If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

The second edition DMG spends a lot of time on society alignment. It’s actually not too problematic on the topic:

• The alignment of the ruler determines the nature of many of the laws of the land.
• Where the ruler and the population are in harmony, the alignment tendency of the region is strong.
• Area alignment allows a quick assessment of the kind of treatment player characters can expect there.

So, to summarise the relevant parts of ethos from last post:

An ethos can be a belief or a stricture.

A belief is a folkway, philosophy or superstition, taking the form of: This action is always the correct action, eg. Mercy must be given to all beings.

A stricture is a ritual, act of service, or behaviour, taking the form of:This is true, therefore I must do that, eg. Gods are evil therefore priests must not be tolerated.

If an ethos is observed by an NPC it may provide a bonus or penalty to a reaction roll depending on their own ethos.

Or first should be clarified that to a degree societal and religious ethos already exist because priests and paladins all have (religious) ethos lists and heritages all have (societal) ethos. So this isn’t complicated.

Societies and religions have ethos or a number of ethos, just as individuals do. Their ethos are defined by their leaders and their heroes or gods. Their ethos define their laws, how those laws are enforced, and the kind of treatment people are expected to find in their area of influence.

Choose three ethos for a society or religion. These can be the same for each area of influence, or similar:

A law, what drives its enactment, and how you will show it enforced.

A small common ritual or phrase, what it means, and when you will show it enacted.

A common belief, who it effects, and how people will act in response to it.

Not all members of a population will follow the societal or religious ethos within that society or religion. Societal and religious ethos are best used, therefore, as a way to impress upon the PCs the overarching attitudes and atmosphere of an area and its people.

I like my rules and guidelines to be concrete, but also flexible. I like the these three things structure here, because obviously you can ignore that structure if you wish, and there is further guidance earlier in the book if you want to go rogue from this guideline.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on societal and religious ethos, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

28th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of this series, there’s an index here.

My first post on ethos, my elevation of a minor ruling to cover the failures of alignment as a concept, wasn’t very concreted in its approach, but working through the GM guidance section I realise ai need to revise ethos before I approach the topics of societies and religions in world-building.

Some examples of ethos in the broad second edition line include:

Protecting the wilderness, Maintain natural cycles, Maintain balance between good and evil, Keep the deeds of ancestors alive, Regard the undead as a mockery of true and noble death, Most individuals actions will not prove significant, Gods manipulate mortals for their own ends, and these games must be put to an end, prayer, rituals, proselytising, symbols/clothing, pilgrimage, healing the sick, deliberating children, caring for the sick, eliminating enemies of the faith, courtesy, honour, valour, generosity, fasting, cannot touch the dead, may not fight on holy days, Magic is suspicious and expected to have negative consequences, Lightning and violent weather changes signify the god’s displeasure, Nights when the stars are hidden precede days of ill fortune, Assign personalities and divine interventions to the phases of the moon, If a weapon breaks in battle, it is a bad omen, Stagnant water is an ill omen, The relationships between people and governments exists naturally, Laws should be made and followed, Strength comes through unity of action., There is no preordained order, Individual actions account for the progression of history. All individuals have freedom of choice and right to do what they want, Those in power are always in the right, The strong should always help the weak, Intentionally inflicting pain is wrong, Ignore the past; only the present is important, Knowledge is free and should never be withheld, Taking risks is foolish and wrong, Every individual should improve the lives of others at every available opportunity, Comforts and pleasures serve only to weaken, All individuals are responsible for their own well-being; reliance on others is wrong, Lying is always wrong, Mercy should be given to all beings, Gods are evil and priests should not be tolerated

Comparing the better ethos in this list, they’re largely following either a this is true, therefore I must do that structure, or a this action must be taken. With that we can write a rule.

All PCs have an ethos. Some classes and heritages will have a list of additional ethos you are required to choose from.

An ethos can be a belief or a stricture.

A belief is a folkway, philosophy or superstition, taking the form of: This action is always the correct action, eg. Mercy must be given to all beings.

A stricture is a ritual, act of service, or behaviour, taking the form of:This is true, therefore I must do that, eg. Gods are evil therefore priests must not be tolerated.

PCs gain experience for following their ethos, at the GM’s discretion. A guideline is if there is great cost, gain 500 XP, at a cost, gain 250XP, and gain no XP for no cost.

If an ethos is observed by an NPC it may provide a bonus or penalty to a reaction roll depending on their own ethos.

There is really only one remaining question with regards to ethos, which is can magical items change your ethos or have ethos? I think the answer to the latter is a solid yes, and the answer to the former is a solid magic can mind control you, if safety discussions have been had and accordingly mind control is allowed in your game.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on ethos, or anything of the sort.

Idle Cartulary

28th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

So, in my search for simplification, I realise that I want to amalgamate secrets and rumours. These only exist in passing in the text, so I have a lot of leeway. Secrets are just rumours PCs don’t know, so I think we can depart a little from my previous work on rumours here. As the connective tissue of a campaign; without secrets the PCs won’t have hooks into the world. What do we need from a rumour or secret?

• Single sentence
• Enticing
• Never trivial
• Abstract

So, a secret should be short, it should be enticing, it shouldn’t be pointless, and it should be abstract in the sense that anyone or anything might possess it. So, I modify the rumours work we did in the stocking section, and transfer it to secrets, which means we have to identify when a secret is revealed whether it is true, false, or misleading.

Secrets

Make a d6 or d8 (depending on size or population) list of secrets for each area. Secrets are not part of the world until a PC or NPC learns them or acts on them but they are all true once they are learnt or acted on.

Secrets should be a single sentence, enticing or interesting, are never trivial, and should make sense in the possession of most anything or anyone.

When a PC finds or seeks information, roll either fortune or a relevant ability check, where a failure indicates that the secret is false, but leads somewhere interesting, a partial success that is partly true, and leads to further secrets, and a full success that it is true.

Once a secret is part of the world, between sessions, when the PCs don’t follow up on a secret they’ve learnt, roll on the reaction table. Apply the reaction table’s adjective to modify the secret and change how the situation develops, recycling names and problems within the area.

Not-yet-real and real secrets co-exist on your secrets table, but play different roles in your game and your preparation.

So, what this does is give “quantum” secrets, simple enough to be tavern rumours, but flexible enough also journal entries or intel from a spy. One sentence can be expanded or flavoured, easily. Once it exists though, it starts to take on flavour and personality, it becomes less of a quantum fact and more of a changing, living part of the world.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on quantum and real secrets coexisting, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

26th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

One piece of preparation that really helps with world-building is a calendar. It gets a whole section in the second edition DMG, but I think of a calendar as twofold: It helps track what’s happened in your campaign to help you prepare for the future, and it helps you improvise.

A campaign calendar is in a real-time calendar, divided into 52 weeks rather than months or days.

Each week or fortnight, generate a holy day, a celestial occurrence, or a magical event. Don’t create the whole year in advance; leave it to your preparation time. Flexibility is better! Remember that different regions will celebrate different religions and festivals, so as your party moves, you can introduce different events.

Each time you complete preparation, be sure record of what happened in the world is written in the calendar. It helps to colour code or highlight different types of event, so it’s easier to track across the whole calendar.

This is a really simple addition, but in combination with a d100 random events generator, it’s pretty powerful for creating a sense of space.

There are some bits and pieces that I’m not sure for in the structure I’m picturing for the book, and this is one of them. I don’t want sidebars, really, because despite the optional rules abounding in second edition, they’re often clearly the lesser or greater choice in the opinion of the designer. In a way, everything in Advanced Fantasy Dungeons is optional, but because of that I want everything to have it’s place so players want to choose the option.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on calendars and time keeping, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

25th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Economics gets a lot of words, especially in the DMG, but concrete implementations are non-existent. I want to cast fantasy economics in the context of the personal: The shopkeeper and their family. To summarise the NPC post:

To sketch a walk-on or one-note NPC, give them A-DNA: An asset the PCs want, a distinguishing trait, what they need from the PCs, and an agenda.

To portrait a significant NPC, add A-VOW: A preferred approach, a visage they falsely present to the world, an obsession they cannot let go and a weakness that will always defeat them.

And pulling from the DMG, the five principles of fantasy economics:

Shopkeepers are people. Give them at least A-DNA, and A-VOW too if they’re a local who will be met with every trip back to town. Shopkeepers can’t afford to buy things that they can’t sell to the people already in their town. If they could afford a 1000 GP diamond, it’s at a tenth the price, and they leave town to sell it and retire in the city.

Shopkeepers can’t afford to give discounts. If they like your chances, though they might just take a percentage of the treasure you bring back.

Shopkeepers can tell if you’re desperate. If you walk into town looking like adventurers, climbing gear and torches are going to be at a premium.

Shopkeepers sell rare items at high prices. The shorter the supply, the more expensive it is. If you buy the local stores supply of hemp rope, that last length will be double the price of the first, and next time even more so.

Shopkeepers think in whole numbers. Charge double or triple to sell. Offer half or a quarter of the price to buy.

It’s worth acting out shopping because shopkeepers have mouths to feed, and they’ll routinely charge double or triple price, or offer a tenth of the value of an item, because their job is to squeeze the PCs for all they’re worth. I’m not sure where this belongs — NPCs, probably?

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on fantasy economics, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

24th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Equipment does need simple mechanics like the heavy descriptor which indicates it takes up two inventory slots. I want to minimise these mechanical hooks, though.

In order for us to keep tagging to the minimum, we need general categories and general category rules. Vehicles and mounts should clearly fit into horse-sized or wagon-sized and it is self evident that a wagon cannot travel in swamps or a horse over ice. I shouldn’t have to put “horse-sized” next to “horse”, and I shouldn’t have to put “not over water” next to “wagon”. But I do need to quantify and qualify certain things.

Most equipment simply does what it does. Climbing gear is for climbing. Wagons cannot be used off roads. When in doubt, discuss your equipment with the GM.

If equipment is not listed with mechanics in brackets next to it, it grants a success in a relevant challenge, facilitates the use of a proficiency, or is subject to a general rule. Examples include: Climbing gear, blacksmith’s tools. Covered wagon. Horse. Sailboat.

Encumbrance

Light equipment is purchased in a set of two and two fit in an inventory slot.

Heavy equipment takes two inventory slots.

Quality

Fine equipment is more effective for a significantly higher price. For each level of fine, gain +1, and the price doubles.

Lock (Fine 3)

Mounts and Vehicles

All horse-sized mounts or vehicles provide 10 inventory slots.

All wagon-sized mounts or vehicles provide 20 inventory slots.

Flying mounts do not provide inventory slots.

Weapons

Long-handles weapons can attack only from reach rank.

Ranged weapons can attack only from reach or ranged rank.

All weapons have a damage type that is usually self-evident (broadsword is slashing; rapier is piercing; club is crushing). Damage type should only be mentioned if it is unusual.

All weapons have a dice value that should always be listed.

For example:

Longbow (heavy, 1d10) — left unsaid is piercing, ranged

Clarity, the Tooth of Zeus (broadsword, 1d8, lightning)

Glaive (heavy, 1d6) — left unsaid is reach, slashing.

Armour

Armour is used to prevent certain types of damage. When armour is first purchased, roll its total HP. When it has no further HP it is destroyed. While it still has HP, it can be repaired by someone with the right proficiency and tools. For example:

Breastplate (heavy, 10d6 slashing)

Rubber shirt (5d6 lightning)

Scale shirt (heavy, 7d6 piercing)

Steel helm (2d6 piercing or slashing)

Shields

Shields can be destroyed to ignore all or half damage from a certain category. For example:

Shield (all mundane, half magical)

Tower shield (heavy, all area of effect, mundane, half magical)

Buckler shield (light, half mundane)

I’m sure new things will come up, but there wasn’t anything else in the Players Handbook that isn’t covered by these rules and tags.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on equipment, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

22nd May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I realise some people hate the idea of combat without location. But I hate the idea of grids and stuff. And most of the solutions I’ve seen seem overly complex. Here’s my take:

If you do not consider positioning on the battlefield important, consider this optional rule, and allow the GM to apply their discretion.

There are three ranks, equivalent to the three weapon ranges: Melee, Reach, and Ranged.

Each combat has one or more battlefields based on interesting and interactive landmarks or objectives involved. These areas each contain their own three ranks.

Melee weapons can only attack people in the melee rank from the melee rank.

Reach weapons can only attack people in melee rank from the reach rank.

Ranged weapons can attack from the ranged rank into any rank or other areas, but are likely to hit allies if firing into the melee rank.

Movement takes a character between adjacent ranks, or from ranged rank into an adjacent battlefield.

Areas of effect always affect an entire battlefield.

The idea is to minimise the presence of location to something that could be done on a scrap of paper without miniatures. Unless there are scores of enemies, you don’t even have to track who’s where. For a complex combat with five battlefields (seems excessive), you could manage with a three row, five column table on a notepad.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on combat positioning, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

22nd May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the advanced fantasy dungeon series, there’s an index here.

In the context of the dungeon grid, I’m going to revise Journeying. It shouldn’t change much, but I’ll take the opportunity to reduce the rolling mechanics as well. The extra roll is purposeful in the dungeon, as it’s attached to resource exhaustion. Not so much in the wilderness, where I’ve minimised resource management.

Each day has three watches.

For each watch, the GM rolls for a random encounter. On a result of 1, there is a random encounter. Typically, the GM rolls a d10, however it may be decreased for hostile territory or increased for safe havens.

For each watch, the GM rolls on the wilderness grid. Roll d100 for what encounter, and 1d8 for the type of encounter:

What encounter: 1. Very rare; 2-3. Rare; 4-6. Uncommon; 7-10. Common; 11-14. Common; 15-17. Uncommon; 18-19. Rare; 20. Very rare; 21-100. Nothing.

What type of encounter: 1-4. Nothing; 5. Monster Traces; 6. Monster Tracks; 7. Monster Encountered; 8. Monster Lair.

Random encounters prevent a watch of rest from being completed, but do not prevent a watch of travel from being completed.

If you travel for a watch, move forward one hex. You must spend 1d6 HP to travel for a second or and 2d6 HP to travel a third watch. To travel on difficult terrain, roll fortune or a relevant proficiency or spend 1d6 HP.

If you rest rather than travel for a watch, perform a rest action such as heal, memorise spells, prayer, or repair. There is no formal lists of rest actions, but rather you can only perform one such action per rest watch (in addition to all of the other things you must do while travelling). You cannot travel and rest the same watch.

Using vehicles or mounts does not allow you to travel further, but limits or facilitates your ability to travel on certain terrain and allows an expanded inventory.

If you are stranded in the wilderness at the end of a session, each PC rolls to return to the nearest settlement. Roll fortune or an appropriate proficiency, against a target equal to the number of days travel to the nearest settlement, plus the number of turns traveled to escape the dungeon. For every point you fail by, choose either to spend that amount in HP or ten times that amount in GP.

The only adjustments here are around the wilderness probabilities being flatter than before the 2d6 and having 10 rather than 11 entries. Worth it for less die rolls in my opinion. I cut out the part on mounts and will move it to equipment.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on journeying (that’s better than overland travel, right?), if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

21st May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

There are two things in the campaign that need restocking or refreshing intermittently: Dungeons and Rumours. They’re reflective of the dynamic change that occurs in these locations. Rumours change when they’re not investigated by the PCs, but dungeons should change in response to PC interference or extended absence. A lot of inspiration for these procedures comes from John Bell here and here.

Dungeons require a monster and a trap grid. The grid is simply the areas 2d6 wandering monster or trap table, with the following 1d8 across the other axis; this grid is inspired by amalgamating John Bell’s work here and here.

Monster & Trap Grids

Roll 2d6 for what encounter or trap, and 1d8 for the type of encounter or trap on this table:

1-4. Nothing; 5. Monster Traces/Broken Traps; 6. Monster Tracks/Trap Signs; 7. Monster Encountered /Trap Triggered; 8. Monster Lair/Trap Danger Zone.

(5) is nondirectional signs there is an encounter in the area – a trap not reset, a shed snakeskin, an old camp or a victim. (6) is a directional sign there is an encounter in the area: Tracks, poison darts on the floor, the sound of grinding gears or growling owlbears. (7) is the encounter itself, the monster being in sight (perhaps not aware) or the trap has triggered and the PC has to act or be trapped. (8) is where the monster sleeps, holds its treasure, or sits on its throne, or the PCs realising they’ve put their foot on the pressure plate.

Restocking

Dungeons require restocking after the PCs cause a power shift or they spend extended time away from the dungeon. Restock areas in the dungeon — be they floors, zones or lairs — not the entire dungeon. Each area can have its own wandering monster and trap tables, or the entire dungeon can have just the one: It’s up to you.

When you restock a dungeon, first roll on the transformation table, and then for each room roll on the areas monster and trap grid. If an entry doesn’t make sense (for example, is a transient effect), leave the room empty. Generate treasure as appropriate.

And now we need a transformation table.

Transformation Table

Roll on the transformation table prior to restocking the dungeon. The entries are intentionally vague: Always ask why the transformation has occurred and work it into your new entries.

1. New Tenants. Use a random encounter table from an adjacent area or the wilderness.

2. Trappers. After your first monster, roll twice on the wandering traps table instead of the wandering monsters table.

3. Warlords. The first two lair monsters lord over the monsters in their adjacent rooms. They are at war with each other.

4. Dominator. The first lair monster mind controls all the other monsters in the area.

5. Burrowed. Any two rooms with the first monster rolled in them will have a new secret passage connecting them.

6. Hostile Takeover. Roll again for any empty rooms, on a wandering monster table from an adjacent area.

John Bell’s transformation table was a list of rules, which I’ve simplified considerably. It randomly iterates on each restock, generating depth that traditional restocking doesn’t.

The math in the wandering monster table means that half the time an encounter won’t eventuate. That means I should adjust the Exploration Roll accordingly, which is easy, because spoors is now part of the monster grid:

1-4, Nothing happens; 5-6. Wandering monster; 7. The environment changes; 8. Light sources exhaust; 9. Spells expire; 10+. Rest or spend 1d6 HP

Rumours are similar, but instead of using the transformation table, we use the reaction roll to modify them:

Make a d6 or d8 (depending on size or population) list of rumours for each area, some false, misleading, and true:

1. False; 2-3. Misleading; 4-6. True.

Between sessions, when the PCs don’t follow up on a rumour they’ve heard, roll on the reaction table, applying the reaction table’s adjective to modify the rumour or change how the situation develops. Recycle names and problems within the area as things develop to give the area more personality.

Rumours are much simpler, and I feel like I might be able to replace rumours with secrets in preparation as well, which simplifies preparation.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on restocking dungeons and rumours, and about wandering monsters and traps, and the grid. Have I left questions unanswered or overlooked other things needing restocking?

Idle Cartulary

20th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

“Nothing is more important to the AD&D game than the creation and handling of nonplayer characters. Without nonplayer characters, the AD&D game is nothing, an empty limbo”

Second edition’s DMG is pretty clear about the central importance of NPCs. Second edition categorises them into monsters, hirelings and full NPCs, but I’m expanding them to everyday people, monsters, grand villains, gods and even factions.

An aside: I rail against the term non-player character, and am a fan of game-master character instead, because I don’t like the implication that the GM is not simply one player of many. They might at most be considered the captain of the team, useless without the larger team but with a unique role with unique responsibilities. But I’m trying to hew to original language here as best I can, unless the results are hurtful, so I’ll continue to use the offending term.

In terms of creating an NPC personality, the advice is to choose one or two of a character trait, physical habit, and physical trait, exaggerate them, and call that a day for a “walk-on NPC”. I’ll call that a “sketch”. For a “significant NPC”, they suggest growing them out of small questions to these sketches traits. Some NPCs are developed to be significant, and for those they have a table for which they recommend two random results, calling out specifically not to develop a background story. I’ll call these more in depth descriptions portraits. This is fascinatingly i’m stark contrast to the approaches taken by popular properties that drove second edition such as Ravenloft and Dragonlance.

Finally, I’m going to come back to the campaign advice, because I think that these are really about NPCs. Campaigns are driven to unexpected outcome by passion, desire, intrigue and virtue. My interpretation of this is that characters either just do it, they build and plan, or they act in good faith. Giving each NPC a preferred course of action of impetuousness, subterfuge or faith (are these good iconic names?) seems like a good implementation of this in my opinion.

So, going forward, we need NPCs to be expandable in terms of sketch to portrait, to be memorable, and to have a preferred course of action (is approach a better name?). And I want it to be flexible enough to encompass everyday people, monsters, grand villains, gods and even factions.

One popular sketch approach is DNA, standing for distinguishing trait, what they need from the PCs, and their agenda. (I’m not sure my source for this, please, if you know it, let me know so I can link it in). This makes for a pretty solid base for a walk-on NPC. For more significant NPCs, add to your DNA: a VOW: A visage they falsely present to the world, an obsession they cannot let go and a weakness that will always defeat them. I pulled this from my Playful Void post on NPCs, simplified. There is one other thing most NPCs have, and that’s a thing the PCs want, but this acronym is pretty sideways already to be honest. I could call that an asset maybe, and then we need a series of random tables to help with A-DNA-VOW.

Factions, then, fit this acronym as well. The Garrulous Guild of Thieves have the map to the Jewel of Ichor, a jester’s hat tattoo, want access to the Vault of St Lemay, and want the ascension of St Lemay’s undead soul to godhood. They pretend to be a thieves guild, but at high levels are a cult, and their leaders seek divine relics obsessively, but cannot allow the body of St Lemay to be disturbed before the ascension.

I did that without looking back, so the acronym works pretty well for a pretty complex summary (portrait) and still is effective as a sketch. I realise now that i this I didn’t use course of action, but I suppose either A could be replaced with action. Or even better: A-DNA-A-VOW. Obviously the guild acts with subterfuge, but if they acted with blind faith? Very interesting twist.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on NPCs, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

19th May 2022