Change the Classes Change the World Revisited

I've covered this topic before here and here for the interested.

My regular readers will probably be aware of my frustration with the 3x/Pathfinder options bloat, the endless pages of races and classes and feats and to a lesser monsters, spells and magic items.

There is however an occasion in which that complexity comes in real handy and I relish options.

When I am building a setting and I want something different there is nothing quite as cool as mixing it up.

As an new example,

Ennobled.

In this setting there are no spells above 6th level and no exceptional (non spell using) mundane classes. Instead the PC are all from ancient magical bloodlines and all have the ability to cast spells.

The rules variants are as follows

There is only one race, Human. PC classes are as per Pathfinder rules, 25 point buy. NPC's classes use lesser point buy (maximum 20) and do not gain +2 to an attribute,

Each PC regardless of class gets the Prestidigitation cantrip. This is the manifestation of magic all PC classes have. It may not be selected retained or swapped and does not count against any class features or limits. It functions normally as per Pathfinder rules though it is innate supernatural ability.

All classes use spells and where non spell using options exist they are not permitted The list is as follows

Pathfinder SRD

Bard
Ranger
Paladin
Inquisitor
Alchemist
Summoner
Magus


3rd Party Sources
Yogi (Year's Best D20)
Kundala (Book Erotic Fantasy)
Arcane Trickster of Steel (Arcane Trickster Second Look)
Arcane Trickster of Skill (Arcane Trickster Second Look)
Arcane Archer core
Artificer (Tome of Secrets)
Hex Blade
Evangelist (Advanced Player's Manual)
Thane Mage ((Advanced Player's Manual)

Under Consideration
Gutter Mage (one of 2 versions ether from Oone's Great City or the Book of Roguish Luck)
Archon

Special
For those who relish Arcane power, some selected Mystic Rangers have been initiated into the Order of the Star and have learned high magics. Its an arduous road but for True Seekers may be worth the journey.

Now with what are very few changes there is now a fairly balanced (all the bases are mostly covered) set up with a very different play style to regular D20.

If I choose to go a bit further and change the weapons and gear list a bit (say make it more Indian flavored or whatever) I can create a unique game with little or no learning curve.

Some Thoughts on Moving Away from Tolkien

Via Lament of the Flame Princess and Grognardia

from THOMAS

THOMAS:

I read the back cover and hated the rejection of the concept of "hero" ala LotFP. It deliberately discourages the ideas of nobility, self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, honor, etc. Better to be non-committal philosophically, and let DMs create the tone they want. Game designers are trying to give their games a nihilistic bent, which I think is a mistake.

Sure, not purely for nihilism's sake, but the section on alignment demonstrates that good/evil are merely ideas or opinions. This makes all ethical ideals baseless, including valuing life and respecting others. The cosmology chosen in the alignment section leads to nihilism, which leads to the mercenary spirit, contra honor, nobility, heroism. Honor and nobility become opinions without base, no more intrinsically good than dishonor and evil. That cosmology stinks, and it is too bad that it is accepted by default.

I think this game, and LotFP, are both trying to make their games more unambiguously conformed to the nihilistic sorts of literary inspirations (e.g. Lovecraft). In other words, they are "purging" so to speak other works from Appendix N (Tolkien). AD&D was less committed to this nihilism than these two newer games.

And you know I think the man has a point. I have no issue with scruffy S&S (love me some Howard and Leiber) but I am kind nonplussed with the whole Cthuloid horror idea and I'd like less of nihilistic stuff like the flavor text for the Speak Dead Spell (via James Raggi from LOTFP Grindhouse)

People that were decent, honest, innocent, or will be anxious to answer questions and remain on Earth for as long as possible. They have learned that the afterlife is nothing, simply a void with no effective consciousness and no sensation but for the numbing awareness of passing time. They know that being alive, even inside a rotting corpse for the briefest sliver of time that leaves them in agony as the decay of their physical form leaves every nerve transmitting unrelenting pain, is better than being dead. Cads, scoundrels, and heretics, on the other
hand, were pleasantly surprised to not find eternal torture waiting for them in death. Only
the vicious and undeserving find this peace in death, and they will be furious about this peace
being disturbed. This allows them a saving throw versus magic to resist answering questions.

and HP Lovecraft and maybe a bit more Tolkien ,Stardust , Legend and Excalibur.

And yeah sure its possible to go far into 2e territory and try to forget the S&S roots of the game to try and bowdlerize out the darkness but its also possible to go to far the other way and forget heroism as well.

JMO here but the next retroclone ought to embrace this other way a bit, more faeries and witches and a lot less squamous frog gods.

Confession: I don't care much about dice

A lot of gamers have a virtual dice fetish,longing for them, lusting for them and of course having all sorts of rituals and superstitions about them.

I am not one of those guys.

I like well made and attractive dice but I like all my tools to be well made and attractive. And yes dice to me are just a tool to play the game with, nothing special.

Now of course as I have played for a very long, probably far too long and as such I have many dice, some very nice (a frosted set) some well used (my D10's for Angel) and a few (a purple D6 brick) I have no idea WTF? I was thinking when I got.

Most of them however a plain, cheap and ordinary . Many were gifts and while yes a few are special but most are just tools and if I had to part with them, no matter.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG 1st Impressions

This is cross posted as a comment at Grognardia. As its more an opinion piece than anything that would help improve the game I am not posting at Goodman's boards.

So far the game seems well thought out and designed but there are a ton of things that make me go meh,

The tone of the game is too "agro" as if it was trying to be edgy and dark and invoke Slatanic Panik or something. Not my style. The L0 rules tone was also flat odious reminding me a satire of High Gygaxian. Yuck.

The spell system is too complex and JMO the roll for each spell defeats the entire simplicity of the older system where what you do with it is the decision, not how much stat damage should I take or can I risk a 40% failure rate. If I wanted that I'd play something else

As for the art, no offense to any of the excellent artists , its good but its also something I could care less about. I buy games for mechanics not art or stories. A nice cover and a piece or two if needed is fine. Its well done buts its too "stoner" and dark for my taste.

I did kind of like the idea of just adding L0 stuff to L1 as a kicker. That was a DOH! idea I just never thought off. The deeds were pretty cool as well.

Lastly the Zocchihedrons, just no. Its a clever mechanic and all but I am not going to buy a set of specialty dice made by just one company to play a game. And yes I eventually had to buy some back in the day but that was than and this is now.

However the game does have a few ideas worth stealing and I suspect some will like it. I'd even try it, yes even L0 mode and so thats something.

Good Luck to Goodman on this one. I won't be a booster but I have to say, y'all did a good job.

Goodman Games DCC rpg is up for Free Beta test

You can get the free open Beta here

I have downloaded the Dungeon Crawl Classic Beta from Goodman games and am reading through it. Its interesting thus far but I'll have more to say later, likely on the Goodman Games forum as much as here.

The Widom of Necrostatle

I usually avoid posting too much from Big Purple but this thread is just hilarious.

Real Philosophical Quotes as if done by a necromancer.

I suspect that the writings of Necrostatle or maybe even the sage himself shall shamble into my game at some point. Its just too much fun to pass up.

Apologies Post

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been in that unenviable situation between blah and preoccupied.

I shall try to make up for it.