Wrestleworld Characters

Jason over at The Only Successful One is working on a D&D/Pro-Wrestling hybrid game. I've joined on to try to it out via G+ Hangout on Thursday night. I rolled up a couple characters based on the rules he put together on his blog.

Contact Jason via the blog, the ConstantCon announcement, or find him on G+ if you are interested. It's totally gonzo and should be a blast.

Here's what I have so far --

Name: The Spoiler III
Class: U.S./Canadian Brawler
Alignment: Tweener
Finisher: Spoiler Bomb
Signature Moves: Spoiler Diviving Spear, Fall Away Slam, A Left & A Right & A Left & A..., Spoiler Splash
Entrance Music: Sheer Terror - I Spoiler

Name: Caltrop Cal
Class: U.S./Canadian Death Match Wrestler
Alignment: Heel
Finisher: Caltrop Driver
Signature Moves: Ring Apron Back Breaker, Head Shot Politics, Barbed Wire Projectile, Hey Mr. Culligan Man!
Entrance Music: Fuck...I'm Dead - Shotgun Facelift

Name: Mazmorra Extraordinario
Class: Lucha High Flyer (masked)
Alignment: Technico
Finisher: Mazmorra Superfantastico (450 corkscrew splash)
Signature Moves: Flying Knee, Dragonrana, Springboard Ropewalk Dive to the Floor, Tope Con Giro
Entrance Music: Dragoner - Dios Del Metal

Bradley Keep - Session 4

Bradley Keep is the name of my Labyrinth Lord sandbox campaign. The goal is to highlight some of the best that the OSR community has to offer.

Date: Sunday March 11, 2012

Adventurers:

• Dorf the Dwarf (Tim)
• Stikky Fingas - Human Thief (Allen) 
• Linus the Courageous - Human Fighter (Jen) 
• Graelyn Thorn - Elf Magic User/Cleric (Gina)
• Samantha the Butcher - Human Magic User & Marsha - Rottweiller (Brad)
• Bargar - Torch Bearer (NPC)

The party finished off the last session by killing off Mierra, the skeletal seneschal. They started this game by searching the body, finding a pouch with a brass key. Pocketing the key, they head down the hall to the west and find two doors and a hallway to the north and a set of double doors to the south. They investigate the double doors and find a library with an ethereal woman arranging books. Calling to her, she turns, puts her finger to her lips and shushes. Graelyn enters, but his plate makes a bit too much noise. The noise sets off the librarian again, and again she shushes. Getting frustrated Dorf mocks the librarian's shushing. She turns and screams, causing aural damage to all of the characters. They slam the door and run off. 

Moving back down the hall the try the first door to the north. They notice some kind of magical script. Unable to decipher it on the spot, they continue to the second door to the north. They find the door locked and while Stikky tries to pick it, a creature shambles out of the darkness. Samantha unleashed the dog and the rest of the party fire ranged weapons and drop the zombie maid. They find a ring with a small gem on her finger and a skeleton key, which opens the door Stikky was working at. They find  a small room with a desk. In the desk, there were three scrolls, some parchments, arcane inks, quills, and a magnifying glass. They head up the hallway to the north and find a door about halfway up the hall. The room is unlocked. They find a large desk, a comfortable chair, and a small end table. A creepy little creature comes from behind the chair and flies at the group. It first swooped at Marsha, but missed the dog. On the next round, it moved to Stikky, biting and killing him. The group made quick work of the creature, but not without a huge loss. They loot the room, finding a bottle of absinthe on the end table, a quarterstaff hanging above the fireplace, and a polished onyx gem stone with an "R" embossed in gold. Deciding to cut their losses and get some additional help, the group heads back to the keep for a couple days of R&R.

The group pawns off the ring and discovers the onyx has some magical properties. Dorf decides to blow through some of his earnings and "hires" a woman for the evening. Trying to be classy, he breaks open one of the wine bottles from the Tower. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side and he succumbs to the poison contained within. He dies and the woman steals anything of worth on his person and flees. While Samantha tries to decipher her scrolls, she unfortunately discovers that one of them is cursed, striking her blind. She is taken to the temple, where she agrees to tithe 10% of her earnings to the Church of St. Cuthbert to have the curse removed. They also purchase a couple potions of healing. Graelyn purchased a Talbot hound and a carrier pigeon. The group recruits a new thief, The Artless Dodger, and another fighter, the Elf, Savron. Graelyn consumes a large amount of the absinthe, finishing the bottle. He is drunk, but seems to have some sort of magical ability of True Sight. After wrapping up the loose ends, they gather up the drunken Graelyn and head back to the Manor. 

On the trip back to the Manor, Savron spies a beautiful woman near a tree who beckons him. As he approaches with the Dodger. As the two get a bit closer, she disappears into the tree. They find no sign of her anywhere. When they get to the yard around the Manor, Graelyn inspects the statue of the gnome and realizes it was once a living creature. They take him into house and he identifies another magical cloak that has a protection from fire spell cast upon it, which the dodger dons. They then drag the drunk over to the magical script written above the first doorway. It reads "This Space Intentionally Left Blank." Confused, teh troupe moves back to the first room they had explored, the parlor. In the parlor, Graelyn identifies a number of potions. They also find some strange magical sling stones, and a secret passageway through up through the chimney. The party empties their water skins into the magical fire (a small elemental) and destroy it. The Dodger climbs the chimney and finds the master bedroom. The rest of the group climbs with the assistance of a rope dropped by the thief. In the room they find a electrum key under the mattress and a small jar, labelled "Oil of O'Lay". They check two doors on the eastern wall, finding a modern bath room, complete with magical toilet. The other room is literally full of skeletons. Each round, another skeleton emerges from the void beyond. After two rounds, they force the doors closed, stopping the assault. They then move to investigate the room to the north, finding a nursery with ornate crib and toy box. They pull out a finely crafted music box, a small gem, and a number of mundane toys. The main doors were made of an alien metal and would not open. Samantha goes back into the bathroom and applies some of the Oil of O'Lay. When she leaves rejoins the group, she looks noticeably younger. The still drunken Graelyn stated that they were attuned to a specific person.

Since there were no other exits, they went back down the chimney. Moving back down the hallway, they are approached by another ethereal form which starts miming for them to join her in the room at the end of the hall. Inside, they discover a skeleton in a porcelain tub. Eventually, they realize the ghostly figure would like the group to bury her remains. Linus and Savron gather up the remains, run outside and proceed to bury them. The ghost dissipates when the action is completed. The Dodger checks the two doors to the north of the hallway. The first is clearly the living quarters of the maid. They quickly search the room, but only find her  her wardrobe. In the room across the hall they find the zombie butler. They make quick work of it, discover a second skeleton key, a strange golden device (which the confused players quickly identified as a modern pocket watch). 

We wrapped the game at this point. They will continue exploring the rest of the manor at the next game.

Critical Hits and Fumbles

Here's another set of rules from our home games. Critical hits happen on a natural 20, and fumbles happen on a natural 1.

Fumbles are a bit simpler, so I'll describe that first. Fumbles always miss and cause you to go last in initiative in the following round while you recover. Since we use group initiative (both sides roll a d6 and the winning side acts first), this is only a real penalty if your side wins or ties in the following initiative round. If your side wins, your side goes, the bad guys go, then you go. If there is a tie, the groups act simultaneously. I usually just let the players go first. If they drop any of the monsters, the monster will still get a strike in as it dies. If you fumbled on the previous round, you lose the opportunity to get the dying strike off. A fumble also disrupts any other attack rolls a character or monster might have in the round. This is HUGE for multi-attack monsters (Claw/Claw/Bite), as all 3 dice are rolled at once. A single 1 in that handful causes a miss for the other attacks as well.

Critical hits always hit and do double dice damage, but do not double strength or other magic weapon bonuses.  When you crit, you roll another d20 to determine location and effects. One of John's old DMs originally designed the table and John modified it over the years. At first glance, it looks a bit cumbersome, but plays pretty quickly at the table.  I'll post current version, with modifications for Labyrinth Lord.

Download the Google Docs version.

The Wakulik Critical Hit Table

Labyrinth Lord revision

Roll 1d20 to determine location

1. Rt Knee/Lower Leg: -1/3 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
2. Lt Knee/Lower Leg: -1/3 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
3. Rt Leg: -1/2 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
4. Lt Leg: -1/2 move; -1 to Dex AC bonus
5. Groin: -3 to hit, -2 dmg for 1d4 turns.  Males: -3/4 move & Save vs Pet or stunned 1d10 rds
6. Buttocks: -1/3 move; can’t sit down
7. Abdomen: -3 to hit, -1 dmg; instant death treated as mortal wound (see D below)
8. Rt Side(Ribs):-1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken rib (double penalties)
9. Lt Side(Ribs):-1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken rib (double penalties)
10. Rt Hand: Becomes useless; if sever indicated, roll 1d10: 1-5 lose rolled number of fingers, 6-10 lose whole hand
11. Lt Hand: Becomes useless; if sever indicated, roll 1d10: 1-5 lose rolled number of fingers, 6-10 lose whole hand
12. Rt Arm: -1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken (becomes useless until healed)
13. Lt Arm: -1 to hit, -2 dmg; roll under Con or broken (becomes useless until healed)
14. Chest: Save vs Death or lose 1 pt Con per 10 pts dmg (max 4 pt loss)
15. Rt Shoulder: -1 to hit, -2 dmg
16. Lt Shoulder: -1 to hit, -2 dmg
17. Neck: Save vs Poison or permanent loss of voice
18. Face: Roll 1d8: 1/2- R/L eye, 3- nose, 4- mouth, 5/6 R/L cheek, 7/8 R/L ear; lose 1 pt Cha per 10 pts dmg (max 3 pt loss)
19. Head: Roll 1d4: 1- forehead, 2- top, 3/4- R/L side; -1 to hit; save vs Pet or KO 1d10 rds
20. Death Blow(vital organs): Double damage dealt for purposes of determining chance of instant death

Notes

1. All critical hits cause a scar.
2. The GM may choose to modify the roll based on attacker/target size difference.  For each size category the attacker is larger than the defender, add +1 to the roll; subtract 1 for each size category smaller the attacker is than the defender.  In these cases, however, the modified roll may not exceed 19, and a rolled 20 should not be lowered: a death blow result can only, and will always, come from a natural 20.
3. Where “Roll vs Damage” is indicated,  roll percentile dice.  Damage is that sustained by character after all modifiers(double for critical hit, strength bonus, etc.).
4. Italics indicates a chance of instant death.  Roll vs Damage; if roll is equal to or under damage, death results.  If GM allows, a System Shock check may be made; success indicates mortal wound, with death in 1d4 minutes
5. Underlined locations are those that can be severed.  Roll vs Damage; if roll is equal to or under damage, area is severed from the body.  In the case of the groin, sever result can only be suffered by male characters.
6. Where sever and death are indicated, roll first for sever; if limb is not severed, there is no chance of instant death.  If limb is severed, make System Shock roll, with failure indicating death.  Note that severing the neck will result in instant death- no further roll is required.
7. All penalties are cumulative and will persist until wound is healed.  At GM’s discretion, a dedicated healing spell may be required to remove the penalties of any single critical hit. Note that only very powerful healing magics can repair a sever.

Equipment Lists

I think Gutter Cult is quickly becoming "The Blog Where I Answer Queries Posed By The Dungeoneering Dad..."

This time, Dan asked about starting gear packages for fantasy RPGs on G+ the other day (again, not sure how sturdy that like will be, and you'll probably need to be in Dan's RPG circle to read it). Selecting gear during character creation for old school games is definitely the slowest part of the procedure, particularly for new players. They can also be used to speed up equipping hirelings and henchmen. John, the other DM in my home games has some good lists, so I asked if I could post them up here on the blog.

These lists use Labryinth Lord and AEC prices and weights, but should be easy to convert to other systems.

Google Docs Word File (contains all gear from LL & AEC and the Packages listed below).

Adventurer Essentials	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)		Cleric Package	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)
Backpack (empty)	2	2		Candles (10)	0.1	0
Bedroll	0.1	5		Holy symbol, wooden	1	0
Flint and steel	2	0		Holy water (flask)	25	1
Pouch, small belt	0.5	0		Pouch, small belt	0.5	0
Torches (8)	0.3	8		Garlic (3 cloves)	5	0
Waterskin/Wineskin	1	4		Wolfsbane (per ounce)	0.8	0
Rations, trail (5 days)	2.5	5		Total	32.4 GP	1 lb
Rope, hemp (50 ft)	1	10		Magic User Package	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)
Sack, large (empty)	0.2	0.5		Candles (10)	0.1	0
Total	9.6 GP	34.5 lbs		Case, map or scroll	1	0.5
Supplemental Package	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)		Ink (1 oz. Vial)	8	0
Hammer	0.5	2		Quill pen	0.1	0
Lantern	9	3		Parchment (3 sheets)	0.6	0
Mirror, small steel	10	0.5		Spell book (blank)	15	3
Oil (3)	0.3	3		Total	24.8 GP	3.5 lbs
Spikes, iron (12)	1	8		Thief Package	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)
Total	20.8 GP	16.5 lbs		Crowbar	2	5
Horse Package	Price (GP)			Grappling hook	1	4
Horse, riding	74			Pole, 10-foot wooden	0.2	8
Saddle	25			Thieves' tools	30	1
Saddle bag	0.1			Total	33.2 GP	18 lbs
Total	99.1 GP			Wizardly Clothing	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)
Adventurer’s Clothing	Price (GP)	Wt (lbs)		Belt, wide leather	0.6	0.5
Belt, wide leather	0.6	0.5		Boots, low soft leather	2.5	3
Boots, high hard leather	2.5	3		Cap, leather	0.4	0
Shirt, leather patched	0.6	1		Cloak, cloth	0.5	3
Cloak, cloth	0.5	5		Robe, cloth	0.7	5
Trousers, heavy	0.8	4		Total	4.7 GP	11.5 lbs
Total	5 GP	8.5 lbs

The Character Binder

My buddy Dan, from The Dungeoneering Dad mentioned one of the "rules" from my home games on a post on G+ (I'm not sure how sturdy that link will be, and you'll probably have to be in Zak Smith's Gamer Circle to read it). If you aren't so into the whole G+ thing, here's what Dan said, "I read how +Michael Bolam 's group has a binder full of PCs that the players rolled up. When a PC bites it, the player goes to the binder and gets a new PC. I thought it was a cool way to have replacement PCs at the ready." I figured I'd give a little more detail about it here..

We're using Labyrinth Lord with the Advanced Edition Companion. Character generation is done by the book. Roll the 3d6 and place the numbers in order. Select race and class, roll hit points, roll gold and buy equipment, pick spells if necessary, and fill in all the other numbers. At the start of the first game, we all rolled up a handful of characters, selected one, and placed the rest in the binder. Since then, people occasionally show up with more characters to restock the binder. We have them separated by class, so you can quickly find what you want, thumb through what is available, and pick something. We've reserved the back of the binder as a "graveyard" for the characters who have died to this point.

We're running two games from the same pool of characters. Jonathan is running classic TSR modules every other Tuesday. I'm running some of my own stuff, combined with a lot of the OSR produced modules on Sundays. There is a fair amount of player overlap between the two games, but the goal was to keep this as open as possible. We are trying to be as realistic as possible, knowing that we all have full time jobs, many of us are in bands, or have kids, or something else that might get in the way of gaming. We know there are people in our circles that want to try out D&D, but don't have the time to commit to a regular schedule. Because of these facts, we're allowing anyone to drop in and out as necessary.

Once you select a character, you've got rights on that character as long as you continue to show up. If you miss a game, you have to accept that the character may be played by someone else, returned to the binder, or become an NPC for the night. Players are free to swap characters in and out of the binder at any point, assuming it makes sense for the current game (you are some place adventurers might hang out -- a town, village, keep, tavern along the road, etc). Characters active in the Tuesday game are not available for the Sunday game and vice versa. A character that has been returned to the binder is potentially active for either game after that point. Hired classed henchmen can also be taken from the binder (or created if something suitable isn't available) and will remain with the adventuring group until they are relieved of their duties. At that point, they are added back the binder, and become potential playable characters at future games.

If a character dies during play, and there are no NPCs floating around for the player to take control of, the player selects another character from the binder. At that point it's up to the DM to find a spot to fit them in to the adventure. We don't want anyone sitting there doing nothing for too long. After about 10 or so games, it's been working out very nicely. You do lose a bit of that connection to the character you might experience, since they just come from a generic pool. That said, low level characters in classic D&D are fairly fragile creatures, so there is bound to be a lot of turnover (aka We're not pulling any punches here. Characters die in these games.) We haven't had a TPK yet, but the potential is totally there. The pool of characters allows for some connection across games. Characters that were temporary retired could potentially be pulled to help keep the connection to previous sessions, if necessary.

We've got a game tonight and I think I'm going to try to crank out some "binder characters" while waiting for the rest of the group to show up.

Bradley Keep - Session 3

Bradley Keep is the name of my Labyrinth Lord sandbox campaign. The goal is to highlight some of the best that the OSR community has to offer.

Date: Sunday March 4, 2012

Adventurers:

• Dorf the Dwarf (Dan) 
• Stikky Fingas - Human Thief (Allen) 
• Linus the Courageous - Human Fighter & Behemoth - Boar Hound (Allen) 
• Graelyn Thorn - Elf Magic User/Cleric (Dave)
• Samantha the Butcher - Human Magic User & Marsha - Rottweiller (Brad)
• Vork the Sickly - Human Fighter (Tim)

After a bit of carousing in the Keep's tavern, the adventurers befriend the owner, Beasley, by purchasing the Honey Mead, his favorite beverage in the house. He provided them with some additional information about the Stonehell dungeon; mostly rumors he picked up off various other adventurers who had been through the Keep. They also learn that Lucius, the bailiff, is concerned about recent goblin attack, and is offering a bounty on goblin ears. Beasley also introduced Dorf to Amos, the jeweler currently residing in the Keep. Amos and Dorf agree to meet at the bank in the morning, so Amos can take a look at the crystal Dorf discovered in the Wizard's tower. 

The following morning, the group meets up with Amos, who offers Dorf 250 pp for the crystal, saying it was unlike anything he had seen before. Dorf decided to hold on to it for now, but let Amos know he would be first on the list if he were to sell it. They withdrew some cash and went to the armorer and upgraded Dorf, Linus, and Graelyn to plate armor. Lucius told the group about the goblin bounty (1 gp/ear). He also mentioned that there was man named Tazimak looking for people to clear out a house he had inherited. The house was one the outskirts of the village northwest of the Keep and rumored to be haunted. The party tracked Taz down in the tavern, where he offered them 50 GP, plus whatever they found in the manor. Figuring the house was closer than the dungeon, they would check it out first.

They hire Bargar on as a man-at-arms, and head to the Manor in the morning. While travelling to the manor, they are set upon by a band a 6 goblins. Moving to engage, Vork the Sickly was killed before ever getting to swing his sword (Tim took over playing Linus the Courageous - first game since the early 80s and his character dies before he even got to swing his sword - ouch). One of the other goblins dropped Behemoth in the same round. After a few rounds, the party was able to over take the goblins. They snagged the ears and looted the bodies and moved to the house.

While inspecting the strange topiary, they were set upon by a ghoul (groundskeeper). They make quick work of him and move to investigating the area around the house. They discover a sack of Magical Gro in the shed, avoid the outhouse, investigate a strange well, and take care of boar living in a dog house. Eventually, they enter the house and quickly search around the parlor. Graelyn notices something strange about the fire in the fire place (the log isn't actually burning). He tries squirting a little water on it, and the fire launches a small fire ball back at him. They decide to leave the room and check the door across the hall, finding a closet. Samantha tried on a reversible cloak, While messing around in the coat closet, a skeletal seneschal lumbers into the room. The party was able to take down the threat after a few rounds. We wrapped for the evening at the end of the fight.

20 Questions

Branden's survey has made for some interesting blog posts, so I figured I'd join the band wagon....and yes, I would jump off a bridge, assuming the rest of the old school D&D bloggers were doing it...

This info is for my Labyrinth Lord campaign. It's still pretty fresh, so some of this info is likely to change as time goes on...

1. Ability scores generation method?
3d6 straight. Players determine character race and class after rolling. We've created a binder full of characters anyone can use. You can pick what you want to play out of that binder. There are plenty of good, mediocre, and lousy characters to choose from. Every once in a while, someone shows up with a bunch of rolled characters to restock the population.


2. How are death and dying handled?
You die at 0. Unless you make other arrangements, the other players are free to loot your corpse, but do not gain experience for gained treasure. 


3. What about raising the dead?
If you can find someone to cast it, and you have a bunch of money (or are willing to take on a quest), we can probably work something out.


4. How are replacement PCs handled?
I've had people take over retainers or other NPCs. They can also find replacements (from the character sheet binder or something of their own creation) when they head to some sort of civilization. If they are in the middle of a dungeon crawl, I'd probably have them stumble across another party or individual.

5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
Group rolls a d6 vs. the bad guys. In the case of a tie, the action is simultaneous. I let the players go first, then I go. If a PC or NPC dies during a tied initiative round, they still get their strike in.

6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
Critical hits happen on a natural 20 only and do double die damage. Strength and bonuses from magic items do not double. Critical hits roll on a d20 table to determine location and cause scars (which mostly just look cool). Rolling a 1 will always miss the target. On the following round, you go after the PCs and the NPCs while you fumble around and try to regain your composure.

7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
All armor is assumed to include a helmet of some sort. Magic users could purchase and wear some sort of helmet (preferably with ram horns on the sides). It doesn't come up much, but I could see a couple traps or specific locations where I might give a bonus if the character has a helmet.

8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
Yes you can, but only if you fumble. Firing into melee is at a standard -4 penalty.

9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
Running can be a very wise decision.

10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Sure...

11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Just like above. Playing traps, spells, monsters, poisons BTB. If the bug bears don't get you, the yellow mold will.

12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
I'm not too strict with encumbrance. Just trying to keep things within reason.You shouldn't be carting around an entire adventuring supply shop plus your life's savings every time you leave the house. I am experimenting with tracking torches and rest periods, though. You'll also be expected to tick off rations for each day away from civilization.

13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
No training or extended down time required, although you will need to rest before leveling. You can only get new spells by discovering them in treasure and copying to spell book. Large cities may have a Mage's Guild willing to allow copying for a fee (or quest).

14. What do I get experience for?
 Most of the XP will come from treasure at 1 XP per GP. No XP for magic items. Some XP will come from killing stuff. Occasionally XP can be gained from completing tasks. You've gotta get the treasure back to your base of operations before you get the XP, though.

15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
Some combination. It depends on the trap. I roll behind the screen for people actively searching. If you are moving through the dungeon at the exploratory pace, I give passive rolls. If you are running or moving quickly, you do not get the passive roll.

16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
Retainers are encouraged. 0-level men-at-arms and non-combat retainers do a morale roll at the end of the adventure and during dire situations. Charisma bonuses and general treatment bonuses will apply. Classed retainers expect a 1/3 share of found treasure, do not require "end of the adventure" morale rolls, but may desert in dire situations (again, general treatment and charisma bonuses apply).

17. How do I identify magic items?
Most must be identified through use or casting Identifiy (from LL AEC). Potions can be identified by sipping or consulting an alchemist.

18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
 You can find magic items. You might be able to buy something on occasion, but the owner isn't likely to know about the magic properties. Potions can occasionally be purchased from alchemists or temples.

19. Can I create magic items? When and how?
 Sure...I haven't worked this out yet. I'd need to review the rules in the books. Definitely not at low levels.

20. What about splitting the party?
 If you really want to, but I wouldn't recommend it.