Weekend R&R: Dwimmermount

I have a veritable 'love-hate' reaction when it comes to the idea of a mega-dungeon.  Done well, you can have a campaign that can last years and the stories and memories told of such adventures within that campaign far longer.  The varied stories of Castle Greyhawk (or Zagyg if you prefer) and those of Rappan Athuk help fuel a continued interest along with those that started at the dawn of the hobby.  I did not start back in the 70's.  I started gaming in the late 80's and some of my first books were AD&D 2nd Edition material supplemented with a lot of 1st Edition material and Basic D&D (largely the BECMI boxed sets).  The was certainly a move 'away' from the concept of the dungeon as a campaign in this period and I was influenced by it.  I still adored the dungeon but my adventures were never completely centered around the dungeon.  Years later, I often find my players less interested by a dungeon crawl and some even think this sort of 'classic' adventuring an exercise in tedium.  A shame really but I get their reasoning.

A mega-dungeon that is just a very large dungeon spread across numerous levels with only a back story to accompany it makes for a poor campaign experience.  Even if the 'meat' of the gaming experience revolves around defeating X, collecting Y, and conquering Z, such aspirations could be a bit hollow for players seeking a truly immersive experience.  Granted, a lot of this responsibility falls on the shoulders of the GM running the game.  Player participation is obviously needed for the overall game to be a success.  However, there is nothing like a strong body of information to fall back on when running a mega-dungeon to help everyone feel like they are part of the experience as opposed to faceless pieces moved about on a generic chess board.

There are many examples of endless mazes, puzzles, and traps which may have a player want to either pull their hair out in frustration, or simply jump across the table and throttle the GM.  Thankfully, there are some examples worth exploring and playing that elevates it from being just another classic and long-winded dungeon crawl.  Dwimmermount is one such example.

Dwimmermount is divided into three sections -- the first of which provides a wealth of background information and even gives the reader an idea of the challenges the project faced.  The first chapter serves as a fine introduction in the goals, inspiration, and pitfalls that the project measured itself and against and gives the reader the keys to delve a bit more.

The second chapter provides a great history and 'secret' history for your Dwimmermount campaign but the third chapter really does a fine job of adding character to what might be initially mistaken as a regular ol' dungeon crawl.  The third chapter is really about the classes / races you can play in the game.  Initially, when James ran Dwimmermount, he started using Swords & Wizardry as his base ruleset for the game -- with a bunch of modifications and house rules of course.  However, the time is taken to explain the roles of man, to explain how different the Dwarves are in this setting as well as the origin of Gnomes and Kobolds.  Of course, there is also the Elves and the role of Clerics and gods in the campaign.  Aside from necessary character-related creation notes, there is an overview of starting knowledge about Dwimmermount, rumors, and adventure seeds.

Chapter four also shines as it devotes several pages to the surrounding region around Dwimmermount, which reinforces the book as a solid sandbox campaign setting and not just a mega-dungoen.  The fifth chapter details a fortified town because, what's the point of a mega-dungeon if there is no substantial base camp where the party the come back to and depart again and again, expedition after expedition.

Chapters six and seven both start detailing aspects of the dungeon itself by talking about construction, various environments, and factions within the complex. Up to the end of chapter seven, we have around one-hundred pages of material which doesn't detail any of the dungeon itself.

The second section *is* the dungeon.  There are thirteen chapters in this section and each one details a level in the dungeon.  Given that this is a 400 page book, the Dwimmermount itself represents half the book.  Each chapter has a single page devoted to a large map representing the level in question and the section itself opens up to a cross-section of the mountain showing where the levels can be found with a quick and useful page reference.  The entries are clear and concise meaning that they aren't longer than they have to be but aren't devoid of a description either -- a perfect balance.  As simple as entry 13 in Chapter 8, the Path of Mavors, which reads:

'This small chamber once held dried foodstuffs, but it is now empty, except for dust, cobwebs, and the rotted remains of crates.'

Each chapter also benefits from its own wandering encounter table and brief introduction to the level in question for the convenience of the GM.

The final section which occupied the final quarter of the book is where one can find the Appendices.  Appendix A details new magic items, Appendix B details new spells, and Appendix C details new monsters.  These first three Appendices come as no surprise for this kind of gaming book and, for those familiar with various other forms of D&D and D&D-inspired games, a lot of these may even already be familiar.  However, this particular book is the Labyrinth Lord version which was a retroclone of the Moldvay/Cook version of the D&D Basic and Expert sets and didn't necessarily have many of these magics and critters originally.  Some of these things simply had their roots in other versions of D&D.  Appendix D, is a bit more interesting as it presents rival adventuring parties to add to the mix as factions or even hirelings.  Personally, I think these might even be fun to use as pre-generated parties in a pinch.

Appendices E and F are more specific to Dwimmermount although ideas presented here can certainly be extracted for gaming uses elsewhere.  Appendix E covers the 'Four Worlds' and gives supplemental information for the setting in terms of the cosmology.  Appendix F introduces and discusses a substance called Azoth.  There is some really great material here and one of the uses and effects of Azoth is really the lynchpin to this entire campaign.  The implication of this substance is detailed in the final appendix, Appendix G: The Secrets of Turms Termax.

The book ends off with a few tables of some common names, ready to be used at a moment's notice -- be it for an NPC or a player's character.  After which, you have a long list of backers to the project which was initially funded back in April of 2012.  It was a long ride for this one -- physical copies of the Labyrinth Lord version of Dwimmermount began to ship at the end of August of 2014 and the ACKS version (Adventurer, Conqueror, King) began to ship about three months later.  At to the book itself, it's quite nice.

This large hardcover book is a bit beefy for a 400 page book (not including the backer list of names) and wonderfully illustrated.  Artists like Jeff Dee, Mark Allen, Steve Zieser, and Erol Otus to mention just a few, showcase their talent in the book and the layout itself is tasteful and professionally done.  As someone who wasn't very familiar with ACKS when the Kickstarter was first announced, I decided to go for a Labyrinth Lord version knowing that it is a great 'minimalist' D&D approach as far as systems go which makes adapting it to my own preferred system really easy.  It's a functional and great book and some of the extras that came with it (such as an illustration guide), was fantastic.

Less fantastic was the idea that the Illustration booklet and Dwimmermount book shipped separately but, this ended up being more of a pain because FedEx was involved and not at all convenient.  At $40 this book is an awesome steal and I'm very happy to have backed it when I did despite waiting for about two years-and-a-half to get it.  There were a lot of naysayers and flak from some of the backers towards James Maliszewski and Autarch but they successfully got the project to the finishing line and the book looks great overall.  The only criticism is a personal one and really, it's the colors chosen for the cover.  Shades of Lilac would simply not been my first choice.

As to the cost now?  Well apparently Autarch agreed that $40 was a steal for the book and they have decided to raise the cost of the physical book to $75 when it goes into distribution and future orders.  They cite the price of Rappan Athuk (at $100) and the smaller page count of their other $40 book (the ACKS rulebook) as justification for it.  Honestly, I get it but at the same time, I wish it would have been kept a bit lower still.  Maybe $40 was too low.  Scratch that -- it *was* too low.  However, as a black and white book printed using a POD service such as Lighting Source, I do question whether or not the $75 price tag is too high.  I would have rather seen this closer to the $60 range to remain a bit more financially accessible.  At least, the price of the PDF is remaining at $10 which is a superb deal and Autarch can certainly be thanked for that time and time again when it comes to their PDF pricing and policies.

There is no link I can offer up for where you can buy a physical copy of the book as it has yet to enter distribution, you can get it PDF HERE for the Labyrinth Lord version or HERE for the Adventure, Conqueror, King version.

Thanks for reading!

M

Modules: Premium vs Disposable

Adventure gaming modules are a staple in the pen and paper RPG hobby.  The classics published in the early days of TSR continue to be sought after and the second-hand market continues to sell these gems at questionable prices.  Some of these classic adventure scenarios have been published a number of times and have been converted or re-purposed over the years.  Wizards of the Coast went as far as offering premium reprints of some of this material a couple years back by collecting the S-Series and the A-Series of modules into a couple of very nice look hardbacks to complement the other premium reprints they had been doing.

I find gaming modules to be an interesting thing.  When I first started in the hobby, I ran a few of them but then starting doing my own stuff.  I then began working on my own setting and my own adventures and campaigns for my group and I to play in.  But that was ages ago back when I was still in High School and had a lot of free time and gaming happened a couple days a week.  Many years later when I'm in my thirties, work and responsibilities catch up with me and I find myself with very little free time.  When I started with Castles & Crusades, a rules light that made running games a bit easier, going back to the route of using adventure modules just made sense.

It's rare that I run an adventure 'as-is' but it does happen once in a while.  When I began working to produce some adventure modules for Castles & Crusades and then some conversions for Swords & Wizardry, a bunch of different questions came into play for me and I've been thinking how to tackle these issues in a serious manner for the past couple of years.

What kind of modules should be produced?  What are people going to do with these modules?  Should things be kept as practical, convenient, and inexpensive, as possible or should one consider the collector and enthusiast?

The simplest answer to all of this is not easy at all because it comes down to who you ask.

TSR's modules during the first couple of decades were nice and functional.  The earliest were not necessarily long and complex but as time went on, there was a sense of 'value' to them.  Card-stock covers which were detached from the interior, saddle-stitched (er... stapled) booklet with map inserts, and the like.  Even the few classic trade dresses employed are constantly being imitated by the OSR community.  But then you also had the 'other' publishers back then.  For those who picked up an old Judges Guild module, who can question about the inexpensive and, frankly, cheap paper/print they published with.  In my mind, this style of print was always more of a 'disposable' kind.  Our hobby seems to draw collectors so we are fortunate in a couple of ways when you consider JG products -- we hold on to stuff and try to preserve it and someone had the intelligence to try and get this preserved in an electronic format.  Other efforts, such as some of the Role Aids material put out by Mayfair Games was also similar to the TSR stylings of the day though the production quality was slightly below that of TSR's own products.  And, you had all the 'homebrew' and 'independent' (and certainly unauthorized) efforts.


In a past-d20 era with an SRD and OGL given the accessibility of POD and small publishers, there arose many an effort to put out material and, once again, you have a very clear aesthetic divide.  On the one hand of the spectrum, you have some of the more recent publications for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  While I cared little for the initial look of the earliest products, it was very much a tribute the early xerox and staple jobs that we so popular before the internet and accessibility of Desktop Publishing.  I wrote about the one of the first products I got, being the Random Esoteric Creature Generator over a couple of years ago HERE.  Now, with his recent releases, I really believe that the hardcover books being produced are the gold standard that the OSR and other small publishers should strive to in order to produce PREMIUM adventure scenarios and books.  The first couple that caught my eye and I picked up were the LotFP edition of 'Carcosa' and the 'Ilse of the Unknown'.  Those were nice books but still nothing compared in terms of the quality and presentation of the Rules & Magic hardcover book which came out afterwards.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have the handcrafted charm of things such as the OSR fanzine, 'The Manor' by Tim Shorts and company.  Despite some of the flak that Brave Halfling Publishing has been under the past couple of years, those who get their hands on the stuff often comment on the high quality and 'vintage' feel of them.  Collectors love some of this stuff and, even go out of their way to get their hands on it.

Of course, premium quality or even some 'small batch' press stuff will fetch a higher price and arguably it should in some cases.  I often am taken aback when I look some of the high prices being asked for when I look at some of this stuff but, once again, it appeals to the collector.  I know some modules sell for very cheap in comparison despite being quality.  Once again, what do you do once you use it for your regular group?  Sure, it is entirely possible to run it again for others but will you?  Will you turn back to it for inspiration or will it lie safely tucked away in a bookshelf?

I ask these questions because, I found my use for modules have changed in the past couple of years.  I used to collect them but have increasingly cleared my collection of many items including a lot of modules.  When I run something, I use the PDF -- print what I need and that way I can write up as much notes as I want on my printed copies or simply use the on a tablet in conjunction with a pad of paper and pencil.  I continue to collect these electronic copies of adventure modules and generally don't bother buying physical modules from TLG anymore for C&C.  But that's just me.  Others simply prefer reading or owning a physical copy -- and I get that.  But for those, I almost think I'd rather a premium option or perhaps even a collected one (the Haunted Highlands is an example).

Given the nature of an adventure module... the shorter it is and more singular in its purpose or use, the more disposable it should be.  There is nothing wrong with an inexpensive production quality and Judge's Guild is a great example to follow.  Obviously, an electronic copy is something different but a great compromise (or should be) to release an inexpensive product while still releasing a limited or premium physical product.

But despite all this, it still comes down to the GM running the adventure.  What he needs vs what he prefers since, at the very end, THEY are the customer.


Thanks for reading,

M

Under Siege's Top 10 Posts of 2014

A year ago, I did a top ten list of the most popular posts of 2013.  It was very popular and fun to do so, I thought I'd do the same this year.  If you are a new reader or follower to the blog, these lists are a great way to get a feel for the kind of stuff you may find here and, it is also a great way to see what the readers are interested in reading.  If interested in checking out last year's, you can do so HERE. The list that follows is based on the number of hits it has received without advertising any particular Kickstarter (there was one instance where a C&C related Kickstarter was a surprising number of hits and I felt it shouldn't be counted as part of the top ten).

10. Weekend R&R: X-Wing Miniatures

X-Wing Miniatures proved to be a 'dangerous game'.  I had avoided trying and buying into it because I knew I would end up loving it and become hooked.  I regret nothing.  My Rebel and Imperial collection has grown considerably since this review and have thought about joining a league at my FLGS.

09. D&D Next, Higher Costs, and the FLGS

So many people were complaining about the costs of the books of the new editions of D&D when it was announced that I decided to write up this post.  I picked up the books as I knew I would and ended up getting them at 50% off the cover price thanks to Amazon.  Of course, I love supporting my FLGS and don't need much help in dropping a lot of cash when I go there.  ;)

08. Weekend R&R: D&D 5th Edition and C&C

This post was one of the longer ones and I felt it necessitated a 'condensed post' to accompany it in the event that the reader wanted a quick comparison instead of a detailed writeup.  Since then, I have played a lot more 5th Edition and while I like many things and changes it brought about, I ultimately find myself leaning more towards C&C.  This post certainly deserves a follow-up.

07. To Games Workshop... I'm Cashing Out!

This was a fun post to write and a few of my fellow gamers were very supportive of my declaration.  It almost felt like a support group.  I successfully sold most of my GW models save for the handful I decided to keep and recouped a bunch of my investment.  Seeing what they have been up to for the past six months or so, I don't regret it one bit.

06. Weekend R&R: Codex Nordica (C&C)

Most of Troll Lord Games publishing ventures this past year has been done using Kickstarter very successfully.  I was able to review the material based on the PDF which I got an advanced copy of.  I have since gotten my hands on the physical books which included a nice leatherette version.  It is a fantastic book.

05. Skeletons: Painting Guide

I didn't manage to do nearly enough painting as I had hoped to this past year and this was one of the simplest to do.  I hope to do a lot more in 2015.

04. Weekend R&R: Castle Keeper's Guide to the Haunted Highlands

The Haunted Highlands Kickstarter was a pretty fantastic one given what came along with it.  I was happy to back it and, TLG had the wisdom to release the PDFs of this and the Players Guide to backers before it went to print.  A few issues were caught which enabled them to fix the books.  However, one of the last fixes right before the printing caused a problem which forced TLG to issue a map booklet to be included with every copy of this book.  The problem meant that something like 3 or 4 pages ended up blank when they should have included maps.  It was unfortunate since this effectively mars an beautiful 400 page book and I really don't think we'll be seeing a reprint anytime soon.

03. Weekend R&R: Games & Gears Ichiban Studios Pro Line Brushes

Previous backers of the so-called 'Pro Series 7 Brushes' which features dual brush heads with  Kolinsky sable hair had mixed reviews due to what sounded like production issues.  Many users were satisfied with the brushes but others equally unhappy with the quality.  In a follow-up Kickstarter, they partnered with Ichiban Studios to produce a new line of 'professional' brushes.  I was happy to receive them and, on the whole, am still please with the brushes.  I still find them to be GOOD brushes but not perfect -- despite care and cleaning, one of the brushes tends to split at tip as opposed to keeping the point.  It might be a fluke since I have had NO issues with the other brushes.

02. Weekend R&R: Storyteller's Thesaurus

I originally reviewed this almost a year ago and a few months afterwards, TLG launched a Kickstarter to produce a physical copy of the book.  From what I understand, it has (finally) begun to ship.  I look forward to my copy of what is a surprisingly great resource.

01. Tools of the Miniature Painter: .177 Caliber Steel BBs

This post was not only the most popular post of 2014 but it was also the highest read post since Under Siege began a few years back.  There's some good advice in there but in the year that I've been doing these I've experienced a couple of issues in the 10 or so paint pots where these were being used.  To be clear, it took a while and it wasn't all of them but the quality of the BBs being used were not the highest or without some defects.  The coating seems to have eroded away and, depending on the 'integrity' of the steel BB, started to corrode.  The weight makes them ideal but a plastic or glass route might be better in the long run so, painter beware:

From left to right: New BB, BB with no coating, BB which started to corrode.

I will still use BB's but I think I'll have to go with another brand or try and find a higher quality if I need some agitators for long-term use.  However, if this is a pot that is on it's way out, given that that I've only really noticed some problems with a couple of pots several months down the line, even these will do in a pinch.

Thanks for reading!

M

Welcome to 2015!

Happy New Year to all my readers, friends, and family!

2014 for the this Blog and Arcana Creations has been an unusually busy one as a constant battle against time was waged once more.  A couple days ago, James Raggi wrote an inspirational bit about the barriers to entry in the RPG industry: Time and a computer.  I agree and time is on ongoing issue but I don't exactly regret it.

The first half of the year, I've kept busy and posted a bunch on the blog... I did some creative work with the intent of some releases for the Summer or Fall of 2014.  I also had the luxury to do some reading and I've quickly learned that, when I take the time to read I also have the energy to do so as well as engage in creative pursuits -- be it writing, editing, and layout work, or simply painting some miniatures.  The first half of the year also had me clear a bunch of stuff from my gaming collection which went a long way to paying for some of my Gen Con trip -- my first one.

With all that, I kept busy, had fun, and stuff was getting done.  However, between my day job and everything, managing all the sales I was doing up to Gen Con did take away from the writing I was actually doing on the blog.  Some would have thought it would pick up again after wards but it didn't and even the reading I did largely stopped all together after Gen Con.  The gaming material I was selling was halted and work at my 9-5 picked up leaving me drained.  A longstanding commission (paint-wise) was drawn out even more due to time restraints and complexities but at least I was still gaming semi-regularly (about 2-3 times a month).

Ironically, despite not releasing any new product in 2014, Arcana Creations actually made money thanks to its small portfolio available through the OBS services like RPGNow! and by selling off some of the remaining printed modules in stock from past C&C releases that BHP and AC produced.  While the money in question didn't amount to much and only dozens on any given title were sold at best, it was still nice to see some of those titles generating interest.

All other work continues and I've got even more material lined up for eventual release.  The hopeful Fall releases slipped but will be released in due time with a couple more surprises after that.  I'm really hoping that 2015 will be a very good year for Arcana Creations and it's looking to be a very good year (albeit busy) for me -- my wedding and another Gen Con for starters and I do hope to get reading, painting, and writing again.  Well, at least until my schedule gets bogged down as it surely will about 6 months in.  ;)

Of course, I do have about 5 drafts of articles that need finishing up so, as usual, there will be a lot more activity here in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!

M

Jenga!

Jenga is a great little game and something of a metaphor for my gaming, painting, and publishing ventures.  Oh... and this blog too come to think of it.  I diligently get started and build it up and, invariably, stuff happens and everything collapses. The thing is, Jenga is fun and like everything else I mentioned here, I keep doing it because I want to. It's easy to get into the habit of doing things but somehow it's just as easy to get caught up with something else and which causes good habits and practices to slip.

My last post was over six weeks ago and I ended off with a note that I still had a bunch of stuff to get done before the end of the year.  Somehow, I still have a lot of THOSE things left to do but things have actually been moving forward once more.  So, what have I been up to in my hours outside of my regular 9-5 gig?

I'm excited to say that I've been helping John Adams at Brave Halfling Publishing with what some people view as a disastrous Kickstarter.  This is a real shame.  He's no thief or conman as some of his detractors would have you believe.  He's a good guy who had all the right intentions but, as the saying goes, the roads are paved with them.  I count John as a good friend but many problems turned a very positive campaign experience into a sour one for many backers.  He's made mistakes and the biggest ones were underestimating the work load required to get this done while mainly doing it alone.  As a backer myself, I haven't seen much beyond the first set of releases (I write about the HERE) but, once I had them in hand, I was pleased at the final quality of the product.  As for the help I have been providing, it's mainly editing and layout work.  A few weeks ago, I was provided with an Appendix N scenario by Michael Curtis which I understand is destined to get into the hands of backers which has been turned in at the start of the month.  I am working on another longer Appendix N scenario but can't really go into the details for that.  It is my understanding that it's the last one that needs editing and layout work done though and I hope with this one out of the way, whatever is missing or outstanding all gets consolidated and settled once and for all.  The last time we spoke, he also mentioned something about the boxes and I think this will also please backers once everything that needs to go out, goes out.

That said, I've really enjoyed doing the little bit of layout and editing work for the DCC material that Brave Halfling has put together.  If anything can be learned from this experience, doing all this stuff alone was a mistake.  It's a mistake that John has made a few times and one I've made myself in trying to get stuff out.  This is why we have committed to help each other out a lot more in the immediate future.

As far as my painting projects are concerned -- I have been working on and off on a pain-in-the-ass commission to do a custom paint job on Primus Cybertron.

I hate it and frankly it kills a lot of my motivation to paint.  I'm doing it as a favor and basically, the money I'm getting for the project pays for materials and nothing more.  I have already spent countless of hours in previous months working on this cursed thing.  I needed a huge break and so, I'm happily painting again.  I've started a project which will end up being a X-Mas present to my niece.  It's a Unicorn and Ranger diorama that I'm making on a 40mm base.  I'll be doing a painting guide for it in the coming days (only 10 days till Christmas after all!).

And finally, I've gotten my latest / newest Castles & Crusades printings of the Players Handbook and Monsters & Treasure book.  They do look quite nice in their leatherette covers and look even better when you start flipping through the pages. There will be another attempt to get a game going though, it might also be Call of Cthulhu that might be explored in 2015.  The idea was presented for me to run another small fantasy campaign but before I could get too excited, I learned that the players in question wanted to give 5th Edition a try.  Not the the kind of thing I was hoping for with the new C&C books in hand.

All fine games though -- each with respective strengths and weaknesses.  Well, that's it for tonight.  I will leave by mentioning two kickstarters that deserve a mention with a proven track record for delivery,

The first is another Kickstarter by Troll Lord Games for their campaign setting.  It has already smashed the basic funding goals and with three weeks to go, plenty of time to get more goals met including a the color ones.  It's a solid setting that I grew to love since I first came across it.  The main book (Codex), is also stat-less and a great consideration if C&C just isn't your cup of tea.

You can check it out HERE.

The other Kickstarter of note is the second issue of Heroic by Zenith Comics.  The first one was published and has made it into the hands of backers.  It's a great superhero story and even pledging a $1 will get you a digital copy of issue 1.  If you like it, you can upgrade your pledge to get issue 2 ... or even a physical copy of the first issue to accompany the second issue.  If signed copies are your thing, that too can be done.  It's a great comic and the initial story is to be spread out in a six-issue story arc.  Having funded and successfully delivered issue 1, the process for the second issue is well-in-hand and much less of a risk for those of us who got burned on other Kickstarter projects.

If this looks interesting, you best hurry, as there are 6 days left and $2400 is still needed for this to fund.  You can check it out HERE.

M