DnD adventure

I ran a one shot of DnD, unexpectedly. A party of 5 fifth level characters came back from an unsuccessful trip, hunting goblins. When they got to town, the party discovered no activity, the normal hustle and bustle was gone. Spotting some goblins in the nearby woods at the edge of town the party soon discovered the goblins had taken the town. Strange as this might sound, the goblins were actually being lead by a Blue goblin, who's powers and influence over the goblins was enough to subdue the townsfolk.

DnD is a strange game, and sort of clunky. I don't know the rules that well, but even those that do know the rules end up having to consult the rule books for all sorts of reasons.

I have been considering learning the rule books, but I don't know if I really want to submit to the token RPG.

What I really wanted to play was Wushu, in a fantastic martial arts setting. Perhaps that is what I will run next week.

This was at the DnD and Roleplayers Meetup at Keep Flying Games in Mesquite, TX. It was great to have a place to play that was large enough to hold us all. Thanks Ray!

Silver Cord Playtest notes

We toyed with the 6dF dice. We used scale 0 to 9+, using rolls of 6dF with and without / 2 (round down). The players loved the added dice, as far as I could tell, and the positive number scale. One did not like dropping the words from the scale. Another one did not like the extra division, but he was min/maxing and the extra math didn't figure in too well with his plans.

It was hard to figure one player who was objecting to any math in character creation, because he does almost everything in d20 and their modifier scale is -5 to +5 and to get that value is something of an algorithm /subtract 10 and divide by 2, and carry the remainder to wherever/ (and you have to use the chart).

We had attributes that could only supply a maximum +1 modifier to an appropriate skill no matter how high the attribute, but the players objected to the lesser significance attributes played in the game. (Most were d20 gamers.)

I made the mistake of creating a multi-tier point buy for attributes and skills. That went over like cement shoes.

But back to the 6dF... The greater range of numbers worked well for our group, but it remains to be seen if it will work in the long run.

Treepad

If you haven't had a chance to check out Treepad software, they have a free version available. Treepad.com has many versions. I use the Business Edition and the Linux Pro edition.

If you do a lot of writing, and want to keep yourself organized, this software is for you. It can export to and RTF file (Word or other wordprocessor can open). It's an interesting mix of Personal Information Manager and word processor. It even has some database capabilities.

I've been using it for a few years, and it really makes my writing easier. It would be nice to see them put in the ability to post to Blogger directly!

PCGen java based d20 character generator

This software is great. Not all the resources are complete, but as long as you have the DnD books you should get along just fine. http://pcgen.sourceforge.net/

There is one snag that I've run into a few times. Two of the computers I've used this software on I get an error when I try to print or export a character sheet to PDF. The problem is not obvious, but it has to do with the version of Java you happened to be using. As of Feb 23, 2005, PCGen will not export properly in version Java 1.5. If you run into this, get Java version 1.4.x, and things will perk right up.

Downloading this version of Java from Sun was difficult. It kept wanting me to get the latest version 1.5. However, here is the link to the download page. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html

There are lots of downloads on the page. You should only need the JRE if you are a regular user.

Game Design Meetup

We met for our Game Design Meetup and it was great. I got feedback on my game. Also, I am not the only one that experienced a disappointment and doubt about game design. That must mean that it is common after a playtest that depression may set in.

We just have to keep pushing forward. My next project is to work on a science fiction story.

This will be about a crash landing in a small town. An alien is among us, but does he know who he is?

D and D'lite

Inspired by the Wizards games, I took each piece of the character classes and split them into simple categories. I divided them into general groups that seem to work as the basis of all fantasy games.

Our first game was a one-shot, and it was fun to run. No worries about how to pick your spells or skills or weapons or armor. Just play!

Good fun. I've decided to name it something like "D and D'lite"

Fantasy On The Fly

PURE FANTASY (A Dragons and Dark Places on the Fly Production)
Place each of the following numbers in the ability of your choosing. (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6)
STR = Melee Combat Damage (DC STR+Accuracy for damage)
DEX = Dodging Combat Damage (AC, Accuracy for damage)
CON = Health and Damage Resistance (Roll to resist Damage)
INT = Skills and knowing (Skill points, DC INT+Nature for Force Spells)
WIS = Perception and advise (DC WIS + Life/Death For Undead or Healing)
CHA = Charms and such (DC CHA+Mind For Charms)

Pick a class - Each class has its special TRAITS listed next to the class.
Barbarian – Warping, Combat, Combat, Fortitude
Bard – Mind, Skill, Reflex, Will
Cleric - Life and Death, Fortitude, Will
Druid - Nature and Warping, Fortitude, Will
Fighter - Combat and Combat and Combat, Fortitude
Monk - Combat, fortitude, Reflex, Will (DnD stickler include Warp, but only half)
Paladin - Life and Death and Combat, Fortitude
Ranger - Nature and Combat, Fortitude, Reflex
Rogue - Skill and Skill and Combat, Reflex
Sorcerer - Magic and Magic and Combat, Will
Wizard - Magic and Magic and Knowledge, Will
Psion - Magic and Nature and ...
Seer - Knowledge, Will
Shaper - Weapons, Will
Kineticist - Nature, Will
Egoist - Warping, Will
Nomad - Moving, Will
Telepath - Mind, Will
Psychic Warrior - Combat and Warping and Nature, Fortitude
Soulknife - Combat and Warping, Reflex, Will
Wilder - Magic and Warping and Combat, will

Pick a race – Each race has qualities, but this is on the fly gaming. If you want to adjust your Ability scores based on race, go ahead. 1 for 1. If you want darkvision or some other nice attribute based on race, subtract 1 from an Ability score. Elf (dex-str), Dwarf (con-cha), Half-Orc (str-cha), etc. These extra attributes should not be necessary in short games.

TRAITS
Warping is to control, change, or enhance yourself (Rage for Barbarian, Unarmed Strike for Monk, Druid shapeshift.) Apply a temporary +2 to Hit or to Damage or skill before you attempt - based on the nature of warping being used.

Combat is fighting ability +2

Mind is charming and controlling people (+2 to Magic charms and illusions, pick 4 charm spells)

Knowledge is skills of knowing and finding and recognizing (+3 to Knowledge Skills - Spread out Int to spend on Knowledge Skills)

Nature is using the environment (+2 to Magic involving forces, pick 2 spells of force)

Life is healing the living and turning the dead (+2 to healing magic and +2 to turning Dead)

Death is hurting the living and controlling the dead (+2 to harming magic and +2 to controlling the undead)

Skill is the skills of doing many things that can be done better than all else (+2 to all doing skills - Picking locks, Disarming Traps, etc.)

Magic is violating the laws of psychics (+2 to all Nature, Mind, and Warping magic -Pick 3 spells)

Moving is going faster and further than all else (Pick 4 Movement Spells, teleport, fly, swim, run)

***
Fortitude is used whenever faced with a challenge to your physical condition, health, poison, etc. CON +3

Reflex is used whenever you have to react quickly to a situation, area attacks, traps, catch on fire, green dragon breath, etc. DEX +3

Will is used to resist mental effects from Mind attacks. WIS +3
***

Skill List (Every Skill is a 0, pick one to be a 1, and one to be a 2, and spend the rest with INT points)
Appraise
Balance
Bluff
Climb
Concentration
Craft
Decipher Script
Diplomacy
Disable Device
Disguise
Escape Artist
Forgery
Gather Information
Handle Animal
Heal
Hide
Intimidate
Jump
Knowledge
Listen
Move Silently
Open Locks
Perform
Profession
Ride
Search
Sense Motive
Slight of Hand
Spot
Survival
Swim
Tumble
Use Magic Device
Use Rope


Weapons – All melee weapons do the same damage, which is equal to STR + Accuracy. All ranged weapons do Accuracy damage.

Accuracy is the difference between the To Hit Roll and the AC. The more on target the more damage results. If the To Hit makes the AC exactly (difference of 0), it's a miss.

Damage Resistance – Roll CON vs. DC Damage, if it succeeds take -1 to CON as damage and this is your new CON. If the save fails, take -2 to CON as damage and this is your new CON. Next time it will be harder to resist the damage. (Yes, you could kill a wizard that has only 2 CON to start with!)

Scale is 0 – 7 for Abilities
Unmoving Target - +1
Easy Task Target - +0
Moving Target – +2 or more
Opposed Target – AC

Combat Actions
1) TO HIT - Roll 4dF, add to Combat, subtract AC, if the result is positive then it is a hit, and the positive result is considered Accuracy Damage. Add the Accuracy Damage to STR if it's melee. The result is used to determine Damage.
2) DETERMINE DAMAGE - Roll 4dF add to CON, subtract Damage, if the result is negative then subtract 1 from CON, otherwise subtract 2 from CON


Casting Spells – you can cast spells equal to the number of spells you have. Pick appropriate spells for your class, level is unimportant. Damaging Spells always cause 2 Damage if the save fails and 1 Damage if the save succeeds.
Charm Spells succeed or fail
Mind Spells succeed or fail
Life and Death Spells succeed or fail

DnD Meetup

We had our first game of DnD at the DnD Meetup here in the Dallas-Plano area. It was great meeting all these people. Meetup.com is great.

Expanded Psionics Handbook

Alright for any of you peoples afraid to include psionics into you DnD 3.5 campaign setting, you should not fret. I picked up the book read through it. The psionic powers are not really psychic powers. They are simply magic cast with the mind instead of from a book. In stead of spell slots like a sorcerer or wizard, the psion uses magic points.

Here has been my beef with using psionics and DnD. DMs have been afraid to put psionics in their game because Psionics in the past have always unbalanced the campaign setting. Introducing a new element that is sort of magical, but not really has caused much of the trouble.

Not true with the Expanded Psionics Handbook. If you are a fan of psychic abilities in role playing games, you might be disappointed in this book. However, if you look at it from the point of view of DnDs design, you will see that making a psionic character is simply making another spell caster with the flavor of mental powers.

Some of the powers included in the book include things such as the ability to create matter. What kind of psychic ability allows someone to create matter? None. That is not really a psychic ability, but in this book, it is. In fact, there are may examples of psionic spell casting.

This has had one unfortunate side effect. People unfamiliar with psychic abilities in role playing games will take away with them the sense that psychic abilities are magical. This books warps the idea of psychic abilities, but does so in a way that makes it simply a new type of spell caster.

For instance, antimagic spells or spells that neutralize magic have the added benefit of neutralizing psychic abilities in this book. Why is this? Well, the answer for DnD is simple. Game Balance. Unless you are a fully prepared DM who can handle psychic abilities that can bypass magical effects, you are in for a tough time unless you make psychic abilities like they are in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

Seriously, if you are afraid to include psionics in you game world of magic, do not be. This book takes the worry out of including an unbalanced element to your game.

Discouraged

I've reached a slump after playtesting SilverCord. It seems I have much work to do before it is truly playable. I had to fudge thing quite a bit and the building of characters did not go as smoothly as I wanted.

But I am determined. I will get through this. I have to prove it to myself. SilverCord is about survival in a modern world where psychics are the secret controllers of the globe. Spirits roam the earth looking for hosts to feed off of.

If I stick to this, things will get better.

First Alien Contact

It's a story about a crashed ship. This ship crashes, but its occupant, along with his ship, are not completely corporeal. When a teenager approaches this ship, the alien reaches out to greet him, but the boy is consumed in the process. The alien unwittingly assumes the boys identity, and tries to sort out his life. When the local drug store's sliding door doesn't open for him, the alien/boy begins to wonder what happened. With the help of the store owner, the alien/boy becomes less alien and more human, but the store owner is left with the knowledge of the nature of this being.

Scale

Numeric values applied to adjective to give an ordinal scale make for an interesting discussion for those that enjoy Fudge RPG. However, I've found the negative values used with vanilla Fudge to be difficult for many players to use. Aside from the negative numbers seeming to correspond to a negative definition of a skill or ability. In essence, the math once calculated does the same no matter what the scale, except the perception may be altered for many who just don't like negative numbers. However, my beef is the math. Subtracting a negative is sometime not so easy when you are trying to do it on the fly.