Inspired by the community of people running D&D the way I always wanted it to feel I have pulled together my ideas from the OSR community and started a game. Taking Pat Wetmore's Anomolous Subsurface Environment campaign setting as the background we have dropped a bunch of PCs in that setting with a couple of leads, and a DM armed with a healthy collection of random tables and fan generated content.
Most of those tables have been gleaned from elsewhere on the net, and my blog links offer an insight into the main influences for those interested, but I couldn't continue without first tipping my hat towards Gus at Dungeon of Signs who's material I have used extensively.
Perhaps that material resonates with me due to the similarity of the groups. I'm early forties and have a group of late twenties through to my age ranging from students to professionals who don't normally play a lot of RPGs. I am returning having been away for many years (except for playing in a Dark Heresy game - thanks Mick).
Though I played D&D for many years, and ran other (shortish) games, this D&D game is my first as Dungeon Master. I intend to play it quite loosely, and off the cuff as much as is required to keep up the pace and fun factor. To this extent I provide a setting, have some adventures ready to go, and rely on random tables for encounters and rumors to spur the players into action. What happens will largely be up to them, what they do with their leads and opportunities, and the turn of fate that comes with the dice. We may even actually get around to having a hard-copy of the rules some time.
Gus at Dungeon of signs has also written two of the three adventures that the PCs have partaken in so far, with The Prison of the Hated Pretender being their first outing and at the time of writing they are taking on The Obelisk of Forgotten Memories.
Rules are Labyrinth Lord with some of the advanced edition stuff. Race will be race as class to preserve the core classes (if you want something we can make it up or reskin something else). We have some assumptions and house rules, and these will be posted separately or as a part of the play reports.
The PCs were generated randomly using the Labyrinth Lord basic rules, and the players were asked where they wanted to start. They chose Lugosi because they thought it sounded cool. Having chosen Bella's Bar and Grille as their kick off point the game got started, with me ab-libbing hard to expand a few lines of Lugosi description into an interesting game session. It worked.
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| Bella's used the same interior designer as the Black Lodge. |
I nearly called this blog Bella's Bar and Grille as the characters have taken to frequenting the place, but I felt that it portrayed too narrow a sense of the setting in general. After all, all those vampire allusions are strictly confined to Lugosi (right?).
Bella's Bar and Grille is one of the 'better' inns in Lugosi. It is done out in black leather and red velvet with low lighting, and booths which provide a level of privacy. The door is, attended by Lurch the Doorman and behind the bar is Pistol Vernon, a gaucho bartender in a black-bullfighter-suit.
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| Could this be Pistol Vernon's brother? |
The players were introduced to a mysterious mature(ish?) woman, One Tooth Mary, dressed in an aging black silk and lace gown with a viel; Mary had three diminutive bald men wearing brown corduroy suits in attendance.
Naturally, Mary had a map and an offer...
An inn named after Bella Lugosi, a friendly well-dressed gaucho gunfighter contact, an inscrutable veiled patron dressed in aging black finery with a map and rumours of a mysterious device. What could possibly go wrong?
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