Having fun with Lockpicking (v2)

A loong time ago I posted this which dealt with Lockping, it was fun and made for a nice change of pace in the dungeon delving, but, it was far from perfect. I had to explain the rules, my old players helped me playtest it so they got it - but new players? Head-scratching commence. Time for something new.

This is based on a idea stolen from Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower box set. Its got some very D&D'able ideas.

When someone attempts to pick a trapped lock - rather than resorting to boring skills checks - take a playing card, (or if your a fancy pants like I am - draw a padlock on a bit of paper the same size.) and make a tower from 2d6 on it.

• The player must pick up the card from the table with one hand without spilling the dice or touching them in order to spring the lock.
• If they touch the dice, their lockpick is broken - the GM resets the challenge.
• If they spill the dice, any trap on the lock is set off.
•  EDIT: If they have no thieves tools plus there's no trap .. go through the same process and if they spill the dice the tumblers in the lock are jammed/frozen -- now the lock must be forced open with a STR check or some other creative method. 

Its very doable, but requires some patience .. and a bit of practice. Its a focus on very literal player skill that old schooler's bang on about, AND explaining the rules to the players takes about 30 seconds, so you don't have to worry about muddying the waters with games-within-games. #winning

Also! Make things easier/harder by stacking less/more dice. If players have fancy thieves tools - less dice, maybe if the lock is magical and enchanted you swap the playing card for a bigger thing? Have a play, you get the idea.

EDIT: In a conversation with the super talented +Karl Stjernberg its become clear that its the tension of failure that makes this mini game interesting. So, Im going to rule that thieves with appropriate tools can open any lock, given enough time. However i'll use this method if there's some time-sensitive thing going on OR if the lock is trapped. I'll probably still use the method above if they have no thieves tools too.

The Black Hack : The Beastmaster Class

Beastmaster
Starting HP : 4 + d6
HP Per Level/Resting : 1d6
Weapons & Armor : Anything that doesn't use metal.
Attack Damage : 1d8

Special Features
Super Beast
When you create a Beastmaster choose a beast that will fight and adventure alongside them. Good choices would be something like a Bear, Lion, Giant Snake, Mega Eagle and to a lesser extent the Rabbit of Caerbannog (google it, if you don't know) 

This will be the creatures 'preferred form' however it can change into another animal, for a number of Moments equal to the Beastmasters Level, before turning back. The Beast can do all the normal things you would expect a creature of that type to do - fly, climb, swim etc.

Shared Existence
The Beastmasters and his beast are the same thing, both are physical incarnations of the same spirit. They share the same Attributes, HP and any negative effects. If one is taken Out of Action, so is the other. Both the Beastmaster and their Beast can move during a turn, but they can only take one action - and must choose who takes it.

Wild Nature
As the Beastmaster adventures and shares time with their Beast, they will eventually take on aspects of its nature - that influence both the Beasts' and their own abilities. At Levels 3, 5, 7, 10 choose one of the following, you cannot choose something you have chosen previously:

• Aspect of Flight, gain Advantage on checks to avoid falling damage and jumping/clearing distances.
• Aspect of Vision, gain Advantage on checks to see something.
• Aspect of Nimbleness, gain Advantage on checks to manipulate small intricate things.
• Aspect of Speed, gain Advantage on Initiative checks.
• Aspect of Strength, once per session gain +2 STR for the duration of a combat.
• Aspect of Agility, once per session gain +2 DEX for the duration of a combat. 
• Aspect of Ferocity, once per combat deal half damage when you would have missed with an attack.
• Aspect of Cunning, once per combat take half damage when you would been hit with an attack.

(NB this list isn't extensive, nor complete, GM's and Players should probably come up with their own - use these as a guide to how far reaching the mechanical effects should be. ALSO if you do come up with some, let me know)

My D&D 5e Morale System 2.0

I wrote a Morale system that seems to be getting a fair amount of traffic and i've had a chance to test it at the table, played some internet games with it, and some meatspace games too. I hate it. It's shit.

There's too much of a pause in my brain, having to think about assigning a DC, based on the motivations of the Random Orc #4 my players are merrily cleaving through - fuck it. So. Back to the drawing board, here's my ultra-lightweight 5e Morale System:

Its built upon the same core idea as the last one, but instead of assigning a DC based on the morale of the combatant, its based on their important to my game.

DC6 = Villain/Major Badguy
DC11 = Lieutenant/Underboss
DC16 = Mook/Hireling

This way there's almost no conscious thought about what DC to use, I already know how important someone is, and crucially whether it really matters if they are putting up a fight and getting 'screen-time'.

Furthermore, i'm scrapping any stat bonus to the roll. Just a raw d20. It will still give a nice curve of randomness, and it's another modifier that I don't have to flip through shit to get to. Maybe you could give your BBEG advantage on the roll, or let players intimidate and roleplay to give them disadvantage too?

I'll give this a test in tonights Roll20 game, hopefully we wont see v3.0

A Random Esoteric Tome Generator for D&D

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” 

Click to Find out what Volume you Find..

Book Rules

Here's how books work in my game, these are WIP as i'm still trying to find out a nice and interesting method for research and discovery of shit the players may want. (If you have any good suggestion, please do let me know)

Every book can be studied for a period of 4 hours (as a base, the quality of the book will affect this), after which a character will have advantage on the first skill roll they make in the subject matter of that book. Every book has two distinct qualities i'm concerned about:

• The Quality of Authorship - This measures an authors ability to write in a coherent or manner conducive to learning. Rated on a scale from 1 to 6, 1 being barely readable, if at-all, ramblings of a madman. 6 is the works of a gifted scribe with a mind for beautiful and engaging prose.

1-2 - Rambling and Incoherent (Takes 6 hours to read)

3-4 - Moderate to Skilled Author (Takes 4 hours to read)

5-6 - Superlative Masterwork (Takes 2 hours to read)

• Knowledge contained Therein - This measures the amount of actual useful information a reader can garner from a volume, this property gives a number that indicates how many times a volume may be read before the reader can no longer gain more information from it. They have read it cover to cover and digested every word.

Pamphlet - This can be read 1 time.

Minor Essay - This can be read 2 times.
Lengthy Dissertation - This can be read 4 times.
Collection of Works - This can be read 8 times.
Academic Study - This can be read 16 times.
Encyclopaedia Volume - This can be read 32 times.

You can randomly roll all that information, plus a subject matter (as related to the skill list- I think at some stage i'll expand or change this part) Roll it Here.

Inspiration

Like a big wailing baby, 5e has had a somewhat turbulent birth, some areas of the internet anyhow. Lots of people have as an alternative, decided to have logical and constructive conversation about the edition. Which is good.

+Courtney Campbell and +Jack Mack wrote some interesting posts about D&D, the area that piqued my interest (for the moment at least) was inspiration. Read the articles, get an understanding about what they're trying to say. Mack isn't keen on the extrinsic wear and tear on the players, Campbell its subjectivity. Heres why I think you shouldn't worry about those things and present another angle on the mechanic.

This edition is the game of many faces, lots of different things from lots of different games. Some d&d and some not. WoTC has taken great pains to make anything they include feel appropriate and 'classic' but really its clear they've been looking at their peers and the multitude of popular 'indie' games that have blossomed since the OGL and 4e.

Inspiration = Fate Points

Personal Characteristics = Fate Aspects

If your familiar with Fate, hopefully you've had either an "Aha!" or "Yeah... obviously!" moment, if not let me give you a rundown. Aspects in Fate act like the gears that drive your character, you can turn them to add drama to the game (usually, but not always, creating complications) thusly earning tokens which can be spend toward enhancing rolls. They're like disad's that you can summon when its most interesting to. Like every good disadvantage, it gives you a boost elsewhere.

When you look at D&D's inspiration like this the extrinsic reward becomes less problematic, still if your not sure try this. So my players are roleplaying anyway - lets harness that energy in a different way to drive another part of the system -Why cant I turn those gears? I want to call upon character traits and offer inspiration in reward for a complication or interruption of my choosing. This way I can make things more interesting just when it matters. Still let the players have control, but when you want your able to lean across and grab the wheel, just for a moment. 

Suddenly inspiration is acting more like XP, and hopefully less extrinsic.

Subjectivity is hard. I don't think I have a concrete answer here but I think i'm close. Its about relationships. Indie mechanics often rely on group support to work, theres a lot of power shifted toward players and away from the referee, this shared responsibility is really rewarding for the players and takes a lot of the burden from the ref's shoulders. But runs kind of against the grain for the old school dungeon play that this edition runs with. 

You (or you're DM) will figure out how inspiration makes an appearance at the table. But first? Check out Fate. Hopefully you'll look at it in a different light.