tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89259008024974091752024-02-20T18:49:08.595-08:00Land of PhantomsSMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-337121955939676112022-01-17T10:07:00.006-08:002022-01-17T10:15:56.541-08:00House Rule: Solving for Hit Point Inflation<blockquote>
A character's Constitution score is the lowest a character's maximum hit points can be.
</blockquote>
<h2>Changes & Examples</h2>
<p>A character's Constitution modifier is no longer applied to the hit points a character gains each level. The character's Constitution score, instead, sets the minimum threshold for the character's maximum hit points.</p>
<p><i><b>Example: </b>A 2nd level fighter in B/X, for example, with a 15 Constitution would not have a maximum of 2d8+2 hit points but, instead, would have rolled only 2d8 for her maximum hit points. No bonuses or modifiers applied.</i></p>
<p>If the rolled hit points were lower than the fighter's Constitution score, she would take the 15 Constitution as her max hit point total instead of what she rolled with her hit dice.</p>
<h2>What is this?</h2>
<p>This house rule is a lot simpler than it seems from the description above. I tried to make it easy to understand but, even reading it, it seems a lot weirder on the page than it is in practice.</p>
<p>In pretty much all editions of vanilla D&D, when a character increases their hit points they modify that increase by their Constitution (or CON) ability score bonus. A fifth edition <strike>thief</strike> rogue with an 8 CON (a.k.a. -1 CON bonus) would get 1d8-1 added to his maximum hit points each level.</p>
<p>This house rule removes the CON bonus from leveling. A character's CON score is just the lowest a character's maximum hit points can be unless they roll hit dice above that score at some point.</p>
<p><i><b>Another example: </b>A 2nd level fighter in first edition with a 13 CON may roll an 11 on 2d10 after gaining 2nd level. This fighter's maximum hit points would remain 13, as it started for the fighter at 1st level. But perhaps the fighter rolls an 18 on 3d10 at 3rd level. Then the fighter's CON score is no longer applicable and the fighter's maximum hit points are set to 18.</i></p>
<h2>What's the point?</h2>
<p>I started using this house rule to solve two problems: survivability at low levels and hit point inflation. These problems are related, in that most efforts to improve survivability at low levels wind up making hit point inflation at higher levels worse. But hit point inflation is, by far, the more impactful of the two issues.</p>
<p>The more hit points the characters have, the more hit points the monsters need to remain a challenge. We have seen this upwards scaling since first edition but it has turned a corner in later editions where even low level adversaries can have 30 or 50 hit points.</p>
<p>But, at the same time, low hit points impede a group's ability to enjoy a night's adventure – as anyone who has had the good fortune of starting a game at 1st level with a fighter with 2 hit points can attest. You're just not going that far into the <i>Cave of the Unknown</i> (whether you want to or not) with 2 hp!</p>
<p>What this house rule did for me was turn that problem on its head.</p>
<blockquote>How can we prevent a bump in survivability at lower levels, which is needed and justified in most editions, from resulting in characters at high levels who are able to fling themselves off of skyscrapers and still survive?</blockquote>
<p>After a decent amount of system archaeology, I arrived at a culprit hidden in plain sight since the white box edition.</p>
<h2>CON bonus: D&D's Fredo</h2>
<p>In the game's earliest versions, adding the CON bonus to hit points at each level was less of a big deal.</p>
<ul>
<li>First, hit dice were lower across-the-board. A fighting man had a d8 hit die. A magic user had a d4. A cleric had a d6.</li>
<li>Second, ability score bonuses were scaled-back. They went from -1 to +1 and that was it. First edition added more of a scale by going from -3 to +3. Then third edition and beyond took this further by making even a +5 bonus attainable for many starting characters!</li>
</ul>
<p>This gave the vestigial "CON bonus to all hit dice" an outsized influence on gameplay. Given two B/X fighters at 6th level, rolling down-the-line average on hit points each level, and with their only difference being a 12 CON (+0 bonus) and a 18 CON (+3 bonus and a very lucky roll), the former would have 27 hp and the latter would have 45 hp. At 8th level, the lower CON fighter would have 36 hp and his comrade would have 60 hp. Almost twice as many hit points. This gets more pronounced as levels increase. Note that in B/X a straight-up dragon has around 42 hp.</p>
<p>As editions move forward, this has become worse and worse. In the early days, a +1 CON bonus wasn't a game changer and it was the best you could hope for. The difference today, however, is between a +5 and a +1. Those same fighters in the latest edition with a d10 hit die would have 38 and 62 hp, respectively, at 6th level and 49 and 81 at 8th level.</p>
<p>I think the reason this isn't considered a problem more widely is because it's always sort of been this way. But a five-fold increase in the impact of adding the CON bonus to hit dice at every level is a pretty big evolution, even if it has made its <i>hide in shadows</i> roll for going on 40 years.</p>
<h2>Two Stirges, One Stone</h2>
<p>The world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game has a problem in nearly all editions on both the low end and the high end. Even the fifth edition, with its focus on prolonging the "sweet spot" of the 3rd-5th level experience of previous editions, hits this problem on the high end.</p>
<p><b style="color: #ff7357">The problem on the low end is survivability. </b>A character with only a couple of hit points can be scratched to death by a house cat. This is a feature, not a bug, in <a href="https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/mork-borg/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Mork Borg</a>. But in most other games it inspires groups to start at 2nd or 3rd level or give max hit points at 1st level or any number of tweaks and house rules to allow characters a chance at surviving that nasty housecat guarding the <i>Tomb of Unholy Furballs</i>.</p>
<p>The problem is almost <b style="color: #ff7357">all of these solutions make things worse on the other end</b>. I've had a character avoid a TPK (total party kill) in a game by opting to jump off a cliff, knowing full well that the odds of 12d6 damage from a 120 ft. fall killing him were dramatically lower than facing a dragon by myself. My character was a 6th level, 2nd edition barbarian at the time with 52 hit points and a better-than-average CON score. My character jumped off a cliff, landed on his feet, and walked away. At 6th level. In second edition. 🤔</p>
<p>Running my own games, I've seen high level characters (6th level and above) take fireball damage for no reason, walk through traps with impunity, and demonstrate a near godlike disregard for incoming damage. It's like martial characters in most editions reach a sort of Luke Cage or Wolverine level at some point.</p>
<p>This house rule corrects the problems on both ends. A high CON character is more survivable at 1st level than a 2nd or 3rd level character in rules-as-written. High level characters reach a point where they no longer benefit from this survivability bump. And rolling unmodified hit dice (or allowing players to take the average if they need to) keeps characters on more of an even playing field with each other and the monsters in that edition (barring of course third edition and later).</p>
<h2>Side Effects: Good & Bad</h2>
<ul>
<li><b style="color: #ff7357">Hit points are more homogenous. </b>They are more limited in range and less swingy among party members. I prefer characters re-rolling hit dice every downtime (a house rule for another day) but, if that is not your jam, Bob the Fighter and Celeste the Ranger are going to have a more constrained range of hp at higher levels. Celeste may even have more hp than Bob at some point. Note this harkens back to the earliest editions too where CON bonuses never exceeded +1 and the highest hit die was a d8.</li>
<li><b style="color: #ff7357">Constitution damage is easier and less impactful.</b> In all known editions, taking CON damage can involve a chunk of bookkeeping. If your character's CON bonus drops, you have to lower your character's max hp by some amount (which may vary if the DM has their own set of survivability boosts) and then potentially lower current hp if it exceeds the new maximum. It's not as bad as level drain (where you do all that and strip away spells and class abilities). But it's also something I've frequently seen players struggle with. The house rule here is a lot easier than managing CON bonus reductions. The new CON score (temporary or permanent) becomes the new lowest number for the character's max hit points. The problem is that traditional CON damage no longer matters after a certain point. The fix is to <b><i>have any damage to CON also lower maximum hit points by the same amount</i></b>, even if max hit points are higher than the current CON score. Your mileage may vary, of course. Your table may be good with CON loss just being a game trail to zero CON and death. No judgements.</li>
<li><b style="color: #ff7357">The CON bonus is left out in the cold.</b> What do we do with the CON bonus now though? While previously right up there with Strength and Dexterity in the top tier of ability score bonuses of all editions, this change puts the CON bonus, well, <i>nowhere</i>. That's not a problem, however, as we can find new ways to get creative with this bonus. Perhaps adding <i>CON bonus to saves against poisons</i> (in earlier editions) or having the bonus itself set the <i>minimum value a character can roll on a hit die</i> when rolling hit points (in later editions). This inserts the CON bonus back into the picture squarely alongside Wisdom in that second tier of ability score bonuses.</li>
<li><b style="color: #ff7357">Later editions. </b>Later editions (third, fourth, and fifth) assume that characters have lots of hit points. I'm not sure I would use this house rule in fourth or fifth edition unless I was going for <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/303156/5e-HARDCORE-MODE" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a grittier type of game</a>. The assumption that hit points are going to be inflated is baked in to the design of later editions. So much so that a character with a 6 CON is nearly impossible to create and hardly worth playing. If I were to give this rule a try in later editions, however, I would dramatically reduce the monsters' hit points – cutting them by a third or up to a half. The downside here is that overall this house rule would make higher level characters more "at risk" and would have virtually no effect on low level characters in many cases. In other words, it slightly curtails the problem of hit point inflation at higher levels but doesn't do much on the lower end with survivability because these later editions (fourth and fifth to be exact) already do a lot to mitigate that. An unexpected upside is that lowering monster hit points (and by extension higher level character hit points) would speed up combat a fair clip – which seems to be something a few folks are interested in.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Thanks</h2>
<p>Thanks for reading. It's been a while since I posted and I hope you all have found something interesting here. This is kind of been where my head is at lately. Hopefully, I can share more of these little tweaks in the future.</p>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-38941113778458159332015-03-24T19:37:00.001-07:002015-03-24T19:37:31.103-07:00Back on the RackIt's been a long time. But I'm still here. Still working on stuff.<br />
<br />
Over the last few months, here's what I've been up to.<br />
<br />
I took a brief hiatus around the end of last year and the start of this year. The holidays are always busy. And work was busy as well. Work's really continued to be busy. I consider that a good thing but it does hamper my ability to devote time to writing.<br />
<br />
During this hiatus, I took the time to explore what the tabletop RPG community had been up to. I read a number of books, played in some games, ran some games, funded some Kickstarters -- all that stuff I enjoy doing when I'm not the "Transylvania Guy". This is generally a time when I collect ideas. It was helpful when I came back from hiatus to look at <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> again with fresh eyes.<br />
<br />
I've been in contact with a potential co-author for <i>TA</i>. He's very interested and a legit writer to boot. Because he's legit, his schedule is just as crazy as mine, though. But I'm hoping his assistance will move this project along a little faster.<br />
<br />
If you hadn't noticed, I also got a URL (http://landofphantoms.com/). I have seriously leveled up now. I guess I need to spruce the place up before the webcrawlers show up.<br />
<br />
I hit a bit of a blocker on the Monsters chapter. The majority of the existing creatures have been done up in the latest fashion. But I hit a wall with one particular monster and I'm spinning some ideas on how to fix it. Would there be any interest in a PDF pay-what-you-want release of a part of the Monsters section? Like A-(something)?<br />
<br />
Also, I've been having some deep thoughts on TA in general. Hopefully, I'll get those blogged out on my spiffy, new URL.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-40025653441744305392014-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:002014-10-30T19:25:03.188-07:00Happy HalloweenDon't thank me. Thank Deadstop.<br />
<br />
Here to add some treat to your holiday are some of Dr. Frankenstein's prized creations with a few tricks up their sleeve. This is the first entry in the monsters section of <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide to Transylvania</i>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy.<br />
<br />
And don't forget to leave the lights on when you go to sleep.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxVohvAAALhkYmlUUGM2YW5UZ2NyMzB6NEprcnlQYm96NFpV/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Transylvanian Adventures' Abominations</a><br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-82346382078116695232014-09-20T12:53:00.000-07:002014-09-20T12:53:34.874-07:00Been a Long Lonely, Lonely, Lonely, Lonely TimeUgh. I suppose I could sum up the last few months with that classic scene from Stanley Kubrick's <i>The Shining</i>. The one where Shelley Duvall finds Jack Nicholson's manuscript...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEfGwbm4oC5kX-6LUrTUjoJXPQ7FeFRMC0gBpGpZvKJIxjM-c_zASKPxmL3OMXdgHJunji_4Ni9Ou4MNN0r8L9sxHRkb_zFBNhyphenhyphenpd4vfa9iTJ7EWktcid6Yhk3oJBmtftHgzGPlNwbnG2/s1600/noplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEfGwbm4oC5kX-6LUrTUjoJXPQ7FeFRMC0gBpGpZvKJIxjM-c_zASKPxmL3OMXdgHJunji_4Ni9Ou4MNN0r8L9sxHRkb_zFBNhyphenhyphenpd4vfa9iTJ7EWktcid6Yhk3oJBmtftHgzGPlNwbnG2/s1600/noplay.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I haven't lost my mind or anything. But time devoted to anything outside of paying the bills has been hard to come by.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Good</h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104210491262285279383" target="_blank">+Doug Kovacs</a>. Just Doug Kovacs. He was the sole representation of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> at GenCon and continues to be an amazing supporter even through this relatively dark period in my productivity. Thank you, Doug. </li>
<li><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/105426153788541775661" target="_blank">+Joseph Goodman</a> gave me a very generous opportunity to put an ad in the GenCon program. Much thanks to him. I appreciate that he hasn't given up on me.</li>
<li>I've finished re-writing the Monsters section. I still have about 18 or so new monsters to add in. But progress has been made.</li>
<li>5e. I've had the opportunity to play and peruse the latest edition of The World's Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game. It's good and is the first official edition that's been released since 2e that has made me okay with the edition switch. I don't know if we'd have 5e without the infamous 4th edition. But I'd say it was worth it. The right edition at the right time. Good job, <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/101512522568834873171" target="_blank">+Mike Mearls</a>.</li>
<li>Following on 5e, I'm taking this opportunity to "future proof" <i>TA </i>to an extent. I want these monsters to be maximally useful. I wouldn't mind even giving some guidance on bringing some of the good parts of 5e into a <i>DCC</i> <i>RPG</i> game. Maybe some good article material when I get the chance. </li>
<li>With all the changes in my life at this period (new house, new job, and personal stuff going down), I think I was over-optimistic with how much I could put together on <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide</i> and the <i>Transylvanian Grimoire</i>. That's on me. Stuff happens and I apologize for the wait. That said, I've reached out for reinforcements. I'm not stopping. Not at all. But I've contacted one of my favorite <i>DCC</i> <i>RPG</i> authors with the hope or idea of collaborating and partnering on the last two books. Tentatively, we are a go and I'm excited. I don't want to prematurely drop names but this is a bellwether moment in <i>TA</i>. More details as they become available. The cavalry is coming. And the cavalry is bad-ass.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Bad</h3>
<ul>
<li>I can't report much bad that directly relates to the books, other than the pace is about 1/5 of what I'd hoped I could commit to. I'm just dreadfully busy and have no time for anything. That's bad, I guess.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Ugly</h3>
<ul>
<li>Apparently, the character sheet in the PDF is still giving some people problems. I apologize for that. I've contacted RPGNow/DriveThruRPG about updating the PDF without taking it down and... well, they're not very responsive. I'll continue efforts in that regard.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-747951380948499512014-06-14T08:45:00.001-07:002014-06-14T08:46:47.223-07:00Only Mostly DeadWell, that went by quickly.<br />
<br />
It's been a couple of very challenging months here. I've been able to dive into TA sporadically. But it's not uncommon at this point for my work hours to be 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. or later. So time has been at a premium the last few months.<br />
<br />
Here's a brief update to remind everybody that I am still, in fact, working on this.<br />
<br />
<h4>
NTRPG</h4>
<ul>
<li>I did not make it. I was on a plane with my 7-year-old and 5-year-old to fly them to the grandparents. I was optimistic that this would free up some time for the book but it didn't work out that way. </li>
</ul>
<h4>
</h4>
<br />
As far as the book, here's where it stands.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Good</h3>
<ul>
<li>I'm about a third of the way through re-writing the monsters. The new format works fairly well for me and exists in some strange place in between <i>DCC RPG</i>, <i>13th Age,</i> and <i>Dungeon World</i>.</li>
<li>As part of the Monsters section, I'm working on the <i>Advanced Rule Options</i> as well. This where the infamous "cleavage rule" joins us. The primary reason for working on them together is that some of the monsters have interesting things to do when combined with some of the AROs. And don't worry, the AROs are pretty limited in scope. And all entirely optional.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Bad</h3>
<ul>
<li>I'm just slammed at the day job right now. So I'm forced to work on TA in short increments -- 30 minutes here, 15 minutes there. You get the picture. It's not progressing along at all like I'd planned. I was hoping that the Monsters section would be done (or approaching done) by now.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Ugly</h3>
<ul>
<li>Not much ugly to report this time around.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-70405306096693936422014-05-03T20:23:00.000-07:002014-05-03T20:23:51.160-07:00Alive and KickingI finished my last blogpost by saying "Here's hoping time is on my side over the next few month". Insert maniacal laughter here. Work and staging my house to sell (and then moving across town) are the big blockers for me right now. I haven't been completely dead to the world, however. Here's a few things that've been going on in the "Coming Soon" column of <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i><h4>
</h4>
<h4>
NTRPG</h4>
<ul>
<li>I will be there. Hoping to be there all of Friday and Saturday. I've signed up for a couple of games but was unable to get a slot to run games. I'll be there, though. So if anyone wants to play TA, just grab me.<i> </i>Next year, I'm hoping to have an official spot in which I can demo TA. The NTRPG guys have explained the ins and outs of getting a table there, so I'm fairly sure I can nail that down.</li>
</ul>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
The S&S Game</h4>
Yup, it happened. Here's some notes.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Good</h3>
<ul>
<li>The DCC Wizard hack that makes the Wizard a playable TA class works very well. So, there's a spell-slinging class to use for TA when DAMN #2 comes out.</li>
<li>The S&S Hack makes for a really <i>weird </i>type of D&D/DCC game. I mean, really <i>weird</i>. I consider that a success.</li>
<li>With a slight tweak, the "Matters of Scale" rules that have been flying under the radar worked well too. This is one of the trickier points of some upcoming awesomeness in <i>The Hanging Judge's</i> <i>Guide</i>.</li>
<li>Everyone seemed to enjoy the game well enough. The S&S Hack is a very different beast from vanilla TA, though.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Bad</h3>
<ul>
<li>For the most part, I populated <i>Frozen in Time</i> with monsters in the style of TA. It worked fine. But it wasn't polished. So there's a degree of going back to the drawing board that needs to happen with the monsters.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
The Ugly</h3>
<ul>
<li>The S&S Hack doesn't translate as well to the In-Between Adventures tables or even the Investigation tables. I tried that out and, frankly, it just didn't fit the Hammer vibe. There is an implicit degree of melodrama in TA that fits the idea of the monster hunter that comes home and tries and keep his (or her) life together. This aspect doesn't resonate with the Sword & Sorcery genre. So it's probably best to just roll with a more traditional approach between adventures with the S&S Hack. </li>
<li>The players in the S&S Hack of TA went balls out with the modifications to the core classes in TA. This was mainly to test the breaking points in the S&S Hack. Good news, nothing broke. Everything held together well. But, as you might've guessed, it gave the party a Monster Mash kind of vibe. No real cross-class combinations seemed to break the game into a thousand little pieces. But the classes were made to be played and, let's face it, the combos implicit in the classes were optimized for a specific type of experience. Too much cross-class craziness dilutes the coolness of the core classes a bit. In retrospect, this probably should've been expected. But it surprised me nonetheless. The more mishmash we went with the classes, the less they felt unique from one another.</li>
</ul>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
The Monsters</h4>
<ul>
<li>I hit a bump with the Monsters. I need to rethink them. This is a good thing. I had to do the same thing with the classes. It will probably wind up as a significant rewrite. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-12474732230393243332014-03-24T21:05:00.005-07:002014-03-24T21:05:52.152-07:00Testing... Testing... Is This Thing On?It's been a while. Usually, that's a good thing when it comes to progress with <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. At this point, I can't say it's a good or great thing. It just kind of is. But I felt we were way past due a status update. Here's what I've been up to lately.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I finished a Sword & Sorcery Hack for <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>earlier in the year. It's slated to appear in D.A.M.N. #2. This is a full chapter from the upcoming (third) book, <i>The Transylvanian Grimoire</i>. But it isn't just trading in your tophats for loincloths. It includes a conversion that makes the DCC RPG Wizard a fully playable class in <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>It also covers a metric cluckton of ways to twist and mold the Halfbreed, Exotic, and Reaver classes to create demi-humans in a S&S-themed game of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> or to spice up your 19th century game with something really, really weird. As an add-on, there's rules to use the S&S hack for a Lasers & Longswords type of game. And rules for freeform, hippy magic akin to Divine Aid for Wizards. There's a lot there and hopefully it's preview in D.A.M.N. will get everyone excited from more from the <i>Grimoire</i>.</li>
<li><i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> officially broke even -- or at least close enough that I can squint and say, "Yeah, it broke even". All right before everything pretty much just plateaued. So nobody's getting rich. But there's a clear path there to at least not lose money and justify continuing the effort on books two and three. So, yay?</li>
<li>Monsters are coming along... slowly. Work is... um... busy. And so I've pretty much been running backwards through a stampede of charging unicorns the last, seems like, forever. So progress is being made. One. Line. At. A. Time. Some of the monsters are really, really cool. But translating it all to play may require a rewrite or somewhat. They're mostly in the same vein (muwahahaha) as the Bloodnymphs in <i>The Winter Home</i>. I realize that can be a lot to remember, so I'm trying to get a handle on how to make these monsters fun and exciting while not overloading them so that they become an exercise in existential terror for the wrong reasons.</li>
<li>Spells hit a bump. Mechanically, they're on a more solid ground than the Monsters. But I feel the monsters need more love right now. Monsters need work. So I'm focusing there until it just hurts too much.</li>
<li>I'm planning to be at NTRPG this year. Happy to run, play, or whatever. I'll probably have another setting hack to inflict on people by that point. I'm hoping a few people are up for some epic awesomeness in Transylvania.</li>
<li>Earlier this month I ran a <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> funnel through the Portal Under the Stars adventure. I think it went over well, although the mortality rate was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I tried a few <i>Transylvanian Adventures' </i>monsters on for size in place of the monsters in the module. They worked out well. They were just weirder. And slightly less... forgiving. Most of the fatalities were PvP, which was just how that group wanted to be. Final body count: 11 0-level characters and 38 NPCs. That's right, 38 NPCs.</li>
<li>Later this week, I'm doing a 1st level S&S hack for <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> with the local Austin crew. We're going to be using Frozen in Time with only minor modifications. The players built out the setting and gave me a lot of really cool things to work with. Not only are we working with the new demi-humans in Exotic and Half-Breed flavor. But we've also got robots, blood magic, lasers, and a couple of brilliant opportunities to work with some of the new monsters from <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide</i>.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Here's hoping time is on my side over the next few months. Once the Monsters are in good shape, I should be able to offer that up on RPGNow as one of the initial installments from <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide</i>.</div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-35296345058914512502014-01-10T21:19:00.003-08:002014-01-10T21:41:59.757-08:00Tales from the Tomb: Tables, Emergent Play, and AntagonismI'll begin this post with a quote that is so good it deserved to lead off the post...<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The rules shouldn't be the game -- playing the game should be the game.</i> (Ben Lathrop) </blockquote>
<br />
Ben's comment <a href="http://landofphantoms.blogspot.com/2014/01/tales-from-tomb-character-mortality.html" target="_blank">to my last post</a> was well said.<br />
<br />
It resonated with a couple of questions that have come up over the past few weeks:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Why are there so many tables in Transylvanian Adventures? 100 pages???</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Why Ruin?</i></blockquote>
<br />
It may not be clear at first. But the answer to both of those questions is Ben's quote right up there. <i>Playing the game should be the game.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<h4>
Why So Many Tables?</h4>
<div>
I thought there was a good chance that <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> would fail to find an audience. There was a possibility that this would be the only book. Ever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That sobering realization forced my hand to put the items that I felt were necessary to play these types of games (Gothic Ass-Kicking Horror) into the first (and possibly only) book.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Some of the best playtests we had were from the In-Between Adventures chapters and Investigation phase. The "mad-libs" section was initially intended as an optional section for the second book. But it, too, was too much fun to leave out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also noticed that players never asked for more monsters (we had books and books full of them) or more magic (there was plenty in DCC RPG that we used). They instead echoed the same question: "What's next?"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It was clear to me that the In-Between Adventures and Investigation chapters had to go into the first book. They were the answer to that ubiquitous question.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But there's more to it than that. That's where Ben's quote comes in.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Emergent Play</h4>
<div>
I'm a big fan of emergent play in table-top roleplaying games. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergent_gameplay" target="_blank">According to wikipedia</a>, emergent play is:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"complex situations that emerge from the interaction of relatively simple game mechanics"</i></blockquote>
<div>
I view emergent play as things being introduced into the roleplaying game (often randomly) that take the story in unexpected directions. For me, it's story emerging in a non-directed fashion from the result of play.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> tackles this in three ways.</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><b>Shared Authorial Role.</b> Some of the character classes in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>have abilities that change the game intentionally. Luck (and even Ruin) can also be used by players to affect the game in unexpected ways.</li>
<li><b>Tables. </b>More about these in a bit.</li>
<li><b>Gambling.</b> Ruin makes a gambling mechanic out of other games' "death spiral". Gambling mechanics introduce risk and surprising results. More on this in a bit too.</li>
</ol>
<h4>
What's So Great About Emergent Play?</h4>
</div>
<div>
Emergent play breaks us out of routines. If left to our own devices, we may find ourselves playing similar characters and similar adventures featuring all-too-familiar plotlines. Emergent play drives us in new directions. <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>does this from the moment a character is created, not just with the 3d6 down-the-line attributes, but also with the <a href="http://landofphantoms.blogspot.com/2013/07/mad-mad-libs.html" target="_blank">tables associated with character generation</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The character in that linked blog post enjoys sculpting and is driven to "always get things done <i>especially </i>when patience is the best course of action". I wouldn't have chosen either of those out of thin air. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've played many, many games where the tools for introducing emergent play are readily available, yet time and again I've seen inspiration either come up short or take us down repetitive paths.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is one of the reasons I chose tables as a tool for emergent play.</div>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
<h4>
Can't We All Just Get Along?</h4>
<div>
Antagonism is the other reason I was heavy on emergent play and, especially, on tables. On many rpg blogs, we read about "protagonism" -- empowering the players to do what <i>they </i>want in the game world. But what about <i>antagonism?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's right. I'm advocating that the Judge <b>actively oppose</b> the players.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Common wisdom among roleplaying game circles advise Judges to empower players, give them just enough resistance to make them care about their goals, and generally not be a jerk.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is because most games rely on <i>intentional</i> emergent play. Meaning that they only introduce elements into play that players and the Judge want to be there. Someone owns that big pile of crap that was just dropped on that player. And this makes whoever dropped that big pile of crap on the player a big jerk.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Some games make "being the jerk" part of the game mechanics. I never found this satisfactory. I felt these types of mechanics fomented a player-versus-player mentality. I didn't find that fun. It was the kind of antagonism that ruined games, in my opinion.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I didn't enjoy games with faux-antagonism either -- where the Judge was complicit in our success as players. The challenge, it was clear, was an illusion. Yet I had no desire to revisit the old days of authoritarian and slightly unhinged "Dungeon Masters" who, at times, really were just jerks.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's something true and slightly awesome. In DCC RPG, a Wizard can cast a spell and wind up with the head of a chicken. In what other spawn of the WMPFRPG would that be possible by any other means besides the Judge being a complete bastard?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yet this can happen in a game of DCC RPG and everyone is okay with it because it is the result of a table, not an arbitrary invention of the Judge. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The table is the bastard, not the Judge.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>, the tables help Judges introduce real antagonism to oppose the players. It does so within boundaries that help insure players are not de-protagonized. But it does not pull any punches either. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Likewise with Ruin. It's a bit like rolling dice out in the open. If you roll a "20", everyone sees it. It's no one's fault that a character just got critted. It just is. The dice fall as they may, for good or ill. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In other games, I (as the Judge) would be a cad if I announced a character was dead in the first encounter. There are all sorts of mechanics that have been introduced of late to bring characters back from the dead or to insure they won't ever die -- to <i>protect</i> players from evil DMs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But that's not necessary in <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>If a character gets dropped with 1 Ruin or 8 Ruin and doesn't make the roll, the character is dead. But there are times where a character might have 5 or more Ruin and still makes the roll. And when this happens, it's memorable. Moreso because the players are (often rightly) assuming I'm actively trying to kill the characters -- within the scope of the rules, mind you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In summary, <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>was designed to play. I like it because I can throw the kitchen sink at players and they can give it back to me just as much. I also like it because terrible things can happen to the characters without me being a completely evil bastard.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The class abilities, tables, and mechanics are what help make this possible. It's what fuels the engine that allows a Judge to be a "nice guy Judge" and brutal antagonist.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I haven't even mentioned the Adversary Die.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-18955884135207760372014-01-10T17:17:00.002-08:002014-01-10T17:17:14.395-08:00POD available on RPGNowThe print-on-demand version of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> is now available. Sorry for the long wait. Those who purchased a PDF copy have been sent a coupon directing them to a $14.99 discount. This means that, for a limited time, they can purchase the hardcover for $20 + shipping.<br />
<br />
There is a Print + PDF bundle version available on RPGNow. I will continue to offer free PDFs for those who purchase the hardcover through Lulu. Of the two printings, I prefer the Lulu hardcover. But it is nice to have options for sure.<br />
<br />
Thanks to everyone for the continued support.SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-19226940787612623202014-01-05T07:55:00.000-08:002014-01-05T07:55:12.091-08:00Tales From the Tomb: Character MortalityWhen I first began writing <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>, it was at an awkward nexus of playing the fourth edition of the World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game and, by comparison, my favorite edition(s) of said game -- Basic, OD&D, AD&D -- as well as numerous independent games I'd played the decade plus prior to the Fourth's release.<br />
<br />
It didn't take a statistician to gauge where some things had gone right and other things had gone wrong. And still more things had been kicked off the boat needlessly, even thoughtlessly.<br />
<br />
Most of my musings circled, like a hungry vulture, over the topic of Character Mortality.<br />
<br />
<h3>
It's Important To Be Able To Die</h3>
One of the recent trends I've noticed is the exclusion of one of the key NPCs in a roleplaying game: the Angel of Death. I've read many roleplaying games where death is eliminated from the game altogether. Here is what I found.<br />
<br />
Removal of the threat of death did not lead to more risk-taking among players. It did not lead to more heroism. Even when heroic acts were genre appropriate.<br />
<br />
The reason for this appeared to be that nothing was at risk for players. Survival was a given. Defeating vile monstrosities was an exercise in accounting. DPR (damage per round) was the real focus. It was like fantasy football, with elves.<br />
<br />
I will never forget sitting there, as a player, begging a GM to let my character sacrifice himself to save the party. It was a comical loophole in the rules of that game. Because not only could my character <i>not</i> die. But even if I were to have stayed behind, I could've taken on hordes and hordes of opponents with only a 5% chance of dying. The sacrifice was superfluous. Even disallowed.<br />
<br />
Boromir takes dozens of arrows to the chest and still fights off the orc horde anyway.<br />
<br />
I never forgot that feeling of cognitive dissonance towards Character Mortality and vowed to give death a feature role in <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. The threat of character death is why the Accountants, Circus Performers, and Chronologists in TATG seem so badass. They're like salmon swimming upstream. If they can get past that big nasty Grim Reaper, they will create a better world.<br />
<br />
But the Grim Reaper has to be <i>real</i> for it to mean anything. And in <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> it is<i>.</i><br />
<br />
<h3>
Most Players Do Less With More And Vice-Versa</h3>
As we'll discover with the continuation of the <a href="http://landofphantoms.blogspot.com/2013/08/paper-hero-vs-transylvanian-bad-level-0.html" target="_blank">Paper Hero series</a>, characters in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>are about as super-powered as an AD&D Thief, Ranger, or Cavalier. They aren't the Justice League or anything.<br />
<br />
So why do players engage in cathartic action-hero stunts with these characters?<br />
<br />
One thing I noticed from playing and running games with heavily codified rules is that players don't <i>do</i> a whole lot in them. And I think I get it.<br />
<br />
Players aren't likely to play reckless with a character that takes two hours to create. There's no return on investment. Especially when the safe path is the one that is best supported in the rules.<br />
<br />
Second, complex rules inspire people to work within the rules. This means players will explore the options at their disposal, as opposed to trying to improvise a solution that meets the situation. Many times, I've seen rules disempower characters who want to try something awesome. This requires the Judge to improvise rulings to empower the players, often with no support in the ruleset.<br />
<br />
That's <i>not</i> what I wanted <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> to be.<br />
<br />
To inspire players to do courageous, even reckless, things, I endeavored to work within a system that encourages those actions. DCC RPG does this spectacularly. I wanted to keep character generation to a minimum, in effect giving the player <i>less</i> investment in a character, while <a href="http://landofphantoms.blogspot.com/2013/07/mad-mad-libs.html" target="_blank">finding a way to make that "less" something "more"</a>.<br />
<br />
Characters in other games are given things to fight <i>with</i>. Characters in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>are supplied with things to fight <i>for</i>. And with the "less" in terms of rules, I've found that players do <i>more</i>. Punching sharks. Jumping onto the backs of dinosaurs and stabbing them in the eyes. Dropkicking velociraptors. Wrestling a werewolf with their bare hands.<br />
<br />
Crazy, awesome heroic deeds that are remembered long after the dice hit the table, given all the more gravity because a bad die roll could mean that the character bites the big one.<br />
<br />
The engine that powers all of this in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>is made of Mighty Deeds, Ruin, Luck, and character class abilities that empower players.SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-20158017974059071252014-01-02T18:03:00.003-08:002014-01-02T18:17:22.182-08:00Happy New Year's<h4>
2013 in Review</h4>
<div>
First off, thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. My hope was to create a game that would become a new way of roleplaying in the Victorian/Gothic Horror era -- a way that relied heavily on emergent play, the familiarity of OSR gaming, and the foundation established by DCC RPG. Time will tell if I have hit that mark or not.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>has done well. I'm projecting breaking even on the project by the end of March. Breaking even means I've paid myself back for the art and other expenses I've incurred specifically in putting the book together. These expenses do not include the time I spent writing it or that Jenn spent laying it out. So it's a very lean "break even".<br />
<br />
At the beginning, I'd hoped to break even on the book. I wasn't at all sure that would be possible. As a stretch goal I'd hoped to make enough money to bring on another writer and buy even more art for the second and third books.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That is not likely to materialize.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
2014 in Preview</h4>
<div>
Which leads us to perhaps the biggest announcement in this "State of the Land of Phantoms" post. The publishing model by which I was hoping to release the second and third books has to change. I figured this might be the case but I at least wanted to give the first book to the end of the year to prove me wrong. If I were to stick to the original plan, I likely wouldn't be releasing <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide</i> until 2015 and I'm in no position to incur the kind of costs that went into the first book.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
By my estimation, that's a loss for both of us -- you all for having to wait a full year to get anything new and me for having to rush it and pay for it with money I don't have and can't recoup.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've <a href="http://spellburn.com/2013/11/25/episode-16-transylvanian-adventures/" target="_blank">mentioned on the Spellburn podcast</a> why I'm not likely to go the Kickstarter route. But even if I were to do so, it only solves one axis of the problem.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My solution, therefore, is to move to a publishing model whereby I release sections of books two and three as they are completed. These releases would feature minimal or no art. They will be PDF only and will be very affordable. They may even be pay-what-you-want. All the proceeds from these downloads will go towards art and completion of books two and three.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even better, those who have a driving interest in the books will have a say in what is released when -- following the first couple of sections I plan on completing. If, for example, you all say you'd rather have the spells from book three before the Adversaries in book two, I'll be able to oblige. Or if you want a shot at the Theorist. Or the setting hacks I have planned.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've put a great deal of thought into this and it's grown on me over time. It gives me a chance to release additional material more quickly, yet still have the time I would need to put together a quality product with the print books.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When all the sections of each book are finished, they'll be compiled with art and released as print-on-demand. I don't know if I'll make the compiled books available as PDFs. That's something you'll help me decide. It's conceivable (by this model) that the Grimoire might see print before the Judge's Guide. I'm okay with that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'd also like to know your thoughts on the proposed publishing model. Please feel free to do so in the comments.</div>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
Roadmap</h4>
<div>
Here's what's coming up in 2014 for TATG:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Print-on-demand through RPGNow.</b> I underestimated the impact of the holidays on the POD approval process and missed the final buzzer by a good deal. It was my intention to have this ready by Christmas. It's now looking like a January release. As soon as it's available, PDF owners will get a discount on the hardcover.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Updating the LoP site. </b>It needs a facelift badly. I got it together in a rush. I'd like to make it look better.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>TA Basic. </b>I'm still planning to release a low-fidelity, download only copy of <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i> It will have no art. It will not have the Half-Breed, Scoundrel, or Exotic. It will not have the optional tables for the "Mad-Lib" character generation. It will have some of the other tables. But not all of them. It will be 33-40% of the big book. But it will be affordably priced for those looking to try-before-they-buy.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Hexmap/Setting and Monsters.</b> In an order based on popular demand, I'd like to make these my first two releases in 2014. I'm hoping one by the end of May and the other in July or August. After that, we can decide what we'd like to release next. There's been some demand for spells. So maybe we dive into Book Three before finishing up Book Two. Or maybe we branch off completely and do another adventure.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I think these are reasonable goals for 2014. We'll see how much I'm able to accomplish. I'd like very much to participate more in the DCC RPG community in 2014. I would also be open to running an online game of <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>or even putting together a podcast or two to walk people through character generation, the In-Between Adventures phase, the Investigation phase, and some of the rules listed in <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-6301676376000757252013-12-23T23:30:00.000-08:002013-12-23T23:30:00.958-08:00Well...<br />
<ul>
<li>My bad on the RPGNow/DriveThruRPG hardcover not being available. It's still awaiting review. I've tried contacting them twice thus far with no response. I'm thinking holidays are impacting response/review time.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If anyone grabs a hardcover copy via Lulu, email me your preferred RPGNow/DriveThruRPG email address, the date of your order through Lulu, and your order number and I'll send you a coupon for a free PDF through RPGNow/DriveThruRPG.</li>
</ul>
<div>
I should have an update after the new year that will detail what's coming for <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> in 2014. It's going to be an exciting year.</div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-79587547129213371422013-12-12T18:01:00.000-08:002013-12-12T18:01:20.784-08:00Just in time for Friday the 13thPrint editions of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> are now available.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/sa-mathis/transylvanian-adventures-softcover/paperback/product-21341552.html" target="_blank">The softcover edition</a> is $19.99 and is only available through Lulu.com.</li>
<li>There is a <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/sa-mathis/transylvanian-adventures-hardcover/hardcover/product-21341575.html" target="_blank">hardcover edition available</a> for $34.99 through Lulu as well.</li>
<li>There is also a hardcover version that will be available through <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/121110/Transylvanian-Adventures" target="_blank">RPGNow</a> and <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/121110/Transylvanian-Adventures" target="_blank">DriveThruRPG</a> after they complete their review process. The Print+PDF bundle can be purchased at either of those links.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Those who have bought the PDF and have allowed publishers to send them promotions through email will receive a discount coupon for the RPGNow/DriveThruRPG hardcover in their inbox. If you bought the PDF and don't have that set up, now's a good time to do that to get that discount. You could turn it on tonight or tomorrow and then turn it off after you get the TA discount email.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's also worth noting that Lulu is running a holiday sale for 10% off (up to 30% if you purchase over $80). They periodically run specials for free shipping too. Of the two, I prefer the printing at Lulu.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I can give free PDF downloads to those who buy a hardcover from Lulu. We'll have to work out some sort of arrangement on that. For now, just email me.</div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-70534597809537360152013-12-05T19:45:00.001-08:002013-12-05T19:57:57.940-08:00Revenants and RuminationsFollowing up on Alex Lucard's <a href="http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/11/26/tabletop-review-transylvanian-adventures-dungeon-crawl-classics/" target="_blank">review of Transylvanian Adventures</a>, I'd like to say, first, thanks. I'm grateful for everyone who is spreading the word and getting information out there on TA. I'm not Hasbro. I'm not Fantasy Flight. I'm not even Frog God Games. So the only thing that's going to keep the undead heart of this game beating are those who appreciate it and have a passion for it.<br />
<br />
That said, I'd like to clear up a couple of things in the review. <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> contains an insane (and insanely deceptive) amount of information. I tried my best to convey it all as clearly as possible. But I'm afraid that sometimes I zigged when I should have zagged.<br />
<br />
If I may, I'd like to clarify some points and answer some questions raised in Lucard's review.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
1.</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>Core character classes are interesting, but I wouldn’t say balanced. Depending on your alignment, a class may get more or less abilities. For example, only a Chaotic Exotic (a non-white character, more or less) can cast Level 0 rituals.</i></span></blockquote>
The Polymath can cast rituals. And any character can take the general upgrade to cast 0-Level rituals upon acquiring a level. It's pretty widely available.<br />
<br />
More on that balanced thing in a bit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
2.</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>No, there needs to be something to balance out that a Chaotic gets an ability but other alignments don’t. We see this in just about every class. The Neutral Valiant (everyman type of hero) gets +2 to his High Save, while Chaotic and Lawful Valiants only get +1. Why does a Neutral Valiant get a better save? The game doesn’t say, nor make any attempt to justify the imbalance.</i></span></blockquote>
<br />
I've run playtests with every variation of the 8 classes and 3 alignments. That's a lot of playtests and a lot of characters. They are balanced. But it may not be immediately obvious.<br />
<br />
Listeners of the <a href="http://spellburn.com/2013/11/25/episode-16-transylvanian-adventures/" target="_blank">Spellburn podcast</a> would not be surprised to learn I spent a lot of time crunching numbers on these classes. It was important to me to get them right and more important for them to be fun. I viewed the classes as the players' interface to the game world. And a crappy interface means a crappy game.<br />
<br />
But what I didn't do was follow a more recent trend of "math-ing" out. You know, where all the bonuses are listed out in exhausting detail and the game just becomes an exercise in, well, minimizing penalties and maximizing bonuses.<br />
<br />
So a lot of those numbers exist under the hood. Let's take the Valiant as an example.<br />
<br />
It is true that a neutral Valiant gets a +2 to a save of his choice at 1st level while the other two alignments only get a +1. That's a one time bonus.<br />
<br />
But chaotic Valiants get the equivalent of a free weapon upgrade. A Neutral Valiant can start out with a Will save one point higher than his compatriots. But a chaotic Valiant can start out with a flintlock pistol or a short sword. The neutral and lawful Valiants are stuck with a club or handaxe. The chaotic Valiant also has a d6 Luck die. The others have a measly d4.<br />
<br />
And are lawful Valiants left out in the cold? Not really. Lawful Valiants recover hit points when they use Luck to help their friends. No other alignment of Valiant has that ability. Well, at least until they spend three upgrades to get there.<br />
<br />
But still, it looks like that chaotic Valiant got away with murder, doesn't it? Nope. He didn't. And here's why: the classes in <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> are balanced on multiple axes. Check out the skills available to Valiants and you'll see they most favor neutral characters (first) and then lawful characters. Chaotic Valiants have the absolute worst skill bonuses of the bunch -- garnering nothing better than a +1 at anything with the other classes landing a +4 or +2 at 1st level.<br />
<br />
All the classes are built this way and "balanced" on multiple axes. I didn't make this readily apparent because, well, I wanted you to have fun and not have to worry about it.<br />
<br />
Hopefully, this increases the awesomeness factor of <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>The balance is in the play. You play it, you'll find it in surprising ways.<br />
<br />
<h4>
3.</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>0 Level Characters start at a Ruin of 0 and when you hit first level, it drops down to 1.</i></span></blockquote>
Just want to point out that 0-levels start with a Ruin of 3. 1st levels start at 1. Except the Half-Breed (and soon-to-be Theorist), they both start at 2.<br />
<br />
And when rolling Ruin, the Judge rolls the d6s to establish the DC. This makes it more competitive and fun. I can't tell you how many players have faked me out of a simultaneous roll to get a glimpse at the DC. Not that it helps all that much. Muwahahahaha.<br />
<br />
Oh and how I explain Ruin? When a player is dropped to 0 hp I ask: "how many points of Ruin do you have?" I then say, "I'm going to roll that many d6s. You roll a d20, add your Luck bonus, and try to beat me. If you roll higher, you live. If not, you die. Or worse."<br />
<br />
That "Or worse" part always gets 'em.<br />
<br />
<h4>
4.</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>Personally, I’d have rather seen some more magic and a few monsters instead of thirty pages of superfluous tables, but at least it’s only thirteen dollars? To me, that’s still a great deal. Unless, of course, the next two books cost like $25-30 for a PDF version. Then I’ll start to get annoyed.</i></span></blockquote>
Many of the tables (including the entire Investigations and In-Between Adventures chapters) were supposed to be in <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide</i>. I had to accept that there was a possibility that <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>would completely fall on its face. And if it did, what would be the bare minimum I would want in the book if there was no chance of a second book? Both the IBA and Investigation sections were so important to how the game is played at the table, I felt I had to include them. It also helps that some of the most fun sessions we'd had revolved around the use of those tables. I also felt the other tables were likewise useful.<br />
<br />
The biggest question most players had after a game in playtest or a campaign was "What's next?" I don't think anyone complained about a lack of magic or monsters. In truth, there are so many monster books out there that groups could play <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>until the end of time without another line written.<br />
<br />
I put what I felt was ready and necessary into the first book. That's why it may seem a bit of a mishmash. It is a compilation of various pieces of the first and second books.<br />
<br />
As far as pricing, <i>The Hanging Judge's Guide </i>and <i>The Transylvanian Grimoire</i> will be around the same price range. Maybe less. I wouldn't imagine more. Remember, the softcover will be $19.99 for 300 pages. That's not terribly bad. And if you can catch me here in Austin or at a game convention, you can buy a hardcover or softcover off me and spare yourself shipping.<br />
<br />
Yes, I can still get you a free PDF if you buy a hardcover from me off the street.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-4746846183772395472013-12-05T18:50:00.000-08:002013-12-05T18:50:05.088-08:00Long time, no updateSo here's what's been going on in the world of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> of late...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Alex Lucard (awesome name, btw) has put up <a href="http://diehardgamefan.com/2013/11/26/tabletop-review-transylvanian-adventures-dungeon-crawl-classics/" target="_blank">a nice review of TA</a>. I think it's fair and a generous 4 star rating. So that's cool. There are a couple of inaccuracies in there (likely my fault as a writer) that I will try to clear up in a blogpost soon.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If you haven't already, <a href="http://spellburn.com/2013/11/25/episode-16-transylvanian-adventures/" target="_blank">checkout the Spellburn podcast</a>. They're awesome and should be on your regular podcast rotation.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As for the print books...</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I've gone through a couple of rounds of minor edits. Each round takes a while to clear through the approval process. That's the big hurdle at the moment.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Bad News: I may have one more edit cycle to go.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As for what's next...</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You might guess that supporting and finishing up the print-on-demand version of <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>has absorbed most of my time. That's true. So no new progress has been made on the second book.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>After the print-on-demand edition is available, I'm going to work on a PDF only cheapo edition. I don't have the street cred at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG to offer it as a free download. But it will be entirely inexpensive, feature only the bare bones of <i>Transylvanian Adventures, </i>and contain no art. It will be a way for people to check it out and see if it's for them.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>As far as the second and third books are concerned, I'm still formulating the release plan for them. <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>is doing well but it's not doing well enough, unfortunately. This means I'm going to have to rethink my next steps. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'll have more information towards the end of the year but, from what I've been pondering, it could mean more content is made available in PDF form sooner while the full books themselves take longer to complete. We'll see on that.</li>
</ul>
</div>
SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-46509829309255251752013-11-24T15:00:00.000-08:002013-11-24T15:00:02.333-08:00Tales from the Tomb: Crunch De-FangedThis week I was on a podcast with the guys from <a href="http://spellburn.com/" target="_blank">Spellburn</a>. It should be out soon. There was a lot of focus around the new character classes and the rule enhancements in <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. Moreover, there were some comments directed at the "crunchiness" of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. Something that surprised me because, frankly, it hadn't translated to play.<br />
<br />
And here's why I think that is...<br />
<br />
First, the rule enhancements introduce "crunch" of two varieties: situational and optional. Situational crunch covers rules like Ruin, firearms damage, Fear, and damage recovery. These only rear their heads every now and then. Ruin enters play 3 or so times a session when a character is dropped to 0 hit points. Fear, once -- maybe twice or not at all -- at the Judge's discretion. Optional crunch represents rules like the different approach to Luck spends and the bonuses and penalties around the "Mad Libs" section. This is crunch that a group can buy into if they want.<br />
<br />
Judges have the same latitude to cut corners, adjust rules, ignore rules, and overall tailor gameplay for their group. Just because a rule is in a book doesn't mean it has to be used. <i>Especially</i> those with "optional" in their title.<br />
<br />
Second, things are different in <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. And some things are new. That can be hard to grok at first. And I think it gives the impression of an illusory learning curve. Most people -- without having read the book -- figure out Ruin the first or second time they roll it. The alternate Luck spends take a little bit more effort to remember. But after a session or two, I've found that they tend to make sense. Especially for seasoned DCC RPG vets. And, at the end of the day, the <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>character classes are just that -- level-based character classes. Had the Exotic been named the Monk, the Polymath named the Cleric, the Half-Breed named the Elf, the Valiant named the Bard, the Scoundrel named the Thief, and the Reaver named the Dwarf, I think <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>would seem less foreign. But, really, that's all that it is. And the analogues between the genre-based classes in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>and the role-based classes of other OSR games become fairly clear after a minimal time investment.<br />
<br />
In my experience running and playing both extensively, I've found no real difference in crunch between DCC RPG and <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. Before running convention games, Michael Curtis and Harley Stroh give a short tutorial on DCC RPG. It runs about 10 minutes or so. Before running a game of <i>Transylvanian Adventures, </i>I give the same sort of talk, covering the same ground with the additional <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>bits added in.<br />
<br />
It still takes about 10 minutes.<br />
<br />
Things may have some unfamiliar names. And a couple of rules are turned on their ears. But when the dice are done clattering, <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> is still very much DCC RPG.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-35030782778400127032013-11-23T10:30:00.002-08:002013-11-23T10:30:30.933-08:00What's the hold up?Sorry it's taking so long to get the print-on-demand books together. Here's the whys and wherefores...<br />
<br />
I'm getting some edits in. I'm taking care of a few of the issues that have been raised over the past month or so. The PDF should be updated around the same time as the POD is made available.<br />
<br />
I misunderstood how Lulu handled discounts, coupons, etc. I know I've gotten coupons in the past for specific titles or authors. But, apparently, I can't offer them as a new publisher for some reason. I'm currently in the process of getting POD set up through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow so that those who have the PDF can receive a discount on the hardcover as promised. Canadian folks can contact me directly if they don't want to pay across-the-border shipping costs.<br />
<br />
We'll work something out.<br />
<br />
The extended kerfluffle at Lulu dovetailed nicely into the need for me to clean up a couple of items. If it wasn't clear, there will be a hardcover version available at Lulu and RPGNow for $34.99. The hardcover will come with a free PDF through RPGNow. Lulu will also have a softcover version for $19.99. That's a deal right there.<br />
<br />
Thanks for your patience.SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-79940135168598476252013-11-12T20:17:00.001-08:002013-11-12T20:17:18.492-08:00Busy nightProof copy of the hardcover and softcover just came in today. Looks good so far...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MRhwGu1NKdYPYldI8WvsNgFGvJpCV18IdKwi4nwzrlG-6FU4aOUpEv1yvwHBC53n4mVjEESGaKibJ0q3FsL00TepxUQ7UPGLhsieD0jd3nUqxoe7mBKXCN6CRTfouVpAvtwjo4Bj-Mdg/s1600/efadb55c-0325-421a-939d-96268d6adf82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MRhwGu1NKdYPYldI8WvsNgFGvJpCV18IdKwi4nwzrlG-6FU4aOUpEv1yvwHBC53n4mVjEESGaKibJ0q3FsL00TepxUQ7UPGLhsieD0jd3nUqxoe7mBKXCN6CRTfouVpAvtwjo4Bj-Mdg/s320/efadb55c-0325-421a-939d-96268d6adf82.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
Doug's art looks amazing, by the way. And yes, that wall in the background is really that color green.SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-79647832751401635342013-11-12T20:12:00.001-08:002013-11-12T20:12:32.278-08:00Not sure what's going on with the character sheet but...I've gotten more than a few heads up regarding the non-printability of the character sheet in the PDF. I'm still unable to track down why the character sheet in the big book doesn't want to play nice yet the same character sheet in <i>The Winter Home</i> looks fine. Score one for Adobe.<br />
<br />
I've put together a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxVohvAAALhkRTZMRmgyeWJCVDA/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">PDF Character Sheet</a> that I'm hoping will do for now until I can track down the reason for this rascally situation.<br />
<br />
Sorry for the craziness. I promised there wouldn't be any Sanity Checks...SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-71114839574121914252013-10-30T19:08:00.001-07:002013-10-30T19:09:00.219-07:00So... What About a Sequel?It's been just a short while that <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> has been available as a PDF download and there've been some common questions brought up about its future and what's coming up. I'll try to answer the biggies here...<br />
<br />
<h4>
Print Copies?</h4>
The plan is to go print-on-demand as soon as possible. First, through Lulu, so my Canadian pals can get copies without paying ridiculous shipping. Then, through RPGNow. I'm trying to get that process underway this weekend.<br />
<br />
For a time, I will be giving those who buy a hardcover at Lulu a free PDF. I only have so many free PDFs I can give out. Fortunately, I'm pretty stingy with them. So there's a good number of them.<br />
<br />
Conversely, I will try to give a decent discount for hardcover copies to those who buy the PDF. I'm still working out the details but it should be pretty comparable to the other route as well.<br />
<br />
After I get the book up at RPGNow, there will be a print+PDF bundle. Until then, I'll have to do it the hard way. But the hope is that everyone who buys a hardcover gets a PDF free. And, for a limited time, everyone who buys a PDF while the print-on-demand is getting going will get a good discount on a hardcover through Lulu.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
What happened to the Grimoire?</h4>
About a year ago, it became clear that I would have to split the books up into 3 books -- <i>Transylvanian Adventures, The Hanging Judge's Guide to Transylvania, </i>and <i>The Transylvanian Grimoire</i>.<br />
<br />
<i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>includes 8 character classes for DCC RPG, a sample 0-Level funnel, a large number of tables for lots of Hammer-themed fun, a bevy of rule enhancements, and -- well -- general awesomeness. It's 300 pages and it ain't in 34 pt font. There's a whole lot in there. It has one spellcasting class, three rituals, and some guidance on what spells in DCC RPG might work well with <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>I'll just say this: I've been playing TATG for years now with nothing but the DCC RPG spells and the bare bones of what will become the <i>Grimoire</i> and I've had a fine time. <i>The Grimoire</i> will be great. But there's a lot of fun to be had with <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i><br />
<br />
<i>The Hanging Judge's Guide to Transylvania </i>is the next release on the schedule. It will happen sometime next year. The reason it's #2 is because it was mostly written but soon became apparent that <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>would be way too big a book (and it would take too long to finish properly) if all that content was included. So instead of waiting a whole 'nuther year to release a nearly 600 page book, I opted to release a working and complete <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>without the items that will be featured in the <i>Judge's Guide</i>. Included in the <i>Judge's Guide</i> is a full hexmap of Transylvania, a few of the more radical rules hacks that were excised from <i>Transylvanian Adventures, </i>factions, adversaries, monsters, and a crazy amount of setting info on Transylvania. This will be a healthy-sized book but it will likely be the smallest of the three. Still easily past the 200 page mark.<br />
<br />
<i>The Transylvanian Grimoire</i> is the magic book. It will feature the Theorist class, spells, rituals, potions, patrons, and setting hacks. I'm also writing up monster character classes in the <i>Grimoire</i>. It's the last book because it's the least written. I'll be able to give a better timetable on it when the <i>Judge's Guide </i>is done.<br />
<br />
I think it should be apparent that, if the first book does well, the other two will come out sooner. If it doesn't do so well, the other two books are more likely at risk.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Anything else to add?</h4>
Once the print-on-demand is good. I'll be working on an artless, cheapo copy of <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>It will most likely be free and will be a nod to those who are either too cheap to buy a copy or on-the-fence in making a decision. It will have a subset of the classes in <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>but will feature the full set of Rules Enhancements. It will not have all of the tables in <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>If you want the Mad-Libs, you'll have to buy the real thing. Same with all the adventuring tables and Investigation tables. The cheapo version will have 4-5 classes and the rule enhancements and that's about it. It will only be available as PDF.<br />
<br />
As I complete some sections, I'll make portions of <i>The Transylvanian Grimoire</i> available for purchase. These will be things like the Mercurial Magic tables. Patrons. Maybe a setting hack or two. Enough stuff to give people who want to play TATG long-term a boost.<br />
<br />
At some point, I'm hoping to revisit <i>The Winter Home</i> and make it available for print-on-demand. That's low on the list. But could bump up higher if a strong demand is there. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-62898757519776583422013-10-30T14:18:00.001-07:002013-10-31T05:50:19.048-07:00Tales from the Tomb: Humble Beginnings?It's hard to believe but I started working on <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> back in 2007. The impetus was a series of threads on a number of role-playing game sites debating the value of a Hammer Horror style of game. It was the conversations in these threads that steeled my resolve to undertake what I'd hoped would be the definitive Hammer Horror RPG.<br />
<br />
Back in the early days, the biggest thing with which I struggled was finding a system to use as a base for <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>I vacillated between <i>Barbarians of Lemuria</i> and <i>Swords and Wizardry, </i>while devouring hours and hours of much-beloved Hammer films and reading page-after-page of Gothic horror. It was a time-warp back to my youth, when a Slurpee and the latest <i>Tomb of Dracula</i> was all I needed to dull the doldrums. In all honesty, it was probably my favorite slice of the early days of <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i><br />
<br />
As time went on, I began collecting research on Romania and Transylvania, even briefly interviewing people who had lived in Transylvania and grown up in the region. All the while, I was testing out my ideas on the system and systemic changes that would be needed to create a game I would be proud to add to my own collection. It was around this time I decided the game needed levels. Levels, tried and true, encouraged repeated play. And I found the familiar mechanics of saving throws, hit points, and armor class to be just fine -- even preferable.<br />
<br />
Shortly thereafter, Joseph Goodman announced his intention to publish <i>Dungeon Crawl Classics </i>and his approach resonated with me. What he was attempting to accomplish with DCC RPG and Appendix N was <i>exactly</i> what I wanted to do with Hammer Horror and <i>Transylvanian Adventures.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Since then, Joseph, the Goodman Games team, and the community over at the Goodman Games forum have been incredibly supportive of the project. They have validated over and over my decision to marry this labor of love to DCC RPG. Thank you all. And especially Joseph for providing the template and the system upon which <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>is built.<br />
<br />
I also need to thank two more people besides Joseph Goodman. The first is Daniel Bishop who signed on to help with the project in any way possible way back before anyone had heard of it. Daniel was the very first artist to work on <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i><br />
<br />
Second, I have to recognize the contributions of Doug Kovacs. Getting the opportunity to work with Doug was one of the greatest privileges I've experienced in my time creating <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>Doug came in at a time when the project was stuck in neutral. Without Doug, this book would not be here.<br />
<br />
He showed <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>the way home.<br />
<br />
Which brings us nicely to the next topic. <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=5563" target="_blank"><i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>is available now for PDF download.</a> It's 300 pages and is on sale for $12.99.<br />
<br />
And here is a look at Doug's outstanding cover art. One of my favorite pieces.<br />
<br />
Happy Halloween.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdG6KojaFKQxbMK334NW9rCWX6mvTm29C6XnZ6gvU2zInmWsZSAPPiTX4cv4BeJ_PkJaUlRqrUHOr_p337pS_aCcM0wIx4_K9RtvCRNC3bu7rsO2Z8w20K7qvoWBspNWHOUWhWA_Y-DCb/s1600/frontcoverBlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdG6KojaFKQxbMK334NW9rCWX6mvTm29C6XnZ6gvU2zInmWsZSAPPiTX4cv4BeJ_PkJaUlRqrUHOr_p337pS_aCcM0wIx4_K9RtvCRNC3bu7rsO2Z8w20K7qvoWBspNWHOUWhWA_Y-DCb/s1600/frontcoverBlog.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-83416422671742614552013-10-26T11:44:00.005-07:002013-10-26T11:44:46.014-07:00Update: What a Long, Strange Trip It's BeenThe final draft of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> has entered into the approval process. Once Goodman Games and RPGNow give it the okay, it will be available for PDF download. Following that, work will begin on offering a print-on-demand version.<br />
<br />
The final PDF comes in right around 300 pages. Price for the PDF is still in question. I have a better handle on how much the POD version will cost. For a limited time, I'll be able to offer a free PDF to those who buy a hardcover POD version. I'll try to offer coupons for those who pick up the PDF early, so that they get a decent discount on the POD version.<br />
<br />
I'll have more details soon, including a post where I feature the amazing cover art by Doug Kovacs.<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-33919819537292552372013-09-01T19:05:00.000-07:002013-09-01T19:05:03.049-07:00Terrifying Tales of GenCon 2013, Part 2Following my <a href="http://landofphantoms.blogspot.com/2013/08/terrifying-tales-of-gencon-2013-part-1.html" target="_blank">first GenCon 2013 post</a>, I'm going to recap some highlights from my second (and last) day at GenCon.<br />
<br />
The second day I was there, GenCon seemed no less large. It was a bit comical at times because Indianapolis had managed to schedule a biker rally, a music festival, a baseball game, and GenCon all on the same weekend. The foot traffic around the convention center was pretty wild at times, between Cosplayers and Bikers who, for all I know, might've been cos-players themselves.<br />
<br />
The people in Indianapolis seemed very friendly and had nothing but nice things to say about the GenCon attendees -- which was nice.<br />
<br />
I did my best to help out on the second day. I did a coffee run and helped Doug Kovacs out at his booth. I had a game scheduled in the afternoon but, surprisingly, it was a no-show. But that was okay because Saturday night wound up ending with a bang.<br />
<br />
We had a group that evening that ran<i> TATG </i>characters through<i> </i>DCC RPG's <i>Tower Out of Time </i>by Michael Curtis. The group featured Jobe Bittman, Doug Keesler and several others who had shown up for the DCC RPG meetup at Embassy Suites. I had a great time and it seemed like the players did as well.<br />
<br />
Some highlights included:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Doug Keesler playing a Reaver he named "Rock". At one point, the Exotic in the group had to help Rock lift a door. A string of Monty Python-esque double-entendres ensued involving the name "Rock" and the character needing help getting the door... well... up. The conversation and laughter prompted Joseph Goodman to wonder what exactly was going on, to which Harley Stroh explained that "Scott creates a very accepting space at his table. People just feel okay sharing things like that." Thanks, Harley!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Our romp through the Tower involved a Shark (more on him later), flying Nazi monkeys, a dirigible, a werewolf, shapechanging lizard people, and the nefarious Dr. Caligari. Don't ask how all that tied together. I'm still not sure. But one player had requested a "one-on-one fight with a sexy werewolf". Unfortunately, the one-on-one part was difficult as most of the party seemed more interested in fighting the werewolf than shooting down the Nazi blimp from an alternate monkey-infested future that was heading to destroy the village. But it was a fun, if chaotic, combat. The werewolf was a playtest of the Werewolves from the second book.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Then... the Shark. Jobe played his Valiant to perfection. Fearless. Brave. Chiseled. And Brawny. Instead of wimping out at the first sign of trouble, the Valiant dove into a moat -- only to find it was home to a pre-historic shark! What does Jobe do? Swim away? Cry for help? Try to beat the shark to the other side? NO. He punches the shark. In. The. Face. And rolls a 20. Once the shark goes belly up, Jobe cuts it open and eats its still-beating, prehistoric heart. It was awesome. A game-defining point of no return, actually. There's a saying nowadays about something "jumping the shark", meaning "the point at which something became very, very bad". I'd like to propose "punching the shark" as the direct opposite -- the point at which something very much started to kick ass. Here's hoping more people "punch the shark" in their games when <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> is released in October.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
As I've said before, this is pretty much how most games of TATG turn out. Shark punching. Shooting down flying monkeys with a tiny monkey machine gun fired with a shark tooth. Genderless, shape-changing lizards inciting lusty soliloquies in the characters. And Ken doll references.<br />
<br />
It's all very crazy.<br />
<br />
I'd like to think it's some serendipitous alchemy between the character classes, the setting, and the very particular risk-reward system built into TATG. Players do crazy things. Partly out of necessity. Partly because it seems like a good idea at the time.<br />
<br />
I've run all sorts of games over the last 30 years. There aren't a whole lot of games that I haven't played or run. So this seems unique to me. It's some old-school sort of madness that rests somewhere between Hammer Horror, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, and good old D&D. And I can't recall a game where there hasn't been some sort of memorable moment like those above. And I'm absolutely short-changing the players here. There were far more moments of action, hilarity, and tear-inducing awesomeness. I was just really bad about taking notes.<br />
<br />
I'm not saying that TATG can't be played straight, with a Wuthering Heights sort of Gothic drama or whatnot. I've done that. But there's just something about it that punches the shark even when I've been in a group that was really, really serious about being serious. The game reaches a point where the Librarian puts his kids to bed, kisses his wife goodbye, sharpens his wooden stakes, loads up his crossbow, and heads out with his team of Victorian Ghostbusters to kick Dr. Frankenstein in the balls.<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-91142790836776072822013-08-21T21:43:00.005-07:002013-08-21T21:54:50.860-07:00Terrifying Tales of GenCon 2013, Part 1Last weekend I attended GenCon in Indianapolis. It was sort of a last minute decision so I didn't get to go all out with time off or lots of events. Mostly I went to help out where I could, run a few games of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>, and generally do what I could to get the word out about this book.<br />
<br />
It was pretty much all of my "marketing budget" for all time. As evidenced by the total lack of <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> movie trailers all over the net.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Cool Stuff</h3>
<br />
My first impression of GenCon was that it was really <b>big</b>. I had never been before. So it was all new to me. It was altogether exhilarating and overwhelming at the same time. I got to see a lot of neat things people were working on. And we all got to talk shop and compare notes. That was a lot of fun. Some of the more interesting things I got to check out were:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>This supplement Jim Wampler is making for DCC RPG. It is seriously, awesomely cool. It's kind of a hush-hush thing at the moment. So I won't say much more about it. But it looks legit.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A card game called "Shinobi Clans" that was being pitched by a guy named Jurgen. It looked like a lot of fun. I wish I had gotten the chance to play it. It was a big hit at the DCC RPG meetup.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Impact Dice's Dice Farm game. The game looked fine and all. But what caught my eye was the fact that $20 got me three d4s, d8s, d10s, d12s, d14s, d16s and six d20s and six d6s. Oh, and three coveted d18s! Holy moly. I'm not a huge fan of the odd dice (d5s and d7s), although the RPS d3s do have a special place in my heart. I have plenty of d30s. Rarely use the d24s. So this bag-o-dice was an unprecedented value in a pouch.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>I got to see the "I guess it was life-size?" L'loth in the D&D area. That was cool. It was one of those things I'd like to have in a garage or something so the next time a player complains about a failed Sanity Check or something I could put him in the garage with L'loth and turn off the lights. Just to clear up the debate.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
People I Met</h3>
<br />
Thanks to Doug Kovacs and everyone at the Goodman Games booth, I got to meet a lot of people. First off, I don't think there are nicer group of people than the Goodman Games crew. Harley, Joseph, Michael, Jon, Doug, Dieter and Jobe were all most excellent. That also extends to Rick Hull, Adam from Kickassisstan, Wayne Snyder, and the many, many others who make up the extended family of Goodman Games and DCC RPG. Oh, and another Adam (the guy who wrote Dungeon World) was super-nice as well.<br />
<br />
I hope I didn't leave anyone out. It was a pleasure meeting all of you and I hope our paths cross again in the near future.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<h3>
0-Level Game</h3>
<div>
On Friday afternoon, I ran a <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> 0-Level funnel. It played out the way most TATG funnels have. A little more than half of the characters died gruesomely. Most everyone seemed to enjoy it. I've run a bunch of funnels for both DCC RPG and TATG. The experience is very much the same with the exception that players get only two 0-Levels in a TATG funnel. Playtesting has shown that those 0-Levels are moderately more survivable than their DCC RPG counterparts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One thing I haven't tried is running DCC RPG 0-Levels through the 0-Level funnel in <i>Transylvanian Adventures. </i>I have a feeling the death toll would be memorable.</div>
<br />
<h3>
Highlights</h3>
As with most <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>games, things got pretty wild. Here's a few highlights...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>In the first 20 minutes, a character murdered his nemesis (an NPC) by pushing him down a well. The nemesis proceeded to haunt the character for a little while at the start of the adventure.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Once again, the hunchback rolled a "1" when attempting to ambush the party. Eventually, he did take one of them out. But if, in the future, you ever need a sniper, don't get a hunchback. Apparently, they are clumsy at range.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>After a couple of fatalities in the first quarter of the funnel, the party got simultaneously more cautious and more reckless. One of Dr. Frankenstein's experiments got the better of a 0-Level. But then a Local Hero PC decided to go all WWE on it. We also had one electrocution, which did not result in a fatality.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Pointless Near-Death Award:</b> Goes to the Riverman. Who blew poisonous dust off a piece of parchment in order to be able to better see what was written on it. The catch? The Riverman couldn't read. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Best For Last Award: </b>One player was playing a Bodyguard whom he had named "Meatpie". Meatpie was nigh-unkillable. Although I do believe he was crushed beneath rubble at some point toward the end of the adventure. In any case, Meatpie had been dropped 3 times in the funnel. TATG features a kind of death mechanic that I'll talk more about in a later blogpost. But suffice to say, he had a very high probability of dying on his fourth close call. Something in the range of "only 5% chance to survive". Unswayed by the odds, Meatpie made an improbable roll and lived to die about 25 minutes later. Sometimes Luck is a lady, sometimes she is a kitten with a ball of yarn. Swept up in the moment, however, Meatpie's player exclaimed "Meatpie Forever!". Which explains why that appears now at the top of this blog. Because that moment was truly awesome.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8925900802497409175.post-6177686206761428632013-08-20T21:21:00.000-07:002014-01-04T11:51:39.377-08:00Paper Hero vs. Transylvanian Bad A** (Level 0)I'm putting together a series of posts contrasting the characters from <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i> to their corollaries in more recent versions of the World's Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game. The hope is to illustrate what makes these characters playable and heroic in their respective games. Some will resonate with what I'm calling "Paper Heroes" -- which are those <i>other</i> characters. Others will find <i>Transylvanian Adventures' </i>approach more appealing.<br />
<br />
And while the term "Paper Heroes" is a bit pejorative, it's not my intent to alienate those who find fun in both types of characters. I have played RPGs since 1981. I've played all sorts of characters in all sorts of settings and games. If there's any negativity associated with this blog's characterization of those <i>other</i> heroes, it's of the snarky and harmless variety. I'd throw down in 4e and Pathfinder just as soon as OD&D and DCC RPG. It should be apparent that my preference is for the latter, however. Hopefully, the bias is more engaging than not.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Huzzah! 1d4 Hit Points!</h3>
The first installation in the Paper Heroes series is the Zero-Level character, whose chance of survival to 1st Level is roughly 50%. This is perhaps the easiest blog in the series and the most lop-sided because the Paper Hero does not come in a 0-Level variety. The Paper Hero starts out at 1st Level and <i>only</i> 1st Level. He begins life fully formed as a 1st Level whatchamacallit.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What We Know About The Transylvanian Bad A** (0-Level)</h3>
For our Transylvanian Bad A**, we'll take one of the pre-gens I used in the 0-Level game I ran at GenCon: The Clergyman. I actually did a pretty good job of rolling up the Clergyman, because he has Strength, Intelligence, and Personality at 15. That was 3d6 down the line and lends proof to the notion that sometimes 3d6 down the line isn't as bad as people remember.<br />
<br />
But beyond numbers, what else do we (or can we) know about our Clergyman?<br />
<br />
Well, we know he's 25 years old. Middle Class. Likely from Britain. But speaks Romanian. He's Average Height and Wiry. He wears Conventional Clothing and enjoys reading about Supernatural Phenomena. His high Personality grants him Strong Cheekbones and Smoldering Good Looks. For some reason about half of the GenCon male characters had "Smoldering Good Looks". I swear, there are more results on that table. I guess my dice just liked the number 14.<br />
<br />
The Clergyman is also Optimistic. Which, because he's Lawful, means he'll always assume the authority with whom he is aligned (in his case The Church) is acting for the greater good. A Neutral character who is Optimistic would have a completely different take on the term. And I'm not sure a Chaotic character can be Optimistic.<br />
<br />
The Clergyman also has the Absolute of never backing down, even if it puts the group in danger. And we find out he's pursuing the supernatural because he has "seen something unnatural". The rest of the details are left for the player to fill in during play.<br />
<br />
All that took less than half an hour to roll up. If we took an extra 10 minutes, we could roll up some more life information on the Clergyman (which I did). It turns out our Clergyman had about as good a childhood as one could've hoped. He has a younger brother and sister, a childhood buddy whom he has known since he was a small child, and he was very recently wed before accepting a position as a village priest in Transylvania.<br />
<br />
I don't recommend rolling up all the supporting information on a 0-Level character. Because roughly half of all 0-Levels perish in the funnel, it becomes lost work. But the option is there if groups enjoy rolling up random people.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What We Know About The Paper Hero</h3>
He will have stats that align roughly with 8,10,10,12,14,16.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What The Transylvanian Bad A** Can Do</h3>
At first glance, we have cause for concern. Because our Clergyman only has 2 hit points. Youch. And he fights with an Aspergillum. Gah!<br />
<br />
Through the forging fires of the 0-Level funnel, we find the Clergyman is tougher than we might think a 0-Level should be. In the GenCon game, he could Turn Unholy and was a defacto leader among the group. Unfortunately, he was ambushed with a crossbow bolt to the chest. There's that 50%. But we'll retcon a bit to continue his story.<br />
<br />
The other 0-Levels dove onto the backs of monsters to prevent them from setting off a volcano. They also rescued a village girl. And climbed a sheer cavern wall in pursuit of the adventure's big bad.<br />
<br />
In the end, the 0-Levels saved the day. And I was trying hard to kill them all. Really hard. In a future post, I'll explain the conclusions I've reached on the topic of character mortality and how that has influenced <i>Transylvanian Adventures</i>. And also how that often makes <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>a fairly wild ride. Especially once the players figure it out.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What The Paper Hero Can Do</h3>
At this point, not much. Check back next level.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
<br />
It would be silly, absurd, and pretty uncool for me to force a conclusion on anybody here. There are some players who don't find enjoyment in the 0-Level funnel. I get that. But this is more about showing an A and a B. And showing why A can be fun. It's more about proving out how this Transylvanian Bad A** can be as much fun to play as the Paper Hero. And why.<br />
<br />
I guess the major thing that stands out at 0-Level is that <i>Transylvanian Adventures </i>characters are given something to fight for. That and the character mortality bit make the Transylvanian Bad A** a pretty fun character -- even at the lowly 0-level.<br />
<br />
More on the character mortality bit in a later blogpost.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />SMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04597544848883135872noreply@blogger.com2