A to Z Catchup: Z is for Zelda (The Legend of)

It would appear that after the very long and cram packed, but still very well done Avengers movie I have very little time left to write up a post.  That's ok though, since today is my last A-Z post I'd like to spend a little bit talking about what it's been like doing this challenge and where to go from here.

First off it struck me today that I wasted a perfectly good opportunity to talk about running an eXiles themed campaign in the Marvel Super Heroes RPG for the letter X.  Which is a shame since it's been a long while since I've blogged about my stints in Superheroic roleplaying systems and eXile is a perfect setting for people who want to play established characters without mucking around without the overbearing continuity (it also fits the murderous transient mould so many games devolve into which may or may not be a good thing.)

Onto the A-Z Challenge.  I had a lot of fun doing this, although I must say it was quite a challenge.  Trying to put out quality posts full of meaningful or at least interesting content takes a lot more effort than I was expecting.  Those first few posts were easy because I had them already worked out, I just need to transcribe it to a blog post, after that things got pretty difficult and down to the wire at times (like right now for instance!)  This difficulty was compounded by my new hours at work, a sleep schedule that witnesses the crack of dawn and numerous social obligations that soared into prominence.  In short it was hectic, it was draining, but coming home everyday and trying to think of a relevant topic and quickly hammering out the details was quite a rush and it was all the more fulfilling with all the comments and remarks that accompanied it.  So thank you all for that.

Now what to do from here?  First off, I'm taking a much needed break!  At least a week, possibly more.  Writing and design take a lot of inspiration to get going and I don't have as much as that flowing now that most of my day is spent working rather than idling and daydreaming.  On the bright side I will be able to devote more time and focus to individual posts, possibly even fleshing out a few ideas I touched on in the A-Z challenge (if you have any suggestions let me hear them.)

Then of course there is also the final topic.  The Legend of Zelda.  A wonderful eries that has stayed the same in many ways but its gameplay and especially its design has changed drastically between iterations and especially console generations.  In the future I'd like to take a look at Dungeon design in the Legend of Zelda series.  In fact, I'd like to replay though my collection starting all the way in the NES, analyzing key features and framework presented by the designer and how they can be applied or at least understood in our own games.  This is a design blog after all.  Of course, there are always fun little puzzles to examine and steal for our own games.  I plan on doing a series on analyzing other games as well, Etrian Odyssey immediately comes to mind, especially a detailed analysis of class structures and and their thematic components within the setting.

In the meantime I'm going to try and catch up my backlog of A-Z posts written by other people.  You all did splendidly and I regret not having enough time to browse through them all.  Thank you all for reading and stopping by and have a good night.

A to Z Catchup: Y is for Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil is the world tree in Nordic Mythology whose roots extend to different worlds and whose branches extend far into the heavens.  Yggdrasil and many bit and pieces of Norse Mythology have been co-opted by and recycled by numerous games, books and assorted fiction over the years.  An interesting take on this is the World Tree in the science fiction book Hyperion.  Where the world tree produces saplings which templars traveling on living tree ships take across the star system hoping to plant them on planets which will bloom their own world tree.  My personal favorite incarnation is in the Etrian Oddysey series.

Etrian Odyssey if you're not familiar is a game published (and created) by Atlus on the DS.  It's a first person dungeon crawler, like Eye of the Beholder, but is turn based and has incorporated a number of modern design influences from typical CRPGs (skill trees, non-linear advancement, streamlined yet incredibly dangerous/useful status effects, party diversity and interdependence).  The plot revolves around a world destroyed and the survivors aiming to reclaim what was lost.  To do so they venture into the one thing that survived it all.  The world tree.  An entire dungeon of 25 or more floors lies in its depths, starting with the roots you move down each strata entering gorgeous new vistas each and every time.  A waterfall grotto, a forest in autumn, a volcanic sea floor and if you are brave and lucky enough you may reach the ancient ruins at its depths that give clues to the civilization that existed before then.  Etrian Odyssey takes the sword and sorcery staple of lost and forgotten civilizations and works it into something as fantastical as a Tree teeming with life stretching across the heavens and reaching deep into the abyss.  You could set an entire campaign here, and if you're looking for inspiration pick up any of the Etrian Odssey games and prepare for a tough trip into the labyrinth.

A to Z Catchup: X is for Xylophone (Cursed)

I've been trying to think of a good X topic since the start but I've come up with nothing.  So let's have a little fun instead, and as Dungeon Masters what could be more fun than a peculiar cursed item.  This time we have the accursed Xylophone, stashed in any decent horde it stands out from the rest of the mundane treasure.  This Xylophone has absolutely zero effect unless someone decides to play it using the mallets attached to its frame of petrified wood.  Once they do they'll be in for a surprise.

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing:  1
Alignment: Lawful
Movement: Inanimate
Armor Class: 9
HD: 1
Special Attack: Curse of Perfect Pitch, Curse of Perfect Melody
Magic Resistance:  Immune to all magical effects excluding dispel magic, disjunction and flame or wood properties.
Size: Small

A to Z Catchup: W is for Weakness (Damage Types)

The last thing I explored in my Damage Types series were the three generalized and conventional ways of dishing out damage with melee weapons.  This time I'd like to look at elemental effects for a bit.  Weaknesses and vulnerability have cropped up from time to time but for the most part in games systems this translates into nothing more than a flat damage bonus or damage multiplier and that's boring.

A to Z Catch Up: V is for Vanquish

So I have returned!  Albeit a few days too late.  I can't believe it's Z already and I was out of commission for so long!  I have some free time tonight and if my stomach continues cooperating I plan on cranking out a few posts.   In the meantime it is time to talk about Vanquish.

Aside from being an absolutely stellar game that riffs on the current chest-high-wall burly action hero cover shooter  Vanquish is a very fun word to use.  It's also one of the most common words you can encounter in any sort of heroic fiction where our brave young hero rallies his resolve and vanquishes the villain.  So let's make Vanquish into a game mechanic.  And since I've been having fun playing around with Intrepid Dice, let's base it around that.

Here's a quick primer on Intrepid Dice.  You have a seventh stat named your Intrepid score.  It is determined randomly (d6 + level) at the start of every adventure.  You can use your intrepid score to add dice to any roll you're making (recall that we're talking 3d6 in place of a d20, and regardless of the number of dice you end up rolling you can only keep 3) as well as a host of other fun tricks you'll find in the link above.  Kevin of KORPG has swayed me from using levels as a carrot for players so the Intrepid Score is how I've been trying to resolve my conflict in a level-less D&D. 

Now then, on to Vanquish.  We can treat it as a class feature, perhaps for our Underdog class or we can treat like other Intrepid abilities, useable by anyone.  I can see it going well either way.  Here's how it works:

Whenever you would deal any Wounds you deal additional Wounds equal to the number of Intrepid Dice you spent during any step resolving your attack.

So what does this mean?  It means the more you invest into an attack, the more spunk, boldness and trust in luck you place in that attack, for each die you personally invest from your intrepid hero's pool of dice you are more likely to strike down your villain and smite him where he stands.  It's the perfect move for any last ditch move and hero very nearly beaten, one last chance before its lights out.  Due to the nature of Intrepid Dice (they don't refresh until the start of another adventure) it is very difficult to abuse.  It can be used as an Alpha strike but is quite the costly gambit.

So there you have it.  Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for what I should do for X.  I'm completely blanking on what to do for that. As always, thanks for reading!

A to Z Challenge: Intermission

It would appear I am more ill than I had realized.  It's only 8pm and I'm ready to turn in so I'm afraid I'm going to have to suspend my A-Z challenge until I can get back on my feet.  Hopefully in a matter of days.

Thanks you all for reading, this has been a pleasure to do and your comments have spurred me on.

A to Z Challenge: U is for Underdog

One of the things I always loved about AD&D were the titles associated with your level, so that eventually your fighter was referred to as a Lord (and along came the assumption he would be building keeps by level 9).  When I design classes I like to keep that tradition alive so for the designated 'hero' class I propose its level 1 title be Underdog.

If I'm lucky I'll be home before 9 tomorrow and I can whip up a much more substantial post.

A to Z Challenge: T is for Thrusting (Damage Types)

Although work is conspiring to soak up all my available time I still have a few waking minutes left to get out a post.  I never would have expected the A-Z Challenge would have run me this ragged.

So without further adieu and much brevity attended I'll be fnishing up the damage types series.  Starting with Impact Weapon and Saturday's Slashing Damage.  I'll be skipping the introduction this time as it is much better laid out in Impact Weapons so here's the meat of the rules.

If any Wounds are dealt with a Thrusting weapon, the target takes additional Wounds each round equal to the weapons Thrusting Rating until they bleed out or the wound is stymied.

This is the current version.  It matches the form of the previous two, in that the effect is dependant on the weapons rating in Impact, Thrusting or Slashing.  However, one thing that bugs me is that through playtesting it was found that the easiest way to do Wound loss is to simply cap it at 1 Wound lost each round.  It's easy to remember, doesn't require you to look up or anything, least of all the thrusting rating of various weapons.  So here's the proposed redesign.

If any Wounds are dealt with a Thrusting weapon the target takes an additional Wound each round on their turn until they either bleed out or the wound is stymied.  Additionally, each time the weapon deals Wounds to a target (including bleeding damage in later turns) they lose HP equal to the weapon's Thrusting rating.

This removes some of the bite and makes the weapon less lethal, which is a good things since bad guys wield spears too.  It also means that a Thrusting weapon is the best weapon for attrition, while the impact weapon is the best for facing off vs armor and the slashing weapon is the best weapon for quickly cutting down foes, but mostly limited to lightly or unarmored folks.

There you have it!  Now if you'll excuse me I have a date with the crack of dawn.

A to Z Challenge: S is for Slashing (Damage Types)

First post on Damage Types (Impact) is over here.

Continuing with damage types today I'm going to talk about slashing weapons.  A slashing weapon inflicts damage by moving the length of the blade in a cutting motion down the side of, well, whatever it is you're cutting. This can range from long gashes if you get the majority of the blade to cut to something as small as a little nick.  The actual cutting motion depends on the type of sword (curvature & weight distribution).  If you've spent enough time cutting onions you know there are plenty of ways to dice it and with different motions.  The same applies to heavier knives and swords.  The Khukuri for example is meant for a downward chopping motion followed by a cutting motion, a brute force weapon.  Compare this to the Scimitar, Shamshir or Talwar and you have a slender curved blade well made for slicing motions while on horseback as well as for quick slashes and flicks of the wrist while on foot.  While the methods of slashing may be different they all have one general outcome, to cause a lot of damage over a large surface area.  They also share the same weakness, they need to be able to cut through the surface.

A slashing weapon increases wounds dealt equal to its slashing rating on a critical hit or against lightly or unarmored targets.

Most light armor only cover the vitals (torso, possibly arm guards or shoulder guards) so for the most part a lot of skin is exposed, perfect for a razor sharp edge.  The critical hit clause is meant to represent when you have the perfectly aligned strike poised to hit their vitals and any seams or vulnerabilities in their armor.  So as we saw before, Impact weapons are very good at beating on armored foes, slashing weapons are quite adept at taking on lightly and unarmored foes.  Turning your average sword into a deadly weapon against the poorly equipped.

A to Z Challenge: R is for Rocket Propelled Lances

Valkyria Chronicles may be the first place I ever encountered the idea of a projectile lance.  I think it is an excellent idea.  Valkyria Chronicles (VC) came out early on in the PS3 lifecycle, it took a new look at conventional strategy games and tried merging a few of the better parts of turn based and real time strategy to a decent success.  Aside from the gorgeous art style (simulated watercolor motion picture) what really stood out to me were the knights armed with lances facing off against tanks, little did I know these lances could be fired like rockets.

It isn't known exactly what powers these absurd weapons but judging from the emissions it is either a chemical trail like a rocket or even a huge burst of steam.  I'm not willing to count out Ragnite either, the all-purpose energy-resource macguffin of the VC universe.  Still I think rocketing lances as a siege weapon, either for destruction or for sending up chains, would be an excellent addition to any game dancing with steampunk elements.

A to Z Challenge: Q is for Quirks

Quirks are a fun way to spice up your character's personality.  I'm not talking nervous tick or speaks in rhymes, I'm talking about the everyday idiosyncrasies we all possess and those little hidden talents that you may never know what might show up.  Here's a quick list of 50 quirks, feel free to brainstorm some and add your own.

To determine randomly, roll a d6, this determines the tens spot (a roll of 6 is treated as 0).  Then roll a d10 to determine the ones value.  For example a roll of 3 and 7, gives a result of 37.

A to Z Challenge: P is for Peryton

Peryton by Una Woodruff in the book Inventorum Natura

I'm pressed for time so today will be a short post.

The Peryton is one of my favorite D&D monsters yet it is so often underused.  To me the Peryton makes for an excellent random encounter in the wilderness for two main reasons.  First off, many animals in fantasy are portrayed as benevolent majestic creatures, the Peryton of course is not but your players likely don't know that.  Secondly, Perytons are a great alternative to the Griffin and a perfect lead-in to "Mad scientist is splicing together animals in woods" if you're avoiding Perytons as strange elder beasts mythology.

For the first reason let's explore why these guys are great for a random encounter.  Your players likely don't know about these obscure creature as they aren't very prominent in D&D or common cultural mythology.  It has the body of a deer and the wings of a bird, not too frightening.  If anything it might appear inviting for any would be naive druids.  Contrast that with the Griffin who has the body of a lion and the head of an eagle, quite a vicious beast.  So your players will more than likely approach this creature out of curiosity or friendship.  Unfortunately for them, Perytons crave human hearts.  Rather than play them conventionally, using trickery regarding there human shadows, I think it'd be best to have the Peryton appear docile until it is ready to strike and carry off it's prey (a straggler.)  Now your players will have a newfound wariness of woodland creatures and you just got another excuse to throw a weird magical beast into your game of sword and sorcery.  Hurrah!

A to Z Challenge, O is for Origin

Nausicaä and the Valley of the Wind

Today I'm going to talk about Origins.  An Origin fulfill three major rolls, first it tells everyone where you're from.  Second, it tells everyone what you used to do before you assumed the adventuring mantle and it gives an idea of what hidden talents you bring to the table.  Lastly, your Origin determines which element you have forged the strongest connection.

A to Z Challenge: N is for NPC Classes

A Noble's Land by Emily Fiegenschuh

NPC classes are a mixed bag.  Some people prefer that anyone of importance be statted up with actual class levels, meaning that noble lord is actually a Fighter 4.  Others enjoy NPC classes as it makes player characters a cut above the average soldier and spell slinger.  The 3rd edition DMG for me, and possibly many, was when I first began to consider the rammifications of NPC classes.  By assigning weaker levels you ensure that some people have more than a d6 (well d4 for a commoner) of HP, meaning your scheming noble might actually survive the arrow from the impatient player.  Their bad attack bonuses meant they were pretty lousy in a fight and if used consistently it meant the Fighter classes with their full BAB could see just how much more skilled they were (although they would still have their ego crushed by spell casters in double digit levels).  A few people advocated giving each character a 0-Level NPC class to represent who they were before they took up the adventuring mantle.  Not a bad idea but the NPC classes weren't particularly balanced (or meant to be) so your options boiled down to extra attack bonus, piles of gold, or even more skills, or the woeful commoner.  Although I once had a DM that would only allow Spellfire if you played as a commoner.

A to Z Challenge: Magical Mishaps (Haste)

Samurai Jack by Genndy Tartakovsky

One of my favorite things about Vancian magic is the way a spell can irrevocably backfire on its caster, in the case of Cugel this was more poetic justice than anything.  The way I've been modeling Vancian Spells Redux is to have a backfire built into individual spells.  Some will do the opposite of what you want, others will will do something similar to what you intended but may loop you into another adventure (such as the Sleepwalker / Dreamwalker divide).  Others are simply silly and based around the double entendre in the spells name.  The "Unexpected Sorcerous Slug" for example, allows the caster to suckerpunch an attacker with an invisible and extendible phantom limb.  If the spell backfires the caster is transformed into a giant slug for the rest of the day.  Talk about results!

Today though I want to talk about how GM's and Judge's can get creative with magical mishaps.  Going beyond what's hardcoded in the rules text.  Today we're going to talk about Haste.  A spell that has varied much over the years but whose basic premise is the caster moves faster and acts faster.  In this case we are going to assume that a Haste spells allows the user to move more quickly through time, a temporal spell.  You'll see why this is important in a little bit.

A to Z Challenge, L is for Lesser Spells (Vancian Redux)

A good ways back I put together a compilation of suggestions for a reworking of Vancian magic and how I would attempt to accomplish those suggestions.  A bit later I posted a trio of vancian inspired spells and

These three will also be lesser spells, in my Vancian redux spells are categorized as either Lesser or Formidable.  Lesser spells generally have incredibly specific purposes to suit the enterprising young magician willing to solve all their mundane problems with a rhyme and a gesture.  Last time I focused on Spells named after famous magicians with varied usage.  This time I'll be posting spells with very, very specific usages.  I've been up since well before the sun rose so I'll be keeping the descriptions very brief.

A to Z Challenge: K is for Kinesis

Adept by JasonEngle

As I may have alluded to in my hastily drawn up posts on Catalysts I treat magic and elementalism a bit differently in my games.   Traditionally in the D&D / Vance spellcasting ethos elemental effects and spells were completely intertwined.  One did not throw fire at someone, they hastily recounted some arcane syllables and sent a tiny mote of fire to explode in a luminous sphere off in the distance.  Elements precipitated from magic.  What I would like to try is elementalism for its own sake without need of a spellcasting prerequisite.

A to Z Challenge, J is for Justicar

In the early 2000s Wizards of the Coast launched a series of Greyhawk novels each centered around the classic modules including but not limited to: Against the Giants, The Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands, & The Tomb of Horrors.  This was right around the time the Drizzt books were taking their adventures onto a grander scale with soaring popularity.  If I had to guess these novels were about bringing Greyhawk lovers into the fold of third edition.  There were also the "Return to" series of revisited Greyhawk modules during Greyhawk's 25th anniversary in 1999 so this was a pretty broad net to capture players who started with older products and it certainly worked for me.

Among the series of Greyhawk books there were three in particular that were my favorites:  White Plume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and Queen of the Demonweb Pits.  Each of these starring the principal character Justicar the grim anti-hero and Escalla the capricious and vain pixie.  Its been a number of years since I've read them but I plan on doing a reread soon.  I recommend them on their merit alone although I can't say how closely they stick to the modules that is their namesake.

A to Z Challenge, I is for Impact (Damage Types)

Today I'm going to talk a bit about damage types, a tragically underutilized section of 3.X D&D and beyond.  If you're not familiar with damage types or with 3rd edition, there are typically three types that have remained constant over the years (and popped up occasionally in earlier editions like with the piercing immunities of your average menacing skeleton) which were Piercing, Slashing, and Bludgeoning.  All of which were pretty self-explanatory.  There was a lot of potential here, different weapons exist for a reason, primarily to impart their damage (force) in different methods.  Those methods adapted with the times, culture (fighting styles) and with the changes in armor.  There were a few occasions where damage type popped up, one of the Complete books allowed you to purchase Armor enhancements that gave you damage reduction vs a specific damage type and occasionally a monster might be resistant to all damages types but one.  The aforementioned skeleton would be resistant to all non-bludgeoning damage.  This was all mostly an afterthought though.  While D&D is well known for its abstract combat I can't help but feel damage types were an after thought.  So I've decided to do a little something with them without getting too gritty.

A to Z Challenge, H is for Homard

Today will be another monster post.  Homard is french for Lobster and I'm of the opinion that Lobsters are an extremely underutilized in D&D's monster ecology.  Lobsters have giant claws, can escape quickly and most interestingly:

Longevity

(. . .) It has been argued that lobsters may exhibit negligible senescence and some scientists have claimed that they could effectively live indefinitely, barring injury, disease, capture, etc.[12] Their longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster was caught in Nova Scotia, Canada, and weighed 20.15 kilograms (44.4 lb).  --Wikipedia