March Maps, round thirteen

     The last day of March is upon us, and therefore so are it's maps. This final map connects to last Friday's through that corridor you had to squeeze into, remember?

     The large central cave is home to four natural pillars and an altar, and below are the quarters of the people, or creatures who worship at that altar. It's residents favor archways to doors, and there is a set of stairs going down, down, down.

     Above that central cave we have another cave you have to squeeze to get into. This area houses a group of clerics whom are spying on the main group. They keep watch in the three pillared cave and sleep lightly in there rooms, of course with archways. Their area ends with double doors to their worship hall.

     Of course the two religious factions could be friendly, that is up to whomever is using the map. I had fun thinking different situations where a central cave for worship would spawn. Any ideas out there, let me know? Later guys, tomorrow starts April Artifice!

March Maps, round twelve

Here we are, the penultimate March map!

     This is another cave system with another crypt, of course it is hidden by a secret door and in between it and the main room are some supplies for the preservation of the deceased. The rest of the caves are pretty standard except I have begun putting in natural columns and at the right of the main cave is a space where someone could possibly squeeze themselves into. Naturally this leads to Monday's map, Later guys!

March Maps, round eleven and what is in store for April

     Round eleven today and only two more left, another dwarf construct.

      Taking a note from World of Warcraft, this provides a barracks and a meeting area for the dwarf guards/soldiers. The entrance/ground floor has the upper fireplace and a desk where dwarves can check in and warm themselves before heading out on patrol. The lower level has the barracks, supplies, and the main fireplace. Everything is angular, with great stone blocks with the fireplace as the focal point.

     So, what are your opinions on dwarf architecture? Leave it in the comments and I will get back to you. Next month will be April Artifice, where I will post a magic or non magic item with a little story behind it that hopefully someone will find some use for. Catch you all later!

March Maps, round 10

     Here we are, the last full week, and I decided to make a multilevel map with a trapped crypt.

     The first room we come to at the top has a secret trap door that drops into the next room over. There is only a few places where rooms or corridors overlap, there is a map I have just finished which has quite a bit of overlap. The trap in the crypt hallway opens all the small crypts, releasing ghouls (or other undead) all around the pc's. The main burial chamber, once past the pit trap, has six statues that come to life. Most of the other rooms are just there to be filled as needed. Just the trapped chest and the rubble filled hall/room in the lower left corner.

     Catch you guys later, and take care!

March Maps, bonus weekend post part two!!

Here we are, heading into the last full week of March and I wanted to show you the map I made up for my Labyrinth Lord game last Sunday.

     Vol Choloris' Lair includes areas for the wild men to live (#3) and worship the "forest spirit", as well as a wood imp encounter topside (#1) and an ogre (#2) guarding the rope that serves as the entrance. The great tree has it's roots wrapped around the artifact that is providing the dragon his power. An underground river has been diverted to provide a waterfall for the lair. In the encampment, I started but never finished, when they dug the hole for their latrine it broke into a giant ant's nest. Most of this was not explored in the adventure due to time constraints and lack of pc's, so I decided I would share this with you guys. Hope you like it and maybe get some kind of use out of it. Let me know what you all think!

March Maps, round nine

After today there are just four more maps to go, excluding bonus maps. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am.

     I ran with the ten foot wide hall down the middle again, and I put a garden area in that first room to the right. Also, the little 5'x15' rooms in the larger rooms to the left? Storage closets! Upper right we have an eating/break area and a secret corridor with a trap just inside.If you get past it (I had no special ideas for it) the corridor narrows and then goes down some stairs. At the top of the right side we have what amounts to a bedroom with a sitting area, and a closet. Upper left is dominated by a large room with a balcony level and a big hole in the middle of it all. Rubble and debris are everywhere, and who knows what caused it. I have ideas, maybe a lost bullette? Purple worm? Go nuts.

    

March Maps, round eight. The Eagle's Aerie

     Here we are, Wednesday March 19th and we have our second dwarf construct. The first being the dwarfhold entrance and gatehouse.

     After working on the star from the previous map, I wanted to do something a little more out there. You enter from the tower at the bottom of the page, this is meant to be jutting out from the side of a mountain top. An open air platform, each walkway that comes out from either side ends in a square that is meant to house a nest (giant eagle, griffin, hippogryph, whatever) and each is trained to accept a rider. The columns along the center can be used when on flying maneuvers and, in the case of attack by other flying creatures, can be used to shake persuer's. In addition, in the case of a large enough attacker, they are trained to "encourage" them to become impaled on the angular prongs at the Northern end of the structure.

     There are more dwarf architecture to come, so we will get into the discussion of what feels correct then. As always, feel free to comment, thanks!

March Maps, round seven!

     A bit late today, but I wanted to get that post about yesterday's game out there. Alright, check this out!

     So, basically I took an idea from Jurgen Mayer's entry in the Dungeon of Lost Coppers contest that Dyson ran last month. Called Summoner Sanctuary, it had a huge star shaped section dominating the upper middle portion that inspired this map. This is an enclosed summoning star with four elements and the void represented. The solid rock on the other side of the double doors is not a mistake, entrance to this place is via portals, so the doors are more for show. Summoners are rarely trusted and often persecuted so the need a private place to hone their skills. The red is either magma or raw energy, each circle awaits representation of the appropriate element, with void being open to interpretation. The summoner stands outside the star and when the ceremony is over, the creature is hopefully contained in the central pentagon.

     This makes me want to start a campaign based around the idea of persecuted spellcasters, but what do you guys think of all this? Please let me know in the comments section, and take care folks!

Yesterday's Labyrinth Lord game

     What looked like a game with six people playing dropped down to two. The two were amenable with playing an extra character, so we went ahead. A nature god worshiping cleric, Tree hugging elf, stout dwarf, and a thief had been charged by their patron (they all "worked" for the same fellow) to go to the town of Latham and check on Braagi, a druid who had gone missing recently.

     Arriving at the town they went to work asking questions and trying to help the locals. It was spring but instead of blooming the local flora had begun to wither, there were loud noises coming from the forest and no one had seen or heard from Braagi. All this occurred or started around two weeks ago. They asked for directions to the druid's domicile and a young man named Dolby offered to show them there and even hold a torch for them in the dark of the forest, for a nominal fee of course.

     Arriving at Braagi's hut they found it was wrecked! Eventually they figured out that a large creature had reached in and grabbed the druid and carried him deeper into the forest. Further investigation revealed his notebook with recent entries regarding a tribe of wild men from the dark heart of the forest. they worshiped chaotic forest spirits and normally stayed deep in the forest but in recent weeks had moved closer to Braagi and Latham!

     They returned to the village to get some rest and question the locals about these wild folk. Thankfully I had my little rumor chart I had made up, they heard about little men with poison arrows, the wild men themselves, and a section of the woods that had been twisted and warped. Obviously that was where they should go! So off they went, with Dolby showing the way.

     They reached an area where the earth had been gouged away, created a hole in the ground that was guarded by an ogre (they came in the opposite side from where the wood imps and their spiders were) They employed some good tactics and took him rather quickly. The thief climbed down a rope into the hole and scouted around. To one side there was an encampment of wild men, and the other side was a rope bridge leading to a worship area. He overheard some of the men speaking of a new forest spirit who was more "hands on", so to speak. He returned and let them know what the situation was.

     They all went down, Dolby was to stay with the horse he brought, and they crossed the bridge and knocked out guards as they went. When they came to the worship area they found Braagi, suspended from the cavern ceiling and tied (by tree roots extending down) to a long, thin stone spar that seemed to be draining his life. The thief climbed up and dislodged the stone and grabbed the druid. The stone hit the altar below, shattering into several pieces. They ran back to the bridge in time for the "forest spirit" (a young adult green dragon) to roar his disapproval and fly away. I ended it this way as we were running a little long and I was getting hungry.

      Everyone had fun and hopefully we can do it again soon. Today's March Maps is going to come out later tonight, just to let you all know. Take care everyone!

March Maps, round six!

So here we are, at the end of the second week of maps, and thought of stopping at the end makes me a little sad because this has been a lot of fun. I may have to do a regular map post after, but enough of that, on to the map!

     Like I said Wednesday this extends from that map. I decided to give this one a upper/lower level feel as the "entrance" slopes in at the bottom, then you have the ladder leading up to some sort of tribal (maybe kobolds?) community area. The cavern ends in a rough set of stairs into some small caves. of course the kobolds have a secret backdoor leading into this area.

     Monday's map is not an extension of this one, though it could have been. I may start putting a compass rose on my maps so the that they can connect in different ways, not just top to bottom. Let me know what you think. Take care guys!

Getting ready for Sunday's game

     Here is a preview of what the pc's will be up against this Sunday.

     Originally I wanted to have a picture for all of the different "things" they would be dealing with, but alas, it was not to be. I have my GM screen ready, just need to finish up pre gens and print some blanks in case someone wants to roll up a character. I really looking forward to it. Bye for now!

March Maps, round five

    

     This one came from me wanting to have rooms extending from a natural cave, and to also have a set of crypts in part of it. In the upper left we have the crypts securely lock behind double doors. At the back of this room is where the king is buried, on his throne with a couple of chests at his feet. I imagine the rooms prior to this are priests' chambers and at least one room for guards.

     At the center we have a large natural cave with an altar in it. The priests secretly pray their liege does not break forth from the crypt, maybe? There is debris at the other end of the cavern, could there be something trying to break into this chamber?Of course I felt like extending the cave further, so the exit at the top goes into tomorrow's map. Later guys!

Labyrinth Lord, this Sunday!

     At 1:00 PM at Ravenstone Games this Sunday I will be running a little adventure of my own design. There are still a few spots open, if anyone would like to stop by they would be welcome! Thursday I will post something special for the game and afterwards I will let you all know how it went. Until then, take care!

March Maps, round four!

     Here we are, second week of March and I hope you have gotten something out of this. This is the third and final (so far) of my Tellarian Academy series, my magic school. As I have gone along my thinking/planning for what kind of rooms should be there has been if this was an actual place of learning, what would be there. So of I were to use these maps I could run a game where the pc's are all magic users of one type or another, maybe investigating some at the school. I also think about what would it be like to explore this place long after it has been abandoned. What type of creatures would move in and claim this place for their own? Enough of that, let us get to the map.

     This is the eating/banquet halls. I have made sure that each of these floors connect, therefore this is the third one down. Once more we have the secret hallway, though no hidden rooms since this is mainly for dining. A kitchen sits in the lower middle room and I have placed toilets in the little rooms just south of the dining halls. I picture some poor freshman have to drop a special potion to clean out the crappers, haha. Also, for some reason I am fond of sticking a chair and small table in restroom.

     Later I plan on gathering the academy levels together and fixing anything I feel does not work. All in all I am pretty happy with these levels. Let me know what you all think, please leave a comment.

March Maps, bonus weekend post

     This is my first stab at designing a dwarfhold, from early last year and unfortunately using a cheap tablet of graph paper. The gatehouse/entrance is a huge open area where visitors can wait until they are granted admittance to rest of the city. Central is an immense statue of the founding dwarven king, of course it is the first thing you see coming in through the main gate. To the left and right of the gates (1a and 1b) are the guardhouses and next (2a and 2b) we have the stables for visitors mounts. Past the statue we have a well and the guard's barracks. The four rectangular buildings past the barracks are the toilets. What I had not got around to was the buildings on either side, which were to be the visitor's bureau (to the left) and an inn (to the right) Massive gates on both sides help to contain an invading force if they happen to get past the main gates.

     I hope to finish this and the rest of the dwarfhold sometime soon, and when I do I will let you guys see it. Tomorrow begins to second week and I am looking forward to what you guys think of the maps I have in store. Hope to hear from you all, take care!

March Maps, round three

     Here we are, Friday! Third map and second part of the magic academy.

     I had decided this academy needed a library. There are some other rooms, mostly in the secret area to the right but the main feature is the library, with a table and chairs for the students. Just above it is a semi private study area and the librarian's office, with access to the secret section, of course. Something I have not mentioned is that each square is meant to be five feet, just so you know. Also I have put even more statues, maybe they are of great past graduates, it is all up to whoever is using it. The two 10'x15' rooms in the middle right are experiment rooms, for what I had not decided, presumably something nasty.

     Well, the first week is down, with more to come. I hope to hear from some of you, leave me a comment please. Take care and have a good weekend

March Maps, round two

     As I worked on this had an idea for a magic academy. It started similar to my first one, this began with the main hallway. I wanted rooms jutting off it, then the idea for the balcony led to my having it become multilevel. I decided the instructors would want to be able to move about freely, hence the secret doors.

     In the lower left region is the students quarters, with their caretaker having a large bedroom/office with access to the secret corridor. The large room in the lower right of the map is a laboratory, presumably with some horrific monstrosity behind the curtain. Something I have deliberately done with these maps is leave some of the rooms with nothing in them. These maps are more for GM's, so if I decide to use it for two different groups then I can change things around. I just number the rooms and have two sets of notes or I could fly by the seat of my pants.

     At the end of this I decided to make it go into a lower level, this is the supply room and students living quarters, with secret rooms for experiments or lounging around. Friday will bring us further into the school. Hope you guys like these!

March Maps, round one

     This started when I got a three pack of the mini Moleskine graph paper tablet thingies. These are all going to be hand drawn and scanned in, I apologize that the left side of this first one is a little fuzzy, I will see if I can fix that in future installments. Here we go!

     I started with the idea of a fancy crypt with secret doors opening to an underground complex. The entrance at the bottom has statues in alcoves before you head down the stairs to the (fake) crypt. Pillars on either side with secret doors and traps. That is about as much thought as I gave it, though I did throw two more statues further in. A decent start, but I could do better, hopefully you will agree with me. Come back this Wednesday for more and let me know what you think.

March Maps Kickoff!

     So here we are, second day of March and Monday I will show you something from my little map book. Here are some things I put together for my 4E game using Gaming Paper, which I found to be pretty useful for making tactical maps.

     This was one I got a lot of use out of, since they started out in a village in the swamp this was my generic swamp map. I had some map tiles that I could set on here to change it up. Used sharpies on it, had to switch between pens because one would start to dry out on me. Still pretty fun to do.

     This was a park where they were supposed to meet someone, and a big demon jumped out and attacked them. The yellow marks the foot paths and the circular bit in the middle was a sunken (you had to step down into it) area with benches. Only used it the one time, though.

     Another single use map, this was the part of a major turning point in the campaign. The big bad had a friend of theirs hostage, or so they thought. After the fight was over, they found the tiefling ambassador they were trying to save had been dead for awhile. It was set in a church, hence all benches and the the altar/podium on the "stage" area.

     Tomorrow I will be posting my new stuff and I hope you enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think. Take care everyone!

Tim Snider Interview!

     I have been sitting on this interview for awhile, lost track of it but here it is. Trying to get back on track after all this crazy weather, school closings and people (myself included) getting sick. Here is Tim Snider, co-writer of the Pacesetter book Cryptworld, and author of the blog Savage Afterworld!
 
Alright, what first got you into playing RPG's

I kind of stumbled into them. As a kid, I enjoyed boardgames and reading fantasy/sci fi novels. In junior high, I met some guys who were into D&D -- it was the 80s, after all -- and they invited me to play. Loved the game, and it opened up a whole new hobby for me.

I know you from your blog and as a co-author of Cryptworld, what got you into writing?

I've always been a writer. As a kid, I drew comic books and designed my own games. In high school, I was on the newspaper staff. I majored in journalism, becoming a reporter and, later, an editor. I've been writing as a hobby the entire time as well.

Aside from your blog and Cryptworld, you have just put out One Year in the Savage Afterworld. Can you describe it for the folks who are unfamiliar with your blog?

"One Year..." is a collection of 52 post-apocalyptic mini-modules for the Mutant Future RPG by Goblinoid Games. They're designed for a few quick hours of gonzo end-of-the-world gaming. They can also be used as side treks, or one-shots at conventions, or campaign springboards. They were inspired by the One-Page Dungeon contest as well as the "Side Trek" features that were seen in Dungeon magazine. And with 52 of them, your group can play one each weekend for an entire year, hence the title.

What is your favorite horror movie?

Got a few, actually. Anything by Hammer Horror or starring the Universal Monsters. The Romero zombie trilogy of Night, Dawn, and Day. (I ignore Land, Diary, and Survival.) And for good ol' gore, I love The Deadly Spawn.

Groovy! What is your favorite subject to write on/about?

When hammering out fiction, I like stories of normal, everyday people thrust into bizarre, fantastical situations. There's usually a touch of comedy as well, so let's call it "urban humorous horror-fantasy." It's also how I approach any adventures I write. Normal folks finding themselves in the midst of the abnormal.

As a follow-up, I have two (unpublished) manuscripts that illustrate the mindset of my fiction. "Due to a bureaucratic mix-up, a soul slated for Heaven is instead routed to Hell. While the screw-up is resolved, this angel-should-have-been must toil as a demon-don't-wanna-be." Imagine being stuck in a dead-end job you're pretty bad at. Now imagine your boss is The Devil. (Working title: "I, Demon")
Another manuscript that's in the rough stages takes place from the point-of-view of a 9-year-old kid. He's like any other kid, struggling with his grades, becoming interested in girls, and embarrassed by his parents. The twist: his father is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and they've just been called to duty. The everything is coming to an end just as Billy is starting to get interested in the world around him. Can he stop the End Times? (Working title: "Meet Billy Pestilence")

s/b "Everything is coming to an end...."

Can we expect any Cryptworld stuff from you in the future?

Absolutely! Dan Proctor has mentioned that he has some ideas and irons in the fire as far as future Cryptworld support. I've been posting new "Things" in a running post at the Goblinoid Games forums. And I'm currently writing up a Cryptworld adventure collection that will contain three separate scenarios to torment players with.

Sounds great! Who have been your influences in regards to writing?   

I love the world concepts and style of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Robert Aspin.Are you currently playing/running any games?

I'm between groups right now, so I do most of my gaming at conventions and online. Nothing underway at this time though.

Of all that you have written, what are you most proud of?

Tough question. I've written a lot of non-gaming stuff I'm pretty proud of. Did a lot of investigational reporting in my days as a reporter. I've been blogging for years. I've released a few gaming supplements of my own. Co-wrote Cryptworld with Dan Proctor. Written two unpublished novels. Singling out any one of these as more of an achievement than the others is impossible.

What was it like, working on Cryptworld with Dan?

I was very pleased that Dan brought me onboard to co-write Cryptworld. As a longtime Pacesetter fan, I was already running games at conventions using the Action Table System. When Goblinoid Games acquired the brand and the available RPGs, I was thrilled that it was being resurrected. Then new Pacesetter RPGs like Rotworld and Majus were released, showing the system still had old fans and was gaining new ones. However, there was still a demand for a Pacesetter "general horror" RPG. So Cryptworld was written from the ground up as the new Pacesetter Action Table game. It was incredibly fun to be a part of, and I'm very proud with what we've created.

That is all for me, thank you for your time and take care!