This is my blog about a whole new hell, its denizens, its cosmologies. And this is maybe the end. At the very least, it's *an* end, in which we discuss the very mightiest of the Archdevils, the Dark God of Envy, Pride, and Tyranny. See the bottom of the page for links to the rest of the articles.

The King of Hell has many names. In the Successor States of Rega, he is Interitus, or "Destruction". In many worlds, he is Baal-Abed, or "Lord Slave." In others, he is Ninghalamma, "Annihilation". In all worlds, he is the first born child of the serpentine monster that predates reality, the physical spawn of entropy, created to destroy all of reality that Khaos might once again rule all. But he was too powerful, and became too real, and while he still sometimes works toward total destruction, he'd much rather rule over all creation.

At the dawn of time, it is said that he and his siblings, his co-rulers, Iht-Tabah and Jar-Mot, came into being from the corpse of the primordial evil, slain by the creator gods. Or that they stepped forward from the void just as the world was being made to oppose all good and purity. Or any number of other tales. What is known for certain, in all worlds where they exist, is that they oppose the gods of kindness, of good, of beauty. They are the source of evil, of tyranny, of sin, aided and abetted by the other Seven Archdevils. They seek to corrupt and control creation, and they will use any tactic, no matter how foul or unwise, to achieve their goals. If they seem self defeating, well, sometimes they are. They scheme and war amongst themselves for power, and the King of Hell himself is of literally two minds: one, under the directive of Khaos that spawned him, wishes to bring all Creation to ruin. The other, born of his time inside Creation, wishes to grind all living things beneath his boot forever, and stamp out the bright gods. The two are not entirely compatible, and Baal-Abed finds himself at war with himself, setting schemes in motion to derail his own schemes, working to conquer all that is while also seeking to defend it from the utter Annihilation he is named for, and guarding it from further incursions from the Void Outside.

He shares his vast fortress and palace, Byrsa Kurnugia, with his siblings. It rests at the edge of the Abyss, also called the Pit, that vast hole leading out into the Darkness Outside, whence comes his power, demons he can conscript as is or turn into devils, and things even he must stop at the gate or throw screaming back into the bottomless depths.

He is the King and Supreme Commander of Hell. Though his siblings are equal (or nearly so) to him in power, it is his plans, as contradictory as they sometimes are, that direct the forces of Kurnugia in the rest of Creation. Unlike many of his subjects, and even his siblings, he does not wander. He does not rest. Instead, he schemes. He commands. He directs. He moves from one war council and strategy meeting to the next, pausing only to test his might against the greatest warriors and generals Hell (and sometimes the Heavens, and the mortal realms) have to offer. He corrupts. He manipulates. He watches. He also plays a lot of chess, sometimes for high stakes.

There is no greater schemer, deceiver, or dissembler in all the worlds. Many scholars believe he is equal in force of arms to the mightiest of the Bright Gods, if not greater, so far beyond mortals and even angels and demons that he must carefully limit himself to experience any challenge. He may take any form, and may be as fair of face and speech as he likes. If he chooses to appear good, one is unlikely to detect him. "The Devil may quote Scripture," as it were. And he does. Oh yes he does. He loves little more than to corrupt the servants of his enemies, to turn them from the Light to the Darkness. (A note: Light and Darkness truly only take on their metaphorical meaning here. Bright Angelic devils scour the Hells in the name of their King, and he is as comfortable on a bright sunlit day as he is the darkest night.)

He is fickle, he is capricious. He always means what he says, and say what he means. He almost never actually *lies*, and he always keeps his sworn word. He never breaks a contract. But Hell and its King are better negotiators than you, and the Devil is in the details. Read the fine print, and hope you understood it.

He is glad to give mortals power, because they almost always use it in his service even if they are not contracted to do so. Power doesn't really corrupt (well, his power does) but it does attract the corruptible.

He is Envy, and hates any notion that anything might surpass him, or have what he does not. He is Pride, and does not truly believe that any force inside Creation *can* surpass him. He's not exactly *wrong*. He is calm, cool, collected, until he suddenly isn't, and nations die.

His default form, and one of his favorites, is a dark haired man of middle age, silvering at the temples. He is handsome, dignified, strong. He is in perfect condition, well muscled in the Greco-Roman style, with just enough fat to indicate that he enjoys life, and is a man of means. When dressed, he might be in toga or chiton of royal read over tunic of bright green. He very often carries a tall scepter. He might also appear armed and armored for war, in the armor of an ancient hoplite, formed of black metal, embossed with green serpents. In that case, the scepter takes the form of spear, the Serpent's Bite, and he might have shield and sword as well. The crest on his Corinthian helmet is of dark green, shaped like the fin or wing of a dragon, and a red cloak hangs from his shoulders.

His diabolic form varies more than his underlings, but he often prefers a huge green scaled creature with the head and wings of a dragon, armed and armored much as his human seeming self. His fangs and claws weep venom, and fumes rise from his nostrils. He also enjoys simply being a dragon, or a vast sea serpent, or almost any snake.

In earlier installments, we've covered that Hell Has Its Law­s,

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-laws-part-1

Hell Has Its Place

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-place-hell-pt-2‍ ‍,

that Hell Hath No Fury

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-hath-no-fury-hell-part-3‍ ‍

, and the reasons Dungeons and Dragons, depicts Nine Hells, in How Many Hells and Why https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/how-many-hells-and-why-hell-part-4‍ ‍.

We covered where names come from, in A Hell of a Set of Names.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/a-hell-of-a-set-of-names-hell-part-5

And then we talked about the new Hells I’ve designed, themselves, in What Fresh Hell Is This? https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/what-fresh-hell-is-this-hell-part-6‍ ‍

I wrote about Ibacar, Devil Princess of Despair, as well as some of her minions.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/abandon-all-hope
and then I covered Jajax Lal Anim, the Archdevil of Greed, Lord of Laqq.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-2-eye-of-the-needle‍ ‍

We recently talked about Immzebul, Lady of Flies, Archdevil of Gluttony and Rot

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-3-never-enough-hell-part-9‍ ‍

Then we cowered in terror from Malhamit, the diabolical Bull of War, the Archdevil of Wrath.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-4-war-is-hell-hell-part-10

More recently we spoke of repulsive Sha’Urcit, the Devil Prince of Lust. https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-5-lust-and-pain-is-the-candy-hell-part-11‍ ‍

Then we were proud to present Iddet-Leil, Devil Princess of Pride.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-6-pride-is-a-master-of-deception-hell-pt-12‍ ‍

Then we described Hamarqal the Zealous, Devil Prince of Envy.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-7-ulcer-of-the-soul-hell-pt-13

We began the descriptions of the Dark Three, the true gods of evil, with Jar-Mot, Lord of Undeath and Vizier of Hell.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-pt-8-fear-itself-hell-pt-14

We lastly illustrated the evil of Iht-Tabah. the Devil Queen, Hell's Champion, Goddess of Blood.

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-part-9-bloody-hell-hell-part-15

‍ ‍

Deep into the woods west of Saryer’s Overlook is Greenshadow Vale, a secluded valley of whispering pines and moss-covered ruins. Among the ruins is the hamlet of Mother’s Watch, a settlement of hunters, herbalists, and charcoal-burners who believe the valley is watched over by the spirits of the Great Mothers, the fabled original founders of the settlement. On the west embankment of the valley, looking down over the small lake at the heart of the forest, is a massive ancient barrow mound that is sacred to the locals as it is claimed to be the resting place of those same Great Mothers. The only locals that visit the area of the mound regularly are the charcoal burners who have been tasked with keeping the area clear of trees. Hunters in the woods who see people in the valley will keep an eye on them in case they are travelling to the barrow. If either hunters or charcoal burners see anyone going into the mound, they will bring reinforcements to ambush them as they depart.

Large moss-covered steps descend down to the heavy stone door at the entrance to the mound. The door has obviously been handled and damaged recently (the charcoal burners resealed the door behind a would-be tomb robber, trapping them within). Beyond the door is a small sump with a gravel bottom to collect rain water that leaks under the door. Most of the barrow is constructed of large stone slabs set as walls and ceiling with dirt packed in behind them forming the mound proper. The two rear chambers are set on the actual rocky floor of the valley, and the lower chambers were painstakingly cut from that same rock.

Each of the chambers is a tomb for one or more of the Great Mothers. They were legendary forest‑speakers, able to commune with the beasts and trees of the valley. They chose this vale as their resting place so their spirits could continue to watch over the wilds. But even their powers failed to unveil the dark evil that exists beneath these lands, the dark heart of the woods that has slowly twisted the residents of the vale to their current xenophobic, superstitious culture. The dark heart of the woods has corrupted the eternal slumber of the Great Mothers, and they are now ghouls, ghasts, and wights. And they hunger.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the 10‘ foot squares that work with the furnishings as shown) – so resizing the image to 1,680 x 2,520 pixels or 3,360 x 5,040 pixels, respectively.

This map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Over 500 amazingly generous people have come together to fund the site and these maps, making them free for your use.

Because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make these maps free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under this commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”).

Please note that the promotional version of this map (the one with the brown paper background) is not included in this commercial use license and the text & name are NOT released under this license, and cannot be used in conjunction with this map in a commercial project.

To attempt a maneuver, roll 2d6 and contest the result against the table below. The target number will always be the highest which is applicable. If you roll equal to or greater then the target number, the maneuver succeeds, otherwise it fails.

Example: attempting to stun a target with a helmet requires a score of 11+, regardless of other equipment the they are or aren't carrying.

Combat Maneuvers vs Armour (2d6)

The attacker receives a +1 to their maneuver roll if they are of a higher level (/more Hit Dice) than the target. They receive a -1 if they are a lower level.

The attacker receives a +1 to their maneuver roll against foes which do not have a weapon in hand.

If a natural score of 12 is rolled on a Disarm or Topple, the target is also Stunned.

Maneuver Descriptions

Disarm. The target drops their weapon. If they wish to pick it up on their next turn, it takes the place of their attack.

Topple. The target falls to the ground. Attacks automatically hit them until they can stand up. Standing up takes the place of their move. Fighters are entitled to a save vs. paralysis in order to prevent a successful Topple, except on a natural 12.

Stun. The target suffers a -2 to hit, and incoming attacks against them are made at +2 for 1d6 rounds. Stunned creatures can't cast spells.

Parry. The target suffers a -2 to hit against the fighter on the following turn. If they miss, the fighter makes a free counterattack at +2 to hit.

"The lady watches the combat" -- Henry Macbeth Raeburn

Level-4 Short Adventure

Adventure Setup

The story states that decades ago, Sir Ulfrid Hunt was still alive. He was a righteous warrior filled with determination and an indomitable sense of duty. He once saved a small town from the attack of a ravenous werewolf. Sadly, during the near-death confrontation, he was cursed with lycanthropy. He spent months looking for a cure but failed. He became an unruly monster, like the ones he used to fight. And so, during a full moon, he transformed and took the lives of innocents. When he recovered his human form, realizing the danger he posed, he took his own life…

Most feel deep sympathy for the Howling Knight. Named like this because the lupine curse made him bark at the moon like a lonely, misunderstood wolf. People built a shrine in his honor; it comprises twin guardian statues of him holding a sword, and a central, oval-shaped stone structure features a kneeling, desperate statue of Sir Ulfrid in a pose that describes the great desperation during his final moments.

Lycanthropy. It is not an easy task to cure this affliction. It is known that there are worse things than death. Being cursed with lycanthropy is considered to be one of the worst fates there is.

The Knight Today

It is said that Sir Ulfrid’s spirit lingers on. His repentance and frustration hold him in the world of the living. Word is that those who defeat his hatred-fed spirit shall earn the knight’s strength; a magical boon for proving one’s prowess.

Nevertheless, the truth is that he wishes for someone to punish him for his actions, his weakness. He cannot overcome his guilt. He believes that only a punishment by the sword shall grant him deliverance. In silence, he waits. But when someone shows up, regardless of his will to yield and take retribution head-on, the beast takes over.

Adventure Hook. Professor Anna Harriet is a student of the unknown and the otherworldly arts. She wants to study and see the Howling Knight, or what remains of him, with her own eyes (or eye); she wears an arcane device that makes her look like a cyclops. Anna still has both her eyeballs, but this artifact allows her to see beyond the evident and the ordinary matter.

She looks for a group of adventurers to accompany her and test the magic, the power, and the rumors that surround the fabled knight’s effigy. She offers 250 GP.

Set Up

The heroes meet Professor Anna Harriet and accept the job to escort her to the shrine.

Reward. Heroes usually agree to study, investigate, or explore a dangerous place in exchange for financial compensation.

Alternative. The heroes are free to study Sir Ulfrid’s shrine on their own, but having the NPC hire them is a great way to build the world around this place. It also offers a monetary reward.

Random Events

This adventuring supplement is designed for D&D5e. On out Patreon page you can get it in PDF format (see image). Notice that some of the layout elements can only be presented as intended in the PDF layout (side-margin boxes and statblocks). The downloads include hi-res images for the maps.

1. Main Road

Prof. Anna hires the party of heroes at the nearest town. They arrive from the south after a few hours of traveling on the road.

Dracotia. The heroes rest in town between missions when they either take Anna’s job or decide to investigate the shrine themselves.

2. Confluence

Three shallow streams converge and flow north toward the effigy. The tributaries flow into a small pond next to the Effigy of the Howling Knight.

These streams are important for the farming communities in this region. They are the focus of criminal gangs, goblins, and other problems. So much so that Dracotia has a special patrol group that scouts the area weekly to report any issue or situation as fast as possible.

Side-Quest. The heroes could have come here to fix a problem affecting the river and divert their attention to the knight’s shrine.

Reuse the Scenario. Regardless of what happens with the knight, Dracotia often requires heroes to deal with issues related to the freshwater supply.

Resource. Nearby towns cannot afford to lose access to their only source of fresh water within miles.

3. Shrine of Heirlooms

A carved pedestal holds a golden urn bolted to the stone base. Within, people have left baubles and trinkets. A small inscription reads: ‘These gifts are but a fraction of what is owed to you, oh brave knight! Sir Ulfrid Hunt.’

If the heroes approach this area, Professor Anna says that she considers it a waste of time. Her interest lies in the knight’s statues. She also mentions it is bad taste to mess around with the stuff that people left for the bygone knight.

The Urn. It features a clever ‘semi-open lid’ device that allows for objects to be added to the pile, but makes it very hard to pull them out or browse inside. The heroes can spend 1 crawling round figuring a way to bypass it (DC 15 DEX) or outright destroy it. Inside, they find a collection of coins, silver utensils, and small pieces of jewelry (87 GP). If the heroes do this, roll twice on the Random Events table and combine the results.

4. Twin Statues

Anna begs the heroes to wait while she makes a drawing of these statues, explores the sculptures, and takes some notes. This takes 1 crawling round. Roll on the Random Events table after this.

5. Effigy of the Howling Knight

The twin statues depict the knight as most people remember him. But an aura of sadness and despair surrounds this last one.

The heroes have little to do when they investigate this place. Sir Ulfrid’s spirit appears, but before he can say anything, the beast takes over. The Howling Knight attacks!

Even if she is just here to take notes, the spectral beast also targets Anna; she must be protected. When defeated, the heroes hear a faint ‘Thank you…’ Sir Ulfrid has gotten the punishment he yearned for. The fabled Howling Knight’s soul can finally rest in peace.

Howling Knight’s Specter

This specter is empowered by the lycanthropy curse. The wraith has lupine features like claws and fur.

AC: 13

HP: 29        LV7

ATK: 3 spectral rend +5 (1d8)

MV: Double near

S:-1 D:+3 C:+1 I:+1 W:+1 Ch:+3

Greater Undead. Immune to morale checks. Only damaged by silver or magical sources.

Incorporeal. In place of attacks, become corporeal or incorporeal.

Rage. 1/day, +1d4 damage (3 rounds).

Lycanthropy. If 12 or more damage from the Howling Knight, contract lycanthropy.

This awesome cartography piece was featured in on our Patreon page and on issue 70 of Dungeon Vault Magazine.

If you like our content, please consider checking out our Patreon page so you can get the latest content in early-access, full HD maps, and the best TTRPG content!

The post 911 Effigy of the Howling Knight appeared first on Elven Tower Adventures.

In other words, this essay suggests that what makes D&D characters who they are, their mythical essence, is not merely coincidental, but integral to the game. In particular, the four traditional archetypes – fighter, wizard, rogue, and cleric – are not creations of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, but rather discoveries: crystallizations of patterns of psychology and narrative which exist in the collective unconscious far predating the invention of the game. They are known as archetypes by psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and have been analyzed across civilizations throughout human history by Joseph Campbell in the context of monomyth. Viewing the game in such a way is not an attempt to demean it in any way, but to contextualize it in one of humankind’s most ancient pursuits: storytelling.

Jung’s Archetypes: A Necessary Primer

In order to understand Carl Jung’s concept of archetypes, one should consider his idea of the collective unconscious, which is a deeper level of the psyche than the personal one. The difference between these two types of consciousness, according to Jung, is the universal and impersonal nature of the former. As opposed to the personal unconscious, which includes an individual’s repressed memories, the collective unconscious comprises archetypes: basic structures and models of behavior that transcend cultures, appearing spontaneously among people with no connection between them.

There are many different archetypes, according to Carl Jung, although some of them play a more significant role in narration, namely: the Hero, the Mediator, the Magician and the Trickster. They are not real characters that appear in various literary works, but rather, they are structures of the psyche that can be found in myths, dreams, fairytales, religious images, and even in the subject at hand, role-playing games. The major distinctive characteristic of each archetype is the presence of certain emotional response associated with it. In other words, we do not need any explanation for responding to something we see.

The reason why this relevant to D&D is not merely that the game’s classes map onto Jungian figures, though they do. It is that Jung’s framework explains why those figures produce the specific quality of emotional investment that D&D players recognize: the sense that one’s character is not merely a game piece but a vehicle for something that matters. That feeling is not nostalgia or genre familiarity. It is the resonance of an archetypal pattern being activated in imaginative space.

Campbell’s Monomyth and the Structure of Adventure

While Jung defines the grammar of the characters within myths, Joseph Campbell defines their syntax: the process by which those mythic figures evolve and take on significance. In his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Campbell organizes an immense amount of world mythology into a consistent narrative structure that he terms the “monomyth” or the Hero’s Journey.

The monomyth can be broken down into three main stages: Departure, where the hero is summoned from the ordinary world to a different realm; Initiation, where the hero undergoes trials and changes; and finally Return, where the hero returns with something valuable for the rest of the community from which they departed. Throughout each stage, Campbell identifies certain recurring elements of syntax, such as the “Call to Adventure,” the “Crossing of the Threshold,” the “Road of Trials,” the “Supreme Ordeal,” and the “Return with the Elixir,” that occur with striking regularity in diverse traditions ranging from ancient Greek epics to Arthurian romances, Hindu religion, and West African folk tales.

The dungeon crawl, considered as a narrative structure rather than a tactical exercise, is a near-perfect instantiation of the Campbellian monomyth. The threshold is literal: the entrance to the dungeon. The Road of Trials is the dungeon’s interior. The Supreme Ordeal is the final encounter. The Return with the Elixir is the treasure, the XP, the narrative resolution that the party carries back into the world above. D&D did not consciously engineer this correspondence, but it did not need to. The structure of adventure, stripped to its essentials, is the structure of myth. The game rediscovered what myth already knew.

The Fighter: The Hero in Its Purest Form

Among the four traditional archetypes, the role of the Fighter is most analogous to the concept of the Hero put forth by Campbell and the concept of the Self by Jung in its early manifestation. The Fighter is a figure characterized by bravery, directness, and a propensity for placing himself between a source of potential danger and those he wishes to protect. These characteristics cannot be reduced to tactics alone but rather represent a set of traits which cultures all throughout history have equated with heroism.

Think about the characters who are found alongside this archetype in myths from around the world: Achilles, the warrior whose rage powers The Iliad, Beowulf, who faces monsters and enters hell in order to save his people, Arjuna, the hero prince of the Mahabharata, who must come out of his paralysis before the fight and accept his status as a fighter. All three are united by certain psychological qualities that prioritize action and engagement with the world above all else.

This mythical legacy is part of the Fighter character even if the player is not consciously aware of it. To be a player who elects to embody a Fighter means more than choosing a character with a large amount of hit points and an excellent attack bonus. It means embracing a way of interacting with the world that involves direct physical confrontation and an acknowledgment of mortality that has been considered heroic by human civilization from its earliest storytelling days. The Fighter becomes a mythic figure, in the exact Jungian understanding of the term, because they embody a myth that the unconscious recognizes and reacts to.

The Wizard: The Wise Old Man and the Danger of Knowledge

Among the most developed archetypes proposed by Jung is that of the Wise Old Man archetype, or the Magician or Senex. This archetypal figure is the personification of the idea of knowledge and understanding, the individual who sees the hidden order behind the façade of things and has the ability to manipulate it. In many cases, the Wise Old Man is anything but the benefactor that he appears to be. Often ambiguous, dangerous, and acting according to rules of which the Hero knows nothing, this archetype’s power comes with corruption just as much as it comes with enlightenment. As an example, one needs only to mention the character of Merlin, the architect of Arthur’s kingdom, an advisor and a manipulator of unlimited knowledge. Gandalf was explicitly based upon the image of Odin from Norse mythology, the wandering deity who sacrificed one of his eyes for knowledge.

That’s the inheritance of the Wizard in D&D. The primary quality of the Wizard does not lie in power, because he possesses less survivable power than the Fighter at the start of the game, but rather in his possession of arcane knowledge. Whereas spells are just powers applied to problems, spells are rather the application of understanding which others lack, and such understanding requires study and acquisition. In addition, the spell slots of the wizard represent not only game mechanics but also the principle that arcane knowledge is scarce, difficult, and not to be wasted.

It is for this reason that the wizard possesses his distinctive psychological shadow: that of the Faustian bargain of knowledge at any cost, even at the price of humanity itself. Faust, Prospero, and the Wizard of Earthsea are all part of the same mythical archetype, because they all embody the same basic concept: the pursuit of knowledge that is hidden from the rest of humanity and carries the possibility of transcendence as well as the danger of losing something essential about ourselves in the process.

The Rogue: The Trickster at the Threshold

If the Hero represents the moral center of the tribe/community and the Wise Old Man exists beyond its moral code altogether, the Trickster, in Jungian archetypes, represents an entity that functions outside the moral code of the society as well as any law or convention. In other words, the Trickster works outside the boundaries of the community, they work on the basis of trickery, deceit, camouflage, disguise and a willingness not to be restrained by the laws or conventions that apply to everybody else. The Trickster is Loki, who saves and plays tricks on the gods at one and the same time. The Trickster is Hermes, god of thieves and god of the divine messengers, Hermes moves between worlds separated from each other by an invisible wall. And the Trickster is Anansi, the god of stories, who manages to defeat his much more powerful adversaries with the help of stories only.

The Rogue is an absolute manifestation of the Trickster, and there can hardly be any doubts concerning the fact that all those tricks used by the Trickster in the mythology turn out to be directly translated into the game language when the Rogue is discussed.

The other thing that comes along with the Trickster archetype, which is inherited by the Rogue, is that it involves moral ambivalence, which both the Hero and the Wise Old Man tend to avoid. It is clear what makes the Fighter virtuous. The Wizard’s powers are dangerous yet directed. The Rogue navigates through a space that is morally intricate, where allegiance must be balanced against self-interest, the goals of the party against the Rogue’s own goals, law against the parallel economy. When players choose the character of a Rogue, they do so not only because of high Dexterity and proficiency in Stealth. Instead, they embrace an attitude towards the world which the culture has loved and hated for millennia: the idea that the laws have been written by people who have power, and that people without it have the right to look elsewhere.

The Cleric: The Wounded Healer and the Sacred Mediator

The Cleric has the most complicated structural role among the four classes, due to the complexity of the archetype that the class most represents – the Mediator, which Jung described in his writings, and which has been referred to by another anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, from a different perspective, as the element that resolves oppositions within a binary system. The Cleric is at the point of tension between the world of men and gods, the living and the dead, between survival needs and the demands of transcendental morality.

Within the sphere of comparative mythology, the sacred mediator exists in almost unlimited variety: from the shaman who bridges the realms of life and spirit, to the priest who holds vigil at the entrance to the holy temple and facilitates the connection between the community and its deities, to the prophet burdened by the commands of a deity that the community would rather ignore. What all of these characters have in common is an essential wound: they do not wholly belong to the worlds they act as mediators between. It is precisely because the shaman is dead, but almost, that makes them powerful. Likewise, the prophet derives his or her power from the calling that separates him or her from the mundane existence of others. In D&D, the role of the Cleric exemplifies this separation via the very concept of divine favor: the power of the Cleric is borrowed, with the price paid being one of devotion that will inevitably come into conflict with everything else that is important to the character.

And this is precisely the mythic aspect of the Cleric that sets it apart from all the rest. The Cleric is essentially a split self, with a foot in the mortal realm of the party and a foot in an otherworldly plane that goes beyond that world. From a mythic perspective, the function of healing, which is usually seen by players as a mere resource to be utilized for pragmatic reasons, is an embodiment of this mediation, the reason the Cleric heals is because they have a source of life that the others lack.

Why This Matters at the Table

In this way, the use of the archetype framework explains something about character engagement within Dungeons and Dragons that pure mechanics can’t explain: why players become so invested in their characters far beyond what the actual stakes of the game suggest. Players mourn their characters when they get killed. They take real pleasure when they accomplish something difficult with their characters. They even engage in a kind of identification with their characters wherein their personal narrative becomes the character’s. The Jungian explanation for this is not mystical. It is structural: archetypes function as hooks for projection. They are large enough and resonant enough that the individual psyche can hang its own material on them, and the process of playing the character becomes a process of working through that material in a context that is safe precisely because it is fictional.

The Fighter, who represents bravery and valor, might be an actor playing out the role of being brave. The Rogue, who navigates the world at an angle, might be an actor who has gone through his whole life taking a different path from the norm since the conventional one was closed to him. The Cleric, who has her devotion put to test, might be an actor who herself negotiates with the issue of obligation and transcendence. None of these has to be done consciously. The archetypal process takes place under the surface. As Joseph Campbell put it, “it is the mask of God through which eternity gazes on temporality.” At the table, eternity comes into the picture in the guise of a dice and a handmade dungeon.

The Ancient Game

The Fighter, the Wizard, the Rogue, and the Cleric were not invented by D&D. They were discovered by it, lying in wait in the strata of human stories for millennia. These are not products of some particular culture but rather psychological archetypes, found wherever humans gather to tell stories because they transcend time and place and are rooted in human nature itself. D&D’s great innovation, and it truly was an innovation, whether it drew from the traditions of pulp fantasy and war gaming, is that it gave shape to these ideas, allowing us to play them out.

When someone picks up a character sheet and feels the draw toward being a Wizard without quite being able to explain it, they are responding to something that has existed in the human psyche for at least three thousand years. The character sheet is a map of the myths. The dungeon is the underworld. The party is the fellowship found in the mythology of every culture as the smallest unit of heroic action. And finally, the rolling of dice is the acceptance of the unknown, of the possibility of failure and of success, because it is the uncertainty of the outcome that makes the journey worth it!

The dice, as it turns out, were always rolling. We just finally gave them a table.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, I recently picked up again Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, a novel I initially stumbled into due to an MA course in which we talked rather at length about Jung and Campbell’s influence on literature through the Archetypes and the Monomyth and I wanted to look at how they map onto D&D. I hope I did the subject justice, even though it is a bit outside my area, both Yuno and Horia are much more at home with these concepts. As always, if you enjoyed this bit, don’t forget to toss in the proverbial coin to your favorite gazette!

Happy Pride Month!
Today we’re looking at some of the creations of Foul Fox LLC—a small, queer owned business creating monthly releases for players and game masters of Dungeons & Dragons 5e and Kobold Press’s Tales of the Valiant system. Their supplements are available through Drive Through RPG in PDF. They release monthly content, so they have a large collection of player options and supplements available at Drive-Thru RPG. Today we read through a few of their publications:

• Reign of Shadows, a 5e adventure for levels 1-5
• Treatise of the Nature Fey, a new shaman class and other players options 
• Summoner’s Grimoire, a new spellcasting class and related player options

Reign of Shadows

This is a 112 page letter sized adventure with full color interior pages. It adds mechanics for a reputation track measuring the party’s level of respect by the people in general and by the people in power. The Dreaming Curse is introduced which can make any area difficult to navigate for a character. There’s some GM advice giving tips on running the adventure, those are always welcome. 

The story is set in the city of Lyseria, the seaside Capitol of a great empire, which has become embroiled in a number of secretive conspiracies.

The city of Lyseria could be placed in any existing fantasy world, making the adventure valuable in any campaign. The adventure is divided into three acts. The first two chapters comprise the first act, the second act is explained in the third and fourth chapters and the final act is the fifth chapter. 

The first chapter introduces a cult and gives the characters the opportunity to save captives. 

The second chapter brings the characters to the city of Lyseria. It begins with a description of several locations and NPCs the characters can encounter. The later parts of Chapter Two there are two quests that the players can choose from; Bump in the Night and Noble Greetings. Bump in the Night is an investigation that leads to stopping a cult. Noble Greetings lets the party get involved in factions of the city. 

I wish that these quests began with a simple sentence or two that described what each quest entailed. As written, the quests begin without describing what the characters’ goals would be. It’s stated a few times that it isn’t possible to complete both quests, but the text doesn’t explain why, as there’s no ticking clock that would preclude doing both. The third chapter outlines another section of the city.

After that there are four different chapters called Chapter Four. On first read having four different chapters each labelled Chapter Four will be confusing. Each chapter has a subtitle, e.g., Chapter Four – People, Chapter Four – Shadow, etc. The first Chapter Four gives three different story tracks that the characters can explore. The People track focuses on the average people of the city and has the characters explore more about the cult from the first chapters. The Power track focuses on intrigue around a faction in the city. The Shadows track focuses on a mysterious entity the characters only encounter through a letter at the end of chapter two. The chapter states that before continuing on with the larger story, each track must be introduced. This is because there are three following chapters each containing three quests which are run one after the other. Which set of three quests the characters play depends on which track they choose in the first Chapter Four. The separation of the story into three possible paths is a really cool trick, I just wish there was a bit more explanation at the beginning of the first Chapter Four explaining to the GM how these paths work. With more explanation the chapters could be numbered 4 through 7 without causing confusion. 

Chapter Five contains the final quest in the adventure which involves confronting the cult bent on reviving the entity known as The Dreamer. There are separate quests depending on which track the players chose in Chapters Four. All of these quests lead to a single conclusion; The Ritual of Waking. The characters’ goal is ultimately to stop this ritual, which concludes the adventure. There are then three epilogues described depending on which track the players chose in Chapters Four. 

In addition to the adventure the appendices contain new spells, magic items and a bestiary. 

Treatise of the Nature Fey

This is a 9 page PDF outlining a new class for 5e based games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Tales of the Valiant. The Shaman is a new spellcasting class which details four subclasses. The Shaman gets their magic power from their connection to the primordial spirits of nature.

Summoner’s Grimoire

The Summoner’s Grimoire focuses on a new 5e class, the Summoner, a different sort of magic user. It’s a 56 page two color book.  Like the Sorcerer, the Summoner regains spell slots with a short rest. The supplement details four subclasses. The Summoner is focused on bringing entities from other realms into the world and binding and controlling them. The book provides Bindings, spells usable by a Summoner. The supplement also includes no magic items, spell and a bestiary. 

Conclusion

The idea of the Reign of Shadows adventure is that it begins at one event and then expands to three different story options, before the options converge again for a dramatic conclusion. This is an admirable goal as it lets the players determine what style of game they prefer. For instance if they’re interested in intrigue, heroic adventure or strange mysteries there are many quests available in those styles. It’s a really intriguing idea. Treatise of the Nature Fey has excellent layout and design and would fit easily into D&D 5.5 or 5.0, or any other 5e variant. 

It’s good to see newer creators looking to expand the way adventures are presented, and I love when designers and writers push the boundaries of the standard of our hobby. Their current work uses the 5.1 SRD, and are available in PDF, but they said they’re looking at print on demand options in the future, and possible D&D 5.5 (2024) supplements. 

There are also the goblins which fell under the sway of the Stonespeaker clan of orcs - Pigmug, the sentry captured and brought back to Grilk, Numbnuts, the cowardly mapmaker, Lumpknuckles, who is good at listening, and Slug, who is good at counting.

In a recent session, the party united with their goblin allies to fend off an attack from the orcs into goblin territory. During the battle, one of their goblin allies was slain. Normally, that would be the extent of information known about the loss. One less goblin. However, since I had named each goblin and was keeping track of which goblin was where and who was taking wounds, I knew that it was Grilk, the goblins' leader, who had fallen. 

In addition, Narka was seriously wounded. Rekk distinguished himself with his deadly meat tenderizer mace. Lumpknuckles, who had killed the party's mage, Malkara, was killed in revenge. Numbnuts, who was a known coward, was offered the opportunity to surrender. In the following session, it was Grilk's squire, Viss, who first agreed to join the party in their counterattack, echoing their battle cry "For Grilk!"

Because each of them has a name, the individual goblins have begun to develop personalities and reputations, which will come into play when they hold a Goblins' Moot to determine who their next leader will be. Because they have names, it's actually meaningful when one of them takes a wound or falls in battle. Instead of five goblins inhabiting a few rooms in the dungeon, it feels like a community. They're NPCs, not just monsters. It's really enriched the play experience.

Because of that, I started thinking about how else to distinguish a handful of goblins. I looked at the AD&D Monster Manual entry for goblins, which looks like this:

Hit points and individual treasure are determined as usual. For alignment, roll 2d20. A result of 18, 19, or 20 means the goblin has the opposite alignment (Chaotic or Good). Then roll 2d4. A 1 changes Lawful or Good to Neutral, and a 4 changes Chaotic or Evil to Neutral. 

I also made a reaction roll for each to determine their attitude towards the party (+1 if they are Lawful, -1 if they are Chaotic, +2 if they are Good, and -2 if they are Evil - so the typical Lawful Evil goblin has a -1 modifier to the reaction roll).

Then, try to make sense of the results.

Here are my ten randomized goblins:

1. Brukket (LE): 1 hp. Stocky with ash-gray skin and a perpetually runny nose. Snot-crusted padded armor and a wooden shield painted with a black handprint (AC 6). Dagger with a horn grip (1d4 damage). Hip injury and an abundance of caution (MV 3). Believes that everyone should know their place. Merciless but dependable. Does not panic easily (Morale 12). Reaction: Adventurers have proved to be staunch allies in the past. Perhaps these are the same (friendly). Quote: "Brukket has met worse people than you." Treasure: In a leather tobacco pouch inside his gambeson, 5 silver coins, a silver needle (1 sp), a silver buckle from a child's shoe (2 sp), a pair of silver cuff fasteners (2 sp), and a tiny silver saint's token (1 sp).
2. Gorrik (LG): 4 hp. Three and a half feet tall. Broad-faced, with russet-brown skin and a twice-broken nose. Quiet confidence makes him seem larger than he is. Quilted suit of padded armor stitched with red thread, no shield (AC 7). Injured his leg defending younglings from a cave bear (MV 4). Shortened halberd reinforced with copper bands (1d10 damage). Prefers resolving disputes through compromise. Little patience for bullies. Does not abandon allies lightly and places himself at risk (Morale 12). Reaction: Readily offers directions, assistance, and warnings (helpful). Quote: "Gorrik will stand in the front!" Treasure: In a patched satchel, 2 silver coins, a silver whistle (2 sp), a pair of silver boot buckles (3 sp), and a small silver acorn charm (1 sp).
3. Grikka (CE): 2 hp. Mottled green-gray, scarred, gaunt, stooped, and mangy, with a mouth full of jagged, uneven teeth. Battered wooden shield with crude red handprints, no armor (AC 8). Cleaver-like hand axe (1d6 damage). Nervous, jerky movements (MV 8). Impatient, with difficulty planning or grasping consequences beyond the immediate future (low intelligence). Resent authority, enjoys causing fear, and indulges her impulses whenever possible. Steals from allies, ignores instructions she dislikes, and delights in petty cruelty. Reaction: Sees strangers as opportunities for violence. Insults, threatens, and accuses, regardless of whether it makes sense (hostile). Quote: "Nobody tells Grikka what to do!" Treasure: Stuffed in a stinky, grimy pouch, 4 silver coins, a bent silver spoon with bite marks (2 sp), a tiny silver bell (1 sp), and a silver button engraved with a flowering vine (1 sp).
4. Nizbit (LE): 1 hp. Scarcely three feet tall. Perpetually tangled hair. Bright eyes that miss little. Childhood illness left her with a tremor and limp (MV 3). Patched leather, no shield (AC 7). A small knife for cutting purses (1d4 damage). Very intelligent and capable of reading and writing. Corrects others' mistakes under her breath. Honors chains of command and written agreements. Aware of her own fragility and among the first to abandon a hopeless situation (Morale 7). Reaction: Adventurers are disruptive forces that complicated arranged plans (unfriendly). Quote: "What does Nizbit stand to gain?" Treasure: Carefully concealed within clothing, 3 silver coins, am engraved silver thimble (4 sp), a small silver letter opener with ivory grip (3 sp), a tarnished silver ink pot (2 sp), and a pair of mismatched silver cuff links (3 sp).
5. Sazhka (NE): 2 hp. Four and a quarter feet tall, whip-thin, with sharp cheekbones and copper-colored eyes. Fitted padded armor beneath a dark wool cloak, no shield (AC 7). Broad-bladed short sword, grip wrapped in dyed leather (1d6 damage). Never hurries into melee (MV 4). Very intelligent, remembering names, debts, and slights, but only shows it after others have underestimated her. An excellent conversationalist, though she always learns more than she reveals. Her foremost loyalty is to herself. Determined, composed, and calculating even in dire circumstances (Morale 14). Reaction: Does not assume goodwill, but neither does she seek conflict without reason (neutral). Quote: "Sazhka has no quarrel with you. Let's keep it that way." Treasure: In a hidden pocket sewn into her cloak, 6 silver coins, a silver signet ring (4 sp), a pair of silver feather hairpins (3 sp), and a small silver vial stopper on a fine chain (2 sp).
6. Skritch (CN): 7 hp. Mottled gray-green skin and a greasy smile. A crooked left leg forces him to limp (MV 4). Ill-fitting scraps of leather, no shield (AC 7). Warped short spear with a rust-speckled head (1d4 damage). Insists it is "perfectly balanced" and becomes defensive if anyone suggests otherwise. An individualist uninterested in politics. Unreliable. Collects candle wax and kneads it together into a single lumpy mass. Reaction: Regards adventurers as he would a stray dog - a friend, a foe, or food (neutral). Quote: *shrug* "Not Skritch's problem." Treasure: A fist-sized gob of wax formed around 5 silver coins, a flattened silver thimble (3 sp), and two silver-plated cufflinks (4 sp).
7. Tazren (NG): 1 hp. A little over four feet tall and lanky, with a fox-like face. Moves quickly on his long legs (MV 9). Dull iron and bronze scale mail, no shield (AC 5). Short sword (1d6 damage). Very intelligent, with an interest in maps, languages, and other cultures. Enjoys solving problems through planning rather than force. Wishes to make the world a little better, and tries to lead by example. Reaction: Cautious curiosity. Actions speak louder than words (neutral). Quote: "Tazren will judge you by your deeds, not your words." Treasure: Wrapped in waxcloth beneath his armor, 4 silver coins, a silver compass case (3 sp), an engraved silver spoon (2 sp), a pair of silver collar studs (2 sp), and a silver fishhook (1 sp).
8. Vezra (CE): 6 hp. Lean. Deep charcoal skin and large amber eyes. Black hair braided into thin cords with beads of bone, shell, and stone. Quilted padded armor and hide-covered shield (AC 6). Notch-edged short sword (1d6 damage). Very intelligent and adept at identifying and manipulating others' insecurities. Resists rules, traditions, and attempts at control in favor of personal power, amusement, and self-interest. Courage depends heavily on circumstance (Morale 7). Reaction: Adventurers threaten her independence and power. Lashes out with sarcasm, intimidation, and provocation (hostile). Quote: "Careful, Vezra bites back." Treasure: In a leather purse stitched inside her armor, 2 silver coins, a silver ring engraved with crude lightning bolts (2 sp), a silver cloak clasp shaped like a bat (1 sp), and a silver whistle (1 sp).
9. Vrizka (LE): 3 hp. At nearly five feet tall, she towers above most goblins. Carries herself with confidence, shoulders back and chin lifted. Dark hair braided tightly against her scalp. Chain mail, no shield (AC 5). Hand axe (1d6 damage). Very intelligent - notices inconsistencies in stories and is a skilled negotiator. Prioritizes the strength and prosperity of the group, especially if she benefits. Reaction: Adventurers are neither enemies nor allies until circumstances dictate otherwise (neutral). Quote: "So Vrizka is understood, then?" Treasure: Carefully wrapped in cloth, 4 silver coins, a silver-handled sewing needle (3 sp), a pair of engraved silver rings (4 sp), and a polished silver brooch missing its pin (3 sp).
10. Zharka (LE): 2 hp. Wiry. Sharp features. Doesn't blink enough. Sickly olive skin with roughly cropped hair. Moves with an awkward stiffness and limp (MV 4). Reacts poorly to comments about it or offers of assistance. Studded leather and shield (AC 5). Nicked short sword (1d6 damage). Obeys those strong enough to deserve it.  Reaction: Adventurers are thieves, murderers, and conquerors. Advocates violence and watches constantly for betrayal (hostile). Quote: "Zharka doesn't like you!" Treasure: A tightly knotted belt pouch containing 6 silver coins, an engraved silver needle (3 sp), and a pair of silver earrings missing their clasps (2 sp).

1. Brukket: LE. 1 hp. Padded armor and shield (AC 6). Dagger (1d4). MV 3. Int 10. Morale 12. Friendly. 11 sp.
2. Gorrik: LG. 4 hp. Padded armor (AC 7). Halberd (1d10). MV 4. Int 8. Morale 12. Helpful. 8 sp.
3. Grikka: CE. 2 hp. Shield (AC 8). Hand axe (1d6). MV 8. Int 6. Morale 8. Hostile. 8 sp.
4. Nizbit: LE. 1 hp. Leather armor (AC 7). Knife (1d4). MV 3. Int 12. Morale 7. Unfriendly. 15 sp.
5. Sazhka: NE. 2 hp. Padded armor (AC 7). Short sword (1d6). MV 4. Int 8. Morale 14. Neutral. 15 sp.
6. Skritch: CN. 7 hp. Leather armor (AC 7). Short spear (1d4). MV 4. Int 8. Morale 9. Neutral. 12 sp.
7. Tazren: NG. 1 hp. Scale mail (AC 5). Short sword (1d6). MV 9. Int 11. Morale 10. Neutral. 12 sp.
8. Vezra: CE. 6 hp. Padded armor and shield (AC 6). Short sword (1d6). MV 6. Int 11. Morale 7. Hostile. 6 sp.
9. Vrizka: LE. 3 hp. Chain mail (AC 5). Hand axe (1d6). MV 6. Int 11. Morale 10. Neutral. 14 sp.
10. Zharka: LE. 2 hp. Studded leather and shield (AC 5). Short sword (1d6). MV 4. Int 9. Morale 9. Hostile. 11 sp.

Now, this is a lot to keep track of. It's hard enough on a DM to keep track of ten goblins at a time, let alone their individual personalities, values, motivations, intellects, and - when combat is joined - who has what AC and which weapon, how fast they move, and how brave they are. It's not exactly practical, and it's for this reason that monsters have standardized stat arrays. Ten individual goblins tend to quickly become a blob of ten goblins when the DM is using their processing power on other things, and that's okay.

There are degrees of complexity to engage with, and you can pick the one that works best for you. If you have a room with 10 goblins in it, maybe you don't want to write a paragraph for each one, and that's fine. You could just flesh out their leader and leave the rest non-descript until you need to breathe more life into them at the table. The leader speaks for them all, and their reaction is colored by their leader's.

If the goblins control more territory than just a single room, you can spread them out a bit, so that just a few are encountered at a time. That gives you more room to individually describe them in your key. At bare minimum, you could give each of them a name and one distinguishing feature. This could be how they look, a personality trait, something that they're doing, or a mechanical exception. This goblin is a liar. That goblin is a chef. The other one has an overbite. That one moves quickly. This is what I did with the goblins in Quasqueton, and it has paid dividends for my game.

Too often, "faceless" monsters are the default. The goblins are just goblins. D&D is often criticized for making its humanoid monsters "people-like" but not fully realized people, and that is largely because doing so is hard. The point of this post is to show that these monsters are what the DM makes of them.

Is this strongly influenced by reading a lot of Murderbot Diaries recently? Who can say.

(I was going to write just the mithric elves, then I saw how short the post would be and decided I could probably stand to keep going.)

Mithric Elves

Elves die, but by the grace (or dubious judgment) of the gods, they return, never to rest for long. When that sacred truth of the People is prevented by some means, those elven souls become banshees or other horrific undead, forced from death back into unlife. The mithric elves were created by high elf smith-wizards to protect elven souls: instead of torment and undeath, they inhabit a body forged of mithral and High Magic.

Mithric elves have bodies the size and shape of adult elves, made of mithral, silver, gold, and copper plates covering a mannequin-like body made from living wood, which encloses a mithral brain and heart. The covering plates are shaped to resemble the deceased elf as much as possible, and can be adjusted considerably once the body is animate. Where many constructs are bulky, mithric bodies emphasize lighter weights, sleekness, and grace. They don’t need to blink (but can, mainly for expressive purposes); their eyes glow faintly while open, or brightly in moments of intense emotion.

As far as anyone knows, mithric elves can’t die except by violence or accident. On a long enough timeline (the kind of timeline with which elven cultures concern themselves), mithric elves will overtake fleshly elves as the predominant expression of elvenkind, as they also can’t create new generations of non-mithric elves—but this is, again, preferable to tormented souls becoming the only remnant of the People.

Mithric Elf Traits

Creature Type: Construct
Size: Medium (5-7 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet

As a mithric elf, you have the special traits of elves and the following Lineage trait.

Mithric Elf: Level 1. You don’t gain Exhaustion levels from dehydration, malnutrition, or suffocation. You also know the Blade Ward* cantrip.

Level 3. Color Spray

Level 5. Mirror Image

*Even if you’re using this in 5.0 rules, do yourself and everyone a favor and use the 5.5 version of Blade Ward, which has viable use cases, unlike its predecessor.

Design Notes

I sort of forgot when I started writing this just how short it would be if I treated them as an Elf Lineage… and how much needlessly repeated text there would be if I didn’t. (I didn’t design the features in my head until it was actually time to write them. Congratulations and I’m sorry: you know one fact about my creative process now.)

Anyway, what I like most about these guys is the aesthetic. What I’m imagining is very Mass Effect-inspired: the sort of swept-back look of the turians and drell, but rendered in mithral and precious metals, much like the Nimblewright from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. (Slightly off-topic, but if I wanted to bring Warforged into FR in some kind of lore-supported way, nimblewrights are my first and last go-to.)

Poison-Fey

In other worlds these might be known as eladrin or the sidhe, alien in their beauty and dangerous in their games. The poison-fey are no more broadly good or evil than any other fey, but they envenom their words as well as their blades and the cups of their enemies. They are the courtiers and courtesans of the Hidden World—a status that undoubtedly rankles other fey. Some change their Court allegiance, or abandon the Courts completely. Their closest mortal kin in Aurikesh are the kagandi.

Physically, poison-fey look like some form of elf, including pointed ears; the characteristic coloration of drow is at least as common as that of high elves.

Poison-Fey Traits

Creature Type: Fey
Size: Medium (5-7 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet

As a poison-fey, you have these special traits.

Courtly Graces. When you finish a Long Rest, reaffirm your allegiance to a Court, or to no Court, gaining the associated ability. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select this species).

Seelie. You know the Light cantrip. (I would love to use 5.5 Friends here, but creature type nonsense means Friends doesn’t make a ton of sense for Fey.)

Unseelie. You know the Chill Touch cantrip.

Eldest. You know the Starry Wisp cantrip. (If you’re using 5.0 rules, replace Starry Wisp with Word of Radiance.)

Wild. You know the Druidcraft cantrip.

No Court.You know the Shillelagh cantrip.

Hell.You know the Produce Flame cantrip.

The Abyss. You know the Poison Spray cantrip.

Fey Courtier. You have proficiency in the Deception, Insight, Intimidation, or Persuasion skill.

Master of Poisons. You have Resistance to Poison damage, and Poison damage that you deal ignores Resistance to Poison damage. You have Advantage on saving throws against Poison damage and to avoid or end the Poisoned condition.

Swift and Subtle. Opportunity Attacks have Disadvantage against you. When you hit a creature with an Opportunity Attack, you deal an additional 1d6 Poison damage.

Design Notes

At least in my conception of poison-fey, the cantrip that you gain from Courtly Graces is merely an outward signifier of a meaningful character decision, never to be made lightly. Other characters may react strongly if your allegiance becomes clear to them.

Courtly Graces was the last trait that I wrote, and I added it because I was dissatisfied with just the other three traits; in professional design I would almost definitely wind up chopping it and doing something still simpler (almost certainly “Vicious Mockery but Poison damage instead of Psychic.” I did also consider making this another Elf lineage, using Master of Poisons as their core level 1 feature.

---

You can now buy Under the Seas of Vodari in PDF!

Under the Seas of Vodari is a 300-page book that provides 5E/Fifth Edition material for both gamemasters and players to dive into a world full of action and adventure set beneath the waves of Vodari or your own campaign world. This book is a follow-up to The Seas of Vodari, a setting book filled with swashbuckling action and magical adventure. Dive into your first adventure today!

This interview is the third in a series of essays and interviews about repurposing board games in RPGs. This interview is about the Public Domain game jam and how David Harris views adaptation in his design process. I wrote it as part of the design process for Violent Delights: A chess-based RPG about Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.

An Interview with David Harris

David Harris (he/him) is a six-time winner of the Public Domain game jam, a game jam that requires you to incorporate at least one work that has entered the public domain within the last year. He has a background as a research physicist, journalist, artist (interactive, mechatronic, public art, science art, bioart), and designer. He has worked in the university system or adjacent institutions both in Australia and the US, including tenured positions in art and design. His PhD thesis built a framework for how artists and scientists collaborate, based on the first broad accounting of the field and including a large body of creative practice-led research. He is an honorary lecturer in Physics with the role of artist-in-residence at the University of Queensland Department of Physics. He works mostly in the product design space but is primarily a parent. Games continue to be one of his passions. 

As David is a six-time winner of a game jam that is fundamentally about adaptation, I wanted to interview him as a way to share some of his innovative projects, learn about his design process, and get his perspective on adaptation.

David, your submissions to the public domain game jam have incorporated everything from visual art pieces, a yearbook, sketches, and diagrams to fonts and wire sculptures for analog games. Can you share one of your favorite adaptations? What work did you adapt and what role does it play in this game?

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, David! I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you about the Public Domain game jam and adaptation in your design process.

I’ll link to your public domain games below, and I am excited to see what you come up with next!

• Calder’s Circus: Best Adaptation for "Gaming Like It's 1929"
• Solar Storm 1928: Best Deep Cut for "Gaming Like It's 1928"
• Tower Tree Stories: Best Analog for "Gaming Like It's 1927"
• Dreaming the Cave: Best Remix for "Gaming Like It's 1926"
• Fish Magic: Best Analog for "Gaming Like It's 1925"
• The 24th Kandinsky: Best Analog for "Gaming Like It's 1924"

Tumulus 07 “Slay the dragon.” has shipped to all subscribers. If you are a subscriber, you should have received a shipping notification. Check your spam folder if you haven’t seen it yet. Also, Tumulus 06 “Hammer a nail in the coffin” copies are now available as back issues.

This week, the emperor has died and there’s a battle for power! Hidden Leaders can show us how tug of war mechanisms are perfect for games of influence vs. control.

Following the death of the emperor…

In Hidden Leaders (Stocker, Markus Müller, et al., 2022) the emperor has died and the kingdom has descended into turmoil:

The island of Oshra is in turmoil. Following the death of the Emperor, the conflict between the Hill Tribes and the Imperial Army escalated. While the Water People try to maintain balance between the old rivals, the Undead aim to escalate the war. All hope rests on the six children of the Emperor: Who of them will claim the throne?

Players become one of six Leaders who are each aligned with two of the four factions: Hill (green), Army (red), Water (blue), and Undead (black). During the game they will influence the power of the Hill and Army factions which will result in victory for one of the four factions.

The game is one of influence vs. control, a concept I’ve been playing with in the upcoming Proxwar Zero game I’m working on.1

Only players who are aligned with the winning faction can win the game.

If multiple players have the correct alignment, there are tiebreakers to determine a winner of the game.

Adding heroes to your party

Hidden Leaders uses a double tug of war mechanism to track the power of the competing Hill and Army factions. They are represented by green and red tokens respectively on a board with 12 linear spaces.2 They both begin the game in the 4th space from the left.

On your turn, you play 1 hero card from your hand face up in front of you. These face up cards are called your party. Then you move either the Hill or Army faction token the indicated amount (either left or right) as indicated by the played card.

For example, the Battle Connoisseur card moves the Hill faction marker +1 to the right while the Spirited Shaman moves both the Hill and Army factions -1 to the left each. Other cards base the movement on number of cards discarded or give the player a choice, like the “-2 Army and/or -2 Hill” of the Furious Frog card.

Many cards also have other effects that trigger when played like taking extra cards or turning cards face down (hide) or face up (reveal).3

The game ends when any player has a certain number of face-up heroes in their party. This end game trigger number ranges from 5-8 heroes depending on player count.

A tug of war with an end zone

While one might expect that whichever token (Hill or Army) is closest to an end would determine the strongest faction, Hidden Leaders does add an interesting twist. The board is 12 spaces, but the final four spaces (i.e. spaces 9-12) are marked as Undead. This creates a special “end zone” on the right side of the board. All the other spaces (i.e. spaces 1-8) are the same.

There are only two markers on the board but four possible factions. This means there are multiple outcomes for the tokens:

1. Undead win if both the red and green markers end up in the Undead end zone at the end of the game (spaces 9-12).

2. Water wins if the red and green spaces are next to each other.

3. Army wins if the red marker is 2+ spaces ahead of the Hill marker.

4. Hill wins if the green marker is 2+ spaces ahead of the Army marker.

I think this is the most interesting part of the game. It creates a four-way tug of war which is not something that is easily represented in board games.4

Carefully influencing factions

Remember that each Leader is allied with two of the four factions based on the card you drew at the start of the game.

Let’s say your leader is allied with Water and Undead. You would win the game if either: (a) both red and green markers end in the far right Undead zone, or (b) both markers end up next to each other. During the game you don’t necessarily care where the markers are, but you want them near each other. Failing that, you’ll want to boost the power of both as much as possible to get them into the Undead zone.

On the other hand, if your Leader is allied with Army and Water, you’ll want to boost the power of Army (red) when you can. If you increase it too far, however, it’ll end up in the Undead zone and you’ll run the risk of Undead coming out on top. So you want it to be high, but not too high. Also, to win with Water you’ll want the green marker to be nearby, but that increases the risk of it surpassing red.

It creates a good mix of wanting to boost the power of your favored faction and the need to not push it too far.

Games of influence

I’ve written before about games that use influence of factions rather than direct control. The King is Dead: Second Edition (Sylvester, 2020) is my favorite example of this genre because the design is so clean and elegant. It has a two-sentence rule that captures the core conceit of the game:

Whenever you take an action you will summon a follower to your court, increasing your influence with one of the factions. Each follower you take will solidify your claim to be that faction’s preferred ruler, but will weaken their ability to win power struggles.

Every action strengthens your position with a faction while, at the same time, weakening that faction’s position on the map. It makes every choice in the game painful (in a good way).

The Pax games such as Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition (Eklund & Eklund, 2021) and Pax Pamir: Second Edition (Wehrle, 2019) are the other prime examples. Imperial 2030 (Gerdts, 2009) takes Risk and changes it into a game of influence.

In the above examples, no one player controls the pieces on the map. Players do not “have a color” as in many games.5

It’s a tough concept to wrap your head around the first time you encounter it, but a concept that I’ve really grown to love.

Conclusion

Some things to think about:

• Tug of war: Think about using tug of war mechanisms in your games. They don’t necessarily require a board as in Hidden Leaders. Tollund uses two piles of tokens and no board, but it is still essentially a solo tug of war.

• Bidding and market games: Games of influence are essentially bidding and market manipulation games. You are trying to increase the stock value of your preferred faction while owning the most shares of it. I haven’t played many cube rails or 18XX games, but I wonder if they would have a similar feel.

• Try an influence game: I really think anyone interested in tabletop game design should try an influence vs. control game at least once. It really changed how I think about game design, and it might spark your creativity in unexpected ways.

What do you think? Which influence vs. control games are your favorite? Have you seen multi-direction tug of war games before?

— E.P. 💀

P.S. Want more in-depth and playable Skeleton Code Machine content? Subscribe to Tumulus and get four quarterly, print-only issues packed with game design inspiration at 33% off list price. Limited back issues available. 🩻

Skeleton Code Machine is a production of Exeunt Press. All previous posts are in the Archive on the web. Subscribe to TUMULUS to get more design inspiration. If you want to see what else is happening at Exeunt Press, check out the Exeunt Omnes newsletter.

Skeleton Code Machine and TUMULUS are written, augmented, purged, and published by Exeunt Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. TUMULUS and Skeleton Code Machine are Copyright 2025 Exeunt Press.

For comments or questions: games@exeunt.press

The post How To Cure GM Overwhelm When Your Brain Runs Out Of RAM appeared first on Roleplaying Tips.

A big thing I realised while playing Baseline Drift these past two weeks was just how much this blogs debut article, Voice / Expression, failed to appreciate the full scope of the ideas it presented. In that article I touched on how narrative, voice, and out of character tone indicators are all tools that can be used expressively to give a character’s subjective experience weight within a live text roleplay context. With a second live text megagame under my belt, one in which I was far more experimental, I want to give the subject more detailed attention. Unfortunately, that degree of detail is going to need a lot more clarity, so you’ll forgive me for not getting messy with this essays internal formatting. I promise I’ll have something chewy and experimental on the level of form for you all some time soon.

Live Text Formatting: the Basics

Live text RP traditionally happens in chat rooms, I cant speak for other peoples experience but for me that has almost universally been Discord. One of the biggest advantages of Discord is its implementation of the Markdown standard, which allows text to be formatted as you type using simple punctation. This standard is used in some variation across huge swathes of the internet, to the point that for many of you it might well feel like an invisible fact of life online.

Explaining the specifics of markdown formatting is tricky on a blog post because demonstrations of it will refer not to the formatting I want to show, but to the stylesheet for this website, which outputs the slightly moody feel I’ve designed for the Garden Below. In lieu of a lengthy demonstration with a lot of ugly screenshots, I encourage you to familiarise yourself with Discord’s Markdown Text 101 page ahead of the following discussions.

Using this formatting most players of live text games I have played have rapidly picked up on an informal community standard for formatting their prose. As the most common thing you write in the game speech is usually unadorned, though some surround it with quote marks to make it explicit. Descriptions of setting, action, or interiority are typically represented by italics. Finally, of the original trio discussed in Voice / Expression, a pair of double brackets is often used to surround ooc (out of character) speech that is intended to be spoken “above the table” as a player rather than experienced within the diegesis of the game.

Not commented on within my original post is the frequent use of code-block formatting to represent mechanical or digital communication. That stilted monospace boxed in with a background and border look implying that the speech is somehow mediated through a device in fiction. Given a propensity for robotic characters in these games some go a step further and include the :wireless: emoji before starting the code block. This is to specify that they are fictionally engaging with a conversation at a remove via text or voice call rather than a mechanical person for whom all speech is in some way robotic or mediated.

Layered on all of this is the common practise of using different heading sizes to represent volume or presence in all of the above formats. Someone shouting might use a single hash to mark out their speech as being very loud. They might also use the subtext format while using discords reply function to have a character speak ‘soto voce’ to another during a crowded scene. For a more dramatic whisper they might even place that smaller text within spoiler brackets, forcing their other players to click to see what lies within and become in some way complicit in the act of snooping on a public/private conversation.

What is important to realise though is that all of these “standards” are entirely arbitrary and far from consistent. I know players from different cultures who use bold text for all narrative text, and people who use almost none of the above tools at all instead treating the game space like a simple text terminal where the diegesis of the fiction might as well not exist. The only important thing is that you remain in some way consistent, allowing people playing with your character to understand what you mean. Your particular approach becoming not unlike an accent or dialect within a shared language born organically from the specific play culture you are engaging with.

The trick that I never quite reached for during O/U but struck upon during Baseline Drift is the fact that you can organically develop and redefine your use of this language in play. What starts as a very rigid structure can be broken for effect, developed, and allowed to blossom into an entire system of communication unique to one specific character.

Live text case study: Acacia Thorn

During Baseline I played Acacia Thorn, a stunted 32 year old woman working for a disaffected PMC staffed by the bastard heirs of the ruling class of the generation arc she was born on. In the beginning I used narrative italics text to emphasise her imposing presence while keeping many of her spoken sentences very severe. She was stern, repressed, and I almost never inflected her ‘voice’ with tonality within the narrative frame of italics text.

More subtle was the fact I made sure that, when speaking, Acacia always did so with proper punctuation. It is obviously not uncommon when texting casually on a platform like discord to not really bother hitting a full stop when you reach the end of something. By enforcing that level of formality I was able to give her speech a stilted tenor without ever needing to describe what I was doing. This is, subtly, the same kind of trick as the ones I described above. Using the mediums afforded by the live-text rp environment to inflect characterisation through not only prose, but the formatting of that prose.

Another example came in the form of a variation on the :wireless: format. In the first third of the game Acacia spent the entire time she was in public wearing a large augmented reality style scifi helmet. This allowed her to monitor feeds, send texts, and look at spreadsheets while holding in person conversations. It also allowed her to avoid every making eye contact, a thing she found distinctly distressing thanks to a blend of complex trauma and autistic tendencies. This helmet was also a way of her donning something of a work persona, in the same way that someone in real life might put on a suit and tie to answer their emails or a maid outfit to tidy their room. This meant that all of the texts she sent from her helmet were work messages, while all texts she sent from her phone were personal. In certain specific channels I started having her make explicit to the people she was texting which device she was sending texts from by replacing the :wireless: icon with a hat emoji or a phone emoji respectively. A kind of diegetic tone indicator that helped her differentiate the purpose of a conversation to avoid a repeat of that time someone tried to flirt with her at work and she ended up headbutting them in the nose live on television.

This particular method of differentiation died when Acacia installed a Sygn implant, a bit of cyberware not unlike a neural lace from the Culture novels that allowed direct from the brain communication. This meant she no longer needed the giant heavy helmet causing her shoulder pain or a phone weighing down her pocket, so she stopped using both. From that point on I dropped almost all indication of wireless message source, using raw code block formatting to represent subvocalised Sygn network messages. This had the double effect of making her no longer able to differentiate the personal from the professional, an incredibly apt narrative beat given how head over heels she was for the woman who both installed the implant and chaired a rival faction with whom Acacia shared a tenuous alliance.

Another incredibly potent consequence of her engaging with the Sygn network was bringing her italics text into the broader diegesis. In an anime you might have a character like Satsuki Kiryuin step out with a click of her heel and appear enveloped within a blast of radiance to demonstrate her supreme authority and force of will, but that light is not diegetic unless Studio Trigger is trying to use it to be funny. Once a character is hooking into Baseline Drift’s Sygn network they can, for other fictional consenting characters, make that light literally appear. This takes prose that might be metaphorical, for example having Acacia appear as if surrounded by a giant flock of crows, become entirely literal in universe. The narrative voice framing a literal flock of birds interacting with and messing with other peoples augmented reality expressions of self.

Within the confines of a scene with someone who matches your freak this kind of literalised narrative voice can be used to create entire conflicting psychogeographies. Acacia’s desire to lock away her personal feelings becomes a literal castle surrounded by barbs. Weather switching to match her mood in an almost shakespearian display of pathetic fallacy. Entire auxiliary avatars emerging from the depths of her subconscious and expressing things she would never be able to say if this brand new tool for expression was not bedding into her brainstem while she was actively withdrawing from a cocktail of combat stims, memory enhancers, and surgical sedatives.

These auxiliary characters ended up using the block quote formatting. A greek chorus of figures called things like “The Anchorite” or “The Rotting Skull” or “The Woman in Lace” taking on a literary feel by having them communicate in a format typically used to cite from another text. The Anchorite, a scruffy girl of 18 or 19 years wearing a simple linen shift that reached down to her knees, took on a particular presence as both a protector and critic of Acacia during intimate scenes. In Sygn environments the two characters would even co-exist; communicating in parallel with the other parties present.

For Acacia the Anchorite became a haunting presence that would prance around as a barely tolerated hallucination born out of what she believed be her inability to martial and control her own use of the Sygn network. Acacia would never find the language to describe that experience, but it was apparent to me a few days into this process that i’d just accidentally made Acacia become plural as a consequence of my active roleplay decisions.

It is at this point that she takes a first step onto a too-thin ice sheet, leaving the solid ground of expertise, and venturing out into that perilous landscape of subjective experience.

Plurality

My main experience with plural identity for the vast majority of my life is people getting very angry at actual play podcasts on tumblr for not adequately consulting with plural communities when someone plays a character that was haunted, or cohabiting with another mind state, or sharing a body, or doing some kind of fantastical blending of the self. The first time I met anyone on an interpersonal level who used the term was in the aftermath of Over/Under, where a couple of people I now consider quite dear friends ‘introjected’ aspects of the characters they played into their ‘systems’.

I use quotation marks here not because I don’t think these terms are accurate, but because the language is fraught. Much like the practises of communication described above plurality is not a one size fits all umbrella, and as far as I can tell its actual manifestations are about as numerous as the people who might choose to identify with the term. I, entirely personally, flip flop on my own affinity for it almost every other day.

Even that idea, of identifying with a term, chafes at my sensibilities. I am a hedonistic post-structuralist dyke who believes this shit is all socially constructed rhizomatic hyperobjects. You know; like money, or truth, or the divine right of the capital class, or the revolution that will see them bleed. Each too large to hold in your own hands, and identifying with any is like boxing it into this tiny comprehensible and consumable brick of dense nutrient paste that you can by for £4.99 in a multipack with a cheap synthetic pride flag from the middle isle of Lidl.

This is a very long winded way of saying that I think the word “headmates” is woefully kitsch but that im not going to pick a fight over other people using it.

Now that i’ve shaken off the nerves, the actual idea of plurality is quite simple. A plural person, for one reason or another, holds within their mind multiple distinct personalities / personae / ego states that are separate from one another. Depending on the person they might be fully siloed off selves that even have distinct memories from one another, or they might be more like different masks over a shared base self that are worn for different occasions.

Within this messy label exist a few different axis of discourse. There is the question of how much such a state of being should be treated as a mental disorder. There is the question of the states deliberate use in therapy as part of an ‘internal family system’ and the discourses around how much social media has influenced that field and how much credible scientific backing it has as a practise. Then you delve into ideas of validity, questioning if those who engage with the label ‘willingly’ or by ‘choice’ are in some way different to those who ‘authentically afflicted’. On top of all of this pathology you have the community aspect, the use of the term as an umbrella identity, discord pluralkit bots, flags, tumblr tags, reddit posts, its all enough to make your head swim.

This blog post will answer none of these profound questions. I instead invite you to treat the idea with a simple rule of thumb: be fucking polite.

If someone asks you to use a different name in different contexts, do it. If they need you to explain things to different aspects of their selves more than once, do it. If they want you to invite pluralkit to your personal discord so they can be more who they want to be, do it.

Who are you, or I, or anyone, to police the boundaries of human expression?

The Casual Multiplicity of Roleplaying Games

When I brought up Baseline Drift to my therapist she asked if inhabiting the ego-state that is Acacia Thorn was particularly helpful for me in processing some of my feelings. The answer is, transparently, yes. She is a tall transgender woman with severe depression and harbours an entirely justified rage against the structures of power within her world, except unlike her handler / player she exists in a setting where she has the tools and the authority to act upon that rage with brutal intent. In a world where permission to act upon that impulse is monopolised by those that despise me and the people I love personally there is something deeply cathartic about playing a woman who can say with every ounce of her heart that she is not sorry for her wrath and if she could turn back the clock she would do it all again.

This is a manifestation, in part, of what I was reaching toward in Against Safety / Towards Bleed:

“When we depict characters they are us but not us. They are versions of ourselves exaggerated or twisted into depictions that, within the bounds of a fiction, can experience things we consider beyond our capacity to feel. A character can not only feel desires you did not know you had, but also hurt in ways you did not yet know you hurt. Allow you to see just how much of yourself you carved away in the process of becoming even just this small fragment of the person you wanted to be.”

This use of characters to process feelings is not especially novel. Putting a load of trauma into a character so you can have them overcome it is a tried and tested habit of players at just about every roleplaying game or medium in the world. Just look at how many people play as girls to work out that they want to become one.

What is perhaps a little more novel is the way that live text based megagames lend themselves to more pluralistic approaches than their counterparts. When I go to LARP I don my kit, walk with a staff, have feathers in my hair, and am from time in to time out indulging in just a little bit of recreational ego death on the alter of a new persona. In TTRPGs I am either the GM operating the world with all its many distinct characters that are more like game pieces than fully realised people, or embodying one character with one voice and one set of stats. In the text based forum though there is that shard of multiplicity built in from the very start in the form of the dyad between character speech and character narration.

In these particular games there is often no character sheet to define the truth of my form, no equipment list or limited use spend a token abilities. I can change costume as quickly as I can type one out. I can play in non-literal spaces. I need not think in speech, or in images, because I can be as fluid and metaphorical as words on a page. Metaphors that would need to collapse into baleful specifics if I portrayed them with my body or my voice can be left ephemeral. I can exist in fluid poetry, refusing to pin myself down, becoming the tide that eats away at the kings feet as he sits mummified at the waterline. I can be the water. I can be the salt upon the air. I can be the woman hallucinating all of it. All of them are her. All of her is me. A whole that is part that is whole.

If I am already splitting my attention between two distinct character/narrator ego-states, why not sing it with a full choir? Multiple facets and internal conversations are incredibly compelling narrative tools, and they let you explore the self in deeply playful and introspective way. You don’t have to be more than one person to play more than one person, and those conversations might be just the tool that gets you the kind of catharsis you are looking for.

Welcome to the Transhumanist Future; Sorry its Boring

To get a break from the always online gameplay I leave the house in a daze. It is the middle of the afternoon and I have barely slept in some misguided effort to put myself on mountain time in defiance of my local sun’s insistence on GMT. I see distant glass towers and squat red brick houses. Row upon row of tedious british suburbia rendered out as some cocktail of shoddy new builds and collapsing terraces. Grass grows long in the verges by the roadside, and the sun breaks bright on cracked pavements. It is too hot for anyone to be wearing the kind of jackets you see in Night City. Instead I see pasty men with too much hair and not enough t-shirt glowing burnt red in the queue of the kebab shop. Then, as I wait for the hashbrowns that go on the burger I have ordered to finish not-quite cooking, I look down at my phone. That phone is not a fancy mantis blade prosthesis that springs from my arm or custom panel lining to highlight my jaw: but it is cyberware, of a sort.

There is a temptation to treat the Sygn network of Baseline Drift like it is a fantasy. Like the neural lace of the Culture novels is this impossible thing beyond understanding. It actually about the size of a tarot card, lives in my pocket, and runs out of battery too fast because the people who made it want to sell me a new one.

Like all tools the smartphone has changed the way we interact with the world. Whole social constructs have risen and fallen as the result of its proliferation. What it means to be human is different to what it meant 20 years ago. We are more than we once were. We can do more. Most of it is terrible brain rotting attention farming algorithmic dross that lets us switch our brains onto autopilot long enough to dissociate our way through a morning commute, but some of it is games we can play while waiting for a food order and in the process of doing so connect with people all across the world in profoundly intimate ways.

A mixed bag, all in all. Appropriately cyberpunk.

Markup formatting is also a tool. A smaller, more specific one, that has changed the way we write and type in online spaces. Plurality too a tool that we can use to examine the ways we relate to different aspects of our innermost selves. In concert these artificial limbs turn the act of playing a live text game into an experiment in how these tools can be used to communicate in beautiful ways. They are pressure cookers designed to smash improvised best practises and disparate personalities together and see what comes out.

When I wrote Voice / Expression I believed, incorrectly, that the limits of the medium we were playing in were the acts of speech and narration. Having delved deep into that space I can assert with some more confidence that the tools we are using to extend the self are more aptly identified as the whole damn platform. Become the freak discord power user of your dreams. Learn every bit of formatting you can to twist your words into new shapes. Narrate, quote, grow curious in the margins of acceptable communication because there is no right answer here. No gods, no kings, no style guides. Every character and every character within those characters is a chance to define the rules of a new warfront in an ongoing language wargame.

The greatest enemy to this kind of expansive experimental expression is falling prey to the impulse to limit yourself to merely describing the TV show in your mind. I imagine that most people would consider the non-visual dimension of text a shortcoming in our visual culture, and the desire to augment it with photo-bashes, character portraits, and fun little sketches is not without its charms. However, texts greatest strength is that it does not need a camera. The perspective of your narrator and your character can shift and undulate in scope and scale and location organically. You can peer into a characters thoughts and let them unravel onto the page without needing to explain how such interiority becomes apparent. You do not need to narrate small subtle hints to some inner work by saying things like:

“she gives a slight smile as she makes eye contact.”

You can invite your fellow players into your interiority directly by just stating things like:

“Flashes of the last girl to treat her like this flit behind her eyes.”¹

Ultimately, despite all the novel formatting tools and collaborative storytelling, you are still writing prose. You should draw from its wellspring of constructed technologies just as readily as you do the literalised tools of markup language or the social tools of plural identity.

Sudden Darkness Falls

And then, there is the drop.

The return to mundane communication.

You find yourself reaching for the asterix when you want to describe an action your character might take in a casual conversation with a friend. You specify a comment as out of character with brackets in a context where there isn’t even a character to be in. You reach for the modes of expression that you have come to treasure and find that you have had a socially constructed prosthesis amputated. Phantom limb syndrome for an arm you never thought you wanted.

One of the reasons I am so drawn to these live text games is because I have aphantasia; a particular mental setup that means I have no ability to internally visualise. Its a fairly common but often unremarked upon condition because noticing you have it requires a certain kind of self aware self reflection that society does not prime most people to engage with. For most people with aphantasia phrases like “picture this” are just metaphors. This is easy to accept because when your brain does not treat with images metaphor is among the most reliable ways to evoke that feeling of the visual without having it.

It is a strange mode of existence, and occasionally choosing to immerse myself entirely within the medium of text in these megagames can be incredibly gratifying. It is like untethering all the strange half-baked compromises made to facilitate other modes of existence and dwelling entirely within my native mode of thought.

In Against Safety / Towards Bleed I took a pot-shot at myself and my fellow shut in transgender women for indulging in this kind of impulse:

“The internet has made is easier than ever to exist as a transgender woman. It has also made it easier to only exist. To disembody your sense of self and live through the mediated vectors of keyboard, screen, and text. To be a username and a profile pic rather than an imperfect physical girl with all her legs, and arms, and skin.”

I said it with love, but I also want to temper the impulse slightly, because sometimes being words upon a page is a mode of being that works for you. Sometimes you might be the part of yourself that cannot touch grass, and cannot get outside, and cannot bear the feeling of an ill-fitted self. Sometimes, you just need to be words.

And provided you let yourself indulge the fullness of that medium, that doesn’t need to be such a bad thing. Who am I to police the boundaries or medium of your expression?

Most people find it difficult to create brand-new ideas on demand, especially while under the time pressure that every GM feels when running a game. But taking someone else’s idea and tweaking it just a little is pretty easy. So anytime you need to catalyze your imagination in the moment, rolling on a random table is a great way to do it.

Up first: A set of tables I use in my weekly games for generating NPCs.

Lineage

Whether your fantasy game of choice calls it lineage, ancestry, species, or some less-thoughtful term, the community of folk from which an NPC hails is often the first thing the player characters will focus on in as a means of identifying and remembering that NPC. Lineage is thus a good thing to have fun with, rather than defaulting to whichever lineages feel like the most obvious choices in your campaign.

The tables below work with a baseline setup of a fantasy world that feels like a true cultural mosaic. In a world where folk of all kinds are travelers and explorers, those folk often end up far from their homelands, happy to be there, and ready to play a walk-on part in your adventures. Even if you’re running games in a realm where one or more of the “traditional” fantasy lineages are in the clear majority, that’s no reason why your NPCs can’t be unusual. Unusual means memorable, after all, and making an NPC memorable is an important first step to bringing them to life.

Personality, Appearance, and Quirks

Roleplaying NPCs is never easy, and it’s a rare GM who doesn’t struggle at least some of the time when playing a dozen different extras in the dramatic presentation a game becomes when characters start talking. In real life, people are a complex mix of hundreds of different goals, needs, traits, mannerisms, and more, and anyone who’s written fiction knows how difficult it can be to fully bring a character to life. Thankfully, NPCs can work just fine with only three touchstone characteristics — a broad sense of personality, a loose nod toward appearance, and a quirk you can use to anchor your roleplaying and help fix an NPC in the players’ minds.

The game runs for four hours for thirty-five players at boshi’s place. The doors open at 5:00 p.m., orientation and tutorial starts at 5:30 p.m., and the game starts at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets are $20. You can get yours here.

Super-Diplomacy Poster

The core rules are, basically, just Diplomacy, the same ones that Allan Calhamer wrote in ’59. The seven powers write down their orders and submit them simultaneously at the end of each turn; armies and fleets march around a map of Europe (and adjacent regions), fighting each other in diceless battles; at the end of each year (every other turn), powers recalculate the sizes of their military based on the supply centers they control.

Regular Diplomacy has thirty-four supply centers and seven powers, with one player controlling each power. In Super-Diplomacy, we keep the same thirty-four supply centers and seven powers, but this time, we have thirty-four players, one for each supply center instead of one for each power. At game start, twenty-two players belong to the seven powers (three per power, except the Russian Empire, which has four), and the remaining twelve players are independent.

From its member players, each power elects one commander-in-chief, who is responsible for writing and submitting orders for all of the power’s armies and navies. A commander-in-chief, on paper, has sole discretion over their power’s movements: they can, should, and will listen to the other members of their faction, but they are not strictly required to listen to them. When a commander-in-chief submits their power’s orders to the referees for the turn, those orders are final.

Naturally, this may lead to some animosity within the power, so power members have a method of recourse: the vote of no confidence. If a majority of members of a power vote against their commander-in-chief, that commander-in-chief is removed from power, and a new one must be elected. But! if no member of the power can secure a plurality of votes in the succession election—if every member of the power votes for somebody different—the power dissolves, and each supply center becomes independent. Without a clear plan to follow, a vote of no confidence is a dangerous, dicy maneuver. But perhaps necessary, if your commander-in-chief begins to blunder the war.

Independent players are in a precarious position. The basic objective of the game has not changed: the power that controls eighteen of the thirty-four supply centers on the board wins, and everyone else loses. Ideally, an independent player will manage to stay afloat and free long enough to pick the winning power—more practically, though, they’re likely to get snapped up by a neighbor, regardless of that neighbor’s odds of victory.

All of this, notably, still occurs as the game clock ticks onwards. We’re aiming to make it through four turns per hour—quite a clip, even by the standards of regular Diplomacy—which means that all of this politicking needs to happen in a timely fashion. If you spend a half-hour quarrelling over a vote or the terms of an alliance, that’s two turns and an entire year of in-game time that has flown you by. A successful power needs to manage the relationships of its own members, the other powers, and the independent players, which demands delegation and trust. Fail to do this and your commander-in-chief could end up flying blind, diplomatically speaking, making even a large power easy pickings for an alliance of its enemies.

There’s also one other role I haven’t mentioned: thirty-four players get a supply center, join powers, and tussle for control, but there’s one other, the thirty-fifth. This player is, in effect, the news. They don’t get any soldiers or supply centers and so cannot directly alter the board. Instead, they get a laptop and access to the projector at boshi’s place, allowing them to display text and images for the entire game to see. Does that give them any actual power? It’s hard to say for sure, but I suspect a clever news-player could find ways to make themselves very influential indeed.

With all these elements running into each other—the board, the politics of each power, the independent players, the news, and all the alliances and deals between them—the game is, in all likelihood, going to be chaotic. A bit of a pear wiggler, if you will. Many moving actors and elements all clashing and crashing into each other, resulting in political outcomes that none of us can predict. I have run and played in-person megagames before, but this is a particular stripped-down model. Where many megagames involve a lot of overlapping currencies, components, rules systems, and fictional elements, Super-Diplomacy tries to winnow all that down, relying instead on persuasion, cunning, and psychology.

It should be fun! If you’re in New York, we’d love to have you come play.

Super-Diplomacy is happening Saturday, June 27th, at boshi’s place. Doors open at 5:00 p.m., orientation at 5:30 p.m., and the game begins at 6:00 p.m., running for about four hours. Tickets are $20, available here, as supplies last.

See you on the battlefield!

Among the oldest fantasy RPGs still published, C&S depicts an authentic feudal Europe with nobles, knights, Christian priests, and medieval doctrines. The game focuses not on dungeon crawls but on the feudal system, court intrigue, tournaments and jousts, and a comprehensive catalogue of ordinary life. With its Fifth Edition (2020), Chivalry and Sorcery has drawn on modern research to present the Middle Ages as they really were: diverse in cultural influences and rich with visitors from outside Europe. Priests can follow Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, or you can tailor the faith rules to any religion, whether real-world or fictional. As with previous versions, the Fifth Edition weaves its fantasy on a foundation of realism, believability, and history. Want to foil an assassination plot at a royal wedding – clear a pack of bandits from Creag Hill in Somerset – or find a missing priest and recover his tithes from a haunted keep? Chivalry and Sorcery helps you tell all these stories with authority and conviction.

[Note: The “Fifth Edition” of Chivalry and Sorcery refers to the fifth version (2020) of the original 1977 game, not D&D Fifth Edition.]

1. CHIVALRY AND RISING SUN [from Feb 2024]

If you’re new to Chivalry and Sorcery, start with this revived February 2024 Chivalry and Rising Sun Bundle that includes the core rulebook, key supplements – and the high-caliber 2021 version of Land of the Rising Sun, an authentic view of the late Classical period of Japan in its middle Feudal period, circa 850-1500 CE. Choose from 30 new Vocations including samurai and otokodate (commoner warriors), yamabushi (martial priests), Buddhist and Shinto priests, gamblers, pirates, and bandits. Introduce fantasy elements or omit them, as you prefer. The Magick rules draw on the Japanese elements of Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, and Wood. You can play supernatural entities like hengeyokai, bakemono, and spirits.

Land of the Rising Sun‘s designer, influential writer-editor Lee Gold, developed her interest in Asian history during a four-month sojourn in Japan in 1975. Also in that year she founded the APA (amateur press association) Alarums and Excursions, the first periodical devoted entirely to roleplaying games. The design discussions in Alarums helped popularize early D&D concepts; historian Jon Peterson credits Alarums for examples of dice notation and character sheets, for the earliest use in print of the term “THAC0”, and for one of the first Samurai character class designs, by science fiction writer Bruce Sterling.

More generally, A&E‘s rules-hacking culture helped inspire early RPG creators like Ken St. Andre, Steve Perrin, Dave Hargrave, and many more – including Ed Simbalist and Wilf Backhaus, designers of the 1977 First Edition of Chivalry and Sorcery. Gold based the original Land of the Rising Sun (Fantasy Games Unlimited, 1980) on C&S 1E.

Nurtured in the relatively egalitarian science fiction fan community in Los Angeles, Gold navigated the male-dominated RPG community with confidence, taking in stride others’ occasional awkwardness. David Hartlage mentions one notable moment in a June 2020 post on his DM David blog, “Meet the Woman Who by 1976 was the Most Important Gamer in Roleplaying After Gary“:

---

Her one personal encounter with Gary Gygax revealed a similar bias. Early on, Lee sent copies of A&E to TSR. After a couple of months, she received a phone call, which she recounts: “This is Gary Gygax,” said the voice, “and I’d like to speak to Lee Gold.”

“I’m Lee Gold,” I said. “I gather you got the copies of A&E I sent you.”

“You’re a woman!” he said.

“That’s right,” I said, and I told him how much we all loved playing D&D and how grateful we were to him for writing it.

“You’re a woman,” he said. “I wrote some bad things about women wargamers once.”

“You don’t need to feel embarrassed,” I said. “I haven’t read them.”

“You’re a woman,” he said.

We didn’t seem to be getting anywhere, so I told him goodbye and hung up.

---

After 50 years and 593 issues, Lee Gold ended Alarums and Excursions in May 2025. (There’s a successor APA, Ever & Anon.) As recently as 2021 Lee was still designing games: Brittannia Games Kickstarted her new version of Land of the Rising Sun as the first full-blown setting expansion for C&S Fifth Edition. The campaign funded a new setting sourcebook as well as a bestiary, map pack, and adventures. Get them all for an unbeatable bargain price in this revived February 2024 Chivalry and Rising Sun Bundle.

Pay just US$14.95 to get all ten titles in this revived offer’s Chivalry Collection (retail value $78.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Chivalry and Sorcery Fifth Edition corebook, plus the C&S Basic Rules and Character Generator; Goblins, Orcs, & Trolls; the European Folklore Bestiary; three C&S adventures – Curse of the Casket, Facets of Fire, and The Welsh Connection; Castles of Britain; and the GM Screen.

And if you pay more than this revival’s threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, you’ll level up and also get this offer’s entire Rising Sun Collection with four more supplements worth an additional $55, including the main Land of the Rising Sun campaign setting (plus its Map Pack), the Rising Sun Folklore Bestiary, and the Adventure Book.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/RisingSun2026

2. C&S NEW LANDS [all-new]

This all-new C&S New Lands companion offer adds recent sourcebooks and adventures for Chivalry and Sorcery. All these supplements require the corebook in the revived Chivalry and Rising Sun offer.

These recent sourcebooks uphold the long-standing Chivalry and Sorcery reputation for realistic historical tone. Though they harbor more than a few monsters, demons, and magical treasures to keep an adventurer’s life interesting, these books aim for an authentic medieval atmosphere. The historical sourcebooks Dux Bellorum and The Celts are by Brian Young, who holds a Masters in Arthurian Studies from the University of Wales Lampeter; he studied the historical antecedents of King Arthur. And Glen Moffat’s Eorldom of Gar setting book catalogs 40 small settlements in this northern frontier kingdom with a tax-collector mentality right out of the Domesday Book:

---

Triness: Held by Struan of Clan Barsim, a stenix Farmer elected as Village Reeve (SFMH II), whose current Head of Clan is Serr Harlow Barsim of Caer Maks. The village, surrounded by a wooden palisade, has 21 families of whom 4 are peasant families and 18 are stenix families. The current population is 132 with 86 of adult age. There are 660 acres under tillage, with 462 acres of pasture for grazing. The village lays claim to woodlands 1 league by 1 league for grazing 100 pigs. The village has a blacksmith and a woodcrafter and a mason, 3 stockmen, 1 Forester, 1 miller (there is a watermill that falls within the dominion of the Manor), and 11 farming households. The peasant families provide 4 farming households, who owe fealty to the clan.

Assessed for tax purposes at 100 Dragons. Annual tax 25 Dragons. The village can also be called upon to provide 4 Spearmen, 1 Archer and 1 cavalrymen.

---

Pay just $12.95 to get all four titles in this offer’s Sourcebook Collection (retail value $60), including the historical settings Dux Bellorum (pre-Arthurian Britain) and The Celts; The Mhaun Isles, a location guide in the C&S fantasy setting of Marakush; and C&S Sourcebook One.

Pay more than this offer’s threshold ($24.95 to start) and you’ll also get this offer’s entire Adventure Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $78, including the Eorldom of Gar setting book (along with its Northern Urtind – Cadan Bay map) and the complete four-part Eorldom of Gar campaign – 1. Militas to Jaileen, 2. Across the Eorldom, 3. Agents of the Dragon, and 4. Then There Were None; and the full-length adventure Hillfort of the Pagans and the scenario anthology Adventures in Urtind.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ChivalryNewLands

These two Chivalry and Sorcery offers vanish together in the twisted and corrupt Heart Caverns beneath the forests of Bel Versa in the Mhaun Isles Monday, July 6.

1. CHIVALRY AND RISING SUN [from Feb 2024]

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/RisingSun2026

2. C&S NEW LANDS [all-new]

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ChivalryNewLands

This awesome cartography piece was featured in on our Patreon page and on issue 70 of Dungeon Vault Magazine.

This map was also filmed while I made it. It’s a narrated timelapse we have on Youtube, hopefully you’ll like it

If you like our content, please consider checking out our Patreon page so you can get the latest content in early-access, full HD maps, and the best TTRPG content!

The post 910 Tomb of the Astral Knight – Drawn appeared first on Elven Tower Adventures.