Finally, Sword Wielding Wizards!

Wielding a blade, while having access to spells, has always seemed to be a sore spot in conventional 'old school' games. There has been some discussion about what the difference a Mage with a sword in S&W when all damage is based on a d6. But trying to shoe-horn it into any old school rules seemed... well, not quite kosher. But, when you make your own game, with it's own 'old school' feel, you can do what you want.

Just reading Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, as I haven't had a chance to play it - yet, I am excited about the possibility. It has a unique approach, but seems to maintain an older version feel that I just can't explain. I hope that play has the experience that I am hoping for...

More to come once I have.

TB

Having Knobs to Turn

Over at Bat in the Attic's blog he mentioned something I find interesting in an older post called: Other Knobs to Play With.

But there are other way to give your setting that lived in feel. One technique is before a campaign I make up a list of events. These events are not like a Dragonlance style railroad plot. Rather these events represent what going to happen if the players were not involved. To add the lived in feel add more events that are not part of any plot or ideas you have.

I think what might be beneficial for me to take from this, is to not stop the 'History' where the players begin play. But, rather, to push out further with 'what might happen' should they not begin adventuring. Then just modify it as they effect the potential time-line.  Subsequently adding 'what might be' to the history with new groups and campaign changes.

Adding this to "The Master Plan" could provide a myriad of adventuring hooks and opertunities...

Best, and may the future be yours to change!
TB

Getting back in the saddle...

So, I started digging back through my older posts hoping to get back into the swing of setting creation. Well, to be honest, I couldn't even get my foot in the stirrup, let alone back on the horse. I realize I have lost my forward movement, my momentum. I am not quite sure where I was headed or the exact computations that I was using and trying to validate...

With my desire to get back to Ukarea (TM), I started hitting some blogs for inspiration and returned to a commonly visited blog: Bat in the Attic. I have been visiting the blog for sometime, finding bits of golden goodness within, but it wasn't until just a few days ago that I found a link on the side pointing to an older post: Wilderlands Demographics.

This is perfect! Well, not perfect as Robert uses a different scale than I prefer for mapping, though I am considering the scale he uses as I read some of his older posts. Overall, it gives me direction / guidance that I had lost recently...

Perhaps I will even invest in his The Majestic Wilderlands setting... after all he has done the very thing I want to do; develop and publish an expansive fantasy setting. Well done Mr. Conley! I just wish I would have discovered your older posts sooner!


TB

Determing the DC...

It has been some time since I have been able to post, but hopefully reality has slowed enough that I can now get back to it regularly...

Over at the new M20 Forums, it was suggested, when there were no rules for a given task, one could make a ruling by finding the character's minimum and maximum potential based on their total modifiers applied. For example; if a character had a total modifier of +5 (say from stats and skills) then the min possible would be 6 and the max would be 26. Splitting that in half (16?) would give an equivalent of a 50% chance of success, and halving that again would give you a 25% chance on the low end and a 75% on the high end of success/failure.

I understand that this may be a common practice, but I don't understand it. If you are going to do this, for a single character, what is the point of even factoring in modifiers? Why not just have them roll a d20 and read it as it lies? This may be more feasible/usable if you find the parties min/max, but YMMV and this is definitely IMHO.

I think I personally prefer a static 10, 15, 20, 25 DC. After all, a DC of 20 should be extremely difficult for your average character and a DC of 25 impossible without something helping them out.

Just rambling thoughts today...

TB