Humans

It seems in the early days of the game, it was presumed your human would be of a medieval European style background.  Little detail was put into describing humans, unless it revolved around your social standing.  As various settings got published, any number of human cultures. In most cases, they seem to match some real world culture with the serial numbers filed off.

For my generic D&D world, I do like to have a base human (as represented by the system’s given core rules) and then some regional benefits. In the interest of keeping options open, I shy away from specific cultural associations and instead lean towards generic descriptors, examples below:

• Humans are ubiquitous throughout the lands.
• Humans are often viewed with mistrust by other races, however they tend to be distrusted "equally" among the lands, including by other humans.
  
• Human kind have spread for ages, meaning folk of all appearances can be found in enclaves in any given region.
• Most humans are seen as adults when they move out from under their parents roof, often by their mid teens.
• Humans speak a regional tongue common to most folk of the area, and some may speak a pigeon trade language or the languages of other nearby folk.
• The further one gets from population centers, settlements become increasing agrarian and simple. Human cities operate at an almost an early renascence level of technology, wherein sorcery is the logic and science of the land. Outlying regions can be near antediluvian is daily life.
• Depending on upbringing, Humans can have additional traits (rule information modified to fit your system)
  
• Common: Nothing particular, you have the typical game stats and languages for humans.
• Cosmopolitan: You hail from an area where cultural exchange is the norm, allowing you a chance to communicate with creatures despite language differences and gain a bonus to social interactions when you do share a language.
• Hill Folk: You gain a bonus to climbing and leaping.
• Northmen: You can travel across and survive the snow and ice with no penalty
• Dune Dweller:You gain a bonus to survive hot and dry climates, ignoring heat that would hobble others.
  
• Forrest Runner: You can always find food and water for 1d4 creatures in woodlands.
• Horse Lord: You have a bonus to ride and handle horses and similar mounts.
• Sea Dog: Bonus to swimming, seamanship, and ocean survival.
  
• Outlander: You have a skill or talent that is un-heard in the region, but you do not initially speak the common tongue.
• Noble: Double your starting money and gain a bonus to social interactions among the upper crust.

Halflings

In many ways, figuring out what a base D&D Halfling means to me was more difficult than for Elves.  Whereas Elves have a multitude of interpretations and aspects, Halflings have almost none.  You have Hobbits, Kender, and Athasian Cannibals/or other "Extreme" interpretations. 3e did away with the three distinct subgroups (tallfellow, stout, hairfoots) which I think is a shame as it gave something special to them as a race choice.  It was an understandable choice since it was tied to a percentile roll.

Baseline Halflings:

• The origins of Halflings, Hobbits in their own language, has been lost along with many aspects of their history, culture, and language.
• Halflings can be found throughout the realms, typically in proximity to other groups.  Much like humans their appearance and traits vary depending on the region.
• Their lifespans and aging a similar to humans, but they tend to be more spry in their older years.
  
• There are a small number of Hobbit lands, usually in out of the way area.  In these places more traditional (if not original) Hobbit lifestyles are prevalent.  Their relative isolation has given rise to distinct family traits among the inhabitants. 
• In areas where other cultures have overtaken the lands, Halflings generally adapt to the local customs.
• While they don't tend to form their own neighborhoods or enclaves in these cases, they do group along extended family lines.
  
• The Hobbit mind tends to be averse to complexity.  They enjoy simple work, and comforts, working to get things "just so"
  
• The Hobbit language has generally been reduced to a few words and colloquialism mixed into the common tongue.  Even within Hobbit lands, it is reduced to academic or ceremonial use.  Many Halflings don't even know it anymore, instead speaking the languages of other nearby cultures.
  
• Re-discovery of their shared culture is often a driver for adventuring Hobbits.

So there you have it.  Turning the fact that there is so little exploration of Halflings, and that no one ever takes Halfling as a language into their Culture.

Dwarfs

 Dwarfs (or Dwarves) are an easier fit than Elves.  They have been portrayed fairly consistently across editions and popular culture at large.  Sleepy, Bashful, Doc could fit right in along Gimli or Flint Fireforge.  Really the only trick is their sudden ability to use magic in modern D&D.

My baseline for D&D Dwarves

• Dwarves is a mis-translation of the their word for themselves which means roughly "Born of the Earth" and in their own tounge sounds closer to "Dwarfs".  It has since come to be used to describe any short person in the human tongues.  Dwarves do not care for this fact, and this may contribute to their reputation for grumpiness.
• While they can live for centuries, they age in a manner proportional to humans, lending most Dwarves an aged appearance for most of their lives.
• Dwarves are burly and wide compared to humans, their arms are broader and longer as well but their hands are deft.
  
• Dwarfs believe they were crafted by higher powers and trace the most ancient parts of their culture to mountain strongholds.
  
• Hair is not seen as unattractive on Dwarf women, many have facial and body hair of varying prominence.  Some Dwarf women have adopted the trends of their neighbors, leading to some confusion about the existence of Dwarf women and/or their beards.
• Dwarfs value toil, self sufficiency, and clan/family commitments.  This gives them a unique outlook on trade with outsiders.  This has led to misunderstandings which are the origins of their reputation for greed and in some cases wickedness. 
• Dwarfs have always used magic, but their traditions are steeped more in animism and they tended to distrust the more "sterile" magic practiced by humans.
  
• Most Dwarves tend to keep to themselves, be it in their mountain cities, local mining  settlements, or within a city trade district.
• Dwarf settlements, particular those in the mountains are are dizzying maze of mining tunnels, work spaces, and dwellings.  Grand halls and other specified areas are typically the vision or a particularly motivated leader or individual.  When you see a specific fortress, hall, or building made for outsiders, it is usually less a gesture of hospitality and more one of practicality, to keep outsiders from getting int he way.
• Dwarfs have learned to leverage the particular ecosystem of the world below to cultivate all manner of specialized flora and fauna, providing adequate agriculture.
  

This basically covers your traditional D&D/Tolkien dwarf, leaving room for the various sub-races and your more ancient Norse/Howardian malevolent being that bursts from the ground. 

Elves

I carry around a Baseline D&D world in my head.  It is built of all the bibs and bobs of fantasy and D&D lore smooshed together.  The goal I think it to try and make all fit and make sense in a satisfying way.  While much of it is a matter of taste, I have settled on some assumptions that work for me.

Today the topic is Elves.  The below sets a baseline of what my D&D Elves are like.

• Elves, Eladrin in their own tongue, originally hale from another realm ("Across the Sea", a different plane, continent, planet, time) the exact nature of which is a matter of conjecture.
• The Oldest/Original Elves are Ageless and Immortal.
• Very few of them are present any more, many having returned from whence they came or having been slain in age old conflicts.
• Elves born of the earth realm retain youthful looks through most of their lives, which can span centuries
• They have large bright eyes in proportion to their heads.  Their lithe frames also give them the appearance of extra height.
  
• Elvish lifespans do seem to be shortening, some attribute it to a property of living among mortals, others to the taint of human blood (we will get to Half-Elves later)
• Their homelands are remote and claim borders that extend far from their gates, typically in ancient forests they have protected and cultivated for untold ages.  
• They have build strong relations with the sylvan creatures in order to create a safe and secure zone around their homes.  This relationship often causes other folk to confuse aspects of Nymphs, Dryads, Satyrs and other woodsy races with those of the Elves.
  
• These homelands tend to be wondrous "cities", grown in and among the natural beauty.  Ancient Elven magics have delicately coaxed stone and metal from the ground to form towers, bridges, and homes among the trees or other natural features.  (Think Lothlorien from the Lord of the Rings movies).
• This same ancient magic keeps these seemingly fragile dwellings warm, dry, and secure.
• In the same way, they use such magic to procure abundant food and other resources from their lands.
• Near every Elf is of some "royal" blood as they organize themselves into houses for a grand game of court.
• These resources allow them to spend their centuries in idle amusement.  At times seeming aloof and others wanton.
• In short, the Elven mind is different.  What can at times seem like stoicism, debauchery, or malevolence,  or other "unkind" behaviors or emotions are simply the result of being such a long lived race with a different view of the World they currently inhabit.
  
• Elves travel outside of their homelands for a number of reasons,  amusement, novelty, seeking a sense of purpose (at least for the time being).  To humans, an Elven settlement or neighborhood may seem permanent, to the Elves it is viewed as but a summer vacation rental.
• Elves that hunt and farm and otherwise go about their lives in a way similar to other races, are "doing as the mortals do" and fitting in with the neighbors. 
  

All of the above is an attempt to find room for all the depictions of Elf kind throughout the ages and editions. If Elves are fairie adversaries as in Three Hearts and Three lions, separate from the lands of mankind, you have it.  If they are spread out among the lands, you have it.  Are they stoic and almost Vulcan like (as seemed to be the case in the early 80s), there is a reason for that perception.  The great thing with Elves is their long lives allows you to write off any depiction as a "passing fancy".

Random Encounters 2

 So, establishing I like random encounters... How do I do them.

I went about consulting many encounter rules across different editions and blogs.  I once had a goal of including all the SRD creatures in their proper terrains with wieghted chance of encoutner by HD and exoticism.  Because who doesn't love "systems".

In the end I ended up with a 2 tier system.  A detailed one for when hexploration is the crux of play, and one quick and dirty setup for dungeon centric play.

The Hexploration model has more steps and complexity with the goal of being able to inject more variety into play. First I split the days into 4 hour chunks starting at Midnight.  Each terrain type has a different chance in 20 for an encounter, allowing me to roll on a d20.  

• Plains: 1-2
  
• Wooded: 1-4
  
• Hills: 1-2
  
• Mountains: 1
  
• Marsh: 1-4
  
• Desert: 1
• Water:1 

Next there is a d12 roll for what sort of encounter.  This can be modified by +2 for each Hex from civilization/-2 if the area is patrolled/controlled.  The idea being, the further off the beaten path, the odder the encounter.  These categories are designed to help inform the ecology of a given hex or area.  There are 6 examples, so that one can roll for an outcome if inspiration is wanting.

• 1-5: Mundane (Critters, Travelers, Patrol/Toll, Grove/Spring, Corpse/Spoor, Camp)
  
• 6-8: Hazard (Impediment, Barrier, Pests, Disease, Trap, Mold/Ooze)
  
• 9-10: Monster/Beast (Beast, Goblinoid, Bestial/Orc, Giant/Ogre, Fey/Plant, Exotic)
  
• 12: Phenomena/Special (Lair/Cave, Magical Zone, Storm/Fire/Quake, Shrine/Ruins, Powerful Monster, NPCs)
  

As a supplement to the above, I have a quick chart of general creature/hazard types for each terrain type (and types of humanoids) if I feel I need even more inspiration/detail.  The charts are numbered for die rolls, but I will often use them more to have a quick scan and remind me of oddball options.

If needed a d4 can be added to the mix to determine the exact hour in the chunk an encounter occurs.

In a dungeon or quick travel scenario, where terrain changes are not likely to come up I have truncated it to a simple 1 in 6 roll per trip/day or 1 in 6 per 4 hours if they are resting in hostile territory.  As for the type of encounter, that is usually based on the area.  If it is in and around a set dungeon, it will be based on the types of hazards in said dungeon.  this can quickly be jotted down based on the content of the module.  I like to follow the same general spread of 1/3 each Mundane, Annoying, Threatening types of encounters.

For each of these systems, even though they are described as being "steps" of rolls, I typically roll all the dice types in one go.  A previous version of this system had more tables to justify rolling one of each type to determine the encounter.  While there was a certain charm to that, it was too much to parse in one roll.

Random Encounters

 Random Encounters, specifically Wilderness Encounters are one of those things I have come around on in my games as an important part of a balanced campaign.

Prior to me falling in with the retro/OSR mindset, I saw random encounters as needless filler at best, and PC killers at worst.  In my defense, I think it a lot of the material I was looking at, it failed to explain why these encounters may happen and how to run them.And in some cases I am sure they were included because "you have to have them" was the order of the day.

I can almost liken it to "filler" episodes of older serialized TV.  At the time I would be bothered by a random Ferengi or Baseball episode taking us away from the war plotline, but now on re-watches I enjoy those episodes and they are nice change of pace.  I am sure that the ability to watch a chunk of episodes back to back and not waiting a week to get back to the Big Story helps.

Now, much like today's tightly scripted 8 episode seasons, if you are running an adventure path with set timelines and event, then you probably don't have room for this sort of thing.  But for more open world style campaigning, I think it is not only good play, but good world building.

It is important to note, these are random ENCOUNTERS, not always random COMBATS.

World Building: The players set off in a new direction through the wilderness that you as DM have not thought about.  While doing so you roll up encounters for Hobgoblins, and a Wyvern.   Well now you do know something about those woods, and in the future you know you can re-visit the Hobgoblins of Wyvernwood.

Gameplay: Adventuring is dangerous, If player's can just plow through woods, and mountains, etc. with little regard, then what are roads and taxes to pay guards for.  By having encounters be a hazard of travel, you have a macro version of the same decision making/risk reward that you can see in the dungeon.  Do you cross the room directly over the mysterious dust free spot, or do you take a circuitous route?  Expending resources in unplanned/unexpected ways is part of the gameplay.

Plus it helps fill a nights game, if you suddenly find yourself short on content.

Mutants and Masterminds Addendum

 Notions I stole from Mutants and Masterminds to use in D&D.

While I have only participated in the barest of play with the Mutants and Masterminds system (2e/3e), I have spent a lot of time with the game.  I was fascinated with the way it broke down the d20 system into its part and figured out how to re-arrange them.  

1. The "value" of certain abilities.  While not a universal constant, it gives a good idea of what Darkvision is likely worth vs Low Light Vision.  An Attack Bonus increase vs a Saving Throw increase,etc.

2. Flattening of Modifiers.  The bonuses/penalties/modifiers for various combat maneuvers, situational conditions, etc. were reduced to gives a +2 bonus or +5 bonus.  It reinforces the idea that +1 or adding up random bonuses is not worth the trouble of tracking.  Something either gives a little bonus or a big bonus.  It also had the advantage over "Advantage" in that it is more granular, and you can firmly account for the impact on success probabilities.

3. Reduction of the skill list/ general "Expertise":  3e has a lot of skills, some of them more fiddly than needed (as seen when they got reduced for 3.5).  Now, 3e had the  unenviable task of trying to unify % based Thief skills, Demi-Human skills, random class knacks, and a bajillion proficiencies into something managable, and it did a good job.  M&M is the first game I saw that refined the list down further, figuring out how to fold most of those other corner skill into a main set.  It allows for more customization of characters that a straight Ability Check would, but not as fiddly as what came before.

4. Effects Based design: A special ability or power does not mean much if it does not happen "on screen".  Example, Immorality: a huge deal, but not in game, when how would it come up?  Worth something, but not much compared to a Fireball (in game).

In the ensuing years many of these innovations have found there way back into main line D&D and related games, so clearly there is some value to it.

Captain Kirk Style Failure

The below had its genesis years ago somewhere else on the internet. I don't recall where, but I have tried to synthesize my thoughts on the topic below.  If you recognize where it may have come from, let me know.

The scene, some baddy has Captain Kirk a phaser point.  Sometimes our heroic captain successfully disarms his captor, other time he doe not even try.  Rarely is it that he tries and fails, yet alone, gets vaporized. 

How to model this in games.  Some form of Degrees of Failure/Success mechanic.  Now D&D does not really model this approach and whit a d20 based resolution system, its probably for the best, though Mutants and Masterminds seems to make it work..  The closest it comes is the convention that something special happens on "Natural" 1s and 20s.

Not wanting to add more mechanics, I have settled to taking a more philosophical apprach to the idea.

Success = Success, you did what you were trying to do.  Ex. You disarm the opponent.

Nat 20 = Success, and a little bonus depending on the circumstances.  Ex. You disarm the opponent and end up with the weapon, or do it quickly and quietly enough no one hears.

Close Failure (within 5 or so) = Failure, no harm no foul. Ex. You try to move to disarm your opponent, but its clear it wont work and you take no action, go unnoticed.

Large Failure = Failure, with additional consequences.  Ex. You try to disarm your opponent, and they notice and may retaliate.

Nat 1 = Failure, with bad consequences.  Ex. You try to disarm your opponent, and a struggle ensues, they shoot, or want to knock you out now.

Its less a rule, and more of a fun thing to keep in mind to make consequences interesting beyond just roll dice pass/fail.

Thunder Rift

My first D&D game was played in a setting called Thunder Rift. Released in 1992 It was part of the Black Box of Basic D&D. In reading about the product in later years, it was intended to take play beyond the “You stand outside the entrance to a dungeon”. Oddly, many of the module's produced for the series did just contrive to plop you at the entrance. However, we had a good dungeon master and those sort of seams were patch over with out our notice.

I have returned to Thunder Rift as a setting time and again. In no small part due to nostalgia, but also the fact that at its core it is a good setting. Yes the scale presented on the maps is laughably small, and the product itself has many mistakes. But with a few changes it is a great ready made setting for a starting game. I loved the setting so much that I painstakingly hand drew my own copy of them map from the original module, nonsensical rivers and all.

For my use, I settled on increasing the scale by a factor of 10. This fixes most of the issues with distance, but still keeps the realm small enough to be a manageable  starting wilderness.  It is also just small enough you can drop into a larger world if/when your game graduates.

Over the years I have also kept it a living world, incorporating (most) aspect of the original and subsequent campaigns into the history of the realm.  Old character's become well known NPCs', their strongholds locations for new explorations into the wild.   After all these years there are a number of new details, ruins, and locations that dot the map. I still update my hand drawn map with these. Many years later my partner got me a copy of the original which I scanned in and use to this day as a player map.

While our original group only played through some of the published modules, I have managed to pick up most of them over the years. During the 3e era, I went about updating them fleshing out plots and details. While I have moved back to a more basic game, I still used a lot of that work when presenting those modules to others.

I fully realize that this love of such a paper thin product is fueled  by nostalgia, it think it is the best kind of nostalgia.  Not just remembering a singular "good old days" but rather an ongoing growth of memories.

HomeBrew: Cleric Spells OD&D OED

How about some Game content?

My current OSR style homebrew is based heavily on Original Edition Delta

Dan/Delta (the author of that work) has completely eliminated the Cleric Class and spells from his game/worlds.   

While I have come around to eliminating Clerics as a separate class, I am not prepared to eliminate them from the world.  I have basically smooshed the Cleric in with the Magic User and call the class "Sorcerer" in keeping with my Sword and Sorcery styling.  In this way, the player's have full access to D&D style magic, and archetypes (Druids, witches, etc.) but the GM does not have to weigh in on issues of how the cosmos works.

The class works in the same way as the Magic User with 2 differences.

1: The Fetish: this is the thing that take the place of a Holy Symbol, Spellbook, or Material components.  It is the thing that can be taken away to prevent spellcasting.

The text I use: "A scroll of hymns, a rune carved staff, a book of formulae, a crystal, an amulet, or even a bag of odd ingredients; this is the item that allows a Sorcerer to access magical forces.  In order to cast a spell, this item must be kept at hand and wielded at the moment of casting."

2: The Spells: The class has access (mechanically) to both Magic User and Cleric spells.  The player/ GM are encourage to curate spells by a theme.

Here are my conversions of Cleric spells in Blogger compatible format.

 

 

For missing spells check out OED Games "Book of Spells".

For spells above 5th level, you will have to put the work in yourself, I cap out my games at 10th level.

You can check it out in context here: https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2019/02/cleric-spells-refined.html 

Social Distancing & Dragons

My in person D&D game ended a little over 6 months before the world went into Quarantine mode.  I had gone on a hiatus to recharge my creative energy, and just generally get through the holidays (which in my experience tend to be terrible for gaming, at least once you are out of school).  

When we were all suddenly shut in with extra time on our hands, I put out the call on social media for players.  The call was answered by a player from the recently ended group, and some High School friends with whom I had kept the barest of contact.

So already this is great, rekindled an ongoing social relationship with folks from whom I had grown apart.  the trick now was what to run and how to run it.  The what to run is covered in my previous "What am I playing right now" post.

The how, that took some thought (that probably should have happened before I made the offer).  

Roll20: We tried to use this as a stand in when one player could not make the drive to the game.  It was mixed results most time.  To be fair, most of the issues centered around us trying to have a laptop "sit" at the table with people.  The video chat was also frequently flaky.  Having the on screen dice rolling, and player controllable tokens was fun, but honestly the effort to put that together just never seemed to be worth the pay off.

Other Virtual Table Tops: Lots of them look sexy and have great tools.  But also most of them are built around existing rules sets and modules.  So if you like to roll your own, seems like you will be doing a lot of work.  Also the buy in, for what may be a pick up game, or short lived expereince seems high.

Zoom: Zoom would actually be great, but I was reluctant to use my work license for a D&D game.  The main features would have been folks joining via web, and the ability to share specific windows.

Skype: I went with Skype.  If you run Windows, Microsoft probably already installed it for you, or it is easy to get. Since we were playing a face to face game, many of the other fancy video conference features were not needed.  (They eventually added the ability to share a specific window too, so that helped immensely).

Considerations

Time: While I typically shoot for the 3-4 hour play time in person. I opted for 2 hours here.  First, based off the advice and experience given by other online DMs. Also, threading the needle between people's schedule across times zones necessitated a compression of play time.  This works well since as a DM I find running over VC much more draining, and since the activity is more focused we probably get close to the same amount of "play" in.

Dice: It would be nice if any of the chat features of these VC clients support of AOL Chat Room style die rollers, but I can see why they don't.  Honestly, I was not too worried about dice integrity. I play with friends, and if you are the type to cheat at D&D, you need more help than a dice cam can give.  So all the players have thier own dice, or online dice roller and just call out results.

Maps, Tokens, Etc: At first I started describing the dungeon, hall length, twists and turns, but after a few sessions of that, I gave up.  With the 2 hour session, spending so much time describing or clarifying the layout was a waste.  So I moved to setting up a Photoshop window with the map, using an opaque layer as "fog of war" and erasing that as they progress.  I tried to set up a battle mat with tokens that I would move along with the action, but was running into visibility problems.  It is hard to account for how folks have their screen set up.  In short, most of the game is theater of the mind.

Sound: I recommend everyone get their own dedicated mic and headphones (or at least headphones) to help with audio issues (computer too).  None of my players use them, so every so often we need to deal with feedback or bad placement.  Especially since 3 of them play at the same couch/table/computer (we make it work).

Camaraderie: There is some chit chat/how you doing when folks first start to connect, but in general once play starts, things stay focused (apart from the occasional pet visit).  Some may see this as a good or bad thing.  The "turn taking" nature of VC audio also cuts back on side characterization, and can limit the ability to get things clarified.  Just the nature of the beast.

All in all I am pretty pleased with the simplicity of the setup and how well it works, allowing us to get to the game.

The Big Bad

 I was derelict in posting, so here is a quick something to get back on track.

This week saw the premier of The Big Bad on YouTube.  The show features a set of 6 D&D groups playing in a set scenairo, competing agains another for points, much like old school tournement play.  It features a GM/Referee and another "GM" to play the Big Bad and his minions.

The first episode was great fun, and features Second Best DnD.  The show is put together by two fellows who have greatly shaped my approach to D&D over the past decade and I encourage you to give it a watch.

Terrain

 When I first started in the hobby, our DM used a sheet of clear plastic laid over a posterboard with a grid drawn on it.  He would use dry erase marker to lay out a dungeon location, and we have markers to draw in ongoing spell effect.  We would often have a player's map set out before us of the overall location (frequently provided by the module itself, this was the era of poster map inserts).  That worked for many years, figuring out how to position minis and spell areas for maximum effect was an enjoyable tactile and tactical part of the game.

When my time came to run my own games, I did not have a source for nice big sheets of plastic.  I ended up with the idea of carving the grid direct into a whiteboard.  It was tedious to set up, and there were a few stray lines bit it worked great at the table.  The downside was being a lot more difficult to transport.  

Other than the occasional bit of HeroQuest or Dark World furniture, we never really used terrain.  I had made a small diorama on a shelf as a way to display commonly used minis, but that was it.  I used to covet the Dwarven Forge adds in Dragon magazine, but dismissed it as being too much of a luxury item (never mind how mch I had spent on minis, dice, and books for the hobby).

However, when they did their first Kickstarter for the new "dwarvenite" material, I was on board.  The price was good, the piece count was good, and I was in a place financially where I could easily justify it.  The Dungeons and Caverns were perfect for at the table. They were highly modular, and you got enough bits in a base set to make what you needed.

City and Castles where a different story in my opinion.  While they were still "modular", they were designed in a way that gave you less options.  Due both to the layout options and the number of bits you got in an affordable base set. You could build one house and swap a roof or wall, and one tower, swapping a wall section.  Don't get me wrong, the price per piece offered was still reasonable, you just could not do as much with it.  There were still some good introductory sets and add ons that were useful and I invested in.

Their next set of Caverns and Dungeons were good, and had a $10 buy in so you could just get small bits, and since it was compatible, there was still use to be had.  However, now with the latest Lava and Woodlands its gotten too niche, too expensive for what you get/ I can use.  Personally I would love if they would jsut put out a dwarvenite version of their classic tudor style building tiles. 

This has turn less into a discussion of Terrain and more a referrendum on Dwarvenforge.  I still think they are a great company and am pleased with everything I have gotten from them.   Perhaps because gaming has moved all online and I just don't have much use for terrain right now.  Though I have made use of the time to craft plenty.  A topic to revisit later.

What is a Ranger,

 but a mismatched pile of special abilities.

The Ranger is a class that no one seems to be able to figure out.  The only other class that comes close to the constant stream of dissapointment is possibly the Monk.  It has had countless revisions both between and within editions.

I imagine that the problem lies with the original concept in general.

-I have no proof of this (maybe some digging over at Playing at the World would turn up some into), but presumably someone wanted to play Aragorn, so we have a class that emulates that character's abilities in Lord of the Rings.  But some of the abilities described in that work are the result of Aragorn's heritage and status, not his day job of running about the woods.  So in addition to the woodsie survival stuff, you also have an odd mix of divine and arcane spells and tricks (depending on edition)

-This brings us to the basic definition of a Ranger: one of a body of organized armed men who range over a region especially to enforce the law; a soldier specially trained in close-range fighting and in raiding tactics.  Honestly, that just sounds like any given D&D character? They leave the confines of civilization, raid dungeons, fight monsters in close quarters, and bring"law" to the wilds

The combination of odd abilities and a lack of clear thesis started the class of on a bad foot.  Then over time, it jut gets more confused. Drizzt shows up as a Ranger who can fight with 2 weapons (because he is a Drow), but that gets folded into the class.  Around 2e they seem to start the transition from folks who tame nature, to ones who protect it.  It is also my personal belief that since D&D lacked a proper swashbuckler type character, many folks looked to the Ranger class to create that sort of archetype, further muddying the expectations of the class.

3e comes along, and suddenly the doors open for character builds, but 2 weapon fighting is still presented as a core concept for the class?  It also gets pushed more into the "Nature Magic" camp than before, and you get animal companions (taking a bit from Beastermaster, which always seemed more of a Barbarian achretype). 3.5 adds the option of Archery, and also some acutal wilderness special abilities, but then dials back the HD, making it seem less of a warrior.  And you still have the long standing issue of a class who's major ability (favored enemy) only comes into play when the DMs plans for it.

4e, for whatever your opinion of it, did try to mitigate some of the issues by giving the class things like Hunter's Quarry and other abilities that synergized with "Special Forces" archetype to give it a niche.

So now we have a class that folks want to be about animal pals, and nature magic, and wilderness survival, and favored enemies, and Two Weapon Fighting, and Archer, and and and....

It cant be all of those things, even if you try to split all the flavors out into different "paths"

We circle back to the question, does it even need to be a class? Can it even be a single class, or should we give some of its stuff to the Fighter, Barbarian, and Druid and leave the title "Ranger" the same way we might use "Thief", "Witch", or "Knight"?

Mini Painting

 My first mini painting set was a free starter set that came with some Ral Partha minis I had orders (by mail catalog).  Prior to that I would never have considered even trying to paint minis. I didn't want to ruin my prized DragonLance and Draconian sets, so I hit the bargain bin at my local hobby shop and grabbed some Shadowrun minis to practice on first.  This also got me started on modding minis (something I prefer not to do often), trying to turn sub machine guns into something resembling a crossbow.  I still have those minis, they look alright.

At this point I was all in on the detailed painting of minis.  I got decent spread of citadel colors from the hobby shop and set about the task for the next few years.  (I still have some, those 90's citadel bottles were way better at preserving paint)  Again, those minis are crudely done, but still presentable next to more recently painted items.

Then the great hiatus.  My several year break in gaming also resulted in several years away from painting.  I briefly got back into it on and off, but found my paint drying out and getting frustrated (citadel had switched to screw on tops).

I finally started up again about 8 years ago, but this time I was determiner not to drop a fortune in mini paints.  TO THE CRAFT STORE!  Ever since then I have done the majority of painting with standard $1 craft paints (and those 25 year old citadel colors).  They have worked wonderfully.  I had to go back and pick up some silver and gunmetal metallics, as I have not found craft ones that hold up.  Oddly brass, gold, and other "yellow" metals are fine in craft paint.  Also I need to pick up some specialized "flesh" tones (another area craft paints seem to be lacking).

But, even if you are a serious painter, I would encourage you to pick up some primary colors, grey, browns, greens, and black to help fill in the gaps and give you more variety of colors on the cheap.

Now I just need to get better at photographing:

Miniatures

Reapercon has come and gone and it got me thinking about miniatures (plus the non-stop painting for the past year and a half since my Bones Kickstarter arrived)

I enjoy mini's for their own sake.  Before D&D I was into model trains and towns (not that I could afford any besides what went under the tree).  Legos too.  So even if not for RPGs I would likely have spent a good chunk of my free time painting tiny people and buildings.

My first D&D games used a mix of the DMs HeroQuest, Ral Partha, and Grenadier minis.  When I brought my Dark World minis, the collection nearly doubled.  Minis seemed a natural thing, after all, it is a game and games have pieces.  It was a year or two later playing with a different group that I was introduced to "theater of the mind".

So in short, I like minis.  I like painting them as a hobby, and I use them frequently in RPGs (current state of the world and no in-person D&D not withstanding).

I do wish that early D&D had settled on a 1' = 1yard (or meter) scale.  It would have given us army men sized minis which I think would have opened up a bigger world to mini sculpts earlier on.  It also would have made map scales make more sense where the markers for doors/windows are concerned, but that is a different discussion.

So that said, I don't mind the overall trend to larger minis.  Though, it is weird having some Halfling/Dwarf minis that are burlier than my classic barbarians.  I appreciate having more room to work with paint.  Somewhat in-congruently, I am less of a fan of they overly detailed minis that are coming out in recent years.  They gave me bigger minis that are easier to paint, but then crammed them full of tiny details!!!  Also, I feel the details and bits, makes it less and less likely that the minis is a "fit" for your character.  But I guess if you want that level of compatibility, you go to Heroforge. 

Bones are great, and I have great luck repainting old D&D Miniatures in addition to those ancient board game dudes.  But I still think metal is better.  Maybe because it is what I learned with, I find painting to be easier.  I enjoy the literal flexibility.  So whenever I can, I try to pick up things from my wishlist on the Reaper metal catalogue,  especially if it is something unlikely to be made into Bones.  (I may prefer metal, but my wallet prefers plastic)

That said, I wish Reaper has a Sort by Sculptor function.

And lest I give all the love to one company, I highly recommend https://www.darkswordminiatures.com/  they have some great quality sculpts that have a very different aesthetic than traditional D&D style minis.

More Mutants More Masterminds

How I went about putting together a game for Mutants & Masterminds (which I have still yet to run)

We previously etablished that after years of playing around with the system, I had settled on a 2.5 Edition as a mix of 2e  d20 core and 3e versatility in powers and effects.  Part of the reason I settle on this was that I assumed most players would be coming from a D&D background.

Many of the following points will be familiar to my discussion of Star Wars.  Since it is an unfamiliar system, and not one designed around advancement, I opt for a "quick shot" of sessions. I assume players will want to play brand name heroes (or something very close). 

While DC is personally my jam, the Avengers/MCU and Netflix shows were the owners of the zeitgeist. The Avengers, being top tier heroes and the movies being interlocked feels too restrictive for how I want to run a licensed game.  So I settle for the nice street level Netflix "Defenders".  The bonus at the time was the shows were in purgatory with impending cancellation, freeing my up continuity-wise.

So first things was stating out the characters using my two-tier characters sheet (one tab to build/one tab to reference during play).  I wanted to make sure the characters were balanced against one another.  Jessica Jones and "Iron Fist" can damage Luke Cage.  Iron Fist is better 1v1 and Daredevil can sweep a room.  I also throw in Punisher, which was an interesting challenge, since his powers are Guns and Rage.  Its not too long before I have them dialed in at PL 8 and a good idea of what they can take on.  I also throw in Blade, because I want too.

So, what will be the threat?  I went back and forth on ideas, what is something that will be more interesting than a bunch of ninja's or special forces, but not TOO big for this group.  Thankfully the movies ended up delivering.  "The SNAP" gives the perfect opportunity, major heroes are gone, the worlds is in disarray, and our heroes need to step up.  And because of studio politics, there will never be any worries of continuity (so I should not have to worry about rewriting this if we don't play for awhile - which is proving to be the case)

 Generating content is easy, maps of NYC, quick stats for police, ninja, special forces, generic goons.  But I need a villain for them to face off in a climactic battle and the mastermind behind it all.  I think Tombstone is unaccounted for and would make a good fit.  Also he is obscure enough I can tweak his power level to be threatening to the whole party. Taking cues from other media, it looks like he is distributing drugs laced with terrigen to create inhumans in order to force a conflict between the populace and enforcement agencies.  Part of the details are purposely vague at this point to leave me room to adapt and "yes and..." the player's ideas.

The inhuman angle also allows me to throw more "supers" at the party, so I make some low level knock off X-men as baddies as well.  This will allow me to get some practice with battles before the game progresses too far.

One day we will see how it went....

 

More Mutants & Masterminds

 Last time I went on a ramble about my history with the Mutants & Masterminds system and how I still have never really played it.

So, I can't speak to how good of a game it is, but it is a fun toybox.

I spent many an hour just creating characters and playing with the features of the system.  I would read up on house rule and debates over the efficacy of certain parts of the system.  I was eager to pick the whole thing apart.

M&M was the system that started my habit of creating a custom character sheet in excel as a way to understand the system.  

Lets face it, the complexity of the M&M character creation rules almost necessitates the used of a spreadsheet program.  

One thing I learned in doing all this work, is that no one I knew would go to this much trouble to play a game.  It also seemed to be that the default character sheet presented too much info to let a casual player function at the table.  This was also the birth of my trend to make a second simplified "at table" character sheet to go along with the one used for character builds.

The end result was a sheet that just listed the "Things you can do" and what you needed to roll to make them happen.  Most player's will not be able to make heads nor tales of how a power is constructed.

These days I have the system beaten into shape as a 2.5 edition.   I use the familiar d20 based ability scores, and combat values, but have reduced the skills down the the typical dozen you seen in current RPGs.  I also used the simplified power construction of 3e.  I think it looks pretty good:

The upshot of the system is that most of the house ruling is on the character creation side, so it does not bog down players and GMs once the action gets started.

Which is good since, designing and running a non-dungeon based game is tricky (see my discussion on Star Wars RPGs), further complicated when heroes can fly across the country in the blink of an eye.

Next time should be less rambling, and more about the actual process of creating a M&M games scenario.

Mutants and Masterminds

Mutants and Masterminds: I have made tons of characters, and played around with the rules, and planned a campaign.  But never ran or played a game.

Many years ago some friends and I were attempting to get an RPG group together in our grown up lives, and M&M was the system the GM wanted to run.  I had heard of the game, but not much else.  I was still firmly in the fantasy RPG realm.

We got together around the table and brainstormed characters for the GM's version of Suicide Squad.  Honestly, it took me awhile to "get" the game.  The system made sense for the most part, being based on d20 D&D that I was familiar with, but I think it was the "build whatever you want" aspect that threw me.  Especially when you are playing along side others who can also build whatever they want.

 I recall I ended up making a time displaced Hyperborean Barbarian (still in fantasy RPG territory), another had made the Ghost of a cursed Egyptologist (think Evie from The Mummy, but a ghost), I think we had some sort of flying brick, and a few others.  I don't know how well our group would have worked. As I eluded to above, things fell apart before we could play.  

Now I had myself a set of books, but no use for them.  I eventually came across The Atomic Think Tank (now defunct) and could see all the builds and ways people used the system.  This helped me to really get the game.  It is also when it clicked for me personally, that Comic RPGs might work best if you just accept that you are going to play iconic characters (or reasonable facsimiles).

I spent the next few months just making my ideal version of the Justice League, Avengers, and other beloved characters. Mixing and matching, creating build templates for Atlanteans, the Super Soldier Serum, and eventually Autobots and Decepticons.

A lot of what I leaned about the system (and later M&M 3rd edition) would help inform many house rules for D&D as well.  But house rules and tweaks are another discussion...

Modules and the Prepping Thereof

First of all, I get it.  There are probably lots of philosophies and market research concerning what a module/product should look like based on what is perceived to increase sales.  But for me, rarely do I see a module that I feel like I can open and run at the table with less prep than it would take to just make my own.  For a time Dungeon Magazine (Paizo era) did a good job.  They were able to publish something that was easy to read, and also got the pertinent info in front of you.  Perhaps this was a byproduct of the length of the scenarios?

Generally I am not looking for adventure paths/whole campaigns.  I prefer a sandbox game, and find players will move on (IRL or In Character) before such a module could be finished.  Honestly, I usually am not even looking for plotted out adventures, just an interesting hook, or location/map, or scenario that I can drop into whatever is already going on in my game.  In my experience most modules are presented as literature to read through, and less as a game aid.  I find I need to take the info presented and jot it down on my own to make it something I can use at the table.

My Process

Read/Scan through the module.  First, I have to know what is in it, but this is also a good way to get a feel for if it is going to be worth the effort.  If a reasonable reading/scan of the work doesn't give me a pretty good idea of the plot/event major turning points of the adventure, then it is probably going to take to much to make it table ready.  This step can be harder in PDF depending on how much flipping back and forth the layout requires, nothing beats sticking your finger between pages....

Next I make an outline of the plot points with a note for any special crux moments ex: "You must remember to mention the Regent's purple cloak, it comes up later"  I do the same for any other important factors, Character Interactions, Timelines, Major Spells/Magic items.  I do the same for the map, usually skipping over the individual text for any given room and instead making spots for notes.  

The biggest effort (and it is entirely my own preference) is re-writing stat blocks.  It can be a lot of work, but it matches how I think about creatures.   It is usually something along the lines of - Things that can come into play before interaction (senses, auras, languages, certain spells and skills) - Early Combat (initiative, movement, AC, saves, special defenses) - Late Combat (attack, damage, special attacks).  Depending on how the creature(s) are used, they may be done "in-line" with my notes, or as part of a separate creature sheet.

By the time this is all done, I have 1 - 3 one sided sheets, depending on the amount of content.   In its final form, it consists of a Map with basic info, and call outs for specific items.  A plot/notes area to make sure nothing important is overlooked. A creature section. Some or all of these go up on the inside of the DM screen.  This usually leaves by DM area free for the notebook I use to run combat and keep notes for future use.

Again, I get why you would not publish a product in this way.  I would end up looking more like an instruction manual than a pretty piece of heroic fantasy.  But it would be nice if we could get back to a sweet spot where the info needed at the table could be put right in front of the DM.  It would probably also help the publishers to located and fix plot-holes/ issues within the product.  But The Alexandrian can tall you all about that....

Changing Gears

This weeks game ended abruptly.

One of the player's suddenly decided that their character had misgivings about plunging deeper into the dungeon.  Mostly feeling bad about invading the homes of Ogres that had not really done anything bad.

Now, the conceit of this game when we started was a basic dungeon delve.  The combination of playing over Skype and real life constraints made a pre-populated dungeon appealing to me to run.  I tend to run sandboxy games, so this game was a change, and so I had no sandbox or other content prepped. 

Normally when a situation like this comes up, I will pause the game and have a moment of real talk with the players.  Talk about what it is they are looking for as players, mention that we may need to break early so I can prep, etc.  However, in this case, the player who started this change of track had to abruptly jump off the call.  It was only about 15 minutes from our usual stopping point, so I had a quick chat with the rest of the group before signing off.

This left me in a situation where the player's had a stated goal to go off and see if anyone needed some wrongs righted, and me with no content beyond the immediate vicinity of the village and dungeon.  First I looked over my random notes from previous sessions to see if they sparked any ideas, no luck.  Next I opted to check out the Adventure Lookup to see if I could find something that could serve as a springboard.  After playing with the criteria, locations, enemies, intended level, I found a few that fit the bill.  One of them I actually owned!

I spent a few hours over the next 2 days quickly jotting down the main strokes of the module and how to make it fit with what little setting I had already established.  Some basic stats and we are ready to go, at least for the next session.  I didn't want to put too much effort into this until I know they are going to take the hook.  I have also worked in some clues and events that could serve to lead them back to the original dungeon with a reason to keep delving deeper.  

And if they don't? That is fine, I have at least bought myself some extra time to get an idea of what they are looking to do next, and to create some content around that.

What I want in a Fantasy RPG

For what is ostensibly a D&D blog, I have played very little brand name Dungeons and Dragons in the last 15 years.  Granted there was very little sustained gaming for 10 of those years, but most play has been in a home brew - retro style game.  My recent 2e campaign only came about because the group had "topped out" at level 10 and wanted "more".

Why?  In short, Ease. 

Even a few years into 3e, we started to fall out of love with the fiddly bits of the game.  Mostly due to being adults with jobs and responsibilities.  When time allowed for play we went back to Basic and using later edition rules as garnish to those rules.  In time, and as a way to stay engaged with the hobby when games became less frequent, I codified it into a 64 page homebrew game.  This was about 2003?, its been revised a number of times to get closer to my platonic ideal game.

Features

Quick Start: I want the rules presented in a way that new players (without guidance from a veteran) can set up a and play in less that 20-30 minutes.  The game should not take any longer to start than a complex board games

Focused Choices: For the sake a quick start and player sanity, the choices presented need to be focused, meaningful, and easy to understand. Only present choices to the player that will matter in the long run (Race, Class, Weapons/Spells). 

Generating Ability Scores is a pain, and the difference between a 14 and a 16 strength doesn't really change the way the character "feels", its enough to know they are stronger than average and rely on that strength.

The differences between options should be self explanatory, Warrior, Sorcerer, Rogue.

Optional Options/Expand-ability:  For the above to work, you need limited options, but I want there to be the chance for repeat/advanced players and GMs to easily mix in more options without breaking the system.

That said, I still have a few quirks, a Silver coin based economy and some particular thoughts on how magic should work.  But that is all under the hood stuff, when presented in the rules, it simply IS.

I'm currently in the middle of an (eventual) revision of my homebrew, and will likely post the basics here.

Star Wars: Actual Play

With all of our work in place, how did the Star Wars session play out?

They players came ready for Star Wars.  As mentioned, I put the pre-gens face down in the center of the table. There was one trade, and no Force Users.  After a few questions about abilities and character notes, everyone has happy and ready to go.  I read the Opening Crawl and one player opts to play the theme on their phone (I award a Force Point).

Play starts a bit slow as folks get a hand of their characters and the open ended nature of the scenario.  In no time at all they are trying to bluff their way onto the hyperrail and eventually steal a sky car.  The sky car theft leads to be chased and shot down by security forces.  A battle on the jungle floor leads to them bluffing their way past space port security in a stolen securicar.  

Their attempts to fence the stolen securicar in order to pay for transport off world go awry.  Plan B is to steal a ship outright.  At this point one of the players can't make it so is off "doing recon".  Much splitting of the party and mixed success leads to a rooftop pickup and blasting out of atmosphere.  A couple of very good pilot and astrogation checks avoids a drawn out startship battle, and they successfully complete the scenario.  The session ends with them discovering the missing PC hiding in cargo hold.

It was interesting to see how play ran differently than a traditional D&D dungeon crawl.  There was much more dependence (by the payers) on skill checks and planning than fighting.  Is it something about the setting, that steered them away from the usual "fight first" approach prevalent in a dungeon based game?

It was a fun challenge for me, lots of "Yes, And" as a GM, dealing with party splits as they attempt to accomplished split tasks. Again, a big difference in behavior than D&D.  Since the scenario was open ended, and I had no specific written plot, I did a lot of listening to the player's plan and improved base on what sounded plausible. 

When it was all over, one of the players said "This was like the opening 10 minutes of a movie.." So I figure it is time to write scenarios for the rest of that movie. 

All in all, a success.

Star Wars Quick Shot: The Scenario

We have our rules, a stripped down d20 Star Wars.  We have our setting, the fringes of Hutt Space during the Imperial Era. We have our characters:

• Wookiee - Soldier 5
• Twi'lik - Scoundrel 5
• Human Pilot - Scout 5
• Battle Droid running Protocol Droid OS - Soldier 1 /Expert 4

Now I need an adventure and starting point for this quick campaign.  In the films, it can take a 3rd of the runtime to actually get folks together.  I don't want to do that....

So I determine the characters will already be working together, and with the setting being Hutt Space, it makes sense to just be some cadre of smugglers.  Plus, if a character dies, or someone else joins the game, there is a built in reason for a new character to show up.

I wanted to avoid just making a "dungeon in space" as it feels too limited.   I also don't want them to have complete run of a fictional galaxy, first to avoid paralyzation by choice, second to avoid having to make up worlds on the fly.  I need a sweet spot in between.  Finally, I want them to get right into play, so I brainstorm for a bit and come up with and idea, and for the heck of it, I write an opening crawl:

Pirates of hutt spacE

XIII PEARSHAPED ON NAR PARTHAN

It has been 10 years since the great Jedi betrayal and forces of the new imperial order work tirelessly to stamp out separatist troublemakers. The Hutt consortium, having no official ties with rebel interests are spared from Imperial complcations. An established mercenary group finds its latest mission on the Hutt world of Nar Parthan has ended badly. Some of the survivors have found a temporary safe spot in the outpost known as Coralite Shaft 16. Unsure of the location of the rest of their companions, they know they need to get spaceward...

Great! now how to write it up so I can run it at the table.  In the end, the whole game which took 4 sessions originally took only 3 pages, and then an additional page written up between sessions.

Rather than try to plot and plan it out, I just made sure I had a list of handy stats, info and general sketches of what I wanted the locations to look like and their relation to one-another.

• Its a jungle world, if they go by foot, plenty of chances to use skills and fight local creatures. 
  
• There is a monorail for transporting people and coralite to the space port, train heist!
• There is a small landing pad where planetary aircraft/security forces can fly from.

So my pages to start consist of stats for thugs, law officials, locals, small beasts and a big beast, and a few vehicle types.

I also make a list of "Star Wars" sounding names in case I need them.

I also jot down some rough notes on what space ships are available.

Finally I have a timeline of events to help keep the action moving (in 4 hours, their pictures go up on the holonet, in 2 days an Imperial cargo shuttle will arrive to pick up Coralite, etc.)

And thats enough to get started on the first night's session...

Star Wars Quick Shot: The Setting

Last time I laid out the approach I took to the rules I wanted to use for a Star Wars quick shot of sessions.  This time, we look into setting up the world and scenario in which to play.

(As an aside, I find that these sorts of licensed games are best suited to a "mini series" rather than the open ended long running game-play of fantasy RPGs.)

The first decision is, which era of the Star Wars galaxy to play in.  There is material aplenty to run a game from the Ancient Republic through the decades following the events of the Original Trilogy (Not to mention 2 sets of continuity from which to pick and choose). 

For me it was a no brainer to go with a time frame where the Empire is active.  If folks are playing Star Wars, they want it to look like Star Wars, and that means Storm Troopers and Star Destroyers.  I settled on a time right between the Prequels and the OT, this makes it easy to have Imperials, hidden Force Users, etc. without worrying about bumping into continuity or playing second fiddle to movie characters.

Following that train of thought, I next had to think about what the characters would do in this setting.  Again, I want it to feel like Star Wars, but not be hemmed in by continuity.    A quick trip to  Wookieepedia (best named fan community ever) and after looking around at whats happening 10 years before A New Hope and Hutt Space looks like a good candidate.  There is probably all kinds of interesting things going on the borders between Imperial and Hutt control.

Next it is time for some Pre-Gens. Why Pre-Gens? Speed and Simplicity, this is going to be a short set of sessions, my players tend to be less interested in mechanics and more about getting into "make-believe".  Plus, as we discussed, I made some house rules, so it is easier to present an archetypal character and not have to guide 4-5 people thought making one.

What sort of characters make a Star Wars story?  A scoundrel, a translator/diplomat, a force user, a droid, a pilot, and someone will want to be  a Wookiee. With 4 players to start, I set to make 6 characters, so there are options.  I dont want off-brand copies of existing characters, but nothing too oddball.  Finally, I settle on 5th level for these characters, powerful enough to feel like they are accomplished in there "jobs" but not too powerful that system (and house rules) break down.  Since this is a "mini series" character advancement is not a goal/concern.

When done, I ended up with:

• Human - Force Adept 5
• Wookiee - Soldier 5
• Twi'lik - Scoundrel 5
• Human Pilot - Scout 5
• Battle Droid running Protocol Droid OS - Soldier 1 /Expert 4
• Human - Noble 5
  

A nice mix of weird and fun.  I ended up putting the characters sheets face down in the middle of the table and let the player's pick at random.  A pair traded, and everyone was happy (the Force User and Noble got left in the pile)

1776

Every year I make a point to watch 1776 on July 4th.  (I also try to squeeze in the John Adams miniseries, and this year we are going to add Hamilton to the mix)

Its a good reminder of the ideals of the nation, and how frequently we fall short, and why it is important to keep striving.

Especially this year.....

Star Wars Quick Shot: Rules

Last Spring my "sandbox" campaign had been meandering and then a few players were going to be leaving town in short order.  With schedules all over the place, rather than try to force some sort of conclusion to the sandbox, I opted to run a set of Star Wars sessions with the idea that whoever could pop in, would.  One of the players leaving is big into Star Wars, so it figured it would be a good send off as well.

What System?

There are 3 major Star Wars ttrpgs, (and perhaps a 4th coming?), I wasn't in a position to re-learn the old West end Games d6 version or invest in the latest version, so I went with the d20 version.  It has two major advantages, One - the mechanics were close enough to what my player's were used to, so they could quickly pick it up, Two - I already owned the book.

d20 Star Wars has its own set of problems, as evidenced by the fact that it had 3 editions in 7 years. In order to address these, I set about the process I typically use to prepare for a game: make a GM cheat sheet, make a character sheet, and make some pre-gens.  Below is a quick review of the issues I came across and the solutions.

Skills: The standard d20 skill list is bloated, and once you add in Force skills, way too long.  So step one was to cut that down to the dozen or so we see in 4th, 5th edition and other games.  For now Force Skill stay the same.

Wound and Vitality Points: A big flaw in the game is Critical Hits bypass "Vitality" and go direct to "Wounds" which proves too lethal.  So I took that out, and Vitality just sits on top of Wounds.

Jedi Stuff and Balance: The system around Jedi, and some other class abilities, really breaks down at higher levels.  But I knew I was going to stick around 4-7th level, so I wast too worried.  The last bit of business is one of personal taste, I don't like "Jedi" being a starting class.  The resulted in me tweaking the Force Adept Class and Jedi Prestige classes to fit my taste.

Droid Characters: Strangely these are not an option, so I made them one.  At least for Protocol and Astromechs.

This sounds like a lot of work for someone who wanted to start quickly, but the truth is, most of these ideas were floating around my head for years.  It was just a matter of committing them to paper.

With a basic rules framework in place, I was ready to think about the game itself.....

My History with the Game

Before I played D&D, I had sort of heard of it.  I knew it was a game, at the time I assumed a computer game, and I new it was "nerdy" and had something to do with medieval fantasy.

I myself was pretty into nerdy things and fantasy. I played a lot of Dragon Warrior and owned what I would come to learn was a D&D knock off board game called Dark World.  I was primed and ready when some fellow nerds in school introduced me to D&D.

I joined a campaign in progress when another played moved on.  Erdrick the Druid joined, Bull the Dwarf, and a "Quarterling" Thief (who's name escapes me at the moment) to save Thunder Rift from an invasion by Drow.  The game was a weird mix of basic D&D and 2nd Edition as we read and acquired more book.  I was hooked, and it wasn't long until I had read and committed the core rules to memory.

My mom was worried about the rumors she heard about D&D, this was the early 90's and the Satanic Panic stories were relatively recent.  After the first time we played at my house and she saw the silliness of it all, she stopped worrying.

The campaign ended a few months later in victory over Lolth.  We spent the next few months planning, but never getting around to playing, our next game.  Real world responsibilities prevented us from getting everyone around the table at a time, so instead, we wrote, and planned and discussed more and more of what our "Dragonlords" campaign would be like. 

Eventually we realized that out planning and talking had pretty much covered the ground we wanted to, and that acutely playing through it would kinda be boring in comparison.  We ended up playing a few small games, inviting others, and playing in different groups in the meantime.  Then, I got a car, and that opened things back up and we started a long running 2e campaign that took us through graduation, and a summer break or two from college.

College itself saw a few short 2e games, before on took off, and a sequel game when 3e came out.  The switch to 3e was interesting, we were very reluctant at first to some of the things we heard (no racial limits, open multi classing, etc.)  I think we changed our tune just because it was nice to have clean new edition of set rules.  Not that we didn't try to shoehorn 3e ideas into 2e instead at first.  3e games big an small carried me through the rest of college.

After college 3.5 and a lack of time pushed us back to rules light Basic, and our own Home Brew retroclone (not that the term was known yet).  We would spend the next few years hopping between 3e, our HomeBrew, and Arcana Unearth/Evolved.

Then nothing for like 6 years (4e came and went in this period, so while I own the books, I never played).  I did re-write my homebrew a few times based on things I learned following OSR blogs over that time (still am).

The past few year has seen my settle down in an area and find players again.  We stared with my homebrew since I found it an easier jumping off place for new players.  Then back to a 2e game.  We were about to move to a 3e game, but a few folks moved away or had other life changes.

Mixed in there are short games of Mutants and Masterminds, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, etc.

Now I am back to my retroclone on Skype.

Still want to get that Ptolus game going though.....

What am I playing right now

I guess this is more an exploration of why I am playing what I am playing…

A little over a year ago my long running game ended (what would turn out to be) abruptly.

One player got busy, then another moved away, then I got busy, then 2 more had life changes.

Oddly Covid is what breathed new life into gaming for me. I made an off hand comment on social media, and a week later I had 3 players on Skype for a game.

This game came together quickly, was going to played over video chat (which was all new to me), and 2 of the players were all new. I knew I needed something easy to get into and run, something without the need for a battlemat to run combat.

So, long story short, I broke out my home made retro clone and stripped some of the fiddly bits out. The system, which we call “Redbox Revisited” (So Original), started almost 20 years ago and has seen several major revisions as my sensibilities changed.

Currently it consists of the standard 6 abilities scores with unified modifiers, Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and 3 classes (Warrior, Sorcerer, and Rogue). Resolution is your standard d20 plus modifiers vs Target number. The spells currently use Delta's OED Book of Spells, which is very nice distilling and standardizing of original D&D magic user spells.

I will probably post more about the system and its past and future iterations another time.

Having no idea if this was going to work, or last, I wanted to use something basic and self contained as the setting. So I pulled out Dyson’sDelve (link) which is a nice small set of dungeons stacked atop one another. I also grabbed his Baraloba maps and plopped the whole thing into Hyperbora, using the events of Taken from Dunwich as a hook to explore the delve.

We are now three months in, the characters are about to hit level 3, and confront one of the big bads. I can’t say how much longer it will go for, but it really informs how much you can distill the game down and still have a good time.

RPG Influences

For the last 10 years my approach to the game has been heavily influenced by the OSR movement.  I would not consider myself a grognard, having come to the game via 2nd edition, and quite liking 3rd Edition and its relatives.  However there is an appeal to plumbing the depths of the games origins.

I have taken more knowledge than I can count from the two gentlemen below:

• https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/ Dan digs into the history of the game, the underlying math, and takes an analytical approach that really helps you dig down into what the game is doing, making it easier to run in the process.
  
• https://www.paulsgameblog.com/ Paul also digs into the history of the hobby, bringing in more from other games and 5e.
  
• https://wanderingdms.com/ Paul and Dan also have a show on Youtube, so check that out.
  

Seriously, just go read through their stuff, their sites are way better than this one.

Its impossible to include all the places I have drawn inspiration and ideas from, but a quick list below should give an idea of what has shaped my sensibilities:

• Grognardia (No longer Updated)
  
• Inzeladun (Gone from the Web)
  
• Malhavoc Press (Defunct- this is starting to be a trend....)
• Matt Colville (Not always my cup of tea, but lost of food for thought)

And of course, I was greatly influenced by my first Dungeon Master way back when.

Introductions

Me and the Hobby

Started in the 90s with a mix of Basic and 2nd Edition, saving the denizens of Thunder Rift.

Originally skeptical of 3rd, but quickly won over.

3.5 pushed me back to Basic.

Have bounced around in the world of home-brew ever since.

Why Dungeon Stew

D&D (Fantasy RPGs) are a delicious stew. Its a mix of ingredients thrown together, sharing flavors.

The ingredients can be high quality, or tossed in based on what you have handy.

Although you can put almost anything into the pot, you probably don't want to put everything in the pot at once.

So throw things together and let them steep is how I approach the game.

What am I going to do with this space?

I'm not sure.  A mix of thoughts about RPGs, other topics, play reports, maybe even some usable material.  Probably try to make it look prettier too.

First!

This is a first post, should it be something profound?

Anyway, everyone else has a RPG blog, so here is mine.

Only took 20 years for me to get around to it.