Monthly Archives: November 2011

Need Ideas? Check Out Sea of Stars

Posted on 23 November 2011 | Leave a comment

In my continuing and irregular series of my favorite blogs, we come to Sea of Stars. This is great site for items and ideas to steal and use for your own games.

If your the kind of GM that gets inspiration by reading campaign logs of other people’s games, Sea of Stars has several for you to choose from. From Pathfinder to Legend of the Five Rings to Shadowrun, there’s a wide variety of genres and systems to look at.

Sea of Stars also has several good articles on game theory and gaming advice. For some solid advice on playing evil characters, check out Moral Dilemmas: Playing Evil (and I’m not just recommending it because he links it back to this blog 😉 ). Genre Resources is just what it says it is: a list of resources for various gaming genres.

But where this blog really shines is its collections of things–magic items, monsters, people–that you can use in your own games. I like to check the blog for it’s Tuesday Magic Items. The site’s owner, Sean Holland has described over 100 different magic items, from books, to rings, to wands, weapons…even a box of servants.

Sean’s also creating the Sea of Stars game setting and is a fellow member of the Gamer Lifestyle program. You can check out the progress of that here: Sea of Stars RPG

So if you’re needing some item to round out a monster’s hoard or a new monster to challenge your players (complete with 3.x/Pathfinder stats), this is a site to check out.

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18 Adventure Archetypes

Posted on 12 November 2011 | 1 comment

In The Adventure Creation Handbook, I talk about using adventure archetypes as a way to help you develop plot details. Below are 18 adventure archetypes, along with the plot elements each one generally needs to be successful.

Archetype

Needs
Babysitting Someone or something to watch over, someone trying to capture what’s being baby sat, a map of the “sitee’s” location
Escort Thing or person to escort, place to escort them from, place to escort them to, map of route, something or someone trying to prevent them from getting there.
Raid Place to raid, item(s) to obtain in raid, guards, map of location, defensive measures/traps.
Kidnapping Someone to kidnap, guards, traps, and other defensive measures to prevent kidnapping, reason for kidnapping the victim, Location to bring victim to once kidnapped.
Exploration Unknown area to explore, random encounter tables, perhaps reason for exploring
Rescue Someone to rescue, a place to rescue them from, defensive measures to prevent rescue, reason why rescuee was taken
Robbery Place to rob, item to obtain (can be specific item or general type of item, such as “valuable”), defensive measures to prevent theft.
Bounty Hunt Person(s) to hunt, bounty reward, person or organization that wants huntee found
Breakout/Escape Jail, defenses to prevent escape, person to break out (if not the PCs themselves), reason why prisonner(s) is/are being held, locations of other prisoners, location of target in prison.
Assassination Person to assassinate, location of victim, person who wants assassination done, reason for assassination
Hijacking Vehicle(s) to be hijacked, driver(s) and passengers of vehicles, person who wants the hijacking done, reason for hijacking, hijacker’s demands, location to take vehicle(s) to.
Bug Hunt Critter to hunt, reward for successful hunt, location of critter, any defenses critter may have built
Smuggling Item or person to smuggle, authorities looking for same, authority checkpoints and personnel to carry out inspections, vehicle to smuggle with, location to take cargo to.
Salvage Wreck in hard-to-reach location, map where wreck is located, treasure to salvage, possibly rumors of treasure’s existence, possibly other group(s) also trying to salvage treasure.
Scam Marks (people to scam), a plan, possibly assistants
Spying Information to gain, plan to get same, people/location to get it from, people who want the information
Tournament Events to compete, other competitors, location of tournament, reward(s) for winners
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Beyond ‘Fred’: Names for Victorian Games

Posted on 6 November 2011 | 1 comment

Everyone has trouble coming up with character names, at least occasionally. Especially GMs, who frequently have to come up with names on the spur of the moment. That’s what this series, “Beyond ‘Fred'” is all about: providing lists of names from other times and cultures so you can find a name that feels right for the time and place of your game.

In this series, I’m more interested in finding names that capture the feel of various game settings. Historical accuracy is not a factor here. In the spirit of my new Castle Falkenstein campaign, here’s a list of names common in Victorian England and America:

Male Names

  • Aaron
  • Alonzo
  • Ambrose
  • Barnabas
  • Bartholomew
  • Bernard
  • Byron
  • Cecil
  • Cyril
  • Clarence
  • Clement (Clem)
  • Clinton (Clint)
  • David
  • Edward (Ned)
  • Edwin
  • Eldon
  • Ernest
  • Ezra
  • Francis
  • Franklin
  • Fredrick
  • Gabriel
  • Garrett
  • Harland
  • Harrison
  • Henry
  • Horace
  • Isaac
  • James
  • John
  • Jasper
  • Julian
  • Lawrence
  • Leander
  • Louis
  • Maurice
  • Maxwell
  • Merriweather
  • Micajah
  • Morris
  • Nathaniel (Nate, Nathan, Nat)
  • Nimrod
  • Oral
  • Orville
  • Patrick
  • Perry
  • Peter
  • Reuben
  • Richard (Dick, Rich)
  • Samuel
  • Simeon
  • Thaddeus
  • Thomas (Tom)
  • Victor
  • Walter
  • Wilfred

Female Names

  • Abigail (Abby)
  • Agnes
  • Beatrice
  • Charity
  • Charlotte
  • Chastity
  • Constance
  • Dorothy (Dot)
  • Elizabeth (Bess, Betsy, Bessie, Eliza, Liza, Lizzie)
  • Eudora
  • Eva
  • Fern
  • Fidelia
  • Frances
  • Flora
  • Geneve
  • Genevieve
  • Grace
  • Hattie
  • Helene
  • Hester
  • Irene
  • Ivy
  • Jessamine
  • Josephine
  • Judith
  • Katherine
  • Lenora
  • Letitia
  • Lily
  • Lottie
  • Margaret
  • Maude
  • Mercy
  • Minerva
  • Molly
  • Nellie
  • Patsy
  • Parthena
  • Permelia
  • Phoebe
  • Rowena
  • Rufina
  • Sarah
  • Sarah Anne (Sarah Elizabeth)
  • Sophronia
  • Theodosia
  • Victoria
  • Winnifred (Winnie)

Biblical names were very popular in the Victorian Era, as were virtues (such as Chastity or Hope), and flowers (primarily for women). Both boys and girls were also given “nature” names, such as Forrest, Fern

Sources

Other “Beyond ‘Fred'” posts:

 

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