Character exceptionalism in AD&D

I've decided to read through the 1e Player's Handbook for the first time in decades.  Sure I've looked at it from time to time over the years, and even used the charts and tables, but it's been forever since I've read the fine details.

One of the first interesting things I noticed was this quote in the Character Abilities section.  

"The premise of the game is that each player character is above average - at least in some respects-
and  has  superior  potential.  Furthermore,  it is  usually  essential  to  the character's  survival to be exceptional  (with a rating of 15 or above)  in no fewer than two ability characteristics. "

This seems to fly in the face of how much of the OSR views character exceptionalism. Of course 1e is quite a different game from OD&D or B/X.  Still, it points out that fairly early in the development of the game, PCs were intended to be special at their creation.  

Can't wait to find more interesting stuff like this. 

Return to the Dungeon!

Last night I got to play the game that started it all for me. Dungeon!  It was my first time playing the updated version, and though it was very familiar, there were some differences from the original classic game I last played in 1983. I really enjoy the new system of placing markers on the board after rooms have been cleared rather than the old system of placing all of the cards on the board to start.  The variety of monsters is a good improvement, but we were al surprised to see a Minotaur at level 1. My biggest gripe with the game probably holds true to the original. Levels 5 and 6 rarely get explored. We played a 4 player game, with each of taking 1 of the 4 character classes. Not once did we enter a level 5 or 6 room. .  Granted, the wizard died twice on level 4, so she was very hesitant to move on to higher levels, but I my argument is still valid. With a balanced group of 4 players, we cleared levels 1, 2, and 3 and were partially into 4 before there was a winner.

Of course this my be the fault of my personal strategy. I played the fighter, and marched through the easily accessible parts of levels 1 and 2 before cleaning out one of the level 3 areas.  This strategy delayed the less powerful characters by forcing them to travel farther to get to unexplored rooms or fight rough chambers, and denied them a good portion of the treasure in levels that were appropriate for their power level.

Still, there's a third of the board that is really only explorable by wizards, which seems to be a little out of balance unless everyone plays a wizard. I can't imagine what this gam would be like with 8 players.

I had a great time with the game and it brought back a lot of memories. I won, which was pretty cool. The downside was that the 3 other players (all adults, Old enough to drink and own houses) hadn't been born when I last played Dungeon. I'm old!

Back in the Saddle

Well, it's been forever since I've posted, mostly because I haven't had anything interesting to say. That comes from not gaming. However, this past weekend I got started in new campaign of a game I never thought I'd be playing again: Live Action Vampire the Masquerade.

I've probably mentioned that I'm an experienced Larper, but I haven't been involved in a Vampire Larp since the mid 1990's.  It took me a while to refamiliarize myself with the World of Darkness setting, and the live action rules (we are using the Laws of the Night revised). It's nice to be able to have all the rules available in PDF on my phone!  The game stood out for a number of reason: A good, interesting and complex story, great players and lots of them (40+), and the fact that got to play in nightclub.

The reason for my post is actually the rules from Mind's Eye Theatre. There's a nice system that they use that I'm guessing most OSR gamers aren't familiar with that I think would work very well with a rules light system. Characters have 3 general stat pools: Physical, Mental and Social  Instead of just assigning numbers, players pick adjectives that describe their character. For example, physical traits include quick, brawny, dexterous, fast, stalwart. Mental traits are things like knowledgeable, observant, determined etc. Social traits are things like seductive, witty and commanding. Characters can also have negative traits.  For each negative trait you can get another positive trait.

Conflict, or challenges, are resolved by each side declaring a trait that is relevant to the task, and then playing rock, paper, siscors. The winner succeeds in the task, and the loser fails and loses the use of the declared trait for the rest of the session. Ties are resolved by looking at who has the most traits in that ability pool. There are some other intricacies to the system, but it is still fairly simple.

In game systems that don't use a skill system, like most OSR games, we often default to test against one of the basic stats. I'd like to come up with a hybrid system that uses stat adjectives along with the stat check. I think it would give more life to the characters, without adding a complex skill system.

So goal for the next post; come up with a simple workable system.

Fanticide!

While everyone in the miniatures worlds was talking about the Reaper Kickstarter and the impending release of the new 40k starter box, I' thought I'd take a moment to talk about a new game called Fanticide being produce by a company called Alien Dungeon.  There have been a slew of new miniature wargames and companies in recent years, but this one stands out for a number of reasons.

1. The game is being produced by a local small business: Alien Dungeon, and its sister company Architects of War, are a small business located in Ellicott City Maryland.  That's less than an hour from where I live now, and very close to where many of my friends live.  I believe in supporting local businesses, as I know how tough it is to compete against large corporations.
2. Rick Priestly, Alessio Cavatore and Andy Chambers wrote the game: With these blokes on the job, you know the rules are going to be solid.  From the previews of the rules, it looks like they are a bit different than some of the other games the guys  have worked on.
3. A Fantasy setting that isn't a Tolkien clone:  Instead of producing another fantasy game with elves, dwarves, orc and dragons, Alien Dungeon is producing a setting that seems like a cross between L. Frank Baum and Clive Barker.  One eyed things with big nasty teeth?  check.  Killer trees?  check.  Flying monkeys?  You betcha.  The game world, cleverly titled "Nowhere" seems like a crossroad of the multiverse where anything could happen.  The most feared creature in Nowhere is the Unicorn.  Anyone who saw "The Cabin in the Woods"  knows what I'm talking about.
4. Skirmish/Warband gameplay:  I'm not really interested in getting into another game that will require 100+ miniatures.  Fanticide appears to focus on warbands of 25 to 50 figures.
5. Simple miniatures: Alien dungeon is partnering with Eureka Miniatures to create the miniatures for the first 4 factions in Fanticide.  They state that their goal is to create good quality miniatures that are quick to paint.  I could do a whole post on this point alone.  Think of what an original space marine models for 40k looked like, or even one of the plastic models from the last starter kit.  Simple miniatures, easy to paint, but cool looking.  Now look at some of the stuff that is going into the new "starter" boxes.  How is a beginning painter supposed to paint that stuff?  How is an experienced painter supposed to get that stuff painted in a timely manner? Finely detailed is great when you only need to paint a few of them, but for an army or even a few squads, simple minis that are easy to paint are probably preferable for most wargamers.
6. Use what you have: If you don't like the miniature that are being offered by Alien Dungeon, you can use your own miniatures and create your own warbands!  This may be one of the best parts of the game.  I've seen other games that offer "generic" rules for whatever sort of army you want to put together (Hordes of the Things for example), but I think that this is the first one I've seen that has created its own unique factions and still allows for players to create their own.  Early versions of Warhammer and 40k Rogue Trader allowed for this sort of thing, but that was 25 years ago.  I'm really excited about using the minis I have purchased through the Reaper and Red Box games kickstarter.

Check out their kickstarter for yourself, and follow along on their blog.

Moving

So I've been in the process of moving the last 2 weeks.  Yet another excuse to not write anything.  The good news is that my new living quarters will have much more space, including room for a full size gaming table and work area!  I'm also excited about finally being able to take all of my books out of storage and putting them on a proper bookshelf.  There's bound to be RPG and wargaming books that I haven't looked at in 15 years hiding in there.

Miniatures, Miniatures, Miniatures.

Recently I've haven't given much thought to RPGs:  I don't have a regular group that I'm playing with and with a busy schedule at home it is hard to set aside a regular time to commit to.  Mostly I've been focusing on miniatures.  I haven't done any gaming, for the same reasons I haven't been playing any RPGs.  But I have been reading, collecting, and painting.

The 6th edition of Warhammer 40K came out recently, so I've been going through that again and again.  I've also gone back and re-read the original Rogue Trader rules, just to put things in perspective.  The are some great things about the original rules, but the new rules really are much, much better.  The may not have the flexibility that the RT rules do, but I can look back and realize now that RT is really designed to create narratives, a sort of RPG/Wargame hybrid (the same sort of thing can be said for 1st and 2nd ed. WFB).  I've also taken a look at Warmachine and Hordes since that seems to be the new hot thing these days.  At first I didn't like the rules,  but they have grown on me, and I like the idea of a game with smaller armies.  I might pick up the Hordes 2 player starter box when it is released.

On the collecting front, I've been buying a lot of stuff on Ebay.  I like to paint (more on that later), but seeing as I had no miniatures 2 months ago, I wanted to get back into the swing of things without having to paint up an army from scratch before I could play.  While I may not always have the best painted miniatures, I refuse to game with unpainted minis, even for simple friendly games.  The painted minis I have purchased really vary in quality.  Some of them are barely passable, others are quite nice.  A lot of what I have purchased is older, OOP Citadels.  The great thing is, most of what I am buying is about 50% off of GW's current prices.  So I am saving money, and I don't have to paint them.  At this point I have close to 1500 pts of Imperial Guard, and over 2000 pts of Space Wolves.

I did buy a Space Wolf starter box unpainted, and I have been working on that over the last few months.  It's the first thing I have painted in over 10 years. The drop pod, 10 Grey Hunters, and 5 Scouts are nearing completion. They are table ready right now, but I'm going to add some more details to them before I call them finished. I have another 10 infantry that I am trying to decide how to configure.  I'll probably make them Wolfguard, as I don't need more Grey Hunters, and have no desire for Blood Claws.  I also have a couple of Rhinos to work on that currently assembled and basecoated.  I'll post some pics of these soon.

The other project that I just finished is a 15mm Viking army for DBA.  I haven't played DBA in years, but I had these minis sitting around and decided to finish them up.  I'm thinking about doing a Norman and an Anglo-Saxon army so that I can have all 3 factions for the 1066 invasion. They are small projects, between 30 and 50 figures, and pretty quick to paint, but I'm not sure when I'll ever get a chance to use them.

I've also been following some kickstarters from Reaper miniatures and Red-Box games.  Both companies are making some amazing looking miniatures at great prices, and their kickstarters have some great deals.  I'm not sure what I'd do with these minis, but they look like they'd be great fun to paint.  The thought even crossed my mind to use these as proxies for Hordes, or try my hand at designing some of my own lists.

A quick kickstarter plug

Whether you use miniatures for roleplaying for for wargaming, you should take the time to check out Red-Box Games.  Tre makes some of the most amazing sculpts I've ever seen.  Currently he has a kickstarter going to help him retool his production from metal and resin castings to a new hybrid plastic design.  It's already funded, but there are some great stretch goals, and it is a great opportunity to pick up some top notch minis at a great price.

If you are a fan of Chaos, you have to check these out!