Pity-Crit

The Dungeon Factory Checklist (Part 1)

2010-11-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

These are some things that I try to include in every dungeon or de facto dungeon. I don't always succeed, but it's handy to have them all typed out.

Theme: Each dungeon should have a theme. Sometimes it's locational, like "we're underwater" and imparts a sense of direction to the dungeon rooms. Sometimes it's strategic, like "if any fight lasts longer than two rounds, the monsters in the adjoining rooms will join in" to make the way the party approaches the dungeon fundamentally different.

Boss Monster: A climactic fight that will serve as the dramatic capstone to the dungeon. It is not necessary that the players clear every room or whatever, before hitting this.

Mini Boss: A second boss creature that needs to be killed to get to the main boss, or that is optional and gives extra treasure.

Saving Throws: Something should be included that targets every saving throw. If shy a Fort or Reflex save, I can usually add a trap. If I am shy of Will saves, I can add a boss aura that causes fear or otherwise needs a Will save to negate. Additionally, if there is only one or two instances of a particular save in a dungeon, I tend to make those saves more important.

Environmental Hazard: Something that makes fighting in that area different or dangerous. A ledge, a pit, a pool of acid, wind that pushes the players and hinders ranged attacks, whatever.

Outre Battle: An encounter that will overmatch the players if approached without imagination or advantages. This should be fairly clear to the players before the battle begins, if you want to be nice, or it can become clear after the fight starts, in which case the players should probably work out a retreat or other alternative strategy.

Reinforcements: An area whose inhabitants reinforce the other major battles in the dungeon, but that will stop reinforcing when cleared.

Puzzle or Problem: Something that can't be solved by a die roll. Bitter experience has taught me that failing to solve these should not be a hard stop, but rather should make things more difficult or deny the players some advantage. Usually, the advantage is treasure or information.

Jalea Acta Est: Some kind of item or shrine that offers a permanent, random modification to a character. Things on the result chart need to be weighted so that there is a really slim chance of something horrible happening or only a moderate chance of something annoying happening. This is one element of old-school D&D that I definitely like.

Cursed Items: The "you must use this for x sessions or x levels" way of working cursed items is really great, as is the "it's almost worth it" method of cursed item design. I think cursed items should ideally offer something that is not normally available to a player, but at some terrible cost that makes the character dangerous to others and himself.

Minor Resource Conservation: This is something that I oscillate on. By shifting to per encounter abilities, things have definitely moved away from the old resource conservation aspect. Hit point totals have also been more or less easy to keep filled up. This is nice, because the "i rest after each fight" thing was horrible. The thing is, it's hard to view a dungeon holistically if there is so little carry over from each fight to the next, and including things like vile damage or lasting debuffs only seems to aggravate players. Still, it is sometimes worth having a couple of traps in the dungeon with penalties like "if you fail to save against this pungi stick then you are slow during the first round of each encounter for the rest of the dungeon" and so forth. If I wanted to return to some element of resource conservation, it would not involve conservation of offensive abilities like daily spells or maneuvers, but rather some kind of HP based thing where players were limited in how much they could heal. They should reach the boss with a little wear and tear, I think, and should be punished in ways other than just losing party members along the way.

Aura: At least one monster should be dangerous to stand next to, in order to give reach a reason to exist.

Diverse Tactical Situations: I like alternatives to the "kick in door, kill everything" motif. Things like a fighting retreat, or defending a central point with a map of the area provided, can be fun. As can rewarding speedy dispatching of foes. As can splitting the party up with a falling portcullis, slide trap, or teleport trap. This last one is really fun, actually, because the game is so teamwork oriented. I guess it is sometimes nice to see what the characters can do on their own, under adverse circumstances.

I've been reading about alternative level models for D&D

2010-10-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

I've been browsing the net to try and find some more interesting ways to arrange classes and levels. I have a flu or cold or something, so I am allowed to waste time on this.

The E6 System

It's pretty neat. The gist of it is that D&D 3.0/3.5 is much better if you stop at level six. After that you just get feats.

I agree with the creator in that un-altered d20 d&d gets a little complicated after around sixth or seventh level. The makers of 4e agreed, too. One of them called it the "sweet spot" and tried to spread that out over the entire 1-30 level stretch. I don't think they succeeded, because 4e kind of collapses under its own weight of extra attacks and immediate power gewgaws after a certain point, especially if you have more than four players in a party. The more people there are, the less interesting characters can be, strategically, or combat slows to a crawl and never recovers.

Some of the simplest fixes to 3.5 is to change all the durations away from rounds or minutes, to eliminate pre-casting, and to have a hard limit on the number of spells any spellcaster memorizes each day (down to like, maybe ten spells that can be cast twice each, perhaps). Those alone fix a huge number of problems with 3.0.

Man, Oh Man

2010-10-08T02:23:00.001-07:00

I have this grognardy nostalgia for dual-classing and multi-classing (double or even triple) the way it was in second edition. Or some similar method. Split my XP evenly between both of my classes? Okay! Have one class that stinks (thief) but only takes half the XP of the other class (wizard or paladin) so it's still keeping pace with some of the other party members? Great! Not balanced per se? Relying on delayed gratification for a superior power level payoff? Fine with me!

All I Want Is Some Fucking Clockwork

2010-09-26T07:13:00.002-07:00

In second edition D&D, there is a little known class called the Sha'ir, which was a sort of wizard from Al'Qadim that had a sort of alternative model for obtaining spells. Instead of memorizing them, the wizard would send his gen, or little genie, off to fetch the spell, and the genie would return with the spell a round or two later. The benefit here being that the sha'ir was not constrained so much by spell level. The gen would take longer to fetch a spell, the more above the wizard's grade it was, though.

Eventually, there was a Complete Sha'ir Handbook, which was part of the first class-based splatbooks to be published for d&d. For all I know, it was the first rpg-related splatbook series ever. Anyway, it was amazing. Back in 2e there were these things called kits, that were basically a way of customizing a generic class into something more specific and interesting. Like, a thief would take a jackal kit and start stealing peoples' spells, but at great cost to his other abilities. Not that 2e thieves really had abilities, but you get the idea.

In the Complate Sha'ir Handbook, there were probably fifteen or twenty crazy, zany, downright whackadoo kits for sha'irs. Whoever wrote it must have figured "hey, it's not like the sha'ir has any semblance of balance or functionality to begin with, let's just see how much crazy crap we can come up with." And boy, did he ever succeed.

Sticking out in my head are the mathemagician, the astrologer (who would hang spells on different constellations), the spell slayer (holy wizard-assassins), and the clockwork mage. Especially the clockwork mage. That fucker basically assembled clockpunk robots from scratch, with a list of parts and power sources. You basically spent all your time (and gold) on building crazy robots. It was almost freeform in a lot of ways. And if it died you were out hundreds or thousands of GP. But get a player with a lot of artistic talent or zest for creativity in that class, and you'd end up with half-deer half-lobster mechanical beasties that fired lightning bolts out of their horns.

Sad to say, but in the 2.5 editions since then, nothing has really topped this class for cool factor, and no splatbook has topped the Complete Sha'ir for really creative shit. A lot of the splatbooks have just been updating older, popular options, I guess. But that's no excuse. It's possible that you just can't do as much fun stuff when balance is so paramount, as it has nominally been in 3e and 4e. But where's my fucking clockwork class? Where's my inventor? Where is my balanced system where someone actually builds something? How about a golem construction pet class? Or a wizard biologist that designs his own homunculi? This shit should be easier now that wealth is actually handed out at a more or less set pace. There's homebrew crap on the internet, but my choice of the term "crap" is non-accidental in this case.

All I want is some fucking clockwork.

Crafting Potions

2010-08-02T12:13:00.001-07:00

As part of my continuing futile quest to incorporate some element of crafting into a pen and paper rpg, I present some alternative potion brewing rules.

Potions

Potions may be purchased in a town. Their basic purpose is to give players a way to expend long term resources in order to sustain themselves better in a dungeon, and also to allow players to better leverage gold spent into success in the field. Potions may be quaffed as a move action that does not draw attacks of opportunity. They may also be fed to an adjacent unconscious character as a standard action that does not draw an attack of opportunity.

Basic Potions

Cure Light 100gp
This potion cures 10 hp of damage.

Ferocity 150gp
This potion imparts a +1 alchemical bonus to critical threat range for 1d6 rounds.

Courage 200gp
This potion imparts a +2 alchemical bonus to AC and saves for the rest of an encounter.

Experimental Recipes

Any player may spend 300gp to attempt to discover a new potion recipe. In doing so, he picks a basic potion to attempt to modify, spends his gp, and rolls on the following table, with the result being an effect that occurs in addition to that potion's usual effects. That character may then brew that custom potion any time he is in town and has the gp to burn. The recipe is finicky, however, and may not be transmitted to another character. You cannot add additional effects to custom recipes.

Recipe Results (1d20)
(All results are in addition to the basic potion's normal effects)

1-3: Failed recipe.
4: Vim: This potion cures an additional +5 hp. No price change.
5: Vigor: This potion cures an additional +10 hp. +50gp.
6: Regeneration: This potion cures an additional +15 hp on the quaffer's next turn.
7: Fire Protection: The quaffer enjoys +10 fire resist for the rest of the encounter. +50gp.
8: Antitoxin: The quaffer enjoys +10 poison resist for the rest of the encounter. +25gp.
9: Aromatics: The quaffer has any disease or weak conditions cured. +25gp.
10: Strength: The quaffer enjoys a +2 alchemical bonus to damage for the rest of the encounter. +50gp.
11: Fearlessness: Removes fear, and adds +1 alchemical bonus to AC for rest of encounter (stacks with courage). +100gp
12: Haste: Drinker enjoys +2 initiative bonus for rest of the day. +25gp.
13: Survival: Drinker enjoys +10 cold and electric resist for the rest of the encounter. +100gp.
14: Berserk Strength: Drinker enjoys extra +1 critical threat range for rest of encounter. +150gp.
15: Growth: Drinker occupies two spaces, suffers -2 penalty to AC, and enjoys +1 reach for rest of encounter. +200gp.
16: Heavy Curing: This potion cures an additional +20hp. +200gp.
17: Restoration: This potion cures an additional +10hp, and removes any weakness, stun, or blindness. +100gp.
18: Vibrancy: Pemanent +1 bonus to initiative. Only works once per drinker. +100gp.
19: Life: Permanent +1d6 max hp. Only works once per drinker. +300gp.
20: Improvement: Permanent +1 alchemical bonus to a saving throw of drinkers' choice. Only works once per drinker. +300gp.

Option: Limited Recipe Results

If you're into this sort of thing, you could cross off each new potion effect once it has been used, and have players re-roll that result if it comes up again. I don't know what this would add to a game, but it seems pretty hardcore to me!

Fuck d20 Modern

2010-06-07T18:14:00.001-07:00

I hate the d20 Modern rules, and who knows how long it will be before a (likely kind of crappy) 4e d20 Modern old-hat settings/rules/whatever is published. But whenever I run a modern game I get frustrated with shoddy weapon rules. This is a simple yet distinctive system for firearms and modern armor that I have used for modern campaigns in the past.

Ranged Weapons

Under this system, attacks have a -3 penalty at long range, and can't aim at a target beyond that. Heavier weapons carry a speed penalty.

Light Firearms

Pistol: 1d12, range 5/15, +2 to attack rolls within short range.
Revolver: 2d6, range 5/14, on hit target medium or smaller creature is pushed 1 space.
SMG: 1d6, range 4/12, may make extra attack with -3 penalty as move action.

Medium Firearms

Rifle: 1d20, 9/22, +2 to attack rolls within long range. Speed -1.
Shotgun: 2d8, range 5/10, on hit target medium or smaller creature is pushed 2 spaces, and large creature is pushed 1 space. Speed -1.
Assault Rifle: 1d10, range 6/16, may make extra attack with -3 penalty as move action. Speed -1.

Optional Rule: Mods

Each light firearm weapon can accept one modification, and each medium firearm can accept two. Redundant modifications are not allowed. I would encourage anybody using a version of these rules to devise more mods. Each "mod" changes the weapon or armor statistics, sometimes with an accompanying drawback.

Firearm Mods

Scope: +1 to attack rolls at long range, +2 to long range.
Bayonet - Medium weapons only. You threaten adjacent squares with a dagger attached to your weapon. -1 Short and long range.
Extra Clip Capacity: You enjoy a +2 bonus to extra attacks or attacks of opportunity.
Laser Sight: +1 to attacks
Stock: +2 to short and long range.

Bosses

2010-04-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

Boss fights are basically the best. They're the climax of the rising action, where the players really show their stuff, or suffer for it. They're also time for you to crack out earth-shaking badniks, with incredibly deadly abilities.

They're usually something that's fucking cool, too. A lich or a dragon, a god or an Old One. A tarrasque. Whatever. Something that kicks ass and players associate with corpses and tear-stained character sheets.

The best bosses are the bookends of campaigns, showing their faces early on in the campaign, intermittently pulling some strings, and then taking part in a major throw-down during the last or nearly last session.

During the Final Battle, PC deaths are possible or even unavoidable, depending on how difficult your campaign is. Total party wipeouts become a possibility that is more or less acceptable to your players, who wouldn't want the climax to be an easy fight. Heck, the harder it is, the happier the players will be, when they win (or almost win, which can be just as good).

Buzz-Kills

-Watch out for the fight being too easy, even if the players have an amazing plan. But similarly, it shouldn't be too hard in a way that isn't fun. Bosses should sizzle on your players' taste buds, one way or another, rather than be 1,000 hp wastes of time.

-The boss shouldn't be a one-trick pony. Ideally it should have two stages, where the boss alters or steps up its mode of combat, usually after it is reduced to half life.

-Watch out for save or die effects, or their cousins, domination/charm effects. A good rule of thumb is to give a boss the ability to automatically have an effect like these cause the boss to lose his next turn, rather than die. Or to have the effect wear off at the end of a round, in the case of dominate effects. This avoids you simply having a monster be immune to an ability, and gives the players their druthers.

Tips!

-Broadcast how difficult it's going to be to kill the boss, in-game rather than out of game. Out of game gloating can backfire way too easy. But in-game foreknowledge can impress your players into performing better, and possibly give them some tips about how to win.

-Outline what's at stake to the players if they fail to defeat the boss. It doesn't need to be a "save the world" scenario. There can be very clear, unpleasant consequences, without it being an earth-shaking scenario.

-The final session of the game can be the most important of the entire campaign. It's the one players will remember best, for chronological reasons. The boss should be memorable, and the fight should encapsulate and exemplify all the good things from the entire campaign.

Player Power Level

2010-04-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of game balance with regard to power level. First, the party's power level versus everything else, usually a dungeon or series of antagonists. Second, the party members' power levels versus each other --not necessarily in a PvP sense, but in the sense that they are consistently able to out-perform the rest of the party.

Temporary Superiority

Sometimes a party member is more suited to a particular situation, which is fine as long as it isn't a deliberate choice on the DM's part. If you feel like using undead, and the cleric is better at fighting undead, it's all right for that character to exhibit a superior ability to deal with his area of specialty.

Other times, a character is better at a particular level, but this is temporary. Fighters are (much) better than wizards at first level, in vanilla 3e D&D. This goes away as the characters increase in level, and is in many ways fun -- the wizard "pays" for his later superiority by being weaker early on. Indeed, he "earns" his later power merely by surviving.

The danger here is if there is a major trend in superior level. Even if it's just that the player is better than optimizing his build, it's a problem. Indeed, it's probably a bad thing that a character design system can be so well gamed, that players who are not as interested can be left so far behind in balance.

Lowering Top-Tier Effectiveness

In Team Fortress 2, a first-person shooter game that came out a few years ago, the game designers made the conscious choice to limit how much more effective a skilled player could be. Shooting someone in the head doesn't always inflict more damage, for example. Nor does having played longer give you access to weapons that are per se better, though it does give you more (sometimes more newbie-friendly) options.

The result is that, even though a skilled player is still obviously better during gameplayer, it isn't an automatic shut out. New players with quick reflexes can still compete with the pros, or at least contribute to the performance of the team. There is a narrower band within which player skill can improve that player's performance.

D&D should be the same way. More proficient (or interested) players should have an advantage for seeing rules possibilities that other players don't, but not a huge one. Playing D&D should be more about tactical decisions than character design. This doesn't sell rules manuals that are essentially catalogues that players can peruse through to "shop" for bonuses, but it does make for a more rewarding play experience. The player should be most rewarded for decisions made on the fly, not what happens when he's picking feats before the game begins.

When It Goes Right

Ideally, the adventuring party should be a smooth functioning machine, with each party member performing his equally important role under pressure, in dangerous situations with outcomes that are only partially predictable.

When things are working appropriately, there is a rising arc of action, with smaller encounters in a dungeon sapping some of the party's reserves and testing their ability to allocate resources, with mild possibility of things backfiring horribly.

Then you fight the boss (or whatever), and the boss truly tests the party's mettle. It's the apex of the rising action, making a player death or even a wipeout more likely than in the normal course of things. Great stuff.

When It Goes Wrong

Nullifying a particular player's advantages is a mistake. If you start deliberately crafting encounters that are resistant to an above-average power level player-character's abilities, or that hit on all his weaknesses, he will usually feel like you're picking on him. Using any form of negative reinforcement will just make that player unhappy.

The way to fix things is to increase the power level of all the party members, through means that bring them specifically into line with the other player. For my game, I introduce new spells for the underpowered casters' spell lists, extra class-specific feat options for under-powered rogues and fighters, and magical items that are more likely to help the under-powered players than the over-powered fella.

Does this make the entire party too powerful? Absolutely. But monsters and traps can always have their difficulty ramped up. Have them do more damage, have a higher armor class and saves, and generally amp things up. It might be a little faster than you expected, but that's fine, it's all in the game. And it's certainly better than having an incredibly over-powered player making everybody else feel like schlubs.

Carousing Table

2010-04-06T14:15:00.001-07:00

Some grognard somewhere wrote a carousing table, with the idea that PCs could opt to try their luck every time they were in a town. This is my own take on it, with a few modified versions of that guy's ideas and some of my own. I wish I could remember where I got the idea from, or I'd give credit.

The idea is retro, but the stats are for my cribbed 3e rules.

Carousing Chart

When you have successfully completed a dungeon, you may spend 50 gp to roll on this chart:

1

Shotgun Wedding: Due to circumstances beyond your control, you have married an undesirable romantic partner. You suffer a -1 morale penalty to attack and spell DC for the entire next expedition.

2

Venereal Troubles: You couldn’t see the rash in the candlelight. You begin the first day of your next expedition diseased (unless immune), which lasts until cured.

3

A Big Misunderstanding: You end up in the stocks for three days. Probably for something arson-related. The harsh treatment causes you to begin the first day of the next expedition with 20 damage (minimum of 1 hp remaining).

4

Hangover From Hell: You suffer -1 to saving throws for the entire next expedition.

5

Wanted Man: You commit a series of petty crimes while under the influence, and need to lay low while in town. You cannot carouse the next time you complete a dungeon.

6

An Honest Mistake: Target of lewd advances turns out to be a witch. Make a Charisma check or you have a -2 penalty to saving throws for the entire next expedition. If your check succeeds, you enjoy a +2 bonus to saving throws for the entire next expedition.

7

Gambling Binge: You spend your time in gambling houses. You may wager up to 400gp. The DM flips a coin, and if you are correct then you double your money. If you are incorrect, the amount wagered is lost.

8

New Tattoo: You wake up the next morning with a headache and a new tattoo. It has a 50% of giving you a +1 or -1 modifier to a randomly determined ability score. Reroll for a new score if it would increase a stat beyond 20.

9

Rest and Relaxation: You enjoy a +1 bonus to saving throws for the entire next expedition.

10

Learn From The Master: You encounter a higher level adventurer of your class, who teaches you a few new tricks. You gain access to an additional class feat of your choice, until you go up a level.

11

Spiritual Experience: You go on a vision quest or something after smoking some really kush stuff. Henceforth, raising you from the dead costs 50gp less than it otherwise would.

12

Interesting Romantic Entanglement: If you aren't already married, you have developed an interesting romantic relationship. Your better half gives you a +1 bonus to an ability score of your choice, so long as you don't get married in a shotgun wedding.

Optional Spell Failure Chance for 3e

2010-03-07T20:32:00.001-08:00

Spell failure chance is terrible. Almost no arcane casters go for it. Also, any mechanic that requires an extra roll in 3e -in this case, a percentile spell failure chance- is a bad one. Instead convert the percentile chance to a flat penalty to spell DC at a rate of -1 for each 5%. You may need to ad hoc a rule that arcane casters can't wear heavier than light armor, but I kind of doubt it, as spell DC is pretty solidly balanced by CR.

Revised Skill System

2010-03-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

I fucking hate the normal skill system i 3e and 4e. They're equally pointless in both editions, and in 4e especially, the skill challenge system stinks. Both stifle creativity. So I actually made re-proficiencies ala 2e. These may require tweaking for your game, but I adore them.

Revised Skills

Each character starts with 3, plus one per INT MOD. Thieves get an extra +2, and bards get an extra +1. The DC for all of these abilities is 10. Unless otherwise noted, there is no penalty for failing a check, though botches may be penalized at DM discretion

Prep Skills
These checks may only be made at the start of each 24 hour cycle.

Armorsmithing: Dex. +1 masterwork bonus to AC for the day.

Cantrips: Int. You may memorize +2 first level spells, for the day.

Cooking: Con. +5 temporary hit points for party, for day.

Healing: Wis. Check to heal party additional +15 hp at the start of that day.

Inspiration: Cha. +1 morale bonus to your saves for day.

Meditation: Wis. +1 bonus to spell DC for day.

Strategy. Int. +2 morale bonus to party initiative for the day.

Tarot. Cha. When the chosen player rolls a natural 1 on attack rolls and saving throws no longer fumbles, but still fails.

War Machines: Int. Your attacks with siege engines enjoy a +2 masterwork bonus for the day, and inflict extra damage equal to your level.

Wild Magic: Con. Your spells enjoy a +2 luck bonus to their DC, for the day. If you fail this check, your spells suffer a -1 luck penalty to their DC, for the day.

Weaponsmithing: Str. +1 masterwork to attack rolls and touch spell DC for the day.

Combat Skills
Each of these may only be used once per encounter.

Alertness: Wis. Sense invisible creatures or gain +3 to save vs traps, as immediate action.

Balance: Dex. When you are hit by an area of effect ability, you may shift 15 feet as an immediate action.

Bandaging: Wis. Targeted player is healed his CON score.

Beast Taming: Cha. You may cause a single creature with a bestial level of intelligence to not take action during the first round, unless it is damaged, as an immediate action.

Diplomacy: Cha. You may cause a single intelligent target that is not inherently hostile to you to not take action during the first round, unless it is damaged, as an immediate action.

Dueling: Dex. Shift one space as free action.

Intimidation: Cha. Target that you have hit this turn is Afraid for encounter (no save), as move action.

Juggling: Dex. You gain a +3 bonus to your AC and saves against ranged attacks until the end of your next turn, as an immediate action. This ability may be used after a ranged attack has just hit, in order to make that attack missed (assuming -3 to that attack would be sufficient).

Jumping: Str. Add +2 to speed for one move action, or +4 speed if all you are doing this round is moving.

Mnemonics: Wis. Swap single spell for a different spell that you possess, as standard action.

Monster Lore: Int. Get resistances and vulnerabilities of a creature, as free action.

Parrying: Dex. +3 to AC until your next turn, as free action.

Poisoning: Int. Your next hit to hit this encounter inflicts additional poison damage equal to your level, move action. This skill botches on a natural roll of 1, 2, or 3.

Rallying: Cha. +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and spell DC for party, as free action.

Training Skills
These may only be used when the character that possesses them gains a level.

Endurance: Con. +1 max hp.

Research: Int. You may add an additional spell to your spell or prayerbook, of any level that you can cast.

Atropaics: Wis. You may attempt a skill check to un-equip a cursed item from a player, even before its level duration is finished.

Philosophy: Wis. You gain +8 XP.

Salvaging: Int. You gain you level x 50gp.

More Interesting Magic Items

2010-03-04T14:32:00.001-08:00

I hate the magic item system in normal D&D. In 3e the items were bland, boring, and the vast majority of them were inferior to a few very specific items that boosted ability scores and shit. Plus there were seventeen slots, plus ioun stones. The end result was that your items were more important than the choices you made when designing your character. In short, terrible.

In 4e, you still use way too many items, and many of them are horribly bland, but at least they add additional abilities instead of just being longsword +1s or whatever. I hate a lot of the new systems, but at least the items are generally more interesting than a hat that gives me +2 wisdom.

I only use a few magic item slots: head, neck, cloak, armor, belt, feet, hands, ring, and weapon. Nine is plenty, though, especially since I prefer items to be a little more useful, though without modifying the basic nature of a character too much.

Nice Items Vs. Game-Changers

A nice item gives you bonuses that are handy, like for example a cloak that gives you 10 fire resistance. A game-changer is an item that changes the way your character operates, like an item that gives you +4 speed. There's a big difference there in how much it affects your character. One helps you out, okay, but another will modify everything you do or change your strategic options in nearly every combat. Thus, game changer. Here are a few ideas for items of each category. I don't bother pricing items in GP value, so you're on your own with that. And suck it up if you don't like "per encounter" abilities.

Nice Items

Wolf-Hunter Ushanka
+10 cold resist. +1 ranged weapon damage.

Armadillo Cloak
You ignore damage from the first thirty feet of any fall.

Countering Ward Amulet
When you succeed in a saving throw against a spell, the source of that spell suffers 15 electric damage and this amulet shatters.

Iron-Band Belt: During the first round of combat, you enjoy a +3 bonus to AC.

Life Charm: When you roll a natural 20 on a saving throw, this charm breaks and you heal 20 hp.

Swordstring Charm: You enjoy DR 3/-. When you are hit with a critical hit, this charm breaks and you suffer an additional +20 damage on the critical hit.

Game-Changers

Huntsman's Ring
Your attacks during the first round of combat enjoy +1 to critical threat range.

Boots of Dancing
Any time you take a five foot step, you may move two spaces. You cannot use this ability if you are wearing heavy armor.

Hellfire Trident
Trident +1. When you score a critical hit with this trident, you may immediately cast a fireball spell as though cast by a 6th-level Wizard, using your Charisma to determine difficulty class.

Staff of the Apprentice
Quarterstaff +1. Your first-level spells enjoy a +3 bonus to their DC. Once per encounter, you may cause a first level spell that you cast to inflict maximum damage. That spell cannot otherwise be modified with metamagic or class abilities.

Duelists' Wand
Your spells enjoy a +1 bonus to their DC, and any spells with short range are increased to medium range.

Belt of Superior Spell Components
You reroll any results of 1 on damage dice, when casting spells.

Sharding Armor
Half plate +1. Any time you are struck for damage with a melee weapon, the space in which you reside becomes covered in magical caltrops that fall off of your armor. These caltrops do not inconvenience you, but the first creature to enter their space will take 5 damage and cannot move further on that turn, at which point the caltrops in that space crumble to dust. Un-triggered caltrops crumble to dust at the end of the encounter.

Shuffled Dungeon

2009-11-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

Another thing I did, earlier this week, is take a number of smaller sheets of paper, upon which I would draw a map of a room. Each of the rooms had a single door out, a single door in, and an encounter or otherwise interesting content.

Each time the players opened the door to the next room, I would shuffle the sheets of paper and have the person opening the door pick one, in effect randomly determining the order in which they entered the rooms. Eventually, the last room ran full circle back to the entrance.

It was a lot of fun, I was just as uncertain as the players as to what encounter was next.

Old ENWorld Post That Describes A Neat Dungeon

2009-09-11T19:02:00.001-07:00

A long while back, I ran a suspenseful little dungeon as a substitute for one of the old Rod of Seven Parts segment quests. It consisted of a largely abandoned crypt wherein there was only one monster (wait for it), and one form of treasure (the third segment of the Rod of Seven parts).

A dungeon with one monster doesn't sound like anything special. Under most circumstances, one might expect the dungeon to be over with very quickly. However, this dungeon was designed in such a way that while they were navigating its difficult-to-transverse passages, which seemed to pay little attention to gravity, they were at various times attacked by tentacles extending from convenient holes set in the wall, confronted with horrifying yet sourceless visions, and otherwise harangued by the single lonely monster as it sat comfortably in the center of the dungeon. With the right monster and the right dungeon, this sort of setup is entirely possible (and I recommend it).

The pcs spent a good three hours picking their way through the dungeon before they finally came to a huge mandala-like rune that was etched into the stone ceiling with gold dust. At the center of the really cool-looking glyph (I drew it), inserted into the ceiling, was the segment of The Rod. After some Knowledge (Arcana) checks, it became abundantly obvious that The Rod was powering an exceptionally powerful containment glyph. When the PCs eventually screwed up their courage and pulled the glyph out, I dropped my 3.0 monstrous manual and revealed the first edition Deities & Demigods, and flashed them the beautiful illustration of Yogsothoth. I guess in subsequent printings the Cthulhu Mythos was removed for legal reasons. At the time of this session, Call of Cthulhu had not yet come out yet, so the PCs were absolutely horrified. The PCs eventually defeated the (heavily modified towards the weak end of the spectrum) creature once they had stopped screaming.

[I love conceptual dungeons, and I love The Big Reveal.]

Base of Operations

2009-09-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

I like the idea of a party of adventurers having a base of operations. Players are often reluctant to do so because DM's love blowing that kind of stuff up. So these are some optional rules for 3.5 that give players a reason to buy the stuff. If the DM makes an explicit social contract with the PCs to not mess with it too much, the players might even buy the stuff! It's up to you whether the PCs enjoy these benefits if they're traveling to the other side of the earth or whatever -- a really expensive wagon or ship might boast a limited number of the accessories, at your discretion.

Building

Buying a suitable building costs 1000gp. Additional purchases that have game statistics are as follows:

Accessories

Fancy Samovar (800gp): +1 initiative to entire party.

Laboratory (800gp): +1 damage when using poison, and 10% discount on potions and scrolls.

Sauna (800gp): +1 max HP to entire party.

Trophy Room (1500gp): +3% experience per session.

Library (2000gp): +3% experience per session.

Grindstone (2000gp): +1 melee damage to entire party.

Fine-Tuned Scale (4000gp): +5% value of raw GP treasure found.

Five Cursed Items

2009-09-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

An intelligence check, DC 15 must be made when identifying these items, or else the drawbacks of the item will not be apparent or the item will be mis-identified as a beneficial item. None of these items can be destroyed or removed from one's person by conventional means.

The Black Gauntlet

An elbow-length, black leather glove that radiates powerful magic, the black gauntlet was worn by a mad king as he strangled his infant sons. It imparts a +3 bonus to damage dealt with melee weapons, but any time a natural 1 is rolled it instead causes the wearer to make a whirlwind attack against all adjacent allies. If there are no allies adjacent, then the wearer will instead attack himself.

Backbiter

A two-handed spear that often conceals itself by polymorphing into various kinds of pole-arms, the backbiter was used to injure a powerful priest in the early days of a major religion. The backbiter inflicts +10 poison damage per hit, but any time an attack with it misses, it instead causes damage to the wielder as though he were attacking himself.

Petitioner Boots

A pair of man-skin boots that often conceals its appearance via illusions, the petitioner boots are made from the skin of ghosts from the afterlife. Any creature wearing the boots gains +2 speed and +1 AC, but loses all fire resistance and cannot gain or benefit from it while wearing the boots.

Gnome Belt

A belt woven of tanned gnomish scalps that hides its true appearance with illusions, usually appearing as a dwarven belt or something that adventurers will assume is useful. As soon as it is donned, the belt polymorphs the wearer into a gnome. The wearer becomes small, gains -2 Strength and +2 Constitution, and temporarily loses any ability score modifiers from his true race (or loses access to his bonus feat, if human), but because the wearer is not a true gnome, that's as far as it goes. When the belt is finally removed, the wearer reverts to his true form, no worse for the wear.

Ring of Limb Paralysis

A gold ring with some ancient writing on the inside that seems to want to be worn. As soon as one puts it on, the arm on which it is worn becomes paralyzed and useless. It resists magics that cure paralysis until the ring is removed via remove curse, though a particularly desperate adventurer might remove the finger on which the ring resides.

a typical, overwrought forum post

2009-08-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Venomire: 4e isn't terrible, it's just different. Nothing says you must play it, and while I know that people posting here realize it, many tend to forget that.

pitycrit: i'm not playing your shitty wow tabletop clone what i lament is that anything i produce relating to the game is no longer relevant to the general player base because wizards made some poisonous design decisions because they think copying wow and catering to the lowest common denominator will make for the best game experience for the most people, and as long as they pour the money into marketing and high production value the user base will buy their schlock, enjoy your twenty round combats played with official hasbro miniatures you weak brained porcino-capitalist chimp

Sekolah

2009-08-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have always loved cults and religions. The mythology of most religions makes for great reading, and the means of worship vary significantly. This is one of my favorite religions, from one of my better games.

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branchèd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind.
-John Keats (1795-1821), Ode to Psyche

The Salahs

In the Second Enlightened Sekolian Cult, a Salah is considered to be the personified power and authority of the shark-deity Sekolah, holding the authority to act as a leader in the church and to perform priestly duties, as well as the sacred power to work miracles. A group of Salahs is referred to as a 'shiver'.

The word 'Salah' denotes elements of both power and authority. All Salah have undergone and survived a shark attack known as 'the Shriving', and been spared death via Sekolah's implicit intervention. This brush with Sekolah and death gives the Salahs a mystical understanding and authority over the oceans, as well as the twin processes of life and death. As a spiritual power, Salahs are said to possess the abilities to control the winds, to communicate with sharks, and to devour wicked spirits that threaten their devotees.

The Shriving

There is a single requirement to become a Salah: Any man or woman that has been assaulted by sharks, lost two-fifths or more of his or her body mass, and survived, is then eligible to become a Salah. This loss of body is regarded as an offering to Sekolah, and may be either deliberate or accidental. Such horrible injuries are considered to cultivate detachment from mortality in the victim that then allows them to achieve a closer relationship with the deity than other worshippers.

The Modern Cult

The faith of Sekolah is referred to as a cult because it focuses on a principle deity and his associated menagerie of spirits, but does not purport a doctrine of morals by which believers are expected to live their lives by. The doctrine of Sekolah's cult is concerned chiefly with how to honor and revere Sekolah, and what few morals it espouses pertain to individuals and their duties to various categories of other people, such as spouses, family, and mamluks.

The modern cult is more temperate than its predecessors, who were blood-soaked and aggressive. It is presently led by one Iber Salah, who has distinguished himself by forbidding his Salahs to set foot on soil that is not part of the Guatican Co-Prosperity Sphere. This has led to a number of foreign Salah to reside aboard houseboats and the like, and is interpreted as a tacit support for the Shah's recent expansionist policies.

Jabberwock's Aerie

2009-08-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

Not a bad session tonight. I'm curious whether my PCs will try and go after the dragon, or pursue side quests that hold the promise of making killing the dragon easier.

Absinthe and Opium

2009-08-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'll skip the mini-essay about the inclusion of drugs in the Book of Vile Darkness being related to Monte Cook not being invited to the really good parties.

I have included rules for fantastic versions of two much-storied substances that I feel sure can fit into most games. It is my thought that, although these substances can add gris gris to a campaign, they should not be the focus. Thus, the rules avoid complication as well as I am able.

Addiction: Creatures that are exposed to one of these substances must make Willpower saves of the listed DC or form a habit. A creature with a habit must take a dose of his drug each day or suffer the specified drawbacks.
Each week that a character goes without his substance, he must make a Willpower save against the listed DC in order to shake his addiction. If this check fails, the character will do anything in his power that does not violate his alignment to obtain more of the substance in question. If this check succeeds, the addiction is over, though if he ever takes even a single dose of the substance again, his habit automatically reforms.
Greater Restoration or more powerful magics are required to cure addiction via magical means.

Opium (DC 18, 15gp)

This substance is usually used in a tincture or smoked via apparatuses that avoid applying direct flame to the substance. Opium products such as laudanum (opium dissolved in red wine or alcohol) are prized for their medicinal effects, and when used in conjunction with a Heal check or cure spell, allow the recipient to heal an additional +6 hp. In this case, the recipient must check for addiction.
Opium is also used for pleasure, and is renowned for the strange visions and mental activity that it causes. Each day, a creature with an opium habit may choose to memorize one of the following, which may be used as an extraordinary ability: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Detect Secret Doors, or Detect Undead. This ability does not resemble magic, and the user may not even be aware that he is acting in an extraordinary fashion when using these abilities.
Once one has an opium habit, one must use daily or else become fatigued. If one goes more than two days without, one instead becomes exhausted. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by using opium.

Absinthe (DC 14, 25gp)

The green faerie, the artist's liquor, a distillation containing wormwood and anise, among other things. This is the wizards' drug, reputed to allow men to taste souls, see the future, and hold traffic with fae creatures. When quaffed as a potion, absinthe will function as a potion with the effects of detect invisibility and detect magic at the same time, with a duration of but a single round.
A character with an absinthe habit will enjoy +1 to the DC of his spells, and enjoy a +2 bonus to Charisma-related checks with fae creatures.
When one has an absinthe habit, one must use daily or else become dazzled. If one goes without for more than a day, he instead becomes shaken. These conditions cannot be ameliorated so long as the habit lasts, except by renewed use of absinthe.

Campaign Design Best Practices (Part 5)

2009-07-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

17. Production Value - Treasure Art: If you have a black and white printer and an internet connection, you can find pictures of your treasure. I haven't done this in a long time, and every time I remember to I kick myself because there's nothing cooler than being handed a picture of your newly obtained hoard of goodies. Something fun that certain boxed sets have done is have cards for each item with a picture on the front and the item details on the back --i.e. nothing beyond the skills of your average computer using gamer.

18. Style - Reward What You Like, Punish What You Hate: For years I would offer to let people start out with extra experience points if they typed up a character background. I know that many DMs require this. The thing is, I hate them. Every time I read one I'd get bored. It's rare that I would actually finish an entire history unless I was looking for plot hooks. One day I had an epiphany: why am I rewarding players for boring me? So I stopped asking for character histories, and when I need to involve backgrounds it will be more along the lines of things that I want, like me giving them perks in exchange for accepting a certain amount of hassle-causing backstory. Another habit in the same vein that I have been cured of is trying to separate my emotional reactions from the rules of the game with regards to rewarding players. I'd think things like "Paul sure made that game less fun for me, tonight." And then I'd give him as much experience as everybody else. Your fun is important, and your opinion of whether players are fun or not fun is probably the best barometer your gaming group can get. Similarly, if someone is flexible about the rules and isn't always waving the rulebooks in your face, you should feel freer to give them a little leeway with the rules. If a player is a stickler and gets in your face about every minor rules mistake, don't feel bad about applying the same standard to them.

19. Style - Don't Be Scared To Change Things: A bad habit that I rid myself of only recently is trying to run modules or campaign worlds exactly how they are written. I guess I was convinced that if I could run things exactly as they were written, I would end up with the best game possible. This is untrue. Firstly, most mainstream game designers are kind of lazy and their modules are often not playtested or especially inspired. For the really mainstream games things have to be oriented toward the lowest common denominator, and so will be less interesting to people that rate low on the Aspergers scale. Secondly, no matter how good a module is, the author cannot know how the pacing is going in your game, because this will vary every time the module is run. What might seem like a great time to ambush the players on paper may in fact be when the players are getting cranky because things are too difficult. Fudge the module a bit, delay or omit, replace and swap. Your game will be better for it.

Campaign Design Best Practices (Part 4)

2009-07-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

13. Drama - Segmented Dungeons: Break your dungeon levels up into sections that will take about a session each to manage. You might accomplish this by having there be seals that need to be broken between each level or section, by having unavoidable choke points, or assembly puzzles that need to be completed with items found in a given section. The reason to do this is so that each session feels like something fresh in the minds of the players when they begin a new session, and so that any rejoining players that missed a session or two don't feel clueless. If the segments increase in difficulty as one conquers them, there is also a rising dramatic arc.

14. Production Value - Logo: You should have a logo for your campaign. A symbol that has something to do with the game, perhaps a representation of the main MacGuffin or arch-villain's personal rune. Put the symbol on your character sheets and handouts. This is called branding, and will add "polish" to your campaign and make it more distinctive in the minds of your players.

15. Drama - Forming An Adventuring Party: Don't have them meet in a tavern. How will that distinguish your campaign as any different from tens of thousands of other games? The party works better when the players have an established relationship --making it a given that they are siblings and cousins has worked well for me. Or if you must have them meet, have them meet under circumstances likely to make them cooperative. Having them meet in the drunk tank of a jail, for example. Or in a more modern campaign, have them be caught in an elevator together for a few hours. I've also had one player be the head of a company that interviewed the other PCs to see if they were right for the job --if you do this, be sure to roleplay a few people that definitely won't get hired, just for fun.

16. Production Value - Character Portraits: Even if you aren't an artistically talented person (I'm not) you may have a player that is, or they may have amenable friends that are. Tell the players that if there is a decent character portrait made of their character then it is worth a good chunk of experience. Nothing makes a character more distinct than seeing it come to life.

Campaign Design Best Practices (Part 3)

2009-07-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

9. Drama - Beginning The Session: Some people recite poetry or campaign literature at the start of each session. This, as we say in the business, is boring as fuck. I think I remember Monte Cook writing about doing that in his blog, no surprises there. Classier individuals play a theme song each time to set the tone and make starting the game a formula --it signals the transition from catching up with friends and prepping snacks to the exploring the game world. I usually ask my players where we left off, so they present their own perspective of what their situation was that I can then modify to my needs. Maybe they won't mention a key fact that I wish to ensure that they know; this way I know to re-state it for emphasis. This also freshens me up, in case there's something about their situation that I forgot.

10. Drama - Narrate From The Enemy's Perspective: You don't always need to present the PCs with a situation for them to disassemble. The PCs in an old campaign once expressed a desire to infiltrate the castle of the local tyrant for the purposes of assassination. I told them not to bother planning the infiltration itself, and instead spent ten minutes describing what kind of day the tyrant's guard assigned to watch the sewer entrance was having --his wife had left him, he had medical problems, and so forth. Then I narrated the PCs bursting out of the sewer and killing him. It was remarked upon as at least one PC's favorite encounter of the campaign.

11. Drama - In Media Res: Books and movies often have events begin halfway into a scene. Things are already happening and it doesn't take much to figure out what happened beforehand. One can also apply this to roleplaying games. Starting the game in the middle of a fight is always fun. Or beginning them in a precarious situation, like in a room with a slowly lowering ceiling, ala George Lucas. Almost any dramatic situation can be enhanced by simply dictating that the PCs start in the middle of it. Don't overuse this, though, or the PCs will get tired of it.

12. Drama - Experiment With Structure: I once began a session with the last encounter, with the PCs bound to a giant stalagmite. They roleplayed being tied up. One of the PCs was quicker on his feet and just went with it, while another one was furious and didn't go with it at all, so the first player pretended that the second had amnesia. Then I said "four hours earlier" and had the PCs scoping out a building and kicking in doors. The PCs caught on that we were doing the session backwards, and when the second player mentioned above received a critical hit, he ad libbed that it gave him amnesia. They made sure to include salient points about what they were doing and why, so when we jumped back another four hours it formed a continuum, eventually getting to the PCs waking up that morning, then jumping back to the stalagmite scene to resolve it. This session ruled.

Campaign Design Best Practices (Part 2)

2009-07-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have begun enumerating these. I can crack a hundred, easy. Let's see if it holds my attention for that long.

5. Mechanics - Dungeon Design: If you are using D&D 3.0 or 3.5, be sure to include at the potential for at least one incidence each of Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower saving throws. Be sure to include at least one trap, one locked door, one secret passage, and one optional encounter. Try to have "conceptual" dungeons, like a dungeon with only one monster that can attack them at various points throughout the dungeon. I once had a dungeon in which a piece of the Rod of Seven Parts was used to keep an avatar of Yogsothoth (as statted in the 1e Deities and Demigods) incarcerated in a crypt. On their way into the dungeon the PCs had to contend with tentacles coming out of holes in the walls that were treated as though they were individual monsters, weird spatial distortion, and abrupt mind-control effects --all courtesy of Yogsothoth, the sole inhabitant of the dungeon, whom they could not confront until the end.

6. Style - Dungeon Design: Don't be bland about your dungeon designs. You want dramatic locations. You want "ah-ha" moments. You want interesting terrain and situations. Do things like design a dungeon based on a Frank Lloyd Wright house, or Hitler's Berlin bunker. Have things to fall off or into. Have rivers and ledges and cliffs. Fight in all of these places. I once based a dungeon off the design of Masada, in Israel, for example. This will let you concentrate on filling the dungeon rather than drawing floor plans.

7. Style - Characters: The more you make it about your campaign world, the less it is about your player's characters. I have found that there is a sliding scale between these two that cannot be bypassed in tabletop gaming with more than two players. With smaller groups there is time to emphasize both the personal and the general, but in larger groups this is not possible, and you have to make the choice. I have run campaigns in which I desperately tried to convey the special noir of the campaign world, and I have had more bland campaign worlds in which the players' ideas for their characters became the driving force behind the action. Both make for wonderful games, but one or the other may be more suited for your group.

8. Style - Character Background: In exchange for a little extra experience -particularly if a player missed a session or two and wants to catch up- you can give him the opportunity to bluebook. That is, to write a summary or excerpt from the character's journal, or otherwise indicate what he was doing during the session that he missed. Alternatively, the bluebook may delve into the character's past -- it can be anything from a travelogue of the time before the PCs met, to any other form of campaign literature. In a more modern setting, perhaps the character has written a book or recorded a CD, the player might then write a review of the work.

Campaign Design Best Practices (Part 1)

2009-07-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Production Value - Campaign Maps
The campaign world map should be given out to PCs as soon as possible, and they should have some kind of idea about each area on it. I would encourage you not to make the map on a macro scale, as you would rather have the map be just large enough to contain the PCs for the first ten sessions or so, rather than have multiple continents that the PCs will never visit.

Production Value - Dungeon Maps
I don't use minis or tokens except for if I feel like amping up the production value a bit. Making these takes quite a bit of work, so the other parts of the game will often suffer as a result. But if it's the boss of a stretch of dungeon that the PCs have been working on for the past three sessions, it might be nice if you prepared a nice big map of the area the fight will take place in, and print out some battle tokens. I use modified pictures of my players for their characters. Just take the pictures off facebook and edit them to taste.

Think From The Player's Perspective
There is no point in designing the royal family tree of a nation if the PCs will never need or want to know about it. The wrong sort of details can quickly become tedious. This is probably the cardinal sin that most DMs commit.

Game Balance Is For Players Not Monsters
If a monster is too hard or too easy, as the DM you can adjust the difficulty upwards or downwards. Sometimes it's just a matter of giving the PCs more time to plan or achieve surprise, sometimes you need to fudge the HP. Not to make things easy on them, but rather if you underestimated a creature's lethality or what have you. Similarly, you can make something stronger if the PCs have all gone up a level. Thus, unless you are a rookie DM, balance between the party and monsters will not usually be a problem. The real balance issues are between the PCs: if a dungeon favors one class or build over the other PCs' characters, or one PC has a clear power advantage over the others, then you need to adjust it. Because most PCs (not mine, usually) overreact to downward shifts in their power level or ham handed attempts to make the situations not favor their character's advantages, it may be better to simply improve the other PCs in a discreet way. One might do this by dropping more magic items oriented toward their class, or perhaps by giving the other peoples' classes specific improvements.