A Requiem for Lieres: Loving Character Death In D&D

Lieres drawn in Hero Forge & colourized
W/ Adobe Photoshop. Used in accordance
w/ The Hero Forge EULA. 

Setting the Scene

Last week while playing Low Fantasy Gaming with the World of Weirth crew, tragedy struck my thief, Lieres. He was attacked by a trio of grave rats: long, serpentine creatures with heads like a mole rat, and several sets of tentacles instead of legs. They wrapped themselves around his legs and began biting.

While the party mage managed to pull one off, and our dwarf crossbow-woman was able to severely wound another, I rolled a terrible fumble. Lieres, already rapidly running out of hit points, ran a sword through his own thigh. Given the rules we use for death and dismemberment that will leave him with a permanent limp. He fell unconscious.

Then, as he fell his lantern fell and broke, spilling flaming oil in a pool around him. The mage had to spend the round putting the fires out to keep him from burning to death. And while crossbow bolts were sailing overhead, the last remaining grave rat started tearing at his throat.

How D&D Was Engineered Away from Old-School Play.

"Steampunk Door" by Prettysleepy on Pixabay

Back around 2004 - 2006 I was highly active in the official Dungeons & Dragons forums. (I used the username goon-for-hire, if any of you remember.)  One of the things that was very clear at that time was that Wizards of the Coast was constantly seeking more information about how the game was being played. We saw an endless series of surveys, questions from official staff, and outreach to try and get a handle on who was doing what with the game. And we could frequently see adjustments to the game appearing with every manual that showed they took the surveys to hear. Sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. 

Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Ed. and 3.5 had been something of an experiment. Third edition was an attempt to unify the game's mechanics; to make everything fit on a d20 roll. it was also an attempt to make D&D work a little more like it's popular competitors, which at that time were games that were heavy on story, like Vampire: the Masquerade.

Changes to Game Rules

This led to a number of rules being sidelined or modified heavily I've covered a few of them in my previous articles:

• NPC attitudes retain some of the form that they had held in B/X and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but there was no random generation of reactions for NPCs. the DM was entirely expected to figure that out for himself, and to give players opportunities to make dice rolls to change it. 
• Monster morale was entirely stricken from the game, and the dungeon master was expected to decide when bad guys ran with little to no guidance. 
• Wandering monster tables were the emphasized, as was randomness in general. 

The Dungeon Master was expected to be in control of far more of the narrative. 

Lost Mechanics: Dominion-Level Play

"The Silver Warrior" by Frank Frazetta
Public Domain Image 

I think one of the most interesting mechanics that have been discarded in newer games is Dominion level play. In Dungeons & Dragons this was an option given to the players when they hit 9th level: they could choose to give up on their wandering lifestyle and become a leader within a community.

In early editions of Dungeons & Dragons this was an option granted two-player characters when they hit 9th level. They had to choose between becoming landed character or a wanderer. Becoming a landed character grants them a permanent residence, number of followers, and some sort of position of power. The specifics were dependant upon character class.

Fighters

Fighters were given the option to move to the frontiers of the land in which they live to establish a new stronghold. Thiss involved clearing land of monsters & dangers, raising the funds to build a fortress, then defending his new holdings untilnthey are cleared and setyled. Once that was accomplished, the Fighter would have a small force of men-at-arms to command. They may also choose to be a part of the system of peerage of the realm with status and privileges. Alternately they can petition to become the ruler of an existing land with no ruler, but must complete a quest to gain the blessing of the local ruler.

Clerics

Clerics were given the option to creating an Abbey stronghold. If they are in good standing with their clerical order, the order will donate a portion of the cost of establishing the stronghold  and be assigned several lower-level clerics to aid them.

Magic Users

Magic-users were given two options.  The simpler of the two would be to become a court magician "Magist" of a loxal lord. The character is rewarded with a stipend of several thousand gold and several low-level magic-user apprentices.

The more complex option is to capture of built a stronghold (referred to as a "tower"), following the same rules as a fighter's keep. They don't generally become a peer of the land, but are treated as a law unto themselves. They both gain apprentices, and If they build a dungeon, attract monsters to it (These do not necessarily serve the wizard.)

Thieves

Thieves do not need to settle new lands. Instead they can establish a hideout in a dungeon, cave, or fortified house. They get a few apprentice thieves to help them with day-to-day operations, and give the PC a cut in return for training. A Thief can petition for official recognition of their hideout as a guild hall by the Thieves' Guild and be granted the title "guildmaster" to earn some perks. 

Demihumans

Demihumans of 9th level all have essentially identical paths to dominion-level play. The establish a stronghold like a fighter, with a little variant flavour anc bring a chunk of their clan out to expand, making them a Clanmaster. If they served their community, their elders might front a chunk of the cost. As with all classes, they get a bunch of low-level followers of the same class to serve them.

This systems for dealing with dominion-level characters were somewhat different between BECMI and AD&D. 

The rules beyond that I have outlined above we're fairly scant. AD&D had few mechanics for building a castle or dungeon beyond pricing for common structural parts, and discussion of the cost of the various laborers needed to make creating a dominion happen. There wasn't a lot of other information available. And there was a hidden assumption that it would not bring the player character significant treasure, but essentially be a self-sustaining thing that happens in the background.

The Companion box included dominion rules for BECMI that were far more detailed. Not only does it cover the necessary process for clearing and settling a land, and the cost of building a castle and paying the laborers to do so, but it had mechanics for attracting people to your community.

Lost Mechanics NPC Reactions

Another lost mechanic that I find very valuable is the NPC Reaction Table. I have discussed this in detail in my article on social combat, but I wanted to cover it again in the context of my current project.

NPC reaction tables are a 2d6 mechanic in Dungeons & Dragons, which appear to be the base DNA for the entire Powered by the Apocalypse Engine. Depending on the roll, on NPC can be outight hostile, unfriendly and wishing to be left alone indifferent, mildly friendly and open to persuasion, or downright helpful.

This roll, along with the distance from an NPC and determining who is surprised, were the three things you did at the beginning of every encounter, although any of those things might be pre-scripted for many encounters.

For any reaction other than hostile or friendly, the player characters had a chance to make a good first impression. Their actions in that round could add a bonus to another roll on the next round. If a character with a high Charisma took the lead, their charisma modifier could be added to the roll as well.

If you did not have a pre-scripted reason why a creature might attack, it was actually most likely that it would not act first, but rather be threatening or cautious when the player characters arrived. It was just as likely combat would start because the player characters initiated it as not.

Game Review: Low Fantasy Gaming

Game Review: Low Fantasy Gaming

Author: Stephen J. Grodzick

Publisher: Pickpocket Press
Marketplace: lowfantasygaming.com
Engine: OSR / d20 Hybrid

I've been playing Low Fantasy Gaming for more than two months now with a group of other developers, and I figured it was high time that I reviewed it.

Low Fantasy Gaming (LFG for short) is a game derived from Dungeons & Dragons that is designed to emulate the gritty swashbuckling weird fiction of authors like Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber. Magic is meant to be rare any mysterious, while action is meant to be fast, furious, and evocative.

The game mixes strong elements of OSR games, particularly AD&D, with D&D3.5 and even a few D&D 5e mechanics and a dash of OSR community hacks to keep play moving swiftly and evoke Appendix-N-style swashbuckling action

Lost Mechanics: Morale

One of the things I would like to do this month as I discuss my latest adventure design is to cover rules subsystems that are common in early role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, but have fallen by the wayside. The first of these is morale.

Morale was a subsystem to help you measure the flagging courage and will to fight of belligerents in combat or social conflict in Dungeons & Dragons. It used to have analogs in several other systems as well, but was one of the first subsystems to start disappearing as TTRPGs underwent a paradigm shift in the early 90s..

As it appeared in earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons, morale was a system with two parts. One was a measure of the baseline courage of the encountered creatures, and the other was a matter of knowing when to roll morale checks.

The measure of the creatures morale varied with each edition of the game. It started in chainmail as a 2d6 system. In the Basic line of Dungeons & Dragons products it used a D12. In AD&D it was a percentile system. And in A&D2e it was a d20. By default, most creatures had a slightly above median rating. So, creatures and basic had a six, creatures in Advanced had a 55.

Some creatures had much more and some much less. Simple animals tended to have a lower morale. Undead and constructs tended to have a morale that was very high.

The real trick about morale was when to roll it. there was a list of circumstances which varied a small amount from addition to addition they covered when morale should be rolled. And it varied whether the player characters were facing a group or single monster. For a single monster first blood and dropping down to half hit points were common markers. For groups losing their leader, losing their first member, and then losing half their number all triggered morale checks.

Adventure Review: Into the Demon Idol

 Adventure Review: Into the Demon Idol

Author: Jobe Bittman
Publisher: Bloody Hammer Games
Marketplace: Goodman Games
Engine: Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, OSR (Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry)

Over the Summer, I did an article on using One Page Dungeons that was a huge hit. It remains my most-read article on Welcome to the Deathtrap. The adventure featured the adventure Into the Demon Idol by Jobe Bittman. In it, I noted that there was an expanded, full-length module version of the adventure that I had not read.

Jobe liked my article enough to send me a copy of the expanded Into the Demon Idol by mail (along with a copy of The Chick Tract "Darkest Dungeons" which gave me a huge laugh.) It was very different from the adventure I built up out of the one page module, and well worth reviewing here!

It is set in a region where several united Lizardman tribes are slowly advancing on civilization and crushing everything in their path. The region is presented as a hex crawl where Lizardman dominated territory is marked by a clear border. Encounters on the Lizardman side of the border are designed to be dangerous and difficult. As time passes, the border expands ss the Lizardman horde advances. 

The map adventure contains data on how the PCs can break the invading army's chain of command and halting their advance by invading their war-czmp, Drachensmoot, but these encounters involved are deliberately overwhelming.

Into the Demon Idol is an adventure in three acts. In the first act the PCs are sent on a mission to search a remote ruin of a now-extinct cult of evil magicians in hopes of finding weapons for the war effort. This involves hex travel ahead of a steadily advancing horde while evading scouts and shock troops.

 In the second act, the PCs explore the ruins. This is a fine-tuned version of the original one-page dungeon below, and  ends with the discovery of the Demon Idol.

In the third act, the PCs have a magical war machine at their disposal, albeit one with a limited supply of fuel and firepower, and which requires constant on-the-fly repairs to work. While controlling the Demon Idol, many of the killer encounters that they were forced to avoid become manageable. With it, they can break the Lizard-man advance and shatter their leadership, saving the region from annihilation.

Adventure: Harkin's Slave Pit

Cover Art by Brian C Rideout

That's right! Two adventures out in less than a week! Harkin's Slave Pit is a labor of love. It's a dungeon that I created to teach players Index Card RPG Core 2e, and guide them on playing RPGs Old-School.

If you want to try ICRPG, by the way, you can now grab a quick-start manual here!

Several strangers wake up prisoners in a dungeon, with nothing but breechclothes and a couple of tiny pieces of gear hidden on them, and must fight for suvival in a dungeon full of brutal mercenaries, goblins, madmen, and deadly traps, ruled over by a cruel witch. Can they find an exit before their luck runs out?

Harkin's Slave Pit is a mid-length adventure for Index Card RPG Core 2e. It is designed to serve as an introduction to new players for both ICRPG and Old-School Renaissance style play.

• While built as a one-shot, it is easily tuned to be the first adventure of a larger campaign, and provides the GM with multiple hooks for future adventures.
• Gradually increasing difficulty as players become used to the game engine.
• Non-linear dungeon with numerous possible routes to explore.
• All encounters built using the Three Ts system to ensure fast-paced, timed encounters that reward Player-Characters with opportunities to get the upper hand on the enemy and look good doing it!
• Designed for ease-of use at the table.

Buy it on DrivethruRPG!

Chaos and Surprise Make GMing more Fun

This month my goal is to finish off some of the long-standing projects I've had sitting about on my computer: I have a dungeon crawl classics adventure that needs only a slight bit of retooling and some art to be complete. I have a second DCC module that's about 80% complete and just needs a little additional text and art. And I have a beautiful digest sized OSR adventure set in an Edo-era Japan analog that just needs a little more attention and a map. And I have an adventure about exploring a volcano to refine.

But, I will attempt to continue to put out quality blog articles this month. Thankfully, the work I'm doing on these unfinished modules gives me a lot to think about... and last night my game gave me a great lesson in Chaos.

"Chung Chao-Yi Automatic Drawing" by Zhaoyi0812