Like many of my contemporaries, I was introduced to the world of roleplaying games

through the auspices of Dungeons & Dragons. It was 1983, and my neighbor’s mean

older brother talked me into sitting down for a game that involved no board, no little

pieces, some hand-drawn maps, and a handful or funny-looking dice. I’ll admit, it was-

n’t precisely a fish-to-water moment. I know this because he was reluctant to repeat the

exercise on succeeding days, despite my near-constant begging. To get my fix, it

quickly became necessary to start building my own maps and walking my generally

less-than-interested playmates through grand adventures in faraway lands.

I was 8.

It was another year or two before my mom surprised me with a copy of the Red Box.

D&D paranoia was at its highest in the media, but my parents were swords-and-sorcery

-lovin’ hippies with a strong disdain for taking anybody’s else’s word as gospel. It

wasn’t long before I was not only playing D&D, but running games for my parents and

their friends.

Sure, they weren’t the most original and evocative stories of the age. I had a long road

ahead of me before I’d become the master wordsmith and psychodramatist I am today.

I had to weather edition changes, social ostracization, academic pressures, puberty,

Palladium, the strange fascination with vampires, Jason “I will roleplay you under the

table until you LIKE it” Kidd, the loss of old friends, more edition changes, the anime

craze, the MMO revolution, Edition Wars, marriage and kids, and ultimately the deci-

sion to tell the world about my gaming addiction and try my damnedest to share the

love.

And of course, the distractions have been numerous indeed… After D&D, there was

Gamma World, Champions, MERP, World of Darkness, Rifts, Runequest, Call of

Cthulu, Star Wars, Star Trek, WoT, and so on and so forth… up to my latest obsessions

like Fiasco and Savage Worlds. Yet somehow, with all the different themes, genres,

milieu, and system navigation, I always came back to fantasy adventures and my be-

loved Dungeons & Dragons. Now, with D&D Next on the horizon, I’m more excited

than ever to see what stories and legends the future holds for me and my intrepid com-

rades.

Huzzah!

Erik Emrys Carl,

Editor

PT PUBLISHING PRESENTS:

Tsunam i Qua rt e r ly Rev i ew

SUMER 2013 • ISSUE #3

Erik Emrys Carl Editor/Layout and Design

Special Thanks to

this month’s contributors:

Jonikka DeAnn Frazier Writer

George Sedgwick Writer

Jason “JiB” Tryon Writer

Stu Venable Writer

Cover Art (’Dreaming the Surreal’) by

Debra (aka Shorra) Mason

Additional art from Wikimedia and free clipart resources

TABLE OF CONTENTS

RPG CRUCIBLE:

PREVIOUS LIVES 2 Erik Emrys Carl

FIVE GM’ING MISTAKES 3 Stu Venable

TSUNAMI CITY PROJECT 5 Metagamers Anonymous

OLD FOE,

NEW FOEHAMMER 9 George Sedgwick

OF PINS AND NEEDLES 10 Jason “Jib” Tryon

THE MORTLOCK, Pt. 1 13 Jonikka DeAnn Frazier

This work is licensed

under a Creative Com-

mons Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license

A Rich Fantasy Life...

Metagamers Anonymous

is a weekly podcast dedicated to

tabletop roleplaying games and

(mostly) related material.

Our regular program focuses on

immersive play at the game ta-

ble, and you can also find enter-

taining Actual Play adventures

and interviews with some of the

industry’s top personnel.

www.prismatictsunami.com

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Want to be a contributor?

Tsunami Quarterly Review is a community

magazine, open to submissions from members

of the community.

What kind of contributions?

We’re always on the look out for original arti-

cles on gaming, game advice, reviews, and so

forth. We’re also fond of original artwork

that we can use to spruce up the content.

Can anyone be a contributor?

Absolutely! You don’t need to be a profes-

sional writer, blogger, or game designer to

submit material for the magazine. If you are,

that’s fantastic! If not, all the better! If you

have something to say, just let us know.

How are submissions selected?

The screening process is very simple. We

look for material that is topical, follows the

basic rules of grammar, and makes sense.

Some small amount of quality control is nec-

essary to provide a quality publication, but

we’re here to serve the community, not our

own narrow interests.

Do I get paid for my contribution?

Sorry, no. The Prismatic Tsunami community

isn’t out to make any money, so we’re not

really in a position to help anyone else do so.

Not directly, anyway. In fact, we operate at a

deficit. The small charge for the publication

is to help raise money to offset the costs asso-

ciated with the website, the Metagamers

Anonymous podcast, and small print efforts

like this one.

What do I get, then?

Recognition? Exposure? The gratitude of

your gaming peers? We’ll put your work be-

tween the digital pages of our magazine, put

your name on it, and share with the commu-

nity. Most of all, you get the satisfaction of

knowing that you contributed something to

the community at large. That you, my friend,

are a hero.

Now you’re making fun of me.

No I’m not. Seriously. Take it from someone

who spends a lot of time, energy, and re-

sources to bring something new to the com-

munity each and every week. It’s a big deal.

So, how do I get involved?

Send your contributions directly to our editor

at orrynemrys@prismatictsunami.com

RPGRPGRPG CrucibleCrucibleCrucible

TIPS FOR IMMERSIVE GAMING

PREVIOUS LIVES

ERIK E CARL

henever an opportunity to write up a new campaign character rears its lovely head,

before I crack open a single book or even touch my dice, I begin the painstaking

task of developing a backstory. Inevitably, I begin with the obvious: what do I do and

why do I do it? Was my current path the consequence of a sudden tragic event in my life,

or was it a gradual evolution over the course of many years? Did I leave a family behind,

or did they get wiped out by orcs or pirates? Am I driven by a thirst for revenge or a lust

for adventure?

Any experienced player has considered all of these questions and more time and time

again over the course of his or her gaming career. Is my character a farmer destined for

greatness? An orphan with a mysterious heritage? The last survivor or a noble line? Is he

devoted to a cause, the servant of a god, or somehow bound to another person? The piv-

otal moment at which our characters take the stage and enter this exciting new phase of

their lives requires some sort of basic definition, and the tendency for players to delve

deep into the process is as varied as the players themselves.

Er… ourselves.

One formative approach to beginning characters that is not particularly common for gam-

ing, however, though prevalent in other forms of fantasy fiction, is the character who has

simply reached a profound turning point in a life that has already been full. It is increas-

ingly more common in modern society for people to make drastic changes in their lives at

least once before reaching their twilight years. In stark contrast to my father’s generation,

many of my peers are starting second families in their 30’s and 40’s. I myself have al-

ready experienced one major career change, and it’s inevitable that I will do it again be-

fore retirement.

Of course, in medieval society—on which the common assumptions of traditional fantasy

are largely founded—this was far less common. Men who were born to a craft or trade

often spent the whole of their lives (which were considerably shorter than today’s speci-

mens) engaged in that singular pursuit. But your D&D character is, by definition, far

from typical.

Next time you write up a new character, consider constructing a backstory with more

character to it. Perhaps your fighter was a traveling entertainer before joining the king’s

army and setting aside his lute. Maybe your smuggler captain was the governor of a lone

space colony that thrived for more than a decade before being attacked by alien maraud-

ers. Or perhaps your occult investigator is a hardcore atheist who used to manage a suc-

cessful evangelical ministry before a bout of terrible disillusionment. Or maybe he was a

high-powered stockbroker who woke up to find that the thrill of financing just wasn’t the

same anymore.

Many of us are bound to experience the joys and hardships of living numerous lives in the

course of our given years. Our characters can certainly benefit from a similar experience.

It may not make their lives easier, and it may not make your thief any better at

thieving, but it definitely adds depth and character where we often don’t think

to look for it. Next time you explore the life and times of a brand new com-

panion, give a little weight to the life your new friend has already lived.

W

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No GM is perfect. We all make mistakes. We all do things

in the heat of the moment at the table that we wish we

could take back or just handle better. Here are some mis-

takes I’ve made or seen other GMs make that we should

all try to avoid.

Taking Control of the PCs Away From the

Players.

The GM controls the weather, the rate at which the planets

spin and revolve, every animal, every NPC, every drop of

water and speck of dust. Each player controls but one

thing: his or her character.

Never take away that control. If a player isn’t playing his

or her disads, complications, or drawbacks, you can re-

mind, you can question, maybe you can even shame, but

ultimately the control is the player’s. Not yours. A

player’s character should be considered sacrosanct once it

has been reviewed.

As I’ve often said, role-playing games are exercises in

collaborative storytelling. You, as the GM get to set the

scene and populate it with extras, but you players’

characters are the protagonists.

They determine the outcome

of the scene (either wittingly

or not) with their actions.

To take control of the pro-

tagonists as well means

you’re going to tell a one-

sided story without input from the

players. You can probably save everyone

some time and just write a novel.

Getting Caught Up in Solutions Rather than

Problems.

When I write adventures, and come up with the problems,

mysteries and puzzles the party will (or might) face, I

make a concerted effort to not think about how the party

might go about solving or unraveling these things.

The main reason I do this is to avoid railroading the play-

ers. I think railroading is most likely to occur when a GM

has put a lot of thought into solutions and is presented by

the players with a solution he or she didn’t anticipate.

When you have presented the party with a problem and

you’ve decided there are two ways past it, and the party

comes up with a third, there’s an inclination to say “no,”

since that’s not a solution you had in mind.

This can often fall into a meta-gaming exercise where the

players aren’t trying to solve the problems their character

encounter but rather try to determine the solutions you

have in mind.

Saying “No” When You Could Say

“Yes.”

This very much ties in with “Getting Caught Up

in Solutions.”

We’ve talked for years on my show about the

theater sports concept of “yes, and.” The “yes,

and” concept is one where each player accepts

the reality created by the other players and contributes to

that reality.

While not exactly the same thing in RPGs, it does give us

a good lesson for GMs. If we indeed see our storytelling

as a collaboration, the players should contribute to that

story not only with the action of their characters but with

the questions they ask about the reality you are construct-

ing at the table.

As the party comes up with possible courses of action that

rely on certain things being present in the created reality,

it would be very easy for the GM to confound the players

by saying “no” to their question asking or confirming the

presence of these things.

Here’s an example. The party is pre-

sented with a wall and a

locked gate. Failed rolls

determine they are unable

to pick the lock, so they

look about for ways over

the wall. A player might

ask, “did I remember to

bring my rope?” Or they

might ask, “are there any tall

trees growing near the wall?” “Did I

bring a shovel?” “Is the dirt soft enough to

dig with my hands?” “Can I build a ladder out of tree

limbs?”

Once you’ve presented the party with something it is up to

them to find a solution, and you as the GM have an obli-

gation to say “yes” to one of their solutions. “Yes, there’s

a tree with a limb that extends over the wall, make a

climbing roll.” “Yes, you brought a collapsible shovel,

make a strength roll to see how long it takes to dig under.”

This is not to say that GMs should say “yes” to every

question. On the contrary, that leads to another deadly sin.

Being a Pushover

Players like it when they succeed. They love to get that

awesome enchanted sword. They’ll jump at the chance to

take that assault rifle with the extended magazine from the

guard they just killed. Successes are celebrated and should

be.

But if the party meets with nothing but success time and

time again, if the party finds that every situation resolves

STU

VENABLE FIVE GM*ING MISTAKES

1

2

3

4

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Stu appears courtesy of

Happy Jacks RPG Podcast

“Pursuing the RPG hobby with

reckless abandon… and beer.:”

with the best possible outcome, each success will become more

meaningless.

Players like to work and struggle for their victories. It is their ef-

forts that give value to the loot the find.

Yet some GMs think giving the players all they want makes for a

satisfying game. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It’s like the first time I try cheat codes in a first-person shooter. At

first, it’s awesome to have the BFG-9000 and go around one-

shotting every monster I see. But after a while, whatever it was that

made me want to play the game for hours at a time is gone.

I can go everywhere, do anything I want and nothing can stop me.

Yes, it gets boring.

Same with RPGs. Years ago, I had a player who had a +1 sword.

He kept it for months and months of game sessions. Better swords

came along with better bonuses, but he kept the +1 sword. Why?

“You don’t know what I went through to get this sword.” Now that

might be an unusual player, for sure, but would he have had that

attachment if he’d found it on a pile of gold pieces in an abandoned

mineshaft, where the only obstacle was a successful climbing roll?

No.

Letting Combat Drag on too Long

This is something I still catch myself doing. Except for undead and

automatons, most enemies won’t fight to the death. If they start to

lose, they will either give up or run away. A strong leader might

convince or threaten them to continue fighting, perhaps, but in

most cases fights don’t last until the last enemy is down and dead.

Yet in RPGs, for some reason, we often assume that every fight

must go on until every bad guy is down to at least zero hit points.

This. Gets. Boring. “I hit. I do 6 points damage.” “I miss.” “I hit, I

do 4 points damage.”

At some point it will be clear to everyone that the tide has turned

and one side’s victory is inevitable. When this happens, a GM

would do well to see if the enemies he controls know this as well.

Will the last Nazi guard keep fighting after the party has taken out

his five other companions? Probably not. Have him give up, run

away,

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SUNAMI

CITY

PROJECT

For the second quarter of 2013, we again tried

different thematic approaches for the cast and contribu-

tors to focus on with each month’s material. April was

devoted to riverfront properties, for example; while May

was all about guilds and organizations. In June, we fo-

cused on developing some civil service details, some of

which will appear in this article and some of which may

emerge in future editions. The city is slowly starting to

take shape, and we plan to offer a map of the city in an

upcoming issue.

Once again, entries have been reformatted and expanded

where necessary and to create a sense of consistency.

Locations are organized alphabetically for ease of use.

The Tsunami City Project started as an effort to intro-

duce usable game content into our regular programming,

while simultaneously providing quality setting material

to coincide with the eventual release of D&D Next from

Wizards of the Coast™. As avid fans of the World’s

Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game, we felt that it

was only proper to invite the excellent Tsunami commu-

nity to join the fun and contribute locales to the city

along with us. Each month is typically embraced by a

particular theme. Much of this material is reprinted from

our online forum at http://www.priamatictsunami.com/

forums, where you too can add your ideas to the mix and

see them printed in the Tsunami Quarterly Review.

Hidden away in a secluded little grove

in one of the nicer sections of the city

is a long forgotten little chapel that is

run down and clearly showing signs of

neglect. At one time it was a place of peace and healing of

a god that has long fallen out of the knowledge of the

common people. The chapel sits far back in a secluded

grove hidden away from passersby and the common folk.

Those who find their way to the chapel are greeted by an

elderly friar who introduces himself as Rodrick Leve-

lance, a one time paladin and adventurer who, as age ad-

vanced, gave up the sword and lance to take up the habit

of a monk and minister to those in need. Unruth is a long

mostly forgotten deity who’s aspect included the sun and

the sky. It is likely that only religious scholars and the

occasional historian would even know of Unruth, who’s

blazing chariot was once said to carry the sun across the

sky every day.

Rodrick will help any who come to him in need if he is

able, even offering the chapel or the safety of the grounds

as a place to stay. He is kindly and gentle and very happy

to help. Anyone who spends any amount of time with him,

however, will have a chance to notice that there is some-

thing very wrong with the aging monk.

The secluded grove harbors a fell secret. Rodrick is actu-

ally a vampire who killed the old sexton and has taken up

residence in the secluded and now perverted chapel. Any-

one of a religious background whose alignment or that of

their god is good will feel unease in the church. He pre-

sents himself as a kindly old former paladin who is very

happy to help people and just to have visitors to his little

chapel.

If anyone camps in the grounds, Rodrick will come at

night and try to secret away one seemingly weaker mem-

ber of the herd. If challenged, Rodrick will not fight but

will try to flee. He will only fight if there is no alternative,

and if forced to a fight will use magic and his vampiric

powers to try to neutralize the more powerful of his foes.

Several blocks from the affluent section

of town lies The Dramarium. Formerly

the two-story home of a money-hungry

socialite, the well-kept building has been converted into

the headquarters of the local theater organization, as is

made evident by an above-door marquee which reads:

“Thespian Guildde.”

This office/meeting hall serves the many actors, directors,

stage managers, costume designers, and playwrights who

live or work in the city. Theater folk pay a small fee to

belong to the guild: they may then enter “The Dramar-

ium,” as they call it, whenever the candles in the down-

stairs windows are lit, or when the front door is propped

open.

The layout is simple—the front door opens into a large

space for meetings and parties. Beyond that space are

chambers filled with costumes and props that theaters rent

for performances. The first floor also includes a sitting

room, a small library of scripts, and an oversized coat

closet. Upstairs is a private bar usually open well into the

night. Also on the second floor are a bedroom and a study:

these are occupied by The Dramarium’s current owner

who also happens to be head of the guild.

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