First Born, Unicorn

My players have demanded some unusual characters. Based on their options, I believe that AD&D is the way to go. Page 21 of the DMG offers some advice for these unusual characters. 

I started with the Unicorn Stats from Monster Manual. AC: 2, HD: 4+4, Damage: 1d6/1d6/1d12, +2 to hit dice on a charge, charge damage is 2d12. They are immune to poison, surprise on 1-5, detect opponents out to 24", they save vs. magic as an 11th level Magic User. 

The DMG suggest limits. Cool. Limit one: The best unicorns are equal to 11th level magic users. Limit 2: The best unicorns have 4+4 hit dice at max level which equates to 36 hp.

I like those numbers. If I take 36 and divide by 11, that gives me 3.27 which is close the to average of a 1d6. The one issue I have with this is, unicorns are big animals so 1d6 at first level is too small. I'll give them the basic 1d8 for monsters and fighters at level one, but then drop the die to 1d4 for subsequent levels. Without Constitution bonuses, this will max out at 48 hp. This is a third better than the monster version, but since D&D has always had "superior" versions of standard monsters, I can work with this. 

AC is tricky. I could do a scale like monks, but decided against it. Unicorns start with AC 2 and keep that number their whole life. To balance this, I will adjust the amount of damage and attacks by level and not allow them to wear barding. At low levels they can't attack with their horns because they have an aversion to touch. As they age, they learn how to use the horn as a weapon. Also, all attacks improve as they progress through levels. Initially, they start with 1 attack per round, but later on they can get in two kicks per round. Major attacks with the horn and the bucking kick are limited to once per round. 

Since they are magical and sneaky, they will have the ability to move silently like thieves, cast spells as a natural ability and lay hands like paladins. 

I was going to type out everything, but I think a schedule will do. 

Click here to access to the Google doc for printing.

So I've Been Told: Game on Wednesday Night

It looks like we'll be playing D&D Wednesday night. Sweet! 

It isn't my Peninsula of Plenty Campaign, it's something else. None of my peeps have played before. They TOLD me what characters they are playing in their campaign. As designated DM, all I have to do is make it work. 

The ruleset is my typical smash-up of D&D and AD&D, but I'll probably be leaning heavily on the AD&D rules. At least based on the character descriptions I have been given. "Alright players, go nuts. But you have to use my character sheet." They agreed. 

You can download my sheet from DriveThruRPG for free. Technically, it's pay what you want, but we're in the middle of a pandemic+, so spend your resources wisely. 

I think the players believe they are throwing me for a loop. They are not. The opening hook wrote itself as the described their characters to me. Ready for storytime? 

Dream-like.

Ever have one of those dreams where something is chasing you? It's dark and you don't know where you are. There is something's close behind, you're out of breath and dead tired. You can't see it directly, only hints and glimmers of whatever came out of the night. 

Maybe it's more than one thing. It feels more like a swarm of angry things. And the safety of where ever is far, far away through the night and the forested hills.

But you're not dreaming. The chase has been going on for days. The nights are the worst. The women and children from your village fled while the defenders tried to hold them back. You were fools. It didn't work and now you run, just like the elderly, the women, the children.

The only difference is, you're better supplied. 

A couple of days back, you gave away all of your food and water to some villagers. It terrified you, because they aren't your villagers. The chase is happening to everyone. Even people you don't know. From places you never heard of.

You don't know these runners, but you are getting to know them. Out of the darkness comes the now familiar silver-blue flash and the jingle of bells. The unicorn must have killed something with her horn. Again. Blue, violet and purple after-images blot out your vision. It's a good thing your eyes were closed, other wise you would have been blinded. You eaten so much radiation in the past couple days, what's a little more? 

As you stumble in the dark, the druid with the dagger and the infant steadiest you before pushing ahead. He mutters, "Mind the stream". The guy in the hoodie, armed with a metal pipe splashes into the water. Behind you the one that smells like spent gunpowder, rattles like hot brass as he or she moves in the shadows. 

And then you see it. Salvation. The hill fort. 

Thank You for Making The Hex Pack My Most Popular Product!

Wow! I can believe all the interest in this Hex Pack. 

I like hex paper, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. A full page of hexes boggles the eyes and really isn't a full page unless you mess with the hex size. You need to go smaller than a page to get a manageable workspace. I jumped into Worldographer and knocked something together:

Hexes... like so. 

As I was doing this, I hopped over to Steamtunnel's The Hydra's Grotto to read up on 6 mile hexes. It really is the best size for hexes. Don't trust me, click that link to see all the mathy wonders that can be done with a 6 mile hex.

As I was working, I eliminated all of the stuff that bothers me. Text on the page, hex numbers, etc. I ended up doing 9 different styles: red, grey and black lines then dotted, dashed, solid lines. Once I was done, I threw them in a template. Since I was working from the ground up, I made a set of templates for 8.5 by 11 and A4.

A little consumer copy later, and I had my next DrivethruRPG document. This thing is PWYW, with a suggested price of $0.99. It's available via the Creative Commons 4.0, share and share alike with attribution for private and commercial use.

I honestly didn't know what to do with the price. For home use, there are 9 zillion websites you can download templates from for free. The main difference on this product is, there is a booklet for 8.5x11 and A4 pages, plus a file with just the hex in JPG and PNG at 1400x1299 pixels. Ninety-nine cents is probably too much for home use, but far too little for commercial use.

I don't know... I'm just hanging it here for all of you. I'm going back to my game now.

Enjoy!

Ads of Six - Dunromin University Press

I like doing these posts of ads, which is unfortunate for my readers. Lol. 

Today's Ad of Six are from Dunromin University Press on DriveThruRPG. These modules, gazetters and guides are great. If I get a chance to play D&D after quarantine, I'm gonna run a few of these. 

As a general rule, I think I'll be placing these Ads of Six in the left column from now on and save a post. 

SM03 Cityguide to the City of Karan SM03 Cityguide to the City of Karan

SM00 A Traveller's Atlas of Drunromin and the Land of the Young SM00 A Traveller's Atlas of Dunromin and the Land of the Young

SM12 The Trials of a Young Wizard SM12 The Trials of a Young Wizard

SM06 The Warren SM06 The Warren

SM04 Gazeteer of the Land of the Young SM04 Gazeteer of the Land of the Young

SM01 A Players' Guide to Dunromin SM01 A Players' Guide to Dunromin

Products by These Old Games - The Ad Post

I've finally hit six products DriveThruRPG. Yesterday, I launched The Hex Pack and already have dozens of downloads. I think that's the strongest launch ever. I'm on the front page too, under Newest Free and PWYW heading. It's silly, but feels good.

 

You can find all of my products on DriveThruRPG under PWYW. Check them out.

Swashbuckler Character Class for D&D and AD&D Swashbucklers for D&D and AD&D

Zero to Hero: Uncommon Heroes Zero to Hero

Character Sheet for AD&D Character Sheet for AD&D

Kobold’s Folly Mini Setting Kobold’s Folly

Compass Rose Inn Mini Setting Compass Rose Inn

The Hex Pack The Hex Pack

And another thing... 6 Mile Hex pack.

Edit 5-29-2020 - Wow! The response to this tiny pack of Hex Paper has been outstanding! Thank you so much. 

I am hooked on Gemstone IV, a MUD. Yeah, I know it's 2020 but damn am I addicted. Anyway, being a MUD, you have to make your own maps. Other people have happily charted all the lands but I find that most fonts and images are far too small for me to read without my glasses. Ah, the joys of being a gamer for X decades.

I make my own maps which are much larger than normal so I can read them without my glasses. Here is an example, all maps print on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper:

Standard Marshkeep Map	My Map, Part 1	My Map, Part 2

As I do these things, sometimes I notice that the person that created the area was working on grid paper. The other day, I noticed someone must have used hex paper, because the small size and the arrangement of rooms. Hex paper can produce tighter maps as opposed to grids.

I like hex paper, but it's kind of a pain in the butt. A full page of hexes boggles the eyes and really isn't a full page unless you mess with the hex size. You need to go smaller than a page to get a manageable workspace. I jumped into Worldographer and knocked something together:

Hexes... like so. 

As I was doing this, I hopped over to Steamtunnel's The Hydra's Grotto to read up on 6 mile hexes. It really is the best size for hexes. Don't trust me, click that link to see all the mathy wonders that can be done with a 6 mile hex.

As I was working, I eliminated all of the stuff that bothers me. Text on the page, hex numbers, etc. I ended up doing 9 different styles: red, grey and black lines then dotted, dashed, solid lines. Once I was done, I threw them in a template. Since I was working from the ground up, I made a set of templates for 8.5 by 11 and A4.

A little consumer copy later, and I had my next DrivethruRPG document. This thing is PWYW, with a suggested price of $0.99. It's available via the Creative Commons 4.0, share and share alike with attribution for private and commercial use.

I honestly didn't know what to do with the price. For home use, there are 9 zillion websites you can download templates from for free. The main difference on this product is, there is a booklet for 8.5x11 and A4 pages, plus a file with just the hex in JPG and PNG at 1400x1299 pixels. Ninety-nine cents is probably too much for home use, but far too little for commercial use.

I don't know... I'm just hanging it here for all of you. I'm going back to my game now.

Enjoy!

Here is a link to go play GSIV. It's free to play or you can purchase a subscription.

Rare Find! Giac My

Title: Giac My: The Game of Tactical Combat in Vietnam
Author: F. MacCrae, B. Lutz, and M. Ratner
Illustrator: F. MacCrae, and R Foerster
Rule Set: Unique
Year: 1978
Pages: 48
Number of Players: 2+
Rating: Not Yet Read.

Today, someone asked me to look at my comicbooks for an old ad. I couldn't find it, but I did find this: Giac My.

Excuse my thumb. This little treasure is from way back in 1978 and is clearly a mix of handwritten, hand drawn images and a typewriter. I have no idea how I came by it. It was stuck in the center pages of X-Factor Annual 1.

I can't wait to read this one. Required equipment are a way of generating numbers between 1 and 20, several 6 side dice, a tape measure, figures or paper counters. That's old school.

On the back page, there is an ad for other games by FanTac for Space Marines, Orbit War, Space Assault and Space Force.

Never do I ever... Roll for Random Encounters at Night

There you have it. Page 47 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, Encounters. My copy is stained with the blood of a thousand characters. But hardly any of the blood came from a nighttime encounter. And certainly not a random nighttime encounter.

Back in the day... and when I say "day", I mean from time immemorial to present day... people hunker down at night. Night is not fun unless you are up to something that can only happen at night. Typically, to have a good time at night, you need a plan, not "random". A dinner party, a star watching party, New Year's Eve and so on. Many people would be hard pressed to name a "random nighttime event" that went well for them. 

The same goes for RPG's. Don't waste time on a nighttime encounter roll. It makes the players nervous and edgy, which is sometimes fun. But not once a day, every day. Night time IS fearful, but the playing field is level when everyone fears. Not much moves at night. (Vampires are a story for another time).  

Many epic things happen in the light of the moon. You can't trust your dice to tell you what that is. You make it so. And make it good. 

One of my favorite stories about night adventures isn't even mine. It's the story of the Seventh Galbiana. This was a legion that declared for Otho against Vitellius for the Purple. Otho was coming north to head off Vitellius who was racing south for Rome. Both armies turned to meet, Vitellius' forces facing west and Otho's to the east. They met at dusk at Bedriacum and the Second Battle of Bedriacum was on. It was one of the rare cases where the Romans fought through the night. The Seventh's eagle fell to the enemy in the dead of night, but was saved by one centurion who sacrificed himself for honor. The fighting was chaotic, ferocious and exhausting. 

As the Sun rose, there was a collision of happenstance. The Seventh was on the left hand of the field, facing to the west. They were under command of Antonius, who served in the Legio III Gallica in Syria. When dawn broke, the men of the Seventh Galbiana followed Antonius' lead turned their backs to the enemy and gave a mighty cheer to something in the east. The Vitellian forces, the whole army, not just the ones facing the Seventh collapsed and retreated believing that Otho's reinforcements were taking the field. 

Nothing could be further from the true. All the Seventh was doing was emulating Antonius' Syria habit of saluting the Sun.  

Such thing are random, but not the sort of random that dice generate. If you want your players to enjoy their game, give them something to think about, not something the dice tell you.

If you like such stories, you can read more about this the book 69 A.D. by Gwyn Morgan.