With the rerelease of classic D&D products, it was only a matter of time before Wizards unleashed the most fearsome of their dungeons back into the world.

Dungeons of Dread is a fantastic new supplement that provides for classic dungeons for your 1st Edition victims… I mean… players.

These are the four classic S-Series adventures designed by the venerated Gary Gygax: Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. All four adventures are presented with their original text and illustrations.

Tomb of Horrors is particularly brutal. This dungeon, for those who don’t know, is designed as an adventure meant for cons, where players have a set of multiple pregenerated characters, and attempt to make it through the dungeon before all of their characters die. The advantage to having pregenerated characters is that you won’t be sending in your hero you’ve spent the last four years grooming, only to lose him to a save vs. death poison trap. This dungeon is just awful. I had never read the module before, and after reading it, I knew I needed to sit down and gather up some players to brave it. None have volunteered so far (the cowards). We’ll have to see if I can find any brave enough soon.

The second adventure, White Plume Mountain, is a hunt for three legendary monsters through a tricky and brilliant dungeon. There are lots of diagrams to explain some of the strange magical effects of the dungeon such as streams flowing through the air, bizarre terraced rooms and deadly swinging platforms over boiling mud. This dungeon is a pretty cool one, and feels distinctly a genuine classic.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one that I’ve heard a lot of derisive comments about. In this adventure, the heroes actually venture into a massive crashed spaceship and deal with aliens, monsters, biodomes and laser guns. Personally, I really enjoyed this module. If pulled off my a good DM, I don’t think it would feel hokey, particularly if the DM were to avoid using words like spaceship, alien or laser gun, and instead present it in fantasy terms. I think it could actually be a fantastic game session. There are some really cool elements to this module, including some tables that actually require rolls to see how a futuristic piece of technology functions. There is also a large equipment section for different weapons and items. Very cool stuff.

In the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, ancient treasures from a long-dead arch-mage wait those who would be brave enough to battle gnolls, wyverns, golems, giant crickets (yes, crickets), formians and more. This module is a pretty cool one with a complex labyrinth, a massive wilderness map, multiple caverns and lots and lots of cool monsters. This one feels like a complete campaign in and of itself with its off-the-rails open world map and cool and varied magical items. This is a very cool adventure.

This whole book is steeped in classic gaming legend. It’s a definite must buy, even if you don’t play 1st Edition, as it will provide you with a wealth of new ideas for any game.

Full Disclosure: Wizards of the Coast sent me a review copy of this game.

StikBash was my first frankengame. At its core, it’s just a mash-up of KootiKooti, 1000 Blank Cards and Z-G.

• The original KootiKooti rules form the basis of StikBash (at the bottom of the page).
• Figures have one of two default moves. If they are not armed with a ranged weapon, they move and attack in the same action. If they have a ranged weapon, they may shoot without moving, or they can move without attacking, but not attack and move on the same action.
• All movement and combat is determined by how well you flick the stik across the table. The stiks also act as place markers for when a figure is moved or knocked over.
• Each player selects 5 Stikfas figures. Each player draws 5 random KootiKooti stiks from a common box, bag, ect. Players set up their stiks along their edge of the table, assigning a figure to each stik. Each player is dealt 5 cards. If any of those cards are blank, the player must create a new card effect for it. Traditionally these cards are the postcards that come with Stikfas, but any postcard can be used.
• Players takes one action per turn. Actions are either a Stik Action or a Card Action. Stik Actions are taken by moving the figure out of the way and flicking the stik to move and attack.
• If it’s a melee figure, move the figure to the stik’s new location. If it’s a ranged figure, replace both the figure and the stik.
• Melee and ranged actions that land your stik on top of another one is a hit. The target removes his figure and stik from the table. If you hit one of your own figures, it still counts! If you flick your stik off the board, it still counts!
• What this means is that melee figures may close distance and attack with the same move, but if they miss, they’re now far closer to their enemy. Ranged figures may attack from a distance without getting closer, but if they decide to move and accidentally land on a enemy figure’s stik, it doesn’t count, AND they’re an easy target.
• Card Actions allows the player to play a card in his hand instead of moving and/or attacking. Play the card and do whatever it says to do. Cards can do anything the creator wishes them to do. A card needs a title, a picture of some sort and a game effect.
• The point values on the KootiKooti stiks mean nothing until a card says they do.

Below are just a few examples of the cards we made up.

And that’s about it. StikBash had been rattling around in my head for about two years and it took another two years to settle on the final rules. As you can see, the rules are fairly loose. This is not the sort of game that invites rules lawyering. Like 1000 Blank Cards, the rules aren’t so much rules but conventions.

This party is of roughly 300,000 XP, placing everyone between levels 8-10.  I’ve included a hero of each class, excepting halfling.  (Horace the Hobbit retired at Level 8 and moved back the Shire, opting not to go on one last romp to hunt the undead.)  This makes the party slightly larger than any I’ve played with, but is still a fairly standard size adventuring group.

I’d like to point out that I am not good at rolling up high-level characters from scratch, because one has to make several assumptions on the fly about the many adventures they’ve had to reach their current level and the artifacts they’ve collected along the way.  (With 3rd ed, Redblade was really good for this, with its extensive list of mundane and magic equipment.)  I’ve given each character a handful of fairly generic magic items, no scrolls, no legendary artifacts or anything too crazy.  In addition to what’s listed, everyone is carrying two cure moderate wounds potions as backup.

I did not min/max the party in any way, and used simple roll and assign for stats, and didn’t do any stat swapping, so there are no super-humans in this group.

Father Dowling – Lvl 10 Cleric

As a Cleric, Father Dowling is the de facto ‘leader’ in this party’s crusade against the armies of undead.  His ability to Turn will prove a threat against both Richmond & Kadesh. Any Vampire will aim to take Dowling out as early as possible in any fight.  Liches will pose a bigger problem, but he ought to be able to handle the underlings that they throw at him.

He has a magic mace especially good against undead, as hunting these monstrosities is his life’s calling.  He has some standard magic heavy armor and an Amulet of Dexterity to compensate for his natural clumsiness.

Father Dowling’s not stupid, so he’ll probably have his Protection from Evil and Resist Fire going at the first sign of danger or even a moment before.  He may also bless whoever is closest to him.

He might take point in the first round of a fight against undead, but will quickly fall back to support if there is more there than he can easily handle, letting Musket and Greggory cover the spell casters.

Str – 13

Int – 11

Wis – 13

Dex – 7

Con – 12

Chr – 10

HP – 24

Thac0 – 14

AC – -1

Saves:

Death: 6, Wand: 7, Paralysis: 9, Breath: 11, Magic: 9

Equipment:

+2 Mace (+3 against Undead), +2 Plate, +1 Shield, Amulet of Dexterity +3

Prepared Spells:

Protection from Evil, Cure light wounds x2, Light, Resist Fire, Bless, Hold Person, Silence, Continual Light, Striking x2, Cure Serious Wounds x3, Dispel Evil x2

Musket – Lvl 9 Dwarf

Musket’s an exceedingly tough SOB who’s fought more than his share of undead.  Somewhere along the way, he found a rather powerful magic halberd.  With it, he has bashed many a skeleton and set many a mummy and zombie aflame.  Musket is the tank of the group and will often be near Father Dowling, ready to shove the priest behind him and hold off the oncoming hordes.

Str – 10

Int – 12

Wis – 7

Dex – 12

Con – 16

Chr – 9

HP – 59

Thac0 – 14

AC – 0

Saves:

Death: 2, Wand: 3, Paralysis: 4, Breath: 4, Magic: 6

Equipment:

+3 Flaming Halberd, +2 Plate, +1 Ring of Protection

Alain – Lvl 8 Elf

Alain will typically stay to the middle of the group.  Though she’s a capable fighter, Alain will let the much tougher Musket and Greggory run interference while she and Alonzo cast spells.  On the odd occasions she runs out of ranged spells, she has a magic shortbow.  If outnumbered, or if the party is fleeing, she’ll throw up a wall of fire for cover.  Alain will probably throw up her Protection from Evil after she see’s Father Dowling do so, if she has the chance.

Str – 12

Int – 10

Wis – 16

Dex – 9

Con – 10

Chr – 13

HP – 28

Thac0 – 14

AC – 2

Saves:

Death: 8, Wand: 9, Paralysis: 9, Breath: 10, Magic: 10

Equipment:

+3 Chain, +1 Shortbow, +2 Shortsword

Prepared Spells:

Protection from Evil, Magic Missile x2, Mirror Image, Continual Light, Web, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Wall of Fire, Charm Monster

Greggory – Lvl 9 Fighter

Greggory will likely be on whichever flank is opposite Musket.  He’ll do what he can to keep Alain and Alonzo safe, engaging anyone who gets to0 close to the arcane casters.  While not as hardy as Musket, Greggory has formidable magic armor.  Greggory had an Amulet of Dexterity once, but he hasn’t been able to find it lately.

Str – 12

Int – 10

Wis – 10

Dex – 8

Con – 10

Chr – 14

HP – 41

Thac0 – 14

AC – -2

Saves:

Death: 8, Wand: 9, Paralysis: 10, Breath: 10, Magic: 12

Equipment:

+2 Plate, +3 Shield, +3 Longsword

Alonzo – Lvl 9 Magic User

Alonzo is a brilliant wizard, who has accompanied Father Dowling for years on his quest for greater learning.  And the opportunity to blow things up.  Alonzo will likely go into combat with his shield already active, sometimes levitate as well.  He may levitate just above the party to get a clear shot at range. He’ll get off his fireballs as early as he can, so long as he won’t cause collateral damage to the party.  If he can’t cast fireballs safely, he’ll resort to magic missiles.  If desperate, he may polymorph self as a means to fight or rescue his friends.  If all seems lost, he may turn invisible and flee.

Str – 7

Int – 17

Wis – 12

Dex – 8

Con – 15

Chr – 11

HP – 32

Thac0 – 17

AC – 6

Saves:

Death: 11, Wand: 12, Paralysis: 11, Breath: 14, Magic: 12

Equipment:

+3 Amulet of Protection

+2 Ring of Dexterity

Ring of Elemental Resistance

Prepared Spells:

Shield, Magic Missile x2, Invisibility, Levitate, Mirror Image, Fireball x3, Massmorph, Polymorph Self, Conjure Elemental

Skeeter – Lvl 10 Thief

Skeeter is your typical bastard thief, but he comes in handy.  He’s no Arsene Lupin by any stretch, but filching a Displacer Cloak from a senile wizard at an early age made him one of the most formidable pick-pockets in the land.  Despite Father Dowling’s best efforts at directing Skeeter’s talent for good, Skeeter is still something of a kleptomaniac.  He recently found himself in possession of a rather nice Amulet of Dexterity.

Skeeter will often travel on the far flank of the party, sometimes out of sight, but never out of earshot.  He will warn of any ambush.  If the party is fighting anything head-on, he will join in, doing his best to attack from behind.

Str – 13

Int – 8

Wis – 13

Dex – 11

Con – 10

Chr – 14

HP – 25

Thac0 – 14

AC – 4

Saves:

Death: 10, Wand: 11, Paralysis: 9, Breath: 12, Magic: 10

Equipment:

Displacer Cloak, +2 Shortsword, +3 Ring of Protection, +2 Ring of Dexterity, +3 Amulet of Dexterity.

My predictions:

If Richmond is going for broke and doesn’t play thing smart, this party ought to be able to make fairly short work of him.  Richmond’s only real advantage is his ability to quickly escape when the tides turn against him.  A few levels ago, he may have been able to toy with this party, but now, while he may still be a thorn in their side and have the power to hurt their friends, allies and loved ones, in a heads-up fight, he no longer has the power advantage he may have once had.  Played to fight another day, against a party like this, Richmond would likely call in his animal friends, try to level drain Father Dowling, and flee, or get hacked to pieces and mist his way back to his coffin.

Kadesh will pose a greater threat, with his magic abilities.  He’ll probably try to fry Father Dowling and Alonzo as quickly as possible.  Whether or not he can do that will be one of the main determining factors of how the fight goes.  The summoned monsters will distract the fighters long enough buy Kadesh time to get another spell off, and he may even sacrifice them to a fireball, if he thinks it can give him a second shot at taking out a caster.  If Father Dowling is able to turn Kadesh, this will be a short fight, but it also means that Kadesh will likely flee and continue to be a menace until he’s destroyed.

I will admit that these experiments put the Vampires at something of an unfair disadvantage.  Typically, a Vampire is not going to fight to the bitter end in any case.  It’s in a Vampire’s nature to flee as soon as they are weakened or there is a chance that their plan has failed.  There is also no telling how many coffins they might have to escape to, and will have plenty of opportunities to escape, regroup, harass the party, and escape again.  So, I guess we will assume that Richmond and Kadesh are down to their last coffin, have been hunted to their final stronghold and have nowhere left to flee.

A few last pieces of preparation, and then our experiments can be underway!

Hello everyone, my name is Sabrael and I am one of the new staff writers here. Mark has kindly given me the opportunity to write for Dice Monkey. To showcase my interest in tabletop games, I bring you an unboxing and review of Fantasy Flight Games’ “Elder Sign”.

In the summer of 1926, a then relatively unknown writer name Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote a short story which would blossom an entire community of individuals with an appreciation for the themes of forbidden knowledge and things that go bump in the night. The Call of Cthulhu is the first piece in what is now commonly known as the Cthulhu Mythos, a shared fictional universe where knowing too much can be a cause of death. In early 2011, Fantasy Flight Games took Arkham Horror, the long time canon of Cthulhu board games, and radically altered it’s mechanics. Simplifying game play so it took half the time to play, and focusing on the aspects of chance and dice rolls, it was reinvented into an all new game, and so I present to you: Elder Sign.

Upon my first glance of the package, I instantly enjoyed the box itself. A matte finish with a rough fibrous texture, it seems to be the new standard for games intended to last a lifetime and nowhere near as flimsy as a Monopoly box. The cards also have the same nylon material, an industry standard I have been enjoying. It ensures durability and that your investment won’t go to waste anytime soon. We are also given tokens with grotesquely accurate impressions of hearts and skulls with brains in them to represent our Investigator’s Stamina and Sanity. Overall construction wasn’t an issue, Elder Sign was built to last and at $27.00 SRP, it is a good value.

As usual with a new game I sat down with the rulebook and was pleased to find it was very nicely laid out. Provided alongside the rules were plenty of example situations where you can see the rules not just being explained to you, but also demonstrated for your understanding. Elder Sign is not at all the most complex game I own, or have even played, but to be able to understand the rules almost perfectly after a single read through is an impressive feat for the writing team. Granted, like many, I was first exposed to Elder Sign thanks to Wil Wheaton and his YouTube show Tabletop. So perhaps my easy understanding of the rules could be attributed to that. Regardless, I feel the writing is quite well done and very clear for veterans of the role-playing board game genre and newcomers alike.

So the game is unboxed, the rules have been read and understood, but how does it play? Well in order to test the game my fiancé and helped me break it in. Our first game began with a fight against none other than Cthulhu himself, but some early luck got us an early advantage. Even when things turned sour towards the end we still managed to win with only 3 Doom Tokens on Cthulhu. In our second game, we faced down Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat in the Woods. Out of the gate we fell on some very unlucky rolls, and my fiancé was consumed before we ended the first day! Replacing her investigator, we didn’t get to see her for long before she too was consumed too. Needless to say, game 2 ended in an overwhelming loss.

Elder Sign is not my new favorite game, but it is by no means a terrible game, far from it. But I have to admit it plays a little clumsily. When resolving events, players roll six green 6-sided dice, with an optional red or yellow die added in to represent bonuses. Taking a handful of dice and chucking them onto the table is really awkward. You could always roll into the box lid in order to make it less chaotic, but as a standard mechanics you will be repeating regularly it can be somewhat hectic. Items are another sore spot for me. I enjoy the flavor of items, each unique from the others, but in Elder Sign items fall into categories of giving you a red or yellow die (sometimes both). A small handful of items do have unique attributes, but there isn’t any flavor or feel to the items that simply give bonus dice. It isn’t a huge flaw, but it takes away from the aesthetic. But even while it detracts from the fluff, it does simplify the mechanics of looking for useful items. In this case, almost every item has the same basic effect, making them all useful when they get into the players hands, which in itself is a huge merit. Many games feature obscure ruling on items that make them useful for very specific tasks and nothing else. In Elder Sign, an item is always going to be useful, eve if a Tommy Gun and a mythical Sword don’t work any different from one another.

The last issue I drew with the game is that the difficulty is neither here nor there. In most games there is a difficulty slider available. The inclusion of certain cards, monsters, or aspects in order to give the game a harder or easier handicap. In Elder Sign, there is no slider. Your Elder God has certain effects that modify the entire game, and their Doom Track changes in length depending on their difficulty, but in the end difficulty relies on the Dice. Good rolls make the game easier, bad rolls make it harder. I understand this is the norm in things like Dungeons & Dragons, or in Elder Sign’s parent game, Arkham Horror. But if I feel like pushing myself and opting for every difficulty raiser I can include, it is a glaring flaw when the final outcome of the game revolves around neither skill nor planning, but pure luck.

In the end, there is a certain amount of give and take controlled by the dice, and sometimes there is no planning involved that could ever keep you alive if it just wasn’t in the dice. Despite this, it is an extremely fun game that does a good job of unifying the players into a common goal of beating the game. Loyalties will rarely shift since if something on a cad affects someone, it usually affects everyone. I do hope everyone goes out and gets a copy, it’s a game worth experiencing. If you do enjoy this, you can look forward to Unseen Forces, Elder Sign’s first expansion coming in second quarter of 2013.

We need to create our Vampires.  As I’ve said before, these are going to be B/X Vampires based out of the Expert Set’s monster section.

Richmond

Richmond is a Human Fighter Vampire.  He’s a “Boss”, so we’re giving him 9 Hit Dice.  I rolled 9 HD 3 times and averaged 40 HP.  Because I don’t want him to be a generic vampire, I’m giving him a +2 magic sword.  The purpose of this is to give him a bit more flexibility; maybe as a DM, I don’t want him to do level drain every attack.  But also, it can give him a bit of flavor; maybe it was his favorite sword in life, when he was a dashing swashbuckler duelist. Also, this will help in his fight against the Lich.

Even though Thac0 as a term didn’t exist in B/X, it’s still the easiest way to express his attack; as a 9 Hit Dice monster, Richmond has a Thac0 of 12, 10 if he’s using his magic sword. He saves as a 9th level human fighter, and has all standard vampire abilities and weaknesses.

AC: 2

HD: 9 (6+2+5+4+3+4+4+1+6=35hp) Average HP=40

(1+3+8+3+4+3+2+5+5=34hp)

(5+6+8+8+7+7+7+1+2=51hp)

Move: 120′ (40′)

180′ (60′)

Att: Touch 1d10 + lvl drain

+2 Magic Sword 1d8+2

Thac0: 12 (10 with sword)

Saves: Death 8, Wand 9, Paralysis 10, Breath 10, Magic 12

Summon: 10d10 Bats (3d6 Giant)

10d10 Rats (5d4 Giant)

3d6 Wolves (2d4 Dire)

Other vampire abilities & weaknesses.

Kadesh

Kadesh is our Elven Vampire.  In order to surpass his racial limitations and increase his powers, he became a vampire.  Because he was level 10, and we want Kadesh to be a “Boss”, I’ll kick him an extra hit die.  Technically, he only had 9 + 2 Hit Dice, but we’ll give him a little extra to account for Vampiric power.  45 Hit Points (average of 4.5 per die) seems fair.  This also improves his Thac0 a bit, down to 11.  We’ll also give him the +2 sword to give him some flexibility in combat. His saves are a bit better than Richmond’s because he’s going to be saving as a level 10 Elf rather than a Level 9 Fighter. Kadesh has all standard Vampire abilities and weaknesses.  But that’s not all!  He’s also got Elven magic abilities.

AC: 2

HD: 10 (45 HP)

Move: 120′ (40′)

180′ (60′)

Att: Touch 1d10 + lvl Drain

+2 Magic Sword 1d8+2

Thac0: 11

Saves: Death 6, Wand 7, Paralysis 8, Breath 8, Magic 8

Summon: 10d10 Bats (3d6 Giant)

10d10 Rats (5d4 Giant)

3d6 Wolves (2d4 Dire)

Other vampire abilities & weaknesses.

Protection From Evil/Good – Technically, this spell isn’t reversible in B/X rules, but since Evil & Good are not actual mechanics in B/X, I’ll allow it.  If he’s expecting a confrontation, he’ll have probably cast this prior to the start of the encounter.

Shield - I may swap this out later for something else, simply because this spell is written for armorless mages in mind.  It translates to a -5 bonus to melee and -7 bonus to missile on a mage’s AC, but with Kadesh having a base AC of 2, magically having an AC of 4 isn’t an improvement.  I may swap this out for another Magic Missile.

Magic Missile – Any spellcaster’s bread & butter.  In B/X, it’s 1d6+1 Plus 2 extra missiles every 5 spellcaster levels.  Kadesh is level 10, so he gets to shoot 3 missiles, doing 3d6+3 damage.  If he were level 11, he could do 5d6+5, but even being a Vampire won’t get him over that hurdle.

Continual Darkness – Kadesh will probably try to get this spell off early in any fight, particularly to disable any magic user, elf or cleric who survives an early fireball.

Mirror Image – This may very well be the first spell that Kadesh casts in any combat, largely to buy time for him to pick off any spellcaster or cleric who might try to turn him.

Web – Depending on the availability of fire, magic or otherwise, this’ll take care of at least one threat.  Probably use it mid-fight.

Fireball – With Kadesh doing 10d6 damage at range, he’ll probably cast this right off the bat, aiming to take out a cleric; anyone else is gravy, but he has to take out the cleric before he’s turned, or it could be a short fight.

Dispel Magic – Always have a contingency.

Hold Person – Once the fireball has gone off, and opponents are coming into range, Hold Person will give Kadesh the opportunity to drain some levels, or let his summoned monsters make short work of his victims.

Wall of Fire – If Kadesh needs to stall and can keep some distance on his foes, this might buy him a round and do some minor damage.

Polymorph Other – If all else fails, turn the toughest foe into something innocuous.

Curse – There are a lot of things that could be done with this one.  Maybe a cleric could be cursed to be unable to turn vampires?  This spell might see more use prior to the actual confrontation, as it requires immediate proximity.

Teleport – Again, always have a contingency.

Feeblemind – There are so many other ways that Kadesh can deal with magic users that he’ll probably try first that there’s a chance he may not end up using this, but it can’t hurt to have.

Soon, we’ll take a look at our intrepid party of Vampire hunters!

In Space Cadets, the player needs to roll 5 of a kind in order to Jump the ship to safety. The number rolled is irrelevant, so long as it’s 5 of a kind. The Jump cards allow you to manipulate the outcome of the dice after they’ve been rolled. They can be claimed by rolling various combinations, such a straight of 4 dice (2, 3, 4, 5), a total less than 12, or whatever. If you’re playing ANY game that uses 5 six-sided dice at least some of the time, the Jump cards can add a new dimension to the game’s mechanics. Here’s a few examples of how the cards could be applied to existing games.

RISK

Here’s a way to speed up that annual Thanksgiving game of Risk.

• Place the Jump cards face up during setup.
• Attackers (and only attackers) can play one card per attack.
• At the end of the attack, after you’ve changed any dice and the results are final, the attacker (and only the attacker) can claim a new card from the table if the dice rolled by both the attacker and defender meet the card’s requirements.
• Note that the attacker is manipulating both attack and defense dice, and is claiming cards based on all the dice rolled.
• Players may have as many Jump cards as they can claim.

By allowing only attackers to claim and use cards, players will be itching to push on when normally they would sit back and build up their forces. A clever player can tempt opponents into less-than-promising engagements in an effort to get one more card. Maybe the card will prove useful even after a defeat, but if a player’s entire plan is based on collecting Jump cards regardless of the troop losses, it’s only a matter of time before they stretch themselves too thin.

STAR WARS D6

Since there isn’t a qualitative difference between mooks and major antagonists in D6, Jump cards can add some bite to your villains.

• Lay the Jump cards out at the beginning of the session.
• Any player, or the GM, can claim an applicable card for any roll they make.
• Cards my be played at any time by anyone to affect any roll, although the GM should save most of his or her cards for dramatically appropriate scenes.
• Play the card, change the dice, return the card to the table.
• After the dice have been changed, another player may play their card to further change the dice.
• Jump cards are claimed from the table after the dice roll has been resolved.
• Only the player who altered a roll last may claim a new card.
• Rolls that are made in reaction to other rolls, such as dodging, are considered separate from the initial action.
• There is no limit on how many Jump cards you can have.

Because you’re rolling for a total number, even bumping a 1 to a 2, or a 6 to a 5, can affect the game. This also greatly speeds up battles in the PCs favor. This is fine since they’re the heroes. Of course, the major villains have the same trick, so that Emperor’s Hand can go toe-to-toe with the heroes in a way a bunch of Stormtroopers can’t. I imagine this mechanic simulating subtle positioning that isn’t reflected in the main rules.

HOLLOWPOINT (?)

This one’s iffy because I’ve yet to actually play Hollowpoint. The dice pools are about right, and the matching mechanic is similar to the the actual Jump Drive mechanic. Claiming and playing are the same as the above Star Wars rules. I guess. Like I said, I’ve yet to experience the system. I imagine that because of the narration, it could get crazy, so limit card plays to one card per player, including the GM. Claiming happens at the end of step 6. If there is conflict over a who claims a card, GM decides. As usual, tell me how it goes.

These are just examples as to how Jump cards can be added to a game. Alien Frontiers, Fiasco, and FU all seem to fit the bill.

So about two months ago I began work on a completely homebrew campaign setting for Pathfinder. I had a group of 6 players interested in playing, and I hadn’t ever run a game live before, usually running play-by-posts and online games, so I figured why not? Many of those involved are fanatics of Steampunk (one is even the star of the award-winning miniseries “Dirigible Days“), and my fiance is a huge fan of pirate myths and lore, so the obvious choice would have been Steampunk Pirates. I myself am not an aficionado, so I decided to go the route of your run of the mill water based piracy. Spicing things up, I threw in a topic that no one could resist: Lovecraft.

The world has flooded, islands are all that really remain, and the only two powers are the pirates which run trade both legal and illegal, and the church who promises to protect the scared people who have survived. With the seas growing more and more dangerous by the second, piracy isn’t as free-for-all as it once was. Structured into a feudalistic hierarchy, The Associated Ships of Aldebaran are a pirate guild where everyone pays up to those above them in exchange for protection and certain boons. Meanwhile the church, dedicated to the surviving nine Gods of some secret cataclysms whose details are only vaguely known about, attempts to set things right, and keep the secret of the horrors from below from the general public. Depending on choices made during character creation, this game may fall into the pirate, church or mixed company varieties. We will have to see what wonders character creation brings.

“These skeletal monsters are of magical origin, each Lich formerly being a very powerful Magic-User or Magic-User/Cleric in life, and now alive only by means of great spells and will because of being in some way disturbed. A Lich ranges from 12^th level upwards, typically being 18th level of Magic-Use. They are able to employ whatever spells are usable at their appropriate level, and in addition their touch causes paralization(sic), no saving throw. The mere sight of a Lich will send creatures below 5^th level fleeing in fear.”

Despite the relative clarity of the above entry for Liches, so much of OD&D is such an incomprehensible mess as it’s written, I honestly can’t make heads or tails of anything in it mechanically and can’t really parse what any of the levels mean, as they’re all given in terms relative to OTHER levels.  For instance, per Greyhawk, a Lich who is a 20th level magic user is a 7th level monster, as would be a Level 15 Thief.  I have no idea how a 20th level magic user in OD&D stacks up against a 20th level magic user in B/X, and I’m not thinking I’ll enjoy putting a lot of work into finding out.  So, based on what I’ve found, I’m having a hard time figuring out where “How to Kill Your Characters” got those OD&D Lich stats I linked to earlier.

Anyway, Liches in OD&D are AC 3 with 10+ Hit Dice.  Their attack is 1d10 + Special.  The 10+ Hit Dice puts them around the HP of a B/X Lich(9d4 + 1 per level over 9), so he’s a little tougher than the “How to Kill Your Characters” post implies.

Rather than do any sort of real study of the LBBs, I think I’m just going to try making two B/X Liches.  A Big Lich and a Little Lich.  The Little Lich will be 18^th level, and the Big Lich will be level 27.  An 18^th Level Lich feels appropriate for a game that does not concern itself with Paragons, Polymaths, infinite planes and the games of immortals.  Level 27-36 Liches reek of bullshit as much as death and decay.  I’d hate having to deal with player characters at the Companion/Master level of play.

An interesting tidbit, an 18^th Level Magic User/Lich in B/X would have about 32 HP, putting it at the roughly 8HD number “How to Kill Your Characters” came up with.

I saw a comment on the Dice Age Facebook page asking how to use them for solo gaming. I’ve been playing around with the idea for a while and was going to use them to remix Dungeon!, but then I thought, “why not Fighting Fantasy”?

For those of you that are younger than the internet, Fighting Fantasy was like Choose-Your-Own-Adventure but more hardcore. The company is currently porting all of them to iOS but has decided not to sell the actual books in the U.S. However, if you’re using this thing called The Internet, you know how to find them anyway. Let’s assume that you do.

I playtested this a few times with Rebel Planet, mainly because I like sci-fi a lot. Out of about half a dozen test drives, I found that that the dice added enough surprises without throwing things off too much, mainly because the effects are pretty well balanced between helping and hindering the player.

The best dice for this are the red ones from the first series because the numbers fall between 1 and 6. I suppose you could use larger dice to replace two d6′s, but for the moment let’s stick with rolling the same amount of dice. I found that choosing which dice to use both before and during play became a part of the game itself. Some dice will be better choices than others, while some might offer a big advantage that rarely comes up. In the end, using Dice Age dice like this might not be balanced, but it does make things interesting.

 USING THE DICE

• Before beginning, choose two dice. These are the only dice you can use throughout the gamebook (until you die and start over).
• When rolling stats, roll one for Skill and the other for Luck. You must use two different dice for these stats. Use both to determine Stamina.
• When a number is rolled, treats as a standard die.
• When a symbol is rolled, consider this a roll of 1, then consult the below chart.

EFFECTS

• Cannon = If rolling for Attack Strength, automatically damage the opponent. You may also Test for Luck to reduce or increase damage. This may result in one side being damaged twice or both sides being damaged once. This does not effect extra multiple opponents if you couldn’t damage them normally.
  
• Chaos = If rolled during combat by a Creature, roll that die again. If you roll Chaos again, add another copy of that creature to the combat starting next turn.
• Gear = If rolled for any reason on any roll, you may recover any of your starting equipment and money.
• Pit = If rolled by a Creature to determine Attack Strength, the Creature automatically destroys one of the player’s non-starting equipment of the player’s choosing.
• Roman Numeral = This die “explodes”. Add the number rolled to the score, than roll again. Add the resulting score and/or effect. This die may continue to explode.
• Triangle = If rolled for a Creature’s Attack Strength, the creature recovers 1 Stamina. If rolled for any other reason, you recover 1 Stamina.

Some bonkers things happened while I was testing this. I had a Stamina of 30 at one point but got nicked-and-dimed to death because I couldn’t stop rolling Chaos. Another time I kept losing gear almost every time I fought someone. A third play-through saw me get my teeth kicked in by superior opponents but shanking them to death anyway with Cannon rolls and a high Luck. There’s a lot more here to experiment with, and I’ll get back to this sooner than later. If you play with this hack, tell me how it went.

I’m a big fan of remixing, mashing-up, and hacking tabletop games. Sometimes I combine components from multiple games. Sometimes I make action figures an integral part of my 1,000 Blank Cards deck. Somethings I rip the Skills section out of my Star Wars beta and redact everything I don’t like just to see if it’s still playable. It’s not an exact science and there’s no telling what sort of mechanical conflicts will happen. This is my version of “fun”. I call it Frankengaming.

While writing this, I was surprised to find that I had so many chess related games. In all, I found a normal chess set, both sets of Knightmare Chess cards, Proteus, Shuuro and its expansion Turanga, a PDF of Chess 2: The Sequel, and Solitare Chess. This is like having a core game with the expansions all made by different companies. On their own, they don’t play nice with each other, so you have to make them play nice.

Note that these mash-ups got minimal playtesting. And by minimal, I mean one or two games each.

PROTEUS + TURANGA = BRIDGE BATTLE

Here’s a quick remix using the tiles that come with Turanga and the Proteus dice.

• Lay the 4 Turanga tiles in a row.
• Each player places their Proteus dice on their side in a “U” shape, all showing Pawn. These are considered starting spaces for purposes of a Pawn’s double move.
• Play Proteus as normal.

This one plays pretty straight, save for the weird board. Different strategies are needed but the fluid nature of the pieces makes it fairly easy to adapt to.

SOLITAIRE CHESS + TRADITIONAL CHESS = THE BRAWL

After hearing a Radiolab episode about games being considered stories, I thought about how to start a board game in medias res. Here’s my attempt.

• Set up a normal chess game on a normal board.
• Randomly select two Solitaire Chess mats and place them side by side next to the board. This mini-board will determine how to set up the middle of the board.
• White player must move one of their pieces to a square of their choosing on the mini-board that shows the outline of that piece. Black must then move one of their pieces in the same way. Placement continues until all the spaces with outlines are taken. If the player CAN place a piece, they MUST DO SO.
• Kings may not start in check. If a king is already placed in a forward space, the opponent may not place a piece that puts the king in check. This is the only exception to placing pieces until the forward spaces are filled.
• Once both players have completed their forward setup, place those pieces on the chess board in the comparable spaces. The mini-board is no longer needed.
• Pawns in forward positions may not double move on their first turn.
• Play Chess as normal.

This game implies that a skirmish has already taken place and the normally placed pieces are reinforcements. Because of the close-quarters starting positions, things will get interesting fast. Also, remember to capture en passant. Starting so close to each other makes this a common occurrence.

SHUURO + KNIGHTMARE CHESS = (JUST) KNIGHTMARE

This might be my new go-to game. I’ve been playing Knightmare Chess since it was released and mashing it up with Shuuro just seemed right.

• Construct decks as per Knightmare Chess as part of the Form Armies phase.
• Prepare the battlefield, deploy, and fight as per Shuuro.
• All other rules of Shuuro and Knightmare Chess are followed normally (I think).

I still can’t imagine all the insanity combining these two games might cause. There is more then one card that allows pieces to jump, making the plinths less of a refuge than before. The Bombard card is the most obvious example, but there are other cards that let you place pieces on any square, jump obstacles, or phase through things. Another card that can give a nasty surprise is Onslaught. If you’ve taken the a lot of pawns and then play Onslaught, you’ll be able to move ALL those pawns at once. Finally, if you have some of the blank cards, Shuuro-specific effects can really disrupt the game. There are too many potential snarls to address here, so be a sport and let your opponent redraw or take back their turn if things didn’t work out the way it was intended…on the first game.

AND SO ON…

I could do this all day, but some combinations are either unworkable or silly. For example, Knightmare Chess and Chess 2 both offer new pieces. Is a Wild Horse turned into a Paladin just like a knight? And if so, how does that unbalance that army? The armies in Chess 2 are package deals, so transforming them further could kneecap the whole team, or give it an unforeseen advantage. Also, Proteus and Shuuro’s point values are different, so while you could use Shuuro’s larger board, you’d be better off “buying” starting pieces per the Wall Street variant. But hey, they’re your games. Try it all and see what works.