I recently got the 5th edition D&D handbook. It is a great handbook. I love the art, the rules are pretty easy to understand and the group I play with have taken a shine to it.
Yet, because I like to tinker with the rules, I want to change things.
Let me start by saying awhile back, I got the reprinted Original White Box of D&D. Though I was pissed because it took so long to get it in my hot little hands, I did love it when I finally got it. One thing from the original texts I started to like was the idea of race-as-class. Dwarves being tough fighters, elves being fighters that can cast magic, though in some rule variants the PC elf had to choose one class and stick with it for a day, and halfllings being sneaky fighters with a chance to hide away in forests and surprise people.
Now, combining that with some of the things I love about 2E, weapon and non-weapon prof. and how they are given out and then add on the 5E rules sets and I that is the basics of what is going on in my head.
Yet, what to do with some of these races that have come out since the white box? Would they have to be pushed aside? I don't think so. I could see the gnome, the half-elf, half-orc, even the tiefling being allowed in as race-as-class. I have some doubts about the dragonborn, yet I cold also bring in something from Dragonlance and the draconians. Maybe...
Just some random thoughts I am throwing down here. And, I seriously doubt I am ever going to try and make a campaign book or some type of game out of this, to publish at least.
Why weapon prof? To me, I have always felt that this 3x stuff about "knowing all simple and martial" or "knowing all simple" weapons is kinda silly. You might know how to use it, but to be proficient with it means you have had some training, you aren't going to cut your foot off, smack yourself in the head with your hand when you pull back the bowstring or know how to hold a flail and how to slow it down...FYI, I have one and those things are NO JOKE! Hence, in 2E, you had to select which weapons you knew how to use. For a fighter, that was up to four different weapons. For a wizard, one. It just fits better in my mind that characters can't pick up a short sword and know how to use it as well as a long sword. Very different fighting styles, I have found.
But say the PC wants to pick up the glowing blue short sword of +2 glowing, if he commits to learning it, using it and maybe some instruction from someone who knows how to use it, in a level or three, that PC could mark it as a proficient weapon.
There is more, but I must go to bed, since I need to take a friend to the airport early tomorrow...technically today.
Showing posts with label ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ideas. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Friday, September 6, 2013
Conversion question
Timothy over at The Other Side (an awesome blog by the way, check it out.) Was talking about this.
I was going to answer in his section but I thought I would answer it here, since I feel inspired to do a little bit of work even though it is a billion degrees outside. (Granted the sun has gone down so I am much happier, yet I still feel a bit sick and blah blah blah.)
He question was: So when looking for a OSR supplement, adventure or add-on do the clone rules matter to you? And also:
What are your experiences? Do you ignore S&W's single save when using the Tome of Horrors with Basic Fantasy? Do you convert on the fly?
The first thing I want to tackle is his first question, which I will do a bit of a disservice to by asking this question. Why only do OSR supplements? I get he is asking about the old school idea, and most of what I run is old school, (More 2E than anything, yet I have run 1E and a 0E once or twice) And when it comes to them, I convert if I need to. Or I just take it, squint at the numbers and fudge something here or there.
But coming back to my question, why only OSR stuff? There is something to be said for the OSR. It is a great thing and I love it. Yet, there are some good things from things not in the OSR. Some things from 3E and even 4E are interesting. Yeah, you need to convert them and that takes some time, but I wan to put in time into a campaign that I will be running, therefore, why not put the time in to convert some of the cool ideas from the newer editions? Heck, there is the Pathfinder mega campaign of Rise of the Runelords that I want to try to sift through and take out parts I like. I just got another big book called The Shackled City Adventure Path. Why? Because it takes place in a volcano! That is why. If you are knowledgeable with the rules of the system you are using and running, then anything is grist for the mill. Anything can be converted. There are some things in 4E I have taken a shine too, and there are even things in all of the player's packets of D&D Next that I want to take and cannibalize for my own mutant version of 2E.
Do I ignore things, yes. Sometimes you have to. Anything from 3E and upward has feats which I don't like, you can either make them some nifty ability the creature has, some special training that the NPC has or just ignore it if it is something rather silly like Power Attack.
I try not to convert on the fly anymore, since the last time I tried that, my gaming group met up with a goblin with three arms and I have not been able to live down the "sassy hand" gesture. (LONG STORY!)
Of course, this is just my way of doing things. your mileage may vary.
I was going to answer in his section but I thought I would answer it here, since I feel inspired to do a little bit of work even though it is a billion degrees outside. (Granted the sun has gone down so I am much happier, yet I still feel a bit sick and blah blah blah.)
He question was: So when looking for a OSR supplement, adventure or add-on do the clone rules matter to you? And also:
What are your experiences? Do you ignore S&W's single save when using the Tome of Horrors with Basic Fantasy? Do you convert on the fly?
The first thing I want to tackle is his first question, which I will do a bit of a disservice to by asking this question. Why only do OSR supplements? I get he is asking about the old school idea, and most of what I run is old school, (More 2E than anything, yet I have run 1E and a 0E once or twice) And when it comes to them, I convert if I need to. Or I just take it, squint at the numbers and fudge something here or there.
But coming back to my question, why only OSR stuff? There is something to be said for the OSR. It is a great thing and I love it. Yet, there are some good things from things not in the OSR. Some things from 3E and even 4E are interesting. Yeah, you need to convert them and that takes some time, but I wan to put in time into a campaign that I will be running, therefore, why not put the time in to convert some of the cool ideas from the newer editions? Heck, there is the Pathfinder mega campaign of Rise of the Runelords that I want to try to sift through and take out parts I like. I just got another big book called The Shackled City Adventure Path. Why? Because it takes place in a volcano! That is why. If you are knowledgeable with the rules of the system you are using and running, then anything is grist for the mill. Anything can be converted. There are some things in 4E I have taken a shine too, and there are even things in all of the player's packets of D&D Next that I want to take and cannibalize for my own mutant version of 2E.
Do I ignore things, yes. Sometimes you have to. Anything from 3E and upward has feats which I don't like, you can either make them some nifty ability the creature has, some special training that the NPC has or just ignore it if it is something rather silly like Power Attack.
I try not to convert on the fly anymore, since the last time I tried that, my gaming group met up with a goblin with three arms and I have not been able to live down the "sassy hand" gesture. (LONG STORY!)
Of course, this is just my way of doing things. your mileage may vary.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
New podcast...and some thoughts
First off, the podcast is here.
Second, been mulling over and starting to put together some rules for my own D&D heartbreaker. My idea is to basically make this a "kitchen sink" model. I am going be throwing in as much as I can from Original to 2E. However, I am going to use the OGL as a baseline.
But, I am also going to be throwing in house rules. All kinds of house rules. Rules I have garnered from friend and from the OSR blogsphere. And, that is the one issue. I plan to have a page, or more, thanking everyone for putting out their ideas. I know I will probably never be able to sell the thing, yet would there be any issue from anyone else if I did publish it? Even if I did thank the people, do I have to be specific? Or could I just have the page thanking all of my fellow bloggers for their helpful ideas?
I ask because there is a two or three page pdf out there in the OSR that had a bunch of house rules and it was specific on who and where the rule was from.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Second, been mulling over and starting to put together some rules for my own D&D heartbreaker. My idea is to basically make this a "kitchen sink" model. I am going be throwing in as much as I can from Original to 2E. However, I am going to use the OGL as a baseline.
But, I am also going to be throwing in house rules. All kinds of house rules. Rules I have garnered from friend and from the OSR blogsphere. And, that is the one issue. I plan to have a page, or more, thanking everyone for putting out their ideas. I know I will probably never be able to sell the thing, yet would there be any issue from anyone else if I did publish it? Even if I did thank the people, do I have to be specific? Or could I just have the page thanking all of my fellow bloggers for their helpful ideas?
I ask because there is a two or three page pdf out there in the OSR that had a bunch of house rules and it was specific on who and where the rule was from.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Penultimate post to 100!
Wow, I just realized I missed the 1 year birthday of this blog. Many things have changed, some have not:
The podcast that my friends and I do is still on hiatus. I might try to get that back soon, so look for it in Feb.
I am STILL grinding through the module The Temple of Elemental Evil. Though, to go into a quick game story: the former bladesinger/delusional elf (still thinking he is a dragon) went to the Silver Consortium and was able to buy a Deck of Many Things. [Henceforth known as mistake number 3, One being, "Hey, let's eat a dragon brain." Two "Hey, let's eat the brain of a spawn between a dragon and an evil deity!" (He lost a level.)] After some roleplaying with several NPCs, he decided to use it--wanting to pull the card with wishes. He drew three cards. The first one removed all of his magic items. (Sidenote, sorry I know there are many but information needs to be had, he has spent three years--out of game--building this character up. He had a magnificent library inside his bag of holding, as well as his spellbook and ALL his money.) The card went back into the deck and he drew it agian, so nothing happened. The last one gave him an answer to his next dilemma. The player has since said that his character sheet is a blank sheet now. He sees everything through his possessions, which is kind of dumb in my point of view. But hey...to each his own. The one good thing that came from his sacrifice was we now know where the end game item is and have a good chance of getting in and out without having to take down all of the Temple in one long slow grind. One can hope...
I have started to run a game on Google Plus. The first session went very well. I am very hopeful for this game to continue for some time. My players enjoyed it and I am eagerly awaiting the next session. (More on that tomorrow.)
My 2E game ground to a halt because of inter-party strife. I will not go into details, but I seriously doubt that the game will get off the ground again. I might take a break from doing any kind of GMing for awhile, except for the ConstantCon game. (If you're looking for my game, look for Sydell. People are more than welcome to come and jump in.)
Yet, even as I say I am not going to run, I look at the world I am running using the LotFP rules and I like them, yet there is a part of me that chafes, that says that this world needs to be added to, you can expand much more of it using your ideas. (It might be the topic of my next blog, I am not sure. But, I have this idea brewing for a very Frankenstein-like bogged together rule set. Stay tuned.) One thing that has me thinking of it is two other blogs, both of them talking about the assassin, here and here. (JB goes on for three posts about the assassin, and I just now discovered his part four was cut short because he was taken from the campaign. Read all about it on their blogs.) Getting back to my own feelings, especially when Alexis talks about his ideas of the assassin, it gets me to think about my own views and that sparks ideas and starts to build up scenarios in my head and I see adventure paths set out before me. Heck, I also picked up a compilation copy of Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter and it has my head spinning out ideas for barbarians and building them into the world of Sydell as well. Even the cavalier I have in the Tempe game sometimes makes me think about different factions I can add, sending me running for my journals to jot down notes. (NOTE to my ConstantCon Players: I am not going to add in much for your game. A few ideas might slip in, yet I am not going to be distracted and let the game slip away from me. At least I hope not. ;-P)
It has been an interesting year for this blog. The fact I only have 99 posts thus far does not mean I have somehow failed in my blogging. I hope to try and get to 200 or more before the end of the year. It is a goal, yet if I don't make it, I don't make it. C'est la vie.
And, my final thoughts for today concern what I will be doing tonight. I shall be playing 4E, yes the one I have earlier gnashed my teeth about and have tried to play and couldn't get into it. Yet, I am an edition war free blog now, so I will not call it some dreaded name. I have some apprehension playing in this, yet it is suppose to be a short game. I will tell you all about it. Hopefully tomorrow.
(Do I wish to end this with some allusion to the rap song, or the meme of Skyrim going around with 99 arrows? I think not...)
Until next time, may evil be confused on its way to your door.
The podcast that my friends and I do is still on hiatus. I might try to get that back soon, so look for it in Feb.
I am STILL grinding through the module The Temple of Elemental Evil. Though, to go into a quick game story: the former bladesinger/delusional elf (still thinking he is a dragon) went to the Silver Consortium and was able to buy a Deck of Many Things. [Henceforth known as mistake number 3, One being, "Hey, let's eat a dragon brain." Two "Hey, let's eat the brain of a spawn between a dragon and an evil deity!" (He lost a level.)] After some roleplaying with several NPCs, he decided to use it--wanting to pull the card with wishes. He drew three cards. The first one removed all of his magic items. (Sidenote, sorry I know there are many but information needs to be had, he has spent three years--out of game--building this character up. He had a magnificent library inside his bag of holding, as well as his spellbook and ALL his money.) The card went back into the deck and he drew it agian, so nothing happened. The last one gave him an answer to his next dilemma. The player has since said that his character sheet is a blank sheet now. He sees everything through his possessions, which is kind of dumb in my point of view. But hey...to each his own. The one good thing that came from his sacrifice was we now know where the end game item is and have a good chance of getting in and out without having to take down all of the Temple in one long slow grind. One can hope...
I have started to run a game on Google Plus. The first session went very well. I am very hopeful for this game to continue for some time. My players enjoyed it and I am eagerly awaiting the next session. (More on that tomorrow.)
My 2E game ground to a halt because of inter-party strife. I will not go into details, but I seriously doubt that the game will get off the ground again. I might take a break from doing any kind of GMing for awhile, except for the ConstantCon game. (If you're looking for my game, look for Sydell. People are more than welcome to come and jump in.)
Yet, even as I say I am not going to run, I look at the world I am running using the LotFP rules and I like them, yet there is a part of me that chafes, that says that this world needs to be added to, you can expand much more of it using your ideas. (It might be the topic of my next blog, I am not sure. But, I have this idea brewing for a very Frankenstein-like bogged together rule set. Stay tuned.) One thing that has me thinking of it is two other blogs, both of them talking about the assassin, here and here. (JB goes on for three posts about the assassin, and I just now discovered his part four was cut short because he was taken from the campaign. Read all about it on their blogs.) Getting back to my own feelings, especially when Alexis talks about his ideas of the assassin, it gets me to think about my own views and that sparks ideas and starts to build up scenarios in my head and I see adventure paths set out before me. Heck, I also picked up a compilation copy of Conan: The Frost-Giant's Daughter and it has my head spinning out ideas for barbarians and building them into the world of Sydell as well. Even the cavalier I have in the Tempe game sometimes makes me think about different factions I can add, sending me running for my journals to jot down notes. (NOTE to my ConstantCon Players: I am not going to add in much for your game. A few ideas might slip in, yet I am not going to be distracted and let the game slip away from me. At least I hope not. ;-P)
It has been an interesting year for this blog. The fact I only have 99 posts thus far does not mean I have somehow failed in my blogging. I hope to try and get to 200 or more before the end of the year. It is a goal, yet if I don't make it, I don't make it. C'est la vie.
And, my final thoughts for today concern what I will be doing tonight. I shall be playing 4E, yes the one I have earlier gnashed my teeth about and have tried to play and couldn't get into it. Yet, I am an edition war free blog now, so I will not call it some dreaded name. I have some apprehension playing in this, yet it is suppose to be a short game. I will tell you all about it. Hopefully tomorrow.
(Do I wish to end this with some allusion to the rap song, or the meme of Skyrim going around with 99 arrows? I think not...)
Until next time, may evil be confused on its way to your door.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Campaign ideas
Been working on my campaign world and thought I was going to take a break for a day or so. Then, I realized after I left my girlfriend's place, my mind was already working on something for the game. It is the same when I write fiction. I take a break for whatever reason and I realize when I come back to it, my mind has had something on the back burner, simmering away. Though, if you wait to long, the pans can be cooked right through and your idea is one burnt black thing that you need to work to even understand or just give up and hope that it comes back...ok, enough food analogies, I'm getting hungry!
Moving on...I discovered that there were several things that mind mind flashed to. One was an old episode of a cartoon with a guy who lost his family and started carrying a photo book with him. He called it his book of rage. (If you know the name of the cartoon, good for you.) My mind tweaked it and has used it before in a two episode game, changing his lost of family from the government to the gods. And, because I needed something to challenge my players, I gave them rage zombies. (Something like the things, not zombies from the movie 28 Days Later. Those things are not zombies in the traditional sense, yet it worked for me then and it works now.)
Another idea that came was from the Sword for Truth series. The nightstone. In the book, it summons shades from the Underworld. In my world, in summons undead. Anyone holding it will attract any kind of undead. And, it makes turning them harder. (Yes, I am evil.)
Another came reading the Vornheim City Kit. (This is an amazing product by the way. I can't recommend it enough. No matter what edition you use, or retro-clone, this is going to help any campaign you make. Not just for the city games either. There are threads of adventure that can start out in the wilderness that can lead to your big mega-city like Vornheim. I'll even give an example of something I plan to do. If my players are reading, be cool and either skip to the end of the paragraph or don't be a meta-game dick! There is a library, run by a man named Zorlac who loves books. He hires library thieves to find more and more books for his ever growing collection. I plan to have the PCs either help these librarian thieves by bring back books or having a librarian of Zorlac stumble into them in the hinterlands, see that they have a tome of some unknown author and/or subject and steal it, or attempt to steal from them. I can see more than a few sessions spent trying to keep the book away or trying to get the book back.)
Another came from combing through this guy. (A special shout out to Ancient Vaults, you come up with some amazing stuff!) Looking through his blog, I was stunned by the number of adventure seeds and partial campaign ideas that sprang from reading that one blog.
Finally, the last place where I get my ideas comes from a actual play podcast. This one has been around for awhile these guys do all kinds of games, Pathfinder, 4e, Temple of Elemental Evil, World's Largest Dungeon, etc. I was trying to sleep and listening to one of the actual plays of their Keep on the Shadowfell. I have read through it and suddenly, while I was trying to fall asleep, listening to them tangle with the kobolds, my head started to spin a little nugget from a few pieces I remembered from the module and from what they were doing. It didn't help me get to sleep though. Bu thtese thigns happen.
In closing, I never know when my mind will grab and idea and start to play with it. Turn it around and exam it, looking for ideas. Even now, something sprang to mind from a different blog, talking about shrines, a link and now, I must go.
Moving on...I discovered that there were several things that mind mind flashed to. One was an old episode of a cartoon with a guy who lost his family and started carrying a photo book with him. He called it his book of rage. (If you know the name of the cartoon, good for you.) My mind tweaked it and has used it before in a two episode game, changing his lost of family from the government to the gods. And, because I needed something to challenge my players, I gave them rage zombies. (Something like the things, not zombies from the movie 28 Days Later. Those things are not zombies in the traditional sense, yet it worked for me then and it works now.)
Another idea that came was from the Sword for Truth series. The nightstone. In the book, it summons shades from the Underworld. In my world, in summons undead. Anyone holding it will attract any kind of undead. And, it makes turning them harder. (Yes, I am evil.)
Another came reading the Vornheim City Kit. (This is an amazing product by the way. I can't recommend it enough. No matter what edition you use, or retro-clone, this is going to help any campaign you make. Not just for the city games either. There are threads of adventure that can start out in the wilderness that can lead to your big mega-city like Vornheim. I'll even give an example of something I plan to do. If my players are reading, be cool and either skip to the end of the paragraph or don't be a meta-game dick! There is a library, run by a man named Zorlac who loves books. He hires library thieves to find more and more books for his ever growing collection. I plan to have the PCs either help these librarian thieves by bring back books or having a librarian of Zorlac stumble into them in the hinterlands, see that they have a tome of some unknown author and/or subject and steal it, or attempt to steal from them. I can see more than a few sessions spent trying to keep the book away or trying to get the book back.)
Another came from combing through this guy. (A special shout out to Ancient Vaults, you come up with some amazing stuff!) Looking through his blog, I was stunned by the number of adventure seeds and partial campaign ideas that sprang from reading that one blog.
Finally, the last place where I get my ideas comes from a actual play podcast. This one has been around for awhile these guys do all kinds of games, Pathfinder, 4e, Temple of Elemental Evil, World's Largest Dungeon, etc. I was trying to sleep and listening to one of the actual plays of their Keep on the Shadowfell. I have read through it and suddenly, while I was trying to fall asleep, listening to them tangle with the kobolds, my head started to spin a little nugget from a few pieces I remembered from the module and from what they were doing. It didn't help me get to sleep though. Bu thtese thigns happen.
In closing, I never know when my mind will grab and idea and start to play with it. Turn it around and exam it, looking for ideas. Even now, something sprang to mind from a different blog, talking about shrines, a link and now, I must go.
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