Micro Campaign Design Tables-

Roll d20 for the tables below, unless otherwise directed:

TABLE I: The General Place-

20-12 - A Trippy Place (Tesseract, Rubik's Cube, Giant Ball of Lint in intergalactic space, etc.)
11-10 - A multitude of advanced subterranean complexes with occasional 'bolt-holes' leading out into the mysterious unknown.
09-01 - A world, possibly a planet, possibly a Realm (trapezoid with edges one can sail off, etc.)

TABLE II: Life-

20-12 - Vibrant, rich, full of unimaginable diversity of life forms
11-10 - As varied as Earth's heyday of megafauna (Irish Deer, Giant Sloths, Mamoths, etc.)
09-01 - Sparsely populated, or with very little diversity (Axebeaks, Cacti, Joshua Trees, Orcs, and Firenewts, for example)

TABLE III: Distant Past-

20-12 - The Gods Made The World Yesterday, and the Races, Today; Hello!
11-10 - The Ancients Destroyed Themselves in a One Day War, at least 1,000 years ago
09-01 - The past is an uncountable long chain of disasters and empires of super-science and sorcery

TABLE IV: Middlin' Past-

20-12 - A Dark Lord held Sway throughout the Land until Slain by a Hero
11-10 - Petty kingdoms battled for 2d6+3 centuries, plagues killed 1d4-5ths of the population, trade mushroomed afterwards
09-01 - Savage Warlords vie for semi-nomadic fiefdoms from 3d6 centuries ago until now; skip TABLE V, goto VI

TABLE V: Recently-

20-12 - Lesser Minions of a/the Dark Lord are gaining strength and numbers in the (1. North, 2. East, 3. South, 4. West)
11-10 - Trade disputes are currently (1-3.) heading towards war, or (4-6.) just now ending
09-01 - Monstrous armies erupt from the wilds and surge against Humanity

TABLE VI: Number of Big Players-

20-12 - 1d3, each with hundreds of thousands or millions of troops
11-10 - 1d6+2, each with tens or hundreds of thousands of troops, and great navies or war machines
09-01 - 2d12 Tribes, 1d4 Races, and Demonic Noble Houses at war with each other, using the Races as mercenaries

TABLE VII: Newest Stuff-

20-12 - Great Alchemical Wonders (magical war machines, wish magics, etc.)
11-10 - Stainless Steel and Steam Engines
09-01 - Iron and Silk

d20 Combat Advantage Critical Table-

For the D&Ders:

When a PC generates a Critical Hit (by whatever means one does in your game), (have the Player) roll on the following table:

20-11 Double Maximum Damage, Gain a Free Strike, and a Free Move
10-01 +1d4 Damage, and Gain a Free Move

If the DM desires, perhaps modify the d20 roll by Fighting Man Level and/or Hit Dice.

Which Non-RPG Games Do You Dig?

Back in Jacksonville, the guys I hung about with were designing dice games like, Stomp the Roach, where a handful of d6s were rolled and some results Stomped, and others Hatched new roaches. It was an amusing game, especially while I was under the influence of Hornsby's or Woodchuck Hard Cider.

I'm not known to play many board games, and fewer card games (Aquarius, and Guillotine being two notable exceptions), but I have been taken to task by a minis wargamer that games like AMBUSH! or SHELL SHOCK! are, in fact, board games, and I've played plenty of those.

I'm curious which non-RPGs readers of this blog are fans of, and which features of them are best liked, and why.
--Too much to ask of you folks? I hope not. :)


On a mildly-related topic, I Refereed a friendly BLOCKMEN v. LEGOS scenario last night, with the dice favouring the invaders (after losses) of a base, and an alien saucer as the prize. Simple d6 pools of varying sizes compared to other d6 pools, with the higher roll winning, and the difference taken as hits in an attack action.
--The young player asked if this counted as 'wargaming' and after a moment's thought, I replied, 'yes.', thinking of Wells' Little Wars basic conceit of a War Game.


Have fun. :)

No Game This Week-

No game this week. The host is off to watch a play overseen by his schoolmate.

I think the weekly game is in a state of flux at present, as two members are not comfortable with Domain-scale gaming, and desire a return to low-powered characters.
--If I do oblige them, it will be set in the Latter Autumn era.

More that I can't talk about at present.

Have yourselves a fine gaming weekend, folks.

Gamelords, LTD: Thieves' Guild 2nd Edition (NiB)-

Like others of my era, I was treated to the Gamelords, LTD's adverts for Thieves' Guild in various gaming mags, among them of course, The Dragon.

My friend, Scott Charlton (of PCInc Arcanis fame) owned a copy, as did Mike B. years earlier, so I had some experience with it before purchasing a copy sometime in-between (I may have purchased it from Mike).

Having found this copy, New in Box for what I was willing to pay for it, I ordered -- and it arrived this morning.


The Thieving Book, and the CharGen Rules


The character sheet, and a nifty coupon.

March 18th Game-

A lot happened in yesterday's/last night's session.

* Captain Qulak managed to convince the GYS forces in orbit around Cold Home not to strip the ships down. He also heard from his first officer of an alien weapons shipment, and ordered Kitsune's assistance in determining their worth. He then entered a Sla-Mu tea ceremony as the council awaited the arrival of the salvage ship that Jake recently joined up with. The occasion was the discussion about purchasing the plans to the Dark Drive they have devised.

* Osyl Molen, in the Vae Realm, is about to break a door that has been magically sealed for over 1k years.

* Kitsune met Princess Nyx, the Patron of Negative Lightning, and was commissioned to send more folks Nyx' way, as she is bored and lonely. To facilitate this, a cache of Thl Lower Planar energy weapons was offered. Kit was in the process of investigating when the merchant's craft was shorn in two by a beam originating from a planet-side defence site. She managed to MacGyver/bodge together a ejection system for Akheron and herself, and it worked. Medics on route were also fired upon, as was her fighter escort which was engaging the site. The area is over or near a lake roughly the size of Superior, and thin ice was involved.

* Tyb, investigating the odd goings-on in the miscibility of the Elemental Planes, heard of a site named, Red Feather Hill, not far out of Aqqomen, that seemed promising. His recent g/f blurted out that he was affiliated with the GYS, and a stranger at the bar departed soon after that; followed by Tyb. The confrontation demonstrated that the stranger was, in fact, a damaged android with partial programming. Tyb called in Ashta to assist with the Red Feather Hill investigation...

* Jake went in search of his new crew-mates (who had been summoned to the Electrum Arrow), but became entangled in the Tyb/Ashta thread.

* Ashta arrived to take the android and Tyb aboard the Pearl while they made their way to the hill. Along the way, Ashta told Pearl to repair 'Smith'. This proved ... complicated when the restored android shot her in the back.

* The android and its companions in possession of the near comatose Jake explain that they had been left on the planet to guard it and that since its star system fell into the pocket universe, 'Cold Home' has been experiencing increasing fluctuations in the core's magnetosphere. These fluctuations, in concert with the Elemental miscibility, threaten to destroy the planet. The android plan was to kill the pair in the hopes of having the duo's nexial energies removed from the equation. It is later explained that the destruction of Orcus' Plague Sword in Tyb's possession, and Ashta's Pearl, would suffice, possibly even flinging Cold Home back into Mundane Space. Tyb decided to stay behind and make certain the sword was destroyed, while Pearl sent Jake and Ashta to her Aetheric fortress prior to Pearl's destruction.

* As Ashta appeared in her rainbow-mirrored redoubt adrift in the eternal twilight of the Aetheric Plane, she heard sounds in the place, with the word, 'Mommy?' uttered by the daughter created in an alternate timeline about 9 months ago.

We held the session there.

Look Out Charlie Brown: The Baron's Deadly Shadow Fist!

LINK to help explain.