/osrg/ "It's basically TSR D&D"

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So which retroclone is the best

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>>54310962
Depends on what system it's retrocloning and what you're looking for.

>>54310997
I have that issue of Dragon

>>54311040
Pre-3e Dragon is criminally underappreciated.

>>54310786
>Captured spellbooks as dungeons?
Absolutely! Not something to be overused, but definitely an idea I'd steal for a one-time thing.

Unless maybe you're running a game all about wizards seeking out the rarest and most well-guarded spells in the world... which sounds pretty rad.

>>54310786
>>54311194
>go inside items to unlock more power
Yes, I too have played Disgaea.

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Why does the OSR hate Giants? Is it a sizism thing?

>>54311278
The only thing I know about Disgaea is that it involves lots of grinding and needlessly big numbers. Oh, and penguins, I guess?

>>54311522
Why would anyone hate the guys? They just happen to be so powerful that you can't use them really for a long while, or they'll pulp your entire party. Even stupid hill giants are too dangerous to mess with, though it can be a daring adventure to trick and/or rob one.

Verbeeg and Firbolg, or other smaller giant-kin, are much safer to use against lower-end parties. Cyclopskin are pretty suitable too, even for swarms (though they are pretty strong).

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Scrap Princess is doing my arts.

Map Anon, if you want to have your name/blog/deviantart page in the ToTSK module, you've got 1 week.

Otherwise, I'm naming you as "Pervy Molesto, the Goat-Fiddler"

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How does /osrg/ do NPC's? Are they pre-planned interactions and set pieces or would you roll for which NPC might randomly meet with the party?

I prefer the latter and like to draw from both a general pool of NPC's and a secondary pool of NPC's already met for further later chance encounters.
http://melancholiesandmirth.blogspot.com/2017/07/mechanism-for-casually-introducting.html

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>>54311194
Take a look. It's in a book. A thieving rainboooow.

I like it.

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>54312272
Terophidians
Flavour: meat is white fat, crunchy, crystalized magic. Cancer-rancid. Flesh is like a paper bag soaked in sweat.
Notes: as Beholder, but with the spells replaced with whatever spells the Terophidian can cast. If you go insane, you believe you are the wizard who created the Terophidian. You might be right.

Terophidian Minions
Flavour: chicken soaked in urine, then poorly cooked
Notes: as Normal Meat with a -4 penalty. They make you queasy.

>>54312346
>Flavour: rots your tongue on contact, so no one knows.
I refuse to believe no biomancer has decided to find out.

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>>54312832
>I refuse to believe no biomancer has decided to find out.
Can't list every edge case. If you really must know, it tastes like grape jelly. And then death. You missed a spot.

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>>54312247
>>54312832
>This doom can be avoided by eating the hearts of 100 species,
Come to think of it, looted biomancer spell books are probably full of notes on eating monsters.

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>>54313000
>Come to think of it, looted biomancer spell books are probably full of notes on eating monsters.
Only higher level ones. Dooms never bother the low-level riff-raff. But yes. Cookbook spellbooks, gastronomical abominations, with cutlery spines and cutting-board backs.

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I shilled the idea of a magic system that didn't use spell levels, instead using burning multiple prepared spells of the same type to increase the power.

Is there any good way to do this? Any ideas on implementation, or just write up a nice table for each spell?

>>54312244
Write them out in a bingo grid, drop a few d4s on there. The number shown on the die usually has some meaning, e.g. there are 2 City Guards in the tavern today.

Thanks Zak S.

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Starting this thread off with OC. 50 reasons to actually go into dungeons, semi-loosely organized by level or low to medium to high fantasy the higher the numbers go.

>>54315674
These are great, Fiddybro. "Local murderers recover grain sack" cracked me up.

>>54314594
That's literally something Greenwood would talk about at GenCon seminars in the mid-90s.

>>54317017
Which part?

>>54311653
Shit dude, you're basically in the Club 33 of OSR now. Why do you hang out here still?

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>>54317270
You guys are nice.

Besides, G+ is full of people who know what they're doing. /tg/ is full of people who don't know what they're doing. Which group can benefit more from my stuff?

>Imagine a classroom where everyone believes they’re the teacher and everyone else is students. They all fight each other for space at the blackboard, give lectures that nobody listens to, assign homework that nobody does. When everyone gets abysmal test scores, one of the teachers has an idea: I need a more engaging curriculum. Sure. That’ll help.
>Scott Alexander

>>54315674
Heh!

Are there any full retro-clones that are genuinely open source? I want to make a cRPG. It will be available for free/pay-what-you-want.

>>54318654
>Are there any full retro-clones that are genuinely open source?
Considering that retroclones need the OGL to get around uses of what would otherwise be other companies' IP, no.

>>54318704
Can one use the OGL in a computer game or only in tabletop games? If it's okay to use it in a PC game, then what system can I use (as long as I abide by the OGL) without getting my shit sued?

I think even putting it as PWYW would count as commercial use, which is why I want to be careful.

>>54318654
Nethack (a roguelike) is pretty similar to AD&D as I recall. Somehow that's survived.

Though they change the rules slightly to better fit computer architecture rather than tabletop architecture.

Does the /osrg/ like setting books? I mean, like, the old AD&D-style setting books, the best thing to come out of that period of TSR, shit like Al-Qadim and Spelljammer. I don't mean the specific settings themselves, but the idea of the big, organized block of rules and fluff to read, run in, or pillage.

Is there a, I guess "market", for that kind of thing among /osrg/ and osr blogs?

>>54318654
>>54318704
>>54318736
>>54318824
I can use the OGL for a computer game:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f

>The definition of Open Game Content also provides for "any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content." You can use the Open Game License for any kind of material you wish to distribute using the terms of the License, including fiction, artwork, maps, computer software, etc.

>>54318736
>Can one use the OGL in a computer game
There's a Pathfinder MMO in the works so assume you could use it in vidya. Just make a very visible button on the options tab that links to your copy of the license.

>what system can I use (as long as I abide by the OGL) without getting my shit sued?
I'd say the safest bet is probably Basic Fantasy since it's more of a community project.

>>54318917
Sure. Obviously people liked it, that's why setting books were put out and expanded on. Everyone's got a setting to sell, though, so it'd have to be pretty unique to get noticed.

Alright, for a computer game, point buy, array, or rolling? And if rolling, should I allow unlimited rerolls or just be like, "here's five, pick one," or what?

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>>54313944
>>54315674
Maybe 3 lurkers have blown in since last thread. If we're lucky.
Everyone here was here last thread.
Everyone here was here when you decided that.

I liked how Beast of Conveyence just got bigger and got more (but interesting) bells and whistles.
For the opposite reason, I didn't like how Seeking Projectile stopped doing what it used to. It was a pain to follow how it worked.

If you really, really liked that Seeking Projectile, then consider "drawing inspiration" from Rolemaster's Spell Law.
...I can't seem to find a good PDF of it, but I have before. Here's the names for each List and Spell? Which I guess is all you'd need for actual inspiration.

>>54310962
>So which retroclone is the best
ACKS

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>>54317739
>Imagine a classroom where everyone believes they’re the teacher and everyone else is students
We've all been through highschool. On the other hand, your quote would be a neat wizard order.

>>54318917
Arrows of Indra and Dark Albion seem to sell reasonably. I'd consider buying them (assuming they were actually good) but only to pillage for ideas for my own settings, though, myself. But that's mostly because I like building settings and I don't like running in settings where I don't have creative control.

>>54319117
This is /osrg/, not /pgg/ or /5eg/. Rolling, 3d6 in order, no rerolls. This shouldn't even be a question.

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>>54319676
>This shouldn't even be a question.
And yet, it is.

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-glog-character-creation.html

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>>54320915
>glog

>>54319676
But in a video gayme people would just delete their characters if they git a bad roll.

>>54318824
The actual algorithms for determining combat, etc aren't protected as IP. It's stuff like original monsters, actual word for word text produced by TSR, etc that's protected.

>>54318736
I'd be more concerned about crossing into stuff that's protected IP (like using the word Ilithid to describe a race of tentacle faced braineaters, or setting it in a city called Grayhawk).

I'm curious--are you just making a dungeoncrawler/roguelike? Or do you have some ideas for gameplay that extends beyond kill monsters/solve puzzles/get loot?

>>54318917
Some of the most interesting entries in the genre are setting books. Qelong, Veins of the Earth, etc. Most of the good stuff in the OSR is weird new settings and adventure modules.

>>54318917
that sounds fun

>>54321067
Hide the roll.

>>54320915
I'll give you that, but only because I like that system. It's still rolling with no rerolls though. (Though I think the original version of that was several times better.) Also >>54320992.

>>54321067
Don't tell them how stats are determined, then. Just give them stats. I don't think I've ever restarted a game of Nethack for bad stats, I barely even notice. Also, so what if they do restart for bad stats?

>>54321158
Ah, fair enough. But if >>54318654 is making a game, then you won't really be using word-for-word text and probably have different monsters as well.

If you were creating a wizard society where the currency was secrets what tiers of value would they have?

>inb4 bottom secret and top secret

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>>54321951
tell me more about your bottom secrets

>>54321158
>Or do you have some ideas for gameplay that extends beyond kill monsters/solve puzzles/get loot?
There'll also be hirelings with morale as well as their own goals/tendencies, and resource management will be a major factor.

This is a big project. Probably my primary solo hobby for the next couple years.

>>54319220

You're right. I was trying to give it more uses and make it more flashy and high powered, but maybe keep it to simple volleys and single blasts.

Now all I need to figure out is how to organize and decide the spell power tiers per spell slots burned on a spell. That's my issue right now; obviously a Magician won't be able to cast a 9th Circle Spell effect until he's level 16, and that would be all of his power until he recharges. But he can recharge and cast as much as he wants, so what's a good balance here? It's just a troublesome lot is all.

So what system is better to run a more story based osr campaign?

>>54323186
2e

>>54323186

Any of them. The easy rules and referee first mentality allows for most OSR games to be run as fairly 'story based' with a mechanical background.

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>>54321951
15750 gossips = 2625 misgivings = 840 guilts = 210 conspiracies = 120 delusions = 7 glamours

8 misgivings and 5 gossips are enough for 7 day's food and shelter.
Secrets convert to higher denominations if you watch them too closely.
Secrets of the 1st Estate are as worthless as they are widespread.
10 guilts of the 2nd Estate are almost worth a gossip.

Trade Secrets are only appraised in less pretend money.
Military secrets are worth a spy's ransom.

>>54323516
is 2e really a good game or just a meme?

>>54324021
It's AD&D 1e but a bit worse, and designed for story campaigns.

What is the best system to run wilderlands of high fantasy?

>>54324154
The 3e material would work well enough for DCC.
The odnd material works fine with basic, and passably with advanced.

>>54321951
Whispered Hint
Cryptic Clue
Appalling Secret
Extraordinary Implication
Uncanny Incunabulum
Searing Enigma
Dreadful Surmise
Impossible Theorem

>>54324236
And Journal of Infamy between Appalling secret and Implications.

>>54324277
Where do Dank Memes fit in?

>>54324187
is there a big difference from 3e to 3.5?

>>54324332
between clue and secret

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>>54320915
>>54320992
Some people eat locusts. Nothing wrong with it. Honestly, how you generate your numbers on your sheet is one of the least important OSR parts. It helps with the feel, sure, but only a little bit.

Point buy is right out though.

>>54321951
Occultum.

Alternatively, any of the Homeric Metals (the opposite of the Noble Gasses. Noble Gasses don't react, Homeric Metals fight /everything/). They make francium look tame.

>>54323833
Also a good system.

>>54321067
>What is Dwarf Fortress
>Darkest Dungeon
>Most Roguelikes
>Some Roguelites

>>54324154

We've successfully used Basic and 1E AD&D in the Wilderlands setting. Both work fine with dungeoneering and hex-crawling.

is Champions of zed in the trove?

>>54324660
>Occultum.

What is occultum?

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>>54325217
http://falsemachine.blogspot.ca/2013/03/occultum.html

Do you think the later spell selections in here would work with ACKS?
https://pastebin.com/16TvLTv3

>>54324778
No. When was the trove even last fucking updated?

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What's /osr/ working on today?

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>>54325582
Monster Menu-All Part 2: Eating Veins of the Earth.

Going surprisingly quickly because the book isn't tedious and boring.

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>>54324597
In 3.5 some of the better free actions (quickened spells, etc.) are nerfed to eat your immediate actions.
Otherwise no.

>>54321951
Price each one like an art objects. They're often worth more or far less to the right or wrong person, just like art objects.

>>54324778
It's on Lulu. It's also garbage.

>>54308595
He did that one!

>>54309392
Foreign spies mix cyanide into thought-eater bouillon cubes.
Apparently it "fights Granny's Soup", whatever that means.

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>>54326021
>He did that one!
I did?

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>>54326038
Come to think of it, there's no such thing as an ustaligor. You did the ustilagor though.
>Flavour: fat, greasy worms in chicken soup. Not much flavour and no real texture.

>>54323186
More than likely, you'll want a game that's less lethal than B/X.

Into the Odd has a decent approach. You can also just use a "death at -10" rule. And dial back some of the insta-death effects.

This should allow you to keep a consistent cast.

You could also keep it lethal, and make the overall story about an organization or family instead of individuals. Character dies? His cousin Ed the Wizard graduates from NPC to PC, and enjoys the benefit of the deceased's story connections.

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Hey does anyone know at what point the random starting spells for magic-user began and ended? Apparently it was a thing in AD&D. Also can someone attempt to justify that rule to me, because I can't think of any good reason as to why they can't pick what measly spells they have at 1st level other than Gygax not liking magic users.

>>54325582
System to generate the starting town for a campaign and descriptions of cities and towns. Also asking out the goth girl who works at the coffee shop

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>>54326375
>Also asking out the goth girl who works at the coffee shop

>>54323186
Beyond the Wall, yo.
It explicitely takes inspiration from storygame ideas as well as OSR.

>>54324236
somebody has played Fallen London, it seems.

>>54326361

Hit points are random, stats are random, starting gold is random, why not spells?

Personally I like to give them the ol' one two. First you roll a random spell of the starting spell list, then you pick one other spell you want. That way, you might be forced to pick and use a spell you're not a huge fan of, but you can always pick the one you wanted beside it. OR maybe you get lucky and got your favorite spell on your roll, now you get to choose one more that maybe shores up your weakness or you think is interesting.

>>54325582
homo floresiensis and homo denisova for wolfpacks, and some rules for non-european settings. So you can play in, like, the levant or java and stuff.
Once this is done I'm basically ready to get the deluxe edition of WP&WS published.

>>54326534
I'm hype af for this.

>>54326361
2e DMG takes a very, "I dunno, you do you" approach. To everything.
That's why it's got like 12 rules for generating attributes on new characters.

And it says, "maybe generate spells randomly, if you'd like?"

>>54327015
Is that how it is? This is partially out of a discussion a friend and I were having and he was insisting that this was the way it was in first edition. I've been looking through the player's handbook and I haven't found anything that discusses exactly how starting spell selection works yet.

If it's just an option for a 2e thing then that makes more sense.

>>54327049
There have been lots of ways to do it, even in the DMG. One of the ways is to simply go through a long list of spells you'd like and roll the learn chance on each. Another is to, for instance, start with the two you always start with free (Read and Detect Magic) and then roll 2d4 and you get that many spells. There's all sorts of ways, because it comes down to the GM in the end.

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>>54326361
>because I can't think of any good reason
Can you think of a good reason for random starting gear?

In a slightly different vein: do you tell your PCs how much treasure they find, then let them pick what it is?

>>54327049
>I've been looking through the player's handbook and I haven't found anything that discusses exactly how starting spell selection works yet.
In 1E AD&D, things like PC spell generation will be in the DMG IIRC.

>>54327460
Even in 2e.

>>54327460
It's in the DMG in 2e as well.

>>54326832
There are also rules for becoming liches and stuff. And radioactivity. Every rpg needs rules for what a nuclear reactor does to you.

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How does /osrg/ feel about short rests letting characters heal up a bit and/or recover some mana points? Or does it break the formula too much?

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>>54327715
This might help.

>>54327946
There will be wandering monster checks, so it's up to them to decide if it's worth the risk.

>>54327979

How useful should it be then? Maybe it lets Wizards recover the lowest spent spell slot/1 spell point, and everyone else heals 1 hp? Healing 1d4 or 1d6 seems too generous.

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>>54327946
I like the GLOG version (but then again, I eat locusts).

Lunch heals you 1d6+your level HP. Lunch takes 1 hour and consumes 1 iron ration or equivalent meal. A good night's rest after dinner heals you fully. Dinner and before-rest preparations take 1 hour, and a good night's sleep takes 6 hours.

If you've taken a Fatal Would (or dropped into negative HP), you recover to zero after your lunch, and then 1 HP per lunch/dinner and nap until you are back up to your former total. Then you heal normally.

This makes Delicious Normal Meat very valuable. It heals you 1 extra HP, so you can recover from serious injuries faster.

>>54328020

I use the GLOG as well so I advocate everything >>54328054 has said. I wouldn't have magic-users recover any resources like spells unless you'd let fighters or thieves recover any 1/day abilities as well. I'd base how much healing rests would do based on how much HP characters have and how easy it is for them to die in whatever system you're using. In GLOG, characters very rarely have over 15 HP, but roll on a death and dismemberment table at 0 hp. If i were running something like B/X or LotFP I'd have these short rests recover HD hp as at 0 hp in those systems you are dead. In my experience as a referee, most journey's into dungeons last around 3.5 hours (counting lunch hour) before the party decides to say leave. Lunch is usually the halfway point for most incursions. You could use that to work backwards to figure out how much of a second wind you want parties to get and decide values for HP or other mechanic recovery that way.

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>>54327460
Found it in the DMG, basically you select your magic-user's starting spell book by taking one of each from the following. It's a pretty fair system actually, and Gygax goes on to say that you can allow your players to just pick if they really want to.

>>54327946
what game are you using?

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>>54328216
>I wouldn't have magic-users recover any resources like spells
In my GLOG hack, it takes 1hr to move any number of spells between your brain and your spellbook. So while everyone else is having lunch, the Wizard has a choice. Spend an reloading and recover no HP, and also be miserably hungry, or eat lunch and be low on spells? It's a fun trade.

Also, the working backwards idea is a good one.

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>>54327946
so, using flesh and grit, a short rest gives you back your grit but not flesh. Flesh only heals slowly over a matter of days. This seems powerful, but remember that grit is pretty easy to bypass, so getting your grit back is less useful than it seems.
Personally, I allow characters to spend time re-preparing spells whenever, without worrying about 'per-day'. Spell slots are just what you can fit in your head in one go. Of course, prepping spells is noisy and complicated and takes lots of time, so you get encounter rolls when you do it.
>>54327957
bloody hell, this is awesome.

Also, have an illustration that's going into Wolfpacks deluxe. I've got, like, 50 odd public domain illustrations on my harddrive if people want me to share 'em.

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>>54328334
>bloody hell, this is awesome.
I've got it tagged with "atomic bees" in my folder. Veins of the Earth monsters are scary.

>>54327284
This is rad. I love this kind of random generation.

>>54328283
So the wizard gets magic dice back?

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>>54328366
I'm very torn on Veins of the Earth. On the one hand, his stuff just fucking ooozes atmosphere, which is good. Plus his random cave gen ideas are very useable, as are his adventuring rules. But the constant circuitous puns pain me.
Mostly, though, I just love Scrap's art. Even if you ignore the whole 'game' thing, the book is fucking pretty.

So what is Arduin? is it a good game?

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>>54328434
>So the wizard gets magic dice back?
Nope! Also good resource depletion/management. Those return at sunrise.

>>54328505
> But the constant circuitous puns pain me.
True enough. But hey, if you're going to publish something, I suppose it's a good a place as any to show off.

It's like brain-candy though. Completely different from reading the AD&D Monster Manual.

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>>54328637
that's a very pretty map but I kind of want to know which way is 'up' as well as north.
I'm definately planning to use bits of Veins when I next run an underdark game, though. I'm tempted to run a game centred around dEr0 machinations since they seem under-explored, and also the pictures are adorable.

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>>54328726
>that's a very pretty map but I kind of want to know which way is 'up' as well as north.

See those diamonds?
Up left is North, up right is east down left is west, down east is south.

The flat bar on the top is Up. The flat bar on the bottom is Down, for that particular cave.

See the cave in the top left?

Size = 2
It has one entrance from the top. It's a chimney, 2' wide.

It also has one entrance on the North side, a squeeze 1' wide.

Get it now? :D

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>>54328726
>dEr0 machination
The dEr0 know of your scheme! They see right through it! Tell us now, what is your plan? It is OK, I am on your side. I am one of you.

That was a test. I am not one of you. You are a good loyal agent and will be set free. We are proud of you.

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>>54328761
kinda? My issue is that the map doesn't give a great picture of the spacial relationships between chambers. Like, there's a pair of chambers with a crawl leading from one's roof to another's roof, and it's not clear if one is higher than the other or what. It's a minor thing but it bugs me because I like preserving the 'lower down=more nasty shit' convention.

>>54328789
It is perhaps a poor reflection on myself that your post produced that subtle 'oohhhh' of the intro to a thorough kink session.
Now that I think of it, getting probed by dEr0 would be hot AF.

>>54328978
I mean, are you single?

>>54325582
Finally getting off my fat ass by which I mean having to be a productive member of society and work a job and working on the fighter 'combat maneuver' system I originally came up with wayyy back here: >>50607440

Looking at a lot of different combat maneuvers, mostly from 3.PF, as well as various abilities pulled from BECMI's Weapon Mastery, and seeing what works, what doesn't, and curating that list from there

Also looking into some sort of social combat system. Possibly tying in Resolve the name I'm using for "social HP" with Grit (as in a Flesh/Grit traditional HP system), so that way a particularly harrowing social interaction would make you less likely to be able to fend off physical attacks.

Not sure exactly how to write that up without getting too crunchy, though, as a lot of the systems I've been looking at (i.e. ASOIAF, Earthdawn, etc) aren't exactly light on the possible options when it comes to the social interaction side of things. Kind of a good thing, as there's a lot of different possibilities to be able to work with and pare down, but at the same time it would be nice if there was something a little lighter to use as a basis, without having to do a good bit of work to get a workable system.

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>>54328960
Ah, that's what the bands of colour are for. Surface -> down. The physical heights between them correspond to their relative physical heights.

But hey, if you've got a betterway, also good.

>>54328978
Oh good. Glad to know the old skills aren't slipping.

>Now that I think of it, getting probed by dEr0 would be hot AF.
You have already been probed by the dEr0.
Your memory has been wiped.
Do you remember being probed by the dEr0?
Think carefully.
Describe it in detail. It is vitally important.

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>>54329166
Good, your continued silence means you have passed the test.
Good job. You win dEr0 awards.
They are not freedom.
Unless you tell us what you remember, yes.
Then freedom.
While the others are distracted, yes, tell me. We can escape together!
Look directly at this image.

>>54329033
>>54329166
Oh my.

>>54329143
>Also looking into some sort of social combat system. Possibly tying in Resolve the name I'm using for "social HP" with Grit (as in a Flesh/Grit traditional HP system), so that way a particularly harrowing social interaction would make you less likely to be able to fend off physical attacks.
I actually kinda like this. If we explicitely make Grit about, like, resolve and luck, then all sorts of stuff can attack grit. I actually really like it as a way of making 'sanity-blasting fear' mechanically quantifiable.
As far as social combat goes, all I can say is to go read Monsterhearts and take inspiration from that. I've never seen a game do social conflict so well. (it is admitedly a card-carrying storygame about teenage monsters as a metaphor for... something, so not to everybody's taste, but mechanically it does the social stuff amazingly.)

>>54329529
ow

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>>54328283
Cross pollinating the streams here: how would that play with >>54280419?

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>>54329679
I think it would work out OK, but it seems like a lot more tracking than I'd be willing to do.

What's gotten the wizards in my games killed so far is:
-not starting with a dagger or any weapon
-blatant stupidity
-testing dodgy spells indoors
-sandwiches

So I don't have a lot of balance data.

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>>54329708
I know what I'd try to pry under that.
Might take a "fine" thing and make it bad.

>So I don't have a lot of balance data.
Well... you've probably got more than me.

>>54313944
Unironically, Arnold K's GLOG magic system accomplishes something similar in a way I like. You store spells in your brain or in spellbooks and scrolls. You cast spells either by reading them mid-combat (I think, some of the rules are a little vague), which takes time, or by memorization. You add power to the spells by adding magic dice, which are a shared resource for all spells. Scrolls are one-shot spells that have one magic die inherently, but burn up.

Some of the rules definitely need clarification and edge-case definition, but it's neat, in theory.

Someone here haves the bluehack?

>>54326375
You better believe we want to see that shit, anon.

Also > Asking out the goth girl who works at the coffee shop.
Good luck!

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>>54329905

>>54329978
Thanks dude

Could someone educate me on flesh/grit? I haven't heard this one before. What systems use it?

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>>54330101
>Could someone educate me on flesh/grit?
>I'll take "cavegirl pickup lines" for 200, Alex.

>>54330101
It was explained pretty clearly upthread.
Grit comes and goes easily. Flesh comes and goes slowly.
You die with no Flesh, but Grit is the first to go.
>What systems use it?
No idea. I know there's a (not OSR) Star Wars game with something like that.

>>54330101
The gunslinger class uses grit

>>54330151
Triggered

>>54330175
heh

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>>54330151
ONE DAY I'm going to write the Toadslinger class, and it's going to use wart instead of grit.

>>54330101
It's renamed wounds/vitality.

>>54329954
Here it is, but I want to clarify that the system is to generate the starting town and there are 10 more towns for you to put into your hex-crawl.

http://melancholiesandmirth.blogspot.com/2017/07/1-starting-town-10-other-towns-and-sea.html

>>54330206
not If i write it first on my bblugh and earn a million dollars for my plagiarized genius

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>>54313944
>>54319220
>>54322297

I promise this is the last time I bring this shit up again.

What if in the agnostic no spell levels, unlimited daily casts, take 1 turn to memorize spell system- memorizing spells each turn lets you memorize any number of a single spell per turn?

So for example if you get into combat and cast 3 projectile spells, then take a quick rest after and study, you can recover all three projectile spell slots with 1 turn of study, since its all the same spell.

This would really help in higher level magic users, and would make using mult-slot burn spells more useful.

Who here runs ACKS?

>>54327946
Seems a bit too easy if you can rest to heal.

>>54330649
Oh nice. Good you noticed about the ocean thing I was going to mention it to you next time I saw you around.

>>54327946
>>54333628
Don't forget that the thing about short rests is they are technically a resource, even in 5e. That system also does an interesting balancing act by making it so that some classes benefit heavily from short rests while some don't at all. It makes for a bit of a puzzle when the party tries to figure out the optimal time to rest.

How strictly do you follow the turn/time tracking rules?

I never really grokked it in B/X and its retroclones, but Holmes explains it a little better.

Still, one turn to search only a 10' by 10' area in a mostly empty room/corridor or to travel 120' (cautiously) feels excessive, even if it's not ten minutes real time.

>>54334265
I use abstracted time chunks.

Use d10 to represent 5-15 minute chunks, and when the players have done enough shit to warrant 6 of the dice, roll them and check for encounters.

>>54334289
So you add a die to the pool every time they do something that would take a turn? Could you post an example?

I like the idea but it seems fiddly compared to just using ten minutes (scale time, not real time, as Holmes puts it). Especially if you're adding up all those dice and it could be anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

>>54334356
Any time the players want to:

Search for hidden doors
Search for traps
Research an object in the dungeon
Scout for enemies
Set a trap
Seriously bar a door
Start a campfire
etc

Just small, mundane tasks. And the entire point of abstracting them is that it doesn't matter if it adds up to 30 minutes or 1:30, it averages out over time. When you hit 6, you just count it as an hour and start over counting up to the next hour. If anything, it's way less fiddly. Wouldn't work well in digital space though, I think.

>>54334406
So then what's the point of the 5-15 minutes, or rolling the dice? Isn't this exactly the same as using 10 minute turns?

Not sure I follow.

>>54334508
Just use ten minute turns.

>>54334508
Yeah, it's pretty much the same thing. I'm just using dice to represent turns.

>>54334265
I keep a chunk of scrap paper nearby and make tally marks, each mark being about 10 minutes. Last turn of the hour circles the whole thing and I start another. I ask the group what their general speed/demeanor is and adjust search rolls and encounters accordingly.

10 minutes to search things started making more sense to me once I worked in kitchens. 4 semiskilled rejects with a 13 int guy as the high end taking about 10 minutes to figure out if there's anything useful/valuable in a 10X10 room hangs together. That's just when its hot, uncomfortable, one of you is hung over, your gear is as cheap as you could find it, the ss-chef/fighter is being an asshole, etc. Not even getting into how disorienting and scary a poorly lit hell hole filled with monsters is.

The corridor is a bit harder to handwave, but I imagine it more like waiting for the one of you who knows about traps, B&E, which end of the 10ft pole to hold, stuff like that, making their way down the hall feeling nervous and resentful while everyone else waits a ways back to see if they die horribly.

>>54332606
I'm inclined to say, "no."

I'm not exactly sure how your delves are set up.
But if you want to take a nice break, you should head to a weaker area.

Very context dependant though.
The way you run things, that setup might be fine.

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>>54334265
>one turn to [...] travel 120' (cautiously)
That's the speed where you get cues for 100% of the traps.

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What is the OSR equivalent of GURPs or Basic Role Playing? And I don't mean "compatible with TSR", but something rules-light that covers any genre.

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>>54335600
Here's an excerpt from Men&Magic.

>>54335600
OSR is all about about specifics, specific settings, specific rule tweaks. Reskinning and homebrews in "slap this together"-style are highly encouraged, so generic ruleset is a moot point.

>>54335600
OSR games are in general more rules-light than GURPS and BRP.

>>54331028
Oh no!

>>54333628
>Seems a bit too easy if you can rest to heal.
People still die on the regular.

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>>54332606
Ah! Bit of help on your spell design:

A bag beast made of 1 charge seems to be about half as useful as a hireling?
(Might be estimating that wrong, but "some fraction of a hireling" is still a good reference to find)
Try to match all your other spells to be of roughly similar usefulness.

And bigger spells should give (very slightly) diminishing returns.
Solving problems faster means less attrition, which is intrinsically rewarding.
Consider it from the frame of Lanchester's square law... or something like that?

>>54329529
Why do you have all these fucking brain-melting epliepsy gifs saved away anyway?

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>>54337064
To annoy people on the internet.

>>54337064
Here's a less shit question:

>>54337117
Where do you get them?

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>>54337155
No idea, sorry. I've had most of them so long I've forgotten where I got them.

>>54334265
>How strictly do you follow the turn/time tracking rules?
Fairly strictly.
I play OD&D, so one turn gives two moves (this was cut down in Basic to simplify things for noob referees, I think; remembering that you get two moves per turn is clearly clunkier and harder to understand instantly than "each move is a turn"). I also allow searching one whole room in a turn, unless it's very large (bigger than 4x5, say) or the searcher is alone (one turn presumes the whole party). But aside from that, I'm pretty stiff with it, simply because it's easier and more practical that way, believe it or not. The abstraction of turns makes the time counting much simpler.

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>>54328283
Been a whole since I've read the Illithidae.
So I'm not sure if I'm confusing 3e lore for AD&D lore.

>Roll on the table below if you eat the mind flayer's brain raw. All other parts of the creature are Normal Meat.
But I thought the entire body pulled doubled duty as the brain? Or at least the digestive tract?

>>54337371
>so one turn gives two moves
Can you explain this or better yet are there any links to discussing this?

>Rust Touch. Any ferrous metals that touch your bare skin or bodily fluids have a 25% chance to rust instantly. Metal tarnishes at your touch. Your blood has a 90% chance to rust ferrous metals instantly. This effect is permanent.
Would magic oxidizing blood do your lungs any favors? Or would that be /more/ taxing on them?

>>54311653
>Map Anon, if you want to have your name/blog/deviantart page in the ToTSK module, you've got 1 week.
>Otherwise, I'm naming you as "Pervy Molesto, the Goat-Fiddler"
I am legitimately tempted to go with Pervy Molesto, the Goat-Fiddler now

Have any of your games made it to the point where you need mass combat rules? Which ones did you use? How well did they work?

>>54339198

Riddle of Steel has some pretty good ones. Pathfinder adapted them.

Riddle of Steel, ironically, has better provisions for the party being More Good than the rank and file, with specific rules for cool stuff PCs do in a fight. Like during certain phases you can take a Heroic Action, etc.

You know that bit in a battle scene where one of the heroes and some other guy from the other side randomly find themselves squaring off without anyone else interfering? Kind of like that.

>>54330649
This is exactly what I need for my setting. Thank you for making it!

>>54339198
How many people are we talking about? I've had a few games reach to the level of using dozens of hirelings and mercenaries but nothing close to fielding full armies.

>>54339592
I'm just trying to help people out. What's your setting like?

>>54339146
Can I go with a nickname or something?

>>54340318
>What's your setting like?
A sort of greek-nordic setting with a bunch of islands. I haven't had time to work on the starting city and other cities so this is a very good base to hack.

I really like the "What Players Need To Know" section in Stars Without Number. It basically explains how players should work together, have goals, and explore a sandbox setting where not everything is plotted out or scaled to characters' abilities.

What are some other good advice documents for players?

>>54339198
I'm really digging Pikeman's Lament at the moment, but there's not much to convert one way or the other from osr stuff. Its just a fast & light company size miniature battle game that has a few rules for heroics, duels and the like. I'm looking at Dragon Rampart for adding magic and weird stuff, but I'm going to wait for my players to bite before I go ahead and make conversion rules.

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>>54340419
Each of those towns was originally from a Viking-Southern Gothic setting. I gave the attached pdf to the players about the setting, hopefully you can find it useful. Also I cribbed a lot of the ideas for those towns from the Pokemon games. Each has around 9 cities which will each be distinct from one another. I've been using the maps of Kanto-Johto for like 5 years now and with the names filed off and an absence of pokemon no one was ever the wiser.

>>54340318
At the moment just scouting out rules, but I was thinking anywhere from tens of units to full armies. Ideally scalable. Even more ideally compatible with standard OSR products including conversion between creature stats and company stats so that, for example, if I need a company of ogres I'd like stats for that.

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>>54338497
>But I thought the entire body pulled doubled duty as the brain? Or at least the digestive tract?

It probably does... but in 1977, it didn't. I decided to stick strictly to the 1977 text and not add in outside research.

>>54339146
That'd certainly get people interested in your blog.

>>54340321
Well, obviously. You don't think my name is actually Skerples, right?

>>54340733
Alright then, use Janon then. Might use that later if I do stuff.
>You don't think my name is actually Skerples, right?
Is it Verby Maestro, the Moat-Digger?

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>>54340733

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>>54341109
>Is it Verby Maestro, the Moat-Digger?
Curses! My true identity revealed!

>>54340593
That's a pretty dang nice PDF, although the pokemon-mapping thing is a little dubious to me.

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>>54341118

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>>54341145
Also, to make this RPG related, I use the Name of the Year brackets for naming
1. dopplegangers
2. NPCs in gonzo games
3. PCs in gonzo games if the players don't respond fast enough
4. Outsider Demons

>>54340593
>>54340593
Good stuff, I'll check this out. Thanks again!

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Made some very short and sweet random tables today to pass the time.

Running a one-shot for people new to OSR.
Pregen list a good idea?

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>>54341445
You should get these to the attention of Joseph Manola. He's off on conferences for a bit, so he's a bit less active, but he might reshare the if you write a post, put in on G+, and tag him. http://udan-adan.blogspot.ca/2017/05/ticking-in-dark-clockwork-confederacy.html

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>>54341468
Depends on system, speed of rolling up a character, but for a one-shot, sure, I'd say pregen is fine provided each character is roughly equally interesting.

>>54338763
>Can you explain this
What's to be explained? It's the rule written in the book: page 8 of Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. In the dungeon the party get to take two move actions in a turn, and the portion of a turn taken up by other actions is to be determined by the referee based on some brief examples as a guideline. What is it you feel needs explaining?

>>54341748
Is that with Wandering Monster checks per turn (2 moves) or per 2 turns (4 moves)?

>>54342008
Roll every turn; monster appears on a 6. Page 10.

>>54341468
I'd suggest pre-gen equipment packages, with maybe a minute to look over an equipment list and spend some of their loose change.

Making a character familiarizes players with the stats, so I'd only use pregen if I was in a big hurry to start play.

Shopping always takes the longest, and it can be the most boring part of the session if somebody starts buying farm animals and customizing an outfit.

>>54341468

One Shot + Newbies = Yep.

Let them roll new characters if they becomes regulars.

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>>54342982

From B4 The Lost City.

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Dear Cackledyarn,

Build is incomplete tense.
It *will* happen or it *is* happening.

Built is complete tense.
It *has* happened or it is finishing.

Sincerely,
OP

>>54343430
>Dear Cackledyarn,

It's Chucklefuck.

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>For your consideration:
Lycanthrope
Hit Dice: 1d10
Weapon Proficiencies: All
Armor Proficiencies: None
Level Progression: Average (Wizard)
Save Progression: Good (Thief)
THACO Progression: Good (Thief)
Special: Carnivore Metabolism, Natural Armor, Natural Defenses, Natural Weapons, Speak with Kind, Transformation

Lycanthrope Subclasses
Select one or roll 1d6 to determine randomly.
1. Werewolf – Can track and detect creatures by scent.
2. Werebear – Can satisfy hunger with honey and berries in addition to meat.
3. Wererat – Can Climb Walls as a Thief of same level.
4. Werepanther – Can Hide in Shadows as a Thief of same level.
5. Weretiger – Can Move Silently as a Thief of same level.
6. Werebat – Can Fly at a rate of N with maneuverability X but does not have claws.

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>>54343669
I like it, but the benefits don't seem that impressive. They're not OP at all, but they're also not that interesting. There's nothing there that makes me go 'I need to include this" or "this is a great idea." I'd hope that a wolf was more than just "smell" thing, for example. Solid execution, just not that appealing.

>>54343856
>the benefits don't seem that impressive
Natural defenses includes not being hit anything but silver or magic weapons.

Do people ever roll their monsters' HD? Do you always just use the average?

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>>54344094

>>54344094
I'm almost certain I saw a post somewhere about having your encounter check double as a roll for monster HP, which seems like a neat idea—except I can't remember anything about how it worked or where I saw it...

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>>54344015
>Natural defenses includes not being hit anything but silver or magic weapons.
Still not that interesting. Powerful, yes. Interesting, no.

>>54344094
I always roll for >3 HD, and then interpret the result a bit. Say I have a 6 HD Owlbear, and I rolled 46 HP (I use d8 HD). That's a buff owlbear. A patriarch or matriarch. A brawler. It's got spears sticking out of it and one eye. It fights smart.

Alternatively, 2 owlbears, 23 HP each.

But if I roll a 10 instead, it's a feeble owlbear, maybe dying, diseased and corpulent, vomiting black toxic goop everywhere. It's a maggot-beast, carrion-eater, death incarnate, insane and furious.

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>>54344158
That's still not an answer...

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>>54344313
They can't touch any ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic materials.
Or at least, not while the materials are within a noticeable magnetic field.

The materials won't notice the werewolf, the werewolf won't notice the material.
Not only can werewolves not see iron (et al.), you can't catch their reflection in it.

Werewolves also react to light shone through cheese.


Moons are the warlock equivalent of wizard towers.
Poured from only the finest and most alchemically treated cheeses.

/The/ Moon is an enormous warlock moon, from a more civilized age.
But there are many moons past the western sea.

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Thread is dead.

To liven things up, here's Session 7 of Tomb of the Serpent Kings. In which the PCs are taxed, everyone likes it, hirelings are found, plots are fomented, and everyone gets rich:
https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-tomb-of-serpent-kings-session-7.html

If >>54287075
wants to see my tax rules in play, come get 'em.

>>54341445
>>54341497
reminds me that I still want to make a Mecha game with an OSR base

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>>54346613
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH_6iFYiryY&feature=youtu.be&t=20

Except it's a giant Umber Hulk or something.

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>>54346692
>>54346613

Actually, wait just a damn minute.

Why make special rules?

You've already GOT combat rules. Mecha = classes. Thief, Fighter, Magic User, whatever. Sure, some obscure classes wouldn't work at all (no Bards or Summoners), but Warlock would be fine. Paladin.

Upgrade with Plate Armor. Magic Weapons.

And then instead of rolling a character, you roll a Mecha. Your character is /in/ the Mecha. The Mecha's Int and Wis are the pilot's Int and Wis, but all other stats are the Mecha's.

Then just scale up the monsters and the descriptions.

Holy shit holy shit I need to write this.

>>54346771
>>54346613
Comments? Just cracked an energy drink. Let's fucking do this.
When I was a youth, whenever I felt small or lonely, I'd look up at the stars. Wondered if the Authority was looking down on me. Turns out, He's either blind or cruel. When the Apocalypse came, it didn't come with fire from the sky and troops of angels. It came from the earth. From caves, from the sea, from all the deep and forgotten places of Creation. I was fifteen when the first Great Beast made land in Corpathium. By the time the combined armies of the Lemblics, Cratons, and Thurges cut its throat, six days and ten leagues later, three cities were destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives were lost. We mourned our dead and moved on. And then, but six months later, the second attack hit Pilos. Then the third one hit Nahria. And then the fourth. This was no isolated event. The Beasts would not stop. This was just the beginning.

We needed a new weapon. The faithful came together, setting aside ancient conflicts and uniting against this new and terrible foe. To fight the Great Beasts, we created Beasts of our own. The Bulwark program was born. There were setbacks at first - the engines raised by the wizards proved too unwieldy for one soldier to control. A team of trained operators was required. We started winning, Bulwarks stopping Great Beasts everywhere. But the Bulwarks were only as good as their pilots. In the public I we were heroes, saints, gods. Such hubris could not go unpunished for long...

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>>54346771
eh that just feels lazy just reskinning everything, although you did remind me of one idea I had for this, all Physical Stats(STR, CON, DEX) are your Mech's stats, while Mental Stats(INT, WIS, CHA) are your Pilot's

overall though I was thinking the Race/Class divide would be translated over to Mecha Chassis/Combat Role, and that there'd be a lot more customization options than normally show up in OSR games

>>54346901
>>54346692
too blatant of a ripoff, not to mention Pacific Rim is honestly incredibly bland on the actual robot side of things, I was thinking more Gundam, Dunbine, Galient, or VOTOMS when it comes to how the default assumptions would be for how Mecha work(maybe ramping up into full on Super Robot levels at higher levels)

although you aren't too far off from how I picture the monsters being

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>>54346988
>eh that just feels lazy just reskinning everything,
I am a huge fan of lazy design. It's why Cold, Fatigue, Fat, and Bad Back Injuries take up inventory slots in my system. Why invent a new system when the old one will do? And if you are going to invent a new system, make it use as many of the old parts as possible.

Also, fair enough. I'm still working on mine though. No offense, but Pacific Rim, for all its faults, is grounded. They don't use high school kids. There is no beach episode. Nobody throws a galaxy at the other guy. Plus, aside from Gundam, most of the other stuff is just too damn obscure to get much interest (obviously, not obscure on 4chan, but on the rest of the internet...).

>>54347058
grounded is boring(indeed PR is too grounded), also there'd still be plenty of reused stuff from whatever OSR chassis I use, just also a bunch of new stuff since it'd be kinda necessary

also when I bring up Gundam I meant more the Early Universal Century stuff, also who cares about "gathering interest", Mecha RPGs are a small enough field that this would gain an audience no matter what

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>>54347697
Well anyway, here's my take on it: https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-or-giant-mecha-fights.html

I wish you the best of luck with your version.

Oi skerples post your GLOG ruleset pls

Hey /osrg/, can you recommend a good 1st-level dungeon module to run a bunch of newbies through?

Not Death Frost Doom or Tower of the Stargazer (ran those a few times already), and I'd rather wait on the final version of Tomb of the Serpent Kings before I print that out.

>>54350218
Why wait? It seems like the perfect beginner's dungeon.

>>54350298
Mostly so I can print it out all nice (or print-on-demand if Skerples opts for that). Plus I know I'll be getting any corrections and the fancy map.

>>54350218

A few suggestions:

B1: In Search of the Unknown

A good exploratory dungeon with some interesting rooms and other things going on. The DM will need to key some of the rooms for monster and treasures. Dragonsfoot has a whole thread dedicated to different keying schemes if you don't want to perform this task yourself.

B2: The Keep on the Borderlands

The Keep is worth the price of the module, but the adventure in the caves can be something of a character meat-grinder. PCs might need side-adventures before they are ready to tackle the caves proper.

B11: King's Festival

"Orcs in some rooms". Nothing flashy, but it gets the job done for first-time DMs and players.

BF1: Morgansfort

Comes with a skeletal campaign world, a home-base for the players, and 3 dungeons. You can download it for free from BFRPG.

>>54350218
Some anon around here usually recommends B4 The Lost City.

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>>54349445
>>54350392
You fuckers can make some pretty ludicrous demands, you know that?

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I'd rather you finish the entities.

>>54352181
The worst part about that cat is the apple logo.

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>>54352270
>The worst part about that cat is the apple logo.
Have you met cats? They're all assholes.

Anyway, it just feels a bit rich to have you guys go "Hey Skerples, stop working on the stuff you want to work on, and instead finish this free stuff for us now! Quickly, edit your entire rulesset into a PDF. Also, that draft updated version of TotSK? Not good enough. Also, write more entities, despite the fact that you are literally the only person actively using Summoners in a game, and you don't have any of them living right now, and even if you did, 50 would still be fine."

>>54352387
Honestly, I'd personally also like to see the Entities. Not because I need more. But because they were such a good read. Really, some of my favorite work you did. Really imaginative, and my favorite implementation of a summoner class to date.
But I'd rather have you return to it one day when inspiration strikes again, than to throw out some half-assed ideas because there's demand.
So, take your time, do what you want to do. I'll be here keeping my fingers crossed for more of it one day.
If it doesn't happen, oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

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>>54352387
In your next life (or your next handle), set the bar lower.
In the meantime, add Picklefetish's blog to your sidebar.

>>54350218
>>54350828

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>>54350828
What do you guys think of merging this one with WG4, The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun? Using the floor plan of Tharizdun to sub in for the unfleshed rooms of the lower pyramid. Zargon's own encounter and room could be merged with that of Tharizdun, the two entities have a certain level of similarity

>>54350577
>B11: King's Festival
Out of curiosity, what is your opinion on Queen's Harvest?

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Using BFRP to make a PC RPG that actually tries to capture the feel of being a bunch of adrenaline junkies crawling into holes and full of things that want to eat you and stealing their shit.

So far, all I have is the ability to roll 3d6 in order and swing a hand axe at a stock enemy with 12 HP. But it will grow, oh yes.

>>54354034
>holes and full of things that
holes full of things that

>>54353837

>B12 Queen's Harvest

B12 is somewhat more interesting than B11. B11's first half is "orcs in rooms" while its second is a small, serviceable dungeon crawl. B12's first half takes you into a fairly interesting manor basement looking for a particular object while its second half is a raid on a compound.

The background behind B12 is that it forms a sequel to B11, but you could easily create a story trope to start B12 without having run through B11. While B11 is meant for a Level 1 party, B12 is intended for Levels 1-2. If the PCs start B12 at 0 XP, they'll be a bit under powered.

I'd argue some of the earlier B12 encounters and the later compound raid can overwhelm a low-level party without some retreating and recuperating on their part. Then again, that was true of most old-school modules, even the lower-level introductory adventures like B2's Caves of Chaos.

>>54350828

>B4 The Lost City.

This one could work as a starter, but the party will need to ally with one of the ziggurat factions to survive long-term. I think highly of B4, but I don't know if it teaches brand-new players the best with regard to dungeon-crawling and survival.

>>54354418
the factional politicking in the midterm city does feel discordant. I'd much rather a megadungeon with scattered civilization and no metropolis personally

Is it difficult to adjust Sword & Wizardry stuff to ACKs? I'm asking this because I want to take a peek at that Rappan Athuk mega-dungeon.

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>>54354608
They share roots. You'll have to go to DCC, or the GLoG, or farther afield to find things that won't "just werk"

>>54354608
>Is it difficult to adjust Sword & Wizardry stuff to ACKs?
No, ACKs just add a bunch of domain and economics rules, it's literally B/X for the most part

>>54354912
>>54354724
That's a relief then. What does B/X stand for again?

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>>54313038
>Cookbook spellbooks,
That's the sort of treasure to get you knifed in your sleep.

>>54354946
Basic/Expert as in the Red and Blue Box Sets of D&D written by Tom Moldvay and David Cook

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>>54354946
Bx is shorthand for Moldvay's [B]asic Rules and Cook's E[x]pert Rules.

>>54354034
You know about roguelikes, right? Brogue might give you some inspiration

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>>54352720
>set the bar lower.
NEVER. I'll die by a caffeine overdose while writing an ambitious system for zepplin-toad battles or not at all.

>>54352554
Entities are fun. Super hard to write though.

>>54354955
One can only hope.

>>54350218
I think B5 Horror on the Hill is way underrated as a starter adventure. It manages to cover most bases: it's got a ruined monastery, then a dungeon under that, then caves below the dungeon which even contain a small dragon. In many ways it's the most representative of the B-series modules.

>>54355470
>Super hard to write though.
I can imagine. I really dig the land ship. Got some Elrik Saga vibes going on there.

>>54354988
Someone please mock up a third book where it's aliens or something.

>>54355853

B5 is a great adventure, but, along with B2, will more than likely chew up a brand new party of level 1's. I'd have some spare pre-gens ready to go just to be safe. Overall, it's a good second or third adventure. In fact, marrying B2's Keep home base with B5's adventure, dispensing with both the Caves of Chaos and Guido's Fort, improves both modules immensely.

>>>54352294

anon asking for the ruleset

i'll show you mine if you show you yours? fuck, i'll even format it in indesign.

>>54352387

anon asking for the ruleset

i'll show you mine if you show you yours

can also format nicely for you?

>>54346501
So according to this session wup, several of your players have hit max level? Where are you going to take advancement from here? Just letting them stagnate seems sad.

>>54330649
That's the best post I've seen in this niche of the blogosphere in AT LEAST the past year.


>Authors Note: This works out to 1000 silver for a 60% chance of the student (who essentially you buy as a slave) having a Magic Dice and only 40% chance of being dead

Apparently these guys aren't taking out loans at the start of each year?
It's odd that people are taking out 5 year loans and dying in year 1.

200sp: 10.0000% dead, 75.0000% chump, 15.0000% wiz (15.0000% 1 MD)
400sp: 19.0000% dead, 43.7500% chump, 24.7500% wiz (22.5000% 1 MD, 2.25000% 2 MD)
600sp: 27.1000% dead, 42.1875% chump, 30.7125% wiz (25.3125% 1 MD, 5.06250% 2 MD, 0.33750% 3 MD)
800sp: 34.3900% dead, 31.6407% chump, 33.9693% wiz (25.3125% 1 MD, 7.59375% 2 MD, 1.01250% 3 MD, 0.05063% 4 MD)
100gp: 40.9510% dead, 23.7304% chump, 35.3186% wiz (23.7305% 1 MD, 9.49218% 2 MD, 1.89844% 3 MD, 0.18984% 4 MD, 0.00759% 5 MD)

You at least get their bottled ghost or directions to their reincarnation if they die, right?

>>54357165
GLoG has no level cap.

Each level you:
• Gain hp
• Roll 3d6 per stat, +1 to any you roll under

Most levels you:
• Gain additional Skills

The first 4 levels you:
• Gain a template

>>54357829
Oh, so it's just that the most fun part ends at 4, not everything?

I won't lie, I would probably still be disappointed if it were me, just because the first levels have so much good stuff.

I'm not trying to be an asshole, by the way. I read this over now and it comes off kinda dickish, but it's not intended that way.

>>54358324
Pretty much.

The combat/delving toys are frontloaded.

Which, I guess, prevents "wasting" features through disuse.

>>54358324

I dunno, I think of it like the E6 homebrew rules for 3.5. If you want more powers, quest for it after fourth level.

>>54358396
I guess, but isn't it still a bit odd that the survivors from the first(?) session all hit the soft level cap I just don't know what else to call it in the tutorial dungeon?

>>54358456
You're looking at it completely wrong.
The first 4 level are the growth phase until you become a fully formed character.

You know how B/X gives you features at lvl1 and then just improves them? As opposed to ADnD and later that keeps giving you features as you level?
Well, that's this. Except what you get is more powerful, and also spread across 4 levels so you get the time to get used to each new ability.

Afterwards you still improve, just in less bombastic ways, unless you quest for it. Which is generally a good approach.

It basically says to the players and DM "Stop leaning on the system at this point, and go out there and do great things"

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>>54358456
I'll agree that, accounting for the system, weird sums of money are changing hands.

In the GLoG, level 4 is 20gp (2000cp), though Skerples has shifted the scale for 2000gp.
For comparison, 2000gp brings Fighting-Men to level 2 in OD&D.

>>54358456
I'm fine with the low soft cap for the same reason >>54358424 pointed out, but I agree with you that the speed of leveling in Skerples' game feels a little fast. Doesn't take much to adjust XP scales to your own tastes, though.

>>54358571
Keep in mind that Arnold uses a copper standard, so those 20gp are closer to 2000gp in regular play.

I personally use a silver standard, but the advance hasn't been any faster than usual.

>>54358456
3rd or 4th session, IIRC.

>>54355147
I do. But this won't be procedurally generated. It will be much more like the Avernum games. Or the first two Fallout games.

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>>54357829
>>54358324
Correct. They stop getting cool Feat-like upgrades, but they carry on leveling and getting slightly better HP and Saves.

>>54357015
This isn't a thing that's easy to send to someone to format.

>>54358456
It's been 7 sessions of play, at 4 hours a session. You tell me. Tutorial dungeon =/= short dungeon.

I've been tweaking the treasure results a bit. Plus, if everyone had survived, they would have all leveled evenly and all been at ~2-3.

Also, they leveled fast because they just looted a ton of treasure from the tomb in one go, by finding a genuine treasure room.

How did you get into /OSR/ gaming guys?

>be me
>always wanted to play DnD
>never ever able to find groups
>ever.
>finally find a group
>here ya go anon, it's the new fourth edition DnD
>preconceptions of weaklings eventually getting strong dashed against the rocks like a retarded spartan baby
>never play it
>Pathfinder is out Anon, this is the real shit
>oh boy!
>see all of the fucking feats
>all of these pointlessly complicated rules
>oh...boy...
>no DnD for a long time
>finally 5e comes out
>MUCH simpler
>yay
>running it for years
>players: hurr muh build muh build muh build muh build
>THERE MUST BE ANOTHER ANSWER
>go out into the internet and look for RPGs
>make some ass-fuck retarded purchases, like dropping a grand on Numenera books because I was not aware that "medieval people in world of ancient technology" had been done a billion times before in every rpg ever
>world of darkness flirtations
>get depressed because I hate everything I read because it's either pointlessly complicated or just annoying to run
>eventually someone mentions dungeon crawl classics to me
>shows me the funky dice
>wow, this is...
>read it
>this is...
>this is...
>BUY THE COREBOOK AND ALL OF THE BOX SETS AND MOST OF THE MODULES
>OH MY FUCK WHAT ELSE IS THERE
>YOU WANT TO RUN EMPIRES KID HERE'S ACKS
>HOLY SHIT
>WALK INTO A USED BOOKSTORE AND HOOPETY FUCKERY DOO THERE'S FUCKING OLD DND BASIC BOX SETS AND OLD ADND 1E AND 2E BOOKS IN AMAZING CONDITION FOR FUCKING PENNIES REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Then I started browsing these threads.
I've been running moldvay basic and DCC for different groups. I can never go back. My god. I can never go back.

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>>54359294
Group of non-gaming friends asked me to run a "classic" D&D game. I've been GMing for years, but mostly with a weird mix of ORE, Fate, d100 stuff, homebrews, and other odds and ends, so I needed to get my OSR stuff up to speed fast.

Now we're here.
>>54358598
>But I agree with you that the speed of leveling in Skerples' game feels a little fast.

So given that it's been 7x 4 hours sessions, with 5 deaths (and bear in mind, that means 5 characters restarting from level 1)... what's the pace supposed to be?

>>54359294
>B-But only grogs play old D&D because
>Muh Nostalgia goggles
Heh

>>54359378
>So given that it's been blah blah blah etc.
Two people on the internet preferring a different pace for their games ain't much reason to get defensive, Skerples. Did you read the rest of that post?

>Doesn't take much to adjust XP scales to your own tastes, though.

>>54359294
OSR blogs. Up until I started reading those I mainly played 3E. Still do, actually, but I play a little bit of OSR-ish 3E as well and I'm hopefully going to start an OSR campaign sometime this year so I'm collecting house rules and systems for that.

Though to be fair, my first RPG was AD&D - my mother taught me when I was six.

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>>54359616
>Two people on the internet preferring a different pace for their games ain't much reason to get defensive, Skerples. Did you read the rest of that post?
I'm not defensive...? I'm genuinely curious. It's tricky to get info for this stuff without reading everyone's campaign logs. And if I'm designing a learning dungeon, I want to make sure the XP scaling is sort of acceptable to most people.

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>>54359294
I actually was really introduced by 4e at a school club but I stumbled onto my dad's old books (he had the LBBs and basically all the different basic sets. He's a bit of a packrat) and I liked the janky illustrations on the old ones as well as the tiddies on Eldritch Wizardry.

Then I realized characters are made quicker in these ones and it all just felt like less bullshit to me. I've been messing around ever since

>>54359294
I mainly played 3e. I stumbled upon OSR blogs while doing research to try and figure out how to make a gritty, wilderness-crawling West Marches game work in Pathfinder (a fool's errand).

I fell in love with the ideas of OSR pretty quickly, and felt inspired by the sheer wealth of creativity coming out of the movement. The only sad thing is I've still never run an OSR game.
I'm trying to work myself up to finally get one going right now.

>>54357829
>Roll 3d6 per stat, +1 to any you roll under
Of note: stats are tested (and upgraded) against 3d6, but are initially generated as 4d4.

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>>54359624
>my mother taught me when I was six.
Wife her.

>>54357759
Oh, thanks man. I really appreciate that. I'm writing up a post on 6 cities right now and I hope you'll also like it.


When I was writing the post, I had each student who gained a magic die graduate early. The student who would be taking out additional loans would be ones that failed to achieve a "magical spark".

Seeing as you are buying someone's debt, it'd be up to the referee to figure out how it works if the man who's debt you own is a dead man. Personally, I'd have no issue with a dead student being a ghost as it would give Occultists (powered by bottled ghosts) a benefit, but i think it would be cool to have the ghost arrive in the possession of the Character in 1d6 days, haunting them.

>Faster Monkey Games is no longer active.

What happened?

>>54359294
>Hamlet, Post of Greentext:
>A Tragedy
The part where you dropped a grand on Numenera books legitimately shook me fampai

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>>54360130
>I had each student who gained a magic die graduate early.
Why would you ever pay for people who don't graduate early? Did they all get sponsors ahead of time?
That also changes the math. A lot. My phone battery is too low to bother recalculating.

And I don't mean to call
>60% chance of the student (who essentially you buy as a slave) having a Magic Dice
wrong. It *is* 59.8122%, give or take.
But it's only around 35.3186% once account for the dead.

>>54360335
I don't know man, you're buying debts. If you buy a debt of 1 year you don't if the wizard who has it has graduated or is still in school.

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>>54347791
How many chump turns occur per mecha turn?

I'm curious, what's teegee's feelings on Tunnels & Trolls and Boot Hill? As much as I like D&D, T&T and BH are the two OSR games my group and I have the most fun playing. I don't often hear of those two mentioned much in these threads, even though the they're well represented in the trove.

>>54359294
Played a game of Basic D&D with some friends as an ironic "haha this is what D&D used to be like" session.

Turned out to be the best damn game of D&D we ever played. The investment in mapping, taking notes...the lethality of it, the cautiousness, the magic items that could do ANYTHING...without the reams of fiddly rules. It was amazing.

That was two years ago and we haven't played since.

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>>54360448
Good point. I hadn't considered that. A melee round is 6 or 10 seconds. Based on Pacific Rim, I'd say that is actually just fine - it's a 1:1 scaling, provided you interpret 1 melee round as 1 or 2 punches/dodges.

For slower, ponderous mecha fights, 3 to 5 mortal-scale melee rounds to 1 mecha round seems OK.

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>one-page dungeons

>>54360472
>Tunnels & Trolls
I haven't analyzed the system too much but I like it. Ken is a bit of an autist.

>Boot Hill
Never read it but the crossover rules in the 1e DMG looked interesting.

How do you like to decide what magic items go into your games?

Make them up yourself
Use an old, trusty magic item table
Use new magic item tables that you haven't tested before

>>54360906
Make them up yourself based on what sounds cool and watch the players use them for outside the box problem solving. I think that allows them to remain both "magical" and fulfill their functions as "game breaking". I'd rather give players a sword that turns what ever it hits into a rat if it deals maximum damage, than a simple +1 sword.

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>>54360725
Well then... how big are the mecha?

Or rather, how many turns does it take to get from the two bits of controls that are farthest apart?

Obviously you have teams, what how big?
How many boarders throw off your grove?
How many spare chumps can you stow?

If you tie enough seagulls to the mecha, can you fight space squid?
If you cage enough geese to the chassis, will giant goblins run in terror?

>>54360840
Worst case scenario, you can put them on your map's tables.
Best case scenario, you can splice them into your dungeons.

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>>54361241
I think the answer is going to be "it varies, based on your game".

Do you want magic sailing ships that walk? Slow rounds.

Want NGE-style methhead whip-fast mechs made from the bones of giants and dryad wood? Fast rounds.

I prefer teams of 4 (PC, 3 NPCs), because that seems optimal for drama.

Boarders use the Disease rules. Mummy Rot, motherfuckers!

>If you tie enough seagulls to the mecha, can you fight space squid?
It's mandatory

>If you cage enough geese to the chassis, will giant goblins run in terror?
Dire geese required.

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>>54361334
>Boarders use the Disease rules.
It's a fair cop!

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>>54361397
Lazy design can be good design.

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>>54343645
Someone posted this a while back. It's the sort of thing that's worth coming back to. You should read it.
I checked fireden, apparently it came from /osrg/. From Skerples, if pic related is any evidence.


>
Tips:
1) Avoid "that", and especially "the fact that". They work as speed bumps in a sentence and encourage sloppy writing. Sometimes you need it (No, it's >that< thingy over >there<). Most of the time you can do without, though, and the sentence is better for it. If you need to explain something there is ALWAYS a better way. "Because" and "actually" can usually go too.

2) Never trust a spellchecker. Just don't. If a word feels weird, it's okay to look it up.

3) Avoid repeating the same words/phrases constantly. I do this quite a lot* in my drafts, which means it catches on my eyes when I'm looking at other people's writing.

4) Cliches are okay. Seriously. Just don't overuse them. They're like leeches; valid options for certain problems, but too many and the suck will overwhelm the best of us..

5) I prefer a friendly, breezy but semi-academic style when I'm talking to the reader. I shift to a hard, scientific and precise style for rules, and use asides to add in any elaborations or other extra information the reader may not need. On that note, SEPARATE THE GODDAMNED RULES AND FLUFF. When I'm using your work, I don't give two shits about the backstory (I already memorized that) but I can't work with the stats if I can't find the fucking things.

6) If your sentences take up entire paragraphs, you can probably break them down some. Check to see if there are similar points or ideas being made in other paragraphs. They might be worth fusing, which will help make the flow of ideas in your work more organic.

*I used "a lot" five times in this post before I went back and reviewed it.
And "because" three more.
>

>>54359731
But Anon West Marches was originally designed for Pathfinder's carbon copy predecessor 3rd edition. How is that a fool's errand to copy it exactly.

>>54361535
>Avoid "that", and especially "the fact that". They work as speed bumps in a sentence and encourage sloppy writing. Sometimes you need it (No, it's >that< thingy over >there<). Most of the time you can do without, though, and the sentence is better for it. If you need to explain something there is ALWAYS a better way. "Because" and "actually" can usually go too.

A rule I picked up for good writing is to avoid things like "obviously," or "of course," since if it is actually obvious you don't need to say it, and if it isn't obvious then you shouldn't be saying it's obvious.

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>>54361535
I genuinely don't remember if this was me or not. It seems like something I might write. It also seems just slightly off. Hrm.

Anyway, this advice is also good: http://falsemachine.blogspot.ca/2017/06/arnold-asked-me-to-post-this.html

>>54361574
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
>Rule 17: Omit needless words.

>>54361785
I misplaced my copy of Strunk & White and can't find it anymore :(

>>54361574
This gets so awful in read-aloud text.

>The room before you contains two rows of pews and an altar, obviously a chapel of some kind.

Oh thanks. Better mode:

>The room before you contains two rows of pews and an altar.

Best mode:

>This room is a chapel.
The GM knows what a chapel is and he has a map.

>>54361835
I like it when its a bit moodier to suit the module personally.

>This room is a chapel, puritan, devoid of indulgent icons.

>>54361824
There are better style guides out there.

http://www.chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497

>>54361893
Stonehell hits that sweet spot for me. From a random page:

>2. Ruined Kitchen: Smashed crockery & rusty utensils; smells foul. The sink pump spews Green Slime if used.

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>>54361933
Ugh. Paywall'd. I wonder when that went up. Here's a pdf of it.

>>54361947
Yeah, that's the ticket.

>>54361535

Thanks for the advice.

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>>54361955
>>54361933
I like "The Deluxe Transitive Vampire", not so much as a style guide, but just as a general reference on the elements of grammar. You need the elements to understand a style guide, but most universities skip them completely.

But the main thing is... just read. A lot. Every day. Read classics, read new novels, highlight bits you like and bits you don't like, give up, start afresh, tackle impossible books at a furious pace. It's the only way to learn.

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>>54360130
>>54360388
That makes the math /really/ easy.

No matter which year you pick, it's just:
• 2-in-20 chance of a ghost
• 15-in-20 chance of a chump
• 3-in-20 chance of a wizard

Later years are better at faking it (and probably better at knife-fighting), but have no real merits.

If you pull a chump, you force them to drop out OR leave them in hopes of timesharing a wizard.
If you pull a wizard, all is well. If you pull a stiff, that's probably a real shame.

>>54362356
Don't thank me! Give d% of your good will to >>54361576 and the rest to the thread as a whole.

>>54357759
>It's odd that people are taking out 5 year loans and dying in year 1.
Do the parade the ghost between classes for the next 4 years?