It’s been noted before that OD&D is a post-apocalyptic setting. Much of what was amazing and wondrous has been lost. The greatest technologies are stuffed in chests in deep underground dungeons and whatnot.
I imagine most world-builders have a well-thought-out apocalypse. As I put together my campaign, I need to decide what my apocalypse was and how long ago it was. I’ll also pick some sort of disaster that isn’t too far off as well.
Campaign Apocalypse (Roll your poor neglected d12 once)
1- Invasion overtakes known world! (roll 1d6: 1- Mages on horseback, 2- giant ants, 3- elementals, 4- religious fanatics, 5- halflings, 6- human army)
2- Living Dead Return (If you don’t already have undead.)
3- World War! All nations are at war. It’s brutal. See WWII or A Game of Thrones.
4- Asteroid strike! Everything is mutated.
5- Extreme Weather (Ice Age, Desertification)
6- Geological disaster cracks continent in half!
7- The Lernaean Hydra/Gods/Giants walk the earth.
8- Yuchen-Domma, Goddess of Despair, is freed to sing her dirge. Or other religious disaster.
9- Economic Disaster, courtesy the halflings. They manage to take over your nation or corner the market on healing potions.
10- Magic disappears (Clerical or M-U or both!) for a period of time.
11- Summon Slim Whitman — Mars Attacks! (you must be ready to transition campaign into space if necessary)
12- All children have level drain gaze attack. Which might also work in an RPG. Thanks very much everybody, tip your waitress!
Best of the Creeping Doom Part 2
When I started this little project, it was meant only to entertain me. It seems to have entertained a few others. I certainly didn’t expect any sort of audience and I never would have guessed that my most popular articles would be about clerics and halflings.
Let me tell you about the Old School....
The most popular post by a wide margin has been my review of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role Playing boxed set. There has been constant interest in that review since I wrote it. I take it as a sign of interest in what OSR and especially what James Raggi is doing that people are still getting here via googling his game. Looking back at it now, it’s really not a very good review. It was rushed and I’ll admit there was a desire to be one of the first reviews out there. Looking at the boxed set now, I’m still impressed. The “princess box” will be my ruleset of choice when I next DM.
While the LotFP review is still the most looked-at and most googled post, the biggest one-day post was my piece on hobb -er halflings. I wanted to make the hobbits into the nightmare that some people see immigrants to be. In this case, they do take over wherever they settle and the thought of legions of halflings with spears or pikes amuses me to no end. This was a throwaway piece when I started writing it, but in the campaign world in my head, they might be one of the most important features.
Another popular post was a simple idea: mages will become liches after a certain age or level. This seemed to be popular with the folks who hang out at reddit’s rpg community. I’m far from done with mages.
I rarely play clerics, but I seem to have posted more about clerics and their gods than any other subject and as a topic, they are the most popular. The most popular post in this series concerned a goddess of despair that is empowered by the harm her followers do.
Before I wrap up this meta talk, I want to recommend two sites to you that I am sure I do not need to. If you are reading this, you are surely reading them. If not, you should be. First is Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets. Bat puts out a new item, spell, monster or whatnot every day. Holidays and blizzard days too. Each entry is a quality piece and begins with a short setup with a recurring cast of characters. The man has a work ethic and he’s done this enough to get really good at it. You’re my role model, Bat. Now when are you going to publish?
The other site, Swords and Dorkery also needs no introduction. Mike’s presence here as a recurring commenter gave me the first notions that there was anyone visiting this site more than once and for that I must thank him. He participates more actively in the blogging community and has gathered some of his best materials into downloadable files.
To wrap up the navel gazing…
So far, the blog is still dong what I wanted it to do: get me to sit, stretch my imagination and write RPG material for later use. That some people have found it worth reading and perhaps used something in their games is very gratifying. I hope I can keep my personal goal in mind and not get distracted by the number of readers or page views I get. This next year, I hope to post more often, even when extremely busy as I have been this fall.
I wish everyone a great 2011 and I hope we all get in as much gaming as you want.
Happy New Year!