Rowing Longship Reconstruction

 

More longship video goodness.

Critical Roll

Player Critical

Critical hits have one of two effects chosen by the player.

• Inflict maximum damage (no roll).
• Whatever they can imagine and convince the DM of happening.

The second option is wide open. Things I've seen or thought of; disarming, knocking prone, stunning, pushing over nearby cliff, causing immediate morale check, exiting from melee (without typical enemy free attack).

The main types of things I disallow are boring "dealing more damage" ones. Pick the first option to be boring. [I purposely made the damage option not super great, like 2x damage. Because I want players to pick option 2. I want them to entertain me with their creativity. I run games primarily to experience the ridiculous shenanigans players get up to.]

Magic Weapons

Magic weapons do something "special" on critical hits. [An idea from EverQuest "procing" weapon effects].  I always give magic weapons some Boogie-Woogie. Like "the dagger's blade appears to be an icicle, although steel hard and sharp. When wielded your breath appears as on a frigid morning." Or maybe just a name "Hammer of Dissolution".

I'll then use that "flavor" to enhance the critical chosen by player. Very situational, sometimes over the top [crits should be "WOW" moments]. But, scaled to the "drama of the moment".  So, a max damage crit with hammer against wandering monster, will moleculary dissolve it regardless of actual hit points remaining.  But against Lareth the Beautiful during the final struggle against Chaos a critical blow from that hammer would be epic. [Which I finding hard to "wing" an example of in the absence of actual game play. But, would probably be "stop the evil plot/win the day" type thing].

Monster Critical

Major and or interesting monsters; Orc bosses, champions and torturers, but probably not orc "fodder".  Possibly a rat swarm. Certainly all the mythical, magical beasts, and EHPs wielding spears of utter chaos. They all have a thematic "special effect" when they critically hit. I often have idea of what ahead of time but typically come up with something better during play.

Grizzly Bear gets it bear hug or maybe caves in breast plate, the wearer can no longer breath until removed.

Orc Boss savage attack inspire's his tribe they all recover some hp and immune to moral checks.

Orc Torturer whip's blister beetle ichor filled barbs rake your skin. Writhe in agony for next d6 rounds.

Basically all the stuff in books, movies and video games that isn't well represented by rolling d6 damage...

The Extraordinary Climb Ability Visualized

I present you, a mid level thief, demonstrating her Climb Walls Extraordinary Ability. 

I rule failed climb walls as "No convenient crack, etc. was found" rather than falling.  Damage is too severe penalty for attempting something that is a big reason to even bring thief along.  I want thieves to be utilizing their abilities. I want parties to be thinking of and executing interesting solutions to obstacles using Climb Walls.

If thief gets attacked mid climb or other "bad thing" happens, I'd probably require an extra Climb Walls check to "hold on". And a Save vs Petrification (my go to "react to avoid bad thing" save based on some early published modules) for half damage.

Also why I don't make it insanely hard (as written (esp in AD&D) or interpreted by many) to set up a back stab. If thief successfully "sneaks*" prior to combat, they get back stab on first baddy passing them by.  During combat if they spend round sneaking (and are successful) the next round they get to backstab **any** enemy. Party can choose to take out leader or wizard. But, only by investing 2 rounds (with possible failure) and probably leaving thief vulnerable "behind enemy lines".  Another tool / decision point for players to exploit.  

* my house rules combines move silently / hide in shadows into one skill sneak.  Sneak is the thematic thing going on. The implementation details (hiding in shadows, using distractions, cat stepping) are beneath the abstraction level of D&D.


Original Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/whatcouldgoright/comments/lombqq/i_mean_the_stairs_were_right_there/

Thundarr The Barbarian Anniversary

I love, love this cartoon. I wish there was more. It was my first introduction to "weird science", fantasy and sci-fi. Many of my D&D campaign worlds have been strongly inspired by the opening narration. It has stuck with me. 

"The year, 1994. From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice. With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword, against the forces of evil. He is ..."

3D Virtual Ramesses VI Tomb / Tomb of Horrors

This Tomb of Ramesses is amazing in it's own right. So much surviving hieroglyphics and decoration. It gave me waves of nostalgia and anxiety from going down the Tomb of Horrors great hallway.

Poor mummy, murder hobos broke into his tomb and hacked up his sarcaphogus, and looted his grave goods. Looks like he made them fight for it; "showed severe damage to his body, the head and torso being broken into several pieces by an axe used by the tomb robbers", cool. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_VI

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=NeiMEZa9d93

Adventure Lookup

2456 ADVENTURES indexed and searchable by rules system, environments, notable items, publisher, setting, monsters, level and page length.

AdventureLookup.com

Random Adventure

Helm of Infravision has been invented

In real life.

Central Texas Game Cons 2020

Owlcon

Houston, TX. You missed it. Feb 28 - March 1st

Great small RPG con on Rice University campus.  It was great. Go next year! https://owlcon.com/

LibCon

Abilene, TX. April 23-25th

At the Abilene public library!  Never been, little far for me to drive. But looks awesome Check out this LibCon 2020 video.  https://abilenetx.gov/264/Lib-Con

Chupacabracon

Round Rock, TX. May 1-3rd

Been couple times. A broader game con still with plenty of RPG.  A friend and I are both running "con dungeons" all weekend long. Similar to Mythrus Tower at NTRPG.  A single persistent dungeon across all sessions (and other cons). https://tabletop.events/conventions/chupacabracon-vii

North Texas RPG Con

Dallas TX. June 4-7th

The Old-School RPG convention. Been several times, but not this year.  https://ntrpgcon.com/

Lone Star Game Expo

Grapevine, TX. October 9-11th

Never been. Looks like good RPG convention. Hope to go this year. http://lonestargameexpo.com/

Aggie Con

College Station, TX. late 2020

Oldest, largest student-run fan convention in the world. Missed 50th one, going this year to number 51. http://aggiecon.org/

The Infernax of Spells, Necromancy and Black Magic

Man! Wish I had a copy of this. But like the Centurion says "it's extremely rare".

This is video review done by Centurion's Review Youtube Channel. Who often reviews old wargames esp micro games. But occasionally has an RPG item like this.

Approved by Dave Arneson

Owl Con 2020 Recap

Got back to Owl Con this year.  A great con at Rice Univ in Houston Texas. I ran a B/X session of Caves of Chaos. I had a blast, the full table of eight players had a blast. My friend ran Tegal Manor using OD&D and my other friend (I do have more than two) had an exhibitor booth hawking Scribes of Sparn wares. Mostly Planet Eris Gazetteer, map and modules. Being the shared campaign world several Austin OSR games run in.

He also did a much better job at taking photos and blogging about con than I ever will. So, I'll just direct you to his coverage on The Contemptible Cube of Quazar starting with this post OwlCon Live Blog Day One.  Half dozen or more posts after than one.  Be sure to look for "Professor" Norm and the serendipitous behind the screen photo of the DM's map!

Sadly I got sick and went home late Sat night. Looking fwd to Chupacabracon in May.