Spes Magna Games

Today’s letter inspired me to pull Kemp P. Battle’s compilation Great American Folklore from the history section of my library and flip through its pages for inspiration. Pages 41 and 42 list several superstitions about traveling, and I said to myself, “Self, this might work!” After all, adventurers travel, doing so in a world where the hazards attributed to superstition in our world can be real dangers. (Dramatic Aside: I know of one RPG product that’s expanded on the ideas of superstitions within the game world, the aptly titled Superstitions by Creative Mountain Games.) Let’s pull out a few of traveling superstitions compiled by Battle, and briefly muse about their game effects.

Superstition: “When you leave on a trip, toss an old shoe behind you for good luck.” Possible Game Effect: A character who performs this simple action gains a floating +1 luck bonus that can be used once at any time during the trip. If not used before the trip ends, the floating luck bonus goes away.

Superstition: “If you find a pin on the road, pick it up; it’s good luck.” Possible Game Effect: The bearer of the lucky pin gets to reroll the first failed roll he makes. He must abide by the results of this second roll.

Superstition: “If you see a spoon, let it be! Some folks are known to throw out a spoon when their luck is going badly, hoping that a passerby will pick it up and take the bad luck with him.” Possible Game Effect: This is the opposite of the lucky pin. The PC carrying the bad luck spoon must make two rolls and accept the worser of the pair. If the GM feel particularly grumpy, turn the spoon into a cursed object that the unlucky PC cannot easily rid himself of.

Superstition: “When you pass a crossroads, slap your right leg for good luck.” Possible Game Effect: After the leg slap, the superstitious PC gains a +1 luck bonus to saving throws and Perception checks for the remainder of the day.

Of course, it seems sensible to me that these little superstitions shouldn’t be universally or automatically effective. Not everyone who tosses a shoe behind them enjoys good luck on a trip, but some people do. I’m not sure about what means should be used to determine if a superstition has an effect. Perhaps I’ll ruminate on that and save it up for S?

Tags: A to Z, folklore, superstition

Since I’m a guy, I like it when things explode. Cars that fly off cliffs, buildings full of bad guys, vampires exposed to sunlight, et cetera. Of course, these things are most fun when they’re not real. I don’t like it when real people are inside exploding cars, and even bad guys and vampires deserve something resembling due process. (Well, maybe not vampires, especially the sparkly kind.)

In game terms, an exploding die is a die that when rolled and yielding a certain, predefined result, is then rerolled, and the various results are totaled to give one uber-result. For example, if a d6 explodes on a 6, and I roll a 6, I roll the die again, and add that result to the 6. If I roll another 6, the die explodes again, and so on. Many game systems incorporate exploding dice. Torg had them. AD&D had them for Forgotten Realms firearms damage. Savage Worlds makes extensive use of exploding dice. I think Pathfinder should use them also, so let’s spitball what that might look like.

Ability Scores: Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary

First, let’s borrow a concept I discovered in Go Fer Yer Gun! by Beyond Belief Games. A PC’s ability scores are divided equally into three groups: primary, second, and tertiary. The player chooses which abilities are which at character creation. Once these choices are made, they cannot be altered.

Wes is making up Torina, a new paladin. Wes assigns Torina’s stats this way:

Primary – Strength, Charisma
Secondary – Dexterity, Wisdom
Tertiary – Constitution, Intelligence

An ability score’s type determines which exploding die the player gets to roll whenever the PC makes an ability check or skill check for that ability score.

Primary Ability Score Exploding Die – 1d8, explodes on an 8
Secondary Ability Score Exploding Die – 1d6, explodes on a 6
Tertiary Ability Score Exploding Die – 1d4, explodes on a 4

Saving Throws

A PC’s saving throws get an exploding die as well, based on whether it is a good save or a poor save. To continue with our example, Torina has two good saves, Fortitude and Will, and one poor save, Reflex.

Good Save Exploding Die – 1d6, explodes on a 6
Poor Save Exploding Die – 1d4, explodes on a 4

Attack Rolls

Unsurprisingly, a PC’s attack rolls also enjoy an exploding die, depending on whether the PC’s Base Attack Bonus uses fast, medium, or slow progression. Considering our examplar Torina again, as a paladin she uses the fast BAB exploding die.

Fast BAB Exploding Die – 1d8, explodes on an 8
Medium BAB Exploding Die – 1d6, explodes on a 6
Slow BAB Exploding Die – 1d4, explodes on a 4

Multi-Class Characters

Multi-classing doesn’t affect which exploding dice a character uses. Rather, the types of exploding dice are locked in at 1st-level. Therefore, if Torina later picks up a level in rogue, she doesn’t get to use the Good Save Exploding Die for Reflex.

Using Exploding Dice

Whenever a player makes a d20 roll for an ability check, skill check, saving throw, or attack roll, he also rolls the appropriate exploding die. The result of the exploding die is added to the d20 roll, and this total determines success. Please consider these examples:

* Torina must convince a city guard to let her pass into a restricted area. She makes a Diplomacy check aided by a d8 exploding die because Charisma is one of Torina’s primary ability scores.
* Later, the assassin Torina has been tracking hits Torina with a lightning bolt. A d4 exploding die aids her Reflex save.
* Torina survives the lightning bolt and smites the assassin. She adds a d8 exploding die to her attack roll.

Other Considerations

If you use exploding dice, remove most of the Big Six magic items from play. The Big Six magic items are armor and shield, magic weapon, natural armor item, deflection bonus item, resistance item, and stat boosters. Get rid of those Big Six items that do not modify Armor Class. The exploding dice provide automatic (albeit variable) modifiers to attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks, which are the main things the Big Six boost other than AC. This will perhaps put a dent in spellcaster save DCs over time, but this can be remedied by adding items that specifically boost a caster’s save DC without boosting the caster’s ability scores. Thus, a wizard can’t have a headband of intellect +4, but he could perhaps have a headband of spell power +2 that would increase the DCs to save against his spells.

When considering magic weapons, simply ignore enhancement bonuses that directly affect attack rolls and damage. Furthermore, waive the requirement that a magic weapon cannot have a special ability without having at least a minimum enchancement bonus of +1. This way, a character can have a flaming longsword that does +1d6 points of fire damage, but that sword would not have a static enhancement bonus as well.

Also, the attack roll exploding die has a special effect. For every four points a d20 + exploding die attack roll exceeds the target’s AC, increase the damage from that attack by +1. This bonus gets multiplied on critical hits. Back to Torina smiting the assassin. Let’s say Torina needs an 18 to hit. She rolls 1d20 + 1d8. She gets a 15 on the d20, and rolls an 8 on her exploding die. She rolls again for another 5. She adds her Strength bonus and BAB for a total attack roll of 32, which exceeds the assassin’s AC by 14 points. This is enough to earn Torina a +3 bonus to her damage.

Lastly, if you use Hero Points as described in the Advanced Player’s Guide, consider modifying them so that a Hero Point grants an extra exploding die of the same type that would be rolled. If Torina really wants to nail that assassin, she could spend a Hero Point and roll 1d20 + 2d8, with both d8s being exploding dice.

Tags: A to Z, game play

Ah, memories! How fondly I recall my acquisition of 1E’s Fiend Folio and my amazement at the assortment of bizarre creatures therein. From the sticky adherer to the preposterous flumph to science-fictiony yellow musk zombie, there was so much in that slim volume that just screamed, “Use us! Use us!”

And use them I did. One monster that still makes me smile while I imagine the charred remains of adventurers is the death knight. What a nasty piece of work it was! AC 0, 75% magic resistance with an 11% chance of spell reflection, immunity to turning, 18/00 Strength, at will wall of ice, demon gating, power word spells, and that awesome 20-dice fireball, and that’s not everything. The death knight was an end boss monster back before computer games had made such terminology common in RPGs. If your 1E PC ran across one of these baddies and lived to tell the tale, you knew you’d accomplished a legend-worthy deed.

Surely an assortment of evil creatures would love to follow such an exquisitely deadly monster. Put the death knight at the top of a wicked pyramid, served by oodles of aspiring lackeys eager to prove just how evil they too can be. And, just to add some concreteness to this nasty army’s modus operandi, consider using this unholy code of anti-chivalry I once wrote up for some Mutants & Masterminds villains:

1. Thou shalt believe the opposite of all that the Church teaches, and shalt openly defy all its directions.
2. Thou shalt seek to harm the Church and its defenders.
3. Thou shalt hate all weakness and shalt constitute thyself the oppressor of them.
4. Thou shalt hate the country in which thou wast born.
5. Thou shalt use base cunning and deceit against thine enemies.
6. Thou shalt make war against law enforcers without cessation and without mercy.
7. Thou shalt perform all of thy duties without regard for laws of both God and man.
8. Thy pledged word shalt mean nothing.
9. Thou shalt be greedy and covetous, and shalt give no one largess.
10. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of injustice and evil against the right and the good.

Just substitute references to the Church and God with whatever lawful good power structure and deity best suits your campaign, and let the holy war against the powers of darkness begin. After all, those that uphold this code of conduct deserve some serious smiting.

Tags: A to Z, Fiend Folio, monsters

How many ways are their to motivate players? Well, if we’re to believe cliches, there are two: the carrot and the stick. Since today is C, I’m going to talk about the carrot. I know from years of teaching that a great way to get students invested in learning is to give them choices about how they want to show what they’ve learned. So, when we got done reading Don Quixote, my students didn’t have a single, mandatory assignment, but instead had their choice of one out of five or six different assignments. One of my students produced the delightful boardgame shown in the picture to the right as her project.

Borrowing an idea from Gnome Stew, you the GM can give your players choices in order to foster a greater sense of investment in your game. Give each player four index cards and about a week’s time. Ask them to write on each index card their ideas about what they’d like to encounter in the current campaign, dividing those likes into four categories: Enemy, Friend, Setting, and Reward. Let them be as vague or as specific as they’d like, as long as the idea fits on an index card. Let your players know that the ideas on the cards don’t need to be related to each other, although they could be. The cards also don’t need to be related to the player’s own character. Why suggest a reward for your character when you can suggest that a fellow player’s character receive the honor of an Amazonian queen asking for his hand in marriage?

Enemy: This could be something as simple as scrawling “ogres” on the card, or as involved as requesting the existence of a nefarious organization of wicked psions who masquerade as benevolent seekers of enlightenment. These cards are your players’ chance to get some of their favorite bad guys into game play, an option that could be especially attractive to folks who play rangers.

Friend: The PCs need more than just enemies. They should also have an assortment of friends, allies, and supporters, garnered during their adventures as well as part of their respective backgrounds. These friends can be valuable sources of aid and information, as well fodder for plot hooks.

Setting: A memorable setting can be a great boon for an encounter, an adventure, and even an entire campaign. Odds are good your players have always wanted to explore or survive some exotic place. I know I’ve always wanted to play through a high-action brawl atop a maze of unstable catwalks that collapse above a rumbling pool of magma.

Reward: Here’s your players’ chance to think outside the treasure box if they want. Forget yet another magic sword or a bag full of platinum. How about a grant of land accompanied by knighthood? Maybe free room and board for life at a famous tavern would be something worth having? A PC could somehow earn a reward that would otherwise be difficult to provide via the rules-as-written. I remember way back in 1E days when my dwarf fighter/thief acquired the ability to speak with wolves. Why? Because it was cool!

Best of all, encourage the players to not discuss their cards with each other. That way, as each requested element is brought into play, most of the players will be surprised by the turn of events. Imagine the limitless possibilities:

Terry: “The Amazon queen asked me what?”

Mark the GM: “For your hand in marriage before the assembled court of the Warrior Women. An expectant hush has fallen across the entire banquet hall. What do you do?”

Terry: “Wes, why are you giggling? Was this your idea?”

Tags: A to Z, adventure design, game play