After four sessions, one TPK and two deaths, and before we run our fifth one next week, I think it's high time I talked about our most recent D&D campaign (and the reason I started this blog). In my previous post, I rambled on why I chose B/X as my preferred edition. While I was drawn to Classic D&D's minimal design, I also wanted to experiment with the notions of old school gaming. Nostalgia can bring euphoric sensations to our minds, but it usually serves as a reminder of our past selves; it's still a thing of the past, and looking back at those moments with our modern perceptions, they can feel kinda odd and out of place. When I first started rolling dice for characters and monsters, me and my buddy were being immersed in the era of early modern gaming - that of strong narratives, heroic play, and complex character building. AD&D2e offered a multitude of splatbooks, like the various Complete [Class or Race] Handbook, and supplements, such as the notorious Player's Option rulebooks. Despite its "modernisms", gaming in 2e was firmly rooted in the old ways and we, then young, innocent and oblivious, were driven in this mix of old and new. I tend to call this era of early modern gaming the Middle Ages of D&D, the Intermediate Years or the Transitional Era, which encompasses the first years of 3e, but this is a topic for another post.
Back to our B/X campaign, I call it The Dungeon, not just due to lack of a better name, but also because the world feels like the all-too-familiar underground locale, with limitless paths (corridors) leading to places of interest (rooms), either friendly (towns) or hostile (monsters). In sense, this is reminiscent of wilderness adventures of the old days, also known as point of light settings, a term 4e exemplified with Nentir Vale. The characters traversing this forgotten land, dotted with crumbling cities and frontier towns, face all sorts of dangers, be they monstrous denizens of the area, bandits living off hapless travellers, sinister politics stabbing at both sides, or ancient ruins filled with deadly traps. The world isn't exactly home-brewed; a few months ago I picked up Dyson's magnificent hexcrawl adventure, and took a fancy to run it ever since. In my preparation for the mini, experimental, campaign, I did a lot of researching on how to bring the setting to my liking, and to justify every bit of mechanics in B/X, like the existence of race-as-class, how magic functions, thief abilities, and an alignment system that aligns (duh) with the cosmology. My research notes were fragmentary and intentionally kept to a minimum - I left gaps for my group to fill in, either through exploring or by coming up with ideas. Of course, there is a basic premise of the setting, upon which I strive to build, depending on the players' desires, in a typical sandbox style.
So our characters arrive to Coruvon, the Swamp Arena, either following a caravan trail from the mountains of the North Reaches or by sailing Ironflow River upwards from the southern lands. The Black Mire is a vastly unexplored area, filled to the brim with ancient ruins of an elven empire, secluded lizard communities, and shrines of forgotten gods, and criss-crossed by magical causeways. The only human town in the region is actually a military base, catering to mercenaries, guards, and adventurers, originally placed to thwart any invasions of giants towards the South. As the only point of light and civilisation in the overwhelming wilderness, Coruvon is a rather decadent city, as various factions strive to gain a foothold. The characters have the option to explore the swamp and its elven mysteries or the mountain ranges and their dwarven stronghold ruins, take part in the city's power struggles, investigate the slave business of the Iron Overlord, interact with long-forgotten cosmic entities etc.
Each class has received a few modifications, with the demi-human (or non-human, as I usually name) races feeling more alien, quite separate from their fantasy archetypes, to better accommodate the sword-and-sorcery theme I'm looking for. Clerics are rare mystical champions of the two opposing cosmic forces (Law and Chaos); magic-users have gained access to the arcane (and chaotic) arts through various methods; fighters are multi-purposed armsmen, having mastered the art of war and battle; thieves claim to be explorers, scoundrels, investigators, scouts, and other humble (or illicit) professions; elves are fickle immortals, likened to undead and with a passionate fascination towards magic; dwarfs are rock elementals obssessed with crafting their descendants; and halflings are creatures born from the shadows of humans. The world our characters play in is the battleground for the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos, where everybody eventually picks a side, and the gods represent various aspects, trying to forge champions and warriors to use them against each other.
That's the short story of The Dungeon. In later posts, I shall expand on classes, cosmology, mechanics, design choices and their inspirations. I will also record a summary of our sessions, as the characters venture into paths both dangerous and rewarding, carving their own legend (or meeting horrible fates).
Back to our B/X campaign, I call it The Dungeon, not just due to lack of a better name, but also because the world feels like the all-too-familiar underground locale, with limitless paths (corridors) leading to places of interest (rooms), either friendly (towns) or hostile (monsters). In sense, this is reminiscent of wilderness adventures of the old days, also known as point of light settings, a term 4e exemplified with Nentir Vale. The characters traversing this forgotten land, dotted with crumbling cities and frontier towns, face all sorts of dangers, be they monstrous denizens of the area, bandits living off hapless travellers, sinister politics stabbing at both sides, or ancient ruins filled with deadly traps. The world isn't exactly home-brewed; a few months ago I picked up Dyson's magnificent hexcrawl adventure, and took a fancy to run it ever since. In my preparation for the mini, experimental, campaign, I did a lot of researching on how to bring the setting to my liking, and to justify every bit of mechanics in B/X, like the existence of race-as-class, how magic functions, thief abilities, and an alignment system that aligns (duh) with the cosmology. My research notes were fragmentary and intentionally kept to a minimum - I left gaps for my group to fill in, either through exploring or by coming up with ideas. Of course, there is a basic premise of the setting, upon which I strive to build, depending on the players' desires, in a typical sandbox style.
So our characters arrive to Coruvon, the Swamp Arena, either following a caravan trail from the mountains of the North Reaches or by sailing Ironflow River upwards from the southern lands. The Black Mire is a vastly unexplored area, filled to the brim with ancient ruins of an elven empire, secluded lizard communities, and shrines of forgotten gods, and criss-crossed by magical causeways. The only human town in the region is actually a military base, catering to mercenaries, guards, and adventurers, originally placed to thwart any invasions of giants towards the South. As the only point of light and civilisation in the overwhelming wilderness, Coruvon is a rather decadent city, as various factions strive to gain a foothold. The characters have the option to explore the swamp and its elven mysteries or the mountain ranges and their dwarven stronghold ruins, take part in the city's power struggles, investigate the slave business of the Iron Overlord, interact with long-forgotten cosmic entities etc.
Each class has received a few modifications, with the demi-human (or non-human, as I usually name) races feeling more alien, quite separate from their fantasy archetypes, to better accommodate the sword-and-sorcery theme I'm looking for. Clerics are rare mystical champions of the two opposing cosmic forces (Law and Chaos); magic-users have gained access to the arcane (and chaotic) arts through various methods; fighters are multi-purposed armsmen, having mastered the art of war and battle; thieves claim to be explorers, scoundrels, investigators, scouts, and other humble (or illicit) professions; elves are fickle immortals, likened to undead and with a passionate fascination towards magic; dwarfs are rock elementals obssessed with crafting their descendants; and halflings are creatures born from the shadows of humans. The world our characters play in is the battleground for the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos, where everybody eventually picks a side, and the gods represent various aspects, trying to forge champions and warriors to use them against each other.
That's the short story of The Dungeon. In later posts, I shall expand on classes, cosmology, mechanics, design choices and their inspirations. I will also record a summary of our sessions, as the characters venture into paths both dangerous and rewarding, carving their own legend (or meeting horrible fates).
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