Tuesday 19 July 2016

THE REWIRED: Those 'Crazies', a b/x lablord PC Warrior Class

THE REWIRED

SPACE TRASH, ZONETRASH, ZONEWARS (TM) CLASS


Call em 'The Crazed' or just plain old batshit insane, these lunatics are are certain class or warriors who have by surgery, conditioning, or engineering been rendered double-plus combat-survival ready, guaranteed not to crack under fire, to work as a highly syncronised aspergo-emoto combat unit, well, except that is perhaps in the mess que, parade ground, around children perhaps or whatever not so much however, what?


"Aaarrrggghhh!!!!"

THE REWIRED


Liberal rearrangement of neural pathways, thought patterns and hormones through psychosurgery and psycho-conditioning (and in some instances cloning e.g Ariel Legion) has resulted in a superior warriors guaranteed to complete difficult missions as a highly coordinated team, not be batshit insane, and definitely not to answer back.  No I’m not. Rejects never end up working as solos.  You looking at me?

·         Will and Con
·         Attack:  As fighter
·         Hit dice:  Fighter
·         Save as Fighter
·         All weapons.
·         Heavy Armour
·         Base xp 4000

"Aaarrrggghhh!!!!"


Class Features

o    Either STR or CON may be 16, the other may be 14
o    Neural rerouting - save verses death as a dwarf
o    More likely to sneak up on enemies as a ranger
o    +1 to attacks with either melee OR guns OR demolition/IED skill as 'hear noise' skill for a thief of the same level
o    Advantage on WIL saves, and 
             -At 2nd level gets a save verses sleep
             -At 4th level Impervious to pain and fear effects
o    +5 hp,
o    Speed +25%
o    Ain’t dead yet.  When at 0hp and the saving throw is made you may continue to act if you choose, each time you take damage you save again, and die at -10 regardless
o    Martial Arts.  Level1 - d6 damage, level4 2d6, level8 3d6 (+STR)
o    Drawback/Disadvantage:  Batshit insane
o    Special Defences/Advantage:  Batshit insane

o    Batshit insane BATGUY Option (you have to be mad to take it):  If the player chooses to be so batshit crazy that he avoids killing, then he may add +2 to all ‘to hit’ rolls and +2 damage with unarmed and blunt attacks and knock out as a monk

"Aaarrrggghhh!!!!"


Thursday 22 October 2015

Lamentations of the Flame Princess Is A Waste of Space Apparently

On Monday a poster at Dragonsfoot wrote:

"I don't like the LotFP material but only because the entire ethos stinks and the writing is appalling. I think horror is an aspect of fantasy to be explored with subtlety and cleverness in the manner of Lovecraft but the adolescent gore grenades of LotfP remnd me of the Hostel franchise, ie very stupid rubbish.

What do you think of the LotfP product?

Are you glad that D&D gamers don't have much respect for LotFP ?"

Now that's a pretty bold statement, especially when it is largely unqualified.  What stinks about the ethos? If it is so irrelevant then why start the thread?  The very fact that the thread exists shows that LotFP is relevant in the D&D world.

What you mean is that you don't like it, and ironically, the very thing you say is missing, i.e. subtlety and cleverness, IS usually the main ingredient needed to survive an LotFP adventure (and often lacking is most D&D adventures which can usually be solved with violence).

As for the impact on the OSR, according to that thread it has had none; to which I wonder "How did this lot end up in my living room?".

It seems quite clear that LotFP is irrelevant.


Check out my mini review of The Idea From Space here;







Friday 16 October 2015

Denezins of the 1000 Towers. Wiley Bunn.

There are few true vampires in the Land of 1000 Towers but this is one.  Not as powerful as the vampire of Lugosi, but enough to test an unwary party of adventurers, this creature can be encountered wandering the more inhabited jungles to the west of denethix, sometimes mumbling to someone called Riley, more often passing like a ghost.

No one knows how old this degenerate curmudgeon is.  It certainly does not know itself, and remebers little of the countless lifetimes it has endured.  It does know that once great cities housed millions of bloodbags and if one got too hot you could move to another.

What it also knows is how to survive.


Nosferatu by joelharlow.deviantart.com

Wiley Bunn, Level Five Nosferatu Archetype Vampire.
Created using the rules here.

STR 11
DEX14 +1
CON 10
INT 14
WIS 14 +1
CHA 6 -1
BLOOD 25

Hit Points: 22
Armour Class: 8
To hit bonus +5 (+strength)
Save as Fighter5

VAMPIRE GIFTS
Beast Senses  (The Beast 1)
Pass Without Trace (Stealth 1)
Doppelganger (Monster 1)
Strength (Monster 2)
Invisibility (Stealth 3)

GEAR
Mallet (treat as warhammer)
Rusty old revolver which 25% will backfire.
A ball of string made from different strings tied together.  Claims he's holding it for a friend.



For Jared, happy birthday buddy.






Tuesday 13 October 2015

The Night Brood: Vampire Player Characters for D&D

Zak Smith asked the question the other day "What would make Vampire more fun for you?"

And I thought "hmmmm..."  

Well my second reaction was that it is for angsty young goths and that it isn't fun, but I have to admit I did once play a game for two years that was actually rather good.  Ultimately is was intra party factionalism and overplayed theme of mistrust that broke it but for the most it was very good.

So it was the way we played it and not the game that spoiled that part.  I think played as Night Black Agents or something like that it could be cool, or a foray into the near future or medieval settings like those awful Underworld movies or that rather good one made in Australia (Daybreakers?).

The second thing I didn't like much was the system.  Too clunky.  Dice pool after dice pool (after dice pool after dice pool) just to see who sneaks up on who: boring.  "Does anyone have any modifiers to surprise? No?  Roll d6 for surprise.  Okay, coming out of the mist...".  Easy.  I also strongly disliked character generation and felt the point buy shoehorned characters and played into the victim mentality of hating people who are athletic, smart, and socially competent too.  Random stats rock.

Anyway, I know what my answer is now.  What would make Vampire better for me is if it was easy like D&D.


Vampire Player Characters for D&D. 

Optional choices are italicized.


Saving Throws: Fighter
Attack as:  Monster.  +1 per level
Any armour and weapons. 
All unarmed vampires do 1d4+str in melee.  Those with the Monster Within gifts do 1d6.
(You can probably use any of the non magic-using classes if you want but this is effectively a class)

Roll 3d6 seven times (or 4d6 if you're not hardcore).  

The seventh attribute is your starting Blood (how much blood you can ‘hold’).  At first level and each level thereafter a vampire pc gains a number of blood equal to their new level.  

Constitution modifiers still apply to hit points and saving throws verses final death to represent that some bodies are tougher than others.  (I originally wanted to have con as blood but then it became too powerful as a single stat.  This way has more character range).

'Spent' blood is restored by feeding, meaning higher level vampires are much thirstier.    Consider using a multiplier for converting human hit points to blood based on how bloodthirsty you want things.  1hp to 5b might be a good place to start meaning most low level characters can refuel off a zero level human or two (1-4hp = 5-20b. 



At first level a vampire can drain ½ a hit dice, at third a whole hit dice, and at fifth level two hit dice per round.  This also drains levels from levelled characters.



Because Blood starts as a 3d6 attribute, as with the other attributes bad things happen when blood goes below three.  At two the vampire becomes obsessed with finding more blood, at one the vampire flies into an uncontrollable frenzy which ends either when it gets blood or is reduced in some way to zero blood, or is destroyed.  At zero blood the vampire falls into a torpor as if it had been staked through the heart.

A vampire that is staked through the heart is immobilised.

Final death is handled the same way as a human.  At zero hit points a saving throw verses final death must be made.  These receive a bonus based on Constitution score (to represent that some vampire bodies are tougher).  Depending on the nature of your game, like if it is a longer game, final death might mean that the vampire turns into a mist and goes back to it’s grave (or perhaps that is a high level ability) and in which case 'final death' will actually require some other condition.

Sunlight inflicts d4 damage in the first round, 2d4 in the second, 3d4 in the third and so on.  A vampire reduced to zero hit points by sunlight is destroyed.  A vampire must make a saving throw verses fear to enter sunlight, and when in sunlight must make one each round to avoid flying into a fear based frenzy if they attempt any action other than seek shelter.  Damage from sunlight is harder to ‘heal’ using blood as described below.

Vampires are also vulnerable to silver.  Either silver damage is as hard to heal as fire, OR damage inflicted by silver may not be healed until the the following round.  Some hunters claim that even powerful vampires have been taken down with a hail of silver arrows or bullets.

If you need to figure how how many generations removed from the ‘First’ vampire your pc is, then 20 minus your starting Blood Pool (OR whatever you want) seems about right.  

Hit points are handled normally, and accumulate at d8 per level.  If you want Vampires much tougher than humans go with 2d8 or more at first level. 

If you want a more supernatural feel to your game, consider calculating hit points and blood points normally and then adding the totals together and just taking all blood use and hit point damage straight out of that same total.  This will increase the sense that it is a pool of supernatural power that is at work here rather than a body that has undergone a supernatural change but characters will feel a little more similar.

Blood can be spent in a number of ways.  Each round a number of blood up to your level plus two may be spent.  Gifts may be activated, attributes increased, or hit points healed on the vampires turn.   Playtesting Issue.  I am strongly consider making it only one of these three options each round to make things more tactical.

Blood spent to either heal hit points or increase attributes is done so at a rate of one for one. 

Damage from sunlight may not be healed as long as the vampire remains exposed, and thereafter may only be healed at the cost of two blood per hit point.  Damage from fire also costs two blood per hit point to heal.  If not using the optional delay healing mechanic for silver damage then silver damage also costs two blood per hp to heal.



Blood can also be spent to activate ‘gifts’.  Vampire ‘gifts’ use the mechanics of spells and a vampire gets one at first level and one per level thereafter.  If you want to use the concept of vampire bloodlines then each bloodline should have access to three spheres of gifts.  These should be theme appropriate to the vampire and the setting.  e.g.  the classic Nosferatu archetype gets the ability spheres of Monster Within, Stealth, and The Beast.
These gifts cost one blood per level of the spell to activate.  Consider making this level-plus-one to activate or more if the players are doing too much magic spam.


List of Vampire Gifts

Blood Magic


Cure Light Wounds
Blood Magic
Level 1
Resist Cold
Blood Magic
Level 1
Feather Fall
Blood Magic
Level 1
Jump
Blood Magic
Level 1
Barkskin
Blood Magic
Level 2
Feign Death
Blood Magic
Level 2
Levitate
Blood Magic
Level 2
Cure Disease
Blood Magic
Level 3
Fly
Blood Magic
Level 3
Haste
Blood Magic
Level 3


Madness

Auditory Illusion
Madness
Level 1
Darkness Globe (Shadow Veil)
Madness
Level 1
Hypnotism
Madness
Level 1
Ventriloquism
Madness
Level 1
Blur
Madness
Level 2
Hypnotic Pattern
Madness
Level 2
Misdirection
Madness
Level 2
Ventriloquism
Madness
Level 2
Amnesia
Madness
Level 2
Mirror Image
Madness
Level 2
Phantasmal Force
Madness
Level 2
Scare
Madness
Level 2
Paralyze
Madness
Level 3
Spectral Force
Madness
Level 3


Presence

1. Command
Presence
Level 1
9. Remove Fear
Presence
Level 1
1. Allure
Presence
Level 1
3. Charm Person
Presence
Level 2
11. Suggestion
Presence
Level 3
11. Hold Person
Presence
Level 3


Stealth

9. Pass without Trace
Stealth
Level 1
10. Silence Radius
Stealth
Level 2
11. Nondetection
Stealth
Level 2

7. Invisibility
Stealth
Level 3




Monster Within


7. Doppelganger
Monster Within
Level 1
28. Spider Climb
Monster Within
Level 1
23. Stinking Cloud
Monster Within
Level 2
Strength
Monster Within
Level 2
4. Insect Swarm
Monster Within
Level 3
3. Fear
Monster Within
Level 3


Rituals


21. Protection from Evil
Ritual
Level 1
23. Read Magic
Ritual
Level 1
24. Scribe
Ritual
Level 1
9. Reveal Charm
Ritual
Level 2
2. Animate Dead
Ritual
Level 3
6. Dispel Magic
Ritual
Level 3
11. Remove Curse (reversible)
Ritual
Level 3
15. Protection from Evil 10Ê radius
Ritual
Level 3


The Beast

1. Animal Companion
The Beast
Level 1
Beast Senses (surprise as ranger)
The Beast
Level 1
7. Invisibility, Animal
The Beast
Level 1
12. Speak with Animals
The Beast
Level 1
29. Summon Familiar
The Beast
Level 1
Charm Person or Mammal
The Beast
Level 2
11. Snake Charm
The Beast
Level 2
12. Infravision
The Beast
Level 2
3. Hold Animal
The Beast
Level 3


Vision Beyond The Veil


8. Locate Creature
Beyond the Veil
Level 1
5. Detect Illusion
Beyond the Veil
Level 1
6. Detect Invisibility
Beyond the Veil
Level 1
20. Message
Beyond the Veil
Level 1
5. Know Alignment
Beyond the Veil
Level 2
8. ESP
Beyond the Veil
Level 2
12. Speak with Dead
Beyond the Veil
Level 3
2. Clairaudience
Beyond the Veil
Level 3
3. Clairvoyance
Beyond the Veil
Level 3


Environmental

12. Wall of Vapor
Environmental
Level 1
9. Obscuring Mist
Environmental
Level 2
5. Fog Cloud
Environmental
Level 2
9. Gust of Wind
Environmental
Level 3