Aboleth Mind Thrall

Aboleths are unsuited to the rigors of adventuring, or any sort of existence in the surface world.  They usually would consider that sort of occupation well beneath them anyway.

Sometimes Aboleth interests do make the use of adventures necessary. Aboleths prefer to take a very direct approach in their above ground dealings. It is well known that Aboleths can use powerful magic to dominate the minds of lesser races- but such control is usually used on many individuals at a relatively short distance.

When an Aboleth community needs to directly influence the surface world they turn to their specialists, the Aboleth Mind Masters. The Mind Masters select a slave from the cattle pens which they feel have potential. They then form a particularly strong mind meld with  the slave until they are able to direct their thall over vast distances with complete control.

The Mind Thrall is then sent to the surface world to be an extension of the Mind Master's will, literally serving as little more than a puppet. The Mind Master sees a Thall as nothing more than a useful tool, and will push it mercilessly, beyond the usual limits of endurance- and may choose to discard the Thrall at anytime, leaving a spent and mindless husk.

The slaves themselves have been bred for countless generations in the dark depths of  nightmarish Aboleth cities. They are often little more than feral and inbred animals who have further devolved due to lack of sunlight or proper nutrition. Although Aboleths will take slaves from any race they tend to favor humans and find it particularly easy to bend them to their will.

- More on this later... like the actual class rules. 

Ogres in the maze

Ogres are large in stature, their fearsome appearance at odds with their usually gentle demeanor.  They often have shaggy coarse hair and large horns with tusk like teeth, although there is a large degree of variation in the species (as seems to be the case with most of the  races inhabiting the Labyrinth).

Ogres were generally a very peaceful people, living lonely lives in the desolate places of the world. Unfortunately they bore some of the worst treatment from the humans. The solitary and non-aggressive Ogres were hunted mercilessly by bands of eager knights. Never a numerous people to begin with the Ogres were nearly wiped out by a wave of human "chivalry".  

In the mythic past it fell to the Ogres to do the real work of building the Great Maze. Dwarfs were too hunched and Elves too slight, only the Ogres possessed strength enough to raise the endless stone walls of the Labyrinth. The vast amount of rock which must have been used in the construction is truly staggering to imagine, and yet if the ancient texts are to be believed the Ogres worked at an astonishing speed. 

Ogres have become very rare in the Great Maze, their dwindling numbers further reduced by the Maze War, The few remaining Ogres have a new and powerful ally in the Labyrinth however- the Labyrinth itself.  The magic which pervades the whole realm has seeped directly into the brick and rock of the Maze.

The rocks remember.

A bond of kinship has formed between the stone foundations of the Great Maze and those who laid them. It is said that the stones can whisper to the Ogres, and that if an Ogre is in peril the stones will come tumbling and rolling to their aid.

Wolves are really scary!

So this is related to my review of The Grey,( an excellent movie).

It is easy for wolves to be regulated to a bottom tier monster, just above goblins and giant rats. Kinda the giant rats of the wilderness. I know in Skyrim when a wolf pack attacks I lazily unsheathe my sword and halfhearted swing it around in their direction, more annoyed then menaced.

In a game with dragons and demons and ogres, it is real easy for wolves to look lame. It is easy to forget that wolves are scary.  Seriously, they aren't slightly cooler dogs- they are feral apex predators. One of the most successful predators on this planet. They are territorial, social, and intelligent. Alot of the reviews I have read of The Grey (and I read quite a few when I decided to do my own review) slammed the movie because they thought the wolves acted unrealistically by hunting and killing humans.

It is explained in the movie the wolves are so aggressive because the humans are near their den, although Wikipedia neither confirms or denies this sort of behavior it does affirm that wolves are fiercely territorial and that attacks on humans are escalating. The humans in the movie are wounded, bloody and suffering from the high altitude and exposure to the elements, and they are unarmed.  No more than 8 wolves are ever shown on camera together, usually you don't see them at all. They perform skillful ambushes and hit and run attacks, probing and testing, not committing to an attack unless they can be confident of a kill.

How many times are your PC's wounded and trekking through the trackless forest to or from a dungeon.

From now on in my games I'm going to treat wolves seriously and turn them into a real threat.

Pathfinder on Carcosa

My suggestions for playing a Pathfinder game set in Carcosa.

Pathfinder classes available in Carcosa:

Sorcerer
Available Bloodlines:
-Aberrant
-Aquatic
-Dreamspun
-Pestilence
-Serpentine
-Starsoul
No Archetypes.

Oracle
Dark Tapestry Mystery
No Archetypes.

Summoner
No Archetypes.

Fighter
No Archetypes.

Barbarian
No Archetypes.

DM notes:
Use the slow advancement track for experience. Severely limit magic items, in fact no standard type magic items should be in play. NPC's will not provide magical help for any reason, including healing or curse removal. Any character with skill ranks in knowledge Arcana, The Planes or Religion my attempt to use rituals. No prestige classes or multiclassing.

Many creatures in the Pathfinder Bestiary make excellent foes in Carcosa such as Serpentfolk, as well as pretty much anything reptilian, fungoid, slimy, or tentacled.


Happy gaming.

The Grey Movie Review

My pretty girlfriend took me to see "The Grey" tonight, and boy was I blown away. The trailer does not do this film justice at all, I just wanted to see Liam Neeson box a wolf, so I was pleasantly surprised by how great a movie it was. (Update: This extended trailer is a bit better, but shows alot of footage which was not used in the film, mostly of the wolves).

It is not a cheesy Neeson as action hero type film.  So if that's what you expect prepare to be disappointed.  


It is a movie about death, what it means to die, and how a man faces his death. It is bleak poetry, terrible and beautiful- much like the lines of poetry which are dear to the main character:

Once more into the fray

Into the last good fight I’ll ever know

Live and die on this day 

Live and die on this day 

The pacing is great - the movie takes it's time. It is slow and drawn out when it needs to be, but can also shock you with how startlingly fast things can happen.  There is a sense of danger and urgency throughout the entire film, because you know that if the wolves don't get them they will freeze or starve anyway. Even when the characters are just standing still you are very aware that a race is on. I have read a few reviews wherein the reviewer complains that there are "too many shots of dudes just walking slowly through a forest" - you can really feel how cold and exhausted they are though, you can feel the supreme effort going into every footstep through that deep snow. I'd rather watch a movie about men struggling to keep moving in the cold than one with super-humans shooting rockets at wolves- but that's just me. 


The visuals are awesome too. There is such a stark and unforgiving beauty in the landscape, and it is all on such an epic scale that the human characters are reduced to tiny little black specks. The wolves are unfortunately in CG as is to be expected, but the closeup animatronics are pretty convincing. To the filmmakers credit we don't really see the animals all that much, usually they are just blurry shapes at the edges of the campfire. They are scariest when we don't see them anyway, because the threat of attack is always present.


The acting is really good throughout, and feels very authentic. The characters are mostly pretty relate-able, and although some don't have much character development they still feel like real people, and not just cut-outs or stereotypes. The character development we do see though, man- it goes deep, and it draws the viewer in.


Anyway- a great movie. I do not think you will regret seeing The Grey.


I'm going to do a D&D related follow up post to this soon.

Carrion Hill

 Alright, so as I was saying in a previous post my group recently played the Carrion Hill Pathfinder module. It was pretty cool, very atmospheric and creepy.  I of course tinkered with it considerably- moving stuff around adding stuff and removing stuff. It was great. The reason I was so drawn to this module in particular was because it heavily features Lovecraftian horror.  Tentacled cultisty goodness!  Here is the blurb description:

The strange city of Carrion Hill has long loomed over the surrounding swamps in eastern Ustalav, yet its rulers have shifted many times through the centuries. Often enough that only a few sinister scholars and curious minds know the true nature of the hill’s original inhabitants—vile and depraved cultists of the Old Gods. Yet this morning, a dreadful recrudescence rises from the depths of buried nightmare in the vaults below Carrion Hill. A monster stalks the twisted alleys of the city, spreading panic before it and leaving destruction in its wake. Can the Carrion Hill Horror be stopped?

I changed the layout of the city quite a bit, just to clean it up. This is a side view of the city, and I will go into a little detail about the various districts and places ( I made a bunch up and added them myself). 

 (Klick to Bigify!)

Carrion Hill is built on ancient hill, next to a river and it is the only really solid patch of land for many leagues. The city is built on the ruins of countless older cities and beneath those ruins lie uncharted catacombs and vaults from the dawn of civilization. The city is divided into three main districts (which will be described in greater detail in future posts) with a few prominent neighborhoods and locations in each.

Law and the Crows:
The Carrion Hill city guard are known as the "Crows". They wear heavy black cloaks which match their dour personalities. Although the Crows genuinely try to protect the citizenry they are generally unconcerned with most petty offenses, leaving most disputes for the Tax Collectors to settle (see Crime).  Carrion Hill is known among other things for having cramped and twisting streets, and so horses are strictly banned within the city unless they are used for official business.  Most livestock in the province are stricken with an albino wasting disease at birth anyway, so only the Crows and the wealthy can afford to import healthy steeds. Another important law is that unauthorized delves into the catacombs beneath the city are strictly prohibited.

Industry:
Carrion Hill has one unique export, "middenstone" (a strange drywall like compound) which is made of mud, bonemeal, and various other filth. The main ingredient of middenstone is the crushed up bits of the giant red cockroaches which infest the city. Middenstone is a sickly purple color and will begin to crumble eventually, making it an undesirable building material, it is very cheap however so is used extensively in the poorer areas. Carrion Hill also gets a decent amount of shipping coming in from the docks, since it is the only solid place on the river to dock for quite a distance in either direction.

Religion:
Although the godess of the dead Pharasma is particularly prominent in Carrion Hill, the city is well known for it's religious diversity. Shrines and small temples to all manner of gods and deities crop up on every street.

Beneath the Streets:
Most of the buildings in the city are built directly atop the ruins of older buildings, which in many cases were built on older foundations- and so on. As a result there is a maze of tangled cellars and subterranean passages just bellow the streets. Further down still lies the ancient rock of the hill. The mound itself is riddled with natural caverns and vaults just like a rotten and worm eaten apple. These caves are home to all manner of vile cave dwelling beasts- particularly aberrations. There are also large numbers of ghouls which haunt the catacombs and rumors of a large population of Morlocks. The city guard dedicates most of it's resources toward hunting down the horrors which periodically slink up from the darkness below.


Crime:
An unusual situation has developed in Carrion Hill, the local thieves guild has become so entrenched that it has semi legitimized. The "Tax Collectors" as they are known, actually do serve as tax collectors in the city. The native citizens know to keep their heads down and pay their due quietly, or else any guild member can levy "legal" taxes for nearly anything- such as a tax for wearing a hat in public; or another tax for not wearing a hat in public.  The Tax Collectors are very powerful but generally not too abusive, since they have a big stake in the status quo now that they are part of the establishment of the city.

Next I will discuss the Crown District. Cheers!

What Im Doing

As usual I am jugging around alot of projects.

My gaming group recently played through the Pathfinder Carrion Hill module. It was pretty fun, and I did alot of extra work fleshing the city out and changing things around. So I want to post a map or two and some of the extra game material or modifications I made.

A crazy idea I originally had when I looked at the Carrion Hill module was making it set in WW1 France. So I want to put some of that material up, to show how I would convert it.

I'm still working on my zombie game, which still really needs a name. It has been kinda slow going because I haven't had anyone to play with, which makes me lose momentum and I also can't really playtest anything.

The Conan cartoon thing- if something comes to me I will post about it.

And as for actually playing- My pretty girlfriend ran us through the adventure in the Pathfinder Beginner Box. She was a really good DM and I am so proud of her. It was alot of fun to be able to play- except the young black dragon at the end of the dungeon was a bit overpowered for 4 lowly lvl 1s to be expected to fight.

And now we are gearing up for a really cool Pathfinder pirate themed wavecrawl. The PCs will get their very own pirate ship complete with a crew of scallywags. It is going to be very rowdy and fun.

Then came the goblins...

Once the mythic world and the mundane world were one. Back in the Dark ages, when elves tricked farmers and knights battled dragons, magic was a part of daily life for the humans struggling to survive.

Slowly but surely though, the humans continued to prosper. Human villages spread across the lands, ancient and magical forests were felled, and trolls were slain. As human civilization spread the mythical forces of the world withered. It became apparent that the mythical races were set to become extinct.

In desperation the great mythical races came together and conceived a plan. They would fashion for themselves a new realm, a hidden dimension where they would be safe from the ravages of humanity. Their new sanctuary would be formed into a maze, a mighty labyrinth with neither beginning or end, the inhabitants would be trapped but safe.

The Mythics set out quickly on their appointed tasks. The Ogres were the builders, raising mighty walls of stone. The Dwarfs were the craftsmen, making elaborate adornments and devious traps throughout. The Elves were the enchanters, it was their magic which would seal off the maze. With their work nearly finished the Mythics were all set  to depart to a hidden paradise forever....

Then came the goblins...

The goblins were not invited to the great council and the Mythics had planned to leave them behind- let the goblins and the humans sort each other out. But the goblins had other plans, while the Mythics built the labyrinth the goblins gathered up all the evil creatures they could and formed a vast army. Just as the Mythics were about to depart a evil horde fell upon them. Dragons, trolls and goblins all fought their way into the maze just as the elves used their magics to seal it. 

The war in the labyrinth continues to this day, although it has stagnated considerably. These days the once mighty dragons slumber and the goblin hordes have fractured due to petty squabbles. The power of the elves and dwarfs has waned too, they are shadows of their former wisdom and glory.  Some say that the ages and the war have taken a toll on the labyrinth as well, small cracks in the ancient spells are allowing passage to the mundane world.

Somewhere amid the crumbling ruins of this magical world lies the keys to its salvation- or destruction.

Questionnaire Extraordinaire!

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

Well I am pretty proud of some of the stuff that has been going into my zombie game, but since that's not finished I would have to say my pick pocket rules.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

Last Tuesday.

3. When was the last time you played?

A few weekends ago, but before that I had a several year dry spell.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

Zak's Gigacrawler but fantasy, based off of Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Frantically try to think of how to respond to the stuff they are suggesting.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

Candy, I try to stay away from greasy chips at the table.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting? 

Yes. Sometimes I just need to lay on the floor for a minute or two mid session.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

 Riding a bear.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Sometimes. Not too bad though. Stuff like insisting that they should have a bear mount.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Love em. In my world nearly all goblins are brainwashed slaves to the Goddess of Vermin. The few that break free are loveable and eccentric npc types.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

Can't think of anything right now.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

My girlfriend's character doing a naked ritual knife-fight to create a distraction.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

Pathfinder Game Mastery Guide. Looking up the rules on ship combat for my upcoming Pirate game.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

The fine artists whose work grace the Moldvay Basic set.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid? 

Once or twice.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

B1 - Every time I run it.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

A big mead hall. Giant oak table. Thrones for everyone. Dragonbone dice.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

MouseGuard RPG and Carcosa.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

 The Conan the Adventurer cartoon and elements of Lovecraftian horror.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

 I think respect is the most important quality I want at my table- from myself as well. If everyone involved in the game respects everyone else then most problems will be pretty minor.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

My girlfriend flirts with NPCs sometimes... that's all I can think of.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

Not that I can think of. More goblin stuff maybe.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

Not really.

Type V sounds Great!

Now I'm not one for the edition warring. Never really saw the point of it. I understand some people hold very strong convictions, but honestly I am just happy to see people playing pen and paper rpgs at all. I like the good old purple box best truth be told, it is the version I started with and it is where my heart still rests. Over the years I've dabbled with AD&D, 2Ed, and  3.5, - currently I run Pathfinder for my group. Although I never really got taken in by 4th, there are many things to be admired from that system- heck, I really like the 4th edition alignment rules (of all things).

I wasn't planning on talking about TypeV at all, or at least until there really was something concrete to talk about. I've been really struck by all the negativity and nay-saying which has been resounding around the community. This genuinely bothers me. Although I may be naive the Cook column really resonated with me, particularly this paragraph:

   "Second—and this sounds so crazy that you probably won't believe it right now—we're designing the game so that not every player has to choose from the same set of options. Again, imagine a game where one player has a simple character sheet that has just a few things noted on it, and the player next to him has all sorts of skills, feats, and special abilities. And yet they can still play the game together and everything remains relatively balanced. Your 1E-loving friend can play in your 3E-style game and not have to deal with all the options he or she doesn't want or need. Or vice versa. It's all up to you to decide."

That actually sounds great.

A couple of things-

Cook is NOT saying that they are going to try to smash 1E and 4E together for simultaneous play (as I have heard many people loudly bemoaning). They are very obviously creating a new edition and a new ruleset. To me it appears they are trying to support many different playstyles which in fact Transcend the Very Editions Themselves.

This is really cool when you really look at the rules for what they are- constructs and guidelines- they are there to help you have fun and play an awesome game. Look at the excellent A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matthew J. Finch - it does an excellent job of explaining why oldschool style gaming is cool and fun but also makes a good case of explaining the virtues of newschool style gaming. Take this example of the contrasts from the Primer:

The Pit Trap (Modern Style)

GM: A ten-foot wide corridor leads north into the darkness. John the Rogue: I check for traps.
GM: What's your target number for checking?
John the Rogue:  15.
GM: Decides that the pit trap in front of the party is standard, so all John has to do is roll a 15 or better. Roll a d20.
John the Rogue: 16.
GM: Probing ahead of you, you find a thin crack in the floor  it looks like there's a pit trap.
John the Rogue: Can I disarm it?
GM: What's your target number for that?
John the Rogue: 12. I rolled a 14.
GM: Okay, moving carefully, you're able to jam the mechanism so the trap won't open.
John the Rogue: We walk across. I go first.

The Pit Trap (Old Style)

GM: A ten-foot wide corridor leads north into the darkness.
John the Rogue: We move forward, poking the floor ahead with our ten foot pole.
GM: Is about to say that the pole pushes open a pit trap, when he remembers something. Wait, you don't have the ten foot pole any more. You fed it to the stone idol. [if the party still had the pole, John would have detected the trap automatically]
John the Rogue: I didn't feed it to the idol, the idol ate it when I poked its head.
GM: That doesn't mean you have the pole back. Do you go into the corridor?
John the Rogue: No. I'm suspicious. Can I see any cracks in the floor, maybe shaped in a square?
GM: Mulls this over, because there's a pit trap right where John is looking. But it's dark, so -No, there are about a million cracks in the floor. You wouldn't see a pit trap that easily, anyway. [A different referee might absolutely decide that John sees the trap, since he's looking in the right place for the right thing].
John the Rogue: Okay. I take out my waterskin from my backpack. And I'm going to pour some water onto the floor. Does it trickle through the floor anywhere, or reveal some kind of pattern?
GM: Yeah, the water seems to be puddling a little bit around a square shape in the floor where the square is a little higher than the rest of the floor.
John the Rogue: Like there's a covered pit trap?
GM: Could be.
John the Rogue: Can I disarm it?
GM: How?
John the Rogue: I don't know, maybe make a die roll to jam the mechanism?
GM: You can't see a mechanism. You step on it, there's a hinge, you fall. What are you going to jam?
John the Rogue: I don't know. Okay, let's just walk around it.
GM: You walk around it, then. There's about a two-foot clearance on each side.

So we can see that old style is creative, imaginative, and spontaneous.

New style is more reliable and gives the player a solid guideline (plus in this case played out alot faster, which could be a boon to some).

Despite the obvious differences in style I don't see any reason both of these styles couldn't be compatible, with each player working in his or her preferred style.

Lets talk about characters creation. I imagine the at its most basic a character made only using the "core system" Cook writes about will have alot in common with B/X or AD&D made characters.

• Class name
• Simple restrictions
• Hp and starting stuff/ gold 
• A rule or exception that makes that class distinct (the basic class feature)
• Simple saving throw rules

And the beauty of TypeV is it is perfectly viable to just leave your character like that and start playing.

Or you could Choose to get more specific and add in a few more rules, to further define your character. Such as:

• Simple "Feats"
• Simple Skill system

And if you really want to get really in-depth you can add in such stuff as:

• More guidelines in general
• Class Powers 
• More class options

They key to all this, as I see it, is that  A player using the Oldstyle is not any more or less powerful than a character using the Newstyle. Newschool fighter Tim chooses "cleave" as a character power and so often chooses to use that move. He likes the structure of having very well defined powers. Oldschool barbarian Eric doesn't have any powers noted on his sheet but will often describe effects similar to the "cleave" power when he attacks, and his DM gives him that license. He likes the imaginative and creative power this gives him. Fair treatment regardless of the method you choose is the key. Tim shouldn't be penalized for using narrow rules just as Eric shouldn't be penalized for using very broad rules.  

One way I just thought of incorporating both styles in the same combat is to make a common way for something special to happen- like rolling a natural 20. Ethier player could choose to just roll the regular x2 damage for a crit.

-OR-

Newschool Tim could activate one of his allotted character powers / Oldschool Eric could describe an cool effect which he makes up on the spot.

I guess the real difference is how strict are the guidelines you want to impose on yourself via the playstyle you choose?

Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense. I will probably talk more about this in the future. Comments and questions are welcome.