200 posts and Obsidian

200th post!!

Times flies, and yet as I celebrate 50 years of this fabulous game, I've made the jump to Obsidian Software to incorporate all of my data, and there is a ton to still do.

It is amazing when you step back from it and just see how much there is, and yet I feel fulfilled.

More to come,

Proud to see what I've shared...

Amazing how time flies.

Moved a few states away, and yet everything I have for this treasured game remains with me, thankfully all my original books are safe and the adventure continues.

Since last we met...

Isolde Delta Update:

The most recent antics of Lord Vision's bratty son Mordacai and company et al, left the Bloated Blowfish clientele recovering from a bout of red tongue when all consumers of "Biff's Red Mountain Lager" started blowing smoke, and even a few dwarven tongues spit fire.

Turns out the boys had used fire otter tongue, and hadn't removed the glands. OUCH!

Boys will be boys.

Cheers,

Bloated Blowfish

1E Wilderness Encounters 4.0

Greetings,

Recently in my Isolde-Delta campaign, the players were traveling north towards the fabled "Ruins of the Moathouse" and a couple random encounters were called for. During the rolls, I realized I had missed a section on my Wilderness Encounters table, namely individual buildings/structures. I just updated the tables to include results like:

Abbey
Monastery
Mine
Cottage
Tower
Manor
Hermitage
Herder's Hut
Cave Complex
Gypsy Wagon
Temple
Burning Ship

Additionally, the entry Structure appears on most of the charts and a sub-table was added into the appendix. If this result is called for/chosen, roll d100 on the new chart for results like:

Single House (with sub-table)
Fortified Building (with sub-table and entries like Small Keep and Motte & Bailey).

These entries are included to give the players more options for encounters that will add Landmark results to the world map, and hopefully entice the players to feel a bit more like Lewis & Clarke, or perhaps Abbot & Costello.

Updated link is in the Downloads Archive, and below for simplicity:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7mdklswkqh1tlzz/1EWildernessEncounters4.0.pdf?dl=0

Cheers,

1E Wilderness Encounters 3.0

Greetings,

To follow on the heels of the recently posted 1E Random Wilderness Caves PDF, I've updated the 1E Wilderness Encounter document to version 3.0.Subtle changes include:

Added a few more items like Dens, Waterfalls, Hamlets, Villages and Thorpes to various tables.
Added a new entry for Cave Complex, Den and Grotto in the appendix.
Added "See Random Wilderness Caves" to Caves (Complex, Narrow, Shallow), Den and Grotto

Largest changes:
Re-formatted from landscape to portrait view (for easier printing and viewing at table).
Document size dropped from 15 to 14 pages.

A couple images follow:

A new Dropbox link is available in the Downloads section, and below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wmevvhmxbfo4tve/1E%20Wilderness%20Encounters.pdf?dl=0 

Cheers,

1E Random Wilderness Caves

I’m very proud of the work I’ve done to improve my own micro-sandbox design philosophy over the last 40 years. For some time I’ve been working on a document entitled Random Wilderness Encounters, refining and expanding (where needed) and when an update is finished, post it to the blog. One of the areas that I’ve been keenly focusing on is a deeper more vibrant appendix that includes plenty of inspiration when the players discover a unique feature in my world.

Typically when it’s time for a random wilderness encounter a player rolls 4D6. If an encounter is rolled (a number is predetermined for that session in advance) I then have a player roll 4D100 and using my tables, piece together an encounter/place of interest based on those results. Scattered throughout the random terrain tables are results like:

Cave, Narrow*
Cave, Shallow*
Cave, Sea*
Den*
Rock Shelter*
Grotto
*50% this feature houses a lair.

The appendix doesn’t include enough information so I decided to create a set of tables to give a quick visual method to identify what exactly these results might look like. In play testing, each is a simple drawing that gives the basic layout of a cave. Some include stairs (shown in grey), while others include stalagmites/stalactites, outcroppings, ledges, ponds and streams. Other than including a 10’ grid for size, explicit details like ledge height and depth of water have been avoided. Imagination, feed the fire.

The document contains six (6) tables with 20 random cave layouts. A sample follows:

A link is now in the Downloads Archive:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7znb3mzccmcqun/1E%20Random%20Wilderness%20Caves.pdf?dl=0

Cheers,
B.B.

Castle of the Bloated One: Feral's Urn

February 29, 1976 Original Concept

Egypt has mesmerized me forever. From the first time I read the story of King Tut's tomb and saw images of the Canopic Jars, my imagination ran wild. I laid out a "run" of sorts, a dungeon with a single entrance, filled with a few routes that meandered around a single common feature. Later, when I had the opportunity to travel and see Tut's exhibit in person, I immediately focused on the jars again, and when I had the opportunity, added the finishing touches.

Presented below is Feral's Urn:

Cheers,

Castle of the Bloated One: Hallowed Ground

April 9, 1978 Original Concept

Forever, or so it seems, I've had a particular fondness for dungeons that combined traditional hallways and caverns together. Level One and Two contain some of the earliest recollection of actively infusing that design into my growing neurosis. Perhaps Luray Caverns had something to do with it, or maybe its simply the dwarf sitting at the controls in my brain pining for bedrock above his head. Speaking of, does anyone know of a good Dwarven psychiatrist?

In any case, I present, Hallowed Ground:

Cheers,