Spes Magna Games

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m finally getting to teach Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha to my 5th graders. We’re having loads of fun reading and studying this great story, which is also chock full of inspiration for gaming. Here’s my second The Song of Hiawatha monster. (Here’s the first.)

Puk-Wud-Jie
Hit Dice: 1d6 hit points
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: spear (1d4) or 2 darts (1d3)
Saving Throw: 18 (14 against effects that can be dodged)
Special: Invisible when moving, surprise opponents on 1-5
Move: 18
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30

The Puk-Wud-Jies live in unspoilt forests, dwelling in small and well-hidden communities. These fey people stand slightly shorter than the average halfling, and they are lithe and long of limb. Despite their diminutive size, Puk-Wud-Jies move with great speed and agility. Any round that a Puk-Wud-Jie moves at least 30 feet, it becomes invisible until the start of its next turn. Between this ability and their stealth, Puk-Wud-Jies almost always surprise foes (1-5 on 1d6).

Those who would despoil nature had best tread carefully in Puk-Wud-Jie territory. The Puk-Wud-Jies stalk hunters and others trespassers, monitoring their behavior carefully. Bands of Puk-Wud-Jies harrass and/or attack those who do not show proper respect for the natural world and the treasures she provides.

Puk-Wud-Jies speak the fey language and the secret tongue of true neutral Druids.

Tags: A to Z 2013, monsters, Swords & Wizardry, The Song of Hiawatha

The heroes — a warrior, two experts, and a psychic — have touched down near what could be an abandoned Pretech site in a quarantine zone on Garris IV. After securing the LZ, they gear up and head into the bush. A few klicks into the hike, they’re ambushed by half dozen Pretech cultists intent on protecting the site against intruders.

Pretech Cultists: AC 7; HD 1 (4 hp); Damage 1d8+1; Save 15+; Morale 8.

GM: The rain forest presses in close around you. Strange birds sing unseen in the canopy, and insects chitter and buzz. There are literally dozens of places within sight that could conceal something as large as, say, a man. What do you do?

Wes: I keep a keen eye out for trouble.

Everyone Else: Us too!

GM: Perception checks, please.

(Dice roll. The players compare their totals to the skill check parameters. Terry, the warrior, gets an 11. Wes and Christopher, the experts, score in the 7-9 range. Eric, the psychic, blows the check entirely.)

GM: Ebenezer spots tell-tale movement in the brush. You’re heading into an ambush! Ebenezer can act normally. Rob and Chuck can move, but won’t be able to get their weapons in play yet. Kurt is caught completely off-guard as a half-dozen rough-looking men spring into view, their magpistols slinging bullets. What do you do, Ebenezer?

Terry: I dive for cover while returning fire.

GM: That sounds like you need to make an Evasion saving throw to avoid the incoming fire as well as a Volley.

Terry: Can I use Strength for Evasion? My character could crash through a thick clump of vegetation to get cover.

GM: Sure.

Terry: Excellent. (Terry rolls and adds.) That’s 21 total. I make the save. Now I return fire.

GM: The enemies are Armor Class 7.

(Terry rolls again.)

Terry: Oh poo! I got a 17. I choose to use extra ammo.

GM: Ebenezer bulldozes his way through a clump of vegetation. Bullets whiz by him and smack into the trees around him, but Ebenezer isn’t hit. As he dives, he returns fire. Roll damage. (Terry does, and seriously wounds a cultist.) The cultist staggers back, dropping out of sight behind cover, screaming for a medic.

Eric: Kurt is caught completely off-guard. Bullets are about to riddle his body.

Christopher: Hold on, hold on. Chuck lunges and pushes Kurt out of harm’s way. Can’t have our biopsychic getting shot up.

GM: Okay, Christopher. Give me a Defend check.

(Christopher rolls and gets a 14.)

Christopher: I choose to redirect the attack into me.

GM: (rolls damage dice) You take 7 points of damage, less your armor’s protection. Kurt is shoved out of harm’s way.

(Christopher marks off 3 hit points and notes his armor has taken 4 points of damage.)

Wes: I dive for cover also. My Evasion save is great. (He rolls and adds.) Oh, phooey! I got a 10!

GM: Rob tries to dive for cover, but is too slow. He gets caught in the hail of bullets. (GM rolls damage.) Wow, take 10 points of damage. Eric, you’ve recovered enough to act now. What does Kurt do?

Et cetera, et cetera.

Tags: A to Z 2013, Dungeon World, game play, Stars Without Number

Earlier I fiddled with the rules in Stars Without Number. Today, I amp up the fiddling to full-blow tweaking.

The Gist of It All

There are two types of dice rolls made to determine success: either 1d20 or 2d6.

* For a 1d20 roll, 20+ means the character succeeds, 13-19 means the character succeeds but with some sort of complication or consequence, and 12 or less means the GM says what happens, but the character earns some bonus experience points.

* For a 2d6 roll, 10+ means the character succeeds, 7-9 means the character succeeds but with some sort of complication or consequence, and 6 or less means the GM says what happens, but the character earns some bonus experience points.

Combat

There are two basic combat moves, one for melee combat, the other for ranged combat. Here they are, ripped from Dungeon World and mercilessly tweaked for Stars Without Number:

Hack and Slash: Roll 1d20 + attack bonus + attribute bonus associated with weapon + combat skill level + target’s Armor Class. A modified melee attack roll of 20+ is a hit, and the character deals damage and avoid the enemy’s attack. At the player’s option, the character may deal +50% damage but is then exposed the enemy’s attack. A modified melee attack roll in the 13-19 range is also a hit, but the enemy also makes a successful attack against that character.

Volley: Roll 1d20 + attack bonus + attribute bonus associated with weapon + combat skill ranks + target’s Armor Class. A modified melee attack roll of 20+ is a hit, and the character deals damage. A modified melee attack roll in the 13-19 range is also a hit, you must choose one consequence:

* You have to move to get the shot, placing you in danger as described by the GM, or
* Your shot is ill-placed, and deals half damage, or
* You have to take several shots to hit, using twice as much ammo.

The next move is used when a character defends a person, item, or location from attack. Relevant attribute bonus and skill ranks are determined by player description and GM adjudication.

Defend: Roll 1d20 + attack bonus + relevant attribute bonus + relevant skill ranks. On 20+, choose three options. On 13-19, choose one option.

* Redirect an attack from the thing you defend to yourself, and/or
* Halve the attack’s effect or damage, and/or
* Open up the attacker to an ally, giving that ally a +1 bonus against the attack, and/or
* Deal damage to the attack equal to your level.

Skills & Skill Checks

I want to simplify the skill points system. A character gets a list of skills determined by Background Package and Training Package. A skill that occurs in only one package starts at skill level 0. If a skill occurs in both packages, it starts at skill level 1. At 1st level, every character picks one package skill as a specialty. This skill gains a +1 bonus to skill level.

At each level after first, an expert receives +3 pips, and warriors and psychics receive +2 pips. All characters receive bonus pips equal to his prime attribute bonus. The player divides these pips between skills as desired, including new skills. Except for the character’s chosen specialty, a character’s maximum level in a skill is equal to 1, plus their level divided by 3, rounded down. The maximum level for a character’s specialty is equal to 2, plus their level divided by 3, rounded down.

For example, 1st-level expert Rocket Rob Braden has a 14 Intelligence, and his backgrounds are Astrogater’s Mate and Pilot. His starting skills and skill levels, with a Vehicle/Space specialization, are Combat/Gunnery 0, Culture/Spacer 1, Exosuit 0, Navigation 1, Science 0, Tech/Astronautics 0, Tech/Postech 0, Vehicles/Air 0, and Vehicles/Space 2. At 2nd level, Rocket Rob receives +4 pips. His skills become Combat/Gunnery 1, Culture/Spacer 1, Exosuit 1, Navigation 1, Science 0, Tech/Astronautics 1, Tech/Postech 0, Vehicles/Air 1, and Vehicles/Space 2.

Stars Without Number uses 2d6 + relevant skill level + relevant attribute modifier for skill checks. The total is compared to the check’s difficulty number, ranging from 6 to 13. Since I want Dungeon World-style static difficulty numbers, let’s convert the standard method to a modifier:

Difficulty 6 = +1 modifier
Difficulty 7 = +0 modifier
Difficulty 8 = -1 modifier
Difficulty 9 = -2 modifier
Difficulty 10 = -3 modifier
Difficulty 11 = -4 modifier
Difficulty 12 = -5 modifier
Difficulty 13 = -6 modifier

Use a Skill: Roll 2d6 + relevant skill level + relevant attribute modifier + difficulty modifier. On 10+, you succeed. On 7-9, you succeed, but with a complication or consequence.

Saving Throws

Standard Stars Without Number saving throws need to be converted to work with a static target number of 20+. This is done by determining the bonus for each saving throw category as 20 – the class’s save number. For example, a 1st-level expert must normally roll 16+ on 1d20 to make a Physical Effect save. Using my tweaked version, the 1st-level expert has a +4 bonus to Physical Effect saves.

When exposed to a danger that requires a saving throw, the GM typically determines the category (Physical Effect, Evasion, et cetera), but the player gets to describe how the character attempts to avoid the effect. This description helps determine the relevant ability score modifier.

Make a Saving Throw: Roll 1d20 + save category modifier + relevant skill modifier. A modified roll of 20+ is a success. A modified roll in the 13-19 range means the character stumbles, hesitates, flinches, et cetera. The GM determines an appropriate effect that involves a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.

Character Armor

The method of combat describe above makes a character’s Armor Class irrelevant for its normal purposes. Instead, a character’s Armor Class determines how much damage the character ignores from attacks. Subtract the character’s Armor Class from 9. This is how much damage he ignores from an attack.

This damage, less the character’s Dexterity modifier, instead affects the character’s armor directly. I’ll need to come up with how many hit points different armors and shields have, as well as a simple mechanic for repairing armor and shields.

Enemy Attacks

When a character is subjected to an enemy’s attack, the most common result is for the character to suffer damage. The damage is equal to the creature’s lowest damage die plus its attack bonus plus +1 for each additional attack in its attack routine.

For example, a Sarxian howling tiger inflicts 1d6+5 points of damage (1d6 for its claw, +4 for its attack bonus, and +1 more because it has two claw attacks).

Tags: A to Z 2013, Dungeon World, Stars Without Number

Every now and then, somebody belonging to the Old School Gamers group on Facebook posts a picture with the challenge, “Stat this!” The picture accompanying this post was one of those challenges, which obviously I met and defeated. So, without further introduction, I present…

The Sharkodiak Riders of New Penguinea

Few humanoids of sub-arctic and arctic regions inspire more fear than the sharkodiak riders of New Penguinea, and their ravaging tribes have long proven to be the one great obstacles to colonizing that vast wilderness of forests, rivers, and glaciers.

Penguinean
Hit Dice: 2
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: Peck (1d4) or weapon (1d8)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: None
Move: 9 (12 swimming)
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30 (3/60 for an elite)

Penguineans are squat humanoids that greatly resemble penguins. They may be found both above ground or lairing in sea caves in sub-arctic and arctic regions. They form into loosely organized clans, often ranging far from home in order to steal and kill with rapacious ferocity.

Elite penguineans often ride sharkodiaks into battle. An elite penguinean has 3 Hit Dice and a Saving Throw of 14+, is Armor Class 4 [15], and enjoys a +1 bonus to attack rolls due to its ferocity.

Sharkodiak
Hit Dice: 5+5
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d4+2) and bite (1d8+2)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Hug
Move: 9 (9 swimming)
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

If a sharkodiak hits with both claws, it hugs for an additional 1d10 hit points of damage. Penguineans domesticate sharkodiaks, and elite penguineans ride them into battle.

Tags: A to Z 2013, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

One thing I’ve not touched upon so far in my rough draft Tiamat’s Throne is religion. I’ve made few hard decisions regarding the topic. For example, I’ve deliberately not added a cleric character class to the setting’s science fantasy. Tiamat’s Throne includes real-world religions since settlers from Terra spread through the stars, colonizing exoplanets and bringing diverse cultures with them. So, in Tiamat’s Throne, one can encounter Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, et cetera. One can also encounter devotees of dragon cults, death-worshipping necromancers, and other fantasy staples.

It seems more prudent to me to say that no religion — not even the one I favor — grants anyone any special powers than to say that only some religions or all religions do. Healing spells have been rolled into the magic-user’s bailiwick. The cleric’s other main feature — special power over the undead — is missing from the setting so far, and it is likely to stay that way.

I am, however, considering modifying the class feature of experts and warriors. As it stands now, the respective class feature of these two classes are as follows:

“Experts have a knack for success, and can re-roll a failed skill check once per hour.”

“Warriors have uncanny luck on the battlefield. Once per fight, they can automatically evade an attack that would otherwise have hit them.”

It might be a good idea to have optional class features that would permit experts and warriors to be more customized, perhaps based on training package. So, for example, there could be a paladin training package for warriors that would permit the character to substitute the standard warrior ability with a paladin ability.

Tags: A to Z 2013, Stars Without Number, Tiamat's Throne