tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post7536409215413791005..comments2024-03-28T00:41:13.514-07:00Comments on B/X BLACKRAZOR: All Right – This Shit IS Hard (Kinda’)JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-14376932702747064722012-02-23T15:23:55.767-08:002012-02-23T15:23:55.767-08:00"Triceratops was a vegetarian…it’s a big scal..."Triceratops was a vegetarian…it’s a big scaly cow, folks. What purpose could it have in attacking a party of adventurers?"<br /><br />Cape buffalo and rhinos, both vegetarians, are some of the meanest sum'bitches on the planet. Your complaint is invalid.Archaeopteryxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11944969786602922376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-13435709224450141182012-02-20T09:39:42.056-08:002012-02-20T09:39:42.056-08:001. Your main purpose is : "to make my OWN edi...1. Your main purpose is : "to make my OWN edition that need any house rules...because the house rules will already be incorporated!...that I can print up and give to players at my table."<br /><br />So do that! Make the ruleset specific to you. There's no need to help others to adapt your work or add in mechanics they want. Doing that modification is half the fun of borrowing someone else's ruleset anyway.<br /><br />You can add in the "missing" information in appendices if it would be fun for you, but never forget your primary purpose in this design exercise.<br /><br />----<br /><br />2. Your setting will determine the premise of the game and set constraints on available classes and races and weapons and currency etc etc. So work out the setting! And decide whether you want a dungeon crawl or a sandbox exploration game, or a wargame or a grand strategy game or whatever. If the premise of D&D is dumb, what is your premise for your version of D&D? (I can think of a number of campaign settings that can produce workable premises for D&D games, even games which include all the AD&D classes adventuring together)<br /><br />-----<br /><br />3. Successfully unifying comedy and drama, whimsy and grit, is something even the greatest struggle with. I wouldn't be upset if you didn't nail it in the first try (or even ever). I think as long as the tone doesn't veer wildly from pole to pole within a single adventure, you should be OK! If one second Conan can be slapstick, and the next serious, there's no reason your world can't be as well! In fact that sounds like your ideal. Unlike Tolkien who separated The Hobbit from LOTR from the Silmarillion. Same campaign world--vastly different tones (though whimsical none of those works are ever quite funny to me, they play it straight, Tolkien takes even his whimsy seriously).<br /><br />I would talk about this with my players as well. If you want a gritty, tough world leavened by the occasional bout of black humor, then tell players that and DM accordingly.valiance.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02072370158412284072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-66534148771881296582012-02-20T03:20:40.315-08:002012-02-20T03:20:40.315-08:00Well, the fact that you put LG Paladins and Evil a...Well, the fact that you put LG Paladins and Evil assassins in your game, doesn't mean that they are meant to be used in the same campaign. They might be there as simply "tools" to use. If you decide for a Lankhmar-type campaign, you exclude Paladins and allow Assassins. If you go for an Holy Quest campaign, you exclude the latter and allow the former. In general I don't think the toolbox aspect of the rules should be underestimated.Antoniohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258180992723371727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-77781755721484724062012-02-18T21:57:38.456-08:002012-02-18T21:57:38.456-08:00Paladin: holy killer in plate armor for the cause....Paladin: holy killer in plate armor for the cause.<br /><br />Assassin: holy killer that sneaks around for the cause.<br /><br />The historical Hashishin, were, after all a pseudo-religious organization. Paladins and assassins could even be different organizations under the same religious umbrella. As long as you don't want your assassin class to be just a generic fighter/thief.<br /><br />You hit on the central reason why I don't really like AD&D. If you take bits and pieces, it works, but if you try to take the whole thing (either rules or implied setting) it ends up being a big, hot, clunky mess. This is why I like the more limited OD&D and B/X editions; they are much more internally consistent (both in terms of rules and setting). I love the AD&D books, but I use them for inspiration, not a consistent game.<br /><br />I say go for a demihuman-free set of PC classes. I've house-ruled the dwarf, elf, and halfling into the human scientor, fighting magic-user, and scout. I'm quite pleased with the result. Elves do exist in my setting, but the fae are creepy and not for player use.Necropraxishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12716340801054739658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-49489331860312050792012-02-18T12:04:45.938-08:002012-02-18T12:04:45.938-08:00Hey man! I say, write it for yourself, brother! Tr...Hey man! I say, write it for yourself, brother! Truly make it D&D MINE! And then release your baby to the world as you see fit. If others like it, great. If there are those that hate it, oh well! At least you've made yourself happy with the feeling of creating something for yourself. Looking forward to reading more!Anthony Simeonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312134763577949405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-73616477523623305112012-02-18T11:09:13.821-08:002012-02-18T11:09:13.821-08:00@ Dan: I know where the term paladin is from...it&...@ Dan: I know where the term paladin is from...it's the characteristics of the paladin class that has no real world (mythological) equivalent. The paladins were simply knights of Chuck the Hammer.<br /><br />@ JDJ: Clearing of land for settlers isn't an issue in the setting I envision. I understand the importance of hand historically, but it's pastoral value is very, very understated in the particular fantasy works I'm using as inspiration.<br /><br />@ Fey: For the most part, the game systems will be very similar to other editions of D&D: attacks rolls, saves, hit points, etc. Those system issues aren't the difficult part. When making a decision about which classes to use (and how those classes function), or which monsters might be encountered, or which spells and enchantments are part of the game, then you ARE making decisions about the campaign setting.<br /><br />Just saying "there's plate armor but no gunpowder" is making serious demands on the imaginary world, for example. It disregards the reason behind the invention of plate armor. If you say characters can learn the language of orcs or trolls or gargoyles, that says those creature HAVE language and sentience and (some type of) higher culture...why aren't characters trying to build alliances and send ambassadors or prisoner exchanges or whatever? Why is there no "cross-cultural exchange?"<br /><br />Similar questions arise with other design decisions. I see the Principalities of Glantri (from the BECMI gazeteers) to be a logical example of a possibility based on that particular ruleset...and it's not the kind of thing I want from MY game. I've seen AD&D players set-up magic item making assembly lines using simulacrums based on the rules of that game. It wasn't my campaign, but it was Rules As Written, and it was ugly.<br /><br />I guess part of my purpose is to make my OWN edition that need any house rules...because the house rules will already be incorporated!...that I can print up and give to players at my table. Since it's not a video game, it has no spectacle to attract people...it will instead require some intellectual "razzle-dazzle" to get players fired up (including myself!). So I want to make sure I'm satisfied with the end result.<br /><br />And it's a harder "balancing act" than I anticipated. <br />: )JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08532311924539491087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-28881823676330421692012-02-18T09:46:56.190-08:002012-02-18T09:46:56.190-08:00Paladins are from The Song of Roland and numerous ...Paladins are from The Song of Roland and numerous other tales.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04732052814850525574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-20703048101325912482012-02-18T05:41:55.208-08:002012-02-18T05:41:55.208-08:00One thing missin from most D&D campaigns is th...One thing missin from most D&D campaigns is the real value of land. Monsters are worth fighting if their destruction frees up some gooood bottomland for farming, pasture for farming, provide access to a stand of trees for lumber or gives miners access to a rich deposit. Heroes are valuable for the opportunities they open for others.JDJarvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691101939920824546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-56326897618417992542012-02-18T05:12:53.800-08:002012-02-18T05:12:53.800-08:00I'm not sure that you're drawing the disti...I'm not sure that you're drawing the distinction between creating your own campaign world and creating your own D&D. You're right that to a certain extent the mechanics of the game are decisions about the game universe and how it works. Not all of them are, though. Before you make "game world altering decisions" about mechanics, maybe the first priority is to ask more limited questions about things like the combat system that you'd change. Such decisions like, "Do I want action X to be easier or harder?" and "Do I want this to be governed by 1d12 or 2d6?" often have a bigger impact from the players perspective (without them thinking about it too!) and are sufficiently subtle to not be world shaping in any campaign or storyline sense. Therefore they preserve the "genericness" of things.Air Dominance Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05226097944494976185noreply@blogger.com