Bye Bye, Level Limits!

As an addendum to my post earlier today about my Labyrinth Lord house rules, I've decided to take a page from another retroclone, Swords & Wizardry, when it comes to the dreaded demihuman level limits. I'm referring specifically to page 16 of the 4th printing of the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules. That page discusses options for continued level advancement for "non-humans." I think it sounds like a great idea to allow demihumans to keep advancing in level, but just at a slower rate. To me, it's a good solution to the long-time debate.

Labyrinth Lord/Basic D&D House Rules (2/25/2013)

Ok, since one of my possibilities for my next campaign is another attempt at running Labyrinth Lord, here are my updated LL house rules (compatible with all versions of Basic D&D). The only portion I'm feeling a bit leery about these days is Combat. I'm feeling like I should heavily simplify/do away with Combat Maneuvers and everything below it. I'm just not sure if I want all those levels of granularity, but rather keep things as abstract as possible, in the pure tradition of D&D combat.

Anyway, here they are (please let me know what you think...feedback is welcome): 

GENERAL:

Hit Points: max at first level.

Attribute Checks: (as needed) roll d20 under attribute score; bonuses/penalties can come from DM for perceived difficulty, difference in levels/HD and/or attributes between character and opponent, etc.

Bonus spells slots for high INT or WIS: see LL Advanced Edition Companion chart for clerics.

Zero HP: at 0 HP or less, save vs. death. Success means 1 hp and unconscious. Failure means...well, death.

Shields and Saves: at GM discretion, shields may give +1 bonus to saving throws such as breath weapons.

COMBAT:

Two-Weapon Fighting: gives +1 to hit.

Natural 1 and Natural 20: a natural 1 is always a miss and a “fumble,” the effects of which are up to the GM. Natural 20 is an automatic hit. GM may also allow for some“fantastic effect.”

Hold Action: during combat, a player can hold their action for use later in the round. However, held actions not used in a round are lost at the end of the round.

Combat Maneuvers: from ACK System (most are -4 to attack roll, opponent save vs. paralysis). These can include disarming, wrestling, etc.

Firing into Melee: on a roll of 1-3, a character hits a friendly. Roll another to-hit to see if the friendly takes damage. Chance to hit friendlies is eliminated if a player takes time to aim. Aiming and firing in the same round confers a to-hit penalty of -2. Aiming and waiting until the next round eliminates penalty.

Called Shot: performed at a -8 penalty, but a hit usually means automatic critical (double damage). Taking rounds to aim lowers penalty by 1 for each round taken.

Offensive Focus (declared at beginning of round): +2 to hit, +2 AC for round

Fighting Defensively (declare at beginning of round): -2 to hit, -2 AC for round

Full Defense (declare at beginning of round): no attack, -4 AC for round

MAGIC USERS:

Counterspell: a magic user can counter another magic user’s spell by casting a spell of the same level. An INT check is made to determine if MU can identify opponent’s spell. The countering is an automatic success, with both spells cancelling each other out.

Retaining Spells:  When casting a spell, player must roll equal to or less than INT minus level of spell. Success means spell is not used up. Failure means spell is lost until PC rests and recovers spells per RAW.

CLERICS:

Retaining Spells: When casting a spell, player must roll equal to or less than WIS minus level of spell. Success means spell is not used up. Failure means spell is lost until PC rests and recovers spells per RAW.

ELVES:

Immune to all undead attacks and also hear noise on roll of 1-2 on d6

Retaining Spells: When casting a spell, player must roll equal to or less than INT minus level of spell. Success means spell is not used up. Failure means spell is lost until PC rests and recovers spells per RAW.

HALFLINGS:

Fey Luck: Three times per session, a Halfling can choose to make any of their rolls (or the roll of another player) an automatic success.

Hide on roll of 1-5 on d6

DWARVES:

Can harm creatures that can only be harmed by magic (even with bare hands).

Can also tell direction underground on roll of 1-2 on d6.

FIGHTERS:

Automatic hit and double damage on natural 20.

Cleave: can attack another opponent immediately after killing/incapacitating an opponent (from ACKS).

THIEVES:

All thief skills progress as Hear Noise (all use d6). After 15^th level, roll 2d6 and only fail on double six.

Read Language: Level 1=20%, 2=40%, 3=60%, 4=80%

Use Scroll: 10% at level 2, and +10% per level until 10^th level (90%)

End-of-Week Non-Elmore (2/22/13)

 

Nope, no Larry art this week, folks. Instead, I'm putting up an image from a game system that's captured my interest again: the Dragon Age RPG.

 

At the moment, I'm feeling torn. While I'm on GMing hiatus, my mind's been able to relax and I've had time to consider what I would want to do when I return to running games. And my brain has gravitated to two game systems: Labyrinth Lord and Dragon Age. Neither is better, in my mind; they're just different, and would scratch different RPG itches for me.

 

For Labyrinth Lord, I've got a ton of materials to use besides just the rule book, as well as rules knowledge and a desire to run some Basic D&D-type adventures. I've also got my eye on using the Dawnforge setting, which is high fantasy for sure. I know, I mentioned in my 2013 resolution post that I was going to be working on my own campaign world, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Truth be told, the Dawnforge setting pushes all the right buttons for me, and any campaign world I would have created on my own would have stolen liberally from the setting (and some others) anyway.

 

When it comes to Dragon Age, its dark fantasy aspect is appealing. No faeries and unicorns, kids. I've enjoyed the setting when I've played the console game. A big draw for me is the mechanics of the game, which I find very interesting. The simple fact that it diverges so much from the d20-dominated, D&D-derived games is appealing. I think it might be good for me to try/learn a different game system.

 

Anyway, bottom line: I'm not stressing out about my divided attentions. I'm just going to be taking time to read through the materials I have and consider what I might want to do next in my GMing career.

 

Happy gaming, people!

Dragon Age RPG on Wheaton's Tabletop

If you haven't (or even if you have!) seen an episode of Wil Wheaton's Tabletop, take some time to watch his recent Dragon Age RPG game session. The game was run by the DARPG's creator, Chris Pramas, and the players included Chris Hardwick as well as the vampire from Being Human and the comic book store guy from Big Bang Theory.

Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of the game.

It was pretty entertaining, though sometimes it seemed like they could have been less, well, giddy. I mean, I love joking around at the game table, and things should be light-hearted at times, but there's a point where you have to focus on the game with a bit of seriousness. However, this is a web show, so I think there's a case of "observation influencing the observed," and the guys were hamming it up a bit. I thought Pramas seemed somewhat exasperated with the players' antics at times, but again, this is a show and not a regular campaign session.

I have to say that my interest in Dragon Age RPG has been piqued again. Is anyone out there playing this RPG, and if so, what are your impressions of it?

On a related note, I decided to pick up the Midgard campaign setting recently, because I'm a sucker for published settings. Coincidentally, the setting book has rules for the AGE System. Hmm...

I watched John Carter...

...and I didn't think it was that bad. Certainly not as bad as it's been made out to be.

 

I haven't read A Princess of Mars in ages, so I can't attest to how faithful the film was to the source material. But hey, isn't it possible that some folks, having seen it, might have been drawn to read the original tales? If so, I'd consider the film a success.

 

And you could do worse than Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris.

 

All of this had made me eager once again for Warriors of the Red Planet!

End-of-Week Elmore (2/15/13)

So, following in the footsteps of my last two EoWE posts, here's the cover illo for the final installment of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragons of Spring Dawning. We see the famed Brothers Majere, accompanied by Tika of the crimson curls, exposed and tanned thigh, and ample...courage!

 

*sigh*

 

Posting these covers over the last few weeks might have set me on a collision course with yet-another Chronicles re-read! Hopefully it won't cause a flare-up of Gamer ADD in connection with my stalled Dragonlance campaign...hmmm...

So God Made a Gamer

Have you seen this yet? I had to laugh and smile when I watched it.

Enjoy.