Off Topic Awesome

I did something today I haven't done in almost 30 years:  build a fire.  We had a pile of sticks in the backyard, the refuse from various storms over the last few months; we also had a Lowe's gift card.  So, we went to Lowes and bought a portable metal fire pit, set it up in the driveway and started burning wood.  We ended up burning about 3/4 of it, baking some potatoes for dinner, and roasting marshmallows for dessert (another thing I haven't done for 30 years).   Pretty cool.

My Ruined Dungeon Design Process

There are many sorts of dungeon.  One sort is a Ruined Dungeon.  These dungeons are dangerous places, interesting to adventurers because the former inhabitants are gone, having left much of their valuable stuff behind.   The classic published example is module B1, In Search of the Unknown.  

I've been working on a few of these lately and I have a process for putting them together.  I make a list of the monsters to be used, divided into three classes:
1) Visitors:  bandits, adventurers, dwarves etc., when placing these monsters you need to have a clear path by which they have entered
2) Squatters:  these are monsters that have made the ruins into their homes.   For example, a goblin shaman and his followers might take up several rooms.   These also must have some route to go out of the dungeon to steal stuff and raid the countryside
3) Varmints:  these are bugs, rats etc, that might have wandered into the dungeon.  I don't really worry about their travel routes, assuming that they can crawl through holes in the walls unusable by humanoids.

The "Visitors" are are part of the adventure that was really common in the old school encounter tables, and the monster/treasure assortments etc., but really have disappeared from the more modern games.  I've had to make up a collection of NPC parties for such encounters (a good exercises to get re-familiar with the rules).   I remember that these encounters were very often the most memorable and exciting ones.

Ability Scores

When I created the stack of NPC/henchmen, and the NPC parties for encounters I used 2d6+6, arrange to taste, as the method for creating ability scores.  I had never used this method before and found that I liked it.  It cuts out having piss-poor scores but still keeps 18's less than universal (I guess 1 in 2 characters should end up with 1 18 on average).

I've changed the bonuses for high charisma to make them more like the bonuses to the other scores and to work with my initiative and morale system.

I'm rather more stumped about what to do about Strength.   I almost decided to dump percentile strength about 6 times but talked myself back, since that it one thing people really expect to see with AD&D.  I never really liked it, but do think that it might just be envy, having played too many 17 strength fighters.

Monthly Maintenance

I'm working on a set of rules for monthly expenses for characters and their underlings.  I've put the draft below, I also have a similar set for dogs and horses.  The idea is that the more money you spend on maintenance the better your hit points will be.  Each character or henchman re-rolls his hit point total at the beginning of each game month (the daily re-roll from Return of the Trolls got a bit cumbersome), and unless circumstances dictate otherwise, each game session begins a new month.   So for example, if you spend only 10sp for the month, and are a 5th level fighter, you would roll 6d10 three times, and take the worst of the three totals.  If the same guy spent 500gp, he would roll 6d10 three times and take the best of the three.


MONTHLY MAINTENANCE

Each month a character must pay maintenance for himself and each one of his underlings.  There are various levels of maintenance that he can choose from, and each level has a definite game effect.

1.    People

Level	Price	Hit Dice	Example
Minimal	10sp	Worst of 3	Prisoner, beggar
Lackey	3gp	Worse of 2	Servant, laborer
Standard	30gp	1 roll	Soldier, Craftsman
Exceptional	60gp	Better of 2	Merchant
High	100gp/exp level	Best of 3	Adventurer

Minimal:  includes a half ration (1 bushel per month) of grain and water.  Person will be dressed in rags and will be lean and starved.  Make a saving throw vs. poison or come down with a disease.  Lodging is on a pile of garbage.

Lackey:  includes a full ration (2 bushels) of grain per month and 1 mug of beer per day, a clothing allowance that ensures 1 set of clothes (tunic, cloak, clogs, hose or dress, clogs and cloak) per year and a 1d8 silvers for spending money. If this is paid to employees with weapons or armor, there is a 1 in 6 chance that each will be damaged due to lack of maintenance.  Lodging is a space on the common floor or stable.

Standard: includes 3 weeks of “standard rations” and 1 week of “iron rations”, 1 pint of ale or cheap wine per day, a clothing allowance that allows 2 full sets of clothes (trousers, shirt, jacket, cloak, boots, belt, pelt pouch) per year, maintenance and repair of weaponry or tools plus a 4d6 sp for spending money.  If called on to travel, the person will have 3 days of iron rations and a 2-quart skin of ale on hand.  Lodging is a shared multi-person room.

Exceptional: includes 3 merchant-quality meals per day, and 1 week of iron rations per month, 2 pints of average wine per day, a 1 gallon of good wine per month, also, a new set of clothes (riding boots, trousers, shirt, belt, jacket, cloak and hat of merchant quality) per month.  It also includes maintenance of equipment and arms.  Underling will have a 1d4 gold pieces for spending money. If called on to travel, the person will have 1 week of iron rations and a 2-quart skin of good wine on hand.  Lodging is half of a double room, unless he owns his own place.

High: includes 3 rich-quality meals per day, and 1 week of iron rations per month, 2 pints of good wine per day, a 1 gallon of excellent wine per month, also, a new set of clothes (riding boots, trousers, shirt, belt, jacket, cloak and hat of merchant quality) per month and one set of noble-quality clothes per year.  It also includes maintenance of equipment and arms.  If called on to travel, the person will have 1 week of iron rations and a 2-quart skin of excellent wine on hand.  Underling will have 5gp per level of spending money. Lodging is a private room, unless he owns his own place.

Special Note on Monks: monks are trained in ascetic discipline to such an extent that they can get the Hit Die benefits of “high” living while only spending the “minimal” amount.

Hey Kids, What time is it?---ADVENTURE TIME

I really have to defocus on theory and work on practice.  I need to work on adventures.   The biggest drag (at least during the school year when I've got to work for a living) for me is making up the actual adventure on a deadline.   So, the more adventures I've got ready before the campaign begins, the better.  Of course, during the summer it's not so much of a drag. 

So far, I've 2 complete low-level dungeons complete, and the maps for 3-4 others ready.   I'm plugging through another dungeon (this one has 3 levels).  I've got 3-4 other neat ideas I need to work through (like the mysterious fate of Edric the Meatsack, the death struggle of the kobolds and the savages, the lost hunting lodge of Parsnak, and the haunted townhouse of Dengwur), and there are numerous places on the map that scream out for full fleshing (the Grand Temple of 1000 Demons, the Warlock Keep and Milton's Massacre Men for example). 

I've got to rip off another band-aid and just finalize the rules, close to what I have sketched out in my notes, and just focus on adventures and the various direct game support materials.

I've found this site which can pre-generate a dungeon for you (although the monsters so far as I can see are all 1st level Basic D&D variety).  It's partially cool and would do in a pinch, but some aspects of it a pretty lame:  http://www.dizzydragon.net/adventuregenerator/gen

Awesome Magic Items of Past Campaign

One of the coolest things about our C&C campaign, the Brown Trousers, was the unique magic items I handed out.

My favorite of all was the Boots of Mighty Ass-Kicking.   A person wearing the boots had to get behind and enemy, roll a hit, and would then kick the enemy like 2d6 inches (20-120 feet) forward, doing some damage in the process and knocking them prone at the end.

Another was the Maul of Mighty Pile-Driving, which if it hit on a called shot to the head would drive an enemy into the earth up to his head.  It was also useful for building stockades and wooden buildings.

In our 4e campaign, Irongate, I really liked the mummifed head of the prophet Hystrix, which could talk and give advice and information to the party.

Back in my college days, my roommate Pete created a magic sword for this guy.  Every time the sword hit an evil priest or wizard, it would turn the caster into a puddle of green slime.  What the user didn't realize was that this would also summon a demon who would show up several days later and beat the living crap out of the user and then depart.  He never made the connection.

One of the reasons I like AD&D 1e is that there's a huge list of magic items, and they aren't necessilarily tied to effects and abilities that players can do with spells and skills.  4e has an impressive list of items too, but they just seem too constrained and forced to fit into the mathematical model.  I want my magic items to be awesome and not just buffs.

In the matter of Feats

Looking back at the "Aquila" or "Brown Trousers" campaign,  I'm remembering that it seemed that the non-spell casting classes (Fighters, Barbarians, Knights, Rogues etc) could have used a bit of a goose.   I remember adding some special abilites for these classes at 4th level just so they'd be a bit more interesting compared with the spell casters.

Maybe porting in some elements of the feats from 3e might not be a bad idea.  I'd restrict them to classes that don't cast spells in AD&D: i.e., fighters, thieves, and assassins from the base rules--definitely,  perhaps paladins and rangers (but maybe not), and berserkers and scouts from my expanded list of classes. All the spell casters have tons of cool powers to keep them more interesting, and monks are nothing but weird special ablilites.

I wouldn't want the full fledged feat progression, but a few key choices at a few levels might spice things up.

I guess the other option is to port in the various combat maneuvers from Return of the Trolls.  They were not, for the most part, class or level related, but could spice up the melee a bit.   The trouble is there were only a few that were widely used (Shield Sacrifice, Heroic Rampage come to mind) many of the others were neglected. 

I guess on the other hand that people played AD&D for a long time without extra fighter powers.