Okay, first for the announcement. I was looking over my posts just now and I saw that I started blogging my way through the Monster Manual in September last year. That's unacceptable to me, so I'm forcing myself to start up the Ultimate Sandbox again. Expect the posts to start rolling in soon enough.
And now for the game mechanic stuff. Now a lot of the design decisions in later iterations of D&D have come about as a way to make the game less deadly. Or less unfair, depending upon your perspective. Chief amongst the changes the game has undergone is the nerfing of save or die effects. I'm personally ambivalent about the subject; in principle I like that the save or die stuff is there to keep the players on their toes, but I've also seen some characters killed in pretty crappy and unsatisfying circumstances.
There's a simple way to alleviate save or die effects. It only works if you're using the optional death's door rule of death at -10 hit points, but to be honest I never see games being run with out it. Anyway, this is how it goes: if your character is hit with a save or die effect, roll 1d10 and subtract the result from 0. Voila, that's how many hit points your character has left. You might die outright, but it's less likely. I don't think I'd use it in a regular game of D&D, but in something more story-based like the Dragonlance campaign I might put it into practice. It seems like a good rule to me for preserving story flow, for DMs who like that sort of thing (which I do on occasion).
Showing posts with label Variant DnD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Variant DnD. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
A system for determining starting character level
In my last post I talked about some ideas I had to solve the problem of what level I should introduce new PCs at. I’ve been getting annoyed at the way these guys just show up a out of the blue with no history, not having earned the levels they have. So here’s an example to illustrate the system I’m tinkering with.
Okay, so Jim-Bob’s character was just eaten by a ghast, and it’s time for him to introduce his new character. He decides to play as a fighter named Brorg, a wild hillman from the north. Normally I would have had him start at 4th level (two levels below the lowest level character in the party), but instead I decide to use the system below.
First we determine the maximum level that this character can be. This is easily done, as it’s the same level as the highest level character in the party. In this case, Brorg could potentially begin the game at 6th level.
Next we need to work out the pivotal encounters of Brorg’s adventuring life thus far. There will be one such encounter per level to be gained. Brorg will have five encounters that could possibly raise him to 6th level (he gets level 1 for free).
It’s chart time!
Roll - Encounter Type
1-3 - Combat (CR -1)
4-10 - Combat (Equal CR)
11-13 - Combat (CR +1)
14-15 - Skill Challenge (Easy)
16-18 - Skill Challenge (Medium)
19-20 - Skill Challenge (Difficult)
Brorg rolls on this chart five times and gets the following results: two combats with an opponent one level lower than himself, one combat with an opponent equal to his level, a difficult skill challenge, and a medium skill challenge.
Easy combat:
Brorg has an encounter with an opponent whose Challenge Rating is one lower than his own level. Since he begins at level 1 this isn’t possible, so he’ll have to fight something with a CR of ½. There are 24 such monsters in the 3rd edition Monster Manual, and a random roll gives me the result of a locathah. A weird result for a northern hillman, but such are the vagaries of random tables. Brorg must fight it out with this Locathah, and the table below determines how well he has done.
Result - Reward
PC loses battle - Nothing
PC wins, but has lost over half hit points - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC wins, but is wounded - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC wins without being harmed - level gain and treasure
Brorg wins this combat, and only loses a couple of hit points. He advances to second level, and also has a 50% chance to gain some treasure. The dice favour him, and Brorg gets to roll on Table 3-5: Treasure in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Alas, all he finds is a lowly 500 silver pieces, but it’s better than nothing.
Medium Combat:
Brorg now has an encounter with a creature of a level equal to his own. He’s at level 2 now, and there are 45 monsters of the same level in the Monster Manual. Oh no, it’s a monitor lizard! Hardly the stuff of legend. Brorg has a hard time of it fighting this guy, and gets hammered before taking it down. With only a couple of hit points left, he gets a 50% chance of gaining some benefit. If the roll goes against him, he gains neither treasure nor a level. If the roll goes in his favour, he can choose to either gain a level or roll for treasure. Luckily for Brorg he rolls well, and chooses to advance to third level.
Difficult Skill Challenge:
Brorg has to make a difficult skill challenge, which I am defining as three skill checks of Difficulty Class equal to 20 plus your level (which in this case would be DC 23). We need to randomly determine what skills will be tested. The three I got via random determination were Sleight of Hand, Survival and Craft. It’s up to the DM and player involved to come up with a rationale for the three skills required. The above three to me seem like Brorg went on an arduous quest into the wastelands to recover a treasure and fashion it into a gift for his chieftain. Anyway, Brorg fails the Sleight of Hand and Craft checks, but makes the Survival check. Let’s consult the table below.
Result - Reward
PC fails all three skill checks - Nothing
PC makes one skill check - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC makes two skill checks - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC makes all skill checks - Level gain and treasure
Again, Brorg has a 50% chance of gaining a reward. He makes a bad roll, and is stuck at 3rd level.
Medium Skill Challenge:
I’m defining a medium skill challenge as three skill checks of DC 15 plus your level (in this case 18). Random determination this time gives us these skills: Intimidate, Intimidate, and Concentration. Perhaps Brorg was sent to browbeat some lesser tribes into submission, and had to impress them by firing an arrow while his hair was set on fire. Brorg makes all three challenges, is raised to 4th level, and also gets to roll for some treasure. Given that this is a medium challenge, Brorg rolls on the level equal to his own on the treasure table (3rd level – always roll for treasure before levelling up!). He ends up with 100 gold pieces and a minor magic item: a potion of spider climb.
Easy combat:
Brorg gets another easy combat. Now that he is 4th level, he has to fight something of CR 3. A derro! Alas, the little bugger’s poison use and spell-like abilities do Brorg in, and he loses the battle. No level gain or treasure for him this time.
So that leaves Brorg at 4th level, pretty much where he would have been had I went with my usual method. He does have a little more treasure, and a minor magical item, which is more than I would normally give out; I don’t allow new characters to start with treasure beyond a normal first level character. What he does have now is some background. He’s a hill tribesman, but it might be worth making him from warmer climes given the encounters he had early on. He went on some raids with his fellow tribesmen on a number of locathah settlements. Once proven as a warrior he was sent across a lizard-infested wasteland to get back his clan’s stolen ruby, but he was unable to do so. Still later he was part of an expedition sent to intimidate some villages into servitude, and was forced to beat them in an archery contest while they set his hair on fire to impress them. Later he set out alone for a life of dungeon delving adventure, and deep in the underground he had a disastrous encounter with a derro. After his first setback as a solo adventurer he decides to seek out some companions, and that’s where he comes in to the campaign.
Obviously this system could become unwieldy at higher levels, but by that point the PCs have access to raise dead, so it’s pretty unlikely that it will get used beyond level 8 or 9.
Note that at no point can the character die during this process. The combats involved here are symbolic of the trials the character went through to gain those levels, rather than representing actual combats that he fought.
Okay, so Jim-Bob’s character was just eaten by a ghast, and it’s time for him to introduce his new character. He decides to play as a fighter named Brorg, a wild hillman from the north. Normally I would have had him start at 4th level (two levels below the lowest level character in the party), but instead I decide to use the system below.
First we determine the maximum level that this character can be. This is easily done, as it’s the same level as the highest level character in the party. In this case, Brorg could potentially begin the game at 6th level.
Next we need to work out the pivotal encounters of Brorg’s adventuring life thus far. There will be one such encounter per level to be gained. Brorg will have five encounters that could possibly raise him to 6th level (he gets level 1 for free).
It’s chart time!
Roll - Encounter Type
1-3 - Combat (CR -1)
4-10 - Combat (Equal CR)
11-13 - Combat (CR +1)
14-15 - Skill Challenge (Easy)
16-18 - Skill Challenge (Medium)
19-20 - Skill Challenge (Difficult)
Brorg rolls on this chart five times and gets the following results: two combats with an opponent one level lower than himself, one combat with an opponent equal to his level, a difficult skill challenge, and a medium skill challenge.
Easy combat:
Brorg has an encounter with an opponent whose Challenge Rating is one lower than his own level. Since he begins at level 1 this isn’t possible, so he’ll have to fight something with a CR of ½. There are 24 such monsters in the 3rd edition Monster Manual, and a random roll gives me the result of a locathah. A weird result for a northern hillman, but such are the vagaries of random tables. Brorg must fight it out with this Locathah, and the table below determines how well he has done.
Result - Reward
PC loses battle - Nothing
PC wins, but has lost over half hit points - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC wins, but is wounded - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC wins without being harmed - level gain and treasure
Brorg wins this combat, and only loses a couple of hit points. He advances to second level, and also has a 50% chance to gain some treasure. The dice favour him, and Brorg gets to roll on Table 3-5: Treasure in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Alas, all he finds is a lowly 500 silver pieces, but it’s better than nothing.
Medium Combat:
Brorg now has an encounter with a creature of a level equal to his own. He’s at level 2 now, and there are 45 monsters of the same level in the Monster Manual. Oh no, it’s a monitor lizard! Hardly the stuff of legend. Brorg has a hard time of it fighting this guy, and gets hammered before taking it down. With only a couple of hit points left, he gets a 50% chance of gaining some benefit. If the roll goes against him, he gains neither treasure nor a level. If the roll goes in his favour, he can choose to either gain a level or roll for treasure. Luckily for Brorg he rolls well, and chooses to advance to third level.
Difficult Skill Challenge:
Brorg has to make a difficult skill challenge, which I am defining as three skill checks of Difficulty Class equal to 20 plus your level (which in this case would be DC 23). We need to randomly determine what skills will be tested. The three I got via random determination were Sleight of Hand, Survival and Craft. It’s up to the DM and player involved to come up with a rationale for the three skills required. The above three to me seem like Brorg went on an arduous quest into the wastelands to recover a treasure and fashion it into a gift for his chieftain. Anyway, Brorg fails the Sleight of Hand and Craft checks, but makes the Survival check. Let’s consult the table below.
Result - Reward
PC fails all three skill checks - Nothing
PC makes one skill check - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC makes two skill checks - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC makes all skill checks - Level gain and treasure
Again, Brorg has a 50% chance of gaining a reward. He makes a bad roll, and is stuck at 3rd level.
Medium Skill Challenge:
I’m defining a medium skill challenge as three skill checks of DC 15 plus your level (in this case 18). Random determination this time gives us these skills: Intimidate, Intimidate, and Concentration. Perhaps Brorg was sent to browbeat some lesser tribes into submission, and had to impress them by firing an arrow while his hair was set on fire. Brorg makes all three challenges, is raised to 4th level, and also gets to roll for some treasure. Given that this is a medium challenge, Brorg rolls on the level equal to his own on the treasure table (3rd level – always roll for treasure before levelling up!). He ends up with 100 gold pieces and a minor magic item: a potion of spider climb.
Easy combat:
Brorg gets another easy combat. Now that he is 4th level, he has to fight something of CR 3. A derro! Alas, the little bugger’s poison use and spell-like abilities do Brorg in, and he loses the battle. No level gain or treasure for him this time.
So that leaves Brorg at 4th level, pretty much where he would have been had I went with my usual method. He does have a little more treasure, and a minor magical item, which is more than I would normally give out; I don’t allow new characters to start with treasure beyond a normal first level character. What he does have now is some background. He’s a hill tribesman, but it might be worth making him from warmer climes given the encounters he had early on. He went on some raids with his fellow tribesmen on a number of locathah settlements. Once proven as a warrior he was sent across a lizard-infested wasteland to get back his clan’s stolen ruby, but he was unable to do so. Still later he was part of an expedition sent to intimidate some villages into servitude, and was forced to beat them in an archery contest while they set his hair on fire to impress them. Later he set out alone for a life of dungeon delving adventure, and deep in the underground he had a disastrous encounter with a derro. After his first setback as a solo adventurer he decides to seek out some companions, and that’s where he comes in to the campaign.
Obviously this system could become unwieldy at higher levels, but by that point the PCs have access to raise dead, so it’s pretty unlikely that it will get used beyond level 8 or 9.
Note that at no point can the character die during this process. The combats involved here are symbolic of the trials the character went through to gain those levels, rather than representing actual combats that he fought.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Starting Level for New Characters
I was thinking last night about what level new characters to a campaign should start at. My knee-jerk old-school instinct tells me "Level 1", as my preference really is for characters to be built from the ground up. And while I get the feeling that can work in earlier editions of the game, particularly in sand-box play, I don't think it's a viable option for a 3rd Edition campaign that's mostly plot-driven. Either that first level character is going to die very quickly, or the campaign plot is going grind to a halt while that character is nursed to the higher levels.
My current method is to start a new character at two levels below the lowest level character in the party. This keeps new characters useful, while still a little bit less powerful than everyone else. But I've recently gotten annoyed with the necessity for these mid-level character to just pop up out of nowhere. And as I said above, I don't like starting characters at higher than first level. It's kind of like cheating if you don't play through it.
So I'm thinking of methods that I can use for players to sort of simulate the experience of playing through those low levels. In my younger days I might have contemplated just running the character solo, but time is at a premium now, and besides that there's always a chance that the character could die. Another much quicker method would be a simple chart that determines your character's starting level. Like this:
Roll : Result:
1 Start at Level 1, loser!
2-5 Three levels below the lowest level PC in the party
6-10 Two levels below
11-14 One level below
15-17 Equal to lowest level PC
18-19 Equal to highest level PC
20 One level higher than highest level PC
That gives a greater spread of potential levels, but doesn't really solve the problem I have with these characters springing up out of nowhere with no background.
Here's another thought I had. Get together with the player and hash out the rough background of the character. I generally don't require a background for first level characters, but I always like one for characters of higher level. From this background, work out a number of pivotal moments in the character's life equal to the amount of levels he could start at (for me, this would be equal to the highest level character in the party). For each of these levels, design a simple encounter that represents that moment, possibly a combat or a skill check or even a bit of roleplaying. The result of that encounter determines whether the level was gained, and possibly if the character gets some other benefit like treasure or a magic item. If the encounter is botched the character won't die, but he won't get any benefits either. Play through every encounter, and eventually you'll have a history for that PC and some levels that feel like they've been earned.
This is all pure thought experiment on my part at the moment, as I haven't tried it out yet. And it does require some prep work. But I like the idea, and I might try and work up an example in the next few days to test out.
My current method is to start a new character at two levels below the lowest level character in the party. This keeps new characters useful, while still a little bit less powerful than everyone else. But I've recently gotten annoyed with the necessity for these mid-level character to just pop up out of nowhere. And as I said above, I don't like starting characters at higher than first level. It's kind of like cheating if you don't play through it.
So I'm thinking of methods that I can use for players to sort of simulate the experience of playing through those low levels. In my younger days I might have contemplated just running the character solo, but time is at a premium now, and besides that there's always a chance that the character could die. Another much quicker method would be a simple chart that determines your character's starting level. Like this:
Roll : Result:
1 Start at Level 1, loser!
2-5 Three levels below the lowest level PC in the party
6-10 Two levels below
11-14 One level below
15-17 Equal to lowest level PC
18-19 Equal to highest level PC
20 One level higher than highest level PC
That gives a greater spread of potential levels, but doesn't really solve the problem I have with these characters springing up out of nowhere with no background.
Here's another thought I had. Get together with the player and hash out the rough background of the character. I generally don't require a background for first level characters, but I always like one for characters of higher level. From this background, work out a number of pivotal moments in the character's life equal to the amount of levels he could start at (for me, this would be equal to the highest level character in the party). For each of these levels, design a simple encounter that represents that moment, possibly a combat or a skill check or even a bit of roleplaying. The result of that encounter determines whether the level was gained, and possibly if the character gets some other benefit like treasure or a magic item. If the encounter is botched the character won't die, but he won't get any benefits either. Play through every encounter, and eventually you'll have a history for that PC and some levels that feel like they've been earned.
This is all pure thought experiment on my part at the moment, as I haven't tried it out yet. And it does require some prep work. But I like the idea, and I might try and work up an example in the next few days to test out.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Solo D&D Playtesting
Most of my D&D time of late has been taken up with designing and playtesting my abstract solo game. (Fear not, Ultimate Sandbox enthusiasts, that project keeps chugging along.) I've played through a few sessions that I want to write up here just to get a feel for how it might fit together.
My unnamed fighter had a very easy time of it on his initial dungeon foray. Early on he found a pile of copper coins in a locked chest, and the very next turn found an even larger pile of copper lying completely unguarded. Laden with copper, he left the dungeon and earned the princely sum of 17 experience points.
(The 'chest' noted above was an 'Obstacle and Treasure' result on the table. I haven't yet made up a chart for obstacles, so for this game I just had my character take a turn bypassing it, with the Wandering Monster check this entailed. Otherwise, he found a fair bit of easy treasure, but with very little reward to show for it. This seems about right so far, and will be even better when the obstacles get more difficult to get through.)
The second foray was a bit more interesting. Coming again to the same locked chest, he found it this time full of silver. Later he came to a stuck door. While battering it down he was attacked by a bandit and made short work of the fellow. Behind the door was a pit trap, but he managed to pass by without triggering it. Past that was a series of unguarded treasures, treasures behind obstacles, and one treasure guarded by a spear trap that was successfuly bypassed. Loaded with coins my fighter decided to leave the dungeon, and had to fight another Bandit and an Orc on the way out. Success, and a grand total of 168 XP.
(With yet another early 'Obstacle and Trap' result, I figure it was probably the very same one with noew treasure added. The stuck door was an Obstacle, with a wandering monster check coming up positive while trying to batter it down. A couple of traps popped up, but going with the 2-in-6 chance for triggering them meant they did not come into play at all; I might tweak this a bit. And yet again there's a lot of easy treasure lying about the place. It's still minor stuff, but I'll probably adjust those numbers down as well. The wandering monster checks as I was leaving the dungeon worked a treat, giving me a pretty desperate battle against that final Bandit.)
The third foray was really quick. I bumped into a Caveman almost instantly, cut off his head in the surprise round, and hauled out a couple thousand silver pieces. There was only 96 xp to be had, but it was a pretty good haul for a single turn.
The fourth foray was really short, and super profitable. After bypassing a few obstacles, I was surprised by a giant rat that took me down to 2 hit points. I killed it on the next round, and found a sparkling haul of 4 pieces of jewelry in its nest. Each of these was worth over 1,000 gold pieces! So after a couple of meagre outings, I finally got the big score and rocketed up to second level, just 1 xp shy of 3rd.
(This was a much bigger haul than I ever expected. I'm currently using the Mentzer treasure tables, and in those the value of all jewelry is 3d6 x 1000 gold pieces. This definitely bears some alteration!)
So the game seems to be working at the moment. The spine of it is solid, I think, and I spent a good fun hour plugging away at it. One rule I completely forgot about was fatigue. In the rules I was following the standard D&D rule in which characters must rest for one turn every hour, but during gameplay I kept forgetting to apply it. So you know what, it's gone. I don't need fiddly rules complicating this thing.
My unnamed fighter had a very easy time of it on his initial dungeon foray. Early on he found a pile of copper coins in a locked chest, and the very next turn found an even larger pile of copper lying completely unguarded. Laden with copper, he left the dungeon and earned the princely sum of 17 experience points.
(The 'chest' noted above was an 'Obstacle and Treasure' result on the table. I haven't yet made up a chart for obstacles, so for this game I just had my character take a turn bypassing it, with the Wandering Monster check this entailed. Otherwise, he found a fair bit of easy treasure, but with very little reward to show for it. This seems about right so far, and will be even better when the obstacles get more difficult to get through.)
The second foray was a bit more interesting. Coming again to the same locked chest, he found it this time full of silver. Later he came to a stuck door. While battering it down he was attacked by a bandit and made short work of the fellow. Behind the door was a pit trap, but he managed to pass by without triggering it. Past that was a series of unguarded treasures, treasures behind obstacles, and one treasure guarded by a spear trap that was successfuly bypassed. Loaded with coins my fighter decided to leave the dungeon, and had to fight another Bandit and an Orc on the way out. Success, and a grand total of 168 XP.
(With yet another early 'Obstacle and Trap' result, I figure it was probably the very same one with noew treasure added. The stuck door was an Obstacle, with a wandering monster check coming up positive while trying to batter it down. A couple of traps popped up, but going with the 2-in-6 chance for triggering them meant they did not come into play at all; I might tweak this a bit. And yet again there's a lot of easy treasure lying about the place. It's still minor stuff, but I'll probably adjust those numbers down as well. The wandering monster checks as I was leaving the dungeon worked a treat, giving me a pretty desperate battle against that final Bandit.)
The third foray was really quick. I bumped into a Caveman almost instantly, cut off his head in the surprise round, and hauled out a couple thousand silver pieces. There was only 96 xp to be had, but it was a pretty good haul for a single turn.
The fourth foray was really short, and super profitable. After bypassing a few obstacles, I was surprised by a giant rat that took me down to 2 hit points. I killed it on the next round, and found a sparkling haul of 4 pieces of jewelry in its nest. Each of these was worth over 1,000 gold pieces! So after a couple of meagre outings, I finally got the big score and rocketed up to second level, just 1 xp shy of 3rd.
(This was a much bigger haul than I ever expected. I'm currently using the Mentzer treasure tables, and in those the value of all jewelry is 3d6 x 1000 gold pieces. This definitely bears some alteration!)
So the game seems to be working at the moment. The spine of it is solid, I think, and I spent a good fun hour plugging away at it. One rule I completely forgot about was fatigue. In the rules I was following the standard D&D rule in which characters must rest for one turn every hour, but during gameplay I kept forgetting to apply it. So you know what, it's gone. I don't need fiddly rules complicating this thing.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Solo D&D Play
I have a habit of flitting about from project to project. One week I'm obsessed with writing a novel, the next I'm programming a text adventure, and the week after that I'm trying to write a mega-gamebook that provides linking material between all of the Fighting Fantasy series. This week, I've started developing rules for D&D solo play that abstract dungeon exploration. So just for the heck of it, I'm going to post some of that work up here. I've been using Mentzer Basic as my guide for the rules here, with some AD&D thrown in for good measure. And it's definitely incomplete. I haven't included any of the random tables, which are the heart of the game, really. But the basic framework is provided below.
And no, my tables and charts didn't format properly.
D&D SOLO PLAY RULES
The Regular Game Turn:
For every turn in which you are exploring the dungeon, you must follow the procedure below.
Step 1: Wandering Monsters: At the beginning of every second turn, you must roll to see if you have encountered any wandering monsters. Roll 1d6. On a result of 1, you have encountered a wandering monster. Use the Random Monster tables in Appendix A to determine what type of monster you have encountered, then use the Encounter rules to resolve it. This will take up the entire turn. Remember that wandering monsters usually have no treasure. If you do not encounter a wandering monster, proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Encounter Check: Roll on the following table to see what you have discovered in the dungeon this turn:
Encounter Check Table
Roll: Result:
1-4 No encounter
5-6 Monster
7-8 Monster and Treasure
9-10 Trap
11-12 Trap and Treasure
13-14 Treasure
15-16 Obstacle
17-18 Obstacle and Treasure
19 Stairs
20 Special
No encounter: You have found nothing of significant interest in the dungeon this turn.
Monster: You have encountered a monster. Use the Random Monster tables in Appendix A to determine what type of monster it is, then resolve the encounter using the Encounter rules. There is a chance that the monster will have some treasure, as noted under each individual monster entry.
Monster and Treasure: Determine the monster type as noted above. The monster is also guarding a treasure of some sort, determined by using the Random Treasure tables in Appendix D. Note that this is in addition to any personal treasure the monster may have as noted in their monster entry.
Trap: Roll on the Random Trap tables in Appendix B to see what kind of trap you have encountered.
Trap and Treasure: You have found some treasure, as determined on the Random Treasure table in Appendix D, but it is guarded by a trap. Check the Random Trap tables in Appendix B to see what sort of trap it is. You may ignore this and proceed to the next turn if you wish, or you may choose to try and take the treasure, in which case you must bypass or trigger the trap, as detailed later in the Trap section.
Treasure: You have found some unguarded treasure that you may take with ease. Roll on the Random Treasure table in Appendix D to see what it is.
Obstacle: Something is blocking your path. Roll on the Random Obstacle tables in Appendix C to see what it is and how to resolve it. You must get past the obstacle to proceed. Otherwise you may choose to take another path through the dungeon, in which case see the rules for Backtracking.
Obstacle and Treasure: The obstacle is not blocking your path, but is instead stopping you from claiming some treasure. Roll on the Random Obstacle tables in Appendix C and the Random Treasure tables in Appendix D to determine what is here. If you want to claim the treasure, you must get past the obstacle. Otherwise, you may choose to continue exploring and proceed to the next turn.
Stairs: You have found some stairs leading up or down to a different dungeon level. Roll on the Random Stairs table in Appendix E to see what type they are. You may choose to ignore the stairs and keep exploring the same level you are on, or you may take the stairs to the new level.
Special: You have found a special sort of room not covered by any of the previous categories. Roll on the Random Special table in Appendix F to see what you have discovered.
Time-Keeping:
It is important to keep an accurate record of your game turns as they progress. This will become necessary when you want to leave the dungeons, and will also be needed for various other situations, as well as helping track durations for spells and light sources. Your record should look something like this:
Turn Event
1 No encounter
2 Wandering monster: 1 orc
3 Found treasure: 100gp
4 Took stairs to Level 2
5 Pit trap: killed
Mapping:
You are assumed to be moving carefully and making an accurate map of the dungeon. Doing so prevents you from becoming lost. You may choose not to map, in which case your exploration will be quicker. If you do so, you need only check for wandering monsters half as often as normal. However, you have a 1-in-10 chance of becoming lost every turn. Dwarves are better at navigating the underground passages of the dungeon, and so they only have a 1-in-12 chance of becoming lost. See below for the consequences of being lost.
Becoming Lost:
There are a number of ways you may become lost, with teleportation and not mapping being the two most common. If you become lost, you will be unable to leave the dungeon until you find a familiar area again. Characters have a 1-in-10 chance per turn of finding a familiar area, except for Dwarves, who have a 1-in-8 chance. If you have become lost by somehow being transported to a new dungeon level, you will only be able to find familiar territory once you return to a dungeon level you had previously explored.
Leaving the Dungeon:
You may decide to leave the dungeon at the start of any turn. To do so, total up the number of turns you have played, and then divide them by two. This is the number of times you must check for Wandering Monsters before you reach the dungeon exit. Note that you may not leave the dungeon if you have become lost.
Backtracking:
If you come to an obstacle that you cannot pass, you may backtrack along your path until you find a new area to explore. On each turn you roll for Wandering Monsters as normal, but do not make the usual Encounter Check. Instead, you have a 2-in-6 chance of finding a new area to explore. Only then can you start making Encoutner Checks again.
Light:
Your character must have a light source to see in the dungeon, unless you are a Dwarf or an Elf. Some common light sources are listed below, along with the number of turns they last for.
Light: Duration:
Candle 3 turns
Torch 6 turns
Lantern 24 turns
Note that your character will need a tinderbox to light a torch or a candle, and flasks of oil to light a lantern. If you run out of light sources in the dungeon, you will be effectively blind. See below for the consequences of blindness.
Fatigue and Resting:
Your character must stop and rest every 6th turn, due to fatigue. During this turn you do not check for Encounters, but you must still roll to see if you have encountered a Wandering Monster. You may choose to go without rest, but you will suffer a -1 penalty to attack and damage. This penalty is cumulative, so if you ignore this rest period twice, you will have a -2 penalty. The penalty disappears as soon as you rest for a turn.
Encumbrance:
Your character’s movement may be slowed if he carries too much equipment and treasure. Normally your character is unencumbered, but if you become encumbered you must roll twice as many times for Wandering Monsters as normal. See the Equipment section for more rules on encumbrance.
Blindness:
Your character cannot see. You suffer a -4 penalty to saving throws, attack rolls, and armour class, and you have double the normal chance to be surprised by monsters. You are automatically lost, and do not have a chance to find a familiar area until the blindness wears off. Otherwise, your only real chance of survival is to find another light source, or to stumble across stairs heading to the surface.
And no, my tables and charts didn't format properly.
D&D SOLO PLAY RULES
The Regular Game Turn:
For every turn in which you are exploring the dungeon, you must follow the procedure below.
Step 1: Wandering Monsters: At the beginning of every second turn, you must roll to see if you have encountered any wandering monsters. Roll 1d6. On a result of 1, you have encountered a wandering monster. Use the Random Monster tables in Appendix A to determine what type of monster you have encountered, then use the Encounter rules to resolve it. This will take up the entire turn. Remember that wandering monsters usually have no treasure. If you do not encounter a wandering monster, proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Encounter Check: Roll on the following table to see what you have discovered in the dungeon this turn:
Encounter Check Table
Roll: Result:
1-4 No encounter
5-6 Monster
7-8 Monster and Treasure
9-10 Trap
11-12 Trap and Treasure
13-14 Treasure
15-16 Obstacle
17-18 Obstacle and Treasure
19 Stairs
20 Special
No encounter: You have found nothing of significant interest in the dungeon this turn.
Monster: You have encountered a monster. Use the Random Monster tables in Appendix A to determine what type of monster it is, then resolve the encounter using the Encounter rules. There is a chance that the monster will have some treasure, as noted under each individual monster entry.
Monster and Treasure: Determine the monster type as noted above. The monster is also guarding a treasure of some sort, determined by using the Random Treasure tables in Appendix D. Note that this is in addition to any personal treasure the monster may have as noted in their monster entry.
Trap: Roll on the Random Trap tables in Appendix B to see what kind of trap you have encountered.
Trap and Treasure: You have found some treasure, as determined on the Random Treasure table in Appendix D, but it is guarded by a trap. Check the Random Trap tables in Appendix B to see what sort of trap it is. You may ignore this and proceed to the next turn if you wish, or you may choose to try and take the treasure, in which case you must bypass or trigger the trap, as detailed later in the Trap section.
Treasure: You have found some unguarded treasure that you may take with ease. Roll on the Random Treasure table in Appendix D to see what it is.
Obstacle: Something is blocking your path. Roll on the Random Obstacle tables in Appendix C to see what it is and how to resolve it. You must get past the obstacle to proceed. Otherwise you may choose to take another path through the dungeon, in which case see the rules for Backtracking.
Obstacle and Treasure: The obstacle is not blocking your path, but is instead stopping you from claiming some treasure. Roll on the Random Obstacle tables in Appendix C and the Random Treasure tables in Appendix D to determine what is here. If you want to claim the treasure, you must get past the obstacle. Otherwise, you may choose to continue exploring and proceed to the next turn.
Stairs: You have found some stairs leading up or down to a different dungeon level. Roll on the Random Stairs table in Appendix E to see what type they are. You may choose to ignore the stairs and keep exploring the same level you are on, or you may take the stairs to the new level.
Special: You have found a special sort of room not covered by any of the previous categories. Roll on the Random Special table in Appendix F to see what you have discovered.
Time-Keeping:
It is important to keep an accurate record of your game turns as they progress. This will become necessary when you want to leave the dungeons, and will also be needed for various other situations, as well as helping track durations for spells and light sources. Your record should look something like this:
Turn Event
1 No encounter
2 Wandering monster: 1 orc
3 Found treasure: 100gp
4 Took stairs to Level 2
5 Pit trap: killed
Mapping:
You are assumed to be moving carefully and making an accurate map of the dungeon. Doing so prevents you from becoming lost. You may choose not to map, in which case your exploration will be quicker. If you do so, you need only check for wandering monsters half as often as normal. However, you have a 1-in-10 chance of becoming lost every turn. Dwarves are better at navigating the underground passages of the dungeon, and so they only have a 1-in-12 chance of becoming lost. See below for the consequences of being lost.
Becoming Lost:
There are a number of ways you may become lost, with teleportation and not mapping being the two most common. If you become lost, you will be unable to leave the dungeon until you find a familiar area again. Characters have a 1-in-10 chance per turn of finding a familiar area, except for Dwarves, who have a 1-in-8 chance. If you have become lost by somehow being transported to a new dungeon level, you will only be able to find familiar territory once you return to a dungeon level you had previously explored.
Leaving the Dungeon:
You may decide to leave the dungeon at the start of any turn. To do so, total up the number of turns you have played, and then divide them by two. This is the number of times you must check for Wandering Monsters before you reach the dungeon exit. Note that you may not leave the dungeon if you have become lost.
Backtracking:
If you come to an obstacle that you cannot pass, you may backtrack along your path until you find a new area to explore. On each turn you roll for Wandering Monsters as normal, but do not make the usual Encounter Check. Instead, you have a 2-in-6 chance of finding a new area to explore. Only then can you start making Encoutner Checks again.
Light:
Your character must have a light source to see in the dungeon, unless you are a Dwarf or an Elf. Some common light sources are listed below, along with the number of turns they last for.
Light: Duration:
Candle 3 turns
Torch 6 turns
Lantern 24 turns
Note that your character will need a tinderbox to light a torch or a candle, and flasks of oil to light a lantern. If you run out of light sources in the dungeon, you will be effectively blind. See below for the consequences of blindness.
Fatigue and Resting:
Your character must stop and rest every 6th turn, due to fatigue. During this turn you do not check for Encounters, but you must still roll to see if you have encountered a Wandering Monster. You may choose to go without rest, but you will suffer a -1 penalty to attack and damage. This penalty is cumulative, so if you ignore this rest period twice, you will have a -2 penalty. The penalty disappears as soon as you rest for a turn.
Encumbrance:
Your character’s movement may be slowed if he carries too much equipment and treasure. Normally your character is unencumbered, but if you become encumbered you must roll twice as many times for Wandering Monsters as normal. See the Equipment section for more rules on encumbrance.
Blindness:
Your character cannot see. You suffer a -4 penalty to saving throws, attack rolls, and armour class, and you have double the normal chance to be surprised by monsters. You are automatically lost, and do not have a chance to find a familiar area until the blindness wears off. Otherwise, your only real chance of survival is to find another light source, or to stumble across stairs heading to the surface.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Come on... Baby needs a new pair of shoes!
In my many years of thinking about gaming (as opposed to actually gaming, but that's another rant) I have had a lot of ideas. Some good, some bad, some mind-bendingly awful. But several years ago, I had what may be the greatest idea in the history of man.
D&D - at the casino!
Okay, bear with me.
This is how it would work - the casino has its own sandbox setting, complete with wilderness and a megadungeon. Anyone who wants to play has to buy in - at, say, $100 an hour? It's hard to estimate how much to set this at without knowing how much gold the average PC is going to haul in.
So you pay your buy-in, and you send your character out to explore. Every gold piece you successfully bring back to town would be paid out as $1 in real life. And you can come back with the same character - starting out at 1st level your hauls might be meagre, and you might even lose money as you try to build up your guy. But as you get more powerful, you can take on stronger foes and haul in more loot - all at the increased risk of death, of course. And once that character is dead? It's gone unless you have a friend there who is willing to spend some of his winnings to raise you.
Of course the casino could fix such a game really easily - wandering encounter with Spectres on the first dungeon level! That's why this would have to be policed pretty strictly. Everything would have to be by the book, and all rolls would by necessity be in the open. Players would be able to call the DM on any ruling, and get a glimpse at the rules or notes to clarify what just happened. But as far as dungeon levels go, the official wandering monster charts would have to be adhered to, and set encounters would have to be reasonable to the dungeon level they are encountered on.
As for ruleset, it's tempting to go for 3rd Edition here, or even 4th - there's a lot to be said for the way they try to balance out monsters by Challenge Rating or experience point total. But this has to be a game that your average Joe Gambler might try out. So in the interests of simplicity and accessibility, it has to be Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert.
The only downside I see, besides bankrupting alegion of gamers, is that I would spend nearly all my time at the casino. But maybe, just maybe, I could then make a living out of playing D&D all day...
D&D - at the casino!
Okay, bear with me.
This is how it would work - the casino has its own sandbox setting, complete with wilderness and a megadungeon. Anyone who wants to play has to buy in - at, say, $100 an hour? It's hard to estimate how much to set this at without knowing how much gold the average PC is going to haul in.
So you pay your buy-in, and you send your character out to explore. Every gold piece you successfully bring back to town would be paid out as $1 in real life. And you can come back with the same character - starting out at 1st level your hauls might be meagre, and you might even lose money as you try to build up your guy. But as you get more powerful, you can take on stronger foes and haul in more loot - all at the increased risk of death, of course. And once that character is dead? It's gone unless you have a friend there who is willing to spend some of his winnings to raise you.
Of course the casino could fix such a game really easily - wandering encounter with Spectres on the first dungeon level! That's why this would have to be policed pretty strictly. Everything would have to be by the book, and all rolls would by necessity be in the open. Players would be able to call the DM on any ruling, and get a glimpse at the rules or notes to clarify what just happened. But as far as dungeon levels go, the official wandering monster charts would have to be adhered to, and set encounters would have to be reasonable to the dungeon level they are encountered on.
As for ruleset, it's tempting to go for 3rd Edition here, or even 4th - there's a lot to be said for the way they try to balance out monsters by Challenge Rating or experience point total. But this has to be a game that your average Joe Gambler might try out. So in the interests of simplicity and accessibility, it has to be Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert.
The only downside I see, besides bankrupting alegion of gamers, is that I would spend nearly all my time at the casino. But maybe, just maybe, I could then make a living out of playing D&D all day...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Taking Away the Numbers
It was high school lunch time, and as usual I showed up to the library's back room ready to game. We were starting new characters (AD&D 2nd Edition as we played at the time), so I figured most of the session would belong to character creation.
The DM was already there, so I sat down and got to rolling my stats.
"Don't worry about that," he said. "I've already done that for you."
Uh, pardon me? I thought. I'm all for DM authority, but surely if one part of the character creation process is sacrosanct, rolling your 3d6 for ability scores is it. Nevertheless, I sat there like a spineless jellyfish and accepted this violation, and the other guy playing did likewise.
"Just tell me what order you want them in, highest to lowest," he continued. I was all set on playing a ranger, so I went with Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, and whatever else those guys needed to qualify. The DM started assigning these numbers in secret, then he started talking. "Okay, you're really strong and healthy, and rather wise. Your intelligence is about average, as is your agility and hand-eye coordination. You don't have many friends, though - people don't like you for some reason."*
Okay. So I didn't know my stats. I knew I was a human ranger, and I was allowed to buy my own equipment, but as far as the concrete numbers and game mechanics went I had only vague descriptions to go on. Sort of like real life, I had a rough idea of how good I was at stuff.
So the other player and I ventured into the dungeon, and there was an actual genuine sense of fear and the unknown. We were pretty reckless hack-mongers in those days, as high-school students tend to be. So when the goblins showed up, we normally would have waded in and kicked ass. But a funny thing happened - without the security of knowing the math, we got cautious. My ranger refused to enter melee, and spent the entire battle keeping out of range and peppering the goblins with arrows. We treated combat like it was potentially deadly, not like a grand old bit of fun.
I can't remember the rest of the game (I'm betting that lunchtime ended and we never went back to it) but the experience has stayed with me. There was something really scary about not knowing the numbers. When you get hit by a spear and the DM tells you that you are "lightly wounded" what does that even mean? How many hit points do I have left? You don't know. You could have 1 hit point to begin with and feel as fit as a fiddle, and you'll never know that you'll be unconscious and dying the first time you get hit.
There's a lot to be said for this as a gaming experiment, but it's not going to work in all groups and all systems. I wouldn't want to try it with more than four players, and I certainly wouldn't want to apply it to rules heavy games like D&D 3e or 4e. 2e was about the right level of simplicity for the DM to manage it.
So if your players are getting a bit cocky, know everything in the Monster Manual, and don't treat their adventuring as a dangerous activity - try taking their character sheets away. There is security in knowing the math, and fear in uncertainty - take away the numbers and see what happens.
* My memory is vague, and I'm making this up. So if that description doesn't match the ability score requirements for a Ranger, it's only because I don't have a Player's Handbook in front of me.
The DM was already there, so I sat down and got to rolling my stats.
"Don't worry about that," he said. "I've already done that for you."
Uh, pardon me? I thought. I'm all for DM authority, but surely if one part of the character creation process is sacrosanct, rolling your 3d6 for ability scores is it. Nevertheless, I sat there like a spineless jellyfish and accepted this violation, and the other guy playing did likewise.
"Just tell me what order you want them in, highest to lowest," he continued. I was all set on playing a ranger, so I went with Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, and whatever else those guys needed to qualify. The DM started assigning these numbers in secret, then he started talking. "Okay, you're really strong and healthy, and rather wise. Your intelligence is about average, as is your agility and hand-eye coordination. You don't have many friends, though - people don't like you for some reason."*
Okay. So I didn't know my stats. I knew I was a human ranger, and I was allowed to buy my own equipment, but as far as the concrete numbers and game mechanics went I had only vague descriptions to go on. Sort of like real life, I had a rough idea of how good I was at stuff.
So the other player and I ventured into the dungeon, and there was an actual genuine sense of fear and the unknown. We were pretty reckless hack-mongers in those days, as high-school students tend to be. So when the goblins showed up, we normally would have waded in and kicked ass. But a funny thing happened - without the security of knowing the math, we got cautious. My ranger refused to enter melee, and spent the entire battle keeping out of range and peppering the goblins with arrows. We treated combat like it was potentially deadly, not like a grand old bit of fun.
I can't remember the rest of the game (I'm betting that lunchtime ended and we never went back to it) but the experience has stayed with me. There was something really scary about not knowing the numbers. When you get hit by a spear and the DM tells you that you are "lightly wounded" what does that even mean? How many hit points do I have left? You don't know. You could have 1 hit point to begin with and feel as fit as a fiddle, and you'll never know that you'll be unconscious and dying the first time you get hit.
There's a lot to be said for this as a gaming experiment, but it's not going to work in all groups and all systems. I wouldn't want to try it with more than four players, and I certainly wouldn't want to apply it to rules heavy games like D&D 3e or 4e. 2e was about the right level of simplicity for the DM to manage it.
So if your players are getting a bit cocky, know everything in the Monster Manual, and don't treat their adventuring as a dangerous activity - try taking their character sheets away. There is security in knowing the math, and fear in uncertainty - take away the numbers and see what happens.
* My memory is vague, and I'm making this up. So if that description doesn't match the ability score requirements for a Ranger, it's only because I don't have a Player's Handbook in front of me.
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