Chagmat (Levels 1-4)	Deva	Smile! You are on fantasy camera!	The Bandit Kingdoms	Bandit
Point of View: The Humanoids	Campaign design: Plan before you play	Money: For the sake of change	FSS: The Barbarian	WG: Events of the Eastern and Southern Flanaess
LTH: Charisma	-	-	-	Dragon

Plan before you play
Think it over, then map it out
by Ed Greenwood
 

All too often in AD&D™ campaigns run
by novice DMs, the world outside
the dungeon is neglected or ignored altogether,
serving only as a universal trading
post and safe resting place. Most of
the scope that the AD&D game offers is
thus lost; many such campaigns grow
dull (despite the DM’s frantic attempts to
introduce more terrible monsters and
more enticing treasures) and die.

The traditional advice handed to a novice
DM who realizes what is happening
(or fated to happen) to his game, is: pick
up the WORLD OF GREYHAWK™ Fantasy
World Setting or The City State of the
World Emperor by Judges Guild, or a
similar product, and “do it that way.”

This approach can mean failure for the
poor DM if one of the players has access
to the same material, or if the party begins
to go off on a tangent into an AREA or
topic not covered by the role-playing aid
— and in any case the USE of such products
limits the variety of play, landing
the DM back in the same situation once
the players “use up” or grow bored with
the module. None of these products tell
the DM how to set play in motion, or how
to build in contacts and activities to give
the party a variety of things to do.

Len Lakofka, in his columns in issues
#39 and #48 of DRAGON™ Magazine,
has taken the traditional route of advising
how much and what type of treasure
and monsters should be thrown at the
fledgling party, and doing this correctly
is indeed essential to the creation of a
long-lived, balanced campaign. But many

DMs give their players a feeling of being
lockstepped through a sequence of contrived
events, a single carrot held ever
before their noses, with blank emptiness
on either side. That is, the players have
only one course to take in all circumstances,
either because the DM is forcing
the players into certain actions by
having his world act upon them (i.e., “ten
assassins suddenly ambush you,” or
“there’s an umber hulk between you and
the exit, and it’s advancing,” or “the king
sends for you and orders you to go forth
and slay the bandit lord — bring his head
back in ten days or be hunted and slain
by the royal soldiers”) rather than allowing
them — the exceptional heroes, remember?
— to act upon the world.
Such “you must do this” tactics are a
necessary part of any DM’s bag of tricks,
true— but if the DM uses them constantly,
players tend to get fed up, and the
campaign proves short-lived. Many DMs
have no problem adding depth to their
games, but this is written for those who
like a guiding hand or are looking for
new ideas. One DM I know runs a “roleplaying
first and foremost” campaign set
in a desert city. We’ve had great fun playing
on nights when no character drew a
sword and no dice were rolled; we merely
bargained and dealt with others in the
city, following up many mysteries and
intrigues. When violence does occur in
such a game environment, it is memorable
and not humdrum hacking, the way
campaign play should be.
Setting up such a campaign is simple

— but it is a long task. Take the time; it
(or the lack of it) will show. First, list the
settings, characters, and situations you
want to include in play. Then put them
on a map. Consult geography texts if
you’re unsure about the positioning of
geographical features. The simple rules
of thumb to remember are: rivers run
from mountains to sea, the largest cities
are found where navigable rivers and sea
meet, and fortresses or cities are also
constructed at other strategic locations
(mountain passes, bridges or fords of
wide or deep rivers on important travel
and trade routes, and good harbors along
the seacoast not adjacent to a river).
Good agricultural land is necessary to
support large cities and a high standard
of living. The supply of raw goods, particularly
metals, also governs the standard
of living and the prices of everything
the characters must buy.
Once you have a map, trade routes
(and from them, political forces) are immediately
apparent, and the character of
your world is thereby established. Then
a host of modifying factors (such as traditions
and past political history, racial
distribution, and religious beliefs) must
be added. The easiest way to illustrate
this is with a sample; see the map accompanying
this text.
Crude, eh? It can be prettied up later,
as Gollum would say. The letters stand
for regions (kingdoms, if you prefer)
governed from large coastal (port) cities
(the triangles). Each can be described
simply:

A (which we’ll call Alut; pronounced aloot) is a country of
fishermen and artisans; old, superior, and with visions of building
an empire, but low on resources.
B (Barsheba) has rich mines in the mountains far to its north.
C (Cluf), the “caravan city,” raises good horses (or equivalent
beasts of burden) in its provinces.
D-1 is desert; harsh, vast, and unable to support life. The
nomads sometimes encountered here use ruined desert cities
as bases, but live in the steppes far to the north of Cluf.
D-2 is Darshin, a rocky island with little agriculture of its own,
but a strategic location.
E (Emmersea) is a relatively new land built on the ruins of an
earlier civilization; the scene of much old magic and odd
events.
F (Famairal) is a land of successful farmers; rich in produce,
poor in lumber and metals.
G-1 (Geldorn) is a wild, rocky country of fishermen, necessarily
a naval power. Its interior is a savage country, but many
enter to seek the gems found in the mountains far to the south.
G-2 (Ghed) is an island currently held by Geldorn.

From these few threadbare descriptions,
we can build in forces of activity;
the tensions, trade, and interests which
are the life of any world. The sea and the
desert are the two natural obstacles to
trade, and so there is an important overland
caravan route between Cluf and
Emmersea — imperiled by the nomads,
of course. There is also naval trade: Darshin,
because of its location, is the foremost
sea power, but it is weak in resources
and needs goods from the other cities
to survive. Alut is also hungry for resources,
has a good port, and desires to
expand over “the barbarian kingdoms.”
Said kingdoms (D, E, F, and G) aren’t too
pleased at the idea; Geldorn, in fact,
fears both Alut and Darshin, and heavily
guards the isle of Ghed to preserve its
naval power and independence. Geldorn
is at the very end of the horseshoeshaped
caravan route, is valued for its
gems, and is not a country suited for
overland travel.
Politics (social mores) and codes of
conduct are matters best dealt with in
detail at another time, but at a glance one
can see that the government of Alut
would be a matter of pompous trappings
and hallowed traditions, that of Barsheba
would be close-armed force to guard
the mineral wealth of the country, that of
Famairal would be the most easy-going
by virtue of a widely accepted code of
behavior (to wit, the necessary tasks and
customs of farming the land), and those
of Cluf and Emmersea would be the most
open and tolerant due to their “crossroads”
aspect, perhaps having only a
“Trader’s Code” of some sort.
Darshin and Geldorn will probably be
armed camps; the strategic importance
of Darshin means its independence
would last only as long as its navy was
the most formidable on the seas. This
warlike stance is balanced against the
fact that the isle requires goods from the
other countries to survive, and by the
fact that the pirates and the navies of all
the other countries could in combination
defeat it, if Geldorn attempted any conquests.
As it is, there is strife between the
Darshin trading vessels (who charge

trade rates to the other countries of sufficient
amount to maintain the existence
of overland trade) and those of Alut, who
are trying for a share of cargo-carrying
fees — and between both of these and
the pirates of the isle of Ghed, who are
preying on both navies and keeping
them both too weak to defeat the other.
(If one did achieve supremacy, it would
of course then turn and crush Ghed.)
A lively situation for adventuring, and
two countries in particular seem ideal
sites for a party of adventurers: Geldorn,
with a government whose reach and attention
is turned outward and not into
the wild (monster-populated) interior,
and with gems to be found which lure
adventurers, merchants, and even official
agents from all countries; and Emmersea,
a land of small villages or dales
lightly governed by merchant lords. Of
necessity (so as to not discourage trade),
government and law enforcement in
Emmersea will be light. Emmersea’s terrain
of small valleys makes for a choice
of trade routes within the country, adventurers’-
type terrain, which can support
small settlements easily handled by
a DM. The fact that the country is marked
with the ruins of earlier civilizations provides
a setting for (and a market for the
rewards of) adventuring. If agriculture is
crowded into the valleys and the slopes
around the valleys are heavily wooded,
Emmersea has an exportable good:
lumber for the wagonmakers of Cluf and
the shipyards of Darshin, and a need for
textiles and other goods possible only
when agricultural land is plentiful and
good.
Aside from the acknowledged authority
of the governments, there will be many
other power groups in this world. The
merchants not governing Emmersea and
Cluf are one such group — or, more
probably, they comprise many groups.
Others will be rebels, opponents of the
governments of all types — perhaps
giants or the goblin races in the mines
and mountains of Barsheba, having been
pushed out by men and angry about it.
Religious groups — some allied to the
local government, some opposed — are

other sources of power; so are the intellectuals,
philosophers and inventors,
particularly when technology and progress
is not sponsored or favored by the
state.
Technology, religion, and accepted
authority (laws, customs, and tradition)
will provide much of the impetus, directions,
and limitations on adventure for
the players; the DM must take care with
the development of these things and
concepts. The restrictive tenets of a religion,
for example, can affect trade. If
Geldorn embraces the druidic faith, it
will not be the scene of legal logging
operations, nor will its borders likely be
open to those carrying lumber or caged
wild animals being transported over land
or sea.
Much of the activity of the campaign
will come from the ongoing struggles between
various power groups; for example,
the G and D series AD&D modules
put out by TSR Games depict a world of
various groups (ogre magi, the hill giants,
frost giants, fire giants, kuo-toa, illithids,
Lolth-worshipping and elemental godworshipping
drow nobles) all cooperating
to a degree, and at the same time
vying for supremacy. A party will unavoidably
make allies and enemies as
they take action in the midst of such conflict,
and members of the party may even
join (opposing?) groups and find themselves
directly involved.
The DM should also determine the
prevalence and nature of the ruins of
previous civilizations. Not only are these
necessary for the location of artifacts
(many of which, the DMG tells us, are of
construction and origin now unknown)
and as a justification for the existence of
“dungeons,” but they can possess a fascinating
aura of grand mystery. As players
of the GAMMA WORLD™ game know,
exploring the leavings of the past is dangerously
alluring —and players in more
medieval-style AD&D settings usually
enjoy burial sites, stone circles, and the
like. Secret (evil, or opposed to the accepted
— state? — religion) cults can
worship at such places, and treasure can
be hidden there; both are often hinted at

by local legends of magic, apparitions,
and otherwise strange doings.
In our sample world, Emmersea is the
chief locale for such ruins and old landscapes,
although ruins can be placed in
any wild areas (such as Geldorn’s interior,
the desert, and the mountains in all
countries), and such areas would logically
be populated by various non-human
races and creatures. Alut might have artifacts
preserved in its great towers and
tombs, but these would be rare in Barsheba,
Cluf, and Famairal, where magic
items would long since have been found
and destroyed or carried off.
Yet another factor can be added to a
world: that of “other-world connections.”
Connections with other planes and other
“worlds” (parallel Prime Material planes)
allow a DM to use many monsters and
characters (such as those found in this
magazine’s Giants In the Earth column),
and limited experiments, such as characters
from futuristic and modern settings,
that otherwise could not be justified.
The presence of an “other world”
gives the DM ample justification to end,
or retract, elements that don’t add fun to
play, or that threaten the balance and/or
cohesiveness of the campaign.
In my own “Forgotten Realms” campaign,
similarities between the world we
all live in and the AD&D fantasy world
(such as chronology, fighting tactics,
and legends of beasts such as dragons
and vampires) are all accounted for by
the existence of connections between
the two worlds. These connections were
once well and often used, but are now
largely forgotten (hence, “Forgotten
Realms”) by those on our side (uh, that
is, this side, the modern one, with the
progress and pollution and such...). But
some few quietly walk our earth who
know the Realms well. . . .
Control of the means of interplanar
travel (see the AD&D Players Handbook,
Dungeon Masters Guide, and my article
on gates from issue #37 of DRAGON
Magazine, reprinted in the BEST OF
DRAGON™ Vol. II collection, for details)
will be of immense strategic importance,
and all who know of them will join in, or
at least take sides in, the struggle to control
the “gates” and gate mechanisms at
some point. One idea for a long-lasting
campaign is that of a powerful mage or
group of beings opening up, re-opening,
destroying and creating a group of gates
between various alternate Prime Material
planes and the Outer Planes, using
these as bridgeheads for invasions of
creatures from these other planes, in the
same manner as Lolth is expanding into
the mountainous, icy world in AD&D
module Q1, Queen of the Demonweb
Pits. A party could find such a group to
be a numerous, widespread, and powerful
foe which could work behind many
day-to-day events and adventures.
Such gates could be placed in our
sample world in hidden valleys in the

north of Cluf, for example, with quiet interplanar
caravan trade taking place; or
an invading force of monsters from some
other plane could be issuing from a gate
in a ruined city deep in the desert, under
the guidance of lamia. Strange ships
could be encountered, arriving at Alut
and Darshin, or washed up piece by
piece on the remote western shore of
Geldorn — perhaps coming from another
plane through a seaborne gate, perhaps
hailing from a hitherto unknown
western continent, or the fabled Far Isles
— if a DM works at it, the possible directions
he offers the players for play to
proceed in are almost endless.
A contact with another continent, for
example, offers enterprising characters
a chance to found a trading company
operating between the known kingdoms
(A-G) and the new continent, with all the
attendant headaches and rewards. This
leads us to another topic: employment.
In law-abiding areas (Alut, Barsheba,
Darshin, and Famairal), few free-booting
adventurers are going to be tolerated. A
visible means of income is necessary; at
least some of the party members must
have honest jobs. Too few DM’s explore
this facet of the game, preferring instead
freewheeling, fiercely independent player
characters who live off the work of others
(the lot of a privileged few, mostly
hereditary nobles, in the medieval-technology
societies found in most AD&D
campaigns).
If a DM lacks the time or the confidence
to work out a detailed social situation,
or wishes to utilize commercial modules
when placing them in his existing
world would disrupt affairs greatly, the
“Anchorome campaign” is a solution.
This campaign, named for a legendary
island far over the sea to the west, further
from the mainland than most sailors ever
dare to go, is simplicity itself. The party
is provided with — hired, conscripted,
ordered, or bequeathed — a ship. This
vessel (if properly maintained) is adequate
for them to live on, and to carry a
respectable amount of trade cargo. Due
to the menace of pirates or warships, or
because of a storm, or because rumors
of treasure are eagerly followed by the
party, the ship is sent off the normal
trade routes into the unknown.
Play can include a single voyage, like
that of C. S. Lewis’s Dawn Treader, or
(like the owners of a Traveller free trader)
the party can carry on voyages for
many years, concerned with trade, continually
provisioning and maintaining the
ship, avoiding seizure and shipwreck,
and so on.
The setting (an unknown sea dotted
with islands) allows use of all marine
AD&D monsters and many published
role-playing aids, from Judges Guild’s
Island Books through D&D® Module Xl,
the perfectly suitable Isle of Dread, to
AD&D modules like C1, S1, and S3. The
island in the A series modules, modified

somewhat, could also be used. The DM
merely charts the immediate vicinity of
the party’s ship, determines aquatic
monster and ship encounters, and locates
whatever is desired (from modules,
magazines, current reading, and creative
thought) on islands — or upon the
vast backs of sleeping whales, for that
matter! When DM or players tire of the
setting, the DM creates a nearby continent
or an interplanar gate upon an island,
and the campaign setting can shift
overnight.
Whatever the precise campaign setting,
the success of play depends upon
the players and the skill of the DM — in
particular, the care and extent of the
DM’s work outside of actual play. A sterling
example of the depth displayed by a
well crafted, detailed world — and the
“life” such a world seems to take on — is
in Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales. A few
areas of special importance and concern
in world-making will be discussed below
and in future articles.
The Dungeon Masters Guide warns
the DM that time records must be kept in
any meaningful campaign; too few DMs
realize this (or bother to undertake the
work to make it so), or that this timekeeping
should be extended to the movements
and activities of all rulers and other
important NPCs, the locations of all
active and potential warriors (particularly
mercenaries), valuable trade goods,
and the ongoing enactment of political
policies, orders, encounters and the
spread of information — not just to the
training times and monetary expenditures
of the player characters.
The lure of the lost and forgotten is an
interest-producing facet of play well
known to most DMs, at least on the level
of the hunt for buried treasure. But few
see the potential of ancient records, histories,
and tomes of lore as a source of
hints to treasure location, clues to the
identity and present whereabouts of
now-dead (or undead) kings, magicusers,
and other important individuals,
partial spell or artifact knowledge, and
background lore.
The DM can have great fun composing
such works, the players will gain much
from them, and play should improve.
Too many players find (and survive the
opening of) books in dungeons only to
find that they hold yet another illegible
diary or accountant’s ledger — or worse
yet, expect from experience that every
book found will be a spell book or magic
item (Book, Codex, Grimoire, Libram,
Manual, or Tome) from the DMG.
Many DMs miss a great chance to
spice up play by slighting an entire character
class: thieves. Too many thieves
are played as door-openers and lockpickers
for those rare occasions when
the swashbuckling blast-and-hackers
who make up the party feel an attack of
caution — and their thievery tends to be
either pocket-picking and corpse-strip-

ping, or of the snatch-and-run variety.
The DM should ensure that such performance
carries much risk, but enjoys
only limited success — a thief who seeks
wealth (and advancement in levels)
should keep such risky, bandit-like activities
to a minimum, preferring instead
careful planning of thefts. The target
must be watched, specific tactics devised
to overcome defenses and obstacles,
escape routes and a location or
means for the quick disposal of loot to
avoid discovery be settled upon — a
stupid or reckless thief who does not
keep on the move should be a short-lived
creature, and player characters are, after
all, supposed to be a cut above the norm.
Only one more topic is essential in a
DM’s primer — politics. Aside from personal
feuds and rivalries, there is always
a struggle for power surrounding the government
of any kingdom worth having.
The legitimate king is dead, perhaps, or
senile —and his three known sons (plus
another two claimants who may be illegitimate
sons of the king or only, however
unwittingly, impostors) all battle for the
throne; in the political arena of councils
and by wooing various nobles or power
groups as patrons, and then increasingly
by means of daggers in dark corridors
and bared swords on the high roads.
The players, as all others in the land,
must choose sides in this struggle, and if
their choice is ill they may fare accordingly.
Such a war of succession (as illustrated
in Roger Zelazny’s Amber series,
for example) may go on for years, as rival
claimants go into hiding, emerge to win
the throne in a bloody ambush or midnight
murder, and fall in their turn to the
next usurper . . . and of course, a kingdom
so weakened will be inviting to neighboring
states wishing to expand, or the nonhuman
tribes who have bided their time
in the mountains, forests, and swampy
valleys of the north, waiting to reclaim
the land that was once theirs. Many local
officials and minor nobility will seize this
chance to gain wealth and power in the
face of uncaring chaos at the capital, and
these small-scale governors will rule the
affairs of various small areas of the kingdom
by the weight of their swordsworn
(men pledged to service).
A royal struggle need not be so widespread,
however; some such struggles
will never actively pass beyond the walls
of the palace, such as the nasty situation
which arises when the monarch’s eldest
child is female, and a younger brother
(as the eldest male descendant) believes
he should have the throne.

If the DM does not favor large monsters
or wilderness adventuring, a vast,
complex castle with forgotten passages
and dungeons (like the fictional Gormenghast
or Amber) and old, manylayered
intrigue may prove an ideal dungeon
setting — the players need never
even see the light of day. If one thinks a
castle setting limiting, consider the action

action
in Howard’s Red Nails or Goldman’s
The Lion In Winter, or the possibilities,
offered by the half-ruined, labyrinthine
citadel in Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer.
Understanding why one kingdom is
stronger than or opposed to another,
and why one mountain pass is strategically
important and another not, is essential
to the DM, if players are to affect
the status quo without always coming
into direct contact with (or becoming)
rulers. An endless diet of kings and princesses
and wicked nobles reduces the
excitement and interest of the trappings
and traditions of power and, if the DM
can’t come up with alternatives, dooms a
campaign to increasingly dull and bland
play.
A good guide for the novice DM to
judge the depth and interest of his or her
campaign is to consider its elements and
events without the players (and their
characters and deeds). Is the setting, bereft
of player involvement, still interesting
enough to be the stuff of which tales
are made?
If not, something must be done. And
yet the action of the world must not be
entirely divorced from the actions and
interests of player characters — the play
of the campaign must be concerned with
them, and the overall tapestry of events
in the world should be affected by them,
moreso as the characters grow in experience
levels and the players in playing
experience. On the other hand, the DM
must avoid any tendency of events to
halt in mid-action when adventuring
stops, coming to life only when player
characters walk onstage to do battle. (I
always thought it odd that enemies would
lay low at the same time as player characters
trained or recovered from wounds,
and that no one fell upon the unprotected
treasure of player characters while
they were off training.)
Note that players need not be made
aware of all the DM’s work in creating
nearby characters, groups, and activities.
They can learn what they will as play
proceeds; indeed, a degree of mystery
builds interest more than any other quality
of a campaign. Too much will frustrate
players, however; the DM must find
the proper amount, while bearing in
mind that several small, simultaneous
mysteries are better than one Grand
Mystery after another. Mysteries also
leave a DM room to modify his campaign
to respond to player desires and achievements,
and to avoid or explain a way
around apparent contradictions.

And every long-running campaign will
have such “gray areas,” no matter how
intricately developed it is before the
onset of play; for six days a DM labors
mightily to create a world and breathe
life into it, but the world he creates is
(alas) not perfect, and by the seventh
day that DM has certainly earned a
rest....
 
 

Make Charisma Count For More
 
 

Psionic Ability	Attack Modes	Defense Modes	Minor disc.	Major disc.
2-40	0	0	1	0
41-80	1	1	1-2	0
61-80	1-2	1-2	1-3	0
81-100	1-3	1-3	1-4	11
101-120	1-4	1-4	1-4	12
121-140	1-4	1-4	1-4	13
141-160	1-5	1-5	1-5	1
161-180	2-5	2-5	2-5	1
181-200	2-5	2-5	2-5	14
201-220	2-5	2-5	3-6	15
221-240	2-5	3-5	3-6	2
241+	3-5	all	3-6	2

¹ -- only if 4 is rolled for minor disciplines

² -- only if 3 or 4 is rolled minor disciplines

³ -- only if 2, 3, or 4 is rolled for minor disciplines

⁴ -- 50% chance for 2

⁵ -- 75% chance for 2
 
 

MINOR DISCIPLINE	INT	WIS	CHA	NONE	ALL
Animal Telepathy	01-02	01-03	01-04	01	01-03
Body Equilibrium	03-07	04-05	05	02-03	04-05
Body Weaponry	08-11	06	06-07	04-08	06-07
Cell Adjustment	12-13	07-14	08-10	09-12	08-10
Clairaudience	14-17	15	11	13-14	11-14
Clairvoyance	18-20	16	12	15-16	15-17
Detection of Good or Evil	21-22	17-22	13-19	17-18	18-20
Detection of Magic	23-30	23-24	20	19	21-22
Domination	31	25-29	21-30	20-22	23-25
Empathy	32-33	30-32	31-34	23-24	26-28
ESP	34-39	33-35	35-37	25-26	29-32
Expansion	40-43	36-38	38-40	27-39	33-36
Hypnosis	44-45	39-45	41-55	40-42	37-40
Invisibility	46-54	46-52	56-58	43-50	41-45
Levitation	55-56	53-55	59-60	51-60	46-48
Mind Over Body	66-68	56-67	61-66	61-70	49-53
Molecular Agitation	69-77	68-69	67-68	71-74	54-57
Object Reading	78-83	70-76	69-73	75-76	58-67
Precognition	84-88	77-85	74-76	77-78	68-79
Reduction	89-90	86-88	77-81	79-84	80-83
Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions	91	89-95	82-86	85-86	84-88
Suspend Animation	92-98	96-98	87-94	87-99	89-92
(Select one)	99-00	99-00	95-00	00	93-00

 
 

MAJOR DISCIPLINE	INT	WIS	CHA	NONE	ALL

 
 

Title
 

S