RTF Addendum, hehe there's always a Part 4

Er... yes well still not finished tweaking the system.  So healing - unsatisfied with the original thought so it goes something like this now... a short rest gains the character back lv+ Con adjustment (either + or _ but always 1hp). A sleeps rest gains back one hit die at levels 1-6, 2 at 7 to 12 and 3 at 13+, as well as your level and con adjustment. So a 5th level fighter with a Con of 16 gains 7 hp per short rest and  from 8 to 17 hp per nights rest, a 10th level fighter would gain 12 per short rest and from 14 to 32 hp per nights rest and so on.
Cheers
Steve

RTF the Last...or Part 3

Okay so we've dealt with the character generation and most of the day to day workings.  Onto Character advancement and how those new 'abilities' (that are old thief and ranger skills) work.

Every character starts off with all of the following abilities ; Open Locks, Pick Pockets, Find/Remove Traps, Hear Noise, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Climb Walls, Tracking and Foraging. At first level the character picks one of these abilities that starts at the second level off the thieves table or adds 3% to either the starting point of 66% for Tracking or +1 to the Foraging roll (4d6 equals or less than the characters Wisdom score to succeed).  Characters have the racial, armour and Dexterity/Intelligence table to adjust their abilities (see below)  I have included my KAAtooM races to illustrate this. At each level a player chooses one ability to move to the next level.  Its up to the player to decide how they wish to develop their character with this.  So you could develop a very stealthy fighter, a Cleric that excells at opening locks or a Mage that is very good at finding and removing traps, or a generalist.  This is my nod to 'customisation' of characters  as is in 3.5 D&D without all of the cumbersome conditions, exceptions, prerequisites etc etc etc that hamper that rule set at higher levels.

Adjustments to Abilities

Ability Adjustments			Armour
		None	Std/Padd	ElfChn	Scl/Rng/Chn		Splt/Bnd	Plate
Pick Pockets		5	-30	-20	-35		-40	-50
Open Locks			-10	-5	-15		-20	-30
Find/Remove Traps			-10	-5	-10		-25	-35
Move Silently		10	-20	-10	-25		-30	-40
Hide in Shadows		5	-20	-10	-25		-30	-40
Hear Noise
Climb Walls		10	-30	-20	-35		-40	-50
Tracking		5			-5		-10	-20
Race
		High H	Low H	Grn Elodin	Brz Elodin	Iron Dw	Cppr Dwarf	Vallan	Osian	Wld Osian	Pl Rukunn	Hl Rukunn
Pick Pockets		5
Open Locks		5				15	10		15	10	5	5
Find/Remove Traps		5			10	20	15				5	5
Move Silently				10	5	5	5		10	20	5	5
Hide in Shadows				10	5	5	5		10	20	5	5
Hear Noise		5		10	5	5	5	10	5	5
Climb Walls			5	10	5	-15	-10	15	20	25
Tracking			5	5	5				5	10	5	5
Intelligence for Tracking
For every point over 9 add 2 %, conversley for every 1 point under 9 remove 2 %

 For Dexterity follow the adjustments from the table in the players handbook. There is no adjustment to foraging due to statistic or armour or race.

Experience:
There is one unified experience table as follows;

Lv        XP             Lv        XP          Lv        XP
1          0                7        5040       13        241920
2          2                8      10080      14        282240
3          6                9      20160      15        302400
4         24              10   40320      16         312480
5        120             11  80640      17         317520
6        720             12 161280     18        320045

How does one gain XP?  Instead of individual creatures XP is given based one the events of the encounter and what happened etc,  a single character fighting off a gang of thugs may only get none, 1 XP or several XP depending on the challenge and on the ideas the character comes up with to solve the problem.  While this does not quantify for the group what can be expected from any particular type of encounter it certainly does raise the stakes if a player wants to generate as much XP from an encounter etc.

So thats about it .  Tell me what you think of the system.  We have been playing it now for about 2 months and the feedback so far has been positive from the players. Cheers and Game on!
Steve

RTF Continued... Part 2

So ..onto combat..
So to add a little spice to combat I have decided to do the following. If something is hit with a natural 20 it has been critically hit.  This means several effects can take place.  One- maximum damage is inflicted, two - the target needs to throw a saving throw using any Con penalty/bonus.  If they make it no further effect happens.  If they fail by between 1 to 4 points then they can only heal naturally using a 'short rest' each day until either of two things happen - each day the make a new saving throw  to see if they can remove this effect (with a plus one per day) or gain magical healing which removes the effect.  Also if they fail the saving throw  by more than 4 they suffer the effects of short rest healing and roll on the table to have an ongoing effect until the above saving throw is made;

1: Movement is cut in half
2: -1 to hit
3: -1 to damage
4: -1 to Armour Class
5: -1to Saving Throws
6: -2 or 10% to any other activity not mentioned.

Short rest - each person can take one short rest per day to recover  their level plus any Constitution adjustment in hit points. For example a 5th level Magician with a -1 con penalty gains back 4 hit points per short rest
Nights rest- each person can heal their hit die for one night of complete rest ( no fighting etc but allowed to do watch duty as long as no strenuous actions are taken). For example a third level Fighter can roll 3d10 to see how much they gain back

As long as the attack can gain a successful move silently or hide in shadows before making a melee back attack this counts as the previous Thief ability of Surprise back attack:

Lv 1-6: additional 1d6 damage
Lv 7-11: additional 2d8 damage
Lv 12-16+: additional 3d10 damage

Saving Throws
Each class now has one beginning Saving Throw number and applies modifiers to this to make a saving throw;
 e.g. a poison save would apply a Con adjustment, a save versus illusions either a Saving throw using Int or Wis adjustments etc.

Lv    F         P       M
1      16      14     13
3      14      13    12
7      12      11    11
9      10      10    10
12      8        8      9
14      6         7     8
17      5        6      7

To hit;
Fighter: 20 level1, -1/level to 4 at level 17
Priest: 20 @ level 1, 19 @ level 3, 18 @ level 5 etc to 9 @ level 15
Magician: 20 @ level 1, 19 @ Level 4, 17@ Level 7, 16 @ Level 10, 14 @ Level 13, 13 @ Level 16
Bard proceeds at the next number each two levels so a 1 level Bard who was a 7th Level Magician would be 16, then at rd level be at a 15.  A 1st level Bard who was a 7th level Fighter would be at a 12 then an 11 at 3rd level.

All constructive feedback welcome.
Next: XP and how the Thiefly and ranger abilities work.

Room Temperature Fusion Part1

Gidday there.  So starting up a new game in a new world I starting looking at what I wanted to play.  Since we are playing over the intertubes a more traditional face to face game approach would probably slow the pace.  With this in mind I have tried to return the game to its roots while using a little of the more modern day play innovations.  So here I present my OD&D/AD&D 1st Ed, 3.5 and 5th Ed mix - borrowing some ideas and sprinkling a few of my own...

I have done away with the Thief class ( which was not present in the original game until a later supplement).  What I have done is assumed that everyone has the basic thief abilities from their table on page 28 of the Player Handbook. Also I have added the Tracking ability from the Rangers class.  At 1st level a player decides which ability they are going to raise to the next level.  This is modified, as thieves were, for race, dexterity and armour. Each new level the player decides what their character will progress in,  thus a player may continue to strengthen one area or be more rounded and choose a few select abilities to support their concept of their character.  This is in effect similar, for me at least, to all the things that a character could have were you playing 2nd Ed and up with the proficiencies, feats et al that seem to populate character generation these days but without having to do any add on mechanics that complicate the running of the game further (looking up multiple conditions and exceptions during play-slowing down the pace and fun).

Next I reorganised the Classes.  Now there are three main types ( as in Original D&D).  Fighter, Cleric and Magic User.  The Cleric class comes in three subclasses: the Priest ( what we presently call Cleric), Paladin and Monk. There is a fourth,  the Bard, which can be attained later by a Fighter or Magic User once they have reached 7th level.

The Fighter can weapon specialise, gaining a +1 to hit, damage and AC while using the weapon (Ranged or Melee)-this costs an additional weapon slot.  They can not stack multiple specialisation on a single weapon so no anime style action here folks. It costs one additional weapon slot (in addition to the normal extra slot for specialising) to specialise and they also can gain the same Monk hand fighting ability (off the Monk table) at the cost of two additional weapon slots.  They  also gain no bonus to the to hit, damage or AC if they choose this. As per normal Fighters can use any weapon and armour.  They start with 5 weapon slots, a -2 non proficiency as well as gaining a new weapon every 1/2 levels.  Lastly the Fighter gains the ability to attack once per round for each level they are against creatures that are less than 1 hit dice ,beginning at 2nd level.  This changes to creatures under 2 hit dice at 7th level and 3 hit dice at 12th level.


Next The Magic User (aka Magician) is pretty much left as previous with a few smaller changes.  Each Magician can spontaneous cast the same number of spells (only Candlelight and Read Magic) as they have additional languages from the Intelligence table each day.  Candle light appears at the end of this post if you are interested to include it in your game else Read Magic stays the same.
Also the Magician can wear cloth and leather armour ( the leather armour needs to be specially constructed for the Magician and costs double normal and not wearable by anyone else.).

Out of the three Cleric classes the Priest remains almost unchanged from the 'normal' Cleric class. They are able to spontaneous cast, like the Magician, using there Wisdom score on the Intelligence Table to read how many additional languages number they have to use for spontaneous casting.  They are able to cast two new spells - Aid and Hallow.  Spell descriptions are below.
Each Cleric also has a slight change in their 'undead' ability.  Priests of a goodly bent use the turn undead process, those of an evil nature use the command undead.  Those who are of a neutral disposition ( use 'Control Anima').  They use the life force in small ways , such as a small rock slide, blow up a small dust devil etc The effect, like turn/command can only be used one at a time, so there are no hoards of Anima controlled happenings, accept where they are able to roll like a normal Cleric can for number turned etc. The hit die worth affected is the same as the undead that they would have normally turned etc. For example if a Priest was trying to get some trees to entwine their branches they might have to try and turn something like a ghoul (if its a few big trees) at first level, needing a 16 to be successful.  Or if the trees are saplings or brush they may require to use the Skeleton line , needing a 10 - this is up to the Dungeon Master to work what they feel is appropriate. They still affect 1-12 'individual trees' as would they do if turning undead. (For me I am setting an object that has around 5-6 hp as an HD1 creature and going from there).
Lastly Priests of a high level can, as Magician's do with Arcane, create magic items of a religious nature.

The Monk class still retains many of their previous abilities - the falling ability, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, their fighting with hands AC adjustment and movement abilities. As all characters now get the previous theifly abilities they use this instead of their previous thief like abilities.

The last of the Cleric class is the Paladin. This class uses all of the previous abilities with the following changes: the Paladin can be of any alignment except Neutral.  So where they have protection versus Evil this changes thematically to the diametrically oppose alignment.  So a Chaotic Neutral Paladin would have Protection versus Lawful and so on.  They also gain either the turn or control undead ability depending whether they fall on the goodly or evil side of beliefs (Neutrals choose at Character Generation). Paladins are also able to weapon specialise as Fighters.
Lastly the Player must make up a 10 point code of behaviour, depending on Religion and alignment that is passed to the Dungeon Master for approval before play.

There are also some entry into class statistic requirements, weapon use and proficiency table, but these are Dungeon Master dependant and what works best of the group and gaming world.  I will  present what is being used in the KAAtooM world after the Bard section.

As there is no multi-classing in this game one way to gain other abilities is to choose the Bard after attaining 7th level as a Fighter or Magician. See below for all Class entry statistics.

Class	Subclass	Stats	HD	Armour	Weapons	Alignment
Fighter		S:9 Cn:9	D10	All	All	Any
Cleric	Priest Monk Paladin	W:9 Ch:9 W:9 Ch:9 Dx:15 W:9 Ch:15 S:13	D8 D8 D8	All None All	All non edged Monk wpns +Sh / Lg Bow All	Any Lawful Non Neutral
Magic User		I:9 D:9	D6	Cloth Leather	Magic User Weapons + Sling, Br Sword, Lt X bow	Non Lawful
Bard	7 lv (F or MU)	I;13 Ch 15	D6	As per Bard	As per Bard	LN,NG,CN,N,NE

Characters roll 3d6 and arrange to taste.  If a Player rolls below a 9 then I roll a d6 with the following results
1-2 Stat becomes a 7, 3-4 Stat becomes an 8, 5-6 Stat becomes a 9.  This way a character can have low statistics but not so that they make the Character difficult to play.Also for non Fighter classes the can choose a 'Favoured' weapon that allows them to choose a bonus of 1 to either their hit, damage or AC while using this weapon.  This is not stackable.

Spells;

Candlelight: takes 1 segment to cast material is soot, duration is 1 hour + 1hour per level. Produces phantom flames which give off a 5' radius light  from hand or object cast on. Can be cast on targets 'eyes' to try and temporarily (1d4 rounds) blind them (requires target to save versus spells to negate. Range is 20 feet plus 10 feet per level. Caster decides when spell stops (up to duration)

Aid: +1 hp healed or additional save versus poison or disease at +1. Material is symbol not consumed, takes 1 segment to cast.

Hallow: Focus is symbol, casting time is 2 round.  Area affected is a 10 square foot area (per level) of ground.  If anything (evil) creature moves through this area they gain a -1 to all activities and are required to make a saving throw to be able to start moving across it in the first place.  If they make the saving throw then anything of the same ilk will not require a saving throw (used for groups of undead for example).  If the first individual fails then they are stopped from moving through until one of their number has made a successful save.  If cast on an individual then the target is allowed a saving throw (Chr based) to become unpossessed of the evil influence( whatever fashion that may take) The reverse of this spell, Condemn, operates has similar effects but replaces the influence with Evil. A Neutral Priests  chooses influence at character generation.

Lastly I present my Weapon proficiency matrix which is in effect in the KAAtooM game;

Weapon Proficiency table:

Class	Initial # of Wpns	Non Prof Penalty	New Wpn Prof
Fighter	5	-2	1/2 lv
Priest	3	-3	1/4 lv
Paladin	4	-2	1/3 lv
Monk	3	-3	1/3 lv
Magic User	2	-4	1/4 lv
Bard	-	As per previous	As per previous

There are a few other ideas i am playing with, such as the player picking one statistic to improve.  They choose said stat, roll a base percentage and at each level attainment they gain an additional 1d10 to the percentage.  When the percentage equals or goes over 100 then that stat goes up one ( within Racial maximums).  The player is then free to choose a new stat or the old one to continue the process.

Throw open the curtains, open the doors and sweep away all the cobwebs...

Well hi there, haven't done this blog any justice for a looooonnnggg while so...
Some ideas on gaming.

Superheroing in the Golden Age
So we've been trying to get a game up and running to do with pulp/noir superheroing.  The two players have valiantly been attempting to get the game up and running using the Might Six rules set, based on the old West End games D6 Star Wars system, with of course a few tweaks to attend to the super heroics side of things.    It does so admirably, but the more we play the more I think it suits the Silver/Bronze/Modern style of super heroics.  So looking on the net I came across a system at http://thegamesshed.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/carbon-city-superhero-rpg/ .
A simple one page system that is easy to adapt and play.  It works on what the author calls his Dead Simple Engine.  You can find it and a multitude of genre specific adaptations from Fantasy to Star Trek for download at http://deadsimplerpg.wordpress.com/rules-downloads/ .
So if you want a game that's simple and user friendly, adaptable to your own groups particular needs and that does, literally, take a few minutes from generating the character to play ( unlike some others that promise play after 15 minutes of 'easy reading') give it a try. Plus you only need one d6 to play!

Playing our Classic Traveller game now for over a year we have tried a few home rules. The two I want to talk to here are about skill advancement and taking damage.  As anyone knows in a conventional Traveller game once you have mustered out it is difficult to gain new skills or improve old ones.  As the game is primarily a skill based one that doesn't bode well for those who would like some character development once the character begins play.  So was born this adaptation of the skills advancement from the Traveller Book.

Every time a player rolls a natural double 6 on skill they gain one XP.  When they have achieved 10 XP for that skill they may attempt to roll (8+skill level) or above to increase the skill by one – this advances skill through dumb luck.  No limit to how many skills can be improved via this method in a year ( But must already have a permanent level (zero or greater) for skill to qualify.

Planned skill advancement;

A player can attempt to enroll in a course to gain a 0 level in a new skill (6 weeks with teacher, 18 weeks if learning from books etc at a cost of 100cr per weeks-enrolled at some Learning center or distance learning facility ( available on Starports A or B) At the end of this the person has gained a temporary level 0 in said skill.  After one year of using this skill (and the commiserate practice) the character rolls to see if they can increase this skill to a permanent level 1 (roll 2d6 8+ no DM ) if not successful lose skill level 0, if successful thereafter being able to take advanced courses in the following years ( at thrice  cost) to increase this skill. Can attempt to learn Edu/2  level 0 skills in any given year.   

Advancing in skill already held: Follow above rules using 52 weeks study then a further year (practice) roll to succeed to improve skill (2d6 beat 8+level of skill). Can only work on one skill each year 

While this does allow for some advancement and gaining skills not available to their original profession it seems to be balanced enough with time/cost factors.  In the game all the characters have managed to gain at least one 0 level skill, some have completed a planned level advancement and two have managed to advance due to dumb luck - the time scale was roughly one year play equaling one game year.  The players are happy with their advancement and it does not appear to have created any Frankenstein skill monsters or unbalanced the game in any way.

Combat.

As suggest by one of the players, Glenn, we have been trialling a new system.  Anyone who has been in a firefight in Traveller knows these battles can be very quick and deadly.  Under conventional rules each time you take damage it is subtracted from one of your physical stats (except the first group of damage - which is assigned randomly).  So, for example, a dagger can inflict 2d6 damage if a successful hit is scored.  Players have Strength, Dexterity and Endurance scores ranging from 2 to 12 1at character generation.  These can be modified by age, Terms of service, drugs and esoteric alien  'relics', so for the most  a 2 to 12 range is considered 'normal'.  When the dagger hits, and damage is rolled the average damage is 7, the average score in stats is also 7.  This is allotted randomly to one of these stats resulting in a zero.  At zero the character is considered wounded and unconscious for 10 minutes.  If another physical stat is reduced to zero the character is considered seriously wounded, at all three equaling zero  is dead.  So combat can be very quick, if gun or laser fire is included (which has damage into the 5D range + ).  What we have been trialling is a 'saving roll' system.  If a character is hit and their first stat is reduced to zero they making an Endurance saving (2d6 + End penalty / bonus equal or beat an 8) throw to stay conscious.  On the second stat equaling zero they make a saving roll each combat round to stay conscious, and once they reach the third stat equaling zero they are dead. The amount of extra rolling is fairly limited and doesn't appear to restrict or complicate the combat round, but does give characters a few more options in being able to affect the end result of a battle.

Well thats it for now, currently we are playing another game using the new D&D 5E rules.  Once we've had a chance to explore it more I'll offer up the groups findings and any houserules.  Of course we already have a few (lol) but more on that later.

Game on!

Steve

Villians and Vigilantes Redux

While looking around the gaming collection I dug out my copy of V&V 2.1 bought a few years ago.  I loved the game and while playing other super hero games never fell out of love with it. (To be fair it was the third game I ever owned, after D&D and Traveller, my 'holy trinity' of games.)
Anyway, looking at the various official incarnations and unofficial ones I have settled upon a way of creating characters in it that pays homage to the original idea of playing yourself and random power generation along with the modern day sensibilities of 'building' a character.  So here goes.
First, instead of the endless arguments of how much every has to start with in the base stats we take their weight (sorry ladies) as normal, then for each basic stat roll a d6.  On a one the stat =8, on a two a 9 and so on.  Then the fun begins. 
A players picks one of the standard tables to generate powers.  They are allowed once, and only once, to jump from this table to the skills table for a power.  Each player chooses 6 powers and one weakness, defining them as they go with the associated random rolls.  When we talk about Heightened stats or Lowered stats we use a static number; Ht A= +12, Ht B= +18, and Lowered  = -8.  Also a player can only choose a particular heightened once ( so no 4 x Ht Agility monsters with Heightened Speed!!!), except when they jump onto the Skills table if they so wish they can then double once there. At the end of this process the character chooses to lose one power and can choose to lose another as well as their weakness. 
I have created a character called Dragonfly using this process. His powers were three lots of Animal / Plant powers, one of which I ditched, Ht Int B, Sonic Power and Adaptation, his weakness was lowered intelligence. He has 66 hit points, 79 Power points, an ADR of 66 , flies at 856"/turn (that's around 180 mph), heightened senses and regeneration .  A fairly awesome character to begin with. Definitely Justice League / Avengers material.
I'll post how the characters created under this fare in an upcoming game to check out what ramifications there are for creating under these rules.

An aside;
 I would suggest to lower the gaming level to a street level that all Ht B's become Ht A's and all Ht A's act like Lowered but as a plus.  All lowered become -6. Also to lower beginning powers to 4 plus a weakness and starting stats equal 9's.

Finally..Ta Da!

Okay lets get this ball rolling.
From our last session in our Skagin game I present the Wendigo!

 By mmpratt99, via deviantART

WENDIGO

Freq: Very Rare
# Appearing: 1, 1d4
AC: 3
Mv: 18"
HD: 10d8+2
Treasure type: Nil
No. of  Attacks: 3
Damage / Attack 2 claws 2d6 each, Bite 1d8
Special Attacks: Surprises on a 5 in 6 (Rangers are 4in 6), Should a to hit roll be successful with a 20 on the to hit die, max damage for claws, vorpal effect for bite, Fear (as per MU Spell) usable 5 times a day, Create Child of Wendigo
Special Defense: Hide: 85%, Can phase in and out of plane ( must be in a snow storm to do so) 5 times a day, edged weapons do half damage (unless magical then do normal).
Magic Resistance: 25%
Int: Avg-High
Alignment: CE
Size: L (9-15' tall)
Psionics: Nil
XP: 4800+ 16/hp

The Wendigo is thought of as a myth to frighten small children and foolish men.  But it is very real. It is said to be covered in a thick white fur and has piercing coal black eyes.  Its long yellowed tusk like teeth frame the rest of the mouth that can be best described as a jagged hole of gnashing death. Its hands end in over large incredibly sharp claws.  It stands on its hind legs but those rare lucky few who survived an encounter say it also hunts loping along like a wolf.  It exists in a state between planes.  It is attracted  to fear and cold.  Some say that the Wendigo comes with the worst winter storm and others that it brings the storm along with itself. In battle Wendigo prefer to draw out individuals or attack stragglers, increasing the fear felt by those left behind.  Apart from the hearts of its victims the Wendigo feeds off this fear.  Although fire does not harm them ( the cold they radiate is so intense it nullifies the damage fire does) it, like groups of people will give the creature pause and it shy's away from such confrontations.
If a victim of of the Wendigo is killed in one round, and not sanctified by a cleric or druid, will become a Child of the Wendigo within 24 hours.

CHILD OF THE WENDIGO

Freq: Very Rare
# Appearing 1, 1d3+1
AC: 6
Mv: 160"
HD: 5d8+2
Treasure Type: Nil
No of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 2 claws, bite: 1d6/1d6/1d6
Special Attack: Surprises on a a 4 in 6 (Rangers are 3 in 6), Should a 20 be rolled on a successful to hit then damage is doubled for any attack, Lesser Fear (as per MU spell with a +2 to save) usable 5 times a day
Special Defense: Hide 85%, Edged weapons do half damage (unless magical which do normal)
Magical Resistance: 10%
Int: Avg
Alignment: CE
Size: L (8-13' tall)
Psionics: Nil
XP: 650 + 6/hp

Like its parent the Child feeds off fear and follows the same combat strategies.    The Child of the Wendigo is a creature that can not phase as its host is of the prime material plane. The Child looks like its previous victim, without the gash marks or scars.  They have a wild look in their eyes, which appear to have a center of coldest black.  Fur of the colour of the victim covers most of its body, but the skin is visible.  Its head is covered with an especially thick fur.  Unlike its parent the Child has elongated canine teeth and nails, but nothing more
After the Child has killed the equal number of victims as it has hit points it becomes a Wendigo. Therefore if they are fighting in a group once the victims are killed they can turn on each other to increase their chance of becoming a Wendigo.

Sleep well!
Steve