Bad Characters for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

Whenever I make a character for a role-playing game, I try to make them good at something. I often try to maximize their effectiveness in one area, to make them excel. When I make a barbarian, I want them to be as effective as possible in dealing melee damage. When I make a wizard, I want them to have many spells, and to be able to utilize them effectively. Additionally, I want my characters to have a few other strengths and talents to make them useful. My characters are meant to survive the adventure, defeat their enemies, and conquer their challenges. 

These are not such characters. They are the opposite of that. They are very bad at a few things and mediocre at everything else. Many of them can't even multiclass effectively, as they don't meet the attribute requirements to try to be anything else. These nerds are stuck being crappy characters until at least level 5. These characters are the opposite of optimized; they’re vandalized. Making these characters was surprisingly refreshing, after years of optimizing and trying to wring every little advantage out of a character. I recommend it to any veteran of character creation as a fun challenge and mental exercise.

These characters are made in such a way that they're bad at what they're supposed to be good at, and only mediocre at anything else. The barbarian is weak in melee combat. The wizard is bad at casting spells (and can't cast many). The would-be bard is actually a sorcerer, and is repugnant and bad at music. The monk is bad at fighting and isn't all that wise. I’ve taken advantage (disadvantage?) of custom backgrounds, the variant human race option, and monstrous races from other 5th edition books to make these characters as bad as possible. 

They each have a backstory that shows how they got to this state, and it's often a tale of woe. Some of these characters are complete assholes and deserve to suck at their profession. Others are unfortunate victims of circumstance.

Most of these characters have a high constitution. I'm not trying to say that constitution is a useless attribute - higher constitution scores are good - but it's not essential to any class, it isn't a prerequisite for multiclassing, and usually only gives you a few more hit points and a better chance on some saving throws. After all, a battle is won when your opponents are dead or defeated, and if you can't effectively overpower them, a few extra hit points aren't going to help.

These characters have all been made by the official WotC Adventurer's League standards (legal custom backgrounds, only one book besides the PHB), so you could play these poor bastards in an AL game if you wanted.

Now meet Bethyl, Dinki, Jeggory, Prizella, Shump, and Weynard.




Bethyl
Bethyl Character Sheet PDF
Bethyl is a very old hermit woman. She spends her time in small hut in the Neverwinter wood. She is obsessed with health and purity, and as a result is very healthy, but also very skinny. She has her own peculiar system of living, with a very restricted diet and a constant regimen of strange exercises and self-defense techniques; none of this serves to make her stronger, but it has contributed to overall great health. She knows druidic secrets she claims was taught to her by the trees; she uses these powers to purify her daily meal. She claims the fish and the rabbits taught her how to fight. When she is challenged on any of these beliefs, a terrible argument ensues. For fun, she sneaks around the forest trying to find people and animals, so she can lure them into conversation with a few magic tricks, then segue into preaching her way of life and selling her herbal poultices.



Dinki
Dinki Character Sheet PDF
Dinki is tiny, even for a kobold. Smarter than most kobolds, she had the misfortune of being fully aware of how poor her situation was, being a tiny weakling even amongst weaklings; this cursed her with a terrible and bitter rage. Dinki was part of a travelling kobold gang that would attempt to distract travelers along the Blackford Road with tricks and performances while the others picked pockets and looted saddlebags. One such occasion she was caught stealing from an old lady, who severed her leg with a meat cleaver. The other kobolds ran in terror, leaving her behind to fend for herself. After making herself a peg leg, Dinki has vowed to get revenge on old ladies, kobolds, and anyone that could be perceived as better off than she.



Jeggory 
Jeggory Character Sheet PDF
Jeggory was a big strong street thug from the city of Luskan. One ale-soaked drunken night, Jeggory wandered out into the wilderness, stumbled into a ring of mushrooms, and interrupted a fae dance contest. Jeggory attempted to impress the faeries with some lewd thrusting, and demanded they teach him magic. They agreed to teach him some of their magic, but it was a trick. They sold Jeggory to a green hag, who took him to the faewild. The hag agreed to teach him magic, but nothing else; to get food and water, he had to sell his eye, his ear, and years of servitude to the hag; he also had to agree to a pact to never wear metal again, as a true druid would. After decades of cooking, cleaning, picking herbs, and fixing the hag's stuff, the debt was paid and he was free to return to the mortal world, having been taught a hard lesson about making deals with the fae. 




Prizella 
Prizella Character Sheet PDF
An ambitious entertainer with delusions of grandeur and a terrible personality, Prizella is a healthy and attractive young woman, but completely undisciplined and untrained. She inherited a lute and magical talent from her ancestors but is only moderately proficient in both. Prizella is otherwise reprehensible and cruel. Without exception she resorts to violence and backstabbing when faced with criticism, rejection, or anything short of worship. People quickly learn to do what it takes to get her to leave, or at least get her drunk until the town watch can deal with her. 




Shump 
Shump Character Sheet PDF
A cabin boy on a fishing ship, Shump enjoyed a peaceful and simple life, until the ship was taken by vicious pirates in a bloody slaughter, who then enslaved the surviving crew. He lived as a slave, spending the daylight hours doing the most menial of tasks, and spending the night hours locked in a closet full of books - he had nothing to do but read the tomes that filled his closet space, including a spellbook. Shump eventually became more knowledgeable in various scholarly subjects, including wizardry. It took years, but Shump taught himself all the spells in the old wizard’s tome, and though he wouldn't know it, the spells were varied and random, not particularly useful for an adventurer. One of these spells did allow him to charm a guard and escape. He has vowed to never do anything strenuous again, and if possible, get servants of his own. His plan is to use his meager magical talents to trick people into giving him what he wants.

Mapping to See What Happens - A Savage Worlds Sandbox Hexcrawl

Greetings! It’s been a while since I endeavored to try out Ben Wray's Dungeon World hexcrawl idea, but I did say I would report on my findings, so here it is.

For those of you who are into the whole brevity thing, here’s the summary: Use the Dungeon World steading system to create a deck of steading cards and deal them randomly onto a grid map. It’s a fun and easy way to make a living world with a crapload of adventure ideas. Give it a try.

Ben's original idea

As promised, I gave Ben’s idea a whirl, with a few twists. Since I would be making this map during the second gaming session, there were a few steadings (steadings are what Dungeon World calls any civilized place where you're relatively safe from monsters) already established and would be non-random. Also, rather than create a map for a Dungeon World game, I used this system to create a map for a Savage Worlds game of a most unusual nature. I think you’ll find, as I did, that the steading system is game-agnostic enough for this purpose.

                                                     
        

First I made a spreadsheet with 24 steadings - six villages, six towns, six keeps, and six cities. Then I randomly assigned each steading an advantage and a problem, then statted them out according to the rules. I removed one town, one keep, and one city (the ones I thought were least interesting). I did this because there seems to be a resource flow schema to the steading system. Villages have resources; towns buy those resources and sell them to villages, other towns, and cities. I discarded one of each steading that wasn't a village to keep the amount of resources on the map high and the size of the steadings low. This made a setting like the Wild West, with lots of opportunities to grow and exploit resources, but also great wilderness and low population.

Overview of all the steadings I generated - this alone is very helpful

Once I had a list of steadings I made a list of steading names, some taken from the Dungeon World book, some made up. Some of the best ones I got by browsing through the Google maps of the United States and looking for unusual town names  -  I've always loved the sound of Texarkana. Then I tried to get a feel for each steading and match the name to the feel. I've got a village on a major trade route? Let's call it Wetherford, for the river it crosses over. A town at a major crossroad with a bustling market got the name Junction, for where the roads meet. The large and wealthy city that traded with every steading nearby was named Central, not to indicate its position on the map, but rather it's self-perception as the hub and focus of all commerce.


After every steading had its stats, tags, and an evocative name, it started to look really exciting. Just the list alone started to inspire ideas, NPCs, events, etc. The final components needed were the six cursed places, which were renamed to fit the post-apocalyptic/trans-dimensional setting. I cut some index cards in half, wrote the name of each steading and cursed place on a card, added eight blank cards to complete the 32 card set for a 6x6 grid, and thus armed, went to the second gaming session to create the map with my players. 

Since this was the second gaming session, and we had described one village called Tallpines and a city called Dodge, I picked a village and a city that looked like they could be Tallpines (plagued by monsters? Why yes, that sounds like it’s next to a cursed, misty city ruin) and Dodge (militarized and overcrowded? definitely). I thew down these right in the center of the board. I chose the center because I believe the PCs should usually start in the center of the map - what's the point of building a map if they can travel a few hours and walk off the edge of it? I shuffled the index cards and dealt them out onto the cardboard, from left to right, and from top to bottom and here's what I got:

At first it was a little daunting, as things didn’t match up the way I imagined they would, but that’s the point of randomizing, isn’t it? To see what happens, to not know, to have to deal with the unexpected. I entered the results into a Google Sheet for safekeeping, and I have been studying it ever since, enjoying the questions it creates. Why is this steading like this? How can it be that way, despite its position on the map? The answers to these questions are always fun.

Each square is approximately 24 miles, or one days travel on foot, requiring one ration.

I love having this map out on the table while we play. It lets the players see where the steadings are and read their evocative names, inspiring their vision of the setting, but it also conceals all the cool secrets that I know about those steadings. It’s inspirational to the GM and the players, and helps to build both a living world that everyone is helping to create, but also a mysterious world with some interesting and dangerous secrets for the players to discover.


The whole experience is very reminiscent of my days playing Fallout 2, travelling the vast grid between Vault City and the NCR, and seeing what happens on the way. Needless to say, this creates tremendous feels of a positive nature. Next time, I'll talk more about why that's a great thing, and why I'd like to see more Fallout 2 style games on both the table and the screen.

As we play, the players discover all the shit that I’ve planned, and I discover how they react to that shit. They spit out ideas and I jot them down. I save them like precious metal ingots to be later forged into adventurous ideas. It’s glorious.

Next I’m gonna get into the wonderful weird world of planning and playing a game about rifts that’s nothing like the game Rifts.


Here's a link to the Google Sheet with all the mentioned documents.


Cheers! Thanks for reading. What do you think? Add your voice, friend!

The Fighter's Dying Breath

This weekend saw our first death in our Underwatch campaign.  The group made it to the lair of the Lantern Goblin horde that has taken up residence in the city's ancient sewer network.  What they faced was a small horde worshiping a giant glowing crystal suspended in the air (The Source of the Goblin's Light!?!).  Lasbador the Wizard quickly launched a fireball into the crowd and maximized the damage.  That is a whole lot of Goblin death.  Funny thing about Latern Goblins is that when they die their "light" travels to another one of their horde to make them stronger.  This resulted in a huge amount of Lights flowing around the room and empowering the remaining dozen goblins.  One of these goblins was special.

He stood head and shoulders above the rest and had a powerful build.  In his filthy hands was a huge double bladed axe ablaze with green flames.  He let loose a terrible war cry and charged the party with his retinue of vile companions.

Our Fighter, Aubrey, charged right back.  She was determined to smash into the enemy line and give the other heroes time to destroy the crystal.  Dash the bard was right next to her side but that is beside the point.  The story today is all about Aubrey.

The two sides met in the middle of the chamber.  Aubrey and Dash being surround by the Goblins while our Druid and Wizard were going around to break/dismantle/disenchant the big glowy crystal in the center of the room.

Aubrey charged through the crowd to meet the Goblin Warlord (this title sounds appropriately bad ass doesn't it?) in combat.  She described how she would slide along the ground (not hard since she is a Halfling) and swing for the legs with Sally, her Messy, Forceful, Piercing Signature Weapon.

I can hear the epic film score chugging along in my head.  I'm ready for the slow-motion sequence of Aubrey cutting the legs right off the Goblin Warlord.  I'm ready for it! ROLL Hack & Slash!

::shooka shooka go the dice:: Aubrey gets a 6.  A Miss.

That big Axe with the green flames?  The one the Goblin Warlord has? It has Messy too.  The Goblin leaps in the air right over Aubrey's leg sweep.  He comes crashing down and the axe chops right through Aubrey's arm, taking it off at the elbow.  Aubrey is on the ground and wracked with pain. The Goblin screams triumphantly and raises his axe to finish her off.

Dash tries desperately to reach Aubrey and parry the blow.  Sounded like a Defend to me.  He rolls a 5.  Miss.  The other goblins swarm him and hold him back.

At this point I thought to myself, "Is that it?  Is Aubrey dead?  Did that arm come off and now the Goblin finishes the job?  Or did the shock of the wound really have time to set in yet?  Is there time for the bravest Halfling that every graced the City Watch to get in one last swing?  She is THE Fighter.  She's got time for one last swing of her axe.  Aubrey is THE Fighter.  I'm a fan of the characters after all.  Fighter's go down swinging.

I look to Aubrey's player and describe the Goblin's axe coming down on her.  "What do you do?" I ask.  She described how she is going to drag her axe along the groung and bring it up in a brilliant upward arc toward the Goblins face. Awesome.  Roll Hack & Slash.

She rolls.  She gets a 9.  They are both taking Damage.  What results is a simultaneous double-kill right out of a movie.  Both of the weapons strike true and do enough damage to end the life of the other in the most gruesome manner possible.  The Goblin's axe bites into Aubrey at the waist. Aubrey's blow cuts straight through the Warlords arm and buries itself in the foul creature's face.

During this chaos, the big crystal is pushed over and takes a tumble down the pit (why do the bad guys always place their McGuffins in such precarious places?).  Druid's in Bear form make short work of pushing stuff over.

Aubrey rolls Last Breath.  She gets an 8.  Death offers her a deal.  She stands before the Black Gates and talks to Death.  Death tells her that she still has much to do in the world.  He can send her back.  She just has to murder Lasbador (the party's Wizard) without hesitation when Death calls her to do so.

Without hesitation, Aubrey tells Death "NO."

This is how THE Fighter dies.  With Glory and with Honor.

Rest in Peace Aubrey.  The Underwatch will miss you.

Dungeon World: Underwatch Episode 1

Episode 1: The Kidnapping

Cast:

Aubrey, Halfling Fighter

Lasbador, Human Wizard

Akajj Farstrider, Elven Druid of the Eastern Desert

Dash Seraphim, Human Bard

You stand at the end of a long hallway in an ancient building deep within the Undercity of New Axiom. You hear an anguished scream from the other side of the wooden door.  You need the man on the other side of that door alive.  You can still see the look on the Captain of the Guard's face as he told you the importance of the task.  Time is running out.  What do you do?

This was my opening description to the first session of my group's newly formed game of Dungeon World.  I tried to follow the book's suggestion to start the game in the thick of things.  I came armed with only the most basic of frameworks of what the session was going to be about:  all the stuff we outlined in the world creation step about 30 minutes before we started playing and a kidnapping/rescue scenario.

What follows is going to be a highlight of the events of the session.  I plan on going through some of the awesome events that took place and discuss what was going through my head and some of the judgement calls I made.  I'm no stranger to running games but Dungeon World is a different beast.  You really have to think about the consequences of player actions and know exactly what is at stake each time the dice are rolled.  Because of this you will find plenty of threads in internet land about "understanding" Dungeon World enough to run the game.  I figure if I running through reports like this might help me find ways to improve my game as well as giving some insight for others.

So what did our Underwatch do?

Aubrey charged at the door and busted it down!

I liked it.  Iconic Fighter type stuff.  A quick Bend Bars / Lift Gates roll later the door was smashed off the hinges and the group charged into the room.

The Watch found themselves standing in front of five men.  Four of which were obvious members of the Bower Street Boys and the fifth was some poor chap tied to an old chair with the visible signs that spend most of his free time as of late being someone else's punching bag.

The shocked thugs were speechless and most started to fidget nervously while the Watch filled the room.

I admit that I didn't much know where to go at first.  I liked the idea of starting the game with the group busting in on a crime in progress.  I rolled with it and made the thugs scared and nervous and waiting for the Watch to make the first move.  I get the idea that my players expected these guys to charge at them and for combat to break out after busting down the door.  I thought maybe that's what I should have done.  But it turned out better this way.  They got to do try out some "police procedure."

The Watch declared who they were and their intentions to bring these men to justice.  The Undercity isn't home to anything remotely close to the "suspect's rights," so the interrogation began right at the scene of crime.

It was learned that the poor chap in the chair was Dillard, a young member of the Stonemason Guild. The Stonemasons are responsible for the upkeep and construction of New Axiom.  They also have the reputation of having access to blue-prints, schematics and maps of most of the city old and new.  In other words, young Dillard is a fount of the kind of information that a band of thugs could have some real fun with.  Dillard was also the very man the Watch had been sent to find.

It was around this time the scrawniest of the Bower Street Boys became extremely agitated.  He was vigorously fiddling with an object behind his back, desperately hoping that the watch wouldn't catch on.

They caught on.

All at once they demanded to see what Scrawny was up to.  But it was too late.  As he showed the wondrous items his hands concealed they heard the calls and screams of more thugs outside.

What were these items?  A pair of enchanted bottle caps that were glowing with a soft blue nimbus.  A rushed interrogation had the scrawny thug reveal that those were gifts from The Stoutman.  It was here that we established that The Stoutman was some kind of criminal Kingpin in the Undercity.  Some kind of back alley boogey-man that no one had ever seen.  The bottle caps?  When rubbed together they allowed communication between the gangs remotely.  Bad news for the Underwatch.

After it was clear these "suspects" were not going to come in quietly, our group quickly attacked them.  Aubrey cleaved one in twain, Dash pinned one to the wall with his rapier, Lasbador fired magic missiles and Akajj was fighting tooth and claw (and spear).  Just when the characters seems their most Bad Ass, I had the front door the building smashed down and a flood of Thugs started to poor down the hallway.  The magic bottle caps work.

Soon the party was running for their lives with a couple of hostages suspects in tow.  They started to smash their way through the dilapidated wall into the building next door. One of the suspects took his chance to try and escape and was run through by Dash. They proceeded into the building to find an old stone door.  Akajj took a position to hold off the stampede of gangers while the rest of the party examined the door.  It was sealed shut by ancient dwarven mechanisms.  Akajj quickly shifted into Bear form and starting to fight the thugs 2-3 at a time.  Aubrey did a Bend Bars / Lift Gates and got the old door open before returning to Akajj's side.

Meanwhile, Dash and Lasbador were debating how safe it would be to descend the pitch-black staircase that was behind the door.  Lasbador quickly tried to cast his Light spell and got a Miss (6-).  The clean glow of the magical energy swirled around and was quickly siphoned down the staircase.  Oops.  Not one to waste a good scouting resource, Lasbador shoved the remaining suspect down the stairs.  The poor guy's anguished screams and loud thud of impact as he met the bottom was all the scouting the young Wizard needed.  Dash and Lasbador nodded at each other and followed down the stairs, calling to Aubrey and Akajj to follow.

Once the pair could push the gangers back they charged after their companions and met them at the bottom of the steps.  The only light in the tunnel at the bottom was the swirling energy from Lasbador's previous Light spell.  A large group of gangers were now at the top of the steps.  It was either take their chances with the darkened hallway or fight the mob coming down the steps after them.  They decided to run headlong into the darkness.

So you might be saying "Hey Guy, didn't the Wizard miss with that Light spell?"  Why yes he did.  The move I choose to do was Turn their move back at them.  I described the desperate chase down the hall.  The countless enemies to their rear and nothing but the ghostly whisp in the darkness to lead their way.  Suddenly, the light picked up speed and was consumed by something at the end of the hall.  The soft glow turned an angry red as the magic from the rogue spell brought an ancient construct to life.  Standing around 10 feet tall and made of smooth rock segments connected by ancient dwarven mechanics the towering war golem stood up.  It's eyes glowed with such intensity that it bathed the hallway in a dim red light.  It started to run toward our Underwatch.

It was right around this time that I really fell in love with Dungeon World as a game.  I hadn't even really considering what might be beyond that door when I put it in their way.  The miss on the Light spell immediately gave me the idea that the magic was "drawn" to the old magi-tek that was in these ruins.  And what would it turn on?  Huge Dwarven War Golems that's what!

The look on the players' faces was priceless.

The group immediately turned and started running back toward the mob of gangers.  They figured it was the best of the two options.  The Wizard Spouted some Lore about what this thing was as they ran full tilt the way they came.  The result was 10+ so I spilled the beans.  "The intense RED glow of this golem's eyes sends a shiver down your spine.  The only golems that were said to have eyes like that were the ones crafted by Garven MadAxe, a twisted rune-tek that was said to have found a way to power his creations with Hellfire.  As a result they have a special hatred for all living beings.  Oh, and they are said to be indestructible."

 'RUN!" Lasbador screamed in response.  On one end of the hall we had an ever increasing amount of Bower Street Boys flooding down the path and on the other we had a twisted dwarven warmachine bearing down on them like a locomotive.  The Underwatch needed to think fast.  Luckily someone was able to spot a hallway on the right side of the tunnel.  They ran right past it in the dark.  Thanks to the Hellfire glow emanating from the 2 tons of death behind them, it was somewhat easier to see this time around.

The group did a quickly timed turn and the Golem smashed into the oncoming Bower Street Boys.  Screams of agony mixed with the sounds of pistons and gears as the mechanical monster tore through the poor Boys.

The rest of the adventure was a short affair.  They hurried their way through the tunnels and were able to find the secret passage out.  It was at this point we learned about Lasbador's "other gift."  He's a Human Wizard so he get's a Cleric Spell to start.  He decided to take Guidance, but instead of always seeing his deity for the answers, he has a vision/hallucination that is appropriate to the task at hand.  He rolled well and saw the "ghost" of Garven Madaxe himself.  After a short conversation with the vision (giving the rest of the group the heebie jeebies) Lasbador found the way out.  Just in time too, the sounds of more of the Hellfire Golems waking up echoed through the chambers.

So the first mission of the Underwatch was a success.  They made it back with Dillard the Stonemason.  They made enemies of the street gangs below.  They unleashed a group of life-hating automatons.  Oops. That last part isn't so good. But fear not!  The Underwatch always cleans up their mess.  I hope.

Plot Hooks

• Who is the Stoutman and how does he have access to create such wondrous items?


• What were the Bower Street Boys trying to beat out of the Stonemason, Dillard.


• How in the nine hells is the group going to explain / deal with the Hellfire golems they have unleashed?

Dungeon World: Underwatch Characters & Setting

So I finally put together a game of Dungeon World.  This was our group's first experience with any of the *World games.  Short version of the story:  It was amazing.  It simultaneously scratched the itch to run a very free form story game while supporting all the Old School D&D troupes.   The way the mechanics helped the events in the story snowball into more and more exciting scenes was great.  Enough gushing over it though.  Check out the PDF for $10.  It's well worth it.

I'm going to do some actual play reports of the game to showcase some of the fun.  Dungeon World assumes and suggests that you fill in a lot of the setting details throughout the first session of play.  The GM comes to the table with a loose idea and asks the players leading questions to fill out the rest.

We decided to form the setting a little bit before making characters since I was interesting in twisting around a few setting assumptions to incorporate a more urban environment.  I stumbled upon this post and fell in love with the idea.  So a big Thank You goes out to henrythewhite for the inspiration.  Hopefully he doesn't mind me taking his idea and running with it.

I really liked how you could do the old school "dungeons everywhere" theme and literally put a sprawling metropolis right on top.  So the adventurers would descend into the trouble levels while backstabbing nobleman made life on the surface just as dangerous.

This is the pitch I sent to my players:

In the largest and the oldest city in The World, adventure lurks around every corner. The city has been leveled and rebuilt countless times due to wars and disasters both magical and natural.. As a result the sewer system and underbelly is home to whole communities of the “lesser” members of society and ancient passages are always being uncovered from the “old times.”

The City Below has always been ignored by the City Watch. Resources are stretched to their limit patrolling the city proper. That is until now. Something has the ruling body angry. They are fed up that the Watch does nothing in the City Below. The rulers and the Captain of the Guard came to an “agreement.” Thus the Underwatch was born. No one was required to transfer to the Underwatch but each District had to find “volunteers” to make the change. The worst miscreants from the Watch have been given positions in the Underwatch. YOU are a member of the Underwatch.

Are you ready to fight your way through the crime and grime in the City Below? Are you prepared to unearth the secrets of the cities of old buried deep below the streets? Sharpen your sword. Study your spells. Your career in the Underwatch starts now.

Lucky for me they all ate it up.

So fast forward to last Saturday when we finally made the setting come to life and make some quick characters (all character creation in Dungeon World is quick.  And like most of the game, Really Awesome).

For those of you that haven't done a collaborative Setting/World building exercise as part of an RPG before, I highly recommend it.  We played a recent game of Dresden Files and had a ton of fun making the city.  Dungeon World takes a more free form approach compared to Dresden's phases.  Normally you would just start in media res in some dungeon or other dangerous situation and build the world through actual play.

I decided to combine the approaches.  I went around and asked people questions regarding THE CITY.  Once we had a solid idea of what the city was like, we jumped into the game right in the middle of the action like normal.


The first question I asked was "What's the City's name?"  The players quickly responded with "Axiom.  New Axiom, ya know, since it has been destroyed over and over.  They always call the current top side city New Axiom."

Our City was born and all the questions and answers spawned more questions and answers.  So how did The City turn out?  Let's take a look.

Welcome to New Axiom

New Axiom is a sprawling metropolis that is situated on the coast.  It is massive in scale and many of it's structures have towers or are otherwise designed to have a large vertical footprint.  The city is divided into Districts.  Each District has a Councilor that is in charge of the goings on within that district.

My players loved the idea of a City Council of sorts that ran the city.  It also opens up the path for political games between Districts.  New Axiom also has a figurehead Chancellor or Regent that is "officially" the ruler but holds no real political power.  The Districts keep their own branch of the Watch that has jurisdiction within that District.  The newest district, The Undercity, has no official Council member and the Underwatch is comprised of all the worst of the Watch from other Districts.

Through the questions and answer session regarding the city and Characters we  were able establish that there are 12 districts.  We haven't defined them all (keeping with the make maps, leave blanks principle of Dungeon World) but came up with a bulk of them.

The Districts that were mentioned:

• Magistrate: Government District.  Home to House Vansteel


• Sky: Home to House Saraphim, who control the City's Magi-Tech Airships.
  


• Garden: Home to House Highgarden, a posh "vacation" spot for nobles.  Also controls the Food production and distribution for New Axiom.


• Arcanum: Home to University Arcana.  The entire district is the campus and home to the magical scholars.  Their branch of the watch is known as the The Black Wands. Their specialty is to police their own regarding crimes of a magical nature. The players determined that Divination is illegal (punishable by death even!) and summoning is highly regulated.  Magic is still very rare and powerful but these are laws held over from an age past.


• Stonekin:  The Dwarven District.


• Northgate:  The main enterance to the city.


• Craftsmen:  Lower class workers.  High Halfling population.


• Westgate:  The entrance for the "low."  It was established that Dwarves and Humans are viewed as equals and Elves and Halflings as "lesser" races.  Elves are prejudiced against for being responsible for the destruction of the city in ages past with their misuse of magic.


• Undercity:  EVERYTHING under ground level.  It's big, dangerous and mysterious.  The first few levels are inhabited by people and after that its all buried secrets, ancient ruins and unearthed tombs.

This leaves us with 3 districts to play with as well as all the supporting details of the ones above.  Without really trying we basically built a fantasy version of Hive Primus from GW's 40K Necromunda setting.  Rival houses, buried relics, dangerous gangs living in the Undercity.  All great stuff.  We mapped out some broad stroke details and got a little more description from character backgrounds.  I feel like the there are still enough "blanks" on the map to make anything else work.

Meet the Underwatch

Lasbador Bentledon - Wizard

Lasbador is a former student of the University Arcana and quickly gained the disapproval of the Archmage.  He was quickly offered a job in the Black Wands simply to be stripped of the title and "volunteered" to the Underwatch.

Bonds:

• Aubrey will play an important role in the events to come.  I have foreseen it!


• Dash is keeping an important secret from me.


• Akajj Farstrider is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can

Dash Seraphim - Bard

The third son in the Sky District's Seraphim family, he decided to skip out on his "mandated" appointment to the church of Pelor.  To make matters worse he further soiled the family name by engaging in a high profile scandal with the daughter of Lucius Vansteel.  Maybe a stint in the Underwatch is exactly what he needs.

Bonds:

• This not my first adventure with Lasbador


• I sang stories of Akajj Farstrider long before I ever met them in person


• Aubrey is often the butt of my jokes


• I am writing a ballad about the adventures of Aubrey


• Lasbador trusted me with a secret


• Akajj does not trust me, and for good reason

Aubrey - Fighter

Aubrey grew up in the streets of the Craftsman district.  Being a Halfling is hard in New Axiom.  Prejudice is everywhere.  Aubrey's spirit was only strengthened through the constant adversity.  She befriended a retired war hero Gregor and became the daughter he never had.  With Gregor's axe in hand she was determined to get a position in the City Watch.  Luckily the City Watch had an opening . . .

Bonds:

• Dash owes their life, whether they admit it or not


• I have sworn to protect Lasbador


• I worry about the ability of Lasbador to survive in the Underwatch


• Akajj Farstrider is soft, but I will make them hard like me

Akajj Farstrider - Druid

Akajj Farstrider is an elf from The East.  Tales of these dark skinned elves paint them as savage and cannibalistic desert nomads.  Half of that is true.  No one is sure yet of which half that is.  Akajj traveled to New Axiom and was recruited to the Underwatch.  Press ganged really.  Either way, it is a means to the check out the rumors of an ancient forest that grows beneath the city.

Bonds:

• Lasbador smells more like prey than hunter


• The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows Aubrey


• I have showed Dash a secret rite of the Land

 

Barebones Fantasy Review

The Fantasy RPG genre is certainly one filled with choices.  Some might even say that it is getting overpopulated at this point.  I think that is all the more reason to check out the new games that are coming out.  Each author and publisher is looking to give us a new way to experience the genre and I am always eager to take a look at what might make them stand out from the pack.

Enter Barebones Fantasy from DWD Studios.

Barebones Fantasy fits within the rules-lite category as far as RPG systems go.  It offers an easy to learn rules system that keeps character creation quick the game moving along.  I was surprised to find out that Barebones Fantasy (despite the name) had quite a bit under the hood.  So let's crack it open and see what's what.

The Cover

Sometimes you want to judge a book by the cover.  In this case I was greeted with some traditional Fantasy RPG fare: A party of intrepid adventures about to battle the big bad Red Dragon.  In my eyes this is a good thing.  If you're selling a new take on traditional fantasy, why not open up with some familiar imagery to get the reader's head in the right place.







The System

The basic dice mechanic is a simple percentile.  You roll a d100 and compare it to your Ability or Skill.  If you get equal to or below your score you succeed.  Simple and to the point.

There are four Abilities that make up your character.  They are Strength, Dexterity, Logic and Willpower.  These are used to do the normal attribute stuff that any RPG player is used to with some slight differences.  Strength lets you lift objects and influences melee weapon use but also determines how much damage you can take (something a Constitution or Endurance stat usually does).  Dexterity is used to shoot, jump and dodge out of the way of incoming harm.  Logic is used for perception and deduction and Willpower is used for persuasion, bluffing (borrowing for traditional Social or Charisma stats) and some spell resistance.

There are eight different Skills that a character can learn.  They are: Cleric, Enchanter, Leader, Scholar, Scout, Spellcaster, Thief and Warrior.  These function as areas of expertise that a character has as opposed to singular skill specialties that some games rely on.  Scout, Thief and Warrior are Skills that all characters can use.  The others require training (meaning points must be invested in these) for a character to use them.

Character Creation

Making a character in Barebones Fantasy is a pretty straight forward process.  First, you roll Ability Scores.  To roll up a set you roll 5d10 and add 30 for each score.  Once you have four of them you can assign them to the four Ability Scores.  You then pick your Race (all the standard fantasy races are included).  Then you assign a primary and secondary Skill (which boost your starting score using it) and then assign one Skill rank to a skill.

Players then get to define one positive and one negative "descriptor" to their character.  These are roleplaying quirks that will reward the character with bonus Development Points (XP) if they portray this during the gaming session.

Next is Moral code which steps in and takes the place of an alignment system.  This is a cool change of pace as it gets rid of the tried and true Good vs Evil distinction.  Instead you decide to what degree your character displays certain aspects.  There are three levels: Somewhat, Very and Totally.  These are used to describe how Kind or Cruel, Forcus or Unfocused, Selfless or Selfish, Honorable or Deceitful and Brave or Cowardly they are.  After these guidelines are set, the GM can call for a WIL checks when the character is acting "out of character" and wishes to act outside their personal moral code.

After that you buy some equipment and determine all your derived stats (Body Points, Initiative, Damage Reduction from Armor and so on).

Magic and Spellcasting

Like most actions in Barebones Fantasy, Spellcasting is easy to execute.  Usually this is just a test of the Spellcasting or Cleric skill.  What is worth noting though is that spells have a toolbox approach that can change from casting to casting.  You might have a buff spell that can improve an ally's ability score.  At the time of casting you can change which Attribute is the one to get boosted.  The same goes for some of the damage spells.  Fireball one turn and Lightning Bolt the next.  It allows for quick rules but different trappings for each casting.

Combat

Combat is a straight forward affair.  You roll a d100 and compare to your ability or skill.  If you get equal to or lower you succeed and deal damage.  You'll notice that there is no "defense trait" like Armor Class or anything factored into the equation.  This is because defending counts as an action.

Each action after the first you take in a turn results in a -20 percent penalty to all skill and ability checks.  So it creates a simple tactical decision of whether you want to defend (and make any subsequent attacks suffer the increasing penalty) or do you take the hit and hit them with your full skill rating.  It also allows for multiple attacks per round, making higher ranked characters able to dish out some punishment to groups of bad guys.

GM Guidelines and Setting

The rest of the book is all for the GM.  You have a chapter that goes into more detail on running a game.  It has guidelines for bonuses and penalties to rolls as well as rules for all kinds of conditions (dazed, immobilized, prone, slowed) and different ways to get hurt (falling, starvation, fire, environmental exposure).  This alone gives Barebones Fantasy a little more meat than a traditional "rules-lite" game.

There is also an included setting that is presented in a very "broad strokes" fashion.  It requires the GM to fill in most of the details but the inclusion is a nice starting point for new comers.

The Verdict

I think that DWD Studios have a great rules-lite game on their hands.  Barebones Fantasy gives some comprehensive attention to areas that most rules-lite games simply skimp on.  This is especially welcomed in the areas of Spell utility, equipment lists and character statuses.  The rules are simple and easy to learn and teach.  I think for $10 it makes a perfect game for teaching beginners the hobby or for anyone who is looking to throw some of the crunch to the side and dive right into the game.

Shadowrun 2050 Review

I'm back after a little delay. I set out to do a series of articles about the experience of reading through Shadowrun 2050. You can check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.

The "Let's Read" was going along well enough but I eventually hit a snag.  I realized somewhere during the writing of Part 3 that I was diving into a regular review on the book.  This wasn't something I intended to do but couldn't help myself.  I could no longer discuss each part on it's own because there just wasn't a whole lot of material to comment on.

So I decided to scrap Part 3 and shoot straight with a complete rundown.  So let's power down the rose-tinted cyber eyes and take a look at Shadowrun 2050 for what it is.

[Let's Read] Shadowrun 2050 : Part 2

Today we are going to dive into the first chapter in Shadowrun 2050.  If you missed Part 1 be sure to check it out first.

The first chapter is appropriately named The Knife at Your Throat.  This is a rundown of the various facets of 2050 life that might end up getting you killed.  An excellent place to begin.  The chapter is broken up into three parts which each break down their own little slice of Shadowrunner life.  All of this is written within the framework of a file that has been posted on the infamous Shadowland.  That means Shadowtalk.  Shadowtalk has always been the most entertaining part of any Shadowrun fiction for me and I am glad to see it return in just the way I remember it.

For those of you unfamiliar, this means that the text is broken up with commentary written by some of the famous characters from the fiction.  For those of you that remember this well, you won’t be disappointed.  Captain Chaos, Fast Jack, Argent, Hachetman and even Big D himself all comment somewhere within the first chapter.

Ok.  Let’s dive in.

[Let's Read] Shadowrun 2050 : Part 1

It’s here.  Since I heard about this book a few months back I’ve felt nothing but excitement about it.  Let me give you a little history on my relationship with everyone’s favorite cyberpunk/fantasy hybrid.

Shadowrun was the second roleplaying game that I really got into.  After cutting my teeth on D&D, Shadowrun came off as just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.  I quickly was spending my meager teenage income to collect each book as it released.  This was right around when Third Edition was new.  I read all the old modules I could get my hands on and was generally in love with the game.

Fast forward years later with the release of Fourth Edition (and now 20th Anniversary).  I like the unified mechanics.  I like what the they did with moving the setting forward.  2070 felt new and fresh.  Most of all, it felt like a good evolution of the game’s original cyberpunk roots.

Unfortunately for me that left some of what I fell in love with behind.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining what I mean other than Fourth Edition felt less “cyberPUNK” and more “near future espionage + magic.” The old Matrix went way.  Sadly so did the most of the attitude and aesthetic that made those books so enjoyable for me to read in the first place.

Needless to say that when I heard that a sourcebook that brought the excellent 20th Anniversary rules back in time, I went absolutely bonkers.  Enter Shadowrun 2050. Fast forward to today and the PDF has finally released.  Instead of doing a cut and dry review I thought I would simply bring you along for the ride while reading it.

Follow along after the break.

Iron Kingdoms RPG Gains Steam

Anyone who has been following the news announcements coming out of Privateer Press for the past year knows that this product was finally finished and ready to see the light of day.  Today, it seems like this is more official than ever.  Privateer Press officially added its Iron Kingdoms Core Rules book to the Upcoming Products section of the website.

As the Summer Release (Read: Gen Con) draws near, I find myself equal parts curious and exited to see what the developers have come up with.  I'm sure many of you are aware that the Iron Kingdoms is the fictional world where the widely successful tabletop wargames Warmachines and Hordes are set.  Before that though, it was also one of the flagship third party settings for Dungeon & Dragons 3rd Edition.

My group was involved in a highly memorable Iron Kingdoms campaign using the D&D 3.5 rules.  For the most part it was a great time.  The world always felt alive and we were always one step away from political intrigue, military conflicts, memorable NPCs, and glorious amounts of Warjacks and Monsters to fight.

Mechanically though, D&D 3.5 was never the most exciting for me and it showed some of its weakness through the Iron Kingdoms setting.  Whether it was the overly-complicated mechanika crafting rules or just outlandish handling of prestige classes, each session left me liking the mechanics of the game less and less.  It felt like core concepts to the fiction, like how badass Warcasters are, were simply forced into the rules using the guidelines of D&D.  Something always felt "off."

As we all know, D&D 3.5 has gone the way of THAC0 and retired to the halls of forever where it will party hardy until it is called again for the countless Edition Wars that are bound to spring up.  And with it, IKRPG was left without a marketable system to be its backbone.

Privateer Press could have gone the way of Pathfinder and kept on chugging along with the old rules but they decided to spend the last few years making their own system.  The previews say that the mechanics were born from and heavily inspired by the system that is found in Warmachine and Hordes.

The full blurb reads as follows:

This essential full-color guide to the award-winning Iron Kingdoms setting equips you with:

• A robust, elegant rules system crafted especially for the world of the Iron Kingdoms. This system builds upon the rules foundation of the critically acclaimed WARMACHINE and HORDES miniatures games to meet the complex needs of a roleplaying game.


• Rules for character creation and advancement that let you take on the role of iconic Iron Kingdoms characters like fell callers, field mechaniks, gun mages, warcasters, and more.


• Details on diverse playable races: humans, gobbers, Iosans, Nyss, ogrun, Rhulfolk, and trollkin.


• Crafting systems that enable you to explore the mysteries of mechanika and alchemy.


• A comprehensive overview of life in the Iron Kingdoms and the history of western Immoren.

 

I think this is a really interesting choice.  First, it gives a stepping stone to all the wargamers that are familiar with the other game lines a place to start.  Second, it could easily be a fun and still very tactical system for combats and encounters.  This is something that I can really enjoy when the system is deep enough to add lots of character choice but also resolves quickly so combats don't take 4-5 hours of a session.

What will truly be interesting is if there is any cross over between the two games.  Can we stat up our characters and use them as Solo's for a friendly game of Warmachine?  Can we "borrow" some of the mechanics to bodge together some kind of "campaign" system to use for Hordes?  I could live without heavy cross over, at least at the outset.  What I really hope is that we get a system that matches the power level and feel that has become the identity of the Iron Kingdoms.

Dungeon World: Kickstarting My Heart

Ok.  I have a confession to make.  I have yet to back anything on Kickstarter.  I know, I know.  I'm not supporting all the great Board Game, RPG and Video Game projects that are being made.  I'm missing out on all of those cool Backer rewards.  Trust Me!  I've wanted to.  My greatest failure was actually forgetting, FORGETTING to back Shadowrun Returns.

All of this is about to change.  I've stumbled on a project today that really sings to my latest interest.  Old School Fantasy Adventuring.  I've been reading the most excellent Dungeon Crawl Classics and it really has me longing for a return to form for my Fantasy RPGs.



Enter Dungeon World.

Dungeon World promised to combine modern rules with old school style.  I heard about this what seems like ages ago.  A rules hack for Apocalypse World which emulated old school D&D as opposed to the dark and deviant setting that is standard for the game.  Apocalypse World is supposed to have some good mechanics backing it.  Stuff that ties characters together and rules that don't get in the way.  From what I understand it has many "Indie" RPG mechanics.

Fast forward to now and Dungeon World is already well past being funded.  In fact, it is currently 1,281% Funded.  Yea.  They overshot the goal that much with over a week to go.

So I'm going to throw in my $5 at least.  For that price you get the PDF and PDF copies of the exclusive Kickstarter Backer supplements.  At that price point I can't help but give in to curiosity.  For those that want a little more there are tons of other backer levels that include softcover and hardcover books.  All of which are priced nicely.

The game will operate under an open Creative Commons license as well.  The developers want it to inspire others and let them run amok with what they have created.  I think this is a great approach as it is even more open than the typical OGL.

Modern Mechanics + Old School Style + Great Art + Great Price.  I'm on board.

You still have 11 days to go.  Check it out.

Streets of Bedlam Review

 

This is a book that I have been eager to see since I first heard the Kickstarter project that made it a reality.  Streets of Bedlam is a brand new setting for Savage Worlds written by Jason L Blair.  It offers a Neo-Noir setting filled with crime, corruption and violence. Savage Worlds is one of my favorite RPG systems and Jason has impressed me in the past with his excellent Little Fears.  Does this mean that Streets of Bedlam delivers like it should?

Let's take a look.

Free RPG Day 2012

This Saturday, June 16 is Free RPG Day.  A day devoted to stopping in your Friendly Local Game Store to check out some demos, play some new games and grab some free stuff.  Each store is going to run things differently so be sure to find your local participant and see what events they have planned.

Some highlights for this years swag is Fantasy Flight's Only War intro adventure and adventures from Goodman Games, Paizo, Troll Lord Games and Wizards of the Coast.

Here's a full list of what is on offer this year:

• Blue Panther
  Sample (1 per box), Dice Tower


• Catalyst Game Labs
  Gold (10 per box), A Time of War: BattleTech RPG/Shadowrun Quickstart flipbook


• Catalyst Game Labs
  Gold (10 per box), Cosmic Patrol RPG Quickstart


• Chessex
  Silver, 4 Commemorative Dice For Store Owner


• Columbia Games
  Platinum (15 per box), Harn setting material with world map


• Dice Candies
  Sample (1 per box), Set of 6 chocolate polyhedral dice
  (Final shape of chocolate NOT guaranteed with delivery)


• Eden Studios
  Silver (5 per box), Conspiracy X Quickstart & Adventure


• Fantasy Flight Games
  Gold (10 per box), Warhammer 40K Roleplay Only War Adventure, "Eleventh Hour"


• Gaming Paper
  Sample (1 per box), "Slavers of the Sunken Garden", Pathfinder Adventure


• Goodman Games
  Silver (6 per box), Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Quickstart & Adventure


• Jon Brazer Enterprises
  Bronze (3 per box), Pathfinder, "Shadowsfall: Temple of Orcus"


• Louis Porter Jr. Design
  Bronze (3 per box), NeoExodus Pathfinder Adventure


• OffWorld Designs
  Sample (1 per box), "Ask me about Free RPG Day" T-Shirt (XL) for employees.


• Paizo
  Platinum (15 per box), Pathfinder Adventure, Dawn of the Scarlet Sun


• Pamean Games
  Sample (1 per box), Brass & Steel Quickstart


• Q-Workshop
  Gold (10 per box), Unique Dice


• Troll Lord Games
  Sample (1 per box), Castles & Crusades Adventure


• Wizards of the Coast
  Platinum (15 per box), D&D 4E Adventure, "Dead in the Eye"