Gamer ADD Strikes Again; GURPS Greyhawk

One of the significant problems with not having a regular gaming group is the tendency for random projects to pop into my mind and gain increased interest. So, I'm adding a third project to my already taxed workload of the WRG RPG and a Top Secret retroclone, converting Greyhawk to GURPS 4th edition.

Some assumptions that I intend to make:

Things in the folio are immutable. Things in the boxed set are influential. Things from the Sorceror's Scroll column are inspirational. Things from the later era don't exist. The year is 576CY. Screw metaplots, this is my Greyhawk.

The setting will be treated as though it is a real place, and that the statistics given are attempts to model that real place in particular game terms. This means that I am free to assume (for instance) that magic works like it does in GURPS without conflict with the AD&D system, since each is simply a model for a "real" magic of the world being described. Ideally, this could mean that any GURPS magic system could be used to model magic, including (but hardly limited to) the basic Magic system or variations thereof, Path/Book, Ritual Path, the various Syntactic systems, Powers, or whatever. However, what I will actually use will be the basic Magic system (for Magic User/Illusionist magic), Divine Favor and True Faith (for Clerical magic and undead turning ability), Tree Magic (for Druidic magic), and Powers (for Psionics). I still have to think about mana levels, but I'm leaning toward near-universal Normal Mana, with the Sea of Dust being a major exception at Low Mana. There will be Alchemy and Herb Lore.

$1 (GURPS) is the same as 1 sp (AD&D), making 1 AD&D gp the same as $20 GURPS. GURPS price lists, especially those in Dungeon Fantasy, will be assumed, unless there is special reason to use the AD&D ones. Because I am nothing if not inconsistent, I'll use the AD&D2E weight of coins at 50 to the pound.

A 1st level character in AD&D will be more or less the same as a 75 point character in GURPS, with every level additional adding about 15 25 GURPS points. For conversion purposes, multi-class characters will be treated as in the tournament modules: count a multi-class character as two levels higher than the multi-classed character's higher level, or three levels higher if triple-classed. I'll work up templates of the classes at level one, probably with variations for different types, for example archers, infantry, and such for fighters. However, templates are not classes, and characters in GURPS Greyhawk are not locked into a particular advancement scheme. They aren't even required to use a template (which exist only for convenience and conversion).

Racial templates for PC races will be held as close to zero points as possible while maintaining the spirit, and as often as possible the letter, of the AD&D descriptions. This may be difficult. I'm going to try and simplify the races, so that (for instance) "Elf" is a race, and all of the different subtypes are cultural variations of that central species. Or not, we'll see.

Because of the existence of monks in Oerth, there will be Trained by a Master and Cinematic Skills available, probably along with Chi Powers. Of course there will be Martial Arts, and not just for monks, but monks will be the specialists in unarmed Martial Arts and pretty much the only source of Trained by a Master (and therefore of Cinematic Skills). Will they be able to use Chambara rules if they have TBAM? Probably. Yes. This does mean that Cinematic Maneuvers would be available, though of course only TBAM characters can improve them above default.

I feel free to completely restructure religions, since they were not, on the whole, defined in the folio. St. Cuthbert and Pholtus are the only two gods of good humanity that must exist (since they were part of the campaign that led to the folio), though I intend to be guided by the lists in the boxed set. Physical manifestations of the gods will be avatars of a sort. The gods themselves will be unapproachable, ineffable forces at the center of realms in the deep Astral plane. Or something like that. Demons and Demigods, on the other hand, will probably be just powerful (sometimes very powerful) individuals.

Alignment will not be a Cosmic Force. It will be merely descriptive. This is a personal aesthetic decision. As a corollary, the cosmology will not be as concretely defined and systematized as in the Great Wheel Cosmology.

In keeping with Oerth's background, there will be no gunpowder or anything like it. Fireworks will be magic spells, and so on.

I'm not sure how I should handle level-drain. I'm still considering what, exactly, it is supposed to model in AD&D, which should help me to model it in GURPS. My current thinking has it that it is a drain of spirit and self-confidence. To that end, I may just model it as the Terror advantage, which can lower a character's point value due to the Fright Check that results. There's even an explicit option to have it take effect by touch attack (but the powerful undead like Ghosts and Specters may not need the touch limitation; I see in GURPS Fantasy that the Wight there is given a Freezing Touch attack, but I'll probably change that to a Terror Touch). Vampires should be modeled as drinking blood in the normal way, and with Infectious Attack/Dominance, though they should probably get some Terror, too.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts, feel free to share them.

Pop Culture and D&D

Part 8472598249862476097906729560276 in an ongoing series:

Price Points

According to this advertising flyer from 1979, the AD&D Monster Manual and Players' Handbook hardbacks, as well as the Holmes boxed set and other boxed sets were priced at about $10, while the supplements for the D&D boxed set and the adventure modules were about $5. According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, those are approximately equal to $30 and $15, respectively, in 2011 dollars. If I recall correctly, the Dungeon Master's Guide cost $12, which would be about $37.50 today.

So, in today's dollars, the original AD&D set of books would have run about $97.50, for about 470 pages of material that we're still mining to this day.

So.

[Worldbuilding]Ablashians

Beyond the borders of the Paynim Empire lie the lands of the Ablashian barbarians. Comprising a number of tribes (which they call "Counties") both independent and interrelated, the Ablashians have a sophisticated and rich culture that is treated as simple and backwards by the patronizing Paynim envoys to the Ablashian Courts.

Ablashian society is centered on the idea of the contractual obligation (though they would not conceptualize it in this way - their concept would be of reciprocity for favors). A young Ablashian who wishes to rise in society (as a farmer) will indebt himself to a patron by borrowing capital goods, such as cattle, land, a plowshare, and so on. There are traditional amounts of each that are based on the status of the client's family and other matters. In return, the client will pay about half of what could be built from that capital (about half of the expected calves, half of the expected crops less the seed, and so on) for a period of time, usually seven years, then the client will return value equal to the items originally loaned. During this period of time, the client also owes certain responsibilities of loyalty to the patron.

Skilled trades, such as smithwork, are handled similarly, but the prospective smith apprentices himself to the smith in exchange for training. The smith gains the service of the apprentice, and will eventually loan the necessary capital goods to the apprentice when he becomes an independent smith on the same sort of terms (though at a much lesser interest rate).

In addition to these areas of society, there are also intellectual and warrior trades. These are handled much like the skilled trades, with apprenticeship, but since the output of these trades is not so easily quantifiable as material goods, different methods of repaying the training are developed. [Details are vague at this point, but probably include indenturing and such.]

Ablashian government is based on the client/patron-apprentice/master system, in that clients owe loyalty to their patrons or masters. However, there are some necessary institutions which exist to limit the abuses that this basic system can engender. For instance, each tribe has a groups of priests called "Judges". The Judges hold Court at Alehouses (see below) and hear cases brought up by one person against another. Judges are assisted by an order of priest-investigators called "Advocates" whose jobs are to investigate the facts of a case, especially criminal cases, and by the "Counts", who are a group of warriors whose mandate is to find criminals and bring them to justice at the Courts. The Counts are empowered by the Baron, who is given his authority through election by, and from among, the landholders, a position that he will hold for life. Not that life is necessarily long, as the Baron is expected to operate in the front lines of any war the County is prosecuting.

A town is governed by a Mayor, whose position is chosen by vote of the business leaders of the town. There are usually a few towns per County.

There are other priestly castes, as well. Some include:

The Holy Doves: Priestesses (and the occasional priest) of Valentina, the goddess of love and beauty.

Duelists: Wandering devotees of Dullahan, the god of fighting. They can be either a benefit or a bane to a community, and are greatly feared for their immense, nearly magical skills at fighting.

Trappers: Mountain ascetics devoted to mountain spirits. They collect fur pelts to trade in the towns.

Taverners: The maintainers of special temples called Alehouses. The Alehouse is the center of a community, and includes, at the least, a room devoted to the rites of the Holy Doves and the service of alcoholic beverages, and another for the Court of the local Judge.

(There's more inspiration to be found in the American Old West.)

Science Fiction Film Space Travel

Note: For the purposes of this post, I am using "Science Fiction" to refer to reasonably plausible scenarios. This includes what is sometimes called "Hard Science Fiction", but is not limited to that, as some minor bending of the rules of reality is acceptable in the interests of the story. Hopefully, what exactly I mean will be made apparent by some of my examples below.

I love Science Fiction movies. I also love Science Fantasy movies, but here I'll just talk about the former. First, my nominations for best Science Fiction movies of several decades:

1950-1959: (tie) Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still
1960-1969: 2001: A Space Odyssey
1970-1979: Alien
1980-1989: Blade Runner
1990-1999: Gattaca
2000-2009: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Of those, I'd say that the 1960s-1980s were the best time for Science Fiction film, and would count those three as far and away the best three of all time (in which specific order? That would vary depending on my mood, I think. Right now, Blade Runner is pretty much leading the pack).

Did you notice something about those? After the 1970s, spaceships are passé. Gattaca has a trip on one as the ultimate goal, Blade Runner mentions them almost offhandedly as something that other people go on, but they're pretty much removed from the table otherwise. Before then, anyone can go into space (with one exception). There's a stereotyped cook in the 1950s who makes bootleg liquor. In the 1960s, there are low-level receptionists on the space stations. In the 1970s, we're back to an updated version of the 1950s-era lowlife spacemen. After that, it's only the élite who travel beyond the bounds of gravity, if anyone does at all.

I've been kinda obsessing on this topic for the last few weeks, in the wake of the effective end of the USA's space program (yeah, yeah, they're working on another one - wake me when it flies, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it won't happen in the next decade or more; don't even get me started on the private space companies). Before we went, space was full of possibilities. Anything could happen, and we imagined so much.

Then we actually got there.

I will never denigrate the achievements of the Apollo program. Landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth was, frankly, an absolutely incredible success. As I've learned more about rocketry and space travel in the real world, it has become more and more apparent to me just how amazing it was.

But, that success is leavened by the lack of anything of real interest to humans on the Moon. Sure, there's a wealth of scientific information that we should be glad we have, and there are potentially valuable resources if we can just work the bugs out of the devices that will hopefully use them. But there's not much that we can use now. We can't plant crops, because the Lunar soil lacks many of the necessary nutrients available in an organic biosphere, so we'd pretty much have to bring those with us. There aren't many useful metals that we don't already have in abundance on Earth. There are no organics, such as petrochemicals, at all. It's an expensive trip with little material return.

When we found that out, it seems, there was a drop in interest in space travel. Some visionaries tried to leverage concepts that would make space productive, but those haven't gotten very far. There are a few industrial processes that might be improved by microgravity, but that hasn't been proven yet. Microgravity might make a useful retirement community for the wealthy (who might desire the reduced strain on aging organs), but that isn't exactly "productive".

Basically, we've learned that space is mostly good for communications and observation satellites (possibly weaponized ones, as well, but those are currently agreed to be banned), which don't really need people. It isn't all that long until they plan to de-orbit the International Space Station, and that would pretty much be the end of space for humans. Sure, we might build another one, but we couldn't even build a new highway system at this point. We can barely maintain the one we already have. I think that we're done in space, and Science Fiction movies have been reflecting that, for the most part. There are occasional examples otherwise: Avatar, for instance, but those border on the realm of Science Fantasy (as, really, does Forbidden Planet. I make no claims to a foolish consistency, and one could dismiss this argument on that basis if one were so inclined. Keep in mind that the idea is that of "plausibility", which varies depending on the state of knowledge). Moon is the big exception, but it is an exception.

So, some other Science Fiction films I really like:

Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
Solyaris (aka Solaris, also remade as Solaris) (1972)
Outland (1981)
Escape From New York (1981)
War Games (1983)
Aliens (1986)
Hardware (1990)
Until The End Of The World (1991)
Strange Days (1995)
Hackers (1995)
Koukaku Kidoutai (aka Ghost In The Shell) (1995)
Abre Los Ojos (aka Open Your Eyes, remade as Vanilla Sky) (1997)
Banlieue 13 (aka District B13) (2004)
Children Of Men (2006)
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
District 9 (2009)
Inception (2010)
Limitless (2011)

This is not, of course, a complete list, just what I can think of offhand. Also, I left out some after considering them (such as WALL-E and Paprika), as they went too far into the realm of Science Fantasy for what I am trying to discuss here.

What you see in all of those is that space travel is definitely something that becomes more uncommon with time, and more relegated to élites when it is present. Even Moon fits into this latter category by limiting its spacemen to one individual at a time, not having entire colonies with janitors, receptionists, store clerks, and so on.

For our games, this might mean that it is worthwhile to consider Science Fiction settings that don't include space travel. Even (perhaps especially) cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and realistic transhumanist settings might start to consider that we might not be getting off of this planet in any significant way.

Some time, I'll discuss the whole Peak Oil/Limits of Growth thing and how that affects this possibility.

Refining My Games Wantlist

A little while ago, I made a list of games that interest me. As I think about that list more, my interest has been refining, and some other games have come around in my interest. So, here's the most recent list of RPGs I would like to play and/or run:

D&D (0E, B/X, BECMI/Cyclopedia, 1E, or Retroclones)
Top Secret
Space 1889
GURPS (depending on background*, with a preference for 4E)
Hârnmaster
Traveller (any edition, though CT or MT are preferred)
James Bond 007
Cyberpunk 2020
Shadowrun
Pendragon
2300AD
RuneQuest
Fantasy Wargaming
Flashing Blades
Realms of the Unknown


*Some specific examples, chosen from published backgrounds:

GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War (updated for GURPS4E and the Path/Book magic system)
GURPS Traveller (with a preference for the G:T revised timeline in the 1120 era)
Transhuman Space
GURPS Bunnies & Burrows
GURPS Conan
GURPS Reign of Steel

Top Secret Retroclone Character Creation

In the original game, characteristics were rolled on 1d100, and gained bonuses based on the number rolled. So, if the roll were 01-25, you'd add 25 points, making the stat 26-50. This is a little bit complicated, and it results in situations where a roll that was higher results in a stat that is lower (for instance, a 25 becomes 50, while a roll of 26 becomes 41). That annoys some players, even though I don't personally care.

The average roll using the basic Top Secret method comes out to 62.73, with a minimum roll of 26 and a maximum of 100. After experience additions, stats have no theoretical limit, though there are some practical limitations.

I'm thinking that I will include both that method and a simpler method. Instead of rolling 1d100 straight, roll 2d10 and choose the larger die as the tens digit, the smaller die as the ones digit. This results in an average roll of 65.45 with a minimum roll of 10 and a maximum of 100. Perhaps I will include the option of allowing the player to choose which method he prefers.

I'm definitely going to incorporate all of the various secondary and tertiary traits from supplementary material, which basically means that it will include the three traits from the Top Secret Companion and the two traits from "Operation: Zenith", Rasmussen's article from Dragon 120 that introduced the space program as an arena for espionage roleplaying. In addition, there are a few sections in some alternate rules that I plan to incorporate where averages of various attributes are used without declaring a new secondary or tertiary trait. I think that I'll designate some new traits to cover those.

GM Badges

From this post:

Advice On Refereeing These Games

"…when I'm DMing I'm a combination of Nethack, Captain Bligh, Larry David and Kali. I revel in mayhem, confusion, and horrendous death. But I don't do it to be a jerk or fuck over players; I do it because I love my players and I love my game, and have too much respect for both of them to play kindergarten softball. This isn't World of Warcraft, this isn't T-ball, this isn't Chutes and Ladders; this is Dungeons and fucking Dragons…" - Blair, at Planet Algol

[Worldbuilding]Davrai

On the western steppe, nomads range on horseback. Most of these are fairly normal, similar to cultures from our world such as Mongols or Lakota. One of the nomad nations, though, is notable for having a warrior society the members of which aspire to the magical control of bulls for the purpose of riding them into battle.

"Control" is perhaps too strong a word. The Bullriders forge a magical partnership with a particular bull which lasts a lifetime - whether that life is the Rider's or the Bull's. The bulls involved become longer-lived (they can sometimes even outlive their riders!) and more intelligent, which is their benefit from the relationship.

In addition, the tribes of the Davrai (that is the name they give themselves - it means, roughly, "Free People", but their word for "free", davar, is related to the word other peoples use for "cattle") are among the few peoples of the world who have made a place for the beastmen known as minotaurs. It is a rare band that does not have a small group of minotaurs living among them.

On the battlefield, the Davrai are terrifying. Bellows of bulls and minotaurs issue forth from the lines of Bullriders, backed by hundreds of more conventional cavalry. Arrows blacken the sky, propelled by small, powerful recurved horn bows. Paynim legions withstand them only through dint of intensive training in fighting as a unit.

Davrai religion is fairly simple, centering on worship of a Sky God known as the Great Bull and his bride the Earth Mother. Everyday religion is mediated by a group of shamans who build personal relationships with an idiosyncratic group of spirits that is different with each shaman.

A Davrai band usually consists of about 30-300 men and women, with an equal number of children, and anywhere from 3 to 15 minotaurs. The herds consist of about twice that number of cows, along with a bull for every 20 adults, about 2 horses for each adult, and a number of oxen about equal to the number of cows. The oxen are used to draw large carts that carry the women, children, and the household goods of the band. The carts double as tents when shelter is needed.

Every band owes its allegiance to a ruling band, forming clans of between 3 and 10 bands. The clans are organized into tribes consisting of anywhere from 5 to 20 clans. All of the tribes follow a king, though currently there are three kings claiming control of the Davrai as a whole. This results in a smoldering aggression that sees a number of feuds and other violent incidents.

[Worldbuilding]Koni

The Koni (both singular and plural) are a diminutive race of nonhumans who live (primarily) in the hilly country of a peninsula to the west of Payn, known as Konikula. They resemble nothing so much as bipedal rabbits about half the height of a man, though their eyes are forward facing like a dog's. They live in clans, consisting of from about 10 up to 100 or so Koni all living in a single underground complex, called a "Warren". Small warrens will have about 5 times as many entrances as inhabitants, while larger warrens get that ratio down to about 1:1. There are usually numerous smaller tunnels, called "Bolt Holes", surrounding the main warren, up to a mile or so away. Koni like to dig, but only so long as it is purposeful. When the warren gets as large as it needs to be, something that the Koni will instinctively feel, they simply don't dig any more.

Koni warrens typically have a King, who rules with an iron hand. His Queen, in turn, rules him by subtler means. Male Koni are expected to act with deference, and in most warrens are subject to being beaten if they show insolence to the King. The King, in the larger warrens, will have advisers to help him formulate policy. The personalities of the King and Queen are reflected through the whole warren, though not always directly.

The warren usually includes several institutions particular to the Koni way of life, notably the Warreners and the Hoplites. The Warreners are a troop of warriors dedicated to the safety of the warren. The Hoplites, on the other hand, are scouts and messengers, skilled in avoiding notice and moving quickly. A few Koni are unable to find a place for themselves in warren life, and become Mavericks, usually forming into small bands living outside of the warrens, but forming a sort of informal border patrol. This is an essential service to the Koni community, as the little people are fairly territorial, at least with other Koni, and do not much like strangers coming around. Koni from other warrens are seen as odd or even slightly sinister in various ways, and Koni from distant areas are felt to be intruders.

Mavericks, however, crave society (even if they see themselves as "misanthropic"), and are generally susceptible to good treatment, no matter who it comes from.

The ideal Koni life is one of leisure and abundant food, with a mate for the mating season (Koni are not even capable of sexual activity outside of that season, but are very amorous during it). They idealize trickery, so long as it is directed outside of the warren, and generally are known for a sly, sarcastic sense of humor.

Some Koni become herbalists and healers, or even (on rare occasion) magicians. Magician Koni are seen as somewhat "off", and may even be slightly insane due to their traffic with magical powers and spirits. Usually, there will not be more than one magician for every several warrens, and the magician will live like a Maverick, though in a permanent bolt hole, with individual Koni visiting in time of need.

Storytelling is the main Koni pastime. They love stories about heroic Koni, the more tricky the better. Many of their stories bear a striking resemblance to Br'er Rabbit and Jack tales or even Bugs Bunny stories from our world (the famous "Wabbit season! Duck season!" exchange has a close parallel in the story of "Agabar in the Home of the Black Sun Koni", Agabar being a typically trickster-ish Koni hero).

Koni religion is fairly simple, mainly consisting of the above-mentioned storytelling and the perception of various activities and objects as having more or less luck of good or bad variety. Avoiding bad luck and looking for good luck is their main religious preoccupation, so that (for instance) one will see a Koni invariably knock on the post at a gate in a fence or wall, but only if he means to pass through the gate. When in groups, only the first Koni will knock (the luck being seen as traveling through the whole group). Similarly, Koni are frequently seen wearing a leek pinned to their shirt, since leeks are considered to be one of the luckiest of vegetables. Wealthy Koni might wear a truffle instead, as it has the greatest luck of all the foodstuffs, but truffles are expensive and such outlandish frippery might cause ill-feeling if the Koni is not otherwise very well-liked. There are Koni gods and heroes, talked about in their stories (and frequently emulated in deed), but worship consists almost entirely of the obsession with luck or the telling of stories.

(As should be obvious, this is the "hobbit" or "halfling" of the world I'm building. Mechanically, they will probably be very similar, or even identical, to halflings in S&W Whitebox, though I'll probably add the higher level stuff from Brave Halfling Publishing's Halfling Adventurer, up to 8th level.)

A Retroclone Of Top Secret?

I suppose that I haven't really been talkative lately. Mainly due to the fact that I've been watching a bunch of spy-themed movies and reading TSR's Top Secret and Victory Games/Avalon Hill's James Bond 007. At some point, it occurred to me that there should be a retroclone of one or both of those. I'm starting working on notes toward a clone of the former, but I have some areas that I'd like to ask others about.

First, how much change do I need to make to satisfy legal requirements? Am I allowed, for instance, to keep the same names of characteristics, or do I have to give them synonymous names since the game is not, itself, under the OGL? Can I go so far as to use the "Quick Reference Codes" for weapons that were so prevalent in the various modules (this may not be essential, but it could prove useful in converting those old adventures to the clone system)? Can I just paraphrase and reorganize the rules sections, and present the tables in reorganized form?

Second, what do you think that the modern audience would prefer: a retro look at the Cold War era, or a modern, Homeland Security era game, such as the last two James Bond films seem to be attempting? I'm leaning toward the latter, but I can see a retroclone being targeted at the former, with supplementary material covering the more modern era.

Third, should I consider putting my own spin on some of the rules, such as the hand-to-hand combat section? For instance, I'd like to add ways in swordplay to include cuts to the body and legs, which are absent in the second printing tables. I'd also like to change the system slightly so that wrestling is a little less of a foregone conclusion (for instance) by adding a random element based on relative character traits. Is that a good idea at all?

Fourth, I'm interested in integrating the Top Secret Companion and some of the better Dragon magazine articles (especially those by Rasmussen). However, I don't know if there is some reason that might be a bad idea.

So, what do you think?

eBay As Distribution Scheme

I had a busy weekend. Hope yours was good.

Over on Loviatar, christian is talking about how his new zine is available on eBay. This seems like an interesting idea to me, and a nifty way to distribute zines in general. It made it easy for me to just dip into my Paypal account and pay for a copy. Reminds me of going into the local (Seattle) lefty bookstore and picking up punk rock zines in the '80s. Go in and impulse-drop 50 cents for a couple of badly-xeroxed, handmade magazines, probably put together at someone's office job working for a lawyer or nursing home. Of course, the price has jumped a bit, since it isn't badly-xeroxed on a work copier and inflation has made prices change a bit in the intervening quarter century.

Dice Bandwagon

Over at Gothridge Manor, there's a request to show our dice. I totally get dice pr0n, so here's my own modest collection, minus a couple that I forgot to put on the blanket:

Please forgive the blurriness of my crappy camera.

Top Secret

The game that has been occupying my attention in the last couple of weeks more than most is the old TSR Top Secret, the original one, not the later Top Secret/S.I. (which doesn't really interest me). I've been looking for modules for the game and adventures printed in Dragon magazine. I also discovered that there was a significant revision of the hand-to-hand combat rules in the 2nd printing (and the revision is an improvement on the original rules), and that there was a Top Secret Companion which collected many of the optional rules that Merle Rasmussen wrote originally for his column in Dragon. I've also surprised myself by how many issues of Dragon I own that had articles regarding the game.

There are a lot of good old-school elements of the game. Actions are governed by broad categories of competence (and, with the Companion, formal training courses), some of which are universal, such as general athletic ability and the ability to deactivate electronics and mechanical mechanisms, while others are more focused areas of knowledge, such as scientific knowledge or a knowledge of history. This allows a character to attempt actions even in areas in which he is untrained, and to make use of the general knowledge of the player freely. In a sense, there are two separate, but interlocking, skills systems in the game: attributes and areas of knowledge, and training courses. There are also prototypes of more "story" oriented rules presented as options, such as hero points (here called Fame Points and Fortune Points).

Less worthwhile, the combat system uses a variant of D&D's Armor Class system. Weapons are given a Projectile Weapon Value (PWV) or Hand Weapon Value (HWV). This affects the ability of the weapon to hit the opponent. Projectile weapons then cause damage on a fixed table, from 1 to 12 points, while hand-to-hand weapons use a more complex system (described below). Armor modifies damage, reducing it by a percentage, or nearly eliminating damage from weapons below a certain caliber. There are some suggestions of how to handle larger weaponry (machine guns and missiles, for instance) in a Dragon magazine article, but this is not official. Damage is inflicted on a value called "Life Level", which is based on the basic, rolled attributes of the character.

Hand-to-hand combat is divided into various types: non-trained, wrestling, boxing/swordplay (these use the same table), judo, and martial arts. Hand weapons add a damage modifier when using non-trained or boxing/swordplay combat. In the original version, boxing and swordplay were separate, and there was a knife fighting option as well, but the revised system is much better. In a combat round, one character is the attacker, the other the defender. The attacker chooses an attack type secretly (which also determines which damage chart to use in the case of a hit), while the defender chooses two defenses. These are cross-indexed on the tables, and a result determined. This generally consists of a miss or a hit, possibly with a damage modifier, but can also include holds, a change of roles (defender becomes attacker and vice versa), or other results.

Combat has a number of optional rules which can increase the complexity of the game. For instance, injuries can cause temporary and permanent losses to abilities and attributes in addition to the Life Level damage.

Some activities are abstracted greatly. In the optional rules regarding arrest by police, for instance, the character is given a "chance to escape by getaway". This is simply a saving roll against the character's Evasion value, a failure indicating that the character goes to trial (and the trial is similarly abstract).

Further, there are tables of random complications, intended to be used by the Admin (the game's word for the Referee) in cases where she has not built such into the scenario. These include the results of police investigation, the chance that a target (or someone connected to the target) may attempt revenge, the chances that a message is intercepted or jammed, the chance that a surveillance is discovered, and general occupational hazards such as illness or having one's morals offended. There is even a "Campaign Rules" section that includes some notes toward a type of "domain game", with costs of constructing buildings and setting up a network of agents and contacts.

Gygax Quiz (You Know, Because It's His Birthday)

Faoladh took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 60%!



You are a Gary Gygax Myrmidon. You are mighty in the ways of Gary Gygax. You're probably a First Edition or OD&D player, and I wouldn't be surprised if you had an original copy of the Chainmail rules.

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

I'm not really that knowledgeable about Gary, but I seem to be better than average.

Chronologies Vs. Plots

In a discussion on Dreams In The Lich House, we are playing with conceptions of sandbox and railroad style play. As usual, some people are operating from a flawed (in my opinion) understanding of sandbox play and talking about how a "pure" sandbox is this or that thing which is not necessarily so.

Anyway, I started to discuss the difference between a timeline and a preconceived plot:

A timeline does not place any restrictions on what decisions the players can make. The players may choose to confront the mastermind of the timeline or they may choose another route to success. There is no pre-scripted scene involving a necessary confrontation between the mastermind of the timeline and the players. A preconceived game includes the assumption that the players will maneuver their characters in such a way that the mastermind will be confronted, and that scene must occur to resolve the situation either positively or negatively.

I also made the following statement:

Some examples of techniques that I think are mistakes in roleplaying, but which are useful in other entertainment media (and this is not exhaustive): "Boss monsters", cutscenes, climaxes, act structures, and so on. This, by the way, does not mean that in retrospect some of these things might [edit: I meant "won't"] occur, or be imposed on the narrative of the stochastic events, but rather that using these concepts as organizing principles is a mistake.

Apocalypse Now Redux

I love this movie, both versions (though I'll be talking about Redux specifically here). It's an amazing artifact, created almost by accident. It also looks like the sort of thing that results from a proper sandbox. There are location-based encounters (the French villa for roleplaying, the ambush for combat), random encounters ("Never get out of the boat!", inspecting the sampan), and even dungeon-style location-based adventures (Kurtz, of course, at the end of the river). It also includes short story arcs (the USO show at the supply depot and later at the MASH, for instance) created by moving NPCs from one location to another. Some scenes are mythic in scope (the Do Long bridge, the end of the river), while others are more prosaic in tone (the USO show, again, and the supply depot in general).

We can find inspiration for our games in many places, sometimes not even the ones that we think of as directly applicable.

[Worldbuilding]Mardras

One of the city-states that is part of the core of the Paynim Empire. The Paynim city-states are all ruled by wizards (or in one case, by a house of vampiric nobility).

Mardras is one of the few Paynim city-states where the ruler truly has the interests of his citizens at heart. It doesn't seem that way to outsiders, though, since he is a powerful necromancer and lays claim to the corpse of any deceased citizen. All citizens live lives of privilege and luxury, served by the dead, and will one day come to serve others as they have been served.

The ruler of Mardras, Choma vel Dilmun, is fairly young as Paynim rulers go, being only in his first century of age. Not being able to access youth spells, he is preparing to become a lich, the better to provide his people with the comfort they have come to expect. He is hoping to do so before his failing body gives out.

The legions of Mardras are mainly animated skeletons and a few zombies, but other undead are found in the armies, as well. Spectral commanders and mummies are notable here. There is quite a lot of tension between Mardras and several other Paynim city-states, in part because the citizens of the other cities look to the inhabitants of Mardras with envy. Choma is wary of these problems, and is trying to defuse the tension by offering trade subsidies to allied city-states. This has so far had little effect on the problems, however.

Other Projects

I try to keep myself busy, I guess. In addition to the WRG-based game, I have other projects that keep me going.

One of them is improving my computer programming skills and working on a sandbox computer rpg with domain-level aspects. I intend to base the general idea of the interface on an old game called Darklands, which is pretty much my favorite computer game of all time. It was a precursor, in many ways, to Fallout, which was designed by the same studio. I'm also looking at Dwarf Fortress as a model, as it includes most of the ideas that I want to pursue, except that its world generation is not customizable in the ways that I want it to be. In addition, its tone is pretty well set at a particular kind of humor that, though I enjoy it, is not what I want for the game I am designing. I'm also looking at the pencil-and-paper game Flashing Blades for ideas on social structure. I've done a little bit of work on this, mostly laying out some general flowcharts.

Another project is a fantasy world that has been in my head for years. I have made some attempts to develop that world design in the past, but I am currently looking at developing it in play. Some of the important exceptions to that are the languages, which I want to develop as, at least, naming languages, if not the whole way to fully-fleshed-out conlangs.

I have an idea in the back of my head to design a game to deal with my ideas of spaceship SF, but I haven't done any work on it yet. It would include a vehicle/spaceship design system, domain-level ideas to cover colony campaigns, and such.

Another computer-based project I've thought about is a multiplayer online game of domain control. I'm still working out how I want to regulate the turn structure of this idea, but right now most of the ideas I have are really too complex for the sort of semi-casual audience I'd be targeting it at.

I've always wanted to write some supplements for Flashing Blades, covering other parts of the world, such as England and Ireland (and Wales, and Scotland), the Low Countries, Spain, Italy, North Africa, Russia, Germany, Poland, and such, even as far away as Japan. It could even be worth it to develop a magic system for it, on the GURPS Voodoo model, but that might be going too far.

Which of these would be most interesting, do you think?

Troll Blogs

Not worth my time to check out. I admit that I did click over when Christian left, to see what was said. Rubbernecking is a filthy habit, but I'm as subject to its siren song as anyone else. However, I won't be going back. What a waste of someone's time and energy it is to make that. Not one constructive point to it, only a stream of vitriol.

Don't bother. It isn't funny, which would be at least a reason for it to exist. It doesn't offer cogent criticism, which would be another. Waste of time and energy, and I have wasted enough discussing it.

Useful? Perhaps

Jeff Rients linked to nearbygamers.com, which seems like it could be valuable. Anyway, that's my profile there.

Since we are losing our local game stores (though a new one just opened in my town), it's getting more difficult to find players. Tools like this should prove valuable.

Pop Culture and D&D

Part 8459074958794875 in an ongoing series:

[WRG]Thoughts on Combat

In keeping with the idea that I will be using the WRG rules as much as possible, here are my current thoughts on combat.

Hand to hand combat: In a period (30 seconds), each figure involved generates a casualty total in the normal manner. Individual figures will not be rated as LI, except for special cases listed later (and mostly dealing with missile combat). Casualty totals are compared, and the higher total does a wound to the opponent. Determine the nature of the wound by rolling a normal six-sided die for each casualty above the opponent's total and compare to a chart (hit locations? possibly as an optional rule). For multiple combatants, first pair off combatants, with any excess on one side divided up according to a method that takes into account nominal base sizes in the WRG rules (that is, larger base sizes can be attacked by more figures of smaller base size). In a fight with more than one combatant on one side, all combatants on that side generate casualty totals, each using a different random factor roll, which are added together and compared to the total on the other side. If the single figure gets a higher total, all of the figures opposing it might be wounded. Use a modification of the "Risk to the general" rules: for each figure, roll a die (regular six-sided die for "Enthusiastic", averaging die for "Disciplined") and multiply by the excess number of casualties. If the result is greater than the total number of figures fighting against the opposing figure, the figure takes a wound based on the amount of excess casualties. (Example: Abel and Beth are fighting against Xavier. Abel generates 1 casualty, Beth generates 2, for a total of 3 on their side. Xavier generates an astounding 4. Abel and Beth roll dice, with a result of 3 or higher, since the die is multiplied by the excess casualties of 1 and, since there are two of them, the total must be 3 or more, indicating that they take a wound of 1 die in value on the wound chart. If Abel or Beth are "Disciplined", they will take a wound on a roll of 3 or higher, escaping injury 1 chance in 6, while if either is "Enthusiastic", they can escape wounding 2 chances in 6.) Edited to add: If a figure that rates as a model (elephant, chariot, or artillery, or anything that is treated as one of those, such as dragons) in the regular game is fighting against a figure that is normal, but has no armor, then count the normal figure as LI instead of LMI/MI.

Missile combat: This will have the biggest changes. When firing a missile weapon, first determine initiative by rolling a die (type based on "Disciplined" or "Enthusiastic"). The firer with initiative fires first, then the next firer, and so on (any ties roll off). The firer will generate a casualty total and so will the target (using regular hand-to-hand random factors, not the special missile ones of the basic WRG rules). The target's total will be based on a base factor of 1, while the firer's will be based on either a target that is LI (LC if mounted), or the actual target type, whichever is better for the target. The firer will cause a wound based on excess casualties.

Wounds: The lightest wounds will actually be a "recoil" result, which means that the "wounded" figure will attempt to disengage from combat. The opponent may choose to press, which will allow the charge bonus in the next turn but risks being flanked by unengaged opponents, or to let the figure disengage.

Combat sequence: The basic combat sequence will be something like 1) Check morale of all non-player figures that need to do so; 2) Referee adjudicates maneuvers of unengaged figures; 3) Determine initiative for missile fire; 4) Missile fire in order of initiative; 5) Hand to hand combat.

Mounted figures: I still need to think about this, but currently I am thinking that, for horse/camel-sized mounts, a wound has a 50/50 chance of going to the mount or the figure.

Sandboxes and Stories

When I floated the idea of going back to an earlier style of gaming with my last group, one of the hardcore "story games" partisans tended to shout me down each time I'd bring up the subject. One of the discussions that made a strong impression on me was when I'd described going back to the way I gamed as a youth. I described, generally, the idea of a sandbox, in which the referee/worldbuilder designs a setting with plot hooks, locations, and such, and the players interact with that setting to create their own story. Before I could note that this style was overshadowed at a fairly early stage by prepackaged stories, the story games guy began a diatribe about how nobody ever played that way, how it was "abusive" to players, and so on, and so on. I wasn't able to get a word in edgewise.

It didn't occur to me at the time to remember that he is several years younger than I am, and that therefore he might never have experienced what gaming was like before Dragonlance. This might be a major divide in gaming, with the older players having played in Judges' Guild-style settings under referees, and the younger players (by which I still mean people as old as their 30s or even 40s, depending on when they started gaming) having an impression of the "old school" as being railroad adventures with adversarial DMs playing "against" the players. That's the only way I can square his description of "old school" as being "abusive" with my experience of what I consider to be "old school" in gaming. Ah well, missed opportunities and all that.