Party Equipment Record Sheet

Even with fast packs there are often equipment choices for players to make when outfitting their expeditions to the underworld. I figure a really easy way to smooth these decisions, speed things along, and maybe also help with bookkeeping later is to have a party equipment record sheet.



I've been wanting to do this for a while but finding the right art has been an exercise in frustration. Anyway, think of it as a draft. And if you like the idea, you don't even need this pdf, just quickly sketch the items on a piece of paper and make your own on game day. But I do think images ease the reading of the sheet.

The idea is player one picks her gear, writes her character's name by all the stuff she chose then hands it to the next player who does the same. People are usually making these decisions simultaneously, but it could be helpful for inexperienced parties to be thinking about what they might need that they haven't purchased yet. I think it could be really helpful later when all hell breaks loose and you need to know which hirelings had torches-- just check this sheet, their names would be by torches.

There's room for an item or two more. I'm not sure what else should be one the sheet. I thought maybe bags or coffers, for when the party is carrying booty out of a dungeon. Other ideas?

Old School Combat Cards

In a true old school combat anything is possible. The actions a player might choose to perform, because they are not described, are infinite.

But what do we do for new players who have no idea what could happen in a combat? Or what will we do in a few years when all those entering the hobby will only have had experience with 4e and most likely be looking for explicit action they can take in a battle?

Old School Combat Cards!

Make some cards that have some basic maneuvers a player might make. Include simple instructions on them. Better yet if they all had silhouettes illustrating the maneuver being made for easy identification during play. Also, if you could color code different types of maneuvers. Maybe anything that moves an opponent is green, maneuvers that result in a definite combat advantage in red, etc.

The mechanics you use to determine success are up to you. But for me, I'd use Simple Combat Maneuvers. Every card would have the same mechanic! The idea would be eventually the player would no longer need them-- like training wheels.

So what would be some good cards to have?

Those that Move a Foe

• Push Back
  
• Lead Forward
  
• Trade Positions

Those that Give an Advantage over a Foe

• Trip
• Disarm
• Blind
• Tackle

Others

• Shield Ally
• Slip By

What do you think? Have you had players that might have benefited from something like this? Suggestions for other cards or ways to use them?

Undertavern - Design Notes

First, I corrected all the typos I could find in the files I'd hurriedly uploaded before heading out of town: the one-page format and the word document, now with added tavern patrons.

The Star of the Dungeon

Whether the dungeon turns out fun for your group or a flop, it was built around the idea of the pale beast thing chained to a course, its scraping warning of its approach. This is what I meant by thinking up situations and then building a dungeon around them here.

I probably shouldn't have named the thing, because it seems to make it more tangible and less frightening. I would have it be intelligent and squeeze as much tension out of it as possible; let players hear the strange scraping sound far away, nearer, nearer, and a flash of white as it passes a corridor intersection. Later, have it walk very slowly holding the chain so as to make no noise. Maybe even let the players see it doing this (from behind, from the side) so they are creeped out by the idea that a) its smart and b) they can't count on the noise giving it away any more.

John Jentilman

I wanted to leave the whole situation fruitfully ambiguous: is John a kook whose secret digging has gotten him in trouble, a weird serial killer, a combination of the two? The humans with arrows in them in room 3 pushes it toward the killer choice, but that could have been done by the dollfolk, or even the forsaken. If a DM wanted, they could play John as a sympathetic kook that was terrified by the ark in room 8, doesn't know how to ask for help, and thus pushes parties underground.

Tone as Generating Technique

I mentioned early on that I wanted to think in terms of gonzo, creepy and wondrous and then see if I could mash them together. This was actually really helpful. fun and interesting, but . . . insane! Can you imagine writing three dungeons for every one you map and play?

I actually did most of a map in the style of Tony Dowler for my gonzo ideas. The first goofy idea I had was that if there couldn't be giant rats in the dungeon there would be everything like them I could stuff in. That produced the idea of straw rats, beavers, and a capybara. On my map I had a beaver standing next to an underground dam. This damn later turned into the Behemoth.

It was interesting and quite easy for the funny to turn weird-- the stuffed rats became made of meat and filled with victims. I actually can't claim one of the weirdest aspects, the duplicate tavern underground. I had asked my buddy weeks ago "What would you expect under a tavern?" and he said "A well you have to go down and then another tavern with talking frogs." The talking frogs will have to wait for their own dungeon, but the model of the tavern seemed like genius to me, so I used it.

Simulation vs. Mysterious Underworld

If you deconstruct this dungeon, it, like my Coastal Caves, really points to a simulationist struggling with the fact that they know dungeons need variety, wonder, and mystery. I really tried to make a place John Jentilman could have dug with his own hands in ~40 years, sometime uncovering the Ark room. The Behemoth and its dollfolk worshipers are me trying to add the mystery of the underworld (who knows where they came from), but again, the fact that something has been eating the poor, big, grub is indication that my default thinking is realistic.

Design Process

Early on I did actually trace some dice and place dominoes to see what I would come up with. The dice resulted in too natural a setting, it didn't look like someone had carved them out. The dominoes were too linear, but they did result in a religious room overlooking a chasm that I think was the seed for the undersky.

Oddly, both the beaver dam turning to a Behemoth and the domino dungeon tile turning into a platform overlooking an underground sky came to mind as I was waking from sleep on the same morning.

Some Goals

I wanted to incorporate all the things in T. Foster's suggestion for a session of play. I didn't really get the telegraphed trap in, unless you consider the mud spiral one. I also didn't get magic that changes characters permanently, but as suggested the musical hives in room 8 could fill that role. As a side not, the music that activates the glass vessel isn't meant to be silly, it's just the simplest song I would know, as a non-musician, how to peck out on a keyboard. If your players are musicians you could make the tune more complex/interesting and also have a different tone.

I also wanted to incorporate factions if I could, but by making the Forsaken savage beserkers I broke Alex Schroeder's suggestion for intelligent opposition. If you play through this you might consider forgetting that beserker part, make them more like Lord of the Flies boys, not so much raving mad as merciless, at least someone players could negotiate with. Hmm . . . maybe the Gulo wants something? I know the Behemoth wants something . . . out. And that's one reason I put the amulet of ESP in the dungeon (I have no idea how players might free it though). But maybe the Gulo wants something more than just fresh flesh too . . .

Okay, enough blah, blah, blah from me. Hey, what about my SAGE request, "What did Telecanter get?" you might wonder. I was going to post, but I'll just point you in the direction of the goodies. PatrickWR made this great list of treasure items here. Thanks!

Japanese Monster Illustrations

Did y'all see this? Kid's book illustrations by Gojin Ishihara.

Patrons of the Two Moon Tavern

Another part of the SAGE request I received was to flesh out some of the patrons of the Two Moon Tavern. I do that now:

Barmaid Alice Robinsdoughter is in her twenties and has hair almost to the back of her knees. Patrons wonder at it and jest with her about the amorous complication such hair might cause. She takes it all good naturedly, but is constantly looking to Agnes for direction-- should he be offended, is it all in good fun?

Barmaid Agnes Bonamy is in her fifties and has a stunted left arm that she carries crooked close to her body. She constantly makes light of Alice with patrons, though behind her back.

Many of the regulars at the Two Moon are travelers or traders that stop on their normal routes (thus they don't notice the people constantly disappearing in the cellars), John Fairjohn and his son Roger are two of these. Both men share the unfortunate feature of greatly bucked teeth. John, in his sixties, is quite slow. He believes Agnes arm was caused by her mother's womb being kicked by a fairy. Roger is in his twenties and seems completely unaware that his teeth disgust Alice, as he pursues her favor with unswerving aplomb.

John Merriman is a devoted drinking partner of John Fairjohn's. Though this forty year old will rarely let a night pass without spilling ale over the man. He is missing his right ear and will tell the tale of how he lost it as a child in a smithy, trying to see what hot iron sounded like.

Robert Punchun's huge feet are constantly tripping up the barmaids. He believes John Fairjohn's tales, laughs at John Merriman's foolishness, and considers himself a man to be reckoned with. Though the thirty year old would enter a fray to prove it, the only thing worth reckoning about him, really, is the size of his shoes.

John Stoutlook has a scarred nose, that people say he got fending off robbers on the road one night. The twenty year old certainly seems fearless.

Robert Alansman, also in his twenties is gaunt and red nosed from ale. He is the one patron sure to be in the Moons and the one patron sure to be drunk, though he mostly keep to himself.

Thomas Marmaduke, in his forties, is a pale and slight man with a wisp of a goatee. He is the frequent target of conversation from Agnes but would really rather be left alone.

A foreign couple (demihumans? What land do they hale from? choose for your campaign) has been frequenting the tavern of late. The man in his fifties has a huge beard and show sign of being a doughty veteran. His female companion is slightly younger and has her hair beautifully ornamented with beads of rare wood and semiprecious stones. She seems watchful and actually suspects John Jentilman.

A second foreign pair is likely to be encountered in the tavern. A woman in her fifties with hennaed hands is cheerful and garrulous, happy to engage anyone in a seemingly unending conversation about her place of origin and her affairs. Her companion a beautiful woman in her twenties seems incredibly uncomfortable about the attention this draws and will try to politely curtail conversation. Her nose ring is a feature of interest for Alice, who would be interested in striking up a conversation, if Agnes thought it okay.