Black Monolith (source)

Numenera might have the first point buy system for stats that I don’t hate. Usually, I find such systems extremely tiresome because 1) I don’t care much about fairness in starting stats and 2) it takes way too much time and effort to shuffle the numbers and I’m lazy.

The Numenera approach works for me because you get a default profile by class (so Glaives have slightly higher physical stats, for example) and then only six points to distribute between them. The number of options is small enough that it is quick to distribute the points, and the end effect is similar to more fiddly approaches like the old D&D method of trading 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 to improve prime requisites.

It helps that there are only three stats (might, speed, and intellect), rather than D&D’s six. I don’t think the method is directly portable, but the design is still elegant. Aside: might, speed, and intellect are basically the 3E save categories of fortitude, reflex, and will repurposed as stats.

Egg of the Phoenix (source)

Or, making a 2E character.

Erik of Wampus ran the tournament module Egg of the Phoenix on G+ as an experiment. I got in on the last of three sessions dedicated to the adventure, and given that the character I usually play in Wampus is only a third level FLAILSNAILS planeswalking magic-user (originally from Barrowmaze), Slin Zad the Purple, I decided to create a higher-level second edition character for the hell of it. I had about 30 minutes before the session started.

First, roll ability scores. 4d6 drop the lowest arrange to taste: 12, 14, 14, 14, 15, 14.

Second, determine level. Wikipedia tells me Egg is intended for characters of level 5 to 9, so 4+1d5 = … 8. I need to make this character quickly, and I guess it would be fun to roll up a random intelligent magic sword, so let’s go fighter. Human, of course, by default. Abilities: str 14, dex 14, con 15, int 12, wis 14, cha 14. Wow, 2E is pretty stingy with attribute bonuses. Those physical stats only grant +1 HP per hit die and nothing else. That’s okay, 8d10 +8 HP yields… 64 HP. (Jot down THAC0, to-hit table, and saves).

Still no back story… Courtney’s NPC traits tell me smells of smoke, grave, and violent. 2E’s secondary skills table tells me he was a farmer.

How about that magic sword? Following some rolling in the DMG, +3 bonus, int 13, communicates by empathy, 2 primary abilities, alignment: neutral good. Okay, so the sword is neutral good and he is violent by nature, so the sword is probably a force of restraint in his life. Making up sword backstory… was created by some ancient extradimensional agency to recover/destroy/warehouse things that might cause chaotic imbalance in the multiverse. Agency may be long gone, but if so the sword doesn’t know that and has tasked its wielder with seeking out agency headquarters in addition to guiding the champion to dangerous items which must be contained. (Aside, from the section on intelligent weapons in the 2E DMG: Such weapons are useful to give higher-level fighters some additional tactical options and limited-use special abilities.)

Powers: detect magic, 10′ radius (rolled twice, so that becomes 20′ radius) at-will (by chance, that fits the sword’s purpose, to track down dangerous items, perfectly). In pursuit of its mission, it can confuse enemies (as per the spell) on a hit (save vs. spell to avoid). Shoe S. named the sword during the session: Most Furious Gantling.

What about other magic items. Weren’t there some guidelines in 2E about equipping high-level NPCs? Flip flip flip… can’t find it… okay what seems reasonable? How about 1d4 (= 3) rolls on the magic item table the DMG? Yeah, that sounds good. Roll roll, banded armor +2, cloak of elvenkind (yep, this is definitely a 2E character), and ring of fire resistance (ah, that explains the “smells of smoke” trait).

For other mundane equipment, I’ll just use my strength-based encumbrance for guidelines because it’s the best and so Cade can carry up to 14 items before taking encumbrance penalties. I’ll just pick some mundane items: helm, 50′ rope, grappling hook, magic sword, pouch of 3d6 x10 (= 140) GP, shield, heavy crossbow (damage: 1d4+1, 1d6+1 vs. large creatures), case of 20 quarrels, dagger (1d4, 1d3 vs. large), rations, rations, waterskin, 6 torches. Insignificant items: cloak of elvenkind (insignificant because it’s clothing), ring of fire resistance, flint & steel, banded armor +2 (insignificant because it’s magical). There is one encumbrance slot free before penalties start to accrue in case I need to pick something up during the adventure. Yep, I’m inserting my house rules in unilaterally, but they are mostly restrictive, so I don’t think Erik will care. AC 4 (banded), +2 (magical bonus), +1 (shield) for final AC of 1.

Specialized in long sword, because that’s the main class feature of fighters in 2E. +1 attack, +2 damage, two attacks per round (which I didn’t actually remember during play). No non-weapon proficiencies, because who wants to deal with that noise.

So, I have a mystic X-Files eternal champion type, dominated by Most Furious Gantling.

Worked out well in the session too, though he lost two levels to some jerk vampire and so is now only 6th level with max HP of 48. I’m figuring the sword probably had something to do with giving him all those levels to begin with, though that was a one time thing that the sword most likely can’t do again (at least not without visiting headquarters, which may be the product of some past cosmic cycle and so dust by now).

Because questionnaire lists are fun. Original question source here.

(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no? Yes, but I also like the OD&D approach of separating race and class but limiting the classes that specific races can take, and the ACKS approach of creating a number of unique classes per race (for example, the elven spellsword and elven nightblade). Also, the race-classes work well for humans, too (just consider the elf to be the fighter-mage class, for example, or the halfling to be something like a scout).

(2). Do demi-humans have souls? Probably not. The real question here is most likely about how raise dead works. My current method requires a successful constitution-based roll (so there are no guarantees), and also results in a permanent stat decrease. I would probably require something different for elves, though elves have not been unlocked as a player class in Pahvelorn yet.

(3). Ascending or descending armor class? All the custom rule sets that I’m working on right now use ascending, but I can deal with either. In either case, care must be taken to avoid an arms race of bonus escalation (+5 swords versus +5 armor, and so forth).

(4). Demi-human level limits? I prefer overall level limits, like E6, but don’t mind demi-human level limits either. This post by Jeff is worth reading. Most games don’t last so long though, so I don’t have much practical experience here.

(5). Should thief be a class? Sure, though campaign seems to do thief skills differently. In my own games, I think thief skills work best when the cost of use in time is clear (due to random encounter checks) and I prefer to consider failure as “no progress” (with a much smaller chance of a critical failure) so that starting thieves aren’t quite so inept.

(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills? Generally no, though right now I’m pretty excited about the simple d6 skill system I put together for the JRPG Basic game, and I think this would work well in trad D&D too.

(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)? I don’t know; I haven’t seen this cause any problems in play. My preference is usually for low power play though. My understanding is that the whole “quadratic wizard” thing arose from experiences in high level optimized 3E play, which I have no experience with.

(8). Do you use alignment languages? No, but the idea would work well for the languages of heaven and hell (or the black speech of Mordor).

(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc…)? XP for gold spent seems to have the benefit of objectivity and also (bonus) requires little work on the part of the referee.

(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next? I think B/X (Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert) is the tightest and most approachable. OD&D has a lot of hidden virtues, and in some ways has my favorite engine. It requires a lot of work to fill in the gaps though, which is both a benefit and a drawback. AD&D has some inspirational content (DMG demon generator, Fiend Folio), but as a whole is way too complex for me, and begins many negative trends, such as making ability scores too important (and thus making randomly generated characters less attractive to play). 3E had a lot of good ideas for streamlining game mechanics, but became too much about character optimization. High level characters also differ too much in power from low level characters (I prefer a more gradual power curve). 4E also introduced some innovations, but it homogenizes the classes too much in pursuit of balance, rests too much on numerical illusionism, and requires miniatures to get full use of the tactical depth available in the rules. 5E has some useful concepts like bounded accuracy, and interesting mechanics like advantage, but it remains to be seen what the final product will look like, and whether the modularity will support a game simple enough to appeal to me. My favorite D&D art is probably from Moldvay Basic, AD&D, and some parts of 2E.

Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class? Either way. I’m tempted to just have everyone use the fighter progression, even in older games, because I don’t think it really matters.

TBZ setting book, page 142

I have been reading Tenra Bansho Zero, and it’s really interesting to see how religion is handled in the default setting. Unlike most non-historical western RPGs, each of the religious groups has a very specific real world antecedent that should be immediately recognizable by those that are familiar with Buddhist history.

Phoenix Sect. Tiantai/Cheontae/Tendai Buddhism; most institutionalized. The Phoenix Sect is accepted as “official” Buddhism by the Shinto techno-priest overlords of Tenra. Mt. Hiei is obviously the inspiration for Suzaku Mountain.

Ebon Mountain. Chan/Son/Zen Buddhism, concerned more with individual enlightenment, also most associated with martial arts.

Bright Lotus. Pure Land Buddhism; salvation through recitation of a mantra. Popular with common people due to the accessibility of the teachings.

(These are oversimplifications, but they are not mischaracterizations.)

How many western RPGs create fantasy versions of Christian sects? Not many. The reason is probably rooted in the satanic panic, but it is nonetheless odd that the west is more sensitive about tapping directly into religious heritage for fantasy inspiration, preferring to go the safer route by appropriating things that are at least one level removed from direct religious practice.

There are some stirrings of deviations from this tendency (for example, the 30 Years War setting for LotFP’s Better Than Any Man, and this post about Biblical mythology from Beedo, though it is worth noting that both of these are more directly historical than Tenra). The Books of Pandemonium, by Rafael Chandler, about a war between heaven and hell on earth, might fit the brief, though I haven’t read it myself, so I don’t know how directly it draws from Christian doctrine.

Pick one of these at first level. You can either double down on your archetype (such as a magic-user taking an extra spell slot) or grab something from another class (like a fighter with climb walls). Or you can roll 1d20 and trust in the Norns. This should allow the creation of many different hybrid character types with minimal fuss. I was working with the Basic rulebook in mind, but I bet this would work with many other, similar systems.

1. Magic-user spell slot (and one spell)
2. Scroll casting (and one scroll to start with, determined randomly)
3. Wand proficiency (and one wand to start with, determined randomly)
4. Cleric spell slot (and one spell)
5. Turn (or command) undead as cleric of equivalent level †
6. Tough/lucky: +2 all saving throws ‡
7. Increase hit die one step (for example, d4 becomes d6)
8. Dwarf-sense: notice dungeon features as dwarf
9. Elf-sight: infravision and find secret doors as elf
10. Harrier: +1 missile attacks, AC bonus of 2 vs. large creatures (as halfling)
11. Backstab as thief
12. Pick pockets as thief of equivalent level
13. Climb as thief of equivalent level
14. Move silently as thief of equivalent level
15. Hide in shadows as thief of equivalent level
16. Open locks as thief of equivalent level
17. Remove small traps as thief of equivalent level
18. Hear noises as thief of equivalent level
19. Armor proficiency (ability to use the next better category of armor)
20. Weapon proficiency (ability to use a weapon not usually allowed)

My Basic Rulebook

Some of these options are likely to be redundant (such as a thief with “open locks as thief of equivalent level”). You can either not pick such options, re-roll them if rolling, or use the following guidelines for handling redundant options. Weapon proficiency becomes weapon specialization, and means +1 to attack and damage with the weapon in question. Armor proficiency becomes armor specialization, and adds a bonus of 1 to AC when wearing armor. A redundant thief skill grants a bonus (+1 if using d6, +15% if using d%). Redundant backstab adds an extra die of damage. Redundant elf-sight or dwarf-sense adds +1 to the d6 roll. The “harrier” feat stacks with the halfling class. Redundant turn undead grants a +1 to the 2d6 roll. Redundant scroll caster or wand proficiency? I don’t know; make something up. Maybe it’s just a free item at first level, or extra charges when using wands, or bumping up the exhaustion die if using something like abstract wand ammo.

You’ll note that there are not really any new abilities on this list. That is intentional, to keep the options as familiar as possible. If you’ve ever played Basic D&D, it should be super obvious how all of these things work.

† Choose either turn or command when the feat is taken.
‡ +2 is equivalent to the difference between the dwarf and fighter saves in the Basic rulebook.

Session Record Sheet (click for PDF)

Behold, my new session record sheet. Now with marching order roles included. I added some silhouettes from Telecanter’s public domain collection to spruce it up. This was created with Mac Pages. Click the image to get the PDF.

My previous version of this (discussed here) has pre-generated turns (with random encounters indicated) and pre-generated HP totals to use for monsters. These allow me to easily check off turns as they progress, and mark off NPC hit points without needing to rewrite totals. I still use both of those tools, but have moved them each to their own sheet, so that I don’t need to edit newly generated turns and HP into the sheet before each session. I use a simple Ruby script to generate the turns and HP.

Pre-generating HP totals for NPC hit dice would obviously not be practical for games with higher HP totals, but it works great for OD&D where the numbers stay relatively low, even for the most powerful monsters.

My old AD&D PHB

When I left for university in 1999, I sold almost all of my RPG books. My memory of exactly why and to whom is hazy, but somehow and for some reason I did.

I had written my name on the interior of some books, though, and somehow my AD&D Player’s Handbook made it into the possession of Guy F. (of Unvisible Citadel and Chaotic Henchmen Productions). He sent it back my way.

The world is small.

.

.

.

Welcome home, book.

Inscribed, an arcane sigil of return

In myth, monsters and treasures are often unique. For example, not a medusa, but the medusa. Not a sword +1, but Excalibur. The advice to give items or creatures a backstory to increase interest is sort of obvious, but what if this principle is taken further so that most things are not only named and distinct, but also unique? Taking this approach also serves as a self-discipline mechanism for controlling the supply of power within the game, by making magic items essentially take the place of artifacts.

I had originally wanted to sketch out an entire setting using this method, but that proved too ambitious, so instead I am presenting a suggestive miscellany. The basic model was to take each example element from the rule book (Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox), interpret it through the lens of the setting (often as a unique element), and then place it on the hex map. This also serves, procedurally, as a checklist for campaign creation. Since you are placing game elements on the map, it guarantees that you are focusing your preparation on things that will show up directly in play.

Based on this principle, there were two other seeds from which the setting grew: each magical staff became the symbol of office for one arch-mage (leading to 10 arch-mages) and the most powerful monsters became the gods of the setting. This was also partially inspired by the original Deities & Demigods (which is in essence a high-level bestiary) and the way Carcosa presented the great old ones.

The divinities, thus, are immanent. For example, Xelior is the efreeti. Hegombol is the dragon. Though they may be challenged and slain, if killed within their domain they will not be truly destroyed and will rise, full of vengeance, on the next day. The gods are not divine aspects of mundane monsters; there are no dragons other than Hegombol.

• Arudin, genie of the air, ruler of the open skies and patron of all who would remain unchained. Stats as djinni.
• Baalroch, ruler of HELL. Stats as baalroch demon.
• Garviagad, ruler of VALHALLA, the land in the sky above the southern seas. Honorable warriors are reborn in VALHALLA. Stats as storm giant.
• Gezarvalu Catastrophon, the many-headed, incarnation of chaos and destruction, worshipped only by the insane. Rises from the sea without warning and lays waste to all nearby. Stats as hydra.
• Hegombol the Volcano, terror of the northeast, the dragon. Demands, and is paid, monthly tribute from the town at the base of his mountain. Stats as red dragon.
• Xelior, genie of fire, slave to the arch-mage Azafont of the Brass Tower. Stats as efreeti.
• Yex the Colossus. Said to once have been the mightiest of the gods, until tricked by the arch-mage Luder Dreamwalker. It is said that Yex first taught humans the mastery of stone-craft and building. Luder destroyed part of the fabulous temple of Zumen, and while Yex was distracted stole his capstone, which was also his soul. Now Yex stands frozen, supporting the remains of the temple. Stats as stone golem if the capstone is returned. The realm of Yex is all lands above the sea.

There are 10 arch-mages, each of which possess one of the 10 staves of legend. The staff is not only a source of power, but also a symbol of office. Anyone who can claim one of the staves becomes a new arch-mage. The staves no longer have charges, but instead may be used any number of times. After each use, 1d6 is rolled and on a 1 the staff will not work again until the next moonset.

• Dedardima the Collector. She possesses the Staff of Absorption, and has peppered the known lands with bunkers and underground compounds, many of which she has forgotten about, in preparation for the final battle which she perpetually fears is about to occur. She is also known as the Doomsayer.
• Azafont of the Brass Tower. He possesses the Staff of Beguiling, and also ring of Xelior, the Efreet. The pleasure gardens of his estate are infamous.
• Gorbex. She possesses the Staff of Command. She dreams of killing all the gods and being queen of the world. She has a huge army.
• Sambasmyr the wanderer. She possesses the Staff of Healing. She was driven out of her tower by the betrayal of an apprentice, Cassadior, who also tried, and failed, to steal her staff.
• Aznix. He possesses the Staff of Power and delights in the struggles of kings and warlords. He will sell his loyalty to the highest bidder.
• Kokal the Undying. She possesses the Staff of Lordly Might and is ageless. She allows few mortals into her presence.
• Sathifor the Corruptor. She possesses the Staff of the Snake and is worshipped by the lizard-men of Neshistathelex.
• Luder Dreamwalker. Possesses the Staff of Striking. It is said that he lost his first body long ago, and survives by claiming new hosts through their dreams.
• Magaitand, the Liche. He possesses the Staff of Withering and rules from the drowned palace of DAI-PALAN in the Swamp of Beltikur.
• Chalasu. He possesses the Staff of Wizardry. Nominally the highest ranking of all wizards, but nobody pays attention to him. He is said to have forgotten more spells than most magic-users have ever cast. His eye was taken by Baalroch, and he would like to get it back. His tower in the hills is where the council of arch-mages meets, once per year.

Though this setting is directly compatible with the unmodified Swords & Wizardry rules, several house rules developed naturally during the process of creation. First, clerics do not in general exist. Any clerics played will be of the singular, prophet variety. The cleric spells that do show up in the setting can be prepared by magic-users.

Further, I see magic working slightly differently. Spells are prepared as normal by magic-users, but require components to cast. This came from the idea of distributing components around the hex map explicitly. Rather than fire and forget, each time a spell is cast, a component is consumed. A spell cannot be cast without components, even if it has been prepared. Magic-users begin with 1d6 components for each spell known. Components beyond this beginning allotment must be acquired during play.

Components are specific things, not abstract GP values; a list of components by spell can be found below, along with hexes where the components can be found. Occasionally, components may be available for sale, but this is neither consistent nor reliable (especially considering that the sale of many spell components would be considered morally reprehensible by most upstanding persons). If you are playing with my strength-based encumbrance system, each type of component consumes one encumbrance slot.

For an example of another sui generis magical item, consider Mendo’s Magnificent Flying Machine, last of its kind, as a stand-in for the flying carpet. 1 in 6 chance to learn how to operate, but then it also need fuel. The flying machine can transport up to 10 persons. This item also shows how this procedure is not just re-skinning. No existing mechanics are necessarily privileged, but instead are used suggestively. For example, this version has an added benefit (can carry more people) but also some downsides (you can’t roll it up, and you need to secure fuel). So it’s not exactly the same. I like doing this much more than just giving existing stats a new face.

The images below were done by Gus L. from Dungeon of Signs. Thanks Gus!

Azafont of the Brass Tower (Staff of Beguiling)

Queen Gorbex (Staff of Command)

Sathifor the Corruptor (Staff of the Snake)

Magaitand, the Liche (Staff of Withering)

Sambasmyr the Wanderer (Staff of Healing)

Mendo, master of the ancient flying machine

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day