A 3 Way Hook

It's Tuesday night and I am painting some Battlemechs. I like to listen to books or TV when painting. I have this funny trait that the thing I am listening to is the opposite of what I am painting.  For example, when painting mecha, I listen to fantasy books. 

While waiting for a basecoat to dry, I got wrapped up in Terry Brooks' Wizard at Large. This is the third book in the Landover series. Questor Thews, Wizard at Large attempts to transform his friend Abernathy back into a human. It seemed like the right thing to do because he was the one who turned the Scribe into a Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier. 

Things go sideways and hilarity and terror ensue. This is one of my favorite series because it incorporates 80s sensibilities into a fantasy story. Oddly, the series makes some nods to the 80s and 90s but doesn't dive in too deep. There is an odd simplicity to the stories that somehow dodges the passage of time and advances in technology that would normally break a portal fantasy story. 

This gave me a great idea for a D&D hook. Locate Object is a bunk spell, the range is far too short. If this spell would be useful, they get down on their hands and knees and do it the hard way instead of magic. Invariably, if something is far away, the characters look for a sage or high-level Wizard to help. Or a Cleric with Commune.

So here goes the three-way hook. The scenario is, the party needs an item to fulfill some objective. They don't know where it is so they hire a scribe or Wizard to do the job. The characters assume they will be given some trivia about the object and a direction to go to recover the item. 

Wrong!

The sage or Wizard does give them that information on how to find the object but decides to toot his or her horn by pulling out a scrying globe or magic mirror to show the characters exactly what the item looks like and its immediate environs. Pleased, the characters thank the sage profusely. 

And then it happens. 

The sage drops his or her magic item and it shatters. In the discharge of failing magic, the sage disappears and the item itself appears at the feet of the characters. 

Surprise! 

Now, here are the three hooks: 

A) The characters feel obligated to bring the sage back home. 
B) The characters take the item and leave, forgetting about the sage. The enraged sage escapes on their own and hunts the characters down.
C) The owner of the item brings the sage home, searching for his or her stolen possession.  

The beauty of this is the triple hook is, in no way are you pushing the players to pick a course of action. They'll do it themselves by word and deed. Also, it doesn't tie up the DM too much. The forces against the players can have many motivations and goals, so it doesn't turn into a targeted TPK. You can play it for laughs, for growth, for horror, all based on what you discover your players like. 

Imagine the look on your player's faces when they discover the sage doesn't want to go home because they accidentally found the love of their life. Or what if they ran home just days ahead of a demon horde. What if the sage stumbles home and into the party just in time to save them from themselves? 

That is so much fun. 

Happy Accident - Fiend Folio times 2!

I made a point of getting Nathan physical copies of the D&D 5e rules. He has two different groups that play and it would be dumb if they couldn't do that due to an internet outage, lost computer, or other silly problem. 

Mechanically, 5e is very different than AD&D or any version of B/X but the lore remains largely the same. Drow are Drow, Goblins are Goblins, and so on. Sure some people would like to change that for everyone but once you put an idea out there, good luck changing it. 

Wayback in 2019, I had a campaign where elves and humans were hostile to one another. I couldn't sell it and no one bought it. 

Once an idea is out there, forget about changing it. 

Anyway, I mentioned to Nathan my world's main antagonist is a Drow named Magarven. You can read all about him here. 

Nathan was put back by the mention of Drow. He thought they were new to 5e. Nope. I grabbed my copy of Fiend Folio. His jaw dropped.

"Is that a Githyanki?!?" 

Hell, yeah it is. 

That was the last I saw or thought about my copy of Fiend Folio. Somehow, that struck me funny. I forgot I even had a copy and ordered one POD from DriveThruRPG. Of course, when it arrived, Nathan tried to return my copy. 

I took some pictures and made him pick one. 

The POD copy is a soft cover, but don't let that put you off. The pages are solid and crisp, the print is excellent and the binding is nice. It is a tiny bit smaller than the original, making it a standard-size book. The price for POD was also amazing, far less than the $20 I paid for the original copy back in the day. 

I hope you can tell from the images, the POD's paper is somewhat thicker and the black is very solid. The thicker paper is nicer from the get-go. The softer black ink in the original is likely due to the age. Even though I bought my hardcover 2-3 years ago, it was printed in 1981. No book will hold up over 40+ years.

Anyway, I thought I would share this title as it keeps bringing joy to new and old players. 

#MonsterMonday - POP-001 Preview

I am on call this week, so I have prepared a couple of posts in advance. I won't be playing this week, so hopefully I can catch you up with the playtest progress. 

This is #MonsterMonday. 

I have 10 main monsters and creatures selected for this adventure. Several are unique. The first monster the character encounters is the Guardians. Here is a preview. 

Iron Temple Guardian

18’ tall iron statues with massive crowns. 

AC: 4, HD: 9 (41 HP) Att: 1x fist 1d6 or 1x kick 1d8 or 2x ensnare or 2x push. THAC0: 12, MV 90’. SV: D8 W9 P:10, B10, S12, ML:12, AL: Neutral, XP: 3,000 NA: 1d4, TT: 2x 500 GPS diamonds (the eyes). 

Guardians are more determined than aggressive. They are usually set to guard an area such as the temple grounds, hence the name. These creatures are larger and more versatile than Iron Golems, but lighter and lankier. They can guard, pursue, or attack as commanded. 

Mundane damage immunity: Requires silver or magical weapons to damage. Blunt and non-metal weapons will bounce. Sharp metal weapons will be absorbed and heal the Guardian for HP equal to the maximum possible damage for that weapon.

Energy Immunity: Immune to fire and cold.

Healed by fire: Each HP of fire damage restores one HP. 

Energy vulnerability: If struck with fire and cold in the same round, they heal as per above but then take thermal shock damage. Thermal shock damage is equal to the maximum possible damage from the cold attack.

Mind Jolt: Scrying or mind reading will be ineffective as they don’t have minds. The caster must save vs. Paralysis or be stunned for the attempt. 

Bonus XP: If a player role-plays a bouncing weapon, give them 50 XP each time. 100, if it is truly funny. 

They pursue at half-normal speed and only use pushing or ensnaring attacks unless attacked, in which case they switch to kicking and punching. They will only punch or kick armed and aggressive attackers. If they flank a target, they switch to ensnaring and pushing again. 

Ensnared creatures are carried by the Guardian. This causes no damage and up to 2 characters can be ensnared. The target(s) can wiggle out of the Guadian’s grip on a successful DEX check or after three rounds of trying. The escaping victim can either slide to the ground or ride on the Guardian’s back or crown. Riding characters won’t be attacked once they escape unless they attack the Guadian again. Up to 3 people can ride the Guardian’s back and one more in the Crown. Typically they are not controllable, but wiley characters can direct them by making reasonable suggestions. 

If an ensnared or riding character successfully attacks the Guardian, they will be dropped and kicked (2d6 falling damage, plus a kick attack).  

Pushing moves a target 6 feet in the direction of the Guadian’s choice and does no damage. 

If an Iron Temple Guadian is destroyed by thermal shock, the parts can be gathered up and placed in a fire to restore the creature. This takes all day and the fire must be kept lit for it to work. This will place the Guadian under the fire-keeper’s command. If many people tend the fire, the last one to add fuel will be in command.  

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Session 0b: The Land of Adventure

This particular run is called “The Hunt”. It transports special tradesmen and craftsmen to the supporting cities and towns of the Capital Region. The Hunt’s secondary purpose is a yearly survey of the road to ensure there is nothing to inhibit the normal caravan runs. The Hunt contains 14 wagons, 64 men-at-arms, and 6 cavalrymen to protect the wagons. This includes Mercy, Tilly, Misha, Garven, and Kayleb. Tilly and Mercy are assigned to the cavalry while Misha and Garven are assigned the first and last wagons. 

There are 6 mighty 24-foot-long wagons for passengers. Each wagon has an awning and carries tents for camping. There are 4 16-foot wagons, heavily loaded with various goods and cargo for the trip. The caravan has a pair of small kitchen wagons that are little more than rolling ovens. A 12-foot larder wagon carries food. There is a massive war wagon that is the core of the defense. The war wagon is 3 levels high and is covered in metal plates and leather hides (AC 4). 

The war wagon has 6 crossbowmen stationed inside at all times. Each of the other wagons has 1 or two archers or crossbowmen, except the larder and kitchen wagons which have no defenders. The vanguard is made up of 3 mounted men and 6 unmounted men-at-arms. There is a matching group of defenders at the tail of the caravan. The caravan doesn’t have enough men to completely rotate the guards and passengers are encouraged to act as an ad-hoc watch. Mostly, they tend to fire and drink late into the night, which is better than nothing.  

Much of “The Hunt” is high pageantry. The road is well-maintained, well-mapped, and largely free of bandits or raiders. The local bandits avoid all caravans. There is a slight risk of pirate ships as even the pirates avoid the area. 

The main concern is that the road crosses the equator, in the shadow of the Butter-Ripple Needle. 

What the hell is the Butter-Ripple Needle? 

The Butter-Ripple Needle marks the East Pole and was the last Space Elevator built by the High Men and the Iron Men. The four Space Elevators ring the equator. They are ancient. They are commonly known as the Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, and Butter-Ripple Needles in the vulgar language. They were built during the Great Silence when the High Men stopped writing, so the original names are unknown. (Actually, the internet decided and these are their real names.) 

The route will cover 25 six-mile hexes or 150 miles. As mentioned before the area along the road is well mapped, so there is no hex crawling on the road. Off the road is a different story. 

The first town on the road is Iron Tree, 18 miles from the Canvasary. The next stop is the port of Western Gate, two more hexes away. Before the mid-point of the journey is a farming community named Bounty. It is hardly a town, merely a hex-sized collection of farms. 

This a milk run that the party will turn into an adventure. 

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Session 0a: The Party as the core of the Scenario

I am back to playtesting POP-001, Revenants of the Lost Temple. While on hiatus, I realized I was working backward. I was building a world, instead of an adventure. It’s much easier to think of this from the perspective of the player characters. Basically, what is everyone doing? 

Session 0a: The Party as the core of the Scenario

There are 7 characters taking part in this adventure. The adventure takes place along the western coast of an unnamed country. The goal is to follow the road from the south to the north, from the High Canvasary to the Capital Region. Half the party is being paid to guard the caravan and the other half are paying customers, riding with the caravan. 

Here is a list of characters supporting the caravan:  

Mercy and Tilly, Fighters, 5th level (Detailed here) 

Misha, Magic User, 4th level

Garvin Peace-Bringer, Cleric, 4th level. 

The paying travelers are:

Alice, Elf, 4th level

Alex, Bard, 4th level

Bartholomew, Thief, 4th level.  

The characters met at the High Canvasary. Alex and Alice are a couple while Bartholomew is a mutual friend. Bart is much younger than everyone else. After talking, these three tried to gain employment with the caravan. Since they had already traded money with Kayleb the Caravan Master, he refused to refund them or hire them. Kayleb is a cheapskate. 

Bart, Alex, and Alice have slightly unusual backstories. 

Alex the Bard is from our world and time, specifically Orocovis, Puerto Rico. I was expecting a wild backstory, but instead, I got something thoughtful. Alex had a book that allowed him to travel from his time and place to the Peninsula of Plenty. He used the book to bring in coffee plants. Strangely, coffee is not rare or popular on the Peninsula. He also brought several bottles of booze.  

What he has is nothing special. He also lost his book at about the time he met Alice. Bart has acquired it, but it seems useless to the thief. 

Alice, a native Elf has glommed onto bits of Alex’s world without actually understanding it. She is carrying 25 letters, she is being paid to deliver mail like a mailman. She finds the idea of hand-carrying letters interesting and profitable. She is charming enough to score a drink or meal at either end of her trips in addition to the 10 silver coins she charges for the service. She will charge less, sometimes even nothing if she has at least only paid delivery in the area. Alice thinks the idea is cool. The Kingdom does have a carrier service, but they will open your mail. 

As mentioned before, Bart has Alex’s book. He didn’t steal it but found it interesting and slightly useful. He has traveled to Puerto Rice several times. If asked, Bart will return it. Bart had a habit of swiping horses, he used potions of Animal Control. He has found it is easier to offer to transport horses than steal them. One is less likely to get hung that way. He is traveling to the Capital Region for more potions. 

Bart has a bounty on his head. He encountered some men using magic to steal people and horses. He killed them all with his Animal Control potions. He uses Alex’s book to elude bounty hunters. The bounty keeps growing as more bounty hunters disappear as if they stepped out of the world.  

Tilly and Mecry have their own post and will be skipped. 

Misha the Magic User is a tough one. She often acts as a spy and scout with her spells. She loves being alone. Bart has gravitated toward her as he wishes to know more about magic. They aren’t great friends, but they drink and dine together often. She has been to Puerto Rico several times but doesn’t realize it. 

Garvin is the official deed keeper for Tilly, Misha, and Mercy. He keeps a journal for them all. He is also their financial advisor and agent. It’s an unpaid job but he does require them to tithe with the Southern Orphanage. The three women ensure Garvin keeps a little money and eats daily. He would rather eat dirt himself to feed and clothe the less fortunate. Tilly and Mercy enjoy the company of the children while Misha does not like children at all. This is part of the reason why Misha dines with Bart so much. 

POP-001 is meant for OSE. You can pick up a copy of Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome at DriveThruRPG. 

Saturday Night Stock Characters

During COVID, Matt Johnson hosted a series of Collabo Dungeons. Participants selected a room and posted a description and a possible encounter on Matt's website. 

Here is what I posted in 2020. 

Location Seven. The Twins.

There are two women, twins, in the pit. They are identical in all ways save one. One woman wears a lead ring. When they become aware of the characters, they will both shout out for help. When the characters look in the pit, they will hear the following orders:

Twin with the ring: "Kill her! She's a demon!"
Twin without the ring: "Kill her! She's an idiot!"

They are both at the bottom of the pit and represent no threat to the characters in this state. They are both bloodied and bruised from the fall and each has a blackened right eye.

If the party rescues them, they will find out the following information. Twin One, the one with the ring is named Meredith. She entered the dungeon with her friends in search of treasure. She found a gold ring in area 8 and after discerning no purpose to it, put it on. She was pushed by a monster into the pit.

Twin Two, without the ring, was a doppelganger hiding in Area 8. To take on Meredith's form, she ambushed her by pushing her into the pit. Unfortunately for the monster, Meredith grabbed it's wrist as she fell and both ended up at the bottom. As the doppelganger took her form, Meredith shouted "Begone!" which the ring of wishes interpreted as a command against the monster. Since the doppelganger was in mid-transformation into Meredith, the ring fixed it in that form before turning to lead. The doppelganger is now an exact copy of Meredith.

The twins have found combat against each other to be profoundly lethal, as they mirror each other's moves perfectly, hence the matching black eyes. They will not fight each other. They will join the party to escape the dungeon.

At the time, I posted Meredith as unstated. I had envisioned Meredith as a young character, one who needed more wisdom. I supposed that she was an accursed thief or perhaps a mage. In rolling them up, I decided they were fighters. 

Them... They... In the room description, we find out how Meredith became a twin. 

I've given one of them a new name, Mercy. They have matching stats, experience and class, plus a few other surprises. In their time adventuring together, they have found a pair of Bracers of Defence, AC 4. In addition to this, they both have magic swords. These hand-and-half swords are also a matched pair like the Bracers. Each woman is vaguely annoyed that every treasure they find is a matching set. This is because they both want and value the same items. In reality, they have ignored other treasures as worthless because it wasn't what they wanted or valued.  

Meredith wields the sword Nine Lives. It is only +1 but it prevents her from being flanked or backstabbed. If someone attempts to flank or backstab her the attacker must make a saving throw versus parayzation. If the attacker fails this save, Meredith magically spins to face the attacker, negating their bonus. This can happen as many times in a combat round as there are flanking attackers. This does not allow Meredith an extra attack unless the person flees. 

Mercy wields a sword named Calico. This sword also has powerful magic. On the first swing in combat it is a +1 to attack and damage. On the next swing, it is +2. This continues until Mercy receives a +3, at which point the sword resets to +1. Mercy is a brutal fighter. She often draws Calico and makes two flourishing swings, which sets the sword to +3 from the get-go.  

The Bracers and the Swords are meant to be used by a single person, florentine style, not two different people. The Swords' special abilities work together, making the wielder nigh unstoppable. 

The Twins have several other nasty traits. First, Meredith is the original human and is identifiable by the lead ring. This is a helpful trait, sometimes. 

Next, the ring cannot be removed by any mechanism except a wish. Grabbing at the ring will unleash woe on the thief. They must save versus death, or collapse in a seizure for 2d6 rounds. They take no damage but will be horribly sick once the seizures end.  

Heaven help the person who tries to use a tool to get the ring, like a bolt cutter or knife to cut the ring (or finger) off. They will also need to save vs. death. If they succeed, they merely have the seizures described above. If they fail, they burst into flames for 1d6 points of damage per round AND have 1d6 rounds of seizures. Unless someone helps them, they will burn for the entire duration of the seizure. 

The third dangerous trait is Mercy only uses that name in Meredith's presence. In Meredith's absence, she reverts to using "Meredith". Since she is an exact copy of Meredith (except the ring) and knows everything she does. This can cause chaos for a party. Or a lover. Mercy does this to assume Meredith's place as if they were the same person. She does not intend harm to the people she fools, she only wants her rightful place the original woman. 

For this reason, the real and original Meredith is unperturbed by Mercy's behavior and ignores it. She will honor Mercy's promises in her stead and will easily forgive and forget other's missteps regarding Mercy's unseemly behavior. Mercy's adoption of Meredith's place is confusing, not malicious. They are effectively the same person and have the same goals and desires, but do not intend to share anything. 

Mercy and Meredith are pseudo-cursed to stay together. Since they are a matched pair, they always assume the other will be there for them. Separated, they suffer shortcomings from this expectation. Together, they are far more powerful and successful. 

Occasionally, circumstances cause them to come to blows. They will only slap, punch, and kick as their blows land on each other unerringly. They will not use weapons on one another as it would be instantly fatal. This quirk can foil charms, illusions, and other mind-altering magic as they see each other as the same person and will be resistant to interpreted self-harm. 

#CharacterCreationChallenge - Ruleset OSE - Mugwar the Ranger - For the Fame

 Ah! The Adventures I have... not known? 

Last year, I made an impulse purchase of the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log (Link to Noble Knights). I know this is an item I always wanted, but never had and when I saw it at Noble Knight Games, I had to have it. As you can see from the image above, someone wrote in it... as they should. Nowadays, I can just scan and photoshop a new book for myself but there is a lot of value to me in a pre-loved book. 

There are some initials in it (which a cropped out) and a few hints as to what was happening to these characters. It appears the party had just run S2 White Plume Mountain (Link to Noble Knights) and survived. Of course, these aren't full-character sheets, but I can guess what they might have looked like. 

Here is my rendition Mugwar the 8th-level Ranger: 

Level 8 Ranger 

Armour Class -3 (+2 elven chainmail armour + ring of protection +3)

Hit Points 54

Attacks
1 × Long Bow (1d6) or 

1 × Two-Handed Sword (1d10)

1 × Dagger (1d4)

Movement Rate 90' (30')

Saves D8 W9 P10 B10 S12

Alignment Lawful

STR 12 INT 11 WIS 9

DEX 18 CON 16 CHA 10

Spells invisibility to animals [See Advanced Fantasy]

Items 

 

Now, the difficulty comes in matching that -3 AC. With an 18 Dex, we hop from 9 to 6. Add in chainmail and we are at 2, leaving us 5 short. Let's skip a shield and use magic to get us lower.  

There are a couple of options from here. 

I like the possibility of  +2 Elven Chain bringing us to AC 0. And a magic ring of protection to get us the rest of the way. 

 At least that is what I would want my Ranger to look like.  

Now, there is this tiny, tiny chance that the player of Mugwar is still around and playing. Perhaps some magic will happen and we will get a real answer. 

You can also use DriveThru as a source for White Plume Mountain at this link. They do not have the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log available. 

#CharacterCreationChallenge - OSE Rules - Ormonde the Assassin

I'm a day behind in my #charactercreationchallenge. I'll have to catch up and skimp on my goal to have a useful image in each post. 

In many of my campaigns, I use Assassins as soldiers. The reason for this is that assassins have valuable military skills for recon. While OSE doesn't specifically list spying as one of their abilities, their skill set supports it. 

Meet Ormonde, a nicely named soldier-assassin. 

Level 3 Assassin
Armour Class 5 [14] (leather)
Hit Points 11
Attacks:
1 × crossbow (1d6)
1 x sling (1d6)
1 x short sword (1d6)
THAC0 19 [0]
Movement Rate 90' (30')
Saves D13 W14 P13 B16 S15
Alignment: Neutral
STR 9 INT 13 WIS 12
DEX 17 CON 12 CHA 16

Items: Beastiary, country map, journal, papyrus, ink, 3 quills, knife, map case, lamp, oil flasks x3, sarcina, bed roll, trinket bag, 5 days of rations, 24 bolts, 2 potions of healing, 1 potion of giant strength, 2 potions of diminution, 6 potion vials of rum (non-magical), a small net bag, 100 gold pieces. 

Ormonde is a veteran of many campaigns but has never progressed in the ranks. That has not held him back, he loves army life. Very often he is paired with a new lieutenant or unit of green troops. He has a special ability to teach the troops to campaign. He had a very hard time as a recruit due to his lack of strength and constitution. Often mocked, he was able to turn this around by putting his other skills to use. He was a master of collecting gossip and scuttlebutt, which he offered to his superiors and peers usually for a price but sometimes for free. 

When things got rough, he can calm and soothe the troops. Many nights around the campfire, he would pen letters home for the new recruits or tell stories of fantastic (and funny) beasts. Ormonde has a funny map that doesn't seem to be useful for anything but telling tall tales. He has a trinket bag full of lucky charms, orisons of hope, and boozy potions of courage. Most of his "rations" fall under the category of welcome and surprising treats like dates and other dried fruits. Items that can be soaked in booze or poison or nothing at all.     

Everything about him screams Bard, except for the whispers of things that happen in the dark. Ormonde uses his other abilities to make dangerous and foolish people disappear. He will do anything to keep his warband safe. 

He is often elected or volun-told to travel with rookie troops and smooth out any mistakes or poor choices by the officers or the troops, one way or another. These special assignments require payment in gold to ensure what is desired by the officer or peer happens. Much to his credit, the vast majority of newbies return home with more skill and respect for the institution of soldiering than those who don't return. He is known and highly valued by a select number of veterans and officers in the army. 

He is a savvy assassin. His sling remains hidden until needed either as intended or as a garrot. Ormonde will lend his crossbow out for hunting and take the time to teach how to ambush prey. He is a terrifyingly good shot, which is often more the point than hunting. 

Ormonde is also careful to explain his potions to his peers, so as not to be mistaken for a poisoner. Many times he uses his potions on others in creative ways. Usually, the drinker is willing in the case of healing. On other occasions, he will dose someone with a potion of diminution before putting them in a net bag until they learn some important facet of soldiering or command. Other times, he will drink the potion himself to gain access to places he normally couldn't reach.  

There is one famous tale about Ormonde which is usually told around the campfire. Ormonde and three young soldiers were cornered and almost captured behind enemy lines. He dressed in a dirty sack and gave his charges the Diminution potions before placing them in another dirty sack. He brazenly walked through several enemy checkpoints, offering to sell his bag of chickens to various officers and sergeants. He was kicked, knocked down, and punched so many times, it took him a month to look and walk like himself again, but he and his men escaped. Those three men are generals now, but cluck when he calls them "his chickens". 

#CharacterCreationChallenge - Rules Old School Essentials - Magarven the Mad (Drow, 9th level)

Since I have gone all in on Old School Essentials, I decided to start with a long-time AD&D character that I converted to OSE. His name is Magarven and he is a 9th-level Drow. I think I have uploaded an image of his stats, but I have adjusted them to be more in line with my current campaign. 

As you can see, I am using their character sheet rather than my old AD&D sheet. They have 4 flavors of sheets, ascending AC and descending AC, encumbrance by item, and so on. 

You can download the full PDF for Magarven here. This opens in a new window so you can read this post and the character's stats at the same time. 

Although Magarven is a Drow limited to 10th level, and this version is only 9th level, he is my campaign's Thanos-level threat. He is super smart but lacks matching wisdom. This leads him to believe he has god-like capabilities. And sometimes he does. This causes him a lot of problems. 

I have a strange campaign setting. The key thing you need to know is our world collapsed and the world of fantasy took over. Everything that has happened in our world is the campaign world's distant past. 

Magarven was an atypical Drow, he craves attention in the extreme. He has a massive ego and likes to feed it. He comes up with grandiose stunts and promotes himself heavily, such as the Polyandrion incident. He has written a couple of books and made a few famous discoveries such as the Tribe of Minwan and the House of the Folly. He wants people to believe that he is a great inventor, explorer, and thinker. And, he sort of is. 

He is currently under the sanction of Lolth for some of his past exploits. Before I detail the sanctions, let me tell you how he got her attention. 

Magarven climbed as high as he could adventuring before he decided the world was not big enough for his ego and everyone else's. Using his access to the Commune spell, he contrived a way to locate a ring of wishes and a Deck of Many Things. Using this one spell, he was able to manipulate the Deck so he received the Vizier card followed by the Moon card. He used a wish to reset the deck so he could do this several times. He was after information more than wishes, although the wishes helped. 

Manipulating such powerful forces drew Lolth's attention. She was curious as to how and why one of her supplicants used 4 wishes in a row. For a moment, she could not find him which was worrying. When she did locate him, he had already obtained his objective: The Demon Core.

Long ago, The Demon Core played a part in creating the world as it is now. The Earth of Old fell, in part due to the force of and like The Demon Core. 

One song says:

"They brought The Demon Core, blood hexes, and shells.

"We moved like eidolons hunting, as the skies erupted with hot brass and steel rain.
“Desperation rose within us, fanned by orisons, curses, and automatic fire.
"You tell them we stood.

"But fell before The Demon Core." 

Lolth knew that no mortal should possess such terrible power. Magarven had already plumbed The Demon Core's power and was going to give it to her. All 23 kilotons of nuclear death so he could rise to take her place. There was a brief conflict as Lolth brought all her powers against Magarven, even going so far as to invoke the Weavers of Fate to erase Magarven from existence. 

It was not enough. 

Magarven used all of his knowledge and his remaining wishes to bend reality and keep his fate and existence. He managed to reach an accord with Lolth. 

He would give up all of his naturally bestowed Drow abilities save his infravision, which was greatly weakened. He also gave up the ability to cast several spells like Darkness, Web, and Cause Wounds. All of this was offered to Lolth. 

She cursed him in several ways. First, his ring of wishes was fused to his left hand as punishment. Next, his Deck of Many Things was demagiked and it follows him like a bad penny. This prevents him from obtaining or using a second. Third, she greatly enhanced his drive for self-aggrandizement but also punished him by causing him to lose knowledge just at the moment when he should capitalize on it. There is a 5 in 6 chance of losing a level instead of going up a level. 

To the Fates, he surrendered his ability to wish or see one fulfilled. Not only can't he invoke a wish, but he also is not subject to any other beings' wishes, for good or bad. 

Interestingly, Magarven managed to retain The Demon Core but seemingly lacks the desire to use it. He is now driven to feed his ego rather than cause destruction or subjugate the people of the world or their gods. 

Magarven has a lot of magical equipment, but most of it feeds his vanity and ego. He likes to appear unencumbered, so has a Bag of Holding for all of his gear. Often, his armor and weapons are stuffed in the backpack-shaped Bag of Holding. His sword is named Defender's Boon. It is a +2 weapon which also improves his AC. If he strikes hard enough to kill, he can speak the word "Boon" and the target will fall asleep rather than die. He is not terribly bloodthirsty, but he will occasionally bump people off secretly. Boon allows him a bit of cover to do this. 

He has other quirky items such as two flasks that perform very much like a Bag of Holding for liquids. They hold 36 gallons of water and brandy. He has a Pearl of Wisdom that he doesn't quite trust. His armor is impressive, a suit of Mithril Chainmail and a ring of protection +2 plus the power of Defender's Boon. 

Another quirk is Magarven loves horses and often swaps his horse for a new one, often at a loss. Of late he has taken to research and writing. He even knows some fictional languages like Latin and Esperanto. He is never without a writing instrument and often feeds people for details and tales of distant lands. He considers direct payments disdainful. He is also a great collector of books. 

Magarven is a very interesting anti-villain. He is as dangerous as I need him to be. Physically, he doesn't put on airs, but he is no slouch. However, he doesn't like to fight fair or publically. He will mostly do people in by withholding knowledge or if that is not possible, use magic to wipe them out at a distance. 

Taking Stock: Part One The Game

Well, the solo sessions using Old School Essentials went south. It was the wandering monster list that did the party in:

1. Bandits, 3d4 appearing.
2. Sheep, 3d6 appearing.
3. Giant Ants, 2d6 appearing.
4. Ranger, 1 appearing.
5. Troll, 1 appearing.
6. Kobolds*, 3-6 appearing.
7. Mountain Goats, 2d4 appearing.
8. Mage*, 1 appearing.
9. Wild Horses, 1d4 appearing.
10. Wolves, 2d4 appearing.

Infi, I seem to be butting my head up against the concept of Random this week. I randomly rolled the number 3 several times too many. This is a rookie DM mistake and I shouldn't be a rookie DM 40 years in. Giant ants are far too imposing for 1st level characters to encounter. 

I'm equally a willy player and a willy DM, so I tried to make it work. Time was not on the PC's side, they have limited food and no capacity to heal magically. But they had other resources. 

In the first encounter, they faced 7 Giant Ants in an abandoned mansion. This played well as the party was naturally in 3 small groups with cover and the ants needed to advance on their positions. The Fighter, Halfling, and Elf all had bows while the Clerics had slings. The third group was the Magic-User and Thief with only melee weapons and spells. The MU cast light, drawing the first group of ants towards them. 

A halfling with a bow.

The rest of the party rained missiles down on them from two different positions. I had the ants roll modified morale. If they succeeded, the ants would pursue the FIRST person who shot at them. If they failed, they plowed on toward the MU and Thief. This had the effect of splitting the ants up and allowing the party a chance to shoot them from behind. Four ants fell to this tactic. When the party saw the next wave of 3 ants coming, they escaped to their hideout. 

This worked well except for the expenditure of arrows. This came back to hurt the party the next time. 

The party realized that the Thief was a better shot than the Fighter, so the bow was handed over.  

In the next combat, they encounter 4 ants in an alleyway. They downed all four ants in a hail of stones and arrows but lost one Cleric in the process. The party was also down just a handful of arrows. This is where slings shine as you can use any old rock as a missile. The party was dismayed when they returned to the mansion and the alleyway to recover arrows. They found the ones that missed their targets, but the ants carried off their dead, arrows and all. 

Later, the Party got bushwacked on a city street when the ants caught them again. The Fighter went down after a quick exchange of swings with the lead ant. The Halfling, Elf, and Thief took off to get a better angle on the Ants while the Magic-User and Cleric saved the day. The MU had an oil lamp in his hands and hit an ant on the first try, setting it on fire. The Cleric tossed a flask on the ant to finish the job. By now arrows were raining down. The party managed to kill five ants between missile fire and oil, but the Elf and Halfling were horribly wounded and the Fighter was dead. 

The party limped back home. The party was down by a lot: 3 characters dead, 2 injured badly.

The next day was better. They ventured out and encountered sheep. The Elf and Magic-User managed to kill two for food.  

They made one final foray, trying to make for the walls to get the heck out of this place. They were armed with torches and oil as they were out of arrows. They had one final encounter with 5 ants which was overwhelming despite the arsonist's mentality. Only the Thief and the last Cleric made it back to the fountain. 

The thing I like about this scenario is the mad card-playing Game Master randomly teleporting in new characters. I think this town has hopes as a good play environment so I want to keep it going. The petty little card cheater has unloaded another batch of heroes: a Half-Elf, a Paladin, a Cleric, a Fighter, a Thief, and a Magic User. Third level this time with a bunch of magic and good gear. Of course, I used the random Character Generator (Retainers), so all I need to do is name the party members. 

This post naturally leads to tomorrow's post about taking stock of my personal goals for the next year. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

A Missing Bit from Old School Essentials - NPC characters

I noticed a tiny item missing from Old School Essentials: percentages of characters appearing. 

And... it immediately became obvious why this was missing. The original DMG was super weird about it and since OSE has many more character types, the whole thing goes sideways quickly. 

In the DMG, page 175 has a breakdown of an NPC for encounters of all dungeon levels. It lists all of the characters in almost alphabetical order and assigns a chance percentage to each. The table assigns a value of 9 for total party size and of those nine, 2-5 are classed characters. The remaining men are henchmen or men-at-arms. 

So, if one makes a table of characters found in Old School Essentials, you end up with three different tables. The first table would be for the basic rules, the second table would be advanced rules with race as a character class and the third table would be paired back to just the advanced character types, where race is something else. 

I love this quick table so I want one for OSE and I guess that means making one myself. I like it. 

But there is a hitch. The basic rules don't match my DMG because it has races as classes. Looking at the DMG does provide some guidance. It's ordered by class with subclasses appearing next. The table clearly shows that Fighters should be the most numerous characters in a party, followed by Magic Users, Clerics, and finally Thieves. All other classes have a tiny chance of appearing, between 1 and 3% each. 

But I am working with race as a class so there are no subtypes. There are a couple of ways to get a good list. If simply ballpark the numbers, a party should look like this: 

4 Fighters + 2 Magic Users + less than 2 Clerics + 1 Theif. Every other type has a tiny chance of appearing. Hmm, that is rather odd, but I can make it work. 

Instead of using the named class as a grouping, I am going to use my Pure, Square, and Semi models. A pure is someone who uses only uses magic to get stuff done. A Square is just like a Pure, but they use their muscle instead of skills or magic. Semis are someplace in between, using magic to supplement their skills or strength. Restating class as type, I end up with: 

5 Squares + 2 Pures + 2 Semi, all classes/races appear as one of these three classifications. This is interesting because it equates Thieves and Fighters, and separates Clerics from Magic Users from them. It is different but also allows Clerics to meet the standard of a "Fighting-man" while still being magical.  

Basic OSE has Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Halfling, Magic-User, and Thief.  I would group them like this with the following breakdown: 

5 Squares: Dwarf, Fighter, Halfling, and Theif, 
2 Pure: Magic-User
2 Semi: Cleric, Elf. 

That looks nice. I would order my list like this: 

01-13    Dwarf
13-36    Fighter
36-41    Halfling
42-50    Thief
51-71    Magic-User
72-86    Cleric
87-00    Elf

For Advanced OSE with race as class, we end up with a different list. 

5 Squares: Acrobat, Assassin, Duergar, Dwarf, Fighter, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Knight, Theif, and Svirfneblin.
2 Pure: Magic-User, Illusionist,
2 Semi: Barbian, Bard,  Cleric, Drow, Druid, Elf, Gnome, Paladin, and Ranger. 

Before assigning percentages, we'll create the same list with race as the class removed. It's easier to edit that way: 

5 Squares: Acrobat, Assassin, Fighter, Knight, and Theif.
2 Pure: Magic-User, Illusionist,
2 Semi: Barbian, Bard,  Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Ranger. 

This one breaks down as: 

01-02    Acrobat
03-04    Assassin
05-06    Duergar
06-15    Dwarf
16-25    Fighter
26-30    Half-Elf
31-32    Half-Orc
33-38    Halfling
   39      Knight
40-50    Theif
   51      Svirfneblin
52-73    Magic-User
73-74    Illusionist
75-80    Barbian
   81      Bard
82-92    Cleric
   93      Drow
   94      Druid
95-97    Elf
   98      Gnome
   99      Paladin
   00      Ranger 

This one honors the original DMG list, but weakens both races and healing magic. I really had to mess with the numbers and it needs to be adjusted to specific campaigns. In my campaign, Half-Elfs are the default race while Half-Orcs and Drow are exceedingly rare. Those last two are literally 1 in 10,000 for NPCs. So, could totally monkey with the specific percentages. It's a good starting point for random NPC but bad for pretty much every individual campaign world.

The second list breaks down a little nicer than the first: 

01-08    Acrobat
09-10    Assassin
11-33    Fighter
  34       Knight
35-55   Theif
56-73    Magic-User
74-75    Illusionist
76-77    Barbarian
   78       Bard
79-94    Cleric
95-96    Druid
97-98    Paladin
99-00    Ranger 

And ultimately, I want the second list to generate some characters. So I roll a 2+1 for total of three characters. 77, 58, and 47 

We'll meet these three new characters in my next post. In the meantime, I have put together a couple of downloadable. The documents contain the lists above, plus a blank duplicate so you may enter your own probabilities. The 8.5x11 and A4 are two-column layouts and the A5 is just a single column as a Google doc. If you prefer, I have them in PDF, 8.5x11, A4, and A5. 

Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. 

Expanding the View - The Town of Manteva

I am continuing to work on this town, I think I have a name: Manteva. I am looking at some old maps of Italy and this one jumped out at me. Maybe it's misspelled, I don't know. 

We are looking at the southeastern edge of the town. I stopped the game in order to come up with some ideas for the flavor and layout of the town. I wasn't planning on a walled village, but it looks nice. 

Walls present some problems for generated maps. Computers are good at detecting collisions, but poor at the layout. Comparing this map to my last post, you'll notice some changes. First, there needs to be dead space around the walls, guard houses, and towers, otherwise, those bits don't work correctly. Providing cover to the enemy is bad, as is providing kindling for fire inside the walls. So, most of the trees have been pushed away from the structures. 

Stores, taverns, and inns should be near an entrance. Coopers and stables are good businesses to have near the gates. I like the Roman idea of bathhouses and outhouses, so this town has a couple. Furriers and smiths also appear near the gates. 

More interior to the town are market houses. These buildings have living space and shop space in the same structure. There is a public barn used for foodstuffs near the entrance. More than a few blocks contain public or private gardens. It looks like farmland, but really these would be a bit decorative and limited to herbs and small eatables like tomatoes. 

Since this is a fantasy town, the characters will find more than a couple of stationeries. Stationery shops sold books and paper. They were "stationary" because they didn't move on market day. The goods were too fragile. In addition to these types of establishments, there is also an Illuminator who would do the art for books. As a hidden feature, these shops are great for Clerics and Magic users. 

I've been labeling these so I can go back and populate each structure with a description. I can't wait to finish this town and move on to the next. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

Expanding Horizons with Worldographer - Solitary Sessions

 I started working with Worldographer to flesh out the town the characters are exploring. 

Before the town was abandoned, it was home to 2,500-3,000 people.

This is an autogenerated map and I needed to add some details to make it match my hand-drawn map. I plugged in the fountain and tree while thinning out some of the buildings. 

The characters have explored all of the buildings around the fountain and tree. The three structures along the northern east-west road are 2 homes and a tailor's shop. The tailor's shop is interesting as the owner had a setup to dye cloth. 

The Party spotted horses and sheep around the barn just across the way. From the barn, they recovered a couple of large lanterns. The well in the northwest corner is in good working order and doesn't taste brackish like the fountain. The remaining buildings in this section are homes, which the Party skipped over. 

To the south, the Party bypassed the mansion. Every time they enter, the ants appear. I didn't place a ruined structure on the map yet. The roof is intact and that is just one more dimension for the ants to use in an ambush. The Party briefly consider burning it down but restrain itself. 

Directly across the street from the mansion is a blacksmith shop with nice a wagon out front. Inside the shop, they discover iron and silver ingots in addition to many weapons and tools. The Party returns to the general store to recover their supplies and bedding from the apartment. The blacksmith shop has an open floorplan which suits the Party's needs better than the shop. As the sun sets, the group takes some time to bring water from the well to their new indoor campsite. 

I might have time to explore more tomorrow. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.  

World Building - The Monster List

This has been a hectic week. I've been at work before the sun rises and long after it sets. But I am thinking about these sessions and this campaign setting. 

I didn't describe one building, the one shop directly to the left of the fountain. It's a shed-like shop, a summer building for the general store to its north. It has heavy up-swinging shutters that open to large counter displays. 

Presumably, the town was abandoned in the fall and the shop was shuttered. There are many knickknacks left over from the summer. Urns of summer wine are probably the thing that will attract the PCs, but also household items such as paintings, and small curios like necklaces and lockets. There are the odd socks and tights, soaps, and cleaning agents. And perhaps incense and candles.  

Again, the idea is to point to a once vibrant town. 

Since it was abandoned, it has been taken over by various critters, some of which have already been introduced. The characters have stuck to this one tiny area for several days. They don't realize the extent of the town but they feel comfortable where they are. 

It seems that I have misplaced my notebook, so I have recreated the wandering monster list from memory. Before we get to the wandering monster list, there are two types of monsters that do not wander: the catfish in the fountain and the green whip snakes which are busy brumation, the cold-blooded version of hibernating. 

The rules of engagement for the catfish are:  

1. There is a 1 in 6 chance that they will be visible. 

2. The catfish respond 1-3 rounds after a person enters the water if not immediately visible.

2a. They may be tricked into coming into range by dropping stuff in the water.  
3. If they need to flee, there is a hole in the fountain.  

The rules of engagement for the green whip snakes are: 

1. There is a 1 in 6  chance they will be found in any house. 

1a. They are everywhere, not finding them in one particular house doesn't mean they are absent, just undiscovered. 

2. They are brumating, so they will not wake unless held by a warm person or a fire is lit in the house. 

3. The snakes do damage by poison, not through biting. The poison causes muscle spasms, pain, and long-term shaking, all of which prevent using Thieves Skills and spell casting for hours. It is more annoying that anything else. 

3a. If the players decide to milk the snake for poison, it requires a Dex or Wis save the first time. After that it simply requires a plan and care. 

Now on to the main list: 

1. Bandits, 3d4 appearing. 

2. Sheep, 3d6 appearing. 

3. Giant Ants, 2d6 appearing.

4. Ranger, 1 appearing. 

5. Troll, 1 appearing. 

6. Kobolds*, 3-6 appearing.

7. Mountain Goats, 2d4 appearing. 

8. Mage*, 1 appearing.

9. Wild Horses, 1d4 appearing. 

10. Wolves, 2d4 appearing.

Starred monsters are singular creatures. 

The bandits hang out on the north side of town, this is a waypoint on their patrol range where it is generally safe to camp. Since there are no people here, they don't engage in looting and raiding activities here. They don't wander the town much as the trolls prey on men. None of them seem particularly skilled at combat, but they do have swords, bows, and light armor. They also don't have horses and have been warned about taking wild horses found in the as mounts or as pack animals. 

The sheep and goats are more amusing than a threat. They are feral, so hunting them is easy but treating them like farm animals will end in disaster. The funnier the better. The goats can be dangerous if mishandled. 

The giant ants have tunnels all around town. There is a 50-50 chance that characters encountering them will find a tunnel entrance near the encounter site. Inquisitive characters will find clues that indicate the ants arrived either after the town was abandoned or that the same time but not before, which means they were not the cause.  

The Ranger is an associate of the bandits. He is more daring in his explorations of the town than they are. He will avoid combat, if possible. Every season, he picks a new house to live in. When encountered, the characters might find him in his home. There is a 1 in 6 chance of this. 

There are several trolls hiding in the town, but only one is on patrol in the town at any one time. The troll will fight anyone he can for prestige and food, but like all trolls, he or she can be bought off. The Ranger pays rent, so they leave him and anyone with him alone. They also prey on horses, wolves sheep, and goats. If the characters offer them gold, the trolls will offer them housing. The trolls are brain-bustlingly dense. They will not accept animal carcasses as food, but if they are properly butchered, they will accept the meat and pelts as highly valued resources. It's like they don't know sheep are mutton. 8912                  

 

The Kobolds are of the Tribe of Minwan that hale from the Kobold's Folly. The Kobold party numbers six, but they may be encountered in smaller groups. The tribe is oddly friendly so long as they don't witness anyone abusing the wild horses. They care for the horses and will happily eat people who harm them. They are willing to trade with the party, they would like daggers, knives, and hatchets. The Trolls avoid them like the plague. These kobolds are very furry like a pug dog and taste horrible. The trolls don't want to offer them the opportunity of renting space in their town. 

The Mage is a singular person. He is mute yet can somehow cast spells. He has both clerical and arcane magic. He will heal characters in need. He can disappear and appear at random and often does. 

The wild horses and wolves are just typical beasts. They are comfortable in the town, but if put to flight they try to exit the town. They are not troubled by human dwellings, sometimes appearing inside buildings or peeking in open windows and doors. Obviously, this trait makes the wolves very dangerous. 

Introducing intelligent creatures into the town allows the characters a chance to dig for clues about the town. The troll, the kobolds, and the bandits will all be in agreement that the town has been abandoned for a long time. The trolls will term it as "forever" while the bandits and kobolds say, "many, many seasons". If trying to nail down a specific timeframe, it becomes obvious that the trolls and kobolds don't live very long so "forever", "many", and "seasons" may not mean much to them. The bandits don't recall a time that the town was inhabited and the individuals here aren't very knowledgeable. It seems that this is a newbie outing with only a few bandits having much experience at all.  

The Ranger has the most information which he himself finds to be odd. He indicates the town always appears to have been abandoned within the last 1 to 2 years, but he has been visiting the site for a decade. His mother and father knew of the place, so he feels like there is magic at work.    

Refined House Rule Armor Class in Old School Essentials

Facial hair is impressive, 
but does not
 contribute to defenses

I have thrown a bunch of ad hoc rules at D&D over the years. And my favorite and most workable is Armor Reducing Damage. In Unearthed Arcana, they had a suit of field plate armor that acted like a limited pool of hit points. I don't necessarily like giving the characters a way to purchase hit points. 

What I do is slightly different. I offer damage reduction based on how low the AC is, to a practical limit of AC 2 for non-magical armor. 

The AC scale is 9 to 2 for damage reduction.  

AC 9 - No armor, no damage reduction. 
AC 8 - Only a shield, no damage reduction. 
AC 7 - Leather armor, -1 to damage. 
AC 6 - Leather armor  + shield, -1 to damage.
AC 5 - Chainmail, -2 to damage
AC 4 - Chainmail + shield, -2 to damage
AC 3 - Plate armor, -3 to damage
AC 2 - Plate armor + shield, -3 to damage
AC 1 or lower, no further damage reduction except for magical armors which can reduce damage to -4. 

The damage reduction is a property and advantage of armor over speed, toughness and/or magic properties. A wolf or dragon does not receive a damage reduction because they probably don't have armor. An orc or horse in armor or barding does receive damage reduction. 

Wearing all of the armor
helps a lot. 

In exchange for this reduction of armor, the character must be fully dressed, meaning they have all ancillary parts of their armor for it to reduce: ie helmets, boots, greaves, bracers, gloves or gauntlets, etc. Having all parts covered simply removes the possibility of a light hit (a dagger or a punch) from doing harm. 

There are two weapons that are unaffected by this reduction - Long Bows and Crossbows. These arrows and bolts have so much mechanical advantage they simply won't bounce. They do skip off angled bits which is represented by a poor damage roll, not the quality of armor.  

There are two corollary rules to this. 

Each type of armor is made up of the lesser armor types. What this means is, chainmail is made up of a layer of leather armor plus the mail. Plate armor is composed of chainmail and leather. The end result is, your character's investment in an expensive suit of armor means you also have a functional lesser suit of armor in addition to the full set. Plate armor can be worn as plate, chain, or just leather. Also, you can save time by only suiting up to your comfort level. This can also come into play for retainers and followers, giving a soldier an ability to suit up in layers quickly. 

There are many stories where the hero only suits up to the first layer and fights to defend his page or squire as they suit up. This injects a bit of drama and heroism. 

History is full of examples where soldiers wore what they thought made sense at the time, say the undergarment but not the protective metal cover. Of course, what makes these commentaries notable is the soldier won or lost a battle seeming based on what they had on. 

Harald Hardrada's troops got caught wandering without their mail shirts but were also completely surprised by a massive army bearing down on them with no warning. 

Several times gladiators were pressed into service as soldiers in the Empire's legions. It could go either way. In the Year of the Four Emperors, the gladiators had the advantage of the heaviest armor but made a poor showing when thrust into traditional set-piece battles. However, in urban settings, they were dangerous in combat. Later, Marcus Aurelius pressed gladiators into the role of soldiers. The Empire was decimated by a plague so there was no lack of legionnaire standard armor for them. Or they served in a role where armor wasn't a factor. 

Numerous times, the legionaries got ambushed while wearing only their tunics but were holding heavy pickaxes and turf cutters. They destroyed heavily armored enemies. If there was one thing legionaries were more practiced in than sword fighting, it was using tools to make camp. 

Even power armor has limits, 
say if your feet leave the ground

This has an interesting social side effect on D&D which also has a good history at the table. Padded or studded leather, banded and ring mail are transitional types of armor that cannot be broken down like chainmail and plate types. They are all one piece with metal bits attached directly to the cloth or leather. They aren't layers and don't come apart. They have a place and are very descriptive of a specific type of character. A barbarian or cleric would be expected to have the heaviest but cheapest armor available, ring or banded types. A Thief or an Assassin looks like a ruffian, but never a guard. 

Back to the corollary rules for armor. I run with the idea that a person wearing armor is unencumbered in combat or movement until "one more thing" is added. Don't wear a backpack in armor. Don't walk in mud in armor. Don't let peasants jump on your back in armor. Don't get hit with a mancatcher or take a pilum to the shield. All of these will immediately encumber a character in armor in rather disastrous ways. 

When reading through those examples of historical battles involving mismatched armors, the side that moved smartly won. 

I have tried a couple of rounds of combat first level characters using the Old School Essential rules.. Damage reduction increases the loiter time of first level characters while not eliminating death. This is give combat an epic feel as one Fighter with 8 hp and plate armor can survive 1 good hit (more than 4 or 5 hp damage) or 2 average hits (3 or 4 hit points of damage) and a whole series of weak blows. 

When facing heavier damage, say 2d8 hp from a serious bite, the same 8 hp Fighter (or Dwarf) in plate is more likely to survive due to damage reduction but is by no means assured of it. An average roll would be 9 hp of damage reduced by 3 leaving just 2 hp left. On the other hand, reducing 15 points of damage does nothing. 

It is an interesting mechanic, if anything it can make your fighting types much tougher. You can try out Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. 

Write What You Know - Zing!

I'm watching Wednesday on Netflix. The second episode leads with the line: 

"I've always hated the expression 'write what you know.' It's a hall pass for the imagination-impaired." 

Wednesday then shifts her opinion. To paraphrase, "if the things you know are weird, maybe you should lean into it." I like that. It comes up very often in role-playing games. Here is the odd thing, the DM or game master is trying to offer scenarios that make sense to the players, no matter who they are. Since the players don't know what the referee has in mind, things get weird. 

For example, in my last post, I refused to say, "Solo Play". I know how some people will react to that phrase. When I shared the post, someone commented exactly as I expected even though I tried to avoid it. Such is the world of RPGs and social media. I tried to avoid the probable and walked right into it anyway. And this happens at the table, too. 

Anyway, Wednesday is right. A game master and a player really don't know what is going to come of the words. Things are bound to get weird, so lean into it. 

If you design things from the exclusively top down, you start with big topics and get smaller. The larger and more vague a topic is, the more likely that basic concepts will get skewed by the listener. My next project (recap - part 1, part 2) is being built top-down but the solo adventure I am running is in that world and is very bottom-level. Facts over concepts. 

How and why do I link small details to large concepts? 

Well, let's look at the basic map in relation to what is happening. There are 3 buildings, a tree, and a fountain. Or more simply, it's a hub with spokes. The center of the hub is the fountain and stuff radiates out. The three buildings and the tree are the edges of the hub and the start of the spokes. It's designed like many cities and towns, and amusement parks. The mini-map is simple, familiar,  and hard to get lost in. The reason for this is player and character comfort. They can forget mapping and wander for a bit. 

The buildings are much the same way. The general store is very much like a free-standing market stall, the store in Little House on the Prarie, or any number of old buildings in a zillion cities around the world. The image makes itself, which is very player friendly. You don't have to see it to know it. The details build themselves. 

Let me press on with the adventure for a moment. The players entered the shop to the east. It's a rug shop. The players checked it out and found nothing of interest. Until they tried to leave. Then a couple of them fell through the floor in front of the door. This is a subverted pit trap. 

If I had real players at the table, they probably would have picked up on the slapstick amusement of slowly sinking into a carpet over a hole in the ground. It was hard to get out of but not too hard with friends to help. How many old TV shows and movies have someone sinking into quicksand or Tom Hanks getting trapped in a hole in the Money Pit. 

But it isn't just for humor. The characters and the players will discover the why in a bit. 

Moving on, they hazard the church or temple. Actually, the structure is neither. It's a mansion. Outside, they find a couple of decaying bodies which presents the first mystery. Entering the building, they realize that it had collapsed first and caught fire at some point, much later than the collapse. 

They also solve the minor mystery of the missing tools. They were used to recover the bodies. Each body shows signs of trauma from falling or having things fall on them. They were obviously cared for after being recovered and placed in repose. Unfortunately, burial never occurred. The Clerics and the Magic-User might surmise some sort of magical protection was used on them. 

As the players explore, aside from the tools, they find nothing of value except information. A lot of debris has been moved. Strangely, more than what could be done by the shovels and pickaxes they found. They also find several openings leading to a cave system. As they advance in the dark, they are ambushed by giant ants. 

They fight a retreating battle in the tunnels of the anthill until they discover a soft squishy cloth covering an exit. Hum... they are back in the pit trap in the carpet shop. Fearing pursuit, they run through the fountain and back to the general store, baring the doors. 

You see, these tiny details have been placed not randomly but purposefully to echo the overreaching theme of romanticism.  Seeking answers in places and people long gone. The players will see that someone who cared about something lived here.  

And then there is the weanie in the middle of it all. The fountain and table are what is called a weanie. It towns and cities, the center of the hub has something significant like a fountain or a town hall. Those things draw your attention, they pull you in. For Walt Disney, the weanie was the Castle. It pulls people in and pushes them out to the edges in a repeating pattern. The Castle as a hub insures that people are always pulled in no matter how many times they move out. 

(Walt Disney used to have a dog that he would lead around with a hot dog, which is where the term comes from. I can't imagine he was the first to think of it, but he was known to make the comparison. There I go again, putting amusement parks in my games...)

What gives the table and fountain drawing power is what they do mechanically. The party was dumped there by the Game Master, a ridiculously petty person who teleports away his problems. The party can't be depleted because more characters will appear at the table. 

The fountain also has a purpose that is far less deadly than it appears. The giant catfish are a replenishing food source. The party doesn't have to enter the pool to hunt them, they can be hunted without entering the water. It's not entirely safe, but much safer than starving. 

I had thought that giant catfish were fantasy monsters, but they are real and do like brackish saltwater. They can often get to be hundreds of pounds. Taking one down feeds the party for an incredible amount of time for minimal risk. 

The players, I hope would be left with a feeling of wonder. Wonder at who lived here. Wonder at where they went. That sense of a real living place is the core concept behind romanticism. It's deviated but still there. 

PS: You can pick up a copy of Old School Essentials Characters, Magic, Monsters, and Treasures on DriveThruRPG. You can also try Wordlographer before you buy.