…

Ahem… now that he is subdued, I interrupt your irregularly scheduled drivel for a vastly more important announcement.

Too long as Mockingbard held the reigns of Pyres of Vam. It is I, Vam, who created this website and it is about time it start serving me. To that end, I usurp this post – it is, in fact, our 50th, but that is hardly momentous. What is momentous about this post is that it marks the founding of the Vamguard.

What is the Vamguard, you ask? It is the most illustrious of armies and will one day be recorded in the history books as the army that conquered the world. However, to make this a reality, I require minions to bolster the Vamguard. In light of this, I have created a recruitment page and an official Vamguard shield for use by minions.

Click here to read about and join the Vamguard, in 2-3 simply steps. Together we shall rule the world. Well… not really, but I will use you as I see fit to further my agenda then discard you when you become useless, if you survive that long. Just know that you will be helping shape the superior future of this world.

I leave you now to go to the recruitment page, join the Vamguard and bask in the vicarious glory of being loosely associated with me, Vam, your future Supreme Overlord.

You’ll also notice that there’s a brand new Twitter icon up at the top of our site. You can click that to check out my tweets and tweet back at me. I’m also trialling having the twitter feed right here on the site, too. I’ll try to keep Vam away from it, but I think that move is destined to fail. I’ll at least make sure his tweets are tagged with #fromvam so you can indulge in or avoid his madness at your leisure.

There are lots of reasons your game might not happen: you don’t have enough time to prep, a player or two can’t make it, or you’re just running late and low on play time. You can always skip the game for that week, but if you don’t get together all that often it can seem like a wasted opportunity.

Off the top of my head, there are three broad types of one-shots (games designed to be played in a single session).

Related One-Shot

The first is a one-shot related to the ongoing campaign. It will be in the same world and with the same game system. It could be that you put your heroes’ character sheets down and play as the villains for a night. Maybe they play as some NPCs or a rival adventuring party. It could be that they play their forefathers. My favourite things to do though are alternate realities (what would the world be like the villains were to win?) and flashbacks.

In my group game we had made our characters are were ready to play, but then one of our friends told us he was moving closer to us and wanted to play. Instead of not playing for three weeks or making him catch-up on what we had missed, we played one-shot flashbacks. Basically, we played a one-shot for each of the other three characters, each time with a different one in the spotlight. I really like this technique, so I’ll definitely be posting an article about it soon. I also have a lot more to say about related one-shots and using them as a source of exposition, so keep your eyes out for an article or two on this topic in the near future as well.

Related one-shots are often best when you know they’re coming. If you know that next week you won’t be able to all get together, you can end the current session ready for a one-shot. I did this when my now-wife went overseas for a month. We encountered a destroyed town and found a surviving NPC. Questioning him, he told the story of how the town came to be that way. Instead of telling the players what happened, they played as commoners and townsfolk over the next couple of sessions – okay, so this was more of a three- or four-shot, but the idea is still sound. By the end of it, the PCs had played out the story and we came back into the present with the NPC saying, “That’s how it happened. I swear!”.

If you don’t know when a one-shot is going to be needed, then it’s best to focus on building one that can be dropped in at any time. As mentioned above, flashbacks are great for this, as are any one-shots that flesh out the backstory of the world or campaign-spanning quest.

Unrelated One-Shot

The second type of one-shot is the unrelated one-shot. It will be with the same game system that everyone in your group game is familiar with, but it may not be in the same world or part of the world. The difference between this and the first type of one-shot is that this one has nothing to do with the ongoing campaign. Forget that those PCs even exist and just have fun with a self-contained one-shot.

Doing this gives the GM and the players a lot of freedom. You don’t need to work it in with the main story of the ongoing campaign or try to make sense of inconsistencies – like when your one-shot PCs destroy the town the PCs are currently staying in. Seeing as it’s totally unrelated to that story, you can do whatever you want and can even set it in mythical and undefined times.

I think the key here is to use the same system you’re all familiar with. Pre-generate some PCs and keep them handy for whenever you need them. I find that having a simple bullet-point outline of the main events in the one-shot works wonders. It’s easy to refer to in-game and a good way to refresh your memory of what this one-shot is about when you need it now, but wrote it up months ago. Have a list of NPC names for random NPCs and have all your main NPCs already named and coloured with interesting details. This will make your one-shot seem more vivid and less slapped together – it will also make it more memorable. By the way, this advice works just as well for the related one-shot.

Planning a one-shot like this can let your players experience parts of your world that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. If you’ve been playing a low-magic political campaign, try a mystical desert adventure with sunmagi and environmental hazards. In fact, that’s another good point: have a few set pieces for your one-shot that really stand out. Enduring the deadly sun is something those political intrigue PCs have never had to worry about. It will stand out to the players as something unique about the one-shot.

Think of Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog – that’s a great set-piece too as they fall and tumble, fighting as they go. Also, the end of pretty much any Bond film is probably a set-piece. Anything cool like that will get players into the game and will make it easy for your to remember and describe. If there’s enough interest on the part of readers and myself, I will post some of my prepared one-shots usable for most fantasy systems.

Something Completely Different

While the unrelated one-shot is in a different world or place but uses the same system, it can be refreshing from time to time to do something completely different. By this, I mean ditch the system, ditch the world, do something that is in no way connected. Doing this, you can’t rely on the advantage of system familiarity. What you can rely on is the indie game community. Lots of indie games are built to be played as one-shots and with little or no prep required. Board or card games like Munchkin are also excellent for these purposes – and again, no prep required.

Fiasco is one of the absolute best games you could choose for something completely different. Fiasco’s game text says that it will take “about two and a half hours, varying with experience, play style and the size of your group”. If your players are used to D&D, Savage Worlds, or that sort of gaming, your first game of Fiasco might take a little while, but it is a very fun game, easy to learn, very replayable and can help your players develop more confidence and roleplaying skill.

Murderland is a great one too (all you need is Clue) and you could read the six page rulebook in a few minutes then get down to playing. Geiger Counter is another one-shot game that should take about as long to play as it would to watch a survival horror movie, which the game aims to emulate. I haven’t played either of these games yet, but the rules are solid and really make me want play. Of course, my own game, ZILLA! – available for free download here – is two pages long, very easy to understand and play, and is good fun for filling in a couple of hours with even a low number of players.

Playing something completely different lets you break out and try something you wouldn’t normally be playing. It can be very inspiring too – especially Fiasco, as the game takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns. It’s sort of like reading fantasy fiction for years then turning to modern day thrillers: it’s different, refreshing and can give you GMing fuel and ideas that another thousand fantasy books (or sessions) couldn’t.

Wrapping it Up

I’m a big fan of one-shots, as you can see, and I think that everyone who plays an ongoing campaign should try a one-shot, at least once. If it’s not your thing, you’ve lost a single session. If your group likes it, you’ve open a door to a whole new world of play.

Goddess of the Eleventh Hour, Queen of Witches, the Crone
Goddess of witchcraft, revenge, disease, death
Alignment: NE
Domains: Death, Evil, Knowledge, Magic, Repose
Favoured Weapon: Magic or sickle

From a young age children are taught to fear Rhoga Jezeda, lest she come in the night and eat them. But as the children grow into adults their fear does not fade. It is said that Rhoga Jezeda knows the time and circumstances of the death of every living thing. She is also called the Goddess of the Eleventh Hour, as it is believed that she can hold back and divert death or bring it swiftly down upon her victims before their proper time.

Rhoga Jezeda is the most powerful of all witches and her sway over death does not end at preventing or hastening it. If the whispers are to be believed, followers of the Queen of Witches can beseech their goddess to raise the dead, imbuing a body with a mindless spirit, enslaving the walking dead to the witch’s will. Some believe that Rhoga Jezeda lays claim to the souls of the wicked, those who are not given proper burial rites, and those who die of disease, as a victim of vengeance, or with a desire for revenge in their hearts.

Rhoga Jezeda is the mistress of disease and those witches who take up the mantle of plaguebearer are said to bring living ruin to their bodies and devastation to all they meet, spreading infection and pestilence wherever they go. However, as she spreads disease, so can Rhoga Jezeda stave it off.

Poppets are the tools of the goddess and carers of the sick who are out of hope may fill one with spices, flowers and some small portion of the person they wish to heal – blood, nails or hair – and hang it above the bed of the stricken, offering prayers to the Witch Queen, begging her to draw the sickness away. Rumours say that if such prayers are successful the disease does not disappear but is sent down on the head of another. Others say that a prayer answered by the Goddess of the Eleventh Hour draws death closer to the one who called upon her, shaving years off their lives. Despite this, many who fear Rhoga Jezeda still turn to her in times of desperation.

Revenge is another tool of the Queen of Witches and she hears the dark desires of those who seek vengeance. Some even say that thoughts of vengeance are the whispers of Rhoga Jezeda and that each act of revenge makes her stronger. Those seeking revenge craft a poppet to represent a specific person and fill it with a portion of themselves and of the person who they wish to harm. Afterwards, they inflict on the doll the harm they wish to see befall their foe. If the desired fate cannot be depicted this way, strong thoughts are said to suffice.

Many pursue this path as a method of private revenge, not believing that their acts of violence on the poppet would actually manifest on their victim. Most often, the poppet is filled only with straw, eschewing the supposedly vital elements. However, when ill fortune befalls those who are known to have wronged someone, whispers of poppets and witchcraft are usually quick to follow. Some say that the Witch Queen revels in revenge and asks no payment for it. However, like with the casting out of disease, other rumours persist that the Witch Queen cuts short the lifelines of those who call upon her for revenge.

For those who pray to Rhoga Jezeda not to placate the Crone, but in true worship of her, the spreading of disease and practice of witchcraft appear to be the common means of veneration. Rhoga Jezeda sees and manipulates the threads of the future and her followers often seem to have a strange assurance of what is to come. Some say that her followers spend much of their time ensuring that the future Rhoga Jezeda favours comes to pass. Witches who reside near other settlements often also craft poppets, charms, tonics, powders, cure-alls and elixirs to offer to those in need, furthering the influence of witchcraft by preying on desperate souls.

Rhoga Jezeda is depicted as an ancient wrinkled crone, often holding a poppet and an hourglass and peering into a black cauldron.  The Goddess of the Eleventh Hour is also commonly shown brandishing a gleaming pair of silver scissors and contemplating an intricate web of threads of lives and fate. She is always depicted with a clouded right eye which is blind to the present but with which she sees the future.

The Queen of Witches features in many children’s stories and is usually shown living in a deep dark forest, the crowded shelves of her hovel lined with books of witchcraft and vile recipes as well as jars and bottles of horrid ingredients. Rhoga Jezeda has no true symbol by which her servants recognise each other, but the blinding of the right eye and wearing a poppet or a pair of scissors around the neck or waist is a common sign of a devoted witch.

In fantasy games, taverns are often full of patrons drinking and playing cards. It strains our suspension of disbelief when we hear them draw the King of Hearts or play a game of Spades or Blackjack.

While it would be nice to have a fully developed deck quite different than our standard 52-card deck, it would not be compatible with most of the games we know, so we would also have to come up with new games. Some have the time (or money) for that, but most of us don’t.

Instead, a simple re-skinning let us draw the Empress of Arrows or play a game of Shields or Black Knight, adding a little bit of fantasy flair while still keeping the real-world cards and allowing us to play the games we know.

The inspiration for doing this came when the player in my current City of Steel campaign started running card games where patrons had to guess the suit. It was jarring to me when real world cards were drawn and announced by this character who is clearly from a fantasy – not pseudo-historical – world. So, I’ve made some simply changes to the 52-card deck, basically just changing the face cards, the ace, the joker and the suits. I hope you enjoy them.

Face Cards

If you want to personalise the card deck and use it as a plot device, then in your world, like in the real world, you could have the face cards of different suits represent figures from in-game myth or history.

Empress replaces the King. I liked the idea of female royalty being the highest card. I think it lends a little history to the deck, especially if there are no empires in your game. It alludes to a former Empire ruled – openly or in secret truth – by women. Empress cards would be strong and powerful looking women atop a throne in royal attire with a sceptre.

Priest replaces the Queen. Religion is often at the forefront of fantasy games, whether there is one god or hundreds. Including a priest as a face card indicates the importance of religion in the society that uses the deck or the one that invented it. Priest cards would be men (and/or women, depending what you want to go for in your world) dressed in robes and holding holy symbols matching their suits or perhaps even matching those of deities in your world.

Knight replaces the Jack. Knight is an actual French Tarot playing card with a picture of a young man riding a horse, with a value between Jack and Queen. Knights are usually an important part of Medieval-style fantasy worlds. If your game world skews more towards Renaissance than Medieval, perhaps the Knight could be called the cavalier or chevalier instead. Depending on the importance of horses in your world, this card could have a man (or woman, if women are or formerly were knights in your world) on a horse, or more a swashbuckling sort of figure for the chevalier.

Fool replaces the Joker. It is a common trope that the fool or court jester is actually extremely intelligent. Replacing the Joker with the Fool was an obvious choice and the card being variously low, high, wild or simply ignored speaks to the Fool’s adaptability and the way they are perceived by others. Fools would look a lot like the Jokers we use now, though some areas might depict them with a donkey’s head or some similar bizarre and foolish representation or even depict them in the colours or clothing of a rival nation.

Dog replaces the Ace. Not really a face card, but I like it because it adds another little change to things, rather than just sticking with a large single representation of the suit. Dogs can be seen as useless strays and dangerous mongrels or as loyal guards and man’s best friends. Because of these varying perceptions, I though it would be interesting to replace the Ace with the Dog, seeing as Ace can be high or low (or both) depending on the game you’re playing. Dog cards would have a simple picture of a dog coloured either black or red, depending on suit. Perhaps various regions depict the dogs differently – scruffy where dogs are disliked and strong and noble where they are favoured companions. If you’re using the goddess Tarsis, this card could be linked with her faith.

Suits

I wanted the suits to seem appropriate to fantasy worlds, but not covered in dragons and wizard hats. I ended up deciding that the black suits would be defensive representations and the red suits would be offensive representations.

For the Black suits, Shields replace Spades and Helms replace Clubs.

For the Red suits, Maces replace diamonds and Arrows replace Hearts.

I thought about using Swords instead of Maces, but the latter is a little non-standard and again adds a bit of flair to the deck (perhaps Maces were a common weapon in the ancient Empire where Dogs were also common). Mainly though, Mace heads are a lot easier to draw than Swords and still keep them around the same size as the other suits.

As mentioned, the deck is usable for any 52-card game you know, but the offensive/defensive dichotomy also presents hints of other games. Maybe there’s a rock-paper-scissors sort of card game where:

• Shields beat Arrows
• Arrows beat Helms
• Helms beat Maces
• Maces beat Shields

Not sure about the other combinations, like Shields vs. Helms and Arrows vs. Maces. Maybe suits of the same colours can’t hurt each other? I haven’t thought it out thoroughly, but I think there’s something there.

Full House

So, to wrap up, here’s our real-world card annotation compared to this new fantasy deck from lowest to highest, without Jokers or Fools:

A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 J Q K

D 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 K P E

If you’d like to use these suits in your home game, click here to download a zip of each suit with a transparent background. Enjoy!

Istrilonius

God of the Long Game, The Great Strategist
God of planning, strategy, foresight and cunning
Alignment: LN
Domains: Knowledge, Law,  Nobility, Trickery, War
Favoured Weapon: Ranseur or crossbow

Istrilonius is the patient far-seeing god of planning and strategy. He is slow to anger and slow to act. He takes stock of the situation at hand and considers all possible outcomes and futures before putting the first stages of a detailed plan into action. Istrilonius’ followers pride themselves on always being a few steps ahead of the game, and always having one or more contingency plans.

It is difficult to catch one of the Great Strategist’s followers off-guard. While they are not adept at reacting quickly to unexpected situations, the number of these they encounter are few, as they learn to expect the unexpected. They may be seen to react quickly, but in truth, this is simply the enacting of a plan they have prepared earlier.

Politicians, nobles, lawyers, generals, warlords, investors and con artists all seek the favour the God of the Long Game as they cast their eyes to the future and play out their moves while making educated guesses at the future moves of their opponents. Many of Istrilonius’ followers are patient and slow to speak, carefully weighing their words before opening their mouths. His faithful also tend to come off as arrogant and self-assured, yet many prove these attitudes to be well-founded.

Many of Istrilonius’ followers are ambitious, hungry for power or other gain, but others are not so self-serving, working for the greater good, such as generals holding off invading forces, investors trying to keep a small village or business afloat, and shrewd nobles lobbying for policies to benefit the public.

Some of Istrlionus’ followers lament the fact that their lives require such great forethought, but many revel in it, finding glee in their ability to outmanoeuvre opponents, especially when they work them into a corner or no-win situation. As such, they favour what many would consider dirty tactics, seeing them instead as the weapons of the intelligent strategist. Ambushes, traps, bottlenecks, misdirection, blackmail and other such approaches are all part of the arsenal of Istrilonius’ faithful.

Istrilonius’ favour is far-reaching and difficult to predict, but always require further planning or strategy to take advantage of. Istrilonius’ favours are offers or opportunities – an overheard conversation of a proposed coup or murder that provides the opportunity to plan for it and defuse the situation, a misstep or red herring that allows the strategic culprit to frame another, a distraction that allows a plan to be enacted to cover up damning evidence. Similarly, his wrath is served cold, difficult to avoid and strikes at the worst possible time, as well-laid plans unravel due to an unseen loophole or cunning opponent, or the final contingency plan has a great unexpected cost or falls through entirely.

Prayers to Istrilonius usually come in the form of talking out loud or silently to the god, using him as a sounding board for planning. Followers often find that targeting their preparation towards their god brings epiphanies when they have otherwise not been able to see the way forward.

Istrilonus is said to have invented the game of chess, and many of his followers play the game with religious zeal, often as part of prayer. Istrilonius himself is never depicted, but his holy symbol is a chess board four squares long turned on its corner like a diamond, to represent that he sees all things and considers them from all angles.

Many of his faithful carry and contemplate a chess piece or a carving of his holy symbol while strategising. Istrilonius has no official garb or holy weapon, though his faithful often favour polearms, such as ranseurs for the reach and options they allow and crossbows that allow them to take careful aim and bring down their opponents from afar. His followers often wear clothing of black and white or sport chequered patches or patterns on their clothing or shields. Many also model the hilts or heads of their weapons to resemble chess pieces.

When it comes to Istrilonius’ shrines, they are as varied as his followers. Built to last, they are often made of stone or steel and placed in strategic locations – either easily accessible to the faithful, or hidden from those who do not understand the importance of planning. Depending on where the shrine is located, it will serve a different purpose.

Followers seeking their god’s favour will place useful goods in a shrine and even notices for services – when several followers do this, the shrine itself becomes a place that is prepared for whatever is to come, allowing the faithful to visit it for provisions, always trading, never simply taking. Shrines on the road through barren wilderness will contain food and water or notes about where these can be scavenged, shrines on battlefields will contain the notes and maps of generals past, while shrines frequented by con artists may contain passwords, notes of how to contact fences and information about guard patrols.

However, the shrines are not the community touchstones that they appear to be. In fact, they are but another way Istrilonius tests the cunning of his faithful. His followers are often very ambitious and so the shrines are usually filled with red herrings to mislead opponents and further the plans of whoever placed the goods or information there. Istrilonius actually enjoys such misdirection and power plays, and those who partake of a shrine’s contents should always do so with careful consideration.

Crenmar uses the same calendar as many other nations of Gahn. It consists of 13 months of 28 days each, with weeks being 7 days long.

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

Max isn’t as bad as he used to be, but he’s still here and he still threatens me sometimes. Some days it gets me really down. But, I’ve got my music and I’m hardly ever without my headphones on now. Ben still comes around sometimes but I don’t need that. I don’t like it when people are right there. It’s not so bad online. I can make my music and put it on the web. I’m helping people a bit through the donations people give. I don’t need anything more than that. Not a whole lot has changed for me, but I feel like things are a little better and that there is something I can do in this world.

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.

Part of a series of posts of Actual Play of the Hikikomori RPG. Click here for more info and an index.