Poisonous Brochures

Do you need a new poison for your game? I've got you covered!

Just open your meds cabinet / drawer / vault / tabernacle and pick up a random brochure. Read the side effects and combine them all. Voila, your new exotic poison is now ready! 

World of ortix - the principles

As I said - the World of Ortix will be "ugly, convoluted and linguistically inferior" - and you've had a glimpse of the gibberish nonsense I will include in the book. OR NOT - as everything is still evolving and mutating.

Meanwhile, here are three principles of the game/setting/whatever it will become. Enjoy more gibberish nonsense.

Artwork by me.

Everything is Weird
Even though the basic elements of the setting may look familiar, many aspects of them - from background to details - aren’t typical. Additionally, logic isn’t extremely important - some things are weird just for the sake of being weird. Ortix isn’t Earth - and will never be. It’s safe to assume that some fundamental laws of physics are different from those affecting our world.

Nothing is Certain
There are many contradictions here. Things that make no sense and ideas that cancel each other (or even themselves). This shouldn’t worry you - although it’s your duty as a GM to interpret things, no matter how coherent or gibberish they are, there is no right or wrong way of using the contents of this book. You should utilize them in a way that will fit into your playstyle and bring fun to your table.

Scientific Mysticism
The World of Ortix is a mix of advanced technology, myths and legends. Both aspects of the world’s description are intertwined on multiple levels - there can be subatomic nanotech devices granting the gods their divine powers and reality-altering machines of a size of a mountain, operated by rituals and human sacrifice. It’s an important part of the setting - in fact, it comprises the very outline of the in-game reality.

I don't like classic abilities

Okay, I must admit that the title is abit clickbaity. I do not dislike the classic six D&D stats. They are only tools. And - in my opinion - some of them may be replaced and others repurposed to make (my) games more interesting and make all their mechanical aspects easier to resolve.

Constitution (CON) - this stat devours and incorporates the Strength and becomes the general description of one's physical strength and toughness.

Dexterity (DEX) - nothing to see here, move along. Or rather, in some games, DEX was used to determine the ranged attacks, while STR was used to hit an opponent in melee. I find it, well, stupid. So, in my games (non-OSR games, as within the Old School I always stuck to 0e) DEX always was used for melee (and dodge, and of course som other non-combat actions). This brings us to the next stat.

Perception (PER) - I always thought that lack of ability that clearly described one's senses was the biggest flaw of D&D (and WFRP as well, but that's another story). Thus, behold the Perception! Easy to use in ranged combat, easy to use for well, spotting things, hearing things and, uhh, tasting things? Okay, that may be a little too far.

Willpower (WLP) - you may view the Willpower just as the classical Wisdom. I just changed the name to make it more fitting its purpose.

And... that's all! Or maybe not, as I like stats. And I like stat-based games and resolution systems. That's why the second edition of Terminal Space will be based on Knave. To make it even faster and easier to use. So, here are some additional ideas for the statistics:

Tech Level - I used it in both Terminal Space and Bandits and Battlecruisers. Randomly determining one's technological prowess always led to some hilarious results. Also, it fitted the genre really well.

Charisma - extremely useful in most games and/or settings. So, you may ask, why I omitted it? Because in some settings. worlds and circumstances, it becomes quite obsolete. For example, robots aren't very sociable, so in settings devoid of humans (and elves, dwarves and so on) CHA isn't very helpful. That's why I got rid of it in Pain.

Faith - can be used to describe the character's closeness to a god (or gods). Perilous Ages had some other minor mechanical benefits relatable to Faith's level but in more magical settings I would use it to affect one's ability to cast clerical spells.

Sync - very open idea, created for use in Pain to outline one's attunement to the mystical powers of the City. Here (page 3) I've added some additional ideas how to use this stat in your games. Fueled by Pain is percentile ruleset but hey, it doesn't really matter in the matter of the character abilities.

Oh, and the last thing - you may ask - WHERE THE FUCK IS INTELLIGENCE? Well, nowhere. I dumped it. INT is absolutely and utterly pointless, maybe except the situations when you roll it really low, which forces you to roleplay an idiot. But aside of that, it doesn't have many good uses (at least in my opinion). Extracting some information from the GM isn't one of them. If you're stupid and your character isn't, it won't end up well. And I ran games for some, let's say, not very bright individuals (and - to be perfectly honest with you - I like both them and the memories of our games) so it's way easier to remove the PCs intelligence score, thus balancing it with the one of the player.

Sheesh, I think this post is quite gibberish. I sat down and wrote it on the fly, without any previous notes and similar stuff. So, if something is totally unreadable or unclear - let me know!

Fueled by Pain ver. 1.0

It overwhelmed me once again. I found out that I am unable to create quality artwork under pressure. And I found it the hard way, even though all pressure I felt was 100% self-exerted.

I will come back to this game - I put way too much heart into Pain to give up. But I need another break.

Meanwhile, I present you the full game mechanics of Pain RPG. It's a very simple, percentile ruleset, based on my Perilous Ages game. You should be able to post comments in the document, so feel free to ask questions and post your ideas and concerns.

FUELED BY PAIN ver 1.0

Pain - glimpse of the game mechanics

 

Yup, entire ruleset on one page. Of course I expanded it in the Pain manuscript, which by the way is now over 110 pages long. Still, even though I slowly see the end on the horizon, it's still relatively far away.

And then I must make the artwork :)

One rule to rule them all... Or not?

Do I need any rules? That's the question I ask myself everytime i run the game. And now, when my gaming group is no more, I ask it when it comes to write down the ideas for something new, be it Perilous Frontiers, whY or something else. I ask myself even if I know the answer.

Please note that I speak for myself and everything depends on multitude of different aspects.

I do NOT need any rules. In fact, I ran game sessions for years (and we had them on a daily basis, back in the late 90s) without a single dice roll. Character sheets were used to track PCs belongings - and nothing else.

Did it worked? Yes. But you must remember one extremely important thing.

YOU MUST NOT BE AN ASSHOLE.

When there are no dice and no stats, you - the GM - are the only arbiter of any actions. And I guarantee you that it will work out for almost any GM/DM in 99% cases - except combat. During combat, things may get ugly really quickly. And they will get ugly if you are an asshole. And - most likely - no one would participate in your diceless / rules-less games anymore.

This is how I determined the results of combat:

• PCs are stronger than ordinary mortals. They are not ubermenschen but they are significantly stronger, faster, more agile and/or more skilled.
• Description of the actions means everything. It was the most important factor.
• Wounds were the most difficult part of the game, as descriptive nature of all damage caused many problems, such as bleeding, broken bones etc. It was extremely gritty but we liked it.
• As we were gaming in the more or less Sword & Sorcery setting, PCs were healing pretty fast - although there were portions of the game that were fast-forwarded (or railroaded, heh), when all the player characters were so fucked up that players decided to let it go for two or three weeks to let them heal their wounds. Also, even though there were little spellcasters, healing potions and/or healing items were relatively common.

These things caused my players to be pretty skilled in descriptive combat and the overall survivability of their characters was really good, maybe except the fact that we were teenagers and peeps tended to slaughter each other on a daily basis, over slightest argument :D

Now - if I will be lucky enough to assemble a new group of players - I plan to go back to similar method of running games, except some addidtional features:

• Most likely, Diamond Diceless will be my weapon of choice, too keep track of the stats and abilities...
• ...but I will use the dice. Solely for the random content - I love random tables! I always add some randomness to the story / module, so I need the dice.
• I'm also considering to give players something in the shape of Fate Points from WFRP/40K RPGs, to allow them to cheat death - or, in some cases, my decisions.

Of course, I'm not sure if it will work - it all depends on the players. Some people prefer this kind of "storytelling", some prefer dice chucking. We will see (or not!).

Post #666 - additional stats

Yup, I'm still alive.

Posting new content was severely hindered by, well, mountain biking, Magic: the Gathering (coming back to this game might be a big mistake lol) and playing Fallen London. But yes, I am still amongst the living.

Speaking of Fallen London - this game inspired me to write this post. As it was mentioned in Bandits and Battlecruisers on page 10 - additional statistics can be used to add depth to the characters. Following stat blocks are inspired by the Abovementioned game (which I highly recommend if you're into text-based games - I guess you are lol).

Bizarre - you are not the ordinary man (or woman). Some peculiar quirks of your looks / behavior / aura that surrounds you are more that different from the masses.

Dreaded - people are avoiding you, not because of your reputation or deeds of the pase - there is something higly unnerving or even utterly nightmarish in your general appearance.

Respectable - aura of nobility surrounds you. You are the one who is destined to greatness.

Introducing Diamond

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but in 2013 I ran a few Perilous Path games, all of them with only one player (my girlfriend, Natalia). As we played only during some "wilderness" trips (actually not very wild, but...), we used one of my favorite set of rules, which is... no rules except GM's decisions! And it worked pretty well.

However, about four months ago I decided that some kind of rules actually may be helpful - just to keep track of character's progress. And due to the wandering nature of our game sessions, it had to be diceless.

Instantly I began to think about some kind of a clone of the game with name of the castle in its title. And castle's name is the same as the common name of the fossilized tree resin :) Unfortunately, I got stuck with its most basic component for over one-third of the year.

For over four months I was unable to simply create a decent set of... basic attributes. I didn't wanted to simply rip off the original four stats, as I avoid direct cloning of the ideas. Also, I thought that despite their work perfectly for demigod creatures, they will be somewhat incomplete for (more or less) ordinary mortals.

Yesterday the enlightenment came. Of course, during the shower (gushing water is my usual source of good ideas :D). Yesterday I finally managed to figure out the five main attributes. And here they are:

STRENGTH | DEXTERITY | ENDURANCE | MIND | POWER

Strength depicts raw physical power.
Dexterity combines both manual ability and more general agility and grace.
Endurance in most cases means the durability of one’s physical body, his/her ability to withstand pain, fatigue and other negative factors.
Mind combines intelligence, cunning and willpower.
Power is a bit tricky, as it contains both combat skills and magical / mystical abilities, as well as any kinds of extrasensory perception.

Most humans have their attributes between 10 and 50. Heroes from the ancient past (and experienced PCs) could have some of their attributes as high as 70-100. Most powerful mythical monsters may have some of their stats even at 250, while gods can attain even higher numbers.

How to use the Power stat?
It's simple, at least for me (but may be bit harder to explain) - in combat, Power attribute may be used combined with Dexterity or Strength, or even both of them.
For magic, Power should be used mostly with Mind, but in some cases Endurance is important as well.

Well, that's all for the moment. I think that players will get 100 character points to distribute amongst the attributes, plus of course some extra points to spent / gain on additional features (I'm currently thinking about them so expect some examples... soon).

Save vs. positive effects

Yesterday, during the writing of this random table, an idea came to my mind: how about - in some situations - introducing the items / effects that require failed saving throw to succeed? Example:

Golden Figurine of Saint Ormal: if rubbed (works once per year), save vs. magic or gain 1d8x1000 XP

It's really simple (and somewhat nasty) method of keeping PCs unsure of effects of many unidentified magical potions / dusts / devices - even with successful save player will never be sure if the effect he / she just avoided was negative or positive.

Of course, using save vs. positive effects in all situations (eg. while gulping healing potions or reading magical scrolls) would be not very good idea (unless you are really vile referee :D) but I think that from time to time it may add some spice to the game.

Supernatural Horror in the Old School Science Fiction Gaming

Click on the image to go to its DA page

1. Worlds are dying.
2. Everything Alien is Evil.
3. Everything Evil is Evil beyond human comprehension.
4. AI are only pretending to be your friends.
5. You are always lost.
6. Communication channels die at the worst moment.
7. Hope lies only in Gods.
8. There are no Gods.
9. Absolute prohibition of using common, traditional monsters. Fear of the unknown is the worst kind of fear.
10. Everything which purpose is unknown is potentially dangerous.
11. Purposes of the most artifacts are unknown.
12. Purposes of the most treasures are uknown.
13. Be Prepared That Your Light Sources Will Fail You.
14. There are no better traps than ones that separates the party.
15. Monsters always hunt down the alone.
16. The Ones Who Hired You Will Betray You.
17. Mankind is only a toy.
18. Do not use lovecraftian evil. Is too well-known.
19. Human-alien hybrids.
20. Deformed beings.
21. Undead aren't scary, unless you've known them.
22. Every Spaceship Has Dark, Uknown Chambers And Corridors.
23. Worst moment is when you discover that your best friend is just cold, inhuman android.
24. Relief is better reward than XP.
25. Flickering lights are GM's best friends.

If you can live with it, you are ready for the Charon Prime ;)

Classless Old School RPG

For all those who are not familliar with my Bandits & Basilisks rules. 

In my games, there are no such thing as character class. No fighters, thieves, wizards, clerics. Why?

Conan was a pirate, mercenary, thief, king. Kane was a warrior, pirate, sorcerer, "priest" of the Bloodstone, explorer. Fafhrd ang Gray Mouser were... yeah. They all were just adventurers. They were not limited to blunt weapons, no-armor or no-spells. They all can steal and backstab. So - fuck character classes!

Here are some basic ideas:

One HD per level. You start with 1 HD and gain one Hit Die per experience level. It's up to you what dice you should use. I prefer old, good d6. No need to use different dice.

Simple XP table. 2000 experience points is needed to advance to 2nd level. Double needed XP for each next level:

Untrained: -

Novice: 2000

Beginner: 4000

Advanced: 8000

Specialist: 16000

Expert: 32000

Master: 64000

Grand Master: 128000

Hero: 256000

Legend: 512000

Attack tables. I have my own attack table but you may use OD&D fighting men instead. My version is very similar.

Spell access. Every PC can gain access to magical spells but it may be expensive (see below). Maximum spell level is limited by character's experience level:

Untrained: -

Novice: -

Beginner: 1

Advanced: 2

Specialist: 3

Expert: 3

Master: 4

Grand Master: 4

Hero: 5

Legend: 6

Spell preparation. Access to the spells depends on the level of the character, but their number is not limited. However, the preparation of a spell is not simply memorizing it – it must be “made” in the form of a magic scroll, potion, powder or even a wand or enchanted item. Cost of the components and time needed to prepare a spell is shown in the table below. In case of particularly powerful and / or rare spells Referee may decide to impose additional requirements, such as a special place where the ritual must be celebrated, special equipment or very rare (and not necessarily expensive) components.

In the case of Mystic / Cleric / other character associated with a deity, the method of preparing / obtaining a spell should be changed. Enchantment of an object (scroll, powder etc.) would require adequate time for praying / meditation and a sacrifice for the deity (and it’s not about throwing some gold pieces to the temple treasury, but about a more or less bloody offering).
Arcane Lore check is not required (if you use the percentile skills in your game) if the spell is prepared in appropriate circumstances – a character has time to prepare himself and the place to create a “spell container”. He (or she) has access to necessary equipment and he / she is not doing it under pressure (such as stressful working conditions, limited time etc.).

Any questions? :D

Combat abilities of gods

Want to commit deicide? Better be prepared.

(Referee should pick one or more - I prefer to pick almost all of them, except mix of 1 and 2)

• Deity has 1-15 HD. Multiply HP x100.
• Deity regenerates all lost HP at the beginning of each combat round.
• God can cast one spell per round. No slot limits.
• He / she / it deals double damage to the creatures of opposite alignment.
• Can be hurt only with magical weapons of +3 or better.
• AC 0 - treat as AC2 but with additional -2 to-hit.
• You must pass save vs. magic to attack a god.
• If you're hit - save vs. magic or die.
• If god is killed, its body explodes with searing light, dealing 10-60 damage in 100m radius.
• Deity can attack d6 opponents per round. First opponent (picked at random) is hit automatically.
• Forget about invisibility, poison, curses, charm and similar nonsenses.
• If god appeared in humanoid shape, it's vulnerable to humanoid slaying weapons (it deals double damage to him / her). May apply to other forms vs other -slaying weapons.
• At the beginning of combat, Referee may roll d100 (or simply choose number between 0 and 100). It's god's resistance to spell effects (including fireballs, lightning bolts and any other spells that cause damage). In addition, deity can choose to not use its resistance (i.e. to be healed by their followers).

Any ideas for more stuff like this?

Science and discoveries (Terminal Space / Bandits & Battlecruisers)

Taken from Terminal Space:

Discoveries of ancient technologies, created either by the alien or humanity in the times of long forgotten past may come with a reward in experience points given by the Referee, as well as scientific publications or documentation, released about previously unknown species or worlds. Of course creation of a proper publication requires certain data to be collected, such as sample analysis or – in case of alien creatures – carrying out an autopsy. Of course these activities may be very expensive and time-consuming, but because of great diversity of species inhabiting the universe it’s impossible to create detailed rules covering time and cost needed to succeed. Access to advanced science labs can really speed up the process but can greatly increase the cost.
 

The amount of experience points given for this kind of activities can be higher than for slaying a monster or finding a treasure. This of course depends on the weight of the discovery. For instance the discovery of a mutated breed of semi-intelligent cockroaches inhabiting an abandoned space station placed in the most remote area in the sector may be rewarded with several dozen XP. On the other hand coordinates of planet that has been forgotten for thousands of years that is habitable and is literally littered with ruins left by an unknown, intelligent civilization can be rewarded with several thousand experience points, not even taking into account how valuable such information could be.

And some new ideas - general guidelines for the Referee how he / she can reward PCs for their discoveries:

• Usefulness of the discovered species (are they potential threat or can be used as food?);
• Usefulness of the discovered site (is it just abandoned station or lifeless rock, or maybe exotic gas giant or habitable planet?);
• How detailed the publication is (just photos of species or planet's coordinates, or maybe captured living specimens or results of analysis of planet's surface and atmosphere plus some physical samples?);
• Where it is published (sold to half-drunk governor of backwater colony or presented during meeting at Galactic University?);
• Rediscoveries of the lost wisdom may also be awarded;
• Also, Referee may increase XP reward if discovery was made "for science only" without any financial benefits.

Hail the mighty Dreadnoughts!

Sometimes Capital Ships are not enough and you'll need bigger, more powerful ship. MUCH BIGGER.

Probably there are only few Dreadnoughts, one per Sector-sized nations and empires, and maybe three or four in the Ash'Kari Empire (more info in upcoming Battlestation Omega project but honestly I don't know when I'll be able to continue writing it). Dreadnoghts are immense and extremely armored vessels, not very fast nor agile, but capable of destroying almost any other spaceship with just one salvo.

Structure Points: 110

Base Pilot skill mod: -60%

Free space: 150

Hull price: about 3 millions of Credits

Armor stats and pricing:

Unarmored: 150 durability points;

Titanium: 280 durability points, 300000 Credits;

Ceramite: 380 durability points, 590000 Credits;

Reactive: 440 durability points, 800000 Credits;

Carbide: 560 durability points, 1155000 Credits;

Ultrasteel: 1000 durability points, 2030000 Credits;

Main drive prices:

D: 100000 Credits

C: 590000 Credits

B: 2450000 Credits

A: Unavailable. Too big and too power-hungry to exist.

Reactor for Dreadnought costs 500000 Credits and provide enough power to constantly fire their main weapons for about a week. One additional set of maneuvering thrusters costs 160000 Credits. Jump drive costs about 250000 and it's relatively cheap compared to other subassemblies. Set of computers for Dreadnought-class vessels costs 500000 Credits and contains main CPU cluster, jammers of -30% jamming power, sensor booster of one million km range, navigational computer and advanced targetters able to fight simultanously with one hundred enemy ships. Also advanced hyperspace links allow to provide +50% to Weapon Systems skill for any one vessel, but only if Dreadnought's weapons are not firing at that time. Strategic links has about 50000 km range. Cost of crew quarters and all infrastructure necessary to live on its board are included in hull's price.

Dreadnought's bridge is designed for over one hundred of crew and has its own armor of 50 durability points. It has its own power systems and can be considered as Admirality Bridge although it contains even throne room! Of course bridge is duplicated. Price 110000 Credits.

More info, such as ultra-heavy weaponry, Armageddon Blasters, Imperial Links, factories, will be available soon - maybe even tomorrow!

Phoenix, one of the Dreadnoughts from the EVE Online

Question about Hit Points

Quick question about Hit Points in your games - how often Hit Dice of your players' characters are re-rolled in your campaign? During levelling? At the beginning of each game session? Or maybe daily?

In my games both PCs and NPCs (meatshields etc) re-roll their HD at the beginning of the game. If they are wounded etc they change only their max HP value, not current one.

Character inabilities

• If PC's Strength is 3, he cannot use any armor.
• If PC's Intelligence is 3, he cannot talk.
• If PC's Wisdom is 3, he must choose d4 mental disorders.
• If PC's Constitution is 3, he must save vs. death each time he is hit in combat.
• If PC's Dexterity is 3, he cannot use any ranged weapons and suffers -3 to-hit.
• If PC's Charisma is 3, he cannot hire any henchmen and he is commonly hated and despised (often without any reason).
• If PC's Tech Level is 3, he cannot use any tools, weapons, armor etc. He is almost an animal.

AC and active defense

Quick house rule that I want to use in my campaign - if someone (or even some of the monsters) is not actively defending himself (i.e. do not try to parry, dodge etc.), his AC is lowered by two steps (i.e. from AC 5 to AC 7). If he is not using any armor and not trying to avoid harm, he will be hit automatically.

I'm not sure if it will work for ambushes, backstabbing and similar actions. We will see.

D - Death Experience

Your character died and was resurrected? Great, but I’m afraid that on Ortix it’s not that simple as “you are dead – cast Raise Dead – you are alive”. Don’t forget that local gods are CRUEL AND EVIL – and they crave for human soul.

You have returned from the land of the dead (probably from the Greenish Pits of the Primal Essences or Endless Plain of Abandonment, or maybe some other, rather unpleasant place), roll d20:

1. It seems that your brain is partly dead… Reduce all your statistics by one.
2. You have returned, by your body is wracked by unearthly powers. Reduce your STR, CON and DEX by one.
3. Something gone terribly wrong – suffer one minor curse (its effect lasts for one week).
4. You have witnessed the unspoken horrors of the netherworld. Reduce your Wisdom by 1d6.
5. Damned spirits will haunt you until you die. Reduce your Wisdom by one.
6. They are everywhere and they want you back! Reduce your Charisma by one.
7. Shocked by resurrection, you suffer a heart attack! Save vs. death or you are… dead.
8. After experiencing the cold grip of death, your body trembles terribly. Reduce your Dexterity by one.
9. You were cursed by one of the Butchered Gods: randomly pick one of your stats and decrease it by one
10. Nothing happens.
11. Unearthly power flows through your body. Increase your Strength by one, by reduce your Charisma by one.
12. Wisdom of netherworld speaks through you. Increase your Charisma by one, but reduce your Strength by 1.
13. Nothing happens..
14. Murdered hermit told you about place where he hid his treasure (and now GM must come up with something!)
15. You saw the Lines of Destiny. Gain 1d20x100 XP.
16. You were blessed by one of the Butchered Gods: randomly pick one of your stats and increase it by one.
17. You are now bold at the thought of death. +1 do all saves vs. death (but not vs. poison!).
18. Long dead philosophers have shared their knowledge with you. Increase your Wisdom by one.
19. Ghost of half-mad wizard told you some ancient secrets. Increase your Arcane Lore by 2d6%.
20. You read the Tables of Eternal Wisdom. Gain 10 000 XP.

Bandits & Basilisks is out now!

Bandits & Basilisks - my (very) rules-lite old school gaming system is now available for download. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any suggestions - feel free to comment. More about its features can be found here (there are not too many of them because the entire game has 8 pages!).

LINK

It's also available via Box widget on Terminal  Space blog.

Coming soon!

My rules - lite (lighter than Microlite74!) old-school roleplaying system, based on 0e. Some of its features:

• No character class - PCs are just adventurers;
• No example spells - internet is full of them (I encourage you to drop all standard spells and switch to i.e. Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets spellbook);
• Only two example monsters (bandit and basilisk :D).

File will be available for free, but I'd be grateful if you buy me a drink :-)