Mad Brew Labs

RPG Blog Carnival

This is my contribution to the April 2009 RPG Blog Carnival: Humor & Gaming hosted by A Butterfly Dreaming.  Roleplaying game humor has been around almost as long as roleplaying games have.  I think it is inevitable for themed humor to appear shortly (or immediately) after a popular activity is established or a public event happens.

Much of the early humor that I am aware of was published in the back of Dragon magazine with classic comic strips like Wormy, Phil Folgio’s What’s  New with Phil & Dixie, Fineous Fingers, Larry Elmore’s SnarfQuest, and Yamara.  Jolly R. Blackburn’s Knight’s of the Dinner Table was always a favorite of mine, and is still going strong.

Shortly before the demise of Dragon, there were four strips that carried on the Dungeons & Dragons humor torch: Nodwick, Order of the Stick, Dork Tower, and The Zogonia and Mt. Zogonia (whose website is unfortunately dead).

Since the demise of Dragon (in print) I have obtained a subscription to its spiritual successor, Kobold Quarterly.  The tradition of four color humor continues with KQ’s inclusion of Stan!’s Bolt & Quiver (which used to be published in Dungeon magazine along with Downer the Dark Elf).

Of course with the advent of the web, many artists bypassed the traditional print medium and began releasing their work to the masses on their own, thus the comic strip found new life as the webcomic.  I’ve been digging through the internet to find some of the better four color (or b&w) roleplaying game humor and present it as a list (in alphabetical order):

• 8-bit Theater – A Final Fantasy sprite based adventure comic
• Cat’s Grace – A photo webcomic that follows a liontaur adventurer
• Chatty’s Out of the Box – The Chatty DM’s defunct photo webcomic using D&D minis
• Critical Failure – A comic dealing with DM-player table antics created by RPGBN’s own Mark Meredith
• Critical Fumble – The adventures of unlikely heroes portrayed by the D&D arcade game characters
• Darken – This comic series begins with Gort having his heart ripped out by a demon
• Darths & Droids – A screenshot comic poking fun at the series as a roleplaying game
• The DM of the Rings – Viewing the Tolkien fantasy through the lens of D&D & LotR screenshots
• Dungeon Crawl, Inc. – Started out as sprite based, but it is now drawn
• Dungeon Damage – A story narrated by a vicious read dragon
• Dungeons & Denizens – Exposes the life of the creatures who call dungeons home
• Dungeons & Discourse – One of several comics by “Dresden Codak”
• Dungeons & Dorks – Follows the exploits of gamer geeks
• Familiar Ground – Adventuring through the eyes of a familiar
• Fight, Cast, or Evade – About a party of unlucky anthropomorphic adventurers
• Full Frontal Nerdity – A comic about general geeking out, including roleplaying
• Gaming Guardians – Comic about trying to save the world of D&D
• Girl Genius – A gaslamp fantasy drawn by Phil & Kaja Foglio
• Goblins – Chronicles the exploits of a band of goblin adventurers
• Fuzzy Knights – A photo comic hosted by Kenzer & Co (who also hosts KotDT)
• Irregular Comic – This comic explores a lot of topics, but roleplaying is for Fridays
• Legend of Bill – A comic about the wannabe barbarian Bill and his blue dragon pal
• Looking for Group – While at first glance it appears as a WoW parody, it is far from it
• Mind Flayed – This comic features the machinations of an illithid.
• Nahast: Lands of Strife – A chronicle of adventures in the land of Nahast
• Orcusville – Details the life of the demon lord Orcus
• Penny Arcade – Tyche and Gabe often explore the world of D&D
• Planescape Survival Guide – Well… a comic about what the title says
• RH Junior’s Comics – A site containing several comics including Tales of the Questor
• Webcomic List – You might also find some gems here in the fantasy genre

I have really only explored webcomics that were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons or had a general fantasy bent.  I tend to stay away from comics derived directly from MMOs since I refuse to pay a subscription, and therefore miss the much of the humor.  If you know of any other good table top RPG inspired webcomics, sound off in the comments!

Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - Kinda I Want To

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So I’ve got a so-called villain strapped to the operating table (he wouldn’t stop squirming while I was using the scalpel) because I was wondering what makes them work.  What’s makes them tick (tick-tock, tick-tock, like an evil clock!) so speak.  It seems to be a fad these days, to be chillin’ like a villain.  As I mop up (more like smear it around) the pools of blood this dastardly fellow leaked (how uncooperative he’s been!), I try to listen (he was screaming the whole time) to the notes I recorded during my dissection.

Anyways, I should let one of my trusted assistants finish cleaning up, I know how much they like to chew the fat while working.  Hey, don’t forget to put those organs through the grinder before they spoil! Where was I?  Oh yes, my notes… well I present my written report on the composition of a villain.  DAMN IT MINIONS!  Chew with your mouth closed, you know how much the smacking of lips irritates me!

Disclaimer

We all like to build the most effective villains for our games, but some components work better in different atmospheres.  If you’re game is a light, humorous poke at the supers’ genre, then a truly nasty demon villain that eats babies may not be appropriate (or it may, depending on your group…).  The underlying point is to use the components that work for you and forget the rest.

Antagonists vs. Villain

Let’s get one thing straight; villains are the bad-asses of the bad-guy universe.  If you look at the bad-guy universe as a Venn diagram, the big circle is the general antagonists set and then a much, much smaller circle, a subset of the general antagonists, is the villains.  Villains are a special breed.

Antagonists

Antagonists are anyone who becomes obstacles in the player characters’ path.  They could range from the diligent guard blocking access to a location (just doing his job) to the thug who beat up one of their grandmas and left her for dead.  It could be the bard in the corner singing out of tune so loudly that the PCs cannot hear what the thief in the corner is saying to her boss.  An antagonist just someone (or something) like makes life more difficult, but doesn’t necessarily have a lasting effect on the campaign.

The Villain

Actual villains should probably remain relatively rare in a campaign, otherwise they lose their effectiveness.  The single factor that make a villain distinct from lesser antagonists is the fact his goal(s) is the direct anti-thesis of the PC’s ultimate goal(s).  A villain is the arch-nemesis of the player characters, and he actively tries to defeat them.

Mechanisms of Good Villains

I have collected, preserved, and placed in labeled jars full of formaldehyde some of the common components of effective villains.  These are some of the most rotten elements that comprise many of the most hated and feared villains.

Cult of Personality

Many villains become powerful leaders and influential people of station through their commanding presence and charisma.  They may use sex appeal or oratory skills (no it’s not the same, pervert!).  This usually means any dialog with a villain should be real and memorable.  Not to mention the hoards of zealous followers willing to lie down and die for their liege.

Truly Threatening

If a villain doesn’t pose an honest threat the player characters, then he’s a mook (as opposed to a villain).  A villain should strike fear into the hearts of the players, not just their characters.  A villain actually uses sound tactics in and out of combat and he orders his minions to do the same.

Corresponding Intensity

This is really a reflection of the game’s attitude and atmosphere.  A villain should be just as intense as the player characters (or more so if they are a bunch of gimpy roleplayers).  If the characters see the world as black and white (and they are white), then the villain is the blackest black.  If everything is seen in shades of grey, this guy is nebulous too.  If everything is tongue-in-cheek comedy, then the villain should be dark humor.

Shattered Mirror

This is a reflection of the player characters.  Sometimes the best villain is a photographic negative of one or more player characters, or what they believe in.  The villain should be a perverse mockery of all the good traits of the characters.

Lingering Humanity

Some villains still possess a shred of their humanity (or elvenity, or whatever) that they had before they became the cruel bastard they are now.  Perhaps they have a soft spot for children (or gully dwarves), or like ice scream an awful lot.  This is a great way to get players to feel sympathy for a villain.

Twisted Endings

So your players have slain the big bad evil guy, but wait… this guy was actually the good captain who was undercover trying to find the real bad guy?  Oh yeah, the truly despicable villain will throw the player characters with excellent red herrings.  What did you just say, you’re my mother!? Nooooooooo!!

Tragic Origins

Give the player characters a greater understanding of their nemesis and have them discover the tragic origins of the villain.  Perhaps he grew up in an orphanage where the Sisters of Mercy wouldn’t give him any ice cream but would pound down pints of Cookies’n'Cream in front of him, oh the torture!  So now he will drown any nun he sees in hot sticky cream.

Hidden Enemy

Occasionally is it can be fun keeping the villain unknown and working from the shadows.  The player characters are always baffled until he finally slips and makes a mistake.  Then you reveal the villain in all her glory, hopefully crushing the PCs’ spirits with hopelessness.

Scaling Power

Usually, I am not a proponent of scaling elements in the world with the progression and power of the player characters.  I like an organic or natural world.  But the natural world isn’t completely static, and an ambitious villain will most definitely progress in power too; quite possibly at a faster rate than the PCs depending on how unscrupulous she is.

Memorable Name

Well you can’t have a terrifying villain with a hokey name, unless that’s the atmosphere of the game.  If your villain has been designed properly, merely using the name in normal conversion should elicit emotional reaction from your players.

Cinema & Novels

Let’s face it.  Roleplaying games are NOT movies or books.  That’s a good thing, because playing an RPG is dynamic art that always creates a unique experience because you (and the rest of your group) are the one creating it.  It’s just that some of the tools and techniques used in cinema and novels don’t work as effectively when used right out of the box.

Presentation & Revelation

Directors and authors often center parts of their stories away from the protagonists and focus on the activities of the villain.  This is great because it allows them to develop the villain’s character and compel the [passive] audience to connect with the adversary.

Game Masters do not have that luxury.  It is fairly difficult to switch away from the player characters during the game to narrate the devious actions that the villain is doing.  Besides killing the pacing, it also destroys the suspension of disbelief by showing things that is impossible for the characters to know (and of course this information can then be metagamed).

However a clever GM can reveal the villain’s machinations, history, and depth of character to the player characters through the accounts of interviewed witnesses, scrying, dream sequences, scenes of aftermath, and other recreations of the villain’s actions.

Check out some other insightful posts about villains on The Core Mechanic and At-Will!

Listening to: Tony Iommi – IOMMI – Time is Mine fet. Phil Anselmo

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I’m presenting another magical itme for use with the Pathfinder RPG.  This time I wanted to provide an item that was not combat orientated or groundbreaking, but something that emhanced something fairly mundane that usually is not even though about.  This elixer doubles the effectiveness of natural healing during an eight-hour rest period.

Elixer of Restful Slumber

Aura faint conjuration; CL 3rd
Slot –; Price 100 gp; Weight .5 lb.

DESCRIPTION

This potion come in many containers, but always has a midnight blue hue and appears to sparkle.  Imbibing the elixer will double the effectiveness of natural healing during a full night’s sleep (8 hour period) or complete bed rest for an entire day.  So a character who sleeps for 8 hours after drinking this elixer will recover twice his character level in hit points and two points of temporary ability damage per affect ability score.

A character must drink this elixer within an hour before resting.  If the proceeding rest period is interrupted before it is complete, the effects of the elixer end.

CONSTRUCTION

Requirements Brew Potion, sleep; Cost 50 gp

Listening to: Ministry – Psalm 69 – Jesus Built My Hotrod

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Yesterday, I mentioned a few of the contests that had caught my eye (most notably because of the awesome prizes that could be won).  Today I want to mention some really cool projects, that aren’t contests, being initiated by my fellow bloggers.

4etopia Forums

Quinn Murphy, perhaps better known as gamefiend from At-Will, has created the 4etopia forums dedicated to constructive discussion about 4e.  The goals of 4etopia are probably best summed up by Quinn himself:

Why forums?  I wanted a dedicated spot to talk 4th edition, pure and simple.  I wanted a place where there wasn’t a lot of time wasted defending why we play (edition warriors please stay out!) and where the community could get right to the point of discussing the game.

Also I wanted dedicated space to discuss specific aspects of 4e that I feel don’t get enough attention.  4etopia has forums for discussing encounter design, and skill challenges, things that just don’t get enough love.  There are places to chat about DPR, rules discussions, etc.  I love to talk about all these things as well, but there are places you can go for that already.  I certainly don’t want to duplicate anyone’s efforts!  4etopia is here for frank discussion of how we engage (as players) and create engagement (as DMs).  Most importantly, it’s a place that’s meant to be fun.

Visit the forums, start a thread, and enjoy!  Can’t wait to see you there.

Green Devil Face

Green Devil Face is a magazine being produce by James Raggi IV, the (sometimes controversial but always in your face) old school advocate from Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  I need to get my hands on these cheap (less than $3.50) hand-assembled magazines to see the crazy shit James and his contributors have cooked up.  Oh and did I mention James is taking submissions?  Once again, I’ll use the words of the creator to best describe the project:

Green Devil Face, the zine, is a community project. It is intended to provide traditional fantasy RPG referees with game material that can be inserted as-is into their games. Detail is encouraged to give the reader the exact sense of how the author would play the trap out in-game, and of course the referee reading it is free to use that or substitute his own ideas as appropriate.

If you have a particularly original or clever trap, room, item, or tricky situation that you’ve used in one of your games and that you would like to share, submit it for publication in a future issue of Green Devil Face. We can’t pay anything, but you keep the rights to your work, and you get to see your name in print. All contributors get a copy of the final finished printed product.

GDF is also in need of an original logo, plus it would be nice to feature original artwork in future issues, so budding artists out there are encouraged to submit material as well.

A new issues will be released whenever 28 pages of content are filled, so submit now, and submit often!

Megadungeon.net

I think Monte Cook’s Dungeon-A-Day megadungeon service jumpstarted James Maliszewski of Grognardia to kick of his free community-based megadungeon project.  Megadungeon.net presents the ongoing creation of a massive dungeon of Urheim that exists beneath the ruined Monastery of St. Gaxyg.  Of course, I’ll steal the words of the project manager to help fully describe the project:

In addition to detailing the dungeon, its inhabitants, mysteries, tricks, traps, and treasures, I plan to use this site to discuss the philosophy of building a megadungeon, otherwise known as a “campaign dungeon,” because its purpose is to be the focus of an entire campaign rather than the locale for a single adventure.

Megadungeon.net will grow slowly, adding new material on an irregular basis. Some weeks there may be lots of updates, while others may have none at all. The speed with which Urheim is detailed will depend on when I get good ideas or when I receive sufficient submissions from contributors. Anyone who wishes to contribute is welcome to do so. One of my goals is to make this as collaborative a project as I am able. What that means is that, if you have an idea, big or small, feel free to send it in and I’ll do my best to find a way to use it. This includes alternate takes on elements I’ve already described, since options are an important part of the old school approach to gaming I prefer. I’m interested in submissions of any type, including cartography and artwork. Guidelines for submission can be found here.

One more thing, almost the entirety of the contents on this website (artwork and cartography being the primary exceptions) are designated Open Game Content under the Open Game License. That means you can take things from Urheim and use them in your own published products provided you include the Copyright Notice from Section 15 in your own copy of the OGL.

RPGBN Community Forums

Michael Wolf, who goes by Stargazer from Stargazer’s World, resurrected Phil Menard’s (The ChattyDM) old cobweb collecting forums and rebranded it as the official RPG Bloggers Network Community Forums.  There are boards for Blogging, Game Reports, Other Geek Topics, Play-by-Post games, and many more.  If you are looking for a new general RPG forum to hang out on because your current haunt has become a haven of suck, then head over there!

RPGBN Shared Setting

Enrique Bertran, the NewbieDM, initiated the RPGBN shared setting project where bunches of our fellow bloggers are busy carving out some crazy, serious, and humorous pieces of the world (using a map I donated that has been nicely modified to include a hex grid!).  This is a long term deal without a lot of pressure, but there are some interesting things being created over there, go check it out and send your encouragement to all the bloggers!

If I missed an exciting project out there, pipe up and let me know in the comments!

Listening to: Mudvayne – Lost and Found – Fall into Sleep

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Get Some Loot!

The loot is just pouring out of the RPG blogosphere this Spring.  I see some really cool projects kicking off; all heralded (in my honest opinion) by the pioneering Open Game Table Anthology.   We have several contests supported by the publishers.  I hope it is the beginning of a trend where we will see more of the publishers utilizing the blogging community to reach their target audience.  It’s definitely a win-win situation.

Top 25 RPGs Contest

Zachary Houghton of the RPG Blog II finished collecting entries to determine the Top 25 RPGs yesterday.  You know what the coolest part of this contest was?  All you had to do was email Zachary with your picks for the best RPG and you didn’t even need to send 25!  Some random winners will collect goodies donated by some really cool sponsors.  Prizes include:

Crafty Games
-Spycraft 2.0 Rulebook
-Spycraft: World on Fire

RPG Objects
-Modern^20
-Darwin’s World 2: Survivor’s Handbook
-Blood and Space 2: Galactic Edition
-Blood and Fists: Master Edition

One Bad Egg/Evil Hat
-Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies
-One Bad Egg PDF Prize Pack (items to be determined)

Postmortem Studios
-RPG PDF Prize Pack (items to be determined)

6d6 Adventure Writing Competition

Hey, the Top 25 RPGs contest may be over, but there are still a couple of cool contests whose deadlines have not elapsed.  A few weeks ago, 6d6 Fireball announced their Adventure Writing Competition.  Chris & Rob are looking for a 3.5 D&D OGL compatible adventure that features bearded devils somewhere in the adventure (minimum 2000 words).

The prize for the competition is pretty slick, not only do you get credited for a published adventure and a copy, but you’ll get 100% of the profits.  Yeah, ALL of the PROFITS.  Hey you might make zero dollars or you might make a couple hundred, but you’ll get experience either way.  The deadline for the 6d6 Adventure Writing Competition is May 12, so get writing now!

One Page Dungeon Contest

Chgowiz, of Chgowiz’s Old Guy RPG Blog, and the Chatty DM, of Musings of the Chatty DM have teamed together to present the One Page Dungeon Contest.  New School & Old School collide to jam on creating the best one page dungeon!  They even provide a template to put your dungeon on.

The deadline for this contest is May 14^th and the prizes are too many to list here so go over to either of the blogs and check out the details.  I will mention the sponsors though:

• Brave Halfling Publishings
• DungeonADay
• Fight On Magazine
• Goblinoid Games
• Goodman Games
• Mythmere Games
• Necromancer Games
• NeonCon
• Obsidian Portal
• Open Design
• Otherworld Miniatures
• Smiteworks
• Tabletop Adventure

Listening to: Danzig - Danzig IV - Little Whip

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