tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46482817005363550422024-03-13T18:43:03.152-04:00 Old School RoleplayingAn original blog, with a not-so-original titleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949589868573402465noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-12801078839572255672015-03-21T12:50:00.001-04:002015-03-21T13:00:58.147-04:00Adventure - Five Orchards, IntroFor those who have visited my blog, you may have noticed that I have a tab right next to the "Home" button entitled; "<i><a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/p/modules.html" target="_blank">Five Orchards</a></i>" This button currently leads to nowhere, but that will soon change.<br />
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<i>Five Orchards</i> is an adventure that I came up with, with the help of <i><a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2015/03/story-cubes-new-way-to-create-your.html" target="_blank">Rory's Story Cubes</a>. </i>I have to admit that this adventure is not totally fresh in my memory, as I created this about a year ago, and no longer have my scrawling (notes). Nonetheless, I am going to develop it up from what I do remember, with the intent of creating a full-fledged adventure, in as professional a format as possible, for both the D100, and OSR systems. <br />
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The General Idea;<br />
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<ul>
<li>Small town beleaguered by frequent visits from....</li>
<li>Main form of commerce is five orchards which have recently....</li>
<li>Adventurers may find an unusual connection beneath...</li>
<li>Their actions may help, or worsen the situation</li>
</ul>
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I am still working out he details of the adventure, and considering the layout - so it may be some time before we actually see this in any form. Still - I am excited to have a project ahead of me, and look forward to any insights or constructive criticism from the Community.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-35834976685858059872015-03-20T22:58:00.001-04:002015-03-21T12:17:25.421-04:00The next new, old thing Ok, for those who do not know me well - I am a bit of a rules hoarder. I like collecting rules; almost as much as, if not possibly more than, using the rules for an actual game. I love reading them, daydreaming about the possibilities, and then I am off to the next copy. Some people will call this the Magpie syndrome, where I am easily distracted by the next shiny object; which in most cases is a correct assessment - at least until today!<br />
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After reading, and re-reading all of my hardcopy and digital editions of OSR, 3rd Party, and various other iterations of Fantasy RPG's, I stumbled across old copies of 1st and 4th edition <i>Stormbringer</i>. <br />
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For those of you who are not familiar with the rules, or the life behind the name, then shame on you. For those of you who are, then you will know that the rules use an old school D100 system, or percentile die for action resolution. Before anyone challenges me and says that this is not OSR, then I will reply by saying that the 1st edition was printed in 1981!<br />
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So, what does this have to do with anything? Another set of rules, right? Well, I think I have found the Holy Grail of rules to meet my tastes in an RPG. If you have read my previous posts around <a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-trouble-with-save-vs-poison-or-die.html" target="_blank">Poison</a>, <a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2012/08/thoughts-on-hit-points.html" target="_blank">Hit Points</a>, and <a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2013/07/alternative-to-vancian-magic.html" target="_blank">Magic</a>, then you will understand my reasoning;<br />
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The rules offer;<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Hit Points; More believable range. Characters tend to be more cautious when they have 12 hp</li>
<li>Poison; No save or die result. Works on a resistance table where Potency is matched against CON, or some other attribute. </li>
<li>Magic; Non-Vancian for sure!</li>
</ul>
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After reading <i>Stormbringer</i> again, I started poking around the webs to see what else was available, and found that there are several versions of the D100 system in the form of;<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>OpenQuest</li>
<li>Magic World</li>
<li>Basic Roleplaying</li>
<li>Classic Fantasy</li>
<li>Call of Cthulhu</li>
<li>Rune Quest</li>
<li>Elric!</li>
<li>And others</li>
</ul>
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Well, being the hoarder that I am, I purchased copies of all of them and began my reading! While all of the versions share the same DNA, there are differences in some of the mechanics which set them apart from each other in some way. I found that I liked some a lot, and others not so much. I will focus briefly on what I liked;</div>
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<div>
<ul>
<li> <i>Classic Fantasy</i>; I thoroughly enjoy the magic system in <i>Classic Fantasy</i>. The author, who goes by 'threedeesix"on some forums, did a fabulous job of taking AD&D spells and converting to a scalable "casting cost = results" system. For example; In AD&D, you have many different types of <i>Cure</i> spells - each with a different result, level, etc.. In <i>Classic Fantasy</i> there is one <i>Cure</i> spell, and the result varies based on how many Magic Points are spent. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><i>Magic World</i>; An excellent revamp of the <i>Elric!</i> rules and various supplements, which itself is derived from previous editions of <i>Stormbringer. </i>The rules are clear, concise, and I pretty much have everything I need in one book - except for magic.</li>
</ul>
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The beauty of all the rules having the same basic DNA, is that parts from the various rulesets can be absorbed into another, without breaking the system - which is what I intend to do. The bulk of the rules will come from <i>Magic World</i>, the magic from <i>Classic Fantasy</i>, with a sprinkling of flavor from <i>Rune Quest</i> and <i>BRP</i>. </div>
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So, I was able to put a lot of checks in a lot of boxes with the D100 series of rules, as well as adding to my collection!! Life is good. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-52546268712114444492015-03-03T19:19:00.000-05:002015-03-03T19:19:46.689-05:00Story Cubes! A new way to create your adventures? I want to share a cool scenario generating tool I came across, while looking for a game for the kids. They are called Rory's Story Dice (not the same Rory from Doctor Who)<br />
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<b>How it works</b><br />
In a nutshell, there are 9, six-sided dice; each with a different image on each side. You roll all 9 dice, and arrange them in any order you want, to help you tell a story using the images as a guide.<br />
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I bought these originally for me and the kids to have some fun telling crazy stories, but I also have used them to develop some interesting ideas for scenarios. I just roll a number of dice, and see what develops. <br />
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I have found that even if I do not use all of the images on the rolled dice, that this really helps get the brain working in different, creative ways. I have come up with scenarios that I'm pretty sure I would not have come up with on my "own".<br />
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I bought mine for around $8, which I thought was very reasonable.<br />
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Anyway, I thought I would share this cool, imaginative tool with everyone.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-58494017529388932892015-02-26T18:36:00.001-05:002015-02-26T18:36:31.674-05:00Who remembers when White Dwarf was "Britain's leading role-playing games magazine?"Also, doesn't the Alchemist look a lot like Jose Ferrer from Dune?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-68357328375604742912013-07-21T15:02:00.001-04:002015-03-03T18:51:45.638-05:00Alternative to Vancian magic<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p_rECP9dbSs/VO_hZPU_TRI/AAAAAAAAB0c/uouT4-3EJgc/s1600/mage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p_rECP9dbSs/VO_hZPU_TRI/AAAAAAAAB0c/uouT4-3EJgc/s1600/mage.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a><br />
When I grew up playing D&D, the only magic system I knew of was the Vancian system - which is the "fire-n-forget" method presented in OD&D, and subsequent editions.<br />
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At the time. I didn't know it had a name, and didn't care if it was right or wrong. Only being 10 at the time, there wasn't much need for me to ponder if this style of magic made sense to me. Now that I am considerably older than 10, I can safely say that I do <u>not</u> favor the Vancian style of magic.<br />
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I have always found the system to be very limiting in the following ways;<br />
<ul>
<li>Players had to memorize their spells in advance, and could not react to the situation at hand</li>
<li>Characters - who presumably spent their entire life studying this art - would all of a sudden "forget" the spells they just cast, after spending all day memorizing them</li>
<li>All casters knew the same spells - and gained them at the same progression</li>
</ul>
<br />
Having been an avid reader of the Conan series of books throughout my young to adult life, I was gradually conditioned to view magic as something that took great force of will, and could leave the caster fatigued from great exertion. The spells were powerful, and created to meet the needs of the given situation.<br />
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This is the style of magic that I want to incorporate into my games - the caster had control over their discipline, and created what they wanted, when they wanted. I found this with the Talislanta RPG. <br />
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The Talislanta rules were some that I passed over many times when I was looking for something new, and different. I just happened upon a <a href="http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5" target="_blank">website </a>which had all of the editions in PDF format, so I decided to download them, just to add to my collection.<br />
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After reading through the various editions, as well as the D20 version, I found that the magic system presented, mirrored exactly what I was looking for. You could make up spells on the fly, determine the spell level, and then come up with a target number that you had to achieve in order to cast the spell. It even had a D20 method of determining if the spell was successful, which played right in to the mechanics of Basic Fantasy rules - which have the ascending armor class, and 3.0 BAB.<br />
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<b><i>Here is an overview of how the system works;</i></b><br />
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There are 11 <b><i>Orders</i> </b>of Magic - specialty classes, if you will; each with an key associated attribute (STR, DEX....), which modifies the spell <i><b>Mode</b></i> casting attempt - explained later.<br />
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<i><b>The 11 Orders</b></i><br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 175px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 3953; mso-width-source: userset; width: 83pt;" width="111"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 83pt;" width="111">Cartomancy</td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64">DEX</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Cryptomancy</td>
<td>INT</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Crystalomancy</td>
<td>WIS</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Elementalism<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></td>
<td>STR</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Invocation</td>
<td>WIS</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Mysticism</td>
<td>WIS</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Natural Magic</td>
<td>WIS</td>
</tr>
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<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Necromancy</td>
<td>INT</td>
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<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Shaminism</td>
<td>CHA</td>
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<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Witchcraft</td>
<td>CHA</td>
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<td height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">Wizardry</td>
<td>INT</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><i>Orders</i></b> provide Advantages, as well as Limitations. This is explained further in the Talislanta D20 version of the rules. <br />
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In addition to the <b><i>Orders</i></b> - there are eleven <b><i>Modes</i> </b>of magic; which is a general type of spell effect. Not all <b><i>Orders</i></b> (Specialties) have access to all <b><i>Modes</i></b> (Spell Effects) - and some <b><i>Orders</i></b> have +'s or -'s when using certain <b><i>Modes</i></b>.<br />
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<b><i>The 12 Modes</i></b><br />
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Alter<br />
Attack<br />
Conjure<br />
Defend<br />
Heal<br />
Illusion<br />
Influence<br />
Move<br />
Reveal<br />
Summon<br />
Transform<br />
Ward<br />
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And some <b><i>Modes</i></b> have opposites, such as; Summon*Dismissal & Reveal*Conceal<br />
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Within each <b><i>Mode</i></b>, there are guidelines, and design costs for creating your spell. The point system is pretty straight forward, and is geared for creating spells on the fly, although the rules do suggest creating some commonly used spells before-hand. There are even rules for modifying previously created spells at the time of casting, so as to enhance range, radius, etc...as needed.<br />
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It took me a couple of reads between the D20, and 4th edition before it clicked - but this is really an easy system. An example of it is below.<br />
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<b><i>Example Character</i></b><br />
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Say you have a 1st level character, with a STR of 16, who wishes to be an Elementalist; Air - aka Aeromancer. Elementalist is the particular <b><i>Order</i> (</b>Specialty<b>)</b>of magic chosen, which is further narrowed down to Air. This Order has the following <b><i>Modes</i> </b>(Spell effects) available to it;<br />
<br />
Attack<br />
Conjure<br />
Defend<br />
Move<br />
Reveal<br />
Summon<br />
Transform<br />
Ward<br />
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Which means that he can <u>only</u> cast spells with the <b><i>Modes</i></b> listed above, with that particular Order<br />
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As a <u>bonus</u>, each spell with the following <b><i>Modes</i></b>, receive a modifier<br />
<br />
Conjure +3<br />
Move +3, because of the Elemental Air<br />
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There are no penalties to use other available <b><i>Modes</i></b>, they may only summon an appropriate Elemental type, and the chosen element can be transmuted through its various forms; i.e, air transformed in to fog, toxic gases...etc...basically the practitioner has <u>complete control</u> over his <b><i>Order</i></b> - he owns it.<br />
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<i><b>Example Spell</b></i><br />
<u><br /></u>
<b>On the Wings of Eagles (Fly</b>)<br />
<i><b>Mode</b></i>: Move<br />
Casting Time: 1 round, +0 standard casting time<br />
<br />
Area: Self +0, standard area<br />
Duration: 5 rounds +0, standard duration<br />
Saving Throw:N/A<br />
Weight: up to 250 lbs +10 to target# <br />
Speed: 30ft/round, +0, standard speed<br />
Total Casting Target#: Base 10 + 10 for weight = 20.<br />
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To cast this spell, our 1st level Aeromancer has to roll a 20 (target number), on a D20. Pretty impossible, right! However, Aeromancers gain a +3 to Move <b><i>Mode</i></b> spells - which is added to their die roll. As Elementalist also add their STR modifiers to their casting attempt, our caster gets to add +2 to the roll as well, for having a STR of 16. Additionally, the character decided to add their 1 magic point (1 pt, gained at each level of advancement) to the <b><i>Move Mode</i></b> at character creation, so another +1 is added to the die roll. <br />
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All in all, there is a total of +6 added to the die roll.<br />
+3 for Move Mode bonus for Aeromancy<br />
+2 for STR 16<br />
+1 for <b><i>Move Mode</i></b> advancement, added at 1st level<br />
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The target number is 20, so with all of the modifiers, our character needs to now roll a 14 or better to succeed. Not easy, but not out of the range for our 1st level character - particularly as the <i>Fly</i> spell is a 3rd level spell in Basic Fantasy, and you need to be 5th level before you can cast it. <br />
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<i><b>Continuing Example</b></i><br />
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Now, if the character were 3rd level, and decided at each level to place their +1 skill point in <i><b>Move Mode</b></i>, they would the following modifiers;<br />
<br />
+3 for <b><i>Move Mode</i></b> bonus for Aeromancy<br />
+2 for STR 16<br />
+3 for <i><b>Move Mode</b></i> advancement; +1 added at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level<br />
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This is a +8 total mod, which means that he would have to roll a 12 or better on a D20, to be able to cast this spell. This is a 60% chance to Fly at 3rd level.<br />
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This process may seem complicated at first, but after a few passes over the chapter it has become really easy to grasp. Plus, the books do a better job of explaining the process than I do.<br />
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I feel this type of magic system really opens up the possibilities in play, as the only limitation to what can be is your imagination. Knowing the <b><i>Modes</i></b>, and how, and when to use them, makes a spell caster truly adaptable, and formidable. While they can become power-beasts as they advance in level - a fatigue rule, as well as their generally low hit points, still means that they have to be cautious. <br />
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<b><i>Adapting for OSR Rules</i></b><br />
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<br />
<br />
<li>At Character creation, the <b><i>Order(s)</i></b> is/are chosen. (Up to the GM on how many <b><i>Orders</i></b> to allow, and when)</li>
<li>At 1st level, and each level thereafter, full class spell casters gain 1 spell point to permanently assign to a specific spell <b><i>Mode</i></b>. This will act as a bonus to the caster's die roll to hit the casting target #. This may seem like a powerful option, but consider that many spell casters will have multiples <b><i>Modes</i></b>. You could enhance one, or two <b><i>Modes</i></b> all the way up, but you would really stink in the other <b><i>Modes</i></b> - which you just might need one day. This does allow some variation between characters with the same <b><i>Orders</i></b>, as not all users will take advantage of all <b><i>Modes</i></b>, and not everyone will have the same mastery.</li>
<li>Dual class characters receive 1 point at first level, and every odd level after that - 3rd, 5th, 7th..</li>
<li>Governing Attributes (Determined by <i><b>Order</b></i>) +/- are added to the caster's die roll</li>
<li>Base casting target # is 10 + and spell design points.</li>
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<i><b>Fatigue</b></i><br />
<div>
<b><i><br /></i></b>Casting spells is fatiguing, so each spell cast, beyond the first, whether successful or not, has a cumulative -1 modifier added to the die roll. This adds some limitations to what a caster can do - and keeps some checks and balances to the game.<br />
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The GM determines how quickly fatigue is recovered - generally 1 point negative modifier goes away with each hour of rest; </div>
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Example, if a caster cast 3 successive spells, they now have a -3 modifier to any other spells cast within the next hour. If 1 hour goes by without casting a spell, the spell modifier is now -2. If two additional hours go by, the spell modifier is back to 0.<br />
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<b><i>Multiple Orders</i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i><br /></i></b>If multiple <b><i>Orders</i></b> are allowed, the character may find that they have duplicate <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Modes </span>available between the chosen <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Orders</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">. </span>Even though the <b><i>Modes</i></b> are the same in function, they are not considered the same when assigning spell points, as they are from different Schools. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Example; The Aeromancer above, decides at a later date to learn the Pyromancy <i style="font-weight: bold;">Order </i>under Elementalism, which also has the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Move Mode. </span>Any points the Aeromancer has already assigned in the <b><i>Move Mode</i></b> under Aeromancy, do not apply to the <b><i>Move Mode</i></b> for Pyromancy. Spell points gained at later levels will have to be assigned to a particular <b><i>Mode</i></b>, for a particular <b><i>Order</i></b>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This helps limit the power a Magic User can gain. I role playing terms, is attributed to the the Magic User splitting their focus, and no longer specializing in a given field magic.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This was a long entry, but I hope someone can find some use from it. Again, for a better idea of how this works, please download a copy of the rules from the <b style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://talislanta.com/?page_id=5" target="_blank">Talislanta</a> </b>website<b style="font-style: italic;">.</b><br />
<b style="font-style: italic;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-style: italic;"><br /></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-53809647069208819432013-07-19T22:53:00.002-04:002013-07-19T22:53:48.631-04:00Resurrection!Yes, I am back from the dead - and this blog is still alive and kicking!....ok, maybe whimpering, and struggling...but back none-the-less.<br />
<br />
After a long hiatus from the RPG world, I am back, and eager to jump right back in to things.<br />
<br />
I guess I will start off with what I have been reading, and what I have been doing with it;<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Fantasy Craft</li>
<li>Talislanta - D20, and previous editions</li>
<li>Adventurer, Conqueror, Kings</li>
<li>Myth & Magic</li>
<li>HackMaster</li>
<li>GURPS</li>
<li>Adventures Dark and Deep</li>
<li>Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers</li>
<li>Bare Bones Fantasy</li>
<li>Basic Fantasy</li>
<li>Basic Roleplaying</li>
<li>D&D Rules Cyclopedia</li>
<li>Dangers & Dweomers</li>
<li>Dark Dungeons</li>
<li>Dungeon Crawl Classics</li>
<li>Dungeonslayers</li>
<li>Elric!</li>
<li>Labyrinth Lord</li>
<li>Mazes & Minotaurs</li>
<li>Monsters & Magic</li>
<li>RuneQuest</li>
<li>Swords & Sorcery</li>
</ul>
Just to name a few......<br />
<br />
I have to say that I really like RPGs. Even though they all have something great to offer, I think I am still settled with Labyrinth Lord, or Basic Fantasy..but truth be told, I have found enough nuggets of gold in everything I have read, that I will take what I like, and roll it all in to one rule. <br />
<br />
<br />
Here are some of the pieces I have decided on;<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Ascending armor class - cause it makes more sense to me. Not sure which one I pulled this from.</li>
<li>Hit points (still working it out, but almost done)</li>
<li>Magic will be spontaneous casting, and will be powered by spell points. No Vancian Magic. The Talislanta magic system, and Fantasy Craft is what I am reviewing now for inspiration. </li>
<li><a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2012/08/save-vs-poison-part-2.html">Poison saves </a></li>
<li>Weapon Mastery, and special benefits. This is from D&D Cyclopedia</li>
</ol>
There are some other pieces floating around, but I am still banging them about. I think everything will start to come together when it is actually codified. Some things are great in theory, but stink in application.<br />
<br />
More to come<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-17774412938018139852012-09-22T10:01:00.000-04:002015-03-03T18:52:08.211-05:00My own version of OSR rules <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<strike>Although I have been a bit quiet on the blog-front lately,
it does not mean that I have not been active.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have been pouring through all of the hard back books, and PDF's I own
of various Fantasy RPG's, both old and new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each set of rules has something I like about it, and some things I do
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strike></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strike><br /></strike></div>
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<strike>As I mentioned in a previous posting, I waffled on whether
or not I would use Basic Fantasy, or Labyrinth Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally decided on LL, as pretty much
everything was in one book (If you do not consider AEC)</strike><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
<strike>As I delved farther in
to LL, I still found that I was referring back to Basic Fantasy, and other rules, to compare the Racial Traits, Spells, AC, etc…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> and</span> as I was <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>constantly
flipping back and forth between this set, and that set, I decided it would be
so much easier if I just compiled everything I liked about all of the various
rule sets, in to one. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this is what I
am going to do - take all the parts that I like, and put them in to one cover. This will be a mixture of old, and new ideas, with possibly even something new from my imagination.</strike></div>
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<strike><br /></strike></div>
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<strike>I may be deluding myself, but I do not think that it will be
that hard to do. Everything I am looking for is in OGL format, and should be
pretty easy to cut-n-paste in to a word DOC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe the one thing that will hold me up is the formatting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strike></div>
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<strike><br /></strike></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strike>This will probably turn out to be the ugliest baby on the
block, but it will be my baby. </strike><br />
<br />
Ok, so why recreate the wheel, right? After careful thought (and realizing how much work is involved) I decided to stick with Basic Fantasy as the base, and just add in my house rules.<br />
<br />
The most recent version of <a href="http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html" target="_blank">Basic Fantasy</a> won me over. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-6701022236128695432012-08-25T22:49:00.000-04:002015-03-03T18:52:24.909-05:00Save VS poison, part 2I was thinking further on the mod I adopted, instead of the standard "save VS poison, or die" rule. The one thing I did not take in to consideration was additional poisoning, while being already being poisoned.<br />
<br />
I was thinking; In the instance where a character was already poisoned, and took further damage, and failed the poison save, what happened? I mulled it over a bit, and then decided on the following;<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Failing future poison saves, while currently poisoned, extends the duration by 1/2 of the original duration, rounded up. For example; a character has been bitten by a 5HD spider, and fails the poison save, he will take <strike>1d6</strike> 1d4 damage, each turn, for 5 turns. The next round, the character is bitten again, and fails another save. Instead of adding 5 turns to the duration, the character will only add 3, for a total of 8 turns. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
As mentioned before, this may not sound like a lot of damage, but consider that this totals <strike>8d6</strike> 8d4, or a max of <strike>48</strike> 32 <u>additional </u>points of damage, over a period of time. Additionally, the randomness of the damage each turn will allow the players some time to find a cure for the poisoning.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With the change in how poisoning works, I had to give some consideration to the spell, <i>Neutralize</i> <i>Poison. </i>My thought is to make this spell accessible at 1st level, instead of 4th, for Clerics & Druids. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-85344036747528211232012-08-18T19:12:00.000-04:002015-03-03T18:52:24.913-05:00The trouble with "Save VS. poison, or die" ruleI have been looking for a mod for the "save VS poison, or die" rule. I think this it is pretty silly that a a centipede can kill a higher level adventurer, almost as easily as a 1st level adventurer.<br />
<br />
I ran across a mod somewhere, (I'm not sure where) which changed the poison save from a "save", and instead made it a <strike>d6</strike> d4 worth or additional damage, for a certain number of rounds. I don't remember what the exact mod was, but I have enough of a framework, to make something useful out of it.<br />
<br />
Here is what I am thinking.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Roll save vs poison as usual.</li>
<ul>
<li>Save = No damage, or as otherwise indicated by specific rules for type of poison, or monster.</li>
<li>Fail = Take <strike>1d6</strike> 1d4 points of damage per turn, for X number of turns, with X = the HD of the monster. Less than 1 HD monsters round up to 1. Example: The poison from a 5HD Giant Spider, will do an additional <strike>1d6</strike> 1d4 points of damage each turn, for 5 turns, beginning on the turn after the wound was received. </li>
</ul>
<li><a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2012/08/thoughts-on-hit-points.html" target="_blank"><span id="goog_1408614954"></span>Previous rule</a><span id="goog_1408614955"></span> applies, if poison runs over to CON damage. </li>
</ul>
<br />
At first, this may seem to be a bit light, when compared to the extreme result of death; but, consider that this is continuing damage. Initially the character may take 1-4 points of damage for the delivery of the poison, but the next turn, and subsequent turns, will take an additional <u>1d6</u> 1d4 points of damage - in addition to any other damage taken from other attacks/effects.<br />
<br />
This gives the character a little bit of wiggle room when facing envenomed creatures, but still faces them with the possibility of death, through continuing damage.<br />
<br />
We have not tried this out yet, but I think it will work ok...at least it does in my head. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbxTWw8LePudR_Cf7qNvN6S_QFupjn-Rd_1SosJVCf75psIvYnoZL4nZ-4__Ra2FgKubmjMROwKUFn_3ahgWBNPgVaYOjX_guNb0NJPGG66sWODeOWtI3Mdk2bQdmQg5OuHYh12FO8i4/s1600/blackwidow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbxTWw8LePudR_Cf7qNvN6S_QFupjn-Rd_1SosJVCf75psIvYnoZL4nZ-4__Ra2FgKubmjMROwKUFn_3ahgWBNPgVaYOjX_guNb0NJPGG66sWODeOWtI3Mdk2bQdmQg5OuHYh12FO8i4/s320/blackwidow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">I will get you..... in about 5 turns!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-27576779126959090882012-08-18T16:15:00.004-04:002015-03-03T18:52:24.905-05:00Thoughts on Hit PointsOne of the things that has always thrown me off about low level characters, is the low hit points. When you have a range of 1-10 hp for 1st level characters, not including constitution modifiers, you are basically a one hit wonder; meaning that after one hit, your character is dead.<br />
<br />
I had always played where 1st lever characters started off with max hp at 1st level, but this still didn't save you from a lucky swing from a goblin, or even two bad swings. I toyed with a couple of ideas on how to get some longevity out of a character, without totally messing up the dynamics of the game. Below are a couple of the options I tried, with the pros and cons of each;<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><u>CON x d6-d10D, depending upon class. </u></b> Example; Fighter with CON 16, would roll 16 x d10, with the result being the characters hp, for the life of the character. The hp total would never change unless through some boon or misfortune. </li>
<ul>
<li>PRO: The benefit is that 1st level characters would have a much higher survival rate, with tons of hp.</li>
<li>CON: Players would max out their CON, in order for a larger bucket of dice for hp. </li>
<li>CON: Players could still roll pretty poorly, and wind up with low hp. Then again, maybe that is not a CON, but a PRO</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b><u> </u><u>Player rolls twice for each level gained. </u></b>Players would roll 2 dice, based on class, and would take the highest roll. </li>
<ul>
<li>PRO: Player could possibly roll well</li>
<li>CONS: Player could roll poorly</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b><u>Player just took max hp adjustment for each level gained</u><u>. </u></b></li>
<ul>
<li>PRO: Characters would have a better chance of reaching higher levels.</li>
<li>CON: Did not feel right, and gave the fighting class an advantage, which would probably skew a player's choice of class selection. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
So, with not being totally enamored with any of the above (except maybe the CON option), I started searching the internet, to see what other players were doing. I ran across the blog, <a href="http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Akratic Wizardry</a>, which had a nice post about <a href="http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/07/swords-sorcery-house-rules-index.html" target="_blank">"House Rules".</a> In this post there was a version of using CON as HP, in conjunction with using your usual class HP, to represent fatigue points or bruising.<br />
<br />
I am reprinting the majority of the mechanics below, and will remove if the owner is offended at my duplication of their work.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Character's class hp's represent
"superficial damage" (exhaustion, bruising, scraping, ..</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Character's CON represents lethal damage to their person </span></li>
</ul>
<ul><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All lost class hp are regained by sleeping, without interruption, for 8 full
hours</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Resting, or sleeping, for less than 8 hours, only enables characters to regain 1 hp, per full hour.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Cure Wounds spells, and potions of Healing, do not heal class hp, but only heal lost points of CON. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Once a character's hp have been reduced to 0, any further damage is taken off the CON score.</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This damage represents "serious" damage</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every time damage is taken to CON, a save VS. Death is required, or the character falls unconscious. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An unconscious character, regains consciousness after 8 hours of rest.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Additionally, any character which has taken damage to CON, suffers a -2 penalty to all actions (attack rolls, savings throws, etc..)</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> A character whose CON is reduced to 0, or lower, is dead</span><i><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> A character cannot regain class hp, until he has regained all lost CON.</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Characters regain 1 CON, for every two days of complete bed rest. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The care of a Doctor, or Healer can improve the rate to 1 CON, per day of complete rest.</span><i><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Magic healing spells may only restore hp, not CON (GM's may change this to sui their tastes)</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I really like these rules, as it allows characters a great bit of survivability, whether at low, or higher levels. I do not think this unbalances the game, or changes any of the dynamics. </span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is also the element of realism for lower level characters, and the Heroic element for higher level. Of course, we still have to play a few games with it, so see how it works. I also need to see how it works out with my <a href="http://oldschoolroleplaying.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-trouble-with-save-vs-poison-or-die.html">"You've been poisoned - save, or die"</a> mod I am working on. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4648281700536355042.post-47835719816096305032012-08-16T21:58:00.005-04:002012-08-16T23:07:18.961-04:00The Basic Idea I recently got back in to role playing, due to burgeoning interest from my youngest son. I had been a role player for meany years when I was younger, but eventually left it for 40K,and other miniatures games.<br />
<br />
I had toyed with the idea of returning to my roots, but had no real incentive, until my son came home one day, talking about some kids in the park doing live action role playing, and asked if he could give it a try. I told him that I had a better idea, and that I would teach him, and we could play together. With my interest rekindled, and a reason to play, I just had to find a set of rules.<br />
<br />
I researched, and tested a LOT of rules, from freebies on the internet, commercial copies, and old school renaissance clones. I even picked up the original copies of 1st Edition, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, off Amazon, at around $10.00 a copy (a great deal IMO).<br />
<br />
After reading, reading, re-reading, and weighing the pros and cons, I finally settled on using Labyrinth Lord (LL), with the Advanced Edition Companion (AEC), with a little bit of Basic Fantasy, and some character mods I picked up off someone elses blog (I will post a link, once I find it).<br />
<br />
I found that LL gave me the ease of play, and old school feel I wanted; while being in an updated format - which appealed to me. I have to say that my first choice was Basic Fantasy, which I really liked, but I did not like the fact that all of the supplements were downloadable add-ons. I thought that I would just keep an extra folder for all of the extras, but then decided that it was too much hassle to keep flipping between printed copies, that were in no particular order. Had the official copy included all of the extras, I would have definitely chosen that over LL.<br />
<br />
I bought hardbound copies of both LL & AEC, from LuLu. I am very impressed with the hardbound books, and like that they fit in size to the original AD&D books. They look great in the book shelf.<br />
<br />
With all of the resources now available, I had to decide on our first adventure. I had found a lot of the old, original modul<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">es online, and read through them once again, for the first time in 25 years. I realized pretty quickly that the old modules just made no sense, from a "real" perspective. I wondered, "How can you cram so many monsters in to a tiny space (1st level dungeon), and none of the monsters hear what is going on in the next room?" A lot of the scenarios seemed a bit short-sighted in that the encounters made no sense, and were just hack sessions. I mean, really, why is there a dragon in a 10x10 secret room, behind the broom closet?</span><br />
<br />
My nostalgia was satisfied from reading the old modules, but I knew right away that if I wanted something more logical, I would have to either adapt the modules, or create my own. I decided to do both. After struggling with ideas, I happened to run across a kids game, which encourages storytelling, and imagination, by using dice, with random pictures, to help build your story. There are 9 dice, and you decide how many you are going to roll. Each die has 6 random images, such as a Flame, Star, House, Bee, etc... Once rolled, you take the dice and arrange them in a certain way, and interpret the images on the die, to tell your story.<br />
<br />
I thought "this would be a great way to get the creative juices flowing" and started rolling the dice. What I came up with was a great little story, surrounding an orchard, a star, and ..... Well, I shouldn't give the story away just yet. I am now in the process of fleshing everything out, and working on turning it in to a PDF module, to share with whomever visits my blog. Once this is available, I will share with everyone.<br />
<br />
So, I still have a lot of work to do, but I can say that I am very excited to get back to what is familiar, and friendly from my childhood, and sharing that with my son. I have to say, spending time with him in this way, even though it might have social stigma attached, is a hell of a lot more enjoyable, than blowing sh*t up on the Xbox. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0