the Broodmother cover, a better look

December 1, 2016, 5:40 am

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(Click to embiggen.)

And here's the official ad copy written by James Raggi (which I must admit I signed off on):

THE MOST AWESOME ADVENTURE EVER 

Since the invention of the adventure module, there have only been five adventures that were rated the most awesome, the most epic. Broodmother Sky Fortress leaves them all behind. It’s got these creatures that are half shark. Half elephant. All badass. They fly around in this cloud fortress, wrecking everything in the campaign until the players step up to stop them. It’s all terribly exciting! And all brought to you by none other than the world-famous Arch-Mage of Old-School, Jeff Rients! 

As an added bonus, we’ve included a Greatest Hits of the ol’ Arch-Mage’s essays and game tools to build your campaign into the unstoppable juggernaut you’ve always wanted it to be. Your game won’t suck anymore! 

Broodmother SkyFortress: Buying any other adventure is just throwing your money away

I like how preposterous that last line becomes given that LotFP is releasing another great product simultaneously.

“Wouldst Thou Like To DIE Deliciously?” 

The year is 1617, and the only thing on the minds of every noblewoman and aristocrat in Europe is CHOCOLATE. The act of eating this modest confection brings so much PLEASURE, it has become more prized than tea, spices, even liquor ... and it all comes from one place: LUCIA DE CASTILLO’s factory in northern Friesland. 

This one businesswoman has Europe by the balls, and some will pay handsomely for the secret to her success. But Lucia’s factory isn’t what it seems to be. The horrors and cruelties that exist within its walls defy IMAGINATION ITSELF. Nobody ever goes in ... and nobody ever comes out! 

BLOOD IN THE CHOCOLATE is a psycho-sexual romp that pits characters not just against their enemies, but against their own twisting, melting, inflating, or poisoned bodies. 

This adventure comes from the imagination of Kiel Chenier (Dungeons & Donuts, The Hell House Beckons), brought to life by the lurid illustrations of Jason Bradley Thompson (Mangaka: The Fast & Furious Game of Drawing Comics, Dreamland). 

An adventure suitable for low-level characters for use with Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing and other traditional role-playing games.

 I'll update all y'all again once I have a link to a product page.

---

I did a bad thing.

December 2, 2016, 5:19 pm

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Do the alignment shuffle

December 3, 2016, 6:06 am

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"The Meaning of Law and Chaos in Dungeons & Dragons And Their Relationships to Good and Evil" first appeared in issue #6 of The Strategic Review, the predecessor to Dragon magazine, but I first encountered it in the first Best of Dragon.

This essay is part of Uncle Gary's efforts to formulate alignment as a key component to his unique cosmic vision for the game.  Personally, I'm not that into the Gygaxian system of Outer Planes.  And I've never taken alignment that seriously in my games as anything other than 1) a simple system for knowing whether the PCs can trust an NPC or monster and 2) a way of indicating which side someone would fight on when Ragnarok happens. 

But I find this chart from "The Meaning of Law and Chaos" to be a fascinating artifact from a transitional stage in Gygax's theory.  You can see Gygax moving from the intermediary five-fold system to his final nine-fold alignment plan right here in this chart.  But that's not what I find interesting today.  

What's intriguing here is the monsters that are in the wrong places.  With Good at the top of the chart, Evil at the bottom, Law to the left and Chaos to the right, some monsters appear in a different spot than one would expect from the alignment listed in their entry in the original Monster Manual.  To make it more obvious how the nine-fold system maps onto this diagram, I've added red lines subdividing it into 9 boxes.  

Under this scheme, the upper left box is Lawful Good and the bottom right box is Chaotic Evil.  Here's a comprehensive list of monsters whose position on this chart is at variance with the official listing in the MM.

Some Silver Dragons might be Neutral Good instead of Lawful Good
Some Hobbits/halflings might be Lawful Neutral instead of Lawful Good
Pegasi are Neutral Good instead of CG
Gnomes are definitely Neutral Good instead of "neutral to lawful good"
Bronze Dragons are Neutral Good instead of LG
Platinum Dragons (plural!) are Chaotic Good instead of LG
Sprites are Chaotic Good instead of N(G)
Rocs are Neutral Good instead of Neutral (smart enough to have a non-neutral alignment?)
Ents (treants) are Lawful Neutral instead of CG
Unicorns are also Lawful Neutral instead of CG
Dwarves are Lawful Neutral instead of LG
Mummies are Lawful Neutral not LE
Ogre Magi are Lawful Neutral not LE
Kobolds can be Lawful Neutral not LE

Werewolves are Lawful Neutral not Chaotic Evil (!)

Liches are Lawful Neutral or True Neutral (!!)

Centaurs are all True Neutral rather than neutral to chaotic good

Djinni are Chaotic Neutral or True Neutral, rather than Chaotic Good

White Dragons are Neutral rather than Chaotic Evil 

Assassins are True Neutral to Neutral Evil, rather than any evil alignment

Copper Dragons are Chaotic Neutral rather than CG

Hippogriffs are Chaotic Neutral rather than True Neutral

Brass Dragons are Chaotic Neutral rather than CG with N tendecies

Weretigers are Chaotic Neutral rather than N

Wyverns are Chaotic Neutral rather than neutral (evil)

Efreeti are Chaotic Neutral rather than neutral with LE tendencies

Gnolls are Lawful Evil rather than CE

Minotaurs are Lawful Evil rather than CE
Vampires are Lawful Evil rather than CE
Black Dragons are Neutral Evil rather than CE
Ogres are Neutral Evil rather than CE
Wererats are Neutral Evil rather than LE
Beholders are Neutral Evil rather than LE
Orcs are Chaotic Evil rather than LE
Green Dragons are Chaotic Evil rather than LE
Blue Dragons are Chaotic Evil rather than LE
Giants (no subtypes specified) are all over the map.  They can be any Good, True Neutral, or Chaotic Evil.

Some of the implications here are rather minor.  Making orcs chaotic evil doesn't change much, for instance.  But a few items above are pretty darn interesting, particular in the LN and CN sections.  Unicorns and treants as Lawful Neutrals certainly cast the fairy woods in a different light.  Perhaps LN mummies, ogre mages, werewolves, and kobolds are misunderstood by common folk.  Meanwhile gnolls, minotaurs, and vampires punch the clock at Lawful Evil, Incorporated.  And neutral assassins suggest that paid murder can just be a regular job.  Neutral Liches!

The lesson I take aware here is that a simple alignment change can lead one to reconsider the place a creature has in your campaign world.

A plurality of platinum and chromatic dragons

December 5, 2016, 5:56 pm

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In my previous post I mentioned in passing that Uncle Gary's prototype alignment chart from Strategic Review #6 mentions Platinum Dragons, plural.  It also mentions the existence of more than one Chromatic Dragon.  I've not seen stats for non-unique dragons of these varieties, so I thought I'd do them up 1st edition Monster Manual style.

Chromatic Dragon
FREQUENCY: Very rare

source: dragoncityguide.net/how-to-breed-two-headed/

NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE: 6"/18"
HIT DICE: 14-16
% IN LAIR: 90%
TREASURE TYPE: H, S, T, U
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3-6
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6 plus see below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, poison and magic use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
     Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
CHANCE OF:
     Speaking: 100%
     Magic-Use: 100%
     Sleeping: 10%

This wicked race of dragons haunt the most dismal of underground caverns, as well as residing on the first layer of the Seven Hells and adjacent planes.  Each chromatic dragon encountered will possess 2-5 heads, each of a different randomly determined color:

1.  White - bite 2-16
2.  Black - bite 3-18
3.  Green - bite 2-20
4.  Blue - bite 3-24
5.  Red -  bite 3-30
6. roll again.

Each head will possess 2 hit points for each age category of the dragon when targeted separately and each head will be capable of a single breath attack of appropriate type per day.  Additionally, chromatic dragon tails end in envenomed stingers inflicting 1-6 points of damage in a single attack and requiring a saving throw versus poison to avoid instant death.

Chromatic dragons possess 2 spells per head of increasing level.  E.g. a three-headed chromatic dragon will feature a head with 2 first level spells, a head with 2 second level spells, and a head with 2 third level spells.  Heads operate independently; a chromatic dragon can bite, breathe, and cast in the same round (providing it employs three separate heads to do so!).

Chromatic dragons interact freely with white, black, green, blue, and red dragons.

Mutants: 1 in 6 chromatic dragons encountered singly will be a mutant possessing a single head of metallic variety (dice for type).  These strange creatures are Neutral with respect to alignment and live as outcasts from all other members of dragonkind.

Platinum Dragon
FREQUENCY: Very rare

source: dragoncityguide.net/how-to-breed-platinum/

NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: -3
MOVE: 9"/20"
HIT DICE: 19-21
% IN LAIR: 75%
TREASURE TYPE: H, I, R, S, T, V
NO. OF ATTACKS:  3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12/2-12/6-48
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons + magic use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Supra genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic good
SIZE: L (72' long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
     Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
CHANCE OF:
     Speaking: 100%
     Magic-Use: 100%
     Sleeping: 5%

This most powerful species of metallic dragon seldom resides in normal terrestrial environs, preferring lairs in such exotic locales as behind winds, on clouds, or in the hollowed-out core of small planetoids.  All platinum dragons can freely traverse the ethereal and astral planes, while those of adult age category or older are able to assume human form at will.

Platinum dragons have three different breath weapons, each of which can be employed twice a day for six daily breath attacks in total.  One such breath attack is a cone of cold, 8" long and 3" at its widest.  Another is a cloud of vapor, 6" long, 4" wide and 3" deep, that forces any who fail their save to assume gaseous form for 12 full turns.  The final breath weapon is a cone (also 8" x 3") of sonic vibration; all those in the cone who possess hit points equal to or less than the dragon must save or suffer disintegration.  All saves versus platinum dragon breath are thrown with a -3 penalty.

For their first seven age categories platinum dragons gain access to 2 magic-user spells and one cleric spells of the commensurate level (e.g. a sub-adult would possess knowledge of 9 spells in total: 2 first level M-U spells, 2 second level M-U spells, 2 third level M-U spells, and a single cleric spell of levels 1-3).  Ancient platinum dragons can cast no additional spells per day, but may select their magic-user spells from any in the Players Handbook.

Platinum dragons enjoy friendly relations with gold dragons but remain aloof from the affairs of lesser metallic dragons.  While in human form they enjoy traffic with members of human and demi-human kind, providing their true nature is not revealed.

Broodmother updates

December 6, 2016, 4:39 pm

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You can now buy my stupid adventure!

Print + PDF from the Lamentations store

I got a message from James today: his stock of books are selling fast.

PDF from DriveThru

The hard copies from LotFP will be shipped from Finland.  If you are willing to wait, copies should appear through normal distribution channels (retailers, Noble Knight, etc.) in January or February.

Kiel's adventure is available as well, here and here.

Also, here are two reviews for Broodmother: Tzi José Luiz (the Lonely GM) and Corey Ryan Walden of The Fiendish Almanack

more Broodmother hype

December 9, 2016, 4:12 am

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Last I talked to James Raggi the print version of Broodmother Skyfortress was selling at a brisk pace and PDF sales have been sufficient that it's now #2 on the Hottest Titles list there, with Blood in the Chocolate at #3.  (Number one is one of those charity bundle deals where you get a bunch of stuff cheap and get to feel good about where the money goes.)  Thanks so much to everyone who has bought the book so far, including all the folks who had enough faith in me to back the project when it was just an idea I had.

If you are still on the fence about buying it, a few new reviews appeared:

Review by Bryce of tenfootpole.org

Review by Tenkar

And some fellow named Sean P. gives it 5 stars on DriveThruRPG.

While I've got your attention for the moment I'd just like to say holy crap, Ian Maclean's art, Alex Mayo's layout and Jez Gordon's maps really make my dumb ideas look great!  (Well, except for page 5.  Why did I let Raggi talk me into that?)

Anyway, if you're a fan of the ol' Gameblog here, please consider buying either the print+PDF edition or the PDF.

Just Out of Reach

December 12, 2016, 12:23 pm

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I was only briefly into computer RPGs for a few years in the 80's and 90's, but I learned some lessons about exploring virtual environments that are transferable to the tabletop.  Today I'm going to talk about one such lesson that I haven't yet fully incorporated into my DMing but that, decades later, still seems super important to me.

Back in the 80's the games I played featured two basic approaches to depicting the game world on screen.  The first is the approach employed by stalwarts such as Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, and Might & Magic.  The idea was a straightforward first person perspective, which ended up looking something like this:

I believe this is someone emulating M&M I in DOSBox.

This approach is brilliant in showing the cramped, claustrophobic conditions of many dungeon mazes.  And it easily calls attention to features such as the locked gate in the shot above.  The same deal also works for depicting crowded cities.  Good stuff.

However, this approach does not cut the mustard when one embarks on wilderness adventures.  Behold the majesty of a vast pine forest from the same game (or maybe a sequel, I dunno):

I find it a tad underwhelming.  At no point in such games can your character gaze out into the vast unknown and consider what dangers and wonders might lurk in the distance.  For that, you need the other approach, the overhead view used in games like Wizard's Crown, The Magic Candle, and the Ultima series.  Dig this screenshot:

Apparently the player has taken a moongate (portal thingy) to the island of Skara Brae.  Without a ship, he can only visit the town just to the north of him.  The other islands to the northwest and the shore to the southwest remain visible but tantalizingly unavailable.  Later, perhaps much later, the player will have to return onboard a ship to find out if anything worthwhile is to be found on those other islands.

Here's a similar situation.  The player can see the entrance to a dungeon just two squares southeast of their position, but they can't actually get to it.  The intervening mountains are impassable from all directions.  The player will have to use a ship to get there.  (Black squares appear on the map because those mountains are blocking line of slight.)

Also, I should note that both of these screenshots show the larger waves of the ocean towards the southwest.  Your character here is standing on a coast, peering out towards the horizon, the open sea calling to them.  How awesome is that?

Ultima uses first person perspective for most of the time you spend in dungeons:

The early versions of Ultima dungeons are crude, but they get the job done.  Especially in Ultima III and Ultima IV, where the dungeon soundtracks are hella creepy.

There are some rooms that are depicted in the overhead mode more typical of the wilderness and town areas of the game.  They don't provide the same sense of wide-open spaces, but it does allow for cute tricks like this:

There's no legit reason I can see why the party should be able to view that ladder down.  Those are impassable stone walls in between.  But you can see it.  And you need to go down.  So this screen drives you mad, at least until you figure out way to open the secret door or whatever.

Or look at this one:

That blue and white stuff in the middle of the screen is 3 square of lightning-based Energy Field, which in Ultima IV is completely impassable.  If you reach this point and can't cast Dispel, you're just plain outta luck.  Maybe you can get to those bottom three wizards and their treasure from another direction, or maybe you absolutely need to leave the dungeon, get the components to cast Dispel, and come back to this point just to continue your quest.  I can't remember.  Either way, the architecture of the dungeon itself is taunting you.

So what's the lesson here?

If you've ever had kids or spent time with little ones, you've probably encountered a scenario where the wee tot falls in love with some seeming random object: a set of keys, the TV remote, a big wooden spoon, whatever.  If you try to take it away they flip out, even though it has no real use for them.  They see the thing, they want the thing.  A good deal of roleplaying adventure builds on primal impulses that simple.  Figure out ways to show the PCs something they can't immediately access and many of them will covet it in their hearts.  Make them come back with the right equipment, or find another way to the macguffin.  The basic principal here is dead simple: the delays experienced in reaching the thing that could be seen but not touched make the moment of achievement that much sweeter.

Over the years I've encountered numerous obstacles that allow something inaccessible to be viewed: 

• open chasms
• rushing water
• lava
• forcefields
• glassteel
• changes in elevations
• overpowerful guardians like golems or summoned entities.

But don't forget the big difference between the use of this trick in the Ultima games versus it happening at your table: in Ultima there was usually one correct way to solve these problems.  The other methods failed or the interface wouldn't even allow them to be attempted.  Tabletop games shouldn't emulate this trait of CRPGs.  Otherwise, why have a DM?

Say you place something shiny just on the other side of a bottomless chasm.  You want them to find the long way around to the bridge and back over to the shiny thing.  But you forgot the party thief has a potion of gaseous form or some other cheap trick to get across.  Guess what?  Players are allowed to short circuit your little schemes.  If being thwarted like that is painful, you may not be in the proper mood for impartial refereeing.

Besides, the thief doesn't always consider how they are going to get back across after grabbing the shiny thing.  That, my friends, is comedy gold.

Advice for Casual Broodmother Play

December 14, 2016, 3:46 am

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So I got an nice email from my buddy Dane, one of the gamestore players who competed with the online crew to loot the Dungeons of Dundagel.  In it he congratulated me on the publication of Broodmother Skyfortress and made the following request:

If it isn't already in your book, please blog tips to the used-to-game-but-now-have-infants types on how to run your module as a one-off with a scrounged together group of friends. I don't even have a system to run it in. I'm pretty sure I could make due, but if it goes well that scrounged together group might be willing to come back for regular murder-hobo shenanigans.

Although Broodmother was specifically designed to wreck existing campaign worlds, I think it can be made to work as a pick-up for introducing new people to the wild and woolly world of role-playing.  Here are my thoughts on how to make that happen.

1)  You need a system with a light touch.  Although designed with Lamentations of the Flame Princess in mind (a free no-art version of which is available here), there's no reason why you couldn't use any system from super-light options like Searchers of the Unknown to retroclones like Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord to maybe even D&D 5e.  Here's a reddit thread where using 5e with Broodmother has been discussed.

Dane, in your particular case I'd note that Labyrinth Lord is a retroclone of the 1981 Basic/Expert D&D we used in my Wessex campaign and it served as the mechanical backbone of that Mutant Future campaign we also played.  Of course, you can buy the '81 rules in PDF nowadays (here and here), if you want to go that route.

Mechanically, if you aren't using LotFP the only key modification you'd have to make is to the Armor Classes.  LotFP uses a base 12 ascending AC system.  For other AAC games, simply subtract 2.  For old descending AC convert by subtracting the number in the book from 21.   For example, the loathsome wretches who live under the castle would have old school ACs of 21-12 or AC9.

2) Unless you go with something like Searchers of the Unknown, I strongly recommend you make some pre-gen PCs.  I recommend ripping off cool characters from movies and TV and labeling the charsheets obviously.  For example, make a charismatic thief and write at the top of the sheet "This guy is like Starlord but with a sword." Also, you'll probably want to make these people higher than 1st level.  The method I would recommend is for each PC roll 3d6 and assign the middle number rolled as the level.  If two or three numbers match, use that.  In future sessions replacement PCs can start out at 0xp.

3) Because dealing with the giants in the adventure requires imaginative thinking more than anything else, I suggest handing out some extra equipment of the sort that requires creative application.  Give each of your pregens something from the Deck O' Stuff and maybe even a random magic item.  If you do the latter, do NOT hand out magic swords or armor or zappy wands.  A potion or a scroll with a couple of spells or a weird miscellaneous item with dubious application is a far better idea.

4) Give the PCs a mission.  Killing all the giants should not be their task.  Surviving the cloud island and retrieving the macguffin works much better.  Give them a crappy wizard patron--call him Merdalf or Ganlin or Jerkminster if you like--who needs the party to retrieve a hunk of the Rod of Seven Parts or one fragment of the Key to Time or some dang thing.  That way if the campaign launches you have an overarching plot in place.  Nerdenkainen can even supply the method of getting onto the cloud (I suggest catapults), and you can just start the adventure somewhere on the outdoor map.

5) For what might potentially be a one-shot adventure and nothing more, you can ignore the angle where the giants are wrecking up the campaign world.  But I recommend you invent a couple of place names that they've already wrecked and mention them in your introduction to the adventure.  Steal some recognizable places from the Lord of the Rings flicks and/or Skyrim and/or Game of Thrones and barely re-skin them.  For example, change Rivendell to Elfindale.  If the campaign launches, make sure you roll out an adventure or two that addresses facts like the Last Elven House has been destroyed, the Great Elf Lord is dead and his people are now refugees.

6) Don't be afraid to kill the entire damn party.  In fact, make twice as many pregens as you think you'll need.  If the players can't take being murdered by hideous shark-elephant people in the spirit of fun in which it is intended, then their dispositions maybe aren't suited to play D&D.

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Dragonlance expertise needed

December 15, 2016, 3:56 am

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In the introduction to Broodmother Skyfortress I basically invite readers to email me if they have any questions or need any advice about running it.  Well, the first query is in and I'm already out of my depth:

Hi, I have been thinking of using Broodmother Skyfortress with Dragonlance campaign, mixing it with DL1 Dragons of Despair. 

DL1 has interesting start with terrified refugees and dragons thought as myth returning to land. I'm thinking that to terrified peasant shark-faced elephant-footed abominations are pretty much dragons. 

They might as well be "dragons". 

I'm thinking that MacGuffin that lures adventurers to Sky Fortress would be Disks of Mishakal and that DL1 finale in Xak Tsaroth would be replaced with romp in Skyfortress. Wretches sort of being like gully dwarves. 

Broodmother herself would be Takhisis and the place would be built by Gods of Krynn, throne room would be that of Paladine etc.

Can I ask you do you have additional suggestions or ideas?

This was sent to me by a fellow named Jonas, who gave me permission to repost it here.  As I told Jonas, I have almost no practical knowledge of the Dragonlance universe.  I know there are dragons and also lances.  Back when the first novel came out I read it, but the only thing I remember is there was a half-elf who always introduced himself as the unfortunate result of human-on-elf rape.  That must be super awkward at parties.  And then there was the time my buddy Dave thought it would be cute to play a kender in our World of Greyhawk campaign.  IIRC, Gopher and I were playing viking dudes at the time and ended up murdering Dave's PC over a stolen piece of chalk.

Anyway, other than noting that the phrase "might as well be dragons" is totally worth engraving in stone somewhere, I feel super under-qualified to advise Jonas.  Can some smart people who know Dragonlance weigh in?

LotFP vs BX - chargen/ability scores

December 15, 2016, 12:23 pm

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It's not exactly a state secret that, at its heart, James Raggi's Lamentations of the Flame Princess role-playing game is a revision and extrapolation of the 1981 Basic/Expert D&D rules, a.k.a. the Objectively Best Rules published by TSR.  And I'm confident that other people have probably gone through the 2 rulesets and done point-by-point comparisons already.  But I've decided to do the same thing myself, so I figured I would share my findings.  This will probably take a couple of posts.  So let's get to it.

LotFP uses the same 6 ability scores rated 3-18 as BX.  All ability modifiers use the -3 to +3 range as per Strength modifiers, i.e. no separate track for -2 to +2 for initiative adjustment or reaction rolls.

You begin generating a PC by rolling 3d6 in order, just as the Good Lord intended.  BX allowed for a 2 to 1 point swapping deal, where you could penalize your fighter 4 points of Intelligence to gain 2 points of Strength.  Instead, LotFP allows any two scores to be swapped.  I like that allot.  Less fiddly math without the pure anarchy of arranging the numbers as you please.

Here are some key differences in how the six stats work in play:

Charisma [This is the order they appear in LotFP.]

• Charisma does not modify Reaction Rolls.  Big change, if you ask me.
• Charisma does not set the base morale of retainers.  Rather, it modifies a die roll that sets the morale score for newly hired NPCs.
• No maximum number of retainers.  In fact, building a large household staffed with all sorts of people gets its own chapter in the rulebook.

Constitution

• Pretty much the same as BX.

Dexterity

• Mostly the same as BX, but instead of Dex granting an individual initiative modifier, the standard -3 to +3 Dex mod is used as a tie-breaker when rolling individual initiative.

Intelligence

• Instead of everyone knowing a flat number of languages and Int modifying this number, there's a Linguistics skill that starts at 1 in 6, which the Int modifier can raise.  Upon encountering a language for the first time, roll Linguistics to see if your PC happens to know it.  The Linguistics rules also specify that anyone with an Int of 7 or more is considered literate.
• Modifies saves versus magic-user spells (both the caster's and the target's modifiers apply!)
• Shortens/lengthens times for MU research activities

Strength

• No major changes.

Wisdom

• Modifies all non-magic saving throws.
• Modifies saves versus cleric spells (both caster's and target's mod applies)
• Shortens/lengthens times for clerical research activities.

Completely absent is the concept that high scores in your class's prime requisite should earn you an experience point bonus.  Good.  That was a vestige of OD&D back when high stats didn't actually do all that much for you.  Nowadays it's just double dipping.

I should note that, just like the earliest version of D&D, no real provision is made for scores above or below this normal human range, as the ethos of Raggi's game eschews imagining inhuman monsters or extra-planar beings as Just Like PCs But With Higher Numbers.

BX has an optional "hopeless character" rule where DMs were encouraged to allow a character with all below average scores or 2 or more scores of 3-6 to be thrown away in favor of a new set of rolls.  LotFP's version of this is to total the six ability modifiers.  If the number is below zero, trash the character and start over.  This rules is not listed as optional.

Another optional rules in BX concerns starting hit points.  If a new PC has only 1 or 2 hitpoints, the DM can allow a reroll.  LotFP comes with a non-optional minimum hit point chart.  If you roll lower than the minimum, you get the min instead.  The minimums are:

Fighter - 8 hit points

Dwarf - 6 hit points

Magic-User - 3 hit points

Everyone else - 4 hit points

Note that Fighters get d8 for hit dice, so basically I Get All The Hit Points is a class ability for first level fighters.  Everyone else has to throw dice.

Okay, that's enough for now.

(Just kidding about the Objectively Best Rules comment.  Also, I'm confidant that James looked at other versions of D&D when he wrote LotFP.)

Let us talk about Hubris

December 17, 2016, 4:49 am

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Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure is a 350 page campaign setting from Mike Evans.  When I first opened the PDF file I hesitated for a moment, because I've reached a point in my life where a two or three hundred page infodump does not meet my needs as a referee.  Fortunately, Mike understands this problem and offers a solution to it.  But I'll get to that in a bit.

Hubris is written for the Dungeons Crawl Classics RPG.  As I get older and more curmudgeonly the number of rules systems involving swords and orcs that I am willing to play seems to be shrinking, but I am totally down with DCC RPG.  DCC RPG isn't a straightforward  D&D knock-off like the retroclones.  Rather I file it mentally with the original Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as one of the few Not Quite D&D But Still Kicks Ass Like D&D games.

But if DCC RPG isn't your cup of tea, there's still a lot of useful stuff here for the dungeoning dragoners of the world.  My favorite parts of the book require no real changes whatsoever, while much of the rest can be adapted with just a little tinkering.  If what I describe below interests you at all, don't let the DCC RPG logo in the corner keep you from checking this bad mammajamma out.

As I paged through Hubris I got a very specific vibe from it.  That vibe is playing D&D inside the World of Heavy Metal Album Covers.  Eddie from Iron Maiden would fit into the world of Hubris, as would lycanthropic Ozzy barking at the moon.  Korgoth of Barbaria would probably do well for himself in this setting.  There's fairly little of the green and pleasant lands of renfaire fantasy and lots of emphasis on blood and guts.  Here, try this first paragraph from the 1 page section titled "Setting Summary":

Legend states that Hubris was created from the fetid corpse of a long-dead god. Hubris is a land of terrible creatures, grand inequality, strange and cruel gods, dangerous magic, opulent nobility, destitute commoners, people that have become corrupted and turned to savage beasts, constant wars, and worse.

In short, the world is some fucked up shit.  Maybe the PCs can carve out a small chunk of peace and tranquility for themselves, but mostly the world seems to be designed to be barely survived.  Going mad slowly seems to be about the best result a PC can expect out of this world.

One way Hubris communicates how this world differs from others is by offering a bunch of new options for PCs.  I highly approve this method because new stuff enters play organically, rather than being pooped out in boxed text the DM has to read aloud.  For example, one can learn a lot about the campaign setting by rolling up a set of 0-level losers for funnel play (one of the best ideas to come out of the DCC rpg, in my opinion).  The stock random professions chart for 0-level PCs in the rulebook is pretty standard faux-medieval fare, with pig farmers and blacksmiths and whatnot.  I rolled four times on the Hubris version of this chart and ended with a llama herder, a porter with a bedpan and pee rag, a clockmaker with a pocket full of cogs, and a half-demon advisor with a book of lore.

Similarly, the new classes, equipment, spells, etc., aren't just a hodge-podge of new stuff, but rather a hodge-podge designed to help tell the story of what a strange and terrible place Hubris is.  For example, nowhere else have I seen an adaptation of the Death Guards from The Beastmaster:

As a lad I did not understand the psychosexual implications of these guys. Rob Halford's outfits also went completely over my head.

Not only do these freaks exist in Hubris, but they are called Murder Machines and they are a fully playable race-as-class!  Other stuff you can play include Alchemists, Blood Witches, Druids, Shadowdancers (they literally step out of shadows to stab you), Avarians (bird people), Ekrask (lizard people, hate the name), Half-Demons, and Mutants.  The mutation charts for mutants look pretty sweet.  I love mutation charts.  Though one nitpick I have is that what dice you are supposed to throw for a chart isn't always clearly labeled; at first I thought one of the charts was missing the first line, but it turns out it wasn't a d100 chart.  It was a 2d30 chart.

The new weapons section includes wheelock firearms but also totally kewl weapons like the spiked chain and the double-bladed sword.  There is a disturbing lack of rayguns, but nobody's perfect.

I feel like it says something important about the setting that the new equipment section lists 6 different quality levels for prostitutes one can hire, ranging from Exquisite to STD Waiting to Happen, but only 4 levels of quality for meals, 3 for inns, and 2 for bottles of wine.  Cheese, ale, and tobacco come in but a single variety each.

The real meat of this book is chapter 3, called "Territories of Hubris".  In about a hundred pages ten regions of the world are detailed.  The format here makes all the difference.  Instead of an encyclopedia entry, we get the following format for each locale:

• A few short paragraphs giving the basics of the region.
• A d100 "Lay of the Land" chart providing thumbnail sketches of locations in the region.
• A d100 encounter chart for the region
• One or more brief write-ups for special locations, with rumors/adventure hooks
• Some extra thing unique to the region, like rules for eating the mushrooms of the Bogwood Swamp

The trick here is that, taken together, this stuff is suggestive rather than comprehensive in nature.  Pick a region (or roll d10), throw percentile dice a couple of times, and select an adventure hook.  The result isn't a complete adventure but it is sufficient to launch sketching out an evening's gameplay.  You can't move across this world strategically and explore every nook and cranny, as one could with a numbered hex map style campaign book, but you can easily achieve the effect of the Ace paperback version of Conan the Barbarian, where individual adventures are loosely connected.  I'm quite taken with this approach.  It makes me rethink what the heck I'm doing with my own campaign setting.

After this great section we get new spells, patrons, and gods of the setting.  The mechanics here go into the deep end of the DCC RPG, but there plenty of fluffy setting material that can be easily used in other games.

Chapter 6, "DM's Tools and Charts" is another highlight of the book.  There are lots of random charts throughout the book, but here's a whole chapter of them, most of which can be easily stolen to liven up a non-Hubris game.  Here's the list:

Ancient and Forgotten Demigods
Bandits, Brigands, and Rapscallions
City District Generator
Diseases of Hubris
Grave Diggin'
NPC Generator
Planes of Hubris
So You Decided to Make Camp
Strange and Interesting Herbs of Hubris
Tavern and Inn Generator
A Vial of…?
Instatown/Village Generator
What are These Strange and Ominous Ruins?
Declaration of Years

My fave is the Grave Diggin' chart, for when the PCs start robbing the deceased and you've got nothing planned.

Then we get new spells, new monsters, and a couple of introductory adventures.  One is a zero-level funnel featuring a crashed meteor that's actually a dungeon (wished I had thought of that) and a first level adventure in which the PCs are charged with murdering a sweet old lady whose hobby is hacking the magical powers of the Spider Goddess for her own evil ends.

The book ends with author Mike Evans' own personal appendix N for the work.  All sorts of media and genres are mentioned here, not just swordy sorcery books.

So that's Hubris: A World of Visceral Adventure.  If you buy into its all-wicked-all-the-time sensibility, then you've got a great venue for running some awesome adventures.  If you don't dig that vibe as the default setting for a campaign world, there's still a lot of usable-at-the-table stuff crammed into its pages.  This is NOT a campaign book designed to be read for light entertainment and then put back on the shelf, but rather a tome full of Here Play This.

This illo from David Lewis Johnson really communicates something crucial about Hubris. I'm just not sure what that thing is.

1st level spell handouts for Lamentations

December 17, 2016, 4:50 pm

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One of my few gripes with the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic book is the spell section.  I hate, hate, hate getting all the spells as a single long alphabetical list.  For too long my neural pathways have been charred into a configuration based upon the organization of spells by class and level.

And frankly, I think that the old way of organizing spells was a lot more friendly for newbies.  Imagine playing a cleric for the first time and needing to search through 200 spells to find the ten you have to choose from.  So here's a pair of simple handouts meant to address this issue, at least for the first couple of levels of play:

All the 1st level cleric spells

All the 1st level MU spells

Note that my layout of the Turn Undead spell is lousy.  The lines for levels 11-15 spill over onto the next page.  But I'm not to worried it, since I doubt many characters make it past level 10 in a typical LotFP campaign.  And if you're playing at that level, this handout is woefully insufficient anyway.

Also, I trimmed quite a bit out of the Summon spell.  It's still the longest MU spell by a wide margin, but I decided to remove stuff that was more geared toward the referee rather than the player.  After all, these docs are meant to be handy player references, not actual substitutes for the rulebook.

Anyway, use and distribute as you see fit.

Article 1

December 18, 2016, 3:37 am

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Kiel gets all the credit for coming up with the idea of doing this and turning our chat into something you can hear on the internet.  All I did was talk into a microphone for an hour.

LotFP vs BX - alignment, saves, to-hits

December 18, 2016, 9:45 am

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So today I'm going to look at some more of the differences between between the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg and its key predecessors, the 1981 Basic/Expert version of D&D.

Alignment

LotFP uses the threefold Law/Neutrality/Chaos distinction first used in OD&D and kept in BX.  However, what those alignments mean to the characters and your game is quite different.  In BX, alignment is a shorthand for character behavior.  If someone is Lawful, they can be expected to act honorably, speak truthfully, and work for the best interests of the group.  Chaotics do not feel bound by such a code and do whatever advances their own interests.  Neutrals are somewhere in between the two.

In Lamentations, alignment is less behavioral and more cosmic in scope.  Lawfuls believe in a teleological arc to the universe; the arrow of time inevitably draws us all to some sort of ultimate state of affairs.  Figuring out your role in that totalizing destiny is the whole point of existence.  Chaotics hold that the universe as we experience it is nothing more than a temporary state emerging from the quantum foam, ebbing and flowing into and out of existence.  To emphasize some subset of arrangements of the energies of the cosmos as superior to others is to deny the infinite possibilities of life.  Neutrals are people without an adherence to either of these codes.  The text notes that everyone in the real world has been Neutral in alignment, as are nearly all NPCs.

None of these alignments come with a code of conduct.   All three alignments can include nice people and jerkwads.  But I can easily imagine many Lawfuls as religious zealous types and many Chaotics as nihilistic anarchists.  Especially with the following rule in place:  all clerics are Lawful, all magic-users and elves are Chaotic.  All other PCs can pick an alignment.

Another key alignment difference shows up in the spells section.  In BX a spell like Detect Evil does not simply detect anyone of Chaotic alignment.  Rather, it detects evil intentions.  The reverse is true in LotFP.  Basically "Evil" is the clerics' loaded term for Chaotic.  (MU's do not get any spells that address evil as a concept.)

One of the ramifications of this alignment system is that a Chaos cult with clerics seems non-feasible or at least paradoxical.  Is a devout belief that the world will end in chaos is actually a Lawful alignment trait?  Or am I just overthinking this?

That being said, I do like the implication that all clerics are crazy mofos and all magic-users are a totally different type of crazy mofo.

Saving Throws

Saving throws follow the patterns of old.  BX uses five saving throw categories: Death Ray or Poison, Magic Wands, Paralysis or Turn to Stone, Dragon Breath, and Rods/Staves/Spells.  LotFP tweaks them slightly, renaming the categories Poison, Magical Device, Paralyzation, Breath Weapon, and Magic.  All magical devices are merged into what used to be the wands category.  Which makes a helluva lot more sense to me.  Why would wands be mechanical different from rods or staves?  (Of course, you can't interrogate the logic of these charts too much without going bananas.)

Personally, I would have ditched the "Magical" and just labeled the category "Device," encompassing both the magical and the mechanical.  Caught in the cogs of a giant machine?  2d6 damage plus save versus device to avoid a mangled limb.  That sort of thing.  Not that you couldn't do it as is.

Also, I am slightly saddened by the disappearance of Save versus Death Ray.  Who doesn't like death rays?

LotFP also reorders to the saves to Paralyze, Poison, Breath, Device, Magic.  Taking a cue from AD&D, you are advised to read the chart left to right when your choice of save is ambiguous.  For example, a paralytic poison calls for a save versus Paralyze, because it is leftmost on the chart, before Poison, whereas a magical poison that turns you into a wedge of cheese would use the Poison column, since Poison comes before magic.

I was slightly surprised when I first read the LotFP rules that it didn't go with the Fortitude/Reflex/Will system of 3e and later editions.  That change always struck me as one of the more sensible later revisions to D&D.  But what is going on here clearly works.

To-Hits

LotFP uses an Ascending Armor Class system, where AC is your target number: roll d20, add your attack bonus and try to meet or beat the AC of the opponent.  Like the threefold save systems I mentioned in the last section, I thought this was a really good change to D&D.  But back when I ran 3e and 3.5 I struggled to get on board with AAC because the old system was too deeply hardwired into my brain.  But I am not so hidebound as to be blind to the simplicity of the change.

Past the decision to use AAC, LotFP breaks from a lot of the logic of a lot of editions of D&D in two important ways.  The first is that the base AAC for a norma unarmored character is 12, rather than 10.  This makes way more sense to me.  The base Attack Bonus for most 1st level PCs is +1, so a roll of 11+ scores a hit, i.e. normal starting PCs have a 50/50 chance of landing a blow.

The second, and far more important, way that to-hits differ in LotFP is that the power curve for fighting is super-flattened.  All character classes but Fighters gets a base Attack Bonus of +1 at first level and that's it, no further increase in fighting abilities.  Fighters (NOT including dwarves, elves, or halflings) get +2 at first level and are the only class that gain better to-hits, at +1 per level up to +10 at level 9.  Forget weapon proficiencies, forget specialization, forget multiple attacks.  None of that exists in LotFP.  THIS is the core class ability for Lamentations Fighters.

At first glance, it sounds harsh to rob all other classes of the ability to get better a fighting, but within the context of the overall LotFP approach to foes, it actually makes some sense.  Angry villagers remain a reasonable encounter for much longer, as do robed cultists waving daggers, or unarmored guardsmen.   Also, armor  is significantly more expensive (chain costs more than double, plate is 16 times more expensive and not at all affordable at first level) and there's no standard magical items such as plus-something armor or shields.  And there are no feats that cause AC creep.  Unlike the ever-mushrooming ACs of later editions, there's not really many reasons for the referee to have a character or monster with an AC of 20.

Left to my own. I never would have made a D&D variant with an approach like this.  But seeing it on paper, I'm kind of into it.

So that's enough for now.  Next time I visit this topic I'll tackle the character classes.

The Mystery of the Mistletoe Men

December 21, 2016, 4:30 am

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'Tis the season, etcetera, etcetera.  In addition to eggnog and the Grinch and goodwill toward men, one of the things the holiday season brings to my mind is those crazy wielders of scimitars and mistletoe, the druids.  Man, Christmas would be even cooler if it had more scimitars!  But I'm already getting off track.

The first known appearance of druids in fantasy gaming coincides with one of the earliest recorded instances of fantasy gaming.  Dave Arneson reported his first use of a fantastic element in wargaming was the equipping of a druid with a phaser in an otherwise straightforward Romans vs. Celts miniatures game.  The Romans charged with their elephants and the druid reduced them to so much pachyderm barbecue.

Early druid concept art.

The druids first enter into published D&D via the original supplement to OD&D, Greyhawk.  They weren't a playable class yet, nor did they have their own spells.  Rather, the druids can be found in the monster section of that ancient pamphlet.  A druid back then was a neutral nature priest NPC with the powers of both a magic-user and a cleric, as well as the ability to change shape and some barbaric fighting man followers.

In a way, as a combiner of arcane and divine magics, the original druid was the spiritual predecessor of 3e's Mystic Theurge and Rolemaster's Archmage.  Being able to cast both kinds of spells was a pretty neat power back then, as by the original Men & Magic rules players were not allowed to dual class as cleric/MUs.  (Though Greyhawk did introduce the half-elf player race, which could be fighter/magic-user/clerics if one had a high enough wisdom score.  Cleric ability maxed out at measly 4th level, though.)

The druid as a playable class with its own spell lists made its first appearance in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry.  This version is pretty close to the AD&D1 druid that I first encountered back in the day: a potent spellcaster (including 2 spells at level 1!) with a pile of special abilities on top.  With only a Wisdom of 12 and Charisma of 14 (everybody loves druids, they're just so darn likeable) it was a pretty easy subclass to qualify for.

And then there was the XP chart.  For most classes, the XP needed to advance doubles each level until you reach name level or so.  Not the druid.  For some reason, they get a noticeably faster advancement curve from levels four through eleven or so.  A cleric with 100,000xp is seventh level and can cast spells up to fourth level.  A druid with the same 100K is ninth level and can cast fifth level spells.  There's no real reason for this disparity that I'm aware of, other than the chart says so.

In the kind of loosey-goosey games me and my group players, the druid was a bit of an ass-kicker, especially when they hit seventh level and could turn into a bear.  But if you tried to play AD&D as written, there's one big limit on the druid's power: the mistletoe rules.

I think material components for spells are awesome, but very few people (especially players of MUs) seem to agree with me.  AD&D specifies needed components for a crapton of spells but then provides no guidelines for how to acquire them.  Druids suffer the worst under this regime, because they need to use mistletoe with the casting of every spell of theirs.  Here's the key quote (PHB page 54):

Notes Regarding Druid (Cleric) Spells: 

The religious symbol of druids is mistletoe.  Of lesser importance is holly.  Some magical power resides in oak leaves.  All of the druidic spells with a material component assumes the use of mistletoe, as gathered by the druid character in the manner prescribed hereafter.  Lesser mistletoe, as well as holly and oak leaves, will reduce spell effectiveness as follows. 

ITEM	SPELL RANGE	SPELL DURATION	AREA OF EFFECT
Lesser mistletoe	100%	75%*	100%
Borrowed mistletoe	75%*	50%**	100%
Holly	75%*	50%**	75%*
Oak leaves	50%**	50%**	50%**

*or +1 on saving throw, if any, if category is not applicable. **or +2 on saving throw, if any, if category is not applicable. 

Greater mistletoe, that is, mistletoe which is properly harvested by the druid, must be gathered by the druid as follows. On Midsummer's Eve, the druid must locate his mistletoe, cut it with a gold or silver sickle and catch it in a bowl before it touches the ground. 

Lesser mistletoe is that which is not harvested on the eve of midsummer, or that which the druid takes in a way which is not prescribed (such as picking by hand).

Borrowed mistletoe is any mistletoe which is not personally harvested by the druid. 

Holly and oak leaves must be gathered by the druid, but these may be picked or gathered in any manner.

But the problem here is that this passage is the last mention of druidic mistletoe in AD&D.  The Dungeon Master's Guide doesn't expand upon it, nor does Unearthed Arcana.  I even tried to find something in the Wilderness Survival Guide to no avail.  Since mistletoe is obviously so dang important to druids, I have long wanted an official answer to a simple question:

How many sprigs of mistletoe can a druid gather on Midsummer's Eve?

I've also take to Dragon magazine in search of the answer.  There are a handful of good articles about druids, "The Druids" by James Bruner (issue #12), "The Druid in Fact and Fantasy" by William Fawcett (issue #32), and "Druid in a dungeon? Why not?" by Tim Lasko (issue #48, renamed "The druid and the DM" in Best of Dragon volume 3).  These articles mention mistletoe, but none of them answer my query.  Nor does Michael Dobson's seminal work on material components, "Living in a Material World" (issue #81).  If there's a Sorcerer's Scroll or Sage Advice that addresses this issue, I have yet to find it.

It's a darn shame, too, because a lot of interesting situations can develop out of the druid's reliance on mistletoe.  Especially if you assume--since the gathering is a holy ritual and not an industrial process--that each druid can only gather a small amount of Greater Mistletoe per year, say 2d6 or 3d6 sprigs.  Here are just a few ideas that spring to mind:

1. When you encounter a druid matters.  Right after Midsummer's Eve they are at the height of their power.  But as the year progresses and they exhaust their supply of greater mistletoe, they become less potent spellcasters.  The week before Midsummer's Eve is probably the best time to pick a fight with a druid.  But if they know you know that, most druids probably lay low during this period.  Druids of level 7+ probably disguise themselves as animals a lot more when their mistletoe supply is low.
2. That gold or silver sickle used to gather mistletoe is the most precious possession of any druid.  If we assume they have to be custom made and ritually invested prior to use, then the theft of one right before Midsummer becomes a big honking deal.  Retrieving a druid's stolen sickle could be a decent adventure hook.
3. You know what comes between a druid and their sacred grove on Midsummer Eve?  Not a damn thing.  Delay a travelling druid at your peril.
4. Finally, playing a druid under these rules has got to be interesting.  You've got 3d6 (or whatever) opportunities per YEAR for your spells to be maximally potent.  How do you manage that?  When do you use your greater mistletoe and when do you get by with holly or oak leaves?  (I'd probably not carry two types of mistletoe at the same time.  In a frenzied situation you may mix them up.  At least, I'd make the player roll if I was the DM.)  And you bet your ass I'd watch the campaign calendar more closely.

So does anybody know if mistletoe gathering ever got official rules?  Does OSRIC or Hackmaster say anything on the subject?  Any good stories of mistletoe rules used in actual play?

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LotFP vs BX - classes

December 22, 2016, 3:18 am

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Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing employs a sevenfold class system similar to the 1981 Basic/Expert D&D rules.  In this installment I'm going to run down the mechanical changes made in LotFP's seven classes.

Cleric

• Clerics now get a spell at first level BUT
• Turn Undead is now a spell (1st level) rather than a separate class ability
• Instead of gaining a 2nd level spell at third level, the Cleric 3 gets a 3rd first level spell
• After that, the cleric gets a second level spell at 4th level and a 3rd level spell at fifth
• After that we get the normal arrangement of a new spell level every other level
• (No crazy 6th level where the cleric gains access to both 3rd and 4th level spells)
• The XP chart goes up to 20th level and seven spell levels are available
• +2 hit points per level after 9th, rather than +1 in BX
• As mentioned in a previous installment, all clerics are Lawful in alignment
• No restrictions on weapons, clerics with swords and bows are a-okay
• Under the correct circumstances, clerics can write scrolls, create holy water, and research spells right out of the gate 
• As mentioned previously, no increasing to-hit chances past 1st level
• Starting at level 9, the saving throws are slightly different.

Fighter

• As mentioned previously, the fighter has the largest minimum hit points at 1st level
• As mentioned previously, the fighter is the only class whose attack bonus increases with level
• The Expert chart for fighters rounds down the XP needed for level 8.  By the simple doubling method a fighter should need 128,000xp.  Expert uses 120,000 as the target number and builds from their.  LotFP does not cut those extra 8 thousand points needed to advance.
• No suggestion of the possibility of multiple attacks.
• +3 hit points per level after ninth, instead of +2 as in BX
• In the combat chapter fighters, dwarves, and elves (but not halflings) may use the Press attack and Defensive Fighting options.
• Fighters, dwarves, and elves (again no halflings) are also better at parrying than other classes.

Magic-User

• d6 hit points at first level (the standard for 0-level people), d4 thereafter to 9th.
• XP chart goes to 20th level, with 9 spell levels
• At higher levels you gain additional low-level spell slots faster.  For example, a BX wizard gets his fourth 1st level spell per day at 11th level.  In LotFP that happens at 8th.
• Instead of 2,500 to reach level 2, LotFP only requires 2,250 and builds the XP chart from there.
• No mention of armor or weapon restrictions BUT
• No spells can be cast when more than Lightly Encumbered
• To cast the MU must have two hands free or be holding a staff or wand in one of them.
• MUs start with a spellbook containing Read Magic and 3 random 1st level spells.
• All MUs are chaotic, as discussed in a previous post
• Providing time, money, and research space is available, starting MUs may write scrolls, brew potions, and research spells.
• If they can get a cleric to work with them, an MU may even make potions of cleric spell effects.
• Should they gain access to the spell Permanency, the MU may make wands and/or staves
• No other magic items may be crafted by the MU under LotFP rules
• Slightly different saves vs. Dragonbreath starting at level 11

Specialist (formerly known as the Thief)

• 1,500 to level 2, instead of 1,200
• d6 hit dice instead of d4
• Skills are now d6 based instead of percentiles
• All characters (not just specialists) have a 1 in 6 chance at the following skills: Architecture, Bushcraft, Climb, Languages, Search, Slight of Hand, Stealth, and Tinker
• 1st level specialists gain 4 points they can allocate to those skills or to Sneak Attack (their Back Stab damage multiplier), they gain 2 more points each level
• No weapon or armor restrictions BUT
• Encumbrance penalties affect movement-based skill checks
• No rules for using spell scrolls
• [Altogether, this class is a really elegant solution to the Thief Problem, if you believe there is a Thief Problem.]

Elf

• Only 3,000xp to 2nd level, instead of the 4K needed in BX.
• No minimum Int score to qualify for this class
• Surprised only 1 in 6
• Search skill (see above) starts at 2 in 6 and increases one pip at levels 3, 7, 10, and 13.
• No level maximum, but saves max out at 17th
• Spellcasting tops out at 1 ninth level spell at level 17
• Unlike LotFP magic-users, no new spell level is gained at 13th.  You get seventh level spells at 11th level and eighth level spells at 15th.
• No infravision
• No immunity to ghoul paralysis [there are no standard monsters in LotFP]
• No extra languages
• Immune to aging effects, as they are unaging
• Always Chaotic
• For purposes of many spells, counts as a supernatural creature rather than a person: immune to sleep and hold person, affected by protection from evil, can't be blessed, etc.
• Can cast spells with one hand
• Can research spells, write scrolls, brew potions, and make staves/wands just like a LotFP magic-user
• Unlike LotFP magic-users, elves start with only Read Magic in their spell books 
• Elves cannot cast spells if more than Heavily Encumbered
• Can use the Press attack and Defensive Fighting maneuvers (along with fighters and dwarves)
• Better at Parrying than most classes (along with fighters and dwarves)

Dwarf

• Dwarves get d10 for hitdice, as opposed to d8 in BX
• Dwarves get a bonus of +1 to their Con MODIFIER, not the 3d6 roll itself (i.e. a dwarf of average Con gets a +1, while an 18 Con dwarf would have a +4)
• Unlike all the other classes, dwarves apply their Con modifier to the flat hit points earned after level 9.
• In lieu of their special detection abilities, dwarves begin with an Architecture skill of 3 in 6.  This advances one pip at levels 4, 7, and 10.
• No special language abilities
• No infravision
• No minimum Con score to qualify for this class
• Carry mules: dwarves can carry five more items than others before becoming encumbered.
• Can use the Press attack and Defensive Fighting maneuvers (along with fighters and elves)
• Better at Parrying than most classes (along with fighters and elves)

Halfling

• Fast save progression: The other classes get better saving throws every 3-5 levels.  The halfling gets better saves at level 2 and every even level thereafter.  By level 10 they need a 2 or higher in most saves and a 4 or higher to save versus magic.
• Halflings start with the Bushcraft skill at 3 in 6 and gain one point in the skill at levels 4, 7, and 10.  This makes halflings excellent hunter/foragers.
• Halflings have a stealth skill of 5 in 6 when "in the wilderness."
• Halflings cannot wield any Large weapon and must use Medium weapons in two hands.
• +1 to Dex MODIFIER, not the 3d6 roll itself
• +1 AC when not surprised
• No Con or Dex min to qualify for this class
• No missile combat bonus
• No AC bonus versus large foes
• No individual Init bonus (the Dex modifier bonus achieves the same thing, though)
• No special hiding rules in dungeons

Global Changes Affecting All The Classes

• No cool/ridiculous level titles
• No bonus to XP for high prerequisites
• No rules for building strongholds at high level and automatically attracting followers
• No to-hit advancement (except for fighters)

That's everything I could glean from a close comparison of the classes in the two rules sets, apart from the actual spells available to clerics, magic-users, and elves.  Let me know if I missed anything.

Two new Broodmother reviews

December 22, 2016, 1:08 pm

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Review at Vorpal Mace

Broodmother is included in Reviews from R'yleh's Christmas Dozen 2016

Also, I have to share this beautiful photo posted to google plus by David Rollins (check out his blog Searching for Magic).

It fills me with holiday joy to see someone holding their copy in front of a Christmas tree.

LotFP vs BX - weapons & armor

December 25, 2016, 4:50 am

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Merry Christmas!  In the spirit of the season here's a post all about murder technology.

Weapons

The biggest change in weapons rules in LotFP is that melee weapons have been more abstracted.

There are four categories, Great weapon, Medium weapon, Small weapon, and Minor weapon. If your melee implement requires no special rules, you buy one of these and designate it a sword or axe or whatever. This makes it easy to customize melee weapons to your campaign and your PC. I could see some people in some games going hogwild with these rules and decide they are using chainsaws or heavy books or a bar of soap in a sock.

Anyway, here's a chart comparing the BX weapons to their LotFP equivalents. Note that LotFP equipment tables include two columns for prices, the cost in the city and the cost in the country. Some items are not available in one of the other. Starting PCs use the cheaper cost of the two, which I have done here.

Basic weapon	Price (GP)	Damage*	LotFP equiv.	Price (SP)	Damage	Notes
Battle axe	7	d8	Great weapon	50	d10	Medium version 1 handed, 20sp, d8 dmg
Hand axe	4	d6	Small weapon	10	d6
Crossbow	30	d6	Light crossbow	25	d6	Ignores 2 AC points; heavy xbow does d8, costs 30sp, ignore 4 AC points
Long bow	40	d6	Long bow	45	d6
Short bow	25	d6	Short bow	25	d6
Silver arrow	5	d6	Silver arrow	5	d6	Any weapon can be silvered for 10x cost but 1 in 10 chance of breaking each time used
Dagger	3	d4	Minor weapon	5	d4	-2 to-hit Ac 15 or better (chain & shield or plate)
Silver dagger	30	d4	Minor weapon	50	d4	Any weapon can be silvered for 10x cost but 1 in 10 chance of breaking each time used
Short sword	7	d6	Small weapon	10	d6
Sword	10	d8	Medium weapon	20	d8
2-h Sword	15	d10	Great weapon	50	d10
Mace	5	d6	Medium weapon	20	d8	No reason why you couldn’t have a Great or Small version
Club	3	d4	Minor weapon	5	d4	-2 to-hit Ac 15 or better (chain & shield or plate)
Pole Arm	7	d10	Polearm	30	d8	Attack from 2nd rank, receive charge, +1 to hit Ac 16 or better (i.e. plate)
Sling	2	d4	Sling	1/2	d4	Bullets cost 2cp, stones are half range
Spear	3	d6	Spear	3	d6	Attack from 2nd rank, receive charge
Warhammer	5	d6	Small weapon	10	d6	No reason why you couldn’t have a Great or Medium version
Staff	2	d4	Staff	3	d4
Javelin	1	d4	none	none	none	LotFP does have darts though
Lance	5	d6	Lance	30	d10	BX lance damage double on charge, per LotFP a lance counts as a spear when on foot

*I should note for accuracy that variable weapon damage is optional in BX.  The default is all weapons do d6.

Other weapons available in LotFP that do not appear in BX: cestus, garotte, mancatcher, rapier, whip, blowgun, thrown rock, dart.  These all seem serviceable in terms of the rules that govern them and useful additions. Except the rapier. I don't get the rapier. It's a d8 sword that is -2 to hit heavily armored foes. It's only obvious advantage over a normal Medium weapon sword is that it is 5sp cheaper. There's no equivalent of 3e's weapon finess allowing nimble characters to use their Dex mods to attack with them. Unless the referee gives a campaign reason (rapiers are fashionable, other swords are illegal in major cities, etc), there's precious little reason for them to exist.

Early modern guns (and armor) appear in an appendix. The gun rules are realistic enough to be a big ol' pain in the ass, but I could see some PCs carrying a brace of pistols.

Armor

TYPE	BX cost	BX AC	LotFP cost	LotFP AC	Notes
leather	20	7	25	14
chain	40	5	100	16
plate	60	3	1,000	18
shield	10	(-1)	10	+1	LotFP shields are +2 versus missile attacks
barding	150	5	500	16	LotFP also has leather barding (250sp) and plate barding (1,000sp)

When fight time comes around leather, chain, and plate in the two systems offer equivalent protection.  Each upgrade of armor is a 10% shift in attack rolls against the wearer.

The big story of armor is economics.  In BX most newly minted fighters can afford platemail right out of the starting gate.  In LotFP chain is barely within reach at 1st level and platemail is a distant dream.  Magical plus items are basically non-existant, so making it take a bit of play to get the best mundane armor makes a lot of sense.  Also, I like that normal guards and soldiers all probably wear leather or no armor.  Knights and such probably wear chain and only bona fide Important People can afford platemail.

One other difference between BX and LotFP armor is found in the encumbrance rules.  If you keep the number of other items down to 5 or less (ten or less for dwarves) a character in chain can move the same rate as an unarmored man.

Who goes there

December 30, 2016, 6:13 am

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RPG Covers is a great little tumblr.  It does what it says on the tin, offering cover scans of various RPG products.  Here's one old cover posted a week or so ago:

SPI was one of the great historical wargame publishers during the period that gave birth to D&D.  Their magazine Strategy & Tactics was required reading for the hex-and-chit set, especially since it came with a new game in every issue.  DragonQuest was SPI's attempt to get in on the fantasy rpg market.  I don't really know anything about it, other than it wasn't particularly successful.  Nor do I really care about it that much.  DragonQuest was just one of a gazillion competitors in the field of sword-and-orc games that sprung up in the wild early days of the hobby.

The cover to The Palace of Ontoncle interests me, however.  The artist is Matthew Quayle, I believe, and his work here does what I really like to see with site-based adventure modules: put the adventure locale front and center.  That big sprawly castle with the threat of monstery doom looming over it is exactly the thing I want to see on the cover of a module.

The other thing I like about this sort of cover is that the artist often sneaks in an adventuring party approaching the adventure site.  Because the location itself is the focus of the piece, these figures are often smaller and less detailed.  The abstraction of the figures actually helps make it easier for players to imagine themselves as the adventurers approaching this exciting place.  Scott McCloud talks about this effect a bit in Understanding Comics.

My conclusion: successful RPG art doesn't need specific characters so much as broad archetypes that the players can take up.

I also like seeing what someone--the author, the editor, the art director, or the artist--imagines as the kind of people who would investigate the adventure location.  Here's a detail from the Ontoncle cover:

So we have three party members here.  Dude with scimitary sword, leather armor (or maybe just a tunic), and a stupid-looking hat/helmet.  Nearly naked sorceress type.  And a third character that is maybe supposed to be a dwarf or halfling, but that looks more like a monkey to me.  Are monkeys a playable race in DragonQuest?  Overall, this trio is not a supergreat example of "you can play these people" figures.  The fighter or thief type guy looks dumb, the demihuman is dubious, and I don't think I've ever met a gamer gal who wanted to play a naked wizard lady.  (Though the female figure obviously has some cheesecake function.  I must admit "hey is that chick naked?" was one of the first thoughts I had looking at this cover close up.)

Here's the classic example of this kind of gaming art, the Erol Otus back cover of B2 The Keep on the Borderlands.

Aw, yeah, dig those great Otus colors.  The sun rises on the dawn of a new day just as this adventure serves as the beginning of a promising adventuring career.  Now let's zoom in on the bottom right corner:

The character with the axe is very probably a dwarf, but could be a short human or a halfling with a hand axe.  The lead character seems to hold a sword, but could be a fighter or thief or an elf.  The figure on horseback could be just about any human or elf.  The slender, caped figure in the rear of the party seems to be a woman, but she could be an elf or a fighter or a thief, maybe even a magic-user with a wand.  By using small figures in silhouette, Otus is inviting us to imagine our PCs, our other selves, into this scene.  This isn't a specific party depicted here, but Anyparty.

Let's look at some other, less clear-cut examples:

White Doom Mountain is the Hackmaster 4th edition version of the AD&D classic White Plume Mountain.  The eponymous volcano is the main feature of the cover by William Church, but the party is seen in the bottom third of the cover.

I like that the generic fighter here carries a backpack, even if it is the smallest such item I've ever seen in a D&D illo.  It's only one step up from a fanny pack, for crying out loud.  But at least it's something.  Blonde Sonja didn't bother to bring so much as a scabbard for her blade.   She's clearly cheesecake, but unlike the topless witch above, I've known a few female players to go for this kind of character.  And why does that wizard not have a beard?  That's just embarrassing, man.  I like the presence of the pixie-fairy PC, as that helps communicate something about how this game is different from D&D.  Still the overall effect is that these characters are a specific party, rather than stand-ins for your party.

Making this party larger in the foreground does achieve the effect of allowing the viewer to imagine themselves as the fifth member of the party, just a few steps behind the rest of the group.  That ain't bad.

Here's another SPI product, cover by Redmond Simonsen, I think.  This is a D&D-like boardgame.  I've never played it but it was written by Greg Costikyan, who is no slouch at game design.

Finding the PCs already in the dungeon and emphasizing the architecture of the labyrinth itself is its own subgenre here.  For other examples see the covers to the dungeon geomorphs from TSR and Goodman Games, as well as the Otus cover for the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log.  (In fact, this sort of gaming art probably deserves its own post.)

Anyway, let's look at the party in the DeathMaze:

Two characters are facing away from the viewer, as with most of the figures in The Palace of Ontoncle and White Doom Mountain.  This helps depersonalize the characters and makes it easier to fill in the figure with your own PCs identity.  The pantless warrior is a pretty generic fight guy, with ax, mail, and shield.  His lack of leg covering is his only distinguishing trait.  (Activity time: check the character sheet of the last fighter you played.  Is 'pants' written anywhere in the equipment list?)  The guy with the spear has some pretty distinctive renaissance-style dress, with a sweet cape and poofy sleeves and presumably stupid hat.  The spear seems wildly out of place with the outfit, which is why they go together perfectly in the mishmash that is stock vanilla fantasy.  The buxom lady with the rapier is fully clothed for a change, though the superhero spandex cheat is in full effect and her outfit is painted on.  It could be grey cloth or skintight chainmail like Morgan Ironwolf wears.  Unlike her compatriots, she seems more designed more to be looked at than imagined into, though to a less egregious extent than the woman on the Ontoncle cover.

Anyone else have any good examples of covers with adventure architecture featured prominently, but a party also present?

LotFP vs BX - equipment

January 1, 2017, 7:56 am

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Happy New Year!  Today I continue scouring through the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rules & Magic hardbound and comparing it to good ol’ Basic/Expert D&D.  Let’s look at equipment.

BASIC EQUIPMENT

Item	Cost (gp)	LotFP  (sp)	Notes
Backpack	5	1
Flask of Oil	2	5cp	The LotFP version is lamp oil and does less damage, but with a small chance of engulfing the foe in flame
Hammer (small)	2	Not listed	I’d tell players to buy a Minor Weapon and call it a small hammer
Holy Symbol	25	25	The 25sp holy symbol is silver.  Cheaper steel and wood version are available.  No mechanical difference (turning, spellcasting, etc.), as far as I can tell.
Holy Water (1 vial)	25	25
Iron Spikes (12)	1	3cp
Lantern	10	3
Mirror (hand, steel)	5	1	Silver and glass mirrors also available for higher prices.
Iron Rations (1 week)	15	7	Sold by the day in LotFP.
Standard Rations (1 week)	5	35cp	Sold by the day in LotFP.
Rope, 50’	1	3
Small Sack	1	2cp	Only one size of sack in LotFP
Large Sack	2	2cp	Only one size of sack in LotFP
Thieves Tools	25	50
Tinder Box	3	1
Torches (6)	1	6cp
Water/Wine Skin	1	1
Wine (1 quart)	1	1	Poor and rich quality wine also available
Wolfsbane (1 bunch)	10	1
Wooden Pole, 10’	1	5cp

With the notable exception of Thieves Tools (call Specialist Tools in LotFP, of course), most Basic rulebook equipment is the same price or cheaper.  Which is good, since decent armor is so damn expensive.

EXPERT EQUIPMENT

Item	Cost (gp)	LotFP cost (sp)	Notes
Crowbar	10	2
Garlic	5	1cp
Grappling Hook	25	5
Stakes (3) and Mallet	3	6cp	Mallet and wooden spikes listed separately
Camel	100	Not listed
Cart (2 wheels)	100	25
Draft horse	40	Not listed
Riding horse	75	100
War horse	250	500
Mule	30	25
Saddle & bridle	25	Not listed	Included in the cost of a horse, I presume.
Saddle bags	5	1
Wagon (4 wheels)	200	75
Boat, river	4,000	1,000
Boat, sailing	2,000	6,000
Canoe	50	25
Large galley	30,000	Not listed	Many ship types listed in LotFP , not sure how they match up to BX.
Small galley	10,000	Not listed	“
War galley	60,000	Not listed	“
Lifeboat	1,000	100
Longship	15,000	30,000
Raft	1/sq ft	5
Large sailing ship	20,000	Not listed	“
Small sailing ship	5,000	Not listed	“
Troop transport	40,000	Not listed	“
Light catapult	100	Not listed	“

Lamentations has a lot more stuff on the price charts than BX D&D.  The list is comparable to the 2nd edition AD&D Players Handbook, with additional animals (carrier pigeons, dogs, livestock, pony), more containers (barrels, chests, pouches), chariots, drink and meal prices for inns, services (postage fees, hiring a coach, shipping freight, buying passage on a ship), a variety of lodging options (including renting a place on a monthly basis), and a bunch more miscellaneous gear (including that staple of Google+ D&D play, lard).  

The fact that I can buy a map to the kingdom, copy it into a blank book, and mail the original to someone in another kingdom for about 40 bucks says a helluva lot about the Early Modern nature of default LotFP play.  In a western medieval setting the blank book alone would be pricy as hell.  The presence of tobacco on the miscellaneous list further suggests that colonialism is on the march in the default setting. Though obviously if you want halfling gardeners responsible for the cultivation of pipeweed that’s your prerogative as a referee.

One slight annoyance: my character can buy some paper and a vial of ink, but I can’t find a quill pen listed anywhere.