Category Archives: Uncategorized

Starting above first level

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In a recent Rule-of-Three article (via Erik Tenkar via Keith Davies), Rodney Thompson wrote about varying character generation complexity by starting above first level. As the mechanical complexity of building a 3E or 4E character is one of my biggest complaints about post-TSR D&D, this is of great interest to me. To quote:

Additionally, we’re looking at having the classes gradually layer in more capabilities over the first two or three levels, rather than providing a large number of class features at level 1, so that players new to the class have a short period of time to learn the basics of their class through play. Experienced players could simply start at 3rd level if they want to leap right into a more advanced starting experience.

I think this is an excellent approach, and one that I have been advocating for some time. I have observed before that in terms of both power and complexity a first level Fourth Edition character is approximately equivalent to a 4th – 6th level traditional D&D character. So why not let every group start at the place that they want to?

The important principle here is to expose complexity slowly through play rather than all at once at the beginning. That also makes the game more social, as other players will experience your character’s progression. The magic-user, for example, is a very complicated class, even if you restrict available spells to the core rules of whatever edition you are playing. The only reason that this complexity is tractable (and why the class remains playable by people not interested in system mastery) is because the spells are introduced gradually during level progression (see also this post by Jeffro for the apotheosis of this insight).

I would also like to see more advancement options tied to events within the game world. Thus, a fighter who wants to learn a special whirlwind attack ability might need to seek out a master to learn from, or discover an ancient manual of techniques. Then, they could use their next advancement point (or whatever) to learn that ability (maybe in place of a base attack bonus increase). This increases the uniqueness of individual characters and combats bonus inflation while not adding any complexity. Positive effects all around.

The framing here is critical though. It’s important that players not see the first three levels as training wheels that experienced player should want to bypass. Rather than capabilities layered in over levels 1 through 3, I think capabilities should be layered in slowly over the entire level range.

I also think there is an inverse relationship between potential setting deadliness and work required to build a new character. If you want save or die with teeth you can’t have character generation as complex as 3E or 4E. Players simply won’t stand for their special snowflake PC (which took an hour or more to build) being killed in the first ten minutes of play because they did something stupid. To be honest, I really can’t see any other way that you can get both players who are interested in quick character creation and players who are interested in complex character builds to play the same game.

Minor actions considered harmful

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One thing I have noticed when refereeing my current Nalfeshnee Hack 4E game is that combat takes longer (this is of course a common observation regarding Fourth Edition). I think this comes down to three factors. The first is that HP has increased dramatically in comparison to past editions whereas damage dealing capability has not (and in some cases has regressed). The second is that the grid encourages pondering positional possibilities, much like chess. The third is that players need to make more decisions per turn due to the formalization of actions during combat, and the possibilities for each type of action tend to be heavily suggested by explicit power and maneuver lists (decreasing the need for action creativity). Compare player turn structure in traditional D&D to Fourth Edition.

In traditional D&D, a player’s turn was this:
  1. What do I do?
Sometimes this includes some movement, and there are limits to that movement in the rules, but the concept is not that of a resource to be spent (in my experience). Further, special powers are not used every turn, as generally they are scarce resources, so there is no obvious list to select from (though this breaks down somewhat for high level casters, as the number of spell slots increases).
In 4E, every turn a player must as ask themselves the following questions:
  1. How will I spend my standard action? (Check power list for options.)
  2. How will I spend my move action? (Move, shift, or charge/run?)
  3. Does it make sense to take a minor action? (Check power list for options.)
  4. Should I take any free actions?
  5. Do I want to make any action substitutions?
  6. What order will I take my actions in?
In practice it is of course more streamlined than that, as players develop common patterns when using certain characters, but this is itself something of a problem in my eyes because it acts as barrier to creativity (note that something similar can happen in traditional D&D also; we’ve all seen players whose actions are continually “I attack the monster with my sword”).

The action substitution step is also worth mentioning because it is quite complex in terms of decision possibilities. There is a hierarchy of action types: a standard action can be used for a move but not the other way around. A standard can also be used for a minor action. So, for example, some of the common possibilities are:

  • Move, standard
  • Standard, move
  • Minor, minor, move
  • Move, minor, move
  • Etc.
You can see that there are quite a few possibilities, and all of them also have implications for the spacial relationship of the grid.

Another blogger just mentioned a similar observation. Zombiecowboy wrote:

But I think the biggest problem is what I call the economy of actions. My players feel that they need to eek out every little last drop of potential from their characters, making sure that they spend every action that they can. Did I do something with my free, minor, move, and all mighty standard action this turn?

And, because of how interrelated the 4E rules are, it is very difficult to simplify this process through house rules without doing significant violence to the rest of the ruleset. For example, I considered doing away with minor actions entirely and moving back towards the traditional approach, or at least simplifying the choices to: move-move, action-move, move-action. However, many powers are primarily useful in combos (use minor power X in order to set up favorable conditions for the use of standard power Y; combos).

Healing powers also tend to be minor actions. This is kind of ridiculous in my opinion, as it allows the cleric to move, shoot a laser (ahem, “lance of faith” at-will power), and then heal allies all in one turn. So such a change would also affect some classes more than others (and some “builds” more than others). Players that are used to the 4E concept of class balance tend to be unhappy with such changes.

Unrelated complaint: damn it Google! Because I am in Canada, whenever I view a blogspot blog it rewrites the URL to .ca rather than .com now. Why? It’s so annoying. Whenever I want to copy and paste a blogger URL I now need to edit it because .com is obviously a more stable address. I wish they would stop redirecting me to google.ca from google.com too. When I type a URL into the URL bar, that’s really the place I want to go. Redirection should only be used for transitions where content is actually being moved.

Isle of the Dead Visuals

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Here is some visual inspiration for Isle of the Dead, the Adventurer Conqueror King System setting I am working on. Most of the images are from the excellent Dark Classics blog. The exercise of perusing all those images, and then corralling the most appropriate for a blog post, was very informative for discovering some things about this setting. I am surprised how strong the Mediterranean influence is becoming, and how central the images of the sea are.

Ritual of Return

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Old school dungeon exploration play is commonly organized as one delve per session. It is expected that PCs will return to town between sessions. This is advantageous for a number of reasons. For one, continuity of players is not required (something that is particularly difficult to achieve if your players are adults with jobs, families, and other commitments). This style of old school play is sometimes maligned as “the 15 minuted adventuring day,” but if not exaggerated this structure naturally fits the requirements of the gaming session. However, a problem occurs when the session is drawing to a close but the PCs are nowhere near the surface.

There are several ways to approach this problem. One is to hand-wave it and just assume everyone is able to make it out. This may run into logical problems depending on the obstacles that the party has navigated, but can usually work. Another well known approach is The Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom, which is basically a table of (mostly bad) outcomes if PCs are unwise enough to not ensure their own exit prior to the session end. I have also considered a “dungeon escape” saving throw (maybe the PC can choose their most advantageous save number). Failure would indicate death occurred on the way out.

The Diablo series of video games has a common item called a scroll of town portal. This item allows adventurers to return to town from any area in a dungeon once they have exhausted their carrying capacity. The portal also allows (one way) return travel so that the adventurers can proceed exploring the dungeon from where they left off. Here is a version of the town portal scroll with flavor appropriate to a tabletop RPG.

A scroll of return is part of a teleportation ritual commonly employed by magic-users. The ritual has three parts: first, the scroll of return must be scribed and a circle of return must be prepared. The third part of the ritual is the casting of the spell inscribed on the scroll. The circle of return must be prepared under the gaze of the sun. Thus, it can only be constructed on the surface under open sky. Once these two elements are created, they both radiate magic to detection spells.

Because the gaze of the sun is necessary to the ritual, the current weather is important. I suggest using a standard 2d6 reaction roll to determine the weather if you don’t already have a more complicated system (interpreted based on the season). For example, bad weather might only occur on an “immediate attack” (2) result during the summer, but during the winter might occur on all reactions neutral or worse.

The ritual’s potency is measured by level. A magic-user may create a scroll of return of level equal to or less than their class level. The cost of the components required for the ritual is 100 GP per level (like Holmes scroll creation rules). No matter the level, the creation of the circle and scroll take one day. The scroll only remains potent for a number of days equal to the scroll’s level, and the range of the teleportation is limited to 6 miles per scroll level. The ritual’s caster can sense if they are out of range, and going out of range does not destroy the magic (the scroll may still be employed when the magic-user comes back within range). A magic-user may prepare a lower level ritual if desired (for example, a level 5 magic-user may prepare scrolls of return of any level between 1 and 5).

When the ritual’s magic has expired or is completed successfully, the scroll crumbles to dust. The circle remains and looses its ritual power (and value in terms of components) but still functions as a magical signature that can be identified by other magic-users if not later destroyed. When completed, the ritual returns the magic-user (and companions) to the circle of return. Intoning the spell on the scroll requires a full turn (10 minutes within the game world) of undisturbed concentration. If interrupted, the ritual is not ruined, but the magic-user must start over. Companions to be transported with the magic-user must stand nearby and unwilling creatures may not be transported (though unconscious ones can).

If the circle of return is disturbed, the ritual is disrupted, and the scroll will crumble to dust. For this reason, circles of return are often well hidden or protected. Battlements atop a magic-user’s tower are popular locations for established wizards, but less powerful magic-users may have to make due with isolated glens. A skilled diviner can user either end of the ritual (scroll or circle) to locate the other end. Scrolls of return may be found as treasure. Who knows where the party will end up if the ritual is completed? Maybe some form of magic research could be undertaken to determine where the scroll leads or perhaps such scrolls must be approached blind by those who did not participate in fabrication.

Some sages have speculated that the ritual magic draws power from the sun, and that the slow darkening of the sun over the past thousands of years has been caused by the greed of magicians.

Some variations: if you want the creation to be less fiddly, you can ignore the bit about the weather (I am, however, quite fond of using a reaction roll to determine the weather). You could also allow a one-way return as Diablo does. Perhaps other classes are able to use the scroll once created, not just magic-users (much like scrolls of protection).

Shared Languages

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Catacomb Librarian is unhappy that the OSR focuses on D&D. I am somewhat sympathetic to this point of view as, despite the fact that traditional D&D is my game, I do not think that it is THE fantasy game. I wish that more people would talk about other games so that I can learn about them. I learned about Traveller from Grognardia. I decided I might be interested in Warhammer because of Chris Hogan’s SBVD. I learned about Iron Heroes from Monsters & Manuals.

The first two of those led to purchases, and I will likely buy a copy of Iron Heroes at some point too. Even though practically speaking I’m not likely to play Warhammer or Traveller (though you never know), I still think I can learn from them. Despite the fact that I am interested in other games, D&D is the most common game, and this makes the language of D&D the shared language of tabletop RPG players. It is a common baseline that you can assume, much as you used to be able to assume that an educated person would have read Plato. (That’s also why it’s dangerous to create giant infodump settings, because doing so raises barriers to entry that are not present if you just say “Moldvay Basic” or “Third Edition Core,” and it’s why the development through play OSR dogma is so valuable.)

I’ve been running a Fourth Edition hack game for the past 8 months or so (2-4 times per month), and I’m just now getting to the point where I feel like I understand the system and its implications. And, despite all its changes, this is a system that still shares some DNA with the traditional D&D I am more familiar with. A game with fewer similarities (like, say, GURPS) would presumably take even more time. Not to mention the fact that you need to find other players that are similarly interested if you want to actually play. G+ and ConstantCon games make this easier, but still not easy (compare uptake of FLAILSNAILS and non-FLAILSNAILS games). In any case, playing via videoconference is still a poor substitute for playing at a real table.

This same dynamic is part of the reason why many people who are used to traditional D&D are turned off by Third and Fourth edition: they make the language less shared. They move or change the landmarks. They fracture the community not just in the sense that some like save or die and some don’t, but in the sense that they change meanings. It’s almost as if half your friends start speaking Japanese. You now have to learn Japanese too if you want to participate, and whether or not you think Japanese is an elegant or beautiful language, it is still work to learn.

There are only so many hours in the day. In addition to gaming, I’m heavily into weight training (a hobby that rules your routines like few others). I also like to read literature and history and spend time with my loved ones. I collaborate with some academics on social science research. Oh, and there is that pesky job thing that occupies 40+ hours of my life every week. When I do get to game, I want the rules to fade into the background.

To quote Noisms from Monsters & Manuals on new rulesets:

Nowadays, the prospect of picking up a 200 (or more likely 400) page-long tome of new rules fills me with dread and boredom rather than excitement, and I find that my attention span is only a fraction of what it used to be.

It’s not that I hate other systems or think that D&D is perfect (though I do think the pre-AD&D versions are pretty elegant), it’s that D&D is the common tongue. Like English, we are stuck with it for now.

Abulafia Accounts

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Abulafia (also known as random-generator.com) is a nifty wiki that allows one to create automated random tables. Zak over at Playing D&D With Porn Stars has mentioned it a few times (like here). However, I can’t seem to create an account. Does anyone know, by any chance, what the procedure is? Clicking on the log in / create account link only seems to provide login fields.

Am I missing something obvious here? Or is there someone I need to ask?

The Shadow People

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This is a strange little book. It’s a mix of creepy urban fairy tale and paranoid 60s counterculture novel, terrified of the encroaching police state. It’s set in Oakland, on Telegraph Avenue. Everyone at Cal is studying physical education and criminology due to the wave of urban crime. The main character Dick Aldridge (who works for a “hip newspaper”) sets out looking for his missing girlfriend Susan.

As a novel, I can’t say that The Shadow People is very good. Important characters show up by coincidence with no explanation. Setting details are dropped with extraordinary specificity by characters that don’t seem like they should know such things. I never did much warm to Dick or Susan; they don’t feel like fully-formed characters and I never found myself really caring what happened to them.

That being said, there’s lots of interesting inspiration to be taken from the middle section on the underearth; for example: “There is always a water barrier between our world and Underearth” (page 33). I also like the take on faeries. Elves are described as small and boneless, and are malicious, somewhat stupid creatures, with countless taboos. They hate metal that comes to a point. They also don’t like nudity, because “it’s too much like the light” (page 124).

The Secret Commonwealth by Robert Kirk is mentioned several times. I have a copy of the wonderful recent NYRB edition which I highly recommend. From the NYRB description:

Late in the seventeenth century, Robert Kirk, an Episcopalian minister in the Scottish Highlands, set out to collect his parishioners’ many striking stories about elves, fairies, fauns, doppelgangers, wraiths, and other beings of, in Kirk’s words, “a middle nature betwixt man and angel.” For Kirk these stories constituted strong evidence for the reality of a supernatural world, existing parallel to ours, which, he passionately believed demanded exploration as much as the New World across the seas. Kirk defended these views in The Secret Commonwealth, an essay that was left in manuscript when he died in 1692.

This is clearly the tradition that St. Clair is drawing from. The entire text of Kirk’s book is available for free on the web, but I find that version rather unpleasant to read and much prefer the hard copy. I had read bits and pieces of The Secret Commonwealth before, but finishing The Shadow People prompted me to go back and read the whole thing (I also mentioned The Secret Commonwealth recently, regarding elf height).

There’s a bit of the Orpheus legend woven into The Shadow People also (Dick going down to the underearth to rescue his girlfriend). The gray dwarf’s plan is just so twisted that I want to base an entire dungeon area around it. Overall, The Shadow People is probably only of interest to Appendix N chasers, but I’m glad I read it.

Counterspells Draft

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Rather than take a standard action, a magic-user may ready a counterspell. When deciding to ready a counterspell, the magic-user must select a target caster and must be aware of the target (this awareness can either be via direct physical perception, or can use an intermediate medium such as a scrying spell). From now on, the target will be referred to as the caster. As when casting a spell, no movement is permitted. A magic-user may not use a counterspell when surprised. Only magic-user spells (that is, not cleric spells) may be countered. Countering spells may result in gridlock while both magic-users wait for their counterparty to take the first action. This is intended.

There are two kinds of counterspells, temporary and permanent. A temporary counterspell prevents the casting of a spell, but does not wipe it from the target’s mind (or consume the scroll if they were casting from a scroll). Any magic user may always attempt a temporary counterspell. A permanent counterspell wipes the spell from the caster’s mind as if it had been cast or consumes the scroll. A permanent counterspell costs a spell slot of equivalent level from the countering magic-user. For example, if the target is casting levitate (a second level spell) and the countering magic-user wishes to attempt a permanent counterspell, the countering magic-user must also have a second level spell prepared, though it need not be the same spell. That spell is expended during the countering attempt (whether the counter is successful or not). If the countering magic-user does not have such a spell prepared, treat the countering attempt as temporary.

If the target casts a spell while the magic-user is in countering mode, a counter attempt may be made. If the spell being cast is one that the countering magic-user has in a spell book, the countering magic-user will be aware of which spell is being cast before they must decide whether or not to attempt a counter (though they will still be unaware of details such as the spell target). The caster must make a saving throw versus spells, with penalty equal to the highest level spell the countering magic-user can prepare. If the save is successful, the spell goes off as normal (i.e., the countering attempt has failed). If the caster fails the counterspell save, the spell is countered.

If a 1 is rolled on the counterspell saving throw, the caster must roll on the counterspell catastrophe table (see below). If a 20 is rolled on the counterspell saving throw, the countering magic-user must roll on the counterspell catastrophe table. Engaging in sorcerous combat is always dangerous, and opens a countering magic-user to a magical counterattack. Rather than rolling on the catastrophe table, referees may also make something up that is suitably nasty.

New Magic Item: Counterspell Scroll

A counterspell scroll is a “bottled” version of a permanent counterspell. A counterspell scroll has a level, determined by the scribe. Costs are as per Holmes scroll creation rules (page 13): 100 GP and 1 week of time per scroll level. A higher level magic-user may produces a lower level counterspell scroll at correspondingly lower cost. Thus, a seventh level magic-user may produce up to fourth level counterspell scrolls. Such a fourth level counterspell scroll would cost 400 GP and take four weeks to produce. Counterspell scrolls are consumed when used even if the target caster makes the counterspell saving throw.

Counterspell Catastrophe Table

  1. 1d6 psychic damage
  2. Lose another prepared spell (determined randomly)
  3. Thrown 2d6 feet in a randomly determined direction
  4. Struck blind for 1d4 turns
  5. Screams due to severe pain (wandering monster check)
  6. Age 1 year (may include hair and fingernail growth)
  7. Knocked unconscious (as per sleep spell)
  8. Mind violation (as per ESP spell); duration 12 turns
  9. Develop spell allergy: future casting of countered spell always requires save
  10. Polluted luck: penalty of 1 or 2 (depending on die) to all rolls for 12 turns
  11. Weakness: movement and all physical ability scores halved for 12 turns
  12. Warped reality: all missiles within 50′ arc to target the subject for next turn
  13. Feeblemind (as per spell) for remainder of encounter
  14. Hostile 1 hit die elemental summoned (determine element randomly)
  15. Strange gravity: as if in 0 G environment for 1 turn
  16. Riposte: other magic user gets free spell or attack against subject
  17. Entrancement (as charm person, another save applies)
  18. Moon curse: exposure to moonlight causes 1d4 damage (remove curse ends)
  19. Sun curse: exposure to sunlight causes 1d4 damage (remove curse ends)
  20. Hostile 1 hit die demon summoned

Two Hanging Scrolls

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Michael over at The Grumpy Troll posted this great John Blanche picture a while back that is the inspiration for an entire new campaign. The intricate line work in that piece reminded me of some eleventh century Chinese hanging scroll paintings. Check out the scale, especially in the first piece (Early Spring). Do you see the temples? What about the person? This says something about the relationship of the individual (and perhaps the adventurer, in a fantasy gaming context) to the cosmos.

Early Spring by Guo Xi (11th Century)

Buddhist Temple in the Mountains by Li Cheng (10th Century)

Wacky Multiclassing

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I’m not generally a fan of multiclassing or overly flexible skill systems. I like archetypes, and I don’t like systems that reward too much synergistic optimization. I like my game choice to occur during play, not before play. That being said, here’s an interesting collection of links:

Taken together, these gave me some ideas that I want to jot down. So here they are. This system below is meant to replace the classes (that is, characters would just accumulate perks from the list).

When you gain a level, choose any two of the following benefits:

  1. +1 hit die. This is a d6. Max hit dice is 10.
  2. +1 attack bonus. Max attack bonus is +10.
  3. +1 spell slot of level N. To qualify for a spell of level N, you must already have N + 1 spells of level N – 1. For example, to take a third level spell slot, you must already have two second level spell slots. The number of slots for spells of level N must always be less than the slots for level N + 1. The first time you take this benefit, you also gain the read magic and scribe scrolls abilities. A color of magic system would work well here too. Maybe call spell levels ranks to distinguish them from experience levels.
  4. Advance a rank in turn undead & demons (whatever that means); the first time you take this, you gain the ability to scribe protection scrolls based on some subsystem.
  5. +1 bonus to AC. Max +5. AC can never go below 0 no matter what (or above 20 if using an ascending system).
  6. Thief ability: pick or roll.
  7. +1 backstab multiple. Default is 1. Max 5.
  8. Psionic ability: pick or roll.
  9. Long list of feats or whatever (easily ignored by those of us that like simpler systems).

0 level characters have one d6 hit die. When making a first level character, pick two benefits exactly as if you were gaining a level.

Max level is 25. I first thought 20 would be nice and iconic, but 25 is required so that a dedicated magic-user can gain the ability to prepare sixth level spells (well, 22, but the magic-user might want an extra hit die or something along the way, and 25 is a nice round number). Use your favorite XP progression table. Actually, you could set the max level to reflect whatever power level you want the campaign to top out at.

Anyone can use any weapon and any kind of armor, but there are drawbacks (chance of spell failure, penalty to thief skills). If you don’t put ranks in the combat competencies, that two-handed sword is not going to do you much good.

Layer on races at the beginning if that’s your kind of thing. Humans would probably get one or two extra benefits at first level to compensate (depending on how interesting the racial bonuses are).

To get a truly schizophrenic interesting character, you could even roll on the benefits table during level-up rather than choosing.

I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Fifth Edition does something somewhat similar, as it would allow the game to include 4E style powers as a replacement for something like a standard attack bump. This would make a traditional fighter compare favorably in terms of power levels to a fighter built with lots of powers and maneuvers. If the 5E designers go in this direction, I’m guessing it probably will not be quite as open (as in, there will probably be a suite of options per class, like in Zak’s post).