Greyhawk and Rivers

made by me

 One of my favorite things to do is to draw maps. I really like making my own versions of the World of Greyhawk, as you can see from the map above. I tend to make more tributaries than the official versions have because I grew up around mountains and rivers and it's weird for there to be so few. Even the number of rivers that I have in this map are probably too few for how many there would actually be. 

The below map, from databayou.com, provides a look at just how many rivers there are in the United States of America. It's rather eye opening when you think about this in relation to the sparse number of rivers in Greyhawk. 

 

from https://databayou.com/american/rivers.html

  

A Time for Heroes

Twenty years ago when I first started playing D&D the people I played with all wanted to play anti-heroes, and mysterious, self-indulgent loners that barely connected with anyone else. The truth, of course, is that you can't play a team game where everyone is a loner so no one really played that way - but they wanted to. God, did they ever want to. 

In a lot of ways this predilection towards the anti-hero and the loner was a reflection of the wider zeitgeist  of the time. Heroes had become boring and lame. They were things that only naive children really believed in and the world was all a bunch of shades of gray. Good and evil were subjective view points dependent on the perspective of the people involved. 

Let's be honest, it was an excuse for the players to justify their shitty behavior in the game without real consequences. By consistently claiming that an action was "in character" or that their character believed that they were acting in a 'good' manner they could often excuse terrible things. It's the same reason why people can look at an obviously evil character like Homelander and argue that he's actually a good guy. 

 

Homelander from The Boys

That sort of mentality is exhausting and over the last decade I've spent a lot of time pushing players who still cling to that style of play away from my table. I want to see my players be the heroes of the game and to see them rise above the worlds we play in to make the world a better place. 

I think that may be why I have begun to play with an eye towards my players being the heroes of the setting rather than having them be just adventurers that are exploring the world.  Both styles of play are a lot of fun, but right now the world is a bit of a scary place. We have the rise of authoritarianism throughout the globe, wars are sparking off, and civil unrest is found all over the world. It's a good time to find heroes we can believe in - even if they're just in our silly role-playing games. 

Granite Mountain Prison, Part 3 The Villains (3 of 3)

 The adventure "Granite Mountain Prison" by Roger Baker appeared in DUNGEON magazine JULY/AUGUST #36 and if you want to make the most of this Remix then I highly suggest picking up a copy of the issue.

Aside from our target for rescue, Jathan Paark, there are four villainous, named non-player characters (NPCs): Lex Justicia, Nero Falconis, Teron Rotner, and Topper. These three deserve a bit of prep work on the part of the Dungeon Master (DM) as they will represent the major antagonists throughout the adventure. 

Lex Justicia

Lex is the warden and is treated as a cartoon-ish villain in the text. He illegally imprisons a merchant who he believes did him a bad turn and consistently abuses his position to accept bribes. There are some important points to note about his character:

1. He has plans to rise above this posting 
2. He gets "over zealous" with his questioning of prisoners
3. His leadership is efficient enough that the prison runs well.  

The way that Lex is described reminds me of the stereotypical middle manager. A man who takes himself entirely too seriously and has plans to move up the corporate ladder but never will due to his own foolishness. I plan on playing him similar to Bill Lumbergh from Office Space in how he'll talk and behave. The biggest thing is to avoid leaning into the cartoon-ish elements and to instead focus on the banal evil of his role in this prison. The players will hate him because he is deserving of their ire, but they won't dismiss him because of his silliness. 

Bill Lumbergh from Office Space

Nero Falconis 

Nero is the assistant warden and the description in the text makes him sound more like a maintenance technician with a fancy title. He's the one who maintains the lubricant for the wheel of woe and covets the Warden position. He's also a coward who will sacrifice the lives of his men to save his own. 

I think of him looking a bit like Gary Oldman's character from Slow Horses with many of his mannerisms. I want the players to think of him as a disgusting slob who is too enamored with himself for his own good. I'm also going to be using the hand rubbing of Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter Films.

Gary Oldman from the BBC series Slow Horses

Teron Rotner

Teron is an odd character. He wears a robe of eyes, boots of speed and is a fighter. His equipment implies that he's a bit paranoid and yet the way he is presented makes him sound more like a man who is just a bit too concerned with his own advancement. He is a neutral evil character, the only one among the four, and as such he comes across much more normal. Less starkly evil and more commonplace, everyday evil. 

I think that I'll present him more like Count Tyrone Rugen from The Princess Bride. I want him to come across as someone brave until confronted by a mortal danger. He'll be capable, evil, but ultimately a coward who will fight when cornered.

Count Tyrone Rugen from The Princess Bride

Topper

The character of Topper is a necromancer who is attempting to become powerful in his profession. Of the four he presents the greatest danger to the players over the long term so my goal is to make him someone they pity and perhaps let go. I would like to see him become a reoccurring villain, or even just a reoccurring bit part in the narrative that will give them someone to have as a touch point in the world. 

I think that I will play him a bit like Woody Allen from his early career. This means that he'll lack confidence in what he's saying. He'll come across a bit like a loser who will give me room to drop in some funny one liners. But there is this dark underbelly (the necromancy) that will always be present in all the guy does. I want him to still be evil, but I want him to stick around so he can make additional appearances in the world.  

 

Granite Mountain Prison Remix Part 2, The Prison (2 of 3)

 The adventure "Granite Mountain Prison" by Roger Baker appeared in DUNGEON magazine JULY/AUGUST #36 and if you want to make the most of this Remix then I highly suggest picking up a copy of the issue.

The Prison of "Granite Mountain Prison" is described in the following manner, ". . . Three hundred and ten years ago, the king who ruled Bangor commanded his court wizard to build a prison. The records say that he requested 'a prison of surpassing security, an engineering marvel that will amaze and terrify generations to come' . . . the wizard . . . completed the prison in three years. The final product was as much an engineering marvel as it was a terrible place of punishment, and despair . . ." (25)

The prison is a trick prison where prisoners are positioned in one of 365 cells that are then rotated by the efforts of the combined prisoners (a wheel of woe). The idea of the prison is that only one prisoner can enter and leave on any single date. They are put into the cells through a spell that shrinks them and released through a similar method as there are no doors, only an opening to look out at their doom and a tray slot to allow food to enter. From the description of the prison you might expect it to have a unique design, but the only thing unique about it is the wheel of woe.

Granite Mountain Prison 1st Floor from page 29

As you can see from the included map this design isn't inspiring the imagination towards some magnificent engineering accomplishment, rather, it feels more like the designer was looking to substitute complexity for efficiency. Let's compare this map with a more famous, real life prison: Alcatraz.

Alcatraz floor plan from National Park Maps

The reason why I want you to see these two is to highlight how a complex floor plan isn't necessarily a good thing when it comes to making something effective. We already have the trick of the prison in the wheel of woe and by focusing on creating a difficult pathway that would make things more challenging for the players we've lost the nature of the dungeon. A simpler path structure might work better.

Simplified version of the map

I have eliminated a lot of the rooms and the circumnavigation from the map here for the purpose of demonstrating that the extra rooms aren't needed. As referees we gained nothing from including 26 rooms before the players meet the wheel; all we did was put up unnecessary blocks and slow downs.  

The prison's strength doesn't come from having a convoluted structure but rather from the trick of the wheel of woe. If you add all these other layers you create an impression for your players that there is hope that they will be successful. They need to know that the reason why you aren't filling the building up with countless rooms and traps isn't because you fear a breakout, but because you know there won't be one. It needs to feel inevitable - because that makes success feel so much more special. 

This adventure requires you to help the players build the skills necessary for success prior to this adventure. In order to do this it's important that we provide them with examples of the challenges they will face prior to appearing here. The best practice is to provide an opportunity to accomplish the three big challenges prior to encountering all of them here in earlier adventures. This way when they come upon them they are able to think of ways to beat this scenario that doesn't end in frustrated exasperation. 

Learning Scenarios 

1. The players should encounter a situation where someone is trapped with no door but with a small opening that food, air, and water could enter. The key is to help them figure out how to get them out. 

2. The players should encounter a situation where they must bluff/sneak past guards towards a goal. These guards must be hostile to the players normally so that they are challenged to get by without killing or alerting the guards. The key is to teach them how to infiltrate a hostile area so that they can accomplish their goals. 

 3. The players need to encounter an automaton that has an intelligence. This key is to teach them how to interact with creatures that may not have a hostile disposition towards them, but that can be used as allies if approached correctly with the right triggers. 

Scenario 1 will be connected to a natural disaster in my campaign so that the players will learn the lesson without feeling like it's shoehorned into the game. 

Scenario 2 will be done within 3 sessions of the prison infiltration. The lessons they learn, from planning to sneaking through the building towards their goal will need to be fresh on their minds. I want them to see what success and failure feels like in a less high stakes environment so that they are able to be prepared for the challenge of Granite Mountain Prison. 

Scenario 3 is going to be brought into the game in the next session. I want them to become familiar with automatons so that they are able to deal with the adventure's unique monster and can come to a conclusion other than, "Let's smash it."

Granite Mountain Prison Remix 

Part 1, The World Set Up
Part 2, The Prison
Part 3, The Three Villains

 

 

Works Cited

"Granite Mountain Prison" by Roger Baker from DUNGEON MAGAZINE Issue #36 JULY/AUGUST, 1992. pg 25, 29

 

Granite Mountain Prison Remix Part 1, The World Set Up (1 of 3)

The adventure "Granite Mountain Prison" by Roger Baker appeared in DUNGEON magazine JULY/AUGUST #36 and if you want to make the most of this Remix then I highly suggest picking up a copy of the issue.

illustration by P.L. Wolf from pg 24

 

"Granite Mountain Prison" is, at it's core, an adventure where they players are working against a fascist government. This adventure allows them to approach it from a couple of different angles:

        1. As mercenaries hired by either the "Order of the Holy Ring" or by an allied rebellion group
        2. As participants in the uprising against the High Council
        3. As fellow prisoners looking to escape from the Prison.
        4. As agents of the High Council seeking to infiltrate the rebellion's organizational structure.

The players in my home game are my son and his friends (all teenagers) and have been working to undermine a tyrannical government in my home setting, "The New Sun," so I'm going to be proceeding from the second option (If you read this and would like help proceeding from another avenue please let me know in the comments). This means that I need to make sure that two elements from the Dungeon Master (DM) section are highlighted in play:

        1. The Secret Police of the High Council must make an appearance and be a clear threat to the players.
        2. The Order of the Holy Ring must provide an alternative to the High Council.

To make the Secret Police work in the scenario I need to start implementing them into the game 5-6 sessions before this adventure makes it's appearance.  I'll begin by introducing them through word of mouth long before the players see them in action. The idea is to talk about actions they've been involved in and the get the players aware of them.

"Have you heard about Louis? They came and took him last night. Gods only know where they're taking him."

"Margaret's husband Thom was snatched off the street by the secret police. They claim he's a terrorist." 

" Did you hear about Jean-Luc? They found him with his brains smashed out in the square. It's a message."

"Paolo's wife Adrianna was released last night. Those bastards tortured her for days. Paolo says she's catatonic." 

The Secret Police aren't the good guys - no secret police force ever is - and I want my players to catch onto this early so that there is no ambiguity. I'm going to take role-playing queues for the Secret Police from the Cold War and spy films I watched as a kid. Lots of menacing stares, pregnant pauses, and deadly responses.

I'll follow this up by showing the Secret Police acting in brazen ways as they abduct people on the streets and behave like the thugs they are. The players need to see them and hear an increasing number of rumors about their vile actions. Before the players actually interact with them their minds need to be filled with ideas about who and what these people are within the context of the game. This way when the players finally meet them they will feel fear about the dangerous Secret Police.

The Order of the Holy Ring is described by author Roger Baker as, ". . . a religious order that at one time commanded a large following, including several members of the council. Using the secret police to harass, bully, and terrorize the order's adherents, the council reduced this once-thriving organization to a few hundred die-hard faithful . . ." (24). I'm going to change this as religious orders don't connect well with my players. 

Instead I'm going to make the Order of the Holy Ring a social organization, like the Korean Association that operates in my city, so that they have a connection that my players can recognize. This Order will be focused on societal changes and on bettering the kingdom rather than on a religious artifact or deity. This should also give them a bit more latitude in being introduced to the players as members could be shop owners who display their order's seal, bar patrons who wear the order's seal on necklaces or rings, or they could be running soup kitchens and homeless shelters with their symbol featured prominently. Regardless of how they're introduced I need to ensure that there is a clear line between the tyrannical High Council and the Order of the Holy Ring. 

The players' goal for the adventure is to rescue Jathan Paark, a leader of the resistance. The adventure plays it up as though Jathan is the only reason the resistance has succeeded when no resistance has ever done so through the efforts of a single individual. Jathan is treated as a charismatic figurehead who the movement has coalesced around and without whom it will fall apart. 

I have little interest in a movement that is so unenthusiastic that a single man's imprisonment will doom it. Instead I will treat his imprisonment as a galvanizing moment that will enhance the revolution's reach and cause ferment greater resistance to the High Council's fascist actions. While the players are on the rescue mission the movement will push forward against the oppressive High Council. 

Granite Mountain Prison Remix 

Part 1, The World Set Up
Part 2, The Prison
Part 3, The Three Villains

 

 

Works Cited

"Granite Mountain Prison" by Roger Baker from DUNGEON MAGAZINE Issue #36 JULY/AUGUST, 1992. pg 24

 

Why Play 3rd Edition?

Over the past 21 years I've spent a lot of time playing Dungeons & Dragons; and of the versions I've explored none has captivated me quite like Third Edition. Where Fifth Edition made the game more accessible, and Fourth made it feel more gamey, Third Edition was the version that taught me to tinker with things. It was the one that said, "If you don't like the rule, change it. That's what all the supplemental books with their countless alternative rule sets were effectively saying. 

The game was a massive beast when Wizards of the Coast (WoC) finally decided to end it and release Fourth Edition. There were over 150 books published throughout the life of the system by WoC that ranged from setting books, like Dragonlance, to adventures and supplemental books that changed the nature of how the game functioned, like Tome of Magic. With all those books as a Dungeon Master (DM), which I was throughout that time, you had to pick out which rules you were going to enforce, which you were going to ignore, and which you were going to modify. 

When I first started playing the rules were more a blanket that I could wrap around myself and use to support my own authority as a DM. I didn't have to be the one responsible for stopping a bad form of play (disruptive nonsense, abusive moves, ect.) - it was the rules. I never had to be the bad guy. 

The thing is, as you grow older you realize that sometimes being in charge means that you have to be the bad guy. You have to be the one responsible for making a decision that others won't like for the betterment of the group as a whole. Yes, within rules the Wizard could feasibly create a chain of villagers to move a rock forward and create a devastating weapon to effectively nuke the Big, Bad, Evil Guy (BBEG) but it wouldn't be fun. It would create a world where the BBEG could do the same thing to the heroes or one where an even more inane and stupid idea could overcome everything and end the game in one massive blah moment. 

That's not what we're here for. 

The game is a vehicle for us to have fun together. You, me, and all the other players at the table. We have to work together to create an environment where we have the most fun. This can be stupid ideas that work, brilliant ideas that fail, and even Total Party Kills (TPKs). 

Third Edition made me realize that the role of the DM is about making decisions that affect how the game is played and it was liberating. I wasn't just referee creating a scenario for play and impartially deciding the outcome of the dice. I was an active participant in the game. 

Fourth Edition, for me, felt like that was taken away. The game was too gamey - by which I mean that the game felt more at home on a board than in us playing with the "Theater of the Mind" as I was more accustomed. I didn't feel confident in such a system with breaking by changing it and ignoring rules that might fundamentally affect the overall experience, as I had been in the older system.  

Fifth Edition brought that fun back for me as I was able to adjust the game once more without feeling like I was doing something that would make it less fun for everyone else. It didn't hurt that I was watching others do that very thing from the day that the first playtest document launched. I loved it - still do, but my son is interested in some more crunchy systems and has asked to play 3rd Edition. 

So we're going to do just that.  

Cleaning up the Look

I decided to change the banner on the blog this afternoon. The old one had been there for the better part of the last five years and it was . . . boring. For this one I decided to continue the background color into the the blog itself so that things would feel more organic in the their color design.