Tweaking the DFX rules and the Cult of Undeath proto-front

As alluded to last post, I went to ENWorld recently. Partly this is because I've been bored with most of my stuff packed away and out of reach, and I have fewer things to occupy my time (I should have pulled out my Hawk & Fisher omnibus books and read them instead, but I guess I wasn't in the mood to read. I haven't been a lot over the last several years, for whatever reason.) Part of it was I was curious about what people were saying about news about the new edition, which they're disingenuously trying to claim isn't a new edition, even though obviously it is.

And mostly I was disappointed that what people were saying sounded like unthinking shillery. I think most people that I'd actually have tastes in common with have long since moved on to other venues, or just aren't talking about D&D online anymore. Although, someone made a comment on ENWorld in a discussion that I was briefly in that made me think; can I say that I even play D&D, or is my participation in the hobby relegated to reading books from time to time and grousing about it on the internet? If I haven't actually played "D&D" since, what, 2010-2012 or so at the most recent, and even then it was 3.5, which went out of print in 2008, am I a D&D player? I'm not even interested in a retroclone, which I’d still consider playing D&D (even if from a nitpicky perspective it isn't.) My "D&D", which I do run on occasion and which I do think about and plan and tinker with a lot, is actually a homebrew gallimaufry of kitbashed elements that I keep tinkering with. Parts of it would seem similar enough to a rules-lite retroclone, but I've added elements that are more similar to Call of Cthulhu, elements from 4e and 5e on occasion. Others bear sharp resemblance to the Microlite minimization, an attempt to wrangle 3.x into a rules lite paradigm while still maintaining compatibility. And then details just keep evolving and changing at a micro-level as it goes on. I'm actually waiting to make another minor update when I find what box my computer is in and can unpack and set it up. But this will be a minor update.

That said, I don't know what my hobby goals are following the relocation. I'd like to get the game going again with the kids online. It's not the same, but it'll do. If I can find gamers that I actually want to hang around with here in my new area, that'd be great, but I'm not expecting that to happen in the immediate term, or maybe not even in the short term. So, what can I do to add to my hobby participation profile? Now that I’m relocated, once I get my computer set up and unpacking more or less finished, it's actually my intention to start writing stories! Yes, I've been saying that for a long time, and haven't done it yet, but my situation has drastically changed. Relocating to the upper South, far enough away from my old friends, my old haunts and habits, and many other things that consumed much of my time leaves me a bit wide open to determine the future of my free time. 

Thinking ahead, however, to the next 5x5 after Shadows Over Garenport, Cult of Undeath is, of course, next up. I've made a few minor changes to what I think the five fronts will actually be, although most of these require significantly more development to actually be useable as anything at all. I'm also starting to think of focusing my attention more on the eastern hinterlands of Timischburg and the western hinterlands of the Hill Country and the area in which they border each other as the core area for this, rather than going all over Timischburg. I like the idea of saving "Timischburg proper" for another front. I might also work another front (besides the "Timischburg proper" front in, so that I have some ecotone, or border regions fronts. Cult of Undeath in this new scheme would now be a border region front, an unnamed and unidentified front would be Timischburg proper and be more vampire focused than Cult of Undeath (most likely) and then maybe Mind-Wizards of the Daemon Wastes would be a border region front too, since much of it could take place in the Boneyard, and maybe even the Western Marches of the Hill Country as much as it does Baal Hamazi. And then, a fifth front would be more Baal Hamazi itself. 

Other potential fronts, which would be less connected to the main "throughline" of these 3-5 fronts could include one that takes place in Lower Kurushat, one that explores lost Hyperborea, and one maybe that even goes to the Nizrekh Islands, which is all that's left of sunken Atlantis. And I'd also like another one that’s more back to roots in the Hill Country; maybe finding a way to involve Renwick Bennett, my prologue crime lord of Barrowmere. 

If I see these as a series of interlinked stories, the main "throughline" would certainly focus on the main four iconic characters: Dominic, Ragnar and Cailin Clevenger, and Kimnor Rugova. The other drop-in 5x5s could be spin-offs featuring just one or two of these characters, or maybe even other characters altogether. Including, maybe, some that I haven't even created yet, or if not, maybe some of the contacts and patrons.

Anyway, slight tangent aside, here are the five fronts, in their most basic form. Although for many of these, that’s all that there is so far:

1. Necromantic cult, responsible for the death of Alpon von Lechfeld and orphaning of Revecca. What do they want and why did they kill him? Not sure yet. TBD. But this will eventually lead to Eltdown and the swamps, where undead shamblers will feature heavily.
2. The swamp snake cult, centered around the blinded medusa who instead of petrifying her victims, she hypnotizes them and gradually starts turning them into snake cultists. She's not truly blind, because all of the snakes have eyes too, but you get my drift. 
3. Ghouls and other "savage" proto-vampires are also coming out of the swamp in the other direction, westwards into the Bitterwood, and are attacking villages, hamlets, and even hunting lodges frequented by wealthy and powerful. This will replace the werewolf and/or swamp witch idea that I had previously, which was loosely based on one of the adventures of the old Carrion Crown adventure path. Y'know, who whole reason Cult of Undeath was originally created. 
4. Vampire threat; I had previously thought this might be in Grozavest, but it needs to be in Mittermarkt instead. And it needs to be relatively unique so as not to steal the thunder of the upcoming more classic vampire "Timischburg proper" front mentioned above.
5. A mundane threat of highwaymen and bandits making travel between the Copper Hills and Mittermarkt (via Eltdown) dangerous; not to mention all of the crap going on in Eltdown mentioned above. Maybe this one can get up into the Sabertooth Mountains itself, and at least have a different environmental theme too.

Swamp shamblers

UPDATE: Because of will probably be several days at least and maybe even a week or two before my computer is set up, here's the two minor tweaks to the game that I'm considering. Thought I better archive them somewhere since my source file is on a hard drive I likely won't see for a while. 

1) This is just cosmetic; kemlings don't have the Darth Maul horns anymore. Or at least not obligatorily, although some kemlings occasionally do have unusual daemon features in addition to their jet black skin, night vision, and yellow eyes. This could include a tail, a forked tongue, scales, or yes, the crown of horns. 

2) I think my death and dying rules might be a little too generous. I think I'll change it. If you are at zero (or below) hit points, you make your death save. If you fail you die instantly. If you pass it, you have two rounds, and then you die instantly. Other players can still stabilize you within those two rounds, but you don't just keep making death saves. Also, if you ever fall to negative ten or lower hit points for any reason, you also die instantly. 

You can still use a Heroism token to turn death into near death. So characters probably won't actually die very often still. But they'll use more Heroism tokens to save their lives.