Contest 2013

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NIN Closer video frame

NIN Closer video frame

UPDATE: deadline extended to november 10th so that it doesn’t step on Santicore’s toes.

My second blogging anniversary approaches. My first post was on august 21 of 2011. I was just in the process of discovering the OSR, following a return to tabletop RPGs after a 10 year hiatus. I started playing tabletop RPGs again via Fourth Edition D&D with some coworkers.

To mark two years, I am holding a contest. The brief: create some game content inspired by the Nine Inch Nails song The Becoming. The song is about transformation, and maybe growth.

The deadline is Halloween, october 31 november 10. See below for details and guidelines.

First place will will earn you one item from the following list:

  • A print product of your choice from the LotFP store
  • The Numenera core book
  • A Vincent Baker game (Apocalypse World, for example)
  • Rafael Chandler’s Teratic Tome in hardcover
  • One of the non-set items from my bartertown page

Second place will earn you a PDF of one of the first place options or a bartertown item.

The Becoming (listen to the “Still” version here):

I beat my machine it’s a part of me it’s inside of me
I’m stuck in this dream it’s changing me I am becoming
the me that you know he had some second thoughts
he’s covered with scabs and he is broken and sore
the me that you know doesn’t come around much
that part of me isn’t here anymore
all pain disappears it’s the nature of my circuitry
drowns out all I hear there’s no escape from this my new consciousness
the me that you know used to have feelings
but the blood has stopped pumping and he’s left to decay
the me that you know is now made up of wires
and even when I’m right with you I’m so far away
I can try to get away but I’ve strapped myself in
I can try to scratch away the sound in my ears
I can see it killing away all my bad parts
I don’t want to listen but it’s all too clear
hiding backwards inside of me I feel so unafraid
Annie, hold a little tighter I might just slip away
it won’t give up it wants me dead
goddamn this noise inside my head

(Lyrics are copyright Nine Inch Nails and used without permission in the spirit of fan remixes.)

Requirements:

  • Submission must be explicitly creative commons Attribution-ShareAlike licensed and must (obviously) be your own original work.
  • There is no minimum or maximum size. I might get bored when reading something long though. I’m interested in seeing lairs or adventure locations that could easily be dropped into someone’s games. I think these offer good scope for creativity, and would also be useful to other people. Something like a new class, collection of spells on a theme, or piece of art would all also be appropriate.
  • Any stats should be roughly compatible with games like Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
  • Don’t quote the song directly.

I will judge submissions based on the following criteria, in order of importance:

  1. “It’s not like advertising. ‘Hey come to this world and have fun’. It’s more like otherness. Like a shard of something else poking through. That is what good RPG art should be. An incursion from, or relic of, some other place. Presenting itself so vibrantly and powerfully that it leaves puckers in the skin of reality that won’t heal. Like finding something in your drink that won’t dissolve, sliding around in the bottom of the glass. An idea rolling around in the back of your brain long after you picked it up. Something you can’t quite forget.” (source)
  2. Effectively realizing the theme of metamorphosis.
  3. Game aspects: interesting puzzles, creative streamlined mechanics, etc.

Assuming anyone bothers and I get more than a few entries, I’ll compile my ten favorite submissions into a free PDF supplement. Please email any submissions to brendan at this blog’s domain (no www).

Skills & languages

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There is a discussion on Google Plus about determining languages randomly and how this might change the dynamics of the reaction roll to potentially include PCs other than just the one with the highest charisma. Here is a simple system based around that idea, which also incorporates other, general skills. This approach was influenced by the method of language determination in LotFP, the DCC skill system, and Numenera (which I am currently reading). This is not part of any larger rule set, and was written to easily integrate with any old school fantasy game.

PCs begin with 1 skill slot, plus one additional slot for each language or intelligence bonus (depending on the base system). An additional skill slot is added every time a level is gained. The number of slots is kept intentionally low to begin with for ease of use, but referees may begin characters with a larger pool of skill slots if desired. A character’s native language does not require the use of a skill slot.

Determining Skills & Languages. When confronted with a situation where speaking a language or having a skill would be advantageous, a player may make an intelligence check. If successful, the player’s character speaks the language or has the skill. Otherwise, the skill or language should be noted in a list of missing skills or languages (the character may gain training in these absent skills at a future time, but may not gain access to them using an intelligence check in the moment as described here). If the intelligence check is a critical failure, the PC in question simply does not have aptitude for the language or skill and may not attempt training of that language or skill in the future. Note this on the list of absent skills. This is essentially a way of retroactively determining part of a character’s past without needing to plan it beforehand. Further explanatory backstory can be developed if desired, which can be good fodder for detailing aspects of a setting that had hitherto been ignored.

Skill Scope. The scope of a skill should be slightly beyond the immediate task at hand and should be something that a person within the game world would recognize as a field of study or training. “Carpentry,” for example, rather than “building things.” Characters may take the same skill more than once if desired (pending successful intelligence check), and each time the skill is taken is recorded as a degree of specialization. Some referees may prefer to limit skills to one degree of specialization in order to encourage skill diversity. Consider requiring literacy as a separate skill for settings where learning is rare and precious.

Using Skills & Languages. Having access to a skill or language gives a character a basic level of competency which does not require any die rolls. For example, a character that speaks a given language can communicate in that language without any chance of failure and a character trained in carpentry can build a chair given wood and tools. Skills also allow you to make related ability checks using two dice, taking the best result (each degree of specialization adds another die).

Development Through Play. It is suggested that the skill and language lists be allowed to grow organically along with the campaign events. The PCs will naturally end up speaking languages and having the skills relevant to the challenges faced, so there will be no confusion at character creation about what languages will be useful. This is especially useful if the referee does not know or has not decided such setting details at that point. That said, players with a strong character concept may preselect particular skills at the time of character creation (referees may still prefer to require an intelligence check). Mechanically, by preselecting skills, players gain predictability of character competence (which can be used for creative planning) in exchange for giving up flexibility during play.

Random Languages. One benefit, from a game standpoint, of determining languages randomly in this way is that the character with the highest charisma in the party may not be the character that speaks a particular language. This makes the reaction modifier of all PCs potentially relevant. Be sure to use the charisma modifier of the interlocutor when making any reaction rolls. As a referee, consider rolling to determine if a group or creature encountered speaks a new language, if you have not already determined that part of the setting. Consider making languages based on location rather than race (as is commonly done in fantasy games), as this will make every town encountered potentially foreign. This can be used as a method to help develop a setting through play much like characters are described as developing through play above.

Training Skills. Players may spend their downtime action between sessions to gain training in a skill. This may require paying for training or locating a teacher, especially for more obscure or esoteric skills, as ruled by the referee. The process is otherwise the same as checking for a skill during play: make an intelligence check, and so forth. Failures may be retried, but this requires another downtime action between sessions (and may require further expense or teacher reaction rolls; teachers may become frustrated with students that are slow learners). If the intelligence check is a critical failure, the PC in question simply does not have aptitude for the language or skill and may not attempt training of that language or skill in the future. Note this on the list of absent skills.

Numenera point buy stats

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Black Monolith

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.

Inconsistent or unknown

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In a comment on a Monsters & Manuals post, knobgobbler wrote:

One of the reasons I won’t GM for my regular Saturday group is because I KNOW those guys will pick apart anything I run… ‘Oh! that aqueduct wouldn’t work that way!… and ‘Oh! You’ve got the physics of that all wrong!’ I’m really reluctant nowadays to run anything for self-proclaimed ‘gamers.’

This experience is alien to me. Anything like aqueduct mechanics is a mystery, from the PC point of view. Sometimes I will know why the (for example) aqueduct works the way it does, because that will be something that I have thought about, and sometimes I won’t (it’s obviously impractical, not to mention boring, to think over every fictional thing beforehand).

In either case though, if a player ever says something like “hey, that doesn’t make sense!” the response would be: yeah, that’s kind of mysterious, do you want to investigate, and if so how? If I already know some backstory, then the player can figure it out through adventuring, and if I don’t, then we can figure it out together.

House rules

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Necropraxis House Rules PDF

Necropraxis House Rules PDF (click to download)

I have finally compiled my most frequently used house rules into a PDF. Click on the thumbnail image to download the PDF.

Some notable changes (probably only of interest to my immediate players):

  • Save to retain spells for magic-users is no longer active, mostly because we always forget to do it in practice. I still like the idea, though LS has informed me that adopting this rule in his own game has seemed to have made a particular magic-user PC dominant.
  • Scrolls now require only 1 week to craft, irrespective of the spell level (GP costs are unchanged). What this means in practice: players can make one scroll as a downtime action.
  • I managed to restrain myself and only sneak in one new house rule in the process of writing this document, which is sustaining spells (to replace traditional durations). This is from my recent work on magic for JRPG Basic.

Not currently present, but likely in some future update:

  • Poison rules. I still haven’t figured out a method that I am happy with, mostly because I would like something that makes thieves better at using poison than other classes. 
  • Attack progressions. I’m currently using this attack ranks system, but I’ve come to feel that it is a bit cumbersome and the starting probabilities are maybe too generous. Possibilities that I have been considering: use the MEN ATTACKING table exactly as presented on page 19 of Men & Magic, but give fighters an additional flat +1 to hit, or switch to using hit dice as attack bonus (I floated this idea once, but the reaction from players was not enthusiastic).

Following are the house rules in HTML for easy reference, in both quick and detailed forms.

Quick

  • Death & Dying: save or die at 0 HP, success means unconsciousness.
  • Encumbrance: carry 1 significant item per point of strength, -1 cumulative penalty per extra item.
  • Two-Handed Swords: damage is 2d6, take highest result.
  • Dual Wielding: +1 to attack.
  • Burning Oil: 1 round to prep, ranged attack, 1d6 fire damage per round (save ends).
  • Falling: 1d6 damage per 10 feet fallen, save for half damage, save or die if falling more than 50 feet.
  • Suffocating & Drowning: 3 failed constitution checks followed by save or die every round thereafter.
  • Healing & Recovery: re-roll all hit dice at the start of every session.
  • Spell Duration: one non-instantaneous spell may be maintained indefinitely.

Detailed

Death & Dying

When reduced to 0 HP, make a saving throw. Success indicates unconsciousness, failure indicates death. Unconscious characters may be revived after combat with 1 HP.

Healing & Recovery

After spending time to recuperate in town, re-roll all hit dice. This will generally be done at the start of each session. This rule was inspired by Empire of the Petal Throne.

Melee Weapons

Weapons do 1d6 damage by default. Two-handed swords deal higher damage on average (roll 2d6 and take the highest result), but require both hands to use and so prevent the use of a shield. Dual-wielding two single-handed weapons is also an option, and provides +1 to the attack roll. Rules for two-handed swords and dual-wielding were borrowed from Philotomy (http://www.grey-elf.com/philotomy.pdf).

Burning Oil

Burning oil does 1d6 fire damage and requires the target to make a saving throw. On success, the fire goes out and will do no more damage. On failure, the fire keeps burning and will do another 1d6 damage (and require another saving throw) during the following round (repeat this procedure every round until the fire is extinguished). In addition to the per-round saving throw, a burning creature may opt to spend their turn trying to put out the fire (this grants an additional saving throw). Flasks of oil may be lit beforehand and then thrown (this takes two actions, one for prep and one for throwing) or thrown unlit and then ignited by a separate action (such as a thrown torch), requiring a second attack roll. In either case, the two actions may be taken by separate characters if situationally appropriate. A natural attack roll of 1 indicates that the attacker has fumbled and doused themselves in oil instead (if this oil is already burning, follow standard procedure as outlined above). A flask of oil is significant for encumbrance purposes.

Spell Duration

Any spell that is not instantaneous may be sustained indefinitely. Only one such spell may be sustained, and if another spell with duration is cast, the previously sustained spell ends. Sustained spells also end if the caster becomes unconscious.

Scrolls

Magic-users of any level may scribe scrolls. 100 GP per spell level and one week of work are required. Scrolls of spells that are level higher than can be prepared may be scribed, assuming that the magic-user has access to a spell book with the spell in question. For example, a first level magic-user can create a scroll of fireball (a third level spell) for 300 GP in one week. A scroll is significant for encumbrance purposes. The crafting rule was inspired by Holmes Basic.

Encumbrance

Adventurers may carry a number of significant items equal to their strength score. For each item beyond this limit, there is a cumulative penalty to all physical rolls (attack rolls, saving throws, and so forth). For example, a character with a strength of 9 may carry 9 items without penalty, but if that same character carries 12 items, there will be a penalty of 3 (12 items – 9 strength = 3) applied to physical rolls. Significant items include things like a sword, a scroll, a potion, a quiver of arrows, a coil of rope, or a book. Insignificant items include things like a coin, a sack, a ring, or a fishhook; a pouch of up to 100 insignificant items may be carried without using an encumbrance slot. The only special case is armor, which takes up one encumbrance slot per category (light = 1, medium = 2, heavy = 3). This rule was inspired by LS (http://www.paperspencils.com/2012/03/18/making-encumbrance-work/).

Falling

1d6 damage per 10 feet fallen, up to 5d6. Save for half damage. Additionally, if falling more than 50 feet, a save versus death must be made to avoid instant death.

Suffocating

Every round during which a character is unable to breathe (such as when under water), a constitution check is required. Three failures means breath can no longer be held, and the character’s lungs are exposed to the environment. For example, this might mean that gas is inhaled. If underwater, this means that the character is drowning, and every round thereafter a save versus death must be made. Failure means the character has drowned and is dead.

Experience

1 XP is gained for each GP of treasure spent. This is the only way to gain XP.

Spell Interpretations

Continual Light (cleric 3)

Each magic-user or cleric may have only one continual light spell active at a time, but continual light otherwise bypasses the normal spell duration rules (that is, another spell with non-instantaneous duration may be sustained along with the continual light).

Raise Dead (cleric 5)

A raised character must make a survival check (using the percentage as determined by constitution score). Failure means the character is not raised, and can never be raised. If the check is successful, the character is restored to life but also loses a point of constitution permanently. Further, life and death are not to be trifled with, and there will almost certainly be some other consequence to tampering with the order of things.

Sleep (magic-user 1)

A saving throw applies.

The genesis of Cade Casey

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Egg of the Phoenix

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).

Magic-User spell selection

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Based on a G+ conversation, I had a few thoughts about how magic-users acquire spells. The method that seems most commonly used is the following:

  1. Several starting spells (often randomly determined)
  2. A free spell when gaining a level (either chosen or rolled)
  3. Spells may be copied from spell books (perhaps at small cost)
  4. Spells may be copied from scrolls (which uses up the scroll)
  5. New spells may be researched (at great cost, often only at higher level)
  6. There might be an intelligence-based % chance to know roll (AD&D)

Taken together, these rules have some consequences, especially if rule 6 (% chance to know) is not enforced. Specifically, given that it is rational to share knowledge between party members, magic-user spell lists often converge as players trade spells. Further, magic-user spell lists grow without bound. The process of spell accumulation is fun, admittedly, but if you enjoy bounded power levels, such accumulation might be suboptimal.

If I were starting a new game of TSR D&D (or simulacra), instead I might do something like the following.

  1. 3 random spells to begin with
  2. 1 random spell per level gained
  3. No spell books
  4. The only mode of scroll use is one-shot casting

I would also divide the spells into schools and allow specialists, which would draw their random spells only from the chosen school. Specialists would also gain one extra spell slot to make up for the loss of versatility and represent their focus. Thus, a player that definitely wanted to play an offensive magic-user could opt for an evoker, and be guaranteed to only get evocation spells, at the cost of generality.

This would help keep power levels more controlled while still supporting my favorite aspects of the magic-user class (creativity, preparation, being able to bust out a big nuke solution every once in a while). Magic-users could still have access to an arbitrary number of spells through the use of scrolls, but scroll use needs to be more carefully considered since scrolls are nonrenewable resources. It would also encourage more emergent character development as not every magic-user would be able to cast sleep and fireball (to be fair, that is also addressed by % chance to know spell rules, but those rules have other issues, such as increasing the importance of the intelligence score).

This will obviously not work well for players that want more control over the development of their character. It is not intended to be a panacea though, and I think it would be satisfying for players that enjoy the process of character emerging from the juxtaposition of randomly determined characteristics and events during play.

Second sight

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Odilon Redon - Joan of Arc

Odilon Redon – Joan of Arc (source)

Being a replacement for elven infravision and the first level magic-user spells detect magic and detect evil.

Those with the second sight can see many things hidden to normal vision. Such perception often manifests as numinous auras of sometimes indescribable colors. To the second sight, magic-users radiate the presence of their prepared spells and enchanted items crackle with energy or leak glittering seepage. Specific enchantments reveal aspects of their nature visually; for example, a fire enchantment may seem to seem to be wreathed in smoke and smell of ash. Magical sigils seem to drip with esoteric power or burn with inner radiance, though exact interpretation requires read magic or equivalent sorcery. Cursed or doomed creatures are swathed in dark shrouds, or surrounded by horrible, gibbering entities. Magical invisibility is like a blazing beacon to one with the second sight. Supernatural or otherworldly creatures, such as demons, often reveal different aspects or dimensions of their true form, which nevertheless may be too terrible or incomprehensible even for those that can see into the hidden realms. Second sight does not allow the detection of illusions or reveal curses in items that have not yet attached to victims. If the second sight is a natural facility (such as for elves and other faeries), it is always active.

Random Wizard Questions

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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.

Religious Influences

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Tenra Banso Zero monks

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.