Manic Fervor

So, in case anyone missed it, I am officially JAZZED about the D&D release. One of the reasons I actually set aside my hesitations about this iteration is Bounded Accuracy. I mentioned it as part of another post, but here is a link to a WotC article talking about in-depth. It is a very cool concept, and this is worth looking at.

Bounded Accuracy

A Follow-up to the "Whore" Post

Ok, I've looked at some higher-res images of the covers at EN World I like the style of it. Not quite as "sharp". They have a little bit of fuzziness to them, which, to me, seems more artistic. One thing I love about them, though: NO Tieflings anywhere to be seen! Hell yeah! If I never see another one of those guys it'll be too soon.

I'm a Whore . . . What of It?

I'm not fooling anyone. I have every edition of D&D made, at least as far as core rules go. I've acquiesced back and forth on Next for a long time. I've printed at least two of the playtest packs. Now, late as usual, I find out that the Starter Set is due in less than 2 months. Here is an ad from WotC's website, D&D Starter Set.

I will be getting this. Period. C'mon, 64-page DM book, 32-page Player book, PC levels 1-5. What's not to love?

Delving Deeper v3 Random Wilderness

Well, thanks to the tireless efforts of the esteemable Mr. Simon Bull, I now have all three volumes of v3 of the Delving Deeper Reference Rules. I'll talk more at length about the new version in another post (maybe). For now, I wanted to talk about a very specific portion of the rules and share a little something.

On pages 20 and 21 of Volume II: Delving and Exploration, there are two tables for randomly determining a wilderness environment. I am always intrigued by such things. I am very enamored of the idea of randomly generating certain "facts" and imagining the ties that bind them together. So, I generated a small region, and without further ado . . .

I like it. In case you're interested, here's how I did it:

I started with a blank hex map and randomly generated the far-left column. From there I just went column by column, top to bottom. If a roll made zero sense, I ignored it, but otherwise I followed the table pretty close. Of course, most hexes were adjacent to more than one other hex, so I used that to inform my decision if I chose to ignore the roll.

Once I had all the terrain generated I then went hex by hex rolling on the terrain features table. For rivers and trails, i marked each hex as they occurred and "stitched" them together whenever it was all done. This did involve connecting rivers and trails through hexes in which they were not indicated, but that's how shit gets done.

Once I had everything generated, I drew the map in GIMP. There is a script and brush set called hexGIMP that is available for free download. It includes more terrain than just that generated by the tables, so I used a little DM license in those cases.

I plan to further flesh this out using the D30 Sandbox Companion, but I've made such plans before that have come to naught. So, we shall see.

Edit: The red skull/crossbones I used when the table indicated "lair", however, when fleshing out, I intend to view these more as "something interesting".

Spell Lists

This is something of an open question and solicitation of opinions.

A very common thing in older editions of D&D is specific spell lists for certain classes. Rangers and Paladins are prime examples. One thing I never really put too much thought into is the limitations of such a list. Does it mean that a spell casting class can only ever use spells on its class list? Maybe the spells on the list are the only ones that can be selected from freely, like when a level is gained. If that is the case, what about researching new spells? Could these be any spell the player wants?

I kind of think they should be limited to only what's on their lists, since a limited list seems to be a balance thing. But, it doesn't make much sense, really, from the character's perspective. If there was some sort of college of magic situation, then it makes more sense. Or maybe a source-of-power sort of thing.

This is pertinent because I am working on a spell using class for Delving Deeper. I want a limited spell list to be one of the balancing factors. So, from a DM perspective I wouldn't want a player of the class to go trying to research Fireball, which isn't on the list for the class. On the other hand, I can understand a player finding a scroll with Fireball on it and saying "I want to copy it into my spellbook", and being pissed if I said no, with no game-world reason for it.

I know this is post is a bit more disjointed than usual. I hope I made enough sense to get my question across so I can get some advice.

Delving Deeper Reference Sheets

At long last I have completed my Delving Deeper Reference Sheets. These are done in the style of the little reference sheet booklet that came with the white box. They are meant to be printed double sided and folded. I wouldn't recommend stapling, though, because I find they work better when you can pull them apart as needed. As a matter of fact, I would suggest that when (if) you print them out, don't just send them to the printer all at once. I tried to group things in such a way that they made sense even once folded, but my attention span doesn't support that sort of thing for long periods. So, look them over and decide for yourself what should be on the back of what. Here is a sample of one of the sheets:

Hopefully these will be of use. Oh, by the way, all the tables concerning classes and characters came from v3 of the Reference Rules. The rest are from v2.

A Dangerous Thing

I've been thinking a lot since my last post (hence the title of this one). I won't bore you with the trip through my psyche. What I have arrived at, though, is a real desire to seriously look at other systems. I used to be fairly well-versed on a number of systems, even if I never played them. Since I've been a retro-cloner I've had less tolerance for new systems (new to me, that is). My current M.O. is to snarl my nose at anything that I can't have up and running in 3.9 minutes or less.

Gaming is my hobby, though. To my mind, my current attitude would be akin to a golfer who refuses to play on any course he is unfamiliar with and is more than a 3.9 minute drive from his house. Foolishness. So, I end up getting new things, but I only skim them.

Once upon a time (about a year ago), I posted about Runequest and the fact that I have always wanted to learn it and like it. To that end I purchased the pdf of Legend from Mongoose. I had it printed, and I have picked it up and put it down numerous times. Now, I've picked it up again, with a (hopefully) new and improved attitude.

I like a lot of what I know of the broadstrokes of the game. I have also always been in awe of Glorantha. So, wish me luck, I'll probably need all I can get.

By the by, I came up with my own cover. The minimal black cover is appealing, but I totally dig the older color Runequest cover. That cover, along with the original PHB cover, is one of the very best rpg covers. So, I fired up the GIMP and whipped up this mash-up cover.