Back in the Saddle Again

Hey, I'm back. I plan on posting regularly, albeit less frequently that before my absence from this blog. You might notice that the post is authored by "A Dragon Adept." It's still Ken H., I just combined my two Blogger accounts.

Gaming updates:

• I am currently playing Finkus S. Snotrags, a halfling, in Tim Shorts' BX Essentials campaign.
• I am working on a set of house rules for my Montporte megadungeon setting that combines Blood & Treasure, BX Essentials, and Crypts & Things. I will post some basic information about the house rules this blog, but I will avoid specifics. I am happy to promote the previously listed products but I do not want to "steal" their content. I plan on using the rules for our gaming group only, so no plans to publish.
• However, on the topic of publishing, I am slowly working on a Montporte monster book for publication. Some of the creatures have appeared on this blog, but many will be exclusive to the book. Tim Shorts has agreed to publish the Montporte monster book through his GM Games (Thanks, Tim!). I am thinking that I will use the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules as the basis. 

That's all for now. 

'Oxkarrotous--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

'OXKARROTOUS 
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: By weapon (2 attacks per round)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Saving Throw Bonus Versus Magic; Limited Teleport
Move: 6
Challenge Level/XP: 5/250

'Oxkarrotous are short, stocky demon-worshiping humanoids.  They typically wear heavy leather cloaks with hoods. Underneath their cloaks, they wear chainmail armor of the finest craftsmanship.

'Oxkarrotous make their homes in remote areas of the Deep Dark, coming near to the earth's surface only to capture humanoids of every variety for slaves and sacrifice. It is rumored that the more powerful 'oxkarrotous can perform the most foul sorcery, summoning and controlling demons to the darkest ends. Some sages have suggested that 'oxkarrotous started as dwarves, whose greed led them to demon worship and the demonic arts.

COMBAT: 'Oxkarrotous often avoid combat by the use of minions, slaves, or even the occasional demon. However, they are capable melee fighters with two attacks per round. Once engaged in combat, they rarely surrender.

SAVING THROW BONUS: 'Oxkarrotous gain a +4 bonus to saving throws versus magic.

LIMITED TELEPORT: 'Oxkarrotous are able to teleport up to 60' twice per day.

Khoshu'utohtl (Aberration)--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

Artist: Little Larry the Kobold

Khoshu'utohtl
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 6 Eye Stalks (1d4 each)
Saving Throw: 5
Special: Modified Wizard Eye; Insanity
Move: 3
Challenge Level/XP: 11/1,700

The Khoshu'utohtl are aberrations from Ioucura, the plane of madness. The Khoshu'utohtl are of low intelligence. Like other aberrations from Ioucura, the Khoshu'utohtl possesses a demented logic and worldview that defies comprehensive by intelligent non-Ioucurans.

The Khoshu'utohtl have round bodies that are about 4' in diameter. They have six eye stalks that extend upward from their bodies. Their skin is mottled gray that slowly moves in swirling patterns.

COMBAT: The Khoshu'utohtl avoid combat when possible, for they are slow moving and vulnerable to physical attacks. When cornered or otherwise forced to defend themselves, the Khoshu'utohtl attack their opponents by bludgeoning their opponents with their eye stalks.

MODIFIED WIZARD EYE: Wizards have long prized having a Khoshu'utohtl in their possession for any intelligent humanoid creature can place both hands on the body of a Khoshu'utohtl and see through all six of the creature's eyes at once. More impressively, up to 4 eyes can be removed from the Khoshu'utohtl's eye stalks at one time and be place in locations up to one mile distant from the Khoshu'utohtl. An person placing both hands on the Khoshu'utohtl can see through these distant eyes. Khoshu'utohtl eyes can be placed in water or in the air, where it will remain floating at the level in which it was placed until retrieved.

INSANITY: Any creature using the modified wizard eye ability of the Khoshu'utohtl runs the risk of insanity. For every hour spent using the modified wizard eye ability, the user must make a saving throw. Each saving throw becomes more difficult. The first saving throw has a modifier of -1, the second a modifier of -2, and so on. When a creature fails to make this save, she or he can no longer detach themselves from the Khoshu'utohtl due to an obsession with the Khoshu'utohtl. They cannot be pulled away by others. Only a Remove Curse will separate the insane creature from the Khoshu'utohtl. The insanity, however, remains and must be cured by a Cure Disease spell.

Unicorn Tortoise--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

UNICORN TORTOISE
Armor Class: 1 [18]
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 Horn (1d6)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Charge
Move: 16
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30

Unicorn tortoises are magical creatures that make their homes in deep temperate forests, caves, and the upper levels of abandoned ruins. They are about 2' tall, 3 1/2' long and weigh 180-300 pounds. They are gray in color with two narrow purple strips down the top of the shell.

Unicorn tortoises graze upon all manner of plants and fungi. They are prized as a source of food and their shell has many uses. Unicorn tortoises are surprisingly challenging prey as their magical nature gives them an unnaturally high movement rate.

COMBAT: Unicorn tortoises are not aggressive, preferring to use their speed to escape predators. If cornered or otherwise forced to defend itself, they will seek to charge their opponents where possible, using their speed and mass. While of animal intelligence, they attempt to fight as a herd, by singling out opponents for mass attacks.

CHARGE: Unicorn tortoises can charge, where time and space allow, gaining a +2 bonus to attack and damage, due to their magically-enhanced speed and agility. A bipedal opponent weighing the same or less than than the unicorn tortoise, must make a successful saving throw when struck by a charge or else they will be knocked down.

Note: This creature was originally created by James Raggi's Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and their Modern Simulacra, although it has gone through several iterations since.

Dungeon Rules: Four Classes

In thinking of streamlined rules to support dungeon play and exploration, I have one last approach. This approach falls into the "race as class" category. If I used it, I would either bolt it onto Swords & Wizardry Core or Blood & Treasure. The four classes:

Human Fighter

• HD: d8
• Armor: All
• Weapons: All
• Skills: A small selection of thief/rogue skills (optional)
• Other: Feats (Optional); Additional attacks per round at higher levels (optional)

Human Mage

• HD: d4
• Armor: None (or light non-metal, optional)
• Weapons: Typical magic-user/wizard
• Skills (Optional): ???
• Other: Spells (maybe include a few lower-level cleric spells, such as Cure Light Wounds)

Dwarf

• HD: d8+1
• Armor: All
• Weapons: All
• Skills: The usual dwarf stuff. Maybe Find/Femove Traps and Open Locks.
• Other: Extra damage with a battleaxe (optional)

Elf

• HD: d6
• Armor: Light
• Weapons: Wide selection
• Skills: Some thief/rogue (Move Silently and Hide In Shadows, optional); Tracking (optional); Short/low bow specialization (optional)
• Other: Spells (as per Druid or Ranger, or combination)

Glyff (Fey)--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

GLYFF (FEY)
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: Dagger (1d4)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Sleep; Spells; Teleport; Spell Resistance
Move: 11
Challenge Level/XP: 5/240

Glyff are fey creatures that stand about 3' tall. From the waist up, they have a human appearance, only smaller. The lower half of their body is canine, with short white fur and black spots, similar to a miniaturized dalmatian. Glyff are nominally members of the Summer Court of the fey, but by treaty and decree of both Summer and Winter Courts, they are considered neutral. Glyff are the keepers of the Seelie Accords. In this capacity, they serve as the official keepers and interpreters of all documents, decrees, contracts and actions related to the Seelie Accords. Older and more accomplished glyff attend to their duties the archives and Courts of the fey on the plane of Umírající (the home plane of the fey). Younger fey often accompany fey traders, travelers and diplomats to serve as mobile counselors and jurists in matters dealing with the Seelie Accords.

Unlike most fey, glyff are silent and sober creatures. They typically remain silent and inactive except in matters pertaining directly to their work. While each glyff has an individual name, their names are known only to themselves and other glyffs (and possibly the highest-ranking members of the Summer and Winter Courts). To the non-glyff, they are simply called "glyff."

COMBAT: Glyff avoid combat, unless it is absolutely necessary to defend themselves. Where possible, they will seek to use their magical abilities to escape rather than harm another creature.

SLEEP: When a glyff successfully strikes its opponent with a dagger, that opponent must successfully make a saving throw or fall asleep for 2d6 rounds (this does not affect most undead).

SPELLS: A glyff may use the following magic-user spells:

• First Level: Detect Magic (at will); Hold Portal (1 time/day); Light (at will); Read Languages (at will); Read Magic (3 times/day); Shield (1 time/day).
• Second Level: Invisibility (2 times/day); Mirror Image (1 time/day)

TELEPORT: A glyff may teleport one time per day to its own home, but only when threatened with serious danger or death.

SPELL RESISTANCE: A glyff gains +2 to its saving throw against magic spells, wands, and rods (and similar spell-like items).

Dragon--Montporte Campaign Critter

DRAGON
Armor Class: -9 [28]
Hit Dice: 24 (12HD + 72HP)
Attacks: Bite (3d8+16hp); 2 Claws (2d8+8hp each); Tail (4d12+24hp); 2 Wings (2d6+6hp each)
Saving Throw: 3
Special: Breath; Bite; Regeneration; Fire Resistance; Magic Resistance (60%); Immune to non-magical weapons; Spells
Move: 18/36 (Flying)
Challenge Level/XP: 35/9,200

Dragons are among the most powerful of all creatures in the five planes . Each dragon is said to have the power of 10 wizards and can breathe fire enough to melt the very roots of the mountains. Fortunately, they are rarely encountered on the plane of Aarde (the plane of Montporte), as they make their home on the remote and mysterious plane of Zaj. It is believed that dragons spend 90% or more of their time sleeping.

Dragons are not cruel and do not delight in the suffering of other creatures. Yet, at the same time, they have very little regard for anyone other than themselves. When they are awake, they care only for gathering knowledge and treasure. Dragons are known to visit Aarde on rare occasion in gather updates on the history and happenings of Aarde. They particularly delight in oddities and esoteric facts. Dragons have an unquenchable thirst to study and know every aspect of the universe. There are few creatures or beings in all the planes that can rival a dragon for intellect and knowledge.

Dragons also visit Aarde in search of treasure. Dragons are notorious hoarders and will travel to Aarde to gather large piles of precious metals and gems to haul back to their abodes on the plane of Zaj. Their stay on the plane of Aarde can last several centuries. More than one dragon has been found sleeping on top of a heap of treasure in a remote cave, mountain crevice, or glacial crevasse. Dragons will often nap in such places for centuries before traveling back to their home plane.

COMBAT: For mortals on the plane of Aarde, it is a good thing that dragons prefer to trick or intimidate their opponents rather than fight them in combat, as dragons are terrifying combat opponents. Dragons get up to six attacks per round (1 bite, 2 claws, 2 wings, 1 tail). Their wing attacks are limited to one wing per each side of the dragon. A dragon can use both wings to attack opponents immediately in front of it. Dragons have long and limber necks and tails and each of these can attack opponents in the front, rear or flank of the dragon.

In the rounds when a dragon uses its breath weapon, it is cannot use its other attacks or spells except for its tail attack.

BREATH: Few creatures wield as powerful a weapon as does a dragon when it breathes its cone of flame. The cone of flame is 90’ long and 30’ wide at its base. It does 12d6+36hp of damage to all caught within the conflagration. All caught within the fiery breath must make a saving throw. A successful saving throw indicates that half damage is taken.

A dragon must take one round to prepare its breath, which causes its throat and chest to glow bright red-orange. The dragon then can attack the next round with its breath. If the dragon does not use its breath weapon within two rounds of the preparation round, it must prepare its breath once more. There is no limit to the number of times a dragon can use its breath weapon but it can only use it once every three rounds. As noted above, a dragon can use its tail attack in the rounds when it uses its breath weapon.

BITE: In addition to doing significant damage, the bite of the dragon can drain knowledge. On a successful bite attack, the victim must make a successful saving throw or lose 1 point of intelligence. Lost intelligence can only be regained through magical means, such as a Restoration spell.

REGENERATION: A dragon regenerates 1d8+8 points per round until it is fully healed. Unlike trolls, dragons are not able to regenerate once they have been slain.

FIRE RESISTANCE: Dragons are immune to normal fire. They have +2 on saving throws against fire attacks, suffering no damage if they make their saving throw and half damage if they fail. Dragons suffer half damage from fire based attacks that do not permit saving throws.

MAGIC RESISTANCE: A dragon is 60% resistant to any form of magical attack used it against. A magic resistance roll uses a 1d100 and a score of 60 or below, indicates that the magic used against the dragon has failed. Even if the dragon’s magic resistance fails on a particular spell (on a roll of 61 or above), the dragon still can use a saving throw, if one is permitted by the spell.

NON-MAGICAL WEAPON IMMUNITY: Dragons are immune to attacks from all non-magical weapons.

SPELLS: Dragons are actually not as powerful as 10 wizards, but they are able to cast a variety of spells. A dragon cannot cast a spell during a round in which it is using its breath weapon. Dragons have access to the following magic-user spells and can cast one spell per round:

• Level 1: Charm Person (1/day); Detect Magic (at will); Light (at will); Magic Missile (2/day, 6 missiles per spell); Read Languages (at will); Read Magic (at will); Sleep (1/day)
• Level 2: Darkness 15-foot Radius (3/day); Detect Invisibility (at will); Invisibility (2/day); Levitate (2/day); Magic Mouth (1/day); Pyrotechnics (2/day).
• Level 3: Clairaudience (1/day); Clairvoyance (1/day); Dispel Magic (2/day); Hold Person (1/day); Suggestion (1/day); Water Breathing (1/day).  
• Level 4: Confusion (1/day); Fear (1/day); Polymorph Self (2/day); Remove Curse (1/day).
• Level 5: Feeblemind (1/day); Telekinesis (1/day); Teleport (1/day, no chance of failure).

Related Posts
Montporte Cosmological Notes: On the Planes

Dungeon Rules: Super Simplified S&W

After running 46 sessions of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign with three different rule sets (in succession, not concurrently!), I am thinking of how or what I would differently in terms of rules. Just as an FYI, the three rule sets were: AD&D 1e, Blood & Treasure, and D&D 5e.

Anyway, this is just a little thought experiment on rules and their impact on play, particularly in a dungeon environment. In this post, I want to write out something that I have thought about for a bit: What if the dungeon (in this case, a megadungeon) was a unique feature in an otherwise mundane and non-fantasy medieval world?

Rules
Start with the Sword & Wizardry Core Rules. Allow the players only two character choices: (1) Human Fighters and (2) Human Thieves. In this world--at least on the surface--there is no magic. And there are no elves, giants, or dragons. Just a mundane, medieval world. However, the dungeon and its connection to the mythic Deep Dark fills in the blanks with weird and magical creatures, plus magic items that are not part of the surface world's experience.

Purpose
There are several objectives in running such a narrow, stripped down version of an already rules-light system:

• Focus play on exploration, rather than tactical combat.
• Focus the players to find different and creative solutions to challenges poised by having such limited options.
• Highlight the sense of danger and weirdness with regards to the dungeon.
• Magic items become highly prized.

Challenges
There are lots of challenges to running this sort of stripped down dungeon campaign:

• YIKES! No healing spells! Part of this could be offset by adding some first aid skills, dropping in healing potions, pools, etc, and/or allowing some sort of slow recovery of hit points.
• Not much character class choice. 
• Lack of magic reduces the party's tactical options and abilities.
• It could just really suck and be boring.

Variations and Options
I have thought of some variations and options:

• Just have one class--Fighters. Perhaps players could add one or two thief skills of their choice to their characters.
• Allow all 3 (or 4) character classes from S&W Core: Cleric, Fighter, and Magic-User (and Thief). Just restrict the race to human.
• Bump up the technology so that player characters have access to early gunpowder weapons.

Conclusion
The tendency with RPGs and gamers is to push for more options and choices in character builds, classes, powers, spells, skills, and abilities. What does a game look like, feel like and play like when the rules go in the opposite direction and provide only very limited options? Does it make it less interesting or more interesting in terms of challenges in play?

Response Posts By Others [Later Edit]
Streamlined Gaming (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Low Magic With Swords and Wizardry (Bat in the Attic)
Minimalistic Gaming (Gothridge Manor)
Weirder Fantasy (Tales of the Rambling Bumblers)
Megadungeons with Streamlined Rules (Circle of Dar Janix)

Giant Fire Boar--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

GIANT FIRE BOAR
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Hit Dice: 6
Attacks: Tusks (2d6+2)
Saving Throw: 11
Special: Charge; Flaming Breath; Instantly Cooked
Move: 18
Challenge Level/XP: 7/600

The giant fire boar is a large magical creature that inhabits large remote caverns of the Deep Dark, feeding on mushrooms. They are black in color, except for a pulsating dim red glow that surrounds their neck and shoulders. From a distance, it looks much like the embers of a dying fire.

COMBAT: Giant fire boars are very territorial and can be quite aggressive. They usually will stump, snuffle, and snort as a warning to unwelcome intruders before defending their territory. As they are not predators or carnivores, they will flee when hurt or when faced by dangerous natural predator.

CHARGE: If the giant fire boar has at least a 20' straight avenue in which to run at its opponent, it will charge. By charging, the giant fire boar gains a +1 to attack and does an additional 2d6 to its tusk attack.

FLAMING BREATH: The giant fire boar can use a flaming breath attack once per day. It is a cone 10' long and 5' wide of intense flame. It does 4d6 of flame damage (1/2 damage if targets make their saving throw).

INSTANTLY COOKED: When the giant fire boar is killed, it instantly cooks itself, and an apple appears in its mouth.

Systems Matter: Exploration, Encounters and Intent in the Megadungeon

Dungeon Explorer

I am a firm believer that the "3 E's"--Exploration, Encounters, and Extraction--do a pretty good job of capturing the essence of megadungeon play. There are plenty of rule sets that will support 3 E megadungeon play: The various editions of D&D (and its clones), GURPS, Tunnels & Trolls, and Savage Worlds are just a few of the many rule sets that will do more than an adequate job supporting dungeon play.

This being said, rule sets are not interchangeable (this, as my college physics textbook says, "is intuitively obvious to the casual observer"). Some rule sets better support tactical choices in combat while other rule sets support quick play and exploration.

Of the three, extraction seems like the least affected by the rule set used. This leaves exploration and encounters. Of these two, encounters are directly impacted by the rule set used while exploration is indirectly impacted.

Gibson Explorer

Let's assume that a dungeon-based gaming session is going to last 4 hours. Those 4 hours are going to be made up of two primary activities: Exploration and encounters. Exploration is typically a systemless activity. Player characters move through a dungeon and, regardless of system, can cover about the same amount of distance on a map per hour of session time. I am sure that there are some exceptions to this, but, in general, the speed of exploration is more a function of GM and players than it is a function of rule set and system.

This is not the case with encounters. Assuming that most encounters result in combat, then the speed in which a rule set decides an encounter determines how much time is spent on the encounter. Simple, abstract rule sets, like Swords & Wizardry, have short real time encounters. More complex tactical rule sets, like GURPS and Pathfinder, have much longer encounter resolution times. On the positive side, these rule sets offer players and GMs plenty of tactical options (I am true fan of GURPS in this regard). The down side of this tactical richness is the time it takes to resolve the encounter.

What this means for the 4 hour gaming session is that, with a more complex rule set, more time is spent on encounters. By default, less time is spent on exploration. Reducing the number of encounters is the only clear way to mitigate the impact of a tactically complex rule set.

This is where intent comes in. If the GM and players have a common intent within the dungeon campaign, then it becomes much easier to be select a rule set and, more importantly, be content with the strengths and limitations of that rule set after many sessions of play. If the intent is to maximize tactical choices for players in a dungeon setting, then GURPS is the way to go in my book. If the intent is to maximize the amount of geography covered so that it is feasible to explore a really really big dungeon, then a simpler rule set like Swords & Wizardry Core would be my choice. In each case, GM and players have to be content with what they have and also what they give up. After all, it is entirely possible to revisit the same dungeon with a different intent and rule set.

I have been thinking about rule sets and intentionality from time to time, just because I think about things like this. More recently, I have been thinking about this since we have switched to D&D 5e. It is a slick, well-designed system...I like it a lot. However, it is slower than Blood & Treasure, our previous rule set, when it comes to encounter resolution. In turn, this has taken time away from exploration. And, D&D 5e doesn't have a lot of tactical crunch in combat, thus leaving our tactical crunch guys yearning for more. There is a lot of out-of-combat decisions that the players must make--which was one of the goals of D&D 5e (perhaps the subject of a future post).

As for me, my intent in creating the Montporte Dungeon was to focus on exploration, by creating a huge dungeon that would be too big to completely explore. And this dungeon would also have lots of connections to the Deep Dark...more connections to what lies below than to the surface world.

Nk-ha (Aberration)--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

NK-HA
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Hit Dice: 8
Attacks: 4 Energy Bolts (1d6)
Saving Throw: 8
Special: Cause Insanity
Move: 10
Challenge Level/XP: 11/1700

Nk-ha are medium size floating dark blobs of flesh, with a very human-looking mouth as its only feature. Nh-ha are vile aberrations who occasionally find their way from the plane of Ioucura (the plane of madness) to the plane of Aarde (the material plane of Montporte) where they seek to enslave humanoids. Nk-ha will often have 2d6 enslaved followers to do its bidding, including fighting to the death on its behalf.

COMBAT: Nk-ha only enters combat for self-defense or if it believes it can enslave its opponent. It is able to discharge up to 4 energy bolts per round (range 0'-20'). It can aim these energy bolts at the same or different targets. For purposes of combat, the energy bolt is treated as a ranged weapon, utilizing an attack die roll.

CAUSE INSANITY: Once per round, the nk-ha can emit a field that can enslave or cause insanity. This field extends up to 40' and affects everyone within range. Those in range must make a saving throw or lose 1d3 points of wisdom. Those reduced a wisdom score of 1 or 2 must make an additional save or be enslaved by the nk-ha. Enslavement is ended only by a Wish or the slaying of the nh-ha.

Those who make their saving through are temporarily insane for 2d4 hours with one of the follow effects rolled on a 1d6: (1) Character believes that he/she is a famous hero of legend and myth; (2) Character attacks self; (3) Character attacks another member of own party; (4) Character wanders away; (5) Character stands in one place; (6) Character falls to the ground in a catatonic state.

A character whose wisdom reaches zero dies.

Bell Spider (Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter)

BLUE BELL SPIDER
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: Bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Sonic bell attack
Move: 10
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

Blue bell spiders are the female version of the bell spider. They are about 3’ tall and weigh 250 pounds. They have a blue head and legs. Their body is coated with a thin layer of silver that contains 1000 silver pieces worth of the precious metal.

They live deep beneath the earth in colonies with other bell spiders (pink and blue). They do not build webs. There are about 8 pink bell spiders for every 1 blue bell spider.

COMBAT: Blue bell spiders will attack anyone who threatens their colony. Otherwise, they are not particularly aggressive.

SONIC BELL ATTACK: The blue bell spider has an organ inside her abdomen that allows her to strike the inside of her shell, creating a deafening bell sound, once per day. All non-bell spiders in a 60’ radius takes 3d6 of damage (half damage if the victim makes a successful saving throw). If the victim fails their saving throw, they are stunned for one round. The bell also serves to summon other bell spiders within range of the sound.

PINK BELL SPIDER
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: Bite (2d6)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Intoxicating venom; Enhanced initiative
Move: 20
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

Pink bell spiders are the male version of the bell spider. They are about 2’ tall, weigh 80-120 pounds, and have very large mandibles. They are bright pink and glow in the dark.  They live deep beneath in colonies with other bell spiders (pink and blue). They do not build webs.

COMBAT: Pink bell spiders are aggressive in combat when their colony is threatened. They hunt as a pack and seek to use their speed to ambush prey.

INTOXICATING VENOM: When a pink spider successfully strikes its victim, the victim must make a saving throw or be intoxicated by the spider’s venom. Intoxication causes the opponent to have a -2 penalty to their attack roll, as well as a -1 penalty to any initiative roll. The intoxication lasts for 2d6 rounds.

ENHANCED INITIATIVE: Pink bell spiders are very quick and gain a +1 bonus to their initiative roll.

Five for Friday 29: Things I Like About D&D 5e

I decided that when I restarted my Rusty Battle Axe blog, I was not going to do reviews. I will, however, occasionally highlight a product that I like. It turns out that the newest iteration of Dungeons & Dragons has made it to that list. Here are five things that I like about it:

• Excellent Player's Handbook: The latest edition of the Player's Handbook is at the top of the list, in terms of the rules themselves, organization, clarity of content, etc. The D&D team managed to create a product that serves newbies and RPG veterans equally well. While it is more complicated that AD&D 1e, the rules are more cohesive. And it is far less clunky than D&D 3.x/Pathfinder.
• Advantages/Disadvantages: What a simple and elegant system! By adding a second die to a die role, the game gains more texture and variability at the cost of a tiny bit of complexity. 
• Death Rolls: This adds a clear rule for how to handle that often vague zero hit point thing. At the same time, it adds high drama to that otherwise passive act of lying in a pool of one's own blood. 
• Groovy Character Classes: I like what WotC has done with the character classes in 5e. Lots of player choices without a lot of overlap. And the choices matter, each class has strengths and weaknesses. There are a lot of strategic and tactical options for players and DMs alike without creating a creaky clunky Byzantine ruleset.
• The Monster Manual: The monsters actually get the biggest overhaul. I have only started reading the MM, but it is very well thought out and every monster has a twist that will matter a great deal in play. 

D&D 5e is definitely in the D&D family, moreso than 4e, for sure. That being said, it is its own version. It is clear that, beyond the character class system and d20 foundation, the designers held nothing sacred. The ruleset is elegant and well-designed. While I will almost always go for the simplicity of Swords & Wizardry Core or Delving Deeper, I am really enjoying playing D&D 5e.

Con on the Cob Post-Convention Post

Now that I have been to my first gaming convention, Con on the Cob, I can no longer consider myself a casual gamer. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy my convention experience, but I figured I should go at least once in my life. Now that I have been to a convention, I can say that I had an absolute blast. I am ready to go again.

Characters and Sessions

I played in five sessions--four of them official convention sessions and one unofficial. Five of our Monday Night Ubergoobers gaming group were able to attend and we had three sessions with all five of us.

Session 1: I played Theddrick, a human cleric, in a Dwimmermount session using Labyrinth Lord. This was a good session to start the Con on the Cob convention experience. The second half of the session was particularly fun. Kudos to +Jim Yoder for running a fun session.

Session 2: I played Pat West, a Tuscon AZ police officer, in a Cryptworld session. I immediately fell in love with the Cryptworld mechanics and we had an excellent group. +Tim Snider did a marvelous job running the session.

Session 3: Our Monday Night Ubergoobers got together for a session of The Esoterrorists (Gumshoe system). +Tim Shorts GMed the session and I played Ben Monday, a history teacher. It was the one session that didn't come to a conclusion so I am hoping we can get back to the setting and characters during our Monday night sessions. Tim did a great job of prepping for the session and running a compelling adventure. This was my one unofficial session at the convention.

Session 4: I played Billam the dwarf in a Dungeon Crawl Classics session, run by +Roy Snyder. Roy did a great job as GM and really liked the DCC rules. This was the one session where all five Monday Night Ubergoober gamers played together in a session run by someone else. It took some willpower for my character to not kill +Rob Conley's charisma 5 character (no one nails low charisma roleplaying like Rob). This session ran long so we moved it to the bar, which seems to be the appropriate place for a DCC session.

Session 5: I played Gnip Gnome (the "G" is not silent), a gnome fighter as +Rob Conley ran a Swords & Wizardry/Majestic Wilderlands session. Lots of great action and groovy opportunities for role playing, which is a hallmark of Rob's GMing. We had a low charisma group (3, 6, 6, 10 and 10) so there was lots of snarkiness and fun unpleasantries with our group.

Purchases
I had a good time spending money and I could have spent a lot more. Here is what I picked up:

• A boatload of green dice.
• Some D&D 2e stuff and a Holmes boxed set.. 
• Cryptworld and Majus from Goblinoid Games.
• A plushy owl from Live. Dream. Create.
• Some art from Eric Kemphfer.

Takaways
As I reflect back on my experience, here are some things that come to mind:

• I really like conventions. I am already looking forward to next year, plus I might add a few other conventions to my calendar in 2015. Maybe one in Michigan to catch up with my high school gaming buddies. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.
• More sleep and healthier food. I need more sleep and healthier food. We did get a pile of sandwiches from Subway, but I should have packed fruit and other healthy stuff.
• Play things I would not otherwise have a chance to play. I really enjoyed DCC and Cryptworld--I picked up a copy of each (DCC from Rob Conley). Maybe try to play a Savage Worlds session next time.
• Meet people. I enjoyed meeting people and making some new gamer friends. Next time around I will be more proactive. 
• I have two new games that I will play: Cryptworld and Dungeon Crawl Classics. I am hoping to get a few local semi-gamer friends (plus my wife) into a Cryptworld campaign in the next month. Thanks to +Tim Snider for an inspirational session. 

Two Options for a Restarting Our In-House Gaming Group

I returned to gaming almost a decade ago at the request of my then pre-teen daughter. After a slow start with just the two of us playing D&D 3.5e and then a hiatus, I stumbled across Castles & Crusades. We recruited my wife, a friend, and his two teen sons. We played about 15 sessions over 2 years but then ran out of steam with schedules and then all three kids leaving for college.

My wife and I have been discussing restarting our group without the kids (as they are scattered across three states). There would be four of us--two couples. I am thinking that I would start out as GM. While I think that we would eventually like playing a game like Trail of Cthulhu, I am not sure that is where we would start. I am thinking of one of two options (listed below). 

Anglo-Saxon England + Swords & Wizardry Complete: I would create a setting that is based on the English kingdoms of the 8th and 9th century. I think our group would enjoy a elements of horror, mystery solving, and significant roleplaying. I would probably delete a few classes (assassin & paladin) and race options (gnomes, half-elves, half-orcs, halflings). I could make elves the equivalent of the Celts, who had enclaves on the western shores of the island of Great Britain. Instead of arcane magic, they could have druidic spells. I could play upon the recent conversion of the area to Christianity and have magic-users relying on the powers of the old--now forbidden--gods, while clerics rely on the power of the "one true God."

Whimsical Horror-Tinged Fantasy + Swords & Wizardry Core:  Here I am thinking of Robert Lynn Aspirin's Myth series, Piers Anthony's Xanth books, or Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, at least in flavor, along with whimsical horror elements of Jonathan Carroll (check out his Land of Laughs, one of my favorite novels). 

Other Stuff: Work has been brutal but I do have some time off so I will be catching up on some blogging. I have two Montporte Dungeon sessions to write up plus a follow-up to +Tim Shorts' (Gothridge Manor) post about dungeon map confusion.

Ephemera Session 6: Playing Under the Dome...

"My favorite steel dome" - Darius

Unfortunately, I missed Session 5. However, Darius the Handsome made up for it as I was able to participate in the sixth session of Ephemera, run by Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield). Here is Darius' take on the session:

So I missed some of the action [Darius and I missed Session 5]. However, we were still in the pyramid temple north of the village of Tarn, trying to figure out where the dark dwarves were taking the young people of Tarn. We found that someone was turning the kids into little skeletons. A sad and distressing discovery for even the most jaded adventurer.

As we continued our explorations, we soon found the culprit: A ghoulish priest of some kind. Despite our lack of useful spells (we are a bit heavy on charm and sleep), we were able to dispatch the evildoer with little fuss.

We went back to a room that had four pedestals, each with a bone under a small glass dome. It also had pipes or vents around the outside walls, each pipe opening had traces of oil and sulfur. Not a good sign. I decided that I would tie a rope around myself. I gave the other end of the rope to Egbert. I don't like him, but I trust him. For some reason, Sandy and Conner joined me in the room...this would put them in the line of fire if something came out of those pipes.

We cut up some rope and tried to plug the pipes as best we could. It almost worked. As I lifted the glass dome on the pedestal to take a finger bone, the stuff started to happen with those suspicious pipes. The rope plugs held...at least all but one did. The pipe closest to me unplugged itself and I was blasted with flame...I slipped into a coma but the rope survived and Egbert was able to drag my body back to the adjoining room. Apparently some sort of intervention took place in the room...having to do with the artwork on the walls and the beam of sunlight coming in through the hole in the ceiling. I was not awake or aware when all this happened, so I am a bit fuzzy on the details. All I know is that I was healed and ready to go.

With nothing else to see, we prepared to leave the temple and make the walk back south to Tarn. On our way out of the temple exit, we heard a rumbling sound and felt the ground shake. As it grew louder, we determined that it was coming from the southeast and it sounded like stampede. We were able to gain a vantage point and could see a stampede of forest animals southeast of us, moving directly north. Barring a change in their direction, we were out of harm's way.

We could see them fleeing a low cloud of some kind. The cloud, clearly some sort of nefarious magic, was quickly gaining on the frightened beasts. The slowest animals at the rear of stampede were caught first. It killed every animal it caught. YIKES!

The cloud passed through the herd of animals, leaving a trail of unmarked corpses in its wake. What deviltry was this?

We decided to follow the cloud's path to the south to find its source. Tarn and its evil leader would have to wait.

After traveling for a day or so, we found an steel dome, sitting in the woods like a hermit's hut. Only it was much bigger, maybe 100' across. We unlocked the door and started exploring. We noticed a signed that said "Armageddon Outpost 12." Well, okay then. There was a deep thrumming noise that grew louder as we pressed further along the interior of the dome.

We came to a room with some sort of machine. Lots of pipes and valves. That's where the noise was coming from. Sandy the dwarf studied it for a few minutes and then figured out how to turn it off. We decided to move along and continue our exploration, lest we get caught flatfooted by whatever might be lurking in other rooms.

We continued our explorations, taking on a few stirges, and then we ran into another one of those pesky dark dwarves. Conner charmed him before he could do any mischief. We learned that his name was Rundt. He could tell us little about his master or the purpose of this place...although, in hindsight, we could have asked some more pointed questions about his master.

We followed Rundt through a few rooms and met his master, Vagroth. Vagroth was a vapor demon. As I said, we could have asked better questions. So the charm spell didn't work on Vagroth. He just laughed. However, two of my three darts hit struck home and the demonic giggling was silenced.

We did notice that there were three urns behind Vagroth...maybe breaking them might have some effect on this guy.  I ordered my two charmed followers, Tub and Bob, to start breaking the three urns that were on the floor behind the vapor demon. They each broke one, spilling out treasure. This left one urn. The rest of the party decided to move around the demon and I, so that they could all attack the hapless urn. I was left to fend for myself, a first level magic-user with the dagger, against a vapor demon of unknown strength. And, I was soon to learn, possessing a dagger of his own, dripping with some sort of magical poison.

The rest of guys started knocking the one remaining urn around the room, but were unable to break it. In the meantime, the demon cut me with the dagger and I could feeling my whole body, mind and soul weaken. The rest of the party kept hacking and whacking at the final urn but could only get in glancing blows. Finally, the guys broke the urn, which killed the demon and spared me the insult of dying.

Rundt told us about some secret doors and exploring beyond them is the next order of business.

Game Night in Ephemera #4: Bringing Sleep & Charm to a Skeleton Fight

So it was session #4 in Chris's (The Clash of Spear on Shield) Ephemera setting on Monday night. We had three player characters, all first level magic-users armed with charm or sleep. We also had a few henchmen plus a couple of charmed "friends" that we had picked up along the way. Here is Darius the Handsome's version of the Monday night's adventures:

Having rescued the lost Ryan and saved the village of Alden from the scourge of a small but hungry minotaur, we decided to head north to Tarn. We had been told by Lana, the huntress of Alden that we might find more information about a prophecy, mysterious map and an even more mysterious magical gem that had come our way.

So off we went to Tarn, a slightly larger small village. The travel was uneventful until we were within a day's walk. At dawn, while the mists were still rising from the plains, we spied a young man running towards us at full tilt. Actually, we heard him first, his feet pounding on the ground and his breath coming in ragged desperate gasps.

He was running on a tangent to us and would have passed us by. We couldn't see anything behind him...nothing was chasing him, at least that we could see. We stopped him but he was in full panic mode, so I cast a charm his way.

We learned that the king of Tarn had fallen under the influence of dark dwarves...similar dark dwarves had played a nefarious role in the minotaur affair. Older children will being selected from the population of Tarn, escorted out of Tarn, and not seen from again.

As to intervening, there was no debate. Children being hauled away? Bad. Bad. Bad. The only question before us was "How?" How could we save these kiddoes?

Rather than enter Tarn and find ourselves outnumbered, we decided to work our way around the town and then continue north. Sam, our young charmed friend from Tarn, had informed us that the dwarves were taking the kids north from town and then returning without them. We opted to lay in wait to the north and then follow a group of dwarves as they traveled away from Tarn with their young captives.

We found a good hiding spot, north of Tarn, where we could see the dwarves crossing a river. We would start trailing them once they had traversed the ford near our hideout.

We didn't wait long. Four dwarves with a flock of children crossed the river. We were able to follow them through the tall grass of the plains without being noticed. The weather held for a few days but then the clouds betrayed us. As it began to rain, the tall grass bent under the added weight of the fallen rain.

We decided to act before we were noticed. Egbert cast a sleep spell, taking out the four dwarves. We tied them up and arranged to have Sam lead the children to a safe hiding spot in the woods to the west. I kicked one of the dwarves to awaken him and then charmed the pants off of him. Well, I charmed him but let him keep his breeches.

This dwarf, named Bob, gave us directions to a temple-like place a day's journey further north. We led him away and then dispatched the remaining three dwarves.

Bob led us to a massive stepped pyramid. It was unguarded so we entered. Bob was less useful as a guide, once we were in the pyramid as he had spent little time inside it.

We made quick work of these weird animated robes, but were deterred by a room with four skeletons. First level wizarding types tossing out sleep and charm spells pose little threat to the undead. After exploring a bit further, we found a room with cushions along the walls and a single human bone on each cushion. I noticed some small vents or pipes in the walls and found traces of sulfur and oil. Concern that this could be a trap, we hightailed it out of there.

We had to take on the skeletons. Using our henchmen and charmed friends, we were able to destroy the skeletons, fighting them piecemeal rather than all at once.

Our session ended here for the night.

Monday Night in Ephemera

Last night I played Darius the Handsome for my second session in Ephemera setting (it was the group's third session in Ephemera), run by Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield).

Darius is neither strong nor smart, and he is downright slow of foot. He is, however, quite good looking. He can toss out a charm person with the best of them. He spent most of this session hitting on Lana, a woods-woman of vague orientation (not that there is anything wrong with that).

We did manage to deliver our rescued man, Ryan, back to his village. In the process, we discovered that Brill, the village elder, had sold out his people to a nearby minotaur runt. Thanks to a charm person spell, we got the truth out of Brill. His fellow villagers are not a forgiving lot and he was polished off after a quick up/down vote on the village green.

We stalked the minotaur and in an anti-climactic move typical of our Monday Night Gaming Group, we cast a sleep spell the minotaur and his minions. All the village archers stood down and we gathered up the booty after we dispatched the minotaur and his minions.

Petros Skeleton--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

PETROS SKELETON
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: Strike x 2 (1d6)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Pebble Spray; Constitution Drain; Sleep/Charm Immunity
Move: 11
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

Petros skeletons are undead human skeletons whose bone structure includes a high proportion of elemental earth. They also accumulate aggregate gravel and pepples, which they are able to use as an attack form. They have the ability to shoot a sheet of flame from their hands. Petros skeletons are treated as wights for the purposes of being turned by clerics.

COMBAT: Petros skeletons are similar to other undead skeleton in combat. They do get two attacks per round, one strike with each hand,
as they are not armed with weapons (weapons interfere with their burning hands ability).

PEBBLE SPRAY: Petros skeletons are able to shoot pebbles in a 20' radius once per day. The pebble spray has an effect akin to canister shot or shrapnel. It does 2d4 in damage to living creatures within the attack radius; half damage if a saving throw is successfully made by each target.

CONSTITUTION DRAIN: Opponents lose one point of constitution when struck by the skeletal hand of the petros skeleton. Lost constitution points are regained at a rate of one point per hour, but an opponent dies if their constitution reaches zero.

SLEEP/CHARM IMMUNITY: Like other forms of undead creatures, petros skeletons are immune to sleep and charm spells.

Five for Friday 26: An Updated RPG Product Wish List

I don't really buy much in the way of RPG gaming products anymore, with our money pit of a house, a child in college, and the expensive hobby of playing music (which never pays for itself despite getting booked a lot). However, a kid can dream so here is my wish list of hard copy gaming items (in alphabetical order):

• Fantasy Companion (Savage Worlds): I haven't played Savage Worlds, but I'd like to, assuming I will have the time and get the opportunity.
• Fudge, 10th Anniversary Edition: I like the idea of Fudge and it has been fun to be in on some of +Rob Conley's (Bat in the Attic) recent Fudge-based playtesting. I know that Fudge is available for free, but the Fudge website is not particularly user friendly.
• GURPS High Tech: Unfortunately, this has gone out of print and the prices for used copies on Amazon is sky high. But when the price drops, I might be there to scope one up.
• NOD #4: This is one product that I will be ordering in the near future. +John Stater's (The Land of NOD) materials are uniformly awesome. I have no idea how one person can crank out so much high quality material, especially as he is a husband, a father, and appears to hold down a job. The early NODs use Swords & Wizardry as the base ruleset, but I am already seeing in the first few issues of NOD how he was developing the Blood & Treasure ruleset (which we are currently using for the Montporte Dungeon Campaign).
• Tome of Horrors 4: This is a bit pricy, but one can never have too many monsters (in the humble opinion of this blogger).

When it comes to gaming, the reality is that all I truly need is a set of dice, some paper and a pencil or two. I try to remind myself of that from time to time.