Of The Lavender Hack [Review. part 1]

I had the fortune to recently acquire "Lavender Hack Tarantula Hawk Wasp Edition" A Grand Strategy Fantasy RPG with rules for getting lost, going broke, losing friends, and making questionable assumptions about magic by Phil Lewis from DriveThruRPG. It is an intriguing, quirky, and comprehensive RPG influenced by a host of other games such as Black Hack, Dungeon World and Dungeons and Dragons.

First things first it's a little quirky with delightful public domain art by Francois Rabelais that has a curious marginalia-esque style.  The rules have extensive designer notes that do fine job of explaining the "why" of the rules throughout.  The editing could surely be tighter as the designer admits in the credits but it's not a distraction from the quality within even though it's not all done yet. This game is definitely written to a reader that is familiar with OSR style RPGs.

The Core Rules gives us the standard ability scores rolled on 3d6 with the modifiers in the range of -3 to +3 which are going to come into play with Tests rolled on a d20 that allow for a fair degree of success with results from a fumble to a critical success (Fumble, Miss, Weak Success, Strong Success, and Critical Success). The now familiar advantage/disadvantage mechanic is applied to the tests and saves. There are general procedures to overcome adversity and create advantage  that show how pretty much anything uncertain or interesting can be resolved using the graduated successes mentioned above, I like how the guidelines to create advantage (i.e. aid other characters) is considered a core procedure worth spelling out early in the rules and throughout the rules the cooperative nature of cooperative play by multiple PCs is brought up in situation after situation.

The Usage Die is a general purpose tracking mechanic that gets used extensively in Lavender Hack where the usage die may reflect amount of something or the quality of something from d2(0) to d12. The usage test and shifting values come up a lot in these rules.  The d2(0) is the worst stage of the usage die and is really making a saving throw for the item/score in question.  Some events and rolling low on any usage die roll will cause the usage die to be stepped down. The usage die is essential to track resources within the game. Resources are consumables broadly defined as gear, food, light, and fellowship defined for the entire company (the party) of characters. There are a variety of mini games within the rules that alter when and why to worry about these resources. 

Characters are defined by their ability scores, character class, and aspect. The classes are broadly defined as Strong, Wise, and Deft with each having starting backgrounds, equipment, starting features and advanced features (which become available as a character levels up).  There are 20 spells given in the rules each with results that can vary by how well the test is made when casting the spell and clear guidelines on how to import spells from other OSR games. A characters aspect is essentially their "sign" and each defines domains of influence and curses for the character. A character may add a relevant resource usage die to any test that relates to a character aspect. Each character has a goal at any point in play which offers a strong bonus to a test tied to that goal and relates to a character's ambition track.  Once characters are created it;s time to gather them up in a company and set the company respurce dice to d8's and start exploring.

Valuables and equipment get a decent amount of attention. Valuables in the game is tracked with a value score from 1 to 10 with the lower values being time to a usage die.  There's a clear value in copper and gold given in each of these steps but it's meant to be generally vague with different factions in the campaign putting different emphasis on what is valuable to them. Encumbrance is tracked only for significant items with each character also being assumed to be carrying their share of company resources. These company resources are (as mentioned earlier) Gear, Food, Light, and Fellowship. The gear resource is used tp track all the normal and unusual gear a character may need that isn't particularly valuable or mission specific. Food and light usage are fairly obvious but the Fellowship resource is one not normally paid much attention to in games I've seen and I am impressed by it's presence in these rules. Fellowship determines the social cohesiveness of the company and has serious impact in some parts of the game and certainly influences how retainers/hirelings relate to the rest of the company. Weapons, armor, Land Transport, and Ocean Transport all get needed coverage. Armor can block damage and it wears out as do weapons as per the usage rules ever-present within the game.

(more to come)

Getting The Gang together for a Heist

You know what adventure model works best for virtually any version of Dungeons & Dragons? 

The Heist.

The more old school your rules, the more the game supports heists too. 

If you are playing the original game, Basic/Expert, and AD&D prior to 2nd edition experience points meant getting gold pieces. Fighting monsters is a 2nd rate means to gain EXP (after the original greyhawk supplement) if playing by the rules the game is best played as a heist game. PC's don't have enough HP to really make combat a good option unless the players are darned careful in deciding when, where, and who to fight.

The very idea of character classes supports the heist as ideal play. Watch a heist movie and there's a team of assembled specialists ... those are characters with different classes.  Even with just 3 or 4 classes there's enough differentiation to support a heist setup. Everyone has a role and everyone gets a chance to shine and best of all...you can split the party and focus on briefly on one or two characters working towards advancing the heist for the whole party.

When adventures are heists and not saving thr world from unending evil it actually adds the chance for depth in play. There's less reason for characters to be murder-hobos. They are encouraged to bribe and trick NPCs into helping out on the heist not just killing everything and everyone while the experience points pop out. This allows for a much wider cast of foils and foes which may be against a successful heist but aren't threatening the lives of everyone in the campaign world.

I'm jumping about here but check out the spells from the 2nd Basic set and how they add to heist play.

First Level MU spells
1.  Charm Person- compromise a guard or foil.
2.  Detect Magic- not just for identifying scrolls and magic items, also good for spottign magical traps and alarms (which should be part of some heists).
3. Floating Disc- got to move that loot after all
4. Hold Portal- getting in and getting out are key features of a heist and those pesky doors are certainly an issue.
5. Light- when it's dark you have to see
6. Magic Missile-  this is a lousy heist spell unless there's some key guardian that must be taken out with magic and is easy to beat that the MU knows about.
7. Protection from Evil- not as big a deal in heist play.
8. Read Languages- research montage
9. Read Magic- to use a high level spell slipped to the PCs by a patron or contact at the wizards guild
10. Shield-  not so useful in heist play unless you want to have someone distract guards and draw a few arrows while the loot goes the other direction.
11. Sleep- Defeat a bunch of guards youhave no actual motivation to kill, they aren't likely to be going on a rampage and slaughtering a village after this and they are probably hired men-at-arms or draftees that have no strong need for revenge.
12. Ventriloquism- the opportunities this spell gives for a heist game give it much more utility than it has in default dungeoncrawling or world saving.

SencondLevel MU Spells
1. Continual Light-  a useful tool and a foil the PCs may have to defeat to sneak away with the loot.
2. Detect Evil- not a real biggie in heist play unless it can be used to detect people who are goign to con you.
3. Detect Invisible- pretty darned useful in a competitive heist or the mark uses invisibility.
4. ESP- very useful for planning, scouting, and look outs.
5. Invisibility- Much more useful to grab loot and scoot than it is to enable a sneak attack, also obviously useful for scouting ahead.
6. Knock- get that door open!
7. Levitate- get in that window or over that wall.
8. Locate Object- surely useful if the goal of a heist is a specific McGuffin.
9. Mirror Image- distraction is the a major part of the art of heist.
10. Phantasmal Forces- as above but even more so.
11. Web- another spell for neutralizing a number of foes without killing them.
12. Wizard Lock- a foil and a useful tool for covering up a theft.

Not a perfect summary but in those 24 spells there are 19 with direct and obvious utility in a heist.


The heist is a much more survivable adventure model for low level play than typical smash and grab dungeoncrawling. The game rules have always supported that style of play really. Just look at the reaction table, it's a little wonky in a dungeon bash but of great utility in a heist adventure. Played RAW a heist adventure works great with the reaction table. If the whole world isn't in the balance and not every NPC is an evil monster it makes sense fights will be rare and NPCs may help out the PCs on a whim.

Another cool thing from the DM point of view is the heist doesn't have to be a level-specific to allow PC to survive. You want a dragon in the heist go for it...defeating the dragon is not the goal. A troll guard on the front door..go for it, the party pulling a heist shouldn't be fighting their way through the front door. It's actually possible to have a campaign with a bit more verisimilitude by not having everything level specific.

The adventure can be quicker too. Want a quick adventure for a session or two? Have a heist where the Players have a map of the place, at least of the areas you want to feature. There's less bumbling around and fights with random monsters to deal with, motivations are clear and the whole campaign isn't over of the heist fails. A failed heist sets up a rescue from a dank cell or before execution.

The heist opens up a wider range of opponents and place for Dungeons and Dragons campaigns where the goal is loot and world-building instead of world saving or murder hobo hijinks.

Quality of Equipment.

I've posted about equipment quality before. I've always liked somehting more than a straight non-magical to magical progression (aside from silver weapons). A while back I had a couple posts on grotty gear and have filled notebooks with a variety of options and still not too sure of where to go.

I have a host of materials, probably keeping all of them (but not worrying too hard about all their real property differences) and I laboring on degrees of quality from total junk to the penultimate but struggling to find a set of descriptive that holds up form worst to best (or even truly how many steps will scratch the itch I have).

My current way too long list of degrees of quality from worst to best:

1. Duff
2. Shonky/Shoddy
3. Bodge
4. Common
5. Fit
6. Brilliant
7. Ace
8. Magnificent
9. Splendorous/Slendiferous/Splendid
10. Wondrous
11. Iconic
12. Legendary
13. Ultimate 

Three degrees of poor quality is probably too many; 8 degrees of excellent gear may also be a tad too much. I am constantly changing Wondrous and Iconic in status. An Item can be Wondrous without being Iconic and Iconic Items don't even have to be as Wondrous....so hmm roll them together?

Could abreviate it to this:

1. Duff
2. Common
3. Brilliant
4. Ace
5. Splendorous/Slendiferous/Splendid
6. Legendary
7. Ultimate 

Somehow that seem a bit too brief if I'm going to  have degrees of quality.

I have considered also applying degree of ornamentation. But that has issues too.

1. Ugly
2. Crude
3. Simple
4. Elegant
5. Decorated
6. Fancy
7. Amazing
8. Oppulent

Part of me would love playing in a campaign where my character could find a Fancy Ace Orachalcum Sword. Another part of me isn't sure if the descriptives work well enough to be backed up with mechanics.

Throwing this out there for any reader's consideration and my own use as a digital notebook. I'd love to see anyone's take on  this.

Coronacation !

Gee lucky me, jut started my coronacation. Hopefully you and yours are well.  I (as has everyone else) have found my gaming aspirations curtailed by the plague of the day but with some free time (at least 10 days currently) I'll be able to get some more fun stuff done and share with folks.  Definitely need a new job-path for real life too, I really haven't enjoyed being one of the essential expendables the past couple of weeks. Again stay well everyone, growing roses from a dung heap (I hope).

Material components with explicit cash values are bad

So working on my next campaign (as always) and I realized I wanted a fair number of spell casting classes and there's a lot of spells out there and a lot of different versions of spells so I went about marrying spell lists.

Here's what I really don't like about spells all across various versions of the game: material components with an explicit cost in GP.   "This spell requires a 5,000 gp diamond"... is excremental in my opinion. One it ignores economics, two it ignores economics. You want to know what sort of diamond would cost 5,000 gp if diamonds were needed in raise dead spells? All Diamonds would cost at least 5,000 gp.  The explicit cost is an attempt to set a limit on the spell which doesn't really explain the limit or take really take campaign economics into consideration. Explicit costs are also typically are  meaningless limits.

I enjoy material components for spells, I like the flavor and the limit they place on spell casting. Planning is good for a campaign as planning build investment in the campaign for the players.  I also just like the imagery of wizards and witches digging about in their magical kitbags for eyes of newts and a gold tooth from a dead liar.

But you must have 5, 500, or 5000 gp to cast this spell is weak because it typically isn't a limit. The economic burden of coming up with the required amount of cash is usually meaningless. The universality of the price is also annoying. The shorthand of cost also ignores what is special about the component.

If a given spell required "a diamond half the size of a dove's egg or larger" it might be a 5000 gp gem, or 12,000 imperial ringlets, or 3 demon marks....it would work in every campaign right out of the box for every DM, it would also be far more evocative. We want our games to be far more evocative. There's a lot more imagery in that diamond half the size of a dove's egg or larger than in most pile of generic gold pieces. The diamond size doesn't say it all , it doesn't explain just what the gem is doing helping out in that spell but it's heading in the right direction.

More with Classes

What I want in my next fantasy RPG campaign.  Characters that do more character related stuff or more accurately have a greater focus on a class feature. Fighters that have give the player more decisions than get as much armor as possible and the weapon with the best damage rating. Magic-Users that have to fuss with magical things other folks don't seem to deal with. Clerics that deal with their faith and the supernatural more often then simply turning undead and bashing demons. Thieves that empower players that want to make decisions other than when to roll dice.

I suspect each of these is going to require a campaign specific subset of rules or mini-game.

Fighters can be expanded by the fighter having to learn different fighting stance and the tactics and special moves that go along with each so the subset of rules here is a bit more fiddly creation and advancement choices that on first blush don't seem to0 different from feats and skills. The clever player of a fighter should be able to learn to ask what stance his opponents are using and deploy their skills to counter and take advantage of their foes skills not just roll as high as they can with the dice.

Magic-Users have a number of subsystems that have been present in D&D and related games since it's inception that are seldom explored with any depth.   Magic item creation offers a lot of ground for the player of the Magic-User to discover and employ a body of lure so as to discover the formulas for magical inks and potions along with patterns for glyphs/runes. Magic-Users may also have to track and balance magical energies to empower their spells and provide an edge in magical contests by delving into what energies foes have invested in.

Clerics have a relationship with a faith or deity that could really be expanded on to better refine and define their access to spells and special abilities. This relationship shouldn't just be front loaded it should be active and require maintenance on the part of the cleric to maintain their powers. All but the smallest of mythological pantheons has a host of supernatural entities clerics can learn to interact with to gain favor(s) and lore.

Thieves can be expanded by putting bit more focus into breaking and entering and other tasks of the trade. I've touched on alternate lock-picking resolution in the past and feel expansion in this area will add more to the role of thieves as burglars by expanding the vocabulary and range of tasks that can be involved in cracking those locks. A thieves relationships with contacts and fences can also serve to give the class more depth within a campaign.

Just an overview of areas I've been exploring in my notes that I wish to embody in my campaigns. Some of the ideas I have touched on before on this blog and all of them will be getting more attention here.

New Year New Posting

Hello anyone reading this, it has been a while.  I have not been blogging or gaming much over the past year and a half. My father grew very Ill and passed away shortly before Christmas 2018. There was a lot to deal with emotionally and else-wise.  My father has been a regular at the gaming table my entire life and was with me from the 1st basic set to ad&d, 3d editions. the d20 craze, and the OSR awakening so his passing had a real impact on my drive to game. I realized at one point with the passing of my father and my friends Matt and Tom before that there were gaming moments that are now remembered only by me. My 10 year old son is chomping at the bit for some D&D so it's time to get back to it. I post more when I game more so this blog will wake-up with posts. During my time away from the blog I didn't stopped creating for games so there's notebooks of stuff to edit and share. Let's all build some memories.