[Setting Skeleton] Grave Robbing for Justice!

I really enjoy a long campaign that runs for months, even years, taking the player characters from their humble beginnings to levels of unsurpassed awesome. However, many promising long-term campaigns never last that long (for any number of reasons). So, I’ve grown accumstomed to and rather fond of settings and games that allow for more episodic adventures, less reliance on recurring player characters and even allow for round-robin GMing. This old post briefly discusses the last such setting I used. Today, I’d like to introduce the skeleton for another setting I’d like to explore:

For generations, the Kingdom of Pleasantdale had prospered, leveraging it’s positioning at a major trade route intersection. Over time, though, the populace grew lazy and content, believing that they would never wake from the Pleasantdale dream. It just took a few, seemingly unrelated events to bring the Kingdom to the brink of disaster – a war in a distant land;  droughts, poor harvests and famine amongst some of Pleasantdale’s trading partners; a handful of poor business decisions; a political faux pas or two. Pleasantdale now finds itself facing a complete economic meltdown. The monarchy, trying to avert the disaster, has begun hiring adventurers to help with the latest plan to solves the Kingdom’s cash flow woes.

Pleasantdale had been home to the richest of merchant families and, as is tradition, many of the merchant princes had been buried with vast amounts of the wealth they had accumulated in life. Since these merchant families are also facing financial doom, many of them are not seriously opposing the monarchy’s new plan – hiring adventurers to brave the traps and perils  of the merchant tombs to reclaim the buried wealth.

Setting considerations:

• Adventurers would be allowed to keep whatever wealth they find (after economy-stimulation-taxes, of course).
• Some merchant families might require favours before giving access to their family burial grounds.
• Some merchant families may be openly opposed to the monarchy’s plan. What happens when the crown orders an invasion of the merchant families’ tombs?
• There may be organizations opposed to the grave robbing, perhaps the church of the local god of the dead.

- jatori

Designing from Flavour to Mechanics [3.X Monk Project]

This post continues my exploration of the monk class of Dungeons and Dragons 3.X. You can view the previous entries here:

• Design Goals
• Part 1 (Level 1)
• Part 2 (Expanded Design Goals)
• This post, first published: 28 May 2009; last edit: 08 June 2009 – latest updates in red.

Flavour First; Mechanics Later

I’ve received a little bit of positive feedback regarding this project, especially on combat stances and qi surges. However, trying to design mechanically sound stances and surges has proven to be difficult. Therefore, I’ve decided to tackle things differently. I am going to start with the flavour (you know, the role playing bit of the game) and work backwards from there to the mechanics.

For this project, I’ll be using the Chinese zodiac as the theme behind 12 different schools of martial arts (one school for each of the animals). Each school’s fighting style will be based on the connotations (probably incorporating both Occidental and Oriental viewpoints) surrounding each animal. The list is currently incomplete, but I shall be making repeated edits to this post (being sure to alert interested readers either via comments on this post or through other posts)

TC has also suggested that this monk revision not be restricted solely to what I write. Consider customizing the schools and stances to suit your own campaign world. Perhaps your styles are based on the teachings of your world’s  many deities, other fantasy creatures , dragon colours, as examples.

First, though, let’s get just a bit of the mechanics out of the way. The following table lists, by class level, the number of stances a monk knows and the number of stances she may have active simultaneously. A monk knows all qi surges, but each surge has certain prerequisites that need to be met before it can be used (previously, qi surges were tied directly to specific stances).

Level	Known	Active
1	2	1
2	3	2
3	3	2
4	3	2
5	4	2
6	4	2
7	4	2
8	5	3
9	5	3
10	5	3
11	6	3
12	6	3
13	6	3
14	7	4
15	7	4
16	7	4
17	8	4
18	8	4
19	8	4
20	8	5

Schools and Stances

EDIT (08 June 2009): I’ve added favoured skills to each of the classes, as suggested by TC. Bonuses/uses of favoured skills still to be determined.

Rat: According to legend, the Rat, being a small and weak creature, had to rely on his intellect, quick wit and cunning to overcome the many obstacles he faced. Monks that follow this school strive to emulate this quality and are often recognized as either wise diplomats and negotiators or cunning and crafty conmen. Favoured Skill: Bluff.

Stance of Cunning: The monk may add her Wisdom modifier to her Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks as an Insight bonus (Effectively, she adds double her Wisdom modifier to Sense Motive checks).

Design note: I don’t see the stance of Cunning as a physical stance, but rather a state of mind, wherein the monk allows herself to better perceive (and thus manipulate) the thoughts and intent of others.

Ox: Work in Progress

Tiger: Work in Progress

Rabbit: Monks that follow this school are typically viewed as soft-spoken, friendly and amiable. They are generally cautious combatants.

Stance of Caerbannog: Attacks with your chosen weapons all deal slashing damage in addition to their normal damage types. Any chosen weapon you wield is considered to have the vorpal property.

Dragon: Work in Progress

Snake: Monks that follow the school of the snake move with  a sensual grace, making no unnecessary movements, preserving their energy, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Favoured Skill: Hide.

Stance of the Python: The monk may add her Wisdom modifier to any damage dealt through a successful grapple check.

Stance of the Viper: The monk may add her Wisdom modifier as an insight bonus to her Hide and Move Silently skill checks. She also adds her Wisdom modifier as an insight bonus to her initiative checks.

Horse: Work in Progress

Ram: Work in Progress

Monkey: Monks that follow the school of the monkey, quickly learn that mental strength and agility are as (if not more) important as physical strength and agility. Monks of this school tend to be quick thinkers and innovative combatants. Favoured Skill: Tumble.

Design note: I envision the melee monkey monk as a combatant that specialises in enfuriating other melee opponents, restricting their ability to strike back. I can’t decide if this should be portrayed mechanically as one stance that adds a bonus to disarm checks, or a stance that adds a bonus to grapple checks, or a stance that adds a bonus to both disarm and grapple checks. I’m favouring the third option.

Rooster: Work in Progress

Dog: Work in Progress

Boar: Work in Progress

I am also considering adding the 5 elements as seperate schools:

Wood: Work in Progress

Fire: Work in Progress

Earth: Work in Progress

Metal: Work in Progress

Water: Work in Progress

And, of course, we can’t forget:

Cat: Work in Progress

Surges

Finger Pointing A Way to the Moon: Requires: 1 rank in Bluff; Active Stance of Cunning; Improved Feint. Cost: 1 Qi Surge. You may feint in combat as a swift action.

Serpent’s Fangs: Requires: Active Stance of the Viper; (Other Dexterity or Speed-based requirement still to be determined. Suggestions?). Cost: 1 Qi Surge. As a standard action, the monk may make two attacks, using her full base attack bonus, against any flat-footed opponent or any opponent that she flanks.

Design note: I’ve always really liked the concept of Flurry of Blows, but never the implementation of it. Hopefully, Serpent’s Fangs can provide a less clunky alternative. Right now, I don’t want to enforce a penalty to the attack roll, as unlike Flurry of Blows, a monk only has a limited number of Qi Surges per day.

More to follow.

- jatori

A taste of things to come

In the future, there shall be board games.  Well, board game reviews at least (and I use the term loosely).  Time allowing, I intend to have a look at the following board/card games (In no particular order):

• Pandemic – Co-operative game of finding cures for diseases before the diseases find you.
• Arkham Horror expansion: Black Goat of the Woods – There can never be enough horror.
• Dominion – Non-collectable card game…perhaps the game of the year?
• Titan – Epic war game is epic (Which means “long”).
• Twilight Imperium expansion: Shattered Empire – Making a great epic game better.
• Aye, Dark Overlord – Fun non-collectable card game of minion bumbling evilness.

Expect them when they arrive…

[Setting Skeleton] The Arcology

I’ve been interested in arcologies since I first played SimCity 2000. I think it may have been the second game I ever bought that came on a CD (the first being X-Com: Terror from the Deep). However, it wasn’t until last year that I started investigating the option of incorporating the hyperstructures into my RPG worlds. I originally thought of using a floating arcology as the setting for a Mage: the Awakening game (naming the arcology Atlantis, of course). Sadly, the Mage game never materialized (I blame Durban for this). Don’t worry though, I haven’t stopped looking at arcologies as RPG settings yet. So, today, I present a setting skeleton, based around an arcology, that could be incorporated into your fantasy or steampunk game.

The Steam Tower

A group of like-minded philosophers, intellectuals and arcanists, seeking to escape the religious and political meddling in their pursuit of knowledge, are credited with the construction of the Steam Tower in the middle of the desolate tundra of the frigid North (remember, the North is always frigid).The Tower is the only noteable feature for miles and rises out of a low-lying, permanently billowing cloud of steam, where the inhabitants are free to continue their studies in uninterrupted isolation.

The Steam Tower can be as large and as densely populated as you wish, and feel free to craft the surroundings as you like (personally, I’d like to contrast the normally cold, low-precipitation, permafrost tundra against how the heat generated from the structure affects its immediate area). Remember, arcologies are often depicted or envisioned as self-contained, so be sure to include such things as food production, waste disposal or recycling and so forth. It’s also important to introduce some sort of rapid transport system for getting around the large structure (perhaps steam-powered lifts).

I don’t really want to dictate the layout of the Steam Tower (that’s up to you), but I’d like to share some potential story hooks that I intend to use for my own Tower:

Recently, the denizens of the Tower have decided to come out of their self-imposed isolation, because:

• A movement towards sharing, rather than hoarding, knowledge has gained sufficient popularity amongst the denizens.
• The shorter-lived races are facing several issues, including:
  • The Westermarck Effect
  • Lack of genetic diversity (in-breeding)

Routes to neighbours now have to be secured and patrolled.

Previously, the denizens of the Tower had no need for a currency or economy as the rest of the world does. Instead, they used a token system, where denizens earned tokens for performing certain tasks (tending the gardens; operating the steam lifts etc.). Tokens could then be traded in for variety of purposes (perhaps leisure time; access to the libraries; luxury items etc.). However, now seeking to interact with the rest of the world, the denizens have to now learn how current day currency, commerce and trade operates.

- jatori

Can you ever be too young to game?

It seems that with a new(ish) year, the GET blog has brought on a new lot of student bloggers. One of the first posts, from the new authors, briefly discusses ageism in video gaming. Now I have no actual statistical support to back up this statement, but (as far as I can tell) positive connotations regarding age of a gamer (skill, ingenuity etc.) decreases as the video-gamer gets older, yet increases (barring edition wars) as the pen-and-paper grognard grows older. All child gamers under the age of 13 are universally despised.

- jatori

[WWDDGD 2] My Nekkid Paladin

This time around, it seems that WotC was able to produce an adventure that was actually a whole bunch of fun from the start (or maybe I was just lucky to have a great bunch of people to play with). This post will contain a few spoilers, so if you intend to play this adventure in the near future, avert your eyes.

My paladin, still clothed

darn you twitter, darn you

now that mark rosewater is part of the twitter crowd, i find magic re-intriguing me….*sigh* there goes all plans for saving

Cunning Stunt Bonus

This post follows on from my scribblings about the 4e power system as a barrier to creative action/thought in a combat scenario. Credit for the following idea must go to Callan for the comment left here, in this post. The idea is so good that I believed it deserved it’s own little blog post, rather than remain semi-hidden in the comments of another.

In order to promote player creativity in combat (through positive reinforcement and quantifying of the reward), yet still prevent potential abuse of new found freedom (bogging the game down with rules issues, players constantly asking/trying for the unrealistic – pushing the GM’s boundaries), Callan suggested that players receive a pool of creative stunt damage dice.

For example, players receive a pool of 10d6 damage dice. When the group can’t quickly quantify the result of an action (don’t want to waste time digging through the rules, for example), damage is dealt from this pool of dice instead. Now, some mechanics still have to be worked out here. For example, who determines at what rate the pool depletes/regenerates? As a player makes his attack, does he declare how much of his pool would be used upon a successful roll? Could a player sacrifice some damage for some other effect?

Of course, such a mechanic wouldn’t work with all groups, especially with already creative players that play well together (some would rather hook the villian on the windmill sail [taking him out of combat with a non-damaging move] than place his arm on the grindstone [deal damage]). However, I think that this mechanic may still be something worth exploring with new or inexperienced players, showing them that there is more to the game than just “I attack”.

- jatori

Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Gameday #2 2009 – Cape Town, ZA; Utrecht, NL

This Saturday, the 23rd of May, is WWDDGD 2!

For details on the Cape Town, South Africa, event, check out the Facebook event. It’s happening at UCT.

I shall be playing at Subcultures in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Expect reports after the event.

- jatori

[3.X Monk Project 2009] My monk is mad.

This post continues my exploration of the monk class of Dungeons and Dragons 3.X. You can view the previous entries here:

• Design Goals
• Part 1

Reducing Monk MADness

MAD or Multiple Attribute Dependence plagued several of the class designs of 3.X. But what exactly is MAD? Classes that suffer from MAD require three or more high attributes to function adequately. A wizard, arguably, requires only a high intelligence score, able to overcome any lower scores in her other attributes through the creative use of magic. In fact, lower scores in her other attributes may allow for more interesting roleplaying characters (overcoming physical disabilities or frailties [constution; strength]; combatting madness [wisdom]; clumsiness [dexterity]) A rogue could fulfill all of her prescribed duties with dexterity alone (opening locks, pick pockets, sneaking around, tumbling and landing sneak attacks). A monk however, however, requires both wisdom and dexterity to survive (due to the armour-wearing restriction); and strength to deal out damage. To illustrate further:

I’ve rolled the following scores for a new character’s attributes: 16, 14, 10, 10, 10, 10. Trying to decide between a rogue and a monk, I compare the two classes to each other. The rogue gets a 16 in dexterity and 14 in constitution; I give the monk 16 in dexterity and 14 in wisdom. At level 1:

Monk: 8 HP; 15 AC; +0 to melee attack; 1d6 damage (melee attack – kama)
Rogue: 8 HP; 15 AC (leather armour); +0 to melee attack; 1d6 (melee attack – short sword)

Level 2:

Monk: 12,5 HP; 15 AC; +2 to melee attack; 1d6 damage (melee attack – masterwork kama)
Rogue: 13,5 HP; 17 AC (chain shirt); +2 to melee attack; 1d6 (melee attack – masterwork short sword)

In the above, very simplified example, the monk quickly starts to lose out in terms of hit points and armour class.

So, how will I be addressing the monk’s MAD, yet still keep to the concept of unarmoured warrior (both design goals)? I believe the answer lies with the Martial Combat Stances I introduced in part 1. Though there are many good stance suggestions in the comments, I believe that there needs to be a select few that directly reduce MAD, yet still offer enough variety to allow for many different, but still efficient, builds. Furthermore, I don’t want to simply duplicate feats with these stances, because, if I did, I might as well just make an alternate bonus fighter feat list instead.

I think that my monk design needs access to at least the following base stance powers:

• A monk may add her Wisdom modifer to her Dexterity modifier for the purpose of calculating her Dexterity bonus to her Armour Class.
• A monk may add her Wisdom modifer to her Strength modifier for the purpose of determing her Strength bonus to her melee damage rolls.
• A monk may add her Wisdom modifer to her Strength modifier when making a grapple, trip, bull rush or overrun check.
• A monk may add her Wisdom modifer to the following skills as an insight bonus:
  • Stealth (Hide; Move Silently)
  • Perception (Spot; Listen)
  • Acrobatics (Balance; Tumble)
  • Athletics (Jump; Swim; Climb)
  • Charisma-based skills
• A monk may use the highest of either her Wisdom or Constitution modifier when determing hit points (Qi Surge to add them together for Wisdom modifier minutes)

- jatori