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gradenko_2000 posted:Uh ... not enforce them? Weapon and armor proficiencies aren't a thing in OD&D / BECMI. The easiest house rule is probably to just assume each class is wearing the best armor they can wear. (Or second best, and they have to put on heavier than usual armor to get the best possible bonus, if that's appropriate as it is in say Tekumel.)
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Jan 9, 2018 04:24
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OtspIII posted:I've run two sessions of this setting (and another scheduled for later this week), and it's been going really well, so I figured I'd start an online campaign journal! Is it going to be +20 mermaid rooms and +20 prank mermaid rooms? I think the main entrance way should have architectural detailing that suggests the nature of each god. Halloween Jack posted:Or second best, and they have to put on heavier than usual armor to get the best possible bonus, if that's appropriate as it is in say Tekumel. Oh, this is real good. I'm going to use this.
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Jan 9, 2018 05:36
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Halloween Jack posted:The easiest house rule is probably to just assume each class is wearing the best armor they can wear. (Or second best, and they have to put on heavier than usual armor to get the best possible bonus, if that's appropriate as it is in say Tekumel.) 2e added in style specializations that could effect AC for fighters, but that didnt effect anyone else. (And was a great boon to fighters.) edit - Oh went back and saw the thing about scifi people in DnD. Well yeah. The system was built to assume that the guy in a tshirt would get rolled over by the armored knight. You would have to create equivalent AC levels of body armor, force shields, or whatever else. Swashbucklers need to buckle swashes away from the heavy infantry.  (Which is to say, if you are running "a pirate game", does full plate armor really come up much? Its a bunch of people in colorful rags and leather swinging on ropes waving cutlasses and making rude gestures. If the pirates take a wrong turn and end up in the middle of a field with a wedge of heavy cavalry coming at them, then thats either good comedy or a dire end to a bad decision?)As far as clerics, people discussed the original proto-cleric, but the idea carries forward really easily. - The world has actual gods that do stuff. - Magic exists. - Gods grant their dedicated followers special powers. Poof. People dedicate themselves to gods. FRINGE fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Jan 9, 2018 |
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Jan 9, 2018 05:38
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Halloween Jack posted:I don't mean Weapon Mastery, I mean your defense stat being based wholly or mostly on what kind of armor you wear, and the class division based on that. Oh, in that case yeah, just give them the armor that they're always supposed to have anyway. You wouldn't even have to make it based on anything physical, insofar as John Carter of Mars should be rocking something like AC 3 or AC 2 while shirtless.
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Jan 9, 2018 06:33
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gradenko_2000 posted:Oh, in that case yeah, just give them the armor that they're always supposed to have anyway. You wouldn't even have to make it based on anything physical, insofar as John Carter of Mars should be rocking something like AC 3 or AC 2 while shirtless. Ah. I misunderstood the premise/problem. (Although to game-it up a bit having some kind of scifi gadget allow ACs to improve should not necessarily be too in the way of any aesthetic.)
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Jan 9, 2018 07:07
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DalaranJ posted:Is it going to be +20 mermaid rooms and +20 prank mermaid rooms? Sort of! It's a bit looser than that, though--I definitely have my mental shortcuts for what to put in the dungeon, but there's enough going on it shouldn't be too repetitive. When stocking the dungeon I generally use a mix of the god's domain/what the god was like when they were a PC/the souls of various hirelings and adventurers who died in the dungeon reincarnated into strange forms/immigrants from other parts of the dungeon/anything else that seems fun as inspiration. Like, the God of Mermaids was a pig farmer who brought their talking pigs into the dungeon as hirelings. When they ascended their pigs moved into the dungeon, warped into humanoids, and (because the pig that was brought along the session f the ascension was named Twonald Dump) appointed themselves the xenophobic protectors of the sacred mermaids. So the Temple dedicated to that god is a mix of orcish fortifications, water-areas full of various species of shapeshifting ocean-life/human hybrids, larger geographical features that span multiple temples, rooms full of goblin prankster squatters, secret passageways, item-crafting NPCs, Dump Tower, and the usual set of flex rooms full of fountains/treasures/etc. And the conceit of how religion works in the setting actually kind of handles the main entrance idea automatically (although it'd be a cool thing to have anyway, I'll probably add that detail)--whenever someone ascends to godhood they've always been a member of the pantheon. Like, maybe the priests around the world realize that there's a shameful lack of art depicting the god and hymns written down in their names and get to work making up for the imbalance, but everybody knows who Meegosh, God of Mermaids, (and also their twelve talking pig disciples) are instinctively. That's just what it means to be a god.
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Jan 9, 2018 07:45
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EverettLO posted:I just find it interesting that the artist was likely thinking of that first image when he put the D&D stone giant to paper. I'm sure someone on Dragonsfoot or another old school haven has found this already but I haven't seen it. It's quite likely that Dave Trampier was inspired by the giant from Prince Valiant when drawing the stone giant. Hal Foster is a big influence on comics and fantasy art in general. Jack Kirby's Demon Etrigan was inspired by a mask Valiant wore in one storyline, for example.  Humbug Scoolbus posted:The original 1989 Prince Valiant game from Chaosium used coin flips for its combat and skills system. Still does.
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Jan 10, 2018 01:02
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OtspIII posted:I've run two sessions of this setting (and another scheduled for later this week), and it's been going really well, so I figured I'd start an online campaign journal! Oh, I have another question, are the players determining their own one unique things or do you have a table they roll on?
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Jan 11, 2018 20:17
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DalaranJ posted:Oh, I have another question, are the players determining their own one unique things or do you have a table they roll on? It's on a per-player basis. There's usually a bit of back and forth before we find something that's balanced decently but also exciting. It's basically just that they get to design a feat for themselves, but I tend to discourage abilities that are just flat mechanical bonuses. I also let it be picked at pretty much any time--you can pick something when you make the character or just save it until a situation comes up where it would be useful. I run for a lot of first time players and if you don't know what to expect from the game it's totally fine to save it (and letting people pick it in response to a challenge that comes up in their first session gives them a nice moment to shine/develops the character in a direction that armchair planning probably wouldn't). I also let people just sit on it, and if their character dies they can just burn it to Not Die this one time. Pretty much nobody does that, though.
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Jan 11, 2018 20:40
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I just woke up from a Homer Simpson rear end dream where I came up with a design for a new old school inspired RPG system except in this case I actually saw a bit of the design document and now I need to put it to paper before the memory fades. I don't know if I'm subconsciously ripping it off from something else but gently caress it: Each of the classic D&D stats is rated by a funny dice value (d4, d6, all the way up to d20) called talent and also a proficiency value. The dice represents your natural born ability through genetics/magic/lifestyle/etc. while the proficiency is how trained you are at honing it. Whenever you are "challenged" you roll a number of dice equal to your proficiency, the max die value being your talent. You can roll dice lower than your value, but with the exception of d4s you can't roll the same die more than once per challenge e.g. a person with 2d10 could roll a d10 and a d8 or 2d4. This pool of dice is what you use in a particular challenge. Now you may be asking yourself "why wouldn't I want to roll like d20s all the time?" Here's the caveat, you're not trying to roll higher than a target number or something you're trying to match it as close as possible. TN's are rated as VALUE(MARGIN) e.g. 10(5). The target is a solid hit while the margin is the margin of error plus or minus, and a way to adjust the challenge. Going too low or too high and you miss the mark. You can combine your dice and allies can aid each other by creating a shared pool although some tasks obviously can only be done solo (you can't group lock pick naturally). So if a lock's TN is 10(2) then who's better, the twitchy farmhand with 1d20 or the sure handed thief with 3d8? The make or break for this system, and what I conveniently covered up with my hand in the dream, is keying the player in to what they're trying to roll if you're no longer trying to get the highest roll possible. I think for skill challenges the DM can just tell the number (keeping the margin secret). After all, once you do a thing enough times you know how challenging it probably is but what you don't know are the external factors. The "science" behind the value is that it's a representation of knowable factors (sneaking in broad daylight is a 20 while sneaking in moonlight is 10) and the margin is a representation of external, unknowable factors (a 5 margin means the lock is old and rusty or the guards are asleep at their post). The players, unless you're charging ahead blindly, almost always know the value but never the margin. As for monsters, this is something that'll need development as monster values should be kept secret. However, they are almost always static. My idea here is that the DM responds to attacks by just saying "higher or lower" except with a bit more dramatic flair of course ("you over swing or the monster ducks under your blade"). I like the idea of the opening portions of combat being this careful dance of poking and prodding for an opening and once you find the sweet spot you know exactly how much finesse is needed to hit the mark. This can also lead to surprises like you've been fighting goblins for a while so you know how easy they are to hit but when your 12 whiffs and the DM smiles the players are like "oh poo poo, who are these goblin ninjas?!?!" Also in a Monster Hunter esque way the bigger monsters have multiple hit points. So a 20 gets its head but a 5 stabs its foot which doesn't really do any damage but slows it down so lovely fighters can at least pin a monster down while the more skilled ones land sure strikes. Other vague ideas I remember Gold = experience. It is the only thing that matters. Players are rewarded for spending/donating treasure, not killing monsters. This means circumventing monsters is the name of the game (putting a focus on skill challenges and clever plans) but some monsters have trophies that are worth gold (therefor experience) or can be worn to look badass/impart magic properties (healing unicorn horn necklace that also pisses off elves and faeries on sight?) Time is integral. At a micro level basically doing anything happens in 10 minute chunks. The DM rolls for all encounters in a given day and checks them off in a grid as time passes. When the players hit one of those boxes an encounter happens. Encounter doesn't always mean you're attacked either, it could just be something harmless (but nasty) splats on a player or it could be the tax collector sees you pass with your cartload of shinies. Mapping is integral and players are encouraged to map. The game is more strategic than tactical meaning exact details are unnecessary not unlike a FATE game. You're more concerned with areas and areas-within-areas. To incentivize mapping the DM should reward mapping. Having a map means less time moving through a dungeon and remember, time is money and money is experience! You can buy a map from the DM that's as complete or incomplete or accurate/inaccurate as they want but players can also sell their maps at the end of an adventure to some other sucker adventurers (experience!). Egoism vs. altruism. Good and evil, law and chaos are the domains of deities while the eternal struggle of mortal creatures is the self. Spending gold selflessly is how you gain experience and it truly has to be spent on something impermanent. Buying a round on the house does have the benefit of getting you drunk, but there's no permanent gain, no profit from doing so and is thus worth experience. Buying a sword for your friend may seem selfless, but the end goal is still something material (you're expecting a continued service from your friend in return). Now if you purchased new swords for the town militia, that's a different story. They're not going to explore the depths of Mt. Doom with you but you'll feel safer in the event of a bandit attack. Indirect benefits like these don't count against you. If the priest shows some appreciation by blessing you for donating to the church you'll still get full XP because it was the priest's selflessness that lead to it, not a request on your behalf. And then I woke up. Time for breakfast. al-azad fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Jan 15, 2018 |
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Jan 15, 2018 18:32
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That's your Kubla Khan, man. For what it's worth, I'd give that system a go.
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Jan 15, 2018 23:09
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That sounds like something I'd have fun reading and want to play. Make it happen.
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Jan 16, 2018 00:06
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al-azad posted:ton of stuff
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Jan 16, 2018 11:18
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I've been playing a lot of Gloomhaven lately, it's a massive board game designed to feel like a D&D campaign. Something the game does is separate campaign "achievements" from party "achievements" and then opens/locks content based on them individually. So if the global achievement "military rule" is in effect but the party doesn't have "killed a dragon whatever" then they could encounter a scenario that's like "military asks you to kill a dragon." There's an emphasis on pick up and play games, creating new parties to get different achievements, and running guest characters. So I'm sitting here thinking how this would work in a Gygaxian setting that's very lethal and uncaring about individual people. The party as an entity is the focus with the achievements, reputation, and exploits being played out as if it were a character and the dudes you play are just vessels by which the party is characterized. I need to find some books or other RPGs that take a more macro level approach, where the players represent both an individual but also a collective.
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Jan 17, 2018 17:52
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You should check out the Company rules in Reign which are all about your players having an organization (adventuring company, kingdom, whatever) that is separate from but influenced by their characters.
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Jan 17, 2018 18:07
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How much information about enemy HP do you think the players should have?
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Jan 17, 2018 21:25
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DalaranJ posted:How much information about enemy HP do you think the players should have? I liked in earlier editions where you'd literally roll the hit dice for each monster. So if an orc had 2d6 + 2 HP, they could range from 4 to 14, a significant difference. Then you could describe the 4 HP one as scrawny or elderly or whatever and the max HP one as super buff.
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Jan 17, 2018 21:34
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A Strange Aeon posted:I liked in earlier editions where you'd literally roll the hit dice for each monster. So if an orc had 2d6 + 2 HP, they could range from 4 to 14, a significant difference. Then you could describe the 4 HP one as scrawny or elderly or whatever and the max HP one as super buff.
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Jan 17, 2018 21:39
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A Strange Aeon posted:I liked in earlier editions where you'd literally roll the hit dice for each monster. So if an orc had 2d6 + 2 HP, they could range from 4 to 14, a significant difference. Then you could describe the 4 HP one as scrawny or elderly or whatever and the max HP one as super buff. So, in this method I think it’s assumed that the players know the HD of enemies in general, so they can make an assumption based on the average. But you can also add narrative cues as hints as well. Good advice.
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Jan 17, 2018 21:53
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DalaranJ posted:So, in this method I think it’s assumed that the players know the HD of enemies in general, so they can make an assumption based on the average. But you can also add narrative cues as hints as well.
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Jan 17, 2018 22:00
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FRINGE posted:I would nuance that to them knowing (give or take) common creatures pretty closely, but let them be surprised if its something they would not have encountered, or heard anything (reliable) about. (Of course dont blindside them with something inescapable and lethal, but letting them be surprised by something (physically) weaker than they thought, or more durable than they thought can be fun. After that they "know" what that thing is like.) “Deeper in the Game” describes this as a set of monster rarity tiers. (Unfortunately, I can’t find the blog entry.) Adventurers would likely know about the HD of most monsters, but not legendary monsters (because people would probably view them as invincible and have inaccurate mythologized advice about them) or unique/newly created monsters (because no one’s ever seen them). The fictional cues would still be there but they might be harder to read at first.
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Jan 17, 2018 22:40
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DalaranJ posted:“Deeper in the Game” describes this as a set of monster rarity tiers. (Unfortunately, I can’t find the blog entry.) Adventurers would likely know about the HD of most monsters, but not legendary monsters (because people would probably view them as invincible and have inaccurate mythologized advice about them) or unique/newly created monsters (because no one’s ever seen them). The fictional cues would still be there but they might be harder to read at first. Seems like a good approach. Thinking about HP and its visibility to players in general reminded me of Aces and Eights, the very detailed Western RPG by Kenzer. In that game, the players don't even know their own health levels. That's kept track of by the game master, with skill checks needing to be made by doctors in order to determine the severity of an injury or how close your character is to dying or if there was an internal injury that's not apparent. It's a neat notion, though like much of Aces and Eights, I have no idea how that would actually run at the table--maybe it's better as just joke fodder for Knights of the Dinner Table.
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Jan 18, 2018 02:37
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Patrick Stuart reveals the secrets of writing Lamentations supplements in a mini-review of Hyqueous Vaults: TL;DR D&D ADVENTURE HIPSTER DOUCHEBAG CONVERSION CHART
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Jan 18, 2018 21:12
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So, in the Old School sense, how did people "traditionally" handle character death/new characters? I've heard stories that people forced all new characters to start at level 1 irrelevant of the current party level but like, how does that even work? Does the new dude just hide in the corner while the level 10 guys kill the beholder? How do they get XP?
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Jan 18, 2018 21:26
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That or they'd promote an existing hiring/henchman to full PC status. Remember that old school parties usually had more of them than full-blown PC characters.
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Jan 18, 2018 21:35
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Zurui posted:So, in the Old School sense, how did people "traditionally" handle character death/new characters? I've heard stories that people forced all new characters to start at level 1 irrelevant of the current party level but like, how does that even work? Does the new dude just hide in the corner while the level 10 guys kill the beholder? How do they get XP? Its been done every way you could imagine. The smoothest IMO is contrive a time for the new character to join up faux-organically and have them be just a tiny bit "behind" the curve of the existing party. So an all level 7 party is taking a break in a roadside inn, and word leaked that they are off to do [hero thing X], and the new stranger petitions to join them because they have a vested interest in also doing [hero thing X]. Noob happens to be level 6.5. Thats about the most generic example ever, but you get the idea. (Also as whydirt said, if they have a complement of hirelings, and the player has any fondness for one of them, you could contrive to have them "come into their own" across a couple games as the new PC.)
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Jan 18, 2018 21:47
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Joining an existing at first level isn't so bad in old school games anyway. Surviving the first session can be rough, but due to the geometric increase in XP needed at each level, you catch up to just a level behind the rest of the party very quickly.
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Jan 18, 2018 21:51
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Megazver posted:Patrick Stuart reveals the secrets of writing Lamentations supplements in a mini-review of Hyqueous Vaults: This is very amusing, and it makes me look forward to Patrick’s next product. Zurui posted:So, in the Old School sense, how did people "traditionally" handle character death/new characters? I've heard stories that people forced all new characters to start at level 1 irrelevant of the current party level but like, how does that even work? Does the new dude just hide in the corner while the level 10 guys kill the beholder? How do they get XP? Also, the level advancement chart used to be geometric in cost so a character starting from level 1 ends up at [party level - 1].
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Jan 18, 2018 21:54
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Also the geometric increase in XP per level also means that having different base XP requirements among classes is meaningless after the first few levels since all characters will be within a level of each other.
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Jan 18, 2018 21:59
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Zurui posted:So, in the Old School sense, how did people "traditionally" handle character death/new characters? I've heard stories that people forced all new characters to start at level 1 irrelevant of the current party level but like, how does that even work? Does the new dude just hide in the corner while the level 10 guys kill the beholder? How do they get XP? And then there's Hackmaster, which has an actual mechanic for this in the form of the protégé system. You designate a character at your protégé, they get a share of your xp as you earn it, and then you start playing them when your current character bites it.
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Jan 21, 2018 18:17
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There's also "the funnel" from DCC where you make 4 level 0 characters, that die in hilarious ways, then you play the one that lives, or the "character tree" in dark sun where you made 4 level 1 (3 in DS) characters, and you switch them in and out between sessions. When the active character levels, they also level another character in the tree. Otherwise, they don't pool belongings and can't interact with the world at the same time. We always had stacks of characters, because everyone liked rolling up characters more than they died and did the character tree, except with any number of characters and no level bonus. I think the level bonus, or some kind of exp sharing would be ideal.
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Jan 22, 2018 01:37
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Suzaku posted:And then there's Hackmaster, which has an actual mechanic for this in the form of the protégé system. You designate a character at your protégé, they get a share of your xp as you earn it, and then you start playing them when your current character bites it.  also related giant badger entry snippet: 
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Jan 25, 2018 08:09
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Which OSR game has the best mage spell list? I'm specifically looking for flavorful but kinda limited, so that mages don't turn into 3e Batman. (This is for the magic systems in SWN Revised, if it matters.)
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Jan 25, 2018 19:04
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DCC has the best spell list. Spells aren't a sure thing and the list isn't gigantic
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Jan 25, 2018 21:01
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Banana Man posted:also related giant badger entry snippet: I assume it's based on the plotline in the comic where the owner of the game company promised that he'd let his nephew write some monster entries, and they all read like that because the kid was 10 or so. How many of those did they put in that book? One entry would be funny, but a pile of them would be insufferable.
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Jan 25, 2018 21:07
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Hypnobeard posted:Which OSR game has the best mage spell list? I'm specifically looking for flavorful but kinda limited, so that mages don't turn into 3e Batman. (This is for the magic systems in SWN Revised, if it matters.) Look up Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, game has 666 spells, and just cherry pick the ones you feel would fit best
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Jan 25, 2018 21:10
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I feel that, more important than the actual spell list, is the assumption that wizards find spells instead of just picking them out of the book when they level. I like Crypts & Things black-vs.-white magic system.
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Jan 25, 2018 21:16
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DCC has a nice compromise. The Wizard can only learn X spells per level and that's it, but those spells can be either randomly rolled or discovered through play. So the Wizard can get spells you don't put in the world, but they can't guarantee it. They also don't have any way of gaining spells outside of level progression unless the DM allows them to.
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Jan 26, 2018 00:28
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Xotl posted:I assume it's based on the plotline in the comic where the owner of the game company promised that he'd let his nephew write some monster entries, and they all read like that because the kid was 10 or so. How many of those did they put in that book? One entry would be funny, but a pile of them would be insufferable. Pretty much. 4th edition was the comedy edition that did a lot of stuff like that and played more like the comic. 5th edition is attempting to be more of a serious rpg so you see less of that kind of thing, and what is there is framed less comically.
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Jan 26, 2018 00:47
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Jan 26, 2018 00:49
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