Ulverland Uber Alles

Andrew Shields over at Fictive Fantasies (the blog formerly known as "Between Are the Doors") is just about finished with his tome - "The World Between for Fictive Hack". Fictive Hack is Andrew's own hack of his Old School Hack, which is his fantasy role playing simulacrum.

My apologies to Andrew, but I have not spent much time researching his creations, but we do share the inspiration of Jack Shear's "World Between".

Andrew makes a compelling case for how well-suited Shear's world of gothic horrors and wonders is for his Old School Hack game. One of his points is that in Dungeons & Dragons, your character's level progression pulls away from any real notion of danger or fear within the campaign. The visceral terrors of The World Between are less effective on players coming from a perspective of "oh look! a new monster to fight!"

I can definitely understand that, but what I love about my current campaign, is that my players are all used to the shiny flash of Warhammer or the churning engine of 4th Edition. Dropping them in a miserable fen, in the midst of a ruined necropolis somewhere in Ulverland, leaving them to their own devices, forcing them to think on their character's level and figure out their own way out of the mess, has become a revelation for them. At the lowly 2nd level, there is much to be feared.

It's always strange for me to be playing in someone else's sandbox. When I played 3rd Edition, I bought the lavish Forgotten Realms guidebook, only to never look at it. It was too overwhelming, too many dates and places to remember. Too much information that I felt like I had to incorporate. I just wanted to make my own worlds. But what I love about Jack Shear's World Between, is that it is a real pleasure to work with. It's the sort of game world that I would have liked to build and because it's new and accessible,  I love being able to build within it. Rather than a strict set of places and names, we get a description of the cultures and the "flavor" of the places.

I've never cared for any technological advances in my games, especially gunpowder and firearms. They pull me too far out of the setting and they feel like such an anomaly in the worlds that I like to conjure up. If there were guns, then why would this character want to even wield a sword? If guns were available, I imagine everyone would just stop making swords and armor, and pursue the making of firearms.

Even traditionally Science Fiction elements are strangely off-putting to me. "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" frustrated me to no end as a kid. "Oh! This is the module where you find a spaceship!" While I loved Star Wars and I loved the endless stream of post-apocalyptic films, comics, artwork, murals on custom vans that filled the 70s and 80s, I just didn't want it in my fantasy. Even now, I can't really describe what bugs me about different genres playing nicely together. I suppose it has something to do with the original appeal of swords and sorcery. You succeed by your strength and wits. Live and die by the sword. I don't know, the riddle of steel, something like that. The sudden appearance of a rogue robot or a laser pistol weakens the framework.

But that's just me. Enough of my yackin' go check out Andrew's site and get hackin'!

Apologies to Martin DiBergi

Music, Martinis, Ten Foot Poles, and Me

Ulverland Companion I from thedalitrauma on 8tracks Radio.

The popularity of old school role playing games on the Internet was the part of the glittering lure that brought me back to the smell of graph paper and the clattering of dice. Discovering the indie efforts of so many people devoted to playing games was like discovering punk rock as an eleven year old. The glossy overpriced tripe at the chain bookstores held nothing in the way of allure for me like this virtual gamer speakeasy of freely traded .pdf files and blogs bursting with creativity and plot hooks.

Chief among them was Jack Shear's marvelous Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque and the "World Between" he created - a sort of darkwave campaign setting that melded my younger deathrock sensibilities with my love of storytelling and adventure.

My current campaign that I am running uses the B/X Labyrinth Lord set and it is set in the dreary fog-soaked country of Ulverland. Of all the locales in the World Between, Ulverland is the one that I find the most familiarity. Equal parts classic fantasy rpg setting and something far more lush and dangerous.

I started this blog with the intent of trying to capture the myth and muse of what I love about the classic role playing games, in particular the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, which I will probably talk about at some point, but I guess in the spirit of my favorite blogs, I will just share my own projects, my own ideas, and put them out there as a small contribution to the OSR cabal.

There will also be lots of run on sentences in the posts to come.

The lovely Ms. Shadowfell has created two wonderful mixes of music from the World Between. One for Harrowfaust and one for Midian. And I have shamelessly copied her with my own - Music from Ulverland. It's probably a little more on the black and doom metal side than Mr. Shear and Ms. Shadowfell would have used, but Ulverland is a big place and these are the sounds of the darkened woods, the vast fog enshrouded necropolis, and the long road to uncertainty in my players' dangerous and dark investigations.

Cheers!

An Ulverland Companion Part One

1. Fen - The Wind Whispers of Loss
2. Wolves in the Throne Room - A Looming Resonance
3. Blood of the Black Owl - Intent
4. Dead Can Dance - Gloridean
5. Alcest - Summer's Glory
6. Sylvus - IV
7. Byla - Closer to the Center
8. Darkthrone - The Winds They Called the Dungeon Shaker
9. Cicadan - Dusk
10. Lycia - Clouds in the Southern Sky
11. Isengard - Gjennom Skogen Til Blaafjellen
12. Faith & The Muse - Willow's Song
13. Celephais - Our Hideout Among the Stars
14. Dammerfarben - Vinterblkheten
15. Drudkh  - Tears of Gods
16. Ionnsaich - Despairing
17. Kallathon - As The Sky Fell I Left You Behind
18. Les Discrets - Song For Mountains
19. Manilla Road - The Frost Giants Daughter II: Behind the Veil
20. Chelsea Wolfe - Halfsleeper
21. The Ruins of Beverast - I Raised This Stone as a Ghastly Memorial
22. Negura Bunget - II
23. Kauan - Ikuinen Junan Kulku
24. Neurosis - The Road to Sovereignty
25. Joy Division - I Remember Nothing (live)
26. Wolvserpent - Gathering Strength
27. Nor - Sune
28. Petrychor - Dryad (I Make My Home)
29. Ulver - Kledt i Nattens Farger
30. Manilla Road - Tree Of Life
31. Siouxsie & the Banshees - An Execution