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...
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Want to be a contributor?
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Can anyone be a contributor?
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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
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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
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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
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What do I get, then?
Recognition? Exposure? The gratitude of
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your name on it, and share with the commu-
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are a hero.
Now you’re making fun of me.
No I’m not. Seriously. Take it from someone
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So, how do I get involved?
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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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