If you have been keeping up with the theme for the Adventueraweek Blog the month of January this year, it is old-school video games (sort of). In this scenario the player characters have found themselves teleported to a crazy 2-bit dimension called the “Lands of Ludolog” where everything exists in a blocky/pixelated state and they are confronted with some very specific advantages (and disadvantages) uniquely associated with being trapped in a video game world. When I was confronted with this crazy assignment a couple of weeks back, at first I was left scratching my head. Would this even work? Not just basing a plot or hook on a video game, but actually adventuring *inside* of a video game using Pathfinder RPG rules? Then about a minute later, decided it was a great opportunity to revisit some great childhood memories as I was a fairly avid video-gamer back in the days of the NES and SNES. Next week’s AAWBlog articles (starting on Monday the 19th and continuing through Sunday the 25th) are made up of the elements of an adventure in the Lands of Ludolog that I authored. My week’s them is *very loosely* based on what was one of my favorite vertical platformers while growing up – a game titled, “Kid Icarus.” As I usually do, I will post each day’s article in my Facebook feed next week. However, as this week comes to a close, I wanted to post a primer about what exactly is going on and expand on the angle taken with the theme concept. You can expect a series of related articles laying out a (Icarus-eque?) quest consisting of over 6,000 words including three all new magic items (two of which allow for “teamwork” effects), a cursed/taboo item, a rather nasty (and hilariously named) trap, two new monsters, and a four-stage dungeon including an 8-bit style vertical dungeon map. There will even be some commentary on ideas for building vertical dungeons included. So be sure to keep an eye out for those posts next week! I had a great time writing them, and hope others will get some enjoyment from the retro-flashback-nostalgia-mode in which they were written. Out of curiosity? Has anyone else ever based a campaign plot, adventure hook, or player character on a video game they once played? Or, perhaps paid homage to a favorite video game via running a tabletop RPG? If so, post a comment! I’d love to hear about it. :) https://youtube/watch?v=dz8L-_MpzSM
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:55:36 +0000