Feb 8 Session Report

Linwe (Mary's Elf 2) and Macheon (my Cleric 1) make their way to the old goblin temple, cutting through thick overgrowth (which was magically enhanced by the elves to bury the temple so it would be lost), tracking the spiders to their lair. They investigate the top of the old goblin temple, attacked by five stirges. Macheon is knocked unconscious in the fight, and (after defeating the stirges and finding a gemstone in their nest), Linwe retreats to a tree hammock she makes where she and Macheon can rest.

Within a few hours, a small spider leaves the temple (coming up through the altar at its peak, after activating the device) and immediately picks up their trail. After a short battle, Linwe defeats the spider and hides its body.

In the middle of the night, a scout party of twelve goblins arrives to re-claim the temple, and they use fresh blood to activate the altar, opening a secret door inside. Seeing how the entrance works, Linwe uses blood from the spider to activate the altar a few hours later (after she and Macheon fully recover) and they descend. They find the secret door off of the entry, and the signs of a battle between goblins and a spider, which they killed. In the spider’s web, they find the remains of a gnome and a scroll case with mirror image inside. In the next chamber, they find 4 dead goblins and 2 dead spiders, the scene of another battle between these forces.

Investigating further, they come upon a ransacked barracks once held by goblins. Linwe discovers a hiding spot beneath a stone, and recovers a bag with 100 silver coins and a potion of healing.

On the next level, they come across three spiders that have backed the eight remaining goblins into a tomb to the temple’s shaman. They fight the spiders, and the goblins (seeing their opportunity) jump into the fight. After a three-way battle, Macheon is again unconscious, Linwe hurt (but not as bad as she could be after using the healing potion) and only two goblins live, quickly surrendering after the final spider falls.

They spend a day and a half recovering within the burial chamber of the shaman, at the foot of his sarcophagus (which freaks the goblins out to no end…). Once they recover, they open the sarcophagus to fight a wight, which they manage to defeat using magic missile and a magical spear they find within its sarcophagus. After this victory, they return to the elves to report on what they have found, purchase new gear, and turn over their prisoners.

All in all, a successful session! Macheon (my level 1 cleric) is well on his way to level 2 (now having 277 xp) while Linwe will be level 2 for some time (since she has 4387 towards the 8000 she needs for level 3). She started at level 2, and did the first few encounters solo, so she's a bit ahead of the young cleric who accompanies her.

Play Testing Notes:

- Experience progression is slow (which is by design), and they are earning money at a relatively slow pace; both characters were able to upgrade to scale armor (+5) which is better than chain but not quite plate mail. That's pretty good for only 1/4 of the way through level 1. 

- So far, the treasure tables I've worked out have yielded reasonable results. Mary rolled really well for a level 3 treasure, and ended up with a spear +1 that was buried with the corpse of the goblin shaman (who was now a wight). She dug the spear out of his sarcophagus while Macheon used his turn undead ability to drive the creature backwards, so I gave the monster an instant upgrade from a ghoul since they now had a +1 weapon with which to attack it...

- I am playing with level drain, and for the time being at least am allowing a save vs. level drain. I don't want to nerf the game, but level drain is a bit out of balance as written....

- One of the rules for the second book is a Fate mechanic. Here's how it's play testing right now; you get d4 fate points each level, and you also can earn fate for significant achievements. You can use a fate point to either take the maximum result on a die, or to add d6 to a die (I'm toying with both options right now). I don't know what the final rule is going to be, but we'll keep playing with it.

About Ambition

As my notes begin to come together for Saga of the Splintered Realm, I start to see the scope and scale of this project begin to emerge.

If it happens as I see it, this is going to be - by a wide, wide margin - the biggest thing I've ever done. I've already discussed how I see this as three core books, but let me re-iterate:

- Core Rules ('vanilla' game with no default setting; flexible and generic). For this rulebook, I'm continuing with the basic premise of: if I was the designer for the next edition of the world's greatest RPG, what would I do? I'm assuming for now that I have an unlimited budget (which I don't) and unlimited time (which I don't). However, I am in no particular rush to get this thing done.

- Setting Book. This would take the 10-15 page treatments that I have done of the Splintered Realm and explode it by x10. I'd profile major NPCs, outline major regions and communities, and provide a more thorough history of the whole place. This would also have an expanded bestiary and expanded spell lists as well as unique relics and artifacts of the Splintered Realm.

- Megadungeon Book. This would outline the history of the goblins of the Splintered Realm, and discuss their dungeon-building shenanigans. The idea is that there is 'one dungeon to rule them all', and it does (quite literally). This would also be a GM toolkit/dungeon-design guide.

However...

- I also have an unfinished draft of a novel set in the Splintered Realm... and all of a sudden, some of the holes in the book (and primary reasons I never finished it) have filled themselves in. I can see maybe why I never finished it, but now I might just be ready to.

- I have ideas for an immortals expansion (rise of the demigods) that could either become part of the setting book, or could be a book unto itself.

The initial idea is that each of the three books (four including the novel) would be on the order of 128+ pages, with additional pages based on how well the KS for this backs (and this is totally going to be a KS - maybe as early as this summer. We'll have to see how much progress I make over the next few months). I could see these expanding (in fact, I hope that they do!) to 160 pages each (my sweet spot for trade paperbacks).

If I'm going to actually do this thing on the scale I imagine, I might need to enlist some professional artists. My business model has been to only spend money towards my projects that I make from projects - this would mean that artists would have to be included as stretch goals. I need to set some reasonable expectations for how this happens, but it would be fantastic to get some original art by some of my favorite classic OSR artists into the project. I mean, if I'm the lead designer on the next edition of this game, then I'm also hand-picking some of the greatest artists of all time (am I right, or am I right?) I'd have to set an art budget and keep to it, but it would be SO worth it. I'll be generating the vast majority of the art on my own, but I can supplement this with key pieces by notable artists.

How Consolidated is TOO consolidated?

So in my last post, I alluded to how I was consolidating all of my 'thief-type' abilities (move silently and hide in shadows) into one 'sneak' ability. Today, I was messing around with 'hear noise' and 'spot', and realized that these are the opposite of the two thief abilities, and could likewise be consolidated into 'sense'.

I DON'T want to get into contested rolls, but I'm fine with the 'passive' ability affecting the 'active' ability. For instance, as a thief you have sneak equal to your level +2. A stoutling gets an automatic +4 to sneak. Let's put it up to the Bilbo test...

Bilbo has sneak +4 as a racial ability, and the one ring grants invisibility +15, giving him +19 to sneak in ordinary circumstances. Unfortunately, sneaking into the abode of Smaug isn't ordinary circumstances. Smaug, as an 11 HD dragon, has sense +11 (I'm giving dragons sense = to their HD; simple math that makes sense to me). Bilbo's +19 has now been reduced to +8, and adds are good that - even though Smaug cannot see him, he's still going to know he's there.

I am tempted to only give this bonus while the dragon is in its lair (since Smaug scours the mountain looking for the dwarves and cannot find them). It seems reasonable that a dragon is always +2 to sense, but gets its HD bonus instead when in its lair. This keeps me away from any sorts of contested rolls or 'you succeeded with your sneak but he succeeded with his sense, so now we see the margin of blah blah blah...'.

Is this too much combining of abilities? It feels right to me, but what do I know?

Unifying Mechanics and Assorted Goodness - the power of the d20

In thinking about a unified mechanic, I'm swinging away from roll low (my initial thought) and towards roll high for almost everything (except ability checks). In almost every instance, the target for the roll/check would be 20... here are some examples:

A thief gets a bonus to 'sneak' (what I'm calling the unified ability for move silent, hide in shadows, and assorted similar abilities) equal to level +2. A level 10 thief rolls d20 +12 (target 20) to sneak successfully. Boots of elvenkind or a cloak of elvenkind give +10 to sneak (and the two together give +15). A stoutling (re-skinned halfling) gets +6 to sneak while outdoors (but it never improves). 

A thief also gets a bonus to 'spot' (the unified ability to find secret doors, traps, hidden objects, etc.) equal to level +2. A level 7 thief rolls d20 +9 (target 20) to spot a secret door or a trap. Elves get a bonus of +4 to spot while outdoors; dwarves get +4 to spot while underground.

A cleric rolls d20 to turn undead, added his/her wisdom modifier as a base. The target starts as 10 for an undead of the same level as the cleric. For each level (HD) difference between the cleric and undead, the target moves by 3; a cleric 5 attempting to turn a 7 HD vampire needs a 16 or better to turn.

I am leaning towards take the suggestion of +Aaron Day to tie all saving throws to your prime requisite. At first I wasn't big on this, but the more I think about it the more I like it. The fighter uses his great strength to hold up his shield against the dragon breath, fight off the mind control, shake off the poison effect, and even to smack away a fireball with his two-handed sword. It's got a great epic feel to it. The magic user wields his powerful intellect to know exactly where to pinch his arm to stop the poison from getting into his bloodstream, he knows exactly how to inhale to minimize the impact of the poison gas, and he correctly determines how to avert his gaze to prevent the basilisk from turning him to stone.

 

Let's Talk of Levels

One of my goals throughout is to eliminate - or at least reduce- what I perceive as a bloat that has affected the game over time. If you look at the AD+D 1E Deities and Demigods (which I foolishly e-bayed a few years ago during a purge that I'm beginning to regret...) you'll notice (if memory serves) that the gods aren't all that impressive. Even the most powerful deities are in the low 20s as far as levels go.

I remember absolutely loving the idea that heroes in the Dragonlance setting (which didn't do a lot for me otherwise, but which I remember mostly for this element) was that characters were limited to level 15 as a punishment for hubris. I love this, and the idea that the B/X books terminate at level 14 fits perfectly for me.

Discussions of characters from fiction (especially conversations about Lord of the Rings) tend to come back to the idea that many of the great heroes aren't all that impressive level wise. Aragorn might only be level 8 or so. Gandalf could be built as a level 5 magic user if you really pushed it.

The fact that the demi-humans have hard caps that are relatively low (halflings can only get to level 8?) seem especially harsh when humans can get to level 36. That poor halfling is going to spend some 20+ levels sitting around watching others advance while he sits mired in what is, by contrast, the starting gate.

If humans cap at 14, then a dwarf getting to 12 or elf getting to 10 doesn't seem quite so bad anymore. Sure, they can't go as far as a human can - but they can get pretty close.

It re-frames the whole psychology of level advancement. One of (what I see as) the big errors that 4E made (from what little I know of it) is looking at levels 1-10 as the 'starter' levels, where you don't really get going to until level 11. That's just crazy to me. You don't need to conflate the leveling process and speed up experience (as Tenkar discussed with his readers at some length) if the leveling process caps out in the low teens. What's the hurry?

My instinct now is to leave the core rules relatively neutral on the whole issue of level caps. Can you go past level 14? Maybe... the rules won't tell you one way or the other. However, the setting book will make it clear that 14 is the cap progression for mortals in the Splintered Realm. After that, you are entering the realm of immortals, and that's VERY hard to do...

Skills and Some Thoughts: 

The other ancillary benefit to this is that it builds in a cap to progression of skills and abilities. Let's say (for instance) that your target for any 'skill check' is 20. At 20, you succeed. In most cases, you get to add your level and the ability modifier to your roll. As a level 3 magic user with Lore as a skill, you always roll d20 and add your INT modifier (let's say you have 18 INT, so +3) and your level (+3). d20 +6 to see if you find out this piece of lore, target 20. Odds are not good for you (you need a 14 or better), but then again, that's old school D+D, isn't it? You weren't guaranteed of much. If you're rolling, it's because it's difficult. Even if we say that all skills have a default bonus of +2, this increases your total modifier as a level 3 MU to +8, still giving you less than a 50% chance. Pushing this all the way to level 14, you now have +2 (base) +3 (INT) +14 (level) for a total modifier of +19. You only fail on a roll of 1 when checking for 'standard' lore (target 20) and even difficult lore (+4 to the target or target 24) would need a roll of 5 or better on the die. Then again, you are as smart and as experienced as you could possibly be.

I have to think more about this skill thing, but I like where it's headed...

Let's Talk of Saves and Rolling Low

A caveat as I begin a series on game design decisions: I have NOT read very much that's come out in support of D+D and its variations in the last decade; this means that I may unintentionally re-tread ground that someone else has already trod or make 'discoveries' that were a big deal five years ago, but I never heard about it. I'm going to read what people have written online about these things, but I'm not going out to buy 50 books to see how every designer has attacked these problems. It may be that I discover something that you've been doing for ten years, and it may be that I stumble across a new mousetrap. I'll take it for what it is.

(/disclaimer off)

I REALLY like the idea of one save to rule them all as introduced in Swords and Wizardry. I just think that idea is the bee's knees... however, there are a few other things that I have thought about regarding saves:

- B/X often has roll low as a way to find success. The rules don't specifically have ability checks anywhere in the game, but I think a lot of people house rule this, and it seems like a very intuitive way to go for the core rules. You don't need a specific way to resolve forcing open doors; forcing open doors requires a strength check (roll equal to or less than your strength). That modifier of up to +4/-4 really gives you a ton of variety. If it's a strong door, take -4 to your strength for this door; if it's particularly easy, take +4 to your strength. (1 always succeeds, 20 always fails). Simple enough. I want to keep roll low for success wherever and whenever possible to keep this as a unifying mechanic.

Saving throws then work the same way. Your save is based on your class and level, and you want to roll below your save rating. Easy peasy.

However, I like some variety in saves, and one of my favorite changes from 3E (other than ascending AC, which I'm definitely using) is three saves. These were more intuitive than the 5 saves from classic D+D, but kept some variety. However, you can keep the same variety without adding any mechanical bloat (and without creating the wide variations in saves that you would see in high-level 3E). If you tie saves to three different abilities (Wisdom, Dexterity and Constitution), you can port over the 3E saves and tie the base bonus to your ability modifier. For example, as a level 7 cleric (giving you a base Save of 9) with WIS 18 (+3 modifier), DEX 7 (-1 modifier), and CON 13 (+1 modifier), you would make a WIS Save with a roll of 1-12 on d20, a DEX Save with a roll of 1-8 on d20, and a CON Save with a roll of 1-10 on d20. This creates some variety (potentially, unless you have the same bonus/penalty in all three abilities) while keeping the math simple (you still have only one save number to write down). This keeps the Armor Class concept of 'a higher rating is better', because it never made sense to me that a lower saving throw number was better. Since you already have to accept that rolling low for ability checks is good, you can accept that rolling low for a saving throw is good. Poison and Death Ray become CON saves, Dragon Breath becomes a DEX save, and Magic/ Rods/Staffs/Wands become WIS saves. A monster from 1982 that forces a save vs. Death Ray now forces a CON save. Conversion is done.

This is the kind of thing I'm aiming for - a simple, intuitive fix that maintains variety and flavor, and which maintains ties to classic editions of the game.

Sing To Me Of The Splintered Realm

This blog post's title has been echoing in my head for about a week. I’m not sure if it’s an invocation to the muse (Homer style), or the first line of a novel, or the preface to a game. Whatever it is, I can’t stop thinking about it.

I alluded in my last post to an OSR design I have been thinking about, and tonight Mary and I did our first ‘official’ play test of the new game system, so I’m ready to talk about it…

First, some back story. A few weeks ago, one of my students asked about classic D+D, and wanted me to tell him about it, since he knew I was a gamer, and he’d heard about it. He wanted to know about 3.5, but I talked him down, and I ended up bringing in my 1983 basic red books and demonstrating a few brief scenarios for him so he’d get a handle on how it works, and I think he quickly grew enamored of the game.

Of course, so did I. I forgot so much about Basic D+D, since I literally haven’t played that version of the game in nearly 20 years, and I have not played D+D in any form in about a decade, spending all of that time playing and developing my own systems.

After only two short sessions (we would play during lunch), I started to find rules that bothered me, and we started to run into inconsistencies (if I can surprise on 1-4 on d6, but I’m sneaking up on a creature only surprised on 1 on d6, how do we resolve that?) and wonky mechanics (why do monsters roll d6 to sneak up on things, but thieves roll percentiles?). And, I started upon the slippery slope of developing a handful of house rules. Then I went back and pulled out all of my old notes (and I have TONS of old notes) from when I was running D+D in the past, and started to dust off my old house rules. Then I went and read through Labyrinth Lord and Swords and Wizardry, and borrowed a few things from here, cobbling a few things from there.

And then the bug bit. The OGL taunted me, beckoning me to dip my toes into the water.

Oh, OGL, you cruel mistress.

Then I started to play ‘what if’? What if I was the lead designer on D+D Next? What if my only caveat was that I was to use the 1981/1983 B/X rules as my primary inspiration, but could draw upon anything that has ever been D+D for further inspiration? What if I was to design the game in the way that the game was introduced to me: through the core rules, the World of Greyhawk, and Keep on the Borderlands?

So… my tentative project was born. In my imagination right now, it looks like three books. Although classic D+D has the 8 ½ x 11 letter-sized volumes, I have grown enamored of the 6x9 trade paperback, and I absolutely love my HC Army Ants core rulebook. To my mind, the 160-page trade paperback and/or hardcover is the perfect synthesis of ‘full game’ and ‘I can manage this’. I look at something like Pathfinder, and I’m overwhelmed. I look at B/X and I say ‘now this is a game!’ The final product might be something like:

- Core Rules. A re-mix (not a retro-clone, because the goal is to streamline, unify and modernize mechanics from B/X while keeping the flavor and intent intact). This would retain the ‘general fantasy world’ vibe of B/X, along with general fantasy monsters and general fantasy spells. Nothing new or amazing here – just a streamlined and unified version of B/X with a slew of modern sensibilities layered in. And yes, race is still a class.

- World Book. A re-mix of World of Greyhawk (that awesome boxed set with the two-poster map) and the original Forgotten Realms book (similar vibe). These two books painted the world in broad strokes, but created a vast playing environment. This book would include a whole bunch of race and class options that are non-standard, including such things as gnomes as a playable racial class and a series of sub-classes for each class. For example, an arcane archer might be a sub-class of elf that uses his magic to (among other things) improve his archery skills. This would have more specific monsters and magic for the Splintered Realm itself.

- Campaign Book/Megadungeon. A close lens on a starter setting (a la Keep on the Borderlands) with the megadungeon it sits on top of, the region nearby, and a whole bunch of advice on the logistics of actually running the game.

At minimum, I see the core rules at 128 pages, and the world book/campaign book/megadungeon as a second book at 128 pages. Depending on how this project grows, I could see it stretching to the point where it becomes three books each in the neighborhood of 160 pages (my ideal), but that’s a rather big goal. This becomes my big project for the next year or two (while still producing Army Ants adventure journals with some regularity, and keeping the weekly webcomic going).

The working title for this project: Saga of the Splintered Realm.

Hey, I figure the blog name already sets me up for this… no need to re-brand or launch a new blog, right?