The state of B?X

Well it has been a while since my last post., I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I suppose I would rather post sporadically when I want to then push myself to post frequently just for the sake of it and end up burning myself out.

Anyway, here is a bit of an update on my B?X project:

The release of the 5th ed playtest materials really re-ignited my interest in the project. People will tell you that 5th ed looks like 2nd or 4th ed but honestly it looks to me mostly like B/X, or at least how my group used to play B/X back in junior high.

Right now my core rules are basically very similar to the rules from the playtest with a few major changes.

Experience and leveling
I am having the characters start out at lvl 0- heavily inspired by the DDC beta rules. First they will roll stats in order, and then roll on a separate occupation table depending on what their highest stat was. So a character who rolled strength as their highest stat would roll on the strength based occupation table.

The 0lvl characters start with no class and virtually no money or equipment, just what their occupation gives them. They will start with a "background trait" just like in 5ed, but they will have to wait till they hit level 1 to choose a theme for their class.

I am probably not using standard experience points for leveling. Instead the characters will stay at their current level until the complete a big level appropriate quest. The players and I will discuss what a worthy quest would be and come to an agreement about it. Increasing in level gives a hp increase and increases the character's ingame prestige and renown. In between tackling the big "level up" quests the players can engage in any number of smaller quests or adventures to gain money and supplies or possibly unlock and improve abilities. - So you wont become a better swordsman just by leveling up; you need to go on a specific quest to find a sword-master to train you.

Race as class. Also some weird changes to some of the races.

Alignment: there will be Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral. There are no real gods in my setting per se but there is an absolute force of good and an absolute force of evil fighting it out.

I am thinking about setting a flat level cap at lvl 6. I think a low level cap will be overall more manageable, and I hope that it will encourage players to get involved in creating a legacy with their characters- when a fighter hits lvl 6 and settles down to become a ruler, the player can make a new character from a  former follower they had.

I am completely overhauling magic. Going to be using mana pools and piety dice and getting rid of Vancian spellcasting entirely. I made up new types of wizards with their own new schools of magic. Magic will be learnt from found spellbooks and there will be no such thing as spell lvl or spells per day.

I could get more into specifics but I'm going to bed now.

Comments and questions are welcome.

-Cheers!

Adventuring Equipment

 Some adventurers bring "healer's kits" with them into the dungeon and rely on herbs and bandages to keep them going. The more rough and tumble brand of adventurers bring strong drink.

Fortified Wine

A swig of strong fortified wine can keep even a gravely injured warrior on his feet. Fortified wine is laced with tonics and restorative medicines plus the biting flavor will shock the drinker into wakefulness while the liquor dulls pain.

• 25gp for a canteen, 5 uses - 1lb. same effect as a healer's kit.

Hard Liquor
The most foolhardy adventurers are fond of carrying small "handcasks" of powerful liquor such as moonshine or the dreaded dwarven fire whisky.  In contrast to fortified wine these drinks have very little medicinal value aside from occasionally being poured into wounds as disinfectant.

• 25gp for a handcask ,10 uses - 2lb. same effect as a healer's kit*.
• 50gp for a pony-keg ,20 uses - 5lb. same effect as a healer's kit*.

*If you expend more uses than your CON ability score modifier during the same rest you suffer from the Intoxicated condition for a full hour.

Sturdy Steel-shod Boots
These tough steel and leather boots are the absolute best protection available for an adventurers' feet. The toughened leather exterior has been treated with several coats of protective varnish and wax, making them both water proof and extremely durable. Although padded and comfortable on the inside these boots have a reinforced steel toe and a thick steel sole, as well as several small metal plates to protect the heel and sides of the feet.  The drawbacks that come with these boots are that they tend to make a loud clanging sound when walking across stone and they are obviously very dangerous to wear while attempting to swim.

• 10gp for pair (must be worn as pair), 4lbs. as pair, +1 to wearer AC.
• At the end of your turn if the wearer is in melee combat and hasn't moved they may make a extra kick attack using only their basic strength modifier. If it hits the attack does 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
• At the DM's discretion these sturdy boots can protect the wearer's feet from nearly any damaging effect that would target feet specifically.
• Anytime the wearer attempts to climb, jump, swim, or move stealthily   the DM should impose severe penalties.

Sturdy Gauntlet
Most of the heavier types of armor come with a set of gauntlets but sometimes even lightly armored warriors choose to wear them. Although it may not be the most heroic tactic, a well timed punch can be very effective.

• 5gp each, 10gp for pair. 1lb. each, 2lb. as pair, +1 to wearer AC if a pair is worn.
• If the wearer is in melee combat and has a free gauntleted hand they may make a extra punching attack using only their basic strength modifier. If it hits the attack does 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
• A gauntleted hand cannot cast arcane spells or preform delicate tasks.

Just some ideas I had, Cheers!

Creatures of the Basic set pt.2

More thoughts on the bestiary from the Moldvay Basic set:

Bat:
Comes in two flavours:
Normal- regular bats who fly around characters and cause confusion, they are very likely to flee unless they are summoned or controlled.
Giant- they do 1-4 dmg and only have 2 HD so they aren't too giant really but i guess alot bigger than a regular bat. There is a chance they are Giant Vampire bats and thus suck blood and can cause vampirism, a neat little touch.

I'm going to try to use normal bats more often. Even if they can't actually attack I think they work really well as a "dressing", it makes alot of sense for them to be in a dungeon anyway.

Bear:
The bears in the basic set are on par with the weakest dragons, I think that says alot right there. All bears have a "hug" ability that causes 2d8 extra damage if both paw attacks hit the same target, it is this ability that really makes bears lethal.

Black- the regular bear, not too threatening but a good companion for a druid. Also perfect for being a campsite invader, punish the players for not storing their food properly.

Grizzly- Now we are talking, these guys are scary. Although I might use the polar bear stats for a papa or mama grizzly.

Polar- The main reason characters should avoid cold regions.

Cave- These 15ft tall killing machines are coming for your blood- really- "If hungry, they will follow a track of blood until they have eaten." so you better not walk around with unbandaged wounds in bear country.

Beetle:
Although I think fire beetles are lame, oil beetles and especially tiger beetles are pretty cool. I think they are an interesting alternative to some of the more conventional fantasy dungeon monsters.

Berserker:
I never really liked these dudes until quite recently, they have a really cool description in the 5th ed playtest that changed the way I think of them.  So barbaric Germanic tribesmen they are! Picts and such. Great for populating the wilderness as "wildlings" and giving PC barbarians a place to come from.

Boar:
Another useful if not terribly exciting addition. Great for hunting and eating at feasts. You can use these same stats for a deer buck if you want.


Bugbear:
I hate the name, I hate the concept. My goblins aren't hairy so they sure as hell won't have giant hairy cousins. In a game where an Owl Bear is a owl-bear hybrid animal bugbears just cause confusion. I don't use bugbears, they don't exist in my gameworld.


Carrion Crawler:
A really cool concept. I would leave as is. I love creatures like the crawler and gelatinous cube because of their role as waste disposal in the dungeon environment.

-More to come. Cheers! 

The Monsters of the Basic Set

As a young kid, before I could even read I was pouring over the pages of the Moldvay basic set just devouring the pictures with my imagination (particularly page B20- lol). I spent many hours running around my local park pretending to fight white apes and carrion crawlers.

Anyways, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the monsters of the basic set.


Acolyte:
These dudes are pretty cool. There is alot of roleplaying potential here.  I think it really comes down to what the clerics are up to and what alignment they are. So here goes:

 1d6 for alignment
1-2 Lawful   - Jolly friar-tuck types or deadly serious witch hunters.
3-4 Neutral  - Pagan druids.
5-6 Chaotic  - Hardcore super-evil raiders or more moderate hedonistic types.

1d6 for current mission
1- On a pilgrimage to or from a shrine.
2- Escorting a valuable relic.
3- Seeking new converts.
4- Itching to battle nonbelievers.
5- Fleeing persecution.
6- Searching for the "Chosen One".

Ape, White:
White Apes are a very useful creature for the DM in terms of utility. These nocturnal albino apes certainly appear fearsome but they are just animals of neutral alignment and low intelligence. They are also specifically stated to eat fruits and vegetables, so it seems they are unlikely to cause trouble if left alone. That said, I think White Apes make excellent minions for sinister powers, there could be a dark force corrupting the usually peaceful Apes and using them for evil.  How much more badass is the evil warlock with the pet ape?

1d6 for reaction to party*
1- Loud display meant to threaten and scare off intruders.
2- The apes bring forth offerings of fruit.
3- The apes try to barter and trade with the party through gesture.
4- An ape guide will join the party but will not travel further than a day from the ape lair. The guide is very helpful and will point out dangers and shortcuts.
5- The apes are curious but standoffish, several will watch the party from a distance for an hour or two.
6- The alpha of the group (male or female) takes an interest in the member of the party with the highest charisma score.
*The apes will not normally attack unless provoked.

Bandit:
Another good entry. I try to portray a human-centric world for my players, and having human opponents goes a long way toward that goal. Bandits are good and simple- classic villains, but they can range from neutral robbers to super EVIL murder-you-and-burn-your-house types. As a bonus they get a cool character class NPC to lead them.

1d6 for Bandit group:
1- The Wolfpack- This group of chaotic brigands are mean and have excessively bad hygiene. They favor ambush tactics and many use crossbows. Although they act tough the Wolfpack tends to retreat if their prey fights back. The Wolfpack is led by "Blackwolf" a veteran one eyed thief.
2- The Forestmen- This jolly group of neutral bandits is always looking for a good time. They are fond of music and wine and tend to be well liked by the common villagers. They are all excellent woodsmen and archers but their leader "Sparrow" is particularly skilled and renown.
3-  The Ragged Men- The Ragged Men are all deserters. They are neutral and not truly evil but they are incredibly desperate and defiant against authority. The horrors of war have broken these men and they refuse to bow to a lord ever again. Although the Ragged men don't have a formal leader most turn to "Old Rob" for guidance. Old Rob is a skilled halberdier and the oldest member of the group.
4- The Red Gents- These chaotic men are totally evil and totally loyal to their leader "Annika". Annika is an evil sorceress and she uses her bandit minions to further her selfish agenda. Annika uses her magical talents and great beauty to keep the bandits in line.
5- The Luckless Fellows- A small band of vicious thugs. The Fellows are the worst of the worst and cause misery and suffering just for sport. Their current leader "Maul" is a cruel bastard who is always thinking up new ways to torture captives.
6- The Maiden Slayers- This chaotic band of lazy drunks can't do anything right. Although they are certainly evil and cruel the Slayers lack the necessary skill and discipline required of bandits. The majority of their raids and ambushes end in embarrassing failure. The leader of the Slayers is a foolish man named "Tall Paul" who only has the job because nobody else wanted it.

- A decent start. Cheers!

The Trusty Dagger

Ok, so in my last post I mentioned character 'perks' or powers, and that I wanted them to be unlocked by characters accomplishing tasks in game. Another objective of mine is to give a facelift to magic items and character equipment in general (including weapons and armor).

With these goals in mind I came up with the idea for "trusty" weapons.

If a character uses the same weapon pretty much exclusively* for an entire character level that weapon becomes "Trusty" and gets a +1 to hit bonus. This bonus represents the character attuning themselves to the weapon, learning the exact details of the weapon, and possibly infusing the weapon with martial magical energy.

The weapon becomes magical for all intents and purposes. The +1 bonus can also increase if the character uses the same Trusty weapon for another whole level, increasing by +1 for each level used. It has to be the same specific weapon- NOT the same type of weapon and each character may only have one Trusty weapon at any time. If a character starts using a different weapon the Trusty weapon becomes normal again and loses all bonuses (all bonuses for being Trusty).

A Trusty weapon can be magically enhanced further using the normal methods.

This rule is intended to give a character a reason to be attached to that weapon they start at level 1 (or 0) with as well present a meaningful choice to the player- stick with the +5 Trusty sword they have used for 5 levels or take the sword of Giant Slaying they just found.

*A character can use a bow to make a ranged shot across a chasm, or use a knife to cut their way out of a giant fish, and still keep a Trusty longsword, but the Trusty weapon should always be the preferred weapon.

Stuff About B?X and DCC

Alright, well maybe this is overdue but I thought today I would talk about B?X a bit. Say what it is and what I want it to be about.

Ok well B?X is a project I have been thinking on for over a year now. It is meant to be a medieval fantasy rpg game which is very loosely based on the Moldvay basic set, or more specifically the way I played it when I started out with D&D as a kid. I want B?X to be a refined version of those early days of madness, with a dose of mechanics drawn from my D&D 3+ (Pathfinder) years.

I am very happy with the DCC beta ruleset. It addresses many of the issues I had with the clunky aspects of the older systems- descending AC, the saves (dragon's breath, and petrify?- lame).  I also was really starting to dislike Vancian spellcasting so I was glad to see a cool alternative,which was actually very similar to the system I had been thiniking of using. The mighty deeds thing for fighters is really cool- adds some more interest and variation to hack and slash, without requiring endless lists of feats and a complex battle grid.

And finally the 0lvl character thing totally blew me away. I would have never thought of something like that. While I really like the "character creation funnel" I know it's not for everyone. My pretty lady really dislikes the whole idea. I think starting at zero level has alot of cool potential and would help alot with making characters with a cool back story.

I have no plans to release or publish or whatever my B?X rules. I think they are going to be more like a house rules amalgamation, drawn from a variety of sources. That said I do plan to do posts on pretty much the whole thing- to show my process and the final result. This is certainly not going to be a money making venture for me and I will try to cite the sources I look at when I come up with anything.

 Here is a Storm Trooper (Scout Trooper). by Feng Zhu http://www.fengzhudesign.com/

B?X Magic

Yeah, I'm posting kinda light still. trying to pick it up a little.

Ok, so for the B?X project I am removing Vancian spell casting and taking a different approach.

Basically when a wizard wants to cast a spell he or she picks any single spell that he or she knows. Each spell will have a casting difficulty number.  To successfully cast the spell the wizard will have to beat the difficulty number on a d20 roll (adding intelligence modifier). If successful the spell casts. If the roll fails then the wizard will be forced to wait a number of turns equal to the spell level of the failed spell before they are able to attempt to cast another spell.

So a wizard tries to cast a lvl 1 magic missile but fails, the wizard is not allowed to cast a spell in his next turn. This makes it a lot safer for the wizard to try casting a low level spell every turn and makes trying to cast a high level spell very risky... fail a level 6 spell and the wizard will be unable to cast any further spells for his next 6 turns.

There will also be 2 types of arcane spells -

Incantations, quick "simple" spells, can be cast in combat situations.

example: fireball

&

Rituals, long complicated spells, cannot be cast in combat situations.

example: scrying

more on this later.

Here is another stormtrooper

by Feng Zhu

http://www.fengzhudesign.com/

K is for Kingdoms

Ok, another late and short post.

World building is a hobby of mine, I'm sure many DMs would agree it is one of the highlights of our job.  I have over the years built a pretty stable campaign world  that I feel like I would be comfortable DMing games in for along time to come, one of the best parts is that it is constantly growing and expanding. There are sizeable kingdoms with well defined borders- most landmasses are least partially explored. This is the world I have been playing in for several years now, my current Pathfinder games are set there, and overall it is just a pretty cool place.

Once you get that specific, and the world is that detailed something is lost though.  I can't simply have the characters roll through an area of wilderness and roll up a random castle, I just can't. It wouldn't make sense; who built the castle and why?- something like a castle can't be random. And thus my world has alot less room for me to improvise and let the chips fall.

As I work on my B/X thinginy I have been thinking alot about the setting and the world I plan for it to be played in.

I'm picturing a vast wilderness, like points of light taken to a level I have never used before. There are all these tiny pocket kingdoms or civilizations lost among a sea of wilderness. The kingdoms have little to no knowledge of, or contact with, the neighboring kingdoms. Each kingdom is maybe a small city,a town or two and a few outlying villages, and totally self sufficient.  isolated pockets of civilization and culture.  There could be virtually anything anywhere out in the wilderness.  Once they pass the last village and start off roading I can random table stuff as much as I want until I decide they get to another pocket kingdom.  The pocket kingdoms themselves could have any makeup or type of culture I want.

I got the idea for this type of approach from fantasy adventure tv shows like Xena Warrior Princess, Herclues the Legendary Journeys, and my favourite animated show Conan the Adventuerer.  In these shows the heroes travel pretty much randomly across the land and in every episode come across a new kingdom where there is trouble afoot.  Sometimes they make allies, sometimes the kingdom is in ruins by the time they leave. I'm working towards making a world where adventure of the week type gaming and long term deep story gaming are both equally valid ways to play.

Night.

I is for Inventory

I am a big fan of tracking character inventory and encumbrance in game. I think its really important, like critically important, and yet I have found it hard to implement in the past. I'm sure most of my players just hope that I forget about it, especially because I hate "portable holes" and "bags of holding"- yuck, such a cop out.  Encumbrance is hard to deal with, I hate using gold coins like in B/X.  Computer games like Diablo really have a leg up on pen a paper games in terms of inventory menus.

For my B/X project I will assign pretty much every item an ENR (encumbrance rating) - a bag of 100 gold coins will be 1 ENR, a dagger is 1 ENR, a great sword might be 4 ENR, etc.. each character with have a carrying limit based on their strength score.  There will also be a distinction between items that are carried "on belt" which are basically ready to draw or have in hand at a moments notice, and items which are "in pack" and would take a moment to recover. There would be much less room for "on belt" items so characters will need to choose carefully what they carry and where it is.

Also any sum of coins which amounts to less than 100 coins total will not count as an ENR, its only when characters start carrying around loads of treasure that I will start getting serious about tracking it.

Kind of a shitty post I know but I have been really busy, its finals.

H is for Heroes

Alright this post is a bit late but whatever im doing it.

From my understanding 4th edition using something called 'Tiers', which -feel free to correct me if I'm wrong- delineate certain character lvl groups, so for example lvls 15-20 are the epic tier. I like the idea of having those certain lvls and the portion of your characters story be clearly represented along those lines. After all in B/X becoming 'Name Level' is kind of like ascending into a new tier, the character is now expected to settle down a bit, or at least build a stronghold of some type. So in keeping with this philosophy I plan to break my character progression rules into 3 distinct tiers, which represent different phases of a heroes' journey.

Champion: Levels 1-5
The Champion is a crusader for their particular cause or profession. Though certainly not the most skilled members of their class they stand tall above the regular folk of the realm. They are considered to have at least some minimal contacts with other members of their class or possibly a higher lvl patron. They may purchase the services of hirelings.

 

A Viking Champion

Hero Levels 6-10
The Hero is likely to be renown throughout the lands and will certainly command a fair measure of respect- if not for their profession at least for their skill. The Hero embodies the true nature of the class and will be considered a peer to other hero lvl characters despite conflicts of race,gender, or alignment.  A hero may attract followers.

A Viking Hero

Lord Levels 11+
The Lord is truly one of the most powerful members of the class and will often take an active role in the fate of the kingdom they inhabit.  Lords are likely to establish Strongholds and attract many lower lvl members of their class. Lords have access to very powerful abilities and represent the very pinnacle of achievement in their chosen profession.

 

A Viking Lord

I think in my B/X thing there will be certain rules and more indepth guidelines following this system which will be class specific. Also I want to include rules for starting a character at the certain tiers instead of always just starting at lvl 1 every time. I might call these things chapters instead of tiers in my stuff, to go along with the Hero Story kind of theme.

F is for Formation

The above image is titled The Fellowship, by AinuLaire, its pastel. http://ainulaire.deviantart.com/ (some slightly NSFW in there).

 I've been thinking about my B/X inspired adaptation thingy. None of my players have any intrest in it at all but I really like what I have so far.  I have been trying to think of a better name than "B/X inspired thingy" and so far have got two possible names: "Hero Story" and "Swords & Serpents", Hero Story is ok because I want it to be kind of narrative and play like a heroes life in a book. Swords & Serpents is stolen from an old Intellivision game me and my dad have been trying to beat for years. Maybe I will set up a poll and let you guys decide. 

Anyway, formation-marching order, whatever you want to call it. It is a big deal in oldschool games, its an even bigger deal in 3.5+ with the advent of grided tactical combat movement. Grided combat is cool, but it has alot of limitations and I argue it doesnt work in oldschool gameplay very well, you need a grided map of everywhere a fight could breakout,and grided combat is so slow and many times clunky. I think I have a fix.

In my B/X thingy party formation is going to be a huge part of the game. I will use it in place of tactical grid style combat, a more abstract way of tracking character movement that still alows character choice.  When I was younger we used something like this but it was never really cemented into the rules. Basically a character will be in a formation position at all times. Each role in each formation has different advantages and disadvantages and is more susceptible to certain threats.  Here are some formation types:

Exploration
scout
vanguard
center
rear guard

Combat
flank
frontline
center
rear

Search/inspection
focused
on guard

Camp
patrol
on guard
idle
asleep

Here is a breakdown for a formation:

Door Procedure
Focused - checks the door, if nothing noted joins center.
Vanguard-opens door, ready to face any forward threat.
Center- ready to act.
Rear Guard- not focused on door is alert to other surroundings.

More on this later as I work on it.

The Grate in the Floor

Now look at that! GEEZE! Some scary stuff down there. This was the sticker on a playset I owned as a kid. The He-Man Castle GraySkull playset. Its in the bottom of the good guys castle, I guess showing off all the monsters they have locked down there. Really creepy though. I feel like this is a great snapshot of how I want my D&D dungeons to feel.

Youths

As Trey pointed out there wasn't a male counterpart to the Dungeon Maiden idea I posted earlier.  so here it is the Youth. (B/X rules here).

Youth
Found wandering alone, captured or fighting for his life the Youth is in terrible danger.

AC: 8, Normal Man, Hp 3, Mv: 120' (40'), #At 1weapon, Dmg:1-6, Morale 7, Alignment L,

Armed with a short sword and shield the Youth set out to find adventure. Although ill suited to the rigors of adventuring the Youth will doggedly follow the party once encountered, constantly getting in the way. If the Youth survives there is a chance they will gain enough experience to take their first character level and thereafter become a loyal follower and a useful member of the party.

There is a 10% chance the youth is in possession of a treasure map.

-I also want to say that I'm not trying to be sexist by saying the Maiden is female or the Youth is male, feel free to switch the roles around,  also I'm not be any means saying the only women in the game need to be helpless Maidens.  Women adventurers are cool by me. I just feel that the evil humanoids in my games would be even more evil if they abducted young women for their dark rituals.

Dungeon Maidens

So I recently got a Xbox game called Conan. It was 10 bucks at Wallmart.  You play Conan, its pretty good, definitely not groundbreaking, in fact I can see many other better games influenced it. It is pretty fun though, it does feel pretty Conan-ish to me. Also Conan is voiced by Ron Perlman, which I really get a kick out of.  

Anyway I played through it almost to the end and now my pretty girlfriend Sarah started playing the game. Sarah really enjoys it, she yells alot as she hacks apart the "Stygian Dog!"(as Ron puts it). She is actually alarmingly good at it, she is way better at pulling of the combos than me. She refuses to block-ever, and she fights with matching swords whenever she can (sometimes going to great lengths to find a matching set).  One of her favorite things to do in the game is save the various scantily clad women which are scattered throughout the game.

As I watched her play today I got to thinking, why not put some scantily clad maidens in my dungeons? The more I thought about it the more interesting the idea became. Certainly there could be monentary and experience rewards for rescuing the maiden, as well as various 'story' awards. The maiden could well create roleplaying a resource managment problems for the party. Does the party calously leave her to her fate? Finish the ritual to gain dark powers? Turn back from greater exploration opportunities to escort her safely back to town? Or possibly even take her captive themselves. The maiden will certainly be a liability to the party once rescued. She will have no useful skills and has no ability to defend herself. Heres some B/X stats for a maiden, taken from the Isle of Dread and slightly modified.

Maiden

Found bound somewhere, usually a particularly terrible place. Although she has not been harmed yet it is only a matter of time before something truely horrible befalls her.

AC:9,Normal Man, Hp 3,Mv 120' (40'), #At 0, Morale 9, Alignment N, Str12,Int9,Wis9,Dex12,Con12,Cha18,

there is a 50% chance the maiden will be wearing some sort of ritual jewelry. Jewelry worth chart below.

01-20 10gp

21-45 50gp

46-75 100gp

76-95 500gp

96-100 1000gp

There is also the possibilty that what seems like a maiden is really a demon or vampire or some other terrible creature....