A Peek at Some Optional Rules Included in the Swords & Wizardry Continual Light Beta

What follows are some optional rules that will be included with the Swords & Wizardry Continual Light Beta Release.

These are OPTIONAL - use or not as you see fit as a GM. Add your own or none at all.

We'll see if we can get a public release of the Swords & Wizardry Continual Light Beta PDF in the next few weeks. There are various iterations of the SWCL rules currently in playtest as well as being used as reference by creators of SWL content. We want to lock down the rules before moving on to the rest of the release.

As I've stated before, the full release will add 16 to 20 pages of adventures and setting to the 16 pages of actual rules. So, complete game and campaign material in 32 to 36 pages.

On a side note - we just commissioned a logo for the Torchlight zine. Things are progressing well ;)



Optional Rules for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light

-Start all characters with maximum Hit Points for their class at 1st Level. Helps with low level survivability.

-Allow humans to swap their lowest ability score with a 15. Answers the “Why play a human? “ question.

-Treat 1st Level Clerics as having “Zero” 1st level spells and allow them their bonus spell for high wisdom if they have one.

Perks:

Here's how Perks work. After attaining 7th level, PCs can still accumulate game session  / adventure "credit" for playing and they can spend this "credit" as follows:

• 1 Credit - Add 1 HP to their HP total.  This perk can be bought a maximum of 10 times. Note, these are not HD and a Constitution Bonus does not apply. Also, see below.

• 2 Credits - Lower Saving Throw by 1 point. This perk can be bought a maximum of 5 times.

• 2 Credits - Cleric and Magic-user only - Add 1 First Level spell slot – This perk can be bought a maximum of 3 times.

• 3 Credits - Fighter only - + 1 to BAB - This perk can be bought a maximum of 5 times.

• 4 Credits - Cleric and Thief Only - + 1 BAB. This perk may only be bought a maximum of 2 times.

• 4 Credits – Cleric and Magic-user only - Add 1 Second Level spell slot. This perk can be bought a maximum of 2 times.

• 5 Credits - Thief Only - Add a 1 in 6 chance to Thief Skills. This Perk may only be bought once.

• 5 Credits – Add 1 HP to their HP total. There is no maximum number of times this perk can be bought. Note, these are not HD and a Constitution Bonus does not apply.

• 6 Credits – Cleric and Magic-user only. Add 1 Third Level spell slot. This perk can only be bought once.

• 8 Credits – Magic-user only. Add 1 Fourth Level spell slot. This perk can only be bought once.

Thief Class WILL be in Swords & Wizardry: Light - Skill Preview Follows

So, the feedback was overwhelming that a Thief class is needed for the initial 4 pages of Swords & Wizardry: Light. Of course, part of the issue is simplification and part of it is space concerns. That damn skill chart takes up some major page space.

With the input of some of the regulars during last night's Tavern Chat, I think we have a playable and elegant solution.

Climb Walls will convert to a 5 in 6 chance. All other skills will roll into on singular "Thieve's Skills Package". Chance of success is 1 in 6 at 1st level, 2 in 6 at 3rd level, 3 in 6 at 5th level, 4 in 6 at 7th level at 5 in 6 at 9th level. At 12th level, the chance for all thief abilities would be 6 in 6 - if you roll a 6, roll again and if another 6 comes up, you failed.

You could house rule the following:

All thieve's skills take 1 minute to perform. If you devote 10 minutes to the activity, you increase your chance of success by 1 in 6. If you rush and devote only 10 seconds to the task, your chance of success is lowered by 1 in 6.

Are You Experienced? Methods of Awarding Expo in the OSR

+Vincent Florio and I were bouncing some observations of awarding experience points back and forth throughout the day today. Although there are definite rules that cover awarding expo in the various editions of D&D and it's clones, it seems to be one of the things that is most often houseruled.

Some folks keep the gold recovered for expo - some don't, or they tweak the way it's awarded.

Some award expo for cool acts, or doing something in character, or great roleplay, or achieving goals and the like.

Some go the 2e way, and award expo for actions that are class related.

Yes to expo for magic items found and kept or no?

Tweaks depending on the frequency of the group gaming - more often, smaller rewards, less often, greater rewards.

How do you award expo? Do you go by the book or do you have your own houserules? If you go by the book, which edition or clone's rules do you follow? Is it the same as the edition you are actually running?

Inquiring minds want to know ;)

Revisiting My Conversion of "DCC RPG Luck" to Swords & Wizardry (or any OSR ruleset)

Don't you wish you could reroll that save?

I've running with a "Luck" ability in my OSR games for a while now, and I've found it to be an excellent addition to a PC's resources. It doesn't take away tension. Instead, I've found it adds to the tense moments and makes gameplay just a tad more exciting. Of course, like most houserules that I've introduced in the past, I tend to initially make them needlessly complicated, almost as a justification for the rule itself.

Now I'm going to simplify it after using it with 2 different groups and 3 different campaigns.


"Luck" in Swords & Wizardry (or really any OSR ruleset)

Every PC starts out with 5 points of Luck. Thieves add 1 point to that total as well as Halflings (so a Halfling Thief would get 7 points)

Luck may be used the following ways:

     * 1 point of luck may be spent to add + 2 to any D20 roll after the roll is made. This can turn a miss into a hit or a failed save into a save.

     * 1 point of luck may be spent to add + 10 to any % roll after the roll is made. This can turn a failed remove traps roll into success

     * 2 points of luck allows the PC to reroll any die (or dice for a damage spell) - attack, save, damage, even HP gained from level advancement if they have 2 pts of luck left in their pool when they are awarded their new level. It can also be used to force an opponent to reroll an attack, save or damage roll. The reroll replaces the original roll, even if it it worse than the roll it is replacing.

Luck may only be used once per "situation" or encounter.

Luck resets to the PC's maximum amount at the beginning of each session, so there is no reason to hoard it (except for the possible reroll of HP gain due to leveling)

If there is a way to add to a PCs permanent Luck Score, I haven't thought of one yet. I've sure it would involve some major forces if it did.

You could introduce something like an altar or a fountain, that if used properly, could restore some luck mid session. Hmmm, I should actually try that ;)

Some Swords & Wizardry Houserules For Your Perusal

The link below will take you to the INVULNERABLOG. At it, you will see an article on some Swords & Wizardry Houserules by +Joshua Kubli .

It was supposed to have appeared in the Unofficial OSR Zine that never fully got off the ground, so Josh posted it on his site. It's a really nice piece, and I'm tempted to steal bits and pieces of it for my current games of S&W Complete.

I'm posting the beginning of the the article here, but you'll need to go HERE for the full article:

MY OSR HOUSE RULES

I’ve got a set of house rules I use for most OSR games I run. They add a simple “hero point” mechanic, skill system, and critical damage system to the game. Why did I add these rules?

It gives the players something to look forward to between levels, without adding a lot of complexity or minmax potential.
It gives players the option of surviving with lasting injury or trauma, instead of dying immediately from serious injuries. I don’t use these rules when running Dungeon Crawl Classics, for example, because heroes characters are supposed to die in droves in that system. That’s half the fun.
It gets players involved and moving forward. They don’t get rewarded for playing it safe and cautious, they win big, and if they screw up, they have a chance to survive.
My first DM used an ad-hoc “point reward” system, to give us stuff when we rolled well or had great ideas. My beloved fighter-wizard had a peanut butter point, a “Knight of the Bone” point (it was because he saved the party by striking up a conversation with a lich, although the name certainly suggests other tales of bravery…) and assorted other silly points by the time that first campaign was done. This is a similar idea, just implemented in a slightly less silly way.

The rules have two parts: Valor and Cunning, and Anguish and Trauma.

VALOR AND CUNNING POINTS
This section provides a rudimentary “hero point” and “skill/feat” system.

GAINING VALOR AND CUNNING POINTS
Each time a character gains a Valor or Cunning Point if they roll:

Any extremely effective, clever, entertaining, humorous, and/or successful plan or action.
01 to 05 on a Thief Skill check.
 20 on an attack roll.
 1 on an Attribute roll.
Any other roll, if the player rolls the best possible result. If the best possible result occurs less than 5% of the time, round up. So, for example, players would gain points on a roll of 1 or 2 on 1d30 (roughly 6.67% chance).
Gaining Valor Points: Characters that roll well on physical actions, or that act with vigor, speed, force, and good combat tactics, earn Valor Points. Attack rolls using physical weapons, lockpicking, and tumbling earns Valor.

Gaining Cunning Points: Characters that roll well on mental actions, or that demonstrate good long-term or large-scale planning, ideas, puzzle-solving, deductions, foresight, and persuasive skills, earn Cunning. Well-placed attacks with spells, social interaction, and abstract thought are all worthy of Cunning Points.

As you might expect, fightery types, including rangers and paladins, are more likely to earn Valor Points, while spellcasters are more likely to earn Cunning Points. Characters that act in both a physical and a mental capacity, like thieves and bards, have a good chance of earning both.

(go to the INVULNERABLOG for the rest)