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 : Marauder

Here's what is an essentially working draft of a 'Barbarian' class. It combines some elements from the Beserker I wrote a while back, that's now been cannibalized to fix some issue's with the Warrior - so there's a job vacancy.

Marauder
Starting HP : 4 + d6
HP Per Level/Resting : 1d6
Weapons & Armor : Anything that can be swung or thrown & No armor.
Attack Damage : 1d6 (See special features)

Special Features
When a Marauder is reduced to 0hp they are not taken Out of Action - Instead every time they would either Move or perform an Action, they must pass a CON test - if successful the action has succeeded. If they fail they are taken OofA and roll on the OofA table as per normal.

A Marauder may go into a rage for the duration of a combat, giving them:

• Advantage on all tests to deal damage, Disadvantage on all tests to avoid damage. 
• 1d12 damage instead of their normal 1d6. 
• They may rage once at level 1, twice at level 3, three times at level 6 and four times at level 9 - per day.

If they receive any healing whilst in a rage it comes to an end.

A Marauder gains an AP for every severed head (of a sufficiently powerful enemy they have defeated) that they keep upon their person as a trophy - upto a maximum equal to their level.

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 : 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)

The Black Houserules : Critical Armor

People have been talking about Hit Points, Gristle, Meat and Armor - this sets me thinking, and creating new rules. It's worth noting that i'm thinking out loud - so all this could well be shithouse. Who knows? You probably.

In this house rule Armor Points (AP) don't reduce damage, they are now a measure of how hard you are to kill. This makes narrative sense, so were all good there (people in Plate & Mail are traditionally much harder to stab to death, right?) This means that HP is really just a measure of Stamina (and could easily me renamed as such) .. how much fight a person has in them before they are taken Out of Action (OofA)

Here's what i'm thinking. You get reduced to 0hp and are taken OofA as per normal. Then you roll a D6 - if you roll under your Armor Points you have taken a Light Wound, this is good for you - well not good for you, but its better than the alternative which is .. Rolling on or over gets you a Critical Wound ..very Warhammer.. obviously Critical Wounds are bad.

Then after the battle you roll on either the Light Wound or Critical Wound tables to see what happens. Do it afterwards to build some player drama round the table!

Here are the dials we can alter to fine tune this system.

The D6 we roll to see how we were wounded. Different creatures could make you roll higher die, Dragons would be a D10. Greenskin Skuttlers would be D4. We could go as far as calling this die a 'Threat Die' or something. Dunno.

Thanks go to +Warren Denning for suggesting we simply use the Powerful Opponents rule, adding that to the d6 we roll. Simplicity at its best - and using a mechanical device we already have. Bravo.

The Light Wound and Critical Wound tables. The actual results on these tables matter a lot. As is TBH's OofA table is kind of split down the middle into Light and Critical Wounds anyway .. look closely .. 1-3 is bad, but 4-6 are much worse. How forgiving Light Wounds and how gross and deadly Critical Wounds really matter.

Armor Points (AP) will be a huge measure on survivability. In vanilla TBH Plate & Mail gives you 8 AP so obviously you wont be able to critically wound someone if you're just rolling a D6. We could easily reduce them to a range Gambeson 1AP .. Plate & Mail 4AP with Shields giving +1/2AP for the Light and Heavy variants.

Death Beneath a Frozen Earth : Things

Here's my notes and working thoughts for 'Things' for DBaFE. A lot of thanks goes to +Chris H for working through some feedback and providing me some excellent ideas and things for my brain to chew on. You're a top guy.

The Thing
HD 3
HP 12

Abilities
Amorphic Constitution: When another creature is assimilated, 1/2 its current total HP are added to the Things HP pool. The Thing has no maximum HP allowance, as long as it can continue to assimilate creatures, it continues to acquire additional HP. This is the only way A Thing may gain HP.

Exhaustive Potential: As an action during its turn a Thing may 'spend' its HP in order to perform a number of special actions, detailed below. The cost is given in brackets.

• Crawling Spawn: (4HP) A Thing can detach part of its body that contains muscle mass, bone and other tissues. Choose one - Head, Forearm, Lower Leg. This then transforms into a Crawling Horror - see below.
• Perfect Mimic: (4HP) Assume the unscathed form of another creature that has been assimilated by any Thing. If a Thing reveals its true form by using Whipping Tendrils. Rending Maw and Unnatural Mobility - it will need to perform this action to go unnoticed again.
• Whipping Tendrils: (2HP) A This can grow a number of vicious fleshy, whip-like tentacles. These can tooth filled mouths or barbs - and attack a Nearby creature as part of this action. The Thing may attack again in each subsequent turn without spending HP.
• Rending Maw: (2HP) A Thing can grow a large tooth filled mouth in any location on its body - and attack a Nearby creature as part of this action. The Thing may attack again in each subsequent turn without spending HP.
• Unnatural Mobility: (4HP) A Thing can grow an addition method of movement (Pair of Legs, Tail, Wings) assuming it has assimilated a creature that has those original features - and move Nearby as part of this action. If they wish to use these features to gain additional movement on a subsequent turn (effectively giving them double movement) they must 'spend' 2HP each time they do so.

Alien environment: The Thing is not native to this Earth and the atmosphere is slowly and surely killing it. In order to survive it must constantly use its Exhaustive Potential and spend HP to stay alive - at the start of every day A Thing loses 2HP.

Crawling Spawn

HD1

HP 4

Abilities

Mindless instincts: The Crawling Spawn doesn't have the capacity to think in the same way as its progenitor. It will do one of three things

• Play Dead: The Crawling Spawn will stay in the form of the 'shed' body part, awaiting a suitable creature to come Nearby. Then it will perform the action 'Scuttle' detailed below.
• Scuttle: The Crawling Spawn will Sprout several body appendages and attempt to assimilate a Nearby creature, by crawling up and onto them - attaching itself to a suitable fleshy area. Mouths, Faces and Arses preferred.
• Flee: Sensing danger the Crawling Spawn will attempt to flee to a dark uninhabited place, where it can lay in ambush for creatures to come Close, then it will likely attempt to 'Scuttle'.