When the Light Goes Out - Lawful Good Gaming

Exploring Darkness for the Greater Good

Politics alert!  Yes, this post is going to touch on some political subjects, so if that kind of stuff turns you off, perhaps its best to skip this entry.  But if the concept sounds even mildly intriguing (and you can put up with a bit of my liberal leanings), I invite you, dear reader, to take a journey with me....  

Several months ago, just after the implementation of that first immigration ban, I found myself in a seemingly endless loop, reading aggravating news story after news story.  I was frustrated with the direction our country seemed to be taking, and felt powerless to do anything.  Along with quite a few of my friends, I made a donation to the ACLU, which made me feel a little better, but I wanted to do more.  

But what could I offer?  

I'm not a politician, or an attorney, or a doctor, or any other profession that could help the current situation directly.  My skills lie in telling stories, taking friends and family on adventures in their minds, and coming up with crazy, gonzo game rules for others to share.  Definitely not directly applicable...

... but indirectly possible?

So I put out a call on Facebook, and through some friends (especially the wonderful +Rich Howard) was able to gather a small army of around likeminded individuals, hellbent on creating an organization that would coordinate, game master, and play in role-playing game events with the goal of raising money to help support progressive organizations.  

We call ourselves Lawful Good Gaming.

This was back in February, and we've already broken several milestones!  

• Our Facebook group has over two-hundred followers!
• We've run eight successful events!
• As of our last event (the one I'm writing about here), we've helped raise $1,255 for the following organizations:
• $485 - The Government Accountability Project
• $470 - The Southern Poverty Law Center
• $195 - The National Immigration Law Center
• $105 - The American Civil Liberties Union

We've even been featured on Gnome Stew in a fantastic article by +Darcy Ross!  

Our model is fairly simple: game masters set up events targeting one of our selected non-profit organizations, with the price of admission being a proof of donation to one of the groups.  To be clear, Lawful Good Gaming doesn't take in any money itself... we just run the games for those willing to give to some fantastic causes.  

When the Light Goes Out

A 3rd Level Adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess

For my event last night, I decided to run Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  I discussed this OSR system a few weeks back, but up to this point had never played the game.  Fortunately, most of my players were new to the system as well, although my early trepidation was unnecessary.  Lamentations of the Flame Princess turned out to be a delightfully easy game to run, allowing me to focus on descriptions, character interactions, and story.  

For the adventure, I wanted to explore the universe of one of my favorite new computer roleplaying games: Darkest Dungeon.  I set the adventure up in the Hamlet of the Ancestor's Estate, with the intent of exploring a previously unknown section of the property: The Orchard.  This new, macabre region of the Darkest Dungeon universe is my own design, although it's a pity that I don't have any graphics design or other computer skills.  I'd love to create my own fan-mod to add this into the actual game!  

That said, when it comes to "mods", I used a few to tweak this LotFP/Darkest Dungeon crossover:

• For character classes and starting equipment I used the archetypes featured in this unofficial PDF that +Ray Slakinski found on Reddit.  
• I was very careful about tracking lighting, although this didn't seem to be much of an issue, as everyone made sure to purchase lanterns and torches before setting out on the adventure.
• For Stress, and the application of Afflictions and Virtues (both detailed in the aforementioned unofficial PDF), I came up with the Stress Save.  This saving throw, based on each character's Paralyze save, is adjusted by Wisdom.  During the course of an adventure, whenever something particularly disturbing occurs, each character witnessing the event must make a Stress Save.  The referee keeps track of the failed saving throws, and after failing the third test, they are on the verge of gaining either the Affliction or Virtue.  On their next save, if they fail they gain an Affliction that lasts through the remainder of the adventure.  If they pass they gain a Virtue.  

Adventure Outline

I thought about just doing a play report for this post, but since we had such a good time last night, I thought I'd go out of my way to actually share the adventure notes I used to run the adventure.  That way, players from last night can perpetuate the madness and run this game with their own groups, or if you at home want to join along, you can do so.  Please note, that as with all my adventure outlines I keep things fairly light and loose, with lots of room for GM improvisation.  

I should also note that this adventure should convert easily to just about any other OSR game, whether it be OD&D, Basic Fantasy RPG, Dungeon Crawl Classics, or whatever.  A few tweaks and you're home... at the Estate and the Darkest Dungeon.

Overview:

• This adventure starts off in the Hamlet of the Ancestor's Estate in the Darkest Dungeon universe.  For those uninitiated with the setting, this Darkest Dungeon Wiki should give you a great feel of the art style, mood, and tone of the setting.
• GM's should describe the scene, the weather, the atmosphere of the Hamlet.  It's important to note the following:
• Dismal weather.  There's been a light rain for past several months. 
• The sky is always dark and cloudy, even at noon.  
• The roads are sticky with mud and filth, a substance that sticks to everything.  
• The PC's have been called to meet with Mother Superior Evangeline at the Sanitarium.  
• Just entering the Sanitarium requires a Stress Save.  It's damned maddening in there!
• Mother Superior Evangeline, who oversees the Sanitarium, laments over the loss of the last several expeditions into the Darkest Dungeons beneath the estate.  
• Mother Superior notes that during a recent expedition to a part of the Estate long thought abandoned due to plague, a pair of hunters found a child.  
• Mother Superior Evangeline introduces the party to Godrick (she doesn't know his name), a young boy of 13 who suffers from both affliction of body and mind. He has radiant red hair, and deep freckles. 
• His wounds seemed like he had been impaled by sharp objects. One of the Hamlet's hunters, gathering game, found him at the edge of the long forgotten Orchard.
• Godrick is barely coherent, but cries out for his parents repeatedly. 
• During this encounter, the Caretaker will appear. 
• The old man looks at Godrick, and will note that he appears much like a much younger child that he once knew, but he could not remember his name. 
• Only that his parents, Elzbeth and Johann, watched over the Ancestor's Orchard but had been considered long dead, becoming ill with the last Plague.
• Because of the risk of plague, the Orchard was barred from exploration.
• The Caretaker tasks the party with investigating the Orchard, to confirm the death of Elzbeth and Johann, and the condition of that long forgotten part of the Estate. If any ancestral relics survived the fire, they needed to be recovered. 
• At this point it could be revealed that other excursions, forgotten now, had been sent to the Orchard, but never with any fruit... or survivors. The area was thought to be infected, but how did Godrick survive?
• If the PC's try to interview or interrogate the child, he will become violent unless calmed in some manner.  
• Treat Godrick's stats as follows:  HD 1, HP 3, AC 12, Bite 1d3 damage.
• Godrick's only belongings is a crumpled up bonnet once worn by his mother.

Secret Knowledge:

• It was seven years ago that the Orchard bore it's last fruit. This part of the Estate was perhaps the "least cursed" of the entire land, but still barely provided any goods to the Hamlet itself. Still, Johann and his loving wife Elzbeth managed the property, cared for the trees, and lived a simple life with their six year old son Godrick.
• But as the curse of the Estate spread throughout the local area, including the Orchard, this taint affected the plant life of the Orchard... specifically the apples and trees themselves. 
• Several of the trees, gained consciousness... a dark gift of the malevolent forces at play... and were promised great rewards by these forces of evil and despair. These new tree-folk, the Malus, started to bear poisoned, sickly fruit that created the last plague.  Of course, everyone blamed rats... not apple trees.  Who would blame an apple tree for disease?  
• The effects of this recent plague were terrible.  Those afflicted would start off with something resembling a cold, but in three days time their blood would thicken up, and turn to a syrupy mixture.  Upon death, the veins and arteries of the afflicted would never decompose or deteriorate.  Instead they remained nearly calcified, and as hard as wire.  
• Elzbeth and Johann both came to be infected by the plague but not Godrick. Godrick had been allergic to apples, so after his first time eating them as an infant, and a brief brush with death, he was never fed them again.  
• The boy became feral, living around the Orchard cabin area. He was smart and even though the Malus poisoned or murdered others, he was smart enough to avoid the slower moving tree people... even their undead, root-zombies.  Or so he thought...
• The Malus had no interest in Godrick.  Just as he was allergic to the apples, the Malus were allergic to him.  The one attempt for the Malus to devour and infect Godrick, left one of the tree creatures slain.  Godrick still bears the scars from that incident.  

The Orchard

• Entering the Orchard
• No matter what time the party enters the Orchard, it is dark.  If it's not the weather, it's the canopy of the trees.  
• The trees themselves are definitely dead, and lack all fruit.  The leaves of the trees are brittle like ancient paper, and come apart into ash in characters' hands.  
• Very few animals are left... hardly any at all except for insects.  Characters with Bushcraft easily figure this out, and will probably find it disturbing.
• Starving Wolf Encounter:  While exploring the edge of the Orchard, the party may encounter a small pack of starving wolves.  These emaciated beasts are vicious and without fear.  
• HD 2, AC 12, Bite 1d6 damage.
• The Dead End
• The path to the old cabin in the Orchard will come to a dead end, with a bramble wall blocking the trail.  Strung up throughout the brambles are sticks with old corpses tied to them like scarecrows.  These were created by Godrick to keep anyone from coming closer to his family home.  
• The bodies are tied to the sticks and brambles by cord made of victim veins.
• The bodies are those who worked the Orchard and died of the plague.
• Just seeing this sight will require a Stress Save.
• The GM is encouraged to have some animals, Root Zombie cats or badgers or rats, hiding in the brambles.  Whether they attack or not (maybe they just appear and then flee) is up to the GM.
• The Graves
• If the characters decide to circumnavigate the blocked path, they will eventually come to an old grave site.
• Here they can find some graves of the family, including one for Elzbeth (dug up), none for Godrick, and none for Johann. Johann dug the grave for his wife and then died. Godrick dug her up several years later to keep her for himself. 
• Here's another place that can have a Root Zombie attack, and an associated Stress Save. 
• From the Grave, it's easy to see the Cabin in the distance.
• "Ant Holes"
• As the party starts to investigate the area near the cabin, should they search the ground they may notice several holes in the ground.
• These "Ant Holes" are large, big enough for someone's finger.  
• Upon closer inspection, the the party may listen and hear movement from within these holes.
• The Malus use these holes to manipulate Root Zombies, and also to attack with an Impale.  
• At some point the PC's (if they search hard enough) will discover that they are surrounded by these Ant Holes.  It's up to the GM to decide whether or not to attack the PC's directly, or just leave it as an option for later in the adventure.
• One potentially creepy scene could be the sight of an animal (dead or Root Zombie) being dragged back towards one of the holes.  Maybe the Malus is done with it, or perhaps it has other plans for that tentacle-like root.  Either way, this should require a Stress Save.

The Cabin Interior

• When the party approach the cabin they will note that it is a simple structure, with four walls, a door on the southern end, and two windows on the east, west, and northern faces.
• The cabin appears to have been abandoned for quite some time, at least at distance.  If the party approaches and searches they will notice that there are signs of refuse and debris from someone living here (Godrick.)
• Searching the eastern wall on the exterior the party will find some common farming implements.
• Axes, picks, shovels, none of which are in decent condition, but could serve some uses if the party is feeling innovative in dealing with threats.  
• The house is also surrounded by the Ant Holes.  Dozens of them.  
• If the party hasn't found any of these yet, they will obviously notice them here.  
• The party may try to use some kind of item to plug these holes or make it difficult for anything to attack from inside the holes.  Should they do this, they will notice that something clearly attempts to move beneath the ground.  
• There are two Malus near the house.  Should the party start to interact with the home in any way, they will attack through the Ant Holes.  See the Bestiary for their stats and abilities.

The Cabin Exterior

• There are three rooms on the inside of the cabin.  
• Eastern Room
• Takes up most of half of the house, and is a common room and kitchen.  
• Four windows are located in this room, two on the northern wall and two on the eastern wall.  There is a fireplace to the southeast and a door leading outside to the south.  
• A passage to the west leads to a hallway and entrances to a bedroom and a second living area.  
• The furniture in this room consists of a large table with six wooden chairs.
• All throughout the Eastern Room are great relics from the Ancestor's family.  At least six wood carvings of busts and game animals, each worth 250 silver pieces.  
• Hidden in a small corner of this room is a rug that hides a tight, spiral staircase to the basement area.
• The Northwestern Room
• This bed chamber has a large straw mattress, and three chests full of clothing, blankets, and other common materials.
• No one has been sleeping in this room.  Godrick left it pretty much as it was.
• There is a window to the west in this room.
• One of the chests has some farming records, descriptions of what had been planted, and the names of all workers in the fields.  Hidden in these records is a note from a doctor, informing Elzbeth and Johann that their son's allergy to the family crop (apples) is most likely incurable.  
• The Southwestern Room
• This was a secondary living space, with a fireplace along the northern wall.
• There is a window to the west in this room.
• This room is in terrible condition, and it is clear that someone, perhaps a child (Godrick) was sleeping here on a rolled out mat on the floor.  
• Refuse is everywhere, as well as the bones of animals and shells of insects.
• Along the southern wall are two propped up, ancient, decaying bodies.  They have been dead for some time, each showing signs of the Plague, with their flesh falling away from their bones, but their veins calcified and protruding.  This is all that remains of Elzbeth and Johann.
• Godrick had been keeping his parents bodies here to keep him company.  His father was easy to find, but he had to dig up his mother, and clean her up a bit.
• The sight of these bodies should spark a Stress Save.
• Except for being creepy, there is no risk of these bodies threatening the party.
• An especially evil GM could have one of the bodies attached to a Malus however... that would make for a fun "jump scare!"

The Weird of the Cabin

• While the party is investigating the cabin, several weird things will start to occur.
• First, the house will be surrounded.
• Once the party enters the home completely, several Malus move towards the house.  
• These entities move rather slowly, and will not move when they are within view of any PC's.  But as soon as the party looks outside after searching the area, they will see that four trees are now much closer to the home.
• If the party leaves someone outside, they will be attacked relentlessly by Root Zombies.  Send two human zombies for every PC on the outside of the building.  
• Second, the party will start hearing a low thumping sound.
• It's coming from beneath the floorboards, and is an obvious "heartlike" sound.
• If the PC's pry up any of the floorboards, or if they find the spiral staircase in the Eastern Room, they will see that the basement is a rather large cavern, almost if it had been excavated.  
• The drop is a good thirty feet to the bottom (it was originally twelve), and is full of roots, large living veins, and at the center is a massive, eight foot in diameter Heart of the Malus.
• Obviously this sight should trigger a Stress Save.
• Basement Wonders
• If the party tries to travel down into the bowels of the cabin, and the area surrounding the heart, they will find several dozen corpses that had been dragged here by roots over the years.
• Going through the corpse remains, the party can find all kinds of wondrous gear and equipment.  Perhaps a few arcane potions, magic trinkets, etc.  The GM should feel free to put whatever items they want in this area.  
• Attacking the Heart of the Malus
• If the party attacks the Heart, the Malus outside immediately begin to attack.
• A Malus can attack through each window, so that means 4-6 attacks per round from the outside.
• The Malus cannot use their blinding attack against party members on the inside.
• Melee attacks against the heart are treacherous (see below) but so is the climb down.
• Once the Heart is defeated, the trees die.  This is one great network, with the single infernal heart pumping the sappy lifeblood throughout.  

Returning Home

The Caretaker will consider this excursion successful should the party return with information regarding Elzbeth and Johann, and perhaps any backstory regarding Godrick and how he survived for so long on his own.  The Caretaker will be exceptionally pleased should the party bring back any relics from the home, or if they successfully slay the Heart of the Malus.

As any PC who attacks the Heart is at risk of Plague, this may start a whole new chapter at the Estate.  

Bestiary:

Malus:  These tree-folk are carnivorous Apple Trees, and have exterminated the local population. The Malus can create Darkest Apples, control Root Zombies, and move very slowly. They can also expel a pollen that can blind and hinder their foes. 

• HD 4-6, HP 20 - 30, AC 15
• Atk Impale, 1d8 damage
• Special Atk, Blinding Pollen, Save vs. Breath Weapon or Blind for 1d6 turns
• Weakness: Fire.  If set aflame it burns for an additional round.  
• Darkest Apples:  The Apples of the Malus are deep red and can cause the Plague of the Malus.  Those who consume the Darkest Apple must make a Poison Save.  Those who fail the save start to fall ill in 2d6 hours.  At this time they lose 1d6 points of Constitution, and lose another 1d6 points every 24 hours after while their veins harden and calcify.  This process is incredibly painful.

Root Zombie:  Sometimes human, sometimes wolf or bobcat, these are fast moving but tethered to the roots of the Malus. Every Malus has at least one Root Zombie, and several have more.  Those that see a Root Zombie should note that they do not walk or move their arms on their own, rather they are controlled like puppets.  

• HD 1-3, HP 4 - 12, AC 8
• Atk Claw or Bite 1d6 damage
• Special: Undead.  Root zombies can be turned like regular undead, but cannot flee beyond the range of the Malus' roots.  
• Special: Can only operate within 100 feet of a Malus

Heart of the Malus:  The terrible core of the Malus network at the orchard of Elzbeth and Johann.  This sentient mass of human-like flesh pumps the poison, infected blood to all the Malus in the area through subterranean roots.  

• HD 8, HP 50, AC 10
• Atk: None
• Special: Those who strike the Heart of the Malus with a melee weapon are sprayed with sap and must make a Poison Save.  Should they fail, they are infected with the Plague of Malus, as if they consumed one of the Darkest Apples.  

*     *     *

Our Session

You've read the details on running When the Light Goes Out at your table, but here's some of the details of how it played out for us last night.

Dramatis Personae

• Delpha the Plague Doctor (Cleric), played by Geoff 
• Gilfred the Houndmaster (Specialist), played by Juan
• Jonah the Crusader (Fighter), played by Ray
• Lincoln the Grave Robber (Specialist), played by Shannon
• Tenac the Abomination (Fighter), played by Trevor

Action Report

In our play session, the PC's spent a lot of time at the Sanitarium questioning Godrick, and investigating any clues that they could find.  Jonah became overzealous a few times, first ordering his parents (the orderlies Karl and Jan) to restrain the child for examination.  The boy bit Jonah, so the Crusader almost took his hand off in both retribution and to take the bonnet that he was carrying away.  The rest of the party had to calm Jonah down... such an animal!

Anyway, the party followed the clues to the Orchard, fought with some starving wolves, cut their way through the brambles blocking the trail, and encountered the cabin.  Before entering the cabin, the party poured some oil down one of the "Ant Holes" in the ground, and set it aflame.  I ruled that this fire spread all the way to a nearby Malus, and this created the first encounter with one of the tree-demons.  The Malus sent three Root Zombies after the party.  Between Delpha's bottles of flaming oil, Jonah's blade, Tenac's claws, Lincoln's Pick, and Gilfred's crossbow, the battle with the zombies didn't last long.

When Tenac and Jonah attacked the tree itself, however, they were both quickly blinded by pollen.  Eventually the Malus fell to the party's might.  I should note that neither in this combat, nor future combats did Gilfred send his cute hound Panda (short for Pandemonium) into combat.  I think he was afraid the pup would get killed.

It should be noted, that by this point just about everything scared Jonah in some way.  The PC kept failing all of his Stress Saves, so he was starting to get a little mad in the head.  He'd eventually go completely masochistic, and cut himself real bad.  

The party entered the home, and started exploring room by room.  When they found the dead parents of Godrick, they started to put the pieces together on what had happened to the boy.  Then they heard the "wump, wump" of the Heart of the Malus.  After tearing up the floorboards, the party concocted a very intricate plan to destroy the heart:

Drop a ton of crap through a hole in the floor on top of the heart.

Tables, chairs, furniture, buckets, anything that wasn't nailed down got dropped on the heart, thirty feet below.  At this point the Malus that surrounded the house started attacking viciously, so Delpha upped the ante by setting the heart and all that kindling on fire.  Not long after, Jonah jumped down (on top of the straw mattress that had been tossed onto the flames) to go into melee combat, but at this point the heart was destroyed.  

Unfortunately, Jonah couldn't climb back up, and Delpha, Gilfred, and Tenac all succumbed to smoke inhalation.  Choking on the smoke of the flames, but bolstered by the elimination of the Heart and the threat of the Malus, Lincoln dragged his three associates (as well as Panda) outside and into safety.

Sadly, Jonah burned to death.  

The Graveyard

• Theo, Delpha's Laborer who was impaled by a Malus root
• Jonah, the Crusader, who jumped on top of the burning Heart of the Malus, and got cooked.

*     *     *

Parting Shots

Just a few final notes, if you managed to read this far.  

First, if you enjoyed this adventure, and happen to play it with your own group, please let me know how it goes!  I'd especially love to read another play report from someone willing to give it a go.

Second, I need to point out that this event helped to raise $115 for the Government Accountability Project!  If this kind of "gamer-activism" sounds like a good idea, please check out Lawful Good Gaming, join our movement, and help us spread the word, coordinate games, and raise funds for some terrific organizations.  

I hope to see you there!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess - A Not-So-Quick Review

First off I'm going to be honest:  I don't know if I like the title to this mini-review series.  I've said it before -  I suck at reviews.  Despite having the slang term "crits" in my blog's name, it doesn't mean I'm any good at being critical when it comes to the books and gaming products I read, especially when I enjoy them...

... and hot damn, I really enjoyed reading Lamentations of the Flame Princess by +James Raggi!

I guess it comes to down to the fact that I won't finish reading something I don't like.

Anyway, I really wanted to write something about LotFP after reading it, as I felt inspired.  This "Not-So-Quick Review" is sort of a spiritual successor to my incredibly short lived Why You Should Play series of posts.  I'm going share and showcase my five favorite parts of Lamentations of the Flame Princess and if you agree or disagree or feel the need to scream crazy obscenities into the internet, you can do so in the comment section below.

Originally I intended this to be a rather short post, but then I just kept writing... and writing.  That's why it's "Not-So-Quick".  If you have a better idea for a blog series title let me know in the comments.  

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

I first across this game during the spring of 2015.  I had been playing several OSR games at the time, including Dungeon Crawl Classics, Adventures in the East Mark, and Basic Fantasy RPG, and I kept hearing folks in the community talk about "LotFP".  What the heck was that?  So a little Googling and I came across the free, no-art version of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Rules & Magic PDF.  I gave the book a quick glance, and found that the rules seemed pretty similar to some of the other games I was playing, with some entertaining tweaks and tidbits that I'll get to later in this post.  

A few weeks later I set out to get my own copy of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Rules & Magic in print.  Interestingly enough, one of my Google+ contacts saw my interest and made me an offer.  If I paid for shipping they would send me their copy of the book.  While they had no issues with the game, the art was too over the top.  

Hold up... any game that has artwork that can cause that kind of reaction with another gamer needs to be in my hands!  I had to check it out.  So I made the deal, and also managed to wrangle a copy of A Red and Pleasant Land by +Zak Sabbath because I thought "Alice in Wonderland" and "hey I like Disney movies." 

When the book finally came, I opened it up and saw just what my friend was talking about.  There is some very intense, mature artwork in this book, depicting some wild scenes.  If you are wondering if you would enjoy the artwork, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. Would you like to know what getting devoured by an ooze or slime looks like?
2. Did you enjoy the movie Slither?

If you answered yes to either of these, then you'll probably enjoy the art.  I should note that the book is very clearly listed as "18+" for "Explicit Content".  

Sadly, the book ended up going on my shelf for about a year before I opened it up again.  I have a terrible backlog of gaming products that I need to read!  It would be my wife +Jennifer Walls who'd play first, taking part in a demo of No Salvation for Witches that our friend +Shannon Slakinski ran as prep for Gen Con.  I was wrangling the kiddos that night so that she could play, so I was only able to hear a few tidbits of the game.  I knew I would play eventually, I just needed to find a little time.

Well I finally found the time!

In a little over two weeks I will be running Lamentations of the Flame Princess online on behalf of Lawful Good Gaming. 

To fully prepare for this game, I decided to read both the Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Rules & Magic as well as the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Referee Book (Grindhouse Edition) cover to cover.  For the purposes of this Just the Crits review, I'll be referring to both of these books.  

The Crits

Crit #1:  The Specialist Class

At it's core, Lamentations of the Flame Princess appears to have seven classes:  Fighter, Specialist, Magic-User, Cleric, Elf, Halfling, and Dwarf.  At first glance, the Specialist was just another name for a thief or a rogue, and this is what I thought when I first read the free PDF in 2015.  But upon fully reading through Lamentations of the Flame Princess, I realized that the Specialist allows for a great deal of flexibility for creating characters that aren't necessarily the front line fighter, yet lack magic.  

Specialists have access to nine skills, from Architecture and Bushcraft to Stealth and Sneak Attack.  As PC's progress, players can put points towards any of these skills in any fashion that they desire.  Couple this with the fact that there are no alignment or weapon restrictions in Lamentations of the Flame Princess and the Specialist can fill at least a dozen individual niches.

Here's just a few I came up with on the fly:

• Ranger: a high dexterity specialist that wields a bow and has skill points devoted to Bushcraft and Stealth.
• Thief:  a specialist that wields a dagger and short sword and has skill points devoted to sleight of hand, stealth, and tinker.
• Assassin:  a specialist that wields a blowgun and garrote, and has skill points devoted to climb, sneak attack, and stealth.
• Tinker (from the Ultima computer game series):  a specialist that wields a warhammer, and has skill points devoted to architecture, search, and tinker.  

If it weren't for one single spell (that I'll discuss momentarily) I think I'd always want to play some kind of Specialist variant myself.  

Crit #2:  Boats, Retainers, Property, & Finance

Sometimes I want to put my players on a boat.  Sometimes I want to put them in their own castle.  Sometimes I want to create altercations with my players' hirelings requiring Human Resource Management skills.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess has rules for all of that.  

For all my years playing AD&D 2nd Edition, with all of its rules for land owning, and castle creation, and bringing on hirelings, it wasn't until I started dipping into the OSR that I had players who actually wanted to manage some kind of property.  It was in my monthly Dungeon Crawl Classics campaign, after the party evicted a dastardly river bandit-king from his keep.  Unfortunately, the DCC rules didn't have enough on the topic, so I dipped back int my old Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia for some details.  

Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Rules & Magic has some very clear and concise rules governing all of these topics, from adventuring on the high seas to paying taxes for owning a keep or castle in another lord's land.  I really got a feeling that LotFP shines in sandbox style gaming.  What better sandbox than to let players create their own kingdom, and then have them role-play how they deal with the ramifications?  

Crit #3:  Summon

Imagine a game where a first level spell can destroy an entire campaign.  Lamentations of the Flame Princess is that game.

Summon is a first level Magic-User spell that, on the surface, allows the player character to summon a beast to fight on their behalf.  Perhaps they can summon a boa constrictor to strangle their arch nemesis.  Or maybe they roll really well and summon a living shadow to do battle with a mass of orc raiders.  Or maybe, just maybe, they summon an "Imaginary Equation, Incorrect yet True" and all of mathematics breaks down and the universe implodes.  

This can totally happen in LotFP.

I really can't do the spell justice, so go download the PDF right now and read pages 134 - 143 (yes, it's nine pages, and all nine pages are awesome.)

I'll wait...

... are you done reading?  Good, I'll continue.

Summon is proof that magic in LotFP is terribly dangerous, and can alter the world in some serious ways, often by accident.  Sure, Dungeon Crawl Classics has some spells that can cause total carnage if a player character spellburns and blows all of their luck, but chances are that they won't submerge the entire world in fifty feet of water if they blow the spell.  Each and every casting of that kind of magic can lead to adventure plots created by player character actions.  

Crit #4:  On the Topic of Railroading

On page 11 of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Referee Book +James Raggi starts to cover adventure design.  He lays out the process of creating your own adventures as well as the types of weird adventures that can be had in with this Weird Fantasy Role Playing Game.  Even though I've been reading, writing, and running RPG adventures since the early 1990's, I always find it eye-opening to read someone else's take on the process.  

It was the discussion of "Railroading" (forcing players down a particular adventure path) on page 20 that I found to be of particular interest.  Mr. Raggi asks the reader to repeat and say aloud the following (twice):

"My adventures and campaigns will have no pre-set endings.  Characters are not required to act as I wish them to act during the course of the game.  It is natural player behavior to trash scenarios and take the game to places unforeseen."  

Great advice, and not just for new GM's, but for any and all who lurk behind the screen.  Crap, I need to catch myself, especially when I'm running games for younger players and I want to ensure that we get done on time.  Perhaps I'm doing a disservice when I shoot for bringing our game in for a nice and tidy landing at the end.  Just based on reading the LotFP adventure design setting, great adventures should lay out what a problem is, and then give the players the full ability to create thoughtful and creative solutions.  

Of course, these creative solutions may be fatal to the player characters, but without risk, there is no reward!

Crit #5:  Other Topics

There's a complete section in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Referee Book that's titled "Other Topics" that really should be called "Role-Playing Organizational Management 101."  The topics include but are in no way limited to player recruitment, setting player expectations, replacing deceased characters, and examining and being critical of your play style as a referee.  

In short, pages 62-68 of this absolutely free PDF should be required reading for any new starting out on their path to create a campaign.  Heck, if it weren't for the art depicting eyeballs getting stabbed by knives, I'd print this thing and give it to all of the teen GM's who run games at our local game club.  While I'm perfectly comfortable letting my own kids see a little harmless gore, I can't speak for all parents.  What I'd love to do is print this out, go back in time, and give it to the thirteen year old version of me.

+James Raggi hits home on page 62:

"Ask your friends to join your game.  ALL of them.  Even people you don't know all that well. Co-workers.  Classmates.  One of the worst things people can do is only game with close friends.  This often cripples one's ability to find a game, as if these certain other people don't want to game, that's it."  

Guilty.  Until just the past few years (2012+) I fell into this trap repeatedly.  I'd limit myself to asking just a close selection of friends to join my game, and then when I'd lose a player, or a group would collapse, I'd lament that none of my other friends were gamers.  Thankfully, between frequenting an amazing FLGS and the advent of the internet, gaming with strangers is easier than ever.  I've created dozens of friendships in the process, and with every event and convention seem to create a few more.  

But if you want to be a referee, judge, or game master, you need to put yourself out there and market your game. 

LotFP at Your Table

These are my critical hits from Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and I'd be interested to hear how some feel about the game.  Have you played LotFP, and if so, what were your impressions?  How did you enjoy it compared to other OSR games?  If I was looking to pick up some more LotFP products, where should I start?  

Feel free to comment below!

Steamless Summer Sales

Not a Steamy Summer

Last summer I wrote a blog post called "Letting Off Steam."  Essentially it was a commentary on my drifting away from electronic gaming and towards tabletop gaming.  I listed the few games I picked up, keeping myself to $15, and all of the promising tabletop games that I wanted to play.  I also discussed my lack of time to knock out multiple video games, since I was running so many RPG's.  Well another year, and another Steam Sale has come and gone with me spending just under $15…

… shame on all of you who can't control your Steam spending… SHAME!

While some of you were filling your virtual carts with new PC titles during the mid-June sales on Steam and GOG.com, I went out and grabbed a few tabletop titles that caught my eye…

East Texas University

Two Friday's ago, just before our family left for a big vacation in scenic Delaware, I received word of Melior Via's impending Kickstarter for The Thin Blue Line.  After checking out the website for this Detroit Cop meets modern horror RPG, the first thing I thought of was Robocop.  But the second thing I thought of was a cross-over with East Texas University, a Savage Worlds campaign setting released back in 2014.  I'd love to run that kind of game (probably with some of my typical sick twists) but I had a serious problem…

… I didn't own ETU!

During the drive to Delaware I purchased the PDF for ETU's campaign guide.  I read the book cover to cover, and with visions of Community meets True Blood dancing in my head, purchased the hardback, the Degree's of Horror Plot Point Campaign, the GM's screen & adventure, and a couple of maps.  I imagine I could've purchased quite a few computer games for the same price.  Expect a review on Living 4 Crits - Late Knights next week!  My wife got a kick out of the concept, so I also plan on bringing this setting to my Saturday night live players.

You may note that I've included pictures of my brand spanking new hardbacks for The Last Parsec, another phenomenal campaign setting by Pinnacle Entertainment Group for Savage Worlds.  Although we've run several adventures for TLP over the last nine months, its all been via the Savage Worlds Science Fiction Companion and the PDF that released immediately after the successful Kickstarter.  Imagine my insane delight upon coming home from vacation on Sunday to find the ETU books waiting, and then on Monday getting some extreme, space-faring goodness in the mail!  

So technically this isn't part of my Steamless Summer, but I'm proud of these books, and this Kickstarter, and they deserve some respect.  

If you're interested in seeing what we did with The Last Parsec, check out our Disney Inspired tales here!

Lamentations of the Flame Princess (Mature Audiences Only)

What better way to follow up after a Disney related comment than mention that I took the Lamentations of the Flame Princess plunge!  As you may know, I'm a bit of an OSR aficionado, and I'm always on the lookout for a good old-school inspired title.  I considered Swords & Wizardry and Labyrinth Lord, but since I already own a ton of Basic Fantasy RPG stuff, I didn't think there was enough of a difference.  Perhaps the same is true for LotFP, but I was intrigued by two things: the Specialist class and the art.

If you are unfamiliar with LotFP, the Specialist is James Raggi's response to the Thief or Rogue in other RPG's.  The Specialist's skill system uses six-sided dice instead of percentile dice, and gives the players "choice" in how they want to focus the points they are assigned.  Perhaps they max out bushcraft and act more like a ranger, or focus on stealth and lock picking to be the perfect burglar.  The LotFP Specialist is a class I would play, whereas I've never felt interested in OD&D thieves.  

The art… oh the art of LotFP.  If you are over eighteen just "Google" it, and you'll see what I mean.  It's certainly like nothing I've seen before in an RPG, so it belongs on my shelf…

… you know… on that shelf really high up, where the kids can't find it of course.  

In addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rulebook, I put an order in for Zak S.'s A Red & Pleasant Land.  The book's Alice in Wonderland'ish theme reminds me of "American McGee's Alice," a game I enjoyed back in the early 2000's.  I'll probably talk more about this book when it comes in the mail, but I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for it to arrive!  

Maybe the wife and I will play it when we are at Disney World… without the kids!

What about the $15?

So I did end up making a purchase on Steam's Summer Sale… one single purchase:

Darkest Dungeon

After a only few hours of play I have many ways to describe this terribly awesome (as in "terrible & awesome") experience:

• It feels like Ravenloft with a sick and twisted DM.
• It feels like what I expect Lamentations of the Flame Princess to feel like.
• It feels like Accursed without bennies.
• It feels like a realistic simulation of what Castlevania would be like for everyday people.

Great game, go out and buy it, even if its not on sale.

*     *     *

I bet I wasn't the only person making tabletop purchases during the Steam Summer Sale.  What games did you pick up?