[Secret Santicorn!!] A second, more serious oracle for character simulation: The Methodical Oracle

As promised, a more serious offering for Kirt Dankmeyr, based on his request of a "A small oracle for solo OSR play oriented toward simulating party members and not the GM. Tho bonus points for a GM replacement oracle that dovetails with the first one".

The Methodical Oracle!

The point of this small oracle is to aid the solo GM in "in-character" decision making.

Create a Profile for each player character in the party by assigning one of the five Methods to each slot:

Profile types:

Balanced	Focused	Hyperfocused	Method slots
2-3	2	2	Rare
4-5	3-5	3-4	Secondary
6-8	6-8	5-9	Main
9-10	9-11	10-11	Secondary
11-12	12	12	Rare

The five Methods:

Violence	Direct confrontation, brute-forcing
Diplomacy	Smooth-talking, bartering, calling in other parties (e.g. NPCs)
Knowledge	Monster lore, survivalism, arts & crafts, history & politics
Trickery	Exploitation of the space, devices, creative use of objects, falsehoods
Magic	Spell-slinging, prayer to higher forces, decipherment of arcane clues, activation of weird objects

The Procedure:

At any decision point, pick or randomize a lead character. Then roll 2d6 and consult the character’s Profile to see which Method they offer.

To make things more interesting, pick or randomize a second character and cross-check their Method using the same roll result as the lead’s (so if you rolled 6 for the lead, check what’s a 6 on the second character’s Profile). Describe the conflict or the synthesis of their Methods. You can use a standard Reaction roll to see whether the other character likes or dislikes the alternative proposal.

 

Example Profiles:

Bubba the Wizard

Hyperfocused	Method
2	Violence
3-4	Knowledge
5-9	Magic
10-11	Trickery
12	Diplomacy

 

Morax the Duelist

Focused	Method
2	Knowledge
3-5	Trickery
6-8	Diplomacy
9-11	Violence
12	Magic

 

Example Decisions:

Situation 1.

The party enters a cave, the lair of a dozen goblins. The goblins are surprised. Bubba the Wizard takes the lead, and, after some deliberations (2d6: 11 = Trickery), offers to sneak by them. Morax the Duelist (11 = Violence) might offer to take advantage of the situation and charge the unaware goblins.

Situation 2.

The party is looking for their patron’s stolen ring in the big city. Morax the Duelist takes the lead and comes up with the ingenious plan (2d6: 5 = Trickery) to create a fake ring. Bubba the Wizard (5 = Magic, Reaction roll: 9 = Positive) agrees and checks his books for an illusion spell to help with the plan.

[Secret Santicorn!!] Player simulation oracle for solo games

It's Santicorn-time on the OSR discord server!

Kirt Dankmyer requested "A small oracle for solo OSR play oriented toward simulating party members and not the GM. Tho bonus points for a GM replacement oracle that dovetails with the first one."

Okay, my entry here is a bit of a stretch... But to truly replicate the OSR (and RPG...) experience, you need to account for the whims of the players themselves! So, you, as the solo DM, present the situation, then roll to see just how you, the solo player, are interested in this stuff...

THE PLAYER REACTION CHART (2D6)

		Sample quip (1d5)
2	deal with it begrudgingly	1.    “Mehh, I think riddles are stupid” 2.    “Sure, although this is not how Jeff runs it” 3.    “This fight is a slog, I stab myself” 4.    “Ugh, not *another* ‘you start in a tavern’ session” 5.    “This goes against all established lore though”
3-5	scatterbrain	1.    “Sorry, I thought this was still Elsa’s turn” 2.    “Remind me, who is this guy again” 3.    “Wait, what do I roll for that?” 4.    “Yeah, it’s on my character sheet. Or this piece of scratch paper. I just can’t read it” 5.    “Can I borrow your dice?”
6-8	acknowledge & participate	1.    “Yes, this is all part of the game” 2.    “Fair enough, I hit it with my sword” 3.    “I ask the wizard if he knows the location of Castle whatsitsname” 4.    “My thief checks the lock for traps” 5.    “We ascend the stairs”
9-11	honest interest	1.    “Oh, I have this in my notes!” 2.    “Let’s try and befriend these goblins, we need allies against the Fish Lords” 3.    “That blacksmith is quite a character, I’m sure we can ask about her battlescars AFTER we are done with what we had planned” 4.    “What a quirky trap! We reset it to lure the next monster into it” 5.    “And I have just the spell we need!”
12	HYPERFIXATE	1.    “OMG so adorable let’s adopt this random gnome fighter” 2.    “We could make so much money by bottling the healing water from this random pool! Leave dungeon crawling behind” 3.    “I check for secret doors and traps every 5’ instead of 10’. There MUST be something here” 4.    “No, these broken chairs cannot simply be dungeon dressing. The GM mentioned them for a reason” 5.    “Okay, I examine the next book. And the next. The next one too…”

  

More adventures in miniature painting

I painted a couple more miniatures. I'm taking it slow, savoring the process... Soon I will have enough for a warband or two, to play some skirmish games. I'm building terrain/ruins as well. I might play Frostgrave or Song of Blades and Heroes. 

So who do we have here? From left to right:

• Witch, casting a fire spell from a scroll! A Frostgrave Wizards II figurine. I'm quite happy with how she turned out. The burning scroll in particular. I didn't intend her to be so Dragonbally, but these things happen...
• Skeleton, champion of the oppressed! A Wargames Atlantic skeleton. The horned skull is supposed to be for the standard, but looks good on the model too.
• Skeleton, laughing and chilling! A Wargames Atlantic Late Roman soldier, with a skull. I particularly like the casual pose.
• Tiger-man warrior! A Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish body combined with a goblin head. Initially I wanted to do an orc, but then decided to do a beast-person instead! 

[Review] The Shattered Circle by Bruce R. Cordell (1998, AD&D 2e)

I’m finally taking the time to finish this review, because Jenx told me it’s a good practice to review adventure’s you’ve run. And I agree.

The Shattered Circle is a Dungeon.

It is a pretty solid dungeon.

It is also often overlooked, despite having been written by a pretttty famous designer, Bruce R. Cordell. It came out towards the end-times of TSR D&D (for AD&D 2e), and, among that batch of adventures, it is overshadowed by his works for later editions, or the Sahuagin or the Illithid Trilogies.

When compared to those adventure cycles, The Shattered Circle is different in scope and aim. It’s supposed to be a true adventure MODULE, one that you can easily slot into your own world. So, while I was also drawn to the over-the-top beauty of, say, Cordell’s The Gates of Firestorm Peak, I picked this one when I needed a medium-sized dungeon complex to slot into the 5e campaign I ran back when (there is a Classic Modules Today supplement available). It’s almost setting-neutral. And the dungeon’s connections to the overworld are easy to tailor to your own liking. And you probably should, because the hooks offered in the book are, hmm, underwhelming/uninspiring. However, as this was an on-going campaign, with established conflicts and NPCs, I just modified a couple of things as needed.

 

--- From here on be spoilers ---

 

What did I change? Surprisingly little. I put the campaign-driving portal to the Feywild the party was seeking down in the deepest room of the dungeon. I got rid of two or three empty rooms, and the riddle-based tests in one of the areas – I don’t generally like riddles.

What did this leave me with? A lot of fun stuff.

This is a 75-room dungeon, spread out over three levels. The Upper and Lower levels are part of an ancient dungeon complex/arcane laboratory. To keep things varied, they are separated by a middle area, which is a large cave, with one of the best set pieces of this module. There is one main entrance into the complex, but after that there are many passages to follow, with alternative ways of access to deeper levels.

The main sentient creatures are the arachno-humanoid Chitines, split into two opposing factions. You get a lot of variety from the other monsters and wanderers: from the more common undead to freakin dinosaurs and gibbering mouthers. So there is definitely a cool weird tinge to this place. The presence of all of them is explained, and there is ample space in the dungeon between their main lairs, so there is no “monster hotel” effect.

Speaking of ample space: I love it when the cramped corridors of the upper zone give way to the caverns below. And in the central cave, there is the magnificent set piece of the Chitine city, a gigantic spherical mass of webbing suspended mid-air. Comes with a great illustration to boot!!

The dungeon also presents a variety of challenges: from combat through diplomacy to navigational challenges. There is even a flooded sub-zone. One of the challenges is a three-component “key search”, which might feel a bit computer-gamey, but my players actually enjoyed it (and it forced them to face their greatest fear, the aforementioned flooded area, for some cool underwater action).

I ran this from a PDF, and printed out the maps for ease of reference. The publication is overwritten by today’s OSR standards, but many important details are highlighted, and the room keys are structured in a uniform, predictable way, so there shouldn’t be much trouble running it after a read-through of the whole thing. Yes, there is boxed text, generally kept to a sensible length (3-4 sentences), and evocatively written, so I used some of the phrases and sentences as-is. They give a good description of the initial impression the party gets from the room.

Overall, I definitely recommend this adventure. It is a good fit for modern or old-school games, quite versatile, and evocative. The tone veers towards dark fantasy, with some Lovecraftian touches you can emphasize if needed.

Painting my first miniature (after a 16-year hiatus)

And it feels good to be back! Ah, the familiar smells...

I decided to pick up miniature painting again. It's something I'd enjoyed a lot in the past. Converting, painting, kitbashing. Playing I enjoyed too, especially skirmish stuff like Mordheim.

For now, I just plan to concentrate on returning to the artistic/creative side. I need a hobby that isn't connected to a computer screen :)

I picked up some supplies and a an assortment of figurines. I went with Wargames Atlantic, because some of the models spoke to me --- especially the Classic Fantasy Lizardmen! You know it's the good kind of classic fantasy when the lizardmen come with assault rifles and gas masks...

For my first effort, I chose a lizard dude with an open pose and a blade. I dropped it once and broke the index finger... Here's the result! There are still some rough patches, but overall, it was a fun process, and I'm satisfied with the result! Beware the Newt-men of Carcosa!

[Dungeon] The Red Bastion - old-school adventure

Last week, I wrote about my process of drawing dungeon maps. Now I stocked the "tutorial map" and turned it into a proper little adventure location!

The Red Bastion - the prison of a dwarf ghost princess... A 15-room dungeon for levels 2-3.

Grab the PDF here!

How do I make dungeon maps? A tutorial...

People ask me from time to time about my digital dungeon drawing method. Here’s a write-up! I hope it’s useful.

Update: I turned the tutorial map into a keyed adventure location!

The Process:

I use GIMP, which is an open-source graphic editor. Photoshop can do the same. Basically, you need any graphic software that can do layers and brushes.

You can find my sample map and some brushes here.

I learned the basis of my approach from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agst3lSQ7A&ab_channel=P3RPLEX3D

P3RPLEX3D explains very well how to do basic wall outlines and fill it with a grid pattern. Thanks!

I use custom brushes for dungeon symbols. I downloaded a set from a blog many years ago, and cannot find it :( The file was shared openly, so I feel mildly comfortable including it here.

Then I add everything else on top… Here’s my process:

1. I put on some music (“Hejira” by Joni Mitchell today)
2. I sketch out the map on paper. This is not the final version, but it’s good to have the general layout from the start
3. I open GIMP
4. I already have a blank map file, so that I don’t have to go through basic setup every time. This blank has several layers:
   a. Background
   b. Dungeon wall outline
   c. Dungeon grid
   d. Symbols
   e. A group of text labels
   f. Optional layers to contain stuff like water, overlays, or cover-ups for secrets and traps if I want to create a players’ map
5. I set the editor’s grid to 70 x 70. This is the standard scale for Roll20 digital maps, but you can use any scale you want
6. I draw all the walls
   a. Brush size for walls is 8 pixels
   b. For built architecture, I switch on “snap to grid”. Sometimes you have to adjust the grid to 35 x 35 etc., as needed. For natural cave areas, I switch “snap to grid” off
7. I leave gaps for doors and similar features
8. Fill up the dungeon with the grid pattern (see the video tutorial above)
9. Draw the rest of the fckin owl Add in symbols for doors, secret doors, traps, main room features like statues and coffins
10. Add “indoor” cliffs, bodies of water – these all go on extra layers. The slider for layer opacity helps a LOT!
11. Add labels and room numbers on top. I always number the rooms on my paper sketch first, and only after that add the digital labels. I use Jost, font size 54 for room numbers, 40 for smaller notes

And so on. There’s a lot of trial-and-error, janky additions and overlays, mistakes happy coincidences. But overall, this is a relatively easy method of creating usable digital dungeon maps without resorting to specialized software. And I like the flexibility it offers.

Step-by-step illustrations:

1. Sketch:

2. Digital outlines:

3. Grid fill:

4. Symbols and extra layers:

5. Labels and finishing touches:

6. TIME TO STOCK IT!

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight - "lost world" level complete!

Another update to my dungeon, Delver's Delight! This time I added a large "lost world" style level, called Land of Dusk. It has a stronger overarching theme than the previous dungeony dungeon levels. Weird dino jungle & lake in a hollow earth cavity!

This is Level 3A.

Level 3B is also in the works, it's a dungeon/fortress area that connects up with the Land of Dusk.

Grab it here!

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight, a very dungeony dungeon, now with a second level!

I added level 2 to Delver's Delight! 32 more rooms. The method and feel are similar: traps, monsters, weird rooms, it doesn't make too much sense, but it's fun... I use random generators to get going and fill up rooms, then refine them, add more ideas.

Grab it here!

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight, Level 1 - a very dungeony dungeon adventure!

I made a dungeon module. It's very "dungeony", it doesn't have much logic or reason behind it, but it has fun rooms, traps, treasure and monsterrrrs. Stocked with OSRIC/AD&D.

Update, Oct. 8, 2023: NOW WITH TWO LEVELS!

GRAB IT HERE!

Have fun!