Monday, February 10, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, entries 23-27: The Terrier Company, for Holmes Basic D&D

the cover of the first version of Basic Dungeons and Dragons, featuring a red dragon in a cave atop a pile of gold and other treasure, looming over a pair of adventurers (a wizard and a fighter) in the foreground
source: RPGGeek.com
Various events that we need not review here prevented me from finishing this challenge before the end of the month, but I'm close enough to the finish line that I intend to get to 31 this year anyhow, even if I need a couple exttra weeks to get there. (Also, this installment was already pretty close to finished before the end of January.)

Anyhow, the J. Eric Holmes edition of Basic Dungeons and Dragons (1977) was my introduction to this hobby*, and though I wasn't able to hang on to my original copy of it this long I was able to replace it several years ago for my RPG reference library. A few days ago I rolled up a party for Original Dungeons and Dragons (link here) and I thought it might be interesting to see what changes Holmes brought to character generation as Advanced D&D was being rolled out and TSR gambled on an introductory set. (And, OK, after three or four supplements to the original game had been published.) So I'll roll up another five characters using this rules set and talk about the differences that I notice from the older rules. (Same D&D Beyond dice with old-school skins, for consistency.)

The first thing I notice is that although characteristic-rolling remains essentially the same, it's no longer explicitly stated that the DM is supposed to be rolling your stats (indeed, this whole section is written in the passive voice, leaving it unclear who's supposed to be rolling). The order of stats is still ST/IN/WS/CO/DX/CH, even though the Thief has been added to the class list.** The tables of characteristic bonuses and penalties seem to be more or less the same, although the one for Charisma has been left out. (The description of the ability only notes that the maximum number of followers for a score of less than 13 is five, and that follower loyalty is in some unquantified manner directly related to Charisma score.)

The first set of scores is ST 6, IN 13, WI 7, CO 5, DX 12, CH 10. That set might make a thief or a magic-user, and would progress faster as a magic-user since 13 is the minimum prime requisite score for that 5% experience bonus. The 5 Constitution is going to mean a 1-point penalty to hit point rolls, and none of the other scores merit an adjustment here. Different classes now have different-sized hit dice, and mages get a d4. The roll is 3, less one makes 2 hit points. 3d6 x 10 to determine starting funds nets 110 gold pieces, and the Holmes Basic equipment list is virtually unchanged from the White Box one, so once again we can settle for a dagger or two at 3gp each and bank the rest (104 gp) for the party's adventuring supplies. our aspiring wizard will have the standard magic-user Armor Class of 9 (no armor).

Spell acquisition has become a little more complicated--a system introduced in the Greyhawk supplement has apparently become the standard. Rolling on a table determines the content of a mage's spell books, from which they can memorize their limited number of spells for the day (in this case 1 spell). With a 13 Intelligence, our first-level mage will know between 5 and 8 first-level spells, and has a 65% chance to put any given spell in their books. There are 14 spells on the first-level list, so I may want to choose carefully so as not to use up my good rolls. After several misses on high-ranking choices, I end up with the following spell book: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Tenser's Floating Disk, and Light.

Languages Spoken is a thing I didn't attend to last time (and should go back and check). Here, every character can learn one extra language for each point of intelligence above 10, so our mage here gets three bonus languages. As a human he starts with just his native language (common) and alignment language (chaotic good); there's no definitive list of languages, so we'll make some assumptions about who speaks what and add elvish, goblin, and draconic to the list. 

Alignment is another system that has evolved somewhat since the Little Brown Books came out. Holmes offers a two-axis graph: Law versus Chaos and Good versus Evil, with Neutral in the middle to comprise five alignment choices altogether. I've always been partial to Chaotic Good, so let's start there. That wraps up the mechanics, so let's name our rookie wizard Ambrose and set him aside for now.

The second set comes up ST 15, IN 15, WI 15, CO 14, DX 11, CH 4. That would make a good elf, fighter, or magic user, but it would also make a good cleric and (as you'll see below with the other score sets) we don't have a better candidate, so cleric it is. A 10% bonus to earned experience is the only adjustment (though that abysmal Charisma would take its toll if we could find a hiring-and-loyalty table). Clerics have a d6 hit die, and the level-one roll is 1, which is going to make it tough to use this character in a front-line capacity.  We're going to make him lawful good in alignment.

First-level clerics still don't get spells, so we can move on to equipment. The cash roll is 130, which will afford us plate armor (50gp), a helmet (10gp), and a shield (10gp), as well as a lovely flail (8gp) for smacking people. This kit will give our poor cleric an armor class of 2, which is as good as it gets witrout magic protection. (Gotta keep our cleric well protected if they're ever going to make second level and learn the cure light wounds spell.) Weapons still all do 1d6 damage, so that choice is all about budget and aesthetics. We need a holy symbol (still listed as a "cross" here, unfortunately, 25 for a silver model), 103 gp spent, 27 left for the party kitty. 

A 15 Intelligence gives our cleric five languages besides Common and his Lawful Good alignment language. Let's make these elvish, gnomish***, giant, goblin, and kobold. We name him Bodo and send him off to wait for the others

The third set also starts with two 15s: ST 15, IN 15, WI 10, CO 11, DX 7, CH 9. Despite the low Dexterity, that's a good set of scores for an elf. As in OD&D, Elves are both fighters and magic-users, but in this edition they can apparently be both at the same time, with the downside that their experience points get split evenly between the two classes and therefore they advance more slowly. That 7 Dexterity is going to impose a -1 penalty to missile fire (which means most and perhaps all ranged attack rolls), but they can focus on melee combat and do just fine. Elves also roll a d6 for hit points, and this time the result is 3. We'll make this character's alignment neutral

Rolling 100 gp for initial cash, we have just about enough to put our elf in suitable fighting gear. Buy a suit of chain mail for 30, short bow for 25, sword, helmet and shield for 10 each, then forty arrows for another 10; that comes to 95 gold pieces, leaving 5 for party expenses. The armor and shield will put this elf's armor class at a healthy 4.

Elves play by the same spell-book rules as human magic-users, which means a lot of "know spell" rolls coming up. A 15 Intelligence gives us a 75% chance, a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 spells. I do better with the early rolls this time and end up with Sleep, Protection from Evil, Magic Missile, Light, Enlargement, Read Languages, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Tenser's Floating Disk, and Ventriloquism.

As an elf, this character already knows not only the Elvish, Common and Neutral languages but also the tongues of orcs, hobgoblins**** and gnolls, plus five more thanks to Intelligence. We can add the languages of lizardfolk, goblins, giants, gnomes, and (flips through monster section),l i dunno, harpies to that. Time to name our elf; we'll call her Caeriel, and off she goes to meet the previously generated party members.

The dice start to fail us on the fourth go-round: ST 8, IN 11, WI, CO 10, DX 10 CH 4. This character might as well be a thief as a magic-user, since we've already got a mage and an elf in the party and the thief is a new class to us. Thieves get a d4 for hit points, and we roll another 1. This is shaping up to be a fragile bunch who maybe shouldn't go poking around haunted ruins. The book tells us thieves don't get to claim a good alignment, so we'll make this one neutral

We roll 120 gp for starting money, and since thieves don't need a lot of expensive gear this should leave a decent amount towards the comany's adventuring supplies. Thieves can't wear anything more protective than leather armor, which costs 15 gp, and also can't use shields, though helmets are apparently OK (despite their propensity to interfere with hearing, which a thief is going to need). That makes an AC of 7, kind of scary given the hit point total it's supposed to be protecting. There are no weapon restrictions, however (those will come later in AD&D), but because all the weapons hurt the same amount we'll play to the trope and kit this thief up with five daggers (for throwing as well as for stabbing) for another 15 gp. The equipment list doesn't include lockpicks or other thieves' tools, so that leaves us 90 gp to support the common fund.

Thieves are distinguished by a set of special skills usually just called "thief abilities": opening locks, picking pockets, finding and disarming traps, sneaking around, climbing walls, listening for noises. Each is tested on a percentile dice roll (except for listening, which uses the same d6 scale as other characters, but with better odds), and most of these start pretty low. A first-level thief has a 15% chance to open a lock, a 10% chance to disarm a trap or hide in the shadows, a 20% chance to pick a pocket or move silently, and an 87% chance to climb a sheer wall. Their chance to hear noises is 1 in 3 rather than other characters' 1 in 6, and in combat they can attack with +4 to hit and inflict double damage if they can hit their target from behind.

In Basic D&D only humans can become thieves (not even halflings! shocking!), so our character gets one extra language besides Common and Neutral. (Thieves' Cant is a later addition.) I can't even imagine trying to cover ground we haven't seen at this point, so instead of getting exotic we'll go with goblin and call it a day. We'll make this character female as well and call her Dana, then meet the last member of our party.

The final set of rolls come up ST 10, IN 16 WI 5, CO 11, DX 10, CH 9. That set of scores screams "magic-user," but we're a little short on brute force so elf seems like a better choice from a party-needs perspective. This character will get a 10% bonus to the half of their experience applied to the Magic-User class, which should even out their advancement a little because magic-users advance more slowly than fighters. Hit point roll is, once again, a 1. DM fiat might allow for rerolls (or even houserule maximum hit points at first level, but my groups didn't adopt that rule until we'd been playing AD&D for a while), but I'm going to go by what the dice say. I'll assign a chaotic good alignment to this character as well.

This elf begins with 110 gp in starting money, which as in the previous example is going to be spent quickly. Plate mail is tempting if pricey at 50 gp, and if we forgo a shield we gain a point of AC (3) for an extra cost of 10 gp over chain & shield. Weapons next, and if we have 10 gp left after that we'll add a helmet. We still want a short bow (25) and forty arrows (10), which leaves 15 gp for a hand weapon if we want to add a helmet. The list isn't clear which weapons require two hands, but a sword is only 10 and that can be sheathed when we need to cast a spell, so  we can still afford our helmet and drop 5 gp in the party fund.

A 16 Intelligence gives us the same chance to learn spells and the same minimum and maximum number as a 15 did for Caeriel, but I don't roll quite so well this time and end up with nine spells in my spell-bookRead Magic, Sleep, Magic Missile, Ventriloquism, Light, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Tenser's Floating Disk, Protection from Evil. And since there are three arcane spellcasters in the party, we'll have three spells available per day.

Our second elf gets to learn six languages in addition to the aforementioned elf package deal of Elvish, Common, Hobgoblin, Orc, and Gnoll. We'll go with Kobold, Goblin, Gnome, Draconic, Bugbear (if hobgoblins have their own language, I can assume bugbears do as well), and Troll. Give him a name--Elcaril--and now we have an adventuring company of five members, who need some adventuring supplies and a name.

(Note that our party lacks dwarves and halflings, mostly because the only characters who would have made good fighters had INT or WIS scores that marked them for other classes.)

The party fund for supplies is a little smaller than our OD&D party had to work with: 231 gp  compared to 265. I think we still want to spend 120 on a mule and a cart to get us to and from the expedition site, leaving 111 gp for actual supplies. Tinderbox is now available instead of assumed, so that's 3 gp spent already. A lantern for 10 gp and five flasks of oil for 10 more should take care of the party's lighting needs as well as providing flammable material for combat use. A week's iron rations each costs 75, and now we've only got 13 gp left, but most of what's left to buy is pretty cheap. 100' of rope will cost 2, a 10' pole one more, and a dozen iron spikes yet another gold piece. Two more for a couple of waterskins, then two large sacks and three small sacks for a subtotal of 7gp cleans our heroes out, so they'd better hope there's gold in that thar dungeon. 

Our company is kind of fragile, but they see themselves as pretty scrappy. They call themselves the Terrier Company, and when they can afford a standard they'll put a Scottie on it. Here they are in statblock form:

Ambrose, Human Magic-User
ST 6, IN 13, WI 7, CO 5, DX 12, CH 10
Level: 1    AC: 9    HP: 3    Alignment: Chaotic Good
Languages: Common, Chaotic Good, Elvish, Goblin, Draconic
SpellbookCharm Person, Detect Magic, LightMagic Missile, Tenser's Floating Disk
Gear: clothes, spellbooks, 2 daggers

Bodo, Human Cleric
ST 15, IN 15, WI 15, CO 14, DX 11, CH 4
Level: 1    AC: 2    HP: 1     Alignment: Lawful Good
Languages: Common, Lawful Good, Elvish, Gnomish, Giant, Goblin, Kobold
Gear: plate mail, shield, flail, helmet, silver cross

Caeriel, Elf Fighter/Magic-User
ST 15, IN 15, WI 10, CO 11, DX 7, CH 9
Level: 1/1    AC: 4    HP: 3    Alignment: Neutral
LanguagesElvish, Common, Neutral, Orcish, Hobgoblin, Gnoll, Lizardman, Goblin, Giant, Gnomish, Harpy
SpellbookSleep, Protection from Evil, Magic Missile, Light, Enlargement, Read Languages, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Tenser's Floating Disk, Ventriloquism.
Gear: chain mail, helmet, shield, sword, short bow, 40 arrows

Dana, Human Thief
ST 8, IN 11, WI, CO 10, DX 10 CH 4
Level: 1    AC: 7    HP: 1    Alignment: Neutral
Languages: Common, Neutral, Goblin
Thief Abilitiesopen lock 15%, remove trap 10%, hide in shadows 105, pick pocket 20%, move silently 20%, climb walls 87%, hear noise 1-2 (on d6), backstab +4/2x damage   
Gear: leather armor, 5 daggers

Elcaril, Elf Fighter/Magic-User
ST 10, IN 16 WI 5, CO 11, DX 10, CH 9
Level: 1/1    AC: 3    HP: 1    Alignment: Chaotic Good
LanguagesElvish, Common, Neutral, Orcish, Hobgoblin, Gnoll, Kobold, Goblin, Gnomish, Draconic, Bugbear
SpellbookRead MagicSleepMagic MissileVentriloquism, Light, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Tenser's Floating Disk, Protection from Evil
Gear: plate mail, helmet, sword, shortbow, 40 arrows

Party Supplies: cart, mule, tinderox, lantern, 5 flasks of oil, 5 weeks iron rations, 100' of rope, 10' pole, 12 iron spikes, 2 waterskins, 3 small sacks, 2 large sacks


*Though I didn't acquire a copy until the summer of 1979.

**The Thief was introduced in the Greyhawk supplement (1975).

***Holmes never states that Dwarves have their own language, but does say that, like humans, elves and halflings, they speak Common. The same statement can be found in Gygax's OD&D books, so if it's an oversight it would appear to be Gary's.

****Apparently hobgoblins and goblins do not speak the same language, though perhaps they just have dialects that aren't quite mutually intelligible.


Tuesday, January 28, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, entry 22: Bibi Bee-B, for Lostronauts

The cover of Lostronauts. A Pigs in Space type anthropomorphic pig shares an open-topped flying conveyance with a smaller entity comprised mostly or tentacles connected to a cute, wide-eyed head, pursued across a Mort Weisinger-esque future cityscape by a fleet of Saturn-shaped flying saucers. The color scheme is mostly pinks and greens.
source: DriveThruRPG.com

As long as I'm messing around with zine games, here's Lostronauts, a GM-less RPG in which the characters are lost in space (not unlike the crew of the Jupiter II, or Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect) and trying to find their way home (or achieve some other unattainable goal). 

The basic task resolution mechanic will be familiar to anyone who has played a game Powered by the Apocalypse; roll 2d6, add 1 for each relevant character trait that might help, subtract 1 for each relevant trait that might hinder, and if your archetype, job, or species (see below) is particularly applicable, you get to roll a third d6 and take the two highest. A result of 10+ is unequivocal success, 7-9 brings success with a cost, and 6 or less is a humiliating failure. (This is a comedy game, permanent harm is rare but embarrassment lurks around every corner.)

Character creation is simpler than in most PbtA games; characters don't have Moves but instead have an Archetype (which is more or less a story role), a Job (your career before you started gallivanting around space) and a Species (pretty much what you expect that to be). Each of these features has some sort of Trait or Traits associated with it.

The rules suggest that you fill out the character sheet in order, starting with your character's Name. You may recall from earlier installments that this is a step I usually save for last, but I'll go along with the designer and come up with something genre-appropriate. Bibi Bee-B sounds silly enough, let's go with that.

Next I am supposed to choose my Archetype, which is kind of like selecting a commedia dell'arte role; it rests on a personality type and provides a framework for how you react to the encounters of each adventure. The game provides seven of these: the Gold-Hearted (ingenue), the Stoic (strong but silent hero), the Major (team leader and troubleshooter), the Overworked (load-bearing technical/administrative expert), the Homebody (accidental traveler), the Wayward (experienced traveller), and the bonus Scoundrel (selfish schemer). I'm going to make Bibi Overworked, with a specialty in administrative duties. They're that secretary or admin assistant who knows all the forms and all the phone numbers and without whom nobody's schedule would ever be straight.

Each Archetype comes with a Special Ability; for the Overworked it's Safety Conscious, which permits Bibi to cure the Impaired condition once per session. (Impaired happens whe you suffer some type of physical or psychological damage and mechanically it requires you to take the lowest two dice out of 3d6 when you have to make a roll.)

In addition, each Archetype comes with a Positive Trait and a Negative Trait. The latter are not always personality flaws, but rather ongoing conditions (internally or externally rooted) that may hinder the character's attempts to solve problems. For a Positive Trait I select Bureacratically Inclined to represent Bibi's administrative ability, balanced with Chronically Busy off the Negative Trait chart to show just how load-bearing they are.

Next we've got to get Bibi a Job. No charts here, just make something appropriate up. I'm just going to go with Administrative Secretary, since that's the direction we're headed. Schedule-keeping, correspondence, reception, office supply procurement, that kind of thing. 

Only now do we determine Bibi's Species. The rules offer Human, Robot, and Define-Your-Own as options, and there's a good argument for making Bibi a robot, but I'd rather make them some sort of nonhuman organic species. I'm going to give them radial symmetry to they've got multiple grasping limbs, a head that rotates 360°, and a trunk with three short legs. Let's call them Tendrilli. Their mode of dress is a complicated arrangement of straps, from some of which hang various tools. The Tendrilli's multiple limbs will be Bibi's salient Species Trait.

I've already messed up here, because you're supposed to determine Archetype, Job and Species befire you work out any of the character's Traits, but as it makes more sens form a presentation perspective I'm going to stick with it. Anyhow, next on the list are Bibi's motivations. Each character needs an Unattainable Goal, some overarching, quest-level desire such as "find my way home" or "slay the Nebula Empress" that is structurally virtually impossible to achieve under the game's conditions. As if Bibi wasn't busy enough, i'm going to make their Unnatainable Goal win the Intergalactic Sweepstakes, so in between tasks they'll be managing their many. many entries and studying strategy guides.

In addition, each character has an Attainable Goal, a more mundane need or want that can be met with a reasonable amount of luck and effort, and which earns them a credit each time they do. (Credits are in-game currency, exchangeable for various goods and services. One also earns them for beating challenges in adventures and for finishing adventures.) These are still character-driven and should be at least nominally adventure-related, such as "protect an innocent from danger" or "defeat an alien menace." I'd like to reward Bibi for some sort of successful use of their job skills, but not something too specific. Overcome a bureaucratic obstacle is the sort of thing that might contribute to beating a challenge but not constitute the entire challenge, so let's put that down on the sheet. 

The character sheet also has spaces for "credits," failure points," and "inventory," but those are all accumulated over the course of play,* so I think it's time to put down a statblock.


Name: Bibi Bee-B
Archetype: Overworked (Special Ability: Safety Conscious; Positive Trait: Bureaucratically Inclined; Negative Trait: Constantly Busy)
Job: Administrative Secretary
Species: Tendrilli (Species Trait:  Multiple Limbs)
Unattainable Goal: Win the Intergalactic Sweepstakes
Attainable Goal: Overcome a Bureaucratic Obstacle
Credits: 0    Failure Points: 0    Inventory: Nothing yet


*Failure Points are accumulated as you fail task rolls with a 6 or less; when you rack up three of these, the party gets a consolation prize rolled from the Deus Ex Machina table. If by some miracle you achieve your Unattainable Goal, you receive an extra Failure Point per adventure, which I think means you get to roll on the Deus Ex table one failure earlier, but might mean one failure later, than the other players


Sunday, January 26, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, entry 21: Block Castlestone and Chonk, for MechTek


the cover of MechTek RPG. Greyscale, hand drawn and lettered with an oddly-drawn robot dominating the page.
source: DriveThruRPG.com

Today's game is another light mech-themed 'zine game: Michael Putlack's MechTek. Its premise is that mech pilots, who heretofore have been gladiators entertaining the masses, have now been drafted into a war against an alien threat and now pit their giant fightin' robots against these invaders. Its mechanics are simpler than Mecholite's, and its basic mechanic is stat die roll + bonuses vs a baseline target number of 5, with stats expressed as dice ranging from d4 upward.

You begin with a factory-standard mech chassis that has 10 hit points and customize it. The three basic stats for task resoution are Battle (for combat and physical feats), Tactics (for perception and related abilities) and Science (for knowledge and engineering). Two of these abilities will start at d4, the third at d6. Two more stats are represented by numbers instead of die sizes: Speed (with a baseline of 30 feet/turn) and Armor Bonus (which apparently starts at 0). I feel like making a bruiser, so I'll assign my d6 to Battle and leave Tactics and Science at d4 each.

Pilots play a small role in MechTek's mechanics. There are six types of pilot available; five of these provide a bonus to a basic Stat, and the sixth reduces repair times. After your pilot reaches third level they'll gain a second specialty from this list. Continuing on the bruiser theme, I choose a Fighter, who will boost my Battle die by one level from d6 to d8.

The next step is to pick a Special ability, which is basically a power the mech can use once per day. The most brawly of these is Takedown, which knocks my opponent prone with a successful Battle roll.

Now it's time to pick out some upgraded Parts. MechTek provides five different types of Part for mechs: heads, torsos, legs, and right and left arm. Each arm will have a built-in weapon of some sort, either melee or ranged, in addition to the qualities of the partcular part you select. I'm going all-in on melee, so both arms will have melee attacks and I'd better hope I can hold out long enough to close the distance.

Custom parts provide bonuses to basic stats, either in the form of a +1 or +2 to a Stat roll, increased Speed, or an addition to Armor Defense. You get to choose five custom Parts, four of level 1 (which generally provides a single +1 bonus or its equivalent) and one of level 2 (which generally grants either a single +2 bonus or two +1 bonuses).

So for my head I'll take a level 1 model, which grants a +1 bonus to Science rolls (and I'll need that with my low baseline). Torso's level 1 model grants a +1 to Armor Bonus. Level 1 Legs come in two models, neither of which grant any kind of bonus. Which brings us to Arms. Level 1 Arms can grant a +1 bonus to either Battle, Tactics, or Armor; level 2 arms offer either +2 to Battle, +1 to Battle and +1 to Armor, or +1 to Battle and +1 to Tactics. I'm going to shoot for the One Punch Man thing and buy a level 2 right arm with a +2 to Battle, with a left arm that grants a +1 armor bonus.

I'll also start with 100 credits, which can be used to purchase further upgrades, but it looks like I'll have to earn more of them to afford anything better than what I'm starting with, so let's name this bad boy and move on to the statblock. 

I shall call him Chonk. Piloted by Block Castlestone.

Chonk (pilot: Block Castlestone)
Battle: d8+2
Tactics: d4+0
Science: d4+1
Speed: 30
Armor Bonus: 2
HP: 10
Special: Takedown (Battle)
Parts:
Head HE-10 (basic, L1, +1 Science)
Torso BO-10 (basic, L1, +1 armor)
Legs LL-10a (basic, L1)
Left Arm EA-12s (basic, L1, melee, +1 armor, d2 damage)
Right Arm EA-20x (basic, L2, melee, +2 Battle, d6 damage)

and a character sheet:





Friday, January 24, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, entries 16-20: P&V Recovery Operations, LLC, for Original Dungeons and Dragons

The 1974 White Box edition of Dungeons & Dragons, photographed on a table with the three Little Brown Books in a row above the box they come in.
source: RPGGeek.com

The next five characters will be a party of adventurers for Original Dungeons and Dragons, using the White Box edition of the rules without supplements.* I don't usually go for random character generation, but this promises to be quick and quick is what I need right now. For dice I'll be using the online roller from my D&D Beyond account, with the "Old School" dice skins applied for verisimilitude.

OD&D was originally published with three human character classes (fighting man, magic user, cleric), plus "racial" classes for dwarves (fighter), elves (fighter and magic user, switching off between adventures as desired), and halflings (fighter). (Thieves were introduced in the first supplement Greyhawk, and so will be out of consideration here.) In addition, there was a vague blessing pronounced upon getting creative with character ideas so long as it didn't upset the balance of the game.** But I'm going to stick with what the book provides for the purpose of the exercise. 

A strict application of the rules as written would have our Dungeon Master rolling the characters' ability scores, but I'm effectively my own DM here, so here I go. 3d6 straight up, six times, always in the order Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Charisma. 

Our first set of scores is Strength 6, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 7, Constitution 7, Dexterity 13, Charisma 14. That doesn't promise very quick advancement in any of the main three classes; fighters depend on Strength, magic-users on Intelligence, and clerics on Wisdom. On the plus side, the high Dexterity makes this character a little better at ranged combat (+1 to hit), and the high Charisma promises more followers (up to 5) with a greater degree of loyalty (+1) to their employer. For prime requisites, Intelligence is the best of a bad set, so we set this character on the path to a mediocre career as a magic-user and possibly a position as party leader or at least face. Another 3d6 roll multiplied by 10 determines starting funds (110 gold pieces) for gear. Under these rules all hit dice are d6, with fighters getting a +1 bonus to their initial roll. Our magic-user will begin play with 5 hit points.

Wizards don't need a lot of equipment; they can't wear armor and their weapon choice is limited to daggers (from a list that is itself quite limited and does not include, for instance, the quarterstaff). In addition, spellbooks and wizards' supplies aren't on the list, so we don't have a lot of personal needs to spend money on. A few daggers cost 9 gp altogether, leaving 101 gold pieces for general adventuring supplies such as torches, rope, mirrors, etc. We'll put that into the party's general fund. Now our magic-user needs some identity apart from ability scores, so let's give them a gender (masculine) and a name (something a bit fancy to go with that Charisma score, such as Porfirio). Oh, and an alignment. OD&D alignment is single-axis, with characters siding with Law or Chaos or between them in Neutrality. This party is motivated primarily by gain, so I think I'll make evryone Neutral unless otherwise noted.

Before we leave Porfirio for the rest of the party, let's get him some spells. Well, a spell, anyhow. A first-level magic user can cast one spell, once per day; the rulebook isn't clear how that spell is determined, or whether they might know more than one spell and only be able to memorize and cast one of their spells each day (as AD&D later clarified). The spells on the table are numbered, however, which suggests that random determination is considered of not mandated. There are eight first-level spells; a roll of 8 indicates Sleep, which is pretty darned useful.

The next batch of rolls comes up Str 7, Int 14, Wis 9, Con 14, Dex 5, Cha 12. Another magic user, by the looks of it, but a very clumsy one. The 14 Intelligence score grants a 5% bonus on earned experience, the poor Dexterity imposes a -1 penalty on ranged attacks, and the 14 Constitution means no rolls to survive shocks to the system such as petrification. A starting gold roll of 130 gives this wizard plenty of spare cash to subsidize the party's purchases or help less fortunate adventurers buy their gear. With that 5 Dex I'm not going to bother with throwing daggers, so one should suit, leaving 127 gp for the party fund. A roll of 4 for starting hit points.

I feel as though these two magic-users have a relationship that predates the formation of the party, and perhaps they are the founding core who recruited the rest for expeditions to recover treasure from the deep places. I'll name this one Vivienne, and a roll on the spell table results in a 7: Charm Person, so she also gets a very useful spell. 

Our third character starts with Str 12, Int 13, Wis 7, Con 9, Dex 7, Cha 6. Three magic-users in one party seems kind of ridiculous, but fortunately this character has enough Strength to be a passable fighter. With that Int score, though, I think we've got a good candidate for an elf, albeit kind of a rude and clumsy one. 110 gold pieces for kit won't go nearly as far when we need weapons and armor; we'll invest in a suit of chainmail (30), a sword (10), a shield (10) and helmet (10), a short bow (despite that Dex penalty, 25 gp), and a quiver of 20 arrows (10). That leaves 5 gp for the party fund. Since we're starting out as a fighter for this first adventure, I'll roll d6+1 for hit points and forgo giving the character a spell. 3 on the die +1 for fighter means 4 hp, kind of low but what can you do, it's old school D&D. Apart from the dual-class thing, player-character elves don't get any particular special abilities, so we can wrap it upn here. I've decided it would be entertaining if our two Neutral employers had to deal with a Lawful staff of employees, so the other three characters will be Lawful.  Our fragile elf is male and named Melandil.

Tne next applicant for our salvage company enters with Str 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Con 8, Dex 12, and Cha 6. Could be a cleric, but we've got one more opening and another pair of hands in the front line will be welcome. We'll risk the dice and make this one a fighter as well. 13 Strength is good enough for that 5% experience bonus, the 8 Constitution score will prove troublesome when the character faces some kind of system shock (40-50% chance of surviving, as opposed to 60-90% for those in the 9-12 range), and the 6 Charisma means no more than 2 followers who will have a -1 penalty to loyalty checks. Since we've got an elf, we might as well add a dwarf to the party. The money roll nets 100 gold pieces, which we'll spend on a suit of chainmail (30), a shield (10), a helmet (10), a battle axe (7), a pair of hand axes (6), a light crossbow (15), and 30 quarrels in a case (10). The remaining 12 gp goes into the party fund. Hit point roll is 4, which bumps to 5 with the fighter bonus. Our dwarven warrior is a woman, and her name is Grimhild.

Dwarves get a few special abilities, offset by a level cap of 6th level: 

  • some resistance to magic (roll saving throws as if four levels higher) ;
  • a variety of advantages when operating in underground environments: 
  1.     the ability to detect slanting passages, new construction, and moveable walls; 
  2.     a 1/3 chance to detect secret doors or hard-to-hear sounds
  3.     a 1/3 chance to force open stuck doors);
  • and some ability to dodge the attacks of ogres, giants and other large, cumsy foes (half damage)

Our final applicant brings Str  8, Int 12, Wis 13, Con 13, Dex 13, and Cha 8 to the table, and justifies our risk in waiting for a better potential cleric. There'll be a 5% experience bonus for a 13 Wisdom, a +1 bonus to ranged attacks for 13 Dex (which we can't take advantage of because clerics can't use sharp weapons and slingstones don't exist in this rule set), automatic shock survival for Con 13, and a three-follower cap for the low-average 8 Charisma. Her hit point roll is an unmodified 1, so we'll need to keep her out of the line of fire as much as possible until she hits second level. First-level clerics don't get spells yet, but can turn lower-level undead (skeletons, zombies, and if lucky ghouls), so we'll want a holy symbol for use as well as for branding. Starting gold is only 80, which may necessitate some hard choices. Fortunately, she doesn't need that much personal gear, and weapons all do the same d6 damage at this point in the game's evolution. I buy chainmail for 30, a shield for 10, a mace for 5, and a wooden cross for 2***, leaving 33 gp for the party fund. I'll call our small, nimble party chaplain Sister Bertril.

Now we should start spending that general fund to get our expedition supplies. The company has 278 gold pieces for these purposes, mostly from money that Porfirio and Vivienne didn't spend. That'll cover a cart (100), a couple of mules (40) to pull it, and a whole lot of adventuring supplies: rations, torches, rope, iron spikes, ten-foot poles, flasks of oil, flint and steel, a mirror or two, sacks and satchels for carrying treasure. And since OD&D is in no small part a game about logistics, let's itemize this budget and see how much we're spending.

Lighting: 6 torches (1 gp), 1 lantern (10 gp), 3 flasks of oil (6 gp): 17 gp

General supplies: 100' of rope (2), ten-foot pole (1), 10 iron spikes (1): 4 gp

Transport: cart (100), 2 mules (40), 3 large sacks (6), 6 small sacks (6), 5 waterskins (5), 2 backpacks (10): 167 gp

Provisions: one week's iron rations per person (75), 2 quarts wine (2): 77 gp

Total: 265 gp, leaving 13 gp for emergencies.

And finally it's time for a little branding. All the coolest adventuring bands have a name, though we don't really know enough about our heroes to give them something spot-on appropriate. They're still pretty generic. But we do have names, and we know the mages are the organizers, and that's something we can work with. P&V Recovery Operations, LLC is a bit fancy, but our heroes have high ambitions (jury's still out on the impulse control).

Porfirio, Magic-User 1
STR 6     INT 10     WIS 7     CON 7     DEX 13     CHA 14
Spells: L1 Sleep
Personal Gear: 3 daggers
AC: 9        HP: 5    AL: N

Vivienne, Magic-User 1
STR 7     INT 14      WIS 9    CON 14    DEX 5      CHA 12
Spells: L1 Charm Person
Personal Gear: 1 dagger
AC: 9        HP: 4    AL: N

Melandil, Elf (fighter for today) 1
STR 12, INT 13, WIS 7, CON 9, DEX 7, CHA 6
Personal Gear: chainmail, sword, shortbow, quiver of 20 arrows, shield, helmet
AC: 4        HP: 4    AL: L

Grimhild, Dwarf (fighter) 1
STR 13, INT 10, WIS 11, CON 8, DEX 12, CHA 6
Personal Gear: chainmail, helmet, shield, battle axe, 2 hand axes, light crossbow, case of 30 quarrels
AC: 4        HP: 5    AL: L

Sister Bertril, Cleric 1
STR  8, INT 12, WIS 13, CON 13, DEX 13, CHA 8
Personal Gear: chainmail, shield, mace, silver cross
AC: 4        HP: 1    AL: L

Party supplies: cart, two mules, six torches, lantern, three flasks oil, 100' of rope, ten-foot pole, ten iron spikes, three large sacks, six small sacks, five waterskins, two backpacks, five weeks' iron rations, two quarts wine, 13 gp.




*I have the supplements, I just won't be using them.
** or human supremacy, which EGG was kind of big on.
***the generic "holy symbol" dorsn't come into play until later in the game's history, OD&D clerics were apparenly assumed to be Christian.

Thursday, January 23, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, day 15: Tony Wonder, for Mecholite

source: DriveThrurRPG.com

Week goes by pretty quickly when you've got a lot going on. I've got a lot of catching up to do, so let's wrap up this entry and move on to some really simple games.

A couple of years ago I had the idea to make a game about uplifted hamsters piloting six-foot-tall mechs, and to that end purchased several light mech RPG games to see what sorts of mechanics might best suit the kind of vibe I was looking for. (The first try ended up using Mecha and Monsters Evolved, the Tiny d6 mech game seen on day 5 of this year's challenge.) Mecholite was one of the other games in this genre I found on DriveThruRPG; like a lot of games I ended up not using, it didn't include kaiju in its universe, but it's still worth taking out for a chargen spin.

One of Mecholite's distinguishing features is that it uses a standard deck of cards for a lot of its game play, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Mike Pondsmith's classic Castle Falkenstein (which I may use on this blog later, time allowing). Each suit represents one subset of your mech's systems: hearts for Frame (structure), diamonds for Core (power systems), spades for Processor (ability to execute actions), and clubs for Instruments (data-collecting capacity such as sensors). Each of these subsystems is quantified as one of your mech's base Stats, and you have a mini-deck composed of ace through ten for each suit, with the face cards (called Court cards here) held aside for special use.

Mech creation begins by choosing a base model from six options, providing your mech's baseline stats. The four base stats vary from three to five in each model; the base numbers for derived stats Bulk and Vulnerability (measuring the difficulty of, respectively, scoring a physical hit on the mech and scoring a hit on its software systems) start at 3 and are modified by adding half the Frame and Instruments values, respectively. The two other derived stats, Energy and Processing Power, have baseline values equal to the unit's Core and Processing scores, respectively.

Allul looks like closest to what I want in a model: 3 Frame, 4 Core, 5 Processor, 4 Instrument. wizard stats, basically. Bulk and Vulnerability are round-up so each score is 5 at this point. Energy is 4 and Processing Power begins at 5.

The next step is to choose a design, which modifies the base model in two ways: a bonus to one (+2) or two )+1 each) base stats, and a bonus ability. I double down on the "wizard" concept by choosing precise, which adds 2 to Instrument and, when I play any court card, lets me resurrect one card of my choice from my Instrument discards and shuffle it back into my draw deck.

Then there is another round of customizing that lets me add 1 to any base stat (I boost Processor to 6), then add +2 to one skill and +1 to a second.

We haven't really talked about Skills yet. There are five skills: analyze, operate, manufacture, interface, and hack. Each of these can be leveraged by any of the four Stats to perform different types of task. Analyze covers attempts to gather and interpret information. Operate covers performing challenging maneuvers (e.g., feats of strength for Frame or operating machinery for Processing). Manufacture covers building and repairing things, and is the skill used for Recovery actions (which return a card of your choice from one of your discard piles to the corresponding draw deck). Interface covers interactions with other mechs: intimidation, negotiation, deception, etc. Finally, Hack covers attempts to break in or infiltrate. For the rest of my customization I take a +1 bonus to Analyze and a +2 bonus to Hack.

I can further customize my unit with Attachments and Gadgets. Attachments are major devices built into the unit, whereas Gadgets are smaller high-tech devices also built into the unit. Each unit can have one Attachment for each point of Frame and one Gadget for each point of Instruments. Attachments are also limited to particular parts or the mech frame (or Slots), and the unit has two Slots for each part (arm, torso, hip, leg, etc). My small Frame can only handle three Attachments, so as long as they don't all need the same Slot I'll be fine. Energy Shield reduces the cost of evasive maneuvers (by moving energy points to the Use pool instead of the Spent pool); it takes a torso slot. Cloak takes the second torso slot; it makes the unit harder to hit by reducing Bulk by 2 for every point of Energy I spend, up to 3. And I use a shoulder slot to install a drone launcher, which not only launches drones but recharges them between launches.

My Instruments score allows me six Gadgets. An advanced motherboard will unlock three new Processes. Nanobots allow me to repair myself or another unit as an auxiliary process (like a minor action in D&D 4e or a bonus action in 5e). Liquid cooling boosts my Hack skill by 1. A control circuit boosts my Operate skill by 1. A post-processor bumps Analyze by 1.Finally, a drone controller lets me control a drone after I launch it. 

That would seem to cover all the mechanical aspects of character generation. All I have to do now is give the unit a call sign and I'm ready to fill in the character sheet. Pushing the magician theme, I call the unit Tony Wonder (after the Arrested Development character) and fill out my character sheet. My drones will be styled "Doves" and given numbers once I have more than one (Dove 1, Dove 2, etc.)

Tony Wonder: Precise Allul

Frame: 3        Core: 4        Processor: 6        Instrument: 6

Bulk: 5            Vulnerability: 6        Energy: 4        Processing Power: 6

Design Ability: Precise (can Recalibrate when playing a court card)

Attachments: Cloak, Energy Shield, Drone Launcher

Gadgets: Advanced Motherboard, Nanobots, Liquid Cooling, Control Circuit, Post-Processor, Drone Controller

In addition to the main character sheet the game provides tracking sheets for motherboard processes and drones; I've provided photos below.


A paper character sheet for Mecholite with the stats for the character in this post added in pencil. The four action decks are in a row at the bottom of the landscape-oriented sheet, and a few cards from them are played in the discard zone at the top of the sheet.
Main character sheet for Tony Wonder, with action decks in place


Three reference sheets from Mecholite (character sheet, drone tracker, motherboard tracker), plus actiuon decks and court cards. The action decks are deployed as described in the previous photo; the court cards are to the right below the drone tracker and motherboard sheet.
Character sheet at left, with drone sheets (top) and motherboard sheet (middle) at right above the court cards from Tony Wonder's action decks (bottom)

To catch up, the next few entries are going to be a party of adventurers for original Dungeons and Dragons--simple character generation without a lot of built-in creative demands. 

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 14: Flirtatia Conquest, for Disaster, Inc.

The cover to Disaster Inc., featuring two silhouetted spies: a male-presenting character in a tuxedo jacket and pink spotted boxer shorts pointing a pistol, and a female-presenting character with an Afro hairstyle and a high-cut red evening gown pointing a gag pistol with a "Bang" flag. These two are set in the center of a light-and-dark orange iris decorated with flowers, and bioth title and author text is presented in a 1970s-style "modern" font.
source: DriveThruRPG.com

Disaster, Inc. is a zine RPG that tries to capture the feel of spy movie parodies such as Get Smart and the Austin Powers films. Characters are agents of the Federal Union of Nabbing Criminals (F.U.N.C.) scrambling to protect the world from Forces of Evil (F.O.E.) The subject and tone give me the opportunity to use a character name that I've been sitting on for years because I never get the chance to play a silly spy game.

But let's walk through the character creation rules first (and you already know the name because presumably you've read the post title). Actually, since we're dealing with a new system here, let's start with the basic thing-doing mechanics. As a game about bumbling spies, the rules are geared toward generating amusing failures. Risky or dangerous tasks require rolling against your Danger Level, a rating that increases each time you avoid failure and which indicates how many d6 you'll be required to roll (barring modifiers, which we'll get to). Rolling a 1 on any die, no matter how large or small the Danger Level pool is, signals a failure and an opportunity for hilarity to ensue. Your Danger Level begins the session at 1 and resets each time you achieve failure.

Character creation starts with identifying information: name, codename, and agent number. The character's name is Flirtatia Conquest, which I've been sitting on long enough that I don't remember how I thought it up, but I knew from the moment it hit me would be top-level Bond Girl parody material. There's a table to determine your agent's codename randomly via 2d6 (read one at a time), but just choosing a codename is also permitted; I'll pick one word from each column for the result Velvet Angel. 3d6, read straight across, generates an identification number: 262*

Another 2d6 table determines Expertise categories; I'll get three and can roll or choose, but since there's only one I'm set on I think I'll do a little of both. Expertise allows me to reduce my effective Danger Level by one when the task involves one of my skills.  Seduction is a must when you're named Flirtatia, so we'll start there. I'm less invested in the other two, so let's see what the dice offer us and reseve the right to veto and reroll. This chart is a straight 2-12 roll, and I get a 7 (Deception) as the first result, which strikes me as entirely appropriate. The second roll is also a 7, and apparently there's no bonus for doubling up, so I roll again for a 3 (Marksmanship). Not wildly funny or anything, but I'll keep it.

The third and final step in character creation is to be issued some spy equipment. Equipment also allows you to reduce yout Danger Level for relevant rolls, but each item is exhausted after three uses. Like Expertise, it's three 2d6 results on a table, but the list is longer and for any given result you get to choose from two options. A 5 produces either rope or a sleep dart gun; I'll see how the other rolls go before I decide. The second roll is 10: explosives or armored clothing. An armored evening gown sounds pretty funny, but so is a well-timed explosion, so let's see what the final roll brings. 11 is either an extendable baton or a voice changer, and both of those have solid comedy as well as practical potential. I'll opt for the sleep dart gun, the explosives, and the voice changer.

The game doesn't go into backstory, and I hadn't really thought much about it either. The name kind of suggests a privileged background (pretentious vaguely latinate given name, Anglo surname), so I'll posit a finishing school-to-F.U.N.C. pipeline, and let's get on to the statblock, er, dossier:

Name: Conquest, Flirtatia
Codename: Velvet Angel
ID Number: 262
Training: Seduction, Deception, Marksmanship
Equipment: Sleep dart gun, explosives, voice changer

And there's a form-fillable character sheet, so I'll post an image of that as well (sans photo, apologies--as well as for the tiny fonts in the Equipment and Expertise fields, couldn't enlarge them).


*This procedure lets me off the hook of deciding whether I wanted to go with "36-24-36" or somesuch nonsense, which would be entirely appropriate to the genre but also kinda sexist.

Monday, January 13, 2025

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 13: Bolts, for Tiny Wastelands

Tiny Wastelands cover. Three survivors roam a landscape of ruins and dust in triangle formation, weapons at the ready.
source: RPGGeek.com
My first postapocalyptic RPG was TSR's Gamma World, and its goofy mix of human and animal mutants set expectations that later, less fanciful games were never able to satisfy. I'm pleased to say that for Tiny Wastelands such a setting is, if not the baseline, at least an included option. And it's an option I shall be exercising.

The default game revolves more or less exclusively around humans and mutated humans. Character generation is basic Tiny d6 stuff: you pick an archetype, three traits, a weapon group and mastered weapon, come up with a belief (called a Drive here), get some gear and cash and you're ready to start scavenging. 

Adding mutated animals to the mix is a little tricky; they form their own set of archetypes based more or less on size and/or ecological niche. Combining animal archetypes with human career-type archtypes is possible, and the rules recommend using the lower of the two hit point values to start.

So let's do some mixing. In Gamma World games I've played an octopus, a Galapagos tortoise, and even a ten-foot-long, twelve-inch-thick earthworm barbarian with arms to hold a sword and shield. I don't plan to get quite so wacky here; I'll start by taking a basically humanoid chassis and putting a different mammal's skin over it, in particular a rabbit. The animal Archetype is called Fast Mutated Animal: smallish, quick, and often sneaky. That gives me 4 hit points and the heritage Trait Quick, which grants an extra action each turn that i can use to move or evade in combat. (I cannot, however, select Tough or Diehard from the general trait list.)

To that I'll add the Fixer career Archetype: the character who tinkers with the stuff scavengers bring in until it functions again--though not necessarily in the way it originally did. The Fixer gets 7 Hit Points, but that'll be overridden by Fast Animal's lower 4. They get the Archetype Trait Mechanic, which lets them Test at Disadvantage to boost an item's Usage Rating by one point. (Usage Rating quantifies the wear and tear of regular use on an item that's probably already pretty old and beat up--the higher the rating, the longer the thing will hold out.)

The rules don't tell you whether the extra Trait you get from a second Archetype counts toward your three independent Traits; I'm going to assume it doesn't and the whole table will get five Traits altogether. There are two Traits that complement Fixer very nicely: Blacksmith, which (once per day) lets you restore a Usage point to an item with a Test rolled at Advantage; and MacGuyver, which lets you jury-rig inventions for one-time use. Add Nimble Fingers (Advantage to pick locks, pockets, etc.) and you're got a solid jackrabbit Fixer.

Okay, time for a Weapon Group. Light Ranged weapons are this rabbit's best bet, and an automatic pistol shouldn't be beyond her capacity to maintain as a mastered weapon

Other gear begins with ten Clix (the local currency) and a Survivor's Kit containing bedroll,  poncho, lighter, belt pouch, 50 feet of strong cord, a week's worth of rations, and a cracked electric lantern with 72 hours left on its charge. Add some basic hand tools for about 5 Clix, and we're almost ready to roll.

Our rabbit mechanic needs a Drive, and I have one that seems suitable for someone in her position: this community needs me, and I need them. And a name, which is Bolts. (Pun not orignally intended, but I'll take it.)

And that should put us in position for a statblock to wrap it up.

Bolts, Mutated Rabbit Fixer
HP: 4
Species Archetype (Trait): Fast Mutated Animal (Quick: extra action to move or evade)
Career Archetype (Trait): Fixer (Mechanic: 1x/day, Test at Disadvantage to boost Usage rating by 1)
Weapon Group: Light Ranged    Mastered Weapon: Automatic pistol
Other Gear: Survivor's kit, hand tool set
Drive: This community needs me, and I need them.
Traits:
Blacksmith (1x/day, Test with Advantage to restore an item's Usage Rating by 1)
MacGuyver (create single-use items to grant Advantage on a Test, Advantage on identifying unknown items)
Nimble Fingers (Advantage to pick locks, palm small items, etc)

2025 Character Creation Challenge, entries 23-27: The Terrier Company, for Holmes Basic D&D

source: RPGGeek.com Various events that we need not review here prevented me from finishing this challenge before the end of the month, but ...