What Do Your Dungeons Look Like?

I'm currently working on a fairly substantial post.  In the mean time, I thought I might share some dungeons that I've drawn.  These maps are probably 7 or 8 years old and we were playing Pathfinder at the time...

The PCs were low level characters sailing on a barge when kobolds attacked.  After a few rounds of battle the kobolds ignited the barge and made off with one of the PCs' friends.  The PCs somehow (don't remember how) made it to shore and tracked the kobolds to their lair on the side of a volcano...

In ancient times there were two rival coastline cities within view of each other.  One cities' sorcerers cursed their rival city causing it to sink into the sea.  The source of the curse was a stone that remained under strict security.....and of course it was stolen and taken to the sunken city causing it to slowly rise out of the sea.  The map below represents the uppermost spires of the city rising out of the water.  Naturally, there was a handsome reward for the return of the stone.....

And here is a sample page of notes for the sunken city adventure.  Of note is the bar-brawl and rumor-mill.

 What do your dungeons look like?

OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire

OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2018/10/osr-guide-for-perplexed-questionnaire.html

1.  One article or blog enrty that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:

    While not specifically OSR, this article brings much needed OSR edginess to 5th Edition.
     http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2014/10/ontologically-ambiguous-banshee.html


2.  My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:

     Classes aren't balanced.


3.  Best OSR module/supplement:

     Veins of the Earth.  Seriously, this mind-blowing book is a work of art.


4.  My favorite house rule (by someone else):

     Zak Smith's randomly rolled character class tables such as The Alice from A Red and Pleasant Land.

5.  How I found out about the OSR:

     I don't remember exactly.  I think I came across Swords & Wizardry which somehow led me to Castles & Crusades and/or Lamentations of the Flame Princess...honestly can't remember.

6.  My favorite OSR online resourse/toy:

     It was Google+ because it led to so many toys.


7.  Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:

     It was Google+.


8.  Other places I might be found hanging out and talking games:

     Reddit and Google+ were the only two.  Other than my blog, I am absent on social media.


9.  My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:

     No matter how simple the rules are, I think there should be an option to actively Parry.


10.  My favorite non-OSR RPG:  

     Wow.  I like a lot of games.  Just gonna to throw Dark Heresy out there.


11.  Why I like OSR stuff:

     Because it's the most unchained, creative stuff there is.


12.  Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven't named yet:

     Rappan Athuk:  The fact that this dictionary sized dungeon even exists makes me smile.
And a thought, just because art is in color, doesn't make it good and/or better.  There's something beautiful about ink.

13.  If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:

     Playing D&D With Porn Stars (minus the drama.)


14.  A game thing I made that I quite like:

    This whole project. 


15.  I'm currently running/playing:

     Nothing.


16.  I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:

     It's your game.


17.  The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:

Rynath Monster: The Chain Wreck

According to legend the first Chain Wrecks came into existence in a dungeon deep beneath the Phaen Moors. Powerful agents of entropy, Chain Wrecks are the tortured souls of those who perished in bondage.  So terrible was their death, so vile is their thirst for retribution, that they blame all life and will stop at nothing to bring the universe one step closer to oblivion.

Though incorporeal, due to the spiritual weight of their cursed chains, Chain Wrecks display a shocking amount of "physical" strength.  They prefer hit-and-run tactics such as flying through walls across narrow hallways and small chambers.  Utilizing such tactics, one Chain Wreck alone is capable of decimating an entire village or a small town.  Those left alive will pray for death as cursed chain fragments now torment them from within, preventing their wounds from ever properly healing.

Particularly dreadful are the larger, more brazen, Howling Chain Wrecks who announce their presence with a maniacal, chain-rattling howl that can stifle the courage of even the most stalwart warriors.

Chain Wrecks can speak whatever language they knew in life, but they suffer such sadistic madness that any conversation is....unlikely.  Chain Wrecks do not hoard treasure on purpose.  Any treasure found near them will undoubtedly be found on one of their victims.

Chain Wreck D&D 5th Edition

 Chain Wreck OSR

For those of you interested in art, here's the unrefined sketch.  Looks like crap, but seeing as it was already my 3rd or 4th attempt, I stuck with it.  Just like writing, drawing is a process.  Tough it out; stick with it.

Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Character Sheet Revised

It was only a matter of time before I decided to revise my 5th Edition character sheets.

The most notable change is the horizontal placement of ability scores as opposed to a "list."  Lists are usually easier to read, especially at a glance, but I think this format works.  Overall, it sort of has a "Dark Heresy meets D&D" vibe, which wasn't my goal but I like the outcome.  I included two versions, Gold and Black.  I also removed the italic lettering on the spell sheet and corrected some minute alignment issues.

For earlier versions of this Character Sheet see the side-bar on the right.

D&D 5th Revised 09/18
D&D 5th Revised 09/18 Fillable

D&D 5th Revised--Gold 09/18

Rynath Artifact: Line-Breaker Becomes Pain's Gift

Vatra Nok

Dwarven Forged during the Barol-Thanon Betrayal, this hammer was meant to break the lines of rebellious clans and was baptized Nyord Utos, "Line-Breaker," but was best used by Prince Bran-Thanon to break the back of the wicked Ice Dragon, Cortlvaq.  Re-dubbed, Arun-Pur, "Pain's Gift" resurfaced decades later in the possession of the brigand, Vatra Nok, who is said to have perished in the Othon Gorge when he stumbled into the terrtitory of Winter Gnolls.  Pain's Gift is believed to be lost forever in the frigid mountains of Dwimorbura.

Arun-Pur "Pain's Gift"

• Pain's Gift is a War-Hammer so dense that a 16 or higher strength is required to wield it properly. Trying to wield it with a 15 or lower strength incurs disadvantage (or -4) to all hit rolls. 

• It does 2d6+3 points of damage on a hit.

• Scores a critical-hit on a natural 19 or 20 and a Constitution: 15 (or Paralysis) save must be made by the target of the hit to avoid being stunned for 1 round.  Also, any metal armor worn by someone critically-hit by the hammer suffers 1d4 points of armor-class loss.  

Quirk:  Pain's Gift is warm to the touch and "steams" profusely.  The steam is mystical and can not be suppressed in any way.  Anyone wielding the hammer suffers disadvantage on all stealth rolls.

Traveller: Evolution of a Character Sheet and.....Fantasy Traveller?

What got me interested in Traveller was the cover art for Alien Module 3: Darrians.  Art sells, that's a fact.  If I ever publish an RPG I will fork out whatever money necessary to acquire a beautiful cover.

Of course I only ever flipped through Darrians a few times when I bought it, it was the Mongoose Traveller Core Rulebook that I fell in love with.  It's a slim, solid black, well constructed book that encapsulates all you need to run any sci-fi game. And I mean any.  I love the simplicity and elegance of this system.  If it has one flaw, I'd say that flaw is a character advancement system that seems like an after-thought and also that Education and Intellect are too closely related.  Character creation is all based on random rolls and I think advancement should be as well.  Perhaps after so many XP or so many sessions, a player could roll on one of the career tables in their career path.  Just a simple house-rule waiting to happen and something that I have incorporated in a somewhat related project of mine...

Anyhow over time I collected almost every book in the Mongoose Traveller 1st Edition Line and over the past several years designed and redesigned the character sheet.  The official sheets for this game look nice and work just fine, but I'm all about space maximization and printer friendliness.   

***Traveler players are a technical bunch.  But, if character sheet evolution bores you, then skip to the bottom of the page for the final sheets and some thoughts on Fantasy Traveller.*** 

These early designs aren't too dissimilar to the official sheet.  Here I was mainly concerned with how to present the skill ranks (to the left of the skill, as opposed to the right, as on the official sheet.)  I also switched back and forth between lines and boxes for the bottom info.  Ultimately, I would settle on lines.

At this point I became interested with cramming all the skills into 1 or 2 columns.  The first sheet below doesn't even list the skills, and I quickly determined that just didn't feel like Traveller. 

And here I flirted with the notion of splitting the skills into different categories, but that gets tricky in Traveller because skills can be used in different ways.  I would use this idea later...

With my designs for Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, the appearance for what would be my final format becomes apparent.  Here I added in hit-point boxes, though I've never known any one who tracks hit-points on their actual character sheet.  Psi has also been added as a Stat and more slots are created for the career terms.

At this point, the character sheet is formatted for Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition and it feels complete to me.  The rules for 2nd Edition are basically a cleaned up, streamlined version of 1st.  I love the addition of boons and banes and the Prisoner career.  The layout is nice, but I have to say I prefer the 1st Edition solid black cover with black and white interior art.  Just because art is in color doesn't mean it's better, or modern for that matter.  

Of the two sheets below, the Redline version is my go to.  I feel that the red boxes allow your stats to stand out more, where as too much black can drown out pencils.  Plus, the black and red color pattern matches the Traveller theme.

Traveller 2nd Edition-Redline

Traveller 2nd Edition-Black

And then there's this...

For years people have been craving a Fantasy version of Traveller.  There is even a photo-shopped image of a box set called Wanderer floating around the web.  What a tease that is.  So, on and off for a few years now, I have been designing my own.  I used to call it Dungeoneer, which was the default name I tended to give any fantasy system that I worked on.  Now I call it Rynath. The gold sheets below are samples of my first design done a few years ago.  Magic works similar to psionics in that each school has a subset of spells that can be cast at varying difficulty.  Dabbler means you've learned just one of those spells.  I made 12 or 13 career charts, each with the standard 3 sub-career specializations.  The one thing I never did is write up all of the events and mishaps per career.

The black sheets below are a recent refinement of the project.  I streamlined character creation from the usual Traveller style and changed up the skills a bit, including how armor works.  There are no events or mishaps, just a benefit roll after every term and I envisioned 5 terms of 2 years to be the standard with a starting age of 15 + 1d6. 

Currently, this project has evolved away from simply being Fantasy Traveller to a Traveller/OSR hybrid (Old School Renaissance for those who don't know.)  Instead of having careers, I have basic OSR style classes with their own charts (and fewer of them) to roll on with a rare occasion for a multi-class.  The game mechanic is basically Traveller's 2d6 with some modifications.

I'm considering making an ongoing series of posts discussing these Fantasy Traveller and OSR projects.  Until then...

Rynath and the OSR: Part 2

Today I'm sharing the next seven Rynath OSR classes:  Assassin, Barbarian, Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Seer, and Witch.  As I post these, my mind starts thinking--wouldn't some of these options make more sense as Prestige Classes?  After all, wasn't the Companion Set Druid a prestige class? (for lack of a better term).  I tend to view an Assassin as an experienced killer, not a 1st level character.  And the same for the Ranger and the Paladin.  They're more like special forces.  Anyway, putting aside those thoughts and any future revisions (almost guaranteed) here are these seven classes playable from 1st level.


This Assassin's poison mechanics are triggered by critical hits.  The Assassin is the only other class next to the Fighter that can crit on a 19-20 at 1st level, something I find necessary for this poison set-up.  It assumes that the Assassin will always have some amount of poison on them thus doing away with book-keeping.  Sacrilege I know, old-school "D&D" is largely about resource management.  But, this is another method to give combat those exciting holy**** moments (like my Thief's "Combat Theft," Here if you missed my first post on Rynath OSR.)  If someone miserably fails their save, a low-level Assassin can take out a high level opponent instantly.  They are ASSASSINS after all.  The downside is that they may go for awhile without rolling a crit.  Anyhow, this is the idea I chose to post, there are other more traditional ideas I have...

Rynath Assassin

My version of the Paladin is a fanatic holy warrior bred to smite evil!  They're almost like living Saints, and they're not your drinking buddy (though Strongheart seemed like a decent fellow.)  There's probably a little more that I could do with this class, but like the Ranger, I don't want them to be spell-casters.  One of the problems modern "D&D" has is that too many classes are spell-casters.

Rynath Paladin

This Ranger is the classic lone-wolf forester.  He's a survivalist, a hawker, and an ARCHER who knows it's always better to kill from a distance if you can.

Rynath Ranger

The Knight is a class just because I want it to be; a leader, tank, and a defender.

Rynath Knight

Seers and Witches, I could easily roll into the Wizard class by cutting back the Wizard's spells and offering a couple of side abilities.  But, I know I'm not alone when I say that I want to play a Witch, not play a Wizard and call myself a Witch.  If the Seers "Vision" mechanic seems familiar, it's very similar to 5th Edition's Portent ability for the Diviner.  I'm usually not a fan of  "x times/day" mechanics, but it seems fitting for "Vision" and "Hex."

Rynath Seer

Rynath Witch

Not gonna lie, the Barbarian is one of my least favorite "D&D" concepts, and probably should be renamed Berserkers, (Conan is a Fighter, Cuchulain is a Berserker.)  I've never really been satisfied by "rage" mechanics, but I like what I've come up with here and I love my take on their distrust of magic.  All-in-all, I've created a Barbarian that I would actually love to play.

Rynath Barbarian

To complete the series, I'll eventually post the Samurai, Ninja, Pixie, Druid, Bard/Jester, Monk, and Dark-Elf (most of these pictures aren't drawn yet.)  Seeing as Rynath is a series of ideas and not a complete rule-set, I realize these classes are of limited use to people and may only serve as inspiration -- which is fine.   I may end up posting more traditional versions of these classes, but really, what's the point? This is an exchange of ideas.

I'm currently working on Rynath 2d6 which I would like to post as a complete rule-set.

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black are the four colors that were used to color comic books -- back in the day.  If you've ever heard the phrase "Four Color Comics" or "Four Color Super-Heroes" now you know why.  So, here I present FOUR character sheets for super-hero RPGs.


Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition is the newest of this bunch.  It's not a bad game, a little too "point-buy" for my taste.  It's kind of like Marvel (FASERIP) mated with Champions.  Champions was an alright game to play, and I knew people that would spend hours.....no, days..... actually, make that weeks fine tuning their characters, trying to get the most bang for their hero-point bucks.  This might just be where power-gaming started.

The same situation exists with Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition, but admittedly, it's nowhere near as bad.  Many gamers love point-buy systems.  Ain't my cup of tea.  My imagination works best when I have to make sense of unrelated fragments.  Now, M&M 3rd does have a meticulously crafted random character generation system that is 100% balanced for their point-buy system.  It's impressive, and whoever designed it deserves credit. I just wish they had it for every level of power in the game.  Not everyone should be "power level 10." I just don't like that amount of balance.  It doesn't exist and never has existed in comics.  Anyway, point-buy is not a flaw, it's a preference one way or the other.

A real nit-pick I have of this system is that it's "condition" heavy.  There are no hit-points, just negative modifiers and conditions, and then more conditions, and then some of those conditions have conditions.  All of these conditions are basically a variation of "stunned."

All in all, it's not a bad game.

Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition

When DC Heroes came out I was heavily into Marvel (FASERIP).  As much as DC fascinated me, I never made the switch.  The system is awesome, elegant even, but I hated the fact that you had to build your character.  Might as well play Champions.

No game has ever handled different power-levels as good as DC Heroes.  From Superman to Batman and everyone in between, the rules handle the difference realistically and gracefully.  

Two flaws that stand out to me.  One: In the exponential system that is DC, every number is twice as good as the one before it (4 is twice as good as 3 which is twice as good as 2 which is twice as good as 1.)  However, on the action chart (this could be another flaw--the game was chart heavy, an action and results chart, if you don't mind looking at charts though, they work great) 1-2 is a column, 3-4 is column, 5-6 is a column, etc.  Numbers 5 and 6 have the same value on the action chart, yet 6 is supposed to be twice as good as 5.  Two:  Hero-Points, you're expected to spend them to survive.  You're not really in any danger until you're out of hero-points.  Batman would be knocked out with one punch in this game many times over if he didn't have hero-points to spend to change that fate.  A character should be able to survive and do what they do based on their stats, not the expenditure of hero-points.

Still, a beautiful system.  

DC Heroes

Marvel Super Heroes (now referred to as FASERIP) was my go-to game other than D&D.  I played this game so much that it ruined percentile-dice systems for me for years.  I knew the stats to every Marvel character thanks to all the source books they produced and I still, to this day, mentally rank super-heroes according to the FASERIP system.

I loved the quick and random character generation in this game and it forced you to get creative because, damn, you would roll some weird combos.  Not like we never re-rolled though ("Feeble" Plant Control, I don't think so.)  

Like DC, Marvel was dependent on a chart (charts really were a thing in the 80's), but some people over the years have come up with creative ways not to use the chart (actually called, the Universal Table).  The main flaw of this game is that the powers sometimes aren't well explained.  Also, characters weren't always as strong or weak as their comic book counterparts.  But that's role-playing.  RPGs aren't movies, aren't novels, aren't comics.  RPGs are their own beast.  I think the biggest flaw in FASERIP was OUR inability to use the system to its maximum affect.  

If I was allowed to redesign this game........

A note about the sheet....I added Infamy to oppose Popularity.  You can use Infamy to represent villain popularity or simply to represent negative popularity.  Or you can ignore it.

Marvel Super Heroes FASERIP

Heroes Unlimited.  I know, the character sheet below says Rifts.  That's because this Rifts character sheet is usable for any Palladium Books game from Rifts to Nightbane and Heroes Unlimited to Beyond the Supernatural and Splicers to Palladium Fantasy, you get the point.

Where do I start?  This game is a random character generation paradise, but sometimes it will give you too many powers.  See, powers in this game are so well thought out, that often 1 power is like having 3 or 5 or 10!  And you might roll 4 or 5 powers.....get ready to transcribe! Often, one or two powers is plenty.

No super-hero game does gritty hand-to-hand combat better than Heroes Unlimited. Strike, Parry, Dodge, Roll With Punch, Leap Kick, Body-Block Throw, etc., it's all there.  Throw in powers and magic and you've got the most dynamic comic book action you've ever seen.

You won't be playing Superman or Thor in this game.  The power level is more attuned for street to mid-level play--which is perfect.  As of right now, Heroes Unlimited would be my go-to super-hero game.

Now, Palladium's games aren't without their flaws.  Most critics will cry about contradictory rules being scattered across books and how the system is unbalanced.  I just don't view those things as problems.  When you like a toolbox, you like it.  For me the biggest flaw in Palladium Games is M.D.C. (Mega Damage Capacity).  I simply change everything to S.D.C./Hit Points. Game on.

Physically, Palladium books are probably my favorite format for an RPG.  I love the way a perfectly-bound paperback feels.  I love the gritty black and white interior art and Palladium has some of the BEST COVER ART in gaming.

And to think, I ignored Palladium Books for years.  I currently own over thirty of them and periodically feel compelled to buy more. 

Character Sheet note:  Speed doesn't do much in this game, so I added the OPTION for Speed to give an Initiative Bonus.  Just use the same bonuses that are given for P.P.

Rifts

Will have to do some posts focused only on Palladium....