RuneQuest 6 - Review - Part The First - Make Me a Character!

As I stated earlier, RuneQuest 6 is a pretty sizable book to digest. I'm not going to attempt to break it down by chapter, as there are 16 Chapters and that will take forever, but there is no way I'll be able to cover this in two or even three parts for review purposes. It takes however long it takes ;)

The first three chapters cover Character Generation.  Chapter One is Basic Character Creation and probably the best place to start.

I'd like to remind you that my RQ experience is with RQ2 and RQ3. MRQ and Legend, pieces of which I may own, are not part of my play experience. Additionally, My RQ experience probably topped on in 1992 at the latest - some I'm at least 20 years removed from the game. I might not be new to it, but I am far from conversant in it. I may bring less baggage to the review, but I probably also bring  game memories that have been buffed and sweetened with the passage of time.

Oh, almost forgot something about the layout of the RuneQuest 6 PDF - it is two columns with a sidebar. The sidebar during the initial character generation chapter deals with Anathaym, the female warrior that graces the cover. Se is uses as the example to follow as one goes through the steps of character generation.

On to the Chapter 1. We are introduced to the usual RQ Characteristics of STR, CON, SIZ, DEX, INT, POW and CHA. Not horribly different than the attributes on associates with the usual OSR style games. Most are generated using the 3d6 method, but INT and SIZ use 2d6+6. (I don't remember the boost to POW and INT in RQ 2+3).

From these Characteristics you determine your Attributes: Action Pts, Dam Mod, HP, XP Mod, etc. It's a list of 10, and some seem very new to me.

Action Points determine the number of actions a character can take in a combat round. Most characters will fall in the range of 2 actions, but some with high scores in INT and DEX will get 3. I haven't gotten to the combat section get, but I would assume an extra action is a nice boon for a PC.

Here's something I don't recall seeing in most RPGs - The Reasons Why... Why does INT and DEX affect your number of action points? In RQ6, it's spelled out for you:

The Reasons Why…

INT: Clever characters can more easily exploit openings and opportunities that lend them an edge in combat 

҉҉DEX: Agile characters react more quickly and can therefore act more often during combat

After the Attributes we are shown the Standard Skills. The starting score of these skills is equal to either 2x a Characteristic or the sum of 2 Characteristics. These are things like Ride, Unarmed Combat, First Aid and the like.

The chapter concludes with a with visual aid for the basic character generation process. This is probably one of the better character generation aids I've come across in an RPG - as very few included anything like it. I'm including a screen shot below for review purposes.

Crap - that was just covering the first chapter ;)

Disorganized Organization Methods Are Killing My Productivity

I've never been overly organized. Alright, more accurately, I'm organized in the old "I know it's somewhere in that pile" sort of method. Sooner or later that shit is gonna bite me in the ass.

Well, I'm working my way through a bite right now.

The Magical Toys piece I've been working on in various brain storming sessions (I suspect they would be better with beer, but the timing is never right) is literally spread about everywhere:

• I've saved bits via voice memo to my iphone
• I've saved bits via voice memo to my itouch
• I've written bits on sticky tags at work
• I've emailed ideas to myself
• I've written them out in OmmWriter on my computer
• I've written ideas on index cards

As you can see, my shit is all over the place. Heck, I've written the same piece more than once because I forgot I had written it out previously.

The art for the pieces I've submitted have started to come in, and if there was ever a motivation to be more organized AND more more productive its seeing your work brought to life.

Yep, spent the night tracking down some of the wandering pieces of the puzzle.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a sneak peek or two of the art in the coming weeks. It really is damn good!

First Look at RuneQuest 6

Coming in at 458 pages for the PDF, the RuneQuest 6 core rulebook is a large game to read through. To put things into perspective, the DCC RPG PDF comes in at 488 pages (I've run 2 session and have yet to read the full DCC RPG rulebook). It is not a light weight book. Also, it is priced similarly to the DCC RPG Corebook, coming in at $25 for the PDF. Neither is cheap. Neither is what I would classify as an "Impulse Buy".

Still, as PDFs go, this one is definitely user friendly, which certainly adds to the value. Not only is it bookmarked but it has an extensively hyperlinked Table of Contents (something the DCC RPG certainly could use).

The designers of RQ6 state a number of goals they had in mind when designing the latest edition of RQ. I'm going to quote that piece from the introduction below, as these are some of the things I'll be referring to as I review RQ6 in later posts:

In designing RuneQuest Sixth edition we had several aims foremost in our minds:


To recapture the spirit and feel of the earlier editions of RuneQuest.


Provide a comprehensive fantasy roleplaying game that capitalises on Rune-Quest’s strengths.


Streamline the system, but also introduce new mechanics and systems that reflect what is happening in 21st Century roleplaying games.


Bring RuneQuest to a new audience, and continue to care for its old fans.


It will be interesting to see if they accomplish their goals, especially as I'm a RQ Game Master from the 2nd and 3rd editions of the game. Guess I better get reading ;)

Did I mention I love the cover?  Yep, it rocks!

No Session Recap - Technical Difficulties+

Between work, health, miscommunication and technical issues, we were down to two players. Needless to say, we are pushing the start of the current DCC Arc back a week.

This actually may work out really well. for the group. If all goes well I should be able to run Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk (Purple Sorcerer Games) as the funnel.

Should be fun no matter what I run, but the sneak peak of Ooze Pits I've seen has been really promising.

WotC Virtual Table Top - Here Today, Gone July 30th

WotC VTT - We Hardly Knew You

What? You didn't know WotC was working on their own VTT for like - forever?

Well, it's too late now. VTT go bye bye soon. As per ENWorld:

This comes from Wotc_Josh from the group D&D Insider Beta.

"I wanted to inform you all about an important decision that Wizards has made regarding the D&D Virtual Table and Virtual Table Beta. While we appreciate the enthusiasm and participation in the Beta phase, we were unable to generate enough support for the tool to launch a full version to the public. Effective July 30, 2012 the D&D Virtual Table Beta will be coming to an end and the VT will be closed.

Over the next three weeks, we encourage you to wrap up your existing campaigns and make sure to gather contact information from your online group members so that you can stay in touch if you like. We realize that because all data generated in the tool is in a proprietary format usable only by the Virtual Table, it is not possible to export your campaigns for use in another tool. You can, however, take screenshots of any notes, maps or adventures that you would like to hang on to or use in your home games. 

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the VT Beta and look forward to continuing to support D&D game play through our D&D Insider digital tools and D&D Next."

I really like how all your shit that you entered onto their VTT is in proprietary format and can't be exported.

That's the way to support your customers!

Games From the Basement - Mutazoids 2nd Edition

Oh my God! Look! The blurb on the cover says "One of the best SCI-FI Role-Playing Games EVER!" It must be true!

Mutazoids 2e - Post-Holocaust Roleplaying in a world of Mutants & Super Powers.

Look at that cover.  Cops with their black & white patrol car and six shooter revolvers confronting some sort of bat-man and a scantily clad woman with horns at her knees and elbows. Hubba hubba!

This game came out in 1992, so it's 20 years old this year. I don't recall ever running it. I don't recall ever wanting to run it. 46 of the 112 pages are devoted to character generation. Looking at the random charts involved in character generation for the players, I can't see my old group looking to run it either.

Hmm, here's a quote from the back cover:

"Players create Enforcers - the futures equivalent to police officers who carry out laws passed by the cruel government known as the Second Republic".

Sorry, I'd rather play the human-bat-guy or the Horney lady on the cover. :)

Games From the Basement - Paranoia 1E Playtest Material

So, after getting home from work and walking the dog, I continued my quest to find some of my older dungeon maps. I thought I scored when I found a graph paper notebook, but most of the maps within were from one of the early Bard's Tale computer games for the Commodore 64. Not saying I didn't find anything useful, just not all that I hoped for.

I did, however, find briefing material for the playtest of Hil Sector Blues for Paranoia 1E. I remember playtesting this in Manhattan way back in the day in the old West End Games offices late one Friday night. I have no idea who ran the session, but there were three playtesters - myself and my friends Andrew and Lenny. I guess someone didn't want their playtest material, as I have two copies of the Internal Security Hil Sector Gazette.

I think I'll add the second copy as a prize in one of this blog upcoming contests. This shit has to be at least as valuable as a Mark McGuire rookie card ;)

Running My Second DCC RPG Arc Tonight - Funnel Casualties Expected ;)

Running the start of my second DCC RPG Arc tonight - It's Funnel time!

For the last funnel I used the funnel from the DCC RPG rulebook because it was the shortest of my options. I'm leaning towards doing the same again tonight for the following reasons:

1 - It's the first time getting this group of players together, so there will be some time lost in the beginning sorting things out.

2 - Last time I had 4 players and we ran with 4 PCs each. This time I have 6, maybe 7 players - we'll be rolling with 3 PCs each I think tonight.

3 - We only have a 3 hr time block, so I'd rather complete everything early than run way too late.

4 - We'll be using TableTop Forge for the G+ Hangout, and that may have a small learning curve involved.

5 - I've run it before - less stress, no mess

Wish us luck ;)

Mapping the Past With Dungeons

Back in the early 80's, when I was first bitten by the AD&D bug, creating dungeon maps was a game unto itself.

Sometimes I used the random tables in the back of the DMG. On a few of those times, I used a party of the appropriate level to fight the randomly placed monsters from the encounter charts. Solo play back in the day (I didn't own Tunnels & Trolls).

I don't believe the maps I found so far were randomly generated by the tables in the back of the DMG, but I do believe they were randomly stocked. At least I hope they were randomly stocked - from what I've seen so far I notice little rhyme or reason to the dungeon inhabitants linked to my old maps.

Before I truly start the project of turning my early maps into a "mega-dungeon" of sorts, I want to see if I have another stash hidden away in storage. I have some fairly clear memories of maps other than the ones I've unearthed so far. I'd like to make sure I have the most complete pool to work with.

At least I have a theme to link the disparate maps - they were the work of an insane Dwarven Cleric, who enslaved Goblin to build it. This should help explain some of the craziness of the old style maps ;)

Mini Review: DCC #68 - The Emerald Enchanter (DCC RPG)

The Emerald Enchanter is the 2nd adventure released in the DCC RPG Line of adventures for 2nd level characters after Purple Duck Games' release of Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror. If you are a referee that prefers to use prewritten adventures in your gaming, the DCC RPG is has the strong beginnings of a varied assortment to choose from.

The Emerald Enchanter isn't just the name of the adventure, it's also the hook that draws the players in - townsfolk have gone missing, and the Emerald Enchanter is the likely culprit.

I must say I'm really digging the adversaries in this adventure. The grunts have a nice twist to them. The more specialized adversaries? Awesome twists to them. I will never look at mosaic artwork the same way again. Ever ;)

The ability to work potential replacement characters into the adventure is in itself a great thing, especially with the potential lethality of the DCC system. I'm glad to see the author placed some replacements if needed. I'd suggest using the PC generator over at Purple Sorcerer Games and letting the player choose the best out of the four for his new PC if it comes down to this. Consider it an "off screen funnel" if you will.

The challenges are great, but so are the rewards. I think it is a pretty well balanced adventure, both in the challenge department and in the goodies the PCs might acquire. I think having a Wizard or an Elf in the party is pretty much needed for the party to succeed but I could be wrong. It's a shame I won't get a chance to run this until sometime in August at the earliest.

The artwork is, as always, many lawyers layers (damn typos) of awesome. I'll say it again: Goodman, start selling art prints!

Oh, and the PDF is bookmarked as always. Nice job.

From the blurb:

Villagers have gone missing! A mix of clues, superstitions, and omens point to the brooding citadel of the emerald sorcerer. This silent monolith has sat undisturbed atop a windy ridge for centuries. Legends say that a green-skinned sorcerer dwells there, where he conducts strange experiments and builds enigmatic machinery. His green-skinned constructs patrol the grounds of his citadel, and he is seen only rarely when he ventures out on nefarious errands that end in horrid screams and strange lights coming from his citadel. Now it is time to penetrate his inner sanctum…

Mega-Dungeon Concept - Reuse Dungeon Maps From 1985 For 2012 Sensibilities

I'm very seriously considering reusing my re-found dungeon maps from the late 80's in a modern style sensibility "Mega-Dungeon".

For my personal use, I'd probably use the ACKS system for the stating out of the critters, as that is the system I'm using for my current campaign.

If I release it for free download, I will probably go the "generic" route, as I have no intention of worrying if I'm obeying the fine print of the OGL or one of the clone licensees.

I wouldn't worry too much about how I fleshed out the dungeons back in the day - that was 100% using the tables in the back of the DMG. I'd be aiming for some internal consistency and maybe even some dungeon history thrown into the package.

I thought that way once, as evidenced by the room descriptions attached. Wish I could find the accompanying map, but no dice so far.

Free Pantheon of Gods - Circa 1986

I can't believe I had both the time and the inclination to write up a whole panthon of gods. I'm putting this at around 1986, as by that time I was pretty much a full time GM for my High School / College group, and I was working on my own setting.

Yep, that's also around the time I got my hands on hexagonal graph paper and decided to try my hands at world design. I apparently didn't get very far. It's also a photocopy of the original, which was done in color pencils if I recall correctly.

My issues with world design were that my vision was always much larger than either my ability or my free time. I never completed a world / setting / major geographical area. So I generally found an area in Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms that was out of the way and pretty much did whatever it was I wanted to do - but with pre-drawn maps and pantheons.

Still interesting pieces from my own collection. I'm half tempted to make the dungeon maps into a new mega-dungeon of sorts for my players. i still have a few more I need to post ;)

Post 2K - What's Gone on Before and Where Are We Going

When I started this blog back in May of 2009, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with it or where I wanted it to go. I was, for lack of a better term, blogging without focus. I'd liked to think that after 2,000 posts, I've gotten somewhat of a focus.

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I love OSR type games. It's my gaming weakness if you will. I run a weekly Adventurer Conqueror King or Die! campaign on Saturday nights via G+ Hangouts and the TableTop Forge App and monthly 2-3 session Arcs of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. No longer do I just talk the talk, I now walk the walk.

Still, this blog is the vehicle that got me back to my gaming roots while at the same time opening my eyes to the other RPGs that are out there - I do like peeking at the independent games.  Heck, I even played in an Apocalypse World (worst written great game out there) game session with some gaming personalities that were almost intimidating to game with. Alright, to be honest, they were intimidating.

Sometimes I feel like I'm out of my league. That I don't belong among the other tenured and much better written and certainly more worthwhile to folks' actual gaming experience type blogs. It's the same feeling I get before every game session that I'm GM'ing. There's that bit of self doubt. I've decided to let that bit of self doubt keep me honest. It's the piece of encouragement that will ensure that I don't put in half assed work on this blog. Not guaranteeing the results won't be half assed, but at least the effort won't be ;)

Where's the Tavern going in the future?

Well, I'm pretty much enamored with the DCC RPG at the moment. It has an excellent Old School Feel rule system and a really generous community of Third Party Publishers. So yes, that will be a good part of my focus.

ACKS is my campaign game of choice at the moment, so it too will get some attention.

I'll be kicking the tires of D&D Next whenever it is required. I do want it to be a success. I don't expect it will be the success that WotC needs to satisfy the Gods of Hasbro (Lawful Evil I suspect).

Indie games that draw my attention will obviously get... attention.

I had started a series of articles that were going to compare the initial RPGs that were released in the Golden Age of the hobby. I need to get back to that.

Well, that and a barrel full of monkeys (shit! I need to use that in my Magical Toys project I'm working on). Sometimes the blog writes itself, and when it does, who am I to force it to change direction?

If nothing else, I expect fun times ahead :)

Dungeon Crawling Like It's 1983! (Now With Wilderness Encounter Tables and Goldenrods)

I'm amazed at the pieces of gaming goodness I'm finding in the old, now 2-piece, Blue Trapper Portfolio.

Apparently I started gaming in February of 1982, as my first character's sheet has that as his creation date. I thought it was back in 1981, but character sheets don't lie (except when it comes to character stats it seems).

Here's another dungeon "One-Sheet", this time labeled "level 2". My God but I was giving away crazy loot for little reason back then. Assuming this stuff was from 1983 (the Wilderness encounter charts match up with the release of the MMII in 1983) I was gaming for a year or so when I made these masterpieces.

Huzzah!

Just as a side note, I apparently have 1 each of the "Goldenrod AD&D Character Sheets" that aren't written on. Master copies, if you will, for my father to take to work and use the job copier. I think I need to scan these up as historical archives.

Mini Review - Waypoints 0: The Village of Cowfold (Generic Sandbox)

I love stuff for my games that is a quick read and an easy "drop" wherever I might need it. It looks like the Waypoint series is going to be much like the Toys For the Sandbox series in that way, although they approach things from different angles.

Whereas TFTSB is generally centered on a location, person or event with multiple ways for it to play out, it looks like the Waypoints series will focus on locations and the personalities and what makes them living and breathing for the PCs.

The first release in the Waypoints series focuses on the people of the Village of Cowfold, and although I don't feel like we are truly getting to see the majority of the town, we are getting what we need to make it real for the players as they come through. The NPC personality write ups are top notch, even if I won't use 90% of each write up directly. What I mean is that the write ups will allow the GM to visualize the NPCs personality and motivations, and roleplay them with more depth than most NPCs tend to get.

The map is by Matt Jackson, so you know it will be good.

There is talk on the Chubby Monster Games blog about moving on from the generic, stat-less format of Waypoints 0 to licensed stat blocks in the back. I'm not so sure that is needed, as everything I need to run with the Village of Cowfold was included in this stat-less edition. Still, if it gets the series added visibility it can only be a good thing. I saw that because The Village of Cowfold is top notch sandbox material, and if the rest of the series follows suit I'd hope it would get the attention it deserves.


Waypoints 0: The Village of Cowfold is available for free, so you have no excuse not to grab yourself a copy. 

From the blurb:



Waypoints #0: The Village of Cowfold is released for FREE as an introductory product to showcase our future plans. This issue of Waypoints will peel back the many layers of an interesting and unique medieval village, offering a look at what makes it tick, the various histories, and the tangled web of the inhabitants. Hooks, descriptions, details and a map help flesh out this supplement so that that provides any Gamemaster with a no-prep option to help inject a breath of fresh air into their campaigns.


Welcome to the Village of Cowfold, a village your players may never want to leave.

Dungeon Crawling Like It's 1983!

I wish i had kept all of my old dungeons from when I was a kid / teenager, but alas, most are long gone and probably best forgotten.

I did find this "One-Sheet", if you will, with a dungeon map on front and the keyed locations on the back.

Who needed anything but number of monsters, loot and possible traps when writing up your dungeon? Anything else is just taking up wasted space.

At least I didn't use every single square on the graph paper for the dungeon - there was some actual space being used to keep it all from falling in on itself.

I'm going to guess circe 1983 or so - earlier and I wouldn't have left any free space on the map and much later I would be including "Dungeon Privies", "Air Vents" and "Waste Disposal Chutes".

Still, I notice there is little rhyme or reason as to why this assortment of creatures would be in a dungeon, let alone why they aren't dying off from lack of food (apparently I did include a dungeon stream, which provides water AND is where I place 5 Giant Crocodiles).

Ah, the good old days, when "It just is" was the answer to the rarely spoken question: "How the fuck did all this stuff get in here in the first place?"

Mini Review - Leagues of Adventure (Ubiquity System)

I really do like the Ubiquity RPG system. I think it accomplishes much of what Savage Worlds can accomplish without a lot of the system weight that get's attached. Lets call Ubiquity my favorite system that I've yet to play.

Leagues of Adventure is the latest game to use the Ubiquity RPG Engine. Notice I said "game", not sourcebook. Unlike Savage Worlds, which has a core rules set and source books that feed off that, games that use the Ubiquity system are just that - stand alone games.


That can be both good and bad. It's great if you want to pick up a single set of rules and run with it all in one package. Not so great if you are getting the same core rules restated for each genre that you pick up. It is, admittedly, a small quibble, as the Ubiquity core rules are much lighter than those that constitute Savage Worlds.

Leagues of Adventures covers the late Victorian Age. It is not an era I have much experience with, either in fiction or gaming - Sherlock Holmes is about as close as I usually come. Thankfully, LoA comes with extensive write ups of time lines, important historical personalities and world leaders that enable even a Victorian Novice like myself enough pieces to drop in front of the players to make it sound legit. Very well done and extremely well researched. I enjoyed this section as both a gamer and a former history major ;)

Of course, as fun as the historical Victorian is, Leagues of Adventure takes things just a little bit further:

In Leagues of Adventure the boundaries of science are being pushed far beyond their historical limits. While hardly commonplace, mole machines, airships, and even time-traveling machines do exist. Some are already in the hands of governments and Leagues, while others remain the personal property of their slightly mad inventors.

Therein lies the hook of LoA - it's Jules Verne and than some. Our history and just a tad more. Victorian with pulp. I like it.

Would I run this before Hollow Earth Expedition? I don't know? I'm definitely more grounded personally in the Pulp Era of the 30's, but League of Adventures certainly gives the tools to allow one to bridge the gap.

Did I mention the extensive bookmarking of the PDF?  Very well done.

From the blurb:



Welcome to Leagues of Adventure a rip-roaring setting of exploration and derring-do in the late Victorian Age!


Leagues of Adventure is a roleplaying game set in the late Victorian Age, a gritty steampunk game where the hostile natives are a serious threat, a pulp action game where the characters eat savage warriors for breakfast, a highly cinematic one which allows the characters to swing single-handedly from the underside of an early airship while bare-knuckle boxing pterodactyls over a lost plateau.
Truth be told, it’s whatever you want it to be!


Whatever drives your character, there’s a world packed with danger, excitement, and mystery out there waiting to be explored!


So take an action packed trip into the world of Leagues of Adventure!

Mini Review - The Manor #2 (OSR Fanzine)

For those of you following at home, the short adventure included in Issue #1 of the Manor is what I used to kick off my sandboxie ACKS campaign about 2 months ago. In a week my party should be arriving at their destination, and I already see that I'll be using the latest issue of the Manor when they do.

Hugo's Healing Potions will most assuredly get used in my current campaign, maybe as soon as next week. I love the personalities that are presented, and the table of random customers / events can easily be used elsewhere (much like the Toys For the Sandbox series). When one article has multiple uses, you know it's damn good.

Smuggler's Inn has a unique hook. The setting local is unique too, and might require planning ahead to get the players there, but that's rarely a problem. Very interesting personalities here too, as well as a list of new magic items, one of which I think I have a player who would kill to get their hands on it. I may yoke that for a party quest at some point.

Stange Things You May Find Under the Cot is a random list of what you may find under the bed your are sleeping in in an Inn. Some of these "things" can turn into adventure seed in and of themselves.

Poetry Slam: Orc appears on the inside back cover, not the regular PDF. Let me explain. Tim has provided both a regular PDF version, and a "print out double sided and fold and staple" version, in case you want a physical version to love and to hold. The Orc poetry appears on the PDF for the cover, inside rear. Hope that's clearer now.

So far Tim is batting 2 for 2. Very impressive. (and I knew I recognized Matt Jackson's map work)

Almost forgot, the Manor is systemless, so it is easy to use with any Fantasy RPG system you are looking to use.

Of Good & Evil, Law & Chaos, Games & Real Life

(I made a post touching on this on G+, but this is a bit long for a G+ comments, so I'm blogging and sending it to G+ too)

In a typical fantasy RPG session, a "good" aligned character will probably be involved in more direct violence (killing, maiming, etc) in the very first encounter than a real life police officer will have shooting incidents in a 20 year career (as a side note, most Law Enforcement Officers will have Zero Shooting incidents in their career). By the end of the first adventure, PCs will probably experience more violence than most soldiers see in their entire career (yep, that's more of a peace time quote, but overall it is accurate).

Now, spread those adventures over a 10 level career, with 4 to 6 adventures per level, and you have a shit load of violence that your "good" aligned PCs have been involved in. A shit load of blood on those hands. Not all is guaranteed to have been "evil blood".

See, I really don't think you can put "real life" morals into RPGs, unless the point of the game you are trying to play is basically about "real life morals".

I'm not saying you should choose a play style that makes the folks at your table uneasy (unless, again, that is the point of the game - what might fit into a CoC game won't work in Weird West or Gangbusters). What I am saying is that judging "in game actions" with a real life moral compass is not just an act of futility, but is an act that attempts to move gaming into "real life". Wasn't the idea that gamers couldn't distinguish between the two put to death in the later 80s and early 90s?

Here's the take on alignment from the Adventurer Conqueror King System Core Rulebook (quoted here for the sake of this discussion- page 37). Notice the choices are the classic Three Alignments, and that Lawful doesn't mean "good" necessarily and Chaotic isn't a synonym for "Evil"? Neutral is where the vast majority fall. Italics where present are added by me.

As an aside, this is in my mind a workable alignment system that doesn't pigeonhole PCs' actions based upon a narrow definition of alignment.

ALIGNMENT

In the Adventurer Conqueror King System, your character will

enter a world of ceaseless violent struggle, where civilization

is ever-assailed by forces intent on its destruction. In this

perilous realm, he will be called to choose a side: Will he pledge

to defend civilization and its allies against those who seek to

destroy it? Will he sell his sword to any who can offer fame or

fortune? Or will he become an agent of entropy and destruction

undermining peace and order? This choice is called Alignment,

and the three choices are Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic.

Law: Lawful beings believe that civilization is worth fighting

for. Despite its vices and villainies, civilization must be defended

against those who would destroy it. Lawful beings tend to see

wars among civilizations as aiding the cause of Chaos, and so

they seek peace among Lawful civilizations where possible.

However, Lawful characters are not pacifists, nor are they

necessarily altruists. Indeed, most would think something was

wrong with a hero who turned down fame and fortune; chests

of gold, magnificent weapons, comely consorts, and grants of

land are, after all, the rightful rewards for great deeds of valor

on behalf of Law.

Neutrality: Neutral beings generally enjoy the benefits of law

and civilization, but it is not something they directly fight for.

They tend to focus on their own ends, whether those are family,

fame, fortune, pleasure, or power. A Neutral mercenary might

be found fighting on behalf of Law or Chaos; a Neutral farmer

tends his crops and pays his taxes, whether to the Patriarch or

the Lich-King.

Chaos: Chaotic beings actively seek to destroy civil society.

Chaotic characters are often madmen or cultists of forgotten,

chthonic gods. To the extent they have any order at all, societies

of Chaotic characters are ruled by force and fear, and are often

characterized by all manner of corruption and vice. Even

decadent Lawful civilizations at least pay homage to civilizing

virtue, but chaotic civilizations embrace their corruption.

Note that a character’s choice of Alignment doesn’t determine

whether or not he takes care of his children, cheats on his wife,

or steals from the merchant’s guild. It is concerned only with the

weighty issue of where his allegiance lies in the grand struggles

of existence. To have an alignment of Lawful or Chaotic is to

have chosen a side in this perpetual struggle. Many people,

choosing no side, are Neutral, although it is important to

remember that most Neutrals still want the protection of Law

even though they are not willing to die for it. (To paraphrase

George Orwell, Neutral humans sleep peaceably in their beds

at night only because Lawful heroes stand ready to do violence

on their behalf.)

Human vices, such as greed, lust, and vanity, are widespread

and common even in Lawful societies. But Chaotic societies

are characterized by their monstrous vices: Genocide, human

sacrifice, wanton destruction, cannibalism, necrophilia, and so

on. Evil is all-too-human in every civilization, but Chaotic is 

something both more and less than human.

TableTop Forge Kickstarter is in It's Final Stretch - Here's Pushing For the 3D Dice Roller!

The TableTop Forge Kickstarter has 3 days to go. It has already blown past it's original goal, numerous stretch goals and has one final goal - 3D dice.

Let me type that gain - 3D Dice. Rollable with your mouse. Holy crap! 

I love my VTTs. I've supported most of them. I've used more than my fair share. TableTop Forge is the VTT I've moved up to.

Lets see if they can hit 40k and we can roll some dice!  

Wait a second? Those dice better include the wacky DCC RPG Dice! ;)

Here's the latest update from the TableTop Forge Kickstarter:

We've taken our coolest level and packed it with all the best goodies. Anyone who pledges the Elven Longsword level will get:

- The Full Backpack

- A 4-hour gaming session with the creator of Far West, Mecha, Spark, Dungeon World, or Narosia

- Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters, by Engine Publishing

- Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game, by Engine Publishing

...and...

- The full 82-card Tarot of Dreams deck fully integrated with your Tabletop Forge game and ready to play.

Of course, you also get to see the app during development, submit bug and feature requests before anyone else and have your name immortalized in the app's donor list. 

And before you ask, yes, anyone who pledges above the Elven Longsword level also gets the tarot deck and the PDFs from Engine Publishing.

We're less than $4,000 away from our final stretch goal too, so if we pass that everyone gets 3D rolling dice that you can roll with your mouse. How cool will that be?

Mini Review - Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror (DCC RPG Adventure)

I've been dying to talk about AL-1, Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror (by Daniel Bishop) for nearly two weeks now. How can that be when it was just released this morning? Purple Duck Games was nice enough to send me a preview copy of Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror to peek at and it was damn good. I just wasn't able to talk about it. Grrrr!

First things first - it's a 2nd level adventure, and at the moment the only second level adventure released for the DCC RPG. Which means I probably won't have a chance to run it until September or later, but that is fine.

The map is laid out like a classic fantasy RPG dungeon map, and it looks great. I should mention at this point that there is a copy of the Referee's map at the end of the adventure, but this time without the rom numbers. The unnumbered map is also included as a hi-res stand alone JPG. Yep, Purple Duck Games understands what is useful to enhance a game session being run online via one of the various VTTs or even Google+ Hangouts. It's little things like this that mean a lot.

Did I mention that the PDF is bookmarked? Unlike larger PDFs, this wasn't needed, but again is a nice touch and certainly useful for navigation.

I am going to make one small suggestion for the future - maybe a second copy of the GM's map can be added in the next release (this suggestion applies to pretty much all adventure publishers). It would make reading the PDF that much easier if I could have a copy of the map and a copy of the PDF side by side on my monitor as I read through the adventure. If you think about it, this is why the early TSR adventures were printed on the inside of the removable adventure cover - so the map and the text could be read side by side. Just a thought. (Edit: Purple Duck Games is already updating the file to include a sperate Referee's Map - literally minutes after this post went live. My kind of publisher ;)

Back to the adventure. There are a handful of magic items. Nearly all are single use, and maybe not even that many uses. Still, a party that perseveres to the end should be amply rewarded. Well, maybe not amply, but rewarded on some level ;)

As for the adversaries, they range from strength in numbers to damn dangerous on their own, which is one of the reasons I like the DCC RPG so much - everything can be a threat.

I'd love to delve deeper into the adventure itself - it is a wizard's workshop and you can guess that much of the fun is related to that fact, but I'd hate to give away a spoiler. I suspect it will be a decent challenge to a 2nd level DCC RPG party and I look forward to running it.

Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror is available for $2.75 at RPGNow.

From the blurb:


Terrible horrors lurk in the workshop of Dellspero the Philosopher. Though Dellspero has been missing for ages, does his lair still contain the secret magics he worked with?

What terrible dancing horrors did Dellspero unleash when he offended the Chaos Lords.

Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror is a Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game adventure designed for 2nd-level characters or can be easily adapted for use with higher or lower level characters.

All products in the Adventure Locale line present one or more dungeons that can be quickly picked up and used for a session of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

B/X Companion Available (Finally) in PDF on RPGNow

I don't know how I missed this, but the B/X Companion (by JB over at the B/X Blackrazor Blog) is finally available in PDF.  I say finally, as I've had the print version since the 2nd (3rd?) printing and found it to be an awesome resource for both the D&D B/X boxed sets as well as Labyrinth Lord. I've yet to have a chance to put it into action, but one day I do intend to.

So, if you've been itching to get a copy of the B/X Companion but noticed it's sold out in dead tree format, or if you want to put it on that snazzy new Google Tablet that ships in about a week or two, now your chance to own the PDF.

Here's the blurb:

The B/X Companion is a re-imagining of what could have been, had the 1981 editions of the Original Fantasy Role-Playing Game (the Basic and Expert sets edited by Tom Moldvay, Dave Cook, and Steven Marsh) been followed up by a third Companion volume promised in their pages. Using the same format as the original volumes, and working from the hints and info provided in those 1981 editions, the B/X Companion provides rules for high level play, including levels 15th through 36th, 60+ new spells, 100+ new magic items, 80+ new monsters, rules for running dominions, mass combat & siege warfare, astral travel, and more...all in 64 pages.

My DCC Adventures Finally Arrived!

Goodman Games mailed the package out on June 22 - they arrived either on the second or the third of July. I get stuff from Finland in 2 to 3 days, California apparently a week and a half.

It would have been nice to have brought them along for yesterday's beach reading instead of the Cosmic Patrol Quick-Start, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Of course, all this reminds me that I'll be running a 2 session DCC RPG Arc starting this coming Monday, July 9th (Funnel Time!) via the UA-LC. I need to see how many i have signed up, send out reminders, and see if I have any slots left to fill.

Fun Fun :)

My Few Thoughts on the Cosmic Patrol Quick-Start Rules (from Free RPG Day)

I've been meaning to read the Cosmic Patrol Quick-Start Rules: The Kahn Protocal since I got them shortly after Free RPG Daqy. I have the Cosmic Patrol rules in PDF, and was never able to get myself to sit down and read them straight through. They looked interesting, but I wasn't quite grasping the rules.

I tried reading them this past Saturday after my hell week at work, and fell asleep somewhere on the second page. I blamed that on the week from hell.

Yesterday I took this with me to the town beach on the lake and I just wasn't able to get through it. The rotating narrator idea throws one hell of a wrench in my preconceived notion of what constitutes an RPG, and Cosmic Patrol doesn't fit the definition for me. I have no idea how to run it, or I do, but don't feel it would ever run right that way with folks with mainline RPG experience.

I never finished reading the quickstart of Comic Patrol either.

A July 4th Thought - Selling Magic Like the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Sells Fireworks

Pennsylvania can be a weird place, and it doesn't get much weirder than around the 4th of July. The state allows the sale of fireworks in licensed fireworks stores, but only allows the sale of basic, pretty much non-explosive fireworks to state residents. You read that right. They only allow the sale of the larger, more explosive and more dangerous fireworks to those that can show out-of-state ID. BTW, every state surrounding PA pretty much makes possession of what their residents can buy in PA illegal. Weird ass and funny shit.

What if there were a city-state that had a similar policy. It allowed for a licensed "magic store" to sell dangerous magic items, but only to citizens of other states. Maybe only citizens of states it's at war with, and all of the items are cursed in some way, and more dangerous to the user and his allies than the benefits it grants.

Or in DCC, a magic guild that sells powerful spells that aren't in the book, but only to non-citizens, and all of the spells have really harsh corruption and misfire charts.

Maybe I should pick up some restricted magic before I head back to the city myself ;)

Wrapping Up the First Half of My Vacation - The Productive Half is Coming Up

My wife has to go back to work on Thursday, so we are heading back to the city tomorrow. The time in the country has been great for brainstorming, not so hot for actually putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).

Tomorrow night, all day thursday and friday day time I'll (hopefully) be getting some productive writing time in. I have lots of ideas bouncing around my head, and little time to put them down. Thankfully they seem to be lodge in pretty good, and the scribbled notes should serve to jar them loose when necessary.
No DCC Ducks, at least not yet. Soon though.

No one says you have to play with ducks ;)

Duck Crawl Classics ;)

I went to the beach at Lake Wallenpaupack (Pocono Mountains, PA) this afternoon, more for the change of pace and the idea that I'm on vacation than anything else. I brought some of my DCC RPG adventures and Crawl! 1 and 2 for some reading after the swim.

What stuck out in my mind? The ducks. Not just swimming among the human swimmers, but bringing their chicks to the shore to beg food from folks like me. Their lack of any feeling apprehension was pretty cool.

Of course, it got me thinking. You know what Dungeon Crawl Classics is missing? Ducks!

Yes, ducks. Not the small, flying kind, but the big, humanoid kind. The old Runequest type (no idea if they are in MRQ or RQ6). Silly big old ducks.

I think I'll write it up after I get through my previous writing commitments ;)

Are Your Proficient With Your ACKS?

Some of the proficiencies in the Adventurer Conqueror King System RPG are damn near impossible to pull off successfully as written.

Acrobatics requires a roll of 20+ to successfully tumble in combat, which would infer the +2 mentioned earlier in the proficiency description applies to this roll to, making it effectively a roll of 18+ on a D20. Why even bother?

Knowledge checks succeed on a roll of 11+, bu the PC is consider an expert in his or her field? An expert is only successful 50% of the time?

How about the healing skill? If the PC takes the skill twice, on a roll of 18+ he can neutralize poison, cure disease or cure light woulds. 15% chance, and it takes two skill points to even have a chance.

Did I mention that you don't get to add an ability modifier to the proficiency rules as written? That was probably the first thing I houseruled into the ACKS system, and it hasn't broken anything yet.

I simply ask the player the first time a proficiency is used that requires a proficiency check "what ability do you think would apply to that skill?" They explain their answer and if I agree, we make a note of it and the ability score bonus carries on for that skill whenever it may crop up. If I don't agree, we discuss it until we find an answer that does, even if that answer is "no bonus".

From my perspective, making the proficiencies more usable makes them more relevant and makes the game by extension that much more fun.

Working on Game Writing Stuff Tonight - Thankfully My Assistant is Sleeping

I'm trying to use my time away from home to do some writing I wasn't able to put too much time into this week, what with the Hell Week I had at work that carried past working hours.

Ashley, my usual assistant, decided to join us on our vacation this time. well, she really didn't have much of a choice, as she has a vet appointment at 11am in the morning. I figure I'll have to start looking for her around 10am in her usual hiding spots. In the meantime, she's sleeping on her designated towel / blanket.

I've gotten a peek at the artwork of the artist that will be illustrating much of the project I'm working on - I am f'n psyched!

Building the DCC Monthly Prize List - Crawl! Fanzine is on the List :)

Dak Ultimak posted a comment on the previous blog post:

I'd be happy to donate a copy of Crawl every month, and I'd like to publish the winning stuff every month too! You can add an issue of #1 & #2 into the prize pool now. I'll send them directly!

How awesome is that? He's also looking to publish the winning stuff from each month's contest.  Hot damn!  Of course, that means prizes will no longer be strictly random. I think I'll have to add those that donate prizes to a sort of "judges table", where we vote on the best and there is a simple point system. But really, who cares about that - what matters is not only do I have a bunch of Appendix N Adventures to give out in print, we'll have an issue of the Crawl! Fanzine to give out each month in print!

And don't forget Purple Sorcerer Games and Thick Skull Adventures, who donated PDFs to last month's inaugural DCC contest without ever being asked to do so. The DCC community certainly rocks :)

Finalizing the Idea for the July DCC RPG Free Loot Contest

Over on G+, James Aulds had the following ideas for DCC RPG contests:

a new zero level occupation with weapon and trade good,   a monster, statted and described, more lucky signs/ star signs names.

Then Jon Marr from Purple Sorcerer made the following offer:

If you do the 0-level occupation contest, then I'll compile them into a list and add a "Tenkar's Occupation List" to the 0-level party generator. :)

I think we know what July's contest will will be: 0-level occupation contest with weapon and trade good. Get thinkin'! Don't post until the contest goes live, which probably be closer to the end of the month. I'll also mention this one on the DCC Forums over at Goodman Games, which I didn't for the last one. The last contest sort of took on it's own life ;)

Should be fun :)

Brainstorming Some DCC Contest Ideas

I'm really happy the way last month's Dungeon Crawl Classics Adventure Giveaway went. From an extra PDF copy of DCC 67, to two of the independent publishers of DCC adventures giving away some free swag, all the way through to 27 entries that give GMs of just about any fantasy game well rounded and detailed NPCs, everyone was a winner. (not to mention the Toys For the Sandbox

I'd like to make that a monthly tradition.

As it stands, I'll have two print copies of Brave Halfling's first seven (1, 1a, 2-6) Appendix N to give away as I get them. I'm hopeful I can get some occasional comp PDF copies from the other 3rd party publishers to fill in the monthly gaps (or just add to the prize pool to make it even more awesome).

Of course, this leads to the need to think up monthly contests that not only link into the DCC RPG but also give something back to the DCC community by the nature of the entries themselves (much like the detailed Zero Level PCs that were the entries in last month's contest. Oh, and it can't be overly difficult, as it would not be overly fun ;)

I figure the next contest will require one to create a Patron - Name, Title and a sentence or two describing him / her / shim / it / whatnot. No tables or spells. Just the kernel.

That should cover July (which will get posted when I get the loot to give away).

August may simply ask for an Adventure Title and a sentence or two description.

Like I said, entries that give back to the DCC community.

After that I'm stumped, at least for now.

There is no prize awarded for giving me some contest ideas, except for the prizes / gifts / loot that will be given away as we get to said contests.

So, help a brother out :)

Mini Review - Crawl! #2 (DCC RPG Fanzine)

I'm really enjoying the second issue of Crawl! When I read the first issue (I have the cool black cover version) I had just started meandering my way through the DCC Rulebook. I'm now going back and rereading the first issue and I understand things so much better. It was cool before, but it's damn near awesome now. Just to let you know, the 2nd issue is even more so ;)

Crawl! Issue #2 deals with treasure in the DCC RPG. Treasure is handled differently then most OSR / OGL games, as magic items are not just uncommon, they are damn near unheard off at the lower levels. Crawl #2 has a very nice treasure system that works well with the flavor of the DCC RPG, for both special and lucky items in addition to the valuables the party may acquire while adventuring. Heck, this whole extended Loot section is worth more than the price of admission by itself.

The personalities of the Sunken City add a bit of depth to that adventure and I may use pieces of it in the next DCC RPG Arc I run. Jon, you done good.

There are some new, optional combat rules, but the page of new equipment is excellent. I think I will try yo sell my players a "Lucky" Ukulele ;)

For a mere $3.50Crawl! #2 is chuck full of DCC goodness.

Rolling Orc Flambeau (an ACKS Session Recap)

With a gag in your mouth, no one can hear you scream

My players never cease to surprise me. When I think I've seen it all, I suddenly learn that I quite simply "haven't seen it all". (for those playing along at home, last night used a highly modified Trouble at Karam's Claim 1-Sheet)

Last week's game was a highly distracted session, where the most vile beast was the heretofore unknown "Research Assistant" in all of it's varied guises. That and drop ins.  Last week was almost a wasted session, but it did set up this week perfectly. It also ensured that we gamed last night, as otherwise we would have one nearly wasted session followed by two weekends off (as I'm on vacation and definitely can't play next weekend. The wife thinks I moved the departure day to the Poconos back one day to accommodate this morning 9 am yoga class, and that works for me ;)

Anyhow, on to the highlights:

The party comes across a room that is used as a smithy. The door on the north wall has stuff piled in front of it. They wisely assume it is holding something in, and the party prepares for combat as the refuse is cleared away. The Lizardman Gladiator steps into the doorway as the door is pulled back, revealing an anxious and hungry carrion crawler. Eight attacks, two hits, one failed save and the lizzie is paralyzed and out of the fight (and on the floor). Magic-user promptly casts sleep, knocking out the baddie that then falls on top of the prone lizzie. Too bad the lizzie's player was still returning from GoogleCon or whatnot ;)

Later there is a fight with six orcs in the mine's main tunnel. The human fighter gets on a tear with his cleave attacks and before you know it, there's just 2 orcs left standing, one of which is seriously injured. The orcs morale fails and they throw themselves on the ground for mercy. Vesper, the elf tells the orcs "we only need one of you..." at which point the party's goblin henchman Gooban puts a heavy crossbow bolt into the injured orc, killing him at the elf finishes his sentence "so whoever talks most lives." Moot point.

The living orc squeals like a pig, and is promptly hog tied and gagged as the party explored it's options. Seeing that there is basically a gauntlet to run if they want to proceed, the human fighter, James, decided they should push the mining cart that their captured orc is currently residing in down the hall and into the group of orcs at the far end. Curio, the Magic-user, decides to douse the orc in highly flammable alcohol before the cart is put into motion. Rolling Orc Flambeau - fire and torture in one simple act. Priceless.

Needless to say, a well placed sleep spell and the flaming cart of doom enable the party to survive the encounter with minimal damage. They are rolling well, and my dice are roll like poop on a stick. That's with me changing about half the orcs in the adventure into orgillions. Ah well.

Flash forward to the final battle. Two ogrillions, eight orcs and an ogre with a magical two-handed sword. Magic-user casts his final sleep spell. 8+8 HD of creatures slept. All fall but the ogre, who is only saved from sleep because he has 4+1 HD and not a mere 4HD. He lands one hit during the final battle - and rolls a 1 on a d10 (plus adjustments). Like I said, I was rolling like shit last night.

Next game is in two weeks. I leave for the Poconos in two hours. Life is good :)

DCC RPG Appendix N Kickstarter is an Amazing RPG Value - Ending Soon!

As I write this, the Appendix N Kickstarter for the DCC RPG has less then 40 hours to go and an extra stretch goal after reaching what was thought to be it's final stretch goal. Yes, it's getting that much support.

Still, I think I should break down what you get with your pledge, as Brave Halfling is giving the best value on the gaming dollar around. Even if you don't play the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG but one of the OSR clones, I'd still tell you to jump on board.  The deal is just that good.

Get some friends on board at the price becomes less than the price of a pizza pie ;)

I'm going to start with a pledge of $20, as this gets you a single copy (signed and numbered) of all the stretch goals in print in addition to PDF where applicable:

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #1: “The Ruins of Ramat

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #1a: “The Witch of Wydfield” (No PDF Ever for this one)

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #2: “The Crumbling Tower.”

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #3: “Danger in the Sulyndri Forrest.”

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #4: “The Revenge of Abudakar.”

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #5: “Perplexing Disappearances in Brambury.”

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit #6: "The Old Isle Campaign Setting." This product will include a 11" x 17" color campaign map, a digest Player's and Referee's Guide.

Appendix N Adventures Game Box.

DAGGER RPG: A Referee Screen for Quick and Simple Role Playing with Young Children (when the final goal is hit)

All the above comes with with a $20 pledge.  An amazing value.

A pledge of $30 ($31if you want a contributor credit in an upcoming adventure) get's you TWO print copies of the above Appendix N Adventure Toolkits AND the first 8 Appendix N Adventure Options pdfs.

A pledge of $50 gives you 3 copies of the above Appendix N Adventure Toolkits AND the first 8 Appendix N Adventure Options pdfs.  ($51 gives you the opportunity to design and name a monster, npc or location (500 words or less) in an Appendix N Module with full contributor credit listed on the title page)

A pledge of $100 gives you 5 copies the above Appendix N Adventure Toolkits AND the first 8 Appendix N Adventure Options pdfs. ($101 gives youthe opportunity to design and name a major monster, npc or location (1000 words or less) in an Appendix N Module with full contributor credit listed on the title page! - I'm in at this level)

There higher pledge levels, but I think you get the idea ;)

I'm in at the 5 print copies level of $101.  I will be giving away at least 2 copies every month of the Appendix N Adventure Toolkits (1-6) as I receive them via different contests on this blog. My way to give back to the DCC and OSR community.

Expanding the Party With Hirelings in the DCC RPG

I told you we needed to hire some Cannon-Fodder!

One thing many of the "Old School" style games seem to stress, or at least empathize to some extent, is the use of hirelings and retainers. They help to round out a group, fill in roles that the party is weak in and give the PCs access to some "cannon fodder". Sometimes more targets means less risk to the PCs.

The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG makes mention of the same, but puts a twist on it I haven't seen in other systems. Here, you basic retainer might not want to explore the dangerous world out there and is just looking for some coin to line his pockets or feed his family. They might not want to leave the basic area their are recruited in - one or two adventures and then it's back to toiling in the fields.

Here's the bit on recruiting that I found interesting: (page 310)

For every 100 residents of a town or village, 1 man—not necessarily able-bodied—is willing to risk his life as an adventurer’s helper. Areas of famine or hardship, where there are no other opportunities, may produce more prospective retainers; bustling centers of trade, with many competing chances at wealth, may produce fewer.

Most RPGs assume that centers of wealth lead to a large pool to pull from. In DCC, you're getting your retainers, your hirelings mostly from the poor and desperate. It's an interesting change of perspective, and one I happen to like.

Of course, the 1st level PCs in my party don't have enough coin to pay a retainer a silver a day for very long, as they are barely better than dirt poor themselves, but as they level (we'll see come August) retainers may just become part of the party.

It will be interesting to see how disposable (or not) they become for the party, although I suspect it will follow the usual RPG format of what is effectively a multi-stage funnel - the long term survivors more from "cannon fodder" to valuable resource.

(can you tell I'm back on my DCC reading kick? ;)

How Far Can You Go in the DCC RPG in a Day?

I've never been totally satisfied with the rates of travel in OSR games.  They always seem to assume straight roads, perfect passage, no distractions and little worry about where the part ends up at the end of the day. Sleep in a filed, just of the road, at an inn - none of it seems to be included in how far the party can travel. It irks me to no end.



Then we come across the following passage in the DCC RPG rulebook. I happen to think it is simply the best write up of travel in a medieval fantasy setting that I've seen so far: (page 307)

Low-level heroes, bereft of wealth, travel on foot or as passengers in farmers’ carts and caravans. As they advance in name and station, they may acquire donkeys, ponies, or even great steeds to carry them. Here are a couple important points to remember

First, travel is dangerous. When a man goes beyond the reach of his lord’s cavalry and sheriff, he is on his own. Even in “civilized” lands, brigands accost wayfarers. The knights of neighboring duchies may harass mercenaries. And of course there are monsters. 

Second, travel is rarely direct. Especially at lower levels when characters are paying passengers on caravans, there is business to conduct other than the PCs’. The caravan makes stops wherever it can sell or acquire goods. There may be other passengers with destinations involving religious pilgrimages, visiting relatives, or special errands. There are places to avoid: dangerous aboriginal tribes, barons charging egregious taxes, and regions superstitiously labeled as “haunted.” 

Third, travel is not easy. A city may have a few cobblestone streets, and a great kingdom may have a paved King’s Road. Otherwise, travelers mostly follow muddy roads, tracked lanes, footpaths, and dry stream beds. A day’s travel may end several hours shy of nightfall, “wasting” good travel time simply because the next inn is too far to reach before dark.

Why is it that much of the "flavor rules" in the DCC RPG apply so well to other RPGs in the OSR?

As an aside, the players in my initial DCC RPG Arc, who suffered through a game that was probably a weird AD&D / DCC RPG hybrid as I defaulted to AD&D rules when I had the smallest doubt, are still basically penniless. Well, maybe not "dirt poor", but they are still pretty poor none the less.

Which of course leads to a whole 'nother blog post topic - when mundane items become like magic in the DCC RPG. With luck I'll get to that later today ;)

The Beginnings of a Free Mongoose Traveller Campaign - The Pirates of Drinax

Traveller - Why pay for cover art? ;)

Secrets of the Ancients was the first free Mongoose Traveller campaign (it's linked on the left side of this blog under free Resources) and now the second set of free Mongoose Traveller campaign material is being released.


Here's the blurb:

In The Pirates of Drinax, the players play a band of adventures who are entrusted by the King of Drinax with a letter of marque, permitting them to prey on 'illegal' trade within the borders of the vanished kingdom. The King hopes that this piracy will give him the leverage he needs to restore Drinax to its former glory, and intends for the characters to win back all the planets lost over the last two centuries – but the King's plans are just the starting point for this campaign.  

Once the characters have their letter and their ship, it's up to the players for what to do next. Will they stay loyal to their patron and help restore Drinax? Will they turn rogue and create their own kingdom? Will they be heroes or monsters, pirates or privateers? Will they make their fortune amid the pitiless stars, or will the cold depths of the Trojan Reach be their grave? 

To run this campaign, you need a copy of the Traveller Main Rulebook and Alien Module 1: Aslan. 

Not bad for free. 

Interesting RPG Kickstarters I Have to Pass On

There is a crap load of RPG related Kickstarters and Indigogo project out there (not saying any of it is crap mind you). I love getting more gaming goodness, but ever I have to draw the line somewhere.

First up is Rappan Athuk.  I have the boxed set of this somewhere and the follow up to it. To get the new HC version on Kickstarter costs $100, which is expensive for something I already own (kinda) and will probably never use.  Heck, i have 2 mega dungeons I want to use in my ACKS campaign and my players haven't gotten anywhere near them. If you want to get the (nearly) full list of stretch goal goodies, you need to pledge at $250 for the signed copy. Out of my range. It broke the RPG record for dollars pledged, but then was passed by the following project...

Traveller5 broke Rappan Athuk's record, which means it now hold the record for dollars pledged for an RPG over at Kickstarter. $50 bucks gets you the 600 page tome on DC, $100 bucks gets it to you in HC (plus some extra goodies). I bought the T5 beta on CD years ago, and apparently I'm entitled to the final CD being offered in this Kickstarter. I'm not looking for another 600 page game, especially when I still have my LBBs and the Mongoose Traveller rules in both HC and pocket edition. Too much Traveller, too little time (and I still don't know how compatible Mongoose Traveller and T5 will be).

Both of these are ending soon, so if you are going to jump in, the time is growing short.

DCC RPG - Dirty Mighty Deeds of Arms, Done Dirt Cheap

I never realized how many options there were under The Mighty Deeds of Arms.  It's a real, tangible boon for the warriors in the party, and allows for many combat maneuvers one would expect from a Swords & Sorcery type game (which covers a large part of Appendix N).

The warrior needs to successfully hit AND score a 3 or better on the Deeds Dice Roll (the die starts as a D4  D3 and increases as the warrior levels). There is little reason to NOT try to achieve a Mighty Deed.

What kind of deeds are available to the warrior?  It depends on the situation and the surroundings of the combat in question.  The DCC RPG rule book gives some examples, but they are far from all inclusive. (page 89)

 There is no limit to the types of Deeds that a warrior can
perform. Any situation-appropriate specialized attack
should be encouraged. To help provide some general
framework for understanding the concept behind Mighty
Deeds of Arms, we have provided seven general categories
below. These are merely suggestions to give a sense of possibility
and scale.  The guidelines that follow should help the judge
decide which benefits to apply to a high deed die roll.
Creative players will certainly come up with new Deeds.
Encourage and allow this.

Blinding Attacks - with it's own chart, with the actual effect depending on how high the Deeds Roll is (is this included in the Crawler Companion app?  If not, it's a good fit)

Blinding Attacks - again, with a chart (BTW, these charts only o up to 7+ - The guys at Spinal Tap would be greatly disappointed)

Disarming Attacks -  fairly self explanatory.

Precision Shots - this isn't just for missile weapons

Rallying Maneuvers - mostly used to rally NPCs, but can benefit allies too.

Defensive Maneuvers - sometimes the best defense is a bonus to defense.  Maybe even for the who party.


Weapon-Specific Deeds - certain weapons have their own default deed. If the warrior doesn't declare a specific deed, the default weapon deed is considered to be in effect.

Signature Deed - a warrior can set his own default style of deed.  It can be a combination of the previous deeds, or his own type.

I think some Deed Tables need to be added to the default list of seven. I may need to brainstorm some (after I do the writing I'm already committed to).