Of The Lavender Hack [Review. part 2]

 (Oh yes there is a part 2)

Retainers get a modest and useful amount of coverage with the rule of Lavender Hack, a simple chart is provide to get one started and title/role, upkeep costs hitdice and arms are noted.  I like the typical figure of "hiring cost" being given as "upkeep cost" becasue it helps with the mental space of recognizes retainers as an ongoing expense and not simply an inventory item for a player character.

Lavender Hack has been interesting to this point but It begins to shine for me with the procedure and "mini-games" the rules have to handle a host of frequently occurring situatuins within RPG adventures. I can't do them all justice without retyping too much of them here (and that's not happening) but I will endeavor to outline them adequately here  .

As the author states the four pillars of Lavender Hack are exploration, encounters, factions, and downtime. As the games does we will start with Explration and Travel.  The game establishes a few units of time and distance to get an appropriate level of abstraction while still havign some immersion. Outdoor exploration is done in 4 hour long watches, picker delving involves ten minute long exploration turns and long distance travel (for big trips) is broken into legs of variable duration in days. Overland hexes are 3 miles across, ocean hexes 24 miles, and a dungeon room is approximated at 1,000 square feet.  The approximations are tied into the procedures that follow. The Company Sheet provides the means to track the passage of time along with a few other handy bits of detail.

As mentioned above there are a number of sheets provided to track resources and time as they are important to each type of exploration (ocean, wilderness, and dungeon) along with the company sheet. Fast travel is when there's lots of ground to cover quickly and detail isn't as significant to play but this requires resource expenditure nonetheless. 

Exploring the wild is classical hex crawlign tied into the rule style and procedures of this particular set of rules and is proabbly one of the most comprehensive approaches I've seen without bogging into tedium. Wilderness events can be the classic random encounter, a lair, bad weather, discord, or confronting ambition.  Now i can't help but say it I feel adding confronting ambition (of which all PCs shoud have some) is a genius way to keep the role in roleplaying for players into all the scales of roleplaying their character from the vaguely noted role to the meticulously embodied backstory rich character.Goign where you want and not getting lost is covered in more detail than is common in old-school rules but not so much as to annoy; who is leading or guiding the party is important and determines success. A party can be slowed down by encumbrance, split up, search and then they reqoup to heal, reapair gear,forage,hunt, and memorize spells. Each day ends with a camp session.

The section on High Seas exploration gives more coverage to this area than I have seen in most places. Ship crews and who serves as Captain Quartermaster, Bosun, Cook, and Gunners are all important features of ocean travel. Ocean travel is managing resources and condition of the vessel while successfully keeping the crew capable.  Giving each of the roles something to do also means something can happen for each of those roles so Ocean travel always has somehtign more than just random encounters and sea serpents.

Dungeon exploration should be familar to most old-timers but the management of it is a tad different with light and danger playing interesting roles. Managing light is essential ot the dungeon explorer. 

The section on encounters once again provides simple but surrisngly more comprehensive coverage of the old school rules.  Unsurprisingly surprise is covered as is typical and this is possibly impacted by the spotlight player or scout(s) the group is deploying. Communicating leads to the familiar but much more satisfyingly covered  creature reactions where combat isn't the only thing that ever happens when two groups encounter each other. Fleeing is covered for land and sea without bogging the game down in an mini-game that ignores other rules within the game.

Combat is satisfyingly tactical and I enjoy how naval combat is covered. Melee combat covers familiar ground and ties into the equipment rules nicely. There's room using the core rules to add more evocative combat results to the game but I suspect only a skilled DM is going to see that.

Now we come to factions. The interaction with factions is impressive and I must admit I've seen nothing as comprehensive elsewhere that wasn't tied tighter into setting. Faction relations is an important theme in campaign and the way they are covered in these rules allow the same mechanics to be used for factions of any scale in a consistent fashion. When one interacts with a faction they are courting the faction and the rules coverage here blows away most games social encounters rules in my reading of these rules.

After encounters we get Downtime. Downtime is all the non-travel, non-adventure stuff characters can get up to and includes buying and selling, training (you level up in downtime),pursuing ambitions, crafting, recovering, research, and carousing.

Magical items are covered but not in a long catalog but genral rules on their importance and creation, good stuff.

Next we come to the bestiary where a host of mundane and unusual creatures are covered.  The game uses a simple stat block that lists ArmorRating, HitDice, Movement, and Morale of each creature. Colorful descriptions are brief as are notes for special abilities. Some of the entries here are pretty standard others downright silly but a lot of ground is covered and gives enough reference for adapting the thousands of monsters found in other games.

So in conclusion The Lavender Hack Tarantual Wasp Edition provides a comprehensive set of fantasy adventure rules for exploration and interaction with a fantasy worlds as odd as a GM wishes them to be with a set of fairly cohesive procedures to cover areas many games handwave.

 

Bloody Basic Sinew & Steel Edition [REVIEW]

Another version of Bloody Basic by John M. Stater meant to be an introduction to RPGs and the Blood and Treasure RPG itself. This basic set of Rules is setup to emulate medieval Europe without magic and monsters and as such the rules are a tad brief compared to other options but for a basic set it may indeed get the job done.

Characters are rolled in the familiar 3d6 for each ability in turn method and as in the other version of Bloody Basic I reviewed yesterday each ability score is given a descriptive tag for  low score and high scores with different tags begin used in this version from the more lurid Weird Fantasy version. Characters of high strength are Strong while those with low score are Weak as those of High Dexterity are Nimble and those of low Charisma are Repulsive. I like these tags as they make remembering differences easy and add as hooks tin describing and understanding a character.

Instead of races for player characters this version of the game makes use of Social Ranks and characters can be an Aristocrats, Bourgeois, or Peasant. Each rank has a positive and negative ability score adjustment and a perk that sets them apart from the other two Social Ranks.

The main classes amiable to players are Armsman, Scholar, and Villein with a significant number of sublcasses.

Armsmen are fighters with a number of special abilities broken out by level and number with a limited number of uses per day, i find this mechanic interesting but maybe a bit too limiting for the advantages of some of the related special abilities; as examples: ARTFUL DODGE as a special ability that allows one to avoid one enemies attacks in a round seems okay for a 1st level ability that can be used but once a day at 1st level but QUICK granting a +1 to initiative rolls for but one round seems far inferior. The Armsman is joined by Berserkers, Cavaliers, and clerics each of which have an ability score requirement that isn;t too significant and get a special ability or two to set them apart from other arms men.

Scholars are learned men who have attended university (or the equivalent) and have knowledge among their special abilities, they can blather, decipher writings and speech and make observations on the true nature elf others and their status. Scholars each must pick a higher area of study making them a Lawyer, a Leech, or a Theologian. Lawyers are handy if there are trials, Leeches are healers, and Theologians are steeped in the mysticism of the church and may bless or curse others (this requires belief on the part of the person being blessed or cursed).

The Villein is a sneaky adventurer that nay be good at several skills and trades not too dissimilar from thieves of classic RPG. Subclasses include Assassins that gain a bonus to damage vs unknowing victims, Charlatans are confidence men, Hedge Wizard are rural scholars that can curse others, Minstrels can fascinate people  with their performances, and Venturers are traveling merchants.

All classes may receive a randomly determined Retainer once the reach 6th level (the highest in these rules) which gives them a comment sidekick and second character.

Money in these rules is not he standard fantasy RPG decimal system but instead uses a pseudo-realistic system of farthings, pennies, groats, shillings and Crowns where characters start off with 10 shillings per point of Charisma to buy equipment.

Of note following the equipment section we see the importance of religion in medieval setting and each charter is recommend to choose a religion and how seriously they take their religion. Characters can be Zealots, Believers, Apostate, or Heretics. This is a good touch for the implied setting but I think it’s in the wrong section following equipment as it does and would have better served the rules in a section between Social Ranks and Character classes (i know form bitter experience few players ever read past the equipment section in an RPG,even a brief one).

The rule mechanics are simply laid out and clear. Savign thaws are broken down into three categories and each class is given at the score need to roll (or higher) to make a save based on level. Other tasked are rolled for in a similar manner with skilled tasks begin as successful as a saving throw and those tasks one is less skilled dwith are a tad less likely to be successful.

Combat is quick and easy with a d6 iniaitve roll for each side in group combat, a 1d0 for signle combat.  Initiave modifiers apply in single combat and are based on type of weapon and if a character is Clumsy or Nimble. The hit roll itself is 1d20 + attack bonus to meet or beat the foe’s AC score. When a foe is reduced to 0 HP the attacker gets to deice if the target is killed, knocked unconscious to subdued. A few minor situational modiers are mentioned but standard combat is wrapped up in under a page.

Jousting and Archery contests are given extra attentions fits the setting both sections are adequate and should get the job done in setting both types of tournament apart from standard combat.

Healing is slow at 1 hp for a nights rest and a charter’s level for a whole day of rest but if one takes 10 minutes immediately after a fight to rest they do regain half their hit points. Players that are careful and don’t push it too much shouldn’t have to overly worry about the lack of magical healing if they are careful about when they choose to fight.

Sieges get some attention with siege weapons getting some quick coverage align with a few siege related modifiers to regular combat. Walls are given defense ratings that act as hit points for structures.

Instead of digging through musty dungeons full of monsters characters are assumed to be storming castles and the rules for stocking ad exploring them are given cursory attention. Wandering Guards replace wandering monsters but I must lament the absence of a sample Wandering Guard table there’s room in such a short set of rules. for some odd reason the Npc reaction table is also hidden in this rule section. Wilderness and Civilization sections give both environments a little attention that should prove useful to the GM (oops sorry the Treasure Keeper).

the Creature section provides useful notes and statistics for a variety of Anmals that may be encountered during adventures and a brief variety of Human opponents.

The experience and Treasure section finishes off the rules. Experiecne points are earned for defeating foes and Experience points are earned for treasure; this exp section seems to be a copy and past from elsewhere as it lists coins as Gold Pieces, Silvee Picees and Copper Pices instead of using the denominations mentioned elsewhere in the rules, it’s useable as written but a little sloppy. Treasures are provided in a few charts that  while not amazing get the job done, I do like the treasure chart for Special treasures they fit the setting well.

Overall these brief 25  pages of rules would be useable for a straight up medieval setting. Given how much is not needed when there are no monsters, magical items, or magical spells it’s just going to be briefer. A few tables for Wandering Guards and Wilderness encounters would have surely fit in. I’d say this would serve a GM …i mean …Treasure Keeper in introducing people to RPGs but they are likely going to be left chomping at the bit for monsters and magic to be added to the game which isn’t bad considering this is a lead in product to a more expansive set of rules. A more experience group may still find this useful for a rules light option for their RPG fun.

Bloody Weird [REVIEW]

Review of Bloody Basic Weird Fantasy Edition by John M stater.

Bloody Basic  Weird Fantasy Edition is a basic version of the Blood & Treasure RPG intended to support play in a fantasy world where errant knights, burglars and magicians  are bent on one last grand adventure, one chance to crack open the bones of drudgery and suck out the marrow of life, one final opportunity to live deeply and truly (to paraphrase the author). Let’s see if we can get there using these rules.

We get the introduction which explains the very most basics of what is weird fantasy and how to makes sense of the terminology and dice conventions used in the rules, old hat to experienced players but as this is  basic set of rules the page and a half spent on this (including the start of the Making a Character Section) is well spent.

Abilities are the classical old school mix rated from 3 to 18 and rolled 3d6 each in order as presented in the game (STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA). Each ability has a descriptive for characters with a low score or high score in each of the abilities,a high Strength character is Mighty, a low Wisdom character is Foolish, a High Constitution character is Stalwart; I enjoy the descriptive  tags for each ability score as it helps define the ability score and in identifying and role-playing a characters. Each score offers a small modifier of +1 or -1 to associated tasks if the score is high or low. The amount of cash a character starts out with is tied to Charisma.

The races are the familiar Humans, ageless and soulless Elves, a beastly Grotesque, or a cloven footed Satyr. Humans and Satyrs may advance to level 6 (the maximum level in these rules) in any of the classes wheel the Elves and Satyrs are limited but have multi class options.

The classes on hand will be slightly familiar to fans of classic fantasy adventure but with a slight spin of the lush and lurid Weird Fantasy setting: PCs may be an Idolator, a Magus, A Puissant, or A Thief (there are 2 subclasses available as well).

Idolators serve the gods and goddesses calling upon the ultra-mundane for divine favors. Idolators may “shun” their enemies (similar to turning undead with a wider range of effects on types of targets) and cast Orisons. There are nine mystery cults that govern access to the Orisons each requiring a taboo for the idolater to gain access.    There  are 10 Orisons given for each of the 3 levels of Orison power with each briefly and clearly defined in the idolater section, all are available  if the proper mystery is known and taboos recognized with a limit based on Orison level and character level. An Idolater that violates a taboo suffers damage for Orisons already cast in a day tied to the mystery cult and loses the ability to cast related Orisons of that mystery. A 1st level Idolater could cast 3 1st level Orisons a day, a 6th level Idolater could cast 6 of the 1st rank, 5 of the 2nd, and 3 of the third. At 6th level an idolater gains a retainer (more on them later).

The Magus has access to the widest variety of magic in the game, which is good for they are fairly feeble otherwise. The Magus must prepare their cantraps each morning as they loose them from their minds when cast. Cantraps are limited to those learned and copied into their grimoires which hold but 3 spells at first level.  There are 12 cantraps of 1st d level described, and 20 each of 2nd and 3rd level.  Each magus may cast read magic from memory without the need of study and prep.  The 1st level Magus can cast but 1 st level spell a day, at 6th level they may cast 3 spells of 1st level, 3 of 2nd and 2 of 3rd level.  The Magus is not limited by taboos as the Idolater is.

The Puissant is the fighter of these weird fantasy rules. Puisants have the ability to perform feats of combat (mechanically not dissimilar to spell casting), the combat feats that may be used in a day are limited in use to by character and combat feat level.  Some of the feats are quite sensibly limited in uses per day while other seem a bit weak for the bonus gained or oddly limited for what they reperesent, it’s a good mechanic but I feel it needs a tad more tweaking.  There is a subclass of The Puissant that may be available to those with a DEX of 15 or more : the Rake; the Rake may only be lightly armored but they gain access to a few of the special abilities of the Thief.

The Thief Class should be familiar to those experience in old school fantasy RPGS, they are thieves with access to a range of special abilities resolved with a skilled task check (mor eon this later). There are two subclasses available to thieves The Demimonde that only gains experience points by spending on hedonistic pursuits they gain some benefits in the face of wonders and a retina at 4th and 6th level.  The second subclass is the Odalisque which are skilled seducers able to hypnotize an audience with their dancing and very limited spell casting at 6th level.

Each class has it own advancement chart that lists XP needed to gain a level, hit points, attack bonus, level title, and saving throws.

As mentioned above each character gain a retainer at 6th level (Demimondes at 4th and 6th level). A retainer is a totally loyal companion of the PC and may be used as a second character their initial nature is rolled randomly on a retainer chart. For the retainers loyalty one must spend 25% of EXP earned (which is no big deal since the game tops out at 6th level when retainers are gained by most PCs).

Equipment and money is fairly simple, character start with funds to buy equipment (10 GP per point of Charisma), equipment lists are given for all the essentials (including decoration for armor and clothing). A character my carry 24 light objects without being encumbered, 100 coins count as a light item, medium and heavy object count as more items. Effete character can carry less, mighty characters can carry more. Henchmen are included in the equipment section as hirelings to round out and boost an adventuring groups capabilities.

Wonder is an interesting element of these rules as PCs are not always natives to the realism they explore and there are amazing things to be witnessed in ancient places, haunted hillsides, or the edge of the world. Wonders may earn a character experience points without the need to fight monsters. When one is exposed to a wonder they may gain an epiphany which expands their abilities but may weigh down on their body and soul. Seeking wonders is both a boon and a bane to a character that may reduce CON and WIS depending on the nature of the wonder.


Saving throws are a simple system where a character needs to roll 1d20 to meet or beat a target number based on their class and level vs a general resistance including Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Ability scores apply minor modifiers to these rolls, the author uses the descriptions to note adjustments to saving throws (I like the flavor presented in that).

Tasks are similar to saving throws with each tied to  ability scores for skilled characters. An unskilled character succeeds art a task on a roll of 18 or more, a character with a knack does so on 15 or more, while a skilled character benefits from class and level treating the skill check as a modified saving throw. Note: Charisma task are improved by the value of accouterments worn by a character (nice touch that).

Combat is fairly simple. Attack order is brief using roll high on 1d6 initiative to determine which side attacks first in a round with minor modifiers for ability scores, spell casting, and weapons used. An attack roll is 1d20 modified by attack bonus (tied to class and level) which is successful if the score is equal to or higher than the targets AC. Simple and brief guidance is given for the advantage of tactics and dirty tricks.

Healing in slow at 1hp a night or 1hp per level for full day of rest. No yo-yo combats here without the aid of magic.

Simple morale rules are given for NPCs/monsters which are workable and should prove useful in play.





Adequate and guidance is given to running and setting up adventure in Donjons and Wilderness.  A nice listing of traps is given for those wicked Donjons. A reaction table for monsters is buried in the Wandering monsters subsection of Donjon and Wilderness adventuring, i feel weird fantasy depends on such a chart as the motives of the weird aren’t always obvious.

The monster section for these rules is a delight. Each monster type gets a general set of scores for Hit Dice, Movement, Saving Throws (by category) and Challenge Level while specific monsters in each heading receive additional noted for AC, attack types and special abilities. The treatment of monsters allows for quick and easy monster presentation that still offers flexibility. The presentation also allows for a large number of monsters to be included without too much space being eaten up.

A fair section is given for treasures that may be found which includes baubles, Potions, Scrolls, Staves, Magic armor and weapons along with Wondrous items.  A bit more time spent on a few detailed weird magic items wouldhave been helpful but the section still gets the job done.

A thesaurus is given in the rules which adds to the GMs ability to provide evocative descriptions of the threats and wonders the PCs may face.


In conclusions these rules do provide a basic set of rules and framework for presorting a weird fantasy campaign. I would have enjoyed as slightly more expansive section on the duties of the Treasure Keeper (the DM/referee ) as this i doesn’t really seem to be a basic edition meant for neophytes to learn how RPGs work all on their own but for a slightly experienced player to introduce others to fantasy RPG or as a light set of rules for a more experienced group of players it does the job.

I got my pdf copy here:  http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5747/John-M-Stater

A brief Review of CC1 Creature Compendium

Creature Compendium by Richard J. LeBlanc Jr. is a collection ov over 200 monsters for Old-school adventures and campaigns.

A large number of monsters for your old school games stated out in dual stat format, one set for Osric/Oe/1e style the other for BX/Labryinth Lord style; the dual-stating seems a tad silly to me given how similar in nature stats are to many games but I do know DMs that simply will not bother with otherwise good RPG materials simply because the stats don’t match their game closely enough so familiarity with similar sorts may be what inspired the dual stats in this book.

A number of the monsters appeared online in the past but the compilation and low price still makes this book rather handy. To me a lot of the monsters feel dungeony which is good as they make worthy inhabitants of a DMs megadungeons but may otherwise be crowding a campaign.  There is still a large number of monstrous beasts herein despite the dungeony feel that look to make wandering in the wilderness hazardous as well.

Some monster are seemingly a bit lack luster (“oh no a giant wood pecker”) but still often have an interesting wrinkle to make them worth using now and again in a campaign.

The level spread in the monsters that is pretty wide but still mostly hitting the level 4-10 sweet spot of old school play. Pretty much everything is illustrated in a style that reminds me slightly of the Hacklopedia of beasts but with less comical gore.

I mention the monsters being “dungeony” a couple times above but that’s a good thing that means they will fit into a classical dungeon without raising a whole bunch of questions from anyone except the most annoying sort of player.  some of them have lethal gimmicks but very few (if any) have an annoying shopping list of powers. After 2 or 3 special abilities a monster often stops being special to me.

CC1 The Creature Compendium A worthy addition to a classic dungeon fantasy campaign. What old-school campaign couldn’t make use of cyclorcs?

Yoon-Suin, a Review

Yoon-Suin, the Purple Land by Noisms of the blog Monsters and Manuals is one of the more wonderful campaign books I have seen. Yoon-Suin is a distant and exotic land of vaguely asiatic aspect far from faux Middle-Earth but also far removed from the Dragon Monks, Ninjas and Samurai of drier less imaginative takes of the far east. I can easily imagine heroes from the likes of Burroughs and Howard finding adventure in the lands of Yoon-Suin but protagonists from the works of Lovercraft and Vance would easily fit in as well. The most wonderful part of Yoon-Suin is the book is written for the game master that likes to tweak a setting and make it their own, this is is a fabulous toolkit.

The book begins with The Journal of Laxmi Guptra Dahl where the setting is outlined and evocative details are provided. this is essential reading to the GM but would also be of much use to the sort of player that enjoys such background information. If I were moving established characters from somewhere else in a campaign to Yoon Suin I would split this section into a few scrolls to be found among the treasures in adventures prior to adventures in Yoon-Suin.

After the journal there is a section that explains how to use the remainder of the Yoon-Suin book. the author makes it very clear Yoon-Suin is meant to be crafted anew by each game-master and while parts may unfold in similar manner from campaign to campaign they will always be different depending on who is casting the dice.  The guideline in this section covers how the author would recommend one tackles Yoon-suin for their game by selecting a region of the campaign and fleshing it out with the details provided in each section. This outline is useful and outline how to run any FRPG campaign fairly well.

Chapter One provides details for character generation giving options and details for playing Humans. Dwarves, Crab Men and Slug Men. The slug men details are very brief (almost absent) but after reading more I realize they would likely work best as a character option for players who have gamed a few sessions in The Yellow City.  Crab-men are a fairly simple race as class with pretty fearsome pincers and a tough carapace but little else yogin for them, they are a good choice for someone who wants to play something different without having to absorb a whole lot of extraneous details.

Chapter Two is the bestiary of the setting providing stats and a brief description of the 40 something pages of monsters (maybe 100?) and how they fit in the campaign, The descriptions are delightfully brief and how they fit in makes more sense after skimming later chapters. There’s a fair amount of icky bugmen, odd races, and squamous things scattered about the bestiary that certainly give it a different look from other settings bestiaries. Here’s the stat line from one creature as example:
HD 3, AC 5, #ATT 2, DMG 1-8/1-6 (bite/tail slap), Move 90 (Swim 150), ML 7, Save As: F3, TT: B
Chapter Three provides The Yellow City and The Topaz Isles. This chapter like the others region chapters isn’t filled with long histories and encyclopedia entires for the region but instead provides the charts and tables for a GM to run adventures and create a campaign in that region.  Charts in this section include: The PC’s Social Circle and further details each such social group in sparse but useful detail. After that we get table to generate Yellow City Personages (NPCS). there are rumors/adventure hooks, random locations, neighborhoods, and surrounding environs detailed in a lsuh variety of tables.  Sample Hex Contents to be placed as th eGM wishes are provided. An interesting subsection in this chapter are exploration guidelines for Adventuring in the Old Town and extensive ruin not far from the Yellow City these provide a means to explore a big place without getting mired down in every 10’ and provides a couple charts to generate sites of interest, treasures, and groups within the ruins.

Chapter Four gives us Lahag and The Hundred Kingdoms a big rambling area of warring petty kingdoms. This chapter is similar but not identical to the previous chapter providing tables to generate a polity within the hundred kingdoms and the issues and a ventures that can flow from them. Lahag is a haunted jungle and adventure details are given for that area following the means to generate that polities of The Hundred Kingdoms.

Chapter Five provides the details for a setting and adventure within Lamarakh and Lower Druk Yul great wild regions meant for exploration and trade. Detaisl are given to generate a boat tribe (or tribes)  and then much is given to generate the lairs of the region(s) similar to earlier chapters (but not in the details).

Chapter Six provides us with Sughd and The Mountains of The Moon a northern land of impenetrable mountains where abandoned dwarves citadels can be delved into, characters can become servants of a local oligarch or map the secrets of this remote and difficult region. Tabels are given to generate a starting oligarchy with it;s associated issues and assets, social circles (as in previous chapters). Tabels are given for remote villages, plantains and monasteries among other locales.

Each of the regional chapters as mentioned above serve to establish the region with a few paragraphs and sets of tables and does so wonderfully. The chapters are similar in arrangement but not identical in content, each region stands out on it’s own as someplace different. While each area is detailed mostly in tables there is still enough to get a GM going on creating adventures and making regions different from each other.

Folowign the previous chapters are extensive appendices that cover Poisons, Opium, Teas, Trade, and more. The appendices do a good job of covering details that may be similar from region to region and serves the GM well by setting these apart and not burying them in one of the region chapters.

There are a few maps provided with a hand drawn map that would serve well as a handout and a hex map of the same area for the GM. These maps are samples however and are more evocative and illustrative than authoritative. Therein lies the charm of this whole book while it opens a number of nearby regions for use by a GM to build RPG adventures within it does so by example and provides the DM with the tools to develop needful features that whiles certainly being within Yoon-Suin do not lock a GM into a specific fixed Yoon-Suin where canon has to be wrestled with and a player can spoil the fun by reading up on details ahead of time. Yoon-Suin is a wonderful work that both describe the setting and provides the tools for the GM to make of it what they will.

I read another reviewer say: Go but this and then read the review, I have to agree and would have bought this weeks earlier if I had the good sense to heed the advice. oh yeah before I forget: the art borders in spartan in overall use but is enjoyable and evocative. This book is well prices for the 320 somehtign pages it delivers as well. If yuo want a great example of a model to build a working camapign, an distant and exotic land to be explored by your friendly local murder-hobos, or a lush campaign to set all your adventures within Yoon-Suin is an excellent choice.

5th edtion Goblins, a review and criticism

Getting all critical on threw D&D 5^th edition monster format as per the basic DM pdf with the Goblin.

Goblin

Small humanoid (goblinoid), neutral evil

Not lawful evil but neutral evil, hmmm maybe they are better as universal pawns of evil

Armor Class 15 (leather armor, shield)

Cool the Ac entry explains what armor is being worn, it doesn’t explain if there are other modifiers in place.

Hit Points 7 (2d6)

Not Hit Dice but hit point,  Urgh. I understand a lot of spells and such are keyed to HP totals now but HD was a useful way to estimate relative power over the years and in a level based game it served to eye-ball what level a monster was.

Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

8 (−1) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 8 (−1) 8 (−1)

Skills Stealth +6

Mercifully short skill selection listed.

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9

I gotta say I like the game functionality of “Passive Perception” but I hate the needlessly long name, would “awareness” or “Perception” have been too difficult a term to explain?  If everything has “Passive Perception” why not make “Perception” or “Awareness”  a standard ability score? This edition is ability score focused, why not introduce a new ability score? The formatting of the ability mods is sloppy in the post but more legible in the actual doc, I see why it's listed here but I really hope modules don't reprint the ability scores for every instance of a monster in that format.

Languages Common, Goblin

Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

The challenge looks about right 4 goblins would be a challenge for small modern D&D party. 50 exp a whack is a lot at the low end of the pool given how fast one levels-up in 5^th edition.  But, we don’t have a situation where a 1st level fighter would have to defeat 250 goblins to become a 2^nd level fighter as in older editions.

Nimble Escape. The goblin can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.

Actions

Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.

What’s with the verbosity? Why not have the default assumption be 5ft reach unless otherwise noted.? Why does “one target” have to be spelled out? It’s a scimitar, of course it’s “slashing damage”, is it vital to put it here? Why are Goblins getting a +2 damage bonus with the scimitar, is weapon finesse is a property of the weapon not of training related to the weapon? Why bother listing the Strength modifier for goblins if the default weapon they use makes that modifier pointless ( they don't really have enough HP to make disarming them so they are forced to fall back on a different weapon to be meaningful) ?

Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.

Actually the short bow wouldn’t be doing piercing damage would it, the arrow would, I kid. While I am comfortable with old time short/medium/long ranges I don’t see listing normal (i.e. “effective” range) and long range as a bad idea at all, less fiddly by far compared to keeping track of every 80 foot increment. 

Goblins are small, black-hearted humanoids that lair in despoiled dungeons and other dismal settings. Individually weak, they gather in large numbers to torment other creatures.

Oh boy that just overflows with excitement doesn’t it. I hope the actual monster manual entry is a little more verbose in this area. Nothing about culture or organization beyond being black-hearted (they are neutral evil, didn’t that already get explained by mentioned they were neutral evil?) and using large numbers to torment other creatures. 

Well, they look like goblins with more HP, I suppose every D&D monster gets more HP at the shallow end of the pool without being as crazy as 4th edition was. The shift to neutral evil from lawful evil makes sense, if anyone ever bothered paying attention to monster alignments beyond good/neutral/evil. All in all curious verbosity here and thee but still leaving me wanting more: where do they like to live?, how many?, how common are they?, favorite loot?

 

5th Editon Basic D&D Review Part 4

5^th edition Basic Review: Spells and magic

Spells and magic are a huge part of what makes a fantasy RPG a fantasy RPG and magic systems gives spell casters quite a lot of bang for the buck in 5^th Edition Basic D&D.

The wizard class and the cleric class both use a versatile spell preparation and at-will spell system. Both of the spell casting classes start play with three cantrips and two 1^st level spell slots. Cantrips are always on and ready to be cast at-will, again and again all day long. Other spells must be prepared in advance at a rate of 1 minute per spell level for each spell in total number equal to your spell caster level plus the relevant ability modifier. Spells are cast using the unused slots and spell slots are regained after a long rest. The method of spell prep used by both spell casting classes reigns in the total number of different spells a caster is going to be casting spells in during a day while allowing access to the entire list of prepared spells as long as spell slots hold out while casting. Some spells require material components and others are defined as rituals you are allowed to cast without advanced preparation if you have access to a spellbook but still require use of a spell slot to cast.

This spell slot system allows a caster to use a spell slot to cast any prepared spell of that level or to cast a lower level spell with greater impact by casting it as a higher level spell. Example: You are a  3rd level Wizard with an Intelligence of 16 you can prepare 6 spells as such (3 for level and 3 for Intelligence bonus) you are able to use your 4 1^st level slots and 2 2^nd level slots to cast those prepared spells as you wish and nay 1^st level spell could instead be cast with a 2^nd level spell slot if wished and it may have greater impact. Spell casters do not lose prepared spells as they cast them, the spell slots are used up in casting.

Cantrips may be cast as many times per day as a player wishes as cantrips are at at-will magical power.  This is a major separation from how spells function in D&D prior to 3.x and would not be much of an issue were it not for the fact that while cantrips are the weaker end of spells in the game they are still quite potent and the nature and use of cantrips will result in a game having a very different play experience from earlier versions of the game. One cleric cantrip “Sacred Flame” allows a magical attack on a single foe up to 60’ay for 1d8 damage if they fail a save (The damage boosts t4d8 by 17^th level). Wizards have three damage using cantrips (one for 1d10 damage at 1^st level) of similar scale that require hit rolls at various ranges. Cantrips seemingly eliminate the need to arm Wizards and question why one would bother arming a cleric. This is too much constant damage dealing potential for me to emulate a play style of earlier editions of the game and the clerical damage dealing cantrip blurs the line between wizard and cleric to such an extent one wonders why there isn’t just one spell-casting class.

A feature of the 5^th edition basic D&D spell casting I think some folks are going to love or hate is caster level has been divorced from the math of spell effects; All spells have a fixed range, duration, and ara of effect as appropriate without variation by caster level. It is possible to boost the effect of many spells by casting them with a higher level spell slot; Magic Missile that ever popular spell creates 3 darts of 1d4+1 damage if cast as a 1^st level spell, if cast with higher level spell slots it gains an extra missile for each spell level used similarly fireballs all do 8d6 damage unless cast with a higher level slot and then 1d6 damage is added for each spell slot level over 3 used. I myself like the general concept it reigns in higher level spell-casters by a small amount because they aren’t getting  16d6 damage out of a 3^rd level spell simply by being 16^th level. Some folks are surely going to dislike this as it changes the nature of some classical spells. 

Many spells have brief durations of a minute, 18 hours, or concentration if not an instantaneous effect with the occasional spell lasting 1 hour.  Charm person lasts for but an hour compelling the target to act as the casters friend while so charmed and to know they were charmed when the spell wears off, this shifts the spell from a resource boosting tactic of enduring impact to let’s get this chump to off himself helping us before he turns on us. Sleep puts 5d8 hitpoints worth of targets to sleep… for a whole minute, yes seems this eliminates the 1^st level death spell some claimed it to be but it really changes the sleep spell into nothing but a combat spell as it can’t be used to peacefully put folks out of action for hours and keep them out of action. Concentration spells are only limited in that a spell caster may only have one spell requiring concentration going at a time other actions may be taken and spells may be cats as long as it isn’t another concentration spell.

Spells that used to add a bonus or inflict a penalty now often take advantage of the advantage/disadvantage mechanic to good effect.  Blur causes opponents attacking you to be disadvantaged, Beacon of Hope has selected allies make their wisdom save at an advantage. The spell descriptions embracing the advantage/disadvantage system cuts down on the need to constantly keep track of a multitude of transient modifiers there is a record keeping simplicity the spell system is working in favor of. Among those spells that do offer a numerical boost they do it as a simple 1d4 bonus to a single roll keeping the numbers a mystery until needed.

A curious feature to me is level/hitdice of target has been removed as a feature to define targets and hitpoints are instead used to define targets that may or may not be impacted by a spell. This causes the interesting situation of targets starting a fight immune to spell but being worn down and now being valid targets for a spell, this is a tactics enhancing mechanic of merit.

There are a number of healing and death defying spells in 5^th edtion : Aid, Cure Wounds, Death Ward, Greater Restoration, Heal, Healing Word, Heroe’s Feast, Lesser Restoration, Mass Cure Wounds, Mass Heal, Mass Healing Word, Prayer of Healing, Raise Dead, Regenerate, Resurrection, Revivify, and Spare the Dying.  Contrary to some hype to the contrary it sure looks like clerics are going to spend a lot of time answering the cry of “medic” during combat; certainly so if they have the Spare the Dying cantrip as it will be a life saver, again, and again, and again…

Overall spells are clearly defined and limited; it looks like there would be few if any rules-lawyering going on with spell casting in 5^th edition Dungeons and Dragons if spell descriptions stay as clean as they are in the Basic pdf. 

Really looking at the spell casting system and  the spell given D&D 5e Basic pdf it looks to be easier on the record keeping, less fiddly math needed in play, generally lower key impact of specific spells but spell casters have a lot of constant capability and power. The nature of the cantrips in the game seriously changes the experience of being a D&D spell caster compared to earlier editions and this will result in a different play experience in classical adventures no matter the hype.

5th Editon Basic Review Part 3

D&D is a roleplaying game, it’s a game of wonder, and exploration… and pretending to kill things. Now this blog is going to get into the combat rules of 5^th edition.The combat chapter is organized along the order of combat from surprise,to initiative, to your turn and covers plenty of ground for the basic game. I’ll cover all the combat in the order and attention it get sin the combat chapter.

Surprise hinges on DM decision of who may be surprised. If specific situation don’t lead to an immediate decision the DM compares Stealth and Perception of each creature and those on each side that don’t notice a threat are surprised and unable to take an action until the turn ends.

Initiative determines the order of each PC and group of similar monsters turns in a combat round. Everyone makes a dexterity check (well guys sloppy language use there it’s actually a roll because nothing is actually be checked against) and the highest check goes first with the DM resolving ties. Initiative is rolled but once per combat.

Now on Your Turn you get to make actions in combat such as making and attack, moving, dodging or readying an action or taking a bonus action. Some opponents actions may spark a reaction, you may only take one reaction per round.

In combat PCs and monsters may be in constant action using movement and position to gain the upper hand. On your turn you can move up to your speed in distance and possible special movement (jumping, climbing, etc…).  In Basic D&D everyone can break up the move, you are allowed to move some, attack, and move some more. Difficult terrain is is moved over at ½ speed. You can drop prone at no speed cost, standing up costs you half your speed for the round. You can interact with one object a round at no cost to actions (you can draw a weapon at no cost, opening a door and walking through) unless there is something interfering with that interaction as decided by the DM, interacting with a second object counts as a used action for the round. It is possible to move through a friendly creature’s space in combat or sneak about really big creatures as long as you don’t end your move in their space but attempting to leave a hostile creatures reach can provoke an attack of opportunity.

Spaces are explained as is the option of playing on a grid, they game does not depend on a grid or miniatures being used. You can squeeze into a tight space but that counts as difficult terrain and anything you attempt is likely to be at a disadvantage.

Actions in combat include making an attack, casting a spell, dashing (moving quick), disengaging, dodging, helping, hiding, readying, searching, and using and object. Disengaging allows one to move out of a foes reach without being threatened by an attack of opportunity. Dodging causes any attacks made against you to be made at a disadvantage and all your dexterity saves will be at an. Helping let’s you offer healing or such to anyone or improve an adjacent allies actions in combat so they attack at advantage. Readying sets up an action as a response to opponent’s actions.

Making an attack uses the good old d20 after you have picked a target. Roll 1d20 and add the appropriate ability modifier (normally Strength for melee of Dexterity for ranged combat but there are exceptions based on equipment and special abilities), add in your proficiency bonus and if the roll equals or exceeds the AC of the target you have hit. (For those not in the know AC starts at 10 and goes up).  A hit roll of 20 is always a hit and is a critical hit. A hit roll of 1 always misses regardless of modifiers and targets AC. If a foe should be obscured or invisible you attack at a disadvantage. m/aking a ranges attack with a foe within 5 feet causes the attack to be disadvantaged.

Opportunity Attacks are allowed if a hostile attmepts to move out of reach. Making an opportunity attack costs you your reaction for the round. If an opponent is knocked away bey an explosion or som other situation foes do not get opportunity attacks against them. AoO still here but not as invasive as they were in 3.X.

Grappling is pretty simple as written you grab a foe no more than one size category larger and a contest ensues between athletic ability or athletics and acrobatics (STR vs STR, or STR vs DEX). Unfortunately the rules don’t make it clear if that grab is a melee attack or just the ability contest. You can wriggle free from a grapple or break free. If you have successfully grappled a foe you can drag them around at ½ your speed.

You can choose to shove a creature to knock it prone or knock it away, the target can be no more than one size class larger and the results are resolved by an ability contest.

Damage and healing is covered next and the damage roll and critical hit is explained; on an attack roll of 20 (or other rolls for some special abilities) an attack is a critical hit which allows the attacker to roll twice as many dice before adding modifiers to determine damage (so if you have a 1d8 damage weapon and a +2 strength bonus on a critical hit you would roll 2d8 and add your bonus of 2 points). Danage types are covered some foes aren’t harmed by some attack forms. If a creature or object has resistance to an attack form only half damage is inflicted on it by that attack form. If a creature or object has vulnerability to an attack form damage of that type is doubled. Only one type of vulnerability or resistance counts in. There’s a whole lot of easy and readily recieved healing in 5^th editon with rest easily restoring HP. Dead creatures can’t regain HP until they are revived.

Dropping to 0 Hit points causes a target to fall unconscious if it doesn’t kill them. Massive damage kills a target instantly if there is remaining damage equal to your normal hitpoint maximum. Example: a target normally has 5 hit points and was wounded earlier so they only have 2 hp currently and they suffer a blow of 8 hp causing them to be instantly killed as there are 6 hp remaining in the attack and this is greater then (or equal to) the normal max HP of 5 that the target had. Even with all the easy healing combat will be pretty lethal to low level characters.

Death Saving Throws: at the start of any turn with 0 hit points a character must make a death saving throw.  This save is a simple d20 roll with no ability modifiers. You do not die until your third failure or stabilize until your third success. If you roll a 20 on the death save you actually recover a hp. If you roll a 1 it counts as two failures. Any damage inflicted on you before you are stabilized counts a as a death save failure (a critical is two failures).  Anyone can attempt to stabilize a creature by using their action to administer first-aid, stable creatures don’t have to make death saves unless hit again. Stable creatures regain a hit points in a couple hours. You can attack to knock a creature out and in such an attack rather than dealing a killing blow when you knock it to 0 hp you have simply knocked the creature out and they are unconscious but stable.

Mounted combat and underwater combat get a some limited attention. No clear advantage to mounted combat is given beyond the speed of but adequate rules cover some combat situations. Underwater combat is treated very briefly mostly limiting ranged combat and reducing attacks to disadvantaged attacks to those with no swim speed. Both of these areas of combat are under-explored in the basic rules in my opinion.

So that’s it for combat. No mention of attacking from behind or higher ground, no problem shooting into a melee. The difference between subduing damage and normal damage has been easily cleared up by an attacker simply not attacking to kill. The AoO horror from 3.x has been pretty much dropped and back to the good old days rules where you get a free attack against a foe trying to leave combat.  Characters are much more mobile in this version of D&D compared to any other I’m familiar with as everyone will be able to move about fairly freely in combat. Dying after being reduced to 0 hp isn’t instant but is also simple to deal with than in some other versions of the game with little book-keeping.  Death by HP loss looks like a threat round to round but not an enduring issue over the course of a game day. Combat is goign to be familiar round per round but over the course of an adventure it's going to have a different feel compared to older editions of the game.