale this month, but the magazine is coming out, the advertisers are paying and geez, gotta write something.  So it is with a blog, too ... except that its a little harder, because the drivel doesn't earn 55 cents a word.  But then, it's easier too, since no one ever needs to be impressed.  It's a blog.  No one ever expects to be impressed.

Sorry, sorry, digressing there.  The blog is about D&D so we should talk about D&D.

Lately I have been drowning in things I want to do but don't have time to do.  Every session seems to be an adventure in The Shit That Didn't Get Done.  I want to roll treasure?  Nope, still using that crappy old table.  Equipment list?  No, still haven't finished off those tables after The Sculptor.  The ranger in the party has a pet giant beaver?  Damn, still stuck with the description in the book, which really doesn't describe much - plus I need to know what a giant beaver weighs to get the hit points right.  In fact, there's only about 700 monsters to sit down someday and work out.

Trade table for Sopron in Hungary - shit, this is still the algorithm that counts India as one country.  When am I going to get that finished?  Wandering hexes north of Lake Bakony?  No, I haven't even begun the hex generator - I don't know when I'll get time for that.  Yes, yes, I know the cleric is 7th level.  NO, I still haven't rewritten the fourth level cleric spells.  And something else I should do is rewrite those crappy half-assed sage tables.  That would be nice.

The computer I produce my maps on just died, and the program I've been using for the last ten years can't be gotten now and has ceased to exist.  That's okay, the new publisher is better, I'll get the hang of it ... but it means redoing every freaking map I have.  Yeah.  I have plenty of time for that.

The weather generator is better but there's still trouble (I think I could work it out if I could put three solid days of thinking towards it) with the wilderness damage effects element of the table.  Not that ANY of my players really wants me to work hard on the problem.

Oh, right, I am running three campaigns.  And I'm still somehow managing 1,000+ words a day on the novel that my partner and I decided needs to get published in July.  After beating my head against the industry for 20 years, trying to get a book published, everyone but everyone now tells me the only way you make money at this industry is self-publishing.  So something is going in with Lulu this year.  Possibly two things, or three things ... depending on how reworking other books the publishers would never fucking read goes.  Well, that's all a lot of fun.

Want to know something?  I still have no clue who won the World Series last year.  And regarding the Stanley Cup this year, I haven't one idea who might be playing, if they've even started the playoffs or what round they might be in.  I haven't heard a hockey score since December ... I'm sure someone, somewhere, gives a shit about that stuff, but it ain't me.

I showed my partner the film Citizen X the other night, which she had never seen.  It is a good HBO movie made for television, and youtube has it nicely in one piece.  It is about the Russian serial killer Chikatilo, who killed at least 53 persons, mostly children, in the region about Rostov on the Don, an area something similar to Norfolk Virginia in density of population, climate, social perceptions and so on.  At 1:30:30 of the film, the psychiatrist reads from a document he wrote about Chikatilo:

"Citizen X has probably had a tendency towards isolation since childhood.  His internal world, filled with fantasy, is closed to those around him ... the adolescence of such a person is as a rule painful, because he is often subjected to the laughter of his peers ..."

Part of being an honest person, with yourself and with others, begins with hearing words like this and being able to interpret how they might be addressing you personally.  A closed person with dismiss them instantly, just as a player of D&D with no will towards introspection will not consider what it is to spend time playing or designing this game.  I am not a closed person.  When I heard those words from the film, my first idea from them was that I'm like that.  I, too, live in a world entirely construction of fantasy.  My work consists in maintaining and modifying an enormous database directly related to the film industry, which is all about fantasy worlds.  I play D&D often, and I dedicate a great deal of time to the idea of the game as well as the game itself - the drivel on this blog, for example.  I write about D&D related matters that in no way help me play the game myself, and I approach those matters as though they have the importance of death and taxes.  And when I am not playing or working at or writing D&D, I am writing or reworking fictional pieces of literature that appeal to my reconstruction of a fantasy world that suits me in the depiction of its characters, their dialogue, the fate that guides them or the resolution of their imagined structures.

The one comforting thing is that I don't have the time to murder people or hide their bodies ... though truth be told, any profiler of serial killers will tell you that a 47-year-old white male fits right into that groove.

Hey, anyone getting freaked out right now?

Don't.  This is all just a lot of drivel to keep you interested and coming back.  Enjoy your day.

Ethnology Spatterings

This is just a general collection of notes, by no means complete - but all of it refers to the borders of what would be Soviet Russia.  Most of the important stuff here is committed to memory; but I've kept it, I suppose, in case I should ever look at it.  Which I probably haven't in seven years.  Plus, naturally, much of this is no longer true in my world.  But I have committed to showing how my thought process has attempted things, and others do seem to want to take from this sort of stuff.

from Feb. 23, 2003

Peoples


Slavs
First called the “Ante” by ancient chroniclers, the Slavs had spread through much of western Russia by the 9th century. Through intensive contacts, the “Eastern Slavs” gradually branched into three human groups: the Great Russians, dwelling in the snow forest; the Little Russians, dwelling upon the steppe; and the White Russians, dwelling in the woodland.

The Poles and Ruthenians, dwelling in the west, are human descendants of the Western Slavs.

Elves
Dwelling now in their homeland upon the north coast of Ulthuan Peninsula, Winter Elves once occupied much of the northern basin of the Barents Sea. A fair portion still dwell within Glu’Bak.

Wood Elves (Karjalaiset) represent a large proportion of the population of Egreliia and Karelia, and represent a minority in Ingria.

A small population of Wood Elves dwell in the region of Zyria.

Half-Elves
These people dwell in many of the areas adjacent to the elven populations.

The Finns, subjected to strong Swedish influence, dwell in small groups in many places, even among the Wood Elves. Elves and Finns were creators of a great chivalric culture, culminating in the Kalevala.

Estonians, through centuries of intermarriage, possess few of the elvish qualities of the original inhabitants of the region. However, perhaps one sixteenth to one eighth of the population’s ethnology is elvish blood.

Lutheranism is the common religion.

Bulgars
Descended from the ogre-orc tribe once known as the Huns, the pure bred peoples exist only in small numbers as ogrillon. Such tribes are the Karachai, Balkar, Nogay, and Kumyk.

Many Bulgars have been so decimated by many centuries that the pure blood has long been diluted. Now little more than half-orcs, bred from intermixings with numerous races.

The orc blood of the Bulgars has no shared relationship with the orc tribes of the steppe.

Bulgarians are scattered primarily along the northwestern shores of the Black Sea, of Bulgar-human descent. Bessarabia, the Crimea.


Votyaks dwell in the hill-forests between the valleys of the Kama and the Vyatka, of Bulgar-gnoll descent.

Cheremiss and Chuvash are passive peoples of ¼ orc blood mixed with human. They are crop planters

Mordovians, like the Cheremiss, are herders with ¼ orc blood mixed with human.

Tatars are a dissected peoples, of orc-goblin mix, scattered on both the eastern and western slopes of the central Urals.

Bashkirs are an extensive and aggressive group occupying the Pre-Ural Plateau, of orc-human blood.


Gnolls
A ubiquitous peoples occupying much of the Arctic coastlands, stretching from the White Sea to the Laptev. The two pure-blood groups are the Ver’Kray tribes west of the Urals, and the Sam’yads, east of the Urals.

Ver’Kray is an extensive kingdom, including the territories of Naryan Mar and Glu’Bak.

Sam’yads dwell throughout the Samoyad Peninsula, the northern tundra lands of the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas, and the valleys of the Chulym and Kets rivers (where they are pirates). This last group migrated to the southlands centuries before.

Flinds are a peoples which occupy the highlands to the east and south of Gaa-Kaa, and represent a fair portion of the armies of that kingdom.


Orc
Kazakh, Kara-Kalpak, Kirghiz, Altayan

These peoples occupy the Manych and Caspian depressions, Ust-Urt Plateau, the Kirghiz Steppe, Turan Lowland, Kazakh Plateau, the Baraba Steppe, and vast areas adjacent to these. The Fergana Plain and various other small regions of steppe within the Tien Shan-Pamirs highlands are also occupied by orcs. The steppelands of the Minusinsk and Krasnoyarsk basins are orc lands.

Between the Black and Caspian Seas, and south of the Aral Sea, is the heart of orc culture, in continuous control of this land since the time of the Parthians.


Ogrillon - Kalmucks
Occupying the highlands of the Pamirs and Tien Shan, as well as the Amur Basin.


Goblins
Khanty; Ostyak


Bugbears
Tungus


Norkers
Evenki, varying Paleo-Asiatics


The Oirots live in conical tents covered with bark.



Obscure Tribes: Circassians, Kabardinians, Abkhasians, Ingushian, Chechens, Avarians, Darginians, Lakians, Tabassaranians, Lesginians, Swanians, Mingrelians, Lazians. Possible races: Troll, Minotaur, Amazon, Troglodyte, Qullan



Humans
Armenians, Ossetians, Tatic, Azerbaidzhan, Germans, Liths, Letts, Greeks, Moldavians, Koreans

The Letts, which conquered the eastern Baltic coastlands millenia ago, were berzerkers; some of that blood still exists within a few of the people of Courland.


Gnomes
Vepsians, Vodians (Iskis, Ingria)


Tauri
Today, scant populations of minotaurs, descended from the Cimmerians, can be found in mountain ranges from Transylvania into central Persia.


Culture

Russia has been culturally isolated since the Mongolian invasion of the 13th century. As the Renaissance stirred the west to intellectual curiosity and activity, Russia remained aloof from the progress achieved by the rest of Europe.

Larger cities have increasing numbers of stone buildings, while the small towns and villages favor wooden or—in desert localities—adobe dwellings. Theatres, circuses, and concerts are preferred enjoyments. Other pastimes include checkers and chess.

Russian fashion dictates loose-hanging blouses and brimless hats. Fur clothing is important to the survival of large numbers of people inhabiting the cold, isolated country.

The Byelorussian derives his name from the traditional white homespun garments he wore. He is generally brown-haired, and brown-eyed.

The Volga, known as the Rha or Oaros in antiquity and as Atel in the Middle Ages, is affectionately called “Mother Volga” by the Russians. For centuries the Volga has been sung in folk song and recited in fable.

Moscow is known among the Russian people as “Little Mother Moscow.” It is the official residence of all the royal families. As the center of cultural and artistic endeavor, it has had as residents numerous writers, artists, and musicians.

Many Mohammedan customs, such as polygyny, the wearing of veils by women, and the treatment of the latter as inferior members are consistent with the orthodox faith.


Collections

Collections exist at Chernovtsy; Zorg, Irkutsk; Ivanovo, Izhevsk, Khlynov; Kishinev; Kostroma, Minsk, Odessa, Orel, Poltava, Ryazan, Simferopol, Tambov, Tashkent, Tilsit, Volsk, Voronezh, Wilno, Yegoryevsk; and Yerevan.

Zoos can be found at Kaunas, Kiyev.

Art collections are found at Minsk and Ufa.

Archangel is known for a valuable private collection of ivory carvings.

Dorpat includes a fine artworks collection in the Ratshof family.

Kazan contains collections of coins, gems from the Ural Mountains, and artworks. An armory of note is here.

A very special collection of religious relics, seized from the Tatar Mongols who ruled here, has caused Kazan to become a place of Pagan pilgrimage.

Ancient magic and artifacts of the Bulgar Ogres, once before in the hands of the Tatars and now the Russians, are also found here.

Kiyev contains collections of artworks and magic.

Konigsburg possesses an considerable armory, containing the great weapons collected by the Teutons. An major art collection also exists in the city, and several minor ones.

Kursk includes collections of artworks and magic.

Lvov includes considerable collections by the families Ossolinski and Lubomeirski, as well as several others.

Moscow includes a collection of ancient writings is housed in the Kremlin. The monks of the Convent of the Miraculous Apparitions of Archangel Michael, possess an art collection.

Riga possesses many collections, including that of the Duke of Livonia. Such collections include the gathering of numerous ancient writings of the Lettish peoples; the largest collection of amber jewelry on earth; and magic.

Saratov possesses a zoo, herbal gardens, and an art collection.

Schaulen contains a notable collection of amber jewelry.

Smolensk has a collection of ancient writings.

Tiflis contains collections of artworks and magic.

Vyborg. The Viborgense family owns a fine collection of paintings, pottery, costumes, and other articles.



Druidic Circles

Circles exist in Ak-Mechet, Archangel, Dushambe, Harn; Kaunas (2), Kazan, Kiyev, Krasnoyarsk; Ltava; Minsk (2), Odessa; Tashkent; Tiflis (2), Tilsit, Vinnitsa; Vologda (2), and Wilno.


Bard Colleges

Colleges exist in Aktyubinsk; Bukhara, Baku, Chernovtsy; Erivan; Harn; Irkutsk; Kaunas (2), Kazan, Kharkov, Kishinev, Kustanay, Kzyl-Orda, Minsk, Murmansk, Odessa, Petropavlovsk; Pleskov, Samarkand, Tashkent; Tiflis, and Tilsit; Yakutsk

Festivals are held in Kazan (3), Kiyev, Mutrakan (2), Kiyev, Moscow, Murmansk, Perm, Tashkent, and Tiflis

Kiyev includes the Franko College.

Moscow includes several important colleges, including Maly College on Sverdlov Square; Mayerhold College; and Vaktangov College, as well as other colleges.

Among famous Bards was Simon Dach, a native of Memel.

Shota of Rust’av, who wrote the epic poem The Man in the Panther’s Skin, probably in the 14th-century, is regarded as one of the founders of Georgian literature.


Thieves’ Guilds

Pleskov includes the Chancery House.


Alchemist Guilds

Baku; Dushambe, Frunze, Ivanovo; Katub; Kaunas, Kazan (2); Kiyev (2); Kustanay; Kyzl-Orda; Lvov; Moscow, Minsk (2); Murmansk, Mutrakan (2); Odessa; Pavlodar; Petropavlovsk; Saratov; Tashkent (2), Tiflis (3); Tomsk; Torzhok; Urt; Yerevan


Artisan’s Guild

Irkutsk; Izhevsk; Kiyev; Perovo; Tashkent; Tiflis


Assassin’s Guild

Baku; Irkutsk; Izhevsk; Kharkov; Krasnoyarsk; Odessa; Samarkand; Simferopol; Tashkent; Tiflis; Tomsk; Urt; Vinnitsa; Yerevan


Naval Ports

Pechenga


Libraries

Secondary libraries can be found in Archangel, Harn, Irkutsk, Kaunas, Konigsburg, Kostroma; Molotov; Moscow; Odessa, Samarkand, Vilnyus, Yakutsk, and Yerevan.

Lvov contains the Boworovis Library.

Moscow contains the Library of the Patriarchs.



Training Grounds

Places for the training of knights include Archangel.

For the training of griff-handling, Kiyev.



Universities

Lesser universities include those of Baku, Frunze, Irkutsk; Nalchik; Odessa, Perm; Petrozavodsk; Samarkand; Saratov; Simferopol; Tashkent; Tiflis; Yerevan.

Seminaries are found at Ak-Mechet; Aktyubinsk; Bukhara; Chernovtsy, Harn; Zorg, Kaunas (catholic), Izhevsk; Khorog, Konigsburg, Kyzl-Orda; Krasnoyarsk; Minsk, Moscow, Petropavlovsk; Petrozavodsk, Samarkand; Tiflis; Vinnitsa, and Vologda; Yakutsk

Cults are found in Syk’Kar, Urt.

The Synodal Building (17th-century), which contains the Church of the Twelve Apostles, may be found in Moscow.

The Collegium Albertium, founded by Albert I, Duke of Prussia, in 1544, is located in Konigsburg.

University of Vilynus, founded by Stephen Bathory as a military training ground in 1578; it has since expanded.

University of Dorpat, founded in 1632 by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, has suffered much oppression by the town’s community. Twice efforts have been made to close down the institution.

The Bibi-Khanum, in Samarkand, is another fourteenth-century college which is a structure of splendor.


Resorts

Baths can be found at Gagry, Gulripsh, and on Saaremaa; in Adzharia and Kubanistan; in Kis, Samara

Beaches may be found along the Kurisches Haff, and at Parnu

Mineral Hot Springs are found at Chisinau, Orn, Tiflis, and Zorg.

Sanitariums may be found along the southern Crimea, at Yalta, Alupka, Soldayey, Balaklava, Alushta, Feodosiya, and Livadia.

Pag includes mineral springs which have cool and warm, as well as sulphurous and saline waters.

Nalkistan includes several magical mineral springs.



Castles, Fortresses & City Design

Bokhara has a definitely Eastern appearance. It is surrounded by a crumbling mud-brick wall, possesses narrow, crooked streets crossing many canals, and has scores of mosques. Near the Mir-Arab is the 203 ft. minaret.

Samarkand has many fine, magnificent edifices left by Tamerlane. The Rigistan is a large square, enclosed on three sides by buildings decorated with brilliantly colored tiles. The Mohammedan part of the city comprises narrow, winding streets with low, flat-roofed houses of adobe.

A striking group of domed building near the cemetery contains the tombs of Tamerlane’s wives and sisters. The Gur Amir, tomb of Tamerlane himself, has an elegantly decorated chapel. There is also the sumptuous grave of Shah Zindeh.

Kiyev - The city has the Kreshatic as its principal thoroughfare. Noted is the eleventh-century Golden Gate.



Ottoman Empire in Russia:

Chernovtsy has several attractive parks, squares, and gardens.

Chisinau includes the Alexandrovsky Prospect, the main avenue through the town. There are public gardens.

Erivan includes an old fort which rests upon a rocky eminence on the river bank. From the fort may be obtained an excellent view of Mount Ararat, 16,946 ft. above sea level.

Vati has a 16th-century Turkish citidel near the city and park.



Persia in Russia

Baku includes the Maiden’s Tower, a massive cylindrical structure formerly used as a lighthouse.



Poland in Russia

Lesser castles are found at Daugavpils (2); Grodno; Mitau

Minsk is famous for Alexander Square, is the center of the city. There is also a town hall.

Mitau includes a castle of the Teutons. Surrounding the city, as part of fortifications, is the Jacob Canal.

Tilsit includes a castle founded in 1288 by the Teutonic Order.



Russia

Fortifications exist at Bryansk; Ryazan; Serpukhov; Stalingrad; Tambov; Voronezh, Ufa, and Yaroslavl.

Town Halls exist at Orel.

Astrakhan includes Alexander Square.

Kazan includes the kremlin, founded in 1437 and the Syuyumbeka Tower, a relic of Tatar architecture. The principal thoroughfare, the tree-lined Voskressenskaya, leads across the town to the kremlin.

Moscow is divided historically into five main parts, which form concentric circles. In the center is the Kremlin, the oldest part of the city, which is located on Borovitzky Hill above the Moscow River. Adjoining the Kremlin is the Kitai Gorod or Chinese City, the crowded, irregularly built center of business. The Kremlin and Kitai Gorod were combined into the Gorodskaya Tchast, or City Quarter, which was surrounded in 1534 by a whitewashed wall, approximately 1½ mi. long.

The city center is Red Square, which lies to the east of the Kremlin, between it and the historical division of Kitae Gorod. Nine hundred yds. Long and 175 yds. broad, it is bounded by the Kremlin wall on the west, by the former Trading Rows on the east, and by the Cathedral of St. Basil on the south. The Trading Rows of the old city, on the east side of the square, contain various offices and storehouses.

In a semi-circle around the inner city is the Byely Gorod or White City, which is the most elegant section, with numerous palaces and public buildings, and the most exclusive district; it is girdled by handsome boulevards 4½ mi. long on the site of the former wall. The Byely Gorod has become the center of Moscow and Russia. Moscow is divided into six administrative districts: Zamoskvorechye, Baumansky, Sokolniky, Krassnaye Presnya, Khamovniky, and Rogozhsko-Simonovsky. Each district has a contact with the Red Square.

Adjoining the White City is the Zemlyanoy Gorod or Earth City, named after ramparts built here; on the site of the former wall is the boulevard-like Garden Street, 11 mi. long. The suburbs, occupying three fourths of the total area of Moscow, compose the outermost zone.

The walls of Moscow surround it completely. At the Vladimir Gate of the Kitai Gorod is the headquarters of the Moscow Guard. The Iberian Gate leads to the old inner city.

Of particular interest is the Tower of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin. The Tsar’s Bell, also known as the King of Bells, which lies in front of the tower. The bell-tower of Ivan the Great was built under Boris Godunov in 1600 as a public works project for the famine-stricken poor. Its five stories, 320 ft. high, are surmounted by a gilded dome and cross. In the tower are two churches and a synodal treasury; the tower contains 33 bells of various sizes. The Tsar’s Bell, the largest bell in the world, weighing over 175 tons, was reputedly cast first in the seventeenth century, but it was broken.

The highly ornamented Tsar’s Cannon, one of a line of cannon in front of the Kremlin Arsenal, was cast in 1586. The Kremlin Arsenal stands opposite the senate building; it is a storehouse for the Moscow garrison and is a center of defense.

The most important park is Gorky Park, along the bank of the Moscow River. The Alexander Garden, built over the little, marshy Neglinka River, lines a moat outside of the Kremlin wall. The Sparrow Hills afford an excellent view of the city.

Nizhni-Novgorod consists of three parts: the upper town, 330 ft. above the east banks of the two rivers; the lower town, on the immediate banks below; and the Kanavino section, or foreigner’s quarter, on the Oka’s west bank. In the upper town, on the highest point, is the fourteenth-century kremlin, enlarged and modified many times.

Pleskov is surrounded by 12th-century Kremlin walls.

Ufa includes the governor’s residence.


Sweden in Russia

Narva includes Swedish and Teuton fortifications. The high square tower, known as “Long Herman,” on the southeast side of the old castle of the Teutonic Order, dates from the sixteenth century.

The 15th-century Ivangorod Fortress, lies the right bank of the Narova River, opposite the town.

Riga includes a massive castle, with two crenelated towers erected in 1330 as a commandery of the Teutonic Order. A citidel also exists in the town, and the 17th-century Powder Tower.

Vyborg includes the 13th-century Gothic castle, around which the city developed, and the Fat Catherine tower of the old walls


Ukraine

Ltava includes the Memorial Stone.

Lesser fortifications are found at a bluff overlooking the Dnieper, 30 mi. east of Kamenskye.



Ruins & Catacombs

Anau is the site of two ancient settlement mounds near Merv. The more important mound is the northerly, older one, of a comparatively primitive farming community. The general level of culture corresponds closely with that at Sialk on the Iranian plateau.

Gagarino is situated on a terrace of the river Don, a few miles below the ruined city Lipetsk in south Russia. Buried is an oval hut (about 18 x 22 ft) having the floor scooped out of the subsoil to a depth of approximately 18 in. Mammoth tusks and stone slabs defined the edge of the hut, from the floor of which were obtained implements of flint, bone, and ivory, and close to the wall were found a number of female figurines carved from mammoth ivory. Among the animals represented in the food debris were woolly rhinoceri, mammoths, and wild oxen; bird bones and remains of foxes and marmots will also be found.

Kazan. 30 mi. to the northeast is the ancient capital of the Bolgary Khanate, predating the Mongols.

Kerch has beneath it several catacombs dating from the 2nd to the 5th-century A.D. Kurgans, or burial mounds, around Kerch contain numerous treasures to those who discover them.

A hill back of the city is called the “Mound of Mithradates.” According to legend, it contains the tomb of Mithradates VI, who died a century before the birth of Christ.

Kis is surrounded by hills which contain numerous caves.

Lake Ilmen once had prehistoric settlements around its shores.

Lipetsk and Spasski were both cities destroyed by the Mongols in 1240-41, and never rebuilt.

Sevastopol was destroyed and never rebuilt.

Smolensk includes the five-domed Cathedral of the Assumption, founded in the early twelfth century, was destroyed in 1611.

Voronezh, founded upon a Khazar town, retains underground catacombs used by the trolls.

City Economics

Who knows why I was working on this the day before Christmas?  But that's the date this file was last modified.  These notes were compiled from a book (not the book I'm reading now ... note the date on this file); but I can't actually say which book, since that could get me into loads of trouble.  C'est la vie.

This file is quite old and I've only just noticed it solves a problem I myself have had in designing a different table.

From Dec. 24, 1998

∙  An average birth rate is 30 per 1,000.

∙  The quantity and quality of a society’s needs depend on: a) the size of the population; b) the structure of the population by age, sex, and occupation; c) geophysical factors; d) sociocultural factors. Fruits and vegetables for most societies are in comparatively low demand as they are often seen as disease causing; milk is not commonly drunk; fish is in high demand in catholic countries; wine in very low demand for moslem countries. Needs may be considered as less important to economics than are wants.

∙  The level and structure of effective demand are determined by: a) the level of income; b) distribution of income; and c) the level and structure of prices. The mass of income can be divided into: a) wages; b) profits; and c) interest and rents. For the mass of people, wages are their only source of income; real wages for labor done are very low.

∙  In 1698 Vauban classified the French population as follows: rich, 10%; very poor, 50%; near beggars (cotters), 30%; and beggars, 10%.

∙  At the end of the 17th century, in Alsace in the region of Alencon, out of 410,000 inhabitants, 12% were beggars. In Brittany, out of a population of 1.655 million, 9% were beggars.

∙  In England, out of a total population of 5.5 million, it was estimated that 1.3 million were cottagers or paupers. Another 30,000 were vagrants, gypsies, thieves, beggars, etc.

∙  In Venice, in 1565, 13,027 ducats were the equivalent of 70,290 days wages of a worker.

∙  Types of demand include: a) a demand for consumable goods; b) a demand for services; and c) a demand for capital goods. Demand may also be divided into a) private, internal demand; b) public, internal demand; and c) foreign demand.

∙  60-80% of the expenditure of the masses went to food. Fertilizers and most materials which were meant to improve the life of the poor, or the produce of the field, were scarce or nonexistent.

∙  New apparel could cost a professional person as much as 15 ducats. A skilled worker in Venice could expect to pay as much as 12% of his wages for two rooms.

∙  In Milan, in 1576, in an area of 1,563 houses containing 8,956 rooms lived 4,066 families. In Genoa, as many as 10 to 12 families could occupy a single house. In small towns, more often it was only 3 to 4 persons per house.

∙  The rich generally spent 15-35% of their income on food, and the well-to-do about 35-50%. Clothes and jewelry consumed 10-30% of the income of the rich and well-to-do; the King of France at the end of the fifteenth century spent as much as 5-10% of all royal revenues on clothing and jewelry alone.

∙  In addition to those in Table 1-8, there were also household expenditures upon heating, candles, furniture, gardening, and so on. Household expenditure, food, and clothing together amounted to 60-80% in most cases.

∙  Servants pay didn’t generally represent more than 1-2% of the expenditure, but could reach 10%. In addition to wages, food, lodgeing, heating, and other items were provided for servants. Clothing for a servant cost as much as 40 florins per year, plus 17 florins for meat, 18 for meat, and more for drink, heating, accomodation, etc. Wages were generally about 70 florins per year.

∙  Also in demand by the families were lawyers, notaries, teachers (for children), persons performing religious ministrations, patronage of workers and artists, musicians, poets, dwarfs, jesters, falconers, stable boys and doctors.

∙  Instead of the usual expenditure, often money was saved.

∙  Of the highest earning group, 13% of income was an average saving per family. Savings amounted to a total of 5% of England’s national income.

∙  the golden ducat weighed 3.53 grams of gold.

∙  The level and structure of the public demand for goods depends upon: a) the income of the public power; b) the “wants” of those in power and of the community they control; and c) the price structure

∙  In England, the revenues of the crown were about £860,000 pounds in 1640.

∙  Taxes were generally not charged to the clergy, the nobility, or foreigners (except in times of war and crisis). In Ravenna, 1659, these three groups held 35, 42, and 15% of the land respectively. University professors and doctors were also exempt in France. In any event, the public power generally drew no more than about 5-8% of the national income.

∙  Milan surgeons on the public payroll were only 3 for a population of 60,000.

∙  Venice, with 100,000 people, had only 13 physicians on the public payroll, and 18 surgeons. Total surgeons for the Florence-Pisa region was 62 (24 on the public payroll), and the total physicians were 55 (30 public).

∙  Towns stored grain for future needs, and made loans to artisans, provided labor to create city works and the like, all to improve the economy.

∙  Other expenditures included repair of damages done by storms and other disasters; interest on public loans, and military expenditure. 16th century Venice spent 25-30% of revenues on their fleet, not counting the money spent upon the land army. A war could demand up to 60% of expenditure and loans, of course. Henry V of England spent two thirds of the state expenditure, Elizabeth I as much as three quarters.

∙  In 1530 there were about 825 monasteries in England with about 9,300 monks and nuns. Net income of the religious orders amounted to about 175,000£. By 1550 their furniture, silver, libraries, jewels and other holdings had been siezed and dispersed.

∙  Of church lands, 70% of the lands of Ravenna (17th century) were held by 4 wealthy abbeys, and 30% was divided among parishes, chapters, and secular clergy.

∙  The bulk of foreign trade was in foodstuffs and textiles, and in easily transportable valuables.

∙  In any society, once population totals have been established, it is important to identify: a) the economically active population (those who produce and consume); b) the dependent population (those who consume but do not produce); and c) the relationship between the two (dependency ratio).

 

Fragments - Encounters, Towns

I've gone through a few of my files and I'm convinced I have scattered junk that I can post on this site, that might be of some use to people.  I'm going to label all of it 'design fragments,' and I want to specify that such pieces are ideas that got started and ran out of steam.  I don't expect them to work for people, they didn't work for me.  I have seen some interest shown, however, so I'll throw out the things I can find.  I've chosen to make no changes, no clarifications ... seems more fun that way (less work for me, too).

I think I will mark these files according to their last modification:

From Mar. 25, 2002:

RANDOM MONSTER ENCOUNTERS


The procedures and tables for determining random monster encounters during the course of a campaign are given here.

Signs

Before actually encountering a monster, rangers and assassins will sometimes receive first warning of the monster’s existence by a sign, or trace that the monster has left behind. Signs will tend to be simple – such as tracks or spoor – among animal intelligence creatures, and more complicated as the monster’s intelligence rises. An intelligent creature may leave signs such as a mark of two slashes across a treebark, or the remains of some wood cut in a special way to show the making of a nearby lair. Even a stylus found on a city street may have serious implications for an assassin, who suddenly breaks out in a sweat because he knows what it means.

A quarter of all encounters will be nothing more than the found sign, with the creature never actually materializing. 90% of reamining encounters will begin with the seeing of the sign, and the encounter happening thereafter. If a 91-00 is indicated, there is a fifty percent chance that the wrong sign will be seen prior to the encounter, misleading the ranger.

CITY / TOWN ENCOUNTERS

The prime city or cities/town or towns in a campaign will usually have pre-determined denizens and many encounters will be set according to facts thus developed. However, urban areas have distinctive characters, just as quarters of a city will differ according to wealth, ethnic background, or purpose.


Tension. City encounters may be determined according to the cities tension level, which is an indication of any particular area’s potential for concern to those who move within it. Increased tension may mean racial or cultural violence, potential malevolence, mortal danger, or a simple threat to purse or person.

Cities are separated by street type (plazas, avenues, lanes, alleys, or courts); the wealth of a region (rich, mercantile, poor, or destitute); and authority (public, business, or private). All Plazas will have a public nature, and these will lead into Avenues; from Avenues extend Lanes, which will in turn give way to Alleys or Courts.

Plazas are a wide, open areas, characterized by gardens and available access to public buildings, markets, and monuments. They have a base tension level (T-level) of 1 (T-1); and except in periods of upheavel, will not increase during the day. Plazas are the show places of the city, are heavily patrolled, and quite safe. Generally, a city will have one plaza for every 5,000 inhabitants, with a minimum of one per city over 1,000 people. The first square of a city will be the market square; a city of 10,000 will also have a Palatial Plaza, surrounding which will be the citadel, palace, and law courts. A city of 15,000 will have a Plaze dedicated either to a university if one is present, or a military Plaza if not. The next Plaza will certainly be military, or a rural market, which will be now separate from the artisan’s market. Following Plazas could be any of the following: a roundabout, or walking park, for wealthy citizens; an area adjacent to a track or coliseum, part of some sort of public spectacle; temple or cathedral grounds; public wharves; or academies. Additional squares will repeat those already listed; if the city is a port, then market squares will juxtapose with the docks, and dock markets will separate from the artisan’s market as a place for raw and imported materials. Squares will have from 3-5 Avenues which lead outward from them.

Avenues are wide throughfares, generally 25-40’ in width, which are continuations of roads which lead out of town or pathways from one Plaza to another. They will have a base T-level of 1, or possibly 2 (1 in 6). Lining them are artisan’s shops, taverns, inns, and private habitations, usually comprising expensive flats, mansions, or estates. 1-2 avenues will exist per two thousand persons. Branching from the Avenues will be Lanes. A city will have a maximum of one Lane connected to an Avenue somewhere in the city per 500 people.

Lanes are narrower public streets, generally 12-20’ in width, providing access to the largest portion of the mercantile and working classes. The T-level of a Lane is always that of the Avenue which it connects, +1. Lanes will only lead from one Avenue to another if the T-levels of both Avenues is the same. Lanes are used for cartage from one portion of the city to another, are lined with flats, the shops of lesser artisans, seedier pubs and hostels, and warehouses. Lanes lead to other Lanes, Alleys, or Courts. Lanes may dead end (1 in 12 chance). If a primary Lane leads to another Lane, then the secondary Lane will have a one higher T-level 2 in 6 rolls. Secondary Lanes may lead to third class Lanes, and thence to fourth class Lanes … there are no lower Lanes than fourth class. Each lower class of Lane has the same chance of increasing the T-level. There will be one secondary Lane per 1,000 people; a third-class Lane per 2,000 persons; and a fourth-class Lane for every 4,000 persons. Thus a city of 5,000 would have 18 lanes. Finally, a Lane will have from 2-5 Alleys leading from it. One in 6 Lanes will lead to a Court.


Alleys are walkways leading which are usually impassable for vehicles, being usually only 5-8’ wide. They are often twisted stairways leading up hills, narrow bridges between gaps in the city, or tunnels. Primary Alleys will have have a T-level of one greater than the lane they adjoin. Alleys lead from Lanes to Lanes, or more often to Courts, or they may dead end (1 in 6 chance).

Courts are open spaces between 100-300 square feet, surrounded by very poor accomodations (5 in 6) or by warehouses. The T-level of a court, regardless of the adjoining lanes or alleys, will be a base of 3. On a roll of d10, it may be higher: 1-4 (unchanged); 5-7 (add 1 point); 8-9 (add 2 points); 10 (reroll, adding 2 points plus the next roll). Courts are often lairs for the most dangerous members of the citizenry. There will be one court per 200 residents in the city, and they are generally nasty places to be.

Sometimes higher T-levels will present “fronts” to hide their true nature to the denizens of the city. For example, an assassin, capable of detecting T-levels (qv), knows of one Lane called Vanity Street. When he was a lower level, he classified it as T-3, as he was unable to detect a higher level of occupation. However, as the assassin has gained levels, he has been able to ascertain higher T-levels; upon turning 7th level, he suddenly starts to see things on Vanity Street that were never apparent before – a spot of blood, a doorway that he realizes has never been opened, a “feeling” that the residents are actually more ill at ease than he ever guessed. Why are so many of the windows shuttered? Isn’t that a whiff of … garlic? And at once he realizes that the street is actually T-9! A shudder passes through him. What is lurking behind closed doors?

TENSION MATRIX

1: Patrols ever-present; pickpocketing (1% chance per day), general rudeness towards outsiders.

2: Common patrols will generally harrass citizens to “keep them straight”; foreigners will number 2-5% of the population. Pickpocketing (2% per day). 4% chance of encountering a beggar.

3: Rare patrols, never in groups of less than 9 and none younger than 30. Guards will not harrass citizens. Pickpocketing (4% per day); beggars (8%). Thieves travel in pairs and beggars in twos and threes. Foreigners number 4-10% of the population in Lanes; 1 in 4 Alleys or Courts will be 92-98% foreign (100 – 2d8). Random violence (1% per day), most unlikely in the direction of the party. Bawds will accost the party, informing them of hookers, selling opium, having info about illegal activities*. Bards, jugglers, actors, street performers will be common in Lanes, but not in Alleys or Courts.

4: No patrols. Crime will flourish. Pickpocketing (80% per day), and thieves will backstab persons travelling alone. Beggars will be replaced with poor gangs who are indolent or aggressive. Random violence (3% per day).
5: The area is under the control of some criminal element or cult, though the area will appear little different on the surface than T-4. Persons who are not familiar to the residents will be queried and told to move on – if they refuse, they will be sandbagged by 2-3 “mugs” of 4-5th level and a thief of 5-7th level. If they cannot provide an adequate explanation for their actions, they will be killed. Persons familiar to the residents will be asked to pay “dues,” do favors, and generally expected to comply with any request. Persons who do not will be “taught” a lesson, most likely the breaking of an arm, or a leg. No thieves will pickpocket, as they will generally demand what they want openly. Random violence (6% per day); evidence that violence has occurred (hollowed out buildings, splashes of blood, burned remains) will be obvious to the trained eye.
 
6: Abandoned by organized human settlement, this is an area used for dumping (8 in 10) or a graveyard. No person will be in evidence; destitute persons, madmen, or unaccountably evil persons may be in residence. Rats, centipedes, and other small monsters of less than 1 HD will be common. Such areas will almost invariably be Courts. Buildings will not be upkept. Dead storage for some businesses is common. Contracting Disease (4% per visit).
 
7: Area chronically subject to plague. Contracting Disease (8% per visit). Human or demi-human habitation is zero, but skulks, doppelgangers, rakshasa, vampires, and the like will portray themselves as humans. Rats and other vermin will increase in number, but more deadly creatures such as otyugh, mimics, trappers, lurkers, slimes, and molds may be encountered.
 
8: Some powerful creature’s lair exists here. If the creature is of the undead, then elements of a graveyard will be present. The creature will have retainers/followers appropriate to its character.
 
* Assassins have a 5% per level chance of locating a bawd regarding a particular activity in this area, and a 25% chance of that bawd having personal or financial info, ie., about a fence, job, movement of a particular person, etc; a 15% chance of knowledge about a recent crime; a 10% chance of having the name of the assassin who did the job; and a 5% chance of knowing the employer. These go up at the rate of 1% per level of the assassin. Thieves have an equal chance of locating a bawd, but only with regards to information about the movement of money; which will come with a 25% chance +1% per level of getting the info wanted. Assassins or Thieves can always find info about harlots, a gambling venture, drugs, or put themselves in an position to give rumors. Other characters have a flat 5% chance of finding the bawd wanted, with a flat 15% chance of that bawd having the info desired. They have a flat 70% chance of finding a harlot, a 40% chance of locating drugs, and a 10% chance of locating a gambling venture. Rumors given out by characters other than assassins and thieves will not be believed.
 
There are modifiers to the T-levels listed above, as follows:


+1 if estate or mansion is temporarily unoccupied.  -1 guardhouse present.  +2 house or quarter, burned out.  +1 at night.  -1 rich quarter.  +2 sewer beneath surface level.
Note that unnoccupied estates or mansions in the rich quarter will also benefit from the negative modifier.

Guardhouses will sometimes exist at an intersection of Lanes, thus dissuading the criminal element from thriving in that area.

Areas which are burned out will need to be cleared before rebuilding can occur; in the meantime unwanted groups, cults, or creatures may have moved in.

Night will encourage numerous persons or creatures to venture into areas outside of their normal haunts … and so the entire city will become more dangerous or lively once the sun has gone down.

Sewers will exist only in some cities, which are large enough to justify them; they will be filthy, filled with muck and sometimes running water, depending on the quantity of rain. Sewers will lead to other sewers, which will in turn have their T-level determined by the city overhead.