Natural 20

In Blueholme there are no crits and also very little interesting things that fighters get.

So, I thought that maybe fighters could get to roll an extra attack every time they rolled a natural 20.
I was also thinking that maybe cheap wooden weapons might break on a natural 1

Magic Guilds

I thought I'd sketch out 2 Magic Guilds, that can give the PC mages some contacts and useful services.

THE MAGIC GUILDS

There are 2 guilds of Magic-Users operating in the Realm:  The Legion of Sorcery and The Wanderians.  The two guilds are mutually distrustful, and to some degree hostile to one another.  Each accuses the other of plotting to rule the world or of being in secret league with demonic powers.   Nevertheless, being made up of intelligent people, they rarely break into open violence within the Realm. 

Admission to the guilds are both by sponsorship, and all PC’s are free to join either guild (presumably by being sponsored by their mentors).  There are monthly dues to be paid to the guilds, which can be in arrears if the member is detained or distant from one of the guildhalls, as long as the dues are quickly repaid when the member returns.

 

1—The Wanderians

The stated goal of the Wanderians is to increase magical use and knowledge broadly across the world.   Accomplished magicians are often given stipends to train apprentices and seek out worthy candidates for training.  Any member can use part of his monthly “maintenance” costs to rent comfortable rooms at a guildhall or lodge.  There is always a central meeting hall/lecture room where magical instruction is encouraged.  Members swear to share any newly created spell with the guild, in exchange for a 500gp per spell level cash prize.  Wanderians display their membership by wearing a silver badge in the shape of 2 crossed magic wands (10gp).  They aren’t bound by oath of non-aggression toward one-another, but if any member is harmed, the guild aggressively seeks the culprit and helps the law punish him (even if it is another member).

There are 3 levels of membership in the Wanderians:  Journeyman, Master and Counselor.  Journeyman membership is open to level 1 or higher magic-users and costs 20gp per month and allows access to a basic level spell library (enough to research level 1-3 spells or potion formulae).   Master membership is open to level 7 or higher magic-users and costs 100gp per month and allows access to an intermediate level library (enough to research level 4-6 spells and permanent item formulae). Counselor membership is open to level 14 or higher magic-users and costs 500gp per month and allows access to an advanced library (enough to research level 7-9 spells).

The intermediate and advanced libraries can only be found at proper guildhalls, located in major cities.   The smaller lodges, found in some towns, often have a basic library.  Guild Members get their new spell books on gaining a new spell level from the guild for free, but must pay to replace one that has been destroyed or lost.

 

 

2—The Legion of Sorcery

The stated goal of the Legion of Sorcery is to act as a mutual aid and protective society of magic-users of reputable quality.   Members can use the library, invite guests into secure conference rooms (unless in use) and can themselves sleep at the lodge or guildhall for 2-3 days when arriving in town.   Legion members have secret signs and handshakes to recognize one another and are sworn to not knowingly harm a fellow member or face expulsion or worse.  Some Outer Circle members wonder aloud what secrets the Inner Circle hide, but the possessors of such wagging tongues usually do not reach the Inner Circle.

There are only 2 levels of membership in the Legion of Sorcery:  The Outer Circle and the Inner Circle.  Outer Circle membership is open to level 1 or higher magic-users, costs 20gp per month and allows access to a basic level spell library (enough to research level 1-3 spells or potion formulae).  Inner Circle membership is open only to magic-users who have been nominated by another Inner Circle Member (and the process is very mysterious) and costs 500gp per month and allows access to an advanced library (enough to any spell or item formula).

The advanced libraries can only be found at proper guildhalls, located in major cities.   The smaller lodges, found in some towns, often have a basic library.  Guild Members get their new spell books on gaining a new spell level from the guild for free, but must pay to replace one that has been destroyed or lost.

Blueholme Spell Books and Scrolls: Adapting for Free Casting

Both clerics and magic-users have spell books in Blueholme.   Each caster has 1 separate book per spell level.   They are described as "Far too large, fragile and precious to carry around on adventures." It leaves it up to the DM how the players get the books for each of the levels.


Cleric books contain all the spells per each spell level, but there are only 8 cleric spells per spell level.  


When an m-u reaches a new spell level he goes through the list of spells (20 m-u spells per level) and rolls his chance to know spell for each, until he's gone through the list at least once and met his minimum or reached his maximum.   18 intelligence magic-users are likely to know all but 1-2 of the spells for each level.


Using the memorization system, casters would be running back to their HQ all the time to re-memorize spells.  Unless, that is, they make a scroll.   You can re-memorize a spell from a scroll without discharging the spell.   Magic-users can make a scroll for 100gp per spell level, Clerics for 200gp per spell level.


I think we, as Jason suggested,  use a free casting system with this proviso:  As long as you studied your actual books within 24 hours, you can cast any spell you know.   If not, you can only cast from spells you have on  a scroll you've had with you to study.


DRAFT OF RULES:

 if a caster has studied his books within the last 24 hours or has not cast spells in any intervening day since he studied his books, he can spend his spell slots to cast any spell he knows.  If he has not consulted his books, he can only cast spells he has studied from a scroll he has with him.

            Magic-users begin with a level 1 spell book.  Dues-paying members of magic guilds receive a spell book from the guild when they reach each new spell level.  If they aren’t in a guild, they must create or acquire a new spell book for 750gp time the spell level.  Likewise, if a magic-user loses his spell book he must create or buy a new one for the same price.  If a magic-user captures an enemy spell book, he may use it to study spells he knows, once he has cast Read Magic on that particular spell in the book.

Clerics receive a level 1 spell book from their temple when they reach 2^nd level and each additional time they gain a new spell level.  If a clerical book is lost or destroyed, the cleric is issued a replacement, but is also assigned a penance task for failing his god. Spell books from another religion do clerics no good.

Spell books are large and fragile.   Each volume fills an entire back pack or saddlebag.  A person cannot carry more than 1 volume (without some sort of magical help) in any circumstance.  Each day a spell-book is carried on adventure, roll 2d6, if the total is 12, the volume has been destroyed in some mishap.   If the book is subject to any sort of water, magical or fire attack on an adventure, it is automatically destroyed.  A book can be transported safely if packed securely in a locked chest, lain flat in a sturdy 4-wheeled wagon that travels on a road. If travelling well-packed in a ship, there is a 1 in 20 chance every 3 days that it will be ruined on the trip.

Amulet of Battle Vigour

One thing I want to avoid in this or any D&D campaign is AC inflation.  Characters with AC above 0 (old school) get broken very fast.   I'm really going to try to keep magic armor and shields to +1 only until perhaps characters are quite high in level, where I'd move to +2's.  


Instead, if magic armor is indicated on the treasure table, I intend to substitute an "Amulet of Battle Vigour" for 3/4 of them.   Such an amulet grants the user 4 extra hit points per "plus", and regenerates those 4 at dawn each day. 


Hit points are a better defense boost than AC, keeping the character alive in various scenarios without letting them break the system.


P.S.  I noticed that in Blueholme when you make a save vs spells and pass it, there is no "half damage",  you take full damage or nothing.   I kind of like that.

Knights

I was thinking that I wanted to do something with Knights in the game, not as a separate class but as a game-impacting status.


Qualifying;
Any fighter (or fighter multiclass) who  has reached 2nd level, owes a Heavy Warhorse, 2 light or medium  horses, a suit of plate armor, shield, lance and sword and who has recruited a squire (any schmuck), can approach any lord and ask to be knighted (maybe on certain days a year).   He has to undergo a test of arms (all 2nd level fighters pass, no one else does) and has to take an oath of knighthood to the Realm.




Privileges:

• Can wear armor and carry arms everywhere:  non-knights are subject to restrictions in towns and similar places.  
• Knights have some exclusivity relating to raising and keeping soldiers--merchant caravans and temple guards might be an exception.
• Only knights can joust at tournaments (Chainmail jousting rules) for big prizes
• Right to trial by combat or jury of other knights
• cannot be arrested by commoners

Restrictions:

• Break an oath means kicked out
• Must answer call to arms
• must serve a lord certain number of days per year

Setting Ideas

Campaigns need settings.   I don't really want to do anything else with Krondor, the loss of wiki kind of killed it for me.  


I don't really want to dive deep into lore for a setting, I've done that so many times, and it really rarely pays out.  I jut want a setting that serves the adventure sessions.




Idea 1:  I do have the amazing Greyhawk map.   Just use that as the campaign map, historical timeline and the short descriptions of the countries, and that's it.  Just use any gods, factions, etc. that are desired on the fly.


Idea 2:  Gatavia 4?  Probably not.


Idea 3:  I made a sketch map of the coastal Duchy of Thranconia, with a wild, inland valley beyond.  Through a bunch of towns, castles and 2 cities, linked by some roads.  There's a list of gods from OD&D Gods, Demi-gods and heroes, chosen at whim from various mythologies.  Starting to place various old Judges' Guild and BD&D adventures on it.


Idea 4:  Judges Guild--City State of World Emperor, lots of overland maps with encounter sites, fully fleshed out city.  Worked well for Wilderlands of Hack campaign.  Religions/gods a little weird.

Armor Price

The prices for armor seem a  bit off.


Leather:  15gp


Chain   30gp


Plate   50gp.




I think that

Leather 15gp


Chain  50gp


Plate  150gp


seems a bit better balanced.   You could get Plate at First level still (30-180,  average 115gp starting cash)  but far more likely start with chain and work up to plate.  I tried to keep most prices in the gear list the same as the book, but this change would explain why most soldiers would be in chain, not plate etc.

The Weapon Problem

I just can't take Blueholme' weapon deal.   Having all weapons do 1d6 is fine, if all monsters do 1d6 (with a few exceptions) and if everyone uses d6 for HD as well (as OD&D originally was set up).  But, if you're going to add variable damage for monsters (as Blueholme does), and variable hit die types, there's no reason to keep weapon damage at 1d6 universal.


For damage, then, I just made Light Weapons 1d4,  one-handed normal weapons 1d6, and 2-handed weapons d8, and heavy lances and heavy crossbows 1d10.  Not a huge difference.


I also decided to port in a feature from the original Chainmail man-to-man combat system.  Each weapon gets a RATING from 1-12.   It's a combination of length and weight.  So, daggers are Rating 1, pikes are RATING 12.  


On first contact, the character with the higher rating strikes first.  On subsequent round, the character with the lower rating strikes first (this actually works nicely with the Blueholme phased turn sequence).   And if one weapon is 4 or more points lower than another, it gets 2 attacks, 8 or more points lower it gets 3 attacks.   Also, I set up the "Reach Weapon" distances based on the same rating.

The Neutral Cleric Problem

One issue I need to deal with in creating a Blueholm campaign is the neutral cleric problem.  The game is set up to have 5 alignments (LG, CG, N, LE, CE).   But, clerics must be either Good or Evil.  There's a real mechanical difference between the two types:   Good Clerics cast the positive version of the spells (Light, Cure Light Wounds, Remove Disease);  Evil Clerics cast the negative versions of the spells (Darkness, Deal Light Wounds, Inflict Disease).    There is no provision for neutral clerics.


I decided to make up a list of gods, taken from the OD&D book "Gods, Demi-gods and Heroes".  Surprisingly these gods aren't given a default alignment.   I just picked 3 gods that seemed to fit each one of the alignments for 15 gods total.   I didn't want to get into a theological structure, having done that many times in the past and having seen no in-game result of this structure arise. 


I really don't know what to do about the Neutral Gods and their clerics.   The system doesn't support it at all.  Perhaps when a neutral cleric reaches a new spell level, roll randomly as to which version of the spell the god grants?  (Maybe fudging Cure Light Wounds).  Maybe have magic-users acting as clergy of neutral temples? 


P.S. Asking the Question answers it: the main reason I do these posts is to clarify my own thinking.  Yes, the obvious solution is roll randomly for Positive or Negative Spells, but reserve CLW.  If you want all healing spells, be good.

BLUEHOLME JOURNEYMANNE RULES REVIEW

Blueholme Review:

As I've said, I'm interested in running a more old school game, after looking at our ACKS and Wilderlands logs.   I'm most interested in a stable baseline to build upon, with an easy framework.   I've bought a couple copies of the Blueholme Journeymanne Rules, which is a retro-clone of the original D&D basic set by Eric Holmes from 1977, the version I started playing with, only expanded to level 20 characters.   While the fundamental D&D-ness of the game is clear and foremost,  I decided to make a review of what the noticeable unique features, good and bad are.

Ability Scores:



Ability scores are so unimportant, it's almost comical.  

Strength:  if you are a fighter, high strength gets you more XP, and that's all it does.

Wisdom:  if you are a cleric, high wisdom gets you more XP, and that's all it does.

Intelligence:  really key for magic-users, like super important in your choice and number of spells in your book.   Everyone gets bonus languages from INT.

Constitution:  you can get bonus hp from high (15+) con, otherwise nothing

Charisma: tells you number of henchmen, that's it.

DEX: high dex (15+) gives +1 to hit with missiles.  Combat order/initiative goes in order of DEX score.

There are no standardized bonuses for most of the "usual" stuff.

CLASSES:

4 classes,  Fighter, magic-user, thief, cleric.

Fighter:  highest hit die, best hit progression, all armor and weapons, some damage bonus at highter level

Cleric:  turn undead, spells (at second level), all armor, blunt weapons, makes healing potions.  Clerics actually have spell books too (but all spells of level included).  Evil clerics only cast reverse versions of spells, no neutral clerics

Magic-User:  wide range of spells, weak in combat, makes scrolls easily.  Magic missile isn't an auto-hit. 

Thieves: skillful and weak.

Multi-classing:  all multiclasses permitted (except good aligned cleric-thieves).  Neat method where just add 2 classes xp to get next level target.  No mention of racial limitations.

RACES  (called SPECIES in book)

Any creature from the monster section is available as a classed character (at DM's discretion).  DM has to decide classes, scale the abilities of creature to level-system.  Pretty darn cool,

COMBAT:  initiative a little different:  surprise attacks, then spells, then missiles, then melee, then move.  In each phase go in descending DEX order.

Level draining undead grant a saving throw.

Weapons:  biggest weakness of system.  Every weapon does 1d6 damage that's it, except some go at range.  The "optional variable system" just makes everything worse--daggers strike twice and do worse of 2d6 damage.  Medium weapons strike once and do 1d6.  Heavy weapons strike once every other round for better of 2d6.   I would not play with either weapon system, but it's really the only turd in the book.

OVERALL:  I kind of love it, except for the weapons.   It all fits into a short 120 page booklet (including a crap load of monsters and spells).    Additionally, it's fully compatible with OD&D, and any of the basic sets, and with minimal adaptation most of the ACKS and AD&D stuff that's around.

What am I thinking?

So the Krondor D&D5e campaign is chugging along.   I'm looking forward to the Colville Stronghold book and implementing it in the game.   I can see us doing another dozen or so sessions.

After 6-7 levels, what do I think about D&D 5e?   There are some things I really like.   The fact that low level henchmen and guards are consistently useful is a big plus.   It is a lot more in line with my play style than D&D 4e or even 3e were,  the strict control of AC and the slow increase in attack and skill bonuses are really good features.

The thing I don't like is the tedious details that all end up with the same results.   I'm hesitating to roll up my replacement character for Walter, just because I don't want to face the task of working through backgrounds etc.    Likewise the immense monster stat blocks are a headache I don't need and slow down adventure prep immensely.

I recently re-read many of the logs from the Wilderlands of Hack campaign and the ACKS Gatavia 3 campaign, and realized that the whole Old School Spectrum (OD&D, Basic D&D, AD&D1 and 2 and any of their numerous clones) are really what I want to play most.   It's less stats heavy, and generally faster all around.

The Krondor campaign isn't going as I had hoped.   I really wanted it to be more sand-boxy, with players taking the initiative on the activities.   I think that the problem is with the rotating DM structure.   How it has developed is a set of 2 parallel games with overlapping characters.   One campaign is Andrew's set up dealing with the threat of the mind-flayers and intellect devourers off to the west.  The other is mine on the developing of a realm in Nearbog, and the factions of Newport (which has been neglected lately--especially since Flex Macho died, and Midnight retired, leaving most of the threads lost).

As I said, I'm not ready to quit, but feel like I want either to totally DM a campaign or just play in one, not both at once right now.  So, I have started to work on something else for the future.   I'd like to run another old school game as sole DM, at least at first or most of the time.   Who knows, by the time we're done with Krondor, my mood might be very different.   The system I'm using is called "Blueholme", which is a clone of the Holmes basic D&D from 1977, expanded to 20 levels.   I'm adding some stuff from Wilderlands of Hack campaign to it, and have redone other things, but it's a good baseline (I'll share more later about the system).

That's what I thinking, game wise.