Magical defense

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I first mentioned this idea on Google Plus as a spell shield. The idea is a defensive analogue to the recently posted maleficence rule.

Any prepared spell may be expended to protect one person per sorcerer level from the effects of one spell. A decision to use magical defense must be made before damage or saving throw dice are rolled. For example, a second level sorcerer may expend a prepared spell in order to protect two characters from some hostile magic.

This rule makes prepared spells function somewhat like magic hit points, as a potential buffer, and means that sorcerers can absorb a magical assault for a party in much the same way that warriors can serve as physical defenders. It also supports the classic wizard’s duel without requiring a separate mini-game.

The magical defense rules may be used with traditional levelled Vancian magic. In this case, the number of people that can be protected is equal to the level of the spell expended.

Sorcerer class

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This sorcerer class was designed around the level-agnostic spells, and uses the same trichotomy of untrained, trained, and mastered that is behind the recently posted rogue class, but applied to spells rather than skills. It will most likely be included as an optional rule in Wonder & Wickedness.

Like the rogue, the sorcerer uses the standard fighter experience table, the low rationalized hit dice progression, and attack bonus is derived from hit dice. A table of simple weapons was included in the rogue post, so I see no need to duplicate it here.

It should be emphasized that only trained spells may be prepared in the traditional Vancian manner. Sorcerers begin with three trained spells and gain training in a new spell (or mastery of an already trained spell) with each level gained. Other spells may only be cast laboriously from magical texts, even by sorcerers. This is all explained in the training & mastery rules for spells, but is nonetheless worth emphasizing due to how it differs from the way most traditional fantasy role-playing games work.

Currently, I have untrained spells succeeding 50% of the time (4+ on 1d6), with a 1 in 6 chance of catastrophe. I also considered using a saving throw, with catastrophe on a natural 1, but am dissatisfied with that approach because high-level non-sorcerer classes would end up having a better chance at casting spells successfully than a low-level sorcerers, which does not feel right to me (despite how elegant it would be to use a saving throw). An intelligence check is another option, though standard roll-under would require catastrophe on natural 20, which I also don’t care for. I am still somewhat conflicted, but I believe the current d6 approach, though somewhat ad hoc, has the desired properties, and is not hard to remember. Obviously it would be easy to swap out the system used for casting untrained spells, and the only absolutely critical feature, from my point of view, is that it be possible for all classes to attempt, but somewhat dangerous.

Sorcerer

Initial training:

Improvement options: spell training, spell mastery.

Spells

  • Untrained: from book, 1 day, uncertain success, possible catastrophe.
  • Trained: may be prepared, expended when cast.
  • Mastered: double duration, 50% chance not expended when cast.

Untrained Spells

Characters with no magical training, including those other than sorcerers, can still attempt sorcery, assuming access to a book with the appropriate spell. This takes a full day of feverish application, and succeeds only 50% of the time (four or higher on a six-sided die). Further, calling upon magic without training is dangerous, and if this roll is a 1, the spell fails in some disastrous and potentially dangerous (even deadly) manner, as appropriate to the spell in question.

Trained Spells

Trained spells may be prepared for use later, though they are expended when cast and must be re-prepared before they can be cast again. Spell preparation requires access to the spell in textual form. Trained spells may be prepared after a restful night of sleep in a place of safety.

Mastered Spells

Mastered spells have double duration, may be prepared without need of a spell book (though sufficient rest is still required), and only have a 50% chance of being expended when cast.

Rogue class

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Here is a draft of a new rogue class I developed recently. It uses the Gravity Sinister skills, though skill improvement is simplified into categories of untrained, trained, and mastered (which translate into chances of success on a six-sided die).

One improvement option is chosen each time a character gains a level. A character must have training in something before mastery.

Regarding experience tables, my inclination recently has been to use the fighter progression for everyone. The rogue uses the medium rationalized hit dice progression, and attack bonus is also derived from hit dice.

The omission of a separate sneak attack or backstab ability is intentional. I am thinking that surprise attacks are probably better handled independent of class in terms of effect (an extra die of damage seems reasonable), and the stealth skill grants rogues a better chance of setting up a surprise attack in any case. A separate backstab-type skill also focuses too much on damage per round type calculations for my taste.

Rules for simple and light weapons are also included with streamlined weapon properties for ease of reference at the bottom of the post.

Rogue

Initial training:

  • Two weapons from the simple or light weapons lists.
  • Light armor.
  • Three skills.

Improvement options: skill training, skill mastery.

Skills

Skills are divided into basic and expert categories:

  • Basic skills: Climb, Listen, Search, Stealth
  • Expert skills: Devices, Locks, Steal

Skills that require general agility (climb, stealth, and steal) are penalized by one if wearing chain armor and two if wearing plate armor. Using a skill often takes some time and thus may require spending an exploration turn in focused application.

The climb skill allows allows the climbing of surfaces such as rough walls. Climbing a rope or ladder does not require a skill check. There is a penalty of one when attempting to climb smooth surfaces and a penalty of two when attempting to climb slippery surfaces. Climbing gear imparts a bonus of one on climb checks.

The devices skill can be used to disable or manipulate small mechanical traps and mechanisms. Failure does not trigger traps.

The steal skill allows something to be taken without being noticed. Steal can even be used in melee. On failure, the attempt is not noticed but the desired item is not acquired. Items held directly by others may be stolen, but this may not be done secretly.

Consider adding more expert skills if they fit your campaign. Some possibilities include tracking, poison-craft, herbalism, leadership, and chirurgy.

Untrained Skills

The chance of success when using an untrained basic skill is 1 in 6 for characters of any class. There is no chance of success when attempting an expert skill if untrained.

Trained Skills

The chance of success when using a trained skills is 3 in 6.

Mastered Skills

The chance of success when using a mastered skills is 5 in 6.

Weapons

Simple Weapons
Weapon Properties Trained Mastered
Club bludgeon stun
Dagger throwable auto-hit after grapple
Spear reach throwable interposing
Staff two-handed, bludgeon +1 AC parry (melee)
Light Weapons
Weapon Properties Mastered
Short sword   +2 attack in formation
Short bow   +2 attack with aim
Sling unencumbering,
versatile ammo		 N/A

LotFP Referee Book

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From the upcoming referee screen (source

From the upcoming referee screen (source)

The crowd funding campaign for the revised LotFP Referee Book is almost over. At the time of this writing, there are about five days to go. If you follow this blog, you probably already know about it, but I am still going to write why I think it is worth supporting. It has already met its funding goal, and so is definitely happening, but some of the unmet stretch goals may still be of interest, and I also want to discuss what makes this campaign different from many others.

First, let me talk about what I like about this campaign. Most crowd funding efforts end up being a complex preorder system that guarantees a market floor, with exclusive extras to sweeten the deal for early supporters. There is nothing wrong with this kind of approach (and it certainly has its upsides, especially for a small niche market like the one for traditional fantasy tabletop RPGs), but it does not leverage the unique benefits available from crowd funding, which include an opportunity to make something better than it otherwise would be. This campaign, however, does allow supporters to more directly make the final product better, and in fact most of the stretch goals have this character. For example, indexes (covering both core books), and paying for an external, professional editor, have already been met. Additional full color art plates and a color layout in the manner of the hardcover Carcosa are still outstanding. Which stretch goal becomes active is determined by a supporter vote every time a goal is met.

Additionally, extra content, in the form of sample monsters and commentaries by other RPG designers, can be funded directly. The new monsters will be designed by either Aeron Alfrey or Rafael Chandler (author of the excellent Teratic Tome, one of the best RPG bestiaries yet produced). The commentary will be from Frank Mentzer, Zak S, Michael Curtis, and Kenneth Hite. Individual backers can choose which of these things they want to make happen, so you know your $50 (or whatever) is paying for a new Chandler monster (I funded one of these) that will then be available to everybody forever in the final book. This sort of thing is the way crowd funding should be done, and it is what makes the design of this campaign stand out, in my opinion.

There are also some pure extras that are less about improving the book for everyone, such as a slip case that will fit the revised Rules & Magic book (not included) along with this new Referee Book, a referee screen (which has spectacular art by someone I had never heard of before, Matthew Ryan), special LotFP dice, a poster walk-through of The God That Crawls by Jason Thompson, and so forth. Some of these extras still might be of interest to you, even though they are not so much about the Referee Book itself. I am personally pretty excited about the Thompson piece, based on the work he has recently done for WotC (for example, Isle of Dread, and he also created similar pieces for the recently reprinted S Series of modules). This option was a late addition to the campaign, so if you pledged earlier and are interested in it, you will need to add another pledge (I still need to do that, myself). There are also stretch goals for printing revised versions of some previous LotFP modules, and the one for Death Frost Doom has already been met (it is getting at least a new map and new layout).

From a consumer’s perspective, there are several aspects of the campaign that are somewhat suboptimal and potentially confusing. First, shipment is not included in the pledge amounts (you are basically pledging for a voucher that can be used in the LotFP store once the products become available, though some of the products will be exclusive to backers, such as the book with limited edition cover). While I understand why Mr. Raggi structured the campaign this way (to decrease the risk of unpredictable shipping rates), it still feels a bit half-baked. Second, only some of the pledge money is considered toward the stretch goals, and I don’t understand the strange accounting voodoo involved at all. But stretch goals keep getting met as more people pledge, which is what matters, I suppose. Keep these things in mind when you pledge so that you know what you are getting into.

Unfortunately, the new standard cover is much less attractive (in my opinion) than the cover of the older Grindhouse version, though the limited edition version (only available to backers) has a better cover. I still like the old Mullen piece more, however. If you want the limited edition cover, you will need to support the campaign though.

Despite the flaws, as is probably clear by now, I am pretty excited about this book, and think it is worth supporting.

Slipcase art, in progress, I think (source)

Slipcase art, in progress, I think (source)

More Necromancy Spells

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Here we have a healing spell (that also allows stealing youth), a method of speaking with the dead inspired by Book 11 of the Odyssey, and a way for sorcerers to collect souls.

Also, Wonder & Wickedness now has a full complement of 8 spells per category, for 56 in total.

Life Channel

The sorcerer transfers life energy (either youth or vigor) from one creature to another by touch (a saving throw per turn is provided for the non-consensual, though a successful save does not end the spell). If youth is transferred, the source ages one die worth of years per turn and the recipient regains one year of youth. If vigor is transferred, the source takes one die of damage (though only one point of damage is sustained if the source is the sorcerer, with no possibility of corruption) and the recipient 1) regains six hit points but is permanently changed somehow by the dark magic (such as a dim translucency of skin, an aversion by animals, or an emanation that causes small fires nearby to extinguish), 2-5) regains the number rolled worth of hit points, or 6) regains six plus another die worth of hit points.

Occult Consultation

The sorcerer must dig a pit two feet square, into which is poured wine, fragrant herbs, and the blood of a sacrifice slain with a bronze knife. A throng of ghosts is summoned by this ritual, which may be conversed with as desired for the duration of the spell, though truth is not compelled (specific ghosts may be called if the sorcerer has material remains, a possession that was once treasured by the deceased, or a true name). Following the consultation, if desired, the sorcerer may follow the ghosts in katabasis to the land of the dead (along with any number of willing companions), though an easy path of return is not guaranteed.

Soul Harvest

By the casting of this spell a sorcerer traps a disembodied soul (of HD less than or equal to the sorcerer’s level) within an unoccupied clay jar or flask which has been previously prepared (these vessels are significant for purposes of encumbrance). Souls on their way to the underworld or other final reward may be captured automatically, but free-willed souls (such as incorporeal undead) are permitted a saving throw. A soul may be freed in exchange for a favor from the ghost (standard negotiation procedures apply), traded as sorcerous currency, or consumed for temporary power (such as a bonus to a single roll or a die worth of temporary hit points).

Corot - Orpheus Leading Eurydice (source)

Corot – Orpheus Leading Eurydice (source)

Rat Queens

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Image from Rat Queens Issue 1

Picture from Rat Queens Issue 1

I would describe Rat Queens as an irreverent fantasy pastiche that self-consciously recruits the tropes of fantasy RPGs. It’s also a lot of fun.

Image digital comics also seem to be available DRM-free, and in many different formats, which is nice. I didn’t know that before, and it might get me to buy single issues of Prophet and Saga, too.

Thanks to Brianna for originally mentioning this on Google Plus, and Logan for reminding me about it.

A method of play

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Half (or maybe one third) of everything you need to know to run a game of fantasy adventure.

When PCs do something significant, such as moving cautiously into a new chamber while exploring a haunted mansion, spending an exploration turn attempting to pick a lock, searching a room from top to bottom, travelling for a day in the wilderness, camping for a night, or even spending a week in town recovering, the referee should roll a die to see if complications arise. By default, assume that this chance is 1 in 6.

The exact nature of these complications will vary by context. While exploring a buried ruined city, a complication might represent a wandering monster. While travelling on an open road, a complication might be an assault by bandits or a meeting with a travelling peddler. Complications do not always need to involve danger.

It might be tempting to modify the 1 in 6 chance based on fictional circumstances (such as increased situational danger), and this is a reasonable approach in some cases, but keep in mind that the 1 in 6 chance tends to interact almost perfectly with the pace of game play at the table, injecting uncertainty and, potentially, danger, in a way that is engaging without being overwhelming. Instead, consider varying the severity of the potential outcomes rather than the chance of events occurring. This is a guideline rather than a rule, however, and should periodically be violated, at the whim of the referee, so that events do not become predicable.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

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Image from

Image from Barron’s site

Laird Barron is one of the few post-Lovecraft horror writers that I enjoy. The others, off the top of my head, being Thomas Ligotti and (some) Stephen King, though I’m not nearly as knowledgeable about this genre as I probably ought to be. (If you haven’t read Nethescurial, it is available online for free legitimately, and is a good place to start with Ligotti.)

That is a prelude to noting that the Kindle version of Barron’s recent release, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, is on sale at Amazon until October 31st for $2. That’s a pretty good deal given that otherwise it is priced as a standard mainstream fiction release (around $20 for the hardcover from Amazon).

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All is a collection of short stories. These are not overly clever stories with twists that try to surprise you, but rather solid, almost straight forward tales that seem to move forward toward inexorable doom, which is exactly how I like my horror stories. I’ve only read the first two stories so far, so I can’t vouch for the entire contents, but I enjoyed both of them.

Somewhat related, are there any other writers in this vein that I should be aware of?

* Perhaps Clive Barker deserves a seat at this table, but I haven’t read anything by him in more than 15 years, and so I don’t know if the actual texts live up to my memory of them.

Wonder & Wickedness preview

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So, this is a real thing with layout and everything now. Most of the content is done, though I still need to do some editing and make decisions about images. More spells may also be added before the final release. The images here are tinted to stand out from the post background, and the final document will be black on white.

Wonder and Wickedness preview 2013-10-06

Wonder and Wickedness spells 2013-10-06

Maleficence

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Ciurlionis - Lightning (source)

Ciurlionis – Lightning (source)

Direct damage spells are much maligned, especially among those who are interested in elements of the game such as exploration and problem solving in addition to combat. Even within the category of attack sorcery, magic missile in particular is a rather lackluster spell in a number of different ways, especially for a low level traditional magic-user. It doesn’t seem effective enough (despite automatically hitting in most interpretations), because it only does something like 1d6+1 damage. The primary benefit provided is to have some way of damaging monsters with immunities to mundane weapons, but even then the damage is not likely to be enough to make a difference.

However, playing as a sorcerer, it is also true that it is quite pleasing to call conflagration down upon the heads of your enemies. There is the danger, though, that available attack magic will displace other interesting spells. Some approaches to this problems have been unlimited use attack cantrips or at-will magic (such as the ray of frost or cloud of daggers) in games like Pathfinder and 4E. This approach preserves the viability of more unique spells, but also makes magic too common for my tastes, and does not distinguish it enough from the methods employed by other classes. Instead, why not make the attack magic more powerful, but allow sorcerers to cast it in place of any prepared spell? This maintains both distinctiveness and resource constraints.

If you don’t go in for the idea of sorcerers being able to trade in prepared spells for default effects (because it goes against the preparation ethos of the class), you could also probably just make this a standard first level spell. Another variation, if you wanted the damage to scale with level, would be to use 2d6 + level rather than just 2d6 (intelligence bonus could also be incorporated here, if desired). Or, if using traditional ranked spells, make the bonus damage dependent upon the level of spell sacrificed rather than the sorcerer’s experience level.

Maleficence

Any prepared spell may be expended to conjure calamity, doing 2d6 damage (save for half) to all in a melee area or to a single enemy. Each sorcerer’s maleficence is unique and should be determined at the time of character creation by choice of a single additional descriptor (fire, lightning, shadow, cold, acid, and so forth), which can also cause secondary effects (igniting flammable objects, freezing a small pool, doing extra situational damage based on enemy weaknesses). When both damage dice come up 6, or if a natural 1 is rolled for the saving throw, the magic permanently disfigures the place or person afflicted (some examples include permafrost, an affinity for ghosts, a strange high pitched whining, the attention of a demon, a scar that senses the presence of the sorcerer).