Marvel Multiverse RPG Random Character Generation

After spending the last couple of months exploring deeply through the Palladium Wilderness, our main protagonist side-trekked once again to the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game where he was found pondering random character generation...

... I hate "building" characters, so much so, that I'll spend hours/days creating a system that lets me generate them randomly.

Such is what I've done for the Marvel Multiverse game.

The tables are a mix of all the classic dice, though primarily percentiles and 3d6 -- the game's core mechanic.

First you roll your rank. There are different tables for how varied you want your power levels to be.

Then you roll your origin and occupation -- these give you your "tags" and "traits" as per the rules.

Then you roll your core stats depending on your rank. For example rank 2 looks like this:

    3-4:  0

    5-8:  1

  9-12:  2

13-15:  3

17-18:  4

The bell curve favors a number equal to your rank and these results tend to give you slightly higher abilities than your starting ability points would normally allow. Example, rank 2 gives you 10 ability points to spend with a ability cap of 5 (so you could have four abilities at 0 and two at 5, extreme but allowed). With 6 abilities (Melee, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic) rolling on the above table would average you a total of 12 (6 2s) not 10.

NOTE: Abilities in this game range from -3 to 9. Negative scores are very rare though. The "typical" person has 0 in all abilities (the game considers the average civilian to be rank 1, but they're really more akin to a rank 0). The way I figure, Marvel Multiverse abilities translate to the old FASERIP system as follows:

-3 -- Shift 0

-2 -- Feeble (2)

-1 -- Poor (4)

 0 -- Typical (6)

 1 -- Good (10)

 2 -- Excellent (20)

 3 -- Remarkable (30)

 4 -- Incredible (40)

 5 -- Amazing (50)

 6 -- Monstrous (75)

 7 -- Unearthly (100)

 8 -- Shift X (150)

 9 -- Shift Y (200)

Rank 2s are given 8 powers. 1 power equals 1 ability point and as per the rules you can mix and match these. Rank 2s total points are 18 (10 ability points + 8 powers). So if you spent 12 points rolling above, now you're only going to have 6 powers. I favor stronger abilities and fewer powers (this game gives A LOT of powers and this can be cumbersome for play -- not remembering what they all do (similar sounding names) and trying to decide which one you should use, although some are never "used" they are simply built in; permanent buffers, such as mighty 1-4 (super-strength that increases your damage multiplier).

NOTE: Not all powers are actual powers, many are basically just maneuvers; feats if you will.

In my random system, when rolling a power, you first roll to see which power set table to roll on, then you go to that table and roll for a power. If you roll a power that has prerequisites, you must take all of them. The one prerequisite I ignore is "rank". So, if you had 6 powers and the first one you roll has 2 prereqs, you must take all 3 and now you only have 3 powers left to roll for. If you don't have enough powers left to cover all of the prereqs, you work backwards to a lesser power that you can afford. Or, you can sacrifice some ability points to make room for more power slots.

You may continue rolling in that power set or roll randomly for a new power set table.

Here's a sample character I rolled up (and a character sheet I made; still tweaking...):

Whyspurr is rank 1.

Origin: Unknown (as opposed to hi-tech, mutant, alien, special training, etc.)

Occupation: Outsider (conveniently, this goes great with her origin)

Tags:

• Mysterious: The character has no idea why or how they have their powers.

Traits:

• Connections--Outsiders: Connections basically allow you to occasionally call in a favor. This one requires a clever explanation as she doesn't know how she has her powers, so who is she calling for favors???
• Fresh Eyes: You have an edge on logic checks when trying something for the first time.
• Stranger: You have "trouble" on checks trying to fit in locally.
• Sneaky: Others have "trouble" trying to spot you if you're hiding.

As a rank 1 character she gets 5 ability points and 4 powers; total value: 9. With my creation tables her abilities add up to 7 so she only gets 2 powers which is MINISCULE for this rpg's intentions, however having a 2 in both resilience and vigilance make her a very durable rank 1, in that her health and focus are both 60 (focus fuels some powers).

I rolled telepathy for her first power set and then cloak for the power. Cloak requires that you have telepathic link (basic telepathy) and that you are rank 2, but, I ignore rank prereqs. So those are her 2 powers. Cloak allows you to hide your presence from someone, but being rank 1 it's not that strong because of her low logic defense (target number: 10 on 3d6 + vigilance score) -- however, she has sneaky as trait which gives people "trouble" (disadvantage) trying to spot her, quite convenient!

So, she's a durable, sneaky telepathic in the most basic sense. Not a scrapper. The most damage she can hope to do is marvel die (d6) x1 +1, so 2-7, or double that on a "fantastic" success. That's... not a lot, but, that's rank 1 for you.

Now, with "building" in mind, would she be better off knocking a couple points off her abilities and grabbing 2 more powers? Maybe, because as she is, she can't do much except sneak around and communicate telepathically -- she'd make a great spy. However, she can sustain a decent amount of damage. 

When "building" heroes for this game, I would always put the most points into resilience and then vigilance. A rank 1 hero could, by-the-book, have the following build: 0,0,0,0,1,4, with the 4 in resilience that would give you 120 health, better than half the Marvel Universe! A clever selection of 4 powers and you've got quite a bad-ass rank 1 hero (except for damage, rank 1 damage is highly limited). Why wouldn't you do this every time? This is why I don't like "point-buy". 

But, let's roll up one more power for her just to see what would happen. Sticking with the telepathy power set, I rolled Mental Punch*, which lets you do focus damage on a melee attack instead of health damage. For this to be worth it, she needs a better melee score, so now I have to take away 2 points from her other stats, one for the power and one to add a point to melee. So I would drop vigilance and agility each down to 1. Now her melee attacks have a x2 multiplier (according to MY HOUSE RULE, not official rules; see below) and can affect health or focus.

*Psylocke's psi-blade is sort of like mental punch. Psylocke also has "telekinetic attack" which stuns as well as damages and can be done from a distance, so this one might in fact be her psi-blade. She also has flight (?). Seems Psylocke's powers have changed somewhat. Traditionally, her psi-blade severely stuns anyone she hits with it; it's a finishing move. These days she can manifest this as a bow and arrow, apparently.

*Another point -- all of the character profiles use these generic power descriptions, e.g., mental punch, telekinetic attack. The term psi-blade is not used anywhere on Psylocke's sheet.

Tying health to one stat might be a system flaw. You could go the FASERIP route and tie health to Melee, Agility, & Resilience, and tie focus to Vigilance, Ego, & Logic. (then x this total by 10). So, Whyspurr would have 50 health instead of 60 and 20 focus instead of 60. Minimum health and focus for anyone would be 10. Spiderman's health would grow from 90 to 150 and his focus would fall from 90 to 70. Flipping through the hero profiles shows that this method would have results that are surprisingly close to the way they are (Spiderman's health jump being one of the more extreme changes).

Another critique...

Damage.

Damage is based on your rank. There are 6 ranks (1-6). Rank 1 is pretty much normal human level hero, rank 6 is cosmic level hero. You have 4 types of attacks: Melee, Agility, Ego, and Logic, all do damage according to your overall rank, not your ability score. So Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) who is rank 4 (with Melee 2, Agility 2) has a baseline of rank 4 damage with all attacks, so her regular punch is as mighty as her telekinesis, and, mightier than most of the Marvel Universe (actually her telekinesis is mightier still because of power boosts). So if she uses a gun she does rank 4 damage. Punisher is only rank 2... see where this is going? 

NOTE: How damage works: All rolls are 3d6. One of those d6 is the Marvel Die. If your attack succeeds, your damage is your Marvel Die x rank + ability score. Damage possibilities. Note: Marvel Die 6 is a Fantastic Success which means double damage or added effect or sometimes both.

• Rank 1: 1-6 + 1    (2-7)
• Rank 2: 2-12 + 2  (4-14)
• Rank 3: 3-18 + 3  (6-21)
• Rank 4: 4-24 + 4  (8-28)
• Rank 5: 5-30 + 5  (10-35)
• Rank 6: 6-36 + 6  (12-42)

My change: Damage multiplier is your individual stat not your overall rank. So, Melee 3 equals a x3 multiplier. Agility 4 equals a x4, Logic 2 equals a x2, and so on. In some cases, some high ranked characters will have up to a x13 multiplier with this ruling, e.g., a 9 melee with mighty: 4, and that's fine. No more Clea (rank 6) or the Invisible Woman (rank 4) kicking the ass of the likes of Daredevil, Elektra, Punisher, etc. (all rank 2) without even using their powers! So the above progression continues as follows:

(Stat) Rank 7: 7-42 + 7  (14-49)

(Stat) Rank 8: 8-48 + 8  (16-56)

(Stat) Rank 9: 9-54 + 9  (18-63)

Minimum multiplier would be 1, even for stats of 0 or less.

Fights in this game can last awhile, so more damage is not a bad thing.

This wouldn't affect Whyspurr really, unless she picked up a gun, then her agility of 2 would give her a x2 multiplier.

So rank still matters the way I do it because lower ranked characters still have lower stats and fewer powers and traits. It doesn't change the game too much, just makes things more logical to my brain.

Of course, you could ignore every mention of the word "rank" all together and roll up your stats simply by rolling a d6 for each, giving results 1 through 6, equivalent to "good" through "monstrous" in the old FASERIP system (by my calculation). Roll for origin and occupation and then roll 1d3 extra traits and 2d6 powers for a true random old-school experience! (Then again, Champions is old-school too and that's as point-buy as it gets... ugh!)

All for now, ideas for XP and advancement, another time.

Meanwhile, my thoughts drift back to Traveller and a certain fantasy offshoot I occasionally work on...

NightLife: The Original World Of Darkness

NightLife: The Role-Playing Game Of Urban Horror.

Published in 1990 by Stellar Games.

I bought this when I was 16 at a place called Comic Kingdom, located around 6 Mile & Gratiot in Detroit. It was mainly a comic store, but had a back room dedicated to RPGs and miniatures. It totally looked like you would imagine a comic store from those days, not the brightly lit affairs of today. I seem to remember faded yellow walls and light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, well that was the vibe anyway. It was only a few miles from us who lived just north of 8 Mile Road, yet a different, seedier world. (I used to occasionally dream of being lost in Detroit and having to find my way home on foot. If you've ever seen the movie Judgement Night... the dreams weren't nearly that exciting).

In NightLife, a game that aims to combine Splatterpunk with sexy monsters, you play as one of the 7 kin: Vampyres, Werewolves, Ghosts, Daemons, Wyghts, Inuits, and Animates. It had a cyberpunk feel to it, in that, style is stressed, drugs are present, and there are skills like skating, seduction, and skateboards, a club called Afterdark owned by the world's oldest vampyre named, Golgotha, factions for how to treat the Herd (Humanity) and a fear of losing one's humanity (thus becoming an NPC). There was a later supplement focusing on rock bands -- perhaps influenced by The Vampire Lestat. There were also supplements for playing sorcerers and an alternate post-apocalyptic setting. 

It was a percentile system, which at the time disappointed me -- I was so burned out on percentiles, having spent most of my non-D&D gaming time on other TSR stuff: Marvel, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, and yes, even Indiana Jones. Much of the 80s was percentile based. I've since come full circle on that mechanic.

Also, NightLife's production quality was clearly Indy. Indy back then meant cheap, and though the game fascinated me enough, I then considered cheap a flaw (no longer of course). The days were also approaching when my interest in the hobby would wane for awhile, so, I never really gave NightLife a chance.

The very next year, Vampire: The Masquerade came out and everyone went gaga for playing the bad guy -- myself not included. But I wonder, what, if any connection NightLife had to the World of Darkness. Was it simply a cheaper version that coincidently came first? Had the masquerade already been conceived? Did they see NightLife and say, cool, but how about this? Or was horror from the monster's point of view simply in the air?

This was certainly apparent in novels. Anne Rice dove into her Vampire Chronicles, the first of which was written back in 1976. There was a book called I, Vampire, by Michael Romkey, that was published in 1990 -- I recall enjoying this one. John Steakley's, Vampire$ also came out in 1990, though this was the outlier as it focused on the hunters. And there were others. Being a monster was certainly in vogue.

To my taste, NightLife was better than the "woe is me" WoD in that it had less self-loathing and damnation, and was punk as opposed to goth. Imagine Billy Idol as a vampire. Punks are energetic, they're loud, they do, they exist, while goths cry, mope, blame, brood, and lament the fact that they exist at all. 

NightLife -- shame, could've and should've had fun with this one.

Just a jaunt down memory lane.

I Search For Treasure

When do you roll for treasure?

For most of you it's probably when you create your dungeon. You follow treasure-type codes, make some rolls and voila -- treasure.

How many of you fudge this roll? 

What if you roll an artifact or some such object of enormous power?

When you pay for an adventure, do you expect the treasure to be listed? And when it is, do you wonder if it was specifically chosen or randomly determined? And if it was random, couldn't you have just done that yourself? Or is it simply a matter of convenience? 

In my published adventures the treasures are almost always specifically tailored for that adventure and most of the magic items are unique, never seen before. I do this because I think it is what people expect when they pay for something -- to see something they wouldn't (or couldn't) have come up with themselves. 

It's funny, because in my mind, the ultimate dungeon is still the stereotypical, randomly created, nonsensical dungeon. Random rooms, random monsters, random treasure, random traps, random, random, random... But, this is not what I create, at least not for sale, anyway. 

These days in OSR products there is sometimes a table called "I Search the Body" (first seen by me in LotFP books). These tables usually cover treasure in its more mundane form -- a dagger, some rations, a few coins, a potion of healing, etc., and are generally meant for the odd corpse here and there. These tables are fun and seem to suggest a more gritty type of game, a game where you're grateful to have a few more torches.

Have any of you ever played the game where treasure was never predetermined, but rather, rolled randomly right there on the spot? 

What if all treasure was: I Search the Body? Where, after a fight or searching an empty room, you open the book and let the players roll. It creates a mini game within the game, a new subsystem to the dungeon crawl, a new excitement for the players. There's a certain psychology and satisfaction when a player rolls to see what they've found, knowing that anything can happen and that it is even out of the DM's control.

Would you be willing to live with said results? No matter the level of the PCs? It takes a certain type of DM and not one who is worried too much about their precious campaign.

Remember DMs, you're not a storyteller, you're a referee. You're not writing a book. You're not even creating a world, the dice are. Sure, you've planted some seeds, but you don't know if they'll grow or even into what. So sorry if your favorite subplot never develops. It's your job to facilitate and interpret results; the dice should surprise you as almost as much as they do the players. Yes, you should be descriptive at times. I've always been known for making combat exciting, dangerous, and fun. After my combats, you feel like you've been in a fight. If an ogre hits you with a large club, I might say you go flying across the room, crashing into a wall, but don't worry, you can get up and do whatever you were gonna do, unless there was a specific die result that states you remain prone. Anyway, back to treasure...

You could have fun with this: Ok, you rolled a weapon... a sword... a two-handed sword... and then, you require a detect magic spell to reveal the exact type, at which point they would make the final roll. BTW, Detect Magic is probably one of the most neglected spells in the game and I am as guilty as anyone. Or you can just tell them exactly what they've found, that's what the vast majority of us have all done throughout the years. Afterall, magic is not mundane, its power should emanate. I'm reminded of Larry Elmore's outstanding painting for the Basic D&D Companion Set, were the knight wields a two-handed sword absolutely overflowing with power. 

More and more I favor random results for everything, I've even been questioning the notion of stratified dungeon levels. 1st levels could be as random and dangerous as the wilderness (though yes, the wilderness is stratified to a degree -- e.g., plains are not as dangerous as forests or mountains, unless there's a dragon flying above...).

I wonder how many randomly created adventures are out there where people thought, My God, this is genius!

I'm not looking for answers, this is just food for thought, a sort of continuation of my previous post -- use your books at the table, they aren't just for prep.

Game on.

Memorial Day 2025

Praise the fighters and the fallen.

Looking Up Rules Is Part Of The Fun!

This notion of rulings not rules...

It is not being applied properly.

It doesn't mean NEVER LOOK UP THE RULES, it means make up your own rules when rules for something don't exist! Then... you make a ruling.

Somehow this has turned into, "Put that book down!"

I believe this is a symptom of the storyteller DM. Egotistical DMs so concerned about their narrative, this grand story they've been dreaming up, oh no, don't you dare interrupt it! I'm on a roll, I'm flowing, don't you dare touch that book!

No, I say pick that beautiful book up!

Reference it damn it. You wouldn't be sitting around playing without it.

The books are great. They are artifacts; wonderous things that got us into the game in the first place. They are fonts of knowledge and inspiration -- especially the one pictured above.

For some gamers the only time they ever got to look at the books was when we were playing. We were always surrounded by D&D books, and other games, it was part of the culture to look at them as we played... and any time we had (or have) a question about the rules you're damn right we looked it up!

Wizards have spell books and gamers have rule books.

This modern notion that rules can't be looked up during play is pure garbage.

The notion that it's not the "OSR way" is also garbage. Although maybe it's true in the sense that the OSR is a modern creation; a modern reinterpretation of the old. There are a lot of myths involved. 

The way people play now is not the way they played then.

It is older people rereading the rules and perhaps coming to a better understanding of them (technically) and then playing the game now, not as they did, but as they wish they had, or as they feel they "should have" and then imposing this falsely as something that always was.

Nope.

There were, and always have been, pauses and interruptions to consult the books; the aversion to it now is repulsive to me. Consulting the very books that the games are based on is an essential part of the experience. I would want it no other way.

In the desire to save the past, the past is being revised.

Playtesting the System... And Then, Autarch

You can get carried away with writing rules, it's very exciting when you're locked in, but at some point you need to stop... and see if they work. 

Although I have 30 some odd classes, the usual plus oddities like plague doctors and amazons, this test included four standards, warrior, cleric, thief, and sorcerer (to call it wizard or mage or sorcerer is more of a quandary than it should be).

To sum up the system super fast: 

• Instead of fighting fantasy's skill, we have four stats ported directly from D&D (str, dex, wis, cha). All skills are linked to a stat.
• Skills are roll equal to or under.
• Combat is opposed roll, roll higher. Winner does damage regardless of who's turn it is.
• Damage uses a chart, the d6 roll is modified by armor.
• Character creation offers mandatory skills by class plus a few random rolls on a class skill chart.

Party: prime stats: (Fate is luck, the better your core stats the lower your Fate, the thief had the best stats. Fate lowers with use, but only if it succeeds).

    Sorcerer: HP: 16, Fate: 9, AC: 0, Weapon--Dagger: 4

    Warrior: HP: 22, Fate: 9, AC: -3, Weapon--Sword: 8

    Thief: HP: 17, Fate: 8, AC: 0, Weapon--Dagger: 6

    Cleric: HP: 14, Fate: 9, AC: -2, Weapon--Mace:7, Faith: 7

Entering the dungeon the party chose the north passage (random roll). The thief checked the door for traps and failed. The thief's traps skill is a 7 (that's a 58% chance of success) and the thief failed this roll every time -- attempted 4 or 5 times. That's just a bit of bad luck.

Moving along, they entered the triangle room with standing coffins and out came the skeletons:

    Skeletons: HP: 10, AC: 0, Fighting: 4, Damage: Sword.

Immediately, I see, your stealth and initiative rules have to be solid (not vague) choose something, lock it in. Also in this system, who goes first doesn't always matter, combat is an opposed roll--high roll wins and does damage; you can kill a monster on its turn. This makes whose turn it is at times confusing. However there are only certain things you can do on your turn. There are strengths and weaknesses to doing it this way and this is something I'm pondering.

Anyhow, the skeletons were less of a threat than they could have been, thanks to some lucky rolls (and more than a few ties, something that happened throughout, surprisingly, I ruled stalemates though I wrote different options for this). Also, the sorcerer unleashed a spell I call Arrow Storm (costs 3 HP and unleashes a number of arrows equal to your roll) rolled a 4 (arrow storm skill of 7, but was raised to 8 using what I call a downtime skill of astrology to improve 1 spell by 1 until the next downtime) those 4 arrows helped undo the skeletons. 

Moving on around they entered the ghoul room where I was reminded to solidify my surprise rules as the ghouls jumped out. This should have been a tougher fight, but the cleric used turn undead (via the faith skill, Faith, like fate, lowers with use, but only if you fail your roll) to keep the ghouls cowering on defense mode, which means even if they win a combat, they don't do damage. The others chopped them up. Warrior finds a magic sword (+1 on damage rolls).

They then failed to find the secret door to the gorgon (medusa) who certainly would have ended them.

They entered the fountain room and I rolled randomly to see if anyone would dare drink; none did. They also failed to find that secret door as well (there is a secret door skill but none had it, no even the thief, so it's a straight wisdom roll. So, they opened the other door and woke up 2 ogres...    

    Ogres: HP: 15, AC: -1, Fighting: 5, Damage: large beast -- this is considerable damage.

During this fight the warrior got knocked down to exactly 0 HP, so he had to roll fate every round to avoid death, which he kept making. The fight only lasted 3 rounds technically, but remember, everyone's action is damage for someone. The thief chose to hide in shadows to sneak attack. Worked but he died anyway. The sorcerer was almost dead, so cast disappear (invisibility) on himself -- this actually reduced him to only 1 HP left. Then the cleric died, and finally the sorcerer took a chance because one ogres was dead and the other was at 1 HP. 

TPK.

During the ogre fight, several people (including an ogre) went prone due to fumbles. When prone you can only defend and can't get up until it's your turn.

Lessons learned:

• The fighting fantasy damage charts are fun in theory, but I'm wondering if rolling damage the traditional way wouldn't be better and have armor as damage reduction as opposed to lessoning the d6 roll.
• To have proper turns or not to? That is the question. There are pros and cons.
• It's amazing how many different games have convoluted surprise and initiative rules; these need to be clear and simple. Side initiative works just fine for any system.
• Monsters have less HP than PCs in general, otherwise you wouldn't survive a single fight.
• How would this little gauntlet have played out using D&D rules (any)? I think much the same, so I think I've captured the right feel. The difference here is that in D&D as you gain levels you become quite powerful and combat becomes sometimes a pointless drag. That will never happen here... ever. An ogre will always be dangerous, and I think that's the way it should be.
• How necessary is 2d6? I could write the same exact game using d20 contested combat rolls with percentile skills. This would give more wiggle room, yet doesn't this already exist in the form of Palladium?

Pondering time...

Playtest your shit before it's too late!

Oh yeah, then this arrives!

Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (ACKS II) by Alexander Macris (Autarch).

Talk about high quality books! 

These things are insane. This is about as comprehensive a version of B/X, BECMI as you will ever find.

The art is great (comic book style) some A.I. it seems; the theme: Imperial Rome.

This was the most I ever spent on a Kickstarter and I did so because the canceltards were pounding Macris quite hard. So a little support was in order. 

Anyhow, reports on these beauties will begin to pop up very soon. It's a lot to digest though.

Well done, Autarch.

I've Been Working On A System...

I was working on a new adventure and I like what I've done there (real dark!) but system mechanics have occupied my mind consistently for quite some time now.

I'm tired of being disappointed by games, even games I technically like or want to like. This always leads me to create my own stuff.

Too many house rules and you've created something else.

I wish the perfect system existed so I could just enjoy it.

And I'm certainly not creating it.

But what I'm making hits all the right buttons for me.

So far I have about 50 incomplete pages in progress (and that just in the last couple of weeks!) most of that is classes (around 30 right now). I have no idea when I'll finish it (end of the year? longer? probably longer) and I won't rush it, that's for sure, but this will be taking up the majority of my free time.

Thankfully I've got lots of art already drawn. No way I'm drawing all the monsters though.

What is it? I do have a simple but cool name for it. And that's a trick these days -- coming up with a name that no else has.

But what is it?

An amalgamation of D&D, Fighting Fantasy, and Traveller. 

Game on. 

Triggered Actions

2 claws/1 bite... iconic monster stat-line -- but, what if the bite attack did twice the listed damage and was only triggered if both claws hit? Obviously both claws have to hit the same target, like grappling and hug attacks. 

With if a dragon's breath weapon was only triggered on a critical hit? It would need a greater threat range than just 20, say 18/19-20 (20 would still be double damage.) Their breath weapon becomes an unpredictable bonus attack that occurs after all melee strikes are determined. And if multiple crits are rolled... prepare to burn!  

How about wizards getting a free spell if they score a 20 in combat? -- whether they have one available or not. Makes combat a little more exciting for magic-users. Same goes for spell-casting monsters or any monsters' special ability.

Suppose ghoul paralysis is only triggered on a bite (double listed damage) which in turn is only triggered if both claws hit? Makes paralysis less common, but more fun (it is a death sentence after all.)

The assassin's death strike triggered on a crit...? (Said that before, just saying it again.)

A medusa's gaze... Nobody fights medusas, you see statues, you run! Too fucking dangerous. What if her gaze (that's right, HER gaze, Woketards of the Coast) was triggered on her critical hits and your critical failures? 

Level drain, (the dreaded!)... again, make it triggered; 2 attacks, if both hit, then the classic -- grab you by the throat/kiss you/bite you/suck out your breath, whatever it is, followed by your preferred way to deal with energy drain.

Thieves get a pick-pocket check on a crit (if applicable) or a free back-stab, or a back-flip out of harms way, or hide-in-shadows (even if there aren't any!) They're just cool that way!

You see, crits should do more than just double damage.

How about a free attack if your crit slays? (This idea's certainly not new, but it is to someone.)

Clerics/paladins, when they score a crit vs chaos or undead, they (or their weapon) start(s) to glow with holy light and for the rest of the fight they do double damage (triple if another crit is scored, etc.) Who wouldn't enjoy that? It's bad-ass.

The barbarian's rage should be triggered, not planned -- a berserker can not control themselves! So, triggered by their own crit or a crit against them and then they fucking lose their shit! (They should also become a threat to allies while enraged.) If they want to fight the rage, they must roll under their wisdom score on a d20; same thing to end it. A crit on them also ends it.

Mechanics like this make the game more fun. They'll prompt more combats with monsters we've always avoided, and more combats period. Combat is FUN. It is not a failed state... unless you're a thief. 

The possibilities here are simple and numerous.

Tweak your games thus.

Banning A.I. In RPGs Is Pointless And Stupid

Totally disagree with banning A.I. from gaming products or anything else.

Taking a stand against A.I.is a form of virtue signaling. This always backfires as pretenders will be plentiful. Be very suspicious of this bandwagon. Pay no attention to organizations, awards, and accolades that claim to be pure. Don't believe me? Just wait for the scandals.

If I couldn't draw, I'd be using it. Why spend money on art when you don't have to? Of course, there is the cost of subscribing to A.I. -- I have no idea how much this is. It will come down to is it cheaper or not. Probably is cheaper. Much. And of course A.I. artists will emerge, experts in producing high quality stuff...

I've never played around with A.I. -- I suspect it's a massive time sink (fun or not) and no doubt I'd eventually feed my own art into it to see what I could "draw." Why should I draw, when A.I. can draw what I would draw, only better?

Pandora's Box has been been opened, that genie's out of the bottle... forever.

I see a lot of truly phenomenal A.I. art online... just scan Pinterest. Admittedly, most A.I. art right now is a bit flawed, little mistakes here and there, and, it has a certain "glow" to it that I can't explain other than calling it a "glow." This glow makes it unmistakably A.I., like water-color is unmistakably water-color. This will vanish. A lot of A.I. also happens to be boring, but so is a lot of corporate art (just look at WoTC.) Like real art, a certain amount of skill is involved.

A.I. WILL be everywhere. Nothing you can do about it.

Here's a prediction:

In the future (not too distant) you'll come home from a hard days work (or not) and instead of playing video games or watching a movie or watching YouTube, you'll use some form of A.I. to create your own unique movie/game/whatever. You'll type something like: 1920's noir, violent, sexy, rainy, main character type X, 3 hours long, plenty of twists, animated (or live action) etc., and out will pop perfection customized just for you. You'll have your own library of movies and games that no one else has ever seen before. A.I. will pop out a complete movie in minutes (or instantly) that would normally take a year and hundreds of millions of dollars to make. Maybe you'll share them, maybe you won't. Some of these you'll watch over and over... they'll be that good. You'll create your own series. 

Right now, there are A.I. mini-movies on YouTube. They're surprisingly fascinating and remind me of dreams in how the reality sometimes warps in them. I actually like this aspect. Unbelievable potential is there.

There'll be no more actors except in little known, back-alley, old school stage-theaters. No more animators. No more, etc., etc.

There'll be entirely A.I. sports leagues. Don't like the MLB or NFL? Simply create your own league and watch an entire season unfold. It'll be as detailed and real as you want it to be.

And just wait till you can jack into your own creations... Live a video game. Live anything.

Some people will make millions ($) because they will have a knack for creating amazing whatever.

Movies will be made completely by one person.

The best super-heroes movies have yet to be made (that's an understatement) because A.I. will perfect the effects, flying and such. The characters will look PERFECT.

Of course you'll pay for all of this stuff, but it will simply replace what you pay for now. And that'll be the rub... who controls the "program." Ultimately, the people with the money will try to ban it's use unless you're paying them. Laws will be passed. Enter the A.I. black market.

A.I. RPGs are on the way too (they're probably already here, I just haven't seen or looked for them.)

Taking a stand against A.I. is like taking a stand against the printing press, that's how revolutionary this is.

Good luck with that. 

Pandora's Box is irreversible.

Only something apocalyptic can stop it.

Either way, game on.

Bringing In 2025 With "AD&D"

That is, AD&D, as in Adventures Dark and Deep by Joseph Bloch. Not new, just the newest form (originally three core books, now two.) One of the stalwart stewards of all things 1st Edition, Greyhawk in particular, Bloch created "AD&D" with the goal of doing what Gary would've done had he revised the game himself. As we know, Gary was booted before any such revision and the anti-Gygax 2nd Edition followed. Bloch brings new classes, like the Jester, Savant, Mystic, and Mountebank and new race choices including Centaurs, and of course, new spells and magic items, etc. Similar attempts have been made, such as, Trent Smith's Heroic Legendarium (a fine book) and OSRIC (more of an SRD) but I've seen nothing as comprehensive as what Bloch has done here.

Behold the size of these! Both are 500 page behemoths. Will the print-on-demand binding hold up? Such binding is weak enough on small books. My two original TSR books shown above are 40+ years old and the bindings are still perfect. I would've almost preferred soft-cover perfectly bound for these colossal tomes. I wonder what the cost would be to get them professionally bound?

The formatting is in the style of the later AD&D hardcovers (think Monster Manual II and Unearthed Arcana.) The art is mostly good and reminiscent of how it once was (black and white is best in life! Yes, color can be great, but look to companies like WoTC for what NOT to do! Jesus, WoTC sucks.) Anyhow, this bestiary has over 1000 entries, more than you'll ever need. It's like Monster Manuals I, II, and Fiend Folio all under one cover... and then some! Here, there are plenty of demons and devils and... angels (hell yeah!) and of course plenty of dragons. Curiously, no gold dragon -- replaced by the electrum? -- what is the story here?

Very nice Amazon. A level of boldness missing these days. Bold is good.

Add in the Book of Lost Tables and you have every random encounter table possible, mostly in the D1000 format. The best collection of random encounter tables that I've seen anywhere. And to simulate truly random, I've created a random table of these random tables. So I can randomly roll any monster in the game! I'm beginning to think that dungeons shouldn't be any more stratified than the wilderness. While traveling, you can encounter a dragon or a dryad regardless of your level. Although I'm as guilty as any one, there should be no "Dungeon for levels 3-5" there should simply be dungeons... enter at your own risk, anything is possible. The secret to explaining this... lots of empty spaces in between, plenty of empty (though not meaningless) rooms and long twisting corridors. No one will hear you scream... and no one will hear you fight! Nothing in reality is stratified for your safety and convenience. Although, yes, a certain logic does exist for the more dangerous foes being found the deeper you go. Still, I'm for much more randomized danger. I think I'll roll up a truly random dungeon and see what happens...

Pages upon pages of this!

It is (almost) exactly the game you think it is, though some subsystems have changed and there are more races and classes (the more classes the better!)  A small nitpick I have: The Assassin is presented as an "optional" class. Why? In a game where you can be chaotic-evil, murder, steal, raid, and ravage, where you can play a blackguard (the classic anti-paladin) the paragon of all things evil --which is not presented as "optional." Is an assassin worse than a blackguard? Castles & Crusades has also done this to assassins with their recent printings and they knew Gary well. Is this something he had in mind? Otherwise, I just don't get it. It's akin to making Greedo shoot first. Don't soften things up. Ever. That's a 2nd Edition sin.

Anyhow, these two massive tomes, with a side helping of random tables, are literally all you'd ever need to play this classic game... FOREVER.

Well done Joseph! 

Now people, ENTER DUNGEONS, LOOT AND SLAY!!!