Monday Moodsetter 57

by James Strehle

RPG Rorschach: What's the first gaming thought that pops into your head?

Converting Experience Points To D&D 5e

We are converting our Blood & Treasure characters to D&D 5e in the Montporte Dungeon Campaign. I could think of a couple of different ways to do it this. One way would be to convert experience points directly. However, because Blood & Treasure has three different experience point tables compared to one for D&D 5e, characters could potentially gain or lose levels based on a meta-game activity.

Instead, I decided to convert each character based on their current level and how far they were from making it to the next level (stated as a percentage). I then placed them the same distance away on the D&D 5e experience table. So if your character is 5th level and has 34% of the experience needed for 6th level in Blood & Treasure, you will still be in exactly the same place in D&D 5e.

The upside is that all characters are still in exactly the same position on the experience table that they were in before. The downside is that character on the "steepest" experience point table (e.g. wizards, sorcerers and warlocks) lost experience points relative to those on the least steep table (e.g. thieves).

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.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Update

Our Monday Night Gamer Übergoobers have been taking a break from the Montporte Dungeon Campaign, mostly due to my absence because of work duties. I have managed to get in on a few games on Monday night as a player, mostly playing in +Rob Conley's Majestic Wilderlands. We are using D&D 5e and I am playing Aeven Steelhand, a human fighter.

We'll be starting up with the Montporte Dungeon in a few weeks. I will be converting it to D&D 5e from our current rule set, Blood & Treasure. We have had more people in and out of our Monday Gaming Group and I think it works better with newbies and transients if we can use common rule sets.

So, in the next few weeks I will be:

• Converting my Montporte Dungeon to D&D 5e.
• Helping the players convert their current characters to D&D 5e.
• Facilitating character creation for the new players.
• Catching up on my session notes on my blog. We have played 39 sessions and I have session notes for the first 37 sessions.
• Retooling the Roll20 Montporte Dungeon campaign.

I am excited about the conversion as I have really enjoyed D&D 5e so far.

Monday Moodsetter 56

RPG Rorschach: What's the first gaming thought that pops into your head?

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. 

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 37 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): +Tim Shorts  (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): +Chris C.  (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): +Rob Conley   (Bat in the Attic)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
6 Naked Dwarfs
7 Rescued Gnomes
5 Cave Goats

The Session
The brave adventurers had just finished an encounter with Elias the One, leader of the "Breeders." The party was victorious, but Elias managed to escape to parts unknown (Session 36). The party decided that they should return the rescued gnomes to their underground forest home, but neither the gnomes nor the party knew the route. The party started Session 27 in Room 1 on Map A below.

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

Luven, using the Cap of Useful Ideas, suggested that the party use the portable teleport pad that they had with them to see if would take them in the correct direction. The party had not tried to use this 6' x 6' magical carpet since they obtained from a group of hobgoblins in Session 29. The party unrolled the carpet and, one at a time, stepped into the teleport area. The party was teleported to a place they had never been, Room 2 on Map B below.

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

They were in a small room with the red "destination" teleport pad on the floor. They soon discovered that Room 2 was a small building in a large high cave with topsoil and dead trees. After close examination and some divine inspiration, Adzeer determined that some sort of demon fungus had attacked and killed the trees.

The party made their way east and found another small building; this one containing Room 3 (Map B above). Room 3 featured a  10' x 10' metal grating in the middle of the floor. The party looked up and saw doors in the ceiling. Deciding correctly that this was some sort of elevator, they looked for and found the mechanism to operate it. The party ascended 150' on the elevator (as estimated by Adzeer) and the party arrived in Room 4 (Map C below).

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

The party moved into Room 5 and found a small grove of dead trees. These trees were killed by being burned. The party saw another elevator in Area 6 but chose not to explore. The party then moved to Rooms 8 and 9, both of which were part of a living area for gnomes. It was abandoned and some of the rooms had suffered serious fire and explosion damage. The party did find a few small gold bars. They also discovered a flaming grill in the northeast corner of Room 9. This turned out to be a magic item, Weber's Everburning Flaming Grill.

The session ended at this point. It was the only session that we could remember where there were no encounters. While we would not want a steady diet of encounterless sessions, this one created an eerie sense of emptiness, gloom and destruction. It also emphasized that the party were lost again as a result of using the teleport carpet.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1 (1 square = 5 feet)

Level 2 (1 square = 5 feet)

Level 3 (1 square = 5 feet)

Mystery Level A (1 square = 5 feet)

Mystery Level B (1 square = 5 feet)