Customizing Swords and Wizardry White Box

My favorite part about swords and wizardry is that it is so stripped back to the basics of DnD it allows you to mutate and change without worrying too much about interactions between pieces of the game.  Right now I'm DM'ing BX DnD for the tabletop (about 2 games per year) and running a full time PBEM Greyhawk Open Quest game with about 60 posts per month.  This game is now over 3 years old (it started with Castles and Crusades rules and now has mutated into Open Quest).

My buddies really want me to run another Forgotten Realms game.  I DM'd that game for about 10+ years using 2nd ed. AD&D rules and had a blast.  However, each time I pull out the game I get a little down about running due to the setting bloat.  There is so much information that my players know, it might be hard for me to say "I'm only using the 1st edition core rules box set as Canon".  Once you have to specify what is canon and what isn't your game really has too much bloat.  So anyway, I may go with that as a setting or try a home-brew world focusing on the things that I'm excited about in fantasy right now.

Anyway, while playing BX there were a few things that really made me think about changing systems before running the next game.  My players really prefer the ability to customize their characters.  I also thought that the 18=+3 stat bonus still puts a huge emphasis on having high ability scores.

So, for my next game I even thought about playing something other than DnD, maybe even sticking with Open Quest.  However, I really like to have something to tinker with at all times so in the back of my mind I've been thinking about house ruling the $H!# out of S&W white box.  I keep pulling out the paperback copy I have and reading it so often that the binding is already starting to tear (also partly because Lulu books aren't the best).

Here are the main things I'm thinking about:

1.  A skill system.  I know this flies in the face of Matt's Old School Primer, however, as I said above, my players really like to have crunchy bits to fiddle with.

2.  Maybe something like "Aspects" or "Risus Cliches" or perhaps a short 50 word description which can be used to justify the use of bennies or fate type points to give small bonuses to different tasks...  I want to tie character description mechanically to the game somehow...

3. I want to use all the dice.  White box really focuses on the d20 and d6 and mostly forgets about the other dice.  My other systems I tack onto the game are going to use all these dice somehow...

4. Maybe a critical hit or major wound table?

Those are the main things.  I've got little bits and pieces of these and I've also come up with lots of smaller little ideas (wizard cantrips, new spells, monster enhancements, etc...).  I think my next bunch of posts are going to start looking into these ideas and fleshing them out.


    

The Folly of the Universal Die Mechanic

I've been reading through my various gaming books and I think I've figured something out.  I'm not a huge fan of "universal die mechanic" systems that have become the rage for almost all the new RPG's coming out.  I just bought and read through a used copy of Legends of Anglerre and I realized while the idea of relating nearly everything to an Aspect or Skill or Stunt is an incredibly flavorful idea at first.  I can dream up nearly anything (just like in the old FUDGE system that FATE is based from) put it to words, put it on the Terrible to Legendary ladder and roll on.

However, I think while this is really neat for short term games, the fun can wear off quickly...  suddenly you realize there is pretty much no mechanical difference between a fighter and a wizard or a noble.  One skill is treated almost exactly the same as all the others and all the powers a balanced under an elegant system.  Blah.

Maybe one of the reasons that original AD&D was so popular is that it was a massive tackle-box of all sorts of little rules systems.  It pretty much had all these "little games" inside of the big game.  All these different rules mechanics in the game gave all of us gamers things to love, but also things to disagree about.

In fact some of the early adventure modules took it so far as to have elaborate spot rules for handling chase scenes, maybe a little game mechanic to handle a siege combat or a ship on ship naval battle that would occur during the adventure.

Related to this I'd also like to chat a bit about my favorite game I've seen come out in a long time.  The DCC RPG by Goodman Games.  It is awesome.  I don't think I will ever actually play the game because the "inherent" game world and ethos implied by the rules isn't really the flavor I'm looking for in my fantasy games.  However, reading through the free BETA rules the thing I liked the most is the complete lack of any "universal die mechanic".  The game is a beautiful mess of jumbled rules systems and random effects tables.  In reading through it I was able to recognize the things that got me into this hobby in the first place.  No vanilla jazz music here people, just finger blistering heavy metal rock.

As wizards of the coast gears up to make 5th edition, maybe they should go back and review the obtuse and contradictory, jumbled rules systems that Gary and Dave came up with.  Maybe they should eschew elegance and embrace chaos.  Fourth edition made all the characters the same, and made nobody special.  Maybe this time around they should think like a 13 year old, figure out what makes each class or character unique.  Scream out the names of the nine lords of Hell!  Roll your d20's!  Make each class or profession special!  But then again, maybe I'm just crazy.      

Landing on OpenQuest

So why did I pick OpenQuest for my go to d100 gaming system over all the other competition?

1.  I ruled out the Mongoose Runequest and Legend systems due to their use of hit locations.  I really didn't like that option.  I thought it was unnecessary complexity.  They do have some really nice templates in their SRD that I think would be nice to show players of any of these fantasy d100 systems since the ideas are mostly transferrable.

2.  I actually pitched the use of the Stormbringer games to my players but none of them were familiar with the Moorcock's work and so I decided it wasn't really worth pushing the issue.  I'm also not really a fan of the Elric type magic system.  It is really great in the novels, but I'm not sure it would play out the same in a tabletop RPG.

3. I thought about starting from Chaoisium's BRP system and customizing it to what I wanted, but then I really read through the Open Quest rules and realized almost all the options they went with would be what I would probably try.

So that was how I navigated through about 9 very similar d100 systems and landed on Open Quest.

There are a few things I would add to Open Quest if I was to play it at the table (instead of over PBEM which is how I'm running my Greyhawk game).  I would definitely bring in the armor dice ruling from Stormbringer. The idea that your armor could fail you if your opponent finds the right spot is really neat to me.  Of course I would institute the same system for monsters.

In addition, the magic system in Open Quest seems to have a few small holes that if I played this game at the table I think would come up.  First of all, I would heavily restrict the use of Magic Point stores (maybe a wizard could only be "attuned" to perhaps 3 magic point stores at any one time?  And it would take ~ 1 week to attune yourself to a new one?  That would stop the obvious hole whereby a wizard with substantial $ resources could easily create tons of magic point stores that would give them 100+ magic points at their disposal...  I'm already planning to institute this rule for my PBEM game if anybody decides to try and "game" the system.

But that would be about it.  Otherwise, the Open Quest is a fully stripped down, fast and furious version of the game that allows for excellent PC customization, but also good "balance" in which most characters can do a bit of everything which is really good for small gaming groups where you don't have enough people to cover all the bases for a game requiring high levels of specialization.

My Fantasy RPG Wishlist

I've really been thinking about what attributes I'm looking for in my next RPG I'm going to bring to the table to play with my buddies.  They are all hovering around 7-9th's level in my BX game, and I'm guessing that the "Temple of Death" will be our final adventure with that group. 


So here is my list so far:

1.  No levels, and probably no classes - this means d20 is probably out.  For my next game that I run with the guys, I'd like to have a game that doesn't expect characters to change much throughout the gaming experience.  DnD rewards constant play with substantial character growth in ability.  I'd like a game where the characters start out competent and don't increase much in power over time.  This is not me bashing DnD, I love DnD, this wish is a result of the practical reality that due to my life and situation I only game at the table for about 12-15 hours/year.  

2.  Character health/damage will be tracked by "wounds" which will have mechanical effects on gameplay.  I'd like wound tables something like Rolemaster's Arm's Law or Stormbringer's Major Wounds table.  Maybe no hit points?

3.  Improvement system that allows for customization of the character in packets but doesn't have steep level bumps (see point #1).

4.  Magic system will have room for unexpected (good & bad) effects - this should make it more "magical".

5.  Character creation should be quick,  character driven, and customizable. 

6.  I'm contemplating the idea of having no cleric type class.  Maybe only herbs and medieval surgery?  This might be out though since I'd really like to use my 1st edition Forgotten Realms box set as the setting.  I purchased "City System" and "FR1 Waterdeep and the North" off ebay and I'm contemplating running an FR game with just those three canonical resources.

I'm doing a lot of research right now trying to find something that fits this bill, or gets me close enough  that I can houserule it to get it the rest of the way. 

My Quest for the ultimate d100 Fantasy

Last year I was all about d100 gaming.  I was playing in a Call of Cthulhu game PBEM and having a great time of it.  In addition, I switched my PbP Greyhawk game over to Open Quest.  How did I decide on Open Quest...

First I purchased the following d100 books over the last two years:

1.  Chaosium Basic Roleplaying
2.  Stormbringer 4th ed
3.  Stormbringer 5th ed
4.  Elric Dark fantasy RPG
5.  Rolemaster Classic RM2.
6.  Open Quest.
7.  Legend System (Mongoose)
8.  Runequest SRD (Mongoose)

First of all, why did I need so many.  Each of these has points I like and points I don't like.  Open Quest was the one I finally settled on.  Unfortunately it was the last one i picked up...

In the next couple of posts on this site I'd like to discuss some of the differences between each edition and describe how I ended up picking Open Quest.

A Fantasy Novel to Write Home about...

Coming off reading "A Clash of Kings" by GRRM I've been looking for another fantasy novel to read.  I haven't read many fantasy full length novels since the mid 90's, but the Song of Ice and Fire series (2 down so far) has wetted my appetite and I don't want to ravenously read through them so fast that I'll be 3 or 4 books in front of the fantastic HBO series.

I tried starting "Gardens of The Moon" by Erikson but hit a snag.  I'm roughly 12% into the novel according to my kindle and it hasn't really grabbed me yet.  From all the reviews online this series is supposed to rock, so why isn't it yanking me down the rabbit hole?  If anybody reads this, what do you suggest... should I carry on?

So in the meantime, I'm also in the market for a new Fantasy (or sci fi) novel to read.  Any suggestions?  I'm reading the free Amazon excerpts from "Winterbirth" and "The Name of the Wind" right now so maybe one of those will grab my fancy.

I looked at "the Way of Kings" and "Mistborn" series from Brandon Sanderson, however, I became suspicious by the page counts.  I turned away from Robert Jordan due to his wordy ways - I really do appreciate an economy of words in a novel.  Although I'm really happy with A Song of Ice and Fire even though they are mammoth texts so maybe I should give them another chance.

What have I been up to.

I know it has been a long, long time since I posted here. I've been overwhelmed at work as usual :)

Here is what has been going on in gaming over the last 6-9 months....

1. We tentatively finished up our Decade of Darkness, call of cthulhu campaign with Dungeon Mum, Daddy G, and O4E. We had three GM's in all and I had a rollicking blast!

2. My PBEM Greyhawk campaign has somehow been resurrected. I still have four of my players, but we have completely switched systems. I really wasn't happy with the Castles and Crusades system for PBEM. We have switched to the Open Quest d100 system from d101 games and I couldn't be happier. This PBEM site has been open now for 3 years (although the game in this setting has only been going for about 5-6 months now.

3. I haven't played a tabletop game in about 4 months now (since christmas time)... I'm planning on continuing my BX DnD game whenever I get that gaming group together again, although my plan is to skip the Master of the Desert Nomads adventure and move directly to Temple of Death.

Also, I've been thinking a lot about what attributes I look for in a game. More on that to follow sometime... hopefully in less than 6 months from now. Maybe if I can get some time again I could start regularly blogging again!