The Dragon’s Tower

It’s Friday night and you and your mates are arrayed around the table while the GM plots your destruction. He’s running a scifi game so you’ve got an automatic rifle and some decent body armor. The party is sneaking around the complex, making sure they don’t get seen by the bad guys. To make matters worse, the GM has decreed “You say it, then your character said it - out loud!”

And you know, just know, you’re all fumbling around with hand and arm movements, trying to understand each other and it’s turning into a comedy of errors.

This can be fun sometimes. Depends on the lethality of the GM involved and how often they pull this stunt on you. When it’s not fun any more, print out this sheet of hand signals and take it the next game. I promise the rest of the party will love you even as the GM starts shuffling through books muttering about that new monster he found last week…

You’ve got the SCA (That’s Society for Creative Anachronisms for you uncultured out there.) to learn about sword fighting, musical instruments can be picked up by just about anyone and the sheet music online is legion, head for the local Catholic Church if you want knowledge on ritual and the local branch office of the OTO for ritual of a different kind, but what if you’re looking for instruction about thievery?

Enter Lifehacker with this link to a guide about picking locks. No, I’m not advocating you go out and start breaking into your neighbor’s house. But if you’re looking for a little character depth, and wanting to make sure you never again get locked out of the house, try it out!

It’s happened. Your group is bored. You’ve played all the variations of d20 out (Yeah, we didn’t think it possible, either.) and it’s time to move on to something new. Problem is, you’re a bunch of students with no money to buy a whole new system, and all its attendant books, or the time to create your own. Well, you could diss the term paper but…

Enter The Free RPG Compendium. Here’s a list of systems you can download rules for and try on your own. No $40 book to buy, and only enough time to learn a new set of rules - still less than creating from scratch! It includes old stand-byes like Fudge as well as newer, less well-known systems. There’s very likely real trash there but give a few a try and you’ll find the Wondrous Item that will keep your party playing for months.

His name is Allan Mchone and he’s a twit. He’s a knowlegdable twit, though, and he’s breaking into computers everywhere. Like most people he wants to think he’s a good guy so he doesn’t actually do anything while he’s in the system he’s not authorized to access.

One thing you learn about him, reading an interview he gave after he was caught once, is Allan thinks he’s better than you. If he wants, you won’t catch him. You won’t even know he’s there.

Adventure Hooks:

• The party needs information and Allan hasn’t quite given up his old ways, just gotten sneakier. Who better to get the data?
• Allan is out of jail and looking to get a little of his own back. Not such a good guy now…
• The party needs to break into a system but Allan is the one protecting it now.

This could also work as an interesting background for a character you want to play.

You know them, no matter what system is your favorite. In fantasy: It’s made of wood, has a fireplace and some tables, the barwench and a few rooms upstairs. Upscale it and there’s a stable out back. Modern games have them, too, although they show up less often in my experience. Bars are more common social nuclei in contemporary modern settings.

But what if your players were traveling through a canyon and found this one? There, at the only source of water for 20 miles, is Korric’s Hall. Korric is an unimaginative fellow, a collector of rocks, which first led him to this place. After exploring several area caves, finding some unusual quartz and other gems, Korric noticed that the traffic always had to come here. Everyone needs water.

He used his gems, and some savings from earlier exploits, to hire diggers and miners to build the Hall. While there’s something of a pungent smell (dried manure is the main fuel, wood being scarce), most travelers forced to stop here enjoy the unusual fare Korric offers. Spike-growth salad is served alongside the very tasty remorhaz steaks. Fermented mare’s milk is chilled in the lower rooms and served by the young desert elf maid.

Adventure Hooks:

• Korric’s running low on food. He’ll pay well for anything edible the party can bring back.
• Bralani nomads have been plaguing travelers and driving Korric’s customers north to avoid them. Find out why these usually peaceful neighbors are causing trouble.
• Lallaneah, the elf maid, never looks up. Why?

All of this was 15 minutes thought after seeing a site about Unusual Hotels of the World. There’s something there for just about any game, no matter the setting. Check it out.