Thoughts and Reflections on Free RPG Day

So, as you know, I offered to run the two mini-adventures in this year’s Goodman Games Free RPG Day giveaway at Dueling Grounds in Toronto.  I ran The Jeweller Who Dealt in Stardust (by Harley Stroh) at noon, and was prepared to run The Undulating Corruption (by Michael Curtis) thereafter.  I had also printed out several reference sheet booklets, to give away to anyone who showed even the slightest interest!

Turnout was rather poor at Dueling Grounds; so much so that the Pathfinder crowd were also unable to stage their second event.  Nonetheless, I had a blast with Jeweller, met some nice people, and got to talk up Dungeon Crawl Classics to those in the store.  I think that, next year, I’ll have some form of advanced registration so that you know you’ll get to play if you make the drive.

There were some nice giveaways for Free RPG Day this year.  I tend to think that the DCC module was the cream of the crop, but the beautiful colour map of Hârn is a close second, and will certainly be the big prize in some folk’s eyes.  The Paizo module and Cosmic Patrol quickstarter from Catalyst Game Labs also looked interesting.  I am sure that everything else was pretty cool, too, even if it didn’t particularly catch my eye.

I received a pair of Forest percentile dice and a d12 for running the game (Thanks!) manufactured by Q-Workshop.  I find they are somewhat hard to read, but cool looking nonetheless.  There was a fellow there who had intended on running the 4^th Edition D&D module from Wizards of the Coast, but chose not to because there were no maps, and he could discover no information as to what map set he should purchase to get the maps.  I was somewhat disappointed that the WotC module wasn’t a 5e playtest/quickstarter….especially as events left me with the potential time to have played in it.

Overall, it was a good day on a great weekend.  Not running Corruption was a disappointment, but I feel certain I’ll have a chance to run it in my home game.  It was great being able to talk with the Pathfinder aficionados who had shown up, and it was great running Jeweller.  Admittedly, all the characters in my DCC adventure died….the gentleman from Dueling Grounds said he knew I was going to kill all the PCs because I was wearing my Gary Gygax memorial cover T-Shirt from Dragon Roots Magazine. 

But I rolled the dice in the open, and the PCs fell in the very last encounter, one die roll away from ultimate success.  And there is no doubt that my dice were rolling hot, while theirs were not to be trusted….although they did have some very timely rolls along the way!

I am going to count Free RPG Day 2012 as a provisional success, and a learning experience.  And I am going to plan on a better turn-out for 2013.

Dare You Enter the Bone Hoard

I am going to run a test of Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror for 5-8 players on Unseen Servant (unseen servant.us).  If you are interested, PM me on the Unseen Servant boards.  2nd level characters for the adventure may be created using the Purple Sorcerer higher-level character generator at purplesorcerer.com. As soon as I have 5 characters (or 8, if enough people respond), I'll be starting....so don't hesitate!

Then, when the module becomes available from Purple Duck Games, you can run your own players through it......

Free RPG Day Reminder

Saturday June 16th is Free RPG Day!


I will be running two Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG events at Dueling Grounds in Toronto.  Each of these events is for 3-10 players.  There is no advanced seating or sign-up for these events.


If you've been following this blog, and you are in the Toronto area, I really hope to see you there!


The first adventure is The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust, a level 3 scenario by Harley Stroh.  A jeweler and fence has gone missing, and his house of jewels now sits empty. Surely a cunning thief could make his way inside to steal the unguarded riches?  This starts at Noon, and is set to run to 3 pm (maximum extension to 3:30).


Harley Stroh is the author of Doom of the Savage Kings and Sailors on the Starless Sea, which are excellent modules for the DCC RPG, and which I cannot praise highly enough.  Jeweler is equally good!


The second adventure is The Undulating Corruption, a level 5 scenario by Michael Curtis. The characters learn of a purported Crucible that can cure their wizard's corruption...but reaching this cure is not easy!  This starts at 4 pm, and is set to run to 6 pm (maximum extension to 6:30 pm).


Michael Curtis is author of The Dungeon Alphabet and Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls.  His excellent offering for this Free RPG Day is not for the squeamish....and promises to be great fun!


Pregenerated characters will be provided for both scenarios (both those provided by Goodman Games, and additional characters created using Purple Sorcerer's excellent generators).  You are strongly urged to bring your own dice.  The game can be played with standard rpg dice plus 1d30 (and I have several d30s!).


Drinks are sold in store.  Please note that no food or food garbage is allowed; there are local places to eat in the area, so plan accordingly.


http://www.goodman-games.com/FRPGD12preview.html

DCC Adventures

Interested in Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG?

My first for-publication adventure for the system, Bone Hoard of the Dancing Horror, is currently with the editor at Purple Duck Games.  I have to say that I am really excited about this, and I hope that you will enjoy playing through it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  There is at least one truly nasty encounter in the adventure that, with luck, your players will not soon forget!

I am now working on a second adventure, Through the Cotillion of Hours, for characters of any level.  If anything, I am even more excited about this adventure than I am about Bone Hoard!

It takes a while to go from writer to editor through approval to release, but if you are interested in these adventures, please let the good folks at Purple Duck Games know!

DCC House Rule: Learning the Hard Way

In Dungeon Crawl Classics, a character’s skill set is very much determined by his starting occupation as a 0-level character.  A character is trained in anything that his occupation would have him know, and makes related skill checks using 1d20.  If the character’s background doesn’t support a task, he uses 1d10 instead.  If the Judge is uncertain, the character uses 1d10 and gains a +2 bonus.

I find it desirable to sometimes reflect changes in skill level.  For example, a character who was a scribe might tutor his herder friend so that the herder could read a little better.  Or a barbarian from Cimmeria might spend time in the Thieves’ Quarter of Shadizar the Wicked and gain some small level of skill thereby.  Conversely, a beadle who hasn’t set foot in a church for many years might be somewhat rusty.

The Dice Chain can be used to simulate growth of skill, or atrophy of skills that are never used.  Basically, if the Judge feels that an untrained skill is being used repeatedly in important circumstances, with serious consequences for failure, he can allow the character to make checks against that skill one step up the dice chain.  For example, a gong-farmer who spends three adventures on a caravan might learn to handle camels using a d12 instead of a d10. 

Conversely, if that same gong farmer avoids examining dung, even when it is relevant, the Judge may eventually have him roll checks to do so using a d16 instead of a d20.  Atrophy of skills should reverse up the die chain with any success, as old habits are remembered.

It is important to keep a short leash on this idea, because, while simulating character growth is desirable, growing to the unwieldy mass of skills some other games list is not.   No skill should ever surpass rolling on a d20, or fall below rolling on a d10, as a result of using this method.   This should be used to add flavour only – if it becomes a headache, or a bookkeeping exercise, simply drop it!

Weapon Training

If a character relies on a weapon she is not trained in over the course of three adventures, the Judge may, but does not have to, allow that weapon to be included in her list of trained weapons.  This rule should be used more so that the Judge can introduce new, esoteric weapons to the game milieu than to allow player characters to “get around” current class restrictions.  The Judge is strongly advised to determine, before the weapon is introduced, which classes may benefit from training.  The Judge need not communicate this information to the players.

Free RPG Day

On Saturday, June 16th, I will be running two Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG events at Dueling Grounds in Toronto.  Each of these events is for 3-10 players.  There is no advanced seating or sign-up for these events.


The first adventure is The Jeweler That Dealt in Stardust, a level 3 scenario by Harley Stroh. A jeweler and fence has gone missing, and his house of jewels now sits empty. Surely a cunning thief could make his way inside to steal the unguarded riches?  This starts at Noon, and is set to run to 3 pm (maximum extension to 3:30).


The second adventure is The Undulating Corruption, a level 5 scenario by Michael Curtis. The characters learn of a purported Crucible that can cure their wizard's corruption...but reaching this cure is not easy!  This starts at 4 pm, and is set to run to 6 pm (maximum extension to 6:30 pm).


Pregenerated characters will be provided for both scenarios.


Drinks are sold in store.  


No food or food garbage allowed; there are local places to eat in the area.


http://www.goodman-games.com/FRPGD12preview.html

DCC House Rules: Three Strikes & Backstabs

THREE STRIKES

(Cribbed from RCFG)

The Judge may declare any skill attempt to be unable to succeed after a single failure (in some instances), and normally after three failures.  There is a reason that characters usually only gain three chances to succeed at a particular task — it prevents the game from becoming stale.

In some SRD-derived games, a character can keep making checks until she succeeds. This means that, unless there is some penalty for failure, when the GM sets the DC, he automatically knows the end result.  Skills become a binary on/off switch, where either an eventual roll of “20” (or less) will succeed, or it will not.  It is desirable that an achievable DC can be set without dictating the outcome.

Three chances still allows characters to take two wild stabs at a task before burning Luck to increase the chance of success.  Each check takes time, of course, and other consequences of failure or time spent may occur.

BACKSTAB

A Backstab is intended to be a strike from surprise, where the Thief manages to get behind an individual or to make an attack against an individual who does not know he is there.  It is not intended to allow a Thief to make more Critical Hits in combat than a Warrior.

A Thief cannot normally Backstab a creature once that creature is aware of him (as, for example, usually occurs once the Thief has Backstabbed another opponent in the same combat).  It is normally insufficient for the Thief to simply make a Hide in Shadows or Sneak Silently attempt once in combat.

A Warrior or a Dwarf can perform a Mighty Deed to distract an opponent, giving the Thief a chance to make a DC 20 Sneak Silently attempt to get the drop on an opponent (and thus, a potential Backstab).  For every point the Deed Die is over 3, the Thief gains a +1 bonus to the stealth attempt.

If opponents are outnumbered, three or more Thieves can manoeuvre around a single opponent so that one is behind the opponent and has the potential to Backstab.

The Inevitable Post About 5e,

or, A Love Letter to Wizards of the Coast, 

or, Is it time for "WotC Next"?

It has to happen, so here goes.  Keep in mind that my opinions are not direct-from-source, because there is no way that getting the D&D Next playtest materials is worth agreeing to the terms of the NDA.

Overall, what I am hearing – even from those saying negative things – makes me cautiously optimistic about 5e.  It sounds as though the designers took my “Why System Matters” blog posts and then, point by point, made sure that 5e would work for sandbox gaming.  Understand that I am not saying that they did any such thing, but, if they did, kudos for them.  Also, it seems as though the Delve Format is dead!  That particular thorn in the arse of WotC adventure design couldn't have been removed soon enough!


5e has moved, for me, from “D&D Pass” to “D&D Maybe”.

This “Hit Dice” thing is needlessly confusing.  In RCFG, the almost-identical mechanic was called “Shaking it Off”, and, as that is OGC, I don’t see why Wizards wouldn’t use it.  It sounds a hell of a lot better than calling it “Hit Dice”, which has a completely different meaning.   Shaking it Off went through numerous incarnations while playtesting RCFG, and it worked very well there.

The idea of Themes and Backgrounds should make a character different, but make character creation easier.  Kudos on that.  Likewise on adopting a simple Advantage/Disadvantage system….although, for my money, the “Dice Chain” of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is the best simple system for this that I have come across.

I am a bit dismayed by the continuation of disassociated mechanics, such as fighters doing damage on a miss, and the idea that wizards can endlessly magic missile.  Magic is cheap when there is no cost, and magic should not be so cheap in D&D.  May I recommend a “lesser missile” as a cantrip, that requires an attack roll and does less damage than a dagger?  The advantage of this lesser missile  is that you don’t need a dagger.  Moreover, each “cantrip” could be linked to an actual spell, which must be memorized in order to continue using the cantrip.  Use up your real magic missile, and you can no longer use your lesser missile, either.  Making these sorts of choices – dealing with real trade-offs – is a big part of the game.

(Not an original idea or observation, that, but a better plan than at-will free magic missiles.)

I have previously said that if D&D Next fails, it won’t be the fault of the fans.  That remains true, but it is also true that if D&D Next succeeds, it won’t be because of the fans, either.  It will only succeed if the product is good, the marketing is good, and Wizards creates goodwill with the fans.  Announcing the release of earlier edition materials was a good start on generating goodwill.  Now, if WotC can keep the lawyers from messing things up, there is a chance of a successful edition here.

The NDA was a bone-headed move that tells us “We’re going to keep doing business like we did with 4e”.

I don’t think D&D Next can survive that.

I have said previously that, for any new edition of D&D to be relevant to me, Wizards is going to have to reinstate the OGL.  As things stand, when 6e comes out, no one who signed that NDA can legally make a “derivative work” like OSRIC or Pathfinder for 5e.  And the people who signed the NDA are the hard core gamers who would most likely wish to see support continue for an edition they like.

Grab the bull by the horns, WotC, if you want to see this edition succeed.  You need to make us believe that the needs of the game – and the gamers! – are as important as the needs of the lawyers and the shareholders.  You need to tell us why there are some weird terms in the NDA (or better yet, get rid of the NDA altogether).  Likewise, you need to be upfront about what kind of licensing this edition is going to use.  The longer you wait, the more people you lose.

So far:

(1) The design of the new edition shows some promise.  You still have work to do (obviously) and you need to ditch disassociated mechanics from the core rules.  Add them as modules if you must.

(2) The marketing is certainly good enough to attract attention, and although there is a certain amount of “dancing around the elephant in the room” in the fan outreach, it is otherwise following a good course.  This is especially true when compared to 4e.

(3) You have a lot of work to do on goodwill.  Deal with licensing upfront, deal with the NDA.  Set some limits on where the concerns of the lawyers take precedence over the concerns of the fans.  You need us more than we need you.  Show us you understand that, and that you are willing to make us want you instead of need you.  Oh, and plan ahead so you don’t have to lay anyone off for the holidays.

You need to be “WotC Next” as much as this game needs to be “D&D Next”.  The Wizards that gave us the OGL is gone.  You cannot afford to be the Wizards that gave us the GSL, that gives folks the old heave-ho for the holidays, or that values protecting itself from the slightest risk over fan enjoyment of product.  That Wizards has to go.

Be WotC Next.  Embrace it.  IMHO, it’s your best chance for success.

Now, I’ll be perfectly honest here.  You probably aren’t getting my “favourite go-to game” spot – Goodman Games already has that sewn up with a tidy little bow – but you could still end up with a version of D&D that I want to play.  As I had written you off some time ago, that’s actually pretty amazing. 

DCC NEW HOUSE RULE REWRITE: Learning Spells on the Fly, or, The Slippery Slope of Arcane Doom

A wizard or elf may attempt to learn a spell he is aware of without spending the requisite time to study, but such an attempt is hazardous. First off, the character must make a check against DC 10 + the spell level as part of an attempt to cast the spell. The initial check consists of 1d16 + caster level + Intelligence modifier.

If this check fails, the character suffers a misfire from the attempted spell. If this check results in a natural "1" the check automatically fails, and the would-be caster suffers corruption as well. In addition, in the event of a natural "1", all subsequent attempts to learn the same spell on the fly reduce the die used for the check, as per the die chain.

However, each failed attempt also gives a +1 bonus to learning the spell if normal research is then used, to a maximum bonus of +4.

If the character succeeds, he has learned the spell! However, the hap-hazard method of learning requires a second Mercurial Magic check with a -20 penalty to the roll. The effects of both Mercurial Magic checks take place whenever the wizard or elf casts this spell.