Playing Demons and Devils

The AD&D system does little to convey the sense of evil of two of the most iconic specimens of evil: devils and demons.

A review of the listings in the various monster tomes describes devils and demons as essentially a cross of other species, similar to manticores and griffons. They are a list of statistics. This denies the experience of supernatural evil that these beings embody. A better conception of a demon is that of J.R.R. Tolkien's Balrog. The creature is described as a being of 'shadow and flame.' This is substantially different from the AD&D version of these creatures. I attempt to keep the following in mind when playing these NPC's.

Devils are more than just humanoids with shocking features, such as horns and hooves. They delight in suffering. They do not kill for the sake of killing. Devils play by rules – but will twist them to their advantage. In the end, they do play by rules because they are lawful beings, and as a result devils roam free. They will not just arbitrarily kill Bob the Barbarian. Instead they will target those people and things that are important to Bob, who to whom Bob is important. For example, a devil will prefer to torture Bob to cause pain and anguish to Larry the Lord and Patricia the princess. The greater the devil, the greater the scheme. A lesser devil might torture and enslave Bob just for the hell of it. More 'sophisticated' devils are likely to torture Bob so that Larry and Patricia can see it. Further, they will trick Bob in to thinking that Larry and Patricia have abandoned and forsaken him, causing Bob more anguish and more emotional pain for Larry and Patricia as well. Morgoth is a good example in The Silmarillion. He tortured Hurin by giving the ability to see the results of his machinations against Hurin's children. Sauron, Morgoth's servant, by contrast was far less sophisticated, as his chief aim was deception for purposes of enslavement.

Devils are likely to regard demons as 'baby evil' – unsophisticated, but something to be fond of, nonetheless. Demons are interested in destruction and defilement. They will kill merely to create chaos and to satisfy bloodlust. Worse, they take pleasure in defiling the sacred, even to the extent of violating human bodies. Causing a human's nose to move around their body so that it is permanently placed just over their ass would strike a demon as hilariously amusing. Demons flaunt rules, and for this reason, their tenure on the Prime Material Plane tends to be limited in some way. For example, they may be able to wield their power without limit, but not be allowed to leave the place of their conjuring. Night of the Demons is a good example.

While demons and devils do have some physical characteristics, they should be played as being supernatural – like Tolkien's Balrog. Care, however, should be taken to avoid describing them according to the elements – just because one is made of smoke doesn't require one made of fog. Yes, this is a deliberate swipe at the Fiend Folio and the thought behind it, the idea that we must fill every category in an ordered fashion. Just because a shadow world exists, does not mean that we must have a lawful good shadow were-weird fighting the underwater pseudo quasi hyper-aerated mer-elemental. Demons and devils are more than mutated physical creatures – this isn't Gamma World! These are beings who are there and not-there. If players confronted with these beings go immediately into strategy, thinking about magic resistance and magical weapons and such, you've lost some of the flavor of demons and devils, as well as that of fantasy RPG's in general.

It is sometimes best to to follow the lead of horror writers. Rather than telling the players what it is, start with a description of the evidence they observe that this thing is interacting with their physical world. Show them footprints, describe a smell, use very descriptive and figurative language. H. P Lovecraft often made mention of the Unnameable, both in the sense of being taboo to discuss but also the lack of words to describe it. In this there was a degree of horror. How will you describe non-Euclidean geometry or Cyclopean geometry to players without using those terms? How do you convey gravity that is wrong, colors that are sentient, reality that is unreal? Or actions that betray a shocking un-morality, without stooping to the merely vulgar by engaging in simple shock value like a group of teenage boys? Will you subtly change the background music during the game (aren't remote controls great?)? These are the things that demons and devils are made of, and to play them otherwise is to suck the magic out of a game that has magic as part of its basic premise. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else, the ability to maintain the suspension of disbelief is paramount. Any game system can only provide a framework. The transmission of the message of horror, terror, and evil is the responsibility of the DM.

Should you have any tips you'd like to share, remember that comments are always welcome.

Continuity

In a previous post of I have stated that that Portown is one of two port cities along a long coastline. This is due to the saltmarsh and instability of the soil along much of the coast. Most towns are several miles inland.

“Most” of course is not “all.” There are many fishing villages along the coast, built with the flimsiest of structures. In fact, there is a village that bears a similarity to Venice, in that there are a number of little marsh isles upon which homes are built, with fishing boats moored right along side. The channels are “streets.”

There is also an area about 25 - 75 miles west of Portown, called Montydo in Kemen. The area is similar to the Everglades, though smaller. Near the coast it is mangrove and saltmarsh, while further inland it eventually becomes freshwater swamp. It is here that the Temple of the Frog is located. If you do not have this module by Dave Arneson, you are missing out.

Those of you who have or have read the module know that there are some things to explain, and by this I mean “Saint Stephen.”

In Kemen, a common form of salutation is, “Greetings, traveller.” (For space and other considerations, I will not translate this into the local tongue.) However, there is another kind of traveller, and I make the distinction by spelling it Travellor. Travellors are beings that have found a way to cross into Kemen through means of n-dimensional travel. For those familiar with Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast, Saint Stephen is a Black Hat. Those who arrive via regular interstellar means are referred to as Visitors.

This explains the presence of certain other … beings … in Kemen. You do not need to know this. It is however an example of creating a sense of personal continuity. Some of the TSR modules mixed fantasy and sci-fi, in part as a deliberate attempt to spin off other games and make money. Often, there was no coherent or satisfactory explanation for the juxtaposition.

Personally, I don't like that. I think that it shatters the suspension of disbelief for these things to mix without a defined context, and I'll not have such things in my campaign to satisfy the marketing campaign of a now defunct company.

Further, in the rare cases that a plausible context is suggested, it is pretty thin. In response, I find that it is best to tailor my own context, to devise a backdrop that fits with the flavor of my campaign. In the spirit of Gygax's oft repeated mantra that the DM is the final arbiter of what occurs in his or her campaign, rulebooks notwithstanding – what I refer to as the DM Standard License – I encourage everyone to do the same. It's your world. Don't let someone else tell you how to run it. That includes me. The information that I offer on this blog is meant to inspire. It is not unalterable gospel -- unless you are on Kemen.

Portowners Are Stinky

Here is another way we can use available facts about Portown and the Portown 3D model to craft adventures.

Portown's fresh water comes from a number of wells, which themselves are fed by the underground river known to exist from the original dungeon map by J. Eric Holmes. The only other available source of freshwater is the small pond behind the bath house in the model. The bath house uses water from this pond for the baths. The owner of the bath house has asked Lord Baron Krindell (Sir Travis in Pinnell's module) to prohibit others from using the pond's waters. Krindell has declared that these waters are for all to use – because the bath house refused to pay his price in exchange for sole use. Since this is the only bath house in town and water is not abundant, most residents rarely bathe. The wealthier residents sometimes do and sometimes even visit the bath house, but the usual customers there are sailors who have just arrived in port and received their wages and share. As a result, the wealthy tend to go only when there is not a ship in port. Residents instead visit the markets to buy perfumes and personal scents.

This question about the source of fresh water leads to another question: where does the, um, “not-so-fresh” water go?

Into the sewer of course, but where does the sewer water go? The Portown sewers were built over top of the ruins of the old city. From there, none know.

How does all this lead to an adventure...?

“ENOUGH! Speak plainly!” commanded Thal Krindell, Lord Baron of Portown.

“I will speak as commanded milord,” said Yorell, the travelling mystic and magician. “But none save the Lord Baron himself can know what he will hear,” he added stingingly. Before anyone could speak of his impertinence he went on.

“From where comes the water that the people of Montydo (Portown, see below*) draw from their wells? From what unknown aquifer flows this stream?” he asked of the assembled hall. Playing to the crowd, he asked, “To where do your sewers flow? And how can you know when there are none left alive that saw them builded?” He paused to allow these questions to sink in.

“Montydo was built on top of an older city...a much older city. Its sewers lie on top of the streets of its older sister, and into them flow the wastes of your townsfolk. Down these ruined streets to what sewers there once were, and on to where none can say.”

“So you say!” yelled out Tymos, the baron's most senior retainer and captain of his guard. The man glanced at the Lord Baron, then quickly hung his head and looked to the floor, evidently in fear of some reprimand.

“You would speak, Tymos?” asked the Lord Baron.

The man kneeled. “Forgive my outburst, milord! It grieves me to stand witness as this charlatan weaves a tapestry of lies and midwifery, as if to beguile you!”

“Then you shall put your questions to him, and I shall listen.” Tymos turned and smiled with venom.

“You say that there are none left alive who saw the sewers built. How then know you where they run? Save that your undertaker knows not his work!”

“You need not believe me about where your sewers run,” said Yorell, “nor upon that which your city is builded. Are not the sewers there? Who among you has seen such building, such stonework? And where, Captain, do the sewer waters go?”

“I have not been in the habit of frequenting sewers, magician,” said Tymos, spitefully.

“Nor I,” said Yorell, laughing. “Neither am I a lich.” Then, this to the Lord Baron: “If you know not where comes your water, you know not what you drink, milord. If you know not where your sewers go, might they not go to and come from the same place?

“I have travelled far,” he continued speaking to the room, “and heard tales from other cities, and other towns, that your sister city lies beneath you. Swallowed up she was, by sea and earth, together with her people and her riches. Now, you and your people eat and sleep over them all, and in the morning empty your chamber pots into their streets. Pray her sewers do not come full, lest your own city be swallowed by your own refuse.”

Krindell sat back in his plush hair, in thought. He had perked up at the mention of riches. “And you seek leave to explore the filth filled sewers in service to the people of Montydo?”

“I, alone, wouldn't dare. There are also stories of Zenopus...” At the mention of the name, a shadow seemed to cross the faces of those in the room.

Yet, in the Lord Baron's face was reflected the signs of a strategy, fast forming. “Tymos, you will take two men and accompany our friend Yorell here, and report back to me.”

Tymos made move to object, but catching his lord's eye, subsided in submission.

It was decided.

Later, as the castle slept, Tymos met Yorell in the darkened hall.

“An equal share, then?” asked Tymos.

“Fool! Clever as was our intrigue today, think not that Krindell is besotted! He sent you to watch me, do you think that he will not send another to watch us both? Nay, we must see that the portion we bring him is large enough to rest his suspicions, and divide the rest between us. Perhaps, the journey will become treacherous though, hmm? Were the two us alone to survive and return, we could divide the portions as we see fit, hiding our shares and stealing back to collect them at our leisure. But for Krindell's portion, amongst we two, equal shares.”

“On the morrow, then?”

“On the morrow, at the Green Dragon. And rest well, for we will have need of more than our greed to sustain us.”

And as they parted, they knew not that they were overheard by one hidden in the shadows...

So, a greedy lord, a pair of conspirators, a shadowy figure... Of course one wouldn't read this to the players, except perhaps as an epilogue.

You will have to design the sewers, but I see these as about four to five feet wide, perhaps six feet high covered with a tightly fitted stone arch, running roughly east to west. Side sewers would contribute to the main line, most in the form of a 3 foot diameter pipe. The Cloaca Maxima in Rome is much larger, so this fits in terms of technology. I imagine the sewers to be at a slightly greater depth than the first level of Holmes' Sample Dungeon. The second level of the Holmes dungeon would be about the same level as the sewers, with the third level being the first joint level. This is consistent with Holmes' split level dungeon ideas.

          Holmes Dungeon                      Sewer

                  I                                            ---

                 II                                         Sewer, first level below sea level

                 III                                        Upper Ruins

The sewer level should include holes in the earth where water pours into the the upper ruins. This should be a fair drop, perhaps a cascade. The upper ruins should be full of raw sewage, and Portown's favorite son: rats. No really worthwhile treasure should be found until a significant depth is reached, and there should be real danger in taking it.

Our friend, Tymos, will be bringing two men with him (one of them a spy for the Lord Baron), so of course Yorell will feel outnumbered. He will hire PC's from the 'Dragon. Somewhere along the line treachery will occur, but will it be Tymos and Yorell killing or abandoning the rest, or will the conspirators turn on each other? What of the shadowy figure? A thief perhaps, or maybe a spy for the Order of Daegon? Will anyone return from the depths of this suburb of Y'ha-nthlei...?

* Portown is a known entity among many players, so I disguise it by changing the name to the local dialect. Guess what Montydo means...

Errata

Greetings all,

As I promised here is a post of errata - things that didn't make it into the model or things that I wanted to do but couldn't - or haven't yet.

I previously mentioned wanting to get a jpg of Portown from the window of the Green Dragon.

I would like to add light sources. In one version of the model, I had one of those wagon wheel chandelier things with candles on it in the main dining hall, but it did not make it into subsequent models. So I picture a couple of those around. I imagine oil lamps in the kitchen, and some type of lantern in the game rooms throwing light upon the game boards while leaving the rest of the room in relative shadow.

I'm really not at all satisfied with the windows. I would prefer some sort of diamond paned glass, still in a square wooden casing. Also, I think that in a seaport shutters would be most appropriate.

My biggest complaint about the Green Dragon Inn model and the Portown model is actaully a complaint about the Sketchup software -- it's too clean. I picture Portown as a town full of buildings covered in salt spray. Various places in disrepair and decay, full of rough edges. There really isn't a way of conveying this in Sketchup, short of creating your own materials, which is no small task.

I would also like to add more unique and singular architectural pieces -- friezes, bas reliefs, etc, even some stone gargoyles.

As I told a new acquiantance recently, it feels as though I've spent most of my summer and fall in Portown. I think I may need to take some time away from it, but I know that I will eventually return. Until then, I will undoubtedly continue to use 3D modelling in my campaign, and to use this blog to describe some of the details of Kemen. I hope that you find something useful here.

Best, A