Kickstarter Alert: Delvers to Grow

Just when you thought it was safe to take a break from Kickstarter, another one comes along and drags you back into its money devouring maw. Douglas Cole, the man behind Gaming Ballistic, Slayer of Dragon Heresy, Headlocker of Dungeon Grappling, and a pile of gaming material that could choke out a hungry umber hulk has just released his new Kickstarter, Delvers to Grow. 

Doug provided me with a sneak peek of Delvers to grow so let talk about what's inside. First off this is for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. Of course it is, Doug is 'the GURPS guy'. And being GURPS is a point buy system, creating a character can take a bit. Delvers to Grow is a tool to assist players to create characters in minutes and GMs to create NPCs. 

Before we go any farther, this isn't a Kickstarter for one book. No, no, no. There FOUR delver books and if that's not enough there is an adventure by Peter Dell'Orto the other 'GURPS guy'. Let's take a look at the four Delver books first. 

Delvers to Grow: Build a Bjorn. Doug has included base templates with basic and advanced modules. Loadouts and spell lists are there for a fast selection. 

DtG: Fast Delvers. This book focuses on thief, martial artist, swashbuckler, and scout. They specialize in precision and deadly accuracy.

DtG: Smart Delvers. We got yer spellcasters here. We got yer bard, cleric, those druidy folk, and everyone's favorite, the wizard. Spellcasters take a lot of effort so this will help cut your time at the table.

DtG: Strong Delvers. The workhorses of the adventuring party. The men and women upfront standing toe-to-toe with their enemies. Jack up your barbarian, holy warrior, knight, and it wouldn't be a Doug book if it didn't include the wrestler. 

I love the idea of the different books for easy reference. The other huge benefit is the three point levels for each template. One at 62, another at 125, and the last at 187.  So these books go with any level of game you're running. 

Oh wait, you thought we were done? Nope. We still have the adventure, The Crypt of Krysuvik. Grab a few of those 125 point character templates and get your ass going on an adventure! Here's the blurb.

In The Hunted Lands northwest of Nordvorn, The bandit Krysuvik is said to have gathered much ill-gotten plunder, and taken it to his grave. It is yours . . . if you can find it and take it. Delvers have tried and failed to find his hoard. But a new clue has come to light that might put adventurers on the true trail of the treasure. The Crypt of Krysuvik provides details for the various locations that contain the clues – and tricks, traps, and monsters – that lead to the treasure. Slay, sneak, and negotiate your way to wealth using your own Delvers to Go or the included pre-generated characters.

Peter wrote it so I can guarantee you it'll be excellent. 

So How Much is this Gonna Cost Me?

Glad you asked. He's got a lot of pledge levels, but I'm going to talk about the ones I think are the sweet spot. At $35 you're getting all four Delvers in PDF and The Crypt of Krysuvik. Plus the stretch goals in PDF. Only $35!

But if you're like me PDF is okay. I use them for reference, but there is nothing like holding a book in your hand. At $70 you get all of the above in print and PDF. Wait, that deserves a !

There are many other pledge levels that cover even more material and Doug's back catalog. Make sure you check each pledge level and get the best one that suits your needs.

Stretch Goals

I like how Doug runs his stretch goals. It's not based on the pledge amount, but on the number of backers. This series of books are called Ready to Raid. 

At 600 backers Bandits and Outlaws is unlocked. These are the bad guys. Each is a complete character, with a bit of background, stats, equipment, and suggested use. Includes a full color icon for each character.

At 750 an array of Spellcasters. Use them as sages, hirelings, crackpots, adversaries, or starting characters. Again, spellcasters tend to take up more time than other characters/NPCs to create so having a batch of them ready to go is a huge benefit. 

At 825 backers Delvers and Thegns is yours. They can act as prominent (or not-so-prominent) townsfolk, rival adventurers, hirelings, or grab-and-go characters.

At 1000 backs Doug unleashes the final stretch goal of Pirates and Vikings. The other books come in at 24 pages, this one expands to 40 pages. A Viking longship, complete with two-dozen raiders? Oh yes. A modestly crewed 60' merchant or exploration vessel? Yep. Tack on a rowed longboat and a large sailboat, each full of pirates. Each vessel will have a hex-map illustration in the book.

In Conclusion

This is Doug's 11th Kickstarter. He's always funded and over delivered. He makes great gaming books. Delvers to Grow looks like another success in the making. The price point is generous and the quality is always top-notch with Doug. So don't resist the pull as your wallet floats out of your pocket and vanishes into the ether that is Kickstarter. It's a good thing because in July, yes this July, your mailbox will groan with amazing amount of great gaming content. Click any of pictures or links to pledge!

Going Through the Spells: Detect Evil

Artwork by Jeff Easley

Up next are the 1st level detect spells, Detect Evil and Detect Magic. I was going to combine them, but I've separated them for a reason. Detect evil is an interesting spell because it is a judgement spell. And in this case, alignments, if you use them, don't come into play. Only the immediate intentions. 

Old School Essentials Mechanics
Duration: 6 turns

Range: 120'

Objects enchanted for evil purposes or living beings with evil intentions are caused to magically glow.

-Intent only: it does not grant the caster the ability to read minds

-Referee must decide what is 'evil'.

An interesting line in the B/X description "The exact definition of 'evil' is left to the referee, and players should discuss this point so all are in agreement; Chaotic isn't always evil."

I'm not sure when this conversation is to occur. Different factors come into play each time Detect Evil is cast. I might explain my interpretation to my players (I might not to be honest). I remember only a few times when this spell was used.

The objects sentence is something I hadn't taken too close a look at until now. It specifically states 'enchanted for evil purposes'. Further description of the spell, traps are not considered good or evil. In the B/X description it states that poison is neither good nor evil. Huh? So I'd interpret this spell as only evil 'magical' items are detected. I would also include obvious evil artifacts from an evil god.

However, I find this description confusing. Interpreting intentions is difficult, even though most everyone on the internet deems themselves experts in this area. Let's say an evil cleric uses this spell. He sees a mother or three standing in a crowd and he is about to select a stone from a bag to determine which child is to be sacrificed to the god of death. She glows. She wants to protect her children and imagines herself slitting the priest's throat. Are her intentions evil? I'd argue no, because it's to protect her children. But the priest would consider her intentions 'evil' because he'd prefer to keep his throat uncarved.

Then there is this bit about glowing. It doesn't specify if it glows for the world to see or if it is only to the caster. As a referee I tend to side with whatever would give my players the advantage, but I rule this one, as in most of the detect spells, only the caster can see the glow. 

Let's take a look at the AD&D version. There are slight, but significant differences.

AD&D Mechanics

Duration: 1 turn + 1/2 turn/level

Range: 12'

Discover emanations of evil, or good in the case of the reverse of the spell, from any creature or object. For example, evil alignment or an evilly curse object will radiate evil, but a hidden trap or unintelligent viper will not. Followed by about 5 sentences giving examples of the duration.

Okay, first of + 1/2 turn/level...really. Come on Gary! But I do enjoy 'evilly'. 

The AD&D version makes a distinction, this spell focuses on the alignment or an evilly object. It is not based on intention. No interpretation needed. Or at least no group confab is needed. And because it is reversible and detects goodly people and objects removes the shades of gray. And there is no glowing. 

But we lose the subtleties. Let me give you a scenario where a neutral NPC loathes one of the PCs. Maybe the PC "accidentally" pissed in his Cheerios or something. The PC being paranoid cast his Detect Evil spell. No evilly detected. Eats his dinner and dies from the poison the Neutral guy slipped in. You could argue that would make the NPC evil, maybe. But not necessarily. Maybe he honestly considered the PC a threat to his safety. Nothing detected, but now the player is throwing d4s across the room because his spell did not warn him. 

I think that version is a little to colored in the lines. Too black and white. I like my gray. 

Here's something you don't hear often. GURPS has a simple solution. Sense Foes.

GURPS Mechanics
Cost: 1(minimum 2)

Range: Area

Tells the caster if the subject has hostile intent, and to what degree. It can be cast on one person or an area. If cast over an area it only detects someone is hostile, but not who. 

Boom. Ambiguity gone. Subtlety remains. There is no need for philosophical discussions about the essence of good and evil. And I like that it tells the caster the degree of hostility. Like the difference of "Fucker took the last jelly doughnut" compared to, "He poisoned my dog."

Sense Foes gets my vote. It fulfills the need that Detect Evil doesn't fulfill.

What say you dear reader? Thoughts? Concerns? Or are you the evilly one in the corner who wants to keep it a secret?

Dungeon Fantasy that Echoes Vancian Magic

There has been this thing, this Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter going around lately. You may have heard of it?  Well Steve Jackson Games has been releasing supplements of Dungeon Fantasy for years and every volume has been excellent. The latest, Incantation Magic, was written by +Christopher R. Rice and Antoni Ten Monros.  Chris writes the Ravens n' Pennies blog.  

Dungeon Fantasy 19 Incantation Magic captures the essence for the Vancian magic system and allows you to use it within the GURPS system.  Another optional magic system you can use in your game.  Which I like personally.  To give a different slant on magic from culture to culture.

Dungeon Fantasy 19 Incantation Magic is available in PDF for $7.99.  

GURPSDay: First Character

+Douglas Cole spoke about GURPSDay, how he is gathering the links to GURPS related posts for the week.  It got me thinking about all the years I spent playing and about getting out a few of my GURPS books.  I only have about 60 or 70 GURPS books.  Plus I have the books for the all the editions, plus the box for the second edition.

While my posts will not be like the others, I'm not too concerned about it.  I am not good at developing rules, physics or math in general.  I'm coming at this from my experience and what I like to do.

Around 1986, my group had been playing AD&D and Basic D&D for seven years.  The 2nd edition of D&D was coming out, we didn't know it was another edition.  But by this time I think we were running on fumes.  +Rob Conley suggested we give GURPS a shot.  Which I reluctantly did.  I was not big into changing systems, but knew we needed to try something different.

What got me hooked on GURPS were the quirks.  Simple one point disadvantages that helped flesh out a character.  I loved the idea.  I know GURPS gets a bad rap for being rules heavy system, but it was the disadvantages, quirks and skill choices that drew me in.  All these elements enhanced my role-playing.  I now felt I had a system that could reflect a character I wanted to play.  Now I could play a unique character instead of a cookie cutter class.

I still have my first character sheet.  I'm not sure if we made it with 1st or 2nd edition rules.  I know I got a huge boost because I made a reptile man named Shesh.  I hulking brute with a 17 strength.  Here's what happened, we were making 100 point characters with 30 points of disads and 5 points of quirks.  I didn't figure in the racial point cost of a reptile man.  It was a significant amount, something like 60 points.  Rob let it go since it was my first character. 

Click so you can read it.

And the other concepts I found fascinating was rolling 3d6 and not d20.  Rolling low instead of high.  Armor actually provided protection from damage.  Weapons did different types of damages.  The spells had prerequisites that made sense.  And it didn't matter how big and tough you were, one good shot to the head by anyone could take you out.

I was hooked.  From 1986 through 2009 I primarily played GURPS.  The third edition was my favorite.  We often played 75-point character with 25 points of disads.  I loved the struggle of it.  Playing a lowly acolyte who was in charge of a orphanage of a few children, who liked to write poems to a prostitute he liked.  He and two other 75-point guys took on a vampire who was targeting the children.  And we took him out.  There was a blanket dipped in holy water, a frying pan and some rope involved.  Oh my god was that fun.

Anyway, my first entry into GURPS Day.  I hope one of many.  I spent a lot of time with this system.  Thanks to +Douglas Cole and +Peter V. Dell'Orto for reigniting my interest in GURPS again.

Character Creation, No Funneling Involved

by Jesse Riggle

With the conclusion of my campaign this past Monday, my group is already laying the plans out for the next one.  After playing over a year of Majestic Wilderlands Swords  Wizardry and about a year with my campaign playing a pretty much pure AD&D we decided to switch it up and get back to GURPS 4th edition.  Putting the d20s away for a bit.

Ron Conley will be running this one.  It is set in a different section of the Majestic Wilderlands I've rarely played in.  He said think of King Arthur/Game of Thrones type setting.  And our group has grown again.  We will have six players involved.  I rarely play in games where there is more than four, so this should be fun.

After a short discussion we decided to be a band of mercenaries with various skills and oddities.  I believe one guys is playing some sort of puppeteer.  In GURPS you can make the work for you.  One is going to be a disgraced knight.  Not sure about the others.  I was thinking of playing a ex-church knight who has some very strange beliefs about the religion he once served.

Unlike the current trend of character funneling in DCC, we put a lot of planning into the creation of characters.  It's fun and makes you really invest a bit more.  Nothing wrong with funneling and it can be a ton of fun, but so is sculpting a character you want to play for a while.  Get a concept and run with it.

I'm also thinking of getting involved in some pick up games on Google+.  I want to try different games/systems.  Would love to give Call of Cthulu a go.  Haven't had the chance yet.  If anyone has a suggestion let me know.  Have a good one.

Game Night

A rainy morning makes me hit the snooze button fast and often. Last night was game night after a two week layoff. I kinda needed the break and to tell the truth I was exhausted last night before the game started. But I wasn’t about to cancel.

Cast of Players
GM – me
Cal, Master Mage of House Rez something latin – Dwayne (Gamers Closet)
Lazarus, mercenary marked by the Blood God, Azeel – Brian (no blog)
Aramayus, Myridon of Sarrath – Rob (Bat in the Attic)

The start of the game suffered from my low energy and resembling what happened two weeks ago. After being marked by a dead god the high priest, Opulus, had charged Rob with heresy and they had a trail in the grand courtyard of the Hellbridge Temple. Rob needed to pass the second test of his faith, the Test of Fortitude. In a grand display that no one saw he did so and the end result was the colossus statue of Sarrath impaled the offending priest on his spear. The staff he clutch, a bone of the dead god, fell to the ground in front of him.

Cal, stood in the audience and watched. And recognized the staff for what it was. He’s seen another just like it in the hands of Grand Master of the Guild.

Which brings us back to present.

After a short non violent conflict with some of the other temple Myridons, Cal, forfeited the staff. Lavinia, daughter of the Regent, explained a bit about why it was important that it remain in the temple despite its effect on high priest. Her words were “You clean your own house and I’ll clean mine.”

Fast forward through some clunky interaction to get their base established in the swamp. A lot of yapping. Some seeds were planted for future stuff, but overall I needed to get Lazarus back in the game. He’d been absent for I think a month. So I got all three of them stuck together.

The investigation brought them back to the original site of their battle with the mana titan. After some research the party found that it is possible the reason the mana titans were on the move was to correct an imbalance cause by powerful gates being opened by the Briv’El, demon servants of the dead Ba’al. They have returned to assemble the bones of their god to resurrect him (play cheesy ominous organ music here).

Cal, found he could not enter the area. The mana was highly unstable and caused him a lot of pain and would have damaged him if he remained for any length of time. However, Lazarus and Aramayus were able to enter the mana storm. A hundred yards in Aramayus came across a fallen myrmidon and tried to remove the body, but of course those damn bodies don’t stay still and it attacked. Laz had his hands full with a trio of mana zombies. Aramayus after a short battle was slain.

As he lay there it was a myrmidon he’d known stood over him holding out his hand to help him up. The environment remained the same except much calmer. Both marked as true faithful of Sarrath they stood together with sword and shield. And although Laz ran out, he returned to the mana storm and was slain by Aramayus. Once again, Laz fell to the ground to find Aramayus standing over him. All stood with their symbols of their god engraved in their chests.

Poor Cal was still stuck on the outside of the mana storm firing spells. If you know GURPS being that far away it is difficult to do too much, but he was able to assist here and there. Especially in the last encounter when the party met a Briv’El in the shape of a wolf that tried to consume Laz’s body. Laz and Aramayus were able to battle it from their side, but it was Cal’s sunbolt that evaporated the creature.

There it ended. Two dead. Stuck in this nether world. One stands outside a mana storm unable to enter.

The next session I plan to run is separate. Short sessions for Laz and Aramayus on Saturday. And then I will do a separate session for Cal. I like doing this if the players and myself have the time.

Though the session started slow after a while I got my mojo going and it was fun. My imagination revitalized again. Migraines have a bad side effect that leaves playing RPG game undesirable, but once I got into it again I felt a lot better.

Malgic

I make no apologies for my blatant rip off of something I saw on Babylon 5 years ago (or the name I've given it).  There was a drug that allowed normal people to use psychic powers.  I think they just called it 'Dust'.  The Psi Corps needed to keep it under control because the raw psychic power was lethal to them.    I adapted the idea for my current GURPS campaign.  It's still rough, but I like it.

Some creatures that have innate magical abilities possess have a mana gland that hunters can harvest.  It's this gland that alchemists use to make the malgic concoction.  It is a difficult process and illegal.  Mage Guilds will hunt anyone who is creating malgic.  But because of the high profit and the power is can grant, malgic continues to be made even though the risk is great.

Malgic allows a normal person to use mana in a raw form.  They don't cast spells as much pull raw mana from the environment.  Only those with a strong will have any sort of control.  Most users become open vessels that the mana pours into and essentially becomes a mana bomb.  This can have several horrible affects on mages.  The following is a short list of things I've come up with, if you can think of other effects please add them in the comments.  Like I said still working this out.

1. Mana explosion.  Mages take 1d6 damage/magery level. 

2. Mana burn.  Mages are burned by the intensity of the raw mana unleashed.  For the next 1d6 weeks the mage will be unable to cast any spell that is not instantaneous due to the intense pain.

3. Mana void.  The area becomes a mana dead zone. 

4. Mana surge.  All spells work at maximum capacity and use maximum fatigue.

5. Mana rift.  Tears the plane and allows passage.

6. Mana bomb.  Combine 1,3 and 5.

Tonight We Begin

...again.  After Rusty needed to take a departure from gaming for a short while the onus of GMing fell upon my shoulders which I gladly accepted.  Tonight we begin the new campaign.  *sound the trumpets or kazoos*

I won't go into too much detail on how it will begin because I know Rob and Dwayne will read it although I could make something up and pull the old switcharoo on them.  Something I may do in the future.  The other cool news I heard was one of our old gamer friends is graduating college, he's been going for like 3000 years, and wants to get back into the group.  Bonus.  He's a good player and brings another dynamic to the small group.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I am using the old Judges Guild City-State of the Invincible Overlord as the setting using GURPS as the system.  But our homebrewed version, mainly flavored by Rob over the past 1000 years.  Being thrown into GMing I thought why make up a new setting when there is one already rich with history with the group and I don't have to do much work because it is already there and everyone knows it well.  I am setting it a few years after the death of the Overlord Lucius, with no true heir except a distant relative who is only 9 a regent was assigned, Lord Divolick.  This polarized the other dukes and a civil war soon followed led by Duke Draco-Lindus.  This civil war is divided by race and religion.

My campaign starts where the civil war is winding down and it seems both sides have lost steam in their commitment to the fight.  Both sides have taken heavy losses and though some boundaries have changed very little is different after the years of war.  So there is a bitterness that nothing was resolved to have so many sacrificed and a relief that it looks like the civil war may be over.

That is the overall backdrop.  A land still in grips of the final stages of a war.  Now where to begin.

So what I had the players do is make up their characters and I gave them the responsibility to figure out how they knew one another.  What past they shared.  There would be no, You see a mysterious stranger in the corner table of the tavern.  I am not against it and I may use it next session for all I know, but I wanted to hit the ground running and both of them know the Majestic Wilderlands better than me overall.

Both completed characters, Dwayne is a mage who specialized in healing, light and movement colleges.  So he can heal very well, get out of a situation very quickly and has only one real offensive spell, Sunbolt.  Rob is playing a mercenary/guard assigned to mage's guild.  During Divolick's rule the Guild of Arcane Lore who for all its years of existence remained neutral in political matters.  Now the guild allies itself the regent and was used extensively in the war.  As part of this arrangement Divolick made assigned a portion of the mercenary guild to protect mages and are paid very well for it.  And so our little party is born.

With their character made and their professions and likes and dislikes created, I made a more extensive background for each character.  I little family history, developed friends and allies, rivals and enemies.  Both have a little of both. I do this so it feels like their characters have existed in this world before they started rolling dice.  And it provides a little fodder for future adventures.

Now my part as GM is to develop that introduction adventure.  And I am going to say it right here, there is going to be a little railroading involved.  That's right, I said railroading in a sandbox campaign.  Who may think they cannot coexist, but they can in the hands of a master GM.  Well at least one who is doing anyway.  I'm going to jump into this one where the characters are in the middle of something.  Wham!  In your face PCs!

Again, can't say much because Dwayne and Rob are reading this blog carefully hoping I may give them a detail or two.  So to prepare for this first adventure I've had to re familiarize myself to GURPS.  Its been a while since we've played.  And also I need to whip up a few NPCs I have outlined.  This shouldn't take long with the help of GURPS Character Assistant 4.  Probably one of the best tools for a game system ever.

Have a great Monday.  I am thinking it may be a long week because Rob and I are going to Origins this weekend.  Still have to find a hotel.  Man, too many things to do.

Mining the OSR for GURPS

So last night was a last game with Rusty for a while.  Our party managed to find the important things.  Though the adventure was built for six to eight players and three of them being fighter we did okay with four of us, with one NPC fighter who got beat up pretty bad by a ghoul.  I won't go into much detail as not to spoil the plot for the beginning of the Splinters of Faith series, but be prepared for a lot of round rooms.

The group discussed what we wanted to do next.  Everyone seems to have d20 fatigue so we are going back to GURPS.  I think for our group its always been the system of choice, for better or worse it fits us.  I will be GMing this time around which I am excited about.  Wasn't sure if I would be, but the more we talked about it the more ideas that came to my head.

Now just because we are playing GURPS does not mean I am not going to mine the shit out of OSR products.  Oh no, I plan on having a large pick-ax going to town.  Plus, Rob runs another Swords & Wizardry game on the side so I might do a few pick-up games there so I can throw a d20. 

While GURPS is a great system and has some of the best historical supplement books, the one thing it lacks, nah, I will even say sucks at is adventures and creatures.  Though they are making head way in this area SJG isn't about to expend resources on an ehhh selling product right now when they are riding the baloney pony of Munchkin all the way to the bank.  But with the Dungeon Fantasy series and recent release of Low Tech (which is interesting, but it makes me think too much) and Monster Hunters at least it doesn't feel abandon. 

This week the guys will make their characters.  Rob I think will be playing a city guard/mercenary spear man.  Dwayne has not unveiled his guy yet.  As a GM all I asked was they make the characters and figure out some back story on how they know each other and make them compatible.  Two man adventuring party leaves little room for error. 

I'll be using the Majestic Wilderlands as a setting.  I always tell Rob that think of it as a alternate universe from his own.  Since it was such quick notice it works out because of the history we have with it and there are several threads we can pick up on and get into depth without putting too much effort into it.  All of us know the Majestic Wilderlands, cultures, politics and legends.  So no need to feed the players information the only thing that needs monitoring sometimes is knowledge they would not know. 

Back to the OSR connection, I plan on going through some adventures, supplements and blogs and getting some good information gathered I can use.  Good gaming stuff doesn't have a system boundary, it'll work anywhere. 

Low-Tech, Knockspell and One Weird Die

Yesterday I went to my FLGS and picked up a couple of goodies.  Wasn't sure what I would find because there isn't a standard gaming stash there.  He's been getting more old-school gaming stuff in because Rob Conley has been running his Majestic Wilderlands using Swords & Wizardry ruleset there.  Trying to spread some of the OSR gospel.

I was hoping to get the 1st issue of Knockspell because it was the only one I didn't have.  I lucked out and one was there.  Then GURPS has their new Low-Tech books out and this one I went back and forth on for a short while until I cracked it open.  GURPS does not put out back books.  Period.  It's a $30 hardcover with 160 pages.  A lot of good content.  My one pet peeve with them right now is they released the book in October, I think, and already they have three companions out for it in PDF.  LT1: Philosophers & Kings, 36 pages $8.  LT2: Weapons & Warriors, 40 pages, $8.  LT3: Daily Life & Economics, 52 pages at $10.  The reason why this is a little annoying is they could have included it in the hardcover.  The Character book was $40 at 336 pages.  So now to get all of it I have to spend another $26 to get them in PDF instead of paying another $10 to get them included in the hardcover.  Grrr.  I didn't even know I was going to have a mini grumble here, but there it is.  I know gaming companies have to make money, but not by playing these number games with their public.

Big breath.  Knockspell Issue #1 which I had read when it first came out, but hadn't gotten a copy for myself until yesterday.  I like Knockspell.  Hope they come out with more issues.  I read what I could over at the forums (I cannot hide my disdain for forums)  and it looks like Knockspell is hibernation.  Hope to hear how it goes because it is a great magazine.

The last thing I got yesterday was this weird little die.  My surprise purchase.  I've been collecting strange little dies like these lately.  I figured I could use it when the players come upon an NPC that I haven't fleshed out just to get a general sense of the person's mood.  Not sure who makes this die, but it has faces on five sides and then the corresponding mood description on the other five sides.  Simple, but effective I think.

Adventure Update:
Ivy has completed her edits and most of my stuff survived although I believe her editing pen is a +5 vorpal.  Slash, hack, big ass X through a paragraph.  It's bloodier than a crazed orc horde. Since the Steelers won yesterday I can relax and have the peace of mind to go through the edits.

What Gaming Stuff I've Been Tinkering With

I'm stilling tinkering around with publishing a couple adventurers I have in the final stages, but found out one of them has an outdated map.  Rob Conley redid the map, but can't seem to find the final edited version.  I did a lot of renumbering and editing to have the adventure make more sense...I think.  So when Rob get back from vacation I'll see if he still has a copy.

My second adventure in the final stages is being a pain in the ass to layout.  I'm sure it's a simple fix, but one that eludes me at the moment.  Ivy did the artwork for this one and I think the pictures came out pretty well. 

For some reason I have been playing around with harpies.  I decided to mess with my own version of a monster manual.  I came up with a couple variations to mess with.  I'll probably post them later in the week.  I did a lot of research of the mythology and several of the existing gaming books on harpies including James Mal's Slayers Guide.  I jotted notes of the stuff I wanted to include on a note card and then filled in the gaps as I wrote about the harpies.

I've also been reading over the Dragon Age RPG books and I really like some of what they have.  Still fooling around with my own campaign world I really like the random table of advantages a character gets for belonging to a culture.  Plus, I think overall a 3d6 system is more suited to my tastes.  Being a huge GURPS fan for many years its not hard to imagine. 

The other think I've been writing about is critical hits.  This one was inspired from the session where we play tested Goodman Games new old school version game.  In his game I think the idea of the critical hit was good, but not the execution.  What I am mulling over is different classes would have different critical hit dice.  A fighter gets to roll a d20 where as a cleric rolls a d12, a thief a d10 and the mage classes would get to roll a d6.  This is only for armed combat not spells.  Of course the higher the number the more potent the critical will be.  But that means coming up with a 20+ list of effects.  Not enough brain power to attempt that yet.  And I am sure I will find a ton of critical hit lists that I can scavenge from.

Still waiting on my Swords & Wizardry book, hoping it was sent out in the last mailings and wondering if the rumors of the Castle Keeper's Guide are true.  The latter one I've waited for, for so long that I am almost indifferent about it now.  But not quite indifferent.  If the rumors be true than I am sure I will get it down the line. 

Have a good one. 

GURPS, 4th Edition, and Playtesting for Goodman Games

Friday and Saturday I traveled to Erie to take part in the convention, or more accurately, days of gaming.  Rob and I went up together on Friday to play a game of GURPS.  In the description it said it was an introduction to GURPS to players who hadn't tried the system.  Since it was the only game running that night and a rare opportunity that Rob and I get to play together (instead of one of us being a GM) we went.  We weren't about to let our 20 years of playing GURPS get in the way.

 

We were the only ones to show for the games.  The GM was Jim I guy I'd met during the other days of gaming in Erie.  We fessed up at the beginning that we weren't newbs and told him we'd been playing since the 2nd edition of GURPS.  His response was "I hope this doesn't suck then."  "Not to worry," I said.  "We're here to roll dice and have fun.  And I hope Rob does something embarrassing so I can blog about it."  He didn't.  Jim brought us in each two GURPS books to have!  The remarkable part is I didn't have either of them, I got Rogues and the other was Monsters.  So thank you Jim.

The game itself was a simple play by number adventure that had been in the books as an example for years.  Rob and entered a house started stealing things.  That is until we ran into Max the sleeping guard with the large scimitar.  We ended up killing him which cost us reward points in the end.  It was a short night, but I got some other goodies also.  I found random hit location dice, trap dice and random dungeon dice. 

Saturday I rushed to Erie to get to the Swords & Wizardry game at 9am.  I skipped breakfast because I was running late.  I got there and the GM never showed.  Determined not to let that spoil my day I hooked up with a 4th edition game at the next table.  I played a swordmage, I think.  It was fun just to play.  I'm still not a fan of the 4th edition, but the GM did a great job and the other two guys in the party were good.  I planned on playing a Savage World, Hellfrost game, but the 4th edition ran over an hour and the Hellfrost filled up. 

Once that game was done I was starved so I thought I'd go find something to eat.  Then I saw Rob setting up for one of his games.  He told me to join because they were going to play the Goodman game retro game now instead of at 7pm.  I wanted to play that so I starved more.  We had a full table for this one.  Al from Beyond the Black Gate joined us.  I won't go into too many details about the game because I am sure Rob will give full details of it.  My impression of the game...it was a mixed bag for me.  There were some things I liked and some I didn't care for.  Since I am not sure how many details I can give I won't say too much, but we had a great time.  Started out with 10 guys and ran out with 3.

The good thing about running the game early is I got to go home at 7pm instead of 12am.  So I could finally eat.  I hope your weekends went well and the gaming was as good as mine. 

100 Followers and Oh God, Not Another Magic System

I finally crawled my way to 100 Brilliant People. I didn't realize they were so scarce. Thanks to Chris Kutalik for being the 100th.

Yes, I am working on a magic system. Don't throw things or groan or roll your eyes at me. Just pipe down and listen up. My two favorite systems are AD&D and GURPS. Two beasts with very little in common. Here are a few quick shots I like about both.

- I like the base level and experience that AD&D has compared to GURPS where it is a point based system that often result in very powerful characters in a short amount of time.

- GURPS has options out the wazoo. I like options, but I don't like getting my wazoo involved. The magic system can be manipulated in various ways that can make each culture have their own twist. AD&D, with the Vancian system is too cartoony for me. All of a sudden at 5th level you can learn a 3rd level fireball and blow up the world. It was fun when I was 14, but not as much now.

- I like the spell point system GURPS uses. You can be a starting character and cast potent spells from the get go, but it takes time to recover. AD&D the Vancian system you cast it and forget it. Never made sense to me. I like the idea a character can cast decent level spells from the beginning.

What my system for the game I plan to eventually run is a point based Vacian system. Ha, you thought I wasn't going to use the Vancian way since I talked smack about it. Let me rewind and go back to the beginning of character creation.

Oh and before I even start this section, players start at 0-level. Why not? A magic-use starts with a number of Spell Points (SP) equal to his intelligence. Intelligence also provides the base number of spells a magic-user can learn. These spells are memorized and can be used as long as the magic-user has available spell points. So say the mage has magic missile, hold portal and sleep in his arsenal he doesn't have to choose ahead of time which he uses he can use any of them because he knows the spell it's a matter of does he have enough spell points to cast it.

The base cost of spells is 10 spell point/level of the spell and 1 point for 0-level spells. When I say level of the spells it is for figuring point cost. If a 1st level magic-user learned a 6th level spell and managed to get the required spell points to cast it he may do so. In addition, certain properties of spells may be boosted by plowing more spell points into the casting. A magic-user may need to increase a spells range or make his light spell a bit more powerful. So this gives spells a flexibility that is not normally there.

Back to character creations and advancement. Magic-users gain a d10 in spell points at 1st level. This is done on odd level advancements. On even level advancements the magic-users may roll to learn a new spell or gain another d6 in spell points. It takes a number of weeks to learn the spell equal to the level of the spell. But there is always a chance the spell won't take. The chance of learning a spell is based on the player's intelligence. Spell points are gained automatically.

Available in the world are forms of raw and stored mana. There are raw forms of magic called viz. These form naturally in various magical places. A pond will form small pebbles of mana. Each of these pebbles may be used as 1spell point toward the casting of a spell. And of course larges stones may be worth more spell points. Once the viz is used it is gone. This idea I blatantly ripped off from Ars Magica.

Also there are power stones, and idea I blatantly ripped off from GURPS. I'm not proud. Anyway there are magic imbued stones, usually gems of some sort that absorb the magic out of the land. It does this passively and no effort is needed by the player. What it can do, depending on the size, is store a number of spell points to be used in casting. The charge time for these is slow usually one spell point/day, but they are reusable and helpful in a pinch.

So there is actually quick look at Oh god, not another magic system.

GURPS, its not just a noise

I've probably played in more GURPS games than any other system, maybe even combined. I like the system for many reasons, the main one is the character detail. I am all for having a character who can specialize in skills beyond their perceived class (which there are GURPS). The 4th edition of GURPS has sped up combat that in 3rd edition could take up an entire session. Not because it being complicated, but rather two skillful warriors with good armor.

I've heard a lot about GURPS being difficult. I disagree. If you want it to be it canbe. They have rules for nearly anything, but like most systems you use the ones that best suit your style of play and enjoyment. I've heard making NPCs is a long process, but I use basic information and if needed fill it out later. When creating monsters I don't need to know if this goblin is good at woodworking, just defences, attack skills and armor.

GURPS has the best suppliments of any system for my money. Consistantly excellent. I've got a ton of them. The greatest weakness is their lack of support for adventures and a monster manual. With the releases of their Dungeon Fantasy series has been welcomed. Some of them I really enjoyed while others I didn't have much use for. But it gives me hope that they are still producing.

The Use of Missile Weapons in Melee Combat

Rob (Bat in the Attic) and I were discussing the use of missile weapons in melee combat. That has occurred in the S&W campaign he is currently running. He said he posted it somewhere and there were many who said no to shooting a bow in close combat. I am one who doesn't see a problem with it. My reasons...

1. Like most retro clones, combat is divided into 10, 6 second segments. More than enough time for an archer or crossbowman to maneuver into a position where he could fire off an effective shot. I would allow them to take a step back and fire off a shot, but if they had no place to step back and was engaged in close combat then no, they would need to attack with a different weapon.

2. I don't like to get too caught up with realistic combat. If mages are launching fireballs, clerics raising the dead then having someone shoot a crossbow or bow at close range shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

I think this simple one space separation rule adds a strategic value to close missile combat.

On a side note the one rule that we currently use for missile weapons is an ACC rating, meaning you get that number to your 'to hit' for aiming. A mechanic borrowed from GURPS. In GURPS it works well because you have to sacrifice a few precious combat rounds to accumulate ACC, but in S&W since they use 6 second segments its just a free + to hit. I would remove that rule from a S&W or retro clone campaign.

A Good Week for Gaming

The week started off with a bang when we had out regular Monday Night Group (minus Rusty Battle Axe) exploring the underworld of the city and eventually exploring an abandon mansion on the outskirts. The fights were mismatched, we handled them easily, but it was fun to explore the old mansion. Always check the fireplaces for loose bricks. I found a hidden treasure after hidden treasure. It finished with us taking down the main guy (he's remains alive as of this blog, but no promises next week). And I got to web one that tried to run away. I am much happier when I get to web someone. Can you name the module we went through by the cover art?

The next day I get a package from Amazon. I bought GURPS Mysteries and HackMaster Basic. I've only just started to read both and I am thrilled with both of them. The initial work in the GURPS Mysteries is fantastic. Lisa Steele has done an amazing job explaining the different sub-genres of mysteries and how to convert them into a playable adventure. HackMaster is interesting and with all HM products funny as hell. I really loved the attitude and fun the original HM had, but didn't like the time it took to create a character. HM Basic does reduce the amount of time, but I think I will need to tweak it. They've reduced the classes and races down to four. No more Battle Mages or Gnome Titans. Both of which I enjoyed, actually HackMaster got me to liking Gnomes. But this is easily fixable with my tweaks. The honor system is something I am still not huge on, but it would be interesting to find a way to make it work like Glory does in Pendragon. My favorite thing about Hackmaster is the randomness of stats of D&D, but the skill sets that are more like Runequest. The hybrid of a system I am working on slowly is going to be a Frankenstien Monster created from bits of AD&D, GURPS, HackMaster, C&C, S&W throw in a some Pendragon and a dash of Pathfinder.

Then yesterday my White Box came in Brave Halflinf Publishing. I'd forgotten about the adventure that came with it so that was a nice surprise. And as promised it had a colorful set of dice included. I'm excited to sit down with all my new gaming stuff this week.

What to Buy Next

While I wait for my White Box to appear in the mail I've been browsing the virtual shelves for a new target. In my RPGNow cart I have Od&dities 13. At $2 it's definitely worth taking a look at and at 24 pages makes it a printer friendly product. Plus, it looks like RPGNow is having a 25% sale for Game Master's Day starting later on today. So I might find a couple more items in my cart before too long.

Then there is the Advanced Edition Companion for Labyrinth Lord. I downloaded the free PDF, but for this kind of product I like a print copy. I've got no problem with $22.95, but I need to look through the PDF a little more. Anytime I buy from Lulu I feel obligated to buy multiple things to help with the shipping costs. And right now I think I have everything I want from Lulu.

Steve Jackson game has two relatively new releases in their Dungeon Fantasy series. Part 9 is called the Summoners. I doubt I'll get this one. Part 10 is Taverns. I'll be all over that one. The PDF is 33 pages for $7.99. Since I've played GURPS for years and believe they have some of the best resource books I have never had a problem with buying their books even if they are higher in price. And just as a side note, but an important one, any time I've ever had a problem with a book, mainly the binding coming apart, they have always sent me a new one free of charge. But back to the Dungeon Fantasy series, they have been hit and miss for me. Some have been great while some of the entries, while well written, added nothing for me. When in doubt I tell Rob about the new GURPS item and he compulsively buys them then he can tell me if its good or not.

I was looking at a few Castles & Crusades items, but I have to say the last few I bought in the C&C line have been disappointing. I wish C&C would get a bit more support and release things on a regular basis. Maybe they do and I am not following closely, but as I said they last two items I bought, one was just not good at all and the other I thought could have been good, but it missed the mark. They settled for good enough.

Then I think of going back and filling in the gaps of older products I have. Browse eBay and Amazon for possible scores. Rob got one of my dream scores at ErieCon this weekend. He bought a copy the Chaosium's Thieves World for only $20. I was floored.

If anyone has suggestions, even if it's a copy of your own material please let me know. The gaming world is splintered into so many directions these days it's difficult to keep track sometimes.