HAG Black Forest Campaign

And like that….we have a group!
Pen and Paper, Table-top Dungeons and Dragons….compleat with tweaks and house-rules (not too many)! Fathers and Sons (and Daughters if I can suck her in…)! Here we go.

Here’s the breakdown:
1) The Player Characters (PCs) are HEROES. They don’t focus on piddly schtuff. More on this later.

2) The Setting – The Atlantean World: in the 80’s S. M. Sechi and the rest of the Bard Games crew put out the Atlantean Trilogy: The Arcanum, The Lexicon, and the Bestiary…later revised into The Arcanum and Atlantis – The Lost World (Lexicon/Bestiary combined). This is probably the most evocative, flexible, awesome setting ever for fantasy role-playing. It is essentially our Earth thousands of years ago, before the oceans drank Atlantis….More on this later (it deserves it’s own post). Anyway, this is the setting!

3) D&D 5E – The most current incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons is probably the best ever (and I’ve never said that about a current “new and improved” rule set before). They’ve taken all of the best of the old and mixed it with the best of the new. I like it a lot!

4) Players Roll All the Dice – this innovation puts all the rolls in the hands of the players and can greatly increase player engagement. They roll an attack vs. a static defense score, but they roll a defense vs. a static offense score….and so forth. More on this later too!

5) 0-Level is in effect – The 1st Class Level is on top of this ( 4-12 extra hitpoints for each PC)

6) Instead of rolling a single d20 or a hi/lo (advantage/disadvantage) 2d20 for everything, we’ll be rolling a mid20 (3 d20s, take the middle result or the advantage/disadvantage result). This increases the predictability of random die rolls.

7) Looking at removing secondary “damage” rolls and putting the damage determination into the primary “to hit” roll. More on this later.

8) Hitpoints are always maximum for PCs

9) Magic Missile may be a bit different…..more later.

~AoB

I live….again

I  live…..again.  OK folks. I’ve officially arrived at a decision. I’m returning to the “active GM” chair. No more just tinkering with mechanics. I’ll aim my tinkering to a specific game/group. And it won’t be for a planned out, extensive campaign. It will be for a one-shot…just to play. That one-shot may grow into something bigger, but for now I’m aiming for a one-shot game. Details to follow…..but as a teaser, I’m thinking some Atlantean Fantasy goodness is in order.

[As an aside, I really need to trim the number of categories I have…..jeesh.]

~AoB

Mash-up RPG

OK, its time to build the PBP I mentioned here. I plan on doing two of these actually. The second, HAGIS: The Mythos Files, will essentially be The X-files meets Call of Cthulhu. I’ll table it for a bit since its a bit more complicated…plus my wife will be involved. She’s not a gamer as of yet, but has expressed an interest in such a game…in fact, I’m not sure if we’ll do that one as a PBP…It might need to be live. The first will be HAGIS: Atlantean Adventures (Aega Mythea?) and will be  set in the Atlantean world (High Swords & Sorcery a la Bard Games Atlantean Trilogy…with my own spin of course).

OK, Here’s the mix:

The Atlantean Trilogy (Bard Games’ The Arcanum, The Lexicon, and The Bestiary…the last two of those were also published as a combined volume called Atlantis: The Lost World). This will serve as the core setting. It is essentially our own Earth or proto-Earth before the Oceans drank Atlantis. It contains all the real-world cultures all mashed up anachronistically. This is my favorite setting of all time.

FUDGE/FATE – I like the aspects provision or Fate (kind of like the Spiritual Attributes of TRoS). We will be making free and frequent use of  metagame elements. In fact, I plan on the players having much more information than their characters do. It will be expected that player and character knowledge will be kept in different buckets…I’m going to think about how much interchange between these two will be permitted/encouraged. I also am looking at the 5by4 Magic system on Steffan O’Sullivan’s page….or maybe the Magical Medly system…hmm, need to think on this.

Castles & Crusades – I really love this game. I’m still not crazy about the Vanican Fire’n’Forget style magic, but its really not that hard to write that out. The point here is that I’m going to be using class-like structures, call them archetypes, whatever. Pretty much pick a class from any source D&D, C&C, The Arcanum, etc. and I’ll adapt it to our Mashup.

the HAGIS TriDie system – as previously discussed, roll three d20’s and use the median result (unless we have some meta-game funk going on and then either the hi or lo result is used….).

True20 – I’m looking at their positive/negative tags and their magic system.

No Kung-Fu is better than swords crap.  So monks and martial artists are pretty much out for this dance.

As I look at this, I realize that my Mash is a mess. That’s OK though; it was only intended as a brainstorming session. I will work on tightening this up and throwing some of it out….I only need *one* magic system for this. I can always try another one later.

~AoB

Game Geeks: Atlantis Video Review

And here, again from YouTube, we have a video review of Atlantis: The Second Age from Morrigan Press…..essentially, the 4th Edition of the old Bard Games classic Atlantean Trilogy. Enjoy.

Cheers and Stuff,

~AoB

Aerethus the Tartessian

I’m pretty much done creating my character for the “Wrath of the Iron Spyder” PbP campaign and am waiting for comments from the GM, etc. Hopefully, I’ve done ok here.

Aerethus the Tartessian, Tharsi Guardsman/Thug

INT -2
PER -3
WIL -4
CHA +5

STR +5
CON +2
DEX +5
SPD -2

CR +5
MR -3
REN +0
HP 20+2 = 22

Skills:
Skill + Att = Total (costs on right)

6 – 2 = 4 Lore Local – Tartessos
2 – 2 = 0 Lore Regional – Tharsheesh
10 – 2 = 8 Speak Language – Tharsi

1 – 2 = -1 Speak Language – Atlantean
1 – 2 = -1 Speak Language – Khem
1 + 5 = 6 Weapon – Blades, small

1 + 5 = 6 Brawling (4)
1 + 5 = 6 Climb (2)
1 + 5 = 6 Command (2)
1 + 5 = 6 Diplomacy (2)
1 + 5(10) = 6(11) Evade (2)
1 + 5 = 6 Intimidate (2)
1+ 5 = 6 Investigate (2)
1+ 5 = 6 Seduction (2)
1 + 5 = 6 Stealth (2)
4 + 5 = 9 Weapon-Greatsword (4+6)
(Sub-total 30 points)

Talents: Agile & Quick – Amazing Dodge (5), Extraordinary Dodge (3), Defensive Fighting (3), Defensive Roll (3), Highly Mobile (3), Opportunist (3)
(Sub-total 20 points)

Backstory: Aerethus grew up in the rough neighborhoods of Tartessos. There he learned it is best to be always on ones’ toes and that much can be accomplished with kind words, a smile and a wink, plus the odd coin or two. Always a strong and nimble lad, he also learned the value of physical prowess and violence (or the threat of the same) when diplomacy failed. The son of a Tharsi prostitute, he is well familiar with the workings of inner-city brothels. His father’s parentage could best be described as “indeterminate”.

At the age of 11, Aerethus’ mother was savagely beaten to death by the owner of the brother in which she was working. Aerethus, in an act of retribution, stabbed and killed this brothel-owner. The city guard was sent to investigate the killing. The guard-seargent who was dispatched, a man by the name of Hlepus, took pity on the youth, and took him in.

From that point on, Aerethus was raised by the city guard. He honed his skills and learned the finer points of combat, investigation, and diplomacy. As an adult, Aerethus has worked at times as a bodyguard, enforcer, and city guardsman. He has a commanding presence, standing over 6’ tall, and is well liked by most who meet him. As a guardsman, he is respected by other guardsman, and by citizens with whom he has dealings.

Equipment: Greatsword (60), Light Leather Cuirass (16), Leather Helmet (15), Boots (0.5), Hooded Cloak (0.5), Gloves (0.1), Tunic/Britches x2 (2), Travelers Satchel (1), Bedroll (0.1), Belt/Pouch (0.2), wineskin (0.1), Tinderbox ( ), Torches x2 (0.02), Sack ( 0.01), sharpening stone (?)

(Note: Evade vs. Parry. Do I need either of these skills? Do they help me when I use Extraordinary Dodge?) Also, do we get a free rank in each of our preferred skills or do we have to allot points to those skills?)

~Adaen