Dwimmermount - Session 1-2

Shortly after abandoning our Anima Prime game mid-campaign (on which I still intend to write a blog post; I just don't know when), we started another old-school campaign focussing on exploration. As a tent pole of the campaign, I chose Dwimmermount, a megadungeon I have recently reviewed on this very blog. Our system of choice was the under-development second edition of Kazamaták és Kompániák, a Hungarian retro-clone of B/X D&D.

Review: Dwimmermount

This is a review of Dwimmermount; something, I started working on the day I received my copy, but then I got distracted. Now it is finished, for better or for worse. I tried my best to make it as spoiler-free as possible, but still, read further at your own risk. Lastly, I present my personal thoughts regarding Dwimmermount as a whole, hoping that the Reader may see through my rambling and understand what I am trying to say.

Note that I am not interested in the discussion of the product's controversial history and Kickstarter campaign; the past is the past, and I firmly believe that the product can nevertheless be judged upon its own merits or lack thereof.

Abolishing "Save or Die" Mechanics

I have talked about my dislike for the "save or die" mechanics; they disrupt the pattern of combat by introducing ways of overcoming ablative hit points and deciding the fate of characters on a single die roll. In this post I would like to present a number of ways to eliminate such "save or die" mechanics from D&D-esque games, enumerating their respective advantages and disadvantages, as well.

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