Mob of Morons Kill Low Level Necromancer, Save Village; Hurt Selves, Sheep and Dog

ONE OF THE BEST CON RPG RUNS EVAR.







above cover illustration stolen and vandalized without permission.  click on it to get to the publisher website







So, in an unusual move, I actually played in an RPG at a con, pre-gens and all.  Usually, I don't due to what I sensitively call the "spastic kamakazi moron" effect that selects the players in such games.

Well, to be fair, it was also run by one of my oldest and dearest DM (and friend), and he had talked it up beforehand.   And yes, it was the poison coolaide of DCC (Dungeon crawl classics) , and DAMN...that is some tasty coolaid.

See, I had pretty much decided not to have anything to do with a massive tome  "old school" $50.00 game for a variety of reasons - not least was the fact that it was a massive thick tomb, with a huge proportion of pages dedicated to MAJIK THAT IS WILD AND KAOSEY AND RELLY ZAPZAP! (more about this later. Looking at it in the context of the game, it works well, go figure)

Still, the starting premise of the game pulled me in.....balance the characters by random chance and darwinian winnowing rather than elaborate tradeoffs, advantages and limitations. In short, start four characters as a level zero clodhoppers, and go into the dungeon. See who comes out, pick a class. NOTE:  these are NOT 0 level adventurers -you know, 0 level clerics, magic users, etc.  They are zero level humans (or elves or halflings, whatever; but still zero level.  They have a career background (randomly determined) which MAY be (say) an apprentice mage or cleric, but you really really have none of the skills and benefits of that class.  You pick a class when you get to first level - or you've died, and it is moot.

Interesting !  And, low level play has always been a love of mine.  And BOY are you low level.  No class (in every sense of the word) almost no equipment, no skills, no spells no special abilities, little hope; however, you might have a hammer or pitchfork, so roll on !.  And boy was it fun. 

 Sort of played like what would AD&D be like if say, maybe Gygax AND Arneson and Hargrave played Arduin with George Romero and a bunch of 1980's games workshop metal punks while cranking Hawkwind and chewing on a mouthful of berserker mushrooms.  Well, maybe not Hawkwind. I'd hate to discourage anyone simply becuase they hate Hawkwind.  Maybe BOC.  But the rest ?  Yes.

More to come. As a teaser, the Eeeeevil necromancer had his epic kill em all spell disrupted by being hit by a thrown dog..

Yeee-Ha !

Adventurer: New experience rules

The issue of experience in traveller is always difficult and often (cough, cough) contentuous.  To some extent, I think it reflects different genre styles.  The wellspring fiction of traveller does tend to value continuity more than the wellspring  fiction of Swords and sorcery as it was in the day. What a character is capable of  is a big part of that.  Intrerestingly, experience (from a character viewpoint) is one of the unchangingly simple elements of an FRP:  score points, go up.  SF seems determined to real it up by worrying in depth about training and etc., generally resulting in obscure or byzantine ways to improve characters.  Plus, what one tracks isn't experience points (easy) but compliance with the training program -which is a pain (ask any HR or manager).

 I know classic traveller has a way to improve characters, and if one reads it, it isn't the complicated or glacially slow  process it is often clamed to be.  And it isn't a constant process, one just makes some decisions, rolls some dice, and them waits until one has to roll again.   But the fact that after 30+ years it is still overlooked and misunderstood tells me that there is a problem.

So, in porting the traveller ethos to the Original RPG mindset, we run smack into that.  So, I've tried to devide an experience system that is front loaded (no tracking compliance) and simple; and yet a bit more than 1gp =1xp.  This is the new default experience system I'm proposing.  Comments and questions are solicited !

Plus, my own feeling is that I'll accept more power creeep in a fantasy setting than in a SciFi setting, where it seems more muchkinly. No idea why, really, just my gut reaction.




Regardless, experience seems to be one of the two  big style issues that differentiate traveller from Many Another Fantasy RPG (tm)

Increasing everything else (skills and characteristics): Simple Method

Assume that the campaign is broken into sessions, episodes and epics. Sessions are when you sit down and play; episodes are sessions that make up a specific story arc or chapter. Several chapters are an epic –or a chapter can be free standing. The intent is to allow players to advance something every three to five related sessions –so for a monster story arc, have several smaller ones, as that is where players will advance.

At the end of each session, if the player was present and has at least tried, each character gains one skill point. Ending a successful Epic or story arc gains a bonus equal to the episodes (sessions) involved. Note that one-offs or side quests don’t count for the bonus. Wildly successful, helpful or genre consistent play should also be given a bonus.

Unconnected or side sessions are just that; the players can get general experience, but not the bonus for completing an arc, and cannot spend them until an arc is completed.

After each chapter, during immediately subsequent session, a player can opt to improve one existing skill by spending skill points equal to the new level, and them rolling greater than the new level on 2d6. Extra skill points can be added at this point to increase the roll.

• If the roll succeeds, the points are expended and the skill increased by one.
• If the roll fails, no skill is gained, but the points remain; the player may spend one point to attempt to increase a different skill, repeating while points remain or until successful.

Only one skill may be improved per chapter, and only by one level, but the player may try several skills until successful. Note too that advancement can only occur immediately after a chapter. If desired, points may be saved for the next chapter resolution, but cannot be spent until then.
Instead of increasing an existing skill, a player may automatically gain a new skill at level 1 by spending 3 points. This too can only occur once, for one skill, per chapter.

Any physical stat can be increased by treating it as a skill equal to ½ the value of the stat.

Increasing characteristics may only improve the characters undamaged characteristics; also, the player must be in good health with regard to the stat in question.

A characteristic that has been reduced by ageing cannot be further increased

ADVENTURER is complete ! Book Three: Races, Realms and Riches is up and posted !

Well, here it is. Book three of three. It's done.

This one covers the equiv of the wilderness and underworld adventures for original D&D. Player and non-player races, animal and fantastic creature generation rules; map, city and dungeon generation rules, plus traveller style profile strings ! analogues for all the major traveller races ! Major geek fest !

All it seems to lack at this point are some easy combat rules for flyers, and a few careers for the same -or at least skills for them.  I'm not sure if I should add them to book two, or remove the flyer construction rules from it, and have a first supplement covering skyships.  The latter is easier, but would leave  book 2 a bit skinny, and entirely devoted to magic.  Any thoughts ?

So, except for the above, this is probably the final version of Adventurer unless I decide to go semipro and actually publish it via POD or PDF.  Or if major problems show up, obviously.....

So, I've got other stuff to blog about, but I've been forcing myself to  finish this off; it's been gratifying seeing the followers increase even in the face of seriously dense and specialized posts.  I hope you all enjoy this.  And I'd love to hear any comments or stories from actual play.  My local playtest has been a long time thing, but somewhat limited in scope and player headcount.  I know more input would be better, so........http://www.box.net/shared/gzu9dcs4c4r61nrx2zo4

Dungeons for Adventurer: Traveller style ! (the UDP) part 1.

In fact, developing a UDP  (universal dungeon profile) was one of the first things I did for adventurer.

Towers, Temples and Terrors

What is the point of realms and cities if there is no room for profitable adventure free from city guards and the king’s army? What hero of worth in a sword and sorcery yarn has failed to delve into a wizards tower for forbidden gold ortreasure ?  Labyrinthine hallways, locked portals, magical constructs, terrible monsters of myth and legend, all await within.  And, as ever, the nemesis!  The mage at the center of his construct, the spider in the web!  But that's not all!  When the wizards tower is missing, or looted, there are the ruined cities, hidden lairs (of thieves, pirates and  bandits), lost dungeons deep beneath the earth along with  caves caverns and the underworld all draw the hero like a magnet.  Glory, gold and artifacts of unspeakable power all await amidst terrible guardians, and cunning traps.  Evil cults and pretenders to thrones must be ferreted out and overthrown –or contacted and joined! 

The cunning GM must always consider that a well stocked ruin is a far better investment of time than a detailed exposition of a ruler’s family in a distant realm.

In general, one cannot go far wrong with a wizards tower or ancient ruin (subterranean or not).  The Tower may have an active plotting inhabitant, with organized patrols, reset traps, and well hidden treasures, or the master may be gone, and the keep simply a convenient lair for his surviving minions and lesser evils.  Ruins will be inhabited by survivors or squatters, and make excellent lairs for fantastical creatures (which may well be the cause of the ruin).  Tombs too should abound in plenty, stocked with the grave goods of dead kings wizards and conquerors; protected by fiendish traps, hidden areas and terrible spirits.

Several such sites should be premapped, generally at least one each of tower, ruin and tomb.  Practically, it is recommended each level or specific area be limited to a single piece of paper, with maps and encounter keys all upon one side. 

Generally, such adventure havens come in two types: organized and haphazard.  Organized sites generally have a well defined overall purpose, and inhabitants and contents that support this mission.  The inhabitants and contents (traps, treasures, and access) tend to cooperate towards a specific goal –although factions may exist!  Traps are often complex and well maintained, and generally make allowance for safe passage for those who have the authority. 

Haphazard sites tend to be abandoned and generally anarchic, with random inhabitants that may or may not cooperate, compete or ignore each others.  Much is simply the detritus of absent inhabitants, or loot from deeper in.  The stronger monsters will tend to have the best and most isolated lairs, seeing the lesser as cheap protection.  Traps will tend to be very long lasting and self resetting, or simple and crude, set by the new inhabitants. 

Challenge

Code	A	B	C	D	E	X
Theme	Epic Foe	Tribal; unified	Tribal, balkanized	Horde	Undead	Beasts
x/36	3	7	11	5	4	6
2d6 Roll	2-3	4-5	6-7	8	9	10-12

 

 

Epic Foe	The Site is inhabited by a single foe of  great power , possibly with useless but annoying  minions
Tribal, Unified	The site is inhabited several unified cooperative groups of threat rating -4 (min 1)
Tribal, Balkanized	The site is inhabited by a several hostile or at least uncooperative groups equal to 1d6+11
Horde	The site is inhabited by a large and shifting number  of groups equal to threat rating *2 with little or no overall  organization or interaction
Undead	The site is inhabited by leaderless undead, summoned and bound abominations or unspeakable constructs, all acting entirely reactively and without regard to the other inhabitants.
Beasts	The site is inhabited by a variety of beasts and/or dangerous pests.

Once the Theme of the Site is determined, generate the key variables to guide its design:  Type, Size, Denizens, Hoard, Reputation and finally, Threat.  The series of values coded from 0-A make up the UDP, or universal dungeon profile.

	Denizens	Type	Size (guidelines)
	2d6 -2	2d6-7 +Denizens	2d6-7+Denizens
0	1	Lair	100-600 sqft x Denizens
1	2-4	Cave	1d6*1d6 acres
2	5-10	Tower or temple, active	2d6 *2d6 acres in 1d6 levels
3	11-20	Tower or Temple, buried	1d6*1d6  acres in 2d6 levels
4	21-50	Tower or Temple, Ruined	2d6 *2d6 acres in 1d6 levels
5	51-100	Catacomb, tunnel complex, Dungeon	2d6 *1d6 acres  in 1d3*1d6 levels
6	100-250	Necropolis	d6*d6   *2d6 structures
7	251-500	City, Ruined	((2d6*d6 )) ^2
8	500-1000	City, Buried	(d6*d6)^2 in 1d6 levels
9	1001-10,000	City, Lost, inhabited	((d6*d6 )) ^2
A	10,000 +	Lost Kingdom	Frikkin  huge

* yes, square it.  This actually covers the range from troy (~4 acres) to  50% bigger than ancient (augustian) rome. The average size is bigger than would be reasonably expected  from a survey of classical cities, but, 1. It’s a ruin, and 2.  For adventure, the bigger the better.

	Reputation equivalent	Protection (example)	Strategy
	2d6-2	2d6-7 + Reputation	2d6-7+Protection
0	Pwell’k’arn-deloth*  (I made this up)	Wide open	None
1	Rhyleh	Sock under mattress	Passive
2	Atlantis	Buried in back yard	Guerilla
3	Dragons Horde	Average Bank	Reactive
4	Shipwreck s mine	Prison	Indominable
5	Lost dutchman’	Coldiz	Aggressive
6	Local wizards tower	Supermax facility	Berserk
7	Mint building	Titan II Missile silo	Cunning
8	Kings castle	Area 51 secret labs	Tactical
9	Part of general creation myths/literature	Bond villain lair	Relentless
A	False story	Gates of hell	Vengeful

[more to come]

Denizens A rough guide to how many opponents are inhabiting the site, and often, but not always guarding the site.  Note that more powerful creatures can count as multiple inhabitants.  Thus while a huge ancient dragon would most likely be rating 0 denizen (1) , it could also be as strong as a hundred men and count as a rating 6 denizen.  This is useful to keep in mind when considering the Theme of the Site in relation to its population. .

Type Type is further described in its own table, below. More denizens imply bigger and more complex sites.

Size Size defines the general area occupied by the site: this differs depending on actual type, mainly based on being underground, a single structure, or more spread out types such as ruined cities and catacombs.

Reputation A general measure of how easy it is to find out facts about the site, hear about it at.  Half the Reputation is the equivalent of a players reputation for determining how well known the site is, and also the Positive DM applied to attempts to locate the general location of the site, typically the standard 1 week campaign hex.   The specific location is modified by access.

If the rating is A, however, the site does not actually exist, although rumor and myth have its stats as otherwise rolled.  Reroll Rep as 1d6 for purposes of hearing the false leads and finding the purported  general location of the non-existent site.

Protection How hard it is to get into, and to locate the site itself once the correct wilderness hex is found.  Once the hex is located (by Reputation) the site must be found, either by game play with higher values of Protection  being harder to find.  Alternately, an appropriate task check can be made (Recon, Knowledge, etc) with Half the Security rating (round down)as  the negative DM to locate the site within the campaign hex. Note that if the site doesn't exist (see above) a successful location roll simply means you’ve figured out the joke. 

Entering the site can be handled by a 2d task throw using stealth type skills as modifiers and half the security rating as a negative modifier(round up).  Alternately, and preferably, use the Access as a guide to setting up security, with higher values being harder and more dangerous.

The assumption linking this to Reputation is that well known sites need tight security to survive, and for lost sites, protection is slacker.

Strategy  An approximation of how the denizens protect the site it is a complicated enough topic to deserve its own section (below) The strategy rating determines the chance to encounter random denizens each turn (see below).

The assumption linking this to protection is that draconian security tends to make more well trained and aggressive guards.

Threat: Is the general danger associated with the site. Obviously highly reliant on the gm to operationalize.

After generating, tweaking and fudging the basic UDP, the Hoard is then generated.

Hoard

Finally, the reason we are here ! The sites’s horde rating is the final measure of its value, both in the main cache of the biggest boss,, and spread around and hidden throughout. Basic procedure is: roll 1d6 and add modifiers from table.  The main horde consists of final number on the Hoard table.  This is the big one, the one the whole thing may be protecting – or the main dumping ground for undead who dislike silver (say).  This treasure is in one place.  All lower coin values are also found, but spread out through the rest of the dungeon and its denizens. Similalry, roll once more on the gems,jewels and magic items at Hoard -1, and distribute any that result as with coins.   Now that’s a place worth getting you neck snapped for, right ?  Hmmmmm.  Your characters neck.  Sound better ?

	Challenge	Denizens	Size	Type*	Reputation	Protection	Strategy
0			+1	-2	+1	-2	-3
1				-1	+1		-2
2							-1
3				+1
4
5				+1
6				+1
7							+1
8		+1		+1	+1		+1
9		+1		+1	+1	+1	+2
A	+4	+1	+1	+2	+6 *	+1	+2
B	+2
C	+1
D
E
X

*Remember, it’s a fish story…….

1d6 + mods	Metal	Gems : d6 x (rating+1)	Jewelry: d6 + rating	Minor magic: d3	Magic item: H -L	Artifact: 1
0	Copper  2d6 *10	10+	12 +	10+	12 +	12 +
1	Copper  2d6 *100	10+	12 +	10+	12 +	12 +
2	Bronze 2d6 *100	9+	11+	10+	12 +	12 +
3	Silver 2d6 *100	9+	11+	10+	12 +	12 +
4	Bronze 2d6 *1000	8+	10+	9+	11+	12 +
5	Silver 2d6 *1000	8+	10+	9+	11+	12 +
6	Gold 2d6*100	7+	9+	9+	11+	12 +
7	Silver Talents 2d6	7+	9+	9+	11+	12 +
8	Silver 2d6 *10000	6+	8+	8+	10+	12 +
9	Gold 2d6 *1000	6+	8+	8+	10+	12 +
A	Silver Talents 2d6 *10	5+	7+	8+	10+	12 +
B	Gold Talents 2d6	5+	7+	8+	10+	12 +
C	Gold 2d6 *10000	4+	6+	7+	9+	12 +
D	Silver Talents 2d6 *100	4+	6+	7+	9+	12 +
E	Gold Talents 2d6*10	3+	5+	7+	9+	12 +
F	Silver Talents 2d6 *1000	3+	5+	7+	9+	12 +
G	Gold Talents 2d6 *100	3+	4+	6+	8+	12 +
H	Silver Talents 2d6 *10000	3+	4+	6+	8+	12 +
J	Gold Talents 2d6 *1000	3+	3+	6+	8+	12 +