Sky-Shells

I mentioned last week I intended to make a location ‘Valley of Blue Snails’ as a sort of newbie starting area. This area will be relatively self-contained with a couple smaller villages, some critter lairs, and a couple of plots of intrigue to get ones feet under their legs. Naturally this place will be a valley, and I am thinking it will be clustered between the free provinces north-west of Kabdoria so it touches all four of the major races territories.

The most noticeable thing about the valley is the blue snails (surprise surprise). I have dubbed them Sky-Shells, and intent on making them larger then life at well over 100 meters tall and just as long. They will have lustrous blue shells that gleam like mother-of-pearl in bright sunlight. Their flesh is a lighter blue and very durable beneath a perpetual coat of slime. There will not be very many of adult Sky-Shells, maybe a dozen. I will say three of the largest ones have villages on top them, sort of a mobile outpost that can hold a few hundred peoples.

There are two reasons for these outposts. First off any villages built in the Valley of Blue Snails have a fair chance of getting run over by a Sky-Shell at some point. A painful lesson and the dwellers in the valley can tell horrid stories of watching a behemoth wreck a village in slow motion (very slow motion). Secondly the outposts on the Sky-Shells are a remarkably safe place to build a village. The Sky-Shells have no predators and are straight forward creatures who roam about the valley munching on the fast-growing forests. The Sky-Shells themselves are all but invulnerable and it would be very difficult to dislodge any inhabitants on one. Sieges do not work well because they are mobile and unpredictable.

The valley walls prevent the Sky-Shells from crossing over easily. Not because of the height but because of the large amount of salt deposits that are imbedded in the rock. No adult Sky-Shells are known outside of the valley, although smaller ones make an appearance here and there. Several small specimens do exist in the valley, everything from about the size of a fist on up. They are social at time and will sometimes gather in slow colonies. It is not unheard of to have 5 or more Sky-Shells cluster together for some unknown reason. The Sky-Shells are not trainable and they can not be prodded into a particular direction – it has been tried several times with no luck.

Sky-Shells produce a fair amount of lucrative by-products for the inhabitants of the valley. The smaller ones are edible, and their shells are a sparkly blue that shines like opals. The large shells are duller but still valued to some extent. Some armor is even made from thick pieces of shell which are surprisingly strong. Mushrooms and herbs grow in the larger snail droppings and are prized by all manner of chefs, alchemists and wizards. The thick coat of slime that cakes the trail of the larger snails dries very quickly and is known as a potent hallucinogenic if devoured. In sufficiently high doses it can be a poison if concentrated enough.

As for their origin, the Elves say they grew during the great season of Shorfjaer, a 13-year Spring a millennia ago. Other behemoths also originated during this time but most of these have long since disappeared. Rumors exist in the far wilds but thankfully if others do exist they appear to avoid the civilized societies.

The Sky-Shells do not need a stat-line as you would have better luck beating on a hillside than to have any hope of doing any real damage to one. The outposts on the Sky-Shells will not be the only villages in the valley, but they would be well known places to trade. Other village locations would need to be on salt-flats or other locations that would deter Sky-Shells from crossing over them (and sometimes it doesn’t work). I expect to not have very many villages that are not on the Sky-Shells.

Catan Hex Maps

I have a Settlers of Catan box set that uses sculpted hex pieces. A bit similar to Dwarven Forge, fairly high quality. Anyhow it occurred to me that it looks remarkably like a 3-d hex map when laid out. It even has town, cities, walled cities. To bad I only have about a dozen pieces, it would probably look great covering my whole table with the things and having the party move from tile to tile. (click to enlarge)

Dichotomy of Spirit and Beast

Scala Naturae is medieval concept of a hierarchy among all things. It is mostly an excuse to put religion at the top of all things, but I do like a few ideas it offers. Notably that flesh is fallible and is malleable, while on the other hand spirit is permanent and in not malleable. Men operate in a strange dichotomy since they have both. I think this relevant in Valley of the Blue Snails for two main reasons.

The first is that I already have lore heavily based upon the existence of worldly spirits. While these are certainly not the sort of angels in the Scala Naturae, I like the idea of spirits of basically having an unchanging nature. Sort of a force of nature. That is, they are what they are and nothing will change that. There is no such thing as a benevolent Nakki or an un-mischievous Menninkaine.

Secondly in the Scala Naturae all I like how critters each have their place, their own rung in this hierarchy. Among Valley of Blue Snails I wanted to condense this hierarchy quite a bit to allow for greater animal and culture interaction. Not in the sense of Narnia or an uplifted animal kingdom, but to the extent where quite a few animals that are trainable and malleable. Not only by humans and demi-human, but by all races fair and foul. Animals could do straight forward duties when properly trained and motivated. They would be finicky creatures, but just about anything could be domesticated to some extent. Naturally ill-treatment or other neglect would have adverse side effects. Also animals have little natural disposition towards war so they are not often used as such. The exception would be mounts, but only a few would fall into this category.

So in that sense animals and spirits are opposites of one another. One is a stagnant being of spirit, the other an extremely malleable being of flesh. I think there should be some inherent conflict between the two – a natural distrust, a sense of wrongness, general unease when the two are near each other. I suppose this would be a good of a reason as any for animals to go ape-shit just before supernatural things occur. I would expect animals would definitely be uneasy in the presence of the spirit and perhaps seek to chase them away. Likewise spirits would loath certain types of animals and seek their demise.

I think most of the playable races would be much more in harmony with animals than spirits. Not always the case of course, but it would give a place for crazy witches that people (and animals) avoid because they deal with spirits. I think people would use animals to ward spirits away as much as anything else. In general people want to stay away from spirits, period.

Anyhow, I have intended for some close animal/culture interaction. When walking into a village it would not be uncommon to see a bear working the blacksmith’s billows, a duck washing the stone tiles with a rag in its bill, or a porcupine prodding along an ill tempered cow into the barn. Here are some others that come to mind:

• Spotted Finches – These small birds use their beaks in a number of ways. Most notably to remove ticks and fleas from those in their vicinity, which Halflings are particularly fond of. They have been known to be trained by thieves to manipulate sticks and wires for all sorts of mischief.
• Squirrels and Chipmunks – These tree dwellers are adapt at storing and remembering the location of food and all sorts of other items. It is not unheard of for a key or gem to be given to a squirrel for safe keeping. They are timid enough to only obey those who handle them daily.
• Olive Crawdads – Other than being quite tasty, these crawdads will gladly will gladly use their mouth filaments to clean dead skin from hands, feet and even wounds.
• Crows – Crows and occasionally rare jungle parrots can memorize phrases and repeat them. Even offer different phrased based on a particular reply. This can be misinterpreted as the birds actually conversing with people but in truth it is only a memorized response. While the animals do not understand the words they can carefully and diligently act as messengers.
• Bearcats – These rust-colored beasts appear as a large wolverine with a prehensile tail. They can be trained as mounts and to sniff out prey. They are one of the few beasts that can be hardened for open warfare.
• Blue Snails – These large snails act as (slow) beasts of burden. Rope is covered with glue and salted, then attached to the snails shell. The Snails can then pull many times their own weight for days at a time. The snails are oddly social creatures and appear to have a very alien intellect.
• Dragonflies – Huge primeval dragonflies glow in the dark of night and are set loose upon the dark net-covered streets. This offers shifting lights that coat the night lit buildings in shades of purples, blues and greens.
• Snakes – Stripped snakes can be trained to climb trees and swallow large amounts of bird eggs they find. They will then return from the tree and regurgitate them in a basket.
• Bulb Toads – A platter of bulb toads can mimic many types of wind instruments and repeat them flawlessly. The toads are quite adept and can play this odd music for hours at a time.
• Bile Wasps – The large wasps are highly territorial and can be placed in cylindrical tubes to form an impromptu fence. They in fact only sting those who cross their direct path, thus are easily avoidable by those who simply move well around their fence.

And so on. I will eventually create a large lists for the place of domesticated animals but it should be fairly open. If someone really wants a moose as a mount, well it is probably out there somewhere. Most animals will have a predisposition towards certain activity and would be very hard to train it out of it. Teaching a cat to fetch is iffy at best. Teaching a bird to fly down and pick up shiny objects on command is very doable.

'Blue Snails' I may change up to have a bit more of an impact than slow beasts of burden. Perhaps some meaningful by-product ala Sandworms of Dune. The newbie location Valley of Blue Snails will have them of course, out in the wild. Since the name of the setting is Valley of Blue Snails I think the actual Blue Snails or the Valley itself it should have a bit more weight - hmm.

Barnacle Men

As I spoke of below, this is typical of a starter homebrew adventure for me. The first half of it is mostly role-playing, the second half is a small excursion into a nasty place with a couple 'what the hell is that thing' moments.

I wrote this for Scott Driver sometime last year. I have ran it a couple times and I think Ardell is running it now for a group of soldiers (I would give my left nut to see a group of Rangers and Green Beret players run through something like that - just damn curious how they would play the game). I would say I give out magical loot and treasure in an average amount. Note that his is written for OD&D although it is easily modified for B/X or 1st. This is made to be ran in one session.

PDF here if you prefer to download.


Hook: The PCs are asked to deliver a lockbox to the Ulerishian Temple, which is 12 miles outside of town. The path can occasionally be treacherous with highwaymen and forest drakes, so no one heads that way alone. It is preferred a known contact of the PCs give them this task.

The lockbox contains a magic amulet that is fairly valuable. The PCs arrive to Ulerishian Temple unmolested and are invited to stay the night by the priestess and the two nubile maid acolytes. The PCs will be fed, bathed and generally treated well for transporting the amulet. The temple has some other guests, three vagrants, which are invited to come and go (the temple inherently repels evil, so they feel safe with those who come).

Amulet of Ulerishia – Amulet of ESP. Must hold to use and can read the thoughts of anyone in 20’. Roll 1d6, on the '6' the user's thoughts and transmitted to everyone in 20’.


Ulerishian Temple - Ulerishia is the goddess of ‘noble causes’ and ‘rewards that are well earned’. The temple has a permanent Protection from Evil effect upon it which wards most horrors from its vicinity. Many of the town folk make the trek here at least once per season, as do many pilgrims from distant lands. Avrareen (44 years old, Cleric 2) is the Priestess and is always escorted by two virgin maids that assist her (Aileena 16 and Bingood 15). Avrareen is practical enough to drink and tell jokes with the travelers and is down to earth to speak with. She is highly respected, wise and it is said she can perform genuine miracles (clerical spells).

The two maids that escort Avrareen are chosen among the village girls and it is seen as a great honor. They serve for three years, taught a great number of things and then released to be married.

Merchants, drunks, vagrants and others with out a place to sleep are welcome to spend the night in the temple should they travel this far. Free meals and drinks are offered by the trio of women. The villagers are highly protective of the temple and prevent its services from being abused (along with the Protection from Evil).

The PCs will notice Avrareen chains a small nameless creature in the garden. The humanoid creature is diminutive, has no hair, no eyes and has vestigial wings on its back that look vaguely like chicken wings with no feathers. It toils until told to stop. At night the creature is chained in the kitchen where it is fed and curls up next to the stove on a pile of wood. If asked, Avrareen tells the party the creature, Hooduk, arrived on an Ulerishian holy day and has served the temple faithfully for three years.

Three Missing - The PCs wake up the following morning and the Hooduk, one of the acolytes (Bingood) and one of the vagrants (Dronlar) are missing along with the amulet. The Priestess will ask the PCs to investigate. In truth the Hooduk stole the amulet after escaping its bonds in order to present it to its God in the cave (the Derkomai), one of the Acolytes was studying, tried to prevent the theft but failed. Not wanting to fail her matron, she followed the Hodduk to the cave to get the amulet back. One of the vagrants (Dronlar) saw her leave in the dead of night and followed her to spy on skinning dipping or whatever. Once at the cave the Acolyte was forced to flee and hide deep within the cave from the Shell-less Crab. Dronlar was attacked by the steam turtles and barely made it out alive.

The PCs will find the vagrant Dronlar, badly mauled nearby, struggling to return. He says he saw the Acolyte wandering the woods alone and night, and followed her (to protect her of course) to a cave. He can describe the cave location, about 2 miles away in the hillocks. He was attacked by a dark shapes near the cave entrance and he fled. His wounds are burns cause by steam and a few large beak marks are on his legs.

Caves

1 – From a distance, the outside of the cave has steam billowing forth from its 10’ x 5’ entrance. Smallish ehite and blue toadstool cover a large area outside the entrance, along with bones from a variety of creatures that are bleaches clean.

2 – The entrance climbs up a 10’ incline with rocky debris built up to the entrance. Dragging tracks can be seen (from the steam turtles) but it is difficult to tell what the tracks would be from.

3 – A white ‘river’ of crystalline rocks lines the floors in this large cavern (30’ x 90’ roughly). Large toadstools cover erratic areas and the floor emanates heat. Six Steam Turtles are here, milling about in no particular method. They are not hostile (well, not yet), but will defend themselves if attacked.

Cave paintings can been seen on the walls, painted by primitive hands many ages ago. They depict mammoths, large lizard beasts, and vaguely humanoid creatures with wings that look quite a bit like Hooduk.

4 – This chamber opens up into the main gallery which spreads as far as lantern or torch light will reach. Toadstools here can be as large as tall as 10’. A large waterfall cascades from the southern wall, fifty feet tall. A small lake and whirlpool violently drain the water coming from the waterfall. A plateau can be seen to the north and another to the east, each rises 10’ off of the ground.

The toadstool have a number of large barnacles attached to them, among them are 10 Barnacle Men. Who attack when a good opportunity presents itself, preferring to force PCs into the whirlpool. When half of them are slain, they will sucker themselves to the underneath of the toadstools and retreat in their shells (AC 2). Then the following round if any are left alive they will make a shrill droning noise that will summon the steam turtles from area 3, indicating dinner time. The turtles will attack when they arrive, two rounds later.

The polished coral spears the Barnacle Men carry valued at 5g per (50g).

5 – This large crystalline cavern radiates subtle golds and purples from the various fungi here. The cavern is very warm and smells sweet, like heated fruit or honey.

This is the home of the Derkomai that sits atop a rocky outcropping and is easily seen from the center of the cavern. The Hooduk is here also, prostrating itself and offering the amulet, which the Derkomai seems to be wholly unaware of. Seeing a large group of intruders, the Derkomai will unwind itself and attack. The Hooduk will be genuinely baffled at the conflict, and attempt to aid the Acolyte if she is present. Otherwise the Hooduk will stand back and watch in awe of the battle.

The Hooduk will offer the amulet to the victor and will gladly follow the PCs or Acolyte to the temple. It will flee if attacked.

A pile of coins and objects are scattered about the Derkomai lair. 575g, 732s., 822c. Also among a pile of ancient lichen-covered skeletons, a Hammer +1 that radiates golden light and three potions (random).

6 – This is the main room of the gallery, with a large central plateau. The top of the 50’ chamber is very hot, with blankets of steam rolling along the roof which radiates downward. The chamber is very large with many rock piles, toadstools, piles of sand, and farms of fossilized coral. A sandy path leads up towards the central plateau. The chamber continues far the west and a passageway is to the North East.

12 Barnacle Men and the No-Shell Crab inhabit the upper plateau which rises 10’ from the floor. Piles of sand are neatly stacked between the toadstools along with fossilized coral growths and lichens. They will attack if the upper plateau is trespassed upon.

The barnacle men have a stash of polished coral (value 350g) and coral spears (5g each, 60g value).

7 – This plateau is scalded clean of anything living. A muddy geyser is here that erupts every 4 minutes. The Barnacle Men make offerings here, 7 pearls, one of which is Black (total gp value 1200). The pearls are jammed in the muddy walls and will take 2 minutes to work out for each one. Geyser spray will cause 3d6 damage to someone foolish enough to be hit.

8 – The north section of this cave is the home of the Molluetuesk, which appears as a tranquil pool of water with several small fish swimming inside. The pool is faintly radiant and is lines with stalactites and stalagmites. Should a PC disturb the pool the Molluetuesk will attack relentlessly. If the PCs are 15’ or further back and somehow disturb the pool, the mouth will snap shut and the creature will slowly ‘reset’, ignoring the party.

A passageway is in the South East section of the cave which vaguely reeks of sweet cooking smells, like heated fruit.

In the refuse under the Molluetuesk a Shield +1 sits along with the bones of its previous owner.

9 – This sloping cave holds dozens of mineral pools and toadstools. The Acolyte Bingood (hp 4 ac 9) lays hidden in the very north section and 6 Barnacle Men are hunting for her methodically. If found Bingood will gladly join the party and will insist on finding the Hooduk and the amulet (see area 5).

The coral spears the Barnacle Men carry valued at 5g per (50g).

Four of the three dozen pools radiate magic if detect magic is cast or if the pools are tested one at a time.

1. Pool A – A yellow pool with long spindly mineral crystals within. If drank, the drinker vomits profusely for 4 rounds. Any metal coated in its waters no longer rust or dull.
2. Pool B – Murky gray water which has dozens of fist sized Molluetuesk swimming within (harmless). If the waters are drank, the drinker will gain 1 permanent hp and will feel profoundly rejuvenated for the rest of his life. The drinker will no longer catch normal ailments or diseases and their natural lifespan is increased 1d20 years. This effect will only work once.
3. Pool C – Blueish water drips from the ceiling into this shallow pool. The water appears to drip and move in slow motion. This is in fact fossilized magic, harmless if drunk but potent in the hands of a very skilled Wizard (applicable bonus for creating magic items and whatnot, DMs discretion). It will take much investigation to reveal its true nature, but can be stored in any vial or other waterproof container.
4. Pool D – Clear pool with a muddy floor. An albino frog lives in this pool, it is the size of a dog. Should anyone reach down and pull it out, it will follow that person and obey simple orders until its death.

Critters:

Hooduk – hd 2 hp 10 ac 8 att: bit 1d6
Hairless humanoid creature is diminutive, has no hair, no eyes and has vestigial wings on its back that look vaguely like chicken wings with no feathers. Can be told what to do and toils tirelessly. The Hooduk has a simple and straightforward mind. He stays at the temple simply because he wandered that way one day and they fed him. He knows of the Derkomai in the cave and worships it as a god. He seeks to appease it with sparkly goods, which is why he took the amulet to it.

Steam Turtles - hd 1 hp 4-8 ac 4 att: steambreath or bite, 1d6.
Large loggerhead snapping turtles. Usually quite docile unless spurred on by the promise of food. They are very hot the to the touch and can breath super-heated water in a 5’ cone (1d6).

Barnacle Man – hd 1/2 hp 1-4 ac 4 att: short spear (melee or short range) dmg:1d4
Large barnacles, about the size of waist-high trash can. The barnacle men can detach whatever they are adhered too and protrude lanky arms and legs from out of their ‘shell’ opening. Their head, eyes and torso remain in the shell, thus they walk in a gangly fashion while throwing and stabbing with coral spears. (ac 2 when fully retreated)

No-Shell Crab – hd 3 hp 15 ac 7 att: 2x soft-claws, 1 dmg. open digestion 2d6
Shell-less Crab is 15’ wide with all of its organs exposed, mostly bound together with transparent sacks (organs will spill out when breeched). If both claws hit the same target the no-shell crab will pick up the victim and drop them on his back, which is a mass of exposed organs; gills, ropey tubes and an open sack of digestive juices (2d6 acid damage, save petrifaction for half).

Molluetuesk – hd 3 hp 18 ac 5 att: bite 1d6, on max dmg swallow whole.
Very large cave-lurking beast that looks similar to a huge horseshoe crab, which opens itself up into a cavernous opening. Its ‘mouth’ very closely resembles an iridescent tranquil pool of water with some small fish in it, stalactites and stalagmites lining the sides above and below (teeth). Should the pool be disturbed, the ‘mouth’ will snap shut.

Derkomai – hd 4 hp 22 ac 5 att: bite 1d6 or breath (20’ cone of stirges, 2d6 first round, 1d6 second round, save vs breath for half)
Twenty-foot cave lizard with black oily scales, an overly large head with large milky white eyes. Similar to a dragon but with no wings and not nearly as intelligent. Can live on eating minerals and rocks but prefers squirmy prey. Likes shiny objects and will make a home near such things. Breaths stirges that reside in its overly large head, can only do so twice in a encounter. (stirges will fly off after 2 rounds)

Campaign and Adventure Methodology

Although I prefer B/X and OD&D for rules, I usually do not care for the sorts of adventures that have players meandering in a dungeon for session after session. At least not in a continual fashion. A good example of this is Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil; which was fantastic until you actually got to the temple and are besieged with battle after battle, room after room, in an endless extermination procedures. I suppose this is because role-playing takes a backseat to fiddly mechanics and it is very repetitive.

My favorite types of adventures are exploration ones, where there is in fact little plot to speak of. Really these are just strange places for the PCs to meander around finding stranger things in a wide-open fashion. Isle of Dread and Dwellers of the Forbidden City are two such adventures that are almost completely non-linear with no beginning or end. I think every time I have ran these, the end result is usually very different depending on the group. Most importantly this can be a very good device where the PCs tell you what they want (even if they don't know it); mystery, action, investigation, heavy RPing, starting kingdoms, whatever. From there you should have a very good idea of what to run next.

Anyhow, I have run enough separate campaigns to put forth a little methodology that I construct for the campaign. Really I think the actual rules are fairly moot, so long as they don't bog things down overly (ala 4th edition, heh). B/X, OD&D, 1st-2nd, 3.5 edition, WFRP and so forth are all perfectly fine so long as the players are comfortable with it.

First Adventure - Usually a one shot homebrew adventure that is heavy on starting RPing in the start with a small excursion of some kind for action and accomplishment. I will be posting a typical starter adventure in my next post (Barnacle Men). This adventure is purely for the PCs to get to know one another and find their 'voice'. Also to get to know their class. I usually build the encounters to specifically cater to the played classes so everyone is doing something. Players can write a background if they want, but I prefer if they wait until after this adventure to do it since the players perception often changes after this first game.

Second Adventure - Usually multi-session. I often use a published adventure here since they are (usually) well balanced. For an urban area I like Assassins Knot or The Veiled Society. For non-urban areas, something like Night's Dark Terror work very well. I also like The Sentinel/The Gauntlet, the Saltmarsh series. These are not overly difficult and let the players act like a team as well as stand out individually. They also have a good climax and sense of accomplishment to end it up with. I usually make enough modifications to keep it fresh, and so that only a few monsters are recognizable (IE, no 'you see 10 goblins', instead PCs should be saying ' what the hell are those).

Third Adventure - Here is where I insert the exploration adventure. It can be as simple as finding a map or a contact informing them of a strange place. The PCs at this point should have enough resources to travel around. As mentioned before, Isle of Dread and Dwellers of the Forbidden City go well here - although I tone them down for lower level PCs. The lost Valley in Night's Dark Terror also works well. I have also homebrewed a few of these since they are great fun to write. This exploration adventure I feel is the most important adventure you will probably run for a campaign since they PCs can do whatever they want, and they likely have the gold to do many different things. It will probably set the tone for the rest of the campaign. Most importantly it tells you what the PCs want in their game so it is a good idea to set up several available options. Rumors of lost artifacts, evil cults sacrificing nubile maids, strange boats the sail up waterfalls, weird bark-men who ritually shave the native animals, bizarre murders among the native people, two warring factions with political intrigue - whatever. Give the plenty of options and see what they come up with. Alter progressive sessions accordingly until it runs it course.

Fourth Adventure+ - From here on out it should be rather distinctive on what the PCs want as far as a game. I generally set up a large campaign-wide plot at this point and have any adventure here on out based upon it, even if its minor. It can be something grand like thwarting the World-Emperor, building a castle and maintain a realm, or smaller things like giving an old man an honorable death or avoiding a particularly nasty ex-wife of a PC (yes, both have happened). The actual adventures I run at this point are usually a mix from a variety of adventure types and sources. I will do a homebrew followed by a published adventure followed by a purely out-of-my-ass spontaneous thing followed by a set-piece battle with a 100 minis on the table and so forth. Variety is important, so long as it is somewhat linked together as strongly as the PCs would like and that they follow the ultimate enjoyment that the group is looking for.

I have no aversion to new adventures and many good ones are around. In particular I like a lot of the old short-but-sweet adventures from Dungeon magazine. They often have a lot of flavor with out repetitious game play. I also freely plunder adventures from other game systems, new and old. I rarely modify them before hand, and instead just simply do that sort of thing on the fly as I run combat.

And so, there you go. Most of my campaigns will typically run between 6-18 months. I think after 18 months the players get bored with their PC or the rules or the setting. This is not a bad thing by any means and I think it is just as important to recognize when to end it, and end it on a good note. Ending it with a major story arc, a massive battle with siege engines and castles, going out in a blaze of glory and so forth.

Valley of Blue Snails was actually going to just be one of these 'exploration adventures' and nothing more. It was only later that I decided to make it a setting since the ideas were getting too large for a single adventure. I will still include an actual Valley of Blue Snails location and likely make it an open-ended exploration adventure. In fact I would like the Valley to be an all-inclusive area, sort of a newbie land for levels 1-5 and cover the first 3 adventure types I had listed above. As a side note I plan on placing the actual valley west of Kabdoria, near the river and between the many pink blotches of demi-humans.

FAQ

I keep meaning to post a FAQ for folks that stumble across the site. I will link this post to the right and update it as necessary.

> What is Valley of Blue Snails?

Valley of Blue Snails is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting. It is created for a cousin (Lt. Moree) who will soon be in Iraq. We chose to do an online game to prevent boredom and as a escape from the realities of things sucking over in Iraq. Incidentally this opportunity seems a decent time as any to write some homebrew material and chronicle it for self indulgence.

Mainly this blog will cover my notes in the creation process. I don't even know what exactly I will be creating yet; perhaps a new rule set, most likely a setting, and definitely some kind of starter for a online rpg.

I will occasionally post other things I am interested in. I am in a Dark Heresy game at the moment. I play World of Warcraft. I paint minis, and so forth.

> Why 'Valley of Blue Snails' name?

It was a technical error on the part of my cousin. He misread the title of an adventure in Dungeon 'Valley of the Snails' as Valley of Blue Snails (the pic in the adventure had some blue snails in it). Simply put, I like the name so it just a matter of semantics.

> What is the scope of Valley of Blue Snails?

To clarify the scope of the Valley of Blue Snails, it is intended to have a working rule set and setting in May / June of this year (2009). Namely because this is when Lt. Moree deploys and I work better with deadlines. The rules will be primarily written for a DM and 1 or 2 player model with online play in mind - email, pbp most likely since live play will almost certainly not work with the time difference. I will leave open the possibility that some other soldiers can be included but probably no more than a couple.

The setting will be more broad and will likely be applicable beyond this campaign so I am hoping to get a refined version out by May / June and adapt it as we go. It should be broad enough to not be limited to a specific rule set and probably any D&D rules would work fine, but I will keep B/X in mind if I need to stat something out. I want the campaign to last the full tour of duty, so possibly 12-14 months. After this point it will be finished and I will adapt the events of the campaign for the setting and make it official canon. I will probably rewrite it at this point, get a couple pieces of art, and publish a couple copies and give it to a handful of people. I will also put it up somewhere as a .pdf for free. That is assuming it is not a steaming pile of crap and worth the effort to do all that.

> Are you looking for other players?

Sorry no. The only exception would be any soliders that Lt. Moree wishes to include. I am not counting on any other players however. I may post some game sessions or make the forum threads public, but I am not looking for other players. There is a slim possiblity this could change but I would say it is unlikely.

> Will this be useful to other gamers?

Maybe. The setting is be based upon a single player (with the possibility of a few more) and DM model. The setting material should be open enough to be useful for those interested. I will likely post maps, adventures and other material that may be useful.

> What rules will Valley of Blue Snails use?

I am not sure yet. I may create a modified version of B/X and intermix it with the setting. I may just settle for standard B/X and be done with it. Ultimately the setting should be open enough to be workable for any D&D rules (well, except the travesty that is 4e).

> About Me

I am Sam Kisko, 36 year old D&D fan. I am systems administrator at a non-profit company. I have played D&D off and on since I was about 10. I do some amateur art and writing.

> About my Cousin

(I will let him this in)

Calendar

I don’t really relish the idea of creating my own Calendar for the Valley of Blue Snails settings. They have always struck me as a bit fruity for some reason. On other hand saying 'February 23rd' displaces you from the setting, so I think I will go with the former evil rather than the later evil. I have only mentioned a Calendar incidentally in a few previous posts:

Journal of Khazrel Nakhu “Journey to the Cities Afar” 32’s93

Off the top of my head 32’s93 is referring to year since the last great season, with 93 great seasons total. For the general populace it would simply be ‘year 32’ as everyone presumes this record was since the last great season, and in this case, since The Great Rot which I spoke of below. Since seasons are the theme, there will be no such things as months. Things like moon or star movements are insignificant compared to the seasons in Valley of Blue Snails. The folk would use the seasons by name, and perhaps descriptors like 'early, mid, deep' if they want to be specific.

I doubt I will even bother with things such as delineated weeks. While a few educated folks would keep track of such things, but the vast majority of the population does not. Most folks would refer to these educated individuals in the rare cases when they need such information. Holy men, alchemist, scholars, and engineers would keep track of when important days would arise and inform the necessary powers. Anniversary, harvest days, festivals, solstice and so forth. By in large the general population goes no further than this.

As for the 93 great seasons prior, very few know them all and almost all of those are Elves with very long memories. The other races just assume the Elves are correct and there were 93 prior great season. 93 great seasons would be in the area of 2800+ years - I am generalizing an average of 25 years between every great season, each lasting 5 or so years. Why 93? Fuck if I know, I picked it at random. Maybe no one remembers that long ago or some great season was so bad, that everyone before that time died. In fact I’m leaning towards the later. I generally like small-scale cataclysm events rather than huge world shaking ones such as the twin cataclysm in Greyhawk or the dropping of a mountain in Dragonlance. However I think I can stomach a great season that was so bad, so catastrophic, that it killed everyone. No legends, no myths, no rumors, no anything. Everyone, and I mean everyone was killed. After that time it took divinity to bring any sort of life back from that ultimate doom.

Anyhow, I don’t think I will be fruity enough to name every individual year since The Great Rot. I think it is perfectly sufficient to say ‘year 32’ and leave it at that. Other descriptors would be something like ‘mid-spring’, ‘deep-autumn’, or ‘the spring-summer turn’. I don’t see any particular need to be more detailed than that for the average folk. The clerics, town council and Dwarven clock makers can bother with the details. The average peasantry would be interested in the former great seasons however and these I will name. A lot of legends, strange events and big changes occur during these great seasons after all (the Occulus of note). These are the recent ones I had listed in a previous post.

24 year - 7 year Spring (sapphiron) - 22 years - 4 year Winter (hibernel) - 28 years - 6 year Autumn (leafenfel) - 33 years - 9 year Summer (Estaoculus - the summer of eyes) - 32 years - 4 year Spring (sinchola) - 41 years - 3 year Spring (vaunderfel) - 21 years - 4 year Autumn (the great rot) - 31 years - present year

This goes back more than 300 years so I think that is sufficient for most history that is pertinent in Valley of Blue Snails lore. I may occasionally refer to greats season before that time, but these would likely be very powerful and important ones. Ones that created new races or drastically changed the world for instance.