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Hex Mapping Middle-Earth

August 28, 2015 / Stan Shinn

Author’s note: this page has a lot of high-res images. Be patient as they load. Don’t forgot to scroll down to see all the images and comments!

I’m doing some long term planning about an epic, multi-year Middle Earth RPG campaign. One key element my game group guys want is Kingdom building rules, so we’ll likely hack the Pathfinder ‘Kingmaker’ OGL rules to serve this purpose. Kingmaker rules presume you have 12 mile hexes, and they have rules about exploring and settling (and defending) hexes, so this should work well. But — we’ll need an epic map to make this work like I want. Here’s my prototyping so far.

First up is taking a high-res fan-made map and cropping it to fit on an 18×24″ aspect ratio. This will be our World Map we work with for the campaign.

Next up I zoom in on the top left corner. I could make this NE quadrant into an 18×24″ map if we decide we need that.

Then I overlay a hex grid over the quadrant. Each hex is 60 miles, which is the D&D 5e Kingdom scale, which will play well with setting up 12 mile sub-hexes inside them. We’ll be adventuring in the Third Age, around T.A. 1400-1600 (centuries before The Lord of the Rings adventures). This area of Middle-Earth has several MERP (Middle-Earth Roleplaying, the old 80’s RPG) modules we may want to leverage so I think this is a great place to adventure. Also, it’s close to Angmar and near enough to the Witch-King to get into trouble with his foul minions. But I digress…

So I overlay a the sub-hex map with a rectangle that will, once zoomed, make for another nice 18×24″ map, this time portrait instead of landscape.

Here’s what it looks like zoomed in.

The above topography is simple enough we can ‘explore’ in traditional hex-crawl format and draw in features as we explore using wet-erase pens on the poster frame in which I’ll put it. Alternatively we could use the uber-awesome Peter Fenlon map from the MERP products. Looks really cool. If I go this route I’ll need to fix the colors in the scans and also sharpen and possibly re-typeset the labels for legibility.

A third option would be to use a hex map that has no details at all and we draw in features as we explore or as they become relevant. Anyway, lots of cool option.

Want to track my progress? Follow me on Google+ where I’ll share out once in a while the maps and other tools as they progress 🙂

Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion — Episode 03

August 23, 2015 / Stan Shinn

In the aftermath of their skirmish with Storm Troopers, the Rebels clean up the carnage. Daymont Syko hails the home-base of the dead Storm Troopers.

His ruse works. He discovers the location of Garr Juun, a Sullustan who worked with Dalin Show to betray the rebels. 

Disguised as Storm Troopers, the party pays a visit to Garr Juun. Vin Sai notices that the armor seems to be a perfect fit on only one: Daymont.

The phony Storm Troopers gain easy access to Juun’s house in Tanga City.

Meanwhile, the alien—er, non-human—rebels circle around to the back.

Talk is cheap, and blaster fire is cheaper as a fight erupts. While the lasers fly, A9-LX disarms a baradium bomb with 10 seconds to spare—and keeps it as a handy souvenir.

The rebels capture Juun alive. Cornelius Vaan is all for torture, and Vin Sai almost delivers.

When Juun accidentally inhales some of the shroom-drug he deals, Dredge Myolnon enters his consciousness, and senses an evil presence—emanating from Andooweel.

And Daymont, lost in thought, recalls a time, when he was fighting against—not for—the Rebel Alliance …

How To Create Your Own Stan Shinn Classic Traveller Binder

August 8, 2015 / Stan Shinn

Lot’s of folks have been interested in how I put together my Classic Traveller binder. Here’s an overview of the binder:

You can download the Referee Dashboard PDF to insert in your binder.

If you want to make a planner cover, you can use my OpenOffice template below. It is an OpenOffice Draw (.ODG) file. You can edit it using either free OpenOffice or LibreOffice software.

OpenOffice Draw (.ODG) file template.
PDF Example of the file template.

To use the template, you’ll need two fonts:

And I use a planner from Staples which you can order online:

Staples Planner with photos and link

Enjoy!

Avoiding the RPG 'Shiny'

August 5, 2015 / Stan Shinn

Great advice from Gnome Stew; this is my biggest temptation in roleplaying as a GM which I need to resist!

“AVOID THE SHINY

This isn’t original with me or unique to online gaming. But it is still good advice. For the most part, you should avoid too many campaign reboots, rules changes, or genre switches in your regular game. It’s much better to work around any quirks in your particular rules system (or post some house rules) than to ask folks to change editions or systems frequently.

Now, some groups may be fine with an occasional one-off in another system or genre. In general though, if your dying to run something different, you may want to just run it at a different time and send out a general invite to your social group. While your regular players may want to play, they won’t feel obligated to play something they are not interested in.”

(Source)

50 Fathoms: Session 09-The Demise of Ian O’Connell

August 4, 2015 / Jeff Messina

The Demise of Ian O’Connell

Characters:

Mordecai
Liam
Daxon
Jagos (played by Chad)

Date: 8-1-15

XP: 3

Recap:

When we last left the Crew they had just watched Mordecai slay the Ian’s 2nd in command, Gorgio. There was a large bloody mess in a brothel and a dead body to deal with.

This session picked up with the crew trying to cover up his death and dispose of the body. While attempting to hide the body offshore they were spotted by a town guard who quickly shouted for help. Suddenly a giant Scurillian appeared out of nowhere and worked up some earth magic to bind and silence the guard. The Crew thanked their new friend and found out his name was Jagos and he had beef with Ian as well.

The Crew waited a day and met with Eti at the pre-determined time and place and headed to Ian’s Fortress. After some scouting by Daxson, they found out the base was walled in with roughly hewed tree wall set up around the perimeter. While not sophisticated it would make getting into the encampment difficult. The Crew decided to implement a two prong strategy: 1) Fake a slavery transfer with Liam leading Eti’s men as “newly acquired goods” and 2) the rest of the Crew and Eti using Jagos burrow powers to sneak under the walls.

The initial plan partially succeeded. When Liam approached the wall announcing a slave delivery the base was already on alert for a human with a strange accent. Ians lieutenants recognized the accent, knew Gorgio was missing and did not fall for the trap. Instead a fire mage decided to toss a fireball at Liam while he was stranded outside of the wall. While the ruse failed, it did however make for a good distraction. Jagos and the other group burrowed under the wall and started attacking. The Crew managed to open the gate enough to let Liam inside, but all of Eti’s men died in a massive wave of fire from the fire elementalist.

After a long fight the Crew pushed back the slavers and managed to get to Ian who had settled in behind cover and was prepared to fight. Jagos managed to severely wound Ian and his followers with a well timed blast which quickly ended to fight. Ian was bleeding on the ground when Mordecai sent a huge cone electrical energy at the wounded Ian, finishing him off.

When the dust settled, the Crew found cages full of slaves in the base which they promptly freed. While searing Ian’s body Liam found a punctured flask leaking golden brown fluid. Realized it was his beloved Scotch, Liam only was able to save a mouthful before it ran out. Poor Liam might never get a proper drink in Caribdus after all…

Captain Liam

Captain’s Log,
Alright. There’s days in life that can drive a man mad. These past few were nearly such days for me.
I think it began the moment Mordecai killed that slaver in the brothel. Not that he didn’t deserve it. Having to dispose of the body was more than a wee problem, though. At the docks, we met a relative of Brachus’ who seemed a bit off his head. Crazy or not, Jagos helped contain what could have been a world of trouble. He had his own issue with the slavers, something about a sack full of eggs, and joined us. Sort of. He just lingered in the distance most of the time.
Once we finally made it to the slavers fort, we needed a distraction. I volunteered before the others could. Aye, I knew I was the best man for the job. All I got for my trouble was a fireball to my face, a group of Eti’s men being burned to a crisp before my eyes, and a drawn out fight with some spry wizard. I just couldn’t get the upper hand. I think I’ve been away from sea for too long. Fortunately, the distraction worked and we took the fort.
Now came the worst part of it all. After everything we’ve had to do on this blasted island, I find a flask on Ian’s body full of that sweet nectar of my homeland; Scotch. But the bloody thing had a hole in it and I got only a drop! Oh, how this world teases me. I suppose it’s a good sign. There is scotch somewhere on this blasted world. If I could only find some.
Captain Liam McCormic