Saturday, August 31, 2013
An OSR Styled Game That Fits on a Single Sheet? Dungeon Delvers (PWYW)
I've often thought about stripping down an OSR styled ruleset to it's very essence, in an attempt to get it to as few pages as possible.
+Brent Newhall has gotten it down to a single sheet of paper with Dungeon Delvers, and I'm impressed. A few d6 and a single sheet of paper and you can experience some old school gaming. Will it be as complete as S&W, LL or one of the others? No, of course not. It would make for an excellent game to run at a convention tho' - print out a half dozen copies of the rules, provide some d6s and you are ready to go.
It's priced as Pay What You Want - so you can grab it for free and then throw a few coppers in the virtual RPGNow tip jar if you find it valuable.
At some point I'll need to run a playtest session to see how this works in actual play, not just in quick read, but it looks playable and the price is certainly right.
From the blurb:
Dungeon Delvers is an ultra-portable one-page D&D variant.
Dungeon Delvers packs a lot into one page: rules for attacks and saves, 4 classes, 3 races, spells, healing, conditions, and monsters. The system uses only a d6. There'll even be a rock-paper-scissors system for rolling a d6!
Here's what you'll get:
A two-page PDF containing the rules on one page, and an expanded spell list on the second page. The spell list includes spells for wizards and clerics levels 1 through 3 (that's a lot of play time).
A one-page PocketMod PDF of the rules that can be printed and folded into a booklet that will fit in your pocket.
An .azw3 file containing the rules and expanded spell list, for use on newer Kindles.
A .mobi file containing the rules and expanded spell list, for use on older Kindles.
An .epub file containing the rules and expanded spell list, for use on iPads and other eReaders.
The System
All rolls are 1d6. Roll 1d6 each for the 6 classic abilities. Attack rolls succeed on 5-6. All other rolls are ability rolls, which succeed if they roll less than or equal to the relevant ability. Ability rolls are used both as skill checks and as saves.
Fighters deal extra hits per level, rogues get a bonus on ability rolls, wizards get one spell per level to use at-will, and clerics can cast any one spell of their choice once per day (more at higher levels).
Quotes From Gary Gygax's Role-playing Mastery - Designing Games, 'Cause Everyone is Doing It
What follows is a short quote:
"Before a single rule is written or even thought about, the designer must make three important decisions concerning his game-to-be - its genre, its period and its scope." p138, Role=playing Mastery, Gary GygaxFirst, I'm surprised there is even a chapter on Designing Your Own Game in Role-playing Mastery. Not that it surprises me that folks would want to do so - I had a tile type dungeon game I designed 20+ years ago (long gone) that was part board game / party RPG. Many players are frustrated game designers to some extend. It just seems like the waste of a chapter, as it doesn't go nearly deep enough into the topic to be of much worth.
That being said, the above quote could be easily used with the idea of "campaign design". Rappan Athuk vs Barrow Maze vs Razor Coast vs Blood Island vs Greyhawk vs Wampus Country vs Forgotten Realms vs etc... each plays out very differently using the same or similar rules.
"Know your players" and the rest should fall into place.
Friday, August 30, 2013
First Look - Whitehack - Old School With Some New School

I must admit, for a person who suddenly has much less free time on his hands I have a
plethora of excellent RPG systems to read. I'm not just talking the big guys of Numenera and 13th Age, but Five Ancient Kingdoms and now Whitehack.
Whitehack does have one huge advantage over the rest - it's a mere 32 pages (less the OGL).
I'm dead tired after the 7 hr install session that was Fios (all hail Fios), but after visiting my mother in law tomorrow afternoon, I plan to give this a solid read.
Much thanks to +Christian Mehrstam for putting a copy in my hands. My cat appreciates it too ;)
Indiegogo Fundraiser for Chris Pramas - Cadaver Bone, A Dark Fantasy Anthology
I don't read hardly as much fiction these days as I used to, but I'll gladly read some to support a good cause.
I do wonder what +Chris Pramas will do if he blows past his 10K goal to support his surgery. Maybe a fund to support game creators in similar circumstances?
Here's a brief summary from the Cadaver Bone Indiegogo page:
Short Summary
Would you like 17 short stories from award-winning writers of novels, games, comics, TV shows, and movies? And would you like to help me pay for spinal surgery? Read on!
My name is Chris Pramas and I've been working as a game designer, writer, and publisher for the past 20 years. I am the founder and president of Green Ronin Publishing, and you may have enjoyed games of ours like Mutants & Masterminds, Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire, and DC Adventures. I need an operation and my insurance is not going to cover all the expenses.
I have a pinched nerve in my neck and I’m going to get a double spine fusion operation in September to fix it. My insurance will not cover the whole thing so I have turned to author friends to put together a dark fantasy fiction anthology called Cadaver Bone. Each author is donating a brand new story and the proceeds will go to paying my medical bills. I’m going to have cadaver bone in my neck; you should get Cadaver Bone for your favorite e-reader!
Confirmed authors for the Cadaver Bone anthology are: Cecil Castellucci, Christopher Robert Cargill, Richard Dansky, Ed Greenwood, Matt Forbeck, David Gaider, Steve Kenson, John Kovalic, Robin D. Laws, Jess Lebow, Colin McComb, Chris Pramas, John Rogers, Lucien Soulban, Melinda Thielbar, John Scott Tynes, and James Wallis. See below for bios of all the authors. They are a talented bunch and I am so grateful for their help.
Home Today Having Fios Installed - Which Will Mean at Some Point - No Internet - Scary!
Even the idea of having no internet for just a few hours is strangely unnerving. Until I remember I have my Clear Wireless Internet Hub - lol ;)
Seriously, how do these D&D adventuring party's go anywhere without Google Maps, GPS, google search for the monsters' weaknesses, finding the location of a good inn and all of the other goodies ;)
Seriously, how do these D&D adventuring party's go anywhere without Google Maps, GPS, google search for the monsters' weaknesses, finding the location of a good inn and all of the other goodies ;)
Thursday, August 29, 2013
When is a "Kickstarter" NOT a Kickstarter? When it's The Unspeakable Oath Subscription Drive (CoC)
The RPG that I plan to get some serious mileage out of next year (and maybe this year in late October) is Call of Cthulhu. I supported the Orient Express Kickstarter for it and I'm dying to get some play out of it.
So when I saw The Unspeakable Oath (a CoC mostly quarterly magazine) was having a subscription drive, I had to jump in and jump start my CoC gaming.
Four issues in print and PDF for 30 bucks plus shipping is a steal. Bonuses added in for subscribers as certain subscriber totals are met? It's like having stretch goals for an already complete project ;)
Do you need a better reason to get one of the higher quality gaming magazines on the market?
So when I saw The Unspeakable Oath (a CoC mostly quarterly magazine) was having a subscription drive, I had to jump in and jump start my CoC gaming.
Four issues in print and PDF for 30 bucks plus shipping is a steal. Bonuses added in for subscribers as certain subscriber totals are met? It's like having stretch goals for an already complete project ;)
Do you need a better reason to get one of the higher quality gaming magazines on the market?
A Look Back at the Diverse Selection of RPGs I Ran "Back in the Day"
I played just about ever RPG back in my high school and college days, and when I say I played just everything, I mean I ran just about anything - I was the main DM / GM in the group.
Regretfully, I no longer seem to have the affinity to quickly pick up and understand diverse rulesets these days. In my younger days, I ranged far and wide:
MERP - I still remember some crazy NPC chasing the party yelling "Bola?!? Bola? You want bola? I give you bola!" as they ran in terror. This morphed into Rolemaster, which then killed the campaign under too many rules
Swordbearer - we never got further than character generation regretfully, but I did use the Dwarven Halls adventure in AD&D.
Star Ace / Timemaster / Chill / Sandman - I ran them all, but I do vividly remember a player's space fighter being destroyed around him, and he was left floating alive in space during the battle.
Traveller - more character generation than anything else, but I did run a few one or two shots - the planned campaign never seemed to materialize.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - we had a campaign that lasted for months, before the party's spell caster inadvertently cast a fireball with himself as ground zero. Did I mention he carried like a dozen glass flasks of oil?
Paranoia - OMFG, but this was a blast to run. Killing players without remorse - Here come the clones! Amazing in small doses.
Top Secret - fun for one shots, there was little interest in playing this more than a handful of times.
Gamma World 1e - I think we played a 2nd session, but I'm not sure. There just wasnt much love for it in my group. First game I bought with my own money as a teenager (during my first trip to the Complete Strategist in Manhattan).
Star Trek (FASA) - tried to use it in conjunction with the Command Deck game for it - we never got to a second session.
Mechanoids - a single session
Palladium Fantasy - we played the digest sized published adventure with the red cover - and always talked about going back to it but never did.
Call of Cthulhu - a handful of one-shots, usually in October
Runequest - I got the 3rd edition of the rules for Christmas one year and never understood the sorcery rules. Grabbed the 2e rules, Pavis and Big Rubble at a con at Columbia University, and ran 2e for a summer and then some as a sandbox type setting. Fun times.
Conan (TSR) - ran a few sessions before we all decided we preferred D&D by far. Wasn't even fun as a change of pace.
GURPS - always wanted to run it more then I ever got the chance to, two campaigns ended in the first session with TPKs. Ah well.
Elric - one session. It deserved more, but I dont think any of us had a handle on the setting and expectation at that time.
Champions - this was the boxed set. Balancing the powers got way too confusing. I've never enjoyed supers games much anyway.
Spacemaster - I ran this for a two player group for the better part of a year. Still don't think I knew half the rules, but it didn't keep us from playing and having fun.
Cyborg Commando - The Complete Guide to RPGs gives this 3 1/2 * - I give it 4 shits. My God, but this was awful. I can't believe I made my group even try to play it, but we did. I'm still trying to live it down.
The Morrow Project - one of my players really wanted to play this, so he gave me his rules. We got as far as character generation. Ah well.
Pendragon - we tried, really we did. Not enough stuff to kill for my old group ;)
Toon - I ran a few sessions when the group was short a player or two. It was a fun change of pace.
Boot Hill - we ran a session that seemed more like a single unit miniatures war game. No one wanted a second bite of the apple.
The above is a fairly complete list - I suspect there are a few I've inadvertently missed. Still amazes me that I had a decent handle on such a diverse selection of rules.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Quotes From Gary Gygax's Role-playing Mastery - The Creator - The... Kirk ;)
Another quote from Role-playing Mastery:
"The game master is the creator, organizer, and arbiter of all. His most important functions during play, though, are more mundane. He is nature. He provides sensory data, and finally he fills the roles of the living things the PCs interact with during the course of the session." Role-Playing Mastery, page 48, Gary GygaxWhat sticks out to me is the "sensory data" part of the quote. This doesn't mean just sights and sounds, but even touch and smell.
Back in '93, at my one and only GenCon, one of the GMs we had for the tournament we went through was in a wheel chair. I never asked if it was a permanent or temporary situation for her, as the question would have been damn awkward, but I suspected it was the former.
In any case, she had a sense that she was hooked on describing - the sense of smell. Cooking, burning, blooming, rotting - she nailed them all with verbal descriptions that brought the actual smells to mind. Which was scary in a way, as they didn't seem to be integral to the plot (and I suspected she was filling these parts in on her own) but that sense of smell made the session she ran seem more real than any of the others I played in over those four days. Maybe the most real of any session I've ever played in.
Strange, we speak of "gamer funk" at cons and how it assails out nostrils, but we often forget to use that same sense of smell when describing events and such in our game sessions.
Haven't thought of that in a while. Interesting what a single quote from a book can dig up in one's memories.
Mini Review - The Dungeon Alphabet - Expanded Third Printing
+Vincent Florio another post with Ashley, just for you ;)
I have the original printing of The Dungeon Alphabet packed away somewhere, but I saw the expanded third printing last Friday when I was at The Complete Strategist here in NYC. I had to grab the new copy.
The shit rocks even more than before.
Like tables? It's got you covered.
Michael Curtis captures a piece of the soul of the OSR and smacks it down on a page and then does it again and again, consistently. Did I mention the Erol Otis art?
The PDF version on RPGNow says it has 48 pages, but it's actually updated to the 3rd edition - so it's 64 pages or so. If you bought it in PDF back in the day like I did, you can download the updated version for free. That's damn cool!
If you don't have a copy, you probably should.
From the blurb:
An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design
Now updated to the same text as the third printing! This newly expanded version includes 16 additional pages of content, new endsheets, and new interior illustrations!
Designing dungeons is as easy as A, B, C! The Dungeon Alphabet compiles twenty-six classic dungeon design elements in one place to assist the game master in creating subterranean challenges. A is for Altar, B is for Books, and C is for Caves: the Dungeon Alphabet has advice, hints, and randomized tables that bring new life to your adventures. Suitable for any rules system, the entries are accompanied by outstanding art from classic fantasy illustrators, with a foreword by noted game designer Zeb Cook
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Last Week Was My Lowest Post Count Since 2011 - I'm Failing My Initiative Rolls ;)
Work has been busy this summer, and it's been keeping me rather busy, as you can tell from my slowly decreasing post count here on the blog. Maybe I just need better time management skills ;)
In any case, I was going to try and organize a Virtual Con type of thing for mid to late September for Swords & Wizardry, but with VirtuaCon 13 the weekend of October 18-20 it seems kinda redundant. I've noticed a fair share of Old School and OSR games recruiting on VirtuaCon 13, so maybe a nice cold weekend in the winter, when no one wants to leave the comfort of their home anyway for the S&W Online Weekend. Work has to calm down by then, right?
The Unofficial OSR Zine's release is getting pushed back to late September / Early October at this point. We have some excellent submissions that I need to organize and well as an article or two to write myself before moving this over to the layout god. If you know of an easy way to grow my own fully mature clone to speed this up, let me know.
A DCC RPG Appreciation Day / Week was penciled in to mid October, but maybe moving that to November to avoid overlapping with VirtuaCon 13. I do have vacation the week of Thanksgiving.
Yep, I need a clone. Simulacrum would want to kill me the moment it knew I exist if I recall correctly, so science over magic in this case ;)
In any case, I was going to try and organize a Virtual Con type of thing for mid to late September for Swords & Wizardry, but with VirtuaCon 13 the weekend of October 18-20 it seems kinda redundant. I've noticed a fair share of Old School and OSR games recruiting on VirtuaCon 13, so maybe a nice cold weekend in the winter, when no one wants to leave the comfort of their home anyway for the S&W Online Weekend. Work has to calm down by then, right?
The Unofficial OSR Zine's release is getting pushed back to late September / Early October at this point. We have some excellent submissions that I need to organize and well as an article or two to write myself before moving this over to the layout god. If you know of an easy way to grow my own fully mature clone to speed this up, let me know.
A DCC RPG Appreciation Day / Week was penciled in to mid October, but maybe moving that to November to avoid overlapping with VirtuaCon 13. I do have vacation the week of Thanksgiving.
Yep, I need a clone. Simulacrum would want to kill me the moment it knew I exist if I recall correctly, so science over magic in this case ;)
Rediscovered Book - The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games by Rick Swan (published 1990)
It's amazing what a little emergency cleaning before the installation of Fios can dig up ;)
The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games by Rick Swan was apparently an 88 cent pick up at Odd-Job (pretty sure that discount chain is defunct now).
Sweet cover art by Phil Foglio too.
Looking at some random reviews:
GURPS 4 stars (4 seems to be max)
Rolemaster 2 1/2 stars
Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes 3 1/2 stars
Role Aids 3 stars (wasn't this a line of supplements and modules for use with (A)D&D?
Tunnels & Trolls 3 stars
AD&D 4 stars
High Colonies 2 1/2 stars (never heard of it)
High Fantasy 1 1/2 stars (ouch - and never heard of it)
Supervillains 1 star (Bamn! Pow!)
Alright, I may have to alternate some pulls from this book with EGG's Role-playing Mastery for future postings...
Anyone Know Where This Amazing Dwarf Came From?
I was just sent this in my email by a friend who stumbled across it on the net.
Anyone know the artist? Source (book, game, etc)
This is SO much my vision of Tenkar Calishun it just isn't funny :)
You Hit it on the Head! Helmets in 1e
I was listening to the Roll for Initiative podcast on the commute to work this morning, and they brought up one of the obscure rules for helmets in AD&D 1e - intelligent adversaries attacking an unarmored head 50% of the time.
As such, I remember we always bought helmets for our PCs and then had no use for the rule.
The thing is, I always thought of the AD&D combat system as abstract - it wasn't blow by blow and it didn't have hit locations, so this rule is a rule that kind of breaks the rules that were already in place by default.
Did you / do you use the unarmored head gets the shit beat out of it rule when running you AD&D / OSR games? Why / why not?
(damn, I should ask about "weapon speed" in a later post ;)
As such, I remember we always bought helmets for our PCs and then had no use for the rule.
The thing is, I always thought of the AD&D combat system as abstract - it wasn't blow by blow and it didn't have hit locations, so this rule is a rule that kind of breaks the rules that were already in place by default.
Did you / do you use the unarmored head gets the shit beat out of it rule when running you AD&D / OSR games? Why / why not?
(damn, I should ask about "weapon speed" in a later post ;)
Monday, August 26, 2013
Character Class as a Role - or - Niche Protection Before MMORPGs
Tallifer made a comment in regards to my previous post that became a bit "thought provoking" for me. Here's the relevant bit:
Fighters (and their subclasses) were the front line fighters and the main damage bringers for at least the first few levels, before liberal use of fireballs and lightning bolts changed that balance. They had both the hit points and armor class to hang with the big baddies.
Clerics were always the premier healers. Druids made a poor substitute and Paladins served as little more than a bandade in that role. Hold Person as a 2nd level spell made Clerics decent Controllers at 3rd level and beyond. They could also on occasion fill in for a front line fighter when needed
Thieves were rarely the big damage dealers, but their skills with traps and locks kept the party alive in other ways.
Magic-users were weak as shit for the first few levels (but Sleep was always one hell of a game changer). At 5th level, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Hold Person and the like change much of the DPS and control focus to the simple and fragile Magic-User.
And of course I'm leaving out the multi-classing, UA classes and different race adjustments that sneak into the picture.
This all being said, I don't recall us ever saying "we need X to fill the Y role". Still, you knew a balanced party included one each of the core four classes. While fighter subclasses did a decent job in filling the same niche as a fighter, the druid, assassin and illusionist generally made poor substitutes for their more popular siblings, but in the hands of the right player, even this could be overcome.
So yes, even 30+ years ago, we recognized there were niches or roles that a successful party needed to consider. It just hadn't occurred to us to limit ourselves by labeling the roles like MMOs do, which then carried over in many ways to table top role-playing.
The problem with MMORPGs is that if you aren't the best at what your "role is", then you are wasting the time of everyone else in the party. Limited to 4 slots or 6 or x in the party, you need to make every character count. Which makes MMOs seem more like an exercise in math and statistics than an actual game to me these days.
All of which might have little to nothing to do with Tallifer's excellent quote, but it got me thinking along my own set of ideas on the topic ;)
"It is interesting that you recognize the existence of roles even in old school games."Here's the deal Tal - we recognized the roles the different classes played in the game, even if we didn't label them Tank, DPS, Controller, Healer and the like. The roles changes for the classes as the game and character levels progressed.
Fighters (and their subclasses) were the front line fighters and the main damage bringers for at least the first few levels, before liberal use of fireballs and lightning bolts changed that balance. They had both the hit points and armor class to hang with the big baddies.
Clerics were always the premier healers. Druids made a poor substitute and Paladins served as little more than a bandade in that role. Hold Person as a 2nd level spell made Clerics decent Controllers at 3rd level and beyond. They could also on occasion fill in for a front line fighter when needed
Thieves were rarely the big damage dealers, but their skills with traps and locks kept the party alive in other ways.
Magic-users were weak as shit for the first few levels (but Sleep was always one hell of a game changer). At 5th level, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Hold Person and the like change much of the DPS and control focus to the simple and fragile Magic-User.
And of course I'm leaving out the multi-classing, UA classes and different race adjustments that sneak into the picture.
This all being said, I don't recall us ever saying "we need X to fill the Y role". Still, you knew a balanced party included one each of the core four classes. While fighter subclasses did a decent job in filling the same niche as a fighter, the druid, assassin and illusionist generally made poor substitutes for their more popular siblings, but in the hands of the right player, even this could be overcome.
So yes, even 30+ years ago, we recognized there were niches or roles that a successful party needed to consider. It just hadn't occurred to us to limit ourselves by labeling the roles like MMOs do, which then carried over in many ways to table top role-playing.
The problem with MMORPGs is that if you aren't the best at what your "role is", then you are wasting the time of everyone else in the party. Limited to 4 slots or 6 or x in the party, you need to make every character count. Which makes MMOs seem more like an exercise in math and statistics than an actual game to me these days.
All of which might have little to nothing to do with Tallifer's excellent quote, but it got me thinking along my own set of ideas on the topic ;)
Do You, As a Player, Have a Preferred Class Type?
I've noticed in my gaming group that some players gravitate towards certain classes or roles.
Arcane caster, any kind of caster, fighter, thief - it seems most players have character types that they feel most comfortable with.
As for myself, I tend to GM more much more often then I play. When I do play, I'm willing to fill any unfilled role the party needs - and if the needs are filled, I'm looking to play a bard or some other class / class combo that can fill multiple roles as they come up. I don't THINK I have a preferred class, but if I did, it would be the "jack of all trades" type of character.
Do you have a favorite class or role to play in a party?
Arcane caster, any kind of caster, fighter, thief - it seems most players have character types that they feel most comfortable with.
As for myself, I tend to GM more much more often then I play. When I do play, I'm willing to fill any unfilled role the party needs - and if the needs are filled, I'm looking to play a bard or some other class / class combo that can fill multiple roles as they come up. I don't THINK I have a preferred class, but if I did, it would be the "jack of all trades" type of character.
Do you have a favorite class or role to play in a party?
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Quotes From Gary Gygax's Role-playing Mastery - About Understanding the Rules
And now a word from the author of Role-Playing Mastery:
When I ran a few DCC RPG story arcs last summer and fall, I didn't realize how little I knew until I ran the first session with characters that actually reached 1st level. I ran a hodgepodge of AD&D and DCC, and it worked, but mostly because I kept the action moving so the players wouldn't readily notice the discrepancies.
This time around, I think my knowledge of the DCC RPG is stronger, but it still has a way to go. I'm one of those that learns better not so much by reading but doing.
I'm also learning how the various twists within the DCC game truly makes it unique, which weren't so obvious to me from reading alone.
In any case, as I (re)read Role-playing Mastery over the next week or so, I'm going to pull out quotes that I find interesting. Hopefully, you will too.
"Knowing the rules of the game is not nearly as simple as committing the relevant passages to memory, because memorization does not bring understanding. It is not only important to know what is written in the rules but to also perceive how the parts of the rules fit together and work in harmony with each other. This later task is certainly achievable, but it is not always easy." Gary Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery page 24It's kinda funny to read the above, as I always thought I had mastered AD&D, but I did so by eliminating weapon speed and not always enforcing spell segments and the like. So long as the changes applied across the board, PCs and adversaries alike, it worked.

This time around, I think my knowledge of the DCC RPG is stronger, but it still has a way to go. I'm one of those that learns better not so much by reading but doing.
I'm also learning how the various twists within the DCC game truly makes it unique, which weren't so obvious to me from reading alone.
In any case, as I (re)read Role-playing Mastery over the next week or so, I'm going to pull out quotes that I find interesting. Hopefully, you will too.
Rediscovered Book - Role-Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax - Multiple GMs / Same Session
I have no idea when I first picked this book up, but judging from the shape of the spine I strongly suspect I never read it. I certainly have no recollection of any of it's contents.
So, I randomly opened it to pages 86 and 87, where Gary talks about "group size" and using GM assistants or even co-GMing. Interesting stuff.
The he says the appropriate ratio is 3 to 4 players per GM / assistant.
Was this really the case back in the early days of OD&D? I remember stories of a dozen players or more being run by one GM.
Heck, last night I safely juggled 7 in my DCC campaign and figure 8 is my safe max. Most groups I've been a part of have had 5 or 6 players plus the GM.
Was running games with multiple GM's actually feasible back in the day? I haven't heard of any games being run in that manner these days.
Damn, I suspect there are a lot of blog topic seeds inside this small book...
Is the Default D&D Next Stat Bonus a +1 Average?
So, I've been looking through Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (not the best name - maybe they should have used +Matt Finch 's Tome of Adventure Design for some other naming ideas). I've just been flipping through thus far, enjoying some of the art (I suspect it's all recycled from different editions, which is cool but a bit jarring at the same time).
Then I came to the supplied pre-gens. Humans have a total stat bonus of + 7, demihumans have a total stat bonus of + 6.
Which means you could simply change all of the DCs and other rolls by one and return the average stat bonus to zero - but then they wouldn't look so heroic I guess.
I dunno, it just kinda stood out and hit me. If the totals were around + 3 or 4, I doubt I would have noticed.
In any case, I am able to read the stat blocks and have a pretty good idea what is going on, so this is still much closer to the D&D I know than 4e ever was.
Highlights From the 2nd Session of "Doom of the Savage Kings" (DCC RPG)
Last week, some amazing die rolls by the party's arcane casters changed the direction and tempo of Doom of the Savage Kings a bit. Gone were the Jarl and his men. Added this session was +Erik Jensen 's gaggle of 4 peasants, handily recruited from the village's lynch mob ;)
Highlights from the session (vague spoilers but spoilers none the less - you have been warned)
- Dealing with the crone and trying to decide which party member would marry her for the help she offered (they decided on one of the "gaggle" of zeros)
- reminding the "lawful" character that killing in innocent so that you can use the now deceased body in a manner benefiting the party is NOT a lawful act ;)
- Looting the Jarl's Hall and finding little of true value
- Dealing with the Jarl's seer, and getting nothing but frustration
- Finding the "box within a box"
- The party Wizard has now cast TWO consecutive spells with a "natural 20". He so badly wanted to leech off of the halfling. I had to point out that even the roll he had would have destroyed half the village with his Scorching Ray, and he would be better ofhf notching it down one result. Sad Wizard. Happy, not burning village and dying villagers.
- Watching one of the "gaggle" get killed from a fellow party member's fumbled attack roll. The funnel finds itself some times.
- The funnel strikes a second time, as a snake-like thing swallowed another member of the "gaggle". And then there were two.
Third session of Doom of the Savage Kings is set for next saturday night.
I'm impressed with how well Google Hangouts / Roll20 handled 7 players (10 characters to start - 8 by the end of the session). Of course, somehow I had forgotten to upload the 2nd and 3rd maps for the adventure - brain fart - but seamlessly did so mid session. Huzzah!
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Are Artists Even Human? (False Machine News!!) - Ordinary humans have literally zero idea of what it takes to develop and create an image, meaning they treat it as a kind of magic, and adopt towards it ...10 hours ago
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Potions are for cheaters! d12 Potion Side FX - Potions are drugs and if you used them in pro sport you'd probably be a cheat and fined. Do good people do potions? Various expansions for The Lost City...1 day ago
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D&D SRD 5.2 - I downloaded the D&D5e SRD v.5.2, but really only out of long-entrenched habit. I'm becoming less and less interested in that fantasy superhero game, th...1 day ago
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Update: Rock Johnson - Updated cover, courtesy of HuckSawyer'S excellent eye for editry.ALSO:I made my wife read it. I made her promise to tell the truth. She said it was actual...1 day ago
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Witchcraft Wednesday: Deborah "Elf Star" and Mistress Frost for the Left Hand Path Witch - Last week I re-introduced two NPC Witches from my Left Hand Path Witch & Warlock book; Rhiannon and Briana Highstar. Today I want to feature two more. ...1 day ago
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Peril at the Rock - By Chris GonnermanBasic Fantasy ProjectBasic FantasyLevels 3-5 Strange, frog-faced humanoids are raiding the Dardenway, the main trade road running south f...1 day ago
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Accommodation in Bastion - Electric Bastionland puts you in debt, with a failed career, and generally assumes you've left home in order to pursue your get-out-of-debt-quick scheme....2 days ago
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A Brief History on the Development and Design of the Planar Cosmology in AD&D - I was reading a good discussion a couple of months ago (in February 2025) about the nomenclature for the power levels of different types of demons over on ...2 days ago
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These Cards Are Demonic: A quick little game of diabolical summoning - My recent obsession with the new *Pokémon TCG Pocket *app has me thinking about trading card games a lot, and obviously the Pokémon game in particular. So...3 days ago
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[Fanzine Focus XXXVII] The Travellers’ Digest #4 - On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial public...3 days ago
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Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun! - Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the unfathoma...3 days ago
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Felltower - Loot, Exploration, and Combat, in that order? - What is Felltower about? "Felltower is all about safety." - Ulf Well, that, and loot, exploration, and combat, in that order. The XP system rewards loot h...4 days ago
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Some insight into FitD Action Roll difficulty - With Blades in the Dark and the other Forged in the Dark games being so much more straightforward and conventional looking than Apocalypse World, I often f...4 days ago
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The Most Vile Spider-Man Villain Ever... - Based on the title of this post you might be expecting Green Goblin, Carnage, or even the Jackal. None of them compare to the despicable acts of the focus...5 days ago
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More Beautiful Development Sketches for The Great North - Tom Kilian continues to excel himself with the artwork for *The Great North*, now heading towards completion. As an Easter present, here is a work-in-pro...1 week ago
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Tariffs, CanCon, and You - In 1972 the CBC asked listeners to complete the saying "As Canadian as...", to match "As American as apple pie." The winner was "As Canadian as possible ...1 week ago
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Should you PAY your GM? - Let's start with the conclusion: GM-for-pay is okay. In other words: there is nothing wrong with paying someone to run a game for you, or charging people f...1 week ago
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Noodle Bar & Industrial Scatter Terrain - This past weekend I got a couple of solid hours to paint when I wasn’t dead tired, and decided to spend it on the 3D printed Flatline City Noodle Bar tha...2 weeks ago
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A Surprising Look at Murderhobos... - So I asked a question on Facebook this week. What did people do with the humanoid women and children in the Caves of Chaos, among similar adventures, persu...3 weeks ago
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36 units sold on day one - Not big Kickstarter-type numbers or anything but still pretty personally gratifying to me, because 1) it'a more copies than the first book sold on its fi...3 weeks ago
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Praise for Songs of the Dying Earth - Among my favourite works of fantasy fiction are the *Dying Earth* stories and the *Lyonesse *trilogy by Jack Vance. I’ve read the *Lyonesse *trilogy three ...3 weeks ago
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Best OSR Cartographers - A video about some my favorite cartographers in the game. This is not an exhaustive list, but the ones I go to the most and ones that have influenced my st...3 weeks ago
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Gary Con XVII - I attended Gary Con this year. Last year, I was supposed to go, but something came up and I had to cancel. This year, I ran a scenario I created called The...4 weeks ago
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[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VI. - This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup...4 weeks ago
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On the Success of the VOTE - You voted for it, and it's here! All the prices on the books I sell on DTRPG will be rising in price, 40-50% so I can maintain the same margin as now! ...5 weeks ago
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Lexicon of Klarkash-Ton, Hierophant of Atlantis: Lupanar - This time, we follow the good High Priest to the far future, to the final continent of Earth, Zothique, for a a tale of ennui and love: Morthylla. Witho...1 month ago
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Fight On! number 16 is out. - The new issue of *Fight On!* has been out for a bit. You can get copies via drivethru or lulu. I haven't finished reading my copy, but I'd like to reco...1 month ago
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Wandering through the Majestic Fantasy Realms - It's time for another Bat in the Attic update! I am halfway through the first draft of my upcoming project, Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northe...1 month ago
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The Hungering Dark - Go into the earth, and reality will walk alongside you. Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone. The world is plastic down there. Tar Lat...1 month ago
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Hobby Bingo 2025: January Progress - Welcome back to the Vault! I've painted a few bits and pieces in January and made a dent into my Hobby Bingo card! First up is a Chaplain in Terminator ...2 months ago
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NTRPG Gaming Weekend - [image: NTRPG Gaming Weekend] This weekend was a "game day" for North Texas RPG Con, held at the same hotel the con is held at. I haven't slung dice since...2 months ago
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The Stats of a Dave Arneson Player Character. - If you want to find the details for one of the characters that Gary Gygax made and played as a PC, perhaps to use as an NPC in your own game, it isn't t...2 months ago
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Into the Wild Blue Yonder: A Journey Through Blackmoor's Dark Realm - *We have been thinking about you.* *We know what you want from Rob Kuntz.* You want more than another brand-new RPG module. It has to be a *First Edition ...3 months ago
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Articulations - Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign, has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective house rule...3 months ago
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A Fiftieth Anniversary Year - The 50th anniversary year of *Dungeons & Dragons *is drawing to a close. A number of projects I'd been planning for this year finally came out, and I ...3 months ago
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A Quick Look at The Wizard’s Scroll II - October of this year saw the release of The Wizard’s Scroll II, the second issue of a White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game (FMAG) zine whose first ...3 months ago
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Writing playlists for all occasions - Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction pieces...4 months ago
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The Tarot of Pips - Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a secr...4 months ago
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Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report - Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from “off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic item rese...4 months ago
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Welcome new Greyhawk Fans! - With the publication of the new Dungeon Master’s Guide, there are doubtless going to be a lot of new D&D players interested in my favorite setting, the Wor...6 months ago
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It's been a bit - Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and other st...11 months ago
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*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace - A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or more w...1 year ago
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Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...1 year ago
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Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) - [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970]Shonen Magazine Cover, 1970 [image: Osamu Tezuka - Shonen Magazine Cover Illustration 1970]Shonen Maga...2 years ago
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This is an Important Game Mechanic - *"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does some s$&...2 years ago
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Clean Your Room - Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it was ...3 years ago
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Steve Jackson Interview - James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and upcomi...4 years ago
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The Hero’s Journey 2nd Edition, Campbellian roleplaying at its best! - (this review done using the reviewers own purchased copy) I have been a James Michael Spahn fan since he wrote his Swords & Wizardry Companion. His writing...4 years ago
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ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman - Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack. Using the monster tables in th...5 years ago
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More Arden Vul Art - Another great piece from Del, this one's the Forum of Set: a place that the PCs may spend quite a bit of time within.5 years ago
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OCHRE SAND - Init +0 Ranged Atk • fire burst +3 (1d14+1, 20') AC 17 HD 3d6 MV 60 Act 1d24 SP 'breath' weapon, sideslip, perfect silence, morphing Fort +5 Ref +8 Will...5 years ago
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Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie - When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there was a strang...5 years ago
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New Map of the Elf Empire and Southern Isles - I’ve been having fun developing a new map-drawing style that I think is finally reaching a certain level of maturity. And yeah, it owes a lot to Matthew Ad...5 years ago
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The Faithful - An Optional Archetype for Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells Revised Edition - Work on the revised edition of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is moving along. This will be a hefty tome, with a LOT of tools and new options to customiz...5 years ago
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Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule - *As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in Warren...5 years ago
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Fiction in Airhde - On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by the T...5 years ago
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Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map - I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots of redu...5 years ago
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And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon - It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to indulge m...5 years ago
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The Withered Crag available now - I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be available startin...5 years ago
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Annihilation Rising Goes live - The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019! ...5 years ago
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James's Celebration of Life - We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined us tod...6 years ago
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Trap Tuesday: A step back - I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on Facebook I talked ...6 years ago
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Let's Talk About Pacing! - The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player was...6 years ago
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Profane and Profound Prep Part 2 - This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release, along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a Saint 8000...6 years ago
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MIDDLE DUNGEONS LEVEL FIVE 158 STAIRS. - 158 STAIRS. These stairs descend thirty feet to Area 79 on Level 6.6 years ago
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Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask. - A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's *not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to promote...6 years ago
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New website! - Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that site wil...6 years ago
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Please Update Your Link! - If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is out of date. Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is h...6 years ago
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Total Sales for WB:FMAG - Hi Folks, It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. *LULU* Print: 396 PDF: 433 *OBS*...6 years ago
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How can We Destroy this Campaign World? - d12 1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute of Annihilation* 2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...6 years ago
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Mord Mar - Session 5 - We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers: Moira, the Magic-User Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?) Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...6 years ago
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Yodeling For Yokels or The Further Misa(d&)dventures - This is the one of those posts that points out the lack of current posts. Over the last week or three, there has been postponed Labyrinth Lord (twice, one...7 years ago
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Bundle of Fantasy Age - Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy Age RPG ma...7 years ago
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New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults - A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex Zisch, a...7 years ago
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Session XCIII: One Pissed Off Dragon! - Our ongoing Swords and Wizardry sandbox campaign... *Current Player Characters:* *Thenus* (Ranger) *Wang Du* (Monk) *Wolfheir* (Viking) *Arg* (Half-orc) ...7 years ago
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Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6 - Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals, a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our next ...7 years ago