The Passage of Time

A long time has passed! Perhaps mysteriously... The party can't account for the gap in their collective memories. What has happened?

1. They've skipped forward in time, a simple time slip (just like anything magical is "simple" right?) What were they last doing? How have things unfolded in their absence?
2. They were kidnapped by strange beings! Fragments of memory will return to them every d6 days. 10% chance that any sleep will result in nightmares of things they can't explain.
3. Their possessions are all missing and they have unexplained bruises on their heads. Bandits probably? But fairly untidy ones as there's a 75% chance that someone who looks will pick up signs of a trail leading to the hideout.
4. Pockets are searched. Half a note says, "Don't think about it, or-" and the rest is burned away. Another scrap says, "-the tailor or the innkeeper-" while a third slip of paper lists everyone's name under a WANTED FOR SKULLDUGGERY AND DEEDS MOST FOUL banner.
5. "Friends! There you are!" A jovial man walks towards you, his manner is regal but his dress is not. "Ah, what a week we've had eh? Eh?!" He pats his pockets. "You've all been most kind, most kind indeed, but it seems that there's the small matter of my retainer, yes?" His eyes narrow and his hands rest lightly on a pair of short swords. "As discussed, my friends, yes?"
6. They got busy doing one thing and another, meandering from this and that to modest successes and small failures, surviving all the while and now here they are. Hazy, but happy, ready to continue.

I rolled a 6.

d100 Ship Names for the Oort Cloud

Out in the Oort Cloud people use spaceships. Sure, you could have a lot of fun playing a game about asteroid mining, or what happens on the last human outpost, but for my money you can have more fun flying between different places and causing trouble looking for interesting things along the way. That means spaceships.

I've posted a work in progress idea before about what ships are going to be like in the game, both game-mechanically and setting-wise, but one thing I've not mentioned is names. I am a massive fan of the late Iain M. Banks. The names of the Culture Ships in his novels are astounding; I love the thought, the humour, the outlandishness and sometimes the way a name can make you go "Huh? Why that?" While the spaceships in Into The Oort are going to be much, much lower down the technology ladder than a Culture GSV, two aspects of their names are things that I want to follow: the ship classes and their names.

I'll follow up in another post about ship classes, but for today I want to share a starting point, d100 spaceship names. If you're playing Into The Oort you're free to do what you want, make some up, come up with a cool setting idea and have them be derived from that. Or you can use some of my names, from the list below the cut. And if you do check them out, scroll down to the end for another thing to expect from Into The Oort.

Retroclone Title Inspirer

I'm not complaining when I say that I have 101 things on my brain at the moment. The day job is keeping me busy, fatherhood is awesome, there's always a two minute DIY job around the house that takes an hour and I'm bouncing off the walls happy about starting out as a zine publisher.

I did NaNoWriMo years ago now and they had a line as part of their advertising pitch that busy people were perfect for doing NaNo. Busy people have ways to cope with being busy most of the time: they manage everything, keep plates spinning and friends, family and customers smiling.

That sentiment is something that I've come to appreciate more and more. As I said on a G+ post yesterday, even if you enjoy your work, it's still work, it still takes effort and so on, but you do at least enjoy it. And that's cool too.

All of that aside, I am very busy, so why the heck am I thinking about writing my own simple OSR/D&Dish system? Come on brain, give me a break!!

An Odd Christmas

A festive little something for Into The Odd, in the style of some of Chris McDowall's encounter tables...

"Keep Christmas in your own way" is an expression often heard in the districts of Bastion and beyond. Indeed, while people throughout the world do a multitude of things their own way, there is only the time around the Winter Solstice with which they demand and expect that they be allowed to do things exactly as they want.

If you are travelling at that most special time of year you encounter people or other things celebrating Christmas in their own way, perhaps you will be invited to join in...

Somewhere North: The Vaeltaja

The Vaeltaja are nomads on the snowy plains. They wander on the snow and ice, and settle in their groups for the true winter. Where else is there to go? To the city of Zelman? Ha! They care not for the cities, nor for the towns. If pressed and in need they will go to a village or hamlet to trade, but even these are strange places for some of them.

They know where to fish, where to hunt, where to hide - and they know WHEN to do all of these things too. They travel in large groups, deer and ice ponies pulling great covered sleds - caravans of men, women and children - hunters and fishers, makers and leaders, warriors and mystics. Each large group is one great extended family. Groups meet and trade (resources, rumours) from time to time. Some of them are open to travellers stopping with them, especially if they would brave the snow in true winter.

Nomad Family

There are 10d20 people in a group. Each group will have a patriarch and matriarch and this "first family" has 2+d6 members.

For every 10 people rounded up, one will be a hunter (leather armour, dagger, sword, shield, bow) and will have some responsibility for finding meat. In two-thirds of Vaeltaja families they will have people adept at fishing, and the group will have made camp around a water source. In these cases there will be one fisherman for every 15 people in the family.

There are 2d4 spiritual/clerical people in a group. They will worship either the spirit of the open plain or a particular family spirit.

Many others in the family will be craftsmen, makers, food-gatherers, bards, ostlers and armourers. They share responsibility for the community and while they do have large extended families the "family" is more of a collective than one bonded truly by blood.

Everyone over the age of 4 will carry a weapon of some kind.

What determines the family's outlook? Roll a d12.

1. Family are wary of outsiders.	7. Family speak a bizarre language.
2. Family worship an ancient spirit.	8. Family are well-armed and warriors.
3. Family possess a Dwarven treasure.	9. Family are wealthy.
4. Family rob travellers.	10. Family are keeping a monster.
5. Family have a rivalry with another group.	11. Family are poor scavengers.
6. Family recently suffered an attack on them.	12. Family are at war with a band of pugs.

How is the favourite son of the family known? Roll a d20.

1. Great Axe	6. Pathfinder	11. Firstborn	16. Knifeman
2. Singer	7. Mead-drinker	12. The Runt	17. Spirit-friend
3. Pug-slayer	8. Bastard sword	13. Mutant	18. Monster-slayer
4. One-arm	9. Farseer	14. Wolf-slayer	19. The Fast
5. Fisherman	10. Future-sight	15. Goatherd	20. The Mute

Example:
There are 111 people in the Hentunen family, a group known for being well-skilled as warriors. Arto and Liisi are the head people in the group, and they have two young daughters. An organised band of twelve hunters keeps the family in wild deer and shaggy pig flesh, and a small but skilled group of fishermen bore holes in the ice over lakes to find prized fish. Half a dozen clerics worship Kalevi, the protector of travellers. Kimi the Mead-drinker is the favourite son of the clan, known for his exploits in drinking contests.

Actual Play: Somewhere North, session 4

Last night was the fourth session of the campaign. Ideas of stealth largely went out of the window, as Esa-Pekka (noisms) shouted "Halloooo!" at the probable bandits he saw on the hillside surrounding Oddli's Tomb. Külk (Patrick) was able to stealth up the hillside a little, and when the inevitable fighting broke out he was able to provide some sneaky covering fire before he was spotted.

After a brief but hard-fought combat, the party (two PCs and four retainers present) had massacred the bandits. The kill-toll was 11 to 1; while they had defeated the bandits and their leader Mad Aamos, they had lost their companion Eerik to a lucky hit from one of the criminals. He died in Esa-Pekka's arms, revealing that he was indeed a Dwarf and passing on some clues about Oddli's Tomb...

Random Table: Street Performers

As you walk the streets of the city, through the markets and thorough-fares, you never know who is going to be blocking your way: trying to show you something entertaining, asking you for money, for help or just being a damn nuisance. But what do they really want? And what might they be hiding?

Roll three d10s for Performers (to see what they're doing), the Number (to see what to roll to see how many there are in the particular troupe) and Want (to see what their aim, as performers is - or possibly what they pretend to want). If the sum of the three d10s is even, then the group also have a Secret; roll another d10 for what else is going on with them.

	Performers	Number	Want	Secret
1	Jugglers	1+d2	Money	Know the location of something valuable
2	Mimes	1+d3	Food	One of them is on the run for a crime
3	Musicians	1+d4	Change	Runaways
4	Buskers	2+d4	Help	Part of a streetgang
5	Clowns	1+d6	Magic	Spies for a rival city/country
6	Actors	3+d3	Fame	The puppets of a wizard
7	Living Statues	2d4	Violence	Slavers trying to find people to kidnap
8	Poets	2+d3	Crime	Religious zealots looking to convert
9	Comedians	2d6	Nothing	Pickpockets who have settled on the players
10	Orators	3d4	Revolution	Undead/Monstrous

The Seven Hungers of Callista (Living Statues + 2d6 + Food + Part of a streetgang)
A group of seven women who stand suggestive in their stillness. Regular visitors to the market know to leave small parcels of food in the baskets at their feet, which stirs them into motion. They are the eyes and ears of the Black Ruins, a gang of muggers. They spot likely targets for their colleagues to rob.

Grimmers (Orators + 2+d3 + Help + Slavers trying to find people to kidnap)
Grimmers tell anyone and everyone that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Taxes are too high, there is war and famine and evil magic and monsters. But you can help! Help them! Please...? If you do go with them and you seem like you might be of practical value, then you'll get coshed over the head and wake up in a wagon headed south...

Buddy and the Bass Lutes (Buskers + 1+d2 + Revolution)
Buddy and his two friends sing songs to inspire! They engage people with their marching pieces, Buddy on short fiddle, Gall on bass lute and Jero on bass lute. Their songs are based on centuries-old protest chants, and have no relevance in the current age. No one listens to them, no one likes them, and no one is going to join them.

Chuckles (Clowns + 3d4 + Violence + Know the location of something valuable)
In ragged threadbare outfits, half a dozen men stalk the streets daring you to laugh. They wear big red smiles, curly rainbow wigs and floppy shoes. Go ahead, laugh. They hear so much as a giggle and they'll go for your throat. They're lean, fast and strong and looking for any excuse to hurt someone. They love their freedom: if subdued, beaten down or if more than half are knocked out/killed then they will change tack and offer their store of treasures.

Random Table: The Great Bakerie

Being the first in an irregular series of random provocation tables for games of various types. In my mind when I started writing this one I just thought, "Hmmm, what kind of cakes would a magic baker sell?" It seemed silly at first, and is possibly over-written, but it's just designed to give some ideas. You fill in the blanks, and of course YMMV.

Merion is the son of a Sorceress and a Gourmet. Trained by both, he set off to find his own path in the world; after years of travel and practice he set up The Great Bakerie, a shop where he makes and sells confections that defy the natural order. There is usually a selection of cakes and pastries that have magical effects. Sometimes he has far rarer and more bizarre delights...