A post on G+ about Mummies got me writing this...
I know that Mummies occur all over the world, and result from both intentional and unintentional processes. However, their place in popular culture and in rpgs has pretty much been defined by Egypt and the bandage wrapped monsters produced by Hollywood cinema over the decades. When I think of Mummies that's where my brain goes first, followed shortly by Japanese monks practicing self-mummification (which is just scary) and then bog-men (because I am British and didn't learn about South American mummies until much later than I heard about bog mummies).
So, when thinking about our friend the D&D Mummy, Egypt is where my imagination shoots to first. And when thinking about what to do about Undead in my homebrew world (the one I'll never get written because I spend too much time playing computer games), of course, Mummies get associated with deserts, dervishes and legions of Jackalman soldiers.
In my version of the world, the creation of a mummy is a deliberate act, a process designed to preserve not only a body, but the person themselves. It's cryogenics done primitive style (and hence accidental mummification does not produce mummies). I'm decoupling it slightly from the spiritual journey to the afterlife, from the ka and the ba and the akh. Perhaps the Ka, the animating force, leaves the body upon death, and perhaps the funerary rites allow the Ka to leave the corpse to travel, but these things are temporary states. When the time is right, or perhaps *if* the individual is deemed worthy, the Ka and Ba are reunited in the embalmed body - the Akh retaking the flesh it once inhabited.
As an act of ritual and preservation of the soul as opposed to reanimation of a corpse therefore, a mummy is not simply a creature obsessed with vengeance and getting it's canopic jars back (as pop culture might have it). The mummy possesses most (if not all) of the knowledge of it's previous existence. Where a great general was mummified, the Se-Akh (a dead person made living Akh) of that general is still a great general. Where the mummy was once a cleric, they are still a cleric (assuming that said clerics gods aren't all offended by undead), and so on. I'm definitely thinking more Imhotep from 'The Mummy' than other depictions here.. Note that this leads to some crossover with the Lich, which may bear some thinking about.
So then, I envisage a great desert nation rules by the Twelve Tomb Kings of Stygia (It's Stygia until I come up with something else.. or decide to keep it). These guys and gals are all powerful mummies. The last (subject to the laws of drama) members of a dynasty of kings and queens that ruled here in human form hundreds of years previously, they decided to stay on because they could do a better job than the current mortals could. I'll flesh this out later.. Anyway.. At the top are the Tomb Kings. Beneath them are likely to be all kinds of mummified servants of varying power - the most basic of which will be a standard Monster entry mummy.
Rules-wise, my current ruleset du jour is ACKs, which handily it includes rules for what to do if you're transformed into something else. The example given is even a mummy. Bonus!
Ok, that's egyptian mummies.. what about the rest?
Well, given that ACKs has the transformation rules, it's easy to sort the rules elements out. Perhaps mummies created via different rituals have different strengths and weaknesses - mummies such as the Ice Maiden could be more resistant to fire because they're not 'dry', but perhaps they suffer thawing instead so maybe it doesn't matter..
And the Japanese self-mummies just freak me out. They're probably Liches because they do it to themselves. You've got to be seriously bad ass to do that.. that's gotta take some mental fortitude.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
How's this for a 'Monk' class?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15480741
I've copied some of the text from the site just in case the BBC archives it and the link goes dead. I might tidy up my copy-pastes at some point, but for now:
"The basis of shastar vidya, the "science of weapons" is a five-step movement: advance on the opponent, hit his flank, deflect incoming blows, take a commanding position and strike.
It was developed by Sikhs in the 17th Century as the young religion came under attack from hostile Muslim and Hindu neighbours, and has been known to a dwindling band since the British forced Sikhs to give up arms in the 19th Century."
"On his first day of training, the frail old man handed him a stick and instructed Mr Singh to hit him. When he tried, the master threw him around like a rag doll.
"He was a frail old man chucking me about and I couldn't touch him," he says. "That definitely impressed me."
Mr Singh spent the next 11 years on his aunt's farm, milking the buffalos in the morning and spending every day training with his master."
"But even his most advanced pupils have only recently reached the stage where they can fight him with weapons without getting hurt.
Shastar vidya often gets confused with Gatka, a stick-fighting technique that was developed during British occupation of Punjab and was widely practised among Sikh soldiers in the British army.
Though it is a highly skilled art it was developed for exhibition rather than mortal combat. It is much easier to practise in public.
By working to revive a culture and practice that left the mainstream more than 200 years ago, Mr Singh has come up against a lot of resistance from within the Sikh community.
He says he received 84 death threats in his first two years as a teacher, from other Sikh groups who disagree with the ideology of shastar vidya and the beliefs of the small Nihang sect, which he identifies with.
"It is not just martial technique, there is a lot of oral tradition and linguistic skills that has to be there as well," he explains.
Nihangs still maintain some tenets of the Hindu faith, they have three scriptures rather than one and these extra books contain influences from Hinduism.
Many Nihangs also eat meat and drink alcohol which orthodox Sikhs disagree with. Traditionally they also drank bhang, an infusion of cannabis, to get closer to God.
"Sikhism has gone through several stages of evolution," says Christopher Shackle , a former professor of South Asian studies at Soas, University of London. "When the Nihangs were formed at the end of the 17th Century they were a very powerful group but they became rather marginalised."
An Akali Nihang soldier in 1865 When the Sikhs established their own kingdom under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he realised he needed a modern army to keep the British out, and he hired ex-Napoleonic officers to train up his soldiers, sidelining the Nihangs.
The Nihangs were further isolated when the British Raj defeated the Sikh state in 1849 and forced Sikhs to give up arms.
"The British introduced a shoot-to-kill policy," says weapons collector and historian Davinder Tool, adding that accounts of British army officers show some troops fired on any man with a blue turban and a firearm.
"There is a sense that the Nihang's got left behind by time," says Mr Shackle.
Mr Singh spends a lot of time travelling to India and Pakistan researching the art, searching for descendents of the Akali Nihang and adding to his vast collection of weapons.
So far he has only met four people who could claim to be masters, now all dead. The last of these, Ram Singh, whom he met in 1998, died four years later.
"Nidar Singh is like someone who has walked straight out of the 18th Century," says Parmjit Singh, who has worked on several books on Nihang culture with the master.
"He is like a window into the past."
He is also still hoping to be a door to the future, opening up the path for new practitioners of the art to follow."
I've copied some of the text from the site just in case the BBC archives it and the link goes dead. I might tidy up my copy-pastes at some point, but for now:
"The basis of shastar vidya, the "science of weapons" is a five-step movement: advance on the opponent, hit his flank, deflect incoming blows, take a commanding position and strike.
It was developed by Sikhs in the 17th Century as the young religion came under attack from hostile Muslim and Hindu neighbours, and has been known to a dwindling band since the British forced Sikhs to give up arms in the 19th Century."
"On his first day of training, the frail old man handed him a stick and instructed Mr Singh to hit him. When he tried, the master threw him around like a rag doll.
"He was a frail old man chucking me about and I couldn't touch him," he says. "That definitely impressed me."
Mr Singh spent the next 11 years on his aunt's farm, milking the buffalos in the morning and spending every day training with his master."
"But even his most advanced pupils have only recently reached the stage where they can fight him with weapons without getting hurt.
Shastar vidya often gets confused with Gatka, a stick-fighting technique that was developed during British occupation of Punjab and was widely practised among Sikh soldiers in the British army.
Though it is a highly skilled art it was developed for exhibition rather than mortal combat. It is much easier to practise in public.
By working to revive a culture and practice that left the mainstream more than 200 years ago, Mr Singh has come up against a lot of resistance from within the Sikh community.
He says he received 84 death threats in his first two years as a teacher, from other Sikh groups who disagree with the ideology of shastar vidya and the beliefs of the small Nihang sect, which he identifies with.
"It is not just martial technique, there is a lot of oral tradition and linguistic skills that has to be there as well," he explains.
Nihangs still maintain some tenets of the Hindu faith, they have three scriptures rather than one and these extra books contain influences from Hinduism.
Many Nihangs also eat meat and drink alcohol which orthodox Sikhs disagree with. Traditionally they also drank bhang, an infusion of cannabis, to get closer to God.
"Sikhism has gone through several stages of evolution," says Christopher Shackle , a former professor of South Asian studies at Soas, University of London. "When the Nihangs were formed at the end of the 17th Century they were a very powerful group but they became rather marginalised."
An Akali Nihang soldier in 1865 The Nihangs were further isolated when the British Raj defeated the Sikh state in 1849 and forced Sikhs to give up arms.
"The British introduced a shoot-to-kill policy," says weapons collector and historian Davinder Tool, adding that accounts of British army officers show some troops fired on any man with a blue turban and a firearm.
"There is a sense that the Nihang's got left behind by time," says Mr Shackle.
Mr Singh spends a lot of time travelling to India and Pakistan researching the art, searching for descendents of the Akali Nihang and adding to his vast collection of weapons.
So far he has only met four people who could claim to be masters, now all dead. The last of these, Ram Singh, whom he met in 1998, died four years later.
"Nidar Singh is like someone who has walked straight out of the 18th Century," says Parmjit Singh, who has worked on several books on Nihang culture with the master.
"He is like a window into the past."
He is also still hoping to be a door to the future, opening up the path for new practitioners of the art to follow."
Friday, 15 July 2011
Sinbad!
One of my childhood heroes is Ray Harryhausen, and the stop motion films he was involved in like Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and the various Sinbad movies. So I'm quite excited to see that in this age of shiny shiny CGI Krakens some people will still go for that old school feel.
Whether it turns out to be any good at all I have no idea, and I have my reservations about the 'look' of Sinbad, but even so, colour me with anticipation for some Dynamation action!
Whether it turns out to be any good at all I have no idea, and I have my reservations about the 'look' of Sinbad, but even so, colour me with anticipation for some Dynamation action!
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Lycanthropy
Based on this post over at Huge Ruined Pile I got to thinking about Lycanthrope a bit and musing on how the concept sat within a wider metaphysical framework.
Scotts house rules (I assume they're house rules..) give information for what Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings will become if infected by Lycanthropy and that Were-Bears are a special case. However there are also Were- bats, foxes, sharks, seals and Devil Swine to consider - at least if you want to use them. Those extra werebeasts however aren't really where I was going.
Under this proposed ruleset, the demi-human races are no longer 'just' killed by Lycanthropy, which I think is much better than 'Oh gee, you're dead...', but what about *other* races? What if a goblinoid gets bitten, or a gnoll, kobold, ogre, or any of the other humanoid races.
I haven't really thought it through,, but I kinda like the idea that what a particular race turns into when afflicted is somehow indicative of some underlying mystery of the world.
There's also the question of where the disease came from.
Scotts house rules (I assume they're house rules..) give information for what Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings will become if infected by Lycanthropy and that Were-Bears are a special case. However there are also Were- bats, foxes, sharks, seals and Devil Swine to consider - at least if you want to use them. Those extra werebeasts however aren't really where I was going.
Under this proposed ruleset, the demi-human races are no longer 'just' killed by Lycanthropy, which I think is much better than 'Oh gee, you're dead...', but what about *other* races? What if a goblinoid gets bitten, or a gnoll, kobold, ogre, or any of the other humanoid races.
I haven't really thought it through,, but I kinda like the idea that what a particular race turns into when afflicted is somehow indicative of some underlying mystery of the world.
There's also the question of where the disease came from.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Changes coming to Blogger?
Having been dabbling with Google+ recently I got curious about whether or not you could post to G+ and syndicate it to Blogger - convergence of the two streams if you like. Five minutes research later (Answer: It doesn't look like it atm) I came across this: http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/google-blogger-picasa-rebranding/
If true, it may mean changes coming over the next few weeks to the Blogger platform which may have an impact on many of the OSR blogs out there that I currently read.
Hopefully, and in theory, this is a good thing, as it's simply a convergence of various social streams and will make it easier to view and read the content I'm interested in. However, I wonder if the law of unintended consequences will kick in. Certainly there is some amount of dissatisfaction with what's happening to Picassa, so I am wary of what will happen to Blogger.
Otoh.. it's not like I ever post anything here is it..
And if either of my 2 dear followers would like a Google+ invite I'd be happy to share.
If true, it may mean changes coming over the next few weeks to the Blogger platform which may have an impact on many of the OSR blogs out there that I currently read.
Hopefully, and in theory, this is a good thing, as it's simply a convergence of various social streams and will make it easier to view and read the content I'm interested in. However, I wonder if the law of unintended consequences will kick in. Certainly there is some amount of dissatisfaction with what's happening to Picassa, so I am wary of what will happen to Blogger.
Otoh.. it's not like I ever post anything here is it..
And if either of my 2 dear followers would like a Google+ invite I'd be happy to share.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Percentile D&D Ability Score Generation
James over at Grognardia put up a post about Ability Score Handicapping and talking about the ability score generation methods of games other than D&D. One of them, taken from FGUs Space Opera has a percentile based table that generates a score between 1-19 for each stat. The interesting bit (for me) is that different stats use different percentile ranges to cross-reference with the attribute scores – so a roll of 90 will net you a 16 Strength, but only a 15 Dexterity or a 14 Intuition. He finished by musing if this and the other tables presented (which I confess I only skimmed over as my brain was already firing..) could be used as the basis for some alternative ability score generation methods.
Well, here’s my take on it using a d100 against the traditional 3-18 range to keep things within the parameters of the other methods:
| Ability Score | D100 Roll | Probability |
| 3 | 01-02 | 2 |
| 4 | 03-04 | 2 |
| 5 | 05-06 | 2 |
| 6 | 07-08 | 2 |
| 7 | 09-13 | 5 |
| 8 | 14-18 | 5 |
| 9 | 19-23 | 5 |
| 10 | 24-28 | 5 |
| 11 | 29-38 | 10 |
| 12 | 39-53 | 15 |
| 13 | 54-68 | 15 |
| 14 | 69-78 | 10 |
| 15 | 79-88 | 10 |
| 16 | 89-93 | 5 |
| 17 | 94-98 | 5 |
| 18 | 99-00 | 2 |
So.. the average character has:
- A 2% chance of having an 18 in any given score – where I see 18 as being the maximum normal (demi)human score.
- A 47% chance of having at least +1 in a given score.
- An 82% chance of scores between 9 and 18 – so average or better
I guess if you want to fiddle the odds a bit you could bump the probability of getting a 14 up to 15% and drop those of getting a 12 to 10%. That gives you a 52% chance of getting a +1 or more.
Not enough? Also drop the chance of getting an 11 to 5% and bump the chance of a 15 up to 15%. That way you’ve got a 45% chance of getting a +1, 10% of a +2 and 2% of a +3.
The upshot is that you’d end up with characters that are weighted to towards the positive end of the spectrum but 18 remains an outlier.
Also, if my thinking is correct, by keeping the distribution as per the table, you’ll end up with a bunch of stats at 11 & 12 which – if a character is lucky enough – could be increased with magic and put the character into bonus territory.
Finally – I’ve only sketched out a ‘generic’ table that could be used for all 6 Abilities. However, I think the premise may work well if it’s extrapolated – as with Space Opera – to give differing distributions to different stats, depending on your wants and needs as a DM.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Thoughts - For self reference
I'm popping these here more to remind myself than anything else, though comments welcome.
Based on Deltas Hotspot posts on money here and here I'm going to use the Silver Standard instead of the Gold, and use the OD&D conversion rates to keep things easy (I may revise this when I finally choose some rules to use.. )
This is also a useful reference on Medieval pricing.
I like the idea of Draconic Memory Crystals as well as the Local Magic Market idea coming out of The Alexandrian. The last 6 or so posts on The Alexandrian are great..
Beer is Ale that is brewed with Hops. Ale is not brewed with Hops.
Toying with the idea of using a 3d6 resolution mechanic instead of 1d20 or 2d10. Would cause all sorts of balance issues, but may be worth trying. If so, then 'Dice of Destiny' may be useful as an additional factor.
Use the 'Hostile Forces' thought to avoid falling into the 'They attack' trap.
Stop using The Alexandrian.. there are other blogs out there..
Inspiration Points?
Choice is important. I'm now choosing to stop reminding myself of good Alexandrian posts.
Jeffs posts on Ink and the Write spell, along with the other discussions about spells per level are interesting food for thought. As is the stuff on Names. And anything to do with Mr. T, because Mr. T is awesome.
Don't make deals with dark powers if you want to keep your good looks. As Tom Baker found out to his peril on Greyhawk Grognard.
Give the players this short list of advice.
Disciple is a good name for a 'Monk' type class (IMO)
Dyson has lots of maps and useful ideas.
Right.. back to work. Maybe more later
Based on Deltas Hotspot posts on money here and here I'm going to use the Silver Standard instead of the Gold, and use the OD&D conversion rates to keep things easy (I may revise this when I finally choose some rules to use.. )
This is also a useful reference on Medieval pricing.
I like the idea of Draconic Memory Crystals as well as the Local Magic Market idea coming out of The Alexandrian. The last 6 or so posts on The Alexandrian are great..
Beer is Ale that is brewed with Hops. Ale is not brewed with Hops.
Toying with the idea of using a 3d6 resolution mechanic instead of 1d20 or 2d10. Would cause all sorts of balance issues, but may be worth trying. If so, then 'Dice of Destiny' may be useful as an additional factor.
Use the 'Hostile Forces' thought to avoid falling into the 'They attack' trap.
Stop using The Alexandrian.. there are other blogs out there..
Inspiration Points?
Choice is important. I'm now choosing to stop reminding myself of good Alexandrian posts.
Jeffs posts on Ink and the Write spell, along with the other discussions about spells per level are interesting food for thought. As is the stuff on Names. And anything to do with Mr. T, because Mr. T is awesome.
Don't make deals with dark powers if you want to keep your good looks. As Tom Baker found out to his peril on Greyhawk Grognard.
Give the players this short list of advice.
Disciple is a good name for a 'Monk' type class (IMO)
Dyson has lots of maps and useful ideas.
Right.. back to work. Maybe more later
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Geek Joy
I've just bought a copy of the Expert Boxed Set. The only one I didn't have as a kid, having to make do with a photocopy of a friends copy.
I may well dig out my old Basic set and use the two as the basis for my nascent megadungeon project. We shall see..
I may well dig out my old Basic set and use the two as the basis for my nascent megadungeon project. We shall see..
Monday, 28 February 2011
Megadungeon Musings
I’m musing on a MegaDungeon. I have been having spots of inspiration and am trying to weld them into a cohesive whole. I figured I’d post them onto the blog on the off chance that someone will read them and either:
I want the dungeon to harbour, at its heart, a dragon. Or at least the myth of a dragon, to give me wiggle room. I want the dragon to represent epic, untold power.
The core of the dungeon is a fortress and a prison. The dragon was imprisoned millennia ago by the most powerful heroes of the age and they commanded a fortress be raised above its lair – where it was imprisoned.
The dragons lair was in a cave deep in a chasm (or ravine, or box canyon, I haven’t yet committed) and the fortress was built large enough that it rose above the chasm walls, or expanded out of its entrance (kinda like Helms Deep perhaps).
I want the fortress to have been expanded and expanded, in all directions, over centuries but with deteriorating quality. So the oldest places are sturdy well worked stone (Dwarf-craft?) whilst other areas are inferior – shanty-town warrens for example.
In many places the crafted areas will give way to carved (natural?) tunnels leading into the sides of the chasm – an opportunity for different environs perhaps.
The fortress was wracked by earthquake or some other natural disaster long after it was completed (and perhaps after its purpose had been forgotten) and was probably abandoned by the descendents of the original inhabitants. Others have now taken up residence and continued to build on the works already there (Hence shanty warrens and other inferior construction).
A stable community of, at least Neutral, inhabitants now resides either there or somewhere close by – providing a base of operations, access to healing, henchmen and expertise.
Some trigger event causes Adventurers, Warbands, Noble Militias, Hordes and Crusades to begin flocking to the dungeon (For some, the knowledge that there’s a captive dragon will be enough to stir interest – releasing it for the bad guys, keeping it captive/slaying it for the good guys. For others there’s the old promise of loot. Is that enough?)
I like the idea that there’s an element of Deathtrap Dungeon to the place. Some of it, by no means all, has been constructed with the very deliberate intention of keeping a very big, very powerful (and presumably very unwilling) beast in captivity – so there will be mechanisms to prevent it from escaping under its own steam and for preventing unauthorised external parties from getting to it to release it. Therefore, opportunity for lots of traps – simple and elaborate.
Because it’s grown so large over thousands(?) of years, there’s the opportunity for many different denizens to be present. Many of the monstrous humanoids, demi-humans, vermin, beasts and creatures found in ‘trad’ D&D may be appropriate.
Am I biting off more than I can chew...
- Tell me they’re great ideas (thus boosting my enthusiasm)
- Make suggestions how to improve them (as above, also providing me more ideas)
- Tell me they suck (thus saving me from using them :))
I want the dungeon to harbour, at its heart, a dragon. Or at least the myth of a dragon, to give me wiggle room. I want the dragon to represent epic, untold power.
The core of the dungeon is a fortress and a prison. The dragon was imprisoned millennia ago by the most powerful heroes of the age and they commanded a fortress be raised above its lair – where it was imprisoned.
The dragons lair was in a cave deep in a chasm (or ravine, or box canyon, I haven’t yet committed) and the fortress was built large enough that it rose above the chasm walls, or expanded out of its entrance (kinda like Helms Deep perhaps).
I want the fortress to have been expanded and expanded, in all directions, over centuries but with deteriorating quality. So the oldest places are sturdy well worked stone (Dwarf-craft?) whilst other areas are inferior – shanty-town warrens for example.
In many places the crafted areas will give way to carved (natural?) tunnels leading into the sides of the chasm – an opportunity for different environs perhaps.
The fortress was wracked by earthquake or some other natural disaster long after it was completed (and perhaps after its purpose had been forgotten) and was probably abandoned by the descendents of the original inhabitants. Others have now taken up residence and continued to build on the works already there (Hence shanty warrens and other inferior construction).
A stable community of, at least Neutral, inhabitants now resides either there or somewhere close by – providing a base of operations, access to healing, henchmen and expertise.
Some trigger event causes Adventurers, Warbands, Noble Militias, Hordes and Crusades to begin flocking to the dungeon (For some, the knowledge that there’s a captive dragon will be enough to stir interest – releasing it for the bad guys, keeping it captive/slaying it for the good guys. For others there’s the old promise of loot. Is that enough?)
I like the idea that there’s an element of Deathtrap Dungeon to the place. Some of it, by no means all, has been constructed with the very deliberate intention of keeping a very big, very powerful (and presumably very unwilling) beast in captivity – so there will be mechanisms to prevent it from escaping under its own steam and for preventing unauthorised external parties from getting to it to release it. Therefore, opportunity for lots of traps – simple and elaborate.
Because it’s grown so large over thousands(?) of years, there’s the opportunity for many different denizens to be present. Many of the monstrous humanoids, demi-humans, vermin, beasts and creatures found in ‘trad’ D&D may be appropriate.
Am I biting off more than I can chew...
Thursday, 3 February 2011
What if Drizzt were Batman?
Well, not really. What I mean is this (and please accept this as a poorly thought out rumination, rife with holes to be poked and prodded):
During my commute this morning a thought struck me about the 'culture' of two of my favourite genres of entertainment, the fantasy RPG and comic books. In my head I typify comic book 'good guys' into two types - the HERO and the Vigilante. The Hero stands up for what's right and good and proper and generally doesn't kill people: Spiderman, Batman, Superman etc.. The Vigilante is motivated by something else and happily kills the bad people to achieve their goals: Wolverine, The Punisher.
For the purposes of this discussion I'm going to single out Batman, as it was he that I thought of.
Batman doesn't kill people. From the cast of all his super-villains I don't know of any that die at his hand (though I'm not a big enough bat-geek to actually know.. and I'm mostly ignoring the movies as they are driven by different demands). He rarely kills goons either, leaving them trussed up or terrified for the GCPD to find and incarcerate. Instead, the Joker gets defeated and sent to Arkham to join the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, etc.. etc..
So what of Fantasy RPGs? In my experience they operate on a fundamentally different set of rules. Killing is ok. It's expected even. Whether it's the L1 Bandits who are out to rob the party through to the epic villain who is trying to summon demon hordes or raise the city of the dead as the centre of her new empire, they generally end up one way. Dead. It's even worse for non-PC race (non-human is too specific..) creatures. Kobolds, Goblins, Dragons, Lamias.. Unless the bad guy *escapes* the bad guy ends up dead.
What's with that?
There must be hundreds of reasons why, not least the differences inherent the two media and what they represent - Comics require drama, which gets harder and harder to achieve if you always kill off your bad guys. But whatever the reasons, what if D&D was more like Gotham City? What if the party of D&D adventurers didn't kill the BBEG and instead subdued and then imprisoned them in their own Arkham?
I liked this thought, not least because D&D is so full of the tools that could make it happen!
Some possible examples:
Vrak, the Half-Orc Barbarian Warlord who united the savannah tribes into a horde that smashed aside a dozen city states before crashing unsuccessfully against the Citadel City of Heddig. Defeated by the Band of Xis he now labours in the heart of the Citadel, imprisoned in Chains of Enfeeblement. Sapped of his prodigous strength he is no longer an imposing physical presence, but beneath the furrowed brow his eyes burn red with hate.
Gandar the Red, Stygian Necromancer and Consort of the Deviless Keshia. His attempts to seize the twin thrones of the Abyss and unleash hell on the Prime Material were thwarted by the Band of Xis when they stormed the Abyssal Plane itself and defeated him in a battle that claimed the life of Keshia. Now he sits in the Citadel, grieving in a marble room inscribed with the sigils of Anti-Magic, unable to work even the tiniest feat of power.
The Bringer of Deaths Caress, mighty priest of the gods of Disease whose quest to reassemble the fabled Anchat Globe was foiled and who now languishes chained in the Temple of the Sun, forever surrounded by two score Acolytes chanting prayer to Sol and drowning out the Bringers attempts to commune with his own foul deities.
3 examples there of BBEGs who are captured rather than killed and imprisoned in some alt version of Arkhams Asylum. Specialist disablements - a cursed item (the chains), anti-magic room and counter-prayer acolyte guards. Assuming that the game of choice supports such things, and the many flaws in my thinking can be worked out, I rather like the idea of this.
Of course - what I actually like the idea of is when it all goes wrong, because that's where the drama lies. Maybe the group of PCs - who are all lower level, perhaps looking up to the Band of Xis as mentors or Heroes of the People, need some help with dealing with their own opponents and go to see Gandar the Red for information. Then it all goes wrong, a la Silence of the Lambs (Gandar the Red as Hannibal Lecter.. there's another idea). It would be fun to play the scene where Clarice first meets Dr Lecter.. "Closer..." but I digress. Or alternatively, a loyal servant of Bringer of Deaths Caress manages to infiltrate the Temple of Sol and unbeknownst to the rest, Bringer manages somehow to get a prayer out and get some spells...
It all goes to pot. The Citadel is broken, the baddies escape. The Band of Xis are scattered, maybe killed, and it's up to the PCs to bring them all back to justice!
So yeah, what it Drizzt were Batman, or Elminster were Supes.. What if my Fighter had the same four colour code of honour as Spiderman.. Surely there's game there!
During my commute this morning a thought struck me about the 'culture' of two of my favourite genres of entertainment, the fantasy RPG and comic books. In my head I typify comic book 'good guys' into two types - the HERO and the Vigilante. The Hero stands up for what's right and good and proper and generally doesn't kill people: Spiderman, Batman, Superman etc.. The Vigilante is motivated by something else and happily kills the bad people to achieve their goals: Wolverine, The Punisher.
For the purposes of this discussion I'm going to single out Batman, as it was he that I thought of.
Batman doesn't kill people. From the cast of all his super-villains I don't know of any that die at his hand (though I'm not a big enough bat-geek to actually know.. and I'm mostly ignoring the movies as they are driven by different demands). He rarely kills goons either, leaving them trussed up or terrified for the GCPD to find and incarcerate. Instead, the Joker gets defeated and sent to Arkham to join the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, etc.. etc..
So what of Fantasy RPGs? In my experience they operate on a fundamentally different set of rules. Killing is ok. It's expected even. Whether it's the L1 Bandits who are out to rob the party through to the epic villain who is trying to summon demon hordes or raise the city of the dead as the centre of her new empire, they generally end up one way. Dead. It's even worse for non-PC race (non-human is too specific..) creatures. Kobolds, Goblins, Dragons, Lamias.. Unless the bad guy *escapes* the bad guy ends up dead.
What's with that?
There must be hundreds of reasons why, not least the differences inherent the two media and what they represent - Comics require drama, which gets harder and harder to achieve if you always kill off your bad guys. But whatever the reasons, what if D&D was more like Gotham City? What if the party of D&D adventurers didn't kill the BBEG and instead subdued and then imprisoned them in their own Arkham?
I liked this thought, not least because D&D is so full of the tools that could make it happen!
Some possible examples:
Vrak, the Half-Orc Barbarian Warlord who united the savannah tribes into a horde that smashed aside a dozen city states before crashing unsuccessfully against the Citadel City of Heddig. Defeated by the Band of Xis he now labours in the heart of the Citadel, imprisoned in Chains of Enfeeblement. Sapped of his prodigous strength he is no longer an imposing physical presence, but beneath the furrowed brow his eyes burn red with hate.
Gandar the Red, Stygian Necromancer and Consort of the Deviless Keshia. His attempts to seize the twin thrones of the Abyss and unleash hell on the Prime Material were thwarted by the Band of Xis when they stormed the Abyssal Plane itself and defeated him in a battle that claimed the life of Keshia. Now he sits in the Citadel, grieving in a marble room inscribed with the sigils of Anti-Magic, unable to work even the tiniest feat of power.
The Bringer of Deaths Caress, mighty priest of the gods of Disease whose quest to reassemble the fabled Anchat Globe was foiled and who now languishes chained in the Temple of the Sun, forever surrounded by two score Acolytes chanting prayer to Sol and drowning out the Bringers attempts to commune with his own foul deities.
3 examples there of BBEGs who are captured rather than killed and imprisoned in some alt version of Arkhams Asylum. Specialist disablements - a cursed item (the chains), anti-magic room and counter-prayer acolyte guards. Assuming that the game of choice supports such things, and the many flaws in my thinking can be worked out, I rather like the idea of this.
Of course - what I actually like the idea of is when it all goes wrong, because that's where the drama lies. Maybe the group of PCs - who are all lower level, perhaps looking up to the Band of Xis as mentors or Heroes of the People, need some help with dealing with their own opponents and go to see Gandar the Red for information. Then it all goes wrong, a la Silence of the Lambs (Gandar the Red as Hannibal Lecter.. there's another idea). It would be fun to play the scene where Clarice first meets Dr Lecter.. "Closer..." but I digress. Or alternatively, a loyal servant of Bringer of Deaths Caress manages to infiltrate the Temple of Sol and unbeknownst to the rest, Bringer manages somehow to get a prayer out and get some spells...
It all goes to pot. The Citadel is broken, the baddies escape. The Band of Xis are scattered, maybe killed, and it's up to the PCs to bring them all back to justice!
So yeah, what it Drizzt were Batman, or Elminster were Supes.. What if my Fighter had the same four colour code of honour as Spiderman.. Surely there's game there!
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