Matt Finch's "World of Jordoba" Comes to Backerkit

It's crowdfunding season (not that it ever ends...), and I'm not sure how many rulebooks, supplements, and adventures I currently have hanging out there. My debit card will let me know, I'm sure...

But here's one more I'm tracking...

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Matt Finch is well-known and regarded through OSR-land. As co-author of OSRIC and author of Swords & Wizardry, he brought a couple of the early retro-clones into the scene. Plenty of us have pored over his "Old-School Primer" essay, whose adages (e.g. "Rulings, not Rules") for RPG play have been dissected and argued over since its original publication. And many swear by the ideas and inspiration held within his Tome of Adventure Design editions and its companion volumes. 

So, for those of you who'd like to add another volume to the Matt Finch/Mythmere games shelf in your library, Matt will be releasing his "World of Jordoba" setting via Backerkit in August. 

The prototype Jordoba campaign was one of the first "actual plays" that I watched, way back in 2018. Matt ran a grotty crew of adventurers through the ancient ruins underlying the city, as well as the surrounding desolate lands. The campaign world was influenced by Mediterranean cultures and geography, with much of the city campaign including forays into the buried ancient metropolis and catacombs underlying the current city. Accordingly, the setting had a substantial history of past cultures, lost objects of power, and holy retribution and destruction. The PCs explored the undercity and its weirdness to recover loot and knowledge, as well as hopefully thwart the plots of various baddies residing therein.

The live play often acted as my soundtrack while running from job sites to lab to gym or home. And no Roll20 here. All adventuring play was done with minis, handmade terrain, and a small camera pushed along the hallways of the dungeon. The viewers and players were seeing the same perspective view, and there were plenty of moments of real tension as the PC-eye view of the camera turned a corner to discover a potential encounter. 

The playlist of the original campaign can be found here, replete with some excellent old-school strategy, PC deaths and near-deaths, and the general shenanigans expected from a handful of chaotic players and their equally chaotic PCs. I highly recommend it.

They Met in a Tavern 31: Regarding A Further Brief Survey of the Spiders of the Badlands

We take a break from the World Cup to adventure:

• Chris: Thorn, dwarf Wizard
• Dan: Kiara, elf Ras Godai
• Roger: Drom, dwarf Desert Rider
• Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
• Callista: Erol, elf Priest
• Dave: Darkmist, elf Thief
• Andrea: Gabor, goblin Priest

The party awakens from a restful night around the odd metallic, humming obelisk.

Did it keep you awake, too?

Breakfast, and time to get on the road. Drom led the way. Around a few bends, he heard a barking dog. Some cautious slinking about, as PCs are wont to do. A ring of standing stones surrounding a cold fire is found, as well as a cliffside opening to a possible shrine. Zet looked at the runes, determining that they symbolized safe travel. They are cautiously greeted by a one-eyed old woman in tattered robes and her massive dog of undetermined genealogy. She introduced herself as Sesuna, a hermit meditating at the old shrine. The dog was Dawit. "He helps provide for me. We don't need much."

The party asked what or who she might have seen? Serpentfolk to hide from. Other parties, possibly seeking the cities or other treasures within the badlands. No. No odd spiders.

Sesuna showed the party a statue to the shrine's patron, Zulona, a lost god of travel and good water. Likely established long ago when caravans and other wayfarers were more common. Kiara offered some coin for a blessing. Sesuna shook her head, and pointed to her empty socket. "I need an 'eye' to see for you." Some puzzlement, and a gem was procured from one of the loot piles. Sesuna placed it in the socket, and the gem vanished. But now the party won't roll "lost" rolls for three days. Anything we can thank you with? If you come back this way, bring me the names of any lost gods you may find. They need to be named and remembered.

Off they went.

Hurried footsteps approached from behind, revealing Igra, one of the two kobold guides. They had been ambushed by the spellcasting spiders, and Rogs' luck had run out. Igra had returned to the party. Might be a better way to riches than mining, anyway. Besides, he'd always wanted to be a poet...

"Behind Me dips Eternity

Before Me Immortality

Myself the Term between

Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,

Dissolving into Dawn away,

Before the West begin..." - kobold poetry 

They Met in a Tavern 30: Spiders and Kobolds and Wolves, Oh My!

Well, look who showed up...

• Roger: Drom, dwarf Desert Rider
• Rick: Bjorr, 1/2 orc Paladin
• Chris: Thorn, dwarf Wizard
• Dan: Kiara, elf Ras Godai
• Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
• Adam: Ad Ratter, halfling Wizard

Drom has returned from his sojourn, or pouting...

Don't listen to them sweetie, you're lovely.

That's Trixie, by the way. Continuing with the excellent mount names.

Ok, to begin. Ad Ratter was discovered among the baggage, or curled up in someone's bedroll. Sort of like shaking out your shoes in the morning to check for scorpions. There might be a halfling. He was abandoned by his peers while exploring the Badlands. What do you expect for a CON 3 halfling?

The party mounted up and headed onward, checking out the canyons and ridges. An obelisk was spotted, and investigated. The tall obelisk was of a bluish metal, and warm to the touch. It was covered with odd runes. Zet was called up to translate. He pulled out a crumbling book and gingerly turned pages. The runes were a challenge, at best he could sense it was a border marker or milepost. He made notes and the party moved on. 

Bjorr and Drom noted what appeared to be old wagon tracks worn into the stone of the canyon floor. Perhaps this was an old thoroughfare to the old cities.

ruts

Later, Kiara and Ad heard a rumbling in the distance. Then at less of a distance. Everyone rushed to get themselves and their mounts to higher ground. Their suspicions confirmed, a flash flood ripped through where they had recently stood. 

They Met in a Tavern 29: Misadventures in Freya's Shrine

Welcome back to another installment of Fun In the Badlands. This week we had a full table:

• Rick: Bjorr, 1/2 orc Paladin
• Chris: Thorn, dwarf Wizard
• Dan: Kiara, elf Ras Godai
• Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
• Callista: Erol, elf Priest
• Dave: Darkmist, elf Thief
• Andrea: Gabor, goblin Priest

Going from zero to two on priests. So much for my "waves of undead" plans... :p

EDIT: Oops, forgot to add the player/PC polling. Why do you seek the lost city?

• Drom (previously) - Magics to bring water back to his people
• Bjorr - Grand adventure and finding secrets lost
• Thorn - The rumored lost magics
• Kiara - Possible allies for her community
• Zanegar - Adventure, possible northwest passage?
• Erol - Places of religious significance
• Darkmist - Drawn by rumors of seven cities of gold
• Gabor - Adventure and relics

Everyone (except Drom) had reconvened at camp, and were getting saddled up and ready to go. Speaking of which, what are your horse's names and dispositions (dispositions per Cursed Scroll 2)?

Bjorr has the advantage of the paladin's mount (Reliable or Lovely disposition only). Everyone else was on their own, and clearly most are not horse people. No comment on the names.

Onward, into the breaks of the Badlands. 

D66 Badlands Hex Features, and Randomness Thoughts

So, in respect of Prismatic's Blogwagon topic, I suppose I should actually write a bit more on process and methods, rather than just spamming them with random tables. Not that there isn't another random table residing directly below... 

I'm a middling GM and writer, at best. Most of my scenarios and creativity are pretty bog-standard as far as RPG content goes. I crib from better creators wherever possible, and chink up the cracks in material content with my ideas where necessary.

So, I'm not going to come up with any groundbreaking theory or mechanics, just what works for me, and maybe help a dear reader or two.

First of all, for any session or scenario, there is little need to build out bespoke random table contents. With fifty years of publications and web content, there's likely a random table that fits your needs. 

Even the infamous ones...

Plenty of TTRPG books include monsters encountered by terrain type. Sort by HD or whatever criteria, and accost your players' PCs at your leisure.

And, the tables don't have to be fancy. Even for a campaign-level setting, there will be the things encountered more regularly, and a few rarities that may only hit the die rolls a few times. Call them the residents vs the exotics, perhaps. The tribes of orcs vs the one dragon. Grade on a curve - 2d6, 3d6, etc. Again, smarter people than me have expounded on this.

"But what if I want to random some stuff up, Mr. Leicester?" I hear you say. Well then, go for it... with the only real caveat of, "make them make sense."

Looking at my last blog entry, there is The Randomness of the die rolls, with the list of qualities or attributes for each creature. Then, the "heavy lifting" of creating some logic for making that particular arrangement fit into your setting. Particularly for a sandbox-type scenario, where the exploration and encounters themselves inform the larger play (we'll also be delving into this based on our last campaign session...)

And it might not work. Sometimes the dice aren't always right. Regardless, making something out of a bunch of random rolls, be it filling a dungeon, or creating a critter, is still good practice, and an opportunity to keep the brain flexible. 

And I'm sure that I have at least one failed experiment that showed up elsewhere...