Lost World Island Life, Part 1 - Running (Some of) X1 The Isle of Dread in OSE

I asked our group what D&D adventure module they wanted after B4 The Lost City. D&D module X1 The Isle of Dread was the strongest contender. We're about a quarter of the way through it. Seeing a long series of sessions between where we are and any possible end point, I put a pin in it. We'll be taking a break from the fantasy tropics for awhile and come back fresh later in the year.

My working folder, some notes, a previously owned copy of X1, and my copy of the OSE Referee's Tome. Note the price tag on the module. Remember when Half Price Books had TTRPG stuff for dirt cheap?

Conversion from D&D to OSE

The stats for most of what's in X1 The Isle of Dread are already in Old School Essentials. And converting between the two systems is as straightforward as it gets. I'm not sure it will continue to be this easy when I start adapting AD&D adventure modules.

My conversion was incomplete when I starting running the module. I concentrated on getting everything in the waters around the island done first. Next came everything in the southern half of the island. I left the northern areas, including the plateau, for later. This turned out to be a good thing, since I'll be adding a few things to the north and central areas in response to what the players are engaging with. More on that down below.


Preparing to Depart

I linked the two adventure modules together with the party's need for an active volcano. The party killed Zargon, B4 The Lost City's big bad boss monster, but needed to destroy his horn to keep him from regenerating a new form. Immersion in lava was the only known method, but I ruled that no sources were available in the area of The Lost City. (There is the option of placing an active volcano in B4 The Lost City as written. I choose not to for this campaign.) Fortunately, the party learned from their trusty Gnome contact Wigglewort that a newly discovered island to the south might have exactly what they needed. And he just happened to be organizing an expedition there, but sure could use the aid of an adventuring party to map the place and look for trading opportunities...


Sea Cruise

Roped in by Wigglewort's offer to help solve their problems in exchange for going on a hex crawl, the party boarded his ship for a more than three hour tour. The few small islands sighted along the way were ignored in favor making steady progress towards the mysterious isle. The couple of random encounters provided little challenge for the party of dungeon-hardened adventurers. The ship did sustain light damage from the weather, but nothing that the crew couldn't repair once they found a place a source of wood and a place to beach the hull.

The party choose to circle the isle rather than immediately making landfall. Wigglewort suggested making contact with the villages marked on his map. The indigenous people might make good trade partners and their villages would be a useful base to explore the isle. The party agreed and the ship sailed down the eastern side of the isle. This was uneventful, as the party cautiously avoided all the tempting opportunities to leave the ship and get into trouble.


Pirate Bay

The ship and party were welcomed by the indigenous people of the southern peninsula. Wigglewort found that they were already prepared for trade with the wider world. Bargains were struck between the Gnomes and villagers as the party collected rumors to guide their next moves.

The indigenous people told of pirates raiding their villages. The raiders came in canoes, wielded weapons of steel, and carried off many villagers to a fate unknown. "Sure would be nice," they didn't quite say, "if some adventurers would come along to track the pirates down to their island base, crush them, and save our fellow villagers."

Not being the types to ignore an obvious hook, the players began planning the operation. The villagers were able to supply the rough location of the pirate encampment. The plan was to have Wigglewort drop them off away from the pirate camp and scout the place out. The adventurers would then determine if a siege, infiltration, or assault would make the most sense.

The party was able to slip on the island, avoid pirate patrols, and approach the camp from the landward side. The first attempt to infiltrate the camp at night was successful in giving the adventurers a good idea of the layout and defenses. It also quickly escalated into full blown battle after they were discovered. The party gave much better than they got and pulled out before taking too much damage. They spent the next day resting, healing, and laying low from pirate attempts to locate them.

The next night saw the party launching a determined assault on the camp. The pirates, having failed to find the party during the day, were clearly making preparations to leave with their prisoners. The party wiped out the pirates and rescued the prisoners.

The party used a pre-arranged signal to summon Wigglewort and his ship. The rescued villagers and everything of value were packed up. A giant squid attack interrupted the trip back to the villages. The beast was driven off, but more damage was done to Wigglewort's ship. It would definitely need repairs before sailing back to the mainland.


In the Jungle (and Other Terrain)

It was at this point that we finally got to the meat of the adventure - a hex crawl. The Isle of Dread is one of the first hex crawl adventure modules. This makes it notable, but it suffers from not incorporating lessons from later decades of TTRPG development.

The party would have plenty of time to explore the isle while Wigglewort and his Gnomes repaired the ship. The indigenous villagers took the party as far as the tar pits they used as a resource. The players decided to focus on the south. It was closest to their effective base of operations. They'd also sighted some active volcanoes in the area while on their way back from dealing with the pirates. Just the thing for dealing with Zargon's horn!

I'm not going to offer a blow by blow account of the party's explorations of southern isle. The highlights included chucking Zargon's horn in an active volcano after the cleric had a nightmare about his followers heading to the isle in pursuit of it. They also encountered a Living Iron Statue guarding some ruins, a patrol of Lizard Men, and some Phanaton gathering fruit. Things were capped off when the party ran into some Rakasta. Things were amiable enough for the cat warriors to take them back to their camp and begin laying down the groundwork for a trade deal with Wigglewort.

The Isle of Dread relies on random encounter tables. There are relatively few keyed encounters on the overland map. This does insure that every group's experience with the module is unique. However, results from the random encounter tables require some finesse. Since the tables cover huge areas of the isle, many creatures will end up in the wrong biome. It doesn't make sense to me for Lizard Men to be wandering around an open plain, for example. This could be addressed with more fixed encounters or tables for each biome, but either would add page count to what is a slim product by modern standards.

Sometimes the dice are cooperative and the results are underwhelming. I don't assume that any random encounter will automatically be hostile. I use the reaction tables to set the mood of whoever is encountered. Since our group doesn't simply charge everything they run across, this makes some encounters non-events.

Example #1:
"You see some animals in the distance."
"We avoid them."
"Cool. Next hex."

Example #2:
"You encounter somebody capable of talking."
"We talk to them."
*Rolls neutral or friendly reaction.* "They engage in conversation."
*Have a role playing encounter.*

There aren't necessarily bad results, but might not be what the module designers intended.

Worse, from the players' perspectives, non-event encounters don't really earn gold. Which means little XP from such encounters in Old School Essentials. I do give out some XP for RP, but the gold value of treasure is the main source of XP income in the game.


Putting a Pin In It

At this point, we were roughly a quarter of the way through the module. Things seemed to be running long and we decided to take a break. I wonder how many groups have made it all the way though this module? Is it a campaign killer? Do groups get part way through the isle and lose interest?

The lack of keyed encounters make the isle feel sparsely populated in a way that random encounters don't address. The place could easily support two or three times the number that are in the module. I'm using our break to add some fixed encounters to fill in some details that seem lacking.

The first are signs of the civilizations previously inhabiting the isle. There are hints in the module as written. Who built the stone wall separating the indigenous villages in the southern peninsula from the rest of the island? The Kopru are stated to have ruled a kingdom in the past, but the only remanent of it is on the "Taboo Island" at the end of the module. Adding ruins of defunct human and Kopru civilizations would add a sense of history to the place. Some of them could be mini-dungeons suitable for a single session.

Second are clues to foreshadow the final encounter with the Kopru. As written, they are just kind of hanging out in their lair at the bottom of the dungeon they are in. Without more context, players may not realize that they are more than random monsters. A few statues - defaced so the Kopru's appearance comes as a surprise - and some inscriptions telling their tale would build up suspense. These would be found to the north of the isle, closest to the Kopru encounter.

Finally, indications of prior visitors. Not all of the current inhabitants appear to be indigenous to the isle. The populations of Aranea and Phanaton seem too small to be self-sustaining. And the Rakasta camp is explicitly stated to be temporary. These folks and others had to come from elsewhere. Over the seas is the most plausible explanation, but a more fantastic one is suggested in the Manual of the Planes (2008, 4E). I'm still playing with the idea.

RPGaDay 2025: Week 1 Recap and Commentary

As I've done for previous years, I'll be compiling each week's responses for RPGaDay in a post on this blog. Each post also features additional commentary that wouldn't fit in the character limits common to social media. That commentary is in italics. What is the RPGaDay challenge? See this post. Want to get my responses fresh on the day? Look to the dedicated RPG.net forum thread, Mastodon, and Bluesky.

All of this year's prompts in the form of a bookshelf.

Day 1: Patron

The hooded figure in the tavern? Mr. Johnson in the cyberpunk bar? The shadowy organization? The mysterious contact? Have them be upfront, supportive, and entirely trustworthy. Throws players for a loop after decades of getting stabbed in the back by the obviously evil corporate interstellar overlord vampire.

The sudden, but inevitable betrayal was a worn out trope before the turn of the millennium. There is a grain of truth to it - the petty, selfish, and greedy are rarely good managers or leaders. The majority of villains should be too shortsighted and self-centered to realize that good talent is both hard to find and can find work elsewhere. However, having an employer - even one with an MBA or "evil" in their title - who values the ability to get things done and rewards consistent results could be a welcome change of pace. Or it could throw the players off balance. Either is good.


Day 2: Prompt

Murder hornets? Yesterday's news. Radioactive wasps? That's where it's at (link to a Popular Science article about a hornet's nest found in a former nuclear weapons site).

Folks who follow my socials know I shared a link about this last week, but it's good enough for a repeat.

Radioactive wasps are a versatile prompt. Superhero origin - radioactive bug bites are an established source of superpowers. Kaiju origin - radiation is an established source of giant monsters. Weird element in a modern campaign - radiation is an established source of weirdness in both fiction and reality. An enterprising GM might be able to work it into a fantasy campaign with a little work.


Day 3: Tavern

Strict "no adventurers" taverns are local watering holes, have exclusive clientele, or don't want to pay the insurance premiums.

Taverns catering to the adventurer market feature quest boards, private meeting areas, and back rooms selling specialty gear.

"Travelers" taverns will serve adventurers, but prefer traders and pilgrims as they are less likely to wreck the joint.

Most adventures will find themselves in a tavern at some point. However, not all taverns serve the adventurer demographic. Low level adventurers tend to be frugal - there's not much money to be made there. Adventurers who survive to reach high levels tend to set up their own hangouts, even if the game doesn't overtly support domain management. The middle levels are where money can be made. They spend freely on rich food, strong drink, and a certain quality of entertainment while waiting for the next adventure hook to present itself. Unfortunately, they also bring trouble in various forms - the attentions of dark powers, political upheavals, assassins, and former romantic partners. Sometimes all at once. Sometimes all in the form of the same person. Sometimes that person is a party member. Also, the watch is rarely up to the challenge of breaking up a brawl involving adventurers outside of genre-aware locations. All in all, it might not be worth the money. So it does make sense that some places will look to other markets.

#RPGaDAY2025 It's Almost August Already?!

Yeah, August snuck up on me this year. Failure to plan is planning to fail and all that. On that basis, expect a crash and burn.

The #RPGaDay challenge presents a TTRPG related question for every day of August. It was launched by David F. Chapman on his AutoCratik blog and a full explanation is posted there. I participated in the previous two years and will be jumping in this year. My answers will be appearing here, on Mastodon, and the RPG.net forum thread dedicated to the challenge.

Each book on the graphic has a single word prompt. For additional inspiration, there are extra random elements that can be used to buff out the prompt. These turn the prompts into questions or add moods or subjects.

The weekly compilation posts for the previous years are linked below:

#RPGaDay 2023, Week One
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Two
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Three
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Four
#RPGaDay 2023, Final Week

#RPGaDay 2024, Introduction
#RPGaDay 2024, Week One
#RPGaDay 2024, Week Two
#RPGaDay 2024, Week Three
#RPGaDay 2024, Week Four
#RPGaDay 2024, Week Five

Book Review: Play Nice by Jason Schreier

I finished this book last month. Why post about it on a blog that's mostly about tabletop gaming? Why not? Besides, videogames and tabletop games aren't nearly as separate as some folks prefer to believe.

I think the axe in the title is an interesting touch.

Play Nice presents a balanced view of Blizzard Entertainment, its history, and its role in the video game industry. I found the first third of the book - covering the company's early years - to be an enjoyable romp through nostalgia filled territory. Those were the days when Blizzard earned its reputation for putting out quality games over minor matters like deadlines.

Bobby Kotick shows up a third of the way into the book and takes a larger and larger role in Blizzard and the book's narrative over time. Schreier doesn't go out of his way to villainize Kotick, but even a dry accounting of his statements and actions would prompt questions. Kotick is the usual modern investor bro. He displays a shallow understanding of video games other than how to maximize profits from them. His vision extended only as a far as the next financial report. When running Activision, he proudly sacrificed long term viability by running popular franchises into the dirt with relentless release schedules - a move that Blizzard resisted. The book repeatedly shows Kotick challenging the costs of projects in incubation only to seize the credit the moment there was a whiff of profit to be had.

In short, Kotick seems the type to put a certain fabled goose in a noose to maximize golden egg production. Then cook the remains to maintain consistent profits for the following quarter.

The last third of the book is depressingly familiar to anybody who's worked in the corporate world. Constant demands to meet arbitrary standards. Destructive policies still in place after being implemented by long gone executives. Then the song and dance after a takeover to boost morale followed by layoffs and restructuring. All leaving an empty shell of a company with none of the people who made its reputation still around to work their magic.

Fans of video games who desire a deeper understanding of the industry would do well to start with this book. On my part, there's a few of Blizzard's unused ideas that might make their way into the kinds of games I run at the table.

My 2024 Free RPG Day Haul

Ginny Di promised a good year for this Free RPG Day and she didn't lie. We loaded the family into the car and made a day of visiting local participating game stores. All of us returned home with free loot and actual purchases.

This is the list of stuff I made off with and some comments on each. My comments are based on a quick flip through of each product and don't constitute a review or even a fair first impression. I'm also not including the purchases I made along the way as they are outside the scope of this post.

Look at all this. They just give all this away. All you have to do is show up and take it. For free!

Each title is rated as follows, based on my current plans for it:

• Will Run. I will be making the time to drag the poor, screaming players of our group through this product.
• May Run. Interesting, but I'm just not excited about it for some reason or another.
• Pillage for Ideas. Not something I'll be running, but there's some useful stuff that I'll be stealing for some other game.
• Not My Cup of Tea. Something I bounced off of at first glance. Not necessarily an indication of something wrong. It simply doesn't seem to appeal to my tastes. May revisit later.

Deck of Worlds from The Story Engine

This combines two things that I couldn't resist: a deck of cards and a world building tool. This sample set contains 35 cards of the 240 cards found in the full Deck of Worlds set. Scuffle, draw six cards (one of each type), and generate a bunch of writing prompts built around a newly created single location. Just the thing when my brain needs a jump start.

Will Run.


Wires in the Woods from Critical Kit

Although the full version of Wires in the Woods can be run solo or for up to two players, the Free RPG Day quickstart is solo play only. Wires in the Woods is a journaling TTRPG that uses a deck of standard playing cards and a dice tables to determine what happens. The player is a fuzzy critter scavenging the debris of a post-apocalyptic world not of their making. Playing a furry trash bandit appeals to me, so this goes in the pile of solo games I keep meaning to play.

Will Run.


Arzium Quickstart Guide 2 from Red Raven Games

A fantasy TTRPG that I picked up for the steampunk cover. The adventure revolves around a trip on an airship that goes wrong. There's nothing bad about this one, but my TTRPG collection already leans hard into fantasy. There's some interesting stuff in the travel rules and setting, though.

Pillage for Ideas.


Star Trek Adventures The Roleplaying Game Second Edition Quickstart Guide by Modiphius Entertainment

I grabbed this without hesitation. Our group has moved away from Star Trek Adventures lately, so this is my first experience with the second edition. A fair chunk of the guide covers the new rules. The adventure "The Celestial Algorithm" and a set of sample characters fills out the rest. The adventure is set after the Federation-Klingon War seen in Star Trek: Discovery and revolves around the classic sci-fi plot of exploring a Big Dumb Object.

Will Run.


:Otherscape the Mythic Cyberpunk RPG Demo Game by Son of Oak Games Studio

The neon lit cityscape cover caught my eye. Each of the three sample characters is presented on a poster with their game stats printed on the reverse side. Half of the booklet goes over the rules of this cyberpunk fantasy TTRPG. The rest is an adventure set in a location in cyberspace. :Otherscape (yes, the colon is part of the title) solves the age-old question of "what to do with the decker" by dragging everybody along for the ride through cyberspace. On the other hand, who puts a colon in the title of their TTRPG?

May Run.


The Expanse RPG Transport Union Edition Quickstart by Green Ronin Publishing

Features a scrappy spaceship crew investigating a derelict and finding more and more trouble as they go. I really need to get around to watching The Expanse and/or read James S.A. Corey's books. Not (yet) being a fan either way, I got this for ideas to use elsewhere. That may change whenever I get caught up on all the entertainment media I've been meaning to consume.

Pillage for Parts.


Starfinder Second Edition Battle for Nova Rush from Paizo

A starting level adventure featuring the upcoming second edition of Starfinder. Why pick up an adventure for a game I don't play or run? To chop it up. The maps of the titular ship Nova Rush are nice and there's a couple of encounters I can use for another sci-fi game.

Pillage for Parts.


Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine Quickstart from Chaosium

Part of Chaosium's 50th Anniversary celebrations. Serves as an introduction to the BRP rules. Each of the three adventures presented show how the system works in a variety of times and places. Unfortunately, I'm not in a good place to learn yet another TTRPG system. Maybe I'll circle back to this one later.

Not My Cup of Tea.


G.I. Joe / Transformers Shock and Mayhem from Renegade Game Studio

A mid-level adventure intended to slotted into an existing game. I've been curious about this pair of games for awhile, mostly out of pure '80s nostalgia. This not being a quickstart guide is disappointing, but reading through it might give me an impression of the Essence20 system.

Not My Cup of Tea.


ROOT: The Roleplaying Game Laurel's Canopy Quickstart from Magpie Games.

ROOT is a TTRPG based on the board game of the same name from Leder Games. Both games revolve around the ongoing conflicts between the denizens of the Woodlands - cats, birds, mice, and others - and how those conflicts are influenced by the vagabonds existing outside of those factions. Another way to describe both games is fantasy asymmetric conflict with cute animals. Half the booklet presents the setting and rules. The other half is a small setting - Laurel's Canopy - rather than a straightforward adventure. Things change in this small clearing in the Woodlands as the vagabonds (PCs) intervene and one faction or another gains or loses advantage. I've seen and run similar things before, but having conflict like this baked into a game is new to me.

Will Run.

For a Fistful of Latnium - Bounty Hunters in Star Trek Adventures

Need a fresh antagonist for Star Trek Adventures? One that operates independently? One that can show up anywhere and anytime to annoy the crew? One that doesn't bring in the complications of being part of something bigger like the Cardassian Union or Romulan Star Empire? A bounty hunter might just be a good fit.

A fistful of space bucks. I didn't have any latnium around. Times are tough.

Bounty hunters? Isn't that from a certain other sci-fi franchise? Sure. This complicated profession is more closely associated with Star Wars, but Star Trek has plenty of Space Western in its genes.

Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. Star Wars doesn't have a monopoly on borrowing from Westerns.

Making the Case for Bounty Hunters in Star Trek Canon

Many bounty hunters - and folks posing as bounty hunters - have appeared in the long history of the Star Trek franchise. In real life, most bounties are posted for individuals who skipped bail or other mundane offenses. Star Trek uses the more cinematic interpretation of the job. Memory Alpha, as usual, is a good source on the topic.

In the mid-22nd century, the Klingons posted bounties for troublesome individuals - Captain Archer, for example - they couldn't be bothered to hunt down themselves. The bounties were large enough and widely known enough to encourage competition. Some Klingon representatives had the nasty habit of shorting hunters when they met to turn over their prisoners. Failing to honor the promised rewards sometimes didn't work out for anybody other than the bounty target. ("Bounty" ENT 2x25)

The United Federation of Planets posted bounties on the likes of Harcourt Fenton Mudd in the 23rd century. Starfleet routinely stored latnium on their starships for paying bounty hunters during this period. Note that the hunters had to bring in the correct individual to get paid. ("The Escape Artist" Short Treks 1x04)

A Cardassian officer feathering his nest with a little bounty hunting on the side was a plausible cover story in 2370. Joret Dal, who provided Starfleet with intelligence on Cardassian military movements, used it while returning to Cardassian space after a meeting on Enterprise-D. ("Lower Decks" TNG 7x15)

USS Voyager ran afoul of bounty hunters on two occasions in the Delta Quadrant - the Ramuran tracers and the Hazari. The starship's isolation in the Delta Quadrant had much to do with it. Few in the Alpha or Beta Quadrants would be bold enough to offer or accept a bounty on a Starfleet vessel. ("Unforgettable" VOY 4x22 and "Think Tank" VOY 5x20)

Lieutenant Commander Andy Billups of USS Cerritos disguised himself as a bounty hunter in 2381 in order to obtain the location of Nick Locarno's hangar ("The Inner Fight" LD 4x09). Later, Vadic claimed to be pursuing a bounty on Jack Crusher in 2401. That incident also revealed that Starfleet's policy was not to negotiate with bounty hunters  ("Disengage" PIC 3x02). This may reflect a change from the 23rd century, an unwillingness to haggle, or simply that the Federation didn't recognize bounties posted by others.

From The Book of Boba Fett. Sometimes disparities in combat power work in a bounty hunter's favor.

Bounty Hunters as Antagonists

The quick and dirty way of introducing a bounty hunter as an antagonist is to have a bounty placed on a player character. A bounty hunter would have to be bold to pursue a bounty on a serving Starfleet officer in the 23rd, 24th, or 25th centuries or a Klingon officer in pretty much any time period. Taking on most Federation starships and Klingon warships is completely out of the question. The disparity in combat power is just too great unless the bounty is on a support or specialist vessel such as a medical or survey ship.

Showing up when a player character is on duty, surrounded by colleagues, and aboard something as well defended as many starships will not advance a bounty hunter's career in a positive way. However, the stupidity of an idea won't stop folks from trying it. Having somebody appear in this manner may serve to alert the players that a bounty exists and that a more serious threat is on the way. Even a polity as easy going as the United Federation of Planets has a dim view of people assaulting their personnel and damaging government property, so getting authorization to deal with the situation shouldn't an issue.

The more intelligent approach is to isolate the bounty and take them by surprise. Baiting a trap, ambushing them during an Away mission, or waiting until they are vacationing on Risa are all workable plans. Then the real problems begin for the bounty hunter. Starfleet officers are notoriously resourceful and persuasive while Klingons are a handful in their own way. There's also the fact that a successful capture would draw more heat than most bounty hunters are willing to deal with. On the other hand, if the money is really good, somebody might be tempted to take such a job.

A bounty hunter could also be a complication during a more standard mission. A bounty on a NPC critical for a mission's success might be an interesting twist. Maybe the only expert available to help solve a crisis owes somebody a big pile of latnium? The scientist running the project the player characters are ordered to assist with might've taken funds for research that they never actually performed. The diplomat that the crew is negotiating with might have massive gambling debts that have been outstanding for a little too long. Chasing after a bounty hunter who has taken a VIP captive might spice up an otherwise dull mission.

From The Mandalorian. I miss Carl Weathers.

Working with Bounty Hunters

A bounty hunter could be pursuing the same individual that the player characters are tracking down. The situation might devolve into a race or a deal could be struck. The bounty hunter has certain advantages to offset a starship crew's resources - criminal contacts, a more ruthless approach, access to illicit means, and easier movement through the criminal underworld. Any or all of this could make the a race to the target interesting in an unwelcome way. It also makes a bounty hunter a useful ally. The bounty hunter is likely to insist on collecting the bounty in exchange for their cooperation. This could be problematic for Starfleet officers if a death sentience is involved.

The Federation and Klingon Empire aren't above posting bounties on particularly troublesome individuals. As a practical matter, it is less expensive than sending one of their own ships. It also tends to get results as long as the bounty isn't too tough or cunning for the hunter.

A bounty hunter may end up turning to the government that posted the bounty for assistance. They might be able to find their quarry, but be unable to bring them in. They turn to the government posting the bounty with a proposal. The bounty hunter is willing to provide the location and do their part in bringing in the target, but only after being provided with extra muscle. How do the player characters react when ordered to cooperate with this bounty hunter? Things might be more interesting if the crew has some bad blood with this particular bounty hunter.

An unglamourous, but necessary, role in the world of bounty hunting is that of paymaster. Not every bounty hunter has the time or means to drag their captives all the way from the frontier to a Federation or Klingon world. This puts the player characters on a starship or station in the position of verifying the bounty, securing the prisoner, and handing the bounty hunter their cash payment. Of course, mistakes happen. Maybe the captive the bounty hunter is turning over isn't the right individual? Or maybe the whole thing is a swindle? Is the bounty hunter deliberately handing over an innocent person to get the payment?

From The Book of Boba Fett. There's no dress code for bounty hunters, but a cool hat gets points for style.

Bounty Hunting as a Cover

Bounty hunters are common enough that any seedy looking, well-armed (but not too well-armed) type operating along a frontier can claim to be one. There doesn't seem to be a central authority to regulate the profession. This makes verification problematic. It also makes it a great cover story.

Starfleet and the Klingon Empire are well aware of the value of cover stories in covert operations. Although "mercenary" or "rogue officer" seems to be preferred, there's no reason to exclude posing as a bounty hunter. A player who wants to lean all the way into this doesn't need something to cover their character's face, but it helps. That said, it is unlikely that a Federation official would go so far as to actually capture a bounty and turn them in for a reward. Unless, that was the best way to get the "bounty" (another disguised Federation or Klingon operative) into position.

An NPC might find posing as a hunter claiming a bounty to be an easy way to get aboard a Federation or Klingon ship. The bounty hunter and their captive beam aboard, go through the motions mentioned in the previous section, and spring the fell ambush! The pair produces hidden weapons, take control of the transporter room, access the ship's systems, and the adventure gets off to a bracing start.

An antagonist may state that they are a bounty hunter to avoid revealing their true motivations. Note that bounty hunters in Star Trek are generally limited in their means. They typically operate alone out of ships that can be operated by a single person. Showing up in a battlewagon is a tip off. A lone operative in a small ship could find bounty hunting a useful disguise, even turning in bounties to gain trust with the local authorities. Is that solitary figure really just a humble bounty hunter, making their way through the galaxy, or something more?

From The Book of Boba Fett. Din Djarin rolls into somebody else's show. If this is a Star Trek Adventures post, why are most of the pictures from Star Wars? I dunno.

A Note About the Title

Yeah, I know that A Fistful of Dollars (1964) doesn't actually involve bounty hunting. The plot - essentially Yojimbo (1961) remade as a Western - revolves around a stranger walking into town and playing off two powerful factions against each other. Bounties and the hunting of them aren't a factor. But playing off the title resulted in something that sounded too cool to pass up. Besides, it's not like Star Trek hasn't already beat me to the idea of titles inspired by Westerns.

Comparing 4 TTRPGs on the Ides of March

This is not a serious post. Yes, I am making light of the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar, Dictator for life of the late Roman Republic. Anybody trying to convince me that over two millennia is too soon is going to be in for a rough time.

Anybody in the mood for salad?

Let's observe the Ides of March by examining four TTRPGs from my collection on the basis of:

• Does the game support stabbing as an in-game activity? What quality of stabbing can player characters achieve?
• Is assassination supported as an in-game activity?
• How savage are the politics in the setting? Are they brutal enough that assassination is seen as a viable and even legitimate political tool? What role does stabbing play in such assassinations?

The four TTRPGs I've selected have been previously featured on this blog. In no particular order:

• Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy
• Mothership 1e
• Robert E Howard's Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of
• Star Trek Adventures 1e

Stabbiness

OSE Advanced Fantasy
This should be a fabulous opportunity for player characters to indulge in real quality stabbing. However, stabbing is but one option available among many here. And those other options are often more efficient.

Mothership
Although guns are favored, player characters have options for knives and other stabbing weapons. The vibechete has great potential here, but does seem to be more of a slicing weapon. On the other hand, the player characters may not be the ones getting in the majority of the stabbing. Many of the things that lurk in the long dark have claws and pointy tails that put them ahead in the business of stabbing.

Robert E Howard's Conan
The genre is called swords and sorcery, but could just as easily be swords versus sorcery. With swords in the name, there's plenty of opportunity for stabbing. And the game offers a variety of options with all kinds of bladed weapons. It even supports viable archer builds for stabbing at range. Which is ideal for player characters who don't want to walk all the way over there to stab somebody.

Star Trek Adventures
Stabbing isn't really a strong focus of Starfleet. Although Andorians preserve it as part of their cultural heritage. Klingons, on the other hand, make sure to get in some stabbing on a daily basis. They stab their enemies, their still-living food, and each other. It gets even better during the Dominion War, when the Jem'Hadar show up with their bayonets and knives. A close quarters fight between Klingons and Jem'Hadar could quickly devolve into nothing but a stabbing match.


Assassinations

OSE Advanced Fantasy
The game literally has the Assassin class available. And the Thief can also work as a perfectly competent stealth killer. Even more so in some cases, since the OSE version of the Assassin lacks the ability to deal with locks, traps, and other security measures.

Mothership
Corporations and the greed they inspire are the real baddies in space horror. Quietly eliminating a corporate executive at the direction of a rival or to send a message are possible scenarios. Most higher ranking corporate officers with an ounce of sense will likely have security measures in place. There may also be complicating factors like something going wrong with their latest corporate-backed pet projects at the same time as the attempt. Nothing like cloned alien critters breaking out of containment to spice up an otherwise straightforward scenario.

Robert E Howard's Conan
It could be argued that a warrior like Conan would prefer to prove himself on the field of battle. Of course, Conan was never particularly scrupulous about how he made his money. And Conan was the target of assassination attempts when he became too much of a pain for somebody in power. There should be plenty of opportunity in the setting for those seeking employment as assassins or avoiding those employed as assassins.

Star Trek Adventures
Starfleet doesn't condone assassinations. Except for those dodgy Section 31 types. And Sisko that one time. And those times when Worf takes an interest in Klingon politics. On the other hand, polities other than the Federation have even less restraint. Klingons are perfectly content to send warriors with blades to strike their foes from the shadows, although using poison is a no-no. Romulans and Cardassians are happy to rid themselves of troublesome folks using a variety of means, including hired assassins. Solving the mystery of just who killed somebody with a long list of enemies could be a fun exercise in the Star Trek setting.

How about ordering pizza?

Ruthless Politics

OSE Advanced Fantasy
There doesn't seem to be an official setting for OSE, but adopting settings from other F20 games seems simple enough. Most published F20 settings are politically stable. Upheavals typically come around the time of edition changes rather than arising organically within the setting. However, internal conflicts that don't threaten the established order are another matter. A noble title could be made available with the removal of the current holder. In fact, this is routine business in the more chaotic and/or evil parts of F20 settings, such as the Underdark.

Mothership
Although the corporations themselves are too big to fail, individual corporate officers and their pet projects come and go. Sometimes right out the airlock. Corporate politics can get literally cutthroat when little things like laws, ethics, and morals stop getting in the way.

Robert E Howard's Conan
Politics is a lively affair in this setting. Backstabbing and betrayal seem to be the norm rather than the exception in the original stories. Conan himself involved himself in local politics on occasion - commanding armies, involving himself with royalty (sometimes intimately), participating in (usually doomed) rebellions, and often enriching himself at some potentate's expense. And there was the whole business of him leading a mercenary army to claim the throne of Aquilonia. Of course, keeping that throne took significant effort from those who sought it for themselves. Politics in this setting is a good way for a player character to end up with a fat purse and a knife in the back.

Star Trek Adventures
Politics within the Federation seems to be a sedate affair outside of the occasional coup or conspiracy. And, in theory, the Prime Directive should keep Starfleet personnel out of political business outside of the Federation. In practice, Starfleet crews get dragged into some local skullduggery on the regular. The usual scenario is some dark secret concealed down on the planet of the week. Intervening in local politics is more defensible when the locals run their civilization on human sacrifice or something. Of course, they may not welcome the proposed changes.


That concludes my tongue-in-cheek observance of this year's Ides of March. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing. Let's see if I remember next year.

6 Lessons I Learned from the 2025 Character Creation Challenge

I took on the 2025 Character Creation Challenge back in January. The biggest clue can be found in the thirty-odd blog posts I made about it. One of those was a wrap up post. Now that I've had more time to process, I realized that I had more notes. Here's what I'm carrying forward from the experience.

The 2025 Character Creation Challenge completion image.

Tackling a month long project? Have a plan. And be prepared to change that plan.

A plan is an expression of strategy. It moves you closer to a goal. It is not a process - that comes later. Any plan is better than starting off with no idea of how things are going to get done. Modifying an existing plan is less fraught than coming up with a way to move towards a goal in mid-stream.

I started the challenge with a list of games and a schedule covering the first couple of weeks. That simple plan didn't survive for long. It was never intended to. I had no experience with this challenge when it kicked off. Any detailed plan was going to be bad and wrong. I went with a simple plan that I could easily modify as I learned more about what I was doing. Games were added and dropped from the list. The schedule changed constantly depending on how much time and effort I had available. Circumstances changed and my plans changed with them.


Don't be afraid to use the best ideas early on.

There is the temptation to save ideas for an ideal time. Bury that temptation out back. There's no need to save ideas. Execute them now. New ideas will come with painful experience.

I was afraid that I was going to run out of ideas halfway through the challenge. And my well of ideas did run low around that time. However, inspiration struck. Many of my best ideas didn't even occur to me until well after the challenge began.


It's okay to use okay ideas.

There is also the temptation to rule out lackluster ideas. That temptation leads to either not starting or falling behind. Again, gave that temptation the fate it deserves. Wanting to put your best foot forward is understandable, but pushing out something less than amazing is generally better than nothing.

I'll admit that not every character and post represented my best possible effort. That wasn't the goal. The challenge was to create thirty one characters and post them online. I would've preferred to produce more polished work, but not at the cost of falling behind on the challenge.


Defy convention.

Don't get stuck inside the box. It's confining and the cats that are already inside won't appreciate it. Go ahead and use the weird ideas that might not work for everybody. It makes things more interesting.

There are multiple examples of my not coloring inside the lines during the challenge. Going back to the "ship as a character" concept more than once. Generating characters for solo TTRPGs. Creating NPCs that I may use in my home campaign. Reincarnating a necromancer in one game after another. Starfleet officers with some darkness adding contrast to their backgrounds. All of these made my contributions to the challenge uniquely mine.


Processes will develop. There might be pain involved.

Just as my planning had to change to meet the needs of the challenge, I had to develop processes for how to carry out those plans. The distinction between process and plan can be illustrated with a comparison. A checklist is not a plan. It is a process that instructs the user on what to do, not how (plan) or why (strategy).

My approaches to creating characters, writing posts, and getting everything online where folks could see it were all evolving processes. Those processes were all streamlined over a month of me banging my head up against this challenge. Repetition led to a Darwinian process. What worked was kept and what didn't was ruthlessly weeded out.


Falling behind is no reason to quit.

The idea of quitting can be a tempting one. It is the path of least resistance. And it looks awfully relaxing. Remember what to do with temptations? It involves a shovel.

I ran out of gas about two-thirds of the way through January. I was running out of games and ideas. There was grit getting into the gears of the processes. Things weren't flowing anymore. It was getting harder to crank things out. And the buffer I had built up ran out.

Getting back to the mental state where I could "just" do the things I needed to do was the hard part. It came down to a couple of things. I wanted to finish more than I wanted to regret quitting. And I had to ease up, stop beating myself up, and find a way to enjoy the challenge. I decided to treat it like a game. One of those video games where grinding away makes the eventual outcome more rewarding.

After that, it was "just" a matter of getting back on that horse.

Paying Rent with Eels? - A Weird Form of Money

"Adventurers! Your quest is to collect what the peasants owe to their lord!"

"Taxes?"

"Rent."

"Silver?"

"Eels."

"What."

"Y'all wouldn't shut up about historical accuracy."


One way to make a setting distinct is by introducing weird forms of money. The eels thing came up while I was researching something completely different. I haven't found a use for it yet. But now I'm inflicting it on y'all.

A stick of smoked eels. From Surprised Eel Historian (@greenleejw) on X/Twitter.

Medieval English paid rent to their lords with smoked eels. The eels were counted in sticks (25 eels). Sticks were based on the number of eels that could be skewered and smoked at one time. Ten sticks of eels were called a bind. There were significant logistical issues with producing, storing, and transporting binds and sticks of eels from renters to lords. Such payments were increasingly replaced by coins starting in the 13th century, but the practice continued into the 17th.

The main online source I've found is at Historia Cartarum. Details presented there include where in England eels were used for rent, how far eel rents traveled, and the value of a stick of eels. There's more information on the history of eels as currency than y'all can shake a stick at.

I also found a document on smoked eels as a medieval commodity on dropbox.

Players may take issue with their characters collecting rent payments in the form of smoked eels. Some might object to being rent collectors for medieval landlords. Others may not be thrilled with transporting smoked eels by the bind. Solutions range from leading an uprising to promoting the use of coinage, depending on the campaign.

2025 Character Creation Challenge - After Action Review

I did the Character Creation Challenge last month. You make a character for any TTRPG, every day, through the month of January. That works out to 31 characters. And I'm the type who likes to make a little backstory for each of my characters. It usually isn't much. It could fit on a postcard. A paragraph is plenty. But I'm not used to doing it day in and day out.

I have notes.

So many, in fact, that I took a few days to sort through my notes and thoughts.

Here you go.

Simple tools for a big job. Not pictured: My PC with an internet connection and my TTRPG collection.

Posting More

One of my goals this year is to post more on this blog. 31 posts is more than I've posted in most years all in one month. I could not post on this blog for the rest of this year and still make my goal. Not that I will, of course.


Planning

31 characters is a big sandwich to eat, even when it's spread over 31 days. I had a plan for what TTRPGs to use, building up a decent buffer, and a rough calendar for the opening weeks. An outline of my initial plans was presented in the post announcing my participation in the challenge.

My plans for a comfortable buffer of characters and posts fell apart quickly. That made falling behind harder to deal with as I had to double up to catch up. The scenario came to be during middle of the challenge. I wasn't feeling well and had to cut non-critical tasks to rest. More than anything else, the lack of a solid buffer almost killed this challenge for me.

The planning I put into the challenge was always subject to change. I had never done this challenge before, so I had no experience to base an extensive plan on. The goal of my planning was to provide enough organization to give me the confidence to take on the challenge. In that, it worked this time, but I'll need to do better next time.


Starting Off: My Concerns

My big worry was running out of ideas. The weird thing was that the more characters I made, the easier it was to come up with more. My ideas started to build on each other. By the end of the first week, I had a big chunk of the month mapped out.

My other concern was running out of motivation. Again, that first week was critical. By the end of it, I had developed a process. Things began to flow.


Developing a Process

Here's the list of the TTRPG products I used and how many posts they were featured in:

• 13th Age (1e) - 2
• Bucket of Bolts - 2
• Entity - 1
• Kaiju Generator - 1
• Lemuria Space Station - 1
• Mothership - 4
• Nekropol - 1
• Old School Essentials - 9
• Robert E. Howard's Conan - 1
• Rogue Zone - 1
• Star Trek Adventures (1e) - 8

Over time, I refined the process of creating characters. The first step in making things more efficient was favoring less mechanically complex games, those with an online character generator, or the ones I could jump into with minimal review. That favored the TTRPGs on my original "almost certainly" list and doomed those on my "might use" list. I didn't have the luxury of learning or re-learning complex rules if I was going to keep up the pace demanded of the challenge. The next step was standardizing the process. Making a character for any TTRPG is a similar procedure. The posts I wrote for each character also started following a format, even though I didn't consciously come up with one. This all allowed me to put more focus on making characters and communicating my thoughts about it.


The Marathon of the Middle

I wasn't feeling well during the middle of the challenge. And I lost motivation. Twice. Plus, as my early confidence vanished, I ran dry on ideas a couple of times. Remember when I said the ideas began to flow? The flow stopped. I walked in a creative wasteland.

It didn't help that the buffer I started with wasn't the one I planned on. Starting off, I had two or three days of characters ready to post. That ran out as I lost focus until I got behind and stayed behind. Buffering several days worth of characters - what I originally planned on - would've worked out much better.


Exploring My TTRPG Collection

The challenge gave me a chance to explore my TTRPG collection in a way that I never had before. I particularly enjoyed making characters for a variety of indie and solo TTRPGs. They'll come in handy when I dip my toe into some of those games later this year. I also want to do my modest part in bringing some attention to theses titles.

Making characters for the indie and solo TTRPGs I used felt straightforward. There's an odd combination of raw enthusiasm and professional polish to them. This helped me catch up when I fell behind during the challenge.


Going the Distance

Going into the last couple of weeks, I gritted my teeth and tackled the grind. I became less discriminating about my character concepts. Being picky about quality is not the way to get caught up. In that scenario, good enough is good enough.

It wasn't until the last week that I again had posts ready to go the night before they were needed. That week was a matter of getting characters made and posts written. I felt like I was driving a car. One hand on the wheel and the other shifting gears, coaxing a little more performance out of the process, trying to get where I need to be.


Past the Finish Line

The day after the challenge was weird. I had the feeling that there was something I needed to get done. 31 days is more than long enough for something to become a habit.

That said, I do have other uses for the time.


Looking Back

The challenge has certainly been that.

Doing things like this builds up creative muscles. It forces the mind to adapt and find new solutions. I could obviously make a character before the challenge. However, I now feel a mastery of the process that previously lacked.

It's good to take on challenges. Still, I don't think I be making another character for another week or two.