Monday MtG: Commander Box

No decklist today, for good or ill.  Just my approach to playing Commander, and more importantly, building decks for it.

I've been playing Magic the Gathering since Revised was released (thank you, Terry!).  So over the decades, I acquired tens of thousands of cards, spending thousands of dollars on them and accessories (chiefly sleeves, but also playmats and a fancy deckbox or two).

Upon discovering the Commander format (formerly called EDH or Elder Dragon Highlander), I was in heaven, because here was a Magic format intended to be played in groups instead of straight up duels and at least somewhat discouraging of people running the same cards again and again.  Embracing the format, I never looked back.

Still, with all the cards I owned, I went down a rabbit-hole of deckbuilding (and sleeving).  At one point, I had over two dozen active Commander decks, as well as a half-dozen partial decks at any time.  Given that certain cards are, if not necessary, downright handy and strongly recommended, I found myself buying specific cards in bulk (Sol Ring and ? among others).  This got expensive fast.

Fast forward several years, and I found myself playing less and less, to the tune of once per quarter, maybe.  All those cards - all that money - in my closet, doing nothing.  So I embarked on a grand plan, to pare down what I had and build a Commander Box.  Lots and lots of singles allowing me to keep 6-8 decent decks active at a time, with forced variety between them, due to having few doubles (or triples or sextets) of cards.  True highlander format.

For the most part, it worked.  My collection now fits on one shelf, versus four.  It was slow-going getting there, but fun.  I wasn't part of the initial PucaTrade (caveat emptor) traders, but in early enough that I ended up with all sorts of goodies for little more than my own cards. Goodies I would never see at the local shop.  Plus, it was fun mailing things out and getting my own mail - even when it arrived poorly packaged ($50 worth of cards in a plain white envelope? Really?).

Still, that wasn't the fastest method.  Selling the bulk of the collection to Tyler was.  As part of the standing Saturday game, I encounter my old cards, and will be regaled at how much more they are now worth (but only if I ask - Tyler is polite like that).  Magic singles are a business unto themselves, and one I am happy to away from.

On occasion, the urge for new cards takes me, but since that day, I am rather proud of my not buying up cards left and right.

tl;dr - a box (or several binders) of singles is better for me and my Commander playing than a vast collection of multiples.  So if you see a decklist not running specific cards you're certain I have, you now know why - those cards are in another deck.

Rumor Has It

Rumor tables have a storied history in D&D, being the primary source of information in published modules from the beginning. I would argue they are still important in building a sense of place.

The beauty of a good rumor table is that all it really does is give players options for their PCs to pursue.  Just like in real life, some rumors are true, some partially true, and some decidedly false.  Also just like real life, the truth of a rumor is only learned after time, effort, blood, gold, and maybe lives are spent to learn that truth. 

From B2 Keep on the Borderlands

This rumor table is one many will recognize.  False rumors are denoted by an F after the number.  10 is highlighted, because the Goblins in my megadungeon speak in "Bree-Yark", much like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy speaks in "I am Groot."  To this day, Bree-Yark is a running joke when goblins are afoot.  

In contrast, we have this rumor table from another classic module.

From L1 The Secret of Bone Hill

Instead of a flat d20, we get percentage dice.  Also, falsehoods are italicized, resulting in partially or completely false rumors.  On the facing page is this tidbit about from whence the rumors come:

Also from L1 The Secret of Bone Hill

This extra chart is neat because it clearly spells out that randomly encountered folks with levels (not nearly all the inhabitants of Restenford and the rest of L1) won't know any rumors until leveling.  From there, the more powerful you are, the more gossip you've likely heard and might share.  Key NPCs will know things.

And then, once spoken, a rumor may go away and be replaced by a new rumor of DM invention. A subtle nod to D&D games never going exactly (or remotely) by the book. 

Both rumor tables provide enough options to send the PCs running all over the map, depending on what they have heard, what they believe, and what they are interested in.  In other words, the rumors build the world.

I'm of the opinion that regardless if the DM is running a sandbox or a railroad or some sort of in-between, their game would be enhanced with a rumor table; ideally a rumor table that changes with time.  When those changes are directly due to PC (in)actions, all the better.

So, the question becomes one of implementation.  How exactly does one make use of the table?  Probably the simplest method is for each player to roll the first time they visit town (or maybe they get rolls equal to their charisma bonus) in a session.  Alternatively, PCs get a roll (perhaps two rolls - the first to see if an NPC knows something, and a second to learn what that something is) whenever interacting with an NPC.  I can see some tables spending all night just collecting rumors, so know your players.

I strive for this system at my table (although it doesn't always work out): Players roll, and DM reads, BUT the rumors contain details regarding how the PC learned it.  You get the flavor without the time wasting or forced polite gossiping, so the players can get on with the adventuring.  

So, for example, the PCs roll a 16 and 17 on the B2 rumor table, and I tell them, "a weary huntsman joins you in front of the fire, and over his ale tells you 'several months back, a lone elf disappeared after heading into the marshes to the south. I bet those damned lizardmen that live in the marshes ate him!' He shivers as he downs his ale."

The PCs get some rumors and some flavor, and the DM provides information on the world the PCs are in.  And if PCs really want to RP some more with the huntsman, they can, but there is no need because they have learned all they can.  So if they want, the PCs can head south with knowledge of a likely threat, or can head any other direction because swamps and lizardmen are often trouble.  The choice is theirs.

All of this to say, if you aren't using rumor tables in your game, you should.

EDIT: a fine working example at Alone in the Labyrinth. 6/26/22

Blogs on Tape

 A short post this morning.

Mark at Sandwhiches and Scabbards recommended I give Blogs On Tape a listen, and it was a solid recommendation.

Especially if sitting in line at the vaccination station in town.  

So, if you have a long drive or some quiet tedious work ahead of you, give them a listen.

Happy listening!

Grandfather Favarro, Lich

In the Ironguard campaign, in Ironguard Keep, is a merchant shop that traffics in luxuries and curios.

And magic items.

Of course, as I believe easy access to DMG items is tantamount to driving a minivan, the only items they have are custom (and by that, I mean lifted from a variety of blogs - some listed to the side) and almost all have ...interesting... quirks.

This shop is run by the Favarro family, merchants who have been dealing (trafficking?) in such items for generations.  If they cannot find and/or acquire something you want, they commission it and (eventually) deliver it to the family member you ordered it from.

In Ironguard Keep, that family member is Mario Favarro and his younger sister, Lucreza Favarro.  In their employ is the minor magician Constanzo Stregone, and a handful of servants and guards.  The PCs are regulars at the shop, and have even been invited to dinner with the Favarros, who in turn offered them the opportunity to pick up some items.

The pay was acceptable, so off the PCs went, several days upriver to a dilapidated keep, wherein harpies controlled the courtyard.  Ethan's sorcerer fell to (and was eaten by) the harpies, but the rest made it into the great hall, where they met Old Granddad, Grandfather Favarro, lich and item crafter extraordinaire.

Also, senile and maybe batshit crazy, with a sadistic streak, as his created items demonstrate.

See, Grandfather Favarro creates unique items (keeping detailed journals and workbooks and sketches of them - so he can easily scry the current wielders) that all mostly do what is asked of them, but at the same time tend to something more.  Something unfortunate and dark and vastly amusing to Grandfather Favarro when he chooses to scry them.

Anyhow, the PCs picked up the items while avoiding annihilation at the lich's hands.  Returning to Ironguard Keep and politely interrogating the Favarros over dinner, the PCs learned that Grandfather Favarro is in fact a great-great-great-great-great-great-Grandfather, but it is simpler (and safer) to play along with the mad lich's belief.

Beyond family ties, the Favarro family relies on the lich to create items because the lich has hunted down and slain (awfully and efficiently and completely) competition.  Granted, this was centuries ago, but legends remain, so item crafters are careful to keep such items and knowledge to themselves.

Grandfather Favarro is mostly loyal to the family line, but only because he thinks they are all his grandson.  So far, no one has corrected him, so the items keep flowing (as payment in ingredients continue).  In a pinch, the lich might be pulled into a trade war, but the last time that was done, an entire city was laid to waste, so even the Favarros are leery of asking his help.

The players figured out that he was a (crazy) lich, so played along and did not provoke him, which is probably smart, on their part.

The items picked up and delivered are as follows:

Longsword – Green and red and gold colorings.  Mocker. (sentient, Vicious Mockery on 1 or 20, limited telepathy and tongues for mocking others; wielder messes up, Mocker lets them know).  A sarcastic bard was used in its crafting.

Longsword – Blue and white and silver colorings. Cool to the touch. Rimefang. (glows blue brighter in the presence of heat – elemental plane of fire is nearly blinding); deals extra damage vs fire creatures. Wielder takes extra damage from fire creatures.

Ring – bluish metal, cool to the touch. Ring of Fire Resistance, Cold Vulnerability.

Ring – verdigrised copper. Invisibility, but only self – not clothing or equipment.  A naked person in just the ring may be revealed by a high enough perception check (ring is seen floating in space).

Ring - Two golden snakes intertwined. upon donning it, the snakes bite down on the wearer and their eyes flash red as the wearer takes a point of permanent Con damage as an immediate attunement.  Removing the ring requires removing the finger.  Once attuned, the wearer’s skin toughens and grows scaly, improving his AC and granting the ability to (slowly) regenerate limbs.  

Staff – 5.5 feet long, whitish wood (ash) and bound with iron. Head carved to suggest a dragon with gemstone eyes. (the gemstone colors seem to change depending on power used).  Can provide wielder with absolute protection from dragon’s breath in a 5’ radius for one round.  When used in this fashion, the wielder gains a level of Exhaustion.  The power of the staff alerts dragons to its presence

Amulet - Oval cloudstone on a gold chain. Amulet of the Winds – Cloudstone (skyblue with white patterns that seem to shift and drift when stared at) on gold. Wind Wall, Wind Walk, Control Winds, Gaseous Form – user may spontaneously turn into Gaseous Form under certain conditions.  (from Manowar's Master of the Wind).

So there. Someone (thing?) to pull into your campaign.

MtG: Sygg, River Cutthroat

 Sygg, River Cutthroat (Veteran of the Psychic Wars)

Another BU deck.  This might be my favorite color combination, despite my regular poor use of instants.

Sygg, River Cutthroat started as a comment at MTGSalvation, in a discussion about Commanders that slip under the radar.  That seemed a great idea at the time (and it still is), but I wanted to try something different, so it became a deck based on ensuring Sygg triggers.

Then I saw Neverending Torment and doubled down on using blue poorly by ensuring the only way the deck draws extra cards is through creatures dealing damage.  Not looting, but straight up drawing.  After all, once NT goes off, I can no longer cast spells, and 1 card per turn is painfully slow - even when not constrained by Epic.  I then sprinkled in more traditional instants for removal and ended up with a deck that wins more often than not, at least when my friends run it.

All of this to make sure that Neverending Torment turns ugly as fast as possible.  Counterspells are held to counter sweepers and EPIC prevention.  The dream play is to Twincast the Neverending Torment so it goes off twice per upkeep, but so far, no dice. Addiing additional forms of Twincast may help this plan.  Adding Twincast would also help, as the decklist tells me it isn't there... hmm...

I mentioned before that this deck is often run by my friends, and they do.  If I am at the table, someone plays Sygg at least once that day, if not several people taking turns.  The bizarre wincon and the card choices are why.

Decklist.

So, keep playing nontraditional decks.  They may not win often, but when they do, they make all the pain worth it.

MtG: Threats and Answers

Erebos, God of the Dead (Career of Evil)

A Magic deck boils down to two things: threats and answers.  Everything else in the deck is merely there to get to those threats and answers.

The best threats and answers are cheap to cast, either due to the card's actual converted mana cost (CMC), its alternate casting cost, or due to other cards accelerating or cheating its casting cost. 

Commander is a format with 100 card decks, each a different card title (given that functional copies of cards exist, just with different names, you can end up with multiples in a deck).  Subtracting land, alternate mana sources (artifacts and ramp spells), and draw spells, a deck should ideally contain between 40-50 threats and answers.

My decks rarely hit that number, because another bad habit of mine is to run cards based on art, subjective flavor, or because the ideal version of the card is $$$$$ and I refuse to pay that, so I run a substandard version (typically having a higher cmc and probably a worse, although similar, effect).

Still, my recently built Erebos deck pulls this off, perhaps better than anticipated, and despite the large amount of cards in the deck that have cmc of 7-9 (good deck theory is maybe less than five of these cards, because for that much mana, you should win, but you don't want these cards in your opening hand).

Harley played its inaugural game, then its second game.  It turns out that sticking to one color results in some unintended synergies that forced answers.  In the case of this monoblack deck, this is without the use of its trademark tutors (currently in my BW deck) or a dedicated graveyard theme (though that IS there in bits and pieces).  As a whole, this deck would benefit from my adding Conjurer's Closet, Cloudstone Curio, and Skull Collector, and not just because of Gray Merchant and Rune-Scarred Demon.  Black simply has too many delicious enter the battlefield abilities to not run them.

+

Yet, adding those three cards would mean pulling the two artifacts from my Norin, the Wary deck, which needs them far more.  Skull Collector may yet make it in, only time will tell.  I would have to start making flavor-based cuts and that is always difficult for me - Nightmare is sweet art and loves a monoblack deck, but for 6 cmc, there are stronger choices, both in and out of the deck. 

I needed Harley to make that cut - he doesn't let flavor affect his card choices all that much.

And sometimes, that is what people need - a second set of eyes.

Decklist.  Suffice it to say, Gray Merchant shenanigans are guaranteed.

Making Use of What's Out There

The beauty of homebrewing a campaign setting, in contrast to sticking slavishly to the slick published books of the 'official setting,' is the freedom to add whatever cool adventures I have found to the map.

I then plant rumors, and then hope the players bite and the PCs head that direction.

A good many of my discoveries have come about via Bryce at tenfootpole.org.  His reviews are worth reading, if only for entertainment value.  

Anyhow, these (mis)adventure sites are scattered around the map of Ironguard Keep and its wilderness.

Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom

The Hole in the Oak

Spire of Iron and Crystal

Xanadu

Fever Swamp

From the Vats

The Stygian Library

The Gardens of Ynn

Sision Tower

Operation Unfathomable

Mortzengersturm, The Mad Manticore of the Prismatic Peak

The One Who Watches from Below

Castle Xyntillan

The Hyqueous Vaults

This is in addition to several Trilemma adventures and oh, the hex options from d4 Caltrops.  

So, there is lots to explore (and loot) in the campaign.  I have ambitious plans, what can I say?

We just need the time to actively do so.

Of course, with no game, I might as well issue out these Death Certificates and be done with it.