Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Potions
Quite a few retroclones make use of the idea that you can identify potions by sipping them, allowing quick identification at the cost of potentially exposing yourself to poison or worse. I like this idea, though in practice my players have not bit- they're genre savvy enough to know what happens.
I was playing a roguelike called Dungeon Crawl, and the mechanic sort of clicked for me- in that game, you accumulate unknown potions with very specific colors- the colors are randomized at the beginning of a game. So when you have 10 potions of one color, it suddenly becomes an ok deal to risk the atrophication of your limbs in order to have a very common potion known. Indeed, in that game you build a collection of known colors. Consistency is key- if you're being consistent with your potion descriptions, sipping should become slightly less of a fool's deal.
So, I put together a quick set of tables to roll on for basic descriptions. And, since I'm in dire need of content for this blog, I'm posting it here. You don't need to completely randomize your potions- indeed, it may make sense to have a potion of water breathing blue and smell like the sea, so do that. This is more for when you draw up a potion as loot and need a quick prompt to describe it. These are not, generally speaking, evocative descriptions, like the kind you might get from Patrick Stuart. They are short and to the point.
Roll on as many of the tables as you want to. Roll a d10 to confine yourself to what I arbitrarily considered "basic" colors, or a d20 to have a larger variety.
Just, write down what you get for each potion, so you can be consistent in the future.
Basic Potion Colors (d10)
1. Red
2. Blue
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Orange
6. Purple
7. White
8. Black
9. Grey
10. Clear
Advanced Potion Colors (d20)
11. Brown
12. Teal
13. Pink
14. Gold
15. Silver
16. Bronze
17. Magenta
18. Rust
19. Crimson
20. Rainbow
Modifications (d8)
1. Gold/ Silver Flecks
2. Contains tooth/bone/rat tail/toenail/ other gross detail
3. Light [Color]
4. Dark [Color]
5. Smokey or Faded
6. Two Basic Colors Swirled together
7. Fizzy
8. Thick, like the consistency of Yogurt
Smells (d12)
1. Like fresh water
2. Completely Odorless
3. Acidic or Sulfuric
4. Delicious
5. Absolutely Nasty, like a toilet or something.
6. Like Perfume
7. Flowers or Pine
8. Like Alcohol
9. Like Smoke
10. Nostalgic
11. Like Tree Sap
12. Like the Sea
Not a huge fan of the smells in their current state, but they'll do.
Taste (d6)
1. Tasteless
2. Hearty, like soup broth
3. Bitter / Sour
4. Sweet
5. Spicy, like drinking tabasco
6. Like Alcohol.
By the time they taste it, it's too late to identify. So this last table is just for if they ask.
Other Identification Methods
Here is what I allow.
- Someone with an alchemist class or background should automatically know most basic types of potions, and should be able to make an INT check for more niche potions. I love rewarding backgrounds.
- Paying an Alchemist or Wizard for their identification. Be arbitrary with prices, drain your player's gold away!
- Looking at an alchemist's wares to figure out the colors of potions being sold. 25% chance the item is mislabeled, by accident or malice- such mislabeling would naturally be corrected at purchase, but an alchemist isn't going to do much for window shopping.
-Spending valuable downtime doing research. Maybe a week per potion?
- Spells of Identification, if they exist. I limit these most of the time.
- Test on hirelings. Hirelings are not PCs, and may not know exactly what it does from a sip, but they can provide hints. If they don't drop dead.
- Test on animals. Animals cannot talk in most cases, but this test will at least determine if it is lethal or not. This is not something good, well adjusted adventurers do.
- For basic potions of healing, skip this whole song and dance. The characters are competent and know what healing potions look like.
So ultimately, I doubt anyone is going to sip unknown potions... but there should be a lot of pressure to do so. It should be really tempting. Especially if you get one in the middle of the dungeon while your resources are running dry.. Maybe someone will break. And it'll turn out fine, because most potions are fine. So they'll taste test more and more... until one day, their luck runs out.
---
One last note: I am sure I am not the first person to create something like this. If you know of similar pages, please let me know!
Friday, May 10, 2019
Slot based Inventory
(Note: Scroll to the bottom of the post for full system minus commentary)
I keep seeing posts about Slot based inventory systems. Which is weird, since in the OSR space I inhabit encumbrance is more or less solved.
Don't use weight. Weight is bad. Might as well not track items at all. Use inventory slots.
The basic solution goes like this:
"You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR or CON. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored."
Bam. Simple. Elegant. Except we gotta make some definitions. Because that by itself is vague and wishy-washy and while that may suit some people, some other important people, like your players, may potentially get stressed out about needing to ask all the time about the details. So we gotta flesh out the rule a little bit:
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
What about bundling? This gets tricky. I've settled on the following two rules, which are by no means standard:
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10.
(Suddenly, Spell Scrolls and Potion Bags are very, very useful!)
(Also, don't track ammo unless it is magical. Buy a quiver, go crazy. It is so, so very rare that mundane ammo numbers matter.)
At this point some people are done. But others look at this and are like "woah we can only carry up to our STR? That's almost nothing".
One response is "use hirelings". To a degree, that's my response too, but encumbrance is fun and useful in it's own way. So, super simple encumbrance rules.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
This may be a little overly harsh, but it's better than my base rule would be. Yora at Spriggan's Den has a three tiered encumbrance system that is much more forgiving for players, but requires you to actually calculate exact movespeed, which I don't actually do. Different strokes for different folks, it's a fine system. In any case, I recommend hirelings and pack animals if you don't want to deal with the penalties. (PS: I grabbed the idea of Insignificant items from Yora's post just now, I'd been grappling with a term to describe them and now I have it!)
So, lets put these rules all together!
---
The Encumbrance System to End All Encumbrance systems
You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count, even though Torches are large.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
----
Oh no, that's 4 paragraphs, wasn't this supposed to be simple?
In our quest to create super rules-lite gameplay, we sometimes get stuck on short length to the point where it's harmful. Most of what is here should be very intuitive, but will dramatically cut down on player questions and stress. It's worth the space, IMO. Anything that you cut will need to be talked about, probably over and over. I'd still consider this super simple and elegant compared to most inventory systems.
---
So how do you visually represent this on your page?
Have an inventory page as an example. Let's say you have 9 STR.
*1) BIG 2H SWORD
*2) XXXXXXXX
*3) [3 POTIONS- Healing, Invisibility, Unidentified]
4) LEATHER ARMOR
5) LARGE GOLD STATUE
6) XXXXXXXXX
7) XXXXXXXXX
8) XXXXXXXXX
9) [SCROLL CASE (5/5): Magic Missile x2, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, Fireball]
I use XXXX's to represent slots that are used, but you can use anything that makes it obvious the slot is taken. I use brackets here to indicate items that are bundled together. Allcaps is optional.
The * refer to quick slots- I use one more rule, you get a number of quick slots equal to your DEX mod, which can be freely equipped mid battle with no action loss. I like this rule but it's really optional so this is the only place I'll mention it.
---
As a player, I enjoy this system to no end. I love my equipment mattering, I love the feeling of my armor class going through the roof as I decide I don't need free slots when plate mail and shields exist. I love knowing exactly how much I can carry, without worrying that I messed up my math, because I am bad at math.
I recognize not all players are going to be so thrilled, but if they can't handle this, I can't see them doing well with ANY inventory system.
---
One final consideration: The question of unusually low strength.
In an old school OSR game (as opposed to newfangled "adventure" games like Knave), this will suck if you roll a 3 STR or something. It's always going to suck in that case, but in a "weight" game it's easier to cheat since no one is keeping track anyway. In this system, it's going to be really obvious how little you can carry.
I like allowing the following rule in character creation: 3d6 in order, but reroll one stat or swap two. If you get really STR screwed, this gives you enough leeway to hopefully fix it. Some characters are doomed, but most should be able to get at least 8-9 STR one way or another. Of course, you may not want to spend that reroll on STR, but it's an option, and hard choices are the heart of the game!
---
Your mileage may vary on the details. There are options here, ways to tweak it, and I'm not going to say my way is the best way. But I will defend inventory slots as a general concept to my grave, this is the hill I will die on!
---
Here's my rules again, so that they're easily found at the bottom of the post. I am assuming a normal OSR system, but these have been tested with GLOG and Knave and probably could even work with something like 5E:
You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count (even though Torches are large).
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
I keep seeing posts about Slot based inventory systems. Which is weird, since in the OSR space I inhabit encumbrance is more or less solved.
Don't use weight. Weight is bad. Might as well not track items at all. Use inventory slots.
The basic solution goes like this:
"You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR or CON. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored."
Bam. Simple. Elegant. Except we gotta make some definitions. Because that by itself is vague and wishy-washy and while that may suit some people, some other important people, like your players, may potentially get stressed out about needing to ask all the time about the details. So we gotta flesh out the rule a little bit:
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
What about bundling? This gets tricky. I've settled on the following two rules, which are by no means standard:
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10.
(Suddenly, Spell Scrolls and Potion Bags are very, very useful!)
(Also, don't track ammo unless it is magical. Buy a quiver, go crazy. It is so, so very rare that mundane ammo numbers matter.)
At this point some people are done. But others look at this and are like "woah we can only carry up to our STR? That's almost nothing".
One response is "use hirelings". To a degree, that's my response too, but encumbrance is fun and useful in it's own way. So, super simple encumbrance rules.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
This may be a little overly harsh, but it's better than my base rule would be. Yora at Spriggan's Den has a three tiered encumbrance system that is much more forgiving for players, but requires you to actually calculate exact movespeed, which I don't actually do. Different strokes for different folks, it's a fine system. In any case, I recommend hirelings and pack animals if you don't want to deal with the penalties. (PS: I grabbed the idea of Insignificant items from Yora's post just now, I'd been grappling with a term to describe them and now I have it!)
So, lets put these rules all together!
---
The Encumbrance System to End All Encumbrance systems
You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count, even though Torches are large.
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
----
Oh no, that's 4 paragraphs, wasn't this supposed to be simple?
In our quest to create super rules-lite gameplay, we sometimes get stuck on short length to the point where it's harmful. Most of what is here should be very intuitive, but will dramatically cut down on player questions and stress. It's worth the space, IMO. Anything that you cut will need to be talked about, probably over and over. I'd still consider this super simple and elegant compared to most inventory systems.
---
So how do you visually represent this on your page?
Have an inventory page as an example. Let's say you have 9 STR.
*1) BIG 2H SWORD
*2) XXXXXXXX
*3) [3 POTIONS- Healing, Invisibility, Unidentified]
4) LEATHER ARMOR
5) LARGE GOLD STATUE
6) XXXXXXXXX
7) XXXXXXXXX
8) XXXXXXXXX
9) [SCROLL CASE (5/5): Magic Missile x2, Locate Object, Cure Wounds, Fireball]
I use XXXX's to represent slots that are used, but you can use anything that makes it obvious the slot is taken. I use brackets here to indicate items that are bundled together. Allcaps is optional.
The * refer to quick slots- I use one more rule, you get a number of quick slots equal to your DEX mod, which can be freely equipped mid battle with no action loss. I like this rule but it's really optional so this is the only place I'll mention it.
---
As a player, I enjoy this system to no end. I love my equipment mattering, I love the feeling of my armor class going through the roof as I decide I don't need free slots when plate mail and shields exist. I love knowing exactly how much I can carry, without worrying that I messed up my math, because I am bad at math.
I recognize not all players are going to be so thrilled, but if they can't handle this, I can't see them doing well with ANY inventory system.
---
One final consideration: The question of unusually low strength.
In an old school OSR game (as opposed to newfangled "adventure" games like Knave), this will suck if you roll a 3 STR or something. It's always going to suck in that case, but in a "weight" game it's easier to cheat since no one is keeping track anyway. In this system, it's going to be really obvious how little you can carry.
I like allowing the following rule in character creation: 3d6 in order, but reroll one stat or swap two. If you get really STR screwed, this gives you enough leeway to hopefully fix it. Some characters are doomed, but most should be able to get at least 8-9 STR one way or another. Of course, you may not want to spend that reroll on STR, but it's an option, and hard choices are the heart of the game!
---
Your mileage may vary on the details. There are options here, ways to tweak it, and I'm not going to say my way is the best way. But I will defend inventory slots as a general concept to my grave, this is the hill I will die on!
---
Here's my rules again, so that they're easily found at the bottom of the post. I am assuming a normal OSR system, but these have been tested with GLOG and Knave and probably could even work with something like 5E:
You get a number of inventory slots equal to STR. Each item takes up 1 slot. Some items take up 2 or more slots. Small items may be bundled, and some items are insignificant and can be ignored.
Medium Armor takes 2 slots. Heavy Armor takes 3 slots.
Two handed weapons take 2 slots, as do 10 foot poles and other unwieldy items.
Insignificant items are like, tiny items. A single unenchanted ring. A pruning knife.
Rule of 3: Any item that more or less fits into your hand may be bundled into sets of three. Potions, Scrolls, Rations, and Torches count (even though Torches are large).
Specialized Containers: If you have a special container for an item type, it may be bundled up in sets of five. Ammo allows you to carry sets of 10. Don't track mundane ammo.
You can carry a number of items up to STR x2 while encumbered. If encumbered, you move at half speed and have disadvantage on checks requiring physical ability, like climbing, swimming, jumping.
Monday, May 6, 2019
FIRST
Welcome to my Blog, "Of Lizards and Wizards". Named as such because I am awful at naming things.
I'm no good at introductions, so I'll keep this short.
This is primarily a D&D blog, with a focus on old school D&D content... probably. I play other games too, and might blog about them when I do.
The goal of this blog is first and foremost to simply provide a place to post more fleshed out ideas sparked by discussion on Chris McDowall's OSR discord. I'm a semi-regular there (more like a lurker, really). Secondly, I hope to provide some useful content- I'm not as creative as some others in this space, nor am I particular good with math or clever at making systems. But there might be some places I can help.
Finally, this will be a place to post play reports. I feel play reports are somewhat love or hate- some people are bored to death by them, others enjoy even mediocre reports for their insight into how other tables play. I fall into the latter camp, so, as I enjoy reading play reports, I'll try my best to post some. This will require me to actually play D&D, which is motivational in it's own way!
Anyway, it could be some time before the next post. Please do not expect too much- I've never done this blog thing before. It'll probably be awhile before I find my voice. We'll see how it goes.
- PK
I'm no good at introductions, so I'll keep this short.
This is primarily a D&D blog, with a focus on old school D&D content... probably. I play other games too, and might blog about them when I do.
The goal of this blog is first and foremost to simply provide a place to post more fleshed out ideas sparked by discussion on Chris McDowall's OSR discord. I'm a semi-regular there (more like a lurker, really). Secondly, I hope to provide some useful content- I'm not as creative as some others in this space, nor am I particular good with math or clever at making systems. But there might be some places I can help.
Finally, this will be a place to post play reports. I feel play reports are somewhat love or hate- some people are bored to death by them, others enjoy even mediocre reports for their insight into how other tables play. I fall into the latter camp, so, as I enjoy reading play reports, I'll try my best to post some. This will require me to actually play D&D, which is motivational in it's own way!
Anyway, it could be some time before the next post. Please do not expect too much- I've never done this blog thing before. It'll probably be awhile before I find my voice. We'll see how it goes.
- PK