Embrace Your Hate

A suggested hate mechanic for old-school games.
Hate: Intense or passionate dislike that engenders a loathing, aversion, and a desire for revenge.

A player can either randomly generate a score for how hateful they are or designate what the character hates or if the DM wishes a set of backgrounds and related hates can be established.


Random Hatred: Roll 3d6 that score determines how much hate a character has. For each 3 points of Hate (or fraction there-of) the player should generate one thing that is hated.
So a character with a hate of 3 would have but one thing they hated, while a character with a Hate of 16 to 18 would have 6 things they hate. Players can choose what the character specifically hates or roll it up randomly.

The generic Hatred table starts with a specific hatred and narrows it down if that score is rerolled

Sample Generic Hatred Table
1- Dragons
2- Insects
3- Giants
4- Avians
5- Wizards & Withces
6- Clerics
7- Dwarves
8- Goblinoids
9- The Same Sex
10- The Opposite Sex
11- Elves
12- Halflings
13- Gnomes
14- Fairies
15- Knights
16- Nobles
17- A Foreign Ethnicity
18- Thieves & Bandits
19- Berserkers & Barbarians
20- Slavers

Designated Hatred: in this method a player is free to specifically choose what a PC hates.
Each particular hatred earns a character 3 points in the hate score.

Campaign Background Specific Hate: this requires more work on part of the DM (and player) who should establish background options for characters along with associated hates that come with those backgrounds. This is useful as there is campaign building involved and eventually players will learn details like The Gabberclap Clan of the North Hills hates Lord Raticus of Darkhold and the Guttergut Mercenary Company that serves him. This is campaign specific stuff that really shouldn’t be generic and as such can’t be covered in detail here.




Using that Hate
 While a player is free to have a character act as they wish sometimes hate can get the best of them or prove a useful tool.

Embracing Hatred: a player must roll their hate score or less of 1d20, if successful the character gain a +2 bonus to actions against what they hate. On a failure no benefit is gained but the player is still free to act against the source of the PC’s hatred. Chaotic characters may get an EXP bonus for acting on hatred.

Controlling Hatred: There are situations where self control is important and comportment must be maintained and individual hatred set aside. Mechanically one must roll over their Hatred score to avoid worsening short term reactions with a source of hatred. If a hatred is commonly known both sides have a 1 pt reaction penalty but if one can not contain themselves the reaction is one step worse. Lawful characters may get an EXP bonus for controlling hatred when it benefits others.

Specific Hatred (optional): a character can have a general hate that get’s more and more specific. By Example: A character could Hate Dragons, hate chromatic dragons, hate red dragons and hate the dragon Embyr that roasted mom and dad. this would count as 4 hates and could be recorded as Hate Dragons>Chromatic Dragons>Red Dragons>Embyr.
Outside of the benefit of fine tuning who a character relates to things in the campaign it also allows for more serious hatred granting additional bonuses against the target of hatred. A DM might allow additional bonuses to actions for each step after the first. But the problem here is intelligent foes will use that hatred against a character and on a successful saving throw may be able to gain temporary houses equal to those of a characters hatred.

Targeting Hate Adjustments (optional): the bonus for hatred might not be palatable to a player or campaign as a flat adjustment vs a target of hatred. It may be appropriate to restrict that hatred to a specific bonus such as to-hit rolls, initiative, damage, armor class,saving throws, or similar mechanical functions in the game.


Defeating a hated foe: If a specific individual is hated it is recommend that an experience bonus be granted for defeating that hatred. Less specific hatreds challenged and defeated may be awarded a minor bonus to experience gained but if a character has a strong hatred against a group and completes a major act against that group the reward should be substantial. Getting revenge against a hated foe does no in itself reduce the hate score.

Acquiring new Hates:A player may add one new Hate per character level directed against foes that have foiled them or destroyed allies of the character. This does not change a characters Hate score.

Reducing Hate: A player may consult with healers, sages, and clergy to get over their hatred (this may require an expense of time or action) or have a sudden insight following a beneficial encounter with the subset of their hate. Strike the Hate from the list of hates when so done and reduce the hate score by 1d3.

Resisting the Temptation to Exact Revenge (optional): It is possible for a character to find themselves in situation where they have the capacity to exact revenge against the target of their hate but they genuinely do not wish to do so at the time to resist taking the attempt a character must control their hate (as above) by rolling over Hate on 1d20. Good or Lawful characters may be rewarded for avoiding the temptation immediate base revenge.

Wanton Hatred(optional): A player may choose to have a character be very active and wanton in the degree of hate they have for targets of their hatred. For every vile act of hatred they commit they are allowed to add one point to the Hate score (once per character revel max). Wanton hatred will be acts that would inspire disgust an disdain from others and may in some campaigns be considered Alignment violations. DMs should not punish a player directly if they violate alignment but associations and grouse they belong to may demand redemption.

8 types of factions and occupants of Xor

Here are 8 additional factions/tradesmen/oddballs that may be found on and within Xor. Factions are not cults in any traditional or religious sense but they may still exercise customs as fervently as zealots adhere to their faith.

Tumor Grooms: This faction seeks out, nurses, and protects tumors of Xor until they are deemed ready  to harvest. The odd tumors of Xor are rumored to have unique properties and flavors which most attribute to the reasoning behind the practice of the Tumor Grooms.

Scabrous Sculptors: these artsists cut into the flesh of Xor to release blood and other vital fluids which are directed and shaped as they harden over the inflicted wounds into a variety of esoteric sculptures.

Lice Whisperers: small bands of Lice Whisperers roam about claiming to be able to charm the lesser vermin of Xor and use them as scouts and minions. Lice Whisperer bands will work spells and sell talismans to ward against lice infestation and attacks; curiously enough those that purchase such spellworks are seldom attacked by lice soon afterward.

Skin Crawlers: these folk believe it is uncouth to walk about in one's own skin and fashion garb from the skin of Xor and the host of other creatures that dwell within and upon.  The more grotesque a mask, the higher a peaked hood, the grander a cape, and the longer a scarf are all goals and signs of status among Skin /Crawlers.  They find cloth contemptible and nonsensical in the presence of so much skin.

Womb Wardens: this faction of tradesmen has learned how to transplant a living fetus and see it brought to full term within a specially formed pocket-womb within the flesh of Xor. They guard the wombs from predators and charge a fair price for the overall service.

Mawpicks: scavengers that survive by picking the remains caught in the teeth of the many maws of Xor. Some carry the practice so far they will only dine upon beings they have captured and hurled into a maw.

Tickherds: the plentiful vermin that infest the skin of Xor are a resource that some depend upon and a variety classified as ticks have come to be herded as med off-Xor herd goats or sheep. The Tickherds dine upon the flesh of the ticks, "milk" the blood harvested by them, and fashion much of their gear from tick carapace.

Sweatmongers: these peddlers know how to collect, store, and mix the vast array of Xor fluids. They can seem as simple as water bearers or as erudite and schooled as alchemists depending upon their their personal range of lore and talents.  Some groups of Sweatmongers maintain breweries that draw customers from far afield.


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Yup I was infected with creativity upon reading the original Xor post.  A pocket-campaign setting like Xor can fit in to liven up any boring spot of a more familiar campaign setting like the Dale Lands, Darokin, or pretty much anywhere on Krynn in addition to fitting in very well with Carcosa or somewhere outside Denethix.  A Gamma World/Mutant Future campaign within and upon Xor would also feel fairly different from the more familar ruin strwen wastelands.

Longer Living (possibly) with HTK

A complaint about old-school RPG is how gosh-darned lethal it is at low levels and while I completely understand the and even appreciate the brutal campaign model that helps establish there are other ways game play can go with minor adjustment to rules and in this case what HP are.

Here on out in this post HP are going away  as the definition of a charter and monsters durability in combat  to be replaced with an old time alternative of HTK (Hits to Kill), Hit Points are the degree of damage a blow, effect, or situation inflicts upon others.

Alternative HTK based Combat
HTK serves to measure two things: durability and a threshold for being defeated in a single blow.

Whenever a character, NPC, or monster suffers damage equal to or in excess of their current HTK score said charcter, NPC, or monster is Killed.

Whenever a character, NPC, or  monster suffers damage under their current HTK score they are Hit and theHTK score is reduced by 1 point.

Natural Healing occurs gradually, 1 HTK is restored per day of rest. This might seem slow but it is an entire hit thus a wound that is being shaken off and recovered from.

Magical Healing works as normal with 1 HTK being restored per traditional HP that would be restored by a spell. Magical healing is a bit more magical as it isn't just healing portions of wounds but entire wounds, likely multiple wounds.

So a massive blow will still eliminate a combatant but minor blows will wear away slowly at combatants.  This gives Pcs a little more room to be heroic at lower levels as (by example) 2 successive blows for 3 pts of damage each do not vanquish  a character with 6 HTK but instead inflict 2 hits that reduce the HTK score to 4.   Protracted combat becomes more and more dangerous but the threshold from living to dead may take longer to be breached.

It should also be obvious that higher HTK characters and monsters are going to be around longer in fights unless some really big guns are brought into play. Clever play and tactics should involve combats that are more than simple attrition on abstract HP abd maybe even encourage non-combat resolution to potential threats in a game. A 44 HTK dragon under this alternate combat variant would be be pretty fearsome if there was no way a party could deliver 44 or more pts of damage in a single blow.


Possible Elaborations

Non-lethal combat-
Non-lethal damage. Non-lethal damage still wears a combatant down in the same manner as potentially lethal blows and makes it possible for lethal attacks mixed in to slay combatant but if the blow struck that overcomes a combatants HTK is non-lethal they are knocked out instead.

Recovering from non-lethal damage is quicker with 1 HTK being restored by 10 minutes of rest or incapacity.  Once a character has regained 3 HTK or more while knocked out they may make a saving throw to recover their sense and function again.

Note: knocking your ally out is not an option to save their life when they are down to 1 HTK  only ht non lethal damage is restored at 1 HTK per 10 minutes. 


Serious Wounds-
When ever a character is wounded once HTK are reduced to 1/2 HTK or less previously they must make a saving throw or suffer from a Serious Wound.  Serious wounds could either be specific effects like broken hands, severed arms, or more generic like the temporary loss of ability points.

Serious wounds should typically be recovered when HTK are recovered in excess of 1/2 HTK but some campaigns may be well served by longer lasting grievous injuries which while someone hasn't suffered enough Hits to Kill them they are still in a very bad state.

Colorizing Carcosa, Part III

In parts I and II of colorizing carcosahad some notes on having the color of each of the races and some items of gear have differing mechanical effects in a Carcosan campaign. This post is going to be about making monsters more colorful.

Each monster shoudl have a randomly determined base color and colored features as per the chart below

Colorful Monster Feature roll 2d6
2-7 no extra colorful feature
8 Colored fangs, talons, or claws
9 Colored frills, crests, and combs
10 Colored Belly or soft spot
11 Colorful Spots or stripes
12 Color immunity

Colored fangs, talons, and claws will be made as per the color of those attack types not the overall color of the monster in question. A monster with such a colored attack form may not always be noteworthy on casual observation or in poor visibility.

Monsters with Colored frills, crests, and combs will make special attacks as per the color of the feature and not the base color of the monster, such features are more obvious and would be noted except under fairly poor visibility.

Colored Belly or Soft Spot will leave the monster with a location that will suffer double damage or save at -4 if specifically targeted. Such spots may be hard to detect or reach depending on the type of creature.

Monster with differently colored Stripes or Spots  will be as resistant to these attack forms as they are to those of their base color. The meat of such creatures has a 50% chance of being that of the feature or base color.

Monster with a color immunity are completely immune to special attacks of a specific color and may not show these colors on their skin at all but sometimes it can be seen in the eyes of the monster (2 in 6 chance).

Colorful Monster Psychology
2-7no colorful psychology
8 or 9 drawn to a color
10 rage vs color
11 fearful of color
12 blind to color

Monsters drawn to a color will tend to approach and seek out that color, attacks will likely be directed against targets of that color.

Some monsters will rage on exposure to certain colors being +2 to hit and inflicting an extra die of damage.

Monsters Fearful of a color will avoid it or possibly flee it if exposed to a display or special atack of the color.

Monster blind to a color will not particularly notice or react to object or creatures of a specific color. this blindness can be absolute, grant the attacker a bonus, or always allow the monster to be surprise dby attackers of the color as determined by the DM.

Colorizing Carcosa, part II

last post I mentioned a couple ways to differentiate the various colored races of Carcosa from each other by granting resistances to attacks of the same color and having the color of food and drink provide some risks. The following are some ideas for colored items/equipment on carcosa.

The Colorful Warrior/ Colored Weapons
Fighters on Carcosa wielding a weapon of the same color may roll double damage dice anytime they successfully strike a target with a d20 attack roll of 18 to 20. Such a weapon must be special in some manner eldritch magicks, alien tech or obscure manufacture a red warrior will gain no benefit from painting a club red (as an example).

Colored Armor
Armor specially fashioned from the skins and shells of a colored beast grant a +2 to saves against attacks of the same color. this bonus would stack with any racial bonus a character has.

Colored Shield
non-fighters with a colored shield have a 2 in 6 chance of deflecting a special attack of the same color with their shield (the shield breaks if a 6 is rolled), fighters have a 3 in 6 chance of deflecting special attacks of the same color.

Colored Goggles
allow one to see creatures of same color (as goggles) even if hidden by psionics, magic, or super-science if within 200. Take caution however as any psionic attacks, charming/domination abilities, or visual attacks launched by those of the same color as the goggles will be resisted at -2.

Colored Decanter
two quarts of beverage will be converted to same color as that of the decanter. Mixing two different color liquids or putting poison or acid in the decanter has a 50% chance of destroying the decanter.

Colored Mask
These specially made masks will neutralize the effect of gases of the same color. If worn into combat these masks have a 1 in 6 chance of beign destroyed each round and impose a -2 penalty to ranged combat for the wearer.
 

Colorizing Carcosa, pt I

A post I read today at Dungeon of Signs by Gus got me thinking about Carcosa as a setting and the way the crayola colored men are cool as all get out and then pretty much meaningless outside of good old racism and xenophobia.  This post is about what makes the color of each type of colored man of Carcosa matter more mechanically.

Resistant to own color.
The men of carcosa are resistance to attacks form sources of their own color, whether it be rays, lasers, toxic fogs, or insect stings if the source is the same color as the character they receive a +2 bonus to resit negative effects and still only suffer half damage in any case.

Fighters with a CON of 13 to 17 have a +3 bonus instead, +4 if CON 18 or higher.
Sorcerers with a WIS of 13 to 17 have a +3 bonus, +4 if WIS is 18 or higher.
Others with a CHA of 13 to 17 have a +3 bonus, or a lucky +4 if CHA is 18 or higher.

Colorful Foods
It's always safe to eat food the same color as your own (unless it is otherwise a potent poison or drug) but Carcosans can have trouble digesting and imbibing the wide range of food goods of other colors out there. Each character will have one color of food they will have negative reactions to, if a character has a CON of 7 or less they will have two baleful colors. If you roll your own color on this chart and have a CON score of 15 or more congratulations no baleful foods for you, roll again otherwise.

Baleful Foods (roll 1d100)
1-8 Black
9-16 Blue
19-20 Clear (or Silver)
21-28 Brown
29-36 Dolm
37-44 Green
46-52 Jale
53-60 Orange
61-68 Purple
69-76 Red
77-84 Ulfire
85-92 White
93-100 Yellow

Effects of Baleful Food roll 1d8
1 or less Lethal Poison
2 Probably Lethal Posion. horrible wracking pain and 1 die of damage a turn until purged.
3 Dangerous Poison, illness and 1 die of damage an hour until purged).
4 Causes Paralysis for 2-16 hours
5 Causes deep sleep for 2-8 hours, can not be woken.
6 Causes uncontrollable vomiting/diaerha for next 4-24 hours.
7 Indigestible, no food value and painful cramping for 2-12 hours.
8 or more Awful flatulence, chance of random encounters doubled and impossible to surprise anything else.

add 1 to roll if CON 15+ , subtract 1 from roll if CON 7 or less.

Determining the effect of a particular type of baleful food per character or per color is up to the DM.

Starting Funds

Most dugneoncrawling fantasy campaigns have a simple mechanic to determine starting funds with which a player may buy their characters starting funds. The following chart is an elaboration on the common method of determining starting funds by rolling 3d6 and multiplying that result by 10.


 Starting Funds Determination
Roll 3d6 and record results, next roll 2d6 and consult the chart below.

Roll	Multiplier	Source
2	X5	Petty theft. 10% chance an item of equipment was from the theft and may be noticed in the future.
3	X6	Savings from Honest work.
4	X7	Gambling Proceeds.
5	X8	Recompense for a dead animal.
6	X9	Investment, character will gain half again as much every 6 months 1d6 additional times.
7	X10	Inheritance. 5% chance an item is an heirloom your now dead relative stole or swindled from someone in the past.
8	X11	Debt paid off to you. You never thought it would happen but your cousin paid you back that money you loaned him years ago.
9	X12	“Found” a dead body; all gear and coin were scavenged from the body someone might notice a piece of gear as having belonged to a friend or relative in the future.
10	X13	Sold share of business interest.
11	X14	Grave Robbing . 20% chance a piece of equipment wss from grave and could be linked to robbery in the future.
12	X15	Miraculous reward! That beggar you helped weeks ago turned out to be a noble, one of his agents just dropped off this small sack of coins in gratitude.

Record the source and multiply the original 3d6 roll by the multiplier on the chart to determine the value of starting funds/equipment.  The player and DM are of course encouraged to follow-up on the sources of the funds however best fits dispotions and the campaign.

Shroud and Cowl Armoring

Equipment type,function, and availability is a significant tool for the game master to use when presenting a campaign (or an area within a campaign).

The following is meant as an example of changing equipment assumptions to give a campaign a different look and feel and step away from familiar without totally undoing the game as expected.
No helmets, not shields, no breastplates... a different place indeed from pseudo-medieval Europe of typical fantasy adventure.

Shroud and Cowl Pieces
There are five broadly defined pieces of armor that may be worn by combatants.

Cowl-    protects head, neck, and shoulders

Mask- protects the face face and a lesser protection for the neck in some designs.

Shroud- minor protection to shoulders, with better protection for torso, hips, and thighs

ArmGarde- protects the hand, forearm, and elbow.  Note entirely unlike a combination sode & kote of traditional samurai armor on earth.

Shynbalde- Greaves that proitect the top of foot, shin, and knee.

Shroud and Cowl Armor Table

Armor	Armor Bonus	ENC	Cost	Other
Leather Cowl	½	1	5	-1 to listen
Padded Cowl	1	2	10	-2 to listen
Disked Cowl	1&½	2	20	-1 to listen
Mesh Cowl	1&½	1	40	-1 to listen
Spiked Cowl	1&½	2	100	-1 to listen, 1d4 attack against bite and unarmed
Scale Cowl	2	2	50	-2 to listen
Leather/Bone/Wood Mask	½	1	7	+1 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-1 perception
Crystal Mask	1	1	400	+2 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-2 perception
Metallic Mask	1&½	1	15	+1 save vs flash and gaze attacks,-2 perception
Leather Shroud	1	2	20
Bezainted/studded Shroud	2	3	70
Disk Shroud	3	4	150
Spike Shroud	3	5	200	1d4 attack against bite and unarmed, -1 move
Mesh Shroud	3	3	250
Mirror Shroud	3	4	1,000	1in6 to reflect flash, gaze, and ray attacks
Scale Shroud	4	4	250
Crystal Shroud	4	4	2,000	2in6 to reflect flash, gaze, and ray attacks
Leather or Wicker Arm-Garde*	½	1	5	-½ to attack
Padded, Wood or Bone Arm-Garde*	1&½	2	15	-½ to attack
Metal Arm-Garde*	2	2	50	-½ to attack
Leather or Wicker ShynBalde**	1	2	10	-1 move
Padded, Wood or Bone ShynBalde**	1&½	3	25	-2 move
Metal Arm- ShynBalde**	2	3	60	-2 move

*- values are per item. ** values are for a pair.

Best Armor for AC is  Scale Cowl +2, Metallic Face Mask +1.5, Scale shroud- +4 , 2 metal armgardes +4 and Metakl ShynBaldes +2 for a total AC adjustment of +13.5 .   Encumbrance would be 14, anyone with STR 13 or less would be encumbered (before other weapons and equipment are accounted for). They would attack at -1 and move at a base rate of 10 (instead of 12). Cost would be 475.

ENC notes: STR score or less, unencumbered. Over STR to STR is Encumbered 2/3 move -2 to dodging and action saves. Over x2 STR to x3 STR  is Burdened ½ move and -4 to dodging, action, and attacks.

Cost Notes: cost is generic on the table, whatever the common coin of trade/value is for adventurers.

I setup costs here so the best armor is out of reach of beginning adventurers who will start with the typical 30-180 spread of coin as an assumption in pricing.

Successful adventurers will still likely be able to buy all the armor they want sometime during second level.

AC notes:  The total AC bonus here goes up to 13.5.  Drop any halves left when adding up AC. A 13 bonus still looks high but I allow for "mob attacks" where the number of attackers (if over 1) is taken as a bonus to hit for all attackers  (there are some pickier rules that's appropriate for another post).

Helmets if found in another realm wouldn't stack with cowls. 

Shields if found in another realm wouldn't stack with a pair of Arm-Gaurds only the AC for an opposite Arm would be factored.