Five for Friday 11: Favorite Fantasy Series

A Fantasy Come True--The Castle of Books

I never connected with Game of Thrones, sad to say. I felt the same way trying to slog through Kate Elliot/Alis A. Ramussen's Crown of Stars series and some of the books by David Eddings. I don't really read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, at least not at the rate that I did while I was in my teens. However, there are some fantasy series that I do enjoy. Here are five (in alphabetical order), plus some "honorable mentions:"

• Dresden Files: Jim Butcher's best-selling series was not love-at-first-read for me. I really struggled to make it through the first book and I wasn't all in until book 4, Summer Knight. Sadly, there was no love connection between me and Butcher's Codex Alera series.
• Earthsea: I recently reread Ursala Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy, plus the sequels, and found that they still do it for me.
• Elric of Melniboné: Anything I write will only detract from Michael Moorcock's masterpiece. I am also a big fan of the Moorcock's other books, particularly the two Corum trilogies.
• Newford: I am still working my way through Charles de Lint's sprawling Newford series. Set in a fictional North American city, his series features an overlapping cast of slackers, hipsters, and musicians whose lives intersect a powerful, yet unseen world, where Native American and Celtic mythologies run wild.
• Tales of the Otori: A series of five novels by Gillian Rubinstein (written under the pen name, Lian Hearn), the Tales of the Otori is set in a land very much like medieval Japan. An added bonus is that the individual book titles all utilize Japanese poetic style (waka and haiku). You know me...I love me some haiku.

Honorable mentions: Fritz Leiber, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser; Terry Pratchett, Discworld; Glen Cook, The Black Company; Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian; Robin Hobb (pen name for Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden...you can see why), The Realm of the Elderlings; and, yes, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter.

Hall of Fame: J.R.R. Tolkien, Middle Earth novels

What is your favorite fantasy series?

The GM/DM Gig: Preparation and Improvisation

Miles

Playing the role of GM/DM feels very much like playing live music. I have to put in the time practicing--whether it is bass, guitar, or mandolin. Scales, runs, chords, melodies and grooves. Plus working on actual songs. Sometimes fun. Sometimes toil and grunt work. That is the prep work.

The payoff is the live performance with other musicians. Being able to play off my bandmates--improvising-- while performing a song for the audience. Pure gold. But improvising, the making-it-up-as-we-go, only works when I have put in the hours of prep.

That is how it is for me when I am running a gaming session. How does it all work for you when you are in the GM/DM seat?

Into It (Or Not)

The Pre-Session Me

I was the DM/GM/CK/TK/Ref for our Monday Night Gaming Group as the guys adventured in the Montporte dungeon. On a typical Monday night, I am simply a player, which affords me the luxury of showing up to the session tired, grumpy, stressed, etc. When that happens, I can hang back a bit until the session gets going--and then I am ready to jump in with both hands on my axe. By the end of the session, I always find myself relaxed and ready to face the rest of the week. But that is my experience as a player.

However, when I am in the GM seat, my mood and energy level sets the tone for the session. Unfortunately, I went into our Monday night session like I had just been smacked around by a bunch of level-sucking undead. I am the CEO of a nonprofit that operates with significant federal funding and this is not a fun time to being counting on the U.S. government to make reasoned decisions. So, that brings a bit of stress to the workday. On top of that, I had been grant writing like crazy, cranking out reports, working on a bunch of sensitive negotiations with other agencies, keeping things going while some key staff deal with family medical issues, traveling out of state to speak at a conference, running a major fundraising event, and getting over a bad case of the flu as an added bonus.

So I went into the session surly and ill-prepared (which only worsened my mood). And, lo and behold, it was an okay session...maybe even a bit better than okay. Nothing to write home about but the guys brought some game to the virtual table top and turned it into a good time for all of us.

Book Bundle Giveaway

Hey, boys and girls! Who doesn't love giveaways and prizes? The Happy Whisk is giving away an ebook bundle in celebration of her 444th blog post. It includes Tim's latest issue of The Manor, but don't let that dissuade you (The Happy Whisk is Tim's wife...not sure how he engineered that). The other stuff looks really cool, too (3 other ebooks!).

Monday Moodsetter 9

Canyon Town by Kazu Kibuishi

RPG Rorschach: What is the first gaming thought that pops into your head?

Dungeon Design: The Sixth Way

This post represents a correction from a brain fart while writing the previous post. While writing that post, I could remember only four of the five paths I use for dungeon design. All I could remember was the Architect DM piece. While I like that bit of info, it wasn't a part of what I had intended to write. Here is what I originally intended to include as one of my Five Paths For Dungeon Design:

The 5 X 5 Method: This allows the GM to create some plot, setting and thematic connections for the players to follow while allowing players to make significant choices as to where they are going and how they will play. Basically, the GM identifies five different quests, locations, factions, etc. In turn, each of these five quests/locations/factions/etc has five episodes, modules, or actions associated with them.You can find a the 5 X 5 Compendium here (with links to a number of blog posts and articles) but the original article (here) and an an example of how this method was applied to The Temple of Elemental Evil (here) gives a nice overview of how this method can help to plan a dungeon campaign.

Five For Friday 10: Five Paths For Dungeon Design

Designing a megadungeon as the basis for an extended campaign is a daunting task. To start with, it is a huge time suck. And, even you put in a buttload* of time, the finished product might not support extended play. While there are no magic bullets, perfect shortcuts, or foolproof methods, there are some design tools and methodologies that I have found helpful. I use them as paths for dungeon design.

I have these in, what seems to me, a logical order. However, in practice I do jump around between them to plan ahead, solve problems, organize my thoughts and do whatever it is I need to do to come up with a fun playable dungeon design.

• The One Page Dungeon: Here is a modular approach, popularized by Stonehell Dungeon (which utilizes a Two Page Dungeon) and a string of One Page Dungeon contests. Basically, the dungeon is mapped out in 300' X 300' modules (or similar size) with the map and the map key fitting onto one page (or two pages). Here are some early posts from Sham's Grog `n Blog (here and here), ChicagoWiz's RPG Blog (here), and The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope (here) that provide more detail and insight.
• The Architect DM Series: This series of blog posts on Critical Hits are not profound, but they do serve as a good reminder that a dungeon is a physical space underground (two sample posts here and here). I try to include basic engineering elements, such as columns. More importantly, it is a good reminder to have lots of "black space" or solid rock to physically support the rooms and passages. Part of this is my own personal dislike of dungeons that have no apparent means of support the roof (you know, those dungeons where every space on the map has been used (like Gary's map pictured here). My undergrad degree is in geophysics, so I feel a suprising need to have structural integrity in my dungeon (but at the same time, I don't worry about what dungeon critters eat...go figure).
• Map Flow/Decision Tree Approach: I wasn't sure what to call this approach to dungeon design. "Melan," in a now-classic thread post, analyzed a number of TSR/WotC adventure modules, by looking at the pathway(s) available to player characters as they physically moved through the module (you can find Melan's text here). While he restricted his analysis to modules (with smaller dungeons), his thoughts and observations have helped me think through how player characters move through space. I have found it particularly helpful in giving players opportunities for decision-making based upon the physical layout of the dungeon.
• Node-Based Dungeon: Another way to diagram and plan dungeon areas, factions, and encounters. Keith Davies has several posts on his blog, In My Campaign (you can read some of his node-based dungeon posts here, here, and here). Dungeon of Signs also has this post. [Update 3/8/13: Keith added links/landing page for his Node-Based Dungeon posts; you can find it here]
• The Dungeon, the Underdark, and Beyond: I am a big fan of the Underdark concept. I love the idea of underground cities, complexes, and sites connected by stairs, rivers, passages, and portals (like this and even this).

What approaches, tools, publications, or methods have you found helpful for dungeon design?

*Thanks to the Happy Whisk for providing me with this useful unit of measure.