Save Vs. Poison

Races of Sansara...thinking out loud.

2012-02-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

My Pathfinder/Sansara game didn't run this weekend. Nobody had any energy. This last week, for various and sundry reasons, could very well be one of the top five worst weeks I've ever had in my entire life. Things are better now, though. :)

Anyway, not to waste the weekend entirely, I did do some work on Sansara, and in particular the trade port of Miruta. I'm going to do Miruta as a mini-sandbox and see where it goes. The city will be only vaguely sketched with some set pieces. I'm sure I'll think of new details as we go along.

I've also decided to dust off an old third party 3.0 race book that Fantasy Flight did back in the day and lift some races from it. Back then, I found the book nigh-unusable because most of the races had ECL, and I hated ECL with an undying passion. With the power level of races bumped up a bit in PF, I can pluck some of the races that I'd have hesitated to use back in the day. I don't want to use most of the standard races in this setting, so I'm thinking about replacing them with some of these guys:

-Sendasti: Saaaaaand people. (Wrapped up desert nomads, minus the mindless shrieking and griefing of Pod Racers) Kind of boring stock desert race fodder, if you ask me, and yet I find myself strangely enamored by them.

-Sktak: Desert snake dudes who act like Klingons.

-Uru...actually I can't remember the name.It's kind of an orgy of u's, y's,and apostrophes. Beastmen who serve a dark goddess and eat a strange root that acts like PCP.

-Quissians: Desert lizard men.

I was also thinking orcs and "desert dwarves" from the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana.

Humans, dwarves, orcs, nomad dudes, snake dudes, beast dudes, lizard dudes. Seven races. Too much? Too exotic/weird?
Oh, eight, I suppose... humans and orcs living together in civilization is going to make half-orcs more common, if anything else.

Ok... so I'm going to cut Quissians because Sktak are already reptiles and Quissians are sort of boring. I think I'll just repaint my lizardfolk yellow and leave them as an NPC/monster race. Ok, back down to seven.

I need to do some slight conversion because of the way that Pathfinder does races. (Net positive attribute bonuses, more abilities, favored class works differently)

Next stop, sketching up a few vague cults/religions... just one or two in case they happen to stop by a temple. I'm going to avoid creating an entire pantheon, though.

Bottoms Up

2012-02-07T22:48:00.001-06:00

I seldom reuse campaign settings that I create. When I create a new setting, I usually go about things from a decidedly top-down approach. This weekend, I ended up going the other way for once.

My wife and her best friend, who have been playing in my sporadic Savage Worlds steampunk game, asked me if I'd run something with swords and magic and orcs in it. (So, D&D...although actually Pathfinder, since they like d20 best of all and I like Pathfinder better than 3.5) This last week was absolutely insane in terms of real life stuff, so I didn't have any time to prepare or even think about the setting. With scant hours before game time, I decided to just go with the flow.

The setting I'm working on is a kingdom called Sansara. While I originally envisioned it as a Byzantine Empire/Renaissance Italy mash-up, it turned out to feel a lot more like pseudo-Golden Age Middle East. The Byzantine-type place morphed into the Lionus Empire which is situated someplace vaguely north and west of Sansara. I also decided that Sansara has a prosperous coastal trade city called Miruta, (where I intend to provide as a potential base for the PCs) though I keep slipping and calling it Mirut or Miruti. It has a capital called Alsharad, the Jewel of the East. It is ruled by Prince Kassen. That's all I started with, which, to me, is akin to jumping without a parachute.

The following details emerged during play:

There are no elves, dwarves, or halflings, but there are orcs (oruks) and lizard men with dusky yellow scales. (I might add some of the classic races back, but they need a makeover for this setting)

There has to be some place vaguely Asian-y somewhere in the world, because one of the two PCs is an Asian-looking monk with a Korean name.

There has to be some place vaguely Renaissance Italy (probably sans gunpowder, though not necessarily) because the other player was originally from a place like that... though she later decided her nascent PC was more Egyptian, so now there's some place that's kind of Egyptian. It's possibly that the two places will be mashed up together. (Renaissance Italy with huge tombs and a cult of divinity surrounding the ruler)

There are four druidic orders dedicated to the four elements. They each guard one of four pillars that they believe bind the physical world together: the Eternal Flame (southwest of here across a huge desert called the Sea of Sands), the Pillar at the Heart of the World, the Crossroads of the Four Winds (on a mountain somewhere, possibly in the Asian-y place) and the Eye of God (a huge, eternal maelstrom, presumably out in the ocean somewhere)

One of the gods from the core book is worshiped in the Asian-y place. (I forget which one) No other gods have been mentioned yet, unless you count the elemental forces tended by the aforementioned druidic orders.

I find that it's kind of refreshing that I don't know what the currency is called or what's stamped on it, and that I can really only name two countries. I think I just decided that Sansara loves book-using spellcasters and alchemists and frowns upon sorcerers, witches, and the like. (Since the former types have a power that is governed by internal laws and science and it is something that can be studied, while the latter use a power difficult to understand)

Something I never considered about about bottom-up world creation: instead of creating an elaborate setting and watching the players discover it, I get to discover it with them.

New Guys

2012-02-05T23:06:00.000-06:00

We added another guy last week to our Sunday group. He's turned out fine so far. This week we added another new guy. He fit right in and I think will be an awesome addition to the group. He also lives near me, so I ended up giving him a ride home, and he and I speak the same language about a lot of things when it comes to gaming. I hope these two stick around, because we have a pretty damn comfortable number. In fact, if some of our wayward souls come back, we might once again be able to describe the group as "large."

New Guy #2 loves Savage Worlds, which is a plus. If he takes a turn in the GM's seat, he said he'd most likely run a steampunk samurai game called Iron Dynasty. (How did I not hear about this before?)

The game was epic today. We played Mike's AD&D/Helfrost campaign. We killed fifty orcs. (No, really) Ecglaf (my skald PC) has inadvertently become a local hero. We're also planning some mass combats against the hated Jotun, for which Mike has decided to use the Siege Engine system from the Rules Cyclopedia. (At least, I think that was the name of it... I haven't actually used that system since I was in like 7th grade) Mike decided to be brutal and start the new guys at 1st level. Despite running with 4th level companions, they managed to do pretty well for themselves.

We are totally defending a town under siege next time, and then we play to lay siege to an orc/ogre fortress. Hot damn.

Next week is Stars Without Number. I think we're going to be tracking down a vampire. (Like I said, sometimes this SWN game seems to have some Encounter Critical flavor)

I also gamed on Saturday this weekend, and I'm trying a new approach to world-building, but I think I'll throw that in another post.

Sunday Gaming

2012-01-29T21:42:00.000-06:00

We had some new blood at the Sunday game tonight, and it was also the best session we've had in a couple of weeks. (In my opinion, anyway) I think the new guy is going to work out just fine. We played Mindy's SWN game again. I'm still a little iffy about being the only warrior class in the group, especially since I designed this character to be a "dart in and sneak attack" sort of guy and not a "wade in" sort of guy. Still, a surfeit of experts means we pretty much have skills covered.

...a den of space-nazi halflings...semi-cannibalistic ones, at that. Sometimes our SWN campaign almost seems to have a dash of Encounter Critical in it. (Though I am fairly certain that Mindy is not familiar with EC)

Josh will be returning to our group next week, which means there exists the possibility that we will be able to finish his long running Deadlands game. (Part III, anyway... not sure if he ever intended to do a Part IV)

Our Next Savage Worlds Outing

2012-01-24T22:23:00.000-06:00

Scotland Yard does not make a habit of investigating ghost stories. When something like that comes up, they call on the Royals. (The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, but that's quite a mouthful, isn't it?) After all, those crackpots have plenty of time on their hands.

The Bleaks are what they call the section of London with all the burned out, falling down factories from the First Wave of Progress. Most of those companies were either consumed in the fires (literal and figurative) of the industrial boom, or else they moved on to larger, more advanced, more efficient facilities. "Steam, not smog," was the creedo of the Second Wave. Now the Bleaks are home only to those companies too poor, unscrupulous, or legally questionable to move to "Prog" (the Progress District)

The Bleaks are home to all manner of bizarre stories and urban legends. Most recently, workers and urchins have reported seeing a ghostly figure lurking at night. Dressed in a shabby coat and top hat, his head and hands are reported to be completely skeletal. The "Bone Man of the Bleaks," as he is called, has been blamed for a number of recent fires and other accidents in the Bleaks.

The Yard has dismissed these stories as rubbish born of the uneducated and overworked souls who eke out grim living in the few open factories within the Bleaks. The Royals, however, are most interested in the investigation. After all, they were right about the Spring-Heeled Jack, weren't they?

The Royals have dispatched Dr. Lucy Meridian, noted chemist, and Ms. Elliot Kelly, noted leg-breaker, to illuminate the mystery of this supposed skeletal man.

Note To Self

2012-01-24T22:12:00.000-06:00

This year I would like to buy a copy of the new version of Carcosa, and a hard copy of Sine Nomine's Red Tide campaign setting.

Both of these books have things I want to plunder, though it is doubtful I would use either of them in their entirety.

Scatterbrain Sunday

2012-01-22T22:43:00.001-06:00

I've been away from the blogging world more than usual lately, mainly because I'm trying to spend less time on the computer.

I have also, inexplicably, been reading the Player's Handbook for Alternity again. There is some kind of elusive voodoo element in that game that still appeals to me, even though it would likely be an enormous headache to run. I'm also not sure why anyone would ever run it when they also own Stars Without Number.
Hobby...mental illness...etc.

I am really digging the War in the North stuff coming out of the Superhero Necromancer blog. (Link located in my sidebar) I would totally play in a campaign like that. Good job, sirrah!

I haven't had a chance to crack open Call of Cthulhu...I will have to remedy that soonish.

Get some good gaming in this week, folks.

Yeah, I gotta mention 5e

2012-01-17T00:07:00.000-06:00

Wotsee has made some bold and ambitious statements regarding the next edition.

If they can really pull it off, they could potentially solve the fragmentation of the D&D game. It would certainly be something to see.

I'd be lying if I said I was sorry to see 4th edition go. I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't damn curious what Monte Cook has planned, even if I'm not inclined to convert again. (To date, the only version of the game I haven't given a look-see is 4E Essentials.)

A single version of the game that appeals to everyone seems very unlikely to me. Not impossible, mind you...just unlikely.

We have along wait ahead of us, however. For the time being, I'll be playing in Mike's 2e game and sketching an outline of a B/X game that I may or may not ever run. I might also end up running Pathfinder again.

What I'm really most hoping for is the return of classic products (in PDF, likely.. POD is really hoping beyond hope.) If the new 5E can really do it all, why not make all those awesome things available for this Brave New World of D&D to enjoy?

...well, except for the VHS tape that came with the Dragonstrike board game... I suppose some things can remain in the TSR vaults.

Yeah, yeah, f'tagn and all that.

2012-01-16T13:16:00.000-06:00

I was at the used bookstore today and stumbled across a copy of Call of Cthulhu, "5.5" edition. It was seven bucks (before discount), so I picked it up.

Considering how much I used to love Lovecraft (wow, that was awkwardly phrased) and considering Cthulhu's ubiquitous presence in both gaming and geek culture in general, CoC represents kind of an odd hole in my gaming collection and experience. In fact, I have only ever played CoC once. (I also ran a d20 CoC one shot once, but I sort of don't count that) Well... scratch that off the list, I guess.
I was once told that Cthulhu's stat block states that he automatically kills 1d6 characters per round. I always assumed that was a joke... turns out it isn't. (It's actually 1d3 characters per round, but really...who's counting?)

I also picked up the Castles Fornlorn boxed set for old Ravenloft. It seems like something that the ladies (wife and friend) would enjoy playing, even if it is D&D with no feats or skills...

A Turnaround

2012-01-15T23:10:00.000-06:00

Right, so, I was working on this post chronicling my frustrations with gaming lately...

With one group member promoted at work and another a new daddy, our dwindling numbers dwindled even further. Mike made a flyer to advertise our group. Out of like five local gaming stores he took it to, one of them said "they'd think about it" (I was there Saturday night- no flyer in sight) and three flat-out refused.

Meanwhile, my Tuesday game has not been running. The missus and her friend are regularly going to the gym now, and I've become quite busy as well: the after school program I teach, my martial arts training, the fact that I am now accompanying them to the gym a few nights a week, and the hour or two I spend reviewing lessons and tweaking assignments for my main teaching gig every night.

There were a few other things to grumble about, and then, out of the blue, my problems solved themselves.

-The missus suggested that I run the Tuesday game as a serial- I create a complete case/episode/adventure that we can resolve in a night or two of gaming. It turns out that what I have prepared fits that bill quite nicely. We'll do an episode, and then we'll put it on the shelf until I get time to pen another outing for our lovely steampunk adventurers. I've been so used to the weekly or every-other-weekly model of gaming that I was unable to think outside the box.

-I happened to text a former member of the Sunday group (and an alumnus from my AD&D1e game) and he asked me if the Sunday game was still on. He has Sundays free and today he rejoined the game.

-Mike started his viking/Hellfrost AD&D 2nd ed game back up and it was every bit as delightful as it was when we left off.

-Noble Knight is carrying the new edition of Carcosa and it isn't quite as expensive as I anticipated. (Last time I checked I couldn't find it on the site) I think I might use a bit of tax monah to procure a copy.

...so, I've deleted the previous gloomy entry, as I am all smiles about gaming right now.

Holler.

Oh, and I have tomorrow off as well. :)

Fighter Training, V. 2.5

2012-01-11T21:32:00.015-06:00

Recently, I was working on fighter training rules, inspired by Akrasia's attempt at the same and also AustroDavicus' rules on alternate magic-users. I received some feedback, and the main gripe with the system is that you can mix and match too many different trainings. I had considered putting some kind of artificial limit on what trainings are available to a character, but I've had a change of heart and decided to go a more intangible route- putting responsibility in the individual DM's hands.

Okay, so check this: a fighter begins with one training at 1st level. This is his training. This is what kind of fighting man he is. At 4th level, he will automatically take the Advanced version of his training, unless he has found a way to train with a different type of fighting man. What exactly constitutes training is left up to the DM. If your rules involve training costs, there's a guideline to go by. The DM might simply say that the fighter must spend a certain amount of game time with fighting men of that training; perhaps he needs to spend some time sequestered away with the reclusive Gray Mountain Brotherhood to gain access to the Warrior Monk training. Maybe a cavalier/knight spends some time with a reclusive old sword master and can now choose the Weapon Mastery training. The fighter doesn't actually get the benefits of the training until he reaches the next experience level at which he qualifies to take new training.

As for the demihuman race-classes, I've made these decisions:
1. The DM is well within his rights to say, Soup Nazi style, "NoTrainingForYOU" because you are already a special snowflake, and because maybe the DM wants a humanocentric campaign. (That seems to be a popular mode here in this corner of Blogaria)

2. Demihumans can choose from a limited list. My suggestion for stock-standard Tolkien demihumans would be:
Elves- Weapon Master (sword or bow only), Marksman, and perhaps Slayer (drow or orcs)
Dwarves- Berserker, Soldier, Weapon Master (Axe or hammer only), Slayer (orc, goblin, or giant, Veteran
Halflings- Weapon Master (sling or dagger only), Marksman, Veteran (the legendary halfling resilience)

Demihumans are eligible for trainings at the same levels that fighters are. DM's option as to whether or not they can receive training for things not on their list.

3. Tell me to get stuffed and allow any demihuman to take any training. Jeez.

Problem solved. Well, at least for me...

Disclaimer: These rules are generally intended for B/X. They don't play well with Cyclopedia's Weapon Mastery Rules, AD&D's weapon specializations, etc.

It Begins Again

2012-01-08T22:47:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I finally roll into 2012 with a post... a bit late to the party. The first week after winter break is always insanely busy.

I'm starting Beowulf tomorrow, (as I usually do at the beginning of a new semester) which always makes me pine to play AD&D. Actually, this time around, it just makes me want to play something fantasy... not necessarily AD&D. I think I'd like to try RuneQuest/OpenQuest/Legend or Tunnels & Trolls or Warhammer set in or near Norsca or even, gods help me, The Riddle of Steel. I don't know... I need something with trolls.
Mike is going to be restarting his pseudo-Hellfrost AD&D game in a couple of weeks.

I've been playing a steady stream of Stars Without Number with the Sunday group. I love the game dearly. The session tonight did not go so well for us, though I still made 3rd level.

The Sunday group has been vastly depleted in numbers. Real life stuff with Josh and Nathan (good real life stuff, mind you) has necessitated their leaving the group, as Sundays don't work for them, and non-Sundays don't work for the rest of the group. We are dipping our toe in the water of recruitment, but... that can be a dark and maddening road.

I suppose I should dash off a little bit of Obligatory New Year Reflection...

2011 was not a fabulous year for me, GM-wise. I ran a Mongoose Traveller game that didn't go so well and soured me on the game for a long time afterward. I ran a Stars Without Number game that was going well, started a Pathfinder game, but PF went disastrously and burned me out on GMing hard core. I ran an SWN one shot at Local Con that went pretty well and started up a sporadically played all-ladies game with the missus and two of her friends that turned out to be loads of fun. I ran Death Frost Doom for the Sunday group somewhere in there... everybody died and I think they all hated it except for Josh, who wins the award for Second Coolest Death While Playing Death Frost Doom.

Overall, I learned that my old group from this town simply does not work anymore. The Sunday group has lost members and now totters along with a GM and three players, where at our zenith, we had eight.

This year...WILL BE DIFFERENT. I have another installment of the ladies' steampunk game ready to go, and I've started a few sketches for some campaigns that I will run in some theoretical alternate future when I have an abundance of free time. (Well, I will have an abundance of free time come summer...the problem is that virtually nobody else will...)

I'm looking forward to seeing what all you chuckleheads come up with in 2012.

Fighter Training V. 2

2011-12-29T01:03:00.003-06:00

Note: Edited Berserker and added new training option per feedback from Mindy and 2eDM.

As I am fond of saying: "In a world where some dudes can shoot lightning out of their fingertips, there must exist some incentive to play another type of dude."

So, here are some fighter training options. The idea is mostly ripped off from Akrasia and his awesome OD&D house rules, but I have tweaked them a little bit.

Here's how it works: Fighters get to pick a training at 1st level. They get another one at 4th, 8th, and 12th. Each training has an advanced version that fighters can take when they get to pick a new training.

If your flavor of D&D goes to very high levels, like the Cyclopedia's 36th level, feel free to toss the fighters some extra selections, or extrapolate a "Super Advanced" third tier of each training or whatever.

Edit: I totally forgot to mention that you must pick the training a second time to get the "advanced" benefit. Yes, this means that a fighter must be a minimum of 4th level to have advanced training; he'd have to pick Training X at 1st and then again at 4th. Further selections of the same training aren't possible, with the exception of Weapon Master and Slayer, because they can be applied to different weapons/monsters every time.

So, here they be:

1. Berserker- The character can go berserk in combat. While berserk, the character has +2 to hit and damage and a +2 to save against any mind-affecting spell or power. However, the character has a +2 penalty to AC, can only use melee weapons, and cannot retreat. The berserk state ends once combat is over, though the character can try to snap out of it once per round with a successful save vs. spells. After the berserk state has passed, the character has a -2 penalty to all die rolls for one hour. At the GM's option, certain spells might knock a character out of the berserk state.
*Advanced: The character receives 2d6 bonus hit points when berserk. Damage is subtracted from these "extra" hit points. Any remaining extra hit points vanish when the berserk state ends.

2. Soldier- The character receives an additional -1 AC bonus from using a shield. If the character chooses to forgo attacking this round, he gains an additional -1 AC.
*Advanced: The character can now "loan" any or all of his shield bonus to allies who are within a few feet. (Allies fighting shoulder to shoulder, a character hiding behind the fighter, etc.) Any bonus loaned to another character doesn't benefit the soldier's own AC. In addition, if foregoing movement and attack, the character can deflect any incoming missile attacks with a successful saving throw vs. wands.

3. Swashbuckler- The character receives an additional -2 AC when wearing leather armor or no armor, isn't using a shield, and isn't wielding a large/heavy/two-handed weapon. The character also has the ability to fight two-handed provided the off-hand weapon is small/light. If any character in your game can fight with two weapons, the swashbuckling fighter gains an additional +1 to hit when doing so.
Advanced: The character can disarm an opponent who wields a weapon of equal or smaller size by making an attack roll at -2. The victim must save vs. paralyzation of the weapon is knocked 1d6 feet away in a random direction.

4. Warrior Monk- The character can do 1d6 with his bare hands, and can choose to have the damage be normal (lethal) damage instead of temporary/subdual damage. Warrior-Monks receive +2 hit points per hit die, but cannot wear armor.
*Advanced- The character can now inflict 1d8 with barehanded attacks. Once per day, the character can heal 2d6 hit point to himself only by entering a meditative state for one turn.

5. Weapon Master- The character must choose a specific weapon, such as the longsword, crossbow, etc. The character gains +1 to hit and damage with said weapon. This training can be taken more than once for different weapons.
*Advanced- The character's bonus with one chosen weapon increases to +2 hit and damage. The advanced training can be taken more than once, but must be applied to a different weapon, and the character must have taken the basic training for that weapon.

6. Cavalier- The character can train a horse for combat so that it will not panic. This takes one week per horse. If the cavalier rides the horse, it will not panic. If the cavalier doesn't ride it,the horse has +2 to checks made to determine if it panics. The cavalier also gains an additional +1 to hit in mounted combat, and can save vs. paralyzation to avoid damage from falling out of the saddle.
*Advanced- The cavalier can spend a week bonding with a specific horse. This horse gains a Hit Die immediately, and also one every time the cavalier gains a level. The mount will accept no rider or master besides the cavalier. If the beast is ever killed, the cavalier must train a new one from scratch, but may not do so until a month has passed.

7. Slayer- The fighter gains a bonus of +1 to hit and damage against a specific monster type. How specific is up to the DM... dragons, or black dragons? All giants, or just one class? Monsters of this type have a -2 reaction penalty to the character if the DM deems that he is obviously a slayer of their kind, or if word of his deeds and reputation might have reached this area.
*Advanced- The bonus is now +2 to hit and damage. The character's reputation is likely to have spread. Alternately, the character can choose to gain the basic level against a new foe, but generally only if he now has reason to hate them and has faced them many times in battle.

8. Marksman- When firing into melee, the character may roll twice to determine who the target of the shot is, and select which target he prefers.
*Advanced- The character can make a crippling/distracting/pinning shot. Such a shot is at -2 to hit and can be the only shot fired this round. The opponent takes damage as normal but must also save vs. paralyzation or lose its next combat round. At the DM's option, a weapon that cannot harm the creature might not be subject to this attack.

9. Veteran- The fighter has +2 to all saving throws vs. paralyzation, poison, or death, and can roll hit points twice at each level, taking the better result.
*Advanced- Once per session, the fighter can make a save vs. death to survive, deflect, or escape an attack that would have killed him. The attack is totally negated. It is the DM's option whether or not this works for spells and hazards, or just physical attacks.

Okay, there you have them. Most of them are rough drafts and need some work. My questions to you are:

1. Are there any that are too powerful?
2. Are any of them totally underpowered?
3. Are there any that you would never take for any reason and why?

Feedback is still appreciated. I am also on the fence about what to do for the race-classes of some old D&D. I'm thinking up something on the matter now.

Unexpected Gaming Plus Unexpected Treasure

2011-12-28T18:16:00.000-06:00

So, one of my oldest friends is in town. (Well, my home town, which is fifty miles away, but still) for the rest of the week. She was in my original D&D group...and by original, I mean the one I formed in the sixth grade. Friday evening I will be heading to town to run some World of Darkness for her, her husband, her cousin (who I used to play Vampire with back in the day), her mom, and my wife. It should be a good time. I'm tempted to bust out my all-purpose WoD one-shot, but I think the occasion warrants something new. Good thing I've got all of tomorrow and all day Friday to work on it.

Tonight we are supposed to run steampunk Savage Worlds, though it might get pushed back to tomorrow night.

I was at the used bookstore today, and lo and behold, everything was 20% off. I ended up buying an old Ravenloft boxed set. It's missing the Ravenloft DM's screen, but whoever traded it in threw in the original 1983 Ravenloft module and another module about zombies. Sweet.

Failing to make any online gaming materialize, (which seems to be a recurring theme with me) I joined a gee-plus group that sets up and runs games over gee-plus. Maybe I should just let someone else do all the heavy lifting.

Trying to Get a Few Sessions in Before the End

2011-12-27T22:48:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow evening we play the all-ladies steampunk game again. I'm also going to try and get a game of Talisman together during the daytime, if I can marshal the lads in time. My last act of gaming for this winter break will be Sunday...I think we're doing Mindy's SWN/Traveller/Rebel Worlds game.

This is not as much gaming as I had hoped for during my vacation, but it's something, right?

Xmas, SWN, and a Bit of Nostalgia

2011-12-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

Hope you're all having a good Yule or whatever it is you celebrate.

My wife has given me a copy of Stars Without Number "deluxe" (the hard cover Mongoose edition) I can finally be one of the cool kids at the Sunday group table. Hot damn!

Christmas also marks the anniversary of my spiral into the ranks of the roleplaying gamer. On Christmas Day, 1989, my grandma gave me a copy of the board game Hero Quest. HQ was essentially a very simple dungeon crawling roleplaying game, as well as an introduction to the setting of Warhammer. I actually still have a copy of the game, though sadly it is not my original copy.(Actually, not so sadly...that thing was in absolute shambles last time I saw it.)

I wouldn't actually play my first game of Dungeons & Dragons for another two years, but the foundation was laid as soon as I cracked open that box.

Steampunk'd

2011-12-24T01:29:00.000-06:00

Just got done gaming with the missus and our friend. We've decided to continue the Savage Worlds steampunk game, whether or not our third player returns to us.

We had two combats this session, bringing the total number of combats in the campaign to four. Combat is probably my least favorite part of roleplaying these days. This group is all about exploring the setting, interacting with the NPCs, and creative problem solving. I find my voices and NPCs are a lot more expressive with this crew... probably because it's my wife and her best friend and I'm a lot more comfortable with them. I'm not sure if I'll ever reach this level with the Sunday group. I want to, but... you act differently around different people, and the dynamic might just be intrinsically different.

I also explored more of the occult/supernatural aspect of my setting, which I had hinted at, but not introduced directly. Two of the characters (out of the original three) had some aspect of the supernatural involved in their character backgrounds, so it wasn't a surprise to anyone... I thought it might be awkward to add a genre into the mix, but it seemed to fit pretty smoothly. I am newly invigorated by my little campaign set-up and I look forward to running it again before break is over.

I've been picking through my Palladium stuff. I'm actually really glad that I got the random Rifter issue that I did, because it had a damage fix in it that has inspired me. I'm going to tweak the rule a little bit, but I think I've finally managed to reconcile Mega-Damage in a way that doesn't make my brain explode. Thanks, Kev.

Happy Holidays, all you rascals...hope you also get some gaming in before the New Year.

Palladium Surprise Package

2011-12-21T18:39:00.000-06:00

My Palladium Xmas Grab Bag arrived on my doorstep today. I was pretty pleased with the contents. I got the new Robotech book and the RIFTS Adventure Guide, which were my top two. I also got the Nightbane Survival Guide (the only one missing from my Nightbane/spawn collection), Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp (though I don't have the first dino swamp book...) and some random, but fairly recent issue of the Rifter, which I haven't really had a chance to peruse. Adding it up, I got about $105 worth of gaming stuff for about 54 bucks (which includes shipping...could have got it a bit cheaper with Media Mail instead of UPS, but I like to have that tracking number in case something goes awry.)

Tomorrow my wife and her friend and I are going to finish the first leg of our Savage Worlds steampunk game, which had been left hanging for a few weeks. What we'll do after that is a bit up in the air. I do know I'd like to game a couple more times before I have to return to work in January...

The Permutations of Magic and Other Thoughts

2011-12-19T21:15:00.000-06:00

Jeff Rients' recent flavoring of magic missile, as well as musings on Dragon #200 scattered around Blogaria, have moved me away from wanting a standard "magic language" that all magicians can read back toward the idea that you need read magic to decipher the writings of an unknown magic-users. After all, if my idea of a magic missile is to conjure energy from the quasi-elemental plane of lightning and form it into an energy dart, and your idea of the same spell is to summon a biting skull that is the spirit of an innocent slain by a careless archer's arrow and his idea of the spell twists the internal organs of the target with unseen force which is actually a brief manifestation of the psychic potential possessed by all wizards... well, you get the idea. My spellbook might be incomprehensible astrological and mathematical formulae, yours is is litany of whispers to call forth spirits various and sundry, and his is a series of mantras designed to stimulate the unused recesses of the human mind. Of course we can't comprehend one each other's methods! The spell is necessary to couch an effect in terms that we can understand. Maybe I can't summon a spirit, but perhaps my deciphering of your spellbook shows me the underlying secret of flooding the mind with necromantic energy that results in a temporary "little death." I just learned sleep from your pilfered spellbook, but I can use it in my clinical, mathematical way instead of trucking with your fickle and unwholesome spirits.

...or, what the hell, maybe I can have it both ways. "My" spells that I research and get from my mentor (as low level magic-users are apparently expected to do in some versions of the game) they are still formulaic and mathematical. I learned an entirely new technique from you. As I continue to adventure, my spellbook becomes a mishmash of rituals gleaned from a dozen different magical traditions. My 7th level mentor would be so disappointed... but then, he has no further ambition but to train low level apprentices, whereas I know that those dudes who get to 30th level are walking libraries of lore stitched together from millenniums of occult history.

...another way to look at it is that spells are standard- Protection from Evil is the same spell no matter who casts it- but the encoding used by magic-users is unique to each one. I think this is the "standard" old D&D magic system's assumption. Thinking about it this evening, I found a new way to wrap my brain around that:
Suppose a spell is the number 7. There are many ways to express a formula that results in 7. You can write 3+4, or (-9) - (-16), or |-7|, or a million other different ways...but imagine you only learned to write equations in terms of subtracting negative numbers from one another... the other equations, while simple enough to those who understand them, are alien to you. It's a crude and simple analogy, but it works for me... just imagine a bunch of crazy ass calculus if you want the analogy to seem "smarter." (I'm a teacher, but I'm not a math teacher...zing.)

You can pack a game with flavor and not change a single mechanic. I wish I weren't compelled to dick around with the workings of the game so much. How much time do I waste trying to come up with a way to mechanically differentiate between an archer and a cavalier? Do witches really need a mechanically different magic system than classic fantasy mages? No, but... the compulsion to tinker remains, regardless.

Tinkering is fun, don't get me wrong, but I need to start limiting the amount of time I spend fiddling with mechanics or I'm never going to get anything going.

In other news, I have waited until the end of Mongoose's 20% off sale to snag Legend, which is still its sweet normal price of a buck. RPGNow charges a small fee for orders under a dollar, so I'd actually end up paying a few cents more for the item while it is on sale. While a negligible amount of money, to be sure, the absurdity of the situation was enough to say my hand for a few hours. I'd like to compare this to OpenQuest, but I don't know anybody who owns both. (Well, except me, I suppose.)

I seem to be fiddling in a manic state of half-finished gaming projects, probably because my regular groups are stalled out and I suffer gaming withdrawal very quickly, and in a manner similar to that one scene in Trainspotting. It ain't pretty.

Mystic Russian Roulette

2011-12-15T20:49:00.000-06:00

I just took the plunge and ordered an Xmas Surprise Package from Palladium. We'll see what I get... but my fingers are crossed for the new Robotech book(I loves me some Robotech.)

To Gonzo or Not to Gonzo

2011-12-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

With my regular Tuesday and Sunday campaigns on hold for the rest of the year, I've had the new campaign bug bite me somethin' fierce. This is compounded by the fact that I will be enjoying two and a half weeks of vacation if I can just survive the next three days.

My thoughts for the potential online game bend toward B/X D&D. It's simple, you can get it free as a clone, and pretty much anyone I would invite to play is familiar with the basics of the system.

I've been scribbling notes and I find that I keep having this urge to make it a little gonzo and add some science fantasy and crazy shit like that. I already blogged about the Verdant Expanse. I added a crashed colony ship, a la the Warden, into the mix. I even sketched up an optional random background table that would change up your character depending on where he comes from. (It is intended to be optional, so if you just want to play a normal, BTB magic-user or whatever, you can) For instance, a fighter might be a Warrior of the Red Wastes; he has red skin (red like firetruck red, not red like Fantasy Native American Stand-In)
and goes berserk in combat. If he comes from the City of Wonder, he's actually a cyborg with random cybernetic mods. If he comes from Earth, he's actually a soldier from a crashed rocketship and begins play with a 50's-style ray-gun. All this stuff is more or less stolen from a myriad of sources. (Then again, isn't all of D&D?)

...but...is this becoming over done? We've got Barrier Peaks. We've got Spire of Iron and Crystal. We've got Carcosa. We've got that crazy ass story from the end of The Dying Earth with the flying cars and the brain-in-a-jar. (The name of the story escapes me) We have blogs like Planet Algol and The Metal Earth.

I oscillate between this need to somehow take advantage of the malleability of the game and the desire to run "regular" D&D. I feel like I've done the classic setup to death. How much gonzo is too much?

The Online Sweet Spot

2011-12-07T22:38:00.000-06:00

...my, that sounds inappropriate, doesn't it?

As detailed in my last post, I've been scheming a way to run an online game, with the grandiose idea of "getting the band back together"- or at least gaming with some of my crew from days gone by. A former gamer of mine, lost to a job that likes to move him around, has given me two very nice websites: Twiddler and Rollz. Twiddler can be used to draw maps on a grid in real time, as well as upload images and documents for all participants to see. Rollz, in a different window, provides a "dice chat room" where everyone can see the rolls. Rollz, I might add, is also surprisingly robust in its' ability to accommodate different types of die rolls. (4d6-L, or display the numbers separately for TN based systems like Savage Worlds or WoD, etc.)Verbal communication would be conducted via Skype or the chat function in gee-male.

I set it up and ran a little test session for myself, and it didn't seem too bad...position your windows right and you don't really have to juggle between them. I can also see entire sections of a session where Twiddler isn't needed. (Outside the dungeon, or in a game that doesn't really involve dungeon style play)

Now I'm just waiting for one of my potential online gaming mates to be on so we can give it a proper test.

Hmm...unlike last time, it might actually work this time around...

Scheming and Soldiering On

2011-12-05T21:34:00.000-06:00

Mindy's new Stars Without Number campaign is rolling right along. There are some rough spots in the house rules, but we're trying to work through it.

I introduced Mindy and another member of our group to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay yesterday. (2nd edition, which I think is more mechanically solid, though I think the 1st edition has more heart to it.) They seemed somewhat interested in it, particularly the dearth of careers. It's another option for the next time I take a turn in the GM seat for the Sunday group...so now I've got four contenders rattling around in my skull.

An old friend of mine and I are trying to nail down how to use gee plus to greatest effect to run an online game. The hangout function would at least put everyone in the same virtual "room." She mentioned a program called live stream or somesuch that would allow me to draw maps in real time and share them. I know you can also share your screen in gee plus. Now all I need is a dice roller program (which should be easy enough to find) and I'm set. I mean, I guess we could just use the honor system for dice... I mean, if you really have to cheat at rpg dice rolls...
I never bothered about it when my friend Kurt played AD&D with my live group via Skype, but that was just one "internet commuter" with the rest of the group live around a table. This setup would have a group seated at their computers across the US. I did once run a one-on-one game via Skype for Timeshadows of The Grand Tapestry blog, but again, that was just one player and not a whole group.

I know some of you rascals have run games online. How did it work out?

Holidays Suck For Gaming/Getting Stuff in the Mail Does Not Suck

2011-11-29T21:46:00.000-06:00

The holidays have started to take their toll on gaming. My Savage Worlds game is officially on hiatus for the remainder of 2011. Sad face.

The good news... I got a copy of Loviatar #5 in the mail yesterday.

Been toying around with G+. It seems to take me an inordinate amount of time to actually get a hangout up and running. My camera doesn't want to show video until I start and stop a few times. If I can get this perfected, I'd like to run a pilot game for an old friend of mine who is not going to be back for Christmas this year.

Gah. Is it Sunday yet?

A Verdant Expanse (The Anti-Wasteland)

2011-11-27T22:58:00.000-06:00

I started drawing a campaign map a few weeks ago. I have no plans for an actual campaign, but just felt the need to do so. I draw a new map for every campaign I run, and one bad habit I get into is the compulsion to put some kind of blasted wasteland to the north or west of the land in which the characters will begin the game. Wastelands aren't bad in and of themselves, but drawing one on most of my maps is a crutch I need to get past.

So, on this map, I decided to have an anti-wasteland...instead of a place that has been rendered barren or blasted or uninhabitable by a disaster, I have added a place that is overly verdant. You could almost call it virulently fertile. The fauna and flora are mostly hostile to demihumankind, and they are unlike any of the flora or fauna found anywhere else in the campaign world...although this is a fantasy setting, the lifeforms in this verdant expanse still seem "unnatural" to this world's ecologies. Plants might have animal characteristics, be mobile, be covered in eyes, etc. Animals are bizarre hybridizations of mammal and insect, land and sea life, or simply take some shape completely unfamiliar to the campaign world.

The PCs can get involved in numerous ways: they might have to cross through the Verdant Expanse to reach an otherwise unreachable place. (Or perhaps they are pressed for time and do not have the luxury of a lengthier course that bypasses this area) Alchemists, wizards, and sages might pay handsomely for specimens (living or dead) from within.

There is also, of course, the possibility that the Verdant Expanse is growing, swallowing up the land around it in its alien fronds. If something is not found to stem the growth, civilized lands may be in danger in a few years...or months...
For that matter, the Expanse might have grown over some important structure the PCs need to enter or retrieve something from.

Druids and rangers find that the lifeforms from within the Expanse are resistant, perhaps immune, to their usual abilities to control/soothe/influence/command/summon plants and animals. Perhaps the Verdant expanse is home to alien druids of some unknown species, or simply human or demihuman druids who seem to have gone mad or feral.

The DM may wish to assign some kind of good qualities to the otherwise exceedingly dangerous swath of otherworldly growth. Maybe fruits or other edible objects from within can sustain a normal man far longer than ordinary food. Maybe any natural healing done within the Expanse is doubled. Perhaps the plants can be used to make potent medicines or poisons, curing that which previously could not be cured by anything short of magic.

This was equal parts inspired by the Chtorr books, which I have never actually read but intend to one day, the last level of the SNES game Xardion, a dream I once had about my garden getting monstrously out of control, and my desire to do something opposite of my usual Obligatory Fantasy Wasteland.

All Gaming Weekend

2011-11-27T11:02:00.000-06:00

Yes, last night was one of *those* sessions. The offered job or quest doesn't hook the PCs. The PCs don't get along with the NPCs and do not want to cooperate with them. Random encounters go badly and drag on.

As one of the participating players, I feel bad for the GM. At the same time, I was ready to rip my own hair out with how frustrated I was.

Luckily, the GM came up with a different idea mid-session and the rest of the game was actually pretty fun, minus a series of die rolls that lead me to believe I must have been a puppy-stomping orphanage-arsonist in a past life, and my karma bill had come due.

I've had my share of rough sessions as a GM. They happen to everyone. She stuck with it and made an admirable recovery.

One interesting thing about this game is that the players have gone into a complete role-reversal with respect to the characters they made. Josh, who is usually our death dealing combat guru, made an AI who is an expert in many computer and technical fields, but barely knows which way to point the laser pistol. He spent most of the session's big combat hiding, after having hacked the station security systems to preclude interference from the authorities. (Odd, sounds like the character I ought to be playing. The other two players made death dealing warrior characters (well, I dealt death when I could actually hit, that is.) Instead of my usual good guy or cynical-bastard-with-a-heart-of-gold, I am playing a shameless, whimsical, debauched libertine who just happens to be a professional killer. This will shake our group out of its usual dynamic of play.

Today we play Josh's Deadlands. Yeeee-hawwww.

Play What You Roll

2011-11-25T20:50:00.001-06:00

Mindy is starting up a game of Stars Without Number, as Mike may need to take a hiatus from running his Viking game. (And even if he doesn't, it will be handy to have a back up game for when neither of the main games can run)

Man, I rolled some crap-ass stats.

My character's stats don't really jibe with what I wanted to do, but I am a big believer in playing what you roll. There will be other games and other characters.

Luckily, SWN has pretty muted ability bonuses/penalties, so this character is pretty playable. I was also able to massage the stats into two workable characters:

1. Grolag, a hochog warrior. Having just left his nomadic clan to see the galaxy, he's hoping to find something worth fighting for besides credits. His clan leaders know he will eventually grow out of this youthful enthusiasm and rejoin the clan... or he'll wind up dead over some lost cause.

2. Feen Yisoo, a qotah warrior. Feen's flock served as a secretive guild of assassins and spies. Being headstrong and sometimes not very bright, Feen killed the wrong alien dignitary and was exiled by his flock. He wanders across the galaxy, selling his services. He's a carefree, happy-go-lucky libertine who just happens to be a merciless professional killer.

Even when I have character creation hiccups like this, (I had initially envisioned playing a human engineering expert with a naval background) I always find some way to make it work. Truth be told, I prefer random character creation to point buy. When I have to build a character, especially in an open point buy like GURPS or Shadowrun 4th edition, I spin my tires endlessly and usually end up making a character that I like on paper but am miserable playing in the game. With random character creation, my chronic "character creation indecision" is partially taken out of the equation. I have a lot more fun filling in the holes with my imagination than having every single point allocated for maximum efficiency.

I look forward to a fun weekend of gaming.

Sunday Gaming, et al.

2011-11-20T22:26:00.000-06:00

Today we ran Josh's Deadlands with a bit of a skeleton crew. Savage Worlds seems to be a feast or famine system...it seems that your character is either kicking serious ass or is failing miserably and eating dust. It also seems that you can go from one to the other pretty much at random. In a way, it kind of reminds me of playing Talisman in how quickly your fortunes can reverse. Still, I do like Savage Worlds and I like our Deadlands game.

Mindy got herself a copy of Stars Without Number "deluxe" edition (the hard cover from Mongoose0 and I find myself green with envy. Mindy has decided to do a hybrid of Stars Without Number and her own Rebel Worlds setting. (SWN for the rules, with all the flavor stuff converted from RW... of course, RW itself is a bizarre mishmash of Traveller and a a bunch of other stuff, but I digress...) I had originally wanted to play an AI using the new rules, but I think Josh has his heart set on it, so I think my ambitions move to playing a Qotah. (Which Mindy apparently totally guessed that I would. Am I that transparent?) I will probably play an Expert, as straight up combat characters really aren't my style.

***
I was paging through my True20 book last night out of curiosity. I picked the book up for a song some time back and always thought my wife might like it, since she likes d20. Looking it up online, I was surprised to learn that Green Ronin has discontinued the line and is currently selling all their remaining T20 books at clearance prices.

...on second thought, I guess that isn't really all that surprising. The d20 craze is long over, and it seems that Pathfinder has firmly claimed that throne. I think T20 came too late to a greatly divided field.

***
My wife has been asking me to run a one-off Little Fears game for her and her best friend. They have suggested that I do this on Black Friday, since our only shopping destination will likely be the used book store. The Sunday group is considering an extra session that weekend as well, so I could be looking at gaming up to four times during the course of my break. Holler.

***

I need to stop looking at the traffice sources to this blog. Sometimes I get a little creeped out by where my traffic is coming from. Online paranoia is the reason I nuked my fb account. I already pulled my photo off of this blog; some days I want to change my display name to Slappy McGillacuddy or something.

No Level Up?

2011-11-16T01:00:00.001-06:00

After fiddling around with Traveller on Sunday, a few blogs I frequent coincidentally mentioned the game in the past couple of days. Over at Lamentations, Crazy Jim considers axing the level advancement system from his game in the distant future. He considers classic Traveller's approach to character advancement: none.

You made your character. Your character is done. All that remains is to play the game. Your character might amass fortune, ships, equipment, and all that... but his skills aren't going to increase incrementally, nor are his stats going to gradually increase.

Part of Traveller's approach, I think, stems from the fact that starting characters have already completed one or more careers. Compare this to the default starting ages of AD&D 1st edition, where most characters were little more than teenagers who were just beginning their careers.

Ah, but I digress. Here's my question: is playing the game rewarding enough that you would do it without explicit advancement? If you didn't have little xp awards dangled on every little thing, if you didn't have the prospect of someday being able to fight a giant in single combat and win on the volume of your hit points and your hti probability, if you didn't get skill points and feats and spells at predetermined intervals, would you still find the game rewarding?

Think about it... advancement in the games, as they are often played, means relatively little except for scale. Your first level fighter is going to be swinging a normal longsword and fighting goblins and rats while dodging arrow traps. An ogre is a truly frightening encounter.
Your fifth level fighter has a sword +1 and fights bugbears and ogres, maybe some dire rats. He dodges falling rock traps. A hill giant is a frightening encounter.
Your fifteenth level fighter has a sword +4 and he fights hill giants all the time. He only worries when the purple worms and ancient red dragons show up. He dodges disintegration ray traps.
In almost every game I've ever played in, the bad guys and the world scale up with the players. The number gets bigger, even if game play stays fundamentally the same.

The "E6" and "E8" mods of d20/3.5 (originally posted on EN World) and the "Holmes basic as complete game" idea that I've seen floated around this corner of the internet present an intriguing middle ground: limited advancement. You can gain only a very limited number of experience levels. Imagine a world where 3rd or 6th level was as high as you could get. In such a world, a hill giant just isn't something a mortal man can fight in a head on combat, nor is a dragon. These foes require a cunning plan, a clever trap, or an army... mortal wizards are incapable of of higher level magic, though perhaps it could be found on scrolls. (This strikes me as especially Vancian)

In the end, a change like that might be too radical for a lot of gamers to handle. I have to admit I only like the idea in theory myself. It does make me think about playing RIFTS under Mindy, though. In RIFTS, experience levels mean very little. You get a d6 hit points (worthless in a game where Mega Damage abounds) and a few percentage points tacked on to your mostly vestigial skills. Every couple of levels you might get a +1 to hit or damage, but for the most part, everything cool you can do you do at level 1. (There are exceptions and I am oversimplifying this, but for me to say character advancement is very front-loaded in RIFTS is not an exaggeration) I loved the hell out of Mindy's game, even if my only reward was to get 3% better at cyber-surgery and to go from being instantly killable by 1 point of Mega Damage to being still instantly killable by one point of Mega-Damage... it was the advancement of the characters in non-mechanical ways that was most interesting to me, and the way we developed the world around us.

Just something to think about.

RIFTS Gold Edition

2011-11-15T11:41:00.000-06:00

I have this weird urge to collect gaming books... even things I'll never play. I have a copy of AEON because it was before MTV made White Wolf change the game's name to Trinity. I have a copy of Nightspawn before Todd Macfarlane kicked up a stink and made them change it to Nightbane, etc.

Now I have RIFTS Gold Edition, one of only 600 printed, and a bizarre continuation of my dysfunctional, why-do-you-make-me-hurt-you relationship I have with the game.

My very first impression is that, despite being 50 pages shorter than the current RIFTS Ultimate Edition (hereafter referred to with the strangely appropriate acronym of RUE), Gold Edition manages to be a better game book by orders of magnitude. Some highlights Gold has over RUE:

1. Better organized (well, for Palladium, anyway) Character classes follow the character creation rules, as opposed to RUE, whic has the character classes on pages 53-158 and 231-237, then starts character creation on page 279.

2. Skill List- bottom of one page and top of another; about a full page worth of skills. RUE has a full two page spread of skills, including such vital abilities as Breed Dogs, Medicinal Brewing, and Recycle.

3. Gold Edition has a bestiary. It is anemic at best, but at least it has one. Includes Coalition bad guys ready to fight, a couple of monsters, dinosaurs, and a table you can use to roll up weird monsters that might be found on RIFTS Earth.

4. Everyone tends to have fewer attacks per round, and armor seems to have less MDC. This makes combat less of an endlessly dragging morass.

...and you know, that's really all it takes. There are other things I like quite a bit in terms of game-ability and others that are purely nostalgia... but if I ever take leave of my senses entirely and run me some RIFTS, I will be using Gold Edition.

(I understand that Gold Edition is the same game as pre-RUE RIFTS, but the limited edition just gives it that holier-than-thou vibe I need to feel validated.)

Mega-Damage, bitches.

DFD Take 2, Traveller False Start, and My Ultimate Lapse into Madness

2011-11-13T22:56:00.000-06:00

I ran Death Frost Doom for my Sunday group. Everybody died. They did get about as good of an ending as you can get for that module, but they didn't much care for it. I am disinclined to run any Lamentations/Raggi stuff for them in the future, because they seem to prefer their D&D a bit more...I don't know...traditional? Straight-forward? I'm not exactly sure how to word what I mean, but I don't think they dig on weird, nihilistic D&D.

We also rolled up Traveller characters...well, actually...I taught Mindy how to roll up a Traveller character with an example, then I helped Elias roll up a character. I rolled stats for mine but didn't get much farther than that. Mike, who has admitted that he doesn't really like space games, really did not dig on Traveller's character generation system and decided to give character creation a pass. In the end, Mindy actually started leaning toward using Stars Without Number for when she next takes the GM seat. We ended up making Elias a SWN character, which took about a fifth of the time that the Traveller character did, and I think Elias liked his SWN character better, since he could pick his class and skills instead of having to roll for them.

I gotta be honest: I would much rather play SWN, even using Traveller's setting (or Mindy's strange hybrid Rebel World setting), but I really hope Mindy runs the system that she prefers... nobody will have fun if the GM isn't running something she's excited about. I will tow the party line.

At any rate, Mindy isn't running in the immediate future...Mike is continuing his Viking AD&D game, and Josh is continuing Deadlands part III next weekend.

...and finally...

Earlier in the year, I blogged about finding a copy of RIFTS Gold Edition at the used bookstore. They put it in the rare book section, not the gaming section. They wanted fifty bucks for it. I swore I would never pay that much.
Well, then they recently marked it down to thirty.
Then, they sent me a coupon for 50% off one item, good today only.
So...I bought it. I kept my vow in that I did not pay fifty bucks for it, I think it was $16.05 with taxes.
My journey to the Dark Side is finally complete.

RIFTS Gold Edition will get its own post, but another day. I need to get to bed so I can teach some Shakespeare tomorrow.

Subbing

2011-11-13T01:07:00.000-06:00

My Deadlands GM is out of town this weekend, and another one of our Sunday crew is also unavailable, so we have decided to suspend the regular game for this week. I offered to step in and run a one-off for the Sunday crew. I haven't run anything for them since SWN last summer, which I quit when I had my Epic Burnout.

I'm trying to decide between:
1. Death Frost Doom
2. The Spire of Iron and Crystal
3. The Temple of Zirugar (my own ongoing convention module)
4. The SWN adventure in the back of Polychrome
5. The Grinding Gear

I've got about thirteen hours to decide. I have read all these modules, but I've only run the two Raggi one and Zirugar.

In the words of Meatloaf: lemme sleep on it, I'll give ya an answer in the mornin'.

Tarrying

2011-11-10T22:01:00.000-06:00

This last week I received a copy of Loviatar #4, compliments of Christian.
Thanks, bro. I really dig on the dead-giant-as-dungeon map, and the Xplorers adventure is easily converted to Stars Without Number. I haven't had time to do much more than skim it.

I received my print copy of Darkness Visible, the latest sourcebook for Stars Without Number. I haven't had time to read that, either.

Steampunk game didn't run this Tuesday. Deadlands isn't running this Sunday, but Mike is stepping up with an extra session of his Viking AD&D game. I was secretly planning to jump in with Death Frost Doom if it looked like nobody was going to run this weekend. Nobody in the Sunday group has played DFD except for Josh, and he is out of town this weekend. (Hence the Deadlands cancellation)

The Holidaze are descending on us. They are simultaneously awesome for me (because I'm a teacher and I get a ton of time off) and also a source of frustration. (Only two of my gaming friends are also teachers...and neither of them will be in town over the breaks) Most gaming groups seem to shut down mostly, if not totally, during November and December. Luckily, the Sunday group seems determined to stay the course, and two of the three Savage Worlds players live under the same roof as I do.

I have had this nagging urge to create a new D&D campaign lately. I've doodled some things in notebooks, but I find it all vaguely unsatisfying...the urge continues to rattle around. Of course, I've got zero time and no players to run it... so perhaps it's best left as half-assed potential for now.

One of the guys at my kungfu school is starting an online Champions campaign using HERO 6th edition. I spent a chunk of my gaming time in high school playing Champions 4th edition. My kungfu homie asked me to be sort of a part-time collaborating GM for this endeavor, but... I just can't hang my brain on the HERO6 system. I have the HERO system stat block memorized like some kind of perverse mantra, despite having not played it in years. I remember the point costs for all the stats and for many of the powers. HERO6 changes all the costs and does away with a lot of the formulas. Also, the first volume of the core rulebook (yes, the first volume) is 450 goddamn pages. I will gladly give my buddy ideas and let him bounce his ideas off me.

Looking forward to getting my Viking on this weekend.

Thoughts from the Used Bookstore

2011-11-04T22:57:00.000-05:00

Notes from the used bookstore today:

-RIFTS Gold Edition is now down to $30. I still won't pay that much for it, but in two weeks I will have a 50% off coupon...and I might just pay $15 for it.

-Those two copies of Terra Primate are now down to $7 and $5. I still think the cheaper one looks like it is in better shape. I also still can't make myself buy an rpg about talking apes, even at $5...

-The Macross II stuff all fell in price. I bought the first book of deck plans, because it was less than five bucks and the current Palladium Robotech rpg doesn't have rules for spaceship combat unless you buy the deluxe version...le sigh...

-RIFTS GM screen, which perhaps the most random assortment of info ever collected on a GM screen...but still, for less than two bucks, whaddaya want? I bought it.

-I saw Fighter's Challenge, one of a series of class-based solo adventures for 2nd edition. I was sure I had them all. I just checked and Fighter's Challenge is the only one I don't have. I guess I'll pick it up next time I'm there.

-Reverse Dungeon was there. I've always kind of wanted to play it. I might grab it when my coupons go active.

Little Fears, How I Miss Thee

2011-10-31T23:06:00.000-05:00

I realized that this is the third year in a row I have failed to run Little Fears on Halloween. This makes me melancholy.

Jason Blair was good enough to send me a free PDF of the newer edition of Little Fears back in 2009. I regret that I have yet to run it. It was the first time I ever got anything free on account of being a blogger.

I think I'm going to reread the PDF this weekend. I don't have to run it on Halloween...it could make a good stand-by for when the regular Tuesday night session isn't going to run. (Like it won't be this Tuesday...le sigh)

It seems that LF was one of the free Halloween goodies that drivethrurpg gave away in their holiday promotion. If you got a free PDF of Little Fears, give it a read. It's well worth it.

...but I know what I like...

2011-10-31T22:39:00.000-05:00

There seems to be a recent cavalcade of bitchiness regarding art.

I'm going to focus on something positive about gaming art, inspired by both another blog post and a quick leafing through of an AD&D book this evening:

I love Larry Elmore.I have loved his work since I was in 5th grade, even though it would be years before I knew all those pieces I loved were by the same artist, or even what that artist's name was.

I love Larry Elmore's luxurious, full page art that can be found scattered through 2nd edtion AD&D and 4th Edition Gamma World. (That is, the actual 4th edition of Gamma World, not the Gamma World 4E that is based on D&D 4E)

It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the man illustrated the best years of my childhood.

I'm not saying he's the greatest artist of All Time Ever Forever, or that he's better than whatever gaming artist you like; I'm just saying that his work captured my imagination at a young age, and that for a long time, his stuff was what D&D looked like in my head.

Another Nerdy Week

2011-10-30T23:09:00.000-05:00

This last week, someone actually bought my Rolemaster boxed set. I managed to get more than twice what I originally paid for it, and I am no longer tormented by visions of charts and invisible turtles tripping up characters.

I think I'm going to spend the cash on gaming stuff. First off, the new Stars Without Number supplement. I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of it, as I need another rpg product like I need a tape worm.

I found a couple of RIFTS World books for two dollars apiece at the used bookstore, and since I have this insane refusal to give up on RIFTS, I bought them. There were a bunch of old issues of The Rifter, but I passed on them. I also passed on a copy of the HERO System, 4th edition.

...but why clearance the RIFTS books when those two copies of Terra Primate are still there? That copy of RIFTS Gold is there, as well... I thought someone had bought it, but I must have just overlooked it on the shelf...or perhaps someone bought it and sold it back. Maybe if I just keep loving RIFTS it will stop hurting me.

The used bookstore has also caught on to the idea of internet nostalgia profiteering, so even though they have more Rolemaster boxed sets, they have more than doubled the price that they used to charge.

...for the record, I have decided that my Shadowrun-to-SWN conversion is done. I don't need to do the Bestiary; most of the monsters from D&D work just fine. If you need something that isn't in there, build it with the simple SWN xenoform chart. Bada bing. I'm not sure if I'll post the whole collected thing, as I don't think anyone on this Earth is remotely interested in it but me. It can be found using the tags on my blog for the time being.

Meanwhile, one of my colleagues told me that her husband and his gaming group converted Shadowrun to HERO System, 5th edition. I'd love to see how that works out. If their gaming sessions didn't conflict with my martial arts training, I'd ask to sit in on a session.

We started Part III of Josh's Deadlands game today. Our characters have become quite powerful, seemingly very suddenly. We will now alternate Josh's Deadlands with Mike's Viking-esque AD&D game for the foreseeable future.

I've found some excellent house rules for D&D/AD&D floating around Blogaria and the internet in general these last couple of days. One of them I even printed out and had Nathan make into a little booklet for me. I'll have to promote them this week. (Note to self!) I must truncate this post because I require sleep.

Game on, blog buddies.

To Wiki or Not to Wiki

2011-10-23T23:31:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the reconvening of my Tuesday Savage Worlds game, I have updated the campaign wiki, including lots of linkage. I'm not sure if this is something I have the tenacity to stick with, but I have at least one player (who actually set it up to begin with) that can help me add just a little bit of info this week. I'm not sure if I'll share the link here or not... for now it's really more of a private resource. Someone was looking for it, though, if my blog stats tell me correctly.

Part of me wishes I had used something gaming-focused, perhaps something that would allow me to post GM-only information, like perhaps clues that they haven't discovered or secrets about an NPC... but most of that information should live in my head, right? Also, it's not like I'm going to need game stats when I'm in front of my computer... so those I can keep rocking in the notebook like I always do. It seems kind of counterproductive to have a secret side of the wiki that only one person is going to see... so I think for now I'll stick to the purely informational wiki. ("Fluff", as we gamers sometimes call it)

I seem to recall someone around this corner of Blogaria having a campaign wiki or something like that, but I can't remember who right now...or what it was even for...

Anyway... a few other thoughts before I turn in for the night:

I've been thinking over AD&D 1e lately. I found some interesting house rules over at Dragonsfoot that I might post about when I don't have to get up in six hours. I've also been thinking about the multi-classed fighter, which has been kind of a point of contention in our group.

I hate Mondays. Game on, my friends, and may your week pass swiftly.

Scattered Games

2011-10-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

I joined my Sunday group in June of last year. Since then, we have played, in no particular order:

-RIFTS (two different GMs/campaigns)
-Rebel Worlds (A homebrewed version of Traveller with some Savage Worlds, RIFTS, and even Star Wars thrown in)
-Deadlands (two legs of a campaign, with a third leg starting up in a couple weeks)
-Stars Without Number
-Two different AD&D campaigns (with different DMs)
-Shadowrun (4th edition, then converted to 2nd edition)

...that's eight different campaigns in the space of about 16 months, meaning each game gets around two months in the sun before it gets shelved. We are typically playing two campaigns at the same time, alternating them every Sunday.

I enjoy the variety, but I miss the stability of running or playing in something that goes on for awhile. Deadlands is the closest thing I've got right now; the game has probably run for the longest length of time of anything we've done with the Sunday group, though the sections of the campaign haven't run consecutively. It's supposed to start up again at the end of the month, replacing Mindy's AD&D game. Also, I think Mindy is planning on starting up some classic Traveller next time she is in the driver's seat, rather than continuing this current game.

I've bowed out of the Sunday group GM's chair (my "time in the mill", as the group calls it) until summer vacation; I just don't have the time/energy/sanity to run a second game right now.

Gaming Stores: See You at the Crossroads

2011-10-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

I was blog surfing tonight when I came across an old post at RPGDiehard about gaming stores in Columbia, Missouri. My dear childhood friend, Evanne, moved there while we were still in high school. I visited her a few times while she lived there, and on one visit we spent some time at The Danger Room...it was the summer of 1998 and it was the day I discovered Steve Jackson's In Nomine, an rpg that I would brood over for months before buying a copy and Playing the Hell Out of It (no pun intended) for the rest of my high school days. I was sorry to read that The Danger Room closed up shop early last decade.

With that in mind, I just wanted to pour out a virtual forty for all the gaming stores that I used to frequent that didn't make it.

This one is for Spellbound Books and Games, where I read my first 'zine and bought my first miniatures. It was my gaming store from fifth grade until about halfway through college, even when they moved from right by my high school to snooty south Lincoln.

For Comic World, where I played Call of Cthulhu for the first time.

For Hobby Town USA in Eastpark Plaza, where I bought my first issue of Dragon Magazine and tried my hand at a public game room for the first time.

For Cosmic Comics, which my mom could never pronounce correctly. ("If you're good, we'll go to Cosmic Cosmics!")This was where I got my first big boxed set.

For FantasyQuest, for having a sweet ass sign, even if I never actually bought a book there...

For the place whose name I can't even remember, that nobody remembers but me, located somewhere in Havelock. They had an X-Men vs. Street Fighter arcade machine and a bitchin' Shadowrun 3rd edition wall scroll. This was the place where I first read Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

For Anarchy Comics, the first place where I ever felt like a gaming hipster. (Not necessarily a good thing, but a formative experience, nonetheless)

Maybe it was Amazon, maybe it was the industry crash in the late 90's or early 00's or whenever... maybe it was just the dawn of a different time.

...and I say carry on to the places that still manage to hang in there: Dragon's Lair, Ground Zero Hobby, Coliseum, Krypton Comics...I salute you.

Oh, and because this was too delightful for me not to mention--

Latest term used to find my blog:

"pink hairless thing with tentacles"

...first of all, why was something typing that into a search engine? Secondly, why did it take them to my blog? (I dimly recall creating something like that when I first got my copy of the Esoteric Creature generator, but that was a couple of years ago)

The Aquaman Effect

2011-10-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

If you make your character Aquaman, it is a pain in the ass for the GM to put a puddle of water in every situation just to give you something to do. He can't set an adventure in the desert. Superman in the desert is still Superman. Batman in the desert is still Batman. Aquaman in the desert is a useless chump.

If the GM is setting his campaign underwater or on the coast, you can (and maybe should) make Aquaman.

If the GM is setting his campaign in the middle of the desert or in outer space, you should consider making something else.

On the flip side: GMs, it is your responsibility to tell the players that your campaign is going to feature little to no aquatic action (or aquatic action all the damn time) well in advance.

Just sayin'.

Rangers: Totally Noobz0r?

2011-10-14T22:52:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, a student of mine who knows I play D&D asked me what character class I was currently playing. I told her that I'm playing a ranger (in Mindy's game), and she admonished me for playing a 'noob' character class.

...I thought about reminding her that I've been playing D&D literally longer than she has been alive, but thought better of it.

I also thought about asking her if any character class that originally appeared in The Strategic Review could possibly be considered new, but I'm pretty sure she would have no idea what I was talking about.

A Quick Savage House Rule

2011-10-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, players want a little bit of narrative control... they reason that their character should have access to something, be carrying something, or have a pre-established relationship with an NPC based on background and circumstance. Often, I find myself hesitant to arbitrarily say yes or no...I like a little chance.

During tonight's steampunk Savage Worlds game, a player asked if her father (a member of the upper class and a physician) could have possibly known the ailing husband of an NPC the players were trying to pump for information, thus giving them an "in" to the situation. Lots of little things come up like this.... could I know him, or could I be carrying this, etc.

In the spirit of "say yes or roll the dice," I present a simple resolution system for Savage Worlds using the deck of cards you have on hand to play. If the GM thinks the situation is feasible, let the player draw. Obviously, questions like "can my dad be Emperor of the universe?" or whatnot can be ignored by the GM.

Draw a card from the initiative deck. Look at the suite.

Spades: The circumstance works in your favor.
Hearts: The circumstance works in your favor, but only if you spend a bennie.
Diamonds: Sorry, better luck next time.
Clubs: Doesn't work out, and a Complication is introduced.

Optional: If a Joker is drawn, the situation is extremely advantageous for the player, but also carries an interesting Complication.

I will allow players to spend bennies to re-draw in any event except a Joker; draw a Joker and fate has your number today...

I think I'm also going to work out a simple random encounter system using the deck of cards. We'll see about piloting that next week.

...oh, and on the subject of my Savage Worlds game: my players gushed over my ability to "be" several different characters. They really love one of my NPCs. One of them told me that I should act. (She's in theatre professionally, so I take this as high compliment!) Savage Worlds continues to go extremely well, though I need to keep up with editing the campaign wiki.

T&T Afficionados, I Implore You!

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

This is an entirely theoretical question.

Which is better? (and yes, I understand just how much of a loaded question that is)

1. Tunnels and Trolls, edition 5.5
2. Tunnels and Trolls, edition 7.5
3. Lances and Labyrinths

...and, most importantly, why?

The Glitterboy Effect

2011-10-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today we played Mike's viking-themed AD&D 2nd edition game.
As we've been playing this game, I've noticed something that I call "The Glitterboy Effect."

Let me interject here that character creation in Mike's game is point-buy, and that I am the only person in the group who doesn't have 18 strength. Characters who drop 18 in strength were previously allowed to roll their exceptional strength randomly. This has also been changed; now Mike charges an additional point for every 10 points of percentile strength, but characters made under the original rules are grandfather claused.

During combat, if my character hits, he does usually 5-8 points of damage with his broadsword. Other characters in the party, particularly our strength 18/93 specialized two weapon fighter, dish out damage in the 20's or 30's each round.
We had another PC who threw a dagger for 13 damage. That's more from her dagger than I can possibly do with my broadsword in one round.

Mike, our intrepid GM, has us fighting twenty orcs at a time. We also tangled with seven 4 Hit Die wolves and a pack of boars that are able to dish our a dozen damage on a good hit. We are first level. (At least, we were at the start of the session today) I think I dropped into negative hit points three times.

We have here what I call the Glitterboy Effect. If you're not familiar with RIFTS, here's the deal...in the same party in RIFTS you can have: a guy in a huge robot powersuit (Glitterboy), a guy with science skills (Rogue Scientist), a D&D style thief with tech skills (City Rat), and a guy with low level magic and psi (Mystic)
The scientist has a sidearm that does 2d6 damage. The Glitterboy has a cannon that does 3d6x100.

The GM has a difficult time creating combats. Any foes that will challenge the Glitterboy will make mulch out of the other characters. Any enemies that would prove challenging to the other three are instantly blasted out of existence by the Glitterboy. Yes, I know combat isn't the point of the other three classes. Yes, I know there will be certain situations where the ability to read makes the Rogue Scientist the hero of the story. A foe who can be dealt with my magic can only be defeated by the Mystic. Yes, yes yes....but what about run-of-the-mill combat? What about when the party gets ambushed or surprised by a random encounter?

I've blogged about this before, but the solution continues to elude me. I know Mike is also challenged by the power levels of the characters. He wants to make things challenging for the mighty warriors in the party, but at the same time, I often feel my character is completely out of his league in any combat we enter. Our poor cleric seems to be in the same boat.

Mike has tuned up the experience in the game as well. I started 1st level today, and I ended the session 3rd. I am a stone's throw from 4th and will certainly level next time.

I also had the chance to skim the original slim little Traveller books at Mindy's today. My experience running Traveller (Mongoose edition) left me with a sour taste for the game, but it appears that the older iterations might have curbed some of my problems with the game.

...hmm, me liking an older version of a game better. Imagine that!

More on Traveller some other time when I don't have to get up in six and a half hours.

My First Campaign Wiki

2011-10-05T16:00:00.003-05:00

My all-ladies Savage Worlds game is running tonight night this week, rather than Tuesday. I'm very pleased with how well it is going. Unfortunately for my non-check gamer pals (and also Mindy, who is actually not in the all-ladies game), this drastically reduces the chances that I will be running anything else for the foreseeable future. Between lesson planning that often spills into my evenings, martial arts training, sponsoring a school club, trying to spend time with the missus, the Savage Worlds game, and all of the Star Trek TV shows now on Netflix streaming....I just don't think I've got the energy or the time for another enterprise. (Ooooooh, see what I did there?!) As much as I year to get some classic D&D, Stars Without Number, or OpenQuest going... man, why can't there be more hours in a day?

We have decided to embrace technology (somewhat ironic, given the genre) and maintain a campaign wiki. I noticed that, being a game about investigation, the PCs seem to visit a large number of places, talk to a large number of NPCs, and uncover lots of different clues and pieces of evidence. At the rate they were going only two sessions in, I realized that the sheer amount of campaign information being generated both at the table and outside was going to quickly grow to be unmanageable. While Stasia, one of the players, heroically tries to record all information in her handy little notebook, we run the risk of too many little details getting lost in the flow of the game. I also find that the wiki is helpful for recording world lore and campaign details that the players can read up on at their leisure; this way the players can get briefed on things their characters would probably know about the world and setting without me having to do a lot of time-consuming exposition during play.

Will I keep up with it? I'm not sure. I find it is a very helpful platform for keeping track of what gamers sometimes call "fluff." Because it is a collaborative effort 'twixt me and the players, I have to keep the wiki devoid of any stat blocks or other crunchiness.

For the time being, it is an interesting experiment. I don't foresee myself doing this for any other campaign...the nature of this one just seems to lend itself to the medium.

The Other Side of the Screen

2011-10-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I didn't go to Sunday gaming.
Toward the end of the night, I was feeling better, so Mike suggested having me join via Skype. Back when I ran AD&D 1st edition in 2009, I had a player who played via Skype, and most of the time it worked fine.

Tonight was a different story.

With the TV going upstairs, crappy video quality, and watery sound, I really didn't get much out of the session. I think I killed an orc at some point, but to be honest I'm not entirely sure. I'm not sure why it was so sub-par for me when Kurt was not only able to participate, but was often the de facto leader of the party in my game. Sure, we had some nights where technical difficulties were rampant, but they were the exception rather than the rule.

I tried to experiment with the Hangout function on GPlus last night, but nobody was around. It took me a long time just to get picture and sound going.

Yes, all this wonderful social technology aside, I think face to face 'round the table is really the way to go.

Anyone else care to share their distance gaming experiences?

Combat in The Secret Fire: Am I Missing Something?

2011-10-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

Damage in TSF is a bit of a hybrid between D&D-style hit points and old White Wolf-style health levels.

A character has a number of health tracks, starting at Grazed and going down to At Death's Door. A character's Stamina determines how many points he can suffer on each track before dropping down to the next one. For instance, if you have Stamina 4, a blow for five points of damage fills up all your Grazed boxes and checks off one of your Hurt boxes.

Damage from weapons in TSF is reduced by the armor you wear. If I hit you for six damage and you have two points of armor, you take four damage. If you're the fighter above, I just filled up your Grazed track, and further damage will Hurt you.

My concern is that everything essentially has quadruple its' Stamina in hit points. A goblin, with Stamina 2, effectively has 8 hit points. Goblins in plain ol' D&D have 1-8 (1-7 in some versions, I think...)

A Minotaur has 12 Stamina and 9 points of armor.
Jesus god.

My concern with this game is that combat will draaaaaaag on.
You all know how much I love long combat in games. (Especially RIFTS)

Has anyone actually tried out the combat system? Just curious.

The Gears Keep Turning

2011-09-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

I ran my all-ladies (well, excepting me, of course) game last night. We played for about two and a half hours. (The sessions with this group must be shorter, because it's on a week night and everyone has work the next morning.) This group is pretty dialogue/roleplay intensive; it was an hour into the game before anyone even made a roll of the dice. We had no combat this session, and in fact only one combat the entire campaign thus far. (Admittedly it has been a pretty brief campaign)

My players complimented me once again on my distinctive voices. I was pretty pleased with my ability to react to their avenues of investigation. There were a few clues and even an entire lead I dreamed up on the fly, because in investigation-oriented game, I prefer to accommodate the PCs lines of inquiry, rather than make them "click around" until they chance upon what they are "supposed" to.

The game is going well, and I look forward to next week's game.

Finally, a brief "wtf" moment for me: I have started teaching an afterschool program at an elementary school near the high school where I teach. (Though I am home sick today) I was assigned a small class of fifth and sixth graders. Yesterday as they were completing their math homework, one of them was talking about playing Grand Theft Auto. I asked, "Aren't you a little young for a game about killing and stealing? How old are you?"
"Ten," he replied.
I then realized that I was playing Dungeons & Dragons at his age, a game that features killing and looting quite prominently...

Oh, and One More Thing...

2011-09-26T23:42:00.000-05:00

Latest term used to find my blog:
"how to fix the rifts rules."

My only response to you, wayward internet soul, is a Rage Against the Machine lyric:

There be no shelter here

Someday. Someday I will untangle this gawdawful mess if it costs me my very faculties...

Goin' Muddin'

2011-09-26T19:19:00.000-05:00

This weekend, I thought I was going to be unable to make my Sunday game. (Turns out I was able, though I was a couple hours late) Facing a week with no gaming, I decided to enter the stygian underworld of MUDs, a throwback from my junior high school days when the Internet was new and shiny and sort of barren...

I found a free MUD and created a new character. I quickly found that this MUD has the same issue I had with most MUDs back in the day, which is that it is a harsh, unforgiving world where you must spend your first few levels killing gophers, bumblebees, and old ladies in the park. Seriously. The most powerful opponent that my nascent character has been able to best is a "young man." He was minding his own business in the park until I murdered him for sweet, sweet xp. After obtaining enough to level, I wandered randomly around the perfectly square shaped city until I was finally able to stumble across the Fighter's Guild so that I could gain 2nd level. As far as I can tell, there are no maps to the Fighter's Guild. The game is also nearly deserted, so there isn't anyone to ask, either. On the rare occasion that I run into another player, they are either "linkdead" and non-responsive or they have nothing to say because they are trying to kill all the gophers before I can kill them.

I first tried to bypass this dismal existence of sociopathy, but the areas outside of town are totally unsurvivable for a beginning character.

To me, MUDs embody what happens when a sandbox goes wrong; players stumble around in listless confusion, taking their boredom and frustration out on whatever they happen across. (Unless that thing is too powerful, of course...I tried to throw down with an undertaker in a library and he laid me out...back to picking on small animals and the elderly)

I'm actually playing the game as I write this blog entry. I click over every now and again to make sure I'm not getting schooled by a duck or a young woman who was feeding the pigeons.

...damnation, I know there are brigands in the forest. How much longer do I have to endure this bullshit before I can go on something resembling an adventure?

Wasting an Afternoon on the Puzzles in The Secret Fire

2011-09-24T17:31:00.000-05:00

I love a good puzzle, but I'm afraid this book might be too much for me. I'm also immensely frustrated from the past week at work, and I'm in sort of a crabby mood, so my puzzle solving acumen might not be up to snuff at the moment. Some scattered thoughts:

On page 307 is located a cypher. I can't seem to translate the passages on the front page using the cipher, because I know that the Greek letters don't totally map to English. One word I seemed to be able to translate is Stilico, who turns out to be some kind of general from antiquity.

I've solved some of the number puzzles, but I don't know what to do with the answers.

Some of the illustrations are coded with letters that can be deciphered from page 307. The last four in the book are NTSG, I think. Not sure what the letter codes have to do with the answers or the puzzles.

Certain illustrations are repeated throughout the book.

The artwork seems to have a rather morbid repeated theme of severed, often skeletal, heads.

A small symbol appears on certain page numbers. It never appears after page 208.

The book features several instances of magic squares.

I don't know. I've seen other bloggers mention the puzzles, but so far as I can tell, nobody has taken a serious crack at them.

I also have a question about how damage works, but given how likely I am to ever actually run this game....it's probably not vital that I get it answered.

I end this note with a little "gaming gallows humor" from my friend Glenn, whose gaming wisdom I have oft quoted on this here blog:

Glenn's Second Law of Gaming Groups: You likelihood of getting to run a game is inversely proportional to your enthusiasm for it.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go back to failing at translation.

A Tiny Flicker of Validation

2011-09-20T20:54:00.002-05:00

One of the search terms used to find my blog:

"shadowrun way to {sic} complicated"

Just sayin'.

SWN/Shadowrun: Un-Reinventing the Wheel

2011-09-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

So I've been agonizing over the Matrix in my SWN to Shadowrun conversion.

Today I realized that there are perfectly serviceable rules for hacking in the SWN supplement, Polychrome. They are not as robust or complex as the SR Matrix rules, but they are simple as hell and allow the hacker (though I still prefer the term decker) to work in real-time with the team. If hacking is done on-site, it takes only 1d6 rounds... some of the things a hacker can do are quite analogous to the D&D thief, which was the sweet spot I was going for.

I think I will put my Matrix system on the shelf and simply say that if I run Shadowrun with SWN, I am going to be using those hacking rules instead.

Now, I just need cyberware and beasties and I think I have enough to run. Polychrome also solved my Wired Reflexes problem in an very elegant way: each round a character uses super reflexes, they get a second action at the end of the round. (There is essentially an extra "round" at the end of the round for wired characters) Using your wires causes a point of System Strain each time you use them, and you have to make a Tech Save or else they overheat and shut off for one hour. Perhaps you could include advanced levels of it that don't overheat, but still cause the Strain... something to simulate Wired 2 and Wired 3 without turning your game into a slogfest.

A Ponderous Misprint

2011-09-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

The AD&D 2nd edition PHB has an optional table for weapon type vs. AC. While not nearly as insane as the same table from 1st edition, I haven't known many people who have used it, if only because it is jaw-droppingly counter intuitive. The table shows modifiers to the attacker's THACO for using different weapon types (slashing, piercing, or bludgeoning) against the different armor types. This would have worked better, in my opinion, as modifiers to the attacker's to hit roll rather than THACO.

...today, when talking about the table, Mindy and I couldn't come to an agreement. I tried to explain it and she tried to explain it back, each thinking the other was clearly not grasping how this rule was to be used. Finally, she started giving off numbers that were the opposite of mine... +3 was -3. In disbelief, I compared our books... and the tables are reversed. In my book, attacking plate mail with a slashing weapon is a +3 adjustment to your THACO, which is bad and makes it harder to hit. In her book, it's listed as -3. This is the case for all modifiers: +2 in my book is -2 in hers. We have the same version of the PHB (the one with three guys on horseback riding toward you, the 1989 cover I think.) It appears the modifiers in her book are supposed to be modifiers to the actual attack roll, but the text still says they should be modifiers to THACO.

The math comes out the same, if you use her modifiers at penalties or bonuses to the attack roll. The ideas on these tables seem to line up with the modifiers from 1e (slashing weapons suck against plate armor, etc.)

Anyone else ever notice this?

Paying My Joesky Tax

2011-09-12T23:17:00.000-05:00

I owe this for my recent uncharitable thoughts. (Just the recent ones, mind you.)

Mindring

A small, irregularly shaped ring made of what appears to be purplish chitin. It does not radiate magic. If worn, the character feels a brief stinging sensation, after which he can detect magic at will. In addition, he gains infravision as a dwarf, and if he already possesses infravision, the range is doubled.
If removed, the ring will crumble to dust. If left on, it crumbles after 1d3 days, although the wearer will find that his powers remain.

After 3d4 days, the wearer can comprehend languages.
After another 2d4 days, the character has ESP, which functions up to three times per day. At this point, strange dreams of bizarre planes and distant planets begin to trouble him.
After another 1d4 days, the character gains 1d4 points of Intelligence. One axis of his alignment changes randomly, at the DM's discretion. The character becomes ill-tempered and has frequent headaches.
Finally, after a final 1d3 days, the character dies as a purple, centipede-like creature emerges from his head in the dead of night and slips away. After 2d6 days of gorging itself on the latent psychic energies of nearby creatures, it curls up into a ring-like shape and enters a torpor. It can remain in torpor for 1d4 years. If worn, it passes its eggs into the new host and dies, beginning the process described above.

While infested, a remove disease spell will grant the PC a Save vs. Rod. If successful, the parasite is expelled in a nosebleed of purple-black goo. All special powers vanish one turn thereafter.

Any sort of detection of thoughts will reveal a second set of thoughts, chattering and incomprehensible, along with the character's thoughts.

Although spell-like, none of these creatures abilities, nor any abilities it imparts on a host, are considered magical.

**This is brought to you by an immensely disturbing dream I had several years ago.

Playing AD&D

2011-09-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

We played Mindy's AD&D game tonight. Her game is sort of generic AD&D, and I say this not as a put down, but rather to clarify that it isn't any specific campaign world, and there isn't anything that deviates heavily from the basic rules of the game.

This is in contrast to Mike's game, which is going to be heavily Nordic/Viking themed. He has decided to move away from using the Hellfrost setting in lieu of something of his own (?) design.

A few thoughts...

1. We spent too much time screwing around in town. This is mostly our own fault.

2. Had a rules disagreement with the DM. A spell which was supposed to do 2d4 damage was changed to doing 1d4+1d6+1d8. The initial reason for this is that is was "more fun." Later, it was decided that the spell did more damage from being cast in an enclosed area. (Inside a dungeon room) My gripe was mostly based on the fact that, at 1st level, 2d4 is survivable by most of the party, whereas 1d4+1d6+1d8 would have killed anyone in the party but me. She did offer a saving throw, which the spell doesn't normally allow, but I refused it mainly so that we don't create crazy precedents of saving throws to spells that don't allow saving throws. I'm willing to take my licks if it means that, once we have regular access to said spell, the bad guys will be taking theirs.

3. I like Mindy's minimalist approach to races. Her version of AD&D 2nd edition gives everyone a couple of little bonuses, without getting into the whole "elves can surprise on 1-3 if they are 90 feet away or only with elves and halflings etc etc" level of racial abilities. Even humans get a few little bonuses. I have to admit I don't understand where the human bonuses come from (+1 to hit with two handed sword and quarterstaff, for some reason) but I find that it is part of the charm.

4. So far, Mindy hands out xp rather arbitrarily. We seem to receive a flat amount at the end of the session. I know that JB over at B/X Blackrazor has quite a bit to say about xp and the awarding thereof. One thing that arbitrary xp makes me want to do is avoid combat. If we're getting the same xp whether we snuff every single evil cleric in the temple, why not just sneak past them, or scare them off with magic or something? Likewise, if treasure does not generate xp, why the hell bother with the small change like copper and silver? (We use the harsh coin weights from days of yore: 10 coins weigh a pound!) I would like maybe at least a cursory breakdown of what, exactly, we got the xp for. If it's mission based, that will change the way we play. If we get bonuses for clever ideas, that will change the way we play. Josh has suggested that the rate of advancement is set, maybe enough to level the "average" classes every two or three games, since this campaign runs every other week, and since we started it kind of on a lark and haven't really determined if it is going to go on for any particular length of time. If that's the case, I'd also like to know. Heck, I'm not even sure if she's decided yet.

I do enjoy me some AD&D. Next week is the start of Mike's Viking game. At this point, I'm torn between playing a Skald or playing a Roman missionary stranded in the North. (Well, it's not really Rome, but per Mike it is essentially Rome with the serial numbers filed off.)

Game on, cats and kittens.

Those Neat Little Merit Badges

2011-09-11T12:20:00.002-05:00

I love the Merit Badges over at Strange Magic. As I thought about which ones would apply to me, I found that I had trouble deciding. I think that I try to run each of my campaigns differently. My AD&D 1st edition campagin, for instance, would have an almost entirely different set of badges than the game I ran for the missus and friends last week. I would say that the way I ran Traveller or Pathfinder would also have different badges. I think I'd find them more useful as sort of a "rating system" for a particular campaign, rather than a particular GM's stamp collection. My AD&D1 game was highly tactical, very deadly to PCs, and had both gonzo and disturbing elements. My Savage Worlds game, on the other hand, would be better described as "safe" and focuses more on character development. I think most of us actually have several different styles of GMing that we use depending on the game and the audience.

I can think of a few players I've gamed with over the years who would greatly benefit from the "Run", "Tactics", and "Investigation" badges -or lack thereof- being prominently displayed prior to the start of a campaign.

Setbacks and Victories

2011-09-10T22:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I screwed around and missed the deadline to run a game at the Very Nearby Con. I am okay with this, however, because there are enough cool things being run on Saturday (likely the only day I will be attending) that I can game from morning to night.

However, all current trivial matters of this sort are trumped by the fact that, on this day, the 10th of September, in the Year of Our Lord 2011, I have managed to rearrange my shelves such that all gaming books are presently on a shelf. Huzzah!

A Neutral Observation

2011-09-10T22:25:00.003-05:00

Fact: Nothing will kill your enthusiasm for something faster than reading about it on RPGnet. God, what a bunch of cockbags.

Edit: A valid point was made to me earlier today that not every single poster on RPGnet is, in fact, a cockbag.

To you non-cockbags, I hearby apologize.

I will contend that there are a significant number of cockbags on the site, however.
I will also contend that it is a pretty dickish thing to respond to a new gamer's enthusiasm with cynicism, sarcasm, and mockery.

To the type of 'netter who does this sort of thing, I do not apologize.

If I were that erstwhile youngster (presuming he/she is a youngster based on diction and word choice and whatnot), my first impression of gaming would be that gamers are insular assholes.

(Although I often think this anyway, and I've been in it for 20 years.)

There are some who say that our hobby is dying. I have a few theories as to why.

Recycling vs. Meaningful Choices...yet again.

2011-09-10T17:22:00.000-05:00

Thought exercise:

When you build a dungeon, you put rooms in it. You put treasures, clues, secrets, and other neat stuff. Sometimes, you make doors stuck, or locked, or otherwise difficult to open. Sometimes doors are secret or concealed.

When you do this, you create the possibility that the rooms beyond will not be explored.

Depending on your vintage and style of game, the players will often have a way to bypass your difficult doors: perhaps you play a version of the game that has a thief who can pick a lock with a lucky die roll. Perhaps the dwarf or elf or someone along in the band has a greater than average chance of detecting your hidden door or your stone block trap.

The PCs finding the hidden/difficult to open rooms hinges on several factors. Some of them involve the players thinking to look for doors or managing to find their way into this part of the dungeon. Then, it comes down to luck. Will the thief make his 15% roll? Will someone, anyone, roll a 1 on their 1-in-6 chance to find the hidden lever that opens the door? There is a possibility that the dice will simply not be in their favor.

In the case of stuck or locked doors, PCs can smash the doors down. This might create unforeseen consequences, like monsters investigating the noise, plus delayed time, which means those spells and torches and such begin to fizzle out...

If your hidden doors require the solving of a riddle or puzzle, player skill becomes more important.

What about hidden doors? There is a big chance they simply will not find them. If you require hidden doors to be found through narrative, then players not finding your hidden rooms is on them.

If you allow secret door checks, the dice may dictate that those rooms you created will never be found.

...of course, an unlucky random encounter and a cascade of bad die rolls always carried with it the possibility that your party will never see any other part of the dungeon...or, for that matter, your particular campaign.

Are you okay with this?

Do you recycle the dungeon levels or the missed rooms? Doesn't that invalidate their value as a reward? Doesn't that start us down the path to 4E's Treasure Parcels?

As folks around here are fond of saying, allowing for failure is the only way to give success meaning. Allowing for some stuff to simply never be found is the only way to have action/inaction/success/failure carry any weight.

Today, while I was cleaning out my basement, I threw away the map to the Keep of the Stone-Scream Clan, the mostly unexplored dungeon in which my Pathfinder group suffered a TPK back in June. I spent hours on that dungeon, making level after level, and the party died on the third level. If I ever give Pathfinder another go, and I decide to use the same campaign world, I have decided that the deaths of the adventuring PCs meant that the last Stone-Scream sorcerer was able to bring his demonic master into the mortal plane, and that the mountains are now an uninhabitable demi-plane of madness.

This Dumbass Rating Thingie

2011-09-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

Aight, so I took a curious gander at what my blog would be rated with that little widget y'all are using, and I got PG, and the reason I got PG is because

1. It found two instances of the word "death"
2. It found one instance of the word "ass"

...but it ignored my liberal use of other, stronger language? Did it base this off like, a random post, or my most recent post, or what?

Fie on that.

Thoughts Errant

2011-09-08T23:19:00.000-05:00

My hood, but time has been flying lately.

I haven't been working very diligently on my Shadowrun to SWN conversion, since it is unlikely to be run anytime soon. (Or possibly ever...) I am not abandoning the project, as I'd love to have a rule set to play Shadowrun with that isn't quite as wonky as Shadowrun.

I've been pouring through The Secret Fire, and while there are one or two small things I'm not really down with, I am pretty much on board with this game. In fact, I have a few friends I might want to try it out with, while also trying out this Google Plus business. I continue to be intrigued by the number puzzles, particularly the obsession with Circles of Eight, but I need to ignore it for the time being or it will consume my soul. I'm going to start seeing the number 34 everywhere.

...also, apparently The Secret Fire refers to something in Tolkien lore. I have to confess that I really don't know that much about Tolkien's cosmology, and that I like The Hobbit waaaaaaaaaay more than the Trilogy.

My kung fu bros have mentioned the idea of playing again, maybe once a month, at the school. I'd be down. We're probably talking B/X this time, with no bells or whistles. Apparently our sifu would like to try D&D, or at least learn more about it.

I ran a game for an all girl group this last week. I'm going to come right out and say this: an all girl group plays very differently than a mixed group or an all guy group. The players loved the session and I have to admit I had quite a bit of fun, too. It was the first time I've run something since the Local Con back in July, and only the 2nd time I've run something since the untimely death of my previous campaign.

I need to make my character for the Viking AD&D game. (The one that runs opposite the regular AD&D game) I sketched out an idea for a Roman-esque cleric who came to the North to spread monotheism to the heathen folk, but now he's kind of stranded there since his Empire has been sacked by barbarians. I'm also looking at playing a skald-like bard, ready to jump up on tables in mead-halls and brag about that time that his King wrestled two giants and then killed a sea monster on his way home.

....goddamn do I hate that CGI Beowulf movie...

I have until tomorrow to decide if I'm running a game at the Very Nearby Con at the end of this month. If I decide to, it will definitely be Stars Without Number, but I'm stuck between a few premises. Maybe I can come up with a synopsis that is vague enough to cover all of them, and then I'll run whichever one I can put together most easily in then next few weeks. Events I'm planning to register for include a session of Last Unicorn edition Star Trek: TNG, Werewolf: the Wild West, and possibly a game of Pathfinder. (Although not one of those organized play things, because I really hate organized play...*)

Palladium is finally putting out the New Generation sourcebook for Robotech, but apparently I'm the only gamer on Earth who liked the manga-sized sourcebooks, so they are switching back to normal size. This vexes me, because now my set will be asymmetrical. (What? Palladium did something that irritates me?!)

I imagine I will spend this weekend finishing off The Secret Fire, pawing through my still new-smelling copy of Savage Worlds Deluxe, and playing AD&D 2nd** edition on Sunday. Holler.

PS- Though I'm still getting hits from that weird "gothbook" website, the have finally dropped back below hits from nearby, allied blogs. This fills me with a strange, but very palpable relief.

*Yes, I tried an RPGA game once and it was godawful.
**Well, more like AD&D 1.5, but who is keeping track?

The Secrets in the Secret Fire

2011-09-04T22:19:00.001-05:00

First off, my Sunday group is putting Shadowrun on hold. This is good because today I realized just how tired I am of Shadowrun. We will now be alternating two different AD&D campaigns. Fuck yeaaaaaaaaaaaah. One of them is based on the Savage Worlds setting called Hellfrost (Vikings/Norse dudes during a horrible ice age that renders most of the planet uninhabitable) and the other one seems to be sort of "default" D&D, which is just fine by me. I had intended to post about The Secret Fire, which I have read almost in its entirety, but I've got a little problem....I've found...things... in the book. Little number puzzles hidden in the margins. Cryptic phrases that I think are more than just decoration. The author himself hints that there are things hidden in the book, and I'll be damned if I'm not stumbling across them.: a magic square puzzle that leads to a picture with another magic square hidden in the picture... a certain symbol that shows up on certain page numbers, but never after page 209... other things. I might be going mad. Who knows. Tenkar, I'm specifically curious as to whether or not you've noticed these things, but anyone else with a copy is free to chime in. I would have figured that the forums over at TSF games would be crawling with speculation, but...nada. I will get to posting my thoughts on the actual game within the book, but for now, I'll be obsessing and scribbling numbers and notes in my notebook. If this blog now descends into mad ravings and I go nuts a la House of Leaves, you at least know why.

I'm 30th Level

2011-09-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

Today is my 30th birthday, which I understand still makes me something of a punk kid in this neck of the woods. My lovely wife has gifted me a copy of Savage Worlds Deluxe. I've only skimmed the new/bonus material, but I must say this is a beautiful book. The artwork is almost entirely new, and I found myself quite taken with a few of the pictures. When you can look at the artwork in a book and get three different game inspiration ideas, you know those were pages well spent. By absolute coincidence, my copy of The Secret Fire arrived in the mail this morning, making it something of a birthday present to myself. I read a little bit this morning, and might read a bit more while the missus is shopping for chili ingredients from the farmer's market. Given that we all have Memorial Day off, my Sunday group is considering an extra session on Monday. I had planned to get caught up with some work stuff on Monday, but I might end up cutting that short in favor of extra gaming goodness. I actually have half a mind to whip up that Savage Worlds or World of Darkness one shot for some gaming later today. Thoughts on TSF will follow, once I've actually finished reading the book.

The Genuine Article

2011-08-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

Today, the Sunday group decided to put Rebel Worlds on hold to play AD&D for awhile. I really, really enjoyed it. The edition we are playing is sort of a mish-mash of 1st and 2nd edition, though I'd say it leans heavily in the direction of 2nd edition. Actually, being a (mostly) 2nd edition ranger saved my new character's ass when I was able to calm down two hostile carnivorous apes. A good time was had by all, even if the party had a gnome who apparently craves human flesh and an invasively lecherous half-elf.

...and I am totally feeling the AD&D. It was nice to have my OSRIC book out. It still manages to be serviceable even though a lot of the rules we used are from 2nd ed. I maintain that the two editions are largely compatible. (Mindy is open to some of the 1st ed classes like monk, for instance)

I feel so scattered lately. I've been trying to read through Monte Cook's WoD, work on my SWN-to-Shadowrun conversion, finally finish OpenQuest... I don't understand why Gamer ADD is so pervasive. I must throw off these shackles of the mind! Graaaah!

...except that I am expecting TSF, yet another game, in the mail.

At any rate, I am totally recharged by playing AD&D. I have broken out of my gaming funk, I think. I find myself poring over my old AD&D files. Yesssssss.

Getting in on the Secret

2011-08-25T19:32:00.002-05:00

Lately, Tenkar has been teasing us on his blog with tidbits about this game called The Secret Fire. Aside from its ponderous and intriguing name, the game has also apparently earned accolades from Gail Gygax and Monte Cook, who I place about as far apart on the roleplaying game design/appreciation spectrum as can be. I had mulled over it, since I need another fantasy game like I need a fourth nipple, but then....
double sale all the way. A temporary reduction in price by the publisher AND a 20% discount on Lulu proved to be too much savin' for me to pass up, and so I expect my copy of TSF in the near future.

...oh, and one odd thing: in the past, my hits mostly game from either a popular search engine whose name starts with G, or from JB's blog, B/X Blackrazor. Lately, however, I've been getting all kinds of hits from some site that appears to be a facebook for people who dye their hair and have piercings. I cannot fathom why I'm getting traffic from such a place.

SWN/Shadowrun Conversion: Workin' on the Matrix

2011-08-23T23:08:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on this, but I will tell you my thought process:

I'm treating the decker as the Shadowrun analog to the thief. He sneaks into places he isn't supposed to be without being seen, he can deliver nasty sneak attacks, he can open doors and other "locked" things, he can filch valuable data in an underhanded fashion, he can make devastating surprise attacks, and he must be wary to detect and disable traps left to cause him harm.

I'm also contemplating two treatments of the Matrix,: analog and modern.

Analog Matrix is that of Shadowrun 3rd edition and older, as well as a lot of 80's and 90's cyberpunk fiction: the Matrix is a virtual world that users can interface their minds with directly via datajack.

Modern Matrix is an omnipresent web of wireless networks, most with "agmented reality" holographic popups visible to those with the right gear. Everyone has their own little "Personal Area Network" comprised of all their personal electronics, as well as any gear and cyberware with wireless capability.

My goal is to leave the decker running in real time with the rest of the crew, and to create a simple combat system that is similar to the regular combat system, as well as a system for resolving common Matrix tasks, which I am going to keep as analogous to thief skills/thieving tasks as possible.

At this point, I don't think I'm going to do technomancers....but I might change my mind.

GM Training Montage Meme Thingie

2011-08-23T03:00:00.002-05:00

Alright, this is a blog bandwagon I'll finally jump on.
Here's my DM advice. A lot of this stuff I've only really learned in the past couple of years. I must also point out that much of this advice I actually learned by being a teacher. Teaching and GMing are frighteningly similar at times, in terms of the thought processes and skill sets you need.

1. Be prepared, but also be prepared to gleefully throw out everything you've prepared and go with something you just thought up that is better. Don't run from it. The stuff you think up off the fly is often some of your best stuff.

2. Energy, energy, energy. If you phone it in, they'll be on their phones (or iPads or reading core books to games you aren't even playing, etc.) You don't have to be a masterful voice actor or spew purple prose descriptions for every place they go, but your excitement should be palpable. I'd also say that you should be out of chair as much, or more, than you are in it.

3. Give 'em choices, and let those choices actually matter. Sometimes they don't want to shatter the Orb of Darkness. Fine. It's your job to deal with that. Maybe they want to pawn it. Maybe they want to keep it. If you want it shattered no matter what, better let NPCs do it and do it off screen, lest the players decide to stop them to save the Orb. This ties in very closely with bit #1, above.

Inventory of Pipe Dreams

2011-08-22T22:41:00.001-05:00

Stuff I should be working on:

1. RIFTS to SWN... barely started. Still working on classes.
2. Shadowrun to SWN...almost done. Need to finish Matrix, Cyberware, gear, and bestiary stuff and we good to go.
3. Death Frost Doom to SWN... not started.
4. My fucked up space dream rendered as a SWN module...not started.

Stuff that died that I'd like to bring back:
1. My D&D 4th edition campaign setting and plot, but converted to Pathfinder.
2. My Traveller campaign setting and plot, but converted to Stars Without Number.
3. My actual Stars Without Number campaign.
4. My AD&D 1st edition campaign.
5. My old 3.5 D&D campaign setting, converted to Pathfinder.

Stuff I'd like to run someday, in no particular order:

1. A Pathfinder game, straight up high fantasy.
2. A Pathfinder game, Renaissance-era
3. A True20 game in the vein of Shadowchasers and Nightwatch.
4. A game of AD&D 1st edition or B/X D&D inspired by Beowulf and Nordic/Anglo-Saxon type legends.
5. A NWoD game that is sort of an updated Orpheus.
7. An NWoD game that is sort of an updated Halls of the Arcanum.
8. Monte Cook's World of Darkness
9. A Palladium Robotech game, set in the Shadow Chronicles era.
10. A Starship Troopers-esque game of Stars Without Number
11. The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy, from start to finish.
12. Metamorphosis Alpha converted to Mutant Future, possibly with the "storyline" (aka progression of increasingly disastrous events) from the most recent edition of the game.
13. A game of Changeling: the Lost
14. A game of Vampire: the Masquerade converted to Vampire: the Requiem.
15. A naval Stars Without Number campaign that makes heavy use of Skyward Steel and follows the adventures of a ship called the Armiger. The PCs play two characters eash: one senior officer and one Expend- er, I mean, Away Team Member.
16. A game of OpenQuest set in something resembling Scotland.

Stuff I Played in That Died and I Wish Would Come Back:
1. My wife's second and third NWoD chronicles.
2. Jason's Rippers campaign.
3. Mindy's original RIFTS campaign.

Stuff I'd Like to Play In:
1. A game of Rolemaster, run by someone who knows what they are doing and will guide me, gently, through it.
2. Ditto for MERPS, plus the GM is a Tolkien/Middle-Earth expert.
3. A game of RIFTS that doesn't make me want to walk into traffic. Perhaps one run by someone with Zachary Houghton's love of and expertise with the game.
4. Beyond the Supernatural
5. Heroes Unlimited
6. A game of AD&D 1st or 2nd edition.
7. A game of Witchcraft.
8. Any game that runs more or less regularly for a year.

Bookstore Prowling

2011-08-20T23:39:00.002-05:00

I hit up the used bookstore today, for the first time in a long time. I ended up picking up a copy of Monte Cook's World of Darkness, a book about which I have been curious for some time. I've perused it this evening and I have to say that I really like the setting. I dig the Iconnu/Nightmare Wave/Intrusion business, I dig the alternate take on vampires and werewolves, and I dig that humanity isn't totally helpless against the unknowable. I haven't really gotten into the crunch/rules yet, though. I will probably go back to reading it after I post this, as I am getting tired of staring at the computer screen tonight.

I could have easily spend more money than would have been good for me. I did notice a few other things:

-Someone finally bought that RIFTS Gold Edition that has been sitting on the shelf for... I don't know, a year?

-On the other hand, those two copies of Terra Primate are still there, and one of them still costs more than the other, even though there is no discernible difference in their physical conditions.

-A truckload of RIFTS stuff has appeared. It makes me want to start tinkering again, but down that road surely lies madness.

-Old World of Darkness stuff was there, including Project Twilight, which I always wanted to get back in the day but never did. Of course, now I don't think I could buy a book with the word "twilight" in the title in the context of vampires and werewolves...

-Two more Rolemaster boxed sets, which are different than the one I bought there two years ago. I don't know my editions of Rolemaster very well, and after my disastrous experiences with the MERPS and that other RM boxed set I bought, I have no wish to investigate further.

-Vintage FASA Dr. Who RPG. I'm not really a Dr. Who buff, though, and I'm damn sure not going to pay $75 for a roleplaying game.

-A copy of The Dark Eye basic rulebook (the official English translation of Das Schwarze Auge), but my German friend has insisted that they translated the "crappy edition" of the game.

-A boxed set of the Birthright campaign setting. They wanted $50 for it, but the label warned that it didn't have any of the war cards. No war cards?! Screw that.

They are having a sale over Labor Day weekend, and if I'm not mistaken, the discount might be stackable with my teacher discount. This might well weaken my resolve and send me back there.

Tomorrow is the Sunday game, but given how behind I am on grading and whatnot (yes, already) I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it.

Random Table: Chinese Restaurant Names

2011-08-20T09:38:00.011-05:00

Roll a d8 and a d10 and consult each table to create a random Chinese restaurant. Optionally, roll twice on the first table and once on the second table for a slightly more epic name. This table is capable of creating the names of eleven actual Chinese restaurants that I know of, so you know it's legit.

Roll Name Element 1
1 China
2 Hong Kong
3 Shanghai
4. Mandarin
5. Imperial
6. Golden
7. Dragon
8. Jade

Roll Name Element 2
1. Palace
2. Garden
3. Cafe
4. Express
5. Buffet
6. One
7. Dragon
8. Wok
9. China
10. Road

Fizzle

2011-08-18T22:48:00.000-05:00

My attention has been wholly consumed by the first week of school. I haven't posted and I'm behind on all your blogs. I'm getting my first unit finished up and trying to find enough books to keep my second unit on schedule.

As I posted last semester, Beowulf makes me yearn to play AD&D something awful. I always get thinking about curved ships and endless winters and big dudes with axes and spears. It gets me thinking about giants lurking in the mountains and foul beasts from the depths of the earth whose misshapen forms defy classification. Stuff like that.

One of the math teachers here plays 2nd edition, it seems. We talked about it briefly, but the first week is so hectic. I'll swing by the math wing when things have settled a bit. I wonder if any of the rest of the faculty secretly play...

I picked up one of the first installments of an adventure path for Pathfinder, just to see what all the fuss is about. I haven't had a chance to open it yet. This is the first night I haven't worked all evening in preparation for the next day. The premise was cool enough for me to check it out, and I am forming another post in my mind about "Easter Eggs in the Sandbox," but I'm kind of tired of the term sandbox... at any rate, it will probably be awhile before I can actually use it. The bones of my failed Pathfinder campaign are still strewn across my basement table.

I watched Macross II the Movie on Netflix recently, and afterwards purchased the Palladium Macross II RPG book online. It cost me a penny. The book is currently en route. The Robotech/Macross corner of the Palladiumverse is the only place where Megadamage doesn't make me want to smash my face into this thick ass desk.

My current gaming wishlist: Savage Worlds Deluxe, Stars Without Number Mongoose Edition, Darkness Visible, Pathfinder Ultimate Combat.

I find myself feeling kind of disconnected at the Sunday game. Recent and frequent cancellations, an upcoming hiatus from one of the core group, and the very sudden death of a recent acquaintance of Mindy's (who was involved in a gaming group that used the same meeting website as we do) have left me feeling sort of "bleh," to use a highly descriptive term. I find that the last couple of sessions, I have been particularly irritable, unfocused, and not at all happy with my performance as a player. A couple members of the group have asked me when I will be running a game again (and what), but honestly I don't have an answer. For now, it seems like I almost enjoy reading gaming books and working on gaming stuff more than actually gaming.

I know the crew (some of them, at least) read this blog, so I'm sure they'll read this entry, but I'm sure my restlessness has been apparent. Maybe it's just a bad month.

Oh, and Shadowrun is still in the works. I just haven't had much time to work on it this week, plus I need to talk about other stuff on this blog from time to time.

A Change of Subject

2011-08-14T20:45:00.002-05:00

Since I have been posting on nothing but Shadowrun for quite awhile now, I believe I'll take a break.

Work still continues on the project, but I will leave those blog posts unpublished until I'm totally done with the project.

Shadowrun Project: Magic System- Astral Shenanigans

2011-08-12T22:48:00.000-05:00

Astral Perception
This doesn't require any roll. Switching perception only takes a second and a Magician can still take full actions before or after switching to Astral or back to normal perception. While perceiving Astrally, all skill rolls involving interaction with the physical world suffer a -2 penalty. The Magic skills can be used to examine the Astral signatures of spells, spirits, talismans, etc.

Astral Projection
While in Astral form, Charisma is used in place of Strength, Intelligence is used in place of Dexterity, and Wisdom is used in place of Constitution.
Fast Astral movement is 3+Wis mod x 1000km/hr.

Astral Tracking
This is a Perception check, modified by Wisdom. If you're tracking something passive like the signature of a spell, you get a +2 bonus for spells or effects of levels 4-6 and a +4 bonus for stuff that is levels 7-9. (It's hard to hide powerful mojo)

If you are tracking something that is evading you, like a spirit or an enemy Magician who is trying to cover up his Astral sig, they get an opposed Magic/Sorcery test to hide from you. Dual-Natured beings or spirits may substitute Stealth if that skill is higher.

Astral Combat
Resolve as normal combat, but make sure to use Astral attribute equivalents as outlined above under Projection. Damaging or healing a character's Astral form affects hit points as per normal.

Shadowrun Conversion: Magic System- Conjuring/Banishing

2011-08-08T22:15:00.001-05:00

This is the second draft of my spirit rules.
I find that I need to strip my posts down to the bare minimum and not drop these text walls. If you know Shadowrun, you know Mages can't summon Nature Spirits. I don't need to explain the game, just the converted mechanics.

Summoning a Spirit

To summon a spirit, the Magician states what type of spirits he is summoning, how many Hit Dice the summoned spirit will possess, and then makes a skill roll of Magic/Conjuring, modified by Charisma. Shamans might get a further bonus to the roll from Totems. The Magician takes a penalty to the roll equal to the difference between the spirit's Hit Die and his own. A Magician daft enough to conjure without at least Magic.Conjuring 0 is at -2.

On a success, the spirit appears immediately and owes the Magician one favor/service, plus one for each point by which the Magician made the roll. (So if his total skill roll is 11, he gets four favors: one for success and three for making the roll by three.) On a failure, nothing happens. A really mean GM might have a hostile spirit appear on the roll of snake eyes.

Either way, the Magician needs to resist Drain. This is a Mental Effect save, modified by Wisdom. The spirit's Hit Die are treated like a spell level, so a Magician has -2 to summon a spirit with 4-6 Hit Die, -4 to summon 7-9 Hit die, and so on. In addition, if the Magician summons a spirit with Hit Die greater than his own experience level, treat it as though he were overcasting a spell. (-1 for each spirit Hit Dire in excess of his experience level)

On a successful Drain Save, the Magician suffers no Drain. (Unless he was overcasting) Failure results in the same Drain as having failed a Drain Save when casting a spell. If the Magician is rendered unconscious by Drain, the spirit departs and owes him no favors.

Mages can bind a total number of elementals equal to three modified by Charisma.

Banishing a Spirit

Banishing a spirit is done through a series of banishing attacks. Each such attack consumes a Magician's combat round. The Magician must be able to see the spirit, which means he might have to switch to Astral perception. (Details on Astral mojo forthcoming)

To resolve the attempt, consult the Turn Undead table in D&D. Treat the Magician as a cleric of equivalent experience level and the spirit as an undead of equivalent Hit Dice. The Magician makes a Turn Undead check, though he can modify it by his Wisdom modifier and his levels in Magic/Conjure. (Trying to do with without the skill is at a -2)
On a success, the spirit loses a Hit Die and may not act this round if it has not already acted. If reduced to 0 Hit Dice, the spirit has lost the contest.
On a failure, the spirit may chose to immediately strike back. If it does so, the Magician temporary loses a level of Magic/Conjuring. If this would bring his skill below level 0, he temporarily loses a point of Wisdom modifier. If this would bring his Wisdom modifier below 0, the Magician has lost the contest.

A spirit that loses a banishment contest is immediately banished. A Magician who loses the contest loses consciousness for 1d4 rounds and cannot use any of his special abilities (spells, conjuring, Astral abilities) for 24 hours. The Magician regains lost Wisdom modifiers at the rate of one point per hour, and then lost levels of Magic/Conjuring at the rate of one point per hour.

Taking Control of a Spirit
If the spirit is "wild" or otherwise acting independent of a Magician's direction, treat this exactly like a banishment contest, but if the Magician wins, the spirit is immediately treated as if he summoned it. It owes him 1d3 favors, modified by Wisdom. (Not Charisma, because he has forced his will on the spirit rather than cajoled it) A Mage may choose to bind an elemental in the usual fashion and dismiss it for later service. After a contest of this nature, the Magician may allow the spirit to immediately regain up to its full Hit Dice.

If the spirit was summoned or is bound to another Magician, an extra step is required. First, resolve the contest as if it were a banishment contest. If the wresting Magician wins, he now makes an opposed roll against the enemy Magician. This is a contested skill roll between both Magicians' Magic/Conjuring skill, modified by Wisdom. The aggressor suffers a penalty equal to the difference of the defender's experience level and his own. (Yes, this is a bonus if the defending Magician is lower level.)

Example: A 4th level Mage trying to wrest an elemental from a 6th level Mage rolls at a -2 to skill. If an 8th level Mage tries to snatch an elemental from a 1st level Mage, he rolls at a huge +7.

If the aggressor wins, he gets control of the spirit, and it owes him 1d3+Wis mod favors, effective immediately. He can also restore the Hit Dice of the spirit. If the aggressor loses, he suffers the same result as failing to banish.

Savage Worlds House Rules

2011-08-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

It seems I've been cluttering up my blog with my Shadowrun Conversion project, so here's something to break up the endless SR/SWN stuff.

I was reading Savagepedia the other day and I came across these two house rules that really struck a chord with me:

1. Removal of the Guts skill. Characters roll their Spirit trait when they are exposed to frightful or gruesome situations, or when someone tries to use the Intimidate skill on them. (Or anything else that would've called for a Guts roll) This house rule also adds a Bravery Edge, which adds a +2 to Spirit rolls made to resist fear or Intimidation. (Again, anything that would've required a Guts check) You can also add a Cowardly Hindrance, Minor or Major, that gives characters a -2/-4 to those types of checks as well.

2. Removal of the Throwing skill. The site suggests using a straight Agility roll, or possibly Fighting for big, muscle powered projectiles like hand axes or spears while using Shooting for small, agile thrown weapons like daggers or shuriken. I'd be inclined to go with the latter option, making the Agility roll used for grenade-like missiles such as rocks vials of holy water, or, you know...grenades.

A couple of my own house rules, while we're on the subject:

1. Characters who take Elderly and have Strength and Vigor at d4 incur a -2 penalty to all Strength and Vigor rolls; this is mainly to keep people from min/maxing with the Elderly Hindrance. I'm not sure I'd actually use this, because the Hindrance does lock your Strength and Vigor die at whatever you left them at during character creation, so the character is never able to improve those stats, even if he changes his mind later.

2. Removal of the Faith skill for Blessed. Use a straight-up Spirit roll instead. This was inspired by the "No Guts" rule above...plus I always thought it was a little weird that faith is a skill. You can add an Edge called Pious or Chosen or something that adds +2 to Spirit rolls made to invoke Miracles if you want.

3. Weird Science skill- Keep it. In fact, use is more often. The rules call for Weird Science only being used for passive devices, like those that grant Armor or somesuch. Devices that have ranged attacks should us Shooting, or vehicles should use Pilot or Drive. I was thinking that Weird Scientists should be good with their inventions. If another character picks up the device, they should use an analogous skill, but perhaps the Weird Scientists should be allowed to use WS for their attack rolls, pilot rolls, etc. as long as they are using a weird device. I don't really think this is unbalancing, and Josh used this house rule with Mad Science when he ran Deadlands.

Shadowrun Project: Spirits Part 2: Summoning Elementals

2011-08-06T23:55:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, only Mages can summon Elementals. (Remember that they cannot summon Spirits of Nature)

Before summoning, a Mage needs to figure out what Hit Die of elemental he's going to try to conjure up. He needs a summoning circle and has to procure components that cost 1000 Nyuen for each Hit Die to be summoned. The ritual also requires a source of the correct element: a bonfire for fire elementals, a large mound of dirt for earth elementals, etc. The ritual requires a number of uninterrupted hours equal to the Hit Die of the elemental to be summoned. The Mage rolls Magic/Conjuring, modified by his Wisdom. The Mage incurs a penalty equal to the difference between the Spirit's Hit Die and his own experience level. On a success the elemental appears and is bound to the Mage. It will perform a number of services equal to 1+ the number of points by which the Mage succeeded on the roll.

Unlike Shamans, Mages can have multiple summoned spirits bound to them at once. A Mage can have a maximum number of elementals equal to three, modified by his Charisma modifier. If he wishes to summon more elementals, he must first release one he has presently bound to him. A released elemental departs immediately and is not obligated to perform any remaining favors for the Mage.

Mages need not keep a bound elemental following them around. An elemental who is bound into service may be sent away and instantly called up when the service is needed. A Mage can only call one elemental per combat round, but it requires little concentration and the Mage can still take action normally during the round.

Shadowrun Conversion: Totems, Draft 2

2011-08-06T23:07:00.001-05:00

I had an earlier draft of Shamanic Totems where I tried to accurately mirror the abilities from Shadowrun, but it was a godawful mess. This is draft 2. I have boiled some of the common abilities down into categories, which I define after the list of Totems. Each Totem has one or two advantages and disadvantages, followed by a bonus to conjuring spirits of a specific type. (More on conjuring spirits in a future post) There were subtle nuances to some of the Totems in SR, and in fact Cat and Raven have become identical due to my simplifications, but better simple than not, says I. Like I said, I had a more detailed system but it was quite a mess.

Since I have outlined all the Advantages and Disadvantages below, feel free to make your own Totems. Just pick one or two Advantages and Disadvantages and pick a spirit you get a +1 bonus to conjure. Make sure to run it by your GM first, kiddo.

Note: Coyote has no advantages or disadvantages. He is the game's "opt out" if you don't really feel like fiddling around with all this crap.

Totems
*Bear: Healer, Berserker. +1 Forest spirits
*Cat: Trickster, Passive. +1 City spirits.
*Coyote: None
*Dog: Detector, Single-Minded. +1 Field and Hearth spirits.
*Eagle: Detector, Cyber-Sensative. +1 Wind spirits.
*Gator: Warrior, Detector, Single-Minded, Unsubtle. +1 Swamp, Lake, and River spirits OR +1 City spirits.
*Lion: Warrior, Merciless. +1 Prairie spirits.
*Owl: Night/Day. +1 to all spirits during the night, -1 to all spirits during the day.
*Raccoon: Trickster, Passive. +1 to City spirits.
*Rat: Detector, Trickster, Passive. +1 to all Spirits of Man.
*Raven: Trickster, Passive. +1 Wind spirits.
*Shark: Detector, Warrior, Berserk. +1 Sea spirits.
*Snake: Healer, Trickster, Passive. +1 to any one Spirit of Man, chosen at level 1.
*Wolf: Detector, Warrior, Berserk. +1 Forest OR Prairie spirits, chosen at level 1.

Advantages

Detector: Any spell that has "Detect" in the title, or has the principle purpose of gathering information or locating something has double duration and area.

Warrior: +1 point per die on all direct damage spells.

Healer: +1 point per die on all healing spells.

Trickster: Foes have -2 to any saving throw against spells meant to deceive, enchant, or otherwise trick.

Night/Day: Casts spells at +1 experience level during the night, -1 during the day. A 1st level Shaman has -1 pt./die on all spells that roll dice for effect, half duration/area on those that don't.

Disadvantages
Berserker: When the Shaman takes damage in combat, he must make a Mental Effect save (modified by Wisdom or Constitution) or go berserk for 1d3 combat rounds. Berserk shamans must attack the source of the damage with a weapon or a spell that deals damage. If the Shaman kills the source of the damage, the rage dissipates. If the source becomes unavailable or is felled by someone else, the Shaman turns on the nearest creature. Killing or incapacitating any creature will instantly end the rage.

Passive: -1 point per die on direct damage spells.

Single-Minded: Must make a Mental Effect save to change targets during combat or to change what action they are currently taking. On a failed save, they must use their next action shaking off the single-minded nature of their totem before committing to the new course of action.

Cyber-Sensative: Double System Strain from installed cybernetics.

Unsubtle: Foes have +2 to any Mental Effect saving throws on spells meant to deceive, charm, etc.

Merciless: -2 points/spell level on healing spells.

A Little Bit of Gaming Wisdom

2011-08-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

I was flipping through some of my gaming books today when I came across this passage. I'm not going to identify the book, because I think the passage itself is more important than where it came from. Of course, I'm sure more than one of you will probably recognize the source right away, or be able to guess it pretty easily.

These last few months have been filled with a few frustrating gaming moments for me. I'm not a big fan of telling people that they are "doing it wrong," but I daresay that if you read this passage and disagree with it, or if your play style flies in the face of it, you and I will probably find playing at the same table to be a mutually irritating experience.

"Skilled players always make a point of knowing what they are doing, i.e. they have an objective. They co-operate - particularly at lower levels or at higher ones when they must face some particularly stiff challenge - in order to gain their ends. Superior players will not fight everything they meet, for they realize that wit is as good a weapon as the sword or the spell."

Shadowrun Project: Magic System Pt. 1- Spells

2011-08-06T20:37:00.000-05:00

I thought long and hard about converting Shadowrun magic spells. I decided that I'm just going to use the D&D Cyclopedia catalog of spells. Lazy? Maybe. Don't care.

Okay, so here's how it works... this system is partially inspired by Kevin Crawford's recent offerings on mages in SWN, as well as some things that have been rattling around in my head.

Magicians start the game with a number of spells equal to three plus their Intelligence modifier. These spells can be taken from the Magic-User or Cleric list of 1st level spells. You can also toss in the Druid spell list, if'n you like your D&D Cyclopedic.

Preparing Spells

Magicians can hold in their mind a number of spells determined by the Magic-User table from D&D. They get bonus spells equal to their Wisdom modifier for each spell level they are capable of casting, so a 3rd level Shaman with Wisdom 15 can hold three first level spells and two second level spells. Magicians need an hour each morning to get their spells prepared; mages study their books and tomes (or data slabs or laptops or whatever) while Shamans commune with the spirit world (smoke hallucinogenic substances) or whatever.

Casting and Drain

Once their spells are prepared, Magicians can cast them whenever they need to; there is no limit to the number of spells they can cast per day. However, every time a Magician character casts a spell, he must make a saving throw against Mental Effect. The Magician may add his Wisdom bonus and his level in Magic/Sorcery to the saving throw. If the Magician doesn't have Magic/Sorcery, he suffers a -2 penalty to the save. In addition, the save suffers a -2 penalty if the spell is level 4-6 and -4 if the spell is level 7-9.
If the Magician succeeds, all is well. If he fails the save, however, he incurs Drain. The Magician suffers point of System Strain and is Fatigued for one hour. A Fatigued Magician suffers -2 on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. A Fatigued Magician who fails another spell save falls unconscious for 1d4 combat rounds. A Magician whose System Strain is maxed out cannot use any magical abilities at all.

Overcasting

A Magician who is truly desperate may overcast a spell, casting it as though he were a higher experience level for purposes of damage, duration, area, or other effect. The Magician decides what level to cast as , and the spell goes off as if he were a Magician of that experience level. However, overcasting takes it's toll. A Magician who overcasts must immediately make a Mental Effect save as normal, but he suffers a penalty equal to the difference between his actual experience level and the level at which he cast the spell. If he fails, he suffers the usual point of System Strain, plus a number of points equal to the difference between his level and the level at which he cast the spell. However, even if he succeeds on the save, he takes half the amount of Strain, rounded up.

Example:Johnny Jupiter is a 6th level Mage. When he gets jumped by a Go-Gang, he needs a big ass fireball. He opts to cast fireball as though he were 10th level. The fireball goes off and does 10d6, behaving exactly as if Johnny were 10th level. Johnny makes his usual Mental Effect save, but he suffers an additional -4 penalty, the difference between his actual level (6) and the level he used to overcast (10). If Johnny blows the spell, he's going to take 5 System Strain (1 for the usual penalty of failing a spell save, plus the difference between his level and the level at which he overcast) Even if Johnny makes it, he's still going to take half that amount. (Three System Strain in this case. I guess you soft hearted GMs could round down to 2 if you really wanted to...)

For those of you who aren't familiar with System Strain, it is a mechanic from SWN. All you need to know for the purpose of this game is that characters can tolerate a maximum number of System Strain points equal to their unaugmented Constitution score. A character who is maxed out on System Strain cannot use any magical abilities at all, nor may they benefit from any spell that causes System Strain in the target. (Magical healing is the most common of these) It is impossible for a character to exceed his System Strain tolerance. System Strain fades at the rate of one point per day. Really nice GMs might allow an extra Strain to be recovered if the character spends the day doing nothing but resting. (No research, Matrix surfing, etc... just rest.)

Learning New Spells

Magicians learn new spells in different ways. The spell levels that a Magician may learn spells from is the same as the D&D Magic-User table, so a Magician can't handle 2nd level magic until he reaches the 3rd level of experience. Mages must learn new spells from the tutelage of other Mages who are more learned, or he can try to learn them himself if he gets ahold of a tome or memory device that contains a spell formula.Nice GMs may allow a Mage to learn one or two spells for free when they gain an experience level, provided they are able to return to their mentor or a local Hermetic Circle for a few weeks of study. A not-so-nice GM might do away with these freebie spells, with Mages exacting a price in terms of favors/quests, magical talismans, exchange of spells, or plain ol' Nuyen for their tutelage.
Shamans learn spells from communing with the spirits. As above, a nice GM might give the Shaman a free spell or two every time they gain an experience level. Aside from that, Shamans have to summon a spirit, who will likely exact some sort of price. A Shaman might also bind a spirit and force it to teach him a new spell before he will release it, though this tactic shouldn't be employed too often, less the Shaman make a lot of local spirits angry. A the maximum level of spell a spirit can teach is equal to its Hit Die. (Detailed information on summoning and spirits is forthcoming) The GM is also within his rights to say that a certain type of spirit must be summoned to teach a particular type of spell. A Lake spirit is probably not a good candidate to teach you fireball, for instance...

Mages and Shamans might have access to the same spells, but they cannot learn spells from one another. A Mage's cure light wounds is an elaborate arcane formula executed by the Mage's will, while a Shaman's cure light wounds is the invocation of a merciful dove spirit, or perhaps just a channeling of pure spiritual energy. Of course, their wounded Dwarf mercenary buddy doesn't really give a crap about the particulars, just so long as somebody patches him up quick.

Spell Particulars
There are a lot of D&D spells that don't work so good for the Shadowrun world. I will eventually need to sit down and review the individual spells for any edits (or outright deletions) that need to happen, but here are a few general guidelines for the differences between D&D spells and Shadowrun:

Magical Healing: Just as biopsionics cause System Strain in SWN, so does it also cause Strain in my Shadowrun conversion. A character who is the recipient of magical healing receives one point of System Strain per level of the spell that was cast on him. (Cure light wounds, for instance, inflicts but a single point of Strain since it is a first level spell.)

Reversible Spells: These are separate spells. They must be learned separately and prepared as though they were an entirely different spell.

Summoning Spells: Spells that summon elementals or spirits, such as Conjure Elemental or Aerial Servant are not available. Summoning is something that Magicians can do inherently and will be covered in a later post.

Raise Spells: Not allowed. The dead stay dead. For that matter, Speak With Dead doesn't exist, either. Animate Dead woks normally, of course.

Alignment Spells: Also not allowed. I hate alignment and I'm not using it in my SR project, so these spells are history.

***

More magic system stuff I still have to do: Spirits and the summoning/banishing thereof, Astral Perception/Projection/Combat, Magic Items (and the creation thereof), Magical Research, Hermetic Circles, Shamanic Lodge,s Shamanic Totems.

Shadowrun Project: Magician Class

2011-08-04T03:11:00.000-05:00

Magician
Prime Attributes: Wisdom or Charisma
Hit Dice: d4
Magician Class Skills: Culture/Any, Magic/Any, Perception, Profession/Any, Tech/Medical
Experience and Saving Throw progression as the Psychic in Stars Without Number.
Special Abilities: Spells, Conjuring, Astral Perception/Projection. All Magicians have these three special abilities. In addition, they must choose whether they are Mages or Shamans. Shamans have an additional special ability: Totem.

Training Packages:
I divided the Training Packages into those suitable for Mages and those suitable for Shamans. With the GM's permission, some of them could be crossed over; perhaps a tribe or gang has a "War Shaman" who is similar to a Combat Mage. There is also one generic Training Package that is suitable for either of the two types of Magician.

Shadowrunner Magician: Culture/Runner, Magic/Any one other skill.

Mage Packages

Combat Mage: Combat/Any, Magic/Sorcery, Stealth, Tactics

Wage Mage: Bureaucracy, Business, Culture/Corporate, Magic/Sorcery

Street Mage: Culture/Street, Magic/Sorcery, Stealth, Survival

Occult Investigator: Culture/Any, Magic/Any, Perception, Security

Shaman Packages

Tribal Shaman: Culture/Tribal, Language, Magic/Conjuring, Persuasion

Street Shaman: Culture/Street, Magic/Conjuring, Stealth, Survival

Environmental "Activist": Demolitions, Culture/Corporate, Magic/Conjuring, Security

Healer: Culture/Any, Magic/Any, Persuasion, Tech/Medical

The actual rules for magic, spirits, and all that good stuff is to follow.

Shadowrun Project: Expert Class

2011-08-04T02:34:00.001-05:00

Expert

Prime Attribute: Intelligence or Dexterity (Yes, this is different from basic SWN)
Hit Dice: d6
Class Skills: All except for Combat skills, Sorcery, and Conjuring.
Experience Tables and Attack/Saving Throw progression as per SWN.
Special Ability: The Expert can take Like A Charm from the SWN corebook, or select one of the following alternative special abilities-

Specialist: The character gets +1 to all rolls involving one specific skill. In the case of skills that have several specializations, (Tech, Lore, etc.) the character must choose one specific specialization of the skill. Experts cannot take this ability for any Combat skill, unless the GM rules otherwise. (Note- I was considering making this a +2, but on a 2d6 skill system, that might be a little excessive. Thoughts?)

Fast Learner: The character earns four skill points per level, instead of three.

Prodigy: Pick one skill (for skills with multiple specializations, select a specific one) The character does not need to train this skill in order to advance it. May not be used for Combat skills. (Not in love with this one, personally...might drop it.)

Training Packages:

Shadowrunner Expert: Any six skills, four of which much be Expert class skills.

Decker: Bureaucracy, Computer, Culture/Matrix, Persuasion, Security, Stealth, Tech/Cybertech, Tech/Electronics

Rigger: Combat/Gunnery, Computer, Culture/Any, Security, Tech/Any, Tech/Electronics, Vehicle/Any, Vehicle/Ground

Private Detective: Bureaucracy, Culture/Any, Culture/Criminal, Perception, Persuasion, Security, Stealth, Tech/Electronics

Face: Bureaucracy, Business, Culture/Runner, Culture/Street, Culture/Any, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth

Infiltrator: Athletics, Computer, Culture/Criminal, Perception, Security, Stealth, Tech/Any, Vehicle/Any

Hit Man: Combat/Any, Culture/Any, Persuade, Security, Survival, Stealth, Tactics, Vehicle/Any

Street Tech: Computer, Culture/Any, Perception, Science, Security, Tech/Electronics, Tech/Any, Vehicle/Any

Shadowrun Project: Warrior Class

2011-08-04T01:48:00.001-05:00

Below is my write up for the Warrior class as applied to a Shadowrun world. I based the Training Packages off of archetypes present in Shadowrun 2. If I missed anything you think should be in there, please let me know. (Or post your rendition of it in the comments!)

Warrior
Prime Attribute: Strength or Dexterity

Hit Dice: d8

Special Ability:Pick one of Veteran's Luck, Deadly Accuracy, Badass, Weapon Specialist.

Warrior Class Skills: Athletics, Combat/Any, Leadership, Perception, Profession,/Any, Stealth, Survival, Tactics

Note: Experience Table, Attack Bonus, and Saving Throws as per SWN.

Training Packages:

Shadowrunner* Warrior: Any four skills, at least two of which must be Warrior class skills.

Bodyguard: Athletics, Business, Combat/Any, Perception, Persuade, Tactics, Vehicle/Ground

Mercenary: Business, Combat/Firearms, Combat/Any, Culture/Any, Perception, Tactics

Street Samurai: Athletics, Combat/Any, Combat/Armed, Culture/Street, Perception, Tech/Cybertech

Tribesman: Combat/Projectile, Combat/Any, Culture/Tribal, Language, Stealth, Survival

Ganger: Combat/Any, Combat/Unarmed, Culture/Street, Culture/Criminal, Security, Stealth

Former Corporate Enforcer: Business, Combat/Firearms, Culture/Corporate, Tactics, Vehicle/Any

Physical Adept**: Athletics, Combat/Armed, Combat/Unarmed, Combat/Thrown, Perception, Stealth

*The "Shadowrunner (Class)" Training Packages are meant to be the equivalent of the generic "Adventuring (Class)" Packages from SWN.
**A quick note about the Physical Adept: They don't fit well within my adaptation of Shadowrun, seeing as how I am using one class for Mages and Shamans...a friend suggested I make them warriors. Given that they don't have their badass powers anymore, I went ahead and gave them a crazy training package with more combat skills than the others.

Shadowrun Project: Background Skill Packages

2011-08-04T01:28:00.004-05:00

Some possible Background Packages for my Shadowrun Project:

Shadowrunner: Culture/Runner plus any two skills.

Gang: Combat/Any, Culture/Criminal, Culture/Street, Stealth

Corporate Enclave: Bureaucracy, Business, Culture/Corporate, Computer

Tribal Lands: Combat/Projectile, Culture/Tribal, Language, Survival

Highway Nomad: Combat/Any, Culture/Any, Survival, Vehicle/Ground

Corporate Arcology: Bureaucracy, Culture/Corporate, Science, Tech/Any

T'ir T'angire: Culture/Elf, Language, Perception, Persuasion

Ork Burroughs: Combat/Unarmed, Culture/Street, Culture/Ork, Survival

Go-Gang: Combat/Gunnery, Culture/Street, Tech/Electronics, Vehicle/Land

Military: Combat/Firearms, Combat/Unarmed, Culture/Any, Tactics

High Society: Culture/Corporate, Leadership, Persuade, Vehicle/Land

Yakuza: Business, Combat/Any, Culture/Criminal, Persuade

Shadowrun Project: Skill List

2011-08-03T23:00:00.046-05:00

I have attempted to cobble together a skill list from Shadowrun 2nd edition and Stars Without Number. Both have skills that are irrelevant in the other game, or simply not covered. For the sake of completion, I have omitted skills that I don't think are really necessary in Shadowrun. If you really think your Ork Street Sammy needs History or Artist, by all means, please take it. I have also redone the way Combat skills work, category-wise, to better match up with SR 2.

Okay, skills:
Athletics
Bureaucracy
Business
Combat/Firearms
Combat/Gunnery (Vehicle mounted and heavy weapons)
Combat/Projectile (Bows and crossbows)
Combat/Throwing (Grenades and hand hurled weapons)
Combat/Armed (Melee)
Combat/Unarmed (Plus weapons such as shock gloves, brass knuckles, etc.)
Computer
Culture/Street
Culture/Corporate
Culture/Matrix
Culture/Tribal
Culture/Runner (This is the equivalent of Culture/Traveller in SWN)
Culture/Magical
Culture/Race (Ork, Elf, etc.)
Culture/Neighborhood (Redmond Barrens, etc.)
Language
Leadership
Magic/Conjuring*
Magic/Sorcery*
Perception
Persuade
Profession
Science
Security
Stealth
Survival
Tactics
Tech/Electronics
Tech/Medical (covers biotech)
Tech/Cybertech
Tech/Demolitions
Vehicle/Ground
Vehicle/Water
Vehicle/Air

*After an initial draft, I've decided that the Magic skills serve two purposes: First, they serve as "lore" skills to show what the magician knows about these given subjects, and they also add to the Magician's saving throw vs. drain. (Originally Kevin Crawford suggested that mages add their experience level, but I think I will go with this instead.)

Shadowrun Project: Character Classes Part Deaux

2011-08-02T20:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, so after a couple of drafts, I have come to the realization that traditional character classes for Shadowrun is problematic at best.

I have decided to go the Stars Without Number route: the three classes are Warrior, Expert, and Magician. Each class will have a number of Training Packages that cover a number of the standard Shadowrun tropes, as well as a "Shadowrunner" custom training packages that lets you pick your skills, but you get less of them.

It's coming together pretty nicely. So far, I've outlined them as follows:

Warrior: Shadowrunner Warrior, Bodyguard, Mercenary, Ganger, Street Samurai, Tribesman

Expert: Shadowrunner Expert, Decker, Detective, Rigger, Infiltrator, Face, Weapons Expert

Magician: Shadowrunner Magician, Combat Mage, Wage Mage, Shaman, Street Mage, Street Shaman

I'm still not sure what to do about Adepts and Technomancers. JB suggested leaving Adepts on the cutting room floor, and I'm not adverse to this. I might also make Adepts a warrior training package. Technomancers I am leaning more and more toward excluding entirely.

I have also compiled a list of skills, keeping the essential Shadowrun stuff and ditching some of the SWN skills that aren't really relevant to a pre-space cyberpunk milieu. I've also added some skills to reflect the presence of magic, since SWN as written has no skills that address things like magical lore.

I am thinking about putting in Background packages a la SWN...perhaps things like Corporate Enclave, Warzone, Tribal Homeland, etc. to show where a character came from prior to embracing the shadows.

I have come up with a few alternate abilities for the Warrior class as well. Instead of Veteran's Luck, a 1st level warrior may opt for these options as well:

*Deadly Accuracy: Reroll one missed attack roll per combat.
*Weapon Specialist: Select either +1 to all attack rolls with ranged or melee combat, or else +2 to attack rolls with a specific class of weapons (sword, pistol, etc.)
*Badass: Roll d10 for hit dice (d12 if troll) and reroll any hit die roll of 1 or 2 when new hit points are determined.

Those are just a few ideas...perhaps warriors can select an additional ability at 5th and 9th level. (Or maybe just one more at 9th)

I have a few ideas for experts, but I haven't put anything on paper yet.

Spirit summoning and banishment will be resolved using a modified version of the D&D Turn Undead table.

Shadowrun Project: Character Classes

2011-08-02T03:47:00.000-05:00

I like games with character classes. I know they are kind of an archaic concept, but I like them anyway.

I was tempted to go the Stars Without Number route and just use Warrior, Expert, and Magician. The nuanced occupations of SR would just be training packages. (Street Samurai and Mercenary for Warrior, Decker and Rigger for Expert, etc.) I might still do that. For the time being, though, I'm messing around with using different character classes. Here's my list of character classes. What do you think I missed? What classes do you think are unnecessary?

Street Samurai
Mercenary
Decker
Rigger
Face
Ganger
Infiltrator (think old school thief/sneak)
Mage
Shaman
Adept

Now, a few concerns/caveats:
1. In my mind, the Merc looks different than the Sammy, but what about in terms of ability? Aren't the both just essentially the Fighter of this setting?
2. Yes, I want to keep deckers and riggers separate. SR4 has essentially combined them, but I like having them be different animals.
3. Ditto with Mages and Shamans. SR4 combined the two, but I like having two different flavors of spell caster. I'm thinking Mages are better with spells and Shamans are better with summoning/spirit work.

I have the Samurai, Mage, Decker, and Rigger worked up. My Shaman is done except for filling out some of the totems, and Adept is almost done but for a few more powers. I haven't started on any of the other classes yet.

Thoughts?

Shadowrun Project: Decking/Hacking

2011-08-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

I'm going to wager I'm not the only one who doesn't like the way decking was done in pre-4E Shadowrun. My beef isn't with the complexity, but rather the division of game time: for the most part, the non-deckers sit around doing nothing while the decker runs through a little mini-dungeon as his Matrix avatar. Shadowrun 4e does away with this via Augmented Reality, where the decker (hacker in 4e, much to my chagrin) is manipulating what are essentially 3D popups, usually via a wireless network, in real time. Deckers (er...hackers) with extra time to burn can go into Virtual Reality, which is similar to the old school Matrix rules.

I like the idea of keeping the decker operating in real time with the rest of the group. Yes, someone plugged into a computer with their consciousness manipulating the internet at the speed of thought would be able to do things much faster than their meat body counterparts, but I'm looking for gameability here.

In our recent Shadowrun campaign, it struck me that the decker is, in many ways, analogous to the thief of the classic D&D party; Count Hackula often opened doors, disabled/hijacked security cameras and other devices, and tried to gather information on what was ahead of the party. One could argue that these abilities were quite similar to Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, and Detect Noise in D&D.

So... a thought I've had this afternoon: why not just simplify the decker in terms of Thief-type skills? What if I cooked up a list of Decker Skills akin to Gather Information, Download Data, Disable/Hijack Security Device, Hack Door, Decipher Code, etc.?

I was thinking I could stat these along the lines of my recent Thief Rework, where the skills are all rated at X in 6 chance. The decker would receive a certain amount of points to allocate at 1st level, receiving additional points at every level thereafter.

On second though, I might want to do this as an open ended system, rather than X-in-6. Perhaps the decker has a total bonus to a given skill, say +3 to Download Data. We could do a Target 20 system a la Stars Without Number, where different nodes of data, doors, etc. have a Security Class, similar to the armor class of a character. The decker rolls a d20, adds his skill bonus for that particular skill, adds the Security Class of the object/program in question, and if he nails a 20, he succeeds. I think I like this a lot better. You could use Security Class 9 descending, with 9 representing your neighbor's wireless internet with the password 12345 and Security Class 0 representing a high security Corporate database. (Perhaps you could even go into negative Security Class, a la negative Armor Class from AD&D.) Perhaps the decker will have a base Hacking bonus which increases with level, a la the Attack Bonus used by characters in combat, with points allocated for specific hacking tasks, like finding data or hijacking security. Perhaps different decks add different bonuses to the various hacking tasks, as well.

Matrix Combat will have to be another post. I imagine it will run in real time for simplicity's sake. (But only deckers may participate in Matrix combat, meanwhile the decker is too preoccupied to take part in any real combat that might be happening with is team) Armor Class and Hit Points of the decker's avatar will be largely dependent on what deck he's running, perhaps with some bonuses by experience level.

...at this rate, I will just end up converting every single game I own to a freakish hybrid of B/X and SWN. Holler.

B/X or SWN Shadowrun: Karma

2011-08-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

Karma is the 7th stat in B/X or SWN Shadowrun. It is rolled dead last. Humans roll 3d6 for Karma, Dwarves/Orks roll 2d6, and Elves/Trolls roll a meager 1d6. This is to balance out the special abilities that other races get. Elves may seem a little underpowered for the Karma hit they are taking, but remember that in the world of Shadowrun, Elves are the race that don't have to put up with bigotry nearly as much. (In fact, there are even humans who pretend to be Elves out of envy!)

Karma is used to add to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. There are two optional uses for Karma as well: aiding in ability score checks and reducing damage taken.

Attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks: Karma spent adds on a point for point basis. You spend two Karma, your attack or save gets +2. Now, for your customizational pleasure, I have introduced three flavors of Karma for this usage:
1. Hard Karma: Karma must be declared exactly prior to the roll. If you want +2, you've got to declare you are spending two Karma before the die hits the table. If you would have made it without the Karma expenditure, or if you fail anyway, you've wasted the Karma.
2. Soft Karma: You can declare Karma use after you make the roll. If you're just one point shy of making it, spend that Karma and you've succeeded.
3. Medium Karma- You have to declare that you are spending Karma before you make the roll, but you don't have to declare how much until the roll is made. However, you must spend at least one Karma if you declared you were using it, regardless. (So, if you roll a 3 when you needed 17 to hit, you know you can't possibly spend that much, but you have to waste one for declaring Karma usage. Similarly, if you roll a nat 20, you still have to spend a Karma even though you succeed anyway.)

Ability Checks: If you use the classic d20 roll under system, the Karma points actually subtract from the roll, making it easier for you to roll under your stat. If you use a 3.x DC system or the Target 20 system, they add to the roll. You can go Hard, Soft, or Medium, described above, depending on your taste as GM.

Damage Reduction: Karma spent reduces the damage inflicted by an attack on a point-for-point basis. I recommend going Soft Karma on this one, though you certainly don't have to. It is possible to reduce the damage to 0 by spending Karma.

Those are the uses of Karma. How fast Karma comes back is up to you. You could award Karma at the end of an adventure, say 1-5 points. You could simply state that Runners who survive a run get 1d6 Karma back.(Or some other random amount you determine) Maybe Karma only refreshes once the character gains an experience level. Hell, maybe Karma never comes back. (In which case I'd suggest going Soft Karma all the way) My personal preference would be that Karma refreshes at a new experience level, but your mileage, as they say, may vary.

B/X or SWN Shadowrun: Races

2011-08-01T01:38:00.001-05:00

Take 3: Based on B/X D&D stats.
Yes, this is Take 3. I wrote Take 1 while coming off pain killers and it was just god awful. It was ugly, inelegant, and way too complicated. I have scratched it and put this in it's place:

-Human:
-Elf: +1 Dex, -1 Con. Elves have low-light vision.
-Dwarf: +1 Con, -1 Cha. Dwarves have thermographic vision. Dwarves also get a +2 to all saving throws vs. poison or disease.
-Ork: +1 Str, +1 Con, -2 Cha. Orks have thermographic vision.
-Troll: +2 Str, +2 Con, -1 Int, -1 Wis, -1 Dex, -2 Cha. Trolls have thermographic vison. Trolls do 1d4 with their unarmed attacks instead of 1d2. Trolls have a natural AC of 7. (Assuming descending 9 system) Trolls roll a hit die of one type higher than that of their character class. (So if the Street Samurai class rolls a d8 for hit points, a troll samurai is going to roll d10s, while a troll mage rolls d6s, etc._

Take 2: The SWN Version
These use Stars Without Number as a base. In SWN, some alien races get a bonus to a score's modifier, rather than the score itself. For instance, a troll with Strength 10 (normally a 0 modifier) has +2 modifier, making a troll with Strength 10 the equivalent to a human with Strength 18. On the other hand, a troll with Strength 15 (a +1 modifier) has a total modifier of +3; stronger than any human could ever hope to be. (Without cybernetics or other enhancements, that is...)

Human: No modifiers
Elf: +1 Dex mod, -1 Con mod, Low-Light Vision
Dwarf: +1 Con mod, +1 Physical Effect save vs. disease/poison, Thermographic Vision
Ork: +1 Str mod, +1 Con mod, -2 Cha mod. Thermographic vision.
Troll: +2 Str mod, +1 Con mod, -1 Int mod, -1 Wis mod, -2 Cha mod. Thermographic vision, Natural AC 7

Coming Up For Air

2011-07-31T17:08:00.000-05:00

Hey, all.

I've been a bit silent as of late because I had some surgery last week. (No worries, it was a minor procedure) The last week has been lost in a haze of pain and now a haze of painkillers. (Thanks, doc!) I even missed my Sunday game, which has not happened in....longer than I am presently able to recall.

I want to send out a belated thank you to Christian, of Destination Unknown. I received his 'zine in the mail right around the time I went under the knife. Small but mighty, the 'zine is essentially pure creativity and I appreciate the DIY aesthetic of it. I should show it to my wife, who used to be quite into 'zines via an old friend of hers. I think I actually forgot to tell her about it, but my mind was in other places. (And as soon as this pill kicks it, in will be right back in said places, so I'd better crank this blog entry out but quick.)
In return for the 'zine, Christian has asked for a donation, a trade (presumably another zine?) or a letter. I think I might write a letter...that's something I haven't done in years and years. Perhaps I'll send him some D&D material of my own. Christian, if you're reading this, do you have any particular preference when it comes to RPG content?

I've been in a steampunkity mood lately, and so while I've been confined to the couch, I've been reading GURPS Steampunk, which is the only GURPS book I still own. I eventually came to loathe GURPS, but I loved the Steampunk sourcebook for its' surfeit of wonderful ideas and imagery. (Also, it has a lot of good information on things Victorian) I will say, however, that there are plenty of instances in the book that remind me exactly why it is I have sworn off GURPS. I really don't need a formula for figuring out how many watts or joules my steam engine can produce, nor do I need formula and tables for the accuracy of artillery fire. I can see how there are certain stripes of gamers who are all about the meticulous and want their games to have hard science and plausible math behind them... I'd rather just get to the part with the saber duel atop the airship. (The airship being a huge damn McGuffin in any case) I don't need to know the acceleration of the time machine or how many cubic feet of fuel it needs to operate...just get in the damn thing and go shoot some dinosaurs, will you? (Remember to stay on the floating metal path, though...)

In my haze this last week, I have been contemplating Stars Without Number for a Shadowrun-esque game. It would be possible to do it "out of the box" using Polychrome, but I have elected the way of pain, and have decided that it needs to keep the fantasy elements. I've sketched a few things in my notebook (around the sketches of my RIFTS SWN conversion), but I'm a bit stuck on how to proceed with classes: I could go the original SWN route of Warrior (to cover all you badass street sammies), expert (to handle deckers, riggers, and sneaky types)Caster (in place of psychic, to handle mages and shamans) However, the truly masochistic part of me wants to start writing up classes that emulate some of the most common types of characters in the game: Street Samurai, Adept, Decker, Rigger, Mage, Shaman, Mercenary, etc. I also did a quick work-up of the races, which I will probably post later. I will also admit that this is heavily inspired by JB's posts about a B/X Shadowrun.

Well, that's all the stamina I have at the moment. I'm going to go lie down. I'll catch you all later this week. If anyone has posted anything especially cool, please email it to me or leave me a link in the comments; I will try to catch up on all the back reading I have to do around here but I can't make any promises.

Ciao!

Convention, Day 3

2011-07-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

My body has gone into Con-Shock.
Con-Shock always hits me on Sunday. It's when I go from a relatively balanced diet of mostly fish with lots of fruits and vegetables, adequate and regular sleep, and no alcohol to a weekend with wildly erratic and inadequate sleep, a steady intake of junk food, and two consecutive nights of binge drinking. It's a combination of hangover, sleep deprivation, digestive abuse, and general overdosing on awesomeness.

I'm at home now, and actually late for my Sunday game, which I am trying to summon the stamina to attend.

I did not play Metamorphosis Alpha today, but I did play Dungeon Crawl Classics.

I don't have much of an impression of the game, given that we were playing 0-level characters with very little abilities aside from Luck (a finite resource that can add to die rolls and also, depending on the character, to certain other rolls as well) and the ability to come back from death with a DC 10 Fort Save, so long as another character "checks" on them. I also think this only works once...or once per adventure... I'm not sure.

I will say this: you have to do a lot of thinking and planning when you are playing someone with AC 10, 3 hit points, and really no bonuses to speak of to hit, to save, etc. We were, in fact, each given a "four pack" of characters, due to the high mortality rate. (Actually, that's rather reminiscent of Paranoia... except you get all your "lives" at once.)

Presumably, characters to live to get to 1 experience point (they begin with -100) get to choose a character class. I think you also lose your "I'm not dead!" ability.

The DM did a great job...he made the game fun as hell, and Dave is also willing and able to go off the rails in a module when necessary. Gaming with Dave has always been fun.

As for DCC itself...I don't know. I don't like having huge parties of paper-thin characters. I found that a table full of people, each controlling multiple characters, really bogs things down. I also noticed, and I am guilty of this myself, that it is hard not to play your characters as one hive mind with four bodies. I tried actively to make two of my characters bitter enemies, but then this just seems like table-hogging dramatics. I really liked the check-on-you-friend rule and might steal that for B/X or SWN.

We had a lot of party on party violence. I fear that DCC may have the same effect that Hackmaster 4th has, where everyone has a high chance of turning into party-killing cockbags in the name of "playing it old school." HOWEVER, I would give DCC another chance. After all, I imagine there's likely to be a lack of impulse control on a Sunday morning Convention game. Everybody is suffering from Con-Shock, and even people better behaved than I are probably tired and worn out from the weekend. Hackamster, on the other hand, has produced this behavior in players 100% of the time, and I've played it in different towns with different configurations of players and GMs. I guess my sample size of DCC isn't enough to warrant the label, though I have to say that it wouldn't surprise me at all if DCC produces a play experience similar to HM4.

Overall, this was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun, I met some new friends, my wife looked lovely in her costume, I got to game a couple of times, and I bought just one new gaming book. Oh, and my Stars Without Numbers supplements arrived in the mail, but that's another post entirely.

And now, I'm going to drink some water, take some Tylenol, and maybe try to drag myself to the Sunday game.

Adieu.

Convention, Day 2

2011-07-24T09:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Day 2 was yesterday, but I found myself continually distracted.

I didn't game yesterday, but I did loiter around the gaming area. The two main things going on were Star Wars Saga Edition (which I would have played but it would have run into the martial arts demonstration that I was part of) and Pathfinder. The SW game was going on even after my demo, and I have to admit that the game was compelling enough for me to watch the big finale. The Pathfinder game was a bit too....clinical... for my taste, but the players seemed to enjoy it well enough. It made me wish that my Pathfinder game hadn't ended.

I supported a small merchant yesterday, so I suppose I should have that warm inner glow of having helped the Little Guy in these Troubled Times. I could have saved a few bucks on Amazon, sure, but only a few. I ended up getting Ultimate Magic for Pathfinder and the missus picked up a new dice set. (Because gods know she doesn't have enough dice sets...)

Martial arts demonstration was fun. The area they put us in totally sucked and we had to improvise in a big way. It was indicated on the programming to be a "grassy knoll" but it was neither of those things.

The room parties were fun. I have an enormous headache, but it was well earned. I am thinking about crawling down to breakfast.

Today I will be playing Dungeon Crawl Classics, which is set to run in about forty minutes. I had also planned to play a game of Metamorphosis Alpha, which will have me gaming back to back for most of the day. If I can muster the stamina and gumption, I am also supposed to attend Shadowrun at my Sunday gaming group. Hmm... maybe I'll have to jettison Metamorphosis Alpha... or maybe I just need to cowboy goddamn up.

I do want to say two things about this year's incarnation of the Local Con.

1. It was horribly organized, perhaps worse than any year.
2. It was incredibly fun, regardless, perhaps more fun than any other year.

Oddly enough, I didn't see any ordinary hotel guests expressing open (or thinly veiled) horror/disgust. Actually, now that I think about it... I don't really remember seeing any hotel guests who weren't part of the convention. I know we had something like three floors, which is only half the hotel... just lucky I guess.
I also did not run into anyone this year who was unbearable, repulsive, or smelly. The people were really great this year. My wife did report some creepers about, but I didn't notice them. I was only "trapped" in one conversation, an awkward conversation about Mage Knight, but the lad was nice enough.

Well, I'd love to blog more, but I need to get some eggs in me. (Settle down, stomach, this is for your own good) A little protein will do me some good, since, from what I hear about DCC, some character death is nearly certain.

Convention, Day 1

2011-07-23T02:26:00.001-05:00

Friday evening/Saturday early morning has been quite enjoyable so far. The guests here are especially nice this year. I spent most of the evening running Stars Without Number for a packed house, and I think I may have turned some folks on to the game. I ended up catching a GM second wind of sorts and ended up running a third module in the Zirugar series, which is my usual fare at the Local Con. We didn't actually finish the module because the players got a little sidetracked (and I let them) and I had to meet the missus at the steampunk social, which was very tame by comparison. We met some dandy new friends, including newly local gamers.

A fellow that I blogged unkindly about last year was present, and he seems to have calmed down muchly since last we met. It might also have been the complimentary booze coursing through my veins at the time. Oh, and there was, in one of the room parties, a cake shaped like the TARDIS.

All of my immediate party have retired to their rooms for the night. I am contemplating heading back to the room parties, but I'm not decided yet.

Tomorrow I might try to finish my module if I can get that crew together again. I am also prepared for a number of pick-up games.

I am supposed to be getting up in five and a half hours for the complimentary breakfast. We'll see how that turns out. My goal is to game at least twice more this weekend.

Dave, if you're reading this, thanks so much for bringing players to my SWN table. I had a blast. Perhaps I'll have to run it again at Nuke-Con, or at the game store in BV one of these weeks.

The gaming did me good, especially considering my recent burnout.

'Twas the Night Before Ye Local Con

2011-07-21T22:28:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, I will be heading out to the Local Convention for the third year in a row (and it is only the convention's fourth year in existence) along with the missus and a small cadre of our pals. I do expect to see the usual con suspects, including my acquaintances who I know only from conventions (Dave!) and the members of my old college sci-fi club, who I see only at conventions since they live 50-some miles away.

I am still suffering from GM burnout, but I am on the schedule, and I do not intend to flake out. Therefore, I purchased Hard Light, which I reckon to be Stars Without Numbers' version of The Keep on the Borderlands. (The Space Station on the Borderlands...?) Well, it's not a perfect comparison, but both modules serve similar purposes: they give the PCs a base of operations in a dangerous environment with some dungeons to explore and some interesting things to do at the base, plus plenty of hooks to throw at you. I'm also printing off some Savage Worlds One Sheet adventures from Pinnacles site. I think they will be perfect for convention gaming because they only take about an hour and they have very little prep work involved. Marathon gaming sessions, I find, don't work so well for conventions...everybody, including me, has other things they would like to do. (For one thing, I will be involved in a martial arts demonstration. I will also be attending a "steampunk social" with the missus.)

Ah, I also have an AD&D module (pretty standard dungeon crawl) ready to go as well. If the gaming room is barren, I shall make it...er....un-barren?

The last two years, I blogged once each day from the event, even once while heavily intoxicated. We shall see if I can keep that fine tradition up this year.

On another note, I was looking at my blog stats tonight, and I had to share the two most disturbing search terms that brought people to my blog:

1. "CJ Carella passes away"- I hope to gods this isn't true. I dug around on the internet a little bit after reading that, but there doesn't seem to be anything to corroborate it. Please do not take this as fact or even rumor.
2. "Will doing good counteract the bad I have done"- I find this one slightly disturbing, if only because someone is apparently treating Google as some kind of advice dispensary.

Oh, and I've also noticed that I get a heck of a lot of traffic from people who are looking up information about Stars Without Number. This makes me glad to see a game I have enjoyed so much generating interest, although it does cause me to consider that perhaps I am paying too much attention to a single game.

...ahhhh, fuggit...if it's a great game, I'ma write about it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to run over my modules one more time so they are fresh in my noggin for tomorrow's festivities. Go Local Con!

Further Thoughts on Thief Skills and X-in-6

2011-07-21T02:04:00.001-05:00

Taking cues from LotFP and from 5stone's comment in my previous post about a reworked Thief, my brain is considering the possibilities of thief skills as "adventuring tasks" or whatever, and restricting them not entirely to thieves. As many of you probably know, latter day iterations of D&D do this with skills; no longer are there "thief skills," but rather the rogue class, which simply has a bigger skill list and gobs more skill points than the other classes. Simply put, they are the class that are good at skills. (Or, if you prefer, skillz) Giving everyone the thief skills/"dungeon tasks", albeit at a lower probability and/or rate of advancement than the thief class, is just taking this approach and fitting it to the older versions of the game. (My idea for Feats of Strength/Skill/Will/Etc is another example of this, I guess.) So, here are a couple of approaches I'm thinking on:

1. The straight-up LotFP approach: every character, regardless of class, has 1-in-6 to do everything, but thieves have higher chances to do some things. There are obviously some restrictions here: you can't pick a lock without lockpicks, you probably can't sneak around in metal armor, etc. Now, I'm not well versed enough in LotFP to know how the skill advancement works exactly, but I see two further possibilities:
a. Only the thief ever gets better at skills. (Much the way that only fighters ever get better at combat in LotFP- a mechanic that I vehemently disagree with, by the way...) Everybody else is stuck at 1-in-6 on everything, forever.
b. As suggested by 5stone, everyone can advance at skills, but nowhere near the speed that the thief does. (He suggested 1 point every other level for magic-users, for instance) Other characters can develop talents as they desire, but nobody will ever out-thief the thief.

2. Certain classes get certain skills formerly attributed only to the thief. What I'm thinking:
Fighters- I'm thinking Climb Walls might be the extent of it. I'd be fine with fighters having no skills.

Clerics- See above.

Magic-Users- Read Languages.

Mystic**- Mystics already get thief skills.I'd also be inclined to turn their acrobatics option into an x-in-6 skill, probably starting at 1-in-6 and improved upon like any other thief skill.

Elf-Hear Noise. Option on Move Silently and Hide in Forests, which works like Hide in Shadows, but...well, you get the idea.

Dwarf-Find/Remove Traps. Feel free to make this limited to stonework traps, but I can see dwarves being able to find and disarm mechanical traps, too. On that note, consider giving them Open Locks.

Halfling- Move Silently, Hide in Shadows. I suppose you could add Pick Pockets if you want your halfling to be more Kender-like, but why god, why would you do that to the rest of the players?! If you want the halflings' hide ability to be replaced by thief skills but still rock out like it does in the Rules As Written, give them 4-in-6 or even 5-in-6, half chance in the dungeon.

All these skills start at 1-in-6. I'm thinking that the Fighter, Cleric, and Magic-User get one point every other level. Mystics get 2 improvement points to start and 2 points every level. Elves, Halflings, and Dwarves get one point every level. You can tweak these to taste. (Cyclopedic characters, for instance, can go to 36th level...so perhaps you want to slow the skill advancement down a little.)

**Yes, I know the mystic is in the Cyclopedia and not B/X D&D, and I know a lot of the old school crowd don't like the mystic, but I do.

...at any rate, you could even write up a quick and dirty skill system for each class, so that nobody feels left out. (Ain't I sweet?) Maybe check this out:

Fighter: Disarming Blow, Stunning Blow, Feat of Incredible Strength, Repair Weapons/Armor, Size Up Opponent

Cleric: Field Medicine, Demon/Undead Lore, Exorcism

Magic-User: Demon/Magic Lore, Herb Lore, Read Languages (Read/Speak Languages, maybe?), Spell Lore, Crazy Ass Forbidden Lore.

Mystic- Most of the fighter skills, plus maybe Zen/Mystical Philosophy (not sure how useful that would be...) Consider cutting back on the thief skills in this case.

Elf- Woodcraft, Track, Magic/Fey Lore

Dwarf- Detect Slopes/Grades/Passages, plus most of the fighter skills.

Halflings- Makeshift Cookery, Herb Lore, Remember Irritating Song That Goes on For a Goddamn Page and a Half.

With this system, we're leaving behind the wonderful simplicity of B/X and headed down a dark, dark road that culminates in there being a difference between "Riding Basic" and "Riding Advanced." Now, I do like a little mechanical complexity to my games now and then, so perhaps this is something I'd consider developing further. That will be another post, I suspect.

My Little Thief Rework

2011-07-20T02:34:00.000-05:00

I was at a seminar the other day, and during one of the...shall we say, less illuminating segments, I started reworking the B/X Thief in my notebook.

I think the whole x-in-6 thing, a la Flame Princess, might be the way to go. A lot of people who complain about the thief bring up the pretty legit point that many of his abilities have a 5-10% chance of working. Of course, AD&D and further iterations of the game would mitigate those low scores somewhat, but I think the Thief needs some love at the B/X or Cyclopedic level.

Okay, so here's what I'm thinking:
-At level 1, thieves get Pick Pockets, Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls, and Hear Noise all at 1-in-6. They get three points to spend, each point raising the chance by 1-in-6. (So spend 1 point on, say, Open Locks and he's got it at 2-in-6.) The thief may spend these points however he wants.

At 2nd level, and every level thereafter, the thief receives 2 points to spend. These points are restricted, however, in that the thief may not spend them on the same skill for the same level. A skill may not improve past 5-in-6.

At 4th level, the thief learns to Read Languages at 1-in-6. This can be raised immediately with one of the thief's 4th level points. If the DM doesn't really dig thieves reading languages, feel free to start it at 0-in-6.

Backstab and read scrolls work as written. If you're one of those symmetry loving folk, consider making read scrolls a skill and starting it off at 5-in-6, so that you're doing d6's for everything. I know it's not exactly equivalent probability-wise, but it's damn close enough.

Oh, one optional consideration for backstab...I liked Hackmaster 4th edition's take on backstab, which adds extra damage dice to the attack rather than a multiplier. x2 becomes +1 die, x3 becomes +2, and so on... the die matches the weapon type, so instead of getting double damage with a dagger, the thief rolls 2d4.

This has probably been done somewhere by someone, but I'm just throwing it out there.

Yet Another Task Resolution System

2011-07-16T16:47:00.000-05:00

I was perusing an old issue of Dragon this afternoon- one printed well before I was born- and I came across an interesting little system for attribute checks. It is a little clunky and probably has more math than the whippersnappers* of today's gaming can probably handle, but the thing I like about it is the variability; a character who has a Strength of 12 doesn't always have a base chance of 60% to accomplish something with a Strength check. You have your good days and your bad. It's not a perfect system, but I think it might be usable.

Ok, check this: you roll percentile dice, adding the character's actual score. The result will give you a die type, ranging from d4 to d12. You roll that die, multiply it by the character's attribute, and that is their chance of success for the task at hand.

So, if our Clever Rogue with an Intelligence of 16 is trying to figure out how to read the magical scroll he has found before the angry sorcerer who owns it can blast him with magic, roll percentile dice, adding 16. Our result is less than stellar and determines that a d4 will be used. We roll a 3 on the d4. Multiplying that 3 by our "hero"'s 16 Intelligence, we get a 48%... his chance of reading the scroll correctly before he gets a face full of Prismatic Excellence.

I should add, at this point, that the author suggests optional modifiers: adding the character's experience level to the initial roll, for instance. He also advocates letting any character try anything, offering several suggestions for modifying the roll based on suitability of character class to task. He has an example for letting a Fighter try to pick a lock and use a magic item normally useable only by magic-users. (Though admittedly their chances are pretty low, as well they should be- of you're going to have a game with character classes, they ought to be the best at what they are intended to be best at...)

Now, I like the idea of the system, but I have the notion that it ought to be streamlined a bit. After all, we are making three die rolls and several small calculations to resolve one task. That won't do at all. So, howzabout this simpified version:
We skip the initial die roll to determine which die to use. Instead, the DM dtermines the die based on how difficult the task is. So, something very hard will use only a d4, while a simple task might use a d10. You roll, multiply it by the ability score, and there's your chance. You could even say that different characters use different dice in the same situation; our Clever Rogue might only get a d6 to read the scroll mentioned above, but his poor friend the Dull Witted Swordsman might only get a d4. Meanwhile, their Marvelous Magician companion might get a d10 or even d12 to read the magical scroll, as he does specialize in this sort of thing.

I know some will not like this system because it requires two rolls and a calculation, but I find the variability factor to be very interesting. I find that some games, particularly those in which there is a Perception skill or score, are filled with samey dice rolls where everybody rolls Perception to search everything all the time, or in which every single party member makes the same Strength roll to open the same sarcophagus or door or lift the leaden tankard of ale or whatever.

Less Conan, more Blackstar?

2011-07-10T13:33:00.000-05:00

I am about to leave for 2nd edition Shadowrun.

I just wanted to note, however, that Science Fantasy seems to be all the rage these days... lots of D&D based "raygun and rocket" type games cropping up. I downloaded two or three yesterday. Humanspace Empires, and.... you know, I don't even remember the other two at the moment. I will try to digest them some after this afternoon's Shadowrun game.

...or, you know, this could be old news and I am just now stumbling on to it. I have been trying to read different blogs lately.

Also, I finally cracked 100 followers. It only took me 2 1/2 years. I don't need Cyclopaetron (sp?) and his monthly blog stat chart to know how lame that is.

...and actually, now that I think about it, Blackstar is probably not a great comparison, but I actually need to be out the door now.