Painting Minis

Here is a bunch of stuff I've been painting this last week

Mummies of the Iron Wastes These are from one of the Reaper Bones collections. This dire pack of undead minions shuffle endlessly forward through the red sands of the Iron Wastes, their bandages hanging in tatters as they are constantly torn at by vicious winds. Anyone touched by one of these rotting monstrosities will be infected with nanobots that slowly start to disassemble them. Pass a CON test every 12 hours or permanently lose 1 point of vitality. The rot can only be cured by magic or old scions. Wrapping one's self in the bandages of a mummy will cure any disease within 1d6 hours ... except the nanobot infection. Powdered mummy brains are also effective in making a potion of poison and disease nullification.
Undead Legion A selection from the Dark Souls board game. This is the majority of the non-boss troops; I didn't get around to the sentinels because i need to get some more airbrush paint ... and I've only got so much desk space. This gang of miscreants have given me no end of pleasure and frustration in the Dark Souls video game series, but in the board game they are all too simple to eliminate. Of course, once false move and you get completely boned even by the most lowly of Hollow Soldiers. Jerks. I'm sure most of these will make it into the RPG rotation as meaningful foes.
Closeups: Silver Knight Greatbowmen & Silver Knight Swordsmen
Closeups: Large Hollow Soldier, Hollow Soldier, & Crossbow Hollow
The Heroes: Herald, Assassin, Knight, & Warrior I added some skulls I had lying about to their bases and finished the bases with gold rather than black like the monsters. These were great fun to paint, so I've shown them lined up for battle and running away as you really should do a lot more in the Dark Souls games until you learn how to fight. No fleeing in the board game though - one must persevere until they die.  And you will die.

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I'll be doing some more painting in the near future, finish up the DStBG models before the new ones arrive (hopefully), painting the Gloomhaven models, mode undead Bones, I've got a big pile of pirates to take care of, and sooo many monsters.  This is the summer of painting when I'm not running or writing Sorrow in Haven. If I feel ambitious enough I might even start creating specific game stats for the painted models. Game on!

Tiny Castle Gargantua Adventures!

Last night we took a quick jaunt into Castle Gargantua using the Tiny Dungeon 2e rules.  It was a short pickup game and quite a bit of fun.

The Characters

• MARTOG THE GIANT - a grump dwarf who is a failed healer
• Princess Fey - a fey, apparently of royal blood, who is a failed baker

We did the normal character creation, plus the roll for a failed career (which gave them some starting stuff) and a roll on the "weird stuff" table I've put together. That second one is interesting because players can choose to push into potentially dangerous territory.  These characters ended up with

• A foil packet of Dubious Sandwiches.  Turns out they were prawn and mayo sandwiches Princess Fey found on a barrel behind a bar.
• A sack containing a baby poisonous sand lobster. Martog says they are a great snack.

Ducks Heritage
Also, for no particular reason, I added the Duck heritage. There is a table for Ducks and the PDF mentioned was cheap, so I thought what the heck!  Ducks per TD2E rules:

• Ducks are grumpy cursed beings. They can’t walk well (duck feet) but swim like aces. Ducks are generally unpleasant but stalwart and loyal friends. Most of them worship The Great Egg.
• HP: 5
• Magically Influenced: Ducks have the traits Spell Reader and Cursed
• Ducks begin with 1d2 scrolls
• Cursed: ducks are more susceptible to magical effects and as such roll to resist with Disadvantage, take 1 extra damage, or effects last longer or are more pronounced. 
• Instead of Previous Failed Career, Ducks can roll on the Duck Motivations table in the PDF

Rumors
These folks knew a few rumors about the castle. To match  up Heritage to the rumor tables, I made the following table and everyone gets 2 rumors. Also, everyone knows about the Blade Maidens that guard the front gate (they are really mean).

Heritage	Which Rumors
1. Human	Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User, or Specialist
2. Karhu	Fighter or Cleric
3. Fey	Elf or Mage
4. Dwarf	Dwarf or Fighter
5 Goblin	Halfing or Specialist
6. Lizardfolk	Thief or Duck
7.Salimar	Magic-User or Duck
8. Duck	1 Duck and Any 1
9. Treefolk	Roll 1d8 to choose

But Wait - Why?
The campaign "reason" is that the world has gone terribly wrong (it is ostensibly set in the same world and time as the Sorrow in Haven campaign) and folks things that something in the castle can save them. Easy premise for a free-wheeling game.

Where is the damn thing?
As it turns out, this Castle Gargantua was in the depths of an oceanic abyss.  This would have been Disasterous, except that the War of Others dried up the ocean! SO Castle Gargantua is a day journey through the festering Siltmarsh that was once the ocean bed - thick clouds of stinking fog are rolling about, and it is kind of dangerous to get there.  But once there, the castle sits beyond the Abyssal Moat - some 100' wide and filled with a stranger, thicker fog. Something big is "swimming" in that fog. Also, the Blade Maidens guard the bridge across the Moat.

System Notes
The Tiny Dungeon system lends itself to a really free-wheeling style of play. The tone we set was a bit gonzo/over the top, but that was a personal choice rather than anything with the system itself. There are like 3 rules ... so rulings are the name of the game, which I completely enjoy.

The Adventure!
The party purchased a silt sled to haul their stuff around. Then using clever trickery and the baby poisonous sand lobster as bait (sand lobsters are cannibals) they managed to catch and harness a giant sand lobster (think of a lobster the size of a pony) and use it to cruise across the siltmarsh toward the castle.

They choose to negotiate with the Blade Maidens, who were actually pretty chill.  In the end Princess Fey gave them the Dubious Sandwiches and the Blade Maidens looked the other way for a bit. Their giant sand lobster dug into the silt ... it doesn't like being harnessed.

After dealing with the enormous brass doors that lead into the castle, the adventurers saw a large strange machine that apparently, if you fed it opals, dumped something from a spigot. Ignoring what they decided was a probable trap, they moved on, getting lost in the Escher Stairs for a while, but eventually found their way into another giant room.

Here the party confronted a group of a dozen or so Frunch Soldiers that were mucking about trying to open some huge lead sarcophagus. Attempts at diplomancy (not a typo) failed to convince the soliders that Princess Fey was an actual princess. The SOldiers were on some sort of mission for King Loius-Henri and didn't like the characters ... they were "filthy interlopers".  FIGHT!

The combat was BRUTAL! MARTOG wailed on the soldiers as Princess fired arrows at the Sergeant (who lead from the rear). After a bunch of the soldiers were eliminated and the sergeant fled after being shot by a bow a bunch, the remaining 4 soldiers were convinced to pledge fealty to Princess Fey.  So she got 4 followers which was pretty cool.

Then it was late in real life and we high fived and ended the game for the night.

Summary and Thoughts
This is super fun. I like TD2E and the little bit of Castle Gargantua we actually explored was fun. The entire thing is an enormous improvisation tool that I am in love with.  I might throw some pickup games of TCG at one of my local shops or something. It was a nice break from the heavier Sorrow in Haven game, but I'm also excited to get back to that. I've already got like 100 house rules for TD2E, but that seems like a fine situation - it is so simple house rules are cool and the gang!

Monster Stats
Just some quick notes for anyone interested in the TD2E stats:

• Blade Maidens: 3HP, Vigilant, Diehard, Heavy Weapons, at least 1 in any group is Spell-Touched
• Giant Sand Lobster: 5HP, SNIP - lose a limb from a critical hit, Poison - lose 1 HP every round for d6 rounds, cumulative per hit
• Frunch Soldiers: 1HP, Cowardly - check morale if the sergeant is hit
• Frunch Sergeant: 3HP, Fleet of Foot

Doomsday Cults in Haven

Haven is protected from the Others by the Wondrous Dome, but there are many that feel that the Magistarium or the Church of Eternal Light or the House of Arbitration or the Noble Houses, or the Guilds, or pick any major group are out to get them and keep 'em down and things would be so much better if X, Y, or Z happened.

In the end they want something they believe is better than the current situation but inevitably will cause the collapse Haven. They might seem harmless or actually like they believe in something worthwhile, but everything becomes twisted and dangerous in the long run. That is just the nature of humanity.

Within Haven there are 5 general types of cults (1d6):

1. The Infested- the Underworld, Gloom, or Patchwork have a foothold in reality.
2. The Disillusioned - crushing poverty has made folks gather together to conspire.
3. The Do-Gooder - the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the are ready.
4. The Esoteric - some ancient bit of arcane lore has whipped them into a tizzy
5. The Mad - creeping madness, hallucination or religious zealotry have taken flight.
6. Roll 1d4 twice and combine the results (re-roll duplicates) ... assume they are also Mad

Here are a bunch of examples:

Infested

1. Gloomers - the Gloom offers the truth that reality that this world is a shadow of itself and we are all truly alone
2. Underworld Embracers - The Underworld is alive and should be loved and embraced and worshiped
3. Patchwork Fanatics - Life is chaos, and the Pathwork is chaos incarnate, is it not a higher reality?
4. Friends of The Others - the did not come to fight but humanity has turned them against each other and ourselves, we must reach out to them.
5. Worshipers of the Dead Gods - The are dead but still dreaming and speaking, all one must do is listen and offer blood.
6. Ghost Listeners - the Ancients left clues behind, some of them are their own selves in states of agony, all to help us ascend.

Disillusioned

1. Guild Crushers - It it the Guilds that control everything and treats the people like another commodity.  They must be crushed.
2. Nobility Destroyers - It it the Noble Houses that control everything and treats the people like another commodity.  They must be destroyed. 
3. Magistatrium Eradicaters - It it the Magistarium that control everything and treats the people like another commodity.  They must be eradicated.
4. Dome Escapists - It is the Dome that seems to protect but enslaves us. The people must leave the dome and its corrupt influences to be truly free.
5. Praise the Sea - the Ocean and her peoples are our true home and family.  Welcome them ashore and embrace the cool waters of the Future.
6. Damn the Sun - it is the sky that has become poisoned by the Others.  We must all flee and live Underground and topple our above ground presence. With explosives.

Do-Gooders

1. Democratic Initiative - all people must know of and have a say in all issues, it is the only way we can advance as a culture and society.
2. Equality Demagogue - regardless of any accident of birth, all people and creatures regardless of realm of origin, have an equal right to exist.
3. Alternate Realtors - this reality is corrupt, but another can be found by travelling through and past the other extant dimensions. we must migrate at any costs.
4. Others Outreach - the Others are from the stars, and have knowledge beyond ours. We must make contact and peace with them and gain true 
5. Old Ways Rennesiance - Shed the corrupt new thoughts and ways! We must worship the ancestor spirits and the take up the old traditions again!
6. Purgers of the Past - the past is what has 

The Esoteric

1. Dream Reality Advocates - Those that awake in Haven with no memory are travelers from the Real, and this is but a hellish dream.
2. Magic Eaters - One can consume the essence magic as sustenance, and will become one with the Dome and the Higher Reality.
3. Grail Enthusiasts - Somewhere in the Dungeons of the Underworld is the hidden Relic of Salvation. We must find it and use it by any means.
4. Readers of Calprendia - her papers are found by Guild delvers and they are a holy scripture from which we can divine secrets and truth.
5. Cult of Scions - the Ancients and their creations will bring about salvation. We must praise the Hy-drogen and her Ionic Nimbus! The Adam will bring us peace.
6. Sensates - we must remove all references to those things dangerous and corrupt; knowledge of the Others corrupts and poisons. We must purge all notions of evil.

The Mad
No table here - use your imagination. Take any little thing and blow it wildly out of proportion (we are Gods and eat our Fish followers), turn on some crazy logic (those who have heads closer to the sky are closer to enlightenment, those shorter than you including children must be destroyed as they are closer to the Underworld), and just run rampant with something odd (burn everything that is blue, for blue is the color of Ozmorlian the Gut Bender).

A Few Details
Roll a d6 for each category.  Members and Influence are straight forward.  DV is the Danger Value for the cult, much like a monster has a Danger Value - 0 is insignificant but 10 is serious trouble. The Fact value is the chance that their major belief, the one that will bring about ruination, is actually true somehow.  These are the most dangerous cults because they are actually right.

1d6	Members	Influence	DV	Fact
1	1d4	None	1d3-1	1 in 30
2	1d8	Very Little	1d3	1 in 20
3	2d4	Little	1d4	1 in 12
4	3d6	Local	1d6	1 in 10
5	4d8	Neighborhood	1d8	1 in 8
6	5d10	Significant	1d10	1 in 6

There are a ton of great cult generators on the internet if you need some more flavor.  I like this one for inspiration: http://www.philome.la/matthew_/cult-generator/play

Cult Example
So I grabbed a description from that link and threw some dice.

Link: The members of the Builders of the Immortal Oracle, an elite magical society based in Valparaiso, are secretly devoted to the worship of Rukhia, the Grey Queen. They plan to slay, with the help of an old woman who solves mysteries, a rat-thing that guards an ancient tomb in the Earth's core. This will enable their leader, Cyril Marvell, to become pregnant with Rukhia's child.

The Feasters of the Immortal Oracle Type: Esoteric, Magic Eaters
Members: 5d10 ... 29
Influence: Local
DV: 1d4 ... 3 potentially concerning
Fact: 1 in 6 ... 1 - they are correct!

The Feasters of the Immortal Oracle are led by the Magistarium outcast Cyril Marvell. Cyril became hell bent on proving that his gender was irrelevant when it came to becoming a vessel for a new god to be born and he could be the mother-father of a New World. When he came across the Lore Book of Rukhia the Rat Queen (purchased from a Guild of delvers) Cyril knew the means were at hand, and he began collecting the those interested in the strange and esoteric and looking for a new life. The Feasters have grown in size and influence and now need to find a group of adventurers to find and clear a path to Rukhia's Tomb in the Underworld...

Cult Behaviors of Note

• Always user neutral pronouns
• Wear lots of Grey
• Call everyone sibling
• They use "secret words" to test individuals for potential interest
• Always eating if possible
• Leave out food for rats

If the Cult gets their way

• Cyril will become pregnant with a child of Rukhia
• When the rat-child is born Cyril will die
• The rat-child is magical and daemonic and will grow the cult
• There will be a huge number of were-rats and skaven all over the damn place
• The new goal will be infiltration of the Magistarium and Noble Houses
• The rat-child will be the Bearer of Plague ... and Haven will become a place of terrible sickness 

Sorrow in Haven Update

I've been actively working on a game for about a year now. Things are in the home stretch and I'm pretty excited.

A Brief Update

• Text is done.
• Cover art is done.
• Basic Layout is (probably) done.
• Internal illustrations are commissioned.

Playtesting

• More! More! More!
• I need to find 2 more groups to play test full adventures
• Perhaps an online group as well
• Need to look at mid and high level games as one-shots

More Writing

• I need to add a few pages to bring this from 90 to 96 pages
• so 4 or 6 pages of material
• probably some examples
• index seems like too much

Next Up

• Technical editing
• Content editing
• Mechanical editing
• Final Layout
• Final proof + edits
• Make a book

Some Game Material
While I'm focused on the core game rules as my primary project, I've also got the first monster books in the works. Each creature gets not only the classic stat blocks and description, but also a table of "when encountered". I really like the idea that a quick table can give a ton of role playing opportunity and make a monster that might be just "kill it to get through this area" into something more interesting and enriching.

Ghol		Common I
Type: Scion (M) Danger: 2 Alignment: Selfish Org: small group Demeanor: Rough Cunning: Average Ferocity: Wary Intelligence: Animal	Attack: -1 Speed: 3 Damage: 1d4 Defense: +0 DR: 0 END: 5 VIT: 3 KO: +1	1d8: When Encountered 1: Rooting aggressively through rubbish. 2: Hiding in the shadows, afraid of the light. 3: Following a party member to steal something. 4: Picking at their stitches and scabby wiring. 5: Fiercely guarding a worthless pile of garbage. 6: Weepy oily tears, looking for something to blame. 7-8: Moments from screaming (random encounter roll).
Once human, now rotted, bestial, and held together with heavy metal wire, Ghol tend to avoid confrontation. Their wetworks programming causes them to approach, but years of corruption have caused them to react erratically. If engaged in combat, their shriveled claws cause minimal damage. 1 in 6 ghol are “red-eyes” that are very aggressive and wield a serrated dagger causing +2 damage. A ghol can often be distracted with a shiny object.		image borrowed from http://www.ghostride.com/

With the additional table, these pitiful monstrosities are now extra pitiful. Picking scabby wiring is both a description and an activity; weeping oily tears makes them potentially approachable, or perhaps the party will try to aid these little bastards. In any case, it takes a relatively weak monster and turns it into a role playing situation. I'm going to do this for all the monsters on my list ... about 300 on deck.  Plus I'll need illustrations for all of them - i have an idea there as well (I totally took the image above without permission). And I need to several more for astral, gloom, and wilderness encounters.  Too much!  This is awesome.  But one thing at a time.

Game On!

Sorrow, The Gauntlet, The Great Hall

The Gauntlet is one of the dungeon areas that are part of the mega-dungeon Sorrow (the Shame of Haven). The details of the first level of the Gauntlet are both well known and a close guarded secret by the Guild of Defenestration. The second level, known as The Great Hall, is ... different.  It is larger, ancient, and something unexpected.

Generating the Great Hall
The initial area is a crossroads - a junction where each of the 4 halls are 30' wide and go 120' before. After each section, roll to see what the next chunk looks like: 3d10 for Passage, Width, and Pitch; then again for specifics like what kind of side passage or number of chambers

1d10	Passage	Width	Pitch	Side	Y	Ruins	Landmark	Chambers
1	Straight 1d6x60	10	Rise	Left, backward	Base	Citidael	Statue	1d4
2	Straight 1d6x60	20	Slight Rise	Left, forward	Base	Temple	Fountain	1d6
3	Straight 1d6x60	20	Slight Rise	Left, forward	Base	City	Old Battle	1d6
4	Straight 1d6x60	30	Flat	Left, stright	Base	Workshops	Camp	1d8
5	60' T	30	Flat	Left, stright	Base	Gardens	Doomguard	2d4
6	60' Side	30	Flat	Left, stright	Equal	Tombs	Graffiti Walls	2d4
7	60' Y	30	Flat	Right, backward	Equal	Great Chamber	Fortifications	2d6
8	60' X	30	Flat	Right, forward	Equal	Tower	Great Pillars	2d6
9	Landmark	40	Flat	Right, forward	Left	Fortifications	Magical Residue	3d4
10	Chambers	40	Slight Fall	Right, stright	Left	Rubble	Giant Skeleton	3d6
11	Ruins	50	Slight Fall	Right, stright	Right	Heavy Rubble	Great Bettle Shells	4d4
12	Ruins	60	Fall	Right, stright	Right	Blocked Passage	Ghost Infestation	5d6

T-Intersection: The passage splits left and right

X-Intersection: The passage continues left, right, and forward.

Y-Intersection: This gets an extra roll for the specific type of intersection.  Bottom, Left and Right are in relation to a Y passage where the split 45 degrees from the stem of the Y.  Equal indicates a Y intersection, each passage 120 degrees  from the next.

Side Passages: This gets an extra roll. Left and right are pretty obvious. Forward and Backward are 45 degree splits based on the direction of travel, straight is a side passage that is perpendicular.

Pitch: Slight rise and slight fall are likely not noticed, rise and fall are obvious to every adventurer. They might be a gradient, some sort of fault like a huge drop or cliff, or grand stairs.  Up to the GM because I forgot to add it options to the table.

Landmarks: This gets an extra roll. Big picture stuff -landmarks are tremendous locations that can be used to get one's bearings in the impossibly huge Great Halls. The GM should have some fun and spice these landmark locations.  Roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.

Ruins: This gets an extra roll. Once great structures that now lie in ruins; like super-destroyed. These are much like landmarks (and are landmarks) but their ruination tends to attract horrible monsters. The GM should double the chance of any creatures that are here of having a lair. Roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.

Chambers: This gets an extra roll. Effectively, these are dungeons within the dungeon. The exact size and configuration of the chambers are left up to the GM. If doubles are rolled, there is a second level, triples indicates 3 levels, and so on. Each level uses the same dice to roll for number of rooms, but ignore doubles except from the first roll. The GM can roll 1d8 again on the Passage table to figure out exits from this feature, or not, whatever.

Collaborative Campign Building

Having players populate aspects of the campaign is always fun.  So here are some mechanics.

Whenever the GM likes (for example at the beginning of a campaign) or players like (for example they really want a location to exist), a player gets to describe something - an NPC, location, group, item, whatever. Keep in mind this has much potential for abuse, so don't be a jerk about it.

The player describes as much or as little as they like.  Then roll 2d6+something vs the GM's 2d6+Plausibility.

The +something will be based on what the description is about and how they know about it.  The GM should choose the appropriate attribute modifier.  Players may not Give It Their All (spend END to improve the roll).

Plausibility is a modifier from +0 to +6 based on the description and how reasonable this sort of thing would be. The GM needs to also not abuse this, so don't be a jerk to deny players cool things and quash creativity. The player does not get to know the results of the description.

Plausability
0: Likely
1: Reasonable
2: Probable
3: Possible
4: Imprrblable
5: Unreasonable
6: Unlikely

Results based on the Player's Roll (no conditional successes):

Result	Description Effects
Legendary Success	Exactly as described, and possibly even better.
Critical Success	Pretty much as described.
Success	Mostly true, but the details are a bit muddy.
Failure	Partially true, but one key factor is significantly different.
Critical Failure	Just plain wrong, possibly false.
Legendary Failure	Not only wrong, but wrong in a way that could be of significant danger.

In any case, the players can see the player-side roll results to get a feel for how strong this description they've provided is.

A Sweet Example
Tyler the Templar really wants to root out a Doomsday cult to impress his superiors in the Guild of Defenestration.  The GM asks about the cult, and the description is as follows:

The Siblings of the Red Dawn believe that the Others were sent to cleanse the world of sin, and the Dome stops them from completing their mission; if Haven is destroyed the world will be at peace. They have a prophet that is rising in power.

The GM thinks this is Likely (Plausibility 0).

Result	Description Effects
Legendary Success	The Red Dawn is ripe for a schism as their prophet is making several members uncomfortable. With a little nudge the entire cult will collapse in on itself in a very public display.
Critical Success	Pretty much as described.
Success	The prophet is actually a MirrorTwin from the Underworld, driving the cult to destroy the Dome so he and his brethren can run rampant in the World of Light
Failure	The cult actually has a plan an infiltrated the Magistarium!
Critical Failure	The Red Dawn are a cult that worships a barely-living Patchwork Daemon that babbles incoherent gibberish the cult takes as fact.  Their goal is to topple the Church of Eternal Light and humiliate the Templar.
Legendary Failure	The Red Dawn is actually a corrupt sect of the Hammers that have several ties to figures of political influence. They wish to bring down the "Culture of Strife" caused by the nobility and the influence of the Magistarium, but their schemes are mostly talk.  They are effectively a social club with meaningless rituals, but getting involved will cause the PCs some serious strife within Haven.

Combat Moves

I had an idea this morning - it needs to be fleshed out a bit more, but I think there is some merit.

When a character hits a target, but before they roll damage, they can declare how many points of damage they would like to convert into a control move. A control move is something like "disarm the target" or "shove them into a spiked  wall". Damage dice are rolled and any control move points are removed from the damage.  If the character still managed to cause any damage to the target (past DR) then the target must pass an opposed roll to avoid the move.

Example
Bill the barbarian attacks the Hyperghoul trying to eat his face.  Bill hits, and before he rolls damage he declares "3 points to knock the ghoul prone".  If the damage roll is less than 5 (the hyperghoul has 1 DR) then nothing happens.  If the damage roll is 6 or higher, the ghoul takes a bit of damage and a potential knockdown.  Bill rolls 2d6+3 vs the GM's 2d6+1 (the +1 from the monster's danger value / 3 as standard for all non-specific monster rolls). If Bill is successful, the hyperghoul is now lying on the ground.

The specific effects of a combat move may need to interpreted by the GM. The GM of course can add bonuses to things - knocking down a large target is harder than a medium one, and shoving a rhino is pretty unlikely.