The Black Hack : Creature Reactions

TBH Development.

Currently TBH handles creature reactions with a straight d8 roll. Thats ok, i'm happy with the general results at the table - it models the old school 'Not-everything-wants-to-immediately-kill-you' feeling that I think is a huge part of the early D&D experience. But, it seems a little arbitrary and 'spikey'

Here's my working edits, i'm putting this out there because I know some bright spark will have some awesome tweaks, or even better - something different entirely. So here's the whats and the why's.

Roll 2d6. Introduce a bell curve, less random.

We'll be adding the Powerful Opponents modifier. I hate math, but, needs must. Now if you're outclassed your opponent will see you as weak and be more likely to try and squash/subjugate you.

Increase the results available to us. 2-12. More options is always good, but we'll keep them broad for GM interpretation - just as before.

2 - Surrender/Offer their allegiance.
3 - Give the PC's and Item/Info/Aid.
4 - Make a mutually beneficial trade.
5 - Mistake the PC's for friends/allies.
6 - Wait for the PC's to act first.
7 - Withdraw to a safer location.
8 - Demand the PC's withdraw. (if they don't add 1d6 to this result)
9 - Call for Reinforcements. (then see 6)
10 - Trick the PC's using result 2-4 (then see 11)
11 - Capture the PC's.
12+ - Kill/Eat the PC's.

There's a couple of 'Roll again' or 'See result x' .. this adds a This injects a HUGE element of unpredictability into creature behavior, which is exactly what we want to model when we've got random encounters or encounters we haven't pre-planned. After all, the game should be fun for the GM too! I've found these curve balls tend to generate memorable and enjoyable moments.

DB

Secret Things

This will be short - I've decided to post my note taking here, in part to use the blog more, but also make it more visible to myself. Also, this might not be a revelation to anyone - but it's useful for me.. so.. err.. Gerr'off'my'lawn!

One of the things I've always uneasily tangled with is secret things, such as traps and doors - and the concept of the Gotcha! trap. You see on one hand, i'm a very new school GM, I believe in co-operative play, storytelling, friends just playing a game. On the other hand i'm a firm believer that it wouldn't be D&D if at some stage someone didn't fall down a greased hole with spikes at the bottom. That's a little bit oil and water, if not handled in the right way.

 4e/5e is kind of there with Passive Perception, but I don't like skills lists. Too defining, too much character skill not player. And putting the concept in player hands? #NOPE  So, I've been thinking about random encounters. There's a certain tension and magic in letting the players know that you're checking for random encounters, your pushing their resources, they shouldn't want to fight. So its fun to roll a die and let them know whats going on, under the hood so to speak. That builds uncertainty and apprehension. So, why can't that be the same for Secret Things?

Here's the idea, every-time the party enters a new space (room, corridor etc) I roll a passive perception check - regardless if a secret thing exist or not. Now that's not a late-gen skill check, no, a simple 1-in-6 chance will do fine. That fits with the roll low aesthetic I've adopted in TBH. If they get a 1, I alert them to the clue that gives away the secret thing. They still have to do all the hard work of searching, testing, teasing out its secrets. Narrative searching is fine, i'll give Advantage if they make a big meal of that, but i'll always use attribute tests to determine how things pan out - that way I can remain completely impartial. Just a referee. Plus whats the point of generating a Wisdom score and not using it?

At least this way there's a very real and obvious Gotcha! safety net in place. The players know its fair and thorough. I didn't get you, the dice gods did.

The Black Hack : Guns & Ammo

Here are my thoughts on guns, these aren't 'official roolz' or anything - just my thoughts about how i'd like to do guns.

AMMO

All guns have ammo, represented by the usage die. Just as it was intended. You roll your ammo die at the end of a combat, and it works as per normal. I'd normally expect usage die's to be in the d8-d10 region.

SPRAY & SLAY

You can bypass the DEX test to hit, do automatic damage but you have to roll the Ammo's usage die immediately.

CRAZY AMMO

High power shells, LAZOR beams, angry bee's - all pack a serious punch. A gun with crazy ammo can roll with Advantage when dealing damage, but must also roll with Disadvantage when roll the Ammo's usage die at the end of the combat.

SNIPERS

Long barreled guns or weapons with computers and fancy shit can skip a turn, 'aiming' and automatically deal damage the next turn. Roll usage die at the end of the combat as per normal.

BOMBS

Area of effect weapons attack 1d4 targets in a Nearby area.

SWISS CHEESE

If you kill a creature with this gun, and have any 'damage left over' you have to give that damage to a Nearby creature. Oh there are only your friends around? Then you shouldn't be playing with guns indoors.

BLUNDERBOLLOCKS

If you have a gun that shoots shrapnel, pellets or other short range spreadables - should you miss, you deal your Level in damage to the target if they're Nearby.

STOPPING POWER

Replace class damage with a d12, the usage die for this gun is always a d6.

That seems like a nice set of rules to make Guns feel distinct, but not overwhelming. Also its unlikely that one single gun would have more than a couple of these little rule - tops. One each also helps distinguish the gun.

The 'Reactive BBEG'

Here's a method of procedurally 'activating' antagonists plans and actions, based on player rolls and relationships. I took inspiration from 13th Age and Dungeon World. I think it works best for GM who are slackers and make shit up as they go. Like me.

At the start of your campaign (no matter the length) choose a minimum of 3 Antagonists. These should be things that are capable of going the long haul - all the way to the end of the campaign if needed. But crucially they should represent something larger than the actual NPC you create. In my last campaign I had the Orc Lord, The Liche King and  The Great Druid. They each represented a 'prevailing attitude' in my game world, like the Orc was obviously war and chaos. Depending on the scale of the game its likely they'll have a shit-tonne of resources too.

Work those concepts up a bit - keeping them broad and undefined at this stage, but you need to assign each a goal or 'end state'. If their ultimate plan isn't stopped this happens, for good or for ill.  You should probably also come up with 3 loose 'milestones' - big things that need to happen in order for that final goal can be attained.

Have every character that is created choose 3 relationships with them - one positive, one undecided and the final negative. Have them spin a line or two of fluff around the relationship and they're good to go. At the end of every session have them roll d6 for each relationship - any 5's or 6's means that 'antagonist' will do something interesting to influence the story next session. Usually this will mean doing something toward achieving their ultimate goal, and hopefully someway that either reinforces or tests the relationship to the character that rolled a 5 or 6.

Now you've got an interesting sub-system with a bunch of antagonist that should react, act and generally have some backwards and forwards with the players. Also hopefully this takes some load off the GM between session, giving them a firm course to sail when creating stuff. - but also providing a lose structure so if it goes in an odd direction its not a problem. My games always go in odd directions.

x

HERE'S HOW IM STRUCTURING MY SCRIPTED ADVENTURES

I've been very busy writing #HIVELIFE1979 so my time spent here on my blog has really dried up, but there's something I wanted to post for both you and for me. Whilst I don't think there's an absolute formula for a successful 'scripted' adventure - I know if I can get what I write to do the following things, its going to work on a primal 'reason to be engaged and get some closure' level.  It's just a skeleton, if the meat on the bones is shit, then the whole experience will leave a bad taste - but if you pack loads of imaginative and fun things that happen and the players can do, you're onto a winner.

It follows a basic scriptwriting technique of 8 steps (or key scenes)

1 - Status Quo & Inciting Incident  - The  world is shown to the players and they're told where they fit into it. Something happens that propels them to step 2

2 - Predicament & Lock In - The thing that happened at the end of the last scene now leaves the players with a problem or conflict they have to sort out. Their first step towards this goal puts them on a path they cant easily get off.

3 - First Obstacle & Raising the stakes - The characters must overcome the first step towards their goal this could be a medium sized dungeon or wilderness/urban area, also a number of options or resources should be taken away from them.

4 - First Culmination - The reason options have been removed in step 3 should be resolved, and it should be a harder task than they tackled before. Tone is important here, it should mirror the tone of the desired outcome and overall adventure.

5 - Subplot & Raising the stakes - The players will thank you for a little distraction, not too far off course but something thats not directly pivotal to the main plot, but is connected somehow. A great place to weave in some setting or story exposition. Continue to remove options or resources.

6 - Main Culmination - This is where the players deal with the final threat, the BBEG or whatever. They think they're done, this should mirror the vibe going on in step 4. Also you could give them some inkling its not quite over.

7 - New Tension and/or Twist - Everyone loves an encore, or facing the puppet master - the players should figure it all out and deal with that shit here.

8 - Resolution - They all live happily ever after, or do they? This doesn't even need to be played (although its fun to do it, but make it quick) just wrap up the events of the game with a short and concise 'read aloud box' if you want - players wont feel cheated as they should have had the satisfying ending of step 7.

Some further advice I've been thinking about. Some people will tell you scripted adventures are shit as you've got a railroad for the players to run on. I don't think thats the case if you do a couple of things. Plan what the bad guys are going to do - and plan what happens if the players don't stop them. The rest you make up at the table.

How to End Awkward Handwaving.

So I started watching the WoTc staffers play through the Temple of Elemental Evil, the videos well done, they look like their having fun so all round good effort. I think its important to record yourself and watch other Referee's at work, if you can remain impartial to tone and content you can learn a lot of things. Skip to about 9 minutes in. 

Mearl's starts asking his players to narrate something they did during a small road trip, and you can feel the energy slump in the room, players staring blanking thinking "Shit, what do I say?" they don't know the parameters they can operate inside of. They don't yet feel at home in the world, so how do they impose themselves on it for maximum-fun-time-effect?

And i'm sure this is a trick most of us have tried at one stage or another, I know i've done it before and its met with limited success. There's always moment were peoples mouth goldfish as they have no fucking clue what to say. And I've always found that a little uncomfortable, disturbing the vibe around the table - 'tis better to keep things flowing I think. How do we do that? Grains of sand is how.

I've talked about the idea of grains of sand before, small story seeds being much more useful than a blank slate or constraining campaign background. Give someone a grain of sand and they can turn it into an oyster.

So when Mearl's ask his players to narrate something that happened, really he should be telling them what happened, but asking how they handled it. Your'e allowing the player the power to create fiction and hand wave all the action, tell their story - but giving them a framework to build on. Here's some examples of things he should have asked :

• Someone in a position of authority is rude to you.
• Someone in dire need asks for charity.
• Someone offers you something stolen.
• You beat someone at a game and they get angry.
• People are gossiping but they don't know you overheard.
• An unexpected terrain feature impede's your progress.
• A travelling companion falls gravely ill. 
• The weather threatens to spoil your rations and possessions.
• You become separated from the group.
• What do you say to the pompous man being horrible to his staff?
• What do you do when you find someone lost possessions? 

Also asking 'what do you do?', 'what do you say?' etc, can spark an initial burst of creative propulsion. They have to think of something, but your giving them a very definite yet broad starting point. Then just hand-wave the rest. If they beat someone up, don't roll dice, just accept it and move on. I'd also argue that its important to frame the conversation in the past tense. These are things that have happened, decisions already made. Not things happening right now, they are by default already part of the fiction not current events.

I'd be grateful for any other things to challenge players with during hand waving moments, so drop them in the comments - 'Till next time dorks.

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

My D&D 5e Morale System

*Reader beware, I have given this homebrew an overhaul - I recommend reading this next*

There are plenty of Morale systems, whilst I like the simplicity of the OD&D d6 roll I want something thats more cohesive with the 5e rules. That means I want a d20 roll, no modifiers and something that's easy to remember.

Fortunately we have a static DC scale that I can use all the way to level 20, i'll use that to determine a combatants 'flee' threshold, or quality of their morale.

DC5   = Virtually unbreakable
DC10 = Resolute in the face of danger
DC15 = Strong willed
DC20 = Weak willed
DC25 = Craven
DC30 = Mortally afraid

Like most systems theres a few conditions that will provoke a morale check, even though i'm usually good at sensing when the tide of battle has turned. These are borrowed and modified from the Metzner Basic set (my favourite old-school edition)

When the creature is first hit (taking 1 or more hit points of damage)
When the creature is reduced to 1/2 of its starting hit points

Groups of creatures, a Morale check is made for the entire group :
When the first death occurs
When half of the monster are not free to act - killed, magically asleep or controlled, etc.

A morale check is an ability score check, either wisdom or intelligence - possibly even constitution for 'non-intelligent' creatures. Also should a creature be a minion or servant of another combatant, its master may make a charisma DC10 ability check, if successful the creature making the morale check does so with advantage. If its master is killed, it makes all morale checks with disadvantage.

As always YMMV and i'll no-doubt tweak in play, but should be solid enough as is.

'till next time.

Flaws.

"The right flaws will make your character more accessible to your audience and bring him to life, but the wrong flaws will make your audience despise him no matter what heroic acts he accomplishes. There are good flaws, and there are bad flaws."

These are from TvTropes. 

• Alcoholism (except when it leads to violence)
• Drug addiction (except when it leads to violence)
• Tobacco use (cigars, cigarettes, and especially pipes)
• Sexual promiscuity or (as long as it doesn't involve children, animals or the unwilling, like rape, zoophilia or necrophilia) 
• Reverse snobbery
• Being too cool to socialize.
• Being a klutz.
• "Sticking to your guns" even when the odds seem stacked against you (Which some may argue isn't even a flaw at all, except when it results in Good Is Dumb)
• Stupidity (as long as it stems from genuine ignorance, and not apathy or bigotry)
• Misanthropy
• Emotional aloofness, especially with Male Love Interests
• Lack of self-confidence
• Holding ridiculously high standards, especially with snarky comments.
• Being a Noble, Innocent or Tragic Bigot (Assuming they're a good guy of course), especially for people who grew up a long time ago or those with Police or Military backgrounds.
• A hot temper (except when it leads to violence)
• Laziness
• Cussing (except in the presence of the clergy, monarchs, aristocrats, the elderly, children, and sometimes women)
• Self-Deprecation
• Cowardice (except when failure to act causes someone else's harm)
• Weirdness and a lack of social norms, particularly in female love interests
• Clumsiness, notable in that it's often the single flaw given in an otherwise perfect character

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.

NPC Betrayal

I wanted to write about NPC betrayal. I've got an unorthodox method of npc betrayal in my campaign at the moment and got to wondering how I would handle it other ways.

Exposition ahoy.

The npc in question is an early patron of the characters, a wizard specifically. The reason its unorthodox in the way i'm handling it is because the players know he has been replaced by a doppleganger, as they also run evil characters in the same campaign, something i've written about a little before. Whats great is that they know he's bad news, in meta game, but are fantastic enough role-players that they can push the story forward whilst using their good characters without using that information, and seem to have a much deeper emotional response to the character, and in fact, all the characters they come across in their dual lives at the table. Whats a real shame for the group however, is there will be no 'Aha!' moment. No reveal. Which kinda sucks.

So that got me to thinking how would I handle the turncoat thing differently, usually I'll set the story-line ball rolling and react to where it goes. I like to tell the story that players ask for. So I don't think having one enemy turncoat would be as story effective as having several potential turncoats. That way, when the players are at their most vulnerable - I can choose the npc who is under the least amount of suspicion and reveal him as a double agent for the maximum effect.

If intrigue is a focus of the campaign at any given time, i'll ensure that i'm giving out the vibes from several key npc's, then start letting clues drop - eventually they find out there's a mole - then they'll hopefully try and smoke them out. Perhaps discover a nefarious plot, and just in time, foil it or watch it go off.

Give them what they want.

I had a mini epiphany last night, its mini because it was already something I was consciously aware of - albeit something I didn't feel comfortable with or do all that often. I think.

Last night during my regular meatspace game, my players had tracked their evil counterparts* to a long forgotten temple, built at the end of the last great age. Huge, Labyrinthian, Deep and Deadly would all be apt monikers.  But having just gone through a patchy beginning of the year where we weren't able to play as often as we would have liked, I was very conscious that we all wanted the story to move forward.

So, half thinking out loud I ventured "How do you guys want explore this dungeon? Old-school crawl or Straight to the epic parts?" The general consensus was, "Take us to the good stuff". And I did, and it when really well. I'd thought in the past that giving players the ability to choose what we fast forward and what we watch would somehow break their immersion, Having read the organised play packets I wasn't sure that the montage technique would be a good fit for my group, I'm happy to report however that this is not the case.

I described how how they picked and wormed their way through the vast deep, they made rolls for navigation, staving off fatigue, avoiding a deadly spear gauntlet and avoiding the denizens of the place. In the end they came away with greater plot exposition, sapped resources and some cool imagery that should stay with them - and the best part was packing it all into a solid hour and a half.

I think it's easy to fall into a trap as a GM whereby you attempt to second guess what your players want, I've tried to address this by occasionally asking "what would you like to see next week?" or "what went well this week?" From now on i'll add "How do we handle this?" to my repertoire.

*They play both the good characters and the BBEG muscle, they can visit locations with bad guys long before they reach them with their main good guys and have been playing an overlapping game of cat and mouse through familiar and reworked locales.

: If you like this check the other GM advice I've worked on here :

Using Relationship Dice to shape your Campaign

Something I've wanted to talk about for a while is the way I use Relationship Dice and Icons in my ongoing campaign, Ive spoken to people on G+ about how its used, and now the rules have been out for a long while I think our group has finally had time to properly road test - and modify things to the way we like to play.

The 13A core book suggest rolling relationship dice at the start and during the game to generate drama and action, this is great - it works really well for one off's or for games that run only a handful of times. However I know my regular players in my campaigns felt the mechanic too forced, the action of rolling a dice broke the immersion - prescribed action they called it, things weren't just happening in the world, we are having to make a special roll to see what was happening.

I really like the Icons, they're a big focus of the rule system so I felt it would be a real shame to cut them, I turned to the core book for advice and wasn't surprised that the excellent conversational and options based approach to game design came up trumps, I opted to start rolling the Dice at the end of the session. This is great if your group isn't good at or doesn't care for improv, and in our case didn't like the intrusive/prescriptive nature of the rolls at the start/during the game.

So every week at the end of the session (or midweek over a Facebook chat window) my players roll their d6's - crossing their fingers and hoping for a 6. All the Icons are represented by their agents in the world, so no matter what's rolled - there's an NPC or organisation somewhere waiting to act.

I'll have these Organisation and NPC's worked out with a Campaign goal, What they want to achieve over the life of the campaign and a number of steps they must take in order to achieve that goal. Then no matter who is chosen the act i've got an idea of what they want to do and based on where the story's join i can decide (often loosely) what they'll do to make it happen.

Sometimes more relationship dice rolls crop up than there is feasible time/focus to deal with. I'll often resolve with the Icon or his agents making discreet actions designed not to draw any attention, yet hopefully render consequences later down the road.

The campaign has been running since August '13, and we've been using this method for the majority and so far my players feel as engaged and present in the ongoing story as they have for a very long while - which is great.

If you want more advice on bending the Relationship dice and Icons to your story needs I highly recommend dealing Blood & Lightning (the adventure from the core book) and Tales of the 13th Age (hit up +ASH LAW on G+) I also recommend the Dungeon World core book for advice on organising your NPC's and Organisations.

Why you should just draw maps for the heck of it.

When you run a low prep or improv game you can never have enough maps. Thats not technically true, there are those who literally fly by the seat of their imaginary pants but me - I like a bit of paper to spark and idea from mid flow. Im also a big fan of creating a resource I can use again and again in different ways. 

I've been doodling maps in a little gridded pocket book during lunch breaks, I got a couple of them from the work stationary cupboard - but i'll pick up a Moleskine when I fill them up. I don't spend long on each drawing either, just quick - and I'm not really sweating the finer points of the maps, I just start doodling.

I've been doing it for a week or so - i've now got a enough random maps, should I ever need one on the fly, i'm covered.

Check this afternoons 10 minute doodle :

13A Homebrew: Decreasing DC's

So as some of the readers of this blog may know, i'm currently running an Old-School esq Megadungeon Crawl via Roll20 and Hangouts. This has led me to re-read all my OSR rulebooks (OD&D, AD&D and other non TSR products) for inspiration and to try and get the 'mood' right. So far so good, but i'm sure my players are the best people to ask.

(Don't worry if you're reading. No spoilers)

One thing that strikes a clear difference is the lack of a skill list in early version of D&D, there are skills - just not catalogued into neat list that 3e/4e is notable for. For example Elves will find secret doors (effectively the Perception/Search skill) on a 1 or 2 out of 6 on a d6, everyone else its just a 1.

I'd normally houserule this so every turn they spend looking, the odds of success increase - ensuring that a character will find a secret door automatically if the spend 6 turns (1 hour) looking for it. Or, for example, 4 in 6 chance if they spend 4 turns looking (40 minutes) Because if the characters can find a secret door after looking at the same place for an hour - whats the point?

So i've been thinking on how I can transfer this houserule across to my Megadungeon (and probably other) games i'm running. Decreasing DC's. Every turn a player spends performing an action the set DC decreases by 2 (assuming time can be used to increase the chances of success) meaning a Ridiculously hard task to perform in 10 minutes/1 turn at the Adventurer tier (DC 25) is much more manageable if you spend 60 minutes/6 turns (DC 13)

It even scales with tiers, Epic being DC 25, 30 and 35.

I know this kind of rules against failing forward (in a way) but then failing forward is a very 'new-school' story technique* and sometimes doesn't feel right in a certain type of game - after all OD&D teaches us that outright failure can and should happen, and you shouldn't like it either.

Also before i forget, don't suck the narrative out of it. Im not going to use this as a rule that doesn't require explaining. I guess you should come up with someway to let the players know how their time and effort is impacting the task at hand.

I'm going test this over the next couple of weeks - i'm sure my players wont even notice, but at least if I make them aware of the rules - it may impact the way they explore the dungeon. Hopefully that will be fun.

As always glad to hear your comments

- Happy gaming

*I know its not really a new-school technique, i'm sure there are tonnes of games that have been around for ages that either use failing forward or story mechanics to propel the game forward - i'm really using new-school label to act as a distinction between the gygaxian and the more modern approach to handling failure. 

Simple Mounted Combat for 13th Age.

A couple of my players bought horses, great I thought - they can travel loads faster. One of the buggers bought a warhorse, damn it I thought, now we have to make some rules for it in combat:

• A horse doubles your speed when in combat, we're not worried about realism this is an abstraction - horses make you faster.
• Give it baselines stats of appropriate level, large or regular - you can decide how substantial the horse is.
• Armour barding for a horse is the same as a shield for a humanoid. An abstraction but simple. +1 AC. By extension its also possible to get magical barding surely?
• Consider giving a warhorse a bonus to AC and Damage (+2 AC and 25% additional damage)
• If you riding a warhorse roll a d6 at the beginning of your turn, if its below the escalation die then it makes an attack against an engaged enemy.
• If you or the horse is staggered then you need to make a check to control the horse, this should be hard difficulty if on a regular horse, average difficulty with a warhorse. Failure results in the horse rearing and trying to bolt etc, perhaps even a Dex/Str check may be required to hang on - falling off could hurt.
• Stunts such as jumps and other tricky manoeuvres may required a Dex/Str background check to pull off successfully. Remember failing forward and offering tough choices on failure.
• You still have to disengage with a horse, the GM makes the call whether AOO are aimed at the horse or the rider.
• Missed attacks - Roll a natural 1-5? ignore any powers triggered by the attack and roll it again against the horse.

We tried to make this rules as simple and inclusive as possible. There's a bunch of stuff you could add in that just adds an additional layer of complexity that we don't need - combat is fun when its quick, we stopped playing 4e for a reason remember? Likewise I encourage rulings and players feedback, we've just started using these so it might change - let me know if you implement them and what you're players think about it.

Happy Gaming

13A Random Tables: Magical Fountains

I was in the middle of a game and I needed a magical effect from drinking the water in a fountain, couldn't find a great one* so i've decided to make one (some of the effects aren't all positive)

Roll a D20

1. Drinker gains Darkvision for the next hour.
2. Drinker loses a Recovery.
3. Drinker begins to petrify, roll Last Gasp Saves. If the water is drunk again this removes the petrification.
4. Drinker gains a Recovery.
5. Drinker receives -2 to their next d20 roll.
6. Drinker gains +2 to their next d20 roll.
7. The drinkers hands emit a holy radiance, they gain 2 uses of the 'Lay on Hands' spell.
8. The next time the drinker spends a recovery they can max one dice rolled.
9. The next time the drinker spends a recovery they lose HP equal to the highest dice rolled.
10. The drinker makes no sound when attempting to move silently for the next hour.
11. Drinker loses any special vision (Low-Light, Darkvision etc) for the next hour.
12. The drinker gains a fear aura (of equivalent level on the monster stats chart)
13. When the escalation dice is odd, you can re-roll one d20 per turn.
14. When the escalation dice is even you can max out one damage dice rolled.
15. The player may re-roll one relationship dice this session
16. The next time they roll a 6 on a relationship dice, its actually a 5.
17. The drinker is healed to full hitpoints
18. The drinker is reduced to 50% (if lower than 50% already no effect)
19. Drinker is immune to petrification for the next hour.
20. The drinker gains a +2 bonus to PD and MD during the next battle.

You should decide how many uses the fountain contains, and how often it refills (perhaps don't give everybody the opportunity - it might encourage tactical discussion) and whether the water can be bottled and taken away for use later.

Keep the suspense

I also strongly encourage you add some RP fluff when handing out the above effects - a +2 to a roll is ok, but pretty boring really. Tell the players they feel quicker and more alert than before, don't reveal the effect until they make the roll. This will help prevent the fountain from becoming a magical effect dispenser to an actual artefact worthy of reverence or fear.

Until next time.

*I make no assertion that mine is any better, it just suits my needs. 

Making 13th Age feel more 'Old School'

I've been thinking about and reading an increased amount of OSR games and adventures over the last couple of months, I didn't really 'get' OSR content until about a  year ago and when I got involved in the Next public test. I'll agree that Next isnt really an OSR game* but it certainly 'feels' oldschool or at least scratches an old school itch.  Its only been the last 6 months that my appetite for OSR content has increased and i really started to dig into the different options available.

They've got me thinking about what exactly makes a game feel old-school, and is 13th Age ticking all those boxes? If not all of them, how can i hack it to make do so?

Really old d&d had very simple classes and even races as a class, I think 13A is ok in respect to complexity, still pretty new school feeling but the abstraction of positions and movement changes things dramatically - it has its own blend of vanican casting and its done away with the standard resource system (AEDU) of 4th ed. Even the skill system in 13A is constructed around character concepts and storytelling, so I feel no need to tamper here either. I certainly don't want to have to make new classes or hack every one individually. Im really looking for some large dials and switches I can turn to tune the whole game.

So what can a I change that will tune the whole system universally? Healing. A lot of the old school feeling comes from the threat barometer. Early d&d was notably ruthless for example and the general scale of player power has traditionally increased through editions to the point where 4e had high fantasy 'heroic' heroes. So how can we dial back that mechanic to make 13A feel more inline? One of the major reasons I think 4E felt vastly different to older editions was the inclusion of healing surges and martial healing, I don't mind those mechanics but they're definitely new additions to the core game**

Do we need the concept of recoveries in 13A? There are powers that use them and I categorically don't want to hack the classes individually - but i'm happy to make a blanket change. Here what I propose -

• You no-longer have recoveries to spend after fights and by rallying during a fight.
• When you are asked to 'spend a recovery' by a power or item, you heal the amount a recovery would have been for your level.
• A full rest will recover either all your HP, or sped the value of a recovery - depending on the GM's feelings.

By employing this system suddenly the threat level is ramped up, combine this with the focus on storytelling that 13A already brings and you've got much more of an OSR feel. The HP/Monster damage numbers are inflated in comparison to something like 0e - but its by a factory of 3 (a wizards starting HP is 6 x 3 + con, many OSR games have starting magic user at somewhere between 1d4 and 1d6 hp) i'm not going to change the numbers, I just see them as allowing me more granular modification of peoples HP through danger.

I'm sure there are lots of things that old schoolers will balk at (like damage on miss and more options in character creation) but most of it doesn't impact the game as much as that one simple change.

So what makes an OSR feeling game? Threat, and the limited tools to overcome it.

* or is it? I don't know anymore, since i've absorbed a high quantity of d20 games they all kinda blur into one - but i'm sure someone out there knows the answer for certain.
** I say core but I think they've all appeared in earlier editions in expansions and additions, just never the core system.

13th Age Hazard/Trap Table Aid

In my previous posts (here and here) where I gave some options for the creation of traps and hazards on the fly, I mentioned putting it in a pdf if there was interest - so I have. I've also put together a printer friendly version too. Grab them here

Let me know if you have any ideas on how to improve it or how you got on with it - until next time.

An awesome alternative to the initiative order.

Thought this was worth talking about, albeit briefly.

This is an awesome alternative to the standard initiative order I suggest you read it all, didn't? (you should) but basically everyone rolls initiative and then it is passed around between the players. Its very descriptive and story driven but is heavily waited towards the players, which is fine but i'd like to add more of a chance that a monster can interrupt  the flow for dramatic purposes.

Easiest way in my mind to do that is have everyone roll a D6 when they declare who the initiative will be going to next, if they roll 5-6 the initiative is passed to the GM to assign to a monster,  they then must roll a D6 in public before declaring who goes next and on a 5-6 the GM may choose another monster, anything else it goes to a Player.