Swords & Wizardry, Old School Essentials, and (I believe) OSRIC give you the option of using ascending AC instead of the classic descending THAC0 AC. When playing one of those games, which AC method do you use?
I was reading a thread (I don't remember where) about Reaper Miniatures' new d20 class and level-based TTRPG, Dungeon Dwellers. When asked what the game had to recommend it, one person gave a long list of its attributes. Inevitably, another person said something to the effect of "so this game literally has nothing unique to say." Having purchased the game, I knew there was nothing earth-shaking about it, but that it is a good, solid game. I considered the argument that it doesn't do anything "new", and, for myself, it doesn't need to. It makes a number of quality of life improvements to the usual D&D-derived game to make its whole greater than the sum of its parts. Does Dungeon Dwellers have a hook that fits into a nice sound byte? No. But the perception that the game hasn't garnered much attention since its recent release might suggest that an easily-defined hook is necessary.
This is an issue I'm wresting with for a game I'm working on. It's a ruleset that I really like...but I don't know if it really has a definable hook. If asked to describe what makes it cool, I honestly don't know if I could come up with a compelling answer without launching into a ten-minute description. It's simply the game I want to play. Is quality enough, even if it's not presenting something truly unique? Do you grapple with this question?
The forthcoming Broken Empires RPG has a d100 roll-under/roll-high mechanic, an interesting “blackjack” take on roll-under mechanics. What are some other games that do interesting things with roll-under?
I've got a mechanic I really like, and so far in my brief playlists, works quite well. But I need objective eyes to point out any problematic areas I may have missed. This is quite long, so I appreciate your patience and time.
The basic goals of the mechanic: 1) Quickly determine a round's combat exchange. (2) The attack roll determines damage (as opposed to rolling a separate damage die as inn D&D). (3) Wounds can hinder or help you with each round. In the case of helping you, it's a sort of cinematic concept where heroism rises as death grows closer.
Here it is, along with an extended example.
2d10, roll-under an attribute or skill rated from 3-18.
- You want to roll under, but high. Similar to Blackjack.
- The highest result of the two dice is called the Lead Die. The lower is called the Support Die.
- In combat, the dice tell you how much damage you dealt, how much damage you defended against, and whether you can perform a maneuver, such as a disarm. Player rolls all the dice. For damage, you also add the damage rating of your weapon (usually 2-4 points)
- On a successful attack, you select what you want to use the Lead Die for: damage or defense. For example, if you make a successful attack with a 13 (Lead Die 8, Support Die 5), you could deal 8 Damage and defend with a 5.
- If you fail your roll, you take the enemy's damage. If you succeed, you still take the enemy's damage but reduce it with your Defend Die and any armor worn.
- Monster and NPC armor are subsumed into their HP.
- When a monster/NPC is reduced to 0 HP, they die. If a character is reduced to 0 HP, they are Wounded. A Wounded character rolls a d4 along with their normal 2d10. If the result is even, he improves his combat skill by that amount (+2 or +4). If the result is odd, he reduces his skill by that amount (-1 or -3). Each further time he takes damage, the Wound Die increases by 1 step, to d6, d8, etc. PCs die at negative Constitution hit points.
EXAMPLE: Fighter with Attack skill of 13, sword damage +2, Armor +2, and 15 hit points vs. an ogre with damage 7 and 25 hit points.
- Round 1: Fighter rolls a success with a 7 (6 Lead, 1 Support). Fighter deals 6 +2 damage with his Lead Die and uses his Support Die to reduce the ogre's damage by 1, which is added to his armor of 2 points. He thus reduces the ogre's damage from 7 to 4. Fighter is reduced to 11 HP. Ogre takes 8 damage and is reduced to 17 HP.
- Round 2: Fighter rolls a 16 — failure. He takes the ogre's 7 damage, minus his armor rating of 2, reducing him to 8 HP.
- Round 3: Fighter rolls a success with a 4 (3 Lead, 1 Support). He uses the 3 + 2 to Defend, reducing the ogre's damage to 2, leaving the fighter with 6 HP. The 1 +2 damage to the ogre reduces it to 14 HP.
- Round 4: Fighter rolls failure with 15. He takes the ogre's 7 damage (minus 2 for his armor) and is reduced to 1 HP.
- Round 5: Fighter rolls another failure. He's reduced to -3 HP. He is now Wounded and adds a d4 to his combat pool.
- Round 6: Fighter rolls the d4 Wound Die and gets a 4, meaning he improves his fighting skill by 4 points, from 13 to 17 — that Wound has made him angry! Fighter succeeds with a 16 (Lead Die 10, Support Die 6). He uses the Lead Die of 10 to deal 10 + 2 damage, and uses the Support Die to cancel 6 + 2 damage from the ogre. Fighter is still at -3 HP and the ogre is now at 2 HP.
- Round 7: Wound Die rolls a 2, meaning he improves his Attack skill of 13 by 2 for this round (he's still angry!). He's now Attacking with an attack score of 15. His attack is a 7 (4 Lead, 3 Support). He uses the Lead Die of 4 +2 to kill the ogre, who only had 2 HP. The fighter wins! Whew!
There are other aspects to the mechanic for rolling doubles, which gives you a free maneuver such as disarm, reposition, and distraction, but I didn't want to muddy the waters too much for the example.
In looking at it now, I think 7 rounds is too long. Perhaps I need to boost the weapon damage outputs?
Anyway, I'd like any observations you can offer. I appreciate that this roll-under/roll-high mechanic is not everyone's cup of tea, so I'll take it as read that many of you won't like it based on that alone. With that in mind, what do you think works and what do you think is potentially problematic? I really appreciate it!
I just learned that Dungeon Dwellers has been delivered to its backers and is now available for everyone to buy off the Reaper website. If you have it, what do you think so far? Is it sufficiently different from other D&D-derived games to be worth the money?
When it comes to OSR combat, which of the following movement models do you prefer?
- feet/yards/meters (OSE, OSRIC)
- grid inches (AD&D 1e)
- close/near/far (Shadowdark)
- zones (the forthcoming Deathbringer)
- something else
Does having a skill system preclude an RPG from being considered an OSR game? If not, are there any existing games that fit that mold?
While I admire the dice pool mechanic of the FFG Star Wars RPGs, I find its use of symbols instead of numbers to slow proceedings down and, ultimately, add a bit too much complexity for my taste. Before you ask, I’ve played it plenty of times, as well as WHFRP 3e. I’ve been wondering if there are any games with mechanics inspired by those games, but using traditional dice. Has anyone seen a game that does this already?
I’m working on a game where characters can take two actions in combat. The basic actions are attack, defend, maneuver. You can do any combination of two, including attacking twice. It’s a fairly standard roll 1dX roll plus skill vs difficulty. Your first action uses a d20. Your second uses a d16. I really like the way it plays out, but I worry about the use of a d16 being a deterrent. Yes, you could easily roll 2d20, with the second roll subtracting 4. But that leads to a range of -4 to 16, rather than 1 to 16.You could require re-rolls of results over 16, but that slows things down a little. So…I like the d20/16 split. Do you think it would be a turn-off for a significant numbers of potential players? If the game included four d16 dice, would that make a difference?
I’m working on a mechanic for a small TTRPG. I really like it in principle, but I have one issue with it. Any help you can offer is appreciated.
The mechanic: Roll a die based on a skill plus another die based on your health, called the Effort Die. The highest result is your result. Compare vs target number. Equaling or exceeding the TN gives you success. The dice range from d4 through d12. As your suffer injuries, your Effort die decreases. So a completely hale PC has an Effort die of d12,while a PC on the verge of unconsciousness has a d4.
The proble m: While the system works like a charm mechanically, thematically I have a problem with one aspect of it: health often trumps skill. For example, a PC with melee combat skill d10 and Effort d6 is bested by an opponent with d4 melee combat skill and Effort d12 about 50% of the time. While I want decreasing Effort to be important, I think large disparities in skill should always favor the skilled character. This goes for any skill use, not just combat.
Any suggestions?
I’m working on a mechanic for a small TTRPG. I really like it in principle, but I have one issue with it. Any help you can offer is appreciated.
The mechanic: Roll a die based on a skill plus another die based on your health, called the Effort Die. The highest result is your result. Compare vs target number. Equaling or exceeding the TN gives you success. The dice range from d4 through d12. As your suffer injuries, your Effort die decreases. So a completely hale PC has an Effort die of d12,while a PC on the verge of unconsciousness has a d4.
The proble m: While the system works like a charm mechanically, thematically I have a problem with one aspect of it: health often trumps skill. For example, a PC with melee combat skill d10 and Effort d6 is bested by an opponent with d4 melee combat skill and Effort d12 about 50% of the time. While I want decreasing Effort to be important, I think large disparities in skill should always favor the skilled character. This goes for any skill use, not just combat.
Any suggestions?
What is your favorite sword & sorcery RPG? When I say that, I’m talking about RPGs inspired by the pulp works and sensibilities of authors like REH Howard, Fritz Lieberman, and Michael Moorcock. Examples include Barbarians of Lemuria, Crypts & Things, Red Mists, any number of Lankhmar-based games, various Conan-based games, The Black Sword Hack, and Hyperborea.
I’m creating some race-specific classes for dwarves, elves, and halflings. To keep a certain degree of consistency, I want to rename the existing dwarf, elf, and halfling classes. For example, elves might be Elven Warlocks. Do you have any suggestions? I’m not keen on any of the given level titles, with the possible exception of Thegn for the dwarf class. Thanks!
Just curious if there are other RPGs that use the “Zocchi dice” that DCC uses (d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, d30).
DCC is a pretty gonzo game. For me, attribute checks are kind of unsatisfying given the generally small range of attribute modifiers (-3 to +3, with most being in the -1 to +1 range). Old school AD&D attribute checks were d20 roll-under the attribute. What are your thoughts on using it for DCC? You could use the dice ladder for different degrees of difficulty, perhaps giving automatic failure when you roll the die's maximum (thus making a character with AGL of 17 still able to fail a d16 AGL check). Most checks would probably use a d20 or d24. It means many characters will succeed the majority of time and many would fail the majority of time, depending on your attribute score. I realize this may qualify as GoodBadWrongFun.
I've been playing RPGs since 1981, but solo gaming is still alien to me. I picked up Mythic but I'm wondering if there is a simpler path to getting into solo gaming. I don't even know if you can use pre-written adventures with solo gaming. What resources would you recommend for learning? Lead me on, reddit users!
RPG dice that I would wager most/all of us have are d4, d6, d8,d10, d12, and d20. When a game uses dice outside of that group, such as d16 or the Genesys dice, does it affect your interest in the game? If you’re turned off by that, does your opinion change if the game includes those dice?
I’m looking for recommendations for some good third-party adventures for PF1e. They can be short adventures or “adventure paths.” I generally prefer adventures with a good mix of roleplaying and a combination of locales. I have the Freeport trilogy. Have at it!
I’ve had the first three books of this AP for years but haven’t played it. What are your thoughts on it? Do you have any suggestions on GMing it?