An Undead History
Adventure In The Past
Have you ever written a detailed and complex history for your campaign only to watch it gather dust as your players focus on the now and not concern themselves with the prior events of your campaign world? As a player, have you ever been intrigued by a campaign setting’s rich history only to find that your GM never uses anything from the campaign’s past? Providing interesting and detailed histories for your campaign can really help the world come alive on the table and within your players, however it is far to easy to create a detailed history and then focus on the current and future events of your game. This doesn’t have to be the case; some of the more interesting games and adventures can be fueled by events that have happened in the world before your adventurers even arrived. Below is a detailed scenario in which new adventurers can become involved in a historical event that never concerned them.
History 414
Nineteen years ago the small township of Martidge was torn asunder by the undead hordes of a vile necromancer known as Yalin. The elf born necromancer had a lair within the nondescript mountains that lie two days away from Martidge. Within the natural caverns below the mountains Yalin had worked his foul magic to summon vile undead creatures from the Shadowfell. The young elf’s parents had been fleeing an orc raid the night Yalin was born. During their flight the birth struck Yalin’s mother and she unknowingly gave birth within the sanctified area of an ancient altar of Orcus. With fear in his heart that the orcs would discover them and concerned only for the safety of his child and wife, Yalin’s father cut his child from his wife’s body, with the precision of a master elven swordsman; unknowingly completing a dark ritual. The family survived that horrid night and lived in peace for the rest of their lives. On one of those peaceful nights, Yalin slaughtered his parents and began serving his true father, Orcus.
After years of hiding and honing his necromantic magic, Yalin unleashed his undead horde upon the quiet town of Martidge in search of the ancient relic known as the Sceptre of the Forlorn, with this relic and the power it held Yalin would reach the level of strength he needed to better serve his master. The townsfolk of Martidge stood no chance against the necromancer and his forces as they were quickly killed and enslaved to the will of the necromancer in undeath. For three years Yalin used the Sceptre to strike fear across the land, destroying and killing relentlessly in the name of his lord. Royal summons and pleas from those lucky enough to escape the mounting hordes rallied heroes and adventurers from across the world to try and stop the necromancer. Many of these heroes perished in their grand struggle with the elven necromancer, until one fateful day two warriors achieved what none before could.
The warriors Keordan and Jarlyn defeated the mighty necromancer in an epic struggle, but with his dying breath Yalin cursed the lands he had conquered and the heroes who had struck him down. With a resounding and thunderous roar, the Sceptre of the Forlorn exploded, unleashing a venomous cloud that permanently scarred the lands of Martidge. The shrapnel of the relic imbedded itself within Jarlyn, killing him instantly, while Keordan’s right arm was left useless and dead from the explosion. To this day the lands of Martidge sustain no life, and no living creature will willingly enter the cursed lands.
Soon after the necromancer’s defeat the new town of Kartidge was established to the south. In this rapidly growing town a statue of Jarlyn stands mighty within the green town square in thanks for his sacrifice, while the maimed hero Keordan lurks within the taverns and inns clinging desperately to his ale.
The Old Warhorse
Adventurers who visit the town of Kartidge are very quickly found by a tall greying man who hastily asks for their help. The thick aroma of ale accompanies the middle-aged man who constantly wears the expression of regret. Aged muscle covers the mans frame except for his blackened and gnarled right arm which hangs limp within an ale drenched sling. This ale soaked and crippled man is the legendary hero Keordan. With respect for the old hero, townsfolk within Kartidge will quickly inform him of the arrival of adventurers within the town as they are well aware of his desires. Wasting little time with introductions Keordan quickly confronts the heroes with a semi-slurred tale of woe and regret.
The common belief that the old hero’s partner Jarlyn died during their battle with Yalin is untrue. After the Sceptre of the Forlorn exploded and the shards of the relic crippled Keordan and felled Jarlyn, Keordan watched his friend rise again. His body was scarred beyond recognition, the lifeless body arose under the control of the dark magic held in the shards now lodged within its flesh. Keordan first tried to save his friend to no avail, he then tried to destroy the evil that occupied his friend’s body but without the use of his right arm he was little match for the undead monstrosity.
For the past nineteen years he has waited, trained and searched for kindhearted heroes willing to help in his quest for peace, for both himself and his long lost friend. Every day the pain of his scarred arm reminds him of what was lost, and the evil that lurks nearby. Heroes willing to help Keordan in his venture are offered his eternal thanks and what little money and possession he has. Keordan is also quick to announce that within the corrupted lands of Martidge, the magical items of many fallen heroes still remain untouched and may be easily acquired.
Cursed Barrens
Like an enormous pox scar upon the soil, the once fertile farming grounds of Martidge are now a barren desert of grey ashy soil. Spotted across the land charred stumps stick out of the ground like broken fingers petrified in agony. Hollow winds carry no noise as the eerie quiet presses down upon the sanity of any foolish enough to enter the dead landscape. Mounds of ash that were once buildings are indiscernible from the wind swept dunes that hide the horizon and any looming threats, while bleached skeletons litter the landscape clinging to old weapons and armour. Shadows skitter across the land under the muted sunlight that struggles to pierce the dust-riddled air.
The near two decade old curse has lost little of its original power and any mortal creature that enters these lands constantly breathes in the undead poison that seeps out of every molecule within the landscape. Magical items are left unattended on the corpses of the fallen heroes that failed their noble tasks so many years, however these finely crafted items are not immune to the disease and effects of this cursed land. Collecting these priceless items runs its own risk as some of the latent magic within these items has become corrupted over the years, causing the items to act in unusual ways.
The Curse
For every hour a character spends within the Cursed Lands of Martidge, they need to make a DC 13 Endurance check or lose a healing surge. The first round of every combat within the Cursed Lands of Martidge, the character must make a DC 13 Endurance check or they lose one healing surge and are weakened (save ends).
Cursed Items
Magical Items are scattered across the Cursed Lands of Martidge, however for every item a PC finds they need to roll a d4. A result of 3 or 4 rewards the PC with a normal Magical Item. A result of 1 or 2 grants the PC a Cursed Item. Cursed Items function exactly like normal magic items, except with an addition effect determined by the DM. Some suggested Cursed Items effects are:
- Frenzy: While bloodied, a character must attack the nearest target including allies and the item grants +1d6 damage.
- Cumbersome: The item grants an extra +1 to hit. If a character misses with an attack while using this item they become Dazed until the end of their next turn.
- Lethargic: The item grants an extra +1 to all defenses, but each time a character is hit while wielding this item they are slowed until the end of their next turn.
- Cowardice: The item grants an extra +1 to hit with ranged attacks, but when hit by an attack the character wielding this item immediately falls prone.
The Undead Hero
Wandering aimlessly throughout the cursed lands of Martidge is the infected undead corpse of Jarlyn, hero of Kartidge and slayer of Yalin. His once handsome features are now permanently scarred beyond recognition while his two decade old corpse slowly rots on the bones being held together by the evil that animates him. The shards of the Sceptre of the Forlorn within Jarlyn have a basic sentience, knowing and desiring only two things: to hurt the living and to become whole again.
Using the trained instincts of its host body’s muscles the Sceptre fights with the grace of a master swordsman. An aura of pure undeath emanates from Jarlyn’s corpse that kills anything living within minutes, while the Sceptre sustains itself by draining the life from any creature that harms it. If confronted by multiple opponents the Sceptre of the Forlorn will use it’s necrotic powers to animate the bleached skeletons of fallen heroes that are scattered across the landscape. When the Sceptre of the Forlorn feels its host body begin to weaken and deteriorate, the Sceptre unleashes a blast of pure necromantic magic in a final effort to kill its attackers.
Freed From The Past
When the adventurers return to Keordan with Jarlyn’s remains he thanks them profusely, rewarding them with all his current wealth. Secondly the townspeople of Kartidge rally together to freely offer their services to the heroes who returned the body of their greatest saviour. Long after the adventurers move on from Kartidge, the single shard within Keordan’s arm reacts with the now dormant shards inside the remains of Jarlyn’s corpse. Sensing the rest of itself, the lone shard exerts its latent necromantic energy and reforms. The consequences of this event for Keordan are up to you as the DM, he can either be corrupted by the event or seriously injured. One thing is for sure, with the Sceptre of the Forlorn reformed it is only a matter of time before another necromancer haunts the Cursed Lands of Martidge, the people of Kartidge, and history repeats itself.
The Briarthorn Needle, Gnomish Airship
At 8h30 last night, I sat down to draw the battlemaps for tonight’s Gears of Ruin game.
The game’s action will occur entirely on board a Feywild grown, Clockwork-powered gnome airship called The Briarthorn Needle owned by ‘neutral’ gnome privateers. The last warring factions of Sikkara (our Clockowork D&D gameworld) have agreed to meet on it to negotiate a peace accord and put an end to 8 years of global war.
Today’s adventure is to be the introduction to a new Gears of Ruin Mini-campaign:
Reunited for the first time in many years, our heroes are summoned to provide security for crucial peace talks that could end the Great War. Through undertones of intrigue amidst fragile attempts at negotiations and open sabotage to push the world back into war, our heroes are caught in a plot piloted by new players of this conflict, one that targets them directly and that could plunge the world back into a storm of Chaos…
I can’t wait to start and tell you all about it, but I have to keep some surprises for my players. In the meantime, have a look at the Needle’s floorplans, I managed to fit all 3 decks of the airship’s nacelle on maps that can all sit on our gaming table. I love multiple level maps!
Lower Deck (Click to embiggen)
Middle Deck (Click to enlarge)
The Open-Air Upper Deck
Man, I think I suffer from Chris Perkins syndrome.
The airship’s map is based on one of the One Page Dungeon Codex entries: The Great Cloud Caper by Jonathan Lee, with more details added to make the whole airship into one large battlemap.
Not that I expect to have a ship-wide combat. I would never DARE do that after a 2 month hiatus.
(Whistles innocently)
Have a great weekend.
Review: Dragon Age: Origins – Return To Ostagar DLC
Last year, I played (and reviewed) Dragon Age: Origins, an absolutely superb RPG by BioWare. Why did I love Dragon Age? Let’s review:
- Rich story, setting, and characters
Okay, I guess that didn’t really require a bulleted list. Say what you will about any other part of Dragon Age, it always delivered on story, and if you didn’t feel like you got your money’s worth out of that game, it is this writer’s opinion that you may want to reconsider how much enjoyment it is reasonable to expect to squeeze out of $60.
However, Return to Ostagar rubbed me the wrong way.
Let me clarify here: the content itself was not bad. Matter of fact, it gave you a little closure on some of the opening events in the game, and a few neat items that might trigger a little nostalgia from the beginning of the game. The level design was spartan and kind of boring, but that is to be expected. You’re revisiting a reasonably wide open area. It’s not some evil beast’s dungeon. It’s a camp and a battlefield. They throw one new monster at you, and by “new” I mean “it does the same stuff pretty much as other monsters you’ve seen but it has antlers”. I beat the crap out of everything, got all the items, and was done in under an hour. Nothing to write home about, but it would have fit in just fine with the game at release, and nobody would have thought much about it.
Except, as you may have noticed, Return To Ostagar is paid downloadable content, clocking in at 400 Microsoft Bucks (or about 5 American Rubles). To start off, that is about 1/12 the retail cost of the original game. Playing 1/12 of the original game should theoretically take you somewhere between 3 and 5 hours. This took me one, and for the money it was a pretty bland hour at that. I’m guessing 35 minutes of that hour was beating up the same old darkspawn guys you’ve seen the whole game, 20 was running around, and 5 was doing anything else interesting.
There is very little story and almost no dialogue to speak of in this content. You find a dying man that says, effectively, “gaah I am dying and I have the keys to a treasure chest in Ostagaaarrrrrr…“. Then you take the keys and, well, return to Ostagar. Then everybody decides to stop communicating for awhile in lieu of breaking hurlock skulls, with the notable exception of one disturbingly hilarious bit of dialogue where Wynne hits on Alistair. (I know what you’re thinking, right? That’s so gross. Mages should never do it with Templars.)
As for the other 55 minutes of the expansion that didn’t follow my comprehensive bullet-pointed list above of things I liked about Dragon Age — you run around picking up things, chase a little annoying guy around between fights, slaughter the crap out of a tepid boss, and then get some items. I’ll admit that the history behind these items and getting closure on this part of the story are appealing. What’s here is good, but there needs to be a lot more.
The end of the regular campaign (especially depending on how the story ends!) means that all expansions take place chronologically before the big final set of battles. This means you can’t beat the game and then go back and play this in the game you saved when you won. You’ll have to start a save point before the end, play the expansion, and then redo the ending if you want it all included. Not that you would really want to, except for the sake of completeness. None of the plot in Return To Ostagar has any impact on the story, and the items are not as good as what you’ll have at the end of the game from a regular playthrough. From a roleplaying standpoint they are interesting, but I’m not real happy that I paid real money for items that I’ll never actually use. You go ahead and try them out against the Archdemon. Let me know how that works out for you.
At the end of the day, that is what is lodged in my craw about Return To Ostagar — it’s not bad, but paying $5 for it is a lot to ask. I can’t use most of the equipment unless I play through again, it’s a bunch of bland fighting, there’s not much dialogue or story, and it’s really short to boot. Though perhaps not as much so as my other Xbox Marketplace regret of the week, a $5 lightsaber for my Avatar, this feels like a money grab, an example of paid DLC just because they can. If I’m expected to pay money over and above the cost of a game that I bought, I at least expect a good amount of value for my money. Return To Ostagar, unfortunately, does not deliver in this respect. I really feel as though it should have been included with the game, as The Stone Prisoner was (though I thought its price for non-owners was a bit steep too).
Nobody is more surprised than me at me giving a BioWare product a negative review. They’re my favorite game company, hands down. At the end of the day, my issues with this expansion are almost exclusively with the decision to make something this minor into paid DLC. My recommendation: skip this one and go get Awakening instead. I like some meat on my expansions.
Background Check
I’ve talked about investing some emotion in your character and, thereby, the game. As a follow-up, I suggested you seize the game by the horns. The “Play Boldly” article seemed more concrete, more useful, than the first. I thought about it, and I have more to say about giving your character traits and a history that make up a backstory.
Before I start–like I mentioned in “Become Emotional”–you don’t need to invest a huge effort into this task. (See the Short But Stout section.) This is especially true if you’re playing a casual game and/or one that focuses on defeating the bad guys and taking their stuff. Sometimes you’re just at the table for the slaying and the looting, and feeling badass. That’s fine. But if you want a background, or your DM wants you to craft one, just think about a few aspects of your character that pique your interest.
Ask Yourself
I have a lot of warmth in my heart for backgrounds in the D&D game. They’re helpful for character creation, and they offer you a little boon just for bothering to think about where your character comes from. The best ones not only place your character in a game-world context, but they also offer you some questions about your character’s life choices.
You can turn any game element–ability score, race, class, build, power, skill, feat, weapon, item–you choose into an element of character background. You just have to make up the questions. What does this feat say about my character’s training or upbringing? How did my warlock end up in an infernal pact? What does low Charisma say about my character? Why is the desert background my primary choice, and why did I choose +2 to Endurance over +2 to Nature?
Reverse Psychology
When you’re thinking about your character in this way, you’re bound to come up with traits that interest you but have no mechanical connection to your character. You can change that, too, with a little reversal. Turn your personality or story element into an actual D&D background.
Suppose you’ve decided that your character is refined and courteous. You can settle on what made him or her that way by making up a few questions and answers. Then create a background based on this polite manner. If you created it for repeat use, it might look like this:
Well-Mannered
Others see your sophistication, graciousness, and empathy your defining personality traits. What made you this way? Did you take after someone who raised or trained you? Were you schooled in courtesy? Did someone require (at least the appearance of) such manners from you? Do your manners mask any passions or darker parts of your nature?Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Insight
Crook or Hook
When you start asking yourself questions about this imaginary person you’re creating, consider crafting the answers so you create a few roleplaying hooks and a few character hooks. A roleplaying hook informs you how your character interacts with the world. On the other hand, a character hook tells the DM how the world might interact with your character. Both are valuable, but a few character hooks can go a long way toward helping the DM personalize the game.
Imagine our example well-mannered character grew up in an orphanage and took after the kindly monks who ran the place. This one point offers several possible details about the character. He or she is not only polite (roleplaying hook), but is also connected to an orphanage and its orphans (character hooks), as well as, perhaps, a religion noted for kind monks (roleplaying and character hook). A soft spot for orphans and priests (character and roleplaying hooks) might be part of the character’s personality, too. These details lead naturally to defining a few friends, mentors, or even enemies (character hooks) for the character.
Don’t be afraid to create a few NPCs who are relevant to your character’s life. Such people add depth to the game world and act as character hooks. In so doing, they give you and the DM more toys to add to the game. More toys are more fun.
Making this stuff up should be fun, too. You can probably easily think of more outgrowths of the example. That’s why just a few details like this can make for a rich character background.
A Little Help . . .
You can craft details about your character even without knowing a lot about the game world or your companions. It’s easier if you have help, though. The DM can lend a hand in giving your choices a framework specific to the campaign. Fellow players might assist by playing off your ideas giving you similar fodder from their backgrounds.
This is why it can be good for the group members to create characters in collaboration with each other. You can make sure to fill in background details at the same time you’re filling roles. The personal game of creating your character then becomes a shared experience such as a normal DM session.
Short But Stout
Can I give you a sample from my Dark Sun D&D game? If you prefer not to hear about someone else’s character, skip this part.
My friend Robert, a fine player and DM, as well as head honcho of penandpapergames.com, created a dwarf shaman named Malamac for the campaign. He made some basic choices.
• Malamac’s family was part of a dwarven nomad tribe that eventually settled in the dwarven village of Kled.
• His family has profound ties to the primal power source and ancestor veneration. Malamac learned of the spirits and ancestors primarily from his mother.
• Kled is the site of the excavation of an ancient dwarven city. (This actually part of Kled’s story in the world.) Malamac’s family was deeply involved in this heritage project.
• The templars overseeing Kled destroyed Malamac’s family for blasphemy and heresy. Artifacts discovered in the ancient city suggested the sorcerer kings of Athas are not the immortal god-monarchs they claimed to be. They also indicate the world was not always as it now is. Malamac’s mother spread these “lies.”
• Robert chose the Desert background, and he gave Malamac +2 to Endurance from it.
Expanding on all this, Robert then decided that Malamac, at least for most of his life, possessed not even an inkling of primal power. He grew up ashamed of this lack, thinking he would never amount to much. Malamac, therefore, looked for any excuse to get away from Kled and the source of his shame–his own family. He took regular trading missions to a nearby merchant outpost (Endurance). There, he found love (a woman named Ilyna) and a measure of success. He was on the road when his family fell to the templars. Instead of perishing with his kin, he was captured later, told of his family’s fate, and sold as an arena slave in Tyr. His enemies expected him to die on the arena sands, but a losing battle instead quickened his tie to the ancestors and the spirits of the earth. Then King Kalak of Tyr fell, and all slaves were freed . . .
Malamac’s story has a little more to it involving other characters in my Dark Sun group. However, most of the pertinent details are above. It’s simple yet loaded. With it, Robert told me a lot, such as that he’s interested in the legacy of the ancient dwarves and that Malamac has some great character hooks to explore or exploit.
I’ve used those hooks extensively. Malamac, alongside his comrades, recently put down one of the templars involved in his family’s demise. This was a happy side effect of freeing Kled from that same templar’s black magic. The scenario of opposing that evil templar could have been played without any emotional involvement on the part of the characters. Robert’s short background for Malamac just made it more poignant.
Your background can do the same for you and your gaming group. Here’s hoping this article is clearer on that point. If you found it useful, let me know.
The Gnomish Viral Music Box
While building my adventure for this week’s re-start of the Gears of Ruin campaign, I needed a special treasure to be found on the Gnomish Airship. I initially wanted it to be a Gygaxian joke item like an Arcane Locked vaulted door guarding a few bags of flour and then I started playing the What if game with Dave.
What if the Gnomes guarded this one room on the airship that no-one was allowed to penetrate?
What if it had this fabulous but oh so very gnomish treasure behind it?
What if the treasure had a double-edged effect on the game?
What if it was an extremely valuable cursed magic item?
And there everything fell into place.
Upon freeing themselves from the Fomorians, the gnomes knew that they could not rely on the other, more powerful races, to guarantee that they would not fall back into slavery. While many champions of the Gnomish causes have risen in the last centuries, the masters of trickery have created their own tricks to ‘convince” the world’s best heroes and scoundrels to help them.
It starts with a simple box
Gnome settlements and ships often have a hidden treasure in them, one they carelessly hint at whenever adventurers are around. Should said adventurers perform some heroic act for the Gnomes or, better yet, should they penetrate the many illusions and wards protecting it, they shall obtain a gold and platinum-encrusted jewelled music box.
Now the box can be sold for a very high amount of money and that’s that, the box leaves the story and the PCs have a some more money.
But it’s so much more.
But if the box is investigated, the box is found to be highly magical. The box is closed by a simple golden clasp and can by wound by a finely-engraved platinum key.
Opening the box reveals a series of small golden ferret-like animals rising that start dancing to this tune.
Oh and the box will not close. Nor can it be easily destroyed, not without using some of the tricks used to destroy artifacts described at the back of all those Dungeon Master Guides. It keeps playing that song on and on and on.
Of course, throwing the box away returns it to the hands/backpack of the owner in the next round.
The only way to stop the music is to seek out a Gnome leader and pledge to accept a geas dictated by them. This is usually some dire service serving the cause of the Gnomish race.
When the geas is accepted, the music stops, the box closes and a new copy of the box materializes. The PCs are encouraged to sell them both in the nearest city for a fat price.
Mwa Ha Ha!
D&D effects of the box:
I’m not a big fan of having cursed items have a mechanical effect in my games. I see them more as roleplaying enablers and story constraints that can be used to drive the story in an unexpected direction.
If you must, you could inflict a penalty to will defences/saves to anyone standing withing 2-3 squares from the box. More lenient DMs could allow the box to be placed on the floor and ‘tolerate’ being within 2-3 squares (i.e. 10-15′) from it’s owner. More evil DMs would make muffling the music impossible and make all monsters spot the Party from afar.
But I would be more interested in using such an item to discover and explore how a Gnomish plot line could unfold in my campaign.
So, how about you, how do you see cursed items in your D&D games (regardless of edition), do you have (or had had) similar ideas in the past and have you implemented them.
By the way, while I’m not going to use the box, it’s a bit too cheeky for our campaign’s tone, it sure was fun to create.
The Plot Kill
Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation.
– Wheel Of Time Series, Prophecy of the Dragon.
In the ongoing debate of killing of PCs and total party kills, one aspect of PC death is often left out: The Plot Kill. Having turned Plot Kills into defining campaign moments and having received some memorable Plot Kills myself, I think the concept warrants discussion.
First, to define Plot Kill: situations in which the DM plans for a PC death and executes either with or without mechanics. Examples could be playing out a “Last Stand” against a never ending horde of minions (played out to see how long the other characters actually have to make an escape) or requiring a PC to sacrifice himself to contain the essence of a mad god (no roll required). In this article I am going to discuss the guidelines of planning a Plot Kill, advise DMs on how to handle these occasions, and make a case to DMs for turning EVERY PC death into a Plot Kill. [Read the rest of this article]
An Open Letter to All: A Rebuttal
Geeks love drama and the story du jour on the interwebs is an icon from GenCon.
If you’ve been spared by the commotion, the quickie review goes: GenCon has a track of activities for the non-gamer who is tagging along with a gaming partner, abbreviated SPA and titled “Activities for the Better Half.” As with all 20 of their track offerings, they have an icon to represent this track, so when you get your program book in August, you can easily scan through for the events you find interesting. The SPA icon is:
This isn’t new: it’s been the icon since the track was first offered 4 years ago. But as with most “news” items, something can go unnoticed until media gets a hold of it. In this case, it was a blog here on Critical-Hits: Save vs. Misogyny: An Open Letter To Gen Con’s Event Organizers by Vanir. In it he says track-goers are:
…being visually characterized using an old euphemism holding down their gamer-spouse and keeping him from having fun. It does not take a particularly high INT score to understand why women would find this offensive.
and repeats
…this kind of thing makes women angry…
Other blogs were quick to follow. The Game Whisperer concurs with this sentiment:
The icon is being found offensive because of its depiction of women…
The blog d7 says that the icon is a blatant insult and that with the icon, Gencon is:
…calling you or your partner a device of shame and incarceration.
I’m a geeky, professional, progressive girl. I’m a high level business executive and head of my household. I come from a long line of feminists. My hippie parents raised me with a gender neutral philosophy and I’ve fought for equality and my voice to be heard my whole life. And to this complaint that the icon will offend women, I say Bullcrap.
First of all, thanks guys for assuming you know what I’m offended by: I am a woman and find nothing offensive about the icon. If I were to be offended, I’d find your generalization that this icon somehow applies to all women offensive. This year will be my 8th GenCon and I go to enjoy the gaming, vendors, and panels, just like you, so don’t assume that GenCon is targeting all women with this. It’s targeting the partners of gamers (mostly female but not all) who go to GenCon who aren’t gamers themselves.
But I’m not offended by that generalization. And the fact that I’m a woman has little to do with my feelings on the larger subject (though I want to point out the irony that the 3 blogs above are all posted by men and the 2 female voices in this issue so far, mine and from GenCon, see it as humorous). I’m annoyed by the hyper-sensitivity and venom caused by a symbol used as a wedding cake topper, gag gift, and phrase on primetime television. Gone are the ‘80’s, an era of self esteem, political correctedness and the idea that we all have to make each other feel good about ourselves. At the risk of damaging your self-esteem bubble further, you know, if you go to a convention on a topic of which you have no interest and shadow your partner, unintentionally holding them back, well, then the icon sort of fits.
Come on fellow nerds. Is our collective skin really that thin? Aren’t there better things to take offense to and get our panties in a bunch about? Do you live such a sheltered, stress-free life that you have time to spend energy on this? Really?
Yeah, yeah, show me the apparent hypocrisy of me getting upset at people getting upset. But two things about this issue do offend me. First, the fact that this is a symptom of a larger, quiet, passive aggressive war on humor. “Careful, that joke might offend someone!” It’s diluting our comedy and making us focus more on bland and safe than on progressive and innovative. Second, I am offended at public outcry without offering to take action. Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick said that he had one main rule of his staffers: “Feel free to come to me with a problem, but come with a solution too.” Whining and bitching without trying to fix a problem is lazy and has little value. Don’t like the options of the SPA track? Submit a panel and run your own. Panels at GenCon are almost entirely volunteer. I was sad to see a panel I loved years ago no longer offered, so this year, I am running it myself. Sure, blogging about it is “raising awareness” so is a form of action, but note that as with any public statement, you are opening yourself for commentary so be open to that too.
Finally, there is a lot of talk about this icon not being the way to get new people into the hobby and offending the non-gaming spouses when they show up to the con. The SPA track is for non-gamers, not people interested in the hobby. There are no panel offerings for “Introduction to Role-Playing” or “How to be a Gaming Geek”- that isn’t the purpose of this track. GenCon, a gaming convention, created an entire line of offerings to people not interested in gaming. How many cons do that? I go to a lot of education conferences. If I asked the organizers for different activities because “Well, I don’t really like kids,” and they did but represented me with an icon that is tongue-in-cheek, I’d chuckle and thank them for their effort.
Thank you GenCon for having the SPA track at all. Thanks for making an attempt to not having couples have to take completely separate vacations. I’m sorry that this small issue has muddled what a great event GenCon is as a whole.
Public voices speak louder but don’t’ always represent the greater opinion. Are you offended by the GenCon icon? Let’s see if one side or the other is a majority: data is objective and is the most reputable voice of all.
I’ll post the results regularly or when anyone wants them. The survey has nothing to do with me; it’s just a tool to help form an opinion.
Inq. of the Week: Prizes and Treasures?
There’s a new Doctor in town and it appears that the most of us (48%) tuned in to the new series and are proud to announce we have a worthy new time lord. The next largest group was 18% who haven’t watched the new show yet but plan to, a group into which I fall, while 17% say they did not watch and probably never will. A decent remainder (9%) are a little bit confused as to who is handing out all of the PhDs in time, and 7% of you watched it but thought it could be improved by the proper application of more Tardis. The smallest group was actually people who watched the new season and did not like the new Doctor, a miniscule 1% of the votes counted.
This week we are not posting a new poll as part of the Inquisition, instead we are looking to solve a very terrible problem which Dave and I now have. You see…we simply have too much stuff that we want to give away on this fancy-schmancy website and we aren’t entirely sure how to do it! So, for this week’s Inquisition we are asking you all to post in the comments here your ideas for contests, giveaways, competitions, whatever you can dream up that would allow all of you – our most excellent readers – to prostrate yourselves to win excellent goodies!
Here’s how this is going to work. You leave a comment here, on this post, with your best ideas for any type of contest that we could have in order to give away some of the stuff that we have. Next Monday Dave and I will go through all of the comments here and pick one or more of them that we absolutely love (or possibly choose people at random, if they are all excellent) and they will win something from the list of things we’re giving away. We haven’t hammered out all of the details yet, but rest assured you will win something that you will like!
After that we will hopefully use many of the contest ideas we receive here to give away the rest of the stuff that we have, which includes:
- Krod Mandoon Season 1 DVDs
- Uber Goober DVD
- Three-Dragon Ante: Emperor’s Gambit
- 4E Player’s Handbook 3 (one or two)
- PHB Races: Dragonborn
- 4E Underdark [Read the rest of this article]
A Letter from Chgowiz
When my good friend and co-conspirator Micheal “Chgowiz” Shorten decided to pull down his blog last month, many asked me what happened. At the time I decided to stay away from it all and didn’t say anything on Twitter or on the blog.
Last week, Chgowiz asked me if I could link to the thank you letter he’s sending to the online community.
You can find it here on Mike Curtis’ “The Society of the Torch and Pole“.
Chgowiz, I want to thank you back. Your trust, when you had no reason to, helped me climb out of my own dark pits. Your friendship at Gen Con last year allowed me to discover just how cool playing old-style D&D could be and I’ve since become one of Sword & Wizardry’s online champions and eschewed my “new school” label to become a more inclusive blogger.
Ride in peace, I know you’ll be back sooner than you think.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-04-25
- RT @gamefiend: The SkillCast Episode #1 Introduction http://at-will.omnivangelist.net/2010/04/the-skillcast-episode-1-introduction/ #
- RT @AllenVarney / @loresjoberg : First Person Observer – like The Onion for gamers (@fpshouter): http://is.gd/byN2B/ #
- RT @NevermetPress: The Monster MashUp Contest is now live! http://bit.ly/aAjVdw #
- RT @loganbonner: I've put up a new blog post. Read "4E Success or Failure: Paragon Paths:" http://is.gd/bytaV #
- "Revenge of the dailies" by @themaze75 http://is.gd/bzF4i #
- Announced in their newsletter today: @obsidianportal is the sponsor of the Dungeon Master Guys podcast. Many thanks to them for the support! #
- RT @geekdo: We just reached 17000 items (books and products) on the #rpggeek Woot! http://rpg.geekdo.com/browse/rpgitem #
- RT @joshgeeksix: The ebb and flow of scifi and fantasy tv over 60 years, in #infographic form — http://bit.ly/cTsAsj [via Geek6] #
- Official Response from @Gen_Con about our article on the SPA logo: http://is.gd/bBhZD "[Logo] will remain as is for the time being." #
- From @gregbisland : Pulling off the "glimpse" in D&D: http://bit.ly/coWwWA #
- Rumour has it that this Twitter account may become multi author. MWA HA HA HA! I'm slowly taking over (a public service by @ChattyDM) #
- I loved the TNG VCR game! So awesomely bad. RT @io9: Being Cuckolded By Klingons Is Hypnotic http://io9.com/5521050/ #
- .@GatorGames Hey! Thanks for the promo! We hit almost 3000 downloads last night. #
- RT @GeekyClean: Zombie's are recycled people, right? Send me your best Zombie mug shot, & it may win you a Zom-b-Gone! http://ow.ly/1BoRg #
- Chatty DM's Lego NPC: Mort, Brain-in-a-Jar and Ghostskull versions http://twitpic.com/1hegl5 #
- RT @GeekyClean: Try the "Dungeon Crawler's Pack" a discounted variety of 5 different #DnD themed soaps! http://ow.ly/1BK7u #
- RT @ChrisSSims: The SWSE condition track came into being when 4e development also included condition tracks in the #dnd game. #
- RT @cordaxmike: for those asking whats new in i4e 2.0 I wrote up a small post http://www.cordax.net/blog/?p=17 #
- RT @Wizards_DnD: Ravenloft #dnd board game! It was just sitting there and I had to share – http://twitpic.com/1hkbsq #
- RT @FFGames: Announcing DungeonQuest, a reimagining of the classic board game for 1-4 players! http://bit.ly/bNkRvA #
- RT @johnbaichtal: Win copies of the D&D Player's Handbook 1 & 2! http://bit.ly/cBmCnP #
- RT @loresjoberg: They should make a beer for D&D players called Icewind Ale. #
- RT @Wizards_DnD: Some awesome Astral Sea adventure hooks from our very own @SarahDarkmagic in the #dnd Group: http://bit.ly/btoqe5 #
- RT @NeoGrognard: Sick of bothering with XP? Try quest leveling. http://bit.ly/bos2y9 #
- RT @bleedingcool: David Tennant: The Doctor Who Musical http://bcool.bz/bEuMnx #
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