The Spires of the Elven Lords

Iron is poison. Iron is inescapable. Iron kills.

Since their coming to Ore, the elven people have fought a losing battle, to escape the effects of Ore's poisonous, iron-rich environment. Or, if not escape it (for this thing truly is not possible in the long term), to delay the onset of iron poisoning. There are several ways to do this, but today I will speak only of the first: The elven enclaves.

Elven culture on Ore has attempted, wherever possible, to find new ways to seal the elven people away from the outside environment, and from the the poison that saps their vitality, warps their magic, and corrodes their very souls. The most notable places where this has occurred are the Spires of Ur-Hadad. Though Man conquered the elves in His rebellion, lo these many years ago, the elves never surrendered their Spires. They still stand, a testament and a monument to elven persistence in their quixotic fight against the inevitable. In the end, there is only metal. Ore's very core spins malignantly beneath their feet, and its arteries pump iron rich magma. There is no escape, no surcease, only the long, bitter struggle against the inevitable. Then, there is death, or there is madness, or there is the choice to "sail into the West," a cryptic reference to Elfland that no elf has ever explained to outsiders. All we know is that sometimes elves return to elfland, and they don't come back.

The Spires were built to combat the iron threat, and consist of what, for lack of a better description, are the bones of ancient creatures. Though their arts are not now practiced (and are forbidden by decree), the ancient elves of the Dominion were masters of technomancy, and could create life through processes now forbidden (though it is rumored that some elven factions still follow this path). They "bred" homes, aether ships, fortresses, fell constructs bred for battle, and all manner of other things. These creatures were grown from a single seed and developed over time into the mature works of elven master artisans of this craft. Over what amounted to many generations of the lives of Men, five elven Spires grew from such seeds, rising thousands of feet into the skies above Ur-Hadad, each unique and yet the same as the others.

In appearance, the Spires look like the bleached, blue-white bones of great creatures (actually a complex diamond-like substance), shining unsullied by time under the sun and moons of Ore. Their surfaces are near-impregnable, with few windows or portals, and these well guarded. The rise, with insectile grace, into the sky, sharp points skewering the clouds layers above, disappearing from sight, far, far above. They look just a little bit like gigantic vines and fronds, laden with buds and studded with thorns, climbing toward eternity.

No non-elven person has ever entered the Spires. In fact, not even every elf has done so. They are sealed off to most, and guarded jealously against unauthorized entry. Cloistered within are the elite of elven society, whose faces are masked in strange helms and concealing armors and robes, and whose voices emerge, strange and discordant, like a chorus of angels, from the places where their mouths must be. No living human has ever seen the faces of the elven nobility, at least not in life.

Each Spire has a name Anuch-Dar (the Collective Mind), Morgath-Ka'ak (the Bloody Hand), Morgath-Gur (the Sinister Hand), Morgath-Noriel (the Adroit Hand), and Anuch-Ur (the Singular Mind). No one is quite sure what these names mean, and the elves aren't inclined to answer questions about them. In fact, the Spires are not spoken of in the hearing of non-elves, and even those elves who walk among Men refuse any attempt to discuss them, going so far as to fight duels to avoid doing so. As a result, we have little to go on but rumors. Here are a few.

• The elves are preparing an army to reconquer Ore.
• The elves are using their arcane knowledge to build a bridge to the the moons.
• The elven females are the true rulers, and use the Spires to keep their breeding stock of pure-blooded mates in harem.
• The Spires descend miles into the depths of Ore, and are just the tips of a far vaster structure that spans the entire world.
• The Spires are great ships, and could leave the surface of Ore to climb among the moons and stars.
• The creatures living in the Spires are not elves at all, but demonic creatures, and wear their concealing raiment to hide their true natures.
• The elves are attempting to cross-breed with Men, and the Spires are full of vast slave pens, technomantic laboratories, and mad elves bent on fiendish experiments, lusting after human women. 
• The Spires are great libraries of lost knowledge, jealously guarded by powerful elven mages.
• The Spires are portals to other planes, where the elves still rule great empires of cruelty and despair.

None of these rumors has been substantiated, but neither have they been disproved. And there are many more than these, each wilder than the last, each speaking to the greatest hopes and deepest fears of the Men of Ore, and each underlining the great rift that still exists between the two races.

In their enclaves, the elves are safe, and keep themselves pure from the taint of iron, for a time.

Outside of the enclaves, Men gaze suspiciously upon the Spires, pondering their threat and their promise, at the same time filled with dread and with avarice.

Outside the Spires, there also are elves. They are not the elite of elven society. They do not share in its bounty. They are not privy to its secrets. Their lives are too short, and too many of them are corrupted by iron. Their misery grows, generation by generation, as they are warped and corroded from within. They, too, gaze at the Spires. And their hatred grows a little each day, like the shoots of a thorn bush rising from blackened ground, growing from sentiment, to philosophy, to vocation. Their hatred is spreading and becoming organized, and it has a name: Morgath'ak-Lugash, the Iron Fist.

More about the Elves of Ore and the Effects of Iron

I've written previously (several times, in fact) about the Elves of Ore. While I don't like to play elves that much, I'm pretty fascinated by them as they are emerging in the Metal Gods project I've been working on with  +Adam Muszkiewicz, +Wayne Snyder, and the rest of of the Divine Order of The Purple Tentacle. My next adventure will be very elf-centric, and will examine in great detail what might happen as elves attempt to deal with iron infection, as I wrote about in another post. I'd like to follow that idea up, here.

Elves have little tolerance for ferrous materials, and particularly forged iron. It's poisonous to them in the same way that heavy metals are poisonous to humans. Iron is debilitating, physically and mentally. It may even be that it's debilitating, spiritually, as well. Elves must avoid places with high concentrations of iron, like the aptly named Iron Coast. There are even some regions of Ore with sufficient iron that the water is undrinkable by elves. This is, in part why Ur-Hadad was one of the bastions of elven culture, before Man's rebellion and eventual triumph. Much of the land there is relatively low in iron content, though no place on Ore is totally free of iron. It was the least of the evils.

So, for the Elves of Ore, dealing with this peculiar relationship with iron has challenged their artisans for as long as elves have inhabited Ore. They have learned to cultivate and spin spider silk into thread so fine that their clothing is nearly impermeable. They have labored long to find means of purifying air and water. They have developed amazing means of sealing their enclaves off, using both arcane power and mechanical inventions. Their healers have tried, though largely unsuccessfully, to create means of leaching iron from tainted elves' blood and tissues. To put a point on it, elven industry is uncommonly fixated on dealing with the iron problem, and this issue permeates the work of virtually every class of elven artisan, and many an elf has made a glorious name through successful invention of new means of avoiding infection. What they've managed to produce is more a band-aid than a cure, but the various devices, tonics, and raiment they've produced, work.

In many cases, wealthy elven characters look like fremen in still suits (from Dune) or Mass Effect quarians, hidden behind masks and filters, shrouded in folds of peculiarly tailored clothing, and wearing elaborate helms and headdresses or strange devices, which hum and glow with weird energies. These iron countermeasures also are very, very expensive (as expensive as plate mail, or even more so). Thus, elves with the means to buy them tend to be among the most elite of their race. They are long-lived and relatively healthy, avoiding most of the effects of iron (but certainly not all). Poor elves don't fare nearly as well. They are more sickly and the rate of birth defects among them is much, much higher than among wealthier members of their race. The poor also don't live nearly as long, at least if they remain on Ore.

The elves who can afford these countermeasures, though, also look alien to non-elves (and as privileged and uncaring to poor elves). They mark themselves as Other, seal their compounds off from the world and hide behind hermetically seals portals and windows, and otherwise isolate and alienate themselves from the world and its non-elven people. For this reason, any elf character who uses iron countermeasures should apply a penalty of -1 per countermeasure to his or her Personality modifier.

Modeling In-Game Effects of Iron Exposure on Elven Characters

Clearly, though, if I'm going to make this a part of play, I need a simple mechanic for doing so. The easiest thing I can do is to assume that the effects of iron impact character attributes, especially Strength and Stamina, though I think I could make an argument for effects on Agility, Personality, and Intelligence, as well.

Here's what I propose. Iron infection should cause attribute drain, and this effect can occur due to either acute exposure (e.g., being wounded with iron or steel weapons, wearing iron armor, etc.) or chronic exposure (e.g. living on Ore and not using "protection"). Acute exposure is relatively easy to track. Chronic exposure is a bit more difficult, and would require something to be tracked long term. If the mechanic is too granular it just becomes a pain to use, so I think a more abstract means is better. So, how about this?

Effects of Chronic Iron Exposure

At the beginning of each new adventure, Elf characters must make a d20 roll. If the roll is less than their character level, then the character must reduce one attribute by 1 point. If the elf in question is protected by the countermeasures discussed above, he or she may reduce the target number by 1 for each countermeasure used (up to 3). Failure to make the roll results in attribute drain of 1 point. The affected attribute could be at the option of player or Judge, or it could be rolled randomly. Luck is not affected by iron exposure, but an elf may burn 1 point of Luck to avoid the effects of a failed roll.

Example: Cresto the Elf is at level 3. Before starting a new adventure, he must roll a d20 and get a score of 3 or more. If Cresto rolls a 1 or 2, he must reduce one of his attributes by 1. He rolls a d5, getting a 2. Cresto loses 1 point of ... (*rolls randomly*)... Agility, permanently.

Effects of Acute Iron Exposure

Given the nature of the game, characters are going to get wounded a lot. Just to make this a bit more fair and simple for elven characters, acute iron exposure only occurs when they are reduced to zero hit points as a direct result of being hit with an iron or steel weapon (or trap, or whatever). That is, if the character is wounded during combat with an iron or steel weapon, and by that strike is reduced to 0 hit points, he or she must make a check just as for chronic iron exposure.

Example: Cresto (3rd level elf) is already wounded (down to 4 hit points). The fearsome Octo-man swings an axe (steel), inflicting 5 damage. Cresto goes down. After the fight, his companions attempt to "recover the body" (as per DCCRPG Rules, p. 93), and the Luck check is successful. Cresto is alive. He loses 1 point of Strength, Agility, or Stamina, as per the rules, but then must also roll a check to avoid the effects of iron exposure. He rolls a 7, which is equal to or higher than his character level. He avoids additional effects (this time). If he had failed, he would roll a d5 to determine which attribute is affected and subtract 1 point from that attribute.

Optional (Hardcore mode): Elves struck with iron weapons take an extra point of damage.

Long-term Impact on Elven Characters

Over the long term, as elves reach higher levels, the chances of debilitation increase. I think this is a simple way to measure the passage of time and how it increases chronic effects. It also makes elven characters a bit less durable over the long term, unless the elf in question takes measures to address the effects accrued. I think this could be done in any number of ways, most of which reduce to the best rule: "If you want it, then quest for it." A good mechanic also should be productive of better stories, after all, and should have a real impact on the characters and the game world. I think what I've offered here can achieve those things.

Metal Gods 'zine update

So, rumor has it that +Adam Muszkiewicz is just about done with layout for the Metal Gods 'zine. In fact, we're not gaming tonight because he's "on a roll." I really wanted to game, but also am really glad to hear it's close to ready. I think you folks will like it.

A brief word about urchins.

Adam mentioned that we were going to be supporting a charity: Stand Up for Kids. He also expressed our sentiment that it seems kind of weird to be supporting a kids' charity while putting out a 'zine with an adventure about urchins fighting their way across Ur-Hadad as a funnel. Here's where that comes from.

We had, in one of our first groups, a party with a disproportionate number of urchins. They all died. When I wrote one of our first 1st level adventures (Mysterious Temple of the Serpent God), I put in a room containing four urchins (extra zero-level guys, just in case). So, urchins, as such, have become sort of an Easter egg in my dungeons. It just sort of happened.

That said... In my life I've known a lot of homeless kids. Some of them are friends from my childhood, and some I've met since. So, I'm particularly committed to the charity we've chosen for this 'zine's "target" charity. If you can do so, I encourage you to support Stand Up for Kids by picking up a copy of the 'zine, print or PDF. I promise that whatever we don't use to cover costs of production will go straight to the charity. Their work is incredibly important, especially given the effects of the recession and sequestration.

This public service announcement has been brought to you by the Kickassistan Ministry of Tourism.

P.S.

What is wrong with me? Why have I not been reading this blog?

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/

Announcement--DCC #82 Bride of the Black Manse

I have an exciting announcement to make. If you're reading this blog, my guess is that it's something you'd be interested in.

My adventure Blood for the Serpent King will be published by Goodman Games as an add-on to an adventure by ace writer +Harley Stroh. Harley's adventure, Bride of the Black Manse, will be the primary adventure in the module, and is designed for level 3 Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG characters. Blood for the Serpent King is for 2nd level DCC RPG characters.

I'm really excited about this, as publishing something with Goodman has been a dream of mine since I first started writing adventures for DCC RPG. I submitted a module to Goodman a while back, but it wasn't something they needed at the time. Nonetheless, Joseph Goodman was kind enough to give it a good read-through and made some incredibly helpful suggestions for revising it. Every single thing he recommended was excellent advice, and will go into my next revision. Unfortunately, that meant I wouldn't be publishing with Goodman. It's what I kind of expected, but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't disappointed. So, imagine my surprise when I got an email from Joseph Goodman a few weeks later, asking me if I'd like to do a short adventure based on an earlier DCC Module. I (of course) accepted the offer, and was assigned to produce an adventure based on the Emerald Cobra, a villain appearing in Goodman Games' D&D 3rd edition adventure module, DCC #16 Curse of the Emerald Cobra. Blood for the Serpent King is my response to this source material.

I'd like to thank the guys from the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign, +Adam Muszkiewicz, +Wayne Snyder, +Bear Wojtek, +James MacGeorge, +Gabriel Perez Gallardi, and +phil spitzer, as well as +Jason Miller, Kevin Sunderland, John Iverson, and Ryan Bakhiet. These guys participated in the playtests and their participation resulted in changes that really improved my work. Thanks very much, guys.

You can pre-order the adventure from Goodman Games for $9.99 plus shipping & handling.

Inspiration

The Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign recently passed the one year mark. In that time, I think we gamed all but about three weeks. That's 49 sessions where we did something gaming related, whether it was an actual session or just noodling around and playtesting little stuff that we'd been working on. A good run.

+Adam Muszkiewicz is getting ready to pick up the mic again. I'm not sure yet what he plans to run. It's also possible that +Wayne Snyder will run some sessions in the Thunderlands--Think Conan, Thundarr, etc., but waaaaayyy more Metal.

While all that's going on, though, I'm going to be working on a little adventure that I'm calling "Goloch-Ka." It'll be about elves and their history. It also will allow me to add something I've been wanting to do for a while now: Worthy foes.

As you may already know, Golden Ur-Hadad, the First City of Men, is a vast, sprawling metroplex of what passes for civilization on Ore. It is the center of human civilization, at least. The other races probably have other thoughts and concerns in this regard. Chief among those harboring such skepticism about humans are the elves of Ore. They play the long game. They are largely neutral on the Human Question, but there are factions among them that would like no more than to wipe the humans (and their enablers, the dwarves and halflings) from the face of the planet, or to place them under the iron non-ferrous boot of elven dominion, once more and for all time.

Until now, the Metal Gods crew hasn't been much more than a blip on the radar of the powerful of Ur-Hadad, though their activities and loyalties have been assessed and recorded by spies, lackeys, and functionaries. Their presence has been Noted. After Goloch-Ka, things will change. The surviving Metal Gods characters from the original funnel (and a few from later on) have hit 3rd level, for the most part. They're too powerful to ignore, and have begun securing a power base in the First City. Soon, events will be set in motion, and enemies will reveal themselves. They will not be the holdovers of the last regime (like the Bloody Successors), bent on their own agenda. No, they will be personal enemies, bent on the destruction of the Divine Order of the Purple Tentacle.

And a new power will arise, in the lands outside of Ur-Hadad. It will threaten every living creature on Ore.

It will be glorious.

I just needed a little inspiration, and now I've had it. And now I have a fiendish plan. Thanks, +Wayne Snyder, for bringing this down on our heads. Between the Metalocalypse rock opera he showed me (Dethklok: The Doomstar Requiem), and his Thunderlands setting ideas and Metal Gods 'zine image dump, I  just can't help but attempt to do something even more awesome. It's not all your fault, Wayne, but you keep doing things to raise the bar. You know I ain't gonna take that shit lying down.

They said to make it Brutal. I made it Brutal. Now it's time to make it... Brutal-er ('cause that's a word, okay?). And Brutality will have a face... with pointy ears... and not a cookie in sight. You've been warned.

My Anniversary Present: Death, death, and more death

Last night marked the first anniversary for the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign. Let me begin by saying that gaming with +Adam Muszkiewicz, +Wayne Snyder, +Bear Wojtek, +Gabriel Perez Gallardi, +James MacGeorge, +phil spitzer, +Jason Hobbs, and (once or twice) +John Iverson has been a blast. I think we've managed to game about 50 weeks out of the last 52, which ain't a bad run.

Sadly, Bear and James were unable to join us last night. In Bear's honor, the whole game was nothing but a series of dick jokes. +Jason Hobbs' Roll20 token was a giant dildo, even. Maybe it wasn't so much a series of dick jokes as it was the Metal Gods version of The Aristocrats.

And, yes, that's Bob Saget. A perfect choice don't you think?

Anyway, we each started off with two or three level zero guys. I made mine with the alternate level zero generator I posted recently (Note: There's been an update to how the dices rolls work, to make them a bit swingier. Fun!).  I ended up with a Brewer who spent time as a soldier (Jeddak), a dwarven apothecary who fell in with a bad crowd (Gnarrly), and an acolyte who was the black sheep of his family (Thulan). All of them had their high and low points, but none had very many hit points. This would prove... consequential. 

Adam ran an adventure from Brave Halfling, but altered for the Metal Gods universe. I don't think he ever mentioned what it was called. In any case, it was a lot of fun.

We started at a hole in the ground, at the top of a hill. I sent the brewer/soldier and the dwarf down first. They saw A SCARY SPIDER and were hauled back up out of reach. We got down there again, in numbers, and Jeddak the brewer/soldier nailed it with a thrown hammer. For once, I was rolling like a fuckin' beast. My guys just killed and killed and killed. We were filled with the spirit of Lemm the Killmaster, I think, for it was our mission to investigate this now-desecrated temple of Lemm. 

Backstory: Lemm the Killmaster, whose aspect is the Iron Boar, Snaggletooth, is one of the Metal Gods. In our campaign, "metal" is both a thing (it can be forged into weapons whereby Man can cast off the chains of his elven oppressors--Fuck the elves!), an attitude (make it brudl), and how we find the Lost Hymns (the musical connection). The Metal Gods are incarnations of Man as pantheon. They were men, once, but now they are gods. We give them worship by being awesome, where "awesome" is defined as the sorts of things you find on finer album covers and wizard vans. It's got a lot more in common with Wizards (the movie) than with The Hobbit (the Rankin/Bass vehicle of the same era), and with the ancient times (the 1970s, or even... the early 1970s) than with the current age. Anyway...

Having trounced the spider, we began to explore the temple. Everywhere, we found evidence of great antiquity and of the foul desecration. We also found evidence of a schism among the Faithful. Lemm is patron of getting wasted, fucking, and killing things well. Also (and here's my contribution) regretting not the deeds done, but the grimness of the world which results from them. The schism broke the temple into two factions: Those focused on the fucking and getting wasted and those more interested in the stabby, smashing, rending thing. This temple was held by the fighty ones, but they'd been attacked in their stronghold by a demon, and defeated. The demon's presence had sullied the environs, making mock of Lemm's power. This could not stand. We would purify it.

Before we started tonight, Adam made very clear that no good could come of hanging back, or even of doign things in ways less than totally awesome. We needed to approach our work with gusto. We needed to make it metal. We needed make it worthy of an album cover. We were up to the task. I won't go into every encounter we had, but suffice it to say that we fucked up a bunch of skeltons, some giant bats, and a boss skeleton of some kind. 

In the end, I was down to one character. Gnarrly the dwarf had died early on, from a spider bite. He made his save versus poison, but not versus mandible damage (3 points killed him). Thulan the acoloyte got stabbed by a skeleton, I think. I don't rightly remember. My last guy, Jeddak, charged into the boss fight, screaming like a Fury, mace raised high and swinging it with both hands. He faced a skeletal being wearing jeans, leather chaps, and a jean vest. He crushed that sonofabitch into oblivion. Boss... dead. It was appropriately Metal, I think. 

Honestly, I couldn't help to try very, very hard to make every encounter as awesome as I could. I wanted that album cover! Even with one guy left, I just didn't care. So, filled with the spirit of the Killmaster, he smashed that fucker's head in. Then, even with the scavenged scale mail (AC 16), Adam rolled an 18, did 3 points of damage (I only had 2). He died, then, cut down like a dog. But that's as it should have been. It was a perfect ending for my guys. I regret nothing. For Jeddak, Thulan, and Gnarrly, I offer one of the Lost Hymns in honor of their sacrifices:

Mother earth, mother earth enfold you in her cold embrace
Sinking down, killing ground, worm crawling on your cold white face
Win or lose, nought to choose, all men are equal when their memory fades
No one knows, friends or foes, if Valhalla lies beyond the grave

You died well, boys. Good on ya. You'll get your album covers. You will.

In the end, the remaining members of the party reclaimed the Axe of Lemm and used it to resanctify His temple. A herald of Lemm descended to thank them, granting them the weapon (among other things), and bade them go forth and bring glory to His name.

All my guys died, but it couldn't have been a better session. I have just one question: Is it Thursday yet? I'm ready to go again. 

Awww, crap. I forgot. Next Thursday is Halloween. No game. *sigh*  I guess I'm gonna have to dress up like a wizard and go frighten children and their parents. All in a day's work, I suppose. The next Thursday, though, that's gonna be glorious. How could it be anything but?

Announcement: Metal Gods 'zine is coming!

As +Adam Muszkiewicz mentioned in a recent blogpost at Dispatches from Kickassistan, the Metal Gods crew will be producing a 'zine product. It will be available both in print and in PDF. The content will be focused on the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad setting, and will give readers a chance to see how our crew does its adventuring. There will material providing background on the setting, usable gaming content, and original art.

My own contributions will be (as I recall) a new +Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game patron, and (best of all) a zero-level funnel adventure modeled on Warriors.

Except we use urchins in place of gang members.

It features two "roll all  the dice" generators as well as a special d30 table for generating special content appropriate to the Metal Gods setting: Golden Ur-Hadad, the First City of Men.

Stay tuned for more information, here and at Dispatches from Kickassistan.

Alternative Zero-level Character Generator for DCC: Updated and updated again

I have updated the Alternative Zero-level Character Generator. I had a chance, last night, to test it out with the Metal Gods crew (Adam, Gabriel, Jason, Phil, and Wayne), and we discovered that it needed a bit of tweaking and just a little more explanation of some parts of the process. This is the result.

To begin character generation:

• Start with by rolling your character attributes, using 3d6, in order.
• Your starting age is 13.
• You may be of either sex.
• Roll on the Occupation Table of your choice, or use Purple Sorcerer's excellent character generator. This roll represents your parent's (mother's or father's) profession.

 After that, you're going to go through a process of determining what has happened so far in your life, before you decided to become an adventurer. Much of this material is left to your discretion. It's there to give you some ideas about what you might have been or might have done in your life, going beyond the notion of "occupation" and getting into "biography." The idea here is that you are shaped by your past, and not merely by whatever single occupation you might have pursued before becoming an adventurer.

Along the way, you will have a change to change your attributes (by rolling for them according to the circumstances you encounter). Sometimes the results might seem counter-intuitive. For example, you might find that your character has had formal schooling, but the resulting roll against the Intelligence attribute gives you a negative modifier. How can going to school make you dumber? Think about it: How many young people go off to college only to spend their first year (or more) carousing and more or less going crazy once they are out of their parents' supervision? As a professor myself, I can only say that the answer is "not a few." It's your job as a player to determine what the results of your rolls actually mean, as they are not elaborated in the tables. They are intentionally left vague so that you have that ability.

Here is the table you'll use later, when you are told to make a roll against one or more attributes. Roll 1d7-4 for swingy rolls) or 3d6 (for stronger central tendency) each time you are asked to make a roll. The resulting modifiers should be added or subtracted from your relevant current attribute scores. None of your attributes can go below 3 or above 18. Ignore any rolls that would achieve either of those results.

Modifiers for 3d6 Roll
3 (-3)

4-5 (-2)

6-8 (-1)

9-12 (+0)

13-15 (+1)

16-17 (+2)

18 (+3)

You will roll on the following tables, using the results as inspiration for your life's story prior to becoming an adventurer. Note that some results will ask you to enter the zero-level funnel or become an adventurer. This means that your character generation process is complete:

First, you should determine your origins. From what sort of place do you come?

Where are you from? (d16)

1-5 A farm

6-8 A village

9-10 A town

11-12 A city

13-14 A wilderness area

15 A war zone

16 Nomadic (land or sea)

Then, figure out what shaped your early development.

What did you do for the first part of your life? (roll a d24)

1-8 Just like Mom/Dad: You carry on the family tradition, following in the footsteps of your mother/father. Keep your original occupation and roll once against each attribute. Hereafter, ignore any result that makes you change your occupation. Add 1d10 years to your age.

9-10 A soldier shall ye be: You are press-ganged by a high noble for a war. Change your occupation to "person-at-arms." Make rolls against Strength, Agility, Stamina. Add 1d5 years to your age.

11-12 Runaway: You run away from your home to pursue a personal ambition (pick an occupation associated with that ambition). Make rolls against Stamina, Personality, and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.

13-14 Black Sheep: You are driven in shame from your home because of something terrible that you did (or are reputed to have done). Make rolls against Stamina and Intelligence. Add 1d5 years to your age.

15-16 Fall in with a Bad Crowd: You become a juvenile delinquent. Choose an appropriate occupation (e.g., Urchin, Pickpocket, Burglar). Make rolls against Agility and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.

17-18 Student: You receive formal schooling. Make rolls against Intelligence and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.

19-20 Acolyte: You get religion, becoming an acolyte in a temple. Make rolls against Intelligence and Personality. Add 1d5 years to your age.

21-22 Apprentice: You are apprenticed to a master. Change your occupation to reflect your apprenticeship (e.g., blacksmith, jeweler, apothecary, etc.). Make rolls against either Intelligence and Personality/Strength and Agility/Stamina and Luck, depending on the apprenticeship. Add 1d5 years to your age.

23 Brush with destiny: You are blessed or corrupted in some manner. Roll against all attributes, modifying each as warranted, and using the results to determine what might have happened. Add 1d5 years to your age.

24 Roll twice on this table.

Then, you determine what happened after the developmental years of your life.

What happened next? (roll a d24)

1-12 Adventure awaits! You decided to become an adventurer. Make a roll against one Attribute (as determined by 1d6: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, or Luck). Character generation is done, and you enter the zero-level funnel.

13-16 Continue on: You carry on what you were doing last time. Make the same rolls as before and add 1d10 to your age. Character generation is done, and you enter the zero-level funnel.

17-18 Curveball: You encounter a crisis event. Make rolls against Luck and one other attribute (as determined by 1d6: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, or Luck). Add 1d5 years to your age.

19-20 A new path: You change the course of your life. Roll on the previous table, ignoring repeated results, and add 1d10 to your age.

21 Marriage: You are wed to another. Make rolls against two of Personality, Intelligence, or Luck. Add 1d10 to your age.

22 Advanced learning: You study with a master. Roll twice against two attributes of your choice. Take the higher result of each roll. Add 1d20 to your age.

23 Junkie: You become an addict. Roll twice against two attributes (as determined by 1d6). Take the less lower result of each roll. Add 1d20 to your age.

24 Turbulent life: Roll d12+12 twice on this table.

Finally, provided that you haven't already become an adventurer and entered the zero-level funnel, you should roll on this table to determine what sort of precipitating event caused you to leave your old life behind to seek a life of adventuring. Some choose it and some are forced into it by circumstance. Use your life story so far, and the result of your roll to determine the particulars. For example, prior results may have told you that your character had married. Perhaps you roll 4 on this table—Death. In that case, your spouse might have died. Alternately, you might have had a brush with death that somehow changed you and made you want to leave your comfortable life behind.

What caused you to become an adventurer? (roll a d10)

1 Famine: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Stamina. Add 1d5 to your age.

2 War: Make a roll against either Strength or Agility. Add 1d5 to your age.

3 Pestilence: Make a roll against either Stamina or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.

4 Death: Make a roll against either Strength or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.

5 Epiphany: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Personality. Add 1d5 to your age.

6 Dream: Make a roll against either Stamina or Personality. Add 1d5 to your age.

7 Avarice: Make a roll against either Personality or Agility. Add 1d5 to your age.

8 Boredom: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.

9 Serendipity: Make a roll against two attributes of your choice. Add 1d5 to your age.

10 Roll twice on this table.

Now it's time to do some adventuring. Take these characters out into the world. Most of them will die, certainly, but those who survive may make names for themselves, or get stinking rich, or become insanely powerful. But that's another story. It's up to you to tell that story.

Ideas about Alternative Zero-level Character Generation for DCC

So, I was was thinking about something +Adam Muszkiewicz and I were discussing a while back: The character creation process for the original Traveler system. Stuff happened to your prior to your life as an adventurer. I'd like to do something similar for DCC. Here are the bones of it.

• Start with 3 character attributes at 10 and three at 11, distributed however you want them.
• You begin at an age of 13.
• You may be of either sex.
• Roll on the Occupation Table of your choice, or use Purple Sorcerer's excellent character generator. This roll represents your parent's (pick one) profession. 

After that, you're going to go through a process of determining what has happened so far in your life, before you decided to become an adventurer. Along the way, you will have a change to change your attributes (by rolling for them according to the circumstances you encounter) and using the following results. Note: This is also the table you'll use later, when you are told to make a roll against one or more attributes. None of your attributes can go below 3 or above 18. Ignore any rolls that would achieve either of those results.

3 (-3)
4-5 (-2)
6-8 (-1)
9-12 (+0)
13-15 (+1)
16-17 (+2)
18 (+3)

Then, roll on the following tables, using the results as inspiration for your life's story prior to becoming an adventurer:

Where are you from? (d16)

• 1-5 A farm
• 6-8 A village
• 9-10 A town
• 11-12 A city
• 13-14 A wilderness area
• 15 A war zone
• 16 Nomadic

What did you do for the first part of your life? (roll a d24)

• 1-8 You carry on the family tradition, following in the footsteps of your mother/father (roll once against each attribute). Hereafter, ignore any result that makes you change your occupation. Add 1d10 years to your age.
• 9-10 You are press-ganged by a high noble for a war. Change your occupation to "person-at-arms." Make rolls against Strength, Agility, Stamina. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 11-12 You run away from your home to pursue a personal ambition (pick an occupation associated with that ambition). Make rolls against Stamina, Personality, and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 13-14 You are driven in shame from your home because of something terrible that you did (or are reputed to have done). Make rolls against Stamina and Intelligence. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 15-16 You become a juvenile delinquent. Make rolls against Agility and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 17-18 You receive formal schooling. Make rolls against Intelligence and Luck.Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 19-20 You get religion. Make rolls against Intelligence and Personality. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 21-22 Apprenticeship. Make rolls against either Intelligence and Personality/Strength and Agility/Stamina and Luck. Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 23 You are blessed or corrupted in some manner. Roll against all attributes, modifying each as warranted.  Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 24 Roll twice on this table.

What happened next? (roll a d24)

• 1-12 You decided to become an adventurer. Make a roll against one Attribute (as determined by 1d6) Enter zero-level funnel.
• 13-16 You carry on what you were doing last time. Make the same rolls as before and add 1d10 to your age, and enter zero-level funnel.
• 17-18 You encounter a crisis event. Make rolls against Luck and one other attribute (as determined by 1d6).  Add 1d5 years to your age.
• 19-20 You change the course of your life. Roll on the previous table, ignoring repeated results, and add 1d10 to your age.
• 21 You marry. Make rolls against two of Personality, Intelligence, or Luck. Add 1d10 to your age.
• 22 You study with a master. Roll twice against two attributes of your choice. Take the higher result of each roll. Add 1d20 to your age.
• 23 You become an addict. Roll twice against two attributes (as determined by 1d6). Take the less lower result of each roll. Add 1d20 to your age.
• 24 Roll d12+12 twice on this table.

What caused you to become an adventurer? (roll a d10)

• 1 Famine: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Stamina. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 2 War: Make a roll against either Strength or Agility. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 3 Pestilence: Make a roll against either Stamina or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 4 Death: Make a roll against either Strength or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 5 Epiphany: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Personality. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 6 Dream: Make a roll against either Stamina or Personality. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 7 Avarice: Make a roll against either Personality or Agility. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 8  Boredom: Make a roll against either Intelligence or Luck. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 9 Serendipity: Make a roll against two attributes of your choice. Add 1d5 to your age.
• 10 Roll twice on this table.

Some New Reads

I won't have a playthrough to post for a while, as I'm working on a couple of gaming projects. More or less, the stuff I normally would be posting is under wraps for the time being, until such time as we can do the Big Reveal. +Adam Muszkiewicz and I will have something to roll out in the next couple of weeks on that score, and I will have something else to post after that. Not sure how long after.

In the meantime, I've been reading some stuff that's got my gaming juices flowing. Some of it came from my boy, +Wayne Snyder, who sent me lovely GenCon swag, and included a few Kane novels by Karl Edward Wagner. If you haven't read Kane, you probably should. You may have heard of him before? Killed his brother? Cursed by God to wander the Earth forever? Yeah, that guy. He's not very nice, in fact he's downright evil, but in many ways he's a lot better than the bastards he's fighting.

I also got some new books, by new authors.

First up, we have The Grim Company by Luke Scull, an author with which I was not familiar. With this first offering, we get a pretty standard fantasy world. Fearsome northmen, corrupt and all-powerful mages, and all that sort of thing. What's best about it, I think, is how Scull puts together his protagonists from dribs and drabs of faulty humanity: Aging warriors who are definitely "too old for this shit," but nonetheless do their best, cocky self-described "hero" types who are destined for fame, and all kinds of crazy ass wizards who are incredibly powerful, each ruling his or her own kingdom in his or her uniquely fucked up way. Better yet, magic is a limited commodity. They mine it from the corpses of dead gods (who these mages killed in the Godswar, way back when). Put it all together, and it's a fun read. Recommended.

Next, we have Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. This is a lovely, lovely book, set in a corrupt, fantasy Middle-Eastern city. Given my interest in such things, what with the whole Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad thing, it fit like a comfortable old shoe. This novel is about an aging man, a trained ghul-hunter of an ancient (but fading) order. He's partnered up with a young and devout Dervish, and find themselves in the company of a young tribeswoman who can take the shape of a lioness. They face off against the rise of a terrible evil, a ghul-maker who seeks to harness the power of an ancient throne. This is pretty standard fantasy fare, I suppose, but Ahmed does an excellent job in building characters, and I found myself wishing it was a longer book. I really liked these guys a lot and wanted to see what happened next. Oh, and the good guy gets the girl in the end, which is also nice. Again, recommended.

In comparing the two books, I'd probably give them similar marks. Scull's work has more weirdness, but Ahmed's reads more like a fairy tale, if you know what I mean. Neither is quite what you'd expect, in the end, and neither author is afraid to kill off people.

By the way, I get a lot of this stuff though my membership at SFBC.com, which keeps me supplied with books. I kind of prefer the bookclub editions because they tend to package trilogies and series into a single, omnibus edition. This saves me shelf space and also ensures that I don't have to track down copies of single books. Much easier that way (Disclaimer: Edgar is not a spokesperson for SFBC.com, nor has he accepted any gratuity from them. He just likes buying books.)