Swords & Wizardry
Well, okay. Not exactly cursed.
But I accidentally discovered that our public library carries the 4th Edition D&D books. So I put them on hold to check them out. They also carry that “Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies” book, so I ordered that as well.
One thing in particular I want to look at is this “ritual” spell casting that I’ve seen mentioned. I plan to address the issue of 6th-level (and higher) spell casting in my Swords & Wizardry White Box game by making them all some sort of involved ritual. I’m not quite sure how I’m going to go about that, but I want to stick to the 10th-level limit for characters while still making some high-power magic potentially available. Maybe I can get some ideas from 4e spell casting rules. Or maybe not. We’ll see.
Other than that, it’s mostly curiosity that drove me to reserve the books. While it certainly seems that 4e is a far different game than the one I want to play, I’m sure that there are actually a fair number of worthwhile ideas in there. I’m certainly not going to purchase them, but it will be interesting to look them over.
I hope this doesn’t cost me any old school karma.
Tags: rules, Swords & Wizardry
I’ve cooked up a digest-sized character sheet for Swords & Wizardry White Box. Actually, it’s probably good to use with all sorts of old school games, though the “hit bonus” is S&W specific.
White Box Character Sheet - PDF
It’s a two-sided sheet laid out on one side. This allows you to print one out, flip the sheet, print another on the back, and cut them in half.
I’ll also be adding this to the free Kreations page.
Feedback is, as always, very welcome.
Tags: Kreations, Swords & Wizardry
White Box Thievery - PDF
Sneaking and Skullduggery for Regular Adventurers
I’ve updated my take on thief skills for White Box Swords & Wizardry. No mechanical changes were made other than specifying some racial modifiers to some of the skills.
I’m still not sure if 25% XP is enough or not. I also haven’t decided if the ability to read magic scrolls is really needed, as thieves can be magic-users with this system.
Check out the updated version if interested. Any feedback (and don’t be afraid to hurt Kilgore’s feelings) is welcome.
I’ve also added the WB Thief to the Kreations page.
Tags: Kreations, rules, Swords & Wizardry, thief
I wanted to get this up and maybe get a little feedback, so even though it’s a bit rough and I don’t have a lot of time to talk about just this minute, here is my take on thieves for Swords & Sorcery White Box:
White Box Thievery
A Sub-Class option for Rogues and Footpads
I haven’t played this yet, so it’s very beta. However, I feel that this sub-class (or additional class) approach solves most of the problems I personally have with the thief, particularly when a large part of explaining how it works really involves how all characters engage in what have come to be called “thief skills.”
Check it out if interested. I’d love to hear what anyone thinks about it.
UPDATE: It seems that I’ve jacked up the PDF a little bit. I didn’t used dedicated PDF creation software, but rather printing software that also can make PDFs. Some of the punctuation marks are missing in the document. I’ll get a corrected version up tonight.
The current version is fine, just some quote marks and such are missing.
UPDATE 2: I’ve got a second draft up now.
Tags: Kreations, rules, Swords & Wizardry, thief
Deever hacked his way through the undergrowth, wondering where in the world Jorda had got to. “Jorda, you fool,” he muttered. “I told you not to wander off.”
He found the dwarf’s axe laying near the river. Oddly, it appeared to be scorched. Nearby was the dwarf’s horned helmet. It, too, showed marks as if it had been burned or blasted.
“What the hades have you…” Deever began, but his voice trailed off. Across the river, lying along a large branch, was a huge snake. It was probably close to twenty feet long and marked with unusual jagged patterns, but what was disturbing was the huge bulge in the middle of the serpent.
A dwarf-sized bulge…
Lightning Snake
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: bite (1d6-1)
Special: constriction, jolt
Move: 9
HDE/XP: 6/400This huge snake prefers warm climates, particularly thick jungles. Its scaly skin is patterned with a lightning-shaped pattern and its coloration gives it a +2 to surprise if dropping on prey from branches above.
A target bitten by the lightning snake must save or the snake begins constricting for an automatic 1d6 damage the following round and every round thereafter. Additionally, there is a 2 in 6 chance every round that it constricts that the lightning snake delivers a deadly electrical jolt for an extra 1d6 damage. A save halves this damage, but anyone wearing metal armor automatically fails.
A combined strength of 40 (excluding the victim) can remove the snake in 1d6 rounds, but those trying will suffer the jolt damage (save allowed if not in metal armor).
The lightning snake is not affected by electricity-based attacks of any kind.
Tags: Swords & Wizardry
I’ve long had some issues with the thief class in D&D. This won’t be surprising to many, because it seems that nearly everyone has some issues with it.
I’ve been tinkering with some ideas about how to incorporate thievery into my upcoming S&W White Box campaign, and I’m currently leaning toward a system based on d6 checks similar to standard hearing and searching checks. This will almost certainly NOT be a separate class.
I will probably give standard chances for success for “thief skill” actions such as picking pockets, climbing walls, and opening locks that are available for anyone to try. This fits in well with the idea that “thief” is not a class but a profession. Anyone can be a “thief” by stealing something.
What I’m undecided on is if I will devise some way for characters and NPCs to improve standard chances by declaring that they are professional (or at least semi-pro) thieves. Perhaps some bonuses at certain levels in exchange for an XP penalty (i.e., a character could be a Fighter (Thief) by requiring 130% XP for each standard fighter level.) I’m not really sure at this point.
One thing I am pretty much set on sticking with is the 1d6 check. I want this to match up with the existing standard checks, as I’m seeing thief-like skills as just more standard abilities. A roll of ’6′ would indicate spectacular failure (caught picking a pocket, a fall from near the top of a wall, setting off the trap being disarmed, etc.). This rough granularity doesn’t permit a lot of fine improvement while leveling up, but I’ve got an idea about how to address that, too, if I go with the “thief sub-class” concept.
All that said, I see that the contents of Knockspell #2 magazine are going to be very thief-centric, with two takes on a thief class for WB and four (count ‘em!) takes for the Core rules. I’m sure that there’s going to be a lot of good material there, so I may want to wait to check it out before making my final decision.
Once I work out a few things I will post my current ideas.
Tags: rules, Swords & Wizardry, thief
Here’s a shot of my comb-bound digest-sized PDFs of Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox:
Kilgore's WhiteBox
I’m really excited about the WhiteBox rules. I’m planning to use them for my Forbidden Jungle campaign, but I’m not sure I can wait until that’s ready to kick off to play these.
There is a fair amount of errata in the rules yet. I’m hoping that we’ll be seeing a “second printing” along the lines of what S&W did for the Core ruleset recently, with corrections. I’ve been posting errors I’ve come across to the official forums.
Tags: Swords & Wizardry
Over at the Swords & Wizardry forums, a new board has been opened up for a project that I will be watching very closely: Fantasy Wild West:
Take the “Wild West” and plop it down in a fantasy world (e.g. goblins replace Indians). It sounds silly until you read the four pages of rules/setting.
This is an idea that I had been mulling for a few weeks as a sort of gonzo, no-holds barred game, with a little bit of ‘Wild, Wild West’ television show, a little bit of ‘Kung Fu’ television show, and a little bit of the good old spaghetti westerns thrown together with a lot of standard fantasy elements.
Though this particular take doesn’t exactly match what I had in mind, it looks great and will undoubtedly be a lot of fun to check out. I will be sure to put my two cents in where appropriate and look forward to seeing how it develops.
Tags: Swords & Wizardry
