Welcome to the Old School Renaissance General thread..
>Links - Includes a list of OSR games, a wiki, scenarios, free RPGs, trove etc.
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>Discord Server - Live design help, game finder, etc.
discord.gg
>OSR Blog List - Help contribute by suggesting more.
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>Webtools - Help contribute by suggesting more.
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>Previous thread
>That actually worked.
Sweet.
Man it's as dead as a Necromancer's girlfriend in here.
Is having a few differing race as class options better or worse than just having separate race and class?
>a few differing race as class options
Sounds like a slippery slope to unnecessary class bloating.
Maybe, do it the DW way: Every class has an ability that differs from race to race. Like human clerics who can use some wizard spells as a divine magic, or elven rangers who always succeed at whatever they do while travelling through wilderness.
Yoooo gonna keep shamelessly plugging my weird little project
Updated the JROTC kid with an actually functional practice rifle based on feedback.
Continue to tell me things! Lots of work in the coming week with finishing up the semester but I've gotta have something to do in my downtime.
I actually like races taking up a slot that would be used for some other special ability. I was inspired by ACKS having an "Elven Blood" Proficiency; I thought it was kind of cool, and I started coming up with cool "racial" Proficiencies for my game, since I graft the Proficiency system onto other games pretty willy-nilly.
It opens some neat stuff.
Looking nifty.
Okay, totally lied. Forgot to save the Word document I use for rules edits as a new .pdf, so here's the ACTUAL update, with a little bit of new art!
>Is having a few differing race as class options better or worse than just having separate race and class?
depends on the system honestly, although Race As Class systems generally need to give those classes something special to make it work well(like in DCC), or give each race at least 2-5 options each(like in ACKS), or some other solution(like in Pars Fortuna, which has every class be a Racial Class and by default standard Humans aren't playable)
On the bus ride home from work tonight, I had an interesting thought for, well, my own little 'brew that could feasibly be ported to LotFP with minimal effort.
One of the most basic things I've changed (kind of a big change, kind of not) is switching the attack roll to 3d6 instead of 1d20. People tend to have d6s way more often, even now, and hucking a handful of dice always feels good. I do get that it does change probabilities a bit, and I have to rework AC and all that comes with that change, but I'm OK with it.
However, that's not the idea. The idea is, much like the Specialist gets x/6 chances to do Specialist stuff, the Fighter, too, gets to put points towards things as they level. Stuff such as Trip, Disarm, Bull Rush, etc; Fight-y type shit they can do during combat. Each of these maneuvers starts at 0, which the Fighter gets X points at level 1 and Y more each level thereafter to allocate. Then, when doubles of the value equal to or less than the points allocated to a maneuver is rolled on the attack roll, regardless of whether the attack itself hits, the fighter can choose to use one of those maneuvers. If the attack is actually successful, it's performed after damage is dealt.
For example, Chuck the Fighter has 3 points in Trip, 2 in Disarm, and 1 in Bull Rush.
His first attack roll is 1, 1, 5; not enough to hit the opponent in their plate, but enough to either trip or disarm him, or knock the guy back a couple feet (away from the caster).
Later in the round, one of Chuck's attack rolls is 3, 3, 6; a successful hit on the obnoxious knight in his way, as well as the doubles to allow him to get a trip in as well. So, a quick jab to a chink in the armor, a side Russian leg sweep, and the formerly obnoxious knight is bleeding and on the ground.
I'm a bit inspired by the Dragon Age RPG's Stunting mechanic, but at the same time keeping track of stunt points and all the broken shit that can come out of it is too fiddly for what I'd like.
I like that a lot! I really, really love swashbuckly combat, but called shots and stunts are hard to regulate sometimes, based on how specific they can be. There's also the question of how to handle stat checks in OSR and such, which makes the whole thing a big ol' mess sometimes.
The systematic approach seems to work best, (DCC and Mighty Deed, I'm lookin' at you!) which is a little contrary to OSR notions, but as long as it's open to interpretation, I can get behind it.
Good job!
Yeah, I wasn't going to add a ton of different maneuvers and shit. I mean, aping some of the "combat maneuvers" from 3.PF would be a start, and I'd be tweaking from there.
I was just more worried about "How easy is this to grok?" I'm glad that it came across as fairly understandable, even if I tend not to be at points.
I'm still not 100% into the math behind it, but I really like the ideas there, so I'll try out something like that in my next Holmes Basic game, since that's where my crew does the most homebrewing.
I wish someone out there was running a SWN game.
Any of you guys ever try Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea? It sounds interesting, but seems kind of rules heavy. But I get such a boner for low fantasy/sword and sorcery stuff that I want to like it...
I have the boxed set and I've never gotten to play it, partly due to lack of interest and partly because the set is too damn pretty to ruin.
It looks rad as shit to play, though, and there were a lot of big fans at TridentCon this year, and iirc there was actually a session there.
What are you guy's experiences with the Immortal set from BECMI? Alternatively, does anybody know any good actual plays of it?
My thinking is that each class represents a broad archetype in the game world. So having race-as-class /tells you/ something about the world; that different races are both very different to humans and highly specialised.
The choice to use it, or to seperate race from class basically boils down to how much you want species to matter. Personally, I much prefer it, with the option of having some 'variant' racial classes (such as dwarf priests like in ACKS)
holy shit I love this
Has Broodmother Skyfortress been liberated? Ten foot pole describes it as more of a how to run an awesome game guide rather than an adventure per se. Sounds great. Plus the way its described makes it seem gonzo and a bit over the top which is my preferred play style.
what kind of abilities should an adventurer have? i am making my players take an adventurer test i am trying to think in what kind of challenges they will have to pass
Someone actually was, a few threads ago.
Really interesting. When I bolted combat skills onto Fighter, I just used a d6 together with d20, similarly to Mighty Deeds. But I like the way you can do a stunt even you missed.
For now I just stole Shadow of the Demon Lord boons and banes, which are stackable (dis)advantages expressed in d6: say, you have 3 boons and 1 bane. One bane cancels one boon out, so you're left with 2 boons, roll 2d6, choose the better one.
So you can either take a bane to try and stunt alongside with the attack, or hope you exceed the AC of the enemy by 5 or more (additional stunt for every 5 over it). Although I'm also using DCs in the increments of 5 for everything.
You're lucky I thought of this shit before.
>Adventurers are graded in 6 general categories, more commonly called Splunk
>Strength
>Personality
>Legwork (speed and agility)
>eUlogy
>Nullification
>Knowledge
These basic grades are comparable to the stats in the game, but are given more of an adventuring focus.
The reason 'eUlogy' is its own category is because of the number of deaths typical with adventures- adventurer guilds wants you to be a qualified burial priest. This is a replacement for the general 'wisdom'. Nullification is the removal of poisons and parasites from your own body and knowledge of how to keep yourself alive as long as possible, and is comparable to Con.
Last thread's encounter list OC
1/3
2/3
3/3
Fighters are weapon masters.
All fighters can pick up these weapons and get the following bonuses-
Rapiers - +2 on all rolls against an elected target, -2 against all others
Shortbow - Can move half distance and still shoot.
Longbows - Longbows do d8 damage in the hands of a fighter.
Mace - Causes -1 AC on hit, to a minimum of 12. Only deals d6 vs unarmoured opponents
Battleaxe - On max damage or killing blow, fighter MUST attack next nearest target from momentum
Pike/Spear - +1 to hit & damage per adj pike/spear
Halberd - Chosen ally gets +2 AC
Staff - make 2 attacks at -2 to hit per round
Daggers - attack normally or take -2 to hit for +2 damage. Crits 19-20
Shortsword - +1 to hit
Other weapons can be suggested and worked out
Favorite OSR game to base your campaign on? What game do you feel provides the best cohesive basis to then further house-rule to your liking?
This is going to sound terribly fedora but I don't actually base them on any one game, just the OSR 'base' in general.
Like roll under saves, armor as deflection, d20 attacks, Xin6 skill rolls, class based, hit dice, etc.
Pretty much everything else though I like to mike up on my own, especially the setting and magic system because I find the biggest problems with those.
Exactly this.
I want to implement a "one grow point" each level up, and you can apply it to either class or race. This easies multiclassing and makes race as a "second-class" that you can delve in for archetypical powers.
And since multiclassing is easy, each class have a starting perk, so a Fighter1/Wizard1 is different from a Wizard1/Fighter1.
So I'm still working on my cantrip/minor spell with unlimited uses magic system and I sort of want some ideas on how to finish it.
Currently my ideal is to just have a long list of Charms, Hexes, Transformations and so forth that the player can do at any time as long as they can cast a spell with a wand. For instance, you can create a very small candle flame as a free spell, no 'spell slots' or anything like that.
However I want players to devise their own magical strategies while keeping with this general formula. So currently my idea is; Players combine other small spells together to get bigger effects. Perhaps once you start combining and chaining spells that is when you'll have to do some kind of spell-craft roll to keep it working.
Example;
>Conjure Candeflame spell
>Grow Flame (makes it bigger)
>Leaping Light (makes fire 'leap' towards directed target)
So this would be a kind of a spell combination to attack an enemy target. Would something like this work? Obviously this is a simple example and seems restrictive, but I am looking for a system that is hard to abuse.
In your example, how many attack actions were spent for that? If all 3, said flame should cause a good portion of damage else it would be better 3 arrow shots. If you can spend a move action goes better because he wouldn't move so being vulnerable.
You know you've been on the internet too long when you see an image of some cool, hand-carved magic wands and the only thing you can think of is animal dicks.
So I ran the Labyrinth Lord module Inn of Lost Heroes the other day. It was pretty fun, although a lot of the adventure is supposed to be laid out to the adventurers early on and the stakes aren't that high (or can at least be changed to the DMs preference), so it became mostly a money haul for my players. They did get close to dying on a couple occasions though.
Also the adventure sort of bummed them out, because the backstory is kind of tragic I guess.
It's probably a good module if you haven't planned anything for a session and need something quick.
I really like this and would love to see it develop into something more formal.
Someone tell OP to add the following link to the general. It's got literally everything you can imagine or would ever need in your campaigns.
are there any tables for random encounter in towns , or event building?
Have you checked out Vornheim?
So i like resource management of torches, projectiles and rations, but I don't like tracking every single instance of that resource.
What is a good way to simplify arrow / torch / ration tracking whilst still making them an important part of encumbrance?
I havent tried it yet, but I like the idea of an item usage die from the Black Hack - I might try that next campaign.
For example, a quiver would have a d10, and if you rolled a 1-2, you'd go down one die size until you roll a 1-2 on a d4 and the quiver is empty.
Track torches and lantern oil not individually but in hours.
Like, you can have, in your inventory, 6 hours of torchlight and 12 hours of lanternlight.
What's an ideal number of players for DCC? I've not gamed in years aside from occasional one-off adventures of different systems at cons, but I'm getting some friends together to start a group again. Initially seemed like I'd just have 4 players but now that number is doubled and I'm trying to plan accordingly.
Either way I figure there'll be lots of dying and rerolling. Once I figure out who all is commited to playing we'll figure out if they're going to running with henchmen and followers, or just reroll a new character to get inserted as needed when PCs start dying.
Honestly, when running the 0-Level Funnels, I got a bit of DM-burnout with more than 4 people. That's 16 characters all essentially doing shit at once.
But for any RPG I've ever played or ran, 4-5 has been the ideal for me.
>16 people at once
You need a caller for that many user. Things break down with large groups of people trying to do things all at once, and dividing your attention.
>4-5 is ideal
Totally.
>You need a caller for that many user. Things break down with large groups of people trying to do things all at once, and dividing your attention.
In DCC, before proper play starts, players control multiple characters. So callers aren't really as needed.
I guess I misread that.
My DCC games generally have 3-5 players per session. 3 players works well for me and more than that makes everything a bit messier but more fun. Since I still haven't really grasped everything about DCC I still prefer just 3 players though.
Anyone looking forward to MCC? I backed the Kickstarter. I fuckin love post-apocalyptic games and this one looks sweet.
Never heard of it. If it's anything like DCC, I'm guessing it'll be a lot of fun to read and no fun at all to play because it's a micromanagement and table-finding nightmare.
...
DCC is a blast, user.
Yeah with the funneling I wanted around 4 really, any more than that and I'd want people to only roll up 3 characters instead of the standard 4 per player. But once they're through the funnel and each person starts getting down to 1 character each I was wondering how difficulty would run.
I'm planning on seeing lots of deaths as well, so I'll probably convince them to at least bring a few henchman/hirelings to follow them around so we've got backup characters.
Yeah, I'd stick to 4-5.
I highly recommend having the Crawlers Companion app on a tablet or phone. It streamlines the Spellcasting/Table Reference process that people bitch about all the time. Also go to the trove and download the issues of Crawl! for some extra classes and races and whatnot. The fan community for DCC is probably the best I've ever come across.
Purple Sorcerer has tons of other cool things to use.
>purplesorcerer.com
To add on to , I would also say to get the reference booklet at peoplethemwithmonsters.blogspot.co.nz
Yeah I grabbed all the stuff off the trove for DCC, since I can't find the book anywhere at this point and am waiting for them to restock in January. I've been looking into other resources and shit for the future, but at least for the first session I'm going to run the 0-level funnel from the book and then branch out from there as needed. Hopefully the players will enjoy it enough to want to continue on.
>But for any RPG I've ever played or ran, 4-5 has been the ideal for me.
For a standard RPG experience, I think 4 players is ideal. A lot depends on the personalities of the people involved, but I generally prefer 3 players to 5, as things tend to drag a bit in the latter situation. Of course, I've done some great gaming with either 1 or 2 players, but it requires a different approach (especially in the case of 1 player) and thus isn't really a typical experience.
I hiiiiiiiiighly recommend #67 Sailors on the Starless Sea as your Level-0 funnel.
Speaking of DCC, does anyone have a PDF copy of the repress? I know it includes some errata and another sample adventure.
I'll look into it, I was just going to do the book one since it seemed nice and simple. Probably going to run a bunch of modules until I get more familiar with the system and comfortable running it.
is it necessary to get the weird dice for dcc?
They explain how to do the rolls with the standard dice.
Not at all, but I do like having them. Bought 2 sets.
>random encounter in towns
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE CITY-STATE OF THE INVINCIBLE OVERLORD
>Supplements/Judge's Guild/Main Stuff/Judges Guild - Supplement - City State of the Invincible Overlord.pdf
Or, well, you can get the same material minus some of the context and with a bit more organization in the first pages of the Ready Ref Sheets.
The addition of having the type of encounter range from being attacked to being questioned, propositioned, or just encountering the town crier? The thing where there's a table to determine WHY the paladin is attacking you (they're drunk/you're in the way/they're just huge racists/etc.)?
It's all very interesting and worth taking a look at if you want to create encounter tables for long-term play in a city. Maybe not copied word-for-word - it's got a lot of subtables, and some of them aren't that great (looking at you, RRS's Women tables) - but there's a lot to say for having your randomly generated NPCs have some reason for existing beyond just attacking the PCs. That's alright in a dungeon, because that's the expected behavior, but in a town or city things are expected to be a little more civilized and, well, lawful. In the "lawful civilization vs. chaotic wilderness" sense.
yeah, I'd love this. $9.99 is more than I'd want to spend on a pdf, but then again it's 173 pages...
Talking about the ready ref sheets, some user did a cleaned up pdf of them. Does anyone have it?
Just use the online app.
>Favorite OSR game to base your campaign on?
this is a constantly changing thing for me, although ACKS, Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, Microlite 74(with all it's expansions), Whitehack, and Swords & Wizardry Complete are the most common candidates for me to tinker with for potential campaigns(The Nightmares Underneath will likely join this list once my copy arrives, same if I ever get a physical copy of Wolf Packs & Winter Snow)
>What game do you feel provides the best cohesive basis to then further house-rule to your liking?
not an absolute set in stone one, but I'd say probably ACKS, although both Microlite 74 and S&W Complete come close
>Has Broodmother Skyfortress been liberated?
I still haven't gotten my physical copies, or links for the electronic (I'm one of the backers), so Jim's probably still dead after Dragonmeet.
I do, bought it for Black Friday.
It's watermarked though.
This adventure seems almost universally praised, especially for a 0 level module. What makes it so great? Anything particular that stands out, or is it just a solid adventure all around?
Wasn't there a guy in the pdf threads that scrubbed stuff?
How is DCC - I read the book, it seems fun with the right players...How do you handle the funky dice?
Please recommend me some good dungeon stocking / wandering monster tables
see
It's very fun and me and my players enjoy it a lot. One big problem I feel it has is the difficulty of using it with modules for other retroclones. It's also very hard to add in new magic to the system since the magic rules are so unique, and that kind of sucks because weird magic is something I really enjoy.
Aww shit, I'm actually a little embarrassed that something that was literally the equivalent of a shower thought is getting so much attention. Thanks!
As for formalizing it, I'll see what I can do. I like the simplicity of LotFP as a base system (even though I grew up with BECMI), and if anything, I'll try and convert it to something compatible with that. I mean, from there it could be extrapolated to other systems with a minimum of hassle.
Timetable on that is probably not going to be right away, though, as I do have work the next couple of days, and that doesn't really give me much time to do anything at any sort of reasonable hour. Hell, if Troll Gods is actively seeking material for Issue #2, I might just submit the system as an article there instead.
Yeah, the probabilities are something that I really gotta sit down and hash out before I can say I'm satisfied. I just want to have something, even if it's just my own homebrew, where it's easy enough for people to read through a handful of pages, sit down, steal some dice from Risk or whatever, and roll shit up.
I mean, I'm just 31 going on 70 (or that's what it feels like, what with early-onset arthritis), and I just don't want to sit down and read 400+ pages of a PHB, let alone another similar-sized book in the DMG, just to even start to ask my bros "hey, let's sit down and play some Fantasy Fucking Vietnam". And that's assuming my bros are fluent enough in the system where character creation only takes up a setting, and I'm not constantly asked "which die do I use to attack with?" It's happened to me before, and even like, 6 sessions in the guy kept asking the same question.
I want something, maybe 32 pages TOPS for the players to look through, with maybe another 32 pages of DM notes, treasure tables, monsters, and shit, and have a nice, easy, quick way to hang out and murderhobo some shit. At the same time, I want to have everyone be able to do more than just "I hit it with my axe. Next.", because that gets boring.
I've done a 1st Edition game where I had ~5 or so henchmen compared to some of the other players' 10+, and even with the extra bookkeeping of another handful of guys, there were definitely points where I was in the backseat watching shit happen, and it was really the inter-player interaction that had kept me around long enough to get beyond that. Shit's boring, and I don't want boring, simple as that.
MageGuru scanned the map in FR16 at some point, so here's that missing map from a few months ago.
The index in the back of the Fiend Folio has a pretty handy set of tables sorted by environment.
What sort of AC base we looking for? Something like 8? What about fighter to hit bonuses? I wound imagine something like another d6 to thorw, unless you think the combat moves.
A slight variation wound be something like everybody rolls 4d6, but everyone but fighters ignore 6 rolls. That way you'd have a 1-20 possible attack results for normies.
Gary Gygax said the tables are garbage, he hated those Fiend Folio tables (monster levels all wrong he said). The collected Fiend Factory is clearly superior and more wacky.
I've been thinking about stealing Ars Magics spontaneous magic system.
Basically you combine an Art and Form. Or Conjure + Fire = make fireball.
The only question is how to determine the Wizards ability with these?
gg said all kinds of shit
That being said, haven't looked at the fiend factory tables, what do you like about them more?
>collected Fiend Factory
link? couldn't find it in the trove
Suggestion for Encounter user, lesser layer of hell/underworld/etc?
Define lesser? Like really minor eternal punishments or mystic underworld stuff?
If you would share the link to the electronic copy to the thread it would be very generous of you. I just need a preview tinder if it's what I need to add a kick to the campaign.
A couple of questions for the more experienced GMs here. How do you deliver world building and back story in a more elegant way than "storytelling time with NPCs?" Arcem has a lot of fun shit going on but my player dislikes being told she has to read something. How do you prevent a player from feeling overwhelmed? For some games, that is the goal, but for Godbound, I want her to feel a bit of self-assured and confident arrogance instead. Is it about having clear ways to solve a problem? How do I communicate that?
Tl;dr As a GM how can I communicate better?
>are there any tables for random encounter in towns
Judges' Guild 890 (The Magebird Quest) has some cool stuff for towns and villages despite technically being for DragonQuest..
There's a "special" entry on the charts for events, like the following.
Mule breaks away from handler. If party can assist him in catching it, he passes on a (true) rumor about where the local bandits are "working" this week.
Party harassed by small vermin (monkeys, rats, etc.). If the party kills them or otherwise drives them out of town, the grateful merchants in town will cut them a 5% discount on all wares.
Party sees theft-in-progress. Reporting or stopping will get them a bonus with the shopkeeper, assisting the theft gets them contacts in the local Thieves' Guild.
Put it in item descriptions, the architecture of the buildings, even spells.
For example- imagine a city where every building was flattened by an explosion, but one wizard tower remained standing. Within is a spell book teaching the secrets of a high level abjuration spell that protects from massive spell damage.
Right there is worldbuilding, short and sweet.
Player spent points in one or another. A conjure 3 / fire 1 is the same as a conjure 1 / fire 3 (all total 4), but one is a conjurer and the other a pyromancer.
>how do I deliver worldbuilding
By not doing it. You place the world in front of the players, and it's up to them whether they want to engage with its backstory. If you know the whats and the whys, it's easy to convey the world through the state it is in: culture, geography, architecture, item descriptions, the names and effects of magic, and so on.
Simply put, do your homework and prep and it'll come into its own through play.
What would castles and it's defenses look like if gryphon riders and dragons are common features of a setting?
Bola launchers on every tower that tie up wings so they plummet down to the ground and die.
Are you sure this has never been an official homerule in some OSR rulebook or something? This is really fucking original, I have never seen it.
>Yeah, the probabilities are something that I really gotta sit down and hash out before I can say I'm satisfied.
To make things a bit easier for you, the chance for getting dubs (or triples) of a specific number on 3d6 is 7.4%. Increasing the number of possible dubs is +7.4% per pip, so
>1=7.4%
>2=14.8%
>3=22.2%
>4=29.4%
>5=37%
>6=44.4%
You'll want to get a good selection of options, though, and make sure that none of them are obviously the best - that's a dark path that leads to 3E's uberchargers and chain-trippers.
Ballistae, actual gryphon riders on the defender's side, spread-shot catapults aimed towards aerial targets, stuff like that. And heroic Bard-esque archers, of course.
OD&D actually has some elements of this, weirdly enough. The aerial combat rules have rules for being fucked up by catapults and whatnot (hint: it's pretty easy, all they need to do is fuck up your mount's ability to fly).
Is there any chance you could extrapolate to what the odds for 4d6 would be instead? Ala this post
13.19% per pip.
Counting dubs is literally one of AnyDice's default functions, if you wonder. Or, well, counting the chance of rolling X many Y's.