Watch Well Games: Issue #40
Talented artists and writers/creators. Episode 3 of Record of Lodoss War.
Welcome to our RPG community newsletter!
Hi, I’m K.J., and today CJ Weigel once again joins me as a guest writer for this analysis of episode 3 of Record of Lodoss War.
Want to connect more with community? I post Notes every 3-4 days to bring us together and share ideas. I hope you’ll join in the conversation.
📖Read
Join me next week for a rare “5th Friday of the month*” newsletter as I give a review for Outside the Box (Fandrake) and possibly some other special content (if my schedule allows).
*5th Fridays of the month only occur 2-3 times a year.
🗺️Attended
My cartography partner
attended his first-ever gaming con as a vendor rather than a participant. This event marked the official launch of his Patreon - which you can join for free, buy individual maps you need, or select a paid-tier that fits your needs.
This smaller, local gaming convention had some other talented vendors I thought readers might enjoy discovering. I’ll briefly highlight them here:
GelatinousCubism.com - adventure fantasy and art; find Jacob Fleming’s adventures on itch.io (digital) or on his website’s shop (physical)
The Knotted Realms - crochet, needle felting, and wire sculptures; lots of cozy art you can hold - or gift to others
Kennon James - artist who held a successful (and unique) art-based Kickstarter.; learn more and find his stellar artwork on multiple socials here.
Enjoy the gallery:
🧠 Tips & Tricks: from Robin Fjärem
Robin Fjärem, Tabletop RPG creator from Sweden and author of Shadow Over Gloomshire, just released his newest adventure The Caravan’s Secret.
NOTE: Last week, I shared a sneak peek of my interview with Robin. Here it is in its entirety:
You're the creator of Shadow Over Gloomshire. It's a bit different from standard Dragonbane, which is known for its "mirth and mayhem" tagline. What was your inspiration, and why did you decide to go with a somewhat darker theme?
I really enjoy writing highly atmospheric adventures, and I had collected material for a similar adventure for a long time. I was planning to write it for another game to begin with, but then I got to try out the new Drakar och Demoner (Dragonbane) at Spelkongress 2023 and really liked it. Since the core set campaign and the few third-party supplements that were published at the time were fairly in line with the tagline of the game I figured I'd go in a different direction with a dark gothic vibe. Some of my inspirations were Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (heavily influenced by this), the Van Helsing movie with Hugh Jackman, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the graveyard and crypts in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Rune Graveyard in a MUD called Materiamagica.
Walk me through your writing process from the initial idea until the product is released, especially how you stay on target and focused to finish. What do you do when you hit a creative wall?
I go long periods without writing anything at all, where I just read a lot and consume media for fun. Once in a while I watch or read something that inspires me so much that I just have to write it down. So I start writing, and if the concept feels solid enough I try to turn it into an adventure. Examples of movies that triggered me in the past couple of years: The Thing (inspired Bumpy Ride at Bore IX), Conan the Barbarian (inspired The Frozen Temple of Glacier Peak), and Sleepy Hollow (inspired Shadow over Gloomshire). I always keep notes with all my ideas and concepts on the phone or on scraps of paper in a huge file, so a lot of the time I will repurpose ideas meant for wildly different projects. I usually begin with trying to condense my concept by writing a rough overview on an A4/letter-sized paper, filled with scribbles, random tables, maps, and doodles. Sometimes I will run the adventure off this paper to try it out. Once I'm past that stage, I start writing an outline of the book in Obsidian (usually in the form of a table of contents). Then it's just a matter of filling each chapter out until it starts to solidify into something quite detailed. If I'm not tired of the project by this point, I do a mockup of the whole book to try and figure out how I want it to look and be organized. I sometimes do paper mockups but often start working directly in the layout program. After that, it's just a matter of pasting all my raw text into the layout. I'm usually around 50-70% finished with the text now. While finishing up the text, I start figuring out what kind of art or maps I need for the book. The whole thing will usually be finished by the time I receive the illustrations from the artists, so then it's just a matter of ironing out the details and making sure it's consistent and presentable. This part is the most important in my opinion. Where the raw, unrefined ideas become fully formed to align with my vision. In general, I have stopped trying to force myself to focus. I'm mainly doing this for my enjoyment, and when it stops being fun I'd rather go watch a movie, hang out with friends, or walk my dog in the forest. Anything but writing. But what does help is to have somewhere to organize the project. I have a huge whiteboard in my home office which I use to organize my current project. If it's within sight at all times, at least there's a chance I'll work on it. When I hit a creative wall, there are usually two scenarios: a) I stop working on it and archive it for later. b) I get encouraged by someone else who might be excited about the adventure, or I get a piece of art from an illustrator. This usually gets the wheels turning again for me. I need some external encouragement or pressure to perform.
For fun: Describe Shadow Over Gloomshire in 10 words or less.
Deathly fun in the graveyard with the crow demon lady
As you mentioned on the Kickstarter page for Shadow Over Gloomshire, you had a team of "incredibly talented people." How did you round up such a great ensemble of creative folks for this?
It's a big mix really. I've worked on other projects with a couple of them before, some I found by pure chance, some I was recommended by other people, others I found through their work for other projects, and a couple are close friends of mine. My recommendation for finding great people to work with is to read the credits section of your favorite books. And when you find good people: Keep them around.
Let's look forward now. Do you have a future creation you can share with us?
Yes! I am doing the finishing touches on an adventure called The Caravan's Secret (Karavanens Hemlighet in Swedish). It's a short one-shot where I'm aiming for 4-5 hours of playtime. Perfect for a one-shot or a convention. For obvious reasons, it's going to be more linear than anything I've written before, but I'm trying to make up for that by packing it full of atmospheric content. It will feature a new type of dragon and mysterious sand elves among other things. This is a small release, so it will be published directly on DrivethruRPG in mid-to-late November. You will be able to order print-on-demand copies.
NOTE: Interview was done before The Caravan’s Secret release. It’s out now!
For this future project, how can fans receive updates/notifications and get the product in their hands when it's released?
I have just started a newsletter on Substack where I will post whenever I have new content to share: https://robinfj.substack.com/subscribe
How did you discover RPGs?
It all started with the 1985 version of Drakar och Demoner (Dragonbane), which my brother and I borrowed from our uncle. Like many other kids at the time (this was in the 90s), we had no idea how to actually play it, but still had a lot of fun making up our own characters, worlds, and adventures.
When you are not creating RPG content or playing RPGs, what might we find you doing to relax?
I hang out with my dog, try to play guitar and keyboard, read tons of books, watch bad movies, and repair manual typewriters. I'm also a huge space nerd, so I try to follow most of the important rocket launches.
120 pages. 51 unique professions. 62 Heroic Abilities. All in one collection.
With the Professions Collection, you can shape your characters with depth, personality, and purpose! Crafting a daring Swashbuckler? Maybe a mysterious Alchemist? Or perhaps a steadfast Gravedigger? No matter the profession, this Dragonbane supplement offers a wealth of choices to bring your creations to life! Completely new Random Tables for Profession Style, Flaws, Quirks and Mementos will further assist you in developing your character.
Created by 39 talented individuals from the Discord Dragonbane Community, this supplement features homebrewed brilliance and imaginative content for players and GMs alike.
Keep these links handy for when it is released (if you get the “Your loot is in another cave” message - just check back a little later):
✏️Wrote: Record of Lodoss War - Episode Analysis, Part 3
Special guest writer CJ Weigel
Episode 3: The Black Knight
From Wikipedia:
Deedlit, the elf, makes herself known to Parn. Suddenly they are attacked by a dark elf leading a band of kobolds. The others arrive and scare the attackers away before the group are arrested by Alanian soldiers. In the dungeon the group meet Woodchuck who updates them about the invasion of Alania and Kannon by Marmo and he also tells them the strongest knights are in Valis. The dark elf reports back to Lord Ashram and Karla send Ashram to attack fortress Myce where the group are held. Meanwhile Beld and Wagnard's army are on the verge of conquering Shining Hill in Kanon. Back at the dungeon the captain of the guards meets the group and realises Etoh is a priest and releases the group and also confirms Woodchuck's information. Later that night Ashram's army attacks and overwhelm the fortress defences. The heavily wounded captain saves Deedlit by killing the dark elf and Parn rescues Woodchuck from the dungeons. He instructs the group to leave Myce before riding out to meet Ashram where he is killed.
There’s a lot to unpack in this episode, so buckle up! Following from the last episode, we get more character backstory. Looking at these first three episodes as one adventure, it’s interesting to think about how to execute this order at the table. The first episode - or the first session - was our hook. It launches right into the action and saves explanations for downtime. Players have had a chance to feel out their characters - now we’re backtracking and exploring how they got to that point. I’ve never tried it, but I think this could be an interesting way to open up a campaign, though I’d be hesitant to use it in a system like Shadowdark, in which PCs are more likely to die. In a story-heavy, low-risk system like Fabula Ultima, it would work brilliantly!
Our opening shot shows a black dragon, raging in a dark cavern, then cuts away to Lord Beld of Marmo and his retainers. We don’t learn their names yet, but the captain of the Royal Guard is Ashram, and the wizard (who gives off grand vizier vibes) is Wagnard. This cutscene sets up the main lesson I want to draw from this episode: multiple layers of antagonists for the party to face. As suggested in many of the best GM aids and rule books, make sure the players have short, mid, and long-term goals. The long-term goal is already established: stop the Grey Witch. As we’ll see by the end of this episode, defeating Ashram becomes the mid-term goal. Depending on how the rest of your campaign goes, this could also set up Beld and Wagnard as future goal posts.
Starting the session, we see Parn training with Ghim. Once again, I get the impression this is a mixed-level party; Ghim cuts him down literally and figuratively, saying, “He couldn’t kill time if he wanted!” Our poor hero can’t catch a break, as he’s stopped by Deedlit before he trains against a tree. She explains that there are fairies inside all living things (remember that PC-delivered lore from last episode?), and then they’re thrown into combat against a pack of kobolds and a dark elf assassin. It reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of GM advice: I think it was Keith Baker who said, “If the action ever lags, someone kicks in the door and starts a fight.” After running off their enemies, the players are arrested by the local militia and taken to the dungeons of Fort Myce!
Despite wrongful imprisonment being a common trope, this is a risky move for a GM. Imprisonment removes the player’s agency, and can quickly turn a session sour. In a game, as in this episode, it should rarely last long. We have just enough time to introduce Woodchuck, our final player character (for now), who reveals a bit more of the lore of the world. Then it’s Etoh’s turn to explore this lore, as the captain of the fort recognizes him as a cleric of Pharis and releases the party, apologizing for the misunderstanding. Over dinner with this Captain Jebra, Slayne informs the party that Alania - the nation holding the fort - has always prized scholarship above all else, which sets this military establishment as an oddity. Parn gets a chance to spar with the Captain; assuming this played out naturally, and the player bought into the fantasy of the moment, I’d probably award experience for this role-play encounter.
Finally, we arrive at the meat of the episode as the forces of Marmo, led by Royal Guard Jebra, assault the fortress at the behest of the Grey Witch. Parn is outclassed by his comrades, and it quickly becomes apparent that it can’t be won. Again, this is tricky for a GM to pull off; we see Parn refuse to leave even under orders from Jebra, but Ghim knocks him out. The party escapes certain death. Similar scenes have played out at my table before, wherein a PC wouldn’t abandon a losing fight but their player doesn’t want the character to die. As long as Parn’s player wants his character out of the situation, I wouldn’t even require a die roll. If both players agree that one knocks the other out, that’s great role playing! In our final scene, the party looks upon the burning fortress and sees Jebra, standing imperiously atop the battlements.
There’s so much cool advice to pull from this episode, but in the interest of brevity, I’ll just list three main points:
Provide layers of objectives. The party’s short-term objective varies from scene to scene, from training to fighting kobolds to fleeing the fortress. They already have a long-term objective, to stop the Grey Witch, and they gain a mid-term, to avenge Jebra against Ashram.
Reward what you want the players to prioritize. The most common RPGs primarily give rewards for combat, so players gravitate towards combat. Shadowdark rewards treasure seeking, Dungeon Crawl Classics rewards merely surviving, and here we have an opportunity to reward role playing.
Appropriately communicate danger. How you do this will depend on your table and the rapport you have with your players, but don’t be shy to just state it openly. The PCs are living and breathing in the world that the players are only imagining; it’s OK to tell them, ‘your characters know that this is a hopeless battle.’ Let them do what they will with that information, but make sure they have it before you TPK!
As usual, I have a free accompaniment on my Patreon! For our third episode, I present you with a fortress siege inspired by the episode.
Renegade Games Holiday Gift Guide: Need gift ideas for the different types of gamers on your list? I’ve got you covered!
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The word “caravan” comes from the Persian (Farsi) language. The original word کاروان (pronounced “karwan”) means “group of desert travelers.”
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