I’ve been running a Play by Post game in the Crumbling Keep Discord using Tephrotic Nightmares, a Mork Borg campaign my Luke Gearing. This is the first time I’ve running a PbP in decades, so it all feels like one big experiment.
This blog post by Yochai Gal did a lot to inspire it. It certainly helped me set it up and gave be a base to go off of.
That said, I’ve been learning a lot as we play. One thing that surprised me (and I think will help me with in person games) is how it anchors on old school fame works. When playing in person, I think folks have an expectation that every moment will be full of some sort of roleplay. In reality, it’s more like playing an old school dragon warrior style rpg video game – you’re traveling overground until a random encounter or getting to a location triggers the screen to swirl and put you into battle mode or onto a different map.
In this campaign, most of the pertinent mechanics are geared toward one day as a length of time. You travel a certain amount of hexes during a day, you have to consume your food and water, etc, etc. It’s given me a template for my daily posts.
Now not everything fits into this template. Not every game turn equals a day. Sometimes, the PCs are just fighting skeletons. Each swing doesn’t take a day. When it is a new day, however, this is what
Consume 1 portion of water (1/2 slot) and 1 day of rations.
Wind: Direction
Weather: Weather, dramatically written
Misery Hint
This is where a dramatic recap is written of what the PCs just did.
{Any Accompanying Image, if applicable}
This is where the new information is put.
this is what it looks like in practice:
Your old lives lay behind you now. In a dying world, you are the truly desperate – those who have fled to the sea of Ash. You know only rumors of this place, but you do know it is likely the trouble you had on land will not follow you here.
You’re on your craft with your fellow survivors/ fugitives/ deserters. You do not know these people well, but you can’t afford to be picky with your allies.
The churning black ash lays ahead of you – which way do you go?
Wind: A week wind blows north (Strength 1 – add 1 to speed if going north)
Weather: Overcast and weak with only tepid sunlight.
A safe day, as far as Miseries go – perhaps the only one you’ll ever see
(art from the book. Amazing for scene setting.)
I’m currently running two groups through the same campaign. I’m hoping they’ll eventually run into each other, but we’ll see.
In some ways, it’s like a whole new art form for me, which makes it really exciting for me to explore! Old dogs and new tricks and all that. Yes, a lot of my game design and running is applicable, but it does take tweaks and thoughts as to what makes it interesting and fun. Because of the pace, I think it’s a game that benefits from a bit of paper work – track your inventory, make your map, etc. You only have to draw one hex a day and mark off a ration here and there.
If anyone is interested in looking in on the game, the play channels in the discord are public for viewing. You can get in here.
TAGS: Game Theory, DM Tips
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Four new sets of wooden minis are coming! Click below to follow the campaign and get notified on launch (and get all the secret bonuses 🤫).
A light-hearted, demonic portal crawl between worlds for low level characters.
Grab the coolest wooden minis, dripping with old school cool. Live on Kickstarter!
Bones. So many bones. How many people have been buried here?
You find a rusty long sword and a small, golden vulture head worth 250 gp.
The sand here on the edge of the sacrificial ground is loose and looks recently churned.
The Vulture Priests are the enemy of knowledge and enlightenment. They seek to bring the eternal silence, the end of all things. Decay and obedience is their only god.
Armor Class 6 [13]
Hit Dice 1 (4hp)
Attacks 1 × Beak (1d4 or by weapon)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1)
Morale 8 (11 when at their temple)
Alignment Lawful
XP 10
Number Appearing 2d4 (1d6 × 10)
Treasure Type D
Immune to the Divine: The spells and powers of clerics and paladins have no effect on them.
Weapons: They frequently use wickedly curved daggers, which they use for sacrificial purposes.
Soul Clouders: There is a 10% chance that any Vulture Priest can use the sleep spell once per day. The targets are still awake, but they are beset by such a deep depression that it has the same effect as sleep. They may only watch what unfurls around them.
