Miscellaneous Grab Bag Part 5

 I was deeply inspired by the Mothership adventure Interloper to include an ecology section for an adventure idea I had. Part of that ended up unravelling the unstated rules behind the food web in the module as the prelude for using it elsewhere.

(Interloper, art by either Francesco Zanieri or his outlines formatted by Meredith Silver)

- There are 4 trophic levels,

Primary Producers (usually plants) -> Primary Consumers -> Secondary Consumers -> Tertiary Consumers

- Each Secondary Consumers species needs to feed on 2 prey species,

- Each Tertiary Consumers species needs to feed on 3 prey species,

- A Primary Consumers species can be prey for 3 other species if obligatory herbivores (like deer) or 2 if occasionally omnivores (like pigs).

- Species with different diets/niches to stages in their lifecycle can occupy different trophic levels across their lifecycle.

I couldn't quite define this as a rule but it appeared that each species should have a different feeding strategy.

Extras

I arbitrarily require 1 grass/ground-level, one-bush/short and one-tree/tall plant species for Primary Producers, as the only other ecology minigame I know is Spore.

There should probably be just as many insect/small animal species as big animals.,

One big animal and insect species must be a scavenger/detritivore. This is bourne out of nothing but the sample food web had a Primary Consumers detritivore, several slightly different scavening species and in general something should be breaking down biological matter.

Fantasy Violence might be an alternative to the standad Violence in the Street rules for my pair of Violence hacks.
https://pressthebeast.bearblog.dev/fantasy-violence/

Would have to readjust the Reach and Lethality for all natural weapons again.
Reach starts a 0 for claws, gos to 1 for antlers and projecting defences and 2 for tusks.
Optional - And then -/+1 for every final 4 Growth stages they are from 8-12 according to the growth rules.
Damage dice start at Lethality 0 for 1d4 nd go up by +1 until 2D6 = 4.

Cardinal System

Thre have been a few iteration of this system. Which fits uneasily into that category post-D&D go where they have skills and dangerous combat, but no fromwork of proceedures for what to do as the players cross the campaign space except roll dice whenever the "Narrator" feels justified. It's a dice pool system a bit like Savage Worldssauguine press

.

2010 Ironclaw 2E

6 traits BODY SPEED MIND WILL SPECIES CAREER

Species 3 Skills

Species 3 Gifts

Career 3 Gifts

Career 3 Skills

Personality + Local Knowledge 2 Gifts

13 Skill Marks

3 Gifts

TOTAL

6 Skills + 13 marks

11 Gifts (9+2)

2011 Noggle Stones

6 traits BODY SPEED MIND WILL NATURE(Species) NURTURE(Career)

Species 3 Skills

Species 2 Gifts

Career 3 Skills

Career 2 Gifts

Personality + Combat Save 2 Gifts

9 Skill Marks

3 Gifts

TOTAL

6 skills + 9 marks

9 Gifts

2013 Myriad Songs

6 traits BODY SPEED MIND WILL LEGACY(Species) CAREER

Species 3 Skills

Species 2 Gifts

Upbringing 2 Gifts

Career 3 Skills

Career 2 Gifts

Personality + Combat Save 2 Gifts

9 Skill Marks

3 Gifts

TOTAL

6 skills + 9 marks

11 Gifts

2016 Urban Jungle

7 traits BODY SPEED MIND WILL SPECIES CAREER TYPE

Species 3 Skills

Type 3 Skills

Career 3 Skills

Species 2 Gifts

Career 2 Gifts

Type 0/1 Gifts

Type 1/2 Soaks

Personality 1 Gifts

TOTAL

9 Skills

5/6 Gifts

1 to 2 automatic soaks

There has definitely been a series of reduction, if not refinement in how games from the Cardinal system work. Noggle Stone was explicitly dubbed "lean" but the writers. But even then, they have been reducing the number of Gifts a playable character gets and can spend and reducing skills as well. But Skills are consistent here, finding a good number and moving the burden onto automatic Gifts like Area Knowledge to provide basic-level rolls. Urban Jungle is interesting as its inclusion of a 7th characteristic; Type does three things. Besides being a refinement of Upbringing from Myriad Song. It provides another automatic dice for a bevy of skills and so compensates for the smaller number characters get in that game, it generally coms with an automatic Soak (defence) and so educes the main thing Gifts were being spent on and it allows for a standardisation of what the species and career dice apply to compared to Ironclaw.

Ironclaw Standard Fantasy Races

Back in the early 2000s, Ironclaw 1E had the option of playing a selection of non-animal fantasy races. This was never updated to 2E offically. But I think I found someone else's draft and added Tieflings and Dragonborn from 4E, as that's when I stumbled onto Ironclaw 2E around 2012/2013?
I don't remeber where I got this from or even if I was the one to make the conversion of someone elses Ironclaw 1E write-ups. The 1E write-ups had 2 more human types for Tolkien-style things and didn't have Warforged.

Those last two are probably the iffiest of them all. As one is missing an inherent magical nature and the other has one in defiance of how the rest of Ironclaw species/races are written up.

>Human

Habitat: Choose One

Cycle: Day

Senses: None

Natural Weapons: None

Include Racial Dice with: Academics, Tactics, choice of Social or Culture skill

Racial Gifts: Geography, Increased Trait: Wits, Diplomacy

>Dwarves

Habitat: Mountains

Cycle: Night

Senses: None

Natural Weapons: None

Include Racial Dice with: Climbing, Digging, Endurance

Racial Gifts: Night Vision, Sure-footed, Spelunking

>Wood Elves

Habitat: Forest

Cycle: Choose

Senses: Hearing

Natural Weapon: None

Include Racial Dice with: Observation, Stealth, Weathersense

Racial Gifts: Acrobat, Keen Ears, Fast Climber

>High Elves

Habitat: Coastal

Cycle: Choose

Senses: Hearing

Natural Weapon: None

Include Racial Dice with: Observation, Academics, Supernatural

Racial Gifts: Acrobat, Keen Ears, Increased Trait: Mind

>Plain Orcs

Habitat: Plains

Cycle: Day

Senses: Smell

Natural Weapon: Tusks

Include Racial Dice with: Endurance, Presence, Tactics

Racial Gifts: Frenzy, Hiking, Animal Handling

>War Orcs

Habitat: Plains

Cycle: Night

Senses: Smell

Natural Weapon: Tusks

Include Racial Dice with: Endurance, Presence, Melee Combat

Racial Gifts: Frenzy, Hiking, Increased Trait: Body

>Ogres

Habitat: Choose (Plains, Forest, Mountain)

Cycle: Day

Senses: None

Natural Weapon: Wrestle

Include Racial Dice with: Brawling, Endurance, Supernatural

Racial Gifts: Increased Trait: Body, Charging Strike, Choice of (Coward, Frenzy)

>Troll

Habitat: Mountain

Cycle: Twilight

Senses: Listen, Smell

Natural Weapon: Claws, Teeth, Wrestle

Include Racial Dice with: Brawling, Endurance, Choice of (Stealth, Presence)

Racial Gifts: Increased Trait: Body, Charging Strike, Natural Armour

>Tiefling

Habitat: Choose (Plains, Forest, Mountain)

Cycle: Night

Senses: None

Natural Weapon: Horns, Hooves

Include Racial Dice with: Deceit, Stealth, Supernatural

Racial Gifts: Fast Jumper, Sure-footed, Unshakeable Fighter

>Warforged

Habitat: None

Cycle: None (or, As Group Majority)

Senses: None

Natural Weapon: Wrestle

Include Racial Dice with: Endurance, Brawling, Melee Combat, Ranged Combat

Racial Gifts: Sure-footed, Clear-headed, Unshakeable Fighter

>Dragonborn

Habitat: Choose

Cycle: Day

Senses: Listen, Smell, Spot

Natural Weapon: Claw, Teeth, Torch (Torch@ Close d8, d4- Damage + 1 Weak, On Fire)

Include Racial Dice with: Endurance, Supernatural, Presence, Tactics

Racial Gifts: Increased trait: Body, Mystic (Elementalism), Natural Weapon: Torch

Genesys/Edge of the Empire

I played a bit of Star Wars Edge of the Empire and Genesys, it's refinement tended to build it's character archtypes/species/races on a smaller budget. So when I found Adventures in Azeroth, the Warcraft hack. I was idlely curious about how they would differ from the original EotE set. According to one writer on the long-gone FFG forums, he built Star Wars species to a 120 to 130 XP budget. And not going too hard on high stats or reduced Starting Experience. So, I tried calculating and rebuilding the Warcraft races/species to the same totals and trends.

Most Genesys material including Adventures in Azeroth, says Wounds and Strain are 5 XP for a change of 2/1 Wounds/Strain and 15 XP for 3/2. But the writer comment on the old forums said he used 5 XP for each, with an addition 5XP if the core was 1 or 3 as that was compounding. Somtimes it worked out the same either way.

Night Elves +5 XP

High Elves +10 XP

Blood Elves +0 XP

IronForge Dwarves Fine

Wildhammer Dwarves -5 XP

Fine as is for 120 XP total +10 XP if using 130 XP total

Gnomes Fine

Orcs Fine

Darkspear Tribe Fine but very unbalanced, I would give them a choice of either skill but not both and add 10 XP to Starting Experience

Revantusk Tribe -10 XP or make the two skills a choice between but not both

Zandalari Trolls -10 XP or make the two skills a choice between but not both

Tauren I would deduct 1 from Brawn and add 20 XP

Ogres Fine but very unbalanced

Goblin +5 XP but again, very imbalanced

Draenei (Eredar) fine but still two 3 values is not normal flor Edge of the Empire

Draenei (Broken) +10 XP

Forsaken Fine

Worgen Fine

Furbolgs Fine but tempting to give them +5 XP

Pandaren Fine but too unbalanced

Naga +10 XP, the divergent Biology thing makes the difference too large

Mok'Nathal +20 XP, Silhouette 2 already accounts for increased Encumberance Threshold and isn't worth as much as it's been costed.

Miscellaneous Grab Bag Part 4

The whole reason I came up with the Miscellaneous Grab Bag posts was that I had lost the document I wanted to post, the conversion from Old World of Darkness (Vampires the Masquerade etc) to Cyberpounk 2020. In contrast to the White World Magazine article World of Future Darkness which only converted the other way. And I recall it being really tricky because they are fundamentally different ways of seeing character abilities. So I cannot say this is any good or even complete. Especially with regards to trying to convert a -1 to difficulty or a +1 to number of dice.

A lot of the more specific stuff I reversed out of the article and so pertain only to Vampire Disciplines.

Anything form of external bonus like magic or gear that reduces the TN is treated differently if it is a passive or active roll, the most obvious example being rolling to spot a clue vs rolling to spot an enemy.

Passive rolls have every -3 TN convert to a +2 Bonus, round down. Active rolls have every -1 TN convert to a +1 Bonus.

Things that increase or decrease the dice pool become a bonus/penalty of +/-1 per dice increased or decreased. Although the math holds that it is really a +/-1.5 per dice, but rough rounding is done.

Auto-successes convert to bonuses 1:1

For WoD’s use of total Successes as a threshold, every 2 over the 2020 Target Number counts as an additional success. IE. If 1 Success converts as rolling a 15, rolling 17 counts as 2 Successes when determining effects.

Humanity Index = Humanity (Conscious + Self Control) x 10

Skills are Skill Dots x 2. This does mean that skills will be higher than normal, but that should balance out the Stats being about 1 less than they should be according to Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads.

Special Power resources are spent as normal. The Resource Backgrounds gives the following: 1 dot = 2K, 2 = 5K, 3 = 10K, 4 = 20K, 5 = 50K.

WoD Base Damage – 3 = D6 rolled for damage + 2 (If Base Damage is under 5) or + 0 (if Base Damage is over 5). Natural weapons convert into 2020 damage as Base Damage x 2 in D6s + BT Mod.

For living things, 1 Soak = 4 SP. Artificial things have Damage Boxes x 5 SDP and Soak Roll x 5 SP.

Lethal damage is normal damage. If something is converted to Bashing Damage (not started as) the BT Modifier is doubled, meaning it becomes mostly chip damage. Aggravated Damage ignores the BT modifier completely.

If Healing time is reduced by 1 Line, that means +1 Healed per day.

VtM Disciplines
Celerity is like Boostware/Speedware, it adds Initiative per dot, and very 2 dotes + 1 to MA when active. (Varies by edition).

Auspex doesn’t help Cyberaudio/Cyberoptics. But does affect Aura Perception, smell touch and taste.

Dominate does not affect Cybernetically-stored memory, even if the organic part is.

Fortitude and Potence don’t work on Cyberlimbs.

Stormtroopers (Number Appearing)

I've played both Edge of the Empire and WEG D6 Star Wars. And something that's struck me is that in both rulesets, Stormtroopers can get very dangerous very quickly, even if the narrative tends to treat them as mooks. Something that became more of a thing as Disney reached for that nostalgia market.

A lot of details of Star Wars organisation came from WEG D6, whose writers tended to try and treat the in universe material as a hard scifi setting. Albeit hard like Battletech or Star Trek. Where the Empire naturally had millions of Stormtroopers and 1,000s of ships. And really the heroes needed the Force to even stand against this.

And that didn't sit right with me until I figured out that Star Wars should run on pulp rules. A narrative where does escalate swiftly from filler to fight, put where they should rarely get above filler. Couple that with Star Wars tendency to treat planets small places, and the following guide was developed.

Stormtroopers appears as four or less (speedbump if done well), 10 (mild danger), 20+ (risky) or Too Many. For inexperienced players or more lethal systems, I would halve these.

For narrative purposes:

2 or 4 guys guard a door that needs guarding/a checkpoint of mild inconvenience (1 guy is wasteful pomp) or harass some peaceful farmers.

1 squad (10 guys) guard a strategic checkpoint or a boring village.

1 Platoon (50) guard a structure or a boring town.

1 company (200) guard a big/important piece of infrastructure or a city.

1 battalion (800) guards a region/city feeling rebellious or a planet of boring people.

1 Regiment (1600) garrisons a vital military installation or is the force arrayed against an insurrection.

1 legion (12,800) controls a planet in the grip of active war or is the might of the Empire concentrated and leaving themselves vulnerable elsewhere.

 A collated timeline of Eriador for The One Ring 2E/The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (5E-based)

The One Ring 2E Eriador Timeline

2960

Hobbit Tales/First Start Set Box - A Conspiracy Most Cracked, Expert Treasure Hunters, Most Excellent Fireworks, Involuntary Postmen, To Soothe a Savage Beast

 

2965

All the Rulebook issues - Combe, Archet, The Barrow Downs (constant) and The South Downs. The Star of the Mist

MORIA - The Present Day of the sourcebook

Black Númenóreans - STRANGERS IN LOND DAER

Saruman The Patron - THE MESSENGER (Leads to Summons to Isengard.)

Dunland Raiders - SMOKE RISES OVER ISENGARD (Leads to Outlaws on the Road.)

Hands of the White Wizard – Earliest Time for The Beast of Dunland

Hands of the White Wizard – Earliest Time for The Sea-Prince of the Shore

Hands of the White Wizard – Earliest Time for The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

Morlhoss Against the Elves - A WHISPER IN THE WIND

Arblaud vs Dwarves - ARBLAUD’S HOMECOMING

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - THE RETURN OF THE WEASEL-SPIRIT

Tales From the Lone Lands – Earliest Time for A Troll-hole, if Ever There Was One, Messing About in Boats, Kings of Little Kingdoms, Not to Strike Without Need, Wonder of the Northern World and The Quest of Amon Guruthos

 

2966

Black Númenóreans - THE FISHER CHILD

Saruman The Patron - SUMMONS TO ISENGARD (Leads to Spying on the Shire.)

Dunland Raiders - OUTLAWS ON THE ROAD (Leads to The Burning of Minhiriath.)

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - THE SIEGE OF WAILINGHOLE

 

2967

Black Númenóreans - DARK BARGAINS (Leads to Scouts in Minhiriath.)

Saruman The Patron - AMBUSHING THE BLACK NÚMENÓREANS (Leads to Mission to Angmar.)

Morlhoss Against the Elves - RAGE OF THE STONE-GIANTS

Arblaud vs Dwarves - INCIDENT AT THE FORD (SPRING)

Arblaud vs Dwarves - A NEW LADY IN THE NORTH

Arblaud vs Dwarves - THE BATTLE OF IOREITHEL

 

2968

Black Númenóreans - SCOUTS IN MINHIRIATH (Leads to The Wooing of Tharbad.)

Black Númenóreans - THE TREASURES OF OLD

Saruman The Patron - SPYING ON THE SHIRE

Saruman The Patron - THE LORE OF EREGION (Leads to Into Moria.)

Dunland Raiders - THE BURNING OF MINHIRIATH

Morlhoss Against the Elves - THE RISE OF THE ELF-HUNTER

Arblaud vs Dwarves - THE GREAT COUNCIL OF MITHLOND

Arblaud vs Dwarves - THE OATH OF THE DWARVES

 

2969

Black Númenóreans - JOURNEY TO ANGMAR (Leads to Rites in the Barrow-downs.)

Saruman The Patron - MISSION TO ANGMAR

 

2970

Black Númenóreans - THE WOOING OF THARBAD (Leads to The Kathuphazgân Moves Inland.)

Black Númenóreans - BLOOD IN SWANFLEET

Dunland Raiders - THE IRON BARGAIN (Leads to Raid on Lond Daer.)

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time with modifications for The Beast of Dunland

(Vila is age 10 in The Beast of Dunland and must grow into a “capable but Cruel young woman” by either T.A. 2972/2975, where the Kathuphazgân arrives in Lond Daer in the modified scenario. Or fulfils its purpose to discovers Rivendell if not stopped)

Morlhoss Against the Elves - THE HOWLING OF WOLVES

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - THE WAYLAYING OF THE EVENSTAR

Arblaud vs Dwarves - THE CROWNING OF THE NORTHERN QUEEN

 

2971

Black Númenóreans - RITES IN THE BARROW-DOWNS (Leads to The Fall of Lond Daer.)

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time for The Beast of Dunland

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time with modifications for The Sea-Prince of the Shore

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time with modifications for The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - A TRAP IS TRIGGERED

Tales From the Lone-Lands – Latest Time for Messing About in Boats

 

2972

Black Númenóreans - THE FALL OF LOND DAER (Leads to The Kathuphazgân Moves Inland.)

Saruman The Patron - INTO MORIA

Dunland Raiders - RAID ON LOND DAER (Leads to Across the Brandywine.)

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time for The Sea-Prince of the Shore

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest Time with for The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

Hands of the White Wizard – Earliest Time with modifications for There Let Them Lie Until the End

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - NO PLACE IS SAFE ANY MORE

Arblaud vs Dwarves - A MEETING OF MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

 

2973

Black Númenóreans - THE KATHUPHAZGÂN MOVES INLAND (Leads to Scouts in the Trollshaws.)

Hands of the White Wizard – Presumed Earliest Time for There Let Them Lie Until the End

Morlhoss Against the Elves - TROLLS ABROAD (Winter)

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - THE COMING OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - CONFRONTATION AT THE BLACK LAKE

 

2974

Black Númenóreans - THIS IS NO PLACE OF HONOUR

Black Númenóreans - SCOUTS IN THE TROLLSHAWS

Dunland Raiders - ACROSS THE BRANDYWINE (Leads to The Assault on the Dwarf-hold.)

Cauthlin vs Rivendell - 2974: THE FORGING OF THE BLACK BLADE

 

2975

Black Númenóreans - THE DISCOVERY OF RIVENDELL

Black Númenóreans -  HONOUR AMONG THIEVES

Dunland Raiders - THE ASSAULT ON THE DWARF-HOLD

Hands of the White Wizard – Presumed Latest Time for There Let Them Lie Until the End

Morlhoss Against the Elves - ATTACK ON WHITETHORN HAY

Arblaud vs Dwarves - THE SIEGE OF THE NORTHERN QUEEN

 

2977

Morlhoss Against the Elves - ATTACK ON DWARFERRY

 

2978

Morlhoss Against the Elves - THE ROBBERS OF THE BIRCHWOOD

Morlhoss Against the Elves - SHADOWS OF THE DARK WHISPER

 

2979

Morlhoss Against the Elves - THE WAR CRIES OF WOLVES AND GOBLINS (Spring)

 

2980

MORIA - Aragorn enters Moria by the East-gate

Morlhoss Against the Elves - PRISONER OF MORLHOSS

 

2982

Morlhoss Against the Elves - FAELOTH’S LAST ROAD

 

2989

MORIA - Balin’s expedition

Hands of the White Wizard – Latest time for There Let Them Lie Until the End

 

2994

MORIA - Recorded Death of Balin in the Book of Mazarbul.

Hands of the White Wizard - The Quest of Moria

 

3000

Hands of the White Wizard - The Ithil-stone

 

3018

MORIA - The creature Gollum enters Moria to hide from the Elves and the forces of Sauron.

 

3019

MORIA - The Fellowship of the Ring passes through Moria. Gandalf the Grey destroys Durin’s Bridge and slays the Balrog.

 

24 Landmarks that can be explored or are tied to events. So, they either get to be inserted anytime or at the appropriate year. Although some occasions only are for their destruction or change. So perhaps introducing them beforehand is better.

 

If a player was a Man and started in TA 2,965 at age 18 and then married and had a child at age 20 in TA 2,967 to keep the generations a nice, neat number.
Assuming he didn’t die on his adventures, nor his children. His son could take over adventuring in TA 2,985 and he would be 40 in TA 2,987 and 72 when the War of the Ring ended in TA 3,019. His grandson could take over adventuring in 3005 and be 32 at Sauron’s defeat. Though any Eriador character would be dealing with Ruffians in the Shire into TA 3,020.

Now some of the events are more descriptions of bigger changes than actual scenarios, but TOR 2E presume a certain amount of improvisation with the Tales of Years chapters.

It could easily be that this character can do 4 adventures a year for 5 years, then slow down by 1 every 5 years until stopping in the blank gap after TA 2,980, then his son takes over. Seeing any Landmarks and adventures that the father didn’t do. Leaving enough time for any TOR 2E Book/war content to be done by the grandson.

Miscellaneous Grab Bag Part 3

 

(Anton von Perger)

Antarctica Bestiary

Kobolds

Stats as B/X

Perversion of the Fairy magic of the western peninsula, wild gardens made laboratories of malice.

Rootstock and creeper vines are cultivated, passed between would-be conquerors and gibbering sorcerers. The gourds grow fat and meaty, fed by blood, a deer a week or a cow a month. After one summer with light and one winter with blood, they ripen into horde of monsters.

Knobby is their appearance and cunning is their hate. For they despise the gnomish peasantry which cultivate the gourds. Cruel lords and sorcerers use them as guards, raiders and waves to overthrow legitimate heirs. After a few years, their seed-bearing chieftains take root, cascading advancement among them.

 

Someone on a Discord asked how would you increase the power level of Wolves Upon the Coast. And I said I would compile the options together.

 

-          Get +1 Attack and +1 HD per boast/oath/cash minimum

-          More Outlandish Boasts:

Each boast is +1 HD and attack and every 3 boasts you get another attack starting them at lvl 3, keeping the rest

-          WUTC but also Black Stream Solo Heroes

-          Start them off as viking heroes, 4hd each

-          Just do Boasts + more magic items

Based on the assumption that pulp is just macguffins all the way down.

But that would also mean that need to be stricter on LOSING levels

As explained on the Discord
“reading Pellucidar, homeie becomes the Unifier of the Human Tribes, goes home to get supplies comes back and he's like dropped from Warlord to like A Guy People Know at best”

- WUTC idea, boasts only apply in a fight if the enemy you are fighting knows of those boasts

Now, someone said SotU achieves pulp by saying HP returns after combat and that if PCs reach 0 you can just say they were captured

Black Stream did a thing that if you wait 5 minutes after combat, binding your wounds and resting, you gain 2 HP back. Up to what you had prior to the fight.

So players can always get away with something for surviving.

Another said they did swig of strong drink = regain a HD of HP in plenty of old D&D games

 

My simpler approach based on the above

+1 AB and +1 HD per boast/oath.

Encourage crazier boasts, offering even greater rewards for outrageous, dangerous or multi-session tasks.

Say yes to action maneuvers like swinging on ropes.

Having healing after each fight, either 2 HP or 1 HD, whichever I like at the time.

 

Random Warcraft RPG Idea

Warcraft as a setting, is a lot like comics in that any initial plan went off the rails and there is a deep vein of nostalgia-tinged regret for what could have been.

 

Warcraft for 3E would have worked better if the LA system wasn't complete garbage.

A lot of fun races and classes are stuck being inherently awful.

 

Warcarft the RPG (first one) was rooted in the idea characters were free to choose which side they wanted to be on Kalimdor.

Humans and Orcs wouldn't be wholly welcome in each other's cities, but the Barrens and remote regions was more case-by case teamwork.

 

If I really wanted to break down WoW as a "Warcraft 4", I would structure the quest chains for the player group so each expansion solves one aspect of the situation at the end of WC2 and 3. Also convert the levels so it's not a strictly escalatory rise for each zone.

It ended up working for WUTC weirdly.

 

A Level 1 Bear is 6 HD minimum HP 6

A level 20 Bear is 20/5=4, 6 HD, minimum 10 HP (6+4)

A level 80 Bear is 6 HD min 22 HP (6+16)

 

Instead of Boasting, turn Quests worth 10 steps (culminative) to get an advancement.

Advancements include magic, which AC provides a penalty to.

 

Mutants in the Now Starting character.

I wanted to try making a human-origin mutant who was a superhero, that meant minimizing the animal traits and using the Option I selection from Mutants in the Next. It still took me two hours and that’s with me knowing what I’m doing.

 

Diego Gonzalez

Biologist for UCLA by day, landscape painter on the weekend, Lucha Libre star by night. And in the twilight hours, a cat-like hunter of injustice.

For Diego, scion of a promient ranchero family, was researching the reintroduction of the Candian Lynx in the US when he was in sudden car accident. Some ne'er-do-well were driving without the their lights on a country road.

For they had GOO-P experiments in the back. Nevertheless, Diego came off the better for it compared to them. Blessed with extrordinary powers and a still human body.

Returning to LA, he swiftly put his new instincts to good use, sniffing out injustice and the whiff of Proteus's hamhanded experimentation.

 

COG 19 +4 68% +4% 2D8

DET 17 +3 64% +4% 1D12

AFF 19 +4 68% +4% 2D8

PER 19 +4 68% +4% 2D8

STR 13 +1 55% +3% 1D8

PRO 15 +2 60% +4% 1D10

END 13 +1 55% +3% 1D8

SPD 16 +3 62% +4% 1D12

 

Size 10 SIZE DAM 1d6

Unarmed Damage 1d6+2d8 (Counting X127 Clarification)

 

INITIATIVE: +7

DEFENSE: 15

MORALE: 17

HIT POINTS [HP]: 29

SUPERFICIAL HARM THRESHOLD [SHT]: 68

WILLPOWER [WILL]: 3

CONTACTS [CTCT]:

Quinn Kim Mountain Guide - Climbing, Aerospace Engineer, Avionics, Astronomy

James Perez Farmer - Crop

Both Reasons Simple Curisosity

LIFTING POWER [LIFT]: 130

MOVE RATE 78

 

Values:

Bravery

Education

Justice

 

RURAL MUTATION

AUTOMOTIVE ACCIDENT

You were in the accident.

PRIVILEGED EXISTENCE

PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY: Your family

ensured you went to a famous, elite

college.

FIELD BIOLOGIST: Hands-on

life lessons.

 

Package Ability: When using skill

synergy with Performance, Visual

Art, or Writing, gain the higher of

the two skill values instead of the

lower.

Package Ability: A successful dramatic

roll can let you know a creature’s

species, size rating, and

anthropomorphic/zoomorphic traits.

 

Skills

Biology 72%/+4%

Deduction 72% +4%

First Aid 68%/+4%

Genetics 68%/+4%

Performance 72%/+4%

Visual Art 68%/+4%

Marketing 68%/+4%

 

Hobby

Streetwise 64%/+4%

Questioning 68%/+4%

Teach 55%/+4%

Athletics 65%/+4%

Prof Light Pistol

 

Formal clothes

cellphone or smartphone

a pack or sack

CITIZENSHIP: You’re a legal citizen

of your country of origin,

with all associated rights of

a young adult or adult (your

choice). However, this also

means the government is aware

of your existence and likely to

track your activities.

DEGREE: You have an official

academic degree associated with

one of your skill packages.

Without citizenship, this is

likely a forgery or honorary,

but it can pass casual

inspection.

Grooming kit

Light Pistol

 

GETTING BY: You’re secure, with

$3000 in savings, and a small house

or condo, no debt. You’re still paying on

anything else.

Two Parent Household

1 Sibling

 

lynx, canadian

This lynx lives to hunt snow hares.

Basic Traits: Felidae, Omnivore, Bipedal,

Prehensile, Vocal, CLoaked

Major Traits: Enhanced Scent (5 GOO-P), Nightsight (5 GOO-P), Rake (5 GOO-P), Swift: Sprint (8 GOO-P)

Minor Traits: Claws (ascent, hooked, retractable), Enhanced Hearing, Fall Righting, Snow Shoes

 

LUCHA LIBRE

Core Ability (Lariat): If you perform a move action this turn, you may inflict Prowess damage instead of weapon damage on unarmed grab and knockdown maneuvers. You may also do so if your opponent moved on your turn or is startled.

Base Ability (Iron Board): When you perform a move action, foes are +D on maneuvers against you until the end of your next turn. If you sprint, they are +HD instead.

Supported Maneuvers: Bully, Grab, Knockdown, Taunt, Trick

Miscellaneous Grab Bag Part 2

 Lets start with some pointless minutia I started writing up one day at work, when no tasks had come in and we were in the end of the year slump. More of an exercise in memory, trying to stretch back my high school biology studies and turn it into game material. As much as Star Wars constitutes a game, more like an ecosystem of games and inter-related concepts.

(Artist appears to be Ksenia Zelentsova)

Twi'lek Skin Tones.

Twi'leks are the sexy alien babes that cropped up in Star Wars Episode 6 as dancing girls in Jabba the Hutt's palace. That set the tone for how most of the franchise treats them, arm candy or obtainable babes for the hero. As they turned up in the first 3 movies, they got made a staple of crowd scenes and minor characters. While most of their details came from the WEG Star Wars D6 game, later Expanded Universe material would lay out some key concepts.

Their planet is a tidally-locked nightmare, their culture both practises slavery and sell their women to get them off their miserable planet. Their men are ugly as sin. Men have human ears, females have cones (they were part of the dancing outfits in the movie). They are naturally submissive and come pretty much every colour of the spectrum, with Red being the rarest mutation and Blue being second rarest.

The blatent colonialism aside, doubled down on by the original actresses being Asian or African and having an generically sexy foreign French accent. The skin things still hasn't been changed.

Lucas in his children's TV show The Clones Wars retconned the planet (Ryloth) being tidally locked, them being naturally submissive and decided to double down on them being French-pancolonial, drawing on Northern African design elements for houses and resistance fighters. Making the Asian-acted ones probally from Ryloth Indo-China.

Thier status as generic sex symbols was now just exploitation and abuse from their lawless and clannish planet. Even now, some people still get angry about that last bit because it ruins the fantasy aspect.

But enough about that, let's get onto biology.

Twi'leks only have eyelashes. So therefore, we are looking at skin genetics, which for ease of cross-breeding in the Galaxy Far Far Away is close enough to humans.

Skin tones in humans is controlled by, if I remember, 7 alleles. Either on or off to determine the production of the two types of melanin that affect skin tone. With more alleles being turned on meaning more pigment and hence darker. For hair colour, it's more varied with the exact ratio of Eumelanin (darker) and Pheomelanin (reddy-yellow).

Twi'leks come in such a range that we need to go deeper to figure what combiation of hues gives us the range. We have red, blue, purple, pink, teal, green, yellow, orange, a kind of umber, chromatically black and pale. Red is a mutation like real-world albinoism so we can discard that from the roster. Blue in real life is pretty much only made via manipualtion of light, rather than pigment.

So what is the commonality here, once we discount the blue shades?

We end up with a lot of yellows, as the majority of Twi'leks are generic green shades or teal shades. The pinks and purples become redder and the Yellow and darker warm colours don't change. This sounds a bit like Eumelanin and Pheomelanin in the hair, but for skin.

For the blues shades, there must be a another layer in the epidermis, one that ranges from dense blue-wavelength structures to not, or Blue-Transparency.

From here the chart emerges, which I have found to have lost and so have had to quickly rewrite with some large missing chunks, but the general idea is there. The pink is anomalous, so maybe I had it in a different spot for the original chart.

Any sort of banding or spotches on the lekku (head tendrils) or other parts of the body would be their own genetic thing.

A Good Place to Live, Die and Come Again

The New World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness tends to work in an urban area (commonly in the US) except for those wandering stories like Promenthean and Werewolf. So I sort of reckon Joliet, Illinois would a good place. It's close enough to Chicago, centre of published Vampiredom to get plot hooks but not so urban to attract wanderers coming from the south. Somewhere in Texas would be good too, but I found Joliet first by looking for nice round populations.

Joliet has a little more than 150,000 residence. If we apply the 0.5% In the Know ratio, and quater that for actual supernaturals. Joliet has 750 people In the Know and 187 actual supernatural residence and Hunters (who count because they can have supernatural powers themselves depending on what organisation is picked).

Dividing that supernatural populations into blocks like in my previous post. I found I got very large groupings, even after rounding down.

The main group at 50%; 187/2 = 93.5

The secondary group at 25%; 187/4 = 46.75

The two minor groups at 12.5%; 187/8 = 23.375

So perhalps it would be best to mix them up a bit.

Break Joliet's supernaturals into 3 groups at 25%; 46 each.
Or keep 2 groups at 25%, add 2 groups at 12.5% and add 4 groups at 6.25%; 11

With three remaining oddballs.

The wider population of Will (696,355), Kendall (131,869) and Grundy County (52,533) which include and surround Joliet. Offer a vast range of preserved landscape, farmland and towns without having to venture into Chicago. Some 4403 In the Know and 1100 Supernaturals, include Joliet itself. Perfect for adding all the rest who are being kept away by the city centre.

New Antarctica Jam Monsters

As I stall out on the Antarctica Jam I am almost 50% done with, I have instead turned to some new additions to the Antarctica Jam Bestiary. Some are new spins on things, but one I made to give Antarctica more of a Gondwanan flavour and a couple were remakes of Runequest monsters.

(As it says on the picture, prehistoric-fauna.com)

Troll - stats as B/X

The Titians made humanity

Trolls were the test

Each proto-man a self-contained force, a society of one.

They find children difficult as they are dialect-speaking subcultures and leave to grow into their full selves.

People cannot become a troll but can adopt their ways.

Independent, alone and masters of their own body. Warping, dancing and fighting as the body becomes less human.

Trolls were not supposed to still be around.

These guys are based on the notion that the Angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion were self-contained biospheres, hence why they were Kaiju, mixed with Anno's previous series, Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water. here the alien-created prototype of humanity is a gaint called Adam, who is found preserved by the aliens.

Head Horrors

(adapted from Headhangers from the Runequest Gateway Bestiary)

Flaccidly huge and pale, with spine and claw. The near-carcass equidistance between reptile and insect. Sprouting are numerous stalks, often bearing living humanoid head. For they only prey on intelligent creatures, consuming the energies of the victims over months, while the heads live on.

There are usually 1d10 heads. The heads will aid the Head Horror in fighting by shouting, spitting, and otherwise distracting opponents in combat. Each heads gives -1 to attacks against it.

If maximum damage is rolled or the victim killed, the head is considered severed and swallowed by the Head Horror. To be stored internally and will grow on a stalk in 24 hours. Victims’ spirits are trapped until their heads are completely absorbed.

HD 3 AC 5

Attack 2: Both attacks occur simultaneously 1d8+2

Move: 120 feet per turn.

Sloth Squash
(Absolutely Jack O'Bears from Runequest)

Vaguely humanoid, this creature is some horrible combination of tropical plant and animal.

The Sloth Squash can ensnare another’s mind. These victims whose saves are overcome are frozen in place and helpless unless the Sloth Squash dies or a form of Dispel Magic is used against the hypnotised target. Sloth Squash are basically Chaotic, and from this their weird power comes.

HD 6 AC 6

Attacks 2: 1d6+1

Once per round per victim, the Sloth Squash can hypnotize victims up to a total its HD, who must save vs spells or be frozen in place and helpless.

Move 150 feet per turn

Surprises on a roll of 1-3 on a d6.

Thylacoleo
The marsupial lion or panther, an ambush predetor with powerful "bolt-cutter" teeth, but also dangerous opposable claws.

Armour Class 4 [15]

Hit Dice 4 (18hp)

Attacks 2 × claw (1d4), 1 × bite (1d10)

THAC0 16 [+3]

Movement 210’ (70’)

Saving Throws D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (2)

Morale 8

Alignment Neutral

XP 75

Number Appearing 1d2 (1d6)

Treasure Type U

Claw Grapple: If a victim is hit by both claws in the same round, the Thylacoleo grabs with it's teeth for an extra 2d6 automatic damage.

Sphinx

HD: 14

AC: As Plate

Attack: 2 x 1d6+2 Claw

The face of a woman with the distinctive teeth of a great cat or marsupial lion. The body of the same and the wings of a great white bird. She is of a higher tier of messenger. Wanting to know about how people live and what they consider to be sin. Their hypocrisy and their compromises to live in the material world. Her decorations or pouch contains the wealth of the prophets.

(Effectively a double-strength Griffon by L. Mann)

If you contribute to the Antarctica Jam, you can get a whole bestiary of these for free and you get to contribute to a good collaborative OSR project.

Miscellaneous Grab Bag

This was going to be a musing on how the conversion of Cyberpunk 2020 to Vampires the Masquerade from White Wolf Magazine didn’t work. But I have misplaced the notes I wrote at least a year ago about the issue. So here’s the short version:

Vampire the Masquerade like all Old World of Darkness games has modifiers to the roll and modifiers to the target number. And somethings adding and subtracting whole dice. These all do weird things to the percentage chance to succeed and when they adapted Cyberpunk 2020. There was no consistency to work backwards from in how modifiers were adapted.

I still haven’t figured out how to convert old school Shadowrun magic into a Cyberpunk-appropriate form.

 Now I need more content, so here is a grab bag of recent ideas.

Someone once said ACKS/II doesn’t address the pain points of actual using all the merchant, castle construction and hireling rules. Otherwise being nigh the same as OSE or B/X but with more rolling for things that rarely come up. So, I whipped a quick cost idea for B/X and OSE.

If you want to buy/hire something that might not be assumed. Roll 1d6 for a small settlement, 2 for a medium and 3 for a large. Take the highest number.

1-2 Not this week

3-4 Half the amount or twice the cost

5-6 sure

Selling things, do the same rolling process. The profit is whatever margin you as the DM cares to make it. They'll stop buying when you've sold a number of goods/bundles/standardised measurements equal to the roll.

1-2 Half the listed profit

3-4 Normal listed profit

5-6 Half the listed profit again

 

Having problems integrating Dolmenwood into a wider Old Schools Essentials map/Basic-Expert map. Simply because it's a river flowing north to south, not something many rivers in the real world Celtic regions do. It’s throwing off my internal geography, though I did think for a moment to place it as a sort of Rhone River, but Brythonic Celtic and Gaulish Celtic were quite different things. I did see a good interpretation of it on a fantasy version of Ireland. But that still required some replumbing of the geography.

 

Some more fictional mutant species. Though portrayed as turtle-like originally, the Cha’thrang has a shell growth and fusing wholly unlike any turtle. Being layered alkaline layers and anchored, rather than part of the skeleton. Carnivores are still so much easier to make mutants. As the system is by a chain of adaptions, based on D&D.

Unknown

Brown Chathrang

SR 11 Enhance DET PRE END

GOO-P: +20

Basic: Otherworldly (Athas), Carnivore, Quadrupedal

Major: Defensive Posture (5), Shell (15), Stable (5), Toxin (10) (Alkaline, treat as Lead-Acid +2) (Roping +10)

Minor: Beak (Hooked) Camouflage (Desert), Claws: Digging, Communal, Heat Tolerance, Infrasonic Hearing, Specialised Predator (Flying Animals)

Never Let Up: (Shell +1): Add +END to Reposition Manoeuvres made against targets with inflicted Statuses

Unknown

Green Chathrang

SR 10 Enhance AFF PRE END

GOO-P: +25

Basic: Otherworldly (Athas), Carnivore, Quadrupedal

Major: Defensive Posture (5), Shell (15), Spines (15) (Darts +3), Stable (5), Toxin (10) (Alkaline, treat as Lead-Acid +2) (Roping +10)

Minor: Camouflage (Desert), Claws: Digging, Communal, Heat Tolerance, Infrasonic Hearing, Specialised Predator (Flying Animals), Teeth (Slaying)

FLAK Battery (Spine: Darts +1): When making a Range: Strike attack, add +1 up to AFF per additional ally making a Ranged Strike this round.