A Character A Day: Classic Traveller

 Ah, Traveller.... got a character whose stats you don't like? Become a belter.... odds are you will die in chargen. I'll never forget the day my belter survived. He had the most useless set of skills ever, because I didn't really care what I picked, I was just trying to get him killed.

It's been a LONG time since I have made a Traveller character, so this should be fun.

Alright, let's start out with the rolls.

8, 4, 6, 9, 2, 2

Ugh..... maybe he WILL be a belter.

Hmmm.... 2s in Education and Social Standing. I can work with that! I am already picturing some kind of farm-world boy. A big, strong kid who is pretty smart, but never went to school. Sadly, not very graceful. Sounds like a perfect example of an army grunt. Be all you can be!

All right, let's give him a name. I think I like the sounds of Vance Billeck.

Vance BILLECK

STR 8 

DEX 4

END 6

INT 9

EDU 2

SOC 2

Let's generate!

Young Vance has just turned 18. He never finished high school... never really got very much past about grade 6. He's not dumb, just didn't see much need for reading and writing when he was working on a farm. Deciding he wants to see the universe, Vance decides to enroll in the Army. A 6 END gives us a +2 on the roll, so we only need a 3 or better. And we get.... a 10. Success! Let's see if Vance survives his first term or service. No bonuses, so he rolls... a 7. He needed 5+, so he has survived his first tour of duty. That gives him at least Rifle-1. Vance uses this first tour to engage in some personal development, rolling up Brawling-1 (apparently, everybody wants to test the farmboy), and also picks up a service skill of ATV-1 (driving all those tractors back home comes in handy). Vance's hard work does not go unnoticed as he receives a commission to the rank of lieutenant, receiving the skill of Tactics-1 (all those years of paint balling finally paid off), as well as SMG-1. Having enjoyed his first term of service, Vance reenlists, and is easily accepted.

Second tour of duty. Vance easily makes his survival roll. He agains takes an opportunity to develop personally, and gains a +1 to Dexterity, now making it 5. Enjoying the idea of leadership, Vance attempts a promotion, but narrowly misses out, rolling a 5. Only slightly discouraged, Vance reenlists, and succeeds with a roll of 8.

Third tour. After the disappointment of failing to be promoted last term, Vance just succeeds in reenlisting, rolling a 5 exactly. Hoping to improvement his chances with his superior officers for promotion, Vance commits himself to improving his service skills this tour, coming out with Forward Observer-1. However, Vance's efforts are for naught, as he is once again looked over for promotion (everyone just sees him as the same uneducated farm he was when he first enlisted). Not willing to give up yet, Vance reenlists. Unfortunately, his superiors see him as having reached his potential, and his request to re-enlist is denied. Vance musters out with a +2 EDU and a +1 INT (from catching up on his years of missed schooling while part of the forces), one Low Passage (enough to get him back home, or to begin to see the universe) and 10,000 cr.

So, here is Vance Billeck, at age 30, fresh out of the Army.

Lieutenant Vance BILLECK

STR 8

DEX 5

END 6

INT 10

EDU 4

SOC 2

Skills:

Rifle-1, Brawling-1, ATV-1, SMG-1, Tactics-1, Forward Observer-1

Muster: 1 Low Passage, 10,000cr

He wanted to see the galaxy. "Be all you can be!" It's all a lie. It should be, "Be all everyone else will let you be". Vance left the Army disillusioned, bitter and without prospects. They gave him a one-way sleeper ticket back to his homeworld, to be the same farmer they all believe is all he can ever be. But Vance isn't dumb. He's still young, and he know has skills. He's going to take that low passage, and go somewhere where a mercenary can ply his skills. And every chance he gets, he's going to show those "superior officers" that looked down their noses at the "backwater farmboy" just how much trouble he can cause when you put him behind the wheel of a vehicle with a gun in his hand and a chip on his shoulder.

A Character a Day: 1st Edition AD&D

 Right now, my choices are being influenced by the fact that I am rewatching the extended edition of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I will branch out a bit into other systems in a few days, but for now,....

First edition AD&D. 4d6, drop the lowest, put in any order. That's how we used to do it.

12, 15, 16, 4 (yes, I legitimately rolled three 1s and a 2), 15, 13

Well..... how am I going to work around that 4? My usual go to's for an incredibly long score is either Charisma, or, surprisingly, Intelligence. I am a long history of playing incredibly dumb characters. I can use it as justification for the stupid things I sometimes enjoy doing as a player. 8) Everything else is decent. And for reference, I used to Google online dice roller for all my rolls.

Looking at the rules, I discover two things I did not remember.... if your INT is less than 5, you can ONLY be a fighter, and if your CHA is less than 5, you can ONLY be an assassin. Interesting. Well, I've never played an assassin EVER, and that is certain to be a controversial pick, so.... LET'S BE A KILLER.

Name: John Doe

Class: 1st level assassin    Alignment: Lawful Evil    Experience: 0

hp: 7 

STR 13 (Open Doors on 1-2, 4% bend bars, +100 encumbrance)

INT 15 (4 additional languages)

WIS 12

DEX 16 (+1 attacking, -2 defensive)

CON 15 (+1 hp,  91% system shock, 94% resurrection)

CHR 4 (1 henchman, -25% loyalty, -20% reaction)

Special abilities: backstab for x2 damage, +4 to hit when striking from behind with surprise, other thief abilities as two levels below), can use poison

Languages: common, dwarven, elvish, orcish, goblin

AC: 6 (padded armour + AC bonus)

Weapons: short sword, 2 daggers, sling

Equipment: padded armor, short sword and scabbard, 2 daggers, 1 sling with 12 bullets, backpack, change of clothes, , two large belt pouches,  1 black cloak, 1 pair high, soft boots, tinder box, 50' rope, waterskin, 1 week iron rations, bedroll, journal of research, quill and ink

Treasure: 42 gp

Story: John Doe isn't really a bad guy. As a child, he was a prodigy, and at the top of his class. He excelled in languages, quickly learning how to speak not only the languages of dwarves and elves, but even the low tongues of orcs and goblins. He would amuse his friends and family as a child by demonstrating his extensive vocabulary of humanoid profanity at parties. However, his other love was chemistry. Some say he should have been an alchemist... except his area of interest was in poisons. He learned all he could of common poisons in school, but soon found his calling would require some extra-curricular activities. Although he knew that many would look down on what he did as wrong and evil, he was scrupulous in making suure that he only practiced his art on the evil and unfortunate - those who deserved their fate, or would not be missed. He considered this a necessary "evil", since society would not indulge in his passion openly. As further research required more and more esoteric ingredients, John realized that he would have to make his own fortune to pay for his research. Using what knowledge he already possessed, he mourned the "accidental" death of his parents as a result of a rare "allergic reaction" from some bad fish before changing his name, and taking his meagre inheritance to continue his studies by practicing his art as necessary on the evil and unlamented. John doesn't worry too much about his victims.... he thinks of them only as "research subjects".

New Year 2021: A Character A Day - B/X D&D

 It's been a long, LONG time since I have done anything with this page. Guess I should clean up some of the cobwebs and get down to business.

I read somewhere about some kind of New Character a Day challenge for the start of 2021. Basically, create a new character every day for January for an RPG of your choice. You could make 31 characters for one game system, or 1 character for thirty-one game systems... whatever turns your crank. So, let's give it a try. Maybe I can stick with it for a whole month.

B/X D&D, 3d6 straight up

7, 12, 14, 11, 7, 6

Hmmmmmm..... those scores say either magic-user or cleric. But, those STR and CON scores are too low for a cleric, so M-U it is. Which is okay, because I love playing M-Us. He won't be a *great* M-U, but let's knock down that WIS score a little to boost his INT.

Glaerad the Game, 1st level Magic User

Alignment: Lawful

AC: 9

hp: 2

xp: 0 (+5% to experience)

STR 7

INT 14

WIS 10

DEX 11

CON 7

CHR 6

Spells (I am going to be merciful, and assume that a magic-user automatically knows Read Magic in his spellbook, so this next spell is in addition to that): Protection from Evil

Languages : Common, Dragon

Equipment: Backpack, two sets of clothes, tinder box, waterskin, 50' rope, bedroll, 1 week iron rations, spellbook, quill and ink

Weapons: dagger

Money: 70 gp

Story: Glaerad was always a sickly young lad. He was always suffering some malady, and was routinely beaten up by the other children of his village, as he was an easy target. However, he was intensely devoted to his mother, he did her best to look out for her youngest child. Although he excelled in school, his pale frame, scarred and misshapen by various poxes and other injuries of youth, meant no one took the young boy seriously. The only other person who ever showed kindness to the lad was a travelling wizard, who would sometimes traavel through the village. He would always stay at the Glaerad's home while in the village. Rumours circulated that the wizard was in some sort of relationship with Glaerad's mother, but the truth is, he was a distant relative, simply checking up on his relations. As Glaerad grew older, he discovered the boy had a slight ability in using magic. Feeling pity for the boy, he taught him the ways of sorcery, and as his first spell, gave him a simple forula which he could use to help protect himself from the many bullies he encountered every day. The boy planned to one day apprentice himself to this wizard, but unfortunately, he was slain by a dragon whilst adventuring. His death inspired Glaerad to dedicate himself to avenging his adopted guardian. As such, Glaerad dedicated himself to learning the draconic language, in hopes it would help him achieve his goal. Sadly, the black cloud of misfortune hung heavy over Glaerad's head. During one particularly cold winter, his home burned down when an untended fire caught the thatch roof of his dwelling on fire, killing his mother. Rumours immediately began to spread that the fire was caused by Glaerad's dabbling in the mystical arts, and soon the entire village turned on the boy, chasing him away to die in the wilderness. However, Galerad's intelligence allowed him to survive the cold winter, and ever since, he has travelled the lands, carrying little more than a spellbook and some clothes, searching for a new master, and hoping to one day avenge himself on the dragon who took his former master from him.

Happy new year!

Boy... I really need to update this more often. Well, another year begins. Last year had some highlights, like attending my first con with PrairieCon in Brandon, going to GenCon, and generally enjoying gaming (not necessarily RPGing) more. This year, I want to run a D&D game... either a one-shot at a con, or maybe try to start a campaign with some of my students. To that end... I've been reading "The World of Titan", a gaming supplement produced about the world where the old Fighting Fantasy games takes place. I like it. Kinda like Warhammer Fantasy, without all the Warhammery bits. Maybe I'll use this as my world. My campaign will be house-ruled LL/BX.

Knocking one off the bucket list

I got a message the other day from a friend of a friend. I used to play Magic with him regularly when I was going to university, but had falen out of touch until recently, when we started to play Magic again. Anyway, he's getting married in the fall. He has decided to hold his bachelor party at.... GenCon. Did I mention he's an unabashed gamer?

So, looks like I get to strike one of my bucket list. I'm going to GenCon this year. 8)

Playing in my sandbox

So, I've been promising this for a while. Here's the map I developed for my sandbox campaign, but I'm not sure if I want to use it. I'm still learning how to use Hexographer, so it's not as purty as it could be, but.....

 

Right now, I'm not sure if this is too big, or too sparsely populated, or what. I bought a copy of the Blackmarsh campaign setting, so I'm reading over how that was done to determine if I am going to overhaul this. To go along with the map, here is my current key, with some notes...

 

1.       Fort Castellan (starting point - I'm using the Keep on the Borderlands, but modifying the characters who populate the Fort a little, and maybe adding a forgotten minor dungeon underneath it, a la the Hackmaster version)

2.       The Caves of Chaos (from Keep on the Borderlands)

3.       The Cave of the Unknown (I am going to use this as my "tentpole" megadungeon, and actually have different ways of accessing it, leading to different areas that may not be available from different areas... for instance, in addition to the surface egress, there will be an entrance from the Caves of Chaos)

4.       The Fane of St. Toad (I am throwing this dungeon in, that I stole from the excellent Michael Curtis)

5.       Elven Temple (I am going to use Rahasia for this, with some modifications, and also have it accessing the Cave of the Unknown)

6.       Quasqueton (using In Search of the Unknown.... this used to be the limits of civilzed society, but not anymore)

7.       Eaglespire Tower (Wizard's tower)

8.       Town of Airdrie

9.       Village of Harrowdown Hills (werewolves!)

10.   Village of Hardscrabble / Lost Lode Mine (I have a few lost mines/goblin warrne modules I've cribbed from the net for this area)

11.   Scaly Mound (lizard men and bullywugs)

12.   Wrathrun Rapids (some sort of watery adventure)

13.   Druid’s Circle

14.   The Mad Hermit of the Castellan Hills (modified from B2, with access to Cave of the Unknown)

15.   Burial mounds

16.   Blue Lake (some sort of big water beastie)

17.   Orc scouting camp

18.   Abandoned elvish town ruins

19.   Dowton Abbey (abandoned) (UNDEAD!)

20.   Abandoned town (weirdness)

21.   Old Marsh bridge

22.   Abandoned mining town / abandoned mine

23.   Sign of the Gutted Goblin roadhouse

24.   Ruins of Blue Lake Bridge

25.   Ruins of Rolling River bridge / haunted battle site (weirdness and undead)

26.   Wrathrun village (inbred rednecks!)

Obviously, I still have a lot of gaps to fill in. That's where I'm stuck.... just how many "extras" should I put in?

 



The Hobbit and other ephemera

Merry Christmas! Since my Christmas was celebrated 2 days ago (while my sister and her husband were still in town), that left me free today, so I went to see The Hobbit Part 1. I ended up seeing the 3d Imax version, just because it was the earliest show. I dunno about the Imax part, but the 3d was wasted - it really didn't need it. I went into this movie with low expectations, as most of the reviews I've heard were not very complimentary, but surprisingly, I really liked it. I think I've read the book something like 15 times, so I felt that the movie was pretty okay. I really like how the kept the mystique of Smaug for the next movie. I didn't mind the dwarves - I know a lot of people complained about how stereotypical they were, but hey, they're dwarves. What did you expect? he other complaint I've heard the most is about Radigast the Brown, but other than the bird crap all over his face, I felt there was nothing wrong with him. Even in the novel, he was portrayed as being a bit "odd", so I didn't feel there was too much out of place here (although I could have done without the rabbit-drawn sleigh). I also liked the little hint of how the dark magic was overcoming him as he cured the hedgehog, because in the story, he is corrupted by the Necromancer. I wouldn't rate it as 5-star, but a solid 4 stars.

Anyway, watching this movie has REALLY got me jonesing to do some D&D. I know that I'm a terrible procrastinator, always starting and never finishing, but hey... that's what happens when you are preparing without a group to play with. I still have a whole bunch of notes kicking around for working on my sandbox.... I even came up with a tentative sandbox map, complete with some interesting locales to visit. I think, at this point, my biggest problem is my vision is too grand, in many ways. For openers, I would love to have a sandbox that features some mountain adventures, some island hopping, dark forests, armies marching across the plains, the howl of wolves across frozen fields of ice, dismal depths... but that's not a sandbox, that's a whole freaking globe. 8) Then, there's my whole problem with scaling maps. I read a lot of blogs, and I look at all the little details they put in to almost every hex, and I start to over detail things. When I made the hex map I'm using, I tried to make it reasonable so that most of the "big events" are a couple days' ride away, but now I want to make smaller and smaller maps, with EVERY hex having something. Is this a normal reaction to stocking a hex crawl?

Anyway, I have some ideas of what I want to do, and I've put some thought into my "tentpole" dungeon. I plan to do some manipulating of Keep on the Borderlands, In Search of the Unknown, Rahasia, and a few other online mini-modules to create the locales. If I have the map and details on my other laptop, I might start posting them later on tonight.

I have also been thinking about a few changes in the cosmology of my sandbox world. Although I had previously done some designing to explain the various races of humanoids, I have been doing some rethinking. To summarize, here's what I'm thinking now:
- everything is descended from elves.
- Dwarves are degenerate elves, who turned away from the surface world, and thus lost their connection to magic over the generations. Gnomes are dwarves who have started to venture back to the surface, and are slowly beginning to reconnect with their magical roots. Goblins are dwarves who were warped by their dark desires/evil natures. Hence, dwarves hate goblins, and vice versa,
- the Elves attempted to create "servitor races" for their worlds. Their initial (failed) experiments created all sorts of humanoid races. As they eventually perfected their craft, they eventually came down to their last two creations - orcs and humans. However, the rejected orcs because they weren't "beautiful" enough, and proceeded to create humans, who lived longer, were smarter, and easier on the eyes. Hence, orcs hate humans out of jealousy. When orcs encounter elves, they either grovel, hoping to be brought back into the good graces of their "masters", or they react with unreasoning hatred, wanting to destroy those who rejected them.
- no one (ie. me) is too sure of what the drow are. Most people think they're just an elvish bogeyman.
- halflings. Not sure. Elves who have rejected the use of magic because of all the misery it has brought, and as such are "changing"? Spontaneous mutation? Another failed elvish experiment that nobody remembers? There aren't going to be very many of them, so I can make up whatever story I want.

Hopefully,  will post some more details of my thought planning later tonight. I would LOVE any feedback that the meagre readers of this blog may offer.