tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45192382031969964082024-03-06T19:34:08.544-08:00The Hydra's GrottoSteamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-45271753685937494132019-05-06T23:08:00.003-07:002019-05-06T23:18:56.751-07:00Attacking the Stat for Fun and Profit*<br />
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Ascending Armor Class at the time of 3rd edition was a major intuitive and time saving innovation. But what is more important is how it points to rolling over as a consistent concept. The OSR darling Lamentations of the Flame Princess runs with this when it makes Dexterity the target number to hit a character is not wearing armor. This rule and Ascending Armor Class really do open Pandora's box if you are willing to step further away from D&D traditions.</div>
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Little_John_and_Robin_Hood_by_Frank_Godwin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Related image" border="0" class="irc_mi" data-iml="1557209780776" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Little_John_and_Robin_Hood_by_Frank_Godwin.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="211" /></a>In the original game there were saving throws of various kinds like "Death Ray", "Dragon Breath", "Paralysis" and "Petrification." From OD&D to AD&D to BX and BECMI these seemed to morph. And in the greater OSR they continue to do so. Swords &Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Flame Princess, etc all seem to have their own take on saving throws. But there was also another kind of save - the stat check - where you took a d20 and tried to roll under your ability score. Remember when you had to roll under your Dexterity to make sure you don't slip on that log while you are crossing the river or some similar situation?<br />
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What we are going to do here is invert that mechanic to follow something more akin to an attack roll where the attribute is the target number. Rather than have the player make an awkward check it might seem better to have these environmental and situational elements attack the character instead. Simply choose the appropriate ability score as the target number and roll a d20. <br />
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So when you have an unarmored character, and attack him with a sword you try to roll over the character's dexterity score. The poison when ingested tries to roll over the king's constitution score. The giant constrictor snake tries to roll over Conan's strength score. Lying is an attack on intelligence. Roll against the Guard's wisdom of 8+(1d6-1) to see if your distraction worked. Have a crowd attack a character's charisma when the character is trying to rally them to fight against the invaders.<br />
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The possibilities are endless. This more adversarial approach may bring more drama and tension. The log is not steady and sound, its wet and slippery and it may betray you. This solves the grapple issues and more easily moves checks related to the environment behind the screen if needs be - I roll all rolls in the open but others may not. It may or may not replace the old school (and new school?) saves but your mileage may vary. But in the end the player is no longer rolling against themselves but rather the stats are being directly tested against things in the environment which seems to open up the game more. <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*In an old computer hacking zine from the 90's there is a landmark article called "Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit" this article borrows it's name from that article.</span><br />
<br />Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-86229187583766872122018-09-21T21:00:00.002-07:002018-09-21T21:15:06.626-07:00The Ergonomic 3 Mile Hex<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So if my blog numbers are correct, everybody loves the six mile hex. It has the top number of posts with the most comments. All in all the 6 mile hex is handy for marking continuous Cartesian travel. However, while the 6 mile hex is computationally handy and conforms to base horizon calculations, my third point in that post is total bunk: the sub-hexes are far to numerous to streamline things and actually undermine the core feature of the 6 mile hex which is easy distance measurement. When you add the sub-hexes, you have stopped using the handy distances of the 6-mile hex and actually switched to a discrete model. <br />
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Early versions of the game are somewhat undecided on how hexes get used. On one level the hexes are discrete units with contents like spaces on a game board. Reaching a hex more often then not grants access to the contents. The other paradigm is where hexes are used for measurement of distance. The 6-mile hex falls squarely in the second which is great if you are tracking travel in a continuous Cartesian method.<br />
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However human beings generally don't think about travel in a continuous Cartesian way. We think of it in a discrete linear way. That is as lines between origins and destinations. The rivers, roads, passes, trails, and other linear routes that we use to navigate about our day are really just lines connecting origins and destinations with sequences of landmarks we are familiar with. This is why the point crawl is such a powerful and familiar idea. The most important thing we ask ourselves about these lines is not the question "How far?" but rather "How long?" And this question should drive how we determine hex size.<br />
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Lets take a page from Delta's book and look at the ergonomic and mathematical factors we are dealing with again with the idea that we want to keep the hex as a discrete object:<br />
<ul>
<li>Humans leisurely walk about 3 miles in an hour. </li>
<li>Humans can see 3 miles to the horizon on a completely fictional smooth side of a sphere approximating the size of the Earth with a completely clear atmosphere. </li>
<li>People think about travel in lines and landmarks rather than areas of Cartesian space.</li>
</ul>
These factors indicate a 3-mile hex is the superior measurement and here is why:<br />
<ol>
<li>Travel from the middle of one hex to that of the next takes 1 hour over open terrain. This makes counting time easier. Time to cross can be adjusted to allow for various terrain features. </li>
<li>The center of the next hex can be viewed form the current hex rather than the edge as is the case in the 6 mile hex. </li>
<li>This allows for all movement to be discrete and informed - we no longer need measurements.</li>
<li>A smaller size (approximate to 1/4 of the 6 mile hex) allows for a better focus for what is in the hex and thus a better discrete location. </li>
<li>A 3 mile hex is still easily converted to metric and this is advantageous if you are using metric as your standard of measurement. There will be another post about why metric is superior for measurement later.</li>
</ol>
In conclusion I would suggest the 6 mile hex if you were using continuous Cartesian movement. The 6 mile hex is large enough to have the positions of its contents mapped and then use the hex as a measurement tool for continuous Cartesian movement. If your game is not that detailed I would suggest the discrete movement offered by the 3 mile hex for wilderness travel. Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-1130544393471185822018-09-12T22:11:00.000-07:002018-09-12T22:13:38.420-07:00What's the Big Secret? Concealed vs. Secret Doors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Secret and concealed doors have both long been a part of the game. If I recall correctly the difference between a secret door and a concealed door is that the secret door is designed not to be noticed, where a concealed door is a normal door covered up by stuff. I am not sure if it was in OD&D, Holmes, B/X, AD&D, or BECMI where I first read this difference.<br />
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Secret doors are really just very elaborately concealed doors. Somthing blocks the observer from immediately noticing the door. But how does this separate it from the door that is hidden behind say a curtain or tapestry?<br />
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It seems like the real difference is that one kind does not have it's camouflage built in while the other does. The door to the Lonely Mountain, the gates of Moria, the bookcase that swings out to reveal a hidden passage, the fireplace that rotates to do the same, the door that is designed to look like part of the wall etc. etc. on and on are all just concealed doors that exist on the cleverness of the concealment spectrum. And so the classic roll to spot a secret door in my mind should be combined with the roll to detect a concealed one.<br />
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And this could work quite well in any system. For example with "<a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-set-design.html" target="_blank">Set Design</a>" method you can establish a clue that exposes the door when someone investigates an area in the right way. The roll to notice is the roll to notice this clue right away - but with the clue still discoverable through careful investigation. This streamlines the flow of game play a bit - rather than being an "only chance" roll the roll to detect becomes something that speeds up the game.<br />
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But what is interesting about all this is that there is still space for the "secret" door. That is - the thing that makes a door secret is not that it is concealed (or not), but rather that the means to open the door itself is secret. And this bears out in the trope- the doors to both Erebor and Moria are known to the protagonists. But in both cases how they opened was the deeper mystery. For Erebor the big secret was the location of the key hole. For Moria it was the word that opened the gates. With the bookshelf it is finding out what book to pull, or where the catch is on the fireplace.<br />
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So from now on in my games: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A door designated as hidden is one where someone has taken effort or nature has accidently concealed a door. A door designated as secret has some riddle about its opening rather than just being hidden. </blockquote>
<br />Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-61475316180032863402016-02-09T12:15:00.002-08:002016-02-09T12:15:16.180-08:00Class Archetypes and the Sub-Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Very quickly- I have mentioned last week that D&D is divided into a number of sub-games. And thinking further I would wager that the most famous and effective classes are those that dominate one of these sub-games.<br />
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Obviously the Fighting-<strike>Man</strike><b>Person</b> or some variation of it dominates the combat sub-game. Magic-User (or variation thereof dominates the Magic sub-game. The Thief and variations dominate the dungeon exploration sub-game. The ranger would be the logical next for the wilderness exploration sub-game with a possibility of the Druid.<br />
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Though there are sub-games for air or sea travel and combat these seem to be rare edge cases that would be filled by very specialized Ranger or Fighter offshoots that few would play unless the campaign centered on it. The Cleric is binary here- depending on edition and build the Cleric is a master or all or none with a default to magical healing. Which highlights the problems of the class in my opinion. But also stands him up as a counterpoint to the Magic-User and the Fighter. <br />
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It seems that this would lead t the idea that what classes you have in your game are dependent on if you want an adventuring archetype to dominate a particular sub-game, or do you want that shared? Classes that share archetypes would be interesting. Again a Ranger with a more limited combat ability compared to the Fighter seems like it would be the poster boy for this approach. Also there is the idea of building out the base archetypes to share in the sub-games the other classes dominate. <br />
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It seems the Thief was an interesting design accident that could be used as an example for the future game development. What seems to have happened in a subconscious collective sort of way was that players understood that there was a sub-game of dungeon exploration that The Cleric, Fighter, and Magic-User while dominating their own parts of the game were not masters of. Ergo the Thief develops. It seems it would come back to essential spotlight time. Is it shared or not?Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-79231501455915155252016-02-07T22:44:00.000-08:002016-04-22T10:45:12.814-07:00Discrete Worlds II or The Tipping 'Scales' of the Game<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxU2puADJ-gwPaQmlfiBh1HdQFp8ikqN2ZQUqHGwDryKr1l6yZ-1StKh9dD4XUVTnHxh6FNHnOz0AAeywGVgeQUWFxxFAAaZfmqS8Zvy6aTz1_1FTlC4Pw2uvPSz4xPua4DpZoUGFMr2Y/s1600/bulge_81_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxU2puADJ-gwPaQmlfiBh1HdQFp8ikqN2ZQUqHGwDryKr1l6yZ-1StKh9dD4XUVTnHxh6FNHnOz0AAeywGVgeQUWFxxFAAaZfmqS8Zvy6aTz1_1FTlC4Pw2uvPSz4xPua4DpZoUGFMr2Y/s1600/bulge_81_map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladies and Gentlemen: The Tessellated Point Crawl...</td></tr>
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When you look at the primordial history of the game Dungeons & Dragons you see that there is a clear trend to build on it with games that already exist. The obvious example here is "Outdoor Survival" as the rules for overland travel. But when you look at it there were many more - "Braunstein" and "Chainmail," "Don't Give Up the Ship," just to name a few. This makes sense when you think about it - if you need a system to model something, it is more expedient to find one that models that something than spend time crunching the numbers and building a system from whole cloth. And so what you get as time and printing runs distill the systems is really a game of games.<br />
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When you study the Hebrew/Christian scriptures in Comparative Religions 101 you quickly discover what the western world calls "The Bible" is really not a book, but rather a library of separate books just printed in one volume. It contains poetry, history, law, letters of instruction, letters of prophecy, history of law, etc. It is a book of books. And I use this to belabor the point above - When you ask someone to read "The Bible" you are really asking them to read many different books. And when you ask someone to play D&D, you are asking them to really play many different games.<br />
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While using multiple games tears down barriers in design it may build up barriers to entry. As the modern game stands in the "OSR" or in the "managed properties" you often have a "game" for creating characters, a separate "game" for exploring dungeons, a "game" for wilderness travel -which may include other "games," and a "game" for combat. What I am doing here is taking the "_______ system" of any role playing game and identifying it as a separate "game." Because really it is. The d20 grappling process is a prime example. And each "game" is complicated by the fact that some things in one "game" have to seamlessly work with the other "games" if they affect things in the other "games."<br />
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Where do we go from here? Let's talk about scale next. Each "game" operates on some sense of space/time scale which defines its granularity. In modern "managed properties" the space/time scale for combat is 5ft/6s. The OSR seems to hang around the 10ft/10sec paradigm. Combat is easy to keep discrete. Travel on the other hand, to name an example, quickly stops being discrete in some sort of geometric progression related to how far you travel. That's because you might not take the same route back and more "Cartesian" space needs definition the further you go afield. <br />
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Multiple games indicate the possibility of multiple scales which introduces complexity as the abilities of the characters have to be able to operate at all scales. A lot of this complexity is part of the assumption of RPGs and because it exists as the way things have always been done, it does not get noticed as a stumbling block to play and entry into the game.<br />
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Some might not see this as a problem. Which is fine - the Game - big 'G' - gets along in this way pretty well, and I don't want to discount that. And the first reaction I have is to try to see if there is a way to set up a resolution framework that is "retargetable." That is a framework that can be applied to anything to provide for procedural or dramatic resolution. And what this would do is reduce the number of games you need to learn to one which can be applied to different tasks and time scales and moving around point crawls. At first it sounds like a good idea.<br />
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The genesis for this comes from two places- first there was a post from 2010 on a stack exchange board that made the suggestion of 3 round combats using intent for each side and resolving those intents. Each round the sides that were successful in their intents scored points and the ultimate resolution was in favor of the side that scored the most over the three rounds. Then there was part 3, 4 and 5 of Justin Alexander's The Art of Rulings found <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/37960/roleplaying-games/art-of-rulings-part-2-intention-and-method" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/37976/roleplaying-games/art-of-rulings-part-3-the-fiction-mechanics-cycle" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38013/roleplaying-games/art-of-rulings-part-4-default-to-yes%20%20And%20lastly" target="_blank">here</a>. and <a href="http://theangrygm.com/three-shocking-things-you-wont-believe-about-dd-combat/" target="_blank">this bit</a> by The Angry DM.<br />
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All combined it gave me the idea of a "number of rounds" framework that would allow you to resolve any action with scale and time being applied as needed, but only requiring the players to use one set of steps to resolve their intents. This would be another step, along with the point crawl on making the world more discrete.<br />
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The issue with something like this is that it can threaten to make the game bland. You keep moving through the same seven steps, no matter what. Essentially you are taking a suggestion about the procedure for combat and mapping it to the rest of the game. This leads to issues. And its really not what Justin Alexander was talking about in the first place- no matter what madness I am inspired to when I read his posts. He is talking about <strike>presentation and response when a game has a particular arbitrator</strike> "<a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38293/roleplaying-games/art-of-rulings-part-7-vectors" target="_blank">resolution conventions which GMs habitually fall into</a>." <br />
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The real solution is actually hiding in the set design and point crawls mentioned earlier. <br />
<br />Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-89071052434489578672015-12-21T00:13:00.001-08:002016-04-22T10:44:49.403-07:00Discrete Worlds or Why the 6-Mile Hex Can't Save You<a 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src="data:image/png;base64,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" style="margin-top: 0px;" /></a>Wow, Feb 2013. It has been a while. I hope people are still listening. What have I been up to? Largely revising my gaming Magnum Opus, ad infinitum it seems. Life stuff. I am a very very busy person. But enough of that. This blog has never been about whats going on in my life and keeping it “professional” is how it is going to stay.<br />
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I have been thinking about a lot of things gamey and mathematical. Like I usually do. One of the big things I have been doing with the math is putting thought into why time, distance and light are concepts that are difficult to track in the context of even the most basic form of the game and grow to near impossible when presented with “the rest of the world.” Or, to be more sussinct: why am I playing this game if its always going to get caught up in minutia? <br />
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The best way I can describe this is with the dungeon corridor. Imagine a corridor in an anomalous subsurface environment aka a dungeon. The corridor is 50 feet long and ten feet wide with a door at each end. Now either one of two things is true- either there is something special about the hall, like a trap, a clue in the dungeon dressing on the walls - something that makes the hallway important; or the hallway can be represented as a line on the paper. Its a conduit from “area 1” to “area 2.” If it is important the hallway is really just a 10ft by 50ft room. <br />
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And there lies the rub - characters are discrete. Whereas much of the made up world they inhabit is not. <br />
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What is discrete? In math discrete numbers whose values have a clear demarcation from one another. Integers. Character stats are probably the best example here. You have a strength of 17 or 18. There is no 17.234534 strength characters. And most things about a character are described in discrete terms. Probably the one thing that approaches being continuous (the opposite of discrete) is the character’s wealth, but only when the currency is decimalized. <br />
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The “world” has discrete elements but more often is interacted with and operates in a continuous way. Lets go back to our corridor - often when it just needs to be a line on a sheet of paper it is still handled in a continuous “object” that is it is given space on the map, but not given a description, and thus becomes dead space that must be “exercised” through - it has to be explored without payoff - it is simply a passage that only matches the description of the default dungeon features at best. <br />
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And that is the ultimate conclusion: The world must be rendered in a discrete format. <br />
And its corollary is also true: The hex (6-mile or otherwise) is simply the DM’s survey grid used to measure distance when setting up a point crawl. <br />
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Got ahead of myself here. Because see, Chris at <a href="http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2012/01/crawling-without-hexes-pointcrawl.html" target="_blank">Hill Cantons</a> and C at <a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-set-design.html" target="_blank">Hack and Slash</a> have done a lot of legwork on how to bring adventure worlds into the discrete. Point crawls and set design go a long way here. Read up on what these gents have to say. <br />
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And that leads us to the design part here- people don’t think of the world in a continuous way. Its all discrete. Think about how you move around your town or travel to other places. You think in lines and destinations and landmarks. Think about how you keep track of where things are - your mind is built for chunking - In your room is a dresser, and in the dresser are drawers, and in each drawer is some set of clothes or other thing. <br />
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Almost all travel is along some predefined line, be it a road, trail, path, ridge, river, hallway, etc. The added benefit of the point crawl, the set design and random tables is things become easier to handle. They are written out the way that you think about them, and you can make the world just big enough to build illusion that there is stuff over the horizon. <br />
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The byproduct of all this is that it opens up player agency which leads to easier play: You already know what lies down that road the players just took without warning and as a result adventures happen without heavy handed "design" but as a byproduct of action and interaction. Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-91976258548111934382013-02-28T22:14:00.000-08:002013-02-28T22:14:38.712-08:00Clerical Issues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpINNc3dFVBYAgop8RFUZtMk3LxUlhlRAuiYmjir6Fh8hC6drt5teVorxXr_TNQE9n06AVOn8vBaLY-eZeZE-XdoKxVeqU51CRpBxve5v2LlA2WeVthJEiIsvDqOyEwWcaa_ApUEhKhaLH/s1600/ClericIssues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpINNc3dFVBYAgop8RFUZtMk3LxUlhlRAuiYmjir6Fh8hC6drt5teVorxXr_TNQE9n06AVOn8vBaLY-eZeZE-XdoKxVeqU51CRpBxve5v2LlA2WeVthJEiIsvDqOyEwWcaa_ApUEhKhaLH/s320/ClericIssues.jpg" width="230" /></a></div>
Real quick: JB over at <a href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/">B/X Blackrazor</a> has been talking a <a href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2013/02/looking-at-film.html">bit</a> <a href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2013/02/clerics-what-you-get.html">about</a> <a href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2013/02/clerics-turning-undead.html">clerics</a>. Mainly its about how they really don't work given the source material that D&D draws on, and how the game might work better if they were removed. <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/">Delta</a> figured <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/p/primary-house-rules.html">this</a> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/05/giants-in-earth-index.html">out</a> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/04/gygax-on-religion-in-d-oct-1982.html">way</a> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2008/02/those-blasted-clerics.html">back</a> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/03/random-likesdislikes-in-od.html">in</a> <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/03/class-trouble-ii-clerics.html">2008</a>. And his reasoning was my main inspiration for banning the cleric in my own OD&D house rules.<br />
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Its odd that we both were thinking about cleric banning at the same time. I was revisiting my decision to answer the question of "what 5 things would you change in D&D if you could only change 5?" I have said before that we live close enough to each other that we are drinking the same water.<br />
<br />
The really interesting thing here is that JB is coming very close to the same line of conclusions as Delta but I am pretty sure he is completely unaware of Delta's work and reasoning. Maybe not. But including this blogger, that makes three guys in the OSR that have outright removed clerics from the game. Which makes me think we are on to something here. Both these guys make the points for me so I won't put them up here. Check out the posts linked above and draw your own conclusion. For me, I think the Thief has more right to be in the game than the Cleric. So I think we should kill the cleric. And take his stuff. Delta chose to just nix the cleric spells all together. I chose to give them to the magic-user since he was now going to be pulling insane priest duty for the foreseeable future.<br />
<br />
What I realized reading JB and rereading Delta was that my solution for what to do with turning made sense but was inelegant. I gave everyone the ability to turn. It made sense, if you thought about it. Turning is based on vampire lore and more specifically Van Helsing's use of a cross in Dracula. Note however that <u>Van Helsing is not a priest</u>. He is not ordained. He has a sum total of 0 supernatural power. So in my book that means that everyone can turn. The mistake I made was that I gave everyone access to the chart. What a mess.<br />
<br />
First off the turning mechanic is really clunky and a little fiddly to apply. This obviously varies with edition, but you catch my drift. Secondly applying it to everyone made it even more clunky in that you had to figure out how to determine at what power level the characters turned undead. Work. Work. Work. <br />
<br />
Here it is: If you must be rid of that meddlesome priest, make vampires superstitious.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Holy symbols of any faith keep Vampires (and only Vampires) at bay. Anyone can hold up (or wear while facing) any symbol of a god and the vampire won't touch them. However the symbols are directional. So while Count Dracula in front of you is held at bay his minion vampire behind you is not. </blockquote>
This way you get the ability exhibited in the source material but you don't have to worry about clunky mechanics. What about the other undead? There is no pre-D&D precedent of priests holding other undead at bay, and undead are meant to be feared. Turning is really powerful and thus it is like healing: it is something a party can't go without if it is available in the game. Take out turning and the fear of undead returns. Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-67524782428012357012013-02-20T22:25:00.000-08:002013-02-20T22:26:12.476-08:00The Ultimate Dread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7Q9eIN0TRvHIUjCrt1r9zJsxDGSgG8ePi6oZhLa6omk8iIESsAIAovWcbfCko25UQigYGy8mUUOyv54iSAle7LrAjksU0B4cS8AHWLqDVMtqw37AAqklhLm341b8G1ohn4ELw8WYT-DS/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW7Q9eIN0TRvHIUjCrt1r9zJsxDGSgG8ePi6oZhLa6omk8iIESsAIAovWcbfCko25UQigYGy8mUUOyv54iSAle7LrAjksU0B4cS8AHWLqDVMtqw37AAqklhLm341b8G1ohn4ELw8WYT-DS/s200/images.jpeg" width="185" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMItkjG1QvwqZ01oi53fNwVGSKYqXKKasSgv3tkgKSMOFU2M51y53Om9oW-S_gYEV5LQCaiOKrqQHwmwOBP6jZ4-rO_RKL6FZhnfZr-k6qoxzILUIUn9KfmdVlHTcJWYDrubGoNqMjdn82/s1600/x1-isle-of-dread-6-1981.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Legendary. That's the word. Not only in the numerous gaming worlds it inhabits, but also in our own real world the Isle of Dread is a thing of legend. It sits beside the Caves of Chaos and The Tomb of Horrors in the shared experience of D&D players of every edition. <br />
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The island is a strange eclectic mix. Start with one part homage to King Kong and the lost world literature that inspired it. Add stories of magic, pirates, castaways, mysteries, dungeons and of course dragons. Sprinkle with a bit of Sword and Planet and you are all set. Going to "The Island" is supposed to be a game changer. Arrival is easier than departure, and survival is always in question. As a location based module the adventure contained within the pages is perennial not just as an adventure but also as part of the lost world genre. <br />
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In recent years "The Isle of Dread" has reentered the field of vision of players and publishers alike. with expansions, retcons, retoolings and such found in Dungeon to ideas in the OSR, I wanted to try to tie it all together in this post so as to create a resource for information and ideas about the "The Isle of Dread" and to further develop notions about what the island is and what it could be.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMItkjG1QvwqZ01oi53fNwVGSKYqXKKasSgv3tkgKSMOFU2M51y53Om9oW-S_gYEV5LQCaiOKrqQHwmwOBP6jZ4-rO_RKL6FZhnfZr-k6qoxzILUIUn9KfmdVlHTcJWYDrubGoNqMjdn82/s1600/x1-isle-of-dread-6-1981.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMItkjG1QvwqZ01oi53fNwVGSKYqXKKasSgv3tkgKSMOFU2M51y53Om9oW-S_gYEV5LQCaiOKrqQHwmwOBP6jZ4-rO_RKL6FZhnfZr-k6qoxzILUIUn9KfmdVlHTcJWYDrubGoNqMjdn82/s200/x1-isle-of-dread-6-1981.png" width="141" /></a>First off I think the mistake that many writers and Dungeon Masters make when they try to use the "The Isle of Dread" is that they don't see it or populate it as a campaign setting. This mistake is an easy one to make, especially if you are not aware of geographic scales. When we look at the map we think we are looking at something along the lines of a smaller Hawaiian island - or some small island in the Carribian. We think Treasure Island, Skull Island, Jamaica and Gilligan's Island. We just don't see it as the the size of Ireland. <br />
<br />
Yes, Ireland. <br />
<br />
When you look at the map and count out the length and width of the outlying islands and reefs surrounding the main island, you get an area pretty much on par with Ireland. The actual Isle is about the size of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, or twice the size of Vancouver Island (which is longer than the western coast of the state of washington by the way). In truth, to really use the Isle of Dread is a major commitment. It's a very specialised campaign setting so given its size it might be best to treat it like one. <br />
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When it was left on its own in 1983 the Isle of Dread was just an island in the known world. 21 years after we see an update in Dungeon #114 that brings the Isle to Greyhawk. This creates the first new notion about the island - it moves from plane to plane. <br />
<br />
This propagates the idea that we actually don't have to use it as an insular setting (with all the puns intended). We can make it far more interesting as a plane hopping island that touches other worlds and the planes themselves. In essence you have an island that can be the best of pulp adventure in one place. If skull island from King Kong is the conceptual father of the Isle of Dread, a strong argument can be made that it is the grandson of Neverland- native tribes, pirates, skull shaped rocks, and everything else that comes with the island that can only be found if you go straight on till morning and follow the second star to the right. <br />
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So the isle of dread is in essence an amalgamation of all the mysterious islands from pulp and lost world literature and fantasy. But I would wager that the ideas about this island have not stopped, but that it continues to develop. For me the most recent inspiration for an addition to the Isle of Dread is the television series LOST. In LOST you have an island not unlike the isle of dread and its adventure fiction cousins. Mystery and magical realism abound. Most of the concepts in LOST we have seen before and can easily move to the Isle of Dread. But the one real innovation was an island that moves in time and space. <br />
<br />
So I like to imagine the Isle of Dread as this plane walking, time and space traveling island. It manifests from prime material to outer plane and back again fluctuating through time and all existence, picking up horrors, and strange things. A sort of mobile Carcosa. When it manifests it is surrounded by storms that draw in ships that get too close, like a hurricane that forces everything it touches into its eye. It stays for a time, often long enough to get on the charts, then it disappears to a different time and world, taking the sea of dread with it.<br />
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Given what we have learned about the 6 mile hex and how big the Isle of Dread really is, it turns out that we can put A LOT more on the island. Thus it becomes tempting to add in WG6 The Isle of the Ape. Since the natives come from the isle of dread, and both are inspired on some level by Kong's Island, why not just make them the one and the same. Imagine Castle Greyhawk not leading to the Isle of the Ape as a part of its dungeons but in those places it connects to the Isle of Dread itself. Imagine that combined with the Isle of Dread as a demi-plane that wanders around and is connected to Castle Greyhawk and numerous other dungeons like the Cavens of Tharcia. If you think about it, there are some planer doors in Thracia- a couple are not functional. Why not make one of the broken ones lead to the island?<br />
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Using the Isle of read this way, you have a dungeon nexus. A way to plane hop, a way to get your retro stupid on. Here are some resources to help you with makeing your "Ultimate Dread:"<br />
<br />
Official Sources: <br />
Isle of Dread 1981<br />
Isle of Dread 1983<br />
Dungeon #114 Torrents of Dread<br />
Dungeon #142<br />
Dungeon #143<br />
Dungeon #144<br />
Dungeon #145<br />
<br />
Adjunct Sources and connections: (possibly take these and put them on the island. Really, why not?)<br />
Isle of the Ape <br />
Drums on Fire Mountain<br />
Savage Coast(?)<br />
<br />
Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (Dungeon magazine played with this in the savage tide. They didn't put it on the island but it does bring up the question again - why not?)<br />
Dwellers in the Forbidden City - could easily work as a location on the Island.<br />
<br />
Caverns of Thracia (like I said before, one of the planar doors could connect well to the island)<br />
<br />
Inspirational Viewing:<br />
<br />
LOST - esp the first two seasons<br />
King Kong 2005<br />
King Kong 1935<br />
Peter Pan original play<br />
<br />
Inspirational Reading:<br />
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne<br />
The Land that Time Forgot - Edgar Rice Burroughs<br />
The Lost World - Arthur Conan Doyle<br />
Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie<br />
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson<br />
Robinson Crusoe - William Defoe<br />
Lord of the Flies - William Golding<br />
The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne<br />
The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. WellsSteamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-75772261625623225752013-01-30T08:04:00.002-08:002013-01-30T21:29:49.347-08:00Mountains and Mole-Hills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://www.rockymountainconsulting.com/images/Bow%20River,%20Rocky%20Mountains,%20Canada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="decoded" height="150" src="http://www.rockymountainconsulting.com/images/Bow%20River,%20Rocky%20Mountains,%20Canada.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a>I am going to try to get this one out really fast. Limited time here. Rob over at Bat in the Attic posted some <a href="http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2013/01/long-distance-sighting-rules-for.html">long distance sighting rules</a>. They are a great set of rules. The real genius behind them is the kind of linear rock paper scissors thing he has going on with the mountains, hills and plains with an assumed height for generic mountains and hills.<br />
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I wanted to offer a correction. The heights and distances presented are off by an order of magnitude for the mountains and in my opinion a little short for hills. If you go on the idea that the average height of a notable mountain peak is around 10,000ft (great peaks like Mt Ranier, and others land between 10k and 20k with legendary peaks like Everest and Denali topping out in the upper 20k's), and the United States and England both draw the "official" this is now a mountain line at 990ft and 2000ft respectively you see what I mean. You can see mountains from quite a distance on a clear day - getting into the 100's of miles. <br />
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So lets turn this into game stuff:<br />
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</div>
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I have been thinking about mountains a bit in my game design efforts when it comes to travel and sighting. So this info is stored in my trivia banks an easily ready. Humans start to experience altitude sickness at about 8000ft. Tree-line fluctuates around this depending on latitude an atmospheric conditions generally we could say that 7500ft is a good round ball park number. So I would assume that given navigating mountainous terrain is essentially a matter of finding your way through spurs, around mountains, along rivers and over saddles (the low arts between peaks) casual travelers will be at about 5000ft if they are in a mountain hex. </div>
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Hills are a crazy beast. No one really knows when a hill starts being a mountain. There are all sorts of ways that use height to slope and distance around base. I like hills ending at 1000ft for game purposes. It allows us to say that most mountains are an order of magnitude higher than most hills. Just like when traveling through mountains, in hills you aim for the low areas rather than follow the ridge lines and go from peak to peak. So we can ballpark the height for casual travelers in hills at about 500ft. If you decide that hills go to 2000ft then you will obviously use 1000ft as the casual height.</div>
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I work on the 6mi per hex scale. So the hexes here are going to reflect that in my calculations.</div>
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Rob's note of about an hour to find a good sighting place is pretty accurate with my own hiking experience in hill like areas, but I would stretch this to 2 hours in mountains. On open area I would reduce it to 30 minutes and for swamps I would say you can only ever see into the next hex. If they want to strike out to tree line throw in an additional hour. Breaking tree line is handy and generally offers wide unobstructed views. The same is true for peaks and I would say that gaining a summit allows you to see over the next 2 mountain hexes in mountains or hills.</div>
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Another point of note: Broken or overcast clouds are totally going to ruin your view from a mountain, but generally not hills. </div>
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If the mission of the party is to map large amounts of area they very well might want to climb the highest mountain. At this point they are climbing a specific mountain and are out of the scope and intent of this rules exercise. </div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<b>Time Needed: </b>Mountains: 2 hours (3 hours for tree line; 4 hours for peak)<br />
Hills: 1 hour (2 hours for peak)<br />
All other: 30 Minutes</div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<b>Distance Sighted Over Lower Terrains: </b>(counting for refraction: d~= 1.32 * Sqrt(h) where d is in miles and h in ft.)<br />
Random Peak (10000ft): 22 hexes<br />
Tree Line (often 7500ft): 19 hexes (may be high enough for altitude sickness, referees call)<br />
Mountains (5000ft): 15 hexes<br />
Hilltop(2000ft): 10 hexes <br />
Hills/Hilltop(1000ft): 7 hexes<br />
Hills(500ft): 5 hexes</div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<b>Distance Sighted to Equal or Higher Terrain:</b><br />
Mountains to Mountains: 1 hex<br />
Mountain Peak to Mountains: 2 hexes<br />
Hills to Mountains: 1 hex<br />
Hills to Hills: 1 hex<br />
Hilltop to Hills: 2 hexes<br />
<br />
<b>Notes:</b><br />
Broken or overcast clouds block mountain views to 1 hex, and may do the same for hill views. <br />
The distance sighted over lower terrains is also the maximum distance that such a particular elevation can be seen. So a mountain can be seen fairly certainly 15 hexes away- but the foothills 10 hexes away won't be discerable (or only just so) but any foot hills 5 hexes away would be visible but would block the view of those between 5 hexes and 15 hexes away. </div>
Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-7865410675974788912013-01-27T07:17:00.001-08:002013-01-27T07:18:44.286-08:00A Book of Wands<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/sword3.jpg" class="decoded" src="http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/sword3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recently there has been some talk about wands.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Timrod over at Unfrozen Caveman Die-Chucker fired the first salvo sometime going into the holiday season with <a href="http://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2012/12/degrading-wands.html">Degrading Wands</a>. Its a good idea that follows one of my game simplification axioms (reduce book keeping) to go against one of my others (reduce die rolling). The comments are good as Brendan and 1d30 offer up some cool alternatives that work if you are alright with adding more rolls to your game.<br />
<br />
Speaking of Brendan the keeper of Untimately- He entered the mix with his post entitled <a href="http://untimately.blogspot.com/2013/01/basic-wands.html">Basic Wands</a> just a bit ago. His post is full of pretty cool ideas. Initially I didn't think I would go with the elemental thing- then he cites <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2012/08/spells-through-ages-damage-types.html">a darn good post by Delta</a>, but the target rolls a save to avoid 1d6 damage is complete gold. It gives MU's some kick in a fight. Somewhere the complexity gets out of hand but that's okay as you can pick and choose what you like here.<br />
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Next up was the first <a href="http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2013/01/on-10-new-and-old-ideas-about-wands.html">"unification post"</a> by C over at Hack & Slash. Lots of good ideas there. Some decent stuff in the comments. The fact that he missed Timrod's post is pretty much the reason this post exists.<br />
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Now class, turn in your copy of <a href="http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/">Playing at the World</a> to pages 198 and 199 for a description of the source material for wands and staffs from sources in <a href="http://www.digital-eel.com/blog/ADnD_reading_list.htm">Appendix N</a>. The most interesting thing here is how Sword and Sorcery literature in specific and Fantasy literature in general does not really distinguish between a wand and a staff. They are simply sticks; with sticks being a requirement for working any magic.<br />
<br />
This is something I would use as part of the argument that magic items should not be classed by form, but rather by function (a.k.a. the hat/cloak of invisibility problem from 3e). That is a history and argument for another time. <br />
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Since ideas are free here are some more ideas about wands from our labs here in the steam tunnels:<br />
<ul>
<li>Wands permit a MU to cast the last spell cast using the wand indefinitely. </li>
<li>Wands permit the magic user to cast any spell memorized without burning a slot.</li>
<li>Wands associated with a spell (like a wand of fireballs) can be used by any magic user that has learned that spell, and the magic user does not have to have memorized the spell.</li>
</ul>
<br />Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-27926528834354061792012-06-14T21:17:00.001-07:002012-06-14T21:17:40.384-07:00I Have No Time and I Must Blog!<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/graphics/clockface_roman02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" pca="true" src="http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/graphics/clockface_roman02.jpg" width="200" /></a>I have a large number of posts on the back burner. Somewhere around 20. The game that started as Codex, stalled out, restarted, then became its own game. As a responsible creator, when that happened I had to hunt it down and kill it. Lots of reasearch has been done, lots of lessons have been learned by watching others (in the OSR and in business in general). With everything I have learned, and figured out, and seen someone else come up with design on a good game continues to progress at a snails pace. As an aside, I swear that B/X Blackrazor has bugged my brain, as that guy comes up with the same ideas as I do at exactly the same times. Since we don't live too far from one anoher and don't know each other and have no frinds in common, I suspect it is something in the Greenwood water. Luckly for both of us we implement differently. The thing that really slows me down is that a lot of my ideas require graphics to convey and I just don't have a lot of time to put them together. And those I think are the best ones. There are many insights I have to share and many ideas that I have developed and I will endeavor to get them all here soon. </div>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-7856048195348926042012-06-10T14:24:00.001-07:002016-02-07T23:02:36.613-08:00A Sudden and Unexpected Endgame<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img-fan.theonering.net/%7Erolozo/images/alexander/the_lonely_mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img-fan.theonering.net/%7Erolozo/images/alexander/the_lonely_mountain.jpg" height="166" width="200" /></a></div>
Recently I have been reading The Hobbit. The situation of this reading is causing me to look at each sentence, and what is really said. I am constantly amazed at how much I forget and how much I miss. It is a dense book.<br />
<br />
What occurred to me is how a large hoard like the one Smaug sits on is seriously a game changer. Most referees would rule that even after you discover one; or kill or remove the guardian of a hoard you have to get it back to home base before you collect the experience. Now, what happens if you turn the dungeon that you are in into home base? This is pretty much what happens with the lonely mountain. Thorin and Company don't have to transport the treasure anywhere once the battle of the five armies is over, and given the description of Thorin and the other dwarves as they join that battle, it seems like they have leveled up a bit as their eyes are glowing red! <br />
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The thought here is that it no matter what the circumstance, the endgame can show up quite suddenly as dice are involved and players are clever. Wise use of a hoard might be what allows a party to truly convert a dungeon into a legitimate home base. Interestingly a megadungeon that can never be settled helps to prevent this. And while something is statistically unlikely, it does not mean that it can't happen ever, or that it can't happen many times in a row. A party could get lucky for example and find a +3 Sword in their possession after a lucky lucky victory. How you handle that may determine what kind of DM you are.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-34347617179604238672012-02-12T14:43:00.007-08:002012-02-12T15:10:57.750-08:00Here's What Happened - Part 1: New Ways to Play<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3X1k7YSaV_yadv1YRf2693E308D2BG6yeVv0EVHOlUCyaT_PU5CxSvozUJOLEom_9-_h9ytVNPFQbN5P-gVOoPOQKxXAT1YqM8DxdRJTwfgOcgWeeCjf8NNxQ3DvyHLxUbZ146Hc0Yf0/s1600/medium_20234.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 160px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708389964092066290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3X1k7YSaV_yadv1YRf2693E308D2BG6yeVv0EVHOlUCyaT_PU5CxSvozUJOLEom_9-_h9ytVNPFQbN5P-gVOoPOQKxXAT1YqM8DxdRJTwfgOcgWeeCjf8NNxQ3DvyHLxUbZ146Hc0Yf0/s320/medium_20234.jpg" /></a>D&D is pretty hard to classify. Even experts on D&D can often disagree on exactly what it is. This makes it something that is very difficult to study. As James at Grognardia and the so called OSR at large has demonstrated much of the study of the game comes through examination of rules changes and additions through its history, with very little examination of actual play. Observing actual play of D&D is a lot like studying sub-atomic particles- it takes a lot of resources to find a game that can be observed and when observed you may not see what you are looking for or not know what sort of environment you will find when you do observe. And does observing the game change it? Possibly.<br /><br />So a while ago James asked <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-happened.html">“What Happened?”</a> The question he is asking here is: Why did D&D go from a game sold in the mainstream to a game that was not? In 1983 D&D was available in grocery store toy/game aisles, department stores, and books stores. By 1985 it was pretty much only available in book stores or specialty shops (comic/game stores). I posted in the comments for the post at Grognardia that there is not a single factor that was a “smoking gun” but rather several things working in concert. In addition all these things and how they combined were obscured by the "satanic panic" of the time. The panic obscured what was going on not because it killed the sales but because of the opposite: <a href="http://www.thekyngdoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37">it blew them through the roof</a>. This record level of sales due to hype obscured the impact that business and design decisions had on game sales. The degree of the success of the game based on its own marketing and its own quality was forever obscured. Even after the smoke cleared, it was impossible to say why after the panic sales were trending downward when before they had been on a healthy trend upwards.<br /><br />We can’t know for certain what happened. However there are some places we can look that might allow us to figure out why D&D came out in a decline on the other side of the panic. There are two industries that happened concurrently with the development of RPGs, and it can be surmised that all three are something that occurs as a society computerizes. Both of these other industries share two key socio-economic traits with RPGs. One is that both were connected with a social fad and another is that both had steady economic growth to a peak and then a long decline after a fad phase. The first is interactive fiction which is almost as old as D&D itself and walks hand in hand with D&D and RPGs in general and always has. It breaks into two branches- the text and the electronic. The other was “arcade video games” which were not as influenced by content and concept but do share a similar fad and economic pattern.<br /><br />Interactive fiction started with computers. “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure">The Colossal Cave Adventure</a>” was developed in tandem with the march of computerization and the appearance of D&D. It was expanded upon and also called “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure">Adventure</a>.” It was followed by “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork">Dungeon</a>” an early version of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork">Zork</a>.” These games emulated the exploratory sandbox and puzzle aspects found in D&D. “Colossal Cave Adventure” was developed between 1975 and 1976 and improved upon in 1977 and had many variants. “Zork” was developed between 1977 and 1979, with the “Dungeon” variant appearing in 1977. While the text based variation on interactive fiction known as “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_your_own_adventure">Choose Your Own Adventure</a>” did have its start as an idea around 1970, it did not find a publisher until 1975, and did not break into the critical success it had until 1979. All of these things are happening at the same time that D&D and RPGs are ascendant but before the advent of the panic.<br /><br />The arcade video game industry developed largely independent of D&D. In all its faddishness it shares two traits with electronic interactive fiction and “Choose Your Own Adventure.” Additionally these two traits are shared by Dungeons and Dragons. These two traits I believe are the key to why all of these pastimes experienced a slow decline and their connection to Dungeons and Dragons will become readily apparent as we examine what happened to interactive fiction.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-59719812299648190612012-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:002012-01-20T14:50:44.966-08:00The 1e Re-release is a Census<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgJ-f3qcxNnUq2ouiQT3SGTjyI7e9EGFZ11Hhd9ySFFhywGiegiHP68K_T72y11ZEzykvHsBbV0qfyoUJoub72ypQQq-FeZqkJG7iUInDECyWKHAmP3OR8QlxA879b2eE3AXorOV-tnA_/s1600/Augustus.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgJ-f3qcxNnUq2ouiQT3SGTjyI7e9EGFZ11Hhd9ySFFhywGiegiHP68K_T72y11ZEzykvHsBbV0qfyoUJoub72ypQQq-FeZqkJG7iUInDECyWKHAmP3OR8QlxA879b2eE3AXorOV-tnA_/s320/Augustus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699849967221930402" border="0" /></a>News that the 5th edition is in the pipe has arrived. On its heels is the news that Wizards of the Coast is releasing 1e with original interior art and new covers in a special direct to game store printing with a charitable donation to the EGG memorial fund for each copy bought.<br /><br />There can be no doubt that this is absolutely directed at the OSR. Here are the reasons why:<br /><br />1. There is a huge connection between the OSR and the GGMF. A quick surf around the OSR blogs will show that the GGMF is the generally the favored charity of the OSR. This can be seen in the 2011 GenCon announcement for the GGMF:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:78%;">The Gygax Memorial Fund will be hanging out at the Old School Renaissance Group, booth 1541 in the exhibit hall. Gail Gygax, Gary's widow, will be there, and she will also be presenting the 2011 ENnie Awards on Friday night. </span></blockquote><br />2. The sale of these things is being listed as a hobby channel exclusive.<br />Given <a href="http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/Sales/Solicitations/2012_04_17_dd_1stED_Solicitation_en_US.pdf">this</a> I am led to think they are tracking these sales with care. Number sold will not be simply the number sold into distribution, but the number sold to each game store.<br /><br />3. Given that there is a donation attached to the sale it behooves Wizards to track sales more carefully.<br /><br />4. The audience are people who would buy a 1e book. This indicates that it is someone who probably is not into the latest iteration of the game or at least would enjoy an older version of it.<br /><br />5. The audience are people that actually keep up with what Wizards does, but still don't keep up with the current iteration of the game or at least enjoy an older version of it.<br /><br />6. The audience is made up of people who want to patronize games stores.<br /><br />I would wager this fits 90% of the OSR population.<br /><br />For a long time we have had the ear of The Mearls, and at least the attention of Monte Cook. However we have not had the attention of sales and marketing. I think that this is an attempt to measure the probable size of the OSR. Its a census. The designers and developers will respect us because (generally) the OSR is kinda fun. But sales and marketing are only going to respect hard numbers that without a doubt translate to sales. The nature of this release is one that can be written off as a charity if it turns out that we are 1000 dudes with really loud keyboards. But if sales indicate that this segment is in the 10s of thousands, Wizards is going to rethink some things, I guarantee it.<br /><br />I think we might be a whole lot bigger than we think we are, both in voice and in number.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-67097271047506378452011-09-04T15:22:00.000-07:002011-09-04T21:38:20.203-07:00How Much Adventure in One 6 Mile Hex?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnGViTbtosqeLd1_7xetd2ch9478Vk5hcldfjbFdEdQeaKVoKCyj2VgWwOO1R3BuO7E7Jx83wUUbQsWRX5gq0IEJwmcMuugBLp2qOEnKGbRLSUtx4TSdKZpkihWiQobQ1gThYmBSCShRwc/s1600/2011-2-02-17-53-09-SkyrimRotator.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 218px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5648727513873968994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnGViTbtosqeLd1_7xetd2ch9478Vk5hcldfjbFdEdQeaKVoKCyj2VgWwOO1R3BuO7E7Jx83wUUbQsWRX5gq0IEJwmcMuugBLp2qOEnKGbRLSUtx4TSdKZpkihWiQobQ1gThYmBSCShRwc/s320/2011-2-02-17-53-09-SkyrimRotator.jpg" /></a>So last weekend wandering around PAX the one thing I would get excited about if I had the time would probably have been Elder Scrolls V. In my opinion the Elder Scrolls Series is the heir to whatever crown Ultima wore. Technologically it picked up where Ultima Underworld, UWII and Ultima's V, VI, and VII left off - with Ultima V being the <em>Empire Strikes Back</em> or the series (more on this later).
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<br />But this is not a review per se of Skyrim. Rather in reading and hearing about it I was struck with an interesting piece of info: The region of Skyrim is roughly the same size as the region covered in <em>Oblivion, </em>which is around 16 square miles in area. Really? 16 square miles is 4 miles on each side. My 6mi hexagon obsessed brain immediately replies: "You realise that's all on one hex." The game is supposed to be epic -and from what I can tell it is- but, the fact that the whole thing would fit in a single hex boggles my mind. So I went and got a map of Cyrodiil the land covered in <em>Oblivion </em>I saw once in my internet wanderings just to see how much adventure (by location) you could cram into less than 1 6mi hex. The map is below, and it is too small to see here, so I suggest looking at it <a href="http://n4g.com/news/LoadStoryImage?StoryImageId=18861">here</a>.
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<br /><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5648728140985584994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfHTCuXTzxctmM5GNcVe0Yw5YHxNF2wVtmAM3qc-uf-8e4NNHnTG4U-c1FD8FNVXZntSLOtZOMAqSTCpgLLrpPx3nL9saoCxBgYlb4Je0LfbNBJk6kjZMPludGlZ55-JCsP9JHPU57dI0/s320/18861_0_org.jpg" />Places designated as cities on this map are actually more like citadels and walled towns- you can actually see their wall outline from the map. And a study of medieval settlement patterns indicates that the distances and frequencies of these in relation to each other is entirely believable. Counting each city area as a single location this map displays 89 caves, 50 forts, 15 Shrines, 16 Inns and Stables, 23 mines, 30 settlements, 31 camps, 12 cities/castles/walled towns, and 50 ruins for a total of 316 or more distinct locations. Granted many of these locations stack into way to lend verisimilitude to a quarter of a square mile. If you start walking and walk for 4 miles in the game it will take you about the same time as if you walked 4 miles in real life. Ad to it all that this is the area surrounding a major city. Also there is a representational telescopeing -a sort of illusion that tricks the video game player into feeling like there is a cast of thousands when there really is just several hundred- but my point is that when played the area seems realistic in the frequency of encounters and the amount of travel someone needs to do in an adventure.
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<br />My own stocking of a six mile hex pales in comparison. Granted I don't have buckets of money from a major video game studio and a team of people designing adventure locations- however the OPD contests and similar collaborative efforts in the OSR, not to mention the wealth of relocatable locations published in the tabletop gaming sphere (Dyson Logos alone give you a lot of maps) put similar levels of detail in the grasp of pretty much any DM.
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<br />Looking at things like google or bing mapping programs really shows how you could have several adventure locations in just one 5 or 6 mile hex and it be completely believable. This stats me wondering about the implications of a sandbox- perhaps the 1 mile hex might be more conductive. Additionally if a DM wanted to link several worlds in a setting that crosses time and space perhaps all they need do is detail the 6 mile hex around the entry point to that world. The complication arrives when the entry and exit are not in the same place. Certainly information like this makes me rethink the range that adventure needs to be epic and yet still a sandbox.</p>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-4155719715463065792011-09-02T17:30:00.000-07:002011-09-02T21:19:54.512-07:00Insights from PAX<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkzQVYdcLntFArLybidslTSzV7S38olriC7Qx2p1O__qqch9wiUtgBaaZJAe6HyRGopPmjEXBdbCytdR4-fDJ3oo_MjjNefgKoyX4VZcyx5DGSVdBYAs6tAQ9w4xst79Y6MEMll5LM21z/s1600/penny-arcade-expo-2008.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 104px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRkzQVYdcLntFArLybidslTSzV7S38olriC7Qx2p1O__qqch9wiUtgBaaZJAe6HyRGopPmjEXBdbCytdR4-fDJ3oo_MjjNefgKoyX4VZcyx5DGSVdBYAs6tAQ9w4xst79Y6MEMll5LM21z/s200/penny-arcade-expo-2008.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647983270621771522" border="0" /></a>So this past weekend I had the fortunate pleasure of attending PAX on Friday. I didn't do much. I saw David Jaffe's keynote which was interesting and full of colorful language. After that we failed to see Wil Wheaton and so wandered the exhibit hall, went to a panel on how to publish your table top PRG, an experience which would have made steam come out of RPGPundit's ears. This was followed by dinner and then off to see if we could get into some tabletop games (we couldn't), and then got bored by the VGO. We then went to the PC freeplay area and watched Starcraft 2 patch while actually playing Alien Swarm and Team Fortress 2.
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<br />While some con-goers might count my experience as a fail it was made fun because I was spending time with a local friend and some friends out of town that I don't get to see much of anymore. That being said I found as I wandered through "game land" that I couldn't help thinking that this is where all the D&D players went, and most likely will continue to go. Also it seems that one FPS is pretty much like another with slight variations- zombie games are the same. Sports, racing games, sidescrollers etc. etc. to do the same.
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<br />The two big takeaways though were:
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<br />1. That while people keep remaking D&D, they also seem to keep remaking the same video games... I saw digital versions of fantasy heart breakers, FPS heartbreakers, RTS heartbreakers, etc, etc... I felt like I was walking by the same game over and over.
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<br />2. The other was that D&D is pretty much everywhere in the video game world. This makes sense as computers lend to running a game that can get as complicated as D&D can, and that D&D was an early influence on the medium. It makes sense that many would be D&D players end up playing video RPGs rather than pen and paper ones.
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<br />Wandering through the convention center everywhere I looked I could see the fingerprints of D&D. In the art and concept for a fantasy side scroller, to Skyrim, to the first person shooters and their percent based armor. The D&D influence was pervasive and palpable for those who knew where and how to look for it. I have pretty much concluded that people stopped playing D&D in pen and paper form because weather they really know it or not they are playing it in video game form.
<br />Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-37677455772676989502011-08-06T21:21:00.001-07:002011-09-02T21:25:39.485-07:00Eldritch Sagery!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqezpCo6G3VNy5Ngo3OuSH_iNh3PpNnokIon53YjDm-9MJ80xIJKf0U0T6sICUT1MTKasMZVF82ySyRIskxtnkLLyhjkc9hyphenhyphent2eu3p-0GOCBywp3FiQsBcaN_ZqbsGhIK4e4PIRdmxdv1/s1600/old_books.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 108px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqezpCo6G3VNy5Ngo3OuSH_iNh3PpNnokIon53YjDm-9MJ80xIJKf0U0T6sICUT1MTKasMZVF82ySyRIskxtnkLLyhjkc9hyphenhyphent2eu3p-0GOCBywp3FiQsBcaN_ZqbsGhIK4e4PIRdmxdv1/s200/old_books.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637979170218873474" border="0" /></a>Never do with a class what you can do with an easily remembered house rule option. We see a lot of attempts to make a sage class. Often this is to provide a mechanic for providing information to the PCs in a game session.
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<br />Rather than having a sage class, I decided that it would be good to have an option players can take to in essence be a sage. Like my Berserker option.
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<br />This sets the bar for being a sage, and also give the character the sages curse. Basically a player can choose to do it but are not forced to, and if they forget about it, the character is not hampered in some way. The curse part is from an early supplement from Judges Guild or The strategic Review, but I can't remember. So here is my Sage option:
<br /><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">If you have a Magic-User with an Int of 15+ the player can opt for his character to be a sage. The character gains the "sagery" power. The sagery power allows a Magic-User to burn the highest level spell memorized for immediately relevant knowledge. Additionally, they gain the ability to cast a curse when they are close to death or dying because of assault, mayhem or murder as per the curse spell.
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<br />Here is a handy curse chart provided by (stolen from) <a href="http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/random-thursday-random-curses/">Dyson Logos</a> (cause its dang relevant):
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<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(edited to take out the chart which is linked to - it made things too long and this is not its home)</span>
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<br /></span></blockquote>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-89695613630832191272011-08-06T21:07:00.000-07:002011-08-06T21:21:12.860-07:00Know What's Below! Call Before You Dig!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTErxnCNwyKy5dpZzTYySmBv7MSFRopXZ9Oj4MM4tNVBu44DojMTXp1k9LQvc47Y9-PKGxzEQQJziRxp_yoTa_s96UxCjylGGrK8_VB4YIQvvZTjjN_qMl2F_tLau7cJJPKMQch5EYgXM/s1600/otec_call_before_you_dig_811.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 168px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTErxnCNwyKy5dpZzTYySmBv7MSFRopXZ9Oj4MM4tNVBu44DojMTXp1k9LQvc47Y9-PKGxzEQQJziRxp_yoTa_s96UxCjylGGrK8_VB4YIQvvZTjjN_qMl2F_tLau7cJJPKMQch5EYgXM/s200/otec_call_before_you_dig_811.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637963248517336290" border="0" /></a>Anyone notice that a 210' x 210' square covers just about a square acre? Never mind that acres really arn't square. Being an odd number also gives the map a center square, for what its worth.<br /><br />Taken with my 880ft tactical hex, you can clearly fit 16 of those 21x21 square maps in the hex. Thus you start to have a means to which you can picture what the dungeon you are mapping is actually under!<br /><br />When I saw the graphic it made me think of Moria which led to the thought about how the information of a square acre gridded out might be useful to dungeon masters and mithral grubbing dwarves who delved too deep. This also might help translating out to a battlefield map.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-25929935531036725552011-08-06T20:40:00.001-07:002011-08-06T21:03:59.928-07:00My Love for You is Like a Truck! Berserker!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fSIDOG_FdtqqiveDm2Y87nK4Hpx-8ZXkvIA0Bnum90t5FjbupDUPbJ4_dN2bQDqo_Z-OMsmQwKA1B1lh0c7NgW0duu_vwidZsiRm5Z0JJoLQurIrJuXS51ZIhhsW-rmLu0ORsQ1WXS0g/s1600/Berzerker.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fSIDOG_FdtqqiveDm2Y87nK4Hpx-8ZXkvIA0Bnum90t5FjbupDUPbJ4_dN2bQDqo_Z-OMsmQwKA1B1lh0c7NgW0duu_vwidZsiRm5Z0JJoLQurIrJuXS51ZIhhsW-rmLu0ORsQ1WXS0g/s200/Berzerker.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637956970130330498" border="0" /></a>What is not fun about berzerkers? Jeff over at Jeff's Gameblog describes them as <a href="http://jrients.blogspot.com/2009/02/cinder-session-4.html">psycho-killers</a>:<br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“Psychokillers” is my term for stock berserkers, by the way. When encountered in dungeons I tend to describe them as axe-wielding maniacs from slasher flicks, rather than as Vikings. “You open the door and waiting for you on the other side are two Jason Voorhees and three Leatherfaces. They attack.”</span></blockquote>And I agree. I think the guys in the monster listing probably should be just "psycho-killers", but what about characters with a legitimate battle rage?<br /><br />In the past numerous classes are have been written to allow player characters some kind of battle rage ability. White Dwarf and The Dragon both had Berserker classes back in the day; and the rage ability also appeared with various Barbarian class builds.<br /><br />This house rule is based on the LBB and B/X monster entry for a Berserker. I figure that a +1 to hit points indicates that they have a Constitution bonus. The +2 to attack is clearly from the rage. And uncontrollable rage is not a trait of the the lawful, so... here's the rule:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >If Chaotic or Neutral, Fighters with a Con bonus can be berserkers. They get +2 to attacks but loose the ability to separate friend from foe. The berserk character will attack the nearest entity that might pose a threat to anything. If they are attacking a friend or ally the berzerker's player rolls 1d20. If the roll is higher than the friendly target's Charisma they don't separate friend from foe and the friend is attacked. A Berserker can go berserk a number of times per day equal to their Constitution bonus.</span><br /></blockquote>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-82585575177217266052011-08-06T12:59:00.000-07:002011-08-06T14:12:41.981-07:00The 880ft Hexagon Bowshot<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLL_k5-oSPgcP1orVgnCZtr8jHa5FmZJsJF6NubpV-HSxpaZ8cZidDNCsOJNg8dNcfsEbexxyqDN11JvQ0S370ZZ9SvXpDDcj0SOQFcvveUs3vpmHbDuXAZ54ZwRfjXbLjHpV-et_6w7TI/s1600/Archers.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLL_k5-oSPgcP1orVgnCZtr8jHa5FmZJsJF6NubpV-HSxpaZ8cZidDNCsOJNg8dNcfsEbexxyqDN11JvQ0S370ZZ9SvXpDDcj0SOQFcvveUs3vpmHbDuXAZ54ZwRfjXbLjHpV-et_6w7TI/s320/Archers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637853798030301250" border="0" /></a>So I have been gone again for a while, busy with other more pressing issues- like work. Anyhow, I should appear again on a more regular basis now, but I wouldn't take my word for it. I wanted to post a little more about wilderness hexagons, mainly about being in bow-shot. My next hexagon related post will be a bit about mapping on 1 mile hexes using the old traditional hex symbols.<br /><br />Anyhow, I wanted to make sure readers understood about being in bow-shot in my previous hexagon <a href="http://steamtunnel.blogspot.com/2011/03/wilderness-template-and-more-on-hexes.html">post</a>. Dan Collins (aka Delta) over at <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/">Delta's D&D Hotspot</a> has through his research become the undisputed master of D&D ballistic knowledge. He has numerous articles about D&D ballistics. Go see for yourself. However some of the best are the ones where he crunches the numbers and determines what the penalties and ranges really should be based on how things really work: <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/03/basic-d-on-archery.html">here</a>, <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/01/bow-ballistics-and-scale.html">here</a>, and especially <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/08/indoor-missile-ballistics.html">here</a>. (Yes we both know its a game, yes we should relax, but stuff like this relaxes us. And what the heck, its fun!)<br /><br />If you read the first one you find that the best of the best archers are only hitting a stationary, unarmored man sized target at 220 yards @ 16% of the time. Something at the edge of the hex might be a believable shot. So if you are a high level character and the target is unarmored and eating lunch on a rock, you might have a chance. Conversely, hitting an army in the next hex is 100%.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-18588518558098808882011-06-22T18:53:00.000-07:002011-08-06T12:58:42.055-07:00You Had Me At "...and I am content"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgavRb9WjZ2Zz93CuE87JACtiYricyjw_mK2Ta9VQQkS_3f5ZDIaUi5FwvJ0EnTEjmKTkjGr63SkPwiUjXGpupyGOY3ldGtPj8m6jD8T1hTw4T3lgetgyOx1OQnUJ-e2ha2ZpVe92roeNoe/s1600/2011-03-12-conan_the_barbarian.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgavRb9WjZ2Zz93CuE87JACtiYricyjw_mK2Ta9VQQkS_3f5ZDIaUi5FwvJ0EnTEjmKTkjGr63SkPwiUjXGpupyGOY3ldGtPj8m6jD8T1hTw4T3lgetgyOx1OQnUJ-e2ha2ZpVe92roeNoe/s400/2011-03-12-conan_the_barbarian.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5637834320988112002" border="0" /></a>It has been a while since I have posted last. It has been a busy time. In that time the new Conan ...no wait, CONAN movie is upon us. As far as I can tell when I watch the trailer this looks like Bob's Conan to me. Mamoa sounds the way Conan is described to sound and like I thought Conan would sound, he dresses the way Conan is described to dress- from just clothes to full armor.<br /><br />James over at <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/06/conan-red-band-trailer.html">Grognardia</a> laments an absence of brutal hyborian age combat in favor of this films brutal balletic fight scenes. The thing about that is Conan is consistently described as having a catlike grace and it is this grace combined with his brutal strength that gives him his advantage in combat. That's from 2 Gun himself. He is Amra- the lion, grace and brutality wrapped up into one. Things -DO- explode in the hyborian age. See the battle at the end of Black Collosus where an incendiary is used to take out a line of cavalry. I believe a greek fire is mentioned in the later stories (Hour of the Dragon maybe?). The explosion we see in the trailer looks more like a molotov cocktail going off than say gunpowder as the explosion looks to me to be more like flaming liquid.<br /><br />But enough of Grognardia. I really was ok with the films when they had Conan stating the line form Queen of the Black Coast: "I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content." When I see movies or trailers for movies like this I often think about what Bob would think of them. My thoughts are that he would have eaten up films like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446013/">Pathfinder</a>, or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462465/">Outlander</a>. He would have praised LotR and Game of Thrones in cinematic and book form. Personally I think at the time he would have enjoyed the 1980's Conan on some level, but I think this one he would find fit his vision more closely.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-29845408220785998832011-03-21T14:21:00.000-07:002011-03-26T20:57:01.336-07:00Whadaya Mean I Can't Scribe a Scroll?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFf6BKLdihRk078yN9-XxQO05YoH8wXc5fATtkVzhhP9mq6k-bRcarMSv-V2iP8ZoSJtc4cG1EWmefvUbtaSsyyvPhJUsTrgmUMRmKI6q30l2zQ-9FKu7_bxHjs1EIkNi14YV1MqGDOfz6/s1600/The_Wizard__s_Study.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFf6BKLdihRk078yN9-XxQO05YoH8wXc5fATtkVzhhP9mq6k-bRcarMSv-V2iP8ZoSJtc4cG1EWmefvUbtaSsyyvPhJUsTrgmUMRmKI6q30l2zQ-9FKu7_bxHjs1EIkNi14YV1MqGDOfz6/s200/The_Wizard__s_Study.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586669268765789442" border="0" /></a>Magical writings. This is one of the great under served topics in old school role playing games. Jeff <a href="http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/03/heres-chart-that-i-think-too-much-about.html">has been thinking</a> about how players know what spells they start with and what that "min" on the table really means. ChicagoWiz <a href="http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/2011/03/dm-dilemma-copying-spell-into-spell.html">looks at</a> the other end of the gun with a quest to find the time and gp costs of copying a spell. Strangely I have been thinking about spell learning and scribing also. The way I interpret Jeff's table is the following:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">1. You work through the level 1 spell list until you run out of spells or the number of spells known is equal to the max number.<br />2. If you have not hit your max but you are over your min, you are done.<br />3. If you have not hit your max and are still under your min, roll again for the spells you did not get last time until you are over the min. Repeat until you are over the min. Now you are done.<br /><br />After tha</span><span style="font-size:85%;">t, when you get a new spell you roll to see if you understand it. When you level all the spells you have that you don't understand you can check again for. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">While a caster cannot understand a spell they can still discern the complexity of the spell (i.e. the level). </span><span style="font-size:85%;">Additionally a caster can take a week per spell level of uninterrupted study in an attempt to understand a spell. At the end of the time the player rolls to see if the caster learned the spell. A caster can try again as often as they like. Remember there are 52 weeks in a year.<br /></span></blockquote>Swords and Wizardry Complete adds a spell level cap to the Intelligence score. The reason I was looking into the understanding thing was because you need to understand the spell to put it in your spell book.<br /><br />Now, the big question I have for AD&D is: Why can I copy spells into my spell book, and if I so choose cast those spells out of my spell book as if they were scrolls (where they disappear off the page) but cannot create a scroll itself? If you can copy a spell from a scroll into a spell book, why not be able to copy a spell from a spell book to a scroll? Why wait for 7th (or 11th) level? Holmes makes the most sense here. If you can understand a 1st level spell, and have it in your book then you can copy it to a scroll. ChicagoWiz makes the point that Holmes does not mention the cost of copying a spell into a spell book. I think the cost unilaterally (OD&D, AD&D, Holmes, B/X, 3e etc.) is that you no longer have a scroll. But I figure that copying is copying and costs the same in all directions.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmR3WvN6gcSzOaY07ZgMsdxMzbSfXq3SPjX2cXgdEeZXJ14kIHwuYXdw2dciG1BFKBI1lH2aGIHHDhYq88FdQH4ndsFQ2hgN_ekAOKJeqq2tgm06QI1VInHy-k__SjtwHhbUskd5qNlzo/s1600/the_wizard__s_study_by_bloodmoonequinox-d3ar94k.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmR3WvN6gcSzOaY07ZgMsdxMzbSfXq3SPjX2cXgdEeZXJ14kIHwuYXdw2dciG1BFKBI1lH2aGIHHDhYq88FdQH4ndsFQ2hgN_ekAOKJeqq2tgm06QI1VInHy-k__SjtwHhbUskd5qNlzo/s200/the_wizard__s_study_by_bloodmoonequinox-d3ar94k.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586672257708390738" border="0" /></a>The time to create is pretty much a DMs call depending on how much he thinks the characters should be scribing. Holmes' week per level of the spell is probably based on the time that it took for a medieval monk to write a page of an illuminated manuscript working 6 hours a day for a week. But if you want the game to be run on the pursuit of treasure so you can pursue more treasure then you need things that the characters can spend their money on (like <a href="http://jrients.blogspot.com/2008/12/party-like-its-999.html">carousing</a>). Scrolls become empty when they are used. That's a good hole in the pocket if I ever saw one. So I am tempted to say that it should be a day per level rather than a week. You still get PCs wasting a lot of time and also get them wasting money too.<br /><br />Though what I might be inclined to do is this: if you want to scribe a scroll you need to gather the materials and set up a work space. This takes a week for whatever spell. Once you have set up shop you can pop them out at the day/level rate. But if you want to change spells, you have to "retool" your workspace and that takes a week. But then you hit the math-you-thought-was-small wall.<br /><br />Here is my house rule on magical writing basics:<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Spells can be stored in one of two ways: spell books are a kind of "permanent spell library" and a scroll is a kind of "temporary spell library." You can make copies from a permanent spell library without loss. Copying from a temporary library causes the loss of the library. Casting from both causes loss on both. Spell libraries can come in all different forms but involve writing and the above stated loss on casting or transferring.<br /><br />To transfer a spell between libraries it cost 100gp/level of the spell. The time it takes is either 1day/level of the spell or 1week/level of the spell at the DMs discretion.<br /><br />Research costs 1000gp/spell level and takes 1month/level to complete.<br /><br />If a permanent spell library is destroyed memorized spells can be replaced in a day. Unmemorized but known spells are replaced as per the transfer rules or research rules as per the DM's discretion.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:78%;">*Images from "ah-art" and "bloodmoonequinox" from deviant art respectively</span><br /><br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-47663796921156322572011-03-18T22:34:00.000-07:002011-03-26T20:57:21.637-07:00I'll Swallow Your Soul!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnlBr2hpKre4H0acxR2xp9PDGbh0PxvPl7oXR8SZcJ59dTBsGn5jsWiwvQrOR99bmltX6X88fOo1B5iibC7g6jnJ49jrH8XbBMysQ465TOhEBEbiA7TUo3UvihyphenhyphenBD-nOpBLyQdOmKbM3q/s1600/ellen3.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnlBr2hpKre4H0acxR2xp9PDGbh0PxvPl7oXR8SZcJ59dTBsGn5jsWiwvQrOR99bmltX6X88fOo1B5iibC7g6jnJ49jrH8XbBMysQ465TOhEBEbiA7TUo3UvihyphenhyphenBD-nOpBLyQdOmKbM3q/s200/ellen3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586033909885543650" border="0" /></a>Charisma has a lot to offer. While it often comes up as a person's charm or personality I think it should be more than the limitation on the meat-shield purchase plan. Charisma can also work well as a measure of your soul. Think about really charismatic musicians- they share a part of themselves in their art. Performers and speakers often are said to tap into their soul to convey their pain or idea. What is it that so inspires people to follow a particular leader? Why not have charisma measure how big that soul is? Getting more resistance against level draining monsters certainly will kick it out of the dump stat category.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Charisma indicates the maximum level for a character in any class. Monster powers that drain levels no longer drain levels- they drain Charisma.<span style=""> </span>Charisma is now also a measure of your soul.<span style=""> </span>When you run out of Charisma you die. Ignore Charisma damage when dealing with hirelings, followers and henchmen.</span></blockquote>Addendum: I have just looked at the monsters that do level drain. Seems in LL and S&W level drain is the standard undead big bad power. Vampires drink blood and I would tie blood to Constitution rather than levels. Perhaps they also have a level drain? I would be hesitant to give them both. I am fond of stat damage as a measure of capacity for damage, but not a fan of recalculating things as the stats drop, hence the last line of the above rule. I should probably make my next post a treatise on how stat damage can be your friend.<br /><br />Addendum addendum: Thinking about it I would remove the vampire's level drain and replace it with the ability to drain blood on an incapacitated or charmed or willing target, and say they can drain their attack damage points of Con per turn. This fits with the Dracula image better. As for the shadows I would say they drain life force so rather than Str, Dex, or Con I would have them drain just Con. If I did this I would not require a recalculation of hit points and abilities. And replacing level drain with Cha damage helps you avoid recalculating also.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote>Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-43576476338636968622011-03-08T21:20:00.001-08:002011-03-08T21:40:15.718-08:00The Ultimate Tomb of Horrors<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzp8uvnz-HZcuNGzo9os1K4I3TVqdVc5kVIIpbPAJ3vCwdAfg3vOI9AVLy8lZJ_7CrPpiBcZG5Pi0gnJrErgJy6qUGVxYILIHg6AfJiFpR3y0_8fhWRYUfay6sl8339BlzMvtzUFUplEjK/s1600/gloryhole.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzp8uvnz-HZcuNGzo9os1K4I3TVqdVc5kVIIpbPAJ3vCwdAfg3vOI9AVLy8lZJ_7CrPpiBcZG5Pi0gnJrErgJy6qUGVxYILIHg6AfJiFpR3y0_8fhWRYUfay6sl8339BlzMvtzUFUplEjK/s200/gloryhole.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581949204205112034" border="0" /></a>I like when stuff happens by accident. Over at Dragonsfoot there has been the <a href="http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=33032">discussion</a> of false tombs of Acererak to go with the Tomb of Horrors. This has led Dragonsfoot to publish not one, but two false tombs in the last couple of months or so. They can be found <a href="http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FE&fileid=308&watchfile=0">here</a> and <a href="http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FT&fileid=305&watchfile=0">here</a>. But what is interesting is that as this happens, we also see Michael Curtis speculating about <a href="http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2011/02/acererak-caper.html">this</a>. So there you go: Tomb of Horrors as a heist, but with two (or more) false tombs that you need to go through to find the real one... The idea of running as a whole campaign is pretty cool. And the false tombs make it even cooler. You don't do the heist once, you do it three times! Though the flaw in it all is that by the time you get to the real tomb, if you get there, you will be able to mop the floor with the demi-lich. Still it is one of the coolest accidental confluences of ideas I have ever seen.Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4519238203196996408.post-8677300302864690602011-03-02T07:31:00.000-08:002022-05-21T23:45:17.270-07:00A Wilderness Template and More On Hexes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33uhbJBtymC-UFA0pYqdgboNW6ghA0ksJgFEgWCPp5cjxj7pn17x4BP9ebTumZKDGDYD6Fa_tA8Dp6ZW8MQOTg73QmZydbpx57pvrhExuJIHJL4hyEaDYD4-e2nIwtMQXESO3BXDuhHBv/s1600/SmallHexMapTemplate.bmp" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579515467768127346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33uhbJBtymC-UFA0pYqdgboNW6ghA0ksJgFEgWCPp5cjxj7pn17x4BP9ebTumZKDGDYD6Fa_tA8Dp6ZW8MQOTg73QmZydbpx57pvrhExuJIHJL4hyEaDYD4-e2nIwtMQXESO3BXDuhHBv/s400/SmallHexMapTemplate.bmp" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 205px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 265px;" /></a>Back in December of 2009 (am I really that infrequent?) I posted about the <a href="http://steamtunnel.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-praise-of-6-mile-hex.html">6 mile hex</a> being the ideal hex for wilderness adventuring hex crawls over its other frequently appearing cousins the 4 and 5 mile hex. I still think that is true. But what I wanted to revisit is the third part of the post about how to break down the 6 mile hex into subhexes. In that article I was breaking everything down based on the number 12. 12 half mile subhexes and those breaking down into 12 1/24th mile subhexes. This had the cool effect of fitting in a space of 44x44 battle mat squares. But then I noticed some problems.
I was aiming to create a one page wilderness hex map that could be used no matter what subhex level you were on. When I tried to print out and use a map of a hex 12 subhexes across the hexes were too small to really draw a map in, especially when you were on a 1/2 mile scale. Sure I could use the old B/X or Mentzer wilderness symbols, but the other problem was I wanted to use hex numbers to track which subhex I was documenting and the hex numbers would not fit into the subhexes of a hex 12 accross when it was configured to fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Granted I could put numbers in there but they would be too small to easily read.
The change works quite well. If you have 6 one-mile subhexes across a hex you can get large enough hexes to hold hex numbers and more map detail within the hexes should you want it. One mile hexes are good also for determining how far someone can see based on the 3 miles to the horizon principle I talked about in my previous hexagon article. Each of these 1 mile hexes breaks down to 6 880ft hexes, giving a good tactical scope to the one mile hex. These 880ft hexes have some interesting stuff about them: The longer range of historical bow shot was 200 to 400 yards and the standard practice range as set down by Henry the VIII was 220yds, or 660ft. So if you are in the middle of an 880ft hex, anything else in the hex is about 150 yards away. You could even shoot well into the next hex with some accuracy. So useing this scale, a good rule of thumb is that if someone is in the same hex or the next one with you, they are within bow shot. Another benefit is that Judges Guild hex maps on the 42.24ft per subhex scale can easily be rescaled to be 35.2ft per subhex having 25 of those fit in an 880ft hex. Since the structures displayed in these maps actually would get smaller it does not stretch the imagination and may be more believable. Also, 880ft is still a number that works well with the imperial measurements of chains and furlongs and acres. Furthermore 880ft hexes divide into subhexes of ~146 feet across. That fits on a 30 x 35 battle mat.
Additionally using hexes with 6 subhexes across you can go upward too. I good area for starting a sandbox campaign would be a superhex of 6mi hexes. This is about the size of a typical county in Texas. (30mi x 30mi) Apply the same again and you might be nearing the ultimate scope of a campaign. So I have given all the different hex levels a different designation. See the measurements below for these.
So here I have up here for download my take on the one page wilderness template. I have included it in form filled PDF, lined PDF, unlined PDF, Word with lines, and Word without lines. The graphic of the large hex is about as big as I can make it on 8.5 x 11. The lines are a little funky so expect these to get cleaned up sometime soon (probably next year).
Here are the measurements of the hexes and subhexes:
HexType: Face to Face, Vertex to Vertex
Scope Hex: 216mi, 252mi
Campaign Hex: 36mi, 42mi
Adventure Hex: 6mi, 7mi
Terrain Hex: 1mi (5280ft), 1.154mi (6093.12ft)
Tactical Hex: 880ft, 1016ft
Combat Hex: ~146ft (30 squares), ~169ft (35 squares)
Judges Guild Maps: 35.2ft, ~40ft (40.3)
Remember that the center to face is half the Face to Face distance and center to vertex is half the Vertex to Vertex distance.
Here are the templates in PDF. There are three formats: blank, lined and form field:
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_9YjiYcxdnSNjAyYTM3NmUtYWQ2Yi00YWE0LWE3NzctNzNhNjI3ZThiM2E4/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0--aRk0dHRPUzcTVQ_qzm3og">HexMapTemplate.pdf</a>
HexMapTemplateLines.pdf
HexMapTemplateForm.pdf
Happy wilderness mapping!Steamtunnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02597332921872904036noreply@blogger.com6