I've been doing some thinking about the real differences between the tabletop and the computer/console for a gaming experience, and I think I might be onto something.

First thing to start with is the idea that a medium affects the things you can do with it. This is assumed by pretty much any storyteller ever: the medium affects the story you can tell. The story you deliver in a book format is different than the story you can deliver in music, which is slightly orthogonal to the story you can tell in epic poetry, etc., etc. Creative types -- people with stories to tell -- find a medium that they can speak through and try to tell you stories through that medium.

That's basic fiction theory, of course.

The fact of the matter is that the tabletop and the computer are different mediums of game-playing as well (as are cards, or dice, or board games, or whatever). They affect the kinds of games you can play with them.

When you're playing a video game, your options are limited, but that doesn't matter to you. The "raw fun unit" of a videogame is control. It's like figuring out how to use a tool: your mind communicates something into the world, and as a result, things happen. Cause and effect, basic physics, the potential for you to advance (get a high score or approach the "complete" game) -- it's all based around "I tell you to do something, and you do it" kind of control. In a videogame, if you reach a dead end, you just press buttons until something happens. This is pretty impossible in any kind of table-top game.

What's unique to the table top, is freedom. Your options are unlimited, which is why you can't just try all your options -- you effectively have more options than you could ever try. It's also why we need a GM -- a judge -- to tell us what happens when we take an option. A human hand can guide the events much better than a dispassionate, raw physics engine (or heavy simulation).

In my mind, a "pure tabletop game," using the medium to it's greatest advantage, would focus entirely on that freedom. This means it would be necessarily fairly rules-light and abstract. It would be modular and easy to design for, allowing individual GMs to fully master their own games, and to make them distinct. It wouldn't be tied to a genre or a playstyle. It may be tied to a central resolution mechanic -- what to roll when you want to do something, and how that roll is modified.

I don't see 4e very strongly focusing on that freedom (not that any other edition necessarily did more or less -- talking about 4e as 4e here, not in comparison to other D&D's). It's codified, complex, defined, genre-specific, obsessed with combat and the minutae of pushing around plastic toys. It's tethered to that, and limited by that.

I don't think most games use the medium to the best of its ability. Indeed, some of the best (GURPS? T20?) pointlessly tether themselves. It's easy to have complexity, after all. Simplicity is difficult and doesn't really sell books.

But if D&D and the tabletop in general want to dodge the slow bleeding death from a million little digital cuts, they're going to need to accentuate that freedom, that unique capacity to "do anything." Replace the powers system with the stunt system in 4e. Make GURPS less modular, more cohesive. Leave videogames the "make a choice between two things" territory, and embrace "do as thou wilt."

In fact, the tabletop has been mired in ways to limit freedom. That won't survive. If players want to choose between limited options, videogames are much easier, and much more satisfying. The tabletop needs to hone it's own unique contribution: the ability to go wild, go off-script, and blaze your own trail.

More thoughts later, more than likely.

PS: Pic is supposed to be evocative of a setting I'm kind of half-working on called Infinite Skies. It's conceived of as a D&D setting entirely on floating islands above a planet of choking dust where giant mechanical deities lie (and occasionally stir). The central idea in that setting is one of "freedom:" something that can only be unique to table-top games.

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So, the current main game in my mix is Okami. I picked it up for the Wii a few weeks ago, though it was out on the Playstation 2 long before that.

It's a great game for a few reasons, and I was hoping it would teach me a bit about art design in games: it is a highly stylistic game that draws on Japanese watercolor paintings and traditional Japanese folklore, and one of the main gimmicks of the game is that you get to draw on the screen with a brush that makes stuff happen. Draw a bomb, you get a bomb! Slash through an enemy, and an invisible sword slices through them!

It is teaching me something about that, but it's also bringing up a topic that is a bit closer to D&D's home: dungeons and magic items. Specifically, how to interlink them, to make them useful to each other and depend on each other. In other words, how to set up a dungeon designed around a reward that actually changes your abilities (rather than just enhancing your abilities).

This isn't exclusive to Okami. Indeed, though Okami does it REALLY WELL, it's actually the hallmark of games going back at least to the 8-bit, battery-backed memory period. I'm sure there are more that do this, but the ones that stand out in my mind are Megaman, Metriod, and, the feather in the cap, the Legend of Zelda.

In Megaman, you get to choose your level, and once you beat it, you get a weapon upgrade that lets you use a special attack (the special attack of the robot you just blew up, of course). Your versatility and suite of powers grows steadily, but also strategically: each boss robot has a weakness against another boss robot's weapon, and each weapon has a slightly different firing pattern, meaning that in some stages certain weapons are more useful than in others

In Metriod, the levels are all interconnected and undivided -- the game flows to make a fairly seamless whole -- but regions have their own themes, as well. In certain areas you're going to need certain weapons, certain upgrades, and certain abilities that you acquire there, and going forward, you can use them to access things out of reach before.

And in Zelda, each "dungeon" has its own new toy from Batman's Utility Belt that you find, and use there extensively, and use against the boss there, and then use going forward to open up new regions of the game.

Of course, in Okami, you have brush techniques, but Okami also manages to dodge the "binary solution" issue that can sometimes crop up in Zelda games or the like: you use the item only in its home dungeon, and then never again.

And in D&D, what do you have? A lot of open-endedness. 3e had random treasure tables, so the DM might not know what he's giving out before he rolls it. 4e has treasure parcels, so the DM definitely knows ahead of time, and the players might, too, but the rewards are generic: items that deal damage, or gold to spend on other items that deal damage.

What Okami, and Zelda, and Metriod, and Megaman can teach us about dungeon design is this: Reverse the process, make the dungeons about the rewards found in them, and make the rewards change the game.

Consider when you get the Hookshot in Zelda, how that opens up the world and gets you to new regions that you couldn't go to before, or when you gain the Freeze Beam in Metriod and can suddenly use your enemies like stepping stones -- not to mention all the new doors you can open up (literally!).

There's nothing that changes the game plan like that in D&D.

Or rather, there is, but it's not part of your rewards. Instead, they're relegated to magic.

There's a lot of magic that historically does this to the game, but there is one famous category: It's those old bugaboos, the travel magic. Flight, teleportation, even spells like knock that just open doors. In 3e, these spells aren't bonuses, they're required for play. In 4e, these spells aren't bonuses, but they're effectively optional, relegated to Rituals. These are problematic for many DMs because they give the party brand new resources and ways to short-cut challenges that the DM may not be expecting (in 3e) or may be superfluous detail that the DM does not want (in 4e).

Certainly, we can do better.

We can apply the "adventure videogame" philosophy to our own dungeon design.

We can reward players with these new capacities in worlds specifically designed to take advantage of them, with dungeons that are themed around these powers, in order to teach them how the powers are to be used.

Here's a few simple ideas that should help you in implementing this in your own game:












There ya go! Basically, the first five steps are all about how to treat the ability in the world: a useful, if unusual capacity with limitations that the world assumes you can use to do unique things with, both out of combat and in combat. The sixth step tells you to construct a dungeon around the usefulness and limitations of the ability: effectively, a training ground for using it, complete with enemies (and a boss monster!) that teach players (and their characters) what the ability can and can't do. After the dungeon, they're set loose on a world that has a lot of potential uses for their new ability, things that they couldn't access before (and perhaps things they were frustrated about not being able to access before).

In a sandbox-style game this opens up new areas of exploration, much like crossing the mountain range into the next valley opens up the next valley for exploration (but on a presumably more dramatic scale). In a narrative-style game, this opens up new locations and characters for the ongoing story, and can help resolve problems that the PC's are faced with early on ("how are we going to get the MacGuffin if we can't fly over this gap?").

In any game, this takes abilities that have the capacity to change the way the game is played, and assumes they will be used, without entitling a player to their use. Players must earn the right to ignore challenges, most specifically by facing challenges that teach them exactly what they'll be able to ignore, and what they'll have to still deal with, even with their new powers.

Hopefully, this puts the gears in your head turning. Take a look at some 4e rituals, or some 3e spell categories like teleportation, flight, divination, or even powerful healing like regeneration or raising. Link together some "combat magic" with some "noncombat magic," and keep the package something anyone can gain -- fighter or rogue, too. Stick 'em in a dungeon that makes use of 'em, and enjoy yourself.

Comments, as always, desired and appreciated.

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So, it's been a while since I've updated the blog.

There's a reason for that.

The reason for that is this. It's still very much a work-in-progress, but you can see already there's a bunch of stuff there.

I'm going to be changing the focus of the blog, too. FFZ is still a project of mine, but this space will more be for big-idea game design musings. It won't be D&D specific, though D&D, as always, will provide some good examples of what I'm talking about. In fact, a lot of it will probably concern videogames and game philosophy in general. Of course, FFZ will still make regular appearances as well.

I'll see if I can't get some examples of what I'm talking about up there tonight. If not, it's comin' soon.

For now, take a look at ALL THE STUFF that FFZ has already. See what you like, what you don't, give me some feedback, and we'll see where that airplane takes us.

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Here we have the Mystic and Pyschic jobs, and the Status rules.

These things all revolve around Statuses in FFZ: buffs & debuffs.

The Mystic is what was, until recently called "The Witch," (though it preserves some of the overtones). This one specializes in transformation status ailments -- blindness, turning you into a frog or a zombie, and generally making your body into her plaything. Similarities in FF history include a lot of the "tactics" jobs, such as the "Mystic"/"Yin-Yang"/whatever of FFTactics. As with the Astrologer, the way FFZ handles statuses means that they can contribute something even to battles where your enemy can't quite be turned into a frog.

The Psychic is a little different. Though it uses the "psychic" from X-2 International as a sort of inspiration, it more fills an FFZ-specific niche, splitting the main "status ailment" jobs in two. Because FFZ jobs are so short, and because everyone will have a sub-job, no one job can really have mastery over such a key game element. The Psychic uses mental trickery and alteration, charms and illusions.

And, of course, to support these two jobs, the Status document gives you an overview of every status ailment that appears in FFZ. Like with the items, it's not an exhaustive list, but hits the high points.

I'm thinking next time we'll see some of the tech exploration: the engineer, the vehicle rules (chocobos and airships and submarines oh my!). I'm thinking you'll also see the Breaker, which, like the psychic, is a job that mostly exists because 15 levels don't give you a heap of openings for awesome abilities. Three quesses what that guy specializes in.

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In this update, we look at the Alchemist and Astrologer jobs, and view some of the items your characters will be using.

The Alchemist was a bit hard to design. I wanted to preserve FF's "mix" mechanic, because it's so distinctive, but it was running into troubles in implementing it at the table. Great charts of item combination are pretty exhausting (not to mention page-consuming), but a random system wouldn't preserve the idea of a formula that is key to the Alchemist's flavor. The solution wound up being informed by the Stash abilities. The idea of using free items was good, so I had the Alchemist combine those free items with the elemental crystals (which are crafting items for characters) to produce a new effect (taken from the various games).

The other major issue with the alchemist was HOLY CRAP, THIS GUY WAS OVERPOWERED IN THE FF GAMES. Anyone who knew the mix list and put in the time harvesting those rare items was going to have a big payoff in the Alchemist. Unfortunately, at the table, a list and "item farming" are pretty unrealistic. I had to be very choosy about which mix abilities to include in the Alchemists' suite, and they don't have many of the more maniac abilities that alchemists from the FF games had...

...at least, not by default. New mixes are easy to introduce, after all, and having a unique item be used in a one-time mix for a tremendous effect isn't a big deal, as long as you can't repeat it.

The Astrologer suffered from a bit of a different problem...the curse of a CRPG "debuffer:" pointless in the battles that really matter.

Solving this problem reached into FFZ's philosophy about ailments, actually: immunity in FFZ isn't really "immunity", it's more "trade it for damage" (or a Delay, or some other thing you can drop). A boss may be "immune" to Instant KO, but what that really means is that if you hit the boss with Instant KO, maybe he just takes massive damage instead. And anyone else can still be hit with the actual Instant KO.

Astrologers won't be useless. Anyone who wants to pick up a few extreme gravity abilities or alter time and spce, they'll be good in every battle for something.

Items were kind of fun. I've got many more items than I put in that document, but jotting them down there helped me categorize FFZ's award system (the XP/AP split, the purpose of Gil, etc.) I like the idea of items as a gil-sink. Have a few extra coins laying around? Buy more items! Quantity won't hurt anything!

So without further adieu, you'll find this info, and the stuff that has come before, in My MediaFire folder.

Direct links:
Alchemist
Astrologer
Items

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Well, there comes a time in every computer user's life when he must restore his computer to factory settings, and then doesn't have his MS Office disc without the Product Key.

*sigh*

I was writing up the stuff in MS Word, which allowed me to make those pretty text quote boxes that I <3, and could handle a lot of the graphics hoopla that FFZ does.

Without Word, I go to Open Office. Which works for most purposes, really, but can't do those graded text quote boxes, and has some border wonkiness.

Which sucks a lot.

I'm probably going to spend some obsessive time trying to do some sort of work-around (maybe I can make Paint do the boxes? maybe I can swing some office time to work on it?) before giving up and settling for lower quality (which I do so dislike doing, as you can tell from how awesome the files look! ).

It's nothing epic -- I've still got the files, and I've still got the references; FFZ has survived worse -- but it's annoying.

I'm working on the Playtest document right now. Fortunately, that doesn't need to be so pretty.

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Edit: Added a brief blurb to the Combat document, nothing too important

Hiya!

This update is all about FIGHTING! Our class is a fighter, and we have our first Rules preview: the FFZ combat system, fully spelled out for you.

First, FAQ's:

Why are you changing the names?
Savvy viewers saw that I used "Freelancer" instead of "Red Mage" in the last release, and that in the list of jobs I didn't have "white mage" or "black mage," but had "devout" and "wizard."

There are a few kind of subtle reasons I went with a less...erm...chromatic name scheme. The biggest reason is that it's easier to read, and it gives me some diversity in pacing my sentences. It also helps me avoid pigeonholing the jobs: Wizards specialize in Black Magic, but they aren't the only creatures that cast it, and to a certain degree, any creature that uses Black Magic might call themselves a Black Mage. The final big reason is that it opens up the job to do more than just that -- when you are called a "white mage," you might get pigeonholed into just casting white magic, when really your abilities are more diverse than the cure spell.

Playtest Document?
Keep paying attention here. I mean, as of today, you've got enough information to playtest the combat system at least. I hope to GM a playtest group either in person (in NYC) and online via Gametable or MapTool fairly soon (it's been a wicked busy month or two for me). My group enjoyed a few games, but this thing needs to see the broader light of day.

So, onto new business!
New job release:
The Duelist. A lot of FFTA's Fencer with a dash of Tidus from FFX. A little like a time/space/status version of the Paladin or Blackguard.

And a Rules release:
Combat. The biggest diversion in this system from d20's standard is the use of SPD as points you can spend. For those of you who want to trip and disarm, we've got the Stunts. (Disarm = attack to disable! Level 7! Trip = attack to immobilize! Level 5!). I've ditched the maneuvers system because it was overly complicated, stunts are nice and smooth.

I've also attached the files to the post!

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'oy there.

Freelancer (AKA Red Mage) comin' down the pipe at you.

Here. I've also made him an attachment on this post.

That's the total package. He's changed a little bit even after I posted Tristam's stats earlier, but the changes are mostly minor. This thing goes at a pretty good speed.

I'm beginning the stages of widespread playtesting. My idea right now is to host a few online games, using software like MapTool to get the basics down. I'll expose the general public to a lot of FFZ's ideas as players, and those who are players in these playtests I'll see about recruiting to become DM's for broader playtesting. Spread it through the grassroots, so to speak.

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For the first time since I've started this project, I actually have all the jobs done.

DONE, YOU HEAR ME!

28 jobs!

All done!

The Alchemist: Uses nifty items for free, and has a complete mix list!
The Astrologer: Gravity damage, haste/slow/stop, and the potent Meteor (and vastly deadly X-Zone!)
The Berserker: For the more aggressive player...
The Blackguard: Did somebody say Dark Knight?
The Breaker: Don't get to attached to that suit of armor!
The Dancer: It's a pain party, and your enemies are all invited!
The Devout: Healing is a minor action with a major beneit.
The Dragoon: Wait for it.....NOW DIE
The Druid: Earth, Wind and Water!
The Duellist: Can't keep up with 'em!
The Freelancer: A little bit of everything!
The Gambler: "Be Careful," they said! Ha!
The Geomancer: What you can do depends on today's forecast...
The Gunner: The man with the machine gun!
The Hunter: How many arrows do you need?
The Machinist: Sub-orbital death-beam! Check!
The Minstrel: It's amazing what you can do when the rhythm catches you...
The Monk: Furious fists and final heavens.
The Ninja: Invisible twin-sworded death!
The Paladin: A shining light of judgement into your enemies.
The Psychic: Masters of mental ailments
The Samurai: So many ways to slice up your opposition...
The Scholar: Blue magic, baby!
The Soldier: The leader of the assault!
The Thief: What's yours is mine, what's mine is mine.
The Trainer: Like Pikachu, but with more tentacles and fangs.
The Witch: Alters your body, transforming you...
The Wizard: I cast the spells that make the people fall down!

I am a machine.

I might start doing some online playtests any week now. The AP is waiting...

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So last time I gave you guys a look at some of the characters for the FFZ Adventure Path.

Here's the rest! It includes an idealistic white mage, a spunky viera theif, a bangaa wizard (?!) and the Blue Mage!

Trellen Ummaria
"If you follow your heart, what could go wrong?"


Lyrne
"Your cause is meaningless. Show me the gil."


Lawrence Feldimir
"So I'm different. What's wrong with being different?"


Betsy Mae Alianis
"Y'all need to cheer up, folks! A new day is dawnin'!"

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So there's a thread in General RPG right now about Ivalice, where I posted (almost complete) stats for a level 10 Moogle Dragoon-Dancer.

I think I should post the stats for the characters from the Introductory Adventure.

Below are the first four. There's a total of 8, so that people can choose from amongst them. Here we have a red mage, a dragoon, a knight, and a moogle with a crossbow!

The quotes are chosen to help players get "into character." Because FFZ can be pretty character-focused, even pregens need a dose of personality. During the Adventure Path, these themes will be explored (to varying degrees depending upon your players' and your interest).

Tristam Karamov
"We all have to be something...what am I supposed to be?"


Bellacqua Highwind
"I know what will happen if I trust you. You'll break me. That's just what happens when you trust."


"Lexi" Lexengaard
"Never again will I let down those who depend on me. I will die first."


Serefino Kron
"Don't you dare talk down to me. Respect me. If I'm not respected, how can I respect myself?"

For comparison's sake, here's the moogle from the thread:


And, heck, why not give you a monster, too?

Bomb
This baleful burning sphere seems to be very calm, as if waiting for something...

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A few months back, I stumbled on this little wonder. If you'd give it a check, it's a pretty short read, by a pretty good designer (brownie points when you name the games he's been involved in!).

Now, it's oriented toward a general computer game audience, but part of FFZ's particular magic is in synthesizing the computer game with the pen-and-paper game, to create something with the action and ease of a computer game, but with the modability and customization of a PnP game.

A quick summary of the idea is that people have fun when learning a new pattern, but that as they master the pattern, they have less fun with it. So, the argument goes, a "matured" game shouldn't be about a predefined end result, it should be open to interpretation. Specifically, with randomized and user-generated content.

What a wonder for me that PnP games have been doing that for 30 years, now!

But an early point that he makes is that, in learning this new pattern, games are teaching us things (as playing lion cubs are being "taught" to hunt). We're being taught hand-eye coordination, aiming, strategy, mathematics, and, as we figure out how to do these things better, we figure out the pattern, and we manage to achieve mastery over the game.

So I've analyzed FFZ in this light, and here's what I've found:

FFZ is teaching you how to tell a story.

That's not to say you don't already know the basics of telling a story. I mean, anyone can pick up a controller and figure out how to move Mario around pretty quickly. The basics are already there. But FFZ uses this "storytelling" skill as a way to gain "success."

And "success," because this is a Pen and Paper RPG, will differ for different players and different DMs and different campaigns.

I'm writing the introductory adventure now, which is designed to sort of take the player and the DM through an "example campaign." It includes, as part of the description of a particular scene, the option for the party and the DM alike to completely ignore the rest of the adventure. And it gives you options and advice for when you do that, it doesn't just abandon you to your own devices!

I'm proud of that adaptability in FFZ. It helps the game be more "mature."

FFZ becomes the same art that every PnP game has the potential to become: it is about communicating an experience. About understanding and figuring out the world and your characters in it (as in a sandbox-style game), about sadness and joy and fear (as in a more narrative-style game), and, ultimately, about combining those sensations so you have the fear of new dangers, the joy of a new discovery, the sadness at the death of a key NPC.

This is FFZ's (somewhat lofty) goal. I think it can achieve that, being cast in the mold of great storytelling that has come before, in the FF games.

At this point, I have penned a rough draft of the intro adventure. A few short pages, mostly consisting of branching options, that sets up something broader. I have diagrammed out the One Year Game, and the FFZ Adventure Path should take you through that, while unveiling different aspects of the game.

That's right, I'll have a schedule.

But I want to get some serious playtesting done on this thing. So I'm going to pretty it up, and probably put it up here, along with the character sheets. I'm in the "page layout" phase of this thing, basically. The mechanics are done and stoned, I've got enough rules to handle the intro adventure, I just need to put them all together and make them pretty and slap them up somewhere that the world can appreciate them.

I'd love to hear from anyone who would be interested in running the FFZ Intro Adventure (at least) for their own group. Gimmie a shout in the comments. I'm more likely to get this out sooner if I know people are waiting for it.

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I'm going to start this off with a declaration:

FINAL FANTASY ZERO is, in part, about telling a story.

Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends.

I want you to be able to tell an entire FFZ story in the course of a year.

SO:
THE ONE YEAR FINAL FANTASY ZERO GAME

• Takes about 180 hours.
• Those hours are spaced out in about 45 sessions four-hour sessions.
• These sessions happen about four times a month
• You should gain one level every three sessions, for a total of 15 levels.
• Where you depart from this set-up, you should be able to predict when you'll get through your story based, fundamentally, on the "hours" and the "sessions."

This all started off with this question: How many rules are you actually going to use?

How many levels do you cover before you start a new campaign, or your group dissolves for some reason?

IMXP, my D&D sessions don't cover much. I've topped out at about 10 levels, and that at a rather absurd rate of advancement (one level per session or every other session).

30 levels? Because FFZ is unabashedly narrative, that means that it intends to begin and end. If level 1 is the beginning, and level 30 is the end, how long does it take you to tell the story? How long before you get to tell a new story?

I did some calculations based on my own evidence and what I've seen distilled from WotC.

• About four hours per session
• About three sessions per month (one week off for holidays or whatever)
• You should gain one level every 3-ish sessions. This gives you time to use the abilities from your previous level against a diversity of opponents, and some time in between levels to stock up on treasure and explore your plateau.

That means that in a year of game play, there are 36 sessions that will get you through 12 levels...

....and here, we had a problem. When FFZ had between 30 and 60 levels, we would not get to tell the ENTIRE STORY.

To play through 30 levels at this rate, takes two and a half years. I haven't worked many jobs for that long at this point in my life. That is way too long to assume that a game is going to be going on for.

That's 360 hours of gameplay.

Three hundred and sixty.

The longest I've spent on any one FF game was 70 hours.

We have an issue.

This fantastic revelation that I couldn't even fit HALF of my game into one year has had a dramatic effect on the game. I want to fit the WHOLE THING there. You shouldn't need to play for more than that to get to the point you want. Dedicating even a year to meeting once a week is a HUGE undertaking in schedules and commitment. I'm nervous about even asking for that much!

But, I am. I fiddled with some numbers, and I have the structure for a one-year game. For 15 levels.

Doesn't sound that impressive, does it?

But the Maths for the game work pretty well like this. Your level is now your direct bonus (rather than 1/4 or 1/2 or some other weird division).

This also encourages me to make more classes with fewer abilities apiece, which is a good idea. I'm finding this suits the FF feel a bit better than my old philosophy of "a small number of very inclusive classes." Before, I combined classes. The "soldier" job I had was a hodgepodge of abilities from at least four different, unrelated classes. Dark Knights and Paladins were the same thing that also included Break abilities. This had the side-effect of leaving some jobs a little under-funded. Dragoons can jump and....maybe some of Freya's spells? And then what? I've got 30 or so levels to fill, here!!!

So it's 15 levels. And because of FFZ's narrative structure, you should be planning out at least a skeleton of your story over the course of the year. You can plan ahead, anticipate holidays, truly realize what level people will be at, and, when free time strikes you, you can prepare for later in your story, because you will know the general thrust of it.

It's still a lot of game time. 180 hours isn't a small amount, and a year is still something of a commitment. But I think the game will be better for it.

As a side benefit, it also means class design is going a lot faster.

So here, I'll attach the basic "class table" that I'm using. Every job will follow this model.

Next up will be some pregen characters. After that, the Intro Adventure.

My goal right now is to get this game played.

After that, we'll worry about adding content.

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One thing I noticed pretty quick was that I was going to need a way to do "helpful monsters." In my mind these are essential parts of random encounters, but there should be something out of these encounters. Thus, I've got a work-in-progress for developing a good Allied Monster system.

There's two basic ways an Allied Monster can help out. They can be simple NPC's with their own skills that PC's aren't as likely to have -- Sages with Knowledge, Crafters and Professionals. These NPC's can also know rituals that they can use on the party, or become patrons of the party, awarding treasure for performing quests for them.

The other way is by being a "treasure monster." They give the PC something with a GP value. Trainers can give you access to abilities (feats, powers, whatever) that are exclusive to that creature. Familiars are something like magic items with abilities and properties attached.

This stuff is still in a pretty sketchy phase, but I think I like the basic idea.

Baelnorn (Sage, Ritualist, Patron)
Medium Natural Animate (Undead)
The baelnorn are creatures amongst the so-called “deathless,” creatures who have undergone a transformation to undeath, but have retained their soul, their sanity, and their self-control. Specifically, baelnorns are considered a variant of the lich, a creature who has used arcane magic to stop the advance of death. However, the baelnorns are dedicated to a certain project or work. It is this goal that has gained their souls and that allows their bodies to function still. Once the work is complete, they will truly die, fading into nothingness rather than the afterlife that awaits most of us.

They reside in sealed and secret tombs, towers, and catacombs. They want to continue their work undisturbed and unmolested, and they normally work through agents in the world outside their homes, giving them magic items or performing other rituals for them in exchange for bringing some item of research value to them.

Most of the time, one doesn’t fight a baelnorn. Killing a baelnorn before its time involves destroying the work that it is doing – burning the books, decimating the hideaway, shattering the laboratory, and otherwise ruining all that it has accomplished. A baelnorn “destroyed” in this way often becomes a different type of undead, such as a wraith. As long as the work remains, the baelnorn’s body will replenish itself overnight, until the day when it finishes.

Sage: A baelnorn typically has a +20 in History and Arcana. They may have more detailed information related to their specific work.
Ritualist: 5 different Arcana rituals (typically Enchant Magic Item, Forbiddance, Leomund’s Secret Chest, Sending, and Shadow Walk).
Patron: Baelnorn tend to accumulate great wealth, and can bestow it on PC’s who are willing to undertake missions in the outside world, collecting resources and following up on leads for their research.
Quest Seed: In exploring some ancient ruins haunted by wraiths and other undead, the PC’s have inadvertently stumbled upon the lair of a baelnorn. The creature appears to be working alone, but some exploration or inquisition can reveal that they were really at the center of a great academic circle of eleven members who all sought to become deathless – and this baelnorn is the only one left of that original Circle of Eleven. Discovering the fates and the finished work of the rest of the eleven could take the PC’s far and wide in search of their notes and their leavings, though as the history of this Circle of Eleven unravels, it becomes likely that the only member left had actually murdered the other ten in order to be the one who truly finishes the work. The work’s ultimate purpose is a grand ritual that will give arcane power true ascendance in the world, rendering all other power sources completely void, and giving the reigns of empires and kingdoms to only those who study for power as the Circle had. Throughout these adventures, the PC’s are brought against many arcane-powered enemies who are seeking the knowledge of the Circle for themselves.

Wisdom Bird (Sage, Familiar)
Small Natural Beast
The so-called “wisdom bird” is an intelligent and long-lived breed of avian with a curious mind that seeks and divulges bits of knowledge to those that earn them. They are rather large, for birds, with heavy beaks, but they are not creatures that engage in much combat. Rather, they lair near special spots that their studies have determined are destined. They wait here for an event they have been expecting, in order to deliver a message from the ages, a piece of simple advice, or even to become the master of an apprentice. They may be natural creatures of the forest, but they enjoy learning from books and scrolls, and writing with their beaks and talons, surprisingly adeptly. A wisdom bird isn’t born with this knowledge, but acquires it quickly growing up with such talkative sages for parents.

Wisdom birds are very intelligent and usually know at least a half-dozen different languages. They aren’t avid spellcasters, however, and so they don’t learn many rituals. They seem to have an innate sense of destiny like a homing pigeon has an innate sense of direction, and they find themselves drawn to places where great events or great heroes will someday (or have already) meet them.

Combat with a wisdom bird is a rare thing, because the creature usually just flees. It may avidly attack those who are subverting destiny, though in that case it uses the statistics of a level 1 minion with a fly speed of 12. It is not the most effective combatant, and would normally rather get others to fight for it.

Sage A wisdom bird has a general Intelligence skill bonus of +15, but gains a +20 bonus for History and for things like legends.
Familiar (level 1 item) Once the ritual bonding the two is complete, you gain training in one Intelligence-based skill of your choice and can use the following power:
Advised Strike Wisdom Bird Familiar Power 1
A little voice lets you know where to hit
Encounter  Familiar
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Choose one target. Until the end of this turn, you gain a +3 bonus to hit this target, and you deal +3 damage on a critical hit.

Using Wisdom Birds: Wisdom birds can function something like the “Voice of the DM” when needed. Because they appear at destined times and places, they have a reason to be wherever the PC’s are whenever the party might need a bit of advice or guidance. They also make great mouthpieces for some of the legends and myths of the world, telling the party about them as the party reaches the point that they become important. They can nudge the party back onto a useful path if they are lost, or they can establish puzzles and tricks if need be.
Quest Seed: In a dungeon, the PC’s find an odd piece of treasure that seems to have no immediate use. As the PC’s leave, on their way back to their home base, a wisdom bird descends in front of them and tells them a story about that odd piece of treasure, about how it is merely a fragment of a larger piece, and that it is said that the other piece is held by a royal family in a land just beyond some natural obstacle (such as the sea or a mountain range). The wisdom bird mentions that it is destiny that the royal family and the family of the person holding the item become one. The PCs themselves can then go explore this option, traveling across the boundary to find the royal family (who may be in ruin or forgotten with time), or a member of the royal family can find the PC’s where they are adventuring, having been visited by the same bird.

Campestri (Friendly, Familiar)
Tiny Fey Magical Beast
Campestri are small, happy-go-lucky mushroom creatures with a fondness for song and dance. For those with the patience and insight to deal with the creatures’ annoying habit of singing off-key wherever they go and dancing in a little circle, they can be quite useful.

Campestri dwell mostly in saltwater marshes, feeding off of the copious amounts of salt in the soil there. They are considered a local delicacy by many humanoids in the area, and their rarity is largely due to this, and to their utter lack of self-preservation instinct. They have no demonstrable combat abilities (functioning like level 1 minions if they must be anything), and they have a habit of singing in high-pitched nasal whines whenever a creature that they feel may be amusing walks by. They assume most creatures are amusing, being none too clever, and being very easily amused.

Friendly (50 GP) Campestri like to be played with and sung to. In order to appease them, a character must spend at least 5 minutes singing and dancing with them. At the end of that time, the character can make a DC 14 Charisma check. If they pass, the campestri bestow on them Campestri Spores. These are a consumable magic item, and if you eat them while taking an extended rest, when the rest is over, you have 1d8 temporary hit points that last until you take another rest (either short or extended).
Familiar (level 1 item) Any character with a Charisma of 15 or higher can recruit a campestri colony as a familiar. Once the ritual bonding the master and familiar is complete, you training in Nature and can use the following power:
Sluggish Spores Campestri Familiar Power 1
Enemies near you are a little slow to react
Encounter  Familiar
Minor Action Personal
Effect: One adjacent target cannot make the next opportunity attack it would otherwise be granted.

Quest Seed: A plague of campestri has broken out over a town in a very strange way – the creatures are raining down from the sky, the survivors singing a strange sing-song version of an old eladrin dirge. Most people are confused and annoyed by the creatures (and later rather delighted that they are tasty), but a particular scholar of the feywild is concerned about the Castle in the Clouds that is said to appear one every 30 or so years in the sky above the town – and how it is overdue by a decade for the last appearance. The PC’s must find a way into the sky, guided by the unreliable campestri, to find a rift into the feywild, and discover what has happened to the Castle.

Kamikaze Midget

I'm going through the old 2e Monster Manual Annuals and seeing what I can do to get some coolness into 4e monsters. I've got two "full monsters" in my signature, but there's others that I'd like to see the light of day that are just variants. I think I'm most proud of the "encounter seeds" for a lot of these, which, really, give you almost an entire night of gaming right there. I've got fancypants illustrated PDF versions, but this section on variants is a work in process. So, without further ado...

Abyss Ants
Abyss ants are similar in many ways to normal giant ants. They two feet long and have bulbous pink bodies. They originate in the demonic depths of the Abyss as elemental beasts, and their origin gives them particularly potent acidic bile – abyss ants deal +3 acid damage on their basic melee attack. They are Small sized and have only 44 hp.

They attack en masse, coordinated and clever, mobbing one victim before moving on to the next. They establish nests in the natural world, far away from their abyssal origin, and proceed to destroy and defoliate large swaths of land in their chittering, drooling, dissolving hunger.

Encounter Seed (Level 4): A colony of abyss ants was founded on the outskirts of a small farming village where the PC’s are staying. A local constable went to investigate and wound up agitating the nest, which is now marching for the center of down, killing everything in its way. In order to thwart this marching armada, the PC’s need to perform a daring raid on the abandoned nest where five soldier-ants remain. Inside, they can grab the queen (who is incapable of attacking), and the colony far away will be instantly alerted, coming back to attack the PC’s rather than the town. All the PC’s need to do now is find a place to ditch the queen. If they kill the queen instead, the abyss ants will not stop marching on them until they have been killed down to the last ant, and their colony is easily 300 ants strong.

Al-Jahar (Dazzle)
Al-jahar, known as dazzles, are fey creatures similar to the succubus, but without the affiliation with diabolic realms. They feed off of strong emotion, and so they seek to cause it. They share the statistics of the succubus, except that they are fey humanoids (shapechanger subtype).

Their kiss is also slightly altered. Rather than defending the al-jahar, the person affected by the kiss suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls that are not directed against their allies until they hit an ally.

Their natural form is that of a glimmering humanoid with large, gossamer wings, but they are usually found in their seductive humanoid guise. Their touch does not corrupt, but it shocks with primal energy. Their strategy revolves around getting allies to attack each other, and the tension that generates feeds them.

Encounter Seed (Level 9): An enemy of the PC’s discovers the inn that they frequent, and uses their fey connections to recruit a dazzle to cause trouble for them at the bar. The al-jahar enters the bar and, playing the flirt, kisses as many people as she can, causing rife jealousy and anger. If she can kiss a PC, all the better, but the PC’s will be busy also fighting off the other bar patrons, which include six level 9 minions (the town guard, using the Orc Warrior statistics) as well as the 30 or so level 1 minions (the regular bar patrons), all of whom are fairly innocent. The al-jahar herself has some defenders – two fey panthers who creep in during the chaos and watch for any PC’s that might attack the dazzle.

Baneguard
Baneguards are skeletons who possess some limited arcane power (typically, the ability to fire magic missiles and to blink in and out of reality). They have been given this power by their creators, cultists of gods of death and undeath, who employ them in their skeletal armies.

Baneguards are considered to be skeletons with the Wizard or Warlock class templates. They fight as programmed to fight – usually from a distance, launching their attacks behind the rank-and-file skeleton soldiers.

Encounter Seed (Level 3): There is a place known as the Wizard’s Graveyard that the PC’s must pass through. Here, a duo of baneguards (based on skeleton soldiers; a wizard and a warlock) have assembled other skeletons (two soldiers and two decrepit skeletons) and set up a mockery of an empire. As the PC’s pass through, they attack, and the party must crush this rather dilapidated kingdom.

Banelar
Banelar are a specific breed of dark naga, one that has become highly trained in the ways of spellcasting, and which has abandoned their role as protectors of prophecy. Rather, the banelar seek to change destiny and history to benefit themselves. It is in this way that they often intersect with PC’s, who are typically chosen by destiny in some respect. Banelar share all of the statistics of the dark naga, except that they also have the Cleric class template. They often learn Religion-based rituals such as Consult Oracle, which allow them to discern (and then pervert) destiny’s intent. They tend to be petty, jealous creatures with a fondness for gold and magic items. In combat, they basically resemble the Dark Naga, except that they likely have a handful of cleric powers to draw on as well.

Encounter Seed (Level 21): In a great temple devoted to a deity of light and goodly power, two banelar begin to preach blasphemies, killing those who oppose them. They call themselves the Two Trees, and their chanting can be heard reverberating through the city at night. They are up to something insidious, performing a great lost ritual to raise a giant mummy from beneath the temple. The giant mummy is the corpse of an ancient hero of this deity, and the banelar want to attract adventurers to the location to slay it, so that it cannot rise on the Day of Destiny at the End of Time. Once the mummy is slain, the banelar toy with the party fo a while before slinking away, laughing to themselves.

Kamikaze Midget