Tag: dungeons & dragons

Random Encounters by Area

In this episode Hannah and myself are discussing my recent decision to have random encounter charts for specific areas in my OSE campaign and the things to keep in mind if you decide to do likewise.

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Thursday Bonus Episode – Reactions to the first episode of the D&D Cartoon

There’s no voicemail episode this Thursday but Hannah and myself have been doing a test recording for a Youtube series where we’re going to talk about fantasy films and how you can take RPG inspiration from them, in this bonus episode we talk about some of our reactions to the first episode of the classic D&D cartoon series.

  • Show being Reviewed: Dungeons & Dragons (Cartoon Series)
  • Produced by: Marvel Productions
  • Originally released: September 1983 – December 1985
  • No challenge intended to any copyrights past or present.

Streets with Number: First Draft Rules

Here are my first draft rules for Streets with Numbers, my kludged Faction Rules for my OSR Midderlands, Greater Lunden game (although I’ll probably work for other games). Please give them a go, play around with them and let me know what you think.

Faction Stats

– Influence: A measure both of the Faction’s size and control over their surroundings.

– Might: A measure of the Faction’s ability to cause change through use of physical force.

– Cunning: A representative of the Faction’s ability to monitor and block others actions through subterfuge.

– Resources: An abstract representation of how wealthy a Faction is, each resource point represents approx. 5000 gold pieces.

– Goal: A summary of the Faction’s main aim at present.

– Assets: Distinct assets possessed by the Faction, they grant particular bonuses or abilities, based on their nature.

The Faction Turn

At regular intervals the GM carries out a Faction turn.

This is a mini-game that the GM runs between sessions (we recommend a Faction Turn every 4 sessions or so, but this may vary if you have downtime periods).

When the Faction Turn is completed the GM should drop hints/news into their sessions about what is occurring in the wider arena of their game world.

Each Downtime Turn a Faction may perform 1 action per 5 points of Influence it has.

A list of potential Faction Actions is offered below.

Faction Actions

– Attack Another Faction: May attack a faction with not more than 5 influence above them. Both attacker and defender roll 1D6 and add their Might. If attacker wins they take 1 influence or 2 resource (their choice) from the loser.

– Expand Influence: Increasing Influence costs 5 Resource points per point of Influence gained. Only one point of Influence may be gained this way per Faction Turn.

A Factions with a higher Influence can block this action by roll 1D6 + Cunning, if the result is 6 or more, the Influence is not gained but the money is still lost.

– Earn Resources: If unopposed the Faction earns 1 resource point. This can be blocked in the same way as Expanding Influence.

– Purchase Asset: Spend Resources to purchase an asset, each purchase is one action (a list of assets will be provided in a future post).

– Use Asset Ability: Use special ability of an asset.

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Streets with Numbers: Faction Rules

I’ve long been a fan of the Stars Without Number game (written by Kevin Crawford), and am currently playing in an ongoing campaign run by Johannes Paavola, where I play Katherine O’Brien ship mechanic and recently awakened Artificial Intelligence. SWN uses an adapted and slightly more detailed version of the standard D&D/OSR ruleset with a skill system and all manner of other sci-fi gubbinz layered on top of it, skirting the line between crunchiness and simplicity. In my opinion it walks that tightrope well, without ever falling off.

One of the great thing about the game are the Faction Rules; in essence this series of rules allow the GM to create groups or factions within their setting–giving them loose stats and resources–and then run a sort of background mini-game where these factions plot, scheme and attempt to overcome each other. The game recommends that the GM do a faction turn every four games or so and that they drip-feed in rumours and news so that the players get hint of what is going on.

These rules create a really dynamic setting that feels like it is always in motion, it is never in suspended-animation or sleep-mode, waiting for the player characters to appear on the scene. I love this, but I don’t run a lot of sci-fi games to be honest, and most of the OSR-style games I run are a good deal simpler (rules-wise) than SWN, so I’ve turned my thoughts to adapting/creating a similar set of rules for a fantasy game.

I particularly want a set of rules that will work in my current Midderlands game, allowing me to represent the shifting tapestry of Guilds and organisations at work in Great Lunden.

What the rules need to include:

  • A method to generate HP for a faction.
  • A simplified set of stats for factions, which must include:
    • Physical force.
    • Cunning/Underhand dealings.
    • Wealth.
  • A method for judging the size of a faction.
  • Rules for adjudicating conflicts between factions and their effects.
  • A system for determining what resources a faction has at their disposal.
  • A system for dealing with wealth and purchasing new resources, this must be translatable into player-level wealth.

I’m planning to create a few posts dealing with this subject and then–assuming I get some rules that I’m happy with–I’ll probably collate them into a single page cheatsheet style dealio and post it on the podcast. All of the posts will be gathering under the heading Faction Rules.

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Purple Worm S01E01: Old School Essentials, Wolves of God and Weird Games

In the first episode of the Purple Worm podcast we talk about some recent games that have tickled our fancy and start delving into the subject of weird games:

Our RSS feed is: https://anchor.fm/s/f74b65c/podcast/rss

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If you want to get in touch leave a voicemail on the anchor app or email us at purplewormpodcast@gmail.com, if we can’t answer your voicemail on this podcast we’ll do our best to address it in one of our individual casts.

Random Thing: What does that Lunden building look like?

When you’re wandering around the streets of Great Lunden in the Midderlands there are a number of important buildings marked specifically on the map, but what about those buildings that aren’t marked?

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