...from the AD&D 1e DMG. I bet that every one of us knows at least one person who clearly forgot (or never knew of) them!
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Click to enlarge! |
Okay, I must admit that the title is abit clickbaity. I do not dislike the classic six D&D stats. They are only tools. And - in my opinion - some of them may be replaced and others repurposed to make (my) games more interesting and make all their mechanical aspects easier to resolve.
Constitution (CON) - this stat devours and incorporates the Strength and becomes the general description of one's physical strength and toughness.
Dexterity (DEX) - nothing to see here, move along. Or rather, in some games, DEX was used to determine the ranged attacks, while STR was used to hit an opponent in melee. I find it, well, stupid. So, in my games (non-OSR games, as within the Old School I always stuck to 0e) DEX always was used for melee (and dodge, and of course som other non-combat actions). This brings us to the next stat.
Perception (PER) - I always thought that lack of ability that clearly described one's senses was the biggest flaw of D&D (and WFRP as well, but that's another story). Thus, behold the Perception! Easy to use in ranged combat, easy to use for well, spotting things, hearing things and, uhh, tasting things? Okay, that may be a little too far.
Willpower (WLP) - you may view the Willpower just as the classical Wisdom. I just changed the name to make it more fitting its purpose.
And... that's all! Or maybe not, as I like stats. And I like stat-based games and resolution systems. That's why the second edition of Terminal Space will be based on Knave. To make it even faster and easier to use. So, here are some additional ideas for the statistics:
Tech Level - I used it in both Terminal Space and Bandits and Battlecruisers. Randomly determining one's technological prowess always led to some hilarious results. Also, it fitted the genre really well.
Charisma - extremely useful in most games and/or settings. So, you may ask, why I omitted it? Because in some settings. worlds and circumstances, it becomes quite obsolete. For example, robots aren't very sociable, so in settings devoid of humans (and elves, dwarves and so on) CHA isn't very helpful. That's why I got rid of it in Pain.
Faith - can be used to describe the character's closeness to a god (or gods). Perilous Ages had some other minor mechanical benefits relatable to Faith's level but in more magical settings I would use it to affect one's ability to cast clerical spells.
Sync - very open idea, created for use in Pain to outline one's attunement to the mystical powers of the City. Here (page 3) I've added some additional ideas how to use this stat in your games. Fueled by Pain is percentile ruleset but hey, it doesn't really matter in the matter of the character abilities.
Oh, and the last thing - you may ask - WHERE THE FUCK IS INTELLIGENCE? Well, nowhere. I dumped it. INT is absolutely and utterly pointless, maybe except the situations when you roll it really low, which forces you to roleplay an idiot. But aside of that, it doesn't have many good uses (at least in my opinion). Extracting some information from the GM isn't one of them. If you're stupid and your character isn't, it won't end up well. And I ran games for some, let's say, not very bright individuals (and - to be perfectly honest with you - I like both them and the memories of our games) so it's way easier to remove the PCs intelligence score, thus balancing it with the one of the player.
Sheesh, I think this post is quite gibberish. I sat down and wrote it on the fly, without any previous notes and similar stuff. So, if something is totally unreadable or unclear - let me know!
As you can see, I've modified the looks of the blog. The last renovation took place in 2014 and I got quite bored by the mustard colors and wacky logo - so now it looks like a vomit, with even more wackiest logo!
In addition, I phased out of social media. Even MeWe gave me nothing good. I still do have an account but I do not plan to log in anytime soon. Too many toxic fucks there.
Soo, the Ashen Void has been released. And as I totally suck at promoting my shit, the sales are at all-time low! Which isn't good but I will still write new stuff. Because I love to.
What's next? I have no fucking clue. Maybe something based on the Knave (because why not?), maybe Terminal Space-related. Or maybe something entirely new. Or maybe Pain. Who knows - I don't!
It's done - Ashen Void is now available both in PDF and print (DTRPG PDF should be available within the next few days). The game is 88 pages-long and presented in full color. HERE you can find more detailed info about its contents!
It will be finished tomorrow. I think I will release it within the next few days...
Meanwhile - WHAT WAS LOST - and became embedded with the powers of the Wastes. This is only a half of one of the many random tables from the book.
This is an example monster from my upcoming system-neutral campaign setting, called the Ashen Void. As you can see, it's all random tables. I love random tables. And you should love them too.
Shape and Size
Spores
Magical Growths
Emblems
Here you can find the full list of everything that will be included in the book. The page above is a screenshot from InDesign, depicting one of the monsters. As I said in the previous post, no stat blocks whatsoever - it's completely system-neutral.
THE WORDS - list of 50 rumors; treat them as the main description of the setting.
ORIGINS - short descriptions of the 14 different places/nations/social groups from which PCs can originate.
THIS CURSE IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT - if one or more of your starting stats is exactly 13, you are cursed.
HUMAN SETTLEMENTS - 6 random tables, containing info about traits of the cities and some random encounters.
THE RUINS - 4 random tables about... the ruins. Tomb Cities, ancient capital of the empire and something more.
PEOPLE OF THE WASTES - Tribes of the West, Hermits of the Mud Flats.
HIRELINGS AND MERCENARIES - self-explanatory. Two tables.
NIGHTMARES INCARNATED: 42 random tables about the monsters.
THE TRIALS - more info soon!
WHAT WAS LOST - twelve mundane items, lost and saturated with the powers of the Wastes.
THE ANGELS - info about the menace of the world.
MAGIC OF BONES AND ANTLERS - self-explanatory (or not!).
Random FOSSILS
Random IMPERIAL POISONS
CORPSE PLUNDERING
ADVENTURE HOOKS
I wrote a setting. I needed a break from Pain and Sci-Fi (and Sci-Fantasy) in general. So I sat down and wrote a game. Systemless and comprised almost entirely of random tables. The proofreading and editing is already done, all artwork is done (with use of an AI). Now I'm fighting with InDesign to make a proper PDF (better than my previous releases, made in... Word).
More info soon.
Well, I'll keep it simple - I took a break. I was unable to make quality artwork in time that was satisfactory for me. All artwork I made for the Character Classes turned out to bee too low-res to be OK in print. And I need to make over 80 drawings for the game. And I felt pressure, so I snapped.
It was a purely self-exerted pressure, as I haven't promised any deadlines, release dates etc. So - it was just fucking stupid. I felt pressure, so I become feeling uncomfortable. And I've lost fun I had while working on Pain. And - to be honest - it was all about fun. The process of designing and illustrating this game was a source of great joy, until something in my mindset has changed.
So - let me repeat myself once again - I snapped. I felt like shit, like I let myself down.
Did I mention it was stupid? Yes, I did. And I realized that just mere moments later. So I've decided that it have to wait and that I need some rest. To regain the ability to have fun while working on the project.
My way of taking a rest is, well... I immediately started to work on something different. A setting that was slowly taking shape in my head for quite some time. And man, when I started writing it down, it begun taking shape really quickly. And still is.
So far I have over 8k words written (it means about 1k words per day - not great, not terrible). And it's not 8k words of notes - it's 8k words of an actual game. It's Towers of Krshal pace. And it's fun. Hard and difficult work but fun nonetheless.
Maybe I will post something more about the setting tomorrow.
Oh, and the artwork above - it was made with help of an AI. I like it alot. And the new thing will have all artwork made or enhanced by a heartless machine.
If all of this sounds gibberish - I'm sorry. I'm not very good at writing essay-ish things about myself, in foreign language, haha!
I will come back to this game - I put way too much heart into Pain to give up. But I need another break.
Meanwhile, I present you the full game mechanics of Pain RPG. It's a very simple, percentile ruleset, based on my Perilous Ages game. You should be able to post comments in the document, so feel free to ask questions and post your ideas and concerns.
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Inspired Artisan. Or maybe a Banana Warlock? |
Few days ago I realized that every information I've already posted about the game is just some cryptic, in-game mumbo jumbo and that people don't really know any concrete information about the overall premise. It's time to change it!
GENRE
I'd say Science Fantasy. Even though technology is ever-present, not many inhabitants of the City understand how things work. In fact, they don't even understand the nature of their bodies. Also, there's magic. So yes, Science Fantasy is the best term to describe the game's genre.
SETTING
Only one City (named... Pain) remained after the cataclysm that destroyed the world one thousand years ago. And - of course - there is a vast Underworld below it. From the huge scrapyard of Rust, through the accursed Bone Forest and mysterious Sorrow, down to the ultimate corruption of the Machine - device which was used by the Hollow Ones to 'save the world' - which, of course, didn't go well.
RULESET
Percentile but very streamlined, kept in the OSR vibe. I grew up on WFRP 1e (as most of Polish gamers of my generation), so I'm very fond of % rules. They are extremely easy to tweak and hard to break. But, if someone decides to ditch the mechanics, I'll provide some (very general) guidelines how to adjust monster stats to the old-school D&D or modern retroclones.
THE FORM
Almost all descriptions of the setting will be presented in form of in-game quotes. And these quotes are sometimes contradictory. This way every GM can build his/her own vision of the game world.
And there will be maps. Probably lots of maps. Slightly artpunky maps. But I want to make them somewhat readable (and usable).
And there will be random tables. I love random tables. There will be over a hundred of them. Because I enjoy making them.
THE ARTWORK
I'm not a professional artist (although I sell my artwork from time to time) and I have no training in art. But I want to make almost all artwork for the game myself. The results may vary. But I enjoy the process and the results are acceptable (at least IMO). You can see the example above. It's not my best one but I'm not ashamed of it, haha!
I most likely forgot about something really important. Feel free to ask questions!
FOLLOW THE PAIN RPG ON TWATTER
oops...