Probably a Bad Idea: Tweaking PC Stat Scores

I know this particular post is a bit on the late side, but you know.....life stuff happens. Another beautiful weekend that wasn't too hot meant I really needed to get some outside work done. Unfortunately for me, a HUGE portion of the work I did last weekend needed to be ripped out and re-done because I didn't account for something important and the resulting build was effectively worthless. I'm relatively happy with the 2nd end result and my own little "maker space" will soon start to be productive....

Anyway I also had some relatively mindless "grunt work" to get done and while I was working on it, my mind wandered, as it does.

I bring up (probably far too) often my fondness of HackMaster and while I'm not really wanting to talk specifically about that game, it came up in my thoughts, and I'll circle round back to that.....just mentioning it now so the haters can just go fuck off not waste anymore of their precious time reading the rest of this post.

I was thinking about OSR OC creation and how, and I'm making a gross generalization here, nobody likes playing "bad" PCs, and by "bad" I mean ones with low stats...at least stats with negative adjustments. I know there seems to be a upward trend in increasing stat scores over the evolution of D&D, and in earlier editions it didn't necessarily seem like a big deal if you had the odd negative modifier here or there. I mean nobody wants a PC with a 3 STR and that lovely -3 to hit/damage, or a 4-5 DEX with the corresponding -2 to hit and +2 to AC, but at our core we're role-players.

Odds are, at best, most PCs would likely have more plusses than minuses and statistically speaking and "dings" are likely to be a -1 to something.

My thoughts were that maybe, just maybe, instead of "just" having a penalty to some stats we instead basically create a "floor" for stats, in the case of Moldvay B/X, 9. Your PC, not counting racial adjustments, won't have stats below 9. Stats are still rolled normally, but if you get a low score that would give you a -2, for example, the score gets recorded as a 9 BUT you have to take a couple rolls on a special table that gives your PC some deformity, birth defect, mental condition, etc., that gives you the appropriate -1 on things that stat controls.

For example instead of getting a 5 CON your PC gets a 9 CON and two rolls on the CON chart. The results could be hemophilia and asthma. The end result is a combined -2 to hit point rolls, but the player (and GM) now has some extra material to work with. I can imagine if we had some good low STR results and the PC gets a hold of some Gauntlets of Ogre Power, that PC would get the benefit of 18 STR, but since they have some physical ailments gained from the STR chart they'd still have some physical issues, just not the in-game -1/-2/-3 from the low STR score.

Now I'm not trying to make light of people with actual mental or physical limitations, and obviously, if the idea was offensive to anyone then I wouldn't recommend it.....and I'm sure any given thing I could conceive of would be offensive to someone somewhere......the larger the audience the more likely for this to happen. 

Anyway just a thought......but to circle back around to HackMaster, that game (both editions) have quirks & flaws and I thought they could probably be mined easily to create charts for each stat.

Adding a little variety and one could argue diversity to the game can't be all bad....can it?

Thoughts About Starting Off a New PC/Game

This last week I've been playing (probably too much) Tiny Tina Wonderlands, which is a D&D themed(ish) Borderlands game. It's different, and I think I preferred the D&D themed Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragonkeep (link to the standalone...it does occasionally come up for free on Steam) DLC for Borderlands 2. I know this is lot of...exposition, but whatever. This week I decided to try out the new Blightcaller class and trying to run through the whole game up to level 40 so I can get to the end-game and the 50 (?!) levels of the Chaos Chamber. Thankfully, much to my surprise, at least the first 17 levels have allowed my new PC to skip through two levels at a time. Not sure if there is some weird requirement in order to do so, but I'm taking it.

Since I'm playing in a D&D themed 1st person loot shooter I'm definitely thinking about table-top RPGs while I slog through the grind to Chaos 50. I'm kind of wishing I didn't have to start at level 1 and work my way up, but really only because playing through the game a second time is exactly like playing through the first time. Clearly the level skipping in the Chaos Chamber is more than fine by me.

Up until recently I've never started out a TTRPG PC at beyond 1st level, well at least not in a home game. In a tournament setting one-off, it's a normal thing. Outside of a convention setting I've never GM'd PCs starting out at higher level. Currently in my home game I have a secondary PC that I use when our entire group cannot get together: Gunnhilder (Goon-hill-dur), a kick-ass 4th Level Fighter....(well I am biased). Since we've had a few sessions now I'm starting to get a bit of a feel for the PC, but really on starting. That's the problem with starting off at a higher level, there's no history: personal or shared. No biggie for a one-off, but a mini-campaign....it can be a little...disconcerting at times. Hell, after three games I still can't get the GM to say my PC's name right.

Clearly I'm a fan of starting out at 1st level and I'm also a fan of creating PCs as a group, even though there is something to be said for the chaos of randomness in parties. Want four 1st level Magic-Users and one 1st level Thief? Good luck with that.

So along with thinking about starting off new PCs I naturally (let's be honest, it takes a long time to level up a Borderlands character) segue from new PCs to new players...and not just new new players (like never rolled dice before), but new to a specific game players. Learning the ins-and-outs of a new game can be a bit much sometimes. If there was only some sort of training dungeon you could configure to learn some tips, tactics, and whatnot. 

Now my wandering thoughts were...well way too similar to the Chaos Chamber mentioned above, but...well that idea kind of sucks. Yeah, basically I'm beatings *someone* here to it! Thing is, I've done a training adventure before for the newest edition of HackMaster. Just something I put together to help out with newbs at conventions when the 5th Edition HackMaster came out. Danger in Drakesville (free on DTRPG) wasn't terribly difficult to play, or run, and really served to get a bit of experience (in and out of game), and I had fun with it for a couple of years, well maybe after the first convention season. That first convention was a PITA. Too many people basically said "fuck it" and just went off the rails in the most spectacularly-stupid fashion and I had to tweak the adventure to accommodate the two biggest fuck-offs I experienced: 1) Players thinking it would be "cool" to have their PCs down a pint of what was described as 190 proof Everclear (a pint and half would have a 50% chance of being fatal for 180# person, give or take). 2) At the clear end of the adventure, let's go into this obvious death-trap 'cause why the fuck not?

Thing is, I totally forgot I literally (in this case) wrote an adventure that the back-story is that it was a configurable dungeon, but your group was just a bunch of 1st level newbs going through it last and there were a bunch of spectators watching the group and betting. It was for 4th Edition HackMaster, which is OSR and I figure at least one person here might want a copy. Normally it's a $2 item for me on DTRPG, but I went ahead and made a special freebie discount code for "The Test" (link to the freebie). It's my hope that *somebody* could get some use from this and use it as a starter dungeon to help someone new learn to play.

Getting into the Sweet-Spot for BX PC Gaming

I'm far luckier than expected in that I was able to participate in my group's bi-weekly OSR game. Well that AND my Magic User earned enough XP to become an Enchanter (5th Level).

Now I clearly cannot speak for everyone, but my favorite levels are usually 5th to 7th level. Thing is, while I have played 5th level BX PCs before I don't think I've ever leveled up a PC to 5th level before. Those other PC's were higher level for one-off games and that is a different animal than "growing your own" straight-up from 7 x 3d6 down the line.

Now for an Enchanter that means I get to finally cast a 3rd level spell and get to cast a total of five (count 'em.....FIVE!) spells a day. My Enchanter (I should totally rename his sorry ass to "Tim") conceivably could cast Lightning of Fireball, assuming he knew those spell. Instead he knows Water Breathing.

Water Breathing.......sounds kind of crappy, but after reading the spell it is pretty bad-ass, just a little limited in usefulness. I'm more excited by the fact he's got a captured spellbook with Dispel Magic, which might be far more useful.

Now I expect that most here get the nuances, but there is probably at least one person here that isn't familiar with the slower rate of level progression in an OSR/BX game. I think I've been playing this PC regularly for at least a year and a half. Now as a low-level support PC I'm not often in the thick of things, although I have had to step up a few times and save the day (usually through a fair bit of luck!). Thing is, and this is for the new guy, a 5th level BX Magic User is a lot more on par with a 1st level BX Magic User, much, much closer than the differences in pretty much any other edition of D&D.

My guy is still running the same to-hit charts and saving throws. The difference between 4th & 5th levels? 1d4 hitpoints (well, 1d4+1 for me) and a single spell, albeit a 3rd level spell. The jump to 6th level, only another 20,000 XP from now, gets my guy the 1st increase in saves and to-hit matrix, not that I really want to be making saves or engaging in more direct combat.

Yes, progression is much slower in an OSR game, BUT...and this is a major draw for me, that sweet-spot of mid-level gaming is a lot longer than in other games. Now that my PC has access to 3rd level spells, even just one (up to three if my GM's custom Bracers of Spell Storing can hold third level spells....but I suspect they are limited to 1st & 2nd level spells) can change the dynamic considerably....."can" being the operative word.

Again, for the not-quite-familiar, the flexibility, adaptability, survivability....hell, just playability of BX (OSR) Player Characters aren't so much related to the numbers gained through regular level progression, but through the "smart" actions of the players at the table, and of course a fair bit of luck. Now I'd LOVE to be able to take all the credit for "making it" to 5th level, but I have a whole party of players that are responsible, along with their PCs.

I know, I know.....for 90% of the readers here this is old hat and you've probably not even made it this far. Earlier this week I was reading about *ahem* another edition and my eyes glazed over at the prospect of making and leveling up a PC. Since it's a matter of public record that I like HackMaster and believe me that game has a complicated build/leveling process, but that shit is enjoyable and a completely different thing, so aside from this throwaway comment, I'm not going there. 

I remember playing 3.5 and rolling up a PC, or leveling one, seemed to take hours. It took so damned long because if you did not optimize your build you were screwing your PC over and possibly your group as well. Now this was my experience and others might have different ones, but the simpler/easier choices of OSR PC creation & leveling up > complicated, "have to get it right" please read all the RPG books of the month-club to optimize later edition creation/level ups.

Now I'll probably loose my PC in the next couple of games....these things happen, but I'll just grab my 3d6 and be back in the swing of things soon enough.

Solicitation of Ideas for my Next PC Sheet/Booklet

[I had a topic for today that was, well topical, but it occurred to me that by opening my mouth...no matter what I write.....I'm just wrong. Having been recently threatened with violence by a noted persona in this industry (and cohorts) for advocating a position of non-violence with regards to......does it fucking matter? I'm (now) just not willing to engage with extremists regardless of their position, which is hella ironic. I had the post 50% typed out, but nope.]

Unless this is your first time reading my drivel here at the Tavern you'll know I was a big fan of HackMaster 4th Edition, which is a rather "crunchy" game. Even in less crunchy games I am a huge fan of a rather detailed character sheet, so much that I usually have to make my own PC sheets because invariably the ones available don't have enough detail.

Modified OSE Sheet Front

Now lately I've been using a modified Old School Essentials PC Sheet. I got permission to share the modified sheet (which you can find here) as long as attached my name to it. Now I've been using that sheet for a year now and while it works pretty good for my needs......it isn't working as well as I want.

What I want is a bit overkill for the GM, but a bit closer to the old HackMaster Character Booklets. Since almost all of my gaming is a variation of B/X or maybe 1st Edition AD&D I'm thinking if I design it right I could conceivably make myself...and this would be "all me" even if I ended up sharing the thing for others to use, a PC sheet to end PC sheets....as it were. OK, that's a bit much because if you've seen the 21 page HackMaster Character Booklet I don't think I need a page showing where my ion stones are and a map of the traps for my personal stronghold, but my Last Will and Testament.....maybe.

Now I'm just in the early phase of this "personal project", which is mostly the "big picture" type idea stuff. Normally I'd be open to a good old-fashioned brainstorming session, but since I've been kicking the idea around for a while so some basic design elements have already been figured out:

• Booklet format (as opposed to loose sheets)
• Roughly A5 or Digest Sized
• Softcover......well has an actual cover
• Available as a PDF with printed hardcopy

Modified OSE Sheet Back

I have a PC Sheet I made for the current version of HackMaster that is a bit of a booklet and made for tablet use, but prints out well. There is one PDF error on the wounds section I never did fix, but since I haven't received a single comment/complaint in the 8 years it's been available....yeah not a priority.

Now I'm fully cognizant that could just take my OSE sheet and turn it into a booklet format, which is probably what I'll do in the short term. As things change I can just re-write the contents from one page in the booklet to another and then I'll have basically a documentation of changes as the PC advances in levels.

I'm thinking though that I might make some aspects a bit generic and allow the user (me!) to enter the details in the PDF for printing. Things like not having the stats listed......then I can enter the stats used in the order they are given for the game system being used. Oh, you use an ascending AC....this sheet can deal with that as well.

As much as I'd like to add a spellbook, the fact that Id have to ass spells as I went along might be a bit much, but a spell planner seems doable.

I have to thank you, dear reader, for making it to this point of the post because you've probably been thinking, "That's great Face, but why the F**k should I give a rat's ass about your PC Sheet booklet?" Well, first off....do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Second, while I'm wanting to do this for my own benefit, I'm not above sharing (ie. I will be putting it up PWYW on DTRPG). Thirdly, there's a greater than 0% chance that one of you has a great idea that I'd be kind of PO'd that I didn't come up with myself, much less include.

So if you have any ideas, not that I'm definitely going to use, but will definitely consider, please share them. Here as a comment is preferred in case anyone else wants to do the same, or in case it gives someone else a good idea as well. Alternatively just shoot me an gmail (FrugalGM).

That One Time I Expected my PC to Die

 

I've mentioned that my favorite game was 4th Edition HackMaster, which is definitely a crunchy game and arguably the very 1st OSR retro-clone. I especially liked how the game had a big fan base that allowed for an organized play group where you could bring your home character to a convention and play an adventure with said character with a new group/new table.

Of course there has to be all sorts of rules and conditions to make this possible and fair to the whole group of players. One of those rules had to do with rationing magic items. Magic items had an experience point value and PCs had magic item value caps based on level. You generally needed to be at your level cap so you had the stuff you'd need to survive a tournament adventure.

Actually this is all just a little backstory 'cause I was thinking about what was probably the most fun/exciting tournament game I ever had......

Ok, at this point I'm thinking there is at least one eye roll and "OMG, he's going to tell us another fricken PC story!" At this point you're probably wondering if you have access to one of those Get out of PC Story, Free cards. For your trouble, you can print one of these off....

I made these up as business cards for me and my ex-wife, based on the "originals" that the KenzerCo crew had. Our contact info was on the flip side, along with our pictures done up in similar fashion....

.....but there was a catch, which you've clearly noticed by now. Assuming you had the Get out of PC Story, Free card I could counter with my card, which was the lesser-seen Listen to my PC Story.

So now we've virtually swapped cards, even though I provided both cards, and now you're going to listen to my PC story, but don't sweat it because I'm not going to get anally-specific and droning on about the fine details (like at my age I can remember the fine details anyway...).  A story, at least one worth listening to, has some point and I'll not bury the lead....

The absolute best games are those where you are expecting to lose your PC but manage to survive to continue playing....

The party was hired to investigate some strange goings-on in part of a neighboring kingdom that the ruler was unable to get details on. Armed scouts, scrying, spying....nothing worked. The party was to be stripped of anything magic and sold as slaves to a group none to provide slaves to the area where the trouble was brewing......basically that was the extent of the knowledge. Now, for a group of 5th to 7th level PCs....well we have a LOT of magic stuff and going into an adventure blind and unarmed, is not a promising proposition.

My 7th level Double-Specialist Invoker is already Paranoid and having to forgo all his stuff, including having his Gold Tooth of Purify Beverage, was painful. At least I was able to tweak my memorized spells to take advantage of spell components I could be expected to find. HackMaster is crunchy, so keeping track of actual spell components is a thing.

The first round of the tournament adventure was basically just gaining our freedom and trying to bust out, re-arm, and start investigating. What we discover in the first round was that a Red Dragon, along with some allies, had taken a Gold Dragon hostage and was forcing her to lay eggs and then was using magic to alter the eggs and create some humanoid-dragon monstrosities (think the Draconians from Dragonlance). We get in to the second round and we get most of the way through the second adventure, just shy of freeing the Gold Dragon and taking on the Red Dragon.

Now another thing to know about HackMaster tournaments is that they are limited to a four hour time limit. This is kind of a good thing because if you're on the losing side of the Big Boss Battle and time runs out, instead of your PC dying you get to go home. It's not a win, but it's not a loss/death either.

So what we have is a bunch of players who ran out of time with that Big Boss Battle still looming. We've been beaten & battered and the players are pretty certain it's a toss-up if any of us could survive the final battle. Facing a likely TPK (Total Party Kill) with characters we've all spent years playing & building up, not fun...

.....but it WAS FUN. We all wanted to finish the adventure. Luckily the convention gave us our own HackMaster room for the weekend, so if we could convince the GM to continue..... which we did. After taking a quick break we were able to spend a good hour fighting the good fight. One of our party, a BattleMage, was tapped out spell-wise, so we made him the Designated Survivor and even though we could use his help, somebody needed to let the King know what was going on in case we failed. Since we had discovered a Teleportation scroll, we were able to send him off immediately. At least our impending deaths won't be in vain. As a group, the remaining party members took on the Red Dragon and during the battle we managed to secure the magical key that would allow us to free the Gold Dragon, which ultimately is what kept us from a TPK. We did lose one guy and the thief lost an arm, but the rest of us made it through with single-digit HP.

The entire battle, we all stood around the game table. Nobody could sit still for this epic clash. I think if we went one more round without the Gold Dragon's help that would have TPK'd us. During the lead up to this BBG Battle we did manage to acquired a lot of magical items, but we had to use almost everything for the fight. Still, loot wasn't lacking, but probably not nearly as much as expected for the level of difficulty of the adventure.

I think I ended up getting a couple of spells out of the deal and a new staff. As a reward from the Gold Dragon I was allowed to make a request as far as my reward and I asked for one of the Red Dragon's bones to fashion into a new staff. Even though it came from an evil Dragon, a Dragon-bone weapon probably wouldn't be seen favorably by a good-aligned Dragon, and my PC was smart enough to realize this. As part of my boon I was able to get in inscribed in multiple languages to denote not only where this bone came from, but who gifted it, which allegedly would give my PC a pass of sorts.

I've had a couple of my PC's immortalized by commissioning a portrait by the wonderful Fraim Brothers, who have done a lot of art for KenzerCo/Knights of the Dinner Table/HackMaster. I try not to be too specific in what I'm looking for in a Character Portrait and just briefly describe the character. In this case I mentioned he was a magic-user who carried a crossbow, spellbook, and had a Dragon-bone staff with runes on it. I know I mentioned he kept a mask on and I think I added the amulet around his neck. Whatever the Bros. come up with I knew I was going to like....and I did.

PC Deaths can be a Good Thing....no, Really!

Special Note: For the record....I'm typing this up on a Saturday morning, hours before my bi-weekly game. Just have to mention this in case there happens to be a coincidence between the game and today's subject matter.

I'd like to think that I've had less than my fair share of PC deaths, which is interesting since I like to play HackMaster, which is known to be crunchy and deadly. Of course I might actually have more than my fair share of PC deaths and I just don't remember them because they aren't remarkable or because they were low-level PCs. Who really regrets the loss of a 1st level nobody?

As a GM I have kind of relished killing off the PCs, and have exercised some bragging rights when doing so. In truth though I try to be a bit of a tactician and I'm trying to have and share in the fun at the table. I get a metric shit-ton more mileage out of almost killing a PC. Now I'm not the type to fudge the dice rolls, but bringing a mighty PC down to low single-digits or castrating their abilities in some way......good times. The players fear for the safety of their PCs and the party has to tie up resources covering for the new weakness in their ranks. This can lead to a snowball effect that either makes the party escape by the skin of their teeth or suffer a crushing defeat. I'll risk one for the other any day, but I'll not let you know which one I'm rooting for in the moment...... 

"Fear for the safety".....do players really have feelings about their PCs? I sure hope they do! I want my players to be proud when their PC pulls off something mighty & heroic, and get a bit miffed when things don't go their way. Downright sad, for a while, when their PC actually dies....this is a good thing. No, I'm not a sicko GM.....well maybe I am, but not for this reason. The way I see it, players should be emotionally invested in their PCs. It's what makes the game fun and I think it's what can help make a game, for the lack of a better term, "real". Sure, players can have fun simply because they are hanging out with their friends and generally having a good time, but they can also just do that over pizza a beer.....don't need to be adding dice to the mix then.

What makes role-playing games an actual hobby is this emotional investment and the bond a good game group establishes with each other. I personally look forward to my next game, my next get-together, and I think this is because of this emotional investment in my PCs. Hell, I would also argue this is one of the reasons so many players don't do regular game conventions, unless they end up going with some of their home group members.

<insert Wayne's World doodly-doo noises here> Deep in my old records I have a write-up from my very first official HackMaster tournament as a GM. It's a rather in-depth (and lengthy) account because my table didn't fair so well and there were quite a few PC deaths. At one point there was some yelling/swearing and a chair was kicked a fair bit. I had heard, and disagreed with, how another table breezed through a couple encounters and assumed that the players from the one home-group that sat at my table would file a compliant (I didn't blame them), so immediately after the game I took my notes and wrote up the game. Wow, did I make a bunch of mistakes. With one exception they were all in the players favor, both the player and I had simply forgotten about one of their PC's magic items, but the players really didn't play well. You'd never guess this was an established home group used to playing together. I think the fact it was a late night game hindered their collective cognitive abilities because one PC could have avoided death simply by side-stepping 5' in almost any direction....and this was pretty obvious. <insert Wayne's World doodly-doo noises here>

Back to the intended train of thought.....this group lost several mid-high level PCs and were super pissed in the moment, and not that happy for the rest of the convention. They had been playing these characters for years and had a lot of investment, clearly not just time, in them. I'm sure they were able to resurrect the PCs, albeit with some new quirks and flaws (par for the HackMaster 4th Edition course) and carry on. I'm certain the extremity of their initial reactions were a bit much, but that's the chance you take.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained......had the players made a couple different decisions, like the aforementioned player stepping left two paces or the one player reminding me her PC could run like the dickens due to her magic item, then the party would have gotten their asses handed to them, but the would have survived. The players would have been high-fiving each other and they probably would have won the tournament.

Just remember this the next time you lose a PC and you're pissed off.......this is actually a good thing. Surely more a silver lining, but still.....a good thing. Stop short of kicking that chair, thank you GM, and figure out how you could have avoided that death. Worst case, pick up your 3d6 and hope you can get pissed when you lose this one as well....hopefully a long, long time (and many more levels) than last time.