Disambiguating B/X Damage Types

I was reminded of how far ahead B/X was for its time while reading the monsters section in the Basic and Expert books for research for the monsters in Gunslinger (where they are called Critters). Different types of damage are succinctly described in game terms as a handy reference. This is the beginning of the systemization of damage in D&D. Comparing this with damage types in 5e there are only a couple in common, and arguably a third.

B/X	5e
Acid	Acid
Charge	Bludgeoning
Charm	Cold
Continuous Damage	Fire
	Lightning
Energy Drain	Necrotic
Paralysis	Piercing
Poison	Poison
Swallow	Psychic
Swoop	Radiant
Trample	Slashing
	Thunder

5e has come a long way in clarifying and categorizing damage types, while B/X conflates damage types with attack types and with what would come to be called Conditions. The only shared damage types are Acid and Poison and possibly Energy Drain. Of the remaining types Charm and Paralysis are Conditions in 5e. Charge, Swallow, Swoop, and Trample are combat attack actions. 

This leaves Continuous Damage and Energy Drain. Of these two types Energy Drain has fallen out of favor (as if it was ever in favor!) and Continuous Damage which is really something of a modifier you could theoretically apply to any damage type.

If we look at Energy Drain a little closer it does exist in 5e, but in a very different form called Life Drain. It is sort of a condition/action hybrid. As a damage type it is similar to Necrotic damage. This is what it does:

Life Drain: Necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

At first glance reducing hit point maximum may seem a bit lame, not as scary as losing a whole level like in B/X. But it is far easier to calculate and more immediate, you can lose quite a bit of time looking up what it means to reduce a character's level. Also, it is scarier than you might think to the player as it reduces how much they can heal.

To disambiguate the Damage Types as listed in B/X it would look something like this:

Damage Types

• Acid
• Continuous Damage
• Poison
• Energy Drain

Conditions

• Charm
• Paralysis

Attack Types

• Charge
• Swallow
• Swoop
• Trample

I quite like this list and think it is a good start to creating a system of damages, conditions, and attack types. There is a clarity of thinking here that 1st Edition AD&D could have benefited from. Well, we did eventually get that in 2nd edition. Maybe a bit too much.

One other interesting note is the order the damage types are described in. They are not alphabetical in the book, so they come across as random train of thought. What is it about those early D&D books and the random inconsistent use of alphabetizing?

PotRP Design Diary #33 - Gunfights

It is somewhat of an irony that what would take hours or days in real life takes moments in a gaming session, while something that would take mere moments can take hours to play out. Traveling across a vast wilderness takes a couple of random encounter checks, but a combat can take hours to conduct.

So to make a fast combat system the less rules the better, but that sacrifices all nuance. The more detail and variation in the system the longer the combats are going to take. For that reason I've never favored complex combat systems and it was probably the #1 turnoff of 4th Edition for me. 

In designing the combat system for On The Arizona Hills (Gunslinger) I looked to one of the best under appreciated combat systems: Boothill. From its war game roots, Gygax and Blume created streamlined yet detailed gunfighting rules. While 3rd edition is probably my favorite as it is a genuine fleshed out RPG, it is the 1st edition that is the most interesting for the purposes of borrowing ideas here as it comes from the same period and stew of ideas as the original LBB.

This is an effort to translate that system into original ODD compatible mechanics.

The First Shot

In western gunfights the victory often goes to whoever draws and fires first. Sometimes that comes down to not only speed (the DEX bonus) but also using the handier weapon and circumstances.

Use the normal combat rules, but with individual initiative.

Before rolling for attack, characters on both sides may optionally declare if they’re using one these attacks or defensive options: Hip Shooting, Rushing, Running, Evading, or Careful Aim, as these affect the First Shot chart. You can also take an “ordinary shot” in which case there’s no modifier.

Aim or Careful Aim means you’re sacrificing speed for accuracy.

Rushing (a quick attack) or Hip Shooting (even faster) means you’re trading accuracy for speed.

Running or Evading (zig-zagging, etc.) boosts your Armor Class at the expense of accuracy and speed.

If you are surprised, or your weapon is not already in your hands, you have an additional penalty to speed as you must draw it from the holster or unsling it.

Each player’s d6 initiative roll is modified by their Dexterity modifier and Weapon’s Speed factor (see the Ranged Weapon Table) and any appropriate bonuses and penalties shown on the FIRST SHOT CHART.

Do this for each figure firing that turn. The one with the highest positive total fires first, with other figures firing in order thereafter. In case of ties fire is considered as taking place simultaneously with regard to the figures whose total scores were tied.

Use the information on the FIRST SHOT CHART as a guide for other factors not listed.

Hit Location and Wounds

If a hit is to a limb, it’s just a flesh wound unless the attack causes the character to lose half or more of his CURRENT hit points. For instance, if he had only 3 hp left, then any hit that makes him lose 2 or more hp cripples the limb.

If a limb is an arm that is holding a weapon, the character drops it. They cannot use that arm/hand for shooting or combat until they recover back to full hp.

A crippled leg reduces movement by half, and eliminates any DEX bonus when trying actions that require physical agility. If both legs are crippled the character can only crawl at 3” and can’t do anything that requires physical agility. Again, they must recover to full hp and care from a Doctor to regain the use of the limb.

Converting the OD&D Alternate Combat system to d20

d20 assumes a simple progression of +1 bonus to hit for each HD. I was wondering how well that lined up with the original D&D TO HIT table. It's not quite that simple.

Looking at the Alternate Combat system (the top chart in gray) in the Original Men & Magic book the table is relatively smooth except in a few spots where it jumps. Between 2-3 and 3-4 hit dice the number needed to hit reduces by two. This also happens from 6-8 to 9-10 hit dice. We can take that as is and directly convert it to an ascending Armor Class combat system with a bonus to hit on d20. This is indicated in blue.

However with some tweaks we can smooth out those jumps a bit by spreading out 5 & 6 and then grouping 7-8 and moving 9 hit dice down to its own column.

I think these adjustments remain very true to the original To Hit chart while smoothly adapting it to an ascending Armor Class system.

The blue chart is useful for converting OD&D to d20 as well. For example a 4HD monster might be better as a 3HD monster in d20/5e.

Here are a couple other To Hit tables from early DnD that ever so slightly smooths out this progression by delineating the overlap a little more clearly, like separating 3 from 3+. From the Holmes "Blue Book" basic:

And this classic from the indispensable, hugely useful, Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets which appears to be identical to that in OD&D, just expanded.

Cavaliers & Roundheads - TSR's first book

A common misconception is that Chainmail was TSR's first book and out of that came OD&D. The history is much more convoluted and interesting than that.

Cavaliers & Roundheads was TSR's first publication, and the sales were intended to help fund publishing OD&D. In a cruel twist of fate things went awry and the history of TSR became a convoluted mess after that. But that is another story.

OD&D was already well into development when Cavaliers & Roundheads was published. So this game had little impact on OD&D except in a few cosmetic ways. The format of the book: saddle-stitched digest sized. A cover that established the basic layout printed monochrome on textured paper. Plain san serif font body text, clean simple layout. Crude amateurish art.

Cavaliers & Roundheads is like a cliff's notes version of Chainmail. It is succinct, to the point, has no fluff except a couple of pages of art describing uniforms. And it is musketeer-like focused on its topic: the English Civil War of 1642. No dragons, no uber powered Landsknechte, just English, Scottish, and Irish troops battling for the political fate of the Kingdom of England. Even if you're not a history buff you've no doubt heard the famous name Oliver Cromwell, this war is why.

 

Skimming through it the system appears very similar if not identical to Chainmail. Considering it has the same authors that isn't surprising. I just got this copy and am still reading through it, I hope to get a few play tests in to get a feel for how it works. I've started a post over at ODD74 if you want to follow along as I read and comment on it.

http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/12450/read-cavaliers-roundheads

Dungeon Grappling + Guardians

Just 3 days left in the Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter. One of the add on items is a copy of Guardians. Douglas H. Cole, creator of Dungeon Grappling, wrote up a nice informative review of Guardians you might want to check it out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2101297466/dungeon-grappling-rpg-supplement/posts/1751174

Dungeon Grappling

Dungeon Grappling is a supplement for your old-school RPG that gives a fast, simple, and robust system for moderating unarmed combat. We loved this system so much that we used it as inspiration for unarmed combat in the Guardians super hero role playing game, and has become the de facto system for all our Original Edition rules. Gaming Ballistic is running a Kickstarter to fund a print version of this excellent system.

Here is the blurb from the Kickstarter:

Dungeon Grappling brings those thrills to the oldest fantasy RPG with rules and examples for several editions from the OSR, PFRPG, and Fifth Edition. It unifies the mechanics with those of weapon combat, providing for simplicity and flexibility in execution. Everything from simple wrestling to throws, locks, and choke holds are given mechanical guidance. Plus, of course, support for fearsome talons, crushing jaws, and grasping tentacles.

Check out the Kickstarter and help fund this fantastic supplement!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2101297466/dungeon-grappling-rpg-supplement

Ranged Weapons in Melee?

During playtesting of Guardians some issues came up regarding using ranged attacks in melee. If you can use them with no penalty, then there is no advantage in taking a melee attack ability.

The co-designer, David Pulver put it this way:

Do you think there should be any penalty for characters who try to use ranged attacks in melee? Like maybe a -2 or something? Just to further distinguish the brawlers from the shooters and give the former a little advantage when the fight gets close?
I guess this would come up in the other OSR games too, but while some refs will rule a longbow can't be used in melee, with guns or super powers obviously they can.
I admit to being of two minds here; maybe it would make a good "optional house rule" or something.

This is how it is currently written up in the Guardians rulebook:

There is a +0 “to-hit” bonus for ranged weapons utilized at short range (x1), a -1 “to-hit” penalty at medium range (x2), and a -2 penalty for long range (x3) attacks. Aiming for one interrupted round adds +1.

Ranged weapons have a -2 “to-hit” penalty at point blank or melee range.

Aiming, with sights for one interrupted round, adds +2.

Guardians - Brawling

Countdown to Guardians. In a super powered roleplaying game sometimes hand to hand unarmed combat is an inevitable situation.

One of the weakness of the original edition, which has been the case of all the editions after is unarmed combat. From its wargaming roots which relied on a certain troop type vs. armored foes grappling and unarmed combat hasn't fit into a simple and intuitive system. There have been multiple attempts, a few of which I'm very fond of like in Dragon magazine #83 which had a very good article by Roger Moore "How to finish fights faster" that went a long ways in improving grappling and unarmed combat.

Within the OSR blogosphere I really liked the grappling rules by Douglas Cole and Peter V. Dell'Orto in The Manor Issue #8. We got permission from them to incorporate their grappling rules into Guardians. As we edited, playtested, and refined the rules what we ended up with were something best described as "inspired by" however we want to give full credit to Douglas and Peter for there excellent unarmed combat rules.

GRAPPLING
Supers often get into wrestling matches. Instead of treating wrestling as an unarmed combat attack that inflicts hit point damage these advanced rules can be used.

A grapple is a melee attack like any other. Roll 1d20, with usual strength Basic Ability Modifier. If you hit, you grappled your opponent. Grappling attacks may be substituted for any appropriate attack one-for-one. Unstoppable (if applicable) may be used.

After hitting simply roll damage . . . but all grappling damage is tallied in “Control Points” (CP), not actual hit points lost. Control Point damage is recovered immediately once the attacker lets go (whether willingly or not), not at the usual healing rate.

Humans and humanoids do 1d6 CP, plus or minus the usual Strength modifier. For monsters, a grappling attack does the same damage as the base attack being used.
The effects suffered when grappled depend on how many CP have been inflicted on you relative to your HP.

Grappling Effect Table

After the Grapple
Once you’ve grabbed a foe, you can develop or discard the grapple.
Attacking: You can attack to try to get more CP. Roll to hit normally. If you succeed, roll for CP and add them to the current total. Grappling is cumulative. You can also attack normally with a weapon at no penalty, unless grappled back!

Counter-Grappling: You can always grab a foe back! Attack normally and if you hit, roll for CP: though both the to-hit and damage roll may be penalized due to the grapple on n you! You may apply rolled CP to either put CP on your opponent, or reduce the CP your opponent has on you. If the latter, any excess applies as CP to your opponent.

Injury: You can attempt to convert your CP to damage. Roll to hit normally for grappling. Instead of inflicting more CP, you may convert your CP to damage: 2 CP turn into 1 HP of “real” damage. However, once you use them for damage, they’re gone.

Let Go: You can always Let Go as a free action on your turn. You don’t need to hold on.

Throw: If you amassed at least half your foe’s HP in CP, you may spend CP to attempt to throw them to the ground. First “spend” accumulated CP equal to half the foe’s hit points (round up) to attempt the move. Then roll to hit normally, using the new AC penalty, not the old one. If successful, your foe is stunned for 1d4 turns and takes 1d4 + Strength modifier damage.

Grab Item: If you amassed more CP than 1/2 the wielder’s current HP, you can try to grab it. Roll to hit vs. the foe’s armor class as usual. If you succeed, you take it.
If the super has a Mental Attack it can be given a different attack mode such as Aura, Bolt, Continuous, Sword (or other melee weapon), or Touch.

Attack Bonus Comparison

I've come to appreciate simplicity, or more importantly, elegance in game design. Einstein would say "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

In middle school there was nothing cooler than consulting tables to see "to hit" numbers. However, getting past my nostalgia I have to admit that the simple "BAB" (base attack bonus) of 3.0 DnD really was an improvement. So I appreciated the "ascending armor class" system in S&W. It was, I think, another good design decision - where the goal to stay true to the original edition didn't stand in the way of something clearly simpler and better. Matthew Finch wasn't afraid to acknowledge that.

I wanted to take the ascending armor class to hit chart and look at it in a different way. First of all I like charts in "portrait" orientation. And also it is interesting to see the comparison of classes by how they cap out on their attack bonus. (yeah, I'm calling Base "to-hit" Bonus simply Attack Bonus)

* Elves AB depend on which mode they are in: “Fighting Man” or “Magic User”
+1/2 this means AB increases by 1 every 2 levels
+1/4 this means AB increases by 1 every 4 levels

Okay, so I've invented a bit on the 21+ levels, because the charts don't really go there. I gave what I think is a reasonable interpretation. Since the advancement tables allow for going beyond 21st level.