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Ganister’s Stones

July 29, 2015 / Bear

The July Blog Carnival is being hosted by Of Dice and Dragons here. This post is about a legendary person and his weapon of choice. Another spellcaster will appear on Saturday.

Ganister favored the ancient ways. It is said that he was the last of his people, a survivor of a great battle. He never said very much about his past.

In life and battle, he wore what he called a battle tunic. It was a thick tunic tied with a sash around his waist. On occasion, he would wear a cloak. More striking that his apparel was his choice of weapon, a sling.

In battle, he was equal or better than any bowman, especially at longer ranges. It is rumored he won many an archery contest, when he was allowed to compete.

He made all his sling stones himself. Most stones measured 1.5 inches long and half as much wide and cast in an almond shape. A few were spherical measuring a bit more than 1.5 inches in diameter and weighing more than a pound. All stones are made of a dull gray metal presumed to be lead, or a lead alloy. Each sling stone has an insciprition allowing Ganister to select a particular stone from the pouch by feel.

The stones are kept in an ordinary looking leather pouch. After using the stones, they will magically reappear in the pouch on the following morning. The stones will re-appear despite any obstacle or magic short of a wish spell.

In the hands of a skilled slinger, the almond shaped sling stone can do 1d6 damage and the larger balls do 1d8. The slinger also has the same effective range as a longbow when using these stones. In addition to damage, each stone has a unique power.

Shield - This spherical stone has the power to shatter shields. Any shield struck with the stone must make a saving throw or be shattered.

Circle - This spherical stone has the power to dismiss various wall-based spells like wall of iron, wall of force, etc. Against non-magical walls, it does 1d4 structural points (or hull points) of damage.

Snake - This almond shaped stone will paralyze a target on a succesful hit. (Saving throw negates paralysis).

XX - This almond shaped stone will enlarge to the size of a boulder in the air. On a successful hit, the stone will strike or fall on a victim for 6d6 damage.

Lightning Bolt - This almond shaped stone acts as a Chain Lighning spell. On a succesful hit, the first target takes 3d6 damage and moves to a second target (automatically hit) for 2d6 damage before striking a third target for 1d6 damage. Allies will not be hit by this stone.

<> - This almond shaped stone will strike the ground beneath a target to create a 3 foot diameter hole. If a saving throw with -2 penalty fails, the target will "drop out" for 1d6 turns. When the target reappears, he or she will only know that it was in a very cold place, but will be otherwise unhurt.

* - This round stone is not used to strike a target, instead when slung, it creates an tremor for an area within a 30 foot radius. Anyone within the affected area falls to the ground (no save). Siege engines within the affected area misfire and take 1d6 points of structural damage.

The legendary weapon is not the sling, but the stone. Maybe the legendary person overshadows the weapons, maybe the other way around. Still, I think a sling throwing NPC standing admist the heavy archers launching these stones would make for a very interesting game.

Saving Throws as Skills

July 21, 2015 / Bear

The best post I have found about this is on the Akratic Wizardry site here.

There is a Whitebox thief somewhere that uses a Saving Throw with modifiers for Thieves' Skills. (My google-fu fails me.) So I thought about using this mechanic for magic, psychics, or some other weilder of mystic forces.

What follows is thinking aloud, so feel free to skip to the end to get to the conclusion.

The trick is to prevent a first level charcter from being overpowered. 1st level Clerics do not have a spell, 1st level M-U gets one spell. With a skill roll, you can say that the 1st level spell caster using a skil roll gets spell slots like everyone else. With that, what happens if the roll fails? Do you lose the slot?

It seems really limiting to say that the spell caster loses the slot on a failure. Assuming no modifications to the roll, a 1st level character has a ST of 15, so that is a 30% chance of success. Adding a +3 to the roll increases the chance of success to 45%. That seems more fair, a 1st level character character has close to a 50-50 chance to lose a spell slot.

As the character progresses, the chance of success caps at 11th level with 95% odds. Not too bad. What about the chances for more difficult spells?

I could say 3 - Spell Level as a standard adjustment for the spellcaster. This would limit the spell caster to having a 50% chance to cast a 9th level spell. If they are capped at 7th level spells like Clerics, it gets better (60%)

So with two tweaks, I can use the standard M-U or Cleric table for spell casting classes that roll for success. The tweaks are:

Roll d20 against ST + 3 - Spell Level for success.
The spell slot is lost only on a successful roll.

That leaves us with a somewhat unreliable spell caster with the same limits on number of successful spells cast. He or she may get more attempts to cast spells, but absolutely no extra spells.

Doesn't seem fair to have the same advancement tables, yet be a diminished spell caster. While I could change advancement, it makes more sense to me to add a minor ability.

If I learned a form of spell casting that is somewhat unreliable, I would want to find a way to up my chances of successfully casting a spell.

Let's say that this spell caster can create a type of temporary spell focus. This spell focus would allow them to cast one spell successfully without a skill roll. Using a tried and true OSR rule, the cost of the focus would be 100gp per spell level. It will take the spell level number of days to create the focus.

For regular spell casters, this usually applies to creating scrolls to allow for extra spells. For these spell casters that use a skill roll, it would only provide guaranteed spells using up the slots they have available. In other words, a 1st level spell caster could create a focus to guarantee they could successfully cast a 1st level spell. This would count against their spell slots as it is not a scroll.

Conclusion

With three tweaks, you can have a skill based spell caster, with the same tables as Clerics or Magic-Users.

Roll d20 against ST + 3 - Spell Level for success.
The spell slot is lost only on a successful roll.
The spell caster can create items that guarantee spell success, but use the spell slots. The cost of this item is 100gp per level of the spell.

Next post, I hope to look at other alternatives for spell casting.

Dungeon Solitaire for Fun

June 30, 2015 / Bear

Matthew Lowes has posted the rules to a dungeon delving game that only uses a standard US deck of playing cards. It is called Dungeon Solitaire, Tomb of the Four Kings and it is brilliant. Go to his site now and get the rules and read through the walk-through.

This game appeals to me because I can play it anywhere and I never really know what the adventure will be. As an OSR guy, I also appreciate the high mortality rate due to a lack of strategy. If you play smart and a bit cautious, you have a good chance of winning, though fate may doom your efforts regardless of how you play.

So you've read the rules and everything, right? Good. Like any good fantasy RPG, I immediately came up with a bunch of house rules. I have shared all the last two of these with Matthew and his response has been one of appreciation that someone is enjoying his game. I hope my ideas do not steal his thunder, so I share these in the spirit of talking about a great game that is flexible enough to change to your liking.

The Monsters Go to 11!

The first house rule I attempted was to use a Rook deck instead of a standard deck. The main difference is that instead of using 2 to 10 to represent monsters, hit points, secret doors, and treasure, I use 2 to 11. Sure I get an extra hit point, but everything else is just a bit tougher as well. Here are the house rules to play the Going to Eleven way:

The Red suit is the same as diamonds. The Black suit is the same as spades. The Green suit is the same as diamonds. The Yellow suit is the same as clubs.
Set aside the Red cards from 2 to 11 for your hit points.
The 12s are played like Jacks (skills). The 13s are played like Queens (divine favors). The 14s are played like Kings. The 1s are played like Aces (torches).
The Rook cards is the Scroll of Light.

All other rules remain the same. I will warn you up front that because the cards are all numbers, it can be hard to remember which skill you have. I had to constantly think through the colors and numbers to remember. Otherwise, having an extra hit point didn't make it any easier and I couldn't adventure longer because I did not have extra torches.

Campaign Mode (One Deck)

Campaign Mode with one deck is essentially a variation that let's you revisit the dungeon multiple times as long as you can get out. It encourages quicker sessions, but the more you go in, the more difficult the adventure becomes.

Play by the rules as written. However, if you can make it out successfully, you put all discards, torches, and cards played back in the deck and shuffle. Treasure and unplayed skill cards stay with you. Reset your hit points back to 10 before returning to the adventure.

I discovered that if I dare to make a third trip, it can get extremely difficult. I had to fight the 10 of spades and only made it out because I played the last Queen. I had thought that putting the Queens and Jacks back in the deck would give me an advantage, but that didn't prove to be the case.

Questing Mode (Two decks)

This one hasn't been tested yet, so if you give it a try, let me know. The two decks of cards do not need to have the same back. It is a nice thing to have, but seeing two different backs doesn't really provide that much of an edge as even if you know what the card is, you still have to play it.

Remove the joker from one of the decks. Separate the cards into piles of 2 to 10 by suit. Place all four Jacks in a different pile and repeat for the remaining face cards. The 2 to 10 piles of clubs, diamonds, and spades will be used to "stock" the dungeons you visit. The other cards will be available for purchase as explained later.

Separate the other deck as dictated by the rules. This will be the deck that is used as a base for playing.

Now you need to decide the nature of your quest. Add as many Kings from the Store as you would like. Randomly pick two cards from the 2 to 10 piles of diamonds, spades, and clubs. Shuffle these cards into the playing deck. Nothing will be done with the 2 to 10 of hearts or the face cards yet.

Play the game per the rules with the extra cards. If you get out of the first dungeon alive, put all discards, torches, and cards played back in the deck and shuffle. Treasure and unplayed skill cards stay with you. Reset your hit points back to 10.

You may now use your treasure to buy items to help you in your quest. Add the number value of your diamonds to determine how much money you have. (You may not spend a King card as collecting the Kings is the goal of your quest.) All items will cost 10 treasure to purchase per item. Making a donation at the Temple of the Goddess will cost 20 treasure.

If you wish to improve your Armor, purchase a card from the 2 to 10 pile of hearts. For each 10 treasure spent, take one heart from the Store's 2 to 10 heart pile and add it to your hit point pile. It doesn't matter which heart you take, but you will need to place it on the heart with a matching rank. For example, if you purchase the 8 of hearts, place it in the hit point deck under the 9 of hearts and above the other 8 of hearts.

If you wish to purchase a torch, take one Ace for each 10 treasure spent and place them in your hand.

To purchase a skill, take one Jack. You may only buy one skill at a time.

To seek the Goddess's favor, you may spend 20 treasure. Take a Queen from the Store and shuffle it into the playing deck.

A note about buying items. The Store does not make change. Any treasure above the cost of purchase is lost. Any treasure spent goes into the 2 to 10 pile of diamonds and that pile is shuffled.

After purchasing items, take two cards from the 2 to 10 piles of spades, clubs, and diamonds to restock the dungeon and play again. The game ends when you fulfill your quest, retire, or lose.

Five Suited Deck of Cards (not the Five Crowns deck)

When you have five suits of cards, play by the normal rules with the following changes:

The fifth suit represents magic. When a card from the fifth suit is drawn, it represents a threat from a spell or spell-like effect. Like other cards, if you draw a card with a higher value, you have overcome the spell with no ill effect. If you draw a card with lower value, one of two things will happen:

If the action card is odd, treat it the same as a monster card.
If the action card is even, treat it the same as a trap card.

The Jack of the fifth suit represents a magic staff. With this card, you may choose the play it as any of the other Jack cards or use it to automatically defeat a magic action.

At the player's option, the King, Queen, and Ace may be added.

Final Thoughts

Again, I really enjoy this game as well as inventing variants. Please get the rules from Matthew and share your fun with others. I have had so much fun playing it, even when I was killed in the first room. Twice.

Sycarion Diversions

Page 81 of 213

Ganister’s Stones

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Saving Throws as Skills

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