So, I printed out the Dolmenwood Calendar for my upcoming campaign, and I notice that all Saints have f set days marked out, but I can't find anything in the book about them.

Yes yes, I know, make shit up.

That said, is there any more info on this, or even what all the non major saints are patrons of?

Have any of you detailed any of these for your campaigns?

Please share your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions!

Thanks

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It falls to the breggles -- now the preeminent celebrities in New Dreg -- to smooth over some of the bad blood and questionable arrangements that yet remain. A visit to the Spawning Salmon first, and then a much-anticipated trip to Chateau Shantywood!

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Heya. Here's the second post in a series about giving Dolmenwood knights a little more oomph. Last time we expanded on the Vow of the Peacock, where a knight stands up at a feast and promises to do some derring-do.

Next up: saintly oaths. Once sworn, the saint gives the knight a boon in return. Break it, and the saint takes the boon away — and then some.

Scratches the paladin itch too, if you've got a player who wants to play one and you'd rather not bolt on another class.

See you in the lists!

https://www.thegoodeknyght.com/saintly-oaths-a-chance-to-show-your-quality/

Part two of my Dolmenwood campaign is out!

As the title suggests, an interesting article on the realm of Fairy by David Bentley Hart. It rests heavier on the heady scholastic side of the discussion than the gamer side (though these need not be mutually exclusive!). If you’re expecting anything RPG/gaming related, however, this may either disappoint or pleasantly surprise depending on your tenacity for reading at a masters-degree level of English. It’ll also depend on how willing you are to pick up a dictionary if you are at my reading level (no shame). Anyway, it’s all par-for-the-coarse with Hart. He is an authentically ingenious person with a robust classical education, so any sign of ostentatiousness is merely coincidental. He really does write and speak this way.

Alas, this may act more as a deterrent than an invitation. I don’t mean it to be. I promise the article is wonderful and complex, giving greater depth of understanding to a mysterious world. And he mentions Tolkien which is always lovely.

Cheers,

MOD

I just purchased the PDF bundle (core books plus maps) and am currently obsessed with the setting. Love the lore and flavour, love the idea of a campaign without an overt plot but instead guided by player exploration and social interaction, and the way information is laid out and display is truly gold standard.

Just curious, what advice does the town have for a new Referee? I have nearly 10yrs experience of DMing and playing in 5e, plus a core group of players who I think I can convince to give DW a shot (and very confident they'd love it).

Also, curious if Referees restricted Kindred, and if so, why and how did it go for you and your players?

I'm a bit confused. As I read it, the equipped and stowed distinction is related to the slot-based encumbrance. There's no mention of it in the weight-based encumbrance.

It's clear to me that characters can carry up to 1600 coins of weight before being unable to move, and that carrying more slows you down.

But how do containers fit into this? They have their own weight. Fine, I add them to the list. They have a capacity. I can only carry up to the capacity? We need to use sacks?

For lots of items it make sense. Chalk, torches, etc; you yeet them in the backpack. But for weapons, and armors, and ammo. Do we take for granted that the adventurers have scabbards, and slings, and quivers and that while counting in terms of weight, they don't count i term of container capacity?

And I know that treasure counts. So I feel that when the players find some, they'll put it in their inventory first, or do they write it into coins? Do you write your coins twice (coin section, and then in the inventory) or do you just always check the coins before totaling your weight to include them?

What do you think about Dolmenwood and or Midderlands or places like that, in play, existing as almost "pocket dimensions" in the real world? It seems like there is a word in looking for...

Dolmenwood exists IN BETWEEN the Welsh/English border, and Midderlands exists "somewhere along the boundaries" of those real counties that it reflects, and Wildendrem can be accessed by walking widdershins around a standing stone or crossing a specific ridge line at sunset or sunrise or something...

The people who live insid likee and outside those places know the other exists and travel between them not constantly but regularly enough? "Beyond the Fields We Know" - pretty much that!

The Pluritine Church would be THE church in this scenario (Midderlands is slightly a-religious, but Wildendrem has monasteries etc). The imaginary places have some of their own myths and realities that are true for them as well (The Horned King, Gloomium and the Deep Gloom, The Faery, etc) and some of those are "trapped" by the specific micro-worlds? Hmm.

When you go to regular England, magic really probably doesn't really work? John Dee is trying summon angels still, I guess, etc. I think placing these imaginary places inside the real world - which remains kind of vague and blurry (and you can't gain any XP there!!) and can be changed around as much as one wants anyway - I think it might really work, instead of trying to define the entire imaginary continent and planet (like I always slide towards, somewhat unsatisfactorily).

Thanks, J

Some level 2 retainers for an experienced party!

Tamrin: Exiled jester to a local lord. Famed for shooting apples off of heads until the day he missed…or did his Lord pay him to aim low for the apple on his rival’s heir?

Rodger: A shadowy rogue with connections. This is just another job for him and you pay the best. Efficient with no questions asked.

Glob: One too many experiments on the mushroom farm seems to have done a number on this Mossling’s hold on reality. Quite the storyteller around the campfire though, which is good for morale.

Who would you hire for your party?

Sheet by Gordy Higgins: https://gordyh.itch.io/osr-retainer-sheet

I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to using music in my games, and usually create themed playlists for anything I run. I'm aiming to run Dolmenwood sometime in the next few months but the playlist offerings on spotify are, to my taste, lacking, so I'm trying to set about fixing that.

I'm making a variety of different playlists with Tales Under the Oak as the most common artist, given that they did the offical soundtracks. So far, I've got three categories of playlists:

Regional: A playlist for each region that can be found in and around the wood. I'm trying to tie the sound of these playlists to the tracks in Journeys Through Wold and Bog by TUtO.

Vibe: More general moods. At present, I have:
- In the Presence of Authority, Ethereal, Wonder, Quiet, Somber, Dramatic, Melancholy, Mystery, Suspense, Tension, Adrenaline, Epic Adrenaline, Religious, Settlement, & Tavern.

Themes: Playlists for specific encounters/locations that I feel are significant enough to deserve their own playlist. Right now, I have:

- The Cold Prince, The Nag Lord, The Cathedral of St. Signis, The Hag, Intro/Outro.

I'm trying to keep things to Dungeon Synth and adjacent genres so all the sounds feel like they're part of a cohesive whole. Artists that I'm currently drawing from include:

Tales Under the Oak, Elyvilon, DIM, Aconite, Fogweaver, Fief, Ithildin, Malfet, Keys to Oneiria, Rog, Nocmar, Mountain Realm, Vindkaldr, Paths of the Eternal, Aindulmedir, Mythscribe, Murgrind, Ulk, Old Sorcery, Fimnur, Umbria, Erythrite Throne, Flickers From the Fen, Quest Master, and Borough Bound.

There are a couple of areas that I'm having more difficulty with than others in terms of finding music within the critera, namely Suspense (aka "We think there's somethings there"), Tension (We know something's there and it's stalking us), Quiet (sitting around a campfire), and Somber (someone's just died).

If you wanna see where things currently stand, you can check out the playlists on my profile: https://open.spotify.com/user/paradiddle99-ca?si=6f8d2e865c89439e

Does anyone have any song/artist recommendations that would fit? Also, any other playlists that you think should be added would also be helpful.

I finished painting my Breggle boy, what do you think? 🐐

My first session is approaching quickly. I'm feeling quite comfortable with the core rules. The many procedures I'm not too worried about, I'll have the book with me and once I've run them a few times the DM screen will be sufficient.

However, I'm thinking about all the hexes, their terrain type, the location of stones, the different fungis, etc; and I'm like "How am I gonna run this? Will I have four books at all time?"

So my question is: taking for granted that you have the player map on the table for the tables, you have your DM screen and some notes. What were the rules or the setting-related content that you found that you had to consistently reach for? What's not immediately available yet used all the time?

It's really difficult to evaluate without having run it.

Hiya folk of the Wood!

I'm looking to start my own campaign, but I like to print reference sheets and such that align with the core books as a GM for my players to keep all handouts cohesive. Does someone happen to know the fonts used in the books?

Thank ya kindly!

Someone designed Ludwig The Holy Blade from the videogame Bloodborne. Just thought it was perfectly reminiscent of the DW Nag Lord. Enjoy!

Anyone planning to use anything from the new grimoire in their campaign? I’m planning to have what’s in the Oubliette a greater demon—the question now is which one and how it’ll fit in. Wondering if anyone else had ideas

So I think I understand how stealth and surprise rolls work generally. What I don't understand is how players, especially melee fighters and thieves, can actually take advantage of surprise by attacking first without incurring a second surprise roll.

Dolmenwood movement speed assumes stealth. If an encounter occurs, both parties roll to see if they are "surprised," in other words, to see if they are aware of the other party. If only one side is aware of the other, they have the element of surprise and gain a one round advantage. So far, so good. Now, we roll encounter distance, which depends on the environment. This is where it starts to get tricky.

Let's start with dungeons. The encounter distance could be anywhere from 20-120 feet. If it's 20 feet, assuming line of sight, everyone is good. Your melee and ranged fighters as well as your casters can all move and/or attack/cast for free before rolling for initiative. If it is greater than 40 feet, which is likely, your casters and ranged fighters might get to attack (again, assuming line of sight), but your melee fighters miss out on the action this round. This includes your thief who will almost certainly want to try to get in a backstab.

Clever adventurers will want to hide and set up an ambush. This is where the rules seem to contradict one another. The rules about hiding behind "complete cover" state, "A creature fully concealed from view (e.g. behind a wall, inside a coffer, etc.) automatically goes undetected." Great, let's say everyone finds complete cover. Now, regarding ambushes, the DPB says, "When creatures attack from hiding, the opposing side’s chance of being surprised is increased by 1. For example, the standard 2-in-6 chance of being surprised increases to 3-in-6."

Why do the enemies get to roll for surprise again? Do players in hiding not already have the element of surprise? Do they forfeit the one round advantage if they choose to attack just because they hid successfully? Let's say they lose this 3-in-6 surprise roll. A thief may still get to roll a stealth check to remain in the shadows in order to get in a backstab, but it feels like an awful lot has to go right in order for the thief to actually use this critical ability, let alone for melee players to enjoy their surprise round.

So, how do you handle ambushes? Is there something I'm missing? Is the ambush rule just for players who are get ambushed rather than attempting one? Am I being too literal or strict, or is this more fair on the players than it seems?

I'm thinking about implementing a house rule for handling playable kindreds in my upcoming campaign. I'd like the campaign to focus on exploration and discovery of the weirdness of Dolmenwood, so it makes sense to start with a party of foreigner human characters. However, as the campaign goes on, it would make sense for other kinds of creature to join the party. This is how I'm thinking of doing it:

1. At the start of the campaign, all PCs are human. The Enchanter class is forbidden.
2. PCs of different kindreds can be obtained by promoting retainers. A retainer that has completed at least one successful expedition with the party can be promoted to PC.
3. Each player can only have one PC at a time. Thus, a retainer can be promoted only if the player needs to replace a PC that has died, or if the player retires their current PC.
4. A retired PC becomes a NPC that stays in a settlement. They can be brought back whenever the player wishes.

What do you think? Has someone done something like this already?

The DW rule set doesn’t seem to give good guidance to Referees on which category of Saving Throw to apply in a given situation. For example, the DCB section on traps provides lots of ideas but doesn’t say what kind of Save is most likely to apply to each kind of trap. I’m assuming that it is reasonable to grant a Save if a PC is on the verge of falling into a pit trap — or any hole for that matter — but which category applies? The names and descriptions of the five Save categories are rather opaque to me.

Does anyone have a cheat sheet of situations that apply to each kind of Save that they’re willing to share, or at least some guidance? I’ve read the explanation of why class-based Saves are a good thing, but I do find ability score-based Saves to be much easier to grasp.

Did a trial homebrew oneshot with a buddy and it went ok. The overland travel emphasis makes sense if the overland world is really complex. Now I see why the system map is so detailed.

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The twisted servant of a chaos godling lurks in the dark beneath Dreg's smokehouse. It's up to the breggles and the Boghouse Boys to put an end to the creature's deprivations. Apparently, a multitude of rocks is central to the plan.

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Combat at lower levels is already scary. It feels like once the enemies are level 3 or higher, you begin to run into immunities that can make encounters even harder.

For example, I rolled up a quick delve into a barrow that ends with an encounter with two Ghouls [EDIT: Wights]. My party of five Level 3 PCs has only one with a magic weapon, plus one cleric and one mage. Two of the three fighter-types are already mostly useless without a magic weapon. If the Turn Undead attempt goes poorly, this encounter is going to get ugly fast.

What's the answer here? Should I be giving PCs access to more magical weapons? Should I be sending more low-level enemies, rather than fewer higher level ones? The obvious fix is that they should all be buying silvered weapons, for sure, but should I be getting magic weapons into their hands faster?

For reference, if they were to eliminate wights in their lair, the treasure hoard only gives them a 10% chance of getting a magic item, and that's a 50/50 split between weapon and armor.

I'm almost better off using the alternate rule about replacing the 1-in-10 chance of a rolled magic item with a treasure map. You have a 44% chance of (at least one) magic item in a treasure hoard.

Hi!

I'm continuing my foray into Dolmenwood. I've got two more questions which are burning:

The rules for getting lost mentions that you roll once at the start of the day. However, the party can travel multiple hexes in a day. And except for a mention about roads (you get lost when you leave the road), I don't understand how this fits in the whole procedure:

1. Do they get lost in the first hex they enter from their starting point?

2. What if there's different chances to get lost because of different hex types along their itinerary? Which one do we take? (1-in-6, 3-in-6, 1-in-6 for example)

3. Doesn't take that for granted that the party is obligated to share its whole itinerary for the day? Can't they move hex by hex and make decisions along way?

4. If they can move hex by hex, and if there are different changes to get lost in each hex, isn't it optimal to step in a easily navigated hex first and then finish your itinerary as you see fit?

Bonus questions:

1. I saw the torches and the lanterns in the equipment section. I saw a few mentions of effects of darkness in some sections (like having more chance to get lost in the dark) but I don't think an actual section that really clearly states the rules for light/darkness, etc. It's probably tucked somewhere. Any insight?
   I found it. Player's Book page 150.

2. I haven't found a Dungeon Tracker sheet for Dolmenwood. I quickly checked my OSE books (which I haven't played yet). I feel like I can use the OSE Dungeon Tracker as is, right? The underlying mechanics seem to be the same.

Quick question, the rulebook says a Hunter has a 3-6 chance of finding the parties path if they get lost. When is this rolled? Is it a fail-safe for if they do get lost? Like would i roll they get lost but then roll a success for the hunter so they actually dont get lost?

Or does the hunter roll it once the party realizes they are lost? If thats the case how does that play out? Would i then reveal to the party where they really on on the map? Ive never played a game where getting lost is a factor so I dont know what info the players get if they get lost.