A Role Playing Games Blog
Legacy D&D
Staying in the “Sweet Spot”
7November 10, 2010
In the latest episode of RPG Circus Jeff, Mark and Zach talked about low, mid and high level play in games like D&D. For some reason a lot of people find the early to mid levels much more enjoyable than high-level play.
While earlier editions of D&D included an “endgame” where adventurers settle down, build castles, towers or religious centers, starting with D&D 3.0 adventurers were meant to keep fighting monsters up to the epic levels beyond 20. High-level characters in D&D (especially since D&D 3.0) have a plethora of options to choose in combat, countless magic items, but on the other hand monsters have more and more immunities and special rules to counter that. This sometimes slows down combats to a crawl and a lot of groups move their focus away from adventuring to politics and intrigue instead.
In my personal experience most people prefer low and mid-level gaming. And especially in recent years grim and gritty sword and sorcery settings got more popular again, which usually are low-magic and not as overpowered as some of the high-magic settings like Eberron or Forgotten Realms.
After listening to the aforementioned RPG Circus episode I remember that I have read about an interesting D&D variant which limits character advancement to around level 6 or 8. Characters advance normally up to that point. When reaching the limit they can still acquire more feats and skills but don’t get any more levels. While the characters get more options and are more versatile, they don’t raise in raw combat power. Combined with a grim and gritty setting this could be an interesting option for any D&D game. In a way, this rule variant helps characters to stay in what some players consider the “sweet spot” of D&D 3.0/3.5.
After some research on the internet I found Epic 6 or E6 at the Mythweavers Wiki. The wiki page gives you a short description on how to use this variant and why it was designed that way. I think I also have seen a PDF document of this variant or something similar floating around on the ‘net, but I wasn’t able to find it. When I am not mistaken it was a complete OGL game which contained everything you needed to play E6.
Has one of my readers ever played or run an E6 game? Does it really work as advertised? Please post your comments below!
Jim Ward in need of help
0November 8, 2010
According to the Greyhawk Grognard, game design luminary Jim Ward, who is responsible for such classic games as Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World needs our help. Obviously he spent some time in the hospital recently and his condition is quite serious. According to what Jim posted at the Dragonsfoot forums it may take another year for him to recover fully. The hospital bills are a bit too much for him to handle, so a couple of fans have decided they want to help him out.
While there a few ideas thrown around right now, the probably easiest way to do some good, is by buying some stuff from Jim’s RPGNow/DriveThruRPG store. This way, you not only help him out but you can also enjoy some of his works. Especially Metamorphosis Alpha could be a quite interesting read. I have never read nor played this classic game, so the first thing I’ll do is get it as soon as this post is published!
Free Stuff Fridays: Javascript Character Generators
5October 15, 2010
This is usually Youseph’s territory but I’m trying my hand at writing a Free Stuff Friday post because it’s a topic I’ve recently become very interested in, Character Generators. Every so often I become convinced there is a tool out there to help me create characters and NPCs for my games. I’ve tried a lot of them, with wildly different experiences (from elation to frustration) but these ones have proven really useful
In the website of The Pathology Guy there are links to a series of javascript based character generators:
D20 Modern Character Generator
D20 Cthulhu Character Generator
Dragonlance Character Generator
Forgotten Realms Character Generator
D&D Savage Species Character Generator
Be aware that those setting specific generators are for the D&D 3rd edition rules and I believe the Star Wars Generator is for the revised rules by WotC not the Star Wars Saga System. I know many people still play these versions of these games and I hope they prove useful.
They are functional and in my experience easy to follow but do require you to have knowledge of the system you are generating characters for, but are otherwise a really helpful tool. You can generate a character sheet and then copy the results and modify as needed. I’ve used his D&D 3.5 and D20 Modern generators on various occasions.
Thanks for The Pathology guy for all his hard work!
Return of the Immortals
4October 13, 2010
Note: The contents of this post first appeared at Polyhedral Dreams in two parts. This collated post has been slightly edited.
It began with a dream. I had found a new group to game with, and to my pleased surprise they were running a game of classic D&D’s Immortals — the godlike beings of the setting. While I was rolling dice for stats and trying to think up a general concept for my new character, they were finishing a combat from the previous session. In the first round of this combat, one of the players wiped out an entire city. I was astonished and delighted — but then I woke up.
I got the gold D&D Immortals box set when it came out in the mid 1980s to complete my set of the Frank Mentzer “BECMI” run. I never really understood it back then — I was 10 when it came out, and I sold it a few years later because I never thought I’d have a chance to play D&D ever again. Big mistake. I’ve been able to reread both the contents of the gold box and the Wrath of the Immortals rewrite that was released for the Rules Cyclopedia, and now I think I understand the concepts. Because of that dream, I’m feeling a desire to jump off the deep end and run an Immortals game.
I’m not very big on running games. I prefer to play; running is simply too much work. I’m better at focusing on a single character’s story. But, while I do also want to play in an Immortals game, I have an idea that I think will be entertaining to take other people through. It would be a simple “recover the stolen artifact” game, a bunch of Initiates nearing the end of their probationary period and ready to move up to Temporal rank. The twist is that while I would be using the classic D&D cosmology, where the Outer Planes are an infinite scattering of finite-sized planes (instead of the old Great Wheel of AD&D and D&D 3.x), the places I would be using in the plot would be adaptations of locations from the Great Wheel cosmology that I always thought were the most interesting. This means things like the bottom layers of Lower Planes — dark, evil, deadly places most PCs would never go. Immortals could do it and survive while still being challenged. So, what the heck, right?
I’d probably begin with an introductory session or two for all of us to get used to the ruleset and the vast capability of Immortal characters. The question that would remain would be: gold box, or Wrath box? The Wrath set simplifies concepts, especially by translating Frank Mentzer’s wild ideas about “Power combat” into simpler “Immortal-level spells” and ditching the concept of “Talent” clusters of ability scores… but the rock-paper-scissors guessing-game inherent in the gold box’s Power combat is somehow delicious. Gold box relies on the Mentzer Basic, Expert, Companion and Master sets for info and basic mechanics; Wrath of the Immortals comes off the Rules Cyclopedia, which is easier to reference. So there are pros and cons on each side. I’m leaning toward RC/Wrath for now, but man would I love to be able to say, “Gold box Immortals? Yeah, I ran that!” (Winner: Wrath of the Immortals.) I’ve freeform-roleplayed characters of this power level before, so I have plenty of ideas of how it will look and feel. The most daunting thing will be learning to keep track of statistics like temporary Power points and what all can be done with them in the middle of combat.
I’ve got two players, and that’s probably where I’ll keep it, though I may add an NPC of matching level to boost their capability a bit (and perhaps play with the Sphere of Entropy as well). Taking a bit of a cue from the module “The Immortal Storm”, I’m going to have the artifact the PCs are chasing be broken into multiple parts scattered throughout the various planes that I’ll be adapting from the Great Wheel.
The players will be playing Immortal versions of themselves, to simplify the whole process. Both players were balking a bit at the thought of character creation, despite the fact that I’ll be starting them with ability scores of 20, and Hit Dice, Power and HP are fixed. Before we begin the actual campaign I’m going to run them through some training sessions at level 1 (beginning Initiates) so they can familiarize themselves with Immortal capabilities. Then I’ll bump them up to level 5 or 6 (nearing Temporal status) for the campaign itself, with some attendant increases. I’m getting excited by the thought that I’ll be one of the few people who can say, “I ran an Immortals game.”
Gaming finds!
7October 12, 2010
For quite some time I could not understand the appeal of antiquing and the TV shows about it. Likewise some of you may find the idea of shopping for bargains at discount stores unpalatable and would do anything to avoid being dragged by your significant other to either of the aforementioned activities. But what role player worth his weight in gold pieces would refuse the opportunity to hunt for games in used books stores? Who hasn’t felt the thrill of finding an out of print book in a store, or even for sale on an online auction site? I assure you if there was a show called the Used RPG Book Road Show it would draw a massive geek audience. Hey wait, this may just be the idea I need to call my producer friend about!
Mind you, I have not enjoyed this thrill that often in my life. In Puerto Rico where I live there are NO used book stores that I know off. There was one many years ago in Old San Juan, the capital, but it never had any gaming books. Some comic and gaming stores have older books, but none at discount prices, and they don’t have any old book in stock for which I’m willing to pay MSRP. That’s the reason I hunt for used book stores when I travel abroad, much to the chagrin of my significant other. I can recall my most significant finds while book hunting and the instances where I found gaming books in the unlikeliest places.
The first one actually happened relatively early in my gaming career, about a year after I began playing, just as we were beginning to switch from the D&D boxed sets to AD&D. I had gone to visit my uncle and spent a few days at his home. When I returned my players had all sorts of modules I had not seen before. Back then I had no idea what those modules were but now I know they included the Slave Lords series and the Against the Giants modules. I asked them about it and they told me a neighbor in the building was moving and had a yard sale (that involved no yard to speak off, as all this took place in an apartment building, but you get the point) that included some gaming books. Where there any left I asked, and my friends said yes, two books no one was able to afford.
I hurried to the neighbor’s house and knocked on the door inquiring about the books. I must admit this was not a friendly gamer; he took no interest in sharing the love he must have felt at some time for the hobby. Instead he told me there were two books left, and that both were $10 each and I would not be able to afford them. I asked to see them anyway (insistent little punk that I was) and they were the original AD&D 1st edition Monster Manual with the Sutherland cover and the Deities & Demigods with the Cthulhu and Melibonéan Mythos. I had no idea Deities and Demigods had anything special about it back then, just that theses were AD&D books and that I wanted them.
I realize I sound like an old codger when I say this, but in 1987 or 88 I was a teen and getting $20 was no small feat. But I rushed to my mom and grandfather and begged them to help me buy the books, I had $8 so all they had to give me where $12. Mom was reluctant but gave me some money and my grandfather completed the $20. I went up to my neighbor’s apartment and bought both books. I was now the proud owner of two relatively new AD&D books.
I cherish those books the Monster Manual saw years of good use and is still in excellent condition. Deities & Demigods I later learned had some content that had been removed from later editions, but what I loved the most were the additional “deities” the owner had cut and pasted on one of the interior covers, Deities & Demigods statistics for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Popeye. Needless to say my players were soon facing the Wascally Wabbit!
I’m also always thrilled when I find role playin games in Spanish. English is not my first language, although I am fluent and speak, read and write it with no difficulty (well that last one is debatable) my native language is Spanish. Amazingly it is almost impossible to get games in Spanish in Puerto Rico. Of course now with the Internet it’s another matter, but I have never owned any D&D books in Spanish. What I do have is a Traveller boxed set in Spanish, the black box with the blurb of the Free Trader Beowulf distress signal. I had already read Traveller in English by the time I got this but I was so thrilled when I found it, it’s one of those personal treasures in my gaming collection.
Another game in Spanish I managed to acquire was Aquelarre; the blurb in the website calls it the medieval demonic role playing game. It’s an excellent book, a pseudo historical game set in medieval Spain. I actually got the main book and a supplement at the International Guadalajara Book Fair. I was there working and did not even think about looking for rpg books, I was so thrilled when I saw some copies there. The people selling it had no idea why they even had the copies and I doubt they expected to sell it in the book fair, so it was a great find and one of the highlights of that trip.
Another Spanish role playing game I enjoyed but no longer own is a comedy game, one based on the funny and weird comic created by Cels Piñol, Fanhunter, the epic decadent role-playing game was an amazing read, but it belonged to a friend and I only got to read it. I need to get my hands on a copy!
But my greatest gaming find happened somewhere else, a placed I never expected to get any gaming books at, the Salvation Army. I was dropping off some clothes and someone told me they had a used book section and it piqued my curiosity. I walked in and started looking at the piles, grabbed two used novel and after a brief perusal I found treasure, a copy of the AD&D 1st edition Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide with original covers!
This was during my AD&D 2nd edition days and I had sadly sold my 1st edition PHB and DMG to afford the new rulebooks, so my collection was incomplete. With trepidation and excitement I walked up to the register put all four books in the counter and asked, “How much?” The guys looked briefly and said, “One dollar…” I though, wow what a deal, a buck for each! So I fished $4 from my wallet and handed it to the cashier. He looked at me funny and handed back three dollars. It wasn’t a dollar for each book, but a dollar for all four. And that’s how I got two AD&D books for fifty cents.
(And that right there is a sitcom in the making, just imagine the rapper DM a game for other celebrity rappers and hip hop artists!)
And those are just the major game finds I can think of from the top of my head. There have been some others, like original Gamma Worlds modules and some of the classic AD&D modules I mentioned before. So I take it back, I’ve had some pretty sweet game finds in my life.
What game treasures have you uncovered? What have been your gaming finds?
What about the new D&D comic? A review!
4September 8, 2010
Some of you may or may not know that IDW Publishing will soon begin publication of officially licensed Dungeons & Dragons comics. They recently published an issue #0 to promote the new series and give fans a taste of what’s to come. I had asked my local comic book store to pull out a copy for me but I didn’t get to buy it until this past weekend and finally got around to read it. What can I say?
We’ve been down this road before with D&D. Like the letter column in the comic by IDW said, many comic readers first learned about D&D in the one page comic strip ads that appeared in comic books in the 80s. The DC Comics published a series of D&D comics, AD&D, Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer where my favorites. I know the memories are filtered through rose colored glasses, but according to IDW they will reprint some of those series and I am really looking forward to get those!
I know Kenzer tried their hand at D&D and while I liked the first few issues I soon gave up on them. Then Devils Due came around and I stuck with them a while longer. I really enjoyed some of their adaptation of classic D&D novels. I am no fan of Drizzt and although I enjoyed the Icewin Dale Trilogy when I was 15 I could never finish the Dark Elf Trilogy, but I actually enjoyed the comic book adaptation.
So now we have a new published of D&D comics and to be honest I was not thrilled with what I read. Granted this is a preview priced at $1 with very short introduction to the two new series, one based around the default D&D 4th edition town of Fallcrest and the idea of the points of light campaign and a Dark Sun series. The stories were a few pages long and not fully fleshed stories, but the sample I got was nothing to be thrilled about.
The D&D story was about a group of adventurers, a human, a dwarf, a halfling and an elf, all stereotypical in their attitude and appearance, later joined by a tiefling. Apart from having gnolls and dragons that looks like D&D gnolls and dragons, and going from a dungeon to the underdark, this story could be any generic fantasy story. It did not seem particularly inspired or even represent the idea of powers as they appear in 4th edition particularly well. I thought it was an opportunity missed. There was a nod to the old AD&D 1st edition Player Handbook idol with the ruby eye cover but it was not enough.
The Dark Sun story’s art did not seem appropriate for me. I don’t think it was right for the campaign, but that is just my opinion. At least this story, short as it was set the tone for things to come and actually managed to catch my attention. My last gripe is the fact that the comic announces they will have content for the game in the comic. What did we get in issue #0? The stats for a black dragon, paint me underwhelmed!
I think a new D&D comic series just as the D&D Essentials come out is an excellent opportunity, and I wish them great success, but I think the comics need to be extra special, to feature the unique mechanics of the current edition, to portray powers and make it D&D not merely by trappings like Dragonborn and Tieflings. To tie the stories into original gaming content and take it up a notch. I’ll take a look when they publish the first issues and see how it goes.
Mind you, this is just my opinion, as they say; your mileage may vary…
PS – If you want another take on the comic here is the review from Comic Book Resources.
Come to me my jungle friends!
0August 31, 2010
Recent events in my life have me thinking about pets. Be they familiars, animal companions or summoned animals, whatever way your system of choice calls them, why do we feel the urge to have pets in our games? I can see why… The joy and happiness they bring into our real lives is one we want to recreate in the game as well. Or maybe we are just looking for a way to inflict more damage during combat. It’s a toss up, I’ll admit it.
Looking back I don’t think I’ve ever run a game where there was not at least one animal, either a pet, familiar, or simply a beloved steed or pack animal. In AD&D 1st edition at one point my players all decided to get pets, I remember the ranger with his pet iguana the most. In AD&D 2nd edition I had a player who loved wolves and always wanted his characters to have a trained wolf no matter which character he played. In D&D 3rd edition where the rules for the animal companions and familiars were codified with grater detail, characters enjoyed the mechanical benefits of said companions in the game. I fondly recall the Dwarf Druid with his wolf animal companion and all the command words he made up. It was an integral part of his role playing.
Animals in my campaigns have also met with some terrible fates. There is a running joke among my players that no horse survives long in my table. Although I’ve broken the tradition, for the longest time horses died like flies in my games. One time players spent a whole session acquiring horses with special qualities, named them, equipped them, only to tie them to a tree outside the dungeon and go in! Needless to say when they came back there was no sign of the horses.
Currently in our Pathfinder game a player created a Summoner from the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Players Guide. This class has a special companion called an Eidolon and the player has gone into great detail about the creature, its personality, making sure it is an integral part of just who his character is, a detail I am not soon to forget.
Of course, for every memorable animal in a campaign, there have been familiars that seem to be forgotten until needed, like Vaarsuvius’ familiar in the Order of the Stick. They are there, in the periphery, and only come into play when the player or game master remembers them. Systems that mechanize the rules for animals as allies for players add an incentive for the player to handle and remember the rules for their pets. In the instances of memorable animals in my campaigns the players have been critical in making sure the animal just doesn’t fade into obscurity.
But as a Game Master it is also my responsibility to maintain a sense of realism, to present to the players a believable world that contains all elements, including their pets. Here are some tips to help you achieve this:
- I keep NPC lists to make sure I don’t forget anyone. Especially lists of recurring NPCs or NPCs that travel with the group. Always make sure to write down the name, species and a short description of pets there as well, that way when you review the NPCs for the next session you don’t forget them.
- If you don’t like to keep lists of NPCs, I’m pretty sure you at least keep notes about the player characters. If so make sure you write the name of the pet along with the name of the character that way you’ll associate one with the other, eventually the pairing will become second nature.
- If you are more visual, consider giving the player a visual cue that will remind you of the animal. A picture he or she needs to keep close, a plush version of the animal or even a toy. That way you’ll both be constantly reminded of the pet.
- Make sure you include the animal in your descriptions, cement its existence in the player’s minds. Describe the smell, the behavior, real animals are easy to portray if you watch Animal Planet or after a quick search online. Fantastic animals are even better, you can make up details such as diet and behaviors, making it seem real! Remember an animal needs care; be sure to mention to the player the time spent doing this. Try to include the animal in at least one description during every game.
These are all simple solutions that when used can make that animal accompanying your player’s character that much more real. I hope they are useful and help keep those poor animals from vanishing into thin air!
PS – This last bit is purely personal so feel free to skip it and move on to the next post, I assure you it will be more interesting that this!
Allow me to take a moment to dedicate this post to Akira, my faithful animal companion for 17 years. She recently failed her saving throw and is no longer with me. I’ll miss her immensely, but it was her time. She left me with two other pets, Lula the dog and Morphy the cat, which also miss her. She can’t be replaced but she’ll always be remembered!
PS 2 – In case you didn’t get it, the title for the post and accompanying image, come from that unforgettable movie classic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
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