Thac0 forever!

Starting at Suck: Ideas for 1st level adventures

2012-01-12T12:18:00.001-05:00

For "Good" parties:

- Ripped right from Diablo: A local humanoid warband has stolen the Innkeeper's sign and think it's some sort of magical totem. The players are offered a small reward(or their bar tab is expunged) for returning it.
- Where's Waldo: The local sage has gone missing. It's known that he's gone into a certain mountain pass to look for herbs, but that was 2 weeks ago. The heroes are tasked with finding him. The area is relatively safe except for the occasional rock slide and the somewhat carnivorous wildlife.
- Poisoning Pigeons in the Park: A serial killer is loose in the PCs home turf, and his preferred method of killing his victims is by lacing their drinks with slow acting debilitating poison before dismembering them as they attempt to go home for the night. The local brewing festival is only a few weeks away, and the party has reason to believe that he's going to turn the entire festival into a giant bloodbath.
- Heart of Stone: A local sculptor has mistakenly fallen in love with a medusa via her handiwork, thinking she's an incredibly talented artist in her own right. The PCs are tasked with either revealing the truth or helping the couple find true love. (Note: The true love option can provide an interesting twist for the Medusa encounter if you're playing Return to the Keep on the Borderlands!)

For "Evil" Parties:

- Kick a man when he's down: a rival of the group has recently been hauled off to prison. Now's your chance to loot his stuff! You'll have to dodge the city guard though, who consider all the cool toys to be "evidence" in their criminal case. Alternately, now that he's virtually defenseless in prison, killing him once and for all might not be a bad idea.
- Ripped from the Warriors: You've been framed! You've been accused of killing a major underworld power in the region, and now there's a bounty on your head being paid for by people you normally associate with. If a group is smart, they will not hack and slash their way through this, but turn this into an opportunity to gain even more power and infamy in the criminal underground.

- Ripped from The Darkness: You've pissed off people you shouldn't have and now you need leverage to barter for your miserable lives. Lucky for you, your enemy's right hand man has been gathering just the kind of dirt you're after, and a little birdy told you where to look for it. Now you just have to fight a few hired mooks, and get past a few locked doors to get at that lovely chest of information and evidence.
- Free to Good Home: Every villain needs to protect his lair from do-gooders and fellow villains alike. The price for such protection is never cheap, but your sources may have finally come through for you, having managed to find out about a ghoul trapped in a slick sided stone pit. If the party can figure out how to transport the creature, get it home undetected, and perhaps even train the thing a bit, they'll have a valuable "watch dog" for their lair.

Sometimes TPKs are no fun

2011-12-13T17:15:00.000-05:00

At Saturday night's Midlands 2e Sandbox game, I managed to TPK the party with a trio of ghouls. The party consisted of A 2nd level mage, a 2nd level fighter, a 1st level fighter, and a hatchling copper dragon(using modified Council of Wyrms rules to allow one of the players who on average loses 1 character every session to play the dragon from an egg the party found). With many players being new to gaming, or returning from decades long hiatus, I've been trying not to be too tough on them.
Anyway, the game started well enough, picking up from the time before where the party was attempting to rescue the mage's henchman by fixing a problem they may have caused for the locals. They easily found the ghouls, but when they moved to attack, the dice did not favor them. The Ghouls managed to murder the party in less than 5 rounds. So, less than 1/2 an hour into the session, we had a TPK.
The group created new characters and tried again . . . for another TPK. It's a darn good thing that character creation doesn't take too much time. It soon became apparent that the players were becoming frustrated and they didn't want to admit defeat to "three lowly ghouls".
That's when I, as DM, decided to give the players a break. I don't like doing it, but trying to create new characters for a whole party mid-session is no fun at all. It's always half-assed, and the players don't have enough time to really think about or get into the idea of the character. When you combine that with the players' desire to get vengeance for characters they actually loved, then it starts being a slog for everyone.
Instead of all this, I decided to let the players use the characters they had started the session with, letting them use what the plan they had not considered until it was too late. The session was effectively reset, and though the encounter was dangerous, the party prevailed. We called it a night after that, and I warned the group that this was a once a campaign event. Next time, the deaths would stand for keeps.
I'll admit, as a DM who prefers to let the corpses fall where they may(I'm not a killer DM, but given the low level nature of the campaign at the moment, I'm sure a few people might beg to differ), giving the players a "do over" makes me feel more than a little dirty, but all in all, I feel I made a good call.

Death Knight Kit

2011-11-24T00:10:00.000-05:00

This was created in response to a post on Dragonsfoot.

Death Knight(Fighters Only)
Becoming a death knight is first and foremost a punishment for crimes that place a powerful knight forever beyond the codes of honor he once held. The character is completely and utterly beyond any hope of redemption, having committed crimes so heinous that even the rest of the grave is denied the character.
Requirements: A Death Knight is ALWAYS of Evil Alignment. While the vast majority are of Chaotic Evil Alignment, a significant number are Neutral Evil. Because of their betrayal of their ideals, it's completely unheard of for their to be a Lawful Evil Death Knight, though that's not to say it could not occur. The character must also have a Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma score of at least 9. The original character must have also been Human, as the curse is one lain down by human gods.
Modifications: Death Knights use the Ranger/Paladin advancement table and are unable to specialize in weapons. If a character takes this kit after first level, he is reduced/raised to the minimum required XP for his current level according to his new XP table. A death knight gains no bonus hp for having a high constitution. Nor does he gain bonuses to attack rolls or AC from a high dexterity. Because of the nature of his undead state, he gains a +1 bonus to his Strength Score, to a maximum of 18/00.
Weapons and Armor: Death Knights are unusually restricted compared to other warriors. A Death Knight with Strength high enough to grant him bonuses to attack and damage only gets to apply these bonuses when using Long, Two Handed, or Short swords. Because of his magical nature, he also only benefits from the magical effects of magical swords. For Armor, a Death Knight is limited to the armor he was wearing when he was first turned. Regardless of said Armor's AC, his AC starts out as the AC of the Armor or AC 0(whichever is worse). Not even magic items may change this.
Equipment: See Weapons and Armor. Beyond this, a Death Knight may own any equipment he wishes.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Ancient History, Etiquette, or Heraldry. Recommended: Any General, Warrior, or Priest Proficiency.
Special Benefits: When a Death Knight is first created he becomes an undead creature. At this point, he's not much better than the standard corporeal undead save that he uses the warrior chart for Hit Dice/Points, and he has a 10% resistance to magic, with a 1% chance to cause the spell to reflect back upon the caster. Because of the nature of the curse, though a starting Death Knight can be turned, he is unable to be destroyed by turning. In addition, the character gains the following benefits as he levels:

+10% Magic Resistance per level(to a max of 75%), 2% chance of spell reflection per level(to a max of 11%)
+1(+10%) bonus to strength score at each level to a maximum of 18/00 Strength.
At 4th level, the character begins to command undead as a 1st level evil priest. This ability increases as he levels.
At 5th level, the character generates a constant fear effect in a 5' radius

At 7th level, the Death Knight is able to either build or take over a keep of his very own in a manner similar to a fighter. Unlike that of a standard fighter, such a stronghold becomes a haven of corruption and decay, and very little is capable of surviving near such a monument to death. By gaining a Stronghold, the Death Knight gains access to the following abilities:

7th level: Immunity to turning.
8th level: Able to cast Detect Magic and Detect Invisibility at will. Able to cast Power Word, Blind, Dispel Magic, and Symbol of Fear once per day. All spells are at 10th level ability. These abilities show up not at level, but at each new or full moon(DM's choice) in which the Death Knight spends in his stronghold.
9th level: Able to cast Detect Magic, Detect Invisibility, and Wall of Ice at will. Able to Cast Dispel Magic twice per day. Able to cast Power word: Blind, Kill, OR Stun once per day. Able to cast Symbol of Fear OR Pain once per day. Able to cast a 20-die fireball once per day. These spells replace the 8th level spell abilities. All spells are cast at 20th level ability. They show up in the same manner as the 8th level ones.
9th level: The Death Knight's Strength is now 18/00(if it wasn't already)

Additionally, a death knight is not subject to the ravages of time. He suffers no ill effects from aging, but does gain the benefits. He also receives an additional +1 bonus to Intelligence for every 100 years of unlife(up to racial maximum).
Special Penalties: The big penalty to being a death knight is being a cursed form of the undead. Because of this, the starting death knight is Turnable by good/neutral priests, and controllable by evil ones until such time as the Death Knight gains some form of Stronghold. In addition to this, a Holy Word spell can unmake the creature entirely.This is the only way to permanently destroy a death knight.
Because of his undead state, there are two major combat flaws to being a Death Knight. The first is that the Death Knight is unable to heal naturally, and must rely on special spells or items to heal himself. The second is that, even if the death at -10 hp rule is used, being undead, the Death Knight "dies" at 0 hp. Unlike the standard undead however, the death knight doesn't stay dead forever, but will rise again in an age so distant it might as well be dead forever.
Any Death Knight with spellcasting ability must enter an inactive state(not really sleep, but it's a period where he suffers the same effects of sleep) for a period of no less than 8 hours in order to regain his spell like abilities.
In addition to those penalties already listed, each and every death knight is a unique being who came by his status via a curse. The DM should tailor the curse to each individual death knight. Some examples of additional curse effects include:

Being tormented nightly by the souls of those who died as a result of the Death Knight's action that caused him to become a death knight in the first place.
Being forced to break free from a prison of brambles/ice each time the character "awakens"
The character shifts every night of the full/new moon into the ethereal plane where he must fight for his own survival against a horde of ravenous undead that he is unable to control.

Death Knights who Fall after 1st level: A character who becomes a Death Knight after first level starts off with his normal abilities for his level as a standard warrior, and the abilities of a 1st level Death Knight. For each month that passes(on the night of the Full/new moon perhaps), he gains an additional level of abilities up to his current level. In the case of Fallen Paladins/Rangers, convert the character to a fighter first(standard fall from his original class) and THEN adjust as appropriate for the Death Knight Kit.

Life in Midlands, Part 2: Winter

2011-10-24T00:29:00.000-04:00

Fog Month(28 days, 4 weeks, Similar to November, Full Moon on the 7th)
In cold years the first snows will start during this month. The colors of fall turn into the bleak grayness of winter. At this point most farmers are busy tending to their livestock, fattening them up in preparation for next month's slaughter.
Ankhegs and Wyverns wrap up breeding season, while creatures that do hibernate begin to do so(Ankhegs, Many giant animals of the reptilian and amphibian variety). Goblinoids are finished raiding by the 7th, as the remaining tribe members focus on filling winter stores. Ogre, Troll, Lizard man, Minotaur, and most giant raids that were common during the warmer months begin to taper off as these races begin to gather in their winter grounds.

Holy Month(28 days, 4 weeks, Similar to December, Full moon on the 7th)
By this point, livestock begins having some trouble finding enough food, so those involved with them slaughter many during this period. The colder temperatures. Salt is a very expensive commodity at this time of year as pickling and salting becomes a major industry in agrarian communities(which is basically everyone in the midlands). For the religious, this is also a time to leave offerings for the the Divinates(the Imperial religions' gods)
Since prey is becoming scarce, Goblinoids may raid, but like the Ogres and Trolls, they too become less active during this time. What little the tribes do often involves expanding the lairs, and do not bother to send scouts outside the lair(many prefer to seal the entrances to prevent others from entering during this time).
   There are of course, a few races that become more aggressive during this time of the year. Wolf attacks tend to become more common during this time(the wolves are usually after the remaining livestock which they see as easier prey). Gnolls also become more active. Without the smaller goblinoids to raid, and with the larger races being a bit sluggish, the Gnolls' natural aggression and hunger forces them to clash with human settlements they'd normally ignore due to strong defenses.

God Festival(7 days, 1 week, Solstice/Yule/New Years/Candlemas/Einherjer, Full Moon on the 7th)
   For those who are a part of the Imperial church, this is seen as the most important festival week. It's a time to say farewell to those who died over the course of the preceding year. Candles are lit in the homes of everyone who has lost friends or family, and a small cup of alcohol is left on each mantle for each of the departed. Church services are held each day until the last, and on the day of the 7th, there's a huge party to say farewell to previous year and welcome in the new.

Ice Month(28 days, 4 weeks, Similar to January, Full Moon on the 28th)
   This is the time of year when tools and rope are made and repaired for the coming year. It's generally too cold to do much out of doors, and most people prefer not to leave their hearths. Gnolls are still a problem, as are some of the less prepared goblinoid tribes.In addition to those humanoids, settlements that were unable to stockpile enough food may turn to raiding other settlements to supplement their stores. One is generally advised not to be a traveler during this month.
   This is the month when winter is in its full power, and during the coldest winters monsters native to colder climes become an issue(Frost Giant raiders, young White Dragons, winter wolves, etc) as they sometimes stray south from the Northlands, or come down from their hidden fortresses on the highest peaks.

In defense of character backgrounds

2011-10-23T13:46:00.000-04:00

   A lot of bloggers have been talking trash about character backgrounds and deriding them lately. While I do agree that they are not 100% needed, they are an incredibly helpful tool for the DM of a sandbox game.
   Now, when I'm talking about backgrounds, I'm not talking about the rocks your character has tripped over as a small child, I'm talking about his relationships; his still living family, friends, mentors, and rivals from the days before when he went out to go adventuring.
Think about all the times your players didn't all make it to the game some nights. You could of course just gloss over and pretend the player doesn't exist for the duration of the session, no harm done, or you could mention that a messenger arrived letting the character know something had happened to a family member, and he's needed at home. If your group is on a different plane from home, or too far for the character to travel reasonably within a single session, then possibly a friend or rival made it to where the players were staying and the PC decided that instead of going out adventuring.
   Background usefulness doesn't end there. A low level party looking for a henchman instead of a hireling suddenly has an entire roster of people to pick as Henchmen.Those players with living relatives and friends also have a place where they may be able to hide out(even if they have to endure listening to embarrassing stories of their childhood) to recuperate. It's a great place to store wealth in settings that don't have banks, and a useful tool for the DM to provide plot hooks that don't involve a bleedin' inn!

Life in Midlands, Part 1: Autumn

2011-10-22T23:21:00.001-04:00

Harvest Month(28 days, 4 weeks, similar to August, Full Moon is on the 14th)
   Harvest Month is when troops return to their homes from summer campaigns to shore up defenses before the goblinoid raids make camping too dangerous. The peasant classes are now in full swing, finishing the last of the hay harvest and starting in on the harvesting of other major crops.
   Goblinoid tribes start fighting, often against other tribes or traditional enemies(Goblins vs. Orcs, Kobolds become even more belligerent against gnomes, etc) but they will not turn down easy targets of other races.
    Their raids tend to be much more reckless(+3 bonus to the morale of Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears during this time), but instead of killing, they will take captives, even those of races they normally don't spare. Those captured will be tortured until the new moon just prior to the Harvest festival. The favored captives of the goblinoids are children.

Autumn Month(28 days, 4 weeks, similar to September, Full Moon is on the 14th)
Autumn Month is when most humans(even a few nobles and most soldiers) are involved with storing and counting the harvest. Those not involved with that are making war against the humanoids to defend their settlements.
The goblinoids have massively stepped up their raids, raiding literally anyone(+6 bonus to morale). The victims are tortured until the New Moon(the 28th) when they are all slain in a mass sacrifice dedicated to their racial gods as well as to Stalker(the goblinoid bogeyman/grim reaper). The goblinoids take the heads of these sacrifices, cover them in pitch, present them in varying manners outside their settlements(hang them from trees, impale them on spikes, leave them in piles, etc), and set them ablaze each night in an attempt to keep stalker away.

Harvest Festival(7 days, 1 week, Halloween/Oktoberfest/Thanksgiving)
Those of strong faith in the Imperial religion spend most of the festival in prayer. For others, this is a festival of plenty, to celebrate the finish of the majority of the harvest.
A tradition that started a few centuries ago, initially among settlers from the north(it's said there's a religious significance to the practice) has spread among the various settlements, regardless of origin. Children carve hideous faces into squashes, gourds, and pumpkins. Each night, these jack-o'-lanterns are placed around the homes and on the walls of the settlements, with candles inside them. The more jack-o'-lanterns a settlement has, the fewer goblinoid attacks the settlements seem to suffer during the nights of the festival. Many children also use this time to perform pranks(and blame them on goblins) while the adults tell scary stories of goblins, witches, and the undead.

Wine Month(28 days, 4 weeks, similar to October, Full Moon on the 7th)
   The various human settlements are involved with finishing the late plowing, and finishing the storing of the harvest. In areas with vineyards and orchards, this is when orchard crops are finished being gathered and beverages requiring year long fermentation or aging are bottled.
Goblinoid raids continue throughout this time, as they seek more heads to burn each night. By this point the number of heads so greatly outnumbers the number of jack-o'-lanterns a community can make, that tactic no longer works for the humans, and is thus abandoned in favor of massive defenses.
   As if the goblins aren't bad enough, the people of Midlands have two more problem to deal with; the start of Wyvern breeding season. Unlike the younger wyverns that plague them during the spring, the Wyvern issue in the late fall and early winter is that fully grown male wyverns are on the move, leaving normal territories to seek mates.
   The other problem is Ankhegs. Like the Wyverns, this is their breeding season. It's also when they're seeking to eat enough food before the first winter snows. Males tend to be less aggressive until the end of breeding season(if they're unsuccessful in finding a mate), while females tend to be extremely aggressive, not only to fatten themselves up, but to create a pile of carrion for their young to feed upon over the winter.

Religion in D&D

2011-10-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

This is a rather touchy subject for me, and is what long ago inspired a "no real world religions" rule at my games. The reasoning is that most of the people I game with come from a wide variety of religions and beliefs, and some of these individuals take a dim view to having their gods or religions butchered in some game.
   In addition to that, I have some players who will not, under any circumstances regard certain religions positively(xtianity tends to have a pretty piss poor reputation, and tbh, that rep has been earned) and refuse to play in a game where such faiths are regarded as positive.
   What I have found that seems to be "ok" with most players is weak caricatures or facsimiles. If you make enough changes(#s of deities, names, overall belief system) you can keep political structures and 'rules' intact.
    In my current campaign, the Western Imperial church a weird amalgam of the Medieval Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches(as best as I, a modern heathen, can understand them) with multiple divinities. This seems to fit the standard cleric class just fine(and has the added benefit of not ticking anyone off). I'm not allowing the Cleric class to work with any of the other human faiths.
   Thankfully, 2nd edition has a plethora of options for building priests of other faiths. The PHB, the DMG, and the Complete Priest Handbook are all useful tools for this type of class construction. In addition, there are a ton of different priestly classes already present in the 2e library(Crusaders, Monks, many different types of Shamen, Druids, Specialty Priests, Rune Priests, and others).

Halloween Game

2011-10-16T00:29:00.000-04:00

Just a heads up to my readers. I plan on running a game on Halloween night. It'll be the Tomb of Horrors using the 2nd Edition AD&D rules. I'll be handing a stack of pregens to each player, and we'll play from 10 pm(Eastern US time) until people either decide to quit, or the Tomb is finally defeated(as long as I have at least the 3 players wishing to continue, the game will do so). If you have an interest in playing, please contact me at Arnkel@hotmail.com putting [Halloween Game] in the subject line.

Random Encounter Tables

2011-10-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

I was asked recently about the random encounter tables I use. For wilderness encounters, I usually use "Miscellaneous Mishaps: The Great outdoors" from Dragon 259 and "Miscellaneous Mishaps: Roads & Rivers" from Dragon 275 both by Dawn Ibach. Both require the use of Monster tables however, and mine can be found here or in the downloads section. I did use some of the basic charts from the B/X RC, but the actual tables themselves are variants of the kind suggested in the DMG. Currently, as my campaign is in a temperate zone without cities, deserts, or oceans, I haven't bothered creating any tables for those regions. If someone is looking for a more complete version, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do about posting them.

I suck & Mass combat systems.

2011-10-05T03:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday night's game did not go as well as I had hoped, and I'm the only one to blame. For some reason the descriptive part of my brain just wasn't firing on all cylinders and it showed. The Death toll climbed thanks to particularly nasty random encounters(a group of four 1st level characters vs. a blind Bulette, and another encounter vs. a couple of Lizardmen).
I know part of the issue was me not being decisive. Two people dropped out of the game due to RL issues, and another two showed up late and not bothering to tell me about until last minute. I was down 4 players out of 7 and for the first hour of the game I couldn't decide whether or not to call the game off for lack of players(heck, even they didn't know what they really wanted to do), but I really didn't feel like penalizing the people who did show up for the actions of those who didn't.
That being said, what's done is done, and all I can do is suck it up and do everything in my power to do better at the next game in 2 weeks.
Thanks to the party's actions(pissing off the most powerful tribe of goblins in the local campaign area, as well as a decent sized kobold tribe, and possibly allying with a moderately influential bandit/mercenary band), I've been looking much more closely at which Mass Combat System I want to use.
Though there are a fair number of stellar games out there, I'm going to use a modified War Machine from the Rules Cyclopedia. This is for 2 reasons, the first being that my move is going to keep me apart from the vast majority of my D&D books for a few months(and my bagspace for the plane is limited), and because I like the abstract nature of the system in general.
For those not familiar with War Machine, you can learn more about it here. There are a few changes I want to make to the system to fit better with my interpretation of 2e, and I'll try to post them later.

2 Trap ideas

2011-09-30T07:52:00.000-04:00

While playing in Rients' Caves of Myrddin this morning, my paranoia as a player(as a DM I'm a devious bastard, so I automatically assume that every DM I am a player under is at least as much a devious bastard as I am, if not more.) I accidentally may have inspired the DM with a trap idea. After the game finished, I thought about the trap idea myself, and managed to come up with a few new traps:

Dumb adventurer acid: You see that bright shiny treasure sitting there in a pile, or maybe in a sack, possibly even underwater. You reach down to grab it but are quickly met by the stinging sensation of acid on your bare hands! This is basically contact poison that functions more like acid flasks(damage over time starting with the affected areas and working its way over your body). The only means of stopping the damage, or neutralizing the acid is to douse the affected items/areas in oil, rendering it inert.

Greed Rust: You walk into a room and in the center is a massive glass coffer filled with gold, silver, and copper. The air of the room is choked with a strange red dust. The red dust is completely safe to breathe. It will not affect organic materials nor stone nor most metals. If gold, silver, platinum, electrum, or copper are exposed to it however, those items are instantly dissolved. The dust particles are fairly large however, so merely keeping the affected materials in a pack or sack, chest, or closed barrel will keep them safe. If the party decides to open the chest in the room, they lose all the treasure. If they remove the chest from the room, they get a glass chest full of treasure!

Cantrip

2011-09-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

This is, by far, my favorite 2e spell. Even with all the limitations on it, it's the workhorse spell of any mage I've ever played. A lot of 2e players tend to look down on the spell however, so I'd like to discuss the spell and why it's absolutely essential for survival of a low level mage(and still useful at high levels).
The basis of this post is the Dragon Magazine Article "Survival of the Smartest" by Lloyd Brown III from issue 229. Though I agree with him on many points, there's one point I firmly disagree with him on. The savings throw. The cantrip as written has no save, and I believe it should remain this way. As the effects of the cantrip really aren't powerful enough to warrant one.
Take Bob the Wizard. Bob and his friends; Timmy the fighter, Jay the Thief, and George the Cleric all decide to go into a set of ruins. In one tunnel, the group of adventurers runs into a group of six goblins. The little monsters run screaming down the hall. Timmy and George stand in front while Jay guards the rear. Bob already cast cantrip about 15 minutes earlier(It has a duration of 1 hour per level, so casting it before combat even starts is a good idea).
Bob uses his spell to pull the pants of the lead goblin down around his knees during the creature's charge in an attempt to trip him. Cantrip offers no save, but the DM rules that the poor goblin gets a dex check to avoid tripping over his own breeches(50-50 shot). The goblin fails and goes down, slowing the other goblins down as they either stop to laugh at their companion's misfortune or try to move past him. George and Timmy take the opportunity to counter charge, with George bringing his mace down on the head of the prone lead goblin. Timmy sadly misses.
Jay then states that he wishes to try to Hide in shadows so he can attempt to sneak behind one of the goblins to take it down. Bob uses his cantrip to make the shadows twitch a bit, to help hide Jay's movements, giving the thief a +5% bonus to his Hide in Shadows roll. Timmy and George are hard pressed to defend themselves against the goblins, choosing to full defend to boost their ACs.
The third round starts and Bob asks the DM if goblins have any hair on their heads at all. The DM thinks a moment, and responds that the Goblins do have eyebrows. Bob grins and drops his concentration on the shadows, hoping Jay is in position, and targets one of the goblins, causing the creature's eyebrows to grow to almost a foot in length, drooping down over the creature's eyes, effectively blinding him. Timmy sees this and takes advantage of the weakened creature, dropping it with a single blow. George also attempts to make an attack but misses. Jay attempts to backstab one of the little monsters but also misses, revealing himself to be behind the group of goblins. The goblins manage to do no damage against the well armored George and Timmy.
The fourth round starts with two of the goblins breaking away from the warriors to take care of the thief. Both George and Timmy get to attack the two goblins, and one of the vermin goes down. Jay is evenly matched against his opponent. It would all come down to who manages to hit first. Sadly, Jay is a little too far away to get any aid directly from Bob, but the crafty wizard uses his cantrip to add a bit of weight to the goblin's sword, penalizing the creature's attack roll by 1. The goblin misses, and Jay hits taking the little monster down.
Now outnumbered 2-to-1 and partially surrounded the remaining goblins are looking nervous and are about to flee. Bob knows the DM is likely to roll for Morale on the creatures. Bob states that he's going to use his cantrip to make the shadows in the tunnel twist and move like they are trying to reach out to grab the terrified creatures. The DM believes that this use of the spell would merit a 1 point penalty to the Goblins' morale check. The goblins wet themselves and run screaming down the hall, but don't get very far as George, Timmy, and Jay cut them down.
This post is long enough, so I'll try to talk about non-combat uses a little later.

My XP: Part 3

2011-09-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

Treasure XP:

Coins: For every GP worth of coins spent you gain 1 XP. This XP is only gained by spending money on certain things however, depending on your class:

Everyone: Buying/stocking strongholds/lairs. Money spent above and beyond the bare minimum necessary on hirelings. Commissioning works of art. Buying high quality equipment(such as fancy clothes and jewel encrusted swords forged by a master bladesmith). Note, if it's a "use" item(like spell components that get used up by the spell) it doesn't count for XP.
Fighters: Coins spent partying, and spending money on repairs for their own weapons and armor.
Mages: Spending money on research(both spell and other, as long as it's arcane or history related)
Clerics: Tithing beyond 10% as well as spending/donating money for religious works.
Thieves: Coins spent partying and on bribes, connections, information gathering, or "burn equipment"(equipment being used to pull of a single heist or assassination that will then be dumped).

Gems: You gain no XP for liquidating gems for coins. You gain XP for spending gems as money, but unlike coins, there's no limits on how to gain the XP(just use the gems as coins on whatever you'd like and instant xp). In addition, turning the gem into a part of a magic item or art object/jewelry will net double the gem's XP value.

Goods/Livestock: Food, valuable materials, and trade goods are all worth XP! Treat these as gems for how to gain XP.

Art Objects = You only get XP for art objects you keep. You DO lose XP if you liquidate Art objects for cash/gems.

Magic Items = You only gain XP for magic items if you make the magic item(though you may gain XP for overcoming and destroying cursed items). You may give away magic items for XP.

Next time: Doing Your Job(Individual Class Awards).

2e Sandbox Campaign Journal

2011-09-21T10:44:00.000-04:00

Since I know Campaign Journal posts go over like lead bricks, I'll just be posting them over to the right as PDFs for download for those handful of people who do wish to read them. Not sure if it will always be the case, but the first one does have maps and pictures.
Yes, I've started the campaign at the Keep on the Borderlands.

My XP, Part 2

2011-09-18T16:20:00.000-04:00

Last time I mentioned what the categories are, but I ran out of space to go into any real detail. So here are some of the parts described in more detail.

RP Award: The RP award, at least at 1st level starts off as a flat 50 xp at 1st level. As the characters level up, I'll be increasing the amount that gets awarded. over the top, spectacular role playing above and beyond the call of the common RPer of course, will likely receive a little extra . . . provided it doesn't make me retch.

Goals/Achievements: Starting off, very few of the characters in my game last night had goals, still not sure about a few of them. We did have a couple of goals met last night by some characters. The mages managed to find a possible mentor and the Barbarian Sword woman managed to get some new trophies. As these were both relatively minor goals, I went ahead and gave 50 xp. A major achievement would have been 100 or more xp.

Exploration: Thus far I've given out 5 xp per room for dungeons, and 10 xp for major hubs/locations. Like the others, the value may increase as party levels increase.

Monsters: Thus far, I've only had to hand out xp for monsters killed. The players managed to kill 11 rot grubs, 4 stirges, and a wild boar. They only lost one mage in the attempt.

I'll discuss Treasure, MVP, and Doing your Job XP later.

Get Your 1st ed out of my 2nd ed!

2011-09-18T09:03:00.000-04:00

Warning: Ranting ahead

While I fully acknowledge that the modularity of 2nd edition, and the ability to import stuff from 1st edition is a positive design feature, I really wish the 1e players would go play in their own boxes. The rallying cry for the opposition seems to boil down to the idea that 2nd edition is not a real edition at all, but instead it's some sort of super-sized version of Unearthed Arcana.
Before I get any further into this, I need to make some things clear: Dragon Magazine may have offered "legal" rulings, but they are NOT core. If it's not in the bleedin' DMG or PHB, it's only a part of the game by house ruling. On Dragonsfoot's 2e forums, one of the moderators posted this section from Dragon issue 121, Game Wizards article by David "Zeb" Cook:

"In any case, no matter what you change in the AD&D game system, a good number of us will continue to play bards. . . . and whatever else gets axed or deleted." - Steve Null
Please do. I anticipate that many out there will mix parts of First and Second Editions together to get the game they want (along with a healthy dose of DRAGON Magazine articles and other ideas). Do this! Have fun and use your own creativity. At any rate, rest assured that as far as TSR is concerned, anything you liked in First Edition is legal in Second Edition. If you liked First Edition bards, theyre legal. If you liked monks, theyre legal. Ultimately, there will be people out there who will be playing Version 1.0, Version 1.5, Version 2.0, and probably even Version 2.3 of the AD&D game. Perhaps we should figure out some type of numbering system like that used on computer programs!

The poster provided this as definitive "proof" of his position that what's "legal" in 1st edition is "legal" in 2nd edition.
I have a few problems with this. One, this article was written in 1987, almost two whole years before 2nd edition was actually published. Not sure if my cynicism is the problem or not, but the "everything is legal" approach sounds like thinly veiled marketing. I think if Mr. Cook had actually intended for 1st edition to play such a major role in 2e mechanics by the time 2e was actually published, he would have at least mentioned it in one of the core rule books.
The second problem I have with this idea is that in "Official Play" done by the RPGA and at various conventions, 1e characters were not "legal" as is until they were looked over and "converted" in 2e games. Monks and Assassins were not part of official 2e play to my knowledge(I never encountered any, that's for certain). If I'm wrong, PLEASE post in the comments section to tell me(My stint with the RPGA was short).
Please understand that I'm not arguing that you can't do these things, or even that you shouldn't. What I am saying is that I for one would like it if people would recognize the fact that 2e has it's own solid, independent-from-1e system and mechanics, and that bringing 1e stuff into 2e is 100% in the realm of house ruling, not playing 2e as written/intended.

I'll have a new post up later today that is decidedly less ranty.

Note: To the moderator who did the posting on Dragonsfoot: This is not a slam against you personally or Dragonsfoot. I didn't wish to hijack the thread and used my own judgement to determine that this subject falls under the category of "edition war" and is thus not suitable for posting on Dragonsfoot as per the ToS. If you feel somehow personally slighted, I apologize and ask that you contact me via pm on Dragonsfoot.

FINALLY! 0-level humans!

2011-09-15T14:21:00.000-04:00

Checking out the newest issue of Loviatar I immediately flipped through looking for the 2e stuff I knew was going to be in there. I'll admit, I was never really a fan of planescape back in the day, but it's certainly grown on me as I've gotten older(unlike Ravenloft or Spelljammer).
Anyway, Christian, the author of the mag, gives us some interesting flavor text to describe this Outlands petitioner. The best part is, the character is 0-level. New readers are probably wondering why the heck I'm so excited about this, and if that's the case, I'll go ahead and direct you to a previous blog post from way back that you can find here.
Not entirely certain what Christian plans on doing next for Planescape or for other 2e settings, but for those of you who haven't heard of it before, I definitely suggest checking it out. Despite the 3.5 compatible label on the front cover, the game isn't just about d20 stuff. There's been a fair amount of nWoD and even some GURPS in previous issues.

My XP, Part I

2011-09-14T03:23:00.000-04:00

XP systems have been a major topic of discussion in the Old School Gaming Blogosphere lately. Given that session 1 for my first online sandbox group starts Saturday night, I figure now is as great a time as any to post the XP system I plan on using.

This system is only good for 1st & possibly 2nd level. I'll worry about it more once players get close to 2nd level, but for right now, it's good enough for my game. The basic presumption is that I want characters to be able to earn roughly 400 xp each session to start. Using this number as a base, I then decided what kind of things I wanted to give XP for. The following is the list I came up with:

Role Playing: This one's a bit obvious.
Achieving Character Goals/Character Growth/Completing Plans: Since I'm running a sandbox, Story awards a bit hard to judge, but I still want players to get at least a little XP for achieving the goals of their characters. This would include things like finally managing to convince their idol to mentor them, or finally getting vengeance on the man who killed their parents.
Monsters: This one is fairly standard. The one major change is that I want to offer the XP for Defeating enemies rather than just killing them. I'm on the fence about wanting to award XP for bypassing or being defeated by them.
Treasure: I like the idea of XP for treasure. I don't really like the way it's been implemented before. I also think that characters should get XP for certain things they buy(such as a Stronghold).
Exploration: Though I've posted a map or two, the sandbox setting I'm using has no up to date maps except the 4 hex maps(hexographer wouldn't let me save a PNG file of that size) on my HD and the one in my skull. Mapping and exploration should generate XP.
MVP award: This is one point where the players are the ones doing the awarding, not me. At the end of the session, I'll be asking for an open vote for who the MVP of the session was. That person will get an XP bonus based on the average level of the party at the start of the session. A die roll will determine the winner in case of a tied vote.
Characters doing their jobs: Wizards should get XP for doing research and casting spells. Warriors should get XP for defeating foes and leading allies into battle. Priests should get XP for defeating infidels and furthering the goals of their religion. Thieves should get XP for getting away with crimes or using their skills in such a way that it gives them some sort of actual gain.

This post is long enough, so I'll go into more detail in the next one

The Wailing Blade

2011-09-13T09:48:00.004-04:00

This long sword is an old weapon, said to have been gifted to the champion of an army of the dead. The blade itself is pitted and its edge appears to be in dire need of sharpening. The hilt is longer than normal, though little more than rotten wood. The Crossguard is made of nicked and dinged bone.

The sword, due to its poor condition suffers a -1 penalty to damage(minimum 1 damage). When the weapon strikes however, the victim must make a save vs. death magic. Those who pass the save suffer no ill effects. Those who fail the save are drained of a level or Hit die.

The wielder of the blade must drain at least 1 level/HD a day from foes with the blade or begins to hear the sword wailing in his head. The wielder is the only one who can hear the blade. The wailing causes a -3 penalty to Surprise checks as well as any check dependent on hearing. Each day that the blade wails, it drains the wielder of 1 point of both intelligence and wisdom. Undead are immune to this drain. A living creature that reaches 0 in INT or WIS dies and rises within the hour to become a Blade Slave.

Blade slaves are undead creatures with the same Hit Dice, THAC0, and Saves as the original character. The Slave however is a mindless killing machine, wandering aimlessly seeking to destroy all life. A Blade Slave who is carrying the sword, as well as any other undead using the blade may Wail as the banshee ability once per week per Hit Die.

Maggot Blade

2011-09-07T21:05:00.000-04:00

The Maggot Blade is a devious device used by assassins and torturers. The hilt is made of bone, with a strange light purple gem in the crossguard and a wavy snakelike blade. The metal of the blade is some form of blackened metal, the exact type is not immediately discernible. Close examination reveals that the blade's edge has a series of what appear to be tiny nicks.
Anyone cut by the blade(or consuming meat prepared with the blade) must make a save vs. poison or become the host to 1 blade maggot egg per point of damage inflicted(or 1d6 maggots in the case of consumption). In 10+1d4 days the eggs hatch. After the eggs hatch, the blade maggots begin to devour the host in the same manner as Rot Grubs. Once the host has been slain, the maggots die within a matter of moments.

2e Sandbox Update

2011-09-06T14:57:00.002-04:00

Ok, we've got the minimum number of players confirmed so I'm able to nail down a few specifics. The game will be played every other Saturday starting September 17th, 2011 at 9 pm Eastern. The game will be played primarily over Google+, though I've been told I can run Skype concurrently with very few problems.

Though we have the minimum number of players, THERE IS STILL ROOM if anyone is still looking to join up. If there's something wrong with Saturdays for gaming, I can start a second group if interest is strong enough. The character creation information can still be found to your right in the downloads, or you can follow this link. Those looking to join up just need to send me an e-mail here: Arnkel at hotmail dot com with [2e Sandbox] in the subject line.

To my normal readers who are getting irritated with this; hang in there, I hope to have a content post up soon.

EDIT: Group 1 is full. To R.W. Chandler, if you want to be the first guy for group 2 on a different day(or time), I don't mind starting a second group. Anyone else looking to join, just send the e-mail, same instructions as above and we'll get started building that group. :)

Call to Arms!

2011-09-04T19:02:00.003-04:00

    I meant to post this at least a week ago, but Irene decided to pay a visit. I'm looking for 3 - 6 players for an online sandbox game. I'd prefer to do this over Windows Live or Skype, but I'm not opposed to running on Goggle+ if that's what it will take. The character creation information is in the Downloads section(Player info for my Online Sandbox). I'm looking to run it either Friday or Saturday night starting at 9 pm eastern(1 am Saturday or Sunday UTC) either weekly or every other week depending on player interest.
   If you're looking to bring in an outside character via the Flailsnails thing, I should mention that I don't actually recognize the conventions(but I may be willing to work with you to help convert the character). New to Gaming, New to D&D, and New to 2nd edition players are every bit as welcome as veterans.
   To sign up for this, just send me an e-mail at arnkel at hotmail dot com. Put [2e Sandbox] in the subject line. If you don't make the player limit cutoff, don't worry. I may set up a second game for a different night(or time) if I get enough responses asking for it.

Edit: I was asked Sessions will be around 3 hours in length, absolutely no longer than 4 hours.
Edit2: We have 2 players so far, still room for more!

Bloodwood/Ravenloft Kit: Redhead

2011-08-26T22:01:00.000-04:00

Back when I was working on converting the Iron Heroes Bloodwood campaign setting to 2nd edition, and I was still actually using kits for it, I was 100% convinced that the setting was actually meant to be a horror setting. So, I found a special note in the Van Richten's guide to Witches that mentioned that in some domains, redheads get mysterious druidic powers. Given the "Damn nature, you scary" tone that the setting pdf hinted at, I figured this would make a rather interesting kit.

The Redhead

Prior to the Night of Blood, it’s said that the people of lakeshore had no redheads amongst them. After that horrible night, a handful of the women who were pregnant at the time of that terrible event gave birth to children with red hair, the trait has since occurred many other times, usually affecting children born under the full moon. It seems as if the Bloodwood itself has some sort of mystical connection to these children, and that they always feel the call of the wild.

Requirements: Available only to humans, and any class. Appropriate for anyone, especially those born near the bloodwood. Requires a minimum Wis score of 9.

Modifications: None

Weapons and Armor: Limited to the following weapons(within class restrictions): Club, Dagger/Dirk, Dart, Lasso, Sickle, Sling, and Staff. Armors are limited to(within class restrictions): Padded, Leather, Studded Leather, and Hide. Only able to use wooden shields(if class allows shield use).

Equipment: As normal

Non-weapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Survival(Forest) Recommended: Agriculture, Animal Handling, Animal Lore, Animal Training, Direction Sense, Disguise, Endurance, Fire Building, Healing, Herbalism, Hunting, Set Snares, Tracking, Weather Sense

Special Benefits: The DM determines a small handful of 1st and possibly 2nd level druid spells that the redhead gets. The redhead needs no material components of any kind to cast the spells. The redhead is able to cast these spells only once per day each. He gains a bonus casting of each spell on the night of the full moon(only while the moonlight falls upon him or when under the boughs of the bloodwood).

Special Penalties: In addition to the weapon and armor restrictions, most superstitious peasants regard the character as a witch, and likely up to no good. As such they suffer a -4 reaction penalty when dealing with such folk.
Starting Wealth: Standard

Lycanthrope Kit

2011-08-25T22:38:00.000-04:00

You survived an encounter with a Lycanthrope sometime in your past. In doing so, you contracted the dreaded curse. Now, you look with fear upon the moon, knowing when it hangs full in the sky, your human self will give way to the bloodthirsty beast that now dwells within. Note: This kit requires a copy of Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts(or the Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium Volume One), though you could play without it with a suitably creative DM.

Requirements: Any race or class is appropriate for this kit. The only exception to this is a class that has an alignment requirement. The player and DM must also choose an appropriate type of werecreature.

Modifications: None

Weapons and Armor: As appropriate for class. Expensive armors tend to be shunned as the transfiguration into man-beast form often destroys the armor that is worn.

Equipment: As normal

Non-weapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Animal Lore Recommended: As appropriate for Race and Class.

Special Benefits: Unlike many other infected Lycanthropes, you've had the curse so long that you are starting to be able to tap the beast within. As such, your character is only killed by the appropriate weapon/chemical types. If the character is taken to -10 hp via normal means, he instead remains comatose. He regains 1 hp per day. When he is again at 1 hp, he enters manbeast form thus regaining a percentage of his HP, but is automatically in a bloodlust state.

Special Penalties: The character is an Infected Lycanthrope. This means he only shifts as a result of appropriate triggers. He loses control of his character at these times. In addition, most normal domesticated animals know precisely what is wrong with him. When dealing with domesticated animals, he has a -4 penalty to reaction checks.

Starting Funds: As normal.

Winterborn Kit

2011-08-24T17:43:00.001-04:00

Born in the dead of winter or during unseasonable snow storms, some children seem to have the "Mark of Winter" upon them. They love the cold, and seem to shrug off all but the most deadly of winter's chills. As a sign of Winter's favor, most winterborn have snow blond hair and icy blue eyes. Many seem to radiate a chilling aura. Their mark is also their curse however, as the Winterborn rarely show emotion, being as emotionless as the ice and snow.

Requirements: As long as the character has a suitably chilly background, they qualify. The kit is especially appropriate for Druids and Rangers.

Class Modifications: None

Weapons and Armor: As appropriate for culture and class

Non-weapon Proficiencies: Bonus: Survival(Cold); Recommended: Endurance, Fire Building, Weather Sense.

Special Benefits: +1 bonus on saves to resist any sort of cold effect(even magical) as well as to fear effects. Your character suffers no movement penalties when moving through/over snow/ice. If the Winterborn is fighting in an arctic environment or in winter weather and they are alone(or with other winterborn), they gain a +1 to attacks, and may continue fighting without penalty until they reach -10 hp.

Special Penalties: The winterborn is highly susceptible to heat and fire, taking -2 penalty on saves vs. those effects. In addition to this, most Winterborn are seen as cursed to die alone(and violently). As such, a Winterborn may never gain henchmen, and suffers a -4 penalty to reaction checks.

Starting Funds: As standard.

Response to Temple of Demogorgon

2011-08-18T02:53:00.000-04:00

This is in response to this and I think he was responding to this. There is one thing I've noticed that Mr. Brunomac seems to have missed. The majority of people who don't allow drinking at their games are under 33 in age(or are involved in other forms of gaming).
It really is a bit of an age/culture war. The younger generations may be considered lazy and may have ADHD, but they're competitive when it comes time to have fun. In video games we have gamer/achievement scores, in board games and war games there are clear winners and losers, and in adventure RPGs of all types there is a competition mentality between DMs and Players. Oh sure, there are plenty of hippy storytellers all singing kumbaya around a campfire while crafting their shared narrations, but a lot of groups out there still have a competitive mindset to them.
Where does this competitive streak come from? Partially from the rules being used. It's a "dirty" word but a lot of players realize that they have to optimize their characters. This is just as true in oldschool games as it is in new games like Pathfinder or 4e.
   Two reasons exist for this; The first is the oldschool meatgrinder. Levels 1-3 in most oldschool games are where most characters tend to die. The tendency of most players then is to make as powerful a character as possible to survive this winnowing. The second reason is peer pressure. Most people playing in successful multiplayer games realize that the challenges they overcome as a group(be it raid group or adventuring party) is a result of each character and each player being at the top of their game, so there's a certain stigma attached to playing in a sub-optimal manner. Even if nobody enforces it, most players in these competitive games feel a certain amount of guilt if they choose to play with a less powerful character.
    So, whether you like it or not, we have a large number of highly competitive gamers out there who view the playing of games as a means of testing their own minds and "gamer skills" to the limit. I'm fairly certain nobody can argue against the fact that after a certain point, drinking does hamper the ability to think clearly.
    It has been my experience, that those gamers under 33 years of age who choose to drink, tend to be disruptive to the game and tend to take away from everyone's fun when they're drinking openly. For whatever reason, this group of people has a tendency to not drink responsibly while gaming. This makes it fall on the host, raidleader, or DM to figure out a way to control the problem.
   The easiest way to do this is to ban drinking. Realistically, this is impossible, but doing so does seem to control the outbursts and cause the drinkers to drink in moderation because they have to keep it secret. This is generally considered the best course of action when the group is not necessarily all friends outside of the game.
   The second option, and the one I favor at face-to-face games, is host as bartender. This is harder to do as certain individuals may end up being offended when the host starts cutting people off because they're at the agreed upon limit. As such individuals rarely stay silent about their complaints, this ends up causing the game to be put on hold while the entire group ends up arguing for or against person X having another alcoholic beverage.

   So to Brunomac, it's not a matter of being prudish, it's because a large enough number of gamers are drinking to the point where it's taking the fun away from the other players, and becoming a problem that has to be dealt with. I envy the fact that you are able to allow drinking at your games, and hope to one day find a group that is able to do so without causing problems, but at this point, I think many of us have to deal with the reality that our current choice in gaming companions and styles do not mix well with the presence of alcohol.

Pictures from a Mushroom Forest

2011-08-17T00:35:00.000-04:00

   This has been a pretty hectic week. But in what little downtime I've actually had, I've been spending time re-exploring Zangarmarsh, Deepholm's Needlerock Chasm and the Crimson Expanse, and the fungus area of Ahn'kahet.
   By and large, Zangarmarsh was the best done of the areas. The other three areas didn't seem as well put together. I was mostly looking for mushroom/plant variety as well as types of creatures living there. Ahn'kahet is excusable as it's in a "dungeon instance" while the Cataclysm areas were a fine description of how half assed the entire xpac is.
   I traveled around exploring on my main character and these are a few of the pictures I took:

Above is a picture of the smaller types of fungi commonly found in Zangarmarsh, as well as the ferns, mosses, and long grasses.

Found these growing mostly by the various lakes in Zangarmarsh. They seem to be like the fungal equivalent of a pitcher plant.

Glowcaps. A lot rarer than they used to be, Glowcaps are used as a currency when dealing with the fungus men of Zangarmarsh(the Sporelings).

Found these glowing green spots near Umbrafen Village. They were also somewhat prevalent near Feralfen village. Not sure if they're supposed to be a type of glowing moss, or a sign that the Lost Ones(degenerated swamp dwelling dranei) have been farming the various fungi types.

One of the more common and colorful predators in the marsh, a Fen Stider. They are one of the different types of creatures called spore walkers.

That's all for today, as I know this post is going to take forever to load as is. Next time I'll show more pictures, or maybe offer a few descriptions for my Mushroom Forest sandbox.

[Sandbox]Village of Kerrow

2011-08-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

Kerrow is a frontier community, established 20 years ago by the Old Baron Kerrow. It is located within a misty valley somewhere in the Frostfang Mountains, long regarded as an untamable and unexplored territory.

The village was founded after scouts discovered the relatively warm and fertile lands in the area. Baron Kerrow freed the poorest of his serfs and sent them, as well as some of his older knights to found a village within the misty, mushroom filled, valley. The families owe the baron a portion of their production each year in payment for this.

The people of Kerrow are mostly farmers, where the children work in the fields with their parents. While originally there were only ten families, many of the children born in the first couple of years have begun to build homes of their own. In addition to the farmers and aging soldiers, a small group of merchants make their homes in the village. Unlike the others, they were not ordered to come by the baron, but chose to follow the settlers in search of profit. They have sacrificed and spent sizable amounts of money to come here, and none are willing to take another loss.

          The village is defended by a militia of roughly ten men. A mix of aging knights and raw recruits, the militia has a haphazard appearance. Surrounding the village is a rotting wooden pallisade. The pallisade really is more for show than anything else. Thus far, it has deterred the village's enemies, but it's unlikely that this will continue to be the case, and the village will either have to bring in more wood from outside the valley, or figure out some other means of constructing a suitable defense.
   The persistent humidity and rains of the valley have caused the villagers to look for new sources for most of the things they need. Since no trees grow in the valley, they have had to find different building materials. At first the villagers tried to build homes from the giant mushrooms, attempting to cut the "trunks" of the giant mushrooms as if they were trees. This did not work out so well as the fibrous interior of the mushroom "logs" were not a very stable building material, often warping and crumbling.
   The villagers eventually found a large quantity of relatively flat rocks. They ended up piling these rocks up in a circle as securely as possible. Atop these house walls, the top of one of the large mushrooms is placed, with a hole in the center to function as a chimney. For whatever reason, the mushroom tops do not tend to warp or crumble the way the trunks do. This results in all the houses in the village being circular in shape.

More to come!

[Sandbox] The Valley

2011-08-06T03:22:00.000-04:00

The Valley is believed to be the site where an ancient deity or fiend(which is a matter of some debate) is said to have fallen after being slain in some war on the outer planes. Very few settlements exist within the valley, mostly being populated by adventurers, fugitives, refugees, and other down and out sorts who prefer the isolation.
   There are many things that stand out about the valley to any visitor, but the first thing most notice is the mushrooms. There are no actual trees in the valley. Instead, massive mushrooms grow up hundreds of feet tall. In fact, mushrooms are generally considered the dominant form of "vegetation" in the valley.
   The second thing visitors notice is the fog. The valley is blessed with an overabundance of hot springs that leave the valley. These hot springs, combined with the enormous height of the valley's outer edge results in the valley having a temperate rainforest climate. With all the steam generated by the pools, combining with loose dust(and the multitude of wind-borne spores), a person on the floor of the valley never sees daylight or stars.
    That doesn't mean however that the valley is actually dark. During the day, the sun does shine, but it's the gray lighting of a rainy day(and it's almost always raining). At night, the "forests" come alive with a multitude of colors thanks to the bioluminescence of the many "plants." This light is bright enough for a human to only see a few feet ahead of himself(think very dim lighting or moderate levels of fog), but not enough to hinder creatures with light sensitivity.

Mushroom Forests

2011-08-05T01:31:00.000-04:00

I don't know why, but my favorite fantasy location has always been the mushroom forest. Be it the underdark cavern filled with mushrooms of various sizes or the fey/alien feeling mushroom forests of the surface world, with towering 'shrooms that blot out the sun. I can't get enough of em. Back when I was a bit more dedicated to playing World of Warcraft, my favorite zone in the game was Zangarmarsh.

My fiance thinks I'm crazy, but I really want to move here instead of a land with kangaroos

Given that my family campaign has been put on hold since living arrangements, jobs, and other things are all in a jumble and require my showing a level of patience that would test stone, I think I'm going to start designing a small mushroom forest valley for a sandbox.

What (Tolkien)Dwarves should look like

2011-07-29T06:37:00.000-04:00

There's been a fair bit of fluster on the interwebs of late regarding the dwarves of the upcoming Hobbit films. The controversy is the appearance of the dwarves. It may be a tad racist/stereotypical of me, but I'm a strong believer in the idea that the kind of language you speak is a good indicator of how your culture behaves, and since I once read that Tolkien's dwarven language was at least partially based on Hebrew(and given how lawful most games regard dwarves as being), I've been picturing dwarves like this:

The question we're all dying to ask: Are Dragons Kosher?

Just TRY telling me that there aren't some serious parallels between the common perception of Dwarves and the people of Anatevka from Fiddler on the Roof(imagining the people in that film as dwarves is the only way I can tolerate it anyway). Since I'm probably going to get flamed over this post anyway, I'd like to also point out that the Dwarves from Athas(Dark Sun) act in a manner I've always imagined as pretty similar to the Jews of the old testament. Heck, they even treat their histories in much the same way as certain branches of Judaism seem to treat their Torah.
Certainly something for everyone to think about.

2nd Edition: The Game you have (probably) Never Played, Part 20

2011-07-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

     The two core books are done. The various rules gone over. I could have gone through with a fine tooth comb, but I'm not looking to turn my blog into the 2nd edition version of d20srd.org.
   By and large, there were only a few "core" rules I didn't know about. As few as they are, they would still make a big impact on the game. Regardless, I still think the core game is less complicated than most give it credit for.
   In terms of game balance, I think the class to most get the shaft power wise is the wizard because of the initiative penalty caused by casting spells. Benefiting the most would be the fighter, he may be somewhat lackluster in terms of mechanics, but being able to use any weapon the party ever comes across without penalty is certainly a pretty huge advantage.
   The big question when I started this was, without the optional rules, is 2nd edition playable? I think the answer is most emphatically a yes, and it looks like it would be a pretty fun game to try out, or even play long term. I'll certainly be removing most of the optional rules I didn't know were optional when I next play.
    In closing, I'd like to just remind anyone looking to DM any version of D&D that every rule is optional. Like the Creed from a certain series of video games about assassins the rules do "not command us to be free. They command us to be wise."

PS
Not sure what I'll be posting next, a lot of really interesting things came up in the blog, blogosphere, my games, and on Dragonsfoot. Also stay tuned to the downloads section as I may begin posting more things to use for your own games.

2nd Edition: The Game you have (probably) Never Played, Part 19

2011-07-26T04:59:00.000-04:00

DMG Appendices II & III: The Wonderful World of Magic Items
I think even if they don't own it, most long time players are intimately familiar with the contents of these appendices. At low levels, everyone hopes for some random rolls because chances are, there will be some higher level toys generated, and at higher levels, everyone hopes the DM decides to just use a more level appropriate item instead.
    There's only one major optional rule in this section, and that governs the use of command words. Yup, what a lot of DMs irritated you with back in 2nd edition's heyday was an optional rule. Beyond this, there are a fair number of "little" rules that a lot of people overlook(and which really should have gone on a DM's screen.
   The Potion Compatibility table is just one example. Yes, sorry to tell you this, but if you chug down more than one healing potion in a single turn, by the book, there's a chance you've actually created and ingested a lethal poison.
   Next is spell scrolls. Thieves aren't the only ones who take a risk when using these things. If a wizard or cleric attempts to cast a higher level spell than what they'd normally be able to cast because they're using a scroll, then there's a chance(depending on level) as to whether the scroll will fail or backfire. Keep that in mind when you find a Scroll of Wish at 1st level!
   The last major overlooked rule is Armor sizing. Magical armor only re-sizes but so much, and comes in only a few sizes. The sizes are: Human(65%), Elven(20%), Dwarf(10%), Halfling/Gnome(5%). Elven chainmail has its own sizing chart. That means your desire to play a Hill Giant Fighter means you'll have to wait until the party Mage or Cleric is level 11+ before you get any sort of magic protections. Either that or you're going to have to go graverob a long dead giant.

Next time: Final Notes

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 18

2011-07-25T05:08:00.000-04:00

DMG Appendix I: Treasure and Gem Tables
For some reason, when I first got my DMG, these, along with the magic item charts were my favorites in the whole book. I didn't understand how to use them(not having an MM at the time), but having seen The Goonies, I knew that treasure is something everybody wants.
As I got older though, I liked the charts less and less. I ended up going with various other systems, only ever really returning to these when I had to roll up a dragon hoard, and even then I didn't like doing it. sometime after this series is finished, I'm hoping to offer my treasure charts either as a normal blog post or over in the downloads section.
One can say that Appendix I is divided into 3 parts. The first part being the intelligent monster lair treasure. Treasure of these types were A through I. Most of the time when rolling, you'll generate at least one type of treasure for your lair.
The second part of the appendix is the treasure carried with intelligent creatures or strewn about the lairs of unintelligent creatures. You don't usually roll to see if you get treasure, just how much.
The last part of Appendix I is the Gems and Art Objects. The Gem section is decent enough, allowing DMs to roll up gems, and even offering a variation so players don't know exactly how much any particular gem is worth without some form of specialist knowledge. The Art Objects however is kinda lackluster though. It's solely a chart determining value of the object. I understand that it's impossible to cover everything but come on, maybe a small table with a few ideas? This part was certainly not beginner DM friendly.

Next time: Appendices 2 and 3 of the DMG: Magic items for everybody!

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 17

2011-07-24T05:03:00.000-04:00

The PHB Appendices: More Spells than you can shake a stick at!

   The PHB appendices are all about spells. Appendix 1 is nothing but spells by level divided between Wizard and Priest spells. This is a fairly useful appendix, though I wish they'd made it a little more friendly by assigning the spells to a table for random spell rolls(at the very least for wizards!).
   Appendix 2 is divided into two parts. The first part is a description and explanation on how to read the standard spell format. The second part is adjucating illusions. There are actually things to point out here. Instantly fatal effects such as collapsed ceilings, inescapable pit traps, etc. don't grant a save. Instead they cause a system shock check. Failure indicates that the victim's brain kills the victim because it believes it has been killed. Those who succeed are not affected. A caster attempting to use an illusion to duplicate spell effects may only convincingly pull off spells he could cast at his own level of ability. Thus, a 3rd level caster could convincingly create an illusion of a 2 missile magic missile, but not three missiles. Additionally, nobody would believe the fireball he would attempt to duplicate. Monster special attacks(petrification, breath weapon, etc) can only be duplicated if the character has suffered those effects before from a real source. By core rules, a caster is NOT limited on how many hit dice an illusion would have(unless there's a limit in the spell description), and the illusion attacks at standard values for the creature(unless noted in spell description).
    There is no roll actually required for a PC to disbelieve(though a DM is free to call for one anyway) in 2nd edition. The only thing that has to happen is that the Player must state he is disbelieving, and give a reason for disbelief based on in-game physical clues. It should be noted that if a character chooses this route and the effect is NOT an illusion, disbelieving actually forfeits any save he might have gotten. The standard for NPCs is that they make a saving throw vs spell.
   Appendices 3 and 4 are the spell descriptions, Wizard spells in Level order in 3, Priest spells in level order in 4. Appendix 6 is spells listed by school for wizards and by sphere for priests. Appendix 7 is the spell index.

Next time: At least going to start on the DMG appendices.

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 16

2011-07-23T01:44:00.000-04:00

The DM's Miscellany
To be honest, this is the chapter that does make me wonder exactly what was going through the heads of the editors and game designers at TSR when they wrote 2nd edition. Most of the rules in this chapter, while all core, really belong in other chapters, or in an appendix all their own.
First up is listening. I really believe they should have expanded the visibility chapter(or the encounter chapter) to include listening. The next thing is Secret/Concealed doors. Unless you're an elf or you're a dwarf and the door is stone, there are no actual rules for determining how to find these things. The "Official" response from TSR at the time was "If you look for the door and it's there, you find it. Others have stated that this is proof that 2nd edition is an incomplete game, and you need knowledge of 1st edition rules to play. The third option, and the option that is 100% core because it's actually printed in the book is that it's the DM's decision on how to handle this.
Up next is Lycanthropy. To be honest, I don't even know why this is in the DMG at all. It belongs in the Monster manual in the section on Lycanthropes. To me, it feels they wasted ink here when the space could have been put to better use describing a few less specific curses and diseases, perhaps diseases of a non-magical variety and how to deal with them in the game. As it stands, all non-magical diseases seem to mimic the two used in the Cause Disease spell(level 3 priest spell, it's the reverse of Cure Disease).
The last part of the chapter discusses the various planes of existence. I really think this would have been better as an appendix all to itself. This section does a decent job of introducing the DM to the idea of the planes used in D&D, without making it so specific that DM can't change things(especially where the Outer planes are concerned).

Next time: We're getting close to the end folks, now I just have to wade through the various appendices.

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 15

2011-07-22T02:49:00.000-04:00

Very sorry about the wall of text yesterday. It kinda got away from me there.

The last two kinds of movement discussed in the PHB are swimming and climbing. Swimming can be kinda confusion. It mentions untrained and proficient. You have to read really closely to understand that when they are saying "proficient" they are NOT necessarily talking about the optional Non-weapon proficiency system(though that can be used as a default if those rules are used).
Climbing is pretty simple. If you understand how to use thieving skills, you already know how to use the climbing movement. This section of the PHB provides more modifications(and a base rate for non-thief characters).
   The DMG talks first about mounts. Unlike in MMOs, mounts are not living cars that you feed, water, and get from point A to point B extremely fast. The benefit of a mount is that they let you carry more stuff. Using them to get from point A to point B fast is dangerous and can kill possibly kill the mount. Most vehicles are the same way, though a chariot is actually closer to what most players are looking for.
   Like chariots, Ocean voyaging is a fairly quick means of travel, with the obvious disadvantage being that there needs to be a body of water connecting point A and point B. Each type of ship has its own stats for travel and it is modified by weather conditions.
    The last mode of movement talked about is Aerial movement. Movement is exactly like walking and overland, but generally requires the DM to describe any tactical movement as there's no core set of rules to cover it.
    The last part of this chapter consists of discussing lost characters. This core rule is actually pretty cool. Without a guide, characters run a serious risk of getting lost. Given the recent discussion in the blogosphere on making NPCs matter, use of this core rule may help.

Next time: DM's miscellany

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 14

2011-07-21T03:54:00.001-04:00

Today we're just going to discuss time, walking, and running.
      In 2nd edition there are only two types of "game time" to worry about. This includes the 1 minute Round, and the 10 round Turn. That's it, no segments, no change in round duration for combat. Yes, this does make combat a bit wonky seeming, but you have to realize that 2nd edition combat is very abstract. Thus, if you're looking for a bit of mechanics-generated-excitement in your combats 2nd edition combat is probably not going to appeal to you.
      Unlike round length, walking comes in two types. There's the cautious "dungeon" walking and then the more casual "overland" walking. Each PC/NPC/Monster has a movement rate determined by race. For example, Sir Darien the Human Fighter has a movement rate of 12, while his friend Torgar Ironshield the Dwarf fighter has a movement rate of 6. This number doesn't tell you much by itself.
      When having a great and spiffy time traipsing through the various meadows and villages and towns in their travels, each round Sir Darien and Torgar move at their movement rate x 10 in yards. In our example Sir Darien moves 120 yards(360 feet) in his round while Torgar moves 60 yards(180 feet) in his. There is a penalty to this movement speed however. While merrily walking along at this pace they both suffer a -1 penalty to their surprise rolls(surprise is on a 3 or less on a 1d10 roll and like initiative is only rolled once for each side).
      Dungeon speed is movement rate x 10 in feet. Thus Sir Darien moves 120 feet in his round, while Torgar only moves 60 feet. This speed's only penalty is that you're moving more slowly. It represents that your character is alert and paying attention to his surroundings rather than worry about trying to get from point A to point B in a timely fashion.
     The character may choose at any time which walking speed he intends to use. As written, their are technically no core rules to cover jogging and running movement rates outside of a chase. There is an optional rule listed in the PHB, but we're talking about core here.
     Chases are handled with an initiative roll. Both the pursuing side and the fleeing side roll for initiative. The difference between the two dice x 10 is distance(in feet or yards, DMs choice) that the winning side gains on the other. For example, Sir Darien and Torgar are running from a group of fairly irate goblins after stealing the goblins' treasure. The players roll a 5 while the goblins roll an 8, thus resulting that the fleeing adventurers gain 30 feet/yards on the murderous goblins over the course of the one minute round . Initiative rolls keep being made until either the goblins catch up and force the adventurers into combat, until one side gives up, or the adventurers make their escape.
     In this regard I think it's actually a good thing that the various characters don't have a solid rate of advancement for fleeing/chasing. Most people tend not to pay very much attention to their surroundings And this allows the DM to decide where the adventurers actually end up, thus providing an interesting obstacle for parties that are normally meticulous in their mapping and record keeping.
    Another form of movement characters have is overland or cross-country movement. Overland movement occurs over a 10 hour "marching day" while the characters could possibly march on longer than this, the game uses a 10 hour block so there's time for characters to have random encounters, as well as enough time to find, set up, and breakdown a campsite(as well as other things characters have to do while not in travel mode).
    Like walking, overland travel has two rates. The first is the more casual, and allows the characters to take frequent breaks so they don't get worn out by their travel. They gain a number of movement points equal to his movement rate x 2.
    The second, more grueling option is the forced march. The character must make savings throws/Con checks each day(with -1 cumulative penalty/day) to make multiple day forced marches. In addition to the checks to continue doing this, for each day spent forced marching the character suffers a cumulative -1 penalty to attack rolls. These penalties only reset when the character has a 1/2 day's rest for every day of forced marching. The upside to forced marching is that you get a number of movement points equal to your movement rate x 2.5.
    Now that you have your total movement points, you need to know your terrain. This terrain is like the terrain(though not climate) parts of monster descriptions in the MM. Each mile has a point cost. When you have used up your points, you've traveled as far as you can go in the 10 hour marching day. Under core rules, Terrain effects such as darkness, and obstacles such as rivers or chasms don't effect your movement rate, but they MIGHT result in the DM treating the obstacles as an encounter.

Next time: Mounts, Vehicles, and special movement types

That Darn Encounter Reaction Table!

2011-07-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Sirlarkins asked me to expand on why people might hate the encounter reactions table in the DMG. Rather than letting this get buried in a rarely read comments chain, I'm going to put at least a few of the reasons in this post.
There are two main types of individuals who hate this thing; the storytellers and those who prefer rules light gaming.
   For the storytellers, this only really effects those who didn't bother to read the last paragraph and think this roll is necessary for every encounter. I'll admit, it's a legitimate concern when people playing bards, druids, and especially paladins keep harping on the high charisma reaction modifiers and complaining that the DM is being unfair for NOT using the reaction roll to see if they can sleep with the princess. This can be especially troublesome when the DM is trying to deal with his pacing and other storytelling stuff(not exactly sure what this might be, I don't DM stories).
   The rules light gamers tend to dislike the chart for 2 big reasons. First, the PHB has the +s and -s wrong in the charisma chart. Either that or the DMG has the encounter table going the wrong way, making this just one more funny thing for a DM to have to deal with in his games. In addition, there's the obvious; it's one more roll DMs(or players in some groups) have to make.
   Mostly, it's important for everyone playing 2nd edition to remember that the rules are just a framework, and at least in 2nd edition, just about every rule is expendable and technically optional(says so right in the forwards).This isn't d20, removing/adding/replacing a rule will not hurt the overall system. It's also not previous editions, and nobody is going to roll over in their grave if you don't use every core rule or don't nitpick over what the almighty game designers/creators intended.

2nd Edition: The Game You have (probably) never played, part 13

2011-07-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

Chapter 11: Encounters
Nothing in this chapter is really new or optional. The DMG starts off with planned/triggered encounters, then moves into random encounters and how to set up Random Encounter Tables. There's also a nice little chart telling you when to check for a wilderness encounter.
In both the PHB and DMG, the Encounters chapter is where surprise is covered. The DMG includes a chart of modifiers and encounter distance. In addition to this, there's the infamous Encounter Reactions table that many DMs hate.

Chapter 12: NPCs
This chapter is just a basic description of what the different types of NPCs(hirelings and henchmen mostly) are and whats expected of both the NPCs and the PCs when using them. Despite the advice against having magic shops, this chapter also includes an NPC spell cost chart. Resurrection isn't even on the list, and Raise dead requires not only payment or service but ALSO requires the character to be raised to be of similar faith and belief.

Chapter 13: Vision and Light
This chapter gives out a lot of fairly useful information. Where Chapter 11 may give you encounter distance, this chapter lets you know the various visibility ranges(in the PHB). It also gives a chart that gives the radius and duration of the various light sources characters have a tendency to use.
One big note in this chapter. The fight over what Infravision IS has plagued the various editions of D&D that have used it almost from the beginning. The Core 2nd edition definition of Infravision is that it's basically d20's magical darkvision. It's not heat vision.

Tomorrow: Time and Movement, and you thought you knew the rules for running!

2nd Edition: Part 12

2011-07-18T02:30:00.000-04:00

Chapter 10: Treasure and Magical Items
   One of the shorter chapters in the book. In the PHB, this is a very very brief overview of treasure types and a 1 page discussion on how to Divide and store treasure. As such, this chapter is very rarely read by players and DMs alike. If you have a copy of the 2nd edition PHB, I strongly urge you to read/re-read the Dividing and Storing Treasure section if nothing else as there are many opportunities for RP situations mentioned, some of which the average player or DM often forgets or never thinks of in the first place.
    The DMG chapter can be broken down into three sections. The first forces DMs to think about what forms treasure takes, why it exists, who has it, and where it exists. There's bits of advice such as making sure random encounter treasures are smaller than planned encounter treasures and how to deal with treasure imbalance(pauper and monty haul campaigns).
   The second section discusses magical items. It includes advice such as unintelligent monsters as random encounters should not, under normal circumstances, be carrying magic items, while intelligent creatures will actually tend to use them. It also advises AGAINST allowing magical item shops, or allowing players to sell magic items.
   The second part of this section discusses the creation, destruction, and recharging of magic items. As a reminder, A wizard may make scrolls and potions at 9th level and other magic items at 11th level. Likewise, a priest character can make scrolls at 7th level, a handful of potions at 9th level, and other items at 11th level. Beyond this, the DM has to decide what form research will take for the caster to learn how to make any given item. These are all fairly standard, and most groups that actually bother with Magic Item creation already use the rules as presented(though some groups choose to ignore the Enchant an Item and Permanency spell rules as a part of item creation).
    The last section in the chapter is about Artifacts and Relics. Interestingly, the entire section is an optional rule, and thus not actually a part of "Core rules" as is being discussed in this article series. Overall, I don't think the game really loses much by not including them, but I know many DMs and players who would disagree.

2nd Edition: Part 11

2011-07-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

Finishing Up combat
The rest of the combat chapter exists solely in the DMG, and consists of various special circumstances under which groups of PCs may be required to fight. It starts off with a discussion of siege weapons. These weapons aren't to be used against PCs and thus it does not give any damage codes for "giant freakin' boulder launched by a catapult," which I believe they intend to be covered by "inescapable death" or possibly with saving throws.
The next section is Mounted combat, which covers things such as mounts panicking, fighting from horseback, and dismounting/being dismounted. Not too much unusual, thought he rules for a panicked mount rely on optional rules(and a proficiency that doesn't exist).
You then have two versions of flying rules. BOTH are optional, and thus not core. This results in the fact that there are no actual flying rules for 2nd edition in a nothing but core game. The MM seems to assumed use of one or a combination of both rules systems.
The last part in the discussion of combat is Underwater breathing. I know most DMs and players hated using these rules. The most important rules for this are the vision and weapon penalties. As well as knowledge that flame spells don't work, while electrical spells all act like fireballs. So this is just one more good example of when NOT to cast Shocking Grasp.

Up next: Chapter 10: Treasure and Magical Items! We're done with combat! Woohoo!

100th Post!

2011-07-14T20:50:00.000-04:00

This is my 100th published post. Taken me almost 3 years to get this far. Thanks to the bloggers who inspired me to write and my readers who guilted me into writing so they'd have something to read.

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 10

2011-07-13T23:02:00.001-04:00

Injury and Death
Now we get to some of the more interesting rules in the game. If you've been playing D&D for any length of time, then you already know about hit points and how damage a character takes is subtracted from this total. A note on damage however. In core D&D, damage is applied as Die roll then Multiplier then modifiers. This means that if a damage code is listed as 1d6+4 with x3, it means that you roll the 1d6, multiply by 3, then add the 4. I know I certainly never played this way back in high school.
The DMG then goes on to explain some different forms of special damage. Of these, one that requires special mention is energy drain. Energy drain is kinda funny in that it lowers your character level and can easily turn you into an NPC or a monster. Being level drained down to level 0 is only lethal if your character has no hit point when he reaches this point. If he still has hit points, he becomes a 0-level character. Magic can return the character to his adventuring status. If he's slain, chances are he's likely to become one of the undead, and possibly under the control of the beast that slew him.
   Next we get to the healing section. I've seen many different rates of healing. A character doing no strenuous activity heals 1 hp per day. A character with complete bed rest heals 3 hp per day. If the character is able to remain in a bed rest state for a week, he may add any Constitution HP modifiers he gets to the 21 hp he healed for that week.
Following these sections is a group of rules on character death. Poisons in a character's system after death remain effective for 2d6 hours after the character snuffs it, so anyone wishing to bring back the dead needs to be aware of that. Massive damage is another rule that often gets kinda funny treatment by some DMs, so I'm going to point out here that a character suffering 50 or more points of damage from a single attack must make a save vs. death or end up dead.
One Optional rule that is in almost every campaign I've ever played in is the "Hovering on Death's Door" rule. This rule states that a character isn't dead til he hits -10 hp. This is not core(though it became core in 3e). When a character hits 0 hp, he's gone to the great big tavern in the sky.
   Raising the dead is the next section to be discussed. A lot of DMs treat resurrection magics as automatically working, but by the book, the player needs to make a resurrection survival roll(determined by character's current constitution score). I know a lot of people don't understand why this is necessary, but the reason I've always understood was because "some souls don't want to return" and thus a failure on this roll means the character just doesn't want to(or can't) return to his body. In effect, this can lead to an adventure in and of itself, as the deceased character's companions must head to the underworld/land of the dead to figure out just why their fallen comrade wont return!
   Additionally, when a character IS raised, a "piece of him is missing" and this is represented by having the character lose a point of constitution. When he hits 0 constitution, the character just can't come back. In effect his gods are either claiming his soul for keeps, or the character has finally reached oblivion and there wasn't enough of his personal essence to survive the final journey.

Next time: 100th post, and after that, unusual combat situations

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 9

2011-07-12T20:53:00.000-04:00

Even More Combat
The DMG and PHB both, for the most part, contain the charts and rules for turning. The only house rule I've ever played with that is not actually core is that clerics can't turn opposed alignment/control same alignment extra-planar creatures(fiends and celestials).
Next comes weapon immunity. Once again, no real surprises or anything here. The only thing to note is the Monster vs. Monster Hit Die vs. Immunity chart. Given that most DMs at this point know enough not to bother playing out NPC fights, this one doesn't get much use.
Last for today is Morale. Not every DM uses it, but some do. Don't worry, Role Playing is core and so is rolling for morale. PCs don't roll for it, but NPCs are supposed to. The times when you roll for Morale include the following:

When the NPC has been surprised(only the first round they get to act after being surprised)
Faced by a superior force
When an Ally is slain by magic
when 25% and again when 50% of their side has fallen
each time a companion is slain beyond 50% of their side has fallen
when the leader deserts or is slain
unable to effect enemy they can't harm
when ordered to undertake a heroically dangerous task/act as rear guard
When offered a temptation
when ordered to use a charge from a personal magical item
offered a chance to surrender(only if they have met the conditions for one other check)
When completely surrounded

One thing I always screwed up with on morale is the actual rolling of Morale. I'd always used a 1d20. You're supposed to use 2d10. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, D'oh!

Next time: Injury, Death, and Healing

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 8

2011-07-11T23:45:00.000-04:00

Combat: Special Attacks and Defenses
This section of the DMG covers some of the more common special attacks used in AD&D 2nd edition, namely Fighting via Charmed Proxy, Gaze Attacks, Spell-like abilities, and Breath Weapons.
The limitations to the Charmed Proxy fighting is fairly standard, no action will be performed if doing so is 100% sure to result in the charmed minion's destruction. So no walking into an inferno, but wearing dragon skin boots to a cranky dragon convention is still ok. By the book, only "characters"(as opposed to "monsters") have to verbalize(or make hand gestures) to get charmed minions to do their bidding. A vampire doesn't have to go all comic book villain and shriek out "KILL THE INTRUDERS!" to his harem of heavily armed slave girls or cadre of brutish thugs.
The gaze attack section talks mostly about how to fight creatures with gaze attacks, though it does mention that creatures with gaze attacks may turn off their powers at will. The options for fighting a gaze attack creature include

Fight Normally. This is generally a bad idea as this automatically subjects you to the effects of the gaze(save allowed)
Don't look directly at the creature: Slightly better idea, results in only a 1-in-5 chance of meeting the gaze.
Close your eyes: This subjects the character to the standard penalties for fighting blind. 0% chance of gaze being met unless the creature is capable of cutting off your eyelids, or tearing your eyes from your head without killing you/rendering you blind.
Use a Mirror: This requires light and a highly reflective surface. The character takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and loses shield and Dex bonuses from AC.

Last up for special attacks is breath weapons. This is pretty much a DM's standard "Rocks fall, you all die" attack. No attack rolls, just a save to see whether or not you take a butt load of damage or a mega-butt-load of damage. I think this rule was written before they decided to update the monster compendium/manual. I think this because it mentions (dragons specifically) that a creature using a breath weapon attack does 1d8 damage per Hit Die. It also mentions that creatures are only able to use breath weapons a limited number of times per day(Dragons are only limited to once every 3 rounds[whether that means every third round, or 3 rounds between each use, I don't know).

Special Defenses
The first part of special defenses talks about savings throws. In 2nd edition, there are 5 saving throw categories. I hear the d20-ers and 4e-ers often use this as an example for how screwed up/overly complicated 2nd edition is. It seems they've gotten it into their heads that Savings Throws represent character mettle in the same way as HP seems to represent meat points. I think the honest reason is that nobody has sat down and explained savings throws to them. I don't think I can really put it any better than the introduction to Savings Throws in the DMG, and I quote:
"More often than not, the saving throw represents an instinctive act on the part of the character - diving to the ground just as a fireball scorches the group; blanking the mind just as a mental battle begins; blocking the worst of an acid spray with a shield. The exact action is not important - DMs and players can think of lively and colorful explanations of why a saving throw succeeded or failed. Explanations tailored to the events of the moment enhance the excitement of the game."
I'll admit the descriptions of the individual saves don't really match up with that paragraph, but they do still fit. When you're making a save vs. poison, you're character hasn't taken the full dose of poison, he's been nicked or merely tasted the poisoned wine. A successful save means he flinched before he could be pumped full of a full dose of venom, or that he had sensitive enough taste buds to notice that the wine tasted a little funny. At some point once this article series is over, I'll post better descriptions for saves.
Additionally the very next page describes using Ability Checks as Savings throws. Avoiding the damage, or using your ultra-manly fortitude to resist the full effects of your blunder seems to fit better here. And the best part is, in 2nd edition this stuff is core.
the last part of special defenses is Magic Resistance. This is pretty standard, and I've never known anybody to make any house rules to this part.

Next time: Turning Undead, Weapon Immunity, and possibly Morale.

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 7

2011-07-10T23:24:00.000-04:00

Chapter 9: Combat(continued again)
Today is missile weapons in combat. Missile weapons tend to involve(at least for the groups I've been in), some of the fuzzier rules in D&D. Ranged combat is one of the few times when it actually pays to be using a battle mat.
Range, Rate of Fire, and Cover are all pretty standard. Firing into Melee has always been something I've been a little hazy on and have always hated having to deal with. I know a fair number of DMs flat out ignore this rule. By the book however, the DM has to count up the figures in the "immediate area" of the target(with a numerical system based on creature size). He then randomly determines(in theory with a die roll) who the attack roll actually counts against.
Grenades are up next and are a bit of a mess. You have to know WHAT is being thrown at where, and then you get to roll your attack, and on a scatter diagram, and to be honest, the Area of Effect for most of the grenades listed tends to be rather pitiful if using the 5' squares on a battle map. Heck, even the older 3' squares can be a pain.
The last part of the missile section covers boulders. To be honest, I don't recall actually seeing(let alone reading) that section ever before. Boulders are grenades without the burst, but with possible bouncy fun(you still have to roll on the scatter diagram). In effect, boulders do not just get thrown and land like that city chunk at the feet of the misshapen pink half-orc thing in LotR: Return of the King. Oh no, they bounce and roll, for 3d10 additional feet. And anyone they might hit along that line(in an open environment) gets an attack roll against them(-1 for every 5 feet of rolling). Damage is rolled normally, with a penalty to damage equal to feet rolled.
Next time: Special Attacks and Defenses

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 6

2011-07-09T22:08:00.000-04:00

Chapter 9: Combat(Continued)
Last time I talked about attack rolls and initiative stuff for the most part. Here's where we get into the nitty gritty stuff.
There are a lot of little rules scattered through the combat chapter that are technically core. They include:

Position of Attackers. Attackers get a +2 bonus to attack rolls when attacking from behind. Additionally, the defender does not get Dex bonus to their AC. Interestingly, the shield bonus DOES still count(the frontage rule for shields is optional).
Called shots. +1 initiative penalty, -4 attack roll penalty. Can't be used to blind, cripple, or maim.
1/2 movement in combat and still able to make a melee attack.
1/2 movement rate and 1/2 normal Rate of Fire for ranged attacks.
Movement increases by 50% for a charging opponent. Charging character gets a +2 bonus to Attack rolls, -2 bonus to initiative rolls. Charging characters get no bonus from Dex to AC, and suffer an additional +1 penalty to AC.
Retreating takes the standard 2 forms, Withdrawing(and covering), and Fleeing. Like 3rd edition, fleeing causes an Attack of Opportunity.
Punching and wrestling requires the use of a chart. This is the ONLY time when a natural roll of 1 can still count as a hit. Additionally, the damage caused by the punch attack is determined by the attack roll itself.
Punching Damage is 25% lethal, 75% non-lethal. Wrestling damage is 1 + STR bonus. The damage gets a +1 cumulative bonus each round for holds.
Overbearing is used to pin opponents. a single attack roll is made, modified by sizes.
Some weapons(mostly slashing weapons) can be used for non-lethal combat as well.
Touch spells require attack rolls. They also open the caster up for a world of hurt.

Next: even MORE Combat!(Ranged, and starting the various special attacks)

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 5

2011-07-06T21:18:00.000-04:00

Chapter 9: Combat(part 1)

The DMG first goes over the attack roll. Seems kinda weird to me, but hey, it works I guess. It gives a list of standard modifiers to the attack roll. Next, the Combat Round is described, with the combat sequence:

The DM decides what actions the NPCs take.
The players indicate what their characters will do.
Initiative is determined.
Attacks are made in order of initiative.

Pretty standard to most groups I've ever played with.
Next comes initiative. Core 2nd edition AD&D initiative is one roll made for each side in the combat. Standard(core) modifiers are:

Hasted/Slowed
On Higher Ground
Set to receive a charge
Wading/slippery footing
Foreign Environment
Hindered
Waiting
Spellcasting

Yup, that last one surprised me too. Unlike weapon speed, casting times are not considered optional.
Another initiative thing that most groups I ever played with seemed to ignore was the initiative order of multiple attacks with the same weapon(such as a weapon specialist/high level warrior/ranged attack with multiple attacks per round). The second attack(and beyond) occur only AFTER everyone(including the NPCs) gets their first attack/action taken care of.

Next time: More combat

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 4

2011-07-05T22:46:00.000-04:00

Chapter 7: Magic
The PHB contains only one single optional rule in the Magic chapter: Components. This is Vocal, Somatic, and Material. By the book, a caster could be bound, gagged, and have nothing useful on him. If he has a spell memorized, he can cast it, no matter what(barring the combat fizzles).
In the DMG on the other hand, the optional rules consist mostly of how Wizards get their starting spells. The "core" rule for this is that the DM picks exactly what spells the player gets. In addition to this, it seems that the wizard also has to pay for his spellbook . . . by page. Now, it could be an interpretation problem on my part, but it doesn't actually say how much it costs to write a spell into a spellbook, just how much it takes to "prepare" a page.

Chapter 8: Experience
Following the core rules, a character gains experience for the following actions:

Being actively involved in the game
Making the game fun for others
Surviving the session(without resorting to resurrection magics)
When the player solves a difficult puzzles/talks his party out of hairy situation
Achieving Story goals
Defeating foes(notice this is not killing)

A character is awarded xp at the end of every session. Leveling occurs at the same time. This can occur even in the middle of a dungeon. No training required! Additionally, no character may ever earn more xp than necessary to gain his next level during the session. All extra xp is lost.

Next time: Combat!(finally)

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 3

2011-07-04T17:02:00.001-04:00

Chapter 4: Alignment
Oddly enough, there are no optional rules in this chapter, but the alignment change section is different from other editions(I think) to the point where it needs to be mentioned: The DM determines if the change was voluntary/involuntary and whether or not the change is for the betterment of the game.
In the case of a voluntary change for the betterment of the game: No penalty.
In the case of a voluntary change not for the betterment of the game: Instead of losing a level, the character is required to earn twice as many experience points when qualifying to earn his next level.
In the case of an involuntary change that the player has no intention of keeping: The PC gains NO xp until he undoes the change
In the case of an involuntary change that the player intends to keep: The moment the character decides to take this route, it is then considered a voluntary change not for the betterment of the game.

Chapter 5: Proficiencies
The entire chapter is one giant optional rule

Chapter 6: Equipment
PCs roll for cash, and buy everything one piece at a time. Encumbrance is 100% optional. In the DMG it states that PCs must spend a certain amount of cash each game month to survive. I know I've never actually used these rules before as I always preferred the PCs to go ahead and spend as they had the cash/needed for 1 night at an inn here, 1 night at an inn there, and have to buy/catch/grow/find their own meals. It's also here in the equipment chapter of the DMG that weapons of quality(Masterwork weapons for those more familiar with d20) are discussed. Prices for these are not static, instead costing from x5 to x20 the base cost of the weapon. Ornamental weapons are also discussed here, and the suggested price for them is x10 the base cost of the item.
Beyond this is the mention of item savings throws and the amount(and type) of damage needed to break certain objects(chairs, rope, wooden doors, etc)

Tomorrow we'll at least START talking about Chapter 7: Magic and possibly Chapter 8: Experience

2nd Edition: The game you (probably) have never played, part 2

2011-07-02T22:02:00.000-04:00

Chapter 2
The PHB starts chapter 2: Races off talking about ability requirements, class choice, level limits, languages. Initially, no mention is made of common at all, humans start off knowing the "regional human language" which, given the implication of this, perhaps means that common is NOT the human starting language.
It then mentions the standard races, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Halflings, Half Elves, and Humans. The core rules DO actually mention different subraces of demihumans, but the only race where there's a mechanical difference between the subraces is the Halfling. It's also the only race where you're not actually allowed to pick your subrace, instead you have to roll percentile dice to make the determination.
After this it has the demographic charts with age categories, and height/weight., though it does say in the text that use of the starting age and height and weight should just be a range that players can pick and choose from.
The DMG chapter on race is about some pretty standard stuff. Level limits and creation of new PC races. Interestingly, a non-standard race's level limits are actually variable by their Prime Requisite ability score. In addition to this there are some fairly stringent requirements on what can and can't be played(as well as all the ability score adjustments actually required, right there in the core rules). Though there's a section on "A Non-Human World" the text makes a human-centric world the default. Compared to classes however, non-standard races are actually part of the actual core rules(arguably, but it was not in the little blue box). Later(perhaps after I finish getting through the core books), I'll post some examples of rules appropriate "monstrous races"

Chapter 3
There are only 4 actual standard classes in 2nd edition. There's also two other "standard" character types.
Fighters: Fighters are able to use any weapons and any armor, as well as a fair number of magic items. Beyond this they have the best Hit Dice(which are rolled at all appropriate levels, including 1st), and Thac0 progression. They are also the only class that gains multiple attacks at higher levels in addition to followers. Overall this tends to make low level fighters look somewhat lackluster compared to the cleric or thief.
Mage: Magi are able to use only a handful of weapons, most magic items, and spells. At higher levels they even get to make magic items. Mages are also the only class, by core rules, that do not attract followers after building a stronghold at high level.
Clerics: Clerics are, in my opinion at least, one of the most overpowered classes in the game. In essence they have the capacity to cast more spells per day than a mage, and they can do it while wearing armor. In addition to this, they also have the ability to turn undead. The only real downside is that they may only use bludgeoning weapons.
Thief: Probably the most time consuming of the characters to build(because of point allotment). They get a fair number of special abilities and a decent array of weapons. The light armor and common man hp means they aren't likely to win any drawn out slug fests as compared to the cleric or fighter.
Multi-classed/Dual Classed characters: Multi-classing is a strictly demi-human trait. One of the trade-offs for lacking unlimited level advancement. It can get pretty crazy however if you decide to ignore the standard rules. Dual Classing is a human only trait. the requirements for it are pretty tough though, and rarely likely to occur in a game that uses the standard 3d6 in order.
0 level characters: These represent the every day "non-special" humans that make up the cultures of the assumed default world. The interesting content on these guys are the hit points. The ability scores are generally regarded as unimportant. Hit points are determined by race and class. Dwarves and Gnomes, for instance are considered to have 1d8 hp, while the average joe on the street of other races generally has 1d6 hp. The most hp any one 0 level character is written as having is 1d8+1, and that's for soldiers.
Beyond a discussion of common character types, the DMG also talks about High levels and beginning character levels. the implied core rule states that unless the character are very high level, no new character should be allowed to start off above 4th level. It also states that the DM should have an assortment of pre-gens available. These are to be used by players whose characters have died, or by guest players.

More to come tomorrow!

N/PC Friday: Kalad the Crier

2011-07-01T20:17:00.001-04:00

Name: Kalad
Race: Human
Class: NA Level: 0
Alignment: Neutral Evil(though pretends to be lawful good)
Age: 44 Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 5'3"/236 pounds
Hair/Eye/Skin: Dark Grey but balding/Blue/Leathery

Ability Scores:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 11

Movement: 12
AC: 10
HP: 1
THAC0: 20

Savings Throws:
Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16
Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18
Petrification and Polymorph: 17
Breath Weapon: 20
Spell: 19

Equipment: Dagger, fork, pouch with lots of money, small journal written in an indecipherable shorthand.

Languages: Common, Kalad's own cipher

Background
Kalad is a well known gossip and general fat bastard. He easily puts most hobbits and decadent emperors to shame with the sheer size of his appetite. Despite his immense girth(or perhaps because of it), Kalad has an immensely strong set of lungs, and has a reputation as the loudest crier in the area. Despite his often coarse interpersonal skills, if anyone needs to advertise anything and absolutely must make sure that the most people hear about it, Kalad is the man to see.
That's the public face. What only a handful of people know is that Kalad is a also the man to see if you need information of a private nature to be passed. Kalad is especially knowledgeable of cult activity, and has often provided various cults with various human sacrifices by telling the target privately about a "special job" or that he's found someone interested in selling what the target most desires.
Kalad is actually an adherent of the Dark Maw, the demon prince of hunger. Those few who have sought to blackmail him have been eaten. Beneath his home is a torture chamber/kitchen where he partakes of his dark appetites.

2nd Edition: The Game You've (Probably) Never Played

2011-06-30T06:29:00.000-04:00

With older editions of D&D, it’s practically assumed that your table has at least a few house rules and optional rules. This practice had been ingrained in traditional role players from the beginning, though I believe the practice has dwindled some with later editions(the WotC d20 editions).

Yesterday I posted about the rules I use for the majority of the gaming I actually do lately. It got me thinking; have I ever actually played straight core 2^nd edition? Had I ever played 2^nd edition without any of the optional rules? I thought about it for a fair amount of time yesterday, and I came to the conclusion that I’ve never done it. I’ve also never even heard of it being done. Heck, I wasn’t even sure what the rules would actually be since I’ve been playing with optional rules(or only partial rules) for more than 20 years.

So I’ve decided to go through the core rule books(The PHB and DMG) section by section, to try to find out what the rules actually are, and damn it, I’m going to figure out if it’s actually as “unplayable” as many 2^nd edition detractors have often said.

I’ve rambled on long enough, onwards!

Chapter 1: Player Character Ability Scores

The DMG and PHB Have very different tones and purposes for chapter I. In the PHB, while the optional ability score generational methods are mentioned, 3d6 in order is crowned the standard. In the DMG, a slightly different route is taken, stating that GMs should give the players what they want in regards to character(within reason). It then goes through the various methods to and states which classes are likely with which methods.

Beyond the generating of ability scores, chapter one of the PHB states that each ability has a set of secondary characteristics that, “serve to further define the abilities and limitations that govern the actions of the character during play.”

Strength Secondary Characteristics: The ones that are not regarded as optional include the Melee combat adjustments for hit and damage, Open Doors, and Bend Bars/Lift Gates. Additionally. The Weight Allowance and Max Press are part of the optional encumbrance rules, though I guess an argument can be made that Max press, as written just states what a character can lift over his head.
Intelligence Secondary Characteristics: Core characteristics include, The number of languages a character may start off knowing, the maximum spell level a wizard may cast, and the chance a wizard has to learn any spell he finds. The maximum number of spells per level is actually optional.
Dex, Con, Wis, and Cha Secondary Characteristics: All the characteristics for these abilities remain part of the “pure” 2^nd edition game.

The PHB then goes on to discuss what the numbers mean, and ways to come up with player character personality. The DMG on the other hand picks this time to discuss unbalanced characters, problem backgrounds, and players with multiple characters. The short and simple is that it’s up to each DM to determine what constitutes appropriate for the game. It does seem to come down on the side of one character per player though.

All in all, this is pretty standard, though I know many groups have a tendency to drop most of the secondary characteristics to cut down on paperwork.

Up Next: Chapter 2: Races. Expect this sometime Saturday as tomorrow is N/PC Friday.

The rules I'm using

2011-06-29T06:54:00.001-04:00

Given the number of new-to-tabletop gamers I get, I decided to keep the rules system as simple as possible for 2nd edition(which is surprisingly pretty simple when you realize just how much of 2nd edition is actually just optional rules)Ability Scores: In order to make character creation faster, I decided to just go ahead and let the players use d20's elite array(15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 arranged to taste). It keeps the players relatively equal, even if they are a little high powered for my taste. I should note, I ignore the maximum spell levels as well as the maximum # of spells rules. To me they just seem kinda silly.
Races: The only 4 races I'm currently allowing are Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. Humans are strongly encouraged. Non-humans are required to have an intelligence high enough to know 2+ languages so they may speak common in addition to their racial language.
Classes: Only the 4 core classes are currently allowed. Yes, that's right, 2nd edition only has 4 core classes(it says so right there in the PHB); Fighter, Mage, Cleric, and Thief.
Multi-classing/Dual Classing: If the race allows you to multi-class with the 4 classes, go for it. I got rid of the super-high ability requirements for dual classing, so if you're a human with the stats to qualify for the class, and a good RP reason for becoming a different class, it's easier to do.
Proficiencies: I'm keeping languages, but getting rid of the vast majority of proficiencies. Clerics and Wizards may learn to read and write in all languages they know by spending a language slot(language slots are . Fighters and Thieves may learn to read and write by spending a slot for each language they wish to be literate in. As for weapon proficiencies, everyone knows how to use all the weapons and armors allowed for their class(es). Single class fighters also get a "favored weapon" which is just, in effect, free weapon specialization for one weapon.
Equipment: In an effort to keep character creation simple and fast, I created the starting equipment lists. I enforce their use, but I'm willing to work with a character if he wants a different kind of armor or weapon based on character concept.
Encumbrance: Like every gamer out there, I have a love-hate relationship with encumbrance. This is usually handled on a case by case basis. For long term games, yes, I use it. For one shots or for games where I don't think the player is going to stick around, I ignore it.
Hit Points and Death's Door: I make players roll for HP, even at 1st level. I also jettisoned the death's door rule. To say I despise superheroes is an understatement. Max HP and Death's door seems to promote that sort of play.
Initiative: Core rules says initiative is rolled per side, and casting time/weapon speed is optional. So it depends on how many new players I have that determines which initiative I deal with.

N/PC Friday: Kara the Fairy Queen

2011-06-24T07:13:00.001-04:00

Because the individual who writes the blog 5 Stone Games asked, here's a fairy Queen

Name: Queen Kara of Caer Tan
Race: Pixie
Class: None Level: 0
Alignment: True Neutral
Age: 90 Gender: Female
Height/Weight: 2'2"/26 pounds
Hair/Eye/Skin: Silver/Violet/pale without looking unhealthy

Ability Scores:
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 19

Movement: 6, Fly 12(B)
AC: 4
HP: 2
THAC0: 20

Savings Throws:
Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16
Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18
Petrification and Polymorph: 17
Breath Weapon: 20
Spell: 19

Special Abilities: Magic Resistance: 25%; Spell abilities(1/day as 8th lvl Mage): Polymorph Self, Know Alignment, Dispel Magic, Dancing Lights, ESP, Otto's Irresistible Dance. Create Illusions with audio and visual components, and cause confusion by touch.

Equipment: A whole lot of stuff, she's a queen after all!

Languages: The languages of all creatures native to a woodland habitat, including the languages of natural animals.

Background
Once every 1,000 years or so, a young girl of a woodland humanoid(Human, Elf, Goblin, Pixie, Sprite etc) race is born of surpassing beauty and grace. On the eve of her 4th birthday, a group of fairies steals her away from her birth home, and leaves a changeling in its place. The child is then taken to a location only known to fairies(Pixies, Nixies, Sprites, Grigs, Atomies, Gremlins, etc.) and transformed into the Fairy Queen. The type of fairy she turns into determines the course of fairy-dom until the next Queen is born. Thus, if a Fairy queen becomes a sprite, fairy-kind leans towards good and is helpful towards other races, if she becomes a gremlin, fairy-kind becomes mean and spiteful.
The current fairy Queen is Kara. She is small and frail, even by Pixie standards, but she wields immense power. Despite her age of 90, she is still considered a fairly young fairy queen. As such her abilities have not fully developed. As it stands, she relies mostly on her aides and advisers to make sure things run smoothly.

Friday N/PC: Kallen the fence

2011-06-17T19:34:00.000-04:00

Name: Kallen
Race: Human
Class: None Level: 0

Alignment: True Neutral

Age: 32 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 5’11”/190 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Blond/Blue/Fair complexion

Distinguishing Feature: Always seems to have stubble

Ability Scores:

Strength: 10

Dexterity:11

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 9

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18

Petrification & Polymorph: 17

Breath Weapon: 20

Spell: 19

Armor Class: 6

Hit Points: 6

THAC0: 20

Damage: Short Sword(1d6/1d8), Club(1d6/1d8)

Equipment: Studded Leather,Small Shield, Anonymously rented apartments throughout town

Languages: Common, Thieves' Cant

Background:

Kallen is a member of the city guard. He's also the most successful fence in the city's history. Using the cover of acting as a protector of the peace, Kallen has managed to build up a huge network of buyers and sellers with the less than reputable portions of town. He's not involved in everything, but he can generally find out who is selling what, to whom, in a very short amount of time.
Despite his illicit activities, Kallen is also remarkably good at his job, as he never willingly facilitates the sale of anything that would be dangerous to the city itself. If someone wants to sell stolen goods, that's fine. If someone wants to smuggle in a beholder, that's another matter entirely.

Basic Adventurer Gear Packages

2011-06-14T05:46:00.001-04:00

For my rules light gaming, I decided to come up with a series of "starting gear" for each class. If you choose one of these packages, you usually get more gear than if you roll for starting funds. It was inspired by the "Different Totes for Different Folks" article in Dragon 191. All of the gear other than weapons, armor, clothes, and belt pouches, will fit in the character's backpack(assuming of course that backpacks in your campaign can hold at least 50 pounds of stuff).
I was going to put the lists as a blog post until I saw the sheer size of the sucker in "normal" sized font. So instead I have put it in my Downloads section, or you can just click here to get the pdf file.
To pre-empt the "where's class combination X" I would like to point out that for the games I've been running lately, I only use the 4 basic classes(Fighter, Mage, Cleric, and Thief), and for races I've currently limited it to humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings(and thus allow any multi-class option normally allowed for those races). That's why there's no Mage/Clerics, Cleric/Thieves, Paladins, Rangers, Bards, Druids, etc. I may get around to expanding the lists eventually, but for now, there it is.

Goblinoid tribes of the Dorr region

2011-06-12T14:46:00.002-04:00

While there are other tribes in the region, these are the ones that are the largest or most entrenched in the region.

The Bree-Yark(goblin): The tribe native to the caves of chaos and the wildwood, this tribe is better described in the Keep on the Borderlands and its sequel(Return to the Keep on the Borderlands). The only major changes being that they will willingly trade with those who come to the caves, and a significant portion of the tribe's strength hires out to others as mercenaries or goes to other tribes as merchants. They have a reputation as misfits of the goblinoid tribes, as many goblins who couldn't make the grade in their birth tribes tend to join up with the Bree-Yark. If a group encounters a small number of goblins in the Dorr region, the likely scenario is that it's a "merchant" party of Bree-Yark(which is indistinguishable from a raiding party, as these goblins are as likely to attack for purpose of gaining more trade items as they are to try to trade).
The Brambles(goblin): Native to the Stinking Mire on the shores of shadebrook, the Bramble tribe is noted mostly for their distinctive form of dress. Each warrior in the tribe wears wooden spiked leather armor, a small spike covered shield, and carries spiked clubs and barbed javelins(or short bows with wickedly barbed arrows) into battle. In addition to this, the tribe is fond of rubbing mire adder venom onto the pointy bits of their weapons and armor. They are the most reclusive of the goblin tribes in the region, and nobody, not even the Bree-Yark knows where their hidden village(assuming there's only one) is located within the Mire.
The Knockers(goblin): The knockers are generally referred to by humans as the "mountain goblins" and make their lair somewhere deep in the Iron Peaks. There they operate the largest mining operation in the region. Easily over 1,000 goblins and slaves taken from any species they can get them from(except dwarves) delve deep into the mountains for precious ores, minerals, and gems. The Bree-Yark and Redcaps are their primary trading partners, thus making them a favored target of the Red Hands tribe.
The Redcaps(Hobgoblin): The most powerful of the Hobgoblin tribes in the region, the Redcaps are feared and hated by most. They regard themselves as the true masters of the area, even going so far as to hiring humans to act on their behalf within the various human settlements. To support themselves, the Redcaps have set up various toll(extortion) locations along the stone road. This puts them at odds with human merchants and bandits, and is a major reason for the decline of the region's trade viability. The tribe got its start during the great war where they served as mercenaries for the Eastern Witch Lords, gaining their name from the fact that their helmets are decorated with the bloody scalps of fallen foes. Since then they've become the dominant slave traders in the region. Over the last 20 years however, the tribe has faced some serious setbacks. The tribe first attempted to make a base for themselves in the Wailing Wood, but whatever dwells within took offense to their presence and decimated the tribe. Following this, a strong willed Bugbear slave managed to organize a small rebellion, leading to the creation of a tribe of ex-slave Bugbears called the Red Hands. Following this, the tribe made its home in the Wolfwood. Recent troubles and losses to the wolves of that region may mean the tribe must once more find a new home if no solution can be found.
The Bone Blade(Hobgoblin): Formerly the best source of humanoid muscle for those looking for mercenaries, the Bone Blade tribe is now nearly extinct. A Dark Divinate cult has ousted them from their initial lair in the Caves of Chaos, killing the majority of females and young. Only a handful of Bone Blades now remain. The Bone Blade tribe is named for the bone edged daggers each warrior of the tribe carries. These daggers are used to sacrifice prisoners to the Hobgoblin deities, as well as in the various bloody rituals and combats that make up the tribe's culture.
Red Hands(Bugbear): Normally an underdark dwelling race, the Red Hands are one of the two bugbear Cetes to make their home on the surface in the region. Led by an unusually strong bugbear warrior(it's said that their leader can fight toe to toe with ogres and come out victorious), the tribe is known to be the most brutal and bloodthirsty of the goblinoid tribes in the region. Unlike a normal Bugbear Cete, the Red Hands have no young or females present. Whether this is just because they are kept well hidden or that they are not a true cete is unknown. The Redhands all have stained their hands red. While some claim that the stain is from the blood of their enemies, survivors who have studied the corpses of slain bugbears of the Red Hands have determined that the stain comes from a noxious oil. It is believed that this oil is a by-product of the drug that the Red Hands manufacture to cause them to go berserk in battle. If the Red Hands have trade, it's kept secret and hidden from all others. If the Red Hands keep up their raids on other humanoids, it will likely not be long before the other races band together to wipe them out.
The Dark Cave Cete(Bugbear): One of the oldest and most respected tribes in the region, the Dark Cave Cete are a spiritual clan of Bugbears dwelling in the Caves of Chaos. Following the recent intrusion of a Dark Divinate cult in the region, the Dark Cave Cete now seeks allies to push these interloping humans from the caves. The vast majority of the displaced and nearly extinct Bone Blade Tribe now lives and works for the Dark Caves.

Playing an Evil Character: You're doing it wrong

2011-06-10T14:15:00.000-04:00

There's been a fair amount of hate on playing a non-good character in the OSR blogosphere for a fairly long time. I will concede that in most cases, this hatred is earned, but I'd also like to point out that the people who have been playing these mockeries of evil either have no clue what they're doing, or seem to have been brainwashed into thinking that evil(be it lawful, neutral, or chaotic) is somehow suicidally stupid(though suicidally stupid is more comic book good's shtick imo).
First off, we're going to need some definitions. Evil is not rampant destruction for the sake of destruction. That's just retarded(even ragnarok has a purpose). Way too much wasted effort. EVIL IS ACTIVELY CHOOSING SELF SERVICE WITH THE COST PAID BY SOMEONE ELSE.
In the interest of organization I've laid it out in the format of "The 7 fun things" er, "7 deadly sins".

Lust: We all want to be surrounded by pretty things. If you're evil though, look at your character sheet. Is your intelligence greater than 7? If yes, then you're smart enough to realize that there's a cost to everything you do. If you want women that badly, anything and anyone can be bought. The trick is figuring out the price, and getting someone else to pay it. Being evil isn't a license to go a-raping or go on a murder spree. Oh sure, you CAN go do stuff like that, but there's a better(and often easier) way of doing things. And the easy way is what it's all about. Always remember that people are people. No matter how uptight, strong, and self-righteous that paladin chick is, if she's one of your companions, she's eventually going to be at your mercy. If you have no more use for her, that's the time to bargain. Remember to start small. Don't be an idiot.
Gluttony: This is one of those things that I think most DMs have almost no problem letting an evil PC shine. I don't know of very many DMs who try to dissuade players from spending money on more than just the bare necessities. Heck, this is one of those sins that pretty well defines most of the people I've ever met. This isn't about overeating, it's about lack of moderation. It really shouldn't be called gluttony. It should be called over-indulgence. Whatever your poison is, crank the dial to 11. Be it food, women, power, even violence. This is your characters element, excel at it. Live, eat, and breath your obsession. In an evil character's mind it's passion, not obsession, and it's taken to the max. That it hurts the innocent . . . well, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, and nobody is an innocent.
Avarice/Greed: (sigh) Ok, this is one that gives your DM and parties trouble with evil characters. It's also where a lot of people screw up in playing convincing evil characters. If your character has an intelligence greater than 7, you're smart enough to realize that there's significant risk when you steal things. If you're stealing from your party while they're still alive, you're asking for trouble. This isn't a motivation for little stuff. Tiny gains are rarely net gains. What's a 500 gp ruby in the grand scheme of your multi-billion gp career? Greed is your motivation for the big stuff! Conquering kingdoms, bringing about the end of the world, blackmailing the captain of the guard with the knowledge that you know where his bastards are. If anything else, this is the one your DMs should love you for. Just make sure you have an active dialogue with your DM and the other players as to what you would LIKE to do. Be prepared for a bit a of backlash from time to time. Just because you're greedy and a two bit crook doesn't mean there's no room to negotiate.
Sloth: Almost every openly evil individual is a lazy procrastinator. Why choose to put off enjoyment when you can have it now? After all, given the average lifespan of evil in most adventure games, you're not likely to be around later with all those blasted paladins running about like tin-plated headless chickens using their goody-two-shoes stink-eye on everyone they meet. This is where you have to decide if you're going to play this character or not for the long haul. It's easy to be a useless jerk in the short term, but here's the thing that every successful evil person and dragon and fiend has ever known: useless jerks don't live long. Sloth is for when you're powerful. Sit back and watch the slave girls dance while feasting on mutton all you want, but when there's knife work that needs doing, get to it! This isn't to say that you can't be slothful during your adventuring career. Only, don't call it that. Instead, be efficient. If evil people worship anything besides themselves it's efficiency. If you must do something, do it in the manner that deals with it once and for all with the least overall effort. If that means you have to deal with those smelly paladins, then by all means do so(though, it might not hurt to see if you can't get rid of paladins AND the problem in the same stroke).
Wrath: My very favorite on the list. Where the other 7 deadlies are all the will, wrath is the sword that carries out your will. Being evil isn't about being a jerk. It's a gamble that your will is stronger than that of everyone elses. It's a contest. And in this game, evil plays to win. Which means using tools that are considered to be too dangerous by others. Make no mistake, wrath has a cost, but to the evil character, it's a price that is worth paying. For those who have perhaps partaken once to often of this means of attaining ones goals, it may well be all they have left. Wrath can be exceedingly hard to RP effectively without looking like just another muscle-headed goon in most adventure RPGs. This is partially because wrath is a luxury. It's easy to be wrathful when you have power. When you're not powerful however, it just tends to make you look stupid. Always keep that in mind.
Envy: This one is sorta like greed. Whereas greed is a pursuit of wealth, status, power, etc. Envy is the desire to take the wealth, status, etc. from others. Fairly certain that describes the motivation behind every theft and the vast majority of wars in history. In game, the best way to use envy is to keep it directed outside the party. If you absolutely feel that it is imperative that your character envies someone in the party, AS PLAYERS work something out together. Maybe there's a gem or magic item that one of you managed to acquire. Perhaps have the two players decide to use the item as a contest, each one trying to one up the other as they continually steal it from one another, even an evil character generally wont cross the murder line over the item if he realizes the rest of the party will know it was him. If one side does eventually win(generally by orchestrating the death of the other), it's a contest both PLAYERS agreed to, and there's nothing stopping the DM from allowing the deceased to pull a trick out of a day time soap and returning to collect vengeance. If you're going to take a risk in a magical world, be aware that there may be magical repercussions.
Pride: Ah, the sin that every blog writer can be accused of. The sin of every would be hero or villain. The belief that you, or anything about you, actually matters and that you are entitled to being remembered in some way. At least, that's how it is for normal people. Like many things, an evil character often takes this one a little far. A successful evil character will learn to keep it in his pants though. Just because you regard the rest of your party as walking talking armor and your future slaves does not mean you should say it. And you know that.

For DMs, I'd like to point out that you are, at least in part, there to encourage the players to role play their characters. If they insist on playing evil as stupid and their characters having average or higher intelligence, call them on it. It's Chaotic Evil, not Chaotic Stupid. And for the players, remember that you're not playing an alignment, so leave the zealotry to paladins, and get back to seeking your fame and fortunes(at the expense of those you have dehumanized).

Shields

2011-06-08T13:45:00.000-04:00

There's been some discussion on the value of shields in the OSR blogosphere, and I thought I'd add in 2 cp.
The current favorite is to adjust the AC chart and make all shields infinitely better. My only major problem w/ this is Armor/Power bloat. High level combats are going to take a lot longer. I'd like instead to offer an alternative: Treat Shields as a 2nd set of armor being worn(or armor being worn over natural armor), rather than as an additional modifier.

For instance, I'll use the 2nd edition shields since this is a 2nd edition blog: Buckler, Small, Medium, and Body.

You start by assigning each shield an AC you feel is appropriate: Buckler: AC 8, Small AC 6, Medium AC 4, and Body AC 2.

Next you put on your armor and shield. To do this you find the lowest(better) AC between the armor and shield. If there's a tie, doesn't matter which one you choose. The higher(worse) AC modifies this base AC by 1 point(in the favor of the armored character).
A few examples:

Chain mail(5) + Medium Shield(4) = AC 3
Padded(8) + Body Shield(2) = AC 1
Full Plate(1) + Buckler(8) = AC 0
Scale mail(6) + Small Shield(6) = AC 5

Choosing to do this however means nobody will only ever have an AC of 9 if they have a 15 Dex, unless you want to give a -1 AC bonus to unarmored fighters or something.

Family Campaign: Session 2 report

2011-06-06T01:01:00.002-04:00

The Characters(end of session stats):
Mujtahid Sayid:
CG Human Cleric(1), S: 14 D: 8 C: 13 Int: 12 Wis: 15 Cha: 10, AC: 10(9 w/ shield, 8 vs. ranged), hp 6, Damage: 2d4/1d6+1(Morningstar), Languages: Common, Elf, Gnome; Religion: Southern(Al-Qadim)
Memorized Spells: Cure Light Wounds x2, Detect Magic
Wealth: 91 sp, 97 cp

Teyana
CG Human Thief(1), S: 13 D: 15 C: 14 I: 12 W: 10 Cha: 8, AC: 7(Leather Armor + AC), hp 3,
Damage: 1d8/1d12(longsword), 1d4/1d4(sling)
PP: 25% OL: 20% F/RT: 20% MvS: 20% HiS: 15% DN: 20% CW: 60% RL: 0% Backstab: x2
Wealth: 3 sp, 9

Summary of Events:
    Sayid and Teyana make their way up Clattering Watch. They find an old pile of wood that used to be a signal fire. After breaking apart the woodpile in search for a secret door into the rumored crypt beneath the hill, they instead take a look at the huge stone slab upon which the woodpile rests. They find that possibly the slab is set into an opening like a cork on a bottle. Teyana tries to see if she can chip away at the stone with her dagger, but instead succeeds only in breaking the dagger.
    Teyana returns to town while Sayid remains on the hill to continue seeing if he can in some way figure out how to in some way get the slab to move. Teyana first heads to the blacksmith that Sayid had sold his armor to in order to rent a mining pick. Instead she is told that she should probably wait til that evening and ask at the Fiery Knave(the tavern). She heads to the tavern, and chooses to be a tad impatient asking Toffel if he knows of anyone who could spare a pick(or at least someone she could rent a pick from). Toffel tells her that if she's desperate she could always try to convince a villager named Guppy.
     When Teyana finally finds Guppy it's revealed that he is a somewhat eccentric sculptor who seems to be having some trouble with St. Kelvin's monastery(he's making a sculpture for them, but it would seem that they keep bugging him about it). Guppy informs Teyana that Toffel sent her to him as a joke, as Guppy is a bit behind on his bar tab, and Toffel knew that he was busy with actual work. Guppy also tells Teyana that she probably needs to hire a few of the local quarrymen if they want to bust up some rock slab.
So Teyana returns to the tavern to figure out how to hire some quarrymen. Having exhausted his very limited options, Sayid also returns to the Tavern. The two order a couple of ales, then give Toffel a few silver to act as a barker, to let the local quarrymen(who have a tendency to come to his establishment to drink after they finish their daily labor) know that the next day Sayid and Teyana will be looking to hire quarrymen for a job.
     With that the pair decide to head off to find the Jolly Arrow(the local inn) to find a room for the night.

At this point my future father-in-law had grown too tired to really continue, so we decided to call it a night. It also marks the greatest number of campaign sessions I've ever gone without some sort of combat taking place. Usually, by now, many of my previous players would have attempted to pick a fight somewhere.

N/PC Friday: Swallowtail

2011-06-03T19:11:00.001-04:00

This NPC is actually based on the song "Swallowtail" by Elvenking(video with the song at the end of the post)

Name: Swallowtail
Race: Annis Hag
Class: Mage Level: 3

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Age: 557(Age Category VI) Gender: Female

Height/Weight: 5’6”/158 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Iron colored/Blue/Fair complexion

Distinguishing Feature: burn scar on lower left side of face. Missing left ear.

Ability Scores:

Strength:20

Dexterity:13

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 15

Charisma: 10

Movement: 15

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 10

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 11

Petrification & Polymorph: 11

Breath Weapon: 12

Spell: 12

Armor Class:-2

Hit Points: 40

THAC0: 13

Damage:Claws(2)(1d8+8) + Bite(2d4+1)

Special Abilities: Charm Person 3/day, Cloudkill, Entangle 3/day, Normal Age Category 6 Annis Hag Abilities(See Van Richten's Guide to Witches)

Spellbook:

1st: Cantrip, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Affect Normal Fires, Alarm, Audible Glamer, Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Comprehend Languages, Dancing Lights, Enlarge/Reduce, Hold Portal, Hypnotism, Mount, Phantasmal Force, Sleep, Spook, Taunt, Wall of Fog

2nd: Darkness 15' radius, ESP, Flaming Sphere, Fog Cloud, Fool's Gold, Forget, Hypnotic Pattern, Improved Phantasmal Force, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Scare, Shatter, Spectral Hand, Stinking Cloud, Summon Swarm, Web, Whispering Wind

Equipment: Badge of Office, Fully stocked home.

Languages: Common, Annis, Ogre, Frost Giant, Hill Giant, Fire Giant

Background:

Swallowtail is an old legend. A witch said to be so hideous that the mere sight of her will kill any man. Even if one survives her looks, it's said she breathes forth a noxious cloud of death. Once upon a time however, Swallowtail was not always spoken of this way. Many Centuries ago, Swallowtail was a woman of great beauty and high birth. Beyond that, the story the hag herself tells changes with each telling. Now all that remains is the dilapidated hut in the woods.
The most common tale of her past, or at least, the one related by tale tellers of the region is that she was the daughter of a cruel father who was involved in the blackest sorts of magic calling down vile creatures on nights of the new moon. In return for some unknown lore, Swallowtail herself had been sacrificed and animated in the darkest rites now lost to magi.
In time, Swallowtail had grown up, and her father sold her off to one of his allies in distant lands as a concubine. Most stories relate that she had made dark pacts of her own, and murdered her new husband to seal the pact. A rebellion in that distant land forced her to flee to the local area where she built a hut in the dark woods outside the village walls. Even as a middle aged woman she still retained her beauty, and used it to ensnare the men of the village, sacrificing them to her dark masters.
In time, the village, those who had not fallen to her wiles formed a mob and sought to slay Swallowtail, who was now more than half a century old at this point. Expecting to fight an elderly woman, they were horrified to find what they at first believed was a black skinned ogress, until the creature spoke revealing her to be Swallowtail. Ever since that time centuries ago, no villager(save one) has dared to enter Swallowtail's region of the wood and return.

Armor Damage

2011-05-31T14:26:00.000-04:00

Armor pricing and AC in the PHB has always bugged me. What's bugged me most is Splint mail. It weighs exactly the same as chain mail, offers better protection, and only costs 5 gp more. Why on earth would any warrior in his right mind ever choose chain mail? If he only has 79 gp to spend, he's better off getting a suit of hide armor, a shield, and better weapons than his measly 4 gp would normally allow. I also didn't want to overly complicate things as I do want to introduce this into a rules light version of the game.

So how do I make armor pricing make a bit more sense?

I already track wounds. This is because I allow bandages to heal 1 hit point for each wound taken in a combat. Heck, I even record the type of damage as some wounds require a poultice or splints in addition to bandages. So the easiest way I could think of doing this is that for each wound a character takes, the armor takes a point of damage as well. When armor takes enough points of damage, it degrades 1 AC level. A skilled armorer can, for a fee, repair the damage. Assuming the character has not let it get to loss of AC, any warrior or cleric can repair the damaged armor themselves with the appropriate tools and a little bit of time(armor repair kits finally coming in handy for more than just the armor polish). In addition, this system allows for disreputable dealers to sell "slightly used" armor at normal price using a bit of polish to hide the dings. To counter this, Fighters(and only fighters) should be able to judge the actual quality of armor. For the purpose of this system, magical armors are impervious to this type of damage.
I divided the armors in the PHB into 2 groupings: material and quality. Material is based on what I have read about the composition of the armor and how it was supposed to defend the wearer. The two materials are Cloth and Metal. Quality determines the number of points the armor can take before it loses an AC point.
The Qualities are: Bad 5, Poor 10, Average 15, Good 20, Amazing 25

Padded Armor(AC 8, Bad Cloth, 4 GP)
Leather Armor(AC 8, Best Cloth, 5 GP)
Ring Mail(AC 7, Good Cloth, 100 GP)
Studded Leather(AC 7, Average Cloth, 20 GP)
Brigandine(AC 6, Average Metal, 120 GP)
Hide Armor(AC 6, Poor Cloth, 15 GP)
Scale Mail(AC 6, Average Metal, 120 GP)
Chain Mail(AC 5, Best Metal, 75 GP)
Banded Mail(AC 4, Average Metal, 200 GP)
Splint Mail(AC 4, Poor Metal, 80 GP)
Bronze Plate Mail(AC 4, Good Metal, 400 GP)
Plate Mail(AC 3, Good Metal, 600 GP)
Field Plate(AC 2, Good Metal, 2,000 GP)
Full Plate(AC 1, Best Metal, 4,000+ GP)

N/PC Friday: Berrin, Captain of the Guard

2011-05-27T22:53:00.001-04:00

Name: Captain Berrin
Race: Human
Class: None Level: 0

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Age: 27 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 5’6”/158 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Iron colored/Blue/Fair complexion

Distinguishing Feature: burn scar on lower left side of face. Missing left ear.

Ability Scores:

Strength: 12

Dexterity:10

Constitution: 8

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 11

Charisma: 10

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18

Petrification & Polymorph: 17

Breath Weapon: 20

Spell: 19

Armor Class:7(Ring Mail)

Hit Points: 3

THAC0: 20

Damage:Long Sword(1d8/1d12)

Equipment: Badge of Office, Fully stocked home.

Languages: Common, Thieves' Cant, Reading/Writing

Background:

Berrin is a third generation guardsman. The local thieves' guild befriended Berrin when he was in his teens. Berrin eventually tried to join the guild itself, when his father arrested the Guild leader's daughter. The guild attempted to use Berrin as a hostage, sending the guard his ear and subjecting him to torture. Berrin's father broke the law and released the girl, but the damage had already been done. His father was disgraced and removed from the Guard. Eventually Berrin managed to get promoted to the guard and began using his position to take vengeance upon the Thieves' guild that he blames for ruining his face and disgracing his father. His brutal tactics were effective, resulting in rapid advancement. Berrin then began using his position to set up his own criminal network, using the Guard as his personal brute squad, and using the law to remove competitors and others who cause him trouble.

Updated Monster: Krenshar and Magic Item

2011-05-26T03:22:00.001-04:00

One of the handful of d20 monsters I thought was cool, so I decided to update it to 2nd edition stats.

Krenshar

Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forest

Frequency: Rare

Organization: Pride

Activity Cycle: Any

Diet: Carnivorous

Intelligence: Semi (2 – 4)

Treasure: Nil

Alignment: Neutral __________________

No. Appearing: 1 – 10

Armor Class: 5

Movement: 15

Hit Dice: 2

Thac0: 19

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attacks: 1d6

Special Attacks: Scare, Fear

Special Defenses: Nil.

Magic Resistances: Nil.

Size: M(5’ – 6’)

Morale: Elite(13 – 14)

XP Value: 120

The Krenshar is a long, low, catlike creature. Its belly fur is a light tan or off white, darkening as it moves up the body to a grayish tan, with dark grey spots and a stiff mane running from right behind its ears, to halfway down its back. Its tail is lion-like, with a tuft of hair at the end. Its face is somewhat rubbery to the touch, as the creature can, by contract certain muscle, cause the skin to fold up and off the muscles and bone of the creatures skull, giving the creature its more common name; The Skull Cat.

Combat

Krenshar hunt in prides. They use their powerful jaws to bring down prey. A Krenshar pride will usually stalk prey for a significant portion of time, looking for a weak or injured animal. The pride will then send one between 1 and 3 individuals to “flush out” the prey, usually opening by folding back their faces to reveal the skulls and muscles. This causes most creatures to make a save vs. Paralyzation with a +3 bonus or function as if the Scare spell had been cast upon them(does not effect creatures with more than 6 HD). If this fails to get the prey moving, the flushers will release a screech forcing anyone in earshot to make a save vs. spell or suffer the effects of a Fear spell. Once they prey is running, the flushers give chase, using their scare and fear screech tactics as needed to herd the targeted prey to where the rest of the pride hides so they can ambush it. Krenshar are immune to the scare and fear effects of other Krenshar.

Habitat/Society

Krenshar prides are made up of a dominant matriarch and her offspring as well as males looking to breed with the matriarch. Krenshar do not stake out territories, but instead travel as the whim takes the matriarch, only stopping when the Matriarch is near to giving birth, and a suitable lair can be found. This lair is usually a bear or wolf den that the Krenshar have taken over. The matriarch stays within the lair until the young are old enough to travel with the pride. Until that point, the next strongest female of the pride leads the hunt. When a pride leaves an area, sometimes it leaves an individual or two behind. These lone Krenshar, if they survive, often become the starts of new Krenshar prides.

Ecology

Krenshar are mid-level predators, just above wolves and bears on the food chain. Despite their catlike appearance, the Krenshar is actually more closely related to Hyenas. As such they are regarded as Holy by the handful of Gnolls who still worship Gorellik, even going so far as to having developed a special magic item, the Krenshar Headdresses, from them. Those Gnolls who have turned to Giantish Gods, or the much more common worship of Yeenoghu actively hunt and kill Krenshar, regarding them as a blemish. The animals also have additional use for wizards as the teeth, heart, and eyes may be used as alternate components for casting the Scare spell.

Krenshar Headdress

This item is the cleaned off skull of the Krenshar, with the pelt still attached at the base. The Skull is worn on top of the head, with a hide thong to keep it on the head. 3 times per day, the wearer, by clutching the skull and chanting the right phrase may use the Scare spell on all those who stand in his presence(anyone able to clearly see the eye sockets of the skull).

XP: 1,000

N/PC Friday: Wade Cottingtonsson

2011-05-20T15:18:00.002-04:00

WOOHOO! Blogger is finally letting me post on my blogs again!Took it long enough.

Name: Wade Cottingtonsson
Race: Gnoll
Class: Fighter(Ranger, but special, see below) Level: 3

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Age: 4 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 7’4”/340 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Very furry/Red/Not sure

Distinguishing Feature: Dresses in halfling fashion, modified for height, and usually in disrepair

Ability Scores:

Strength: 16

Dexterity:13

Constitutio3: 15

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 14

Charisma: 6

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 13

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 15

Petrification & Polymorph: 14

Breath Weapon: 16

Spell: 16

Armor Class:10

Hit Points: 26

THAC0: 18

Damage:Battle Axe(1d8)

Equipment: Backpack, Bedroll, Dry Rations(Enough to last a normal person a month, but because of Wade's upbringing, it will only last him a couple of days),Very tattered heavy cloak, Medallion with what Wade believes is a white wolf's head(actually a mottled hyena head, and holy symbol of Gorellik)

Languages: Common, Gnoll, Halfling

Background:

Wade's Pack was put to the sword when he was just a whelp by a band of the local lord's men. He remembers little of what happened then, but what dim recollections he does have are bad enough that he doesn't talk about them. After managing to escape the slaughter of his kin, the young Wade managed to stumble into the path of the lord's hunting dogs. Luck was with Wade, and the Kennel Master, an elderly Halfling named Cottington, asked Lord Braemyr if he could raise the Young Gnoll as one of the hunting dogs. Intrigued by the idea, the lord allowed this, and Wade was then taught to speak and hunt in "human" fashion. Wade excelled at hunting with the dogs, and in time became the assistant Kennel Keeper. He loved Cottington like a father, and Cottington loved him like the son he never had.
A local orc shaman in the area united the tribes, and sought an ancient artifact in the lands of the wizard, Lord Braemyr. The attack was sudden, completely without warning. Only Lord Braemyr, two hunting dogs, and Wade survived the night. The orcs ravaged the village, and after believing it to be empty, continued on. Wade blamed Braemyr for Cottington's death and slew the wizard in his sleep. With the two dogs at his side, Wade left the burned out husk of his home to track the orcs that had slain his adopted father.
Wade tracked the massive tribe through the snowy forest, following mercilessly, but never seeming to catch up. For 3 months the Gnoll had followed the tribe as it plundered and slaughtered its way, every wary to avoid being seen by villagers. As Wade and the hounds entered the mountains, a fierce blizzard arose, forcing the trio to find shelter. When it was finally over, only the strongest of the two hounds(a wolfdog named Bloodfang) and Wade had survived. The trail of the orcish horde had been lost.
With a howl of grief and rage, Wade and Bloodfang finally broke down and mourned their family. After two days alone on the snow covered mountainside, and after bringing down a bear for food, the pair set off in the last direction Wade last remember's seeing a sign of a town. Perhaps the orcs would be known to the locals?
Since then, Wade's dreams have been plagued by images of a primal form, Gorellik, the ancient and fallen god of the Gnolls whose worship has been supplanted by the demon Yeenoghu. Wade has tentatively cast his lot with the savage god, who has in turn granted Wade some of the abilities of the ranger class(tracking, stealth, and species enemy[Orcs AND Yeenoghu worshipping Gnolls]). In time, Gorellik may grant more.

Family Campaign Session 1 Report

2011-05-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

The Characters(end of session stats):
Mujtahid Sayid:
CG Human Cleric(1), S: 14 D: 8 C: 13 Int: 12 Wis: 15 Cha: 10, AC: 10(9 w/ shield, 8 vs. ranged), hp 6, Damage: 2d4/1d6+1(Morningstar), Languages: Common, Elf, Gnome; Religion: Southern(Al-Qadim)
Memorized Spells: Cure Light Wounds x2, Detect Magic
Wealth: 93 sp, 101 cp

Teyana

CG Human Thief(1), S: 14 D: 8 C: 14 I: 12 W: 10 Cha: 8, AC: 7(Leather Armor + AC), hp 3,
Damage: 1d8/1d12(longsword), 1d4/1d3(dagger), 1d4/1d4(sling)
PP: 25% OL: 20% F/RT: 20% MvS: 20% HiS: 15% DN: 20% CW: 60% RL: 0% Backstab: x2
Wealth: 4 sp, 1 cp

Summary of Events:
The party made its way into St. Kelvin's Bridge, and after realizing the abbey was not going to be too friendly(wrong faith), they headed to the cheapest tavern in town, the Fiery Knave. The party finds out that the region has been mostly lawless for the last couple of decades, and that their are plenty of adventuring opportunities in the vicinity. They also meet with possible future hirelings, a part time group of mercenaries/bandits known as the Katsovoi Band, led by Jariko and Radalov Katsovoi, along with their 3 men Aden, Hale, and Soren.
Realizing that they're flat broke and unable to hire skilled mercenaries with their handful of silver, the party decides to trade in Sayid's splint mail for some coin and a set of studded leather. Using the information they gained at the tavern and directions from the local smith, Sayid and Teyana head out to Clattering Watch to do some intelligence gathering before they hire the Katsovoi band to help them clear out and loot the rumored burial mound said to be beneath it. The session ended with them crossing the bridge over the Shadebrook on their way to do the recon.

Information/Rumors gained:
- The Bartender of the Fiery Knave, Toffel, is rumored to be selling a very valuable treasure discreetly to anyone not planning on staying in the area.
- The Clattering Watch is rumored to not be a natural hill, but a burial mound that nobody has found a way to get into yet.
- The Ruins of Bloodwall Keep lay a few hours hike to the east, and are believed to be haunted.
- The Caves of Chaos lay to the south and are a safe haven for goblinoids and other humanoids.
- Bandits and highwaymen, which are mostly out of work mercenaries and caravan guards, are a major problem in the region, operating mostly in small bands. It's possible their may even be rewards if they're cleared out.
- If the party is willing to travel, their are more adventuring and employment opportunities available the closer one gets to the North Sea Road.
- Sayid's Studded Leather Armor will be available in 3 days.

"Family" Campaign

2011-05-08T11:24:00.000-04:00

   Ever since last September and the infamous Were Rat adventure, My SO and her father have been asking about playing a campaign again. Last week we were finally able to get an IM service on his ancient computer, and we were able to give actual serious thought to the campaign. We're probably going to actually start playing sometime in the next couple of days.
   My SO is playing a Human Thief from a city to the far south named Teyana. Her dad is playing an as yet unnamed Cleric. He had to run out to do some shopping, and thus we were not able to finish his character last time.
   The picture above is the player's map of the local campaign region where the game is going to take place(hence a lack of scale). Macsen's Keep is the location from Keep on the Borderlands. The campaign is probably going to start at St. Kelvin's Bridge, the first actual settlement north of the Keep along the Stone Road.
The game we're using is going to be very rules light. I've removed gnomes and half elves as playable races(for now at least), and the only playable classes are Fighters, Mages, Clerics, and Thieves. No proficiencies are being used. For actual play, I'll likely be using group initiative with very few modifiers as I'm wanting to keep the game fairly simple.
I'll try to have a play report up within an hour or two after the first session ends unless you, my readers, are opposed to the idea.

In other news, I've almost finished the rough draft on a revised version of the World Building article series I'd been posting on here back in November - December. I'll likely be posting parts of it for PDF download on the miscellany column to the right by the end of this week.

N/PC Friday: Spider Jack

2011-05-06T16:59:00.000-04:00

Name: Spider Jack
Race: Half Elf
Class: Fighter/Mage/Thief Level: 1/1/1

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Age: 21 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 5’4”/140 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Pale Green/Brown/Tan

Distinguishing Feature: Spider tattoos on face and arms.

Ability Scores:

Strength: 12

Dexterity:15

Constitutio3: 14

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 8

Charisma: 10

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 13

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 11

Petrification & Polymorph: 12

Breath Weapon: 15

Spell: 12

Armor Class: 9

Hit Points: 2

THAC0: 20

Damage: Short Sword(1d6/1d6), Daggers(2)(1d4/1d3)

Equipment: Backpack, Bedroll, Ink(3 vials), Magnifying Glass, Hand Mirror, Parchment(3), Quill Pen, Scroll Case, Dry Rations, Torch, Tinder Box, Empty Glass Vials(1), Thieves' Tools, Soft Gloves, Grappling Hook, 50' silk Rope, Crystal Prism, Silk Cloth Squares(10), Vial of Bitumen(10), Vial of Poison(Giant Spider Venom)(2), Pouch with 2 gp

Spellbook: Cantrip, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Nystul's Magic Aura, Spider Climb

Thieving Skills: PP: 30% OL: 25% F/RT: 25% MvS: 25% HiS: 25% DN: 25% CW: 70% Backstab: x2

Languages: Common, Elf, Hill Giant, Drow Sign Language, Thieves' Cant

Background:

Spider Jack seems to be a young half elf with a death wish. From a young age Spider Jack had a fascination with spiders, going so far once as to bring home and attempt to hide a Giant Spider's Egg sac in the manner most children attempt to hide a pet kitten they know they're not allowed to have. When he was older, Spider Jack sought out spider-like and spider worshipping cults and creatures. He's managed to survive by the skin of his teeth thus far, but his luck can't hold out forever.

Sometimes, it's good to be deaf

2011-05-03T05:17:00.000-04:00

I was going to make this as a reply to Grognardia's Armor Class post, but I figured that it requires a bit more explanation than a good reply can allow.

As I've mentioned on another blog, I'm hard of hearing(sorta, really it seems to be that I hear on a completely different frequency range than other people, but the medical professions seem to think I'm going deaf). Normally, this causes a lot of issues. When dealing with people, I have to lipread(which makes bearded individuals, mumblers, and people who keep their hands near their faces when talking rather annoying). Webcasts/Podcasts, Movies, and most musicians are unintelligible.
This, combined with a general dislike of people and a possibly overzealous sense of "personal space" means I do most of my gaming via messenger these days. This actually has a completely awesome benefit during 2nd edition combat as I've recently been finding out.
For those not "fluent" in the system, players have to state what they'd like to do during the round before initiative is rolled(otherwise they can't modify their individual initiative rolls properly). Normally, sitting around a table, this means that most players are able to effectively create a strategy on the spot. This has often created arguments between the DM and players as the two forces battle over whether or not an intelligent foe can understand what is being discussed by the players(ie, whether the battle plans are in character or out of character).
Playing over Instant Messengers has allowed me to cut this out entirely. When combat starts, I open multiple chat boxes, one for each player. Within this box the player and DM are able to discuss and roll dice, keeping the results a secret. If the players wish to communicate, they may do so in the "party" window, which is assumed to be "in character" and thus, if the opponents can understand the language(s) being spoken, they may act appropriately.
Surprising as it sounds, this has actually sped up combat when the players know the rules and aren't asking what die they roll for everything, and the DM is on top of his game, being able to come up with quick, consistent rulings on modifiers(This is where organized DM and Player screens and notes really come in handy to be honest). Once each player has given me all the information on their actions, and I've done the appropriate actions for the opponents, I give the round description for everyone involved. Rinse and repeat.
I've actually been giving thought to doing all rounds like this, not just combat rounds. This would require players to give a bit more thought on how they interact with their companions in certain environments, as the line between communicating out of character and breaking the stealthy silence the party has been going for becomes a bit more pressing. Do you risk telling the fighter that the thief is stealing the ruby out of his pack, or do you wait until you're out of harm's way?
Of course, all this DOES require that you actually either trust your players not to send IMs to each other behind your back, or have some means of coercing their compliance, but then, no method is entirely perfect.

N/PC Friday: Tharg The "Half" Orc Blacksmith

2011-04-29T00:16:00.000-04:00

Name: Tharg
Race: Orc
Class: NA Level: 0

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Age: 20 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 4’11”/180 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Oily Black and Tangled/Red/Greenish-Grey

Distinguishing Feature: Both tusks are cracked.

Ability Scores:

Strength: 15

Dexterity:10

Constitution: 14

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 8

Charisma: 12

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18

Petrification & Polymorph: 17

Breath Weapon: 20

Spell: 19

Armor Class: 10

Hit Points: 8

THAC0: 20

Damage: Hammer(1d4+1/1d4), Spear(1d6/1d8)

Equipment: Dirty clothes, Very thick leather apron, basic farming implements(never been used), Forge, Blacksmithing tools

Languages: Orc, Common, Ogre

Background:

Tharg is an orc dwelling in a human community. A band of adventurers had attacked his tribe, and being unusually bright, Tharg was able to tell a convincing enough lie that he was spared. He told the adventurers that he was a half orc, his mother having been a slave of the tribe, and that he had had nothing to do with the raids on the villages that the party was avenging. The adventuring band was rather surprised when his story didn't cause their Detect Lie spell to find anything inherently false. What Tharg failed to mention is that his other half is orc too, all females are slaves in his tribe, and the reason he wasn't involved with the raids is that because he was the tribe's smith, which is barely a step above slave. The adventuring band took him away from the cave complex of his tribe and to a local village that had lost its smith to the raiding. Tharg at first worked in fear of his life, believing he had merely traded orcish taskmasters for humans. When they started offering money instead of maggoty, half eaten, carcasses, Tharg was understandably shocked, though his relief and amazement were soon replaced by greed. Ever since, Tharg has been living comfortably, charging fees that are just a bit higher than average, but well worth the price given Tharg's immense skill.

Attack of the Low-res minis!

2011-04-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

Ok, as promised. Here's a pic of the minis. Sadly my digital camera's cord is still MIA so I had to use my laptop's webcam, so detail is nigh non-existant. What you're looking at is a small army of 128 1/72 scale vikings, and one D&D Miniatures "Huge" Red Dragon. Also apparently my stereo system, and part of the map for the Fifth Age Dragonlance game because I needed to put up SOMETHING, and all I own are maps(so that's what goes up).
Not entirely certain I'm going to paint these guys while I'm still in the states. Mostly because I'm not sure I want to spend the money over here, then find out, for whatever reason, the paints are not allowed through customs when it comes time for me to finally move to Australia. (The continent that is in time out in the bottom corner of the map. It knows what it did!)

My Dragon is Bigger than Your Dragon

2011-04-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

I now know exactly how this group feels.

Today I received a package of a sizable horde of Dark Ages vikings/franks from Mike over at Swords and Dorkery. To give myself a better sense of scale, I brought out my "Huge" Red Dragon(advertised as being used as a Young Adult, but capable of being used to represent Adults and Mature adults as well b/c of the size of the base) and stuck it next to the horde.
"Cool" thought I, "this must end up being the equivalent of an older dragon."
Wanting to find out which age category, I marched off to the kitchen in search of some string. Upon returning, I took measurements of tail and body length, threading and taping when necessary to get as close to exact as I could. Then I flipped open my 2nd edition MM.
2nd edition dragons are apparently bigger than 3rd edition ones, because even when looking at as a 1/72 scale model, it rates only as 2nd age category(Young).
I hope to have pictures of the newly acquired minis tomorrow(just have to find the cord that allows me to get pics off my cheap digital camera, failing that, I'll have to use my Laptop's webcam).

Happy Eostre

2011-04-24T16:16:00.000-04:00

I would not normally do this, but I guess I do kinda owe the goddess of spring, fertility, peace, and other things I would normally try to stab, eat, or vomit at the thought of. Loki does teach his kids to honor our debts, after all.

Happy Eostre, Ostara, Eoster, Easter, Passover, Noblegarden, Soggy Noodle day, or whatever else you might be celebrating.

N/PC Friday: Methyr the Village Priest

2011-04-22T15:25:00.000-04:00

Name: Methyr
Race: Human
Class: NA Level: 0

Alignment: Neutral Good

Age: 35 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 5’5”/128) pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Chestnut Brown/Grey/Fair

Distinguishing Feature: Acne scars on left side of face.

Ability Scores:

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 11

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 12

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 16

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 18

Petrification & Polymorph: 17

Breath Weapon: 20

Spell: 19

Armor Class: 10

Hit Points: 2

THAC0: 20

Damage: Tarnished Silver Mace(1d6)(-1 to attack rolls. Every time it hits, it must make a save vs. Crushing blow or shatter, revealing that the mace is actually a reliquary.)

Equipment: Dirty Clerical Vestments, Old Mildewed Holy book that he can't read that has seen at least one bookworm infestation in its long life.

Languages: Common

Background:

Methyr is the son of a local farmer that died from the plague that swept through almost 20 years ago. The same plague also claimed the local priest who had tended to the poor in the area. Because of his ministrations and prayers, Methyr believed he had gotten better himself. Given that nobody else in the village could read either(and nobody really wanted the job), Methyr took up the role of priest for his village.
Methyr blames himself for the death of the village priest, and believes that secretly, so do many of the village-folk. Thus, he tries very hard to try to make up for what he believes is his sin. Though Methyr is incapable of actual reading, he believes he's pieced together some of the meaning of his holy book, and none of the villagers can ever recall having heard such stirring sermon, even from the previous priest.
Methyr takes care of the local shrine as best he can, but given his personal lack of funds, it's little more than a drafty hut in which sits a small tarnished silver mace upon an altar that has seen better days. If the village were ever in true danger, Methyr would use this mace to defend the villagers, trusting in the will of his god.

Friday N/PC: Tiras

2011-04-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

In an attempt to get myself back into actually posting things on here rather than giving in to my normal extreme misanthropic tendencies, I'm going to start publishing at least 1 NPC or PC each friday.

Name: Tiras
Race: Human
Class: Fighter Level: 1

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Age: 18 Gender: Male

Height/Weight: 5’8”/147 pounds

Hair/Eyes/Skin: Ash Blond/Black/Medium Complexion

Distinguishing Feature: Slight limp

Ability Scores:

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 14

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 15

Movement: 12

Savings Throws:

Poison, Paralyzation, & Death Magic: 14

Rods, Staves, & Wands: 16

Petrification & Polymorph: 15

Breath Weapon: 17

Spell: 17

Armor Class: 4(Chainmail + Shield)

Hit Points: 7

THAC0: 20

Damage: Longsword(1d8/1d12), Dagger(1d4/1d3), Sling(1d4/1d4), Military Fork(1d8/2d4)

Equipment: Backpack, Bandages(5), Bedroll, Oil Flask(1), Cooking Pot, Dry Rations(2 weeks), 50’ Hemp Rope, Large Sack(3), Tinderbox, Torches(5), Wineskin, Pouch with 2 gp

Languages: Common, Hobgoblin, Ogre

Background:

Tiras was born to a poor farming family on the Border Frontier. A wizard of some repute made the fortified town his home as well, coercing the humans to obey his whims with an army of humanoids.

At Age 10, unable to support his family, Tiras’ father sold Tiras and his elder brother into slavery to the Hobgoblin soldiers of the wizard. The hobgoblins put Tiras to work as a camp follower.

At Age 13, the town was attacked by an unusually large band of ogres. Tiras led the other slaves in a counter attack against the Ogres, a brutal affair leaving most dead, and Tiras’ leg broken in many places. The daring of the boy impressed his hobgoblin masters and they began teaching the boy Hobgoblin warfare techniques.

At Age 14, Tiras was considered a minor courier, acting as a go-between for the Hobgoblins and their Wizard benefactor. While attending to the wizard, the remnants of the Ogre band caught the wizard unawares, killing him with a well placed boulder throw.

For the next year The Ogres laid siege to the town. The other humans of the town were slaughtered by the hobgoblins for food during the siege, and fleeing peasants and hobgoblins both were slain by ogres beyond the walls.

Tiras was able to escape the ogre siege and their eventual victory, and fled towards what he hoped was more civilized lands. With little in the way of marketable skills, he now lives as a mercenary and brigand.

Hot Princess Chicks

2011-03-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. My laptop died. Had to get a new one. I hope to have game related stuff up soon. Enjoy!

Bloodwood Kit Design

2011-01-23T13:54:00.000-05:00

Now that I've finished working on races and classes available in my campaign, I've started to work on kits. For those who don't know what a kit is, think of it as the precursor to the prestige class. Unlike the prestige classes however, you take the kit at 1st level. In an attempt to "balance" the power gain of each kit, there's also an associated penalty with each kit.
It seems to me that kits come in two varieties:

Backgrounds: These are kits that help you define a past, helping the player to flesh out the character. They don't significantly modify the abilities of the class, but instead offer abilities that have been gained because of where/how the character was raised. Examples: Militia Veteran (Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure) and Peasant Hero(Complete Fighter's Handbook).
Specializations/Modifications: These kits are those that change the class in some way, or allow the character to specialize in one aspect of the class. Examples include: Many of the Thief and Bard kits from their respective Complete Handbooks, as well as the Samurai kit from the Fighter's Handbook.

Anyone who has read through the various books with kits in them(and for the purpose of this discussion, we're going to completely disregard the Skills and Powers Kits), will notice that they were very rarely handled the same way twice. As such, I'm posting the descriptions of how I handle the kits I'm building:

Kit Name: Fairly self explanatory
Description: This is the "fluff" text, describing what someone with this kit represents. For instance, for my Lycanthrope kit, I used the following: You survived an encounter with another Lycanthrope sometime in your past. In doing so, you contracted the dread disease. Now, you look with fear upon the moon, knowing when it hangs full in the sky, your human self will give way to the bloodthirsty beast that now dwells within.
Requirements: This is where you put the requirements for Race, Class, and anything special a character has to have to in order to qualify for the kit.
Modifications: If the kit changes an existing Race or Class, this is where those modifications will be discussed. This would include things like the Thieving skill modifications from the Complete Thief's Handbook.
Weapons and Armor: This is where any limitations or bonuses will be shown for the kit as they regard to weapon and armor access/proficiencies.
Equipment: If a kit receives bonus gear, or is required to own certain types of gear, this is where it will be listed. For example, a rider would be required to own a saddle and other riding gear.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: This part is divided into three parts; Bonus, Required, and Recommended. Bonus proficiencies are those proficiencies the character gets by virtue of having the kit. He does not spend proficiency slots to take them. Required proficiencies on the other hand are those proficiencies that the character must buy with his initial allotment of class and intelligence given NWP slots. This represents the investment that the player put into the kit prior to becoming an adventurer. Recommended Proficiencies are a list of additional proficiencies that the character may wish to take based on the description of the kit. As an added bonus, at first level, prior to the start of play, you may buy any recommended proficiency for list price if it's not normally available to your class instead of having to spend an additional proficiency slot.

Special Benefits: Any changes or abilities that don't fit into any of the above categories that represent an actual benefit for the person with this kit are listed here. For example, in my Winterborn kit, there's the following benefits: +1 bonus on saves to resist any sort of non-magical cold effect as well as to fear effects. Your character suffers no movement penalties when moving through/over snow/ice.

Special Penalties: While their may be downsides listed in other areas, this is for all the other downsides that aren't listed elsewhere. For example, those characters using the Chosen Crusader kit have the following penalties: The Crusader must abide by all the dictates and tenets of the Church of the Chosen, these include but are not limited to: Must maintain a lawful alignment, must tithe 10% of all wealth to the church, must obey church superiors. Failure to live up to the dictates results in a loss of abilities.

Starting Funds/Social Class: In my campaign, instead of starting funds being dependent on character class, it's instead based on the social class of the character. This is where any modifications to those starting funds are listed.

Over the next few posts I will likely offer a few of the kits for everyone to use in their own campaigns.

Summoning Bloopers

2011-01-13T07:27:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a Summoner class for my game. It's loosely based on the Spiritualist Iron Heroes Class as well as the various evil magic users from Call of Cthulhu, Conan, etc. As such, I've come up with the following "accidents" that can occur as a result of a failed summoning. Anyone have any additional ideas?

- All dressed up and nowhere to go: Nothing happens
- Wrong Number: The Summoner has learned a new entity glyph for his codex. The DM must randomly determine whether or not the protective circle works against this particular entity.
- Temporarily Out of Service: The Summoner is unable to make any more summoning attempts, nor is he able to use any pact abilities for 1d4 turns for each rank of the intended summoning attempt.
- You and what Army?: Good News: The summoning Worked! Bad News: The protective circle didn't.
- I did a very bad thing: You summoned an entity far more powerful than one of your skill should have even ever attempted. You also get the impression that it's not happy to see you.
- With powers like these: The summoning not only failed, but resulted in a magical backlash dealing 1d4 damage per rank of the entity that would have been summoned, to anyone within 10' of the summoning circle.
- Snooze Button: The summoning did work, but the entity doesn't show up for 1d6 turns per rank.
- Nuke from orbit. It's the only way to be certain: You've managed to summon a highly infectious disease. Maybe they'll name it after you.
- It has your eyes: You summoned an immature version of the entity you meant to summon. Remove 1d3 spells from the entity's repertoire.
- Knock, knock: Instead of summoning an entity, you've created a gateway to the realms beyond. Only the DM knows how long it will remain active.
- Called to the principal's office: Instead of you summoning an entity, an entity has instead summoned you.

Fortune Cards. In 2nd ed, we used a 1d20 roll for that.

2011-01-09T10:28:00.000-05:00

It would seem that 4e is wandering down the path of AD&D 2nd edition looking for loose rules to make a buck on. What possessed them to look at the Player's Option series is beyond me, but I'm rather boggled by the success of 4e anyway. Anyway, in Player's Option: Combat & Tactics, on page 18 TSR published a Critical Event Table. It was a roll made by the DM to determine a fog of war event, such as a N/PC falling over, collateral damage, or even the movement of all participants in a direction. I imagine this is more or less what fortune cards are, though I suspect that fortune cards are more geared towards helping out the PCs(further following their rule of cool philosophy which I don't really like in my own games). At the very least, these new cards might give some extra ideas on how to expand the Critical Events Table.

Changelings

2011-01-07T08:22:00.000-05:00

Changelings

Ability Score Adjustments: Because they are greatly feared by the people of Lakeshore, all changelings have a -1 penalty to charisma.

Ability Score Range:

Ability Minimum/Maximum

Strength 5/18

Dexterity 5/18

Constitution 4/18

Intelligence 6/18

Wisdom 4/16

Charisma 4/14

Class Restrictions

Class Maximum Level

Warrior:

Fighter: 12

Avenger 14

Barbarian -

Wizard

Placeholder 14

Priest

Cleric -

Specialty Priest -

Shaman -

Witch Doctor -

Rogue

Thief 8

Trader -

Assassin 14

Gypsy -

Hit Dice: Player Character Changelings receive HD by class.

Alignment: Changelings tend to be of Chaotic and non-good alignments, but PC Changelings have no racial alignment restrictions.

Natural Armor Class: 10

Background: Changelings are believed to be the children of the monsters of the Bloodwood that have been swapped out for the children of the people of Lakeshore. They are a truly ill omen for a community, and generally don’t survive infancy. Those few who do however become self reliant and often take up the life of adventuring the moment they’re old enough to do so.

Languages: Common and whatever languages would have been appropriately learned in the region where they grew up.

Role Playing Suggestions: Changelings never know if someone they meet is going to try to kill them for what they are. As such, most changelings are loners, and very slow to trust.

Special Advantages/Special Disadvantages: All changelings have 60’ infravision. In addition they get to roll on the following chart 1d4 times.

1d10	Result
01 – 05	Roll on Changeling Appearance Table
06 – 07	Roll on Changeling Appearance Table and Changeling Defect Table.
08 – 09	Roll on Changeling Appearance Table and Changeling Power Table
10	Roll on Changeling Appearance, Defect, and Power Tables

Changeling Appearance Table

Roll	Result
01 – 05	Oddly Colored Hair
06 – 15	Oddly Colored Eyes
16 – 21	Oddly Colored Skin
22 – 25	Extremely Hairy/Furry
26 – 29	Hairless
30	Shriveled Skin
31	Scaly Skin
32 – 35	Warts, Blotches, or other markings
36 – 40	Extra digit on hand or foot
41 – 42	Horns
43 – 45	Long, thin face
46 – 47	Fangs
48 – 50	All teeth are pointed
51 – 52	Forked tongue
53 – 60	Pointed Ears
61	Fanlike Ears
62 – 64	Extremely long nose
65 – 67	Very small nose
68 – 70	Extremely long eyelashes
71 – 74	Feline Eyes
75 – 76	Extremely Deep Set Eyes
77 – 78	Three fingers on each hand
79 – 81	Black fingernails
82 – 84	Red fingernails
85 – 90	Fingers longer than normal
91	Long, thin tail
92	Spiny ridge on back
93	Spiny ridges all over body
94 – 96	Leathery Skin
97 – 99	Roll Twice on this table.
00	DM’s choice.

Changeling Defect Table

Roll	Result
01 – 03	Cause nervousness in animals
04	-1 penalty to saves vs. spell
05	-1 penalty to saves vs. poison
06 – 07	Strange aura gives -3 penalty to reaction rolls.
08	-1 to random attribute(no effect if at racial min)
09 – 10	Strange Odor
11	Skin exudes ashy grit.
12	No Shadow
13	No Reflection
14	Prolonged exposure withers normal plants
15	Cannot reproduce
16	Holy water inflicts 1d6 damage
17	Exposure to sunlight causes 1 damage per round
18	Cannot enter “holy” areas.
19	Roll Twice on this table
20	DM’s choice.

Changeling Power Table

Roll	Powers
01 – 03	+1 Bonus to Random ability score(Can ignore maximums)
04	+2 Bonus to Random ability score(Can ignore maximums)
05	Natural AC of 1d6+3
06 – 07	+1 bonus to saves vs. poison
08 – 09	+1 bonus to saves vs. spell
10	+1 bonus to all saves
11	Touch inflicts 1 point of damage from high body heat
12	Touch inflicts 1 point of damage from cold body temperature
13	Intuitive Grasp of 1 dead language
14	Able to cast Detect Magic 1/day
15 – 17	Roll on Extraordinary Powers
18 – 19	Roll twice
20	Player’s choice

Extraordinary Powers

Roll	Result
01	Levitate 1/day
02	Blur 1/day
03 – 06	Charm Person 1/day
07 – 08	Endure Cold 3/day
09 – 10	Endure Heat 3/day
11 – 14	Claws inflict 1d4/1d3 damage
15 – 18	Bite inflicts 1d4/1d3 damage
19 – 21	ESP 1/day
22	Detect Invisibility 1/day
23 – 35	Cause Fear 1/day
26	Clairaudience 1/day
27	Clairvoyance 1/day
28 – 29	Invisibility 1/day
30 – 32	Vampiric Touch 1/day
33	Dimension Door 1/day
34	Non-detection Continuous
35 – 38	Alter Self 3/day
39 – 41	Polymorph Self 1/day
42 – 43	Domination 1/day
44	Magic Jar 2/week
45	Breath Weapon as adult Dragon(random type) 1/day
46 – 48	Shadow Walk 1/week
49 – 52	Immune to disease
53 – 55	Immune to poison
56 – 59	15+1d20% Magic Resistance
60 – 61	Only harmed by magical or silver weapons
62 – 63	Chill touch 1/day
64 – 67	Comprehend languages 1/day
68 – 70	Darkness, 15’ radius 1/day
71 – 73	Detect magic 3/day
74 – 76	Suggestion 1/week
77 – 79	Summon Swarm 1/week
80 – 81	Half Damage From Fire
82 – 83	Half Damage From Cold
84 – 85	Half Damage From Electricity
86 – 87	Half Damage From Acid
88	Healed by Negative Energy(including Energy Drain)
89 – 91	+2 to all saves
92 – 95	Infravision 120’
96 – 98	Roll again and double the power’s uses
99	Roll Twice
00	Player’s Choice

What I've been working on lately

2011-01-07T07:09:00.000-05:00

I love Iron Heroes. Yup, I know. Shame on me. 2nd edition is my game of choice, but there's some definite appeal to the game. It's a low magic and scarce magic campaign. It has no non-human races available for play. That last part makes it especially good as it completely prevents the presence of what I call "Humans-in-funny-suits-syndrome" that seems to take place in many games(the worst offenders include all metallic dragons in the MM as written, The Council of Wyrms setting, and pretty much every MMORPG ever made) where all the non-humans are only differentiated from humans by stats and appearance. About the only game this was ever acceptable in(to me) was Shadowrun, because it really was a physical appearance issue more than personality.
Anyway, Iron Heroes. Recently a free PDF of a setting for the game. At first I thought it was the long awaited, but thankfully will never come, Swordlands setting(things always seem to sound great until people start getting into specifics, at which point it almost always horribly ruins it). Instead it's a setting called Bloodwood(you can get the setting PDF for free over here) or Lakeshore depending on your point of view.
Oddly enough, the setting is almost completely system neutral(2 monsters from the Iron Heroes Bestiary are mentioned, and the Spiritualist class from the IH Player's companion is mentioned twice, and all of this can easily be altered or ignored altogether).
Long story short(too late) I salivated. I drooled. I immediately sat down and started trying to figure out how to put this sandbox together using 2nd edition AD&D. A few hours later I was banging my head against a wall. As written, there's only 2 non-magic using classes in the Core 2nd edition rules(Fighters and Thieves, and thieves get to use spell scrolls). And only a scattered handful altogether. After a short burnout period, I began to start working on it again.
As much as I'd absolutely love to keep the nothing but humans rule of Iron Heroes, I know my players would lynch me. Because of this I added a handful of Halfbreeds. I took the Half Ogres and Half Orcs from the Complete book of humanoids, and wrote it so the players knew that these characters are those raised "human-side."
The last race I'm allowing is a mix of two different rules sets. The first being the Tiefling from Planescape, and the second being the Progeny rules from the Glantri: Kingdom of Magic Mystara boxed set. I then named the resulting spawn, "Changelings" and I'll go ahead and put the changelings in their own little post.

RUNE Monster: Tube Striker

2010-12-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

Tube Striker
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Subterranean land
Frequency: Common
Organization: Solitary(Incidental)
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Animal(1)
Treasure: Incidental
Alignment: True Neutral
No. Appearing: 1-100
Armor Class: 5 or -10
Movement: 0
Hit Dice: 1/2
Thac0: 19
# of Attacks: 1
Damage/attack: 1d4
Special Attacks: Fling
Special Defense: Impenetrable Tube.
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: Medium(5' tall)
Morale: Champion(15-16)
XP Value: 15

At first glance a Tube striker appears to be a subterranean plant, with a hard stony bulb, from which protrudes a strange, gently waving yellow and brown stem and leaf. When one draws close however, a vaguely reptilian sounding hiss accompanies the retraction of the "stem and a good portion of the "leaf."

Combat: A Tube Striker attacks with lightning fast jabs, using the "leaf" which is actually a bladed sensory/reproductive organ to impale its foes like a harpoon. The "stem" is actually retractable into the creature's bone-bladed head. which sits atop a vaguely serpentine "neck." The Tube Striker is completely blind, but can sense prey accurately up to 10 feet away. There's a one-in-three chance that when a Tube Striker hits, instead of doing damage it will instead thrash about with its prey, completely disorienting the creature, before throwing it in a random direction(or possibly not so random), where the creature will take falling damage. The creature may instead grab an item being held by the character(50/50 chance of the creature grabbing a person or item). The "Tube" the creature hides in is impenetrable(hence AC -10). The AC 5 refers to the much softer reptilian and plant-like parts of the creature's body.

Habitat/Society: Tube Strikers have no known society whatsoever. Despite their relative abundance in the underdark, very little is known about these creatures. It's believed that they have 2 methods of reproduction. The first method is parthenogenic, in which the parent gives "birth" to buds which grow on the root-anchors. These buds are capable of movement once they splint off from the parent. However, this movement is still effectively 0, since it's measured in terms of feet per year. After about 1-2 years, the bud lays down its anchor-roots and does not move again. The second methods is spawning, in which the hermaphroditic Tube Strikers release egg-spores and sperm-spores into the air. The fertilized eggs, if they land in an appropriate area, first grow anchor roots before growing into a full tube striker.

Ecology: Tube Strikers feed on anything they can catch. This usually includes lizards, Rock Goblins, bats, and any slow-witted adventurers they can manage to catch. No other race hunts these creatures for food, but some primitive races attack the creatures for their "stem and leaf" organs which stiffen once severed, creating a primitive handaxe or club.

Economics Part 7: Middle Men(part 2)

2010-12-11T04:29:00.000-05:00

In order to understand demand, we have to understand the economy being used. The assumption of this blog is that we’re using a barter-and-coin based economy similar to that used in early towns and cities found in Europe or in the various settlements found in Northern Europe before feudalism took hold.

This means that wealth can be divided up into a few different types:

Immovable: This is the most valuable kind of wealth as it consists of land and buildings. Land is the ultimate wealth. As such, it would take a stupidly high amount of any other form of wealth to get it, and anyone willing to accept such a deal would have to be outrageously desperate or incredibly foolish. Buildings on the other hand are different, as they can be easily sold, even if it does take a somewhat insane amount of money to purchase one.
Better-than-currency: In campaigns set at the early part of our era, certain items will actually carry more value than any easily amassed amount of gold(and thus accepted in more places), be far more easily transferable than land, and would generally be used to pay for large price items(such as buildings). This would include cattle(which is why the rune for Cattle and movable wealth are the same thing, Fehu/Feoh/Fé, in most of the Runic Poems of the Norse and Saxon tribes), Horses, and for a fantasy campaign: Magic Items.
Currency: This will consist of your coins, bars, beads, or whatever. The point is, this type of wealth is Cold hard cash. In a manorial village, this will be found almost solely in the hands of the feudal lord, while in a town or city, the vast majority of this wealth will actually be found in the hands of the “lower” and middle classes(more on classes later).
Items: This is going to be the most common form of wealth found in villages and other areas where currency hasn’t become the norm. The value of items is highly subjective and is the least stable. Interesting to note, despite their usual worth, Gems and jewelry are a part of this category. In terms of our world building, this is the great mass of stuff you’ve already generated.
Perceived Currency: This covers IOUs, promissory notes, and shares, all of which existed in Western Europe by the 12^th Century(probably earlier, but off the top of my head, I can only confirm reading about some of it in a book pertaining to the 12^th Century). This basically covers any sort of wealth that doesn’t actually exist in “hard” form.

The next thing you’re going to need to understand is class, and where all this wealth is distributed. As the vast majority of actual trade is going to occur in towns and cities, we’re only going to concern ourselves with the class structure of these locations:

Upper Class: The Upper class is going to consist of roughly 5-15%(5+1d10) of a town or city’s population. This includes the very wealthiest of merchants, guild leaders, aristocrats, and powerful clergymen(and may even include successful retired adventurers). The vast majority of Immovable wealth, Better than currency, and perceived currency is going to be found in their hands.
Middle Class: Given the era we’re working with, the middle class is a relatively recent phenomenon, and will only represent a small portion of the settlement’s population, perhaps 15-25%(15+1d10). This is going to be your middle and high ranking guildsman, successful merchants, craftsmen, as well as possibly up-and-coming adventurers. The vast majority of currency will belong to this class, though a growing share of all other forms of wealth are slowly creeping into their pockets.
Lower Class: This is your rank and file wage slave. Journeymen, laborers, mercenaries, low ranking guildsmen, craftsmen just starting out, second sons who haven’t quite made it as adventurers yet are all of this social class. The vast majority of item based wealth will actually be found in the hands of this class as currency is only recently available to them. Additionally, a large majority of this class is beginning the inexorable merge with the middle class. This is where you’re going to find the vast majority of people working for that 1 sp per day.
The Poor: These are the destitute, those actually earning less than 1 sp per day. Given the already somewhat unforgiving nature of the era, their numbers are actually quite low, consisting of only 1d10% of the local population. This will however be where the least savory members of the settlement’s population are likely to come from.

How does this all relate to supply and demand? Stay tuned to find out next time!

Economics, part 7: Middle Men(part 1)

2010-12-08T05:31:00.000-05:00

This is the part where we start to involve merchants and teamsters. They play a rather massive roll if your campaign setting has them. This is the first point in our little model where non-producers show up. It's also likely the first time in our model where money is used in the vast majority of transactions as opposed to barter between goods/services.
Today's post is going to be about Closed Economic Models. What this means is that there is no trade coming from outside the region you've already developed thus far to throw off our numbers. I'll deal with an Open Economic Model in a later post.
We've already determined the Base Cost Value(BCV) of our secondary products. We've also already determined what every person in our model needs in terms of supplies to survive at our "baseline" of 626 cp per year. Please note, the BCV is NOT a measure of actual monetary value. It's a measure of amounts produced if all things were created and sold equally based on amounts, skill, and time. It's a simplification so we're not talking in bushels of different crop types and pounds of different ore types.
Because of where we are in this series of posts, for the time being we'll only concern ourselves with the BCV of secondary products* and I'll expand accordingly in later posts. First, you're going to need to figure out the total amount of a given secondary product by quality. This can be decided however you want to handle it, but given that we've already made some die rolls, you can use the 20+ point quality scale(which got partially cut off by blogger) used to create the secondary product and see which areas of your region are more likely to be known for better quality secondary products. Using this knowledge, you may start making a chart showing where each source of secondary product is and see which areas have a lack.
Once the chart is finished and you have a pretty good idea of what resources a community has, you then have to determine what's actually for sale. Not everything a community produces will be available for trade. How you determine this is up to you but under normal conditions, I usually have 75+1d20% available for trade.

Next time: Determining Demand.

* The reason for not doing this for the step between primary production and secondary production is two fold:

In the models I'm using, the relationship between primary and secondary producers is a mostly stable and direct one. A primary producer will tend to "feed" a secondary producer year after year, and the rates of exchange will tend to remain the same within reason. While there would be a certain amount of horse trading going on between the two, there's going to be a more closely tied relationship between a primary and secondary producer than there is going to be between any producer and a middle-man.
I had not yet written or even thought out this part of the series any more seriously than "I think I'll need a post on Supply and Demand at some point. Maybe when I talk about merchants."

Upcoming Events for Thac0 forever!

2010-12-06T22:22:00.000-05:00

If I fail to keep up with my daily posting over the next couple of weeks, it's probably for one of the following reasons:

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has been released, and I'm wanting to explore and possibly get in a few decent posts on my other blog, Lok'Tar Ogar! For the Horde since I've been ignoring it since April.
I'm continuing work on the World Building/Economics series of posts, but I'm at a slightly more in depth section that requires a bit more work(especially since blogger keeps cutting off parts of my posts because of space). As such, I'm also working on a pdf version of the posts, and will be offering it for download on this blog. This probably wont occur until mid-January. Don't worry folks, the pdf will be free.
Working on a series of posts for after this current one is finished. I'm thinking I've been keeping the blog a little to system neutral for a blog about 2nd edition, but I don't want to go too system heavy since I know most of my readership doesn't play it. I'm currently considering doing some work involving a Dark Sun series of articles(sans Prism Pentad and using the original boxed set rules as opposed to revised).
Hoping to start on finally getting things done for the move from East Coast USA to Southeast Australia. So much work still needs doing!

If there's anything about 2nd edition anyone wants to hear more about, or if anyone has questions, click the little comment button and tell me about it! I do plan to keep up as frequent a posting schedule as I can manage, but just wanted to give a heads up in case I suddenly miss a week or something.

Bonus Post: RUNE Monster: Wendol

2010-12-06T19:05:00.000-05:00

Wendol
Climate/Terrain: Arctic Mountains or Subterranean
Frequency: Rare
Organization: Solitary or clan
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Semi(2-4)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral Evil
No. Appearing: 1(or 2d8)
Armor Class: 5
Movement: 15
Hit Dice: 5+2
Thac0: 15
# of Attacks: 2 or 1
Damage/attack: 1d6/1d6(Claws) or 1d8(Bite)
Special Attacks: Charge, Berserker Rage, Howl
Special Defense: None.
Magic Resistance: Nil
Size: Large(10' Long)
Morale: Champion(15-16)
XP Value: 270

A Wendol is master of the cold lands, even giants and dragons think twice before tangling with these creatures. In form, the Wendol appear to be a cross between wolves, polar bears, and gorillas. In temperament, they make wolverines, and badgers seem friendly. If Wendol have a language(doubtful), they have never tried to communicate with any other race(that we're aware of).

Combat: Regardless of whether or not Wendol are in a group or alone, they fight the same way. First they unleash a howl that can make even the strongest of warriors who hear it soil their armor and run in terror for 3 turns unless he makes a save vs. spell. Next the wendol charges directly into combat, Often leaping directing into the thickest knot of enemies, headless of its own safety. This charge is lightning fast, giving it a -2 bonus on initiative, +2 to attack rolls, and allowing it to make all 3 of its natural attacks in that round. Most animals, if you injure them, are more likely to run away than they are to stand and fight. Not so with the Wendol. Injure a Wendol and all you've succeeded in doing is making it mad. For every 3 points of damage done to the wendol it gains a +1 cumulative bonus to attack and damage, to a maximum bonus of +5. This state of berserker rage will last until either all non-wendols in the area are dead or are unreachable for at least 1 turn. A Wendol is naturally immune to spells that cause fear or charm-like effects.

Habitat/Society: Wendol normally travel alone, but all wendol belong to packs of up to sixteen individuals. Wendol hierarchy is non-existant in these packs, where the strongest(usually a female) rules. Only this alpha female is allowed to breed. Very rarely, somewhat psychotic individuals(rock goblins for instance) have kept lone Wendol as guardian monsters or for sport. Such an act is risky however, as a Wendol is actually MORE likely to attack its captor than it is to attack any other target. Young Wendol are born live, and full able to consume meat within a month of birth. They only have 1 HD at this point, but gain an additional HD every month until fully grown.

Ecology: Wendol will consume any type of meat, but seem to prefer the flesh of humans, giants, and dwarves. Wendol have no natural predators beyond humans of barbaric tribes who sometimes slay a wendol and wear its skin as a sign of strength. Such an act is truly foolhardy as the surviving members of the slain wendol's pack have been known to utterly destroy even large towns in retribution.

Economics, part 6: Coins

2010-12-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

I can't give the normal attention I'd normally give to this series of posts tonight, but there will actually be 2-3 posts total today. It's not actually a part of this series of articles, merely a set of house rule that I use in my campaign.

In my world, each nation usually produces its own coins. Additionally each coin is not 100% pure metal. To determine purity, I usually roll 60 + 2d20 to determine the percentage of the valuable metal. Most DMs trying for this level of pseudo-realism usually just quit there. For the longest time, so did I. Then a few years back I began reading a book called "The Year 1000: What Life was like at the Turn of the First Millennium, An Englishman's World" by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger. The book offers a lot of information, and despite the fact that it's focused on England, it really is a great read for anyone interested in European History from that era.
One interesting thing it brought up was how often that money lost its status as true legal tender. It would seem that in an attempt to stop counterfeiting, the stamp on the coins would be changed every couple of years(in my campaigns I determine the "lifespan" of a coin's status as legal tender with a 1d4+1 year die roll).
What does this mean for a campaign? Well, for starters it means that all that money in a dragon's horde probably has to be converted to legal tender before the PCs can buy anything with it. Doing this requires that the player find and hire the services of a smith with the proper license to make the new coins. Coin changing isn't free however, and PCs can expect to lose a fair percentage of coins to the blacksmith(who is free to charge whatever he'd like) and to the taxes that are invariably placed on this(thus putting more money in the king's pockets). Additionally, just because a coin was made with X% of the precious metal, doesn't mean that it's going to be made with the same percentage again. As such, the player may only end up with less coins than he started out with, and those coins may actually be worth less if he tries to cross the kingdom's borders and has this currency he just had minted changed into the currency of his new kingdom.
For gaming purposes however, a coin only very rarely(5% chance) loses or gains more than 1d6% of the precious metal it's made of.
Un-changed coins aren't completely useless however. One could save the coins and use them to barter with some of the less intelligent humanoids. Old coins can actually be be a priceless treasure all by themselves, assuming a character can find a collector interested in purchasing the coins.