The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Four

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Four

This challenge, popularized by the amazing Ray Otis, is drawn from an article written for Europa, a wargaming newsletter, in April of 1975 by Gary Gygax. You can download Ray’s challenge which includes the text of the original article here: https://plundergrounds.itch.io/gygax75

Ray has put this up as pay what you want, I hope you can donate at least a dollar to him but even if you are not able to please download the PDF as I am not going to reproduce his work here. My weekly entries will make more sense if you read the pamphlet. 

Week Four: The Town

This week we are to detail the town outside the dungeon. 

Our tasks this week:

1. Find or sketch out a city map.

2. Look at the equipment lists for your game.

3. Locate/describe at least five of the following in a short sentence. (Ray lists a number of things one would find in a town)

4. Create at least 5 NPCs each with a “DNA.” Ray explains DNA is a distinguishing trait, a need, and an agenda.

Extra Credit this week:

1. Create 4-5 hirelings or specialists

2. Generate 7-9 rumors that are going around the town

3. Describe stuff!

I am only going to detail one of the towns that the dungeon might appear at. 

For task one I’m going to use https://www.fantasytowngenerator.com/ to generate my coastal city map.

The other tasks and extra credit are encapsulated in the following descriptions.

Prominent locations in the town.

1. The Wooden Raven. A rowdy tavern that respectable people avoid. This is a full service establishment that not only serves food and drink but also has rooms available on the second story, think the bar in American Ninja 2. The owner is a tough looking, tattooed lady named Marion who boosts she can out drink any man. Her father had been an adventurer and she grew up around adventurers and other interesting people. She has her finger on the pulse of the seedier side of things and it is said for the right price you can find anything at the Mermaid. 

2. The Bell. This is a popular tavern that is a little more friendly than the Mermaid. The Bell stays busy and has reasonably priced food. While it also has rooms available they are not only on the pricier side but often reserved. Arlo Arevenese, the owner, is willing to “break” a reservation for someone desperate to book a room but he will explain that he has to charge double because they will have to reimburse the party that had it reserved. Arlo is a large, if plain looking man whose wife is a beautiful, if slightly older, woman. She is rumored to spend money as fast as The Bell brings it in. She sponsors the Seaside Theater Company and likes to host balls for important visitors to the town. Rumor has it that the theater company’s performances are cursed and a small number of audiences members have disappeared each year for the past decade. This is denied by the theater company and the town guard. 

3. Horse & Bull Armory. This is a well stocked warehouse that sells every type of non-magical weapon and armor imaginable. If it isn’t in stock the proprietor, Samuel Hawken, and his team will make it for the customer. Higher quality weapons and unusually sized armor is available on a custom order basis. Hawken has an interest in Rico’s Roughnecks, a mercenary company he helped found, that is for hire. Clients interested in hiring the Roughnecks should start by contacting Hawken. The Roughnecks are selective in the jobs they take and require detailed contracts which they will follow to the letter. 

4. Temple of Set. This is the temple of the snake god, a cult that has grown in recent years as the leadership has appealed to the disenchanted youth. They have temples in every major city and even in some smaller towns. Basically the same as seen in 1982’s Conan the Barbarian (What do you mean you haven’t seen it?! Choke yourself! Not with your hand, with my hand!) The temple is said to house great riches. They do have an public office staffed with priests to answer inquiries and to perform healing and cure curses, for a price. 

5. Dr. Marvel’s Tinctures, Herbs, and Leeches. Dr. Marvel’s is a large three story building with an attached stable that has a number of medically related businesses operating out of it. Dr. Marvel manages the storefront on the ground floor and rents the upper floors to the other occupants. The ground floor is a market for all types of medical supplies, mostly non-magical in nature. The second floor is occupied by Theodoric the Barber, and his understudy York, who will perform surgeries, amputate limbs, fit artificial limbs, and do light dentistry. For a substantially increased fee they will perform house calls. The stable is run by Edward Wilbur who is known to be very good with  sick and injured animals. The windows on the third floor are usually shuttered and it is not open to the public. On stormy nights activity can occasionally be seen on the roof amidst the lightning flashes and rumor has it that even on calm nights you can often see lights of unusual color flash behind the shutters. 

Hirelings / Specialists in the town.

1. Rico’s Roughnecks are on the pricer side for mercenaries, hired men at arms, and caravan guards but have a great reputation. If a patron meets their approval but either can’t afford them or requires more menial hirelings (torchbearers, treasure haulers, or perhaps teamsters to manage animals and wagons) the Roughnecks have connections that can provide those services.   

2. The Temple of Set will hire out the equivalent of AD&D 1E 4th level clerics and fighters to go with adventuring parties for a price. Notably they are happy to hire to parties that are lower level than would normally be able to hire NPCs of that level. That price is not only double the rate listed for someone of that class and level but also the requirement for the body to be brought back if the hired priest or warrior is killed. Parties that have tried to cheat the Temple have disappeared in the past. If hired the priest or warrior will bravely fulfill all the required duties, they have accepted death, and will not withhold magic or cheat the party in any way. When they get back they will tell their superiors at the Temple everything they observed while they were with the party and if a body is brought back the Temple will use that to talk to the deceased’s spirit to get the same information. 

3. The local branch of the thieves guild can be contacted through the Wooden Raven and will hire out ‘specialists’ for double the standard rate. They also can provide loans. Loans can be secured with for a ‘lean’ against just about anything of value the inquirer has to include property or family members. The thieves guild is not above selling family members into slavery if they are not reimbursed and the interest rates on any loans are quite astronomic.  

4. The Society of Galen, a guild of wizards, maintains a tower in the city but it is only open to member’s of the guild. Guild members can use the research library, purchase spell components, scrolls and the occasional magic item here. There is also the small chance an apprentice will be available to accompany a party but they will be 1st level and the expectation is that they will be brought back alive. There are repercussions for guild members that take apprentices along just to get them killed. 

Rumors.

1. Dr. Marvel’s will buy monster, and non-monster, bodies and body parts if approached discreetly.  

2. Some of the members of the Seaside Theatrical Company have been seen going to the Temple of Set

3. There is a tribe of man eating, shaggy haired, white apes that live in the northern forest. 

4. If you want a love spell, blessing, or curse cast on someone it is said the Temple of Set can provide those services discreetly although often the price is more than just coin. 

5. The man that runs that stable at Dr. Marvel’s is said to be a druid and have a special affinity for animals. While he will care for abused animals it is said the animals tell him everything and often those abusive owners fall on bad times once they cross his path. 

6. Between theatrical productions it is said that underground fights are held at the Seaside Theater, the purses are supplemented by the bets placed on the floor and they are split down the middle between the theater company and the winner. It is not usual for participants to be crippled or killed in these events. 

7. Prince Barin, the lord of the castle in the mountains, has calculated the pattern in which the floating dungeon moves and is determined that his champions will be the first to succeed in the wizard’s challenge. 

8. There is a secret tunnel between the caves on the coast and the caves on the haunted isle but the tunnel is treacherous and protected by the dead. 

That is all for this week, next week we’ll take a look at the larger world. Until that time please be excellent to each other!

Taking a Sick Day

Taking a Sick Day

Sorry everyone, I’m currently fighting the flu and while I have Week 4 of the Gygax Challenge half done instead of putting it up unfinished I will post it next week.

Remember to wash your hands and be excellent to each other!

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Three

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Three

This challenge, popularized by the amazing Ray Otis, is drawn from an article written for Europa, a wargaming newsletter, in April of 1975 by Gary Gygax. You can download Ray’s challenge which includes the text of the original article here: https://plundergrounds.itch.io/gygax75

Ray has put this up as pay what you want, I hope you can donate at least a dollar to him but even if you are not able to please download the PDF as I am not going to reproduce his work here. My weekly entries will make more sense if you read the pamphlet. 

Week Three: The Dungeon

This week is simple, “Draw and stock three levels of your dungeon.” Nothing to it! 

Ray tells us the tasks we should accomplish are:

1. Describe the entrance to the dungeon in 7-10 words. 

2. Create a point-to-point map. 

3. You will draw three levels. For each level, include at least d6+6 rooms/areas and connect them.

4. Include several (say d3+1) ways up and/or down per level.

5. Come up with 1 theme per level.

6. Make a list of about a dozen iconic monsters and place them in rooms/areas.

7. Spread d6 major features  throughout the dungeon.

8. For each room/area, note any treasure.

9. Name three wondrous items and locate them in the dungeon.

10. Spend any remaining theme budget adding detail. 

Extra Credit:

Map out all three levels on graph paper.

The Floating Dungeon

I have stacked the deck a bit in my favor here by using Gristlegrim as my template. You see Gristlegrim consists of six levels, nine 100’ cube shaped rooms to a level. Each level has over 100 rooms that can appear. This way the dungeon is different every time. 

My version won’t be quite as extensive, I’m thinking more of a ziggurat. Say nine rooms on the first floor, four on the second floor and only one on the third floor. Thanks to the special nature of the floating dungeon I have decided to use I’ll modify or even skip some of the tasks that would normally be completed this week. 

The Dungeon Map

The dungeon teleports every 24 hours at sunrise to a different seemingly random city, settlement, or town. The dungeon floats 100 yards (91.44 meters) above the ground. Of course the first challenge is getting to the dungeon!  

There is no need for a point-to-point map. Likewise with themes per level as each room will have a unique theme. No wandering monsters so no need for a list of them or the major features as they will be detailed in each room description. My plan, if this comes to the table, is to have at least three or four times as many rooms as are on each of the lower floors. That would be 27 to 36 rooms for the first floor and 12 to 16 rooms for the second floor. The third floor room will always be the same. 

What I’ll do here is just give the concept for some rooms on each of the lower two floors and for the third floor room.

Ground Level

When the dungeon appears a kiosk also appears on the ground beneath it. This kiosk is staffed by employees of the wizard who will provide transportation to the dungeon if the adventurers can pass certain tests. The adventurers will be able to chose the type of test they take, strength or wits. If the adventurers fail they cannot test again that day. If they pass they will be teleported to the dungeon entrance. Of course if the adventurers have their own way of reaching the dungeon that is also acceptable. 

Dungeon Entrance

This is a small stoop on one side of the dungeon with steps that lead to a pair of 15 foot high double doors. There are no other openings to the ziggurat. The doors are not locked but are heavy and will require a high amount of strength to open. For example if we were playing D&D only a character with an 18 strength or a combination of characters with a total of 18 would be able to move them. When the doors open the party will be met with what appears to be a waterfall, or at least a wall of running water although they cannot tell where the water goes after it reaches the floor. If they walk through the waterfall they will appear in a random level one dungeon room.

Dungeon Level One and Two

I didn’t get the rooms finished but I also didn’t want to be late again so I’ll put them in a separate blog post once I finish them. 

Dungeon Level Three

This is a 100’ square room completely made of what appears to be moon white granite, floor, walls and ceiling. The door the adventurers exit is in the center of one of the walls and will disappear once they come through. Directly across from where they appear near the opposite wall is a six panel Byōbu, a Japanese folding screen. It is covered with scenes of one on one hand to hand combat. If examined closely they will see it is depicting pairs of identical figures fighting. Along the other two walls are racks of weapons, every type of weapon the adventurers have seen, and many they haven’t, are on these racks. There are a number of three foot square granite blocks spread across the floor of the room. 30 seconds after the adventurers enter the room a group of figures come out from behind the Byōbu. These appear to be identical to the adventurers. Half of them exit from each side of the screen. They are mechanically identical to the adventures in every way and equipped exactly as the adventurers were when they entered the room. These doppelgängers will attack and fight to the death, given the chance they will not leave any of the adventurers alive. If the adventurers win as soon as the last doppelgänger is dispatched the surviving adventurers will be teleported on top of the roof of the ziggurat where they will meet the wizard that created the dungeon. The wizard will explain that they are now the champions for their world in the contest.

That is all for this week, next week it will be time to detail a town outside the dungeon. Until that time please be excellent to each other!

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Two

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week Two

This challenge, popularized by the amazing Ray Otis, is drawn from an article written for Europa, a wargaming newsletter, in April of 1975 by Gary Gygax. You can download Ray’s challenge which includes the text of the original article here: https://plundergrounds.itch.io/gygax75

Ray has put this up as pay what you want, I hope you can donate at least a dollar to him but even if you are not able to please download the PDF as I am not going to reproduce his work here. My weekly entries will make more sense if you read the pamphlet. 

Now, only a week late, it is time to do the second week of the challenge.

Week Two: Surrounding Area

The tasks Ray sets forth this week are:

“Get a sheet of hex paper. Draw the following items on it. Name anything worthy of a name. If you don’t feel comfortable drawing, lots of hex-mapping programs are available!

One large settlement (define large however you like)

Two other settlements (camps, larger or smaller towns, a keep, the home base of a fantasy race, etc.)

One major terrain feature (covering at least three hexes)

One mysterious site for exploration 

One dungeon entrance – at least!

Key your map. The easiest way to do this is probably to number the hex rows and letter the columns. This will give you coordinates to reference. Note down the names of places and terrain types using these coordinates or write them directly on the map. “

Gygax discusses hexes of one mile each and Ray tells us that we should keep the hexes no greater than six miles per hex. 

Extra Credit:

Make your map feel used, spill something on it, burn the ends, wrinkle it up.  

Create a random encounters table. Ray recommends a 2d6 table. 

Hex Map

Can I be honest? I do not consider myself a creative person. I love maps but not making them. I tend to just use existing maps in my games, often modified. So I really struggled with the assignment this week. Do I put up a juvenile looking map instead of my usual practice? This was quite the dilemma for me. In the end I spent a lot longer looking for maps to repurpose than it took me to draw the one below. Anyhow if you look at the map and feel a small child could have done better you are probably correct.

So we have a kingdom that butts against the sea, forest to the north and mountains to the east. There is a river that runs from the sea through the capital city and southward through the center of the map. There is also a haunted island off the coast. 

The floating dungeon moves between the ten settlements on the map (towns, cities, and castles to include the ruined city and castle on the island) once every 24 hours at sunrise.

Here are the major features of the map:

B 03 Seaside town

D 09 Forest edge town

E 30 entrance to northern mountain pass

G 20 Small City with wood mill

I 03 Capital City

K 33 Mountain lake 

S 29 Castle in the Mountains

U 03 Coastal City

Z 19 Small City on river

AD 31 entrance to southern mountain pass

AE 04 Ruins of Coastal City

AH 06 Ruined Castle

AI 07 Caves

AI 25 Castle on river

AJ 14 Caves

Random Encounter Table

2. 2-8 Werewolves on the hunt but what form are they in?

3. 1-13 Fairies looking to be entertained.

4. 1-11 Pilgrims led by a priest. Friendly? Looking for a sacrifice?

5. 3-14 Goblin Raiders on Wargs!

6. 2-9 Travelers. A family? A dignitary? Another adventuring party? 

7. 7-12 Armed Warriors. Bandits? King’s men looking to impress men into service? 

8. 2-5 Traders. May have information, may have goods, may be looking to trick & rob others.

9. 1-4 Trolls, grumpy and hungry.

10. An old man and his servant. Is he a wizard? A master of the martial arts? Easily offended? 

11. 1-6 Anhkhegs looking for dinner.

12. 3-9 Gnolls with prisoners from a raid.

Once the characters enter the dungeon for the first time some of the other team, see last week’s blog, will start to attack them and the random encounters table will get rewritten to include them. As the players continue to explore the dungeon the encounter table will continue to be updated so their new admirers show up with increasing frequency.

That is all for this week, next week it will be time to draw and stock the dungeon. Until that time please be excellent to each other!

The check is in the mail, the dog ate my homework, my Wi-Fi is out …

The check is in the mail, the dog ate my homework, my Wi-Fi is out …

I don’t know Christos P , the person that uploaded this clip, but I appreciate it as it as I make excuses to you, the reader.

Can I be honest? I do not consider myself a creative person. I love maps but not making them. I tend to just use existing maps in my games, often modified. So I really struggled with the assignment this week. Do I put up a juvenile looking map instead of my usual practice? This was quite the dilemma for me. In the end I spent a lot of time looking for maps to repurpose before I got around to just drawing one. Because of this the map isn’t ready yet. I hope to get it finished tomorrow and will publish the week two entry for the Gygax 75 Challenge once I have it done.
Gygax 75 Week One

Gygax 75 Week One

So if you listen to my podcast you probably already know that earlier this week I announced that I am probably going to start wrapping it up and close the doors. I will still publish the recorded interviews and discussions I have plus a few more episodes so the last episode will probably be at the end of April or possibly May. This blog on the other hand is going no where. 

I have waffled a little on doing Gygax75 here because I did not want to post ideas where players might see them. I have rethought that and will just put in alternate answers for things I want to be secret in the campaign. So if you end up playing in a future game based on this be warned that not everything you read will be true in the actual game. 

So with that out of the way …

The Gygax 75 Challenge Week One

This challenge, popularized by the amazing Ray Otis, is drawn from an article written for Europa, a wargaming newsletter, in April of 1975 by Gary Gygax. You can download Ray’s challenge which includes the text of the original article here: https://plundergrounds.itch.io/gygax75

Ray has put this up as pay what you want, I hope you can donate at least a dollar to him but even if you are not able to please download the PDF as I am not going to reproduce his work here. My weekly entries will make more sense if you read the pamphlet. 

Week One: The Concept

The tasks Ray sets forth this week are:

Get/create a notebook. I’ll be using the blog as my notebook.

Develop your pitch. List three to seven well-crafted bullet points that will both communicate and “sell” the world to your players.

Gather your sources of inspiration. List no more than seven sources and provide a sentence or two explaining what each source brings to the setting.

Extra Credit:

Assemble a mood board. 

Practice your pitch!

My Concept

There is a floating dungeon that moves from location to location. It was designed as a test to find the bravest and most competent adventurers. Who created it? Once they find the adventurers what do they want them to do? Are the player characters up to the challenge of finding out? 

The Pitch

1) Prophets and doomsayers are reporting the end is near

2)  A floating dungeon that teleports to a different location every 24 hours has appeared  

3)  Traditional fantasy world but more science fantasy type tech might be introduced later on

4) Players will have a chance to save the world and engage in multi-planar shenanigans 

Sources of Inspiration

1) Ken St. Andre’s Gristlegrim Dungeon. Ever since I first heard about this I have been enamored with the idea. If are not familiar with it this thread on the RPG Pub forum goes into some detail: https://www.rpgpub.com/threads/gristlegrim-t-ts-equivalent-of-castle-greyhawk.5722/#post-236099

In brief the idea is that there is a floating dungeon with randomized rooms for adventurers to test their mettle in. 

2) The Beast’s teleporting fortress from Krull. I love the idea of a location that randomly moves around. Can the heroes can crack the code of where it will go next?

3) Mortal Combat, at least the movies, where the contestants are being groomed for a competition and the other team is interfering by attacking the heroes before the actual tournament. At first the heroes will not know they are being groomed to represent their world in a competition so adding enemies that just show up out of nowhere will introduce another mystery to the mix. Especially if those enemies are unlike any they have encountered or heard about before.

4) ICRPG 2E particularly the art and the hint of the way the worlds tie together

What do you think? I am going to allow comments, hopefully they will not be overwhelmed by the bots! I will also open up the comments on previous posts.

That is all for this week, next week I will be back to map out the surrounding area. Until that time please be excellent to each other!

Movie Break!

Movie Break!

Sorry this post is a bit late, I got caught up doing other things and lost track of time! I thought I would have more time during my week off but it just didn’t happen. I’ll definitely get a gaming related post up next week but this week I wanted to reflect a bit on some TV. Very minor spoilers follow for Roadhouse (2024), Damsel (2024), FUBAR (2023), and Running Scared (1986).

My wife and I watched the new Roadhouse and while I appreciate that they didn’t just do a straight remake, honestly they could have called it something else if they weren’t interested in cashing in on the original film’s popularity, it wasn’t perfect. I am a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan so can overlook a lot but there were two big problems for me. First is the way they swung the camera round during the fights. I’m just not a fan, I want to see the action not fancy camera work. Second, and honestly the big issue for me, is Conor McGregor. I’m was already not a fan and nothing in this movie made me change my mind, he felt like he belonged in a different film. For what it is worth my wife enjoyed the over the top silliness of McGregor’s character but I try not to hold that against her. I think the story was serviceable and with some adjustment to the villains and cut back to 90 minutes this could have been a pretty great film. 

Next up is Damsel with Millie Bobby Brown. Having recently rewatched Dragonslayer it was interesting to see a modern take on the trope of sacrificing virgins to the dragon to save the kingdom. I think Brown does a decent job but the CGI wasn’t great. I enjoyed it for the most part, I didn’t even mind the way it ended and understand why they made the choices they did, but overall I don’t think I’ll revisit it. It does have a novelization though so I might pick that up. In the end Vermithrax Pejorative is still my favorite movie dragon 

FUBAR is an eight episode series with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a spy and it does a great job of feeding that True Lies nostalgia although Jamie Curtis is missed. Milan Carter does a great job in the Tom Arnold role and I really enjoy Monica Barbaro as Arnold’s daughter. My wife and I have only seen the first two episodes so far but I give it a recommend with the only negative being that Arnold’s age is really showing, he is not nearly as believable as an elderly action star as some of his peers.

The last movie I’ll mention is 1986’s Running Scared, a buddy cop film with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. I rewatched it and it still holds up as a fun film. The plot and action scenes are just icing on the cake but we are really here to enjoy the bromance between these two. It is really shame that Hines and Crystal didn’t make more films together. I also enjoyed seeing performances from Joe Pantoliano and Jimmy Smits. If you haven’t seen it and can just shut your mind off to enjoy banter between two friends check it out and if you have seen it give it a rewatch, I don’t think you will be disappointed as it ages pretty well if you don’t mind hanging out with a pair of likable cops while they stomp all over the criminal’s civil rights. 

That’s all for this week, next week back to gaming! Remember the words of the great ones, be excellent to each other!

USR Solo: The Supply Run

USR Solo: The Supply Run

Today I will be using Scott Malthouse’s Unbelievably Simple Roleplaying (USR) (and the automatic weapon rules from USR Cyberpunk) and the oracle I outlined in last week’s blog post to play out a day in the life of Charlton Heston’s character Robert Neville in the 1971 film The Omega Man. 

Robert Neville, Action Scientist

Action d8

Wit d10

Ego d6

Hits 12

Specialisms

Action – Military (+2)

Wit – Science (+2), Urban Survival (+2)

Equipment

Submachine Gun (Medium Weapon +2) In ranged combat Robert can roll a second time at the same or a different target. The second attack roll gets a -2 penalty. Has a flashlight mounted which negates any darkness penalties. 

Pistol (Light Weapon +1)

Knife (Light Weapon +1)

Leathers (Light Armor -1)

Tool bag (Repair/siphon +2)

Robert is out on a supply run. He is running low on Merlot and would like to find a new album or two to listen to. He loads some empty gas cans into his 1971 big block Chevelle and heads out of his compound after breakfast. Does he run into any problems on the way downtown? I’m going to say that it is unlikely. Blue 6, Red 3, White 1 so the answer is yes! Is the problem a trap set by The Family? I will say that is likely. Blue, 6, Red 5, White 1 another yes. Are Family members present? I will say this is unlikely due to it being during the day. Blue 2, Red 3, White 5 so no. Have they undermined a section of bridge? I will say this is likely. Blue 6, Red 6, White 5. The doubles mean I am asking the wrong question. Is the trap in a building instead of targeting the car? I will say even odds on this one. Blue 5, Red 2, White 5. So the answer is no the trap isn’t in a building and it is targeting the car but the doubles on the Blue and White dice mean an event or plot twist. I’m going to roll onthe Events table from Ray Otus’ Oracle. A 6, Reveal something about, or advance a thread. The Family is going to not only attack the car while Neville is in a building but he will also not find what he is looking for until later in the day potentially stranding him in the city at night. 

So Robert will find that he has already looted the good stuff from the stores on the outskirts of town and wastes too much time in the record store. He does manage to find a copy of Miles Davis’ Nefertiti and Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel. He still needs to find that bottle of wine so he heads deeper downtown and starts checking higher end restaurants. Does he find what he is looking for? I’m going to say it is unlikely. Blue 3, Red 4, White 2. So he does not and while he is in an expensive Italian restaurant that has been previously looted The Family strikes! Is the attempt to disable to Chevelle by taking out the tires? Do they succeed? Blue 4, Red 6, White 6. So we have doubles (remember the White die replaces the Blue since it is higher) so we are asking the wrong question. Does Robert hear them disabling the Chevelle? Blue 6, Red 3, White 3. He does.

The Family has built a ballista and uses it to hurl hunks of concrete or maybe a cast iron stove or heavy bathtub into the poor muscle car disabling it. Robert hears the crash as the metal crinkles on impact and rushes outside just in time to see the second missile hit home! Can he tell where the ballista is located? I’m going to say this is a Hard Wit Non Contested Attribute Test (NCAT) so he needs a 7+ using his d10 Wit. A 10! He not only can tell what building but what window they are firing from. Time to clear out the nest!

Robert runs to the front door, is it locked? I will say it is likely since the building is occupied. Blue 6, Red 2, White 3 so yes. He will pull a short crowbar out of his tool bag and use it to try and pop the door. So this will be Action d8+2 for the crowbar and I will say it is a Medium NCAT so he needs 4+ to succeed. 6+2 is 8 so he is able to get the front door open. Is anyone covering the front door or in the entry way? I’ll say that is unlikely. Blue 6, Red 5, White 4 so yes they are. As the door swings open a member of The Family is waiting with a crossbow and takes a shot at our hero! 

Family Member Action d6, Wit d4, Ego d4 Hits 2 Crossbow (Medium Weapon +2)

This will be a Contested Attribute Test (CAT) and I’m giving the Family Member a one time +2 because they are ambushing Robert. So Robert rolls Action, d8, against the Family Member’s Action d6+4 (+2 for the crossbow and +2 for the ambush) Robert rolls a 6 and the Family Member rolls a 5+4 for a 9! Robert takes the difference in damage 3 -1 for his leathers so a total of 2 dropping his Hits from 12 to 10. Now that the ambush has been resolved we will roll for Initiative. Initiative is Action + Wit.

Robert got a 10 and the Family Member gets a 5 so Robert goes first. He drops the crowbar and unslings his submachine gun. He’ll be able to fire next turn. The Family Member charges and attempts to use the crossbow as a club, we’ll treat it as a Light Weapon. Robert rolls a d8 and the Family Member rolls a d6 +1 for the improvised club. They both get a 6 but the +1 for the Light Weapon means the Family Member does connect, Robert would take 1 point of damage but his Leathers absorb that so we’ll just say it was only a glancing blow. Next round!

Robert wins Initiative again, a 9 to a 5, and fires a burst from his submachine gun at point blank range! This will be Action plus the Medium Weapon d8+2 against the Family Member’s Action of d6. Robert rolls a 1 against the Family Member’s 3 so with a tie we will say he doesn’t hit but he can fire again with a -2 because the submachine gun is automatic and this time we get 4-2 to the Family Member’s 1 so this time our albino assailant takes 1 point of damage. The Family Member is going to try to flee into the building, let’s see if they win Initiative and can get away.

(I like to give ties to the defender although in a solo game maybe they should always go to the hero, thoughts?)

The Family Member rolls 6 and 4 for 10 to match Robert’s 5 and 5! They will go simultaneously. Since the Family Member is running away this will be a NCAT for Robert but I will make it a Medium one as his target is moving. Robert fires another burst and 3+2 is a hit! No need to worry about damage as the Family Member only had 1 Hit left and Neville cuts them down before they reach the stairwell.  

Robert has a decision to make. He wants to go upstairs and kill the bastards that ruined his car but it is also getting late in the day and he needs to either find a way out of the city or find somewhere to hole up before dark. I think this requires a Medium Ego check, that is a 4+ using a d6. A 1! His anger gets the best of him and he turns on the flashlight mounted on the submachine gun as he moves to clear the rest of the building. 

I’m going to roll a d6 to see how many Family Members are left in the building, 2. We need to determine what kind of building this is, I’m going to say it is a

1 bank

2 department store

3 another restaurant

4 apartment building

5 or 6 office building.

I roll a 3 so it is another restaurant. The stairwell our unfortunate ambusher was running toward leads to a nightclub upstairs. Does Robert take time to check the ground floor or does he move straight to the stairwell knowing whomever destroyed his car is probably upstairs? I think it is likely he will go straight for the stairs. Blue 1, Red 3, White 3 so this is a tie meaning I’m asking the wrong question. Do the Family Members upstairs move toward the gunfire downstairs? I’ll say even odds. Blue 5 Red 5 and White 2 so again the wrong question! Is their a mechanical trap waiting for Robert? I’ll say that is likely, Blue 2 Red 2 White 6 so yes there is. Does Robert notice the trap before it goes off? I’ll give him Wit +2 for Urban Survival but say it is a Hard NCAT so he needs 7+. He rolls 2+2 for a 4 so he doesn’t notice the trap! A net falls on him and before he can get out the remaining Family Members come downstairs to subdue him. 

Robert shouldn’t have let his temper get the best of him! Probably best to end this here on a cliff hanger. Until next time be excellent to each other.   

The oracle I am using

The oracle I am using

Life has overwhelmed me at the moment so I don’t have a solo play post today. I have some scheduled time off coming up so I will have one next week. Instead today I will just bring you up to speed on the oracle I have been using to solo play.

I am using a combination of Matt Jackson’s Red, White, & Blue Oracle with a bit of the Recluse Oracle mixed in. Finally I have a dash of Ray Otus’ Oracle as well. This is a work in progress and I am refining it as I go.

I am using one red, one white, and one blue die. If blue is high the answer is yes, if red the answer is no. White is always rolled but only counted if one or the other is more likely, so if yes is more likely I’ll use the higher result of either the blue or the white die. This is all straight from Matt Jackson.  

Doubles on the two dice you are comparing means you are not asking the correct question, some presupposition behind the question is wrong. If both of the dice you are comparing are 3 or lower (on d6) add “but” to the answer and if both are 4 or higher (on d6) add “and” to the answer. This is borrowed from the Recluse Oracle.

Finally we need to determine if events or interrupts happen. Ray Otus’ Oracle has tables for these, I have been playing with making an event table which would advance a story or plot thread and an interrupt table for unexpected things but at the moment I’m just making both up off the top of my head when the rolls come up. What rolls you ask? If you get doubles using the discarded third die and either of the other two dice resolve the question as normal but it also causes an event to happen. This is when thread or plot line advances. Ray has this happen if all three dice are odd numbers and that also works, it just depends on how often you want events to trigger. The other way to adjust how often things happen is to increase the die size, if you go from using six sided dice to eight or ten sided dice you will get doubles or triples less often although I think the chances of getting all odd numbers remains the same.

Speaking of triples I am doing what I call an interrupt if all three dice come up with the same number. The difference between what I am calling an event and an interrupt is that the interrupt is a totally random thing such as the bank across the street being robbed. The interrupt isn’t directly related to any current story thread or plot line.

I like the idea of having a table or chart for events, such as the one Ray Otus has in his oracle, but I also like the ideal of not needing any charts to play. So far in my personal solo games I haven’t had too much trouble deciding how the plot advances but I think the randomness of a chart would remove a bit of control from my hands and that bit of randomness could definitely add to the game.

That is all I have this week. I highly recommend checking out the oracles I reference, all three are free or pay what you want. Until next week be excellent to each other!

Matt Jackson’s Red, White, & Blue Oracle https://youtu.be/qRGEoRFx9iw?si=TM4swnMKaWDZh9XX

Recluse Oracle https://gravenutterance.com/2019/03/24/recluse-solo-engine/

Ray Otus’ Oracle https://plundergrounds.itch.io/oracle

I have a confession to make

I have a confession to make

I really enjoyed doing the more impromptu game with Scott Malthouse’s Unbelievably Simply Roleplaying (USR) for 29 February this year! In fact I enjoyed it enough that I want to do some more here on the blog. I will still work on TSR’s AC3 with Dungeon Crawl Classics but I want to play through the scenario completely and then type it up, right now it is an obligation to get it done each week and I don’t want to be in that spot. I’d rather finish it, write the whole thing up, break it down to a number of smaller weekly posts and then publish them.

So even though this post was going to introduce the first level DCC party to play through AC3 I am going to postpone posting any more of that series until I am finished. I apologize to anyone that was anticipating that series and I will get to it, just not quite yet.

If you listen to the podcast you may be aware Influenza A hit our house hard, the whole family got sick and some still haven’t recovered. Due to that I am quite behind on blog posts so today I don’t have a recap of a game session to post. Kind of crazy that I have been home a number of days in a row but haven’t managed to get a game in but that is how the cookie crumbled.

By the way in the novelization of 1981’s Dragonslayer we are told a sorcerer created dragons and that same sorcerer created the magical stone we see in the movie. The king knew about the stone and also knew dragons like to eat virgins on the equinox. The king came up with the semi-annual sacrifices and the dragon approves of it in the novel although that approval is only communicated by stopping its attacks. The novel does show some of the dragon’s dreams and the story of it growing up as well, it isn’t amazing literature but if you enjoyed the movie and find a cheap copy you may enjoy it.

That is all for this week, I’ll have a session recap, most probably using USR, up next week. Remember to be excellent to each other.