The Company of the Starshield Gaming Society Delves Into the Haunted Temple of Thaxon...

 Tonight the adventurers continued their exploration of the Haunted Temple of Thaxon wherein they found a glowing sword, the restless remains of the former priests of Thaxon who called this temple home, and that illusion magic really doesn't do much against the undead.

This post will be brief as to allow Blue, half elf bard extraordinaire, to provide you with his take on his and his companion's most harrowing journey into the bowels of the cursed ruin. Stay tuned for a link to his journal.

As for my take, let me say how much I am enjoying the Village of Larm. It really feels like slipping on a comfortable old coat: fresh nostalgia at its finest.

The Starshield Gaming Society Returns to Castles and Crusades and Discovers the Village of Larm

Tonight we returned to Castles and Crusades. We had set it aside for the universality of Savage Worlds; however, nothing lasts forever, and nostalgia sent us back to the days of defined classes and the dominance of the d20. I will only run 3 systems in my old age: Dungeon Realm, Savage Worlds, or Castles and Crusades. Last week we took a vote, and the winner was: C&C. 

Most of us are 40-something gamers (some of us are 30+) who have been playing RPGs since we were 12. We are The Starshield Gaming Society, and thanks to one of our founding members, Weezoh, we now have our own official dice. Aren't they cool?

After getting a feel for what my players wanted, I opted to dive into the OSR and purchase the Village of Larm and the Ruins of Ramat, all published by Brave Halfling Publishing and their partner, Arcane Creations. I am really impressed with the quality of their products and the commitment they have to giving their customers an excellent and authentic old school experience. 

Six adventurers made their way to the small borderland village:

a human illusionist

a human barbarian

a dwarf paladin

a dwarf cleric

a human druid

a half elf bard

They all made their way to the Borderland village of Larm for their own reasons: some seek adventure, some seek a challenge, all seek treasure. While in Larm, the group's paths crossed, and they all realized that destiny had brought them together. They had been made to feel welcomed at the Borderland Tavern and the Church of the Wise Mother. Now, they seek to purge the abandoned Temple of Thaxon, which was once a place of good but is now infested with evil. 

Here in this small borderland village, these adventurers seek to become heroes. Only time and the gods know whether that will happen or whether they may find a violent end in the pursuit of glory and gold. 

And here is the travel journal of the half elf bard http://www.wolfandmoose.com/starshield/pmwiki.php/CC/032111

Rules Tweaks Part 4: Spell Casting Proficiency

This time around, I am adding a tweak to Magic-users. When I was developing the core rules, I felt that improving an Attribute each level would be enough for the Magic-user class. After all, they can cast pretty much any spell with a successful Skill Roll. I figured a player would improve the Magic-user's Skill Attribute at each level and thus improve the character's effectiveness. Now that we have several games under our belt, I see that in the mid to upper levels, that might not be enough. I originally figured the Magic-user would gain magic items like a Staff of Spellcasting which would add an additional die to the Skill Roll when casting spells. That is great, but occurred to me that that might not be enough. After all, casting spells is an art and a skill that should get better with use.

Therefore, I am adding the following Special Ability to the Magic-user class:

Casting Proficiency: At every level divisble by 5, a magic-user casts spells at -1 Casting Modifier. Ex: -2 CM at 10^th level etc.

Now the Magic-user's ability will increase at a reasonable rate. I also nerfed the Casting Modifier for the Attack spell to -1. Now I feel the Magic-user character has a bit more to look forward to as she advances in levels beyond a better Skill and some magic items. 

4 Characters in 5 minutes...Can your RPG do that?

1st level Heroes

Name: Gimble Foothill

Race: Halfling        Mvt: 25’
Class: Thief           Level: 1

Fighting:           4
Defense:            3
Skill:                  2
Resistance:        3
Toughness:       2

Special Ability: Kn: Street Smarts 2, Backstab, Thievery
Equipment: Short sword, throwing knives, thieves’ tools, cloak, leather armor, adventuring gear, backpack

Name: Tormok Hammer

Race: Dwarf             Mvt: 25’
Class: Fighter            Level: 1

Fighting:           3
Defense:            3
Skill:                  5
Resistance:        3
Toughness:       6

Special Ability: Kn: Martial 2; Kn: Stone Work 2; Darkvision; Weapon Skill (damage = 2 Wounds). Cleave Attack, Titanic Attack
Equipment: Warhammer, shield, chainmail, crossbow, 20 quarrels, supplies, backpack

Name: Tella Heroeshall

Race: Human            Mvt: 30’
Class: Cleric              Level: 1

Fighting:          4
Defense:           3
Skill:                 3
Resistance:       4
Toughness:      4

Special Ability: Kn: Religion 2; Kn: Healing 2, Cure Wounds, Bless, Smite Undead.
Equipment: Short sword, chainmail, shield, supplies, backpack, holy symbol

Name: Zortan Grame

Race: Human          Mvt: 30’
Class:  Magic-user   Level: 1

Fighting:           5
Defense:            5
Skill:                  4
Resistance:        4
Toughness:        4

Special Ability: Kn: Arcane 2, Dispel, Spells 
Equipment: Spellbook, satchel, staff, writing implements, scroll case, supplies, backpack

Rules Tweaks Part 3: Buffing the Thief

With all the attention I am paying to the other classes, I suppose it comes as no surprise that I have developed a tweak for the Thief.

In this case, I haven't added any new Special Abilities. Instead, I have buffed one.


As I was examining the classes for places for improvement, I decided that comparatively, they don't have much to look forward to at higher levels except an improved Skill Roll which, of course, helps them in their profession. I also decided that the Thief needed a bit more teeth when it comes to the Backstab Special Ability. So...I have decided on the following rules change:



Backstab: After making a Stealth Skill roll and a successful attack, the target of the backstab makes a Defense roll at a +2 penalty, and the thief scores 2 Damage rather than the normal 1. This damage increases by 1 at every level divisible by 4.


This change adds an additional +1 to the target's Defense and makes it improve by leveling. Before, it was a +1 penalty to the target's Defense and didn't improve. I think this version is much more exciting for the player.

As it stands, only the crossbow and the Thief's Backstab ability are the only abilities that lower the Defense of anyone or anything. Therein lies the lethality of the Thief, exploiting weaknesses in defenses and opponents.

Until next time, thank you for reading and good gaming. Go roll a fistful of dice!

Rules Tweaks Pt. 2: Clerical Magic

This time around I am musing on clerical magic. As it stands now in the core rules, clerics have Bless, Cure Wounds, and Smite Undead. 

Smite Undead is extremely effective against undead, making the cleric a specialist in that way. Bless only affects one target at a time. Cure Wounds is an essential part of the system as it allows a Skill Roll to use during combat, but is essentially a free ability during the time between encounters. This "free healing" keeps the game going and eliminates the old, "we fight once and rest for 8 hours" syndrome that plagued our earlier gaming days with all incarnations of D&D through 3.X.

My initial design philosophy for the cleric class was to limit the abilities and make the magic-user the spell machine while the cleric would play a support role. My concern now is, though, that the cleric may not have enough abilities to make that support role worth it. Yes, when undead are the opponent, the cleric is the best bet. Smite Undead is devastating. However, I think that their role is vastly reduced against living opponents. Their Defense is high, and their Fighting is average, which helps, but is it enough?


I am not quite ready to grant clerics "spells." I want them to feel distinctly different than magic-users. The solution I am going to try is to provide two more special abilities at later levels:


Ward: At 3rd level, a cleric gains the ability to grant immunity to a specific type of damage for 3 rounds. The cleric must make a Skill Roll and touch the recipient.  Types include but are not limited to the following energies: fire, cold, electricity, force, kinetic, negative, positive; and the following substances acid, poison.The recipient may be protected by more than one Ward at a time but each Ward must provide protection from a different type of damage. Granting Ward, counts as an action. 


To grant a cleric some type of ability to bring the wrath of his or her deity down upon his or her enemies, I am going to try adding the following ability:


Smite Enemy: At 5th level, a cleric gains the ability to call down the power of her god to damage enemies. As an action and upon making a successful Skill Roll, the cleric calls down divine energy to smite enemies in a 10' radius up to 30' away. Each enemy in the radius is allowed a Resistance Roll to avoid 3 points of damage. 


Hopefully, I will have a chance to playtest these additions soon.


Until next time, grab a fistful of dice and slay some evil!

Rules Tweaks Part 1: Refining Multiple Attacks

Now that I have several playtests under my belt, I am making tweaks to the system.

First up: Multiple melee attacks...

In my most recent session, I allowed 2 weapon fighting with only a +1 main hand / +1 off hand Fighting Attribute penalty instead of the normal +1 main hand / +2 off hand penalty given as an example in the rulebook.

I really liked how the +1 / +1 felt for Fighters and Thieves based on the concept of their class training and the inherent agility required to meet the demands of each of those classes.

The Monk, of course, already has an additional attack at 3rd level at no penalty. So, for Monks I think it should stay at the standard +1 / +2 penalty until 3rd level.

I think, also, it would make sense to keep the penalty at +1 / +2 for Clerics and Magic-users as their class training requires a bit more concentration in other areas besides combat. It would be up to the Realm Master whether a Cleric devoted to any of the war gods should only incur the +1 / +1 penalty. I don't think that would be unreasonable.

Next up: Multiple ranged attacks...

For Ga'Oin Shaftshooter (Elf Fighter, wielding a long bow as his weapon of choice), I allowed multiple arrow firing at a +1 first attack / +1 second attack Fighting Attribute penalty per round. I thought it did not overbalance the character in the slightest.

I realized that the fighter as it is written is slanted toward melee: Although Weapon Skill and Titanic Attack apply to both melee and ranged combat, Cleave Attack is only usable in melee. Providing a multiple shot option doesn't deprive the ranged-minded Fighter of anything.

I am going to write it into the Fighter Special Ability section like this:

Rapid Fire: A Fighter wielding a long or short bow may make an additional attack in a round with that particular weapon at a +1 penalty to both attacks. This option may also apply to hurled weapons such as daggers or hand axes at the Realm Master's discretion.