[RPG] Wetlands Encounter Tables-

Here's the LINK to a 2 page .pdf.
--Hopefully you'll find it useful. :)

[Gaming][RPG] Macro-Mini-game in the Works-

I am currently writing up a fairly complex mini-game that has three stages of competition:

1). Mapping, Navigating, and Utilising a randomly determined Marketplace, including micro-quests and random events (attacks, happen-stance, etc.), toward the goal of completing a list of items/ingredients/invitations.
:: During this stage, as Wins are accumulated, Power increases, making Tests easier to pass as well as earning spending coin. At each graduation to a higher Power score, a Test to gain employment with an Adventurer is offered. Declining or failing a Hire Test instead rewards the character with a Booster Die, used to slightly improve one's odds in any Test by substituting its result, if better, with any one die in the normal pool.
:: Since the Hire Test can be refused, it is possible for some characters to voluntarily remain at that stage.

2). Hired On-
:: Winning the Hire Test results in the second stage of the game, in which the character acts as either a Hireling, or a more-trusted Hench, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and a possibility to switch types during play.
:: Exposure to traps, creatures, and environmental hazards has treasure and continued personal development (prowess and skill) toward the goal of the Graduate Challenge as its reward.

3). Graduate Challenge-
:: In this final stage of the game, the character has gone from a simple errand-runner to an Adventurer, if terribly naive about the scale of dangers and riches that await those good enough to live by their wits. Now, they must face-off in a true combat to rank the Graduates and determine what grade of Adventuring Party each is hired by. Ranking low can dramatically reduce the PC's chances of survival, but that will have to wait for RPG sessions, because, by this time, a fully-formed RPG character has been created, ready to get the chosen system's (by default, UWoM) scores converted and standard count (coin) determined toward equipping.

I'd say more, but I'd better get back to writing.
--I'll blog around the next few days, but may be otherwise silent.
See you in a few.

[Gaming] Praise of a Blank Planet v. Fear of Failure?-

The guys in the OSR are still feeling their way through the issue of legitimacy regarding 'Each Hexism' versus 'Grand Visionism', which still baffles me to a great deal.

Having thought it wiser a few times to not publish remarks to various blog posts on this subject, I have instead mulled it over and have this incomplete thought to offer for derision or consideration:

Urutsk started out as a single city, Kryssan, but by the end of that first discussion (not session, as the system hadn't even been created, let alone an existing game system chosen) with my players, everything else began to follow as links in a chain, until, very shortly thereafter, I had a nation, culture, and internal politics. This 'big picture thinking' was, and still is, one of the things I am most noted for in gaming, fiction, and analysis.

I am not entirely certain why the OS seems afraid to embrace the middle-path between philosophically-engineered settings and the pride of retaining ignorance about what is in the rest of the one hex on the map.
--Isn't it 'game how you like'? Why expound dogmatic philosophies; selectively cite the 'Elders'; and then reward likemindedness while deriding holistic vision as part of the dreaded Third Wave Railroading / 'Frustrared Writer' syndrome, when nothing about it is that absolute or soluble to a repeatable process, let alone a design philosophy (supposedly 'the FORGE'-istic in nature)?

I think (as in, the jury of my mind is still in deliberation, and this is not a dogmatic opinion from which I cannot be dissuaded) complete worlds make many folks fearful that they'll 'play it wrongly', and it is that rather than the case of their taking some sort of moral highground that randomised exploration of each hex is the superior path to gaming enjoyment.
--As such, it may be difficult for (mostly) men to admit that sort of fear/sour grapes, and instead meet in agreement of the clan's chosen method and proceed in happy perpetuation of the 'tradition', so as to reassure that theirs is the One True Way (even though some make a real effort to make clear that their words, however unintentionally weighty, are not imperial edicts, but rather merely their own opinions, based upon their careful investigations and interpretations of the source materials).

While I would be glad to host such a debate here, I offer [a] Middle Path, namely, knowing what one wants the world-setting to be like in general, while still employing the 'Hexploration' methods to detail one's individual conception of an established and well-documented setting.
--I, too, believe in the 'Oracular power of dice', but also believe that preparation makes for more effective and safer undertakings.

Just a few Monday-midday thoughts. Nothing absolute, dogmatic, nor intentionally inflammatory.

Thoughts?

[RPG] Exploration and Adventuring (Part I)-

(c) Copyright 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis All Rights Reserved

Opening Doors, Bending Bars, and other Feats of Strength-

While the quickest manner to determine any given feat of strength is to simply assign it to a Strength Test, some groups may desire a more precise chance, as outlined below.

* A Stuck Door may be opened on d% with a Target of 100. The character has a base 15% chance, and an additional +15% per +1 bonus due to high Strength.

* A Locked Door may be opened as above, but with a base of only 10%, with an additional 10% per +1 due to high Strength.

* Metal Bars (such as in a cell, or those protecting windows) may be bent enough to allow egress by rolling d% as above, but with only a 5% base, and an additional 5% per +1 due to high strength.

A Referee may determine other, intermediary, percentages for success, as better fits their play style.
As with everything in UWoM, I have presented my take on these issues, as informed by other Old School games, and often back-engineered them to fit with my like of d%.
If your group prefers n in d6 dice mechanics (or anything else), then adjust as you see fit.


Secret Doors, Traps, and other Architectural Features-

The fastest method for determining whether any given character notices something awry is for the Referee to secretly attempt their Wisdom Test. If the roll succeeds, then they may be informed, perhaps by written note, or if it is in your play style, openly.

However, other methods include granting everyone an active 33% chance, and adjusting upwards by 15% per +1 of the character's Int or Wis modifier.
Likewise, Yirinn and Western Isles Vrun both have hereditary and cultural familiarity with such intriguing features of their peoples' buildings, and receive an additional +15% over and above any other modifiers to such things.
Additionally, professional or practical experience with traps and secret doors, etc., such as Technical Skills, add their percentages directly to their odds before rolling.

In all cases, the target is 100. However, circumstances, such as draughts or seeping mists, may very well modify the outcome in favour of those searching, either by reducing the Target, or secretly adding to the character's percent chance, as determined by the Referee.
In general, it is easier for a Referee to lower the Target number than to hide the fact of a bonus from the player rolling the dice.

Lastly, it must be mentioned that finding an architectural feature (secret door, trap, chute, etc.) does not grant understanding of how it works. The Referee may require of the players additional rolls or other character actions to be taken before the feature can be properly dealt-with (egress, avoidance, use without harm, etc.).