Tales of the Shudder Mountains: A Campaign Primer

On Wednesday, March 28th at 7:30pm cst, our Twitch channel twitch.tv/twentysidestoeverystory will be debuting a new campaign entitled Tales of the Shudder Mountain. It will be a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG campaign using Michael Curtis' Chained Coffin mini-campaign setting and will take the characters into the rich culture and terrifying unknowns of the Appalachian inspired region of the Shudder Mountains.

The Snuff Steppes

Our tale does not start in the Shudder Mountains but rather within their shadow. The region south of the Shudder Mountains is labeled on most maps as the Sotho Plains, but among its residents it is known as the Snuff Steppes. Its mild winters and long growing seasons have made it a region of abundant agriculture and cattle farming. Many families grow a variety of vegetables that they subside on, while soybeans, tobacco, wheat and rice are all common staples which are grown for the benefit of the Manncaster family. 

The Manncasters lay claim to the entire region and lease this land to the residents of the Snuff Steppes. The farmers and workers are expected to give 20% of the production of their labor back to the family as rent. This system of taxation is all regulated and managed by a lone agent named Sheriff Wex LePage. He is not a villain who exists simply as a pawn of the family, however, and is well regarded by the denizens of the plains. He is known to turn a blind eye or make "clerical errors" when folks are unable to provide their rent.

Map created using Inkarnate: https://inkarnate.com/

Religiously, people revere Justicia, goddess of justice and mercy. People are generally distrustful or even hostile to those of other faiths. Folks in these parts believe that sins carry weight based upon its severity, but that all are redeemable through good works. A common saying is that all people are guilty of sin, but all can atone through earnest labor.

People live very far from one another and tend to only come together when their children become of age to be wed. Weddings are celebrations that bring folk together, and often beget further engagements between eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. 

Commerce is limited, but some goods are traded back and forth with the "Shud folk" of the mountains. The residents of the Snuff Steppes are quick to describe Shud folk as "dirty" and "drunkards"; the imbibing of alcohol being seen very much as a sin in Justicia's eyes. Though as the gossip swirls and slanders the people of the Shudder Mountains, it is usually followed by a caveat that hopefully Justicia, in her infinite mercy, will find a way to forgive them and lead them down a path of redemption. Coal and precious metals such as silver are prized commodities that originate from the Shudder Mountains. The Shudfolk are also renowned for their quality wool products such as blankets, quilts, furniture covers, etc.

Our Story Begins With a Day of Matrimony

It is a celebratory occasion as the story begins. It is the 8th day of The Bloom in the year 991 of the Grand Course of Days (GCD) and folk gather for the union of Tum Dankers and Ivy Newscombe to be joined in marriage. Clim Wills and Son Carver have prepared a pig roast and a wide spread of dishes prepared with recipes passed from generation to generation. Jam Ranson and his three sons have come packing fiddle and flute to help folk get their shoes clicking and dancing until the sun goes down. And Father Gajers has come to officiate the wedding and give judging looks to the not-so-stealthily passed flasks and jugs of stump whiskey that the party goers likely will imbibe.

It All Begins With a Funnel

The players will all be starting this campaign having rolled up three level-0 characters. They are no heroes. They are farmers, woodcutters, and laborers who have come to celebrate the day with their neighbors and kin. Not prepared for heroics, they will soon be sent on an adventure that will change their lives forever. And not all of them will make it out alive.

The level-0 funnel is the DCC RPG way of creating characters worthy of adventure. During the course of play they will find that many of their characters will meet fatal conclusions, leaving only a select few alive at the end to advance to become full level-1 characters. It is at that point we will learn who will take on the mantle of the protagonists in this tale of sorrow and woe.

Hope you can join us at 7:30pm cst on Twitch for Tales of the Shudder Mountains! We just need 8 more followers for March to meet our goal - if we reach our goal we will be raffling off a delightful coloring book I obtained at GaryCon from Darlene the Artist. Give us a follow and share us with a friend so we can give away more cool stuff! twitch.tv/twentysidestoeverystory

Help us meet our Twitch follower goal for March so we can raffle this off to one of our viewers!

GaryCon X Highlights - Part 2

Friday at GaryCon was looking good as I readied myself for my first games of the Con as a player. My day began by hitting up the exhibition hall and scouting out things I might want to buy. In particular, I was looking for something unique to use as a giveaway for our Twitch channel. I discovered Darlene the Artist (darlenetheartist.com) who had a fantastic coloring book which I thought would be the perfect thing to give away if we meet our March follower goal.

"Color Me Powerful" is a mindfulness coloring book with each page dedicated to helping to helping one connect to an aspect of their feminine spirit. It was exactly what I was looking for. 

Darlene even personalized the book for our lucky follower who wins this prize! If you are interested in winning this item, head over to twitch.tv/twentysidestoeverystory and give our channel a follow!

My goal for GaryCon this year was to get as much Dungeon Crawl Classics experience as a player as possible. I signed up for Brendan LaSalle's "And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of the Dead." His games had been suggested to me at last year's GaryCon by +James Walls and I am very pleased I committed that name to memory! The concept of the adventure was that our characters all belonged to a 1970's rock band that was still trying to find its muse and establish itself among the greats. Hailing from Boise, Idaho we were known as Electric Potato. We were on tour and down in Georgia when we performed our largest gig yet. While we were on stage, time seemed to stop and a dimensional rift exposed itself out amongst the crowd. It turned out that the cosmic expanse we were experiencing was not from the hash oil our characters had consumed before going on stage. We met our biggest fan from the future (his name we Magpie) who came riding in on a cosmic jet plane. He told us he needed our help to defeat an enemy named Queen Coyote.

Decked out to show off my DCC fandom.

We eventually found our way to a special room aboard the flight. It contained holograms of famous fantasy characters such as Conan, Gandalf, King Arthur, etc. My character lit up a joint and headed in, examining Gandalf as he took a deep inhale and extended the arm and said "Hey man...you shall pass." I became the wizard.

Brendan was a very animated Judge who kept every minute feeling energized. Definitely created a GaryCon memory for me!

Queen Coyote eventually succeeded in getting our aircraft grounded and we had to take refuge in a tower. We descended into the cavernous undercroft and met a character named "Catfish" who seemed likely to be a demon of sorts that needed our assistance getting free from its prison, finding the "Well of Many Worlds" which seemed to have powers beyond our comprehension, and ultimately we had to play a final gig in hell to distract and keep the demons who were getting ready to invade the multiverse entertained long enough for them to miss they opportunity at cosmic destruction. Of course we rocked it out to a song I wrote entitled "Chaos is a Ladder to Redemption." Electric Potato 4LYFE. If you ever have an opportunity to play in one of Brendan's games, I highly suggest you do so.

Electric Potato - 1974 World Tour.

The final event I had for Friday was to DM for the Return to the Ghost Tower of Iverness event through D&D Adventurer's League. +Joe Alfano shot me a tweet earlier in the day asking if I was available, so I headed to the Adventurer's League area to get the module and begin doing prep. Whew! I spent some time with the module and made a few homemade visual aids before the event began. It was a blast! I had a really fun group of players who were more than forgiving when I had a few missteps as we were playing. Best part of the event was facing off against cranium rats who used dominate person spells to gain command of several of the players. It became quite a PvP slugfest with me rarely rolling anything for the majority of the encounter. Quite fun. Lots of laughs were had and they did very well with the traps and puzzles they faced. It was a fantastic Friday at GaryCon!

Adventurers League DMs preparing to be merciless during Return to the Ghost Tower of Iverness written by Elisa Teague.

GaryCon X Highlights - Part 1

If you are a tabletop gamer and you have not been to Gary Con, you need to mark your calendar now and make this a priority. This convention, which is named after the father of D&D himself, specializes in creating an intimate gaming experience where friendships and memories are made over the bonding power of rolling dice. Whether you are looking for organized play experiences through Adventurer's League, trying to find a niche game system to try out, or are interested in hearing stories from the Gygax family or gaming legends like Tim Kask or Frank Mentzer, you will have those opportunities and more at Gary Con.

The Table of Honor in remembrance of Gary Gygax (photo courtesy of Derek White)

This was my third trip to Gary Con. I was excited for a number of reasons, but the "theme" of this year for me was digging deeper into a wonderful gaming system called Dungeon Crawl Classics. I wrote about one of my first experiences with it here. I signed up to play a game with Brendan LaSalle at the recommendation of +James Walls who ran a fantastic game of a Star Wars inspired adventure at last year's Gary Con (zombie Gungans!). I also signed up to play a game with +Michael Curtis who authored one of my go-to game mastering books the Adventurer's Almanac and is the creator of the Shudder Mountain campaign setting that our next Twitch campaign will be taking place in. Finally, I was excited to run my first non-AL game at Gary Con - the Return to the Labyrinth!

Thursday

An early morning drive as I left home at 4:45am to get from my home in Oshkosh, WI to Lake Geneva. I was running on very little sleep since I was streaming the night before, but the adrenaline pumping through my system was enough to keep me amped for the majority of the day.

Getting ready to roll out to Lake Geneva!

My Thursday was completely booked with DMing. After I picked up my badge I was off to the Adventurer's League hall. I love to signup to run any of the tier 1 adventures, particularly ones that I suspect new players might jump in on. My suspicion was correct as I had quite a few first-time players as I ran several instances of City Over the Edge. It is really rewarding to help people get acquainted with our hobby and have that first convention adventure that stays with you forever. I was lucky enough to have a fantastic DM (+Joe Alfano) who ran Death House during my first Gary Con and it is a game that gets mentioned frequently in our gaming circle.

Once I completed my Adventurer's League commitments, I had to head to the Timber Ridge Lodge and get checked into the hotel, and more importantly, get decked out in my Jareth costume for Return to the Labyrinth. I forgot my eyeliner pen so I had to improvise. My friends gave me a hardtime afterwards, but I think I looked pretty fly.

After navigating through my own personal labyrinth through the basement of the Grand Geneva to find Forum C, I finally made it to my table. I had a fantastic group of players join me and they came up with a lot of fun personalities for their characters. The beginning of the Labyrinth adventure leads with the characters, all teenagers, receiving an invitation to attend Toby Williams' 16th birthday (he was the baby from the original Labyrinth film). I always pose to the group the question of how their characters know Toby. Here is what they came up with:

• Obligatory weed dealer (literally have this hook every time I run this adventure)
• Toby's former babysitter
• Pool hall owner who lets Toby hang out in his establishment for a cut of his winnings
• Foreign exchange student who trades punk rock CDs with Toby (at least until he started getting into lame shit like Fallout Boy)
• Young republican who was trying to steer Toby from his libertarian leanings
• President of the yearbook club who was attending the party to get some photos

Once at Toby's party, gifts were exchanged and the players learned that Toby was kind of a prick. One by one, each of the player's learned of a personal grievance Toby had with them. Later in the evening, as everyone was having fun and Toby brooded in the corner while playing with a crystal ball he received from an unmarked package, a bunch of goblins tour through a mystical portal that ripped through the wall. The goblins were evidently looking to abduct Toby, but were not given enough detail on which one Toby was. Not ready to return home empty handed, the goblins abducted all the teenagers and brought them to the world of the Labyrinth.

 The spunky teenagers found themselves captive and learned that soon a coronation would be held to name him the new Goblin King. Jareth showed up to share this news and offered the PCs a deal; if they could navigate to the center of the Labyrinth before Toby took the role, he would pardon them and return them home. The heroes encountered doors which gave them a look into their own closets, they navigated a very tricky set of hallways, battled the cleaners and stole their pedal-operated contraption, bribed Hoggle with loose change, and navigated a hedge maze with the help of a riddle. We shared laughs and beers and learned that one of the players had never seen The Labyrinth - hopefully the adventure was still entertaining despite missing out on the movie callbacks.

 The finale of the adventure found the party in the Escher-style chamber of dizzying hallways and improbable staircases. Jareth was present and altered the deal - he was tired of Toby's nonsense (quite an insufferable brat) and he declared that a battle royale would be held for any who wished to take his position as Goblin King. A mad scramble at the end was full of ridiculousness and it was our punk-rock foreign exchange student who grabbed his skateboard and did a grind along a banister to sweep into the throne and claim the title of Goblin King!

My Thursday was a blast and I felt so blessed to play with an incredible group of players! More to come in the following days...