Next February is DunDraCon 42 in California and this year I’ve decided to run one of my all time favorite RPG’s, Blades in the Dark. Here is the event description to whet your appetite.

Night’s Shroud

A reclusive widow, a grand masquerade, a priceless relic; sounds like the ideal score for you and your crew of scoundrels! You have the perfect plan, what could go wrong?

The Lady Evelyn Mandalay is throwing an exclusive masquerade ball in honor of the anniversary of her late husband’s untimely death. Doskvol’s most influential citizens will be attending the event being held at the Mandalay estate, Blackchapel Hall. On display will be many of the late Lord Mandalay’s most valuable treasures, including the legendary scepter known as the Shrouded Eye. The relic of an ancient era, the Shrouded Eye is rumored to possess supernatural powers including placing a curse on those that dare use it.

You and your crew of shadows don’t care much about curses or magical powers. You’re much more interested in the smoky, fist-sized diamond on the scepter and the fact that stealing it will finally make you square with Lord Scurlock. Of course, you’re not the only thieves in the city and the Blackchapel Gala is a target too tempting to pass up. Don’t worry though, you and your crew have the skills and the perfect plan to execute the heist of the century!

Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and, above all, riches to be had — if you’re bold enough to seize them. You and your crew must thrive amidst the threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the city watch, and the siren song of your scoundrel’s own vices. Will you rise to power in the criminal underworld? What are you willing to do to get to the top?

Characters and dice provided by the gamemaster. The system is easy to learn and those unfamiliar with the system are encouraged to come and play. If you’re a fan of heist movies and video games like Thief and Dishonored you’ll love Blades in the Dark!

Stay tuned for more information. Hope to see some of you there!

For these heroes I’m allowing them to use any of the Descriptors from the rulebook. I’ve also included the following Focuses: Carries a Quiver, Casts Spells, Consorts with the Dead, Defends the Weak, Explores Dark Places, Fights Dirty, Fights with Panache, Hunts with Great Skill, Infiltrates, Looks for Trouble, Masters Defense, Masters Weaponry, Metes Out Justice, Moves Like a Cat, Murders, Needs No Weapons, Performs Feats of Strength, Rages, Shepherds Spirits, Siphons Power, Slays Monsters, Stands Like a Bastion, Throws with Deadly Accuracy, Wields Two Weapons at Once, Works Miracles, Would Rather be Reading.

One of my favorite elements of the Cypher System are flavors. The love being able to modify each of the four types (adept, explorer, speaker and warrior) to really dial in a “class” concept. Using types and flavors I developed 16 Gothic archetypes for the players to choose from.

• Alchemist [Adept with Skills & Knowledge flavor]
• Apostate [Adept with Stealth flavor]
• Bard [Speaker with Skills & Knowledge flavor]
• Crusader [Warrior with Skills & Knowledge flavor]
• Duelist [Warrior with Stealth flavor]
• Huntsman [Explorer with Combat flavor]
• Inquisitor [Explorer with Magic flavor]
• Magi [Adept]
• Mesmerist [Speaker with Magic flavor]
• Mystic [Warrior with Magic flavor]
• Rogue [Speaker with Stealth flavor]
• Scholar [Explorer with Skills & Knowledge flavor]
• Sorcerer [Adept with Combat flavor]
• Thief [Explorer with Stealth flavor]
• Warlord [Speaker with Combat flavor]
• Warrior [Warrior]

In addition to the standard choices players make to build Cypher System heroes, I have also included the “Touch of Shadow.” Each hero has a Touch of Shadow which thematically colors their powers and abilities. For example, whenever the hero heals someone with her Works Miracles abilities, nearby plants and animals wither and die; life for life. These elements have no specific mechanical effect, they are just designed to reinforce the dark, corrupting aspects of the setting. 

Lastly, I have given the players some specific notes regarding how XP are earned in this campaign:

• GM Intrusions: Ravenloft actively seeks to thwart heroes. Misfortune, bad timing, even the weather all work against the heroes. They gain XP by overcoming adversity and setbacks.
• Spreading Light & Hope: Gloom and despair permeates the recursion. Heroes that bring light to this dark realm, and hope to the hopeless, gain XP.
• Discovering Relics: Several important relics are tied to Ravenloft’s history and reality. Finding these significant items and learning about them is worth XP.

My players are really looking forward to getting started with their new heroes this evening. Hopefully they can find a way to escape the evil machinations of Count Strahd von Zarovich and not become the latest victims of the vampire lord!

After kicking around several ideas I’ve decided to convert WotC’s Curse of Strahd campaign to the Cypher System, one of my all-time favorite systems. The campaign kicks off this weekend and I’ve been working on notes and handouts for the past couple weeks. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Cypher system let me tell you, converting other source material is really easy. I’ve been wanting to run something in the Gothic horror genre for awhile and I’ve always loved all things Ravenloft.

So, here’s my premise for the campaign:

• The heroes are actually agents of The Estate (borrowed from The Strange, a Cypher System game).
• They are trapped in the recursion of Ravenloft.
• Everything else in the campaign will generally follow the original.

Aside from the thematic element that these heroes are actually from Earth, my only other slight modification is to increase the Gothic horror elements and decrease the fantasy elements typically found in the Ravenloft products made for D&D. I’ve done a couple things to accomplish this:

• The heroes are all human. Virtually all of the NPC’s in the adventure are human as well, except the handful of “dusk elves” but they should feel more mysterious and exotic in the absence of any other elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes.
• A couple of monsters have been changed, or at least re-skinned, for a more classic Gothic feel. One of the druids has been redone as a necromancer, a shambling mound is now an undead ooze, that sort of thing.
• The list of available focuses I’ve selected for the players to choose from all have a grittier feel to them. I want the campaign to feel more Solomon Kane and Brothers Grim than your typical D&D version of horror.
• There are a handful of important, named magic items in the adventure that I’ve converted into Cypher System artifacts. Everything else that would be a magical item in D&D has been turned into Cyphers (one-shot items for those unfamiliar with the system). Cyphers in this setting include herbal remedies, alchemical concoctions, clockwork devices, blessings from the Dark Powers, and sudden insights of inspiration.
• I also added “bringing light into the darkness” as one of the primary methods of earning XP in campaign along with GM Intrusions.

One of the nice things about Curse of Strahd is that it is presented in a way that matches my GM style. It isn’t a linear adventure, it’s a variety of interesting locations, unique situations, and antagonists with complex goals and various resources. The only real guidelines are that the heroes should find out what they need to do to escape Ravenloft, explore and discover what they need to do that, and then do it. Easier said than done however!

Stay tuned to hear how this campaign progresses each week; will our brave heroes escape the clutches of the vampire lord Strahd von Zarovich or are their souls doomed to wander the Demiplane of Dread for all eternity?!

Auroras
Also called polar lights, auroras normally occur in regions that are close to the magnetic poles of the planet. They are caused by electrically charged particles, solar winds, magnetic field lines and gas atoms all smashing together. But in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, they could pretty much occur anywhere you darn well please and for any reason.

One cool possibility for the use of auroras is the potential effect it could have on vision. Perhaps under an aurora, races with normal vision and dark vision both see the same. Due to the electrically charged particles in the air, there may be higher than normal static electricity which may cause electrical shorts. The gas atoms in the air may have an effect on spells or explosions.

One of the cool things about an aurora is that it could seem beautiful or ominous, depending on how it is described. There are a lot of ways a gamemaster could use it to augment an adventure that is taking place under the veil of an aurora in the sky.

Fog of Steam
Normally, fog is caused by the cooling air and an inability to hold water vapor. In the case of the fog of steam, it is caused by moisture in the air reacting from heat coming from the ground. It is not uncommon for this to happen in areas where the ground is unusually hot, like near volcanoes, lava flows or underground hot springs.

Unlike traditional fog which blankets an entire area, the fog of steam is large pockets of heated and condensed air. Kind of like clouds on the ground, individuals can navigate through them and avoid being scorched by their burning air. It is generally unknown why the fog of steam doesn’t rise into the air and disperse. Most think it is because of some unique chemical or element contained within the fog that is not normally present.

Anyone entering a pocket of the fog of steam will be burnt. The longer they stay inside the hot pocket of air, the worse they will be burnt. It can kill those who, for whatever reason, find themselves trapped inside a large pocket of the fog and unable to escape. Typically, the fog will travel through and disperse from an area within a relatively short amount of time.

Fire Tornado
When a regular tornado forms in the area where a fire is occurring, a fire tornado can ensue. The tornado swirls around containing debris within it picked up from the ground. It touches onto the area of the fire which sucks the fire up into the tornado and starts burning the debris inside of it.

This fire tornado continues through the area as a normal tornado would. Even if the fire on the ground is extinguished, the fire tornado will continue as long as the tornado is active and it is picking up debris from the ground. Burning embers and debris that manage to escape the cone of the fire tornado can even start additional fires nearby as it moves through the area.

Icicle Rain
The phenomenon of icicle rain forms under unique weather circumstances. Clouds at very high altitudes roll into an area. A light wind often starts to pick up and too many observers, it may appear as if it is about to rain. But then the temperature drops to an unusually cold level, making rain unlikely and snow a more likely occurrence. And then it happens…

Most people first notice taps on the ground of what appears to be hail. The sound of taps against rocks, wood, or any hard surfaces start to become apparent. Then the small balls of hail start to appear more as shards striking the ground. To anyone who has seen or heard about the phenomenon, they know now is the time to take cover. The shards turn into full-fledged icicles striking the ground damaging structures and injuring anyone not taking cover.

The event sweeps out of the area in the same way it came in. The icicles start becoming smaller shards which in turn change to small pellets of hail. Eventually the sky stops dropping cold pain onto the lands. The temperature starts to rise again, allowing most of the frozen moisture on the ground to melt. The clouds roll away and the area returns to normal leaving only the damage and destruction caused by the icicle rain.

Lightning Tempest (similar to Catatumbo Lightning)
Many have experienced the spectacle of thunder and lightning during a storm but few have seen a lightning tempest. A lightning tempest can best be described as a lightning storm multiplied by a factor of one hundred. It forms the same way a storm would. Clouds roll in, a little rain may fall, and the air may have a little more static charge than it normally would. Thunder rolls in and lightning begins to strike the area.

The single points of lightning quickly turn into multi-pointed barbs of electricity. Many of them begin striking the ground and it begins to occur with increasing frequency. Eventually, the sky lights up with a constant barrage of dozens, if not hundreds, of lightning strikes occurring in massive groups at the same time.

A lightning tempest is devastating to the area that it strikes. It starts fires, damages structures and plant-life, and wreaks havoc to the area. Lightning tempests are most common in barren wastelands as the damage they cause is too much for any area to endure if they happen with any frequency.

More Unique Weather Event Ideas
So there they are, five unique weather events ideas that you could use for your campaign setting. Like I stated at the beginning, I had a fantasy setting in mind when I developed most of these but I believe they could be used very easily in a sci-fi or other setting as well.

Which ones do you like the most (or least)? Do you have a really unique type of weather event you’ve used in your game setting? How did it go?

Here are several suggestions I’ve received as well as topics covered in previous years:

• A GM’s Guide to Managing Problem Players
• The State of Indie RPG’s
• A Brief Overview of Various RPG Systems
• Storytelling 101
• Kickstarter: From Concept to Finished
• Game Design
• What makes a Good PC?
• Women in Gaming

So what do you think? If you were going to listen to a speaker (or speakers) for 30 minutes to an hour, what would you want to hear about? What topics, advice, or information would you find interesting an engaging?

A couple additional notes: if you are in the area June 24th to 26th, we would love to have you attend the con. In fact if you would like to be one of our featured panelists I’m always looking for new people and perspectives.