Fridays & Functions: Commissioning Cartography by Jonathan Roberts

I've had all sorts of maps sent to me by publishers, from detailed technical plans to a single scanned line drawing with no grid or scale. From this experience, I have come up with a few pointers for publishers looking to commission a map.

I've jotted down the best practices. First of all, if you can put together a sketch that's a huge help. When creating a sketch:

1. Start with a square grid - blue squared paper is great.
2. Pick a scale that makes sense.
3. Draw clearly areas that will block movement or inhibit movement - walls, rivers, mountain ranges, etc.
4. Place other elements - in another color if possible - that are important.
5. Think about practical issues when designing the map - if monsters are size Large, the corridors will need to be 10' wide. Food and shelter should be close together; obvious entrances should be guarded; treasure chambers should be far from the entrance and so on.

Second, the point of the map is to be clear, not pretty. Use clashing colors - blue and orange, purple and yellow, red and green. The cartographer's job is to take this and make it attractive. The important thing is that the sketch is accurate.

The remaining information that a mapmaker needs from a publisher is predominantly technical. The more information that can be provided at this stage, the easier it will be for the cartographer to meet your needs:

1. The size of the printed image in inches
2. The required resolution in dots per inch
3. The orientation - landscape or portrait
4. Color or grayscale
5. Whether the map needs a version without a grid or without labels

A publisher who wants to change or edit the map based upon author revision, editing, feedback or play-test should advise that changes may be required. It is also important to discuss the precise division of copyright before work starts.

The points mentioned above are the core elements a cartographer needs. Anything else is extra credit. If you can provide the accompanying text that goes with a map then the cartographer will be able to add extra details to make the areas fit their use, as well as check the map for consistency. At the very least, the text will give your cartographer a feel for the setting and style that is being portrayed. Equally, if you have a particular style in mind, then a link to to an existing map or illustration in that style will help convey what you are after. Remember that maps are also illustrations and help to convey your setting to the GM and the players. If your cartographer understands the setting it will show in your maps.

Jonathan Roberts
Fantastic Maps

Questhaven: The Honorable Order of Theurgic Master Craftsmen

The Honorable Order of Theurgic Master Craftsmen

Some cities trade is silks, some in salt, others deal in slaves, and still others in simple food stores. The city of Questhaven’s foremost trade good however is magic. Driven primarily The Evocative City’s ruling class the Questor’s Society or what the common folk call “Adventurers.” The Questor’s Society represents less than one percent of the city’s population yet they possess ninety nine percent of its wealth, and the one trade good they place value on are vessels of eldritch and divine might. What developed in the early days of the Council of Heroes that governs that Questor’s Society to help control this most precious of commodities was a government sponsored organization that has evolved into The Honorable Order of Theurgic Master Craftsmen,

This independent craftsmen’s guild holds an iron grip on the most profitable trade good in the city, several of their members belong to the Questor’s Society and the order’s Grandmaster, Mystic Theurgist Romtinel of Our Lord of Secrets and Spells sits on the Council of Heroes. This mysterious and secretive cabal is rumored to have dealings with both the Great Church of the Pantheon and the Scriptoriums of Our Lord of Secrets and Spells.

By law one cannot sell a magical item within the city without gaining the approval of, or membership in the order, taxes on these sales are paid to the Questor’s Guild, along with dues owed to the Order. The Honorable Order of Theurgic Master Craftsmen does not discriminate against membership for any reason, if a being has access to, or can create magical items the order will do business with them. This includes giants, dragons, devils, demons, angels, oni, jinn, lichs, and other fell beings from the lightless lands beneath the earth.

The operations of the Order follow a complex operating code that governs their sales as imposed by the laws the Council of Heroes has passed down along with the long term economic interests of the craftsmen, primarily for customer this means the order control s the availability of items, their costs, curtailing certain items that they will not sell and certain people they will not sell too (mostly limited to individuals who have offended the order).

Also do to the complex operational code that the order operates under the salesmen is given a long list of knowledge from the diviner about the customer long before they are allowed into the showroom. As such any product brought out for display will not be inappropriate for their level regardless of the customer’s actual wealth. This has more to do with the Council of Hero’s control over the Questor’s Society than with the concerns of the order but they have found it to be very profitable in the long term as adventures are forced due their government enforced monopoly to buy and sell items only through them.

In the Theurgic Craft’s Hall the functioning store front for the order only a single customer is allowed beyond its foyer at any time. In the foyer one can see obvious signs of security with various types of unique golems functioning as the doorwardens and divinesr who require customers not to resist their spell casting lest they be denied entry. They use these spells some of which are custom divinations to learn all they can about their customer, the customers finances, and how a sale here will affect future transactions.

One benefit of this set up has been the tendency of the craftsmen to use this information to create custom items for specific members of the Questor’s Guild, they are able to make this profitable simply be refusing to sell the individual any other items until they purchase the custom item, the quality and usefulness and status of these custom items has actually made this tactic popular, rather than causing resentment amongst members of the society.

This is not so say there are not those renegades who simply don’t care about the loss of access to the order’s creations; there have been the rare attempts at theft and even one outright raid by a renegade fellowship of adventurers. From these it was learned it provides for its own security which include extradimensional safeholds, and that all of the items here can be used in the defense of the facility, that all of the unsold items have tracer spells attached to them, the tracer spells being girded so that they are very difficult to remove, along with an invisible guardian monster whose attacks did not reveal its true appearance.

The Honorable Order of Theurgic Master Craftsmen is not entirely limited to its guild hall when dealing with high value customers, will often send an agent to continue close ties, relations, custom orders, information about caches of items, estate auctions, purchasing items from other sellers, if a person is to be entombed with an item, and even what items are contained in which monster’s hoard. The order occasion uses member of the Questor’s Society to retrieve or escort items with the members being paid in commissioned work.

Wednesdays & Woes: Undying Love by Mark Gedak

Following up on Valentine's day this Wednesdays & Woes Mark Gedak gives you a kind of love that even death cannot stop.

Illustration by Joe Calkins

Undying Love

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." – Robert Munch

Love is a powerful emotion in life and it can be a powerful emotion in death or undeath. Though many monstrous creatures seem tied to the power of love and its opposite emotion hate. Below is a selection of creatures that fit nicely into the theme of undying love.

The Flesh Golem: Struggling With Loneliness

As conceived in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a flesh golem is ghoulish collection of stolen humanoid body parts, stitched together into a single composite form. Although most flesh golems are mindless, there are persistent rumors of unusual golems who somehow retain the memories of a previous life. The head (and thus brain) of such flesh golems must be just the right combination of fresh and (in its previous life) strong-willed, and even then luck and chance during the golem's creation seem just as important in retaining the creature's mind.

Flesh Golems who possess memories of their previous life are called Lifespark constructs by some sages and differ from regular flesh golems in the following ways:

- Lifespark constructs are not immune to mind-affecting effects.

- Lifespark constructs possess 3d6 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma contrary to their prescribed statistics.

- Lifespark constructs have skill points equal to 2 + Int modifier per HD. They treat Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex) and Swim (Str) as class skills.

- Lifespark creatures are not controlled by their creator and can advance through character classes.

- Lifespark creatures are not gaining sentience (like awakened constructs) but never lost sentience in the first place.

Lifesparks struggle with their existence in the world. They are unlike all other forms of life and their horrific appearance makes their monsters to normal society. Lifesparks try to form relationships with members of normal society only to be met with fear or prejudice.

Campaign Hook: Depth within the Folgur Wood their lives a strange hermit, he has never been seen directly but he is thought to protect the people of the area from bandits, evil humanoids and other night terrors. In the past few weeks, women have begun to disappear off the streets at night, their bodies found in pieces in the woods each with a single body part carefully removed. Tensions are running high in the town, and rumors of a stitched man have begun to circulate.

Camino Lavonshia has met the hermit, she knows he is a flesh golem, and worries that when the villagers discover his secret they will hunt him down and kill him. She is convinced the hermit has a kind heart and could not be responsible for the crimes of which he is accused. She seeks out adventurers to help the hermit escape the lynching party and uncover the real killer.

Has the lifespark decided to build himself a mate? Or has a murders discovered the hermit’s secret and used its freakish nature to disguise his crimes?

The Mummy: Separated By Time

Mummies are powerful undead from a different place and time. Often the cultures that spawned their ancient creatures have faded into the past like dust on the winds of change. As such the mummy provides an excellent opportunity to pull characters into unknown lands or strange temporal adventures.

Mummies do not operate by the same rules of current society, often they were the rulers of their societies and subject to no rules besides their own. This makes mummies arrogant and demanding. Mummies of regal bearing often possess high Charisma and access to clerical magic or sorcery. They use these powers to enthral others, hide their monstrous appearance and control the elements.

Campaign Hook: In times long past, a great love was lost, a king separated from his queen. Hundreds of years since her death, Ameriseris, The Queen of Cats has risen from the grave. In the otherworld, she found no trace of her love and has reawakened to seek him out. When her king died, foul magic prevented his soul from entering the afterlife. Since that time, the kings soul has been reincarnated dozens of times, with no remembrance of his former life or love.

Currently, that soul belongs to one of the campaign’s player characters. Can the players protect their teammate from Ameriseris’s foul advances? can their escape from her feline minions? Can they prevent Ameriseris from restablishing her Kingdom current world?

The Revenant: The Murdered Cuckold

The revenant is a vengeful spirit who has risen from the grave in order to gain revenge upon those that killed them. Revenants roam civilized lands tracking their murders wherever they choose to hide. Revenants can sense their murders whenever they are nearby and work tirelessly to slay them.

If a revenant is killed while its murderer still lives, it will rise from the grave again in 24 hours if its remains are not utterly destroyed and placed in consecrated soil. Some sages into the dark arts, confess that sometimes a revenant’s reason to hate can become confused and they can be driven to new acts of murder like a homicidal puppet.

Campaign Hook: Jacinth Skern is on the run, everywhere he goes he is haunted by the sudden appearance of a female corpse. She spews foul accusations of murder and adultery toward him, though he has never seen this undead creature before. He has been on the run for several months and every time he thinks he has escaped she turns up again. He has run out of options, he is looking for adventurers to assist him, to find out who the woman was and help put her soul to rest.

Is Jacinth really the victim here? Or is he trying to escape his own sins with the help of some troubleshooters?

5 new magical weapon properties (by Steven D. Russell)

On today's Mondays & Magic we present 5 magical weapon properties , that come from a new product we are developing 101 Magical Weapon Properties for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Ceremonial Weapon

Illustrtion by Richard Biggs Jr.

Blood Bonded: Whenever anyone except its owner or a member of his bloodline attempts to wield a blood bonded weapon, they take damage equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus (no save; no attack roll necessary). When the last member of the bloodline dies, the thorny weapon may be freely claimed (although it will bloody the new owner once the first time he grasps it). The weapon may also be freely transferred (no coercion or magical charms/compulsions) by one owner to another; with the new owner taking damage the first time grasps it.

Faint necromancy; CL 5th level; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, inflict light wounds; Price: +500.

Breaker: A melee weapon with the breaker property can damage any object including armor with a +9 or less total enhancement bonus. 2/day any object it touches must make a successful Will save (DC 10+1/2 the wielder’s character level + the wielder’s Strength or Dexterity modifier, attended object use their wielder’s save) or gain the broken condition and suffer half its hit points +1 point in damage, an object with the broken condition is reduced to zero hit points and is ruined (if you weapon deals damage to the object it deals its damage before this effect, happens). This weapon has the same effect against constructs but those with magic immunity (such as golems) are only effected if they are also affected bydisintegrate. A use of this ability also destroys a wall of force and the yellow portion of a prismatic wall or prismatic sphere

Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor,disintegrate; Price +2 bonus

Bushwacking: To use this weapon’s ability you must declare that you’re attacking your opponent while he is unaware of you and win the opposed Stealth check vs. your opponent’s Perception. If your opponent is flat-footed, unaware, and successfully damaged, you opponent must succeed with a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Strength or Dexterity modifier) or die. If the damage is non-lethal, your opponent goes unconscious for 2d6 minutes instead. Creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this effect.

Strong necromancy; CL 13th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, finger of death; Price +4 bonus

Ceremonial: This weapon has 4 special abilities. It is a swift action to change which ability currently functions at the beginning of an encounter. After that it cannot be changed until the beginning of the next encounter.

First Blood: +6 to initiative,

Do you Yield: +1d6 non-lethal damage and all damage dealt by weapon is nonlethal,

One Shot: +5 insight bonus to your first attack roll in an encounter,

To the Death: +4 bonus to confirm critical hits.

Moderate divination; CL 13^th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor moment of prescience; Price +2 bonus

Clinging: This is an enchantment that can be woven into any magical net. The net clings to its victim with a life of its own. The DC of any Escape Artist check to escape from the net is changed to 10 + the wielder’s character level + the wielder’s Strength or Dexterity modifier. Casting a spell while trapped in a clinging net requires a Concentration check (Same DC).

Faint transmutation; CL 11^th; Craft Magical Arms and Armor, animate object; Price +1 modifier

Fridays & Functions: Interview with Steve D. Russell

Interview with Steven D. Russell (Restless Souls)

By Jonathan Roberts and Robert N. Emerson

Illustration by Hugo Solis

1. Where did you get the inspiration?

A lot of people ask me about Ghostwalk but to most it was surprising that I had never read it, I have read an interview about the initial thought being that it was boring sitting around and watching other folks play .

My real inspiration came from old ghost stories, and the dead in theIliad and the Odyssey, along with other lesser influences like the pattern ghosts from Roger Zelazney’s Amber, The Dead from Stephen Donaldson’sChronicles Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever , and both The Heroes of the Horn and those brought back the Lord of the Grave in Robert Jordan’sWheel of Time, along with a strong influence by Mike O’Barr’s The Crow(both the comic and the movie).

2. With all the new benefits of death will players be more likely to sacrifice their players?

One of the things I really decided on this that is that the dead know it is better to be alive. As a pure game mechanic its better to be a lich than it is to be human, since often we forget the role-playing draw backs to undeath, I wanted to keep the trauma that is from crossing the pale threshold there are some really evocative options with the restless soul feats but raise dead is still better than being a restless soul. Its also not a guarantee that you will come back, it is entirely the province of the Game Master.

That was part of the design, the GM had to approve this option to begin with so why not put the option entirely in his hands and bring a bit of the uncertainty and mystery that is death into the game.

3. Does it change the way we use resurrection?

No, I wanted to give a GMs and Player Characterrs an additional tool, that had a great deal more than these options do but still not take anything away from them.

4. What is your favorite part about the piece?

Hugo Solis’s Artwork, he is one of the best artists I have ever had the pleasure of working with. The artwork really helped me find the voice for the introduction which is told first person from the point of view of a restless soul named Nestra Darklaugh, So there is another piece of inspiration for you, There is a good deal of dark humor in it that has been very well received, and I credit Hugo with that inspiration.

5. Why did you feel the need to do it?

The desire really came from my home game. I run a very character driven long term campaign and when a character dies it leaves a big gapping whole. Defending against this can lead to a character having plot armor where nothing can kill him until that character’s plot is completed. The problem with this style of play was that it took away from the inherent risk of adventuring and runs the risk of railroading the character’s death. With Restless Souls I could have the best of both worlds because its inherent that when you complete the mission you came back for your going to die, yet if you don’t work toward that mission you can’t be back.

It has even been suggested that you could have a Total Party Kill and bring them all back as restless souls, including the adventure of them escaping the lands of the dead.

Want to know more? Add your Questions to Steve's Interview!