Alright, so Saturday night me and the gang decided to get some Mazes & Minotaurs going for a change of pace from Pathfinder. We stated up characters pretty quickly- a fire and earth Elementalist, a priest of Dionysus, and Noble hero named Olympia- played by my pretty girlfriend via skype. We played for maybe 10 minutes but I wasn't feeling it so when another player arrived I moved we try my QZ game rather than stat up another character.
So armed with only the rules I posted already here on my blog we set off. ( relied pretty heavily on the random charts from Fenways Zombie Attack Scavenger's Guide supplement.)
I set the game off, saying that the players were literally starting play from the time and place that we were in (one of the player's basement at like 10:45), I told them that they had been holed up in the house for five months but now they are out of food and supplies. I think they thought that was cool. They wisely waited till morning and then set out towards a nearby gas station (one of the PCs rolled up a car as a random possession but i ruled it was out of gas).
Finding the station thoroughly ransacked they decided to head right on downtown to check our local Giant Tiger store. There they encountered 5 survivors who were wary but not hostile. After a little conversation to lighten the mood (a passed Attitude check) they were willing to barter a bit- trading 12 cans of food for a clip of pistol ammo one character had (he didn't have a pistol).
The PCs left the Giant Tiger and checked out a nearby pizza place. The place seemed empty till one PC checked the walk in freezer- two Slouchers shambled out. The Slouchers were taken out pretty quickly, before they had a chance to moan, and then one PC picked up a shotgun that was in the freezer along with a 5 shells.
Moving on the PCs encountered 2 more Slouchers in an alley which they again took out quick. They then moved into a fitness gym and searched the place but didn't find anything too useful.
As it was starting to get late and I had to work the next morning we ended it there with the PC's barricading themselves in the gym as night fell.
Game Notes
-Character creation was fast and pretty easy I think, although I think I need a list of example Survival Skills. Just saying "make up your own- anything you want!" left it too open, all the players put the points into stats.
-Equipment and encumbrance rules- need em.
-I really shoulda had some more rules sketched out. The combats were too easy and generally didn't work well, but then again I was making it up on the fly. I need to pin down some real rules for how fighting works.
- More random tables, lots more- need em.
- A little map of the town would have been really helpful- at one point 3 of the 4 players were on their mobile devices browsing the google map of our town.
-Mazes and Minotaurs seems really cool, I think we will try it again sometime. The priest of Dionysus seemed like he was going to be a particularly cool character, he had really cool powers.
Ok, well more on this later. I hope to get more QZ rules up soon.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
QZ RULEZ (pt1)
Quarantine Zone
Each player takes on the role of a survivor in the post apocalyptic Quarantine Zone (the locale of your choice, preferably your actual real-world location) . It has been roughly 5 months since the outbreak and society has more or less collapsed. The zombie outbreak seems to be a viral infection which in some cases causes bizarre deformities, as well as zombification.
QZ uses six sided dice. To resolve dice rolls a player rolls a certain number of dice and tries to get the required number of successes. The die result required depends on the game type, it will always remain the same and should be determined before play begins.
Game Types:
Action- dice are successful on 4+ result. An easier and faster paced version.
Survival- dice are successful on a 5+ result. Recommended default.
Horror- dice are successful on a 6+ result.Very difficult. Characters will die.
Each Player character has 6 ability scores-'B.R.A.I.N.S.'
Brawn- How physically tough and strong a character is. Used in hand to hand combat and to resist illness.
Reflexes- A character's speed and agility, also used to measure manual dexterity.
Attitude- A character's ability to connect and make relationships. Used in social situations.
Intelligence- The knowledge and mental capacity of a character.
Nerve- A character's ability to stay calm in difficult situations and overcome fears. Used to shoot ranged weapons.
Search- A character's ability to notice details. Used to scavenge supplies.
Each character starts with 1 skill point in each 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability. Each character gets an additional 6+1d6 skill points which they may assign to one of their 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' abilities or spend on Survival Skills. Each 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability or Survival Skill may have up to 3 skill points assigned to it.
A Survival Skill is some specific skill that the character has. A character may choose nearly any skill they can think of, provided that it is specific enough and plausible. "Good at Shooting Guns" should not be a Survival Skill, but "Good with Hunting Rifle" might be acceptable. "Very Charismatic" -bad, "Trained in Hostage Negotiation" - good. Survival skills are meant to help make characters unique and give them a bonus in a few very specific situations. In a situation where it is useful the player may use their skill bonus on a 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability check to grant 1 extra d6 for each skill point assigned to that Survival Skill. Survival Skill bonus dice do not count towards generating automatic successes.
'B.R.A.I.N.S.' Ability Checks
When making an ability check the Games Master will tell the player which ability is being tested and how many successes will be required. The player then will roll a number of dice equal to their character's ability score. An ability score is the number of d6s a player will roll as well as the number of automatic successes.
Example: A character with a Brawn score of 2 will roll 2 dice but will also generate 2 automatic successes. So 2 successes are guaranteed with 2 more possible if both d6s roll high enough (5+ in the standard game type). The number of dice a character will roll can be increased if conditions are favorable, or if they possess a relevant Survival Skill.
GM note- You should not decrease the number of dice a player gets to roll to make a task more difficult, instead increase the number of successes required. Also do not adjust the d6 result required to make a success once play has begun, as the game type selected above should not change.
Example of Play: Reloading a Gun
Reloading a gun should be a very simple task, and in most cases a check would not be required. In a dangerous situation however a Nerve check would probably be appropriate.
Nick is cautiously walking down the street and finds a shotgun and some ammo for it in a police cruiser. He sees that the gun is empty and would have reloaded it easily, but a zombie staggers out of a nearby doorway.
To reload the gun Nick needs to pass a difficulty 1 Nerve check, requiring 1 success. Since Nick has a Nerve score of 1 he gets to roll 1 d6 and also gets 1 automatic success- he reloads the gun.
A few minutes later Nick needs to reload the shotgun again. This time though a Sloucher is shambling towards him and moaning loudly (a zombie moaning commonly increases the difficulty of a Nerve check by 1), so this Nerve check is at difficulty 2, requiring 2 successes. Suddenly this check is considerably more difficult- Nick can't rely on his 1 automatic success, he needs to roll a success on his d6 to pass.
Steve is cornered in an alley with a horde of moaning zombies moving in, and he has to reload his pistol.
Steve is a hardened biker, unlike wimpy Nick (Nick has Nerve 1) Steve is cool under stress (Steve has Nerve 3). Steve gets 3 automatic successes and rolls 3 dice when he makes a Nerve check. Steve needs to pass a difficulty 6 Nerve check to reload his gun, he needs all three of his d6s to be successes.
Note- I know this is a mess but I just want to get my thoughts down.
Thanks to Fenway for letting me rip off the "B.R.A.I.N." acronym he uses in his cool Zombie Attack rpg.
More on this later.
Each player takes on the role of a survivor in the post apocalyptic Quarantine Zone (the locale of your choice, preferably your actual real-world location) . It has been roughly 5 months since the outbreak and society has more or less collapsed. The zombie outbreak seems to be a viral infection which in some cases causes bizarre deformities, as well as zombification.
QZ uses six sided dice. To resolve dice rolls a player rolls a certain number of dice and tries to get the required number of successes. The die result required depends on the game type, it will always remain the same and should be determined before play begins.
Game Types:
Action- dice are successful on 4+ result. An easier and faster paced version.
Survival- dice are successful on a 5+ result. Recommended default.
Horror- dice are successful on a 6+ result.Very difficult. Characters will die.
Each Player character has 6 ability scores-'B.R.A.I.N.S.'
Brawn- How physically tough and strong a character is. Used in hand to hand combat and to resist illness.
Reflexes- A character's speed and agility, also used to measure manual dexterity.
Attitude- A character's ability to connect and make relationships. Used in social situations.
Intelligence- The knowledge and mental capacity of a character.
Nerve- A character's ability to stay calm in difficult situations and overcome fears. Used to shoot ranged weapons.
Search- A character's ability to notice details. Used to scavenge supplies.
Each character starts with 1 skill point in each 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability. Each character gets an additional 6+1d6 skill points which they may assign to one of their 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' abilities or spend on Survival Skills. Each 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability or Survival Skill may have up to 3 skill points assigned to it.
A Survival Skill is some specific skill that the character has. A character may choose nearly any skill they can think of, provided that it is specific enough and plausible. "Good at Shooting Guns" should not be a Survival Skill, but "Good with Hunting Rifle" might be acceptable. "Very Charismatic" -bad, "Trained in Hostage Negotiation" - good. Survival skills are meant to help make characters unique and give them a bonus in a few very specific situations. In a situation where it is useful the player may use their skill bonus on a 'B.R.A.I.N.S.' ability check to grant 1 extra d6 for each skill point assigned to that Survival Skill. Survival Skill bonus dice do not count towards generating automatic successes.
'B.R.A.I.N.S.' Ability Checks
When making an ability check the Games Master will tell the player which ability is being tested and how many successes will be required. The player then will roll a number of dice equal to their character's ability score. An ability score is the number of d6s a player will roll as well as the number of automatic successes.
Example: A character with a Brawn score of 2 will roll 2 dice but will also generate 2 automatic successes. So 2 successes are guaranteed with 2 more possible if both d6s roll high enough (5+ in the standard game type). The number of dice a character will roll can be increased if conditions are favorable, or if they possess a relevant Survival Skill.
GM note- You should not decrease the number of dice a player gets to roll to make a task more difficult, instead increase the number of successes required. Also do not adjust the d6 result required to make a success once play has begun, as the game type selected above should not change.
Example of Play: Reloading a Gun
Reloading a gun should be a very simple task, and in most cases a check would not be required. In a dangerous situation however a Nerve check would probably be appropriate.
Nick is cautiously walking down the street and finds a shotgun and some ammo for it in a police cruiser. He sees that the gun is empty and would have reloaded it easily, but a zombie staggers out of a nearby doorway.
To reload the gun Nick needs to pass a difficulty 1 Nerve check, requiring 1 success. Since Nick has a Nerve score of 1 he gets to roll 1 d6 and also gets 1 automatic success- he reloads the gun.
A few minutes later Nick needs to reload the shotgun again. This time though a Sloucher is shambling towards him and moaning loudly (a zombie moaning commonly increases the difficulty of a Nerve check by 1), so this Nerve check is at difficulty 2, requiring 2 successes. Suddenly this check is considerably more difficult- Nick can't rely on his 1 automatic success, he needs to roll a success on his d6 to pass.
Steve is cornered in an alley with a horde of moaning zombies moving in, and he has to reload his pistol.
Steve is a hardened biker, unlike wimpy Nick (Nick has Nerve 1) Steve is cool under stress (Steve has Nerve 3). Steve gets 3 automatic successes and rolls 3 dice when he makes a Nerve check. Steve needs to pass a difficulty 6 Nerve check to reload his gun, he needs all three of his d6s to be successes.
Note- I know this is a mess but I just want to get my thoughts down.
Thanks to Fenway for letting me rip off the "B.R.A.I.N." acronym he uses in his cool Zombie Attack rpg.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Quarantine Zone
Alright, with Halloween fast approaching I have been thinking about this. I am still slowly thinking up the actual rules and have come up with the different types of zombies which will be roaming the Quarantine Zone.
It is important to remember that every zombie is unique and that zombies are as varied in death as they were in life. Assuming zombies are all the same will get you killed or worse- false familiarity is deadly.
That said, there are a handful of broad categories which most zombies can be classified into.
Sloucher - The 'regular' zombie. Slow moving, uncoordinated, and very unaware. Will wander or lay collapsed until it detects prey, at which point it will issue a horrible moan and move to attack.
Dragger- A Sloucher that moves more slowly for some reason, perhaps due to injury or decomposition. A Dragger's slow but erratic movements make them more difficult to get a headshot on than the more steady Slouchers.
Shambler- A Sloucher that is able to move slightly faster than average. Like the Dragger, Shambler's erratic movement makes them more difficult to target precisely.
Crawler- A zombie which must crawl, usually because of severe damage to the legs or back.
Juggernaut- A very large Sloucher, either obese, muscular or mutated. Not faster or smarter but stronger and very difficult to put down.
Twitcher- At first glance a Twitcher will appear to be a regular Sloucher, but a careful observer will notice the Twitcher is much more alert and fidgety. Unlike Slouchers, Twitchers will run, climb, and jump to reach prey; shrieking the whole time.
Wailer- Usually a zombie child with enormous lung capacity. The Wailer is fond of climbing and will wait in treetops or on the roofs of houses until it spots prey. The horribly distinctive wail will attract all the zombies in the area.
Banshee- Usually a zombified young woman. The hellish shriek of a Banshee will not only attract more zombies, it is said to be able to transfix the living, freezing the weak willed in place.
Thinker- Thinkers are thankfully very rare. They look like regular people, they are able to walk and move like the living and they usually don't have obvious injuries. Thinkers are self aware and alert, able to see their surroundings in a way that other zombies cannot. Thinkers can learn simple things, use simple tools, and recognize symbols and patterns. A Thinkers most terrifying trait however is the ability to telepathically direct other zombies, allowing them to set traps and overcome obstacles.
More on this later.
It is important to remember that every zombie is unique and that zombies are as varied in death as they were in life. Assuming zombies are all the same will get you killed or worse- false familiarity is deadly.
That said, there are a handful of broad categories which most zombies can be classified into.
Sloucher - The 'regular' zombie. Slow moving, uncoordinated, and very unaware. Will wander or lay collapsed until it detects prey, at which point it will issue a horrible moan and move to attack.
Dragger- A Sloucher that moves more slowly for some reason, perhaps due to injury or decomposition. A Dragger's slow but erratic movements make them more difficult to get a headshot on than the more steady Slouchers.
Shambler- A Sloucher that is able to move slightly faster than average. Like the Dragger, Shambler's erratic movement makes them more difficult to target precisely.
Crawler- A zombie which must crawl, usually because of severe damage to the legs or back.Juggernaut- A very large Sloucher, either obese, muscular or mutated. Not faster or smarter but stronger and very difficult to put down.
Twitcher- At first glance a Twitcher will appear to be a regular Sloucher, but a careful observer will notice the Twitcher is much more alert and fidgety. Unlike Slouchers, Twitchers will run, climb, and jump to reach prey; shrieking the whole time.
Wailer- Usually a zombie child with enormous lung capacity. The Wailer is fond of climbing and will wait in treetops or on the roofs of houses until it spots prey. The horribly distinctive wail will attract all the zombies in the area.
Banshee- Usually a zombified young woman. The hellish shriek of a Banshee will not only attract more zombies, it is said to be able to transfix the living, freezing the weak willed in place.
Thinker- Thinkers are thankfully very rare. They look like regular people, they are able to walk and move like the living and they usually don't have obvious injuries. Thinkers are self aware and alert, able to see their surroundings in a way that other zombies cannot. Thinkers can learn simple things, use simple tools, and recognize symbols and patterns. A Thinkers most terrifying trait however is the ability to telepathically direct other zombies, allowing them to set traps and overcome obstacles.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Ogrefolk of the Hook Mountain
So here are some of the tokens we used when we were playing the Hook Mountain Massacre adventure path. Very cool and creepy.
Click to Bigify
Click to Bigify
Monday, September 19, 2011
Townsfolk Tokens
Here are my NPC and some of the PC tokens, a few of these were made up by players.
Click to bigify
Click to bigify
Sunday, September 18, 2011
My Wildlife Tokens
So Pathfinder does the whole tactical grid combat thing, which you pretty much need tokens for and I like drawing and stuff so I make my own.
These are my natural wildlife guys. Moose, two Boars, Mountain Lion, and Black Bear along the top, that's the wolfpack along the bottom.
Click to Bigify
These are my natural wildlife guys. Moose, two Boars, Mountain Lion, and Black Bear along the top, that's the wolfpack along the bottom.
Click to Bigify
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I have a problem
I just can't stop starting new things. It wouldn't be so bad if I posted more often, but as it is I am all over the place. Ok well, I started a new project, or more accurately have decided to return to an older project. It is that dream thing I was talking about here, but back then I was trying to figure out how to integrate that idea into regular D&D game play. I had a major revelation recently when I realized that it would work much better making the dream quest thing a stand alone game- the concept is strong enough, at least I think so.
Ok well here are the bare bones-
Everything is based on two game mechanics, Will Power and Invocations.
Will Power (WP) is a measure of a characters ability to influence and resist being influenced by things encountered in dreams. In game terms each WP equates to one d6. As Will Power is spent the d6 are discarded and the characters pool of Will is depleted. A twist is that Will Power also represents a characters hold on the dream and are comparative to health points and HP as used in other games. In most cases trying to affect the dream will result in a depletion of will points, but also will being attacked by dream monsters. I am getting ahead of myself but hopefully you can see what I am trying to say.
When attempting to use Will Power the DM (Dream Master) will tell the character a target number based on how difficult the task is to accomplish. That target number is the number of successes the character has to get with their Will (d6 roll), a success being a roll of a 5 or 6 on a d6 Will dice roll.
example: Tim the dreamer wants to leap a chasm, its pretty narrow and should be easy to leap so the DM tells Tim he will need 2 successes. Tim has 14 Will Points, he decides to play it safe so grabs 4 dice and reduces his Will to 10 Will Points. He rolls the dice. Tim needs at least 2 of the 4 dice to have a result of 5 or 6. Tim rolls two 6s, a 5 and a 1, getting 3 total successes, he only needed 2 so Tim has successfully leaped across the chasm. If Tim failed he would have fallen into the chasm and possibly lost more Will Points to represent damage from the fall.
The second main mechanic is Invocations. Making a Invocation is a little more complicated to explain. As characters explore the dream lands they will gain access to various different Arcana- a catch all term for a multitude of archetypal characters, objects, events, and powers.
(From Wikipedia:'' Carl Jung was the first psychoanalyst to attach importance to tarot symbolism.[22] He may have regarded the tarot cards as representing archetypes: fundamental types of persons or situations embedded in the collective unconscious of all human beings.'')
A character can freely Invoke any Arcana they possess as way of overcoming obstacles during adventures in the dream realms. Invoking Arcana can be risky though and may come with a price or be difficult for the dreamer to control. Check out my posts with the Dream Realm label to see some examples of Arcana, and an example of an Arcana being invoked below.
Example: Tim the Dreamer is now in a sleepy peaceful village at the edge of a vast desert, he decides to Invoke The Cyclone. To simply unleash the Cyclone and let it destroy the village all Tim would have to do would be to say "I Invoke the Cyclone!" and watch the destruction. But if Tim wanted to Invoke the Cyclone to carry him quickly across the desert- and to leave the village and himself unharmed- he would have to succeed at a very difficult Will Power test, and if he fails The Cyclone would spin dangerously out of control.
The various Arcana will be a pretty big deal in the game, with a near endless number of possible Archetypes to be discovered and used, I will try to post a whole bunch every once in a while as inspiration, and to make a core "canon" list, but my expectation is that DMs and players will be eventually able to make them up pretty much on the fly, and be able to creatively interpret them. In play most Arcana will start as NPCs or obstacles or found treasure- which after they have been met and befriended, overcome or plundered will be available for players to Invoke.
One important note to make is that players cannot swap or share or take duplicates of Arcana that the other players have, so each dreamer will build up a "hand" of unique Arcana which only they can use.
More on this later...
Ok well here are the bare bones-
Everything is based on two game mechanics, Will Power and Invocations.
Will Power (WP) is a measure of a characters ability to influence and resist being influenced by things encountered in dreams. In game terms each WP equates to one d6. As Will Power is spent the d6 are discarded and the characters pool of Will is depleted. A twist is that Will Power also represents a characters hold on the dream and are comparative to health points and HP as used in other games. In most cases trying to affect the dream will result in a depletion of will points, but also will being attacked by dream monsters. I am getting ahead of myself but hopefully you can see what I am trying to say.
When attempting to use Will Power the DM (Dream Master) will tell the character a target number based on how difficult the task is to accomplish. That target number is the number of successes the character has to get with their Will (d6 roll), a success being a roll of a 5 or 6 on a d6 Will dice roll.
example: Tim the dreamer wants to leap a chasm, its pretty narrow and should be easy to leap so the DM tells Tim he will need 2 successes. Tim has 14 Will Points, he decides to play it safe so grabs 4 dice and reduces his Will to 10 Will Points. He rolls the dice. Tim needs at least 2 of the 4 dice to have a result of 5 or 6. Tim rolls two 6s, a 5 and a 1, getting 3 total successes, he only needed 2 so Tim has successfully leaped across the chasm. If Tim failed he would have fallen into the chasm and possibly lost more Will Points to represent damage from the fall.
The second main mechanic is Invocations. Making a Invocation is a little more complicated to explain. As characters explore the dream lands they will gain access to various different Arcana- a catch all term for a multitude of archetypal characters, objects, events, and powers.
(From Wikipedia:'' Carl Jung was the first psychoanalyst to attach importance to tarot symbolism.[22] He may have regarded the tarot cards as representing archetypes: fundamental types of persons or situations embedded in the collective unconscious of all human beings.'')
A character can freely Invoke any Arcana they possess as way of overcoming obstacles during adventures in the dream realms. Invoking Arcana can be risky though and may come with a price or be difficult for the dreamer to control. Check out my posts with the Dream Realm label to see some examples of Arcana, and an example of an Arcana being invoked below.
Example: Tim the Dreamer is now in a sleepy peaceful village at the edge of a vast desert, he decides to Invoke The Cyclone. To simply unleash the Cyclone and let it destroy the village all Tim would have to do would be to say "I Invoke the Cyclone!" and watch the destruction. But if Tim wanted to Invoke the Cyclone to carry him quickly across the desert- and to leave the village and himself unharmed- he would have to succeed at a very difficult Will Power test, and if he fails The Cyclone would spin dangerously out of control.The various Arcana will be a pretty big deal in the game, with a near endless number of possible Archetypes to be discovered and used, I will try to post a whole bunch every once in a while as inspiration, and to make a core "canon" list, but my expectation is that DMs and players will be eventually able to make them up pretty much on the fly, and be able to creatively interpret them. In play most Arcana will start as NPCs or obstacles or found treasure- which after they have been met and befriended, overcome or plundered will be available for players to Invoke.
One important note to make is that players cannot swap or share or take duplicates of Arcana that the other players have, so each dreamer will build up a "hand" of unique Arcana which only they can use.
More on this later...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Zombies in my town
So, just because I don't have enough half finished projects in the works I am going to start working on a new one.
This time its zombies.
Like everyone else I am a fan of zombies, I have a couple zombie games for Xbox, I have the excellent Last Night on Earth board game by Flying Frog as well as Zombies!!!4 The End
I recently picked up a copy of Dead Reign Dark Places it is an expansion sourcebook for the Dead Reign rpg. It is pretty cool. It gave me alot of ideas, and maybe I caught a bit of the zombie plague because I haven't been able to get it off my mind.
So I am going to write up my own simple zombie rpg game. It will be a d6 system and hopefully pretty simple and rules light. One idea I had that is really been making me want to work on this is that I plan to set the game in my local real world area. Specifically the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I want to take real local maps and scribble notes and stuff all over them.
Ok,well more on this later.
(-Edit: I have changed the name of this project to "Quarantine Zone" and have gone through my posts on the subject and edited them to reflect this new name. Quarantine Zone is intended to be set in a real world location- preferably a place all the players are familiar with).
This time its zombies.
Like everyone else I am a fan of zombies, I have a couple zombie games for Xbox, I have the excellent Last Night on Earth board game by Flying Frog as well as Zombies!!!4 The End
I recently picked up a copy of Dead Reign Dark Places it is an expansion sourcebook for the Dead Reign rpg. It is pretty cool. It gave me alot of ideas, and maybe I caught a bit of the zombie plague because I haven't been able to get it off my mind.
So I am going to write up my own simple zombie rpg game. It will be a d6 system and hopefully pretty simple and rules light. One idea I had that is really been making me want to work on this is that I plan to set the game in my local real world area. Specifically the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I want to take real local maps and scribble notes and stuff all over them.
Ok,well more on this later.
(-Edit: I have changed the name of this project to "Quarantine Zone" and have gone through my posts on the subject and edited them to reflect this new name. Quarantine Zone is intended to be set in a real world location- preferably a place all the players are familiar with).
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The Trusty Dagger
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.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Want to lvl up? pt 1
One recent idea I had regards experience progression and leveling. I was thinking why not get rid of XP all together? I mean, I get it, XP works really well to let you calculate exactly how many goblins you need to kill to level up. In my experience though experience points sometimes just get in the way or are redundant. You don't need to be totaling experience to realize the 10xp a level 5 Fighter gets from a lone goblin is pretty insignificant. Another problem I have seen is some players doing stuff specifically to try to get XP, like killing hobbit children (sure we were like 13, but still). The challenge and difficulty of rising through the levels definitely needs to increase, but nowadays I'm not so sure that crunching numbers is the best way to do it.
I would rather ask my party to come up with a goal, a quest worthy goal, which is informed by their exploration of the game world. We would discuss the goal, the players and I, and try to come to an agreement about what type of goal would be suitable for the party level and their current situation.
If the party is able to achieve their goal, or make some other significant accomplishment then the entire party can level up.
In this model leveling up entails:
a hit point increase,
a increase in renown and prestige in the game world,
and possibly some incidental benefits,
NO new abilities or powers would be gained.
To gain new class abilities, powers, feats, or skills, the player and I would have to set a character goal relating to the desired ability.
Example: Snagg the Barbarian wants to learn how to perform a mighty cleave attack with his great axe. We decide that to learn this Snagg must strike with his great axe and roll the maximum result on the damage dice 10 times, only worthy and dangerous opponents will count (no hobbit children!).
So that's one quick example but hopefully it gets my point across.
More on this later...
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