Treasure Table Score!!! Dave Millward's HEROES. Also, almost done with Dungeon Collage Art

 

Greetings Maze Dwellers! Today was an especially happy gaming goodness day on several levels, of which part today I will share that I received my PDF download of HEROES/A Roleplaying Game Set in the Dark Ages by Dave Millward of the UK.

Like many in the OSR who have researched and hunted out classic gaming rules and settings, this one has haunted the periphery of my memory for quite some time, both because of the era in which it came forth (the best time for rpg's in my mean opinion), the academic credentials of the game's designer, and it's extreme rarity. 

I have a vague memory of seeing this on a game shop shelf somewhere during the eighties--at the time I was quite enamored of TSR and Dungeons and Dragons so I paid it little heed.

After getting online and joining the OSR, I read about HEROES  in several sites, blogs and forums and developed quite a curiosity for it. But for a long time, it wasn't available except as a very expensive out of print collectible hard copy. Well, that's no longer the case! 

This week I decided to order the PDF scan of the original rules (there is also a reboot version) and I am quite thrilled. I have spent the last four hours pouring over it with a glass of port wine in hand and the Virginal Book playing upon my turntable (not Dark Ages music perhaps but quite mood building)and getting a grasp on how to run the game... and I can tell you that, although there are some typos, errors, and a few ambiguous sentences, it is a thing of beauty.

I will be writing up a full review of the rules very soon. In a nutshell you are a newcomer to a port city named Triente in a Dark Age Europe type setting, and having determined your character nationality and social background, along with initial arms and armour and starting wealth, it is up to you to rise or fall according to your own inclinations and the luck of the dice.

 You can decide to socially climb or descend into the squalor of the back alleys or brigandage of the lonely highway, the choice is yours, but whichever way you choose, rest assured the GM (or Umpire) has a table that will let you know your outcomes. And there are tables for what transpires in the bawdy house, the field of war, Church, City and Court, and a host of other possible incidental happenings.

No monsters, no magic...just naked ambition, human foibles, and plenty of swordplay, skullduggery and carousing. I am still devouring the rules and pine at the thought that people in highschool and college in the late 1970's created campaigns like this one; I wish I could have been a part of the hey-day!

I am also nearing the end of an art project I began a lonnnngggg time ago (early October of 2015) and have uploaded a few pics of the late stages. Hope you like the piece.

The scenes you see in the portals are going to be erased and replaced by similar but more subtle landscapes.

The goddess lends her radiant blessings upon the assembled heroes who will brave the depths of the dark dungeon!

The Minotaur, still under construction....

Likewise the Gorgon...

The dice rolls don't seem very favourable...aside from the triple six, the polyhedral dice bears the figure of a zero...

 

The Sword and the Dragon; 1956 Russian Epic Fantasy Film

I greatly appreciate the Internet Archive, a vast storehouse of writings, video, audio and software materials that are uploaded by an eclectic community of contributors and collectors. Literally anyone can upload anything there provided the material is in the public domain. I frequent the audio archives and of late  have been listening to the E.R. Eddison Worm Ouroboros Librivox recording there, but in perusing the film collections, I stumbled across this interesting Russian film by director Aleksandr Ptushko from 1956, originally titled Ilya Muromets, renamed the Sword and the Dragon for the 1960 American release and The Epic Hero and the Beast in the UK. The film also showed in Japan.

 The central hero of this movie is Ilya Muromets, a hero of Kieven Rus whose exploits are featured in byliny, epic heroic poems of Eastern Slavic origin. Ilya was a disabled farmer who was healed by miraculous means and, according to the film version, then gifted with the magic sword of a giant that he might deliver his people from the Mongol hordes sweeping over their lands, referred to in the movie as the Tugars.

There are many interesting and fantastic cinematic moments in the Sword and the Dragon. Sweeping landscapes and the use of some interesting on location sets add grandeur to the epic tale, and the special effects range from clever puppetry and makeup to painted film cells. Obviously those spoiled to modern movie making and inured to these old fashioned methods will find the effects humorous, but I give this film respect for the mere fact that anyone during the fifties even attempted to make a fantasy movie. It is acted out in the highly dramatic and gestured punctuations of early cinema that evokes stage theatre, but archaic as it may be, it weaves a rich tale of rags to riches heroism, loyalty and conviction towards a personal warrior code, court intrigue and politics, magic items, mythical monsters, spells and mass warfare. A talking raven who pronounces omens and portents at a crossroads, a wind demon who can whip up tempests with only his breath, a fire breathing three headed dragon...pure goodness to your epic loving soul.

 

The movie has a few  holes and WTF moments but overall is really quite well done and must have cost a pretty coin in it's day to make. If you enjoyed Die Nibelungen by Fritz Lang, you will likely enjoy the Sword and the Dragon. The Khan of the Tugar is a delightful villain who gets plenty of screen time while Ilya Muromets cuts a heroic figure that epitomizes the later medieval Knight Errant.

You might find several useful devices in this movie for your game--one magic item I really liked was a tapestry of a fruit tree sewn using magic and real fruits by Ilya's beloved, which in his hour of need could be unrolled and yield up edible fruits from the embroidered tree on the tapestry face.

The film can be viewed at the Internet Archive if you are interested. Click the following link to view it and let me know what you think!




 SwordAndTheDragon

Gearing Up for Chainmail + OD&D Game

At long last I am going to run a game I have long been wanting to try, which is a one or two session dungeon crawl using the Chainmail combat rules with OD&D books.

I am going to allow each player have 100 points to spend on choosing a figure or figures from the Fantasy Combat Supplement of Chainmail. I chose that number to permit the use of the Wizard should anyone want it. However I am going to, this time at least, limit a player to no more than five figures so the adventuring party can fit on the 3D terrain I have built for the scenario.

A figure begins play with the number of xp denoted in the OD&D level tables. I will be using the Man to Man combat matrice except with regards  creatures on the Fantasy Combat Table, which will be used when fighting them.

Damage is one point per strike, adding any bonuses for magical weapons. I will not be using attributes.

A hitpoint system will be used, a monsters hit points in this game will be equal to its HD number in OD&D. For players it will be level HD.

All spells on the OD&D spell lists are available and have a complexity rating equal the spell level.

Clerics work in the same fashion as a Wizard but also have  turn undead power.

So before I can stock my dungeon, I have to wait for my players to choose thier figures. Only after I see the final point spread of the party and the characters can I build the opposing forces of the dungeon, in that respect it will function as a wargame.

I have no idea how this will work, it could be a train wreck but then again, maybe it will be fun! I intend to have plenty of traps, puzzles, tricks and mental challenges as well as roleplaying.

I am going to document the turns of the game with pictures. I hope it works, but really it's just an experiment!

More Collage...

Continuing work on Down in the Dungeon...

 I am really enjoying doing this though it kept me up til 2 AM  the other night...I realize my limitations and lack of color savvy but I do like the overall vibe, especially happy with the Reaper's robes.

For some reason this piece reminds me of some of Ronnie James Dio's verses:

"The world is full of kings and queens who blind your mind and steal your dreams, they tell you black is really white, and the moon is just the sun at night, and if you walk in golden halls, you get to keep the gold that falls, it's heaven and hell. Fool, fool, look for the answers." (Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell on the album of the same title).

You know, I don't think he intended one ounce of metaphor in that line...

May he rest in peace.

Reaper in Relief

Death in Relief by JE Becker 2015

Caves of Quarl

I finally own a scanner/printer again after almost a year of not having one.

This means I will get to upload some of my maps and some more free dungeon

content!


I have plans for the Caves of Quarl. I originally wanted to call them the Caves of

Quarn but discovered that some one else already thought of that name for a

video game level...


With the caves of Quarl, quite simply, I don't want it to be laborious and so after

setting a few guidelines for the design, I will be almost completely using the

random monsters, traps and treasure generation tables to populate and stock

the megadungeon.


I will then write the Dungeon Key and somehow reconcile all of the elements in

the dungeon...


When I run this for players, I intend to introduce some sort of teleportation

artifact to the party which will allow them to come and go from the Dungeon at

will, though I will place limitations upon it. Times of day it may be used, charges,

too complex to be used in the middle of combat, etc.


This is because Quarl's vastness is such that making forays in and out without

such a device is not really tenable--once you are down there, you are down

there. It would take days to make the journey out from the lower reaches, and

wandering monsters are common in Quarl.


The other map I am going to upload and will have ready before Quarl is a

double level map of the Sunken Temple.


The Sunken Temple is not an aquatic adventure...it is the remains of a Temple of

Poseidon that was built before the seas diminished, leaving the Temple ruin

inland. In course of time, earthquakes and tectonic activity have consigned the

old sea temple to the subterranean realm. Humans were driven out of the region

by the Erlking, Lord of Goblinkind.


The lost Temple of Poseidon now rests under the Goblin City.


In the original campaign where I first ran this dungeon, the players discovered

it after being  taken prisoner in the Goblin City, being thrown into an arena

where they were beset by giant beetles for the entertainment of the Goblin folk,

and winding up going down a Beetle hole to try to survive the onslaught.

They dead ended at an ancient underground wall--just as the Beetles were about

to eat them, a secret door opened--the players had no choice and rushed in.


The door closed behind them, and they found a strange underground ruin.

It was well lit by maintained torches and after descending several long stone

stairs and crossing a few bridges, they came into a little underground town

where a human cleric played father to hosts of orc, hobgoblin and goblin

children and teenagers.  Some of the clan were adults by now, as well, but all

were friendly. The confused players learned that a mysterious power emananting

from the Sunken Temple had assisted the cleric in bringing up relatively

benevolent humanoids--most were orphans and street urchins from the city

of the Erlking.


The cleric told them the way to a great cavernous shaft that led to the old

temple, and told them that a wondrous relic lay within the Temple..however, it

was also guarded by a  Demon who was set there by the Chaos gods to ensure

that no one ever retrieve the relic or restore the altars of the Sunken Temple...


I will be uploading the Sunken Temple map and Dungeon key shortly!

Art Project "Down In the Dungeon"

Here are some shots of the beginning of an art project I am working on called...for now at least...Down in the Dungeon.

What you see above is not what it will be...the final paint coat will be key to making this what I want it to be.

I am a big fan of collage art and make quite a bit of that.

Most of my collage art is not fantasy themed, though, so I don't share it on the Mazes... Down in the Dungeon, however, is meant to evoke an old school D&D vibe.

The pieces so far are all found/bought/scavenged toys and game pieces.

The death's head is from a bottle of cologne I had, some of the dungeon heroes are either plastic knights from a dollar store toy rack or salvaged board game pieces. The robes on Death are paper towels soaked in glue and water.

Obviously the maze structures are all Styrofoam but I brushed them with acetone to pit and age them. I will prime them black and then drybrush them to look like stone.

The frame and the fabric art in it were bought at a thrift store for ten bucks. Of course the fabric will disappear when I start the paper mache. And I still need some 3D pieces for the maze chambers. Pieces that are too round for setting on a flat canvas are sanded down flat on one side. 

The chess pieces are added to emphasize the game element and the fact that we can be any piece on the board we want to be...

I have not completely decided the colours that will be used in the piece, whether realistically painted or otherwise, I don't yet know.Part of me wants to add something mechanical to it, like a clock or do something with either glow in the dark or fluorescent blacklight paints.

I'd also kind of like to obtain or make some of those images that present the illusion of movement due to the wavy line placements. We shall see. I have an old cut up D&D 1st ed. Monster Manual that I may cannibalize for some Trampier or Sutherland images in the "rooms"--since I'm not going to be selling the piece I don't have any qualms about that. But they aren't really big enough. Instead I'd like to find some more cheap toys or old odds and ends cause I'd really like even more relief in it but I don't want King Death overshadowed, for he is in fact the Dungeon Master here. 

I will be adding many other pieces...currently keeping an eye out for a small hourglass, for example. Also, a skeleton key. And I'll be throwing in some symbolism and riddles to reward the patient observer. I will not reveal these in the blog but I will give one away: the chess piece above Death's head was not placed accidentally...

 

Why throw sh* away? I will post photos of the evolving art piece.