PrinceofNothing
High Executarch
It's really one I should re-visit. The implementation is an absolute trainwreck but as a shudder system-neutral adventure its a fascinating piece of work.
Castle Xyntillan
- Thread starter squeen
- Start date
It's really one I should re-visit. The implementation is an absolute trainwreck but as a shudder system-neutral adventure its a fascinating piece of work.
Melan would you be willing to do a deep dive developer commentary using your dungeon analysis techniques for CX?
Something in line with https://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/2020/05/blog-anatomy-of-dungeon-map.html or your other famous article?
I really love your theoretical technique and thesis and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see you apply it to your opus!
Something in line with https://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/2020/05/blog-anatomy-of-dungeon-map.html or your other famous article?
I really love your theoretical technique and thesis and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see you apply it to your opus!
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The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
I'd love to see it too, but might writing about one's own product be construed as egotistical?...
I would equate it to a directors commentary track on a DvD for a film they made.
Thats pretty normalised for me, but maybe all those were egotistical.
If anyone knows Marty S make sure to tell him I enjoyed his audio tracks. And also we forgive you XD
Melan
*eyeroll*
Yes. I am also concerned about pulling back the curtains fully, since my post might be taken for gospel and constrain the reader's imagination.
The Byzantine did the upper levels a while ago, and, having run a long campaign in the castle, he is about as knowledgeable about it as anyone can be.
I will check it out! Thank you!
I still think you can provide commentary without contributing to a gospel.
Pablo Abodavar, G Del Toro, Quintin T, M Scorsese have done so on commentary tracks.
I think the tactic they focus on is how it was made. Not the meaning of the art. Focusing on the construction.
I still think you can provide commentary without contributing to a gospel.
Pablo Abodavar, G Del Toro, Quintin T, M Scorsese have done so on commentary tracks.
I think the tactic they focus on is how it was made. Not the meaning of the art. Focusing on the construction.
DangerousPuhson
My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Yeah @Melan : Don't think of it as "bookseller plugging their own work" - think of it more as "designer diary" or "author walkthrough". Those have real value to communities like these, like when a director does a Q&A after a film screening, or a panel of celebrities talk about their experience making a TV series at a convention. People here won't see it as self-horn-tooting; they want to hear that stuff.
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
I checked out that link and this really stood out for me:
In the earlier, easier areas, straight combat and highly lethal traps are de-emphasized in favor of interactivity, and where tough combats do exits they are usually placed at the end of short chains of rooms, and not far from an exit.
Where heavy NPC or environmental interaction is present, room progression is often much more linear, though I can't say for sure this is a pattern rather than my spurious assumption.
I'm interested to know if this was indeed intentional or just happened organically...
Now that I'm thinking about it, the pacing was noticeable in the manor. There are some OSR-style over-powered NPC's that can be encountered on the 'lower levels' [more easily accessible areas of the manor] but there's room to flee the encounter or, in many cases, there's room in the NPC description for smart PC's to talk their way out of trouble Planescape-style.
In the earlier, easier areas, straight combat and highly lethal traps are de-emphasized in favor of interactivity, and where tough combats do exits they are usually placed at the end of short chains of rooms, and not far from an exit.
Where heavy NPC or environmental interaction is present, room progression is often much more linear, though I can't say for sure this is a pattern rather than my spurious assumption.
I'm interested to know if this was indeed intentional or just happened organically...
Now that I'm thinking about it, the pacing was noticeable in the manor. There are some OSR-style over-powered NPC's that can be encountered on the 'lower levels' [more easily accessible areas of the manor] but there's room to flee the encounter or, in many cases, there's room in the NPC description for smart PC's to talk their way out of trouble Planescape-style.
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
I started running Castle Xyntillan last night for a group of mid-40's casuals. I've never run a game with female players and it's only the second time I've run a game for new players (my kids being the first). Advice online suggested a short one-shot, but I really liked the potential of all the interactive elements in the Castle. It helps that we're in a french speaking country right now, so the Helvetic flavour of the game world resonates with people.
Not going to lie, I'm usually a pretty chill DM, but I was nervous as shit about this one. These are 'normies' who I drink with on the weekend and bump into at diplomatic events, and sitting at the table behind my DM screen handing out pieces of paper describing elves and halflings and dwarves made me wonder if I was going to be able to show my face in public again after this. I took an extra risk and gave the players 5e characters, a system I've only played once and am not tremendously familiar with. I figure if they have a good time, this will allow them to take what they learn to other games. It also makes their players slightly more robust, which I know the grogs will disagree with, but it allows for a few more starter mistakes if they can take a 1 hr rest and regain some hp. Also, because I started the players in medea res, so they didn't have a chance to pick up henchmen or gossip (a tradeoff for not getting bogged down in session zero rrrrrroleplaying that always amuses one of the players and loses all the others.)
They had a GREAT time. The Castle just oozes personality effortlessly. Like, skeletons laugh and tell ribald jokes in a french accent. Undead princes leap out of tombs pledging undying love to a nonplused halfling thief. I swear to god, the players were taking too long setting up an ambush so I rolled a random encounter, and a depressed Malevol-family boa constrictor slithered between the legs of the cleric as he was hiding in the bushes. The other players wondering where he is as he has a silent moment with this soulful reptile in the weeds. Like one word in the monster description. He's depressed. Why is a snake a named NPC? Why is he sad? We'll never know! There's just going to be this mute interaction in the middle of a raging combat with a bunch of sadistic skeletons. It's fucking haunting.
I opened the book and the invoice fell out, scrawled with a friendly, hand-written note from the author. He doesn't know me. He didn't have to do that. I dunno, @Melan got eaten alive by the baying masses of the internet lynch mob a while ago, and maybe he doubled down on the bad wrongthink in the face of it instead of ignoring the haters, but anyone who is passing on this work because of a bad/false impression of him, are missing out on pure personality written into every page. There is joy and non-sacharine whimsy coming through in almost every description. I'm barely reading the book at the table, just looking down, getting cued by a few evocative words, and then I'm looking up and communicating them to the people in front of me. They're having an experience instead of playing a tactical board game. They're interacting with me instead a set of instructions. They're talking about it the next day. This is the shit I've been missing.
So yeah, we haven't seen you in a while, but Melan, if you're still out there, thanks for putting yourself into this and thanks for one of the best game nights I've had in years.
Not going to lie, I'm usually a pretty chill DM, but I was nervous as shit about this one. These are 'normies' who I drink with on the weekend and bump into at diplomatic events, and sitting at the table behind my DM screen handing out pieces of paper describing elves and halflings and dwarves made me wonder if I was going to be able to show my face in public again after this. I took an extra risk and gave the players 5e characters, a system I've only played once and am not tremendously familiar with. I figure if they have a good time, this will allow them to take what they learn to other games. It also makes their players slightly more robust, which I know the grogs will disagree with, but it allows for a few more starter mistakes if they can take a 1 hr rest and regain some hp. Also, because I started the players in medea res, so they didn't have a chance to pick up henchmen or gossip (a tradeoff for not getting bogged down in session zero rrrrrroleplaying that always amuses one of the players and loses all the others.)
They had a GREAT time. The Castle just oozes personality effortlessly. Like, skeletons laugh and tell ribald jokes in a french accent. Undead princes leap out of tombs pledging undying love to a nonplused halfling thief. I swear to god, the players were taking too long setting up an ambush so I rolled a random encounter, and a depressed Malevol-family boa constrictor slithered between the legs of the cleric as he was hiding in the bushes. The other players wondering where he is as he has a silent moment with this soulful reptile in the weeds. Like one word in the monster description. He's depressed. Why is a snake a named NPC? Why is he sad? We'll never know! There's just going to be this mute interaction in the middle of a raging combat with a bunch of sadistic skeletons. It's fucking haunting.
I opened the book and the invoice fell out, scrawled with a friendly, hand-written note from the author. He doesn't know me. He didn't have to do that. I dunno, @Melan got eaten alive by the baying masses of the internet lynch mob a while ago, and maybe he doubled down on the bad wrongthink in the face of it instead of ignoring the haters, but anyone who is passing on this work because of a bad/false impression of him, are missing out on pure personality written into every page. There is joy and non-sacharine whimsy coming through in almost every description. I'm barely reading the book at the table, just looking down, getting cued by a few evocative words, and then I'm looking up and communicating them to the people in front of me. They're having an experience instead of playing a tactical board game. They're interacting with me instead a set of instructions. They're talking about it the next day. This is the shit I've been missing.
So yeah, we haven't seen you in a while, but Melan, if you're still out there, thanks for putting yourself into this and thanks for one of the best game nights I've had in years.
DangerousPuhson
My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
What happened to Melan?
So many good works made by authors with cocked mindsets it's tragic. At this point, the whole "no ethical consumption under capitalism" rhetoric is ringing true. For instance, I have an embarrassingly large collection of Dilbert books, and I still own a physical copy of Maze of The Blue Medusa. Ditto for an old copy of Atlas Shrugged. I hide them on my shelves - not because anyone has called me out for owning them, but because I worry someone will eventually call me out for owning them. Fucking crazy times we live in, let me tell ya.
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
Yeah, definitely got a pile of Dilberts on the bookshelf, here.
Also, I occasionally feel bad for the internet assassination of He Who Must Not Be Named. His contributions to the early OSR were not inconsequential and I have thoroughly enjoyed a couple of his books (particularly the much maligned Vornheim)...but jesus christ that dude stirred up brutal drama everywhere he went.
Also, I occasionally feel bad for the internet assassination of He Who Must Not Be Named. His contributions to the early OSR were not inconsequential and I have thoroughly enjoyed a couple of his books (particularly the much maligned Vornheim)...but jesus christ that dude stirred up brutal drama everywhere he went.
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
DangerousPuhson
My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Thanks for the update, but I didn't ask "is Melan still producing things?"
I asked "what happened to Melan?", with regards to the whole "got eaten alive by the internet" comment above.
I asked "what happened to Melan?", with regards to the whole "got eaten alive by the internet" comment above.
DangerousPuhson
My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
I'm out of the loop on why he's been MIA, but I also miss Melan. He was always very insightful and professional around here. It's just a shame he keeps a bad circle of friends.
Speaking of which:
I, DANGEROUSPUHSON, AT ONE POINT BANNED FROM THESE FORUMS BY A SMALL-MINDED MOD DRUNK ON A POWER TRIP, HAVE OFFICIALLY OUTLASTED MY DETRACTORS IN THESE PARTS. THEY ARE GONE FOR YEARS NOW AND I AM STILL HERE. MAY THEY RETROACTIVELY KISS MY ASS, AND CONTINUE TO GIVE THIS PLACE THEIR WIDE BERTH. HUZZAH!
Speaking of which:
I, DANGEROUSPUHSON, AT ONE POINT BANNED FROM THESE FORUMS BY A SMALL-MINDED MOD DRUNK ON A POWER TRIP, HAVE OFFICIALLY OUTLASTED MY DETRACTORS IN THESE PARTS. THEY ARE GONE FOR YEARS NOW AND I AM STILL HERE. MAY THEY RETROACTIVELY KISS MY ASS, AND CONTINUE TO GIVE THIS PLACE THEIR WIDE BERTH. HUZZAH!