Updates: Wasted Lands, Gen Con, AI, and more!

 Wow. What a month. I have been heads down playtesting The Wasted Lands all month. The Kickstarter was funded and was completed just about 2 hours ago. 

All the documents are ready. Now comes the layout and buying the last bits of art. It has been a wild ride, really. I can't wait to get my copies.

Wasted Lands core rules mock-up

Gen Con & AI

Sadly I am not headed to Gen Con this year despite being invited by a couple of publishers I have worked with in the past year.  Honestly, prep for the Fall term is kicking my ass and despite the volume of posts here, most have been pre-written days ahead.  In addition to my normal course load (ok, it is actually more this year) I am also part of the team that is working on finding ways to prevent students from using AI for plagiarism. I have never felt more akin to Sisyphus in my life, to be honest. But I do what the Gods command. So I have been eyeballs deep in all sorts of AI tools (and brushing up on my Python) since December just to keep up. I have all these cool AI tools to play with, but the goal is to figure out how to keep students from using them OR how they can use them in ethical ways. One thing though is abundantly clear, these tools are not going away.

So, no Gen Con for me this year. Looks like I'll be at Gary Con again in 2024. Not a bad place to be to celebrate 50 years of D&D.

Monster Mash II

I released Monster Mash II to only a little fanfare. I really need to talk about it more. I am rather happy with it and the art is AMAZING!

Looking Ahead to October

Again I'll be hosting the RPG Blog Carnival in October. My theme is "Gods and Monsters." I hope to talk more about Gods, demons, and monsters. It should be a lot of fun.

Since the beginning of the year, I have also been taking Spanish, so I am going to try my hand at watching nothing but Spanish-language horror movies. Part of my "continuous improvement" this year. I have lost 40 lbs, brought my A1C down to normal for six straight months, and will be off my high-blood pressure meds! Not too bad, really.

Sinéad O'Connor

I can't let the day pass without some mention of Sinéad O'Connor. I am planning a tribute post tomorrow. To say she had an impact on my life is a massive understatement. 

Ok. Have a course to finish up today and I promised a colleague that I would read over theirs before tomorrow.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 27

 The first alcove on the left hides a secret door. In leads down a small flight of stairs to a room filling with water.  The water though, turns to steam nearly as fast. 

Rising from the steam is a demonic figure, similar to the small demons from Room 11, but this one is much larger.

Steam Mephit Lord: HD 8; AC 3 [16]; THAC0 11 [+8]; Atk 2 claws (1d8); Move 120' (40') [Fly 240' (80')]; Save D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 (8); Morale 10; AL C;  Special: Breathe steam cloud (3d6, save for half), gaseous form.

This creature is twice as large as the mephits encountered earlier. It appears to be "melting," but that seems to be part of its form.

The Mephit Lord is trapped here, like many other creatures, by the Vampire Queen.

Alcastra and The Illhiedrin Book

I have not been talking much about the various Judges Guild books in a while because of how racist current stewards Bob Bledsaw II and III have been. Really put a sad blemish on what I had always enjoyed as a "local" company.

But that also, unfortunately, did Bob Bledsaw the First and all the other fine authors (like Daniel Hauffe and Jennell Jaquays) a huge disservice.  So I want to revisit some of the Judges Guild books of my youth and see how they could play into my current games. In particular, my War of the Witch Queens or my 1979 Campaign.

Since I always look for witches, I will start with Alcastra and The Illhiedrin Book. 

I don't have the cover as the top image. The reason is simple, when this post gets shared on social media, whatever image is first is used as a thumbnail, and the cover was suggestive by 1981 standards and likely to get me into Facebook jail by 2023 standards.  Shame, really. It is one of the more recognizable covers. 

The adventure is a rare example of an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure from Judges Guild (not just a Dungeons & Dragons one) and a low-level adventure at that.

Like many older adventures, much detail is given to Alcastra's tower and its occupants, but only a little on the spell-caster herself.  In fact, this is all we really know about her:

This is a pity.  Though it is interesting (to me anyway) that her class is "Wizard" and not "Magic-user," as expected. 

Why is she naked on the cover? I am going with it is hot where she is at.

Of course, I would instead use her as a witch. Given her general appearance, I am tempted to make her into an Egyptian witch of the Classical Tradition. For this, I will use my syncretized Greco-Egyptian Gods and use my Classical Witch Tradition book. I would swap out some of the Classical Witch spells for some others, likely from my Witch book for Basic-era games though I should also look into some of my other books.

Alcastra the Fairspoken

13th level human Witch, Classical Tradition (Greco-Egyptian)

Strength: 11
Dexterity: 13
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 18

Saves
Breath Attacks: 12
Poison or Death: 9
Petrify or Paralysis: 9
Wands: 10
Spells and Spell-like device: 11

Hit Points: 33
Alignment: Chaotic Good
AC: 3 (Bracers of defense)
To hit AC 0: 16

Occult Powers
Familiar: Hawk (+1 to Wisdom and Dexterity checks)
Lesser: Gift of Prophecy
Minor: Drawing Down the Moon

Spells
First: Cause Fear, Charm Person, Read Languages, Sleep
Second:  ESP, Hold Person, Invisibility, Spell Missile
Third: Dispel Magic, Scry, Spark of Insight
Fourth: Fate, Polymorph Other, Witch Power
Fifth: Flame Strike, Teleport
Sixth: Anit-Magic Shell, Bones of the Earth
Seventh: Sirocco

Equipment
Bracers of Defence
Dagger +2
Staff of Ra. Acts as a Staff of Striking and can cast the following spells:
  3/day: Color Spray, Light
  1/day: Flame Strike, Fury of the Sun, Sun Blessing

--

A good build to be honest. She also has two apprentices, Mirranscheim (human) and Rhall (half-elf), both 3rd level.  The only stats we get for them are their Charisma scores. I am tempted to make Rhall a desert elf. Just to give her a more interesting background. But in my game, desert elves don't have anything to do with humans if they can avoid them. Rhall could be an outcast. 

I might detail them since they could accompany the party on this adventure.  To make sure their mistress' plan is carried out.  Not sure if they run around naked as well. Let's say no.

Mirranscheim and Rhall

The adventure itself is pretty basic. It could be built up by making "The Creature" a bit tougher.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 26

 The passageway opens into a large circular room. In the center is a large fire. There are four alcoves spaced about the room walls.  The scene on the ceiling is though a sight out of a nightmare.

Near the top of the room, writhing on the thermals, are four (4) elemental fire Leeches. 

These creatures are native to the Elemental Plane of Fire where they are analogous to Giant Leeches. Instead of draining blood the drain heat.

There are also 1d4+4 Fire Opals found on the ground here, worth 100x1d6 GP each. They are from the Elemental Plane of Fire and are worth twice as much to an alchemist or wizard specializing in fire magic.

Mail Call: Enter the Creative Commons Era

 To recover from their massive PR screw-up involving the OGL, Wizards of the Coast swang the completely other direction and released the D&D 5 SRD under the Creative Commons License. 

I know much less about this license than I do about the OGL. I am pretty competent in the OGL and have been part of the Open Gaming Foundation since its beginning. So yeah, I have had nearly 23 years of practice with it. 

I got my copy of the new Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised via their Kickstarter recently and it looks fantastic.  It uses the CC 4.0 By Attribution license.  So I thought I'd grab some more Creative Commons books and see how they are made.

Not a bad collection, really.

The Arcanum 30th Anniversary Edition is an update to the venerable Arcanum and Compleat books from the 1980s.  I always have had a soft spot in my heart for this series. The 30th Anniversary Edition also does a good job of updating these rules and provides a nice history.  

It has been released under the CC BY-SA - Creative Commons Share Alike license. Sadly, Zila Games seems to be either defunct or at least lost their website. 

In a move I think surprises no one, Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules 4thEd from Chris Gonnerman also has gone Creative Commons. This one was also released under the CC BY-SA - Creative Commons Share Alike license.

All three are worthy updates to their original versions. If somewhat thicker.

The rules have not really changed all that much. The presentation of all three is also better, with Swords & Wizardry inching out as the best-looking update.

This might be just what I needed to help get over my creative hump on my High Witchcraft book I have been playing around with for years.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 25

 Past the corridor there is a split going left and right. The right leads to a door that is locked, barred, and magiced.

Removing the bar requires a combined Strength of 28 to lift. After that a thief with need a successful remove traps roll. Then a magic-user (or witch) will need to cast a dispel magic or remove curse on the lock.

Inside the room is a bound Ifrit.

Bound in a Thaumaturgic Triangle is an Ifrit. Not just any Ifrit, but Princess Azadiha. She has been bound her for over 1,000 years.  

She will beg the PCs for her freedom saying she will grant each one wish (treat as a limited wish spell). She won't try to "twist" the wishes, but they will not be very powerful all the same. 

She is telling the truth and wants to kill the one her put in this circle. Not the Vampire Queen, but one of her chief summoners. (Insightful GMs can use the name of a local or personal NPC for the summoner here). 

The Princess is dangerous but honest. The Vampire Queen is not her interest, but if the PCs mention they are hunting for her, she will be inclined to aid them. 

For freeing her the PCs gain 3,000 XP.  She has no treasure.

--

Azadiha is an NPC in my games. She was painted by my wife. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 7, Room 24

 Beyond the bridge, there is a cave filled with flames.

Inside the cave are two Flame Salamanders. They have maximum hp and attack on sight. 

Combined, they have Treasure type F x3.