Best of the Web - Whither the Dungeon? Wormy

The Alexandrian has a post called Whither the Dungeon? – The Decline and Fall of D&D Adventures that points out how modern versions of D&D no longer actually explain how to run a dungeon crawl or draw up a dungeon. Something I hadn't noticed but find fascinating. The game became with people teaching each other how to play because the rules were such a mess, and now they've sort of gotten back to that.

I ran across this again and don't remember if I linked it before so I figured I'd do so again. The A Collection of Dave Trampier's Wormy. Dave Trampier's art was amazing. At some point he had issues with TSR and wanted nothing to do with the hobby. I don't really know what happened but he was super-talented and that really shows in the wormy comics.

Six-Pack - At the Dungeon Entrance

Perhaps we aren't the first ones to find this dungeon...

1d6	At the Dungeon Entrance
1	Rocky fort - Someone has cleared the high ground and built a one and a half yard tall drystone wall around the a perfect base camp sized area. There is also a primitive lean-to big enough to keep people and supplies out of the rain. There are no footprints and by all signs this rocky fort hasn't been used in some time.
2	Wooden Palisade - A wooden palisade has been built on the high ground. It looks like a wild west fort with one side torn open but repairable. Inside there are two wooden buildings that lack roofs. It looks like someone used this place for some long term exploring before they were killed or the place as abandoned.
3	Primitive Moat - Someone built a dam in the stream which backed up the river making the area  swampy and difficult to cross. On a small island in this morass is a small wooden platform.
4	Wooden Tower - A broad wooden tower was built not far from the opening. The bottom floor is big enough for a wagon and horses. It is also covered in dried horse dung but there are primitive bunks on the second floor (accessed by a ladder).
5	Tree Fort - A small platform was built up in a tree. It is big enough for two people and some supplies but certainly not for horses.
6	Ruins - The remains of a basecamp are clear but it's been destroyed. Burned out and torn down. Blood and bone are everywhere. Torn up tents are on the ground but everything worthwhile is gone. At GM option a single survivor might be around somewhere to tell the tale.

Six-Pack - What happened to the bags we dropped?

Dropped your stuff prior to battle, or because you ran away and now you've returned... This one had to be 2d6 as I wanted slightly better odds that nothing happened.

2d6	What happened to the packs?
2	Missing - The packs are gone.
3	Opened and Scattered - Something sorted through the contents and spread them about. They did a rush job of it. 50% chance 1d6 rations are gone.
4	Vermin - The packs are covered in vermin. The packs don't appear damaged but a close inspection might find coins leaking out or something. Possibly a few vermin stow-aways if the packs aren't closely checked.
5-10	Nothing happened - Packs are just where you dropped them.
11	Trod upon up - Someone stepped on the bags and kicked them around as if they didn't really see them there or they were in the way. It'll take a short rest to set things right again. 50% chance water jugs were damaged and 1d6 meals worth of fresh water were lost.
12	Soiled - Either dung or blood & gore covers the packs. They can be cleaned, somewhat, during a short rest 50% of the rations can't be salvaged.  A Halfling might still be able to salvage half the spoiled food and a Half Orc won't mind care about the spoilage.

Thoughts on Encumbrance

5E Encumbrance is ridiculous, so much so that I suspect nearly everyone house rules or hand waves it. I've read a few of the variants around the blogsphere and thought I'd post my own.

Encumbrance

Instead of tracking weight, we take bulk into account. Each character can carry a number of items. An item easily held in one hand counts as one item, an item that requires two hands counts as two items. Some rather big items such as plate armor or a backpacks full of stuff might count as 3 or 4. Regarding smaller items, if you could hold 12 arrows in one hand that's one item.

Ones load is divided into categories Lightly Encumbered and Heavily Encumbered.

• Light Load - Carrying a number of items equal to your STR or CON, whichever is lowest. 
• Heavy Load - Carrying a number of items equal to your STR or CON, whichever is highest. In addition to being slower (see below) all skills, saves, and checks are Disadvantaged while Heavily Encumbered.

For example a character with 8 CON and 12 STR. 8 Items or less is lightly Encumbered, 9-12 items is Heavily Encumbered, and 13 items is just too much.

Movement from LoTFP

Load	Movement Turn Exploration	Movement per Round Combat	Movement per Round Running	Miles per day
None	240	80	240	48
Light	180	60	180	36
Heavy	120	40	120	24

Note: for some reason in my notes I had half the values used by LoTFP but both 5E and LoTFP use a 6 second round (at least I think they do) so I'm not sure why. I decided to restore them to LoTFP speeds for now.

Carrying Items

All weight isn't equal. Some items aren't removed, other items are consumed, and of course treasure is added. So loads are generally split into two categories:

• Things you wear - Not just clothes but armor, and weapons on your belt, shield on your arm, etc. This rarely changes much and really, seriously, be kept to the Lightly Encumbered level.
• Things you carry - These are the things you'll dump if forced to run away! Typically includes backpacks, sacks, and satchels. These might even be dropped prior to each and every battle (which allows for a quick escape, but also means losing your gear). Grognards might pay hirelings to carry this stuff on their behalf.

Size Categories

Sizes are useful for comparison sake and because adventurers are likely to end up dragging dead friends around. Creatures come in five basic size categories

1. Small (rats and dogs) (4-12 Items)
2. Medium (Halfling to horse) (12-130 Items)
3. Large (Really big bear, moose) (131-160 Items) 
4. Huge (Rhino, Elephant) (161-250 Items)
5. Massive (Dinosaur) (251-300 Items)

Humanoid size can be approximated by averaging CON and STR, I think.

Other Notes

• Satchels and sacks are easier to drop than backpacks. Players should be encouraged to divide their loads into stuff they are willing to drop and stuff they won't drop except in an emergency.
• Satchels and sacks are easiest to access in a rush. Food and coins can distract pursuit. Oil pots can be lit and thrown. Players should be encouraged to consider this sort of thing lest they be forced to remove a backpack and dig through it during an emergency.
• Beasts of Burden can handle heavier loads. Instead of the highest and lowest between CON and STR a Beast of Burden adds CON and STR together to determine their Heavy Load. Beasts of Burden have no Light Load.
• Where to put all of this stuff while they drink in a tavern is something the GM should consider as well. At some point paying the Silversmith guild in order to use their safe, or finding a Goblin Bank starts to make sense and can drag the characters into the factions of a settlement.
• 1000 gp = 1 item (assumes a sack or small chest). The weight and bulk of 1000 gp worth of coins is roughly the same no matter what denomination of coins comprise the pile. A pile of gold will be small and heavy, a pile of copper coins will be a lot of lighter coins. It mostly evens out.

Thoughts on Alignment

Sort of continuing from Friday's Best of the Web post, part of the Wizards of the Coat policies was to suggest a change in alignments so that these races are not always evil. I've always ignored Alignments for Player Characters but find them occasionally useful for NPC and monsters, still I'd never noticed the alignments changed over time.

Baddie Alignment Through the Editions

Race	1E	3E	5E
Drow Elves	CE	Usually NE	NE
Dueger Dwarves	LE	Often LE	LE
Goblin	LE	Usually NE	NE
Hobgoblin	LE	Usually LE	LE
Ogre	CE	Usually CE	CE
Orc	LE	Often CE	CE

I find it especially interesting that 3E added Usually and Often to a number of alignments. I don't know if I read it somewhere or if I was just a rebel as a kid but I'd always assumed a race wasn't gonna be 100% all one alignment.

Best of the Web - WoTC Orcs and Drow

Old post, I only fixed a few typos I didn't notice previously.

I should call this weeks post Worst of the Web. Wizards put a disclaimer on their legacy products that more or less called the bulk of their long-time customers crypto racists, then they partially backtracked. The complaints were about the following:

1. Drow are racist because they are evil and also black skinned. This is nonsense since they are based on North European Myths and despite the black skin they have nothing in common with any human culture that has ever existed. There is a detailed history of Drow that has nothing to do with any Earth cultures. This claim is laughable and could only be made by someone with a Google Image search  knowledge of the subject. I have more of an issue with an underground race being black skinned rather than pale-white as nearly every animal that lives entirely underground eventually adapts to be super-pale and hairless, but that is another matter.
2. The claim that the pseudo-Gypsy, the Vistani, in the Ravenloft setting are a bunch of stereotypes. The whole game is a bunch of stereotypes, it makes it easier to get your mind around things. They are not Gypsies, it says it right there in the name that they are Vistani. They are all the stereotypes once attributed to Gypsies (fair or not) but they are not Gypsies. They are filling the role Bram Stoker gave to Gypsies, a role expected in Gothic Horror, but they are not Gypsies. When the actual Gypsy complain I'll still disagree, but I'll listen, until then someone being offended on behalf of the Gypsies carries no weight.
3. The last, and lamest is the claim that Orcs are racist because someone decided that some mythical gamers consider them black people because they have darker skin. I've never seen anyone treat Orcs that way, even when we were dumb kids in the 80s nobody went there. This is another case of second hand offense and in this case they are assuming the worst of a large number of their fellow gamers, assuming they are secretly racists. The evidence for this claim seems to come down to some of Tolkiens letters in which he describes his Orcs to a friend (I'm not sure who). He says they have the grossest features attributed to Mongols or something. This isn't saying Orcs are Mongols, and its certainly not saying they are blacks. Shorthand descriptions to a friend are not cannon in the actual books mind you. He spent more time and care describing the Orcs in the books. Also Tolkiens books are not the game. A lawsuit or two between TSR and the Tolkien estate made that clear. Orcs in D&D started as pig-faced, nothing like the Orcs in Tolkien, and nothing to do with any human race. Eventually they became green skins in Warhammer and I think Warcraft and others adopted that. No human cultures have green skin either. But still there are those ready to be offended on behalf of others and to make blanket statements bashing fellow gamers as racist which is pretty offensive and has created some ill will.

Personally I think Wizards is foolish for getting involved in all of this. They are going to chase away long term fans and are unlikely to gain any new gamers in the process. Nobody thinks Orcs or Drow are racist until someone goes to great effort to explain to them their strange theory that they are, and even then they probably only repeat the nonsense as a gag along the lines of "The Empire were good guys in Star Wars" type humor.

If they  must make a statement I would suggest a statement saying "The problematic races in D&D are not problems as written unless one adds meta context to them o make them problematic. We recommend you don't add such meta context and don't make them problematic.  If you find this impossible don't use the problematic races at your table. 

Six-Pack - Different Rations

1d6	Rations
1	Iron Rations - Salted meat, jerky, and nuts for three days. Lasts a month. When survival and cost is more important than taste. Elves won't eat the meat so this won't work for them. This pack will survive getting wet but is worthless if you hope to distract a hungry beast chasing you.
2	Dwarven Rations - Prepared by Halfling chefs of course. Sausage, bread, and cheese for one person for three days. Lasts a week although the sausage will only last three days in warm climates. Even Elves will get enough nourishment from this tasty pack (except the sausage of course). Costs twice the normal price, bread may be ruined if wet. Nearly 100% success when thrown down to distract hungry carnivores.
3	Elf Rations - A vegetable sauce contained in a bread bowl (more of a thermos shape). Veggie rations so tasty that even Dwarves will eat them. Half Orcs won't however. Stays fresh for a month. Don't get it wet. Normal chance a beast will stop to eat this meal if thrown down as a distraction.
4	Wood Elf Bread - Thin bread that stays fresh for a month. Great for eating on the move. Not super-tasty but filling. Will feed one person for a week. Never goes bad. Don't get it wet and don't expect hungry carnivores to be distracted.
5	Halfing Rations - Combine the Elf and Dwarven rations and you'll have some idea. Twice the ENC. Enough for one Halfling (or two non-halflings) for a week.
6	Half Orc Rations - Typically a Half Orc can live off the land, eating Orcs, Goblins or other beasts that have been killed. Usually they make a jerky, or a stew so that nobody recognizes bits of an old companion.

Six-Pack - More Weird Wizards

1d6	More Wizards
1	Regs Ordstaff  - Said to be the first Necromancer. Little is known of him except that his name is attached to spell names and some ancient relics (possibly incorrectly). Regs Oldstaff is also said to be the first vampire as his original research pushed him across a line he was unable (or unwilling) to recross.
2	Teves Shonender - Currently a half-Litch who owns Yar Yurnet's left hand and eye. Teves is nearly a thousand years old and well connected to the network of vampires that infest most major cities in the region. He's human but looks like a skeleton wrapped in skin. He's at a couple hundred years old and obsessed with research.
3	Bagot of Abertossing - Changeling believed to have Fey heritage. Metal armour has no effect on his spellcasting. The changeling dresses and acts like a soldier and frequently acts as an outrider and messenger. He currently owns three trade ships (with his business partner, a merchant).
4	Char Halldiriwell - Also known as the Snowdog because of the white wolf cloak he wears. The cloak allows him to shape shift. Char is somewhat of a warrior as far as sorcerers go having extensive practice with spear, axe and bow. He is a hairy beast of a man with burned beard who spends most of his time in the wild.
5	Lenjel & Laup Quayjas - Identical twins are able to cast as if using Team spell. These two beautiful women often travel and do missions on behalf of the Cult of Lustria. They are men haters but their contact with the cult has soften them somewhat. They were said to have avenged their parents death by killing and bringing the killers back to serve them. They primarily act as well paid assassins.
6	Leim Churaley - Leim was born the Seventh son of a Seventh Son and thus gets double power to all detection spells. Leim is a high ranking guard in the King's personal guard. He is the son a prolific but minor noble and has risen quickly thanks to his abilities, and his wisdom in hiding his magical skills from the Clerics of Lough.

Six-Pack - Weird Wizards

Some time ago I bought the game Battle Wizards and fell in love with the cards. I've never played the game but at the time started sketching out less vanilla wizards. These folks are mostly in the background, legends and magic item names, and occasionally a name on the map. I never gave them proper stats.

1d6	Wizards
1	Jack Steveson - Has a double advantage when casting in proximity to Vortexes. Nearly a century old, not super-powerful. Not much is known about this Warlock except that his name is spoken of with a bit of fear by other Warlocks and his name is attached to a number of spells.
2	Jep Ferenf - Two century old creepy-well preserved because he spent a century of that time being tortured by a daemon and didn't age in the meantime. He's also a bit insane. Spends his time looking for ancient artifacts. He will occasionally hire adventurers, he will often lead them. A true rat bastard with a pleasant smile.
3	Reven Sperrit - An ancient Sorcerer who developed a number of powerful spells before he was captured by a Daemon he failed to contain. Lore suggests he'll be held for a thousand years, a time which in all stories corresponds to now. A very powerful, and insane, sorcerer with a Daemon tentacle for a hand and a freakish Deamon eye. He hunts for his own eye and hand. He floats two inches above the ground and moves in a very creepy way.
4	Yar Yurnet - Daemonspawn, believed to have daemon bloodlines. Daemon familiar (absorbs a lot). Yar Yurnet was once a Cleric of Lough who studied a captured spell book until he slipped into insanity. The Cult of Lough has tried to find him and kill him for decades without success. Yar Yurnet doesn't hide, he just kills those that might try to tell on him.
5	Dava Graemis - Necro-birth, her mother died before birth so she does not appear in detection spells. This crone has been sacrificing newborns hoping to restore her youth. She is a drunk and sloppy Witch who is afraid to take the risks required to be great. Dava earns money speaking to the dead on behalf of mourning people and putting souls to rest as well as pumping the dead for information that might lead to wealth.
6	Priest Rickley - Ritual Birth. Birth was planned by Chaos Cultists. Uneffected by Holy Ground. He is actively planning the Ragnorak, in order to do so he sends out adventurers looking to find/steal different arcane objects he will need.

Lifestyle Expenses

I like the idea of Lifestyle expenses but this also should be baked into the different races the way backgrounds are to tell you something about the race. The player should roll for their lifestyle during character creation. A series of tables will better show what I mean.

Hill Dwarf

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
01	Squalid
02	Poor
03-08	Modest
09	Comfortable
10	Wealthy
--	Artistocratic

Mountain Dwarf

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
01	Squalid
02-05	Poor
06-09	Modest
10	Comfortable
--	Wealthy
--	Aristocratic

High Elf

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
--	Squalid
--	Poor
01-05	Modest
05-06	Comfortable
07-09	Wealthy
10	Aristocratic

Wood Elf

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
--	Squalid
01-02	Poor
03-08	Modest
09-10	Comfortable
--	Wealthy
--	Aristocratic

Halfling (Stout)

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
--	Squalid
--	Poor
01-06	Modest
07-09	Comfortable
10	Wealthy
--	Aristocratic

Halfling (Tallfellow)

2d6	Lifestyle
--	Wretched
02	Squalid
03-04	Poor
05-06	Modest
07-08	Comfortable
09	Wealthy
10	Aristocratic

Half Orc

2d6	Lifestyle
01-02	Wretched
03-04	Squalid
05-07	Poor
08	Modest
09	Comfortable
10	Wealthy
--	Aristocratic

Human

2d6	Lifestyle
01	Wretched
02	Squalid
03-04	Poor
05-06	Modest
07-08	Comfortable
09	Wealthy
10	Aristocratic

A character may select to live a week at a higher level than their normal level, but not below. What happens when they are unable to afford their normal level is up to the GM (take out a loan, take up petty crime) but unhappiness and a feeling of desperation is likely. Possibly enough to risk their lives on an adventure.

If they spend too long at a lower level their own lifestyle expectations might drop a level as well.

Here is what the lifestyles mean according to the 5e srd.

Lifestyle Expenses per day

Price/Day	Lifestyle	Notes
--	Wretched	You live in inhumane conditions. Violence, and hunger follow you wherever you go. Other wretched people covet your gear, which represent a fortune by their standards. You are beneath the notice of most people.
1 sp	Squalid	Your lifestyle means you live in a desperate and often violent environment, in places rife with hunger, and misfortune. You are beneath the notice of most people. Most people at this lifestyle level are refugees of some sort.
2 sp	Poor	A poor lifestyle means simple food and lodgings, threadbare clothing, and unpredictable conditions result in a sufficient, though probably unpleasant, experience. People at this lifestyle level tend to be unskilled laborers, costermongers, peddlers, thieves, mercenaries, and other disreputable types.
1 gp	Modest	A modest lifestyle keeps you out of the slums and ensures that you can maintain your equipment. You don't go hungry or thirsty, and your living conditions are clean, if simple. Ordinary people living modest lifestyles include soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, hedge wizards, and the like.
2 gp	Comfortable	A comfortable lifestyle means that you can afford nicer clothing and can easily maintain your equipment. You associate with merchants, skilled tradespeople, and military officers.
4 gp	Wealthy	A wealthy lifestyle means living a life of luxury. You live a lifestyle comparable to that of a highly successful merchant, a favored servant of the royalty, or the owner of a few small businesses. You are happiest when you have a small staff of servants.
10 gp	Artistocratic	You like to live a life of plenty and comfort. You have excellent lodgings, you dine at the best restaurants, retain the most skilled and fashionable tailor, and have servants attending to your every need. You receive invitations to the social gatherings of the rich and powerful, and spend evenings in the company of politicians, guild leaders, high priests, and nobility.

Best of the Web - OSR Logo, Resurrecting the Quantum Ogre

Some time ago there was a brew-ha-ha about the original creator of the OSR logo deciding didn't like some of the folks using the logo. Then MSJX created A New OSR Logo free of any restrictions. I guess I missed this when it came out so I thought I'd ad it here so i can find it again.

Hack & Slash has a really good article called On Resurrecting the Quantum Ogre and Having Him Over for Tea, especially on giving players the info they need instead of playing that game of waiting for them to ask the perfect question. The article goes into the Quantum Ogre idea a bit. Its part of a series and maybe I don't entirely understand the Quantum Ogre but seems a bit of a purity test of sorts. The idea is overly broad and I demands things of a GMs that wouldn't even be known to the players. Yes you shouldn't remove player agency, and you shouldn't be a jerk , but that is no excuse for adding a bunch of extra unnecessary work which is what it sounds like in many of the examples I've read. For example two trails, players can pick one or the other, or they could go off-road. The GM has a new ogre mini and wants to use it. They might have the ogre in the toll house on one trail, and use the ogre at a bridge on other, and that filthy ogre might be bathing in the river if they go off the trail. Maybe that's three Ogres, maybe its one. Maybe the Ogre is in one spot on the outbound journey but he's in all three places on the way back to make sure that mini gets used. I'm not sure there is a whole lot of value to a GM creating unique encounters for each and every option as long as they are willing to adapt to players plans when they come across the encounter.

Languages

I've never been happy with how languages were handled in games. I like the original game with "common". They didn't really describe common but the idea of a lingua franca glossed over most of the issues while leaving the idea that there are lots of languages out there available for court room intrigue and all that once you get out the dungeon.

So for my Axes & Arrows campaign I have the following languages.

Language Table

Language	Script	Notes
Common	Dwarvish	Common is a simplified version of Dwarvish used to assist in communications between Hill and Mountain Dwarf communities. The language has become the lingua Franca of the region. Even the Horde has picked up on the language to ease communications between vastly different Orc and Goblin tribes.
Dwarvish	Dwarvish	A really guttural and phgmey language. Hill  Dwarfs and Mountain Dwarves both speak Dwarvish but each have thick accents that are nearly impossible for others to understand. The Dwarvish script looks like Runes as they developed it carving on wood and into stone.
Elf	Elvish	Elvish is a musical language. The Elves are protective of it and snotty about mispronunciations so few learn the language and even fewer get practice in speaking with natives. Elvish is the language of Wizardy so most Wizards learn it.
Halfling	Elvish	The Halfling language is dead. Halflings adopted the Elvish script long go so their books can still be read, awkwardly, by someone who reads Elvish script.
Human	Many	Most humans have their own language(s) which is a babble of incomprehensible nonsense that they may use amongst themselves. Luckily nearly all learn Common.
Orc	None	The orcs never developed a written language which has held them back. The Common Tongue was brought to the horde by the traitors of House Duegar to enable the Orcs and Goblins and other member races of the horde to communicate. Roughly half of all Orcs and Goblins speak Common.
Thieves Cant	None	The Thieves Cant is a slang version of Common with a lot of Human and Orc words thrown in. The language is used by the thieves that work amongst the poor and the refugees in the Hill Dwarf settlements.

What this all means is all characters will speak Common, including half of the Orcs and Goblins and other humanoid monsters they encounter. This allows for parlay.

It also means that a Halfling cookbook looks a lot like an Elvish book and a Spellbook. The main difference *might* be the inclusion of drawings of the food. Halfling cookbooks can be very valuable but not of the same scale as a Spellbook.

No alignment languages. Alignment languages was a half-baked idea based off of Latin. Clerics and Druids don't need their own language.

Human Backgrounds

Humans

Humans appear in most Hill Dwarf settlements. Mostly they are mercenaries come to fight, either because they believe in the cause or they are looking for cash. The flood of humans has only increased recently as Dwarven law says any Dwarven treasure left unclaimed for 50 years is up for grabs, a well known law well known to treasure hunters who have counted down the years since the Grand Vault fell 50 years ago. The humans come in many racial types but they all share the same culture (for now, eventually I'd like a couple different human cultures represented).

Illustration by Russ Nicholson

1d6	Ideal
1	Faith. I trust that my God Lord Gax will guide my actions. I have faith that if I work hard, things will go well.
2	Fame. Through adventuring I'll become famous and someone people want to know.
3	Progress. Backwards and antiquated ways should be updated or we'll never persevere.
4	Freedom. I hate to see anyone enslaved or imprisoned and will take great risks to free prisoners of the horde.
5	Fairness. Unfair rules are meant to be broken. Unfair fights are meant to be joined.
6	Greater Good. I'm willing to do some bad things if it leads to the correct results.

1d6	Bond
1	I'm willing to risk my life to prove the value of humans in the alliance.
2	I care for my family and will risk all to provide for them.
3	I love the alliance despite the imperfections and will die to preserve it.
4	I believe in honor and will not break my codes no matter what.
5	I'm loyal to the Guild that was both father and mother to me.
6	I am faithful and comfortable knowing my soul will be cared for after death.

1d6	Flaw
1	I put way to much trust in authority, I know it, but can't help it, and this war is too important for petty rebellions.
2	I'm a religious zealot and will do just about anything the Clerics of Gax say.
3	My family is everything, and I'll do anything to protect or advance the family.
4	I like the good things in life and I'll take whatever risks are necessary to afford living like an Aristocrat, even for awhile.
5	I can't hide it, I'm very proud of everything human, especially our position as the shield of the Alliance.
6	I don't trust authority at all and will at least consider doing the opposite when given orders. It's a problem, I know.