Some Marth Ice World RPG Poems

I wrote these amateur poems up for my Marth Ice World fantasy setting years ago. 

Artist: Robbie18

Eyes In Shadow

I've looked beneath
I've seen your form
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've heard your voices
I've felt your power
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've fallen again
I've turned my back
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've lived a lie
I've hidden my heart
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've severed the chords
I've lost my kin
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've been attacked
I've felt their breath
I can't forget
I can't move on

I've learned the truth
I've heard your lies
I can't forget
I can't move on

Falgrif & Vermia

Falgrif

With heavy limbs and rage he swings
The gore covering his hilt of sword
All during the bloodletting, sings
Of a dead maiden and a forsaken hoard

Inward his thoughts, outward his hate
Her face perfect so dishonored and pale
The sword he wishes his blood lust sate
Hearing still her miserable high wail

Vermia's cold hand he held for an age
The noble dress torn and used as rags
Fire-filled eyes, his enemies as in a cage
While his taut arms severed the dark slags

Many dead souls floating in the lonely wind
Vermia's burial under those enemies falling
Falgrif the Red slaying and in turn slain
Falling on the mound with last breath calling

Vermia

Gnawing Hunger

This emptiness screams in silence
Tearing down all positive thought
Vacancy moans for substance
Reaching for comfort
With shattered bones
Hollow trunk claws
Shredding mind, spirit
Need craves and calls out
Wishing for an end
This unrequited longing
Sighing into darkness
This gnawing hunger
Crying, weeping
For it is now
All I am
A ghoul for you

Treading These Shadows

Every step, a noise
Cacophony of crunching skulls
The breathing, behind
In the gloomy silence
Fated to die alone
For one shall fall
So you all may live
I feel this blood leaving
Escaping into the air
Wounds, violently caused
I smell your sulfur
In this lair
Filled with rotting souls
I've seen the Evil One
And lived to tell the tale

When Breathing Is No More

In the land of twisting shadows
When breathing is no more
We will march to the edge
Of the long dark ocean shore
To be bathed in glorious morning light

Woman of Death

Her eyes like charcoal
Her breath like death
Her limbs like swords
Her voice no breath

Her thoughts like poison
Her hair like fire
Her smile like slaughter
Her body's desire

Her hands like torture
Her face like Hell
Her motion like ice
Her secret so fell

Her singing like static
Her nails like talons
Her heart like metal
Her thirst, bloody gallons

Her soul like pitch
Her lies like satin
Her love like betrayal
Her mission dark sin

Revised Greyhawk Setting Map by Zach Henderson

Sometimes when I'm scrolling through various RPG groups, or down through my social media feed I see something that deserves a bit more light shown on it. Zach Henerson's revision of the original Greyhawk map is just such a project.

Here is Zach in his own words talking about the project:

Remastering and adding layered functionality to the classic 1980 Darlene Map is my nerd project which has kept me off my main feed for quite some time.  There's a Read Me file in the folder linked below with a long winded history of the project, work completed, and description of contents.

TL/DR version:  Cool map, I enjoyed working on it.  It's time to release it into the wild.  This project now belongs to the wider community for sharing, modifying, and general enjoyment according to Wizards of the Coast's Fan Content Policy.  I'm ready for a break :)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bt6xyfmk04ddh03/AACBiNRIuWGbKikBW4HiNV2ga?dl=0

EDIT:  His initial link crashed under strain of demand.  New working links have been posted in a few places, including here:

https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=87890

For those of you who need a refresher course on Greyhawk here is a link:

https://merricb.com/2015/01/25/a-short-introduction-to-the-world-of-greyhawk-2/

Ancient Vagabond: Old School Adventure Game Part 1

(I generated this quick logo here. https://www.brandcrowd.com/)

I'll probably never make my own retro-clone RPG, but I have a few ideas for various games bubbling between my ears at the moment. I figure I better at least blog about them before I lose all of my ambition to do something about it.

I went through my old blog posts and copied these links which seem to be suggestiong a game to me. Ancient Vagabond is my new running title for this project. Maybe if I put Part 1 in the title I'll have a Part 2 and keep working on it. Hehe. It's all just a hazy mess but yeah... I think I want to publish a free PWYW game eventually.

I think I'll translate the LotFP classes below more into my revised Labyrinth Lord ones, but who knows. Only time will tell...

The idea of more generalized classes (like everyone has some Ranger/Thief skills) is bouncing around in my brain.

Links:

Alternate Halfling

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/09/alternate-halfling-class-for-lotfp.html?m=1

Dwarven Sapper

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/09/alternate-dwarf-lotfp-class_14.html?m=1

Fighter

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2021/07/osr-fighter-revised-labyrinth-lord-class.html?m=1

Null Monk

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-null-monk-lotfp-class.html?m=1

Ranger

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2021/07/osr-explorer-ranger-revised-labyrinth.html?m=1

Murk Elves

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/08/myrkalfr-murk-elves-class-for.html?m=1

Thief
https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2021/07/osr-thief-revised-labyrinth-lord-class.html?m=1

Wayward Scrounger
https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-wayward-scrounger-gutter-cook-lotfp.html?m=1

Critical Hits
https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/12/d66-critical-hit-damage-table.html?m=1

Death & Dismemberment

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2017/01/2d6-death-dismemberment-table-of-doom.html?m=1

Herbs Poisons

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2017/06/1d20-rpg-herbs-poisons_23.html?m=1

Old School Playstyle

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2017/09/my-old-school-expectations-d-play-style.html?m=1

Spells
https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2020/10/10-revised-lotfp-osr-spells-first-level.html?m=1

Swords Magical

https://samwise7rpg.blogspot.com/2017/06/re-hoards-of-swords-1d20-weird-swords.html?m=1

How Have Your Gaming / RPG Spending Habits Shifted Over the Years?

*I started out getting some games as birthday and Christmas presents (Black Box D&D, HeroQuest, and The Lord of the Rings Adventure Game).

*Then I started buying games from the catalogues or pamphlets that were included in those games via mail order. I needed a check from my mother to do that. 

*Then there was a buying freeze for many years as we just played what we had (mostly Rolemaster Standard System RMSS) for about 8-10 years.

*Our local mall got a new gaming store called Bill & Walts Hobby Shop and I started buying AD&D / Ral Partha metal miniatures, and eventually got a few other games.

*Waldenbooks and Kaybee Toys also became spots in the mall that I hungout in a good bit, and I bought a few items that I could afford. I wish I owned a lot of those books and games today... Sigh.

*I paused on RPGs for awhile, because my then teenage friends were all into the CCG craze playing: Middle-earth the Wizards, the original Star Wars CCG, and of course Magic: the Gathering.

*I went to college for a year in Wisconsin and I wish I would have spent more time visiting places up there, but I did buy some Magic and got into Vampire: the Masquerade with some cheesehead goths. Hehe. :D

*I came back to PA, worked 2 jobs, went to community college, and got married. Being married curtailed my spending but that was probably a good thing. Haha. I joined a local gaming club and started buying used games there as well as from the vendors that set up at that club's gaming convention. Mannn... I got some great deals on the last day when vendors really didn't want to lug games back home. I bought my first copies of Empire of the Petal Throne there on the cheap from Andrew Lorince. Woohoo!

*Sometime after that DriveThruRPG became my main way to buy cheap PDFs of games, but I did pop in a local used book store now and then to see what they had on their shelves. I miss that little hole in the wall. I got some great AD&D books and box sets there.

*When I had kids of my own my spending was greatly reduced, as I had to cut back on working to raise them. I bought some PDFs, and I think I even started backing some Kickstarter projects around this time. I resisted doing that at first, but then I got addicted to backing friends' projects mostly.

*At some point I began using free sources and games for the most part, or picking up cheap retro-clones in print. I cut back on Kickstarters and eventually I just stopped backing them altogether. 

*I've spent the most of my spending recently on physical games from Lulu when there are discount codes, and buying at cost physical copies of Basic Fantasy from Amazon along with some generic random chart/table books.

*My buying has also shifted to include games for my son who is 9. Basic Fantasy, Cepheus Engine/Traveller, and Fantasy Flight's Star Wars are good examples of that. He tends to like sci-fi games mostly. I often run games just for him but that may change if the local kids want to play too eventually.

How about you?

Empire of the Petal Throne Con Recap from 2013

 

I found this convention recap of a session I ran of the Empire of the Petal Throne RPG on the Tekumel forum. I forgot that I ever typed that up back in 2013...

#Tekumel  

#EmpireOfThePetalThrone

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My EPT game went off extremely well this year at GASPCON in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Now that I am getting more of a grasp on the setting improving sessions of it are a lot easier. I'm sure the more I run, and the more that I read from all of the supplements that I have now acquired will help me in future convention games, and maybe even a home campaign (or an online one with some YouTube buddies).

The Jajgi characters that were part of the temple of Sarku did a lot of investigation into the various possible heirs that would be competing with Prince Dhi'chune to become the new Emperor. They learned also from a first circle priest (that had overheard some talking down in the crypts) that not all of the sects of Sarku wanted the prince to be Emperor and that they were conspiring with some non-human voice to thwart him in any possible way that they could.

As they were traveling in the undercity they were attacked by three Black Ssu, and at first they thought that these must merely be illusions of magic, but they were wrong. In the distance they saw one of the Brotherhood of the Victory of the Worm (sect of Sarku) that seemed to somehow be controlling these creatures. After they dispatched the creatures with both weapon and spell, they captured the priest and tortured him. The priest told them his personal gripes with the prince, and that he was only in it for himself and he really didn't revere Lord Sarku in truth, but that the God was only a means to an end for the possible new Emperor.

While these things were going on a Mihalli began to appear with a glowing orb behind them. One of the characters grabbed the orb before the Mihalli could fully appear and another character grappled it. The character that grabbed the orb vanished in the plane of the Unending Grey.

The Mihalli who was a sad lonely creature was forced into working with the Brotherhood of the Victory of the Worm, and once that priest was dead had no more wish to continue the plot it was involved in. The character that was grappling with the Mihalli while it was appearing co-mingled with it and they both shared of their thoughts with one another, and the character was moved with how lonely that it was.

The character in the Unending Grey felt himself being absorbed by that place (which I don't think is cannon). He felt like he was becoming one with it, and it was becoming one with him. He decided that he was going to focus on the orb and to try to contain himself therein. After several failed rolls (I just used the spell % for him to attempt this) his five souls were contained within the orb but he felt like he was the plane of Unending Grey and it was him... godlike.

The other characters were given audience with prince Dhi'chune who was spending a considerable amount of time down in the lowest levels of the undercity beneath Jakalla in Lord Srukarum's abode on the island in the center of the River of Silence. When they arrived they noted the aftermath of an ornate ritual that claimed the lives of everyone but the prince. Just then the orb (possessed by the souls of the character) appeared. It appeared in the protective circle of the Prince and then transported him to the Unending Grey (that subsequently absorbed him... so I ruled that the character possessing the orb had absorbed the Prince and in essence had become party him.

Lord Srukarum had just made a deal with the prince that it would destroy all of his rivals to become emperor if the prince agreed that all of those that worshiped Lord Sarku would become members of the Legion of Despairing Dead. So... all of their souls were removed and their animated corpses were attacking those on the streets of Jakalla. The orb wanted to try to create a body from planar energy that looked like the prince and he did so.

In the end "Prince Dhi'chune" (actually one of the characters that possessed the orb) became the new Emperor, destroyed the approaching military weapon of Yan Kor, and the Jajgi were the only worshipers of Lord Sarku left to continue on the temple, so in essence they became the temples new hierarchy.

I think that is about everything that happened. A lot was going on.

Goblin Market Magic Items with a Catch

 

*Art: Goblin Market by Gennifer Bone made for an upcoming RPG adventure written by Megan Bennett-Burks*

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There is a mysterious Goblin Market that pops up in various places around the world. Really, the market is an opening to a pocket dimension that can gate to anywhere.

The magic items are useful, and 1/4th the cost of similar goods.

The catch is that after the items are used once and later when that character fails a death save or makes a save vs. poison or death (in older editions) the character polymorphs into a goblin with no saving throw. \m/

Flame Princess Cült, a Free Lamentations of the Flame Princess RPG Zine

 

These LotFP RPG zines are all still free. I got some art and several articles in these (new classes mostly). Download them and check them out for yourself. \m/

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1GV72bfMeG_GY5YdtENcFzIgMzYfKdA7b