Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Looking forward to Events

I'm going to be running a full Halloween Judge Dredd Minis event or 2 or 3, (depends on who's having events those days.)
Rulebooks
I'm ordering Zombies, and Werewolves, and Demons oh my!

It will be a demo like no other.

You'll be playing the part of a ganger juve or other citizen to begin with, if you manage to get a kill you'll move up to a cadet, more kills means better and better characters to play.

I will need to make the scenario and get the models painted, but I have nearly 3 months.

Remember the Rulebooks the Judge Dredd Miniature game are FREE to download. (New rulebook is in the works with the Warlord fulfillment deal they've worked out.)

Basic Rulebook
Blockwar

Sunday, July 28, 2013

More on Monsters & Magic

Well now that I've pretty much recovered from last weekend and also after beginning my workout routine again. The rest of this week is going to be a bit hectic, as we have a ton of work to do , so lots of overtime will ensue.

Monsters & Magic has some unique mechanics, and while I wish I had gotten more of a playtest in at Gam3rCon, I think I got the gist of how it all works.

So for example, fighting against a Giant spider, the simple 3d6 mechanics I head read about hadn't really clicked at first, and the first couple of actions we ended up redoing after I remembered to add the effect die of the spell or weapon to the attack roll BEFORE calculating the end result. A really good result can end with an Effect, which is what happened when we started to play it right, first effect applied was as a -2 to the Armor class instead of the extra damage, making the AC lower meant more damage and possible effects being played out after the effect.

I do need to play this particular game MORE to continue progressing in my understanding. It may not be perfect for me, but it does have some fun elements...and some elements which seem familiar to what I had thought of for my own game.

Upcoming Events: Mini-Con at At Ease Sept 13-15

 So i received this missive from Warhorn; it appears At Ease Games will be having a Mini-Con featuring PFS games including boons:


  • to
  • 12373 Poway Road, Poway, CA (map)

  • 3 days of Pathfinder goodness, with prize support and boons from Paizo will be available from Friday September 13 through Sunday September 15 at At Ease Games in Poway. A whole lot of games will be offered including the Season 3 special Blood Under Absalom and 4 modules. Check out the schedule on the warhorn and sign up now:
    http://warhorn.net/at-ease-pfs
    The schedule is subject to change based on sign ups and requests, so feel free to contact the organizer and ask for a game you want and keep checking back for updates!
  • Insane week. Gam3rCon Photos

    Well it has been an insane week. It's amazing how taking a vacation turns into twice as much work upon returning back to the regularly scheduled events. In addition, I started my Geek back in Shape blog, the Quest for 18 con 18con.blogspot.com.

    Sean and Ian are still working on their reviews so here are the photos from Gam3rCon
    Here's the Training Day set-up I was running for Judge Dredd

    And here's the huge set-up using the old Necromunda terrain


    Richard of Evertide Games modifying cards for the upcoming Goblins: Alternate Realities

    Sean and Ian playing Munchkin in the middle you see the Munchkin Level up board

    Jesse Butler showing off his Short Order Heroes stuff from his Kickstarter

    We're playing Dungeon Lord tournament, which Sean won and resulted in a Risk - Metal Gear Solid prize courtesy of USAopoly.

    Pandemic!


    One of the 40 tables set-up, using the terrain on loan from Villainous Lair

    Jesse Butler sitting there for the 40k 1000pt tournament

    Ben Williams of Steve Jackson Games going over The Stars are Right.

    Powerbot Dice by John White. Look for the Kickstarter in the near future.

    This is the set-up I played. I won, pretty interesting game.

    PowerBot Dice demo with Sean, Ian, Ramon, and John White


    King of Tokyo game in progress

    Ash running World of Darkness with a bunch of staffers, including Mario Torres.

    Matt Rivaldi showing off some of Wiggitybang's line of games!

    Overview of Day 4

    Retrocade

    Day 5 of Judge Dredd, 20+ demos over the weekend, no negative response.


    Tuesday, July 23, 2013

    Event : King of Tokyo Qualifier tournament at Pair-a-Dice Games


     
     
    King of Tokyo US Champion Qualifier
    Saturday July 27th
    Come rage all out Kaiju warfare and claim the Gen Con World Championship spot as your own!

    4 Players at a time will battle it out to claim the crown. The winner from each pod will move to the next round, until finally a winner is crowned.

    Each round will consist of the following rules.
    ...
    1. For the tournament purpose, the basic King of Tokyo game will be used without any expansions or add-on.

    2. The tournament will be held in 4 qualifiers rounds of 1 hour and 1 final round with no time limit.

    The minimum size for an official King of Tokyo tournament is 4 players. Organizer can choose to add more rounds if they have more players.

    2.1. Each participant must fill a player card (PC) with their first and last name. The PC will be used to keep track of the score during the tournament and to determine the seating positions.

    3. Each qualifier round lasts 60 min.

    At end of the 60 minutes, the game stops and players are sorted according to their Victory Points (VP).

    3. Each player will receive Tournament Points (TP) according to the winning order of the game:

    1st: 7 TP

    2nd: 4 TP

    3rd: 2 TP

    4th: 1 TP

    5th: 1 TP

    In the event of only 1 pod, the winner of the 1st round will be determined to be the winner of the event.
     
    Saturday - Event July 27th
    Registration: 10AM
    Start: 12PM
    Cost: Free

    Please bring your copy of the game

    Monday, July 22, 2013

    And now back to our regularly scheduled blog.

    So obviously I haven't been posting much over the last 2 weeks...For good reason, I was extremely busy prepping for running 5 days of Judge Dredd miniatures...as well as trying to learn as much about both Monsters & Magic AND Machinations of the Space Princess.

    I had planned on running a DCC Adventure or two, but I was shot down as Mario Torres had already signed up to run 4 DCC, so Chris asked me to run something else; since +Sarah Newton had sent a copy of M&M for my review and since it's such a unique system, I decided to run it at SDGC.

    In further news I'm starting back at the gym, to get my 42 year old Geeky form into a more Greeky form. I will be tracking my progress by taking daily pictures of my chubby belly and hopefully transforming it back into at least a 6-pack over the next year or so.

    I was busy running Judge Dredd all weekend, so I left it up the Sean and Ian to play all the new games from the independent game designers, games like Mr. Card Game and I SMASH SF. They will be posting their own perspective articles later this week.

    The Judge Dredd mini games went GREAT. I ran about 25 demos over the 5 days, about 80% rated the games at Great. I had a 'Fucking Amazing',  a 'Made of Awesome', 'Awesome', '5/5' and many more, the lowest rating I had was a 'fair'; but since that person came from a WH40k demo, perhaps they like that type of play more; more power to them, as long as we're GAMING!

    There were lots of great minds there. +Jesse Butler , +Matthew Rivaldi , +Stephen Newton , +Benn Williams of #stevejacksongames and many more.

    If you didn't make it this year, try to make at least 1 day next year, and jump into an RPG, because we had many RPGs that just didn't take off this year.

    Pictures tomorrow, I'm tired for now, and once I figure out what my Geek in Shape blog is going to be named, I'll post it.

    Wednesday, July 17, 2013

    WOOO 30k hits! And Gam3rConis less than 24 hours away!

    Celebration time CMON!!! Hit 30,000 hits yesterday, Gam3rCon starts in 16 hours, what could be better than gaming, and having fun.

    Still have miniatures to paint in the morning, but otherwise, looking pretty good.


    Saturday, July 13, 2013

    Monsters & Magic Continuing review

    I have been fairly silent this last week on the blog because I have been prepping for Gam3rCon. 27 hours of Judge Dredd MG, Running the intro adventure to M&M And Running a free-form Machinations of the Space Princess.

    With Gam3rCon coming up, and me running an M&M event, I will be doing a big actual play review after the Con. The system is different enough from normal OSR and from FATE, that there will definitely be a learning curve.

    Here's some of the differences I have noticed. 

    • Dice 3d6 versus 1d20 (love this)
    • Everything has 1 attack...this attack covers all of your normal attacks over a turn, this is good, as it is based upon a cinematic style, when converting a monster from previous editions, multiple attacks of say 1d6/1d6/1d8 might be converted into 1d8+2, which is actually significant, since that pushes the totals up for the creation of an effect. 
    • Effects and Consequences: This is where the fate style play comes in. When you have an trait you can utilize, it's easy to start boosting your numbers up, pushing it toward a
    • Negative traits don't grant you FATE points in M&M, they give you extra XP if you complicate your life with them.
    • Primary traits, one of the strange aspects I find in M&M is the doubling of the Primary trait, this is perfectly fine in a rolled stat game; but when you get to a 4d6 arrange the stats kind of game, Munchkins are gonna come out of the woodwork. So creating fighter with a +4 STR bonus, that becomes a +8...HUGE
    EFFECTS & CONSEQUENCES
    This is where the game changes...a successful attack can just do HP damage, with Physical or Men tal based upon the type of attack. 


    WHAT EFFECTS DO
    When you create an effect, first select the game mechanical effect you want from the list below, then describe what that looks like. Suggestions for describing effects and consequences are given on pages 45 and 46.
    A minor effect (5 effect points)…
    • bestows a +2 bonus, or a -2 penalty (if a consequence), OR
    • removes an existing minor effect, OR
    • permits or forces the recipient to move 5 feet or one range band (page 51); you may disengage or engage while doing so; OR
    • lets you dismount a horse; OR
    • lets you mount a horse if not engaged in melee; OR
    • allows you to sheath or draw a weapon; OR
    • uses up a minor resource (one charge, arrow, dropped item, or single use of a multi-use item, like adventurer’s gear or a potion), OR
    • permits or forces a change of stance, OR
    • if the GM is defining the effect (including if it’s a consequence), she may make a GM reaction (page 46), advancing the current encounter step (page 75), including describing a monster action.
    A major effect (10 effect points)…
    • bestows a +4 bonus, or a -4 penalty (if a consequence), OR
    • removes an existing major effect, OR
    • permits or forces the recipient to move two range bands; you may disengage or engage while doing so; OR
    • lets you mount a horse if engaged in melee; OR
    • uses up a major resource (forget a spell (see sidebar), lose an entire piece of equipment, like a sword, shield, lockpicks, staff, or spellbook). The subject may be disarmed as a result. This may be repaired or replaced using a subsequent major effect.
    • as a GM reaction (page 46), the GM may move onto the next encounter step (page 75).
    An extreme effect (15 effect points)…
    • bestows a +6 bonus, or a -6 penalty (if a consequence), OR
    • removes an existing extreme effect, OR
    • disables one of the target’s special effects (page 47), including monstrous effects (page 101).
    Minor consequence
    You’re sickened, off-balance, demoralised; inconvenience someone you meant to help; suffer from adverse environmental conditions, a tactically disadvantageous moment, magic drain or minor spell backfire; or are knocked back or unnerved.
     Major consequence
    You’re knocked down, disarmed, befuddled, partially blinded, hallucinating, paralysed, immobilised, slowed, terrified; hurt someone you meant to heal; forget your spell (page 44); suffer a sprain or painful wound; or are bleeding heavily. 
    Extreme consequence 
    You’re maimed, concussed, staggered, totally blinded, suffer “magic block”, or one of your limbs is severed!


    As you can see from reading the list, there is definitely a lot of choices with the system, and thus a lot of flexibility.

    I look forward to running it at Gam3rcon...now back to creating PreGens. 

    Tuesday, July 9, 2013

    Machinations of the Space Princess (Race Traits)

    This is OSR done amazing. I'm really really really looking forward to running MotSP at Gam3rCon. 


    A little bit about character creation. RACE TRAITS

    Machinations of the Space Princess $11.99 at DTRPG

    How do you represent millions of variations between billions of planets? Pretty easily it seems, you create a couple dozen categories of trope like alien species, such as a Humanoid Hunter Feline:

    Hunter (Cultural)Hunter cultures value the hunting skill above
    all others and consider it an important
    cultural artefact. Even advanced species
    can glorify the hunt as a rite of passage or a
    connection to their more primitive forebears.
    Warrior: +1 Close and Ranged Attack.
    Weapon: +2 Skill levels with a particular type
    of weapon.
    Survival: +1 level to Survival skill.
    Stalker: +1 level to Stealth skill.
    Feline (Species)Feline species resemble Terran cats. They
    are often individualistic and aloof and can
    also seem cruel to other species.
    Acute Hearing: You can hear noises higher
    and lower than most and at greater distances
    with greater clarity.
    Graceful: +1 Dexterity.
    Natural Weapons: You may take this
    multiple times. Each time you take it the
    damage you can do with your natural
    weapons increases by one dice-type. EG: D4
    (the starting amount) rising to D6, then D8.
    You may not raise it above D12.
    Night Vision: You can see in reduced
    lighting as normal, but not in total darkness.
    Rapid Reaction: Your Reflexes save is
    increased by +2.
    Wary: Your Reflex and Logic saves are
    raised by +1 each.
    Vibration Sense: You can sense movement
    that disturbs that atmosphere ten metres in
    all directions if your whiskers are exposed to
    the air. 
    Humanoid (Species)
    The majority of successful species in the
    galaxy are humanoids and thanks to science
    and suspicious similarities in genetics many
    of these species can interbreed. Humanoid
    species benefit from being adaptable and
    gregarious.
    Adaptable: +1 Skill Point that can be spent
    anywhere.

    Now that seems pretty straight forward eh? And it is, except you only get to choose 3 of these options for free.

    You can take up to three race traits before
    you start taking penalties - the more alien
    you are the less easy it is to relate with and
    cope with interstellar society. If you take a
    fourth - or more - your Attributes start to take
    a hit. You lose four points of Charisma for
    your fourth trait and after that another -4 to
    another Attribute for every additional trait.
    You can’t take more than -8 away from any
    single Ability though.

    So lets make a few of these humanoid feline hunters:

    Felis Sapiens domesticus
    Able to survive in nearly any environment, the domestic house cat...evolved.
    Hunter: Survival: +1 level to Survival skill.
    Feline: Graceful: +1 Dexterity.
    Adaptable: +1 Skill Point that can be spent
    anywhere.
    "I'm gonna get you little fishy..." Cat makes his survival skill check.


    Felis Sapiens bastet
    Graceful
    Hunter: Weapon: +2 Skill levels with a particular type
    of weapon.Feline: Graceful: +1 Dexterity.
    Adaptable: +1 Skill Point that can be spent
    anywhere.
    Vibration Sense: You can sense movement
    that disturbs that atmosphere ten metres in
    all directions if your whiskers are exposed to
    the air.
    -4 charisma
    -4 charisma, not -4 comeliness!!!! 
    Felis Sapiens tigris 
    The tigris is scary, they are very predatory, and definitely eat meat, even human meat, sometimes they kill without thinking of the ramifications.
    Hunter: Warrior: +1 Close and Ranged Attack.
    Feline: Natural Weapons: d8 (3 traits)
    Humanoid: Adaptable: +1 Skill Point that can be spent anywhere.
    -4 Charisma, -4 Wisdom
    Big ugly claws and teeth.
    And now for the complete list of Aliens categories: (of 10)
    Ammonia Based (Exotic)
    Amoeboid (Species)
    Amphibian (Species)
    Aquatic (Species)
    Austere (Cultura)
    Avian (Species)
    Boron-based (Exotic)
    Canine (Species)
    Caste (Species) - Like from a hive culture
    Cephalopod (Species)

    Cetacean (Species)
    Chemosynthetic (Exotic)
    Chiropteran (Species)
    Cnidarian (Species)
    Criminal (Cultural)
    Cyborg (exotic)
    Dead (Exotic) - Like the dea guy from Lexx.
    Decadent (Culture)
    Defensive Adaptation (Species)
    Detached (Culture)

    Duplicitous (Cultural)
    Elemental (exotic)
    Energy (Cultural)
    Engineer (Cultural)
    Exotic Attack (exotic)
    Feline (Species)
    Fungal (Species) - Humanoid Hunter Fungus...Ork?
    Giant (Species) - Giant space Hamsters!!!!!
    Herbivore (Species)
    High Gravity (Species)

    Humanoid (Species)
    Hunter (Cultural)
    Insectoid  (Species)
    Intellectual (Cultural)
    Libertine (Cultural)
    Low Gravity (Species)
    Metal-Oxide Based (Exotic)
    Methane Based (Exotic)
    Molluscan (Species)
    Nocturnal (Species)

    Ophidian (Species)
    Pacifistic (Cultural)
    Parasitic  (Species)
    Photosynthetic (Species)
    Piscean (Species)
    Plant  (Species)
    Poisonous (Species)
    Predator (Species)
    Primate (Species)
    Psychic (Exotic)

    Reptilian (Species)
    Robotic (Species)
    Rodentine (Species) - Giant space Hamsters!!!!!
    Scavenger (Species)
    Sessile (Species)
    Shapeshifter (Exotic)
    Silicon-Based (exotic)
    Software (Species)
    Spiritual (Species)
    Swarm (Exotic)

    Thermosynthetic (Exotic)
    Tiny (Species)
    Vacuum (Exotic) - Giant space Hamsters!!!!!
    Venomous (Species)
    Warrior (Culture)
    Zero Gravity (Exotic)

    YES!!! That is sixty-six different racial trait categories!!! Each with 3-7 traits...

    And of course humans...

    This one thing makes Machinations of the Space Princess worth the $11.99 price of PDF admission!!!!

    Sunday, July 7, 2013

    Gam3rCon Schedule

    So, here's my tentative schedule for Gam3rCon.

    Wednesday Night
    6pm-midnight (6 hours)
    Judge Dredd Miniature Game - Full Eagle Day
    Mongoose Infantry presents: Full Eagle Day (A Judge Dredd Miniature Game demonstration)
    Come demo the Judge Dredd Miniature Game with this fun demo scenario:
    Play the side of Judge Giant and an heroic Cadet as they deal with a typical day on the job for the Judges of Mega City One! Or play the side of a punk gang, the 98% of the unemployed of MegaCity One, as they get harassed by that do-gooder Judge Giant and a pesky cadet.

    Thursday 
    2:00-7:00 PM (5 hours)
    Judge Dredd Miniature Game - Full Eagle Day
    Mongoose Infantry presents: Full Eagle Day (A Judge Dredd Miniature Game demonstration)
    Come demo the Judge Dredd Miniature Game with this fun demo scenario:
    Play the side of Judge Giant and an heroic Cadet as they deal with a typical day on the job for the Judges of Mega City One! Or play the side of a punk gang, the 98% of the unemployed of MegaCity One, as they get harassed by that do-gooder Judge Giant and a pesky cadet.

    7:00-11:00? (3-6 players)
    Monsters & Magic RPG
    Silvermoon, Introductory Adventure.
    Welcome to MONSTERS & MAGIC, an "Old School Renaissance" fantasy roleplaying game with a difference! Combining the atmosphere of classic fantasy games with modern RPG mechanics, Monsters & Magic lets you use old school fantasy gaming material with little or no conversion with a new and innovative set of rules. Battle giants, defeat dragons, explore deadly dungeons and mysterious wilderlands - and bring your favourite adventures, supplements, spellbooks, and bestiaries to brilliant new life! 

    Friday 
    2:00-7:00 PM (5 hours)
    Judge Dredd Miniature Game - Full Eagle Day
    Mongoose Infantry presents: Full Eagle Day (A Judge Dredd Miniature Game demonstration)
    Come demo the Judge Dredd Miniature Game with this fun demo scenario:
    Play the side of Judge Giant and an heroic Cadet as they deal with a typical day on the job for the Judges of Mega City One! Or play the side of a punk gang, the 98% of the unemployed of MegaCity One, as they get harassed by that do-gooder Judge Giant and a pesky cadet.

    7:00-11:00? PM (4+ hours) 4-8 players (13+ please)
    Machinations of the Space Princess RPG
    "When in Romanax Sector..." A First level romp through the sword and raygun science fantasy universe...Character creation included from 7:00-8:00, or use a pregen and show up at 8:00. character creation is robust, with lots and lots of options available for aliens, humans, androids, you name it, it's probably there.

    What is Machinations of the Space Princess? Machinations of the Space Princess is a Science-Fantasy role-playing game. That means it’s very much about style over substance, mixing science-fiction, magic and psionics in a game world that owes much more to Metal Hurlant and Star Wars than it does to 2001 or Bova’s Grand Tour. This is a game of strangeness and fun, of space pirates and beautiful alien princesses, of living planets and robot hordes, of blasters at noon.
    This is..."Sexy, sleazy, swords and sci-fi!"
    A full game combining old and new school thinking, packed with GM and player advice and with simple tools for creating your own monsters, adversaries, weapons, armour, ships and alien races.

    Saturday 
    2:00 open, since I want to play at least one game.

    6:00-midnight (6 hours)
    Judge Dredd Miniature Game - Full Eagle Day
    Mongoose Infantry presents: Full Eagle Day (A Judge Dredd Miniature Game demonstration)
    Come demo the Judge Dredd Miniature Game with this fun demo scenario:
    Play the side of Judge Giant and an heroic Cadet as they deal with a typical day on the job for the Judges of Mega City One! Or play the side of a punk gang, the 98% of the unemployed of MegaCity One, as they get harassed by that do-gooder Judge Giant and a pesky cadet.


    Sunday 
    2:00-7:00 PM (5 hours)
    Judge Dredd Miniature Game - Full Eagle Day
    Mongoose Infantry presents: Full Eagle Day (A Judge Dredd Miniature Game demonstration)
    Come demo the Judge Dredd Miniature Game with this fun demo scenario:
    Play the side of Judge Giant and an heroic Cadet as they deal with a typical day on the job for the Judges of Mega City One! Or play the side of a punk gang, the 98% of the unemployed of MegaCity One, as they get harassed by that do-gooder Judge Giant and a pesky cadet.

    Saturday, July 6, 2013

    Gam3rCon Events (OSR & Judge Dredd Minis)


    Just a heads-up San Diegans who aren't heading to San Diego Comic Con, Gam3rCon is coming up.

    I will be running multiple sessions of Judge Dredd miniature games, i have a lot more new models now as well, so I will be running a bit of a different scenario. I still have to design it, but it should be interesting. I think it will be Judge Giant running a cadet through their Full Eagle Day. This will give the players a chance to see an actual hero in play; and make them have to attempt to make arrests. This will be Giant and a cadet versus a group of punks (played by me or by another player.)

    As far as Roleplaying sessions; I didn't end up with DCCRPG slots, since another GM filled up all the slots for DCCRPG, but I hope I'll get a chance to play then.

    Anyway, that leaves me open to running some new stuff; As part of my review cycle for Monsters & Magic, I'm going to run it at SDGC! I will be running the adventure contained with the book, since it's a new game it shouldn't be like running into Mr. Bubbles for the 10th time in Paranoia.


    Secondly, Machinations of the Space Princess was released!!! FLICK YEAH!!! So I will definitely be running that!! Even if we JUST go through character creation and run the introductory adventure.

    http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/images/384/116412.jpg
    Machinations of the Space Princess is a Science-Fantasy role-playing game. That means it’s very much about style over substance, mixing science-fiction, magic and
    psionics in a game world that owes much more to Metal Hurlant and Star Wars than it does to 2001 or Bova’s Grand Tour. This is a game of strangeness and fun, of space
    pirates and beautiful alien princesses, of living planets and robot hordes, of blasters at noon.
    This is…

    Sexy, sleazy, swords and sci-fi!

    A full game combining old and new school thinking, packed with GM and player advice and with simple tools for creating your own monsters, adversaries, weapons, armour, ships and alien races.







    Thursday, July 4, 2013

    Happy 4th of July

    It's the end of the 4th now, the 5th has already started on the East coast.

    So a Late Happy 4th of July, and I hope everyone had a safe and sane one.

    I utilized the 25% off coupon for Pair-a-Dice Games to get the Guilds expansion for Dominion. Pretty fun. Though I think the Candlestick Maker is underpriced....by a longshot.

    Tuesday, July 2, 2013

    Monsters & Magic Character Creation Walk-thru

    OK so I'm going to go ahead and walk-thru character creation by actually CREATING a character.


    • 1. Generate your attributes (see below), and select your race and character class (pages 10 and 14). Use your character concept (see box), if you have one, to help you do this.
    • 2. Make any racial adjustments to your attributes indicated by your racial write-up (like a +2 Dexterity, etc).
    • 3. Write down your character’s racial traits (pages 10-13), or use the appropriate racial traits card from the appendices (page 127).
    • 4. Write down your ATT modifiers (page 8). Double the ATT modiifier for your character’s prime attribute, determined by his class (page 14).
    • 5. Write down your character’s level: characters begin at level 1.
    • 6. Write down your character’s physical hit points, calculated by adding your character’s Constitution score to the maximum possible die roll on your character’s physical hit die (determined by his character class).
    • 7. Write down your character’s mental hit points, adding your character’s Wisdom score to his maximum possible mental hit die score (again, determined by character class).
    • 8. Write down your character’s class traits (pages 15-24), or use the appropriate class traits card from the appendices. Don’t write down any advancements yet.
    • 9. Write down any class restrictions your character has.
    • 10. If your character can cast spells (ie is a magic user or cleric), work out how many spell levels he has, and choose his spells from Chapter 7: Magic, as indicated in his character class write-up.
    • 11.Roll the dice to determine your character’s starting money in gold pieces (gp), as indicated in his character class write-up.
    • 12.Finalise your character (page 24), choosing his alignment, goal, first (and possibly second) advancement, hero points, starting equipment, and armour class; and also by filling in his age, height, weight, sex, weight carried, and maybe a physical description.
    • 13.You’re ready to play!


    First step: Generate Ability Scores. I'm going to go Old School, 3d6 in order.

    Strength 5
    Dexterity 8
    Constitution 10
    Intelligence 10
    Wisdom 15
    Charisma 12

    Up until I rolled that 15 I thought I was looking at a waste of a character sheet, but that 15 Wisdom, that will create a Cleric with a 10% experience bonus.

    And I think I'll base my race upon improving the weak stats. So I will pick a Half-orc, modifying my stats by +2 Str, -2 Int, and -2 Cha to non-orcs.

    • Torn Between Two Natures.
    • Speak Orcish: as well as the Common tongue.
    • Infravision: see in the dark up to 60ft.
    • Brutish and Strong.
    • Savage and Intimidating.

    Step 4.
    Strength 7 (-2)
    Dexterity 8 (-1)
    Constitution 10 (0)
    Intelligence 8 (-1)
    Wisdom 15 (+4) this is doubled
    Charisma 12/10 (+1/+0)

    Step 5. Level 1

    Step 6: Physical Hit Points, Constitution Score 10 + 8 (maximum 1d8 Hit die) = 18 PHP

    Step 7: Mental Hit Points, Wisdom Score 15 + 6 (max 1d6 hit die) = 21 MHP

    Step 8: Write down Cleric Traits

    • Turn Undead
    • Religious Lore: you’re schooled in temple matters and the affairs of the gods.
    • Clerical Magic: cast clerical spells and counterspells. See below.
    • Use Temple Weapons: use the weapons espoused by your temple.
    • Wear Light and Medium Armour and Use Shields.
    • Devotion to Deity: acquire a specific trait representing the beliefs and attitudes of your deity’s worshippers. See “Gods and Demigods” below. 
    Step 9. Class dCan't play neutral alignment.

    Step 10. Choose spells. 5 levels of spells (1 for being first level, +4 for wisdom bonus.) 

    Step 11. Roll for Cash (3d6x10gp) Rolled 16, so 160 GP, That's a lot of equipment for someone who can't carry much equipment.

    Step 12. Finalize Character. Alignment Neutral Good, Goal: Bring Prosperity to the Downtrodden. , Advance: Mother to the Motherless. Judging by her stats, this is a gangly uncoordinated half-orc, so I'll make her 6'8" tall but only 145 lbs. She's young and grew up on the streets as an Orphan, so she likes to protect the little guy. She's not wholly unattractive, taking after her mother, but she does have prominent orc tusks, making others leery of her. And that's about it, other than fully fleshing it out.





    Hah, I just started rolling up stats again for the fun of it, (18, 13, 16, 15, 12, 8) Yes, that was on straight 3d6.


    Monsters & Magic Review (part 1)

    This is the first part of a multi-part review of Monsters & Magic, the new OSR ruleset by Sarah Newton.



    First I'll cover what the game's goals, it's hopes and dreams. The basic mechanics, etc.

    Basic Mechanics: Tosses the d20 and utilizes 3d6, I like it already, as you must know if you read my blog about my d20 hate.

    Here are some of the gaming concepts which differentiate Monsters & Magic from the original classic fantasy rules:

    Narrative freedom. If you can describe your character doing it, the rules should model it. If you want to draw on your love for the dead king to persuade the tournament audience to give you their moral support in resisting the intimidating power of the Black Knight’s reputation, the rules should let you do so. Monsters & Magic does so, seamlessly.

    Interpersonal mechanics. Do you want to terrify your foes? Confound your enemies at the Sages’ Guild with webs of logical argument? Drive men and women wild with your beauty and charms? Monsters & Magic lets you do these things.

    Teamwork and leadership. The Monsters & Magic system lets you model characters giving one another aid and advice; warlords briefing their troops, strategists planning the battle, thieves casing the temple sanctum and orchestrating an elaborate heist. Rules for collaborating and helping others provide layered and flexible mechanics 
    Monsters & Magic incorporates many other roleplaying concepts, as well as a few innovative tweaks you may not have seen before. It’s a fresh look at classic fantasy gaming, a way to explore new vistas in your favourite fictional worlds. We hope you’ll like it…

    At the heart of M&M is The Effect Engine. This is an interesting system, utilizing the 3d6 roll versus the resistance (target number or contested roll); the result ends with either positive or negative effect points. Effect points are used to buy...effects! Negative results result in consequences (fumbles) to you. Similar to FATE, which makes perfect sense since Sarah also wrote Legends of Anglerre, a Fantasy FATE system.

    Traits in M&M don't rely upon hero points to be used, rather they just provide bonuses when they do apply.

    Rounds in M&M veer pretty far from traditional D&D, going from 6 seconds to a full minute. But more on gameplay later.

    Character Creation
    This part feels like Old School character gen, with a few twists.
    First off, the 6 ability scores will be very familiar:
    Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.

    Stats are derived in a manner common to old school dice rolls (various, including 3d6, 4d6, even 5d6 drop 2.) or from point buy.

    The attribute modifiers, this is where things start to deviate a little. First, they seem similar to 3rd edition, 10-11=+1, 12-13=+1, 18+=4, etc, looks like 3.5. This holds true except for the prime attribute.Prime attributes 'double' the bonus, and if the stat had a penalty, it is bumped up by two. This means a character with an 18 in a primary has a +8 bonus...WOW, that's huge. I need to see this in play to see if it's too powerful. Now, it doesn't appear that the stats increase above 18 at this point. Sub-classes (more on these later) have a secondary attribute as well. A Primary stat 15+ gains a 10% XP bonus.

    As secondary stat doesn't grant the double ATT bonus, it actually makes a Fighter/Magic-User and the Magic-User/Fighter different on a whole other level.

    Races
    Again, the races feel familiar, utilizing attribute modifiers which should feel normal to anyone who has played OGL. Elves have the +2 Dex, and -2 Con for example. It does have some old school feel, dropping the class freedom which came with 3rd edition. Dwarves can't be magic-users as another example, and half-orcs have -2 charisma with other races.Where M&M deviates race wise is the the traits. This is where the influence of FATE really starts to appear; Highly Adaptable, is a human trait, but you're allowed to rename these traits while keeping them mechanically the same, in order to fit your character's vision; so if you have a character that is good at everything, change it to Jack-of-all-Trades. The Elven trait of Keen Perception, could be called: Eyes of the Falcon.

    In addition to Racial Traits, there are background and cultural traits. These traits lend much to extended play. Perhaps your character was a Gong Farmer, and you're searching for clues to what happened to the family at the abandoned farmhouse, you'd get a bonus to your search through the gong for clues!

    Feats in M&M are called advancements. (more on this in part 2.) For example a human starts with 2 advances instead of just 1.

    Classes & Sub-Classes
    The normal gamut of classes is available in M&M, however many races are restricted in class selection. There's so much to character creation, that tomorrow (Part 2) I'm going to actually do a step-by-step character creation, I'll cover some of the class selections, etc.

    More t Come:
    One interesting thing I'm really looking forward to reading about is scaling. The game starts at Adventure scale, but ramps up to heroic, epic, legendary, and finally mythic...but that part comes later.

    THERE is a LOT to absorb in this book, it features lots of Old School feel, but you need to comprehend everything before you can really enjoy it.