World of Bellumus

Of late I have become completely preoccupied by the history of the Roman Republic and Empire. In particular, the life of Julius Caesar. I’m in the middle of his Gallic Commentaries, decided to take a break to re-read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, thinking I might have a much greater appreciation for it now that I’m so familiar with the characters and events it describes. It also may help that I’m no longer in high school.

There is a soliloquy, when Marcus Antonius is left alone with Caesar’s body, which captured my imagination. It reads thus:

A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate’ by his side come hot from Hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Obviously, Antony is speaking figuratively here, but there’s some god damned delightful images.

“A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;“
Those most loyal to Caesar are transformed. Their fingers fall away and their arms sharpen like blades. Their feet become cloven, and their legs bent. They cannot stop running, and they lust for the blood of vengeance.

“Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;”
The land becomes a man-made hellscape of endless war.

“Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar,”
No one is an innocent. Women, children, the infirm, none leave their house without a sword in hand. It is uncommon to go a week without needing–or choosing–to kill.

“That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war;”
Damn.

“And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate’ by his side come hot from Hell,”
Caesar’s spirit, given new physical form, walks the land aimlessly with Ate the Greek spirit of ruin dancing around him. He seems removed, as though he does not see, hear, or feel anything. If he desires to take a step, 100 men could not stop him. He would crash through a marble wall if he needed to.

The only time he seems to be aware of his environment at all is when someone is within reach of his sword or spear. Without hesitation he will kill them, no matter the love he might have shown to them in life. He is no longer a man, but a force of nature.

“the dogs of war,”
Dogs, as large as horses, roam Italy. They are fierce beasts. They will attack any man they see, and have been known to slay entire cohorts.

Anyone within a 6 mile radius of these dogs becomes immediately aggressive and violent, lashing out at whoever they can until they pass from the dog’s presence.

“With carrion men, groaning for burial,”
The dead, though they lay unmoving, shriek and howl with still lips, cursing the living.

The Depths of the Dungeon Moon: 20+ Questions

THIS DOCUMENT IS OUT OF DATE. PLEASE CONSULT DUNGEON MOON Q & A INSTEAD.

Jeff’s 20 questions are an exercise to help a GM add functional details to their campaign world. The type of details which will actually come up in play, and which the players will probably be curious about anyway. Since I will (eventually, hopefully) be running open sessions of The Depths of the Dungeon Moon, this may be of interest. (I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few questions I thought were relevant. I may add more over time as people ask me questions which seem to deserve answers).

Does the Dungeon Moon have weather?

Yes, and this is one of the few aspects of the sphere which has remained functioning relatively as it was intended to. Clouds, rain, and wind are common. Rain is the primary source of water for most villages. The natural sun provides the sphere with light and warmth, though due to the artificial atmosphere, the sky is always black.

It should be noted that the Dungeon Moon has no seasons.

What races & classes are available to play?

While many intelligent races inhabit the sphere, the only race available to play at present is humans. However, if you wish to play an elf, dwarf, or halfling, you may play those races as though they are a class. If you wish to play an elf, then your character will be a human with a “Spellsword,” or “Warlock” class. Racial options can be expanded beyond humans if the party is able to make alliances with other races.

Currently, classes are restricted to those present in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess core book. Though if you have a different class you’d wish to play, I would be willing to consider it.

Does this campaign include firearms?

Yes, as presented in the firearms section of the LotFP Rules & Magic hardcover. However, they must be purchased at 3x rural prices.

What is the deal with my cleric’s religion?

The gods of the sphere are not far-off, ephemeral deities. Any such god off is too far away to help you. The only gods of the sphere are the gods which live on or in the sphere. Typically these are normal creatures, such as humans, oozes, or even pigs, which have merged with an indistinct divine energy. The process by which this occurs is not entirely clear, but that does not make these gods any less divine. Notably, gods are as vulnerable to attack as any other monster. But they’re not a force to be attacked lightly.

Becoming a cleric involves finding a god, and making an offering to it which pleases it. The god then blesses the cleric, and the cleric may call upon the god’s divine energy to cast spells. This is one of the few non-insane reasons to leave the safety of the towns.

How did my Magic User learn his craft?

The Sphere is a citadel built by the greatest magic user of all time, and inhabited by a society of magic users for hundreds of years. And while those most gifted in the magical arts abandoned the sphere about 40 years ago, there are no shortage of less skilled practitioners willing to trade their paltry knowledge to an apprentice. It makes them feel important, plus apprentices are very useful for trying new spells on. Not to mention the mountains of magical scrolls and spells and devices which are commonly discovered in the depths.

Where can we go to buy standard equipment?

Standard equipment can be purchased during character creation at city prices. After that, standard equipment can be purchased in the town of Stockton at rural prices.

Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?

No non-human creatures can enter the towns due to the warding enchantments placed upon them. There are blacksmiths in Stockton with the skills to perform the task, but asking them to step outside the town’s protective runes will require a lot of persuasion, and a lot of silver.

Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?

The Motherless Warlock who created the Sphere was mightier than any wizard who came before him, or any wizard who has been here since.

At present, a relatively harmless Necromancer named Laif Arkturus is probably the mightiest wizard known to exist. He’s primarily an academic, but does not hesitate to prove his power and skill when it is necessary.

Who is the greatest warrior in the land?

In a land with few warriors, the greatest warrior is whomever braves the depths and survives to tell the tale–and does so more than any of the other warriors in the room.

Who is the richest person in the land?

The town of Stockton has heard rumors that there is a woman in a far off town called Noshenburg. Her name is Lia Hune. She found an immense treasure in the caverns, and now lives like a queen.

Where can we go to get some magical healing?

Aside from any magical healing provided by player characters, or by items they find, there is no magical healing available in Stockton, nor any nearby location. However, each session of play will begin with full hit points.

Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?

Poison and disease can be dealt with by the Old Herbert the Herbalist. His methods are odd, and he’s never managed to teach them to anyone else, but he can get you fixed up in Stockton for a moderate fee. Where he gets his materials is a mystery, since no plants grow within or even within sight of Stockton. But no one ever sees him leave, and he refuses to tell anyone his secrets. Anything else on that list, and I’m afraid you’re on your own.

Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?

Magic users are free agents. Any “guilds” which may exist are, at best, loose confederations whose existence is not widely publicized.

Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?

None of these services are readily available in Stockton at present.

Where can I hire mercenaries?

The members of the party are not the only foolhardy young folk, eager to leave town. Stockton is full of whippersnappers eager to “Step over the line.” Unfortunately, they are universally untrained.

Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?

Showing weapons within towns is generally considered impolite, but most people are understanding when they know that a person frequently leaves the safety of the town’s protective charms. People’s opinions on Magic Users tend to go either way: either they’re “the ones who got us all stuck on this rock heap,” or they’re “the ones who might figure out how to get us off this rock heap.” Most towns are very small communities, and don’t have much in the way of formalized laws.

Which way to the nearest tavern?

Stockton has no booze. This sad fact has led people to develop some very strange hobbies.

What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?

There is a herd of Acidhoof Antelope outside of Stockton. Ending that threat would mean that the few trade caravans which exist would make their way into Stockton more often.

Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?

No. Most people are afraid to leave their own towns, so war is out of the question.

How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?

The town closest to Stockton, Aberton, has such a place. Recall that these places have no booze, and thus people tend to develop rather odd hobbies. Fortunately, this barbarism has been banned in STockton.

Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?

Plenty. But they are secret.

What is there to eat around here?

Flavorless, disgusting gruel. And water. The gruel congeals from the air each day in a giant dish at the center of every town. It’s probably all you’ve ever eaten. If you were lucky, your parents were able to give you a loaf of bread for your birthday one year, and it was the greatest birthday gift you ever received.

On the Sphere, actual food is one of the greatest treasures you can uncover.

Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?

It is said that somewhere on the sphere–everybody has a different idea of where–is a lush valley of vegetation. To find this, and to be able to distribute its bounty across the sphere, would make a person wealthy indeed.

Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?

It’s nothing more than a rumor, but when Ulfric of the Blasphemous Dead left the sphere, it is said he left his gold and many of his magical devices behind. It is also said that he left four undead hekatonkheires to guard his citadel in case he ever chose to return for his things.

A campaign setting which is most certainly NOT called "Dungeon World."

I mean, that’s what I wanted to call it, but somebody else got to that name first.

When I returned from hiatus, I made a big show of abandoning Pathfinder, and moving on to Lamentations of the Flame Princess as my game of choice. And for the last few weeks, on and off, I’ve been working on the setting where my first LotFP game will take place: “Not Dungeon World.” (It will have a better name soon). As you might infer from the lack of proper name, the world is far from complete. At present it’s mostly a series of amorphous chunks of content which connect together in some way with which I am not yet acquainted. But I’ve agreed to run the first group of people through the world next week, so I thought I’d start talking about it here.

I have two major goals with this world. The first is to create a setting which I can use for numerous groups of people. I like the idea of running a bunch of different one-off games in this world once its more polished, as a way to get to know more of the tabletop community. Second, I want to make a world which is is weird. I like high fantasy, and I like low fantasy, but now I want to try something which no one has ever done before. And if someone else has done it, please don’t tell me, because I’m enjoying being a special snowflake about this.

Some large-ish quantity of time ago (400-150 years), a great magician known as “The Motherless Warlock” decided to build himself a sanctum. But no mere tower would suffice for the warlock born of man, so he crafted instead a sphere of stone and mortar. He set it adrift in the heavens with the sun and the moons. He took with him his servants and his followers, and reigned unchallenged on the magic-made-world, above the world of mere men below.

A generation ago, The Motherless Warlock left, and did not return. Why he did this or where he went is uncertain. Some speculate that he died, but this seems unlikely as he never appeared to age a day after 30. Others speculate that he ascended to an even higher level of power, beyond the need for his kingdom. Most, however, do not care where he went. They just want to find a way off of this accursed rock he left them stranded upon.

The players were born to this world. Their parents remember living on the green and blue sphere which rises in the sky each day. They tell stories of plentiful food, bustling cities, green grass, and blue sky. The players have known none of these things, but they want to. Everyone wants to! It’s terrible here. The only thing to eat is flavorless grey slop which appears three times a day in the village square–and there’s never enough of it. Supposedly, when the Warlock was here, magical feasts would appear each day. But most of these magical apparatus are broke, and no one knows how to fix them. A few towns have found patches of dirt and tried farming, or tried to domesticate some of the more edible creatures, but these attempts are fraught with danger. The magical runes carved around each town prevent non-human creatures from entering, but that protection does not extend to farms or herds. Most of these are mercilessly destroyed by some magical monstrosity or other.

The only hope for the future, most agree, is to find a portal to the world below. One must be hidden in the labyrinthine depths which fill the innards of the sphere. But who is foolhardy enough to venture down there?

(See why “Dungeon World” would have been a perfect name? Damn).

Fallout 3 Tabletop Game 4: NPCs and Foes

This is the fourth post in my series on running a tabletop game based on Fallout 3’s setting and mechanics. If this is the first post you’re seeing, you ought to check out how to create a character, the details of the skills system, and the post on equipment.

It’s hard enough just to scrape by in the wasteland. Food is scarce, and radiation is plentiful. You’re lucky if you’re able to scavenge a drink of clean free water once in a month. And to top it all off, everybody else seems to want to kill you. Whether it’s Enclave soldiers trying to kill you because you’re not a true American; Raiders trying to kill you for your food; or Supermutants trying to kill you because “PUNY HUMAN, HAHA.” It all means the same thing: bullets are as precious as water out here in the wastes.

It is important to remember that non player characters only exist for one purpose: to interact with the player characters. NPCs don’t need each of their 13 skills to be calculated out the same way PCs do. Their skills can simply be as good or as bad as they need to be fore that NPC to serve their function within the game. NPCs don’t even need all 13 of their skills to be defined at all. Why waste your time writing down the town doctor’s Energy Weapons score? He need a Medicine score, maybe a science score. And there are some skills which no NPC should ever need. Barter and Speech are the exclusive purview of player characters. For the most part, NPCs don’t even need SPECIAL attributes at all.

The only thing you should ever write down for an NPC are the following:

Hit points. All characters should have hit points, but you don’t necessarily need to roll Endurance for this. Just roll 2d20, and keep the better result. Multiply the result by whatever level you wish for the character to be.
If this is a character the players are likely to fight, then any damage resistance should be noted.
Characters should have any skills relevant to their function in the game. Generally speaking, most NPCs should only have 1-5 skills. These can be assigned manually by the GM or calculated using the following formula: [(2d20, discard lower roll) + 15 + (5 per level)]
If it is likely that the NPC will perform melee or unarmed attacks against the PC, then they should have a Strength score in addition to their Melee or Unarmed skill.
If the NPC has any equipment the player would find useful, it should be noted.
Sometimes creatures will have special abilities or attacks. These should be noted.

Below are a number of example NPCs, mostly foes.

Dr. Malkov (Doctor, Rivet City)(lvl 5)
HP 65
Medicine: 53
Science: 28

Jimmy The Wrench (Repairman, Traveling Tradesperson)(lvl 2)
HP: 18
Repair: 41
Small Guns: 35
Equipment: 10mm Pistol [Durability: 22], 2x 10mm Ammo

Supermutant (lvl 3)
HP: 90; DR: 15
Small Guns: 35
Big Guns: 50
Melee: 46[STR: 27]
Equipment [Roll]: 20%: Minigun[Dur: 33], 3x 5mm Ammo; 50% Hunting Rifle[Dur: 26], 2x .32 Ammo; 30% Sledgehammer[Dur: 74]

Feral Ghoul (lvl 1)
HP: 20
Unarmed: 44 [STR: 8]

Feral Ghoul (lvl 6)
HP: 150
Unarmed: 85 [STR: 14]
Special: Radiation blast. Anything at close range is hit with an intense burst of radiation, dealing 40 damage, and causing radiation exposure of 50 for one round.

Yao Guai (lvl 4)
HP: 116; DR: 8
Unarmed: 70 [STR: 25]
Special: Claws and teeth allow Yao Guai’s melee attacks to deal an additional 10 damage.
Special: Yao Guai can make 3 attacks on a single turn. (Right Claw, Left Claw, Bite)

Raider (lvl 2)
HP: 30; DR: 5
Small Guns: 40
Big Guns: 29
Melee: 19 [STR: 14]
Stealth: 17
Equipment[ROLL]: 50%: 10mm Pistol[Dur: 60], 3x 10mm Ammo; 35% Chinese Officer’s Sword[Dur: 10]; 15% Flamer[Dur: 46]

Enclave Soldier (lvl 10)
HP: 180; DR: 44
Energy Weapons: 100
Equipment: 50% Plasma Rifle [Dur: 80], 5x Microfusion Cell, Enclave Power Armor, Enclave Helmet

With this fourth post, I’m confident that the game is ready for the kind of slapdash campaign I want to run with it. A number of elements have been glossed over, or entirely omitted, but I was never aiming for comprehensive. Plus I’m anxious to get back to writing about more thoroughly developed games. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to test out these rules in the coming weeks, and may post revisions and new rules as appropriate.

Fallout 3 Tabletop Game 3: Equipment

Hello to you, gentle reader. I know that I dropped off the face of the planet for a few days, and missed my regularly scheduled Friday post. I promise, I had a good reason. Or at least an okay reason. I’ll make it up, though, really I will. For now, it’s time for me to get back to tabletop writing, and more specifically, outlining the Fallout 3 Tabletop Game. If you haven’t read the other parts of this series yet, you may want to read up on how to create a character, and the details of the skills system.

There’s not all that much more to cover. As I said at the start, this isn’t a serious attempt to create a comprehensive game system. The skills detailed in part 2 should serve as adequate resolution mechanisms for most conflicts, and that’s all any RPG really needs: conflict resolution mechanics. Anything else can be handled through discussion between the player and the GM. In terms of setting, the Fallout games themselves provide ample setting information. I would not presume to improve upon the fine work done by the developers. All that remains is to cover the game’s weapons, armor, and enemies. I’ve no intention of creating any comprehensive lists, but over the next two days we’ll go over how equipment and foes will work, and I’ll provide a few examples.

Armor

Armor and other items of clothing serve two functions within the game. First, most clothing has some kind of Damage Resistance. Any time the a character takes damage while wearing armor, they subtract their damage resistance from the amount of damage they will receive. So if Kestrel is wearing a regulator duster with a DR of 5, and she is hit by a weapon which deals 11 damage, then the protection of her armor means she only takes 6 damage. The second function of armor is to provide miscellaneous bonuses, to various skill rolls. For example, pre-war clothes, or a vault jumpsuit, will likely provide bonuses to speech or charisma based skills, because you appear to be more respectable. These miscellaneous bonuses need not make perfect sense (A raider wouldn’t care about respectability, but the clothing should still provide its bonus.) While this may weaken the game’s verisimilitude, it is in keeping with the spirit of the video game on which it is based.

Both of these functions decrease according to the armor’s durability score. Durability ranges between a minimum of 1, and a maximum of 100. A durability of 100 represents how the item might have appeared prior to the Great War. If durability ever falls below 1, the item is broken and does not confer any benefits whatsoever, save perhaps covering the character’s nakedness. Any time a character take damage their armor’s durability decreases by 1/2 of the damage dealt to the player, rounded down. To use the example above again; Kestrel’s regulator duster had a durability of 89 before she was hit. At that durability, it offers her a Damage Resistance of 5. So when she’s hit by a weapon which deals 11 damage, Kestrel takes only 6. Her armor’s durability decreases by half that amount, which is 3. So after the shot, Kestrel’s regulator duster has a durability of 86. If she has another regulator duster handy, Kestrel can use the repair skill to attempt to raise the items durability back up later.

Example Armor

Vault 101 Jumpsuit (Wt 4)
Durability: 100-75; DR: None, Speech +5%
Durability: 74-50; DR: None, Speech +4%
Durability: 49-25; DR: None, Speech +3%
Durability: 24-1; DR: None, Speech +2%

Raider Painspike Armor (Wt 20)
Durability: 100-75; DR: 20
Durability: 74-50; DR: 17
Durability: 49-25; DR: 14
Durability: 24-1; DR: 11
Special: 5 damage inflicted on anyone who performs an unarmed attack on the wearer.

Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor (Wt 45)Durability: 100-75; DR: 40, Strength +4, Radiation Resist +15
Durability: 74-50; DR: 36, Strength +3, Radiation Resist +13
Durability: 49-25; DR: 32, Strength +2, Radiation Resist +11
Durability: 24-1; DR: 28, Strength +2, Radiation Resist +9

Metal Helmet (Wt 2)
Durability: 100-75; DR: 4
Durability: 74-50; DR: 3
Durability: 49-25; DR: 2
Durability: 24-1; DR: 1

Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor Helmet (Wt 5)Durability: 100-75; DR: 9, Radiation Resist + 5
Durability: 74-50; DR: 7, Radiation Resist + 4
Durability: 49-25; DR: 5, Radiation Resist + 3
Durability: 24-1; DR: 3, Radiation Resist + 2

Weapons

Weapons are slightly more complicated than armor. And, in fact, I would recommend that both weapons and armor ought to be recorded on index cards which are kept in the player’s possession, rather than listed on character sheets. I’ve found this to be a much simpler way of keeping track of the information. (I do not presently have access to a scanner, but will endeavor to post an example once that is remedied. )

Weapon damage is a static number, which decreases according to the durability of the item. Like armor, weapon durability ranges from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 100, with 100 representing a pre-war state, and less than 1 representing a complete lack of function. Durability decreases by 1 each time the weapon is fired, but misses its intended target. This is because characters who are more familiar with the weapon they’re using–and thus able to hit more often–are better able to maintain their weapon, and prevent its deterioration.

In addition to damage and durability, most weapons require ammunition. The type, and weight-per-unit of ammunition is listed with each weapon entry. Players must scavenge for their weapon’s ammunition. Each unit of ammunition is good for a single battle. Any time the player uses a weapon in battle–regardless of how many times they fired that weapon–they expend one unit of ammunition. Most weapons also have a special attribute, which helps make the various weapon choices distinct from one another. Finally, all weapons have bonuses and penalties to their hit chance, based on the range between the weapon’s wielder, and the target. There are five ranges: Melee, Close, Mid, Long, and Distant.

When using any weapon, players have a 1% chance to score a critical hit, for every 5% chance to hit they have. If, for example, a character has a 15% chance to hit, then they have a 3% chance to crit. A player’s crit chance cannot be higher than their luck score.

Hunting Rifle (Small Guns)(Wt 7) [Ammo: .32, Wt 2]
Durability: 100-75; Dmg: 30
Durability: 74-50; Dmg: 24
Durability: 49-25; Dmg: 18
Durability: 24-1; Dmg: 12

Melee: -60%
Close: -5%
Mid: +10%
Long: +10%
Distant: +0%

Special: Each round spent studying a target without taking a shot adds +10% to the hit chance, up to 30%.

Sawed Off Shotgun (Small Guns)(Wt 8) [Ammo: Shotgun Shells, Wt 3]
Durability: 100-75; Dmg: 40
Durability: 74-50; Dmg: 30
Durability: 49-25; Dmg: 20
Durability: 24-1; Dmg: 10

Melee: -30%
Close: +30%
Mid: +0%
Long: -60%
Distant: -100%

Special: Regardless of small guns skill, all wielders have +20% crit chance with the sawed off shotgun at close and melee range. At those ranges, all crits deal x3 damage instead of x2.

Lead Pipe (Melee Weapon)(Wt 2) [Ammo: None]
Durability: 100-75; Dmg: 14
Durability: 74-50; Dmg: 10
Durability: 49-25; Dmg: 8
Durability: 24-1; Dmg: 6

Melee: +0%
Close: -20% (Thrown)
Mid: -60% (Thrown)
Long: -100% (Thrown)
Distant: -100% (Thrown)

Laser Pistol (Energy Weapons)(Wt 2) [Ammo: Energy Cell, Wt 1]
Durability: 100-75; Dmg: 25
Durability: 74-50; Dmg: 20
Durability: 49-25; Dmg: 15
Durability: 24-1; Dmg: 10

Melee: -20%
Close: +10%
Mid: +0%
Long: -30%
Distant: -60%

Special: If the wielder has a crit chance with energy weapons, then there is a 5% chance that an opponent who has been hit will be completely vaporized.

Minigun (Big Guns)(Wt 30) [Ammo: 5mm, Wt 10]
Durability: 100-75; Dmg: 70
Durability: 74-50; Dmg: 60
Durability: 49-25; Dmg: 50
Durability: 24-1; Dmg: 40

Melee: -95%
Close: +60%
Mid: +50%
Long: +0%
Distant: -30%

Special: Any time the gun stops firing, one round of ‘warm up’ is required before it can begin to fire again. While the gun is firing it creates a stream of bullets which cannot be crossed by friendly players without taking damage.

Fallout 3 Tabletop Game 2: Skills

This post details the 13 skills used in the Fallout 3 tabletop game which I began outlining yesterday.

Skill Check: For nearly all of the skills, there will be times when a “skill check” is called for. When performing a skill check, the player rolls a d%, and compares the result to the relevant skill. If their roll is higher than the skill’s value, then the check is failed. If they roll equal to, or less than, the skill’s value, then the check is a success.

Barter (C) When buying items from a vendor, the character will be charged an amount equal to the item’s cost, plus 1% for every point that the character’s barter skill is beneath 100. This can be rounded to the nearest 10% for simplicity’s sake.

For example, Kestrel has a Barter of 21, and wants to buy a gun worth 50 caps. Kestrel’s barter skill is 79 points below 100, so rounding to the nearest 10%, that means the vendor should charge Kestrel 80% above the list price for the gun she wants to buy. 10% of 50 is 5, so the vendor should charge Kestrel 90 caps for the gun.

When selling items, vendors will pay an amount equal to [Barter Value]% of the item’s cost. For example, Kestrel would now like to sell the gun she purchased. The gun’s base price is 50 caps, and Kestrel’s Barter Score is 21. Rounding to the nearest 10%, that means Kestrel will be able to get 20% of the gun’s value at sale. The vendor will buy the gun for 10 caps.

NOTE: The Barter skill is by far the most complicated to convert to a tabletop game. This is the simplest rule I could come up with. If you deem it too complicated, simply remove Barter from the game entirely, and allow characters to buy and sell items at their base value.

Big Guns (E), Energy Weapons (P), Melee Weapon(S), Small Guns (A), Unarmed (E) All five of these skills function the same way. When wielding a weapon of the associated type, the character has [Skill]% chance to hit what they are aiming at. When firing a weapon, the character should roll a d%. If their roll is equal to, or less than, their relevant [Skill]%, then they’ve successfully hit their target.

For example, Kestrel has an Energy Weapons skill of 31, and a Small Guns skill of 17.

She takes aim at a Super Mutant, and fires at it with her Laser Pistol. She rolls a D%, and it is a 74. Since this is above 31, she has missed! The Super Mutant fires back at Kestrel, but also misses. It is Kestrel’s turn again, and she fires another blast with her Laser Pistol. This time her D% roll is 22, which is a successful hit! The Super Mutant takes damage, but is still alive. It fires at Kestrel again, and once again misses. Kestrel’s laser pistol is out of ammunition, so she switches to her 10mm pistol. She rolls her D%, and it comes up as an 18. Because the 10mm pistol is a Small Gun, not an Energy Weapon, an 18 is a miss!

Characters can aim at different parts of a creature to improve their chances of hitting, or to improve the damage they deal. These numbers may be modified based on the environment, but generally speaking:

Head: -10% chance to hit. +25% damage.
Arms/Legs: +10% chance to hit. -25% damage.
Torso: Normal chance to hit. Normal damage.
Weapon: -25% chance to hit. Knocks weapon from hand.

Some weapons may also have a better, or worse chance to hit at various ranges from the shooter (Melee, Close Range, Mid Range, Long Range, Distant). These bonuses or penalties are unique to the weapon being used.

Kestrel’s chance to hit with her 10mm pistol is very small. She aims for the creatures exposed arms to try and improve her chances. She rolls her d% die, and it comes up as a 20. Normally this would be a miss, because her Small Guns skill is only 17. However, because she aimed for the creature’s arms, her chance to hit was raised to 27%, and this shot hits! Unfortunately, instead of dealing the normal 4 damage that a 10mm bullet would, this shot only deals 3 damage because it is in the creature’s arm.

The Super Mutant is mad now, and pulls out a sledgehammer. It charges for Kestrel, and before she can get another shot off it has moved to Close Range. She’s not very good at melee combat, so she needs to stop that creature before it gets any closer! She pulls out her sawed off shotgun. It’s a small gun, but it has +50% chance to hit at close range. She aims for the Supermutant’s head for extra damage.

With the 17% chance she has from small guns, plus the 50% chance from being at close range with a sawed off shotgun, minus the 10% penalty she gets for aiming for the head, Kestrel has a 57% chance to hit.

Kestrel pulls the trigger, and rolls a 44! It’s a hit! Sawed off shotguns normally deal 18 damage, but for a headshot that gets a 25% boost! Rounded up, that’s an extra 5 damage, for a total of 23 damage right to the Supermutant’s face!

Melee and Unarmed weapons are unique. Like other weapons, they have a chance to hit equal to the relevant [Skill%]. However, since they can only be used at short range, they receive no increased chance to hit based on range. They do still receive bonuses or penalties based on which part of the target is being attacked, however.

The other unique thing about Melee Weapons and Unarmed combat is that while they both deal an amount of base damage equal to the weapon being used, they also deal an additional amount of damage equal to the character’s strength.

Shit, shit, shit! The super mutant is still up, and on its last turn it closed to melee range and walloped her good! This close, it’s difficult to use a gun, so even though she’s bad at it, Kestrel opts to use a melee weapon. She pulls out a knife, and stabs at the Super Mutant! Kestrel has a Melee Weapon skill of 10, so she does everything she can to increase her chances by aiming for the super mutant’s arm, increasing her chances by 10%. Miraculously, Kestrel rolls a 20 on her d%! Any higher than that, and she would have missed!

The knife’s damage is 6, but Kestrel gets to add her strength to the damage. Unfortunately Kestrel’s strength is only 2, and she deals a measly 8 damage. The Supermutant is still up.

On its turn, the supermutant attacks Kestrel’s knife, and knocks it from her hand. She’s in trouble now! Its her turn, and all she has to attack with is her fists. So she does the only thing she can do: she punches the super mutant in its leg.

Kestrel’s unarmed skill is only 6, but with the +10% she gets from attacking the Supermutant’s leg, it’s just high enough for her to hit when she rolls a 15. Since she’s not wielding any weapons right now, the only damage she deals is from strength. 2 Damage.

Apparently the Super Mutant was only just barely hanging on, though, because that 2 damage is enough to knock the creature to the ground, dead. Kestrel gains 3 experience points for defeating a difficult monster!

Explosives (P) Explosives is primarily used for throwing grenades or disarming mines. But may be used for other tasks, such as safely building an incendiary device, or disarming an undetonated nuclear bomb.

In all cases, the character must simply roll under their [Explosives]% using a d% die. If their explosives skill is 50, then in order to succeed, they must roll a 50 or less on a d%. GMs may offer bonuses, or penalties, to an explosives roll, based on circumstances. (Throwing at a target you can’t see, for example, would be a penalty to success of 25%)

Lockpick (P), Science (I) Lockpicking and Science function the same way, with different devices. Lockpick helps the player pick locks, while Science helps the player hack computers. Players must roll under their [Skill]% in order to succeed at breaking into whatever they’re attempting to breech. If the roll is failed by more than 20%, then the lock becomes jammed, or the computer locks down. Another attempt cannot be made unless a key or password is found.

Super Easy – +50% to Success Chance
Very Easy – +25% to Success Chance
Easy – +10% to Success Chance
Average – Normal Skill Roll
Hard – -10% from Success Chance
Very Hard – -25% from Success Chance
Super Hard – -50% from Success Chance

Medicine(I) For the most part, this is used when the character is using scavenged medical equipment (such as stimpacks) to restore their HP. Each such healing item has a value of how much HP it can restore. The character can effectively restore [Medicine Skill]% of that value. For example, Kestrel has a Medicine score of 30. 30% of 50 is 15, therefore Kestrel’s medical skills allow her to restore 15 HP using the Stimpack.

The Medicine skill may also be used to perform various medical procedures. Gauge what procedures the character can perform using this guideline:

Medicine 1-10: Untrained.
Medicine 11-30: Wasteland Nurse
Medicine 31-60: Wasteland Field Medic
Medicine 61-90: Wasteland Doctor
Medicine 91-100: Pre-War Doctor

Repair (I) Items will slowly degrade as you use them, which will reduce their effectiveness. To fix an item, you must have two examples of the same item from which you can extract spare parts. (For example, if you wish to repair your 10mm pistol, you will need a second 10mm pistol.) This second item is destroyed by the repairing process, and cannot be repaired, or used for future repairs.

When repairing an item, add the current durability score of the item being stripped for parts, to the item being repaired. Players are capable of repairing items up to a durability score equal to their repair skill.

Kestrel has been using her Hunting Rifle a lot, and it’s down to 30 durability. This significantly impacts the damage her weapon does, so when she finds a new hunting rifle, she quickly strips it for spare parts. The new hunting rifle she finds has a durability of 24. Combining the durability of the two items can bring her hunting rifle’s durability up to 54.

Unfortunately, Kestrel’s current repair skill is 51, so that’s the maximum she can repair the item to. The remaining 3 points are discarded.

Sneak (A) Sneak is a very simple skill. If a character wishes to be undetected, and there is a reasonable chance that they may fail in that endeavor, then they must roll a skill check. If they roll equal to or under their sneak skill, then they have successfully gone unnoticed. Note that a sneak check shouldn’t be required if there is not a reasonable chance that the player will be detected.

A new check is required any time the player risks detection. Some examples of times the player might risk detection are:

Attempting to pickpocket a target.
When a new target enters the area.
When an NPC looks in the direction of a character who is not fully hidden.
When an NPC moves close to their hiding place.
If a hiding place requires that the character remain still, then after long periods checks should be required to see if the character accidentally makes noise.

Speech (C) Social interaction should be handled through role playing. The GM should consider an NPC’s interests, and craft the NPC’s reactions based on them. If the player suggests something the NPC would strongly agree with, then the NPC should agree. If the player suggests something the NPC would strongly disagree with, then the NPC should disagree. If the player suggests something which falls into the gray area, then a Speech check should be made. If the player succeeds on this check, then they’ve convinced the NPC. If the player fails the check, then they succeed in convincing the NPC.

Note that neither success nor failure is ever absolute. If the NPC offers the player 200 caps to kill a local Supermutant, and the player demands 400 caps, then success might mean that the NPC offers 300 caps. And if the character fails, then they might be able to earn another check by offering some good reasons why they deserve more caps.

In the coming week I’ll wrap up this exploration of Fallout 3 as a tabletop game with a few miscellaneous rules.

Fallout 3 Tabletop Game 1: Characters

Every year around Thanksgiving, I have a guaranteed 4 days off from my day job. If possible I get the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving off as well, netting me a total of 6 days to myself. It’s as close as I’m able to get to a vacation, and just about the only time of the year when I can get really invested in a video game. This year I spent an absolutely obscene amount of time playing Fallout 3, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t get as much work done as I had planned to, but I’ve decided that’s okay. ‘All work and no play makes jack a dull boy’ isn’t just a terrifying reveal in a Kubrick film. It’s an adage with some real wisdom behind it.

After spending several days immersed in the game, my ladyfriend and I were chatting about it over lunch. We came to the conclusion that we both loved the setting and style of the game, and enjoyed playing it. But both of us found that we always wanted more options. Why can’t you join the Enclave, for example? Or cart the nuke from Megaton all the way to Tenpenny tower, and blow them up? Or, ya know…fix one of the cars scattered all over the place and drive it around the Wasteland. Obviously the options in a video game are necessarily limited in scope. Every insane whim a player might want to pursue cannot be accounted for.

But tabletop games do not suffer from any such limitations.

It took me perhaps twenty minutes to sketch out the core of the system. It was remarkably simple. Fallout 3’s mechanics are close to a tabletop game already. In fact, the original fallout games were going to be based on GURPS before negotiations between the developers and Steve Jackson Games fell apart. What I cobbled together seems pretty solid to me, and I’m proud enough of it that I thought I’d share.

I must stress that the rules below are imperfect. I haven’t had the opportunity to play test the system yet. And even without play testing it, I can tell you that the rules are math-heavy and complex. I’ve tried to simplify them as much as I can, but there’s only so much that can be done.

Take a look if you’re interested. And if you like what I’ve put together, let me know.

Fallout 3 Tabletop Characters

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

Each Fallout 3 character has seven SPECIAL attributes which range between 1 and 20. When a character is created, the value of these attribute should be determined in order, by rolling 1d20 for each. If you wish, 3 sets of SPECIAL attributes can be rolled, and the player can select the set which appeals to them the most.

The seven attributes are:

Strength
Perception
Endurance
Charisma
Intelligence
Agility
Luck

Meta Human Races as Player Characters

Most Fallout 3 characters are human. However, players may wish to take on the role of one of the mutated, meta-human races. Doing so comes with some mechanical bonuses and penalties. The GM should also remember that these races are not welcome in most human societies. Super mutant characters receive a +10 bonus to Strength and Endurance, and a -10 penalty to Charisma and Intelligence. Ghoul characters receive a +10 bonus to their Endurance, and a -10 penalty to their Charisma. Racial bonuses cannot reduce a SPECIAL attribute below 1, but they may raise it above 20. (This is the only way a SPECIAL attribute can ever be raised above 20).

In addition to SPECIAL bonuses and penalties, Meta-human races must spend 2 skill points to receive 1 rank in any skills associated with a SPECIAL attribute they have a racial penalty in. For example, if a Ghoul (who has -10 Charisma) wished to raise their Speech skill (which is associated with Charisma), then that character would need to spend 2 skill points to raise their Speech skill by 1.

Skills

Fallout 3 characters each have 13 skills. Each of these skills is associated with one of the SPECIAL attributes. The skills, and the attributes associated with them, are:

Barter (C)
Big Guns (E)
Energy Weapons (P)
Explosives (P)
Lockpick (P)
Medicine (I)
Melee Weapon (S)
Repair (I)
Science (I)
Small Guns (A)
Sneak (A)
Speech (C)
Unarmed (E)

Each skill has a value between 1 and 100. When a character is created, each skill’s starting value is calculated by taking the value of the associated SPECIAL attribute, and adding one half of the value of the Luck attribute, rounded up.

Kestrel has a Perception of 14, and a Luck of 5. There are three skills associated with Perception: Energy Weapons, Explosives, and Lockpick. Each of these skills will begin with a value of of 17. (Perception + 1/2 of Luck, rounded up)

Once the starting value of each skill is calculated, the player chooses three skills to ‘tag.’ Tagged skills are raised by a value of 15 points.Kestrel would like her character to be a sneaky explosives expert. So she tags the Explosives, Lockpick, and Sneak skills. This brings her Explosives and Lockpick skills up to 32 each (since they were at 17 before). Sneak is an Agility skill, and Kestrel’s Agility is 11. After everything is calculated, her starting Sneak skill 29 [Agility(11) + Tag(15) + 1/2 of Luck, Rounded Up(3)].

Misc

Once a character’s SPECIAL scores have been assigned, and their starting skills have been calculated, there are only two things remaining before the character is ready to play: hit points, and carrying capacity. Players do not begin the game with any caps or equipment. These must be gained through play.

A character’s starting hit points are equal to twice their Endurance score. A character’s carrying capacity is always equal to 100, plus their Strength times Five. So if Kestrel has a Strength of 15, her carrying capacity would be 175.

Leveling Up

Characters can level up by gaining experience points. Each time the character reaches 50xp, they receive a new level, and their experience resets to 0. Experience points are gained by overcoming challenges, with more experience points being awarded for greater challenges. Some examples include:

Opening difficult locks, hacking difficult computers, convincing someone of something which they were skeptical of, defeating an easy monster. (1 xp)
Defeating a difficult monster (2 xp)
Defeating an extremely difficult monster (3xp)
Completing a minor quest. (5xp)
Completing a major quest. (10xp)

Each time a character gains a new level, each of the following 3 things occurs:

The character’s maximum HP goes up by an amount equal to their current Endurance score.
The character receives a number of skill points equal to 10 + 1/2 their Intelligence. Each of these points may be spent to raise a skill by 1.
The character receives a perk, which will be given to them by the GM according to my Feat Slots system.

Example traits include:

Lightfooted. The character will never set off landmines.
Child at Heart. +15% to any social interactions with children.
Thief. 5 points each to the Sneak and Lockpick skills.
Intimidator. +10% to any Speech attempt where a believable threat is made.

Tomorrow I’ll post detailed information on how the game’s skills work.

Bow Before The Great Pumpkin

My post on mechanics for the gods is still among the best I think I’ve ever written. It is detailed, without becoming complicated. I very much enjoy detailing my deities using the rules presented there, and below is a god appropriate to the season.

The Great Pumpkin

The Grin in the Dark

Lesser Deity (Divine Rank 2)
Holy Symbol An Orange circle with a smile made of of fire at the bottom.
Home Plane 402nd layer of the Abyss
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Major Portfolio Trickery
Minor Portfolio The Season of Fall, Those who Hide
Domains Trickery, Plant
Worshipers Rogues, Rangers, Druids, Squash Farmers
Clerical Alignments CE, NE, CN
Favored Weapons Concealable Blades, and poison.

The Great Pumpkin is a little-known deity whose sphere of influence is limited to agrarian areas which rely heavily upon fall crops. He is rarely seen, because he rarely wishes to be seen. When he does appear, it is as a pumpkin standing upon a dozen vines which serve as both arms and legs. A wicked, grinning faces is carved into the pumpkin, and iluminated from behind by a yellow light. The face appears to be static, but frequently changes when no one is looking.

Dogma The Great Pumpkin admonishes his followers to do whatever they must to ensure that they thrive and their enemies do not. He also teaches that if your enemies know that you are their enemy, thriving will be much more difficult for you. Furthermore, if you focus on thriving only within your family, then your family may falter within your community. If you focus on thriving within your community, enemies from without may surprise you. Be aware of who wishes you ill, and never risk long term survival on a short term goal. Unless you can succeed at both.

Clergy and Temples The Great Pumpkin, being a god of subtlety, prefers that no lasting structure be publicly dedicated to him. Worshipers gather in pumpkin fields in the dead of night to pray and offer sacrifices to their god. Once a year, during the harvest season, a temporary church is built late at night, from dried and bound stalks of corn. Here the most important sacrifices of the year–often children–are offered to the dark god. In exchange for this sacrifice The Great Pumpkin blesses his worshipers with good fortune. Once the structure has served its purpose, it is burned to the ground until next year.

History

Not so long ago as you might think, a small farming community existed far beyond human civilization. The people there rarely traveled away from their small, interconnected villages. They did not need to. Their soil was rich, and they produced ample food to support themselves. Shortly after the founders settled there, the community made an alliance with a coven of elven druids. It is rare that settling humans and druids get along with one another. But these humans were uncommonly happy to adapt themselves to the druid’s viewpoint and in exchange the druids helped them to cultivate the land responsibly. Teaching them to live as part of nature, rather than simply living among nature.

For several human generations this arrangement continued happily, with the druids taking on the role of community leaders. The humans, for their part, were happy to tend their crops, and live simple lives. But then new humans came. They came as humans always come to the edges of civilization: as conquerors. The human drive to expand meant that the lands shared by druids and settlers must be tamed. The inhabitants tried to fight back against the encroaching battalion, but they had no skill for war.

The druids bade their followers gather in a large pumpkin field, where together they would summon a powerful nature’s ally to defend their land. A thousand or more gathered to participate in the summoning, unaware that the evil leader of the druids intended to sacrifice them all so that he might summon a guardian of great power. The ritual began, and the masses prayed whilst the high druid wove his spells. The process continued for an hour, growing louder and more impassioned, until just as it reached its climax–

An arrow flew from the darkness and struck the high druid in the head.

The invading battalion, in full force, charged the field. They seemed prepared the slaughter the innocent villagers and remaining druids. But they had let their arrow fly too late. The ritual was completed. Their shouts of victory turned to confusion and horror as vines leaped up from the field to drag them to the ground, strangling soldiers and horses alike. The entire invading force was left gasping for breath as the life was wrung out of them. But this was not salvation for the settlers, for the vines grasped incandescently. Everyone who stood in the field that night: soldiers, farmers, druids, and generals; all died gasping for air at the culmination of the summoning ritual.

And when the last body ceased twitching, the Great Pumpkin rose up out of his pumpkin patch.

Campaign Management Toolbox

One of my multitude of flaws as a GM is that I do not run a very organized campaign. Notes are often scattered, and obtuse. An NPC’s name is buried in the middle of a paragraph of the notes from two sessions ago. I don’t want to waste everyone’s time, so I just come up with something new off the top of my head and hope the players weren’t paying enough attention to notice. And that’s terrible. As GMs, we want our worlds to be consistent and life-like. No, our players probably won’t notice if we rename an NPC they’ve only seen once before, but that’s because they need to hear an NPC’s name three or four times before they’ll start to remember it. And if we can’t give them that repetition, then the setting is just a vessel that they use to play the game. It will never become a persistent world in their minds, and thus the game can never achieve its full potential.

Unfortunately, we GMs are but mortal men and women. We do not have the power to hold an entire world within our minds, with all the characters, locations, and events such a feat would entail. Perhaps gods would make better GMs, but players will have to settle for those of us who just think we’re omnipotent. And if we want to pull that off, we need tools. I’ve spent the last week reevaluating and updating the various methods I use to help me manage my campaign, and I think I’ve assembled a tool box which is relatively comprehensive, easy to use while in play, supports a dynamic world, and is simple to keep updated. That last one is particularly important because my note-taking has always been atrocious.

The campaign calendar is one of my newest tools. Based on my old post, Suppositions on Time Tracking, I created a calendar with 7 days in a week, 5 weeks in a month, and 10 months in a year. It might seem arbitrary to deviate from the gregorian calendar most of us are familiar with. However, I didn’t feel the gregorian calendar was sufficiently easy to use. Not only do the number of days in a month fluctuate throughout the year, but since the number of days in a month is not divisible by the number of days in a week, the whole thing turns into a big mess. In my system, each unit of time measurement can be fitted neatly into the next largest unit of measurement without any remainder. The only problem is that the 4 seasons cannot be distributed evenly amongst 10 months. But I just made the transitory seasons (spring and fall) two months long, and the other seasons three months long. That seemed suitable enough to me.

As an added bonus, changing from the gregorian calendar adds to the atmosphere of the game world. Even if the players never need to think about the game’s calendar themselves, the fact that I now know how the calendar works helps make NPC dialogue seem a little more authentic. If you’re interested, the seven days of the week are Famday, Moonsday, Skyday, Earthday, Seaday, Kingsday, and Godsday. The five weeks of the month are Squire’s Week, Knight’s Week, Baron’s Week, Earl’s Week, and Duke’s Week. And the ten months of the year are the “The Month Of…” Rising, Blood, Healing, Blades, Victory, Restlessness, Glory, Defeat, Wisdom, and Remembrance.

Functionally, I use the calendar to track events over time. I keep track of what in-game day it is when we play, and note down any significant events which happen during that day. I try to avoid too much detail, just making quick notes, such as meeting with an NPC I want to bring back in the future, starting or completing a quest, things like that. Going back through the calendar, it can serve as a log book of sorts. It also helps me track cooldowns. If I tell the players it’ll take a week’s worth of time to research something, then I can mark down when they begin researching it, and I won’t forget when it’s time for them to be finished. This also helps with cool downs, or establishing other time limitations. I am coming to appreciate that the passage of time is potentially one of the most interesting aspects of a D&D game–both on the adventure level, and the campaign level. The calendar should help me use that tool more efficiently.

Part of what makes the calendar relevant is a pair of tools which I’ve taken to collectively calling the Quest Log. The first of the two is a list of the PC’s stated goals. It only takes up a few lines, but it serves as an essential compass to me when I’m preparing for each new session. I know from listening to my players that they’re interested in stealing an egg from a great and terrible mountain-sized spider which lives far to the north east. So if the land between where the players currently are and where they need to go doesn’t have any towns or monsters in it, I know I need to work on that to be ready for the next session. The second part of the Quest Log are a list of ‘open hooks.’

Open hooks are ongoing events which the PCs know about. It is important to note that, while there is some overlap, not all open hooks will be among the PC’s stated goals. For example, my players expressly decided not to involve themselves in the war between the Orcs and the Elves in the Western forest. Likewise, not all of the PC’s stated goals count as open hooks. For example, one of my PC’s stated goals is to acquire the hair of a drow. Unless there’s a contagious epidemic of baldness amongst the drow, this doesn’t really count as an ‘ongoing event.’

Using the ‘Lines in the Water‘ mechanic devised by Eric of Dragon’s Flagon, I assign a die to each of the open hooks. More volatile situations use a die with fewer faces, while more stable situations use a die with more faces. Once every in-game week, each open hook’s die is rolled. If the number is a 1 or a 2, the situation gets worse, if I roll the die’s maximum number, or one less than the maximum, then the situation gets better. I heartily recommend you read the original post on this mechanic to get a fuller explanation. It’s one of the most innovative and elegant mechanics I’ve seen in awhile. By using it, I can quickly determine how my game world evolves around my characters. They’ll learn that an opportunity they choose to pass on will not always be there for them in the future, and I avoid any biases I may have about how I would like the event to develop without the player’s help.

Perhaps one of the most obvious tools in my toolbox is a keyed campaign map. My world is printed on a hex map, the value of which I’ve written about a number of times in the past. I created the map using Hexographer, which is the only digital tool I’m using right now. Everything else is done on paper, and fits neatly into a binder. Each hex on the map is keyed twice. First, each hex is part of a numbered ‘region,’ which is outlined in red on the map. Each region has some very basic information associated with it: ‘World NPCs’ which live there (I’ll get to that later), important locations which exist there, the government of the region, a very brief description of what is currently going on there, and an encounter table.

For example, region 1 on my campaign map is home to no World NPCs, and the only important locations are Honon village, and the Dwarven Trade Road. Region 1 is ruled by the human Korrathan Empire, but is on the edge of their territories. The only thing currently going on in region 1 is that the town of Honon is attempting to rebuild after it was destroyed, and there is a group of bandits which attacks small groups of travelers. Based on that information, I created a small encounter table where there were not many encounters with monsters, since the area is considered civilized territory. There is a 15% chance of encountering bandits, a 10% chance of encountering wolves or dire wolves, and the rest of the encounters are just with traveling merchants or patrolling guards.

For most hexes, the region key is all that I need. However, for added detail, each hex is also individually numbered. Most of these numbers correspond with nothing. But if a hex has something particular in it, such as a town, or a monument, or a dungeon entrance, then that information is keyed to the individual hex number rather than the regional key. Again using region 1 as an example, there is only one hex with anything specific in it. Hex 28.18 contains the lakeside town of Honon. So here I would quickly note the name of the town, and the names and purpose of any NPCs the players have interacted with before. Depending on how important the town is to the game, I may have more information as well, such as the town’s purchasing power or the services it has available. In the specific case of Honon, I once ran an adventure where I thought the players might attempt to barricade the town to defend against an attack. They didn’t, but I’ve got a map of the town none the less, which I keep next to hex 28.18’s individual key in case I ever have another use for it.

The only one of these tools I devised myself is the list of the ‘World NPCs’ I mentioned earlier. World NPCs have a larger sphere of influence than standard NPCs do. They are queens, popes, generals, mighty wizards, and dragons. The players may not have met them, but their actions can none the less affect the player’s environment. All world NPCs have a short description of what they want, and how they want to get it. For example, for Grum Okkor, king of the Trolls, my description might read “Wants to build the first Troll empire. Is banding the numerous Troll dens together. Will attack the Korrathan Capitol city on the Squire’s Week during the Month of Blades in the year 3999. Chance of success: 70%”

World NPCs are my method for making the world seem fluid around the players. Events they’ve heard of are not the only ones which affect the world. If the players are nowhere near Korrothan during the Month of Blades this year, then they may return home to find it’s not a safe place to be anymore. Or, at the very least, they’ll return home to a nation recovering from a brutal war. And if they are in Korrothan during the Month of Blades, then they’ll have the opportunity to participate in the war and save their homeland.

The final tool in my box is a simple list: enemies of the PCs. These are characters which the players have insulted, or harmed in the past, and who are angry enough to seek revenge. Each of the PC’s enemies has a plot. One of them might be waiting for the players to return to their town before they strike, while another might be actively tracking the players down. If the players unwittingly stay in one place for too long, their enemies might catch up!

And that’s everything I’m currently using to manage my campaign. I will admit, it’s a little ambitious considering how bad I normally am at maintaining notes. But I think it’s also structured enough, and minimalist enough, that I should be able to avoid many of my characteristic problems, such as including far more detail than necessary. I am hoping these tools will help me improve, but campaign management is still one of my weakest skills as a GM. If anyone has any advice they’d like to share, or ideas on how I can improve the tools listed above, I’d love to hear about it!

Using an Open-World Video Game as a Campaign Setting

I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for awhile now. It’s stupidly simple, but it’s one that I want to share, and get some feedback on. Often when I don’t have any strong ideas about what I’d like to write, I think I’ll just write about this. But I can never quite figure out how I want to express the idea, and so I just come up with something else instead. That’s been going on for almost a year, and it’s about time I got this down on digital paper, so it can stop rattling around in my brain. Forgive me if this isn’t my most elegant or interesting post. More than anything, it just needs to be out of my brain.

As you no doubt have gleaned from my frequent mentions of it, I used to play World of Warcraft. When I type ‘/played’ on my main character, the accumulated time I’ve spent in that game comes to about half of a year of my life. I loved, and still do love that game. I noticed yesterday when I was spending time with a friend that despite the fact that neither of us have played the game seriously in years, we still start arguing about patch notes and design philosophies for WoW anytime we spend more than a few hours together. And every few months, I spend a few weeks listening to the game’s numerous soundtracks, reliving the emotional highs and lows.

For a long while, I’ve wondered if I could run a game in the world of Azeroth, relying on my memory alone to recreate the setting as a persistent world. There’s no reason this idea needs to be limited to Azeroth, mind you. The worlds of the Elder Scrolls games would work as well, as would perhaps another world like those featured in the Fable or Fallout games. I think the only real criterion would be that the world needs to be large enough and have enough going on in it that you could drop a party of adventurers into it and let them run wild without needing to add additional content. For example, the world of Hyrule from the Zelda series wouldn’t work, because it’s extremely small, and there’s really only one thing that ever needs to be done in that world: defeat the arch-villain.

Open world video games seem to be unique in this possible application. With a movie or a book, you may get a very good sense of what the setting is. With a particularly long series of books, you could even start to develop a complete picture of how a world worked and what it looked like. But if you wanted to turn it into a campaign setting, there would still be a lot of work to do. A traditional story is told with a focus on the various characters. The narrative is about them, and their problems, rather than what is going on in the world itself. Whereas an open-world video game attempts to create an entire setting which functions without characters, but is none the less geared towards a player’s involvement. For example, in a book you might read about the far-off threat of an encroaching empire, but if that empire is not central to the plot beyond explaining food shortages, you’ll never learn anything more about it. Whereas in an open world game, there’s almost never any place or group of people which you can’t eventually interact with.

Having spent so much time in World of Warcraft, I have a mental map of thousands of acres of landscape. I know the names of towns and important NPCs. I know that Fargodeep mine has been infested by Kobolds. I know that the town of Lakeshire is trying to fend of Gnoll bandits in the hills, and Orc invaders from Blackrock mountain. I know that Ogres have established a stronghold in the high elven ruins of Dire Maul, and I know that the Grimtotem tribe hold many of the plateaus in 1000 Needles. I have an entire world nearly memorized inside of my head*, and at present I’m not doing anything with that knowledge. So why couldn’t I run Azeroth as a campaign setting?

The best part about the idea is that it would fulfill a long time fantasy of mine. Any time I fall in love with a world, I never really want to leave it. I want to stay there and continue having adventures. Many of my early projects when I first tried working on tabletop games were clumsy attempts to find a way to return to a fictional setting that I didn’t want to leave. The LOZAS system which I’ve been working on is an (I hope) more sophisticated attempt to do the same thing.

Returning to those fictional world in tabletop a game has another marvelous benefit as well. The players can change it in any way they want. WoW is understandably static in many ways–the quest needs to be there for the next character to complete. But in a tabletop game, you can see the world grow and evolve based on player input in a way which isn’t possible when you’re sharing that world with 11 million other people. You can solve problems in more interesting ways as well, using your wits to develop new tactics which simply woulnd’t possible in a video game. Perhaps in the tabletop version, players could recruit the noble red dragonflight to render aide in the battle against Nalfarion. Or maybe A noble Orc could lead a successful charge against Stormwind, capturing the city and reducing the belligerent humans to a species of refugees, begging for scraps from their allies.

That would really be the extent of the idea. As GM, I would ask the players to choose their races and their starting city, and I’d start them off as level 1 characters in Vanilla WoW at the start of the game’s story. Through their play they might develop the story along a similar path, or they might change everything completely. Though certain events, such as the opening of the dark portal or the scourge invasion would probably be far outside of the player’s control. Doubtless a few details would change based on the holes in my memory, but it shouldn’t be difficult to improvise based on what I do remember.

I know a lot of tabletop players have some inexplicable animosity towards WoW, but what do you think of this idea? Would you be willing to play in a game world like this one?

*Except for Stonetalon Mountains. Don’t ask me why. I’ve got several loremaster achievements, but in all of my years playing, I never once spent more than a few minutes in Stonetalon Mountains. Maybe the fucking drop rate on Basilisk Brains the first time I went there left a bad taste in my mouth. (I don’t care what anybody else says, that drop rate was below 5%).