Quick Quest

    So I was cruising my blog roll, and was checking out Throne of Salt. Dan put up a one page game by someone called Giffyglyph from Reddit. It is a neat fun unit. Kind of a combination of OSR/5e/Story game all in one deal. Above all it is simple. Its just a neat little game.

   In these crazy times, this might be a fun experiment, and a good way to introduce new folks to RPG in a simple fun way. YMMV of course. If nothing else do what I do. Ransack it for ideas like a psychopathic pathfinder goblin!

Viking Weapons

    The viking weapon list is a little different from the standard D&D list.
Simple Melee Weapons

• Dagger/Knife
• Handaxe
• Javelin "Gaflak"
• Spear

Simple Range Weapons

• Sling

Martial Melee Weapons

• Battleaxe
• Glaive "Atgeirr"
• Greataxe
• Halberd "höggspjót"
• Longsword
• Shortsword "Sax"

Martial Ranged Weapons

• Longbow

Armor

• Padded
• Leather
• Chain Shirt
• Shield
• Helmet

A typical man had a shield, an axe or a spear. A lot of them carry a sax as a secondary weapon. A wealthy man would own a sword. Very expensive and passed down as heirlooms. Swords are named by their owner.

Further thoughts on viking bards and clerics

    So I've been thinking more about Clerics and Bards. I've got two different styles in mind. Not sure which direction would be better.
    So first off no real changes to what I've already posted. One thing I did miss was the elimination of turning undead. Doesn't seem right to me to be included.
    Second idea is a mildly radical change. (I know that kind of a oxymoron, but roll with me here a minute.) Elimination of spells completely. Bards would have more or less boosting abilities through their poetry. Example, poem of inspiration raises the parties attack bonus for the fight. Or boost a character's strength, and etc. Then clerics wouldn't really be clerics per say, as much as they would be devout follower of a particular deity. Whom they may ask a favor or boon of. I keep thinking of the line from Conan the Barbarian.

"Crom! I have never prayed to you before. I have no time for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that today, two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom; so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!"

    Now that I write that down the line between bard and cleric kind of blurs to me. Perhaps I'm over thinking the whole thing. After all I want it to be a mythic campaign so to speak. So they will be fighting mythic creatures, and such. As well as other humans/warriors. I've got to ponder this all a bit.

A viking class forgotten

    I forgot a class. But in turn it's a little bit of a problem as well. The Bard aka Skald, seems to scream viking campaign to me. But that also brings up the specter of magic. So I thought a bit about this today. Bards don't really have fireball and such in their spell list. So maybe it's ok. Perhaps a bit more magical than I would like but ok. Maybe some how tie it into runes somehow. I would think the musical aspect would be tossed in the trash and replaced by poetry. That would be very viking and bardish. (Is Bardish a word? It is now, true believer.)
    Perhaps do the same with clerics. The cleric spell list would definitely need some tightening up. No Guiding Bolt for example. I think a cleric should favor a particular god. But venerate them the pantheon. Obviously the god list would be easy to put together. Not to mention finding the aspect of the favored god, and applying it the the cleric's domain.
    The big question is are Druid appropriate to the campaign. If this was straight up celtic I would say yes. But... Something to ponder. As for now I would be inclined to say no.

Vikings on the mind

    So i've been thinking about Vikings a lot lately. I think a fantasy viking campaign would be very fun. So I thought a little about the basics, characters. What classes should be allowed in a 5e game. So heres my little list.

• Fighter/Warrior
• Barbarian/Berserk
• Ranger/Scout

    Cleric is a maybe. I say maybe because I'm not a big fan of characters casting magic in the campaign. But at the same time a pagan shaman of some sort wouldn't be to bad. But its the casting that gets me. I don't like it. Not for this type of game.
    There are restrictions of equipment available as well. But that's next time.


This website here has a ton of interesting information.

Plans

    So I've been thinking about my gothic setting Ardeal. As I'm going to eventually run a game in it for the wife. Its been a crazy couple weeks work, home, and health wise. So it hasn't taken off yet. But I've been pondering what to do, and what to use.

    I'm going to run a real simple scenario to begin with. Find a gypsy van that has been attacked by bandits. The wife and the survivors hunt down the bandits to their lair and deal with them. Its a bit more complicated than that. But that's the reader's digest version.

    Then on to a village that's being menaced by evil, coming down from the haunted mountain.

But after that I have not set anything in stone. I want to see what happens and make it fit together organically if you will.

    But I do have a list of thing I would like to weave together.

•  The Bone grinder scenario from Curse of Strahd
• The village of Vidra from my Ardeal setting. Lots going on there.
• Using factions and tracking where the players stand with them
• Gallows of the Crossroads from Ardeal.
• Weaving together of Strahd and Ardeal's Koschei the Immortal, King in Yellow
• I'm totally stealing the idea of Ravenloft creeping into the area (Jack Shears campaign idea) as opposed to being stuck in Ravenloft.

Henchmen

    So I've been thinking about henchmen. I'm going to be running a game with the wife. I think she might need some extra firepower so to speak. So I've been reading the 5e rules. She's going to be starting at 1st level. I cant see her hiring NPC of the same level. I also cant think of why an NPC from the back of the MM would work for a 1st level character. Hell they would probably hiring the character as a henchman. (or henchwoman in this case.)

    So what to do? I think I have a solution. Start them as zero level characters, so to speak. Using the tables in the DMG, randomly determine the character like the high stat, and the low stat. give them a back ground and the proficiencies that go with it. Boom zero level character. After they gain 300 xp they can then progress into a class.

    As far as equipment. The background equipment is it. Unless they do not have a weapon. Then give them a club. They start at 1d4 hit points. When they gain a class they gain the classes hp.

    What do you folks think?

Curse of Strahd

   So I bit the bullet. I finally bought Curse of Strahd. Its pretty cool. Reading it I think to myself did I unconsciously crib a from Raven Loft in my Ardeal setting? Or did they rob mine? Probably we both copped a lot from gothic fiction.
   Anyways I really like it. It has lots of good points and well stuff. But there is bad as well. I think it was bryce from Ten Foot Pole blog that said it. There are a lot of lame descriptions. Example, "You find a corpse". Obviously I would play that out differently. But still, show some effort, seriously, please. My biggest problem is this, I just cant see myself using this at the table. Or at least it would seem unwieldy at best. Not the adventure, I will totally use it. The book though, just seems as I would really need to read multiple times the whole thing. Almost having to memorize the thing. It just seem like their should be a better way going about an adventure/mini-sandbox than a single hard cover book. Perhaps as I read it totally from cover to cover this will change. We shall see.

Wherein I ramble a little

   I'm sick of being sick. The last three weeks have been awful. The wife, friends, family, and myself have all been or are sick. So, I've pretty much gotten nothing done. I haven't been able to run my play test yet. It's freaking killing me.
   On the upside of things. I've kinda meh about 5e. I like it well enough. But nothing's really grabbed me about it. Then the "Curse of Strahd" came out. This looks fucking awesome. I haven't cared really for the other Forgotten Realms adventures that have came out. I've been told they are OK. But much like 5E itself, they really didn't speak to me. Curse of Strahd on the other hand has really seized my thoughts. Sand boxy, Ravenloft, rewritten classic, it's pushing all my buttons. It's on the top of the next  to purchase list. It almost happened this weekend. But financial obligations take precedence.
   So there's some thoughts that have been crawling around my noggin. Oh, and if you haven't seen this. Fucking genius. I am in love with this idea.