Tower of the Lifeshaper - intro

An interesting location I've been creating through a role playing story with a friend, the Tower is the abode of a mercenary wizard of immense but specialized power and no scruples beyond honoring a deal.

On the outside the tower is unremarkable except for the age of the stonework. On the inside it is part Dr. Moreau's Island, part transgenetic zoo, and part a place where anything can be bought for the right price. A powerful dweomer hides the identity of those who come and go, valuable as the mage caters to the powerful and rich, supplying there urges from the fantastical to the depraved.

The power the image has harnessed, to the exclusion of any other magic is life shaping, manipulating the very form of a living creature. Rather than outright change a creature to another, this is more remaking it into something new or adding to it, for instance adding wings.

Rather than generic monsters, encounters in the tower consist of powerful individuals, modified servants, and the strange creations of the wizard.

Zak is at it again

Alternate classes for old school D&D

Zak over at Playing D&D with Porn Stars is taking a stab at fiddling with classes and I like what I see.

Fighter
The fighter is more organic and unique than the usual stately progression and that makes for more unique fighters without relying on feats. Mix in the simple fact that you cant really metagame a random creation system and you solve the "spreadsheeting the character" issue I have with post 2000 D&D.

Thief
The thief is much more a scoundrel than some sort of bizarre backstab engine or the font of useless skills.

Ranger
A ranger that isnt like every SINGLE other ranger, or a certain Dark Elf or a certain wanderer destined to be a king? Awesome

I can not wait until he gets bored enough to do clerics, as this may become my new class system for OSR games

Psuedo-Quasi-Intellectual review of Black Crusade

Psuedo-Quasi-Intellectual review of Black Crusade

Black Crusade is Fantasy Flight's 4th RPG for the Warhammer 40k Universe and the first to not be told from an Imperial point of View. Playing as Chaos Renegades of various stripes the game could be played as an exploration of what happens when a group of alpha personalities is forced together by circumstances beyond their control. Sadly I have a feeling it will be more of an orgy of dark one-upmanship, but more on that later.
The Good Black Crusade carries on with the lovely d100 based system that all FFG 40k RPGs use, allowing for intermixing of characters. That alone is awesome, as a character from any previous game line that was made an npc for being evil or corrupted can show up. Secondly characters generated for Black Crusade can be used as Big-Bad-Evil-Guys in other 40k games. Instead of generic villians they can be as rich and detailed as the players, mechanically. Thirdly, with some player buy-in you could tell a rich story of the fall and damnation of a character with Black Crusade - an excellent story idea to me.
But wait there's more coolness. Rather than artificially tie murderous reavers and fell sorcerors to penny pinching accountants FFG created a renown mechanic that allows you to bully, bribe or con npcs into providing you with equipment. What better way to emphasize "might makes right, take what you will" mentality, without having a combat every shopping trip? Another great mechanic is how characters align themselves with one of the four great Chaos powers, or struggle to go it alone. Rather than arbitrarily declaring your allegiance you shift as the various abilities you gain are keyed to the powers. Take enough Nurgle keyed traits and you're his servant, and that's how the fiction describes it.

The Bad The bad really isn't that bad. The key things I wish were there are a better explanation of what a campaign would be like and some discussion of how to handle a characters fall into darkness. Here's hoping they're covered in a supplement.

Its ALIVE!!!

Well Ive been alternatingly busy and lazy so the blog has fallen by the wayside. Hopefully my idea of "Quasi-Pseudo Intellectual Reviews" of some of the games I have picked up in the down time will start at least a trickle of content again. Coupled with D&D Next (if I can talk some people into play) playtest thoughts and I might have something worth reading. Keep your eyes open

Hobby stuff (and distractions)

Its been a bit since I posted last, what with the convention and holiday and all.

New (to me) RPGs Ive managed to snag
- Esoterrorists - the original Gumshoe system game. Interesting but I picked it up primarily to scavenge good ideas out of it. Ideally Id love to run a fantasy game with Gumshoe elements along the lines of the Nightwatch stories of Terry Pratchett and the Garrett stories of Glen Cook.
- Deadlands Reloaded - Ive been asked to run a short story arc in Savages Worlds flagship setting of Deadlands for a group from the gaming club. Interesting setting and Im working on binding up the pdf I printed out.
- Traveller - this one is a hard back that I think is original edition rules. Very interesting as an example of science fiction games, but I havent had a chance to dig through it.
- Bloodbowl 3e and 2002 annual - all I need is dice and dimensions on the board and I can look into creating myself some ultraviolent football.
- Big Eyes, Small Mouth - I actually ended up with a 1st edition copy, but regardless I may have to sketch out some ideas for some anime campaigns, maybe Appleseed or something fantasy esque.

Current RPG projects
- Most are shelved still from prep for the con, though my first attempt at binding a book (digest sized Stars Without Numbers) is slowly proceeding.

Next campaign to run...

So GASPCon has come and gone, games were run and played but its time to move forward.

Here are the important points
1. It will be run at GASP Gamesdays
2. It will be some form of Fantasy (depending on how liberal you are with the Genre)

So heres my short list of concepts
A) The party collaborates to create the world before we create characters. Everything from available races to the technology level of the era played in to what god(s) exist is completely on the table. I take the world created and spin out adventures.
B) Running TSRs big Night Below campaign box using simpler rules - like Rules Cyclopedia or Spellcraft and Swordplay.
C)Campaign level game - ala Birthright or Council of Wyrms. Create a nation and a character, and run both.
D) Something Weird - ala running a mesoamerican or arabian nights game, something different.

Anything sounding good?

Juggling projects

I havent been posting too much due to real world issues, booking myself heavily with projects and some new distractions. I'm not dead or anything but until Im done with prep for my con games I dont expect to me posting again soon.

Custom RPG take 2

Im not quite dead... but with classes finally done for the summer my time shifts back to my games.

Having had some time to ponder my previous ideas, and more input from other sources has led me to firm up some ideas.

• Statistics are generated by 3d6 dice rolls, with any two stats swapped.
• Stats in order are; Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma.
• Rather than using 1st edition or later stat modifies I am going with 3=-3, 4-5 = -2, 6-8 = -1, 9-12 = 0, 13-15 = 1, 16-17=2, 18=3
• Strength modifiers affect melee combat for damage, Intelligence gives bonus languages and resistance to arcane magic, Wisdom affects resistance to clerical magic, Dexterity affect ranged to hit rolls, Constitution affects hit points and resisting poison, and Charisma affects reactions and social status.
• Once modifiers have been established 2d6 is rolled for Social status, modified by Charisma. 2 or less = slave status, 3-5 = lower class, 6-8 = middle class, 9-11 = upper class, 12+ = nobility
• Combat will use a matrix based system like Basic and 1e as this lets me maintain repeating results to set a specific feel, rather than the extended rise of newer editions.
• Weapon damage and weapon proficiency will be opened up while simplified.

Weapons	Small	Medium	Large	Two Handed
Warrior	1d6	1d8	1d10	1d12
Rogue	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d8
Warrior	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10
Mage	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8

Dual wielding roll for each weapon and pick one.

Gear Packages and Bases of Operation

The single slowest part of character creation, in my experience is picking equipment. There is rarely that much difference between the gear picked, unless an experienced or crafty player is involved, and yet picking the same stuff takes forever every time. Players are trying to pick enough items to have something for everything, and they try to carry it all.

But this begs the question, why bother?

No, seriously, why bother? What is gained by doing this? -- As far as I can tell, maybe an illusion of player control, but even that's debatable.

My idea for a solution is two fold, as there is both cause and effect to be addressed.

Cause - players feel they need to be prepared for all things at all times.
I blame Tolkien for this mentality, as he wrote the grand wandering story of the One Ring. Ive played too many games were the PCs travel all over the game world, and everything has to kept handy. This isn't completely terrible as its brought things like the Portable Hole and Robe of Many Things which are fun to play with. However since players are wandering and expecting to rely on themselves, you get a laundry list of items. So rather than changing the items available or something extreme, why not just give them a base of operations? Maybe a house, or a ship or some other place where stuff can be stored. You don't need to carry all your crap when you can just pop home and grab that ten foot pole or hydrospanner you need. But that's not the real reason to provide a base of operation, you do it to tie the players into a setting, to incorporate them into a story so they actually might care about at least a few npcs.
Solution - Provide a base of operation with a safe storage facility, and an opportunity to set down roots through roleplaying.

Effect - players want to have items to handle everything
Players should want to be prepared for problems, as thats half of what being an adventurer is about, but there is a difference between prepared and carrying everything and the kitchen sink. Anything can be taken too far, and poring over equipment lists can eat time like no ones business. Most genres have specific gear that's all but mandatory (and the DM had best know their material enough to pick these out) so total them up and write them down as packages, as they should show up. This has the added advantage of reminding the DM what sort of obstacles should be in adventures. If they players only have to pick one or two items and a package instead poring over lists it should go quicker. In fact you should be able to organize packages into specialized forms, such as one for the combat wombats, sneaky types and so on with the gear they need.
Solutions - Organize commonly used items into packages to cut down on what needs to be bought.

Making playing a human appealing to play

In pre-2000 D&D and its close relatives playing a non human (demi-human or humanoid) conferred specific ability or stat bonuses that exceeded anything a human could achieve. On the other hand humans were the only race to have access to all classes and no limits on how far they can advance in those classes. So a dwarven wizard or halfling paladin is out, and a human thief will always be capable of higher levels than an elf, even with the elfs longer lifespan.

This is not a horrible solution, but it can restrict the potential roleplaying opportunities though admittedly there are almost as many or more ways to munchkin out a character. A dwarf with arcane powers is a fascinating concept for example but as they are written up in 1e/2e AD&D they have some rather brutal resistance to magic as they progress in levels.

This leads to question of direction, do you give humans a bonus or restrict demihumans? One of the key concepts of pre 2000 D&D is the fact that the world is human dominated. If demihumans can be anything what is to stop them from overshadowing the humans? An incredibly durable dwarven paladin or the unearthly dextrous elf thief will achieve things over their longer lives that a mere human could, on a purely mechanical level. A wonderful example of this and the various mechanical tweaks tried to fix it is the halfling. As written by Tolkien a halfling does not belong in an adventuring party, because they simply arent suited for it. And culturally, going out adventuring would be treated like a sign of madness. So as the editions increase, they begin to gain additional abilities like luck bonuses until we have halflings that are more like Belkar from Order of the Stick. And the Baggins were never "shoeless gods of battle".

If we give humans bonuses to offset the fact that their mechanical stats are inherently going to be lower, you either give them equal stat bonuses and thereby cheapening the stat bumps that the other races have or an alternative bonus. Perhaps the reason the humans are the most populous and powerful race (besides breeding like rabbits) is the short term view that humans have that motivate them to push themselves hard.

If instead we restrict demihumans then we are limiting roleplaying opportunities, but the ones left are simpler to handle mechanically. The different races then become focused on the racial niches they've carved out. Such as an elf being a mage rather than a barbarian or a dwarf who fights rather than slinging arcane magic.