So this is the final table of contents for Fang, Faith, and Legerdemain...
Monday, February 22, 2021
B/X House Rules: Fang, Faith, and Legerdemain
Friday, February 19, 2021
B/X House Rule: The Effects of Alcohol & Drugs
There's a player in my bi-weekly game who's character seems obsessed with finding something to drink every time they visit a town or stay in someone's roadside cottage. So I figured it was time I prepared some drinking rules in case his character gets slipped a Mickey and some shit goes down while the character is in their altered state.
Alcohol
Every time a character consumes an alcoholic beverage there is a chance it will affect them based on their Constitution and the strength of the beverage.
For each alcoholic beverage a character consumes, the Potency Rating of that drink is totaled with all the other drinks that character has consumed to produce their Intoxication Score. A PC can sustain an Intoxication Score equal to their Constitution without being affected. Should they consume in excess of that amount, the difference between the amount consumed and their Constitution determines their Potency Excess which, in turn, determines their State of Intoxication.
A character’s State of Intoxication affects their performance as outlined by the Intoxication Table below:
Every turn a drunken character remains in a Stupor, they must save vs. poison or pass out for 1d4 hours. Additionally, the result of this roll is modified by their total Potency Excess minus 8 (e.g., a character with a Potency Excess of 10 would suffer a penalty of –2 on the roll).
A character’s Constitution score determines at what rate their Intoxication Score is reduced. The rate of recovery is doubled while the character is sleeping.
If a character awakens from a full-night’s rest after drinking, or has not had a full night's rest since they were drinking, and their Intoxication Score is still greater than 0 (zero), they will remain exhausted until their next full-night’s rest. While exhausted, they suffer a –2 penalty on all “to hit” rolls and saving throws, a +2 penalty to Armor Class, and their movement is halved.
Drugs
Generally, narcotics will have the same effects on a character’s State of Intoxication (as above). However, at the DM’s discretion, these substances may have additional effects on a character’s Morale, Ability Scores, Attack Level, etc. Furthermore, strong stimulants have a 5% chance per use of permanently reducing a character’s Constitution score by 1 point. Mild stimulants are rarely produce this sort of harmful effects.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Update to my "Petty Gods Update"
For those of you who read my Petty Gods Update a couple of weeks ago, an update!
After receiving the notice, and making the post above, I started digging for email addresses and phone numbers for actual people at Lulu (since there's really no such thing as Customer Service there—I mean that literally, I don't think the department exists, as there is never anyone to talk to).
So I actually found some found information, and dug my way into the system, leaving voice messages for everyone I felt could help my plight (trying to find out the source of the complaint so I could respond appropriately). I called and left messages for operations folks, and the COO.
Two weeks passed, and I was pretty much resigned to having to start over at Lulu.com (because I still needed the resource for POD, especially for those overseas wanting my books).
Lo and behold, on Tuesday, I received the following email from Lulu.com:
Dear user,
We are not sure if you received our previous email. Your content was flagged during the printing process.
Upon further review, we have reinstated the content in question and the Lulu account. Your projects are now in draft status and you may complete the publication process from your Lulu account. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and greatly appreciate your business.
Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Regards,
Questionable Content Team
Lulu Press, inc.
Saturday, February 13, 2021
B/X House Rule: PC Astrological Alterations
I, like many others my age, bought a copy of what is generally agreed-upon as one of the most convoluted products ever put out by our hobby—the Bruce Galloway monstrosity Fantasy Wargaming: The Highest Level of All. Also like many others who bought it, I read it (well, skimmed it from time to time), but never attempted to play it.
For all of its pages, and it's intriguing visual look (including that whole hardback thing), the one thing that struck me most—and is ultimately the reason I coughed up the (what I seem to remember as) $25— was the idea that a character's astrological sign could change their attribute scores.
I always wanted to include that in my D&D games, but since the attributes didn't quite jive between rulesets, I never took the time to work it out. Until today!!!!
I was looking for a reason to use my 12-sided zodiac die. After finishing the chart, I went digging for that dodecahedron and it turns out I misremembered it. It is a planet symbol die, not a zodiac one, so it doesn't quite match up (Mercury and Venus are each attached to 2 signs, and the die features north and south nodes for the moon, which are not directly tied to any of the signs).
Oh well, guess I'll have to buy a zodiac die or two.
Here you go!
Saturday, February 6, 2021
B/X House Rule: Object Saving Throws
I've often felt like I needed Object Saving Throws in my games, and have long been enamored of how they appeared in the old AD&D DM Screen. Since I've been putting a lot of house rule things up lately, no reason not to share this too!
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Petty Gods Update
So late on Friday, January 29, 2021 I received an email from Lulu.com informing me my account had been deleted because Expanded Petty Gods contained material that was in violation of someone else's copyright. Of course, this came too late for me to contact anyone before the weekend (as if I have ever in the last 12 years been able to contact anyone directly from Lulu.com). And, of course, they did not include the complaint itself, so I have no idea what the claim is in regards to. After all, Expanded Petty Gods is a massive thing (even by old-school gaming standards), and it could seriously be anything (so much art, so many entities that could raise IP issues, etc.). I honestly and truthfully did my best to vet all the content, and tried to err on the side of caution in every instance where it was even questionable.
Most of you have seen the book, so you understand what a daunting task this was.
Restarting at Lulu.com for other titles will be a PitA, but not a major setback. Losing my DriveThruRPG status, on the other hand would be akin to taking a critical hit from 10d10 fireball and failing my saving throw. So, in order to preemptively protect my DriveThruRPG account from similar censure (please understand, I have had no complaints there), I've retracted Expanded Petty Gods from the site, and deleted the related files). It will no longer be available from DriveThruRPG.
For now, consider Expanded Petty Gods in print a collector's item, and the PDF version something relegated to the "sharing community."
BTW, I do have one copy of EPG left in my cache, if anybody wants to trade it for a copy of Deities & Demigods that includes the Cthulhu Mythos.
Saturday, January 9, 2021
BX House Rule: Manufacturing Holy Water
- They possess or have access to a approriate blessed/cursed vessel (a “stoup”) in which the holy/unholy water will be created.
- The character is capable of casting 3rd level cleric spells.
- the font: a finely-crafted repository of wood (with a base, pedestal, chest-like holder, and lid) carved or engraved with the holy/unholy symbols of the deity to which the vessel has been dedicated.
- the basin: a metal bowl placed within the font which holds the water to be blessed.