COKE DWARVES

 The second of my races for my gonzo kitchen sink campaign using the Black Hack. Inspired by the almost no information on Diesel Dwarves from Ultra Violet Grasslands. As most players know, in my campaigns goblins blow up when they die (sometimes causing a violent chain reaction of more goblins blowing up). I got the idea that the dwarves have lost their black goo to make diesel, so all their contraptions are laying around rusting. But they still mine black rock and make coke out of it. Some dwarves got the idea to take hydrogen to make synthetic diesel from the coke, resulting in the bio-reactors being goblins. It all went sideways. 

Now they are stuck in the steam tunnels under the city keeping the heat going, and machinery under the city. Reduced to mere steam engineers unable to run their awesome and inspiring diesel contraptions in a constant war with the goblins. The first level of the megadungeon under the city will be the Coke Dwarf enclave, and should allow for an interesting dynamic of two or three different factions int the first level of the dungeon. Sort of a buffer zone between the city and the dungeon. 

Without further ado, the Coke Dwarves. 

A sad shadow of their ancestors, the Diesel Dwarves  of the Seven Kingdoms, Coke Dwarves are sour, dour, and downright smelly.

Genderless, and about as wide as they are tall, they now make their way in the steam tunnels under the city and river. Prone to hold grudges even while mining black rock to  furance into coke amongst their numerous beehive kilns to run the different steam plants under the city. 

A few wide eye dreamers yearn for finding another source of black goo to apply nearly forgotten secrets to squeeze the pure quality diesel. Once they find a font of black goo all will better anad they can stoke forth the engines of power and reclaim their legacy. All Coke Dwarves are prone to Dwarven Greed.

Coke Dwarves can rise to 6th Level as Warriors. At 6th level the Warrior may become a Forgelord or a Grudge Captain by gaining enough expierence to become 7th Level. During character creation step B Swap Two Attirbutes, the Coke Dwarf must swap a stat such that Charisma is the lowest score. This be done to either set of abilitiy scores generated, but the end result must be Charisma being the lowest score.   

All Coke Dwarves have a noxious ordor about them, some describe it as rotten egg sulfur smell, others as a powerful sour bitter tang like boiling piss. The dwarves themselves don’t seem to notice the smell. They possess the ability though to smell precious metals, black rock and goo. 

They are able to see well in Dim light and very comfortable underground. They roll advantage on all Dungeon Exploration tables while underground including secret doors, stuck doors (page 73) and traps (pg 72) and panic (page 37). 

Coke Dwarves tend to have a huge animosity to Goblins. Some have postulated that the eariest Forgelords created the goblins as expierement to obtain the combustiable gas that enables the transformation of black rock into diesel, but that something went wrong with that process. The remaining Forgelords and Grudge Captains usually call forth a tooth breaker if asked about it. Usually Goblins will roll at disadvantage on creature reactions (pg 31) and will never fail morale against a party containing a Coke Dwarf. 

At character creation in step D, make a background, the Dwarf must spell out their Greed, which is thing that the Coke Dwarf  desires most and will do almost anything to obtain. The referee may force the character to make a WIS test at disadvantage to resist the effects of the Greed. 

Coke Dwarves claim they are formed from the bowels of the earth and generally do not serve either the Stewards of Law or the Lords of Chaos.  

Coke Dwarf Warriors may replace their starting equipment with the following choices:

• A - Chain Shirt (AV2), a Dwarf War Pick, Hand-Cannon, Ud6 Ammo and powder, Riveted Steel Cap (+1 Armour Die), Coke Lantern (Ud12, Noxious), Map to Black Goo Strike, 2d4 coins
• B - Hide Harness (AV2), Two Handed War Maul, Book of Grudges, Goblin Tuning Fork, neon glowing hair dye, 3d6 coins

Replace the war trophy roll with the following table:

1	Eloborate face tatooes
2	A steam valve wrench set, lovingly oiled and maintained
3	Vial of Urrock powder, glows a bit in the dark
4	Giant bronze medallion on thick steel chain for Local 432.(+1 Armour Die, can only be repaired at Dwarven Forge of Local House)
5	Stainless Steel Firkin of Sour Forthy Ale
6	Pyrite  Multifinger Rings one for each hand, spelling out Tooth Breaker in Dwarven.

Once a Warrior becomes a Forgelord, they may start learning and seeking the ancient rites and mysteries of forging magical armor and armament as well as the secrets of the rusting diesel contrapations. They also obtain a White Hot Stave of Office. 

Once a Warrior becomes a Grudge Captain, add the number of Moments since Initiative was first rolled to all damage the Grudge Captain deals. 

Hacking the Cleric for Black Hack

 I tend to run a gonzo kitchen sink type of game. The latest iteration named the Narhs - the City of Chromatic Towers -  the Metropolis Nation of the Indomitable Suzerain. Imagine Ultra Violet Grasslands meets the tower city Sharn, while paying homage to concept of sandbox play from City State of the Invincible Overlord. 

So this new campaign will be based on recently acquired, and oh so super cool OSR game the Black Hack, with some modifications. 

The first is the Cleric. While I love Clerics in Trad DnD, I don't think they will work as is from the Black Hack in my gonzo psychedelic kitchen sink game that has elements of sci-fantasy, swords & sorcery, and traditional fantasy. I thought giving a small tweak would work, but I think I ended up with a bit more complexity. Still decent enough for a test drive. 

The base classes consist of Warrior, Thief, Wizard. 

Warriors can be standard Warriors from Black Hack or they can be Warrior Priests. Warrior Priests follow all rules of Warriors with the following tweaks:

(pg 16/17 - Background): The Background must include reference to the Warrior Priests Patron Power. 

(pg 19 - Warrior): Useable Weapons and Armor: Warrior Priests may not use missile weapons other than thrown weapons, and then only in desperation. The Warrior Priest gains no bonus when using Two-Handed weapons. The Patron Power generally expects Warrior Priests to go into battle with a shield bearing the symbol of the Patron Power. 

(pg 19 - Warrior): Dealer of Death - the pool of Damage Dice is equal to the HD divided by two rounded up. So they will have one die at Level 1. Gain a second die at Level 3. Third at Level 5 and so on. 

(pg 19- Warrior): When you gain a level - They do not roll advantaged for HD. The powers that be are fickle. They only gain a Damage Die every other level, starting with one at Level 1 (repeat of Dealer of Death included for completeness). 

Other powers of the warrior, Start HP, Starting HD, Armor, Self Reliant, Shield Bash remain unchanged. [I thought about adjusting some of these, but want to see it in play first]. 

(pg. 23 - Banish Undead) - this will be a level 1 prayer spell, not an action. They will have to invoke it once they gain prayers. 

(pg. 23 - Memorizing Prayers) Once per day a Warrior Priest can spend an hour memorizing a a number of prayers equal to their Level divided by two rounded down from their Prayer Book. A Warrior Priest can only memorize prayers of levels up to and equal to their current level divided by two rounded down. This means that at first level the Warrior Priest will not have access to prayers, but is still expected to lug around at least one prayer book. Failure to do so will result in disfavor from their Patron Power rolling at disadvantage at all tasks until they atone and repent. At level 2 they will be able to memorize one prayer at first level or lower. At level 4 they will be able to memorize two prayers of second level or lower prayers and so on to Level 10 they can memorize five prayers of fifth level or lower. 

(pg 15 - Spellcaster) "When turns are being tracked using minutes..." The Warrior priest must be at least second level to be considered a spell caster. Once they are second level and they read it from prayer book and fail it means that something has happened, some action taken was not congruent with the whims of the higher Power. That spell will no longer be available to the Warrior Priest until they atone and repent. 

New Rule - Atone and Repent. When the Warrior Priest spends several hours in thoughtful prayer and contemplation, they atone to the higher power, and can now start rolling again normally (without all checks being at disadvantage). At the first opportunity that does not put the agenda of the higher power at risk, they must seek out a temple, shrine, or similar and repent. Failing to do so will result them in disfavor once again. Alternatively they may invoke the level 1 spell Atonement to restore favor to themselves and those amongst them (if they have it memorized or can read from it). 

Wizards can be whatever kind of wizard they wish based on background (my current favorite is the psychaecosmic positronic prestidigitator).   But a wizard that specifically is tied to a Patron Power in their background is a Priest.  The Priest is just a wizard, but uses Prayer Books instead of Spell Books and memorizes and casts spells from the Priest list. A Priest of Law or Chaos Patron may also choose to memorize one spell from a spell book, but if they fail the attribute after casting the spell from the Wizards list they must Atone and Repent (as above for Warrior Priest). Like a warrior priest they must carry at least one prayer book with them. Priests do not start with a familiar, but may start with 1D6 roll for followers (to be developed for each Patron). 

SpellBooks: Used to store Wizard Spells. Players can envision however they want they physically don't have to be a spell book, but they somehow store the spells that the wizard memorizes. They take up one slot on a character sheet. A spell book may hold 1d4+1 spells. Wizards start with 1d4+2 spells, so they may end up starting with two spell books. For each spell book roll how many spells the spell book holds. On the character sheet suggest writing SpellBook A (max # spells) and SpellBook B. At first level if the spell books spills over into two or more spell books assume that they are "full". Wizards do not have to take spell books with them on adventures if they do not want to, but must have them to read from. Wizards may spend D8 coins to incrsibe a single spell onto a single scroll to take with them. This takes up one slot in equipment. Or they can take their spell books. 

PrayerBooks: Used to store spells, but also contain holy texts, stories, ceremonies, writings, koans, and whatever else relates to the higher Patron. Warrior Priests start with a Prayer Book containing 1D3+1 Prayers of first and second level prayers. Prayer Books Hold 1D3 prayers. The stories, texts, etc. take up a lot more space. Priests start with 1D4+2 Spells of 1st and 2nd level. They may choose up to 2 of those spells to be Wizard Spells that fit into a spell book. If they do this they will start with a Prayer Book(s) and a Spell Book. 

That may seem like Priest are more powerful than Wizards, but I want to see it in play first. The Atonement and the need to carry around spell and prayer books could make it interesting. 

Higher Power Patrons: That will be up to the DM, but just to round it out, there are several Higher Powers defined in the campaign setting. If a player wants a particular Higher Power bring it up, and we will figure out a way to make it work under the principal of gonzo kitchen sink. 

The base Higher Powers in the campaign setting are: The Stewards of Law, the Lords of Chaos, and the  two Nuetral heretical deities not tied up in the cosmic struggle of Law and Chaos:specifically the Suffusion of Yellow, and the Bluelander Suffering Supreme God of the Jug that eases suffering and brings peace and love. 

Law and Chaos have both types of Priests. A priest should name the Lord or Steward that they follow when created or roll on a table yet to be developed. 

The followers of the Suffusion of Yellow have both types as well, although the elders tend to be Priests, and the footsoliders unsurprising tend to be Warrior Priests. The different factions of the Suffusion of Yellow are almost in constant war over their converts, followers, and heretics. 

The follower of the Bluelander God tend to be Priests, and may not shed blood or have to seek Atonement. However, atonement is easy for them, and is considered a 0 level spell that they all memorize for free when studying prayers. The first prayer taught to their priests is one of atonement and repentance. Bluelander God's spell list will likely be developed over time and be unique. 

Finally, the Sidereal Satraps, the Coke Dwarves, and Halflings are never Warrior Priests or Priests. Quarterlings can be either, although the others that follow the same higher power think they try too hard and ham up the prayers and readings way too much. 

Let me know what you think? 

CREDITS:

Already mentioned Ultra Violet Grasslands: to much to name, my campaign is a reimagining of several concepts, including the idea of Bluelanders being somehow different, plus adding in some of my own concepts. 

Jeff Reints (blog linked to the right) for conceptual higher powers, the Suffusion of Yellow specifically. 

And the already mentioned Sharn City of Towers, and City State of the Invincible Overlord. 

I should call this blog 2d6 h-town

Just got dungeon world.Liquid awesome on a stick. Waiting to play before making any final conclusions but this what I have been waiting for. I still dig me so me white box DnD. As soon as I remember how to blogger thing works I will update the what I am playing bit to the right. Wish we had this when we were playing with e Ebisu Gaming Club in Tokyo.

Peace - Steve

Why would I ever or why torch and sword is one of the most underrated games

Why would I ever pay 87.85 for This when I can get something that is better written, less confusing and essientially a leaner, meaner, sleeker version for free. Paul Gormon's torch and sword is the most underrated retro-clones out there. Like others I have managed to acquire an ok or decent version of the LBB. While I was in the mind to make a true text copy in pages for my own use, not sure I need to. Paul's version is the truest that I have seen, has awesome appendices and reorganizes for easier use. His terse to the point style is refreshing, and is reminiscent of Moldvay's style. Much better than the original quite frankly and he doesn't feel the need to add what is missing. For my money it hits the mark for what is needed if someone wants to play OD&D. I like Moldvay too but at the same time as I grow older I like the elements of the original (although I do like my own 2d6 combat better than anything else out there) better than Moldvay.

Paul's magic sword pamphlet is nifty too and better than most supplements out there.

Thanks Paul keep up the good work!

More 2d6 goodness

2D6 COMBAT SYSTEM FOR OD&D AND SIMILAR RETROCLONES


NOTE: this system assumes using d6 for hit points, HD similar progression similar to the LBB. In my games name level is 7 and the maximum level for all characters. This also assumes that ability modifiers are limited to +1 for over 14.

ENCOUNTERS
Determine encounter distance (3d6x10 feet or yards, or determine based on terrain and dungeon layout)
Check for surprise (1 or 2 on d6) - if one side is surprised the other gets a free round.
Determine monster reactions (per whatever rule set you are using)
Determine party actions: flee, combat, parlay, or wait for monster
Roll initiative for each side if combat or flee (each side, highest on 1d6)
Declare spells in order of initiative
Highest side does movement and resolve missile combat
Resolve Melee combat from that move and retreats
Next highest does movement and resolve missile combat
Resolve Melee combat from that move that is new or from retreats
After all moves, missile, and Melee resolve spells in initiative order (use whatever rules regarding you normally use if a magic user or cleric is injured during combat or see rules below for hit while spell casting)  
Repeat steps 5-12 for new round if one side unless one side gives quarter, flee, or is dead.
Note it is possible for a character to fire a missile, charge an opponent, and enter Melee depending on the circumstances. A DM for example may allow for a character to throw a dagger while charging in battle, but may not allow someone to fire a bow and charge and pull out a sheathed sword. Use common sense and what is allowed at your table for norms to determine what is possible. If in doubt ask the DM, and remind him of your awesomeness.

COMBAT PROWESS
All characters and monsters have a new stat, Combat Prowess (if you don't like this name then give it a different name). For monsters their base combat prowess is their hit dice. Normal humans have a combat prowess of 0. Fighters have a combat prowess of 2 and gain additional +1 each additional two levels ( 2 at level 1, 3 at level 3, 4 at level 5, etc.). Clerics start with a combat prowess of 2 and gain additional +1 each additional three levels (2 at level 1, 3 at level 4, 4 at level 7, etc.) Magic-users start with a combat prowess of 1 and gain additional +1 each additional three levels (1 at level 1, 2 at level 4, 3 at level 7, etc.) Elves or their equivalent depend on what rule set. If you are using something like a basic D&D clone then treat them as fighters. If you are using something more like the '74 OD&D rule set that forces elves or their equivalent to choose how they are treated before each adventure then use ever fighter or magic-user.

Additional Modifiers for Combat Prowess:
Fighters (and their racial class kin) get +1 for strength of 14 or greater for resolving Melee combat
Anyone with a dexterity greater than 14 get +1 for resolving missile combat
Anyone with a shield get +1 for resolving missile combat when they are a target.
Anyone with a two handed sword, halberd, two handed battle axe or similar heavy weapon gets a +1 against armored foes
Any other situational Modifiers that the DM warrants (ranging from -2 to +2)  allowing players to go hog wild to show their awesomeness in the situation.

RESOLVING COMBATS
Instead of a to hit roll, each of the combatants rolls 2D6 to see if they are hit. If the roll is equal to or greater than 8 then they are not hit that round from that combatant. A roll of 12 is always a miss or a critical fumble for the other combatant, and a roll of 2 is always a critical hit. With two combatants their are four possible outcomes: they both are not hit, they both are hit, one or the or the other is hit. If they are hit, then they take damage - usually a 1D6 or a 2D6 if a critical hit. Note some games use variable damage for weapons, if so replace the D6 with the variable damage.   Some more lethal games will use an "exploding" D6 for damage (each 6 rolled allows you to roll and add to previous rolls). You resolve combat by having combatants roll at the same time for each pair of combatants, but only resolve for each pair once during the combat round. Example:  Andog the bruiser is fighting Cal the dervish and Andog has a 6 initiative and Cal has a 1 initiative. Andog moves by charging into Cal swinging a broken chair leg they will both resolve their Melee at the same time by rolling to see if they are hit after Andog charges on Andog's initiative. On Cal's initiative if he chooses not to flee you will not roll again to see if they are hit since that Melee has already been resolved that round for that pair of combatants. The advantage of initiative is to setting up who is fighting who.

Missile combat works the same way, but only the target rolls to see if they are hit. If two combatants are shooting each other across the battlefield they would each make their roll to see if they were hit on their own individual initiative.

Each pair of combatants will roll each round. If you have a dog pile of people fighting one character then that one person will roll to see if he was hit for each one in the dogpile and each character in the dog pile will roll to see if they are hit. Example Elruk the King is confronted by three Frwen Assassins. The Assassins have the initiative and they all do spinning double forward flips to surround the King. Elruk would roll three times to see if he was hit, and each Assassin would roll once to see if they are hit. If the Assassins all had different combat prowess, Elruk would factor his Modifiers separately for each roll (see below).

Some badass monsters have multiple attacks. This works just like multiple combatants. The character makes a roll to see if they are hit for each attack the monster has. If a monster has two or more weak ass attacks (e.g. D4 or less damage) it is suggested to just replace with one D6 attack.

The base roll to see if a character or monster is hit is 8 modified by the following:
The one with the highest combat prowess (recall that with modifiers Melee and missile combat prowess can be different) gets a +1 to the roll, the one with the lowest gets a -1 to the roll.
If the combat prowess is ludicrously different say more than 5 apart, the modifier can +2 for the higher one and -2 for the lowest one.  
Leather Armor grants a +1 to the roll, chain +2, plate +3. Generally for conversions each 2 increments of AC (ignore shields see below) grant +1. Example monsters with an AC of 5 would get a +2, one with an AC 1 would get a +3, one with AC -1 would get +4.
Magic weapons generally cut or batter through armor like butter, they reduce the armor bonus of the opponent to zero.
Any other situational Modifiers that the DM warrants (ranging from -2 to +2)  allowing players to go hog wild to show their awesomeness in the situation. Note a +1 or -1 modifier is a big deal for a 2D6 roll.

With a to be hit roll and combat prowess players have two aspects to modify based on the situation. In general use your judgment to determine what makes sense, recognizing that small benefits (like higher ground or hazardous terrain) should impact combat prowess, while big benefits like leaping down spear first into a horde of goblins from a cliff above should impact the to be hit roll. Also recognize that anything that makes you more of a badass should be a positive modifier to combat prowess, while anything that makes you easier to hit such as a being blinded should be a negative to a to be hit roll but something that makes it harder to be hit such as a standing behind a parapet looking down on the horde of archers should be a positive modifier to a to be hit roll.

SHIELDS
Shields grant a +1 to combat prowess against missile attacks. Also once per encounter you can reroll one of the two dice in your to be hit roll. Magic shields may let you reroll twice or thrice. Rings of protection and similar magic items work the same way.

Retreating
For a fighting retreat from a Melee you make a to be hit roll, but your opponent does not. If you break and flee you make a to be hit roll but your combat prowess is 0.

Dungeon Hack! Game for kids (and big kids too)

Working on my own simplified dungeon crawl game for playing with my 6 year old. We got to try it out today. While we have yet to get into the idea of tactics. So far we have dealt with a trap, and "whack the goblin with my big sword". Also had a bit if tears over rolling a 1 for Fate, but in general we had a good time! I think this would really work well as a fun and quick game, and want to try it out sometime with older gamers as well. It truly is mostly about player skill. Will post it when I get it finished and find out how to from the iPad. One design concept I really like is using old business cards to make the spell cards. It feels a bit like dungeon the game - and should be very familiar to those who have played final fantasy type games. But I present Lion - the dwarf, on his quest to recover his family history tome from the caves of despair.

The original evil space wizard

I spent my birthday with my son, wife and inlawsa at the exploration center in wichita ( one of America's most underrated cities). What a cool exhibit and birthday. Even though my boy has sort of a fascination slash fear of starwars there was lot of other stuff for him to do. If samurai space wizards can adventure together with uptight royalty freedom fighters why do some folks sweat the smorgasbord of od&d?

First Twenty Questions for FCotTD - oh poor Yorick....rolled a 2 on the hurt table and didn't run

Well here are the first set of 20 questions from Brendan's blog. I found these useful. I think with all the variations for ability score modifiers from thr old school games there should be a 21st one: what are the modifiers for the abilities. I will follow up with Jeff's in due time.

Poor Yorick must have rolled poorly on the hurt table after getting hit by a level draining fiend and foolishlyn didn't run.


Ability scores generation method?
3d6 in order: Str,Int,Dex,Wis,Con,Cha
Fighters can reduce int, dex, wis on 2 for 1 for str
MU can reduce str, dex, wis on 2 for 1 for int
Others can't reduce at all.
If you pick a hafling the max score for any is 12.

How are death and dying handled?
At 0 HP characters have to roll on the serious hurt table. The second whack you get while at 0 HP you only roll 1d6 on the serious hurt table. When you are less than 6 HP you get wicked wounds and scars.

What about raising the dead?
Only one sect - Maidens of the Blackgate can cast a raise dead spell. This is a special spell that costs a lot of money, including the upkeep for the priestess for the rest of her life as she loses her clerical powers in casting it.

How are replacement PCs handled?
Ported in, unless the character has someone is mind - prodigy or similar but that generally requires the player to wait until an appropriate time. In general new characters are level 1 and other players are expected not to be a dick to them. If all the players agree new characters can be the average level minus 2.

Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
Group unless there are special circumstances. Plain old B/X


Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
Yes, hits only, generally only by players or named characters. On a natural 20 something cool happens (generally someone that will give an advantage to your next hit or someone that will make it hard for the other guy). Rolling a 1 is the same as giving the other guy a crit. Fighters, dwarves, Enochs can explode a natural 6 roll for damage. Roll special crit die ( six sider that is marked with 0,0,2,4,6,8 or roll d6+d4. A roll of 3 or better on the d6 gives you 2x the d4 result)
If you roll a nat 20, the roll a nat 6 on the damage roll you get to roll on the serious hurt table.


Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
Yes depending on what is happening in the story. In general though no specific game rules regarding helmets. Some of the serious hurt table benefits from a helmet.

Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
Yes, if you miss, roll again to see if you hit something else.

Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
Use your player skills to find out

Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Yes

Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Yes - that is the purpose of a saving throw a chance to escape death

How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
Mostly yes - ammo, light, food, money, spells, hp, etc. will all be tracked. Encumbrance will be based on b/x.

What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically?
No training, but at least day of downtime. Magic Users get one new spell automatically but it takes d6x100 gp to scribe it out in a new spell book. Enochs are the same.

Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
No, you must be in town

What do I get experience for?
Treasure - 1xp for every gp you spend on non-equipment and not on spells. What you choose to spend your money on tells us a lot about your character. If folks have trouble with this I might break out a carousing rule instead. Later in the game folks can buy property and become a landholder.
You do not get xp until you spend the money.
Defeating monsters
Exploring (generally you get some for every room you explore, and interacting with the dungeon). If someone dies due to interaction with the dungeon, the survivors get some to.

How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
Combination, if you describe it good enough no roll. If you don't standard b/x roll.

Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
Yes, if you can afford them. Vagabond camps are interesting cheap ways to get them, but with unpredictable folks. Morale based in Charisma. They check morale based on when DM thinks they should. If the level up to same level as you they walk. They generally want a share of the treasure, and if you treat them as scum, they will treat you as scum.

How do I identify magic items?
Read magic or go and find a sage.

Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
Maybe, there isn't a magic shop. If you had a magic sword that was a 1000 years ago wielded by an overlord of the Riven Empire of the Stars that spit a life stealing black ray with a cackling laugh would you sell it? You might try some of the tonic salesmen dressed up gaudy clothes at the crossroads, or the young witch of shattered dream falls, but maybe it is just river water mixed with string wine and some sparkles or maybe it really is a potion of healing? Try some to find out if it will save your bacon before the serious hurt roll or make you take a save vs. dysentery?

Can I create magic items? When and how?
Yes. Scrolls are 100 gp per level and take 1 week per level to make. Clerics cannot make scrolls. Others are per the expert rules. Dwarves can forge magic arms and armor if they can find the lost arts and the requisite materials. For the most part it will be a while to make magic items. All require the caster/forger to find the secrets of their making.

What about splitting the party?
Go for it, but don't complain about the downtime as I try to run two games at the same time.

More maps

Created using notability plus Flickr stackr plus iPad

First attempts of using iPad for gaming.....

New Tools and the joy of hex

For my bday I got what any gaming dad would love - and iPad! Many games of Puerto Rico later I have gotten a bit more serious. I love penultimate for a mere .99 cents. Especially since you can put in your own custom papers. With some simple free downloadable hex maps you can have both a moleskin looking notebook sketch pad as well as having hex paper. I swear this will be better once I have my stylus - no more scanners for sure. Well once I figure out how to get from my iPad to blogger. Still learning the tools I guess. Blah

Not dead, just busy....

Summer is here, with that work heats up, kids are doing summer stuff, car trips to grandparents, etc.... Still working on my flaming canyons of the transfigured dawn d&d mine.... Anyone have any great critical hit tables that they have publishable on the web ( I.e. telling me use the tables from an out of print book that I don't have would be less useful)

Soundtrack for Flaming Canyons of the Transfigured Dawn

Been busy with life - and working on my psionic ideas. Mutant Future and 1st Ed. Gamma World are a big influence.

In the meantime - this would be part of the soundtrack of the Flaming Canyons of the Transfigured Dawn - especially  St. Stephen, Mountains of the Moon, and Rosemary.

Thinking about trying out a G+ game some time

I am really intrigued about G+ gaming. When I was in Japan I did some voice Skype gaming - it was good but not awesome, and then the Ebisu Game Club managed to form so I didn't need it. But I was thinking it can be hard to find old school gamers, I was thinking about trying out Constacon.

Anybody got any tips for a non-technophile like myself? Interested in how maps would work, I heard of Twidda but not sure how easy or user friendly it is. Before I dive in I wonder if any of the blogosphere knows some tips and tricks.

I'm Back!

Well just returned to blazing Houston after having to deal with snow in Wyoming. Nothing game related (I don't have my personal computer while travelling) - but I did get to read a lot of blogs, and some older articles on Zak S.'s website that made me look at some things in a new light - especially XP's. I also learned about Corcosa (how I didn't know about this just shows how insular I was before I started reading some blogs). Not sure I will pick it up, but all the discussion is interested. Wondering if it was a new product, something that was different; is my D&D Mine just another sci-fantasy game world? And if so, does it matter, really, since 0E was a lot about mashing all that stuff together anyway?

Peace and glad to be home,

No Posts for a while plus an open letter to IKEA

I am engaged in a project of a different nature than Flaming Canyons of the Transfigured Dawn. A project involving many small pieces, not one but three flat packs and an engaged 6 year old that wants to help as well as get said project completed before I have to travel for work for a week.

But in the meantime I have a real question for IKEA: why the fuck would you decide to put brackets and screws that measure fractions of milimeters on the end of a bedframe where you have less than a half an inch clearance to fit a screw driver. Who decided that was a good application in this situations. Either than or the Swedes have tiny f'ing elf hands and pixie size screw drivers. A gold ole American dewalt power screwdriver (6AMPS!) was able to simultaneously strip these diminutive fey screws from the Nordic lands and get those suckers in at the same time. I only managed a little damage to said bed. No one will notice with a bit of touch up paint.

In the meantime I am on step 6 of a 3 digit step process of assembling this bunk bed which took three trips to the big blue and yeller CF of a store. Brian was really helpful though they should give him a raise.  Between that and work next week there will little posts.

Though I am working on some psionics. I always wanted a decent psionics system in my game. It helps capture that Sci-Fan feeling like you get in PERN and other such works that I think of when I think of the late 70's and 80's of my youth. Peace to all, except for little bastard elves from the lands of the midnight sun that have the tiniest hands ever.

Brevity of Writing - Why Moldvay is Awesome

I'm an engineer (engineering supervisor to be more precise so mostly I do powerpoints) - so I am not the best of writers. I tend to talk a lot as well. I noticed that the best written rules are succinct, clear, and tightly edited. I personally think that is what separates Moldvay from the rest*. And probably why he is probably the single most important person to making the hobby what it is. I know we all like to talk about Gary and Dave a lot - and yes they 'invented' the game. But Moldvay made it organized, coherent, tight, and accessible. As many have articulated, even when AD&D came out most of us just bolted on elements from it that we liked to how we have been playing B/X. That probably makes LL AEC the way that most of us played. Personally I like less AEC and AD&D and OSRIC in my games - I can't stand the race/class split personally. I like the simplicity of decision choices for a player in B/X - class, alignment, gear --> go to the dungeon. The fact that Mentzer took two books to do what Tom did with one separates them for me (that plus Otus vs. Elmore).

Moldvay in a few short pages gives an awesome "how to DM" and how to "wing it" when you need to. At the same time some of the basics of the game are covered: light, encounter distance, encounter reactions, retainer reactions, finding and opening doors, attacking, and finding traps. It was a game that explained how to run a game like a game. I think you do have tweak it a bit (but not in a big way probably how you award XP plus add some Deities to the game for the clerics) but can be run almost with the RAW. My D&D mine is more of a vanity project for some specific wackiness I want to add.

My only beef with Moldvay is the Thief class and I blame Gary and Dave for that. My fighter has a better chance to find a trap than the 1st level thief. That plus all the snake spells for Clerics. Rest of it is gold. I think when I get my D&D mine complete there will probably need to be a complete rewrite and tightening process. I am not looking forward to that.

How do others handle their editing? Do you find it tough like I do, or does it come easy. Any quick rules of thumb you use?


*(I can't speak for Holmes - my perception is that it wasn't around that much compared to B/X back in the early 80's which I perceive as the heyday of the hobby none of my friends had Holmes but we all had B/X )

For some reason my computer won't let me put comments in my own blog

I know I am idiot - but somehow I can't post comments to my own post. So I will just say thanks for the link to Jeff's post on XP. I have read a lot of his stuff before, but haven't this particular one.

Thanks,

Expierence Points Drive the Game - XP For Exploring the Dungeon?

I won't rehash what we all already know - how you give out XP defines a lot of what happens at the table. It works in the corporate world the same way - you work what you measure - and rewards drive behavior.

If I was being fidely and forgey - well I would overall the whole system potentially. There are a lot of really good games that do a good job with this, Burning Wheel comes to mind as well as the keys from the Shadow over yesterday. But then that would Azemol a bit more complicated than what I am looking for, and also it would hamper being to move from campaign to campaign - or least it would impact the fungibility of players from different backgrounds being able to play (probably another post all together on one of the things that makes old school DnD is while every table is different they are relatively fungible from a rule set - but probably not always from a style).

Instead I go back to the good old standby's plus a bit more. I want Flaming Canyons to be like when I played the B/X originally - a lot of exploration - what's around the next corner - what's on Level 2. But I also really like in my game of the impacts as characters grow and you get into the "end-game".

Like many I use the Dave Arneson rule: you only get the xp if you spend the gold you get out of the dungeon. Meaning that just getting isn't enough. What you spend on doesn't matter, except you don't get any XP from buying equipment or making magic weapons. All else you spend on does give you XP. If wine, women, and song is your thing, then by all means. But you could also get paying a ton of bribes to gain an audience with the Baron Throckmorton or in building up your Overlord Lair or whatever. What you spend it on shows some of how you see your character.

Jeff has a similar system for his carousing. I don't limit to carousing, but I do like some of his ideas about how big of a city you can spend it on. In the past I haven't done this, I just assumed somehow - usually 'off camera' the character spent the money. Make something up, scratch the gold off your sheet, and we talk about it (briefly) and maybe I add a twist or two to what you said, usually some sort of complication, a 'I always knew he was that type of guy' or just jot something down to add for future adventure fodder.

I will have think on it a bit more if I want anything more fiddely than that. One thing I do want to do is encourage characters to take some additional risk though. Exploration is a big thing, espically those old so tasty weird Enochian Ruins like the Burnished Tower of the Spellthrone. So in addition to the rule on gold, and monsters, I will add one on exploration.

So my XP system looks like:

• 1XP for every 1GP a character spends on non-equipment/magic item creation 
• Standard Monster XP per B/X
• +25 XP times the Level of the Dungeon for each room you explore in a dungeon. 
• +50 XP for trying something weird in the dungeon (what happens if I pull this lever; sure I'll drink from that rainbow hue liquid squirting out of the fountain that we found in this 1000 year weird fortress buried in the side of the mountain about 200' underground!) 
• +100 XP if someone dies in that room of the Dungeon from the Dungeon (i.e. killed by a monster or trap or something weird). Those that survive learn from these events. 
• +100 XP for going down the stairs to the next level
• +200 XP for going down a level by means other than stairs caused by the dungeon (that teleporter you weren't expecting will also learn you some - at least if you make it out. 
• Need to work it out but something similar for Hex Crawling and clearing Hexes. 

Or something similar. I would probably get some tokens or markers or something and just hand them out for each event. When you get back to town you can cash them in for XP for exploring new stuff and coming back out alive to talk about it.

Interested in feedback on this - especially the level of the awards and how others would see to implement XP for exploring the dungeon.

Peace,

Raise Dead Spell For Maidens of the Black Gate

So in an earlier post, I talked about the dieties and mentioned that only of them has the ability to cast the raise dead spell. The ability to have characters come back to life is an important decision in any campaign. I never felt very comfortable with the AD&D versions, or the continuance into mainstream game culture including computer games like Bard's Tale where healing and resurrection turned into a way to such out resources only. The idea of raising dead and resurrection also comes squarely from the Christian religion which isn't in AD&D (at least in the way I have read it). So for my D&D mine, I want something a bit more mythic. Hence the Maidens of the Black Gate. They owe a lot to the Earthsea Trilogy.

This is the version of the spell I use in my game:

Raise Dead - Level 4
Range: Special
Duration: permanent (side note - I have always toyed with the idea of it not being permanent - that the spell would have to continue to be cast before the hero turns into dust - but that is a separate post). 
By means of this spell the cleric casts a ceremony to open the Black Gate. Only a Maiden of the Black Gate can cast this spell, and must have access to a Black Gate (typically an altar found in their temples). To cast this spell the maiden must perform an elaborate sword dance naked in front of the Black Gate. The last part of the dance she cuts open the gate creating a rend to the lands of the Dead. A companion to the slain character must enter the Black Gate carrying their slain companion. Once inside they spend 1D3+number of days the character was dead wandering to find the dead. They can then bring back the dead one to life. For every 7 days inside the lands of the dead both the risen character and the companion who went inside to find them must make a save vs. spell. A failed saving thrown results in a character losing a level (per standard energy drain rules). 1st Level characters become Normal Men (with 1d6-1 HP as HD) and have to reroll their attributes. Upon gaining any experience they become 1st level characters again.  Normal Men who are slain and fail the save are not able to return from the land of the dead and sealed there forever. 

Note since this ceremony breaks the restrictions of the "Obscuring Dance of Utter Darkness" clerics the cleric will be unable to cast spells again, and won't be able to be part of the order. They lose the power to turn undead, and the power of their spells. But they still retain HP and Saving Throws, but they will be unable to advance a level. In general the Clerics that cast this spell stay on in the temple, but in a different role. Generally to get a cleric to cast the spell the person requesting the temple to cast the spell must pay enough gold to take care of the cleric who cast for the rest of their life. Generally this is 14,000 to 20,000 gold pieces. Alternatively in some rare cases the temple has been known to instead marry off the priestess who cast the spell to someone that is part of the group that requested the spell to be cast.

The Maidens are a fairly common order and temples can be found throughout the Baronies and communities east of the Riven Sea. They frequently are healers, midwifes, and perform the marriage and funeral rites for the communities. It is rare that they will open the gate, and will generally only do so for those that have the funds and have proven themselves worthy by deeds that they are strong in the world (e.g. they will not generally throw away their priesthood for a 1st level character since there is a strong chance the character will not return from the land of the dead).