Time for a much overdue update!
The last weeks have been the most hectic I have experienced in my decade or so doing this full time. Two conventions almost back to back, Virtual Greyhawk Con 5 and now Gamehole Con in a few days, wrapping up a big commission for Gamehole Publishing, running games that debuting Hawk Tales FRP. New solutions, software and more, so let’s dig into it.
Virtual Greyhawk Con 5
I had a bast playing, watching and interacting with all you fellow Greyhawk fans. An extended weekend of gaming galore, that could be conveniently experienced at my desk. I’m starting to like virtual conventions more and more. My seminar centered around my new generation Greyhawk maps and Hawk Tales FRP.
I played in some great games, which emphasized the fact that one of the best aspects of conventions are the different gaming experiences they offer, wonderful way to be inspired and learn new ways of doing things. Hawk Tales had its first real game run at VGHC5, and it was fun, and I hope the players had fun going after Iuzians east of Critwall. Considering it was the first real game run using an alpha version of the rules, it ran reasonably well. Proper character sheets were sorely needed, which I’m fixing for Gamehole Con next week.
Warden of the Eastern Marches
A setting by Gamehole Publishing for their new organized play program, and I did the map for it.
https://gameholepublishing.com/wardens-of-the-eastern-marches/explore-the-setting/
I did a map of this area some years ago, this was only going to be an update. My backup routines half a decade ago weren’t as rigorous as they are now (perfect backup cost a lot and are technically challenging) so I had lost my source files. This meant that as a punishment I had to start from scratch and redo the whole map in much more detail. In hindsight I’m glad I had to redo the map at a new improved standard.
It took me a few months where I spent most of my time away from Greyhawk. I’m now back in Greyhawk again and after Gamehole it will be full time Greyhawk with several projects lined up.
Commissions
I will make two maps for Troy over at Canibaal Publishing. A quick one that is on a tight schedule and needs to be ready in a couple of weeks, and a longer-term project. More on both soon.
Another Greyhawk related commission is on the horizon, I don’t know much yet and can share even less, but it might have my maps in it. The good thing with these commissions are that they are all set in Greyhawk, which is the reason I said yet to do them.
A Miracle
Yesterday something happened that almost deserve to be described as a miracle, a new version of World Machine. I have not played with it yet, will do that on Friday on my twitch stream I think.
The release notes mention a whole range of new and improved goodies, and yes the Tiled Input bug that almost derailed me, is fixed. Now I have to re-evaluate which approach to take, there are several new options that might be better. I will take a couple of weeks to evaluate the new version when I get back from Wisconsin and see what it can do, then its time to see if “porta potty the whole way” or large areas first” are the best strategy. I’m also going to see how I can utilize Gaea 2’s strengths in this as well.
Great upgraded in the WM version are, a new memory management, GPU utilization and MUCH faster render. Seems like most large scenes can be rendered in less than half the time, I’m fast moving away from rendering being the bottleneck to editing and touch-up holding me back. This is good for several reasons, more people can do Photoshop than have really fast computers, so teamwork can be easier to do. It is also a lot more fun to doodle in Photoshop that it is to manage renders, and with faster renders the inevitable crashes matters less. If the results are not good enough, changing things and render again is much easier, which means the end result will be improved.
I’m also intrigued by the new Erosion options in the new WM, hopefully it will bring it up on par with Gaea that has been leading in this field for a while. The few samples I’ve seen means much better maps. What used to seem like a distant dream with at least a decade of work, to map the Flanaess in high detail, is now something I plan for.
The combination of hardware improvements and now software catching up, means it feels like the 1990’s again. Getting started on a whole new cartography journey again, this time its not looking at Greyhawk from a huge distance, now its down in the weeds seeing the sights.
Gamehole Con
Early next week I’m off to my second Gamehole Con XI. My first one was Gamehole Con VII, and from what I’ve understood it has grown a lot since then. Meeting a lot of friends and colleagues in the business is always the best with conventions, and this year I’ve signed up for a lot of seminars to learn and see what is going on.
I will have a seminar myself on Friday night, and run a 6 hour game on Saturday, the next episode of my Shield Lands Campaign, again using Hawk Tales FRP. I have more new monsters, and more Iuzian magic ready to unleash!
With Virtual Greyhawk Con 5 coming in a few days, and I'll run a Shield Lands games using an Alpha build of my Hawk Tales Rules, a pdf with some of the rules might be useful.
You can download the pdf here (1MB):
https://annabmeyer.com/Downloads/rules/Alpha%20Rules%20Sample%20v1.pdf
It covers:
The Combat Round
Actions and how a combat round is structured.
Initiative
Who goes first and how to try and get ahead. Surprise and Interrupts. There are more ways to grab the action in HTFRP.
Attack and Damage
How Attack and Damage rolls are calculated and even a little snipped on Friendly fire. I might need to write more about the "Anna Doctrine" into the rules..lol.
Defense Roll
The last bit in this little sample is about the Defense Roll. It is a way to lessen the workload for the GM and let the player roll the enemy's attacks as defense rolls.
How I got here
Back in April last year I wrote my first post about what I then simply called my House Rules (https://www.patreon.com/posts/meyerhawk-house-81091480). I had worked on them since back in 2019 when the 3.5/PF era was coming to an end and I wanted to have a system that would suit me even better. My plan back then was to use a published system as a base and then create a set of House Rules to go on top. At first, I leaned heavily into PF2 seeing a lot that I liked in it, but my players (and a lot others around me) pivoted towards 5E, so I also looked more and more towards 5E.
Now half a decade later both 5E and PF2 are being updated with new “half editions” with lots of revisions, I’m glad I got myself deeper and deeper into designing my own “heartbreaker” meaning version of the world’s oldest fantasy roleplaying game. Since my plan has been to give it away under Creative Commons I’m not worried about commercial success. The plan is to create something to improve my games, and maybe a few of you will like it as well!
The Goals back in my 2023 post where: Keep the D&D feel, 5E Compatibility, Not for Beginners, Skip Classes, More to do for the Players and Less for the GM. Tweaking the power curve by giving more HP to start with and start the Proficiency Bonus with a measly +1. A set of GM rules to guide more advanced stuff in the background, publish it using Creative Commons in PDF and Markdown formats.
All of this are still at least somewhat still goals I’m striving for wit Hawk Tales, my working title for this project. My 5E compatibility I’ve not abandoned by somewhat ignoring, 5E (or any edition) compatibility are not going to stop me from making rules that I think will work the best at my table. The D&D feel, with terms and a lot of the basics still there to keep the connection to old (and newer) times gaming in Greyhawk, this will make sure that all the spells, monsters and magic items will be reasonably easy to convert back and forth.
Player Agency
This is a key goal for this project. I want players at my table to have interesting, sometimes (I must admit) dire, but still choices for their characters even in critical situations. Like when to Make Death Saves, and even offer choices after character death (but that is not part of the Alpha Release).
Rules for Enchantments and things like Compel are one of the few rules that are different for player characters, compared to npc’s and monsters. All other rules are otherwise the same for all creatures in the game. A player character Compelling an NPC means the player makes an Influence (Str or Cha) Roll against the Save DC of the target. An Player Character on the other hand will instead of having to save to avoid being drawn in, will be offered Advantage and other perks to entice attacking.
Character Development – a key part of the game
It is too important to be left out of the story, what a character becomes should be the sum of the players wishes and what the story dictates. Characters in Hawk Tales don’t follow pre-planned formulas of classes, they start (if you start at low level) as an almost blank slate, to adventure and learn their way through the adventures it participates in.
It’s been the norm for a long time that characters are mainly “built” before the game starts, choose class, feats skills etc. Then as the campaign progresses you get to make a few career choices as your character levels up.
My goal is to have characters built more during games, as part of the story, rather than before. Concepts like class that has no real home in the game world will be gone, and instead your character will learn and get better at what it does in the game, and what you as a player want your character to be, which can vary throughout its adventuring career. Take things are you go, or have a specific goal, jack of all trades, or the world’s best in something specific. Both should be viable options, as well as wander back and forth between those goals and end up somewhere in between.
Setting and Story First
The rules are there to support the game, not take center place. This is another key aspect I want to emphasize. My goal is not to create the “coolest” mechanics, I want mechanics that do the job well enough to provide tension and interesting outcomes, but simple and easy enough to fade away. Rules should do a god job, and then just stay out of the way. This is not easy to do, but it is what I’m striving to accomplish.
The Setting (in my case Greyhawk) is for me, way more interesting than what rules I’m using. I’ve run my Greyhawk Campaign using AD&D1E, AD&D2E, D&D3E, D&D4E, PF1, PF2 and D&D5E. Back in the early days when I switched to a new ruleset I felt anticipation and new possibilities. That feeling started to wane after PF1 when I started to see as many problems as well as new cool ways of doing things.
I’m sure there are several reasons behind this, first me maturing both as a person and a gamer, understanding more and more how this works and what I want out of my games. Another aspect is that in the early years roleplaying was still a hobby in its infancy and new ideas and concepts where invented all the time. Nowadays it is a more mature hobby that has found a firmer footing, lots of interesting ways are still emerging, which is great, with more niche games catering to certain playstyles, themes etc.
After four decades of doing this, I now feel confident enough to try and get in the game (pun intended) and create a ruleset to best support the way I like to play and run my games. Since almost everything I run is Greyhawk, my goal is to try and create a set of rules to do just that.
Sharing how I go about this and my thinking behind it has several reasons, one key thing is that to have fun I need players who what to play in my games. Giving current and potential players a chance to see what I’m doing early gives them a chance to tell me what I’m doing wrong, and for new players to become interested. Having more brains looking at this and giving feedback will improve the end result. Also, it might be of interest to all you guys to give you another reason to sign up to my Patreon to help me spend more time on Greyhawk stuff.
Cooperative and GM fiat
Hawk Tales FRP requires, and assumes, responsible GM's and Players who are in the game to play TOGETHER and not adversarial. The game is not about outsmarting others. The rules are there to provide a framework to help guide the gameplay towards cooperative fun. I intend for the rules to be a bit less “firm” in nature than regular 5E and other games played by masses of players and used in organized play and other more demanding circumstances. HTFRP is designed for homebrew games where rules are tweaked to the groups liking. Both the way it is designed and will be published is with this in mind.
Mechanics and GM - Player work Balance
Combat rules are made to be playable in a “theatre of the mind, as well as using grid-based play on physical table or VTT.
The action structure is (if you are making an oversimplification) “You Either Attack or Do something Else”. There are some tweaks to this of course, but the basic is that you do one thing and move, on your turn each round. The tweaks are that some spells are cast as attacks, and you can also interrupt others and take over the action in several ways. Reach, Ready and Delay have an increased importance on the battlefield.
Streamlining is a key part to try and bring down the number of dice needed to be rolled and summed up each round. Multiple attacks are only rolled if you attack multiple creatures, otherwise damage is just increased. Using two weapons, use the worst of your to hit bonuses and make a single attack. Both spellcasters and martial characters will be able to make multiple attacks causing huge amount of damage when they level up.
Ability Modifiers, Proficiency, Expertise, Magic and a few other modifiers – most of them precalculated written on your character sheet. Advantage – Disadvantage takes care of the rest, a minimum of calculations during the game is the key.
Players do most of the dice rolling and number crunching. Defense and Damage rolls are (both ways) done by the players.
Players take care of a lot of rolls and number crunching, their characters circumstances and options, and with my goal of more player agency there should be more things to choose between than in a lot of other games. The slightly less burdened GM is instead given more elevated tasks to deal with, like enemy tactics, goals and things like resistances and whether some forms of magic are impeded in the battle.
Complexity is added not at the level of the action economy or combat modifiers, at this level I intend for the rules to be streamlined and simple. Instead, complexity is added at an higher level often overlooked in other rules systems. Magic is a good example of this, casting a spell in combat is usually pretty much done as we are used to in D&D, but there are other aspects to magic, like what powers the spell you just cast, will it work in the current environment, maybe it is even enhanced. How far can magic be detected, and by what senses. Can Iuz see (or maybe even hear the fireball you just cast and come and cause trouble.
Why do wizards, and a lot of temples often have towers, will a cave protect, or even hinder the use of a certain spell. Not something a fledgling wizard or priest need to worry about but as you take on more powerful opponents and travel to exotic and dangerous places will start to play a role.
Below is Magic Missile
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Magic Missile
Level: 1
School: Evocation
Casting Time: Action
Range: Long (120 feet)
Effect: Three Attacks
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
A trio of glowing darts of magical force unerringly and simultaneously strike the targets. Magic Missile provides three attacks each dealing 1d4+1 force damage the caster can spend during his turn as per the normal rules for attacks.
Specialization (Evocation or Astral)
1: 4 Attacks
2: 5 Attacks
3: 6 Attacks
4: 7 Attacks
Expertise (Force)
Damage Dice Size Increase
Conduit: Arcane, Divine Strain: Astral Taint: None
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Various forms of specializations and expertise can make a huge difference between the village shaman and an Arch Mage even when it comes to an individual spell. Lots of spells have attributes that change depending on how skilled the caster are. Terms like Conduit, Strain and Taint can play a key role in spellcasting.
There are eleven different Spell Components like Condition, Death, Exertion and Time to mention some of them. These can affect the caster in numerous ways, even permanent so be wary when using some magic!
Let’s take a peek at a creature stat block to see that features it will contain, here is a Goblin as an example.
Most things ought to be very familiar to all who has played (or at least run a D&D game). A few things stand out, like Essence, Exertion, Prowess and the stats under Armor. Essence is what type of force drives the creature, it dictates what happens after death and might be behind some resistances and vulnerabilities.
Attacks are listed as DC’s as well as die rolls due to the use of Character Defense Rolls. Hardness, Minimum and Beatings are defensive characteristics used alongside AC. Armor reduces damage rather than the chance of getting hit. Most Armor has a Minimum which means the amount of damage it will let through when damaged. So regardless of armor, if you enter combat, you are most certainly get hit and suffer some damage, lower AC’s (since armor usually doesn’t increase it) also see to this. Beatings is another term I will explain more in a later post detailing combat.
Remember that all of this is early design and very much subject to change!
Here comes a concept test to see if you like it. The goal is to present a location with overview maps, 3D views, detailed maps usable in VTT's and a write up of its history, use and some details. If this is popular I have a whole series of locations ready to be given this treatment. So lets have a look at the Plarron Keeps.
All of the text, images and maps are available in a single zip file (23.6MB): https://annabmeyer.com/Downloads/Shield%20Lands/Plarron%20Keeps.zip
A part of the series of keeps defending the Critwall peninsula and the road north from eastern incursions.
There is a line of keeps and other fortifications along a line around 10 miles east of Critwall forming a barrier against the Iuzian threat that still lingers in the region. The Plarron keeps are one part of this system.
This is a heavily modified from its origin back in the early 300’s, and very little exists of the original structure. The site was originally chosen because of a deep fissure that made it possible to use it as a shelter, well and storage. A local lord started to build it in the early 300’s. He ran out of funds to finish it, and its first iteration ended up being a half stone and timber keep on top of a hole in the ground. It sat like this unused for nearly a century during the most peaceful times in Shield Lands history.
Then came Halmadar the Cruel and used it as a storage and garrison during his siege of Critwall. The wooden parts of the first keep were burned down during the last days of Halmadar’s reign, and only parts of the foundation were left. The rest of the keep fell or was deliberately hurled down into the hole in the efforts to defeat Halmadar’s men, there are no firm sources to tell what really happened.
In 579 CY the old runed keep had been sitting forgotten for over a hundred years when the Bandits Lords and the Horned Ones decided it was time to send the Shield Lands into chaos and despair. A need to bolster the defenses of the Critwall became readily apparent, and a new much more ambitious triple keep was laid out and work begun.
The stairs down into the fissure was removed, and a drawbridge design using the pit as an internal mote was hastily chosen, but it stands to this day. The eastern interior stairs are the only part of the original keep still there, and it has been joined by a similar westerly set of stairs on the other side of the ramp. The eastern half of the keep has the original dimensions of the first keep, but the newer western half is a bit more ambitious in its girth giving the keep a slightly odd look.
The work had not yet reached the second floor when the invaders arrived, and construction stopped. It sat quietly through the years of occupation a couple of miles away from the frontlines around Critwall. It stayed an abandoned building site until 589 CY when Katarina’s reforged order surveyed the land after their initial cleansing of Iuz hordes. Again, and for the same reasons, the site was determined to be a good place to reinforce a defensive line east of Critwall.
This time a more modest twin tower design was deemed sufficient, which led to the somewhat cramped way of getting into the keep, with the ramp that ends a mere ten feet from the southern wall, and a sharp turn eastwards became the quick solution. The construction of the new twin keep was done in three years, so in 592 CY the first garrison moved in.
The keep is hastily, but firmly, built by piling tons of rocks on top of the bedrock that provides a firm anchoring in this spot. A twelve feet wide gateway facing north between the towers provide entry. The gate is guarded by a portcullis and a sturdy iron door, that are both operated from the floor above. The opened ground level is over 20 feet tall and has vaulted, thick, arched stone ceilings to take the weight of the floors above, again not an ideal solution but speed was essential and wood scarce.
The ground level is used as storage and overflow area to be used in case of major conflict, and usually sits empty. Arrow slits provide the ability to strike at an enemy trying to break in. The only way of reaching what is effectively the basement is through the two sets of stairs leading up to the second level.
This is the entry level, using a wooden ramp that can be raised to create an obstacle slowing down an attacker. Arrow slits and murder holes provide a way to harass attackers both inside and out.
This level also has two big rooms, one is used as a stable, and the other kept open to serve various needs. A set of small rooms with sturdy doors where designed to be used as holding cells. A single spiral staircase provides access to the floors above. When the third main keep was struck from the plans, the single set of spiral stairs deemed enough to serve the keep. Heavier goods can be hauled up using a lifting device on Level 4.
This is the kitchen and eating areas, two fireplaces, and a small privy provides simple luxuries for the keep’s garrison. The west side of this level provides accommodation for the service staff with easy access t kitchen and entry ways.
This is used to store provisions, which can be hauled up from outside using a block and tackle system mounted on a thing wooden beam sticking out through a door. A big floor hatch makes it easy to lower food and other items to the kitchen level below.
This is the home of the soldiers manning the keep. A large communal bedroom, a common room with a large table can be used for everyday activities as well as a feast hall for special occasions, complete with a second kitchen.
The new Order of the Shield emphasizes communal service regardless of rank, so everyone sleeps and eats together, no separation between ranks. Both to save space and to bolster better trust and camaraderie. Beds for a contingent of 12 are provided, but there is space enough to house two hundred soldiers if the situation gets dire.
The roof level is large and flat to better serve ballistae and other heavy weapons and equipment. A center building provides protection, warmth and a resting place on this level.
Heavy equipment can be hauled up using a similar block and tackle system as on level 4, which is usually stored along the inside of the wall.
The keep has both crenellations and machicolations providing both cover and firing positions in all directions.
Despite their look, they are of a recent construction, rather hastily made in the early 590’s CY as part of the effort to secure the Shield Lander's hold on Critwall. All four where made using the same design and are almost identical.
They went up quickly to fill the gap between the main Plarron Keep, which is older and much bigger and miraculously survived the siege almost intact, and the now partially ruined Old Sorrick Keep to the south. Old Sorrick Keep had a sad tale during the siege that led to it still sitting half ruined. The Knight, tasked with defending it, decided to surrender early and opened the gates to prove he meant it. The last time anyone heard or saw of him was when he pleaded for his life. The Iuzian shock troops let him watch while they cleaned out the keep and then hung him up to slowly perish.
The cowardly knight’s name was deliberately forgotten and the Sorrick Keep was then abandoned by the Iuzian’s when a new force of knights led by Katarina chased them out. It was then decided to construct a series of auxiliary keeps along with renovating Plarron keep. Sad Old Sorrick keep is up next for renovation, if the situation still warrants the investment.
The four story keeps are made using a combination of left over material from ruined structures in the area, which there were plenty at the time, pebbles and rocks laying around, and a few quarried stones at key places. Their purpose is to host soldiers able to defend the area, giving them an observation post and a retreat able to defend them long enough for relief to arrive in case of major opposition. Each keep is typically home to a contingent of 5 to 10 solders but can hold ten times more than that if needed.
It is built on top of the bedrock, which means that the bottom level is submerged only a few feet below ground and is mainly used for storage. In a pinch it can offer accommodation for more soldiers, and big enough for more supplies. No openings on this level, and water-resistant mortar are used to try and avoid flooding during wet days.
The entry gate is placed on this level, roughly 10 feet above ground to make it harder to breach. A ramp is used for access, and it can be raised to lay flat against the wall, using chains which cranks are on Level 3. The entry level is open to give room for horses and livestock in case they need to be kept in the keep. Normally this level is used for food prep and storage. Note that there are three levels with a fireplace which can be used for food prep and to keep warm, and the floorplan is mostly open to be flexible.
This level doesn't have openings to the outside, besides the main door to make it safer against attacks. The main door is double with a portcullis in front of it. When the ramp is raised against the wall it provides a fair amount of protection from attacks.
This level is used as a barracks, and it has arrow slits to both observe and defend the keeps surroundings.
Very similar to Level 2 and functions as lodgings for soldiers. It also houses the machinery used to raise the entrance ramp, and a simple toilet. The keeps are simple so there are no fancy sewers, the toilet drains trait out to the outside of the keep.
A flat roof, adorned with crenellations and machicolations provides unobstructed views in all directions and a good place to use ballistae and other heavy weapons. The center chimney and the stairs are the only other features.
Heavy weapons like a ballista are usually found here along with an ample supply of rocks to hurl at intruders, and a block and tackle system to haul up more.
This week’s Legend & Lore Show will be about the Fey, so I looked at my notes and created this short primer on how the Fey came to be, their home, its history and its place in MeyerHawk.
This post is deep, I need to have my games reach into the philosophical, existential, poetic, beyond our real world. I have an urge for my games to be both fantastic but feel “real” at the same time to suspend my disbelief and let me immerse myself in it. As I’ve gotten older my need for this has increased more and more. Please bear with me as I write this look at the Feywild.
The Fey has been a footnote at best in the lore of Greyhawk, a noteworthy exception is LG Geoff that made the Fey a central theme in their campaign. D&D 4E included the Feywild in its cosmology and had it run by two courts, the Seelie and the Unseelie. My Feywild is a huge place that can house much, much more.
My history if the Multiverse is divided into seven Epochs: Opposites, Shadow, Matter, Prime Urges, Though and Power. The Feywild joins the story just after half time, in the Epoch of Urges.
Each Epoch from Shadow and onwards gave rise to a new form of Essence of Life. The Feywild reflects this and evolves along with the rest of the multiverse.
A Transitive Plane that has existed since the Epoch of Urges when the fears and passion of creature’s imagination created a new realm, the Feywild, the first metaphysical plane.
Other aspects of the multiverse have always been reflected in the Feywild, and as the multiverse evolved so did the Feywild. At first the Feywild was a truly wild place, where the fears, love and imagination of primitive creatures like fish, reptiles, mammals and even others before them. It was a bizarre realm where even time flew faster in places as a reflection of the pace creatures that only live for very short spans understands the world.
As life advanced so did their understanding of it, and the Feywild evolved along with it. The never life forms took over more and more of how the Feywild evolved. It is often best described as a giant slab of land sloping in both "north - south" and "east - west", one of these directions leads from the bright of the "Light Fey" through the Shadowfell to the utter "Dark Fey". The other axis goes from highlands of unimaginable proportions to a coastline and then out to an ocean again. This makes some scholars refer to this as three distinct planes, opinions differ, both on how to look at it, and whether it matters at all.
Since its creation the Fey has been a place that has been an accelerator of change in existing life and an incubator of new life, and often a combination of the two. Early on fish and other marine life populated the Fey and here they manage to evolve into all sorts of wonderous, large bizarre and overly powerful beings. The metaphysical nature of the Fey means that things are only partially real, which means that creatures are only partially constrained by things like physics, metabolism and even time.
Most creatures that evolve in the Feywild are too far off to be able to exist for any length of time in the Prime, and even rarer for it to be able to breed successfully. This is a great thing that keeps the normal life on the Prime safer from incursions of various forms of "monsters" from the Feywild. This isn't always true though, sometimes creatures from the Fey managed to escape to the Prime and successfully established themselves there. Sine all Fey life, and even the Feywild itself, is a product of the life on the Prime, this just life proving its resilience, ability to evolve and to conquer every niche possible.
A couple of examples of this are the Aboleths that early on developed in the waters of the Fey and then to come back over to waters on the Prime again. The next example is from the reptiles when lizards gained both size, strength and other abilities in the Fey to then come back in the form of dragons. Much later when early hominids had evolved on the prime, they too migrated over to the Feywild, over time they came back as Elves, Goblinoids and others causing everything from joy to mayhem on the Prime.
Connections between the prime and the Feywild have always been present, it is how the Feywild was created in the first place. In areas where you have the highest concentrations of life the chances are the highest to have an overlap between our world and the Fey. Life includes things like plants and other primitive forms of life, even Unlife, so forests are a common place to find this overlap. It is in most cases just small areas existing on both realms simultaneously, but be very wary when entering these places. Walking too far might get you stranded in the Feywild unable to return without special means to do so.
The Shadowfell is in effect just a part of the Feywild, which means shadows are another way to enter the Fey, and these two forces work in conjunction. A forest might be a perfectly normal place during daytime but become a gate to the Fey at dawn or dusk.
As life advanced and other realms where created, like the Astral and then the outer planes, the Feywild changed to accommodate them. So now the Light Fey areas are a transitory place to the higher planes and the Dark Fey has similar affinity with the lower planes. This has turned the Feywild/Shadowfell into a way to travel the multiverse, albeit a very dangerous one. There are few (if any) places fuller of life of all sorts, which poses lots of problems, but also opportunities.
While I'm wrapping up my Gamehole Con commission and planning for tomorrow's Gabbin -where Jay and I will talk about what is going on in your campaigns, I wrote this teaser about some of the stuff going on in Meyer Hawk at our current campaign date Needfest 599 CY.
Gran March
Inns along the Watchtower Road have been witnessing a following of elves travelling from Shiboleth via Cynmor to Buxton’s Crossing. While only small in numbers, less than fifty strong and trying to keep a low profile, rumors quickly spread among innkeepers and barmaids along the route, due to handsome tips combined with modest demands and short stays. Local miscreants seemed to be deterred by the presence of the cloaked elves wearing mail and well kept armor underneath, and vigilant eyes gazing at locals to keep a distance.
Two knights wearing the tunics of the Commandant’s personal retinue over their armor have been see escorting them, so secretive but with the endorsement of the March.
Critwall
King Belvor’s is the main guest of honor at the lavish (by frontier standards) reception at the commanders residence in Critwall. He is propositioning a formal declaration of allegiance between the Furyondian Crown and the Shield Lands to be signed by both parties.
Katarina is hailed as a hero of the Kingdom, and yet again recognized as Marshal of Furyondy as well as Commander of the Order of the Shield. Long gone are the days of mistrust between Chendl and the Order. There are a few (very faint) mutterings of our new commander is too busy abroad and not even truly one of us to be the right one to lead us. She has been challenged twice and won both times, and no one (openly at least) challenge her wartime prowess openly.
More persistent and evenly openly spoken are rumors of she being prepared to be Belvor’s heir and the Shield Lands will become a province of a newly constituted Ferrond which include Veluna as well. Envoy Ubica Darmen openly flaunts the idea to the Earl of Willip, who for once seems to realize he is about to walk into a quagmire and smiles it off.
Furyondy Reconstitution – full provincial recognition and regional allied reaffirmed partnerships is to be finalized with the new pact with Critwall, and some of the now much more well titled lords seems to smile for real to this, others are muttering that titles are cheap and increase neither their land holding, subjects or coffers.
Havenhill
Has been thriving with activity this winter. Over decade of diplomatic activity (read gold and other valuables changing hands in lavish surroundings) have lead up to the Coronation. Prince Olinstaad is to be crowned a full royal sovereign on par with others sovereign realms. The prince can now enjoy his remaining years with a literary crowning achievement.
This had come about by, using the new kings on words “Letting go of ungrateful western subjects, and being paid twice for the pleasure of not having to listen to their grievances”. The reality as seen by those with their noses in the liquor, is more nuanced. The New Ulek Kingdom was bribed to hand over prime fertile lands in exchange for metals and other ores of the mountains that the Dwarven lord have too much of already, seems to be a common view among the dignitaries. No one complains about the hospitality thought, old regents tend to offer very good perks to those present to listen to their ramblings.
An unnamed representative from the Enstad under the moonlit skies admitted that a deal that gives dwarven lords earthly riches, human emperors more lands and the Faery court more friends without having to pay in blood is an event worth celebrating.
Celene
The city of Enstad was gossiping about a convoy leaving the city towards the south two weeks ago, with several wagon loads heavier than usual. Speculation of who was being bribed with Celenian gold was rife, and a congregation of “concerned” had gathered along the route to demand why so much of the realms resources was on the move.
Protests in the elven realm are both common, daring in their frankness to power, and overly polite, all at the same time. The companion guard gave their word that this whole lot of gold, gems and other valuables, belonged to not the realm, but was a gift from Lord Arvandor to please a future King of Ulek.
This sounded both entertaining and worrisome, and the concerned laughed in a way that the companion knights had a hard time judging. Trust among elves are deep, but to bribe a non-existent king sounded a bit too farfetched. The deliberations ended quickly when a huge wyrm suddenly flew over the gathering so low that everyone could swear they touched it. One firm gaze from it at the next flyby settled the matter, Lord Arvandor had the rights to transport his gold wherever he so pleased, even with companion guards.
To everyone’s surprise, a small chest full of gold was left behind and almost all present decided it was a good story. Bribing non-existent Dwarven kings an dragon gold makes for a good story, and the local taverns made good business that evening.
Greyhawk
Needfest was, as usual, initiated by a gathering of foreign and local dignitaries to the Lord Mayor’s private residence for the yearly summit, officially meant to show the with and depth of the city’s political might. It was seen as a chance for Lord Mayor, and his favored Oligarchs to receive “admiration” and “praise” by all the important guests. The guests knew it was time to determine how eager you were to have the city as a friends, and pay enough to keep your goods being sold on the cities markets. There was even a few guests unfortunate enough to come empty handed finding themselves lavishly entertained only to find themselves unceremoniously expelled from the city before they even managed to sober up. An unusually large contingent from the Barony of Axeport and a rival one from Admundfort. Even the most jaded political minds saw a conflict in the making, and opportunities paired with risks.
Nessermouth
Nyrond’s new sovereign having secret meetings in a far away city. Seems like he wants to go unnoticed. Keen port observers noticed that along with the royal presence was four ships from Hardby that didn’t carry any cargo of significance, only a handful of people that looked out of place in a port setting. Some of them looked like hardened thugs looking for trouble, but they disappeared into the city at night and no one dared to follow.
Scant
The scarlet banner have started to fray according to two “reliable” sources returning from a scouting mission to the beleaguered city. Commanders in Halmarn are starting to seriously debate if it is actually time to storm the walls, or if it is yet another ploy of the last of the occupants or the fact that most of the loyal ones have left. Very few ships have arrived, but only a few more have left the last year.
A Level based rules system that doesn't rely on classes needs another mechanic to restrict what characters can do, how good they are at and when in their career they can get access to various features of the game.
My attempt to regulate this is by using Learning, which can be implemented in various ways to suit different campaigns, from short campaigns to "forever" campaign spanning long story arch's over many sessions.
This is a first version of my Learning Mechanics:
A core mechanic of Hawk Tales is Learning, a way to integrate character development and advancement into the game and its story.
There are several aspects to Learning, let’s look at an example. Say your Character wants to become a Wizard, there are several ways to learn Arcane magic, but if you want to be able to do more than dabble in the arcane arts, there are no way around it, you need to be proficient in Arcana.
The Arcana feat has:
Prerequisite: None
XP Cost: 400
Learning Roll: Intelligence DC 15
This variant is intended for detailed long-term gameplay where character advancement is handled incrementally during gameplay.
Target DC: is the roll that must be met, and the number of days that must be cleared, meaning a Successful Learning Roll must be made each day for the DC amount of days.
This looks like grim odds for an aspiring young character eager to learn the arcane arts, but these are the odds for a cold start without any prior knowledge or help from someone who can teach.
You can make one attempt per Long or Full Rest if you do other activities besides learning and resting. Each learning session is assumed to take around 8 hours, which means you can squeeze in 2 sessions a day if you are in a suitable environment and can focus all day.
Have never experienced the topic at hand: Make the Learning Roll normally.
You have newly experienced the topic at hand: Make the Learning Roll with *Advantage*
A natural 20: means success, and a second roll that day is made at an Advantage (or Double Advantage if you already had Advantage) .
A natural 1: means you have a setback and your effort that day is waisted, and your accomplishments are reduced by 1
Gain +1 for each successful attempt: It gets easier and easier the closer you are to finishing your Learning Task.
You have someone skilled teaching you that day, is like rolling a natural 20 that session, meaning you get an almost guaranteed progress each day. If you roll 1 on your second roll for the day all your effort is wasted that day, even with a tutor.
Using Tasked Learning means that Character advancement takes time and happens gradually during gameplay. The method of improving on what your character knows will usually be made with Advantage, which makes becoming better at what you already know much easier than learning new things.
You can learn most things even while adventuring, some things might be easier to learn while out adventuring. It is up to the GM to determine if and what Learning Rolls can be attempted each day. To learn some things might require a wizard’s lab, or even a library which limits the possibilities to make progress while adventuring out in the wild, on the other hand big city offer limited possibilities to lean things like Nature Skill, while having excellent facilities to serve a deity or do spell research.
Declare what your character wants to learn and allocate the XP.
The GM and the group determine the criteria for Learning: and when that criterion is met, your character succeeds at Learning.
This variant can be formal, like new capabilities will be acquired when a new level is gained, every game session, when you are back in town for downtime, or when some other predetermined condition is met. For example, the GM can set it to be 1 week in game time per 100 XP needed to Learn, this would mean that it takes many years to become a fully capable 20th level character. Which might be reasonable in a long term game, but not suited for a short-term campaign that plays out over a few sessions.
Character advancement is a key part of roleplaying games, both mechanically and as part of the fun. This means that, regardless of the variant used, it needs to work well for the game you are running. Let’s look at the different aspects going into Learning.
Prerequisites
This is a major way to limit when characters can learn something, which means that is should not be tampered with lightly or you will have either a bunch of superheroes, or even worse, underpowered characters not able to survive. Tweak the Prerequisites when you deem it right for the setting, a divine intervention, something a character learned from its ancestors in a magical way. This can be one-off, or permanent changes, but do them carefully.
XP Cost
This is a "hard" aspect tied to game balance, so it should under all circumstances be implemented equally for all characters. It is tempting to have story interfere here, like a dutiful paladin being rewarded by its deity. You can award a new feat or trait to a character like that without the XP requirement, but it will unbalance a game. For a short-term game at a convention no problem, but for long term campaigns it can lead to serious imbalances. It is like handing out treasure, it needs to be done carefully.
Time
This is a much more flexible aspect that will not upset or unbalance the game in the long term. Having character advancement fits the pace of the story and sometime it can be directly implemented, like the warrior who reach in during battle to find his [[Rage 1|Rage]] and can that way defeat the monster.
Be flexible and have fun with this one, a bit of resistance and some unexpected gains can liven up a campaign.
Difficulty
This is another flexible aspect, if you use Tasked Learning give Advantage (or even Double Advantage) in some circumstances, like when they have had an encounter with some enemies and barely escaped, that might warrant learning a weapon, specialize in it, improving [[Combat Prowess 1|Combat Prowess]] or something similar with Advantage, even give them a give success that day on related Learning Tasks.
If your GM allow it, you can "forget" a Feat, Skill or Proficiency you have learned, and get the XP back to learn something new. When you decide your character no longer needs or wants to stay current with something it has learned, you can then free up the XP used to learn and use it to learn something new the normal way.
Note: Prerequisites still applies after you Learned something, so you can only forget things that are not prerequisites for other things your character can do.
If you for some reason want to go back and start using the Feat, Skill or Proficiency you forgot, you can "refresh your knowledge" and get it back again. It will need to take some time, depending on the circumstances, determined by the GM. After the time has passed you spend the XP again and you have your Feat, Skill or Proficiency back, no Learning Roll needed.
Thanks to all of you sharp eyed patreon members who pointed out heraldry I missed recreating in a more realistic style, here are the missing shields. A mixed bunch of fourteen shield stating with the Bakhoury Coast.
and Cryllor.
The Dreadwalkers
Viscounty of Eventide
Fort Gellner
Ikelan
Iyapo
Jolan
Kevot
Kundanol
Nume Eor
Sentinel Keep
Vaynama
Xolapequa
Special thanks to Mark Spangler for listing the missing one, and alerting me!
Grab all of them in a single zip here (165MB): https://annabmeyer.com/Downloads/Heraldry/Missing%20Heraldry.zip
When I started my Patreon 5 years ago my goal was to try and do Greyhawk content, giving it away under a Creative Commons license, to be an asset to Greyhawk fans. A huge thank you to those of you who have supported me during this time, and a warm welcome to all those who have joined recently!
This Summer Update will be a bit lengthy as I will try and go over all the things I’m currently working on and what I plan to get started soon.
Heraldry
I’ve created my take on existing Greyhawk heraldry, and created a lot of new heraldry, over 400 all in all. What started out as an experiment turned out to be a lot of fun, and very popular. I like to do heraldry, they are neat little projects to dig into for an hour or tow every other day, and they are very popular.
My latest experiment in this field is simple shields. It was an idea by Michael Mossbarger to create shields used not by the kings, lord and generals, but by the common foot soldier. I did a couple of simple wooden shields on my last livestream. It was fun and might be useful, what do you think?
A Greyhawk peasant militia soldiers’ shield.
And one from Dyvers
There will be more shields, I’m creating them as I read, and re-read Greyhawk lore, and create for my own campaign. Furyondy, Horned Society Iuz are in focus now. But I’m also going through the history and development of the Great Kingdom and its successor states for a reboot of my Rel Deven campaign. Haven’t run an elven focused campaign in decades, so now I’m also prepping ideas for one in a couple of years. A lot of very interesting possibilities, and thanks to their lifespan it will tie into a lot of history.
New Website
This is a sore thumb of mine; my web presence is not up to the job of being a place where it is easy to find my content. The problem is two-sided, there is so much stuff hidden in a myriad of posts, and the ability to effectively search and find stuff is limited. Setting up and running a website is quite an operation, which thankfully has tools to help you do that. My problem is that most tools seem to be focused on blogs and similar sites, not large content repositories.
The most promising solution I’ve seen, and used a bit is Notion, which now has launched a web publishing function. I’m going to try it out and see if it works for what I need it to do. WordPress is way to much work to change something, it takes me a week or so every time I’m doing a site update more than posting. I want to be able to add pages, change layout, add whole sections to my website without having to take a week or two off to do it. I also don’t have to money to pay someone to do it, and this is where I want control, meaning I need to understand how to do things so I’m not reliant on others.
If any of you know of a powerful and flexible tool to create and manage websites that isn’t too pricy, I’m very interested to hear about it!
As piggyback on my GIS project, I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago, properly reference all the places and names on my map. All the renewed interest in Greyhawk has made this extra important. Help with this is very much appreciated, since it is a huge undertaking. Greyhawk wikis and similar resources have made this easier, but it is still a lot of work. Before the collection and curation of data begins, we need to define what data we need and the technical details like data formats, files etc. This can start when the GIS data entry is done this fall.
GIS
My project to create a new version of my existing Flanaess Hepmonaland map using GIS is going well. It is a huge undertaking, and after about a year of data entry a first version is in sight later this year.
A New Generation Maps
My current Flanaess Hepmonaland map is getting, while still useful, showing its age being created using tools from the 1990’s. From the Southlands and Midgard maps I did almost a decade ago for Kobold Press to my latest commission, they are created using tools that are decades more advanced. I made a facelift to my current map when I added Hepmonaland some years ago, but it is only so much you can do with a new set of superficial edits.
The GIS conversion will be the last major version of my Flanaess map that will be based on the old stuff. Future maps will be made using tools like GAEA, world Machine and others put together using GIS, Game Engines and of course still rely on editing tools like Photoshop.
For my Shield Lands campaign, I ambitiously set out to map it in “Porta Potty Scale” at 5ft pixel. Due to World Machine 4 no longer supporting tiled imports that I relied on for this I had to rethink my approach. Now a year later I’m having a new approach that can circumvent the issue and still deliver the detail and quality I crave. The result will be the same and, in some ways, even better, but the process is kind of the opposite. Before I work from the bottom up, now it will be more top down – start with the big and then zoom in for details. I thought you would lose quality and that it would be more difficult going top down, that is why I started with bottom up. Now that I’ve tested both methods, I found out I was partially wrong. Thankfully top down can deliver really good quality even faster, and my drainage issues are less common this way.
The new set of maps I’m working on will have a resolution of 150 ft per pixel and cover an area of 450 x 450 miles whit proper waterflow with lakes and rivers in this area. This is with my current tool World Machine 3, which is now old and but still my go to. With WM3 I can do 16K terrains in a single render without tiling. This is the worst-case scenario, WM3 will be the tool to rely on for remapping the Flanaess. It can be done in a few years, and with areas of special interest like cities at 5ft. per pixel special maps as well.
Thankfully there is a new tool coming in Gaea 2, that has been in alpha for a few months and is very promising. If it can deliver what is on its roadmap for later this year, I will be able to go from 16K maps to 256K, over 2 million pixels per side renders. And Gaea is not the only tool on the horizon, terrain creation is going from an obscure thing to a major feature. What is driving this is the new generation game engines, and GIS tools that made it possible to work with whole planets in glorious, detailed 3D. This is driving a demand for better tools to create them, and now we have the hardware to handle them, so the future is looking bright in this field and we as gamers can cash in and make good use of it.
Maps and heraldry have been a great inroad to local and more detailed worldbuilding, which has made me go back and re-read a lot of the old material and have a new look at it. It has given me a lot of new ideas and different takes on things. To better separate my own version from the “standard” Greyhawk map and other stuff I do, I hope it can be useful to label it MeyerHawk so those that are not that into my stuff can avoid it, and the other way around.
Now with over 20 years of experience creating maps, and 40 years gaming in Greyhawk, I feel I’m skilled enough to not only map the setting, but also contribute to it in other ways as well. My goal with the MeyerHawk label is to is to signal that this is my take on the setting, and to provide a rich a deep set of lore for Greyhawk gamers, and others to use. It will be Creative Commons as well, so it can be used, tweaked and shared by Greyhawk fans everywhere.
House Rules
The fluff is taken care of under the MeyerHawk label, how about the crunch!? I’ve been working on a house rule project since before the pandemic, when I started to regularly run games virtually and realized that I needed a firmer grounding rule wise. Somehow when you are forced to interact using computers and video calls written rules and structure becomes more apparent and need to be clearer.
Having started out with AD&D1E/2E, then moved to D&D3E and 3.5. Even 4E for a few months before switching to PF1 and then PF2 to ending up with a sort of 5E-A5E mishmash, just making a few house rules was not going to cut it. I needed a proper set of rules that suited my playstyle, so I looked at almost every fantasy TTRPG rule set, that was at least vaguely related to D&D (and a few others as well). Found a lot of things I liked, but not in the same system. It dawned on me that when I didn’t find the map I needed, I set out to create it. Now I’m in the same situation when it comes to the rules I need for my games, so under the name of a house rule project a whole new TTRPG rule set is taking shape.
This is my working title; we will see if it survives. The goal for this project is to create a rules system that support and facilitate heavy sandbox-style games. It should do its job and then get out of the way, medium crunch and lots of possibilities and support flavor. I’m making a rule set I need, and then we will see what happens, but I want to offer it free for everyone to use. I’m trying to make it easy to learn and hard to impossible master, making long term campaigns viable.
A few holy cows must go to slaughter for Hawk Tales, and that might upset some, but I did it on the altar of my sandbox gaming temple. For example, Armor and AC are overlapping but not the same thing anymore, and Armor softens the blows. Even the mightiest warrior who can face a dragon has a reason to be a little bit wary every time he faces a crowd of commoners.
Another feature is that weapons get deadlier the better you are at using them. A master of daggers can do more damage than a newbie using a greatsword. Big heavy weapons like mauls and greatswords have their advantages but are not the only way to bring down your opponent.
Tactics and crunch are a side of a rules systems that can become too dominant, and you can have lots of cool ideas and the urge is to implement them all. I’m now in the very important phase of trying to streamline and bring better order to things. The goal is to have a system that is easy to understand, but still, it should be able to deliver lots if flavorful outcomes.
The main way Hawk Tales FRP will be different from D&D (and most other fantasy RPG’s) is the main approach in its design. They seem to be based on gameplay, with the rules and its concepts being at the center of the game. Class being such a key concept, it’s a core function of the game and most of the rules are built around it.
My approach is to see the rules as a supporting role in the overall experience. The rules should provide a supportive framework for worldbuilding, gameplay and character progression. I want a world full of people, creatures, magic, epic worlds and exiting adventures, so I want to create a rules structure that support that. A “thief” is a job description, not a set of mechanics. Some thieves would be stealthy and act in the shadows, others would be brutes using intimidation and violence for their illicit activities, or a combination of the two.
Character progression in Hawk Tales FRP will be guided by the desires of the player, which can vary over the career of the character, and what happens during gameplay. What your character does will to a large degree determine what it will get good at, but there is still room for going on a quest to learn magic even if there is no wizard at hand to teach you. It will just be somewhat more difficult and take more time. Character development, combat and what happens during encounters are a side of the gaming experience that most rule sets focus on and handle well. I intend to make my rules able to keep up with the others, but it is hard to improve on what has already been perfected over decades by way more accomplished game designers that amateur me. The side where I think I can provide the biggest incentive for considering adopting Hawk Tales will be on the Game Mastering side of things.
Like with cartography where I used skills learned in other areas and used them to make setting maps, then it was my understanding navigation and what the world looks like that I relied on. This time I am relying on my understanding of things from physics, electronics, politics and how the world works. How could a medieval-like world with magic, dragons, undead and worse function and still make it fun and interesting to delve into and interact with.
For me it is equally important to have a system for high level magic and a way to play out high stakes power struggles as well as the daggers, swords and magic fights. How do you bring down an evil ruler, or even a god. What can necromancers really do with their power, and what would someone get from serving a demon lord. These are questions I want a set of rules to help answer, not by providing all the exact details, that is up to you and your campaign. The key for me is to provide the imaginary arena and guidelines for how to conduct the play.
Things like how are divine beings created and how they gain and wield their power. In this I’ve even managed to revive the concept of alignment languages, and how does Vecna’s gathering of secrets work, and where is Tharizdun imprisoned. These are all campaign plots that Hawk Tales can help you run campaign around and provides rules and guidelines for fighting cults, liches and more, way beyond the simple statblock.
I will run games using an early form of Hawk Tales at Virtual Gary Con 5, GameHole Con and PAGE 2025 and Gary Con XVII, as well as run online short skirmish play tests starting this fall. I hope you might be interested in joining.
A “Skirmish Alpha” Release will be available this fall, that will cover basic rules, encounters, combat and spellcasting. Come with a sample of characters, some opponents to fight and a list of spells and equipment. Hopefully enough for you to see if it is something for you to even consider.
Hawk Tales FRP will be published using Creative Common 4.0 -by license in PDF and Markdown formats and will be available to be downloaded and referenced for free on my website.
The CC -by license makes it possible foe anyone to use, alter and share Hawk Tales as they like. In the day of gatekeeping and corporatization of I want to do what I can to help and inspire gamers to have fun, create and share.
Again, thank you Everyone for making it possible for me to work on this, it is your support that pay for my computers, software and covers the bills so I can spend time work on this!!!
I hope you all feel welcome and are exited to join me in exploring and mapping our favorite fantasy world!
Can't resists this! Awesome creators and a very interesting approach, and for a gamer like me an irresistible aura of attractiveness... 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/darkageoftheer/progcore-fantasy-the-dark-age-of-theer
