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AmiYumi
Oct 10, 2005

I FORGOT TO HAIL KING TORG

Esser-Z posted:

Approps of nothing, I started listening to System Mastery last week. I am really, really enjoying it!
Same, I actually went through your whole backlog as "things to listen to while cooking". Now I'm up to date, and keep having to fall back on the episode about MAID. :ohdear:

(I just listened to the most recent Afterthought about an hour or two ago, while throwing together eggplant and bell peppers in a miso/soy/xiaoxing sauce. Both were delightful.)

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gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy
I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/

The author calls it "Dungeons and Dragons Redux", and they draw from a bunch of different sources: BECMI classes, AD&D Player's Option's initiative system, DCC's Mighty Feat die for Fighters, 5th Edition's entire skill check system, 3rd Edition's +1 ability modifier every 2 ability scores, but then you get to this part:

quote:

To begin, you generate ability scores randomly. Roll three, 6-sided dice and record the total on your character sheet as your character’s Strength score. Do this five more times, once each for Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma in order.

3d6-in-order for a game where the difference between 10 and 18 is a +4 :fuckoff:

Lightning Lord
Feb 21, 2013

$200 a day, plus expenses

gradenko_2000 posted:

I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/

The author calls it "Dungeons and Dragons Redux", and they draw from a bunch of different sources: BECMI classes, AD&D Player's Option's initiative system, DCC's Mighty Feat die for Fighters, 5th Edition's entire skill check system, 3rd Edition's +1 ability modifier every 2 ability scores, but then you get to this part:


3d6-in-order for a game where the difference between 10 and 18 is a +4 :fuckoff:

Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess?

NachtSieger
Apr 10, 2013


Lightning Lord posted:

Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess?

Having seen and read this PDF, it's terrible in the boring way.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy

Lightning Lord posted:

Is the game worth ignoring that part, or is it a general mess?
With a closer reading, it feels like a mess.

The author took B/X and then:

converted the ability score system to 3rd Edition
converted to ascending AC
bolted on the Inspiration, Background, Ideal/Flaw/Bond, Advantage/Disadvantage, Proficiency, skill check s, Hit dice healing, and Short/Long rest mechanics from 5th Edition
bolted on the Mighty Feat die from Dungeon Crawl Classics to the Fighter
bolted on the Backstab die and "burning Luck" mechanic from DCC to the Rogue
bolted on the spell corruption/spell check mechanic from DCC to the Wizard and Cleric
used the "saving throws are also your attributes" system from 5th Edition/Castles and Crusades
claimed that combat takes place in Theater of the Mind but, like 5th Edition, still spells out mechanics in 5 foot increments
took many of the basic combat actions from 5th Edition, such as Disengage, Dodge, its version of Grapple, etc

Looking back on it, it's probably faster to say they pared down 5th Edition to just the 4 basic classes, removed feats, and replaced the class features with DCC's

Lightning Lord
Feb 21, 2013

$200 a day, plus expenses

Sounds kind of like that Dungeons the Dragoning thing but for old school D&D.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

AmiYumi posted:

Same, I actually went through your whole backlog as "things to listen to while cooking". Now I'm up to date, and keep having to fall back on the episode about MAID. :ohdear:

(I just listened to the most recent Afterthought about an hour or two ago, while throwing together eggplant and bell peppers in a miso/soy/xiaoxing sauce. Both were delightful.)

We'll have Claire on as a guest again someday, too. Soon as she's done getting all married and whatnot.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.



Come get your hot fresh Top Secret review! It's our third time cracking open an old TSR box, and I'm literally amazed to find this thing on the "Best of TSR lists" on the internet. It's insane.

That Old Tree
Jun 24, 2012

nah


Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste:

unseenlibrarian
Jun 4, 2012

There's only one thing in the mountains that leaves a track like this. The creature of legend that roams the Timberline. My people named him Sasquatch. You call him... Bigfoot.
Oh god, is that Legacy: War of Ages? I recognize that border and the bad photographic art and the bit of a dumb section header quote.

Grnegsnspm
Oct 20, 2003

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarian 2: Electric Boogaloo

Plague of Hats posted:

Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste:



Please don't post my yearbook photos, thx

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Plague of Hats posted:

Speaking of System Mastery, I went to the used book store and found something I'd like to send along after I read it. Here's a taste:



That man wants to wash my clothes!

Oh wait, I bet that's an extremely specific San Diego in the 90s reference, forget I said anything.

U.T. Raptor
May 11, 2010

Are you a pack of imbeciles!?

I can't hate dinosaur robots :allears:

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


theironjef posted:



Come get your hot fresh Top Secret review! It's our third time cracking open an old TSR box, and I'm literally amazed to find this thing on the "Best of TSR lists" on the internet. It's insane.

There's this blog I read by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion. He loved Top Secret so much he put the whole game up for download at one point- I got it, but deleted it because it seemed boring. I think I understand the reason he only mentioned running one session of it.

Simian_Prime
Nov 6, 2011

When they passed out body parts in the comics today, I got Cathy's nose and Dick Tracy's private parts.

Kavak posted:

There's this blog I read by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion.

Man, there's loving the smell of your own poo poo, and then there's loving the smell of your own poo poo so much that you bottle it in jars and make your own public poo poo Museum.

Covok
May 27, 2013

Yet where is that woman now? Tell me, in what heave does she reside? None of them. Because no God bothered to listen or care. If that is what you think it means to be a God, then you and all your teachings are welcome to do as that poor women did. And vanish from these realms forever.

Simian_Prime posted:

Man, there's loving the smell of your own poo poo, and then there's loving the smell of your own poo poo so much that you bottle it in jars and make your own public poo poo Museum.

Welcome to the world of blogs.

Traveller
Jan 6, 2012

WHIM AND FOPPERY

Okay, so I can't sleep. I could do the other two adventures for MiliKK but I don't feel like it. One is pretty risqué as far as these things go, as the idea is that PCs try to hook up with one of several girls only for things to go awfully wrong (the nice-looking girl is the Major's daughter! the would-be revolutionary chica was too loud and attracted a gaggle of Neo-Nazis!) forcing the party to flee for the safety of their barracks. No wonder the authors described this game as "cachondo", which is the adjective you would use for, say, a movie like Porky's. The other has no sex at all, thank goodness, but it's basically "okay bad officer is around and he'll try to gently caress you over" and is generally a time-line and a map of a base for PCs to goof around in and try to escape scrutiny.

So no, instead you get something entirely different!

Exemplars and Eidolons

RULES OF NATURE

Exemplars and Eidolons is a fantasy RPG of the oldschool type and... no, wait, where are you going? While it claims to be an OSR game and it's certainly compatible with other OSR-based products, this is not yet another pre-3E retroclone, far from it. Its creator is OSR luminary Kevin Crawford (who wrote noted Traveller-like Stars Without Number and Red Tide, which is the most badass setting the OSR ever produced) and it's a simple, but slick little game...

Only it's not really a game. What?

Okay, so there is an actual, playable game here, but Crawford's actual attempt was to use it as a learning example. See, E&E is a sample game to teach other would-be RPG DIY publishers how to layout a game or game supplement of their own. When you download E&E (which is free!), you get two files: one is the game itself, a simple PDF, and the other is a compressed file containing InDesign files, the art Crawford used in the book, and another PDF with a commentary layer where he explains why how he did the table of contents, how he chose fonts and laid out text, tables and pictures, and so on. It's really interesting if you're into desktop publishing and to be honest, I haven't seen this kind of effort before, so it's cool that he took his time to do something like this.


Snazzy art! Crawford gives permission for you to use it in your stuff, as long as you credit the original artists.

But of course, what you really want is the rules. Which is good, because E&E rocks.

E&E is a game where players play heroes. This is not a game where level 1 nobodies die lovely deaths in subterranean fantasy loving Vietnam. This is a game where you're on the way to toppling kingdoms from day one, where you're not pinching pennies and lying on your belly poking at traps on the ground. It's high-powered, high-flying adventure, and it's metal as all hell. Character creation starts by rolling the classic six D&D stats with a 4d6 drop lowest roll, assigning each roll to any stat you want. If no score is 16 or higher, simply erase the lowest and replace it with a 16, or ask the GM to use a pre-set stat spread (16. 14, 13, 10 and 9.) 9-12 is the average range, with higher and lower stats providing attribute modifiers that go from -3 to +3. Yeah, the pre-set spread won't give you any penalties. It's not that kind of OSR game.

Classes! We have Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer. Warriors are tough and punchy, rogues are sneaky, sorcerers have wikkd magikz. Each class has an attack bonus. hit points, Fray die and maximum weapon damage. I'll explain the Fray die later, but the maximum weapon damage is exactly that, the maximum damage you're going to roll with a weapon attack. A sorcerer simply won't be as martially trained as a warrior, so they get 1d6 maximum weapon damage, while rogues get 1d8. In fact, the warrior seems to have the best stats at this point, with the best attack bonus, the best Fray die, the most HP and unlimited weapon damage. But, we'll see!

Each hero gets three Facts to add to their sheet. Facts are just that - facts about the hero, simple sentences that can later be used to gain an advantage in play. For instance, a sorceror's Facts can be "I was trained by STERN MASTER, but I betrayed him to THE SUPER PALADINS because he was a demonologist so now they like me, and when I get angry sparks fly around me so bdazz." So what if you don't know if there even are SUPER PALADINS in the game world? Ask your GM, because Facts are also how a GM can start building up a world for the PC heroes to traipse around in. When a Fact is relevant to a check or saving throw, it gives a +4 bonus to it. Only one Fact can apply to any single roll, though.


Fact: that hand is creepy as poo poo.

Heroes also get Gifts. Gifts are what really separate heroes from regular people: you can be a veteran swordsman or a vizier with a head full of spells, but not a capital letter Warrior or Sorcerer without Gifts. This is heroic stuff, not inane d20-like feats. Starting characters get three Gifts: two of them must be from their starting class or from the list of generic Gifts available to all classes, and the third can be from either one of those lists or from one of the other classes' Gift lists. Heroes get one more Gift per level, and every even-numbered level they can choose to a another Gift from another class. Some Gifts require Effort to activate: this represents a greater investment on the part of the hero. Each hero starts with two points of Effort and gains one more per level. Effort is used different from Gift to Gift: some need Effort to be committed until a fight or scene is over (in broad terms, never something specific like individual rounds). Effort is recovered by a good night's sleep, and GMs may also require to spend Effort to perform some special feat of skill, but that should be very rare.

Gear!: voulges, guisarmes... ah, gently caress that poo poo. Heroes have what they need, they don't shop in endless equipment lists. Weapons are defined generically as heavy (1d10), one-handed (1d8), light (1d6, hero can use Dexterity modifier instead of Strength for hit rolls and damage) and ranged (1d8, 1d6 for hurled weapons, can use Dex instead of Str). This is where the max damage per class kicks in - sure, a sorcerer can wield a heavy warhammer, but they'll only deal 1d6 damage tops with it. Armor is also handled generically: light armor is AC 7, medium armor is AC 5, heavy armor is AC 3, and a shield gives +1 armor. Rogue Gifts that rely on nimbleness and stealth cannot be used with heavy or medium armor, and sorcerers cannot cast spells at all when wearing armor or using a shield. As for other gear, simply choose them - it's the GM's call if they want to pare down outrageous gear, substantial holdings of land, scores of retainers and so on.

Wealth! Okay, heroes don't give a flying gently caress about the 5 silver pieces on a bandit's purse. Capital-W Wealth is when a hero shoves their arm shoulder-deep in a coffer full of gold coins and jewels. It's the kind of moolah that makes kings and nobles go WHOA. Heroes are assumed to always have the money they need for daily life, unless they're like stripped naked in the rear end end of nowhere or coming out of a week-long bender or something. Wealth can go from 1 (the smallest treasury worth celebrating) to 10 (a kingdom's riches). A single point of Wealth can buy pretty much anything a fair-sized city can provide - a house, a party for a couple hundred people, a bribe for a high official in a dangerous matter. Aside from that, Wealth is also used to further a group's goals, acquiring Influence on them. How exactly that works is left for later!

For the final touches, it's time to record a character's saving throw. There are three of them, Toughness (higher of Str or Con, plus levels in Warrior) Evasion (higher of Dex or Wis, plus levels in Rogue) and Mystic (higher of Int or Cha, plus levels in Sorcerer) To roll a saving throw, you just have to roll under it with 1d20. Then hit points (8 for warriors, 6 for rogues, 4 for sorcerers, plus Con modifier), attack bonus (+0 for non-warriors, +1 for warriors), armor class (your armor plus shield if you have it, defaulting to 9 without it, adding or subtracting the Dex modifier but AC can never be worse than 9), the Fray die (1d8 for warriors, 1d6 for rogues, 1d4 for sorcerers) and, finally, a name and appearance. And that's it, you have one hero ready to roll!


SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER

Next: now, Raiden! Bring him down!

unseenlibrarian
Jun 4, 2012

There's only one thing in the mountains that leaves a track like this. The creature of legend that roams the Timberline. My people named him Sasquatch. You call him... Bigfoot.

Traveller posted:




SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER


I have no real comment on the game itself, I just think this picture is amazing because it's a viking snapping the neck of a hopping vampire.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 3 hours!

unseenlibrarian posted:

I have no real comment on the game itself, I just think this picture is amazing because it's a viking snapping the neck of a hopping vampire.
Has anyone reviewed WoD: Combat yet?

Forums Terrorist
Dec 8, 2011

Kavak posted:

...by a man who hates nerd culture with an unhealthy, disturbing passion.

You make this sound like a bad thing.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


Forums Terrorist posted:

You make this sound like a bad thing.

It's the level of vitriol I object to, not hating nerd culture itself.

PantsOptional
Dec 27, 2012

All I wanna do is make you bounce

unseenlibrarian posted:

Oh god, is that Legacy: War of Ages? I recognize that border and the bad photographic art and the bit of a dumb section header quote.

It is, and here is my shame: if memory serves, this is in the section on psychic powers near a power that's about inflicting psychic damage and they intended the picture to represent that, the quote is the bit about heads exploding from Dark Side of the Moon, and I'm pretty sure they mangled the quote as well. You can't just purge stupid like that from your memory, sadly.

E: Oh, I can see from the picture that they absolutely did mangle the quote. On the one hand, it's easy to throw stones from the comfort of the far future of 2015 with our robo-dogs and lyrics easily found through Google; on the other hand, they put as much effort into deciphering the actual lyrics as they did for writing the rest of this book, which isn't a lot.

PantsOptional fucked around with this message at 14:45 on May 13, 2015

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer
I'm pretty sure Pink Floyd put all of their lyrics in the liner notes too, on the third hand.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 3 hours!
Oh, dear. I just wrote the first chapter of a Legacy review, actually.

GrizzlyCow
May 30, 2011

Kavak posted:

It's the level of vitriol I object to, not hating nerd culture itself.

Maybe I'm being taken to a different blog, but other than a (bit) harsh critique of GTA, I don't see any vitriol. Dude's a bit wordy, though.


Anyway.

That Kevin Crawford seems to put a lot of good poo poo. Does he only do OSR stuff?

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Halloween Jack posted:

Oh, dear. I just wrote the first chapter of a Legacy review, actually.

Keep going! The podcast is a whole different thing that doesn't really line up to the rigorous standards of long-form review that happen in this thread.

Traveller
Jan 6, 2012

WHIM AND FOPPERY

GrizzlyCow posted:


That Kevin Crawford seems to put a lot of good poo poo. Does he only do OSR stuff?

Yeah, he likes writing OSR things the most. He did post some guidelines on how to run Red Tide with 4E in RPG.net, but he's more comfortable doing the stuff he knows.

hectorgrey
Oct 14, 2011
Kevin Crawford may focus on OSR, but what makes him much, much better than 90% of OSR writers is that he knows what was good about those games and keeps that while removing the stuff that didn't really work too well. His custom system being a cross between old school D&D and old school Traveller works surprisingly well, for example.

Traveller
Jan 6, 2012

WHIM AND FOPPERY

Exemplars and Eidolons

The only thing I know for real

Gifts! As mentioned earlier, these aren't simple, mundane advantages. Gifts are what really makes a hero stand above the normal cut of mortals, and they can enable them to do the literally impossible for the ordinary run of folk. Most Gifts don't have prerequisites. Some allow committing Effort to gain Influence with a certain goal, but the meaning of that will be explained later. When Effort is committed, it usually returns after the immediate situation that called for the commitment is over, or the hero can get a nap.

:): General Gifts (aside from Ferocious Effort, they can only be taken once per hero)

  • Ferocious Effort: hero gets an extra point of Effort.
  • Force of Destiny: commit Effort to automatically succeed at a failed saving throw. Effort returns when the hero can sleep.
  • Natural Gifts: set a stat to 18.
  • Tireless Dedication: Choose a goal, gain 1 Influence to any end compatible with it. Goal can be changed once a month.
  • Unquenchable Vitality: Maximum HP increases by 2 per level. Hero regains 1 HP per hour.

:ninja: Rogue Gifts (those that involve being stealthy or nimble cannot be used in heavy or medium armor)

  • Avid Eye: Find anything not magically concealed at a location. Commit Effort to find magically hidden stuff and things that are relevant to the current purpose, Effort returns when the hero leaves the scene.
  • Dodge Blows: AC is set by default to 3, plus shields and Dex bonus. Armor with a worse base AC doesn't improve this.
  • Expert at the Trade: Pick a profession, sphere of knowledge or artistic talent. Always succeed at any humanly-possible exertion of the skill or act as a sage in that particular field. Commit Effort to gain 1 Influence if said knowledge can help.
  • Faultless Step: Commit Effort for the duration of the present situation. Hero can climb vertical surfaces and run through dangerous terrain at their full movement rate.
  • Great Wealth: Hero can always afford anything they and their immediate allies can need, up to a single point of Wealth. Commit Effort to gain 1 Influence if lods of mone can help.
  • Imperceptible: Commit Effort to instantly hide. Creatures of greater hit dice can roll a check to detect the hero, others don't until the hero acts in a way that risks discovery. Commit Effort to gain Influence if stealth helps.
  • Knows the Type: Pick a profession. Get minor favors from that group per default, commit Effort to get big favors from them, with Effort returning when they're no longer necessary. Commit Effort to gain Influence when that class of people can help.
  • Lethal Weaponry: your weapon or unarmed attacks never deal less than 1d10 damage. The range of Fray dice is always out to any foe in sight, and the hero never runs out of throwing blades or improvised weaponry.
  • Master of Deception: Commit Effort to flawlessly impersonate someone or forge a document perfectly. The deception is impenetrable unless magic is used, an obvious contradiction emerges or the Effort commitment is dropped. Hero always has the props to perform deception unless it's completely implausible (like, the hero is naked in jail or something)
  • Master of Locks: defeat any non-magic lock instantly. Commit Effort to defeat magic locks. Commit Effort to gain Influence when bypassing security helps.
  • Murderous Surprise: always hit a foe from surprise. Triple damage on all ambush attacks and Fray dice. Always hide perfectly a weapon that is no larger than a dagger. Commit Effort to gain Influence when assassination helps.
  • Nimble Hands: always pickpocket others with equal or less hit dice successfully. Commit Effort to do the same to others. Commit Effort to snatch thrown weapons or arrows from the air in a fight.
  • Nine Lives: when the hero dies... they don't actually die. They simply turn up alive later. On use, discard this Gift and choose another one.
  • Persuasive Talker: Commit Effort to persuade any non-hostile creature of equal or fewer HD to do anything they would do for a friend. Commit Effort to gain 1 Influence when persuasion helps.
  • Rogue's Luck: Commit Effort to force a reroll of any roll of the hero or the GM. Effort remains committed until the hero can sleep. Commit Effort to gain Influence in pretty much anything.
  • Spymaster: Commit Effort to know any fact that a master spy could conceivably know. Commit Effort to gain Influence when spying helps.
  • Supernatural Liar: Detection spells and magical abilities cannot break through a hero's deceit. Commit Effort to gain Influence when lying like a motherfucker helps.
  • The Ring of Truth: Always know when someone that is not a Supernatural Liar is lying. Automatically save against magic illusions. Commit Effort to gain Influence when flushing out deception helps.
  • Trapfinder: Hero always finds traps, and always disarms or avoid non-magic ones successfully. Commit Effort to do the same to magical traps. Commit Effort to gain Influence when defeating security helps.
  • Wide Connections: Commit Effort to be on good terms with someone useful to the present situation. Effort remains committed until the hero stops associating with the contact or they perform a matching favor for them. Commit Effort to gain Influence when connections help.

:science: Sorcerer Gifts (most can be used while armored, but spellcasting is impossible)

  • Apprentice of the Art: Pick a magic school, hero can cast Apprentice-level spells from it. This can be taken more than once for different schools. There are also Adept, Master and Archmage versions of this Gift to progress in a particular school, but they are singular in that they require a number of Sorcerer Gifts as prerequisite (3, 5 and 7 respectively).
  • Conjured Ephemera: Commit Effort to conjure up to 500 lbs of material from thin air, as long as it's not of special value or made of precious matter. If the Effort is committed for 24 hours, the material remains in this world, otherwise it vanishes when Effort is dropped. Commit Effort to gain Influence when material goods help.
  • Eclectic Arcanist: This Gift is actually meant for non-sorcerers, and allows them to use magic items restricted to that class as well as spell scrolls and spellbooks (normally, hero Sorcerers don't need scrolls or books to cast). If the hero gains one level of Sorcerer, replace this Gift for another one.
  • Elemental Mastery: Hero is impervious to damage from one of fire, cold, acid or lightning. Any damage inflicting spells they know can use that type of damage. The sorcerer's Fray die grows a single step, from 1d4 to 1d6.
  • Extra Energy: can cast one more spell than their level would allow. Can be taken more than once.
  • Highly Sagacious: Commit Effort to know anything a specialist sage could know. Effort remains committed until the hero acts on that knowledge or drops that project. Commit Effort to gain Influence when great knowledge could help.
  • Magic Artificer: Hero instantly recognizes magical items and effects and can identify function and specifics. Hero is also immune to cursed items, and can commit Effort to resist any effect caused by a magical item or permanent effect.
  • Magical Warding: AC is set by default to 3, modified by shields and Dex bonus. Remember that heroes can't cast spells while wielding a shield.
  • Master of the Keys: pick a magic school you have access to. Commit Effort to prevent anyone in the immediate area to use spells of that school, the hero included, until Effort is released. Can be taken multiple times.
  • Mastered Cantrip: pick an Apprentice-level spell, can be cast freely without expending energy.
  • Mesmeric Gaze: Commit Effort to make a subject perform any act that is not directly harmful to themselves or their loved ones. Subjects with greater HD than the hero get a saving throw. Commit Effort to gain Influence when compulsion helps.
  • Pierce Wards: Commit Effort to make one spell or attack ignore magical resistances, barriers, the Magical Warding gift and innate immunities. Effort is committed until the fight is over.
  • Prophetic Insight: Commit Effort to get a short answer to any question about the future or an impending course of action. The answer is the most true or likely as the GM sees fit. Commit Effort to gain Influence when foresight helps.
  • Summoner's Pact: commit Effort to become invulnerable to attacks or powers of extraplanar or summoned entities. The protection disappears if the hero acts in a hostile manner, otherwise it lasts until the hero drops the Effort commitment.
  • Torrent of Doom: AoE attack, it covers everything up to a 20-foot radius within 100 feet with a magic attack that deals 2 Damage, with a save for half. Hero is immune to their own Torrent of Doom.
  • Venerated Priest: Hero is considered a holy figure. Commit Effort to gain even difficult services and favors from the faithful. Commit Effort to gain Influence where co-religionists may help.

:black101: Warrior Gifts

  • Aura of Command: Commit Effort to command a non-hostile creature of equal or lower HD to do anything they would do for a superior. Commit Effort to gain Influence when obedience helps.
  • Bloody Reaper: increase step of Fray die up to a maximum of 1d20. Can be taken more than once.
  • Breaker of Armies: hero can't be attacked more than once a round by creatures of equal or lesser HD. Commit Effort to gain Influence when contesting mobs of foes.
  • Cloud of Steel: Fray range increases to anything the hero can see, even with melee weapons. Reroll Fray dice if they show a 1.
  • Crushing Fists: unarmed attacks deal 1d12 damage and are considered magical weapons. Can't use a shield with Crushing Fists, though.
  • Drillmaster: Troops personally lead by the hero gain +1 HD and +1 attack bonus. The benefit is permanent if the hero trains the troops for a month. Commit Effort to gain Influence when military training helps.
  • Guardian Arm: Commit Effort to negate one successful attack or combat damage on an ally. Effort is committed until the fight is over. Commit Effort to gain Influence when withstanding violence or martial threats helps.
  • Hardy Vigor: Hero gains 4 HP instead of 2 when performing first aid on themselves, and gets one extra HP from any other source.
  • Inexhaustible: Hero doesn't need to sleep or rest. Commit Effort to increase some other Influence exerted by the hero in 1 point.
  • Iron Skin: AC is set by default to 3, plus shields and Dex bonuses.
  • Master Tactician: spot ambushes and dangerous surprises one round before they happen. Commit Effort to gain Influence when military expertise helps.
  • Shining Leader: Troops under the hero's command never fail a morale check. The hero is immune to all supernatural sources of fear or confusion. Commit Effort to gain Influence when military leadership helps.
  • Slayer of Legions: Against foes of HD equal to or less than 1/3 the hero's level, the hero automatically defeats a number of them each round up to their level. Against mobs, the hero inflicts their level in HD.
  • Swift to Battle: double movement rate. Commit Effort to instantly leap or dash to any accessible location within sight. Effort remains committed until the scene ends.
  • Terrifying Presence: non-martial or non-monstruous foes always fail Morale checks provoked by the hero, and others suffer a penalty of -1 to the roll. Commit Effort to gain Influence when intimidation helps.
  • Titanic Blow: Commit Effort to double the damage of a Fray die or a melee or ranged attack. Can be done after damage dice are rolled. Effort remains committed until the fight ends.
  • Unbreakable Will: Commit Effort to resist a mind-influence effect or spell, even after failing the save. Effort remains committed until the scene or fight ends.
  • Unerring Accuracy: Commit Effort to treat any attack roll that wasn't a natural 1 as if it had rolled a 20.
  • Unstoppable Wrath: Commit Effort, and for the duration of the fight automatically hit any foe of equal or lesser HD. Overflow damage can't affect creatures of greater HD.
  • Wallbreaker: Hero can ignore or break barriers less sturdy than a stone wall when moving or acting. Against heavier construction, the hero can tunnel through at the rate of 1 foot per round of bashing. Hero can't be blocked or impeded by foes.


Archer's gonna 360noscope a fool. In the annotated version, Crawford mentions that he put this image in the Warrior Gift list to make it look better, as it is shorter than the lists of the other two classes.

Yeah, motherfucker. E&E heroes don't gently caress around. Enough concepts spring out from reading this list that you could conceivably have a full party of the same class with distinct abilities and niches. A party of four Warriors can include the grim magekiller (Pierce Wards, Unbreakable Will and Unstoppable Wrath), the mystic archer (Unerring Accuracy, Titanic Blow and Eclectic Arcanist), the muscle hero (Crushing Fists, Inexhaustible and Iron Skin) and the daring frontline captain (Shining Leader, Drillmaster and Breaker of Armies)

Next: Magnetic force, Jack!

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy

Traveller posted:

Yeah, motherfucker. E&E heroes don't gently caress around.
Without giving away too much, the awesome thing about E&E heroes is that you might be rolling on an OSR random encounter table, come up with 6d10 Goblins, and still steamroll the gently caress out of that fight.

ZorajitZorajit
Sep 15, 2013

No static at all...

theironjef posted:



Come get your hot fresh Top Secret review! It's our third time cracking open an old TSR box, and I'm literally amazed to find this thing on the "Best of TSR lists" on the internet. It's insane.

I was going to submit this for Afterthought (my being Nick E. Cheeses afterall), but this isn't really a question or discussion topic, it's just me being a despicable grognard telling stories about that-one-time-at-D&D. Partially embellished, but in keeping with the truth, with regards to HERO System, the tale of Sunspot!

My group was kinda worn out of Sci-Fi and Fantasy and I had been eyeing HERO System at our local nerd store at the time. The book was XBox huge, all black and green and dense with the promise of sweet, sweet rules. I bought it and unveiled it to my table with all the awe and scared laughter it inspired. It took about three weeks of us parsing through it to have even a vague understanding of what was even the gently caress.

I write up a game of "Low-Rent Supervillains", ala Dr. Horrible or Venture Brothers. Three of my four players have tried, as best they could, to make reasonable characters. I think we had a sorta-Iron Man, and a vaguely-Cthulhoid girl, and maybe a bard? And then there was Sunspot.

Now, HERO System has several, repeated warnings throughout that it can be broken wide open with the lightest tap in the wrong spot. I think it's completely reasonable for the system to be as broad as it is, that the GM has to be given a greater amount of fiat power.

Sunspot's player had figured out enough of the system to build a single superpower. A point-blank energy-projection Area of Effect attack with the "Hole in the Center" (that's the real name) modifier that made him immune from his own power. And he poured all of his character creation points into it. But what he didn't buy was the ability to do this trick more than once per day, because that increased the cost geometrically. After he was done, Sunspot had the power to vaporize a city block. Once a day.

So the party is robbing a bank to get the money to fund a bigger scheme. Sunspot is bluffing the security with his power, finally everyone gets fed up. So, having reached an impasse, the party evacuates everyone to a safe distance. Sunspot goes up to the vault and proceeds to roll every die in the immediate vicinity.

The police arrive, with a fire ladder, as Sunspot is now trapped, like a Loony Toon, on a spire of foundation, in the middle of a crater. The vault, the bank, the road up to the window of the Starbuck's having been consumed by Sunspot's plasma. And people complained about the 5-minute Wizard.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Hehehe, Nick E. Cheeses. I've never actually read Hero System, mostly for the exact reasons you're describing, but that sounds like the sort of stories I've heard from it before. Like just ... too all-inclusive or something.

gradenko_2000
Oct 5, 2010

HELL SERPENT
Lipstick Apathy
Adventure Fantasy Game, part 4

In part 1, we covered the core mechanic, character generation, and basic combat.
In part 2, we covered experience, character growth, accomplishments, treasures and dungeons
In part 3, we covered the advanced combat system

This time I'll talk about the optional combat rules, which can be applied to both the basic 5MAIL and advanced FIGHTMORE systems

Saving Throws: a character has 4 different saving throws:

Alertness
Toughness
Stubbornness
Morale

Whenever a character runs into a situation that would necessitate a traditional TRPG saving throw, such as Alertness to dodge out of a fireball or Toughness to swole through some poison, make a 5MORE skill roll against the saving throw, but include a -2 penalty and a bonus equal to the character's Tier. If the 5MORE roll succeeds, then the character avoids some of the badness, else he takes the full brunt of it.

The saving throws are spelled out separately because they're supposed to be able to develop EXPERT and MASTER status, just like any other 5MORE skill.

Shield-smashing: if a character uses Shield Block as their action and an attack lands, roll for damage regardless. If the damage is 7 or more, the shield is damaged and cannot be used until repaired. Magic shields cannot be damaged.

Morale: When a battle turns bad, a character will have to make a Morale saving throw in order to keep fighting, or else they will flee. A battle turning bad is defined as [if your side has lost 25% of their total Hits], [lost 50% of total hits], [lost 75% of total hits], or if one side is totally outmatched.

Special weapon effects:

Swords and Long Blades - if the character wielding the sword is engaged with multiple enemies, any successful attack can be leveraged to deal damage to any enemy currently engaged, even if they were not the one that the attack was rolled against
Axes, Maces and Unbalanced Weapons - the target's armor is considered 1 grade worse
Flails and Chains - cannot be blocked by shields
Lance - when you use a mounted charge, add another damage die when rolling for damage (on top of the additional one you get simply for doing a mounted charge)
Spears and Long-Hafted Weapons - characters using these weapons always go first during the melee phase
Knives, Daggers and Short Blades - gain a +2 bonus to 5MORE skill rolls to conceal these weapons, and they can be drawn within the same round without taking a penalty. If the target is unarmed, add another damage die when rolling for damage.
Long Staves - characters using this weapon can use the Shield Block move as if they had a shield
Bows - characters using this weapon have a -1 to Fighting Capability (to be fair, the game outright admits that these special weapon rules are supposed to nerf ranged attacks)
Slings - these weapons have a -1 penalty to damage against armored targets
Crossbows and Firearms - the target's armor is considered 1 grade worse and Firearms deal 1 additional damage die, but Crossbows need 1 full round to reload, and Firearms need 3 full rounds

Critical Wounds:

If a character reaches 0 or negative Hits, roll a 1d6 and refer to a table for additional damage. These are things like taking scars or deep cuts at the low-end of the table, all the way to losing a whole leg or arm, or to just confirm your death in an especially gruesome manner if your Hits go negative enough.

Tweaking the Combat Math:

The ratio between additional damage dice and FC is 1:1. It's suggested to change this to 1 additional damage dice every 2 FC in order if you want armor to retain effectiveness even at high levels.

The ratio between [Levels + Additional Hits] to FC is 4:1. It's suggested to change this to a lower ratio to make the Way of Steel have a larger effect in combat effectiveness.

As an alternative way of calculating FC, divide the character's maximum Hits by 10 without adding Additional Hits and round down. This has the opposite effect of making the Way of Steel more "plain", although I'm not sure why you'd want to do this.

Finally, if you're using FIGHTMORE's opposed rolls for your Melee phase, there's a suggestion to use 3d6+Level rolls for "grittier" combat or 1d20+Level rolls for "swingier" combat, instead of the normal d6+FC.

Tweaking Initiative:

If you move Magic to the first phase, casters will never fail spells, making them much more lethal.

If you move Missile to the first phase, characters will always be able to take at least one ranged shot before becoming engaged in melee.

In Closing:

The saving throws are cool and would fit into a "normal" game pretty easily. I don't know that the combat here really needs the Morale check rules, since the math looks tighter and less lethal than the rest of the OSR. The special weapon effects and critical wounds rules add a bunch of chrome, but personally I think they just add complexity for complexity's sake.

What impressed me was the suggestions to tweak the combat math: It shows that the author really had a mathematical basis for the system in the first place, and understands it well enough to lay the assumptions bare and tell you how to jigger with it.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

So with crushing fists, iron skin and wallbreaker, you can play a fighter who just koolaid mans into battles and starts hitting people with other people and/or the remnants of the wall he just burst through and it will count as magical weapons and let him deflect swords with his steely abs?

Sold.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

gradenko_2000 posted:

I came across a Heartbreaker made in TYOOL 2015 while stumbling through /tg/

The author calls it "Dungeons and Dragons Redux", and they draw from a bunch of different sources: BECMI classes, AD&D Player's Option's initiative system, DCC's Mighty Feat die for Fighters, 5th Edition's entire skill check system, 3rd Edition's +1 ability modifier every 2 ability scores, but then you get to this part:


3d6-in-order for a game where the difference between 10 and 18 is a +4 :fuckoff:

Now the game just needs a prestige class or two that requires two 16s.

And did they copypaste the "Your highest spell level is [Main Caster Attribute -10]" rule from 3.5 as well? That's gotta be fun for the wizards.

AmiYumi posted:

Same, I actually went through your whole backlog as "things to listen to while cooking". Now I'm up to date, and keep having to fall back on the episode about MAID. :ohdear:

Same here. Except I don't cook that often and my connection's a bit slow, so I'm sadly not listening as often as I'd like to.

gradenko_2000 posted:

Without giving away too much, the awesome thing about E&E heroes is that you might be rolling on an OSR random encounter table, come up with 6d10 Goblins, and still steamroll the gently caress out of that fight.

Good to see Kevin's short "Here's how to beef up a hero in order to run normal OSR adventures solo" supplements fleshed out for group lay. Need to get a look at E&E ASAP.

theironjef posted:

Hehehe, Nick E. Cheeses. I've never actually read Hero System, mostly for the exact reasons you're describing, but that sounds like the sort of stories I've heard from it before. Like just ... too all-inclusive or something.

And that's why I waited for this Champions Complete book. All the rules with examples on just around 200 pages.

(Though I'm a bit dissappointed it's not as hard as the legends make it out to be. Then again it's not the first effects-based game I've had. And I'm a bit of a math freak, so no chargen software for me sir.)

Doresh fucked around with this message at 21:33 on May 13, 2015

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Doresh posted:

Same here. Except I don't cook that often and my connection's a bit slow, so I'm sadly not listening as often as I'd like to.

I can't listen to my own show of course, but I basically save the podcasts I do listen to like precious gems so that I can use them when doing the dishes.

Doresh
Jan 7, 2015

theironjef posted:

I can't listen to my own show of course, but I basically save the podcasts I do listen to like precious gems so that I can use them when doing the dishes.

That's why I do. Maid, Skyrealms of Jorune, all the fun stuff :3

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

I love that my copy of Skyrealms is signed because it was a gift from the author to my girlfriend's aunt, who he was dating in the 80s. I'm tenuously connected to greatness!

Also that he had apparently completely internalized his game and said stuff like "Hesitate and you're scragger bait" in public.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 3 hours!
I didn't know "koolaidman" was a verb, but I'm going to start looking for opportunities to use it in conversation.

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Traveller
Jan 6, 2012

WHIM AND FOPPERY

Night10194 posted:

So with crushing fists, iron skin and wallbreaker, you can play a fighter who just koolaid mans into battles and starts hitting people with other people and/or the remnants of the wall he just burst through and it will count as magical weapons and let him deflect swords with his steely abs?

Sold.

That was going to be my original example for muscle hero, but I went with Inexhaustible for the imagery of a muscle-bound slab of flesh that Just. Does. Not. Stop. And hey, only one more level and they can koolaidman with the best of them! :v:

Exemplars and Eidolons

A stranger I remain

It's time for magic! Oh, no, this is where the game reveals its OSR blood and where casters get to pwnzorz all the other classes, right? Not quite.


loving cthulhus!

A sorcerer can cast a number of spells equal to 1 + number of levels in the sorcerer class. Restoring those energies needs a 15-minute rest, and small meditations and rituals to go with that. Casting a spell counts as a sorcerer's action for the round, and one that is struck or otherwise damaged before their turn comes up cannot cast a spell during that round. When a spell counts a character's level for an effect, all levels count, not just those of the sorcerer class. Some spells can only be cast on a creature the mage can touch, while others can reach anywhere within the mage's sight. Some spells require Effort to be committed: if a spell enchants another creature for good or ill, the effect remains until the Effort is withdrawn. If the effect is instant, the Effort returns after a good night's sleep. Healing spells feed upon the energies of violence and battle: a healing spell cast outside of it always heals the maximum amount of hit points, but because it has no energies to feed on it drains the recipient, who must commit Effort for out of combat healing to take place. This Effort also returns after a night's rest. Many spells require saving throws to be made against them, mostly Evasion for projectile-type stuff and Mystic for those that directly attack the mind or spirit. And again, spells can't be cast wearing mundane armor or shields - perhaps there are mystical armors that don't encumber a mage so.

Each of the following schools has ten spells: four at Apprentice rank, three at Adept, two at Master and one at Archmage. Learning or creating a new spell outside of this listcounts as a minor goal within the Adventure and Influence system, which will come up later. This way, a mage can potentially use spells from other OSR games. Some spells can also be found as loot in the way of scrolls and spellbooks. Heroes explicitly don't require spellbooks, that's only for ordinary magic users, but they can use a spellbook or scroll to cast spells without draining their energies. Once used, the scroll or spellbook page crumbles into dust.

Schools!

  • :tinfoil: Domination: Assorted mind fuckery. A Domination apprentice can ruin someone's friendship, suss out bonds of alliance, get favors from people and clear other domination effects. The power over the minds of others grows with each level of mastery, until the pinnacle Archmage spell Mind Slave, which allows the caster to command pretty much anything that is not directly "kill yourself" from the victim (and even then, that's a failed saving throw away)
  • :supaburn: Flames: Flame on! The Flames apprentice gets to cast firebolts on others, extinguish fires, create smoke barriers and be temporarily resistant to fire and extreme heat. As dominion over the school increases, so does the size and heat of the flames at the mage's command. One Master level spell manipulates a structure into being as inflammable as dry wood, and the Archmage spell lets the caster burn their own life essence (HP) in order to literally burn the unburnable.
  • :angel: Healing: Because not everything is DPS, Tanking or Support. Healing apprentices can heal wounds, restore life to a recently slain ally (yup, at level 1!), ward against disease and toxins. Master healers can regenerate lost limbs or necrotic effects like energy drain. The Archmage of this school can completely restore and improve someone's body - even heal congenital defects.
  • :ghost: Necromancy: Spooky! The Necromancer apprentice can animate skeletons, put the already undead to rest, ward against them and interrogate the dead. The type and number of undead they can animate increases with mastery in this school, but necromancers can also heal the blights that undead cause, and even bring the long-dead back to life if they have a good reason to come back. The Archmage spell lets the caster animate a whole legion of spookies.
  • :eyepop: Perception: SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT. The Perception apprentice can ward against other Perception spells, detect magic, find objects and see in pitch darkness or blinding clouds as if it were a clear noon. Later on, they can mute someone else's senses, extend their sight far beyond the immediate area and even understand the meaning of others without knowing their language. Their Archmage spell simply makes everything clear - all illusions dispelled, all magic items revealed, all hidden items and persons uncovered, all spooky inscriptions translated. Which is cool but it does require a hefty commitment to being a sensor bot.
  • :cb: Space: It's an illusion, etc. Space apprentices can accurately map the local area, pin people in place, teleport within a small area and be aware of their surroundings without needing to see. They can later ward against other attempts at teleporting in or out of a place, and its Archmage spell lets the caster open a semi-permanent gateway between any two points that lasts as long as the archmage commits Effort. It also has a spell, Open Path, that... isn't actually in the spell list. Kevin!
  • :cthulhu:Summoning: 2spooky! The creatures that Summoning brings into this world are generically described as minions, servitors and OUTER LORDS. Can't be up to anything good! Aprentice Summoners can summon lesser beings, ward against summonings and attempt to banish summoned beings away. They can later bring bigger gribblies into play, or outright attempt to dominate summoned beings.
  • :smugbird:Winds: This school comprises both actual manipulation of air as well as lightning and electricity. Winds apprentices can jump great bounds (and cast the spell fast enough to survive great falls), bring blinding mist upon an area, fritz people with crackling bolts and create pockets of fresh air in case of poisonous miasma or being underwater. Later they can fly, call down thunderstorms, be classic and cast LIGHTNING BOLT and their pinnacle spell lets them recreate Twister. Finger of God, yo.

You're not quite summoning 1d4 giant rats here.

And now, some actual rules for playing the game! Heroic adventurers meet with challenges from time to time. But not everything is a challenge to them - in fact, most ordinary applications of their abilities simply work in their favor, no rolls required. A rogue isn't going to fall off a second story ledge or fumble a swipe of some rube's purse. A warrior doesn't have to doubt whether they can drink a weedy scholar under the table. That just happens. Real challenges, like calming down an infuriated mob or outdoing the artifice of a king's favored jeweler, are solved using ability checks: in classic D&D form, the player takes 1d20 and attempts to roll under the stat most closely associated with what they want to do. A relevant Fact adds +4 to this attribute, and for particularly difficult tasks the GM may impose a penalty, up to -4. A natural 1 always fails, a natural 20 always succeeds. If two contestants oppose each other, the one that wins by the biggest margin (or loses by the least) is the victor. Saving throws are effectively a specialized form of ability check, though most perils that can force a saving throw also impose a penalty equal to the hit dice of the foe attempting to inflict the condition.

Time for combat! Some of you may have noticed that effects that deal damage seem to use very low numbers - the Torrent of Doom Gift deals 2 damage points, and 1 on a saving throw. What? Here's how it works. Combat progresses in rounds where participants can act once. Heroes always go first, unless they've been ambushed. In a round, a hero can move up to 60 feet and do one thing that doesn't take more than six seconds - attacking, cutting a rope, drinking a potion and so on. To attack, a character rolls 1d20 + target's AC + attack bonus + relevant attribute modifier, and attempts to beat a target number of 20. This is why lower AC is better - like in Stars Without Number and other Crawford games, this is so that old school material can be transplanted with the least effort without simply using the old rules. As before, a natural 1 is always a miss, and a natural 20 is always a hit.


Those monsters have no idea how hosed they are.

But damage works a little differently than usual. When damage is rolled, it is added to the relevant attribute modifier then compared to a table. A damage roll of 1 means no actual damage took place, 2-5 means a single damage point, 6-9 means 2 points, and 10+ means 4 points. If multiple dice of damage are rolled, then the damage for each is counted separately then totaled, but the attribute modifier only applies to one of the dice involved. And here is where the game reveals its trick: while damage is counted off a PC's hit points as normal, it is counted off the hit dice of other foes. A 10-HP warrior takes ten points of damage to be brought low; a 1-HD mook goes down in a heap with a single point. Furthermore, excess damage can be applied to other foes within range that have an armor class equal to or worse than that of the unlucky target. If you take out a 1-HD soldier with a 4-point wound, then you have three damage points to share out with their similarly-armored comrades.

The Fray die represents the myriad casual blows, snapshots and lesser mystic strikes a hero inflicts in the course of a battle. A hero always rolls their Fray die in combat, even if they're doing something other than attacking. Only one Fray die is rolled, however, even if the hero has access to more than one through multiclassing. Fray dice don't need to hit - they're just rolled, compared to the damage table, and the resulting points are doled out among foes within range. However, Fray damage only applies to enemies with equal hit dice to the character or less - more beefier opponents will need a deliberate effort to damage them. The only exception to this is the sorcerer's Fray die - it is the lowest at 1d4, but sorcerous blasts can damage foes with any number of hit dice.

So yeah, those 6d10 goblins? Fodder.


A sorcerer's Fray die into action. Zappo!

Healing! After a fight, heroes can take a five-minute break to bind their wounds, healing up to 2 HP from their latest struggle. A good night's sleep is enough to restore a hero's full complement of HP.

Advancement! Heroes acquire new levels through experience points. A hero obtains 2 XP after completing a minor goal, 4 after a medium one, and 8 after a truly realm-shaking problem is solved. The GM judges what goals are which according to guidelines that will come up later. When a character obtains a new level, as directed by the handy XP chart here (which goes up to level 10, at 54 XP) they can choose to gain it in any of the three classes, adding HP, attack bonuses, saving throws and Gifts as directed. Furthermore, each new level gives the character a new Fact to add to their sheet, something relevant to the great adventure that netted them the XP necessary to level up of course. After level 10, heroes no longer advance in attack bonuses or HP increases, but since they have reached the outermost limits of mortal capacity they may gain new Gifts, or even develop brand-new ones.


If I rightly remember, this is from Crawford's Spears of the Dawn, his Africa-inspired fantasy game. Which I hear is really loving good.

Next! In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!

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