Infocyde's RPG Blog

CharacterAI Inspired Story

2023-12-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

A mysterious rider appears in a forest and encounters a humanoid monster attempting to slay him. He defeats the monster and discovers a mystical cabin in the woods. Inside, an old woman listens to his tale, allows him to rest, feeds him, and then gives him a sword to aid in his quest. We learn the rider is a knight, obliged to kill any magical being preying on humanity, seeking vengeance for the slaying of his family by such a being.

Continuing his journey, the rider reaches a keep after spending a night at a farm, where he is kindly received. It's revealed that he was once a farmer himself. At the keep, plagued by a night dragon, he stays overnight, awaiting an audience with the local lord. He demonstrates magical tricks to the keep's soldiers, hinting at his extraordinary nature. Learning that the soldiers are preparing to attack the dragon, he dissuades them, warning of their likely demise.

In the morning, hearing of the lord's plan to muster an army against the dragon, the rider demands and is granted an immediate audience. He reveals his mission, sent by a powerful Baron to slay the dragon, and is given authority over the assembling soldiers. The rider then separates those recently married, with children, or too fearful of death. From the remaining men, he selects five, instructs them to carry minimal gear and large sacks.

Ascending the mountain, they proceed on foot with only weapons, water, and sacks. He warns one warrior, met earlier in the mess hall, against attacking the dragon, predicting his death. At the dragon's cave, the rider offers the soldier a potion for a better chance of defeating the dragon.

Inside, they find the dragon sleeping. The potion affects the soldier, causing him to slur, laugh, and sing. The rider magically disappears as the soldier startles the dragon, who quickly devours him. The dragon, sensing the rider's magic, confronts him. The rider, revealing himself, offers the dragon a riddle about defeating a mighty creature like itself. The dragon, initially scoffing, soon becomes lethargic and slurs its words, unable to breathe fire at the rider.

The rider explains the riddle: the potion meant to bring merriment in small doses was consumed entirely by the soldier, enough to affect the dragon. By eating the soldier, the dragon ingested the potion, weakening its ability to breathe fire. The rider exploits this, stabbing the dragon's vulnerable throat until it dies.

Exiting the cave with the dead soldier's helmet, he signals the remaining soldiers. They collect treasure and the dragon's head, returning to the keep amidst cheers. The rider fills the dead soldier's helmet with gold for his kin, takes a portion of the treasure, and departs without seeking further recognition.

Lastly, he visits the farm where he had stayed, leaves most of the treasure, and rides off with only a few handfuls.

Thinking Initiative

2021-05-03T15:05:00.001-07:00

OK, initiative bogs things down. My system below is too complicated as is, but it is a starting point to revisit later.

The just: Everyone has an initiative number that is calculated. Then weapon and situational mods are added.

Base initiative is your Dex mod.
Medium armor subtracts 1
Heavy armor subtracts 2
Fighter types add 1 per 4 levels
Rogue types as 1 per 5 levels
Scholar types add 1 per 10 levels

There would be some feats that add to the above.

If you are surprised a big minus for the first round would apply.

Anyway, you come up with a number. That doesn't change. Monsters and foes have a number. That doesn't change. You do in the order of highest to lowest.

What Makes a Complete RPG?

2021-04-30T13:30:00.002-07:00

I've seen a lot of 1 page or 4 page RPGs out there. Some of them are pretty neat. Most of them I would not consider complete RPGs. Why? I started thinking about that. What makes a complete RPG anyway? Here are some bullet points to be flushed out later.

Complete mechanics: Character creation, character advancement, and action resolution rules.
Equipment List
Spell List (if applicable)
Vehicle/Animal rules,Travel, Encumbrance, Food mechanics.
Fiend / Antagonist Folio
Samples of how to use all of the above

That is about it. Note the first bullet point is the core game. How do I do x? How do I know if I can do x?

I'll flush this out later. But those I think are the core.

Free OSR of the Week: Revised MAZES and MINOTAURS

2017-12-14T08:17:00.001-08:00

Looking for a free OSR game with a Greek Mythos theme?

Look no further than MAZES and MINOTAURS. Three core books plus a companion, all free pdfs.

http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/revised.html

And Thus It Ends

2017-09-30T21:36:00.002-07:00

Not with a bang but with a whimper.

So a group of friends and my wife and I have had a gaming going for about four years now. We started off playing a custom made OSR D&D game designed by my friend Joe called Mythos Archanum. We did that for about six months but Joe ended up moving. The we jumped around playing various Savage Worlds setting for about six months. Then my friend Rob took over and lead us on a D&D 5th Edition game that went 18 levels and ran for over a year and a half. These last six months we have been kind of jumping around but we ended up playing a pretty fun Fate Core game lead by my friend Caleb set in an alternative earth where the Nazi's were defeated in WWII but not before opening up all sorts of occultic gates and ruining much of the world.

Tonight was going to be one of our last games. The last month has been hard as my wife moved for a job and I'm in the process of packing and trying to move to be with her. So I've missed a few sessions but I was looking forward to tonight.

Well just Caleb showed. Mitch was in Tuscon, Rob cancelled, my wife was away, and Everett was a no show. Caleb and I had fun playing the card game Flux a bit, and then we went out to dinner. I learned more about Caleb tonight than in the past few years. It was fun learning a bit more about him, he is a cool dude.

But I think that might have been it? I'm still in town, and I hope more sessions will happen, but I worry our four year RPGing journey is pretty much done.

I telecommute, so having social interaction with people has been a real blessing. I love pen and pencil tabletop role playing games, though I'm a little conflicted about them being a Christian. I just know they have opened me up to meeting people that I normally would not have met, and I've enjoyed gaming with my wife and these guys for the past four years.

Life might be pulling me in a different direction than the rest of these guys, but I will miss them all, and I will miss gaming if I can't find a group to game with when my move is complete.

I will miss you guys and the adventures in our minds that we went on. I hope life brings you all good things and you all find Jesus as God draws you. You all have been a blessing to my wife and I in our five year stay in sleep Prescott. Thank you.

Review: Last Unicorn's Star Trek The Next Generation RPG

2017-03-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm playing the Last Unicorn version of Star Trek Next Generation. Up front I'm not really a Star Trek Next Generation fan. I'm not anti the series, when I felt like vegging in front of the tube I would watch it.

That being said, a friend busted out Last Unicorn's version of the Next Generation Star Trek RPG and we have have about four sessions playing. I actually have had a lot of fun. We play, well, in a way that is a little closer to the 60ies series than Next Gen, but the rules don't really care. We have battled Romulans in the Neutral Zone, been punished doing "team building" exercises on the Holo Deck with our captain's rival operating the simulation and throwing us lot's of curves, failed the prime directive by choosing a life over non-intervention, gone on away missions that went south, and found out that setting a type three phaser to max is a really, really bad idea, generally speaking.

The books are expensive, but if you can find them they are worth getting and playing even if you aren't a trekkie. It is really too bad Last Unicorn lost the license. The follow on Decifer(?) version I guess is largely compatible and the authors of the Last Unicorn version have put out a lot of material that was in the pipeline when they lost the license out for free. The "Icon" system from Last Unicorn is really pretty fun. It is a dice pool D6 System with skills and skill specializations that is first a little confusing but actually works pretty well. This system was used in a Dune setting, too bad it wasn't exported to other settings as I think it is a good light but feels full system.

The Verdict for the Last Unicorn Star Trek RPG: Recommended.

Barbarians of Lemuria Play Report

2016-10-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Four Characters-

Sirul Forsal - A former slave turned sailor
Auslock - A thief and an artificer
Crongor - A barbarian gladiator who is now the city executioner
Sargon - A noble stygian sorcerer

Backdrop

All in the city of wicked and corrupt city Artu-Khan that is suffering from a horrible plague outbreak. Sirus's boat becomes infected, and his captain starts burning crew members both infected and not so Surus leaves his ship and heads towards the Golden Arse Inn to look for another captain to sail with.
Auslock's employer, Sargon's brother, died of the plague and he is looking for both another employer and a way out of the city. Sargon knows of Auslock, and seeks him help to see if he can help him escape the city as well. Sargon's patrion, a rich noble woman, thinks Sargon can save her from the plague and will not allow him to leave her side. She sends two guards with Sargon and Asulock as they seek healing herbs as a ruse to get away from the rich noblewoman. They decide to try to ditch her guardsmen buy buying them wenches at the Golden Arse. Crongor is currently pondering leaving the city while enjoying the affections of the dancing girl Candy at the Golden Arse.
Sirus tries to steal one of the guard's who is assigned to Sirus's dagger but is caught. A scuffle occurs allowing Sargon to be disguised by Auslock and the two escape the guards. Crongor is an friend of Sirus and steps into the fight as well. One of the guards is slain and the other gravely wounded.
Auslock takes leave of his employer to track down a rumored remedy for the plague, the ingestion of a dak worm. He finds one, prepares and eats it, and then meets again with Sirul who has just went back to the palace and gathered his things. In the mean time Sirul has booked passage on the Black Raven, a small fast sailing ship to get out of the city. He sees Crongor and invites Crongor to join him. Crongor takes one of the serving wenches with him but she is rejected from the boat. The two leave to figure out some way to get her on the boat when the meet up again with Sargon and Auslock at the Golden Arse. Inside Sirul sees a known snitch to the watch and calls out for him not to ratt on the group for killing a guard. The snitch snarls and makes a break for it but Sargon catches him in a pain spell and makes the switch whither in agony until he dies. Sargon yells "plague" and most in the Inn scatter. Auslock disguises the serving wench Candy into Charlie and with some gold given to Captian Garlon the captain takes Charlie to be his cabin boy.

The Journey Begins

The heros discover their is another wizard on board, and that the boat is headed through the Narrow Straits to a enchanted island to recover a relic that could help stop the plague. The Narrow Straits are shallow, difficult to navigate, and full of sea serpents. Auslock is continuously sea sick the due his land lover flaw.
On the first day out the Black Raven encounters sea serpents. As the heros do what they can against the monstrous beings who are slowly ripping the crew off deck and destroying the ship, four harpies also reign down on the heros. Several sailors are killed, but Sargon devises a plan to capture the harpies with nets and then toss them overboard to the sea serpents in the hopes that that will satisfy their hunger. The plan works, the some of the harpies sing an enchanted song and their magical beauty temporarily stuns some of the heros and sailors. Crongor also throws the dead sailors overboard to provide more meat to the sea serpents. All the while the other wizard below deck is doing a ritual that speeds up the boat and maneuvers around the shoals. No more monsters are encountered.
Sargon talks to the wizard, who is obviously straining to keep his spell up, and ends up giving the wizard some lotus vapor to help the wizard keep his stamina up. The wizard Ko-hal gives Sargon clues to where a book lies on the island, to beware of the guardian with three heads, and that the dead walk alive on the island. Captain Garlon decides not to leave the wizard Ko-hal's side when he sees Auslock and Sargon eyeing the wizard's belongings. So in his absence Sargon goes up to the captain's quarters, declares they are now his due to his nobility, and spends a decadent evening with "Charlie" as Auslock steals four gems and a journal from the captains quarters. Auslock also finds some pitch and very flammable special grog that he takes four flasks of to use as a fire weapon.

The Island

The heros awake to find no wind and dense fog around the boat. The night watch sailor in the crows nest is missing. Sirul investigates, and notices that the ship is very near land. Captain Garlon then explains to everyone why they are here (to retrieve a relicc that might stay the plague) and promises any sailor who goes forward riches and honor if they survive what will surely be a perilous journey. The heros, ten sailors, the Captain and an exhausted Ko-hal go to the island.
The island has no living plants, low visibility due to the fog, and only a warn path to follow up the beach. As soon as the party moves forward they hear what sound like horses running through the fog. Soon bone arrows fly out of the fog and kill two sailors. The party keeps moving forward with some firing randomly into the fog. Captain Garlon decides to charge into the for and this provokes a charge by six mounted skeletal warriors and their dark steeds. Sargon cast a spell and disappears into the shadows while Auslock tries to position himself behind cover and fires into the enemy. These undead prove hard to damage in combat. Sirul trades blows with one warrior, for numerous rounds. Crongor unhorses one skeletal warrior and beheads it. Sailors take two more down. Eventually Sirul decapitates the warrior in front of him and it falls into a pile of bones. One skeletal warrior retreats into the mist. Seven sailors remain. The Captain and Ko-hol are also unharmed. The group moves forward through the fog to encounter a Hellenistic grey marble temple.

The Temple

The group gathers at the front of the Temple's columns, and some hear a faint distant panting. The wizard Ko-hal whispers to Sargon that this is where his journey ends and he moves forward into the temple court yard. Out of nowhere a huge three headed wolf like being springs towards the Ko-hal. Crongor sees the beast and at the least minute dashes forward and cuts a huge slice into the foe as it moves past. The beast yelps in pain and crashes into Ko-hal, who explodes into shimmering rays of light, leaving only his clock and a very wounded three headed giant wolf behind. Crongor falls on the beast and slices it anew, only to narrowly escape death and one of the beast's jaws latch hard on to Crongar. The group rallies and the beast is slain. Three sailors remain.
Sirul uses leverage to open the door as Crongor could not with brute strength as the party enters the temple. The encounter a sword driven into a stone that was mentioned in Captain Garlon's journal. The group decided to leave it for now and continues forward. The wall further down turns out to be made of flesh and animates, trying to crush Crongor who narrowly dashes out of the way. Auslock throws a flask or fire at the flesh being and burns it badly, and Crongor ends it's life with a few sword thrust. On they go until the reach the spot where Ko-hal told Sargon to say some magical words. He does, and a door opens to a treasure room filled with gold coins, gems, and golden crown, and a book. Greed, a character flaw in most of the heros, over takes then as the rush into the chamber and begin to gather wealth. Sargon takes the book and triggers a trap, and he withers on the ground for a few minutes bleeding through his eyes and mouth before he recovers due to some golden wine from Auslock. Auslock tries to put on the golden crown and and it tries to take over his mind but he resists it.
A scream is heard from behind as the last remaining skeletal warrior returns and throws a head from a sailor into the room as he cuts down another. Auslock throws an flask of alcohol and fire and blazes the warrior and Sirul cuts it down.

End

The adventure ended there. The companions did read in the book that the plague is really a curse from a powerful demon who has cursed Artu-Khan because one of the inhabitants stole a powerful ring from it. The wizards of the town so far have been unable to locate the location of the ring. In the book there is a hint that a certain slave might who is imprisoned in a far off city might know the location of the ring. Even though the Temple has been undisturbed for years it looks like this book's information was written recently.

Thoughts on D&D in General and 5th Edition In Particular

2016-09-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

I, like most role playing geeks, got my start with role playing games using Dungeons and Dragons. Before I ever played I used to as a kid walk into hobby and toy stores and wonder, "How do these games work?" I remember looking at a Ral Partha minutes set box and looking at the artwork and thinking "Do you go to these worlds, how is that possible?".

My father caught my interest and bought me a Dungeons and Dragons red box basic set. I was fascinated and set out to read the rules. Mind you at this point in life I had only ever read maybe one novel of any length and the rules were a bit much for me. I loved the artwork and managed on my own to role up a few player characters, but with no one to play with I shelved the book for a couple of months and didn't think more about it.

Then my friend Dale and his brother Kyle came over one night while our parents did their monthly bridge game. Dale had figured out the rules enough to play and had his brother and others to play with. We played that night, and how things worked all came together in my mind. He gave me the key and the door to my imagination then opened. Soon I found other players to play with and we soon moved into "Advanced" Dungeons and Dragons first and later second editions. I an my friends played these games almost every day through high school. We branched out into other TSR games including Gamma World, Boot Hill, Top Secret, and non-TSR games like GURPS, Rolemaster, Spacemaster (one of our favorites though I don't think we ever played it correctly), and many others.

I became a Christian when I was 18, and because of the various concerns about RPG's from the Christian community I ended up getting rid of most of my games (though fire actually...none of them screamed as they burned like I had heard). Looking back it might have been a dumb thing to do, but I do think I was way to inro RPGs and as I moved into college I needed to make some attempts to catch up on other things, like pursing girls and having a non-fantasy life.

I still played rarely, having a few short lived campaigns in college (a decent one with Rifts) and every few years beyond up until I was in my late 30ies. I liked RPG's but I was worried I'd become addicted to them like in the past and perhaps more importantly players were hard to find. During this time I played a little 3rd and 3.5 edition. I liked it but the vast array of new feats and the like was staggering to me.

Now comes my later life. I'm married, no kids, and have free time. We meet some older gamers like myself and instead of poker night every once in awhile we have game nights. And from here I was introduced to the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.

Firstly, I will say what I like about D&D in general and D&D and 5th Edition in particular. First, Dungeons and Dragons for better or for worst is the standard in role playing games. It is the most famous, did the most to open up the hobby. Side note, I hate it when game nerds talk about RPGs as "the hobby" even though I just did. It makes gaming into "a thing" when I think gaming should be about fun and imagination. I'll flush that thought out another time perhaps but leave it that for now. If there has to be a standard in the pen and pencil RPG sphere Dungeons and Dragons is a great choice. There are now five official versions (really more if you count the basic versions). Each version has all sorts of material and was well/is supported. 3rd edition's Open Gaming License (OGL) gave game designers license to use the core D&D rules as they liked and his spawned unprecedented game derivatives and supplements. I think it would take someone literally decades at this point to go through and read all the available material for D&D that is out there. So as a standard it isn't obscure. Dungeons and Dragons's core mechanics are also fairly easy to learn and generally translate across editions. If you can learn to play D&D you pretty much learn the basics of role playing and can quickly pick up other rule systems.

Secondly, and perhaps Dungeons and Dragon's greatest strengths, is the game's (all versions) ability to support long campaigns (multiple gaming sessions). People have run Dungeons and Dragons campaigns for years, meeting once a month or more, and having generations of characters involved in complex plot lines in ever evolving imaginary universes. There are other role playing games out there that support multiple game sessions, but I've yet to see one do it as successfully as the D&D franchises. If you have a Dungeon Master (the person who runs the games) invest time and energy into keeping the players engaged you can keep the players coming back for more for a long time with D&D. Thirdly and related is the power curve of players in Dungeons and Dragons. There is continual and substantial improvement of characters and players enjoy seeing their characters grow in capabilities with each level. There is also numerous magic items that can be found, new feats to learn, new spell books to read, all this makes characters have enough nobs and dials to tweak that keeps their characters improving. Although I do think the power curve breaks down somewhat at higher levels (players become too powerful) in general Dungeon Masters (DMs) can scale challenges and rewards to keep players interested.

Fourthly and again related to points two and three, there is a large group of very flushed out foes for players to face. I remember the 3.5 version having numerous monster manuals filled with foes that could keep the players guessing as to what they were facing and how best to beat foes. DMs could be cruel with these foes (see 1st edition's demi-lich from the Tomb of Horrors) but reasonable DM's can spin some interesting challenges with an amazing list of otherworld denizens for the player's characters to face. Other games often lack the list of variety of foes that are generated for the DM to throw at the adventuring party and 5th edition though it has a smaller sampling of creatures (so far) is no exception. Plus 5th edition adds "legendary actions" to some of the bigger boss type foes which make them harder to defeat and slightly less predictable.

Fifth edition D&D adds some additional rule tweaks mostly borrowed from other games that really helps flush this edition out and in some ways simplifies this edition over previous ones. The advantage/disadvantage mechanic (role two dice instead of one to generate a random result...advantaged use the higher, disadvantaged use the lower). This reduces number crunching (in the old systems say you would subtract 5 from your role or add something depending on situations). In past editions typically you gain plus one every level or plus one every couple of levels to add to your combat and skill roles depending on what your class or character's profession was good at. 5th edition simplifies this a lot with it's proficiency bonus. All classes now (except fighters(?)) now gain pluses to their die roles based on level bonuses at a much scaled back rate. This helps with the number crunching and scales back the power of higher level characters to some degree. Also the skill system is simplified. If you are proficient in a skill you add your proficiency bonus to it. If not, you don't. Simple. Saving throws (resistance to things like spells and poison) are now based on a character's six primary attributes rather than a whole new set of attributes. A character typically gets to add his proficiency bonus to saves made with two of the six attributes unless additional feats are taken. Feats are nerfed a bit in 5th edition. There are fewer and one you can pick them is less frequent. Prestige classes are gone and replaced with sub classes for each class (typically each character class has four or more variants, allowing character to specialize in given task a bit more then just picking classes. I think this works pretty well. Rounding things out are character background which is new. Characters gain small advantages based on backgrounds and background fill in a back story with beginning characters. Lastly, I'm not sure if this is a 5th edition thing or was introduced earlier (but ignored by my friends and I) but characters have a limit to how many powerful magic items then can "attune" to. This concept doesn't apply to simple magic items, but most everything good requires attunement. Characters are limited to attuning to three magic items at a time, and switching which magic items a character is attuned to takes time. I generally like this as it puts an additional governor on how fast players grow in power at higher levels which is needed.

All these things I dig about 5th edition. Now, let's hammer on some things I don't like about D&D that applies to 5th edition.

The first is hit point inflation. I'm not anti-hit points. They work pretty well to represent an abstract value of how much damage a player character can take before succumbing. All versions of D&D eventually have characters with hit points that go into the 100's and I wouldn't be surprised if characters in 5th edition with a few magic items could go into 200's. Although it seems in 5th edition more (but in other past editions) sometimes foes could deal massive damage that makes fights speed up somewhat. But generally as your characters grow in levels fights take longer...too long in my opinion. I've see other game systems skip hit points for essentially a save vs how tough your characters are. This kind of works. I think the sweet spot for me are games like Barbarians of Lemura and Warhammer FRPG where character hit points are limited to the teens rather than the hundreds. Foes especially mythical monsters do sometimes have a lot of hit points, but not the players. This makes combat a little more intense, faster moving, and in my opinion a little funner.

Secondly, magic in D&D is generally predictable and more like a science then something...well...magical. I like magic much more like it is found in sword and sorcery novels...dark, mysterious, ancient, evil, and corrupting. "Good magicians" are more like scholars who know about magic but only practice it at very low levels because they fear it and respect it. "Evil magicians" are those in their quest for power give themselves over to the dark mysteries, and end up at the price of their increase in power become slaves to the darkness and thus becoming excellent foes for player characters to beat up on.

Thirdly, building upon this but applying the predictability of rules in D&D makes D&D what DM's call "munchkinable". I hate this. What does it mean? Since so many people play D&D and especially now with the advent of internet forums lot's of nerds pour over the rules and figure out how to best min and max their characters...minimizing weaknesses and maximizing power. Some personality types take advantage of every slight rule imbalance (and these imbalances are present in every version of the game) to build their characters to take advantage of these imbalances. When done in the extreme this annoys me both as a player and a DM. When I'm running games I nerf imbalances with house rules quickly. But when I do this I'm not running "official D&D" anymore and players drop. As a player if I'm playing with a min / maxing crew I'm looked at as not a good player and a liability to the party. Which, I guess to be fair if I'm not using a character to it's max potential I am failing the party to an extent. But this reduces the game to studying rules and reading forums on "the best build" for a given character. This kills the mystery and imagination of gaming for me. I don't want characters to even know how to max there characters out because the predictability of their future capabilities and powers is limited. D&D especially 5th edition when played by the book makes munchkining irresistible to many players and perhaps even recommended. I don't like it.

Fourthly, official versions of D&D are expensive. You can get an OSR (think open source) version of a D&D game for free online or for in some cases under 10 bucks in print that give you a version of D&D with most of the trappings you need to play for extended campaigns. Some of the nicer rules might be missing, the artwork lacking, but you get...D&D. 5th edition books are expensive. I didn't mind paying at first because I felt like I was helping keep the proud tradition of D&D alive, and I figured it was nice to support the official torch bearer of the D&D brand. And to be fair the books, even though expensive, you can use for ears and if you factor in per hour of entertainment you get a very good value for what you spend. I still wish they were cheaper. True you can download a cut down "basic" version of 5th edition for free...but you get what you pay for.

Fifth, with each version of dungeons and dragons the amount of prep time seems to increase for DM's. Some games which are lighter, like say Barbarians of Lemuria, I can run with very little or low prep (unless dealing with a lot of magic which is rare). The same with Savage Worlds. Although 5th edition moves much faster than earlier editions...it is still a little slower moving then other games. Again using Barbarians of Lemuria as an example I can do in one four hour play session with what would take about three four hour sessions with D&D. Savage Worlds isn't quite that fast but still fast. Skilled DM's can with imagination both speed things up or keep things interesting while combat is moving along, but it takes a little more work than other games.

Lastly, and although I hear their are games out there that do this well, I have yet to play them and D&D fails at this point as well. D&D is a game where 90% of the tension, fun, and challenge comes from combat. Other games are starting to come out that claim to build other mechanics in for "social" combat, city and empire running, meeting needs and overcoming character personality weaknesses. There are plugins to deal with this for D&D, but they are non-standard and so far I haven't experience many that are great. But this critique goes much broader than just D&D based games.

So, where does this leave me with D&D especially 5th edition? Well I've got mixed feelings. I'd play D&D with a good DM anytime (our group's current DM is great and we have been in a very entertaining campaign for over six months now I think...time flies). How about an average or bad DM? I think I'd pass especially with 5th edition. I think an average DM can get away with some of the simpler OSR D&D derivatives, but not 5th edition. Now what about running a 5th edition campaign? If people wanted me to I would do my best, but munchkining, the magic system, and the slower pace of D&D I I think leaves it wanting for me. D&D will always have a place in my heart as it was my first...but other simpler games (with their own benefits and drawbacks) I think would be my go tos if I had a choice to run a campaign. But D&D is the standard, and players are fewer, and more demanding, so in the future depending on the group I might now have a choice but to run 5th edition. I'd give it a good go and I think we would all have a good time. But I think I could handle Savage Worlds, Barbarians of Lemuria, and other newer games that few have heard of better.

Slimming Down

2015-06-01T16:05:00.002-07:00

The quick: I'm going to cut down my physical pen and paper RPG collection down to what can fit in a box and give people that follow this blog or me on google+ first dibs on thing.

The Long: So my wife and I are talking about our future. She just lost her job, and my job is portable somewhat, so there is nothing tying us to currently where we live. We love the medium sized town we live in, but there just seems to be a lot of indicators popping up that say that we are being moved in a cosmic sort of sense.

So I've decided to go minimal. More and more things that I use less and less will go digital (even though I'm not fully comfortable with "the cloud (for a variety of infrastructure and political reasons). If I want to be a digital nomad though I need to slim down my physical holdings of books, DVD's, RPGs, computer games in CD format, etc...

So big collections of RPG's have come and gone in my life. Over the past few years I've started collecting again and have a big pile of stuff. Some hard to find stuff at that. It will pain me to get rid of a lot of it but I've decided that the only physical RPG's I'll take with me will be the ones that fit in a nice ornate chest my wife got me for Christmas. All other RPG's must go.

For now, I've decided to keep what I most likely will use (D&D 5e core books, Savage Worlds, The original Gamma World) plus a few other games that I like that I still hold out that one day people will play them with me (High Medieval, Barbarians of Lemuria/Aftermath, Warhammer 1st Ed). The first few cuts are-

Rolemaster Standard Edition (almost all the books) - I love Rolemaster, but I doubt I will play it ever again.
Modern D20 + Future Tech, Cybernetics, and a few other source books - I never really got into Modern...other than using it as a loose rule system with a lot of house rules.

More cuts are coming. I'll post stuff here that I plan to get rid of. If interested it can be yours for a big discount on whatever the ebay going rate is. Stay tuned.

Savage Worlds: Broken Earth

2015-01-18T00:15:00.001-08:00

This is about our third session.

- Synth character which is basically a tank
- Freak melee character with high parry and toughness but can't do a lot of damage
- Super Science "Exxon Velveeta" character with holographic disguise devise
- Psionic character with an area mind blast, mind confusing area blast

In the first few adventures we liberated a town from slavers. The slavers were lead by a "Mr. Fix It" that we decided to go after.

The party gets word that a large group of slavers are headed to the liberated town, much to many to take on in a fair fight. They are a few days away. The have one advanced vehicle of the ancients which we finally determine is some sort of military truck.
Party decided to do some hit and run ambushes on the slavers as they approach. The first day we help fortify the town, the head off.
We setup an ambush area with a tree setup to fall on the truck. We decide to more forward beyond that position for a hit and run attack.
We run into some advanced scouts of the slavers. We try to stealth up on them. They notice us and put up a brief fight. Velveeta takes one with an arrow, the other escapes.
The party tries to catch the fleeing slaver scout before he reaches the main camp, we fail.
The party through Velveeta's bow and melee attacks kill four more slavers before withdrawing to the main ambush site. No one on our side was injured but we did spend some of our bennies.
The slavers are smarter by the time they reach the main ambush point. They have skirmisher groups on both sides of the road and are in a much more leary posture. Luckily with some good stealth roles Velveeta and the Freak are not spotted by the skirmishers.
The Freek drops the tree and scores a hit on the back of the slaver truck, which we find out has a .50 cal machine gun on it, so good for us as the MG is out of action.
The battle ensues. Mr. Fix It turns out to be a very tough wild card. The psi character manages to drop groups of mooks with his mind blast, while the synth and the freak engage in melee with the rear of the slaver group after circling around. In the end it is too much and the synth falls, and the freak flees into the woods with various slavers on his tail.
Velveeta closes on Mr Fix It trying to help the Synth and in turn is charged by Mr. Fix it. He is no match and submits to Mr. Fix It and the slavers take him and the unconscious synth character.
The Psi and the Freak return back to the village and are healed. The take seven warriors from the village and catch up to the slavers. Mr. Fix It and the truck have fled, but the slavers with Velveeta and the Synth are found, and the two are freed.
The group returns back to the village where the Synth needs some healing.

Part Two

Back at the village we determine the slavers were associated with the Jade Empire which is based out of the former state of Texas. The Empire is notorious for using slaves and dealing with slavers to produce oil and other goods. The Empire is expanding into our region.
We soon receive a messenger from the Jade Empire. It seems the local Jade Empire ruler is operating out of a former National Guard facility and wants to parley.
We accept, more out of curiosity. We do not enter the facility as invited, but tell the messenger to send the leader out if they want to talk.
After a bit the leader (a beautiful woman) comes out with a group of soldiers and sets up a parley area. We elect the psi to go parley and the rest of us keep a watch on the soldiers.
Velveeta uses his holographic device to grab an image that he can use to disguise himself as from one of the soldiers without being noticed.
The beautiful leader of the Jade Empire offers to make the Psi character governor of the region and offers a partnership with the liberated town and the Jade Empire. She promises high tech farm equipment and soldiers to "protect" the town. The Psi character agrees, fully expecting to be betrayed, but deciding to see how things play out.
We return back to the village, alert them of the situation, and begin making some fortifications
Scouts report a large convoy, including ancient vehicles heading our way. We determine that the convoy has a working Abrams tank among other vehicles. The convoy is too strong to be attacked. We either run or stay. For the villagers sake we stay.
The Jade convoy arrives, and the characters are left alone but it is quickly determined that we have no real power. A general of the Jade Empire takes over the fortified school building that is the heart of the town. The townspeople are put to work.
The party discusses leaving, trying to slay the general, or to take the tank and use that against the soldiers.
Velveeta disguises himself and scouts the school house and listens to the soldiers. He finds out another group of soldiers headed to the town to reinforce it within a few days. Also the party determines that town members are being disappeared (sold off as slaves probably by the General as he brought a bunch of other farmers and laborers with him).
The party weighs its options, and we decide to make an attack on the tank. Velveeta disguised walks up while the psi tries to confuse the guards and ultimately slay them.
One abortive attempt is made but the confusion of the tank crew mostly fails. The party tries again with success. The psi character takes out most of the tank crew with the Synth and Velveeta taking out the other two. The Psi character, the Freak, and the Synth rush the tank under fire from the roof top of the school and the Freak takes a wound. After a few rounds they gain control and start the tank, though none of them really knows how to operate it.
Velveeta pretends to still be a guard and shoots his crossbow at the tank while "falling back" to the fuel truck and he tries to heist it. Guards around fuel truck do not by the ruse but do not attack Velveeta who slinks off.
The tank goes on a semi-uncontrolled rampage. The Psi can't drive it too well. Initially he tries to run into the walls of the school house to get it to collapse. They Synth tries to use the machine guns but realizes there is no ammo. The Freak manages with difficulty to load some rounds and the Synth fires the main gun, but due to erratic driving the shells do not hit their targets.
The soldiers being withdrawing and the tank tries to run them down but the Psi character can't keep control of the tank well enough to do so the tank falls back to the town to find the remaining soldiers lining up villagers to be executed. The Psi floors the tank and runs over some of the soldiers (and unfortunately some of the villagers as well) and scatters the remaining Jade soldiers
Velveeta gets his horse and goes after the fuel truck. He is still disguised as a Jade soldier so the soldiers riding on the back of the fuel tank do not fire at Velveeta as he looks like a fellow soldier fleeing.
Velveeta rides in front of the truck and beyond, and sets up an ambush spot. Velveeta fires a crossbow bolt and gets a great roll, shooting the driving of the fuel truck and killing him from the cover of the trees as the trunk approaches. Velveeta mounts his horse and flees as the guy riding shotgun tries to take control of the vehicle and fails. The truck rolls and eventually explodes killing the slavers around it.
Velveeta remains in the forest and looks for fleeing soldiers to snipe, while the characters in the tank move the tank out of the town into a hiding place before the gas runs out.

- End-

Christmas Post Apocalypse Adventure

2014-12-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

So last year I made an adventure concept called "Bad Santa" that was well received. I promised to continue to stat up the various suggested adversaries for Mutant Future, but I didn't get to it. But here is the adventure concept, Bad Santa for your enjoyment

http://infocyderpg.blogspot.com/2013/12/mutant-future-christmas-themed-adventure.html

Savage Worlds Priestly Powers Guide Play Test Version

2014-10-01T17:28:00.002-07:00

So I was running an X-Files / Bureau 13 / Fringe type Savage Worlds game and I decided to add a few more powers to beef up priest types in my game. Here is what I've come up with so far-

Savage Priestly Powers Guide

My group isn't active right now (we are running some other campaigns with different groups) so I haven't had anyone play test this yet. Your suggestions on how to improve this guide are greatly appreciated!

Reality Check: Dumping Weight Over The Side

2014-09-04T16:45:00.003-07:00

I've moved a lot since college. For me to stay in one place for longer than three years is rare, with my average time in one spot lower than that. All the while I've been dragging along a few boxes of RPGs. Since I've been back in Arizona I started collecting them, so I'm up to about four boxes now.

Well, it looks like it might be moving time again. Lately I've been adopting more of a minimalist life style though in many ways that is a tough sell to my wife. She is slowly giving in. And in the process I've decided to work on shedding my RPG collection down to just one box. So far these are the candidates for selling / giving away.

Role Master Standard System: 10 books. This one is painful, but in reality I doubt that I will ever get anyone one to play this with me. Also it is a system that requires a bit of prep time which I have little of. Thus RMSS will probably go away.
Mongoose Conan: 5 books. I can see the possibility of actually getting people to play this, but it is remote. I bought the books used to plunder them for other games, and I have most of them in e format now. Still painful, as I really like these books.
D20 Modern: 4(?) books. This one isn't too painful. I bought these mainly for data mining for ideas. I don't like hit points / levels for modern systems.
Hackmaster: 2 books. I've got the player's handbook and GM's guide from the older version (AD&D 1.5?) that I intended to use for future campaigns. Painful, but stuff has got to go. Plus now there are so many OSR PDF's out there I won't be wanting I don't think. I still waffle on this one.
Warhammer 2nd Edition: 10 or so books. My wife likes this game and it is one of the few games she will play with me, but that is only about once a year, and I have digital copies, so off it goes.
Various One Offs: Another 10 or So books. Tome of Neverworld, Undiscovered, Dwanfire, stuff like that. I either bought them to data mine for ideas or as collectibles.

So with this first pass I plan to shed about 40 rpg books. What stays for now will be Labyrinth Lord (3 books), Savage Worlds (8 books), Barbarians of Lemuria and Barbarians of the Aftermath, and a few PIG game books (5 books). Easily enough to fit in one box I think.

Growing up is hard to do. I'll miss the above stuff I'm giving up, especially RMSS, Mongoose Conan, and Warhammer because those are all quality games. Right now is a special time where I'm in a place where I can game about once a week or once every other week, but that is rare and I don't expect it to last. And even now where I'm playing with other consistent players it is hard to stay consistent with one campaign. I think our record is about four sessions of Savage Worlds: Red Sands. Other than that we are jumping around though mostly staying with Savage Worlds as a rule system with some OSR D&D. With limited game time it is hard to play games that require a fair amount of prep time. So there they go. I still have hundreds of games on PDF.

If you are interested in any of these books and are a gamer, ping me. If you can cover shipping and will actually play these games rather than turn around and flip them on ebay maybe I can get them to you.

Nerfing Savage World's Shotguns

2014-08-26T21:39:00.002-07:00

I don't like the Savage World's shotgun rules. Here is my solution

Max Targets Hit:
Regular Shotgun: Short 1-3, Medium or Greater, D6
Sawed Off Shotguns / Scatter Guns: D6

Resource for Private Eye Games or Games with Surveillance / Informants

2014-08-11T23:25:00.003-07:00

I found this on the net. Pretty good summary of how police use informants and conduct surveillance.

http://www.drtomoconnor.com/3220/3220lect02c.htm

Bureau of Weights and Measures: Adventure 2 Recap

2014-08-08T18:47:00.001-07:00

For now I'll title the game we are playing Bureau of Weights and Measures as Bureau 14 might be a little to close to Bureau 13, but basically I'm running an X=Files / Fringe / Bureau 13 type of campaign using Savage Worlds. You can read what happened last adventure by clicking [HERE].

The Characters

Adriana McArdle - The Bureau's main technical person. Currently only full time employee at the branch. Adriana's specialty is hacking and using the internet / social media for research. She is hopelessly addicted to Facebook / Twitter / Instagram which could pose problems in the future.
Father Murphy - Murphy is a Catholic priest who has a bit of a drinking problem. He is also an experienced exorcist and has experience fighting the forces of darkness. Murphy doesn't work directly for the bureau, but their is some understanding by his diocese that Murphy is involved in important work, so his long absences are tolerated.
Special Agent Livewire - Livewire is on loan to the bureau as the acting branch manager. His mission is to evaluate if their is any true need to continue funding the bureau. He is highly skeptical of the supernatural.

The Mission

After successfully dodging agents of the Golden Caliphate secret society and successfully transporting the phone from hell to the D.C. bureau, the agents are told they did "a great job" but there are some shake ups in the bureau.
One of the Bureau's major funding sources, a black project, is under Congressional investigation and is being squeezed. Remaining sources of funding are being competed for. Our agents learn that a group from the FBI actually handles at least some of the Bureau's budget items, and they want to make sure the taxpayers are getting their money. FBI Special Agent Livewire has been assigned to the branch as it's new acting director to evaluate (prove unnecessary) the branch. Livewire is highly skeptical of the the branch's mission and the agents as being capable of meeting Federal standards of conduct / fitness / competence.
Another agency has asked the Bureau to do a favor and check out a MUFON conference (STARGATE 2014) being held in Alexandra Virginia. Livewire agrees to accept and the agents head out the next day to Virginia.
On the way to the conference Father Murphy spots a black Mercedes following them. Livewire slams on the breaks, forcing the pursing vehicle to make an early exit.
At the conference Murphy tips the parking lot attendant to let him know if any black Mercedes show up. One does, and at one point a Caliphate member is spotted by Murphy at the converence. The Caliphate member gives Murphy a "you gonna die" sign and leaves. The agents follow but the suspect evades them and leaves the conference.

At the conference their are four people of influence -

A "hippy" new age author that seems to be very active in UFO / New Age circles. He seems to show up at all the wrong places at the wrong times. Upon research Murphy and Adriana figure has a Naval background and most likely is a disinformation operative. When confronted the "hippy" claims to be a disabled naval veteran and tries to sell the party some books. Livewire runs his name through an FBI contact and their is no record of the new age author's discharge from the navy and most of his file is classified. The new age author also invites the agents to go to a bay where he just knows the UFO's are going to appear on the next full moon. The agents decline.
Wilma - Wilma is there to give a speech about her abduction experiences at the conference. Murphy along with the blogger (see below) learn how Wilma is very scared that on the full moon tomorrow her daughter will be abducted. Murphy volunteers the branch to investigate and defend Wilma on her farm.
A blogger who specializes in debunking conspiracy theories. The blogger is here to "watch the circus" but for some reason thinks there is something out of the ordinary with Wilma's story.
A MUFON organizer who is very leery of his group being spied upon and infiltrated. Fortunately for the agents they didn't stay at the conference long enough for him and his followers to really cause problems for the agents.

Near the Farm

The agents spend one uneventful night at Wilma's parent's house were they learn about Wilma's ongoing abduction experiences, how she claims to have had an implant removed, and how her mother before her had abduction experiences.
The next day the agents head to the farm. Adriana discovers that an abandoned military base is close by and decides to investigate.
On the way up near the entrance to the abandoned base on a remote road they discover the new age author's range rover parked off to the side. They get out and search it as the author / disnfo specialist emerges from meditating in the bushes. After a brief conversation Father Murphy grows tired of this guy's game (why is he here) and takes a swing. In the scuffle the new age author is shot and wounded. He ends up having some body armor on that saved his life. He reveals that he works for the defense intelligence agency and he was worried the agents would show up here. The author / DIA agent insist that they need to leave the area. Murphy ties him up, Livewire recovers an M-4 and some night vision goggles from the author's rover, and the agents proceed to the military base.
The base turns out to be some surveillance equipment, some "Federal Land - No Trespassing" signs, and a giant 50 meter circular hole in the ground that goes WAY down. Livewire shoots what appears to be a camera watching them. The tied up author / DIA agent begs them to leave before night fall and seems to be bordering a total panic. The group decides to go back to the farm before nightfall. They keep the M-4 and the author's glock pistol, but let him go. Before he leaves he stops, says that what the agents are doing trying to defend the little girl from being abducted is noble, but they should get as far away from this whole area now. He then leaves.

Nighttime

Agent Adriana elects to hide in a barn across from the main house with the night vision goggles. Father Murphy spends the early evening praying over the house (equivalent to protection from evil). Livewire stations himself near the little girls room with the door open, drinking cup after cup of coffee wondering how he got stuck with this assignment and whether or not his career is in jeopardy for shooting and briefly kidnapping a fellow federal agent.
At 3 AM Adriana spots three lights in the sky moving towards the farm. The three lights then merge into one and descend rapidly near the farm.
Murphy runs up to where the little girl and Wilma are, Livewire locks and loads with the M-4 curious to see if anything that goes bump in the night will actually show.
Adriana films three small figures coming from the light towards the farm with her bureau phone. One of the figures peels off and moves through the wall of the farm building where Adriana is hiding and out the other side. Adriana cowers in fear and flees deeper into the barn.
Father Murphy looks outside the window, but then notices a head with large eyes move through the wall and is looking at them. Murphy swings his Holy symbol (a mace like cross with Holy Water) at the head, hits it, and head retreats. Murphy then runs to the other wall expecting more of these things to show, and is not disappointed when two small grey figures arise up through the floor.
Livewire can't believe his eyes, but doesn't hesitate and rips off two burst at the closest figure. It de-materializes in-front of him.
Murphy clobbers the remaining grey figure while it attempts to grab Wilma's daughter (which seemed to be supernaturally protected). Out of a closet steps the skeptic blogger who came with the group and fires a shotgun at the grey figure almost hitting wilma and her daughter, but it is enough to drop the grey figure. It neither moves nor de-materializes. Murphy picks up the body and Livewire decides it is time to go.
On the way out Livewire opens the door to be narrowly missed by a side swipe from a long armed grey figure. He unleashes two burst with the M-4 and the little grey figure falls and does not get up.
Meanwhile Adriana recovers from her fear and makes her way towards the light in the near by woods. As she gets close she spots the source of the glow which is a small craft. As she approaches a small grey figure materializes and gets into the craft. Adriana fires a shot with her ancient service revolver and the gun jams. The craft then shoots into the air, and then at incredible speeds sips off towards the abandoned military base.
The agents quickly load Wilma, her daughter, the skeptic blogger, and the grey body into the rental SUV (which was repaired before they left). Murphy wraps the body in his full priestly garbs and the agents speed off back to town.

To Be Continued...

Recap of 7/23/2014 Adventure

2014-07-24T00:31:00.001-07:00

We played a Savage World's Version of Bureau 13 Called Bureau 14.

Characters-

Agent Adriana McArdle: Rookie Agent, Addicted to Social Media, Runs the Office
Father Joseph Murphy: Catholic Exorcist, Cheep Beer Drinker

Father Murphy swings by gas station near office to pick up some beer before meeting Adriana. Gas station attendant very skeptical that office is a "Bureau of Weights and Measures Office", suspects much more.
Murphy finds Agent McArdle playing video games instead of answering her bureau phone. He answers, it is the boss man, telling them another agency has asked a favor. Military found "something" in Afghanistan. Brought it back to Fort Benning, GA (near by army base). The Army and this unnamed agency don't what whatever it is, so boss man ask Murphy and McArdle to take transport object from base to DC Bureau.
Two rent a car, drive to base. Escorted by officer to guarded hanger. Hanger is empty except for a small desk with a satchel on it. Murphy opens satchel, inside is a golden phone with cryptic writing on it. The two take satchel and are returned to the vehicle. As they leave they both spot one of the guards writing notes about them in a small pad. When McArdle waves, guard hides pad and ignores them further.
The two begin to drive to D.C. but then Murphy tells McArdle to pull off on a side street so he can further investigate object (and drink a beer).
Murphy picks up phone, speaks, his dead mother tries to talk with him. He hangs up, voice still continues for a while, phone rings occasionally, they stuff phone in back seat.
The two decide to take object back to office and research it in the office's occultic library. McArdle finds out an esoteric arabic group is complaining about a similar device being stolen from them in Afghanistan by American forces. Murphy finds out device is used by occultic groups to contact spirits for instruction. Phone continues to ring, pretending to be lost relatives, trying to compel both of them to answer.
Murphy calls Father McKeyhe, a senior exorcist, and the two drive to meet him at Catholic compound. McKeyhe wants to summon the bishops and destroy the device, but Murphy and McArdle convince McKeyhe not to as the government has interest in it. Murphy and Mckeyhe prya over phone. It stops. Meanwhile McArdle post a social media poll on 4Chan. Afterwards she begins to start getting phone calls from strange numbers who hang up immediately.
Now the two will be late to D.C. but they drive off. They almost make it before three black Mercedes try to run their renta SUV off the road. Due to some great driving by McArdle and an epic spare tire toss into the windshield of one of the tailing Mercedes, the two escape.
The satchel is taken to the D.C. bureau headquaters which is located in a huge building of a multinational oil company. Father Murphy takes the satchel and gives it to a D.C. bureau chief, who opens it and finds....to be continued.

DnD Pro: Monster Mutations

2014-06-24T18:09:00.001-07:00

Here is a very simple chart for throwing a curve to the monsters / foes in DnD that your party will face.

Roll D4 - 1 for number of changes for each group of monsters/foes encountered. Then roll a D12 on the chart below for each change.

1) Increased HD (1-2)
2) Attack more damaging (one die up)
3) New Magical ability (per spell of HD - 3, min level 1 mage or cleric power)
4) Additional Feat or feat like power
5) Increased (better AC)
6) Additional Attack
7) Increased number of appearing
8) Unlikely ally monster(s) of 1-2 less 3-4 equal or 5-6 greater strength
9) Alignment / motivation change (sometimes beneficial)
10) Reinforcements near by
11) Treasure type increased by one letter (or equivalent)
12) Monsters / Foe more cunning that usual (ambush, traps, delays)

The Depreciation of the Cleric Class

2014-06-09T23:00:00.002-07:00

I've noticed in a lot of OSR retro clones the Cleric class often isn't included. I wonder why? To me the Cleric is an integral part of the D&D experience...the backup fighter, the medic, the party chaplan, and the undead turner...why the hate / disclusion?

Slimming Down

2014-06-05T20:28:00.001-07:00

So, I've got LOTS of RPG's in digital format. Most of the time though when I actually play games I like to have physical components on hand as it is hard to scroll through PDFs sometimes. Yet physical versions of RPG's take up space, which for not I have plenty of, but in looking towards another move in a few months I've begun to ponder slimming down my Physical collection.

Most of the games that I have physical copies of I have physical copies of either because I hoped to one day play them or because they are rare. Some I do but most sit on the shelf collecting dust. So it pains me but here is what I'm thinking has to go...

All D20 Modern Books
All D20 OGL Books
RoleMaster Standard System and all the expansions I have (this one hurts)
Shadowrun 4rth Edition
Conan Mongoose and all the setting books (this one hurts too)
Warhammer Fantasy 2nd Edition (this hurts)
The various one off "heart breaker" RPGs that I have but will never play

There is more stuff to go but this will be the first round. If you are interested in any of these systems, drop me a message.

Dungeons and Dragons Pro Option 4

2014-05-01T12:44:00.002-07:00

Option Four: Revising Hit Points

Inspiration: Games with a lot less hit points
Reason: Simplification
Rule Description:

Having a lot of hit points causes a lot of unnecessary number crunching in my humble opinion. It prolongs combat, often in high levels turning fights into slog fest. Also have a large amount of hit points puts things out of scale in my opinion. There should be a vast difference between a well seasoned night and an untrained peasant in how well they do in a fight. But having a level 20 knight be equivalent hit point wise to 50 zero level peasants I think might be over kill. By reducing the range of hit points in the game things speed up, combat is quicker, and the fear of death increased a bit for players. It also changes the game to be a little bit more low fantasy instead of high fantasy due to real threats of death (which I like, high fantasy in my opinion is just supers with magic).

Most zero level characters start have 8-12 hit points (7 + D4), or just use 9 hit points as a base.

Characters start out with their Constitution in hit points plus-

Fighters gain 1 hit point per level (including level 1)
Spell casters gain 1 hit point per every 3 levels (starting with 1 at level 3)
Everyone Else gains 1 hit point per two levels (starting with 1 at level 2)

Monsters start off with 8 Hit Points Plus

1 Hit Point per Hit Dice for small / humanoid creatures creatures
2 Hit Points per Hit Dice for medium / human sized / Large to Giant sized creatures
3 Hit Points per Hit Dice for Epic sized creatures

If a Monster Hit Points are listed but not the Monster's Hit Dice, try dividing the Monster's hit points by five to get a rough equivalent of the monster's Hit Dice, and then apply the above formula. DM's should feel free to adjust to suit.

Weapon and Monster attacks remain the same. Characters will have to adjust their behavior because combat now is a lot more dangerous.

Example: Mark, A level 10 Ranger (declared to be a fighter type by DM, in some games a Ranger could fall under the "Everyone Else" case, DM's discretion) has a Constitution of 14. Thus at 10th level he has 24 hit points. At 20th level Mark would have 44 hit points, or be able to take the same amount of damage as four normal men.

Example: Landrilla, a 7th level Priestess, falls into the "Everyone Else" category. She has 12 Constitution. Thus she would have 15 hit points.

Example: Sunspinner, a 12th level Mage with a Constitution of 8 would have 11 hit points. He stays in the back.

Example: A dragon with 20 Hit Dice would have 68 hit points.

Example: An Orc Captain with 3 Hit Dice would have 14 hit points.

31 Questions

2014-03-02T01:30:00.001-08:00

31 Questions about your RPGing Experience. The idea comes from the Crypt of Rabies blog [LINK] which in turn got the idea from [HERE]. I say we a lot because most of my gaming was when I was younger with a certain group of friends. I'm old now but getting back into things. I hope you read mine and Crypt's answers and then answer the questions yourself!

1. What was the first roleplaying game other than D&D you played? Was it before or after you played D&D?

For me that would be Gamma World, which is pretty much D&D in a post apocalyptic setting. Gamma World was the first game I ever bought with my own money as well. We played it off and on when I was younger, but never seemed to get much steam with a campaign going. Starting up again now that I'm older and loving it.

2. In what system was the first character you played in an RPG other than D&D? How was playing it different from playing a D&D character?

For me that would probably be Space Master. Space master was/is fairly complex, so I don't think we ever got the rules completely right, but we had a lot of fun with the game. Yes we did play it differently. It was more about mowing down your enemies with plasma repeater rifles and surviving then it was about building an empire which is usually where our D&D campaigns would move towards.

3. Which game had the least or most enjoyable character creation?

Probably Traveller. Creating a character with the original Traveller was a mini-game in-and-of-itself, and if I remember correctly (it's been a long time) you could actually die while making up your character.

4. What other roleplaying game author besides Gygax impressed you with their writing?

I wasn't and still am not so much of a fan boy of "The Hobby" that I track names and such. I have a lot of respect for Storm Bringer and Chaosim games. When I was younger I thought Chaosim had the best RPG system, but their games were kind of dark (even for us) so we didn't play them that much. Simon Wishborne(?) who is behind Barbarians of Lemuria I like. Also the authors behind Victory Games's James Bond should get a bigger spot in the annals of gaming.

5. What other old school game should have become as big as D&D but didn't? Why do you think so?

I always thought the Rolemaster line didn't get enough love, especially the Spacemaster Sci-Fi variant. I still don't think the game does. The reason why is obvious...complexity. Spacemaster wasn't so out of control complex though, and I thought / think it should get more attention. Maybe Sci-Fi HARP should as well but I haven't played it.

6. What non-D&D monster do you think is as iconic as D&D ones like Hook Horrors or Flumphs, and why do you think so?

That one is tough. In most of the other games we played the adversaries were human or partially human.

7. What fantasy RPG other than D&D have you enjoyed most? Why?

Currently Barbarians of Lemuria. It is simple, fun, and FAST. I'm really starting to appreciate fast when as you are older those gaming hours become more and more precious. I can GM characters through in one session of BoL what would take 4 sessions in D&D. In the past I has some limited exposure to the HERO system. I really liked it, but my friend who owned it wasn't a big fan. A shame. Rolemaster was enjoyable too, but we never got Rolemaster off the ground.

8. What spy RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

James Bond hands down. It was an innovative system in it's time and still fun to play.

9. What super hero RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

For some reason I haven't played super hero games more than two or three times, which is strange because I had fun doing so. I think the system I used was Villains and Vigilantes , but it was so long ago I'm not sure.

10. What science fiction RPG have you enjoyed the most? Why?

Spacemaster. I was a child of the 80ies. We took American cold war military resurgence and applied that to our Spacemaster settings. We (I) had a blast playing and GMing Spacemaster. Now that I'm older Mutant Future / Gamma World is what I find I'm playing the most outside of D&D. I like the over-the-top dystopian ruined world of Gamma World. As a GM I can bring a lot of creativity to the game because the rules are light and easy to modify even though it really is D&D.

11. What post-apocalyptic RPG have you enjoyed the most? Why?

See above

12. What humorous RPG have you enjoyed the most? Give details.

I'm not sure GURPS was supposed to be humorous, but I often played it that way. Not really sure why. It was the first game with advantages and disadvantages that I played, so I would try to come up with either over powered or humorous combos.

13. What horror RPG have you enjoyed the most?

I wasn't a big horror fan. Sometimes I would play in games that would include horror elements. I have a copy of Ghost Stories that I'm eager to try out though, but it would be more x-files with a heavy horror element than Chill.

14. What historical or cultural RPG have you enjoyed the most? Give details.

A friend of mine created an awesome pirates on the seas game out of his head when I was younger that we played a lot and I loved it. I'm not sure how realistic it was (probably not at all), but there was no magic or anything like that. I made up an ancient Greek game that got a fair amount of play. I also made up a college student game that my friends liked but I hated, so I ditched it.

15. What pseudo or alternative history RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

I really liked Oriental Adventures for AD&D. I enjoy Asian fantasy, probably because it is different enough from Western fantasy to make it unpredictable and unique. There is almost a "pseudo science" now of how fantasy games should operate...elves should do this, orcs should be like this, dragons do this, etc... Asian settings are new and refreshing. I was never a big fan of elves either.

16. Which RPG besides D&D has the best magic system? Give details.

I like how Rolemaster did spell list. It has been a while since I played, and even when I did play it was only for a few times, but I liked how you had access to certain spell list and spent development points learning specific list (or at least that is how I remember it).

17. Which RPG has the best high tech rules? Why?

Spacemaster. Though the versions I have played may be a little dated now (concepts of the future change as the future becomes the present). Mainly I liked the personal combat in spacemaster...going up against shields and powered armor with different types of weapons was cool. And the chart results were awesome.

18. What is the crunchiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyble?

Rolemaster...or should I say Chartmaster? It was enjoyable, but it was a game for a time when you had a lot of time to kill. It wasn't that the concepts of the game were that crunchie, just all the plugged in charts made for a lot of page flipping. If you had the patients though those charts became really fun. But alias my gaming groups of my youth didn't, and I haven't played Rolemaster in years.

19. What is the fluffiest RPG you have ever played? Was it enjoyable?

Hummm....can't recall any that I played or GMed that I would consider fluffy. A good thing.

20. Which setting have you enjoyed the most? Why?

I always made my own settings, still do. The people I played with and play with today still do as well. Probably the most enjoyable was a sci fi marine game setting a friend of mine made. Lot's of different ways to kill bad guys, lot's of bureaucracy even in combat to face, lot's of planets needing invasion.

21. What is the narrowest genre RPG you have ever played? How was it?

Interestingly, I would say D&D! It is because everyone expects fantasy elements in D&D to act a certain way. Magic should act like this, monsters like this, heroic progression like this. After playing for years this gets old. But then most of the games I play are typically sandboxable, what attracts me to them. So narrow genre's I usually pass by. D&D isn't really that narrow, just narrow on my scale.

22. What is the most gonzo kitchen sink RPG you ever played? How was it?

Various mashup of post apocalyptic games like Gamma World / Mutant Future. The settings lend themselves to such.

23. What is the most broken game that you tried and were unable to play?

Bureau 13. I love the setting! X-Files before X-Files! But the TriTac rules system...Yikes!

24. What is the most broken game that you tried and loved to play, warts and all?

Some of the Palladium games I think are broken. Mechanoids and later Rifts I loved, but the various damage types SDC vs MDC and scaling that realistically always bugged me. I loved to GM those games but either I sucked with them or my players didn't appreciate the systems, probably both, as they got bored quickly.

25. Which game has the sleekest, most modern engine?

Relatively Barbarians of Lemuria is the sleekest and most modern game I've played, and I love it, but it's spell system is both it's strength and it's weakness. Also players tend to resemble each other, not in "tropes" but in actual stats. I understand the push for rules lite, but for long term campaigns I think you need rules medium, which many people would neither define as slick or modern. genreDiversion games get honorable mention.

26. What IP (= Intellectual Property, be it book, movie or comic) that doesn't have an RPG deserves it? Why?

Can't think of one. It does piss me off that some IP's pull their rights all the time. Killed WEG and might kill Mongoose.

27. What RPG based on an IP did you enjoy the most? Give details?

James Bond hands down. Great game. The Q manual needs some updating, but it was one of the most innovative systems around when it came out. Ease factors, "hero" points, skills, ahead of it's time and still very playable.

28. What free RPG did you enjoy most? Give details.

I went into my gamer hiatus when most of the games for free came out over the internet, but since I've been back I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the free version of Mutant Future.

29. What OSR product you have enjoyed the most? Explain how?

I created my own hack of D20 Future, using various 3rd party source books for inspiration. It had it's own damage system that I think worked pretty well. The few times I GM'ed it my players seemed to for the most part like it.

30. Which non-D&D supplemental product should everyone know about? Give details.

I can't really answer that. I buy games all the time now (within reason) and I mind them for ideas. A specific supplement doesn't come to mind.

31. What out-of-print RPG would you most likely to see back in publication? Why?

There were a lot of great GURPS source books that I see are out of print. You can still find 'em but it would be nice if more of them were in print. Is Car Wars still in print? I wouldn't mind seeing an updated all in one box set of Car Wars from Steve Jackson Games if it isn't.

Subscription vs Free to Play Models for Online RPGs

2014-01-29T15:10:00.001-08:00

You didn't think this blog was going to be exclusively about pen and pencil RPG's did ya? I still harbor delusions in life about making online games some day, so I like to keep my finger in the pot.

Tobold's Blog had an interesting read on the two types of subscription models used for online RPG's, Free to Play and Subscription

[Link]

The skinny: Go free to play...get 'em in, get 'em hooked, get 'em road blocked every so often, and then get a few bucks from 'em to get just enough to get around that road block. Have compulsory buys everywhere...but leave a little hope that someone can still be successful in the game w/o dropping any cash in...the carrot on the stick.

X-Files Fringe Bureau 13 Type Game Adventure Seed

2014-01-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

The poster on facebook is running the above type of campaign, and wanted some ideas on how to include Kaiju (giant monsters like Godzilla) in the campaign and how characters could best be empowered to deal with Kaiju. I didn't answer the question per-se, but came up with a plot seed that I thought might be of some use to some so I'm sharing it. Due to time constraints I'm just going to copy/paste my responses for now...have fun!

Nuke them while they are in the undersea caves and most vulnerable...but be warned, sometimes there are unintended consequences. Just look what happened with the White Rose Yakuza op to take out Rodan that happened off the Coast of Fukushima on 2011/03/11...you can never be too careful. Consult with nuclear and geological experts first, and not just the local hacks down at Chozan University!! Always!!!!

Worst is Rodan got away too...and now the [whatever organization the characters secretly work for] is going to have to do the job themselves by borrowing some space going TR3B Manta's from a non existing US military group and head towards classified planet 13, the most likely spot where Rodan is regrouping...assuming they can find the elusive and mostly drunk rep of said non-existing agency in one of the bars around the DC suburbs. Even if the brave adventures get off the ground they will have to hope the Anunnakiwill not detect their launch and intercept...as the Anunnaki have recently cut off all communication with humanity when the recent abductee resettlement talks broke down...the Anunnaki's current agenda and deposition towards humanity is unknown.

PCGen Released

2013-12-22T18:33:00.004-08:00

I've never used this software, but it looks interesting.

http://pcgen.org/2013/12/23/pcgen-6-02-00-released/

PCGen looks like it mostly supports D20 type games, but is modifiable. It looks like PCGen is just starting to add in character generation for non D20.