The Freemind Society

Within my Ancients&Aliens setting (Sumer) exists a character named Quibish Freemind who purports to have received the ancient wisdom of a lost ocean-sailing civilization. Many laugh away such notions, or pitied him a madman, for everyone throughout the lands of Sumer know that the Anunnaki created mankind here and none sailed the oceans before then, but Quibish is emphatic.  He is charismatic and well spoken, and eventually finds a few who listen to his words of hope, peace, and love. He travels from city to city, gathering new followers as they go marching out to found a new village of their own, Sanctuary.

Now, these beliefs, the stuff he's telling his people... it's freaking me out honestly. I made a character in my mind who has successfully and repeatedly disturbed me. I'm not even sure what to do with that, or how to sum this up. Here, see for yourself.

Nick: Quibish, would you please come explain a bit about the Freeminders?

Quibish: HEEEEYYYOOOO Pequenyo hiya what? Oh, no. Freeminds. We are freeminds.

N: Sure, fine. So, how did you receive this knowledge?

Q: Telepathy! It all poured right in. Many think of telepathy as hearing voices in the head, but that's not even half of it. Telepathy is seeing what someone else means, which is an altogether different form of thing. If you are referring to the circumstances of the acquisition, I sat in meditation for hours attempting to experience beyond the limits of my perception before I had any success.

N: Ok, so who is it then that you communicate with telepathically?

Q: I assume that you mean besides yourself? Countless others who are all pieces of the one intelligent infinite perfection which fractals it's way towards ever greater complexity in the endless quest for novelty, our endless dance of separation and reunion with our other selves.

N: Yeah, so... I'm not sure this is working. Um, piercing through your words to see your meaning is... a workout sometimes.

Q: Perhaps you should ask better questions.
-Some time later-
N: Perhaps you're right. Maybe I'm coming at this all wrong. Why do you choose to communicate with me?

Q: Our star magi introduced us so that we might help each other. You will gather other future ancients to commune with my people and advise us in our struggle against Kur and those bent toward his service to self mentality which enslaves those bodies held within it's psychic grip.

N: Ugh, my blog is a trainwreck happening in realtime. Can you define "future ancients"?

Q: Yes. You and your people are the future ancients. You travel to the Moon and stars. You hold the tablets of fate which tell the tales of all those who ever live. Your vivid dreams wing and whoosh to wanting eyes a blink of a world away. We dub thee "future ancients" for we glory in your wonders and weep at your passing.

N: Oh, um, do you think I'm dead?

Q: Your time has long since past.

N: I... are you serious? Are you just trying to irritate me now?

Q: I am sorry if my honesty vexes you. You're circumstances remain, only perspective alters.

N: I made you up. You live in a version of ancient sumer that I made up.

Q: Yes, we make up each other. I'm glad that you are coming around to the idea.

N: *sigh* Ok. ok. I'm rethinking this whole format now. You said that the star magi introduced us. Can you tell me more about the Star Magi?

Q: Our star magi is our truest self striving always toward enlightenment, magic, and wonder. A condensation of consciousness moving towards ever greater understanding and realizations. You associate this thought pattern with the word "soul", but to the understanding of the feratalanteans this was star magi is a student undergoing magical instruction within the university of the unseen, a school which we cannot perceive because it is all pervasive and most beings tune it out as noise.

N: Yeah, this is a mess. We have to tighten all this up into a manifesto or something. I don't know how to package this madness. I worry about my mental health.

Q: Don't worry, you aren't crazy. We've just gone a little unsane is all.

Ongoing insane DM notes - Classes

Typically, I like to think that my DMing style is akin to an explorer forging ahead into the unknown with my players. The actuality is that I show up ill prepared and then make the fun happen through intuition and force of will. Case in point, my class list...

	Str	Int	Wis	Dex	Con	Cha
18	Juggernaut	Abjurer	Psychic	Ninja	Jedite	Prophet
17	Huntress	Necromancer	Monk	Sharpshooter	Ronin	Enchanter
16	Paladin	Summoner	Seer	Blademaster	Evoker	Cantor
15	Geomancer	Elementalist	Druid	Hydromancer	Pyromancer	Aeromancer
14	Valiant Knight	Illusionist	Priest	Rogue/Duelist	Berserker	Noble/Warlord
13	Black Knight	Witch	Cultist	Assassin	Warlock	Sorcerer
12	Gladiator	Wizard	Cleric	Burglar/Scout	Viking	Spy
11	Hexenblade	Shaman	Alchemist	Nightblade	Pirate	Bard/Fool
10	Red Shirt	Beastmaster	Zealot	Runenmeister	Wild Elf	Skald
9	Ranger	Barbarian	Sun Elf	Hill Dwarf	Dark Elf	Mutant Warrior
8	Hobling	Savage	Gnome	Mountain Dwarf	Moon Elf	Tiefling
7	Orionixie	Orc	Halflingon	Centauroid	Birdperson	Naked Mole Ratling
6	Furling	Kobald	Goblin	Andwarvian	Octopode	Mantis Stalker
5	Frogling	Beastman	Satyr	Serpentaur	Golem	The Cloven
4	Faerie	Minotaur	Mushroomen	Naga	Gargoyle	Mutant Freak
3	Ghost	Troll Runt	Jester Psycho	Undead	Robot	Haniver

So there it is. A lot of these are custom classes that I haven't taken the time to build yet. I just let people roll up whatever, and if they pick an unfinished one I just ask them what they imagine the class to be like, give them some kind of class ability/bonus for the first session, and then try to finish making the class at home before the next session. To get the mechanics right, I'd ask these questions...

Spell Use? As cleric or wizard or other? Describe if other.
What size die do you roll for hp?
Hit Progression has 4 options; Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User, Normal Man (aka non-progression)
Any armor or weapon restrictions?
Any beyond human abilities? Describe please

I'd go home and plug those answers into my Custom Class Thingamajig, and then fiddle with it all until I was happy. Whether it's a new species or faction/profession I'd try to put together the framework of the culture and how they fit within the world, but on the flip side of that I want the player to create whatever backstory they like for their character, family, and background. Then we weave all those ideas together to help give richer detail to the class. In practice it's a glorious mess.

Oh right, character creation... so once your scores are rolled up, you look at your highest and lowest total to find your two class options (which can be combined btw if the player and I are crazy enough), or be a human (always an option). I've got 96 classes listed here, but with possible combinations who knows. I'm keeping the non-humans on the low end of the list for a few different reasons. The main one being that I allow players to lower their ability scores if they want to play a particular (fancy ability-heavy) character class. It gives people the opportunity to play any species they want, but is fair to those who bow to the will of the dice. Speed of character creation is a serious consideration, I don't like to think about how much of my life has been spent rolling up characters. When you have a class list of 96, you give people 2 options plus human and then move on. Trust me. Another reason that I tied non-humans to low ability scores is because when I create these custom classes I have to just give a number weight to each new ability, and I'm sure that I'm undervaluing things because player ingenuity will always surprise you. How much xp are wings worth? What about gills? So, as I make the class I will give a value to these, and then later often go back to increase these values. I feel the ability score penalty adds a bit of balance. Hmm, and the third reason is spite. Oh, you're too good to be a human? I've had to be one my whole life, here have an ability score penalty you special little snowflake.

It just dawned on me that I need to add Conviction to my chart and 16 more classes. Oy.

Feels easier to just let people write down anything as a class (two words or less) and make a custom class for each one as I go. No. That's the procrastination talking. You can do it you insane DM you!

Daily!

Just got back from a root canal, which has put a wrinkle in my writing plans, as I cannot seem to concentrate on much else at the moment.  Hmmm.

This blog feels so artificial to me. I'm too used to simply talking to people at the table. Suppose if I type as I speak that might at least help me feel more honest. I'm not sure how to blog about Star Magi Mystery School. I could run it, but... huh

So, you roll 3d6 for each ability score, and write down the number on each die in the order that they landed in front of you from left to right. Here, I'll roll one up too. 4,4,2. On my character sheet...

The Sun	4	4	2	Strength	10
The Moon	3	4	4	Wisdom	11
Comets	2	2	2	Dexterity	6
Stars	4	1	5	Intelligence	10
Rainbows	3	5	6	Constitution	14
Clouds	2	6	4	Charisma	12
The Ring	4	3	2	Conviction	9

Ok, so the column of numbers on the far right are the totals that most players would recognize. As for the others; the left column represents the relative magical strength of the Star Magi as it channels itself through this character, the middle column represents the character's instincts/emotions/unconscious and gets used for saving throws, the column on the right (left of Str) represents the character's ego/persona and how they interact with the world.

At this point I feel I should point out that the left column could be seen to represent Fire/Spirit, the middle Water/Emotion, the right Air/Mind, and the far right Earth/Physical Manifestation

Don't worry if you don't get it, we'll learn as we go.

So, now we look at the lowest and highest scores to see our class options. Dex6 opens up Andwarvian as an option (spliced dwarven/andorian DNA), and Con14 offers Berserker, but I'm going with option #3 Human which is available no matter what you roll. Oh! You can combine results as well, so technically Andwarvian Beserker was option #4, but who would want that?

Humans begin play with two special abilities, adaptability and suffering. Enjoy :)

That's all for now. I know it's vague, but that's where I live honestly. I'll ramble more later, but my face aches right now.

Please feel free to ask questions, I need all the help I can get.

Star Magi Mystery School

A new campaign for us. I'm hoping to weave meta-gaming into the story such that it no longer irritates my sensibilities during play; allowing us all to enjoy a smoother experience of the unfolding narrative. I'm incorporating the players into the narrative as helping spirits who exist in a different space/time and suddenly begin to advise and guide their characters (good luck convincing the peasants that your characters aren't possessed). The players will have a host of magical abilities, anything meta-gamey is explained away as some innate magical effect indicative to the nature of spirit (like having whole conversations between sword swings, telepathy between party members, even asking the DM to change reality within the game can be explained as the daemons interceding with a higher power).

I'm overhauling my magic system, breaking it into categories tied into the ability scores and with xp costs for use. So, if the player wanted to make their character ,say, immune to all fire and heat for a duration of "long enough to cross this room/chamber" might cost 100xp of the Comets/Dexterity flavor. I'm adding a new ability score called Conviction and the possibility of overpowering your character's mental guards and taking direct control in those instances when they are under magical control or just being stubborn about swimming across the river of lava even though you promised them that you remembered to cast the fire protection spell this time.

So yeah. The jist of it is that the players are spirit wizards amusing themselves by haunting their characters into the insanity of dungeon delving... but that seems a bit dark for me. Instead, the characters are all part of a cult called Star Magi Mystery School, based upon the teachings of the feral atlanteans who survived the flood. They've awoken their inner star magi, given self-awareness to their subconscious, they see their imagination as both creator and creation. They say that we are all one; that life is but a dream, and that we are the imagination of ourselves. They seek to give themselves over to the highest good that they can accomplish with their life, and so.. dungeon delving, to fight the cosmic evil named Kur whose comets evaporated ice sheets and flooding the ancient world in the times forgotten. The dungeons of Kur are dangerous, full of traps, and so it was decided that they should channel the spirits of the "Future Ancestors" who walk upon the Moon and hold the in their hands the Tablets of Fate which tell them the destiny of anyone who ever was, they who are expert in all manner of tricks and traps will help guide them (enter the players with science/smartphones). All the xp expenditure magical effects is actually being performed by the Star Magi, who teach/learns only to the character but seems happy to provide any magical service the player wants to spend xp on.

I gotta go make a living right now, but I'll be back later to pull more of this game into reality; daily if I can build up the discipline.

Please help the people still suffering in Puerto Rico :)

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Minaria Map with Hex Numbers

This should help simplify my campaign notes.  Might be useful to anyone else running a game in Minaria.  I placed the 990 hex coordinates in an effort to minimize their impact on the artwork and labels.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1Ok2tzw3aug6cOH8lhqJXK6iDB-QuSNrBqgMtdk6Gd-0/edit?usp=sharing