"A is for Alleys", "B is for Bizarre Bazaar", and other news!
Writing City of Adventure Alphabet, Revising SS&SS 2nd Edition, Weird Discoveries, and WG&WGP!
I will try to go straight to the point with this, so I don’t dread writing it so much! Let’s go!
What’s going on?
I spent half of the last year and the first month of this year rotting in depression but I am back now.
I am revising, expanding, and improving the text I wrote for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells - 2nd Edition a few years ago. I have learned a lot since them, and Exalted Funeral is putting together a team to help me make this the best sword and sorcery RPG I can make! I am falling in love with this game again after years and years, and I am excited to begin sharing some of it with you soon!
And while I am working on that, I sometimes procrastinate writing entries on a book I am calling City of Adventure Alphabet, a book of references an random tables for running games in classical weird pulpy sword and sorcery cities like Lankhmar, the City of Thieves, Blackmoor, Ankh-Morpork, and many others. The idea is write a letter here and there between my “main” current work and publish part of the entries here and on my website. I am having a lot of fun with it, and using it as a play SS&SS 2e with my home group!
Oh, and the podcast is going strong. I have been talking to some amazing people, talented creators, and fellow weirdos. Check out some highlights below. Weird Games and Weirder People is available wherever you listen to your podcasts (I mean it!).
Now let’s check some City of Adventure draft entries…
A is for Alleys
Alleys are everywhere, and they lead to nowhere. Well, unless you really know where you are going. Or you found a secret passage to a hideout, stumbled upon a portal to another dimension, was dragged down to the Abyss by a demon, or any sort of other weird things that often happens at such dark, narrow, smelly, and secretive locations. More common in less savory areas of the city, alleys are often where those that want to remain unseen meet, and hide their affairs. From common bandits, cultists, corrupt guards, to sorcerer cabals, demonologists, alien cats, to things much weirder and more ominous.
How to Use Alleys
Great place to put secretive NPCs, locations, lost objects, or other hard to find finds (like occasional portals to other dimensions).
Excellent location for secretive meetings with less reputable members of society (or complete outsiders, like the ghost of someone who died in the alley).
Characters can always stumble upon an alley as they flee from a creature, exit from the back door of an inn, or totter back home from a night of partying.
B is for Bizarre Bazaars
The legendary bazaars of the greatest cities in the world attract thousands of people everyday, and night, to the hundreds of vendors, booths, tents, street artists and other attractions offered by these events. Or would it be a mobile location? Whatever it is, bazaars are a hub of opportunities for any adventurer in a large city. Suspicious elderly merchants sell relics and maps they claim can lead to further treasures, and otherworldly powers. Wondrous and wicked artifacts can sometimes be found, although the price charged for them can exceed the coins one must surrender. Almost anything can be found there, if you know who to ask for it, and can pay the price.
How to Use Bizarre Bazaars
Characters might need the service of a professional, like a translator, an antiquarian, a witch, a warlock, a locksmith, or something else, and they can be found at a tent in the Bazaar.
Bazaars are a great place for characters to spend some money, look for informants, spend some of their hard earned coin on curious trinkets and possible adventure opportunities.
Bazaars are also a great place to set meetings, both public and secretive ones. With so many people, noise and movement, remaining hidden in a crowd is an easy task. Likewise, if eyes are something you want, there are plenty there.
Positive and Negative Die as d6s (for SS&SS 2e)
Positive and Negative Die are a great way to simplify situational modifiers, eliminating the need for tables of modifiers that codify every possible situation. However, they may simplify things a little too much, since they nullify one another, don’t stack, and don’t offer much information on the consequences of their use. That might be fine for the majority of players.
However, you could also try using d6s for Positive and Negative Dice, one color for each. You can roll multiple Positive and Negative Dice with your d20 roll if multiple circumstances apply.
A Positive Dice result can be temporarily added to the Attribute score for the Test, but the player can only choose one of the Positive Dice rolled to do so, no matter how many are rolled.
A Negative Dice result can be added to the Difficulty of the Test, but the Referee can only choose one of them to do so, no matter how many are rolled.
Boons and Setbacks
If either the Positive or Negative Dice come up as a 6, additional consequences apply.
Boons: If one Positive 6 is rolled, the player (or Opponent) adds a Positive Die to their next Test, narrating what happened to grant this advantage. If they roll two 6s, the player (or Opponent) may give a Positive Die to an ally’s next Test and narrate what happens to give that individual an advantage. With three 6s, the player (or Opponent) gets an immediate extra Action, and narrates what gave them this opportunity!
Setbacks: On rolling one Negative 6, the Referee describes what imposes a Negative Die on that character’s (or Opponent’s) next Test. With two Negative 6s, the character’s (or Opponent’s) foegains a Positive Die on their next Test and describes what happens to grant it. With three Negative 6s, the character’s (or Opponent’s) foecan act immediately or the Referee can apply an appropriate harmful effect. The table below summarizes this information.
Weird Discoveries!
Someone said I should post some of the great books and zines I check out on Instagram (follow me there at @diogo_oldskull) here! So here it goes
Leyre
by Nicolò Pellizzon
A weird system neutral fantasy setting with amazing art and minimal yet very evocative text! Just beautifully strange!
Completely Unfathomable
By Jason Sholtis and Paul Wolfe
An incredibly fun, creative and well designed adventure and setting for DCC RPG (available for other OSR systems as well). Amazing art as well! Weird fantasy at its best!
Deify: A Mythical Solo Role-Playing Game
by Allyson D’Antonio
A beautiful solo journaling game about being a god, mythology and everything it entails. And it looks absolutely stunning! Also, research for my Petty Gods & Playthings game!
On Weird Games and Weirder People
And I’ve been having great chats on WG&GP podcast! Check out some or our latests guests and some of their creations!
Christopher Drellow - Glumdark
Christopher Drellow is a writer, artist, designer, musician and programmer living in Brooklyn, New York and San Francisco, California. He is kickstarting the book version of Glumdark right now. This is an amazing resource for Dark Fantasy gaming, and each page is bursting with ideas! Check it out!
Huffa - Between the Skies
Huffa is a game write and art historian. Her most recent book, the Between the Skies, Collected Hardcover Edition, is available from Exalted Funeral. This is both a game and an incredible and extensive toolkit for weird fantasy TTRPGs, helping you create not only NPCs, Locations, adventures, but also full worlds! It's really well made, and worth every penny!
Pelle Nilson - Mork Borg
Pelle Nilsson is the Swedish game designer behind Mörk Borg, focusing on streamlining the old game systems from the 70s. He has published a couple of other rpgs, among them Barkhäxan and Ut mot skären.
Andre Novoa - Hexcrawl Toolbox
Andre Novoa is the driving force behind Games Omnivorous. He has worked on ENNIE-winning games like Mausritter, Frontier Scum, Putrescence Regnant or the Hexcrawl Toolbox. He is also my friend and one of the most creative people I know! In this episode we talked a lot about creativity, inspirations, the role of music in his work and a lot more!
Zachary Cox - Best Left Buried
Zachary Cox is the JellyMuppet (they/them) and serves as the Director of SoulMuppet Publishing. They are the moon-obssessed creator of Paint The Town Red, Inevitable and Best Left Buried, and one of the co-creators of Orbital Blues. Zach is a seasoned RPG creator and producer, who makes ideas into books. They dabble in everything from printing, distribution and product and project management.
Brendan LaSalle - XCrawl Classics
Brendan J. LaSalle is a staff writer for Goodman Games who has been writing and publishing in the game industry since 2002. He has written for Goodman Games, Fat Dragon Games, Troll Lord’s Games, Legendsmiths, Savage Mojo, Pandahead Publishing, and Hand Made Games, among others. He has written many adventures and RPG source books, including the award-winning Age of Cthulhu: A Dream of Japan. His most recent release is the holiday adventure Love Mutants of Castle Heartache. He is the creator of Xcrawl, which is soon to be released in the new Xcrawl Classics edition. He lives in Kennesaw, GA, with his wife, dog, and two cats.
And many more amazing creators! Check out Weird Games and Weirder People in whatever platform you listen to your favorite podcasts!
That’s All Wonderful Weirdos!
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Great tables! I love them!
Re the solutions for a streamline dice mechanic, maybe that is a coincidence, this is the third time today I suggest an inspiring reading (see link below)! Torben is an extremely skilled guy an keen on this topic! He is open to hear your opinions and discuss about any solution!
...follow the white rabbit and may the fun be always at your table!
http://hjemmesider.diku.dk/~torbenm/Troll/RPGdice.pdf