Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A Pause Before the Storm

Okay, I think that I've set up most of what I need to before beginning the actual Mythic Quest Adventure.

But I'm going to take a few days to re-read the Mythic GM Emulator and Variations to make sure that I've got things straight in my head.

Well as straight as they can be with the pain pills I'm currently on (I've got some "kidney gravel" moving through my system -- sand-sized kidney stones).

Also this will give any readers a chance to make any comments about what I might have missed.


-- Jeff

Fangharm's Calendar

Since I will be using dates, I should summarize Fangharm's calendar. There are 12 months of 20 days each. A week lasts 5 days. Here are the months.

Spring (the season of AIR):
  • month of Still
  • month of Breeze
  • month of Gale
Summer (the season of FIRE):
  • month of Spark
  • month of Blaze
  • month of Ash
Autumn (the season of EARTH):
  •  month of Mountain
  • month of Rock
  • month of Sand
Winter (the season of WATER):
  • month of Drip
  • month of Stream
  • month of Pond
    The date is important for spellcasters (but unnecessary to explain here). This calendar also makes it easy to establish a date. Roll 1d12 for month and 1d20 for day. For example, I just rolled 4 and 16 . . . so the campaign will begin on the 16th of Spark.

    Terrain and Travel Time

    The Judges Guild Maps have lots of terrain types. I've come up with a simple chart for how far the company will travel (on foot) depending upon the terrain:
    • On Roads --4 hexes/day on flat; 3 hexes/day most of the time; 2 hexes/day in bad terrain
    • Open -- 2 hexes/day
    • Steppes -- 2 hexes/day
    • Woods -- 1 hex/day
    • Hills -- 1 hex/day
    • Marsh -- 2 days/hex
    • Jungle -- 3 days/hex
    • Mountains -- 3 days/hex
    • Crossing a River -- 1 day
    • Crossing a Lake -- 2 days
    In addition, there is usually a chance to go astray from the intended path. The general rule-of-thumb is that when following an obvious terrain feature (for example, a river) the party will not go astray.

    However, in the absence of such a feature, when a "1" is rolled on the die, angle 60` to the left. When the highest number on the die is rolled, angle 60` to the right. Otherwise stay on intended path. The following die types are rolled (per hex) for different terrain types:
    • d10 -- Open
    • d8 -- Steppe
    • d6 -- Woods, Hills
    • d3 -- Marsh, Jungle
    • d6 Special -- Mountains
    For Mountains, use the following chart
    1. veer 120` left
    2. veer 60` left
    3. go straight
    4. go straight
    5. veer 60` right
    6. veer 120` right
    Finally, of course, events may cause longer delays . . . but this will give me a basic travel guide as to how fast the party moves.

    The "Seed" for the Quest

    Since I want a relatively long overland adventure I needed a reason for it . . . so I came up with returning a lost young centaur to his family.

    As for the "escort" I decided that they would be young adventurers who had been shipwrecked and who were saved by Abelard de Amber, the ruler of a tower on the barren coast. He will charge them with safely delivering young Zilwen to his family . . . who are somewhere around the Lake of the Crown Beast, which is deep inside the Glow-Worm Steppes.

    Finally there is the problem of how Zilwen ended up several hundred miles from his family.

    Aha! Here's where we get to introduce an as yet unknown enemy. Zilwen was in the process of being kidnapped when he triggered a magical device that teleported him to this remote coast. At some point (much later in the adventure), this enemy will become aware of their quest . . . heh, heh, heh.

    So this is the setup prior to the start of the adventure.

    Who's Who -- the Starting Characters

    While Abelard de Amber (a high level mage) sets up the quest, he remains behind and is not expected to make any more appearances in the adventure.

    Please note that the "circles" indicate the "elemental nature" of the characters . . . which has to do with some mechanics in my variant OD&D . . . but they also become an easy way of identifying characters. The adventuring party (all of whom start at second level) consists of the following:

    Glanrick -- a half-elf fighter. His primary weapon is a short bow, secondary weapon is a long sword. He stands 5'8" tall and weighs in at 150 pounds. He has red hair and normally wears an orange jerkin over his leather armor. He speaks Yalfish, Mergan, Sylvish, Eldish and Grenis.

    Helga -- a human fighter. Her primary weapon is a broadsword, secondary weapon is a hand axe (which she occasionally throws). She stands 6' tall and weighs in at 245 pounds (at least that's what she admits to). A member of the Snori clan, she normally wears a horned helm and a red jerkin over her leathers. She speakes Snero, Mergan, Rokish, Irontongue and Koor.

    Jack -- a human rogue. His primary weapon is his short bow, but he also carries a short sword and some throwing knives. He only stands 5'6" tall, but is rather stocky at 170 pounds. A member of the Zuff clan, he is usually garbed in dark colours (favouring dark green and charcoal), his face is often hidden by his hooded cloak. He speaks Zuff, Mergan, Romashi, Onaks and Gobb.

    Nikos -- a human fighter, he wears leathers and a closed helm. His large round shield and bronze broad sword mark him as a native of Krege, as does his skill with a sling. His dark brown leathers tend to hide the fact that, although he stands 6'1", he only weighs 160 pounds. He speaks Krege, Mergan, Eqwa, Koor and Swaash.

    Yobella -- a human priestess of Freyr. Her yellow and light grey garb marks her as a member of the Yarp clan. She is 5'7" tall and is an attractive 130 pounds. Her primary weapon is a war hammer, but she also carries some throwing hammers as well. She speaks Yarp, Mergan, Runic, Snero, Irontongue and Taltish. She has the following spells: Cure Light Wounds, Detect Evil, Light and Locate.

    Zilwen -- a young centaur fire mage. Aside from his short bow and quivver, he is skyclad (as are most centaurs). Far from his full size, he stands 6'3" tall, but weighs a mere 330 pounds. His hide is dun-coloured, while his mane and tail are a glorious chestnut shade. He knows (well, at least reads) the following tongues -- Eqwa, Mergan, Krege, Grenis, Tilian, Eldish, Baraik and Elin. His spellbook contains the following spells (some of which he can't throw yet):
    • First Level -- Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Read Fire Magic, Alarm and Mend Wounds
    • Second Level -- Levitate and Entangle
    • Third Level -- Lightning Bolt

    Starting Map

    (note -- click on the map below for a much larger image)


    The above map shows the initial map for my Mythic Fangharm Quest. "Fangharm", by the way, is the name of my FRP world.

    The party will start out at Abelard de Amber's tower (labeled "7 ALC") which is on the extreme western edge of this initial map (which is a long way from their final destination). Their initial decision will be whether to loop northeast around the Dark Woods OR to venture through them.


    My Initial Concept

    I'd like to try using the "Mythic GM Emulator" to help create a solo adventure campaign. The overall concept will be of a party of low level adventurers escorting a young centaur to his home hundreds of miles to the southeast.

    I will be using some of the old Judges Guild maps (Valon, Valley of the Ancients and Tarantis) because I've always liked them and never had the chance to adventure using them. They are available in .pdf format from DriveThruRPG and RPGNow for about $2 a map.

    Both of the above locations also carry the "Mythic GM Emulator" in .pdf format, which I will use to conduct the adventure.

    As for the gaming rules, I will be using a modified "Dungeons & Dragons" . . . but the old red book / blue book version, not the current version of AD&D which is (in my opinion) way over-detailed.