Marvel-esque Initiative and Turn Sequence

In OD&D, where it is basically only a roll with a d6, initiative is not much of a chore - but not really much fun either. In other games which use individual initiative, it certainly gives more random and individualised results but also increases the book-keeping factor. It was argued by Justin Alexander that initiative, as is presented, does not function as a seamless way of transitioning from the previous game structure (hexcrawl, dungeoncrawl, or else) to the combat structure; furthermore, the book-keeping it requires weakens the dynamics the outbreak of combat would present to the players (see this post and this post with the comment).

Trying to solve these problems, I came across the new Marvel game which uses a turn sequence system that I find very clever: after acting, it is the combatant's duty to choose who acts right after him. There are two important restrictions: (1) you cannot delay your action, you act when you are called, and (2) nobody may act again until everybody has acted in the round.

The game leaves to the GM to determine the first one to act depending on the situation; in a D&D-esque game, I would say the one who states his action the quickest may act first. By instantly resolving the first participant's action, we - all of a sudden - find ourselves in the combat structure.

Opinions? What possible disadvantages you can foresee regarding this approach? Do you think the benefits proposed above outweigh them?

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 4

Session 4 (June 8, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

The report of our latest Vikings & Valkyries game of ours, in which the party fights Sea Devils again, gain some help from villagers, and - by a hilarious(ly clever) trick - conquer a whole village, the home of the bastard Gregorssons.

Land of NOD, Session 4

Session 4 (May 23, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

We finally carried on with our Land of Nod sandbox campaign; it has been a while since we last played, and it took this whole session for us to get back on track with the whole sandbox/hex-crawling idea. Having defeated the pirates, the party decided to explore the whole of the island.

Weather and Fortune

Since our last Vikings & Valkyries game, I have been thinking about the random weather table, the given sailing speeds, and the sailing rules in general (Mazes & Minotaurs Player's Manual, pp42-43). I have read several takes on randomly determining weather (Talysman, LS, and Brendan) and decided to use the 2d6 reaction table for that, because (1) it eliminates the use of d10s (except for the morale rules - but I will get to that) and (2) I can easily roll 3d6 together, two for the weather, one for random encounters. Anyway, the revised table is below:

2d6	Weather	Speed
2	Calm	20 miles
3-5	Pleasant Breeze	40 miles
6-8	Average	60 miles
9-11	Strong Gale	80 miles
12	Storm	2d6 x 10 miles

Last session I also had to improvise a way of determining a ship's Fortune modifier and ultimately settled on the following formula: 1d4 minus 1d4 (thus 62.5% of ships have a non-negative Fortune modifier). The only drawback of this that I can see is that it introduces the use of d4s, whereas it is my intention to use d6s and d20s wherever possible.

An alternate approach that popped into my mind was to use 3d6 and the traditional B/X modifiers to determine a ship's Fortune; I dislike it for two reasons: (1) the arrangement of modifiers in V&V resembles 3E not B/X and (2) non-zero modifiers would be much less common which, concerning the frequency of acquiring a boat, would make Fortune much less relevant.

I am not pleased with the official rules regarding Storms and Drowning whatsoever; in time, I will surely propose my own variant rules for those situations.

Mal-Lam the Fearful Symmetry

Submitted for the Petty Gods project.

Although the thought of perfection in geometry amazes people, when it becomes a reality, they are terrified of it; that fear is Mal-Lam, who gains his powers from the right angles, regular shapes, and symmetric patterns of nature and our creations as well.

Ixomant the Living Darkness

Submitted for the Petty Gods project.

Ixomant dwells in the deepest of caves and the darkest of dungeons. Even if unseen, his presence can be experienced as a feel of a nightly breeze chilling to the bone, a lurking amorphous shadow, or simply the overwhelming fear of the dark, for exactly it is he.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 3

Session 3 (May 18, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

Our third session was quite a short one: we began playing later and finished playing earlier than usual, plus there were five players instead of three. Nevertheless, the session was fun, they managed to set sail and get the hell out of Jarl Olaf's court. Below, I present the most important occurrences only.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 2

Session 2 (April 20, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

I am quite late with this session report; I am remembering less and less details about this fine session, hence the brief report (the actual game was about eight hours long, including having a pizza, non-game-related talks, and such).

(For some information on the NPCs, check the previous session report.)

Songs for the Metal Axe

The second instalment of Patrick Wetmore's incredible Anomalous Subsurface Environment (check Bryce Lynch's review of the first book here and Gus L.'s of the second) features one of the coolest magic items: the Metal Axe, a great axe with guitar strings, with which fighters can play songs of magic. This post describes 14 songs (with the original 6, it makes a nice 20), reflecting my interests in gaming and guitar-centric music, as well.

Rank was decided by comparing the song's power to the ones described in ASE II and spells in the original edition, but I may have screwed this up; I am open to helpful criticism. As for monster stats and modifiers, those were written with OD&D/Delving Deeper in mind.

Thief Skill Rolls

Another quick post. Thief skills and the method their success is determined have been discussed many times on either blogs or forums. This particular post is aimed to improve upon Jack's idea of using the "hear noise" column for everything instead of the complicated and quite arbitrary percentile tables, about which Brendan of Necropraxis (earlier Untimately) also posted about.

Some Petty Foods

Just a short post today; the following petty foods were submitted to be included in the relevant appendix of the Expanded Petty Gods.

Crystal Oranges of Al-Mahraba
These crystallised oranges grow in the sacred garden of Al-Mahraba, guarded by seven soldiers of simian body and reptilian head - divine servitors of [deity associated with lies or equivocation]. The crystal fruits become edible once immersed in either the tears of a child or water from a subterranean sea. The consumer is granted the ability of always detecting lies, in exchange for not being able to tell the truth ever.

Milk of Barghobulya the Thrice-Horned
On plateaus most unreachable, Barghobulya the Thrice-Horned is known to pasture among other bovids of divine origin. Barghobulya's milk is said to cure all diseases; mixed with powdered unicorn horn it becomes pestilential, infecting imbibers with a virulent disease that twists their bodies and minds in equal measure. Fanatical followers of the Jale God oft wonder what properties the mixture of Barghobulya's milk and the powdered horn of an Atacorn might have.

Scrambled Totlyanian Eggs
The saint flock of Totlyanian birds roam the world from season to season, and it is during the spring when they lay their golden eggs to places where they will be most safe from [deity associated with beggars or poverty]'s followers, who are known to scramble these precious eggs. Even a single bite of such a meal results in heavy hallucinations resembling the sickest and wettest dreams imaginable. Besides being highly addictive, its regular consuming causes the weak-willed to slowly abandon morality and swear allegiance to [deity associated with serial killing or similar amoral actions].

Walnuts of the Agrapax Tree
During the magical autumn in the land of fairies, the Agrapax tree bears exactly thirteen walnuts, each the size of a grapefruit. The seed of such fruits carries the blessing of [deity associated with wisdom or fairies], and its consumer gains knowledge about locales or items he seeks the most. Cracking the walnut's shell, however, releases nightmarish sounds that terrify mortals and urges them to crack each other's skull instead.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 1

Session 1 (March 30, 2013)

I have previously played Mazes & Minotaurs with a couple of Hungarian gamers (Narmor, Marvin, and Premier as Maze Master) and I also launched a Vikings & Valkyries PbP game; unfortunately, both were pretty short (the former spanning over two or three sessions, the latter only a single scene). Nevertheless, my enthusiasm for M&M and V&V reached its peaks over and over again, this time resulting in a longish gaming session.

With this play report I actually try another method for presenting the game sessions. Instead of writing in summarised points I write in full sentences, occasionally pausing to make a comment on my own refereeing, realising mistakes in hindsight, describing why I thought something would work, etc. You are encouraged to tell me in your comments whether this approach to actual play reports is more enjoyable/useful/better or not.