Nordheim: Runes as Dice in D&D

Chessex polyhedral dice and rune set by Arcturus Publishing

I've been digging in some old rpg sandpits I used to muck around in and have been getting back into Nordheim, my Norse mythology setting from a decade ago. I've got some friend's kids who really want me to run a game for them, and they're really into D&D and norse gods and greek heroes and basically exactly where I was when I was their age. Anyway, I've always wanted to use futhark runes in Nordheim, and finally managed to find some at a local bookshop (though you can get the online here). 

This particular set by Arcturus Publishing aren't what I originally had in mind; I was envisioning something more interesting, hand-carved in stone, but only after I bought them did I realise this particular set of runes aren't too bad as dice, and I picked up some Chessex black polyhedral sets and inked them in with gold pen to match.

Map of Nordheim

 

So how to use them in game?

First up as character background inspiration. Have the players blindly draw one rune from the bag and place it on the table. If it's rune is face up, all good. Face down, it's in opposition or merkstave (I'm not interested in the historical accuracy of reading runes Just Like They Did In the Old Days as much as I'm interested in using them as a tool for idea generation, and runes being in opposition or merkstave is debatable, but for game purposes I'm cool with it).

The rune they draw informs their character's background. At a later date I might get round to detailing every single rune and some background origins for each, but for now I like it as a loose influence. 

Second idea is at the start of each game session, each player draws a rune. During the game, if a dice roll comes up that concerns something connected to the rune, then the player can opt to use the rune in addition to the dice roll.

If the rune lands face up it affects the results of a d20 roll as follows:

Dice Roll Fumbled (nat 1!)  => Result improved to just a Fail
Dice Roll Failed => Result improved to a Success
Dice Roll Succeeded => Result improved to a Critical Success
Dice Roll Critical Success (nat 20!) => Result improved to something Monumentally Cool

Once applied the rune can't be used again this session.

If the rune lands face down it doesn't affect the results but the player can hold on to it for later in the session.

As for what each rune means and what areas of the game they influence, I leave that for the players to convince the DM, but there's so many resources available about using them for divination that you just need to refer to one and make the call.

 

 

20 MORE RPG CAMPAIGN QUESTIONS (plus one):

Tik Tok's home: my mate Tom's D&D world from when he was 16.

Saw Skerples' recent post answering the famous Jeff Rients 20 Campaign Questions, and the infamous Scrap Princess 20 questions too. Figured I'd ask 20 more...

0. Why were settlements founded here? Was it simply at the confluence of waterways or trade routes? At the furthest navigable point upstream or port? Near a source of natural wealth that provided enough incentive to build here? At a strategic location, providing access to or intelligence about a particular region? As a political statement or show of power? Was it settled a long time ago? Has the settlement outgrown its original purpose? How has it been changed?

1. What are the local funeral customs? What happens if these customs are not followed? What happens to the bodies of the abandoned dead? Are there supernatural repercussions? If it is found out that someone left a dead companion behind, how are they treated by the locals?

2. How do neighbouring settlements communicate with one another? Is it by word of mouth from traveller to traveller? Or have they acquired something more developed, such as beacons, a courier service, or even magic? How trustworthy and reliable are these communications? Are they publicly available, or controlled by and restricted to the powers that be?

3. How dramatically does your campaign location change from season to season? What are the natural indicators of different seasons (apart from changing temperatures and possible snow). What constellations ride high in which season? What animal migrations take place? What animals spawn or rut or die? What meteorological events take place (tornadoes, or auroras, seasonal floods, etc), and how do the locals observe or celebrate these events?

4. What are the three biggest local celebrations each year? What is it they're celebrating? How do they celebrate? Is there a change in laws or social customs during these events? Can you sum up the experience of each celebration in five key words?

5. Where is the safest place for someone to stash a considerable sum of coins and treasure? How much do they charge, who guards it in return, and what do they do with your wealth while it's in their care? Will you profit from giving them your wealth, or is there a risk that it will be less when you return? What happens to those who cannot pay their debts? 

6. What is the local standard of medical technology in replacing missing bits and body pieces? What if an injured adventurer was to pay top dollar for something considerably more fancy? Is there a seer or inventor in the region more than willing to push the boundaries in prosthetics and artificial limbs for reasonable patronage? Is there a magical alternative available? Are they in competition?

7. What are some local superstitions? How serious are the locals in practicing them? What is said to happen if they are not followed? Has anyone flagrantly ignored them, and to what result?

8. What is the scariest local myth? How old is it? Is there any truth to it? Has anyone in living memory come face to face with it? Has anyone attempted to put the myth to rest? Did they succeed? If not, what happened?

9. Who collects tribute and taxes for the powers that be? How often do they visit the local area, or do they have a permanent establishment? What happens to those who fail to pay up? What is the policy on taxing one-off gains such as recovering a treasure hoard or magical artefacts? How powerful are the enforcers?

10. What are the best places to get a drink round here? What makes these ones better than the rest? What are the house specials? Who else likes to come here? Who's on hand if things get a little rough? What's the house policy on possibly dubious activities, like gambling and companionship? Anything real shady going on here?

11. Where can you buy animals round here? Any local breeds got a reputation, if so what for? Any individual animals famous enough to enter local legend, and what'd they do to get there? Are they for sale and at what cost? What if something a little more exotic was required, where could they be found?

12. What is the local settlement missing? Is it something they're making do without, or is it something they're in dire need of? Is it something that can be imported? or is something more permanent, like a building or infrastructure that they desperately need someone to provide? Are they in the process of collecting funds for it? Or is simply something the people wish for but will likely never have?

13. What is the local mascot of the town or region? How did they come to have this particular mascot? If the mascot is a living creature or local phenomena, how do the locals treat encounters with the mascot's counterparts? What is the mascot famous for?

14. Where's the best place to pick up a few hired hands? Are there any locals with a reputation for a particular job? Any locals known to be particularly mercenary folk, willing to do anything for a bit of coin? What are their reputations? Good, bad, ugly? Any old sellswords who need to make ends meet?

15. What's the local take on the end of the world? Does it follow the standard dogma as espoused by the dominant religion? Or does it feature a number of local deviations? Or is it entirely different? How long til the end of the world, according to local gossip? Anyone actively capitalising on fear mongering or prophecy?

16. Is there a local hedge wizard, witch, or shaman of no great power but one who cares for the locals and helps deal with their tribulations? Where do they live? How can they be contacted? What services can they provide, and what do they charge in return? What do the locals think of them? Do they possess heath lore and ancient knowledge only, or are they truly magical? 

17. What games do the locals like to play? Is it easy to learn? Do they like sports, games with animals? Boardgames? Games of skill? Games of strength or other prowess? Are their favourite games something widely encountered? Or something only played locally? Who are the local champs? Can you make money winning local tournaments? Can you make money gambling on the outcome (and is gambling legal anyway)? Who runs the gambling?

18. What crimes are punishable by death? Who gets to decide guilt or innocence? Who gets to decide if the guilty are to be executed? What local methods of execution are used? Do they use different methods of dispatch for different crimes? Is there a preference for a swift, clean death, or a painfully slow one? Are they public affairs or private ceremonies? What happens to the guilty if the execution fails? 

19. Have any great disasters destroyed local settlements? What were they, how long ago did they happen? Did they rebuild or relocate (or not survive at all)? Are the locals still recovering or has it since entered into local legend? Did many people die? How has the disaster affected local attitudes and laws? Is the disaster something that commemorated? Is there any physical signs of the disaster still present? Do the locals live in fear of the disaster happening again?

20. Where can you find maps of the region? Are there many available? Are they publicly available or only for a select few? How accurate are they? Are they all sourced from the same original map (and thus contain the same errors) or from different sources (and thus contain different and often conflicting pieces of information)? Is anyone maintaining up-to-date maps of the region as settlements grow and change and new areas are colonised, or are they all out-of-date by several decades or even centuries? If so, who is surveying the area, who is providing the cartography, and for what purpose is the map maintained? What features are illustrated that are no longer present? What features are absent?

Conrunning the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan was one of the few AD&D modules I remember having as a kid. For years I've wanted to run it again, and did so at EttinCon in the Blue Mountains beyond Sydney last weekend. Two 3 hour sessions, 6 players first and 7 players second, using 5th Edition rules. Spoilers ahead.

HSoT was originally written in 1979 for Origins, and published in 1980, then republished in 1981 with a full colour cover and more pages (I had this version). You can get the PDF of it here. Turns out it'll be coming out in 5e rules as part of the collected adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal. Cool.

1981 version Cover Illustration by Erol Otus 

Information design and presentation has come a looooong way in the 35 years since, and while yakking with Erik Jensen about Tamoachan he mentioned there was an updated version for 4th Edition in Dungeon Magazine #209 (which you can grab here).

The presentation was much improved (boxed text alert) and I ended up using this version when I ran it. Mike Schley did the cartography for the 4th Ed version which was printed and given out as a Game Day reward in 2011:

The hi res map isn't publicly available for download, but I contacted Mike Schley and he not only gave me the digital version of the map above, he then went and found the unmarked player map. Awesome.

I really wanted to have the map printed out as a battle map on the table for the players (I find it helps them focus on the game and cuts out the air time spent on giving dimensions to each room, especially important when you're up against the clock at a Con), but scaled up to 1" = 5' that map would have been over 13 feet long and 7 feet wide. I ended up breaking the map up into five sections: 3 for the first Tier, 1 for the second and third Tier, and 1 for the top of the Temple. Even then I had to do a fair bit of photoshop work to compress the map so the bottom Tier would fit on three A0 posters, and I could only get the scale to 3/4" = 5' but that was ok. Come gametime I had the five maps laid one on top of each other, working our way down trough the pile. As you'll see in the set up, the players begin with a map of the temple which explains why they can see it in-game.

In terms of adventure design it starts with a single "only way out is through" entry point A (the partially caved in room bottom right), with a possible-but-highly-unlikely-they'll-find-it exit that allows you to explore from the top of the temple downwards B, several branches that lead to a single choke point C, several different paths to the next choke point D, several branches and paths to choke point E, and then a fairly straight run to the top of the temple at F with a couple of optional branches on the way.

There was one secret door in the original adventure at G, and I added another a H cause I didn't want the players to see the clear exit off from these two maps so they'd explore the dungeon.

The game would have played quite differently if the maps weren't there on the table, a lot more exploration, but even so both groups were really pushed for time to finish it at all, and with the second group that played I even cut whole levels of maps out in the end. But I was fine with that, cause there was a lot of getting into their characters and I didn't want to punish that investment.

CREATING THE PRE-GEN CHARACTERS

The 1st Ed version has: "In general, party size should be from 5 to 7 characters of 3rd to 7th levels. The average level of the party should be 5th. If fewer than 5 players are involved, the average level should be 6th."

The 4th Ed version only has "for 7th level characters".

I wasn't sure what levels to go with for 5th edition characters, but ended up making eight 7th-level characters for the 6-7 players to choose from each session.

What a fucking nightmare that was. 

Even with the help of Jack Shear and Reece Carter (many many thanks!) it took fucking forever to a) create the characters and b) condense all the character info into one digestible page, with an extra page for spells. As each character piled on ability after ability it really did bring home some of the flaws with the hidden complexity of 5E. I could have created the equivalent in one evening using some over systems I'm familiar with. It took hours and hours and hours...

Anyway, it's done, and it's available here so you don't have to go through my pain:

PARTY OF EIGHT 7th-LEVEL 5th EDITION D&D CHARACTERS

Top Row: Shank the Half-elven Assassin, Xyla the Human Wizard,
Pinchgut the Dwarven Rogue, Jinx the Halfling Bard

Bottom Row: Horhog the Human Barbarian, Ulsha the Elven Cleric, Dendrek the Human Fighter,
Riff Raff the Human Ranger (cursed to look like a Ratling).

I based the characters off these awesome illustrations by Eric Belisle, who's done a lot of great work for Pathfinder and some illos for D&D. I really wanted a set of united character pics all by the same artist, and with that hint of jungle in the designs and these were perfect. On top of that, there's a wide range of color and body type and gender representation so I reckon its a rocking bunch of adventurers.

So was 7th level the right level? Yeah, if you wanted to play on easy mode. There were two character deaths in each game, but that came from a Save or Die situation I'll talk about in a sec. One character got dropped to 4HP at one stage, but with the cleric packing the heals and the Wizard being an Abjurer at no point were the characters perilously close to death. I reckon you could easily go for 6th level and still be ok, 5th level for a challenging but possible game.

CHOOSING THE CHARACTERS

I printed out the 8 characters on A5 sized card stands and lined them up infront of the players and let them choose which ones they wanted to be. In both games there were 6 players, leaving 2 characters left. I made sure they both turned up later on.

THE SETUP

I really wanted to have an in game explanation as to why the players could see the layout of the shrine and their location within it, and I also wanted to give them a reason to explore the shrine instead of taking the shortest possible path out of there. So I came up with this terrible poem:

Enshrined within the shrine lies the mask of pain divine

An end to all world’s ills when worn the mask reveals

The boon or bane of man in lost Tamoachan

and the following introduction:

You and your friends have shared in many adventures, and now search for the Mask of Tamoachan, a legendary artefact said to grant wishes to the one that wears it. Each of you wants for different reasons, but have all agreed to find it together.

Two weeks ago you broke into the fortress of one of the Sea Princes and stole a magical map. On one side it revealed the location of the lost city of Tamoachan in the Amedio Jungle; the other showed what appeared to be a section of the layout of the Shrine of Tamoachan.

The Sea Princes don't take kindly to thieves and sent bounty hunters after you. In a stolen ship you sailed across the narrow waters to the shores of the Amedio, and struck deep into the shadows beneath the rainforest.

But the hunters dogged you every step of the way, and had coerced native trackers to help bring you down. 

Finally you drew near to the location marked on the stolen map, spotting a junglecrusted temple ruin rising out of the trees ahead — and that's when they attack. 

Poisoned arrows and crossbow bolts whistle around you as you dash through the jungle, smashing through branches, stumbling over fallen trunks, torn by thorns and vines. In the chaos you lose sight of some of your crew, but the plan is simple: get to the temple, regroup and take a stand.

And then with a great roar the ground beneath you splits apart, and you are all thrown down a mighty crevice and into darkness.

From there the adventure begins, with the players starting in Room 1. Away you go.

THE MASK OF TAMOACHAN

Location:
I placed the mask in the trapped Chest 2 of Room 33: Ancient Tamoachan, where the miniature version of the city is found. An Intelligence (Religion) check DC 12 is require to identify which of the buildings is the Shrine of Tamoachan. "Enshrined within a shrine".

Appearance:
The mask looks like a green death's head, furnished out of jade stone and shells, bound together in bloodsoaked leather straps and highlighted with various stone of blue and red. Leather ties from the back of the mask are used to secure it to the wearer. Soft bloodstained leather lines the inside of the mask, and is slightly damp to the touch. Examining the mask for several rounds will show that there is something strange with the jade stone: it seems that the natural white speckling and flaws move. Further examination reveals that these shapes coalesce into vaguely human forms, and that rough faces seem to be screaming.

Power:
The mask must be firmly tied on for its power to function. Once worn, the wearer can commune with the mask, and know that it will grant the wearer its greatest desire. The wearer must make a Wisdom Save. If successful, the mask fulfils the wearer's desire functioning much the same as a wish spell. If unsuccessful, the wearer is instantly killed, their body and soul sucked into the mask. The wearer may use the mask's power once per week.

Destroying the Mask:
Brute force is all that is required. The Mask is AC: 20, has a hardiness of 14, and 20 hit points. If it has any hit points at the start of the round it immediately regenerates d6 hit points.

Why the Characters want it:
I also added a bunch of individual goals for the pregens and why they seek the mask; it made for some great roleplaying when they finally get their hands on it.

Shank the Assassin has a deathwish, and wants the mask either to kill him or take away his pain.
Xyla the Wizard has promised the souls trapped within the Mask to a Demon Lord that has ensnared her master.
Pinchgut the Rogue wants to sell the mask for gold and joools.
Jinx wants the mask to resurrect her lost love.
Horhog the Barbarian needs the mask to cure him of his deadly disease.
Ulsha the Cleric wants to destroy the mask and return the trapped souls to the great spiritual journey.
Dendrek the Fighter wants the mask to heal his missing eye.
Riff Raff the Rogue wants the mask to return him to his human form.

SO WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE PREGENS THE PLAYERS DON'T CHOOSE?

They turn up twice in the adventure.

In Room 33: Ancient Tamoachan — yep, the same room as where the Mask of Tamoachan is found — there is lying in a coffin the shapeshifting Tlacaelel, which assumes the visage of "someone you thought you might never see again" — which is where the unchosen character comes in (or one of the characters if there's more than one). They take the extra character's form, and use the cover story that the natives caught them, bound them and placed them in the coffin as part of some native ritual.

They also turn up at the final battle atop of the Shrine of Tamoachan, in Room 54: The Temple Ruin. The extra character(s) have gone full Belloch: they've sold out the rest of the group, and when they "disappeared" at the start of the adventure during the attack, they were simply rejoining the other hunters, and are waiting for the player characters to do their dirty work before joining in on the attack along side the Olman natives and Witchdoctor. If you want you can also add a few hunters (use Thugs and Veterans from p.350. of the Monster Manual) if the players have survived without much injury.

Thanks to all my players in both groups. Hope you had as much fun as I did.

SWORDS OF NORDHEIM #01 : THE ISLAND OF EERIKA'S DOOM

So finally after months of pussyfooting round I finally got to run the first session of Swords of Nordheim using D&D 5th and a bunch of houserules (modified races and classes, mainly, plus the use of futhark runes as character inspiration).

Two old mates of mine: Steg (also in Sydney) and Wes (currently working in Tokyo), who I've known and gamed with for twenty years or so, ran using Google Hangouts (man their "downgrade" is making it hard to stick around on G+.... sigh). Hopefully a couple more players will be join us soon.

And to push myself with the arty stuff and with the writey stuff I'm going to keep a session recap, complete with quick illustrations (I need to work on being faster with the pen). Lessee how long I can stick this out.

THE CHARACTERS:

GUNVOR KIRBYSON (Steg)
Nordheimer Warrior of Noble blood, drew the rune of Eihwaz merkstave, and favours the god Heimdall above all others. A master of games (few are his equal at shatranj) and a likeable son of the local lord. The broadsword and round shield are his weapons and he wears a fine chain shirt into battle.

TORRAD GAMILSON (Wes)
Trollblood Berzerker who trained as a Weaponsmith, drew the rune of Isa merkstave, and favours the goddess Sif above all others. His trollblood manifests as hideous claws that he must sever each morning before he goes to work in his smithy, where he hammers out the finest swords in his town. The sword and round shield are his weapons, but he eschews armour in his berzerker rage.

DRIFA ODDLEIFDOTTIR (me)
Jotunblood Huntress who sails the coast hunting whales, drew the rune of Nauthiz merstave, and favours the god Uller above all others. She is descended from Sea Giants. The Harpoon is her weapon, and the hide of her kills protects her. (I like having a DMPC in my games, especially if there's only a couple of players, and they're almost always heavy hitters just to help the PCs stay alive. And no, they're not snowflakes. They die very well, thank you).

(Merkstave means the rune has negative connotations, and the choice of favoured god from the Norse pantheon confers a minor blessing on each character)

The names are all from here: Viking Fantasy Name Generator

THE SETUP:

Steg punched a bunch of storyhooks into his brief character background, and here it is verbatim:

His father, a devout man, was famous for his own adventures twenty years gone. But last summer some old friends of his father's, some familiar to Gunvor and some not, turned up late one evening. The last trace of his father was a hastily scribbled note: “Eerika Bergljotdottir stirs in the Doom where we trapped her. We journ to Helmsborg to seek answers. Godsmun Bjornen Triggson gave oath this could not happen unless Strength in Life, Strength in Battle.”

So the player characters are the sons and daughters of Kirby's friends who have gone missing for several months, and I threw them straight into rowing their faering boat across the frigid waters to where their parents were last known to be heading: the island of Eerika's Doom.

The Island awaits...

THE ADVENTURE:

We started late and there was the usual first session muckaround to begin with, so we didn't get terribly far into it (which is good, cause I was underprepped and I can bang some stuff out in time for next week's game).

The three adventurers made it to the island and dragged their faering up over the rocky shores and into the tussocks beyond, then headed to the headland promontory away to the east to get a better view of the island. Through the slowly parting mists they saw a large rocky hill rising from the centre of the island, granite and barren, and were about to head off there when Torrad spied a wooden dragonprow poking up from the forest near the harbour on the far side of the headland.

They investigated, and found a small knarr fit for a dozen people had been pulled ashore and covered over with tarp and hidden by branches. They searched the ship, found no-one, but guessed from the rotting food stores that the crew had intended to stay for some time but had not returned to their ship. At best guess it had been hidden for several months; a small campfire was found but had been partially grown over. The three adventurers also found a couple of odds and ends (I'd forgotten to roll on the trinkets table and got them to do so in game). Then headed off to the rocky hill and found it soon enough.

As they scrambled about the hill, they found the rock was exceptionally cold to the touch, akin to touching bare flesh on frozen steel, and that there were no signs of animal life. Again Torrad's keen eyes spotted the flight of rough hewn stairs running up the side of the hill, and ascending it they came to a wide landing and a low stone cliff, into which some masterful hands had carved a wide opening that descended down into darkness.

At the bottom of there were two heavy stone doors, shut tight; but with a hefty push the doors parted to reveal a long hall lined with statues of excellent craftmanship, dark passages descending between each pair of figures. It appeared to be a burial mound, but the funereal boat was not lying along the floor. Instead it had somehow been inverted, so that the tip of the mast touched the stone ground, and the ceiling lay many feet deep in the thickest grip of ice. Only the prows emerged from the glacial grasp, and the ice ran down along the walls to smoother the upper halves of the statues.

The hall was incredibly cold, the air hurt to breathe, and touching anything froze the flesh.

Torrad persevered though, and using a torch and dagger managed to chip the ice away from one of the statues, that (serendipitously?) revealed the statue was a goddess, and was indeed his patron Sif, the goddess of War (have an inspiration point for that). The others went looking for their gods. Drifa found and freed Uller, the god of Hunting, but none of the statues were of Gunvor's patron Heimdall.

Instead Gunvor found Heimdall's face carved into the massive stone doors at the far end of the hall. Fitting, that the god of guardians would be found protecting the inner sanctum of the burial mound. Gunvor gave it his best to open the innder doors, but Heimdall was having none of it.

A quick investigation of the six other passageways leading out of the main hall reveal each descended to yet more stone doors. One was open, but at Torrad's insistence they chose the door guarded by Sif.

With a bit of effort (the ice that gripped the ceiling ran down each passage and partially covered the doors) they managed to open the passage and found a tomb inside. The walls were again lined with statues, this time of nobility, looking down on a massive sarcophagus. Gunvor and Torrad were about to push the lid off it when Drifa spotted a secret door up in the passageway, but they pressed on with the task and with a massive crash the stone lid fell away.

Inside was the fully armed and armoured skeleton of a Jotunblood warrior, easily over nine feet tall. Long dead, Torrad decided to bequeath his armour to Drifa, and the warrior's fine looking sword to himself; he snapped the Jotunskel's head right round as he was removing the helm.... only to see the head turn slowly back and the horror rise up out of its resting place.

The Jotunskel (reskinned Minotaur Skeleton p273MM, increased AC to 14, decreased damage to 1d8+6).

It mouthed breathless words as it snapped Drifa's harpoon in half, swatted away the first sword blows, and then attacked. Maybe because Torrad was the one who defiled his tomb it concentrated its wrath on him and brought its own sword down on the trollblood hardest. The first blow to hit dropped him two thirds of his hit points, but the combination of Gunvor's swift swordwork, Drifa's horns and Torrad's rage wore the creature down, and it was finally felled by Gunvor's sword to the neck. As the decapitated head rolled away, its still mouthed its silent words. "You shall bear these arms at Ragnorok," was what it appeared to say, watching as the victors looted its fallen body.

We called it a night there. Midnight; tired Jez, more prep needed.

THE MAP:

I didn't get anywhere near enough prep time as I would have liked, so grabbed the old crypt map I'd made a few years back to showcase the DungeonFu GoogleDocs I'd made... so far this is what they've explored:

TREASURE:

Trinkets from the boat:
- a brass king from a shatranj game (Gunvor)
- a mysterious iron holy symbol of an unknown god (Torrad)
- a large scale from a Vaengrwyrm (Drifa)

From the Jotunskel:
- one suit of chain mail and warhelm (fit for a Jotunblood)
- one fine heavy broadsword (+1 damage)
- one fine dagger
- a magnificent bejeweled belt
- one wooden round shield marked with a doubleheaded orca
- a fine silver necklace bearing an amulet of Thor's hammer Mjolnir

EXPERIENCE:

Exploring the Island: 150XP
Defeating the Jotunskel: 450XP

TOTAL: 600XP/3 = 200XP each

SWORDS OF NORDHEIM: Campaign Map

Something I knocked up over the weekend for Swords of Nordheim. 

My sincerest apologies for the manglesmash of Old Norse.

D&D 5E : SWORDS OF NORDHEIM

Announcing Swords of Nordheim, my new game setting for D&D 5th Edition.

The Sad Story of Tik Tok the Half Human

My favorite orc pic. She's beautiful. By Jang Keun-Chul

S:19 D:14 C:18 I:5 W:11 Ch: 14
5th Level Half Orc Fightress

She don't remember much. 

She's a Gal-Aktar Gal. Mountains. Orcs. Hollering. Bloodshed. Was good with bloodshed. Knows enough to know that she doesn't know much, and that's how they got her. That other orc tribe. Killed her people, all the rest. Tricked them. Enslaved her. Tortured her, too. "Tik Tok" they mocked, like Time was running out. She didn't understand. Time has legs? Too many things in her head.

But she knows this: she's the Last One. Which is why she's King. Just a King with out a tribe. But one day there will be a new tribe. It's just up to her to make it. So she's here for fame, fortune, and family. First you get the money. Then you get the power. Then you get the woman. Man. Whatever. She misses Gwynn. He made everything make sense. Would have been a good Queen.

But Gwynn has gone. Now everything bad is now worse. Found a tribe. Lost it. Hard being King! Too hard for Tik Tok. So much thinking. Tik Tok no good at thinking. Tik Tok no good at kinging either. Stupid crown. Tik Tok throw stupid crown in the sea. Stupid Sea. Stupid Tik Tok.

There was a dragon. There is a war. Tik Tok not sure who's fighting. Tik Tok not sure who she's fighting for. Tik Tok so.... Tik Tok not sure what Tik Tok is any more. Tik Tok thought she was King. Stupid Tik Tok.

Tik Tok like this beer though. Beer good. Tik Tok drink lots of beer. Tik Tok feel better. Tik Tok can't hear them any more. Humans nasty. Just as nasty as orcs. Half-orc they shout. Go away Half-orc.

Tik Tok half-human too. But no-one ever calls her that.

Tik Tok wonder what halflings really are. Tik Tok wonder what lings are.

Tik Tok wonder. Why life so shit? Life shit on Tik Tok from great height ever since she remember, which is at least three weeks ago. Maybe ever four.

Tik Tok have great axe though. Life not all shit. Axe make Tik Tok happy. Can't Tik Tok just be happy? Axe make Tik Tok very happy. Maybe Tik Tok swing Axe all the time. Make Tik Tok always happy.

Rules say Tik Tok not allowed to swing axe all the time.

Tik Tok mad. Stupid rules. Gwynn make Tik Tok happy too. Tik Tok swing Gwynn all the time! Only... Gwynn gone.

Tik Tok sad again. Beer not working anymore.

Stupid beer.

Stupid Tik Tok.

A World Without Magic: 5th Ed D&D without the sparkly bits

As much as I love the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, one of the few issues I have with it is the prevalence of magic in so many of its classes and in the base setting.

I find the overabundance of magic in the 5th Edition makes magic far less magical and far more mundane.

Forgotten Realms doesn’t really do it for me; I’m more of a fan of worlds where magic is very rare, such as Game of Thrones, or non-existent, such as historical games in our world.

Hopefully this document provides enough variety of gameplay untouched by the arcane.

[Click to open Google Doc]

[D&D5E] Combat Stunts: Fighter Probabilities

Following on from the last post about Combat Stunts for Fighters, I've sat down and worked out the probabilities for a Fighter succeeding on a Stunt check from Level 1 to Level 20. 

I've made my assumptions based on a 1st level Human Fighter made with the standard ability array which gives the fighter a starting Str 16, and I've bumped that Str up every level I could. 

The columns shown are only those where the to hit bonus goes up by +1 (so levels 2 and 3 have the same probabilities as Level 1, etc).

AC of Target	1st Lvl Str 16 +5	4th Lvl Str 18 +6	5th Lvl Str 18 +7	6th Lvl Str 20 +8	9th Lvl Str 20 +9	13th Lvl Str 20 +10	17th Lvl Str 20 +11
10	64.00%	72.25%	81.00%	90.25%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
11	56.25%	64.00%	72.25%	81.00%	90.25%	100.00%	100.00%
12	49.00%	56.25%	64.00%	72.25%	81.00%	90.25%	100.00%
13	42.25%	49.00%	56.25%	64.00%	72.25%	81.00%	90.25%
14	36.00%	42.25%	49.00%	56.25%	64.00%	72.25%	81.00%
15	30.25%	36.00%	42.25%	49.00%	56.25%	64.00%	72.25%
16	25.00%	30.25%	36.00%	42.25%	49.00%	56.25%	64.00%
17	20.25%	25.00%	30.25%	36.00%	42.25%	49.00%	56.25%
18	16.00%	20.25%	25.00%	30.25%	36.00%	42.25%	49.00%
19	12.25%	16.00%	20.25%	25.00%	30.25%	36.00%	42.25%
20	9.00%	12.25%	16.00%	20.25%	25.00%	30.25%	36.00%
21	6.25%	9.00%	12.25%	16.00%	20.25%	25.00%	30.25%
22	4.00%	6.25%	9.00%	12.25%	16.00%	20.25%	25.00%
23	2.25%	4.00%	6.25%	9.00%	12.25%	16.00%	20.25%
24	1.00%	2.25%	4.00%	6.25%	9.00%	12.25%	16.00%
25	0.25%	1.00%	2.25%	4.00%	6.25%	9.00%	12.25%

[D&D5E] Combat Stunts: Spicing Up the Fighter

One of my personal philosophies with game design is that combat abilities should never be exclusive.

If you can wield a weapon, you should be able to do what you want with it. The endless list of fighter feats in 3rd Ed D&D and Pathfinder was always a pet hate of mine: any fighter should be able to make a power attack, or a try a quick thrust or knock back or smackdown an enemy. They should be able to rush their shot and hopefully get off an arrow before the melee arrives; fighters should always be encouraged to take risks in combat.

The idea was totally stabbed in the face by DCC with its Mighty Deeds of Arms mechanic, which allowed DCC Warriors to try any sort of combat manoeuvre they could think of; they just needed to hit the target for the deed to succeed. It meant an end to "I hit it with my axe....again" and suddenly in every DCC combat the warriors were constantly asking for details about the battlefield looking for anything they could use to gain the advantage in their fights. 

It was a fantastic and inspired piece of elegantly simple game design. And with the new Dis/Advantage rules in 5th Ed D&D it's possible to emulate the Mighty Deeds mechanic, just with a risk/reward system.

If the fighter chooses to attack with a disadvantage he can declare a Combat Stunt.
If the attack succeeds, the enemy takes normal damage and the Stunt succeeds. 

The Fighter cannot already have disadvantage when they declare the deed.

[EDIT] The Fighter can only make as many combat stunts in one round equal to their # of base attacks.
So a 1st level Fighter can attempt 1 Stunt/rnd, at 5th lvl 2 Stunts/rnd, at 11th lvl 3 Stunts/rnd, and at 20th lvl 4 Stunts/rnd.


[EDIT] A non-fighter can also attempt a Combat Stunt, but they do no damage if the Stunt succeeds.

It's really that simple, and makes Fighters soooo much more fun to play. With that simple mechanic you can do all the basics:

[EDIT]
• Power Attack: take disadvantage on the attack roll to gain add your weapon's damage dice to your normal damage roll.

[EDIT]

• Disarm: take disadvantage on the attack roll to gain advantage on an opposed Strength or Dexterity Check to disarm (each combatant decides which ability to roll).

[EDIT]

• Sweep Attack: take disadvantage on the attack roll and if successful gain an extra attack on an adjacent enemy (the second attack has disadvantage as well).

[EDIT]

• Smackdown: take disadvantage on the attack roll to gain advantage on an opposed Strength Check to knock your enemy prone.

• Pushback: take disadvantage on the attack roll to knock your enemy back 5 feet.

• Feint: take disadvantage on the attack roll to give the enemy disadvantage on their next attack.

[EDIT]

• Hobble Strike: take disadvantage on the attack roll to reduce the enemy's move by 10 feet. Multiple hobbles can reduce an enemy to zero movement.

• Awesome Attack: take disadvantage on the attack roll to gain advantage on a bonus Intimidation check against the enemy.

... and so on. These are just variant attacks, I've seen Mighty Deeds used for all kinds of off-the-wall advantages responding to the unique environment of the encounter. The key to making it work is this: any fighter should be able to do them.

And what are the probabilities of success?

Well thanks to this guy here [LINK] here's the basics of Dis/Advantage probabilities.

Take your typical 1st level 5th Ed fighter and they will have at least +5 to hit, probably more. If you're attacking a Commoner (AC10), you've got a 64% chance of pulling off a Combat Stunt. Pretty easy. Against an orc (AC13), that goes down to 42%. Still not bad. Against a big slow witted ogre (AC11), the chances go up to 56%, and against a Young Green Dragon (wherever would you find one of those? AC18), your chances drop to 16%. Seems reasonable to me.

And if you take the Archery Fighting Style (adds +2 to your ranged attack rolls) you can pull Combat Stunts off against a Commoner 81% of the time, against an orc 56%, against an ogre 72%, and against that green dragon 25% of the time.

Maybe too much? I'll let you know. I'm yet to playtest them, so no idea how it will play on the night yet, but if you do like these houserules and do take them for a spin let me know how they go.

No doubt when the PBH arrives in August all these ideas will be rendered moot, but if you're looking for a sweet and simple fighter mechanic to match the sweet as 5th Ed D&D Basic Rules, this might be what you're looking for.

Bewdy.