D&D Rules Cyclopedia light - for one-shots and/or new players

I agreed this year to participate as a DM for the Free RPG Day in Leipzig. The idea was to introduce newbies to role playing games. I was free to chose whatever I like to DM and I should aim for an hour and a half of play per session. It had been an interesting task to tackle and here is what I did.

1. Cooking down the Rules Cyclopedia

I somewhat know my way around the D&D RC and offering D&D was a no-brainer, being a big fan of the OSR and all. It also has all you need (and more) in one book, so that's helpful. With only one hour and a half of genuine play time per session, I'd have to ask myself what I really need at the table to give new players a hint of what D&D is about.

I wanted character creation in there, especially the 3d6 in order and there isn't a way around using ability scores, so that's the first thing to have. Next roll would be hit points and in an ideal world we'd be done with the rolling after that. But if you think about hit points, you'd have to think about classes and to be honest, using them was way too much effort. So the first thing that got cut was classes. It's 1d6 hp (+ Con-bonus, if there is any) and you are good to go.

By default the characters are citizens with some militia training, so they got saves and to-hit matrix of level one fighters, altered by bonuses, if they got them. And that's it. Ability scores with bonuses, the classic 5 saves, hit points and armor class. That's all I took from the RC.

2. House ruling the rest

I've DMed the Rules Cyclopedia for some time and tinkered with it quite a bit. One of the first changes I introduced was changing Charisma to Luck (like DCC does). Damn, this goes way back on the blog, so here you have my reasoning and some of the fire I got for it. Anyway, here Luck is just one of the attributes. If you think about it, every situation you used Charisma in could in its result just as well be explained as being lucky. It's a matter of perspective and I like that one more.

The second big change is another house rule I've presented in 2011 here on the blog: a variant of an Arduin Table concerning Character Aspects. Here's the complete thing (and here is the original post):

 Character Aspects (1d20)

1-2    Thin (-1 to Strength)
3-4    Choleric (-1 to Wisdom, +1 to Constitution)
5-6    Melancholic (+1 to Intelligence)
7-8    Nimble (+1 to Dexterity)
9-12   Normal
13-14  Serene (+1 to Wisdom)
15-16  Vivid (+1 to Luck/Charisma)
17-18  Brawny (+1 to Strength)
19-20  Fat (+1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity)

So right now it's:

• 3d6 in order, re-roll one, switch two stats if you want
• roll on the character aspects table
• note all that down, note bonuses and saves
• roll 1d6 hp (+ Con bonus, if you have it) and note it down, a 1 may be re-rolled
• note base AC of 10

All it needed after that was some flavor, so everyone got to choose one occupation and one special ability the character has. Add name and what he looks like and you got a character. Even with a table full of newbies, 15 Minutes character creation, tops.

They were totally free to choose that special ability and whatever they choose was subject to a roll of sorts, so it might not work, but they should choose things that'd give them an advantage others normally wouldn't have. Worked like a charm. When testing for it I'd let them roll d20 + ability score + level versus 20 ...

... which brings me to another house rule of mine: high results are always good, low results are always bad. So tasks are always ability score + d20 (+ skills, if you have them) vs. a difficulty, saves are always target number or higher and attacks are always d20 + bonuses (if you have them) vs. enemy ac. Easy to explain, easy to handle.

Everything you could use as armor reduces your AC by 1 to 3 when you wear it. Could be a pot, could be a shield or some very heavy boots, even a wide cloak might give you some protection (obscuring the body and all that). Normal weapons do 1d6 (+ appropriate bonus, if you have it), small weapons do 2d6, taking the lower result, big weapons do 2d6, taking the higher result.

And now you are ready to play ...

I made an A6 character sheet for the players to use. It is in German, but you should be able to figure it out. As a matter of fact, if I've done this right, the visual presentation of the thing alone should be self explanatory. See for yourselves:

All you need to know with some room for notes on sweet little A6*

3. An argument for the original 5 saves and other commentary

Man, I do love those original 5 saves so much. Cooked down like that their purpose becomes quite obvious, I think. You have active rolls as tasks and they are descriptive with the ability scores. It's basically what you use to get it done. Then you have your passive rolls as the saves and they are descriptive about what you save against. They are what's happening to you.

Tell me what you want, but this totally makes sense to me. I wouldn't change a thing.

So what did I use as a scenario? It came down to that good old "You wake up in the dungeon"-schtick. No equipment to speak of (I allowed Luck rolls if they thought they might have something with them) and they only knew that they got drugged during a towns fair and brought ... somewhere underground.

They know each other and they have roughly an hour real time to get out of there before someone realizes they got out and it's Game Over. 25 Minutes and I got a game going with 5 new and fleshed out characters and a back story to play along with. The rest is player decisions, random encounters and reaction rolls.

As a map I found a big and somewhat complex dungeon, assigned 12 locations in it and rolled a d12 just before I described where they woke up (used this great map by Dyson Logos). I had the Rules Cyclopedia for the heavy lifting and the Dungeon Alphabet as a back up, a blank map to draw on and some miniatures.

In the end I mainly used what I had on my DM screen, the RC for the monsters and the board with the miniatures to illustrate what was going on. The rest was improvised and as random as possible. Didn't know where they'd wake up, didn't know what they'd encounter or the best way to get out there and great fun was had.

I pulled no punches and made clear that it's all very random and that the decisions they'll make might come with dire consequences. It's about player skill. The thing is, even with weak characters, if you make clear that the challenges presented are as much for the players as for the characters, people are good with. They see the character as an extension of themselves and not as a special snowflake.

Well, it was D&D in all it's glory. One more thing, by the way, since the D&D Rules Cyclopedia is a little bit out of print right now, I suggested Labyrinth Lord as a substitute. I'm actually willing to argue my case here, but either way, with what little I used from the RC it really doesn't make a difference.

How did it go?

Three most likely died and two were left with very slim chances of survival. Everyone had lots of fun, going by the laughter. And we ended up playing almost three hours before I called it a day, because when we first got to a point where I could have ended it, no one was there to replace the group and we kept going instead.

All of the players had played role playing games before, but none of them had played D&D in any version yet. So at least it held some novelty for them. But I'd really loved to have a complete newbie at the table or two. Just wasn't to be.

Anyway, another thing I took away from that session is that tension is everything with short games and/or one shots. Pick a player, give him something to think, go to the next one and when you come full circle, that first player better had an idea what he wants to do ... or it gets worse and he gets a bit more time to think. Keep them engaged, react to their input and spin it forward. Make their decisions count somehow.

And you will always have group dynamics. If you play with people you don't know and that don't know each other, you'll ideally have them on the edge of their seats the whole time, as people under pressure (even in a game) are really grateful for the help of others and if it's other players instead of the DM, you'll have a positive group dynamic even among strangers ...

I go on and on. Sorry about that. Point here is, D&D can be cooked down to it's bare bones and still work pretty well. I'd have done a little more for a longer game, but not much. A campaign wouldn't start much different, actually. If I'd have a group of people completely new to the hobby, I'd start right there. System mastery is key, nurture player skill and team work, go from there.

Should I do an English version of that character sheet? Maybe with some rules on the back?

The post about combat in The Grind, for those interested, should be the next after this one ...

* I used inkscape for the composition. The pictures all have public domain origins. The elements are isolated and changed (at least vectorized and cleaned). Not 100 % happy with sword and shield there, but it's what I could do in the time I had.

XP for Treasure (sneaking up on Level Advancement in Lost Songs of the Nibelungs)

Level Advancement for Lost Songs of the Nibelungs is a monster to write. Who would have thought (my guess? everyone knew, nobody told me). Anyway. I could go for big-ass monster post with thousand different ideas and directions (as I do by default more often than not, I'm afraid) or sneak up on that bastard to get double damage on the final delivery ... Yeah, let's try that last one and start with something related and harmless like "xp for treasure". It's also something that could easily be swapped for D&D (and friends), so that's good. Right?

XP for treasure doesn't work

For me at least. The very idea that gaining wealth is somehow connected to getting more experienced in life somehow sits wrong with me. I know, I know, it's about what you had to do to get that treasure. I get that. Same difference. For me it's more about how to spend it and that's how I did it in my D&D games. Characters got xp for carousing. And if that meant economies breaking down and people getting fat and decadent wherever characters decided to leave thousands and thousands of gold coins, so be it. That's part of the fun.

Well, it doesn't work that way for Lost Songs. Mostly because it's a somewhat historical setting and you can't always expect to find huge amounts of gold and get the opportunity to spend it all without travelling thousands of kilometers to the next metropolis (like Rome or Constantinople) beforehand. No, it really doesn't work that way. Sure, they party and all that, but it's a community thing.

Characters also got obligations to their tribe. Imagine, your parents and other families just like them, settled where they are right now just a few years ago. They sure could use all the valuables they can get their hands on. And there are gods to honor, don't forget that. Never forget that, actually. They could really get pissed. And finally there are those that helped your tribe getting where they are to begin with: the leaders and warriors (and the gods, of course, just to be sure ...).

This was not about spending or giving, this was about balance. You honor your guests to be honored when you are a guest. You honor your gods and leaders and families to get honored by them in return. So you don't bought that sword you got, you either received it as a gift or as battle trophy. It's a very different kind of thinking, but I believe a game like Lost Songs will benefit from such little details a great deal (same should be true for most fantasy games, actually).

Honoring your host for fun and profit 

Presents can be anything from pelts to war trophies from Monsters, simply gold and jewelry (but, you know, that stuff is not just laying around, it all got a history and what not), fancy weaponry, even hostages or exotic animals! A Good Will Save will determine how well those presents are received. It's just one Save, the group needs to decide who has to do that role, but the effect will be on all characters. So if the Save fails, the whole group looses some Wyrd. The gift is still accepted for it's value, but it will affect the course of their stay. A table about it might look like this (early test material):

Open in new tab for a closer look ...

The worth players invest in their tribe and the honor the tribe feels for receiving it will influence everything else that happens between quests. Players will at least get what they invested in Gold as xp and will be able to advance, but if the reception is poor, it might lead to ill will that will further damage the groups ability scores one way or another.

The idea here is to allow the blooming of a narrative for their stay at home, without it taking too much time. They arrive and honor the host (Good Will Save), Carousing (random table to decide if oracle dice get involved and/or opportunities arise) and advancement takes place.

After that the characters are back on the road, fully equipped for their new quest by their tribe ...

A final word on "oracle dice" and D&D-ifying

This is mentioned in passing on the document and right now it's nothing more than a loose concept. But I found it needs a random dynamic for the DM to use actively in the game (most of it is dealt with by active/passive player rolls). Oracle dice will be a random tool for the DM to see how the machinations of the world gear towards (or against) the characters. So with Tasks and Saves influencing characters on the player-side (changing Qualities and so on), there'll be a third roll doing very much the same on the DM-side of things. It'll even be possible to directly attack/threaten Qualities beyond what Saves already do ... But that's a post on it own.

If you use this system with D&D (and friends) you basically use the same procedures: one player offers the gift (roll appropriate Ability Score, like Wisdom or Charisma), keep everything regarding xp and change the effects to penalties or boni for reaction rolls. I'd use -4 after a critical fail, -2 with a normal fail, nothing for a success and a +2 for a critical success. Please let me know if you try this at home ...

The following weekend I'll post some more about Level Advancement and how to make a random character in Lost Songs. Also need to write a post about getting those xp :)

Musings about Longevity of Sentient Beings in the D&D RC (and other Fantasy Games)

I had been in the mood for a post like this: taking a topic and just writing to see where it ends up. It's partly a follow up on one of my very first posts: "Elves are no Mammals, Goddarnit!" (from 2011!). If you haven't read that one, check it out first, if you want to. It has a new class for the D&D RC (easy to hack into variants, of course) and gives examples how I handle level restrictions in the game. Let's get into that, shall we (turned out to be a long one again) ...

A word on immortals in the D&D Rules Cyclopedia

Vampires do it, gods do it and dragons do it, too, they live very, very long lives. Mostly will have done so when Adventurers encounter them and I always thought this should have consequences for a gaming world. Huge consequences, actually. Gods (or immortals, as they are called in the RC) are easy, one might think. And from a general point of true, that's right. They don't frequent the realms of mortals on a regular basis and do most their meddling using avatars or clerics.

But, and that's a huge "but", for a DM playing the D&D Rules Cyclopedia RAW they pose a serious problem. It's mostly ignored (in the games I know of) that Immortals had been mortal beings once and actually earned millions of xp before gaining immortality. They shaped the world, so to say. Even more so, the tasks they had to achieve should, according to the rules, last for a very long time (check The Four Paths on page 223 in the RC).

So one path, for instance, is the quest to travel to three different periods of time and "help three different descendants to retain their kingdoms and perpetuate the dynasty". This is a very particular can of worms worth a post on its own, I guess. How, for instance, did a not-yet-immortal hero do this? How many have tried and failed? Or how do the gods perceive time? I smell several time paradoxes coming along. And adventures connected to it ... But either way you play it, the impact on THE VERY FABRIC OF TIME AND SPACE is immense.

[source]

Other paths request the manufacturing of Legendary Weapons or solving impossible tasks, like "driving all dragons from the land or building a castle in the sky". It's all over the place, one is even about reincarnating three times and going the distance with three different classes (again, millions of xp). It's mind-boggling how consequent and ambitious the D&D RC actually is in this regard. I doubt there is more than a handful of DMs in the existence of this game who actually led a group of players from level 1 to immortality (for the off chance that one of them is reading this, please comment and tell me about it!).

Anyway, it's inconsequential if characters actually play all that and get there themselves. The thing is that the rules give explicit guidelines what needs to happen to get there. Consider the number of high level characters that tried and failed, consider those trying right now and those that already made it! Consider the impact this should have on a setting. Even if plane hopping takes some of it somewhere else, all of those paths actually demand of a hero to be active in his home realm. Consider there is a fifths path for the "sphere of entropy" that is on that page by name only, but rings of destruction and mayhem.

And that's before actual immortals start pestering the rest ...

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that although our little heroes are having epic adventures all over the place, leveling up, looting and killing kings, there is a gigantic subtext of other events, powerful events, going on. Needs to be. Because there are already thousands of others more powerful and further ahead in the same game, changing it all by being successful.

People might notice things like this, you know ... [source]

That's what you actually get with such a high power curve as the RC has it: 36 levels for all the humans and then some for becoming an immortal and some more for being an immortal.

How to live for millennia without getting bored (or killed)

So maybe you are thinking right now that it's just impossible to make all of this count in a game. It just can't be done, not even official products do it. It's just too much. And you might be right, but I'm not done yet. There is more, because there are several more Monsters in a game of D&D that are, if not immortal, around for thousands of years. Take your regular undead, like a Vampire. Give those guys a few thousand years to clean up their act and it's really hard to say where they might end up.

Or dragons. They grow up and grow old. They are powerful beasts if they manage to get that old. And if they did, they have a history. Their name should be legend, their influence and power beyond approach. the more I think about the implications of all of this, the more I think Game of Thrones is a kindergarten in comparison to the power plays those guys must have going ...

Which brings us to the concept of longevity in games such as the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. It is, of course, a philosophical concept. And hard to grasp, at that. The question a DM making his own setting should ask himself, is how all those npcs managed to stay alive for as long as they must have been to be the creatures they are.

I think being that obvious about it
isn't the best survival strategy ... [source]

A giant red dragon, attitude or not, just doesn't pop into existence and starts harassing folks for the heroes to get their 15 minutes of fame. No. She must have been around and there must have been a major change in her regular habits to risk getting killed by upstarts like mid- to high-level adventurers. Nothing is that easy. It's actually a bit naive to think it might be even close to being that easy. Living that long and with a superior intellect just doesn't allow for an easy kill.

So that's another thing. Most of those monsters are not only powerful, they are very intelligent, too. Would they even act in the open? Or do they have agents to do their bidding? How big (and influential) should such an apparatus be? How does it compare to, say, human kingdoms?

That's another thing. Humans breed, for those creatures anyway, fast as hell and spread all over the place, leaving their marks. How does a creature like an Elf or a dragon interact with something like this? Is it like us looking at an ant hill? Like, would you care to know the name of even one ant, knowing it won't be around for any serious amount of time? Does it matter? And if it matters, at what point is it becoming a threat and what would powerful creatures do about it? Not because they are evil, but because of necessity.

Powerful Wizards do stuff like this
ALL THE TIME [source]

And this is where we could go full circle. Some humans peak and get as powerful as those monsters are. Immortals might protect humans. The thing is, it won't be about getting powerful enough to confront each other, but more about getting powerful enough to keep the status quo, to keep the balance. Which, in turn, should keep all those involved pretty busy indeed.

What does it look like and who cares?

There is actually one series of fantasy books (I know of) that illustrates the machinations necessary for such a world and some of you might already know them: the Malazan Books of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. Erikson worked 6 years together with a friend (Ian Cameron Esslemont, who also wrote some good books in the same universe) to build up their world.

First in a great series [source]

They have archaeological and anthropological backgrounds, so maybe those things came somewhat natural for them and the world they build is impressive, to say the least. I always thought it's the perfect example of how powerful creatures, powerful magic and powerful gods would/should shape a world. For that alone it comes highly recommended, so check it out (if you haven't already).

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is another great example for such a setting. Small human settlements, ruins all over the place, one gets a feeling that humans are merely guests here and it needs powerful characters to challenge some of the residents livings alongside the small castles here (the game being close to be a perfect sandbox setting might have something to do with it). For me at least, Vvardenfell always felt as if powerful entities formed it and it's definitely not just a standard vanilla fantasy affair. It got lots of depth.

There are many good reasons for Morrowind being a classic ... [source]

On a smaller scale, Lord of the Rings is another great example for a well thought out world, with The Silmarillion being a prime candidate of what I'm talking about here (as far as "powerful beings shaping the world" are concerned ...). But Middle Earth is decidedly what I'd call "low fantasy", as powerful characters are rather rare in the Third Age Tolkien is describing in the books.

World Building 101 [source]

What's left is to discuss how all of that actually plays out in our games. I know the Rules Encyclopedia is an extreme example for it, but it gets lots of points (in my book) for trying. Most other games shy away from that kind of scope. Even other editions of D&D, for that matter. But I believe our games would be better for it, if we actually put some effort into making the presence felt of those in our campaign that already lived for a very long time and shaped the world around them.

So how do you all handle those things? If you got an ideas, tips or campaign settings you know of, came up with or used, feel free to share them in the comments. I'd love to hear about it!

Updated Lost Songs of the Nibelungs Character Sheet (with some notes)

New city, new face-to-face play-tests. For the occasions I updated the LSotN character sheet. For one, the play-tests with the old group had brought up some changes and ideas I wanted to give a spin, but I'm also still looking for the visual style of the layout. I think I've made some progress in both areas. But see for yourselves ...

The Sheet and the Problems

The biggest issue so far had been the combat section. There is a board game aspect to the game and I want that expressed. But it needs room. The second issue had been the attributes. A main feature of Lost Songs is that people collect scars over time. It is connected with status and will make each character an individual while gathering experience. Works well so far, but also needs room on the sheet. Add all skills and advantages and it gets quite cozy fast. This is my solution (so far):

It's all done with inkscape ...

One of the first reactions had been that it is quite busy as a character sheet. I can see how that could be a first impression. But I thought the new players handled it quite well after a very short time and that's more important than the first impression (another player said that it forces a player to take a close look and that's a good thing, too). Some explaining notes are in order.

Part I: Battle

The board game part of the sheet. This is were a player places the dice in combat to illustrate his actions. Those following the development of the game might already have a handle on what's what, but for the uninitiated I'll talk a bit about it while showing what's new.

Every character has a number of d6 Combat Dice (C.D.). All start with 2 of them, but level advancement allows for fighter types to get more. They are rolled for each round of combat. Every 1 is discarded, every six generates a new d6 that is rolled immediately and added. The sum is the initiative and each die can be used for an action in that round. Slowest character has to put his dice first.

There are three main actions a character can perform per round: (1) the Main Actions (Attack - Damage/Soak - Defence), (2) the Delay Action (delay up to 2 dice into next round, one of them needs to be declared as delayed attack/defence) and (3) the Drop Die Actions (Do, Move, Coop, et cetera). The dice a character has available for a round are the dice a character is to distribute.

Doubles and Triples will make more powerful Main Actions: if a double is used in the Main Actions, the result of the dice is doubled (so a result of 3, 3 means the dice count as a 6 each). With a triple the results are tripled (so a result of 3, 3, 3 means the dice count as a 9 each). If an attack is made, damage needs to be declared, too (so you need the dice to do so). If "Soak" is declared, at least one die needs to be on "Defence".

Base Attack (B.A.) is added to a declared attack, Base Defence (B.D.) is added to a declared defence.

Here are a few new concepts. If a character is not able to completely defend against an attack, he may decide to soak some damage instead. The result of the die he uses is the damage reduction he gets that round against one attack and reduces Endurance instead. If a character is able to use a shield, the character may use one die for soak without the need to declare a defence die, too.

The last thing that changed here is that the size and the kind of weapon one uses influences the number of Damage Dice a character may use per attack (1 D.D. for small melee weapons and so forth). There rules for ranged combat now (shooting with a bow will make as much damage as an attack is over the targets defence, distance will reduce this).

Delay Actions are a bit more free handled as they were. One die needs to be declared, all other dice are just delayed and may be used for all kinds of actions in the next round. It allows for a bit more flexibility.

There aren't many changes with the Drop Die Actions. If a character wants to do anything but fight, he has to use a die to do a D.D.A. by putting it on the respective square on the sheet. Cooperation is still one of the most important D.D.A.s, since it allows one character to give a die to another character to use (cooperation is a huge feature early in the game).

A new aspect here is "Rage". A character is allowed to use [level +1] Rage Dice in a combat by just declaring it after the initial roll of a round (adding it to initiative and so on). The rage dice he uses are rolled after the combat to reduce a characters Endurance, but the D.D.A. Regain allows a character to get the die back by spending a die during combat. Every other rule affecting Endurance got ignored so far, but this seems to work.

Part II: Scars & Roots

Not many changes here. There are two types of tasks in Lost Songs, the Ability Roll and the Save. Ability rolls are the active part and is basically a d20 + ability score vs. difficulty (skills might be added to the result). A character wants to do something, this is what he rolls. If they roll below the difficulty, they might reduce Endurance to make the difficulty after the roll. They are always able to make it, but sometimes it comes with a price ...

Saves are the passive part of the game. Characters get poisoned, stressed or see things that threaten their sanity. Stuff like that is resolved by rolling d20 plus one of the saves vs. a difficulty. If they are below, they fail and the ability connected to the save is reduced by the difference between result and difficulty. Over time character will get tired, stressed out or will have a streak of bad luck. For every ability in the Buffer Zone they get -1 to all tasks (the Buffer Zone is always 10 until a ability score is permanently reduced below 11, then it's half of the ability). For every ability in the Hurt Zone, they get -3 to all tasks. It all adds up and to keep track of it, they got the string of numbers on the left. Every damage below that reduces the ability permanently.

Roots are to illustrate where the characters come from and how they are related to the others in the group. No changes here.

Part III: Traits

All the advantages and skills a character has. I wanted this as complete as possible on the character sheet, so the only difference to the old character sheet is that all the information is on there already and Level Advancements are a separate entry now. But how characters advance is a different post (that will be up the next few days, I think).

That's it for now

I see a second character sheet in the near future, something for the back of this sheet for detailed notes and stuff like that. But that's secondary. All a player needs is on this one sheet ...

Make a BASTARD! RPG concept, perspectives and ideas ... Part 3 (of 5)

Here we are again, talking about the BASTARD! DungeonPunk D&D-hack I'm writing right now. Today it's about character creation. In Part 4 I'll talk about character advancement, static dice versus the environment and I'll introduce my ideas for (what I call now) a DungeonHeist-Interface (which is, as of yet, the rawest part of the game). Part 5 will conclude this series with examples and DM Tools. Thought I'd manage all of this in 4 posts, but those things tend to grow ...

Also worth checking out: The DungeonPunk Initiative, Part 1 and Part 2 and an Intermission (presenting a character sheet)

And the skies were burning for weeks ... [source]

Me again with the etymology (but only a little bit ...)

Some of you might remember this. It's a thing, I believe. Every time I post something like this post, people start telling me that you just can't change the names of things.

Well, I did anyway and it had been lots of fun finding new names for the same old D&D terminology. I honestly like some of those alternatives more than the original. So I don't know about calling the DM "Skipper" from now on, but calling adventurers "grinders" (because they "grind" dungeons for loot) has some appeal (to me at least). Don't know about "Calling" instead of class (well, I really like it, but I recently saw this used in another game and I don't think it's appropriate ...), but I could settle with Dodge, like:

"Ey, what's your dodge, grinder?"

See? BASTARD! describes people lost in a vast and brutal industrialization, just like those of the 18th/19th century but with evil magic as the main force of change instead of technology ... The whole DungeonPunk idea is also about subculture and subcultures have their own vocabulary. So what I'm doing here is mirroring this in the RPG's terminology (just like in the example above). Still, it's an experiment. Let's see if it flies.

What's there (rules in a nut shell)

Here is the character sheet again for close reference:

Below is a filled example ...

There are four ability scores (upper left on the sheet): Brawn, Brain, Luck and Owed. Each got a number of dice assigned. Luck and Owed change over the course of a session, the other two mirror a character's resources for physical and mental activities. If a character is more physical, he'll have more Brawn, if he's more of the brainy sort, he'll go (obviously) for Brain.

Characters (or "Grinders" from now on) also have a Breed (their heritage or race) and a Dodge (their specialization or class). Breed may give a grinder some special abilities because of their heritage (elves are quite resistant to magic, dwarves are able to form stone, see below for details). Handle is the grinder's street name and status is his level name (all of this in the lower left corner).

There also are "Statics" (upper middle), which are (in short) additional dice Grinders have on specific tasks (like recon or detecting traps).

Statics determine the flow of the game, because they are not only used as dice if a task needs resolving, they also reduce the main difficulty of challenges ahead by 1 per static die. And if a difficulty is reduced to zero this way (3 would be the default), the group manages to overcome it without any problems, thus speeding up exploration and focusing the game on the juicy parts (when the group is really challenged). They are also flexible and connected to a grinder's dodge instead of specific skills. This way players are encouraged to plan ahead and set their statics according to the situation.

Another benefit would be that statics encourage teamwork and support low level groups. If 3 characters, for instance, assign one static each to "Finding Traps", the group will find all traps up to a difficulty of three with ease.

The saves (middle) are from Lost Songs, as I think they work really well in our test games. Withstand is a save vs. force, Reflex is a save vs. the unforeseen, Stomach is a save vs. poisons and disease, Sanity is a save to keep you sane, Stress will test if you keep your cool and Good Will is all about the impressions others get when they interact with you. The first three (Withstand/Reflex/Stomach) are tested rolling Brawn, the other three (Sanity/Stress/Good Will) are tested using Brain (in both cases pool dice + save vs. difficulty).

The core mechanic is pretty simple. You got a pool between zero and five d6 in brain and brawn each. If a task is at hand, characters bet a number of dice from the appropriate pool (brawn for physical tasks, brain for mental tasks) and roll them to collect successes. Every result of 4 or more is a success (3 or more if specialized, see below). Every 6 generates a new die immediately rolled for the task and either raises a character's Luck by 1 or reduces the owed dice by 1 (players choice) and every rolled 1 reduces the used pool by 1.

A player might use a Luck point for an automatic success or to save a lost die (i. e. compensating a rolled 1). A player is also allowed to "owe" a number of dice to the DM. Owed dice work just like Luck dice, but also raise the players Owed pool and the DM's Threat pool (the DM will be able to use those dice against the group later in the game). Owed dice must be resolved with Luck dice and the DM may use owed dice only once (they remain "owed" on the character sheet, though) and the player already used his. So owing dice will have immediate benefits, but will come back to haunt the players in the long run.

Statics and Body Modifications will have an impact on the number of dice available for certain tasks and characters can share dice among each other, which means they declare to support another character, name the number of dice they use for it, roll them and follow the same principles as described above (and yes, if they roll a 1 they loose a die for sharing ...).

Every session start with the players rolling ALL their pool dice and see if they owe dice from the beginning or get some Luck points instead (statistics say Luck is a bit in favor with this system). At the end of a session all remaining owed dice are subtracted from all remaining Luck dice. If the result is positive, the group gets a xp-bonus, if it's negative they get a xp-penalty.

[source]

Character Creation

Nothing fancy here. Level Zero Grinders have 3 dice points distributed among brain and brawn. There is two ways to do so and both are connected to breed: you either choose a human and distribute them yourself or you choose one of the other breeds and take their distribution. There are 8 Breeds (so you could just roll 1d8 to find out):

1. Human (distribute 3d6 between Brawn and Brain, choose one Trait)
2. Elve (1 Brawn, 2 Brain; Trait is Resist Magic)
3. Dwarf (2 Brawn, 1 Brain; Trait Form Stone)
4. Goblin (1 Brawn, 1 Brain; Trait Small and choose one more)
5. Ratfolk (1 Brawn, 1 Brain, 1 free to distribute; Trait: Resilient)
6. Fairy (0 Brawn, 3 Brain; Trait: Small and Flying)
7. Halftroll (3 Brawn, 1 Brain; Trait: Giant)
8. Clockwerck-Automat (3 Brawn, 0 Brain; Trait: Force)

There are more breeds possible, of course, but for now I'll keep it simple, so that's what you get. Here are some short descriptions of the breeds:

Human

Humans are still all over the place. Some have arranged themselves with the new regime, but most are considered nothing more than a resource to exploit. The rebels criminals called "Grinders" are usually recruited among humans from slums all over the known world, as those guys 'n girls really got reason to kick back. They are the most flexible of the lot.

Elve

Those poor suckers were hit as hard as one could imagine. Untainted forests are a thing whispered about in the darkness and those too slow to flee from the realms of men, now lead a miserable existence in the slums, often enough fleeing into drug induced dreams or stealing what they can to get their fix again. But not all of them have given up. Some of them go for the grind and then for revenge! They know their way around magic (which is illegal, as you very well know) and are handy that way.

Dwarf

They fought to the last dwarf standing. Some say they are still fighting back from the dark redoubts they fled to deep in the earth. Others say that's just crazy talk from violent drunks (which most dwarves are by default). Either way, some dwarves still live in the cities and some of those are still sober enough to seek the grind and save what's left of the dwarven glory. they have the ability to form stone with their bare hands and that's certainly something.

Goblin

They always got the shitty end of the stick (even those working for the Imperium) and some of them start to think it's time to grasp that stick a little harder and hit something with it. Those little bastards are quite flexible and useful, once you cut them some slack. And they are eager to grind what their little hands can carry.

Ratfolk

Nobody liked those guys back in the day, but suddenly the slums are crowded and the rats have a head start. They are quite tough, which is always good on a grind, and really not that different from humans once you are able to get beyond the smell ...

Fairy

It's good to be small if you want to survive. And that's what they did. Had it surprisingly easy to adapt to the city, too. Mainly because they're very talented in stealing anything they can get away with. Some of them are even ambitions enough to go for the grind and make it big time. They are also infamous for their mean attitude ...

Halftroll

Who'd have thought, demons hate trolls and love to see them in the dirt and as slaves. Some make a decent living in the slums, keeping a low profile (well, they try ...) and they are easy to crossbreed, so while the big oafs are getting fewer and fewer, some of their spawn is alive and all muscles. You need muscles on the grind, so that's a no-brainer. They also like bridges for no reason.

Clockwerck-Automat

Sometimes your body is worth more then the rest of you and sometimes you can sell just that: your body. You won't get much for it (3d6 Imperiale Münzen), but to keep you as a cheap work force, you also get a new body. Sure, it's weak, noisy and all about hard labor, with what's left of your soul in a softly glowing crystal, but there's so much old technology out there to grind and it's all so easy to add to you that this might very well be the best thing that happened to you in, like, forever.

Traits

Traits reduce the difficulties of related tasks and saves by 1 or give other benefits in the game. Here is a selection of 17 traits (roll d12 to choose 1 random, 13 - 17 are exclusive to the breeds):

1. No Trait: get 1 die more to put either into Brain or Brawn
2. Skilled: get one more static die
3. Tough: get + 1 to Health roll per level
4. Powerful: get + 1 to Affinity roll per level
5. Stubborn: re-roll a single result of 1 per task
6. Lucky: a rolled 6 always generates another d6 (usually initial roll only)
7. Talented: successfully casts with a result of 4, 5 and 6 (instead just 5 and 6)
8. Versatile: may move one static die during heist at will (= need to roll for it)
9. Strong Soul: Taint is only 1d3 per used slot
10. Fortunate: Difficulty of all saves is reduced by 1
11. Resilient: die difficulty for all rolls related to mental tasks ans saves are reduced by 1
12. Force: die difficulty for all rolls related to brute force are reduced by 1
13. Resist Magic: die difficulty for all rolls related to magic are reduced by 1
14. Form Stone: may form stone with bare hands, difficulty for related tasks and saves is reduced by 1
15. Flying: moves as fast as a human would, gets to high places
16. Small: no big weapons, only level as slots for body modifications but -2 to AC, must always take highest result for Affinity, also general benefits and drawbacks of being small
17. Giant: +2 AC, two handed weapons echo if the highest two results come up (so with a d6 he'd echo with a 5 and a 6), must always take highest result for Health, also general benefits and drawbacks of being giant

As with the breeds, there are more traits possible, but for now we'll keep it short ...

Dodges

A character's "dodge" is his job on the grind. It's his responsibility and if he fails, all others will feel the impact. There are 5 dodges, each having 3 specials (roll d5 to determine):

1. The Grunt (Gr)

This is the guy you need to keep the party poopers busy. Guess what his main ability score is ... Anyway, his special talents are:

• Kill - He knows how to move over the battle field and attacks, does, counters and shares free on a result of 4, 5 and 6 (instead of 5 and 6).
• Bind - Grunts are able to bind (level +1) enemy hd in combat (additionally to those any other character is able to bind ...).
• Stand - Gets his level to his AC when he's covering his fellow grinders' withdrawal or holds a passage to let them do their job.

2. The Trickster (Tr)

The thief and scout of the party.'Nuff said. Uh, specials:

• Sabotage - Skilled in manipulating machinery of all kinds (traps, clockwercks and so on).
• Sneak - Skilled in hiding and moving through the shadows.
• Dirty Fighting - Deals 1d6 more damage when attacking from a hidden position or when the enemy is unaware

3. The Whisperer (Wh)

Those dabbling in the art of magic. Their specials:

• Read Magic - Skilled in reading and interpreting magical programming.
• Manipulate - Killed in manipulating magical constructs.
• Cast - Affinity costs for casting spells are 3 per level (instead of 4).

4. The Crowscare (Cr)

Demons fear those holy man and are mostly referred to as "crows" on the streets, hence the name for those clerics and holy women. Their specials are:

• Repel - The ability to invoke a god's power to scare away (or even kill) demons, undead and the like.
• Activate - They are able to cleanse shrines by channeling Affinity into them. This produces a save haven under the protection of a crowscare's god.
• Pray - The ability to call a god for assistance and get help via wonders (as long as an activated shrine is within (level + 1) x 100 meters)

5. The Tinker (Ti)

Those able to salvage, repair and rebuild the lost technology rotting in dungeons all over the known world (and the only real currency of the criminal underbelly of the demons Imperium).

• Grind - Skilled in salvaging parts of old technology (always (successes + level) as number of parts per machine (until salvage limit is reached)).
• Repair - Skilled in making machinery work again.
• Make - Is able to build machines with spell-like effects/duration/range according to level (quite like The Whisperer, details follow).

Saves

Thought long and hard about it and came to the conclusion that it might be fun to randomize the saves, so each character may roll 3d6 and keep the highest two per save. Rolling a save will always be d20 + save value vs. 20 (default) or 25 (hard). If you want to owe a die for a save, go ahead, roll it, add it. Every time a character go up a level/status, he may raise one save by 1. The End.

Example

Here is a completely random example. Meet Hakalai, some Halftroll Crowscare Scum (took about 5 minutes to roll up and I was pretty slow ...):

All the important pieces are there ...

Sure, there's still some empty spaces. It'll need some random equipment lists, spells and gods to choose from, but that's it at the core. Use the Petty Gods and a D&D cleric level 1 spell list (or whatever) and you're good to go. She's level 0, so maybe she doesn't own more than a piece of cloth and a club ...

Statics and other loose ends

Thought I'd be done in 4 posts. Stupid me. But I see the finishing line already. What's missing? Statics and the DungeonHeist Interface, which basically is a group sheet to use at the table during missions. It's where the heist is prepared on until it gets triggered and the mission is a "go". It also introduces "The Brain", "The Fence" and "The Haven", all important for a life in the underground. How all of this is supposed to work together in the game is part of the fourth post in this series.

Same goes for advancement. I'm going some new ways here and think about "group advancement", which basically means that the group as a whole makes progress and if they level up, a dodges level name (Status on the sheet) is what a character has to show for when he's changing teams for another heist. Just like in most heist movies characters do not amount to much outside their dodges and have unsatisfying jobs (if at all) ... Gold also has no meaning in this game (poor suckers selling their bodies ...) and instead it's salvaged goods and what you can get for them (I really want to write now "hence the fence", but I won't). Anyway, more on that in part 4.

All in all I'm quite happy how all of that comes together right now. All that is left now are tables, fluff and DM tools (which is a lot, I know). But if you've read all BASTARD! posts, you could print the character sheet, bridge spells and machinery with your favorite D&D variant and get going! That's what I'm going to do the next few weeks and I'm looking forward to it (will sure pester my poor readers with it, too).

As always, thank you for reading ALL THIS and please feel free to comment and share your thoughts about BASTARD!, as feedback is always welcome.

Look at that BASTARD! - Interlude with Character Sheet

I basically spent this weekend making a character sheet for BASTARD!, since it's crucial for that series I'm writing right now (more information on the whole DungeonPunk Initiative in Part 1 and Part 2). My goal was to put all the necessary pieces on one piece of paper. Here is what I got:

Open in new window to feast your eyes on details!

(inkscape was my tool of choice)

This is still a very early test version. I might play a bit with the fonts. But as it is, I'm quite happy with it. It got the right feel and all the important pieces are there, even some of the rules. I know it's heavy on the black right now, but the primary idea was to use this on Roll20 with my group, so it's not an issue right now.

Not much else to say about it, but I hope you guys like it and it should be interesting for those out there following the development of BASTARD! (I know they are out there ...).

As always, comments and suggestions are very welcome. Part 3 will hit the web next weekend.

Play-testing Lost Songs - Goblin Carnage

There's so much regarding Lost Songs of the Nibelungs I need to write about, it's uncanny. And the heat here doesn't help. It's devastating, to be honest. Anyway, I'll try. Combat is almost complete and works like a charm. But I won't go into detail in this post (much). Just some pictures and commentary on our last session. More as soon as I got the time (and temperature). For now it's just killing goblins for fun and profit (from a DM's perspective) ...

Disclaimer: this post expands on ideas I wrote about in a three part series of posts called "Filling the Void". I'll try and keep it as general as possible and even if you haven't read it you'll be able to read and understand what I wrote below. But if you are interested to go deep into this, you'll find PART 1 about character creation here, PART 2 about combat here and PART 3 about scarring characters (use of ability scores/qualities) here.

Last Weekend the group came together again. Eight people, all in all (seven players, three of them women, for those who care or wonder ...). We took our time with character creation, now using all the rules I had and we opted to go complete Donjon on the group and rewrite the Anthropomorphic Character Generator for the occasion:

After that I threw them directly into the action: on their way to the dungeon they get ambushed by some goblins. As you can see on the picture below, I rolled a couple of sixes for environment and the first attack. They even accused me of cheating (although all the rolls had been made in the open, but that's how players are ...). Anyway, I described it as the perfect ambush:

That's the first attack of the 7 goblins ambushing the heroes. 

Let me explain this a bit. The basic rule is that every rolled six (of the initially rolled dice) generates a new d6. Environment is only rolled at the beginning of an encounter and I used 3 dice (moderate complex forest). Monsters can use environment dice as advantages in a fight as soon as they roll corresponding numbers. So in this case they could trigger with 2, 4 and 6 and add it to their actions to move around, for defense or attacks, just as I needed it and the dice allowed (as a side note, environment just adds the value and doesn't count as double or triple).

As you can see, they were in for a beating. Fate decided which of the 7 level zero characters got attacked first and three had been unlucky enough to not make their rolls. The picture above shows 5 attacks by 7 goblins on 3 characters.

I won't go into detail, but let me just say that this worked very well to make those buggers and their surroundings come to live. They run for cover into the bushes, jumped from trees and rocks, used them as cover and cooperated with each other. As one of the players put it, it's unheard of to let monsters work that tactical with their environment and with each other. They should just attack and die (he had been the designated tank of the group, but failed to be fast enough to intercept those goblins most of the time, so some of that might have been frustration).

All in all it had been a fair fight. The goblins had no chance at all, but fought to the end (as morale indicated) and fought well (one character will remember this fight by the scars she took from a mean spear wound that almost got her killed).

Not a surprising sight for the initiated:
we are playing funny-elf-games (TM)

I think this went really well. The dice tell the way like an oracle. A bad roll might correspond with the environment or might help another goblin move into safety or do more damage, not just because I say so as the DM. There are almost no arbitrary decisions, it's all interpretation. If nothing else, it really supports the way I like to run a game and the players enjoyed it a great deal, too.

Speaking of the players, I had made a few updates on the character sheet and added a few options in combat. Behold:

Newest additions are circled and explained below

So one player asked me how animal companions are handled in the game (since she likes to have those) and it had caught me a bit by surprise at the time. I'm generally not a fan of having a record sheet for everything or the level of detail that goes with it. Do you need all those stats for your character's horse, dog and henchman? I don't think so. They have a few functions in the game and that's where they should count.

Long story short, I decided that they work like environment works for monsters. Before an encounter a character rolls one die for his companion. A 1 is discarded, a 6 generates one new die. The result stays that way for that encounter. If it's a 1, the animal is not responsive, every other result may be used if the dice correspond with the combat dice the character rolled or if a drop die action is spent to issue a command (which is especially useful if  a companion ended up with two dice). Corresponding dice may be used for all actions, but do not produce doubles or triples.

"Style" mostly works just like companions do. It's a combat style a character learned and also a static that is determined before an encounter. Depending on how that fight turns out, a style might be more or less effective that way. Since a style may only be used for combat actions, corresponding dice do count for doubles and triples. If you are able to use a style in combat, it will have an impact.

"Exhaustion" (indicates a character looses a combat die) and "soak" (characters may soak incoming damage instead of doing it) are no new concepts. They just needed a new home on the character sheet.

The last new addition is giving a fixed disadvantage for the different stages a characters qualities could be in. It's nothing special, but necessary to give those changes an immediate impact.

All of this got tested in this little encounter. One character had two companions, another had just one and they turned out to be useful without making a character too powerful. They also made for an interesting change in the flow of the fight and the narrative that resulted from it (first character rolled a 1 for his owl and the bird got disoriented and was no use in the fight, the other character used her falcon to hunt down some goblins who thought themselves clever enough to hide in the bushes, stuff like that). Players liked it, too.

As far as damaging and killing goes, the system responded as it should. One character had a bad save on Good Will and already lost some fate in the process. She was one of the three getting attacked first. She caught two strong hits. The first one almost got her unconscious, but she stomached it (successful save Stomach vs. 20) and pushed on with a -4. That second hit pushed her way too much into permanent damage. She had to decide to either take it or deplete her Fate even further to compensate the damage (risking ill fortune, just like Nibelungs are supposed to).

This proposed an interesting problem, since the player said this might result in a fate far worse than death. Sometimes, she mused, dying needs to be a viable option. I honestly hadn't thought of that and I think it's a minor problem. People will try hard to stay alive as soon as their characters have some levels under their belts. I have to think about this a bit more and testing will help sorting the rest out. For now it's an option a player has: take the hit and be crippled or loose Fate and risk the gods ill will.

She took option number 2, took some scars from that spear and some hate from the gods. We'll see how that turns out for her ...

Conclusions and outlooks

This is more text than I thought I'd manage to come up with (that damn heat!), but anyway, I hope you all got some ideas out of it. So far testing this game is quite satisfying. It does what it's supposed to do and problem are fixed easy enough. Combat turns out to be the main feature so far. It's detailed, but random. Decisions do matter, but there's also luck, interpretation and some bluffing. For the players knowing the potential of what might happen in a round opens up a lot of possibilities and really helps in letting a fight come to live.

We took our time with this and there's still lots of potential to improve the system, the combat sheet and the character sheet. I have an idea how I could streamline and coordinate the DM's work with the monsters a bit more (the combat mandala has a special place in my heart, but there might be a better solution). I also keep forgetting Endurance, so I need to do something about that (since I believe it important, but maybe for the wrong reasons ...).

Well, it is as I wrote in the beginning, there's still a lot to do. I hope I was able to give you all an idea how my private little fantasy heart-breaker is shaping up. I really need to post a complete combat, though. As soon as this stupid heat is going back where it came from ...

Questions and comments are very welcome, of course.

Character Advancement in Lost Songs of the Nibelungs Part 1

 A bit unusual to post on a work day, but here we are. I need to get this finished for next Friday to test it with the group, so I should at least try. This first part will handle level advancement and xp awards, the second part will be about the special benefits players can choose from with advancing a level. For all those not so much interested in Lost Songs of the Nibelungs, most of this is very well portable into D&D. In fact, most of this are some streamlined house rules from my D&D game ...

The easy part: xp per level

Characters start at level zero (character creation is here). They need 500 xp to achieve level 1 and 1500 to reach level 2. After that it's just doubled (rounded up from level 7 to 8):

• 0  - 0
• 1  - 500
• 2  - 1.500
• 3  - 3.000 
• 4  - 6.000
• 5  - 12.000
• 6  - 24.000
• 7  - 48.000
• 8  - 100.000
• 9  - 200.000
• 10 - 300.000 (Name Level)

That's what I'll be working with for the moment. Seems like a whole lot of gaming to reach level 10 and it begs the question if I should really go old school with this one.

Gaining xp for gold

It gets a bit tricky here. Traditionally round about half the xp needed to gain the next level is for the gold a character found on an adventure. Admittedly, we are talking huge sums here and I've seen the argument made every now and then that this premise is ridiculous (which is, historically speaking, true enough). And yet, the game is (loosely) oriented on the Nibelungenlied and they were obscenely lavish in their spending*. So there is a very good reason to keep this relic in Lost Songs.

But since those epics are about spending and not about finding, it's an ideal opportunity to introduce some carousing rules. The short of it is, every piece of gold a character is spending just for the sake of partying Big Time is worth 1 xp. Same goes for the money others spend for the characters. So if the characters decide to give a beautiful sword they found (say, worth 50.000 gold) to a king as a present and he decides to throw a party for a week, with tournaments and balls and what not, to honor them (say another 50.000), the characters would get 100.000 xp to share among each other.

Furthermore, only partying will give characters to new equipment. The they are able to spend, the higher are the chances to attract wealthy donors. Buying stuff won't have a very important part in the game, since there aren't shops in a classic sense where you just get what you want like in a supermarket. They either find it or they get it for their generosity.

There are net effects in the game to support the idea further. Characters will go on adventures during the proper seasons (late spring to early autumn) and stay at home (or where they are invited) to regenerate and spend the loot in those seasons where adventuring isn't possible or advised (late autumn to early spring)**.

Other reasons to spend money would be courting a lady (or a noble) and a marriage is always a good opportunity to throw gold at strangers, so there is that (having a family at home will also help regenerating some of the permanent damage characters will most likely receive during adventuring, so there are good reasons for characters to have something like this going ...)***.

A hero about to go on adventure ...
[illustration by Hermann Vogel]

This isn't an exact science, so characters need to spend at least as much gold as is needed to advance a level. They'll most likely aim for spending more and that's good fortune. For every 10% of the original amount they get a +1 to their fate roll for that season****.

With reaching name level, characters will automatically earned enough good will and fame to get their own castle or wizard's tower or holy site just by reaching the level. I think keying gold and xp the way I described above goes a long way in adding the flavor I want in the game through the system instead of just through the narrative. Characters need to spend those amounts of gold and make those decisions, so festivities, tournaments, marriages and all that will be part of what they experience and thus part of the game.

The other half

It's quite easy: every time characters deal or receive damage, they receive 10 times that amount as xp*****. This includes damage resulting in scars and permanent reductions of qualities, if they enrich the character's personal history ("This is the scar I received from Gunar Reyklinson in a fight about a beautiful horse...") or the setting ("We had told the stories about the evil ceremonies in that village to some travelling folk and it were those rumors that helped in the end to force that cult into hiding ..."). Same goes for the healing of permanent damage during holidays (you know, spending some quality time with the spouse and so on).

With this all the bases are covered. Good role playing, for instance, will result in "damaging" the reputation of others (reducing Fate of an enemy) or will make them nervous enough to make mistakes (reducing Nerve), to name but two examples. This way there is no need to add some artificial xp values for "good role playing" and so on. It's all in the game******. But dying a glorious death (you know, something the bards will sing about for decades to come ...) will give some extra xp to a player for his next character (I'm thinking 250 right now, half of level zero).

Again, the main idea here is to reward role playing by using the system to advance a character's goals in a way that lets the epic tale of the characters grow.

It's still a bit vague, but ...

This is a starting point. Most of it has been a part of my house rules for some time, but not in the context of Lost Songs. Damage works a bit different in the new combat system and I need to see how all of this works in connection with each other. But that's what play-testing is for and I need to start somewhere.

I hope this was able to give you all an idea where this is going. As always, comments, ideas and questions are very welcome.

* If you want to get an idea what I'm talking about here, feel free to check out my posts about explaining the Nibelungenlied for gamers: Part 1 and Part 2 (there will be more, but that's a different story ...).

** I wrote a post about the seasons and adventuring, going further into detail. It can be found here.

*** It's a post I have yet to write, but the basic idea here is to encourage players to build a dynasty, just like in the stories of old. Historically those successful warriors would end up being the ancestors of the kings to come, so (and this is far in the future, as far as this game goes) it will be possible to write games in later periods where the heroes are actual descendants of characters played before!

**** We're still talking about Nibelungs here, so there is the real threat of getting betrayed and killed for some random reason (envy, revenge, love, take your pick). So every character needs to make that roll for the holidays. Likewise it will be possible to spend one point Fate to substitute 100 missing gold pieces for advancement. It'll just lower a character's chances to make it happy holidays (this mustn't ultimately mean death, might as well be a child's death or an open enmity ...).

***** this is not my idea but the damn best way to handle xp in all things D&D. I don't remember where I had found it originally, but here's a post with at least one reference.

****** A post with everything you need to know about Qualities can be found here.