Spes Magna Games

Yes, you too can now partake vicariously of the Chance Family experience and get some free game crunch at the same time. Download your own PDF copy of A Gamer Goes on Vacation today. This 9-page PDF offers such excellent features as:

* A day-by-day narrative of my recent family vacation to East Texas.

* Informative links to Interweb sites related to what we saw and did in East Texas.

* Full color photography.

* Crunch for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, including two new traits, a new magic item, a new haunt, a new simple template, and a new extraordinary ability for tigers.

This PDF was originally written (sans pictures and links) for Game Geek 19, now available for free at this link.

Tags: Game Geek, Summer Vacation

Here’s my piece written for the latest Game Geek.

Since the earliest days of RPGs, mythology has provided fertile soil for the gamer’s imagination. Recently, I started re-reading Samuel Butler’s prose translation of The Iliad. Somehow, this bizarre passage from the beginning of Book III had managed to slip under my oddness radar during previous readings:

“When the companies were thus arrayed, each under its own captain, the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and they wrangle in the air as they fly; but the Achaeans marched silently, in high heart, and minded to stand by one another.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Homer compares the Trojans to screaming flights of birds that kill and destroy Pygmy society every winter. Which got me to thinking: What would that look like in a game?

Step the First

Whenever I create a new creature, I look for an already made monster that I can reskin and refluff. In game terms, it’s obvious Homer describes some sort of swarm. I searched through d20pfsrd.com for swarms, looking for those that could fly.

After browsing through swarms of wasps, hellwasps, bats, botflies, locusts, and mosquitos, I decided that the bat swarm was the best place to start. Studying the bat swarm’s stat block revealed several areas that needed to be changed.

First off, the bats are too small. I don’t want a swarm of Diminutive birds. Perilous parakeets or bloodthirsty budgies aren’t what I’m looking. The largest creature that has swarm traits are Tiny. That’s roughly the size of a housecat, which seems right to me.

So, I slap the Giant creature simple template on the bat swarm. This bumps the individual animal’s size up to Tiny. I adjust ability scores and add a natural armor bonus. I don’t bump up the swarm’s damage, however. Swarm damage is linked to swarm Hit Dice rather than size. Next I remove the bat swarm’s wounding special ability. I don’t want it too obvious that my bird swarm is really just a bat swarm with some minor modifications.

Examining the altered stat block, I feel that I’m off to a good start, but my bird swarm doesn’t look like something that could “bring death and destruction” to an entire people. Civilization-threatening invasions of monsters should inspire a little more terror than what a slightly tweaked bat swarm delivers.

Since I like templates, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to browse through the rest of them. I hadn’t scrolled down far when I found what I was looking for: the Apocalypse Swarm template from Green Ronin’s Advanced Bestiary. More stat block adjustments ensued.

Adding the Giant Creature and Apocalypse Swarm templates to a bat swarm should give me a CR 6 monster. I need to compare the stat block to the parameters for that CR. Indeed it seems as if CR 6 is about right on target.

Step the Second

I’ve reskinned the stat block. Now it’s time to refluff the monster. I need some introductory descriptive text and to make sure my new stat block is complete and well-formatted. Here’s the final product:

The sky goes dark. A cacophony of squawks, caws, and shrieks competes with the thunderous flapping of a hundreds of wings. The birds! The birds have returned, and death comes with them!

Apocalpytic Flight of Wild Fowl
CR 6; XP 2,400
N Tiny animal (swarm)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +17

DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +1 Dodge, +3 natural, +2 size)
hp 68 (8d8+32); fast healing 10
Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +4
Defensive Abilities half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, swarm traits; SR 19

OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., fly 120 ft. (average)
Melee swarm (3d6)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks fear (DC 12), greater distraction (DC 19)

STATISTICS
Str 7, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 7
Base Atk +6; CMB –; CMD —
Feats Ability Focus (greater distraction) (B), Dodge, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Toughness
Skills Fly +14, Perception +17; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
SQ swarm traits

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Fear (Su): Each creature within 100 feet of a flight of wild fowl that witnesses it bringing down another creature must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 flight’s HD + flight’s Cha modifier) or be frightened for 1 minute. Success leaves the creature shaken for 1 minute but does not negate the need to make a new saving throw for each such incident. Fear is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Greater Distraction (Ex): A creature that fails its save against a flight’s distraction special attack is nauseated for 1d4 rounds.

Splitting (Ex): When a flight of wild fowl takes more than 10 points of damage from a single attack, it splits into two identical flights, each with one-half the hit points that the original flight had when it split (rounded down). A flight of wild fowl with 1 hit point cannot be split, and one with 0 hit points is dispersed as normal. Each piece of a flight of wild fowl can heal damage normally, up to the number of hit points it had upon formation. Healing damage does not allow the flights to recombine. For example, a flight of wild fowl with 68 hit points that takes 15 points of damage would split into two flights with 26 hit points each (one-half of the original flight’s remaining 53 hp, rounded down). Each of these two flights of wild fowl can heal 10 points of damage per round with fast healing, but it cannot exceed 26 hit points.

ECOLOGY
Environment any temperate or tropical
Organization solitary, pair, flock (3-6 swarms), or apocalypse (11-20 swarms)
Treasure none

Step the Third

Now that I’ve got a scary swarm inspired by one of the enduring classics of Western literature, I need to unleash these monsters on my unsuspecting players. Fortunately, the next leg of my campaign takes the adventurers into a northern forest region where the PCs hope to thwart a dark elf plot to turn an annual winter festival into an orgy of death and terror. It ought not be hard to work at least one of my new swarms into the scenario.

Tags: Game Geek

I wrote this piece for Game Geek 16, now available at the previous link for free.

In Game Geek 10, I talked about the importance of tailoring adventure scenarios to the player character’s strengths. My starting point was the ranger’s favored enemy class feature. The basic claim: If a ranger has undead as a favored enemy, then that ranger needs to encounter undead monsters often.

In my current We’re Not in Arkansas Anymore! campaign, one of my players runs Rob Braden, a former baseball player turned ranger whose favored enemy is fey creatures. Rob’s player Wes expressed concern that whatever favored enemy he picked would turn into that type of creature Rob would never bump into again. I assured Wes that would not be the case, and fey enemies continue to play a major role in the campaign’s events.

Most recently, the PCs have been investigating a criminal gang’s attempts to fix the upcoming first annual baseball tournament in Harvest, the region’s primary agricultural community. As part of their investigations, Rob and his allies have discovered that the renegade elves of the Wild Hunt are involved. At the same time, I introduced the Dark Taint into the campaign lore.

The Wild Hunt

My campaign has a few god-like beings known as Entities. One of these entities is the Wild Hunt, a chaotic neutral being whose followers can be chaotic neutral, chaotic good, or chaotic evil. The Wild Hunt’s domains are Animal, Strength, Travel, and War, and the Wild Hunt is the main entity worshiped by elves in the region.

Most elves are closer to the chaotic neutral and chaotic good spectrum of alignments, and the Wild Hunt’s influence among them can be volatile but is seldom malevolent. My campaign’s elves aren’t sophisticated, effete tree dwellers. Instead, they are a warrior people of strong passions ruled by codes of personal honor and divided into dozens of competing clans, each led by their own elfking and elfqueen. These elves value strength of arms, the ability to stalk and catch prey, and the comraderie of their elfsovereigns’s drinking hall.

The chaotic evil aspect of the Wild Hunt is different. Those who follow this aspect revel in strong passions but reject personal codes of honor. Instead, they see all of life as a battle to survive. The strong prove their worthiness by hunting the weak. Whatever happens is the will of the Wild Hunt. Those destined to prevail survive. Those not destined to prevail die.

The consequences for surviving on the chaotic evil side of the Wild Hunt are more than just spiritual and moral depravity. The monstrous acts also warp the adherent’s flesh and mind. Elves that serve the Wild Hunt’s chaotic evil aspect often become subject to the Dark Taint.

The Dark Taint & Quick Templates

The changes associated with the Dark Taint eventually lead to one of two transformations. Either the elf becomes a dark elf, or else he becomes a grimlock. In my campaign, both dark elves and grimlocks are fey creatures and degenerate forms of the Wild Hunt’s chaotic evil elven followers. Unless noted otherwise, transformations are cumulative.

Initial Stage Dark Taint – Dark Elf Transformation
An elf on the road to becoming a dark elf first passes through a first stage transformation. The elf’s appearance changes slightly. His flesh darkens. His hair become lighter. His eye color fades. Elves in the first stage of the dark elf transformation have the following modifications:

* Ability Scores: -2 Int, +2 Cha.
* Senses: Lose low-light vision. Add darkvision 60 ft.
* Spell-Like Abilities: The elf can cast dancing lights once per day, using his total character level as his caster level.
* Special Attacks: The elf gains the Poison Use special ability. This lets the elf use of poison without risk accidentally poisoning himself.
* Weakness: The elf suffers from light sensitivity.

Final Stage Dark Taint – Dark Elf Transformation
An elf that survives with the Wild Hunt’s chaotic evil aspect long enough becomes a full-blow dark elf. Apply the following modifications:

* CR: Increase CR +1.
* Type: The elf’s type becomes fey (elf).
* Ability Scores: +2 Dex.
* Senses: Increase darkvision to 120 ft.
* Defensive Abilities: The elf gains DR 3/cold iron. He also gains Spell Resistance equal to 6 plus his class levels.
* Spell-Like Abilities: A dark elf can cast dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire each once per day, using his total character level as his caster level.
* Weakness: The elf no longer has light sensitivity. Instead, he suffers from light blindness.
* Lost Racial Trait: The elf no longer has the Elven Magic racial trait.

Not all elves who acquire the Dark Taint become dark elves. Some become grimlocks. These two templates represent this gradual transformation.

Initial Stage Dark Taint – Grimlock Transformation
The elf becomes more muscular. His facial features become more bestial, and his eyelids grow thicker, turning his eyes into squinty slits. Apply these modifications:

* Ability Scores: +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha.
* Senses: The elf loses low-light vision. He gains blindsense 40 ft. and scent.
* Tough Flesh: The elf gains a +2 natural armor bonus.
* Lost Racial Traits: The elf no longer has the Elven Magic and Keen Senses racial traits.

Final Stage Dark Taint – Grimlock Transformation
The elf’s transformation into bestial grimlock is complete. His eyelids have grown shut, and the eyes behind them have atrophied. He becomes strongly muscled and monstrous in both appearance and appetites.

* CR: Increase CR +1.
* Type: The elf’s type becomes fey (elf).
* Ability Scores: +2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Cha.
* Senses: The elf gains a grimlock’s heightened nonvisual senses. Lose blindsense 40 ft., and gain blindsight 40 ft.
* Defensive Abilities: The elf gains DR 3/cold iron. The elf also gains immunity to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight.
* Racial Hit Die: The elf gains one racial HD (1d6). He acquires skill points equal 6 + Int modifier. The following are class skills for the racial Hit Die: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Escape Artist, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth, and Swim. Also, add Will +2 to base saving throws.
* Tougher Flesh: Increase the natural armor bonus to +4.
* Lost Racial Traits: The elf loses the Elven Immunities racial trait.

Tags: drow, Game Geek

(Written for Game Geek 14.)

When in the Course of gaming events it becomes necessary for players to dissolve the roleplaying bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of Oerth, the separate and equal station to which the Rule of Fun and of Fun’s Arbiter entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of gamerkind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all gamers are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Dice, Frivolity and the pursuit of Fun. — That to secure these rights, Game Groups are instituted among Gamers, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gamemastered, — That whenever any Form of Gamemastery becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Gamers to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Game Group, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Free Time and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Game Groups long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that gamerkind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such a Game Master, and to provide new House Rules for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Game Groups; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Gamemastery. The history of the present Game Master is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these Players. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Rules, the most wholesome and necessary for the gaming good.

He has forbidden his Players to write Backgrounds of interesting and useful game hooks; and when so written, he has utterly neglected to use them.

He has canceled Game Sessions repeatedly and without advanced notice, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the gamers.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Rules for establishing nonarbitrary Difficulty Classes.

He has made Players dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their characters, and the amount and payment of their XP awards, causing them to languish without advancement.

He has kept among us, in times of unnecessity, Standing NPCs that hoggeth the glory without the Consent of our gamers.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our group, and unacknowledged by our house rules; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For nerfing large numbers of spells and class features frequently used among us:

For protecting monsters, by choosing only those invulnerable to the class features of our characters:

He has constrained our fellow Player Characters taken Captive by high Enchantments to bear Arms against their Allies, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Game Master, whose style is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the game master of a free game group.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Gaming brethren. We have appealed via Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, claiming that the GM is like unto God.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united Groups of Gaming, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the campaign world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Groups, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Groups are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent Groups, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the Bad Game Master, and that all gaming connection between them and the Bad Game Master, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent Groups, they have full Power to search for a new Game Master and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent Gamers may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Share of the pizza money, and our sacred Honor.

Tags: Game Geek

(Which I wrote for Game Geek 13)

I remember when the 3.0 version of the d20 System hit the streets. I had been RPGing since the late 70s, and had only reluctantly moved from 1E to 2E circa 1990. Even then, I only made the change because the group of gamers that took me in when I was transferred to Hawaii was already playing 2E. For me, a good group of gamers was more important than the system. After leaving the military, I returned to Houston and picked up gaming with old friends who’d not left town. By this time, they’d all moved to 2E as well, so that’s what we kept playing.

I kept up with the Internet buzz about 3E. Not much of what I read seemed to merit investing time and money in the new system. For example, one of the supposed major improvements was replacing THAC0 with BAB. This really isn’t an improvement, however; it’s more like clever sleight of hand. BAB is just THAC0 with the math changed from subtraction to addition. I’d been using THAC0 as BAB since the mid 80s while playing 1E at Fort Bragg. More importantly, no one in my gaming group seemed interested in 3E, so why bother? The group, after all, is the thing; the game is secondary.

Then Fred decided to check out 3E. He bought the PH and fell in love. We were close to finishing up a 2E campaign, and Fred announced he wanted to run 3E. He insisted we’d all love it as much as he did. So, we made up PCs and went adventuring in a certain sunless citadel. We had fun, not really because 3E represented such a major improvement in game design, but rather because we were still that same group of friends gaming together just like we’d been doing since the late 70s.

That original gaming group is gone. In fact, I’m the only one left. Fred passed away. Others moved. The fundamental rule for me, however, hasn’t changed: The group is what’s important. I’d rather play a bad game system with people I like than a great game system with people I don’t care for.

I still try to keep up with gaming news. My reaction to 4E mirrors my initial reaction to 3E: Why bother? No one in my current group plays 4E, nor do they express any desire to. 3E’s flaws aren’t what persuaded me to eventually make the move to Pathfinder. It stands to reason those same flaws aren’t going to push me toward 4E either. After all, a game system’s flaws tend to be overwhelmingly matters of taste rather than matters of fact.

One of Pathfinder‘s widely maligned flaws is that the system did nothing to get rid of the dreaded Christmas Tree Effect. The gist of the CTE is that as PCs advance in level their equipment becomes more important than the PCs’ respective character classes. CTE critics often make three related claims:

(1) Without “level appropriate” equipment, encounters become too difficult. Attack bonuses, armor classes, saving throws, et cetera, can’t compete with more powerful creatures and effects.

(2) Without “level appropriate” equipment, the game skews even more heavily in favor of spellcasters, especially whichever one the objector feels is already the most powerful.

(3) Because of these first two claims, one cannot run a low-magic game with Pathfinder (or 3.0E or 3.5E) without a major rewrite of the rules.

Whenever I read these sorts of claims, I feel as if I’ve been stuck in some strange alternate universe where the games I play in aren’t what the game is really like. I’ve run low-magic without major rules rewrites. So have, I surmise, others. In the interest of helping gamers who might want to give low-magic gaming a try, here’re my helpful suggestions.

Replace Gear with Action Points

According to the “no low-magic” crowd, the Big Six magic items are hard-wired into the game system. Take them out, and the system falls apart, PCs die like mayflies, dogs and cats cohabitat, et cetera. The Big Six magic items are weapons, armors/shields, rings of protection, cloaks of resistance, amulets of natural armor, and ability-score boosters

The effects of these items can be replaced by Action Points. I use an Action Point system for my current low-magic campaign, and it works like a charm. (This system is described in my Rewarding Roleplaying PDF available at DriveThruRPG and at Paizo.com.) Here’s a quick and free system.

Each PC gets six Action Points per game session. A single Action Point can be spent as an immediate action even when flat-footed to gain one of the following for the duration of an encounter:

* A +1 enhancement bonus to weapon attack and damage rolls for every four character levels. This enhancement bonus counts as magic for purposes of overcoming DR.
* A +1 enhancement bonus to AC for every four character levels.
* A +1 deflection bonus to AC for every four character levels.
* A +1 resistance bonus to saving throws for every four character levels.
* A +2 enhancement bonus to one ability score for every five character levels.

The minimum bonus is +1, except for ability score bonuses, in which case the minimum bonus is +2. Using this down-and-dirty system, a PC can gain some pretty nice bonuses from round-to-round, gradually increasing in power in desired ways during the course of an encounter.

Also Do What I Do

Remember at the beginning of this article? How it seemed like I was just blathering about why I changed from one system to another? Well, there was a point to that blather, namely this: The group — not the game system — is what’s important.

So many problems with gaming groups could be avoided if people would remember that the highest purpose of any game is to have fun with friends. Everyone in a gaming group should play the game in such a way as to maximize everyone else’s fun. What that fun looks like will vary from group to group, and that’s okay.

How does this relate to low-magic gaming? Simple. If everyone agrees that abandoning most or all of the Big Six, for example, will be fun, and that the group will work together to make the game work, what more is needed? This is true no matter what the game system or style of play.

Tags: Game Geek, low-magic