Arik of the Hundred Eyes

Arik of the Hundred Eyes is an Immortal who shows up in a passing reference in the adventure B3: Palace of the Silver Princess.  The Vaults of Pandius write-up hits the highlights, which are not many.

Official information:

Arik - Celestial, sphere of Entropy, imprisoned for unspecified crimes heinous enough to get him locked away from the multiverse for eternity. Banished to a prison dimension, he seeks ways to return to the multiverse. (B3, WotI)

Arik uses giant rubies the size of a large man's fist as his eyes - the Hundred Eyes in his tile. These are detachable at will, and function as conduits for the Immortal's power. This conduit functions across dimensions and allows Arik to wield Immortal-level power in a location without being actually present.

His clerics customarily wear blood-red robes with hoods hiding their faces, decorated with a hundred eyes - wearing plate mail underneath. All carry shields with his symbol - a single large red eye.

Kobolds and orcs are attracted to his service, and he has some influence over minor undead like skeletons.

And that's it.

There are other versions of Arik, such as those here, here, and here on page 23 of the Codex Immortalis.

(As an aside, The Vaults of Pandius have - and continue to provide - an excellent overview of all things Mystara-related.  If you are curious about what a proper fan-base supported game world looks like, look no further than the Vaults of Pandius.  Adventures, resources, the Threshold e-zine, and more make for a richer game world.)

Presuming that all of Arik's Eyes appear as large rubies, it becomes simple to find and place them elsewhere, like in the Shrine of Evil Chaos in B2: Keep on the Borderlands.  Specifically, in room 58. 

At the western end of the temple area is a dais of black stone, with four lesser chairs on its lower tier and a great throne above.  The chairs are of bone; the ivory throne is set with gold and adorned with gems of red and black (10 black stones each worth 100 gold pieces, 10 red stones each worth 500 gold pieces, and one large red stone worth 1,000 g.p.).

In my games, that large red stone is an Eye of Arik, and is what draws the monsters to the Caves of Chaos, just like in B3.  Just describe it as pulsing with light - a red strobe light that pulses faster or slower depending on circumstances.

Furthermore, I extrapolated that while officially his eye attracts orcs and kobolds, other Eyes may do other things, or many other things, in addition to or instead of attracting orcs and kobolds.

But rather than list out the 100 Eyes, a random table seems more fitting, so I present 12 powers an Eye of Arik might provide its wielder.

The ruby-red forcefield that features in B3 is powered by DM-fiat, so is not included in this list.

Fire Diamond by Gaboleps

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1 - summons giants (hill, frost, fire, stone - storm hear but can ignore the summons) and giant-kin (ogres, trolls, cyclops); their collective appetite soon strips the land.  (note that Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff might provide solid inspiration regarding what this looks like).

2 - summons corporeal undead who move towards the location regardless of time of day and weather; all that die in its glow reanimate as 1-3: zombies, 4-5: ghouls, 6: wights; wielder becomes an incorporeal undead when slain, bound to the gem. 1-2 wraith, 3-4 ghost, 5-6 spectre.

3 - this eye pulses raw arcane power, tinting everything in shades of red and transforming normal creatures into monstrous beasts and abominations that rage and feast darkly in the area.

4 - plant life grows riotous and verdant, becoming alive, sentient, malicious, and hungry.  The various plant monsters begin sprouting; the wielder quickly turns into a black hag that can control it all.

5 - troglodytes creep and tunnel towards the gem, worshipping the wielder (who in turn transforms into a giant frog-thing).

6 - summons beastmen (pig-head orcs, kobolds, gnolls, minotaurs, etc) to serve; the wielder becomes a beast-king (hill giant stats with the head of a lion).

7 - summons goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears and wolves (wargs); thouls often slip in with the hobgoblins and act as enforcers; the wielder's skin peels away to reveal a hobgoblin underneath and reigns as a potent goblin king.

8 - pulses after specific rituals (Arik winks the eye) and humans in the light transform into 1-4: wererats, 5-6 werewolves; orcs become wereboars.  Clerics of Arik become Devil Swine.

9 - magic warps the area, granting spell-like abilities to creatures normally without, spawning living spells that drift about wanting to be cast, awakening the spells of spellcasters in the area (these spells demand to be cast and on a failed save by the caster, will be cast), and clouds of wild magic that drift on the wind, changing (and infecting) magic used and encountered.  (DM Note: this could be an excuse to change rulesets in a campaign).

10 - raw magic permeates the area, animating objects and twisting insects and animals into giant and mutant versions of themselves.  As might be imagined, they are ravenous.

11 - inspires dragonlust for gold and hoarding; gold sickness; transforms beings of sufficient greed and power into red dragons

12 - calls Chaotic dragons to it, but mostly reds (but also black and green); dragons that sleep and bask in its glow grow more powerful in time (maxing out HP and other die rolls).

Fire Diamond by Lindsey Look

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The various monsters all come from the Rules Cyclopedia - originals are a fortune, but pdfs and POD hardbacks are quite affordable - and is a great example of what a one-book game should look like.

Anyhow, since so many of these options attract some type of nasty to it, it stands to reason that dungeon-building magic-users would be interested in acquiring one (or more) Eyes of Arik.  Given the potential power of magic-users in Mystara (level 36!), Arik doesn't mind his Eyes being used in this way and might even send his clerics as emissaries to magic-users with domains in order to "gift" them with an Eye for their dungeon.  

Maybe this time, the cultists will succeed in recruiting someone capable and willing to free Arik from the prison dimension! 

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Given the trouble that Eyes of Arik cause, destroying or containing one is a noble quest for heroic (or at least pragmatic) adventurers.

By way of example, the Eye of Arik in B3 (green cover) provides several specific methods:

The ruby can only be destroyed in three ways: (1) Three particular notes played on the Ice Harp will shatter the ruby.  (2) If the party brings two (or more) statuettes of the silver dragon into the room, the dragon Ariksbane will be freed from the Dimension of Ice.  The dragon's breath will disintegrate the ruby (without harming anything else in the room). (3) If some character touches the ruby Sword of Arik to the ruby Eye of Arik, both will crumble into worthless powder.  

Following the example of B3 suggests that each Eye's destruction requires significant effort, even if Ariksbane and the Ice Harp exist in your world, because they would still need finding. 

Venting (and a book list)

I need to write, but I don't know that I want to or what to write about - too many thoughts and ideas buzzing around in my head.  Not nearly enough of them game-related.

Frankly, the news keeps me anxious and depressed, but my typical response (retail therapy, my daughter calls it) brings guilt as I think I should be spending on more useful things.

Like ammunition.

Or food, booze, medical supplies, and books.

Just not RPG-specific books (despite there being many awesome kickstarters out there, right now).

RPG-adjacent books, though, I might can justify. 

But what to buy?

The Hesperian Health Guides are a solid start - not that I don't trust where the American health systems are headed, but I don't trust where systems as a whole are headed.  For me, at least, the popular Foxfire series of books are not the answer, as the varied contents of each book are too much a chore for me to read through. 

Dave Canterbury's Bushcraft books are neat and useful and well-illustrated, but I already own them.

From experience, the books from Paladin Press are always ... interesting.  I remember ogling the titles in the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine when I was a kid.

Then again, whatever Field Manuals and Training Manuals I don't own from a few terms spent in the military might be a useful pick-up.  Often dry reading, though.

All in all, I am trying to get past a writing block, and this post hopefully does it.  

Thanks for reading.

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Since you read through all that, here is my Joesky tax.  A d30 table of books for a kinda-modern game, be it The Morrow Project, Twilight 2000, Aftermath, The Walking Dead, maybe Car Wars, or something else along those lines.  The books are heavily US-centric, though, so there is that.

These books might be found in an old ammo can sealed in individual gallon ziploc bags; a footlocker under old uniforms and other military memorabilia; a bookshelf; the door, central console, or glove box of an abandoned vehicle; someone's backpack; or all of them together in PDF format on a thumb drive or external hard drive.  

Regardless, none of these are useful unless the reader can actually read English.  Each book may provide a skill bonus of some sort - I won't be suggesting any particular ones.  

1. FM 7-8 Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad - 100-mile-an-hour tape reinforces the spine, and a bookmark made of several pieces of 5-50 paracord attached to a grenade pin show this to be well-used book.  The name LT Smith is written in black sharpie, above several coffee rings that stain the cover.
2. FM 21-150 Combatives - hand-to-hand combat, the US Army way!  Remember, folks, the person that wins a melee is the first person to have a friend show up with a gun!
3. FM 21-76 Survival - a thick catch-all manual for pilots and others that may spend a long time far from friendly lines.  This copy shows wear and tear, and uses a variety of pine needles and leaves as bookmarks.
4. Where There is No Doctor - this book might be in any number of languages, but the illustrations ensure at least a small bonus; in fact, it might actually be any of the Hesperian Health Guides, depending on GM whim. 
5. Boy Scout Manual (1982 edition) - this dog-eared book has the name BEN JAMMIN stenciled on the inside cover.   The year of printing dictates the skills covered in the book.
6. The Human Powered Home - several illustrated suggestions for enhancing your homelife without electricity.  Bicycles and treadles feature in many of the ideas.
7. Ragnar's Ten Best Traps - more than ten, actually, for fish, fowl, game animals, and people.
8. Bushcraft 101 - if you are lucky, you might instead find the Bushcraft Boxed Set, likely without the box, instead.
9. The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs - a useful book for those forced into the outdoors, rather than having grown up in them.
10. Pocket Naturalist Guides - One (or more) pocket-sized illustrated foldables covering a range of information, from foraging to knot-tying to the birds of Northeast America, so they may not always prove useful. 
11. Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine: The Definitive Home Reference Guide to 550 Key Herbs with all their Uses as Remedies for Common Ailments by Andrew Chevallier  - this thick book is full of pictures and tips
12. FM 23-10 Sniper Training - it's not just how to shoot at a distance, but also infiltration and exfiltration and camouflage.
13. Storey's Basic Country Skills - from the label on the side and library card on the back cover, it is apparent this tome is well overdue from the North Shelby Library, located in Birmingham, Alabama.
14. The Anarchist's Cookbook - the first edition is from 1971 and is full of information that most folks probably should not really need to know.  Fun conspiracy - the explosives formulas in it are deliberately wrong and designed to blow up the would-be anarchist!  I lack the background (and desire) to test this conspiracy. 
15. The Joy of Home Distilling - a useful picture-filled guide to distilling spirits, either for drinking or fuel.
16. English-to-LANGUAGE, LANGUAGE-to-English Phrasebook - Polish is the linked example, but depending on the game's setting, most anything is possible.
17. AAA Road Atlas - while small roads and even road names may change, the major roads don't, and regardless of the age of the AAA road atlas, it can get you where you want to be, as long as you don't need to be there.
18. Foldable state maps - these may lack the grid squares of military maps, making calling for fire (and ordering pizza from drivers with a GPS) difficult, but these laminated maps make navigation all the easier.
19. FM 4-25.11 First Aid - despite the bloodstains, slight water damage, and tears, this book is complete and hella useful to those trying to save a life.
20. Propaganda by Edward Bernays - this thin paperback is notable for its marginalia relating to specific historical figures making use of different aspects of the book.  Studying this might enhance one's persuasion skills.
21. Carpentry for Dummies - this well-worn book always produces a bit of sawdust when shaken, and its spine is broken from being pressed flat numerous times.  Illustrated and presumes access to tools that might not be available.
22. The Art of War by Sun Tzu - just a translation of the basic book; The Art of War with Commentaries by Sun Tzu - this English translation also includes commentaries from the ages, making it a more interesting read than the basic translation.  Folded pages from a legal pad stuffed in throughout the book add the last owner's insights to the commentaries.   
23. TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions - this yellowing copy is older than you are and may have been used in Viet Nam.   
24. Mask of Command and Face of Battle by John Keegan - this pair of books addresses both sides of battle, and would-be combat leaders can benefit from reading them.  Weapons change, but the people fighting don't.
25. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - a textbook on Stoicism.  Studying and adopting this mindset may reduce stress and make it easier to survive torture or other stamina-checking extremes.  This particular copy is a well-read paperback with "key" lines underlined.
26. Cheap Shots, Ambushes, and Other Lessons by Marc MacYoung - reading this and putting it into practice makes life just a bit more survivable in urban environments.
27. FM 5-31 Boobytraps - when you need to protect somewhere or something, but lack the personnel for complete coverage.
28. The Trapper's Bible: Traps, Snares, and Pathguards - a useful mix of traps for game, fur, and people.  For protection only, naturally.
29. Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning - without food, people die.  This book shows a variety of ways to preserve food for the winter months.  It smells faintly of salt.
30. Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants:Eastern and Central North America, first edition - there are more recent editions of this book, and many more Field Guides, but this is one of few that might be useful in a game.

There are a wealth of other books and topics that can fit, but I think most of these would be easily gameable, especially in rulesets with skill systems.  

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Note that owning/researching some of these titles might put you on a list - but I am right there with you.  Also, I presume most established militaries have their own versions of the FMs listed, so replace as needed.  

If you're into particular timelines for your games, some of the items linked above may not have been printed yet, while others may just be more recent editions.  Either way, check edition and print date if you are into that level of authenticity.  

Speaking of food for thought, I found this foraging website aimed at those foraging in the UK.  Kinda neat.

RPG Carnival: Dragon Neighbors

The current RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Sea of Stars and involves Dragon Neighbors. 

It stands to reason that having one or more dragons for neighbors makes people smart, tough, subservient, or dead.  Maybe all four.

Still, dragons are sentient (at least in most game worlds, and certainly in mine), which means they might be reasoned with, should the right negotiator be available, and the right terms struck.  After all, dragons understand that sometimes there are better options than naked aggression and extreme violence (too bad most PCs never figure that one out).

Barring deliberate killing, dragons can live for centuries, if not millenia, which is more than enough time to engage in the same pastime of many elves: breeding the perfect human, much like how humans do the same with dogs, horses, and other animals.

While I have written about this topic before as a thought experiment, here it is better fleshed out.

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What this means in practicality is that the Elves, specifically the elf mage-king Lathril of the Gilt-Leaf, made a bet with the Dragon Mage Intet, the Dreamer that they could breed a more perfect champion than the dragon could.  Winner gets control of the continent, loser publicly accepts defeat and leaves the area.  Until the bet reaches a conclusion, all open hostilities are ceased.

Intent, the Dreamer, by Dan Murayama Scott

To make it interesting, other near-immortal beings were also invited to the table: lichlords, vampire mages, lesser extraplanar beings, fey nobles, other dragons, other elves, and at least one sphinx. 

(These gatherings of near-immortals can be contentious but serve to alleviate the boredom of ages that result in them succumbing to torpor and eventually fatal ennui.  While these near-immortals unlikely to admit it, after a few centuries, they look forward to these gatherings.)

The terms of the bet are simple: each bettor has seven centuries to breed the best human champion.  There are other details regarding particulars, but that is the gist of the bet. 

Dius Fidus, the deity of contracts, oaths, and deals, presided over the final signing of the contract, using the same type of contract materials that fiends use to guarantee mortal souls.

Tempting Contract, by Tomas Duchek

Each of the Elves believes they will win, as this is akin to how they create other elves, merely over centuries and with the endstate being someone that is still human.  All of the other bettors believe that they will win, because they believe they are better than Elves. 

Of course, the Dragon Mage Intet will win, because they plan to cheat as needed.

At least, that is their plan.  Other champions that prove more competent than theirs will throw a wrench into the works.  

As will other participants cheating just as much.

After all, with fey and fiends at the contracting table, lots of loopholes based on wordplay, denotation, and connotation were included in the final contract for the express purpose of trying to cheat to victory.

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In the early centuries of the bet, champion bloodlines would be guided to attack others, seemingly by fate more than direct guidance.  But after several centuries, the bettors have lost track of one another's bloodlines, so it is almost inevitable that some become allies, or at least nonaggressors.

Even the dullest among the bettors understands that it is not just genetics, but life experiences that shape a human.  So each of them ensures that there are plenty of physical, mental, and social challenges to forge their bloodlines into the best they can be.  Unfortunately, most of the bettors consider traumatic experiences to be learning opportunities, so those are the lion's share of the challenges.

As the goal is a champion that is likely to see combat and death, having the wildlands be wild actually helps immensely, so all bettors have a vested interest in ensuring that the area doesn't become too settled.  As such, the wildlands around Skara Brae teem with all sorts of trouble for the beleaguered port city, to include the ruins of past would-be conquerors who failed in their efforts to tame the land.

The bet requires a cessation of direct attempts to conquer the continent, but nothing about hostile beings making their lairs in the area.  Besides, these creatures (un)wittingly help shape the various champions that the bettors have been breeding.  Intet itself has ensured that some of its 'children' reside near enough to participate in the forging of this champion, and while it has favorites, it will not go out of its way to assist any of them.

This bet is the reason that Skara Brae's history is one of fire and bloodshed, but also resilience and perseverance.  

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The timeline of the bet grows to an end, and as I type this, the champions of the various bloodlines converge on the city of Skara Brae, where they will unwittingly compete to determine just which champion is, in fact, superior.

Once that is decided, the winner of the bet will claim the continent, and open war will likely break out, as most bettors have no intention of honoring the deal. 

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In short, dragons, much like elves, are jerks.

Quantum Everything

Part of PC creation is determining languages known, skills known, and spells known.

In the interest of faster PC creation and in the interest of player choices not being wasted, I started using Quantum rules for these options.

By this, I mean I do not require the players to choose these things before the game starts, but rather they declare them and fill in the blanks on their character sheet as the game progresses.  This not only feeds into the emergent stories that I prefer, but it also guarantees that players make useful choices.

As a bonus to me, the DM, it means I don't have to be overly concerned with adventure contents, as odds are good - especially early on - that a player can just declare their PC knows a language, spell, or skill to further the adventure.

For me and my games, this is a fine option.

I will say that part of my job as DM is to remind players that they have X amount of blank spaces left.

These work best with lower-level PCs, but in theory, someone could hold one of those languages until a higher level... but our adventures don't go that high before TPKs with the scheduling beast, so use these with a grain of salt.

And if it turns out that someone else came up with this before me, please tell me, so I can give credit where credit is due.  I have read lots of blog posts over the last decade, and I know I am not smart enough to come up with this in a vacuum.

 

Monday MtG: Artisan Commander

To meet my goal of three posts per month, I've decided to resurrect an older feature of mine, Monday MtG.  As before, it will focus almost entirely on the Commander format and today is no exception.

It seems there is a format called Artisan Commander, where only cards that were printed at common or uncommon at some point may be used.  In theory, building these decks ties in with my desire to reduce spending on MtG, but we shall see.

Happily, much of the best removal and card draw show up in these rarities, so that shouldn't impact my deckbuilding too much.

The big change is that most of the combo-related wins and all of the alternate win cards are no longer options, leaving damage and mill as the main threats, perhaps the only threats.  Frankly, this is a wonderful thing for me, at least.

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Honestly, I suspect it's the limited commander choices that will stymie me.  Then again, Scryfall kicked back just under 400 Common and Uncommon legends.  Subtracting the Universes Beyond (I refuse to run such cards - if I want those IPs, I will play those games/watch those shows), I end up with 300ish options that are mostly one or two colors, with very few three-color outliers.  30 of these have Partner, and 20 allow for Backgrounds, opening up more options.

Still, that is too many options for me to absorb, so I will break it down by color and theme. 

Hearkening back to my Away Decks, I will go with two color pairs and a monocolor deck, to keep things interesting.

I think I want GW, BR, and U for my decks. I know that RW allows for several strong equipment-based commanders, as well as usable equipment and Boros Charm, but that seems too easy.  

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Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar is draw in the command zone, which is always welcome.  Yes, it is conditional, but that condition is easily met with cards that add +1/+1 counters, Giant Growth and Anthem variants, and equipment.  While I doubt I can go all-in on cat tribal, that won't stop me from trying.

I'm wondering how many hatebears I can find in these rarities.  Hopefully more than I can call to mind.

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Tor Wauki the Younger is a deck I have tried in the past, but it didn't gel.  With Firebrand Archer, Guttersnipe, Thermo-Alchemist, and Josh Lee Kwai's decklist as a start, this should be a playable spellslinger deck, quickly built out of what I have lying about.

That said, my favorite B and R (and BR) instants and sorceries tend towards rare, so maybe not.

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Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea effectively gives my critters Ward while encouraging me to go heavy on the devotion.  While I love the devotion mechanic, this deck will force the most research as my go-to heavy Blue devotion cards are all rares and mythics.  

To be honest, though, I am looking forward to it, if only because it gives me the best reason to run Thassa's Rebuff, as well as all the U enchantments that render opposing creatures harmless. 

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All that said, I don't know how these will fare against non-Artisan decks.  I guess only time will tell.

To the card boxes and binders!

Dwarves: Clan Steelbeard

Some time back, I wrote a post about the Source of Dungeons.  Among other things, it posited one or more clans of Dwarves that specialized in digging dungeons for wizards that lacked the ability to magic one up themselves.

Here is one such clan.

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History

Clan Steelbeard dug its first dungeon for a human wizard several centuries ago, in exchange for services rendered.  Enjoying the challenge of the construction, as well as the wizard slaying a dragon for them, the Dwarves' leaders began hiring themselves out to other wizards wanting dungeons dug.

Within a century, Clan Steelbeard became the go-to diggers, generating much of their wealth and fame through these projects.  As might be expected, they also developed a series of best practices, as well as standardized offerings for complexes.  Between dungeons, the Clan contracts out to dig small tomb complexes for nobles and temples.

While Dwarves never turn down gold, mithral, or mead as payment, they know that most people - even Wizards - do not have enough to pay them in full.  This being the case, the Dwarves accept (and perhaps prefer) services in exchange.  These services being completed either before or during or after the contract, depending on negotiations.

Early on, and maybe once a century since then, some Wizards have attempted to renege or otherwise cheat the Dwarves.  In those situations, the Clan has collapsed the entrance(s) of a dungeon until payment is made in full.  Clearing the blockage is an extra fee.  If the offending Wizard still doesn't pay up, the Dwarves send someone to collect.

Dwarven Demolition Team by Kev Brockschmidt

Being Dwarves, the Steelbeards keep records of all the dungeons and tombs they have designed in a hidden, secure, guarded vault.   After all, integrity is something that Dwarves in the business of working with Wizards need.   Attempts to steal or purchase this information has so far failed.

So far.  

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Contracts

Contracts are drawn up by teams of skilled negotiators and barristers, and address all aspects of dungeon building: planning, siting, digging, procuring supplies (such as dressed stone or iron-bound oaken doors), provisioning the diggers, protecting the diggers, stocking the dungeon (with either caught wild beasts or the semi-tame dungeon beasts that the Dwarves raise for this purpose, like mimics and carrion crawlers and a wide array of fungi, molds, and slimes), found mineral rights, etc.

For planning purposes, the Steelbeards start with a decade per level of a complex, adding time in yearly increments from there. As might be imagined, Clan Steelbeard never has more than three or four projects going at one time.  The wait list is long and rumors suggest that for the right price, construction might move up (or down) the priority list.

When it comes to any discovered veins of ores or gems, a new contract is drawn up to dig them out.  The same goes for any ruins or caverns discovered.  Standard Clan Steelbeard practice is to block those areas off and continue around them until a mining or exploring contract is drawn up.  

Understandably, the more the Dwarves do, the more it costs the wizard.  

Given the nature and length of time to complete these dungeon-building contracts, the Clan often negotiates payment - in full or at least partially - in services, such as monster slaying, retrieving a specific item from elsewhere, item creation, or collecting debts from wizards that reneged on their contract.

Truth be told, the Dwarves especially enjoy the latter service, as it provides an unsubtle hint to the negotiating wizard about what happens to those that renege.  Incidentally, the negotiating wizards don't mind collecting these debts for the Dwarves, as they often score some potent arcane treasure for themselves in the process.

Having built these dungeons for centuries, Steelbeard Dwarves have an excellent idea of what some wizards are capable of, and as such, suggest to them that using certain specific spells may reduce costs and time of construction.  Veteran Steelbeard negotiators keep a list of known helpful Wizard spells and will suggest them in the course of negotiations.

Note that the Steelbeards will subcontract certain parts of its negotiated tasks to other Dwarf Clans and adventuring companies once the contract start date is reached.

All things considered, negotiating a contract can take months, but once it is locked in, it is locked in. 

The contract complete, the Dwarves celebrate with ale and song, as Dwarves do.

Dwarven Song by Dan Frazier

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Call to Adventure

PCs might be engaged to clear a discovered cavern, protect Clan builders and property, run or guard supply caravans, acquire plans to a different dungeon or tomb, dig out a closed dungeon, capture monsters for use in a dungeon, relocate or create undead for a dungeon, spread rumors about a new dungeon, convincing Clan leaders to move a specific dungeon up or down on the priority list, acquire prizes to bait a dungeon with, to test parts of a dungeon, or to clear a dungeon entirely. 

All for the sake of Wizards wanting to farm magic items and monster parts.

While the Steelbeard Clan (or one of its negotiating teams) might be a solid patron to PCs, the paying Wizard or a rival Wizard might also hire PCs on for any number of tasks.  

Of course, a rival Wizard will be hiring to disrupt the construction, so planting monsters, sowing dissension among workers, reducing or poisoning supplies, or outright attacking the Dwarves might be on the table.  Crossing an entire Clan of Dwarves that have several allied Wizards as business partners may not be the smartest thing PCs do, but PCs aren't known for exercising high wisdom scores outside of spell bonuses for specific rulesets.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Happy New Year, everyone!

To commemorate it, I'm trying a new method of goal-setting, inspired by this post at The Dododecahedron. 

While I had no specific goals for 2024 beyond game more (a wash) and spend less (I spent more), I feel that for 2025 I need to set some more specific goals.  Therefore, I present these:

1. Write at least three blog posts per month.  Today counts, so only 35 to go!

2. Publish a free adventure - I have several in varying stages of completion, tied to published posts, but this year I want to share examples.

3. Game more.  While I'd love to get more than 8 sessions of RPGs in, I suspect that this will be another year with more Magic than RPGs - it is far easier to squeeze in pick-up games of Magic.  Regardless, more gaming means more substantial topics to write about, even if they are only session logs and play reports.

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All that said, it looks like I'll be taking classes this year, cutting back on available game time, but we shall see.

If nothing else, I can content myself with occasionally spending an hour or two at a local Game X Change store sifting through boxes of poorly sorted Magic cards in a never-ending quest to find treasures, or at least playables.   

I do this because I get a thrill when I pick up a dollar card for ten cents. Not that it matters, as I don't sell the cards and only rarely trade them away.  The endstate is that I hoard cards, but only the best cards, for a somewhat refined hoard.  

A cardboard hoard.

A cardhoard.

Dragons have hoards, and I have a hoard, so that makes me a dragon (but not like Eustace; as an aside, here is a great read about Eustace's un-dragoning).  

2025 is looking up already!

Rapacious Dragon by Johan Grenier - lovely art and somehow fitting.