A Better Stats Sheet

I re-formatted the layout and added color to make it easier to read. So far it's been well received....let's just hope it works come game time. T minus 24 hours.... Of course I'll post a recap of plays and pitfalls.
 

	Human	Elf	Dwarf	Gnome	Hork		Lycan	Vampire	Grimalkin	Draken
Strength	5	4	7	2	8		7	7	4	8
Dexterity	7	7	6	9	4		5	7	7	5
Fortitude	5	5	8	4	6		7	4	5	6
Smarts	5	6	4	7	3		5	5	6	5
Instincts	4	9	5	7	7		9	4	8	7
Charisma	4	4	3	8	2		4	6	4	4
Magic	3	8	5	6	2		2	4	3	5
Smithcraft	3	7	9	4	3		3	3	3	4
Healing	4	8	4	5	3		4	7	4	4
Combat	5	5	7	2	8		6	4	5	6
Agility	4	8	3	7	4		7	5	9	5
Athletics	5	4	6	3	7		6	5	4	8
Speed	4	5	2	5	3		5	7	7	5
Warrior		1	3		3		2	1		2
Priest			2		1		1			3
Mage		3	1	2						1
Rogue				1				3	3
Bard				3				2	2
Ranger		2			2		3		1

My Brand on Tap

I always like to wander other homebrews for ideas and inspiration. This one in particular caught my eye long ago simply because the map is astounding.

The artist Geoff, aka Sporkchop, is a very nice guy and granted me permission to use/post his map.

I have a printed vinyl version of this map hanging above my computer for constant reference. Although I'm filling the world with my own locations, stories, and standard D&D/d20 stuff, I thought other brewsters and brewers would like to see what he did with his world as the original creator.

The Westerlands Wiki

If you like what he does maybe you ought to follow his blog as well.

http://www.roflinitiative.com/

Races and Rough Numbers

This time I'll illustrate what to expect in the beginning for "typical" characters of each race.

There are going to be 8 playable races in my campaign: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings/Gnomes, Half-Orcs, Werewolves and Cats (because certain friends of mine gravitate towards furries), and Lizardfolk.

Halflings aren't Hobbits - that word is trademarked, hence why you don't see it in D&D. But nor are Halflings just pint sized humans. I am combing the roguish, light-fingeredness of Halflings, with the curiosity and inventive ingenuity of Gnomes. They can be called either or, but they are all in all generally spry, clever, laughable, and likable because their cherubic faces belie innocence like that of a mischievous child.

I'm giving werewolves the easier said, generic title of Lycans. The catfolk are a desert dwelling people, like the Khajiit of the Elder Scrolls, but they don't completely have the face of cats. More like this Skyrim mod - (think Broadway Cats). This race I am calling the Grimalkin. Check the definition, it's pretty cool and fitting.

Half-Orcs and Halflings often reside in close company because the former serve as the protectors and heavy lifters of the latter. Halflings are much less judging of the Half-Orcs "barbaric" demeanor and lineage - in fact, they hold to the idea that both races are "halflings". Horks, as there are called (often derogatorily, by other races) don't have a home territory, so they share lands with the happy-go-lucky Gnomish folk. I did this because both races are liminal in terms of their looks and place in the world.

The reptilian lizardfolk look much like those of D&D Dragonborn, but since that, to me, conjures up an image of any Skyrim character, I'm choosing instead to call them Draken. I was thinking of calling them Dragonkin, but that name already exists and seemed too redundant with Grimalkin. They range from naked and barbaric, humanoid dinosaurs to very civil and reserved clerics of the "old blood". They are very wise and the strongest of all races, with the ferocity and magical aptitude of their dragon forefathers.

Elves and dwarves are your pretty standard mountain and forest dwellers. Their spiritual outlook on nature and society differ as much as their physicality. The personal appearance of both races varies between tidy and clean shaven to unkempt and rag-tag depending on the class/occupation the individual has chosen.

And last, but never least, humans are the most varied of all the races. Their skills and strengths begin as average as is fair, but their option of chosen class is wide open; whereas the rest of the races have particular leanings suited to their natures.

I plan to not have Draken and Grimalkin as available races in the beginning because I already have specific ideas as to how I'm going to introduce them to the world later.

Enough chatter. Here's the rough numbers and positioning of race, class, attribute, and skills. I'll probably have to design and print my own character sheets to keep track of everything, but in the beginning session(s) I'll likely just have people using graph paper.

It's not exactly d20, but more like d10...to start with, anyway. The idea is that races and classes (obviously) have their own perks when it comes to skills and attributes. If I begin everyone at less than 10, they have room to grow, eventually progressing to 20. I plan to make that a difficult goal to reach by requiring more and more XP to up skills/levels. And that's assuming that people want to play that long and/or that the character isn't killed off and replaced with another.

Classes, Magic, and Skills

This week I've been going over what exactly I'm wanting to "simplify" in my homebrew dice roller.
To avoid a much too long post, I'll save Races and character bases for another.

What I went for with this is to pare down the dozen or more classes of Dungeons & Dragons and Castles & Crusades. Barbarian, Monk, Fighter, etc are now just one class - WARRIOR. Paladin, Cleric, and Druid - PRIEST. Wizard, Sorcerer, Druid, Illusionist - MAGE. BARD remains its own class because I really couldn't think of how to simply that much more than it already is. ROGUE sums up/includes thief and assassin (does anyone else always type that as 'rouge'?) RANGER was a bit more difficult because they're kind of a light fighter and rogue motif with a bit of druidic magic mixed in. At least when I make rangers, they are.

As for the attributes, the way D&D has abbreviated Intelligence into INT always made me think Intuition, which in fact is more like Wisdom/Perception, so I chose to go with Instincts. And I don't get why Wisdom and Intelligence are two separate categories, but that's because I consider them rather similar....I guess. Thus I just call them both Smarts and give them a single attribute. Constitution had me hung up as well. I tend to think in terms of will power (mental) and stamina (physical), but instead of splicing the attribute as Stamina/Will, I just made it one - Fortitude. Stamina and strength are different things, so Strength remains its own simple attribute. Charisma refers to both speechcraft, which can be leveled up in the game, and natural charm that is inherent to the race/character.

Are you still with me so far? Good. I hope so.

Magic I'm kind of sorting into 2 categories: Arcane and Elemental. Alchemy is a bit of both, since the player/character would be combining natural herbs and elements with magic and spellcraft. And instead of using five elements of nature, I went with only four. I decided that Earth wouldn't mean "dirt", but stone. Since trees grow out of the earth by absorbing water and converting CO2 to breathable air, I went with a "life tree" kind of connection. Elves are therefore the embodiment of ethereal nature made physical. They believe in honoring an individual's achievements because they have taken in things and refined them to be a better person. They are strongest in Air magic and the Healing skill. Dwarves are best at Smithcraft because they use air to stoke the fire and forge things of ore and stone. They are less about the person who made the object, than the item itself. They consider themselves mundane creatures making impressive tools, weapons, armor, etc.

 

Skills must be incorporated to define a characters beginning/base abilities and give the players something to cash in XP to improve upon. Studying and using magic, whether it's natural or arcane, will increase your abilities. Lots of time spent forging and building will bump up your smithing. Healing can be achieved through treating sickness with herbal concoctions/remedies and/or surgical and battlefield dressing of wounds. Why shouldn't health and healing be both physical and "magical"? I was originally looking at making Agility and Athletics one category because they both apply to physical skill and training, but different training would result in different abilities. Just because someone is nimble and sneaky doesn't mean they're a good horseman or swimmer. Which brings us to Speed. Everyone has a base quickness factor, the same as they have a Strength attribute. Players can up their Strength with XP earned in combat and physical feats, or split it to "buy" something like archery and riding skill. Agility experience gained through scaling a wall or scampering through/avoiding a trap can be considered when leveling up Speed, or even Dexterity for quick hands and reflexes. 

All in all, this is just really rough figuring of how I as the DM will run things when there's actually a group throwing dice. Players like a DM that's open and generous. Let's say I am rolling as a goblin against them in combat, my dice could come up incredibly crappy as like a 4 of 20. I could tell the player "OK, that totally sucked. Do you want to say I didn't hit you at all because you have keen reflexes and dodged the attack? (They get an Agility bonus) Or do you want to roll against that saying I hit you, but you took little damage by absorbing it and/or blocking it for a Combat/Athletics bonus?" Ultimately the goal is to just roll some dice, have some fun, and probably do a lot of chatting, laughing, and beer drinking.

D&D Simplified?

So I have thrown dice only once. It was D&D 4E. I was quite lost, but thankfully the group was very gracious with hand-holding.

When I DM games I'm hoping to avoid a bunch of nit-picky rules and numbers to remember only in certain scenarios, or when I can make a type of move/spell/attack, and why or why not. To me that distracts from the game of telling a story, killing baddies, and overall just having fun.

The thing I try to keep in mind is that there are potentially a 9 and 10 year that will be sitting at the table with us. It has to be simple enough for kids to grasp, or they won't enjoy it. The story and the course of decisions need to be what they're focused on, not "Can I do this? Is it against the rules?" The DM videos I've watched say a DM should always be prepared to say "YES!" And if the answer is "No", you need a simple explanation why not. You can't bully and/or restrict your players because....guess what....they won't stand for it. Imagine how much fun it is to DM at an empty table.

The point I'm getting to is that my various editions of D&D sourcebooks are rough reference only. I can say "You're fighting this." Show the players the creature, maybe a brief description of its attacks (maybe weaknesses too if I'm feeling generous), and how many HP (hit points) it will take to bring it down. That's it. Now FIGHT! Or as one Robert Muldoon put it "Work her back! Shoot her...SHOOT HER!!"

There a really bare bones pen and paper RPG called Castles & Crusades. I have that player handbook and even at 1/3 the thickness of a D&D player handbook, it seems like too much to have to remember.

So I am doing this: Standard fantasy races (Gnomes and Halflings are the same thing and bear little, if any, resemblance to Hobbits). 6 player classes:  warrior, mage, ranger, priest/cleric, rogue, bard. That's it. The standard 6 D&D attributes will be there. I'm still working out the "simplified" skills that players begin with (based on race and class) and can level up with XP.

Does that sound simple? Or am I struggling to make the numbers work and re-inventing the wheel?

DM Ideas Intro

I was watching some interesting youtube videos that stated something like only 1 in 5 D&Ders want to DM. This seems odd to me because it was the DMing aspect that finally drew me into D&D. It gives me an easy and fun outlook to share my world(s) and ideas. The best part is that the story is so fluid and wandering that the players have a lot of freedom to choose their own path. This makes telling a story so much easier because it makes it dynamic and adaptable. Rather than typing page after page that someone only sits and reads, instead you craft a living breathing world that they get to wander at will.

To keep this blog humming between game sessions I figured I'd share a handful of DM ideas (probably something like 3-5) each week. This will hopefully keep the imagination primed and ready to toss an adventure onto the table for dice throwing. Maybe it will give my gamers a place to ponder which hook they want to play next.

In the last week alone I came up with 20 something adventure ideas, and that was all without cracking a book or looking up a site for inspiration. I just thought "Hm...What would be fun to run/play?" They range from mundane tasks that go horribly arry, to hard fought battles where the outcome can shift based on players' first decision of who to side with.

We'll call this the DM Ideas Intro.....more to come as I get them drafted.

It Has Begun

For many years now I've been venturing further and further into the deep dork forest.

The path began in the mortal realm of daily life and boring work. It meandered through various thick fantasy novels, widened into worldbuilding, and then it diverged with forks leading towards things like historical re-enactment, aeronautical engineering, LARPing, and IT support. Nevertheless I stayed the course and finally emerged into the clearing of RPGs. Oblivion and Skyrim, while awesome, were just not enough to quench my thirst for adventure. Thus it was with both a heavy heart and a gleam in my nearsighted eye(s), I began to throw dice with some D&D buddies.

I'm stoked at finally having an outlet for all of my many imaginings! That long awaited release is DMing. I have worlds upon worlds that I've created over the years, ranging from low fantasy to high, sci-fi, and mythology. And now I get to share them with like-minded friends and colleagues, some of whom I never even knew played D&D.

I'm sure this is me being over zealous and jumping in with both feet before I fully understand what I'm getting myself into, but until the new excitement wears off I will continue to spend my waking hours with my head in the clouds. Some believe such an imagination is what keeps us young, and I can't see how that's a bad thing in the world of cubicles, doomsday prophecies, and frivolous lawsuits.

So onward and upward, deeper into the abyss of tabletop RPGs! Join me?