r/Dolmentown

Strongly considering taking the plunge, this game keeps entering my mind and I really enjoy the actual play content I've consumed so far, but how do YOU handle..

1: Xp/levelling, making xp conversions with treasure and cross referencing across the different character classes? For those of you who do this specifically without an app, is this tedious? Is it simpler than it feels to me as I type this out? I don't have the full rules, but it doesn't seem like a super streamlined process. There are XP modifiers as well?

2: Inventory management, weight? Slots? I know there are 2 systems posed for inventory management, I don't think I can be bothered with noting the weight of everything, but is the item slot system simple? How do you calculate it at your table?

3: Lastly, theatre of the mind. I'm not in to battle maps personally, but the movements of creatures all looks very specific from what I've seen, do you run theatre of the mind? Does it have a negative impact on combat/exploration?

If it's not clear I like streamlined processes and am just curious about how these facets of the game play out.

Thanks very much for your time!

It is dawning on me that the scale of Dolmenwood factions is actually quite small.

Most villages have small populations: (Blackeswell 90)(Dreg 300)(Fort Vulgar 90)(Lankshorn 1100)(Meagres Reach 120)(Orbswallow 80)(Woodcutters 180)

Population largest settlements: (Castle Brackenwood city = 8700)(High Hankle 5300)(Prigwort 2700).

Duke's army is "sizeable" and has longbowmen. Could decree conscription to raise peasant militia.

Population of Crookhorns = (Baron Lucius 24)(Captain Snarkscorn 60)(Nag Lord "army") = Total 150? 200?

Army of Cold Prince = "formidable army"

Drune = (max 30 congregate at Drunemoot)(12 shadows & 9 phantoms serve the Elder Phanatarch)

In such a scale, a squad of high level adventurers really can be movers and shakers. And in this scale, a single harridan or troll can be a huge problem for a village like Dreg to deal with).

While the Nag Lord's commanders really think twice before sending a squad of 20 Crookhorns to scout a nearby adventure site. That represents 10% of their entire force! (and we have no idea how they replenish their Crookhorn forces - no Crookhorn settlements for breeding or forced mutating is described).

I guess I am thinking about these questions because I want to see how much of a resistance the Drune really could put up against a concerted grab by the Nag Lord of remaining nodal stones. And whether they could hold those stones against a counterattack from the Duke / Church.

So, I backed the Dolmenwood kickstarted and have the main books, map book, and adventures, and whatnot.

It's been unboxed, but that's about it. Haven't looked at it, yet. Life is busy, and I have game sessions that aren't Dolmenwood to prep and ponder. Plus, I do other things.

And.... I'm not sure where to start. The player book? The campaign book?

To be clear, I'm familiar with old school D&D. I'm not a person coming to it from 5e. I played D&D 3.5 for years and mostly run AD&D (among other things), but have run a bit of OSE and Basic Fantasy, so the broad system will be familiar.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are.

I’m looking for information on the demographics of the various kindred in different places. Not necessarily hard numbers, but if I start a campaign in Prigwort and my players choose Grimalkin, Mossling, or Woodgrue, how common is it for the residents of Prigwort to interact with Woodgrue, e.g.?

I’ve been thinking about a way to add DCCs mighty deeds system to Dolmenwood, this is what I thought up. I’m thinking of giving it to all martial character (maybe giving it to semi martials at a delayed chance to succeed?

Before making an attack roll, a warrior may declare a Mighty Deed of Arms (or simply a Deed). A Deed is a dramatic combat maneuver appropriate to the current situation. For example, a warrior might attempt to disarm an opponent, trip them, or force them backward to open a path to a corridor.

A Deed does not increase damage. Instead, it produces a tactical effect—such as pushing an enemy back, knocking them prone, entangling them, or temporarily impairing them.

Example: Blinding Attack
A blinding attack typically targets an enemy’s eyes. This could involve throwing sand in their face, stabbing through a visor, or loosing an arrow at close range. On a successful Deed, the GM may rule the target’s vision is impaired—eyes stinging or obscured—causing them to suffer a –2 penalty to their next attack roll.

Using a Mighty Deed

Declare your Deed before making your attack roll.
Confirm with the GM whether the Deed is possible and what effect it will have.
Roll a d6 Deed Die along with your attack.
Compare the result to your level to determine success.

Deed Die Success Table

Level Success on d6
1–3 5+
4–7 4+
8–13 3+
14+ 2+

Hey, I am going to be kicking off a Dolmenwood campaign in the near future. The cmapaignbook, adventures etc are just fantastic. The one thiong I am not sure of is the OSR or B/X ruleset. They were where I started playing back in the 1980s but aside from a bit of nostalgia, I don't really have any urge to use them.

I do LOVE Dragonbane. It gives me that relatively simple, low magick, dangerous feel with a modern clean ruleset. I have read that people are using it for Dolmenwood and the conversion looks easy enough. (I do have Saints and Wyrms). But I was wondering, other than a thought experiment, have people actually used it for campaigns? Is there any advice on this? Is it crazy and I should just play as written?

everything is basically setup to run the campaign I just need to get a new battery for my laptop and we’ll be golden for next week, but here are the characters! I rolled as much as I could for character creation and I’m not using race/class split. What’s displayed is name, race/class, alignment, background, stats, hp, equipped items, and other special notes:

Slink the Grimalkin
Chaotic ex-Knifemaker
S: 8, I: 10, W: 11, D: 13, C: 8, Ch: 10
HP: 2
two clubs, leather armor and shield
Glamour (lvl1): Cloak of Darkness

Wrangel the Cleric
Neutral ex-Sailor
S: 14, I: 12, W: 14, D: 8, C: 10, Ch: 9
HP: 6
mace, shortbow, plate mail
Turn Undead
Moon Sign: Waxing Goat Moon

Pip Tinybottom the Halfling
Lawful ex-Apiarist
S: 14, I: 8, W: 7, D: 13, C: 6, Ch: 7
HP: 5
sling and stones, spear, leather armor
Moon Sign: Waning Witch’s Moon

Vil Kilshew the Fighter
Neutral ex-Apothecary
S: 13, I: 6, W: 9, D: 11, C: 11, Ch: 7
HP: 4
longsword, crossbow, plate mail and shield
Moon Sign: Waxing Maiden’s Moon

Hoopla the Woodgrue
Neutral ex-Circus Performer
S: 14, I: 7, W: 5, D: 9, C: 14, Ch: 13
HP: 4
two slings and stones, plate mail
Moon Sign: Waning Dead Moon

Hey Townies. I have been thinking back to that lauded OSR module The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford and the lore for where the wyrm came from and I think I recall it was a dwarf corrupted by greed. Really liked this idea that dragons (wyrms) could have once been humans (or demi humans in this case) who succumbed to strong negative emotions and been associated with some sort of fall from grace or tragedy.

In fact this way of wyrms being created makes more sense to me as Dolmenwood wyrms are all very solitary, jealous, and confrontational; making mating or even searching for a mate seem unlikely. So instead of a regular reproductive cycle I thought perhaps wyrms come about from extreme and extraordinary corruption that only happens once in a genration. Perhaps it's a willing transformation, akin to lich-dom (requiring a pact with dark forces or occult transgressions of some form).

Some origins for wyrms could be :
Black Wyrms (Melancholic) - committing a great treachery (e.g. Lord Soth)
Bile Wyrms (Choleric) - corrupted by wrath leading to a massacre (e.g. Iago)
Phlem Wyrms (Phlegmatic) - nihilismunchecked that consumed an individual (e.g. ??)
Blood Wyrms (Sanguine)- passion that became an obsession (e.g. The Vampire Strahd Von Zarovitch)

These origins could also tie into each wyrms specific weakness as it reminded them of their human past?

Eager to hear your thoughts, I kinda thought this was cool and differentiates wyrms even more (they are already amazing in DW) from standard 'D&D' Dragons making them more mysterious

There are several places of power on the map (The Court of the Nag-Lord, the Pelloryons, etc.) that seem like they ought to be big, interesting dungeons. I'm trying to get a sense of how other people have done this and which places merit this kind of prep. How have you handled large sites of interest in your campaign?

I’m setting up my obsidian vault, and was hoping to use Fantasy Statblock plugin. Might be a long shot, but has anyone already done the work of writing a JSON file for the layout template? Did some searching and couldn’t find one so figured I’d check here before spending the time to learn.

Obviously the stat blocks are simple enough I don’t really need the plugin, but figured it be nice to use the initiative tracker plugin etc

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Taru surveys the forested vista from on high, and ere night falls, the breggles find themselves at a rather spooky inn. Still in operation, though it lies aside a little-used path, its twin proprietors are strangely reluctant to introduce the other guests staying there.

Find links to our character sheets, house rules, past campaigns, and a whole lot more -- on 3d6 Down the Line!

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