Planet Thirteen News

Back Screen Pass: Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan

2010-04-25T08:36:00.001-07:00

Carl has kind of a neat post over at Back Screen Pass where he talks about running an old-school module (Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan) for his 4e party. The part where he describes the old-school traps interacting with the new-school system is pretty cool, plus there's some great classic D&D wacky moments.

Dark Elf Tutorial

2010-04-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Dark Elf Tutorial

I get more questions about the Dark Elves than any other thing in How to Host a Dungeon. Their weird little civilization seems to spiral into cascading slave revolts very quickly. This isn't actually a bad thing, but it can be annoying. If you're one of the annoyed, just skip to the variant rule at the bottom of this post. I highly recommend it.

The Dark Elves are the most unstable of all the civilizations, and making a slightly different interpretation of the rules can make a radical change in how they behave.

Here's a pretty generic Dark Elf development schedule. If you interpret the rules a bit differently, that's OK, you might just get a faster revolution.

First year starts, the Dark Elf city has 3 nobles (N) and 3 slaves (S)
Spring: a new colony is founded
- City: 2N, 2S
- Colony 1: 1n, 1s
However, if there are no colony sites, the city adds 1S instead.

Summer: the colon mines and grows
- City: 2N, 2S
- Colony 1: 2n, 2s
If there's nothing to mine, every Dark Elf site adds slaves instead, and you're on the fast track to a massive slave revolt

Fall: Build stuff
Winter: city adds 1 slave
- City: 2N, 3S
- Colony: 2n, 2s
Finally, the city gathers new slaves if there are any around, which can also help trigger an early revolt.

For a longer-lasting, more stable Dark Elf civilization, simply don't add the extra slave to the city in the winter. Your Dark Elves are then much more likely to last to the end of their complete civilization cycle.

Space and Spaceability

2010-01-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

As a result of a forum discussion this morning, I dug up this old AP for a Jane-Austen themed space pulp session we ran about five years ago using Unviersalis. Despite being a full-force descent into the ridiculous, it's a great favorite of mine.

"There is no polite way to refuse you, therefore let me be impolite."

Space and Spaceability

Year of the Dungeon

2010-01-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hall of the Water Weird
Originally uploaded by orkboi

I've started a new blog, Year of the Dungeon, where I'll be posting a new dungeon three days a week, all year long, plus some interviews, articles, and reviews. Please go check it out!

Principia Gen Con edition Free PDF

2009-11-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

I've put the PDF of the Gen Con ashcan edition of Principia up on the Principia page for all to see. Also, there are still a few print copies available at a price of $11.00 each.

New Google Group for How to Host a Dungeon fans

2009-09-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Tavis kindly set up a Google Group for fans of How to Host a Dungeon. I hope we'll see some exchanging of dungeon maps, dungeon game discussion, and some forum games of How to Host a Dungeon. I think this is a good place for anyone who's a fan of the game, or just loves Dungeons and maps. It's still in the fledgling stages, so now is a great time to come by and say Hi!

http://groups.google.com/group/for-the-love-of-dungeons/web/welcome-to-for-the-love-of-dungeons?hl=en

How to Host a Dungeon on YouTube

2009-09-14T17:05:00.001-07:00

Greengoat posted this awesome How to Host a Dungeon animation on YouTube. It's as good a demo of the game as I could wish for. It makes me want to pull the game out and play a few rounds.

Principia Ashcan at Gen Con

2009-08-01T11:36:00.001-07:00

I've got a pre-release (or "ashcan") edition of Principia to bring with me to Gen Con this year. You'll be able to buy it at cost at the Forge booth ($11). The reason I'm selling them at cost is because I'm still tinkering with the game. It's ready to play for a group that's ready to tackle a work-in-progress and maybe help me tweak the design a bit. This is a chance to help me make this a game YOU would like.

Also, as a bonus, ashcan purchasers are entitled to free PDF copies of all future editions of the game.

It looks pretty, but don't buy it if you're waiting for the real first edition. That will be prettier and probably more streamlined to play.

click for larger

How to Host a Dungeon: Revised Edition!

2009-07-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

The revised edition of How to Host a Dungeon is now available! This edition features some rules clarifications (especially for the Dark Elf civilization), as well as new rules for aquatic and lava-inhabiting monsters, floods, and strange new worlds such like coastal regions, mountain ranges, and the Hollow Earth.

http://planet-thirteen.com/Dungeon.aspx

Also, if you're going to be at Gen Con this year, stop by the Forge Booth and visit me!

HtHaD at the Chatty DM

2009-05-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

The Chatty DM was kind enough to post a great review of How to Host a Dungeon. He's got a great role-playing blog, by the way, for all fans D&D.

Alpha Destructicus

2009-05-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

After some folks got talking about Car Wars over on Story Games, I came home and dusted off Alpha Destructicus, a fast action car combat game I made up a couple of years ago. I added some sample vehicles and an arena layout so people can pick it up and play it themselves. You can download the rules for free here. This is a DIY game and the rules are a bit rough around the edges. I'd love to hear what people think of it, and maybe even get some photos of play.

Curufea Does it Right!

2009-02-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

I just had to post this dungeon by Curufea. He's posted the history along with progressive screenshots showing the evolution of the dungeon. He's also got a custom monster group he created, the Kesh, a group of monster insectoids. It's cool!

Come Play Games with me!

2009-02-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

Every year, me and a few other Seattle gamer folks run a little convention here called Go Play NW. This year we'll be at the Freehold Theatre in downtown Seattle, June 26-28. So if hanging out with a few dozen awesome people and playing some games appeals to you, come join us.

Go Play NW's focus is on independent games of relatively recent vintage, but there's also a dedicated old-school core for the How to Host a Dungeon crowd. Wilhelm's annual Sunday afternoon Tunnels & Trolls epic is already a Go Play legend.

I'll be there running Principia (which is slated to go to print this summer) and a number of other games.

For more information, check out the Go Play Web Page, or just go register now!

Sexy Deadly Expanded!

2009-02-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

The Sexy Deadly team of Johnstone Metzger, Lace Allen, and Joe MacDonald, with the additional aid of Luke Crane, have just released A free supplement to our Sexy Deadly RPG. I'm afraid I didn't have time to contribute to this one, except by hosting it at Planet Thirteen.

The supplement, Seducing New Targets, includes:

A full demo with pregen characters and objective for Sexy Deadly

Vengeance is my Name, a deathmatch supplement for Sexy Deadly

Commando Squad, a WWII commando hack for Sexy Deadly

Sexy Jared, a complete (satirical) RPG by Johnstone Metzger

Deadly Sex, a complete (and also satirical) RPG by Luke Crane

Enjoy!

Twittering Old School

2009-01-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

I've started up a Twitter: http://twitter.com/tonydowler. I'll be posting maps, links, snippets of what I'm playing, and other game stuff. I'm also on the look out for people to follow who are Twittering about art, maps, their D&D game, or whatever.

Dungeon Time Lapse

2009-01-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

Over at his blog, Empty Game Box, Bryan Hansle posted this How to Host a Dungeon Time Lapse that's very cool. It opens up some interesting possibilities. Now I'm trying to figure out how hard it would be to make one of my own.

Sexy Deadly is now Available

2009-01-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

Last month Joe MacDonald recruited me to do art for a game design challenge on Story Games. Sexy Deadly is the result. The game is now available for purchase at the amazing price of just one buck!

Sexy Deadly is about devastatingly powerful women. Women whose power threatens to destroy them at the same time that it offers to bring them close together. It was born out of a love for movies in which these assassins would walk a tightrope between being human and being something else. Some of the source material did a much better job of this than others, assuredly, but the question seemed to surface repeatedly: how powerful can a person get while remaining a person?

Simulationist Play and Hosting a Dungeon

2008-12-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

I've never been a theory hound. In Forge Terminology 101, I always get a C+. But lately I've been investigating what's called simulationist play, and I ran across this great quotation in Ron Edwards' essay on simulation:

Another derivation of the Purist for System approach brings the Setting creation process directly into play itself. The System-driven elements of the Setting are as "active" as any particular character might be, during play as well as during preparation. Basically, the setting is played, even created, as a part of regular play.

Boink! I just realized that the original Traveller, or at least one way to play it, represents an example of this approach. Star system and planet creation are written right into the process of play, such that adventures and missions become not only a means of enjoying and improving characters, but also a means of enjoying and basically mapping the game-space.

That's a wonderful summary of what I was thinking behind How to Host a Dungeon. It's a sorely neglected kind of play, IMHO, at best relegated to a "preparation phase" before the "serious play" starts, at worst ignored.

Maps are Palimpsests

2008-12-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

In case it wasn't obvious. I'm a huge map geek. This post about Eastern European electoral politics caught my eye. Apparently Polish voters still fall into regional categories according to borders of the old German Empire. That's pretty wild. It's as though a map of old Europe were still lurking down there under the current one. It bears a similarity to a certain dungeon game I'm fond of.

Dungeon Majesty

2008-11-28T14:03:00.001-08:00

I just want to say that this pretty nearly sums up what D&D is to me. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wrack and Ruin and Sundry

2008-11-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a good year for maps. For the Love of Dungeons has been very well received. It's pretty cool to see people buying and using my maps (and downloading the free sample too).

I don't have time for a longer post (the family is in town for Thanksgiving preparations), but here's a sneak peak of what's next. For the Love of Islands is almost ready to be handed off to Ben for the layout. These maps actually preceded For the Love of Dungeons. The first few were made for a game of In a Wicked Age, but then I got sidetracked (productively) by a Basic D&D game that inspired the dungeon book. These are also going to be used for a Reign game I hope to play in on an intermittent basis.

After this I have a few private commissions to work on, plus the ongoing Principia playtest.

For the Love of Dungeons

2008-10-23T15:35:00.001-07:00

For the Love of Dungeons has been published! For the Love of Dungeons is a book of 12 hand-drawn dungeon maps suitable for any dungeon crawl RPG. The maps evocative annotations that can be used to help spark encounters, making this a great book for rapidly improvising a dungeon adventure. Each map has an individual theme. I had a great time making them, and I hope people enjoy playing them.

HTHAD on Board Game Geek

2008-10-03T07:57:00.001-07:00

This is kind of old news, but for some reason, I forgot to post it here. How to Host a Dungeon is now listed on Board Game Geek, giving us another place to post HTHAD sessions, reviews, pictures, and files. There's some good discussion starting up over there as some BBG-ers discover How to Host a Dungeon.

How to Host a Dungeon Linkfest

2008-08-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

Now that the print and PDF versions are out in the wild, HTHAD is getting some more online love.

I've created a How to Host a Dungeon forum to house the growing FAQ and other discussions.

There a new Flickr Gallery of dungeons.

Larry Lade has a step by step walkthrough of a dungeon he created.

Here's an interesting discussion at Trembling hand about Dwarf Fortress, How to Host a Dungeon, and the future of MMOs

How to Host a Dungeon Now on Sale

2008-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

You can now purchase the print and PDF full versions of How to Host a Dungeon through this site on the Dungeon page. Also, I added a How to Host a Dungeon Flickr Set for easy browsing.