Dreams of Adventure

Bryce at tenfootpole.org has some new reviews up.  I mention this, not because all of the adventures are good, but because the reviews are entertaining to read in their own right.  Language warning, though.  

Maize and Monsters (Swords and Wizardry)

Zaratazarat's Manse (OSE)

Down and Out in a Schleswig Sanitarium (Mork Borg)

Tower to the Abyss (5e)

The Laboratory of Melifex the Mad (DCC)

I'm sharing these because I have a dream to self-publish adventures.  When that dream reaches fruition is unknown, but if it does, I want it reviewed by Bryce.

Mostly, I want to dodge the pitfalls that he colorfully describes.  Adventures for sale are NOT literature, but tools for others to use, like a textbook.  But a good, useful textbook.

I suspect we've all encountered terrible textbooks in our educations.  Especially teacher-made textbooks and study guides.  Published adventures, regardless of genre or ruleset, should follow the same model of easy use for whomever picks it up.  That is how I want to write.

From Bryce's comments, adventure layout and basic contents should be a snap.

12-size font that is readable, not artsy.  Times New Roman or Sans Serif, maybe.

Two columns.

Evocative, terse writing that shows and not tells.

Good use of bold, italics, bullets, and white space.

Clear, usable maps that match the key.

Pertinent artwork.More pages spent on the adventure proper than the rest of stuff combined.

Ample treasure if writing for a game that uses GP=XP as a design choice.

Appendices at the end for new magic, new monsters, and in-game history and lore that has no bearing on the adventure at hand.

That all looks doable, if only because I can follow a checklist like a boss.  My only issue will be coming up with something clever that is at least somewhat original, but certainly usable.

This Dungeon Checklist from Goblin Punch provides some adventure-design guidance, but in the end, a decent adventure still depends on its writer.

If you enjoy buying pdfs and prints of adventures, either to use straight-up or to mine for ideas, I strongly recommend Bryce's reviews before buying.  His favorites, the best, and the no regerts categories have all taken my money in the past.

Resting in the Megadungeon

Short Rests and Long Rests are integral to the D&D 5e ruleset.  Typically measured in 1-hour and 8-hour increments (PHB 186), there is an alternate rule for better grittier games, where a Short Rest is 8 hours long and a Long Rest runs 7 days (DMG 267).  Short Rests provide a chance for PCs (and allies) to regain a few spells and some hit points.  Long Rests return ALL spells and hit points.

In both cases, rests are presumed to take place in relatively safe areas.  

Megadungeons are notoriously unsafe.  

After all, the dungeon hates you.

Still, the dungeon prefers to toy with surface invaders, rather than kill them outright.  It knows the centuries are long and entertainment should last and be savored.  The dungeon understands that in the end, adventurers die.  They always die, be it with loved ones in the sunlight or alone in the darkness.  

Smart adventurers know that resting in a dungeon is dangerous, and resting in a megadungeon is foolhardy in the extreme.  Despite this knowledge, rests are sometimes necessary.  This necessity should spring from the PCs being too far from the surface to safely retreat, having either delved too deep or because the PCs are lost in the dungeon.

Traps, PC actions, and the occasional monster can result in the PCs becoming lost.  Traps are the most common means of getting lost: chutes, pits, teleporters, disappearing or one-way stairs, one-way elevators, or the various ways to seal the path behind them.  PC actions are typically of the 'running blindly from certain death into only possible death' variety, but using explosive spells or items can accidentally drop a bridge or ceiling, collapse walls and floors, flood areas impassably, or create new walls.  By occasional monster, I am referring to the Crypt Thing of Fiend Folio fame.

Crypt Thing by Russ Nicholson, Fiend Folio, 1981

The Crypt Thing exists to speak cryptically and to teleport people a random direction and distance away, then tell the survivors that it disintegrated the others, and would they like to be next.  Luckily, regardless of which version of D&D you play, the Crypt Thing has already been converted, so you and your players can experience random malicious teleportation regardless of your game.

For the record, the Crypt Thing in my megadungeon is more of a dungeon-sage and has some rather specific locations it teleports victims to, all for the amusement of the dungeon:  A large pile of manure near one of Skara Brae's market squares; a similar midden, but elsewhere in the dungeon; above a lake near Skara Brae; above the dark lake on level 10.  I may add 2-4 more, just for variety and because I have the appropriate dice.

As we see, PCs can easily find themselves lost and in dire need of hit points and spells, so they choose to rest.  So what to do?

One option is to take Jeff's Reints' approach, with a table for what happens to those foolish enough to rest.

But that is a bit much, even for me.  

Wise PCs study the maps they have (hopefully) been making to determine possible safe rooms, or take a chance if accurate maps don't exist.  Once in a room, the entrance(s) should be secured as best as possible, using iron spikes if nothing else.  That done, watches should be established and rest happens.  Food is eaten, wine washes it down, wounds are bound, swords sharpened, spells cast and memorized, socks changed, etc.  Long Rests are a fine time for some interparty roleplaying if you're into that.  If not, move straight to the rolling for wandering monsters.

Yes, my megadungeon has wandering monsters. I'd argue that a good megadungeon should. It could be the dungeon spontaneously creates them to send the PCs' way or perhaps the monsters already exist, and the dungeon merely nudges them in the PCs' direction.  But maybe - just maybe - wandering monster encounters truly are the will of Avrae, the goddess of chance.

Fortunately for adventurers with spellcaster sorts among them, several low level spells exist to help with resting in hostile environments: Alarm, Hold Portal, Silent Image, Arcane (or Wizard) Lock, Rope Trick, and Leomund's Tiny Hut.  If a spell isn't in your ruleset, find a version and convert it.

Another method is to learn the 'rules' of the megadungeon and its populations.  An alliance with one faction or another may provide PCs refuge and assistance, perhaps for a fee, a service, or services rendered.  Realizing that nothing goes to a specific area AND removing the threat the keeps locals away buys safety, if only for a time.  In theory, sections of a megadungeon level can be cleared, rendering them safe, but nature - and the dungeon - abhor a vacuum, so the cleared areas fill back up.  

Establishing forward camps with supplies and maybe permanent guards is dangerous, expensive, and eventually ends badly.  But until it does, this provides a fine source of safe rest and replacement PCs from among the guards and apprentices.  

Magic items, such as Daern's Instant Fortress, a folding boat, or a ship in a bottle can make a safe haven, unless the Instant Fortress collapses a ceiling upon itself or until one realizes that any body of water in the megadungeon that is deep and large enough for a ship is also deep and large enough for its own inhabitants.

Not my work, google turned it up.  If you know the artist, tell me.

Inhabitants that are not above the floating buffet the PCs thoughtfully provided.  

Inhabitants that probably have tentacles.

Resting is as natural as working, and just as necessary for PCs as much as the people that play them.  Let the PCs rest, but be sure they understand that a good rest is not guaranteed.

Time to give this topic a rest.

Dwarves of Ironguard Keep

I almost titled this post Smiths of Ironguard, to capture the Farrier and his assistants, but they are just basic human NPCs named Werner, Pierre, and Uller.  Stablehands are Lars, Jean-Luc, and Georg.  I may provide details later.

Instead, I focused on the Dwarves of Ironguard, because these are the only four Dwarves in a large area. This is because the Dwarf race is comparatively few compared to Humans and many other races, but also because most Dwarves keep to themselves in their mountain homes.  

Snorri Ironbeard is the chief armorer and weaponsmith of Ironguard Keep, and the bulk of his  and his apprentices’ work is maintaining the weapons and armor of the Keep’s soldiers.  Still, being Dwarves, they make time for side projects at the forge.  So there will be a few weapons available for purchase, and they are willing to repair damaged armor and weapons, as well.

For a price, of course.  For a greater price, a commission for a high-quality item might be had.

Ori, Dori, and Nori Ironbeard are Snorri’s nephews - the sons of his sister, Flori, who still works the forge alongside her wife back in the Iron Hills.

Ori, Dori, and Nori from Peter Jackson's movie The Hobbit  (close enough for my game)

Snorri Ironbeard (M LN F5 Battle Master)

Ori Ironbeard (M LG F3 Battle Master)

Dori Ironbeard (M LN F2)

Nori Ironbeard (M LG F2)

A trio of well-made iron statues watch over the forge: Moradin Soulforger, flanked by Clangeddin Silverbeard on the right, and Berronar Truesilver on the left.  The nephews have a shrine to Vergadain in their shared chamber.

In case of siege or adventuring, each of the nephews dons plate and shield, hammer, crossbow, and shortsword.  In case of siege, Snorri also dons plate, but his armor provides a nonmagical +1 bonus to AC. Snorri’s weapons are a great enchanted two-handed maul named Foecrusher, a crossbow, and shortsword.  

Snorri and the boys always take an interest in recovered treasures bearing the arms of other Dwarves and Dwarf-clans, as well as rumors and proof of mithril and other exotic metals. They will purchase ingots of any such metals found.

While most Dwarves in my world are content to spend their long lives in their forges, workshops, and mines, there are those that suffer a wanderlust or have a life-purpose that requires them to leave. Snorri is one such Dwarf. 

He has been tasked by Queen Ulla Shieldbane of the Iron Hills to monitor and report (not necessarily spy) on the activities at Ironguard Keep, particularly the rising chaos and the human response to it.  As such, Snorri listens and observes, periodically sending a coded message back home using trusted contacts.  

It is a truth that Dwarves are staunch allies, but their allegiance is always to their liege first.  

While Snorri will not leave the forge to go adventuring, one of the nephews (only one at a time), may go out with a party that has qualified itself through repeated low-casualty, high-profit expeditions.  This not only allows that nephew to gain experience and treasure, but also provides a first-hand report for Snorri to send back home.

Use or ignore these four as you will.

 

Dwarves! I suspect this is from the 1938 film version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

I have zero qualms making use of the tropes and stereotypes from the past several decades of gaming and fantasy literature, and much about the Dwarves in my world reflect that.  Still, there are some differences in an attempt to make them more alien than they currently are.  I say this, because by RAW, Dwarves (and all the other humanoids and demihumans) are effectively funny-looking humans with mechanical bonuses, and are often played as such.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, but is not exactly what I am looking for in a game.

The first and largest difference is that Dwarves in my world do not reproduce as mammals - especially humans - do.  While they do have the genitalia associated with most mortal species, it is because Moradin Soulforger modeled his first-carved after what he saw the Humans doing, and understood that by doing so, his people might be able to better relate to what even then was the far more numerous race.  

So the Dwarven method of reproduction is thus:

A couple work together to carve/forge/sculpt a statue of a Dwarf, and if Moradin Soulforger (chief deity of the Dwarves) approves, Moradin breathes life into the statue, and a new Dwarf is ‘born.’  These statues are fully grown, so Dwarf babies or children as humans know them don’t exist. Instead, Dwarves are merely younger or older, and claim parents and family names from their crafters.  

After completing the statue, the Dwarves involved bring in a Forgepriest of Moradin, who conducts the lifebreath ritual, and if Moradin approves, the statue steps down from its plinth, a full-fledged Dwarf. Generally speaking, experienced Forgepriests can often tell if Moradin would approve and will state as much.  If an otherwise fine statue does not come to life, the Forgepriest will question the Dwarves involved in an attempt to determine what transgression they have committed to cause such.

Moradin doesn’t care if the paired Dwarves are male-female, female-female, or male-male. The material(s) used often affect the new Dwarf’s personality, and after centuries, the average Dwarf knows enough about the entire process to have preferred materials for their ‘children’.  Typically, a pair of Dwarves will spend at least a decade on their ‘child,’ as any flaws come to life as personality or physical flaws.  Dwarf-Champions and Dwarf-Kings often (but not always) are the result of multiple decades, if not a century or two, of work.

Hushed legends exist of situations where a couple composed of a Dwarf and a nonDwarf carve/forge/sculpt a statue together, and what happens when it comes to life, but those are not recorded here.  

Since I am digressing about the Dwarves of my homebrew world, let’s talk about beards.  Yes, Dwarven women in my world have beards, but that is because I have borrowed something I read in one of the Facebook D&D groups: namely that Dwarven beards are filters, keeping out dust, dirt, disease, and the like and are also the in-game reason for Dwarf bonuses against poison.  Moradin blesses his people with thick beards because as creatures of the mine and forge, the Dwarves need this to help survive the dust and fumes associated with such work.

Shearing the beard (a punishment used only in extremis amongst the Dwarves, as a prelude to exile from their people), is not only a mark of shame, but also removes a Dwarf’s resistance to poison.  Such Dwarves are typically shorn in a public fashion, then physically driven out of their community.  In truly egregious cases, the ‘parents’ and ‘siblings’ of such a Dwarf are shorn and driven out, as well.  This shearing can drive a Dwarf mad, even if the beard does eventually grow back. According to Dwarf histories, this is how the Derro came to be (unlike what Shaver rambles about).

Derro (Jim Holloway, Monster Manual II, 1983)

(if you are the person who I borrowed this idea about Dwarf beards from, tell me, so I can give you proper credit.  It is pretty cool).

Now, due to the importance of the beard in Dwarf culture, younger Dwarves often place undue trust in other bearded humanoids and undue suspicion on those without beards. The human idea of smooth faces being attractive dumbfounds Dwarves, but with time and experience, Dwarves can learn to (mostly) trust beardless individuals, as well as accept the theory that a beard doesn't automatically make a nonDwarf better. This doesn't always translate well, though.

Yes, as might be imagined, I have similar treatments of Elves and Gnomes and Halflings.  

Orcs in my world

Orcs!

In line with many DnD-based fantasy worlds, my world includes Orcs as generic humanoid enemies.  

Not the Rankin-Bass version of Orcs, as musically inclined as they are (an army of Orc bards?).  The members of this horde seem more resigned than fierce and hungry for battle.

This is a ten-hour loop.  Don't watch til the end, as catchy as the song is.

Steve Jackson's interpretations are closer to how I believe Orcs act, though they still don't look right.

Uruk-Hai from The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001

This cover from Dragon Magazine is wonderfully evocative, but still not my Orcs.  Note that the article on Runes in this issue is worth reading.

Clyde Caldwell did the cover

The Gamoreans of Star Wars fame are much closer, perhaps if they dropped a few dozen pounds.

The orcs I grew up on are these guys.  These pig-faced orcs that dwelled in the Caves of Chaos, the ruins of Highport, and all points in between.  

From Monster Manual, 1977. David C. Sutherland III

Orcs that are beast-men of some sort, perhaps inspired by this book.

As an aside, I bought a collection of Hodgson's works, to include this tale.  The opening was grand adventure, featuring a brother and sister buying an old house, and the brother having to fend off attacks by the eerily silent pig-faced orcs.  After awhile, the story shifts to a cosmic thing which bored me to skimming the remainder.  But the beginning was fun.  To be honest, though, the Carnacki stories were also in the collection I bought, and far more readable.

Orcs being orcs and pig-faced suggest that they ride on massive war-boars, perhaps riding chariots pulled by dire boars.  Perhaps wereboars are considered allies, or of a higher caste of Orc, with Orc chieftains seeking lycanthropy to grow ever stronger, and ever closer to the porcine ideal.  

Orcs being so closely related to boars and pigs suggests that the Orcwives look something like this.

Orcwife from Otherworld Miniatures

What are assuredly NOT found in my world are modern 5e Orcs, which are often depicted as green-skinned, small-tusked humans, portrayed as noble savages, too often sexy noble savages with physiques more in line with Olympic athletes than hulking brutes.  I far prefer the drunken, loutish brutes that are just as likely to kill an adventurer as they are to extort a bribe of gold or wine.

So that is what players in my games encounter when they run into orcs.  

Monday MtG: Xenagos, God of Revels

Xenagos, God of Revels

Xenagod began as a built-to-order deck for an acquaintance.  He wanted cheap (money-wise) beatdown, and that is what he got.  It worked well enough, and evidence of its origins is still found in the deck (Yavimaya Wurm, in particular).  Still, in the end, he returned it rather than pay.  

So I made some changes and made it my own.  It could use several other changes, but like most of my decks, it likely won't see them.  Several of the changes I did make involved infinite attack steps, because why not?  

Aggravated Assault or Hellkite Charger paired with Bear Umbra, Nature's Will, or Savage Ventmaw can make for a fast game.  Sword of Feast and Famine would also help this plan, but my sole copy is in another deck.

Now, when I call Xenagos a cheap beatdown deck, it is metaphorically cheap, because I run infect and the above methods to generate infinite attacks.  Both of these perfectly legal and viable routes to victory can make some Magic players sad.  

As an added bonus, the instants in this deck are played properly and to the detriment of my opponents, unlike how I play Blue.  Speaking of instants, this deck runs some of my favorites: Hunter's Instinct and Berserk.  Be careful with Hunter's Insight and multiple attack steps, however, as it is possible to get carried away and draw ALL the cards.

A note about Decimate and Xenagos.  Decimate requires all four targets to be cast.  Xenagos provides two of them in a pinch, and being indestructible, laughs all the while.

Adding the links to cards in this post really brings home the fact that Magic the Gathering, be it Commander format or not, will never be a cheap game to get into.  The secondary market peddling singles may keep game stores solvent, but it also ensures that Magic remains a pay-to-play game.   

Decklist 

Recruiting for a game

This is the 'ad' for new players and a new campaign - once I can have guaranteed consistent free evenings, I'll email/text/FB message this to gamers I know, both in Alabama and Ohio.

Brave folk wanted, for hazardous exploration, small wages, terrible foes, long periods of complete darkness, constant danger.  Safe return doubtful, honor, recognition, and wealth in case of success. 

 

Seek Roscoe at the Green Dragon Inn.

Simple.  Elegant.  Lifted partially from a now-forgotten by me blog, it in turn a lifting from Shackelton of Antarctica exploration fame.

The game in question involves exploring the megadungeon near Skara Brae, tentatively called the Dungeon of Laughing Skulls.  Because reasons.

Ruleset is BX/OSE-ish with houserules.  

Lest detractors think a megadungeon is an excuse to kick in doors, kill things, and take their stuff ad nauseum, know that while to a degree that will happen, a good megadungeon is far more than that.  Exploration, factions, mysteries, the whole nine yards of role-playing.

Basically, I use this checklist from Goblin Punch as a guideline for designing levels and areas within those levels.  It lends itself towards games that are NOT merely combat slogs.

When the PCs/players tire of dungeoncrawling, Skara Brae exists in better shape than before.

The question remains will the game be in person or over Discord.  I'd prefer the former, but we shall see.  Ideally, I end up with two groups, one online in Ohio and a local in-person group here in Alabama.  Of course, they will be indirectly competing with one another and may not even learn of the other's existence until I mention it on the blog.

Then I hope they start impacting the others' games more directly, through play.  

Here's hoping for a sooner-than-later calendar freedom.

  

Carousing in Skara Brae

In other posts, I've alluded to the BX megadungeon I run off and on, and wanted to share some specifics about it.

First and foremost, the main entrance to the megadungeon is a morning's walk away from the port city of Skara Brae.  Yes, of Bard's Tale fame.  If I close my eyes, I can still picture 10-year-old me sitting in my Aunt's (mostly) finished basement, playing Bard's Tale on her Amiga.  She would play, as well, but we each had our own party of adventurers, mine consisting of such notables as Galahad, Lancelot, Merlin, Gandalf, Orcrist, and other people named after whatever fictions I was reading at the time.  At some point years later, I learned that there was a real place called Skara Brae, but it is long uninhabited.

The map from the computer game.  My version certainly doesn't look exactly like this, although there may be some overlap.

From that point on, Skara Brae has been the city of my various campaign worlds, never quite fleshed out, and only roughly mapped. At some point, I adopted the description of Portown from Holmes for Skara Brae.  This has worked well enough for me over the years, as I have memories to riff on. 

Background complete, I've used Carousing houserules since discovering them years ago at Jeff's Gameblog.  To be specific, I used his table word for word and the players have had fun with it, despite burning down large portions of Skara Brae as well as the Green Dragon Inn (where PCs stay between misadventures), so when I use the megadungeon and the carousing table again, the fire entry is going to be revised.

I bring all this up because I recently encountered another set of Downtime and Carousing rules at Goblin Punch, and honestly, may end up using these (plus other houserules alluded to in the article) or some combination of the two.  This led me down the rabbit hole of skim-reading other blogs' versions of carousing:  Kill it with Fire, The Things We Do for XP, Sheep and Sorcery, Back in the Labyrinth, Blessings of the Dice Gods.  

Regardless of source, I enjoy Carousing rules because they are a roleplaying shortcut.  Yes, everything on every carousing table could be role-played out in agonizing detail, but for those lacking the time and/or desire for such play, a die rolled provides more PC history and color, more player laughter, and occasionally a new NPC along with the XP that is the point of such houserules.  When paired with the "I know a guy" houserule, the city kind of builds itself.

I'm aware that the 5e DMG contains some rules for Carousing, on page 128; Xanathar's Guide expands them a bit, starting on page 126.  Reading them over, the Xanathar options are better than the base rules, but overall, feel lacking.  So if you want to make use of Carousing in your 5e game, port over Jeff's or one of the others.

Just think long and hard about the fire starting option.  

Monday MtG: Heartless Hidetsugu

Heartless Hidetsugu

I've been bitten by the new(ish) cards bug, and now I want to buy and build Xyris, the Writhing Storm. After some brief brainstorming and research, I have a rough decklist ready for Xyris. Sadly, it means pulling parts from other decks, notably Norin the Wary.

Building Xyris, the Writhing Storm frees up cards to rebuild Heartless Hidetsugu, which I am not at all averse to doing.  Direct damage really speaks to me, because I am one of THOSE players - hasty and impulsive.  Lightning Bolt, Price of Progress, and a slew of other direct damage spells.

Heartless Hidetsugu was the first commander I ever built, and for a brief moment, it terrified people until it was pointed out that Commander damage meant Combat damage only.  Suitably chastened, I doubled down on reducing life points in a more traditional fashion.

This deck relies on haste.  Run out some haste-enablers, drop HH, and reduce life totals - to include my own. Note that, by far, my preferred haste-enabler is Generator Servant, because it can result in a turn 3 hasty HH.  And even if that doesn’t win the game, it quickly puts the game on a tight damage-based clock. A damage doubler can result in an instant death for players at even life totals, so methods to shoot players for a mere 1 damage to keep them even help (Staff of Nin nets a card, but ….).  Round the damage-inflictors and the damage-doublers out with damage-reducers (Glacial Chasm, Loxodon Warhammer, and Basilisk Collar), and you have a deck. 

I'd like to take a moment to digress about Glacial Chasm. I've no idea why it has yet to be mass reprinted, because it is incredibly useful, and arguably necessary, in a specific type of deck. Namely, decks that throw out damage equally to all players. Glacial Chasm breaks that parity and has been doing so since Ice Age. Yes, it makes a fine defensive card against other damage-dealing decks, but it is best when enabling your own shenanigans - which is why I see it as a crucial piece of Heartless Hidetsugu decks.

The biggest drawback to this deck's strategy is that it telegraphs itself, especially to competent blue players and their nasty countermagic.  So be warned.  And/or run Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast and fight fire with fire, as it were.

Now, it has been several years since HH was one of my constructed decks, and in that time, a lovely card has been printed: Fiery Emancipation.  Objectively, this is a win-more card, but it is so, so lovely. Just look at it! It even feeds devotion, which is one of my favorite mechanics.

It is also currently much more than I like to spend on a card. I'm hoping it will drop in price, the longer M21 is in print (which is most of this year, I surmise).

As an aside, it amuses me that the most expensive cards I want tend to be Red, a color not known for its ‘awesome must-have’ cards.  Except for Filthy Casuals, like myself.

Since rebuilding HH means finishing the dismantling of Norin, I can shift Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power out of Erebos and replace them with the now-available Conjurer’s Closet and Cloudstone Curio.  

All things considered, I am looking forward to building both decks, despite giving up Norin.

EDIT: it happened. Here is the first draft of the decklist.

Monday MtG: Mogis, God of Slaughter

Mogis, God of Slaughter (decklist)

Putting the laughter in slaughter 

This is my third iteration of Mogis.  The first version was something awesome, leaning into enchantments and neat gold spells and chaos.  I then over-tinkered with it, and it stopped working.  At that point, it became a Xantcha deck (which was good in theory, but not in play).

So I didn't feel too bad disassembling Xantcha and remaking Mogis, because, frankly, I like Mogis as a commander better and have a thing for the Theros gods as commanders in general.  This version of Mogis, while still heavy on enchantments, leans on mass land destruction.  

Yes, mass land destruction can be said to violate the 'social contract' of Magic, and yes, it can backfire, although canny artifact choices for support help mitigate this (notably Crucible of Worlds and lots of cheap rocks).  The biggest danger to running lots of mass land destruction is that I fail to recover faster than my opponents.  Plus, the best mass land destruction (in this deck, it is Jokulhaups, but overall, I feel it is Obliterate) tends towards high cmc.  Given that Commander decks tend towards too many nonbasic lands to maximize mana, Ruination and From the Ashes (as well as Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon) can be built around to help keep my edge.

While most of my land destruction are sorceries, I also run Burning Sands and Tainted Aether - which are why I also run comparatively few creatures. Of all the mass land destruction in this deck, these two are the most likely to grind the game to a halt.  While both play nice with the enchantment theme of this deck, they also serve to keep creatures off the board and lands low, out of fear of being locked entirely out of mana.  

Every deck has its own 'best play,' and Mogis is no different.  For me, that best play involves Ankh of Mishra on turn one or two, although From the Ashes while Ankh of Mishra is in play can be hysterical.  It once (and may again, in the future) may be a first turn Winds of Change, just to mess with people that may have mulliganed down to a 'playable hand.'

Despite the potential for such lovely plays as mentioned, my favorite card in the deck is Last Laugh.

Last Laugh embodies the law of unintended consequences and damage-based shenanigans. This is especially useful in the Commander format, where the idea of sacrificing one's own permanents for personal benefit is commonplace, not to mention the mass and targeted removal that better decks run and use.

This version of Mogis is also notable for the lack of tutors and easy one-sided draw.  This is entirely due to my only having single copies of such cards in the Commander Box, and they are in use.  Also notable is Exquisite Blood's missing partner-in-crime, Sanguine Bond (or Vito).  I own both cards, and am using the excuse of no tutors as to why I am not running them.  In retrospect, I need to remedy this.

It is likely that further tinkering will force an edit to this post, and I am okay with that.  All I know is that I won't be breaking apart Mogis again - it is too much of what I enjoy.

20 Questions about Ironguard

Jeff at Jeff's Gameblog recommends answering these 20 questions for immediate world-building.

Here are the answers for the Ironguard Keep campaign:

1. What is the deal with my cleric's religion?  Modeled on the Norse, to include names.  Still, the Keep Chapel addresses most of them (not Loki, though).

2. Where can we go to buy standard equipment? Ironguard Keep.

3. Where can we go to get plate mail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?  Ironguard Keep, though the Dwarven smiths there will make you pay (they are good and love a challenge, but are not fans of monsters in Dwarf-armor).

4. Who is the mightiest wizard in the land? Grandfather Favarro, the lich that supplies the Favarro merchant family with crafted magic items - each item quirky for the lich's amusement.  Most PCs will deal with Lord Magus Antoine Lebrun.

5. Who is the greatest warrior in the land? Locally, it is The Castellan Herr Gerhardt Rottmeyer. There are rumors of a great chaos champion to the east, however.

6. Who is the richest person in the land?  no one at Ironguard Keep, not even the PCs.  Nor Mario Favarro, though the Favarro family as a whole is loaded.

7. Where can we go to get some magical healing? Ironguard Keep is the nearest location

8. Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?  Ironguard Keep, Grandfather Favarro, the Witches of the Webwood, settlements to the west.

9. Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?  No guild as such.  Wizards use the apprentice and letter of introduction/recommendation model.

10. Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?  Settlements to the West.

11. Where can I hire mercenaries?  A few are always available at Ironguard Keep.

12. Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?   Not around Ironguard Keep.

13. Which way to the nearest tavern?  The Lion's Den at Ironguard Keep.

14. What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?  the dragons, the jabberwock. 

15. Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?  Chaos is encroaching, but it hasn't reached pitched battles - yet.

16. How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?  Settlements to the west, also one across the river.

17. Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?  To join? Probably.  To fight, assuredly.  The Chaos cultists.

18.  What is there to eat around here?  Typical fare with a pseudo Germanic feel.

19. Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?  Saberhagen's Swords

20. Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?  A red in the mountains to the west, a black in the swamps to the south, a green in the forests to the north.

(the back cover of B2: Keep on the Borderlands by Erol Otus)

Ironguard Keep Rumors

I mentioned rumor tables earlier in the week.

Here is a list of rumors from my Ironguard Keep campaign.  Some are from Ironguard Keep itself, others from Twk-Men (for salt, of course).

d30	Rumor
1	The Swampfolk argue and fight amongst themselves.
2	The wizard's tower to the north is long abandoned by people, it's wizard slain.
3	A trio of weird sisters dwell on the edge of the Webwood.
4	Foul beasts and worse stalk the forest now that the Chaos Temples are active!
5	They bargain with the Scaled One, but the Scaled One so far refuses.
6	A haunted keep lies several days upriver.
7	They seek the Army of the Damned!
8	A dragon lairs in a ruined temple lies deep in the swamps to the south.
9	Gnolls have been sighted west of the river!
10	The forest queen seeks her consort.
11	Lights have been seen at night in the ruins of Kingsbridge.
12	When Kingsbridge was sacked, the Armaments of Sigurd Dragonslayer were never recovered, so might still be there!
13	The goblins are marching.
14	Fresh Troll-spoor has been found near the keep.
15	As chaos rises, the laws of nature crumble.
16	Ruins older than Kingsbridge exist across the river, swollen with gold and magic.
17	Old Man Kataan has a cottage at the edge of the swamp, and is not nearly as crazy as he lets on.
18	The old soldiers are stirring.
19	I don't know who's the better fighter, Baron Rottmeyer or the Dwarf Snorri; they have both slain giants single-handed!
20	That massive dragon skeleton that makes up Wyrmsback Ridge - it's hoard was never recovered!
21	The undead walk the streets of Kingsbridge at night.
22	Those Favarros will buy anything they think is magic, no questions asked.
23	Beware the rats, the rats in the walls!
24	The fey hunt at dawn and dusk.
25	The revenant of the druid Maria wanders the forests at night, seeking those that left her.
26	The third shrine rises.
27	The song is true! I've seen Farslayer at work with my own eyes!
28	An ancient monastery lies beyond the river, home to twisted monks serving a dark god to this day!
29	Geppetto and his wife still live in the ruins of Kingsbridge, trading their fine statuary at the keep for supplies.
30	The wizard-king Ozymandias once ruled this area; some say his ghost still haunts the land.

Full disclosure: while many of these rumors came from actual play, I did not actually use a d30 table at the time (to my chagrin).  The megadungeon has a nice rumor list, though.

Numbers 2, 6, 10, 22, 23, 25, 29 have either been verified by the PCs or caused by the PCs.

Number 27 refers to the Song of Swords and the Swords Trilogy by Saberhagen, because yes, those are in my homebrew world.