>The D-Word Dwellers:
discord.gg
>Trove:
pastebin.com
>Online Tools:
pastebin.com
>Blogosphere:
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Previous thread: Have you ever used chivalric romance as inspiration for your games? Do you consider OSR systems to be well-suited for the tone?
Other urls found in this thread:
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca
hubert-herald.nl
hubert-herald.nl
en.wikipedia.org
taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com
drivethrurpg.com
jennerak
twitter.com
So I'm putting together a proper PDF of the Monster Menu-All Part 2: Veins of the Earth.
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca
Since I figure Scrap doesn't want me stealing all the art, does anyone here feel capable of doing some Scrap Princess-like art? I'll put it in the PDF and link to your blog, or put in a silly name instead.
Must be black and white (or black, white, and red maybe), scribbly, and free to use. Might also have food-related bits in it.
How many traps should be in a dungeon? 1 in how many doors or hallways?
I'd say 3 types of trap per level/area (but mixed; that's just the total number of types of trap), and 1 trap every 6 "areas" (rooms, halls, stairs, etc) in dangerous dungeons, 1-in-10 in regular dungeons.
But the real answer is "whenever appropriate". I don't know what art is, but I know it when I see it.
It may be difficult to find someone willing to do that volume of work for free, and anyone able to use the supplement would presumably already have VotE.
It's a fair point! But I figure a bunch of people could post one-off shitty MS paint illustrations in this thread and get them included. Scrap's style is fairly easy to imitate.
Plus, I need like... three pieces. Total. I figure there are enough bored people around to give it a try... and if not, I lose nothing.
And they'd better own VotE. It's a damn fine book!
I know this is OT, but can someone explain to me what the fuck the heraldic design on his surcoat is supposed to be and why it's sable?
>what the fuck the heraldic design on his surcoat is supposed to be
Looks like a dragon.
>why it's sable
Realism: Because kings get to disregard heraldry rules.
Art: Because he ded
It's a dragon. Lowest bit is the head, middle ace-shaped bit is the wing.
Because it was painted in 1860 by someone who didn't really care about heraldry.
And because, effectively, heraldry has no rules. Most of the oldest and most used coats of arms, heraldic figures, and icons match none of the modern rules and nobody cared at all. It was just a design. The rules came later, and were written mostly by bored people dreaming of a better age.
>Looks like a dragon.
>It's a dragon.
Ooooooh, I can just about make that out now! Thanks brosephs. I guess this is The Death of King Arthur Blackdragon then.
To be honest, I think I was tripped up by the fact that it *almost* makes sense, if you can see what I mean by that? Like, since it's really supposed to be a red dragon, I was expecting the black... thing to be something totally unrelated like a crown or dolphin, or maybe a scottie dog or a clothes iron.
>dragon...crown or dolphin, or maybe a scottie dog or a clothes iron.
Ah, the 5th century monopoly set icons.
>Most of the oldest and most used coats of arms, heraldic figures, and icons match none of the modern rules and nobody cared at all.
AFAICT all the ones in your pic do, though? And I know they already had special heralds to figure out who was who during the 14th century.
>The rules came later
I don't think that's true of color/metal, at least, since that's a rule specifically to make the design pop instead of just looking like a smudge at a distance. It strikes me as a typical rule evolved from use (like OD&D! to get back on topic), and the Victorian age was definitely when elaborate, impractical designs full of charges proper that looked like freaking landscape paintings started to proliferate which further supports that the rules of tincture belong to an older period.
>that freaked-out expression on the lion
Is the scene depicted the moment when the lion realizes he's got all pawns and the antelope (unicorn?) has all the good pieces?
>AFAICT all the ones in your pic do, though? And I know they already had special heralds to figure out who was who during the 14th century.
Oh yeah, by the 14th, some of this stuff was codified. But they were also quite flexible - people added turk's heads, crowns, new bits, and colours to suit their tastes and the changing times. It was like interior decorating.
>I don't think that's true of color/metal, at least, since that's a rule specifically to make the design pop instead of just looking like a smudge at a distance.
Nah, even then, the /idea/ of "colour" and "metal" came later. My heraldry book has an entire chapter on "people who break the rules (and we hate them but can't make them stop because their coats are ancient)".
>Is the scene depicted the moment when the lion realizes he's got all pawns and the antelope (unicorn?) has all the good pieces?
Nah, he just realizes that if the score goes any higher, they'll need to start using the /weird/ roman numerals, and he's afraid of losing by misplacing an X.
Or he could be alarmed at the flying apples, stage left.
>My heraldry book has an entire chapter on "people who break the rules (and we hate them but can't make them stop because their coats are ancient)".
You misunderstand me I think, I'm not saying there was an authority who could stamp your coat of arms with [REJECTED] and force you to stop using it. I'm just saying I think the principle developed as a rule of thumb very early on due to both the obvious utility and the number of arms which use it.
>Nah, even then, the /idea/ of "colour" and "metal" came later.
So this part I don't believe. I'm like 99% sure that I've read that Godfrey of Bouillon deliberately chose a coat of arms that broke tincture after the success of the First Crusade, to symbolize the purity and set-apart nature of the Holy Land. And that was right up at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries.
>So this part I don't believe.
Differing definitions of "early". I'm talking 5th-8th century.
Do you have an example of any 5th century coat of arms at all, let alone one that breaks tincture? I'm not trying to be snarky, I swear; I'm legit fascinated if you do. I've never even heard of anything like heraldry existing before the time of Charlemagne, and no known heraldic devices before the late 11th century.
>Do you have an example of any 5th century coat of arms at all
Oh jeeze, let me check. I know I've got some descriptions of battle-dress and shield markings, which are probably close. Admittedly, my heraldry books are a little... old. And sometimes bend the truth.
First: hubert-herald.nl
Plus, Homer, of course, with many shields. And Aeschylus too! Lots of star-and-blue-and-white designs there.
And the Bayeux tapestry, of course. Loads of semi-heraldic designs incorporated into the weave.
>MEDICINE MAN PAVEL, I'M CEEAIEH
Your memes are obscure to me.
>hubert-herald.nl
For anyone else reading, remove the L at the end of this link -- you'll get a 404 like I did. .htm works, though.
Looking this through, however, I don't see any heraldic devices dated earlier than 1204, pic related. (Ironically, this charge obeys tincture as well.) The earlier ones are all marks of rank, the emblem of the military, or the insignia of specific regiments of military, as opposed to personal and hereditary devices.
>the Bayeux tapestry
This would be one of the late-11th-century sources I was obliquely referring to and AFAIK it's controversial whether even that shows heraldry, because some people depicted more than once have the designs on their shields change and some other things.
Still looking for a 5th century specific description. I have a Frankish warlord with a "shield of white and red" but that's not too useful. I also have a Russian rider "whose [bearing]? and sign were that of a dragon", but it's a late 10th century poem about a 5th century event, so... implausible. The rest of the 5th century stuff is mostly byzantine or greek or /wild/ conjecture on bits of the banners of Clovis I. I'm not going to type it out. It's... fanfic, really.
>because some people depicted more than once have the designs on their shields change and some other things.
Yeah, it's a fair controversy.
As I recall there's a brief discussion of banners here: en.wikipedia.org
Hrm... and there's a reference in my copy of "The Complete Guide To Heraldry" to a 6th century silk banner that I can't find anywhere else.
Anyway, none of this is gameable content.
What rules and special features do you give different types of weapons? Like swords, axes, and maces?
That guy's art is wicked. Thanks for that.
What do you guys think of these modern firearm rules I found for ACKs?
>Proficiency - Firearms may be used by classes with Unrestricted weapon selection, classes with Broad weapon selection and the "all missile weapons" broad weapon group, and classes with Narrow weapon selection and the new "firearms" narrow weapon group.
>Ammunition - To preserve my own sanity, there are only three types of firearm ammunition: pistol cartridges, rifle cartridges, and shotgun shells. Firearm ammunition is common merchandise. A load of firearm ammunition (regardless of type) is a crate that weighs 10 stone and which has a base price of 500 gp. This crate contains 10 1 stone boxes of ammunition. Each 1 stone box of ammunition costs 50gp
and contains either 100 shotgun shells, 200 rifle cartridges, or 300 pistol cartridges. Adventurers on a budget can buy a pouch of 10 shotgun shells, 20 rifle cartridges, or 30 pistol cartridges for 5 gp.
>Cleave - Guns do not suffer the cleave limitation that normally applies to ranged weapons. They can be used to cleave until the user runs out of available cleave attacks or the weapon runs out of ammunition.
>Magazine - A firearm's cost depends on the size of its magazine (the number of shots it can fire before it must be reloaded. Magazine sizes are as follows:
>Single Shot (SS): 1 shot magazine.
>Double Barrel (DB): 2 shot magazine.
>Repeater (R): 6 shot magazine. Repeater pistols are usually revolvers; repeater rifles and shotguns are usually operated with a bolt, lever, or slide pump.
>Automatic (A): 30 shot box magazine. Automatic weapons are capable of automatic fire (see below), but can also be fired one round at a time. Reloading an automatic weapon assumes you are replacing an empty box magazine with one that is fully loaded. Actually reloading an empty box magazine takes several minutes. An empty spare box magazine costs 5 gp.
>Reloading - You may reload a firearm instead of attacking during a combat round.
I don't mean to be that guy, but when was the last time something new was added to the Trove? Anyone got anything that isn't in it already that's worth uploading? Anyone got any requests?
>Shotguns & Automatic Fire - Shotguns and automatic weapons both cast a cluster of projectiles at the target almost simultaneously. Making such an attack consumes one shotgun shell or 5 pistol or rifle cartridges. The attacker makes 3 separate attack rolls, each with a -1 penalty on the attack throw.
>Each attack that hit inflicts damage based on the weapon used: 1d2 for a short shotgun or automatic pistol
wielded in one hand, 1d3 for a short shotgun or automatic pistol wielded in two hands, or 1d4 for a long shotgun or automatic rifle. If the target is slain before all 3 attacks are resolved, the remaining attacks can target another opponent adjacent to or behind the first. Each target you fell with a shotgun or automatic fire attack triggers a cleave attack, which may be another shotgun or automatic fire attack. A fighter's damage bonus does not apply to shotgun or automatic fire attacks; nor does the attacker's DEX bonus if you are playing with a house rule that allows your DEX bonus to apply to ranged attack damage rolls. Damage from a weapon's magical or technological enhancement bonus does apply (I recommend not introducing shotguns or automatic weapons with more than a +1 bonus).
>Firearm Stats -
>Pistol: 1 or 2 hands, 1d6/1d8 damage, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp/A 400 gp
>Rifle: 2 hands, 1d10 damage, -1 initiative, range 250(-0)/500(-2)/750(-5), price SS 75gp/DB 150 gp/R 300 gp/A 600 gp
>Short Shotgun: 1 or 2 hands, 1d2/1d3 x3, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp
>Long Shotgun: 2 hands, 1d4 x3, -1 initiative, range 50(-0)/100(-2)/150(-5), price SS 50gp/DB 100 gp/R 200 gp
Check the inbox, there's a bunch of new stuff in there.
Unless something's weird on my end, the inbox hasn't gotten an update in nearly three months now.
That said there's some stuff in it I guess I haven't checked out yet that I can look at!
doesn't seem bad, another good OSR firearms rules set can be found in Fantastic Heroes & Witchery(alongside explosives and some science fantasy weapons too)
Thanks amigo, gonna check it out.
there's some other good stuff there as well, like 666 different spells, and some interesting classes
Even its take on a lot of the conventional classes is super refreshing. How cool is the Friar as an alternative Cleric?
Plus, those crit effects are fun as fuck.
Same monsters later on except stronger and of different color like in Diablo.
Y/N?
Great mechanic for video games to reuse assets.
But for tabletop? Seems a bit lazy and unnecessary.
How often do you make up your own monsters?
Never. I'm too lazy for all these statlines.
>the gnome killed the rooster instead of one of the hens
What a cock.
Long time fan of Red Box book basic D&D, I'd like to try some OSR games.
Is there such thing as a retro-clone of specificaly Basic D&D ? If so which one is the best one ?
Pretty often actually, it's one of the things I tend to change the most with modules and settings. I want them to be sufficiently dangerous and disturbing for my players to get proper spooked.
Most retroclones are of Basic D&D, but also more specifically Moldvay/Cook B/X, which is a bit (but not very) different from Mentzer BECMI which you posted a picture of.
The B/X retroclones most often discussed in these generals are probably Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and Adventure Conqueror King.
You can find a whole list of retroclones here: taxidermicowlbear.weebly.com
OC, generate a door.
I'm making a system where you roll to determine your magic spell effects and such.
Should players lose future spell casts by rolling high or rolling low? Which is better?
I've only ever seen it being done with losing the spell when rolling low. Losing it by rolling high would be more benevolent, I suppose.
The idea being if you roll high that means you're spell goes off well and rolling low means you (usually) failed the spell. I wonder if punishing players in a 'spell failure spiral' is better or worse then having them lose spells AFTER succeeding the first time.
The thing with that is that it just becomes a more difficult version of the classic spell system. If you lose the spell when you cast it, why not just have it go off automatically?
Because my game isn't using the classic spell system.
I didn't want to make a big wall of text when I posted, but basically it works like this.
>Roll 2d6 + (magic user bonus - difficulty of target)
>If 7 or greater, spell succeeds
To make it limited, I want to make it so when you roll either a 1 or a 6 on any or either die you get -1 ongoing to spell casting rolls while in the dungeon, giving them a clear limit on high powered 'spells'.
Of course you could just take the above system and just use 'mana' instead, which might actually be easier.
Question: Nuromen's maze room G, the skeleton arm. How should I handle it beyond what's written in the pdf? I'm thinking
-dispel immediately ends it
-think up some monster statblock for a single levitating skeleton arm? How would that work? High AC, nearly no HP?
I think it just crawls on along the floor. Also no first level party would have any kind of dispel at it, would they?
>Lying in the middle of the chamber is a
single skeletal arm clutching a rusty sword. The arm is
enchanted and if anyone approaches it or the treasure
pot, the arm flies into the air and begins swinging the
sword at the nearest character. The magic bones must
be defeated before the treasure can be had.
True, dispel is level 3. Man, this is getting even more complex.
I'm still a little confused about your system. If the spell succeeds, does the magic user lose the spell for the day?
drivethrurpg.com
OKIDOKI
pdf is up for sale, and the print version is coming soon.
It's PWYW, so go get some.
I want to spelljammer the shit outa this.
Yes, if it makes sense. Like, a series of experiments by a really unimaginative wizard. Or a nest, starting with workers on the outside and finishing with elite warriors defending the queen.
Skerples, this is awkward, but any chance of sharing a mail I can contact you over? Even throwaway is fine.
>eyeball in a jar door
neat
Thank you, this has a bunch of useful tables and content in it for weird bad magic.
Do mushrooms count as plants?
Cool!
You're a fucking treasure, thank you for posting the correct title of this thread.
I'm totally up for furiously scribbling for you. What do you need done?
Actively trying to flesh out 8+ unique terrain encounter tables so pretty fucking often.
Fuck yeah! Stoked as hell about this.
I have to say, your stuff is pretty consistently high quality and useful. The one you posted last thread too. Was going to mention then but the thread died.
Do the climbing rules of Veins of the Earth seem a little too harsh for anyone else? It's almost guaranteed that someone is going to fail a roll or two, resulting in a bunch of idiots bumbling around the ropes in ways that I'd imagine no one normally would.
You'd think absailing at least would be simple enough?
You'd benefit from a big party with a few specialists with maxed climb, and a good length of rope in the party. Not to mention, in most out-of-combat situation you probably have at least 10 minutes to study the route and get a 3 on 6 chance.
Oh, and after checking the tables again, the failures are only cumulative if you fail the Con check, and they're not even that bad unless you botch your rolls on a Human Limit or Superhuman climb
Is there any universal treasure system? Or a treasure system that is particular good/interesting?
I like to hop from module to module, and I have a hard time balancing treasure from one to the next. I would like to just throw out their suggested treasure sets, and use the same table everytime.
Maybe even something like each HD a monster has they have d6 gold.
Any ideas?
Oh, that'd explain it - I forgot the 1d6 roll.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables
I'm a fan of this one.
Bushido has kinda HD-based treasure tables. Just swap Budo for HD and it will probably work.
Seems lazy. Have more interesting monsters instead of more of the same.
Labyrinth Lord is best for being closest to the source.
BFRPG is best for taking B/X and giving it a few modern mechanics and race/ class separation. Also has tons of cool free supplements.
LotFP is best for adding a simple skill set and adding a few good changes such as ascending AC, firearms, no weapon restrictions and better thieves.
Would 3 categories of beastmen be an appropriate number to represent them? Canine/Feline, Avian, and Cloven? I feel these are general enough for the skills and proficiencies in ACKs.
I know there's a dozen of these already, but I made a weapons and armor handout for B/X. Let me know if you see any typos, errors, or have general suggestions.
Oops
Seems like right now you've got
>fast, sneaks, clever
>flying
>tough, satanic?
It'll probably work. Avian's a big category though. People have very different ideas about chickens, crows and condors. I don't ACKs though. It seems more suited to granular specifics.
I like this d50 clusterfuck for beastmen if I'm not just ripping of warhammer.
What wargames does /osrg/ approve of? Preferably skirmish level
I would be interested in knowing too
The Epic Heroes expansion for Brink of Battle
Frostgrave
Dragon Rampant
Fuck
I'm not gonna scour the goddamn trove for a statblock
Can someone give me a B/X era Lich statblock and spellcasting particulars?
wait WHAT
MAZE OF NUROMEN IS SUPPOSED TO INCLUDE THE TITU -okay i'm calm now- titular character as a lich: The gentlest iteration of a lich I'm finding is still immune to any nonmagical weapons or anyone below 6HD, cold, electricity, charm, sleep, causes fear on sight and has at least 12HD
Is this as intended or should I gimp him
It's a *lich*, what kind of statblock did you expect?
But this is supposed to be a level 1 intro dungeon! Is the lesson here you don't mess with some things? I am all for a difficulty spike but this is ridiculous!
The stats for the guy in the adventure itself don't seem that bad.
If he's too strong they probably shouldn't fight him
I haven't read the adventure but surely there are other ways to go about the dungeon than attack the lich head on?
You might try B1 In Search of the Unknown if you find Nuromen a little too much for a beginners party. You'll need to stock certain rooms, but Dragonsfoot has a whole thread dedicated to different ways to stock the dungeon.
link me which version you're reading, i'm on jennerak dot blogspot dot sk/2011/05/maze-of-nuromen.html
and it has no statblock at all
sure, but unless they do there's no way to get half the treasure. I understand there's a lesson in that too but I mean, you need at least level 9 clerics to even have a chance at touching the guy. It's just nonsensical.
I haven't detected any, I read it pretty thoroughly and I'm doing a rewrite in our language of play
A little late for me, game on saturday already. Gonna do the classics eventually, but already I had to ditch T1 because it was filled with this kind of asspull in every second room. I need to make myself a group before I destroy it.
>A little late for me, game on saturday already. Gonna do the classics eventually, but already I had to ditch T1 because it was filled with this kind of asspull in every second room. I need to make myself a group before I destroy it.
It's cool. Overall, Nuromen is a good dungeon. T1 is a lot for level 1s to handle.
How is BFRPG?
It's good.
Awesome. It's a good BX clone (with some tweaks) that is free to download from their web site. The support is very good and the BF community is very active.
>it will be impossible for level 1 characters to kill the lich
maybe the level 1 characters should not attempt to kill the lich?
I understand this, but he has the key to the treasure around his neck, touching it (among like 3 things) activates him. They won't be able to run once he's up either.
Alright i'm reading the Blueholme Nuromen now, he's only a 11HP wraith there, something I can work with. I'll even have another dungeon to recycle once I'm done with this one.
Is White Star in the Trove?
looks like a bullete