Fahrvonhier

Catching the Ptolus bug

Christopher Heard — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 03:16:00 +0000

I don't really pay all that much attention to new d20 gaming product releases other than official D&D products from WOTC and those that are sold through RPGNow and DriveThruRPG, so I didn't know too much about Monte Cook's Ptolus campaign setting when the coupon e-mails for the Ptolus Deluxe City Map and the miniatures-scale map of the Ghostly Minstrel (a tavern) arrived in my inbox. However, I almost always buy the newest releases in SkeletonKey Games's miniatures-scale fantasy lines, so I took a chance on these. In a way, I wish I hadn't ... because I'm starting to get inordinately interested in Ptolus, which is a very expensive product.

The Ptolus Deluxe City Map from SkeletonKey Games is precisely what the name implies: an impressive map of the city of Ptolus. Actually, it's a series of maps; there are actually six PDFs supplied with this product. One of the PDFs is a seventy-page map booklet, containing sixty-six separate maps designed for printing on regular letter-sized paper. You can piece these maps together to make an overall poster map of Ptolus, or use individual maps as appropriate. If you have access to a large-format printer (at least 23" x 57"), you can use the four individual large-format files and save yourself some tape. The sixth PDF covers the whole city on a single page, and is intended for on-screen use. The amount of detail in these maps is stunning. Every building in the city seems to be represented on the maps. The beauty and detail of Ed Bourelle's city map makes me eager to find out what's inside.

Miniatures-scale Ptlous Adventure Maps of prominent locations with Ptolus are also planned by SkeletonKey Games, and the first release was the Ghostly Minstrel, a tavern in the city. Unlike SKG's e-Adventure Tiles, the Ptolus tiles are not modular; they must be assembled a certain way to create a unique location, but the cobblestones match the cobblestones in e-Adventure Tiles products, so some degree of mixing and matching is possible. Each of the three floors of the tavern is composed of eight tiles. As always with SkeletonKey miniatures-scale tile products, the artwork is excellent. The layout of the Ghostly Minstrel itself is logical, and there is plenty of storage—but a distinct lack of a privy.

These two SKG products got me interested in learning more about Ptolus, so I also picked up Silven Trumpeter vol. 4 no. 1, which includes two special Ptolus features. One of these is an interview with Monte Cook, designer of Ptolus. The interview isn't quite as revealing as I might have liked—the focus seemed to be as much on the design process as on the product's content—but I was quite intrigued by this exchange:

Silven: The holy symbol of the Church of Lothian, the ankh crucifix, appears in the very logo of Ptolus. This implies that this particular religion is absolutely integral to the setting and the city itself. How true is this? Or is the inclusion of that particular symbol in the logo simply a bit of flavor?

Monte: Well, it’s both, really. The Church of Lothian is the “official” religion of the Empire of which Ptolus is a part. It’s a very Roman Catholic-like church and it’s as monotheistic a religion as one could probably realistically expect in a d20 setting that clings hard to the core rules. A little over half of the city’s population are Lothianites. But then, in addition to the worship of Lothian, Ptolus has hundreds of other religions—the rest of the city’s worshippers revere a whole plethora of different gods. The cool thing about this is that it means that if the DM (or the players, or both) want to have a more real world Medieval Europe flavor to the game, the game can focus on Lothian—a large, basically monotheistic-style church with real political power and influence. Or, if they want a more traditional core rules experience, which usually involves a whole bunch of different gods, they can have that too.

Given my own attempts to craft a predominantly monotheistic campaign setting, I'm very interested in what Monte has done to pull this off.

The second Silven Trumpeter special feature on Ptolus is a two-page insert that corresponds to pp. 188-189 of the Ptolus book itself. This excerpt is part of Chapter 9: Guildsman District, and these particular pages detail three locations: Longdraught Brewery, Mason's Guildhall, and The Midden Heaps. Each location includes a map key, economic information, and a text description whose length varies from entry to entry. This is fairly typical urban gazetteer stuff, perhaps, but the quality of these three entries is rather hight. Page 189 includes a detail map of the Midden Heaps. An exceptionally nice feature—which according to the Silven Trumpeter interview with Monte, is typical of the whole product—is the appearance on each page of a sidebar with notes and cross-references.

Impressed with the Silven Trumpeter insert and interview, I decided to visit Monte's web site to learn more about Ptolus. I downloaded the three-page preview from Chapter 6: Organizations. If this preview and the Silven Trumpeter insert are any indication of the richness of the overall Ptolus book, then this is going to be one amazing product.

And it had better be. The price tag for pre-orders (which garners you a bonus CD and free adventure module) is a whopping $119. Apparently, Malhavoc Press was offering a kind of installment plan if you pre-ordered far enough in advance, but I failed to do this. I am tremendously impressed with this product, but not yet convinced that I want to pay $119 for a city book. But considering that this single city can be the setting for a complete campaign, and that I hope to continue playing for years to come, I may well be persuaded to save up for it.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Ptolus, Monte Cook, Malhavoc Press, SkeletonKey Games

The strange silence is broken ...

Christopher Heard — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 05:59:00 +0000

It's been a long time since my last Fahrvonhier post, and this one doesn't really have much of substance. Nathan and I have not played the Fahrvonhier campaign since sometime in March or April. There has just been too much going on most weekends for us to get around to it, and summer vacation doesn't seem to bode any better, as Nathan will be spending a lot of his time playing with friends and cousins.

The quest for the Rainbow Fan of Xaisu Ba will continue, but probably not until late July. If that changes, I'll let you know.

Another factor has been that Heardworld.com has been in the process of migrating to a new web hosting service, and at the same time I've been teaching a summer class (the equivalent of one semester in four weeks).

Filed in: Fahrvonhier, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D

Another Hugo nomination for Martin

Christopher Heard — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 19:27:00 +0000

Sci Fi Wire reports today that George R. R. Martin has been nominated for another Hugo award—his seventeenth!—for A Feast for Crows, book four of his A Song of Ice and Fire series. This nomination is richly deserved. A Song of Ice and Fire is an awe-inspiring, epic story, and A Feast for Crows is a spectactular installment in the series. If you have not already read this series, then by all means get started today. You have a little time before volume 5 is slated for release (2007). The full series consists at the moment of A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and the aforementioned A Feast for Crows. Be sure that you read the stories in order; otherwise, many things will make no sense to you.

Filed in: George Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, A Feast for Crows>, Hugo awards

Gary Gygax's (well, Dan Cross's) Insidiae

Christopher Heard — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:47:00 +0000

Gary Gygax's Insidiae: The Brainstomer's Guide to Adventure Writing, recently released by Troll Lord Games as PDF through RPGNow (it's been available in print since 2004), can enhance your adventure-writing skills—if you don't mind some of the book's quirks.

"Book One: Milieu Events" suggests a number of different background events that can set the tone for a whole campaign or series of adventures. A table is provided for GMs who wish to determine such things randomly, but several pages of description of each possibility are given, with many possible variations.

"Book Two: Story Roles" focuses on NPCs and their functions in the overall adventure. This section is not a compilation of canned NPC stat blocks, but a nice discussion of how NPCs in different roles might interact with the PCs, whether as ally, competitor, enemy, hinderer, neutral, patron, or "wild card." Each of these types of relationships receives about a page or page-and-a-half treatment of suggestions on how such characters fit into adventure storylines.

"Book Three: Characteristics" offers suggestions for filling out NPCs. This section opens with a set of not-very-useful tables for randomly generating NPC classes (in d20, Lejendary Adventures, and Castles & Crusades terms). There follows a too-brief treatment of NPC motivation, followed by a long and more useful survey of different NPC social roles (adventurer, alchemist, desperado, destroyer, devotee, etc.) and how they might fit into various stories.

"Book Four: Plot" opens with a pedantic, but helpful, discussion of the difference between running an RPG session and writing a work of fiction. The chapter then moves into a survey of many different types of events and plot elements. The material in this chapter is not really suited to a cut-and-paste type of approach, but GMs who work through the ideas presented here could find lots of inspiration. In fact, it's probably a good exercise to try to reverse-engineer your adventures using the terminology in this chapter. If the same terms keep coming up over and over again to describe your adventures, you might be in a rut (or you might have found what works for your play group and should stick with it).

"Book Five: Objective" (a bit of an odd title) leads readers through the process of putting together the elements previously discussed into a nice overall package. There is some really good advice here for weaving together various levels of plot in to an interesting adventure or campaign.

A full one-third of Insidiae is devoted to a series of appendixes. Appendix A presents a series of random tables plus descriptions for "Ready-Made Plots." If you're feeling low on creativity, rolling on these tables, or just using the descriptions for inspiration, could jump-start your adventure design process. The "Ready-Made Plots" are described using terminology introduced earlier in the book, so jumping straight to Appendix A might also generate some random confusion; you should probably read the earlier chapters first.

Appendixes B, C, and D are largely repackaged material from other Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds products. If you don't have these products, the material can be useful; if you do, you might well be annoyed at paying for the same material twice.

Appendix E presents a sample adventure, designed and described according to the principles laid out in the main part of the book. Whether or not you like the content of the adventure, it's a helpful way of illustrating how to use the rest of Insidiae to good effect. There are also a couple of forms that could be used to organize your brainstorming, but I think most GMs who write their own adventures will outgrow these forms very quickly.

This book is credited as being written by Dan Cross and edited by Gary Gygax. It sure could have used some more editing. There are a number of small mistakes of formatting or writing which accumulate to leave the impression of a poorly edited product. For example, consider this sentence from p. 50: "Constantly and deliberately thwarting the heroes efforts serves only to frustrate players who have likely wish to assume the role of larger-than-life heroes whose fates should be indeterminable except when resultant of their own skill and puissance, as modified in the course of things by random chance." The sentence is not only overly complex, but also contains two grammatical errors. This is not an isolated example; in fact, such errors occur with some frequency. Especially noticeable are the occasional appearances of the spelling "lejend" when the "Lejendary Adventures" rules set is not specifically in view. The grammatical errors and misspellings stand out within the typically Gygaxian pompous, know-it-all tone adopted in the book, which—depending on your own personality—might either annoy or amuse you.

I enjoyed my first, cursory reading of Insidiae, and I think it will prove to be a useful tool and frequent source of inspiration and guidance for the adventures I write myself (most of which I inflict on my son, since my adult play group is working through Dragon Magazine's Age of Worms adventure path right now). The book has a certain old-school, low-aesthetics feel, which gave me a certain sense of nostalgia for late 1970s Judges Guild products, but also a desire for a more 2000s presentation and tone. At any rate, I plan to use Insidiae frequently and I think others who write their own adventures could find it helpful too.

Bits of Darkness: Dungeons II

Christopher Heard — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:02:00 +0000

Tabletop Adventures has released Bits of Darkness: Dungeons II, a collection of descriptive texts and "building blocks" for dungeon adventures. If you write your own dungeon adventures or like to spice up the descriptions of dungeon rooms in published adventures, you should find many useful things in Dungeons II and the other products in TTA's line.

Dungeons II includes thirty "Dungeon Bricks," including seventeen relatively well-developed descriptions of individual rooms, ten encounters (with d20 statistics) and three traps (also with d20 statistics); thirty-six "Dungeon Bits," which are short paragraphs that add descriptive flavor to dungeon locales; forty-eight "Dungeon Shards," which are more like hooks that you can use as springboards into encounter areas; and one hundred "Splinters of the Senses," which are single lines of descriptive text engaging the player's senses of sight, sound, and smell. TTA's original Bits of Darkness: Dungeons focused on "bits," and was mostly intended for you to drop in descriptions on the fly. Dungeons II material generally requires a bit more planning and forethought.

I'm especially proud of this product because I contributed a few of the "bricks" (see if you can figure out which ones). I'm also very pleased and impressed with the creativity shown by the other contributors. I've only had the final version for a few hours and I've already been inspired by the other "bricks" and "shards" in the product. I highly recommend this product!

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, d20, Tabletop Adventures

D&D in the NYT

Christopher Heard — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 02:25:00 +0000

The New York Times ran an article last Sunday on the new Online D&D vs. old-fashioned pencil-and-paper D&D. It's quite interesting to me, and somewhat gratifying, that the NYT still considers D&D enough of a cultural phenomenon to run a story about it. Personally, I'm for pencil-and-paper, face-to-face D&D all the way. I've played RPGs online, but only in the sense of hooking up a video feed with my iSight so that I was "virtually" at the table with the narrator and other players (playing Decipher's Star Trek RPG).

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D

Myself as a D&D character

Christopher Heard — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 01:43:00 +0000

Today on the Christian Gamers Guild e-mail list, somebody posted links to two of those online quizzes. These quizzes happen to purport to translate your real-life characteristics into D&D statistics. There are two tests, the mental test (for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) and the physical test (for Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity). Warning: These tests are hosted by an online dating/matching service, so if you don't want the "services" such a site offers, don't enter a screen name at the end of the process. You can take the quizzes without signing up for the dating service, though. Out of curiosity, I took the test, and my results were:

STR 10
DEX 9
CON 8
INT 18
WIS 15
CHA 11

Rating myself, I would have put my STR lower than my CON (perhaps swap the numbers assigned by the quiz) and probably put my CHA a point or two higher (doggone it, people like me). The INT score might seem inflated, but I did answer all the questions honestly, and to be frank that's what I expected my highest attribute to be. Too bad my CHA is too low to be a successful Bard (under 3.5 rules). I guess I'll go with Wizard, or more likely, be a really smart Cleric.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D

Aargh! They did it again!

Christopher Heard — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 01:57:00 +0000

Once again, in 2006, GenCon SoCal is scheduled for the same weekend as the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting—the weekend before Thanksgiving. Once again, therefore, I won't be able to attend GenCon SoCal. A huge gaming convention practically in my backyard and I can't go because of the schedule conflict. Obviously, a professional conference is much more important, but I do so wish they'd move GenCon SoCal back to December.

Filed in: gaming conventions, GenCon SoCal

New products from SkeletonKey Games

Christopher Heard — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 01:09:00 +0000

SkeletonKey Games has recently released three new miniature-scale tile products featuring Ed Bourelle's artwork. Two of these are in a new series, Edventure Tiles, which differs from e-Adventure Tiles in that Edventure Tiles are non-modular tile sets (they fit together in just one way) from Ed's own campaigns.

The latest e-Adventure Tiles set is Caves of Peril. Caves of Peril consists of 28 tiles (if you count the online bonus tile, which doesn't seem to have been uploaded yet) of winding multi-level caverns. The "peril" comes, as far as the terrain is concerned, from having to maneuver around and through the cave columns—if you're on the lower level—or from having to jump from column to column and keep your balance if you're on the upper level. The tiles are creative but will likely have relatively limited application for most games. Compared to the dungeons or wilderness tiles from the same series, these tiles are much less flexible. However, if you have need for what they supply, they do the job excellently.

The Caves of Peril tiles blend very well with, and in a way extend, the recent Temple of the Spider Queen set. Although the tiles in Temple of the Spider Queen are designed to be laid out according to a certain pattern, they are quite flexible and fully compatible with other offerings in the e-Adventure Tiles line. Temple of the Spider Queen features tiles that would go very well with tiles from Ed's earlier temple, cavern, and dungeon sets, so it's a great extension to your e-Adventure Tiles collection. The set offers fifteen tiles that can be put together to form "the main temple," with many interesting features including idols, a pit, dungeon entrances, egg chambers, and storage rooms. another ten tiles are designed to form "the spider pits," a nasty-looking place where captives or intruders could be fed to the spiders. (The spider pit caverns are in the same style as the Caves of Peril.) Finally, there are six bonus tiles (though the online bonus tile appears not to have been uploaded yet).

Ed has also published two items in the new Edventure Tiles series, featuring locales that spring from his home campaign. The first to be released was Danger in the Mists. The tiles in the Edventure Tiles series are not modular; they only fit together one way, and thus have much more limited applicability and usefulness than the e-Adventure Tiles products. The advertising is very clear about this, so no one should be surprised or disappointed by it. Danger in the Mists presents a wide, mist-filled gorge with tall outcroppings of rock that might serve as a way to get across—if the PCs can jump 50 feet horizontally from a standing start. The key to getting across (may) lie in the lower level of maps. This is probably the coolest feature of this product: although these are 2D tiles, there is very much a 3D "feel" to the scenario they invoke, since Ed provides maps for both an upper and lower level of the gorge. On the other hand, I do feel a bit disappointed with the product's narrowness. I knew about the non-modularity of the tiles going in, so that's not an issue, but even the storyline that the tiles presuppose is relatively non-modular. If the PCs don't have magical or superhuman flying or jumping ability, there's pretty much just one path across the gorge. Once across, it's not terribly likely that your PCs will revisit the same location, unless you force them into a return trip. Given that this locale is pretty much a one-shot (or two at most) for a particular group of players or at least of PCs, I felt like this product did not give the same kind of return on investment that e-Adventure tiles do.

The second Edventure Tiles release, Tavern in the Woods, has several advantages over Danger in the Mists. It has much greater reusability (PCs are visiting taverns all the time), and the tiles blend seamlessly with the e-Adventure wilderness tiles. As with all SKG tile products, the artwork is rich and beautiful. However, all is not completely well at the Tavern in the Woods. I would not really want to be the proprietor of this establishment. For one thing, the tap—I'm assuming that's what the barrels in the "southeast" corner are—is too easily accessible to all and sundry, as is the cash box above the tap. Moreover, the place has no interior storage (even the extra barrels of drink are stored outside, too easily stolen), and any cooking to be done would have to be done over the fires in the hearths, as there is no kitchen. There is also no provision for any sort of cellar or second floor. These limitations probably won't stop me from using the tavern, but hopefully such oversights won't be as evident when SKG releases their long-awaited fantasy urban tiles.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, d20, SkeletonKey Games, e-Adventure Tiles, Edventure Tiles

The Rainbow Fan, Chapter 5a: Shatterhull Isle (Part 1)

Christopher Heard — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:56:00 +0000

After various sorts of holiday disruptions, Nathan and I finally got back to the Fahrvonhier storyline last Sunday. If you've lost track of the storyline, the characters—Prince Roderick (human paladin), Prince Truman (human cleric), Agris (human sorcerer), Illuriel (elf ranger), and Galen Oakheart (human fighter)—were traveling from their home, the kingdom of Alythria on the continent of Fahrvonhier, to the exotic faraway land of Xaisu Ba. Their help had been requested by six ambassadors, each representing one of the independent nations of Xaisu Ba. The ambassadors wanted the heroes to help them find and recover the disassembled pieces of an ancient artifact, the Rainbow Fan of Xaisu Ba. The PCs agreed, and are now in the middle of their sea voyage to Xaisu Ba.

This installment of the story uses the adventure locale Shatterhull Isle from Stormwrack. (This means that I don't really have any DM notes for this chapter, since I'm just cribbing from Stormwrack.) Our particular implementation began with a freakish storm driving the Eagle's Wing and the Xaisu ship off course. I let Nathan roll Profession (sailor) checks for Hamilton Stancourse, the Eagel's Wing's captain, and he managed to keep that ship safe, but the Xaisu ship was driven by the wind and waves onto the harsh rocks that surround Shatterhull Isle and, indeed, give it its name. All this happened in the middle of the night, and the PCs were forced by the weather, and by Captain Stancourse's unwillingness to send out a dinghy in the storm, to wait until morning to check on the Xaisu ship.

In the morning, when the PCs rowed to shore on a small boat to examine the Xaisu wreck, they found a crippled ship, emptied of people. On the shore, they found the bodies of several Xaisu sailors, and one of the bodyguards from the ambassadors' retinue. None of the ambassadors or the other bodyguards were in evidence. Before the PCs could mount an exploration of the mountain that just up in the middle of the island, they were startled by a pair of ogres. Outnumbered, the ogres called for reinforcements and engaged the PCs. Just as the second of those ogres was slain, three more showed up, but the PCs defeated these as well.

We didn't have a lot of time that afternoon for play, so that's where we left off. Next time (scheduled for this coming Sunday), we'll proceed with the PCs' exploration of the island in an attempt to find the missing Xaisu ambassadors. The island is pretty small, so they're probably inside that big rock/small mountain that dominates the island ...

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, d20, Fahrvonhier, Xaisu Ba, Stormwrack

The Age of Worms, Part 1A

Christopher Heard — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:11:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I and my friends Jeff, Josh, Brian, David, and Steve assembled at Jeff's house to launch a new D&D campaign. All except Josh are old-time gamers about my age (Josh is Jeff's teenage son). After a little bit of indecision (prior to the first meeting), we decided to go with a default Greyhawk setting, which I would DM. I had heard some good things about the Age of Worms adventure path that began in Dungeon #124.

The party consists of Sturm (Jeff, human fighter), Santoku (Steve, half-orc monk), Othorian (Brian, human cleric), Phillipe (David, halfling scout), and Valgore (Josh, human sorcerer). I shouldn't say too much about the plot, I suppose, in case anyone reading this might go through the adventure path later on. Suffice to say that the PCs got about halfway through the first dungeon in five hours of play, figured out a couple of important clues (though they don't yet have the tools to act on those clues), and earned about half the experience they need to go on to second level.

Our group had plans to play monthly, at the beginning of each month, so watch this space for additional updates.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Dungeon Magazine, Age of Worms

The Rainbow Fan, Chapter 4: Anchors Aweigh

Christopher Heard — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 05:57:00 +0000

Book 3 of the Fahrvonhier saga, The Rainbow Fan of Xaisu Ba, resumed today after a long hiatus brought on by a variety of fall activities related to school, professional travel, and family travel.

At the end of chapter 3, Roderick, Truman, Galen, Agris, and Illuriel—accompanied by six ambassadors from the faraway, exotic land of Xaisu Ba and their six bodyguards—finally arrived in Eastport after the delays caused by a horribly powerful thunderstorm in Riverswood. At the beginning of chapter 4, a local army commander (Lieutant Cobscree) introduced the adventurers to Captain Hamilton Stancourse, master of the Eagle's Wing. Captain Stancourse and the crew of the Eagle's Wing (a ship of the Royal Navy of Alythria) were assigned to transport the party to and from Xaisu Ba (the Xaisu ambassadors have their own, smaller ship).

The Eagle's Wing set sail on Fishday, the 6th of Dusksongs, leaving dock around noon. The first few days of their voyage—which covers some 2,000 miles and could take up to twenty-eight days to complete, depending on the wind—were uneventful. Around 3:00 PM on the 10th of Dusksongs, however, the lookout on duty spotted a small dinghy rapidly rowing toward the Eagle's Wing. Illuriel spotted a large, dark shape beneath the water, just before the sea erupted in a mass of writhing tentacles and a giant squid shot up from beneath the waves. As the squid attacked the dinghy and its passengers, the Eagle's Wing moved to intercept. For the first couple of rounds, the PCs and NPCs fired arrows, bolts, and a deck-mounted ballista (once) at the squid, all to no avail (due to the penalty imposed by the range). As the Eagle's Wing closed, however, the adventurers and ship's crew began to connect with their arrows (Roderick and Galen), bolts (Illuriel and the sailors), and magic missiles (Agris). With a new threat looming, the squid dropped the dinghy's passengers (both gravely wounded by this time) and lashed out at the Eagle's Wing, managing to grab Illuriel and Agris with tentacle attacks. This actually might have been one of the best things for the PCs, since it brought Agris close enough to the squid to use burning hands. Agris and Illuriel each had to endure one—but, fortunately, only one—of the squid's constriction attacks before the PCs and sailors dispatched the squid.

The dinghy's passengers, a man and a woman, had been severly injured and were, indeed, at death's door when the crew hauled them on board the Eagle's Wing. Truman charitably applied several cure spells to Agris, Illuriel, and the newcomers. As the chapter ended, the two newcomers were convalescing under the care of the ship's surgeon, and the PCs had not yet learned anything about them. (That will come, in time ...)

As always, if you wish, you may download the DM notes chapter.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Fahrvonhier, Xaisu Ba

The Eagle's Wing

Christopher Heard — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 05:47:00 +0000

Ever since we read C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Nathan has been eager for his "castle story" characters to put out to sea. In preparation for that, we acquired some "previously loved" Imaginext pirate ships, and Nathan gave me Stormwrack for my birthday back in July. At long last, the time is almost here for Princes Roderick and Truman and their friends Galen Oakheart, Agris, and Illuriel to set out on a 2,000-mile voyage across the sea to the exotic (to them) land of Xaisu Ba. If all goes well, Fahrvonhier Book 3: The Rainbow Fan of Xaisu Ba (the name of our current Fahrvonhier campaign arc) will resume on Sunday, December 4th, with the first of about three sessions devoted to the long voyage.

Nathan's PCs will be sailing aboard a ship called the Eagle's Wing (the "eagle," of course, being a reference to Eloheyka, Fahrvonhier's Aslan-type God-figure who generally appears as an eagle when visibly manifested; see Religion in Fahrvonhier for more information). I've just uploaded a PDF description of the Eagle's Wing and its crew. You will need Stormwrack to get the most out of this resource.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Fahrvonhier, Xaisu Ba, Stormwrack

John J. Miller on Narnia

Christopher Heard — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 03:59:00 +0000

I just ran across this delightful article on Narnia—focusing on the Lewis novels, not the upcoming Disney movie—and wanted to share it with all other Narnia fans out there. Read and enjoy. Lewis's Narnia novels have been significant inspirations for my Fahrvonhier campaign with Nathan. As somebody involved in creating a shared imaginative world with my son, but wanting that world to reflect something of my actual faith, I very much appreciated this paragraph in particular:

Some readers have said that the Narnia stories are Christian allegories — i.e., literary representations of Biblical events. Lewis insisted that he was up to something else. He called the Narnia stories suppositions: "Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would have happened."

In Fahrvonhier, Lewis's Aslan (something of a Christ figure) is replaced by Eloheyka (more of an Old Testament "angel of the LORD" figure) who appears visibly, most of the time, as a giant bald eagle. Read more about it in the "Religion in Fahrvonhier" article.

Filed in: Narnia, C.S. Lewis, Fahrvonhier

D&D for kids

Christopher Heard — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 21:55:00 +0000

Recently, the Wizards of the Coast website featured "DMing for the Younger Set" by Jason Nelson-Brown. I was interested in this article because I play a "lightened" version of D&D with my 7-year-old son. I enjoyed and benefitted from Jason's article, and was pleased to see a bold affirmation of Jason's faith in the author bio.

Filed in: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D