Ternketh - Magician's Rooms

Magician’s Rooms

13. Magician’s Study. This seems to be a room dedicated to the study of astrology and celestial mechanics. There are bookshelves, a table with instruments (and instruments strewn over the floor, most of it broken), a table and bench (with a book open on the table to no particular page), a once valuable carpet, now worthless, and a large etched symbol taking up a third of the study floor, as it is about 13 feet in diameter.

This room is also completely crammed with 24 zombies, all of which have 3 HD. These bump into each other endlessly, making shuffling, bumping sounds. These will have to be fought through before any further progress can be made. Only then will the party find that the door on the east side of the room gives way to the stair that leads into the Keep’s Basement.

The exact purpose of the symbol and books should be left in doubt. The sum total betrays a pseudo-science/religion that died with the inhabitants of the Keep, particularly the line of magicians that once understood the mechanics here. The DM should see this as the potential for another adventure, one that could lead to the discovery of a new kind of magic or simply an artifact of some kind, depending on what might work for the campaign. Sometimes not all questions are answered.

Long before the yellow musk zombies took over this room, it was cleared out and desecrated by the harpies – so everything is polluted just as elsewhere in the Keep.

Regardless of this, however, if the room is searched the party will find three books of interest. At present, these things are somewhat cursed and in poor shape, but they can be cleaned and the curse removed by the proper means. Two of these books will be of great value to obscure astronomers but probably not to an ordinary trader – they are notes and observances of celestial movements in the far northern hemisphere dating back two thousand years, making them extraordinary and rare.

The third book is entitled Detailed Mechanics of Terrestrial & Lunar Transitions (admittedly describing the reader’s fantasy world as ‘earth’ or ‘terra’ – feel free to adjust the title). This is a magic tome that requires an illusionist of 9th level or a mage of 11th level to comprehend. It describes in details a process of being able to physically travel from the earth to the moon, using symbols such as those found etched into the floor – thus, a potential adventure, if the players choose to pursue it.

The door to the 14 has been barred from the inside and must be physically or magically forced open. If the party makes a great deal of noise taking this door down, the harpies in the assembly hall (see 21, below) will become aware of the sound. This will change the circumstances of in the lord’s passageway (see 15, below).

14. Magician’s Quarters. It will become apparent from the odor of the room that, though the air is stale, the harpies never did pollute this room. The magician that once dwelt here (11th level) is he that was responsible for creating the glyphs that will be found in the Lord’s room (see Yard – 10, above). In the corner between the door and the curving wall of the stair are the bodies of four charred harpies, burned and then piled here. The magician is dead too, his skeleton lying in the bed. It has dessicated and dried and has no odor or maggots – as near as can be told, it is not undead as the magician was a good man. If spoken with by spell or resurrected, he will give a long description of how the Keep was surprised and taken by the harpies. He will also be happy to help the party find whatever they need to find. Presumably, any party of sufficient level to resurrect skeletons is probably too powerful for this scenario, so an 11th level mage couldn’t further unbalance an already unbalanced situation.

There are stores of grain and water in the room, in sacks and sealed barrels, so he did not starve to death (died of a broken heart, actually). There is a trunk that contain about 3,000 g.p. worth of coins, gems and jewelry. A second trunk will contain a collection of unusual and rare minerals that are of little economic value except to a collector. There are similar collections on two cabinets with drawers of carefully pinned butterflies and beetles, submarine fossils and plant forms that are pressed between glass. There are some 250 objects in the room (the insects are contained in glass boxes) that would be very valuable to a very specific expert somewhere, perhaps 20-80 g.p. per object. No ordinary trader would buy them, however.

There are also books in the room that will suggest three possible adventures that might interest the party. The first is an open book, written in the magician’s hand, describing where the harpies originated (in a deep cave in a high range of mountains, left to the reader to place as needed), where a harpy Queen holds court and makes policy.

There are several books that tell of an atoll of distant islands where the fossils and plants came from, where an elixir is brewed that will increase the strength of the user as long as this elixir is taken on a regular basis. The people there are all very strong and friendly, but the exact location of the atoll is lost and would require a ship and perhaps a year of exploration.

Finally, books about coleopterology (a branch of the study of beetles) and lepidoptera (study of butterflies) suggests a method for creating giant, intelligent insects of both forms, further suggesting that there is a land where this was done, causing the destruction of a culture now overgrown in a jungle, leaving its wealth behind. A map suggesting the course to this jungle land is included.

The DM may wish to include potions or scrolls in the magician’s things, but I personally wouldn’t do this. The less power I give to the party as they fight their way through the Keep, the better – though I might concede to including a potion allowing healing if the party really does need a boost at this time. I’m not heartless.

15. Lord’s Passage. This was originally included in the Keep as a means for the Lord to travel from his room to the assembly hall (see 21, below), so as to make a grand entrance next to the throne. If noise is made breaking down the door to the magician’s room (see 14, above), then three harpies will emerge from 21 into the passageway. If the passage is empty when they do this, the harpies will immediately defecate near the doors (harpies are able to do this at will every few hours) then retreat back into the assembly hall.

If someone from the party is watching the passage, however, all three harpies will sing. One will fly forward to challenge the intruder, but will immediately give ground if encountering real opposition. All three harpies will remain in the passage until the one that has gone on the attack is dead or is able to retreat with the others.

If the players enter the passage after the defecation, the odor will be so rank that characters will suffer a -1 to their strength and constitution abilities (with a corresponding reduction in hit points, if applicable). If the harpies were not made aware of the party’s approach through the passage, the passage will be empty and will give no such penalties.

Ternketh - North Rooms

North Rooms

These are chambers beneath the yard, which can be accessed at three points, each of which gives to a 13 ft. flight of stairs downward.  The floors of the lower level are made of stone.  Though it's imaginable that there would be windows facing the outside, which is the open sky far above the land's surface, these would be additional places that needed defending; therefore, the walls are solid throughout.

1. Guard’s Lounge. A simple room with nothing more than a table with four chairs. It may be described as completely empty or the DM may wish to describe the table as being rich with claw marks (which I forgot to say when I ran this). The smell should be musty and reminscent of dried fecal matter and faintly stale urine, though the room has not been used for that purpose in perhaps a year.

2. Guard’s Barracks. These are the north barracks. There are eleven bunks, three chests and a table and chairs. The chests are locked and contain clothes, blankets, one weapon in each (2 daggers and a hand axe) and small iron coffers that will rattle with coins (not many, perhaps 3-30 s.p. and 1-10 g.p.). 

Because of the locks, the harpies have not defiled the contents. The same cannot be said for the bedding and every other surface in the room (with something fresh left in the one corner).

If the party is not careful about checking corners, a harpy in the room will attack the first entrant, attacking from behind. If discovered in the corner it will fly over the top of the bunks (there’s about four feet of space, more than enough) towards the door leading towards the commander’s lounge (see 3, below). It will stand its ground against up to two opponents but will flee against three. The room, however, will not leave much room for manuevering. Note that there is a grey pillar in the middle of the room and that the space between the table and the wall is quite narrow (only two feet).

If the harpy flees, it will rush through the commander’s lounge, the mess, the kitchen and the main tavern, trying to get to the stairwell to the surface (see 6, below).

3. Commander’s Lounge. Similar to the guards’ lounge, this features two chairs (for heart-to-heart chats) and doors that lead into the commander’s quarters, the tavern’s back room and the mess. If the party asks, the door to the commander’s quarters will have the strongest smell, as the carpet inside will retain a stronger odor than the hard floor.

4. Commander’s Quarters. This is a small 6-foot square cubical large enough to contain a posh bed, trunk and (once) fine carpet. This trunk was not locked and though it contains a very excellent scimitar with a jewelled handle, that will appear to be +2 if examined, it is cursed from the harpies desecrating its magic. Along with clothes and blankets found in the truck, a lock box will contain 100 g.p. and double that amount of silver, along with a silver holy symbol with turquoise, worth another 100 g.p. The holy symbol is also cursed, so that a character possessing it will be -1 against all saving throws. The carpet will be rotting and worthless.

5. Back Tavern. The Keep includes a small area for socializing and drinking that is separated into two parts. The back tavern reaches from the commander’s lounge to the corner behind the stairs at 6. The area features a column in the bottom center of the room.

The area will include two zombies that have wandered into this space through open doors and become trapped here. It is probable that the party will dispatch them quickly, unless chance has it the party is surprised, in which case one of the zombies might get a lucky hit. Though below the surface of the yard, these zombies will only have 2 HD.

6. North Stairs. These lead to the north door of the yard (see Yard location "3"). The space is narrow (4 feet) and characters must move single file through this space.

7. Front Tavern. This area features several chairs, tables, a short bar and a tapped barrel. The barrel is dry, as the tap was left open long ago. The tavern is empty, unless the harpy from 2 has successfully fled. If that is the case, then the harpy will be hiding here, either in front of or behind the bar, depending on whether the room is entered from 5 or from 9. If the harpy is hiding in front of the bar, it will attack (surprising 3 in 6) in a way so as to keep the party from pressing forward (so that it will fight only one enemy). If pushed back, it will retreat into the corner and take a position above the barrel, where again it can only be fought in melee by one person at a time (though others can hurl weapons or fire missiles).

8. Storeroom. While the reinforced doors to this room will not bar entrance, they are ‘sticky’ and it will be apparent they haven’t been opened in a long time. The interior is filled with many boxes, crates, trunks and barrels, only marginally soiled. All the barrels have been partially unsealed for years so the contents will be evaporated or unpleasantly flat. There is no edible food here but the trunks do contain many books, pieces of kitchen ware, mugs, pottery jugs, oil lamps, bolts of cloth, small wooden articles, books and tools. One of the large crates does contain 60 bottles of rice wine that have been sealed and are still good. In all, there is probably some 400 g.p. and 2,000 s.p. worth of salvageable goods in the room.

If the party passes through the room, a random member will be attacked by a huge spider. If the combat that follows lasts more than four rounds, another member of the party will be randomly attacked by a spider (or the same person, if they are fighting alone), so long as anyone remains in the room. There are some 15 huge spiders that will attack in this manner. If magic is cast that has a pyrotechnic effect (that is, something that can be visibly seen, including a magic missile), then the sensitive nature of the spiders will be aroused and twelve will swarm the occupants of the room at once.

Once all the huge spiders have been dispatched, the phase spider will suddenly blink in, attack the party member most isolated from the others (roll surprise again). It will remain long enough to allow the party a round, if the party was not surprised, before blinking out again. The spider’s poison works like that of the snake, except that it causes 40 damage over ten rounds (assuming neutralize poison isn’t available) to those failing save. The phase spider will continue to attack until it produces an unconscious victim. If it takes more than half its hit points in damage, it will simply move into phase and remain there (unless it cannot).

9. Passageway. This space serves as access between the kitchen, tavern and storage room. Once upon a time, this was a very busy area. Each time the passage is entered, a wandering monster roll should be made to discover if the party encounters a poisonous snake from the kitchen or a huge spider from the storage room.

10. Kitchen. A cramped space with rotted food that has become so dessicated that it no longer carries a strong odor. The sacks and stores in crates will be moldy and past any value. The tables, stools and single purple-covered chairs will be soiled and ruined. The stoves have pipes that will send smoke up through the rampart wall towards the outside Keep wall.

If the party tarries in the kitchen for more than five rounds, they will draw attention from three poisonous snakes that will emerge from the drain in front of the cutting table next to the two stoves. These will slither under tables and stoves, making them difficult to attack – presume that each round it may be impossible to reach 1-3 snakes to attack them, while the snakes will still be quite capable of slithering out to attack the party.

11. Mess. This is the dining area for guards and the commander. The shorter benches are easily stepped onto in combat. Fighting from atop a bench will increase a character’s to hit by +1 while defending from atop a table will increase a character’s armor class by 1. This is helpful as the mess contains seven zombies.

Like the zombies in the back tavern (see 5, above), these will have 2 HD and have been trapped by the doors being closed. The harpy from 2 is able to rush fairly easily through the room without beign attacked by the zombies partly because it knows what’s here and has had plenty of practice dodging zombies.

12. Back Passage. This is an empty passage with only a stool at the end nearest to the Magician’s rooms (see 13, below). The passage was originally built to carry meals from the kitchen to the Lord’s chamber. There are four dead bodies of zombies in this room that have been ripped asunder by harpies, so that they are nothing but piles of mold and yellow plant-flesh. The door that separates this passage from 13 is reinforced, but a thief listening at the door will hear the shuffling zombies beyond.

Ternketh - Yard & Tower

Beginning with the ramparts map and the yard map, which are nearly the same. The ramparts map demonstrates on the keep's layout at the level of the walls and roof of the central tower, while the yard map gives the same view but from the ground level, including the tower's interior. For the most part the ramparts map can be ignored unless the party does not ascend onto the walls.

The chinked stone imagery of the yard map (and indeed all maps) is considered to be a solid wall and cannot be moved through. This pattern represents a fill of the solid wall up to a fifteen feet height.  These are not the maps I sold, but maps I created for my own use.  They can't be sold because they're full of proprietary material.

Yard Map Notes

1. Gate. This narrow gap in the wall is only six feet wide. There are no wagons in Ternketh and large groups are discouraged from entering, so the party will have to move in no more than two at a time (an average human is about 25 inches in diameter when wearing armor). Nothing whatsoever can be moving on the bridge before the gate or in the yard beyond; the players will be expecting resistance but in fact virtually everything is underground. The party will be seen by one harpy, but this one will be hiding near the water trough behind the central tower (see note 7), where it cannot be seen from the gate.

2. Entrance Way. This is a square area twenty-two feet wide and eighteen feet deep, with two evident reinforced doors, one at each far corner to the left and right. The ground between the doors and throughout the yard is littered with bones and scored with tracks of dried blood, the latter being dry for years. This would seem to suggest that bodies were dragged over the surface and butchered here, then eaten and the bones broken apart. This is precisely what happened. The various skeletons have since been kicked apart and mixed together. It is a grisly scene.

The door on the right leads down via stairs into the guard’s lounge (see Lower – 1, below) on the north side of the Lower Map. The door on the left leads down via stairs into the armory (see Lower – 16, below) on the south side of the Lower Map.

3. North Door. This door gives way to the stair that leads down into the guard’s tavern on the north side of the Lower Map.

4. Drain. This is a very wide hole in the ground of the yard, about four feet wide and covered with an grate. The bottom of the shaft is about twelve feet below the surface; the inner walls of the shaft are made of mortared stone; there are many chinks and cracks in this and the hole is quite dark. 

There is a 10º slope in the yard immediately surrounding the drain and the north yard does generally slope towards it. The remainder of the yard has shallow grooves everywhere throughout the yard to help flush the surface towards this drain.

Near the drain is a very large pile of bones, with plenty of dried blood that remains despite what must have been many rainfalls. The bones are about a foot deep here and the blood that was let here is much darker than elsewhere in the yard.

A close inspection of the drain, tapping the metal or trying to remove the grate, will awaken four snakes (one per round) that will rush out from where they like to rest in the inside walls or in the clay pipe that runs below ground from the kitchen to the drain and thence to the well (see Lower Map). The snakes will not attack immediately upon coming out, unless the characters outside give ground.

5. Well. This is a very wide shaft that goes right through the keep. The well is 30 feet in diameter and has a lip around the outside that is about three feet high. Though drawn in a perspective that suggests the bottom is smaller than the top, this is for visual effect; the walls are vertical. There are many chinks between the stones, which support the nests of more than one hundred finch-sized birds. These serve as prey for the snakes (which also prey on mice and sometimes giant rats). A close investigation of the well sides will reveal a snake sitting in the stones about five feet down; there is little chance the investigating character will be bitten unless the DM wants it. Of course, if the characters begin to descend into the well, they will probably be attacked.

The plank that reaches over the well seems to have no immediate purpose. In the early days of the Keep, it was used to rid the residents of criminals, but it hasn’t been used for that purpose in two centuries (if the party tries to speak to the dead about it). It is strong and will support a very heavy weight throughout. Opposite the plank there is evidence that there was once a windlass that reached over the well, but this is now gone; all that’s left are the metal fixtures bolted into the well’s edge. This was done by the harpies.

Though it would seem useless, the magic of the Keep – the same magic that keeps stone floating in the sky – will cause water to collect in the bottom of the well, enabling it to serve as a cistern. It will be difficult to see, but there is two feet of water suspended in the bottom. The well will not hold anything but water, so that persons and things falling in the well will drop right through. This dweomer also has the effect of purifying water, as impurities fall out while leaving the water behind.

6. Water Trough. The trough itself contains nothing but some bad smelling damp sludge in its bottom. However, next to the trough will be hiding a single harpy, that will be aware of the party moving into the yard through the main gate. If the party enters by ship, landing in the yard or moving down from the ramparts, simply place the harpy on whatever side of the central tower best hides it. The harpy will want a single victim to attack, if it can get that. Otherwise, it will wait until discovered, then it will attempt to flee towards the yard entrance’s south door (see 2, above) or to seek shelter in the ramparts. It will sing once there, if anyone comes as close as 60 feet from it. If pressed further, it will fly off the Keep completely, seeking to reach the door already mentioned by flying under and entering the yard through the gate.

It knows well what is waiting behind the central tower door (see 9, below). It hopes that in the melee there will be one victim that can be attacked by surprise.

If the harpy finds itself facing only one opponent, it will always seek to attack, counting on its claws and teeth to charm its victim. The purpose of the harpy being here is to cause as much trouble as possible, so the harpy should not make any attempt to enter a stand-up fight; if someone approaches to help a single victim, the harpy will cause damage but will flee rather than fight two opponents.

7. Cages. These are shallow cells with stone floors and sides that were used for keeping animals for food and sometimes for unusual biproducts, such as rhino horn or bear claws. They were also once used for human prisoners. The top of each cage is a frame of heavy wooden timbers. This frame opens in two ways; half the frame can be unlocked, though it requires two persons to lift the frame and roll it to an open position. On the side that can’t be opened, there is a human-sized trap door.

The harpies keep their freshest kills here, so there are half-eaten bodies in one of the three cages that were caught on the surface within the last few weeks. At the time of the party’s approach, this will be the cage farthest from the gate. The nearer cage on the right will have corpses that are several months old and the nearer cage on the left will have corpses that have been picked clean. Each cage is about one third full. The harpies change which cages they’re using as the dark ooze will clean the bones of one cage before deciding to move to the next (once the new bodies are ripe).

At present, the ooze is in the cage nearer to the gate, on the right (where the bodies are several months old). It will not be a hazard so long as the cages are left alone – however, it is evident that the harpies are not removing valuables from the bodies, so there are visible holy symbols, prayer beads, scattered coins, necklaces, weapons in scabbards, armor, gemstones set into helmets and so on. The DM should decide how much value would serve as an enticement – and whether the cage with the ooze has the best visible treasure in it. I wouldn’t myself; once the party tried one cage and found treasure without any threat, they would definitely enter all three cages.

The ooze will surprise 3 in 6, due to it being hidden under the bodies and refuse.

8. Pillory. The platform with its gibbet (hanging cage) is empty of any victim. There is nothing at all of importance in the southeast corner of the Keep, though there are many bones and bloodstaines here.

9. Guard Room. The reinforced door that leads from the yard into the central tower will open easily – into the tower. Once open, however, the zombies inside will grab hold of the door and keep it open, rushing out to attack the first person they can reach.

There are six zombies in the guard room and six more crammed together on the spiral stair. All of these have 2 HD and will move into the combat until they are all dead. If the party tries to keep them trapped in the open doorway, they will press together and force the party back through overbearing (treat the weight of three zombies as one creature). The zombies attack without thought or organizing. They move fairly fast, about 20 feet per round (or 10 feet with an attack).

This door to the Lord’s Room (see 10, below) will have a glyph on the door that will cause 10-21 fire damage (2d6 +8) to anyone who touches it. Before the door is touched, if a thief is present, the thief’s detect traps should be rolled (even if it is not stated), simply because there are scorch marks around the door a thief would probably see. If the thief does look for traps, then presume the chances of seeing the glyph are automatic.

10. Lord’s Room. Because of the glyph on the outside, this room has not been desecrated by the harpies (well, except for the fireplace). The DM may choose to imagine a last resident whose skeleton is found here, perhaps slumped in the chair, dead of starvation, or on the floor with a dagger in its rib cage. I chose to leave the room empty. There are books, chests, a desk and chair, a writing desk, an ornate and fabulous bed, a carpet worth considerable coin and a barrel next to the bed.

There are glyphs in the room here, too, like the one on the outside door (see 9, above), which much be searched for (no scorch marks). There are four in total: if the chair is sat on, if the ink well is moved, if a book is removed from the bookshelf and if the far chest by the bed is opened.

The barrel next to the bed will have a dipper and be well sealed. It is filled with red wine, about two thirds full. At the bottom of the barrel is a magic wand that can be detected if the barrel is searched for magic and brought to hand if the character possesses palm object as a cantrip. It is a wand of dispel magic with 5+, one of which will be sufficient to clear the room of all glyphs (because the Lord designed these glyphs to be taken down in this manner).

It is probable the characters may not realize the wand is there; they may even sell the wine after succeeding in clearing the Keep without ever realizing it held a wand.

Saturday Q&A (feb 10)

Matt H. writes,

Been a bit of a lurker on and off of your blog and wiki for years. I have come to place high value on your thoughts and opinions on the game due to your years of dedicated experience. I try to wonder what your game actually looks like, and thankfully you have published a lot of your rules to your Authentic D&D wiki.

I had a couple questions though regarding your evolution of the rules. Forgive me if this is too much, this list has been growing unasked for a while.

1.  It appears that the traditional thief skills are the domain of sage abilities. As a new character only gets one sage study at start, does this mean that thieves in your game begin with only a small subset of their traditional abilities, or are all the rulebook skills still available to all thieves?

2.  Do fighters in your game ever gain access to multiple attacks as per PHB, or the ability to sweep attack through less than 1 HD opponents?

3.  As per my reading, a human man-at-arms would have MASS_HP + 2-5HP (presumably half of a level 1 fighter's HD). How does this compare to your standard Orc warrior? I wonder if you grant the classic 1 HD humanoid monsters additional HP for combat experience, or if they just have their MASS based HD

4.  Speaking of mass based HP, does a character with a CON bonus to their HP apply this bonus twice at first level (once for mass HD, the next for level 1 HD?) Does a non-leveled character gain HP bonus from CON to their sole Mass HD?

5.  Do you allow the selling and buying of magic items in your campaign world?

6.  Do you grant XP to players for magic items acquired?

7.  Do you require training time and/or costs for leveling?

8.  If you were to roll up a character for yourself (to play under a clone of yourself DMing), what type of character would you choose?

Answer:  Let me go through these one by one.

1.  Yes, the thief does start with only one actual sage study, which will have at least two sage abilities. Much of the sage abilities for the thief haven't been written, but this is only because it's of less importance to my ongoing campaign at this time. I'd like to draw your attention to a few points, however. To begin with, all thieves possess some backstabbing skill, even if they don't possess this as a sage ability. This is discussed on the backstabbing page, under "unskilled backstabbing." Secondly, thieves go up in level very quickly. This is of special benefit to stealth ability, which gives a bonus per two levels (1 step closer when sneaking up). Since a 1st level thief becomes second faster than any other class, this bonus is of special benefit to the thief more than any other character. Overall, remember, a thief reaches 4th level when a mage only reaches 3rd. This faster levelling also means a swifter accumulation of sage abilities overall, since each level brings more knowledge points. So it works out.

2.  You can find the multiple attacks available for fighters, paladins and rangers on this page. In this regard, they get multiple attacks one level earlier than in the PH. After about 30 years of using the fighter multiple attacks against 1 HD opponents (though when I look, I can't find the rule for this in the PH or the DMG), I discarded it. It doesn't add effect to the game if a fighter can't be pulled down by minions. No one should feel that safe.

3.  Think of the man-at-arms as someone with practical training, and the typical orc not having this. Thus, a typical human weighing between 150 and 289 lbs. has 1d8 hit points. With training as a soldier, +2-5. A typical orc is larger than a human, by about 10-20% (the MM says they're 6'+tall), so most have 1d8 h.p. and some have 2-8 due to being larger, and 290 lbs. or more. If an orc got the same training as the human, then the orc, too, would gain that +2-5 hit points. If an orc becomes a levelled fighter, then it too has 1d8+1d10, just like a human. Combat experience can produce a level eventually, but training is more effective.

4.  On the whole and throughout the game, I don't apply a hit die bonus to any character without training. The first thing the army does when training an individual how to be a soldier is to teach them how to gain the most from their own body. From that I draw that while an orc may have a 16 constitution, it doesn't get a +2 bonus unless it is also "hardened," or trained ... as we may assume that a "civilian" orc generally overeats, doesn't exercise, doesn't care or know about health and the need to train, and so on. So no, a 1st level fighter doesn't apply his or her constitution bonus to both level and the mass die roll.

5.  I don't sell magic items in my game world's market. I can't stop a character from selling one. But as I've said often, if I'm buying your magic item, how do I know it's magic, and not a scam? How do I know it's not dweomered so that it looks like one, so the merchant can get my money and leave me in the lurch? For that matter, what does a +1 sword feel like? Look like? How can I tell it's +1 if I'm in a market place? There are so many logical problems with this, I can't believe that any authority would permit the possible grift going on -- after all, what stops the local Lord, or a King, from showing up and seizing everything "for the good of the people"? How is that every one of thousands of towns has a table full of magic items for purchase, for me to pick and choose what I want? How is it shipped? Who's making it all? If it's that easy, then why are the items so expensive? It's all nonsensical to me.

6.  I do give X.P. for items acquired, using the numbers from the DMG.

7.  There is no cost to levelling and no training that needs doing. Players just "level" on the spot, though they get no experience until a fight is over. I assume that players are simply always trying to better themselves, and that the levelling up is evidence of some epiphany or innovation they've just discovered about how to protect themselves or fight better. Besides, it IS a game.

8.  It depends on the die roll. My favourite characters are monks. I enjoy running a mage who's brave enough to fight hand-to-hand.

OhioHedgeHog writes,

Kronstadt market. Did you generate one of those for every village that had something for sale? Or only market towns? I've made a couple forays into attempting this but it always seems so time-intensive. Appreciate your response.

Answer:  I do it for only market towns -- but then, I have 1,236 of those. I'm able to generate a table for any one, normally, in this manner. I start with an excel document called "One City at a Time." This is a doc that calculates the distance of each market from every other -- which in excel creates circular errors in abundance. The file has to be adjusted to one "iteration" at a time, which means it calculates only once when I hit the F9 key. Left alone, each time it makes a calculation in this manner, excel tries to resolve all the calculations (26,000 everytime I hit F9) until there's a resolution -- which there can't be, unless I get rid of one specific calculation adjacent to the city I want to calculate for. Thus, I put a "1" in front of, say, Amsterdam, and hit F9 until all the numbers resolve throughout the document and they stop changing. This takes about 25 seconds, or about 30-40 taps of the key.

I copy these numbers, which are now the distance of every other market in my system from Amsterdam. This I plug into one end of a different excel document called "Sources." Once the data is pasted in as values, the Sources doc calculates, instantly, the total number of references of all goods and services that I've compiled, specifically their relative value calculated for Amsterdam. I then jump to another worksheet in this document and copy the data there. This takes about 7 seconds.

This new data is now copied, as values, into the prices page, which now calculates the effect of the new reference totals against all the goods and services that are sold in my game, spitting them into a "prices template," such as for Kronstadt or in this case, Amsterdam. I copy this, paste it into a new worksheet first as values, then as format, then save this sheet as a new workbook. I name the workbook and send it to my players (in the last case, through Patreon). This takes about 30 seconds.

Voila. Market page. For anywhere. The price for any given village is set by the market whose "zone" the village is in.

Yes, to build the system took 10 years. At the moment, my price table is in disarray, because I'm rebuilding it, and expanding it, for the Streetvendor's Guide. I save many backups.

Maxwell in California writes,

My first session with the two player party is Saturday.

My one-year veteran is excited. His paladin is nearly 3rd level, and 4th means warhorse, which he’s been craving since he rolled his character. What’s more, right before we stopped playing he got a magic flail; he’s spoiling for a fight to learn what it does.

Girlfriend is set on a mage because she wants the occultism study; she’s already gone and bought a beautiful tarot deck. Not Rider-Waite, a Universal, with gold accents (this video shows it well enough:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xzewEuAa1Ig) We decided a single-card draw would be plenty for the “make a reading” ability.

She’s played one campaign before, either fourth or fifth edition, and she’s intrigued by just how different my game seems.

I decided the best way to do additional PCs was to simply move henches up to first level instead of fifth. Otherwise I’ll follow your normal rules for henchman acquisition.
I have bumper cars aplenty. I’ve been running sample combats. I’ve been practicing throwing up a blank battle map in photoshop (on the player facing monitor) and quickly sketching terrain. After mapping hammers I’ve been drilling myself on which facilities a given hex has; I think my descriptions are improving. I’ve been reviewing my notes on frameworks you’ve presented , e.g. using NPCs for exposition, eliciting emotion, hooking, and immersion; or rewarding success not only with wealth but also status, power, opportunity, and changes in the world.

Two players will make for a fast-paced game. I’m a little nervous, as always. But I’ll give them my best!

Answer:  Had a development in my campaign last night.  The party's lesser levelled henchfolk, 1st to 4th level, were investigating a group of local bandits raiding a minor trade route near Kronstadt.  I was setting up the series of events that would allow them to discover the bandits, starting with stumbling across a small Romany caravan that had been plundered.  While waiting around and talking, one of the NPCs, an old woman, asked the halfling druid, "Would you like your fortune told, dearie?  2 silver pieces?"  Tavrobel agreed and produced a "deck" on her cellphone, which we "drew" by touching the screen.

The 9 of Swords.  Upright.  Absolutely, the worst pull in the deck.  I'll read the description from my original tarot tables: "whatever the worst thing that can happen to a player — the appearance of an old enemy, assassins from the player's past, war is declared, the malice of heaven descends — must now take place.  Conflict and death must play out as these things will.  The time for waiting has gone.

The party has been waiting and working towards the day they can put down a 20+ level wizard whose enmity they've avoided for 6 years of campaigning.  They obtained a peraipt of non-location so that the wizard can't scrye them magically.  But now the card above obliterates that.  Somehow, "Patroclus" has located them and as the DM, I'm forced to abandon all my plans for the campaign instantly and play the card, off the cuff.  My method was to have the party find the bandit party on the road the next day ... slaughtered.  Evidence of a massive path of destruction headed overland in the direction of the party's lands, intending to take them by surprise.  A low-level party following this path and finding a straggler who, unknowing, knows the name of the army's master.  Upon my saying "Patroclus," the party paled.  A little courage was needed to keep following, while sending back some of the low-level party to warn the party's main characters.  Discovering an army of 4000, made of haruchai, ogres, hill giants and owlbears, presumably raised in the wilderness forest of nearby northeastern Muntenia.

The rest of the running consisted of the party rushing in separated groups to call in every favour they could to raise an army in, approximately, 6 days.  As the party has been adventuring a while, there were many sources to attempt.  They had good die rolls and they're now drawing together centaurs, pixies, sprites, treants, brownies, badger-men, retainers from local lords, a friendly army from an ancient king they once raised from the dead, and his wife too, and as many mercenaries as they can pay for.  It was a hell of a running.

And it's not done.  The party will spend the next intervening two weeks trying to remember anyone whom they ever helped, while scruitinising their sage abilities for ideas.  Fun, fun, fun.

Let that be a warning for the Tarot readings your player does, Max.

_____

Thank you for your contributions.  Nice to have a full docket.

If readers would like to reply to the above, or wish to ask a question or submit observations like those above, please submit  to my email, alexiss1@telus.net.  If you could, please give the region where you're located (state, province, department, county, whatever) as it humanises your comment.

Feel free to address material on the authentic wiki, my books or any subject related to dungeons & dragons.  I encourage you to initiate subject material of your own, and to address your comment to others writing in this space.   

Ternketh - Structural Features

Throughout the keep there are two kinds of door: the heavier reinforced door and the lighter, ordinary-use door. The map will show the reinforced door as thicker, with a larger handle and a spiked surface. None of the doors in the keep should be treated as ‘stuck,’ as the harpies have been using them regularly. There is one barred door, however, found in the magician’s rooms (see below).

The doors in the crypt have no handle (this is seen on the map). Each is a wooden frame about four inches thick with panels, which can be bashed in with a few sound hits. They are not meant to keep out characters – but as these haven’t been broken in, the characters will not encounter the usual defilement of the interiors by the harpies. The doors in the guard areas are designed so that they have an inch space under the door and reach about half an inch short of the wall (so that they can be pushed open by with a shoulder).

The floors of the Keep (including the outside yard) are largely plaster and cement surfacing. The walls will be mortared stone. Stairs will be made of light stone except for the set into the lowest level, or Basement, which are made of black stone. The ladder in the central tower is of course made of wood. Each staircase descends 15 feet; the ladder ascends 20 feet.

There are stairs that are located at each corner of the yard that lead up into the ramparts. There are six stairs that lead from the yard down into the lower level; one of these is a circular stairwell in the central tower. The remaining sets of stairs lead down into the Basement or into the Temple.

The walls of the rampart are only 15 feet higher than the ground of the yard. The ramparts are nearly decorative – they were used in the keep’s past as places for walking, contemplation, watching the town and the sky. The inner part of the rampart is surrounded by wooden beams that serve as balustrades; these are wide enough to sit on an centuries of doing so have worn grooves in the wood. The chief defense of the Keep is the ‘moat,’ the open space between it and the town.

The forward rampart, that part of the wall over the main gate, has four large lamps upon it, more than two feet wide. Once these were filled with oil and lit; since they have been used often by the harpies and are full of dried dung. They can be cleaned and are of some value, being made of brass and weighing three stone each.

Surrounding the yard are 22 awnings made of wood and leather. These would have been replaced yearly prior to the harpies, so they are weathered as well as defiled by the harpies. The leather for these is worthless. There is enough in all of them to make six suits of leather, each of which would be cursed -2, if the players felt this was something they would like to do. Below the awnings will be found head blocks and some cloth, all along the west wall, suggesting that some residents might have slept outside at night, with the barest minimum of shelter.

The Center Tower

This isn’t really much of a ‘tower.’ It is a twenty-foot high structure that is little more than a cross-shaped house. The open air at the top includes a hwacha (see after for details), a trap door that leads down into the interior and a small tin-lined hole in the upper left corner of the roof. This is the outlet for a small fireplace inside the tower. No smoke will be coming from the chimney, however, as the people who dwelt here are long dead.

The floor in the Lord’s room of the tower is made of high quality cherrywood, which is reflected in the imagery on the map. The fireplace is of tin-and-bronze and bronze construction, hammered to make a triangular cone (which is then mortared to keep it fixed and make the surrounding room fireproof) that will transfer smoke out through the hole at the top of the tower.

Siege Engines

Ternketh Keep features five ballista and three hwacha, the latter able to fire up to eighteen arrows at a time. These may be moved easily, as they have been placed on ‘trucks’ that are designed to pivot on a central folcrum (which can be locked down by hand) or roll forwards and backwards on wheels. These haven’t been taken care of, however, so the wheels are squeaky and movement will be slower than usual. Like all other weapons in the Keep, however, both the ballista and hwacha are cursed.

Each ballista will have 3-12 bolts stacked nearby that are servicable (many will also be broken). They require four rounds to load for two experienced persons – treat as a non-proficient weapon for those who do not know how to use and double the loading time.

The hwacha require ten rounds to load and will require expertise in using the black powder charge that is necessary to fire the arrows. Non-experienced persons cannot fire the weapon. It is up to the DM to decide if any of the party is experienced.

There are enough arrows near each hwacha for three complete launches plus 2-12 more. Smaller volleys may be fired but nine arrows is the minimum for the device to work.

6-mile map of Europe to Date

I'll continue with Ternketh soon.  First, as I've just created this amalgamation, I'd like to share it.  First, I'll post this image showing the individual map parts:

The size of the image above, with each map at 50% of full scale, was 99 inches by 68, or a width of 20,000 pixels.  I was forced to shrink the map down to 2500 pixels, so naturally much of the detail is hopelessly lost.  Putting the map together did compress this somewhat.

Here is the map put together:

I made this a little larger, 3000 pixels across.  The outlier on the top is an area of the Ukraine, 40 mi. south of Kiyev, that I was asked to create by a patreon supporter who was living there.

The map looks a little odd because it has been stretched differently from a Mercator projection.  My projection is more oriented east to west, while most map projections focus north and south.  The large blue line is obviously the Danube.

The little gap on the right hand side is where I'm working presently.

Now, on blogger, the detail is obviously obscured.  But I was able to make a 300 dpi version of this map for my desktop.  In size, as a png, it's 156 mb.  I also rendered it as a pdf, also in 300 dpi; the pdf is 60.9 mb.  It is a thing of absolute beauty, as the whole map can be zoomed in with perfect clarity.  Here's a screenshot from the pdf to demonstrate.

I can't make the pdf available on blogger, but I have posted it to my patreon.  It represents a lot of work, however, so I'm making it available only to those who are presently giving a $10 donation.  Like all my work, it's in a state of constant development ... but also like all my work, what I call "development" is a bit higher than most of what's available.

If you want to see it, kick in $10 for one month.  Why not?

Ternketh - Monster Encounters

Throughout the description I have added the location of certain monsters, particularly harpies, yellow musk creepers, snakes, rats, spiders, as well as oozes. I offer no specific descriptions regarding these, no hit dice or hit points, with few details about their attacks or how big and tough they are. Different games will have different rules regarding these creatures and it would be a waste of time for me to describe them according to any particular rule-set since it is assumed the reader has rules of some kind for this.

Harpies

In my game, harpies are able to charm both by singing and by attacking with their claws and teeth. My harpies do not use weapons (though they could) because the best method is to attack physically so that the victim must save vs. charm (magic). This save is done every time a creature is hit by a different harpy. This does not mean that if the harpy hits twice or three times, the character must save twice or three times; one time per harpy is the rule. If two harpies hit a character in a round, however, the character must save against each harpy.

Characters that save against the harpy singing are immune for the remainder of the adventure. Characters that fail and are thereafter resussitated must make save again if they later hear singing. Once they have finally saved against the singing, they are immune.

Charm will result in the character dropping their weapons and taking no action whatsoever except to make themselves fully available to the harpies future attacks. If the harpy feels safe, it is presumed that they hit with all their attacks the next round, so only damage need be rolled. If five or more damage is done, this will break the charm – but the character must make save again or remain in a charmed state. If the save is made, the character may regain their weapons and attack, if able.

The harpies will always flee if they feel they haven’t the advantage, except in the assembly hall and temple – primarily because they will be trapped there and unable to get out. Due to the yellow musk zombies, the harpies are finding less and less of the keep can be moved through safely.

Throughout their stay at the Keep, the harpies have systematically defiled every surface and place with their filth. This defacement will have the effect of making every weapon or tool in the keep act as  cursed. Each has a modifier of -1 to hit or upon damage done (the latter per die, with regards to the ballista or arrow hracha on the walls). The DM may wish to compel characters to use any cursed weapons they pick up in preference to their own weapons.

Yellow Musk Creeper & Zombies

I run my yellow musk creepers very differently from what is described in books – but the reader does not need to follow my lead. A description of the creeper’s special abilities and fighting power can be found in the room description, below. The changes have been made to create a creeper that is quite dangerous, which is what I want in the basement of my keep.

The zombies the creeper creates are similar to ordinary zombies except that they are not undead and infected by a fungus. They are immune to the yellow musk creeper’s attacks. Usually they need to infect living bodies, but the unholy effect of the harpy desecration has meant that many dead bodies have been infected and transformed. As well, the yellow musk creeper, from which the zombies are spawned, should be a much more powerful creeper than normal (at least twice as powerful), with the ability to move slowly and fire four bolt-like missiles per round (mine cause 1d6).

The harpies have been forced to trap the zombies largely in the central tower of the Keep. Now and then these zombies will slip out and there are a number that are wandering the north end of the Lower Map (the first level below ground – see Maps of the Keep), in and around the guards quarters and kitchen. These will be easy for the party to kill, but they will either cause some attrition damage or force the party to sacrifice precious spells (presuming a system where spell-use is limited, which in mine it is).

Moreover, the zombies will be more powerful if they are closer to the central creeper. Zombies on the surface of the yard or in the guard’s quarters will have only 2 HD. Those in the Magician’s Rooms (see Maps of the Keep) will have 3 HD and those in the Basement (the lowest level) will have 4 HD. THAC0 will increase accordingly.

Snakes & Giant Rats

These can be found in the area of the well and the pipes that lead from the well to drain and ultimately to the kitchen. These snakes are only six feet long, ordinary in size, but will be poisonous. My poison causes 8 hit points per HD, over time, so in the case of the snakes a failed saving throw will cause a victim that has failed to save to suffer 4 hp per round for a total of four rounds (16 hp total). DMs should feel free to run poison in their own way.

If any of these areas around the pipes are examined, the snakes will make their presence known. The snakes will move up onto the yard or into the kitchen only if the drains or well are investigated – if a player retreats from the snake, there is a 50% chance that the snake will simply slither away.

The giant rats will hide under the guards bunks, on either side of the lower level. These are ordinary giant rats; however, they have a double chance of transmitting disease, due to the condition of the Keep and what they have been eating. The king rat found in the soldiers barracks has been dramatically altered into something bordering a higher intelligence.

There is no specific number of snakes or giant rats in the Keep. The DM may set a number if desired.

Rather than creating a random table for wandering monsters, it is suggested that DMs simply decide if these should be a snake or a giant rat. In and around the kitchen, it should probably be a snake; in the armory or among the guard’s quarters and bunks, a giant rat. Note that huge spiders (see below) may also be an option.

Spiders

There are an unknown number of huge spiders in the store. These are hunters and there will be no webs. The spiders are able to get under doors and regularly hunt rats or snakes. They correspond to most wolf-spider characteristics. The poison from these spiders is weak and only causes 2 damage per round for four rounds.

There is also a phase spider in the storeroom. This will conform to the traditional monster. It’s appearance is dictated in the room descriptions, but the DM may wish it to phase into the kitchen, mess or tavern, attacking once then disappearing, if the characters are showing signs of fatigue from stumbling through rooms (DMs should go with their feeling on this).

Grey Pudding

This creature dwells in the offal pits in the yard. It is slightly different from the traditional black pudding in that this particular feeds on the sewage and offal in these pits. Though it has plenty of food, it does not grow larger than its present size; typically it moves from pit to pit, depending on how the detritus in each has been allowed to ferment. It attacks like a black pudding.

Giant Slug

The giant slug in the crypt will correspond to the traditional creature. If it senses that the zombies are killed and it senses that the air has changed by opening the door to the passage leading to the treasure room, the slug may emerge at any time through the crypt door, which it will have the strength to force open. I had intended to make my slug more deadly and powerful than ordinary giant slugs, given what the creature will have been feeding upon for many months. I presume it began as a much smaller creature when the harpies first arrived, perhaps even as a natural slug, made freakishly larger by the amount of evil magic associated with its diet.

Green Slime

This creature will also correspond to the traditional creature. As with other creatures in the Keep, this will have begun as a small bit that might have been simply destroyed in its initial state by the Keep’s proper inhabitants, but it has grown out of control over the years.

From additional notes throughout the Keep, the DM should imagine what sorts of creatures might ‘infect’ the various polluted rooms left in the harpies wake. Remember always that there were once more than a hundred harpies dwelling in the Keep. The players should gain a sense of distaste and unpleasantness from every room, enabling them to see the logic of the Keep’s basement being filled with fungus, slime and a slug that would comfortably feed on such creatures. If the DM feels that more monsters should be added to the Keep, there’s nothing wrong with this – but the monsters should be chosen to reflect the general theme of unnatural growth and choose logical infestations to fit into the rooms (brown or yellow mold, other jellies, violet fungi, shriekers, worms and so on.

 _____

Doing this, it makes me want to sit down and rewrite the whole module, improving the art and so on.  But, best to abandon things from the past and put energies towards new projects.  Still, depending on how the reader views this, perhaps I should take my older self and try another module.

If you have any comments to make on the above, or upon any of my work, please email me at alexiss1@telus.net.  Comments, with answers, are posted on Saturday.

Ternketh Keep

Ternketh is an unusual collection of floating platforms, and bridges that drift some two thousand feet above the ground. At the center of these is Ternketh Keep, a place of peace and contemplation where monks and lords would rest, study and converse. The floating town was launched more than a thousand years ago for reasons that aren’t precisely known (it is suggested the DM should create a reason that suits the campaign); since that time it has drifted from land to land, moving in a great circle over the whole world.

The contents of the keep, and its history, should allow for the DM to create a unique purpose for the keep that does not necessarily conform to the one I chose to run for my campaign. In the game that I ran, the keep was deserted, the inhabitants attacked and killed by nearly two hundred harpies. This happened about four years ago. These harpies dwelt in great numbers on Ternketh for a time, until the number of victims dwindled and the harpies left in groups. There remain a dozen of the beasts in Ternketh Keep.

Approaching Ternketh

It is presumed that the party has some means of reaching the town. Perhaps they have an airship, perhaps they are able to fly or they are teleported into the adventure by themselves or by someone powerful. If themselves, it is suggested that the number of beasts (or the type of beasts) be greatly altered. I would estimate that the adventure as planned would be sufficient to frighten a group of 5th – 8th level characters, depending on how much healing power they have. The original idea was intended for AD&D . . . so adjustments would have to be made in the number and power of the creatures if the adventure were adapted for later editions. Going forward, the description hereafter will presume the party has arrived in an airship.

Ternketh Town

The main town is made of platforms that surround the keep in a large circle. Each of these platforms, or ‘docks,’ each of which is large enough to serve as a foundation for a dozen residences that are built together as a block, with a narrow street that runs around the outside. This street is perhaps ten to fifteen feet wide and serves only foot traffic.

The docks are built close together, so that one can cross from dock to dock by rope bridges, 10 to 30 feet long. Underneath the docks are posts, as though the docks were built on water – but of course, the docks float. However, a dock may be destabilized by cutting these posts away, as if the dock’s weight is supported on the poles. No one knows why this is – but it helps to think of the whole town floating in a liquid that happens to be air and is able to sustain the town’s weight as evenly as if the town were built on a shallow pond.

The party’s airship can be used to look down into the keep (in which case, the Ramparts map should be shown to the party). If the airship is small enough, the party can set down in the yard; alternately, the party may wish to dock the airship to the outer wall and step onto the ramparts. The party may also prefer to dock the ship somewhere by the town and proceed to the keep using the bridge between the keep and the town (see below).

In any case, keep in mind that if the harpies wish to attack the ship before the characters descend to the keep, that is an option that should be considered. The harpies are very intelligent in this scenario and will consider if attacking the ship is in their best interest. There is a very high chance that they will do this if the ship is moved into the vicinity of the keep at night – as the harpies will do their best to stealthily pick off people or sing their charm.

Townspeople

There yet remain a dozen of the beasts and perhaps a hundred people – these are protected by a venerable wizard, Shan, who is too old to campaign or fight.

Shan keeps a part of the town safe by setting out glyphs and wards, the precise location of which he changes. The harpies have been caught by these and now leave the remaining residents of Ternketh alone. The party can meet these residents, and Shan, who can explain what has happened.

Shan will have a limited knowledge of the interior of the keep. He will say that it has two levels below ground, that there is a treasure room, that there are an unknown number of harpies who dwell there, that there are barracks for soldiers and a central tower where the chief lord dwelt. He had only visited the keep many times, but as he did not live there his only experience is with the yard itself (the ‘ground’ of the keep). He has not been even there in ten years, as he was getting quite aged when the harpies attacked.

If the party decides to enter the keep and see about cleaning it out and finding the treasure room, Shan has little he can do to help. He possesses no potions, no magic items, no special gifts to give; he cannot even offer to put a ward on the party to protect them because he needs all he has for the town. He cannot walk along with the party and the other people of the town are too frightened to go anywhere near the keep. The party should not expect help.

If some fool of the party chooses to kill the wizard, it should be very easy. He is 9th level, but very weak in constitution and hit points, has no energy to put up a fight and will almost be grateful to be killed. On the other hand, he will always be surrounded by at least forty of the townsfolk, who will dogpile any character who has killed Shan, regardless of the damage they take, seeking to grab hold and swing the character over the edge of the street, to their deaths. These frightened people have nothing left to live for except for Shan, as they feel distraught by the four year ordeal. They will gladly sacrifice themselves in the name of justice.

Approaching the Keep

While the keep is in the middle of the town, no part of the keep is less than 100 feet from the nearest edge of any town dock. It can be approached without flying only by the stone bridge that links one town dock with the east edge of the Keep. This bridge is narrow, only about eight feet, with walls on either side that are only two feet high and crowned with machicolations (which are about three and a half feet above the stones of the bridge). The walls are only a foot thick, the machicolations only six inches. Obviously, the nature of the bridge was designed to discourage persons from wandering across for pleasure. The dock side of the bridge has no fortifications whatsoever, suggesting that the town was friendly in design and rulership.

In the campaign I ran, the player characters left their boat hidden under the town docks and crossed the bridge into the keep.

 _____

As I haven't the time to post regularly here, and since no one's bought this module from me in four years, perhaps five ... I guess I'll just go ahead and post the whole adventure from start to finish.  I'll include all the images as they apply.

Some, I know, are familiar with the keep, as I wrote it all out in 2016 as a means of raising money.  I've teased about it sometimes, but have never made it fully public.  Seems like a good time.  This is probably the most traditional module I ever created from start to finish.

The cover was a gift given by a reader.  I've searched to find the name, but my email has been twice sliced up since 2016 and I've no idea the name of the kind soul.  To my great misfortune.  So if the individual would please come forth, I'd like to make my apologies.

Obviously, the writing is terrible.  I've improved so much in 8 years.  But I'm going to leave it as is.

Getting it Done

So where have I been?  Those familiar with my Patreon know that I've been spending a lot of time posting there, nearly every day, sometimes three times a day.  It's not that I'm trying to sell myself there, but that it's a better platform for posting what I've done in a given day than here on blogger ... largely because it's central and better for publishing pdfs or pngs.  Much of the material I'm posting there is also being created for my Map Blog, which I've taken up again since January 15th.

For all the things I watch or read about creators at work on the internet, I see little about creators themselves.  The linked video is a year old and mostly on the mark — particularly this insight that creators are not expected to create "content" on Youtube, but "ad space."  This is old news to a journalist like me, however, who learned in university that articles in newspapers have been there to create ad space since the 17th century.  But Youtube is new and glitzy, and teenage creators don't have some old hand cold selling advertising on the phone to tell them what's what, like I did.  All content is for the purpose of creating space for ads.  That's the reason "public material" was invented.

It's no mystery here that I began playing D&D a bit more than 44 years ago ... but more importantly, I began working on my game at nearly the same time.  Less than four months after my introduction, I had an idea for a game world and had convinced some fellow players, and friends who had never played the game, to give it a try.  I don't know what calendar day I launched the world; I'd guess about a month after I'd gotten the D&D books for Christmas of '79.  That is, sometime in the last week, 44 years ago.

Until 2008, all of 28 years, all the time spent in building and creating my world was done alone, with the exception that my players would see evidence from week to week of things I sought to introduce.  In creator terms, it's something like a sincere group of musicians with ten years experience of playing together, who haven't yet published their first album for a record company.  All that while, there's plenty of time to test things on audiences, change lyrics, change the bridge, practice getting it right and building a deep familiarity with the chords and colouratura of each piece.  And there's time to write a lot of pieces, since constant touring and press junkets don't exist to get in the way of being a musician.

Which is why, as most know, the second album is rarely as good as the first.  There's less time.  There's all this fame in the way.  There's the total uprooting of the musician's lifestyle to this other thing.  There are fifty voices having a say beyond the band members.  It takes someone who's either willing to fight every minute for the integrity of their vision, or be willing to say "fuck all of you" and walk away from money, fame, glamour and fans, knowing that in the long run their talent will pay off despite the temporary loss of these things.  The greatest musicians, writers, designers and other creators are those with the strength to do one or the other — take on the industry and win, or do it without the industry.

This is not most people.  Most people with talent will compromise; and nearly all of those without talent can talk animatedly about how fast they'd compromise, if only they got the chance.  This latter describes nearly every person on youtube or any other creative platform.  Because they don't have content to create, they spend years searching sites that might tell them what content they might create if only it would make them rich and "happy."  What they're not doing is "creating," because they haven't anything to create.

To attain the top 1% of youtube creators, the cherished 610 thousand channel owners in the whole world, we need 56 followers who regularly follow our videos and watch them to the end.  This requires a very minimal skill set.  One has to be able to turn on a computer, sit in front of it, use a simple program that can be bought, and talk about something moderately popular for 10 to 20 minutes, three times a week.  There are 61 million creators on youtube.  In front of an audience of 2.7 billion.  There are 44 watchers for every creator.  It takes only the least bit of resilience to get our 44 watchers watching ... and yet only 1% of all would-be creators can do that.

None of this describes me.  I didn't work on my game world for 28 years with the expectation of a musician.  There was no rich moneyed company by which I could ever be "discovered."  When I read the Dragon magazine in my teens, I thought the writing was shit, I thought the approach to D&D was shit, I thought the people involved were amateur writers who would never amount to anything.  And as writers, except pitching to their own audience, that's all they ever were.  None rose to the status of Leiber, Anderson, Anthony or even Asprin, much less Tolkein.  None of the artists achieved anything.  Neither have I, obviously, but for fuck's sake, when I measure myself against a "creator," I'm self-aware enough to measure myself against Zelazny or at the very least Pratchett ... NOT fucking Arneson.  Jeebus.  I may be just another of the D&D hacks out here, but as least I know it.  I'm not here writing eulogies for so-called "legendary" game designer Jennell Jaquays.

Forgive me if I haven't got cares to give about people who have had zero influence on my work or my thinking process.

I attribute my "success," as it were, as I have more than most on Patreon, to my disregard of success as a goal.  It's something I'd like to have.  It's something I think I deserve to have ... but I don't have it because it's not a "goal."  It's not something I'm aiming to achieve and it never has been.  For reasons that make no sense to most people, I'm trying to make a world here — the best possible game world I can create, with the best possible rules, and the best possible tools to make it go.  It happens that a lot of things I've learned how to do, and things I've happened to create, are things that other people find worth seeing or having.  These are things they haven't figured out how to create themselves.  Having these things gives them an opportunity to have a better world, with better rules and tools.

My readers aren't going — I should gawddamned hope — to stand out in the rain at some vigil upon my death, because they and I don't give a rat's crap about my halo effect.  When I die, the spigot gets turned off.  That's the only thing to feel sad about.  Chances are, I'm going to weaken and be unable to do what I'm doing now long before I actually die, just as happens to nearly every creator.  It's a pity that Chita Rivera died on Tuesday, without much fanfare I notice, but it's not like she was in the middle of making of film or anything.  Carl Weathers died too, day before yesterday.  I'm sure they'll be missed sincerely by their families.  The rest of us are entitled to a feeling like, "Gee, I remember watching them," and that's about it.  With the one who says,"I heard this and I am soooo saddened by it," it's more selfishness than sadness.  But I digress.

Now and then, I've got to back away from writing blog posts because this isn't getting me anywhere.  Just now, I'm exercising some 400+ minutes a week — though gently, very gently.  I get in about 90 minutes of floor stretching and 330 minutes of walking, most of the latter on a treadmill that we bought for ourselves a year ago because Tamara needed a firm, reliable surface to walk on.  Calves and thighs are toughening up, I'm shedding a little weight and I'm in a state of calm tiredness and moderate sweating that awakes in brief hot flashes, mostly at night when I'm sleeping.  Blood pressure is steady at 120/80, heart rate is 65-66, I'm eating less and not doing too bad.

When I find time separate from writing for work, I write or edit the Streetvendor's Guide.  I've done all the cloth now, have been stuck for three days completing the small section on rope and cordage for ropes and fishing nets, and am on the verge of starting hides, skins and furs.  At the same time, I finished editing the two introduction sections at the start of the book and I'm cleaning up the section on cultivation, having added an additional three quarters of a page of content since starting on that.  Parts of this work are being posted on Patreon every Friday (I just posted edited versions of pp. 24 and 25), for the benefit of those patreon supporters who give me a minimum of $10 each month.  Showing is about 1/6th the content I'm publishing there each week ... so if you're really interested in knowing how the Guide is going, and that it's actually going, then help me pay for the artwork that's set to support this thing.

When I'm too tired to work on this — because, frankly, wanting to be both accurate and interesting is more important to me than getting it done — I spend bits of time here and there working on mapping the Balkans.  I got interested in resurrecting the map blog because I found I needed some kind of thing to pass the time that felt moderately robotic and yet interesting enough to get my head out of the Guide occasionally.  My partner told me to "smile" the other day, because I haven't for awhile.  It's two weeks into my work-out plan (with the kidney foundation being quite supportive, I should say), and between that and the Guide I admit I've been fairly grim.  There's nothing for it.  On a good day I get three quarters of a page of new-written material done, or a full page of editing done, between other commitments and the limitations of my energy supply.  So when I have enough gumption to distract myself, I work on maps.

When I haven't got the mental energy for those, I drift into some mild problem-solving game like a jigsaw puzzle or Oxygen Not Included, or I drive in EuroTruck Simulator 2, or Two-Point Hospital or whatever, while listening to a movie or music.  This is just waste time, honestly.  But I'm the sort of person who can't just sit and stare.  If I do that, then I start thinking about what I'm not doing; and if I'm not doing the Guide, and thinking about it, this doesn't encourage me.  It fact, it makes me quite aware of how BIG the damn thing is, and how STUPID a person has to be to start a project like this, and how it's still an unbelievable time before it's going to be done ...

This doesn't push me towards doing it, it pushes me away.  I've learned these last ten years that this is a sort of self-preservation thing; that as homo sapiens, spending too much time doing something without an expected yield in the short term is a great way to die of starvation in the savanna.  To get the Guide done, I have to trick my animal brain into thinking I'm doing other needful things.  Then, at some point, playing a game or making a map, I have a thought that goes, "Why am I wasting time with this drivelling shit when I could be working on the Guide?"  Then I close everything and work on the Guide.  It's quite a reliable technique, even if it does involve putting my animal brain to sleep while sneaking up on my ego with a dagger.

Being creative is about getting something done.  It's not about making money, or becoming famous, or winning approval or respect.  Those who succeed at it are those who want to get things done.  If the thing getting done is popular, all the better.  If the success gets in the way of getting the thing done, well, see the success for what it is, kick it to the curb if need be, and get it done.  Because getting it done is all that matters.

For people with nothing to do, who want to have youtube channels or blogs, well of course they're never going to achieve anything.  Because from the start, they've never had anything to do.