D&D the Trollsmyth Way

Time to get this ball rolling!

I'm going to run my Moldvay/Cook/Labyrinth Lord hack online. I want to do this in real-time text chat. I haven't decided which software I want to use. I'm leaning towards OpenRPG, but I'm also open to suggestions. The best day for me at this point is Thursday nights central time, maybe 7:00 PM till 11:00 PM or so. I'd like to make this a weekly game, or fortnightly at the very least.

I'll of course be using most of the hacks I've discussed here, including dropping thieves for my rogue class, replacing halflings with my gnomes, using my weapon and shield rules, and my hack to magic-user spells. I think I'm going to run cleric magic just as it is in the book for now.

I discovered D&D during that period that Mr. Maliszewski has dubbed the Silver Age. That being the case, while I enjoy hanging out and chatting with the Old School crowd, this won't be a pure Old School game. Orcs and goblins have children and cultures and all of that. Funhouse dungeons will be very, very rare, and will have reasons for being as they are.

That said, this won't be Dragonlance, either. This will be a sandbox campaign in a living world. If the players don't get involved in something, events will run their course. If the PCs do get involved, then anything can happen. I'm aiming towards exploration and dungeon-delving right now, but if the PCs decide they'd rather spend their time in cities or playing politics, I'm game for that as well.

As for tone, I love verisimilitude, but if you've read this blog much, you already know that. If this were an American movie, it would probably get an R rating. I like to challenge my players by tossing moral dilemmas at their characters. The world, especially the monsters in it, know nothing of modern, suburban morality, and care about it even less. No, it won't be Carcosa, but it won't be the A-Team, where hundreds of bullets are fired but no one ever gets hit, either.

The setting is a young world, shared between the gods and titans, though friction between them is always on the rise. Humanity's fortunes are also on the rise, and mankind spreads across the world with the sanction and active aid of the gods, building their cities with, and atop, the ruined masonry of the still-collapsing second empire of the lizard folk.

Across the shallow Turquoise Sea, standing like a sentinel before the hellish continent known as Idumma, rises the jungle-shrouded island Dreng Bdan. The fortress-palace of the short-lived Empire of the Monsters, it was later colonized at the height of the lizard folks' power, when they used it as a base to launch their raids on the wealth of Idumma. Today, it is covered with the ruins of three empires, sheltering all manner of Tiamat's spawn who still seek to free her from the reddish moon that imprisons her. Pirates lurk in Dreng Bdan's coves, plundering the wealth of all peoples who seek to use the Turquoise Sea for trade. Fabulous treasures and the wisdom of fallen empires are horded by pirate lords and twisted monstrosities alike. Adventurers, thieves, and mercenaries now sail for the port of Pitsh on Dreng Bdan's northern coast, eager to claim their share. And that's where our adventures will begin...

If you're interested in playing, drop me an email at trollsmyth-at-yahoo-dot-com, letting me know why this game interests you and what sorts of characters you'd be most interested in playing. I'd like to hold the first game on January 15th.