Spes Magna Games

Earlier this week, I was working with a student during reading tutoring. Our topics for the day were idioms and common sayings, such as “It’s raining cats and dogs!” or “The cheese done slid off of his cracker.” (The latter must be said with an accent appropriate to the U.S.’s South.) One of the expressions that popped up during the lesson was “lick of sense”, which made me think of a possible spell to be created for use in a game.

Or, in this case, three different games.

Lick of Sense

For Barbarians of Lemuria:

Magnitude: First
Cost: 4
Requirements: Obvious technique
Minimum Cost: 2
Difficulty: Tricky (-1)

This spell’s arcane lick removes negative mental effects, including flaws that affect mind actions, so long as those negative mental effects are either natural (meaning innate to the target or the result of mundane circumstances such as poison) or are caused by magical effects no stronger than a first magnitude spell. Negative mental effects not innate to the target are removed entirely. Mental flaws (such as Fear of Fire) are suppressed for about an hour.

For Dungeon World:

Level: Cleric 3, Ongoing

You give your target’s skin a blessed lick. One of the target’s mental debilities is immediately removed. For the spell’s duration, the target takes +1 forward to avoid negative mental effects. While this spell is ongoing, you take a -1 to cast a spell.

For Swords & Wizardry:

Spell Level: Cleric, 3rd Level
Range: Touch
Duration: See below

With a lick, the target’s negative mental effects, including magically inflicted ones, are removed. For the next hour, the target enjoys a +1 bonus to saving throws against negative mental effects.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon World, spells, Swords & Wizardry

The man-owl is a malignant monster that seeks to spread fear and chaos. It flies magically and in total silence. Those who meet a man-owl’s gaze often fall into the grip of crippling apprehension. To help the man-owl terrorize more adventurers and spread even more fear and chaos, its stats are presented below for both Swords & Wizardry and Dungeon World.

Man-Owl
Hit Dice: 3+6
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d6), 1 bite (1d4)
Move: 12 (Fly 15)
Special: Doom gaze, flies silently, -2 to all die rolls in bright light
Saving Throw: 14
Alignment: Chaos
Number Encountered: 1
Challenge Level: 5/240

Doom Gaze Effects: If the victim fails his saving throw, he suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws. Every day, a victim of the man-owl’s doom gaze is permitted a new saving throw (with the -2 penalty) to overcome these baleful effects.

Man-Owl
Intelligent, Solitary, Stealthy
Claws (d6+2 damage)
10 HP
0 Armor
Close, Messy
Special Qualities: Look causes crippling apprehension, magical flight
Instinct: To spread fear and chaos

* Make eye contact
* Rend and screech
* Pull someone into the air

Tags: Dungeon World, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

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

Today I talk about initiative. Yeah, I know. It should be I for Initiative, but I did I for Ichi, and today is J.

Anyhoo, I have a love-hate relationship with initiative checks. Too often, I’ve experienced initiative something like this:

GM: Roll for initiative!

Players: Yeah! Combat! Woo! Excitement!

GM: Okay, here we go! Twenty? Anyone? Anyone? Nineteen? Anyone? Anyone? Eighteen? Bueller? Bueller?

Then, to add to the excitement, I get to further experience players who want to delay and/or specify conditions for when their PCs take their actions. And let’s not forget the monsters. They get to go too. What should be an exciting combat ends up being an intiative roll call where most of the time most of the players sit around watching another person do stuff.

Of course, there are many techniques for speeding up initiative. I know about them (well, probably not all of them). I’ve used several of them. They help. For example, I “chunk” initiative in my current campaign. I roll for the monsters. The players roll for the characters. Any characters who beat the monsters get to act in whatever order the players want. Then the monsters go. Then the rest of the players go. I usually default to letting the players win intiative ties. This speeds things up quite a bit.

Still, most of the time initiative checks up end being almost unnecessary. I mean, unless my monster kills a PC, it usually doesn’t matter if the monster hits the PC before the PC hits the monster. Back in 1E days gaming while stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, we only rolled initiative when a PC or foe was killed or otherwise incapicitated, and then only to determine if the victim would get in a one final whack. From what I remember, it worked like a charm.

One of the neatest initiative check systems I’ve seen is in Dyson Logos’s Geodesic Gnomes. Here’s how it works:

“Then the Game Master announces initiative numbers starting at 4 [N.B. The lowest possible score] and counting upwards. If the initiative count for your character is called and you haven’t acted yet, you must declare your action now. On any initiative count anyone with a higher initiative count than the number called may declare their action. In addition, once an action is declared, anyone with a higher initiative count than that person may declare an action to interrupt them.”

This system has the “I want to interrupt him because I’m faster than he is” option built into it. I’ve not had a chance to test this out at length yet, but I going to run a Geodesic Gnomes session next month for Friday Game Night.

Perhaps most intriguing of all is Dungeon World, which doesn’t have initiative checks. Refresh your memory by looking at me fiddling with the rules. Notice that Dungeon World‘s attack mechanic doesn’t require initiative checks to resolve who goes first between the monsters and the PCs.

Well, that’s it for this one. I’ve got to get back to work on my Villains & Vigilantes adventure for tomorrow evening.

Tags: A to Z 2013, Dungeon World, Dyson Logos, game play, Geodesic Gnomes, initiative