Back in the Saddle and 5th Edition

There is no excuse for a 15 month blogging absence -- a virtual blog lifetime.  Other life elements intrude, excuses abound.  But like a bad case of the clap, I keep coming back to D&D.  Or it to me.

I have been sucked back, simply, due to 5th edition D&D (I refuse to call it "Next," unless they promise to call the next version after that "Last."). 

While the playtest versions (as of now) are only about 60-70% complete at best, it is in playable form finally and I like what I am seeing.  It's enough to get me to run a campaign using it.

Good News Part 1: the game has taken many of the best elements from prior editions and mostly merged them:

* ability checks a la many OSR systems are the new default, making skills both relevant and simple to execute
* simplification (relative to 3e and 4e, anyway)
* return to class-based design rather than MMO-inspired "role"-based design of 4e
* cribbing from a few of 4e's strengths such as at-will spells
* A flatter power curve (more like OD&D/2nd edition)

In sum, it feels like a streamlined version of 3e with 4e/OSR elements.  What is still lacking:

* The monsters overall have relatively low ACs.  This may be intentional.
* Multiclassing is still an unknown.  Whether it will look like AD&D (level up in multiple classes simultaneously, splitting xp), 3e (add a class as you go) or 4e (get a little multiclass functionality from a feat) is anyone's guess.  I am guessing it will be more 3e-ish, though the only way that worked for spellcasters was to use prestige classes or take feats to boost their caster levels.  I would be open to an AD&D version too, though once you took your classes you were locked in ...
* We still need a few more "core" classes, like the bard and (for me, anyway) the sorcerer.  I wouldn't mind seeing a warlock, either.  Essentially, if a class' features can't be added as a subclass to an existing class, or if it has some unusual mechanic, it needs to be its own class.  For my money, the 3e bard (bardic music effects), sorcerer (spontaneous casting/wizard alternative), warlock (eldritch blast, unique warlock powers and invocations) all justify their own classes; they can't be wizard variants, other than possibly the sorcerer.
* The spell list, magic items, and bestiary are sparse.  More content will be needed to justify an end product.

All in all, I am encouraged.  I want to play this version of the game. Moreover, I am encouraged that the designers are taking their time and listening to feedback.

Adventure Formats and the OSR

Some of the obvious accouterments of the old school renaissance have included intentional graphical and layout throwbacks to the previous era, particularly the Gygaxian format of adventure presentation.

OSR Format (roughly 1977 through 1983)

Using the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief as a template, the following format emerges as the traditional standard:

• Cardstock front and back cover with artwork/description
• Maps, typically on inside front and back covers (though sometimes at the end of the booklet)
• Booklet, staple-bound
• Short Introduction/DM Notes
• Fairly Short Background (Setting the scene, placement within game world, getting the PCs involved, etc.)
• Map Key, including wandering monsters, room descriptions, and descriptive artwork.  Text within the map key was kept brief except where further explanation was needed.
• Appendices (New spells, monsters, treasures, player handouts and artwork, etc.)

This is fairly typical of pre-Hickman TSR fare, all of which can be fairly said to be within the OSR wheelhouse.  Judges Guild materials of that era follow an analogous format, although virtually none had a cover and maps were usually printed inside the booklet or were separate fold-out affairs.

Later Tweaks & Content Bloat

As the game matured, the format of adventures was tweaked.  The biggest changes were in two areas: backround/story-related material (for Hickmanesque storyline-driven games) and in the quantity and bulk of text included in the product.

Once adventures became less site-based/sandboxy and more story-based, larger amounts of background and story material were required to guide DMs through various story flowcharts and matrices.  NPCs, in particular, became much more fleshed out and given a life of their own.  While the point of this was to enhance the "story" and dramatic aspects of the game, it undoubtedly contributed to content bloat within published adventures.  It further made the products less adaptable for individual DMs -- more story details require more work to customize to one's own game-world.

The other content infusion of note was the addition of descriptive "boxed text."  While the goal was laudable -- to provide greater immersion and verisimilitude -- the inclusion of subjective descriptors left some DMs (and many more players!) feeling that they were reading from a script and trapped by the content.  If the author was not both brief and evocative, boxed text became a millstone around DMs' necks.

Other tweaks to the format included improved quality maps and experiments with different types of maps, such as the famous quasi-3D iso maps of Ravenloft.

Encounter Format

One of the more irritating-to-grognards developments in late 3rd and most 4th edition adventures was the advent of what can be called "encounter format," in which everything needed to run a particular encounter was generally (though not always) on one page or two facing pages.  Thus, a detailed dungeon room, its monsters (and their game stats) and all tactics and "developments" were listed in one place.

While generally hated by the OSR due to the "encounter" nomenclature and the size of stat blocks necessitated by later editions of the game, the encounter format has one big advantage -- utility.  All of the traditional formats require a DM to juggle no less than three documents -- the map, the key, and at least one rulebook (usually the DMG or Monster Manual).  The encounter format eliminated that juggling and allows a DM to focus on the players, the flow, and the game rather than shuffling papers about.  This philosophy has developed its own subculture of sorts via the "One Page Dungeon" contest.

Building a Composite OSR Format: Goals

My mission statement, therefore: 

OSR content should be adaptable, easy to use, evocative, creative, and customizable. 

I would further add that we, as consumers of said content, should value such publications on these merits alone and not, say, by its sheer size or bulk.  Furthermore, OSR publications must by necessity adhere to the OGL -- requiring either close adherence to OGL rules or a more generic approach so as not to violate the license.  I advocate the generic approach simply because everyone is seemingly playing a different game.  Within the OSR itself there are at least three major subsets -- white box, Basic, and AD&D systems -- and substantial variation in basic game mechanics.

I therefore propose the following format for OSR site-based adventures:

• Notes/Introduction
• Background (brief)
• Small-scale overland map (optional)
• Unified large-scale map showing the entire site and labelling its sections
• Sectional small-scale maps done in "one page dungeon" style (i.e., "show me don't tell me") with clear links to other sections
• Appendices

By eliminating the Gygaxian map-and-key format and later hyper-wordy formats, the DM is given what he needs -- introductory materials to read and digest for application into his own game-world, and in-game materials to use while sitting at the table playing.  The "one page" sectional map format, by necessity, will provide brief information in order to avoid OGL problems and to keep it adaptable, it should be as generic as possible in terms of game mechanics and statistics.  The downside to this, of course, is that it will require that the DM either adapt the content to his rules system beforehand or have the rulebooks handy during play.

For those wanting to inject a "plotline" into OSR adventures, a slightly expanded background section and a one-page story flowchart is recommended for in-game reference.

So what do you think?  Would you consider buying and using a scenario in my format as described?  How strong is the pull of sentimentality of the Gygaxian format?  Is the size/bulk of a publication relevant to your perception of its value?

Skill Systems for pre-3.x D&D

As I've posted over on ENWorld (in the Legacy games sub-forum), I am weighing the various options for a skill system for my planned Dunlyle campaign.  As I explained, there are several options:

1. No skill system at all -- use ability checks with appropriate modifiers
2. Secondary skills only (as per 1st edition)
3. Rules Cyclopedia skill slots
4. 3.x skill points
5. 4e trained/untrained skills
6. The Adventures Dark & Deep system, based on a prior OGL creation, which involves the purchase of skill ranks with experience points, the skills themselves use a modified ability check system.

Flexibility vs. Specialization

At first blush, the "no system" has a lot going for it.  There is something liberating, frankly, about not having a skill system and just winging the outcome with your players.  Obviously, this requires a level of DM flexibility and skill, as well as the trust of the players.  It also requires consistent application.  Over the course of a campaign, the flexibility/"winging it" solution ends up with loosely codified houserules using a variety of modifiers to either the target number or the die roll itself.

My main beef with this (as well as the 1st edition solution) is that it does not allow a PC to excel at a particular skill.  How do you simulate arcane knowledge, tracking, or even being a great horseman in Basic D&D?  Clearly, not everyone has this knowledge -- so you end up with a houserule that says some ability checks are only usable by certain classes.  This creates a de facto "class skill" system where some skills are only usable by trained individuals and others (like stealth, say) are usable untrained.

On the other hand, there are other cans of worms opened with a full-blown skill system exported to pre 3.x D&D.  Many of the rules mechanics (surprise, finding secret doors, falling into traps, etc.) are handled on a flat 1 in 6 or 2 in 6 probability, with no distinctions between different races and classes of PCs.  Once you inject perception, athletics, and other combat and non-combat skills into the mix, you are fundamentally altering how the basic game works -- and not just for the PCs.  You then have to account for these attributes for all of the monsters.  Which is probably why Gary went with a simple mechanic in the first place.

What 4e got right

Yes, my fellow grognards, there were some advances in 4th edition, the biggest one in my mind being the rules for passive perception and insight.  The passive mechanic allows PCs to spot secret doors (in elf-like fashion) without looking for them, and also provides a target for opposing stealth rolls to determine if PCs are surprised.  Passive insight functions like 3.x's Sense Motive skill.  Once you decide that you need a skill system, you need a way to keep it manageable, and passive skills fit the bill.  Passive perception, in particular, helps deal with the trap-finding problem in prior editions, where the paranoid thief/rogue character searches every 10' square with a fine-tooth comb.  Of course, that's what wandering monsters are for, too.

I also like the concept of the trained/untrained skill in 4e, though I'm not a fan of the execution.  Trained skills in 4e are essentially ability checks against a set DC, delivering a flat +5 bonus for training, and all skills go up with character level automatically.  I think this could be adapted to basic with tiers of bonuses for each rank of training (which is very similar to the Adventures Dark and Deep implementation).

How Skills are "bought"

If you have a skill system, you then have to decide how they are acquired.  The Rules Cyclopedia uses a weapon proficiency analogue called skill slots, and allows the expenditure of multiple slots to simulate greater expertise.  3.x uses skill points and is by far the most customizable system.  4th edition essentially uses skill slots. 

Adventures Dark and Deep uses an interesting xp purchase option, trading off xp for skills with a maximum number of ranks per level.  I am lukewarm on this last option, simply because it is such a giant tradeoff for a player to learn an interesting "flavor" skill (like a social interaction skill) at the cost of hard-won xp.  This system feels more like a GURPS-like, character-point driven game where character advancement is piecemeal (do you want to increase your skills or other abilities?) rather than level-based.  I like point-buy games, having played Champions for years, but to me this runs counter to the level mechanic in all versions of D&D and I'm hard pressed to see where a player would want to learn any skills until he was of a fairly high level and the xp costs involved were proportionately less painful.

At the moment, I'm leaning heavily towards the Rules Cyclopedia as a way to provide some structure and specialization to skills in pre-3.x without getting overloaded in details or having to create monster skills to oppose PC skills.  I also think having some kind of rules makes it more clear to the players how actions will be adjudicated.  But I would love to hear how you deal with skills in your games.

Adventures Dark & Deep Kickstarter

Joe Bloch, aka the Greyhawk Grognard, has just launched a Kickstarter funding event for Adventures Dark and Deep, a Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore.  This product is a supplement for 1st edition and OSR products, adding new classes, spells, monsters, a streamlined combat system, and other features.

If you haven't seen Joe's material, painstakingly and lovingly coaxed out of dozens of sources on Gary Gygax's intentions for the advancement of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, you are missing a distinctly Gygaxian expansion and clarification of the game.  As Joe puts it, it's his attempt to render the AD&D 2nd edition Gygax would have written.

I support this on Kickstarter and I encourage you to do so as well.

The "Explorer" Wildlands Campaign and the Campaign Hexagon System

I've long been a fan of the D&D campaign based around exploration, both on a micro (dungeon) and macro (wilderness) level.  No publisher highlighted this aspect of D&D better than Judges Guild, whose Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting was built around the idea that there was a lot of unexplored stuff out there.  Sure, there were cities -- big ones, too -- but there was space.  Bob Bledsaw's crowning achievement (other than the City State of the Invincible Overlord) was the Campaign Hexagon System and its specific implementation in the Wilderlands.

Be assured that the system was more than mere wilderness maps on hex paper.  The first benefit of the system was that it was scalar, taking the DM from large-scale campaign hex maps to individual hex maps of a particular campaign hex to two scales of square-grid map for city plans and small scale dungeon floorplans.  Like a nested Russian doll, the map scales all fit within each other.

The second benefit of the system was that Judges Guild published maps and blank sheets (the Fantasy Cartographer's Guide is simply wonderful) for keying said maps in large, easy-to-use booklets, and provided numerous tables and charts to help DMs populate those maps with terrain, features, monsters, and treasures as needed.

Lastly, Bledsaw ensured that all JG "content" publications actually used the Campaign Hexagon system, and took it to the next level with the inclusion of TWO maps for every wilderness area -- a DM's map and a player's map that was blank, other than coastlines and known features.  Talk about an incentive to explore -- there was a whole map to fill out!  And after that, 15 more in the Wilderlands setting.  For my money, the Wilderlands Setting was the ultimate sandbox for OSR-style gaming.  JG products were at their strongest when providing game aids to enable this style of sandbox play.

I am a huge fan of Greyhawk, but the exploration element and sense of the unknown is largely missing (at least in the aboveground of the Eastern Flanaess).  The Greyhawk setting (and Faerun too, for the most part) is one of nations; the Wilderlands is one of wilderness, and is therefore the first setting that comes to mind when the "points of light" concept is bandied about. 

Sadly, exploration as a player and character motivator seemingly became phased out as the game transformed into one of character customization and battlemat-driven tactical combat.  I honestly can't remember the last time someone actually mapped in a 3.x game.  I wonder if a raised-on-4th-edition player would even understand the point of mapping.

Judges Guild Retrospective #1: Modron (1977, 1980)

(For wonderful retrospectives of early DnD products, check out James M.'s fabulous OSR blog, Grognardia.)

I was a fan of Judges Guild products since my introduction to the hobby in the hamster-urine smelling room of my friend Kenneth and his older brother, Richard. In the City State of the Invincible Overlord, my preteen fantasies came to life in the naughty Park of Obscene Statutes and in the titillating calls of the Houris. Back then, the JG products had a lot of flavor, particularly compared to the relatively conservative offerings of TSR. Full of goofy, slapstick, dangerous, and sexual flavor, Judges Guild products rarely failed to amuse.

Judges Guild had other things going for it, too.  It was, well before the OGL, one of the only officially licensed content providers for D&D.  JG was was fairly prolific, too -- at my game store, Judges Guild products seriously outnumbered TSR offerings, especially adventures and settings.  At the time, I regarded JG product as inferior (Gary didn't write it! Noooo!), which in retrospect was unduly harsh.  JG supported their product like nobody's business -- nearly every D&D product they put out was tied to their Wilderlands setting, and their Pegasus magazine was always adding new City State content.  One can only imagine how great it would have been had TSR provided half as much support for Greyhawk and its other settings.

And so we come to the retrospective of Modron, written by Judges Guild founder Bob Bledsaw (one of the hobby's pioneers) and Gary Adams.  Like many JG products, Modron explored a particular area of the Wilderlands setting without providing fully fleshed-out adventures.  The idea, which is very representative of OD&D and 1st Edition, was simply to provide the proverbial sandbox and tools for the DM to make the area his own. Judged by this design goal, Modron was, and is, a success.

To the East / Northeast of the City State, downstream along the Estuary of Roglaroon, lies the Walled Town of Modron.   As the Kevin Siembieda artwork illustrates, watery adventures were in the offing.  The product (32 pages, counting the covers) is fairly typical of early JG products, devoting a lot of attention to rules, charts, hex maps of the town and underwater adventure area, Seimbieda art of uneven quality, and colorful descriptions of Modron and its inhabitants.  The main difference between the 1977 and 1980 versions, as best I can tell, is that the '77 version maps were on the wonderful parchment paper, whereas the second printing in '80 maps, though in color, were on the interior, low-quality paper and stapled in the middle of the product to be removed by hand.  The "players' maps," mostly blank versions of the main maps to be used by the party and filled out, were unfortunately printed on the inside and outside rear cover of the booklet.  My secondhand 1980 version sadly lacks the parchment "players" maps, but either way, the maps highlight a wonderful aspect of Old School D&D -- when exploration and mapping (including wilderness mapping) were a major part of the game.

Rules and Tables: As befitting a setting with watery adventures, the beginning and ending sections of the book detail rules for swimming and drowning, water current, weather effects underwater (!), terrain descriptions for the undersea maps (with adjustments for visibility, movement, and surprise), tables for the strange misty waters surrounding underwater features, a coral chart (!) featuring types, colors, poison deadliness and values,  pearl-diving charts, random underwater encounter charts, shark charts (you know you're in for it when the sharks have their own damned chart), and, yes ... the Sea Monster table, wherein one might encounter anything from an entire warband of 30d10 Mermen to a Kraken to the Loch Ness monster ...

Background and Fluffy Bits: Some effort was made to give a brief history of the Town of Modron and its namesake, the Goddess Modron, deity of Rivers.  The artwork alternates from interesting to silly to amusingly bad; there are several full-page, full-color works that seem like filler to get the product to 32 pages.  Still, there are some juicy story tidbits throughout, like the sea hag that sells a horrid seafood concoction that bestows water-breathing on landlubbers, allowing them to explore the shipwrecks and sunken temples offshore ...

Town Description:  Like all JG towns, streets each have colorful names ("Struttin' Strech," "Brain-Basher Boulevard") with their own random encounter elements.  It's a bit much by today's standards, but very much in keeping with the "have fun until you die" spirit of early D&D.  This style is present throughout Modron (and indeed, in most of Bledsaw's own work product) and extends to the buildings, NPCs, and products and services available in Modron.

The Maps:  As an unabashed fan of JG's maps, I enjoyed the maps immensely, though I would have enjoyed the parchment versions much more than the on-page versions.  The underwater adventure map was just begging to be keyed and stocked with watery monsters and treasures.

Like all old school products you have to get past the lower production quality and meh art to find the value in Modron, but it is there.  It presents a complete toolkit for numerous town and underwater adventures of the DM's creation.  It's a great example of a "game aid" (as it bills itself) -- a colorful setting for the DM and players to make their own, without ramrodding anyone into an adventure path.

Overall Grade: A-.  A great representative of a Bledsaw-penned sandbox setting and adventure area.

5th Edition Hopes and Fears

Like many gamers in my age demographic, I await news of D&D 5th edition with a mix of hope and trepidation.  On the one hand, Monte is at the helm; it won't suck.  On the other hand, its stated goal of unifying the various editions -- and thereby providing something for everybody -- runs the risk of pleasing no one at all.

As of this writing, my favorite editions remain 3.5 and Pathfinder, for one big reason: character creation.  I find that 3.5/PF deliver the most ability for PCs to create the character they want within a fantasy world framework.  While this is sacrelige in many OSR circles, I like feats and skills as presented in 3rd Edition and its progeny.  Is 3.5/PF perfect?  No -- the oft-stated objections (rules bloat, wargaming feel, challenge rating/build-the-adventures-around-the-PCs, the power curve, high-level play wonkiness) are mostly valid in my experience as a player and DM.  But that sweet spot (say, level 3-10 or so) was awesome.

I have gone back and reviewed many of my Basic Set / 1st Edition materials, and downloaded and reviewed several of the carefully-crafted OSR retro-clone products, including Labyrinth Lord and Joe Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep.  I value the original and OSR products for their relative simplicity, flavor, nostalgia, and sense of real danger to the PCs.  However, I like a product with a little more meat on the bones, particularly regarding skills and adjudicating non-combat actions.  Adventures Dark and Deep has taken the step of adopting a alternative skill system based on xp expenditure that is partially tied to ability scores -- thus, for many of the skills, it is cheaper to train if your best ability score is that skill's prime requisite.

Mixing and matching these elements then, as Monte in fact says he is doing, my fantasy 5th edition would look something like this:

• Same core design re: six ability scores, hit points, saves, armor class, etc.
• Feats, or some mechanism to customize characters to provide unique abilities
• Skills or ability check modifiers to allow resolution of non-combat actions
• Ability to run 0/1st edition style gameplay (i.e., battlemap/miniatures optional) for quicker play
• Flattening of the power curve
• Deadliness -- the game needs to be dangerous
• Rewards should go back to pre-3e: xp for treasure, to encourage alternate means of "winning" other than monster-slaying, which begets the Challenge Rating/match-the-encounter-to-the-PCs thinking.