Dungeon23 Part 2: Frane Map with Points of Interest

 The North Gate (1) and South Gate (9) are typically patrolled by two guards on watch.  They handle disturbances at the gates and ensure traffic flows smoothly.  They usually keep the gate open during the day and close them when the sun starts going down.  The guards have been instructed to tighten up security during this time. 

The Serenity Inn (2) is the third building on the West side of the road inside the North Gate.  Patrons can get a hardy bowl of stew, a mug of mead, or other refreshments.  There are several tables for seating and entertainment is available at times in the form of a storyteller or minstrels. The second floor has six rooms available to rent for a reasonable price.

Continuing South down the road you will find the Main Square (3) in the center of the city.  In the center of this area is the Notice Board (4) with various listings posted on it.  Situated around this area are tents, carts, and wagons comprising the Merchant Row (5) offering various goods for purchase by shoppers. A member of the city watch is usually stationed here to ensure that all vendors have a permit and to keep disputes civil.  

Travelling West down the street, you can find a Temple of the Redeemer (6) a short walk away from the Main Square area.  Across the street from the temple, Henrik's Supplies (7) offers all sorts of gear and items for sale.  Southeast of the Merchant Square area, The Bloody Claw (8) is tavern that has been known to host a rough crowd at times. 

Exiting the South Gate (9) you can access the bridge crossing over the river, or you can turn West and visit Riverfront (10), a port and dock area that serves as a stopping point of the local trade route among several cities.

[Miniature Monday] Closed Treasure Chest

 

A treasure chest miniature should get quite a bit of use in a fantasy game so it seemed like a "must buy" when I found this miniature at one of my local gaming stores. I had a little bit of difficulty with the silver parts because they were so small.  It was more to do with the steady hand, but I got just a touch of overage on the brown parts in some places. It took a few touchups before I got it almost perfect but then I remembered I paint for utility rather than competition.  Does it look good at arm's length?  Yes, it does.  I'm even more satisfied with it after applying a wash because it basically eliminated any issues.  The only thing to figure out now is what's inside of the chest?

D&D 50th Anniversary in 2024

Based on an idea originally proposed by The Perilous Dreamer in this post at his blog, I am committing to posting once a month every month in 2023 leading up to the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons.  Unless I missed something, Wizards has given no indication they will recognize, celebrate, or otherwise commemorate this event. I have some thoughts and ideas on the upcoming 50th anniversary and how to make it meaningful in one way or another.

On a personal level, if you're a fan of OD&D then I would like to echo the recommendations of others to have some sort of reunion game.  Some members of your old playing group still reside nearby? Send out an invitation to have a reunion session.  If you have a blog, you could post some memories of OD&D game sessions or post an old character or some homebrewed OD&D material.  There are a ton of possibilities.

When it comes to Wizards/Hasbro I have a simple idea - make OD&D and the supplements print on demand at DriveThruRPG; even if for a limited time.  I have the pdfs but I would buy pod just so I wouldn't have to print them out myself and assemble the books.  I know they did the wooden box reprint set but this would allow people that missed out on that to own physical copies as well.  That's not anything extravagant and it would be easy to do for the 50th anniversary.

What are your ideas for celebrating the 50th anniversary of D&D?

Dungeon23 Part 1: Overworld Map

This is the overland map of the immediate area around the city of Frane in the center of the map.  Some information related to this setting and map is listed below.

The lower left-hand corner of the map contains the directional compass.  

The center of the map contains the city of Frane.  There has been pretty steady growth for several years and Frane is on the verge of becoming a hot spot or destination area for travelers. Frane is located on the North side of the river and there is a small dock and port area along the river that has spawned a fish market.  The port is a stop along the river trade route among several cities. There is a road leading North out of the city gates and a road on the South bank of the river.

Following the road North, there are three areas of interest not far from the city.  A set of ruins is to the East while a small village and lies to the West along with a small hut housing an old man close to the pond. Rumors persist that he could be a hermit, a wizard, and other interesting claims.

There is a recently uncovered opening in the small mountains on the south side of the river.  A recent storm system saw several lightning strikes in that area that caused several rockslides to occur. A survey team noticed the opening and has sent word back to the city for the possibility of further exploration.

Dungeon23 Part 0: Ready to Begin

I keep a few notebooks and journals on hand for when ideas hit so I can start collecting all of the information together in one spot.  Plus, it allows me to easily carry one in my lunch bag at work so I can add to it if the mood strikes. When I read about the #Dungeon23 challenge a few days ago I thought it was a perfect opportunity to break one of these journals out to use for storing my ideas on the megadungeon I would create in the process.  I had four of them available, so I looked through them and decided to use this Navy Blue digest-sized dotted journal for my work.

Even though I was intrigued by the idea of the challenge, I was having a little issue with getting started.  Back in the day, we used to just roll with it and go on, but I haven't made a dungeon in years because I haven't played face to face in a LONG time.  I have done some play-by-post gaming but nothing "live".  I do have some notes on a campaign world, Toldara, that I've been working on so this will be a chance to incorporate some of that stuff into the challenge, but I was still mentally "locked up" until a few days ago.  

It dawned on me what I was doing wrong in this instance.  I wasn't breaking up the information into bite-size portions, but I was trying to figure out everything all at once.  The ideas started flowing pretty freely once I broke down the information.  This doesn't mean that I will complete the challenge.  I may get 2 months end and run out of steam.  I hope not but I do intend to complete the challenge.  In addition, I'm not strictly sticking to only a megadungeon during my posts.  I'm going to post about the surrounding area and other places of interest.  I may do one large dungeon and several smaller ones.  I honestly don't know yet, but I did make this cheesy, hand-drawn title page for my journal.

Good luck to everyone participating in the #Dungeon23 challenge.  I look forward to seeing what develops in your posts as well as mine.

[Fan Film Friday] Puppet Master: Revival

I don't recall seeing many Puppet Master fan films but this one is good.  They seem to respect the lore while adding to it AND the effects are much better than most of the fan films that feature small puppets or beings of some sort.  The puppets in this fan film are even done smoother than several of the official films.

Maintenance & Plans

Just a quick update about some blog maintenance and plans for the coming year.

I deleted my other blogs because they were dead in the water.  I went through a divorce years ago around the time they were started, and I struggled with getting up and going.  The time for a separate blog on those subjects has come and gone.  If there is anything that comes up that would be worth posting, I will just post it here.

I plan on continuing on with my usual D&D posts, Miniature Monday posts, and Fan Film Friday posts as well.  In addition, I plan on posting once a month leading up to the 50th anniversary of D&D as well as attempting the #Dungeon23 challenge.  I'm not sticking to just a megadungeon for my posts, though.  I'm going to try to use this as an opportunity to consolidate and flesh out the scattered notes for my campaign world a bit better.  There will be overworld stuff, town locations, dungeons, etc.  The point being trying to have 365 posts about campaign world information in one form or another.  

[Miniature Monday] Bone Guardian

 

Bone Guardians are a custom monster for my homebrew campaign world of Toldara.  The basic concept is a "boss monster" type of creature that can basically blend in with a normal group of skeletons and then the characters will discover this one is much tougher.  My original Delving Deeper stats for the Bone Guardian can be found in a previous post from October of 2021.  I have an updated version of the Bone Guardian but I'm waiting on artwork before I make a new post.

I wasn't happy with this miniature when I finished painting it.  I let it sit for a day or two while I looked online for a different miniature to use for the Bone Guardian.  I decided to go ahead and put a wash on it, and I could always use it for something else if I found a better fit.  The wash made it really pop because there is a real look of decay and age to the miniature now.  I'm still fairly new at painting miniatures and I still have plenty to learn but it's getting easier to figure things out.

Mini Hooks for Fantasy Campaigns III

 Continuing on...

20. A recently reclaimed tome believed to be of great magical power whose pages turn blank if you read the words aloud.

21. A local mage's animal companion has been seen around town for the last several days but there has been no sign of his owner.

22. A Constable from a nearby town shows up with a "Wanted" poster and the picture looks remarkably like the constable in the PC's town.

23. A woman one of the PC's has never seen before shows up with an escort from the city guard at a PC's house looking for her brother that she claims is him.

24. A small group of the King's Guards shows up looking for "volunteers" of a certain age and the PC's fit the bill.

25. An old friend of one of the PC's tracks them down, visibly nervous and agitated they explain about needing help from the local ruffians.

26. As the local population awakes and begins its' day, the citizens find an Ogre asleep by the local well or in the middle of town square.

27. While doing research in the local archives, a local scholar has discovered information on the remnants of a lost civilization that was rumored to possess magical knowledge that has not only been lost in the modern age but is more powerful than the current spell knowledge. A local businessman is looking for a group of explorers to hire to investigate the ruins and bring back such knowledge.

28.  With the arrival of the latest New Moon, a constellation has disappeared from the night sky.

29.  During the last week the statues in the town square have been in different spots each morning. It was believed to be the result of some local pranksters until this morning.  The statues were not only in different spots in the town square but in different poses.

30. The PCs have been hired to escort a caravan with several sealed boxes and locked chests. Upon arrival at their destination, their contact does an inventory to discover that the contents of all the containers have been removed and they are now filled with rocks, sand, and hay. His guards have closed in and he is demanding answers from the PCs.

[Miniature Monday] Yuan-Ti

I always dug the look of the Yuan-Ti and wanted to include them somewhere in my campaign world.  I did use them as depicted in any modules that they might have appeared in, but I wanted to do something else with them.  I never did come up with anything else for them, but I kept that that in the back of my brain all these years. 

When I decided to start working on my campaign world of Toldara I knew I had to include them.  The main design goal of Toldara was to include stuff inspired by things I enjoy as well as a greatest hits compilation of ideas from my older campaigns.  During a time of holiday shut down I was watching some older movies from my collection that I knew what I had to do with the Yuan-Ti.

I had the Cult of Grax representing one of the forces from one of my old campaigns.  I definitely planned to include them in Toldara.  While watching the 1982 Conan film and seeing Thulsa Doom, the cultists, and the snakes brought all this stuff together.  The Cult of Grax would be a snake cult, their symbol would be a globe with a snake coiled around it, they would have custom Clerics, and this hybrid snake & man figure would represent an especially devoted Graxian Cultist rewarded with dark powers by their dark lord.