Tag Archives: DNDNext

G&D Recap/Summary (What would my D&D look like?)

Posted by grimachu on

Ten articles and that’s complete.

For those who want a quick and easy set of links to the articles, this is that post.

There’s a few things I’d change and polish a bit if I had time. I think HP need to be a bit higher (Maybe +1 automatic per rank up?)  and magic would need a lot more work, but the basics are there. With a talented GM who is good at improvisation G&D would, actually, be kinda playable.

G&D: What would my D&D Look Like? (Part Ten)

Posted by grimachu on

Here’s a quick little example of play and a couple of things I realise I missed, so consider this an ‘appendix’ to this set of articles.

Experience

I quite like a ‘per session’ method of doing experience, but for this I’m not sure that would work. Time spent playing would seem to work better. So…

You gain one experience point per hour of play but experience must be spent between sessions and/or when your character has some ‘downtime’. Customisations are gained immediately.

Increasing a stat costs a number of points equal to: (Stat x2)+1. Swap negative numbers into positive numbers for working out the cost. It’s hard to overcome a weak start or to refine an already advanced statistic.

Skills cost equal to the current level, or 1.

Customisations are the equivalent of levels, you gain a customisation at 2 hours of play, then another 4 hours of play, then another 6 – and so on.

Sample Monster – Goblins

Weak, simple creatures that often end up dominated by stronger, nastier creatures, goblins breed like maggots in the bowels of the Earth.

Str -2
Dex +0
Con -2
Cha -2
Int -1
Wis +0
Com -3

Will +1 (+1)
Dodge +2 (+2)
Toughness +1 (-1)

One-Handed +2 (+3)
Block +2 (+2)
Stealth +1 (+1)

Combat Defence: 12
Mental Defence: 10
Physical Defence: 8

Hit Points: 3/6
Mana: 9

Customisation: Sneaky Bastards +1

Equipment: Shortsword +1 – Max Damage 10, leather armour +2.

Sample of Play

The ‘adventurers’ (let’s be generous and not call them looters) are searching The Great Dark Forest for the fabled ruins of Skor. The forest is notoriously overrun with goblins, not that they’ve found any yet. Nor have they found the ruins and they’re running out of food. Little do they realise – yet – that they’re on the patrol route of a small goblin unit.

Running low on rations they’ve sent Faliel the elven sorcerer out to trap small game on the grounds that ‘You’re an elf, you know about woods, n’ shit.’

GM: Game’s pretty scarce in the woods, between the goblins, predators and the lack of undergrowth beneath the thick leaf cover. You’re going to need to roll fifteen or better to catch anything.

Faliel: I don’t have survival or anything, but as an elf I get ‘Forest Hunter’ as a Customisation, so that gives me +1. I rolled 13, so that’s 14, not enough.

GM: It’s close. You’re in hot pursuit of a rabbit, charging through piles of dried leaves, when you make a dive to try and catch it in your hands it springs away, leaving you face down in the dirt. Could you make an Alertness roll for me please?

Faliel: *Tosses the dice* Uh… that’s a total of 18, assuming my Forest Hunter still counts.

GM: Cool. *Tosses a dice to see how sneaky the the goblins have been and only gets 11 total* OK. As you pick yourself up you notice that what you took to be an animal trail is not. Those footprints look humanoid. They also look fresh.

Faliel: Shit the bed. Goblins I bet. I’ll run back to camp as fast as I can to tell the others. Brigid! Derwen! Goblins!

Brigid: Shut the hell up you prancing gaylord, if there are goblins they’ll hear you!

Derwen: The hatchet-faced dwarf has a point Faliel. Come on, let’s go have a look. I know a little bit about tracking.

GM: OK, so what are you doing?

Brigid: Pack up our gear, stifle the fire, strap on our armour and have Faliel lead us back to the tracks. Yeah?

Derwen: Sounds good, let’s take it slow and careful though.

GM: OK, you break camp and slink through the forest, following Faliel’s directions until you arrive back at the spot he saw the tracks.

Derwen: I’ll check them out, you two stand guard.

GM: You don’t have Survival, but I’ll let you make an Alertness roll to see what you can find out. OK?

Derwen: Right *Rolls dice* 21 total.

GM: *Given that the goblins only rolled 11 the GM decides to spill the beans* You reckon it’s a regular patrol of five goblins, one seems a little bigger and heavier than the others. They come through here regularly and it can’t be too long before they come back.

Derwen: OK, I’ll repeat that to the others. Plus… I figure these goblins must have food of some kind. If we take them out we’ll be less likely to be interrupted in our explorations and we can keep them up for longer. If we set an ambush it shouldn’t be too hard. They’re just goblins.

Brigid: Sounds good to me, my axe thirsts for goblin blood!

Faliel: I’m… not a fan, but if you two protect me I suppose it could be OK.

Derwen: OK, so the plan is that we all hide around this path area, under the leaves or whatever. Me an Faliel catch them in a crossfire with magic and my crossbow. I’ll go for the leader. Brigid can charge whatever lives and keep them busy and off us.

GM: Alright, I’ll need you all to make a Stealth roll to see how effective an ambush you pull off. You’ll get to go first if you pull it off and you’ll get a combat pool depending how well you do.

Brigid: 12

Faliel: Ugh… 5.

Derwen: 8… man we suck at hiding.

GM: Well, they only get… shit, 1. So you have a massive advantage over this band of bored, chattering and squabbling goblins, so deep into telling a dirty joke about a milkmaid and a bull that they don’t see you, despite your shitty rolls. So that makes your combat pool… 22.

Derwen: Right, I ease up out of the leaves and let fly with my crossbow, aiming for the biggest one of the lot. I get… 22.

GM: Jesus fucking Christ… OK, that’s ten more than his defence so that’s ten points of damage. The goblin leader is just getting to the punchline when your barbed bolt takes him through the throat an he pitches over, gurgling and spewing blood. The other goblins start in shock.

Faliel: Shitbiscuits, how many more are there?

GM: Four.

Faliel: I’ll unleash a blast of pure magic into the midst of them. So that’s 50 ft range, 10 ft radius should be enough to hit them all. That’s… -11. Going to need some of that combat pool I expect. I roll… 14, -11 is 3. That’s going to do nothing unless I spend some points, but I’ll keep some back in case there are any reinforcements. So… I’ll take 12 out of the pool, that gives me 15. Hopefully that’s enough to at least weaken them.

GM: It’s enough to bloody all of them. You make your arcane gesture and hurl the bolt of magic into their midst. It explodes and tosses them in all directions, scorched and smoking.

Brigid: My turn. These goblins are AXING FOR IT! I charge out of the woods and cleave the head off one of the survivors as he gets up.

GM: That’s a -5 penalty and it won’t actually cut it off unless you roll high enough.

Brigid: OK, with the penalties I get 8. If they’re bloodied their defence is only 7, right, so I’ll spend another two points from the tactical pool to take that over the top to 3. Is that enough to kill him?

GM: Sure is. You lop off the goblins head and send it sailing into the leaves nearby. There’s three left, bloodied and bowed.

Brigid: Aren’t they shitting themselves? This was some serious shock and awe and I just cut a head off.

GM: Good point, tell you what, make an intimidation roll.

Brigid: Eh, only three total… I suck at this stuff.

GM: Well then, they’re not cowed, rather they hiss and vow revenge, drawing their rusty little shortswords.

The game continues…

G&D: What would my D&D look like? (Part Nine)

Posted by grimachu on

I guess you want an example of play after all, so, I guess your wish is my command. Here’s the example characters I’ll be using to do a play example:

Brigid Kunthamma

Strength: +1
Dexterity: -1
Constitution: +4
Charisma: -3
Intelligence: -1
Wisdom: -2
Comeliness: -2

Willpower +1 (-1)
Dodge +1 (+0)
Toughness +1 (+5)

One-Handed Weapons +1 (+0)
Block +1 (+2 – shield)
Alertness +1 (-1)
Athletics +1 (+2)

Customisations
Stonecunning +1
Axemistress +1

Combat Defence: 15 (Chainmail has protection 5 but is heavy, negating its bonus to dodge. It’s a trade off. A heavy shield does the same – protection 2 – but also gives a +2 to Block).
Mental Defence: 9
Physical Defence: 15

Hit Points: 8/15
Mana: 7

Battleaxe: Max damage 24

Faliel Redleaf

Strength: -2
Dexterity: +0
Constitution: -5
Charisma: -3
Intelligence: +2
Wisdom: +1
Comeliness: +0

Willpower +1 (+2)
Dodge +1 (+1)
Toughness +1 (-4)

One-Handed Weapons +1 (+1)
Alertness +1 (+2)
Lore +1 (+3)

Abjuration +2 (+4)
Evocation +5 (+7)

Customisations
Forest Hunter +1
Magic User (Access to magic)

Combat Defence: 11
Mental Defence: 12
Physical Defence: 6

Hit Points: 2/3
Mana: 13

Dagger +1, Max Damage 8.

Derwen Five-Fingers

Strength: -3
Dexterity: +4
Constitution: +0
Charisma: +3
Intelligence: +0
Wisdom: +1
Comeliness: +1

Willpower +1 (+2)
Dodge +2 (+6)
Toughness +1 (+1)

One-Handed Weapons +1 (+5)
Ranged Weapons +2 (+6)
Block +1 (+5)
Alertness +1 (+2)
Stealth +1 (+5)
Athletics +1 (-2)

Customisations
Shadow +1
True Shot +1

Combat Defence: 18 (Armour 2)
Mental Defence: 12
Physical Defence: 11

Hit Points: 4/7
Mana: 11

Short sword +1, Max damage 12
Heavy Crossbow +1, Max damage 16

G&D: What would my D&D look like? (Part Eight)

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If you can’t be arsed with the video, it’s the battle of Balin’s Tomb from The Lord of the Rings. The great thing about that battle, that makes it the model of how – I think – we want group combats to go in games.

Everyone there, is involved in some way, from the smallest hobbit distracting and running away, to the great Gandalf. None of them truly dominates the combat, everyone gets to do something cool and it’s even true that one of the pivotal moments is Frodo getting struck.

Something I introduced into my 4e games, and something I’ve been pondering on for my own projects, is the idea of a ‘combat pool’. This abstracts strategic manoeuvres, debilitating effects an so on to create a free-flowing way of measuring – and using – tactical advantage.

What this means in practice is that any creative player who can’t otherwise contribute to a battle, can still shout ‘Oi, wanker!’ at the orcs, draw their attention and give someone else an advantage.

Even with a one-on-one battle it means you can exploit a foe’s weakness for several turns, built up a tactical advantage and then STRIKE to overcome defences that you  might not otherwise be able to. In this way it can mimic the great movie and CG battles we know and love, especially boss battles.

So, the way it would work would be a tactical manoeuvre (an appropriate skill roll) made against the enemy and the difference going into the pool. Of course, bad guys can get tactical pool as well and you can also pre-set certain encounter conditions that might change the sway of battle.

The most obvious example is probably the ambush, where sneaking competes again perception to determine which side has advantage and how much of an advantage.

Tactical pool can be spent to increase damage, to hit, dodge etc, using up the advantage to give your side the edge.

Would you like me to write up a play example using the rules as I have outlined them? Otherwise this is the end of this article series:

G&D: What would my D&D Look Like? (Part Seven)

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OK, now the biggy and the thing that’s likely to piss people off the most if they’re traditionalists.

I cannot stand Vancian magic. I hate it. I find it unnecessarily limiting and far too specific. I like my magic wild and adaptable. If I have ever had a perfect magic system it has been the one in Mage: The Ascension (Second edition).

On the other hand so much of D&D’s setting is evoked in its magic and in their names and images it’s hard to fully sacrifice that.

I have a secondary idea about a sort of Alchemist/Wizard magic set with pre-prepared devices rather than spells, but that would take a lot more effort and thought to bring into being than I’m willing to devote at this point.

As to Divine and Arcane magic? Really, what’s the difference? It’s just thematic really, a needless complication, so out it goes.

Right then, how would you cast magic?

First you’d need a ‘Spellcaster’ Special trait.

Second you will need appropriate magical skills:

  • Abjuration – Protective spells
  • Conjuration – Summoning/Creating
  • Divination – Seeing, diving, knowing.
  • Enchantment – Mind and behaviour affecting spells.
  • Evocation – Creating energy effects out of Mana.
  • Illusion – Phantasmal and illustory effects.
  • Necromancy – The manipulation of the dead and the spirit.
  • Transmutation – The conversion of one thing into another.

The investment in terms of special abilities and skills is going to be pretty intense for someone wanting to be a pure magic user, but someone who wants a few tricks to supplement their other skills can easily learn a little bit of magic, just enough to give them an edge or some useful tools and that works pretty well.

The factors involved in spells are:

  • Effect: Determined and described by the school it falls under. Minor, moderate and major effects. -0, -5, -10.
  • Range: Touch -0, 50 ft, -2, 100 ft, -4, 200 ft -6, and so on.
  • Area: Single target -0, 5 ft radius -2, 10 ft radius -4, 15 ft radius -6 and so on.
  • Special Effects: Adding an elemental effect or others would also impose a penalty.

They also have to overcome the target’s defences.

Mana Cost comes in when the character tries to offset the penalties that are incurred by reaching further, harder and so on. A character could also offset by spending turns to build up to the casting, perhaps with a maximum of +5 over 5 turns.

Example:

Delcan is confronted by a Goblin in chainmail and lashes out with his magic.

Delcan has an Evocation skill of +5 and a +2 stat bonus as well as +1 specialisation in Evocation. That gives him a base of +8 to roll against the Goblin’s defence of 15.

Delcan needs to reach the goblin which is some 30 feet away, doesn’t need to bother with area and gives it an electrical elemental effect. That reduces his score by -3 but metal armour isn’t going to protect against it. Now he only needs to beat 11.

Delcan now has a score of +5 to roll against 11, pretty good odds but if he wants to deal the goblin a deadly blow it’ll take more, so he pumps five mana into the attack giving him a total of +10.

Delcan rolls 15, adds 10 for 25 and does the goblin a total of 14 damage. A hefty wound.

G&D: What Would My D&D Look Like? (Part Six)

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Alright, we need some derived stats and I want to keep rolls minimised. Attacks then, should be against set target numbers, as much as possible:

  • Combat Defence: Against melee or ranged attacks a character has a defence of (10 + Dodge + Dex Bonus + Armour Rating*).
  • Mental Defence: (10 + Willpower + Wisdom Bonus)
  • Physical Defence: (10 + Toughness + Constitution Bonus)

What else do we need?

Hit Points: Constitution+ Strength.

A relatively flat hit-point total keeps combat quick, deadly and high-stakes. Warriors who want to be really, really tough can invest their level bonuses and up their Toughness skill if they want to be tanks.

One thing I do actually like from 4e is ‘Bloodied’. I’d make it a ‘death-step’ rather than a ‘death-spiral’ though. Half hit points and your actions are penalised by your wounds, but some special effects could also be triggered or compensated for related to that. Instinct says a -5 penalty.

Mana: Wisdom + Intelligence

Yes, Mana. Vancian magic can fuck right off as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got some ideas about magic that’ll come later but this measures people’s magical potential and their capacity to put ‘oomph’ into manipulating reality.

So going into combat in a more detailed fashion then…

***

Del swings his sword at an Orc, nothing fancy for the purposes of this example. The Orc has a Defence of  15 (10 + 2 dodge + 1 Dex bonus +2 leather armour.)

Del has an attack score of +8 (+2 Dex bonus +5 one-handed weapons, +1 ‘Flashing Blade’)

Del rolls an 11 for his attack, adds 8 to gain a total of 19, which beats 15 by 4. The Orc takes 4 hit points of damage.

The Orc can take 24 hit points of damage and is Bloodied after taking 12. He’s only down 4, a non-trivial wound, but not a terrible one.

If Del had rolled a 20, for a highest possible total of 28, he would have done 13 damage, enough to Bloody the Orc and cripple its capabilities.

***

Weapons in this system would have a maximum damage stat, roughly equivalent to their old d20 damage values (Max roll x Crit multiplier) and with a character’s strength bonus added on top. This means any attack is capable of scoring from 1 damage to a possible maximum.

A crit (20) would always hit and cause at least 1 damage. Even if it never would otherwise. A ‘lucky blow’.

A couple of weapon examples:

Dagger: +1 to hit, Max damage 8
Mace: Max damage 12
Club: -1 to hit, Max damage 12
Heavy Crossbow: +1 to hit, Max damage 20
Longsword: Max damage 16
Longbow: Max damage 24

*Heavy armours would have seemingly contradicting effects in that their value may outstrip their actual defence bonus. This is to balance out exhaustion/weight with protective value. Against some attacks the value would directly reduce damage and dodging wouldn’t come into it. Equally ‘touch’ equivalent attacks would not necessarily be reduced by the armour’s protection value.

G&D: What Would My D&D Look Like? (Part Five)

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Before we get into the controversial subject of magic I think it’s time to look at the core mechanic that would lay at the heart of my version of D&D.

I want things – as much as possible – to be resolved with a single roll.

I think D&D is, at heart, an heroic game so I want a flat probability and meaningful crits and botches. So a single die is the way to go with a 1 being an automatic failure and a 20 being an automatic success (of at least minimum level, of 1).

Even combat (and damage) is something I’d like to see done in this single-roll way, especially as this abruptly makes a sort of sense of ‘Armour Class’ which has always been a sticking point for me. Resolving avoidance and resistance to damage in one helps deal with the issues I have with it at the moment.

Using roll differentials to determine damage means you can retain ‘glancing blows’ where multiple dice and damage bonuses would normally create a lower limit.

More detail on this when I get to it, but the basic system would remain d20+bonuses Vs Target number.

G&D: What Would My D&D Look Like? (Part Four)

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Feats, racial bonuses and powers, these are good ways to customise a character but they can also be a royal pain in the arse with their sheer variability.

I’ve already said balance wouldn’t be a primary concern for me. Characterisation is more important to me. So that means whatever bonuses that I would work into the game wouldn’t be constrained by that.

So, what would I do?

My thoughts are torn between two semi-recent influences. On the one hand I really do like Aspects from the FATE games and its a mechanic that has turned up in one form or another for some time. White Wolf ‘specialisations’ are essentially one word versions of the same thing. I also used something similar in Neverwhere.

My other inspiration lately is Skyrim’s perk system, which can be found in variations in a great many computer games. This also gives an excuse to retain levels, at least in spirit, probably in a similar way to their implementation in Victoriana (as ranks).

So… I think for simplicity’s sake what I would go for are ‘Customisations’. Each level would provide one point that could be slapped into a bonus. Said bonus might be described, for example, as:

  • Talented Sneak +1 (Bonus to stealth).
  • Deadly Strikes +1 (Bonus to maximum damage).
  • Fisherman +1 (Comes from a fishing culture, so can claim bonuses to related rolls).
  • Tough as nails +1 (Bonus hit point).

These bonuses could be increased as you continue to level, giving you higher bonuses in relatively tight areas or being spread out to describe your character’s quirks, background and experiences. Providing appropriate bonuses and being used to offset penalties.

Each character race would get some bonuses of their own to start them off:

  • Elves: Forest Hunter +1, one free choice.
  • Dwarves: Stonecunning +1, one free choice.
  • Humans: Two free choices.
  • Orcs: Tough +1 (Extra hit point)

Flexible, simple, abusable – yes – but you have to trust the Games Master to look after their own game and give players the chance to exercise their creativity.

G&D: What Would My D&D Look Like? (Part Three)

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On to the next problem.

I like skills.

I like skills because they allow you to tell a story about where your character has been, where they’re going, what they want to do. It gives you great customisation and depth in a way more abstract system choices often don’t.

I also want to break down some of the things that were found elsewhere in other versions of the game (such as saving throws and attack scores) and sling them into skills to unify the mechanic.

How could we split this up then?

  • Willpower
  • Dodge
  • Toughness

And for combat skills?

  • One-Handed Weapons
  • Two-Handed Weapons
  • Ranged Weapons
  • Block

Then what else do we need? What are the staples?

  • Alertness
  • Survival
  • Stealth
  • Charm
  • Intimidate
  • Athletics
  • Craft (various – lockpicking, trapmaking and similar would come under this as well as weapon-making).
  • Knowledge (various)
  • Empathy
  • Lore (general magical knowledge).

I also intend to fold some aspects of magic into skills and to compensate for the power and scope of magic it’s an idea to thrust it into the skill system as well so magicians need to spread their spells a bit thinner.

  • Abjuration
  • Conjuration
  • Divination
  • Enchantment
  • Evocation
  • Illusion
  • Necromancy
  • Transmutation

A character would start with 10+(Intelligence+Wisdom) skill points to spend. Maximum starting skill level would be +5.

A skill (or indeed any other) roll would be d20+Stat Bonus + Skill Bonus Vs Target Number.

G&D: What Would My D&D Look Like? (Part One)

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All this talk about 5th Edition D&D and the various ups and downs of older editions has my curious about what I might do if I were to redesign D&D according to my own particular whims and thoughts.

As I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t come up through D&D and don’t have as much attachment to it, or its sacred cows, as many do. I don’t doubt that my version of the game – as I would go about making it – would lose a lot of people but I think it’s just an interesting exercise to see how, potentially, one might tackle the heritage and structure of The Daddy.

***

Abilities

The central aspect that defines any character, guides their options, channels them into their class and most strongly describes who and what they are.

Abilities have traditionally been 3d6 rolls and spanning 3-18. Low statistics have given a penalty and high statistics a bonus. There have been complications like 18/00 and so on but really all it boils down to is the bonus/penalty. The actual statistic number has almost always been irrelevant (unless the GM improvised rolls against statistics) and, frankly, there’s no need for them.

Roll flat or roll and assign is probably the least complex way to go about things, point buy is good for making designed characters but some people like to play it hardcore and play what they roll and roll-and-assign makes a good half-way house for those who want some more control.

So, for the rolling of abilities I think I’d get rid of the score and just go by the bonus. That’s all you need. To get an averaging bell-curve in the statistics I’d want to use multiple dice but I think 2d6 works better than 3d6 for the spread – positive and negative – that we’re after.

2:    -5
3:    -4
4:    -3
5:    -2
6:    -1
7:   +0
8:   +1
9:   +2
10: +3
11: +4
12: +5

I think the statistics themselves are fairly good as a spread and their familiarity to people outweighs any real advantage in changing them. I might, however, be tempted to reinstate the Comeliness stat as a measure – purely – of the physical beauty or handsomeness of a character. I think it’s a useful RP aid, even though Charisma matters far more past a first impression.

Strength: Power in combat, oomph, carrying, breaking.
Dexterity: Ability to get out of the way of harm, speed, manual skill.
Constitution: Toughness, resistance to disease, ability to cope with harm.
Charisma: Charm, wit, warmth, trustworthiness.
Intelligence: Smarts, book learning.
Wisdom: Native cunning, thoughtfulness, depth.
Comeliness: Sex appeal, beauty.