100 Book titles for a castle library

Many adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons game take place in cities or castles, where heroes may find themselves in libraries. Unfortunately, book titles from those libraries aren’t provided nearly so often, and the dungeon master (DM) can quickly become pressed for details when players ask what volumes are sitting on the shelves before them.

As part of its ongoing efforts to provide  DMs with all the details they may never need, the RPG Atheneum has produced the following list of 100 book titles that could appear in a fantasy role-playing library. To randomly determine a title, roll two ten-sided dice as a percentile, reading one die as the “tens” digit and the other as the “ones” digit. Thus, rolls of 4 and 3 are read as 43, 0 and 9 as 9, 7 and 0 as 70 and 0 and 0 as 100.

Villains can learn a lot from Murphy’s Combat Laws

Most people are familiar with the humorous concept of Murphy’s Law: if something can go wrong, it will. And while this adage may not be mathematically possible, it hold true often enough for dozens of derivative “laws” particular to various industries or situations.

Of particular use to the dungeon master (DM) in this regard is this listing of Murphy’s Law of Combat Operations, containing more than 100 humorous observations about the not-so-humorous activity of actual warfare. Although most of the sayings presented there relate exclusively to modern warfare, several could be applied to how a Dungeons & Dragons villain might deploy his troops in combat encounters.

Crime Scene Sunday: Identity Theft

One regular feature of this Web log is Crime Scene Sunday, in which the author examines some form of criminal activity, considers how a villain may use that particular crime in a Dungeons & Dragons game, and provides one or more examples of that particular misdeed in a D&D campaign setting. As the name implies, such entries are posted on Sunday.

This week’s crime isidentity theft. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the term as “the illegal use of someone else’s personal information (as a Social Security number) in order to obtain money or credit.”

A more comprehensive definition is provided by findlaw.com, which describes the crime as “misuse of another person’s identifying information — whether personal or financial. Such data (including social security numbers, credit history, and PIN numbers) is often acquired through 1) the offender’s unlawful access to information from government and financial entities, or 2) lost or stolen mail, wallets and purses, identification, and credit or debit cards.”

Although most D&D game settings don’t involve the use of electronic identification and financial records, this crime is very easily adapted to a fantasy role playing campaign. By creatively employing government bureaucrats, the D&D game’s magic system or certain types of monsters, a dungeon Master (DM) can create the same effect as technological identity theft in a D&D game.

How to write a Gothic Horror D&D Adventure

One of the most exciting aspects of the Dungeons & Dragons game is the fact that it can tell stories in countless ways. Since stories were being told long before D&D appeared on the scene, an enterprising dungeon master (DM) can draw inspiration from centuries-old literary genres when designing adventures. Gothic horror is one such genre, and this post will describe both the elements of Gothic horror stories and a method for employing them as tools for D&D adventure design.

Origins of Gothic Horror

The genre that we currently call Gothic horror developed in the 18th Century; it combined elements of horror literature with that of the Romantic Movement. Thus, gothic writers temper the emphasis horror places on fear and dread with the high emotion, primal sublimation and awe of nature’s power typically depicted in Romantic works. In short, Gothic is a genre of emotionally-charged tales of the supernatural, in which primal and/or evil forces battle against “civilized” forces represented by – or within – heroes.

Elements of Gothic Horror

By definition, a literary genre represents a group of works with traits in common; through listing those traits typically associated with Gothic horror, this post can provide a clear definition of the genre by example.

Settings

While there are no formal setting restrictions for Gothic tales, the Gothic literary tradition gravitated toward setting stories in mysterious, ancient places, places of spiritual significance, and isolated locales, often punctuated with astonishing natural beauty. By night, these same locations become dark, lonely, foreboding settings.

Crime Scene Sunday (on Tuesday this week): Racketeering

One regular feature of this Web log is Crime Scene Sunday, in which the author examines some form of criminal activity, considers how a villain may use that particular crime in a Dungeons & Dragons game, and provides one or more examples of that particular misdeed in a D&D campaign setting. As the name implies, such entries are posted on Sunday.

This week’s crime is racketeering.

The free online dictionary defines a racketeer as “a person who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.” Yourdictionary.com defines it as “a person who obtains money illegally, as by bootlegging, fraud, or, esp., extortion.” Thus, we can view racketeering as a “parent crime” to more specific forms of illegally generating cash. 

Unlike some other forms of crime, a racket requires organization of people and resources, and large rackets may employ dozens of participants, some of whom may not even know that they are supporting an illegal enterprise.

100 Descriptors for nondescript NPCs

By definition, urban settings in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) are filled with people. Generally, only a handful of the non-player characters (NPCs) in a given city are likely to be sought by the heroes, so the remaining inhabitants are reduced to “generic townsfolk” status. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with generic townsfolk living in an RPG setting. Having prominent NPCs quickly enter the story helps the players distinguish between NPCs who are clearly to be part of the story and the nameless NPCs who won’t. It also helps the players avoid wasting time and energy on an NPC that won’t be able to further the plot.

But it is important to remember that the background details make an RPG setting more believable to players, and having such details on hand – even if the players never ask for them – is part of being a well-prepared dungeon master (DM).

The following list of physical and behavioral descriptors was compiled so that a DM can provide better physical descriptions of generic folk with a handful of percentile rolls. Whether in response to a hero stopping passerby to ask questions or just to provide better background imagery when describing a street scene.