In which we tread on the toes of the elder ones

 

In my prior post I discussed my first effort at world building. It included a notebook with dozens of pages dedicated to deities. Each had a portfolio, a rune, a color, an animal, a weapon and probably a dozen other symbols. Lonely fun.

Playing and reading about 5e, combined with the passage of 30 years which included five years in the classroom teaching Philosophy, has led to an altered approach to the source of divine magic. Blame it on Odo, Earl of Kent.

You might wanna start with this decent history. Hungry for more? Try this one. And doct
rinaly there's THIS one. For pure gamification there's Goblin Punch. Not an overall fan of Don't Split the Party but they have a nice article from seven years ago. And of course my current Muse, the Tao of D&D has several well written missives on the topic but the best is from 2012 “How to Play a Cleric.” (I especially like #5.) Crossing the Verse gives it a nice treatment as well.

And if you'd prefer to listen to a decent discussion I'd suggest The Wandering DM's, epi 4.

What does all of this mean to my table? Clerics and Paladins will help with the world building. I've used this fascinating site to create a pantheon and will use it to create more as needed. And I'm gonna steal some ideas from here. Players will design their own unique taboos and observances. We'll design the devotions together.

Only one Cleric in the impending party … a Dwarf. He calls for a specific pantheon so I'll revisit the polyhedron site and crank one out! Hopefully outcomes, implications and impacts will be reported in the future.

In which we recount our first attempt at worldbuilding

 

Whoever labeled this “lonely fun” was spot on. It was the mid-late 80's. I'd been playing for almost a decade but I felt something was missing. I played a LOT of board games, mainly from AH and SSI, always looking for things with solo playbility. I wanted to understand the system AND the situation/period simulated. So when I decided to try my hand as world building I started scavenging bits from other games, using them to assemble a Frankengame.

First step was geography. I grabbed my copy of “1776” from Avalon Hill. The eastern seaboard from New England to Georgia. Four regions. Terrain hexes. A transport system. Good city placement. I plopped Thieves World where NYC was and had my own CSotIO. Empires of the Middle Ages had good mechanics to handle languages, expansion, diplomacy, internal affairs and random events. Myriad Dragon Magazines provided a ton of material for designing pantheons and deities. The whole thing was HOURS of “lonely fun.” And never saw the light of day. A handful of sessions were set therein but otherwise it met it's demise when I abandoned the game before I turned 30.

So now as I embark on a new campaign, a new world, and all that that entails I am VERY aware of all the rabbit holes that I can fall down. The lonely fun is still fun, just not quite as much. I've spent a TON of time on world building websites, but instead of input and ideas from 5-6 sources I'm getting it from hundreds. And I'm feeling paralysis by analysis. Never good. I need to stake a few claims, commit, and move on.  Because
players don't care as much as we think they do.

Else it all ends up in a cardboard box being passed on to posterity.

In which we touch on "organized" crime and Thieves Guilds

 

Several authors have done a MUCH better job analyzing the subject than I could, so we'll start with them. First you need to go listen to the Wandering DMs S03E20. Awsome job. Especially loved this historical treatment, bringing in Cervantes and a very obvious inside job in Elizabethan England. They do a GRAND job of touching most of the published products as well. I actually had the Thieves Guild “game,” and ran a campaign in Sanctuary back in the day.

Jeff's Gameblog provides an interesting side story but wraps up with a cohesive idea.

I was expecting Alex Smolensk at Tao of D&D to have more but surprisingly he doesn't. He DOES have one informative post that I need to follow up on.

And finally (or perhaps I should put this FIRST) there's this. The Smithsonian provides this. And we should never forget that St. Nicolas is the patron of thieves.

In my current campaign there IS a traditional over-arching campaign wide TG. They haven't made their presence known much but HAVE reached out to our rogue on occasion with a task or two.

In the NEXT campaign I'm thinking scaled down. Competative street gangs (Warriors, Gangs of New York, West Side Story) in large cities. Small time grifters in the countryside. There's always SOMEBODY to go to, but if you're an itinerant adventurer your probably a much higher level. And maybe an occasional Moriarity wannabe.

In which we play MUCH too long.

 

Prompted by a question from a recent podcast episode. What's the LONGEST session I ever played? As related earlier I started in the late 70's. At some point therein the husband of an acquaintance asked my to introduce he and a few friends to the game. Twenty-somethings. I did. They were hooked. And they played together for years although I never DM'd for them again after that first session. I don't even recall what I ran. But half a decade later I got a phone call. They were ready to wrap it up. And they wanted me to do it. They rented a suite at a hotel here in C-bus. I pulled an all-nighter on Wednesday, took my last exam of the quarter on Thursday, then drove down to sleep as long as I could before the marathon. They'd provided me their character sheets and I'd reviewed them. I was just gonna “de-power” some of their more ridicules stuff but provide the adventure they wanted. I ran the entire G series, then the entire Descent into the Depths. They'd taken Friday off and we started promptly at noon. I would excuse players for food runs and, once we got into Saturday, nap breaks. Hill Giants fell. Frost Giants. King Snurre. They had a couple of close calls pushed on. Through the Drow. Through the Shrine of the Kuo-toa. In the vault they finally lost one. He was the youngest player. Made a rash decision. We took a break and this group of grown men wept for their fallen comrade. A pretend elf.

As Saturday night crept into Sunday morning they braved the Demonweb Pits. And won. And wept some more. Almost 48 hours of essentially non-stop play. I gathered my stuff, loaded my car, drove home and slept for a VERY long time. And I never saw any of them again.

In which we discuss our introduction and experience

 

Q&D intro: Started playing in college back in the late 70's. After a few rotations it was agreed that I should be the DM. And so I was. For the next decade. Then I went cold turkey. Gave away BOXES of books, notes, maps, Dragon Magazines and minis. That lasted another dozen years. Then I married a family – lovely woman with a cute 7 year old. I never pushed it but I DID encourage it. Still remember a stellar Christmas which included the board game “Dungeon!” He dabbled but never dove in. Until about half a dozen years ago. I asked if I could come and watch a session or two of his. They were awesome. 5E was awesome. So I asked to join. Played for about a year under two Dms, then asked if I could take a turn at the helm. Ran a game for about six months and loved it. The bug was back.

Put together my OWN game after the first wave of da 'Rona here in Ohio. It should come to it's natural epic conclusion around Labor Day and then I hope to start another. Have a good group. GF. Three old friends. And a new guy who's been great. We'll see who wants to stick around. Once we start I'll post game play notes but on a six month delay. Probably start posting about the CURRENT game on a delay now. You'll know in six weeks.

So what do I expect from this? Catharsis. And a little “here's how I do it. How do YOU do it?” And maybe some occasional introspection. OH – and homebrews. And theory.. Hope you've wandered by late enough to find some actual content.