House Rules

I like to collect house rules. Its interesting to see how people change/modify a system especially a flexible game like B/X Dungeons and Dragons.

A few neat rules I found:

* Character Generation using playing cards

Shadow Hunters

For the Northern Shore campaign, we have four party members:

1. Aela - A beautiful witch with a haunted past. Her visions lead her to the Northern Shore. Her dog, Rex, is always at her side.
   
2. Addan the Mouse - Addan had the same master as Aela but never got the knack of magic. He has some limited talent with magical items and picked up some tracking skills.
3. Rakan of Illdonia - A Slayer, he believes Aela can lead him on his hunt.
4. Corin the Brave - A former town guard who travels with Rakan to ease an old guilt.

Useful tools

As part of this exercise, I found a few useful tools online for character generation. I'll continue adding to this post as I find new resources

Character Generation

• WOTC Random Name Generator
• Rinkworks Fantasy Name Generator
• WOTC Random Dice Roller

Aela

The last character for now will be Aela.

She will be the magic-user in the party. Her initial profile is below.

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Str: 6 Dex: 10 Con: 13 Int: 18 Wis:11 Cha: 17

Career: Farmer

Milestone: Home Village wiped out.

Health: Good

Skills: Labor

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Goat

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Based on her class, I thought it made sense to have her and Addan know each other by having the same master instead of rolling it up.

For her template, she rolled up soothsayer. I was initially thinking something more vengeful based on her milestone.

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RULESET: BECMI

Name: Aela

Class: Magic-User AL: Neutral

Level: 1 Exp: 0

Hp: 1

AC: 9

THACO: 20 - melee

THACO: 19 - ranged

Str: 6 Dex: 10 Con: 13 Int: 18 Wis:11 Cha: 17

Career: Farmer

Milestone: Home Village wiped out.

Health: Good

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Goat

Relationship: Shared the same master as Addan the Mouse.

Template: Soothsayer
Spell(s) memorized: Sleep

Equipment:

* Spellbook
** Sleep
** Protection from evil
** Hold Portal
** Ventriloquism

* Staff

* Red Robes/basic clothes

* Backpack

* Ornamental Crystal Ball

* quill/ink

* mirror

* 1 week's iron rations

* 1 war dog( Rex)

****************************************************************************

Background:

Aela is a beautiful woman with a cunning mind. However, she is troubled/blessed with visions. It was her visions that allowed her to escape the destruction of her village. Now, they lead her and her companions to the Northern Shore.

Random Characters

Here are the next 4 characters to be created.

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Str: 16 Dex: 13 Con: 14 Int: 9 Wis:9 Cha: 13

Career: Farmer

Milestone: You were raised in a happy and loving home

Health: Good

Skills: Labor

Element: Water

Zodiac Symbol: Ox

****************************************************************************

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Str: 5 Dex: 9 Con: 9 Int: 12 Wis:13 Cha: 11

Career: Forester

Milestone: Commited a Crime

Health: Suffered the Red Plague

Skills: Trapping

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Goat

****************************************************************************

****************************************************************************

Str: 6 Dex: 10 Con: 13 Int: 18 Wis:11 Cha: 17

Career: Farmer

Milestone: Home Village wiped out.

Health: Good

Skills: Labor

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Goat

****************************************************************************

****************************************************************************

Str: 9 Dex: 15 Con: 12 Int:7 Wis:10 Cha: 9

Career: Forester

Milestone: Witnessed a horrible act

Health: Good

Skills: Trapping

Element: Void

Zodiac Symbol: Dragon

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Rakan of Ildonia

The third character got pretty lucky in his rolls. As noted earlier, he scored the rare milestone.

Based on his milestone, I thought a cleric was appropriate. A wandering cleric saw potential in the lad and he "took the Black" of a Slayer( Based on his template roll)

Here are the original stats.

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Str: 16 Dex: 11 Con: 12 Int: 13 Wis:12 Cha: 13

Career: Farmer

Milestone: Eureka! You had a glimpse of the universal truth

Health: Good

Skills: Labor

Element: Earth

Zodiac Symbol: Tiger

****************************************************************************

It has been pretty easy converting ACKS templates/characters to BECMI. I think the templates easily add some depth to the BECMI rules with little overhead.

Rakan has witch hunter style gear. Because of the important milestone in his life, he is a fanatic to his cause. He is driven and very passionate in his beliefs.

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RULESET: BECMI

Name: Rakan of Ildonia

Class: Cleric AL: Lawful

Level: 1 Exp: 0

Hp: 1

AC: 4 ( Chain + Shield)

THACO: 17 - melee

THACO: 19 - ranged

SStr: 16 Dex: 11 Con: 12 Int: 13 Wis:12 Cha: 13

Career: Farmer

Milestone: Eureka! You had a glimpse of the universal truth

Health: Good

Skills: Labor

Element: Earth

Zodiac Symbol: Tiger

Relationship: Secretly in love with Aela but pretends to be just friends.

Template: Undead Slayer

Equipment:

* Holy Symbol

* Warhammer

* Shield

* Chainmail

* Black Priest Outfit ( Think Witch Hunter Style Gear)

* Backpack

* Flask of Holy Water

* 1 lb of Garlic

* 1 lb of wolfsbane

* mirror

* 4 stakes and a mallet

* 2 week's iron rations

****************************************************************************

Corin the Brave

The next character is a standard fighter. His name also came from rinkworks fantasy generator.

For an online dice generator, I'll use the WOTC one.

Initial Character Generation:

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Str: 13 Dex: 6 Con: 12 Int: 6 Wis:11 Cha: 14

Career: Guard

Milestone: Responsible for the death of a friend/relative

Health: Good

Skills: Alertness

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Ox

****************************************************************************

Based on his career, I'll chose a template of a Town Guard.

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RULESET: BECMI

Name: Corin the Brave

Class: Fighter AL: Lawful

Level: 1 Exp: 0

Hp: 6

AC: 6( Chain+Shield and Dex Penalty)

THACO: 18 - melee

THACO: 20 - ranged

Str: 13 Dex: 6 Con: 12 Int: 6 Wis:11 Cha: 14

Milestone:Feels responsible for the death of his younger brother. He failed to protect him.

Health: Good

Skills: Alertness

Element: Fire

Zodiac Symbol: Ox

Relationship: Joined Rakan on a quest to hunt down his brother's killer.

Template: Town Guard

Equipment:

* Halberd

* Mace

* Shield

* Chainmail

* Clothes/Backpack

* 1 week's iron rations

* 1 flask of oil

* 6 torches

* 7 gp

****************************************************************************

Addan the Mouse

For the Northern Shore ConstantCon campaign, I need to generate 7 new characters. I thought this would be a good chance to try out my character generator combined with a few other tools out on the web.

One of my favorites find is B/X Blackrazor's 100 reasons the characters are together.

The 1st character has the following stats per my generator:
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Str: 9 Dex: 17 Con: 11 Int: 11 Wis:6 Cha: 14
Career: Craftsman
Milestone: A natural athlete who excelled in childhood games.
Health: Good
Skills: Craft
Element: Water
Zodiac Symbol: Rat
****************************************************************************

I wrote earlier the following for these stats:

Based on the output, this looks like an excellent candidate for a Thief or a Specialist(LOTFP).

He could be a thief whose former career was a fisherman before he took up adventuring. His nickname is "Mouse".

Using random.org to roll 3d6, I consulted ACKS Player's Companion for a thief template to quickly generate equipment and some additional background.

A roll of 15 said this thief was a former Magician's Apprentice. His name was generated using rinkworks fantasy name generator.

The campaign is based on BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia. Let's do a quick conversion based on what we know so far.
****************************************************************************
RULESET: BECMI

Name: Addan the Mouse
Class: Thief AL: Neutral

Level: 1 Exp: 0

Hp: 4

AC: 5 ( Leather + dex)

THACO: 19 - melee

THACO: 17 - ranged
Str: 9 Dex: 17 Con: 11 Int: 11 Wis:6 Cha: 14
Career: Craftsman(Fisherman)
Milestone: A natural athlete who excelled in childhood games.
Health: Good
Element: Water
Zodiac Symbol: Rat

Relationship: Met Corin in the Dancing Dragon Inn during a tavern brawl.
Template: Failed Magician's Apprentice
Equipment:
* Crossbow, 20 bolts
* Short Sword, 2 daggers
* Leather Armor

* Backpack/clothes

* Thieve's Tools

* 50' rope

* blank spellbook

* lantern/tinderbox

* 6 flask of oil

* 12 iron spikes

* garlic/wolfsbane

* wineskin

* 1 week's iron rations
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Dungeons and Dungeons Character Generator - Sample Characters

After a long hiatus, I decided to blog again to share some creative material. I recently picked up ACKS ( Adventurer Conqueror King System) and it reignited my interest in starting a campaign.

Here are a few sample dungeon and dragon character from a character generator I've been working on for ACKS/BECMI style Dungeons and Dragon game.

The character generator rolls 3d6 in order and applies bonuses/penalties based on career, health, history and milestones in your past.

Here is the first one:

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Str: 9 Dex: 17 Con: 11 Int: 11 Wis:6 Cha: 14
Career: Craftsman
Milestone: A natural athlete who excelled in childhood games.
Health: Good
Skills: Craft
Element: Water
Zodiac Symbol: Rat
****************************************************************************

Based on the output, this looks like an excellent candidate for a Thief or a Specialist(LOTFP).

He could be a thief whose former career was a fisherman before he took up adventuring. His nickname is "Mouse".

****************************************************************************
Str: 13 Dex: 6 Con: 12 Int: 6 Wis:11 Cha: 14
Career: Guard
Milestone: Responsible for the death of a friend/relative
Health: Good
Skills: Alertness
Element: Fire
Zodiac Symbol: Ox
****************************************************************************

I'm finding the Zodiac symbol/element help me visualize the type of character generated from the stats.

This character looks like your classic fighter - not the brightest or quickest character in the deck but good-looking and strong. Maybe he feel asleep or left his post as a guard and this resulted in a friend dying.

Last one, this character got pretty lucky

****************************************************************************
Str: 16 Dex: 11 Con: 12 Int: 13 Wis:12 Cha: 13
Career: Farmer
Milestone: Eureka! You had a glimpse of the universal truth
Health: Good
Skills: Labor
Element: Earth
Zodiac Symbol: Tiger
****************************************************************************

This milestone is pretty rare. It grants a bonus to int and wis.

The strong overall stats and high strength combined with the Eureka moment suggest a cleric or monk. Perhaps, he was a simple farmer discovered by a traveling priest to have a higher calling.

Catching up

Things got really busy since August and I have had precious time to play games...

Quick updates
Heromages lasted till my big move in September. After that, I got very little gaming except on the Nintendo DS.

After getting back from my trip overseas and the holidays, I had a chance to start Dragon Age. I was able to get in a few long nights over the holidays. However, its been hard to get such a heavy game started with only 30 min free.

Dominion has taken over for board gaming with my friends. Its a quick fun game and scales from 2-6 people depending on the version you have.

I found rogues again online when I caught wind of the 2010 7DRL contest. I picked up Dungeon Crawl and liked the gameplay/speed. It reminds me of powder. I wish I could find a nice graphical version of ADOM but haven't had a chance to look.

Heromages: Betrayal Map

This is an interesting 4 player map. Each player has 1 guardian next to an opposing heromage. It was designed to mix up starting positions and cause chaos and bloodshed early.

It also has some LOS and corners to hide during the game

Summer update: Heromages

Been playing a bit of heromages ( www.heromages) the last two weeks.

Its a flash based game with a good amount of strategy and depth. My only concern is that the endgame can drag out between two players.

Other than that, summer gaming has been light. I got in three games of Heroscape for my birthday in June. It was fun..but the games aren't hitting the table anymore...

Chain Reaction 3: Swordfight is out

A new version of Chain Reaction is out with a fantasy skirmish out for free.

I glanced at the rules and it looks better organized than previous iteration. This is the free version, so it doesn't have as much detail as the other games in the series.

Starting setting up a follow up scenario to test the rules out.

Mechaton

Mechaton is a very pretty game of mecha combat using legos and d6. I loved the system and picked up the rules two years ago but never had the legos to assemble the cool looking mechs.

Looks like a new mechaton site came up: Mechatonic with some new design and campaign notes.

Light Posting

A Major Release for work, so I've working overtime. I probably won't touch any boardgames till late February.

I've played a few games of ADOM here and there. Needless to say, its a hard game.

The small cave is a death trap if you stay too long. I didn't find a key and got stuck, so I tried to take out the Brigand leader with my Dwarven fighter.

The half-orc bouncer took my head.

playing ADOM

I came across ADOM while doing research on computer games. Its an old ASCII based rogue. The user interface is very challenging to learn.

Melee Specials for SOBH

Some ideas for melee specials. Some of these are used in a Song of Dragon Noir.

Weapon Master
You may roll 2 dice for your combat roll. Choose one of the values as
your final combat roll.

This should effectively add a +1 to your die roll. However, you have the choice of choosing the final value. The reason for this is to give you the option to choose to knock down or force your opponent to recoil.

Mighty
When your Combat roll is a 5, you may change it to a 6.
This effectively bumps your combat odds of causing a knock down.

Hardy - this idea came from the Bren of SOBH forum.
When your Combat roll is a 1, you may change it to a 2.

This effectively reduces your odds of fallen or killed.

Song of Dragon Noir - Rule Costing

Here is a summary rule costing for the specials in Song of Dragon Noir.
These values probably need balancing.

Acrobat;3;
Armored;3;
Berserk;3;
Bodyguard;3;
Cleric;15;p;
Combat Master;10;p;
Coward;-2;
Epic Attack;5;p;
Evil;0;
Ghost Blade;2;
Good;0;
Group Fighter;3;p;
Hatred;3;
Magic Resistance;2;
Mighty;3;
Necromancer;15;p;
Opportunistic;4;
Paladin;2;
Quick Shot;7;
Running Blow;8;
Sharpshooter;3;
Shock;3;
Shoot or Move;-3;
Sniper;10;p;
Summoner;15;p;
Weapon Master;7;p;
vs dwarves;0;
vs elves;0;
vs evil;0;
vs good;0;
vs humans;0;
vs magic users;0;
vs mounted;0;
vs orcs;0;
vs trolls;0;

A Song of Dragon Noir

I finally wrapped up all my notes on my Dragon Noir/SOBH conversion and bundled into a few pdfs. The first draft can be found at the SOBH forum

A Song of Dragon Noir is a fan conversion of Dragon Noir to SOBH rules. It was a good mental exercise and got a few solo plays.

Each counter has a unique stat and fills a role on their side for a campaign game.

If I have time, I would like to update the stats for the individual characters differently using some new ideas I have.

SOBH: Black Fox Warband

Here are the stats for the Black Fox warband.

;Black Fox Warband
Arek;17;4;2;false;Coward,Gregarious;
Aruk;23;4;3;false;Evil;
Ashrak;48;3;3;false;Armored,Evil,Lethal,Shock,vs mounted;
Attrag;33;4;3;false;Hatred,Sharpshooter,Shoot or Move,Shooter: Medium,vs dwarves;
Azrog;27;4;3;false;Evil,Savage;
Baby Dragon;86;3;4;true;Armored,Epic Attack,Tough;
Black Fox;96;3;4;true;Armored,Leader,Savage,Weapon Master;
Crazy Ork;39;4;4;false;Berserk,Mighty;
Fnarad;29;4;3;false;Evil,Shooter: Medium;
Gattog;39;4;3;false;Evil,Quick Shot,Shooter: Medium;
Gharvs;38;4;4;false;Animal,Big,Long Move,Slow;
Gnurr;41;5;4;true;Big,Fearless,Tough;
Graz;33;4;3;false;Evil,Hatred,Sharpshooter,Shoot or Move,Shooter: Medium,vs elves;
Grishnak;48;3;3;false;Armored,Lethal,Shock,vs elves;
Gromr;62;4;4;true;Big,Mighty,Tough;
Gromrak;44;3;3;true;Evil,Weapon Master;
Grumuz;36;3;3;false;Evil,Steadfast;
Grunek;26;4;2;false;Gregarious,Shooter: Medium;
Guruk;46;3;2;true;Armored,Evil,Leader,Slow;
Kommog;44;3;3;false;Evil,Sharpshooter,Shooter: Medium;
Krek;24;4;2;false;Free Disengage,Gregarious;
Krobek;32;3;2;false;Mighty,Shock;
Krular;20;4;3;false;Coward,Evil;
Kuruz;32;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Mighty;
Radak;42;3;3;false;Armored,Evil,Savage;
Shaman;46;3;2;true;Coward,Evil,Magic-User;
Shraggag;36;3;3;false;Evil,Group Fighter;
Throda;41;5;4;true;Big,Group Fighter,Tough;
Thrugg;35;4;4;false;Evil,Mighty,Savage,Short Move;
Ugluk;46;3;4;false;Armored,Evil;
Wardog;14;3;2;false;Animal;
Wardog;14;3;2;false;Animal;
Zabek;24;4;2;false;Gregarious,Shock;
Zarad;27;4;3;false;Evil,Fearless;
Zed;32;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Poison;
Zorak;33;4;3;false;Armored,Evil,Opportunistic;
Zrodek;24;4;2;false;Gregarious,Hatred,vs dwarves;
Zugun;36;3;3;false;Berserk,Evil;