Children of the OSR

Earlier I talked about some of the cool OSR stuff that was in the making (here and here). Some of these fantastic products have been released since then, and due to there awesomeness, I feel obliged to tell you about them. Also, there are a couple other things I have found, so I added them to the list below, as well. 

AS&SH Random Encounters

For our ongoing AS&SH game I have been using random encounter tables of my own design for quite some time. I decided to share the three tables used so far with both my players and fellow gamers.

Although these tables could be used for all swamp or plains areas, I quite like the idea of personalised encounter tables for different areas, so that not all swamps are completely alike.

You may find the three tables here:

• Dagon Bay (Swamp) 
• Larchmere Yys (Plains)
• Zangerios Islands (Sea)

Note that on land I roll an encounter check per every 4-hour period (so 4 "day" and 2 "night" checks), while only twice a day on sea. Since an encounter occurring has a 1-in-8 chance on land (and 1-in-6 on sea) and because not every encounter necessarily leads to combat (fearsome foes can be avoided or sometimes negotiated with), it is actually not that harsh. Sometimes it, I must add, but I never really liked the 10-minute day adventuring, anyways.

Summary of the Year 2014

It's been quite an alright year for me; somewhat less okay concerning blogging and gaming. I didn't post nearly as many as last year (24 vs. 42), nor did I play as much (22 vs. 32 sessions in 12 vs. 11 games).

The all time favourites on the blog as of now are (1) my AS&SH review, (2) Starting a Megadungeon Campaign, (3) GMC rules changes summary, (4) Rappan Athuk - Session Zero, and (5) Alternate Rule for Paralysis.

What follows is a list of games I played or ran this year, other game-related things I did, some things I wanted to do but did not, and, finally, my game-related plans for the next year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

AS&SH - Session 13

Session 13 (November 8, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

This session saw a record amount of players present in the campaign:

• Kyndvald (Viking Pyromancer 2), a chaotic and pyromaniac sorcerer, traveller from the Old Earth
• Laoise (Ixian Druid 3), a travelling druid, and her retainer, Gegnir (Viking Cleric 1), a nightmare-haunted man, recently converted to Apollonian beliefs
• Phlianos (Ixian Legerdemainist 2), a clever and sneaky thief, and his henchman, a former crewman, Hrótgeirr (Viking Thief 1)
• Esja (Viking Ranger 3), the second oldest surviving character, a master of the bow (especially with her magical weapon, a gift from Ullr from another world)
• Harald Greentooth (Viking Fighter 4), the bold javelin-thrower, the single surviving character from the start, and his loyal companion, Gustavsson (Viking Fighter 1)
• Vandar Skölsson (Viking Berserker 2), a brutal fighter, dangerous mostly to his enemies
• Styrr (Viking Fighter 3), a taciturn warrior, former crew member promoted to PC status

GMC Game Aids

I have posted several game aids on the Onyx Path forum I made for an upcoming God-Machine Chronicles game. I thought sharing them here as well would be appropriate. Here are the links:

• Character Creation (step-by-step guide and minimal explanation of terms)
• Rules Summary (including the updated bits)
• GMC Update Summary (a slightly edited blog post I made earlier this year)

Social Combat Redux

I recently posted a conversion of Courtney Campbell's social attack rules to the AS&SH system. However, after crunching some numbers it became apparent that such a system (no matter how baroque and appealing to me) would produce rather unbalanced results, so I decided to redo the maths.

My goal was to keep the rules simple while providing choice and strengthening class archetypes at the same time. I certainly like them better this way.

To-hit modifier = +1 per odd level + (INT or CHA modifier)
Social AC for monsters = 12 - morale - 1 per even HD
Social AC for players = 6 - 1 per odd level - (WIS or CHA modifier)
Social Damage = 1d8 + CHA modifier

Every player character may choose one of the four social attack types (Anger, Fear, Confusion, and Charm) as favoured, granting a +2 to-hit bonus (monsters usually do not get this bonus, but ultimately it is up to the Referee to judge). Furthermore, the following special rules apply:

• Using an appropriate spell grants +SpellLevel to-hit bonus and deals double damage.
• Assassins deal double Fear damage.
• Bards consider each social attack type favoured, and deal +1 damage per odd level.
• Berserkers are immune to social attacks while raging. (cf. Unbreakable Willpower).
• Druids and Scouts deal double damage against animals.
• Monks have a point of social damage reduction per level.
• Rangers deal double damage against otherworldly creatures.
• Thieves consider each social attack type favoured.
• Witches deal double Charm damage.

Five Kung-Fu Styles

I have been slowly (and I mean very slowly) working on a wuxia-inspired setting and OSR compatible rules. Below I present to you five kung-fu styles, one for each of the five different colours of chi. Also, some notes on the rules.

Berserker Class Idea

What I present below is the result of my recent toying with class mechanics. It is obviously unfinished (and contains a lot of Pathfinder-isms), but I believe it still communicates the concept I had in mind well. I have some ideas for the cleric class, as well, basing their abilities on domains and channeling power (a resource similar to the berserker's rage).

Campaign Pitch: Gothic Megadungeon

Instead of prepping for my upcoming game or finishing my articles for Kazamata, I thought about megadungeons and came up with a couple of different - and at this stage, very vague - ideas, that I am going to present. The first one is:

The Sempiternal Citadel of Maleficence

Social Combat in AS&SH

The following is a summary and conversion of the social combat rules found in Courtney Campbell's On the Non-player Character.

Characters may substitute one of their attacks (regardless of whether melee or missile) to make one of the following special attacks to deal non-lethal damage. Non-lethal damage is not deducted from one's current hit points but is totalled separately; once it exceeds 1/4 or 1/2 of the creature's current hit points, a Minor or Major effect takes place, respectively, depending on the attack type.

Attacks are resolved as follows:

• 1d20 - 4 (base penalty) + Intelligence modifier + Charisma modifier
• target AC equals either (10 - Wisdom score) or (10 - Morale) - 1 per 2 HD; creatures with animal intelligence have +4 AC bonus
• the attacker's Fighting Ability is a key factor; use your character's regular attack matrix to determine success
• successful attacks deal 1d8 points of non-lethal damage, plus the better of your Intelligence or Charisma modifier

N.B.: For the purposes of social combat, Intelligence modifier equals the number of extra languages, while Charisma modifier equals reaction bonus.

AS&SH - Session 12

Session 12 (October 18, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which the party inquires about a way of getting home, sets sail toward the west, and suffers a great tragedy.

This time the party consisted of the following characters:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking Fighter 4), the last of the original cast
• Esja Waldensdottir (Viking Ranger 2)
• Phlianos (Ixian Legerdemainist 2)
• Laoise (Ixian Druid 2), a non-hater Ixian, who grew up among the Kelts
• Styrr (Viking Fighter 2), a member of the crew promoted to PC status

Upcoming OSR Games and Supplements, Part 2

Although none of the works mentioned in Part 1 have been published in their final form, I am here to speak about a couple of other projects that have got my attention.