Road Trip Fantasy

Hex-crawling and other journeys to adventure.

Sometime around 1980 my friends and I discovered a map product published by Judges Guild they titled Wilderlands of High Fantasy (a revised POD edition is pictured above). Like many other new vistas we were to encounter as we explored our way through the fledgling hobby circa 1980, the map set and accompanying booklet of very brief descriptions opened many new horizons in gaming for us - at least it did once we figured out how to use it. The product contained two versions of each area map, one detailed and labeled for use by the judge (or referee) and one less detailed and largely blank version of the same map which was labeled for player use and seemingly to be filled in as the players explored. A numbered hex grid was printed on each map to make referencing and measurement easy was a familiar concept to us as we had prior experience with something similar as used in hex-map wargames. We were also familiar with dungeon exploration and the idea of mapping our progress through the tunnels and crypts from our playing at D&D. 

Explore the world - and map it.

Meet new People - and monsters!

Discover lost secrets - including treasures!

To boldly go where none have gone before...

We imagined our "adventurers" in the spirit of Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan and Neil Armstrong, all explorers we had read about, or in the case of astronaut Armstrong, watched on television. The desire to know what lay beyond the known world was intense. It was easy to imagine our intrepid adventurers making some "historic" discovery just over the next hex-line. Much like real life, we often found that the next day's travel consisted of "more of the same", but our active imaginations kept us moving forward regardless, ever anticipating what fresh wonders the next day might bring.

The original three little brown books mentions the suggested adaptive use of the boardgame Outdoor Survival as the basis of wilderness adventure. Outdoor Survival was not a game in my collection at the time that I started playing The World's First Role-Playing Game, however. It was a number of years later before I would purchase that game second hand. In the intervening years, my friends and I developed our hex-crawling skills using Wilderlands of High Fantasy - which has the added advantage in being designed specifically for use with adventure games.

The idea of journeying from map hex to map hex seeking adventure is as old as the game itself. by interacting with the setting and any encounters made along the way, the journey itself becomes our adventure. The premise works equally well in an urban environment where density actually means less time spent traveling and more time spent encountering. Whether traveling the wilderness or urban hexes both pre-set and random encounters are possible. And with freedom to move their characters in any direction, the players may experience gameplay in true "sandbox" style. 

In Search of Heroic Fantasy Role-Playing

What is heroic behavior?

A quick online search suggests that the definition of heroic behavior involves finding the courage to take a significant risk or make a great sacrifice to achieve a noble goal. In applying the definition of "heroic" to a fictional character found in literature, or by extension in a role-playing game, acting in an heroic way means significantly more than just flashing some impressive superpowers. Thinking back on a lifetime reading the fantasy works of J.R.R. Tolkien, stories which continue to inform my approach to FRP gaming even when the particular game's setting is not spelled out as "Middle-earth", and while specifically considering the question of heroism, my thoughts immediately turn to the humble hobbits, and then beyond.

Bilbo - a country squire and reluctant "burglar"

Frodo - a gentleman hobbit with heavy responsibilities

Sam - a gardener in service to "Master Frodo"

Merry and Pippin - cousins to Mr. Frodo

Eowyn - devoted niece to her king

Unless one counts strength of moral character as something super powerful, none of these characters possesses anything we might call a "superpower". Yet all of them rank as exhibiting heroic behavior using the above definition. Courage to face danger and a willingness to sacrifice their personal safety in pursuit of a goal that is more than self advancement and self enrichment are evidence of the nobility in their motive. 

Early editions of The World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game included the concept of game alignment as an aide to role-play and as a means to establish opposing sides in a conflict. The basic alignments of Law and Chaos seem pretty straightforward, but good and evil have also been with the game since its original three little brown books (in terms of "good" and "evil" magic).

In The World's First Role-Playing Game's 2e advanced edition, the author writes:

First, the AD&D game is a game of heroic fantasy. What is heroic about being a villain? If an evilly aligned group plays its alignment correctly, it is as much a battle for the characters to work together as it is to take on the outside world.

"A game of heroic fantasy". Yes, that is what I am seeking. The author (David "Zeb" Cook) of the above words found in the 2e Player's Handbook is clearly writing about the game's concept of "alignment" and how to use it in heroic play. But I think there is more to be gained from use of this game mechanic. I personally use alignment in all my dungeon games because I think it adds a significantly important element to enrich gameplay and the game suffers when alignment is not actively engaged with. In addition to serving a useful purpose by providing opposing factions and a reason for conflict, character alignment speaks to morality and personal values, which can form the basis of heroic in-game character behavior.

A game is a social activity (unless played solitaire) with shared fun as its goal. The role-playing game is cooperative fun. The Player's Handbook addresses this aspect and its relationship to the use of alignment.

Second, the game revolves around cooperation among everyone in the group. The character who tries to go it alone or gets everyone angry at him is likely to have a short career. Always consider the alignments of other characters in the group. Certain combinations, particularly lawful good and any sort of evil, are explosive. Sooner or later the group will find itself spending more time arguing than adventuring. Some of this is unavoidable (and occasionally amusing), but too much is ultimately destructive. As the players argue, they get angry. As they get angry, their characters begin fighting among themselves. As the characters fight, the players continue to get more angry. Once anger and hostility take over a game, no one has fun. And what’s the point of playing a game if the players don’t have fun?

What motivates your character? It's a question I frequently ask my players. If for no other reason than to get them wondering about their answer - I think it is helpful for everyone to do so. People play role-playing games for a variety of reasons, which is of course part of what makes the RPG hobby interesting, and exploration seems to be one of the commonest essentials on which the game rests. Exploration of the fictional setting, exploration of the fictional character we play and by extension, of our own thoughts, opinions and assumptions as they pertain to the game is nearly universal. 

Alignment is a useful game concept. It may have began as yet another idea borrowed from various works of literary fiction that could be affixed to the game, but it is a useful idea. Its presence suggests that the fictional player character is motivated by something beyond levelling up and gaining fictional riches. Alignment assumes that some ethos, some higher ideal motivates the character. It suggests there is a set of beliefs and values (distinct from the player's own) that will influence the character during the course of the game and be evident to others through the actions the character takes. It perhaps, sets the stage for heroic behavior on the part of the player character.

DCC Versatility

Roleplaying...with an Old School (sharp) Edge!
I don't post a lot about Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but I probably should remedy that oversight. Prior to the pandemic our group played a lot of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, both at conventions and among our face-to-face home games. I have always enjoyed my experiences with the game, both from a player's perspective and perhaps more discretely so from a position behind the DM screen. DCC RPG can be (should be) a game that is quite deadly to characters, but it is often considered bad DM form to enjoy the killing of player's characters too openly, so I will keep that on the "down-low". ;-)

The DCC RPG appeals to "old school" gamer preferences in some ways, but it is more of a modern game in many other respects. It does not attempt to reproduce any older version of the game - i.e. it's not a retro-clone. The DCC RPG uses many of the familiar "modern d20" mechanics including ascending armor class and Reflex, Fortitude and Willpower saves. It also introduces novel game mechanics such as the DCC RPG "dice chain" using "odd?" dice with three, five, seven, fourteen, sixteen, twenty-four and thirty sides in addition to the now ubiquitous four, six, eight, ten and twenty sided role-playing game dice. Spell effects in DCC can vary considerably depending on the outcome of a casting dice roll - yes you roll dice to cast your magic in DCC RPG! Warrior types in the DCC RPG may perform a "Mighty Deed of Arms" by stating what special effect they are going for and in addition to succeeding with an attack if they roll well on the Deed Die (and the referee is in agreement) they get to be "awesome" by pulling off their Mighty Deed. This alone makes martial characters feel a lot more useful and fun to play in the DCC RPG.

Actually, as I think on it, there is an awful lot about DCC RPG that makes the game a lot more fun to play! That is the point that publisher Goodman Games is making with everything I have seen from them. Make the game, and by extension our RPG hobby, a lot more fun!

The "funnel" is DCC's preferred method of starting your characters at "zero" level as peasants, laborers, craftsmen or artisans and then running them through a gauntlet-like killer 1st adventure adventure in order to "season" the survivors, who then become your future level-one player characters. Funnel play is one of the rather innovative aspects of the DCC RPG that sets it apart from any other FRP I know, but it has perhaps been over emphasized when we talk about DCC. The experience of playing through a funnel is definitely a significant part of the DCC experience, but having done so once or twice, I think most players get the point the funnel technique is there to make. What overvaluing the funnel risks missing altogether is that DCC RPG play really shines once the characters get past the funneling and have become real PCs with class abilities, decent equipment, and alignments. 

The "message" that the DCC RPG seems to want us to take-away from the funnel experience is that DCC's philosophy of play differs from other current versions of popular FRP games. That random dice rolls can produce characters that are fun to play and that a character's unique "personality" can be something that emerges organically through the experience of playing the character at the table. In short, that there is more than one way to have fun role-playing!

The Characters section of the DCC RPG book begins with a statement that sets the tone this game is aiming for.

 "You're no hero. You're an adventurer, a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them..."

Touted as "Appendix N gaming", one of DCC RPG's stated aims is to provide the armchair adventurer with rules that will readily allow for a game experience more closely resembling the action read about in the sources that are commonly referred to as "Appendix N" - a list included in the Dungeon Masters Guide written by Gary Gygax under the section titled "Inspirational and Educational Reading". To be fair, the original Appendix N (also reproduced in the DCC RPG if you don't have access to Gygax's DMG) includes a variety of works that form a diversity in literary approaches to the fantastic and supernatural, the eternal struggle of cosmic forces, and the essential nature of heroic behavior. The DCC RPG appears to most closely associate itself with Appendix N sources that feature the protagonist who is an anti-hero, a sell-sword, or a self-serving rogue to whom no higher purpose appeals than to increase one's purse in order to fund a good time spent carousing. If the character names "Conan", "Fafhrd" and "Gray Mouser" mean anything to you, then you are thinking on the DCC RPG's wave-length.

Many role-playing games are designed with the assumption that player will consist of a group of five or more, being a referee (or whatever title the person administering the game session is called) and four or more players. This is how I have mostly played the DCC RPG - three to four (or more) players plus referee/GM. With continuing challenges that in-person gaming is presenting, I find myself looking at alternatives that will support solo and/or one-on-one game-play, which at least in the near future seems likely to be a convenient way to enjoy our hobby. The DCC RPG works better for this purpose than some other FRP games I have tried to play with smaller groups. The level of complexity in DCC lends itself to each player easily managing multiple characters - the "funnel" actually recommends that each player has at least three to four characters in play at the beginning of that session(and assumes several of them will perish). Even at higher character levels, I have found that the DCC RPG plays quite well with players controlling multiple PCs. The game's flexibility to scale encounters up or down according to, and along with, the number of available players opens up new playing possibilities for me using this system. As a result, this system, along with others that also prove to be suitable for such play, are likely to get even more of my attention in the near future. 

It can be easy to overlook the entire game philosophy point that the DCC RPG seems to be making - that there is more than one way to have fun with this hobby. And they show you how to do this fun thing in a way that I have encountered no where else. 

Not every hero has to start out totally awesome! 

Not every PC needs to be generated through careful crafting, by choosing among many options. Sometimes the best and most favored characters can be found randomly by rolling dice and playing what the dice have handed you. Luck and not knowing what will happen ahead of time is a big part of the fun that I find in playing games, especially so with the DCC RPG. And of course it is the nature of "Luck" to be fickle, delivering both delight and disappointment with a smile - that too is part of the fun of discovery through play. 

When playing the same old retro-clone isn't as exciting as it used to be; when designing a point-buy character looses its appeal; when playing the 'all awesome all the time" character starts to grow tiresome; or when coming up with yet another unique three-page character backstory seems a bit too taxing, maybe it's time to play the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. 

The Harn Experience

Realism and Immersion in a Fantasy Role-Play System. 

We can experience our hobby from more than one approach. Sometimes we are looking for a skirmish wargame experience, sometimes we seek more of a story to emerge through our game play, and sometimes we desire an immersive experience where for a moment we can suspend our real day-to-day life existence and mentally imagine being in some exotic place, where fictional events can seem almost real. Anyone who has turned down the lights and shared a ghost story may know exactly how much fun this experience can be.

In my youth, we used to talk about simulation games. Basically we were exploring the use of data, technical and historical and often complex game mechanics to suggest to us players that what we were  engaged in was something a little more real than playing at a game of make-believe. No matter how much data a game has baked into its design, it is important to remember that it is first and foremost just a game.

Columbia Games is a respected publisher of wargames - many utilize their signature wooden block playing pieces that contribute to a "fog of war" feeling. As a publisher, Columbia Games leverages historical facts and technical data in producing many of their games, balancing fun and competitive play against known facts and historical outcomes. Columbia Games brings this same approach to game design to their fantasy role-play game product line of Harn and Harnmaster. From an original setting created by N. Robin Crossby, the staff at Columbia Games has developed an extensive catalog of some of the most detailed and flavorful materials in our hobby. (Kelestia Productions was founded by Harn creator N. Robin Crossby after he left Columbia Games and they publish their own line of game material based on the same world, and the two lines are mostly cross-compatible.)

Harn and Harnmaster have been hobby favorites of mine since I first discovered the setting in the late 1980s. This setting and the role-playing system developed for it appeals to the lingering wargamer in me. Although I prefer using Harnmaster when gaming in Harn, the setting predates the rule system and is usable with The World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game or any other system. 

The depth of logical detail and the superb maps make Harn feel more "real" than most game products which are centered around a fantasy or science fiction theme. Only the RPG Call of Cthulhu, with its own emphasis on an historical setting, can compete with Harn/Harnmaster when it comes to providing an easy means for me to lose myself in the fiction of the game. The occasional fantastic creature in Harn seems so much more believable when it makes its appearance in the setting that is logically familiar and easily relatable. 

There is an old hobby joke (perhaps connected to a cartoon found in the advanced DMG) about a game called Paychecks & Term Papers which of course seems like fun to no one precisely because it is too close to the mundane aspects of real life. Presumably, most people play role-playing games to have fantastic and imaginary adventures, to role-play an heroic character, to challenge their problem solving skills, or even to be safely frightened a bit (and likely for many other reasons as well), but mostly the RPG, much like cinema and literature, is a form of escapist entertainment. 

Harn has been and is an occasional and recurring passion for me. One that never fails to reward the time (and $$) I spend with it. It probably isn't for everyone (and often isn't exactly what I am in the mood to play), but for the gamer who is inclined to appreciate/desire a dark-age or early medieval setting with a high degree of realism hard-wired into it, Harn, and by extension the Harnmaster RPG rule system, has no equal. I firmly believe that system does matter when it comes to a game's ability to give us the play experience we seek and Harn/Harnmaster is a superb vehicle to (for a brief time) experience a real feeling through role-playing for what it could be like to live as part of a fictional culture; to become engaged with and immersed into the fictional setting that feels both fantastic and real; to have adventures and face challenges; and ultimately to learn about my character's story as it develops through play. Sometimes even a relatively mundane PC's existence spent managing the daily affairs of a castle can be entertainingly different from our own real life. 

Ensemble Adventure Gaming

Playing solo in the round.

The pandemic and associated social distancing has seemingly reinvigorated solo tabletop gaming as evidenced by the number of postings I have read on bogs and seen on video. As given online play has been given a significant  boost by social distancing, it stand to reason that solo play might also. It is the prospect of combining the two that I wish to ponder in this post.

Tabletop games are generally designed as a social gathering pastime. Group play is where real role-playing finds its audience and can excel as a form of shared entertainment. Solo play also has its adherents and although the audience is usually limited to just oneself, it can be quite rewarding as we sit alone, playing out fictional adventures through the actions of our character(s). 

During a recent short walk around the neighborhood, a thought occurred to me as I pondered various aspects of the day including solo gaming - "could solo gaming be a shared experience?" I wonder. Can we develop a way to cooperate with another in a shared adventure?  Through the gaming activities of two or more players, each playing solo, can we join our game narratives together forming something of interest to us all?

Many novels are written with chapters that alternate characters and setting, where each chapter is devoted to a different main character only to circle round to a previous character in the next chapter. By advancing a similar timeline through the novel we, the reader, first see what character A is doing, then the narrative will switch to character B and so on, until perhaps all the characters come together at the finale! 

This is just the kernel of an idea, but perhaps by corresponding with a fellow solo gamer something similar could be achieved using perhaps a common timeline connecting separate adventures in connected regions of a common setting. We each would start our characters on their respective journey, advance a day at a time with each player playing out whatever adventures our character has that day and finally either the players will compare notes with an eye toward any common threads looking for any places where serendipity may link our fates, or if sharing an online session, will immediately know what is going on and make suggestions as appropriate in an effort to weave the separate adventures together with some ultimate or emerging goal in mind.

In a certain classic fantasy story known to most in this hobby, a group of travelers set off to save the free peoples by destroying an evil ring. They become separated along the way, but they journey on in separate groups, each finding their own way to help accomplish the common goal of defeating the dark lord. Each of these groups will benefit from the successful actions of another group and it is ultimately perhaps the least likeliest of the fellowship upon whom winning and losing ultimately depends. In the end great evil is defeated and peace returns to the land. And a grand story is assembled combining the adventures of many when all is said and done.