The Gods of Vendja.

I have started working on a list of gods available to Cleric characters for my Vendja city-state game. I wanted to create a list without working too hard to define the various cultures in my setting - I want this city to be "international" as it were so virtually any "earth-like" culture could be found here. I think it is a good start, but if players want to name and create their own gods they can certainly do so.

GODS OF VENDJA

ASKLEMIOS (N): God of Magic & Knowledge.
ATHROS (L): God of the Sun, Healing, and Light.
ATHROS (N): God of Mountains.
BES (L): Goddess of Farmers and the harvest.
BETL (C): The Destroyer.
BRANTIS (N): God of Rivers & Lakes.
BREYA (N): Goddess of the Sea and Sailors.
CORGAR (N): Patron God of the Dwarves and Deep places.
CORS (N): Patron God of the Larik Pantheon & the Sea.
CUS (N): God of War, Misfortune and despair.
ETHOR (L): God of the Open Skies, and the four winds.
GWYL (N): Goddess of the Moon & Witches.
HET (C): God of Serpents, assassins, and the Black Arts.
HUKIRUIACH (N): God of the Open Plains & Horses.
MADDES (N): Hobbit Hero, Lord of the Hunt.
MANNMCCOOL (L): Patron God of the Elves. Lord of the Fey.
MATHOSUS (N): God of Trade and Prosperity.
MATI (L): Goddess of the Hobbits.
MISHMETHRA (C): Spider Goddess of Vendja. Matron of Spiders.
MUNS (C): God of Plagues and disease.
NEKURA (N): Goddess of the Dead, the Underworld.
PAJUNO (N): Hero, lord of Archers.
PAND (N): God of Nature, Druids, and Weather.
PLIK (N): God of Luck, Thievery, and the Night.
PLUDAS (L): God of Journeys and the open road.
SURI (N): Goddess of Dances and Prostitution.
THORANTOS (L): God of Gates & Doors. Protector of Hearth & Home.

Game Day report from the basement o' doom.

Game Day report from the basement o' doom.

Well, we have wrapped up our gameday here in Villa Rica Ga. Much fun was had and our first player character was killed towards the end of the session.

The players managed to clear out the rest of the first level of my small 3 level dungeon, fighting some skeletons, stirges, and a giant shrew. One of their NPC hirelings fell victim to a cobra bite - but the party made it down to the 2nd level intact.

Shortly after arriving they encountered a group of vicious rock baboons that managed to kill a fighting-man before being wiped out by the group.

We are playing Swords & Wizardry with some various house rules such as "Shields Shall Be Splintered". (Though oddly enough we forgot about that rule when the fighting-man went down to the baboon, doh!).

I will continue my game in two weeks, though I doubt we will play in the basement of doom again - as my house is not really a central location.

--Mike D.

Behold, the basement of Doom!

All set up and waiting on my victims, errr players. I am using my old Birthright game shield, as it is one of the coolest looking game shields ever made (right up there with the new Star Wars Saga Edition screen - which is the prettiest by far.)

--Mike D.

More on the vile city of Vendja.

I am running full tilt with my city state of Vendja, ruled by an evil cult of a spider god (think Shelob and not Loth!). The Cult of the Spider God rules the city state of Vendja, and it is a sprawling popular city with dark undertones. Many people go missing in this city every year, and while most suspect these missing folk are being used as vile sacrifices by the temple - no one dares speak this too loud in public for fear of being carried away by the city guards.

There are rumors that a group of adventurers have found the ruins of an ancient dwarf city in the foothills to the north of the city (about a 7 day march). This will be my megadungeon (once I get to work on it). As such there are rumors that a dwarf contingent is making it's way to the city to make it's claim on the site as well and if they do it is likely they will not take kindly to adventuring groups looting their long forgotten halls.

I also plan to place a dungeon or two under the very streets of Vendja (especially the temple palace itself - though that will be a high level affair and would probably prompt a face to face encounter with the Spider God itself. (I have not decided on the name of the Spider God yet, though I am leaning towards Zog Og).

I have copied my map at work and plan to start keying it up this weekend (most likely after my game on Saturday). This is the most productive I have been in some time on my game and I am really excited about it. (Now if only I could get back into the groove and finish up Ruins & Ronin).

--Mike D.

International Traditional Roleplaying Week.

For anyone who does not already know, there is a new group promoting old school traditional roleplaying, called TARGA (their blog can be found in my blog roll call on the side bar). Their first initiative will be launched this week:

TARGA’s first initiative is International Traditional Adventure Roleplaying Week, January 10th through 17th, 2009. We are challenging you, ourselves, and old school referees everywhere to find a game store, contact the owner or manager, and arrange a demo of your favorite old school game or retro-clone. Or invite some friends (gamers and/or newbies) to your home for a one-shot adventure. We need to get people playing!

My contribution has been added to the growing list of games that will be played during this week:

Who: Mike Davison
When: Saturday, January 10th, 1pm to 6pm
What: Swords & Wizardry
Where: The Basement of Doom! (home), (Villa Rica, GA)
How: regular gaming group

So spread the word, and get out there and play!

--Mike D.

Mostly finished map of Vendja...

I think I can live with this result.

Updated map of Vendja.

OK, I ruined my first attempt by trying to place roads. I had to redraw the complete map outline. This time I tried roads as dotted lines (gives it a very spidery look - which ties in nicely with my monster-gods idea), I like this one a lot better.

Vendja Gateway to the World.

I have ran one session of my Swords & Wizardry game for my local group and I started them in the sprawling metropolis of Vendja. This city is my gateway to the world, it is the major trading crossroads between the eastern and western worlds. It is overpopulated with various cultures from around my world (which has yet to be developed). Basically it was my excuse to allow any culture that my players may have wanted to play. My problem was it also made my sandbox idea a little more difficult. Now the players have access to this major urban center and all it contains. So I have been thinking about how I can limit them before my next session (this Saturday!). I then found this excellent thread on the Dragonsfoot Forums, this seems like an excellent idea. Vendja is a worldly city with major temples from most of the religions represented there. However I am now thinking there is a major cult running the city (which still allows these temples - but not powerful clerics to practice in the city). I have decided that the cult will most likely be spider based (I love Shelob) and will have total control of the city. More details on that to come.

Now on to my mapping. I love a good city map, and while I don't feel that a city map is necessarily needed for D&D - I still like having them available. I winged our first session, as they spent relatively little time in the city (most of it was based in a small dungeon three days north of the city). Now that I am rethinking the major city (and may even use it for an urban campaign) I want to map the city. I am not the greatest artist however - even though I love to draw, so city maps have always been a chore for me. Today I started a map however, that I think may turn out okay. It is based on a map I found for Constantinople. The picture above is a crappy camera phone photo of my work so far (I don't have a scanner - though I hope to get one after Tax day). I have completed the outlines of the city walls and the citadel/temple on the hill in the city center. I have yet to sketch the streets and will probably not put any other buildings on the map. I think streets will suffice, and then I can label the city districts. I am my own worst critic, so I am sure I will hate this map once it is finished...

--Mike D.

Happy New Year - 2009.

Well, the holidays are over and I am back to posting here on my lonely corner of the internet. I was swamped with work just prior to the holiday season and did not have much chance - or desire - to blog during those long days.

Now that things have settled down at work, and the rush of the holidays has ended, I hope to get back to work here on the ol' blog. I still need to finish up my rules for the Ruins & Ronin game so that may take some of my time away again in the next couple of weeks.

I have updated my list of blogs recently, as there are a ton of good old school blogs out there. It is great to see such a thriving community of gamers sharing their ideas with the world.

I have my local group meeting this weekend to continue our S&W game. This is pretty much something I am doing on the fly as no one was willing to run a game amongst our group. So I chose S&W and they seem to like it so far. I am running a small 3 level dungeon for them - and they have barely scratched the surface of the first level so far - but there have been no PC deaths to date.


--Mike D.