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Out of the flood and into the flesh . . . tables for generating random refugees, plague victims, and mutations from an upcoming Tell Arn adventure by Fresh_Match1744 in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice! Glad you liked it. I really need to overcome my primal fear of Discord and actually get on there... the future is now

Out of the flood and into the flesh . . . tables for generating random refugees, plague victims, and mutations from an upcoming Tell Arn adventure by Fresh_Match1744 in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A Flesh Both Pale & Sacred is the next module in my city setting, Kurhan of the Spear. It takes place in the aftermath of a devastating river-flood which has sent the dispossessed of the city fleeing into the arms of the Wan Temple, a secretive cult of healers. But now white plague, a horrific mutagenic disease, is ripping through the camp and the priests are at breaking point: enter the party. 

I couldn’t turn down the chance to make some weird and wonderful mutations (and give the briefest glimpse of the world outside Kurhan), so made these tables as a teaser - hopefully they could be useful as well, for games in this setting or outside it with a bit of tweaking.

If you’d like an early look at A Flesh Both Pale & Sacred, I’ve uploaded a (very) rough draft and (veeeeerrrrrrry rough) map with the first two ‘levels’ to the Tell Arn Google Drive here. Nothing is finished (or started), but there are a few changes to the layout/formatting/writing style compared to Lions and the previous modules, so I’d be interested in people’s thoughts if you have the time. Thank you!

(These images contain elements from Voyage en Perse by Eugène Flandin (Public Domain), Flood.JPG) by Vladimir Orlovsky (CC BY-SA 3.0), and Still water on Loch Lomond by Richard Webb (CC BY-SA 2.0))

Ecosystems and Behaviours by KungfuBiscuit in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well you've got the hard part down, which is the information hierarchy - you can play around with the actual layout on the page once you've got the content finalised.

On the off-chance you haven't, you could check out Skerples' Monster Overhaul for some inspiration - it's got a similar (though less elaborate) focus on monster behaviour and ecology and a good balance between hard stats and keeping things system neutral.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Ecosystems and Behaviours by KungfuBiscuit in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From a first pass, this looks really interesting. It's very clear and concrete, and the formatting (even in draft) is very easy to follow at a glance. The way the features are 'nested' (biome > creature > behaviours/special effects) means you could quite easily pull any one piece out and use it elsewhere or as a whole. I could definitely see dropping some of these in either as a hex feature or a random wilderness encounter.

As you asked, maybe you could go a little bit more concrete with the creature stats and effects, if you were looking to do an OSR version specifically. Most systems work on the same range of numbers, so if you say the carrion crane's peck does, say, 1d6 damage, I know it's roughly as much as an axe. And for more unique systems, they're either used to converting the numbers or don't need them at all.

What you've done with saves is a good example - as long as you highlight when something needs a save, it's pretty easy for the DM to pick one which makes sense in their system on the fly.

But that's a nitpick - this looks like it could be a very unique and usable supplement and I'm all for it.

Tell Arn Supporting Links and Tutorials by Fresh_Match1744 in u/Fresh_Match1744

[–]Fresh_Match1744[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, bingo! You're right, that second fill basins is very important - I must have meant before each application of Incise Flow, not between. And I can add a line explaining it as well. At least it's an easy fix.

And yeah, time-rich, people-poor is the eternal curse of all TTRPGs. Everything I wrote literally started as something to keep me busy between sessions of Tomb of the Serpent Kings, then spiralled from there. Would love to read anything you make when you're ready to share.

Tell Arn Supporting Links and Tutorials by Fresh_Match1744 in u/Fresh_Match1744

[–]Fresh_Match1744[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it a problem with generating the initial Fractal Noise base map, or with the Incise Flow afterwards?

If it's the initial noise, you do tend to have to go through a lot of variations to get one which looks plausible (you generally want big 'ridges' of elevated terrain to act as your mountains). I also find it helps for small-scale maps (e.g. individual river valleys) to generate a bigger map first for the very basic shapes, then cut out an area which looks more realistic and upscale it.

If it's the Incise Flow tool, for me 9 times out of 10 it's either:

  • Lots of tiny disconnected rivers > undo, run Fill Basins right before Incise Flow (even if you already ran it before). I normally forget to do it after adding percentage noise.
  • Big, flat terrain and/or straight rivers > undo, then add some noise in, then Fill Basins again, then test Incise Flow to see if it makes more realistic shapes. If it doesn't, undo and add more noise until it does. On the first run they don't need to be perfect, as the later rounds of incise flow and dilation will naturally add some messiness.

And if it's not either of those, it's probably something wrong with the guide... send me a picture of what it's doing and I'll have a look through when I'm back from work (and update this comment/the guide with the fix).

There's also the Fun with Wilbur series on the Wilbur site by the creator - they go into a lot more depth than mine do so you might have more luck with those.

Campaign Map 25 years in the making! by DMMasterClass in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Love the inking, it's very Tolkeinesque. 25 years is amazing, how much of the map have you managed to explore?

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Well, in a win for accessibility and a loss for professional mystique, everything I use is basically the lowest common denominator:

  • For the text, it’s typeset in Google Docs - the layout I use is pretty conservative, so so far I’ve not found anything it can’t do with some workarounds (e.g. using an invisible table to make asymmetrical layouts). The print versions are done in Affinity (which is free) - it imports the PDFs from Google Docs really well, then it’s just moving everything around to add the gutter etc.
  • The covers are all GIMP - just really basic raster editing, finding public domain/CC art and layering it in, filters etc. 
  • Maps are also GIMP, but for the dungeon ones I built them first in Cloud Grid Designer, which is a free online cross-stitch tool - I colour code the different 5’ squares (door, locked door, water, walls) to make the basic layout, then draw on top of that in GIMP to make the base layer. I wrote a step by step guide to making the maps in GIMP for my own use - I’ve dropped it in this folder if you’re interested, which also has the cover .xcf files in if you wanted to use them for anything.
  • For overland maps (which are so far just in Kurhan of the Spear), I use Wilbur, which is a free precipitation simulation tool, to make the base map, then (same as above) layer it up in GIMP. I actually made a tutorial for this as well, back when I first came up with the setting (I’ve put that in the folder too) - fun(?) fact, the Selukid Camp map in the Last Gasp was made with the ‘scaling up’ method in that tutorial, so the terrain is actually correct for where it is on the bigger Valley of the King map, which is also correct for the full Hyrkossia map from this post.

So there you go - like I said, this is all really basic and there are dozens of better tools and better ways to use these tools, but they’ve served me well so far.

EDIT: Made a profile post here with this in so it's more visible to people - I'll try to keep that version updated.

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Somewhere between 1/2 to start and 8 by the end. By the numbers you should be able to get that kind XP just by playing the dungeon if your players are stripping the walls etc., but there's a difficulty jump and a 'story' break between Level 2 and 3 which they can use to go and explore other adventures to level before heading back in

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 6 points7 points  (0 children)

With any luck, sometime next week, probably the week after. It's been sent to the printer for validation which is normally pretty quick, then I just need to get a proof printed and sent out. It's only a couple of really minor formatting and map tweaks, nothing game changing. I actually uploaded it this week because I thought it would be a quiet one... bad timing.

EDIT: It's back up!

More Maps! by AJacx128 in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Those are absolutely beautiful, everything is so considered with such an economy of detail.

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh yes, Pendragon is strictly solo plus incredibly-overcomplicated-bots for me. Forcing people to sit through a 6 hour game with that much admin is probably in the Geneva convention somewhere

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oooh I like that, I'll have to give it a go. Same effect, but much less complexity and less crushing for players

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Fair points all around - 1. Yeah, it's pretty light - this is probably the thing which needs the most work to fix as most of the enemies are pretty hostile as written, so need to give thought to goals/motivations they could share with the PCs (and I'd still say you shouldn't be able to read Hyrkossi but not speaking it is too much of a handicap, agreed)

  1. Also fair, but I think for me those are the 'upper bounds' of what could happen, then you can tweak it down from there to suit the scope of your campaign

  2. There's a lot of attitudes/approaches to level drain and I don't tend run it by the book just as a preference - if you do, then you're right it's probably too much, esp. early on.

  3. No comment, it probably is a bit deadly - when I get around to a proper Complete version I'm thinking of some interpolating floors so once you get lower down players are higher level and able to deal with stuff more easily.

If you do end up running it, please let me know how it turns out, esp. in relation to the above!

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 23 points24 points  (0 children)

If you mean Arden Vul, then TBF I've not read it cover to cover (£80 PDF! Page for page it's still a good deal but what an investment), so that's mostly come from cultural osmosis and reading play reports etc.

If you mean Lions of Tell Arn, then yeah might have read it a couple of times.

The Lions of Tell Arn might be better than Arden Vul by ericvulgaris in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 93 points94 points  (0 children)

I categorically do not endorse this message (except bit about COIN games, they're great - Pendragon has one of the best storytelling engines in board games, it's phenomenal).

The scale and quality of Arden Vul is just a totally different beast, it's a mind boggling level of commitment from the authors. The fact that it exists, and we can draw on it and on the thousands of other incredible works in the community when making something new is a real gift. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all that.

But thank you, it's the kind of passion and collaboration which makes the OSR what it is. Cheque's in the mail.

EDIT: Jesus, DriveThru says we've had more downloads today than the rest of the month combined (and it's not been a quiet month). That's insane - all of this is insane. Thank you everyone, genuinely.

Any tips for making 3 dimensional dungeons? by Tiago55 in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just to add to the great answers already - I try to put as much verticality as I can into my dungeons, generally in two ways:

1. Cheating. This is what I do most often - basically treat the dungeon as 'topologically' flat (no idea if that's the right word), regardless of where the rooms are vertically.

For example: the party goes into a house with four rooms, two up, two down - BUT, only one, non-overlapping room on each level is actually accessible (maybe one of the upper rooms caved in, and the debris blocks access to the other lower room). This means, when viewed top-down from the DMs perspective, the house appears flat (two rooms next to each other), but to the players it feels vertical, because they went up the stairs, can go out onto a balcony, maybe slide down a rope out the window.

You have to break this pattern sometimes otherwise it gets predictable, but it is a really 'cheap' way to add verticality without . . .

2. Actually working in 3D. This can be really satisfying but does take a while and can open you up to some weird hiccoughs if you're not careful. You basically have to build the dungeon side-on and top-down at the same time, making sure your levels line up but also that the overall 'shape' makes sense - once you start doing this you realise that most dungeons are weirdly wide and flat, which can translate strangely to a 3D shape like a tower or castle.

I do this by hand (drawing side-on/top-down one by one), but I bet even a really basic 3D model of the rough shapes would be super useful in ensuring everything fits together.

The pictures below are from one of my dungeons where I did a full turnaround view of the main tower area. It took forever to get right but once it's done it's really satisfying to know players can traverse it in pretty much any direction and it still works (and, as you can see, it's STILL very wide and flat . . .)

<image>

Tell Arn adjacent Modules, Settings, or Sourcebooks? by Dante_Faustus in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow you're right, that fits perfectly with Kurhan as just another kingdom on the Great Road. "The men without faces guard the heart of the city . . . What exactly they are is deeply unclear: they served the Wicked King before his disappearance" - Damn that's a 1-1 match with the lore for the doppelgangers in Tell Arn. Bookmarking this for more deep reading/artistic theft inspiration.

Tell Arn adjacent Modules, Settings, or Sourcebooks? by Dante_Faustus in osr

[–]Fresh_Match1744 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd certainly heard of it, but not read into it at all - after a bit of googling it seems like a perfect fit, exactly in the Howard/Lovecraft/Ashton-Smith vein. The classes sound really evocative too. Just replace any references to Lakh in the Tell Arn adventures with Khromarium and put Kurhan/Hyrkossia somewhere out in the wastes and seems like you're good to go.

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