The Gygax ’75 challenge is a direct to RPG roots method of campaign creation, and I sincerely hope it is a wrecking ball to the stumbling blocks I’ve had over the last thirty odd years.
Rather than navel gazing at where I’ve failed in the past, and the reams of
incomplete concepts – I think my best course of action is to just do
this. I initially started this process a couple of months ago – only to
be plagued by real life workload and computer failures – I will probably
end up combining weeks one and two into a single week. Without further ado:
□ Get/create a
notebook.
Over a year ago, I began putting together a vintage computer
setup to just function as a TTRPG design system. I am a proponent of the ‘right
to repair’ community, and have fairly strong opinions on what is and what is
not necessary to accomplish routine tasks. I’m also a huge fan of the somewhat
defunct map making program Dundjinni,
which has run very poorly on newer operating systems.
For those interested, the computer is a dual 1.33ghz Apple
Mirror Drive Door FW800 model, running OS 10.5.8, with a 22” original Apple
Cinema monitor (or dual 17” Apple Studio Monitors, I keep switching). I have
upgraded this system with an SSD drive, and the CPU was originally intended for
the server model; the original
dual 867 motherboard was modified to run at the higher bus speed allowing the
upgrade. I did have a dual 2.0ghz G5, but I ran into some problems and this MDD
has been fairly solid since I tinkered it into existence. I hope to resurrect
or replace that model because performance was significantly better, whilst
still being the sort of retro-computer vibe I wanted to work on.
This is a matter of comfort, and practicality, for me – often designing
can take hours, and the main computer in the house is shared by all of us. I
can use this particular computer at any time I’m home, and it still allows
relatively safe internet access with tweaked Firefox browser, TenFourFox – making it possible to
craft media and upload it.
That’s the notebook. Next…
□ Develop your pitch.
- The
Old World settled new shores, but retreated from governance when both
natural and supernatural forces challenged their settlements. The dangers
of oceanic travel are only compounded their lack of willingness for risk,
and after decades of absentee landlord behavior – the ships stopped
arriving, save those of refugees or exploring adventurers. Communication
with the Old World is very difficult, to say the least.
- Those
things that rational minds dismissed as folklore and superstition,
remnants from previous cultural collective subconscious, reside in the
wilds. This has created a bizarre tableau of Colonial American inspiration
and independent city-states not seen since much earlier times.
- Atypical
Early Modern Era Fantasy – blackpowder and dungeons, a rejection of
vanilla humanoid races in D&D canon, demi-humans re-skinned with
minimal changes to core rules. Real world inspiration, low fantasy
fictional backdrop, completely different circumstances leading to
different results. Embracing the aesthetics of Urban/Rural Fantasy and
Folk Horror within a fictional milieu.
- Elves
as outcasts from prior millennia – driven west at the cusp of
recorded history and oral tradition, somewhat immortal and linked to an
outside world forgotten by even themselves. Dwarves as elemental,
chthonic, remnants of a prior age, largely extinct in the Old World.
Halflings as various ‘animal folk’ and ‘nature spirits’. There were no
human inhabitants of these new shores until colonists arrived. Elves only
exist in the Old World in ancestry, and as humans and elves begin to
communicate again, new relationships emerge – though this may be
heresy to the Cathedrals of the Silver Goddess.
- Magic
is dangerous, specific, and largely forgotten. There are provisions for
modified early-D&D druidic magic as an offshoot of both clerical and
Elven classes. There is a corollary to the religious tensions in the
emerging real world Early Modern era that comes into perceptions of magic
and blasphemy.
- The
dungeon as mythic otherworld – built by ancient settlers,
repositories of memory and lost influence over the natural world. Each
culture that existed here before has left some sort of fortress against or
within the savage supernatural wild, and many of these are haunted by their
roots and subsequent failings. Some dungeons may bridge gaps between
realms/planes and have inconsistent physics or logic.
□ Gather your sources of inspiration.
- Lamentations of the Flame Princess: The core of this campaign, Bramble and Thickets, is based upon the rules of LotFP, though it would easily adapt to other old school RPGs or even more modern iterations of D&D. Most of the rules from Eldritch Cock will be used, though to what extent will vary. I highly encourage folks to consider these rules, especially if an early modern era feel is desired – they are extremely streamlined, allow easy cross genre adaptation (it is a horror RPG, but well suited to traditional ‘OSR’ fantasy by default).
- Northern
Crown RPG Setting: A very unusual 3e D&D era setting – using
a folklore inspired revision of American History, with plenty of nods to
traditional RPG tropes like demi-humans and magic systems. I discovered
this setting when it was still online as Septentrionalis in the later TSR
days, some of which I have retrieved via the Wayback Machine.
- TSR’s
Historical Reference Series (HR series): Perhaps the most under used
2e products, released remarkably early in that era of books.
- Ravenloft/Masque
of the Red Death Campaign Setting (2e/Arthaus): Ignoring the often
hodge podge nature and quality of releases, this is an important D&D
crossover to horror roleplaying. I feel that if you are wanting to run a
Lamentations campaign in a more traditional fantasy environment, but
retain or adapt horror themes, then this is an interesting, arguably
important, roadmap. If this campaign needs outside pollination, I am as
likely to look here as the above sources.
- Horror Comics/Bernie Wrightson: The feel of what I want in
a campaign setting, artistically, is best seen in Wrightson’s work.
Throughout these blog posts, I will pepper visual inspiration from horror
comics –as I formalize documents I will be using Comic Life for
layout, nodding further tribute.
- Folk
Horror: As a general aesthetic, I wish to use themes that are very
common to this genre – alienation, occult underpinnings, forbidden
cults, validations of superstition, rural traditions/secrets, and a
distinctly darker focus within folklore. The Wickerman and Harvest Home
are both good examples of this feel. There is a certain Hammer Horror
element that I see as quite complimentary, especially within RPGs –
Captain Kronos jumps to mind, for example.
- Urban/Rural
Fantasy: Shares a certain lens with Folk Horror as the mundane and
horrific/fantastic rely on real life concerns and context. Very much at
odds with much of High Fantasy, these genres stress that the supernatural
or weird lay within our vision, but we fail to notice it for various
reasons. Though his writing is a bit less ‘grim’, Charles de Lint has
certainly had a bit of influence on me – and I feel that I will
explore this more than my general themes might indicate. It will also tame
the ‘grimdark’ aesthetic with a bit of levity and breathing space.
- Early
Colonial American Era Locations: Places like Old Sturbridge Village
give a visual feel to what I want to be ‘normal’ human settlements in this
historical dystopia. I will be using photography from this place
specifically throughout for inspiration.
There are numerous other
influences – some of which are software (Dundjinni, Comic Life), music
(progressive rock, folk metal, psychedelic/occult rock), occult studies, and
various periods of real world history. The goal is to produce a very cohesive
and well presented campaign setting, more limited in scope than what I’ve tried
for in the past. I’m not really entertaining any concept of publishing this
other than as a blog, but I intend to run this setting as a series online
(possibly with YouTube support, obviously not using the retro setup –
though I have investigated VTTs on vintage machines).
□
Assemble a mood board
Throughout this project I will
fold in plenty of representative art for inspiration, rather than separating it
into a separate document. I will try and produce aesthetic layouts for the
material once it is finalized, giving a thematic skin, as I truly enjoy layout
work.
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