Searching the Bandits’ Hideout

Enzio roused the captive and befriended him (even though the captive was quite sarcastic about his treatment and downright hostile at times) – the silver-tongued bard convinced the prisoner to reveal the location of the bandits’ ill-gotten gains and then made the man dig up the chest which was buried beneath a pile of stones.  Howell tried to show off his lockpicking skills on the chest but failed miserably; in the end Balder ended up smashing open the chest with his axe which broke a bottle of what the group presumed was some sort of perfume, but left the rest of the contents intact since they were only copper & silver coins. Enzio kept his word and let the captive go afterward, though not before finding out that the bandits avoided the moathouse’s dungeons due to the “restless dead” they had run in to during their first explorations.

The party looked around a bit more but decided they didn’t want to stick around – Irma wanted to report back what she had discovered as well as return the coins to the victims, something most of the others grudgingly agreed to. Thus, they packed up their equipment, along with the chest, and headed back to the village.

Return to Hommlet – Intrigue abounds

Irma returned to the church with the chest, although she agreed to give the group a small amount from it as a reward for risking their lives in recovering it. The paladin, who had spent her entire life in the service of the Silver Flame was rather disturbed by the reaction of the Canon and his assistant when they began excitedly discussing the new stained glass window the money would purchase:  Irma had expected that it would be distributed to the poor or perhaps returned to its rightful owners.  Canon Terjon explained that the best way the church could help the less fortunate would be to tend to their spiritual needs first, spouting off some scripture about “Give a man a piece of bread and you’ve saved him for a day.  Give a man faith and you saved him for eternity.”  Irma found this attitude disturbing, but kept her mouth shut, knowing that it was not her place to question her superiors.

The Canon also took the time to introduce a new clergy man, a brother Tor, who had been traveling to the capital and had stopped in Hommlet along the way. Intrigued by Irma’s adventures, as well as her rather statuesque appearance, Tor asks to accompany her when she returns to the Moathouse.

Meanwhile, Kira headed off to to the Trading Post in pursuit of a back-up weapon. There she meets the proprietors which fawn over her, all the time asking a lot of questions about what she’s doing here. They are especially intrigued by her description of the events at the moathouse. The dwarven warrior-priest becomes suspicious though when they start  asking that “now that she’s dealt with the bandits, where she will be heading next?”  – she clearly has the impression that the two of them are trying to steer her away from returning to the moathouse.

Having finished with their business at the Church, Irma and Tor meet the others at the Inn to discuss their plans. They decide to return to the moathouse the next day, but plan on staying until they’ve explored the ruins thoroughly. Thus, they need supplies and Irma heads off to the trading post to secure enough food for the group’s expedition.

At the same time, Enzio returned to the Inn and strikes up a conversation with a mercenary named Zort. Enzio, anxious to bolster the group’s ranks, offers Zort half of his share of the spoils if Zort will accompany the group back to the moathouse. The bard is quite satisfied at having hired his first retainer and spends the rest of the evening celebrating and entertaining the inn’s guests.

Irma receives a similar warm welcome at the trading post but is far less guarded about her purpose for being in the region and what she’s planning on doing. She orders enough rations for two weeks for the entire group (10 people!) which really surprises the traders but they promise that they can secure such a sizable order, though it won’t be ready until the following morning. Irma hands over the rest of her money as a deposit, and ends up going back to church to borrow more money in order to pay the rest of the fee.

Descent in to the Dungeons

The following morning the group gathered outside the inn and then went to the trading post to pick up their supplies. Much to their surprise, two-weeks of rations turns out to be a huge amount of food (including a barrel of dried apples and three rounds of cheese). They end up spending all of their remaining money to rent a cart and donkey to carry the supplies.

Returning to the moathouse, they carefully transport the supplies, cart, & donkey across the rickety drawbridge and spend most of the rest of the day clearing out the dead bodies from the great hall and setting up a makeshift camp.  They explore what little is left of the upper structures of the moathouse, but decide to wait until the following morning to descend in to the dungeon’s depths.

The next day they head down into the dungeon, leaving Ada and Olaya on guard duty. Descending in to the dank dungeon, they almost immediately run in to the “restless dead” which turn out to be a group of skeletons which spring from the cells of the dungeon and attack. Tor proves that he’s more than a scholar by driving back several of the skeletons by invoking the power of his god. The group makes relatively short work of the skeletons, suffering only a few bumps and bruises in the process.

GM Commentary

We had a a lot of roleplay and not a huge amount of action in this session which was nice because it let me set up some of the themes I want to explore (e.g., the fact that the church in the village is largely built upon the backs of the poor, with the Canon eating well and drinking fine wine while most of the villagers just scrape by), as well as some of the more suspicious and/or sinister elements within the town. Some of this will come to light in later sessions. For example, Irma’s naive revelations to the traders is going to have some repercussions on the group, not the least of which is that the food they’ve bought has been poisoned.  More on that next time.

Regarding the actual adventure:  I’m obviously deviating from they way certain elements (e.g., Canon Terjon) are written in the module. I’ve done this specifically to make the whole place a bit more morally ambiguous as well as involve the characters more personally in to the story.

Next session we’ll continue with the exploration of the moathouse’s dungeons. I hope to have the full complement of players again too – as expected uneven attendance by a few players has meant a lot of hoop jumping to avoid having a lot of automatons following the group around.

Classes

Eliminating classes is a just little trickier than races because you ideally want to still allow players access to the four roles (defender, striker, controller, leader). Some care also needs to be taken so that you don’t create a world that makes little sense, although that’s unlikely to happen since virtually all of the various “skill sets” are covered by a variety of classes. There are a couple of ways to go about eliminating classes, each of which will yield a different feel.

First and simplest, just eliminate the classes you don’t like.  Hate the idea of barbarians?  Ban them.  Don’t want teleporting holy warriors? Get rid of the Avenger.  Not in to scholars of magic, but instead want magic to be more wild and untamed?  Eliminate Wizards from the list.  You have pretty much free reign to delete any class you don’t like from the list because there are always alternatives that can fill the same roles. You can pare down the whole list to the original basic D&D classes or eliminate classes that don’t fit what you want.  The only bit of advice here is make sure you leave enough to provide the players with some options. One of 4E’s weaknesses to some (i.e., much of the difference between classes is just the way they look and function in combat) is actually a strength when it comes to fine tuning your game.

Example 1:  I’m again returning to the idea of running a game based on the simplicity of the original basic D&D game.  For my classes I choose Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric.  Perfect: Each of the major roles is available and I have my four enigmatic classes available. Perhaps that’s a bit too restrictive though so I add in Ranger and Druid.

Example 2:  I decide I hate the Warlord and Ranger (I don’t want any two scimitar wielding guys around) classes – I can simply cross them off the list. For example, all of the ranger’s skill specialties (e.g., the ability to track) can be covered by other classes who access to the same skills, so all I’m really losing is the combat capabilities – a fighter can be just as an effective “ranger” in terms of skills.

Example 3:  Want to emulate the original AD&D game?* Limit class choices to:  Assassin (if you have access to DDI), Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, & the Monk (from PHB3). Throw in the Barbarian if you liked UA; the same goes for the bard if you’re so inclined (I would be). As for races:  human, halfling, dwarf, gnome, elf, half-elf, & half-orc.

A second, much more radical approach is to eliminate whole swathes of classes by eliminating a power source all together. Any of the existing power sources can easily be “excised” from the game without too much difficulty, although removing the Martial power source means you’re defining your setting as one in which everyone has some sort of supernatural or magical ability – which is really cool when you think about it. Which power source(s) you delete really shapes the type of game you’re running and largely defines a bit chunk of the world.

• Want a pure fighting, grittier campaign or one in which magic is alien and very rare?  Eliminate everything but the Martial classes for players and suddenly you have something that’s much more akin to traditional swords & sorcery, and far more down to earth. Of course NPCs might have access to some arcane classes, which helps make them far more spectacular.
• Want a far more lethal and grittier world?  Eliminate the divine power source, including all the rituals that are connected to it (specifically the “Restoration” category).  Now stuff that dies stays dead and you can’t cure diseases magically. No clerics, no paladins, no avengers, no invokers…. you get the idea.
• A pure magical world could be constructed by allowing players access only to arcane and divine power sources (maybe primal too) and then explaining the divine powers in terms of arcane magic as well so that the influence of the gods could go away.
• Want a world where the gods are much more powerful and important?  Eliminate the arcane and psychic power sources and the divine and primal power sources suddenly becomes the only “magic” game in town. Now they’re important.
• How about a setting where psychic powers are everything (not my cup of tea, mind you)?  This one is easy – just force everyone to only choose classes that use the psionic power source.

Obviously the possibilities of mixing and matching are pretty endless and depending on how you spin the actual changes you also get a lot of variation. For example, characters who do not have access to the arcane power source might be due because magic is incredibly rare, or associated only with unspeakably evil rites, or simply not exist at all. Similarly, a lack of divine powers may be due to the lack of real deities or simply that the fact that the gods have abandoned the world ala Krynn in the original Dragonlance novels.

Example 4:  Our Teerna campaign is a world without gods – while people worship a few different deities, there are no actual divine beings present and thus I’ve eliminated the divine power source.

Example 5:  I think a really cool idea might be a game based on the notion that everybody possesses some degree of magical abilities.  It might be really interesting to eliminate the martial power source altogether and force people to choose from the remaining power sources (all of which have worthy “fighter” types). I’d probably throw in the Swordmage from the FR setting book (if I owned it, though the character builder solves most of that issue) to add in an arcane defender type.

Keep in mind that what everything I’ve suggested so far, requires no real modification to the rules (though some of these will radically change the feel of the world).

Up Next

More ways to customize 4th edition to make it fit what you want.

* I need to emphasize that when I say “emulate” I mean just the structure of the original rules. I don’t think 4E plays anything like AD&D. Rather, I’m suggesting that if you want a “traditional” AD&D style setting, only using the 4th edition rules, you can easily cut out all the races & classes that don’t fit that without any real issues.  I say “four” because you probably will need the PHB2 if you want the possibility of adding a bunch of the more esoteric races and classes like the gnome, barbarian, and druid. If none of those interest you, the PHB will suffice.  You definitely will not need the PHB3 when it comes out. I also think that of all the books, the DMG2 is the best written book of all of them and is worth the money. (part 2)

That’s true, although it’s likely a bit of creative marketing, rather than a new design-philosophy, on WotC’s part. After all, what they’re presenting in these essential products is really nothing that you cannot already do with the existing core books. In other words, if you’re considering/reconsidering 4E because of what you’ve read about the essentials line (& in particular the red box), you can save yourself some money and a long wait by doing the same thing yourself with the four core books.*

Therefore I’m presenting a whole series of suggestions on how to customize 4E to make it fit what you want. I’m not saying the 4E can or should be used for everything – in fact, I only like 4E for a very specific style and genre of gaming. Therefore, this isn’t an attempt to convert anyone in to playing 4E nor one to make 4E the only game you play. Instead, it’s simply a collection of ideas of how you can shape the existing rules to create a simpler game, or a more focused game, or a game more like “the one you played as a kid.” Many of the ideas aren’t innovative or brilliant. In fact, some of them are so damn obvious that I’m amazed more people aren’t doing them regularly or that WotC isn’t more actively promoting them, although I suspect part of the latter problem is that doing so doesn’t really sell splat books. Onwards…

Make the game your own

You can make the game your own by simply mixing and matching the various elements available.  By selectively eliminating some of the choices (e.g., races, classes, limited magic items, etc.), a group can simplify how the game runs as well as capture a specific feel. The results are often a much more plausible and richer setting because the differences between various elements become more distinct and interesting.

This is what most people ultimately want and what many “traditional” D&D players did (I’m referring to original, basic, & 1st ed AD&D players here) – disregarding the rules or stuff they didn’t like, and creating house rules that shaped the game to what they want.  I’ve never met anyone who played AD&D who used the segmented combat round rules nor weapon speed factors. I’m sure they’re out there, but the majority of players just dumped that stuff. Similarly, when Unearthed Arcana first came out we were all excited about the cavalier class but we quickly dropped it because it didn’t fit our “world.”

You can do the same thing with 4E and it’s far simpler than it sounds.

Races

The first method is the easiest:  Look through the PHBs and decide what races you want. My suggestion is to set yourself a maximum number (6 is a good number if you’re the type of person who wants help) and then pare down the playable race list to that number. Instantly your world becomes much more focused and your job as a DM becomes much easier since there are only a few specific races to learn.

Better yet, gather your players around the table and get their input first.  Ask them what they want to play and what they think is stupid or a poor fit. By getting their input you avoid the “but I wanted to play a goliath!” incident that is guaranteed to occur the first time you delete a playable race.

Be brutal.  What you don’t want is to simply delete one race. Instead you want to narrow choices and create a coherent setting, and that sometimes means some tough choices.  If halflings do not fit, then they need to go, no matter how much you personally like them. On the other hand, sometimes these are easy since there’s a lot of redundant overlap in the feel of certain races:  half-orcs, goliaths, dragonborn, and warforged all lean towards specific roles and so getting rid of a couple of them is relatively easy to do. While it’s wise to try to cover most of the 4E race/class combination niches, sometimes eliminates those can also create some interesting twists too and helps restrict a bit of the optimized builds that occur.

Example 1:  I want to run a game that feels like the original red box D&D which makes my first cut on races easy.  I throw away all the races except for humans, halflings, dwarves, and elves. However, one of my players really wants to play a gnome illusionist (don’t we all?), so I put gnomes back in. Then to round out the options to a nice half dozen I decide I want some sort of bruiser type and add in the goliath.

Example 2:  I want to run a game that’s very other-worldly in which the characters will jump from plane to plane via gates (something akin to Star Gate perhaps). What I want are races that all seem to originate from different planes and so I choose  humans, tiefling, eladrin, devas, goliaths, and shadar-kai for my playable races. I then throw in half-elves as an extra race, deciding that they’re actually the results of breeding between the eladrin and humans (in other words they’re technically half-eladrin in my setting).

Up Next

The next method, which I will post later today, is to do the same with the classes.

* I say “four” because you probably will need the PHB2 if you want the possibility of adding a bunch of the more esoteric races and classes like the gnome, barbarian, and druid. If none of those interest you, the PHB will suffice.  You definitely will not need the PHB3 when it comes out. I also think that of all the books, the DMG2 is the best written book of all of them and is worth the money.

Defining What I Want

My first step was assembling a list of my priorities in terms of system mechanics.  My first draft looked something like this:

• It needs to fit the feel and nature of Tribe 8.
• Needs to “feel” like Burning Wheel – that means BITs are central to character creation and players are rewarded via an Artha-like system.
• The system needs to incorporate the streamlining of Mouse Guard to any BW components I use.
• Character growth needs to grow out of play (what I would call “organic”) rather than taking place in a stair-step leveling or min-max point-spend system. It needs to be able to model the growth of the characters from inexperienced “rookies” in their late teens/early 20’s to highly skilled legends in their 40’s. Hence, FATE doesn’t work at all for what I have in mind for the game.
• Character creation needs to be driven by concepts but be done via a point-buy system. It also needs to be flexible.  I love the BW Lifepaths system but it’s way too hard to port to Tribe 8.
• No perks/edges vs. hindrances/drawbacks:  Traits should be double-edged like a good Aspect in FATE is.
• Combat needs to be “crunchy” but not overly tactical – I want something that provides the “I could die here!” feel of BW with less complexity. Mouse Guard doesn’t work either because it’s too abstract for what we need; the team work part of it doesn’t really fit with the nature of what we have planned.
• Social combat needs to be just as satisfying – no single “persuasion” check or “you made good points as a player so you win” stuff.  The MG model of “conflicts” is what I’m going after here but without the scripting.
• No scripting.  Yeah, I just said that but it deserves it’s own entry.  I don’t want to have to do scripting – it’s slow and awkward at times.
• I don’t want anything that requires the use of miniatures for anything but inspiration.
• I want a system with a more unified mechanic (rather than a bunch of sub-systems) that you use across different types of conflicts.  While BW’s core mechanic stays the same, the subsystems for economics (Resources), social conflict (Duel of Wits), ranged combat (Range & Cover) and melee combat (Fight!) all involve very different procedures and a new set of specialized rules to learn.  I want something where you can switch seamlessly.
• Circles and Resources from BW & MG.
• Prep needs to be simple – I want the ability to create NPCs on the fly and most shouldn’t need more than a single stat line to use.
• Setting obstacles needs to be easy, but with enough range that I don’t end up with the problems that can make BW & MG frustrating at times.
• No bean counting – that means no XPs, no money.
• Needs to use a single type of dice.
• Probabilities need to be bell-shaped or curved; I do not want the flat, erratic results you get in D20.

Ask the Players

I also took the opportunity to ask the players what they wanted from the game and system and got some great feedback.  Amongst the most important points were the fact that everyone wanted a longer-term campaign (Beyond the Breach has gone on for a year, but was designed to have a very definite end point), with the opportunity for regular character improvement. When asked about how that improvement should take place, everyone unanimously agreed that they wanted something where a character improved by using their abilities and skills rather than being awarded experience points that were spent on improving whatever the player wants. Everyone felt that this created a lot more roleplaying opportunities and allowed characters to grow in the process of play. In other words, they want a system similar to what’s used in BW and MG.

The players also want a “crunchy” system for resolving conflicts but something where a character can be good at something more than just fighting. As one player put it, I should be able to play a “social manipulator that’s just as dangerous, in his own way, as a guy with a sword.”

BITs were also popular but everyone wants them easier to use – they want to be able to define beliefs in the process of play a bit easier, and that Traits should be a lot more flexible. We had lots of problems with the Trait system in BW because it required memorizing the mechanical effects of the Traits which was a bit of a pain in the ass – they want something where the player can come up with creative ways to use the trait to their advantage, or have it used against them. That’s cool to know since it fits well with my desire to introduce Aspects to the game.

What Now?

That’s pretty clear – settle on a base system and then start tweaking. I’ll talk more about that next time.

I, of course, did a complete due diligence type process when purchasing the Kindle. Who am I kidding? Yes, I had a look around. You can hardly commit to spending that amount without doing something to assuage the guilt a little. The choices came down to two main options, the Kindle or Sony’s eReader. The IREX DR-1000 was another option considered. However, I went for the Kindle DX. It has the PDF support I required (with the DX version, not before) for roleplaying books and the support of a large bookseller (Amazon). Plus, it was easy to purchase from a site I use anyway.

It arrived quickly, US to UK in three days, and the first impression was “Wow, that’s small.”

It was a good impression … really. I wanted a portable device but decided to go for the slightly larger screen, due to wanting to view PDFs on it. I figured that the smaller 6″ screens would be just to small. I was right. As it is, the 9.7″ screen is just about large enough to display two column PDFs. The text size is small when using in portrait mode, about 8 point equivalent I’d say. Not for someone whose eyesight is poor. Luckily, my glasses’ prescription is up to date and I can handle the size of text. You can tip it on its side and view in landscape mode, but then you’ve only got half a page displayed and you have to go back and forth with the pages.

So, how does is work roleplaying games? I’m a big fan of DriveThruRPG and have a growing collection of roleplaying books in PDF form. I can indulge the addiction of collecting systems and keep my wife happy by not cluttering up the house. Storage wise, its a big plus. However, the laptop isn’t ideal for reading. The backlit screen is fine for a while, but then eyestrain kicks in. I also don’t really want to print more than I have done already. After all, it’s rather defeating the point of having the material in PDF rather than printed form. I’ve been pondering eReaders for a while but the price has, up to now, kept me away. With the release of the global Kindle DX, my interest was … well, rekindled. The eInk display really does make the text clearer than reading from a laptop. The eyestrain is lessened to that of reading from paper. Of course, the display isn’t lit, so you’ve got the issue of not being able to read in the dark.

What about specific experiences with pdfs of RPGs? Well, the copy of Summerland I’ve recently picked up is great. Single column, good text size, and fairly fast page turns. The same with Spirit of the Century. The collection of Cortex system rulebooks I’ve got (Serenity, BSG, Cortex system book) are all okay. The style is dual column, so the text is a little small, but still very readable. Same with the collection of Babylon 5 sourcebooks and Unisystem books (WitchCraft, Armageddon, Conspiracy X). I can easily say I’m impressed. Not all of the PDF features are there, you can’t access a table of contents or zoom in for example. You can skip to a particular page, bookmark a page and run a text search.

The next step is, hopefully, for roleplaying companies to start looking at producing ebook formatted games (the Kindle uses the Mobipocket PRC format as well as its own AZW format). Looking at the Kindle book store, there’s Thousand Suns and Colonial Gothic from Rogue Games. Thousand Suns is on my wishlist – it looks to have a similar system to Corporation’s Brutal Engine, which I love.  I might well be tempted to have a look at some point in the near future. The sample looks okay and has the advantage over a PDF version in that you can modify the text size. Unfortunately, the sample available for Colonial Gothic looked anything but okay. I think that maybe these are conversions and that the conversion process is not always successful. Strange that it would be on sale though. Maybe no one’s bought one yet for them to notice through complaints. You would have thought that a publisher might check out their own titles though to ensure that Amazon is offering a decent quality book. After all, it’s their reputation that is on the line.

In conclusion, I can say that I’m very happy. Is the expense justified? Probably not. But then, a lot of people spend money on unjustified stuff. The prevalence of the iPhone and iPod are fine examples of this. It does what I want, which is to display my roleplaying PDFs without giving me a headache and without me having to spend hours with the printer. I can recommend an eReader to those who’d want to view their PDF roleplaying collection. Just bear in mind that the text is going to be a little small. If you’re okay with that, fine. If not, don’t bother. I’d say the 9.7″ screen is probably as small as you can go. Any smaller and the PDFs would be unreadable in portrait mode.

As the saccharine marking slogan goes: I love my Kindle DX.

I’m not sure if I really like the art – it seems to have more of a fantasy than post-apocalyptic vibe to it. It certainly doesn’t scream “cool” to me either, unlike the 2nd & 3rd edition versions of the GW game did. Then again, I’m 25 years older at this point.  Maybe it’ll look better at full-size….

Famine in Far-go

There’s also cover art up for the Famine in Far-Go supplement as well.  Unfortunately they give away the ultimate “villain” on the cover of the box which sucks.  So did the original though. I’m also a huge fan of the original module’s art and this seems to pale in comparison.

]]> http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?feed=rss2&p=2310 1 http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=2310 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GamingBrouhaha/~3/Jd5qunM38z0/ http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=2300#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:45:09 +0000 MJ Harnish http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=2300 I dug up these various bits & pieces about the newly announced 4E Gamma World RPG from twitter and forum posts. Obviously I don’t have any way to confirm the veracity of these so take them with a grain of salt, and some of the notes may be redundant.  A few also seem to contradict each other or simply aren’t very clear.

• There are at least two adventures/expansions planned:  Famine in Far-go is scheduled for November, 2010.  Legion of Gold is scheduled to be released in December 2010.
  • Famine in Far-go features the expected chickens.  It is an adventure/expansion and includes 10 cards.
• Gamma World themes have powers and lean towards class roles.
• Almost entirely random character generation, you’ll have a key stat for your theme, and then stats rolled, as well as stats and mutations
  • There will be an option to roll your stats:  3d6 for each stat (see other note below for more details).
  • Character creation takes maybe up to 15 minutes because so much of it is random. Equipment purchase is one of the few decisions
• At the start of every day you draw a mutation card that gives you your mutation for that day.
• Character progression is faster than D&D, but stops at level 10.
• Gamma World will have 120 booster cards available in randomized packs of 8 per Pack.  MSRP $3.99
  • 120 card set, 8 card boosters for $3.99 for more mutations, tech cards, and player “personal deck” cards.
• Gamma World crosses over with 4E DnD very well.
• Gamma World is still a RPG based on 4E but it’s designed for short-term campaigns.
• You don’t need the booster cards, if you don’t mind drawing from the DM’s deck.
  • “Marketing guys might not want me to say this, but you don’t have to buy boosters, and you can always draw from GM’s deck.”
• Gamma World Game Day will feature making characters from Booster Packs – no pregens.
• Gamma World box set includes 30 classic monsters, plus a few new ones. It also includes a 10-encounter adventure, maps, tokens, and the rules. It is self-contained: You do not need the core 4E D&D books.
• The box set will contain 2 poster maps, and a GM’s deck of cards that includes 40 mutation cards and 40 tech cards.
• It doesn’t necessarily use classes. Some things remain the same with characters, some change.  Lots of mutations which serve as “powers.”
  • Your Half-Yeti can wield an M-16 and a stop sign in leather armor. There’s also power armor, blasters, etc.
• Gamma World is “very compatible” with DnD. Skill list slightly different, but D&D monsters work just fine and vice versa.
  • Tech artifacts would be “spooky and scary” in D&D but they work similarly as magic items. “Radiation” as damage type.
  • “In LFR, can we use Gamma World artifacts?” Chris Tulach shuts that down pretty quick
• There are character themes that have elements of D&D roles- acid-spitting cockroach might be kind of a striker, for instance.
• There are plans to do more “genre games” in the future, which will almost certainly use the 4e engine.

These are notes I found from a seminar at Dungeons & Dragons Experience 2010

Beyond the D&D RPG…

Presenters: Chris Tulach, Rich Baker, Bart Carroll, Mike Mearls

Gamma World – October

Box includes:

• • 160 page manual
  • How to make a character
  • How to GM
  • Monsters (old and new)
  • 10 encounter adventure
  • Box includes 4 token sheets
    • All the monsters
    • Player Characters
    • Cardboard Stock (like in Game Day Kits)
  • A couple poster maps
  • 80 Cards – Starter/GM deck
    • 40 mutations
    • 40 tech cards

A character generally has two themes/mutations

• • Samples: Android Seismic, Giant Yeti
  • Don’t really use classes – your traits ARE your character.
  • Cards help define additional mutations or Omega Tech
  • Arm yourself with an M16. . . or a stop sign

120 Booster Cards

• • 8 per Blister
  • $3.99/pack
  • Sometimes you’ll draw from your deck, sometimes from the DMs deck.
  • Wanted your Disintegrate power? Too bad you had to draw from the GM deck and got “Floppy Feet”

Expectation is that 90% of buyers will be familiar with D&D, but the game will still include “Basic starter” rules.

Game is VERY compatible with D&D

Skill list is a little different.

Drop D&D Monsters in your D&D game or vice-versa.

Artifacts would be spooky/scary in D&D, but it could be done.

Chris suggests letting characters get Gamma World mutations from a Spellplauged land.

Gamma World is a very humorous game

• • What’s NOT funny about playing a Yeti Cockroach with a plasma rifle?

Themes imply powers

• • Yeti = Defender (kinda)
  • Cockroach = Striker (kinda)

Some of the fun will be getting two themes that don’t really appear to mesh.

• • Hawkoid – flyer
  • Seismic – The Thing
  • Makes you a gargoyle!

The entire Gamma World line (all three boxes) would take maybe 5-6 months to play.

Gamma World is designed to be a fun deviation from other games – not really made for long-term play.

May also see some DDI support for new mods – if demand is there.

You won’t NEED booster packs – if you don’t mind drawing from the DM deck.

Players could also pool their booster cards if they like.

Different ways to build your characters

• • Follow tables
  • Give 18s to your needed stats for your roll 3d6 for all other stats.
  • Rich didn’t originally like this system, but original Gamma World had 33% bad mutations, so low stats are similar
  • Character creation should take 15 minutes or less.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: Can you roll a “pure theme”? Like Seismic Seismic?

A: (Rich) I did something clever for this. There are 20 themes, and you roll twice to get Primary and Secondary.  Roll the same number twice? You’re option #21 – Engineered Human

Q: How does the card mechanic work?

A: Cards are basically (encounter) powers. Some are persistant, some are when you want to use them.  Carapace, for example, would be an always-on effect. At the beginning of your day/after a long rest – everyone draws a card to see what they’ve got.   Gamma Eye – fry something with Radiation. Use it and it’s gone.

Probably change cards for mutations at the end of every encounter.  Tech is only gonna last a while: Blaster only good for a few shots – then it breaks.  You don’t necessarily lose tech when you stop for a long rest. Most will be junk, and you’ll maybe be able to salvage down really good tech to make it a permanent part of your character. GMs deck tech would be like “Rusty Laser Pistol” – good for one shot.

Q: Will Gamma World see DDI / Character Builder support?

A: (Chris) No plans right now, but it depends on what the community wants. Certainly not on the books for 2010.

A: (Rich) Gamma World will be simple enough that Character Builder support may not be needed “you guys” will likely have it broken down into Excel Spreadsheets in no time.

Q: Does Wizards plan to keep branching out into genre games like this more?

A: I think the 4E rules system is universal enough that, yes, we should be able to do more of this. It’s also possible that players could start in Gamma World and move on to D&D.

Monsters (may) have action points, player’s don’t.  This sounds like it may be in flux right now – so don’t be surprised if this changes.

I’m not sure what I think about this yet since I have to digest it a bit.  It’s certainly nothing like the original red box in terms of simplicity of play but it is a stripped down version of the 4E core material which is pretty damn close to the “spirit” of Basic D&D.  The fact that it contains a set of polyhedral dice is also pretty cool.  However, the fact that it only covers levels 1 through 2* seems ridiculous. I’m not sure how WotC can claim it’s a “cheaper” entry into the hobby when you’re going to be forced to buy the PHB within two weeks of buying the box set.

I’m not really sure why some current 4E players are anxiously anticipating the release though since if you already own the core books there doesn’t appear to be anything really new in the box to make it worth purchasing.  Greywulf is really gushing over the box set – I can appreciate some of what he’s excited about but I think it’s really wishful thinking to call 4E “old-school” in any sense of the word. That said, I have to admit that the idea of buying the box for my oldest son for Christmas 2010 (he’ll be eight) has already crossed my mind.

* Direct quote from DDI Insider:

The box takes players from 1st level through 2nd level with a limited selection of options and choices.

Now WotC has announced the release of a 4E-based version of Gamma World and that has me very intrigued because the nature of the mutations in GW have the potential to be an even better fit for the structure and form Powers take in the game. Most of 4E’s powers have a very supernatural, Wuxia feel to them that are over-the-top and very cinematic.  That rubs some people the wrong way and justifiably so:  if you’re looking for grim, gritty, dark fantasy 4E isn’t all that satisfying. Similarly, the idea of a fighter knocking someone 10′ backwards with a swipe of his shield strikes some as unrealistic (I shudder to use that word in association with any sort of fantasy RPG, especially one which lets you play an elf).

I can identify with both those criticisms because I can’t imagine how my Beyond the Breach campaign would have worked at all as a 4E game. However, I also think 4E can be pretty damn cool at times: a first time player in my group recently commented to me how he was skeptical about the mechanics of his warden’s powers but in play they resulted in some very cool, cinematic scenes – something he said with a noticeable grin on his face.  Okay, so enough about weighing the pros and cons of 4E because that’s been done ad nausem.

What I do want to say is that I am pretty jazzed about the idea of marrying 4E’s style and approach to Gamma World.  Gamma World (at least the 2nd edition I played and still own) was all about wacky mutations, something I think 4E’s powers could model really well.  Take the “laser beam cleric” in D&D: that concept strikes some D&D purists as wrong, but in Gamma World the basic idea (of course dressed up a bit different for the setting) fits perfectly. Same goes for powers which push targets away, or give you temporary hit points, or allow you to teleport all over the battlefield. Anything that’s wacky, over-the-top, or cinematic will work in Gamma World and that’s pretty much 4E in toto.

Of course a lot remains to be seen when the actual games comes out. Some of the initial information about the game seem pretty promising:

• It’s a complete, stand-alone RPG that comes in a box. You don’t need to own any of the core 4E books.
  • The box includes die-cut tokens, a couple of double-sided battle maps, and several card decks (power & loot decks are mentioned)
• Two classic GW adventures (Famine in Far-go & Legion of Gold) are already slated for release.
• The game is focused on short-term play at the Heroic tier only – I like this since it focuses the game more tightly and keeps the game within the scope of the Gamma World setting rather than letting PCs become demi-gods amongst the wreckage of post-apocalyptic Earth.
• The 4E monsters are supposed to be compatible with the game which is pretty awesome considering all you need to do is re-skin them and you’re ready to play.
• Quick, random character generation that fits with the original Gamma World concept where you never knew what you were going to end up with.

What I’m kind of dubious about is the decision to sell randomized “booster” decks of cards. That to me seems like a really dumb idea since it’s virtually guaranteed to drive most people to simply use self-created power cards, or worse yet, to resort to downloading pirated scans of the cards. Come on WotC, this is not MtG and so having “official” cards is absolutely meaningless. I’ll even go so far and predict that pirated cards will be up on the internet within 48-hours of release.

All in all though, I’m definitely interested in the idea of a 4E version of Gamma World and will likely pick up the box set when it comes out in October.

Evening in Hommlet

Most of the group spent their first night in Hommlet hanging out at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.  Enzio entertained the patrons by telling a few adventurous tales, while Balder attempted to goad several locals in to a drinking contest – he was largely unsuccessful at this since he’s almost unintelligible (his Common is very poor) and no one is going to fall victim a classic blunder.*  The rest of the group present were largely silent.

Meanwhile, Irma and her companions (Kira & Ada) were having dinner with the Canon Terjon who was quite curious about Irma’s mission as well as events back in the capital.  He recommended that Irma and her followers (this is an ongoing joke/misunderstanding that everyone assumes Kira and Ada are Irma’s retainers) talk to masters Burne & Rufus concerning the strange goings-on at the ruins of the moathouse.

The Next Morning

Red Sonja (which is what I picture Irma looking a lot like though maybe not quite so ridiculously dressed)

Irma, Kira, & Ada meet with Burne and Rufus, both of whom find the striking, statuesque paladin rather captivating. Burne is a rather stereotypically dressed wizard who does all the talking; Rufus largely just nods and occasionally grunts.  Burne cautions Irma that she should take more retainers with her if she is going to investigate the moathouse.  At this point Kira has had enough and bellows that she’s a battle priest of Clangeddin and deserves more respect.  Burne apologizes and then rephrases his suggestion:  The group should take reinforcements with them since bandits have frequented the road and the moathouse is in a foul area of low-lying swamp land.  He also offers the group whatever aide or counsel he can, although he cannot commit much help because he and Rufus are quite busy dealing with the castle’s construction.

On the road outside the tower, the three adventurers meet Salladhor, Balder, Enzio, and Howell who are on their way to the moathouse although for different reasons:  the potential for financial gain.  Xander and Olaya are missing, apparently because they’ve gone to visit a druid who has a grove somewhere in the village’s vicinity.  Not wanting to waste any more time, Irma announces that they will all head to the moathouse and off the group marches.

The Moathouse – Bandits!

The group reached the moathouse without any problem and set off exploring. Unfortunately none of them are particularly quiet about their approach and thus the moathouse’s residents can hear them coming as soon as they cross the rotted drawbridge.  Balder eyed the badly leaning tower at one corner of the courtyard but decided it might be unwise to risk entering the dilapidated building.  Instead, they headed straight for the main keep, heading up the stairs and in to the dimly lit main hall – dim light shines through holes in the rotted ceiling providing a small amount of illumination which reveals evidence of a fierce battle that took place long ago.  Salladhor inspects the ground outside the main entranceway and finds evidence of recent passage by booted feet.

He mentions this just as a group of armed bandits burst from a nearby door and rush the group, surprising most of them. Despite the element of surprise, the bandits do not fare well – Salladhor hurls a dagger which catches the first bandit through the door in the eye, killing him. Moments later Irma proves she’s more than a beautiful face by taking off a bandit’s head with one sweep of her claymore.  Aside from a few scrapes and bruises, the group makes short work of the bandits and even manages to take one prisoner as the resourceful Ada managed to knock one unconscious with a color spray spell.

GM Commentary

The session went pretty much as planned although we started to bog down in Hommlet when some of the players wanted to engage in the stereotypical “tavern” roleplay which basically amounts to performing for money, challenging patrons to drinking contests, or just getting drunk. None of that is particularly productive nor really any fun for anyone else at the table so I pushed past it and kept everyone moving forward.

I have to admit that I’ve been pretty explicit in driving the group towards the moathouse – they started the ball rolling by asking about potential areas of trouble and so rather than drop a lot of possibilities or play coy I decided to layout out the next step very clearly. I did this for two reasons: First, the group is very large (9-10 players) and could easily end up with a half dozen opinions on where people want to go. Second, as a new group there’s not a lot of established leadership within the party.  As as result, they are still working on a one-man, one-vote kind of democracy in decision making and that’s a system that’s very prone to being bogged down in endless debate.  Hence, I’m keeping the objectives very clear for the first few sessions until the group has coalesced in to a “team.”

Regarding the actual adventure:  The text of the ToEE is, IMO, very hard to use – it’s rather small and there’s a ton of information presented. Even with my careful highlighting (using multiple colors), I’ve found it difficult to find the most pertinent points about a location quickly. In future sessions I’m going to go back to my usual method which involves improvising names, titles, and relationships which are then written down in my notebook – it’s a lot easier and a lot more fluid to do than hunting through three columns of text for the name of the assistant priest at the temple.

Regarding the OSRIC/D&D rules:  Wow, I had forgotten how much I hate the bean-counting aspect of money in AD&D – everyone wants to know exactly how much money they have, how much things cost, etc. which is a real drag since it drives the focus of the game back on the book keeping aspects of play rather than story & character.  I need to think about the situation a bit more since I’d really like to dump having to track currency but I don’t want to do it until I’ve considered exactly what kind of knock on effects it’s going to have on the system.

Next session we’ll continue with the exploration of the moathouse and revelation that there’s more going on there than just some bandits using it as a base of operation.

*To paraphrase the Princess Bride:  ”The most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” – but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never agree to a drinking contest with a dwarf”!