Lucky 7: Complicating Weapons & Armor

When James and I record the first episode of the podcast, we talked about how weapon and armor interact. That made me think of a way I could add some crunch to the Lucky 7 rules. Of course, L7 is supposed to be low crunch, so this would be an optional rule.

Damage Types

The current version of D&D (5E) introduced common damage types from weapons: Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning.

This might be new for D&D, but as far back as 1985 GURPS used cutting, impaling, and crushing. Same things, different names.

Going back a couple more years, it looks like the Palladium system used Cut, Chop, Thrust, and Impact.

What if we do the same thing for L7? We rate each weapon for each of those categories, then we do the same with the Armor.

The Weapons

Name	Cut	Crush	Impale	Description
Axe, Great	6	3	0	9 out of 10 Minotaurs who use axes, use Great axes. Big, double headed axes. Two handed.
Axe, Hand	5	2	0
Axe, Long	6	3	0	A 4.5-foot pole with a big axe head. Historically used by the Vikings. Weighs about 5 pounds. Requires 2-hands to use.
Axe, Small	4	2	0	A hatchet
Axe, Throwing	5	2	0
Bastard Sword (1 hand)	4	2	0
Bastard Sword (2 hands)	5	3	0
Blackjack	0	2	0
Brass Knuckles	0	2	0
Broadsword	4	2	2	The classic sword of history and fantasy. About 2.5 feet long and weighs in at 5 pounds.
Claymore	6	3	2
Club	0	4	0	A heavy piece of wood swung at the opponent. Used one handed.
Dagger				See Bodkin or Knife, Large.
Fist	0	1	0	Used for punching. Rather handy because it can almost never be dropped.
Flail	0	6	0
Gladius	3	2	1	The classic Roman short sword. Two feet long and about 1.75 pounds.
Javelin	1	3	4
Knife, large	2	0	2
Knife, Small	1	0	2	Small stabbing weapon
Longsword				See broadsword.
Mace	0	5	0	About 2.5 feet long, and weighing in at about 4.5 pounds, this crushing weapon is a fantasy favorite.
Mace, Small	0	4	0
Maul	0	6	0	It’s not a war hammer, it’s a war-sledgehammer.
Morningstar	0	5	2	A mace with spikes on the smashing bit.
Pick	0	2	6
Quarterstaff	0	4	0	A six-foot long pole without a stabby bit on the end. Can be swung, though, which is more effective than poking. Requires 2 hands to use.
Scythe	4	2	2	A spear with a curved, cutting blade at the end. Used two handed. Don’t throw it.
Spear (1 hand)	2	2	5	A 5 foot long pole with a sharp stabby bit on the end.
Spear (2 hands)	2	2	6
Sword, Broad				See broadsword.
Sword, short				See Gladius
Sword, Two-Handed				See Claymore.
Warhammer	0	5	3	A maul with a spike. Smash with one side, stab with the other.

The Armor

Name	Cut	Crush	Impale	Description
Shield				This is the basic hand-held shield; this is the only armor that can be used in conjunction with other armor. Remember that using a shield in conjunction with a weapon requires an AoE for the appropriate fighting style, or the user will suffer a -3 non-expertise penalty.
Quilted	1	1	0	This is armor made of of cloth and filled with fibers to cushion the effects of weapons.
Leather	2	1	1	The is a thinner version of quilted armor, with a hard leather facing designed to deflect blows.
Ring	3	1	2	This is leather armor with metal rings sewn to it in order to decrease the chance of a sword or spear poking through it.
Scale	3	2	3	This is leather armor with a bunch of metal plates sewn to it. The metal plates often resemble the scale of a fish. It provides more metal coverage than rings, with a corresponding increase in weight.
Chain	4	2	2	A series of interlocking metal rings that forms a metal cloth, that’s worn over the quilted armor. Fairly weighty, but flexible.
Segmentata	4	3	3	A favorite of the Roman empire. They did away with the leather altogether and had metal strips (or bands) running across the width of the body. The overlapping strips (or bands) still allowed free movement.
Breastplate, bronze	5	4	5	This armor goes as far back as the Greeks. Amazingly heavy, and rigidly uncomfortable.

Epilogue

I still need to figure out how to handle shields.

I also need to add some more snarky descriptions.

I also notice I left off the ranged weapons.

What do you think? Do you like the idea? Do you disagree with any or my ratings?

Searching for My Ideal D&D Retro-Clone

There are a ton of Dungeons & Dragons retro-clones. So many that there isn't a complete listing anywhere. The best listing I've seen is the one at Taxidermic Owlbear, though I believe that list is now out of date. The second best listing is the one at Tenkar's Tavern.

Anyway, I certainly have not had enough time to read every ruleset out there, but I've read a lot. The one I like the best is White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, but it's still not an exact match for my preferences.

Maybe one of my readers knows of a better match for me.

Here are my preferences:

• Armor Class should be Ascending.
• Limited number of classes: Fighter, Magic-User, and Cleric (like OD&D). Druid is ok. I can barely tolerate Thief. Rangers, Paladins, and Bards are unacceptable. 
• Race as class. Allowing all races to be thieves is acceptable.
• There should be some serious disadvantages for being non-human. The disadvantage should be so severe that most players would rather play a human. 
• Three alignments  (like OD&D). Or none.
• Savings throws based on attributes. Second preference is the 3E categories. Third preference is a single save. Recreations of the original D&D savings throw category is unacceptable.
• d6 based Hit Dice is preferred (like OD&D).
• All hits should do 1d6 (like OD&D).
• Most monsters get only 1 attack per round (like OD&D).

The problem with my preferences is clear: I want something that emulates OD&D, except where I don't want it to. Most retro-clones are written to emulate a specific version.

So what retro-clone would you recommend for me? How do you preferences differ from mine?

OSR October: Is D&D the only valid OSR Game?

A bunch of bloggers and podcasters have decided to dedicate October to the OSR. I'm not sure who started the idea, but I thought I'd play along. Some of that group seems that we should spend this month only promoting OSR game products.  I reject that notion. I feel that any positive presentation of the OSR that serves to get people interested in the older form of play is a good thing.

Another popular notion that I reject is that the OSR is exclusive to 20th Century editions of D&D and the retro-clones. This seems silly and limiting to me. In A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming [PDF], Matt Finch lays out the four cornerstones of OSR play:

• Rulings, not Rules
• Player Skill, not Character Abilities
• Heroic, not Superhero
• Forget "Game Balance"

I agree with all of those points (to a degree). The important thing here is that all of these points refer to a style of play and not a particular rules set. While modern rules will often get in the way of these goals, D&D wasn't the only game in the 1970's to rely on this playstyle.

Tunnels & Trolls came out in 1975 and should easily be considered an OSR game. It doesn't need a retro-clone because they already sell the old versions for a song!

Want to play in the OSR style in space? Sure there's White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying but that's just the D&D rules with spacesuits. Why not just play classic Traveller or its retro-clone?

There is more to the OSR than just D&D.

Podcast Episode 3: Alignment Systems

This is the first episode of OSR October. We talk about the three different alignment systems used in D&D's history, and a little about alignments in general. Surprisingly, there's a lot that we agree on in this episode!

You can listen to the episode at Anchor.fm, or using the embedded player right here:

Turn West at the Squirrels

A while ago I talked about how sailors would navigate in my Moana campaign. If you don't want to read that post, the short version is that they would look through the clear water and use the landmarks on the sea floor to navigate.

James said, "They would use the fish, too."

That seems wrong to me.  That's like saying "You want to go to the mall? Sure... Just drive north on this road until you see squirrels, then turn west. You can't miss it!"

It sounds crazy to me.  What am I missing?

Podcast Episode 2: Character Backgrounds.

The newest episode of the podcast went live, and I can now embed it into the blog. So if you want to list, just click this button:

In this episode, we discuss character backgrounds. I like them short and emergent, while James is in favor of slightly longer and more defined ones.

Apparently James likes longer episodes, too, because this one is 21 minutes long.

Dekahedron RPG Podcast Episode 1 Published

I published the first episode of the Dekahedron RPG podcast this week.

If you use a “real” podcatcher (I use AntennaPod but there are many others), you should be able to find it in the search results. If you can’t find it, the direct RSS feed is https://anchor.fm/s/94739d0/podcast/rss.

If you listen to your podcasts another way–like through the web or something, the following links will work:

• Anchor.fm (this is where they appear first)
• Amazon Music
• Apple Podcasts
• Castro.fm
• Google Podcasts
• Overcast.fm
• Pocket Casts
• Spotify

James and I are recording a new episode tomorrow. The topic is “obnoxnious character behavior.” That’s different from “obnoxious player behavior.” That will be a future episode.

Podcast and Moana Updates

This week’s gaming activity has been focused on the podcast:

• The Dekahedron website now is 100% about the podcast.
• I recorded a five minute “Episode Zero”

I hope to get the real first episode out this week.

Unrelated to the podcast, I’ve had a couple thoughts for the Moana campaign:

• I finally watched the Disney movie.
• James gave me a suggestion about navigation that I want to respond to.
• I had a thought about a starting location and why the player will be hidden from native eyes at the start of the campaign.

That's it for this week. I know it's a short post, but most the energy is going to the podcast.

Navigating the High Seas in Moana

My Hawaiian vacation ended with 27 hours of travelling, then straight back to an 11-day workweek with 6-hours of jet-lag. All that is to say that this week’s post will be super short.

Murky Waters

I grew up on the coast of New England. One of the big differences between the north Atlantic and the tropical Pacific is the clarity of the water. Whenever I go on whale watching trips, they tell me that the cloudy darkness of the cold Atlantic waters are like that because they’re teaming with life. The whales travel there in the summer to feed, and return to the crystal clear but nearly lifeless waters of the tropics in the winter to give birth.

Clear Sailing

While I knew all this intellectually, it wasn’t until I was in Hawai'i that I really understood how clear the waters were. That gave me an idea. For navigating, instead of using stars and a compass, what if sailors in my Moana campaign just looks down at the see floor from their boats? They navigate at sea like we naviagte on land–by using landmarks. But instead of mountains and trees their landmarks are coral reefs, kelp forests, sunken ships, and undersea cities that sank eons ago.

Reaction

I told this idea to James. He said “Would that work in real life?”

My answer was simple: “Who cares? Casting fireball doesn’t work in real life, but it’s fun.”

Epilogue

What do you think? Do you like it? What other things can be underwater for them to use as landmarks? If landmarks are under water would that make them "watermarks?"

Moana Needs a New Name

I got some feedback from last week's idea. To save you from clicking the link, the idea was for a campaign set in a fantasized version of stone-age Hawai'i. Let's address it!

Dustin

I immediately assumed it was based on the Moana Disney movie, and the description didn't change my mind. That said, I'd play that.

Well, I'm glad he liked the idea!

I had completely forgotten about Disney's Moana. Well, not completely, I guess. When I typed the name last week, I thought "Wait--isn't there a Disney thing about moana?" So I tought about it it for a second and decided "No--Disney's Hawaiian movie is Lilo & Stitch. I must be thinking about how the say 'ohana' all the time" Oops.

So I need a new name. Kai is the Hawaiian word for "sea." Maybe that will work, but I'm thinking about stripping away all the Hawaiian in order to not be culturally offensive. 

James

Can you take on another world? LOL

This is a good point. But I'm not going to go full bore. Basically this is just a modification of my Okeanos setting. And this might actually make a great setting for my U.S.S. Crowfield idea.

But the idea doesn't have to be fully fleshed out. I just need to get enough "flesh on the bones" so that when I'm ready to run it I can dig up my notes and work on it more.

Snowgen (me)

Doesn't this sound a lot like Earthsea?

Yes, I'm answering my own thought. But this is a good point. I think Earthsea was the first non-Tolkien fantasy series that I read. The author, Ursula K. Le Guin, purposely created a non-medieval non-European fantasy world. Wikipedia describes it this way:

The world of Earthsea is one of sea and islands: a vast archipelago of hundreds of islands surrounded by mostly uncharted ocean. Earthsea contains no large continents, with the archipelago resembling Indonesia or the Philippines ... The cultures of Earthsea are literate non-industrial civilizations and not direct analogues of the real world. 

So yes, there are definite similarities. It's not a direct copy, though, and there will be very distinct differences, so I think I'm safe. 

Snowgen, again (me)

Do you have to do this? Has someone else already done the work for you?

I didn't se any GURPS worldbooks, so that makes me think no one else has. But I did come across a free RPG called Mythos of the Maori. I haven't read it in depth, but it seems like good work. Except this is exactly what I'm trying to avoid: a direct reproduction of actual Polynesian culture. I fear that is too likely to be offensive to modern sensibilities.

Epilogue

So those were my thoughts and the thoughts inspired by those that send me comments. If you have any more thoughts, please let me know.

I'll leave you with is picture I took a couple of nights ago as I was standing on the rim of Kīlauea. The glowing stuff is lava!

Moana: A Campaign Idea

I talked before about my desire for game world settlements to be few and far between in order to force the player characters to travel through "untamed wilderness" between towns.  In that same post I talked about a part of my game world called "Okeanos." 

Okeanos is an archipelago. Players would travel from island to island in ships. The idea is based on Homer's Odyssey. As such the ships, weapon, armor, and cultures are all based on bronze age Greek mythology.

I also talked before about my desire to run a campaign set in the Stone Age.

Today I'm in Hawai'i, and the though occurred to me to marry those two desires. My working title is Moana (Moe-AH-nah), the Hawaiian word for "Ocean." 

The technology, ships, and cultural lifestyle would be a very fictionalized and fantastic version of what we know of pre-European contact Polynesia, just like most RPGs are very fictionalized and fantastic versions of medieval Europe. I would develop a new theology from scratch to avoid trivializing anyone's real life beliefs. 

A quick search has already shown me a good article that talks about the weapons of Ancient Hawai'i.

What do you think of the idea?

Lucky 7: Crits & Fumbles

Every time you roll the dice in an RPG, you are determining the answer to a question:

• Did I hit the monster with my sword?
• Did I climb the castle wall?
• Was I able to sneak past the guard?
• Was I able to avoid the dragon’s flame?
• How much damage did I take from the dragon’s flame?

Other than the last one, notice how all of these are “yes/no” type questions.

Expanding the Yes/No Paradigm

It wasn’t long after the hobby started that people started expanding the rules. Even though it was never an official rule, a common house rule was that rolling a natural 20 indicated a “super success.” In combat, not only did you hit the opponent, but you hit this in a critical organ for bonus damage. From this the term “critical hit” (or “crit”) was born. A crit is kind of like answering the question with “Yes, and more!”

Of course, that was followed almost instantly with the thought that if a natural 20 was a critical success, then a natural 1 must be a “critical failure” or a “fumble.” A fumble is the yes/no equivalent of “Not only no, but…”

(On a side note.. the “6” roll in Lucky 7 is the “Yes, but…” answer.)

Fumbles in L7

Lucky 7 will not have fumbles.

The main reason for that is because it would be very unfair to the players. Because L7 is a “only the players roll” game, there’s no change that a monster or NPC would ever fumble. Giving the players a one-sided risk seems unfair.

Crits in L7

Lucky 7 will have crits.

This is still one sided, but it’s one sided in favor of the players. When the rest of the world is out to get them, giving them this advantage is the least we can do.

There are people that think a 1:20 chance is too high for a crit, and I agree with them. It’s even worse for L7, because we use a d12. So (sadly) crits in L7 will (possibly) require a second roll.

If you’re rolling one die, and you roll a 12 you may roll a second die. We’ll call this the “crit die.” If the crit die is also a 12, then your result is a critical success. That’s a 1:144 (or 0.7%) chance. If you (as a GM) think that’s too rare, feel free to change the what is needed on the second die. This chart is provided for your benefit:

Crit range	Odds	% Chance	Notes
12	1:144	0.7%
11 & 12	1:72	1.4 %	Probably what I will use at my table.
10 — 12	1:48	2.1%
9 — 12	1:36	2.8%
8 — 12	5:144	3.5%
7 — 12	1:24	4.2%
6 — 12	7:144	4.9%	About the same as a simple crit d20.

If you’re making a bonus roll, you’re already rolling two dice. In that case, if both dice are “12” (or, if using a different crit range, if the high die is a “12” and the second die in in the crit range)), then you got a crit.

If you’re making a penalty roll, then both dice have to be a 12—there’s no way around it. This is because in a penalty roll, the lower die is the one that counts. So in order for the roll to be a “Natural 12,” the lower die has to be a 12 and that can only happen if both dice are 12’s.

If you’re using a different crit range, this means that crits will be more common if you’re rolling with bonus, and less common if rolling with penalty. This seems fair to me.

Epilogue

Posts might be scarce for the next month or so. I usually write my posts during the weekend, and I’ll be away on vacation for the next two weekends, and working my second job the weekend after that. I will try to post something but no promises.

Chases in Lucky 7

I listen to a podcast called The Grognard Files. They reviewed Savage Worlds in their most recent and very windy episode. One of the things that they mentioned was that they liked the way that Savage Worlds handled chases.

That gave me pause and made me ask myself, “How would I handle chases in Lucky 7?”

“I wouldn’t,” I answered. “I better make some rules for that.”

Chases in Other Games

Chase scenes are a stable of action and adventure entertainment. Despite this, few games that I can think of provide guidance on how to run a chase.

Every James Bond movie features a car chase, so it’s probably no surprise that 1983’s James Bond 007 role-playing_game was recognized for having great chase rules. Maybe they just don’t age well, but I don’t really like them that much. Pretty much it’s just a bidding war between the player and the GM over the higher penalty to the roll. Both sides use the “winning” penalty, but whoever bids the highest penalty gets to decide which side goes first. Maybe you’ll bid high, hoping they’ll flub their roll. But if you’re wrong, they get an attack on you before your turn.

The Savage Worlds system relies on cards, which makes me hate it from the start. Beyond that it assumes that the chase is only over when you kill the chasers. You can never simply outrun, evade, or hide from your pursuers. You must kill them. That’s not what I’m looking for.

My Solution

My solution is combat.

I hear your complaint. “But didn’t you just say…?” Bear with me. It’s not that kind of combat.

The combat isn’t between the pursuer and the escapee. It’s between the abstract embodiment of both the pursuit itself and the escape.

This is going to be hard to explain. But let me try.

The easiest way is with an example.

Jalice has broken into the Temple of K'hala, and stolen K'Hala’s Eye a giant ruby in the scorpion demon’s statue. Unfortunately for Jalice, the High Priest of K'Hala spots her as she leaves the temple, and calls on the Temple Guard to apprehend her. Jalice runs off into the city, and the guards chase after her.

Because Jalice is the one trying to get away, she is the escapee. The action she is trying to accomplish is the escape.

The guards are the ones trying to catch her, so they’re the pursuers. They’re engaged in the pursuit.

The first thing the GM has to do is decide how difficult it will be for Jalice to escape. he does this by assigning a a number of lives (or hit points) to both the escape and the pursuit. The more lives that the escape has, the easier it will be for Jalice to escape. The more lives the pursuit has, the easier it will be for the guards to catch her. The more lives they have combined, the longer the escape will take to play out–probably to the point of tedium. I suggest 2 lives for the less probable event (escaping or getting caught), and base the stronger side on the desired ratio.

In this case, the GM wants to give Jalice a fairly good chance of getting away, so he gives the pursuit 2 lives, and the escape he gives 4.

The player said she was running before the GM said the guards were chasing, so she gets the first action. The player says that Jalice is running down a busy side street and discarding her temple robes to try to fool the guards. The GM rules that would be a Streetwise skill vs the guards' observation skill. If the Jalice makes the roll, the pursuit loses one life; if she fails it doesn’t. It’s that simple. Let’s say she makes it. The pursuit now has one life left; the escape still has four.

The GM narrates that half of the guards run the wrong way, but a few are still following her. One of them picks up a metal bowl from a vendor’s stand and throws it at her to slow her down. Remember, in Lucky 7 the NPCs never roll—only the player does. So the GM has the player roll Jalice’s Fighting Defense skill vs the NPC’s Aiming skill. If the Jalice makes the roll, nothing changes; if she fails the roll, the the escape loses 1 life. In essence, she’s making a savings throw (on behalf of the escape) to avoid the escape losing a life. Let’s say she fails the roll. The pursuit still has one life left, but the escape only has three lives left.

That’s the basic idea. Maybe next turn Jalice would try climbing to the roofs (Athletics skill), hiding in a dark doorway (Stealth skill), or convincing a merchant to hide her (Persuasion skill). No matter what she tries, if it succeeds it will bring the Pursuit down to 0 lives, and she will have escaped. If she fails, the chase goes at least another turn.

If the dice turn against her, and somehow the Escape goes down to 0 lives before the Pursuit does, then she will be caught. Even though the Escape is down to 0 lives, Jalice is still at full health.

Epilogue

That’s it.

Sorry for no post last week, it was very very busy between the two jobs.

I feel I need to rewrite this whole chase thing in a clearer way, but I’m late getting this post out.

Psychic Magic for USS Crowfield

James will tell you that I’m not a fan of mixing magic and tech, and he’s right. There’s no limit to my hatred of sticking magic into a modern or futuristic world. Yes, that means I’m not a Harry Potter fan. I flat out refuse to read, watch, or play The Dresden Files.

You know what works well in a modern or futuristic setting, though? Psychic or psionic powers! They particularly show up a lot in Star Trek. Off the top of my head:

• The Talosians in “The Cage” (the first pilot episode).
• Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man has Gone Before” (the second pilot episode).
• The eponymous character in “Charlie X”
• Oh yeah, Spock and all Vulcans have low-level telepathy.
• The aliens in “Plato’s Stepchildren”
• Deana Troi (like all Betazoids) is a telepath.

So what if we had an ancient world where certain people had psionic powers? Wouldn’t they just be the wizards of that world? Wouldn’t their powers be considered magical?

I think this would work well for the U.S.S. Crowfield world. Maybe there’s something in the local fruit that gives certain people powers (like in “Plato’s Stepchildren”)? The locals might call them wizards, shamans, or whatever, but they’re really psionics.

That means I have to replace the spells with spells based on psychics powers, but I think it will work.

Maybe I don’t even tell the player’s that’s why I’m doing… just have the “spellbook” and see if they can figure it out.

What do you think?

Maybe next week I’ll have a working list of spells.

Lucky 7 Hit Points

This completely replaces my earlier post called Unlucky 13 Hit Points.

First of all, because Unlucky 13 is now just an expansion of the 1974 D&D rules, hit points in U13 work the same as hit points in D&D.

Because Lucky 7 is not a D&D derivative, I’m free to do things differently. Very differently. That previous post was too different, though. And it was completely unusable on Roll 20.

Some Background

When (the game that would later become) Dungeons & Dragons first started, there wasn’t a “to hit roll” followed by a “damage roll.” There was one roll. If you rolled the right value, you killed the monster; otherwise you didn’t. Likewise, if the DM rolled a certain number, your character was dead. There was no warning. There was no “I’m almost dead.” You just went from alive to dead in a single roll.

Players found that unsatisfying, so Dave Arneson invented hit points.

My Solution: Lives

So here’s my solution. It’s based on “lives” from things like Pac-Man.

Most characters start with three lives/hit points, but this is modified by the Spiritual attribute. (Why Spiritual instead of Physical might be the topic of a future post.)

When you take a hit, you make a roll using the Spiritual attribute. If you succeed, you shrug off the hit without serious injury. If you fail, you lose exactly one life/hit point. When you lose your last life/hit point, you’re out of action. “Out of action” might mean you’re dead, but it probably means the you’re knocked-out or you’ve been captured or you’ve just given up.

What about weapon and armor types?

Armor doesn’t make you less likely to get hit, but it does make it less likely that you will get hurt.

A sword isn’t any more likely to kill an unarmored man than a knife, but a sword is more likely to penetrate armor than a knife.

Every weapon has a weapon value and every armor has an armor value. If the weapon’s value is greater than armor’s, then the Armor roll is made with a penalty. If the armor is greater than weapon, the Armor roll is made with a bonus. If they'e equal, than it’s a simple roll with neither penalty nor bonus.

How many lives do monsters have?

A zombie or an orc will have one life. A dragon might have 12. If looking at a D&D monster, use the number of hit dice as the number of lives.

How about a troll with 6 + 3 hit dice?

You might want to just call that seven lives, but I would call it six and give the troll a +3 to his armor roll.

But I don’t want to die! (optional rule)

This is an option rule for GM’s to use in their campaign, or not.

If you lose your last life, instead of being put out of action you instead gain an injury instead. That injury counts as a disadvantage, and can be used as such.

Normally, the injury heals after the fight is over (or the scene is over if you’re not in combat when the injury occurs). However, if you’re already injured and you lose another life you can chose to extend the duration of the injury:

Injury	Duration of effect
Initial	This combat/scene
1st extension	Next day
2nd extension	Next week
3rd extension	Next month
4th extension	Next season
5th extension	Next year

Epilogue

That’s it. That’s my new idea for hit points.

One question I have: Should I call them “hit points” or “lives?”

I lean towards “hit points” because that’s the universal RPG term, and I’m trying not to make up new terms.

On the other hand, I lean toward “lives” because they act more like video game lives than traditional hit points.

What do you think?

General Update on my RPG Projects

This is a general update on a few different subjects.

Dekahedron (the podcast)

I didn't post the episode yet. There's two reasons for this: 

1. I sent a rough cut to James for his feedback, and he hasn't listened to it yet. Still. Five days later.
2. I want to have a few episodes of backlog before we start to post. This will cover us for when we can' record (like when I have to work a weekend, or one of us has vacation, etc.)

We also didn't get to record an episode this morning. I had an unexpected family event pop up, and James had computer issues. I hope we can find some time this week.

On the other hand, I got some other stuff done for the podcast:

1. I got a "feedback line" where listeners can call in voice feedback. I like phone numbers that spell something, I almost got (XXX)-OLD-TREK, (XXX)-POD-CAST, and (XXX)-FIGHTER, but in the end I picked (XXX)-RPG-CAST. (Note: XXX is not the actual area code.  The area code was different for each number).
2. I switched the dekahedron.com's email provider away from Google. This let me set up a "feedback@" email address for listeners to email us.

Dekahedron (the RPG)

Before it was a podcast, Dekahedron was a a public domain RPG that I created decades ago. It never gained any traction, so I'm finally pulling the plug. I'll be archiving the rules off of the website, and switching the site to support the podcast.

Clout RPG

Speaking of pulling plugs, I'm also killing off my Clout RPG. This one was never finished, and most of the ideas have been incorporated into Lucky 7.  The domain name expires in a few months, so I'm just going to let it disappear.

Lucky 7 RPG Engine

Lucky 7 is now a stand-alone RPG ruleset. Work continues on the draft.

Unlucky 13 House Rules

Unlucky 13 is an expansion of (or a set of house rules for) OSR style games. it is pretty much Lucky 7 for B/X. Work continues.

Crowfield/U.S.S. Crowfield Settings

These are just campaign settings for my own use to run games in. I'm not killing them off.

Commonwealth of Man Setting

Commonwealth of Man is my space-opera (the genre, not the ill-named RPG) campaign that replaced the Astral Web. Technically speaking, the U.S.S. Crowfield setting takes place on a planet in the Commonwealth of Man. I'll be updating this campaign and making some posts about it. 

This Blog

I still plan on making weekly posts here!

That's all for this week!

Podcast Update: Episode #1 recorded

 James and I met online yesterday morning and recorded the first episode of the podcast. The topic was "Fixed vs Variable Weapon Damage."

I think it went well. I was fully prepared for this to be a practice run and for us to have to re-record it next week. But I think it's good enough for me to push out after I finish editing it.

James is a natural co-host. He and I differ enough to approach a topic from different angles, yet we're such good friends that it's still pleasant.

I'm very self conscious of my voice. I had hearing loss as a child, which lead to years of speech therapy. When I hear my recorded voice I just hear a guy with some kind of speech disorder. I don't know of other people hear that when I talk to them. I'm a little worried about mean comments.

Anyway... the episode is done, but I have work to do with edit/post-production. If it goes up this week I'll let you know.

Attribute Generation in Lucky 7, Part 3

I’m writing this in Austin, Texas, so this will be a quickie.

When I go running I think about things. Often it’s stuff for my RPGs—either rules or adventures. Lately it’s been a lot of stuff for Lucky 7. Now that there’s only three attributes, I think that calls for changes in the way to generate attribute scores.

The old methods were in these posts:

• Attribute Generation for Lucky 7
• Attribute Generation in Lucky 7, Part 2

The Methods

Most of these are just the old methods update, but there’s a new one.

Method #1: Point Buy (Former Method 3)

This method has the most player agency. Depending on the player involved it might be super quick, or it might take an eternity of agonizing decision making. Some players using this have the habit of making the same character every time.

Step 1: For each of the three attributes, assign any value between -2 and +2.

Step 2: Twiddle with the assignments until sum of all three attributes equals +1.

Step 3: There is no step 3!

Method #2: Quick Random (Former Method 1)

This method is the fastest of the bunch, but has the least player input. It’s good for simulating the feel of old school role-playing.

It also has the least character diversity, as it’s impossible to generate a character with a very good score (+2), a good (+1) score, and a very bad (-2) score.

Because it’s so quick, it’s particularly good for making characters when a new player shows up unexpectedly, or to replace a PC that was killed or captured.

This method uses this attribute table:

d3 Roll	d6 Roll	d12 Roll	Attribute
1	1 – 2	1 – 4	Physical
2	3 – 4	5 – 8	Mental
3	5 – 6	6 – 12	Spiritual

Step 1: All attributes start at 0.

Step 2: Roll a and refer to the table above. Add 1 to the corresponding attribute.

Step 3: Same as step 2. Note: You could just combine this with the previous step by rolling two dice at that step instead of one.

Step 4: Same as step 1, but instead of adding, Subtract 1 from the corresponding attribute.

That’s it!

Example: I’m making a new character. Starting attributes are P: 0, M: 0, S: 0. I roll 3d6 and get:

• Die #1 is a 3 so Mental goes from 0 to +1
• Die #2 is a 2 so Physical goes from 0 to +1
• Die #3 is a 3 so Mental goes from +1 back down to 0

The character starts the game with:

• Physical: +1
• Mental: ±0
• Spiritual: ±0

Method #3: Random (New)

This is more complicated than method #2, but is provided for those who want the “purity” of generating all possible character types randomly.

This uses the same attribute table as Method #2.

Step 1: Each of the three attributes starts with a value of -2.

Step 2: Roll 7 dice (7d6 is easiest, but any combination of d3, d6, or d12 works).

Step 3: Referring to the attribute table, add 1 to the attribute indicated by each die.

Step 4: In the unlikely¹ that an attribute would be raised above +2, assign the +1 to a different attribute instead. Roll randomly if you can’t decide.

Example: I’m making a new character. Starting attributes are P: -2, M: -2, S: -2. I roll 7d6 and get:

• Die #1 is a 6 so Spiritual goes from -2 to -1
• Die #2 is a 4 so Mental goes from -2 to -1
• Die #3 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from -1 to 0
• Die #4 is a 3 so Mental goes from -1 to 0
• Die #5 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from 0 to +1
• Die #6 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from +1 to +2
• Die #7 is a 6 that would raise Spiritual to +3, and that can’t happen. I decide to raise Physical from -2 to -1

The character starts the game with:

• Physical: -1
• Mental: ±0
• Spiritual: +2

Method 4: Random Pre-Gen(Former Method 4)

This is really the simplest of the bunch. The name was James' idea.

Step 1: Roll 1d20. Reroll any result of 19 or 20.²

Step 2: Refer to the table below.

1d20	Physical	Mental	Spiritual
1	-2	1	2
2	-2	2	1
3	-1	0	2
4	-1	1	1
5	-1	2	0
6	0	-1	2
7	0	0	1
8	0	1	0
9	0	2	-1
10	1	-2	2
11	1	-1	1
12	1	0	0
13	1	1	-1
14	1	2	-2
15	2	-2	1
16	2	-1	0
17	2	0	-1
18	2	1	-2

Example: I’m making a new character. I roll 1d20 and get a 14. The character starts the game with:

• Physical: +1
• Mental: +2
• Spiritual: -2

Method 5: Random NPC Generation (New)

The methods above are all designed for player characters, and will result in a character whose sum of attributes is equal to +1. A totally random method could result in stronger or weaker characters. The level of randomness is well suited for non-player characters. If you want to go full old school, you can use this method for player characters, too.

Step 1: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Physical. 

Step 2: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Mental. 

Step 3: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Spiritual.

Example: I’m making a new character. I roll 4d2-6 for Physical and get 0. I roll again for Mental and get -1. Rolling one more time I get a +1. The character starts the game with:

• Physical: ±0
• Mental: -1
• Spiritual: +1

Epilogue

That’s it for this week. The post was originally about the new Method 3. It works, but the way it worked in my head was better then in reality. I might not keep it.

Which method did you like the best?

---

1. This will happen about once per seven characters.↩

2. If you really want to avoid re-rolls, you could roll a d6 and a d12. If the d12 is between 1–4, the d6 roll is unmodified; if the d12 is between 5–8, the d6 roll gets a +6 modifier; if the d12 is between 9–12, the d6 roll gets a +12 modifier. No rerolls, but I don’t think the added complexity is worth it.↩

Podcast Update: No News

It's been about a month since I wrote about starting a podcast. I said that I wanted James to join me, but also that I predicted scheduling issues.

That prediction was correct. Between his job, my two jobs, the time reserved for our respective families, and workout schedules, we essentially only have Saturday mornings free. Even then, we only have 3 out of the 4 Saturdays.

Today is Saturday, and we didn't record. We didn't record last Saturday. We haven't gotten together to record at all, though we seem to talk about it every week.

At first I was annoyed at James about this, but then it dawned on me that I never actually told him that we were going to record on either of those dates. That means the fault is all mine.

SO how about it James? Want to record on July 9^TH?

Generic Terms for Character Flaws (and Gifts!)

One of my peeves in games is when the author or some new game insists on using some new term when there’s a perfectly good term that everyone already knows and uses. Example: we’ve been using the term “constitution” since 1974, but sometimes you’ll pick up a book and see that they’ve called it “health” or “endurance” or some other term instead even though it’s serving the same function.

Because of this, one of my goals for Lucky 7 is to use to most generic and commonly used term whenever I can. That’s why I have a game master/GM instead of a “referee” or “narrator” or “Luck Lord” or some other term. But when I was writing last week’s post, I was stopped in my tracks for a pair of terms.

Characters often have a beneficial trait; maybe they’re ambidextrous or they are nobility. Likewise, they will often have a problem of some sort. They might be afraid of snakes, or have a bounty on their heads.

I can’t figure out what the most generic term is for these things, though. For last week’s post I went with “Advantages” and “Disadvantages” because that’s what GURPS called them, and that’s where I first encountered them. But what should they be called?

I decided to do a survey of various games on my shelf. Many games don’t have these kinds of aspects. Some games only have one or the other. But of the games that I had that use both, these are the terms:

Game	Beneficial	Problematic
Alternity	Perks	Flaws
Ars Magica (4E)	Virtues	Flaws
Big Eyes, Small Mouth	Attributes	Defects
Conan (TSR)	Talents	Weaknesses
Fudge	Gifts	Faults
GURPS	Advantages	Disadvantages
Hackmaster	Talents	Flaws1
HERO	Perquisites (Perks)2	Disadvantages
JAGS	Enhancements	Defects
Savage Worlds	Edges	Hindrances
Simply Roleplaying	Abilities	Disabilities
Star Trek (Decipher)	Edges	Flaws
Star Trek (Last Unicorn)	Advantages	Disadvantages

Breaking that down by the word used:

Beneficial	Times Used	Problematic	Times Used
Advantages	2	Disadvantages	3
Edges	2	Flaws	3
Perks	2	Defects	2
Talents	2	Disabilities	1
Abilities	1	Faults	1
Attributes	1	Hindrances	1
Enhancements	1	Weaknesses	1
Gifts	1
Virtues	1

For the beneficial term, four words were tied for first. But those four were only used twice each compared to once for the others. There’s no clear-cut favorite.

“Disadvantages” and “Flaws” were tied for the number one spot of problems, but even then there’s not a huge difference between being used thrice versus once.

“Advantages” and “Disadvantages” mirror each other nicely, and are both on top of their lists, which is why I used them last week. But if I were to pick the ones I like the best I would say “gifts & flaws.”

What do you think? Am I over thinking it? Which terms do you like the best?

---

1. Technically this was “Quirks & Flaws.” But GURPS uses “Quirks” as very low level disadvantages and I didn’t say “Quirks & Disadvantages” for that game.↩

2. Although exact verbiage in the book is “Perquisites (Perks),” I’m simplifying this as “Perks.”↩

There was no post last week. Part of the reason is that I was working both jobs, but the main reason is that I’ve been having a problem with green slime. Specifically, I’ve been trying to write a post about the various slimes, oozes, molds, and gelatinous entitles. What I thought was going to be a simple, quick post to fire off has been giving me problems for over three weeks now. It’s still giving me problems, so this is not that post.

A few weeks ago I mentioned in passing that I was thinking about using only three attribute scores for L7. This post is about that.

We’ll do it as a FAQ.

Attributes in Lucky 7

What is an attribute?

For our purposes, an attribute is a numerical representation of a broad group of your character’s qualities. The same attributes (but with different values, of course) are used for all characters. Traditionally, attributes used in most games have been things like Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Constitution, etc.

What attributes does Lucky 7 use?

L7 uses three attributes: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual.

What does the Physical attribute cover?

The Physical attribute covers everything to do with the body. Your strength, dexterity, balance, constitution, and speed all fall under the Physical attribute.

What does the Mental attribute cover?

The Physical attribute covers everything to do with the mind. Your intelligence, wit, inventiveness, knowledge, and problem solving abilities are examples items in the Mental domain.

What does the Spiritual attribute cover?

Characters in Lucky 7 are more than just body and thoughts. There's also that “certain something” that makes you different from me. In these rules, we call that the spirit. In game terms this attribute covers things like will power, charisma, and personality. It is also used to represent your connection with the supernatural realm.

What numerical range is used for attributes?

Technically speaking, attributes are open ended. Realistically, though, character attribute scores range from -2 to +2 as shown in the next question’s table.

What do the different numbers represent?

Value	Meaning
-2	Terrible
-1	Bad
±0	Average
+1	Good
+2	Awesome

How are attributes used in game play?

Whenever you attempt a task, the GM determines which attribute is most applicable to the task. That attribute’s value is then used as a modifier to you die roll when determining success.

Example: Your character is crossing a slippery ledge. The GM determines that is a physical task of balance. You have an Awesome Physical score, so you get a +2 to your roll.

What if I want to my character to be fast but not strong?

There’s two ways to do this. One way uses an advantage, and the other uses a disadvantage. The way you pick should depend on your character’s concept and the one that you think will work best with your playing style.

For the advantage method you would give your character an Average Physical score (±0), and you would give then an advantage of “Fast.” This is appropriate if you see your character as pretty normal, but with a gift for speed.

If you see you character as above average physically except for his strength, you would use the disadvantage method. In the case you would give your character a Good (or Awesome!) Physical score (+1 or +2), and the disadvantage of “Weak” or “Reduced Strength” or whatever.

In game play the advantage method has the drawback of costing you an experience point every time you use that advantage. The disadvantage method will actually earn you an extra experience point whenever it comes into play. On the other hand, an average “Quickness” task is 16-17% more likely to succeed using the Advantage method rather than using the disadvantage method. Whether that extra chance of success is worth spending an experience point for is a matter of personal opinion.

Epilogue

I clearly stole was clearly inspired by Big Eyes, Small Mouth for the three stats. Although the attributes are the similar, the rest of the game is very different.

What do you think of the idea?

That’s it for this week. While writing this post, a short topic for next week came to mind. Plus I still have to finish the post about Slimes.

Will "Radio" Kill the Blogging Star?

I'm toying with the idea of starting a podcast.

I've actually been toying with the idea for a while, but I'm getting closer to actually doing it.

The working title is Dekahedron, mainly because I own the domain name and I'm not doing much with it. By that same theory, I suppose it could just be the Snowgen podcast, but I actually have a nifty logo for Dekahedron that I paid artist/graphic designer DesignKat to create for me.

The thought is that I will host it on Anchor. I even have set up the account already. You can look at the public page, but there isn't anything there yet.

I want to do a ten minute episode once a week about the same topics I cover here. I've asked James to join me for the first episode because I find Podcasts with two voices are generally better than solo podcasts. Whether or not he would be a permanent "cast member" remains to be seen. I'm not sure how the technology will allow us to record together, and I predict scheduling issues.

On a side note, I'm in Rhode Island as I type this. But I'm driving back to upstate/western New York tonight.

Proof that D&D Occurs in the Star Trek Universe

It's no secret that I like mixing elements of Star Trek into my fantasy world. I've written about it here and here. I have various reasons why I feel that this is justified, but let me give you proof that the world of D&D is set in the Star Trek universe.

Orcs

This is a picture of orcs from the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual. It was drawn by David C. Sutherland III. Fans refer to it as the "pig faced orcs" drawing. This led to some people calling them "Porcs."

Tellarites

This is a picture of Ambassador Gav, a Tellarite. The picture is from Star Trek's 1967 episode "Journey to Babel." Tellarites are one of the five founding races of the Federation.

Conclusion

Clearly, pig-faced orcs and Tellarites are the same species!

And what's with Vulcans and Elves both having those pointy ears?

Epilogue

That's all for this week.  Just a fun little post.

Attribute Generation in Lucky 7, Part 2

At the beginning of last month I wrote 3 methods for generating attribute scores in Lucky 7. This week I’d like to give two more methods. Maybe it’s one method with a option.

Whatever.

Method 4:

This gives a good blend of diversity and player agency. Disadvantages are that it involves player decisions which might slow things down, and you you need this silly chart:

	1–3	4–6
1	-2, -2, -1, +2, +2, +2	-2, -2, ±0, +1, +2, +2
2	-2, -2, +1, +1, +1, +2	-2, -1, -1, +1, +2, +2
3	-2, -1, ±0, ±0, +2, +2	-2, -1, ±0, +1, +1, +2
4	-2, -1, +1, +1, +1, +1	-2, ±0, ±0, ±0, +1, +2
5	-2, ±0, ±0, +1, +1, +1	-1, -1, -1, ±0, +2, +2
6	-1, -1, -1, +1, +1, +2	-1, -1, ±0, ±0, +1, +2
7	-1, -1, ±0, +1, +1, +1	-1, ±0, ±0, ±0, ±0, +2
8	-1, ±0, ±0, ±0, +1, +1	±0, ±0, ±0, ±0, ±0, +1

Step 1: Roll a 1d6 and 1d8 and cross reference on the silly chart.

Step 2: This gives a group of attribute scores. Assign each score to the attribute of your choice.

Method 5:

This is a variation of the above that removes player agency for the benefit of speed.

Step 1: Roll a 1d6 and 1d8 and cross reference on the silly chart.

Step 2: For each of the scores, roll 1d6 to determine where to put the score. If that attribute has already been assigned a score, re-roll:

Roll	Attribute
1	Strength
2	Intelligence
3	Wisdom
4	Constitution
5	Dexterity
6	Charisma

Epilogue

What do you think? Is that too complicated?

It came to me as an easier way to make more diverse characters. It made more sense using only 3 attribute scores (which is where I think I’m taking Lucky 7). With three scores the silly chart only has 4 entries instead of 16.

If I decide to commit to three attributes instead of 6 that will be another post.

Speaking of other posts, James gave me an idea for a future posts. He wants me to discuss original weapon damage (where every weapon did 1d6) vs later weapon damge (where each weapon does its own damage like 1d6 or 1d8). That will be in a few weeks, I think.

The Origin of Monsters

Starting in the mid-to-early 1980’s, Dragon magazine ran a series of “The Ecology of <monster type>” articles. They were a good read, and the younger me thought they added much needed detail to the various monsters and how they fit into the world.

Every coin has two sides, and the older me disagrees with the younger me. The articles are still a good read, but in the words of Aaron E. Steele the series “made the mysterious and inscrutible, mundane.”

These days I feel that a fantasy word should not be 100% grounded in realism. In fact, I feel that eschewing scientific realism creates a better fantasy. Consider that in the middle ages it was commonly held that life forms sprang forth from nothing. Also consider that Greek Mythology stated the the pegsus and other creatures were created by drops of Medusa’s blood falling to the earth. If you provide modern scientific rationale to everything, you lose the ancient or medieval feel.

My Answer: Chaos Storms

As we’ve said before, Gob is the God of Chaos in my world. His powers are limited in heavily lawful areas (just as Hume’s powers are limited in heavily chaotic areas). But he has more power on the fringe areas where the forces of Law are just starting to press in the the Chaos Lands. In order to try to maintain these regions for himself, he will often create Chaos Storms.

Chaos Storms are very powerful thunderstorms. They are often accompanied by large hail and tornadoes. Sometimes they also contain Chaos Lightning, also called Red Lightning. Wherever Chaos Lightning strikes the ground, it creates a group chaotic monsters–complete with lair!

For example: the town of Muddy Falls is a settlement on the border of the Chaos Lands. A generation ago the baron cleared the area of chaotic beasts and monsters. One night there is a Chaos Storm, and some of the town-folk swear that they saw a streak of Red Lightning hitting a few miles to the west. When the party investigates, there is now a small orc village where the lightning was seen.

Epilogue

That’s all there is. It’s a simple idea that doesn’t need a lot of explanation.

I like the idea, but it has to be used lightly. Having a Chaos Storm every week will get old fast. It should be limited to maybe twice in a campaign.

What do you think?

Plumpton: A Compromise Setting

I’ve had symptomatic Covid this past week. It was (thankfully!) a mild case, but it did suck all the energy from me. As a result, this post is a little later than usual. Sorry about that.

As I’ve said before, I like a human-based campaign. Instead of high fantasy, I want set my games in a sword & sorcery or sword & sandal setting. What’s the difference? In the words of Wikepedia:

the consensus characterizes it [sword & sorcery] with a bias toward fast-paced, action-rich tales set in a quasi-mythical or fantastical framework. Unlike high fantasy, the stakes in sword and sorcery tend to be personal, the danger confined to the moment of telling.

In other words, the adventurer’s aren’t trying to save the word—they’re trying to save themselves! This matches nicely with the low level character play that I enjoy. Furthermore:

Many sword and sorcery tales have turned into lengthy series of adventures. Their lower stakes and less-than world-threatening dangers make this more plausible than a repetition of the perils of epic fantasy.

In other words, it doesn’t make sense to have to save the world from a new danger every week.

James Disagrees

Needless to say, James disagrees. He’s a big fan of high fantasy. He wants his elves, dwarfs, and halflings. He want his character to encounter evil orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc.

Amongst other things, I think he likes the moral clarity of knowing that his character can kill a band of goblins and not feel guilty about it.

My Compromise: Plumton

Humans come from the great continent. It doesn’t need too much backstory, because it’s gone. Maybe it sank. Or maybe huge volcanic eruptions made it unlivable. Or maybe winter came, and covered it all in ice making it uninhabitable. Maybe it was all of the above.

In any case the humans built a flotilla. It wasn’t an organized flotilla under the direction of a great leader, but the desperate grab of whatever would float but disorganized bands of survivors. Think of every zombie apocalypse show you’ve seen.

The ships set out in every direction. We have no idea what happened to most of them, but many landed on the eastern shores of a new continent. One such group set up the settlement of Plumton, named after some wild¹ plum trees that were found growing near the landing spot.

Humans were the only intelligent race living on the great continent. They were completely unaware that any others existed. But in this new world, they find the classic races of high fantasy. They first encounter the elves.

The thing is, the elves don’t want the humans there. The elves (correctly) see the humans as parasitic invaders that will drain the land of resources that the elves desperately need. The elves are familiar with this, as they’ve been fighting off the invasion of goblins from the west.

Politics in this world are volatile. War and alliance shifts with the wind. Humans might be allied with the elves against the goblins this month, but next month orcs and men might be raiding an elven grove.

Epilog

That’s it. Just a simple idea. It gives James the non-humans he wants in the world, but it gives me the human-centric stories I want to tell. The reflection of real history is intentional. The humans are the British (who were masters of pitting different local groups against each other until only the British could dominate). “Plumton” is from the origins of the word “Plymouth.” Making the human’s plight a desperate fight for survival rather than seeking economic gain is my attempt to alleviate the moral issues of colonialism.

---

1. Technically this is impossible, as plums are a human cultivation, but this is fantasy.↩

Crowfield Magic System Changes

A couple of years agao I posting about Crowfield’s magic system. I’ve made a couple of changes:

Spell Failure

In the original post I said that if the player fails the spell check then “The spell does not take effect, and the character cannot cast any more spells until they get a full night of rest.”

The new version is “The spell does not take effect, and the caster takes 1d6 damage.”

Wait! You mean I can die from casting a spell?

No. Not directly, at least. A failed spell check will never bring you below 1 hit point. If you take more damage than that, the excess is ignored and you fall unconscious. If you happened to be standing on a narrow ledge over a pool of molten lava when you fall unconscious you’ll probably die, but that’s the lava killing you.

How do I regain consciousness?

Starting the round after your spell failure, you can attempt a Constitution save in order to regain consciousness. If you don’t make it that round, you can try again each round thereafter. You can act normally the round after you make the saving throw.

Why did you make this change?

Three reasons: (1) It adds more drama. (2) It makes spell casting a more tactical choice. (3) It de-nerfs higher level spell casters where a single failure made them useless for the rest of the day.

Learn New Spells

In addition to the in-game costs listed in that post, each spell costs 1 XP per spell level.

Epilogue

That’s it for this week. What do you think of the changes? I tried to make it not too deadly!

Bonus Post: Cipher Solved

Last Tuesday I posted a cipher. I had realized that it was vulnerable to letter frequency analysis, but there were a couple of “tricks” in there that I was hoping would slow down anyone trying to solve it.

It didn’t slow Buzz down. Late Saturday night I got a message from him:

…I found chapter 31 and 32 of Treasure Island!

I did this by working with pairs of letters, finding the highest frequencies, mapping those pairs into an a-z grid. The number that I mapped stayed within certain rows and columns and I saw enough of a pattern. Without filling in the rest I ran the encoded text against the grid I had, using underscores for the rest. That resulted in:
_ji_m__s_aid_s_ilv_erw_he__nw_e__wer__ea_l__o_nei_f_is_a__v__e__d…

With the underscores removed and the proper spaces added, that reads:

jim said silver when we were alone if i saved…

How It Works

• Case doesn’t matter. That was just thrown in to add “noise.”
• Each letter in the original text is represented by two letters in the cipher.  The first letter of the letter pair indicates what to do with the second letter:
• If the pair begins with A through F (inclusive) that letter pair is ignored.
• If the pair begins with G through M the second letter is shifted backwards by two letters if the first letter is G, four letters if the first letter is H, six letters for I, etc. Examples:
  • GE = C
  • GF = D
  • HE = A
  • HF = B
• If the pair begins with N through T the second letter is shifted forward by two letters if the first letter is N, four letters if the first letter is O, six letters for P,etc. Examples:
  • NT = V
  • OT = X
• If the pair begins with U through Z that letter pair is ignored.

Buzz made this chart, but he missed the T’s.

What’s Next?

I might make another cipher. Buzz doesn’t have time to crack it, but I enjoy making them.

Oh, and I owe Buzz a beer or something.

Attribute Generation for Lucky 7

As you know, I like to use modifiers as attribute scores. You also know that I’m trying to simplify Unlucky 13 to become Lucky 7. I ran into a problem.

The Problem

Crowfield’s attribute modifiers were based on those of D&D in the mid-1980’s. As a refresher:

Attribute Score	Modifier
18	+3
16–17	+2
13–15	+1
9–12	±0
6–8	-1
4–5	-2
3	-3

When you roll a d20, a +3 modifier shifts the chance of success by 15%.

In U13, a +3 gives a 20.8% advantage—the equivalent of +4 on a d20. That was a little bit of a drift, but I was willing to live with it.

L7 uses 1d12. Because of that a +3 is a 25% shift—exactly the same as a +5 for a d20 roll. That’s too much drift for my taste. It’s time to reign it in.

The Fix

On a 1d12, a +2 is a 16.6% shift—close to a d20’s +3 (a 15% shift). So our +3 to -3 range now becomes +2 to -2.

Generating Scores from +2 to -2

You could simply do it the same way I was doing the U13 attribute rolls, but using 2 dice instead of 3, though I’m not sure how the curve would look. Instead I’m proposing a different approach, aimed at players like James because James is a munchkin.

In this context, that term comes from a hilarious 1985 USENET post about different player types. In it we have these gems:

Favorite Melee Weapon:
Real Men use Broadswords/Bastard Swords/Pole Axes
Real Role-Players use Rapiers and Main-Gauches
Loonies use Stage Knives
Munchkins use whatever gives the most plusses

Favorite Missile Weapon:
Real Men shoot Long Bows/Composite Bows
Real Role-Players shoot Crossbows
Loonies shoot Twinkie Bazookas
Munchkins shoot whatever gives the most plusses

Favorite Alignment:
Real Men are Lawful Good
Real Role-Players don’t use alignment
Loonies are Amoral Silly
Munchkins are whatever gives the most plusses

Favorite God:
Real Men worship Humakt/Orlanth
Real Role-Players worship Issaries/Lhankor Mhy
Loonies worship Hare Krishna
Munchkins worship whoever gives the most plusses

Okay—I’m exaggerating just to tease James a little. He is not really a munchkin. He likes to engage NPCs in dialog. He likes to have a backstory for his character. He likes to find the adventure’s plot. But he does have munchkin tendencies when creating a character. Specifically he hates having a low attribute score. Dice-generated scores annoy him unless the mechanic is skewed to prevent low scores. His favorite is 2d6+6—this gives an average score of 13 for a +1 bonus per attribute! Very munchkiny.

So to make him happy, but not make me cry, I’ve decided that PC’s will have an “overall” +1 bonus.

Method #1: Quick

This method is the fastest of the bunch, but has the least player input. It also has the least character diversity. Using this method you will likely end up with two good (+1) attributes and one bad (-1) one. There’s a slightly less chance of getting either one very good (+2) score and one bad one. There’s a very small (2.8%) chance that you’ll get one good score and no bad ones.

Because it’s so quick, it’s particularly good for making characters when a new player shows up unexpectedly, or to replace a PC that was killed or captured.

This method uses this attribute table:

Roll	Attribute
1	Strength
2	Intelligence
3	Wisdom
4	Constitution
5	Dexterity
6	Charisma

Step 1: All attributes start at 0.

Step 2: Roll 1d6 and refer to the table above. Add 1 to the corresponding attribute.

Step 3: Same as step 2. Note: You could just combine this with the previous step by rolling two dice at that step instead of one.

Step 4: Roll 1d6 and refer to the table above. Subtract 1 from the corresponding attribute.

That’s it!

Method 2: Balanced Rolls

This method has more player input than the previous one, but it slower. It’s good for new characters that are generated away from the table if you want them to have some randomness.

To avoid repeating myself, this method uses a 2d6 attribute roll:

1. Roll 2d6.
2. A die of “1” has an effective value of “-1”
3. A die of “6” has an effective value of “+1”
4. All other rolls have an effective value of “0”
5. Sum the dice’s effective values for a value between -2 and +2

Step 1: Make a 2d6 attribute roll.

Step 2: Select which attribute to assign that roll to. Note: Once an attribute has a score assigned, it is “locked” and can not be changed until step 6.

Step 3: Select another attribute and assign it the “inverse result.” The inverse result of -1 is +1, the inverse result of +2 is -2, etc. The inverse of 0 is 0. Alternate rule: If you roll +2 your GM might allow you to assign -1 to two attributes instead of -2 to one attribute. The same applies to a roll of -2, or course.

Step 4: If four or fewer attributes have been assigned, go to step 1.

Step 5: If exactly five attributes have been assigned, assign a 0 to the final attribute. Note: This will only occur if you used the alternate rule in Step 3.

Step 6: Once all 6 attributes have been assigned, select one attribute and add one to it’s value. Note: You can not raise an attribute above +2.

Method 3: Point Buy

This method has the most player agency. Depending on the player involved it might be super quick, or it might take an eternity of agonizing decision making. Some players using this have the habit of making the same character every time.

Step 1: For each of the six attributes, assign any value between -2 and +2. The sum of all six attributes can not exceed +1.

Step 2: There is no step 2!

Epilogue

That’s it for this week.

Which method do you like the best? I think they all have their uses, depending what you’re trying to achieve.

Next week will probably be a modification to Crowfield’s spell casting rules.