Define Hopeless

I appreciate all the discussion around ability score methods from yesterday, and I note the poll has a flaw - for old school methods like 3d6, it doesn't differentiate between 3d6, once-and-done, versus rolling multiple arrays of 3d6 attributes and picking one.  Lots of folks that use 3d6 roll a series of characters (I saw x6 was a common number in the comments), and they'll pick one they like.  The idea is to avoid "hopeless characters".

Two questions come to mind - how do you define hopeless, and where did this idea of "hopeless characters" enter the thought process?  It's not in Moldvay.  The DMG 1E approach, 4d6, purports to avoid unplayable characters, but doesn't define what one would look like.  LOTFP has a suitability check.

I do one of two things - I have the player tally up the ability score modifiers, and any character that nets out at zero or higher is not hopeless.  If it's a "high powered game", I might make the tally +1 or better.  For instance, if the attributes were 13, 10, 11, 7, 13, 12 - the character would have +1 for strength and constitution, -1 for dexterity, and would net out at +1 - not hopeless.  The first "not hopeless" character you generate is a keeper.

I do like the idea of rolling five or six sets of scores that was championed by a number of folks, because you can make the unused sets of scores into NPCs.  Starting groups usually hire mercenaries and torchbearers, so those unused stats can be assigned to the hirelings.  When we play tested ACKS in the city with Tavis and the Mule Abides folks, this was used to great effect.  Speaking of which, ACKs day is getting closer; I keep expecting to see a printing announcement for that one.  Guys are building churches, refurbishing the castle, all that stuff in Gothic Greyhawk, so the final release of ACKS will be a welcome sight.

We have an interesting character in that current game that danced along the line of hopelessness - his initial stats were something like 16, 15, 13, 12, 7, 5 - he netted out at +1 (+2 strength, +1 intelligence and wisdom, -1 constitution, -2 charisma).  Bo made him into "Forlorn the Elf" - freakishly strong for his size, but frail and haughty and unable to attract decent henchmen.  He's since lost a point of wisdom due to one of those old school random things.  But he's survived to level 5 and has become one of the more interesting characters in the group.

Man or Superman?

Why would I ever play a *human* in a game? I get to be a crappy human every day at work.  The whole point of gaming is escape; when I game I want to kick major ass.
-Paul, 3.5 gamer

A few weeks ago, I spent some time looking at a series of AD&D rules that were controversial to gamers playing versions of D&D older than 1E - there was an interesting poll (dubious AD&D rules) that inquired after who actually uses those AD&D rules.  Despite the controversial title, I ultimately came out defending most of them on the grounds of creating interesting tactical or logistical choices.  However, one thing I skipped at the time was ability score inflation and race/class sprawl.

It's fair to state that one reason you're still playing an older version of the game is some distaste for characters that are described as "half-dragon elemental lord sorcerer artillery, optimized for area damage".  But the sentiment expressed by my buddy Paul above isn't wrong; wish fulfillment and power gaming sells books and is a big draw for the later edition crowds.  Playing a scrappy "ordinary guy" that straps on armor and descends into the dungeon is an acquired taste, if you didn't grow up playing that way.

The AD&D 1E DMG purports to be a human-centric game, but by the time 1.5 rolls around (the Unearthed Arcana stuff) there are tons of race variants, all with nifty new abilities, ability score generation methods that are off the chart, and power creep classes like the cavalier and barbarian.  This became clear when my son came running downstairs a few weeks ago with Unearthed Arcana.  "Awesome!  When do I get to be a Drow?  Drow are awesome!"  He's been wanting to read the Drizzt books for inspiration for his future Drow; I'm certainly not going to discourage him from any reading at his age (9).  He's already called dibs on making a Drow Ranger if the opportunity arises.  So would a Dragonborn or Tiefling be that far out of place in the milieu of Unearthed Arcana?

I'm firmly in the 3d6-in-order camp for ability score generation, and prefer the simpler classes and races in classic or basic D&D.  It supports emergent character concepts and avoids the dump stat mentality.  Emergent characters means this:  the combination of random generation, decisions in play, and survival, ultimately leads to a more interesting character than if the player scripted everything out via a point buy or rearrangement of the ability scores.  Emergent character is about discovering the character organically through play, and overcoming deficiencies; modern character generation is about creating a tactical build and then measuring if it performs as expected through empirical observation.

Which brings me to an issue I have with the 4d6 methods in AD&D and later - if you're going to swap scores around and do the whole min-max thing to get the character just right, why not just use an old school point buy and be done with it?

Seems like a good time for a poll, since ability score generation is one of those oft-house-ruled procedures that splits the community, and I doubt the 3d6 in order method is the most popular.  So drop a vote on the right or leave a comment.

Maps of Games Gone Bye

I dusted off the campaign cartographer this weekend while working on some maps for Thule and the Black City; I rediscovered all these old campaign maps, plucked from the wreckage of abandoned campaigns destroyed by Gamer ADD.  Anyone else use CC3 for their maps?  I was never great with it, but a B&W map shouldn't be too hard - I think I'm going to do the black & white island maps both in Hexographer and CC3 and see which approach I like best (they'll end up with hex overlays either way).  In the meantime, here are the forgotten maps of yesteryear:

Greek Colonies
At one point, I thought it would be fun to run something in the ancient world, based around Greek colonists to eastern Spain.  Here's the map of Spain, a map of Greece, and then Europe (all done in Campaign Cartographer).  I seem to remember there were dwarves in the Pyrenees, and had a dwarven monastery discovered by the Greek colonists.  Celtic indigents were bad guys.  I don't remember exactly what "Pillage" was about on the Achea map, but I remember my son (who was probably 6 or 7 at the time) wanted me to use it as a city name - I think it was meant to have a Necromancer king and a bunch of undead.  I'm laughing that I used Roman names on a Greek map of Europe!

Tarraco, Greek Colony in Iberia

Achea, with the City-State of Pillage

Continental map for the Greek campaign

Forgotten Realms
These two are from some starts/stops in the Forgotten Realms when we were still fooling around with 4E just before the old school return and Gothic Greyhawk - one is from the Luruar area, the other is Thar in the Moonsea region.

The Moonsea

Luraur

Nentir Vale
These must have been from the beginning of the 4E time period - they are two versions of the same smooshed Europe, with names lifted from Hyboria.  I can see where I placed the Nentir Vale near the top of the map, assuredly marking these as early 4E era maps.

Movie Review: Insidious

I'm traveling a bit this week, so being kid-free means I can catch a few long overdue horror movies through netflix streaming.  First one up - Insidious.

The first act does a fine job building tension and dread without any gore.  The basic premise is that a kid falls off a ladder and enters a long term coma, and is returned home for hospice care.  Meanwhile, the family is terrorized by progressively more disturbing haunting sequences until they feel forced to change houses.  When the haunting recurs in the new house, they start reaching out to psychics and paranormal investigators - and learn the epicenter of the haunting is the child himself, as a demon seeks to take over his vacant body.  It slides into the surreal when we learn the spirit of the boy is trapped deep in the astral plane, and this is the reason for the unexplainable coma.  And then one of the characters goes on an astral journey to bring him back.

The theme of a disembodied child stuck in a spiritual realm is reminiscent of Poltergeist, but in this one, we get to see the other side, what the psychic calls "The Further"... and see what inhabits it.

Gaming Inspiration
There are moments late in the movie that don't live up to the film's early promise, but the final act is where Insidious is really great for gaming inspiration.  I can't think of much media that involves other planar experiences (unless you count old Doctor Strange comics).  The scenes in the astral plane are inky and dark, claustrophobic, in haunted landscapes with ghostly phantoms reliving moments of horror through stop motion tableaus.  There's a sequence in the lair of a demon that's creepy and evocative in a fun-house sort of way - I loved it.

In D&D terms, "The Further"  is closest to the ethereal plane (rather than the D&D astral plane).  It's a place where ghosts and apparitions roam, and demons from more distant places come closer to the lands of the living seeking victims.  If I ever incorporate ethereal travel into a game, I'll revisit Insidious for inspiration on presenting the ethereal realm as a nightscape of bodiless haunts.  Definitely worth a viewing.

Viking Ships for the Black City

I've been doing writing on the side for the Black City manuscript; a lot of the adventure details won't get posted on the blog, seeing as I expect to run and publish them, but the setting material slated for the appendix is fair game.  Here's are the notes from the secion on typical Viking ships.

A couple of questions have arisen.  Longship recreations can go about 10-11 knots with a wind, which corresponds to 90 miles per day.  Most D&D books aren't clear on whether a day of ship travel is 8 hours, 12 hours, or double or triple for 24 hours, and how often winds change.  Just presenting travel for a typical day isn't quite enough.  More reading is required.

The other question is philosophical and purely a game decision - would you make Norse marines that are not adventurers 0-level men or 1st level fighters?

VIKING SHIPS
There are many different variants of the longship - karvi, knarr, snekkja, skeide, and the famous dragon ship (drakkar).  For purposes of gaming, I'm collapsing the variants into 3 simple types - the knarr, a ship optimized for trade and open seas travel, the longship, and the drakkar.  The massive drakkar was a flagship meant for short distance invasions, owned by kings, and typically wouldn't be found in the hands of petty captains on Thule; most vessels on the island will either by piloting knarrs (80%) or longships (20%).

The knarr has fewer rowing stations than a military longship - only just enough for guiding the craft and handling.  It can be piloted by a smaller crew.  Cargo is placed towards the center of the ship; otherwise, it appears like a shorter and slightly wider longship.  Both knarrs and longships use clinker hulls, a single 40' woolen sail and single mast; the crew is completely exposed to the elements, and rowers sit on sea chests, which are also used to store their gear.

Both longships and knarr are shallow draft vessels that need no harbor; they can be beached on shore and carried for portage.  Because the crew needs to eat their food cold while under sail, the preference is to beach the ship whenever possible and make a regular camp on land.

Viking navigators sight a bearing using something called a bearing dial or horizon board, aligning their course based on the sunrise instead of navigating by the stars.  This is especially useful during the long summer days.  A special type of crystal prism, called a viking's compass or solarsteinn, is used to find the sun on cloudy days.

Here are game stats for these vessels:

SHIP DEMOGRAPHICS
Yeoman farmers and local lords (hersir) are the owners and sponsors of a knarr and crew, putting the vessel in the able hands of a local captain or the noble himself, and hoping for mutual profits.  The knarr captain will be a 3rd level fighter, and the crew of 8-14 sailors will be 1st level fighters.

Militant war-bands that have converted to adventuring from raiding will have a longship, sponsored by an earl or jarl back home.  Longships will have larger crews of 40-50 level 1 fighters, commanded by an experienced 5th level captain and a 4th level second in command.

Most crews will have agreements to split shares of treasure equally, after apportioning a large percentage (33-50%) to the sponsors that provided both ship and captain.

Longship
5th level captain
4th level second-in-command
40-50 0-level or 1st level fighters

Knarr
3rd level captain
8-15 0-level or 1st level fighters


* The ship pictured above is the Ottar, a modern day recreation - you can read about it here:  Ottar.  Very cool.

Too Busy Looking at the Map to Notice the Monster

I had a post last week that brought up issues that happen when shifting time scale and narrative control between players and the DM.  A specific example is daily overland travel.  It's all very high level and abstract; the players say something along these lines:  "We get up early, break camp, and will march all day through this hex of woods, on guard at all times".  Play shifts to the DM, to narrate what happens for that day.  If an encounter is rolled, the time scale quickly shifts down from a daily unit of time back to 10 second melee rounds, collapsing to a granular level.  What are the characters doing, what is the specific local terrain like, when daily time shifts back to combat time?  Random tables to the rescue.

Below are a set of three tables - one for what are the characters doing at the time of the encounter, the other two are for woods and mountain local terrain, respectively.  I spent about 15 years living near the Rockies in Colorado, and camping up in Wyoming, and have a fair sense on both types of terrain.  Our campaign is shifting towards wilderness and mountains shortly.

The charts below can work with percentile dice, but I'm expecting to print out page 71 of the Vornheim book and drop some different colored d4's on a sheet of paper; I included a cross reference column with the Vornheim page in case anyone else agrees that dropping dice on a sheet of paper is rife with entertainment value.  (If the dice lands on the square for "baker", for instance, that guys is actually relieving himself when the encounter comes along.  That sad little monkey).  For my own game, I'll probably have one d4 for the group, and toss 1-3 additional d4's to indicate what a few of the outliers or stragglers are doing.  Players will complain, but anyone who has hiked with the scouts or spent time in the infantry knows that groups don't keep their intervals or spacing, columns do the inch-worm thing, bunching and stretching, and you're always stopping to let the stragglers catch up and take water.

I generated a few sample results to see how some actual encounters would kick off - this is what the group is doing when the wandering monster check happens:

Group 1, in the Woods
These guys are taking a standing rest; perhaps someone just yelled for the stragglers to catch up.  They're near a deadfall in the woods, so maybe they've stopped to try and determine the best way across.  One guy is sitting down, another is tying his shoe, but one guy is on active guard duty - taking his job seriously!

Group 2, in the Mountains
There's a nearby ruined habitation, perhaps an old wooden shack.  Most everyone is rummaging in their packs, except two guys are pouring over the map together, and a third is jogging back - perhaps to tell them no one noticed the monster clearing the tree line behind the party.

Group 3, in the Woods
It's a sunny glade, and these jokers are strolling along fairly casually.  One guy is completely enjoying the scenery (I blame the elf), another is falling back to drink water, and a third is taking a standing rest.  I hope a dragon lands in the glade and squashes all the pretty wild flowers that's distracting these clowns.

I'd feel a tinge of guilt springing something like encounter 3 on a group as an arbitrary DM choice, but when the dice decide, it's all fair game.  I'm ready for our next big wilderness crawl!

Black City Map Post - 1st dungeon level

Lazy post today - work is kicking it and I'm buried until the weekend.  Here's a sneak peek at the unkeyed maps for the first level beneath the ruined city.  The surface hex maps of the city are being revised significantly, partly for black and white printing, partly for function - they originally appeared here (black city maps and transit tunnels).  The first dungeon level beneath the ruins consists of a series of large "subway style" 20' tunnels beneath the ruins called "the transit tunnels".  The 30 x 30 maps below represent nodes along the transit tunnels where there are clusters of rooms, junctions, and small installations for exploration.