Traverse Fantasy

There’s a certain house rule I’ve seen a couple times that you can convert typical to-hit armor class in D&D Fifth Edition by subtracting 10 from the original value, and then using the new value as damage reduction (to a minimum of 0?). For example, 10 becomes -0 and 20 becomes -10. This is pretty straightforward, and also interfaces more cleanly with DEX modifiers (e.g., rather than having a base AC of 10 + DEX: your base AC just equals your DEX, and armor provides a bonus to this value). The issue is that this obscenely decreases the damage output of characters. Adding Proficiency Bonus to Damage Let’s take the AC 15 orc, against which a typical starting character might have +5 to attack and +3 damage (the difference due to them not adding their proficiency to their damage roll). Originally, the attacking character has a 55% chance to land a hit, and deals on average 7.5 damage per hit (assuming a weapon with d8 base damage). This results in a complete average of 4.125 damage...

Expanding upon a comment I posted in reply to hdp on my post about modes of play ! The original thing I said: … I think we would benefit from thinking less about strict/specific mechanics and more about broader principles that can be applied between activities. How much time does something take? What will it cost? What does it risk? Thinking more generally about the impact of character decisions and activities, as opposed to modeling and simulating specific activities (or fitting a variety of activities into the same mold). That’s just my opinion, though! What they asked: How broad are you thinking? Fate-style “everything is one of create advantage/overcome/attack/defend” or more specific? I’m thinking of the way Stonetop has Expedition and Homefront moves, but looking again those all end up with different mechanics so maybe that’s not what you mean. I think those options are all from the standpoint of character actions, but I was referring to the costs/risks/benefits of activ...

We have goblin (halfling) and half-devil (elf) characters in the OD&D / FMC campaign I’m running , which has led me to start thinking about how they actually ‘work’. This got me thinking that it might be worthwhile to compile the modified character rules I’m using, which take influence from Necropraxis and Swords & Wizardry . I also played a bit with experience points and levels; for example, I reduced the peak experience requirements for fighters and mages, and also reduced the mage’s peak level from 11 to 10. The goal has been to not mess with the quirky bits of OD&D , retaining the same general experience and play-style while making it more intuitive. I'm most proud of the one-roll turn undead table. Class Selection This is what I’m doing for characters to start mid-level: roll prime requisites, and apply the relative bonuses as written. Multiple your prime requisite for each class by 1,000, and that’s your starting experience in that class should you accept it....

I’m annoyed at people who are uppity about THAC0 and say something like, “It’s just simple subtraction!” However, it’s not for the reason you might think. Like yeah, I don’t use THAC0 because it’s kinda annoying and introduces a wider range of armor class values than I care to use. But the reason it bothers me is because you don’t have to read it as subtraction at all. It’s much easier to read it as an inverted attack roll, where you roll greater than your attack value and use your target’s armor class as a “bonus”. It’s just algebra. The typical formula below: d20 ≥ THAC0 - AC Becomes: d20 + AC ≥ THAC0 And that’s all there is to it (or, at least, all there should be to it). What got me thinking about this was Delta’s Target 20 house rule , where you roll d20 plus your fighter level plus the target’s AC, attempting to roll greater than or equal to 20. This is basically the same thing as THAC0 except with separate attack bonuses, which is to say that both of the typical D...

The football field is my favorite (informal) unit of measuring length. At least, over here, we compare everything to the length of a football field. The Titanic was almost three football fields long. The Empire State Building is just over four football fields tall. You can fit about three blue whales lengthwise across a football field. And so on. Many of us went to public schools with football fields, or went to college at a super sportsy university where football games were the main event of the fall. So, they're quite familiar. Yet more than being a handy frame of reference, the football field is also just an extremely handy unit of measure for long distances. The field is 100 yards long, with every 10 (and 5) yards demarcated with white paint on the turf. That's equal to 300 feet. When you include the endzones, that's an additional 60 feet or 20 yards. It might be a huge distance when you think about it, but in person it's not really that big of a deal. I was thin...

Above is a WIP background for a referee screen, drawn by Emiel Boven for Errant by Ava Islam ! Okay, whatever, I keep mentioning this in private conversations and meant to write about it at some point. I just kept forgetting. But now I'm in front of a computer drinking an afternoon coffee and we're all talking about related stuff again. Here you go! The Old: Tiers of Play There are three tiers of play in classic D&D (pictured above is Fantastic Medieval Campaigns ): Underworld (lvl. 1-3): Corresponding roughly with the 'flunky' character level in Chainmail , this phase involves expeditions into the underworld to fight monsters and retrieve treasure. Wilderness (lvl. 4-7): Corresponds with the 'heroic' level in Chainmail , this phase is about exploring and conquering the wilderness. Dominion (lvl. 8+): Corresponds with the 'superheroic' level in Chainmail , this phase is about building a domain and employing armies. The main point I want to get ...

I had the sudden realization that since horses and mules in OD&D have a maximum load they can carry, that is applicable not only for carrying cargo but also for carrying riders plus whatever they are wearing or carrying as well. Below is the maximum load for each type of equine, in coins and pounds. Equine Load (cn) Load (lb) Horse, light 3,000 300 Horse, medium 3,750 375 Horse, heavy 4,500 450 Horse, draft 4,500 450 Mule 3,500 350 Below are assumed weights of riders, in pounds, at different degrees of encumbrance. We can guess that, at a minimum, they are using a saddle (anywhere from 15 to 60 lb) and other equipment in order to ride the horse. Barding (horse armor) weighs 75 lb, so count that in as well if you have it; on a tangent, maybe it improves the horse’s AC by 2 pips from 7 [12] to 5 [14]. Rider No Backpack Backpack Unarmored 200 lb 225 lb Leather armor 225 lb 250 lb Chainmail armor 250 lb 275 lb Plate armor...