Return to Civilized Life and Progress Report

The last few months have flown by.  It started with a relocation cross country trip from East to West Coast, catching a flight overseas then eventually making it back to California for additional schooling.  Now that I've just gotten back from a field exercise in the Southern Californian brushland I am ecstatic to once again have running water, three square meals a day and a nice rack to sleep in.  It also means I have more time for my personal life and projects, not to mention a semi-reliable internet connection while I continue my hotel living on temporary duty assignment.

Where I last left off I mentioned I had been working on a book.  Well I have been for quite some time now; this rules system has taken one shape or another for many years now, each new revision building off the last.  I'd say my initial encounter with the Old School Renaissance (OSR), years back is what influenced me the most.  From that day forward my goal was to drop the exceptional mechanical complexity and to keep it sweet and simple, letting the theater of the mind fill in the form work laid by basic but elegant rules.  Don't get me wrong, this still has plenty more fiddly bits than Holmes basic but each mechanic has been hit by Occam's razor on numerous occasions.

Currently, playtesting is focusing on finding glitches in the system and unanswered questions.  For instance, Ranged weapons fire at the start of initiative so a recent question was whether or not thrown weapons or an elemental blast falls under that clause.  We'll experiment a few more times before we come up with a hard answer.  After a few more cycles of this I'll start working out how I will handle open playtesting.  Initial batches of art have been commissioned and procured but I'd like to have a hell of a lot more so we'll see where the budget falls soon enough.

Below you'll find the basic outline of the book, its contents, and an approximate percentage of how complete it is.

Avatars & Annihilation Playtest: Forest of Plenty Adventure Setup

For me, one of the biggest attractions to the OSR was the wealth and reliance of random tables.  In my mind, part of the fun in running a game is figuring out how the absurd things you roll up fit into the adventure thus far.  As I eagerly await my hardcover of the Dungeon Dozen's release I constructed a few quick and dirty tables of my own as the party goes on their wayward expedition Chasing the Comet.

Between writing this draft this morning and publishing this joyfully arrived

Now for the meat of things.  Wilderness Encounters in Abjool's Forest, nicknamed the Forest of Plenty by the locals. The forest was full of wild game, brightly plumed birds, rare mushrooms and truffles. The truffles however, have caused a few bands of POrks (slang for pig orcs) to move in and some local farmers would be more than happy if they got rid of them.

POrks

While journeying through the presumably cakewalk forest each day the GM rolls two six sided dice and chooses one to determine results.  The party has seven days worth of supplies.  Each day the party stays in the forest add +1 to the roll, if they receive assistance from the SnobGoblins add another +1 and if any of the StarTouched (Probably Insane) party members ascend on high and glimpse the Stars (and the residual comet tail) add another +1.  The adventure hits the next focal point whenever any die reaches a 9+.

Proficiencies: Baldur's Gate

When I first started this I never expected I'd make it to 100 posts (and I passed it a while ago).  I started this blog as a way to bounce ideas around, to get a better idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to implement them.  Plus, I needed to start writing again because if I wanted to put together a book I better return to my eloquent ways.  That said this is a post I've been working on for a while.

Dark Souls: Sin and Punishment

To cap off this series I want to examine something that has been cropping up in the electronic medium for many years but has been a core aspect of tabletop RPG's since their inception.  Player agency as determined by choices and consequences, or in Dark Souls' case: Sin and Punishment.

Temple of Elemental Evil: Recap 2.5 TPK Vengeance

Brace yourself this will be the longest recap yet for quite an exciting session.  The PC's tested their luck one time too many and death was in hot pursuit.

Large Fire Elemental by Julie Guthrie

We resumed our elemental gallivanting with all players in tow.  We picked up after the eerie green wind ghost was put to rest but before the player's could catch their breath another green glow lit the room. Fortunately this time it was their longtime companion Drake Phoenixbreath back from the dead.  His flames had become corrupted through his cycling demise at the hands of his former partner Nigel in the Fire Temples Alter.  His self-sacrifice on the Salamander altar pushed him over the edge and now his phoenix flames burned an eerie green (the player opted for a Low Essence of Hi/Lo fame which alters his personal element and Origin of Fire.).  Reunited once more the players decided what to do, princess Tilahi after hearing of her beloved Prince last seen on level 3 of this elemental hell-hole was dedicated to pressing onward rather than escaping.  With poem in hand the players thought it best they start rounding up elemental gems (in the original module the gems are all stored in nodes but throughout this campaign they have already been reclaimed or found).  They headed towards the fire temple who they knew were in possession of the fire gem and as an added bonus Nigel would be there and in possession of the Water gem which he had used to devastating effect on the party earlier.  In addition, Romaag High Priest of the Earth Temple sent them on a mission to kill two high ranking fire cultists who were stealing his followers; after he found out about the Salamander incident he instructed them to kill the High Priest of Fire Alvarnon as well.

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 28: Future Characters

A designer at heart I don't think of playing a new character so to speak but in the future but whenever I see a new class or game system I am excited to give the class or archetype a try.  Rather than try to find a class to fit my concept I prefer to find a class and build a character concept around it.  Playing a new class is getting a chance to try another creative expression the designer advocated in their system and playing it is the best way to appreciate the strengths and flaws in their design.  It is also the best way to learn to improve upon your own design.  So I'll list a few classes that have piqued my interest but I have not gotten around to playing because nearly all my time is spent behind the screen.

OSR Retroclone
Labyrinth Lord AEC

Monk, just the simple fact that the monk can be quite capable with a melee weapon as he can be with his fists is very appealing to me.  As an avid lover of kungfu flicks I've never actually played a martial-artist but this particular rendition of the Monk would be where I start.  Out of all the editions this is my favorite version of the monk.

Of course the next OSR game I run will likely include Dyson's d12 Subclasses

Dark Souls: Spells and Atunement

This is where Dark Souls presents a very elegant solution to the 5 minute work day while still preserving the feel of Vancian magic.  Spells are attuned to slots, some spells are quite powerful and require 2 slots which is consistent with the description set by Mazirian and Turjan.  The number of slots you can hold is dictated by your attunement stat, a stat that exists purely for more slots and thus more chances to cast spells, it is a replacement for MP that its predecessor and a number of other games have used.  It should be noted that attunement slots can be used for any combination of sorceries (arcane), miracles (divine), or pyromancy (once more fire is given its own special place in the game). 

30 Days of D&D Challenge Day 7: Favorite Edition

This is certainly a tough one, I started off with OD&D but missed most of the fun bits, races as class especially.  I spent most of my youth playing AD&D and has a fun romp of campaigns but I felt the rules were rather restrictive, although I was one player that didn't mind tithing.

Dark Souls: Recovery and Exploration

One thing I particularly enjoy about Dark & Demon's Souls is that they are under no obligation to explain how being impaled only lowers your HP by so much.  The characters are already dead, either as phantoms, hollow zombies or soulless bodies so physical punishment and pain are negligible.  That said I particularly like how Dark Souls handled healing and ditched the clumsy method in Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls allowed you to heal by eating various kinds of lunar grass, each restoring a larger swath of HP.  Grazing took a very long time so doing so in combat could easily leave you open for some prime-time-skewering.  Grass was often hard to find early on but in some levels where delicious moon grass was overflowing you got to the point where your character could be permanently stocked and at full HP whenever he finishes a skirmish.  Sound familiar?  Sounds like a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (CLW) with plentiful charges to me.  The 4th edition of the worlds most popular roleplaying game decided to get around this by giving out personal healing surges (which also set a cap on how many potions one could quaff) and an extended rest that fully healed everyone.  In addition it introduced a milestone system that encouraged you to press on rather than full healing after every fight creating a 5 minute adventuring day.  Rife with flaws it did try to address the problem.  Dark Souls does this one better.  Allow me to explain.

Temple of Elemental Evil Campaign Recap 2.4

Snake sightings in every session so far.  Time to pretend these random encounters was foreshadowing all along

One of my players was running a 5k to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, and had I not been injured at the time so would I.  Fortunately, that player's character was still a pile of ash so we were able to continue the adventure with no hand-waving required.  We picked back up in the water temple passageway, the players had just achieved 5th level and were deciding what to do.  They were sent to take care of two junior fire temple priests but the way back was filled with vengeful Salamanders that neither of them wished to tussle with. 

Returning to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Campaign Recap # 2.3)

My final player made an appearance for the first time this session so we opened with his introductory scene.  Betrayed again by his one time friend Nigel, he was drowned and knocked unconscious and brought to the temple along with Bronan the Barbarian.  There they parted ways with Bronan moving to the Earth Temple and Drake moving to the Fire temple (this was based on their favored element chosen at character creation).

Drake awoke in a large entirely brass ornate goblet, big enough to fill a giant's thirst.  The chalice rested on a jet black alter in a well lit room, with saucers brimming with fire lining a red carpet walkway.  In between each pillar and flaming saucer were red robed and hooded fire cultists, their heads bowed in a slow rhythmic chant.  On either side of him were two fire archons, spirits of pure flame clad in black iron segmented armor wielding claymores poised to strike the poor sod stuck in the chalice.  Of course in front of him was none other than Nigel with a smug smile, hand crossbows at his belt as well as Drakes Whip and holding two staves.  One tipped with a blue gem that he had used previously to drown the two players, the other was the wind staff that Drake had found in his intro vignette and used to great effect on skeletons and gnolls alike throughout his career.

Remedying Action Hero Syndrome Part 3. Revelation

In this segment I'm going to talk about how I've been working with the party's Barbarian who takes great pride and pleasure in his continuing and intentional idiocy.  If you've been reading the Campaign Recaps for the Temple of Elemental Evil you may already be familiar with Bronan the Barbarian.  The surly Dwarf frequently gets himself in over his head (no pun intended) and has no expectation of getting himself pulled out of trouble.  It's not a death wish, just someone who wishes for a very comical series of hijinks.  A comedic guy myself I don't mind playing along but sometimes you need to reel them in.  I've accomplished this in two ways, a voice-of-reason scene recaps and in-game mechanics.  Disclaimer: This is and previous installments are not a one size-fits-all approach.  It merely works for me and you are welcome to use some of the philosophy behind this.

Reel em in, but don't pull so hard you break the line

Remedying Action Hero Syndrome Part 2

Last time I looked at possible causes for why the newer crop of players have wildly different mindsets than the grey bearded crowd.  A lot of it conjecture and anecdotal but if you get a chance take a look and see if any of it rings true.  This time I'd like to take a look at what I call remedying action hero syndrome.  What I often read on other OSR blogs is that the best way to show someone the way to play and old school game is to let them fall, let them die and eventually they'll learn their lesson.  Sure we instruct them to read Matt Finch's Primer first but for the most part we're letting them jump out the nest before their feathers have even come in so its not surprising when they fail miserably and often quit with negative perceptions of that style of play.  I'd like to explain how I try to handle things, through a much more gradual acclimation.

Remedying Action Hero Syndrome

A lot of trouble I've run into with players whose first introduction to the game is with third or fourth edition, or those that have never played before but were raised on a steady diet of single hero action adventure and RPGs on their console of choice.  In these particular games, and in fourth edition in particular player characters have a certain level of expected invulnerability.  These expectation continue in game design where a common assumption is that encounters should be matched to the power level of the players, that things should be fair.  Anyone playing an Old school or OSR game will know that is almost always never the case.

There's actually a good thread over on ENworld talking about expectations between tactical and strategic.  Mainly whether you treat combat as war or combat as sport.  In an old school game your goal is to get as many advantages as you can using resources through the gameworld.  In a newer edition (sport) you are assembling advantages through the rules-set and less emphasis is placed on accruing in-game advantages.  It's a long and very well thought out thread I suggest you check it out and it's successor.

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Session Recap #2.2

Art by pungang of Deviantart

The other part of the session dealt with the continuing misadventures of Bronan the Barbarian and his crew of 'sidekicks'.  While Maxmilian was busy with the lethal tea drinking samurai Bronan and company were busy being sapped over the head repeatedly.  When the surly Dwarf refused to yield his head was encased in a bubble of water while a well dressed man with a spider silk vest and slicked back hair leveled a staff tipped with a blue gem at him and admonished his henchman in the worst British accent you can think of.

Bronan awoke beneath a rock cairn pulsating with the slow rhythmic chanting of the earth cultists surrounding him.  His joints stiffened and his skin turned rock solid and grey, eventually he passed through the stone and emerged through the other side looking not unlike a statue.  He confronted the high priest Romaag who explained that Bronan was the first successful experiment creating a durable stone soldier.  All the others, he motioned to the statues surrounding the altar, were failures.  He promised Bronan power, riches and leadership if he joined the cause and sent him on a mission to find a giant snake (twist on the conventional quest he gives) and to prove the strength of his sorceries by showing Bronan just how resilient he now was.  Thus began the wanderings of Bronan.

Returning to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Session Recap #2.1)

The first session after a long hiatus was an overwhelming success.  All in all it was good to be back in the saddle again; getting a chance to test out the numerous concepts and system changes I've made since we last played a year ago.  Character (re)creation was estimated to take 10 minutes for the group but instead approached 25 minutes.  The most time was spent selecting optional stats (as to be expected) but a surprising amount was invested in choosing a profession, a fairly minor choice that determines what you are capable of depending on your background.  Skills without a cumbersome skill system if you will.  Two portions of character creation were omitted, they would easily take the most time to decide so I planned on introducing them later.  Better to get a stable test bed on the foundations before adding in additional variables.  Other than that the system was swift and simple, players acclimated to it quickly and it still had enough nuances to keep things interesting rather than overly-simplistic.  I mentioned to them at the end that in the spirit of hard core OD&D we would be eschewing class features.  If you want to be a spy then lie, cheat deceive, subvert, conceal and double cross, your barbarian should be brash, insulting, table flipping mug spilling, machismo roughneck with a penchant for blood boiling rages.  Pull that off and you'll see something resembling class features.

Dark Souls: Choice in Weapons

This time I'm going to look at choosing a weapon and how it is handled in Dark Souls.  The most basic thing to take a look at is whether or not you can wield it, that is do you meet or exceed the stat requirement?  As I mentioned before the Souls series is designed so that you can complete the game right from the get go and that is still true here.  Most straight swords required a decent but average mix of strength and dexterity, curved weapons require more dexterity while axes and hammers require more strength to heft properly.  For the most part almost all weapons can be wielded from the get go provided they fit the base stats your archetype gives you (your thief won't be wielding morning stars and your iron clad knight won't be firing any bows from the get go).  The only weapons that require stats beyond what is given at level 1 are the extremes:  the freakishly large swords, axes, and shields that require equally absurd strength requirements or the specialist katanas that require a good deal more Dex to make use of their Iai strike and elongated edge.

Dark Souls: Fantastic Vistas

As I emphasized in the previous post Dark Souls is an electronic game that most closely emulates the feel of old school D&D.  It is simple yet contains a great deal of depth, the more effort you put into learning to control it and understanding the inner workings of its world the more you will benefit and the easier you can progress.  As a longtime DM I find the idea of not just mechanics, but basic gameplay that motivates the players to become more engaged with handling their characters but most especially learning about the world you've created to be a very fascinating and coveted concept.  One way Dark Souls approaches this is simply the scenery and setting and the gorgeous vistas you can reach if you simply pay attention.

Dark Souls: Play Smarter (Play Cautiously)

Quote by Bruce Lee

Dark Souls makes no qualms about being a difficult game.  The world is dangerous and it wastes no time in telling you that.  It is a series where dying is a fact of life but also of gameplay.  You play either as a soul trapped within the Nexus beneath the confines of the Arch Demon ravaged world ala Demon's Souls.  Alternatively in Dark Souls you play as one cursed by undeath seeking to restore your humanity and rekindle the fire left in the world.  Dying is expected of you as it is deeply ingrained into these settings.  Those that die too often, that lose their humanity become hollow twisted versions of themselves, even NPCs can fall victim to this.  Death is not the end of the world.  Instead dying teaches you; it teaches you not to make that mistake again.  Should you possess the skill and the patience to return to where you perished you may reclaim all the souls (universal experience and monetary unit) and humanity (universal gameplay unit) that you had lost.  In this respect you are encouraged to keep playing, to get back to where you slipped up and start again without having starting anew.  Death does not impede progress, it makes you more prepared for what else awaits in your journey.  Death is the key to becoming great and fulfilling your destiny.  Death will force you to be smarter, and you will grow to be very cautious.

Swift Death from the upcoming Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls

Dark Souls: a game for the traditionalist, a game for the rising challenger, a game for the old school and a game for the new.  It is a game with a high bar of entry and an even steeper learning curve.  It is a game that turns away many but is deeply loved by a dedicated few.  It has turned heads for its old school resurgence and commitment to solid design and gameplay without the modern tactic of player handholding.  It makes no claims to be something that it is not, desiring only to be judged on its own merits.  It is a dungeon crawler and a world spanner, a game of survival and a game of frustration, a game of intricacy masked by bare simplicity.  It is also the cleanest adaptation of the spirit of Original D&D that has graced any console of the past; more so than TSR/SSI' offerings.  If you've got the time I'll try to explain why.