Uncommon Dungeons: Thinking about Design Decisions

Lately I've been fiddling about with my "Uncommon Dungeons" ruleset.  A year ago I wrote about my design goals.  The post is still accurate though there has now been over 50 hours of game played, so little things have been tweaked, most recently by adding an encounter or "doom" die. 

I've played it regularly the last year and besides a few bits of confusion with spells, it's feeling pretty smooth.  Characters are reaching 4th level now, which feels pretty high!

Layout
Ultimately it's just another hack like all the others, but I've been laying it out on google docs, squeezing in some old nostalgia art so I can print up a couple of booklets.  It's just 16 pages long including minimized spell lists and a death & dismemberment table.  I've been swapping things about, adjusting fonts and its slowly looking more presentable.  Gear charts are one spread.  Combat on another.  It's all very terse and bullet pointy, but its really only meant for me and my friends.  That said, I think it will feel pretty cool and official to have a physical thing.  In my weekly type V game I don't enforce many houserules because others like to look things up in the books and it feels like its more for those players to play the official game.  When I say it's my "Uncommon Dungeon" game, its a whole different vibe!

Weird Dice Chain and Roll Under Mechanic
I probably didn't think of it myself, but the most unique part is using the roll under mechanic for Ability Checks and Saving Throws, paired with the "weird dice chain" inherited from Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.  This has worked out great.  Rolling a d30 under an average score of 10 is a similar probability as 2 in 6, which is the old Basic Expert way of doing activity checks.  Gaining Expertise to roll d24 is a significant boost but still a crapshoot unless the character has a strong score.  I enjoy the way it emphasizes the actual 3-18 numbers on the sheet and de-emphasizes recalculating numbers before each attack (it's enough that Fighters have to add their Deed Die to hit and Deed Die+Strength bonus to damage, another rule cribbed from DCC).

Spells & Slots
These have been a little tricky as I've avoided writing up big descriptions and tried to mix up spells from Gavin Norman's B/X Essentials project with Lamentations of the Flame Princess spells (though a player messed around with the Summon Monster spell for a moment and decided, "Not worth it".  I think I will allow a standard "double level bonus" to make the "Dominate Monster" roll a little more doable.  So, a 3rd level Wizard gets +6 to the roll, which seems to make summoning 1 and 2 HD demons a little more predictable.  It's still super hectic though.  Not likely to get used often.

The other tricky piece is spell slots.  I allow spontaneous casting.  Almost purely for layout reasons I don't want to make a "Spell Slots per Order per Level" chart.  I'm trying to use "Order" instead of "Level" for spell power categories.
I've settled on the following:

• "Spellcasters' (wizards and clerics) power is limited to spells of Order ≤ ½ level, rounded up. A spellcaster may never cast more higher than lower.  Ex. a 3rd level cleric may cast one 2nd Order spell and two 1st; at 4th level: 3 & 1 or 2 & 2"

I hope that's clear and that it works.  I've tried to offer flexibility to spellcasters.  I hope it doesn't make them dominate at mid-levels.  There have been few attempts at Dangerous Sorcery and Divine Petition.

The DOOOOM Die
We've just used this for three sessions but I really like it.  It's a unified Encounter roll on a d6, based on ideas from the Dungeon of Signs blog.  A roll of 1 still refers to a further encounter table (and encounter distance), but everything else is contained in a single table.  Suddenly resource management is part of the game rather than a forgotten annoyance.   It takes into account fatigue and rations, torches and lantern oil, spell and potion durations! as well as chance discoveries.  I've had the players roll the die for it which keeps me honest and they are starting to dread 1s and root for 6s.

Doom Die

1	Encounter	Roll on Encounter Table and Distance d6: melee 1, short 2-3, medium 4-5, long 6 & Surprise (2 in 6)
2	Expiration	Spells & Potions expire
3	Torch & Lantern	A fickle torch or candle gutters & burns out; ½ flask of oil has burned
4	Luck	Dungeon Dressing, foreshadowing or useful item.
5	Discovery	A clue, secret or curious event
6	Exhaustion	Weary. Rest & eat food or Exhausted (-1 all rolls); roll again

Encumbrance

Finally, I've worked up an encumbrance table, again based on the HMS Apollyon rules, but I haven't used in much yet.  We'll see.

OTHER NOTES

Monsters
I've been using straight B/X monsters, mostly out of the Labyrinth Lord book.

Party for Extra Experience Points
Carousing has been popular, and has inspired a lot of the emergent campaign world.  It is also necessary because at times it doubles the XP for a session.

Monks
No one has played a monk yet.  I've messed about with it, offering a Deed Die that adds a variable bonus to Armor Class as well as attack and damage.  Also Mastery(d20) of the Stealth, Athletics and Lore skills and a better chance to use scrolls.  Could be pretty cool, but maybe too much?

Type V D&D Playtest

Yesterday we played Dungeon Crawl Classics and today we playtested the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  It feels like a comparison is in order, especially since there seemed to be a lot of similarities.  They have more in common with each other than with Type IV, that's for sure.
DCC yesterday was great.  We started on the module "Doom of the Savage Kings", a more open ended scenario than most DCC adventures.  A player accustomed to Type IV had his wizard smacked down right away.  He was trampled by a warhorse and only survived by dint of Fate.  The party then battled an immortal demon hound, first ambushing it, then the next night slaying it through the blind luck of an spell roll that summoned not just a simple wolf, but a pack of 100 wolves that intend to stay for a week! This just might win the whole adventure.  I can't say that I mind.

Tonight we took the pre-generated characters into the Caves of Chaos, a pretty simple straightforward series of dungeons.  The party entered the Goblin Cave, attracted guards from both sides, and ended up with a long running fight culminating in a battle with an ogre.  The characters were happy to survive, casting sleep on the goblins, and sneak attacking the ogre.  They continued exploring, occasionally getting ambushed by more goblins, until they finally found and kicked in the door to the Hobgoblin Caves, which ended in the death of the wizard and the others hightailing it out the door with goblins in hot pursuit!

How was it, this Type 5, this D&DNEXT, this Beta game?  Well, it was quick and loose.  I used to play 4e with some of these guys, but we switched in recent months to DCC, so this was much similar to that style.  I drew rough maps of corridors and rooms with minis, but we didn't count movement and or worry too much about positioning.  
Everyone liked Advantage and Disadvantage.  It's easy, it requires no math, but follows the more dice is better mantra.  I like having one fun mechanic to represent most situations.  It will break down on the DM's side with large numbers of opponents, however.  I think I'll be giving swarms of rats a simple +2 to hit. 
The Stat based Saving Throws are great.  They make sense.  They get rid of another formula from the game and a space on the character sheet.  I had already houseruled my DCC game to roll Saves based on Stats with three floating Hero Descriptors (Chicanery, Obstinancy, and Destiny) so this is right on, similar in fact to skill system, which seem to be floating modifiers that can be attached to different stats based on the situation.  So a bonus to Athletics can apply to Con, Dex, Str, or Int checks.  I dig it.
I loved that the monsters stats are so short in the Caves of Chaos.  This was my biggest issue with DMing 3e.  I loved the 4e monster stats.  Unfortunately in this case, I ended up cross referencing to the Bestiary a lot to find Initiative modifiers and Saving Throws.
So it accomplished quick and dirty dungeon crawling.  I could see playing through a scenario in an evening.  We had about four fights in three hours.  It's compatible with pre-4e editions.  It's definitely D&D.  No problem.

The biggest gripe we had about 5e was that it wasn't DCC.  Without the deep tactical complexity of 4e, this Beta test felt static.  It had a lot of the predictability of 4e without the tactical decisions.  Afterwards the consensus was that 5e needs to steal DCC's Mighty Deeds of Arms to make playing that character more engaging.  We also missed Crit Tables.
Basically, this game swings more than it used to, but after the wild unpredictability of DCC, this felt less interesting. You're not along for the ride, at the mercy of the dice, nor are you planning two moves ahead for your martial power combo.
I don't mind the Fighter being very simple, but I think where the Beta shows its confusion is with the spellcasters and with average damage.  They all have high damage at-will spells.  The wizard can automatically hit with Magic Missile every round and do as much damage as a dagger.  A Fighter does 3 damage on a miss.  A cleric can do as much damage at range as a longsword every round on a hit.  It seems like some sort of DPS mechanism, but the result seemed to be that those spellcasters spammed their at-wills, while the fighter spammed his one attack and nobody really played any different than the other.  Wizards and Clerics weren't thinking of clever ways to use their arsenal of spells, but just reusing the same spells each round.  I think the problem here is that their at-will spells do to much damage.  There is no down side.  They can just straight up fight.  The Wizard character liked having MM at-will, but admitted he barely looked at the rest of his spells because MM was so reliable.  It made everyone play the same.  I think the Cleric and Wizard should have much weaker at-will attack, so that they are obliged to look for other ways of helping the expedition.

There's definitely some good ideas in 5e, but DCC has a lot of good ideas as well and they don't have to try to oblige the "balanced and predictable" type of player, which I think is alot of people.  I enjoy a more random game, so I sort of think DCC beat 5e to the punch.

D's Common Dungeon Crawling: In the Heart of the Minotaur

What ho!

The regular group didn't get together to continue White Plume Mountain this weekend so I DM'd for my buddy and his lady friend who had never rolled the dice before.  We played the new Dungeon CrawI Classics RPG.  I don't even have the hard copy yet.

I pulled out the Heart of the Minotaur one page dungeon.  Beware of spoilers for this sweet little dungeon.  These one pagers are really great for one shots and quick games.  You can have a nicely wrapped up story in a few hours.

The characters were an Elf and a half-elf Thief.  Both were Chaotic.  The thief was tracking the gremlins that had abducted his sister and step mother.  I described these gremlins as little guys with green stocking caps, long pointy hears and big mouths with pointy teeth.

The thief approached a bored sentry at entrance, feigning ignorance, and the gremlin thought maybe he was a tranny kook, but the elf let fly with a wayward arrow and the gremlin scampered back into the cave.  The two gave chase and encountered three more little dudes.  This fight got ugly quick. The elf took a hit which spoiled her Sleep spell (-3 to the roll for getting hit while casting).  Luckily some failed Morale checks went their way and one gremlin was back-stabbed while running away.  Both would-be heroes were fighting with knives.

Further, there came a room with a glowing pool of water.  Gremlin voices could be heard echoing around the many cave exits.  In the pool was a large blue diamond set into the stone, giving off bright blue light.  The jewel was magical and the water was warm.  The elf dislodged the gem and held it up.  The gem changed from blue to red as the water drained away.  The gem pulsed at an ever increasing right, getting warmer and brighter, so they threw it down the hallway and ducked as it exploded! causing a cave-in.

Later, a portcullis trapped them and forced them into a strange stone duct, crawling along to escape a lowering ceiling.  They came upon a break in the floor and looked down into a cathedral cavern where a ritual sacrifice was taking place!  From their vantage directly above a massive minotaur statue they watched a shaman shove a bound human woman into a crevasse!  After waiting a prudent amount of time for the congregation to leave, the thief and elf rappelled down, ignoring the golden eyes of the statue and pursued the sacrificial victim.  Slipping down a pile of cow and goat bones into ever descending damp limestone passages, the partners came upon a beach with a rowboat, and large hoofprints in the sand.  They rowed across and slipped into the Lair of the Minotaur unannounced!

The thief burned all kinds of Luck to sneak up behind the Minotaur as it raised its sword over the cowering woman, his mother.  His critical hit found the bull-man's kidneys, stunning him.  The elf shot it in the back.  Now the monster raised its curved sword and hacked the thief, who knew he could not survive another blow.  However the monster missed its next strike and the thief brought it down with a dagger strike to the leg.

"Mercy" growled the Minotaur as its medallion glowed golden.

"Why? When you showed no mercy to my mother?"

"I was only... I was only..." the monster's voice was strangled and it stuttered, finally repeating "Mercy."

The thief hesitated the player said, "I grab the medallion!"

The bull snorted and tossed its head, goring the thief and tossing him in a bloody heap.  So ended the life of the brigand posthumously named Welbeck.

Now the minotaur asked for mercy of the elf, who's arrow pointed at his eye.  She showed none, and pierced it's brain.  Then she claimed the medallion for herself.

The woman screamed, "Now YOU are the monster!"

And the Curse of the Horned Lord continues...

So, a TPK, but entirely of the players' own devising.  I'll note that they really needed a Warrior.  If I had rolled differently for wandering monsters, or if they had explored any of the more dangerous side passages, they would have been in big trouble.  Also, they didn't use their Luck.  The new player was totally new to RPGs so the spellburn rules were a little much to absorb  as it was, but the thief was very reluctant.  He is coming from Type IV D&D and seemed to consider this another resource that he was very wary of depleting.

Anyways, a fun evening.  I'm totally digging these DCCRPG rules, including my houserules.  It's interesting how much different it is to play than IV, just having a simpler character sheet and less toys on the table focuses everyone's attention on the imaginary world a bit more directly...

Huzzah! A review of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

I dig it.

Warpig

This is the game I've been wanting ever since 2nd Ed AD&D started repackaging itself with crappy covers.  I always wished they'd just release a limited edition 3e (then 4) without all the crappy dungeon punk art and just do a throw-back version with the same rules, and maybe an authorial voice that didn't remind me of stereo instructions.

I guess Joseph Goodman was wishing the same thing.  When the Beta came out last summer, I was burning out on DMing Type IV D&D (after a 1-13 campaign and a stint DMing Encounters), and I have happily pinned my rpg hopes on DCCRPG.

I have been looking forward to the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG for so long now that I feel a bit like this will be a rave more than a review.  It was a long wait, and it's only the pre-order PDF!  The actual book doesn't come out for another month or so.  I played and DM'd the Beta quite a few times over the last year and have even gone so far as to create an extensive houserule doc that must now be reconciled with the final product.

This game is well written.  It is loose and weird and has personality.  The names of spells and demons and monsters are cool, the art is inspiring and entertaining (I particularly enjoy Kovac's full page illustrations), and Goodman writes in an engaging manner full of obscure vocabulary and strong opinions.  Small valleys are important to him.  He is promoting the game he wants to play, and his enthusiasm shines throughout a book full of good humour and excitement.  Goodman know his audience as well.  He forgoes the traditional "What is roleplaying?" paragraph and just says something like, "Hey most of you guys are old hands at this rpg thing, and the rest of you can figure it out."
 
The art!  This is definitely a book that is fun to just pick up and read bits while grooving on the pictures, much like the old AD&D PHB and DMG.  The first couple of pages feel like an old Groo comic! This is on par and better than my two favorite clone pdfs, Swords & Wizardry and AD&D3.

The only part of the presentation I don't dig all that much is the cover and name!  I think I just don't care for the colors of the cover.  Of course, the black'n'gold Warpig cover is epic.  I think I'll have to laminate that onto my copy since I didn't spring for the deluxe edition.  Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is a pretty awkward title.  DCCRPG is a mouthful.  Whatever.  It's D&D, and I've taken to calling my hack of it DC'sRPG based on my own initials.

Ok cover

The rules are exactly as may be expected from any d20 derived game.  A d20 is rolled and a number is added.  Beat and AC or a DC.  DCCRPG changes this up in a couple of ways.  First, Goodman discourages DMs from asking for too many checks during the exploration and roleplay phases of  the game, encouraging player ingenuity over dice rolling.  However, once initiative is rolled, the dice rule!  The game uses obscure dice, like d30s, d16s and d7s.  I think its funny when I see people on the internets being grumpy about buying d14s, d24s and such for this game.  Aren't they buying dice anyways?  I am.

Combat is highlighted by Critical Hit tables by class, Fumble tables, and Success/Misfire/Corruption tables for each and every spell.  It gives the impression of a very swingy, unpredictable game, but this is mitigated quite a bit by two things, LUCK/Spellburn, wherein players may sacrifice their Ability Scores to adjust Fate to their liking.  In my play experience, the Luck and Spellburn rules go a long way towards giving players agency and some metagame strategy options during play.  This leads to the other major difference from standard D&D type games, character classes.

Classes are standard fantasy archetypes: Warrior, Thief, Cleric, Wizard, Elf, Dwarf and Halfling.  Goodman implores the reader to roll ability scores  3d6, 6 times, arranged in order.  The ability scores are a bit different.  Constitution and Dexterity have been renamed Stamina and Agility.  Wisdom and Charisma have been combined into Personality.  The new Luck stat rounds out the six.  Personality is a nice change for me, as the Intelligence/Wisdom divide has always been weird, but Luck is the fun one.  Luck is the stat that all classes may sacrifice to nudge the dice their way.  Thieves and Halflings in particular ride their luck.  Wizards and Elves may sacrifice their physical traits to make sure a spell is successful, though nothing may revoke a roll of 1!

Wizards are scarey and dangerous in this game.  They can roll high and punch far above their weight, casting an epic spell, and they can fail spectacularly, cursing themselves with the marks of chaos.  Every spell is different.  Every time a Wizard casts a spell it is a risk that must be weighed.  Rather than loss of a spell, the wizard risks losing his soul! or at least a lot of Strength.  It's all very evocative, but it also plays well, making the wizard a unique experience.  Clerics, by contrast, are far more predictable with their prayers, though they to risk angering the gods.

Warriors are the stars of the game.  They have a great mechanic that is so simple and fun I can't believe it has never been thought of before.  Instead of a straight +1 to hit at 1st level, the Warrior rolls 1d3 and adds that to his attack and damage!  The dice advances with levels.  This makes the Warrior capable of hard hits, but somewhat unpredictable.  The best part of this Deed Dice mechanic is that it incorporates an open-ended panacea of Might Deeds of Arms.  A Warrior describes some type of blow or tactic he is attempting, such as a knockdown, called shot, disarm or whatever, and, if the Deed Dice comes of 3+, it's a go!  So easy!  This eliminates the need for weird encounter/daily/feat rules and encourages shenanigans.  Thieves can do all their thief-y stuff, but they also the most out of their Luck score, which encourages shenanigans as well!

There's a lot of other great stuff in the book.  The monster and magic item sections are short but really evocative and creative.  The rules for Wizard Patrons are great and left me wanting more.  There's some neat stuff in the appendixes, including a pretty cool shout-out to OSR blogosphere.  The experience rules are really simple and a lot of people will dig it.  I do.  And, of course, its basically D&D tarted up with rad pictures and a couple cool rules, so any of your endless stacks of old game books will work just fine.
This is the game for me.



Appendix H
This game is made to Hack.  Hacking goblins and hacking the rules.  So I have hacked.  I've done all kinds of things to the Beta.  I've changed Dwarfs from Shield-bashers to ShieldWallers and I've slowed down all the attack bonus progressions.  I've fiddled with damage dice for weapons.  I've lowered Warrior HD to d10.  I made a Barbarian class with d12.  I've toyed with redoing stat bonuses and having Wizards use Dice Pools for spells that start at d14.  I have players rolling 5d4 for stats... I'll post all that another time.  It has certainly gotten me invested in the game.

Appendix R
I've been drawn to the OSR over the last couple years for the style and creativity.  So many great blogs!  I've read and DM'd DCC modules for years as well.  I still play Type IV D&D, and I used to really dig the tactical combat, but I've gotten frustrated with the glacial pace of the story when each battle takes a whole evening.  I've had multiple short DCCRPG sessions where we have made characters and completed a dungeon mission/adventure in one sitting.  So much fun!
To rant for a moment, though I like the computerized Character Generator for Type IV, all the dizzying options available seem to lure players into playing strange exotic characters that strike their fancy at the time but tend to be unrealized at the table.  I have a player with a genasi artificer, and I don't think anybody really has any idea what she does or looks like.  It/s kinda hard to imagine.  It's like disassociated character generation.  Making a DCCRPG is much quicker, deals with well know archetypes, but uses the whims of the dice to add unexpected twists to the common character.  A gong farmer who was struck by lightning you say?  Well I'm a thief now!  Watch me backstab for an automatic crit!  Huzzah!

Dungeon Crawl Classics is Emerging

Well the DCCRPG pre-order PDF is out, and I am really stoked. This game is great. The art is fun, the writing style is engaging and knows its audience (long time gamers).

I've been playing the game sporadically for the last 6 months, and really having fun with a fast and loose play-style as well as an ever expanding house-rule document (which I'll post here pretty soon). My house-rules have veered a ways from the final rules, but that doesn't bother me at all.

In celebration I thought I'd post a couple things I've generated over the weekend using some great random tables included in the Monster and Sword Magic chapters.

Rat Razor
+1 Lawful Shortsword
Sword smells Skaven within 100’
Sword detects Invisible 1/day, by sense of smell.
Wielder is convinced Skaven exist, and can convince others of the truth of this unfounded rumour.
Int 6, communicates with Inarticulate Urges, Moans and Groans
Forged by dwarfs, with a pommel shaped like a gear and basket hilt guard, this stout triangle blade of tarnished silver was forged during the Forgotten Vermin War of the preceding century.

Dunzagron the Old Bronze Steamer, an Ill-Tempered Erudite Chaos Dragon
HD 5 (small house size)
Speed 50’
Initiative +5       
All Saving Throws +5         
AC 20        HP: 30
Attacks 4d20 +8:  Claws(d8+5), Bite(d12+5), Tail Slap(d20+5)
  Dive Bomb: +12; 2 Claws 2d8+5 or Bite 2d12+5
Steaming Breath: dmg 10; Fort DC15 for half
  2/day; Cloud 1d4x10’ radius, range 60’
Spells: d30+6  Charmer: 100’
Ekim’s Mystikal Mask, Animal Summoning, Patron Bond: The Three Fates, Invoke The Three Fates, Detect Good, Nythuul’s Porcupine Coat, Ray of Enfeeblement, Slow, Runic Alphabet, Fey
Dunzagron lives in the Sunken Temple of Yoong, unearthing and studying the cuniform scales that are continually lost and found again by his slow-witted servitors.  Occasionally he holds seances with three Devil Frogs that can last for months.
His treasure is a horde of tarnished silver coins, and elven arms piled in the offerings basin of the great idol (which he unconsciously resents) in the chapel.  He steams cleans the creeping muck regularly.
What the Dragon is doing when found:

1. In a sussurating trance state
2. Steam cleaning himself while perched atop the idol
3. Debating with the Devils of Yoong
4. Steam cleaning his treasure
5. Sleeping while hanging from the ceiling
6. Directing a lizardman work crew
7. Interviewing a talking elf skull
8. Out hunting