Return to Northmoor Meta Episode 1 – D&D and Story Games: Will they Blend?

For your entertainment during our holiday hiatus, we present the first Return to Northmoor meta episode!

In this meta episode, Tim sits down with “Nexus of Indie Game Information” Doyce Testerman (creator of RandomWiki and the Firefly Wiki, as well as a published fiction writer and many other things.  

They discuss what Story Games have to offer to the D&D game player, how D&D is really just a diceless RPG, and how you can enhance your D&D game with key Story Game concepts without adding a single new rule.  (Hint: see Episode 1 of Return to Northmoor for one of them.)

This is part one of the discussion, our next episode will conclude it, discussing specific mechanics you can add to D&D to help the system lend support to character development (outside of combat skills).

Here’s Doyce’s massive list of links for your reference:

On ‘indie’ games with traditional roles:
http://www.lumpley.com/dogsources.html – Dogs in the Vineyard

On player narration/negotiation:
Donjon – http://crngames.com/donjon/index
Spirit of the Century – http://evilhat.wikidot.com/spirit-of-the-century
“The Mountain Witch Trick” – http://www.story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=2983&page=1
In a Wicked Age – http://www.lumpley.com/wicked.html

On player investment:
Sorcerer (bangs/kickers) – http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/
The Shadow of Yesterday (keys) – http://crngames.com/the_shadow_of_yesterday/index

On player world-building
Primtime Adventures – http://www.dog-eared-designs.com/games.html
Mortal Coil – http://www.galileogames.com/mortal-coil/index.html
Constrained: In a Wicked Age – http://www.lumpley.com/wicked.html

Hacking DnD:
TSoY Keys: http://random-average.com/TSOY/Keys
Sweet20: http://files.crngames.com/cc/sweet20/experience.html
YA fantasy keys: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18011.0

Return to Northmoor Episode 7 – Actual Play of Session 3

In this episode, Tim and Kim guide you through highlight snippets of an example of actual play of the third session of Return to Northmoor, so you can see what when right and what went…different.

We discuss which D&D 4e rules tripped us up, (yes, skill names, still!), and why encounters don’t always go the way you expected.

There are several longer (6 minute) clips in this session that highlight several of the big reveals from the end of the first chapter of the story.

This episode is the final episode of our first season of Return to Northmoor.  On the break between this season and the next, we’ll be presenting a number of bonus and meta episodes for your entertainment.

To comment on this episode or to share your own ideas, check out our forums at Spooky Outhouse!

You can access the materials from this show from our forums as well.

Return to Northmoor Episode 6.5 – Session 3 Adventure, pt. 2

In this episode, Tim and Kim go over the second half of the scenes for the third session of play. In the first half of the show, we go over each scene, and NPC in detail, so that you can be prepared to run this session. In the second half of the show, we give tips on running it as interestingly as possible, and ideas on variations to suit your group. (The next episode covers the highlights of how it ran for our group).

Scenes in this Session, entitled “Descendence”:

1) Investigation in the Lost Village – In the aftermath of the Sahuagin attack and the Raftmaster’s murder, the PCs investigate around the Lost Village for clues as to what happened, and what to do next.

2) The Past Revealed – Now undertanding that the PCs are wrapped up in a serious situation with the Items, the Ranger reveals the events that led to the end of his adventuring career, and why someone might be searching for the Items.

3) Bogman Down! – The PCs find the Bogman unconscious in the bog, best by a large pack of Stirges.

4) Meet the Bogman – In his tiny hut, the Bogman reveals that he knows where the Mentor has been taken, and that his ‘special friends’ might know even more.  He also gives them each a gift for saving his life.

5) Descendence – The PCs meet the Bogman’s ‘special friends’, ghosts of people from the ancient city of Bel-Alaqua which lies sunken beneath the bog.  They will be trapped here unless the PCs burn their bodies, which just happen to be inside the same ruin that the Mentor has been taken to.  They also discover that each of them is descended from Bel-Alaquan nobility by taking “the test”.  Finally, they reach 2nd level!

To comment on this episode or to share your own ideas, check out our forums at Spooky Outhouse!

You can access the materials from this show from our forums as well.

e-Adventure Tiles used in this Session:

The promo was for Yog Radio.