GM’s Books, Aids, and Resources

Whether you are just starting, just getting back in after a long hiatus, or an experienced Game Master with twenty plus years under your belt of weekly gaming it is alway good to scrape a bit of rust off and polish up some ideas. I’m going to look at some of the websites and books I use to give me some inspiration and that push I often need when I feel burnt out.

It is painfully obvious that I’m not adept at writing or reviews. It is my hope to introduce the reader to resources they may not have come across before or remind them of stuff they may even have collecting dust in the back of their collection.

Print and PDF

GURPS for Dummies

Made for 4th edition GURPS this book might make getting into GURPS much easier. I often loan out my copy to a player if they are having issues with the bulk of text and information from GURPS Characters. I really must get this on pdf as my physical copy is getting pretty battered. Like any of the books in the “For Dummies” range it breaks things down in a simple to follow explanation that just wouldn’t work for any RPG rule book as it just isn’t cost effective. This is a very good resource for new players and GM’s alike. Pages 207-370 is all about running your own GURPS game and creating your own world.

How to be a GURPS GM

Although GURPS specific I would recommend any GM to read this as it offers plenty of advice that is integral to any role playing system. You might consider this an advanced version of “GURPS for Dummies”. EXTREMELY USEFUL is the best way to describe this book. I’m currently coming off of a six year hiatus of playing GURPS and I was shocked at how many rules and bits I had forgotten about just as a player. Sure the core rules were there but I was fuzzy on some of the optional stuff. How to be a GURPS GM is certainly giving me that, “Oh Yeah! I remember that!” moments. I’m currently a player in one game, and GM in four. As a player it is Dungeon Fantasy RPG, as GM it is DFRPG x2, DF, and Monster Hunters. Now although the DFRPG and DF are similar, my players in each group are vastly different. One group is hardcore combat and munchkin, where as the other group enjoys detailed roleplaying and social interactions. They have been known to go out of there way to avoid combat. How to be a GURPS GM certainly has helped dealing with these two different play styles (personally I’m in the middle spectrum between the two).

I still have a lot of refining to do so I often go back to How to be a GURPS GM for ideas and guidance.

Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering

Available from Warehouse 23 in softcover and pdf I suggest reading this after reading How to be a GURPS GM. This book assumes you already have some experience and is there to hone your edge. Once sharpened you will be able to trim the fat from your games and your GM style of play. Robin’s Laws is not GURPS specific and I really recommend everyone having a copy of it.

Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide

The Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide and Wilderness Survival Guide were written in 1986 for first edition AD&D. Although the rules concerning gaming are meant for 1E AD&D there is still plenty of advice and ideas between the covers. The first chapter “Overview” in each book are particularly useful for new game masters. The chapter on “The Underground Environment” in DSG gives plenty of ideas of the constant dangers the players need to be aware of other than the denizens that inhabit the underground. Air quality, cave-ins, choke points, and how water plays a big part underground. Properly used these suggestions will lend a new level of realism to your encounters.

The chapter “Improving Play” I would rate as a must read for any GMs planning an extensive underground adventure. This covers how to prepare for a dungeon exploration from equipment, information gathering, the use of beasts of burden, mapping, speed playing, etc.

For myself the information on “The Underground Environment” has been instrumental in shaping my current campaign world which takes place completely underground. This covers cultures, Geography in three dimensions, and the nature of living underground. Brilliant stuff.

These 1E books can be purchased in pdf format from Wizards of the Coast official DriveThruRPG website

Pyramid Magazine

Pyramid Magazine has been around since 1993 and started off as an actual magazine (do any of you still remember those?) In 1998 it transformed itself into an online version with an article every week and finally it’s third and final transformation into a monthly pdf in 2008 until it was canceled in 2018. I still weep for the loss of the monthly Pyramid pdf. It is a fountain of information and new ideas and gave me a continuous supply of all things GURPS. You can still purchase the pdf’s from Warehouse 23.

Veins of the Earth by Patrick Stuart

A few blogs raved about Veins of the Earth by Patrick Stuart. It is expensive to get a physical copy at around £30-£50. It is for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess game but had people boasting about it’s uses for playing underground settings. The A5 book is lovely and there is some very useful ideas in the books but ultimately it is very specific for a style of gaming and system. I wouldn’t recommend it as a casual read as it is twice as expensive as The Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide at DriveThru RPG and provides little extra in my opinion. I would like to add that there are a lot of monsters and cultures within Veins of the Earth that might interest some people, but again they are very specific to that game system and, for me at least, didn’t offer anything that I would consider using.

I had a personal issue with the scribbly art and mapping style as well as my misunderstanding from some reviews on what was offered in the book so I might be negatively biased about my dislike of the book.

The works of Philip Reed:

Philip Reed has been producing game aids for decades. Recently he has been flooding Kickstarter with his “Dozen Rumors” series, Delayed Blast Gamemaster, Dungeon Encounters, Fantasy City Sites and Scenes, amongst many others. If you have missed the Kickstarters there is nothing to worry about. They are available at DriveThruRPG under Philip Reed Games and some are available as Print on Demand from Amazon of which I have mentioned in this previous post.

The Dungeoneer’s Field Guide to Hazards (2004) by Philip Reed is an excellent read. Although not intended for GURPS specifically it does contain over fifty pages of hazards you could encounter in a dungeon. It certainly will add a bit of spice to my encounters! Ideas are provided for the quality of air, to the fungus that grows underground, to the frailty of underground complexes that are not maintained.

Raging Swan Press

Although Raging Swan Press does offer many PDF’s for sale I generally use their website for their “20 Things” series and free guides. They offer an array of Gaming Neutral as well as Pathfinder, OSR, and 5e. They are worth checking out.

DMGR1 Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide (2e)
DMGR5 Creative Campaigning (2e)

Although I no longer own these books I do remember the Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide as well as the Creative Campaigning to be particularly helpful at times.

Grimtooth’s Trap series

Who doesn’t know about Grimtooth’s Traps? A series of generic game aids from the 80’s to help Game Masters slaughter their players in many horrendous and ingenious ways! Thankfully they are available from DriveThruRPG

Citybook series

Also from Flying Buffalo games is the Citybook series I-VII. Might seem dated by some but I still enjoy them.

Websites

Sad to say that while going through my links folder I had to delete over ten addresses that are no longer with us. Many have deleted their web pages and switched to a Patreon system as well, that’s really not my type of thing so I won’t be listing those here. This is probably the reason why I’ve been going old school and buying books or printing pdf’s to have them bound.

Creighton Broadhurst is the publisher at Raging Swan Press and publishes lots of good information for GM’s

Dungeon Fantastic is the blog from GURPS writer Peter V. Dell’Orto filled with lots of good information

GURPS Day Feed Hosted by Gaming Ballistic this site links all GURPS blogs (this one included) into a daily feed so you can find out when something new comes up!

GURPS Repository A website with a lot of fan based monsters, spells and conversions.

The Mook.net Combat Examples: I often have new players look over Warren Wilson’s website for some great examples for GURPS 4e combat.

Sean Punch’s Journal for all the latest GURPS news.

Stuff I’ve not yet gotten/read but might do

I certainly can not recommend any of the following as I have yet to purchase them but they are currently in my saved shopping cart for when I have that extra bit of cash and don’t mind splurging on something that sounds cool but might not be useful (like Veins of the Earth was to me).

Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers’ Handbook by Robert Plamondon. Review for this book is mixed. Many saying the information is outdated for older playstyles from the 70’s and early 80’s but as that is when I started RPG’s it might still be of use to me.

Lairs, Dens and Burrows: Short adventures for Four Against Darkness, for Characters of Any Level by Andrea Sfiligoi. Some good reviews on Amazon PoD. Andrea Sfiligoi has a good amount of Solo adventure books that could be used for inspiration.

The Book of Random Tables by Matt Davids. Available in print or Kindle versions this is a series of books with mixed reviews.

Megadungeon Design: Overland Mapping

If you read the multitude of blogs out there Campaigns rarely last for more than a year or two before either the players get bored or the GM gets burnout. My last attempt at a Megadungeon was to convert Dungeon Crawl Classic #51 Castle Whiterock and that lasted for two levels before the group disbanded due to some moving away, others not able to schedule game time in due to real life commitments. This hasn’t stopped me from wanting to run an epic megadungeon game which is why I’ve been slowly coming up with a fantasy setting that takes place completely underground.

Planning my Megadungeon

If my Megadungeon is endless then I should make some kind of “overland” map to get an idea of where the players may be heading so I know what lies ahead (or below). I first got the idea of using a Transit Style map for a quick abstract guide back in 2010 with Profantasy Softwares May 2010 Annual “Abstract Maps”. I was pretty pleased with myself until I realised that Gary Gygax had done almost the same thing in 1978 (two years before I discovered D&D) with Dungeon Module D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth.

Dungeon Module D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth.
London Transit Map

Gygax came up with an easy system, much like a transit map, of showing the players where they were in relation to where they have been, albeit in an abstract form. This frees up the GM from having to make miles of rooms and corridors that will never get explored. Each “transit line” would represent the main route, whether it is a long winding cavern, a massively wide corridor, or a tiny one yard wide passage. Along the indicated route you have marker points that represent either encounter points, Burrows (Residential Towns), or large campaign size dungeon. This doesn’t mean that there is nothing between point A and point B. It just means the players will not be mapping and exploring those points at this time.

Now on a transit map, which now has a pretty standardised look worldwide thanks to Harry Beck’s 1933 London Underground Map, each rail line as a designated colour. However I’m not making a rail system I’m designing a Megadungeon! So I propose to make an elevation colour meter to give a sense of what level the routes are. I may make an isometric map once I get enough points created

A very quick mock up of how the line colour represents that it is on a different level.
The beginning of the Campaign Region map (work in progress)
This map is the players map and shows only areas that will be known to them. Hidden is the extensive version but I don’t want them seeing those yet.

As you can see from the maps above the region map will represent eight levels. Now the colour of which it intersects with a Burrow can indicate how many levels it has. Take Silkdown. It has a Level 1 and 2 major route. So it would be safe to say that it has at least two levels, although this is not always the case. Following the Level 2 route from Silkdown it suddenly raises from level 2 to level 6. This could indicate an elevator, stairs, shaft, or a sloped raise from 2-6 without any exits between the other levels. I will be including some dashed and dotted routes to indicate lesser used to secret routes.

I’ve kept a hexagon grid system on the regional map so that I might scale in to more detailed areas (see image below) I will also be able to link up other regional maps in the future to this one thus increasing the size of the dungeon. Whatever scale I end up with will be in some way able to scale perfectly with my 7″ modular tiles so I can make some modular dungeon on the quick and slot them in.

Just an example of how I might use the regional map grid to scale in more detailed areas. Actual scale is still being worked on.

Encounter Areas

Encounter areas can be anything from a point of interest, to something special about the passage, to a small series of rooms, to a full blown dungeon area. Again this is a concept utilized by Gary Gygax in 1978. I like this idea as it allows the players to travel farther afield without having to map out the entire four day journey which would bore even the most OCD of gaming mappers.

D3: Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax, TSR, 1978

Another way of showing depth and scope, other than 3D modeling everything or isomorphic mapping, is to use a 2D side view. About ten years ago this became quite the craze kicked off by Stonewerks’s and Dyson. It became so popular that Profantasy even made a mapping anual for vertical dungeons in 2011. My first introduction to a vertical dungeon map was in 1981 with the vertical map in the D&D Basic book. I stared at this picture constantly and tried my hand at drawing my own.

1981 D&D Basic Rulebook
Stonewerks Vertical Geomorphs.
Dyson’s Vertical Morphology

Honorable Mentions

I should point out that there is Node Based mapping for megadungeons.

Melan on the Darkshire .net has a useful linear approach to mapping.

The Angry GM uses an encounter overlay based map, but different then the transit style. It certainly has its merits but I don’t think this would work for my own particular style.

I’m finding out that there are many ways to create an “overland dungeon” map, There isn’t a right or wrong way. Had I the skill or the time to learn I’d quite like to make a big old 3D render, but that isn’t practical. So for now I will stick with the abstract transit style map and use some vertical dungeons for a quick overview of larger areas that don’t need to be fully explored. No adventuring party walks into a small town and immediately starts to survey the entire place. They go to the inn and the shops and the rest of it is just decoration.

I hope you found this an interesting read, if you have any suggestions please make a comment!

Inspirational Links

Dungeon Fantastic
Greyhawks Underdark
Raging Swan
Grognardia
Dyson Logos
Stonewerks
Angry GM







Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge

The Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge is live! The first stretch goal unlocked not shortly after! 12 pdf challenge. For a minimum of $3.00 USD you can get up to 12, ten page pdf’s for GURPS! I’ll attempt to edit the blog entry as it progresses.

UPDATE: All 12 pdf’s unlocked! 2,781 backers pledged $57,663 to help bring this project to life.

GURPS Action 6 – Tricked Out Rides: This 10-page PDF, written by Sean Punch, is a quick-and-dirty toolkit for adventures where sports cars pack more gadgetry than fighter jets, and miniguns fit behind headlights!

GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail: Adventure and intrigue are on the Incense Trail, one of the earliest trade routes between disparate civilizations. Hostile terrain, magnificent treasures, political plots, and more await those who venture across the Arabian Peninsula.

Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew: This PDF offers a set of character templates consistent with how space opera and soft sci-fi depict voyages to the stars, with roles spanning command, helm, ops, tactical, engineering, medical, science, and security, plus staff to look after cargo and passengers.

Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star: This stand-alone adventure features the background, maps, and new monsters needed to bring it to life. It’s designed to scale for any number of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy heroes, ranging in ability from standard adventurers to more-seasoned heroes.

How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic offers tips and tricks,points out pitfalls, and provides new mechanics to handle trouble situations.

GURPS Steampunk Adventure: The Broken Clockwork World: This campaign setting presents a GURPS Steampunk framework featuring cross-world travelers in a world where reality is falling apart. Can the heroes escape, thrive, or even put things right?

Reign of Steel Read the Sky: The tiny Welsh village of Tenby has dropped out of vidcom contact. Two teams were sent to investigate; neither has returned. Time to send in the SAS!

GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1: GURPS Monster Hunters champions are among the best in the world at what they do…but there’s always more that needs doing. GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1 presents two encounters ready to use in any Monster Hunters campaign.

GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries: GURPS Action 7 provides players with guidelines and a new lens for creating mercenary PCs. It offers GMs advice and tables for setting up mercenary adventures and campaigns.

Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides: Tomorrow Rides presents the background, history, and stats for this organization. It also includes quick-and-easy rules for how to modify GURPS vehicles to reflect the quirky offerings of Tomorrow Rides.

GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale: Beyond the Pale is a GURPS Horror adventure for four to six seasoned 150- to 200-point characters.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy provides extensive resources for “Old School” hack ‘n’ slash gaming, but one thing has been missing up until now: support for dungeons big enough to be the location of an entire campaign. For dungeons with dozens of levels and hundreds of rooms. For megadungeons.

GURPS News

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warehouse23/steve-jackson-games-gurps-2020-pdf-challenge

So probably not news to everyone but a new KickStarter for SJG is coming up and this one is GURPS related. ” Can we unlock all twelve PDFs before the clock runs out? ” So we have the titles to four of them and I’m excited about the Aciton 6: Tricked out Rides for my Monster Hunters game and How to be a GURPS GM Ritual Path Magic for my fantasy settings. Will there be a Dungeon Fantasy or DFRPG pdf in that lot? I dont’ know yet. This is to be a short run KickStarter so make sure you subscribe for an update when it launches!

Edit 28/06/2020

News from Dungeon Fantastic including the titles for the first 6 of 12 pdf’s!

GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides
GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail
GURPS How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic
GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World
GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons

Look that the sixth title! Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons!! I’m really looking forward to this one!

GURPS ON DEMAND

Despite my constant bitching and moaning they still have not added UK or CA links for their print on demand, but that aside there are eight DFRPG titles and plenty of regular GURPS titles like Psionic Powers which I missed out on back in the day. These are all soft cover but the PoD is much better than it was originally so I’m not as hesitant to purchase them now.

GURPS Combat Cards in Print coming as well. I’m pretty excited to see those! They are only available for pre-order for those that backed the t-shirt KickStarter and only for the U.S. but once all the backers get their shirts they will be made available on Warehouse 23! So that is very cool! Something I’ve been asking for for over five years!

EDIT June 26th 2020

Literally a day after posting this blog, Gaming Ballistic reports on some additional information pertaining to this post.

I plan on doing a review of Dungeon Fantasy Planner in the next month or so depending on how much time I have to hand draw and write in this planner. I went ahead and purchased the pdf and a PoD copy from Amazon. Anything to support GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and DFRPG!

Dungeon Crafter’s Sketch Book

Philip Reed is known for his works with Steve Jackson Games, however he has been doing a rapid fire of Kickstarters (28 in total so far) campaigns of useful RPG tools such as; The Book of Unusual Potions, for use with Fantasy RPGs , Delayed Blast Gamemaster, Dungeon Challenge Cards – For use with many tabletop RPGs. and most recently Dungeon Crafter’s Sketch Book – Square and Hex Editions. I naturally backed this for the Hex edition. Although shipping is not available outside of North America he has made physical copies available through Amazon Print on Demand.

My PoD copy from Amazon

The PoD for the UK is perfect bound with good quality paper. I was pleasantly impressed! I’ve been in a mood to hand draw my maps lately and as primarily a GURPS player I’m happy to do all of it on hex paper. Each hex is 7mm with a thicker outline of a hex flower. I love the sketchy hand drawn style of the hex grid which really adds to the aesthetic of a hand drawn map.

First material test Calligraphy pens and ink

I tried several media types on the paper. The first was calligraphy pen and ink. The ink was barely visible on the back side of the page.

Second media type, drawing pens.

I then tried using my artist drawing pens ranging from 005 to 08. This bled through just slightly on the backside but nothing too distressing. I did put a couple of dots from Sharpe pens but they bled heavily through the paper so they are not ideal at all.

The 08 to 02 bled through not so much the 01 or 005 pen size.
Using a larger scale
Pen and Coloured pencil

Coloured pencils work very well and I will now probable use my Calligraphy pens and the coloured pencils when using the book.

You can purchase the pdf’s from DriveThruRPG

Or order a physical copy from Amazon.

In search of adventure!

As mentioned in a previous post (read it here) I’ve been playing a weekly game of Dungeon Fantasy RPG powered by GURPS using Roll20 to get together as we are dealing with the lockdown here in the UK. It has been an amazing experience mostly because I’ve not actually played GURPS as a player in so many years. It is also nice to have new players and seeing the widely different play styles. Alex, who plays Grobar the Holy Warrior, is a fountain of knowledge and experience on GURPS. I don’t play regularly enough these days and I can certainly say I’ve forgotten more than I knew about the rules over the last fifthteen years. Alex has been a real boon to the party as he makes tactical and rule options for our characters, but in a helpful way not in a rules lawyer kind of way. Ricardo’s character Saskar doesn’t hit as hard as Grobar or Zelenka but his DX is higher and is able to get those rapid strikes “TO THE FACE” (as he shouts) with moderate accuracy. He is also our source of comedy and keeps us laughing with his rapid fire memes on the discord channel. Filipe was playing Roland the mage but commitments has taken him out of the game for what we hope is only a short time. All brought together through Gus, our GM, whos descriptions of our scene draws life to the game. I haven’t had this much fun in years!

getting ready for some online gaming!

Paragons of the Six Divines

Gus told me to design my own religion for the game so I came up with the “Paragons of the Six Divines”. It is a holy order of six immortals who where said to once be mortals themselves, found immortality and through cultivation and their own pure deeds ascended to godhood. As such they don’t appeal to the common man who need gods of agriculture, the forge, war, and other aspects of the mortal realms. The Paragons of the Six Divines are a symbol of what man can achieve through selfless acts of kindness, sacrifice, honor, and truthfulness. What many find unattainable or unwilling to endure. Their order is best known for their charitable institutions; hospitals, schools, and orphanages. These can be found throughout the lands and open to anyone, something that has caused friction with some local customs or laws. However most kingdoms have not only grown accustomed to their services but heavily rely on them which affords the order some grace. Most monks, nuns, and clerics of the Six were residents of the orphanages and grew up within the faith.

Paragons of the Six Divines

Honor – To do what is morally right. Represented by the God Conlaoch

Courage – strength in the face of pain or grief. Represented by the Goddess Parthenia

Magnanimity – generosity. Represented by the goddess Rione

Patience – acceptance of problems and suffering. Represented by the God Vivasat

Justice – just behaviour or treatment. Represented by the God Bran

Truthfulness– the fact of being realistic or true to life; realism. Represented by the Goddess Erosi

Paragons of the Six Divines are extremely popular with orders chivalry. Those that can become living representations of the six can ascend to Sainthood and become Demi-Gods. They are highly respected but few have what it takes to follow their strict regime. Because of this the God Vivasat is the most popular out of the six although each deity has an equal standing in the pantheon. Anyone is welcome to worship although they are more popular with Humans, Elves, some Dwarves, and a few Gnomes. 

Setting the scene

This is where I bore everyone about the back story and adventures of my character. We started out at 150 points rather than the standard 250 points. This is about four sessions worth of info so I certainly understand the TLDR people.

Zelenka Dagian (meaning Fresh Dawn) is a Half-Ogre who’s human mother died giving birth to an ugly half-breed. She died at one of the charity hospitals of Paragons of the Six Divines. Zelenka’s childhood was not without strife, despite being members of the Six the monks were very cruel to Zelenka and many of the other children were encouraged to leave him alone and if they were mean to him the monks would look the other way. They would also “punish his inherent wickedness” at the smallest infraction of the rules. Many would expect such a child to grow up as wickedly as he was treated, and that might have been the case if it wasn’t for the Abbot Svoboda of the monastery and Kateřina Dvořák the Cleric of the county. They taught Zelenka to read the true meaning of the scriptures, how the care for others through sacrifice, being patient and accepting, how truth starts within oneself and in doing so brings honor and justice to the world.

The bishop himself, Casimir Sedlák, was well pleased with Zelenka’s progress, “Although a bit dim he would make a proud member of our Holy Order” The bishop fully intended for Zelenka to be added to the ranks of Holy Warriors. At sixteen Zelenka was already six foot and a naturally built warrior. Instead of a cleric’s staff he was taught the polearm by sergeant Borek Mazal, now retired but famed for his Poleaxe squad “Deliverance of Mercy” or just “Mercy” for short. At the battle of Passhead Valley Sgt. Mazal commanded 20 pikeman and held off a hoard of 70 goblins long enough for the village to be evacuated. In reality it was thirty but the story keeps growing.

Zelenka had no interest in causing harm to others if he could avoid it and wanted nothing more than to stay in the cloister on a sunny day with a book or scroll, or to work in the hospital tending the sick and wounded. The Bishop persisted that his place was with the warriors and so his training in arms and armour continued. When Zelenka finished his studies at the age of twenty it became apparent to everyone, including the Bishop, that Zelenka had an aptitude for not only healing but a strong connection with the Paragons of the Six Divines (I increased his Power Investiture) compared to the other deacons. Although gentle, honest, and true to his studies Zelenka didn’t have the mental capabilities as the other deacons (IQ 11 instead of 14-15) but was nonetheless ordained a Cleric of the Six.

Upon receiving his new status he was given a gift from his mentors. A fine silver plated, dwarven made Bec de corbin (thus reducing the penalty of not being able to parry after an attack), and a suit of leather armor.

Two months after being ordained Zelenka received a dream message about a monk of the Six who always kept himself in a deep cowl and never showed his face. Zelenka was tasked with finding his resting place and bringing the monks remains back to the monastery. After spending weeks in study he finally found enough clues that Zelenka was positive of the monks locations. He appealed to his superiors to get him funding to retrieve the remains but he was denied. Zelenka wrote to the Bishop himself but was dismissed as “An overactive imagination induced by the stress passing the seminary and now lack of direction and focus.” Zelenka was then tasked with hospital duty for the next several weeks to focus on those with real needs.

After one long day of healing Zelenka returned to his straw pallet, exhausted and fatigued. Rolling on his side and about to blow out his candle he spies a letter on the floor. In his exhaustion he did not see it upon entering his room. Curiosity got his groaning body out of bed and opened the letter. It was from an unnamed benefactor who was not only going to fund his expedition but was able to get him a signed letter from the Bishop allowing him to proceed with his quest! ” goddess Rione be praised”

Long story short he met Rowan the Mage and Saskar the Knight (Horseman from the North) and hired them to accompany him on the week long journey into wild country. Once a price was agreed upon Zelenka purchased the needed supplies and a pack donkey to carry it all. The trip out was uneventful, but did give the three newbie heroes time to get to know each other. Their weariness of a six foot, eight inch tall Half-Ogre soon gave way to his honest and kind nature.

They reached the area and scouted it out. The visions led Zelenka to believe they needed to go into the mines but it was getting late and they decided to scout out the ruined town nearby first and make camp. That night they were ambushed by the Undead, two of us being prone and Saskar on watch. Long story short we got our buttocks handed to us with everyone taking damage and Rowan being knocked unconscious. I failed to heal anyone in the party but myself, so as a Cleric I realise the fault was not with me, not with the dice, but obviously my companions were not pure at heart so my Gods refused to heal them. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

We rested for a day do to our injuries and fortified our little encampment as best we could. Once we are healed up with take to the mines. We agreed to take donkey with us as we didn’t want to leave him to be victim to the undead in the ruined town. Heading into the mine we notice that there are rooms, crypts, a chapel all carved out as well. Showing that this was once a very thriving mining town! I ask that we go to the Chapel first and I see a altar to the Paragons of the Six Divines with two suits of plate armor on either side of it. When we step in the suits come alive and take an attack stance then start to move toward us!

Zelenka shows no fear, for these are certainly constructs to protect against the unfaithful! Taking his holy symbol he fearlessly (yes I made my roll) walks to the animated armor and recites his prayers. The suits at that point stop all hostilities and collapse in a heap. One of the suits chest plate and lower legs will just fit Zelenka, but the arms, shoulders and upper legs are too small. Zelenka takes one of the shields from the holy armor and straps it to his back. He feels he should learn the shield sometime in the future (or if I can get my ST to 18 I can use the Bec de corbin with one hand!). Zelenka spends some time at the altar praying before heading to the crypts.

We head into the crypts and disturb some kind of creature that is unknown to any of us. Zelenka casts Sense Evil while Saskar and Rowan prepare for battle. The creature is truly evil and severely damages Saskar! Zelenka uses Turning to keep the monster at bay while Rowan and Saskar dispatch it!

Foul undead creature!
Zelenka casts Banish! Get behind me foul creature!

Down it’s putrid hole in the ground filled with rubbish and rot Zelenka uncovers a Vellum Scroll in an older dialect. There is some kind of prophecy written on it. When Zelenka reads some of it an ArchAngel appears before Zelenka (and Zelenka only, maybe he is dilusional? Nah.) and tells him of the prophecy and charges Zelenka with a holy mission! During his trance like state the head of Donkey comes flying into the room. and we are beset on by a Minotaur and a Giant!

We chose our tactics better than our first battle with the Skeletons and dispatched the pair although we took considerable damage. Saskar, who took a liking to donkey, kills the Giant in a revenge fueled rage.

R.I.P. Donkey

We didn’t get enough time to lick our wounds as the commotion brings in a stranger to investigate the noise. Enter Grobar the Holy Warrior on a quest to put the undead where they belong! Back in the ground. What better way of doing that than his very effective Combat Shovel (DF Adventures page 102)! After some time to size each other up we decide its in our best interests to align ourselves and clear out this undead and monster infestation. It doesn’t take long either before we are set upon by more skeletons!

Grobar looks a bit like this but skinny

Pushing forward through the skeletons we are ambushed by evil dwarves with crossbows. They really beat the crap out of us. However we were able to rally ourselves at the last minute, Rowan gets knocked unconscious again, Grobar scrambles up the cliff face to take out the Dwarven crossbowmen and Zelenka grabs Saskar and throws him like a sack of rice up over the cliff face. The pair of them easily dispatch the crossbowman (crossbowdwarves?) and the evil cleric dwarf gets away by escaping down a deep pit.

What do you get when you have a Knight, a Holy Warrior, a Wizard, and a Cleric? Four characters who step on every trap!

Mind you I’m writing this weeks after all the events of several gaming sessions and I can’t seem to find many posts with battle pics for the next part. However we find the tomb of the Hooded Monk and the sanctity of his tomb is AMAZING for my cleric! We get attacked by Drow and Drider but with Zelenka able to regain his fatigue almost instantly they were not as serious of a threat as I think they would have been away from the are of high sanctity! Thank goodness for Contingency Casting (DFA20) as well!

Ricardo captures Zelenka’s battle prowess in these memes LOL!
Zelenka fails his fright checks! Earth Elementals are scary!
More fun memes from Ricardo!

Our next threat is an Earth Elemental and Zelenka freezes in combat! It is up to the rest of the group to dispatch the rocky creature! Its at this point that Rowan leaves the group as Filipe has real world obligations to attend to. We hope to see him back soon!

Dynamic lighting now used!
More comedy by Ricardo. Fork in the Road!

Gus starts experimenting with dynamic lighting and it certainly adds a new element to the game! Because of my nightvision 3 I can see farther than the other players and it was very immersive having them ask, “What do your elf eyes see Legolas?” Well more damn Skeletons that is for sure.

Dark dungeon with skeletons! Loving it!

During this battle our rolls were spot on, some of us still took damage but Zelenka was able to dispatch three of them! Not single handedly of course. Saskar and Grobar soften them up. Sometimes going last isn’t a bad thing! “One of the skeletons drop an unholy mace. We left it where it laid, mostly because when Saskar tried to lift it he could not budge it. Not nasty enough to lift the unholy mjolnir!

We’re so tactical we weaponized tardiness

Ricardo
Thank the divine there was only one and he didn’t cut anyone!

Our next victim, um I mean opponent is a Bleeder. We were honestly extremely lucky with the dice! It didn’t inflict any damage to us otherwise we might have been in some trouble! Also there was only one and not a Bleeder horde!

Bone Golem are nasty!

Our last session and final creature was a Bone Golem! That thing messed us up for sure! Zelenka failed his fright check, and his Willpower rolls and was out of action for four full rounds! During that time Grobar and Saskar inflicted considerable damage on the beast but both ended up getting stabbed and injected with venom. Grobar was knocked out and Saskar could barely stand. Finally the sight of his dying companions snapped Zelenka out of his shock and he used Contingency “Awaken” Both make their HT rolls and are up and ready for more! With that we dispatched the Golem and collapse into a weary heap to rest and heal.

Zelenka was late again to the battle but to quote Ricardo again

We’re so tactical we weaponized tardiness

Ricardo
Alex gets into the spirit of posting memes on discord!He titles this one “Saskar vs. Bone Golem”! LOL

Inspiration Pad Pro 3

I thought I wrote about NBOS Software‘s Inspiration Pad Pro in the past btu I can’t seem to find it. Between 2013 – 2016 I was writing GURPS Random generators with IPP. I don’t know what kind of code they use for it as I’m not a programmer, but there is instructions and you can get it for Windows, and Android.

IPP lets you code random encounters, treasure, or if you are really ambitious complete NPC’s. I have played around with it starting out with just skeleton guard encounter. I didn’t want every Skeleton to be a carbon copy so the stats might vary by one or two points. This affects weapon damage and Willpower checks just like normal as I was able to code it all properly.

Want a random race but with Dungeon Fantasy Knight template? No problem. Again slight variation on the stats to make them more random then static. There are still a few code errors in this one but to be fair it has 76 races from GURPS Fantasy, Dungeon Fantasy, Banestorm, etc. and 88 Templates from the same books. A bit over ambitious I will admit.

Having some success at two random drop down boxes I tried doing one with three! This was for my GURPS Fallout campaign I ran. Drop down box options are Race, Occupation, and Difficulty Level. However with some help from the NBOS Forums I was able to add in HP trackers as well. This way when I printed them out I just needed to tick the boxes as they took damage. Also colour coded for Reeling, collapse, death checks.

Having a bit of success with that I coded up some Dungeon Fantasy Goblinkin (not DFRPG). Choosing from Gobiln, Orc, Hobgoblin, and Half-Ork. Occupation of Normal, Guard, Archer, Spearman. And finally a difficulty level of None, Stunted, Irritable, Veteran, Enforcer, Savage, and Boss. Again I have a few coding errors in this as it was never finished (Orcs seem to be suffering some stat loss somewhere). However with a bit of work it could easily be perfected, also it was a copy paste from the Fallout so there are some remnants from that such as the Larvae Spit and the Flight option. Opps.

Inspiration Pad Pro is a useful tool depending on how much work you want to put into it. It has been awhile since I coded anything for it so I will have to relearn much of it. It’s not perfect, it doesn’t deal well with negative numbers well. Not for the subtracting but for showing a – symbol in the results

It can be used for random loot, magic items, encounters, not just NPC’s and monsters.

Nordlond Sagas for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG

Back in September 2019 (read it HERE) I posted about Gaming Ballistic‘s latest Kickstarter which would eventually get 420 backers pledging $24,912 to produce four books for the Norðlond Sagas. These books are

The Dragons of Rosgarth

112 pages written by Kyle Norton & Douglas H. Cole. Full colour softcover book with lay flat binding. Essentially it works just like a ‘Hollow’ in a hardcover book allowing the book to lay almost completely flat without putting undue stress on the spine covering. I’ve had some considerable training in hand bookbinding. I’ve taken several workshops and completed Level One and Two training in London City & Guilds courses in bookbinding. That being said I’m very pleased with the binding and sewing of these books.Sewn signatures will last much longer than just glued sheets as are done in a Perfect Bind.

Now what about the content of The Dragons of Rosgarth? The events that unfold in the books expand on what was hinted at in Hall of Judgement. It takes place in Isfjall roughly 300 miles east of Norðvörn where we were first introduced to Douglas Cole’s “Not Really Icelandic” fantasy setting. You are given enough background information to set an adventure that will span a hundred mile journey with enough to keep the players busy. Background information for the main NPC’s is provided making it easier for the GM to direct their actions. Over 20 new monsters in the Bestiary, some of which I hope I never have to come across as a player (I’m looking at you Stothtroll!). The story line is not linear which for a GM makes it much easier to run. Nothing is worse then trying to herd players down a single path.

The artwork is lovely and the maps are by Monkey Blood Design who I’m particularly fond of his works. On a side note I was very pleased that the May 2020 Cartography Annual from ProFantasy was done by Glynn Seal! I have read most of The Dragons of Rosgarth before my physical copy arrived but it is more enjoyable to have the book in your hand rather than on a backlit screen. I can’t thumb through a pdf with as much enjoyment.

Forest’s End

92 pages written by Merlin Avery. Same binding quality as The Dragons of Rosgarth. My only issue with the pages is the border graphic. It’s sharp contrast is distracting when reading. I’m dyslexic and things like that and page colour really matter. Maybe if it was more of a solid colour than the flames and black from the background graphic it would have been a bit better.

Forest’s End is an adventure book with dungeons! I’m really torn between wanting to run this and wanting to be a player in it! The information provided within makes it easy to use with the other books in the series. I would be nice to be able to purchase posters of the dungeons with 1″ Hexes much like the ones from “I Smell a Rat” that came in the box set of DFRPG. Obviously the cost and logistics of such an option would be a nightmare but maybe the option to purchase the images and getting them printed online or locally could be an option for the future? Who knows, I will suggest it though.

Lots of little gems in the book as well, such as new traps, random tables, and 20 Monsters and NPC’s. I particularly like the Blóðughúfa (redcap) as it represents how horrid and evil faerie can be. GURPS Faerie is one of my favourite books which heavily influenced my first GURPS Fantasy campaign in which I replaced having Gods with Fey.

Norðlondr Fólk

16 page booklet by Kevin Smyth. This stapled booklet is on heavier paper than the previous two books. Lovely full coloured pages with amazing artwork on each page.16 templates to use with your Dungeon Fantasy RPG games. Obviously geared toward Norðlond Sagas, they can be used in any DFRPG setting. Lots of beast races such as the “Not Really Egyptian” Cat-Folk, Björnhjarta (Bear-Folk), Gullinálmur (Boar-Folk), Úlfblóðugur (Wolf-Blooded), Hrafnar (Raven-folk), and the very odd Triger-Folk.

A delightful section on Half-Breeds which takes me back to 2008’s Dungeon Fantasy 3 The Next Level (has it really been 12 years!) with races as Dragon-Blooded, Eldhuð (Demon-Blooded), and Himneskur (God-Blooded) with it’s clever artwork.

We also get a more Norðlond version of Dvergr (Dwarves), Elfàrd (Elves), Gnomes, Vandræðagemsi (Fae Gnomes), Half-Ogres, Half-Orcs, Neveri Halflings, and Hálfálfar (Half-Elves)

The Hand of Asgard

Like Norðlondr Fólk, The Hand of Asgard is a booklet of 16 pages stapled together also written by Kevin Smyth. Thick full colour paper of good quality and with some lovely artwork. The Hand of Asgard is a must for GM’s and any player wanting to play a Cleric or Holy Warrior. Kevin Smyth adds both Cleric Spell list and Holy might and suggestions for Holy Warriors as well. There are no stats for the ten Gods listed, I mean they are Gods after all! However there is a lovely surprise of Valkyrie’s in the back of the book!

To be honest I was unsure of how useful The Hand of Asgard was going to be at 16 pages but there really is 16 pages of very useful information to use. It isn’t just a fluff piece.

I have not been this excited since opening up the Dungeon Fantasy RPG box set back in October 2017. Gaming Ballistic have continued to offer a quality item that makes me feel like I’m 10 years old again playing D&D with my school mates. The Norðlond Sagas for me are like Forgotten Realms of my late teenage years full of information on the culture, area, and history which lays the foundation for adventures for years! Hints of “Not Really England” and thoughts of “Not Really Japan” have been mentioned (although nothing concrete or binding). Personally I’d really like to see a “Not Really China” Wuxia setting for DFRPG set in a Three Kingdoms period or Warring States.

So congratulations to Douglas H. Cole, Kyle Norton, Merlin Avery, and Kevin Smyth on four wonderful products! We hope to see more in future! Also a thank you from this fan to Steve Jackson Games for signing off on these great books, I also hope to see more DFRPG from SJG in the future.

Dungeon Fantasy RPG

I’m playing a weekly game of Dungeon Fantasy RPG powered by GURPS. We are using Roll20 to play the game and it has been a learning experience as I’ve not played GURPS in some time.

I decided to try something that I’ve never done before and I’m playing a Cleric. However I wanted to do something unique so I’m playing a Half-Ogre Cleric that uses a Bec de corbin, a type of Pole Axe (permission granted from the GM to switch Staff with Poleaxe). I’ve selected it to be Dwarven, Fine, Silver plated, Power Item with 7 FP. This will offset the unbalanced penalty allowing the character to attack and defend normally.

It has been years and years since I have been able to play GURPS as a player and it took some getting used to. That and playing with new people meant learning how to interact with their specific play styles, characters, and tactics. It has been a fun experience and has sparked a renewed interest in gaming.

It has been over five years since I used Roll20 and there have been a few upgrades since I last used it. One thing I am particularly fond of is the GURPS character sheet which really speeds up the gaming.

Once the information is filled out it is just a matter of clicking a button to run a macros of your dice rolls including modifiers

Of course I still much prefer to play in person as you don’t have audio issues, drop of internet, and other technical glitches. However with Covid-19, lockdown, self isolation it really is the best option. Plus there are not that many players in my location so being able to play with people at least in the same time zone is helpful! The plus side with the lockdown is more people are home and they are happy to find days to play when I have a day off as I’m still doing shift work and don’t always have the same days off from week to week.

Other news

I’ve received my Kickstarter pledge from Gaming Balistic’s “Nordlond Sagas for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG” and I’m very pleased with the resuts. I’ll make a different post about those books.

I finally broke down and ordered Amazon PoD copies of Companions 2 and Magic Items 2. Now I was extremely critical about the first Companions PoD book (read it HERE). I stick by what I said and I’m still annoyed that SJG do not even attempt to find an EU and South American publisher for easier distribution of their printed products, but I’m not an expert in these things I’m just a customer.

That being said Companions 2 and Magic Items 2 were much better quality then Companions was by a long shot. Full colour pages, better quality paper, much more what I have come to expect from Steve Jackson Games in the past.

Much better quality print

Now the content is of both books are great resources for those playing Dungeon Fantasy RPG. Companion 2 gives 16 magical items, 6 new monsters which includes Adventure Seed ideas and the option to play a Centaur as a delver! Also 14 NPC villains with optional new Racial Templates, Advantages, Traits and a Spell. Certainly makes it worth having in your library. Magic Items 2 has 48 pages and 44 different magic items to entice or harass your players with.

Combining both books together opens a world of possibilities. I was very inspired to use Lady Aimara DFC2(50) and possibly the sword Xingyung (DFMI2 46) in a Wuxia inspired adventure.

I certainly hope we will see more Dungeon Fantasy RPG powered by GURPS in the future!