/osrg/tsrdnd/diydnd/gsdg/gdg2/foeg/ - Old School Renaissance General

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TOPIC: When was the last time a dead NPC came back?

Attached: UA192HI_d.jpg (640x640, 58K)

Other urls found in this thread:

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com.es/2017/09/osr-land-and-investments.html?m=1
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/07/horrible-peasant-npc-generator.html
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-1d100-peasant-grievances.html
youtu.be/wVSUX4EVgVw
necropraxis.com/2012/11/29/2d6-fantasy-game/
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

>Pretty strong Fighter class in that game. I think it's a good plan.
that is definitely one of the reasons I picked it, also helps that most of the other classes have at least some fighting ability and/or the ability to cast spells, so they're pretty much all usable as "Bulwark" classes as well as for the pilots(the only one that doesn't, the Thief, is one I'm fixing by giving them the backstab ability that Assassins get, plus one other of the Assassin's Special Abilities of the Thief's choice at character creation, at least for the Bulwark version)

actually that reminds me of one of the things I need to figure out, to help minimize potential confusion, I'm thinking of using alternate names for the classes when used to make a Bulwark character rather than a Pilot, although it's going to be at least a little complicated by the fact that I've got 21 classes to rename if I were to do this(the 8 core classes, the 4 in the appendixes, and the 9 additional classes in The Nameless Grimoire)

sounds good Skerples, as I've said in previous threads I think it's some of your strongest works, and I'll be glad to see more

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I agree.
It always seemed silly to me that undead would simply turn around and run away. It makes sense for the cleric to project 'holy energy' in a radius the undead simply cannot enter.
Turns the cleric from a tomb clearing grenade to a 'guide' through the cemetery.
>'Stay close to me and you shall suffer no evil', the holy man said. But Vezemar the Swift had seen the glimmer of gold, and that was enough to dispel the fear of the monsters that lurked in the shadows. Besides, it was less than ten feet away - an opportunity too tempting to pass. He darted into the darkness, sweaty hands stretched towards the treasure. There was not a sound, and that was the last anybody saw of Vezemar.

How do you convert Tunnels & Trolls to and from OD&D?

There are guidelines for converting to ADD in a Tunnels and Trolls setting book called Porphyry.

In case you missed it; ancient evil name generator.

Attached: ancient evil name generator.pdf (PDF, 56K)

>tfw veteran of psychic wars
Fuck you for getting this song stuck in my head again.

great song tho

>When was the last time a dead NPC came back?
I think I mentioned the PC who got into a quick-draw duel with a vampire mage and lost? She came back a bit la-

Oh, an NPC. Right, right. Well there was that lizardman whom the party killed to fuck up their evil cult (and also to steal their magic sword). Later on the party got to know his family, felt bad, and raised him from the dead with a promise that he wouldn't do it again.

>You see me now, a veteran
>of a thousand shitpost wars
>I've been on the edge so long
>where the winds of /pgg/ roar
>And I'm young enough to look at
>and far too fat to see
>All the salt is on the inside

>I'm not sure if there's anything left of me

Skerps, I summon thee.
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com.es/2017/09/osr-land-and-investments.html?m=1

While I generally like what you detail here, it poses a rather inconvenient problem to me. If the party's moving through a hex with 3-10 villages... How am I going to relay that info to them? 'Oh, you pass eight villages on your way through'. How do I make it interesting? How do I even *prep* for that?

You don't, depending on the area It might not even be possible to tell where one village ends and another begins. Keep your world gameable, allow them to purchase a small amount supplies anywhere with requiring explicit role-play on a hex with "3-10 villages".

Does it have to be interesting? Say that they pass eight villages on their way through. If they're travelling, presumably, they will find their destination more interesting than examining a village. If they want to explore a village, however, just drop a village you prepared beforehand/a village module. If you consider this as OSR heresy and a quantum ogre, then make/use a village table to make the village up right then and there. Consider using the Community Court generator in Godbound for some quick countryside intrigue shenanigans.

If you feel the world in your head just doesn't feel real unless all the details are set in stone by prep then I am so so sorry for you. I sympathize. You already know what you must do, and I'm not going to discourage you from it.

For a Skerples based solution, regale your players with terrible terrible peasants each time they stop by a village. Most of the time one small village is much the same as any other.

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/07/horrible-peasant-npc-generator.html
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-1d100-peasant-grievances.html

Why does lightning bolt do half damage on a successful save?

You ground it.

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hey /OSRG/ as a newbie I have a question:
why do you people dislike Skerples?

There's currently two opposing groups that don't like him, one is the "story games are OSR" crowd and the other is the "modules as art" crowd, both are so egotistical they perceive any critique or discussion of them to be an attack.

what is his opinion on OSR?
I haven't read much of his stuff.

Good album

Skerples? he's a all-rounder, extremely moderate opinions, likes all 3 types of modules, isn't a system purist from what I can tell.

I think this is why NGR never caught on despite having such nice production values. I've never heard of a single group playing it, and you can't even bite much from it for your own game.

Raging Swan Press has a pretty good book called So What's That Spellbook Like, Anyway?, also collected in the larger All That Glimmers book. They're technically for Pathfinder but work for OSR just fine.

A normal five-mile hex is about 22 square miles; if there are three villages, they might not see any of them, and if there are ten, they might still only see three or four; each probably occupies about a square mile, so in a dense hex, I would describe it as something like "you pass from one prosperous village to the next; it's uneventful and you can buy foodstuffs if you want. Peasants gawk at your well-worn armor and general appearance" at most, and "farmland!" at the least.

Couldn't he have asked the holy man to maybe walk a little closer to the gold?

I'm not that user, but I'm pretty sure he was just following the old S&S trope of "adventurer's head is turned by greed from the sight of treasure and he does something reckless, which dooms him".

Has anyone here ran The Iron Coral from the back of Into the Odd? How did it go? Any cool ideas to share? I plan on running it for some people new to OSR-like material this week.

Top of the morning Burgerville. We look forward to the smell of your fast-food induced flatulence in the thread.

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B/X saving throws converted to 2d6.

I ended up using a slightly modified version of "close as possible, arbitrarily assigned" scheme (the leftmost table ). I just limited the d20 conversion brackets to no more than 3 numbers to prevent classes getting stuck in one bracket for too long.

The work sheet with the other conversions on it is here:

Attached: 2d6 D&D, saving throws for BX, fidelity scheme (alt).png (1855x501, 50K)

The only solution is to get it out of your head using another BOC song: youtu.be/wVSUX4EVgVw

YOU SEE ME NOW A VETERAN
OF A THOUSAND PSYCHIC WARS

lotfp says, that a wizard can only safely fill a number of spaceslots.

what do you guys think if they prepare too much spells?

Ability score damage.

Non-meme answers: Additional spells cost 3 x spell level HP to prepare.

Meme answer: DUDE ROLL ON THIS EPIC D1000 MISCAST CHART LMAO

Spells sorta "jut out" of his brain, and may be released at any moment. When anything startles, tires or hurts the wizard, save against magic or release a random prepared spell against the nearest target or himself if no target available.

>what do you guys think if they prepare too much spells?
The Wizard forgets some of them determined randomly

I saw a random table somewhere but can't find it now. It basically says that every time the wizard casts a spell, he's got odds of suffering bad effects, such as a stroke. The more spells he's got over the safe maximum, the higher odds for bad results.

The pressure of the magic causes the spells to collapse into a tiny pellicule of plutonium, washing the Magic-User's brain with radiation as it decays.

Higher-level Magic-Users have a stronger and more extensive thaumaturgic matrix in their heads, repeated exposure to the arcane energies having caused calcareous concretions to appear through and throughout the brain and permitting them to fix more spells in place stably. Obviously, the cell needed for a larger spell is too spacious to contain a smaller one, which will fall through, explaining why spells can't be exchanged for ones of lower level.

When the wizard is dead, the soft portions of the brain can easily be removed or will decay naturally, leaving the matrix intact, anchored to the skull in a score of places. Careful opening and study of such a brainpan can be valuable for a still-living arcanist. (Also, this is the means by which liches stay alive long after their soft matter has rotted away -- the correct memorizations combined with an extremely extensive arcane matrix allows the coinsciousness to remain when the brain is gone.)

Anyone got City-State of the Sea Kings? It doesn't seem to be in either trove.

That song actually reminds me of how my first character died. He was a wizard fighting mindflayers underground for months and he died right before the exit to the surface.

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d18 + 1)

Roll 1d18 to see which Wilderlands map your next campaign starts on. Then roll 1d52 for the row, and 1d34 for the column.

I left out normal men, which are now included.

Attached: 2d6 D&D, saving throws for BX, fidelity scheme (alt).png (1837x509, 60K)

My adventurers begin right in the middle of the sea, in bottom-left corner of Ghinor - bordered by Ament Tundra and Ghinor Highlands. Guess they're shipwrecked.

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Rolled 8 (1d18)

Why the +1?

Rolled 16 (1d52)

Because I mucked up and tried to roll them all at once.

Rolled 13 + 1 (1d52 + 1)

Sea of Five Winds, huh.

Rolled 20 (1d34)

Pfft! I should have updated before rollan, I made the same exact mistake myself.

And this one uses an alternate conversion scheme (it was the middle table in the three I presented). It's the one with the regular 2-to-1 pattern, except for the middle category, which is 3-to-1. Basically, every 2 points you move away from 10 on a d20 (in either direction), adjusts your 2d6 score 1 point from its base of 7. I like this method for general application, but I'm not as happy with the results it gives for saving throws. In particular, it makes dwarf saving throws in the top (10-12th level) bracket even sweeter than they were before.

[deleted original post of this saving throw scheme due to copying error on conversion table's difference columns' averages]

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1320, right by the escarpment of Pacari Ridge, the hex containing the source of the Ophirising Stream/Gerfalcon River. Citadel, I believe it is, to the north. Not a bad location actually.

Good stuff, user. I hope the guys who actually wanted this originally have the good graces to thank you for it.

That'll be either the City-State or Elphand Lands, depending on whether I go by the original numbering or the new more organized one. Let's go with the original.

Rolled 3 (1d34)

Goddammit.

Right off Tharbrian Coast, near Steadfast Stream. There's an ogre lair nearby - might be a bit tough for first-level party, unless they play it smart.

...

>”story games are OSR" crowd and the other is the "modules as art" crowd

In other words, the two branches of the same despicable narrativist hipster tree.

Thanks.

I'm wondering if I should put this in a save bonus vs. target number format to make it consistent with the ascending AC scheme I used for attacks. The highest numbers on this table is 10, which means I could use that for a target number. Even if I use the other table (), there's only one 11, so that could just be tweaked to make it fit with a target number of 10.

I might do a single save system as well or in addition to that. Or I might suddenly decide I've expended enough time and effort on this 2d6 thing. I would, however, like to put everything together, and settle on some mechanic for shields and magic weapons. Regardless, I'm going to sleep now as it's way past my bedtime.

In /osrg/? He violated our hidden rites. (He knew them too!) For months without end. He abides them now. So he's OK. Further dislike is meant as humor.
On G+? He won't take our side, clearly he's a bastard. When we push him he won't push back or fall over, clearly he's scheming. (any given our/we)

That album always gets Sole Survivor stick in mine.

Only the former is GNS. The latter is trying to sell inspiration but would put their talents to better use producing failing novels.

oh shit, what are our hidden rites?

I thought most of the people shitposting about Skebrulets were B/X purists who didn't like how he likes the GLOG and got assmad about people talking about its alternative magic system in here.

Still nonsensical, they could have used that effort to adapt GLOG magic to B/X instead.

If you don't know, you're not one of us. GYG

lurk moar

the shit must flow

> Tenser's floating turd

> Telepoop

> Wall of crap

> Dimension diarrhea

> Pass shit

What popular D&D spells would you like to see removed to change how the game works? Working on an OSR brew and I have 12 spells per level up to 5th level, I'm curious what ones to keep / remove.

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Ditch Magic Missile. It's the closest thing OD&D has to a trap option (that is, it looks good but isn't that good). Mage Armor is also a bad idea as it removes a Magic-User weakness in exchange for his particular ability; spells should do things that are worth a Magic-User's weaknesses, rather than just compensating for them.

Incidentally, your pic omits most of levels 3 and 4, so it's hard to replay to your question fully.

but I am I swear! I shit on Zack, isn't that enough?

Can they still be despicable 20 something hipsters that only recently started gaming and have (wrongly) decided to use osr rpgs as thier medium for thier shitty “art”?

I didn't think I'd be blessed with a direct response to my list. Here you go. And good point on mage armor.

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>magic missile is a greyhawk spell
Nani?

>trap option
It's a great use of a slot from Magician onward.

Unrelated,

Besides the already mentioned, I would remove Acid Arrow (another pyew spell), Levitate (Spider Climb does most of what Levitate does and is more flavorful), Chain Lightning (seriously, why take this if you can have Cone of Cold, Disintegrate or Power Word: Kill?), and probably Contingency just because the effects of its existence are so obnoxious (you activated my trap card! NO U etc. etc.). I've never managed to figure out why Telekinesis or Hold Monster should be level 5, and I don't know what Flare or Mislead do so it's hard to say whether or not ot keep them.

If you wanted a low-level damage spell I'd add Burning Hands. Area effect and (IIRC) save vs. half, so at least it has some applicability for clearing out a large mob of weak monsters, like Sleep. It also burns shit, which is a potentially useful non-combat effect.

Get rid of either Fireball OR Lightning Bolt but not both; they're too similar. Wall of Fire is a bit lame and could at least be Wall of #ELEMENT. Fire Shield is kinda shit and I don't remember anyone ever memorizing it.

>Fire Shield is kinda shit and I don't remember anyone ever memorizing it.
What if it could be cast on the fighter?

>Greyhawk isn't an OD&D supplement
NANDAYO?!?

Honestly, who knows? Try it and see. I mean, these aren't deeply held convictions on my part or anything, just off-the-cuff thoughts.

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This thing with the lightning bolt not extending from the caster always throws me.

I did this exact thing as you, even to the number of spells. Any sort of danger sense spell, permanent light, cheap raise dead, permanence in general, stoneskin, wish. Basically things that have terrible effects on the world at large or on a mage's traditional weaknesses.

Spells to cut: I'm not fond of identify. If you're tight on slots for your system, the role of that spell can filled by NPC sages, which also provides a nice way of using player money (I mainly tossed it for that reason: I like the idea of magic being obscure and hard to understand, rather thn something any old mage can figure out all the time with the right spell).

However, I don't mind mage armour, as long as the duration is limited, because its going to work for one encounter at best and a mage has to give up a precious spell slot to use it. As such, it opens up one possibility (being able to engage in melee somewhat) but closes off others (whatever else you might have taken). In this light its no different than knock or spider climb.

If you had to cut, and liked everything else, then sure I'd axe spells of that sort, but I don't think it's as bad as on first blush.

I'd remove redundant gimmicks like Ventriloquism, Clairvoyance, Growth of Plants, Hallucinatory Terrain, etc.

Kakarotto eater of Rice

Critical hits: if you have them, should it be "exploding dice on a natural 20" or "some table you reference, with a chance to instantly die"? The exploding die is simple and easy to remember but kinda boring and favors daggers (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), the table is ponderous to look up but can have interesting options and can also tie in a permanent injury system to the game.

Max damage or normal damage and something cool (which can include maiming).

>Max damage
Is more common than a 20. I'm not opposed to crits, but do max damage on max damage.

>Running LotFP to a bunch of complete newbies
>One guy is sort of half-forced to join
>A total furry, doesn't like to play humans (except in Dark Heresy because "They hardly count")
>Rolls up a suicidal elf, just wants to die
>Spends all his money on a scythe, says he's wearing just a loincloth
>Walks in front of the party, makes a lot of noise, insists on taking all the risks
>Party finds a big barred door, opens it to see what's on the other side
>He just runs through before even waiting to hear me describe what's there
>It leads to a dark cave, nothing but pitch-black all around, well beyond what the lantern light can show
>He falls 80 feet down
>Takes 4 damage

Death refuses to take him. He will probably starve there, all alone in the dark. A fitting end to a deliberate That Guy death-seeker.

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I'm the guy who originally posted the 2d6 idea for OSR stuff. The d20 is a fantastic system for fast action resolution in a wargame. It offers a fine level of granularity that works well for mass combat. A dozen units throw a dozen d20s for saving throws. They throw a dozen d20s for attack rolls. The master of the army must only tally the hits and the game proceeds. It's certainly much quicker than casting d100s or dice pools for every unit. (Imo, the d12 is more useful than the d20 for this purpose, but that is neither here nor there.)

However, where I personally find the d20's usefulness debatable is that it provides no bell curve whatsoever. A throw of the die is as likely to produce a 1 as it is a 20. This is insignificant in a system with binary pass/fail mechanics (any impact on the game when involving a bell curve is entirely illusory), but I have been using partial success and failure for ages even before PbtA made it trendy. (The irony of using a granular die in a system that lacks granularity in action resolution!)

Therefore, the desire for a system that produced a bell curve...because in a non-binary system, a bell curve does matter. 2d10 is the natural transition from 1d20, but the bell curve is weak, and I prefer to use d6s whenever possible, if only for the utility, availability, and versatility.

Examining the probabilities of 3d6 led me to believe.there was insufficient distinction between 3d6 and 2d6. There are a few percentage points here and there, but the additional mental work required to sum three dice over two pushed me to 2d6. One might ask, "Why not a single d6, then?" And I considered such, but 2d6 seems the sweet spot for granularity, bell curve, and ease of use.

>>He falls 80 feet down
>>Takes 4 damage
?

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Veins of the Earth falling rules: 80 feet is 1d6x1d50 damage. Both of those dice came up as 2.

I've been working on a vaguely-OSR system that uses 2d6 for quite a while. The lack of granularity really holds it back.

Mirthful Conan is best Conan.

Everybody here knows what a bell curve is, because people propose this change all the time. What usually doesn't get explained is why you would bother. A bell curve, in and of itself, is not an argument: it's a statement of probabilties, but people such as yourself seem to treat it as both the means and the end. What exactly does converting to one in this particular case get you besides satisfying some arbitrary aesthetic quality? And how is that worth the need to obviate swinginess caused by modifiers pushing attempts into realms of statistical improbability, and the general pain in the ass to do all the conversion work required?

This is all the rambling of a madman, but I figure that my ramblings provide non-controversial content for the thread. At the very least, it's better than discussing Steve Perrin's Official d100 House Rules. A fantastic, albeit unwieldy, game, by the way. The first successful fantasy heartbreaker, one might say.

The use of a d20 begs the question (and I'm using that phrase incorrectly): how much granularity needs to go into the game? Does a +1 equating to a tiny 5% increase in power matter? Over the long haul, absolutely; in the short term, probably not. Theoretically, that +1 could mean the difference between making a save and failing a save, or hitting with your weapon and missing with your weapon, but it's insignificant and not immediately noticeable, making it cumbersome to track when you have several +1s here and there to track.

You seem not to have read what I've actually written, fellow OSR enthusiast. (FOE here.)

>This is insignificant in a system with binary pass/fail mechanics (any impact on the game when involving a bell curve is entirely illusory), but I have been using partial success and failure for ages even before PbtA made it trendy. (The irony of using a granular die in a system that lacks granularity in action resolution!)

>Therefore, the desire for a system that produced a bell curve...because in a non-binary system, a bell curve does matter.

necropraxis.com/2012/11/29/2d6-fantasy-game/

This is better solved by limiting the amount of modifiers thrown around, and having any that are be +2 or greater. It's easy to do: I've done it for my homebrew. Most OSR games tend to be modifier-light in any case.

Usually, they see the reaction roll chart, get caught up in the degrees of success/failure, and forget that other dicing can produce those.