Writing Adventures

I got back into Seattle on Tuesday. My grandmother passed away yesterday (Wednesday); I got the call at the same time I was placing flowers on my mother's gravestone, one week after her burial.

Life goes on.

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In addition to all the "real world" stuff I've got on my plate at the moment, I'm currently engaged in a crap-ton of adventure writing. I mean, a LOT.

The re-write/re-purposing of the I3-I5 Desert of Desolation series has been temporarily suspended. Not because it's not a great idea (I mean...I love it), that it's really not suitable (even as an open region of my campaign world) for exploration by characters under 3rd level or so.  And all my players are about to start over (Friday afternoon) with brand-spanking new 1st level characters.

TPKs have a way of resetting things.

SO, I need some low-level stuff to get them up to snuff. Because I've been busy, and because I needed a breath of fresh air, I took the time to comb through the racks and a game shop near my grandmother's house in Missoula. Shout out to Retrofit Games, which had an absolutely beautiful store and friendly/helpful staff, who were able to get me something sufficient for my needs (as well as great recommendation for a cheeseburger in town: Frugal's. Get "the Classic Fix"). 

What I got, was a 20 page DCC Lankhmar adventure module written by Michael Curtis called Grave Matters. I am on record as a "non-fan" of the DCC system (which I've played before, multiple times), but it's close enough to B/X...which is close enough to AD&D...that I can make it function with minimal work.

And I mean minimal. Curtis knows his stuff ("Duh," says all the people who own Stonehell Dungeon, etc. However, this is my first product of his so far as I know). For a measly $10, I got a book with TWO adventures (Grave Matters and Madhouse Meet), neither of which suck, and perfectly suitable for PCs of 1st and 2nd level. The treasure counts are even (well, almost) correct, which is the usual thing you find lacking in OSR games.

SO...yeah, Lankhmar-esque adventure is perfectly fine for my Bandit Kingdom Boise. And with a little x.p. under their belts, it should be a simple matter of slipping the group a treasure map to get them out into the desert...probably a nice way to leave behind past shenanigans.

But campaign stuff isn't the only thing for which I'm writing. Turns out I'm going to a game convention this year...my first since the pandemic...and even though it's not till October, I plan to be well-prepped for the three game slots I'm slated for. The con is called Cauldron, "the OSR EuroCon" and it's supposed to be a celebration of 1st edition AD&D that will play out over three days in Hessen, Germany. Fortunately, it is an international affair and so games will be run in English (the international language of tourists). 

Room and board...and beer...appears to all be included in the ticket price, but you have to bring your own books and dice, and I'm cognizant of my responsibility to represent the USA well (currently, I'm the only Ugly American on the docket). Because I am old and lazy, and because it is one of my most beloved adventure modules, I am re-writing I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City into something suitable for a three-part, con-style adventure series that...um...doesn't suck(?) too much (??). 

Con games are tricky: you have a few hours to get down to business, and (hopefully) provide a fair amount of game play, with a satisfying (or conclusive) end. Cauldron also has the additional challenge of being run with ADDKON rules (Germany's version of the FLAILSNAILS conventions)...which for me means that I'm not running these as one-offs but as adventures that will impact the PCs even after I've left their schönes Land (und bier) behind. No apocalyptic party-nuking scenarios, just good clean AD&D.

ANYway. It should be great, but I want to play-test those, too. And ideally, that will mean getting my current group up to 5th & 6th level by the end of the summer. Doable...but a tall order nevertheless.

Especially considering Prince of Nothing just announced his (third) annual NoArt-Punk contest. And, of course, I want to enter (again). And, of course, I want to put forth a good showing and build on what I learned in the last two NAP events. And THIS year, the theme is "high level" D&D, something that holds a special place in my heart. My last two entries (one of which was a finalist and got a place in the book) were both written for parties of 10th-14th level. I'm thinking this year's will be more in the 9th-12th level range, but I already have an idea for it and it's a little on the ambitious side: something on the scale of 60-some encounters instead of my normal 30ish. Which (to give you some perspective) would be around 50% larger than all three scenarios I'm writing for Cauldron combined. No small feat, especially considering I need to draw the maps and I suck at maps.

But NAP III isn't due till November 30th. Prince suggested I write it on the long flight back from Germany to Seattle. We'll see.

Yeah: a lot of adventure cobbling going on at the moment, some of it fairly ambitious. But working with monsters and traps and treasures and fantasy scenarios is a welcome respite from dealing with all the other "stuff" that's going on in my life at the moment. And these respites help keep me...mm...stable? Not sure the word I'm looking for ("grounded" ain't it). D&D helps let the pressure off; it's the valve that keeps the steam from blowing the kettle. I'm not sure if my life would function better (or differently) without it, but for right now I'm glad to have it.

Later, Gators.

B/X Barbarians

I spent a lot of time this morning trying to come up with how I wanted to handle assassins in my B/X Companion. Not as a character class, nor as a monster (a la the headsman of BECMI). No, but as a specialist hireling. I have some ideas (kind of a combination between AD&D and BECMI actually), but I’m just trying to figure out the minutia.

Of course, then I thought up this little number.

I don’t intend to add any new character classes to my B/X Companion (so no, don’t expect to see the paladin, druid, or monk). Part of this has to do with space considerations (the book is already filling up quick); part of it has to do with personal insecurities (who am I to suggest a new class when I’m simply trying to fill-in a companion supplement to an already excellent game system?).

Mainly, though, it is a conceit of principle on my part: most every character archetype of B/X play can already be created with the classes available. Let others house rule new character classes (monks, half-ogres, etc.) that will better fit into their game world concept. I just want to add some supplemental rules (levels to 36, monsters, treasures, spells, mass combat and dominion rules, etc.). Yes, I’ve got plenty of ideas that I COULD throw in, but a 64 page Companion is my aim. Maybe someday I’ll throw out MY own character guide.

However, I HAVE been reading a lot of Howard recently, and while I’m positive the character can be effectively modeled using the B/X Thief class, I figured I’d throw out a little something-something for those who cannot stand the idea (there IS a barbarian “fighter variation” over at Pandius Vault, but I don’t think it accurately models the classic pulp barbarians of Fafhrd and Conan).

There is no intention for this class to be included in the B/X Companion.


BARBARIAN

All barbarians are human but they are of a hardier stock than normal men, growing up in the savage wilderness, outside of civilization. Born warriors, they do not have the same martial training as true fighting men; however they have other skills that compensate for this.

To be a barbarian, a character must have a minimum Constitution of 9. The barbarian has two prime requisites: strength and dexterity. Barbarians with both a strength and dexterity of 13+ gain a +5% on earned experience; barbarians with a dexterity of 16+ in addition to a strength of 13+ gain a +10% on earned experience.

Barbarians may use any weapon and may wear either leather or chain mail armor; they may not wear plate mail. A barbarian can use a shield. They may use any magic item not restricted to another class. Because barbarians are new to society, 1st level characters only receive half the gold of a normal starting character (divide gold rolled by two).

Barbarians have a maximum level of 36. They roll 1D6 hit points per level up to level 9 (Name level). Barbarians receive +3 hit points per level after 9th level. They use the same attack and saving throw matrixes as Thieves (however, see special abilities below).

Level..........Title..........XP Needed
1..........Savage..........0
2..........Brute..........1600
3..........Scout..........3200
4..........Protagonist..........6400
5..........Nomad..........13000
6..........Raider..........26000
7..........Marauder..........52000
8..........Scourge..........105000
9..........Chieftain..........210000

Barbarians require 130,000 XP for every level after 9th (Name level).

Barbarians have several additional abilities learned from their upbringing in the wilderness. As a thief of the same level, barbarians can climb sheer surfaces, move silently, hide in shadows, and hear noise. Wearing chain mail does not affect the use of these skills. Barbarians also have the same percentage change to track and find tracks that a thief of same level has to “find traps.” If a barbarian wishes to hide his or her own tracks from an adversary, he can do so with a successful “move silently” roll, though the barbarian cannot do this when moving faster than normal (i.e. when running). Literate barbarians (Intelligence 9+) also gain the thief ability to read languages due to their long wanderings, but the ability isn’t gained until 5th level. Barbarians never learn to read magic.

Barbarians are ferocious hand-to-hand combatants, gaining a bonus of +1 on their melee attack rolls. Missile attacks and damage rolls are unaffected by a barbarian's berserk frenzy.

A barbarian traveling on-foot, either alone or with other barbarians, moves faster through the wilderness than other characters. The barbarian treats woods and hills as clear terrain, and jungles and mountains as woods and hills, respectively. A barbarian travels no faster than any other character through desert or broken terrain.

Barbarians never build strongholds, though they may live in a castle or palace if they can take one by force. At Name (9th level), barbarians have the ability to call together a barbarian horde made up of many tribal clans banded together. It takes 1D8 weeks to gather the horde, and the total number of warriors gathered will be 10-100 per level of experience (though the DM may limit the number available). Use the berserker statistics in the Basic rules for individual horde members. This horde can be used to attack or defend a territory, but will only stay together a maximum of 1D4 months unless regularly plied with loot and treasure (2 gps per horde member per month; greater rewards may improve morale of the horde).

B/X Two Weapon Combat

So much to blog and so little time...at least today. Had three or four things lined up for my day off, but then ended up running errands most of the day.  Well, did some reading, too, but mostly of the political satire variety, and nothing to post on a RPG blog.

(well, I could, but I may very well offend some readers with my rather strong opinions...perhaps another time)

Anyway, I wanted to get SOMETHING down, as I think I've managed to get at least one post a day since starting this blog, and I don't want to blow my streak.  So here's a little something-something: 

Dual weapon fighting (i.e. fighting with a weapon in each hand) is a fairly common staple of fantasy literature and gaming.  Honestly, I don't remember what first inspired me to love the whole "two-fisted" fighter thing...all I know is that my oldest and earliest AD&D character was never without a weapon in his off-hand.

Since I didn't read Lieber or Moorcock (Mouser and Moonglum respectively) until years later, I don't think there was a particular character of literature that got me into this.  If I had to guess, I would imagine it came about from playing a bard character (no shield use, remember) coupled with reading the DMG (I was the main DM of my gaming group for years) and reading the rules on two weapon fighting. Like, "oh, you mean I CAN fight with two weapons? Well, I wasn't doing anything with my off-hand anyway."

Once I started doing it, several other players began sporting characters with two weapons (apparently, few people were into shields...I guess our Armor Classes were plenty tough). But definitely no one was in the campaign was as munchkiny as myself...no, I never owned Blackrazor, but at one point I was wielding a hammer of thunderbolts with a vorpal short sword in my off-hand.  Though, this was many, many levels after I'd started with a long sword and maine gauche.

In the 2nd edition, my one character, "Ball Sack," only ever used a battle axe.  I'm not sure his testosterone level would have allowed him to use a case of rapiers. 

But he was just about the last character to NOT use two weapons.  In DND3 I had a bard with two weapon fighting, a dwarven duelist (fighter/thief) that used a rapier and dagger, a wood elf (barbarian? ranger? one of the two) that used two hand axes, and a halfling knife-fighter that used...you guessed it...two knives (his name was "Sticker").

B/X never addresses two weapon fighting, of course, and when we were kids none of us ever considered two weapons an option (as I said, no role-models in this regard).  BECMI does address it in the Thyatian gazeteer; basically it states anyone can use a weapon in his or her off-hand, but still only gets one attack per round unless allowed to make multiple attacks.

Honestly, I think that's pretty fair (admittedly I've come a fair ways from my munchkin days).  As already explained elsewhere, the abstract nature of D&D combat means that a single attack roll determines whether or not a character does damage in a given round...whether slashing open an opponent's belly, bashing him with a shield, or kicking him in the groin.  The initiative roll simply determines whose damage gets applied first...not necessarily who swings first. A guy with two swords, may be parrying and cutting with one (say, on a successful roll for 3 or 4 points of damage), or stabbing with both (say, on a successful roll for 8 points of damage).

However, it would be nice to model some sort of benefit for using two weapons...after all, you ARE giving up the use of a shield or more powerful two-handed weapon.

Previously, I posted my variable damage rules for B/X as dependent on class.  To summarize, I suggested dividing melee weapons into Small, One-Handed, and Two-Handed categories with categories generally varying by one size of dice (so a cleric does D4/D6/D8, a fighter does D6/D8/D10, and a magic-user does D4/D4/D6).  Here's how I would model two-weapon fighting in D&D.

1)  To use two weapons effectively in combat, a character must have a minimum Dexterity of 13.  A character may wield two weapons without the Dexterity but gains no special benefit for doing so (though the character has an extra weapon in case something happens to his primary one).

2) Unless a character has a Strength of 13 or better, he may only fight effectively with a Small weapon in his "off-hand."  Strong characters may use One-Handed weapons in their off-hand.

3) On a successful attack roll, the player may roll damage dice for both weapons, and choose the best result of the two.  For example, a fighter using a sword and dagger may roll a D8 and a D6 on a successful hit, and use the better of the two dice rolls for his damage. 

4) If a character has a damage bonus from a high strength, the damage is added to whichever dice is chosen (i.e. it doesn't matter whether or not the character is using an off-hand weapon to inflict damage, the strength bonus in melee is due to the character's might allowing for better muscling/maneuvering in addition to a stronger blow).

All, right, now THAT'S out of the way, I can go to bed.  Tomorrow, I'll try to post an adventure idea I had....