I have pack rat tendencies, but am better than I used to be. No, really….
This past week, I learned that they are going to close my office, since there are only three of us left in that office, and we will be to work from home. It is not yet decided if it will be the end of February or March. Either way, I have to make room for working at home on a permanent basis, instead of just clearing a work spot for a day here and there due to weather.
One thing I can across was what is left of a pad of FORTRAN Coding Forms. I have not done FORTRAN in 30 years, since the first semester, my freshman year of college. I recall that FORTRAN is a position based language, that is certain things had to be in certain places on each line of 80 characters. This is because punch cards were based on 80 character lines. I was in the first class that didn’t have to use punch cards, as we had terminals to the main frame. Any way, what RPG gamer looks at this and doesn’t see graph paper needing a map?
FORTRAN-grid
So, I took some time to unwind from cleaning and organizing to make a map of a tomb that in it’s third expansion uncovered a huge cavern. No idea yet what was found, but I am sure it is something I can use later….
Adam Muszkiewicz told me at Marmalade Dog about a post he wrote just before the con on Why Do We Even Roll Dice? I finally had a chance to read it and he mentions dice drop table and their positions having as much meaning as their value. He also mentions several others who have recently made posts about such tables. He mentioned his article when he pointed out his all the dice table in his Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, that I purchased at the con.
I like these kinds of table and generators and want to link them together. I plan to create fixed pages that I can add all the links that I find for a central repository, for my own use as well as anyone else that is interested.
At Marmalade Dog this past weekend, I played in two sessions of DCC ran by Adam Muszkiewicz of Kickassistan. I went into some detail of how he ran the sessions in my post with a follow up on Marmalade Dog 20.
To sum up, he used the DCC rules and had us use a 3×5 index card. We rolled for our prior profession and our birth augur. We then went around the table and used those to pieces of information for different people to say why we were trying to get into Ur-Hadad. Then depending on our characters, we rolled our stats the first time we used them. For spell casters, we chose two spells and rolled for two spells. For random effects of spells that were generic, but could use some color, such as the memories of a dying god, Adam had a different person around the table explain what memories it was.
I believe that all roleplaying is collaborative. The DM/GM prepares some sort of setting, and sets the basic parameters, and the players buy into that and work with the DM to navigate the world. In my usual experience it is more one on one between each player and the DM or among the players as their characters.
However, this style of collaborative roleplaying involves the whole table in figuring out some piece of each character’s story. It is not in an invasive way that hampers or constrains the player, unless the player is not open to that style of play. Not having done that particular style of roleplay at the table, I was not sure I would like it. Having a DM, like Adam, who is very skilled in this style, and players willing to jump in the deep end, made for a very enjoyable time.
The use of the rules was minimal. Adam only had a huge number of dice and a notebook, and his phone to refer to the DCC app if he needed it. We relied on other players that brought their big fat hardcover DCC rule books. There was minimal consulting of the rules, usually only for spell casting, for the mercurial magic table and the specific effects of spells. Once spells were determined, we could have gotten by with the mercurial magic table and a copy of the effects of each spell among the players.
It was clear that Adam had a firm grasp of the rules. I could also tell that the basic mechanic of the DCC rules is one that makes it easy to jump in and play once you understand it. I think I picked it up well enough that it would make reading the rules come together that much faster. I do have a copy of the PDF that I picked up almost a year ago when it was available for one day for free or one day for PWYW, I forget which. I have not had time to read it, but I may do so now.
Adam is also comfortable with running a group of experienced gamers who know how to run with crazy ideas. We had a blast and much laughter. This is the kind of good time I remember from long ago when I started gaming with my brother and our friends. I don’t get to game with my original gang hardly ever, because I moved to Michigan, but I would gladly game with these folks!
I discussed this with Adam, mentioned that this style would only work with a DM that understands the rules thoroughly, or with a very simple ruleset. Then we both said that Delving Deeper, by +Simon Bull, would be the rules to use. Adam mentioned his series on Delving Deeper, and I was able to tell him that his series convinced me to buy it. $5.00 for a physical set of rules, from Lulu via POD,that are basically OD&D with better organization and clarifications and table progressions that are consistent, such as for combat.
This could be done with any rule set with a DM versed in the rules and capable of improvising the whole thing, and players open to being creative. In the sessions that we played, it was mostly theater of the mind, with a crude map the first session so we understood how to move and rough locations. This style of play is fast with minimal consultation of the rules, and almost all of the by players for things related to spell casting.
Advanced preparation of the table for mercurial magic and then marking the location of each player’s spells on the first such session and copying them later would nearly eliminate the need to refer to the rules.
I liked playing this style of game, it was both entertaining to see the ideas of the others and fun overall. There was much laughing and kidding about the table. I would call this rule -1. Rule 0 is the DM/GM makes the rulings. Rule -1 is if you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong.
I am not sure if I would be the best DM for such a style, but I think I could at least make it work. I definitely have to up my game in terms of off the wall ideas.
I did pretty good in our session on Saturday. Since my character had been struck by lightning, flaming hands and color spray looked like lightning. So each time I cast color spray, i did something different with the color. When the last time I used it I said it looks like plaid lightning, Adam paused for the briefest of seconds, and said something like, “Alright, that’s good!”
For this style of play, those who aren’t good with on the spot improvisation could use a notebook to record wild ideas for describing interesting things. For my wizard who has a new memory of a dying god each time he uses one spell, I am keeping track of each memory invented by the other players. It will be interesting if I ever get to play this character again to see what other off the wall ideas I or others can come up with.
This type of role playing with rules only for some basic structure is as close to the make believe type stuff we did as kids with cops & robbers, etc. Although with this, we are adults who know it’s a game and don’t get made when someone says, “You missed!”
When Adam and I were talking the topic of random tables and drop tables and all the dice tables came up. I mentioned that I am slowly crafting an all the dice type table to help me generate area of an ancient “abandoned” city for houses, building, and other features. Adam pointed me to a display at Roy’s booth for Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, Winter 2014, Issue #1. Pages 10 and 11 have a neighborhood generator, and pages 12 and 13 have a gang generator. The neighborhood generator has a lot of ideas that I am looking for so I bought it.
No one signed up for my slot, so I played in Adam Muszkiewicz’sKickassistan session. Roy, Pete, Andrew Moss [G+ deleted before 2/11/2019], Jared Randall, and Laura Williams all joined in. I had never played DCC and it was great! Adam had an interesting concept. Our character sheets where blank 3×5 index cards. We rolled for random professions, and birth portents. We did not roll any stat until we needed it. Each character was first level, so we got to pick a class. Adam had different players make up why we were their based on our known information. If we were rolling for our main ability for our class we got two re-rolls, but had to put the rolls on another stat. This was with 3d6.
This was the first cooperative role playing session I had ever played. Normal roll playing is cooperative, but this was a few notches up. It gets all the players involved in making an interesting story. After the game, I talked to Adam and we were on the same wavelength and agreed that it either had to be a rules system that the GM had total mastery, or something so simple to make mastery trivial. We both agreed that Delving Deeper would be a good one. Adam had a rough idea of what he wanted to do and greatly encouraged us to come up with something creative, even if it was off the wall. The most hilarious thing was that Roy Snyder invented the Minotaur Class. It would take too long to recount all the hi-jinks the Minotaur got up to. I can’t wait to see the write up for that.
The way this worked is if one was a fighter, they rolled their strength and other associated scores when there was combat or some other reason to know that score. For wizards, we got to pick two spells and toll for two. My character rolled a secondary profession of a sage with a dagger, quill pen, and piece of parchment. Based on this, I though a wizard made sense. I rolled intelligence and it was a 13 so it gets a +1. There is a table in DCC for Mercurial Magic effects. Also there is the concept of point burns, where one can use a point of a physical ability to boost the chance of success. This point burn is temporary. So the first time I cast a spell, charm person, I elected to burn two points of strength, then I had to roll my strength, and I rolled a 4. Thankfully, I did not say I used 4 points of strength, because when an ability hits 0, you are dead. The mercurial magic effect for that spell was then rolled, and it requires spells to be cast with point burn or suffer corruption. There were two other spells that I used and found out their effect. For Flaming Hands, the effect is gender bender that lasts an hour. Finally, Color Spray had the effect of memories of a dying god. I had to roll a d20 to determine the effect. If I rolled low, the dying god would take over my body, if I rolled moderately well, I would avoid the worst, but still have to roll every time. I rolled a natural 20! Adam was amazed. By rolling a 20 this meant that I had mastered the dying god’s memories and a new one would be revealed each time I cast the spell. Plus, it supercharged my casting and I always roll a d24 instead of a d20! Each time I cast Color Spray, Adam asked different players what the specific memories were of the dying god, and it was quite entertaining. I don’t yet know what happens if I use Magic Missile or Spider Climb. I also never took a hit, so I don’t know how many hit points I have.
I like the magic system. It is simple, but requires tables to determine effects. Each spell has its own table. If one does not like fire and forget Vancian Magic, the DCC system or similar is easy to mimic. The wizard can cast their spells at will and just roll a d20 for effect. The point burn mentioned above can give a boost to help insure success. The bonuses to the roll without point burn is +1 per level and and pluses for abilities over 12. One can add another plus for each point burned from physical abilities, Strength, Stamina, and Agility. If the roll is bad, but close to success, one can burn luck points, but those don’t regenerate, but GMs can award luck points.
The only complication to playing DCC, besides needing a new set of rules, is the need for non-standard dice and in the all the dice tables in the issue of Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, i.e. d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, and d24. I finally got a d30 this past summer at GenCon, but need the others. By the time I decided I needed to buy more dice, the vendor selling dice had already packed up and left before the end of the night Saturday. It is easy to simulate the d3, d5, d16, and d24 using other dice. I am tired and not thinking how I would simulate the d7 and d14. If you had either a d7 or a d14 you can easily simulate the other. So, an online search for more dice may be in order.
After the game on Friday, we went to a bar and closed it. I only had one beer, since I had to drive 15 miles back home. I had not closed a bar in a long time, but we sat around talking about various RPG related topics, from systems to genres, to play, to Kickstarters, and more. It was a lot of fun!
In the first slot on Saturday I played in the DCC funnel ran by Mike Carlson. All four of my characters leveled to 1st level and survived until the last roll of the adventure. We had to make a luck roll, below our luck. One of my characters started with a 16 luck and had burned one, so I had to roll a 15 or lower and rolled a 20. Two of the remaining three characters also failed. One player had non of her four survive. The other three players had two of their characters survive. Mike made a stamp for dead characters. It had a skull and crossbones on the handle and he used red ink to stamp the dead characters as dead. We had a blast.
Dead Characters
In Saturdays’ second slot, two other GMs did not have full tables, so I had 8 players for Hommlett. So as my first time running a convention game, this was the first time for only two of the players at a convention game, but they were experienced role players. It was fun to see how Adam and friends, and Pete and Roy made this their own thing. They made it to the dungeon under the keep when we ran out of time. Everyone had fun, and I asked for any advice for me. Adam and others agreed that I should have gotten them to the keep sooner for a convention game. They all agreed that I ran it well for normal play.
First Session Player’s View
First Session DM’s View
In the third slot of Saturday, I played again in Adam’s Kickassistan session, and brought my character from yesterday. It was great! I still don’t know my HP…. We had most of the players from the day before and some new ones and had a blast! Shane Harsch didn’t have anyone for his 5th edition session, so he joined in. His wizard character, mine, and another were planning great things!
Adam demonstrating how he flosses. 😉
Sunday, there is one slot and I ran Hommlet again. I did not have anyone signed up for my session and Pete did not have anyone for his session. Eric Piper got called into work, so his full Castles & Crusades session was cancelled and I ended up with 7 players for Hommlet. I felt that I ran it much smoother and even though Pete knew what was there from the day before, he did not meta game. This group avoided some of the trouble of yesterday’s group, but the cleric of this group went down the secret passage while the others were doing other things, and they found him dead. They rested until morning and went back to town, and I let them equip with the other cleric I had rolled. They only had one character in their group get knocked down. They got a lot farther in the lower level. It was fun and I see how I would run it differently still in a convention setting. Most of the players in this group turned out to be from the town where I lived, and we did not know each other, although two of them know my oldest son.
Second Session Hommlet
My analysis of running a module at a convention is that initially, I thought it would be easier, since it was all planned out. However, I did not know it as well as if I had put something together on my own. I was way over prepared. I wish I had put that much time into my own campaign, and I would have had a whole new area planned out. I am now able to run Hommlet any time with a quick review of the rules. There was talk from my first session crew of trying to finish it. I would like that, or if the second session crew wanted to keep going. Perhaps next year or at another con.
All of us who signed up to run a session are interested in meeting up for Marmalade Dog 21. If that group is there every year, I will be glad to go and run sessions and play.
Several of us also plan to go to UCon in November. I can’t wait!
I had the idea and volunteered to put it together. It is a one page, front & back listing of the GM’s for the OSR track and what games and rules systems they used, plus a listing of the websites for those rule systems and other OSR related information.
This page will be the home of that handout with a QR Code to send you here for the PDF with the clickable links.
I will also have a few handouts available at the con, with enough for each of the 6 slots in the 3 sessions I am running, plus two for each GM. The QR code should minimize the need for most to need a physical copy.
As usual, from my prior order of Delving Deeper from Lulu, it was packed firmly to avoid damage from movement. There was a ding on one corner of the box, but no damage to either volume.
The hard cover is the 1st edition of OSRIC, and the lay flat is the 2nd edition. I am not aware of what the differences are, but a quick glance shows the Player’s Guide to be very thorough.
The Player’s Guide is a bit over 1/4 inch narrower, and maybe 1/8 inch shorter than the original AD&D Player’s Handbook. The AD&D Player’s Handbook clocks in at 126 pages, not counting the ad for GenCon and other TSR games. The OSRIC Player’s Guide has 170 numbered pages, plus the OSRIC Open License, Open Game License, spell index, index, and closing full page illustration.
Many of the illustrations pay homage to the original artwork. I like the one with the fighter and magic user in chains with a rat walking away, and the fighter says, “It didn’t work.”
The index has its own bit of humor. Under I it has “Is Anyone Reading This” on page “No”.
I like that all the bits and pieces for each attribute, race, and class are kept together. The organisation of OSRIC is one thing that is a big selling point. I did find it a little different trying to find spells by level, since they are in their alphabetically. I’ve gotten so used to go to spells of a certain level and then searching alphabetically, that it is a challenge. The benefit of having all the spells of the same level together is that it facilitates moving characters up through the levels to new spells.
For a new hardcover book, it lays open without effort or having to use the old school exercise for new books. The print is clear and legible and the paper seems heavy enough to take a lot of use.
The only quality issues with the Player’s guide is that some of the last few pages of the book were not separated at one small area at the top of the page. They all separated easily when using gentle effort. Also the fold on the top upper left and right corners of the front and back cover does not look like the illustration got folder over quite as neatly as it should have. None of this is anything I am worried about. There is no obvious issue with the text or the printing, other than what would be found with a full read through. This will be a game table resource, so minor flaws I can live with.
The lay flat of the full rules clocks in at 396 numbered pages which includes all the way through the index. The last two pages are the OSRIC Open License and the Open Game License. The AD&D Player’s Handbook (126 numbered pages), Monster Manual (112 numbered pages including the GenCon ad and other TSR games) , and Dungeon Master’s Guide (232 numbered pages), clock in at 470 pages. I am sure someone has done a comparison of what is different. I know in part that the differences is partly not using the same text as the original, since it is re-worded. Also a cleaner organization can eliminate a lot.
The lay flat is smaller in width and height. Each page is slightly wider and slightly shorter than a standard letter size (8.5″ x 11″) folded in half. With the spiral binding, it is about two inches wider than a letter sized page in landscape.
I find that the print is clean and easy to read, but small, which is a necessity to get so much on a small page. This is probably not an issue for younger eyes, but older eyes requiring bifocals need to be aware of the angles one tries to read it while lying flat. The amount of light on the page will also affect how easily one can read it. I have had thick glasses for nearsightedness since I was 13, but bifocals only the last 6 or 7 years. I find that for me, the angle and the lighting on the page are the biggest factor. I suppose if I keep gaming for a few more decades, I may need the large print version of the lay flat. Do they make one of those?
As with the Player’s Guide, the information is grouped more logically. Also the age generation method is in the player’s section. It optionally lists the height and weight tables. Secondary Skills are missing as are psionics. We rarely used psionics back in the day, but the secondary skill table gave an added bit of flavor. But it’s OK to make up your own rules. I take ideas from other games and other DM’s & campaigns all the time. Make it work the way you and your players like. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.
They also had the Greyhawk Adventures that straddles the 1e and 2e rules, so I picked it up. Since Hommlet is set in Greyhawk, I figured clerics will use Greyhawk dieties. I have stats on them somewhere on a PDF, I think, but this will make it simple to get any information I need at the table. The main thing is the names of the dieties and anything specific about them for flavor. I doubt a low level adventure will see any D.I.
I then emailed my FLGS on the ether, New Era Enterprises at neweraenterprises at rocketmail.com, AKA Roy Snyder, who helped get the OSR track at Marmalade Dog, to track down a Monster Manual.
I’ll use the Player’s Handbook at the con, but when he comes out with his mother and grandmother to meet his niece, I’ll give him his manuals, PHB, DMG, MM & MM2, and some dice and graph paper. He just turned 18, wow, time flies. He wants to get together and play when he is here, but I don’t think there will be time to squeeze that in, but I hope I’m wrong about that and we can play.
My first grandchild was born two days after my youngest turned 18. He was hoping that he would be an uncle on his birthday.
She is gorgeous! It will be a while before she is ready to roll up a character and play with grandpa. I am sure that we will be playing make believe of one sort or another before she’s ready for even a kid’s version of an RPG. It will be a while yet until she’s even at the peek a boo stage.
I ordered the A5 Layflat spiral bound complete rules, and the hardcover OSRIC Player’s Guide. In addition to use at the table, I want to present that new players can get the basics they need to run AD&D without tracking down manuals, and without paying anything, if they just want the PDFs. I just ordered them today, so at the latest they should be here the week before I need them. I also want more manuals in case I happen to attract players to get my campaign going again. My son and his girlfriend have not been able to play since the summer.
I do have three copies of the Player’s Handbook, plus I have a tablet with the PDF I purchased before WotC yanked all their PDFs. This should allow most players and myself to have a copy should they need it at the table.
I do have another copy of the original Player’s Handbook, that I snagged on eBay, but it is in near pristine condition. I also have one of the reprints, along with the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide, but they are still in the shrink wrap. I get overprotective of my stuff, so the copies I have in play, I don’t mind letting others use, I just don’t want any stains or writing on them, or the covers to be gouged by players using them as writing tables.
My original Player’s Handbook, that I got for Christmas the year it was released, is well stained from many fingers turning the pages. There are small tears and nicks on the edges of some pages, and the cover is somehow wrinkled, like it needs to be ironed, and faded.
I also purchased a PDF copy of the Village of Hommlet, so I can print it up and write on it, and cut out pictures to show the players, without having to write on my copy.
I need to finish reviewing and making notes and create some pre-generated characters. (Does anyone have pre-generated characters that would work well, or have worked well with this module?)
Once I get all that accomplished, I will try to find some others online so I can do a play test, since I have never played this module. It will be for six players. I also need to practice running a game that does not include my children, since they and I can communicate on a different level than someone I have never met or played with.
I backed the Inkwell IdeasDungeonMorphs 2: Cities & Villages: Map Generator Dice/Cards and just got my initial shipment. I backed at the $40 level which gets two sets of dice, so I took one set from the original dungeon morphs dice and 3×3 dice tray, which is what arrived today, with a pack of cards and two bonus dice. The base set of five dice come in a cloth drawstring dice bag. The two extra dice are dungeon morphs on 5 sides and a village on one side.
The dice are easily an inch on a side and appear to be very sturdy with a slight “edge” to the ink. The images on the dice are cut into each face and filled with color. If the color were to fade or flake, one can easily re-ink it themselves. The dice curve in slightly on each face. I don’t think it will affect their rolls. If you don’t like a roll, you can always change it to your liking. It’s not like they are milled to Las Vegas casino standards. These are substantial and would make a lot of noise on certain surfaces. Some finished surfaces could potentially be scratched, chipped, or dinged. So the same caveat for rolling any dice on nice furniture applies. 😉
The dice tray has a high enough “wall” around each square to hold them in position while you move it out of the way or for temporary storage. The tray is sturdy and does have some give in it it one uses force. The only way it would break is if it got caught in something very sturdy and a strong force was applied, like between a door and the doorpost.
The shipment with the new dice is planned for I think May, 2015. I was not finding the planned shipping date when reviewing the Kickstarter. I will post another update when those ship.
