In followup to my post from last Friday, there is big news on the OSRIC front. (I think I rolled 1 on the d30 for psionics last week...)
http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?p=101572#p101572
I'm thrilled to see OSRIC get a little love from them and some "oomph" in terms of making books available. Having worked with both BBP and UP, I have a lot of confidence that they'll do an awesome job.
We were just discussing on K&K that there's an anecdotal ratio of about 6:1 between old school AD&D players still playing, and those people who are active on the Internet participating in the old school discussion. Having OSRIC available to bring in more new players, bring in people who don't know the old books are available... it's all good news for this old edition of D&D.
Monday, January 31, 2011
AD&D/OSRIC campaign - this is why he plays
Awhile ago, my players stumbled onto a treasure map in the form of a letter, indicating a great treasure was in a particular place. It took a little while, but my players finally returned to attempting to find the location.. and what they found totally thrilled one of my players who plays a cleric of Tangorin. (Tangorin is based off of the god Tangadorin from the old JG "Unknown Gods" supplement.)
I've had this place set up for awhile, but without a real story behind aside from a cryptic entry in my hex map notes. This is the best part of "just in time" DM'ing and sandbox creation. Here's a location, now plug a story around it. You've got cockatrices, a treasure map and a temple to a forgotten god nearby. The story practically wrote itself and the result on my treasure generation just fit to a T. Taichara's Little Treasures finished it off, as I got this result from her table: "A cultic text: furled hundred-page scroll of golden parchment, inked in black and crimson and mounted on crystal rods."
And thus the players now had a meaningful purpose to the treasure map and since it was near a recently discovered sacred site for my player's god...
Long ago, when Tangorin's Tower of Light was erected, his most highest and fervent of priests (who had just about bankrupted himself in erecting this strange edifice that most called "folly" as it was stone/metal but mostly of glass) journeyed with a few faithful to fill the tower with the treasures of Tangorin as well as his most holy words, enscribed on golden parchment, with crystal rod ends. Unfortunately, this unknown priest never made it to the tower and it remained empty (some said haunted) until it was long forgotten after the Doom. Forgotten... until someone stumbled onto a treasure map, had a vision and then quested to rediscover the holy text.
Jorann's player was almost beside himself when the chest from the cockatrice lair was opened and gave up all claims to other treasure in exchange for the magic mace and text of Tangorin. (which was about the equivalent of about 4,750 gold pieces. It was a huge haul, representing the wealth of this dude. Imagine a lonely guy, not quite like a cult leader, but definitely on the fringe, investing all his wealth into this tower, then journeying with the last of his belongings... anyway, you get the idea. Sad ending. Cha-ching for the players.)
It was a fun game, full of divebombing cockatrices (my first time using Aerial combat rules), five of the six players wanting to strangle the last one due to some unscripted combat, the "Mighty Mazlor" being smacked on the back of the head by his religion for overlooking a Chaotic act (the Light wouldn't give him his forgotten spell for a couple of days... alignment post coming later this week!), death-from-above large spiders, and a half-crazed woman commando who is on a mission to rid the world of all orcs, one severed head at a time.
It was one of those games. Totally awesome!
I've had this place set up for awhile, but without a real story behind aside from a cryptic entry in my hex map notes. This is the best part of "just in time" DM'ing and sandbox creation. Here's a location, now plug a story around it. You've got cockatrices, a treasure map and a temple to a forgotten god nearby. The story practically wrote itself and the result on my treasure generation just fit to a T. Taichara's Little Treasures finished it off, as I got this result from her table: "A cultic text: furled hundred-page scroll of golden parchment, inked in black and crimson and mounted on crystal rods."
And thus the players now had a meaningful purpose to the treasure map and since it was near a recently discovered sacred site for my player's god...
Long ago, when Tangorin's Tower of Light was erected, his most highest and fervent of priests (who had just about bankrupted himself in erecting this strange edifice that most called "folly" as it was stone/metal but mostly of glass) journeyed with a few faithful to fill the tower with the treasures of Tangorin as well as his most holy words, enscribed on golden parchment, with crystal rod ends. Unfortunately, this unknown priest never made it to the tower and it remained empty (some said haunted) until it was long forgotten after the Doom. Forgotten... until someone stumbled onto a treasure map, had a vision and then quested to rediscover the holy text.
Jorann's player was almost beside himself when the chest from the cockatrice lair was opened and gave up all claims to other treasure in exchange for the magic mace and text of Tangorin. (which was about the equivalent of about 4,750 gold pieces. It was a huge haul, representing the wealth of this dude. Imagine a lonely guy, not quite like a cult leader, but definitely on the fringe, investing all his wealth into this tower, then journeying with the last of his belongings... anyway, you get the idea. Sad ending. Cha-ching for the players.)
 |
| You'll see her when she kills you. |
It was one of those games. Totally awesome!
Friday, January 28, 2011
AD&D/OSRIC campaign - many books, many meaningful options
Last night was the forty fifth (45) session of my AD&D campaign "The Dark Ages." This party continued on their explorations of the deep Dwarf Mines that had been discovered. These mines are "Moria-like" in their vastness - roughly a half-mile between main junctions. The party had one member knocked below 0, rendering him incapable of combat for the rest of the game, and a ranger that kept getting whacked by dice and monsters, but somehow managed to survive. Surprisingly, all of the hirelings lived. There was a lot of laughter about that!
First, a picture:
Yes, there are three OSRIC books at the table - my hardback and two softcover prints. My apologies for the bad cell phone pic. When I spoke about the availability of AD&D 1e books to this group, I got the impression that OSRIC was just considered "easier" to get? Maybe that's my own impression, but I may invest in a couple of 1e PHBs to pass along. Still, we end up using the OSRIC books as much as the PHBs. It makes me smile, though, to see the pace-setter for the retroclones steadily chugging along. Many of the other clones get more press, but OSRIC seems to have amassed quite a bit of traction under the radar. If one of the more vocal "OSR" publishers got behind it in a major way, I wonder what would happen?
A couple of notes from the game:
A way to make your sub 1HD or 1HD small insect or invertebrate creatures a lot tougher? Have them in a swarm. Take your basic centipede. Depending on the D&D you play, or how you implement your 'pede, it probably does minimal damage by itself and is 1 or 2hp and has a weak, non-lethal poison. Not so tough!
However, put them in a swarm (for purposes of movement and grouped together to attack the same target) but have them attack individually, and take damage individually, and you could have 6 to 10 small creatures suddenly acting like one big tough one. 1 centipede attacking ain't nothing. 8 to 10 attacking at the same time... one target and now you're rolling lots of d20s at once and players are turning various shades of green and blue. My worm swarm last night chewed through one guy and took aim at another before two quaking hirelings chucked oil and torch (thank you Dr. Holmes, for the nice oil rule) at the cluster, burning them up. (The swarm can cut both ways, I ruled that the oil and subsequent burning applied to the entire swarm.)
"Make your player's meaning choices have meaningful results." That has been one of my personal implementation issues with sandbox campaigns. The players are free to do as they like, including chasing their own tails and never finding anything meaningful in their trips. This can dissuade them from continuing on, if they are the type of player who is after a quick hit. So while I will not spoon feed a guaranteed ending, I will also make sure that the major choices, the destinations and the things they seek, have the possibility of meaningful results, especially over a period of time.
My Dwarf mines are based in part on ICE's implementation of their MERP "Moria" supplement. It's a fascinating book about how to run Khazad-dûm and I've used it for generating my Dwarf mines. It is completely random, I have an organized one-pager that allows me to quickly determine what they'll find and it's contents and then my own improv on the area they are exploring. To that end, though, I sprinkled some meaningful results that they could find randomly (or perhaps follow clues they may find...) so that in the end, their choice to explore what is a random dungeon does have some odds of finding something.
They hit that last night with a wandering monster encounter. The party holed up in what appeared to be a 40 foot tall tower in the mines. In the middle of the night, they awoke to soft whispers and someone trying to enter the tower - and they were speaking in Elf! They ended up being the only survivors of the elf encampment that had been utterly wiped out by orcs a couple of weeks earlier. Definitely meaningful - they had been lost in the mines for weeks, barely surviving and starving to death. Now the players are not only heroes for rescuing the elves, they also gained some valuable information on the mines.
I won't spoon-feed results, but the results are there and I'm doing a better job of ensuring that. I probably walk a fine line between Alexis's uber-realistic-uncaring world and the more standard fantasy hero game. I'm never 100% comfortable one way or the other, which is probably a good thing.
Line of the game, by Mazlor (played by David): "Bet you 5 gp you won't eat them!" - said as Talos, the druid, opened a door and a swarm of worms with humanoid faces greeted him.
(edited to clarify what I meant by "swarming")
First, a picture:
Yes, there are three OSRIC books at the table - my hardback and two softcover prints. My apologies for the bad cell phone pic. When I spoke about the availability of AD&D 1e books to this group, I got the impression that OSRIC was just considered "easier" to get? Maybe that's my own impression, but I may invest in a couple of 1e PHBs to pass along. Still, we end up using the OSRIC books as much as the PHBs. It makes me smile, though, to see the pace-setter for the retroclones steadily chugging along. Many of the other clones get more press, but OSRIC seems to have amassed quite a bit of traction under the radar. If one of the more vocal "OSR" publishers got behind it in a major way, I wonder what would happen?
A couple of notes from the game:
 |
| Guys?!? Help! They're eating me! |
However, put them in a swarm (for purposes of movement and grouped together to attack the same target) but have them attack individually, and take damage individually, and you could have 6 to 10 small creatures suddenly acting like one big tough one. 1 centipede attacking ain't nothing. 8 to 10 attacking at the same time... one target and now you're rolling lots of d20s at once and players are turning various shades of green and blue. My worm swarm last night chewed through one guy and took aim at another before two quaking hirelings chucked oil and torch (thank you Dr. Holmes, for the nice oil rule) at the cluster, burning them up. (The swarm can cut both ways, I ruled that the oil and subsequent burning applied to the entire swarm.)
"Make your player's meaning choices have meaningful results." That has been one of my personal implementation issues with sandbox campaigns. The players are free to do as they like, including chasing their own tails and never finding anything meaningful in their trips. This can dissuade them from continuing on, if they are the type of player who is after a quick hit. So while I will not spoon feed a guaranteed ending, I will also make sure that the major choices, the destinations and the things they seek, have the possibility of meaningful results, especially over a period of time.
My Dwarf mines are based in part on ICE's implementation of their MERP "Moria" supplement. It's a fascinating book about how to run Khazad-dûm and I've used it for generating my Dwarf mines. It is completely random, I have an organized one-pager that allows me to quickly determine what they'll find and it's contents and then my own improv on the area they are exploring. To that end, though, I sprinkled some meaningful results that they could find randomly (or perhaps follow clues they may find...) so that in the end, their choice to explore what is a random dungeon does have some odds of finding something.
They hit that last night with a wandering monster encounter. The party holed up in what appeared to be a 40 foot tall tower in the mines. In the middle of the night, they awoke to soft whispers and someone trying to enter the tower - and they were speaking in Elf! They ended up being the only survivors of the elf encampment that had been utterly wiped out by orcs a couple of weeks earlier. Definitely meaningful - they had been lost in the mines for weeks, barely surviving and starving to death. Now the players are not only heroes for rescuing the elves, they also gained some valuable information on the mines.
I won't spoon-feed results, but the results are there and I'm doing a better job of ensuring that. I probably walk a fine line between Alexis's uber-realistic-uncaring world and the more standard fantasy hero game. I'm never 100% comfortable one way or the other, which is probably a good thing.
Line of the game, by Mazlor (played by David): "Bet you 5 gp you won't eat them!" - said as Talos, the druid, opened a door and a swarm of worms with humanoid faces greeted him.
(edited to clarify what I meant by "swarming")
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
OD&D Solo game w/wife - The doors on the tomb go "open and shut..."
(If you're humming "Wheels on the Bus" right now, that's where the title is from...)
After a brief distraction with confronting and capturing some wandering bandits, Aeli and her band returned to the Tomb of Alaxus to crawl through a ratling tunnel (more of a natural crack in a hill) to see if she could find a different way into the tomb. We had a little time to spare, life has gotten quite hectic in January, with something going on almost every evening. This was a treat to have a couple of hours to play.
We also play short sessions. @thePrincessWife isn't the type to sit at the gaming table for 10 to 12 hours, unlike her idiot husband, so I try to take it in short bursts and I'll let her stop the game in dungeons. Since it's just her and I, there's that luxury.
So... on to the game and the meaning of the title...
After crawling through bugs (a "small" giant centipede dropped on the NPC mage who promptly decided he did not like crawling through tunnels...) and into a room that looked suspiciously like other tomb rooms, Aeli found herself back in a hexagonal chamber with a skeleton in plate armor and a shield with a sunburst. One of the henchmen decided to take the shield, but Aeli was more interested in the jet black double doors that lay to the north.
Brief segue.. I hate it when my screw ups in directions lead to player confusion in mapping. Talk about a way to kill a great game flow... kinda like this segue... anyway...
So the jet black doors, with bas-reliefs of minotaur heads and silver bull-head door ring pulls. She pulled the doors open and she saw a dias with a coffin in the middle. Between the dias and the door looked to be 8 rotting minotaurs and behind the dias were 8 piles of bones. It was the tomb of Alaxus!
In the meantime, I've been waiting for her to finally find this tomb. So I'm excitedly setting up the minis, putting up the terrain and just all happy. @thePrincessWife's eyes are as big as plates right now and she's considering the backing and the pedalling. It's a huge climax ...
... and then as I reviewed the description to make sure I had everything, I saw a single line at the very beginning of the room description, where it is describing the jet black stone doors... "These doors are locked."
...
...
...
Yea... so what to do? Do I leave the doors unlocked? Do I go "oops. Wait.. this didn't happen."
No.
So Aeli and party are still at the door, gaping at the sight before them, when a skeletal hand reaches up out of the coffin, points to the doors AND THEY SHUT! Right on those adventurer's noses!
So Aeli and company plot and get oil and cleric ready.. they're going to go in... but the door will not push open! The two silver bull head ring pulls suddenly liquefy (ala Terminator 2) and form one solid bullhead, it's mouth now a giant keyhole.
(Insert sudden dawning realization on @thePrincessWife's face and then the glaring and growling and "WTF'ing"...)
Heh. A cinematic moment made more cinematic by an old school "GET OFF MY LAWN!" performed by something in the coffin.
Aeli and party returned to the skeleton and she took the plate mail armor and dressed in it. Now if you're familiar with "Wrath of the Minotaur" module by Jeff Grubb, you know that this is most likely the armor of the famous mage-killer/Hero that slew Alaxus a long time ago with the Sword of Runes. The henchman who had taken the shield sheepishly (and a little in awe) gave it Aeli saying the shield probably belonged with the armor.
That's something I've started giving to Aeli (and to my Dark Ages players as well) at 4th level - some respect and admiration. In OD&D, 4th level was equivalent to Chainmail's Hero, making 4 attacks per turn instead of 1. These were the bad-ass knights, the snarling ferocious barbarian leaders or the dudes that were gonna go get some serious ass-kicking on. Well, they get some deference and notoriety. Aeli saw a bit of that when she captured the bandits, and now that she's donning platemail that may have been worn by an ancient hero.. well, that's just the shit!
She exited the Tombs on that note, and went back to town to drink. A wandering minstrel took note of her and sang a song of the famous fight between the unnamed female Hero and Alaxus the Blackest of Mages.
The screwup with the door has presented itself with opportunities for her and for me. For her, it means that "peek" gives her a tactical edge - she knows what to expect and she can prepare better for it. I won't begrudge that to her, hell, it was my screwup and her gain. It gave me some fun with a moment that you won't see in most fantasy movies and depending on what she does/where she goes to find how to unlock the door, more opportunities to have some fun. So not too disheartening and just a quick improv - thank gods I pulled that outta my ass!
I can't wait to play again!
We also play short sessions. @thePrincessWife isn't the type to sit at the gaming table for 10 to 12 hours, unlike her idiot husband, so I try to take it in short bursts and I'll let her stop the game in dungeons. Since it's just her and I, there's that luxury.
So... on to the game and the meaning of the title...
After crawling through bugs (a "small" giant centipede dropped on the NPC mage who promptly decided he did not like crawling through tunnels...) and into a room that looked suspiciously like other tomb rooms, Aeli found herself back in a hexagonal chamber with a skeleton in plate armor and a shield with a sunburst. One of the henchmen decided to take the shield, but Aeli was more interested in the jet black double doors that lay to the north.
Brief segue.. I hate it when my screw ups in directions lead to player confusion in mapping. Talk about a way to kill a great game flow... kinda like this segue... anyway...
So the jet black doors, with bas-reliefs of minotaur heads and silver bull-head door ring pulls. She pulled the doors open and she saw a dias with a coffin in the middle. Between the dias and the door looked to be 8 rotting minotaurs and behind the dias were 8 piles of bones. It was the tomb of Alaxus!
In the meantime, I've been waiting for her to finally find this tomb. So I'm excitedly setting up the minis, putting up the terrain and just all happy. @thePrincessWife's eyes are as big as plates right now and she's considering the backing and the pedalling. It's a huge climax ...
... and then as I reviewed the description to make sure I had everything, I saw a single line at the very beginning of the room description, where it is describing the jet black stone doors... "These doors are locked."
...
...
...
Yea... so what to do? Do I leave the doors unlocked? Do I go "oops. Wait.. this didn't happen."
No.
So Aeli and party are still at the door, gaping at the sight before them, when a skeletal hand reaches up out of the coffin, points to the doors AND THEY SHUT! Right on those adventurer's noses!
So Aeli and company plot and get oil and cleric ready.. they're going to go in... but the door will not push open! The two silver bull head ring pulls suddenly liquefy (ala Terminator 2) and form one solid bullhead, it's mouth now a giant keyhole.
Heh. A cinematic moment made more cinematic by an old school "GET OFF MY LAWN!" performed by something in the coffin.
Aeli and party returned to the skeleton and she took the plate mail armor and dressed in it. Now if you're familiar with "Wrath of the Minotaur" module by Jeff Grubb, you know that this is most likely the armor of the famous mage-killer/Hero that slew Alaxus a long time ago with the Sword of Runes. The henchman who had taken the shield sheepishly (and a little in awe) gave it Aeli saying the shield probably belonged with the armor.
That's something I've started giving to Aeli (and to my Dark Ages players as well) at 4th level - some respect and admiration. In OD&D, 4th level was equivalent to Chainmail's Hero, making 4 attacks per turn instead of 1. These were the bad-ass knights, the snarling ferocious barbarian leaders or the dudes that were gonna go get some serious ass-kicking on. Well, they get some deference and notoriety. Aeli saw a bit of that when she captured the bandits, and now that she's donning platemail that may have been worn by an ancient hero.. well, that's just the shit!
She exited the Tombs on that note, and went back to town to drink. A wandering minstrel took note of her and sang a song of the famous fight between the unnamed female Hero and Alaxus the Blackest of Mages.
The screwup with the door has presented itself with opportunities for her and for me. For her, it means that "peek" gives her a tactical edge - she knows what to expect and she can prepare better for it. I won't begrudge that to her, hell, it was my screwup and her gain. It gave me some fun with a moment that you won't see in most fantasy movies and depending on what she does/where she goes to find how to unlock the door, more opportunities to have some fun. So not too disheartening and just a quick improv - thank gods I pulled that outta my ass!
I can't wait to play again!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
OD&D Psionics - my take
I don't like psionics. Wait, let me take that back. I don't like the psionics from Supplement 3, or from AD&D or from the web and it boils down to the same thing for me... tl;dr - too many dice/too much paperwork.
Now that's an oversimplification and this is a personal opinion - I like my games lean, mean and many options, few rules. Many of the psionic systems that I've taken the time to really read and grok end up following a similar pattern:
1. Figure out how powerful the psionics are (and in some systems, figure out how much psionics you can do for this level/day/combat.)
2. Figure out the attack/defense
3. Figure out if an attack/effect was successful (usually matching results from #1 and #2, comparing, and making dice rolls for saves and damage.)
4. Track points/power levels.
There are a lot of people who like that type of mini-game, I'm not one of them. Call it thick-skull, maybe I inhaled too many fumes from that "dope" when I was building model airplanes as a kid, but I like my in-game systems quick and easy.
That all being said, I do have a psionics system I do like, and it was written by Gary Gygax in 1975 in the magazine Strategic Review #1. In it, he described the Mind Flayer for the first time and it's Mind Blast power:
Now admittedly, to my own taste, there's a lot wrong with this chart, such as why someone with 18 INT would suffer insanity if they fail their save versus the 13/14 would just be confused, BUT it's the simplicity of the effect and approach. Attack. Save. Ouch or Haha! So let's expand this just a smidge.
1. Figure out if you have psionics - prereq is a 13+ INT. 1 in d30 gets you the freaky mind!
I do like Carcosa's system of using INT/WIS/CHA to determine likelihood, so I'll add that a WIS of 16+ and/or CHA of 16+ adds +1, cumulative. A person could have a 3 in 30 if they have high enough stats. 10% chance.
And yes, you can simulate a d30 with a d20+d10 but really... the d30 is so cool, this system will make you run out and buy one. Right? Guys?
2. You have 4 powers - Mind Blast (like the mind flaya' [although I may redo this to do some damage dice and save the effects for a failed save]), ESP (like the spell) and Charm Person (like the spell). You also have Telekinesis (like the spell). You can use the number of powers per day as your level/3 (rounding rules apply). So choose wisely at first level.
It was my thought that 10th level should be able to use all powers at least once, so I may allow 10th level 4 times since that's the cap on most classes. Maybe not, maybe those freaky high level mages should allow themselves some extra oomph, since we are talking about OD&D here...)
3. To attack, you declare like a spell and let your mind do the talking. The target makes their save based on the chart above. Your powers are limited to 60'. If they save, you are stunned for 3 rounds (in combat use) or 3 turns (non-combat use). If the target fails, the power works (per spell description or Mind Blast - which we would redo the chart)
Now, in accordance to the Alexis TestYourBullshit! rule, I have not tested these because I'm still noodling them. It's my (perhaps incorrect) suspicion that psionics are one of those campaign tilters, just like tossing a +3 Vorpal Sword into a pile 'o treasure, so I tend to tread lightly. Do these seem doable? To me they seem fun.
Now that's an oversimplification and this is a personal opinion - I like my games lean, mean and many options, few rules. Many of the psionic systems that I've taken the time to really read and grok end up following a similar pattern:
1. Figure out how powerful the psionics are (and in some systems, figure out how much psionics you can do for this level/day/combat.)
2. Figure out the attack/defense
3. Figure out if an attack/effect was successful (usually matching results from #1 and #2, comparing, and making dice rolls for saves and damage.)
4. Track points/power levels.
There are a lot of people who like that type of mini-game, I'm not one of them. Call it thick-skull, maybe I inhaled too many fumes from that "dope" when I was building model airplanes as a kid, but I like my in-game systems quick and easy.
That all being said, I do have a psionics system I do like, and it was written by Gary Gygax in 1975 in the magazine Strategic Review #1. In it, he described the Mind Flayer for the first time and it's Mind Blast power:
Intelligence Saving Throw at Range Effect of of Opponent 1-2" 3-4" 5-6" Mind Blast 3-4 19 19 17 Death 5-7 17 16 15 Coma, 3 days 8-10 15 14 13 Sleep, 1 hour 11-12 13 12 11 Stun, 3 turns 13-14 11 10 9 Confuse, 5 turns 15-16 9 8 7 Enrage, 7 turns 17 7 6 5 Feeblemind 18 5 4 3 Insanity, permanent Magic users add +1 to their saving throws, and clerics add +2. A Helm of Telepathy adds a +4 to saving throws, and when such saves are made the attacking Mind Flayer is stunned for 3 turns.
Now admittedly, to my own taste, there's a lot wrong with this chart, such as why someone with 18 INT would suffer insanity if they fail their save versus the 13/14 would just be confused, BUT it's the simplicity of the effect and approach. Attack. Save. Ouch or Haha! So let's expand this just a smidge.
1. Figure out if you have psionics - prereq is a 13+ INT. 1 in d30 gets you the freaky mind!
I do like Carcosa's system of using INT/WIS/CHA to determine likelihood, so I'll add that a WIS of 16+ and/or CHA of 16+ adds +1, cumulative. A person could have a 3 in 30 if they have high enough stats. 10% chance.
And yes, you can simulate a d30 with a d20+d10 but really... the d30 is so cool, this system will make you run out and buy one. Right? Guys?
2. You have 4 powers - Mind Blast (like the mind flaya' [although I may redo this to do some damage dice and save the effects for a failed save]), ESP (like the spell) and Charm Person (like the spell). You also have Telekinesis (like the spell). You can use the number of powers per day as your level/3 (rounding rules apply). So choose wisely at first level.
It was my thought that 10th level should be able to use all powers at least once, so I may allow 10th level 4 times since that's the cap on most classes. Maybe not, maybe those freaky high level mages should allow themselves some extra oomph, since we are talking about OD&D here...)
3. To attack, you declare like a spell and let your mind do the talking. The target makes their save based on the chart above. Your powers are limited to 60'. If they save, you are stunned for 3 rounds (in combat use) or 3 turns (non-combat use). If the target fails, the power works (per spell description or Mind Blast - which we would redo the chart)
Now, in accordance to the Alexis TestYourBullshit! rule, I have not tested these because I'm still noodling them. It's my (perhaps incorrect) suspicion that psionics are one of those campaign tilters, just like tossing a +3 Vorpal Sword into a pile 'o treasure, so I tend to tread lightly. Do these seem doable? To me they seem fun.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
OD&D Solo game w/wife - The return of Aeli
After 10 months of trying, @thePrincessWife and I finally sat down at the table and tossed some dice, shoved metal figures around and had fun playing OD&D again. With the step-daughter, 4 year old granddaughter, 2 teenage daughters and a constant revolving door of people coming and going, it's hard to set aside time to get to gaming, but we manged to do it. I had recapped the previous adventures of Aeli and her band of rag-tag misfits (heh) earlier on the campaign wiki, and we picked up much where we left off.
Now I'm not one for the blow-by-blow recaps, but I would like to point out a couple of neat things:
1. I'm noodling around with a house-rule that says a Fighting Man can attack multiple targets at rate of Level - HD attacks. It basically breaks down like this: Fighting Man Level - HD of creature = Number of attacks per round. Any numbers < 1 = 1.
Here's a chart:
The math checks out. The problem is that I keep forgetting to give Aeli the extra attacks! I bet if I tell her this rule, she'll make sure to ask me if she can get extra attacks! :) This really will help with the solo game survivability as well.
2. Tying up loose ends. A few adventures ago, Aeli captured some bandits with the "help" of a local neer-do-well by the name of "Nib". Well, he fled her company once the bandits had been caught and she suspected him of attempting to double-cross her. So in this game, she ended up with a bandit encounter and guess who I ruled was leading the bunch? Nib. This wilderness encounter, which the dice told the story, ended up derailing her plans for the day. Thanks to her charge through the line of ill-prepared bandits to grab Nib, as well as the monsters rolling "surrender" after the first death of the opponents, Aeli had to take the bandits back to town for a justly deserved reward... which she can collect once she takes the Writ of Reward to the Keep to cash in.
I am a big/huge proponent of taking the story the dice tell and weaving it into the narrative. Had there been no bandit encounter, Nib would still be out there, but now he's in chains awaiting trial and @thePrincessWife has a nice conclusion to that tale, as well as a bit of cash.
3. The story lives. OK, this is more of a thought after the game and a bit morbid but... do you write out the thoughts in your head as to where the story might go... just in case?
This is probably really damn personal and a bit odd, but if I die, the story dies and @thePrincessWife would never know how it would end. Now I know this is the fear of any writer anywhere, or any artist that creates... but it strikes me that DMs really do show a personal side of their creativity and if they pass on - well, we don't know where things would've went.
There are no notes about Castle Greyhawk that point definitively to how it was supposed to really look, all fleshed out. I don't know how detailed things were for Blackmoor, and I get the feeling that Tekumel/EPT is so well fleshed out that people would be able to see Prof. Barker's notes.
So OK, it made me worry about my lovely wife, so I actually wrote out where things are going IF she continues on her path. It's a constantly evolving story, as she makes decisions and things change, but if God forbid something were to happen to me, I'd want her to know. OK, morbid.. sorry. But the solo game has become such a thing that I feel between her and I that I want her to have this. No matter what.
OK, go hug your SO and kids now. :)
Now I'm not one for the blow-by-blow recaps, but I would like to point out a couple of neat things:
1. I'm noodling around with a house-rule that says a Fighting Man can attack multiple targets at rate of Level - HD attacks. It basically breaks down like this: Fighting Man Level - HD of creature = Number of attacks per round. Any numbers < 1 = 1.
Here's a chart:
HD <1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+ Level 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 8 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The math checks out. The problem is that I keep forgetting to give Aeli the extra attacks! I bet if I tell her this rule, she'll make sure to ask me if she can get extra attacks! :) This really will help with the solo game survivability as well.
2. Tying up loose ends. A few adventures ago, Aeli captured some bandits with the "help" of a local neer-do-well by the name of "Nib". Well, he fled her company once the bandits had been caught and she suspected him of attempting to double-cross her. So in this game, she ended up with a bandit encounter and guess who I ruled was leading the bunch? Nib. This wilderness encounter, which the dice told the story, ended up derailing her plans for the day. Thanks to her charge through the line of ill-prepared bandits to grab Nib, as well as the monsters rolling "surrender" after the first death of the opponents, Aeli had to take the bandits back to town for a justly deserved reward... which she can collect once she takes the Writ of Reward to the Keep to cash in.
I am a big/huge proponent of taking the story the dice tell and weaving it into the narrative. Had there been no bandit encounter, Nib would still be out there, but now he's in chains awaiting trial and @thePrincessWife has a nice conclusion to that tale, as well as a bit of cash.
3. The story lives. OK, this is more of a thought after the game and a bit morbid but... do you write out the thoughts in your head as to where the story might go... just in case?
This is probably really damn personal and a bit odd, but if I die, the story dies and @thePrincessWife would never know how it would end. Now I know this is the fear of any writer anywhere, or any artist that creates... but it strikes me that DMs really do show a personal side of their creativity and if they pass on - well, we don't know where things would've went.
There are no notes about Castle Greyhawk that point definitively to how it was supposed to really look, all fleshed out. I don't know how detailed things were for Blackmoor, and I get the feeling that Tekumel/EPT is so well fleshed out that people would be able to see Prof. Barker's notes.
So OK, it made me worry about my lovely wife, so I actually wrote out where things are going IF she continues on her path. It's a constantly evolving story, as she makes decisions and things change, but if God forbid something were to happen to me, I'd want her to know. OK, morbid.. sorry. But the solo game has become such a thing that I feel between her and I that I want her to have this. No matter what.
OK, go hug your SO and kids now. :)
Friday, January 7, 2011
Where's our EPT and Blackmoor? Is the "OSR" doomed to retreads?
This all started because someone asked John Adams (he of Brave Halfling Publishing) over at the Swords & Wizardry forums about doing the old S&W Core Monster Book as a Whitebox release.
Something snapped in my head - it was painful - and over the past couple of days, the following blog post wrote itself in the cockles of my heart. So here you go...
I think we (the people who actively support/write/advocate old school style of play - call it what you will) can, we should, be doing better.
Look, I know John Adam's gonna do what John's gonna do to make a buck. And yes, 90% of our little band of 137 grognards are going to snap up WB Monster Book, WB Advanced Classes and all the other stuff that people want in order to either have the latest and greatest of the brand or because they want to show support to the little press. At the end of the day, I really don't begrudge John, or Matt Finch, or any of the small press / old school related guys making a buck. I know I made a buck or two on my Ref Sheets, as Bullette pointed out over on that forum thread and that's OK.
I think we can and should be doing better.
Where's our EPT? Where's our Blackmoor?
Where is the truly different and unusual that will have people really rolling? The only one that really pushed boundaries, so far, has been Carcosa. No matter what you think of the subject matter, the point is that Geoffrey took D&D/OD&D and went somewhere very different with it. I loved it. I've used a lot of it as stuff to prod my games along. That's why I love the crazy and wacky from Fight On magazine. That's why I have orcs with guns, fallen shiny spheres, crazy creepy dolls and a whole bunch of other stuff that my players might never see, but it's there because I'm inspired to put it there.
I may think Raggi's an ass, but I dammit sure respect him for trying to do something other than a retread. I may not buy his stuff, but I give him props. There's little other stuff coming out that I want to buy though, because it really is more of the same. Same orcs. Same plate mail. Same Stinking Cloud (except when Matt Finch forgets to include it) and just more restating of the same stuff we've been doing for the past 30 odd years, but with a shiny new name on it.
Say what you will about Alexis over at Tao but at least he's trying to perfect the craft of AD&D and push it into areas that some of us just back up and say "Woah, you are one crazy mofo... now how do I do that?" It's new, it's fresh and it hews true to the old school camp while taking us places where we need to go.
Where's our EPT? Where's our Blackmoor?
We should be doing better. We've been doing this little old-school stuff for what, almost 5 to 7 years now? We have retroclones of virtually every D&D flavor you can think of up to 1989. We have a retroclone of a Chick tract, for cryin' out loud! Are we really that tapped out that we can't do something different?
An orc is an orc. We can describe the same orc in 50 different retroclone ways, or we can do something new with this orc. Mash him with Mr. T. Put a laser in his hands. Put a laser on his head. Do *SOMETHING* different with the orc but please don't restate him with WB stats, then with Complete stats, then with OSRIC/AD&D stats, then with Holmes retroclone stats and on and on and on...
Look, I love the style of play that the original editions give us, but I also hope to see inspiration and movement to something that explores the places we haven't gone. OK, I may be derivative myself, but at least with Ultima RPG, Modern OD&D, I was trying for something new. That's why Tombs of Hultep Koa remain hidden. It's retread shit and I don't want that.
At the end of the day, I hope John makes a buck. If he does that with the same Orc with a shiny new label, Gods bless him and I hope it does well.
I just hope he does something different... or SOMEONE does something different. Otherwise, I think we're just going to end up cutting the same game into tiny pieces and saying the same thing until it just doesn't matter anymore.
I want 2011's EPT.
Something snapped in my head - it was painful - and over the past couple of days, the following blog post wrote itself in the cockles of my heart. So here you go...
I think we (the people who actively support/write/advocate old school style of play - call it what you will) can, we should, be doing better.
Look, I know John Adam's gonna do what John's gonna do to make a buck. And yes, 90% of our little band of 137 grognards are going to snap up WB Monster Book, WB Advanced Classes and all the other stuff that people want in order to either have the latest and greatest of the brand or because they want to show support to the little press. At the end of the day, I really don't begrudge John, or Matt Finch, or any of the small press / old school related guys making a buck. I know I made a buck or two on my Ref Sheets, as Bullette pointed out over on that forum thread and that's OK.
I think we can and should be doing better.
Where's our EPT? Where's our Blackmoor?
Where is the truly different and unusual that will have people really rolling? The only one that really pushed boundaries, so far, has been Carcosa. No matter what you think of the subject matter, the point is that Geoffrey took D&D/OD&D and went somewhere very different with it. I loved it. I've used a lot of it as stuff to prod my games along. That's why I love the crazy and wacky from Fight On magazine. That's why I have orcs with guns, fallen shiny spheres, crazy creepy dolls and a whole bunch of other stuff that my players might never see, but it's there because I'm inspired to put it there.
I may think Raggi's an ass, but I dammit sure respect him for trying to do something other than a retread. I may not buy his stuff, but I give him props. There's little other stuff coming out that I want to buy though, because it really is more of the same. Same orcs. Same plate mail. Same Stinking Cloud (except when Matt Finch forgets to include it) and just more restating of the same stuff we've been doing for the past 30 odd years, but with a shiny new name on it.
Say what you will about Alexis over at Tao but at least he's trying to perfect the craft of AD&D and push it into areas that some of us just back up and say "Woah, you are one crazy mofo... now how do I do that?" It's new, it's fresh and it hews true to the old school camp while taking us places where we need to go.
Where's our EPT? Where's our Blackmoor?
We should be doing better. We've been doing this little old-school stuff for what, almost 5 to 7 years now? We have retroclones of virtually every D&D flavor you can think of up to 1989. We have a retroclone of a Chick tract, for cryin' out loud! Are we really that tapped out that we can't do something different?
An orc is an orc. We can describe the same orc in 50 different retroclone ways, or we can do something new with this orc. Mash him with Mr. T. Put a laser in his hands. Put a laser on his head. Do *SOMETHING* different with the orc but please don't restate him with WB stats, then with Complete stats, then with OSRIC/AD&D stats, then with Holmes retroclone stats and on and on and on...
Look, I love the style of play that the original editions give us, but I also hope to see inspiration and movement to something that explores the places we haven't gone. OK, I may be derivative myself, but at least with Ultima RPG, Modern OD&D, I was trying for something new. That's why Tombs of Hultep Koa remain hidden. It's retread shit and I don't want that.
At the end of the day, I hope John makes a buck. If he does that with the same Orc with a shiny new label, Gods bless him and I hope it does well.
I just hope he does something different... or SOMEONE does something different. Otherwise, I think we're just going to end up cutting the same game into tiny pieces and saying the same thing until it just doesn't matter anymore.
I want 2011's EPT.
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