WEIRD MUSIC: ELECTRIC HURDY GURDY

Not a musician myself, but I'm fascinated by weird instruments and exotic soundscapes. The hurdy gurdy is a new instrument, nor exotic -- as it appeared in Medieval Northern Europe. (It's an instrument that I've always wanted to play as a bard in D&D, but got turned down by my DM.) How might one, you ask, improve on the instrument? Electrify it, of course!

This video proves a few things:

• The Hurdy Gurdy is cool.
• It rocks!
• And as a single instrument, it is damned versatile.
• Hurdy Gurdys rule!

Now, ENJOY!

QUOTABLES: THOREAU

My sister came out here from Seattle in August, and we went to Walden Pond. While there, she bought me a t-shirt as an early Xmas gift with my favorite Thoreau quote from On Walden Pond:

    "I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes . . . "

I've taught Thoreau and On Walden Pond a few times, and this is a quote I always stop at, as it reflects my own thoughts on substance versus mere appearance. (And my own predilection for comfortable clothes over what is presently considered to be stylish.)

However, looking up the quote today, I realize that it seems to always be quoted partially, rather than in full (and I had forgotten that):

    "I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, 

    and not rather a new wearer of clothes."

Food for thought!

 

LANGUAGES IN MY RAVNICA

 

As I mentioned before in this previous post, one of my jams in languages and linguistics. As I'm preparing my Ravnica campaign for my friends on the MPL staff and others by invitation, I thought I'd revisit the languages of humanity to be found on Ravnica. (Note: I've noted in parentheses the real-world languages they are based on or inspired by.)

Gavonèse (French): This is the older sister language to Ynge (below). While Ynge has largely superseded it in everyday use, it is still spoken by the aristocracy and other elites of Gavony and its capitol Thraben. Along with Ynge, it has migrated to Ravnica with contact of the Orzhov Syndicate.

Ippan (Japanese): The Infinite Consortium is known to have trade contacts with the plane of Kamigawa. Apart from this interplanar trade, little is known of this language -- though there are some loan words that have made their way into Ravnican street language.

Koine (Greek): In Ravnican Antiquity, Azor I the Lawgiver, brought over natives of Theros to fight in the Guild War that eventually led to the Original Guildpact. Many of them settled down in Little Theros in the Second Precinct and brought their language and alphabet with them.

Ravi (Esperanto): The everyday language of Ravnica. Derived from the ancestral language of Ravonèse, but much changed and simplified by the multiplicity of languages spoken on Ravnica and their influence.

Ravonèse (Czech): The ancestral language of native Ravnica, now a special prestige language used by the elite and professionals of Ravnica.

Ynge (Middle English): The Orzhov Syndicate is believed to have ancient contact with Innistrad -- the nature of that contact has been lost to history for those outside the guild. The purest form of the language on Innistrad can be found in Gavony and its capitol Thraben. Elsewhere on Innistrad, it has been further influenced by the dialects of the other provinces.

Then just to round things out, here are the linguistic characteristics of the two secret languages to be found in character class descriptions: Druidic and Thieves' Cant.

Druidic (Brythonic): Celtic -influenced language with an archaic feel to it. What makes it special to Druids is that many of the words and phrases have sacred and esoteric meanings foreign to speakers untutored in the Druidic religion. Also somewhat influenced by the Sylvan language in some respects -- so not pure Brythonic either.

Thieves' Cant (Special): Less of a language and more of a method or jargon. It involves speaking in seemingly nonsensical gibberish or in the telling of strange anecdotes with seemingly hidden and mysterious meaning. (Think of the "Lost in Translation" scene from Ocean's Twelve to get the gist of it.)

MY RATINGS

 

As I review materials for recommendation, it occurs to me that it might be helpful for me to have a rating system to communicate my relative ratings for the materials reviewed. 

Let me say, I'm not a huge fan of making categorical judgments about the quality or worth of a work of art or other creative endeavor. To my mind, aesthetics is too subjective an area to make such judgments with any degree of confidence, We like what we like. Regardless of the criteria we invent to justify them. So my rating system is just that: my subjective opinion.

(Because most Americans are familiar with the traditional letter grade designations, I've decided to use them as part of my framework.)

A = Loved it. Near perfect in my opinion, Highly recommended.

B = Liked it. Good, but might have some quibbles with it. Recommended.

C= Meh. So-so. Has some elements I liked, but overall didn't fly for me. Your mileage may vary (YMMV).

D= Didn't Liked It. Found nothing in it that really appealed to me. Not recommended.

F= Hated It. Found aspects of it offensive and/or seriously defective. Warning you off.

I = Verdict out. Don't know what to make of it. No recommendation whatsoever.

Fractional values are used for works that I have a primary feeling about, but which may shade a little towards the next value up or down. For instance: an A- might indicate "I loved it, but might have some quibbles about it" or a B+ might indicate "I liked it overall, and there were aspects to it that elevated it beyond mere Like."

Take it for what it's worth . . . .

LANGUAGES IN MY D&D

 

As I'd mentioned in my welcome post, one of my great interests is in language and linguistics. I'm bilingual by training, speaking both English (my native tongue) and French (twelve years of study).

I also like to dabble in learning aspects of other languages through reading books about them and Duolingo, During COVID I develped an abiding interest in conlangs (constructed languages).

I've always felt that languages were a missed opportunity in D&D. Yes, there are a variety of languages and spells meant to help bridge any linguistic gap (i.e., Comprehend Languages). But languages rarely, if ever, play a significant role in D&D.

I certainly understand why. Most players of D&D are not language nerds by nature, And it sucks, from an RPG perspective, for players to get stuck because no one knows the language of the current creature or place you're dealing with. Are there useful ways around this? I think so. Among the projects I'm working on are 5E rules for language acquisition and dealing with foreign / mixed language environments.

I'm about to start a private, online D&D game for my library colleagues. We're going to start out playing in Ravnica. The City of Guilds is supposed to be based on Prague as a fantasy ecumenopolis. As a result, I've decided to introduce some re-skinned real world languages as actual in-game tongues (for flavor). 

Those two languages are the classical language Ravonèse (based on Czech) and the common tongue of Ravi (based on Esperanto). Here are some examples of both in use:

RAVI

Ravnica estas la Urbo de Gildoj kaj Ravi estas ĝia Komuna Lingvo.

(Ravnica is the City of Guilds. and Ravi is its Common Tongue)

Some Phrases

• Ravnica  pronounced RAV-NIK-A
• Hello!  Saluton!
• How are you?   Kiel vi fartas?
• Please.  Bonvolu.
• Thank you.  Dankon.
• You're welcome.   Nedankinde.
• Yes.   Jes. (pronounced the same as in English)
• No.   Ne.
• Goodbye!   Ĝis revido!

RAVONÈSE

Ravnica je město cechů a ravonèse je jeho klasický jazyk.

(Ravnica is the City of Guilds, and Ravonèse is its classical language.)

Some Phrases

• Ravnica.  pronounced RAV-NEET-SA
• Hello!   Dobrý den!
• How are you?   Jak se máš?
• Please.   Prosím.
• Thank you. Děkuju.
• You're welcome. Nemáš zač
• Yes.   Ano.
• No.   Ne.
• Goodbye!  Nashledanou!

The idea here is often to use real-world languages to represent in-game languages. This is not new to D&D. It was common practice in the Basic setting, Mystara (see the discussions about this on the Vaults of Pandius). 

What I think is helpful here for roleplaying purposes is to use a smattering of common expressions in the target language to get "the feel" of the language without the added burden of actually having to learn the language. A similar approach can be adopted for the use of entirely fantasy languages alongside them,

Finally, a word about the plane's name. Ravnica is an actual word in Serbian. It means Plains -- which is the MTG land type associated with cities and civilization in-game! Go figure.

BOOK REVIEW: JEAN MERRILL'S PUSHCART WAR

 

This is a book that I loved as a child in the seventies. The Pushcart War was a smart book that didn't talk down to children and provided a conceptual framework for understanding war and peace. I mean on an honest and intellectual level -- rather than in a superficial or sentimental way.

Its author, Jean Merrill, explained her thought process thusly:

[While living in New York, she said that] the traffic there was oppressive and she fantasized about flattening the tires out with pea shooters. She then had an epiphany, realizing that "what you feel about the trucks is what everybody feels about bullies." (Quoted from Wikipedia)

Now I must confess that I have come to HATE trucks. Not as individuals, but as a species. I know I shouldn't hate commercial trucks, because the play a vital role in our economy, and everybody depends on them for delivery of their online purchases. But I do. I don't think I'm alone in feeling this. They're big, blocking the lanes of traffic, going too fast for the speed limit or too slow, often behaving like they own the road and are much of the time oblivious to the other traffic.

And don't get me started on folks who buy pickups, but have no cause to haul anything -- which is probably most of them on the road. I feel like they buy their trucks so that they have license to be total jackasses on the road. 

I work at a public library about thirty minutes from home and take -495 to work -- a major thoroughfare East-West through Massachusetts. And just chock full of truck traffic both ways. And I think about this book multiple times every day.

So for me, the book works on multiple levels. Channeling my anger and ambivalence related to commercial trucking, as a primer on military theory: asymmetric warfare and how to pursue peace in the midst of war, etc. And then also . . . it's just a really, really charming story to read in and of itself. Rating: A.

BORROWING RULES FROM:

 

Dynamic Initiative: One aspect of D&D that is problematic is smoothly and effectively handling initiative order. In my experience, Initiative (as written) in combat tends to bring the game to a grinding halt. Conceptually, it makes sense why players and DMs would embrace it. (I won't go into it -- but I imagine you already understand why that is.) But the fact that many DMs feel it necessary to purchase from a variety of initiative tools out there indicates to me that Initiative as originally formulated in 3E+ is broken.

This didn't become an issue for me per se, until I was enlisted to run Adult D&D at the Library. I knew that it would slow down the game at a critical juncture in running the game: combat. My goal was to be able to run smoothly multiple combats in the course of a 11/2- to 3- hour game. Clearly, Initiative as written was going to be a problem. Fortunately, there are already a couple of viable options out there, both from earlier editions of D&D and from other RPGs:

• Team Initiative: Test for initiative. Based on the results, one team goes first, then the other. Either the same order for the entire combat, or by re-testing each round. This was the path taken as default in Basic D&D and 1-2E. There were other optional aspects in the rules: surprise rounds, weapon speeds, the impact of individual DEX scores, etc.
• Or Dynamic Initiative, which I have modified and adapted from MHRP. The idea is that all you need to do is to determine who initially goes first. Then whoever's turn it is that player decides who goes next -- ally or opponent. Everyone needs to have their turn in a round before you begin the next. And the last to go in a round determines who goes first in the next round.

How do you determine who initially goes first? Primarily by common sense and situational context. Often it just makes sense that one group has an advantage in Initiative over the other based on the narrative situation and accompanying description. If not, have one character (not always the best -- again determined by situational context -- test against their opponent, using whatever factor makes the most sense: typically, using either Initiative or Perception.

I've now play-tested it in two groups now. In a larger group, such as my adult D&D group at the Library, it works like a charm as intended. In a 11/2 to 2- hour slot, we can easily run 2-3 combats, including any other character and role-playing the players engage in. There are limitations, there are features and options of the standard D&D initiative rules that simply don't apply here: surprise rounds, delaying actions, etc. They can be simulated or accommodated within these rules, but they aren't what the system is designed for -- and I might argue that they are features that were created partially to patch up problems with initiative as written.

My Adult D&D group at the library seem to like it -- some LOVE it. Here are the advantages of it based on my experience:

• It is simple and easy to learn.
• It is fast.
• Players tend to focus on combat primarily as narrative, than necessarily tactics.
• Players seem to feel they have greater agency with it.
• Some strategy is involved: does the party act as one before the opponent OR do they permit their opponent to act before everyone on their side as gone -- whether it is about trying to control initiative order in the next round or to see what the opponent does in response, etc,

I LOVE it myself and don't plan on using anything else in its place -- at least for D&D. There are other aspects of the game that need to be adapted to it -- e.g., legendary actions. (But I don't see that as much of a problem for a clever DM.)

Pool XP: With the publication of Civil War as an Event, MHRP introduced the optional rule of troupe play or pooled XP. In longer events, players are encouraged to play multiple heroes in an ongoing stable of superheroes played by a single player according to the narrative needs of the Event. It makes sense of two levels: 

1. it permits a player to maintain and play a number of different heroes without losing access to XP earned by a different hero in a different scene.
2. XP are used differently in the game from most RPGs, not so much for leveling or powering up characters long-term, but more for leveraging your SFX, enhancing your dice pools and buying Unlockables in-game.

Having said, I definitely feel that there is a use for it in more traditional RPG -- mainly for reason #1. Moving forward, in my games XP will always be awarded to the player, not the character and can be used to level up or improve any character you own within that gaming system.

PS: Of course, as always: Your MIleage May Differ (YMMD)

TREASURE HOARDS IN B1: IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN

B1: In Search of the Unknown written by Mike Carr was the first D&D module published by TSR back-in-the-day. It was written for Basic D&D, but my guess was usually played more as a 1E module. It's a particular fave of mine. I've now run through it twice in its Goodman Games 5e iteration -- once with my Adult D&D group at the Library and separately 1:1 with my younger brother, Chris, over Face Time.

(Mike Carr is also responsible for the creation of one of my historical-tactical board games, Fight in the Skies or more recently titled Dawn Patrol. Another fave of mine. I met him last time I was at Gen Con and first played Dawn Patrol there. Mike is one of the funniest and nicest people I have ever met. Just saying.)

Quasqueton is the dungeon, and it is finely described and design. It was meant to be a dungeon that the staerting DM was meant to stock using the creatures and treasures within the pages making up the module. Goodman Games has stocked it somewhat, but only somewhat, for the DM. Monster-wise, what is in there is pretty good -- but can certainly be expanded.

But both groups have complained about the exact same thing: the nature and lacking quantity of the treasure to be routinely found in the module. Treasure is the bait or lure that is dangled in front of the PCs to get then to explore the dungeon. Both groups have complained about how little there is and how it makes them feel like the dungeon has already been looted ahead of them.

While playing with my brother, I found a way to leverage the random treasure table to be found in the book. Whenever you decide to include random treasure as written in the module, you roll 4D6, total the dice and find the single result on the table. My innovation has been to have him roll 4D6, give me the individual rolls, and use the values to create a cascading table of results. If the player rolled 1, 4, 4, 5, I would normally give them the result for 14, which is a hoard of silver coins.

But in my case, I would give them the result for 1 (nothing), 4 twice an art object worth 75 g.p., 5 thrice each for 1-2 gems worth 50 g.p, 8 for 1-4 art objects each worth 50 g.p., 9 twice each for 2-8 art objects worth 25 g.p. each, 10 twice for two separate mixed coin hoards, 13 for 40-240 c.p., and finally 14 for a 30-180 s.p. coin hoard. (Note: I have reduced any coin values in excess of 100 coins or any gold equivalent values for objects in excess of 100 g.p. by a factor of 10.)

It feels like a lot of treasure -- and it probably is, at 1st-3rd level -- but is also probably appropriately bounded because of the same factor reduction described above.

To add an additional wrinkle, you can vary the number of dice rolled: D6 for a minor treasure, 2D6 for a major treasure, 3D6 for a minor treasure hoard, and 4D6 for a major treasure hoard. One can make the determination which applies based on the location description OR when unsure, roll D4 and roll the number of dice indicated by the D4 roll.

I plan on running this module many more times in the future, and this is the method I shall apply going forward to supplement whatever treasure is already listed in the text for a given location.

COMING SOON . . .

 

There's a three-day weekend coming up, and I hope to blog about some of the projects I'm working on:

• Finish playing Breakout 1 2: Something Goes Bump in the Dark! and to post the narrative.
• Talk about my current homebrew D&D campaign: Nth Degree and its parallel continuums. Plus introduce some homebrew D&D rules borrowed from MHRP! And also including some of the tools I am creating myself for B1-B2 Into the Borderlands, with perhaps some commentary on what is turning into its special place in my omniversal campaign.
• Finally, a hero datafile for Spider-Pig, combining their description of him by Marvel Plot Points with some SFX taken from other hero datafiles to be found in the fully published Civil War Event.

NEW OBSIDIAN PORTAL

So I've been (re-) watching the What If ...? animated series on Disney+. As a result of this and the fact that I've been running MHRP solo and for my adults at the library, I've become inspired to create my own original MHRP content. And I've begun to research the multiple alternate realities that make up the Marvel Multiverse. To that end, I've decided to create a new Obsidian Portal website as a design space for that kind of creative effort, regardless of whether the characters actually ever get used in future Events or not.

And just a word about how I'm labelling the different Marvel Universes in the much greater Marvel Multiverse. First, I am replacing the Earth- designation with a Marvel- designation. Second, I am prefixing all Marvel Universe designations with the following codes:

B for Bespoke to be used for all my own creations. See my own MHRP Continuum with its in-game designation of MARVEL-B39759.

M for Marvel as in the official designations for realities in their published multiverse.

T for Temporary to signify the placeholding designations employed by marvel.fandom.com for realities without a current official designation yet.

U for Unofficial to signify either MHRP creations that lie outside of scope OR for conflicting / contradictory existing designations.

WHAT AM I READING?

So I'm re-reading the LORD OF THE RINGS. But in French. Why? Because when you have learned / are learning a foreign language, it's really important to practice using it on pretty much a daily basis. Putting the sounds in it, learning new vocabulary by context, etc.

To date, I've already read LE HOBBIT and LA FRATERNITÉ DE L'ANNEAU. I read it aloud a little bit every day (to practice pronunciation and to put those sounds in my ears). According to my Kindle, I'm 93% of the way to the end. Somewhere around 30 pages to the end.

One of my strategies is to read in French books I'm rather familiar with in English. That way, I'm usually familiar with what's going on and can leverage context as a tool. I try to only look up words that repeat throughout and seem especially significant.

P.S. I'm also reading original works in French. In the last French class I took, we read ROBERT DES NOM PROPRE by Amélie Nothomb. I've sense read a few others -- STUPEURS ET TREMBLEMENTS and COSMÉTIQUE DE L'ENNEMI. I find her writing to be very much a part of the LITERATURE OF THE ABSURD.

FORMIDABLE!

BREAKOUT VOL. 1 - HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!

 

As I'd said, I'm running solo through some pre-made MHRP Events. Right now I'm playing through the original Event that came with the Basic Rules -- Breakout, which is based on the story arc presented in New Avengers 1 1-6. As I'm playing through the scenes, I am writing them up as individual issues and posting them to my Obsidian Portal campaign site: Marvel Heroic Continuum. The format is conceptually a mix in conventions of the standard comic book narrative sans pictures combined with some basic screen-writing techniques.

As I do, I will also post them here:

Breakout 1 1: 'Twas a Dark and Stormy Night ... [completed]

Breakout 1 2: Something Goes Bump in the Night ... [in process]

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

New Year, New Start! Or so they say . . . . Let's find out!Welcome to my new blog! 

This is the place where I will share with you my interests and thoughts. A little bit about me: I'm . . .

• A Public Librarian in Massachusetts. Really happy, getting paid to do the things I really love doing!

• A Tabletop Gamer. Boardgames, wargames, tabletop roleplaying games, etc. Spent my teen and early adult years living in Wisconsin near TSR. And yes, I started out playing D&D 1E (though we called it AD&D).

• A Genre Reader. I've always found realistic literature to be limited and dull. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, these are the genres that stretch my imagination and thrill me! But also caper, espionage and historical fiction (a real sucker for stuff set in the late Roman Republic / early Roman Empire periods).

• Always Trying to Learn More About Language / Culture. My second language is French -- but I've spent more or less time learning a bit about all the Romance Languages, including Latin. Also dabble in other languages, real or constructed. Languages and reading are my way of learning about and experiencing other cultures.

What am I up to?

• Running D&D for adults at the Library monthly. Also runningD&D online with my brother multiple times weekly (or at least, typically). For forty-plus years, I've been a player, never a DM. But now that I've started DMing at the Library, I've caught the bug!
• Playing Marvel Heroic Roleplaying solo. Got an online site for it on Obsidian portal here at Marvel Heroic Continuum. Running through official and some homebrew Events, all in the same continuity. Also running MHRP for adults at the Library. We'll be playing through Annihilation! Our first session is this coming Thursday night. They'll be starting out at the Kyln -- intergalactic prison, pilgrimage site, and scientific curiosity. (Think of the prison scene at the start of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1, that's supposed to be the Kyln!) Just in time to witness and survive the First Annihilation Wave emerge from the rift between the Marvel Universe and the Negative Zone! My tagline for it: Cosmic adventures for cosmic heroes!
• Running a Shakespeare Drama Workshop using cue scripts at the Library. I bill it as De-Mystifying Shakespeare. Because who's afraid of Shakespeare? Answer: Everyone! We'll be running through some scenes from Twelfth NIght in honor of the holiday season.

So yeah, I'm keeping busy! 😜