Spes Magna Games

Today, I continue to explore expanding OSRIC to include narrative elements inspired by Margaret Weis Productions’ Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game (MHRG). In the first post on this topic, I looked at how characters and monsters create assets and complications that affect Attack, Defense, Saving Throws, and Damage. It’s now time to turn to noncombat applications of the idea (“noncombat” meaning not applicable to Attack, Defense, Saving Throws, or Damage).

OSRIC does not have a skill system, and I’m certainly not proposing to add one. Instead, I’m going to start with tried-and-true idea of ability checks, which were widely used as a house rule in 1E AD&D, morphing into nonweapon proficiencies with 2E AD&D.

An ability check is simple. The player proposes a course of action, the success of which is not obvious. The DM designates an ability score that governs that action and determines the action’s difficulty. The players rolls one or more dice and compares the result to the ability score to determine success. The lower the result, the better.

Let’s formalize some of this by tying the number of dice rolled to the difficulty of the action. The harder the action, the more dice the player rolls, which leads to higher totals on average and reduces the odds of success.

Easy: 2d6
Average: 3d6
Hard: 4d6
Heroic: 5d6
Nigh Impossible: 6d6

The player rolls and totals the results of the indicated number of dice. If this total is equal to or less than the governing ability score, the character succeeds. (Nota Bene: This system assumes that no other part of the rules covers the proposed action. For example, it wouldn’t be used to open a door as that task is already governed by Strength.)

For example, Wiggles the halfling thief wants to jump up on a table in order to pull a tapestry down onto a well-armed and armored ogre. Can Wiggles make the jump onto the table? There’s no good reason why he ought not be able to try. The DM judges that Wiggles’s height compared to the table’s height added to the constricted area due to the ogre and other combatants makes jumping onto the table on Average task governed by Wiggles’s Strength of 11. Christopher rolls 3d6, totals the dice, and compares the result to Wiggles’s Strength.

But, what if there’s something in Wiggles’s background that hints he’s good at jumping? How does this factor in?

Going back to MHRG, we find the concept of Distinctions, which are “defining backgrounds, personality traits, or catchphrases that summarize important facets of the hero’s outlook and approach to life.” An MHRG hero usually has three Distinctions, one of which helps form the dice pool rolled to determine success. Applied to OSRIC during character creation, a player should write three Distinctions for his character. Of course, the DM must approve these Distinctions.

For example, Christopher wrote these Distinctions for Wiggles: Circus Runaway, Plans for the Worst, and Shy, Yet Brave

We can now see that the reason Wiggles thinks he can make the jump onto the table in the middle of a pitched melee is because Wiggles spent time with a circus. This Distinction does not require an action to get into play. It is part of the character’s background. Consequently, Wiggles enjoys the benefit of an asset die when doing things related to having worked for a circus. Since Wiggles is a 2nd-level thief, his asset die size is d4. Christopher rolls 3d6 and 1d4, and subtracts the d4 from the total (because the d4 is a benefit and goal is get the lowest possible total). He rolls 3, 4, and 6 on the 3d6 and 3 on the 1d4, giving a total of 10 (3 + 4 + 6 – 3). Wiggles succeeds!

Another thing to note is that the modifier provided by an asset or complication might apply to a task governed by a d% roll. In this case, treat each unit as plus or minus 5% to the d% result.

For example, Wiggles needs to sneak past a couple of guards. Being only a 2nd-level thief, his move silently chance is not impressive, but it’s much better than Bric’s and Brac’s chances. Since Wiggles Plans for the Worst, Christopher explains how Wiggles carefully studies the routes so as to maximize staying out of line of sight while minimizing the odds of stumbling over something or stepping on something noisy. The DM thinks this sounds a lot like creating an asset. Christopher rolls 1d20 + 2 (Wiggles’s level) – 1 (since each guard is a 0-level NPC, the DM rules they count as half a Hit Die each). Christopher rolls a 16, which yields a result well above the 11 needed to create an asset. Wiggles gets his d4 asset die, which translates into a 5-20% modifier to Wiggles’s chance to move silently.

A final caveat: Care must be exercised with Distinctions. They should probably not ever directly affect Attack, Defense, Damage, or Saving Throws, at least not without having to create an asset or complication as previously described. Distinctions can otherwise apply more or less automatically to a wide range of activities, or they can be used to create assets and complications.

Tags: 1E AD&D, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, OSRIC

Today’s musings about OSRIC, venture into strange territory. Let’s set up the first steps into this new land with some background.

Back in the day, Basic D&D and AD&D had rules that covered quite a lot of the in-game activity that characters might attempt. These rules covered topics as diverse as hiring mercenaries, exploring wilderness regions, building strongholds, and researching new spells. Some rules applied to specific characters. Can a thief move silently? Well, maybe, but there’s a defined percentage chance for that.

Can non-thieves move silently? Well, maybe, and here the rules get a little loosey-goosey. Elves and halflings can some of the time. What about fighter? Can he move silently? His choice of armor probably answers that question. Is he wearing plate mail? Then, nope, he’s not moving silently, but what does that mean? How noisy is he? One answer might be, “Not so noisy that he still can’t surprise most creatures on a 1 or a 2.” That’s a third of time, which is better than any 1st-level thief’s chance to move silently, and that doesn’t seem right, which shows that the answer doesn’t quite work.

1E AD&D has a secondary skills table in the Dungeon Masters Guide. Lord Korbok, my dwarf fighter/thief, was a teamster/freighter. What does that mean? If he’s loading or unloading a wagon, is there a die roll involved? Can he demand union wages for his labor? It would seem so because later the Dungeon Masters Guide shows that a teamster earns 5 silver pieces a day for his work, but what if the teamster is also a 9th-level fighter and a 12th-level thief? (Okay, that question is probably a bit silly.)

Questions such as these (and many others) didn’t have defined answers. These answers boiled down this: Whatever the DM says is the rule. Players could make suggestions, but the DM had the final say. Often when I’ve DMed, I deferred anywhere from in part to in whole to the players for these sorts of answers. In the process, the players help define the minutiae of the campaign world. I know other DMs have done the same sort of thing.

In short, no rule set can possibly account for every variable or answer every question.

Which brings me to the brilliant Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game (MHRG) published by Margaret Weis Productions. MHRG is about as different as 1E AD&D as a game can get. There are no secret dice rolls in MHRG. Everything occurs out in the open as part of a shared story, and both players and the GM can use their dice rolls to modify the game in some interesting ways. Two of those ways are the creation of assets and complications, which are kind of the opposite of each other.

An asset is created when a dice pool generates a total that succeeds against the target number. In 1E AD&D terms, this is like an attack roll. The successful action has an effect die (analogous to 1E AD&D’s damage roll). This effect die, however, may not represent damage. It may represent an asset or complication. Put most simply, an asset increases the odds of success for another action, and a complication decreases the odds of success for another action.

Let’s say I’m playing Captain America leading a team of heroes past a group of A.I.M. guards. Stealth is of the essence. As Captain America, I could rely on my Covert Expert specialty, but that doesn’t really help the other heroes, some of whom may not be particularly sneaky. So, I explain to the GM that I’m going study the guards’ patterns, analyzing their fields of vision and habits to find the best way to slip past their post without being noticed. I roll my dice pool and succeed. Let’s say my chosen effect die is a d8. This becomes an asset called Best Route d8, which can then be used to aid another hero’s attempt to be sneaky. (Nota Bene: If I spend a Plot Point, that asset becomes persistent, able to be used by more than one hero.)

A complication is an asset in reverse. Imagine that I’m playing Henry Pym as Ant-Man instead of Cap, and that the situation involves a fight with a giant, nigh-invulnerable robot. As Ant-Man, none of my attacks stand much of chance of damaging the robot. So, instead of fighting, I use a combination of shrinking and scientific expertise to get inside part of the robot. After criss-crossing a few wires and dislodging a transistor or two (represented by a successful dice pool roll), I create a Systems Malfunction complication (which would have an effect die attached to it).

All of this leads up to to the topic for my next blogpost: What if OSRIC had a simple but meaningful system to simulate this sort of narrative control?

Tags: 1E AD&D, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, OSRIC

Jasper, son of Laryssa and John Payne, needs ear surgery to help improve his hearing. Even with the family’s insurance, the looming bill for the surgery weighs in at more than $4,000. Laryssa and John have set up a GoFundMe page, hoping that folks of good will will decide to help a young boy and his parents. I don’t know Jasper, Laryssa, or John, but do know the difficulties a family can face because of health problems. If you can help and want to help, please do so.

And, in the interest of gaming material, here’s my Marvel Heroic Roleplaying datafile inspired by Jasper (who is the artist of the starfish dragon, on which you can click to embiggen, featured in this post).

The Crayola Kid
aka Jasper

Affiliations
Solo d6, Buddy d8, Team d10

Distinctions
Big Imagination, Intrepid, Plucky Kid

Power Sets
Force of Imagination
Big Silver Badge d6, Box of Crayons d6, Toy Gun d6
* SFX – 64 Colors. Add a d6 and step up the effect die by +1 when the Crayola Kid uses his colors to create image-based assets.
* SFX – Bang! Add a d6 and step up the effect die by +1 when he inflicts an “I’ve Been Shot!” complication on a target.
* SFX – Focus. In a pool including a Force of Imagination die, replace two dice of equal size with one die +1 step larger
* SFX – In the Name of Law. Before an action including a Force of Imagination power, the Crayola Kid may move his current emotional stress die to the doom pool. He steps up the Force of Imagination power this action.
* SFX – Gear. Shutdown a Force of Imagination power and gain 1 PP. Take an action against the doom pool to recover.

Specialties
Acrobatics Rookie d6

Tags: Jasper Payne, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Session three of our Sons of Liberty Marvel Heroic Roleplaying campaign met last night. Since I’d already written about playing MHR, I figured it made sense to provide a session recap.

Eagle Eye, the Mason, and the Protector had defeated Pearl-Feather, rescuing Paul Revere and William Dawes, and enjoyed the hospitality of the mysterious storyteller Iagoo. The heroes also learned that Pearl-Feather spoke of a “powerful weapon” being built at Fort Ticonderoga in Vermont. Iagoo told the heroes that the Pearl-Feather likely escaped into his swampy domain, an evil land full of disease and guarded by dragon-like Kenabeeks.

After some discussion, the heroes decided to investigate the rumor about the weapon. Eagle Eye led the way through the spirit world of Appalachia to the outskirts of New York City. The Protector donned civilian gear. The Mason and Eagle Eye skulked through the city’s substructures, rightly figuring that the Mason’s rocky appearance would attract too much attention. The heroes planned to rendezvous at the Protector’s offices at United Pearson Shipping near the waterfront.

In the wharf-side tavern Niko’s, the Protector was surprised to find Miss Jenny, whom the heroes had met in Lexington. Miss Jenny claimed to be a traveling tinker, but Black Dynamo, who had secretly investigated her wagon, was of the opinion that her claim was a front.

The Protector, as wealthy shipping magnate Mr. Pearson, learned from Miss Jenny that at man named Gwynn Prichard was in charge of the fort and whatever was being built. She had also heard talk of a mysterious figure known only as the Doctor. Large shipments of iron plating had regularly been received at the fort. The Protector asked if Miss Jenny could help him meet Prichard, and she gave the Protector a simple lady’s ring, saying, “Present this to Mr. Prichard and tell him Miss Jenny sent you.” Perhaps inexplicably, the Protector trusted Miss Jenny with near total confidence.

While this was going on, the Mason and Eagle Eye heard strange, howling winds in the sewers where they were hiding. Eagle Eye identified the howling as a sign of the Pauguk, a vengeful spirit that seeks to punish those who’ve violated Iroquois sacred sites. Fortunately, it was still day time, and the Pauguk supposedly hated sunlight. Eagle Eye left the sewer and shortly bumped into the Protector, who’d left Niko’s and was on his way to his offices. The Mason plodded his way under the harbor and entertained himself by wreaking havoc with the anchors of British ships.

The heroes left New York City for Vermont and the hamlet of Ticonderoga, there to meet up with Ethan Allen, a local businessman who had contacts with the fort. Along the way, the heroes were attacked by the Pauguk, a howling whirlwind of ghosts. The fight was brief but fierce, with Eagle Eye striking the final blow after he’d shifted into the spirit world to fight the monster (but not before the Pauguk had stolen Eagle Eye’s mystic senses).

In the hamlet, the heroes met with Ethan Allen, who agreed to have this Green Mountain Boys ready to assist. The Protector and Eagle Eye entered the fort, using Miss Jenny’s ring to get an audience not only with Gwynn but also with his two younger brothers Aneirin and Andras. The Mason “earth swam” beneath everyone’s feet.

In the fort, the Protector and Eagle Eye were escorted by Gwynn to a wooden building attached to a much larger, barn-like structure. Gwynn showed Miss Jenny’s ring to his brothers, and all three men agreed that it was time for the heroes to die! The heroes thus discovered that Miss Jenny was a British spy.

Thus began a pitched battle pitting the three heroes against two platoons of Redcoats and the Alchemists Three, who were intent of capturing the Mason alive so that he could be turned over to a mysterious figure known only as the Grand Witch. During the fight, something large and powerful was launched from the barn-like structure. The heroes eventually prevailed, but Gwynn escaped by using his alchemical knowledge to transform into air and fly away.

The last revelation of the evening was the heroes watching an enormous robot rocket away into the morning sky, heading southward.

Tags: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying by Cam Banks and Margaret Weis Productions. I’m running a twice-monthly, Friday-night MHR game set during the American Revolution. I run a “World without Heroes” mini-campaign for several of my 5th-grade students as an on-campus extracurricular activity. Also, I’ve run MHR one-on-one for my son Christopher.

MHR is an interesting game system. The presentation of the rules in the basic book (linked above) seems a bit disorganized to me, but the disparate pieces start to come together in actual play (which is always the best way to learn a game). The system focuses on narrative elements to determine how actions are resolved. The system is incredibly versatile, and there are oodles of reviews out there for those interested.

For those interested, here are several different MHR datafiles, most of them for the Watcher:

Batroc’s Brigade: My version of Batroc’s Brigade includes Batroc the Leaper (of course), Porcupine, and Whirlwind. My son Christopher’s hero Kanik faced the Brigade in a solo adventure. Of the three, only Batroc proved to be anything approaching a real threat. Porcupine and Whirlwind were more of a nuisance factor. In hindsight, I dropped Batroc to Combat Expert, and changed his Savate Prowess SFX to permitting stepping up or doubling Combat Expert. These changes aren’t reflected in the linked PDF.

The Cricket: At school where I teach, I facilitate Ludi Fabularum, a story game club. The Cricket is one of the heroes run by one of the 5th graders who participate in the club.

Deadly Nightshade: My son’s MHR hero Kanik found out the hard way that an acquaintance is really a super-villain.

The Enforcers: Here’s my version of the original Enforcers, including the Big Man, Fancy Dan, Montana, and the Ox.

Fafnir the Dragon: Thor’s city-smashing villain is ready for action. Use with care.

The League of Terror: I put together a horror-themed group of villains that includes Black Talon, the Grim Reaper, Nekra, the Swarm, and Death-Stalker.

Mister Hyde: I retooled Marvel’s Mister Hyde for use against Kanik. The soon-to-be-run adventure will also include the full unveiling of Deadly Nightshade.

The Ratcatcher: Way back when I introduced Christopher to Mutants & Masterminds, he made up his own hero called Kanik, who faced the Ratcatcher in his first adventure. The Ratcatcher eluded capture that time. When we converted Kanik to MHR, we had to bring the Ratcatcher back for a rematch. Kanik narrowly defeated the villain, who now sits in custody, nursing a new grudge.

The Sinister Six and the Octobots: For the aforementioned story game club at my school, we’re playing MHR. The characters are all rookies in a world without heroes. New York City has been conquered by the Sinister Six, which includes Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, the Vulture, and Mysterio.

Tags: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Watcher Datafiles