Quick Rules: Death's Door

With the new Castles & Crusades campaign I've started, I decided to address the issue of hit points in the game.  You see, I like and 'get' the idea that hit points are an abstraction so hit points were never a problem for me.  Others do away with them completely and adopt a wound track.  A good solution seems to drop them down and implement a bit more damage reduction and fighting options to actively parry ... deflect... and counter possible blows.  Sometimes it just gets more complicated that it's worth.  Besides, hit points are pretty much part of the system I want to play.

So what to do?

Simple... keep them as-is with the following two rule amendments:

1) Survivors regain half the hit points lost in combat (rounded down) at the end of combat.
2) Those who are struck down to below zero hit points make a Constitution based Saving Throw.  A success indicates that they live and failure indicates death.

You see?  Simple.  It has the advantage of allowing characters to press on but doesn't negate the notion that combat is deadly either.  Those who were unlucky or simply foolish enough to allow their character to be felled won't know till after the combat if the character lives or dies.

For those that still think this is harsh, you could always allow a healer to assist the character during combat to either improve the odds or simply allow the recipient to live.

I know some of you may feel that the allowing to gain back half the hitpoints lost after combat is maybe too generous or even akin to something out of a video game but it does help the lower level parties survive and it frees the Cleric from being a dedicated health point dispenser.

Seems to be working well enough so far...

M

The Problem With Gygax Magazine

I loved Dragon Magazine.  When I discovered D&D, the material my friends and I had on hand in our younger days was a bit hard to come by.  The only thing harder to come by at the time was the dice needed to play.  My friends and I were military brats and our families were living in Germany at the time.  But we did have some of the books and the local bookstore on the base did carry a very small amount of gaming material (well, honestly the gaming material was pretty much restricted to TSR material).  However, the local highschool also carried a variety of magazine subscriptions and, among them was Dragon Magazine.

While between my friends and I, we had a handful of books, we all were able to check out the newest issue of Dragon and back issues as well.  Thanks to these back issues, we had a wealth of information at our fingertips ... ideas... options... and most importantly, inspiration.  The magazine ads were just as cool as some of the new monsters, items, and spells one could find going month to month.

Frankly, my love affair with Dragon Magazine came to an end as it approached it's 200th issue but at that time, I was staring to set AD&D aside having grown increasingly dissatisfied with the game and the direction TSR was taking.  However, when I was an avid ready of the magazine, I also distinctly remember the things that appealed to me the most in those early years.  They were, in no particular order, options and classes for my AD&D game, monsters, spells, and magic items.  In other words: Stuff I could readily use and just dump into my game!  Interestingly enough, the articles like monster ecologies, short stories, and how to be a better player or game master just had no appeal to me.  To be fair, those were the articles I would come back to and appreciate at a later time -- in some cases MANY years later.

Now for those familiar with the look and feel of the classic Dragon Magazine, the new Gygax Magazine will look instantly familiar -- almost hauntingly so.  If you loved it, you'll love the new one.  It's as if classic Dragon never left and never changed over the years.

And maybe that's the problem.

While there is support for all sorts of games -- both old and out of print as well as new, and the sort of articles that many gamers will enjoy, the new Gygax Magazine has challenges that the old Dragon Magazine never had.  You see, the reason I looked forward to the kind of material in the old Dragon magazine was simply because, outside of TSR and what you or your friends cooked up, there really wasn't much access to material to use.  Dragon Magazine was there to give you 'more' than what the books you had already gave you.  There was no OGL and there was no internet.  There were no blogs.  The closest was unofficial newsletters from gameclubs and hobbyshops where enthusiasts shared ideas and material.

I will say that looking at the table of contents, I personally find there are a few articles I wouldn't mind reading and I'm certain I would enjoy the magazine overall.  However, some of these topics sound like the sort of blog articles I also have enjoyed in the past.  As for game crunch related stuff, this will be a hit or miss depending on how broad or narrow they choose to be as far as game system coverage is concerned.  Kobold Quarterly was willing to accept and publish for a great many systems but invariably, it was typically showcasing 4th Edition D&D and Pathfinder.  It will be interesting to see the material trend in Gygax Magazine but in any case, there is a lot of third party material out there for all these games -- tons of it.  A lot of it free too.

At the end of the day, the new magazine has some competition even if nothing is competing directly against it.  The magazine DOES look great though, and if it wasn't for the high price to get an issue to Canada, I'd probably would have ordered a copy.  As it stands, I had two shipping options... the cheapest would have cost me close to $15 to get a copy of the magazine though it's far better that in a Priority Mail International Envelope where it would cost me $20 just for the shipping!  My hope is the PDF option, once available in a week or two, is affordable (not much more than half the cover price of the print edition) because I'd happily buy the PDF for $4.50 an issue and subscribe digitally at that price.

If you want to buy a copy of the magazine... you can do so HERE.

M

Dark Angel Space Marine - Painting Guide

Well, after checking out various pictures from the new codex, January's issue of White Dwarf, and some of the material that came in Game Workshop's 'Dark Vengeance' set, I sat down and began painting my Dark Angel Space Marines for Warhammer 40k. A batch of them are currently waiting with base coats and some preliminary layering but I decided to focus on one model from start to finish to figure out exactly how I was going to go about it.

I guess you can say that the picture represents the prototype as far as how I'm going to proceed to paint the rest of them while perfecting my technique as I go along.  Once again, I am using paints from the Citadel line.

Primary base coat was in 'Caliban Green' which covers the majority of the model.  Some slight layering using 'Warpstone Glow' was done for the armor and 'Moot Green' is used to highlight certain lines and used to accent certain pieces of armor.  The band along the edge of the shoulder plates are prime example of something I decided to try to have the model stand out a bit compared to some of the other Dark Angel Space Marines I have seen.

The eyes, the red patch on right arm, wax seals, and gun were done with 'Mephiston Red'.  The metal on the armor, such as the vents on the pack and gun were done using 'Leadbelcher' and the white patch on the left arm was done using 'White Scar'.

The chest crest was done using a base of 'Rakarth Flesh' and a layer of 'Ushabti Bone'.  I also used this combination to do the various scrolls that make up the purity seals (largely on the back pack of the model).  The 'Ushabti Bone' was also used for the skull on the helmet and the top of the pack.

Lastly a bit of 'Steel Legion Drab' was used for the ammo pack.

As far as shading (washes) were concerned, three were used: 'Biel Tan Green' for the armor, 'Nuln Oil' for the gun and vents, and 'Agrax Earthshade' was used on the ammo pack, the parchment, and a tiny amount to "dirty up" the white patch on the left arm.

I'm not a fan of doing complicated basing so I defaulted to 'Astrogranite' to give it a gritty and grey look.

Now, the rest of the squad awaits!

M

Codex Celtarum Kickstarter Revisited

Earlier today I wrote a piece about Kickstarters and the recent Razor Coast book that Frog God Games was putting out.  If you are just stumbling upon this post and don't know what I'm talking about, you can check it out HERE.  Bottom line... while I thought the project looked excellent, I couldn't justify price for content and the use given what I already have.  I've talked about various Kickstarter projects before and I know that some people tire of hearing about them and one which caught my eye but also couldn't justify was Troll Lord Games' new Codex Celtarum.  I felt that their pricing was also a bit off:  A book with an estimated MSRP would cost you $40 if you wanted a physical copy plus shipping outside the US.  For me, it meant a book costing me twice the cover price since I'm in Canada.  A few of my readers agreed with my assessment (the original post is HERE) but, unsurprisingly, the project is successfully funded and is now in the process of doing stretch goals these last 5 days or so of the Kickstarter.

Well, because of the stretch goals, there is at least a bit more bang for your buck.

For the most part, anyone living outside the US would need to shell out a bit more money to make this Kickstarter worthwhile and that's assuming it hits the final stretch goal listed.

For someone in my position (that is to say... not in the US), the best bang for the buck starts at $100 and only because upon reaching $8000, backers at this level get:

• A collector's edition / leather cover copy of the Codex Celtarum ($8000 Stretch)
• A regular hardcover copy of the Codex Celtarum
• A copy of the Castle Keeper's Guide
• An exclusive themed module
• An additional hardcover of your choice ($8000 Stretch)
• Two additional modules / supplements ($6000 Stretch)
• A Tee-Shirt

Of course, shipping to Canada is an additional $24 or a staggering $42 outside North America.  However, if you do the math and consider the collector's edition of the book to be worth the same as the regular version, the two copies of the codex and the CKG alone comes to very close to $100 and there is at least another $50 worth of stuff beyond that which means that you are at least offsetting shipping if not coming a bit ahead.

There are still only a couple things to overcome here though.

1) You're spending over $100 to get a reasonable deal.
2) I own most of the TLG line to begin with so do I really want to spend money on material I already own beyond the Codex?

If you were on the fence, and have some extra money to kick around and have a group who is interested or plays C&C, check out the Kickstarter (HERE) and look at some of the other packages starting at the $100 level, it might be a way to outfit a gaming group out.

M

Quick Rules: Fate Points

A few games gave the concept of Fate Points...  Sometimes they are called Luck or Hero points or even Karma.  Generally they serve the same purpose -- to offset the effect of a bad roll which could prove detrimental to the game.  It can be argued that a solid system doesn't really need them and there are strong opinions on whether life or death should really be left to chance on something like a saving throw or ability check.  Regardless for the reason for this sort of mechanic, some people just enjoy having them.

It is with that in mind that the new Castles & Crusades game that I've started is using a simple, yet effective Fate System.

It is as follows:

Characters all start with a number of Fate Points.  I believe 1d4+1 is a good starting number or you can simply start them off with 5.  I like giving 5 points simply since I don't feel like I need to hold back any punches when I run a game.  ;)

Nudging Fate

Spending 1 point will allow you to add 1d6 to a roll.  This roll can be after you have already rolled a skill check.  It can even be used to bolster damage.  However, these can only be used for the character that plays them.

Tempting Fate

Spending 2 points will allow you to re-roll a result such as an ability check, save, or attack roll.  If the roll is better than the original result, an additional benefit is gained by this success.  However, if the second roll is worse than the first, then there is an additional complication.  These can only be used for the character that plays them.

Example: Dorin goes to strike an opponent with his battleaxe but his roll is an 8 and misses.  The player spends 2 points to re-roll and gets an 18 -- Dorin has tempted Fate and is successful and the GM accords him additional damage.  Had the re-roll been lower, something like the loss of weapon or even footing landing him prone in front his enemy could have happened instead of a simple miss.

Reversal of Fate

Spending 3 points is simply turns a failure into a success... a success into a failure... and even prevent the death of a character from what should have been a killing blow.  These can be used for anyone.

Gaining Fate Points

Beyond first level, Fate is rewarded a point per session for each surviving character.  Some may be inclined to reward an additional d4+1 Fate upon attaining a new level or reward a bonus Fate point for a clever idea or heroic deed.

The system is not too rigid or detailed to require constant consultation but is powerful enough to sway things quite a bit.  Given the amount of checks, saves, and rolls that can happen in any given game, these won't break the game either.  Currently, it's the first time I am using Fate Points quite in this matter and I'll let you guys know how it works out.

One thing I wasn't sure if I wanted to try or not is to do is to have the d6 explode on the roll of a 6 when Nudging Fate.  Might be something I will try the next session.

M