Campaign Notes 11-28-2011

As Ma Lian threw her fish-oil covered robes overboard, the members of the Grimani goon squad who had been knocked into the water and were still conscious struck out desperately for the canal's embankments. The reason for their haste soon became known as Ma Lian's robes - and an unconscious goon - were yanked underwater, only to reappear a few seconds later torn to shreds. As the goons on the bridge hurled paving stones down onto the boat, two pairs of slick, humanoid hands grasped the side of the boat and shook. It soon became apparent that the boat was under assault by a pair of merfolk.

While Periander moved to the prow of the gondola and began hacking apart the net holding them under the bridge, Katsuo scaled one of the ropes left by the goon squad and threw knives at the goons, wounding their leader. However, he was soon knocked back down into the boat, and another round of paving stones stove a hole in the bottom. Periander managed at last to tear a hole in the net wide enough for the gondola to slip through, and the bridge and goons were left behind, but the party still had to drive the gondola to the side of the canal before it sank.

Tsura used her command of the First Tongue to speak with the merfolk, who were happy to explain that after they had killed the people on the boat they would get fish, but summarily refused her counter-offer. The two merfolk used a variety of methods to harass the boat in its progress, from stealing the gondolier's rowing pole, to grabbing at people through the hole in the bottom, to punching additional holes in the bottom of the boat, but the party nevertheless managed to steer to shore and jump out just before the boat sank into the canal. Fortunately for them, they landed in a neighborhood friendly to the Dandolos and were able to proceed to the Doge's palace on foot without further incident. They were awarded 3 gold pieces each as promised, and an additional 5 gold pieces for the information that Grimani's man Luca the Heartless has merfolk allies.

That evening, during a night out on the town, the party happened on a tavern where a masked man was playing what Tsura recognized as Turathi music. When Janissary soldiers entered the bar and made inquiries about the whereabouts of a certain Turathi man, the musician slipped out...

Campaign Notes 11-14-2011

The four characters met on the docks of Venezia. Penniless in a strange city, they set about looking for ways to make money.

Tsura posed as a boy and was given a letter to drop in the stone lion's mouth at the Doge's palace. She unsealed the letter and discovered that Signora Marta Crispo accused Signora Giada Mocenigo of embezzlement. She resealed the letter and delivered it.

Katsuo and Ma Lian learned that there was a lost trunk in the middle of a canal, owned by Lorenzo Venieri. With some effort the four dredged it up and discovered within a draft of a law banning beer and a golden comb. The law was "accidentally" destroyed and the comb returned for a reward.

Periander and Katsuo wrestled in the town square to entertain onlookers. They gained the attention of Signora Ludovica Dandolo.

Katsuo snuck into the house of Giustiniani. He ignored the orichalcum idol in Giustiniani's foyer and entered the hall, where a party was happening. He remained hidden long enough to overhear that Edoardo Giustiniani has a longstanding passion for Giulia Barbaro, before being discovered by Giustiniani's security chief, Ilaria the White. When asked if he was spying for the Pisanis, he replied that he was spying for the gnomes. He was then beaten and kicked out.

The next day, the group encountered agents of Giustiniani trying to form an angry mob to march on the gnomes. Tsura heckled the agents, and the crowd dispersed for the time being. The group then encountered an agent of Ludovica Dandolo who was looking for Periander and Katsuo. She hired them to accompany a messenger as he traveled with important papers from the Dandolo estate to the Doge's palace.

On the way to the palace by gondola, agents of Grimani led by Luca the Heartless dropped a net under a bridge and tried to jump onto the boat. When they were fought off, Luca offered the group double their pay to turn the messenger over to him. They refused, and Luca tossed a bottle of stinking fish oil onto the boat...

Dramatis Personae: the Player Characters

Periander, Minotaur Pankratiast

• Owns a deed to a tower in Ispana
• Met Ma Lian when they had to share a room at an inn

Ma Lian, Hobgoblin Ritualist

• Owns a packet of blue dye powder
• Met Katsuo when they were thrown out of a theater

Katsuo, Yuan-Ti Unspoken

• Owns a small silver mirror
• Met Sura when he traveled with her caravan

Tsura Badi, Halfling Storyteller

• Owns a packet of candied fruit
• Met Periander when they searched for an address in a foreign city

Rituals and Tales, round one

Travelers' Tale
A story of wanderers who always had lightness in their steps.
Level 1 Tale
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 8 hours
Key Skill: History (no check)
For the ritual's duration, you and up to 8 allies travel more quickly by foot. For the purpose of determining distance traveled in an hour or day, treat the group's speed as that of the slowest ally + 2.

Predict Weather
A reading of the wind and rain, predicting natural changes in the weather.
Level 1 Ritual
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: See below
Key Skill: Nature
The ritual's duration is a number of hours equal to your Nature check result. You accurately predict the natural prevailing wind direction and amount and type of precipitation for each hour of the duration at the location where you perform the ritual. This ritual does not predict supernatural changes in weather.

Change Wind
A burnt offering on your ritual altar induces the wind to change direction.
Level 1 Ritual
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: See below
Key Skill: Nature
Cost: 50 gp
The ritual's effect duration is 10 minutes times the result of your Nature skill check. For the duration of the ritual's effect, the wind at the location where you performed the ritual will blow in a direction of your choice, and up to 20 miles per hour faster or slower than it would have otherwise blown at that time and place.

Call Rain
A libation offered to the spirits of the air causes the clouds to open.
Level 1 Ritual
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: See below
Key Skill: Nature
Cost: 50 gp
The ritual's effect duration is 10 minutes ties the result of your Nature skill check. For the duration of the ritual's effect, the location where you performed the ritual will be subject to precipitation appropriate to the local climate.

Class Hackdown: Storyteller

The Storyteller occupies a privileged role in the lives of the nomadic halflings. They are charged with responsibility for the history of their people - both past and future. By weaving tales in languages and rhythms older than the gods, they are invested with the tiniest fraction of the power of the very first creators, to tell the story of the world.

Role: Leader

Primary Stats: Charisma, Dexterity, Wisdom

Class weapons: One handed melee, one handed ranged
Class armor: Light

HP: 5
Surges: 6 + Con
Defenses: +2 Will

Class perks:

• You have the ability to tell stories in the First Language, and know the Travelers' Tale.
• Once per day, you may converse with other creatures in the First Language. Your conversation will be mutually comprehensible even if you do not share known languages. This effect lasts for 5 minutes.
• You can heal your allies with the power of the Inspiring Tale.

Class powers:

Inspiring Tale

Storyteller Feature

Your story tells of how your ally rallied from the brink of defeat and shook off the attacks of their foes.

Encounter * Arcane, Healing
Minor Action                 Close burst 5

Target: One ally in burst

Effect: The target may spend a healing surge, and also gains a bonus to one defense of your choice equal to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.

Special: You may use this power twice per encounter, but only once per turn.

Dire Fortune

Storyteller Attack 1

You tell the story of how your enemy will fall prey to their worst nightmares.

At-Will * Arcane, Psychic, Implement
Standard Action                 Ranged 10

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will

Hit: 1 psychic damage, and the target takes a penalty to attack rolls equal to your Dexterity modifier until the end of your next turn.

Mortal Mark

Storyteller Attack 1

You strike a blow against your foe, and describe how the blow that fells them will land in the same place.

At-Will * Arcane, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. AC

Hit: [W] damage, and the target takes a penalty to a defense of your choice equal to your Dexterity modifier.

End it All

Storyteller Attack 1

Your terrible tale engenders a deep melancholy in your foe. Wracked with fear and doubt, they try to take the easy way out.

Encounter * Arcane, Psychic, Charm
Standard Action                 Ranged 5

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will

Hit: 1 psychic damage, and the target makes a melee basic attack against themselves with a bonus to the attack roll equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Certain Doom

Storyteller Attack 1

You describe how each foe to be struck by your weapon is sure to die.

Daily * Arcane, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. AC

Hit: [W]+1 damage, and the target grants combat advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn.

Miss: 1 damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit an enemy, that enemy grants combat advantage to you and your allies until the end of your next turn.

20 Quick Venezians

Roll once for a quick person, or three times for a more random individual. Table most definitely not balanced for accurate demographics.

1	Francesco	Rossi	Laborer
2	Giulia	Russo	Merchant sailor
3	Allesandro	Ferrari	Glassblower
4	Sofia	Esposito	Lacemaker
5	Andrea	Bianchi	Importer
6	Martina	Romano	Slavetrader
7	Matteo	Colombo	Innkeeper
8	Sara	Ricci	Fisher
9	Lorenzo	Marino	Priest of Bahamut
10	Chiara	Greco	Choirmaster
11	Gabriele	Bruno	Scholar
12	Giorgia	Gallo	Painter
13	Mattia	Conti	Sculptor
14	Aurora	De Luca	Smith
15	Riccardo	Mancini	Shopkeeper
16	Alessia	Costa	Errand runner
17	Davide	Giordano	Beggar
18	Francesca	Rizzo	Thief
19	Luca	Lombardi	Nobility
20	Alice	Moretti	Slave

Things I couldn't have made up about Venice

Getting voted off the island

Any Venetian citizen could accuse someone of misdeeds by writing the denunciation down and slipping it through specially placed "Lion's Mouth" slots in the Palazzo Ducale's walls. While this activity sounds like prime breeding ground for backstabbing, it was a highly regulated procedure. All accusations had to be signed and witnessed, and if they proved merely to be slanderous and not actionable, the would-be denouncer was in serious legal trouble of his own.

Secret corridors of power

The real governing of the Venetian Republic was not done in plain sight. True power was wielded in a network of low-ceilinged, wooden-plank corridors and tiny offices wrapped around the public palace like a clandestine cocoon, the entrances hidden behind secret doors set into all those fancy oil paintings and carved woodwork of the public rooms. Here private secretaries kept records and compiled accusations made against people both lowly and high-placed.

(above excerpted from ReidsItaly)

Government By Paranoia

• The Doge is the elected monarch for life. For this reason, the chosen candidate is usually quite old - don't want him around too long.
• The Major Council is 480 patrician family heads who vote laws into power.
• The Minor Council is 6 advisors to the Doge, chosen by the Major Council to limit his power.
• The Quarantia is a supreme tribunal of 40 members, the final court of appeal in Venice.
• The Council of Ten is a secret group selected from the Major Council who wield most of the real power.
• The Supreme Tribunal of 3 state inquisitors uses secret methods to ensure that no one person rules Venice from behind the scenes. The one red inquisitor is chosen by the Doge, and the two black inquisitors are chosen by the Council of Ten.

Election By Insanity

"New regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of individual great families, and this was effected by a complex elective machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who actually elected the doge. None could be elected but by at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors."

(above excerpted from Wikipedia)

Thoughts that I don't want to expand on just yet

Minotaurs can eat grass, but they don't like to. As a culture, they're very concerned with being perceived as people rather than animals, because of their physical resemblance to animals. Given the way other "sub-people" are enslaved, it's a reasonable fear. Thus, they tend to avoid any behavior that makes them seem animalistic, playing up their contributions to refined arts and culture instead. To antagonize a minotaur, give them hay to eat, or make them touch the ground with their hands and feet, or make cow jokes.

Institutional sexism is not absent from the world of Age of Sail, but it takes different forms with different racial cultures. For instance, dragonborn females are actually physically larger, more powerful, and more aggressive on average than dragonborn males. However, they do not hold much social privilege, as the males characterize them as overly emotional brutes who are incapable of making levelheaded decisions. Dwarf men record their adult deeds in their beards through a code of braids and ribbons; as dwarf women do not have a distinct form of visible hair that begins growing on the threshold to adulthood, some dwarves consider them to never truly grow up. Halfling men and women each have their own body of lore which is taboo to share with the opposite sex. Goliath women of strong lineage are obligate xenophiles, and many who do not know better think them a race of women as the men rarely leave the villages where they were born. Eladrin have considerably longer lifespans than most other races, and can suspend a career for a decade or two to raise a child before returning to their callings.

As a general rule, for races that have human-like lifespans and pregnancies, families are expected to be large and a married woman is expected to bear and raise children, but this does not exclude them from the burgeoning number of professions that do not require constant hard physical labor. As a simple practical matter, it has already been proven repeatedly that societies which fail to tap the potential of both men and women get run over roughshod by societies with war witches.

Class Hackdown: Ritualist

The Ritualists are the celebrated scholar-mystics of the Han empire. Their rites bring rain to crops, fill sails with wind, stave off floods and wildfires, and are generally essential to the well-ordered turning of the seasons as they have been since time immemorial. In wartime, they are generally relegated to the back lines where their powerful chants may be performed uninterrupted, but if necessary they are capable of defending themselves with thunder and lightning from the heavens.

Role: Controller

Primary stats: Charisma, Constitution, Intelligence

Class weapons: One handed melee, one handed ranged
Class armor: Light

HP: 4
Surges: 6 + Con
Defenses: +2 Will

Class perks:

• You have the ability to cast rituals, and know the rituals Predict Weather, Change Wind, and Call Rain.
• You carry a ritual altar, which you may put down to increase the strength of your powers.

Class powers:

Ritual Altar

Ritualist Feature

You set up an altar table, increasing the efficacy of your rituals at the cost of mobility.

Encounter * Arcane
Move Action                 Personal

Effect: Add your Constitution modifier to attack rolls with Ritualist powers until the beginning of your next turn.

Sustain Move: Renew this effect until the beginning of your next turn.

Special: This effect ends immediately if you move from the square where you first used this power for any reason. However, if an effect would force you to move, you may make a saving throw to reduce the distance you are moved by 1. If this causes you not to leave the square you are in, then this effect does not end.

Forceful Gust

Ritualist Attack 1

With a snap of your ritual fan, you send out a powerful gust of wind that shoves enemies backward.

At-Will * Arcane, Force, Implement
Standard Action                 Close blast 3

Target: Each creature in blast
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude

Hit: 1 force damage, and you push the target a number of squares equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Lightning Rod

Ritualist Attack 1

Your gesture draws down lightning from a clear sky.   A second strike may follow.

At-Will * Arcane, Lightning, Implement
Standard Action                 Ranged 10

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Reflex

Hit: 1 lightning damage. If the target does not move a number of squares equal to your Intelligence modifier on its next turn, it takes an additional 1 lightning damage.

Jolting Chain

Ritualist Attack 1

An arc of lightning leaps from your hands, twisting to strike again and again.

Encounter * Arcane, Lightning, Implement
Standard Action                 Ranged 10

Target: One, two, or three creatures
Attack: Charisma vs. Reflex, three attacks

Hit: 1 damage, and the target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Dazed creatures:
- Grant combat advantage.
- Can only take one action on their turn.
- Cannot take opportunity actions.
- Cannot flank.

Chilling Fog

Ritualist Attack 1

A twirl of your fan gathers a cloud of icy fog that chills foes to the bone while hiding your allies' movements.

Daily * Arcane, Cold, Implement
Standard Action                 Area burst 2 within 10 squares

Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude

Hit: 1 cold damage

Effect: The fog bank lasts for a number of turns equal to your Intelligence modifier. Enemies that start their turn inside the fog bank or enter the fog bank are subject to another attack. Your allies gain concealment while inside the fog bank.

Concealment:
- Imposes a -2 penalty to melee and ranged attacks (but not area attacks) against the concealed creature.

Table: Circumstances of chance meetings

1. Shared a room at an overbooked inn
2. Shared a table at a full restaurant
3. Shared a cabin on a sea voyage
4. Helped to look for an address in a strange city
5. Tried to buy the same obscure item in a curio shop
6. Shared a holding cell after a misunderstanding with the law
7. Deeply admired the same work of art
8. Rode together in a caravan
9. Were the two finalists in a local contest
10. Unexpected allies in a bar brawl
11. Saved a drowning man together
12. Got drunk together and were briefly best friends
13. Adjoining hospital beds
14. Romantic rivalry over a jerk
15. Worked same job for a day
16. Camped out together
17. Attended same terrible performance; thrown out together for commiserating loudly
18. Borrowed a small sum at a crucial moment, promised to pay it back someday
19. Spent night in same barn
20. Woke up in bed together, no memory of how you got there

A short note on merfolk

Yes, there are merfolk. No, you don't want anything to do with them. They're like dolphins. And dolphins are assholes.

Monsters from The Forge

So, in news that many people already know, The Forge is great. It makes up names, and then your brain makes up things to go with the names.

Hate Puller Starfish

Fluff: Many starfish can reproduce asexually when broken or torn into multiple fragments. The Hate Puller Starfish has evolved a unique mechanism for inducing this trauma: it senses nearby large animals and sends out a wave of mental compulsion that induces in these animals a desire to tear them to pieces. Hate Puller Starfish are commonly found in tidal pools, cave ponds, and other shallow waters.

Crunch: A Hate Puller Starfish is not a threat in and of itself, but can make other situations more complex. When a creature approaches within 1 square of the Hate Puller Starfish, the starfish sends out its compulsion pulse: close burst 1, level+2 vs Will, hit: target is marked by the starfish until end of next turn. As a standard action, a marked target may tear apart a single starfish, whereupon the mark ends, but as the starfish often live in colonies of several individuals this is not a good permanent solution.

Stalker Ghoul

Fluff: A fairly common nuisance to the people of Ravenia, a stalker ghoul is a dead man or woman whose frustrated romantic aspirations persist beyond the grave. Rather than laboring for the vampire lord who animated them, they pester the target of their non-mutual affections with whatever foul gestures they can muster while driving away romantic rivals. Fortunately, like most of the Ravenian undead, they are only active at night. However, as destroying an animated corpse is a serious crime in Ravenia with exceptions made only through special petition, they can be a nuisance for quite some time.

Crunch: As an ordinary zombie. Mostly harmless; violent if it perceives a threat to its loved one, whether physical or romantic.

Widow Root Rose - It is said that when a rosebush is cut down to the roots, the first flower produced as the bush regrows has special properties. Halflings in particular will trade generously for such flowers.

Crawl Creep Crab - A crab commonly seen on the Ispanan coastline, notable for the incredible slowness and power of its movements. Although it moves no more than an inch per minute, its powerful claws can crack open the shells of molluscs.

This is fun!

Wizard, what does the scouter say?

I've been thinking about reintroducing the sense of danger to a balanced game like 4E. Clearly, part of this involves creating challenges which are difficult to impossible to overcome in the most obvious fashion, and 4E gives me the tools to know when I'm doing this. But also, it is important for the players to have tools to realize when they are clearly outmatched before one of them gets eaten. This is especially tricky with humanoid foes, or with creatures that have nasty surprises.

Enter the knowledge skill. I want to preserve some of the sense of mystery that I feel a good adventure should have, so I don't want to dump all the information about a given foe on a successful roll. What I do want to do is give players a means to roughly gauge how threatening something might be. Therefore: the knowledge skill check to know something useful about a threat is DC 10 + threat level. On a successful check, I divulge a known-true fact about the threat, and the players now know an upper bound to the threat's level. On a failed check, I state a wild and terrifying rumor about the threat, and the players now know a lower bound to the threat's level.

But what about something that looks harmless but isn't? On a successful knowledge check, the players learn "some rabbits are known to be killer, and this is how you can tell" while on a failed knowledge check, the players learn only "some rabbits are rumored to be killer" - which is also what you learn on a successful knowledge check about regular rabbits.

In this way, I hope to lead players down a maze of various threats in such a way that they at least have an inkling where the walls are.

Class Hackdown: Unspoken

The Unspoken are the Yuan-Ti's unacknowledged cadre of spies, infiltrators, and assassins, drawn from the lowest castes of their highly regimented society. They are masters of disguise, feigning disfigurement, madness, or other embarrassing behaviors in order to turn away the haughty eyes of their superiors.

Role: Striker

Primary stats: Dexterity, Charisma, Intelligence

Class weapons: One handed melee, thrown, one handed ranged, dual wielding
Class armor: Light

HP: 5
Surges: 6 + Con
Defenses: +2 Ref

Class perks:

• Once per turn, when you have combat advantage, and hit with an attack that deals damage, you may deal 2 extra damage to one target of the attack.
• You have combat advantage against creatures that have not acted yet in a combat.
• You add your Charisma modifier to your AC against attacks of opportunity.

Class powers:

Armor Piercer

Unspoken Attack 1

Your weapon slithers past armor to bite into flesh.

At-Will * Ki, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee or Ranged weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex

Hit: [W] damage

Withdrawal Strike

Unspoken Attack 1

Your lunge at the eyes gives you a chance to slip away.

At-Will * Ki, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: [W] damage

Effect: If you move in the same turn after this attack, leaving the first square adjacent to your target does not provoke an attack of opportunity from your target.

Decoy

Unspoken Attack 1

The body your foe just struck down is revealed to be an illusion, while you maneuver for a lethal strike.

Encounter * Ki
Immediate Interrupt                 Personal
Trigger: You are hit by an enemy attack.

Effect: The triggering attack does not hit you. You teleport a number of squares equal to your Intelligence modifier. You have combat advantage against the creature that made the triggering attack until the end of your next turn.

Shadow Clone

Unspoken Attack 1

You animate your shadow to fight by your side.

Daily * Ki, Conjuration
Standard Action                 Ranged 5

Target:

Effect: You summon a shadow clone of yourself into any square within range. This clone immediately makes an attack against an adjacent enemy if there is one. The clone can be attacked; it uses your defenses and is destroyed if hit by a melee or ranged attack. When you take a move action, the clone moves your speed, and when you take a standard action, the clone can make an attack. The clone can flank with you or your allies.

Secondary Target: One creature adjacent to the shadow clone
Secondary Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: 1 damage

Sustain Minor: You can sustain the clone until the end of the encounter.

Formalizing Damage Hackdown

This is how I'm doing it:

• The overall idea is that 5 official HP = 1 simplified HP.
• For class hit points, I am working on the idea that controllers generally start with between 20 and 25 HP, strikers and leaders have 25 to 30, and defenders have 30 or more.
• For attack damage, I am assigning 1 simplified damage point for each 5 points of average damage an attack deals.
• Where special abilities such as backstab add on additional damage, and the difference between the base damage of attacks and the damage with the special ability is more than 1, I favor the special ability with the greater balance of the damage.

Needless to say, this does reduce the flexibility of the system in representing minor and ongoing damage. It is an experiment; if I or my players find it too frustratingly reduced, it won't be too difficult to revert to full rules.

Old School Pain and Friction Points

Two thoughts, one post.

Old School Pain

Recently I've been reading a lot about the very different approach to game balance which arose quite by accident from the early editions of D&D. Essentially, because the old rules allowed for a great deal of variability in combat power of a given group of adventurers, and gave the DM extremely poor tools for gauging whether a given scenario would be easy or difficult, it became a common event that the players would find themselves facing something that, by the numbers, would be quite likely to just flat out kill one or more of them. To the extent that this was intended, it is the reason why the 10 foot pole, the iron spike, and the 50 foot length of rope gained their esteemed status as adventuring kit: when being incautious is likely to be lethal, it pays to prod every suspicious object from a considerable distance, pin every door open to allow for an expeditious retreat, and tie the party together when groping down a dark corridor - just in case. And a lot of people have a lot of love for that kind of "fair unfairness". Particularly since it exists in a context where character death is fairly cheap: you're meant to go through a lot of low-level characters before you get smart and lucky enough to have one survive, and so generating those characters is easy and losing them unsentimental.

On the other hand, dying sucks. Not just because it means you lose the game - after all, you do get to keep playing with a new character - but because it means you lose that guy, and their accumulated history, and their ability to engage with higher level threats, and sometimes in a way that just isn't very cool at all.

In looking for a compromise position that allows for fair but difficult situations and the continuity of character, I have been considering Dark Souls.

Dark Souls is hard. It is, in particular, full of the kind of fair but difficult situations that seems to come up a lot in discussions of why old school D&D is great. You are free to go wherever you please and engage enemies in whatever way you can come up with, and if you do so in an incautious fashion, you will die. You will die a lot. And the game does nothing to prevent you from getting into situations that are far beyond you - a wrong turn will bring you in contact with some spectacularly dangerous things, and the game does not put a fence around them.

But! Death is not the end. When you die, you return to the last place where you saved your progress. You keep your levels. You keep your equipment. You keep your various potions, arrows, and crafting materials. What you lose is souls, which are used like XP to earn levels and like GP to buy items and upgrades. And you can even get them back, if - if! - you can manage to make it as far as you were when you died.

What does this mean for death consequences?

1. There is continuity to your character. You are the same person from beginning to end, and this is never taken away, although you always have the option to start again with someone else.
2. There's only so far you can be set back. Once you have turned souls into levels and equipment, those are yours forever. Once you have accomplished things, such as reaching checkpoints or slaying major enemies, they stay accomplished. There is no being bumped down to a lower level of play.
3. It still sucks to die, because you lose progress toward major goals. And the further you progress before you die, in terms of moving toward a physical location and in terms of progress toward a new level or item, the more paranoid you become about each successive challenge. Despite the fact that you keep firebombs when you die, and you spent souls to get them, you will gladly sacrifice consumable items to keep that progress and not to be put into a situation that feels worse, because now you have to make every step of that journey again, with something to lose if you don't manage to do at least as well this time around.

So, what are the upshots?

1. Don't kill characters when they fail.
2. Don't take away their progress.
3. Do take away their toys, and then put them in a tough situation where they have to work hard to get them back - or get new toys.

And how does this translate to D&D? Well, I will be trying my best not to place my player's characters in a situation where defeat means certain death, except in rare circumstances where those sort of high stakes seem appropriate. Instead, I will be placing them in situations where defeat means waking up in a worse situation, with their treasure and cool toys disappearing over the horizon, and a series of obstacles between them and restoration or renewal of fortunes. And of course, as their treasures and toys accumulate, they get to take their turn as the targets of the same kind of penniless desperadoes that they have been for others...

Which reminds me. One of the pieces of advice for game design that has somehow lodged itself in my head is: show the players something they want, but can't get yet. Since I don't plan on beating my players with the stick of death, I must pull them forward with the carrot of some interesting goals. Fortunately, the Age of Sail is an amazingly good period for this. The twin forces of globalization and mercantilization meant that, in contrast to the provincial feudalism that came before it, anyone could get money, and money could buy anything - status, power, and amazing things from all around the world. I plan to dangle all sorts of wonderful items with huge price tags in front of the player characters, and let what they salivate at be the carrot that pulls them toward adventure. Then, once they get a taste of those nice things, I can begin wielding the cudgel of forces who want to take it all away...

Friction Points

Friction points are, in short, a rules mechanic for getting into and out of trouble with people. In the sort of situation for which they were first created - agents infiltrating an enemy area - the single friction point scale works quite well. But what about an area with multiple interconnected factions and rivalries? This bears pondering...

Class Hackdown: Pankratiast

Let's see if I can use the rules hackdown to remix the Pankratiast.

Class primary stats: Strength, Constitution, Wisdom

Class weapon options: None, but see below
Class armor options: None, but see below

HP: 6
Surges: 9 + Con
Defenses: +2 Fort

(Simple enough so far)

Class perks:

• When wielding caestae, you are considered to be wielding two melee weapons.
• When wearing no armor, you are considered to be wearing light armor.
• As a free action, on your turn, you may mark all adjacent enemies. Enemies remain marked until the end of your next turn.

(Still doing OK. A bit of Reflex defense is lost, but overall this remains easy to calculate.)

Powers:

Hook the Unwary

Pankratiast Feature

Foes who ignore you risk being tripped.

At-Will * Martial, Implement
Immediate Interrupt                 Melee 1
Trigger: An adjacent enemy who you have marked shifts or makes an attack that does not include you as a target

Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude

Hit: The target is knocked prone.

(Ah, here's where it gets complicated. Low-granularity damage means that minor damage on a miss is hard to model.)

Jab and Cross

Pankratiast Attack 1

You pin your foe with a combination. The quick jab throws them off balance, and the stronger cross does the damage.

At-Will * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: [W] damage. Push the target 1 square. You may then shift into the square the target occupied.

Warding Sweep

Pankratiast Attack 1

Powerful swings of your arms and legs hammer one foe while knocking aside the attacks of others.

At-Will * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: [W] damage, and you receive a bonus to AC equal to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.

(Note that these are now Weapon powers, meaning they derive their tohit bonus and damage from the wielded weapon.)

Joint Lock

Pankratiast Attack 1

You grab a foe in such a way that the only escape is through pain.

Encounter * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1
Requirement: You must have one hand free.

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1 damage, and the target is grabbed. If the target escapes the grab, they take an additional 1 damage.

Grab and Toss

Pankratiast Attack 1

You seize a foe and use him as a weapon against another, throwing both to the ground.

Daily * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1
Requirement: You must have one hand free.

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1 damage, and make a secondary attack.

Miss: The target is knocked prone.

Secondary Target: One creature not the first target
Secondary Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1 damage to first target, 1 damage to second target, both targets knocked prone.

(These, on the other hand, are implement powers, and do not benefit from the weapon proficiency bonus.)

I think this will work.

Further Hackdowns

Armor

Reduce to two types:

• Light: +3 AC, add Dex or Int to AC
• Heavy: +6 AC, do not add Dex or Int to AC

Variations between classes in armor subtype will be handled with class-based AC bonuses.

Skills

As the original, except that rather than getting +2 bonuses to two skills, nonhuman races choose one of those skills to be trained in.  Humans choose any one skill.

Miscellaneous Minor Abilities

Will be dealt with on a case by case basis.  

Hacking Down 4E

Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition is a complex turn-based strategic combat miniatures game with RPG elements. My players seem to enjoy turn-based strategic combat miniatures games, but the "complex" part is getting in the way of the fun. So, I am working on hacking the system down to size in a way that captures the essence of the various systems and tradeoffs in 4E without going into quite as much detail (and thus, necessarily, losing some granularity in the process).

Statistics
Since raw statistic numbers are rarely relevant, while modifiers are used much more often, I'm choosing to just use the modifiers. On character creation, apply the numbers 3, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0 to the six stats. Nonhuman races add 1 to two specific stats; humans add 1 to any one stat.

Hit Points
Controllers start with 4, leaders and strikers with 5, defenders with 6. Number of surges is calculated as written. Each surge heals 1 hit point.

Weapons
Simplifying tactical options for weapon choice, with access to each option restricted by class proficiencies:

• One handed weapon: +2 to hit, 1 damage
• Two handed weapon: +2 to hit, 2 damage
• Weapon and shield: +2 to hit, 1 damage, +2 to AC and Reflex
• Two weapons: +3 to hit, 1 damage
• Long weapon: +2 to hit, 1 damage, 2 square reach
• Thrown weapon: +2 to hit, 1 damage, range 5, may also be used as melee weapon
• One handed ranged weapon: +2 to hit, 1 damage, range 10
• Two handed ranged weapon: +2 to hit, 1 damage, range 20

Powers
I'm currently working on powers for the various races and classes that balance having interesting effects against not having to keep track of a lot of ongoing bonuses and penalties.  Since I'm having to make up a lot of it myself, I'm obviously not going to have the massive powers lists that the 4E classes have - probably two at-wills, an encounter, and a daily per class.  Instead of granting additional powers, I'll probably grant additional uses of the existing powers and/or increase their damage and effects.  This may vary by class - it would be nice to get some of the feel of the old-school spellcaster back by giving them more options than the fighty types.

Status Effects
There are too darn many, and I hate having to find the one page that lists their various effects in the Player's Guide.  Either I will transfer these final effects into the text of powers that deal them ("slowed" becomes "moves 2 squares per turn" and the like) or just replace them with something that makes sense to me.

Obviously this is a work in progress.  If anyone happens across this and can point me to someone working along the same lines, I'd be happy to pick up something complete instead of grinding this out myself.

Class: Pankratiast

The Pankratiast is one of the four classes available to the Minotaurs, the native race of Aegea. I originally intended it to function as a Striker, but have converted it here for use as a Defender.

Class stats:

Proficiencies: No weapons, no armor, Caestus implements

Starting HP: 15 + Constitution
HP/Level: 6
Healing Surges: 9 + Constitution modifier

Key stats: Str, Con, Wis
Skills: Athletics, Endurance, Perception

Class features:

Caestae
The Pankratiast wears a caestus on each hand, an armored gauntlet that protects the hand and adds damage to strikes. A pair of caestae are a single Pankratiast implement.

Unarmed Defense
When a Pankratiast is wielding no weapons (other than caestae) and wearing no armor, they receive a +3 bonus to AC and a +1 bonus to Reflex defense.

Roll With the Blow
When a Pankratiast is not wearing heavy armor, they may use their Constitution modifier instead of their Dexterity or Intelligence modifier to determine their AC.

Threaten Area
Once per turn, you may mark all adjacent enemies as a free action. This mark lasts until the end of your next turn.

Class powers:

Hook the Unwary

Pankratiast Feature

Foes who ignore you risk being tripped.

At-Will * Martial, Implement
Immediate Interrupt                 Melee 1
Trigger: An adjacent enemy who you have marked shifts or makes an attack that does not include you as a target

Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Strength vs. Fortitude

Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage and knocked prone

Jab and Cross

Pankratiast Attack 1

You pin your foe with a quick combination.   Even if they escape the stronger blow, the quick jab will catch them.

At-Will * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength + 2 vs. AC

Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage

Miss: Strength modifier damage

Warding Sweep

Pankratiast Attack 1

Powerful swings of your arms and legs hammer one foe while knocking aside the attacks of others.

At-Will * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength + 2 vs. AC

Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage, and you receive a +1 bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.

Joint Lock

Pankratiast Attack 1

You grab a foe in such a way that the only escape is through pain.

Encounter * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage, and the target is grabbed.   If the target escapes the grab, they take an additional 1d8 damage.

Grab and Toss

Pankratiast Attack 1

You seize a foe and use him as a weapon against another, throwing both to the ground.

Daily * Martial, Implement
Standard Action                 Melee 1

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1d8 + Strength modifier damage, and make a secondary attack.

Miss: The target is knocked prone.

Secondary Target: One creature not the first target
Secondary Attack: Strength vs. Reflex

Hit: 1d8 damage to first target, 1d8 damage to second target, both targets knocked prone.

Spotlight: Ravenia

Ravenia is the name of the region which lies along the eastern border of Ioropa, abutting Rus to the northeast and Ba'al Turath to the southeast. As such, this forbidding mountainous region forms the front line in the long, grinding war of civilizations between the Turathi and the Ioropans. Its vital strategic significance goes a long way in explaining why the Church of Bahamut, which otherwise abhors necromancy, is curiously silent on the subject of the vampire nobility of Ravenia and their tradition of undead servitude.

Since time immemorial, the lords of Ravenia have levied a grim labor tax on their serfs. Necropolises grow alongside the hamlets huddling uneasily in the shadows of the grand castles, and there the dead lie uneasily by day. As night falls, the people retreat to their homes, lock their doors, and close their blinds, as the night shift rises to do the bidding of the lords of the realm.

Although deeply conservative by nature, the masters of Ravenia have been dragged sulking and snarling into the 16th century. Advances in military power by their hated neighbors the Turathi have prompted the application of a twisted sort of science to the shambling armies of Ravenia. The result is a new and terrible creation: the abomination. These hulking constructs, formed of dead flesh reshaped and reinforced by metalwork and alchemy, are the vanguard of Ravenia's armies of the night.

The undead are not the only things that go bump in the night, however. The halflings, traveling in families and clans in their distinctive ox-drawn cart-houses, have been steadily sidling across the eastern borders of Ravenia for centuries. Claiming ancestry from far-off Arindia, they are regarded with suspicion for many reasons: their willingness to travel the roads by night, their passage through Turathi lands, their curiously tiny proportions, their strange language, their mysterious religion and sorceries, and whatever other reason the justifiably paranoid Ravenians might come up with. Nevertheless, although no one admits to it, everyone visits the halflings for one reason or another.

Confronting some questions

Age of Sail began with two concurrent thought processes. The first was a growing interest in the history of the 16th and 17th centuries, brought on in part by reading the Cartoon History of the Modern World. Whereas the European medieval era that forms a popular basis for a lot of fantasy roleplaying seemed to me to be characterized by a certain degree of fractious stagnation "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing", the age of world exploration that followed was one of massive upheaval, collisions of cultures, cosmopolitanism, and the birth of "the world" as an idea and a place. On the other hand, it was also an era of horrific, bloody genocide, wherein real people and real cultures were really oppressed, enslaved, slaughtered, and scattered to the ends of the earth. So the first question that must be confronted is "why would you turn the history of a people's destruction into a game?"

The other thread of thought concerned the fantasy races of Dungeons and Dragons and other fantastic fiction and the unfortunate implications of their assumption of cultural stereotypes and artifacts borrowed from real history. I found it all too easy to map fantasy races, which are often characterized as "good" or "evil", onto the actual cultures and ethnicities that had been the source of their artistic and descriptive motifs. So the second question that must be confronted is "why would you say that Africans are orcs?"

To the first question, I would answer this: it is better to confront the evils of history, in study and in play, than to ignore them. I do not intend to portray the exploration and conquests of the nations of Europe as a triumph of civilization over savagery; every side of this great collision is a perspective the players can assume, and although the cultural forces in motion are perhaps too immense for any one person to turn, every individual retains their freedom of moral choice. Every hero may be someone else's villain. The shifting of this era and its conflicts to a fantastic setting, more divorced from reality, rather than dehumanizing and simplifying the conflicts, may help players understand the forces driving individuals to act in the way they did, and the ways in which people are still susceptible to those forces. History is not dead, not gone forever, but with us still.

My response to the second question can be summarized thus: I do not wish to denigrate the African, but to dignify the orc. I find it profoundly creepy from time to time how, in our escapist fantasies, we create intelligent humanoid creatures which for the sake of simple enjoyment we define as irredeemably evil and then kill for fun and loot - when, at certain times in our actual history, we created labels for actual human beings which for various reasons we defined as subhuman and then killed for fun and loot. In noting this, I am not saying that all fantasy gamers are racists, that we cannot distinguish between our carefully constructed escapist fantasy and the complexities of the real world. But I am also saying that it is rare that these complexities are not elided, and fantasy gaming may be the poorer for it. So I decided to confront the issue head on.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am an American of European origin. I am aware that this means I have blind spots about issues of culture and ethnicity, although I lack the hubris to claim that I know what those blind spots are - that's what makes them blind spots. This blog is open to public comment, and I would be happy to hear from people with different perspectives regarding their feelings on this endeavor. On the one hand, this is a fantasy gaming project, and not a factual statement about real people and real history - I explicitly state and maintain that I only draw inspiration from history when it is more interesting than anything I could make up. On the other hand, I won't try to pretend that fiction doesn't have real implications and shouldn't be taken seriously. The purpose of this project is not to strip-mine painful events for entertainment or whitewash history in fiction, but to create a fun context for coming to grips in a fictional context with the forces that shaped a real era - and I want to know when I'm doing the former rather than the latter.