So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish~

Or - the FKR is dead, long live the FKR. The first schism was political - the Revival server still sucks last time I checked. It's currently run by a dude who pretty openly talks shit about queer people and the SJW agenda.

The FKR Collective is neat, I like a lot of folks in there, I had good chats here and there, and I salute the efforts of its moderators and admins - some I call friends, some I respect or appreciate but don't know much. Pointing this out cause as much as I enjoy drama, the goal here isn't to hurt folks' feelings.

That being said,

>It is late at night. You find a piece of parchment knifed on your door.
FKR Non-Exhaustive Analysis
Complementing my FKR Analysis

Earlier:
I tried to explain shit practically.
A few times, actually.

I will no longer, eveeeeer, explain this shit, it's been done enough. You don't need any more articles to explain the stuff. Weird Writer did a great job. Heck, the very first posts on the topic also were enough, but sadly they were written by chuds. Sorry, Bible-believing christians <3. I'm pissed at you two (you know who you are, I know you still read my blog for some reason I cannot fathom) because you do get FKR, but we would just get in a fist fight if we navigated the same space IRL.

-

Most of what the blogosphere is (thankfully) missing is the exhausting, constant conversations about "but that is too prescriptive", "but I want FKR to mean something else", "but it's basically freeform", and on and on and on. I've read multiple instances of people explicitly saying they are not interested in FKR but are glad they have a hangout for fellow post-Forge lifeboat to talk about, well, Freeform Roleplaying.

This is what Principled Freeform is.
See? It's been clearly laid out and defined in 2011.

In the mean time, there was this whole thing called the OSR that happened, and it re-discovered, or discovered, very interesting shit about emergent gameplay that came from old ass games. And from there, some old ass dude pointed out that to him, that wasn't so much a new thing since he didn't "go back" to OSR but just had run games this way for most of his life.

Thread here.

I don't think you can dissociate the FKR from its historical context - Free Kriegsspiel, Braunstein, and the stuff that falls in the OSR venn diagram (OD&D, and yes, I will continue to insist, Classic Traveller. Just read these posts.) I think insisting on doing so dilutes what makes That Specific Thing interesting and different from Principled Freeform.

I've spent the last few years mainly banging my head against the wall with conversations that usually don't go anywhere or keep propping up again and again around these same topics. Aaand, I'm done. There's no point - people who want FKR to mean something else can keep the acronym, it's just words anyways.
"DIY Elfgames" was already defined here. And I'm not a fan of taking something people put a lot of love and care in theorizing about only as a platform to re-purposing it for different purposes. I just won't do a manifesto and you can call my brain juice whatever and use what you find useful in my writing.

Gotta get back to practical GM shit though, the theory just makes me want to not engage in discourse, ever again. This is what I'd like to focus on on this blog from there on, and that probably means spending less time talking to people on discord about games. Got sucked in, and as usual, it sucked and didn't teach me much.

Anyways, I'm working on something I'm calling a "Horrorcrawl" (is that name taken? If not, calling dibs :) ) - I have some dungeon levels but I wanna refine them more, and start running more open tables, picaresque one-shot horrors. Thing Trophy Dark except it runs like a black box, minimalist AD&D rather than a Cthulhu Dark type thing. High trust, very little focus on mechanics, probably closer to your traditional Call of Cthulhu games but informed by Keystones and Cave Girl's Post on OSR as Survival Horror.

I apologize for the rant-iness. None of this is useful to you as a GM, which goes against the ethos of my blog. So here are my prototype maps and keys. Do whatever you want with them, just credit me please. This, below, is what I want to spend my time doing when engaging with the hobby. I'm just taking the necessary step to keep my attention focused on that rather than stuff that just makes me either pissed or sad. Kisses.

P.-S.: I will be offline for like four days so please refrain from DMing me until the week after if you feel like you need to. You can still find me on Discord on the NSR server's ultralight-and-fkr channel and classics-and-retroclones channels, as well as in secret servers. xoxo.

---CONTENTS---
REGION WEATHER
1 Mist
2 Windy
3 Rainy
4 Rainy & Windy
5 Storm
6 Downpour

1.COURTYARD
In the No Man's Land that marks the frontier between the warring kingdoms of Rondo and Gaelia lies a dark corner of the earth, forsaken by all.
Leaves rustle in the wind, towering over you, a massive fortress cradled in the mountains, surrounded by deep pine woods. Cursed, its history was swallowed by the mist.
Your boots leave deep prints in the mud, your cloaks barely shield you from the biting cold. In front of you stands the main gate, massive doors of sturdy black oak and iron bands. Next to them, and littered around the courtyard are damaged barrels and crates, a broken cart, and a rotting pile of refuse. To the doors' left is a cellar door down a few steps, just below ground level. In the distance, you hear the barking of wild dogs.

- Massive Doors: Locked by an unseen contraption (lever on the other side), lead to GREAT HALL.
- Crates & Barrels: at a glance, rotten food and other weather-damaged supplies. Each turn spend searching, find COMMON LOOT = # PC
- Cellar Door: Covered in moss, bloated by rot, easily broke open. Leads to BASEMENT.
- First encounter here is always RABID DOGS, then 1-3 RABID DOGS, 4-6 MERCHANT.

    RABID DOGS
- Howling, barking, ravenous mutts, yellow eyes, drooling, patchy black fur, smell of wet mold and blood
- Want to feed, kept alive in perpetual starvation by the Mist
- d3 per adventurer / 6 HP / 12 STR / d6 Bite / Crit = Devour prey, d4 STR damage each following turn

    MERCHANT
- Sets up shop in the courtyard unless dogs are on the hunt, coach with three wooly horses
- Leather coat, hood, patterned balaclava, parchment skin, dark brown complexion, deep black eyes without eyebrows
- Want to barter, hopes to profit from continued hopeless efforts to purge the dungeon of its evil
- Buys: location of secret passages, monster weaknesses, faction activities, treasures (coin, gems, paintings, etc.)
- Sells: any of the above to new players (open table!), d6-d6 of each per visit: torch, flask of oil, medicinal herbs, white vial (antidote), red vial (explosive), translucent vial (acid), bundle of rope, grappling hook (1), scroll (1), alternatively, any valuables left behind on an adventurer's corpse...

2.BASEMENT
Rough stoneworks half-covered in lichen, flies over puddles of rain water, broken, moldy furniture. Your footsteps echo alongside irregular drops of water oozing from roots that pierced the ceiling. You can see your breath in the torch light, and the darkness beyond seems to slither around you, patiently biding its time for an opening. At the end of this slanting passsage, a wooden door with a broken lock leads you into the basement. Un unnatural hunger and growing sense of unease wash over you as you venture into the dark.
(This always leads into a wide hall with pillars first, with two exits: wide opening north, straight passage east to a wooden door).

BASEMENT ENCOUNTERS
2 Hag
3-4 Amoeba
5-7 Brute
8-10 Dog Mimic
11 Abomination
12 NPC (1 Thief, 2 Alchemist, 3 Knight, 4 Barbarian, 5-6 Prisoner)

    HAG
- She is laughing, it never stops, it hurts, her throat is hoarse, the noise sounds like vocal chords being scratched with long nails as one utters a guttural cry.
- She flies, only her head remains, bloated like a pumpkin, a crooked smile permanently etched onto its face, black sharpened teeth - hers is an expression of pain.
- She derives joy from the suffering of others - she will attempt to attract more encounters, taunt interlopers into dangerous areas, and fly off when threatened.
- Unique / 12 HP / 5 STR / d4 Bite, d6 Psychic Scream, increases FEAR if it gets through HP

    AMOEBA
- Picture a squashed brain-like mass of pulsating organic mush, about the size of a basketball. It stands a two heads above you in height, and from it, seven reticulated coiling appendages.
- Four are used for locomotion, clawing at the ground and walls, two are prodding forward and around the creature, snatching rats and misshapen insects and bringing them to its human mouth, seemingly haphazardly painted over the brain-mass. It drools yellow bile. The last appendage ends in a stinger held up like a scorpion's tail, warning off larger predators.
Bloodied: sings to attract more Amoeba.
- It wants to feed on small vermin and be left alone. It follows larger prey with curiosity and will attempt to snatch corpses away, or attack weakened adventurers.
- 1 appearing / 10 HP / 10 STR / d4 Whip (Onslaught: Immobilizes), d6 Stinger / Crit: Injects its eggs in you, lose 1 STR per Turn until vermifuge is administered

    BRUTE
- Hulking, misshapen brutes, former prison guards who still retain the vague shape of a person, with grey-white skin, hairless, unnatural bone protrusions twisting their bodies.
- Under orders from the Torturer, want to capture prisoners for his experiments. Enjoy fear and pain in their victims. Carrying messers. Utterly stupid. Bloodied: runs away.
- 1 appearing / 12 HP / 15 STR / d10 Cleaver / Crit: Hacks off a Limb (1-2 Foot, 3-4 Hand, 5-6 Arm, 7-8 Leg, 9-0 Head)

    DOG MIMIC (Died, dead)
- It has taken the shape of a rabid dog, but its furless skin twitches unnaturally, as if something underneath longs to escape. It moves erratically, like a puppet. It does not bark.
- If you get too close, it blooms into a flytrap-like decadence of sinews, tendons and boney protuberances, all teeth and claws and exposed muscle. It drips rotten meat.
- It wants to feed on the unwary, and preserve itself. Every time it feeds, it adds to its biomass and shifting capability. If it eats a whole person, it will begin to transform.
- 1 appearing / 12 HP / 15 STR / d6 Blast Claws or d8 Bite / Crit: Latches on and tries to escape with its prey, seeking the nearest opening in the wall to go in the Interstice.

    ABOMINATION
- An enormous amalgmation of flesh, screaming faces, hands, arms bent backward, legs, eyes and mouths pleading for forgiveness, for death. It consumes everything it touches.
- It wants to die. If Bloodied, begins to say "Thank you!", "Please, keep going", "More!" and "Kill us, end us, in the name of all that is holy."
- Unique / 18 HP / 18 STR / d6 Grab & Crush / Crit: Assimilates you into its writhing mass.

d12 BASEMENT ROOMS (10+ are Unique)
1 Dormitory
2 Barracks
3 Kitchen
4 Wine Cellar
5 Stockroom
6 Latrine (1=Amoeba hiding in latrine)
7 Group Cell (1=Amoeba feasting on corpses)
8 Solitary (1=Insane Prisoner)
9 Guard Post (1=Two Brutes "playing")
10 Armory (1=Wounded Knight)
11 Crow Shrine (Safe Room, may Rest without a Dungeon Turn once)
12 Head: North, Spiral Stairs Down (Prison) / Tails: Iron Door on East Wall (Great Hall)

---TABLES---

DUNGEON TURN
1 Encounter!
2 Omen (Sign of Nearby Encounter)
3 Fear [Stress - Fear - Dread (disadvantage on CHA saves) - Terror (CHA save or act irrationally)]
4 Hunger [Peckish - Hungry - Ravenous (deprived) - Starving (STR save or pass out)]
5 Darkness [Once: lights dim (disadvantage on surprise save), Twice: lights go out (increase Fear, + prevents navigation etc.)]
6 Free Turn

COMMON LOOT
1-50 this many silver coins
51 Mushroom (poisonous)
52 Mushroom (edible)
53 Cheese
54 Turnip
55 Radish
56 Carrot
57 Apple
58 Pumpkin
59 Potato
60 Dried Meat
61 Mystery Meat
62 Rotten Meat
63 Cabbage
64 Boots, Leather
65 Gloves, Leather
66 Cloak
67 Thread & Needle
68 Wheat Flour
69 Wheat, Bag
70 Moldy Bread
71 Dice
72 Playing Card
73 Tarot Card
74 Bone
75 Skull, Human
76 Skull, Bizarre
77 Egg
78 Bottle of Whiskey
79 Ale
80 Tomato
81 Dried Mushroom
82 Salami
83 Blueberries
84 Seeds
85 Cave Moss
86 Tinderbox
87 Cloth fragment
88 Small key
89 Paper talisman (Purifying talisman)
90 Pinecone
91 Stick
92 Tobacco
93 Bundle of arrows
94 Throwing Knife
95 Bear trap
96 Quill
97 Torch
98 10' Rope
99 Wooden Toy
100 Gemstone


1 - Pillar Hall: floor is uneven, ceiling threatens to crumble, wall to (2) is particularly fragile. If an Amoeba is encountered here, it will be lairing in the ceiling's shadows, dropping on an unsuspecting target after stinging it to inject its eggs.

2 - Storage: chalk graffiti depict floating head tormenting large silhouette. Common loot is readily available here, especially foodstuff.

3 - Kitchen: Smoke stains, bubbling cauldron overflowing with black tar, knifed on the wall is a recipe for "friendly company": amoeba eye, brute's brain, virgin tongue, oil, live rat. The recipe is for a potion of skinwalking, which allows the drinker to (painfully) burst out of its own body into the shape of a Brute for a day. The original shape bursts out again out of the brute afterwards.

4 - Dining Room: What was once a lavish meal is now a rotting mess of flies, putrid meat and spoiled fruits and veggetables. At the end of the table sits an old man, unresponsive. Upon closer inspection, one may notice his hands and feet are bound, and his lower jaw is broken. He is alive but his will is utterly broken. Bringing him back to civilization to see a Specialist will reveal him to be a Sage and one of the Captain's counsellor. Brutes leave him alone.

5 - Storage: Roots have overgrown this storage room, and broken down parts of the wall. Crawling through red bugs and earth is difficult but doable.

6 - Storage: Room floor and walls are covered in slimey excretion. d4 Amoeba lair here at all time, tied together in a squishy knot. They are sensitive to loud noises.

7 - Dormitory: Bunk beds, metal foot lockers (common loot), room is overgrown with roots, some pierce the beds and some brute corpses are flowering and pollinating.

8 - Latrines: Where people poop. Hasn't been cleaned in a while, mostly dry but still smells awful. Brass tube with rope and bucket to cistern for cleaning. Digging in the latrine reveals an Oddity someone..."left" there. There is also an Amoeba in the latrine pit.

9 - Cistern: chains on the wall and a funnel for water-based torture in a corner. Huge barrel of fresh water. Infected with amoeba eggs (pale tadpoles).

10 - Sergeant's Office: corpse of a non-mutated Rondo officer. Room had been barricaded, broken into. In desk, common loot as well as his diary.

11 - Sergeant's Quarters: cobwebs, harmless but unreasonably large spiders make their home here now.

12 - VIP Cell: A corpse, covered in fungus. Or perhaps a fungus, fused with a corpse. Either way, the sight is so horrible it increases Fear.

13 - Isolation Cell: Vibrations... a low hum, like the beginning of an earthquake, is constantly perceivable in this room only. Otherwise empty.

14 - Isolation Cell: Blood splattered all across the room. Some of it is fresh. A trail, like a corpse's been dragged. (Leads to Corpse Heap)

15 - Isolation Cell: The Dog-Mimic lairs here, amongst corpses of men and rabid dogs. If sleeping, it appears like another badly damaged corpse.

16 - Infirmary: Injured Brute with no legs is resting in a bad behind curtains, heavily panting, eyes closed. It is harmless in its current state.

17 - Storage: Medicinal herbs, leeches in jar, etc. Oddity hidden if someone spends time searching the room.

18 - Operating Room: Vile machinery, with leather straps. A lever. The process is unspeakably violent and requires a save vs Critical Damage to even survive.
If the "patient" survives, gain: 1-extra arm, 2-extra leg, 3-extra pair of hands, 4-extra eye, 5-prehensile tail, 6-acid spit gland (once per day).

19 - Group Cell: Wall spikes (to solve disputes between prisoners)

20 - Group Cell: Chalk marks, someone's been here more than a decade

21 - Group Cell: Brute, trapped inside. Is willing to try and talk its way out, although it is not very smart, it knows the latrine passage from its time as a prisoner as he once tried to escape. Walks with a limp, scared to fight, other brutes attack on sight.

THE FLIPSIDE

A Meat larder
B Butchery, with cave gnomes feasting on each other
C Apiary, many birds, filled with feathers and guano
D Wall-sized mirror. In it is a creeping meat-like invasive substance that slowly invades and fills the whole room on the other side, and the adventurers. At which point trying to move or leave tears them apart as they are now one big bunch of meat with a "coat of paint" of stone and clothes and skin etc.
E Ivory Buffet: worth 1,000sp, need 30 STR to carry
F Kennel, rabid dogs on chains and collars, the brute that tends to them loves them dearly
G Special instructions regarding the prisoner (no talking, no looking directly in his eyes, wear ear plugs, etc etc)
H Prison cell with "angel" naked old woman without a head, twitching occasionally. Burning it will summon the Hag
I Red Room: pulsating flesh, eyeballs, mouths, teeth. Devours occupants.

-
-
-
-
-
-
R Barrels full of butter
- Crematorium, many bones, some of the corpses will rise if disturbed
O Crevasse leads down to the caves

-

The Cells
I - Lysander, smooth talking con artist and thief, also bisexual
II - This prisoner went insane and clawed his eyes out. He whispers the same mantra over and over: break your lights but awful chains, ia, ia, the comes.
III - This prisoner is catatonic and stays in bed, starving himself.
IV - This prisoner has a beatific grin on his face. Says he found the way, will reveal it if freed. He'll jump down the abyss, screaming "Mother, I'm coming!"
(and triggering an encounter roll)
V - Prisoner is in foetal position, malnourished, all bones broken, skin on bones. Hides an oddity in his rags.
VI - Prisoner is tied to a chair with a bag on head, keeps asking what's happening, who's there, etc. Name's Joseph, can be a decent, if cowardly, henchman.
VII - Closed iron maiden with poodle of blood
VIII - An old blind woman with a missing arm. Hates the torturer with a passion. Has seen him mess with the spiked armor in his chamber to open a secret path.
IX - This prisoner hung themselves
X - No legs, no arms, mouth sewn. She silently stares at interlopers, her expression impossible to read.

The Prison
1 - Stockroom/Armory. Spare shields, hand axes and bludgeons - doubled as a training/sparring room, damaged dummy
2 - Rest & Recreation - game of darts, table with playing cards, checkers board in a corner, scattered pieces on the ground. Crossbow-wielding Brute hanging out.
3 - Bas-relief depicting the five New Gods, painted in blood: "save us".
4 - Fading murals, one can make out some sort of spiral, descending into...a heart? The heart of a gigantic being, or creature.
5 - Room is trapped with a bucket of acid on a rope. Captain's quarters, interesting treasure AND 2d10 gold coins.
6 - Torture chamber. Roll d6, on a 1-3 the Torturer is here with a victim. On a 4-5 he is on his way. On a 6 the coast is clear.
Earnest, the Torturer, is a pityful sight, a broken body and a broken mind. He will pathetically plead for his life and promise help, though he is not to be trusted.
7 - Shrine of Sylvian, with the corpse of a beautiful woman ravaged atop the altar.
8a - Empty cell, large rock (many cockroaches underneath)
8b - Empty cell, Sweet smell, honey pot under the bed
8c - "Empty" cell, prisoner hides here, escaped from the torturer. Name's Gideon, handlebar mustache and balding head. Wants to rejoin his Knight.