General Update #1

You're probably wondering where the posts about the campaign are, after all that's what it says at the top, right?  I'm buying time with these posts while I try to absorb the material in Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design (ToAD) and the sandbox stuff from Kevin Crawford's Red Tide.  Buying or wasting it, I can't be sure which.  I do know that several of the blogs I read have said very complimentary thing about the ToAD book.  I am also working on answers for Jeff Rients' and Brendan's Twenty Quick Questions (making it Forty Quick Questions really) before committing anything to blog.  So I guess the truth is I'm still trying to get it straight in my head first.

In the meantime, I hope you'll settle for another player character class that I know I want to use...

Headless

Cross-pollenization of D&D with CRPGs is always fun and recruiting your favorite monsters from other sources can really help personalize your campaign.  From the Ultima series of PC games comes the…

Headless                                                    

Armor Class:         3                                  No. Appearing:     1-6 (4-24)

Hit Dice:                  5                                  Save As:                   Fighter: 6

Move:                        120’ (40’)                   Morale:                    10

Attacks:                   2 fists or                     Treasure Type:     V

                                    1 weapon                   

Damage:                  1d3/1d3/+1d6           Alignment:             Chaotic

                                    or weapon

Headless resemble hirsute, lithe and wiry humans in almost every way, except for the glaring lack of a neck or head.  They are said to be the result of experiments by an unnamed mage. Despite their lack of eyes and ears, headless have no trouble sensing their surroundings and are apt fighters.  If a headless hits with both hands on the same victim in one round of combat, the headless is throttling its victim and will cause 1-6 (1d6) additional points of damage in the same round as the fist attacks.  This additional damage will continue each round after the first as the headless strangles the life from its victim, this continues until either the headless or the victim are dead.  Headless tend to pick up the pouches and sacks of their fallen foes.  If headless are detected by characters before entering the range at which these abominations can detect prey (about 60 feet), it can be a simple matter to avoid a pack of these brutes by implementing silence in the party and keeping a discreet distance.  Headless are immune to spells or magical devices that affect the mind (such as Charm Person, Hold or Sleep) or senses (you cannot blind one by use of a Light spell, for example).

Attribution:

The Ultima game series and Headless are the creation of Richard Garriott, aka Lord British, and property of Electronics Arts (EA).  Presentation of that property here should be considered Fair-Use and does not represent an attempt to dispute ownership.

A Good Old-Fashioned Classic

Monster, that is.  Any Dungeon Master (hereafter DM) worth his dice makes up his own material; be it monsters, magic treasure, spells, or player character classes.  You'll find I'm no different, though I do have to confess in the case of monsters I have a special affinity for the undead, hence it's only fitting that my first monster on the blog be one of those, no?  Intended as a threat to higher level B/X characters, it's my pleasure to present to you my take on the classic ghost:

Haunt***

Armor Class:         0                                  No. Appearing:     1 to 4
Hit Dice:                  8**-14**                     Save As: Wizard:    8-14
Move:                        120’ (40’)                   Morale:                    10
Attacks:                   Special, see below     Treasure Type:     V (G)
Damage:                  Special                        Alignment:             Chaotic

Haunts are Undead that have, because of unfinished business with the world of the living or their own selfish desires, resisted passage into the afterlife.  Haunts are always tied to a location or object they held dear in life, whether a cherished home or miserly hoard or simple wedding ring, which is the haunt's focus.  The movement rate given above is also the maximum distance a haunt can move away from their focus.  As a haunt is unable to effect its focus physically, it is possible for sorely harassed adventurers to outrun a haunt.  A Haunt can only be hit by magic weapons of +3 or greater power.

Haunts are normally invisible to the living but able to effect the world by the use of their poltergeist powers; teleporting, moving, rearranging, stacking or even throwing items within their area of influence.  Haunts also possess the ability to use an Improved Phantasmal Forces spell-like effect at will, which can be used to frighten, mislead or otherwise confound the haunt's victims.  Whatever the effect - bleeding walls, weeping statues, maze-like corridors, unearthly moaning - will seem completely real at the time but leaves no traces later on.  Victims of these effects, either manipulated objects or Improved Phantasmal Force, must save vs Spells or become unnerved, suffering a -1 to all rolls while within the haunt's area of influence; this penalty ceases once the character moves beyond the haunt's influence, but remains in effect indefinitely otherwise.  This fear is cumulative with the results of a Haunt's Manifestation ability.

Haunts can become visible briefly, called a manifestation, appearing as they did at the time of their death. Victims of manifestations will faint or flee the haunt's influence unless they Save vs. Paralysis in which case the character will merely be frozen in fear for 1d4 rounds, then act at -1 to all rolls while within the confines of the haunted area.

Haunts cannot be turned by clerics as their focus anchors them firmly to an area, however, any cleric of 4th level or greater can attempt an exorcism.  An exorcism requires one vial of holy water and one turn of uninterrupted prayer.  At the end of the ten minutes, if the haunt has been unable to stop the cleric, the haunt must save vs. Spells or be exorcized, unable to manifest or manipulate the physical world for a period of at least a year; possibly much longer.  An exorcism is not without peril for the cleric, however, for if the haunt saves successfully the would-be exorcist must save vs. Spells or be possessed by the haunt.  Possessed character will be used by the haunt to accomplish their unfinished business, secure their focus, bury their bones, what-have-you depending on the Haunt's motivation.  Once their business is completed the haunt will vacate the possessed character for the afterlife or return to their lair and continue their haunting.  Only the destruction of their focus can force a Haunt to continue on to the afterlife before their purpose is accomplished.  If a Haunt's focus - whether it be a house, a piece of jewelry, a letter - should be destroyed the Haunt must save vs. Paralysis or pass on to the afterlife.  If the Haunt saves successfully it may select another focus and continue about its unfinished business.  Like others of its ilk, a Haunt is immune to spells that effect the mind, such as Charm Person, Sleep or Hold.

Notes:

The 'G' treasure type should only be used for those Haunts attached to manor houses, castles or other such locations where the accumulation of such riches can occur, the 'V' treasure type should be used for those poor unfortunate souls who have perished in remote, lonely places such as deeper dungeon levels and desolate and foggy moors.

Despite a Haunt's Chaotic nature Lawful characters who assist a Haunt in finishing its business should receive an XP bonus determined by the DM, as long as such business doesn't voilate the Lawful character's beliefs.  This should included such actions as arranging a proper burial for the Haunt's remains, communicating a message to a Haunt's loved ones,  delivering an item, discharging an unfulfilled duty, etc.

Goblins Aren’t Green

In fact the Basic Rules set describes them this way: "Their skin is a pale earthy color, such as chalky tan or livid gray."  I realize that anyone who’s grown up in the era since the introduction of Warhammer or with WoW as their only exposure to fantasy might have a problem with this, but there’s nothing for it.  To help you adapt to the cold, hard truth here’s a Goblin Player Character class that presents the thievin’ little wretches as they are perceived in my campaign setting:
 
Goblins are smaller than humans, being about 6o pounds and only attaining a height of around 4 feet.   They are as diverse in appearance as humans, but have twisted and exaggerated features.  Goblins have a strongly covetous nature, and are prone to steal pretty much anything that seems to be of value; livestock, laundry, villagers or unminded children, even wagon wheels.  A goblin's wardrobe is generally made of scavenged cloth, scraps of leather and bits of chain mail, as well as stolen trinkets, charms, and whatever else may be handy.  Goblins also tend to be voracious eaters and will, if not minded when food is plentiful, over-eat until they regurgitate and then start all over again.

The prime requisites for a Goblin are Strength and Dexterity.  If a Goblin has a score of 13 or greater in both Strength and Dexterity, the character will gain a 5% bonus on earned experience points.  If the Goblin's Strength is 13 or greater and his or her Dexterity is 16 or greater, that character will gain a 10% bonus on earned experience.

RESTRICTIONS: Goblins use six-sided dice (d6) to determine their hit points.  They may advance to a maximum of 10th level of experience.  Goblins have the advantages of both fighters and thieves.  They may fight with any kind of weapon, except two-handed or polearms other than spears, and while they can wear any type of armor they can only use their thief skills when wearing leather armor or lighter and may not use shields.  Goblins advance in combat ability as a Cleric.  Due to their infravision Goblins suffer a -1 to attack rolls made while in full daylight.  Goblins must have a 9 in both Strength and Constitution.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Goblins have infravision and can see up to 90 feet in total darkness.  When striking unnoticed from behind, a Goblin gains a bonus of + 4 on "to hit" rolls and inflicts twice the normal amount of damage.  A Goblin's training includes learning how to pick pockets, climb steep surfaces, move silently, hide in shadows, open locks (with a set of lock picks or burglar's tools), remove small traps (such as poisoned needles), and how to hear noises better than most humans.  As a Goblin progresses in level, he or she becomes more proficient in these "thiefly" skills.  Use the same table as thieves for determining a Goblin's success in each category (depending on his or her level of experience).  Goblins save as Fighters of the same level.

Advancement:

Level
1	0	Goblin Apprentice
2	1,200	Goblin Footpad
3	2,400	Goblin Robber
4	4,800	Goblin Burglar
5	9,600	Goblin Cutpurse
6	20,000	Goblin Sharper
7	40,000	Goblin Pilferer
8	80,000	Goblin Thief
9	160,000	Goblin Master Thief
10	280,000	10th level Goblin Master Thief

In addition to their normal thieving abilities, a Goblin who reaches 5th level can read languages (including simple codes, dead languages, treasure maps, and so on, but not magical writings) with an 80% chances of success.  If the attempt to read a given piece of writing fails, the Goblin must advance at least one level before another attempt to read it is allowed.  Goblins never gain the ability to read magic-user or elf scrolls.

Goblins do not establish domains or build castles or strongholds like other characters.  However, upon reaching 9th level (Goblin Master Thief), a Goblin may construct a hideout (a cave network, take over a dungeon level or fortify a house in a city and so forth).  A Goblin that has constructed a hideout will attract 1-6 1st level thieves who have come to learn under a master.  Additionally, a bodyguard like that of a Goblin King's of 1-6 Goblins will be made available to the character as well.  This bodyguard will also act as muscle for the character's underlings as well.

Wait a minute!  Didn’t you say last time that Race as Class characters are always portrayed as Fighting Men?  Actually I said through the prejudice of Race as Class is that those character were equivalent to Fighting Men and this is still largely true of the Goblin as, like any other thief PC, a goblin can forego its thieving skills to use better armor.  But I wanted a class to represent goblins as viewed in my campaign, as the thievin’, larcenous, take-it-if-it’s-not-nailed-down buggers that they are (sort of like kenders, but more honest about it).

 

Class Warfare

I’ve been going over the player character options available for Basic/Expert and there are more than you might think, the OSR has opened more than a few doors in that regard.  I’m even crafting a class or two of my own and I feel that I should touch on a topic which has been controversial since its introduction, or its comparison to Advanced D&D at any rate.  Perhaps the biggest, single issue most players seem to have with the Basic/Expert model of D&D is the way Moldvay decided to handle the demi-humans: the so-called “Race as Class.”  This topic has been discussed exhaustively on the internet and analyzed by minds keener than my own, following any of the links included below will lead you to excellent discourses about the pros and cons of this method.

However, I don’t feel that any of them necessary touch on the rationale behind the thinking that produced the Race as Class model.  The reason for racial classes and even level limits in earlier versions of D&D is because of the biggest conceit in the mind of the game’s originators: Humans are the best.  Even if only in terms of level limits humans clearly rise above all other races in that they have no level limits except for the limits of the game itself, whereas in the Little Brown Books, Basic/Expert, BECMI and AD&D Elves, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Halflings, half-whatevers are specifically limited to the number of levels they can advance (pre-Unearthed Arcana), limiting their proficiency in all professions relative to humans.  Admittedly this is changed in the last couple of versions of the Grand Ol’ Game, but is still a valid point of view on earlier versions.

For human characters, class is all about their professional identity.  Be it Farmer, Banker, Fighting Man, Thief; class is about what you as a character can do and do well.  The classes for humans, while archetypal, are not rigidly defined.  Are you a foppish rake for hire with a wit as sharp as your foil?  You’re a Fighting Man (sorry, I should say Fighter but I really prefer the LBB terminology in this instance).  Are you a sullen-eyed Hillman from the North possessing panther-like reflexes with a destiny to trod on the jeweled thrones of the southern Kingdoms?  Fighting Man.  Are you a stout-hearted man-at-arms defending the realm; courteous, brash and fiercely loyal?  Still a Fighting Man.  See where I’m going?  Not so for demi-humans.

For demi-human characters, class is quite another thing all together.  I think in Race as Class that it’s more accurate to say that the class is about how the race is thought of and understood by humans.  Classes for demi-humans and/or humanoids tend to be rather strict in the definition of the race they attempt to portray.  There are no doubt Dwarves that are just as devout as any human cleric, but to uneducated human eyes they still fight with axes and in the same manner as their brethren.  There are undoubtedly Elves just as capable in the ways of woodcraft as any Huntsman, but because they still cast spells and wear chainmail rather than leather they are “Elves.”  One of the more interesting prejudices built into the Race as Class system seems to be that all the races are more or less equivalent to the Fighting Man class for humans.  Makes a certain kind of sense, the other races need fighting capability; indeed as frequent opponents of the characters the various demi-humans and humanoids are seen, through the lens of the game, as capable fighters.  The only real exception to this are the Elves, allowed in the LBBs to also level as Magic Users or in Basic/Expert (and BECMI) where they are the only real multi-class.

So there you have it, my insights into the Race as Class model as used in Basic/Expert.  I’m not so deluded as to think that this will have players of other editions abandoning their version of choice in droves, but I do think that revealing the biases and prejudices behind the system will help others better understand the rules as they are.

Presented for your edification (These are just some of my favorite opinions of the Race as Class model):

• B/X Blackrazor
• B/X Blackrazor 
• Chronicle of Eveboria
• Hack and Slash
• Jack's Toolbox
• Roll 'Em
• The Welsh Piper

Some additional thoughts…

Of course many have sought to circumvent the restrictions of the Race as Class model and truth be told I’ve even tinkered with separating race from class, like in this article here, at times in the past but I’m now inclined to think in different terms.

If, for example, a player really wanted to be Dwarf Cleric, I think I’d rather allow that Dwarf character to be able to cast cleric spells at the cost of advancing in fighting prowess as a Cleric rather than a Fighting Man with no additional change in experience requirements or other restrictions, especially weapons.

Why Basic/Expert?

I've been working on this post since the thirteenth of last month and frankly I'm sick of it, I wanted to put together a rational, coherent argument about why Basic and Expert are the version of D&D that everyone should be using and totally forgot my no. 1 rule of life: Nothing is for every one.

Keeping that in mind, lets try again.

For me, the Basic and Expert books are the most comprehensive while at the same time simplest version of the original Dungeons and Dragons game.  So while I have been struggling to get my thoughts into some kind of coherence that might make sense to another sophont, I've been looking over the opinions of others captured in various forums and blogs regarding Basic and Expert and found this post by Simrion on Dragonsfoot’s Classic D&D forum that says for me what I couldn't manage for myself (emphasis is the author's):

Been pondering this post for awhile and finally have an answer for the doubters and players of other D&D versions (or fantasy rpgs) that seek to understand the appeal of Classic. The Classic D&D Rules are "elegant." Based upon my dictionary the definition of "elegant" appears as follows:

elegant - marked by refined, tasteful beauty of manner, form or style.

The Classic Rules (I prefer Basic - Moldvay/Cook/Marsh) are easy to learn, easy to use and provide an ideally "heroic" feel. They are not bogged down by excessive quantities of skills and abilities and offer simple mechanics for many things not covered in the game (here I refer to pages in the back of the Basic Rulebook B60 - 61, headings That's not in the rules! & There's always a chance.(These mechanics are things like roll under appropriate ability or a certain chance on a d6 for those that don't have access to the rulebook.)

See brain, what was so hard about that?  The Basic/Expert rulesets are elegant, they manage to convey the most information in the least amount of words and in a manner that many have found to be highly adaptable to tinkering or expansion.  I believe that this is the reason why these rules are the best version to teach newcomers to the hobby with, in my experience at least.

In those two slim volumes, 128 pages, Dungeons and Dragons is laid out from its lowly beginnings of those initial delvings to the lofty fruition of the establishing of domains and rulership over former wilderness.  Everything I needed to begin, and ideas and guidelines and hints and inspirations for those things I didn't yet know I needed.

And if you needed any more there always this, from a dream I had on 10-FEB last year:

Hasbro/WotC, to effectively end the Edition Wars, were hunting down fans of previous versions of Dungeons & Dragons. Seems a bit harsh to me. Anyway, they were having quite a bit of success as their targets were all carrying all the books necessary to play their favorite edition; needless to say the third-edition guys were going fast. Only me and few others (my friend George, JB [the guy who writes the B/X Blackrazor blog] and other strangers) were escaping. Why? Because our Basic/Expert edition is two lightweight volumes; very easy to run and hide with. No Monstrous Compendiums, or Dungeoneer's Survival Guides, or Complete anythings to slow us down.

Make of that what you will...

Begin, Be Bold...

Another blog about Dungeons and Dragons?  Merciful Savior in Heaven why?!  Good question.

Mostly because I'm hopeful that putting the details of my campaign plan online will help drive me to completion this time around.  As my nephews and brother are all too aware I've tried this before many times without success.  The pressure of a career, the obligations of family, faith and responsibility all seem to conspire to rob me of the time necessary to plot out and plan a simple D&D game, never mind the time to play.

But in the immortal if misquoted words of W. P. Kinsella "If I build it, they will play."  I know they will because of a recent game of Dungeon played after Thanksgiving dinner, it really made everyone's desire to play - especially mine - obvious to me.  Fortunately I do have some advantages in this situation: I'm single and have a little time most nights and every other weekend, actually every other weekend I have a good bit of time available.  Of course, until recently I've been sinking that time into things like the Mass Effect trilogy, Torchlight 2, Neverwinter Nights, World of Borecraft, even ::shudder:: The Sims 3.  But I'd really rather get the family together and play D&D.

So I have a plan, there's more than enough sources of inspiration on the web, from the members of the OSR and their multitudinous publications.  I'm following several (too many) of the OSR blogs and I believe I can cobble together a simple but good game without having to sink every spare hour into it.  If there's anything I've learned from my online perusals it's that random tools can accomplish a lot, the danger is over-reliance on them and allowing them to dominate your own creativity.

I don't know of what, if any, interest this blog will be to readers; if it's not don't waste your time.  As I said at the start of this, this is mostly for me.  Hopefully the spectre of public failure will be too ghastly a prospect for me to embrace, forcing me to push ahead.

At the very least I've begun, boldly I hope.  As for the rest of it, well, I'll try to follow the advise of Horace here...

“Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.”
― Horace