Posts Tagged ‘characters

02
Nov
25

Glantri Reunion III: Timeskip Tables After-Action Report

By Eric Minton 1 Comment
Categories: Campaign Methodology
Tags: , , , , , , ,

We had our first Glantri reunion session, and it was largely successful! After 10 years of war and political shenanigans, the Company of Crossed Swords (our PC party) got back together to take another crack at the Chateau d’Ambreville (our tentpole megadungeon). Many dice were rolled, a devil and a lich were parlayed with, and several minor monsters on the first dungeon level were magically blasted to itty bitty pieces. The players expressed interest in continued adventures, which is about as good a sign as a DM can receive!

In retrospect, however, I’m not entirely satisfied with how my PC timeskip tables worked out in actual play. Reaction seemed positive overall, but I think there was room for improvement in several areas.

Albrecht Dürer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
  1. Benefits felt unbalanced. It made sense at the time that the higher-level characters should get more benefits, but they’re also the characters who needed them the least. In retrospect, given the XP boost to all characters (which felt fine at the table), it would have been better for everyone to get the same level of benefits.
  2. Detriments felt too balanced. On the flip side, giving everyone exactly the same detriment options felt a little off, as it was more punishing for the characters with fewer cool things to lose. Instead of simply, say, removing one magic item or hireling, perhaps a small chance for each magic item or hireling to be lost. (Probably with some sort of cap so that a bad string of rolls doesn’t completely wreck a PC’s assets.)
  3. Players had control in the wrong places. Allowing higher-level PCs the ability to modify rolls up or down gave additional advantages to the PCs who needed it the least (see point 1 above), and also narrowed the meaningful results of the tables. We had a disproportionate number of miscellaneous magic items, for instance. Meanwhile, there was no overall sense of story control to provide context.
  4. The strongest benefits may be unsatisfying. It’s awesome to earn a displacer cloak or a girdle of giant strength in the dungeon through cleverness and tactical skill. I’m not sure how satisfying it is to pick them up by random roll. I think that part of what made my campaign satisfying was how hard-won the PC’s treasures were, and the timeskip table benefits may have undermined that.
  5. Results might have been too random. Rolling on tables can be fun! But with the stakes this high, it might have been better not to have so many results dependent purely on the luck of the dice. This ties in with the previous two points; things might have been more satisfying with less die rolling.

Were I to do this over again, I think I’d try some sort of lifepath system — an idea I’d discarded early in development as too complicated, but which can actually be greatly simplified in the process of addressing the points above. Instead of simply rolling for purely random results, each player would pick what sort of endeavors their character focused on for the past 10 years, with the results focused on that particular path. This would give players more control over what they gain and lose. And making those choices with clear knowledge of the various paths’ results would hopefully make benefits feel more earned.

For instance, choosing a high-stakes War path might offer specific benefits like earning a knighthood, recruiting men-at-arms, garnering gold from loot and ransoms, gaining extra experience, and obtaining a magic weapon or armor. On the downside, they would suffer specific penalties like losing permanent stat points from war wounds, and losing an extant retainer or magic item to death and misadventure.

Other paths might include:

  • Politics, which can earn a noble title and high-ranking contacts, while also garnering enemies among major NPC characters and factions.
  • Commerce, which can offer money, land, or business ownership while also earning a business rival’s enmity, or give the PC significant experience in exchange for sizable debts or putting a magic item in hock.
  • Specific class-associated paths — church duties for clerics, arcane studies for magic-users, martial training for fighters, and criminal activities for thieves, with demihumans picking whichever seems most appropriate. Each could provide benefits and detriments appropriate to that class. For instance, a magic-user might gain a point of intelligence, learn a spell or two, and/or scribe a few scrolls, but would lose a point from a couple of other stats due to atrophy.

If the impulse strikes and I’m not too busy with dungeon restocking, I may write up lifepaths for use by any of my old players who missed this reunion session but turn up for a future one. If so, I’ll post them here. Any feedback is welcome! Especially from my players who participated in the reunion session. Let me know what you think!

26
Oct
25

Red Box Workshop: the Alchemist

By Eric Minton 1 Comment
Categories: Red Box Workshop
Tags: , ,

This new class was originally inspired by the alchemy system in His Majesty the Worm, but drifted back toward a more typical spell-slot system. That was, frankly, much easier to try and balance in the context of D&D play.

The focus on concoctions was intended to make this more of a PC class, rather than an NPC who you purchase potions from but never bring on an expedition. The volatility rules were similarly intended to prevent the alchemist’s player from handing off a bunch of concoctions to another PC, then staying home and playing a different character. I’m not sure it really makes sense without also including a risk of an unexpected result from falling damage or other involuntary mishandling, though.

As always, comments and feedback are welcome!

ALCHEMISTS

These scholarly brewers of potions and elixirs rarely enter the dungeon personally, preferring to remain in the safety of their laboratories. But one can occasionally be persuaded to endanger themselves in order to harvest the freshest ingredients from monsters and other sources.

The alchemist’s prime requisites are Intelligence and Wisdom. An alchemist character whose Intelligence or Wisdom score is 13 or higher will receive a 5% bonus to earned experience. Alchemists whose Intelligence and Wisdom scores are 13 or greater will receive a bonus of 10% to earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Alchemists use four-sided dice (d4) to determine their hit points. They may not wear armor or use shields, and the only weapons they can use are daggers. Alchemists must have a minimum score of 9 in Intelligence.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: The alchemist can create concoctions, or temporary potions, which last for one day before their volatile compounds deteriorate and their efficacy is lost. This takes 1 turn and can be done in a laboratory or with a portable alchemy kit, which is a fragile item weighing 200gp. The alchemist’s level affects both the number of concoctions they produce per day and the range of concoction formulas they know.

Starting at level 2, the alchemist learns how to stabilize these volatile concoctions to brew permanent potions. This requires a permanent laboratory and ingredients costing 100 gp per level of the potion. (Suitable ingredients may be harvested from monsters at the DM’s discretion.) The number of potions an alchemist can produce per month and the number of concoction formulas that they can make permanent in this way are equal to the number of concoctions produced and formulas known by an alchemist of half their level, rounded down. (For example, a level 6 alchemist can stabilize two of her first-level formulas and can make two first-level potions per month, and can stabilize one second-level formula and make one second-level potion per month.)

CONCOCTIONS: Alchemists begin play knowing a single concoction formula. Much like a magic-user’s spellbook, an alchemist’s recipe book will contain formulas equal to the number and level of concoctions that they can use per day.

Concoctions come in various forms. Those described as elixirs must be consumed to have an effect. Oils take effect when applied to the surface of an object or creature. Dusts burst into a vaporous cloud when exposed to air, and affect all those within the cloud.

Treat thrown concoctions as thrown weapons with the same range increments as oil or holy water. Where a concoction is described as having the effects of a spell, this range increment rule always overrides the spell’s listed range. Where relevant (eg, dusts), a missed throw lands 10’ away from the target in a random direction.

Concoctions are so volatile that any non-alchemist who administers, applies, or throws one has a 10% chance of an unexpected result, and a non-alchemist carrying one has a 10% chance per hour that mishandling the concoction has a similar unexpected result. The concoction may affect the user or another undesired target, may act strangely, or may have no effect at all, at the DM’s discretion. The alchemist may safely administer an elixir to an ally in combat, but consuming the potion also uses up the ally’s action for the turn.

  Concoctions
LevelTitle123456
1Herbalist1–––––
2Brewer2–––––
3Distiller21––––
4Apothecary22––––
5Spagyrist221–––
6Natural Philosopher222–––
7Transmuter3221––
8Hermeticist3322––
9Alchemist33321–
10Master Alchemist33332–
1111th Level Master Alchemist433321
1212th Level Master Alchemist443332
1313th Level Master Alchemist444333
1414th Level Master Alchemist444433

FIRST LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Cause Fear (as the level 1 Expert cleric spell)
  2. Dust of Detect Magic (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  3. Elixir of Cold Resistance (as the level 1 cleric spell)
  4. Elixir of Fire Resistance (as the potion)
  5. Elixir of Healing (as the potion)
  6. Elixir of Read Languages (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  7. Elixir of Ventriloquism (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  8. Elixir of Protection from Evil (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  9. Oil of Hold Portal (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  10. Oil of Light (as the level 1 cleric spell)
  11. Oil of Purify Food and Water (as the level 1 cleric spell)
  12. Oil of Silent Stride (as elven boots, duration 6 turns)

SECOND LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Blight (as the level 2 cleric spell)
  2. Dust of Detect Invisible (as the level 2 magic-user spell Detect Evil, but reveals invisible creatures and objects)
  3. Dust of Invisibility 10’ Radius (as the level 2 magic-user spell)
  4. Dust of Silence 15’ Radius (as the level 2 cleric spell)
  5. Dust of Sleep (as the level 1 magic-user spell)
  6. Elixir of Diminution (as the potion)
  7. Elixir of ESP (as the potion)
  8. Elixir of Invisibility (as the level 2 magic-user spell)
  9. Elixir of Levitation (as the level 2 magic-user spell)
  10. Elixir of Speak with Animals (as the level 2 cleric spell)
  11. Oil of Continual Light (as the level 1 cleric spell)
  12. Oil of Knock (as the level 2 magic-user spell)

THIRD LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Dispel Magic (as the level 3 magic-user spell, 10’ radius)
  2. Dust of Invisibility 10’ Radius (as the level 3 magic-user spell)
  3. Dust of Web (as the level 2 magic-user spell, 5’ radius)
  4. Elixir of Charm Monster (as the level 4 magic-user spell, but the target must consume the elixir)
  5. Elixir of Clairaudience (as the potion)
  6. Elixir of Clairvoyance (as the potion)
  7. Elixir of Flying (as the level 3 magic-user spell)
  8. Elixir of Gaseous Form (as the potion)
  9. Elixir of Infravision (as the potion)
  10. Elixir of Speed (as the potion)
  11. Elixir of Water Breathing (as the level 3 magic-user spell)
  12. Oil of Striking (as the level 3 cleric spell)

FOURTH LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Confusion (as the level 4 magic-user spell; affects all creatures in a 20’ radius)
  2. Dust of Fire Ball (as the level 3 magic-user spell)
  3. Dust of Growth of Plants (as the level 4 magic-user spell, 30’ radius)
  4. Dust of Massmorph (as the level 4 magic-user spell; 60’ radius)
  5. Elixir vs Crystal Balls & ESP (as the amulet, duration 1 day)
  6. Elixir of Cure Disease (as the level 3 cleric spell)
  7. Elixir of Extra-Healing (as the level 4 cleric spell Cure Serious Wounds)
  8. Elixir of Giant Strength (as the potion)
  9. Elixir of Growth (as the potion)
  10. Elixir of Invulnerability (as the potion)
  11. Elixir of Neutralize Poison (as the level 4 cleric spell)
  12. Elixir of Polymorph Self (as the level 4 magic-user spell)

FIFTH LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Transmute Rock to Mud (as the level 5 magic-user spell)
  2. Elixir of Control Animal (as the potion)
  3. Elixir of Control Plant (as the potion)
  4. Elixir of Heroism (as the potion)
  5. Elixir of Giant Sttength (as the potion)
  6. Elixir of Nourishment (as the level 5 cleric spell Create Food, but nourishes recipients directly)
  7. Elixir of Speak with Plants (as the level 5 cleric spell)
  8. Oil of Pass-Wall (as the level 5 magic-user spell)

SIXTH LEVEL FORMULAS:

  1. Dust of Dispel Evil (as the level 5 cleric spell)
  2. Elixir of Control Dragon (as the potion)
  3. Elixir of Control Giant (as the potion)
  4. Elixir of Control Human (as the potion)
  5. Elixir of Control Undead (as the potion)
  6. Oil of Stone to Flesh (as the level 6 magic-user spell)

SAVING THROWS: As magic-users.

ATTACK PROGRESSION: As magic-users.

ADVANCEMENT: As per the magic-user advancement table.

22
Oct
25

Glantri Reunion II: Random Tables for a 10-year Timeskip

By Eric Minton 1 Comment
Categories: Campaign Methodology and Weird Tables
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

In order to keep track of time in-game, my Glantri campaign’s timeline was synced up with real time. As our first session was held on May 28, 2008, the party’s first adventure transpired on May 28 in the Glantrian year 208.

Logically, the upshot of this is that a reunion session that takes place a decade of real time after the campaign dissolved would also take place a decade later in game time. That’s a long time! A lot can happen to a D&D character in 10 years, especially when you consider how fast-paced their lifestyle can be during actual play.

So from my perspective, it only makes sense to write up some random tables to determine what’s happened to each character. Right now I’m focused on mechanical changes that would be reflected on a character sheet. The specifics of what everyone was up to can be determined at the table as needed.

I threw these together in a couple of hours, as is the old-school way. Hopefully they’re not too off-base! I’ve got a week till the scheduled first reunion session, which should give me more than enough time to second-guess myself.

* * * * *

Timeskip checklist

Every player character gains 5,000 xp. This applies to all extant characters; each player may also apply this bonus to one newly rolled character.

Every extant hireling gains 2,500 xp.

Every extant player character rolls once on the bonus table. One additional roll is gained at level 4 and another at level 8.

Every extant player character rolls once on the detriment table.

Bonus table

Roll d6; a level 6+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

1: New contact
2: New hireling
3: Status
4: Wealth
5: Consumable magic
6: Permanent magic

New contact

Roll d12; a level 4+ PC may roll twice and take their preferred result.

1: Alchemist / Herbalist
2: Aristocrat / High-ranking Official
3: Artist / Minstrel
4: Artisan / Engineer
5: Bureaucrat / Minor Official
6: Cleric
7: Demi-human
8: Guard / Mercenary
9: Magic-user
10: Merchant / Trader
11: Sage / Scholar
12: Spy / Well-placed servant

New hireling: Class

Roll d6; a level 6+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

Afterward, roll on the new hireling experience points table.

1-3: Fighter
4-5: Same class as PC
6: Class of PC’s choice
7: Special class (max. 1 per PC)

New hireling: Special class

Roll d6, then cross-reference with the PC’s alignment.

Lawful / Neutral / Chaotic
1: Alchemist / Centaur / Berserker
2: Blink dog / Goblin / Doppelganger
3: Gnome / Living statue / Ghoul
4: Goblin / Lizard man / Goblin
5: Mentalist / Pixie / Kobold
6: Trader / Thief-dabbler / Ogre

New hireling experience points

Roll d6; a level 6+ PC adds 1 to the roll.

1: 0 xp
2-3: 2,000 xp
4-5: 4,000 xp
6: 7,500 xp
7: 10,000 xp

Status

Roll d6; a level 6+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

1-3: Owed a favor from an important NPC or organization
4-6: Gain rank or status in an organization appropriate to your class or background
7: Gain a minor noble title

Wealth

Roll d6; a level 4+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

1-4: Windfall — gain 1,000 gp
5: Land/tenement ownership — now and at the start of each real-world month, gain 200gp
6: Share in a business — now and at the start of each real-world month, gain 100-600 gp;  5% chance that the business collapses unless you invest 1,000 gp

Temporary magic

Roll d6; a level 4+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

1-2: 3 healing potions
3-4: 3 random potions
5-6: 20 enchanted missiles or scroll of 3 spells (1 spell each of levels 1, 2, and 3)

Permanent magic

Roll d6; a level 6+ PC may add or subtract 1 if desired.

1-2: +1 weapon appropriate to your class
3-4: Random miscellaneous magic item
5: Random ring or random rod/staff/wand
6: +2 weapon appropriate to your class
7: Special item chosen for you by the DM

Detriment table

Roll d6. If you would lose something you don’t actually have, roll again.

1: Permanent -1 to a random attribute due to aging/wounds
2: Lose a random hireling (1-4: quit, 5-6: dead)
3: Lose a friendly NPC ally or contact (1-4: acrimony, 5-6: dead)
4: Lose a random title or piece of real estate
5: Lose a random magic item (1-4: stolen, 5-6: destroyed)
6: Alignment change and roll again, ignoring this result if rerolled
02
Apr
12

D&D’s Original Iconic Characters

By tavisallison 14 Comments
Categories: Adventurer Conqueror King and Crass Hucksterism
Tags: , , , , , ,

Doesn’t this look like an adventuring party you’d like to be part of?

Illustrations by David C. Sutherland for the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide

Stat one of these characters up using the Adventurer Conqueror King System and you can play ’em in a session I’ll run via G+ hangout! Plus, if the Kickstarter for Paul Hughes’ Random Dungeon Generator as a Dungeon Map poster succeeds in raising more funding than Autarch’s Player’s Companion did, the backers of that worthy project will get to admire your character-making handiwork as part of a bonus goal I offered Paul in the foolhardy belief that it’d never happen. (It is now less than $300 short).

Here’s the backstory. The designers of 3rd Edition D&D went to remarkable lengths to reference 1st Edition AD&D. This is something I’ve been saying for a long time, but the more I learn about 1E the more examples I discover.

One of the defining aspects of 3E’s art direction was the use of iconic characters whose illustrations were featured in the section introducing their class and were then re-used in other books, the D&D miniatures line, etc. For example, here we see the rogue Lidda, the wizard Mialee, and the fighters Regdar and Tordek planning a dungeon-heist:

At Gary Con, we were talking about things we liked and didn’t like about 3E. Iconic characters made it onto both lists.

  • Plus: The way that the same heroes would turn up in different contexts created the sense of the books being a window into another world, the way that elements of the Cthulu Mythos like the Necronomicon showing up in different stories made it seem real (and a precursor of roleplaying games and transmedia).
  • Minus: We weren’t convinced that the 3E iconic characters emerged from actual play; their inception had the whiff of a clever memo from WotC’s marketing department.

Until reading this post at Blog of Holding, from which the top picture was taken, I didn’t realize that the idea of a party of characters recurring from one illustration to the next had its roots in David C. Sutherland’s drawings for the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide. I don’t know whether they represented a real party of player characters, but certainly the DMG illustrations show them doing the kinds of things adventurers do in actual games of D&D. (The planning illustration above is an exception to the normal kind of thing the 3E iconic characters were depicted doing: standing around on their own, looking iconic.)

Given that I care about things like illustrations reflecting actual play, let’s make sure that the ACKS writeup of the AD&D iconics reflects characters that a player created (albeit to match a pre-existing visual image) and played in a game! Reply in the comments to claim which of these five adventurers you’d like to stat up and play, I’ll email you to work out the details and schedule the G+ hangout.

16
Mar
12

Last Chance to Back the Adventurer Conqueror King Player’s Companion

By tavisallison 1 Comment
Categories: Adventurer Conqueror King and Crass Hucksterism
Tags: , , ,

Cover for the Adventurer Conqueror King System Player's Companion. Art by Michael C. Hayes, design by Carrie Keymel.

The Kickstarter for the Player’s Companion ends today, Friday March 16th at 10 pm EDT. After Autarch’s crowdfunding campaign for the Adventurer Conqueror King System wrapped up, we often got comments from people saying they wished they had known about it while the Kickstarter was still going. I hope that this announcement can help save people from a repeat of this terrible fate!

It’s worth noting that, if you haven’t picked up ACKS yet, by backing the Player’s Companion backer you can choose rewards that’ll get you both the core system and its first expansion. Two Sought Adventure gets you both books in PDF, each of which has a coupon that’ll give you a discount on a future upgrade to its hardcover equal to the price you paid for the electronic copy. Pair of Kings gets you ACKS in hardback + PDF and the Player’s Companion limited edition softcover pre-release, shipping together as soon as they’re available (weeks before they’re in stores), after which you’ll get the final Player’s Companion in hardback + PDF once it completes its final development based on feedback and playtest reports from backers. You can also add to your Player’s Companion pledge to get various other combinations of ACKS and its new expansion, including using the coupon in the ACKS PDF you may already have for a hardback upgrade. Email [email protected] if you have questions about how to do this!

Yes, you may say, but what is this Player’s Companion of which you speak? Good question! It’s an expansion for the widely acclaimed Adventurer Conqueror King System, designed to give players new tools for creating the kinds of characters they want to see in their campaigns. Because ACKS builds directly on the legacy of the original fantasy roleplaying game, the material in the Player’s Companion will also be useful to groups playing other variants of that lineage. No conversion should be necessary to use the Player’s Companion with Moldvay/Cook’s original B/X and its inheritors Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy, and adapting the material to other TSR-era editions and their retro-clones will likely present no problems to those hip to the essential similarities between all OSR systems.

Here is what is in the pre-release version of the Player’s Companion that we will have at Gary Con IV. Thanks to the backers who helped us reach the first three bonus goals and thus enabled this list of contents to be much more expansive than originally planned!

  • 16 new character classes to expand your campaigns, including the anti-paladin, barbarian, dwarven fury, dwarven machinist, dwarven delver, elven courtier, elven enchanter, elven ranger, gnomish trickster, mystic, paladin, shaman, Thrassian gladiator, warlock, witch, and Zaharan ruinguard.
  • 238 character generation templates with pre-selected proficiencies, spells, and equipment options to create archetypes such as the Aristocrat Bard, Buccaneer Thief, Gladiator Fighter, or Runecaster Shaman.
  • A host of new spells, including never-before-seen dweomers such as dismember, earth’s teeth, and trance, as well as ritual spells including cataclysm, plague, temporal stasis, and undead legion
  • A point-based customized class system that lets you create the perfect blend of fighting, thievery, divine, and magical power. The custom class creation rules are 100% backwards compatible with every class in the ACKS core rules and all of the classes in the Player’s Companion.
  • Additional equipment and proficiencies to provide options for character classes new and old, plus prices for building traps to defend your stronghold
The final edition will have still more content, including guidelines for creating new spells through magical research and a system for side effects from experimentation we’re developing using Gygaxian democracy.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the Player’s Companion is the explosion of player-created content it’s heralded, either because it gives many tools for custom creation to the user, or simply because it coincides with the ACKS PDF having been out there long enough for people to start sinking their teeth into it. Every game designer wants to know that their stuff is being played with, so it’s really gratifying to watch this happening. Check out the Autarch forums for a sense of the creative ferment that’s out there!
07
Mar
12

Everything is Flowcharts

By tavisallison 11 Comments
Categories: Adventurer Conqueror King, Crass Hucksterism, Dungeons & Dragons and Contemporary Art, Dwimmermount and I Want My RPG MTV
Tags: , , , , ,

Stop this recursive madness before it is too late.

Paul Hughes has launched a Kickstarter that must not succeed. If funded, he will turn the AD&D procedures for generating random dungeons into a dungeon, a section of which is shown above. Sure, it sounds innocuous enough in his description:

This intricately illustrated 36″ by 24″ playable dungeon map poster encapsulates the Dungeon Master’s Guide’s complete rules for generating random dungeons: Appendix A’s four pages of charts are rendered into a flowchart WHICH IS ITSELF A DUNGEON. It’s like the Platonic dungeon: from it, all other dungeons may be generated. Or maybe it’s the Dungeon of Ouroboros.

What he conveniently leaves out is that as adventurers go through this dungeon, there is a chance that they will randomly generate the same dungeon that encodes the procedures for generating new dungeons, creating an infinite loop. Being a known proponent of the $10,000 backer reward and idealistic bonus goal, I have been recommending that Paul combine these such that Wizards of the Coast could pick up the top pledge level and get enough posters to send some to every game store that will be carrying the AD&D reprints, or we could help him raise the necessary funding to do so just for the good of gaming. While this would hasten the process, the recursive nature of this project makes one thing clear: sooner or later we will be awash in endless, procedurally-generated nightmare mazes filled with gold, glory, and Paul’s inimitable illustrations.

You know what that means, don’t you? Yes, it means one reason we don’t embed music videos more often is that some of us can’t be trusted not to use them for cheap rim-shots.

Fortunately, there is a solution to this impending crisis. We need to fight dungeons with dungeons.

Holmes Character Creation as a Dungeon Map, by Doug @ Blue Boxer Rebellion

Compare to the 2e and 3e versions for a fantastic visual essay in how the complexity of chargen increases over the years, and become a follower of Blue Box Rebellion and pester Doug to dungeonize 4e’s Character Builder and map the planar nexus of Sigil from which those wishing to follow D&D Next’s ambition to unite the editions must certainly depart.

But that’s not what we’re here for. Our goal is to convince Doug to launch a Kickstarter to create dungeons to act as automatic spawners for adventurers to go into Paul’s dungeon and generate more dungeons, until every piece of paper in the world is covered with maps in which you can see little people making maps telling them which way to go to create a dungeon in which the Cave You’ve Been Living In Since 1977 connects to the Pool of Fluff.

Speaking of titles, the name of this post riffs off of Everything is Dolphins, which you should be interested in because:

  • the fact that the Play-Generated Maps and Documents Archive (PlaGMaDA) is starting a publishing arm is made of awesome and promises many other things of interest to old-schoolers, like reprints of old fanzines and homemade modules like Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord
  • the game part of Everything is Dolphins represents an interesting example of someone coming into RPGs cold in his twenties from a whole other world of music geeks, discovering OD&D, and running with it to make his own system to reflect a particular set of concerns and inspirations
  • said someone ran Everything is Dolphins at Games that Can’t be Named and a good time was had
  • the approach taken here – presenting the original handwritten notes and play materials, and then doing an exegesis of the text and the visions it’s inspired in others – is a promising model for how to publish lost RPG projects like Robert Kuntz’s Kalibruhn or Dave Arneson’s “Bluemoor” notebooks without losing the historical value under a layer of polish

It is an article of faith with me that the character sheets for the original Blackmoor were this cool. One of many ways that First Fantasy Campaign is awesome is that it publishes maps of the castles that characters in Dave Arneson's game built; let's get a new edition that has the architectural plans the players drew up!

  • the illustrations Tim assembled for the book to show what visions the game inspired include old-schoolers (Charlie Loving who illustrated the Bunnies and Burrows first edition in 1976), artists who were part of the Dungeons & Dragons in Contemporary Art panel last year (Casey Jex Smith and Sean McCarthy), and Tarn Adams of Dwarf Fortress who is like the patron saint of neckbeards who care way too much about imaginary worlds that procedurally generate adventurers who build their own dungeons
  • if the Dwimmermount Kickstarter makes its bonus goal of $20,620, James Maliszewski will donate his original campaign notes to PlaGMaDA; we hope the well-deserved immense popularity of his blog Grognardia will make this a notable a precedent for others to make similar donations and show that making the originals free to the public is not inconsistent with a successful commercial release expanding these notes into a form ready for others to use
  • Tim has an art show opening at the I-20 Gallery in NYC on March 22nd, which should be of interest to those who were interested in the stuff Tim had to say at the above-mentioned D&D art panel, and is planning a book launch party for Everyting is Dolphins in April, which may well also include the Adventurer Conqueror King System; details to follow.
On that tip and with the last of my breath, I should mention that there is also a Kickstarter for the Player’s Companion that expands ACKS with a host of new classes, procedures for making new classes, a bunch of new spells, procedures for making your own spells that characters can research (if Bonus Goal #3 is met, which seems like it will happen soon), and lots of the the ACKS class templates that Brendan at untimately calls “the apotheosis of the Second Edition kit idea“, presumably in a nice way.
26
Aug
10

Red Box Workshop: The Lizard Man PC

By Eric Minton 2 Comments
Categories: Red Box Workshop
Tags: , ,

LIZARD MEN

These humanoid reptiles dwell at the border of land and water—swamps, rivers, along the coast—where they can keep their scales damp and hunt for fish and amphibian prey. Though most are semi-intelligent at best, some are fully as intelligent as any human. Whether these are a new breed or an atavistic strain is unknown. While these ‘smart’ lizardmen tend to gather into tribes of their own ilk, some prefer to go forth on land to travel among civilized folk.

The prime requisites for a lizard man are Strength and Constitution. A lizard man character whose Strength or Constitution score is 13 or higher will receive a 5% bonus on earned experience. Lizard men whose Strength and Constitution scores are 13 or higher will receive a 10% bonus to earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Lizard men use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 8th level of experience. Lizard men may wield any melee or thrown weapon, but they have no training in projectile weapons like bows and crossbows. Their scaly hides grant them a base AC of 5, but they may not wear armor or use shields. Due to their aquatic nature, they must immerse themselves in water for at least one hour per day. Failure to do so results in 1d6 damage per day. They also suffer 1d6 damage each day they spend in cold or dry environments such as snowfields or deserts. Lizard men must have a minimum score of 9 in Strength and Constitution.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Lizard men may attack with their fangs or claws; such an attack inflicts 1d6 points of damage on a successful attack. They are difficult to spot in verdant environments, blending in seamlessly with forest foliage, swamp growth and seaweed. They have only a 1 in 6 chance of being detected in this kind of cover. They can also hold their breath underwater for 1 turn/level. All lizard men speak Common, Lizard Man and the alignment language or dialect of the character.

SAVING THROWS: As dwarves.

ATTACK PROGRESSION: As fighters.

ADVANCEMENT: As per the fighter advancement table.

17
Aug
10

Red Box Workshop: The Kobold PC

By Eric Minton 7 Comments
Categories: Red Box Workshop
Tags: , ,

KOBOLDS

These dwarfish subterranean dog-people are renowned for their cowardice, preferring to defend their lairs with sadistic traps than to risk their lives in battle. Nonetheless, some choose the path of adventure, whether from overweening greed, an unsatisfied bloodthirsty streak or some unkoboldish vein of courage. Their hairless, scaly red-brown hides blend in with the dirt and stone of their lairs; only the dull red glow of their eyes gives them away.

The prime requisite for a kobold is Dexterity. A kobold character whose Dexterity score is 13 or higher will receive a bonus on earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Kobolds use four-sided dice (d4) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 4th level of experience. Kobolds may use any type of weapon that has been “cut down” to their size. Thus, they cannot use a two-handed sword or long bow, but may use a sword or short bow. They may wear nothing more protective than leather armor, and cannot use a shield. Kobolds must have a minimum score of 9 in Dexterity.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Kobolds live in underground caverns and warrens, and have infravision (heat-sensing sight) which allows them to see 60 feet in the dark. A kobold’s sneaky nature and tricksy upbringing allows it to open locks, find and remove traps, climb walls, move silently, hide in shadows, pick pockets and hear noise as a thief. Due to their small size and skill at dodging, kobolds have a bonus of -2 to their Armor Class when being attacked by creatures larger than man-sized. All kobolds speak Common, Kobold and the alignment language or dialect of the character, plus the languages of goblins and orcs.

SAVING THROWS: As thieves.

ATTACK PROGRESSION: As thieves.

ADVANCEMENT: As per the thief advancement table.

12
Aug
10

White Box Archaeology: The Pyrologist

By Eric Minton 9 Comments
Categories: White Box Archaeology
Tags: , , ,

Let’s set the wayback machine to the ’70s, at the dawn of Dungeons & Dragons. For you kids out there, this entirely predates the Internet as we know it; there were no blogs or forums on which to share ideas. Gamers who wanted to broadly disseminate gaming material would submit their work to fanzines, which were compiled on a typewriter, printed via photocopier or mimeograph, and sent out via snail mail.

One such fanzine was “Liaisons Dangereuses,” a Diplomacy ‘zine run by Len Lakofka. As an early D&D player, Len used his ‘zine to print up some D&D material that he and Gary Gygax had written. There are a few gems to be found here, such as the Pyrologist, a new character class appearing in LD #74 (September 1976). The class is a gonzo mess, allowing for Pyrologist/Cleric dual classing, psionic abilities, spells and bonus powers, weapon choices varying by level, and other oddball rules. Well worth looking at for a peek into how idiosyncratic things could get in old-school play!

You can read the original ‘zine here. More recently, an old-school fan transcribed the whole thing up on the forums at The Delver’s Dungeon, a 1e AD&D fan site. The transcription can be found here.

10
Aug
10

Red Box Workshop: The Centaur PC

By Eric Minton 11 Comments
Categories: Red Box Workshop
Tags: , ,

CENTAURS

While these half-human, half-horse hybrids are known to dwell in sylvan settings apart from men, some few seek out the pleasures and wonders of civilization. Some have been cast out by their herds for unsavory practices; others find that their desires cannot be fulfilled in the stultifying presence of their brethren. In any setting, centaurs enjoy carousing and bibulous overindulgence, often to the detriment of those around them.

The prime requisite for a centaur is Constitution. A centaur character whose Constitution score is 13 or higher will receive a bonus on earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Centaurs use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 8th level of experience. Centaurs may use any type of weapon or shield, but they may not wear armor. Due to their large size and unwieldy equine bodies, they have difficulty turning around in enclosed spaces; they cannot climb ladders or ropes, nor can they enter small openings.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Being half-horse, a centaur has twice the base movement rate and carrying capacity as a normal man. Centaurs may attack with their hooves instead of with a weapon; a successful hit inflicts 1d6 points of damage. Starting at 4th level, a centaur may make 2 attacks/round, one with a weapon and one with its hooves.

SAVING THROWS: As dwarves.

ATTACK PROGRESSION: As fighters.

ADVANCEMENT: As per the fighter advancement table.

« Previous Entries

Past Adventures of the Mule

April 2026
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  

RPG Bloggers Network

RPG Bloggers Network

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog & get email notification of updates.

Join 715 other subscribers
Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started