Humble Beginnings

The first not-a-kid's-song I can remember learning the lyrics to was Longer, by Dan Fogelberg. Ignoring the bits about yucky love-and-stuff, the lyrics really spoke to me and sparked my imagination. Between that, and the animated version of The Hobbit, I was well on my way to starting the fantasy world that would become Avremier - a few years before discovering Dungeons & Dragons.

Longer - on YouTube


Longer spoke of moving the seasons as if that was something people could do (well, that's how I heard it). If you know how the seasonal cycle works in Avremier, you'll see the impetus. It mentioned "mountain cathedrals," which became dwarven citadels to my mind. And books, it talks about books. Deal sealed.

Afterwards, I delved into Norse myth. Dungeons & Dragons burst onto my life. The Last Unicorn hit the screens. I was reading every fantasy or sci-fi book I could get my hands on.

The avalanche could not be put back into the bottle.

Back in the Day

I've been D&Ding since around 1980.

I started with the Moldvay Basic Set. It was all new to me. The entire thing was a big invitation to create a world of my own and find others to explore it. Ditto, the Expert Set.

I've never run anything but my own setting.

Through the intervening years, there have been a great many settings, editions, supplements, and support material for the game. For the most part, I've kept pace - if not in actual gameplay. And, while I don't deride others for their preferences in D&Ding, I find that some are perfectly willing to belittle mine.

Since when is B/X D&D "a kid's game?" Or, "an introductory set of rules to learn the real game?" If I were going to get nasty about it, I would point out how much the current editions of the game (including Pathfinder) hold the player's hand and ease you out of the gate as a full-fledged hero ready to take on carefully balanced encounters set neatly in your path in proper order and time.

Sorry for the pause, I had a great big yawn sneak up on me.

I've played 3E. And 3.5. I've read 4E. I've played 5E. I've played Pathfinder - hell, I've written Pathfinder material for publication. I simply prefer AD&D, and those which came before. I'll play just about anything. I don't force my preferences on anyone - even though I am now considered an OSR publisher. Outdated Simplified Rules - amirite?! Yep. So Outdated. So Simplified. Not nearly enough Rules.

Yeah, I happen to enjoy the process of forging a hero through fire and unknown dangers. Not everyone does. Not everyone can handle being a Feat-less nobody with a hand-me-down sword and boundless curiosity. Not everyone can face challenges without having the solutions written on a character sheet in front of them. Not everyone wants to. Not everyone needs to.

With each edition came new approaches to gaming. Innovations. Shifts in "power" or "control." Keeping PCs alive. Allowing players to craft their PC the way they want. Never saying no. Never slowing or stopping the action. Not wasting time with "background stuff." Never failing.

During the rare instances where I game as a player, I tend to be tactical AF. I prefer to run what I call "problem-solvers" or "troubleshooters." This usually entails a thief-type or arcane spellcaster - preferably a mix of the two. That's just how I think. And I will scrape every bit of potential from those characters. Feats might not exist in "old-school" D&D, but they really do. If I want to take a point-blank shot in combat, I'll get into position and take the shot. The DM decides what happens.

And that's really the thing. Trust in the DM. With trust in the DM, you don't NEED all those pages of character sheet, cluttered with modifiers, feats, and special superpowers. As a DM, I am willing to do just about all of the work. As a player, you just need to be able to run your character. In an ideal world, the player should barely need to look at their character sheet. There should be few moments where the players need to pull themselves out of the game to look up a rule or modifier. At least, in MY ideal world.

My ideal world turned out to be Avremier - my lifelong campaign setting. At its heart, Avremier is an exercise in making the rules and structure of the game work in such a way that I can be happy. Why are humans the only ones allowed to advance in certain classes - or to such high levels? Why can't demihumans do the same? Why can't magic-users use swords? Gandalf did! What's the point of gnomes? They're just halfling-dwarves! And so on. Yes - those questions are addressed in Avremier. And, many of the rest.

Lots of people love D20 and Pathfinder and 5E. I get it. I did too. Today, I prefer the older stuff. I don't have to spend money and shelf-space to maintain the game. I can convert "new stuff" to "old stuff" in minutes. There's less math - I don't like math. I can focus more on the adventure. On the game. No, the later editions are not WRONG. They're just not right for me.

Pandemorphic Development

Yesterday's development for the Parateva supplement led to work on the Avremier version of the Aboleth. Those wacky Spacing Guild Navigators of my campaign setting.
Today has been an exploration of the classic Fiend Folio creature presented as a group, starting on page 80 and ending on page 83. Their name starts with an S, and ends with a D. They are Chaotic Neutral in alignment and hail from Limbo. They are the property of a large company responsible for a number of games. I shall not even whisper the name here. But, because I fear to utter the name, the Avremier setting will contain a number of creatures and concepts inspired or suggested by the original IP found on those hallowed Fiend Folio pages of yore.

Enter: the Pandemorph.

      The Avremier setting does not use the recognized planar structure of the classic fantasy RPG. There is no Limbo. There really isn't a Pandemonium, either. What the Avremier planar structure does have is Pandemorphium - a plane of chaos and change. One of the only native species to interact with creatures beyond their planar bounds is known as the Pandemorph. This creature is of a morphic structure that allows for spontaneous evolution and adaptation, but the base structure of a Pandemorph is that of a generally humanoid form with traits of frogs, toads, and salamanders. They tend to stand on two legs and they tend to be man-size or larger. They are usually colorful and demonstrative. They are certainly chaotic, but rarely evil. To the seasoned planar traveler, they are usually known as Chaos Hoppers.

The Pandemorph is a kind of "overspecies," with a near-infinite capacity for mutation and permutation. The "Chaos Hopper" is certainly not the only representative of such a changeable race. In fact, there is a more humanoid offshoot of the Pandemorph that can be found on Avremier. This is the Glorph, a small race of frog-toad-salamander humanoids that range through different colors throughout their development. They start with orange, then violet, chartreuse - transitioning to gray and black near the end of their cycle. Once they start losing their bright coloration, the glorph may be returning to Pandemorphium. Glorph PCs transition to different colors as they gain experience levels. They can even evolve out of the glorph cycle entirely to become true Pandemorphs at higher levels.

Development of the Pandemorph does not stop there. We have a more primitive and brutal form known as the Gruun. There are also powerful Lords and Elders of Pandemorphium. As more information is brought to light, it may even become obvious that the mutable Pandemorph is only one aspect of biological Chaos making its way throughout the Vastness of the planes.

Worlds Apart - The Aboleth in Avremier

In an effort to make this unsteady blog-thing more useful, I'd like to share more development notes and material. Because my current project is the Parateva supplement (the marshy delta region of Avremier that lies to the west of Dhavon), I've been clarifying and expanding a few related concepts. While some monsters are appealing to me, they don't always suit my vision of the Avremier setting. This inspires a great many variant monsters, or setting-specific analogues that aren't always recognizable from the source material. Though I enjoy creating entirely new monsters, giving a new twist to a classic favorite can be just as rewarding - and far less demanding.

Yesterday, the focus was on the aboleth. The Avremier version has some differences.

Aboleth	# App	AC	Move”	% Lair	Treasure	# Att	Dmg/Att
HD: 8	1-4	4	3/18	20%	F	4	1-6/tentacle

This amphibious creature combines the physical features of fish, crustacean, and cephalopod into a single, nightmarish form. Its massive body is fish-like, but built more along horizontal lines within the carapace of a shrimp or lobster. The “face” is dominated by three black, slit-like eyes, set one above the other. Its manipulative appendages are four, powerful 10’ long tentacles that frame its head, much like a nautiloid. An aboleth is usually a mottled blue-black or green-black, with a lighter underbelly of pearly-gray.

The tentacles are used in combat, each striking for 1-6 damage and prompting a save vs. spells. A failed save results in the victim’s skin becoming a clear, slimy membrane in 2-5 rounds. The process can be reversed by a Cure Disease spell. Otherwise, the transformed skin membrane must be kept cool and damp or the victim suffers 1-12 damage per turn. The transformed skin can be restored with a Cure Serious Wounds spell.

Through intense concentration, the aboleth can create realistic illusions with audible and visual components. 3x/day, it can attempt to dominate a creature up to 30’ away. The victim saves vs. spells or falls under the control of the aboleth. The slave follows the aboleth’s telepathic commands, but will not fight for the monster. If separated by more than a mile, the enslaved creature can make another saving throw, once per day, to break the aboleth’s control. Otherwise, the victim can be freed by Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, or the death of the aboleth.

The aboleth can secrete a cloud of mucus up to 1’ from its submerged body. Creatures within the cloud must save vs. poison or inhale the cloudy suspension and lose the ability to breathe air. Suffocation occurs in 2-12 rounds when the victim tries to breathe air. The aboleth’s mucus is used to allow slaves to breathe water, as Potion of Water Breathing, for 1-3 hours. The mucus can be dissolved by soap or wine.       

Dwelling in hidden subterranean grottoes, the existence of these alien monsters is not generally known, though some individuals and organizations have studied and researched the aboleth as best as they could. What follows is an overview of these studies.

The aboleth comes to Avremier from another world – possibly another plane. Evidence suggests that these creatures once inhabited the world of Ouroboros, but it is not their place of origin. It is possible that the aboleth came to Avremier from an unrecorded Radial Plane, from a civilization countless centuries old. At least one other alien race claims that the aboleths were once a more humanoid species, but purposely evolved into their current form in pursuit of knowledge and the exploration of all reality. While the aboleth can supposedly “swim” the planes of their own volition, those found on Avremier are somehow trapped upon that world. As such, they are resentful of their plight, and hateful of most other living natives of their worldly prison.

Those aboleths trapped upon Avremier cannot enter the Ethereal or Astral Planes at will, but they are able to Dimension Door once every three rounds.