The Soul-bell and the Silent Village - mini-scenario

You reach the village after a long day of adventuring or travel, in high spirits. But the street is dark and cold. You think at first you see a dog rummaging through a pile of kitchen scraps; then you realise that it's a wolf, the first of many.

When you break into a house, you find everyone asleep, in a slumber that cannot be broken. Anyone with witch-sight can see the larvae, the spirit-wyrms, coiled about the bodies of the sleepers. But no common sorcery can dismiss a wyrm without destroying the mind of the sleeper.

Eventually, you might find the broken crypt in the kirk-yard and the body of the poor, damned fool (an adventurer like you) who opened it. Soul-burn is a hideous death.

There are clues scattered about the tomb and notes in the priest-house that might lead you to the legend of the soul-bell. But an interfering priest of the Narrow Faith cast that relic into the ravine a hundred years or more ago, and the ravine is haunted by grimelocks, naggs, and worse.

But it might be worth finding the bell, and letting it ring from the spire before dawn. Before the spirit-worms pupate and hatch...

FF redux - SKILL and WITS

Having one score (SKILL) in Fighting Fantasy for all tests can lead to pretty similar characters with similar abilities across the board, especially if you run your FF with a fixed SKILL, as I suggested in another post.

This is a simple variant for character creation that introduces a new ability, WITS, and a new test for WITS. With a balance of SKILL and WITS, it's possible to create more varied characters that emphasise different abilities, from battle to stealth and cunning.

New Abilities

SKILL: represents general fighting ability, strength and coordination. SKILL is used in fights, and in tests of SKILL which requires force or agility.

WITS: represents resourcefulness, cunning, nerve and dexterity. WITS are useful for tests of stealth, cunning and awareness, and tasks that requires a light touch, such as picking pockets or tampering with locks and traps.

STAMINA and LUCK are unchanged.

Initial SKILL and WITS

SKILL and WITS begin at 6. Then distribute a further three points between them.

GM's Notes

In Arihmere, adding WITS means characters can divide their efforts between combat and stealth. One can master one or the other, or find a near balance, but not both. An armoured knight might choose a SKILL of 9 and WITS of 6, showing contempt for 'dishonourable' tactics, whereas a lightly armed rogue (SKILL 7, WITS 8) may prefer subtlety and stealth in many a dark spot.

You may supplement battle with tricks and traps, but WITS should never be a substitute for clever play. That is, don't prompt a player to test WITS to find a hidden trap unless they are already directing their attentions in a particular direction by announcing a search.

Is there an RPG in this dungeon?

Looking through the beta rules for Dungeon Robber (the solo, pen-and-paper random dungeon-delving game), the tinkereage wonders if there is not a viable multi-party RPG hidden within these rules.

Dungeon Robber is now online in flash-format as a sort of hybrid rogue-like/OD&D dungeon crawler. It's a fun, often frustrating game, but the thrill of random dungeon creation and solo resource management in the face of arbitrary death by statistical misadventure does not last long.

But looking through the 'rules' behind the browser game, there is enough content to forge a working RPG which would resemble a streamlined version of the original dungeon-crawling system. Take the character generation rules, the classes, and the very compact method for creating monsters based on 'home level', add a simple task resolution system based on the saving throw (with modifiers for hard/easy tasks) and one would have a simple, workable system ready to go.

The only drawback is that combat would have the swift and deadly feel of OD&D. But then, wouldn't raising the threat of monster encounters bring a new feel to the old game?

Simple damage rolls for Fighting Fantasy

The fixed two points of damage for any normal hit against any character in any armour with any weapon in Fighting Fantasy is something of an over-simplification, and damage is usually the first feature of the combat rules to be house-ruled or adapted for advanced games.

But in the spirit of Fighting Fantasy, if you are going to roll another die for damage, why not make the rule as simple as possible?

Rolled Damage for Fighting Fantasy

When a hit is achieved, roll one die. This is the number of STAMINA points the wounded character will lose.

Weapons

Heavy weapons (two-handed swords, troll clubs) add 1 point to the total STAMINA loss.

Light weapons (goblin swords, short-staffs) deduct 1 point from the STAMINA loss.

Armour

Light armour deducts 1 points from the STAMINA loss.

Heavy armour (like plate or a full mail hauberk) deducts 2 points.

A shield deducts one more point from the STAMINA loss if the character carrying the shield makes a successful test for skill.

(The GM may apply the protective value of armour (1 or 2 points) as a penalty to any test for skill involving agility or speed.)

LUCK

A successful test for luck will cause a 1 point hit, if wounded, or a 6 point hit, if attacking. There is no penalty for failing the test for luck: a hit is bad enough.

Tomb of the Bear God [mini-scenario]

Everyone knows that Beyreg the Sneak is a coward, a footpad, a lurker, a petty thief. So when two of the sheriff's men went out to find him in the woods and were found dead, with their skulls broken and their chests ripped up, what could have gotten the better of them?

There's an old tomb that once belonged to the Bear God deep down among the oldest, most tangled trees. Hunters saw Beyreg prowling out there. The reaching roots and storms have finally broken into the side of the barrow. And what could Beyreg the Sneak have found inside the tomb of a lost god?

Winding forest paths, tracks of a monstrous bear; the old, dim tomb and chambers full of bone; strange etchings on the walls, and a violated altar, the great bearskin of shape-shifting priests.

XD20: notes and house-rules

In the last post, I looked at the super-light, very flexible, D&D inspired XD20 system. Although the XD20 system is very compact and informal, it still carries a few oddities and ambiguities that could be handled with some of the suggested house-rules below. The beauty of the system, and the concept, is that the GM can choose or adapt whatever works.

Update: for an example of an adaptation of the basic principles of XD20, see this system, presently nameless, designed to run simple dungeon and wilderness fantasy adventures with any source at hand.

Character Creation

XD20 rules recommend deducting a roll from the maximum to generate stats, but there's no reason, since lower stats are better, not to roll and add to the minimum, or experiment with different rolls. Rolling 6 + 1d8 gives a wide spread for stats, but 2d6+3 or 6+1d6 give more focus and control.

TAC, PSYCH, and WAH map roughly to physical, mental, and spiritual (maybe just luck) abilities. Then there’s Health. These are easy to rename or reconfigure for different games. TAC (Toughness and Constitution), INT (Intellect and Training), PWR (Presence, Will, and Resolve), and Stamina for instance.

Health: In XD20 the weaker the character the lower the character's Health stat, since Health is based on a combination of the character's lowest scores. But Health, unlike stats, is better the higher it is. There's a nod in the rules towards game balance, but why should a mighty warrior tend to have worse health than an inept hedge-wizard? Instead, Health should start at zero (or 2 or 4 for constitutionally weaker characters with the Mystic/Magical type). Health would then go up (bad) as hits accumulate, and characters with more than 20 points against Health would be knocked out or killed.

This means that current Health can also be used for rolls if the character's constitution or fatigue is tested.

Combat

XD20 is vague about combat damage, but effects, and hence weapon damage, are decided by a D20 roll. Bear in mind that even a dagger between plates of armour can kill. But to estimate damage, assign about 6 points for a small weapon or a light hit, 8 for a medium hit, and 10 points or more for a big hit. Pull back for adventure games and push for gritty games. Or just adapt the damage dice from the equipment table in any D&D retroclone.

A high success (based on the difference from the target) should nudge up a low effect roll.

To integrate parries, dodges, tricks and other multiple actions and reactions in combat, each additional roll might be allowed with a -4 penalty.

In the end, cut to the chase for combat: assume that weapons and armour are already integrated into TAC and Level, and only deal out adjustments for major tactical differences or special cases.

XD20: an appreciation (and thoughts for Dungeons and Dragons)

Since this year is the 40th anniversary of the Dungeons and Dragons system, this year's first post takes a quick look at an obscure off-shoot of that famous game, XD20.

XD20 is an extremely free-form, rules-lite system included in XDM: Extreme Dungeon Mastery, a guide to DMing and RPGs by Tracy Hickman and Curtis Hickman. XDM as a book shows signs of hasty development and editing, as well as containing considerable filler in the form of mostly unusable stage-trickery and dice prestidigitation, but at its core there is also a sound and interesting guide to bringing fun, action, humour and interest back into roleplaying games, as a reaction to the slow, overly-cautious, procedural style of dungeon-crawling play that D&D games can slip into.

This review on RPG.net is a pretty good summary of the XD20 system, and interested me enough to buy the e-book version through Kindle.

In brief, the 'advanced' version of XD20 generates characters with three scores or stats: TAC (Toughness and Constitution, the only acronym that is explained), PSYCH (intelligence and skill), and WAH (luck, willpower, and magic specifically). There is also a Health score, based on a combination of the other scores. Characters have a few notes regarding skills and abilities (based on their character Type) a Level, and any equipment the DM deems reasonable at the time.

The three scores combine ability scores, bonuses and saving throws, and so lower numbers are better (except for Health, oddly).

The mechanics are even simpler. The player describes an action, and the DM may ask for a related stat and apply any modifiers that seem relevant or entertaining and sets the target number. The player then rolls greater than or equal to the target number on d20 to succeed. If the success or failure has some effect, like damage or magical strength, then another d20 is rolled and the higher the roll, the better. In essence, the DM estimates the chance of success based on a stat or the situation, and sets the target number accordingly.

Combat rounds are unstructured. The only rule is that everyone gets a chance to act in a single round, and damage is fudged – you can roll, or apply a fixed number, or the DM can make something up.

The mechanics may seem sketchy and rather arbitrary, and in a sense they are. But XD20 captures a deep truth about RPG systems which has influenced my thinking considerably: there are only 20 digits on a d20, and most rules in all their calculations, modifiers and tables are ultimately aimed at proposing a number that seems fair given the situation: so why not just cut to the chase, pick a reasonable target, and roll?

The handling of magic has a similar elegance. A magician describes a spell, the DM sets a target number, the roll is made and the effects decided. The Hickmans point out that magic should be consistent with the rest of the rules of the game and the nature of magic in the game-world, not based on exceptions and special cases. This of course requires inventiveness as well as consistency and a great deal of judgement, but it also pushes players and DMs to treat magic as, well, magic, rather than a sort of special in-game munitions in prepackaged units.

Finally, although characters have a Level, there is no material benefit from gaining a level (which happens whenever the DM thinks it should happen). Instead, characters simply face challenges and opponents consistent with their level and the general difficulty of play remains the same.

XDM is clearly based on playing and revising D&D, with its vast lists of specialist classes, optimal "builds", spells, special abilities and feats, and countless modifiers, options and case-based exceptions. After all, everybody knows what a fighter or a barbarian or a wizard should do, what equipment they carry, what they can face at first level or tenth level. XD20 urges players and DMs to cut away the detritus and focus on the action, puzzles, roleplaying and story. With a few scores on the character sheet for fighting, skill and magic, some health points, a few dice, a few equipment tables to adapt and plenty of imagination and judgement, what could be closer to the original spirit of the first fantasy RPG?

Of course, the XD20 system is not perfect, and even some of its very few rules (in particular, how Health is figured) run against common-sense, which can hamper engagement. But its core ideas present a huge amount of flexibility, and I'll be looking at these options in an upcoming post.