A Haunted Mish-Mash...

The Ravenloft Campaign Setting, as published, seems to have a large amount of gaping holes and more than a few terribly boring domains and domain lords (Hazlik, anyone?). So, as I prepared to run my currently on-going First Edition AD&D Ravenloft campaign, I sat down and reviewed the published work (and several fan sites), before tearing it apart and re-building it.

Several domains were axed completely (such as Forlorn, Arak, and Bluetspur, amongst others...), mainly because I found them dull (others were axed as I found them lacking in the spirit of the setting, such as Sithicus... Lord Soth doesn't work in Ravenloft, he's too passive...). Oddly, Hazlik made the cut, but not as written. Because, as written, he's completely boring and utterly unfit to being the kind of grand villain that the lord of a Ravenloft domain should be. I mean, he's a Red Wizard of Thay, yeah, they're evil, but there's nothing there that singles him out, there's no grand passion that drives him, oh, sure, he wants revenge on his enemies... so does Szass Tam, and he's far more interesting and driven... So, one of the first things I did was re-work Hazlik and his domain (no longer called Hazlan... for reasons of avoiding yawns).

And so, I present...

The Ossian Waste

The Lord and the Law: The cannibal wizard Hazlik the Tattooed rules this land from the grim fortress of Yenathar, sending out his gnoll slaves to pillage the surrounding lands and bring back victims for his larder. Hazlik has the dubious distinction of being the only lord of Ravenloft to not be drawn in to the demi-plane by the Mists, or to be a native of the place to begin with. He was exiled to this place by his fellow Red Wizards who grew tired of him abducting and devouring their favoured slaves... An obese mountain of a man, Hazlik's brutal exterior disguises his brilliant mind and his mastery of arcane lore is impressive, even though bent towards the satisfaction of his repulsive hungers.

The Land: A stark and windswept wasteland, the Ossian Waste lies south of the Duchy of Ruithenia, east of Kartakass and Morchessa, and north of the mighty Principality of Nova Vaasa. The Waste has no permanent settlements apart from Yenathar and various gnoll encampments, though there are a few nomadic camps of escaped slaves.

Closing the Borders: Like most of the lords of Ravenloft, Hazlik has no way to seal his domain, apart from his magic and vicious gnoll minions...

The Folk: The inhabitants of the Ossian Waste are gnolls, who gleefully serve the gluttonous lord, escaped slaves, who are mostly mad and either unable or unwilling to return home, and slaves awaiting their ultimate fate, that of becoming part of a grand meal...

Encounters: Apart from the gnolls and escaped slaves, the only creatures dwelling in the Waste are those fit for desert living (scorpions, scarabs, serpents, and the occasional result of some twisted magical experiment).

Best Old Advertisement.

I have never played this game, as far as I remember it was an old Play-by-Mail game, and I really have little idea what it was about.

Apart from the obvious interstellar papal assaults, of course...

Part of me wants to know, but the rest of me thinks it best to be unable to compare the reality to the grandiose vision that dances in my head.

On Vancian Magic

Part of my extreme glee upon rediscovering the conceits of Vancian magic has been the wonderful idea that spells should not have boring names.

These are fine for those of us playing the game, but our characters should not be referring to 'Erase' or 'Affect Normal Fires', but rather 'Racarren's Hieroglyphic Banishment' or 'Atember's Pyromantic Mastery'. Furthermore, individual magic-users may well have different spells that perform the same task, even though in games terms they may be the same spells (i.e.: 'Read Magic' may well be 'Decipher the Mysteries of the Arcane' in one magic-user's spellbook, while it is 'Clarify the Enshrouded Cryptoglyphs' in another's).

As this might be a bit problematic for those who don't want to spend the time to create the oft-torturous pseudonyms required to mask the game names of various spells, but who do like the concept (and the thought of confusing the players as they struggle to determine what 'Havrak's Perfidious Cloud' actually does...), a few samples are presented below.

Unveil the Secretive Dweomers, Revelation of the Theurgic Radiance - Detect Magic
The Unerring Bolts of Khephri the Accursed, Horasca's Sting of the Enraged Hornet - Magic Missile
The Most Durable and Enduring Ward Against Wickedness and Calamity - Protection from Evil
Emrikal's Unravellment of the Befuddling Tongue, Alaksara's Clarification of Nonsensical Speech - Comprehend Languages
Faelgreon's Resplendent Defense - Shield
Ultravor's Captivating Demeanor - Friends
The Arcing Touch of Sulvan the Mad - Shocking Grasp
Mastery of the Tumultuous Plummet - Feather Fall
Ilremon's Investigative Inquiry - Identify
Nhakram's Undetectable Servitor - Unseen Servant
Enscribement of the Words of Power Beyond Puissance - Write
Emblazonment of the Sigils of the Adept - Wizard Mark
Erase the Once-Hidden Flaw - Mending
Vorskaryn's Beneficent Illumination - Light
Turasco's Terrifying Theurgic Threat - Scare
Unveiling of the Sights Unseen - Detect Invisibility
Velask's Phantasmal Wealth - Fool's Gold

And, of course, Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter...







(Oh, and Havrak's Perfidious Cloud? It could be Cloudkill, or it could be Stinking Cloud, or Fog Cloud, all up to you...)

A Small Update to a Long-Neglected Soapbox.

And so we once more attempt to maintain a floundering blog...

There has been an attempt at running several games since our last posting. Longest running being a Space:1889/Castle Falkenstein cross pitching the PCs against the nefarious time-meddling Morlocks (currently looking for a new night as one of our players has started school), a First Edition D&D game (using a heavily revised version of the Ravenloft setting, domains have been axed willy-nilly and other have been added with the goal of trying to make it all seem like a coherent world, not just a haunted mish-mash) - which is still going, but we have very few players, and, most recently, I have started running a BECMI game at the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch for their D&D night (running every other Tuesday from October to December, the link just goes to the upcoming session) and the turn-out was very positive.

I am hoping that more people arrive next time and maybe we can get a few more DMs (for whatever games they'd like) as the Olympia Room that we are using is rather large.

Supplement V: ___________

The aforementioned Supplement V: Carcosa has received a great deal of censure, not least for its supposed hubris in billing itself as the "next" D&D supplement after the original four (a bit of literary whimsy and speculative fancy that I, for one, rather enjoy), but also for its macabre and bloody content. Though, it must be said, the text itself is in no way puerile or lascivious in tone and said content is exclusively contained within the descriptions of the sorcerous rituals. Which are, I must point out, designed to effect horrid and barely comprehensible things, oft-times referred to as Lovecraftian horrors, and as such the terrible demands of such rites are to be fully expected.

However, the controversy is well worn (though barely a month old...) and I doubt if it shall be settled here.

Nor do I wish to focus on it.

My thought is rather to encourage the creativity of the vast horde of gamers that flock to this "scene", as the hipsters say, and throw down a gauntlet of challenge.

Write your own Supplement V.

Now, you might say, "But I liked Carcosa!", wunderbar. Do it anyway. As an exercise in creativity if nothing else!
Others may protest, "Why should I follow that objectionable work?" In short, to make it forgotten. There is no better way to erase something than to bury it with superior work. Hate Carcosa? Grand, show us the Supplement V that should have been!
Still others cry, "I don't even play OD&D!" Hey, neither do I, and I am not holding myself aloof from this. Grab the rules, the .pdfs are easily available, read them, and then start tinkering and writing.

I want to see a string of Supplement Vs, a mad, glorious, explosion of creativity and oddities that will enrich all our games. Because, as most of you know, even if you don't use the work in toto, you can invariably steal bits of it for inclusion into your own campaign.

There it is, a challenge I suspect few will read, and fewer take up. No matter. I will at least be working on my own contribution.

Supplement V: Nefaratus

And Once More We Lunge From The Shadows...

Unfortunately, we have been most remiss in actually posting our witticisms and thoughts. The blame falls mostly on illness, lack of a clear vision, controversy, and, of course, laziness.

Many apologies to the three of you who follow this regularly.

We last promised the details of the fighting men for the Cassandrian Campaign, and we will, in short order, attend to that. However, we first wish to touch upon the aforementioned controversy.

I refer, of course, to the grandly titled 'Supplement V: Carcosa'. Many have reacted with disgust towards the work, unfairly, I think. I was, to be honest, rather surprised that any controversy arose. I had perused some of the author's posts on the Dragonsfoot Forums and whilst I may not care for his style of gaming (too doomful for my tastes), there's nothing objectionable there. Creepy, horrific, and disturbing, yes, but then I own and have read the Book of Ebon Bindings, so I'm not exactly squeamish... Lamentations of the Flame Princess has an interesting take on the assorted drama, and I refer those interested to that blog (pausing only to note that one of the objectors to Carcosa uses a picture of Blackwolf from the film 'Wizards' as his 'avatar'... human sacrifice to summon and bind horrific entities being beyond the pale, but a Hitlerian-obsessed mutant sadist warmonger is OK...)

Commentary Regarding the Thief

James Maliszewski has a few things to say in regards to the thief as a class.

And, whilst I can understand his reasoning, and I find he has several solid points to make, I am still going to keep the class around in my games.

One of the comments to his post, however, was a tiny eye-opener...

"The OD&D Thief was the first "Skill" class - determined by its abilities to perform particular non-magical skills. As the other classes caught up with non-weapon skills, the double damage of the thief came to fore as a defining element of the class, transforming it into the lightly-armored, sometimes invisible striker that inhabits MMORPGs." - Jeff Grubb

This, in my opinion, is what to avoid. I don't want a thief who is a better fighter, I want a master of stealth and a dungeoneering specialist, not a combat wunderkind.

The combat specialist is, and should remain, the fighter (and his varied sub-classes).

And, on that note...

Next time: The Fighting Men.