BEXIM'S
December 2018 Issue #0
Features:
Bazaar
The Gaming Crafter's Magazine
Dungeon Crawlers -- Fiction Examining Classic 2D Terrain Magic Item Cards Random Roll Tables and MORE!
Editor: James Floyd Kelly Contributors: Your Name Could Be HERE!!! Cover Image: Terrain Blocks photo by James Floyd Kelly Stock Photography and Artwork: - Unsplash - Some artwork copyright Daniel F. Walthall, used with permission. Advertising: Email to request rates. dmjim@thetabletopengineer.com
www.thetabletopengineer.com
Editorial
Last month, a wizard leapt from his tower to his death. over a dozen people have gone into the tower - none have come out. An old friend says the deceased wizard's spellbook has a few unknown spells of considerable power, and he knows a collector who would pay handsomely for the book. Two miles outside of town, a band of goblins have established a camp and are harassing merchant caravans. Witnesses say they are being led by a powerful dwarven fighter with one arm and a nasty temper. The camp sits on the Town's old cemetery that was abandoned due to undead activity. A mysterious fog has developed over the docks, and strange shadows and the sounds of screams are being reported within. It's been three days and the fog is preventing boats from docking and hurting local business. The local dockmaster is offering A Bag of Holding to anyone who can find the source of the fog and stop it. A group of rogues have sealed themselves inside a magic item shop and are holding hostages. One of them is the mayor's daughter. The city guard aren't moving fast enough, and the Mayor is offering a hefty reward for anyone who can get his daughter out safely.
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The dented helm
Adventurers Needed!
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Greetings, Adventurers! Welcome to Bexim's Bazaar
I would like to welcome you to Bexim's Bazaar. Bexim is currently away on a dungeon crawl, so that kindly half-orc has asked me (your editor) to step in and greet you and let you know that you have come to the right place. So... what is Bexim's Bazaar all about? Glad you asked. I used to love getting the monthly Dragon gaming magazine back in the day, and Dragon+ is still a fun digital magazine I read on my iPad. For some time now, I've been pondering creating a magazine of useful resources for the gaming community. I write for a living, and I'm more comfortable creating written content than anything else, so a magazine felt right. It gives me an additional place to share things I create, and I will be extending this opportunity to readers as well. Bexim's Bazaar is born! Take a look around and see what the bazaar has to offer. Growder's Tent will always have some new magic items to examine, and we have a few VIP guests you might bump into as you look around. A bazaar has a little bit of everything in it, and this magazine will be no different. GMs should stop by The Dented Helm for a drink and some rumors (adventure hooks), and the magazine will always be filled with aids for both GMs and players. A lot more fun stuff is coming in future issues, and I welcome you to submit your random tables (Treana's got one this month for Trinkets), cover photos, How-Tos, mini- adventures, and more. Contact me at the email address below and pitch your idea before sending anything over, though. This will be an evolving magazine. Expect changes as things get added or dropped. Your feedback is obviously welcome and encouraged... it will help me improve the magazine. Ultimately, though, this will probably always be a homebrew magazine, very much like the photocopied 'zines of old, providing resources that GMs and players will (hopefully) find useful in their games. My email is below. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the magazine - good or bad. See you next month... I'm going to go make something. DM Jim The Tabletop Engineer dmjim@thetabletopengineer.com
Magic Items for the Distinguished Adventurer
Patreon Merchants Can Submit Their Own Magic Items
Wand of Pit Traps
Wand, Rare, Requires Attunement
4 New Items Each Month
This abandoned school of magic exists inside a square stone structure with no windows. A single entrance on the north wall grants access to a continuous hallway that surrounds the inner rooms. A staircase can be found that descends to storage and living quarters. Room descriptions are below. GMs should roll for random encounters, magic items and traps left behind when the school was vacated for unknown reasons. All locked doors have a DC of 15 for purposes of lockpicking and 10 hp for destroying. Map created using: https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/dungeon/
Print and Cut Out
Room 1: Greeting Room - Once a place for visitors to sit and wait for an audience with the school's master, this room is now in tatters, with broken chairs and side tables cluttering the floor. An archway to the south leads to the school's perimeter hall. A large faded painting in the northeast wall conceals a secret door that can be discovered on a search of the painting and a successful DC 15 Investigation check. The secret door opens into Room 4. Room 2: Apprentice Library - Shelves contain hundreds of moldering spellbooks that have been left to rot remain here. The best of the spellbooks have been taken, but a search of the room will result in a new spell discovered on a successful DC 15 Investigation check. GM should roll a d4 to determine level of spell found. Room 3: Master's Study - The western door is still locked but the door on the south wall is not locked. A desk and chair are intact, but the contents have been scattered and are worthless. If the desk is searched, a secret compartment will be found on a successful DC 15 Investigation check. The compartment contains a bag containing five gems worth 15gp each and a Wand of Paralysis. Room 4: Preparation Room - Students could collect materials for their lessons in this room. Shelves hang on all four walls, with crumbling blank scrolls, quills, bottles of ink, and bags of dried up herbs and other magical components that are no longer of use. The door to the east leads to the various practice rooms and the north door leads to the Master's Study. A secret door to the south is obscured by an over-sized painting that swings inward and can be detected on a successful DC 15 investigation check. Room 5: Training Room - A broken target dummy leans against the south wall of what was once a room where apprentices would practice spells requiring targeting. Urns that once contained water for putting out fires have been shattered across the floor. Magic placed on this room long ago allow anyone casting spells in this room to cast with advantage. A secret door on the east wall is concealed by a floor-to-ceiling mirror that has been shattered but stays in place. Examining the mirror will reveal the secret door that opens into Room 6 on a DC 20 Investigation check. Room 6: - Magic Item Lockup - The Master kept a number of magic items stored here. Most have disappeared over the years due to looters, but a single locked chest rests in the southeast corner, untouched, with a glowing Glyph of Warding spell that casts Fireball at 5th level and protects the chest that holds one ring of resistance, one ring of protection, and a hat of disguise. Room 7: Training Room - A mix of objects such as bags, boots, and wooden weapons (all worthless) are scattered around the room. Students would use these to cast spells such as levitate, shrink, and other minor effects as well as practice enchantment magic. Room 8: Training Room - Two stone blocks sit 10 feet apart in the center of the room. Apprentices would practice magic involving mind reading, charms, and similar magics involved in manipulating other creatures. The room is empty other than the two blocks. Room 9: Master's Library - Both doors to this library are unlocked but each is protected by a Glyph of Warding spell that casts Sleep at 3rd level if the password (long forgotten) is not provided and a door is touched. The ward recharges after 10 minutes. Two bookshelves, one on the west wall and another on the north wall, hold two dozen books. A search of the books will result in three new spells discovered on a successful DC 15 Investigation check. GM should roll a d8 to determine level of each spell found. Perimeter Hallways -- The lengthy hallways running along the north, east, and south walls were used to practice magic cast at distances. Anyone examining the southern hallway and making a successful DC 15 Investigation check will discover the faded text of the last spell cast by an apprentice. GM rolls a d4 to determine level of spell discovered.
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The wand has charges. Use an action to expend 1 charge to place a 5 foot square pit within 30 feet. Roll 1d4 -- 1-2 spike filled trap appears, 3-4 acid filled trap appears. Wand regains 1d4 charges daily at dawn. If last charge is expended, roll d20. On a 1, the wand bursts into flames.
Tiny Dungeon
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NOTE: This excerpted article is reprinted from a February 2016 post on GeekDad.com. By James Floyd Kelly (DM Jim) For over a year now, I’ve been enjoying playing (mostly as the Dungeon Master or DM) with the new D&D 5e rules. My history with the game, however, began with the Basic Set in 1979-1980; in addition to the single rulebook and low-quality dice tucked inside the box was a module, B2 Keep on the Borderlands. This module (and many more like it) offered the details the DM would need to run the adventure, including the removable cover that contained the maps for the DM to reference and use to provide descriptions to the players such as the dimensions of a room or the distance to cross a bridge. Large laminated mats weren’t a common site at most gaming tables, but letter-sized sheets of graph paper (with baby-blue lines) were; players were often tasked with creating their own map of their travels, especially for underground dungeons, and graph paper was sometimes an option. So, while the DM had a nice bird’s-eye-view of the dungeon or caves or other structure or terrain, (as well as text descriptions in the module booklet) players typically had to rely on their imagination when hearing a room or cave described, for example. Being a DM in those early days involved mostly what is referred to as theater-of-the mind (TOTM)... basically asking the players to visualize scenes, creatures, and combat and providing answers to their questions. I can recall a time in the early ’80s when I began seeing more and more miniatures; most often they were used to help the players and DM visualize marching orders or positioning during combat, but a few crafty DMs could be spotted providing hand- drawn rooms or maps for the players to place their miniatures. But for the very early days of D&D play (at least in my corner of the world), the traditional D&D games consisted of TOTM and players drawing their own maps as they explored the world. Note: One of my earliest memories of seeing miniatures used in real combat gaming was at a sandbox table at (if memory serves) a local gaming convention in Pensacola, FL, where a group of wargamers had set up a large ping-pong sized table with buildings and a river and other obstacles. I believe it was a Napoleon-era style battle based on the painted uniform jackets and hats and the players had obviously gone to great lengths to create this beautiful miniature battlefield. I believe my seeing that tiny battlefield and all its details has greatly influenced my role as DM and why I’m not a traditional TOTM gamer. Today, many DMs still rely on TOTM; it’s a tried-and-true method of storytelling and many players prefer this kind of play with its typically speedier gameplay and minimal expenditure. But even in those early days of D&D, it didn’t take long for gaming aids to appear for both players and DMs. In the early and mid ’80s, my most frequent source for ideas and inspiration came from Dragon magazine (or The Dragon for very early issues that I never owned). Tucked in those pages were adventures, new classes and spells and monsters, and plenty of articles for DMs looking for something new to toss at their players. And mixed in with all this content were the advertisements, too. Most of them were often out of my price range — I was in middle school when I began playing D&D, and I was too young to have a job other than mowing lawns — or not relevant to my gaming needs. But there were a number of advertisements that always managed to catch my eye – these were the ones related to 2D mapping or creating floor plans for gameplay. I was always on the lookout for ways to bring the game to life with my players and these always caught my eye. So, what kinds of 2D terrain aids were becoming available for players and DMs? Let’s take a look. Note: The advertisements below were found in The Dragon/Dragon magazine. There may very well have been earlier instances of these adverts in other sources such as self-published zines or media local to the particular businesses. Legacy Products The first notable instance of a game aid that I could find was from the Imperium Publishing Company – It was called Netherworld and sold for $6.95 (1977 USD). Described as the “First Three-Dimensional, Geomorphic Underworld Construction Kit For Assembly And Take-Down DURING Adventuring,” the image showed a rectangular shaped dungeon (actually requiring two kits). While technically a 3D terrain kit, I’m including this one here simply for being what I believe to be the first terrain game aid for sale in The Dragon magazine as well as the fact that the walls looks sufficiently low to almost qualify as 2.5D. I have looked high and low for a boxed set of Netherworld, but have had little luck. From the images, it looks like this was a fairly sturdy set of cardstock floors and walls. The advert does state that the dungeon in the image consists of two kits, and I’m counting only 7 or 8 rooms and 2- 3 hallways, so this appears to have been one of those kits where you’d need four or five of them to create a rather large dungeon. It’s also difficult to tell from the image how you would have built lengthy hallways that led to single rooms; the sample dungeon seems to indicate that connected, rectangular dungeons were the limits of the kit. Note: If you have any first-hand experience with any of the products mentioned here, please do share. Someone at Dragon magazine must have been keeping their eye on these new products, because in issue #45 (January 1981), the magazine offered up The Dragon Dungeon Design Kit. With three pages of text instruction and eight pages of cardstock printings containing chests, tables, walls, and more, DMs were given a nice little (and inexpensive) kit to layout rooms for players to examine and place miniatures if they had them: "[Players] can enter a detailed, furnished room, instead of being given a “mere” verbal description of what they have encountered. The ability to visualize your character’s surroundings is something that greatly enhances a player’s enjoyment of a role-playing game, and we feel that players can more easily get into the spirit of adventuring if the images they’re visualizing are taken out of the mind’s eye and spread out right in front of them." – Dragon #45, January 1981, page 38 DMs and players could purchase extra sheets (up to two per person) for $2/sheet from Dragon magazine. Game clubs were encouraged to combine the kits from multiple copies of the magazine to create a larger collection of components (over 100 double-sided chits were provided per issue).
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Fantasy RPG 2D Terrain Products Past & Present - Part 1
"[M]any of the components are printed on both sides. In general, items constructed of metal and/or stone are represented on one side, and things made of wood and other materials are shown on the other side.There are enough linear feet of wall sections to build a 100-foot-square room or the equivalent thereof, not counting the space taken up by doors or passageways which lead through walls. The wall sections come pre-measured in scale sizes ranging from five feet to 50 feet long (one inch to 10 inches actual measurement)..." – Dragon #45, January 1981, page 38
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Two months later, a black-and-white advert for a similar but more polished kit would appear for sale. Dungeon Tiles by Task Force Games offered up over seventy 2′′ x 2′′ colored terrain tiles along with a few oversized rooms and a large collection of punch-out chits that represented things such as fire, chair, and blood plus small slips of paper to represent ladders, bridges, and tables. The first thing you might notice when you begin to put the tiles together to form hallways and rooms is that they’re not perfectly aligned when it comes to walls and corners. Some tiles have black borders on all sides, requiring a door chit to be placed to indicate passage from one area to another. There are a lot of duplicate tiles displaying the same broken sword or bone fragment, and the ground is a solid brown with large stones representing the floor. There is no variation in floor material, although there are a few spiral staircase tiles. Surprisingly, the card stock material lays flat easily enough although a good sneeze or cough would likely send a piece or two flying. While this is clearly a perfect example of a product in its infancy, I think credit must be given for providing something that brings players and DMs a step closer to more realistic scenes and allows for miniatures, creatures, and other special items to be placed to give a better idea of relative positions. Also tucked into the box was a 4-page set of ‘Rules for Use’ with the following instructions:
As someone who loves learning more and more about the history of gaming, I also found this little bit of info at the end of the instructions booklet:
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Next Month: Part 2 will continue an examination of other early RPG terrain products.
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"DUNGEON TILES are not intended to be used for dioramas or displays (although they could be used to good effect for that purpose). DUNGEON TILES are intended for use as an integral part of the game system during all phases of dungeon exploration... [using] DUNGEON TILES gives the players an immediate grasp of the tactical situation and eliminates the practice of using die rolls to determine who is closest to the monster approaching... "
As one of the very first 2D terrain gaming aids, Dungeon Tiles likely got a lot of use from DMs and players who discovered the fun of having physical tiles for gameplay.
"The original concept for DUNGEON TILES was first demonstrated to the Amarillo Wargame Club in 1976 by Paul Michael Smith, who had learned the system from his playing group in Dallas-Fort Worth... DUNGEON TILES artwork by A.J. Belflower, Illustrations and counter- sheet artwork by R. Vance Buck, Stephen G. Wilcox, Stephen V. Cole."
Treana's Trinkets
Roll a d20 and consult the following table for your trinket purchase.
Treana recently returned from an excursion down into the Southern Bands that stretch from the Killovale Mountains all the way to the town of Goblin's Last Stand, bringing with her dozens of trinkets that are sure to become good luck charms or focus items or something to toss in the campfire when kindle is getting low. Treana doesn't care what you use her trinkets for, just that you take them off her hands so she'll have room on the wagon when she leaves next week for Balewind's Cross where it's been reported that a few of the city's shops have closed due to an infestation of canker worms and are getting rid of inventory. If you don't find what you like today... come back next month and see what Treana has brought back. All sales are final. No exchanges. No refunds. Treana is not responsible for any curses that items may carry.
Monday's Magic Item -- Free Card - Download and Print Tuesday's Monument -- Free Card - Download and Print Weekly Facebook LIVE videos - News, Game Reviews, Etc. Thursday's Relic -- Free Card - Download and Print Friday's How-To Video on YouTube - Terrain Crafting and More Etsy Store - www.etsy.com/shop/thetabletopengineer
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Power station for use with 28mm scale sci-fi wargames. Made primarily from blue insulation foam and granny grating wrapped around a potato chip can - Eric Allen
Your Craft HERE!
A 3D printed Venus Fly Trap monster perched on a rock made from XPS. The vines were so long they wouldn’t fit on this 5” base, so I heated them up and draped them over the rock. Accessorized the piece with flock, a twig from my daughter’s corsage kit, skulls from GW’s amazing box o’ skulls, and plants made from wire armature and blue painter's tape - Robert Haddon
This HeroQuest game board was 3D printed. 36 pieces! Here, the left half has been painted - made by James C.
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A crow cage from paper clips and popsicle sticks - James C.
Pa mix of Dwarven forge and reaper. If you look closely there are myconids among the fungi - Andrew Mills
Ruined tower made from sponges, cardboard, glue, craft sticks and paint - John S. Smith
"Very simple build with medium chipboard, cereal box and granny mesh and just slapped them together - Sci-fi Tile Set by Nick's Craft Shack
"Awakening Gorf-tha" - Diorama from 1/2" insulation foam. Dais from dollar store foam. Tea light offering bowl and frog statue were 3D printed (Molting Frog found on Thingiverse).- James C.
Call for Contributors
This Month's Finds A History of Orc Poetry by Estig Yadi The Mace and its History by Mebre Gongam The Splendour of Combat (Abridged) by Ceebo Bluehaunt Book of Civilized Dwarves by Ummon the Digger Consolation of a Dying Mage by Shimwel Halfwing The Diseases of the Undead Vol. III by Urpshoff,, Priest of Hunsit Advice on Goblin Negotiations edited by Ub Jurg Jurg Songs of the Harpy by Eryn Oakstaff Letters of Aboria's Paladins (Collection) by Lex Silver Eagle
If you have an idea that you feel would be suitable for Bexim's Bazaar, please email: dmjim@thetabletopengineer.com and provide details. If your material is chosen to be included, you will retain full ownership of your content, and a byline will be provided. Bexim's Bazaar is looking for adventures, unique creature stats, magic items and spells, random tables, short stories and articles that will be of interest to RPG and wargame fans. Please do not send original content until you have emailed your idea and received a request for the material. The Show Us Your Crafts section is also looking for a high-quality photo (landscape orientation, please) and 3-4 sentences describing a craft that you might like to share with readers. Be sure to include your name as you wish it displayed. The photo and description must be emailed with the Subject line "Show Us Your Crafts Submission" and the phrase "I give permission for my photo and text to be used in Bexim's Bazaar" in the body of the email. Based on the number of submissions, there is no guarantee your submission will be used. Only the best photos and most engaging descriptions will be selected.
Hewbue's Used Books BookstUsedacks
FREE BOOKMARK WITH EVERY PURCHASE
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DUNGEON CRAWLERS Chapter 1 by James Floyd Kelly The clawing and scratching of the skeleton horde's yellow-boned fingers against the rotting wooden door was beginning to drown out Meeshna's prayer. The young priestess continued to press her glowing fists against the door, the soft orange light enhancing the white of her knuckles. She turned to look behind her at the bruised and bloodied half-ogre warrior trying to catch his breath. "Whatever you're going to do, Daz, do it fast. I don't think I can hold the door much longer," said Meeshna as the door rattled in its frame. “Looks like they’ve figured out how to use those bony arms to pound,” said Hur-maj. The wizard’s dark robe fluttered at his feet as he rushed to the door and began an incantation. The dark gray hood fell away, revealing the elf’s long gray hair and two pointed ears. The words he spoke were incomprehensible to his fellow adventurers, but Meeshna recognized the spell’s effect on the door as the wood blurred and changed to the shine and polish of steel. “This will only last a few minutes,” Hur-maj yelled over the new sound of bone on metal. “Find the portal’s three activation runes. Hurry!” Daz nodded and took a deep breath. The party had run the final sixty yards of the outer hallway, but he had been carrying the unconscious dwarf named Beetle. The injured thief lay on the stone, unmoving but still breathing. “I find them,” grunted Dazgimmone, pulling his sword from its sheath as he looked around the stone-slabbed walls of the octagonal room. The four companions had been exploring what was rumored to be the underground lair of Skurb the Mad for weeks. But without the clues provided by the rising sun and waning moon the four adventurers didn’t know if the stones of the crumbling wizard’s tower above were heating up or cooling down in the night. Hur-maj’s research into the lair had indicated a single entrance into the wizard’s eight-walled library, the same door that was currently under siege by the dark magic that Skurb had cast on the skeletal army left behind to protect his domain. But that same research mentioned a portal that the long-dead wizard had used to teleport to-and-from his hidden library. If the portal could be activated, the adventurers might just escape with the Staff of Skurb and two hefty leather sacks filled with gold and gems. Daz stepped forward, holding the torch in his left hand high while keeping the blade of his sword raised and pointing towards any unknown enemy that might be hiding in the shadows. Taking half a dozen more cautious steps, Daz was surprised by the shimmer of a fist-sized blue gemstone held in two skeletal hands mounted on the top of a round stone pedestal at the rear of the room. Odd shapes were chiseled all over the surface of the pedestal. “Found runes,” said Daz. “Easy.” A deep groan made Daz jump. The giant warrior turned with his sword ready to strike. Exposed crooked canines were revealed as a smile crossed Daz’s light-green face. “What happened?” asked Beetle as the short thief stood and rubbed his neck. “My head feels like you stomped on it, Daz.” “Can we answer that later?” yelled Hur-maj. “In a bit of trouble here.” Daz and Beetle glanced at the door. The glint of Daz’s torch against the steel door was beginning to fade as the spell’s power dissipated. More words were spoken by Hur-maj, and the wizard’s hands tripled in size and pressed flat against the wood of the restored door. Beetle shook his head and winced. “Sorry, Hur-mee,” the dwarf slurred. “What do you need me to do?” “Do you recall the three runes I showed you on Skurb’s sarcophagus?” the wizard asked still facing the door. “Remember the order?” Beetle looked at Daz, gritting his teeth and raising his eyebrows. “Uh… yes? I think… yes?” Sweat rolled down Hur-maj’s forehead as he turned and glared at Beetle. “Are you kidding me? This is our way home, Beetle!” “There was a lot going on in that room,” Beetle whined. “I’m a thief, Hur-mee. Stealing stuff is what I do, not memorizing crazy symbols on a dead guy’s coffin!” A single wood plank shattered in the center of the door. A bony claw reached through the splintered hole and scraped a deep cut in the wizard’s giant left hand. “Unbelievable!” shouted Hur-maj. “You had one job, Beetle… one job!” “Please, Hur-maj,” said Meeshna with eyes still closed. “I must concentrate. Let Beetle try. My goddess Taush’s grace is with us. She will bless Beetle. We will prevail.” The priestess bowed her head further and continued her prayer. Beetle grinned at Hur-maj. “See? I’ve got this, Hur-mee.” The dwarf turned to face Daz. “Cover me?” Daz nodded and motioned to the pedestal. “Runes there.” “You must touch them in the proper order,” Hur-maj said through gritted teeth as he continued to press his oversized hands against the door. “Oval shape with teeth first, three spikes in an anvil second, and curved lines beneath a star last. Got it?” “Yeah, yeah… let me look.” Beetle approached the pedestal. His eyes twinkled as he did a quick calculation of the value of the blue gemstone. He pondered for just a moment about the possibility of grabbing the stone as he entered the magical portal. “The portal will close instantly if the gem is removed,” said Hur-maj. “Don’t even think about it. And hurry!” A second plank snapped in two as another set of skeletal fingers reached through the door and swiped blindly in the direction of the priestess. Beetle shook his head as he stepped closer to the pedestal. “Where’s the trust?” the thief directed at the half-ogre. Daz just shrugged and nodded towards the pedestal. “Wizard right. You slow. Go faster.” The flickering shadow on the rear wall created by Daz’s torch was a hazy red. Beetle squinted his eyes and cocked his head. “What is…?” A crimson shadow peeled itself from the wall, swiping a dark tendril that struck Beetle on the left shoulder. He screamed and fell to the floor. The pain was incredible, and the dwarf felt as if a dagger made of ice was wedged in the muscle. “Shadow strider!” screamed Hur-maj as he looked over his shoulder at the creature. “Use your torch!” Daz lunged forward, swinging the torch in his left hand down and into the center mass of the dark creature. The resulting shriek was agonizing to the half-ogre’s ears, but Daz bared his fangs and roared while holding the torch steady. The creature appeared to be unable to move left or right, and shook in place at each flicker from the torch. “Now, Beetle!” screamed the wizard. “The door is failing…” Beetle ignored the pain in his shoulder and glanced at the shadow held in place by Daz’s torch. A quick look back at the crumbling door confirmed that dozens of skeletons were now pushing their way through as the remaining wood planks began to snap. Meeshna swung her iron mace through the ribcage of one skeleton as Hur-maj made odd motions with his hands while speaking aloud another spell. A shimmering hammer appeared next to the wizard and swung at a skeleton, sending the bones chattering across the stone floor. The thief rushed forward and crouched at the pedestal. The light from Daz’s torch grew faint as it continued to damage the shadow strider, but Beetle’s dwarven eyes could see in near darkness. He examined the smooth stone, moving around the pedestal on his knees and ignoring the sounds of battle around him. The oval with teeth was easy to find. Beetle tapped the rune with a single finger and it glowed blue. Anvil with spikes… anvil with spikes, thought Beetle. Where is it? There! He reached out and tapped it. The soft blue glow appeared on the second rune. One more, thought Beetle. Now… what was it? A star and something else. Wait… there’s a star and an arrow beneath it. Is that it? Beetle looked back at his companions, each of them fighting for their lives and depending on him to activate the portal so they could jump through to safety. Yes, thought Beetle. That’s got to be it. It’s time to go home. The dwarf didn’t hesitate, and his thick pointer finger touched the rune of the star and the arrow. The rune glowed red… To be continued...
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Roll a d12 once and consult the following table:
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What's in the Chest?
Roll a d12 twice and consult the following table:
Appearance
Valuables
A chest can hold so much more than a sack of gold and a couple magic items. The next time your players encounter one, surprise them with a detailed description and inventory and make that chest a wondrous item all its own. (GM decides if chest is locked and/or trapped.)
Non-Valuables
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Do you have an active YouTube gaming crafter channel with over 25 videos and/or over 1000 subscribers? Get your logo placed here. Contact DM Jim to see if your channel qualifies for the free listing!
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Dungeons & Gluesticks
Crafter Channels
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8 Reasons We Need Kids Playing RPGs
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NOTE: This excerpted article is reprinted from a September 2018 post on GeekDad.com and is reprinted with permission. by James Floyd Kelly (DM Jim) RPGs came about in a time when so many things didn’t exist: pre- World of Warcraft, pre- HBO-Game of Thrones, and pre-Internet. In those early days, players sat down and let their imaginations provide the imagery, the sounds, and the story. All you needed was some paper and a pencil (often the GM was the only person who had dice) and some friends and you were in business. Early RPGs were a shared secret that we geeks enjoyed (secret until the media got wind of it, that is, and put its sensationalistic spin on our hobby), and it allowed us time together to fly the nerd flag proudly because we were saving the world... or maybe just a small village under attack by goblins. These days, being a geek/nerd doesn’t necessarily come with all the negative baggage. Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica is sci-fi and Game of Thrones is fantasy, but many non-geek viewers are happy to ignore these facts and enjoyed them for the story and characters. Geeks and non-geeks anxiously await the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe releases. And let’s not even try to tackle the effect Harry Potter has had on the world. The fact is... it’s cool to be a geek. (Of course, it’s still standard procedure for people, old and young, to make fun of geeks even if they conveniently forget that last night they watched the latest episode of [fill in obviously-geek show of your choice here].) And one of the absolute coolest geek merit badges you can pin to your backpack or briefcase is the one called RPG. Back in the day, most RPGs were fantasy themed, with a few science fiction ones available. Today, just about any genre you can imagine probably can be found in an RPG form, and that means there’s no excuse to not try your hand at playing one (assuming you’ve never played one before). This site being GeekDad.com, we typically write about geek-related things for adult males with children (most of our staff are dads), but RPGs are for moms... and grandparents... and teachers... you get the idea. RPGs can be enjoyed by everyone. And that also means... kids. If you’re a parent or legal guardian or after-school club leader or whatever... and you’ve never played an RPG, let alone played one with kids, let me offer you some thoughts on why you might want to gather these young players around a table and get them playing. RPGs build reading, writing, and public speaking skills This one is so obvious that I almost considered leaving it out, but on the off chance there are some parents or teachers out there who are wondering if RPGs truly offer any benefits, this would be a big one that cannot be ignored. I can’t cite any studies other than personal experience—in 6th grade, I was reading the Player’s Handbook, the DM’s Guide, and the Monster Manual cover to cover. I was reading issues of Dragon magazine cover to cover. I was reading fantasy and science fiction books that were definitely ahead of my grade level. I was already a decent reader, but once I discovered RPGs (particularly D&D), there was no shortage of reading. When it comes to writing and speaking, I think those of us who play RPGs can easily understand why writing and speaking skills are put to the test. Try explaining (pleading?) to your GM how you’re going to sneak past the guards or why you think climbing 30 feet over the dragon’s head and jumping down on its back will work. When your GM asks you to provide a short background on your character, many players will spend hours pondering the history and motivations before putting it down on paper. Young DMs (and I speak from experience) will spend hours and hours writing up room descriptions and NPC (non-player characters) backgrounds and how this trap works and why that wizard turned evil. Are better reading, writing, and speaking skills guaranteed by playing RPGs? Nope. But they probably aren’t hindered or ruined. And in this day and age with all the distractions of YouTube and video games, if playing an RPG can get our kids away from the screens for a few hours a week, and reading and writing and talking in front of peers and even strangers... that’s something parents and teachers should be considering. RPGs build social skills and teamwork skills Along with reading, writing, and speaking skills, RPGs typically force players to work together as a team. The social aspect of tabletop gaming is well known; whether with friends or strangers, gaming tends to bring out the nicer side of people, and laughing and joking around is just part of the experience, and young gamers will find that bad behavior and disrespect are frowned upon and can get you in trouble. There is no doubt that gaming is a social experience, and RPGs offer young players a chance to sit, face-to-face, with friends and strangers, an experience that online video games does not provide. Trash talk may be possible, but it’s harder to stare at someone across a table and say things that you might otherwise get away with over a microphone and the anonymity of a screen name. While traditional tabletop games have been one winner and multiple losers, the growth in popularity of collaboration-style games where everyone wins or loses seems to reinforce the idea that games bring people together. Players often enjoy working as a team, and RPGs are no exception. A shared goal, shared risks... young players will find no end to the opportunities to work as a team to overcome obstacles and save the day. And again, it doesn’t matter if it’s with friends or strangers, RPGs force young gamers to talk, to bargain, and to ultimately work together in a civil manner, especially if the players are enjoying the game and wish to continue to play. Good behavior and respect seem to go hand-in-hand in RPGs when players are enjoying themselves. RPGs use the creativity “muscle” I think many adults would agree that creativity just seems to come naturally to kids. It’s to be encouraged, whether in music or art or any other hobby or skill that a student chooses to pursue. Sometimes, however, creativity seems to be stifled, either from peer pressure or from rules that tell a kid that something must be done a certain way because... well... that’s just the way it is done. Kids express their creativity and individuality in all sorts of ways—typically with their clothes, their hair, or their favorite music. At some point, however, the social groups (especially in school) that our kids encounter begin to exert influence. And it’s usually not positive. Kids learn what society thinks is cool... what is not cool... and they often curb their interests to avoid ridicule. With RPGs, young players are forced into situations that they probably don’t ordinarily face. I think it’s a safe bet that none of us have had to defend our homes from an ogre attack. But sitting at a table playing an RPG, we have to get creative when it comes to problem solving. And here’s the thing—kids are GOOD at it. A GM can toss all sorts of obstacles at the young players, and they’ll easily come up with half a dozen possible ways out of a problem. And because RPGs are set in a fictional world, it’s often difficult to argue with a unique and crazy solution. And here’s the thing—creativity is stressed for both players and DM/GMs. In both roles, young players often enjoy digging deep into their creativity and coming up with off-the-wall actions and unusual descriptions. RPGs encourage this; it’s really a requirement, if you think about it. RPGs allow bad decisions without real risks We do our best as parents to teach our kids to make smart decisions. We put a lot of rules on them, many to keep them safe when we think they are incapable of spotting a risky situation or activity on their own. But we’re also told to let kids make mistakes. But some mistakes are too costly to make, even with the life lesson they bring. We don’t want our children learning the hard way about the risks of drinking and driving, for example. But with RPGs, about the only real risk in a roleplaying game is the loss of a favorite character... or the loss of a fellow gamer’s character. Many bad decisions will be fictional, of course, but that doesn’t mean the consequences will be any less real to the player who has invested time into developing an in-game character. One of the things that many RPG players learn in time is to listen... to watch... to ask questions... and then take action. Those players who run into rooms without first listening at the door? They’ll be the first to feel the wrath of a room full of ogres. Smart players learn to make smart decisions, and hopefully this practice will carry over into real life. But bad decisions will be made. And a roleplaying game is the perfect place for kids to have the full mantle of responsibility put on their shoulders. Parents and other adults can step back and let these young players make mistakes, perform questionable actions, and take extreme risks... and know that the end results will only affect the health of a fictional hero. RPGs increase focus and concentration I don’t have any evidence to support this claim other than having watched my own children and other kids play RPGs. I’ve watched them listen intently to the DM/GM’s descriptions of a dungeon room or the insides of a spaceship hangar bay. I’ve seen them dig deep into a player’s manual, eyes squinting as they hunt down that elusive rule or scour a particular spell description to determine if it can save the day. When my boys play videogames, I can stand beside them and ask a question three times; they won’t hear me. They are so tuned into the game that they have tuned out the world. This is good and bad. I know they can concentrate, but they focus at the expense of being fully aware of what’s going on around them. With RPGs, I believe the focus/concentration is not as strong, meaning that while an RPG can help a child learn to center their attention on a particular moment in the game, they’re not so engrossed that they aren’t aware of their fellow players or the actions going on around them. I could be wrong, but I don’t see the same extremes in concentration that I do with video games. There’s one difference that I can speak to when comparing video games to RPGs. With RPGs, you’re at a table with your fellow players—no headphone, no microphone—and the actions are not constrained to a television screen. You have to learn to listen to your DM/GM, your fellow players, and you have a map or terrain on the table, someone rolling dice to your left and right, and your own character sheet in front of you. There IS concentration here, but I don’t believe it’s ever so intense that a young player isn’t also capable of quickly shifting attention to another player or even to a parent yelling down into the basement that it’s time for dinner. RPGs offers kids a chance to safely express empathy and mercy Kids have a tough time in their social circles. Kindness to others is often something that is made fun of when displayed where kids congregate. It’s easy to pick on the underdog when your peers are watching; it’s hard to stand by the underdog’s side and show compassion. This is one that’s taken me a while to notice, but it’s definitely there; RPG players, especially young players, will often find times during gameplay to forgive, to show mercy, to sympathize with a person or creature that may not be the most deserving. I think of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and how he was both a despicable character and one that managed to inspire pity. RPGs give players a chance to do things that are unexpected, and this often plays out in ways the GM cannot predict. And players often do this without worry of how their fellow players will react. Players in RPGs know that there are times when the evil-looking creature is just that: evil- looking. But not evil-acting. RPGs allow young players (and really ALL players) to feel sympathy and show mercy to see if they get a positive result without risk of ridicule. RPGs offers kids a chance to be strong and brave RPGs are fictional games. Anything can happen. And this allows players, young and old, a chance to try out actions they might not normally get to do in real life. You’ll frequently see at a gaming table a normal, introverted person playing the brave warrior and running into danger without hesitation. I personally know a player who who makes hard decisions every day at his job, that is always leading meetings and having to be the group leader. When he played at my table, he played a quiet wizard who stayed in the shadows and examined and listened to everything. The stereotypical RPG-playing kid of the ’70s and ’80s was never the football quarterback or the star on the track and field. He or she was often the quiet student or the one who is marginalized in school. The outcast. But put them at a table playing a dwarf barbarian or an elven wizard and they were saving lives, defeating dragons, and making discoveries that historians would write about and bards would sing songs. I don’t know if this holds true today, but I imagine there are still a significant number of kids who don’t get a chance to shine all that often. These are the kids who should be playing RPGs. But the days of RPGs being just for “the nerds” is over. RPGs offer control at a time when kids normally don’t have it We put all sorts of rules on our kids and force them to do things they’d rather not do. Bed time. Homework. Flu shot. Home by 9. No YouTube. The list goes on. Of course, many of the rules and limitations we put on our children are for their safety and health whether they understand the dangers or not. But the fact remains that kids often have very little control over their day-to- day lives. As adults, many of us have forgotten just how fenced-in our lives felt as kids, with few decisions other than maybe where we want to eat or what to wear to school. RPGs have no fences. A good improvisational GM can allow young players to do all sorts of craziness (whether it kills the character or not), and adults watching kids play RPGs will often be shocked at how the kids let loose. I try not to limit my younger players, and when it comes to kids at my table I try to be as supportive of their proposed actions as I can, including praising unique solutions. As parents and teachers, we need to understand that RPGs put no limits on a child’s creativity, and that means no limits in a game, too. Of course, adults should be careful to monitor exactly what young players are hearing and saying and doing in game, but as long as the game’s content is not questionable to the participants and their parents, the sky’s the limit should be the rule of the day, and the young players should be given an opportunity to take risks and maybe break some rules/laws that won’t have consequences in the REAL world — stealing gold from a dragon, however, is never recommended. BONUS REASON FOR EVERYONE TO PLAY: RPGs will continue to thrive RPGs have a long history, and I hope that they continue to grow and expand. But without players, an RPG is dead in the water. And if young gamers aren’t introduced to this different style of gaming, we (current RPG players) run the risk of seeing our hobby die slowly as we get older. I can’t imagine I’ll stop playing RPGs anytime in the future, but at some point... I won’t be around any longer. And based on what I usually see at the local gaming stores, the average age of RPG players has to be in the 40s. (There are some players in their 20s, a bunch in their 30s, but most of them are 40+... this makes sense as that’s about the age of pre-Internet gamers.) Again, I don’t have any official statistics to go on, but I’d have to guess that most RPG players are 40+ years in age, have a family and job, and play one to four times a month with a regular group. I suspect that there’s not a lot of new blood being introduced to the RPG hobby. And we’ve got to change that. Local game stores need to find a way to encourage young players to come in and try an RPG. This could mean creating a specific day or night or weekend and actively alerting schools and parents to the events. The events need to be kid/family-friendly—and this should be enforced! No foul language, DM/GMs vetted and checked out to make sure they understand the rules and boundaries for a game, maybe free pizza and drinks for players. Giveaways and prizes for those who invite friends? Training sessions for young DM/GMs? I love RPGs, and that’s never going to change. I have such fond memories of playing them as a kid, and I still enjoy playing them as an adult. I want my hobby to survive, and I imagine my fellow RPGers do, too. For this reason, we NEED kids playing RPGs.
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Shirt of the Month
WOODLAND TERROR Large monstrosity, neutral evil Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 137 (11d12 + 66) Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft. STR 22 (+6) DEX 12 (+1) CON 22 (+6) INT 8 (-1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 8 (-1) Skills Stealth +4, Perception +6 Damage Resistances slashing, cold Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16 Languages -- Challenge 9 (5,000 XP) Keen Hearing. The woodland terror has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. Woodland Sneak. The woodland terror has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when attempting to sneak up on unsuspecting prey. ACTIONS Multiattack. The woodland terror can use its Monstrous Howl and makes two claw attacks. Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d6 + 6) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) piercing damage. Monstrous Howl. The woodland terror emits a terrifying howl in the direction of one target it can see within 50 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Intelligence saving throw against the howl or take 14 (4d6) thunder damage. Poison Breath (Recharge 5-6). The woodland terror exhales a 30-foot cone of poisonous gas. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The woodland terror shares many traits with its wintry cousin, the yeti, and possesses an untamed dark coat of gray, brown and black fur that allows it to hide in its natural surroundings and protects it from many types of slashing weapons. The woodland terror is territorial, and will attack all creatures it encounters within two miles of its lair.
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Basics of Crafting with Tinkercad Placing, Sizing and Rotating Objects by James Floyd Kelly There’s nothing wrong with seat-of-your-pants crafting… just picking up some materials and glue and seeing what your imagination can do. But sometimes you need to do a little planning, whether it’s because you have a limited supply of some material or maybe a little precision is needed. One tool that is invaluable for “testing” the look of a possible creation or providing you with detailed measurements is CAD – Computer-Aided Design. While CAD is useful for designing objects that can be 3D printed, it’s also a great tool for simply seeing what something will look like before you ever cut or glue. This month, you’ll learn some basics using the free Tinkercad CAD application. Just visit tinkercad.com and create a free account. (Tinkercad has plenty of tutorials you can work through if you’re impatient to dive in, too.) Once you’re logged in, click the Create New Design button and follow along with the steps below to learn how to place objects, rotate them, and resize. Note: You’ll find using a mouse with a scroll wheel to be the best way to use a CAD application, but a touchpad will also work. Depending on your operating system, you’ll have to figure out how your touchpad simulates a scroll wheel and handles left and right clicks. Running down the right side of the screen is a section containing an assortment of brightly colored shapes – Box, Cylinder, Sphere, and more. Left click on the Box (red) and drag it out to the Workplane. (The Workplane is the flat gridded workspace that takes up most of the screen.) Release and drop where you want to place it; you can also left-click-and-hold again on a placed object to move it around. Once you have the box placed, left-click-an-hold on the cube in the upper-left corner of the screen and move your mouse around. Notice the Workplane rotates to let you look above, below, and behind the object. You can also press-and-hold down on the mouse wheel and move the mouse around to achieve the same effect. The + and – (plus and minus) symbols below the cube on the left side of the screen will let you zoom in and out on an object. If you scroll the mouse wheel on your mouse, this will also zoom in and out. Left-click the button with the house icon (below the cube on the left side of the screen) to return to the Front View of your project – the word “Workplane” will appear in the lower-left corner of the gridded workspace. Place a Cylinder (orange) on the Workplane so that it doesn’t overlap with the box you placed. Once you have two objects placed, click on the Box. This is called selecting an object; you’ll know the Box is selected when it is surrounded by five small white squares on its bottom corners and one on its top surface four, black squares at the midpoints of its four bottom edges, and a small black cone near the top surface. The orange Cylinder is not selected; it does not display the resizing controls (white squares). If you left-click-and-hold on one of the white squares and move your mouse around, the selected object will change in length and width. You can stretch an object to increase its width and length. Clicking on the white square on the top surface and moving the mouse will allow you to increase or decrease the height of the object. Clicking on one of the four black boxes (at the midpoints of the bottom edges) allow you to resize the selected object in one direction only; clicking on the left-edge black box, for example, and dragging to the right will increase the width of the box. As you reshape the object, notice that the length and width measurements are displayed in white boxes. At any time, you can release the mouse button and click on one of the white boxes and type in a value. This is useful when you know the exact length or width you need for your object. At any time, you can select an object by clicking on it and then clicking again on any of its colored surface and then hover your mouse pointer over any of the white corner squares (but don’t click) and the height and width measurements will appear. Likewise, hover over the top white square and the height will be displayed. While an object is selected (and the white boxes appear in the corners), notice a small curved line with arrows that appears in front of the object. Move your mouse pointer over that curved line and a circular pattern will appear around the object. Left-click-and-hold on the curved line and move your mouse. This will rotate the object, with the degrees of rotation appearing in a small white box. If you keep the mouse pointer inside the circle, movements will rotate in 22.5-degree increments. Moving the mouse pointer outside the circle will allow you to rotate in 1-degree increments. This rotation is occurring around the object’s Z-axis, as if a wire were inserted vertically down the center of your object, top to bottom. Rotate the Workplane left or right while an object is selected and you’ll notice two additional curved lines that appear around the object. These are used to rotate your object around the X-axis and Y-axis. The curved line on the left in the box in the image below rotates the box around the Y-axis – basically rotating the object front-to-back or back-to-front. The curved line towards the back of the box in the image below rotates around the X-axis – rotating the object left-to-right or vice versa. Finally, click on the box and locate the small black cone that sits above the top surface of the box. Left-click-and-hold on the cone and move your mouse forward or backward – this will raise and lower the object with respect to the Workplane. A shadow will appear beneath the object and a white box with a value that represents the height the object now rests above the Workplane. You’ll learn these controls best if you drop some objects on the Workplane and play around with them. Resize them… rotate them… raise and lower them. Stack some objects by raising them up at different increments and then dragging the objects to create towers. A few final tips: • When selecting an object, tap the Delete or Backspace key to delete it or click the garbage can icon in the upper-left corner of the screen. • The Undo button is the left pointing arrow to the right of the garbage can. The Redo button is to the right of the Undo button. • Click the Edit Grid button in the lower-right corner of the Workplane window to change between Millimeters and Inches. (The default is Millimeters.) Next month: Grouping Objects (so they act as a single object) and using Hole Objects (negative space) to create cutouts and remove “material” from solid objects.
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Don't have time to put together a one-shot adventure for your gaming group? Save time by using this pre-drawn map, created by Daniel F. Walthall (@axebane). Just roll up some random encounters, magic items, and traps and you're in business.
"... her anger was so great, that Leeiju called upon Yoranbik to bury the temple and the acolytes who had twisted the teachings to suit their evil desires. The rockslide lasted two days, and earthquakes continued for four days. In the end, no evidence of the temple's existence remained." from Stories Best Lost to Time Volume 2 by Gambluh Oakfoot
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