VANGUARD Warfare on Urutsk-

8.5" x 5.5" Saddle Stitched

Crunch all you want, we'll make more-

O-Level 'Old School' PC Death Table-
:: Roll each time a 0-level is struck in combat:

6 - Although already dead, the PC is able to last to the end of next Round, and can attack normally
5 - The PC can toss an item to a comrade before dying on the spot
4 - The PC's death complicates the enemy's movement for one Round
3 - The PC's death complicates the Party's movement for one Round
2 - The PC's death results in all carried gear and loot to shower about his body
1 - The PC explodes in a number of buckets of blood and gore equal to his HP

With a L[ot] of Help From My Friends-

Chirine baKal / Jeff Berry has recruited two Tekumel regulars to help him paint minis for me at the NTRPGCon (June 2nd-5th).

Does Your Setting Operate Without the PCs?

Regardless of Railroading or Sandboxing, do you run your games so that things NPCs are doing happen in the background, independently of PC action or non-action?

Major NPC Activity-

12 - Events Greatly Favour NPC (New ally proves most helpful, etc.)
11-09 - Events Somewhat Favour NPC (NPC receives aid/funding, etc.)
08-06 - Events Favour No One
05-03 - Events Somewhat Disfavour NPC (Rival (re-)enters the scene, etc.)
02 - Events Greatly Disfavour NPC (Rival gains the upper hand, etc.)

Weather Events-

12 - Extremely Favourable Weather Conditions (prevailing winds, bumper crop, etc.)
11-09 - Slight Edge Provided (weather worsens after the NPC's forces pass through, etc.)
08-06 - Events Favour No One
05-03 - Weather Somewhat Disfavours NPC (weather worsens as the NPC's forces enter region, etc.)
02 - Extremely Unfavourable Weather Conditions (Avalanche, Blizzard, Drought, Forest Fire, etc.)

Support-
12 - Groundswell support for NPC's platform premise
11-09 - Increasing support for NPC's basic premise
08-06 - Much discussion, consideration, counter-proposals, etc.
05-03 - Increasing opposition to NPC's basic premise
02 - Massive backlash against NPC's platform premise

Acts of G-d-
12 - Forces opposed to the NPC meet with disaster
11 - New route or mode of travel emerges
10 - Opposition leadership is fragmented
09 - New commodity enters marketplace
08 - Opposition faces in-fighting
07 - A period of peace prevails
06 - Opposition unites to oppose NPC faction/ideology
05 - Market scarcity for important commodity
04 - Opposition gain powerful leadership
03 - Trade route or relations collapse
02 - Forces opposed to the NPC met with great boon

je ne sais quoi-
12 - Fashion changes required to maintain/gain social position
11 - Cultural transformation due to technological innovation
10 - Famine-stricken area receives relief
09 - Previously disfavoured idea/ideal gains popularity
08 - Extant illness fades
07 - Romanticism flourishes
06 - Extant illness spreads
05 - Extant food/spice becomes all the rage
04 - Blight/Rust spreads throughout region
03 - Rare flower gains enormous social significance/symbolism (red poppies on lapel, etc.)
02 - Game-animal disease begins to cross borders

Let's try this again, shall we?-

This is the Monster XP by HD thing I was talking about-

From Dragon #80

Two 'Must-See' Videos-

LINK




LINK

Wild West Tunnels and Trolls: Teq / Artifice Rank One-

This represents another part of the Woolly Wild West T&T thing I did back in, or about, 2000.

LINK

More Cowbell + An Image-

A villa located in Hexland, on the moon Yolm, orbiting the gas giant Malthesaen; part of the STARBLADE: Adventures Amid the Shattered Stars (sub-)setting, and part of the Urutsk Cycle. Circa 2001

I have spent the past week clearing out a 10' x 10' storage space from last year's move, and I have found a few treasures that coincide with portions I am currently writing. These go back to the early to mid 90's, before the OGL was a glimmer of desire in Dancy's fancy, and my suggestion to write new material for dead systems was laughed at by my closest friends (of the time).

One graph I plotted was too complex for even the then current version of Wolfram Mathematica, as the nice gentleman on the phone explained; something about the iterative additives to multiple co-dependent dimensions being to much to process at the time, if I remember correctly. Well, I've not only found the graph, but the hand-written rules for the feedback procedure. It gave me a warm, tingly feeling. :D

Seeing all of this work from pre- and early-2000's that is exactly what I am working on again, now, is really a snazzy feeling overall. But, I will say that my biggest mistake was ever listening to conventional wisdom, as it cost me over a decade of progress, and now my mute innovations have percolated up through the strata of Jungian space to become the provenance of other names, and other games. HaShem is funny that way. Makes you appreciate the private triumphs more when they happen, I suppose, in a rueful, 'what if' sort of way...

As I lay in bed at 4am, before the rain began, I thought back on my 30 years of game design, and all of the scores of systems (not including variants or revisions) that only a dozen or so folks ever saw or played. If each of them metaphorically represents a cosmos in the Metacosmos of The Grand Tapestry, then I've sown a lot of grain, to uh-- mix ... metaphors. :-|

Nothing profound to anyone else but me (and possibly Scott C., Karl P., and a few unsavories we know).

Hoping your gaming goes well this weekend.

This Should Be An Interesting Game-

Game Title : The Death of Tlangéshan
Game System : Empire of the Petal Throne
Number of Players : 4-8
Pregens/Level of Characters: characters provided, Levels 6-7
World Setting: Tékumel

Short Description: Tlangéshan the Utmost is a magic-user of unsurpassed knowledge, power, and greed. To keep his demons at bay, tribute and sacrifice are sent from Chame'el in the south, from Urmish in the north, and even from the great city Jakálla, to Tlangéshan's basalt citadel on Thayuri Isle. No mortal dares to move against Tlangéshan for fear of his sorcery; even the great god Sárku watches him with jealous respect, or so it is whispered. But in the deepest scrying vault beneath the Temple of Keténgku the Many-Eyed, furtive auguries hint that Tlangéshan's death may be at hand. To confirm their suspicions, the priests need eye witnesses. They need you to breach Tlangéshan's citadel, find his body, and guarantee that he is dead.

Run by: Steve Winter

An Old Tunnels and Trolls Wild West .pdf-

I think it was 2000 or early 2001 when I wrote up a Woolly Wild West document on a T&T board that Ken was frequenting.

This is the Addenda.
--Sorry. I'll look for the original, but I'm not too hopeful.

LINK

On Andreas Davour's 'ADnD using only the PHB'-

On The Omnipotent Eye, Andreas Davour has this to say about PHB-only AD&D. That stirred my mind, and this is what I came up with:

Combat:

The weapon tables are in the PHB, as are the HD for the Classes. It would likely look something like Tunnels & Trolls:

Roll your weapon di(c)e and add or subtract any Strength modifiers*, subtract your opponent's value (as above), and then read the AC as follows:

+3 + Fighter Level
+2 + Cleric Level
+1 + Thief Level
+0 + M-U Level

Subtract (Dex-Modified AC#) from 10 and apply the result as HP of damage stopped.
--Thus, AC02 = 08 Hits Protection, AC05 = 05 Hits Protection, AC09 = 01 Hit stopped.

[*] I goofed on the original post. I intended for only the dice of damage roll to be modified and compared.

Saves:

Roll Ability Score or less on d20, reading the governing Ability Score on the Defensive Adjustment modifier, and subtracting it from the d20 roll.
--For example, an Int-based Save with a Int 15 provides an Adjustment of -1 to the d20 Roll.

I suppose one could apply the Combat Bonus above, but only to Saves thought of as Class-favoured Saves.
--I've run my game so long now that I don't think of 'level' as doing a lot of modifying, as opposed to the Character changing over time.


Thoughts?

JB injected some Level-love to the ideas, although there is no mention of the sort in the PHB that I can recall. I've just included it to please the natives. ;)