#i haven't watched saltmarsh

[siena-sevenwits]

Tagged indirectly by @lady-merian

Last song: "Sea Meets Earth." Ever since I put this one on the playlist of one of my characters (Anders,) I've really come to love it.

Favorite color: Scarlet, purple, and teal. But what do I wear most often? Black.

Currently watching: Not much in a very long time, but I would love to rewatch some I haven't seen in a long time. I'm long overdue to see "Little Dorrit" again. I'd also love to watch some of the making of LOTR again. I haven't seen the special features since i was a kid.

Currently reading: Dracula and The Practice of the Presence of God. (These are two separate books, in case you missed the italics. Though that would be quite the volume.)

Spicy/savory/sweet: My favourite food on earth - my mom's spaghetti - is at its best when she really amps up the spice (she does not always do this because most of our guests don't have our spice tolerance - but when it's just the family! Mmmm.) And oh - spicy Indian food. Love it. Savoury's pretty awesome too.

Relationship status: Single with many dear friends and loved ones. Right now I'm strategising how to get better at making friends who aren't necessarily going to be my closest and dearest, but also aren't mere acquaintances. I need to widen my circle and love more. it's tricky for me.

Current obsession: My upcoming production of Twelfth Night, currently in auditions. Furthering my drawing skills, little by little. My Saltmarsh campaign with my brother. My friends' creative endeavours. My Iron Gate story (though this obsession comes and goes. But so do they all, more or less.)

Tagging everyone who has a toy of some kind nearby - a fidget, a stuffed animal, an action figure, a yo-yo (I don't know the last time I saw a yo-yo, but who knows?)

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 6: Reflections

This isn't a full on post or anything, it really is just random thoughts. This blog has basically 3 goals, in no particular order:

Show off some weird interesting ideas from older modules. This is why the bullet-point sections exist.

Look at all the obscure modules no one's ever heard and don't get discussed so they can enjoy more awareness. This is why it's module to module and not lists of cool things I've found.

Look at how modules grew as an art-form. Their design, layout, styling, writing, et c. This is why it's in release order.

So I'm going to ramble about all 3 in turn.

1. Coolest ideas

So somehow the coolest idea I ran into in this roundup was keep on the borderlands ~in the desert~. The mental image is just stuck in my brain and if you're one of my fantasy age players, you've probably inhaled some spoilers accidentally now. It's gonna show up eventually.

I was also really fond of the really lateral use of animated objects in Tegel Manor, particularly the battlefield painting that spits arrows as the events on-canvas play out. It's very fun and very goofy and I regret the yearly Samhain one-shot being so far away. I will find an excuse to use that random magic statue table eventually.

Third place goes to the pet sea monster of the invincible overlord. It's just really stuck in my brain

2. Coolest Module You Haven't Heard Of

Oh that's easy. Tegel Manor. 100% Tegel Manor. That was easily the most fun I had writing this column so far, even as the pagecount sprawled and sprawled. I think the haunted house is the single best starting location for a new player, it's part of why I'm so ride or die for Ghosts of Saltmarsh (and I do specifically mean the 5e iteration, they did an excellent job realizing Saltmarsh as a location. It's a crying shame people hate because they expect pirates and get, not pirates).

Happily, I don't think the move is actually to just, buy modern Tegel Manor. In fact, a spiritual successor to Tegel Manor would be just what the doctor ordered.

3. The Growth of Module Design

I am telling on myself hard but my favorite part of watching this go on is to see the art of keying slowly evolve and standardize around the familiar model of today. We are far away from the, I know I will get crucified for this, frankly better keying of 5e. Or even the significantly improved keying of 4e. We are in crusty-ass 1970s keying, where if it was typed, it was professional. Honestly Temple of the Frog's keying is a shockingly good first attempt. The keying solution that Vampire Queen went for is, kind of novel in its own way. I kind of wish that this table-style keying had stuck around as a sort of summary page for quick reference, it's…honestly kind of convenient, especially for particularly hack and slashy campaigns.

Watching JG recover from their tailspin of excessive loot was really fascinating. I do keep in mind that weight was a big thing about loot recovery in early DND but what exactly was to stop a party from just going back in and looting the place over and over again, anyway? Sure the monsters could move around, the loot could move, but they still know the layout. I really feel like you have to simply not provide that much treasure, and I get the sense JG worked that out too.

Finally, I am just kind of happy to see the focus on creating dungeons, as in combat rectangles is already starting to be threatened as the status quo. Arneson obviously understood why this was bad, and you can see some designers working it out too. Holmes also had a very good grasp of pacing and dungeon layout that it would take others (including Gygax) a while to catch up to.

So anyway, see you at G1!