Exploring the Wilderlands - Castrum Venterlapis

   

Castrum Venterlapis

 Originally known as Bellystone Keep.  Since the Overlord gifted the Crispa family the lands of Zothay in exchange for giving up their original holdings in Mill Haven (now known as Skandry) the keep has been the chief holding of the Counts of Zothiem.

    They rule from the great hilltop castle brooding over Bellystone Ford, where the Old South Rad crosses the Mageven River, planning on retaking their old holdings and dealing with the usurper Balarnega on the throne of the City State.

    As I've said several times, I'm using the old Chivalry & Sorcery rules for designing the Feudal Nation to put together my Feudal Wilderlands settings.  This includes detailing each castle in the Wilderlands - and Castrum Venterlapis is one of the largest.  In C&S terms it is a Class V: Large castle.  It has two moats, inner and outer curtain walls with their own gatehouse strong points.  The inner wall has no less than six sixty foot towers to strengthen it and the out has ten slightly smaller towers.  The donjon or central keep is 90 feet tall with walls 18 feet thick at the base.  The area of the fortification covers over four acres.

Including the Count, there are twenty knights plus their squires, eighty sergeants and 200 men at arms along with fifty mercenaries available at the castle.  Additionally, the Count can muster another eighty four sergeants out of the yeomanry able to fight on horseback along with an additional 250 yeomen men at arms.

    This is a major upgrade from the Citadel given in the original Wilderlands of High fantasy supplement with 70 fighting men led by a 5th level N Bard.  Rob Conley maintained those numbers in his edition of the supplement also.   However, looking at the map, this castle is in the most strategic location within the bounds of Zothiem, controlling the Old South Road and Bellystone Ford make it extraordinarily defensible against any armies moving down from the north, like the City State itself or the Skandiks from the Pagan Coast.

    

Caius Atius Crispa
Comes Zothia

    The Count of Zothiem, Caius Atius Crispa, is the head of the powerful Crispa family.  They were some of the original settlers from the Empire and have holdings in Skandry and in the demesne of the Invincible Overlord himself as well as multiple holdings in Zothiem.

    As one of the great Virdian families that have ruled the Wilderlands for hundreds of years, he considers the Invincible Overlord a barbarian usurper, albeit a powerful one.  This has led him to seek closer ties to his Viridian heritage, including overtures to the World Emperor.  He has commissioned several projects among his feudal subjects to recover anything related to old Virdian writings and artifacts.  He's searching for a forgotten weapon to use to regain his family's original holdings in Skandry.   His incubating revolution is protected from the hosts of the Overlord by a series of castles guarding the Old South Road as it passes through Queans Waste as well as his great keep on the far bank of Bellystone Ford.

    This ends the subsidiary posts of my notes and background thinking from the first Exploring the Wilderlands post.  Next time another solo play write up to move the adventure along.

Exploring the Wilderlands - Page 88

     Page 88 of the DMG is where Gary goes off on long exposition on Social Class and Rank in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.  rather like his later comments on unarmed combat, this feels like something he included against his will.  I have from time to time characterized his prose on this subject as a rant.  Not quite there today, but I can feel frustration ooze from the words on the page when he writes 

"how pointless it is to blindly plug in a set of "birth tables" based on some form of hereditary quasi-European nobility" 

He could have cut over a column of text just by saying - 'The society of your campaign is up to you.'  

    Conversely, my other favorite RPG from the 1970's is Chivalry & Sorcery.  A game that is explicitly built around that description of birth tables, with the specific goal of providing rules for adventuring in a quasi-European Middle Age setting.   I know Backhaus & Simbalist are recorded to have tried to show Gary their draft at an early convention, so I do wonder if he had this explicitly in mind when he wrote that section.  Of course, it works for C&S because that is a limit they place on their game milieu.   Later expansions added information for fringe societies, Viking, Celtic and Mongol as well as Saurians (Dinosaur men) and Dinosaurs, but the core was always France in the Middle Ages.

    In my Feudal Wilderlands settings, I'm doing a kitchen sink mashup with AD&D (or other mechanics) on top of a quasi-European setting.  So far, because AD&D ignores milieu and I'm not doing the C&S mechanics the sink has drained without clogging.  Now I find the water backing up a bit.

 

Ithranel of Colsith

  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ithranel rolled up as a High Elf or Gray Elf in AD&D.  And C&S has a note in character generation 

    High Elves, unlike Wood Elves, are always of titled rank and are treated as such both in their lands and in the lands of all other races.

Titled in this parlance means they or a very near relative are Barons, Counts, Marquises, Earls or Dukes.  No mere knightly status much less <gasp> a peasant background.  So they're treated the way Galadriel is in LoTR.  They are among the rich and powerful and everyone treats them that way.

    And I just had a somewhat naive young Gray Elf wander on stage and ask to join a couple of murder hobos on a tomb robbing expedition.   All of a sudden the focus of the party has to shift from Walker and Bitirc, who actually know what's expected, to Ithranel, because everyone they meet will assume she is the leader of the expedition.  Those of lower class will suck up and do favors for her, with the hope and expectation that she can do bigger favors in return.  Titled nobles, like the Count of Zothiem will immediately assess her as either a potential enemy or ally.  There is no middle ground for them.  (Count Atius has decided on potential ally, as indicated by the gift of a riding horse and a guard detail.)

    And we're back on Page 88.

"do you really believe that that one of your player characters should be the first born son of a major noble or ruler?  If so, why is he adventuring? Where are his guards and retainers?  Does his father know his whereabouts? If so, why is he allowing the heir to his title and estates to risk his life in such a foolish manner?"

Like I said, Gary is borderline ranting in this section.  But good and inescapable questions for players and DMs in any setting with a robust milieu. 

    My answers today may not stand up in further game play, but so it goes. Elven society is different in the Feudal Wilderlands, as in C&S the elves are immortal, but almost always sail the straight path and go to the West by time the they reach venerable age in AD&D. So Ithranel is good for a couple thousand years of game play. Their society is organized differently, and their heirs are expected to pursue excellence in their skills, abilities and interests wherever that takes them. ((In LoTR the sons of Elrond often rode with the Rangers.)

    Ithranel is off gaining experience as most elves do at one point or another.  Her society (although maybe not her mother) are OK with that.   Count Atius has decided to treat her like he would a second cousin who showed up.  After all she may be very useful to his descendants in the future.  He's gifting her with equipment and guards, and has made his court wizard take her on as an apprentice.  The guards make a nice way for me to add in two more of the party I had rolled up, a human fighter and a half Orc fighter cleric.  Those are the 'lads' Ivo mentions.  And then there is Ivo.  Ivo is unexpected to me as a DM, but sometimes these NPCs are called forth by the events of the campaign and you can't see how the campaign would work without them.  Atius wants to keep Ithranel alive, so he's not just giving her muscle of her level, he's assigning a tough experienced sergeant to protect her, advise her and in many ways to lead any expeditions for her until she becomes seasoned enough to do it herself.  Ivo is at least 5th level and I'm sure has a stash of items that makes him even more lethal.  More to come as Ivo reveals what he can do.

Exploring the Wilderlands - REG and the Orcs of the Ocher Spear

 

    One of the topics I have repeatedly posted on over the last dozen years are random encounters.  Generating them, running them, frequency, I've covered all of those.  One thing I don't think I've posted on is REG, my home rule Random Encounter Generator (not exactly a creative name, I know).  I developed REG a LONG time ago, so long ago that I need to retype it as all I have is the PDF copy, the original Word file was done several laptops ago.  I may not have recycled it yet, but not sure I want to try to boot an old Windows laptop up for one file.  Besides it needs some updates as I have evolved my approach for random encounters.

I wrote up the result of a Random Encounter from REG a couple of posts ago

"No, no, it's true the Ocher Spear threw what the orcs call a bridge across the Murmuring Stream, just up from where it flows into the Mageven. It cuts a full day off the ride to the Old South Road. But it will cost you a fair amount. Two gold crowns a leg, man and beast is what I heard. O'course the bridge is too rickety for a cart or wagon so I haven't used it me self." the driver passed the rumor on to them.

What's not obvious is what the random encounter actually is:  it's the information about a toll bridge.

    When I sat down and thought about random Encounters, I realized that while based on the tables in the old DMG and the incentives of gathering XP - most random encounters are run as straight combat encounters.  I've done it as a DM and been bored by it as a player.  So I gave some consideration to what the characters and players could gain by random encounters.  Combat and XP certainly stay in there, but encounters can also be designed to funnel information to the characters and to increase the players' immersion in the world.

My first breakdown is by type of Encounter

Challenge - both the classic monster encounters from the DMG and also mechanical challenges like dealing with toll bridges, flooded fords, rocks in rivers etc while the party travels.

    Information - information is simply any knowledge of possible use to the characters.  Whether about a Challenge, the current Adventure or a hook for another adventure.  The key is that the characters now have a data point for the players to consider and take action on or not as they see fit.  This also adds to player immersion as they're not rolling dice, they are considering course of action.

    Recurring NPCs - whether a Sponsor, like a Noble needing a team of deniable agents to advance her goals, a regular Informant (like Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch - for those of you old enough to know) or a pesky rival party trying to horn in on your loot.  The purpose is to introduce these NPCs organically into the campaign and see where the players go.  Again, dealing repeatedly with the same NPCs adds to immersion as the world stabilizes for the players.

    I have a fourth category - Gonzo in the original REG, where the party would meet a challenge from one of the other RPGs in my library.  However, I've shifted to a kitchen sink approach to generating random monsters and this is why I need to re-write REG.

    To get back to the toll bridge, I rolled Information about a Challenge.  The Challenge turned out to be a

Road Hazard (Toll Bridge) and the information was available verbally from an NPC, rather than the party discovering physical evidence.  Once I knew that it was a matter of figuring out where the bridge was and who was collecting the tolls.

    The map does not show a road from Zothay up to the Old South Road (dashed red line).  I've placed all the nobles in my Feudal Wilderlands, and I know there isn't a castle in that area.  That left looking at the monsters in the random encounters in the area and picking one.  Orcs seemed like a good choice, but since these were local characters and NPCs, I needed a name for the tribe.  Up in the Dearthwood there are the Orcs of the Purple Claw.  And of course, Saruman had the Orcs of the White Hand.  So naming them [color] [item] seemed like a good pattern.   I've always been intrigued by Ocher as a color, ever since I first played the board game 'Civilization' and encountered it as an early trade good.  Anyway, it refers to pigments from ferrous compounds, ranging from yellow to dark red. 

    Orcs of the Ocher Spear - a tribe ranging the Arthiop Mud Flats and northern reaches of the Fogbound Forest.  They use the Arthiop Hickory (carya arthiopis) to fashion spear shafts, new ones issued to young warriors are light yellow.  The shafts darken as the wood ages, and dark spears are a sign of rank and a reason to challenge a rival.  It is rumored that the High Chieftain's spear shaft is very ancient and a dark brown like dried blood. 

    The road from Zothay to Bellystone Ford is a long one and skirts the headwaters of the Murmuring Stream, as the lower reaches have wide soft banks at the confluence of the Mageven.  

    Now my world has a few more details.

Exploring the Wilderlands - Character Generation Home Rules

 The Wilderlands is over 90% human, human society dominates the area.  While AD&D encouraged a human-centric play with the race & class character level limits, more recent editions have stripped that away to the point that as far back as 3rd Edition I've had to abandon campaign plans because the characters didn't support the premise anymore.

    Not being a fan of level limits for the last 45 years, I turned to my other old, old RPG rule set to steal ideas. And in the end I created my own version of Chivalry & Sorcery's Character Race random table. Indeed I based much of my chargen process on C&S, creating tables to determine family background and occupation; along with my own "elaborate set of tables ...which can locate a member literally within miles of a particular town" as Simbalist & Backhaus put it in their section on designing the feudal nation. Finally achieving a goal I've been aspiring to since the late 1970s.

Using that, I rolled up a party of four humans, a half-orc and an elf. Again I borrowed a C&S chargen idea that certain races have minimum characteristic values, and having determined the character of that race, if the minimums are not rolled, then the characteristic is raised. In this case the Elf exceeded the minimums on the rolls, so Ithranel became a High Elf, or Gray Elf in AD&D parlance.

Further rolls determined that two characters came from the city of Zothay in the County of Zothiem, so that became the starting point, one the son of a Merchant and the other the son of an egg seller. Characters are assumed to be basically competent in any skills from their family occupational background.

Other rolls were made for height and weight, again based on, but simplified from C&S. And for hair/hide and eye color, these are based on the information from the WIlderlands setting itself. Additionally, based on the location, the character's cultural background was determined.

I should mention, that I've taken to starting new characters at 2nd Level, as few players enjoy grinding out 1st level in old school games.

And so, determining that the Thieves Guildmaster had commissioned them to return with copies of any writings in Auld Viridian or 𐌀𐌖𐌋𐌃 𐌅𐌉𐌓𐌉𐌃𐌉𐌀𐌍  in the Etruscan (Marsiliana Tablet) alphabet as rendered in the 'Historic - Old Italic' font.  And the solo play began.

Exploring the Feudal Wilderlands - Assembling the Party

    In this series of posts, I'll be doing some solo play to test out my home rules for my Feudal Wilderlands setting.  Those rules cover character generation, the social structure of the setting and random encounter generation.   The format will be an initial solo play post, followed by posts exploring how the adventure developed.  As in all campaigns, the party has to come together before the adventure truly begins.  The dates use the canonical Wilderlands setting calendar of months, although day names come from classical Greek lunar calendars.  Maps refer to Rob Conley's Wilderlands Maps.

Midsummer's Eve, 2nd Waning - Rayner's Tankard, Zothay

Map 2 Hex 3611

 

   Walker approached the table in the tavern carrying two flagons. 

     Bictirc looked at him and remarked "If you're buying the first round you must have a job. And you need some muscle." 

     Sitting down and passing his friend one of the ales, Daniel Walker smiled and said "You're right on both. The Guildmaster gave me a commission. We're to go up to the Waste, find an old tomb and bring back anything written in Viridian, or at least make a copy of it." 

     "Which explains why you want me. The Wastes are bloody dangerous away from the road. Hell, the ROAD is dangerous, I still wake up with the sweats remembering what happened to Dankmar in the mud flats and we were within bow shot of the road then." 

     "I know, I know. And we agreed that if we ever made it big, we'd haul his statue out of the mud and get him turned back into a human. The deal is traveling money and we get to keep anything else we find. Bonus for each item we bring back written in Viridian.  And that's just anything written in a script like this." and he traced some characters out on a scrap of parchment.  𐌀𐌛𐌌𐌀𐌃𐌏𐌃-𐌁𐌏𐌂

   "What's it say?  I'm not a scholar."

    "Just the name of some old god." Walker shrugged.  "Like I said, they don't care what we bring back, as long it was written in this script.  I figure we spend tomorrow putting some supplies together and leave the next morning."

🝖🝖🝖

Vineyard Bounty, New Moon - Zothay

    Fog rolled off the Arthiop Flats and in from Damkina Bay, making the morning chill and dreary.  Wagons queued up at the Bellystone Gate, waiting for the guards to open them for the day.  Bictirc and Walker held their horses as they talked with one of the cart drivers.

    "No, no, it's true the Ocher Spear threw what the orcs call a bridge across the Murmuring Stream, just up from where it flows into the Mageven.  It cuts a full day off the ride to the Old South Road.  But it will cost you a fair amount.  Two gold crowns a leg, man and beast is what I heard.  O'course the bridge is too rickety for a cart or wagon so I haven't used it me self." the driver passed the rumor on to them.

    Walker and Bictirc mounted their horses when the gate opened and departed with the morning wagons and the farmers returning from a night of bucolic debauchery in Zothay.

    "A day is a day,' remarked Bictirc, "but twenty four gold is twenty four gold.  Does that fall under 'traveling money'?"

    Walker frowned, "I don't know and do you think the orcs will be happy to see us after our last little excursion?"

    "None of them survived that excursion, nor did we leave anything behind that would identify us as having dispatched that group of pig faces.  It's your call, as you're the one with the commission. I'm just the hired muscle."

    "I'd rather camp out with the trade wagons, than lose twenty four gold." Walker decided.

🝖🝖🝖    

Vineyard Bounty, 3rd Rising - The Godly Willow, Mageven village at Bellystone Ford on the Old South Road

Map 2 Hex 3308

 

   Improbably tall and incredibly thin, with hair like spun gold, the gray elven maiden gathered everyone's eye as she entered the common room in a rich, but travel worn cloak.  The innkeeper bustled up and bowed as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior from the afternoon sun.  Walker couldn't overhear their conversation, but the innkeeper shrugged and pointed to their table.  He kicked Bictirc under the table and they both rose as the elf approached.

    "Fey Lady", he greeted her as they gave her a half bow.

    "You are the 'expert treasure seekers' the teamsters say are looking for companions?" she asked without a preamble.

    "Uh," Bictirc stammered, "we are, but this is just a job, not a quest for a noble lady."

    "Perfect", she smiled and seated herself, gesturing for them to sit back down with her.  "I am Ithranel of Colsith, I have experience with sword, bow and spell.  My grandfather suggested that I should experience the world, even though my mother thinks of me as a child as I'm still in my second yèn.  What is this 'job'?"

    "Simple exploration of an old tomb." Walker said.  "Even split on treasures, other than items written in Auld Viridian.  Those belong to our clients.  How are you at copying letters and such?  If there are any on the walls or other structures, we'll want to bring back a copy, an accurate copy."

    Ithranel frowned, "I have heard of the tongue, but I have not seen nor heard it spoken.  I am an accurate scribe of letter, mark and inflection.  To be otherwise, would be to risk my life when transcribing spells."

    Shifting uneasily, Bictirc interjected, "Fey Lady, we are simple adventurers and we do not want to have to share more of the riches than we have to.  How big is your escort, it may be that the reward will not be worth the additional shares?"

    "Ithranel looked puzzled, "Escort? I am traveling alone.  Why would I have an escort?"

    Walker and Bictirc exchanged glances and shrugs.  "Fey Lady, to us your race is noble and pure.  In our experience with human nobles, they never go anywhere without a train of guards and servants.  Your choice puzzles us."

    "No one else in Colisth felt like traveling for a yèn to learn of the world.  The elders have already done so, and my peers don't feel the urge at this time."

    Walker nodded, "Very well Fey Lady Ithranel, welcome to our company.  If you would, you used a word we don't understand. What is this yèn you refer to?"

    "A yèn? It's a period of time, I'm not certain what the human term would be, but it's more than a hundred summers."

    At this point the door opened again, this time revealing a man in well made servant's clothes.  When his eye adjusted he headed straight for the table and bowed to Ithranel.  "Fey Lady, I am Abram Boteler, chamberlain of Castrum Venterlapis.  Count Atius Brucetus heard of your arrival and requests your presence at supper."

    Ithranel looked at her companions in surprise.  Walker responded for her, "The Fey Lady Ithranel of Colisth will be pleased to attend.  I assume her companions are also invited/"

    Boteler looked over the pair of humans and pursed his lips.  "Her servants will of course be accommodated at the lower tables."

    Ithranel stood up, and picked up her pack, "Well then let us see what the Count wishes to speak of."

    Boteler lead them up the hill to the great keep through the gatehouse, across both moats and through the outer and inner walls to the towering donjon in the center.  There he passed Walker and Bictirc off to a lesser servant with instructions to find them a bed and seat them at the lower tables.

    During the meal they could see Ithranel in a gown, instead of her traveling clothes, at the high table talking with the Count and Countess.  Later they were given straw pallets on the floor of the hall with the servants.

🝖🝖🝖

Vinyard's Bounty, 4th Rising.  Castrum Venterlapis

    When they went into the inner courtyard in the morning, they were met by a tough looking man with grizzled auburn hair leading a beautiful chestnut horse with a finely made saddle and bridle.  

    "You're the tomb robbers Fey Lady Ithranel met up with?" he asked.

    Walker shrugged, "Rude, but that's us.  Nice horse."

    "Yeah the Count's gift to her.  One of his gifts.  He's also giving her an escort, me and a couple of the lads.  I'm Ivo,   Get your bags and meet us outside the gatehouse.  As you know where we're going you'll lead."

    "Wait a minute, " Bictirc interjected, "We didn't agree to this, I don't know you or why I would agree to a six way split instead of a three way."

    Ivo laughed, "Take it up with the Count, he says you're doing this and he's the man with the big castle with a nice dungeon for you to wait in.  Besides he has an open hand with those who serve him well.  Tell you what, when it comes to splitting anything we find, we'll do it in the order we joined the company.  You two, the Fey Lady, then me and the lads."

    Walker caught Bictirc eye, "Less reward, but less risk too.  Besides, when we get back to Zothay...."

    After thinking for a moment, Bictirc nodded and said, "Let's get the horses." 

Real Tomb Maps for Your Gaming Enjoyment

Tomb KV08 - Pharoh Merenptah
Copyright American Research Center in Egypt
(ACRE) used with permission under Fair Use

 I came across a wonderful resource for all of you grave robbing murder hobos out there.  The Theban Mapping Project has been creating vertical and horizontal plans as well as 3D images of the tombs in the world's most famous necropolis - Egypt's Valley of the Kings!

If you need a quick tomb to explore or if you are running a Cthulhu Gaslight campaign or anything else you can think of, you can find these wonderful images here.

The Theban Mapping Project Plans

Forced March - Accelerating Cross Country Game Play in RPGs

Feb 2023 Blog Carnival
@Plastic Polyhedra

     I spent last Saturday night rolling dice, as the party moved across the grasslands from the human kingdom to the elven forest.  Every day has the players, in order around the table, rolling dice to determine if a random encounter had occurred, morning, (after)noon and night.  Standard procedure from the beginning of gaming, right?

     True, but I've had time to wonder as I awaited my turn to roll, why?  I know that random encounters use resources and provide variety from the adventure path - but in my decades of experience I've rarely seen them be more than one more combat in the evening.  Mechanically they slow gameplay twice, once as the players roll and then again as the DM looks up the monster and stats it out.  Let's see how we can accelerate this if we stop asking the dice if an encounter has occurred and start asking them when the next encounter occurs.

     First, please raise your hand if you always follow the encounter times in the DMG, yeah that's what I thought.  Actually game play has simplified the table to using the 'Plains' distribution more often than not.  So three chances per day, at (in Wilderness) a 10% chance of an encounter occurring.  (My current DM uses 25%, but that just changes numbers within the calculations.)  So, on average we can expect 3 encounters every 10 days; but that's the same as one encounter every 3.3333 days.  Let's round that down to one encounter every three days.

     Now, when play begins have the player roll two d6/2, to give you the number of days until the next encounter and the time of day the encounter occurs.  Make sure the group has given you their standard watch rotations and marching order before they roll; and don't let them change that after the dice have fallen.  Now play is jumping from scene to scene without the repetitive dice rolling with negative results.

    Obviously, for you purists who never deviated from the DMG, you can adapt this to any encounter check frequency you need.  If you have the prep time, you can even pre-generate the encounters themselves so you don't need to stat them out during play.