Best of the Web: Caves and Props, and Holmes Basic

 I stumbled across an old post by Skerpsies over at Coins and Scrolls. The post is called OSR: Caves and Props. Basically it is an alternate cave creation system to the one in Veins of the Earth. I loved reading Veins of the Earth but don't think I could ever use it. I should say I don't think I could ever get my players to stay down in that hostile environment for more than a session without collapsing caves behind them and forcing them forward. Caves however, I love the idea of caves.

I also love maps and Veins of the Earth's system is more of a point-crawl. There is an example of a cave map using the system in the Skerpsies post. I like the idea of a point-crawl but damn-it I love maps. So use a real cave map you might say. Well Skerpsies includes a good exa mple of one of those as well and they are so crazy as to make it impossible to describe. That natural result is simplified caves like those in Caves of Chaos that aren't really caves so much as soft-edged dungeons, more like the simple carved caves in this video than caves.

Skerpsies answer is simple and brilliant and three dimensional. I like it but need to do it on the computer. Using Sketchup or something like the old blob-based 3d modeling. Anyway it got my brain racing so I had to post about it so I can find it later.

Pits Perilous has an interesting post called Holmes as a Complete Game, Redux in which he discusses using the old Holmes basic rules to create a game limited to three levels. It was a followup to his post Holmes as a Complete game. I find the idea intriguing. The minimalism is nice, but I'm not sold on just three levels. In the old game you create a character through play, and in this case they are retiring before you know much about them. Still I like the idea and would love it if someone wrote up Endgame rules for those veteran 3rd level adventurers.

The Thrill of Resource Management

I've read a bunch of posts on resource management lately. Most have decided that 5E does a poor job of resource management, and they did it back in the day when the game was played a bit differently, and does it even matter anymore? This got me thinking of the two ways I've handled resource management in the past (well three ways but I've never bothered tracking arrows and just assumed the archer recovered the arrows and that seems to be the default out there so I won't cover that).

  1. Have the adventurer party buy their resources in quantities aligned with days. Buy five days of food/water and you don't need to worry about tracking day to day, your mission is up at 5 days. Since 5E has long rests that makes a good marker for a single day even if it doesn't align to 24 hours exactly. Make sure the party eats during a long rest or they don't get the benefits and you have a nice marker for used goods. A smart party will take an extra days worth of resources with them just in case. A sneaky GM might decide to spoil the resources for some reason (torches got wet, food got covered in green slime), when that happens they should assume the same standard. Four days worth of torches were destroyed. 
  2. Have the players hire a pack bearer to follow behind them carrying the Resources they need to survive in the dark. Have them pay the pack bearer  the listed rates and otherwise ignore the resources, Patsy has that covered. The pack bearer should be assumed to avoid combat and may actually have to be protected but they can cook during those long rests, hold light during combat, and trudge out the treasure in their pack that is now depleted of resources. This bypasses resource management in a playable way.
I've not only used both ideas with some success I've even blended the two. The fun thing about ignoring Resource Management most of the time is when it suddenly matters and players haven't given it any thought before. Patsy is gone and the torches are gone with him, now what? We've got an hour before the torches we've got burn out and it's going to be really, really, dark down here. Most games have fighting in darkness rules and if you're a player you probably don't want to be using them if you don't have to.

Best of the Web - Tom Bombadil, & Clerics

I've read the Lord of the Rings more than once. I've never been a big fan of Tom Bombadil, in fact on more than one occasion I've just skipped those bits. Recently I ran across an old 2011 post on the blog Loose Connections. The post is about Tom Bombadil called Oldest and Fatherless: The Terrible Secret of Tom Bombadil that postulates that old Tom could actually be evil. He admits Tolkien probably didn't plan Tom to be evil but lays out a lot of very convincing evidence. I won't be skipping those bits the next time I read Lord of the Rings, thats for sure.

Currently I'm listening to the audiobook of Paol Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions on my morning dogwalk. I'm not sure what I think about the book at this point, seems very episodic, but one thing that struck me. During the Werewolf episode they brought up the idea that the Lancanthropy might lessen the further they got from the Fairie world. I don't know if I'd ever come across this sort of idea before but I really like it. I've read about spells becoming stronger on different planes and perhaps on Holy or Unholy ground but never things like Lycanthropy. It seems like it would be easy enough to create mechanics for this sort of thing.

Hack & Slash has a post On the Clerics Devotion. The author is down on Clerics and has a replacement idea. He makes some good points but really what it gets down to is Clerics require work from the GM. Worldbuilding work to help them fit into the setting. I don't think any D&D book has been helpful in this regard. They seem to concentrate on the Gods and not on the religion. This is a shame because the beliefs of the people help define a culture. RuneQuest got this right (at least closer to right) in that they spent time on the Cults. Probably too much time to be honest but the cults, the hierarchy of priests and their relationship to the worshipers, holy days and such is far more interesting and important to a campaign than how many HP the god has. That's the sort of thing I've been trying to write up with my recent Chaos Cults. In time I'll re-write a few other religions this way. A monotheistic one for Clerics at least (a rewrite of my old Lough) and a polytheistic one for Druids (who I call Shaman because Druids is way to specific to the Celts). 


Best of the Web - Interesting Factions, Activity tables, and Generator of Missions

Guyeatsfood at Burn After Running has a post titled Interfering Factions – A Technique to Improve Your One-Shot. The idea is really good for one-shots but I'd like to see something similar for a campaign. I'd like to see Adventures include potential hooks based on class, the assumption being that the local Thieves Guild, Wizard's Chantry, Temple, and whomever hires Fighters provide side missions to our friendly adventurers, many of these side missions might be things they share with the party, or which they try to accomplish on their own for selfish reasons. Not sure if this is a rule-type idea (a few such missions are required prior to leveling-up) or one that would just be ad hoc to make things more interesting.

Long ago I posted some encounters tables from d4 Caltrops. These are amazing, I posted a number of them before but he just kept creating more and more and more and I didn't want my Best of the Web dominated by one guy's work. Well now he has a post bringing together all of his OSE Encounter Activity Tables in one place. 

The always reliable Courtney at Hack & Slash has published a post called On a Generator of Missions which is excellent. He also has an advanced version for Pay What you Want at DrivethruRPG.

 

Best of the Web - Monsters as Puzzles, Holmesian Dungeons, and Bootleg Spellmarket

DM David has an interesting post called Turning a Monster Into a Puzzle in which he discusses a number of early monsters that had one weakness that players had to figure out but how this failed when everyone started reading up on the monsters outside the game and thus figured the secret ahead of time. Also how play-styles changed so that retreat isn't really an option these days so if a party doesn't get it you get a TPK. 

The Monster as a puzzle is a great idea but doesn't work with a wandering monster or one tucked away in a room. It works much better with a big monster that the players can hear rumors about ahead of time, one in which they can flee if their ideas don't work, one that is unique so that a Lore check won't give away the riddle. This sort of thing is the bread and butter of Lamentations of the Flame Princess that encourages every monster to be unique.

Blood of Prokoppius has a post called Towards a Holmesian Dungeon that I found interesting. Especially the large rooms, I never really noticed that. Modern dungeons are filled with tiny rooms. Perhaps tiny rooms are more realistic for underground construction, perhaps B2 set the pattern, perhaps that's because of the sizes of Dungeon Tiles.

Goodberry Monthly has a post called Bootleg Spell Market. The idea is nice and evocative, I imagine a small business in the rear of an apothecary that normally sells fake love potions and such. The rear sells real potions and scrolls and caters to the select few. Something a lot smaller than Diagon alley in the Harry Potter books. All that is nice, but the real gold in the blog post is the "What Could Possibly Go Wrong" column in which provides quirks to common spells. It reminds me of the Unique Spellcasting fumbles in Dungeon Crawl Classics.

I'd love to see a crowd sourced version of the 5E spellbook that provided info for each spell, this sort of thing, as well as interesting fumbles.  




Hembek


The Most Serene Republic of Hembek is ruled by a Grand Duke ("My Lord the Duke" "Most Serene Prince" and "His Serenity"), who is elected by the Great Council of Hembek. Hembek is a wealthy Mercentile city along the lines of Venice or Hamburg. Hembek is big enough to house lots of adventure, to act as a home base, or to be the target of raids.

Hembek History

Age of Legends/Age of Titans

Everything prior to a thousand years ago is known as the age of legends. There are no written records of the Age of Legends. Humans were around but they were primitive. Bits of songs and scraps of poems are credited with coming from this time. It is suggested that Titans ruled the Earth. The Black Pyramids in Hembek harbor are believed to have been built by the Titans. Nobody  knows what happened to the Titans.

Hembek began as a fishing community built at the base of the rock where fish and gull eggs were readily available. The settlement started catching fish at the mouth of Hembek river using fish traps and along the coast using small one or two person boats. At this point they all worshipped the so called Old Faith, a pantheon of a dozen gods.

Age of Old Ones

The Old Ones were an advanced society that arrived from the South and built a number of cities and spread the word of their Goddess Pallas Regina. They made contact with the Hembek settlement and spread the worship of Pallas Regina. Worship of the Old Faith declined during this period but never entirely went away. The use of proto-Carvels dates from this time, the larger boats were used to fish further afield, even as far as the Thule banks, using nets. The Old Ones stayed for nearly three hundred years before they abandoned their cities and disappeared again.

Hembek Oligarchy & Pallas Edicts

Hembek continued to prosper after the departure of the Old Ones, primarily on the salted fish trade (cod and herring). Hembek became a hub of civilization along the otherwise wild coast. The city grew in power and population. Eventually talented craftsmen in the city made the city famous for patterned cloth.

The worship of Pallas Regina continued to dominate the Republic but as trade grew other religions found their place and were legally tolerated. It was during this time that the Four Edicts of Pallas were published. The Edicts came from the visions of a prophet of Pallas Regina. The Edicts:

  • No visual representations of Pallas Regina are allowed
  • No eating after nightfall
  • No Dancing
  • Must fast on theWinter Solstice

Riots & Constitution

A hundred years after the departure of the Old Ones a series of riots rocked the city. The unrest was finally resolved with the signing of the Hembek constitution. The constitution includes the following articles:

  • Article 1. Hembek will be ruled by a Grand Duke, elected by the Grand Council of Hembek. The Duke will rule for a period of time determined by the Grand Council but never longer than 10 years. 
  • Article 2. All laws will be made by the Grand Council. The Grand Council is comprised of the ten top Merchants in the city. The Grand Council is not allowed to begin a war without a hearing of the citizens.
  • Article 3. Offices in the public service below the Grand Council must be elected by a vote of the citizens and disloyal public servants need to be discharged.
  • Article 4. No citizen, poor or rich, are to be imprisoned without a hearing at the Grand Council. The Grand Council cannot grant safe conduct for a person who owes a citizen of Hembek.
Article 1 has resulted in a number of Grand Dukes being elected for the duration of a crisis and then replaced. A Grand Duke cannot be re-elected. The ruling class is an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats.

Article 2 has resulted in a yearly bidding war for council seats. Typically seven of the seats are unchanging, one changes constantly, and the last two are held one by a group of Merchants and one by a group of Crafters that pool each their resources to buy that seat.

League of Trading Cities

Twenty three years after forming as a Republic Hambeck joined the powerful League of Trading Cities. The Leagues Laws stated that member cities would defend the freedom and the privileges of citizens of other members and that refugees or those deported from member cities would not find shelter within the walls of other members. The creation of the league led to prosperity and rapid growth. The cities walls, cobbled streets, and expansive navy date to this time.

Most of the other cities were dominated by worshipers of the Old Faith and increased trade had the result of injecting wealth into the Old Faith temples in Hembek

Hembek Empire

The Republic of Hembek never set out out to become an empire, they stumbled into it. The Initial step was the result of loans made to the Kingdom of Granum. The Kingdom, unable to repay loans from Hembek merchants and facing a cut-off of all trade, sold the Thule Island to the Republic of Hembek. The purchase was hotly disputed in the Hembek Council but eventually they determined that if the island could be properly civilized it could provide a lot of raw materials that would be more valuable than the cost. Thule Island was declared a March and granted to Lord Dereck Lord of the Thule Island Marches. The March Lord take the risks and rewards for a half century term before the status of the Thule Islands is to be re-evaluated again. 

The second addition to the Hembek Empire came when the Grand Duke Of Hembek married a Granum Princess. The Islands of East Thule were given over as a dowry. These lands weren't nearly as turbulent as Thule Island proper but their is simmering trouble there. One of the major reasons the somewhat prosperous East Thule island was given away was because the Kingdom of Granum knew they would be unable to defend the Island against pirates and other neighboring powers and thus avoided the humiliation of having the islands taken from them.

The farmers of Thule Island and Islands of East Thule are Pallas Regina worshipers, tipping the balance between the religions towards Pallas Worship which has increased the tension between the two competing faiths.

Collapse of Gull Rock

The oldest permanent buildings in Hembek are built on a large rock of limestone known as Gull Rock. Twenty seven years ago the southern cliff-face sheered-off taking a large section of High Town city wall and a number of buildings with it. Plans to rebuild the wall have come to nothing so far. The area has been shored up and all limestone mining of the Rock stopped at this time. 

The collapse is still considered the big day the old codgers talk about and speculation of what caused the sheering abound, most guessing having to do with unhappy gods from the conflicting faiths.

Factions

City Guard - The Merchant's pay them so they will always side with the merchant's over other factions.  Having said that they keep a light touch most of the time spending most of their time keeping foreign sailors from causing trouble.

Clerics of Pallas - The most powerful religion in the city they have spent most of their efforts buying land and building Parish churches all over the place to spread the worship. The Clerics are generally intolerant of other beliefs but so far have not become openly hostile (because the Templars of Kanaris protect the other temples of the Old Faith with their swords and ready willingness towards violence). 

Crafters Faction - Despite the name this faction includes the fishermen and herders living within a mile or two of the city and the one Wizard's chantry in the Crafters District. This chantry remains hidden and low key but members occasionally help the faction. The crafters faction are mostly believers in the Old Faith.

Merchants Faction - the Merchant Faction is comprised of two groups. First, a dozen super-wealthy merchant houses run the city for their own gain. They have provided jobs and made everyone better off and believe this gives them a status above the law, an attitude which has created tension with the rest of the city.  The other group is the masses of small to medium sized merchant houses that want desperately to grow and become part of the first group. This second group will assist the first at times, but backstab them at other times.

Thieves Faction - Disunited faction but they have similar goals so they are lumped together. These are the Thieves gangs throughout the cities. These groups primarily deal with gambling, protection money, and (through their control of the longshorman's guild) work slowdowns. They also ensure there are no beggars in the city and limit the number of burglars and cut purses working the city and arrange to return anything deemed to hot as to bring the guard crushing down on them. Most of this Faction aren't serious believers in anything except self interest.

Details of Hambek

Streets of Hambek

The entire city has cobblestone streets, even the alleys are paved in stone. Flags and banners showing devotion to temples or Churchs, loyalty to Hembek, the Merchant's Guild, or the Crafter's guild are all over the city and constantly flapping in the breeze.

Sanitation

Hembek has a primitive sewer system. The 'sewer' is a covered trench in the center of most larger streets designed to carry rain water and waste out of the streets and into the canals. In areas not covered by the 'sewers' the buildings have a barrel for the collection of nightwaste which is taken away every day before dawn. This waste is carted out of town and sold to farmers as fertilizer, or dumped in the bay depending upon the needs of the crops. The waste of horses and other beasts are also cleaned up the old fashioned way. 

The Bogbreath triplets act as maintenance workers for the city, in reality this means they spend most of their time pumping water from the river into the various city fountains, or pumping water from the fountains through the 'sewers' to clean them out when rain is insufficient to the task. They empty the barrels of night soil and clean the harbor area around the Black Pyramids, and prowl the streets with their yapping dogs hunting rats when they have time. 

The Bogbreath Triplets are not the smartest folks in town but the most popular by far. They work hard and never complain about the dirty work and everyone is happy to see them when the come around on their duties. Most of the inns and taverns even offer them free drinks to encourage them to come by often. Their efforts combined with the sea breeze have spared the city the typical medieval stench and not that anyone knows about such things but has gone a long way towards preventing cholera as well.

For the rest, civic pride is strong and anyone making a mess will find themselves yelled at from every window on the street. 

Law & Order

The main streets in both Hightown West Ward and Hightown East Ward are illuminated by oil lamps from dusk until midnight (basically when the oil runs out). The temples and Churches in the lower city are lit but most of the rest of the city is dark after dusk. Most homes have lanterns and flinging open the shutters will tend to light up the street enough to see what is going on. Any kind of criminal activity will likely generate a hue & cry from nearby homes. 

  • The city guard has a light touch, they will side with Wealthy and Merchants over others, and will respond within 1d6 minutes to a hue & cry. The guard are the cities permanent 'police' force. They are equipped and trained with sword & shield and padded armor. Leaders may have mail. The guard are based out of the city walls. The guard patrol within the city walls and are pretty lax about that. They all carry horns to bring reinforcements (including nearby Militia or the Imperial Soldiers) to handle anything they can't manage.
  • The Militia are comprised of every able-bodied townsman within the walls. They are equipped and trained (barely) with spear & shield. They have never been called to action.
  • The Ducal Guard are based out of the Ducal Palace. When in the palace they are equipped and trained with halberds & shield and wear mail armor. 

Law

Hembek has a dozen Judges that work out of Ducal palace most of the time. All are graduates of the University of Hembek although not all are Pallas Regina worshipers.

The legal system is somewhat ad hoc combining the ancient foundation legal system with some local laws, some religious laws and the occasional bit of common sense all drowned in a system of corruption and bribery. The town guard or any of the Imperial soldiers can arrest people on the flimsiest evidence knowing they will probably never be held on account of this. At least one has created made his own money making pseudo-kidnapping scheme out of this until he was hacked to death in a debate with a Kanaris Templer. Generally the only recourse the 'victim' has is to complain or pay the fine.

Prisoners are usually held until Sunday when they are either freed or face a judge who listen and pass arbitrary judgements. The judges try to be fair and impartial, helping the government's reputation and putting an end to the worse abused by the guards.  This is partially out of civic pride and partially as a way to avoid any rioting.

The Town Guard have a large bottleneck dungeon in nearly every occupied tower in the city walls. They drop prisoners in there and lower food for them until Sunday and time for trial, or until someone comes along to pay the fees. The Ducal Palace has extensive dungeon but they are rarely occupied. Usually only highborn prisoners would be held here. 

Warehouses & Taxes

Goods entering the Hembek Empire are taxed. The rate varies depending upon the goods, the mood of the taxman, guild status of the merchants and the amount of the bribes. Small amounts of goods can pay the tax and sell the goods, larger amounts are generally put into the warehouse until they can be inspected and value determined, and taxes paid. 

There are in effect two inspectors, one that works for the Grand Duke and one who works for the Grand Council. This is done to prevent anyone trying to cheat. Luckily for the dishonest they tend to pool their bribes and are pretty open about it, saving the effort and risk of trying to bribe them separately.  

Merchants will also pay to have goods safely stored in the warehouse until it is time to ship them. Larger trading houses tend to use the secure facilities in the Guildhouse basement or in their own basement.

There is a property tax on all buildings within the town but the taxation is relatively light and beyond the scope of this post. 

Guilds

Guilds are an association of craftsmen designed to ensure quality, fix prices, protect trade secrets and keep non-guild members from competing. The guildhalls are used for meetings and socializing, mostly for socializing.

Animals in the City

The most common animal in the city is, by far, the Seagulls that nest along the North face of Gull Rock. During the day the gulls are everywhere and constantly squaking.

Beyond the gulls and rats the city is actually filled with a number of animals. The types of animals are different depending upon which part of town you visit.

There are dogs, The ones in the Kanaris temples, guard dogs at the Guildhalls. Some living at the Ducal Palace and the three owned by the Bogbreath brothers for hunting rats. A couple of the wealthy homes also have dogs. 

Most houses in the lower town have at least a chicken and goat for eggs and milk. The University has a cow. Above the city are a number of crows that pick through garbage, pick at bodies, and unaware rats. 

There are horses as well, although they are officially frowned upon within town limits. The Grand Duke and his entourage, as well as Imperial Cavalry and Kanaris Templars regularly ride through the city and horses occasionally are used to pull wagons and carts of goods.

Food grown locally is wheat, barley, tomatoes, eggplant and olives. Most other foods are shipped in or grown in small batches for personal use. 

Hayston - AI City Map

The Hayston map provides a good example of the mushy roofs I mentioned in the AI City Map intro post. Look at building 4. Fishmonger, the wh...