Geshwin, Fighter 8 (D&D 3.5), Owner of The Flesh Golem

Female warrior by meisl

In the city, life may not be considered cheap, but it can be bought. The Flesh Golem is a place where slaves can be purchased and gladiators can be trained. The master of the merchant house usually walks a fine line because slavery in the city is well defined, and more importantly a reputation must be maintained. Geshwin is the master and she makes sure those who work for her follow the laws of her house and the city.

Geshwin grew up on a small estate just beyond the city proper as a child of the son of a petty noble. Although she did not have the open recognition, rights, or privileges, the family treated her and her mother well. However, the tension of the situation grew as she got older. With the help of her grandparents she was got a position as a driver for a merchant house and left to work their caravans.

Although she started out as a driver she quickly became known as a quick learner and willing to take on new tasks. But, when the wagons were attacked she also proved herself capable of handling weapons and defending herself. Because of what he saw, the captain of the guard started training her.

Weapon skill came easily to Geshwin. Within the next couple of journeys she was able to handle most weapons with a basic competence. With the support of the captain she changed positions to being a guard for the company. Over the next year she excelled at what she did and was noted as a brave fighter who could stand her ground.

Her ability with weapons was noted by group of adventurers who offered her a share of an adventure they were planning. They enticed her with the knowledge of a reported cache of treasure. She joined them, but unbeknownst to her the treasure they were going after was loot being held by a bandit lord in the hills.

The adventure went badly for the group, most were killed and Geshwin was taken captive. Her own fate became tied to her ability with her weapons.

As a prisoner one of the bandits thought she was fair game; she proved him wrong by taking his life. The leader of the bandits was impressed with how she defeated the man. They talked and when it was understood that Geshwin had been recruited by being duped he gave her an offer to work with him for six months as a blood debt for the lost man. She accepted on the basis she would defend the camp, but not attack others.

During the six months she proved herself defending the camp. When her six months was up she told the leader that since her debt was paid she was leaving and she would not return to the area.

Pleased with her service, the leader gave her supplies and money.

Geshwin decided she didn't want to be out on the road and returned to the city to find work there. Since the number of swords for hire was great and she didn't want to go back to living in camps, she looked for other means of earning a living. She was recruited by an upstart gladiatorial house because of her ability and her looks.

In the arena Geshwin again proved herself as a fighter and a crowd pleaser. Soon she developed a following and was making good money. However, the person managing the fighting house was not well suited for running a business and it soon folded.

Geshwin decided it was time once again to make a change in her career. Instead of working the sands herself, she started her own fighting school, the Flesh Golem. It was small and she was barely making a profit when two things came to her rescue.

First was her friend who was the captain of the guard on the caravan who had taken a new position in the city. He hired Geshwin and her school to train his guards. This provided enough gold to keep the Flesh Golem open. Shortly, after the word spread she other small businesses sent their guards for training. The fighting school became established.

A roman gladiatorial school

She has maintained contact with a number of fighters in the city to be trainers when people are looking for a specific skill.

The second event was when a man, Horace, who sold himself to her to learn how to fight. The arrangement was to train him in exchange for the training and a percentage of the winnings from him fighting in the arena for the Flesh Golem. He never told why he wanted to learn how to fight or where he was from. Horace was determined to do his best. He excelled in the arena. When his training was complete he left and has not been seen since.

Because of Horace's success Geshwin has been able to maintain a stable of fighters since that time.

Geshwin (Fighter level 8, D&D 3.5 using core books)

Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Chr 14

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

HP 58

Initiative: +2

AC 18 (studded leather, dex +3), 19 with dodge, 23 or 24 with combat expertise (she usually uses this

Attack base +8

Melee Attack +12 (+7), short sword +1 (1d6+5/19x2)

Full attack

            Melee Attack: +10/+5 (+5/+0) short sword +1 (1d6+5/19x2); +9 dagger +1 (1d4+2/19x2)

Fort +7, Reflex +5, Will +2

Feats (9): Blind-fight, cleave, combat expertise, dodge, improved trip, power attack, two-weapon fighting, weapon focus (short sword), weapon specialization (short sword)

Skills (55): Balance +4 (2cc), bluff +7 (10cc), climb +3 (1), diplomacy +6 (4cc), handle animal +6 (4), intimidate +5 (1), jump +5 (3), knowledge (local) +4 (4cc), knowledge (nobility and royalty) +5 (6cc), perform +4 (4cc), profession +4 (8cc), ride +5 (2), sense motive +3 (6cc)

Languages: Common

Magic: Short sword +1; dagger +1; potions cure light wounds (3), bull's strength, cat's grace; studded leather +2

  

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Using a Bad Day for Better Gaming

Had the bad day where you feel like events are burying you? It might be the job, a person, or some other event you have to deal with. The frustration builds and you feel like you could just lose it on someone or something. Everyone has a bad day, a stressful week, or something that came up and the moment of all those little things turns our attitude sour. It has happened to me lately and I was trying to work through it when I had another person bring up some very situations they are dealing with.

We got together and voiced our frustration, anger, fear, and whined. Most of issues we were dealing with were situations we couldn't, or shouldn't, do anything about. Which in itself creates frustration. After we had whined enough we started talking about ways of turning the frustrations we were dealing with into something positive. It started with the comment, "I appreciate gaming at times like this because I can go kill something without hurting anyone."

Just about every gamer I know has used gaming, especially role-playing games (RPGs) or video games, as an outlet of cleansing a bad attitude. Other people might go to the gym, or for a walk. Some even turn to numbing their senses. But, gamers are a different breed. We use our imaginations to create peace of mind by destroying something in a virtual world. Yeah, in some ways we really do have a twisted sense of reality.

Done in a group setting it can be great therapy. You tear into the monster with reckless abandon. There is no worry about what happens to you, because when you are done you can stand up from the table. If you are successful, there is a relief. If you were not, you grab another character. The other people you are gaming with take your lead; resulting in a game that is truly different than the usual weekly game you play. In the end the aggression that was bound up inside has been released without committing road rage or any physical destruction. Of course that hamlet the characters were visiting isn't doing so well.

I have shown up for a game night and let people know I had a bad day, or week, and others have done the same. We make sure they are not going to be the game master (GM) because we like our characters. We have even shifted games from what had been planned. When it is known that someone's had a bad time recently, the game usually takes on a higher combat level. This gives the outlet without causing the harm. Our group even has a campaign setup for gladiators which works wonderfully well when there is the need to be high action with less "thinking." It also works well for handling the idiot who almost caused on accident on the freeway.

There is another way of turning those frustrating experiences into positive game nights. Use them to create an encounter. For me this can start off as a difficult task because I am so focused on the crap I am dealing with. I start out by sitting at my computer, pulling up a blank document, and just start writing about whatever is bothering me. Then I allow the situation to morph into an encounter.

Developing an encounter is about creating a situation or combat players will enjoy. Sometimes it can be tough coming up with unique and fulfilling new material. Life events that create emotional angst have great seeds for developing encounters. The situation can be used to create a personality, a place, and a set of circumstances that can get your players emotionally involved.

You can probably tell this article developed out of one of these experiences. I also have several new encounters and personalities to introduce to my group.

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Cultural Backstory—Environment

From NBC News

The physical geography of the land plays an import part for why a place develops where it is (covered in a previous article). Another major influence on how the culture develops is the environment.

Cultures around are world have been, and are, influenced by numerous conditions people have to deal with. One of the first aspects people have to learn to live with is the environment that defines the space. This happened in the past and continues today as people move from one location to another. Each location has a unique set of conditions, but there are some general considerations to be taken when developing your own setting.

General climate is an easily identified factor. How hot or how cold an area is determines many factors of how people see, define, and act in their lives. Harsher climates usually mean a higher level of cooperation for survival, whereas climates where life is "easier" tends to lend  to more aggressive societies. As societies develop, they develop different means for dealing with these issues. Another aspect of dealing with the different climates is preparing for the change in seasons.

Every place has its own variation of seasons. Where I live there are four distinct seasons, while a friend in San Diego prefers it there because there is basically one season. The change of seasons determines many natural food sources, plant and animal. Plants are adaptive to their area and food bearing plants are different all across the world. As we advance in technology food sources can become more homogenized, but earlier societies and farmers' markets were dependent on what they can produce in the area.

Availability of food and water is an early determination for how the culture develops. Places where food is easily collected, or hunted, make it easier for the people to sustain themselves. In cultural studies it has been shown that many hunter-gather tribes living where food is easily obtained have more free time than in agrarian cultures. However, the agrarians usually develop in places where growing their own food is easier to do than working at gathering and hunting for everything.

Etna December 2015

Drinkable water is another consideration for the community. Communities in dryer places must consider water conservation as part of their development. Even places where water was available it has been found that large cultures and civilizations were lost because of food shortage tied to their water usage (salination of the soil). When water resources have been depleted earlier cultures moved on. Later societies find other ways of dealing with the loss of water.

In many game settings food and water are not considerations needing to be dealt with, but they can add an interesting twist to your setting and how you have your players and their characters interact with and within the community.

Seasonality also produces different weather conditions the culture needs to adapt to. Think about where you are placing your society. If that town is built along a river, and what is the regularity of flooding and how big is the floodplain? These are two reasons for the rise of the Egyptian culture along the Nile. Dealing with winds on the steppes or on the plains are usually very seasonal and play a part in cultural development. Winter storms, spring rains, summer heat, and the autumn harvest all help define the culture.

Catastrophic events may or may not be regular, but they are used to define the culture. Places where they are used to having the typhoon or hurricane season define many aspects of the general culture. Others might be dealing with tornadoes. Some events are not tied to seasons but are part of the lives of the people. Earthquakes and volcanoes are two natural events people have used to define aspects of their world beliefs.

Within each of these there are parts you can explore and exploit to create a setting all your own. They are also going to influence a number of other aspects of your culture.

Zeus with a thunderbolt

Language is a reflection of what the society has to deal with in their environment. The Inuit people have many different words of what most people just call snow. That is because for them the type of snow is more important than just knowing there is snow. Knowing the type of snow could mean the difference between life or death for them. If you have traditional dwarfs in your setting, they probably have a much broader language to talk about rocks and minerals. A traditional elf might have different words to describe a certain tree to let you know how old it is. In many languages the colorful phrases used are tied to the environmental aspects the society has been dealing with.

Religions through our history, around our world, have developed as a reflection of the environment as a culture developed. Many times the religion was an aspect of defining and understanding the reason for the seasons, weather, and catastrophic events. The stories developed were also used to teach the next generation how to live in the environment they live in.

There are a lot more areas where the environment of a particular society is developing in can affect them. This should give you some areas to think about. This also gives us a stepping point for future articles on some more of the intricate aspects of cultural development.

Have fun with your creation. Even if it is set in an existing game world, you can place influences in you town or city that no other location has to deal with. Someone might say you put something together wrong, smile, take a note, and let them know they don't fully understand the backstory. By doing this you can go into your notes and add information so you can have your people do what you want them to.

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One Family's Take on Pokemon Go

Pokemongo.com

People who know me know I don't play video games. It isn't because I don't like video games, it's because I don't see well and I get motion sickness when playing anything done in first person. On a recent Saturday morning my wife and I were sitting down at breakfast with my in-laws and they all had their phones out playing Pokemon Go while we were together.

There has been a lot of press about how people are becoming so involved with this game that it's causing problems. However, their phones sat there, were checked on occasion, and we had a good family get-together. The parents and two of their five children were there and so I asked them about the game and why they enjoy playing it.

They have always been a tight knit family and have done many things together, more than my upbringing would ever consider reasonable. Both parents work and their children are in high school or older.

The discussion started was with the parents and two of their daughters, one is in high school (not the youngest) and the other is attending college. There were a couple of things about the game they agreed on. There is the aspect of collecting the Pokemon, which is a big part of the game, and the training. They have started a competition between the siblings on who can collect the most, and the widest variety.

They mentioned they like where the game was taking them. In tracking down the Pokemon they have gone to parks and other locations they may not have seen otherwise. As a family, or subdivisions of the family depending on who was available, they have been taking outings to new places where they had not been before. Visiting the Pokemon sites they have also been learning and developing new interests.

Instead of just looking for Pokemon through their phones they have looked at the world around them. A number of the places they have visited have some other significance associated with them. When looking around they have found plaques and memorials along with some unique scenery. What they have come across has sparked discussion about what they have found and a new interest in their community.

They also expressed personal interests in what they are getting from playing the game.

The elder daughter explained to me how the game requires a person walk, run, or ride a bike to hatch an egg. Half-jokingly she told me how this has gotten her boyfriend up and out of doors so he could find out what Pokemon his egg was going to hatch. Not only is it giving them exercise, but it is also giving them time together outdoors instead of sitting and studying.

The father of this clan also had his thoughts on what was good about playing Pokemon Go—it has allowed the family to come together. Many times we hear how families become fragmented because everyone is off doing their own thing, running in different directions as they pursue their own lives. He told me how they have made family outings to go find Pokemon as a group. They travel together, work together, and have fun together. Some of the outing are close by, but they have taken a couple of day-trip adventures. I thought this was a great idea. Their children are older, but what a thought of planning something the family can do, that draws the interest of younger children and provide the opportunities of learning and seeing new things.

There will always be detractors on a game like this. There will always be detractors of pretty much what anyone decides to do. There are also going to be people who become overly serious about what they are doing; anything can become an obsession. Here at breakfast were four people who were sharing time together, partially because of a video game. The girls weren't sure if they would have come to breakfast or not, but they mentioned there was something nearby as part of the game that got them out of bed on a Saturday morning. When they arrived one had set a lure in the parking lot and they were having a good time the old people as they waited to see if something would show up.

Games can have a positive influence on who we are. In a time when a game is getting all sorts of publicity for getting people hurt it was nice to hear how this family was using it for family and personal growth.

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Halloween Horror Gaming

From Plusquotes.com

'Tis the season of ghosts and ghouls and horror stories and adventures that ring in Halloween. Earlier today I was involved in a discussion about running a horror adventure for the upcoming Halloween weekend. The discussion was focused around the encounter. At first I was right in the discussion with everyone else working on what monster should be thrown against the party. Afterwards, when I started working on the possibility, I was flailing and failing horribly.

In working up a horror encounter, it is not so much of what you are running into, but how it is set up. Any monster can be used to create a horror encounter, especially when dealing with the possibilities presented in a fantasy setting like Dungeons and Dragons. My thoughts of creating the encounter for presentation changed. Instead, here are some thoughts from several authors who know something about horror.

Recently I reviewed the first volume of the Iron Dragon Series (The Golden Cord) by Paul Genesse. Along with being a dragon enthusiast, he is an established writer and editor of horror. Johnny Worthen has a number of published novels including a horror novel, Beatrysel. Along with being an author he is teaching a class this semester at the University of Utah on horror and film. Michaelbrent Collins is one of the top indie horror authors in the U.S. and screenwriter.

I want to be clear that I am talking about a horror setting, not a slasher setting. They do have some similar aspects, but I want to get into the psychological thrillers that get under your skin and not just make you jump.

When you think about a horror adventure the one thing most people go to first is the creature to be encountered, which my discussion group did. The encounter is just the fight, the combat with the boss that allows for the final showdown. You need a solid encounter to finish of the horror adventure, but it is not what makes the adventure a horror. Any creature can be used for the final encounter as long as it fits into the storyline.

Nosferatu

How the story is set changes a story into a horror story. And, this same principle applies to horror role-playing games (RPGs).

Horror continually hints at the possibility of what could happen. It is a means of looking at the darker possibilities of the world around us, and what it may hide. Horror writers do this by creating a setting that is as much a character of the story as any other character. It could be the location, but a transformation takes place to turn it into something horrific.

The use of language is important in setting the story. In gaming there have always been descriptions giving the physical layout of the room. A horror setting needs to add a layer of description presenting the possibilities and a layering affecting the psyche of the players. The shadows are lurking, and even though the characters can chase them away, there develops the lingering question of what was there and how it felt.

A place can be constricting, claustrophobic, tightening in around the characters, limiting the actions and abilities. The language of the description of every place heightens the threat, even when no threat is present. The location becomes a larger part of the encounter as it plays into the how actions can be taken.

Horror gives characters a chance at gathering themselves.  There is a rollercoaster ride of activity heightening the risk and then providing a place of peace. If your adventure runs from one high-octane encounter to the next you create a risk, but the tension of a true horror doesn't come about because the characters become "burned out" by going at the high level on a constant basis—the risk is lost. This doesn't mean you back off the language of the possibility of threats, but you develop a sense of hope for the characters between situations and then subtlety remove the hope.

In an interview I saw with Michaelbrent Collins and a later article from him, he talks about how horror gives hope and a sense of fairness, or justice. It is from this sense of hope and justice that I know a number of RPG players who don't like to play horror based games. There has to be the compensate hope versus fairness based on the actions of the characters. We see this all the time in the horror movies we watch. Players like to bash forward, knock down the door, and charge in. In many campaigns the heroes need to live to be around in the next session. In horror settings many of the characters don't come back for the sequel.

Night of the Living Dead

Characters are punished for making bad decisions or doing stupid things. They are also rewarded for doing something right or intelligent. This is a core element of horror as to why they are enjoyed by so many people. Now, in the books and movies we the foolish acts must take place at some point or the story doesn't happen. "Look an old house with flickering spectral light." "Let's not go in there." End of story.

Don't let that be your adventure. Yes, you can force characters into going into the house because that is where thy must go to get the lost tome. However, setting up an adventure that builds on setting creates intrigue as well as fear. People can be drawn to the location.

The old house sitting at the base of the hill has flickering spectral lights flashing from the windows. The flashes seemed directed towards the party as they are passing on the road beyond the wall and fallen gate. The shadows of the evening penetrate into the building and appear to flow back out as the sun sinks to the western horizon. You can feel there is something wrong about the place. And yet, the flashes come again as though someone is reflecting a candle or small lantern to gain your attention.

Enjoy the season. May you have a wonderful adventure with your gaming group.

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Cultural backstory—Societal Roles, Age

Bathurst Island circa 1938

Every person has many roles in the community where they live. Previously I discussed how gender plays into the roles, how they are assigned, and how they are viewed by others. One of the items noted then was that roles also have many other influences besides gender. In this article I am looking at one of the other factors, age.

Gender and age roles are usually connected. One of the major connections are rites of passage which define how children become adults. Historically these rites have been divided between the sexes. Adult roles and even elder roles were almost always segregated by sex. Even though the connection is strong between the two elements within most cultures there are some major areas which can be seen as particular to age.

As before, I am not going to deal with the levels of complexity that can arise in these discussions. For example, in today's current social structure it could be argued, and some do, that there are many levels of individual development over the course of a person's life. We could be looking at the stages of infancy, toddlers, childhood, pre-teenagers, teenagers, young adult, adult, middle-age, elderly, and others that fit into these grouping in different ways depending on how you want to define them. Here I am going to break it down into three basic ones: childhood, adulthood, and elderly. When working on your creations you may want more to define your community. A general consideration is, the more advanced the society becomes the more complex the structure age we like to put in place.

Childhood has been changed in definition throughout time. Childhood has a basic definition (I mean basic) of the period of life that a child is dependent on adults for their survival. This includes infancy and continues until the child is claimed to be an adult. The period of time considered to be the period of childhood has been fluid.

Wyatt Earp

It is assumed that in times before recorded history childhood was a short period of time because life was short and needs were high. The argument is that a person needed to be able to quickly provide for their own needs. As time advances, and the complexity of the society grows the determination of when a child becomes an adult changed.

My grandmother graduated from high school, was married, and had her first child when she was sixteen. This was in the United States in the early 1900s. At that time she was considered an adult. By today's standard she would still be considered a child by many. In early societies waiting until she was sixteen would have meant she was an old maid and may not have been eligible to ever get married.

The point is how you choose to define childhood in the society you are creating will create a system of expectations. There is also the consideration of what requirements are specified for a child to move into adulthood.

Adulthood in most societies has been broadly defined as the period of life when a person is a contributing part. What they contribute is almost always included as part of the reasoning of being considered an adult. It may have been considered an adult if you were able to provide food, clothing, shelter. In could also be considered when you are capable of having children to maintain the population of the community. Some may have been considered adults because they were large enough to help defend against an outside danger. No matter the context of what the person provides, being able to provide has usually been a part of being an adult. But definitions change over time as has already been pointed out.

In our modern society a major shift in defining adulthood has been the person's physical age. This is in part because of better record keeping, the general growth of the population, and the ability to over produce. We use terms all the time of how a person is acting childish. What we are usually talking about is a behavior which is seen as being unproductive in some manner. As long as a person remained productive they are considered to be acting like an adult.

From longevitynetwork.org

The next transition tied closely with age is moving into the ranks of the elderly. There becomes a defining moment when a person moves from the ranks of the active adult providing for the community, family, etc. and is allowed to once again be taken care of by the community or family. The individual is allowed to become an advisor or teacher to his family or community. Sometimes an elderly person was cared for by family and friend until a natural death claimed them. However, this is not always the case.

There have been, or are, societies where the elderly are allowed to "take the long walk" before they become a burden on the community. These are different aspects based on considerations with how well a community can take care of themselves and their ability to create a surplus.

These concepts should be part of the process of developing the structure of your society. Each stage of life has specific aspects that develop in a society and as a person creating a community or society you should look at providing some context for the different age groups.

The main area I like to jot down notes on are the considerations of restrictions and benefits. Determining what each of the main age groups is allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do provides social structure to how the groups interact within their age group and between groups. Many times the restrictions of one group are benefits allowed to another group which also defines how the different ages interact. These are not just physical activity either, expectations of mental activity is a major factor used.

Again, like before, these are basic areas presented. Your society will have different levels of complexity, and even the areas of a larger society will be broken down into smaller community based demographics. I like to throw in aspects of a new community that my players are not familiar with, either by taking something from a society they are unfamiliar with or by creating a new standard. In gaming a good example of this was how the drow culture was developed in Dungeons and Dragons.

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The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse, Book Review

The Golden Cord, book one of the Iron Dragon series, by Paul Genesse is an original take on the classic storyline of a small town boy becoming a dragon hunter. Although our hero is not the normally expected dragon fighting knight, he is a man with a crossbow. I recently picked up the first three books at a writing conference directly from the author and read the first book.

The short review is The Golden Cord is a good read. There are strong characters in a unique world moving through a story providing originality and twists allowing the reader to be involved. The pace moves along and the reader becomes involved with the characters as they develop and learn more about the eventual dangers they will face. It is an appropriate read for young adults and older. There are a few descriptive passages dealing with the aftermath of battle and an attempted seduction some young readers may find rough.

I enjoyed The Golden Cord for a number of reasons, all of which tie back into the fact it is a good, solid story with the elements I look for in my reading: characters, setting, and storyline.

Drake is the lead character who is the protector of his village, by his own choice is placed in a position of needing to help two racial enemies. Two dwarfs (Drobin), Bellor and Thor, are on a sacred mission and they need a guide to find lost clansmen. They travel together along with Drake's two bullmastiff dogs, Jep and Temus. As expected, they eventually overcome the racial teachings and become friends in the end.

All of the characters, even those from a single scene, have depth. They have strengths and flaws, traits we see in people around us. I was able to relate to every one of them. The relatability of the characters allowed for a greater ability of suspending the disbelief of the fantasy aspects brought into the story. Even to the end of the book the characters don't break from the fundamental understanding of themselves we have been presented.

The world Genesse created is introduced at the beginning of the story. You find yourself in a harsh environment unlike anything we have experienced. Through the characters you are allowed to understand the world as a person who grew up with it. They are not "adapting" to the environment as though we have traveled from our world to theirs, but they are a part of it, living within it, and with it. The setting became a character of its own. I found myself anticipating what other wonders of the world were going to be shown to me. Though the world may not be sentient, every person and creature is part of the environment created.

Because the characters are a part of their world, the elements  brought forth are believed by the characters and thus allow the reader the freedom to believe them. The story machinations flow together with the characters and the settings. Everything is presented along a path woven into the larger scenery allowing us to understand how the events could happen. The magic used in the story is justified and requires a price from the user. This shows there are limitations to what any of the characters can do. There is no sudden revelation, no sudden twist of magic that saves the day at the end. What there is an outcome that is logically presented within the facts of the world that has been built.

It is not a hidden fact this is the first book in a series of five. The foundation of the overarching story is established and the story of this book stands on its own. You don't have to have the next book, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I know some people who don't like to wait for the next book in a series. So, I do know that at this point in time Paul Genesse is putting the finishing touches on book four and book five is nearing completion of the first draft.

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Cultural Backstory—Starting With Some of the Societal Roles, Gender

Continuing with building a community I am going to focus on developing a larger community that is not yet a city. The reason for this is to get a feel how a place may be growing from its roots to a place where there are continual inhabitants creating an endpoint for adventuring in your campaign setting. Of course the same ideas apply to smaller and larger communities. In fact, in larger communities these ideas apply to different areas in the community.

After establishing a community (the fact that one exists where it does), people naturally determine ways to regulate themselves and the others in their society. This doesn't always mean set laws, but the facts of their lives that usually are the basis for laws they may eventual enact. These are the social norms and taboos. The way people interact with each other based on how they perceive themselves and others in terms of their roles in the community.

Societal roles are complex, so we usually break them down into simpler identifiers when they are discussed. For example, in discussing gender roles and what is expected in the community from the men and women. However, the roles change depending on the age of the people, and possibly the race of the person. There are additional considerations based on the person's state of physical and mental health along with aspects of a person's size. In some societies there might even be considerations for the person's physical characteristics like hair and eye color. All of these can be interwoven to create an amazing tapestry of the community. But working to create this level of complexity while developing a new location for your gaming would mean you probably would never be able to use it.

So, let's break this down into smaller pieces and find some places to begin.

Since we started with the example of gender roles, let's keep with it. What are the expectations placed on the different sexes in your community? If you want a more complex setting with multiple sexual relations, then you might want to consider what the expectations for each group you define as part of your community. (This is nothing new for many societies throughout our own history can provide examples.) To keep the discussion shorter, I am going to go with the idea of having two basic roles: men and women. I am also going to keep it to some general concepts.

From http://missinghumanmanual.com/?p=777

One of the ways societies survive is by defining what it means to be a man or a woman. These are usually defined by the activities they perform in the family structure and in the larger community. This goes back to the earliest hunter gatherer societies and continues right up through modern day, and I believe there will be some definition as long as societies continue. These rules do not have to be "right" in terms of what we are looking at, they have to be right for the community that has adopted them.

Some of the reasons for developing gender roles may be for survival purposes. This is most likely one of the reasons for the role difference of hunter gatherer societies. The women developed into roles of gathering close to the home base and took care of smaller children while the men would travel further from home and hunt animals. In agrarian societies the roles change because the dependence becomes more on growing the food instead of hunting it. Other societies that depend on raiding will have other roles defined.

In the development of your community you should take into consideration what is needed for the people to survive. Advanced technology creates all new levels of requirements when compared to a society based solely on how much muscle the people of the community can harvest. You can see examples of this in the new world societies that didn't have horses or other beasts of burden. But survival is only one defining factor of gender roles.

From http://memim.com/agrarian-society.html

Another major factor throughout our own history has been religious belief. Religion throughout time have defined gender roles to fit the needs of the communities the religion served. Many earlier societies were matriarchal (and it could be argued this was because of the survival needs). As time progressed most of our world's societies have moved to patriarchal, most of which have been defined by the religious aspects of the community.

Many game world communities have defined religions being used. When you have a defined religion you are playing with, you should consider the impact of those beliefs on the roles the men and women in your society have. Even within the religion there are usually defined gender roles. Some religions have only priestesses. Others may relegate certain activities to men and others to women. Each of these defined roles impact how the community develops and how the sexes are viewed, and treated.

There are other factors, some already touched on here, like political power, magic use, and family structures impacting gender roles. At this time in developing a community I might be jotting a few notes on what these other aspects are, and maybe some brief comments on how they may impact the community. Some of these topics are going to be covered in later articles, but I know there is no way of covering every aspect in these shorter articles. So as the creator of your gaming world, you may have one area of higher impact than someone else. In my current writing I mark these sort of things so I know what they are.

From
http://futurehumanevolution.com/space-colonization-future-human-habitats

Societies change, and sometimes they change rapidly. This is one fun thing (saving attribute) of creating your own gaming community. You can start with something as basic as we have put forth so far in the past few articles and turn your players loose. What you will find is the players will insert their own ideas into the setting, thus helping you in the creating process. As the creator of the world you can accept, reject, or alter the idea to fit your vision. You can allow your players and their characters to define the world, but you can also just have them influence the world through their actions. Explorers have had this type of impact all over Earth, throughout history. In simple terms—play your game with what you have and allow it to develop, change, and grow as you need it to.

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Reviewing More of Savage Worlds RPG

This is the second part of the review of Savage Worlds written for Utah Geek Magazine and first published on their website.

If you haven't read the article in the hard copy of Utah Geek Magazine, you may want to read it first (also on my last article posted here). I don't want to rehash what was printed in the magazine, so I am taking a longer look at skill checks, combat, game mastering (GMing), and some personal experience of creation with the system here.

Savage Worldsgeneric role-playing system provides a means for creating characters faster than many generic systems I have seen. Of course, having rules which allow for easier creation, and less specifics, means you are dealing with a number of areas in a general manner. If you like solid guides, and specific application of skills, etc. in your gaming system, you will probably find Savage Worlds too generic. On the other-hand, if you are looking for a system with a lot of leeway to how it is played, this is a system you will want to check out more thoroughly. It is this second aspect of gaming they were going after, and they did it well.

Skill checks are based on the attributes, as expected, and I like the system they use. Instead of providing a conversion system or charts to get attributes into the same system of making checks, like in a d20 system, the attributes are based on the dice, and a roll of four or better means success. Major characters, heroes and villains, are considered wild cards, which get an additional advantage when making attribute checks, including skill checks since they are based off the character's attributes.

Along with the attribute die wild card characters receive a wild card die (d6). Both dice are rolled and the better result can be used. There is a risk attached to this—which the authors point out are the fates playing with the characters. Any time both dice roll ones, a critical failure takes place. The specifics of the failure are determined by the GM. There are also some other dice rules that apply to every character.

A die roll of the maximum number is an ace (i.e., 4 on a d4, 8 on a d8). On an ace the die is rolled again, adding the results of the additional roll(s). You can keep acing on a die, which means you keep adding an additional die. With a success being a 4 or greater, it seemed a little odd to me at first that you would need a system of increasing the numbers, however, there are several solid reason within the system for it.

A score of 4 higher than the needed result to succeed is a rise. With some checks a rise indicates additional benefits to the use of the skill. Some skills provide a specified result for success, another benefit for having a rise, and something else for a second rise. These can be accomplished with a single die roll or with the multiple rolls from achieving an ace.

Some checks are challenges between characters. The use of aces allow for a weaker character (weaker in any trait) to have a chance of doing something better than a character of greater ability. It also allows for a way of comparing how the competing characters perform. This is a good way of handling those situations where you want to add in more of the storytelling aspects of role-playing like when a characters performs a feat with extraordinary success.

Combat has a different means of calculating what is needed for a success. Instead of a 4 being a success, defenses are included to determine a target number. The target number then becomes the number needed for a success. At times a successful roll may only be reached by the player acing their die roll.

Since combat initiative was covered in the print article, let's jump into some of the other aspects of how characters fight and survive. The basic system of fighting uses the same check of rolling your skill die and, if appropriate, your wild die. Weapon damage for hand-held weapons uses the characters strength die as the base and are listed as STR+3 for example. This provides the ability to handle damage without having to work through any conversions before playing or during combat.

To maintain the quick pace of the game, which Great White Games is striving for, character damage is a limited range. Characters can become shaken, physically and mentally. This is the first state. When damaged while shaken your character can become injured. Many times the injuries are being bumped and bruised. I like to think about this along the lines of the Indiana Jones affect (this came to mind from the reading with their example scenario running through the book). You can suffer 3 injuries and still stay in the combat. If you inflict a wound that would cause you to go beyond the third injury, you check against a chart to see what happens. This can range from more bumps and bruises to bleeding out and death within a certain number of rounds. This injury system has a couple of aspects that could be considered advantages or disadvantages depending on how you like to play your game.

You can continue fighting while on the verge of death. Of course, with three damage points, you are always close enough that a serious wound can immediately take you out of play, but you can also take a lot more when you are into brawling instead of guns. If you are not always relying on the big weapons, or big magic, you could continue fighting for some time (think of the brawls with Indiana Jones). Within this type of system I have seen players become more creative in how they handle the fights they get into.

There are also rules for handling large scale combat. Savage Worlds provides for playing scenarios where you would be a part of a larger group, like in major war campaigns. The rules are modified for doing these battles with miniatures and allows the players, as a group or individuals, to control their supporting cast. Large scale combats can be taking place while the individual lead characters (the wild cards) are duking it out. The rules read well, but I will admit I have not played out a larger scale scenario (yet). So, if you have, please let us know what you think.

After reading through the main book I was pleased with the concepts and felt comfortable in being able to explain and play the system. I then came across another nice addition. Not everyone needs the full book, and they don't have to have it. There is the Explorer's Handbook. This softcover book covers the information needed, focusing on the areas needed by a player running a character. It makes for an easy book to have at the table, or a supplement that can be passed around the table for multiple player use.

My gaming group decided to give Savage Worlds a try. Instead of playing in a standard scenario that we have been using other systems for we decided to try something new.

We decided to build characters in one session and we had them ready for play in about a half an hour. This was impressive since it was a new system for everyone else, based on my explanation from reading the rules. They were able to grasp the concepts with only a little explanation and then worked on building their characters on their own. The game setting we are working with is allowing players to not have to worry about equipment and supplies, which of course makes a difference in the amount of time needed.

All of us are looking forward to playing the system to see how it works for us.

Savage Worlds products can be found at Pinnacle Entertainment Group's website (https://www.peginc.com/product-category/savage-worlds/).

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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