The Tools of Others

Like most people, I use a ton of other people's ideas and tools to make my games run better, or just to get a bit of inspiration. So, here are a few tools and compilations I've made recently to facilitate my use of other people's tools.

First up, since it's currently trending, is +Arnold K.'s Career Paths character generation. If you haven't seen it, look at it - it's a cool hack of regular 3d6-based attribute generation that creates a bit of vague history, and it's a lot more elegant than some of the crazy Excel-formula-based versions I've seen, and a lot less involved than Beyond the Wall's analogous approach.



Click me!

What I did was make a bunch of cards to make the Statistically Anal method of generating your character's adolescence significantly less anal. Instead of rolling a d15, you just cut this out, place the cards face down, and everyone picks one. I used a bunch of Telecanter's silhouettes on the reverse side to add a bit of Rorschach-ish psychology to card selection. A few questions are edited a bit here and there so they could all come out the same size.

I didn't do the Careers section mostly to save time and to leave starting PC's with a bit more blank space. So, instead of rolling 1d6 for each stat during Adolescence, I'll have players roll 2d6.



Right here.

Next is the Peddlers of the Deep Dark table from Aeons and Auguries. Basically, it's a pretty cool (if die-roll-intensive) underground trade caravan generator. Unfortunately, bits and pieces of it are scattered all over JD Jarvis' blog, so I put it all in one place.

I included all of the Peddlers info, the Dungeoneer's Cache generator, and information on all of the unique items in both tables - that includes the Magic Ropes, Candles, and Footwear posts. Plus a bit of organizational tweaking.


Finally, Justin Alexander's Node-based Design has been pretty much the guide for running my campaigns, and the Three Clue Rule a great tool for coming up with plots on the fly, in a way that the players can meaningfully interact with. But, as I've mentioned before, I'm a visual thinker, and outline's just don't do it for me - so I set up two on-the-fly node sheets, for the Layer Cake and Loop models. Each node has its clues listed, with a bit of space to describe the node, and each of the clues leading to the other nodes.


You know the drill. The Layer Cake one is here.

Horses, Dogs, and Falcons

Inspired by Tower of the Archmage's post on dog breeds, and designed to run with my basic system for combat and overland movement. I wanted to set up a system for animal ownership that reflected the same ideas of simplified accuracy, and gave each animal breed a bit of personality.

Animals

A variety of domesticated animals are available to assist the intrepid adventurer, merchant, or soldier. Mainstays are equines, dogs, and falcons. Animal prices are expressed in silvers per HP – healthier and tougher animals, of course, being worth more. Most animals consume animal rations, which weigh 1 stone and cost 1 silver piece, but dogs and falcons can both eat human iron rations.

All animals gain a +2 morale bonus when their master is present. A new master must be designated by spending a full month with the animal. Additionally, animals have their own reaction rolls toward NPCs, and must pass a Morale check to avoid attacking or fleeing on a 2, or in order to attack on a 12. They gain XP as normal and level up with the noted effects. Leveling also doubles their value. Animals must pass a Morale check to do anything other than fight or move with their master, with a -1 penalty applied for each word after the first.

Animal base saves are all 16 by default, though their base Might save increases by 1 for every 10 hit points they have. They cannot normally improve their saves.

Most animals have marching speeds equal to humans, but begin Forced Marches on their second march, rather than their third. Horses have marching speeds of 24/18/8 miles per Watch. Animals can be pastured for a full Watch, which in favorable environments fills 1/3 of their upkeep needs.

Equines

Horses are usually sold at 4 years, and begin aging at 20 years, penalized every two years. Mules and donkeys begin aging at 30 years, penalized every three years. Failed saves reduce HP by 2, encumbrance by 1, and running/sprinting speed by 2’. Horses can jump 4’ obstacles with a Will save, -1 per 6” of extra height. Failure means a 50/50 chance of shying away (with the rider passing a STR check or falling off) or crashing into the obstacle, inflicting 1d10 damage on both horse and rider. 

DRAFT HORSE
Phlegmatic, thickset horses for plowing or milling.
Price (per HP): 20sp
HP: 5d6
Encumbrance: 8/16/32 stone
Attack: 1@1d8
Defense: 8, Large Size
Morale: 6
March Speed: 4/8/12
Run Speed: 60’
Special: -
Upkeep: 3 animal rations, 15 water rations

ROUNCEY
A basic light riding horse or warhorse.
Price (per HP): 20sp
HP: 5d6
Encumbrance: 7/13/26 stone
Attack: 1@1d8
Defense: 10, Large Size
Morale: 7
March Speed: 8/16/24
Run Speed: 70’
Special: -
Upkeep: 2 animal rations, 15 water rations

PALFREY
Comfortable, easy-to-control riding horses.
Price (per HP): 20sp
HP: 5d6
Encumbrance: 7/13/26 stone
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 8, Large Size
Morale: 4
March Speed: 7/13/26
Run Speed: 60’
Special: All mastering & training only takes 1 month
Upkeep: 2 animal rations, 15 water rations

CHARGER
Fast cavalry horses, the most common type in war.
Price (per HP): 30sp
HP: 5d6
Encumbrance: 8/16/32 stone
Attack: 1@1d10
Defense: 14, Large Size
Morale: 8
March Speed: 8/16/24
Run Speed: 70’
Special: -
Upkeep: 3 animal rations, 20 water rations

JENNET
A small, quick desert horse, with low upkeep.
Price (per HP): 30sp
HP: 5d6
Encumbrance: 7/13/26 stone
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 14, Large Size
Morale: 8
March Speed: 8/16/32
Run Speed: 80’
Special: -
Upkeep: 2 animal rations, 12 water rations

DESTRIER
Heavy, highly prized battle horses.
Price (per HP): 90sp
HP: 6d6
Encumbrance: 8/16/32 stone
Attack: 1@1d10, 1@1d6
Defense: 14, Large Size
Morale: 8
March Speed: 4/8/12
Run Speed: 70’
Special: -
Upkeep: 3 animal rations, 20 water rations

MULE
A mix between a horse and a donkey.
Price (per HP): 15sp
HP: 4d6
Encumbrance: 8/15/30 stone
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 10, Large Size
Morale: 7
March Speed: 4/8/12
Run Speed: 60’
Upkeep: 1 animal ration, 12 water rations

DONKEY
Light, clever pack animals.
Price (per HP): 10sp
HP: 4d6
Encumbrance: 4/8/16 stone
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: D10
Morale: 5
March Speed: 4/8/12
Run Speed: 70’
Upkeep: ½ animal ration, 8 water rations

Birds

Birds are sold at 2 years, and begin aging at 10 years. Failed saves reduce HP and Attack Bonus by 1. Birds fly and soar instead of sprinting and running, respectively, and must fly before soaring. They all have encumbrance of 1. Leveled birds increase their defenses and attack bonus by 1, and their fly speed by 4’.

FALCON
Price (per HP): 10sp
HP: 1d6
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: D15, Ranged 18
Morale: 6
Fly Speed: 150’
Upkeep: 1 meat ration, 1 water ration
Special: +4 attack bonus while diving

RAVEN
Price (per HP): 10sp
HP: 1d4
Attack: 1@1d4
Defense: D15, Ranged 22
Morale: 6
Fly Speed: 150’
Upkeep: -
Special: Small size, +2 Will & Wile saves

Dogs

Dogs Run and Sprint at 50’ rather than 40’, and have Swimming at 30’.  All have upkeep of 1 meat and 1 water ration, and encumbrance of 3 stone (though objects weigh triple for them). Dogs with 2d6 HP weigh 8 stone, and with 2d4 HP, 4 stone. Dogs are usually purchased at 2 years old, and must begin making Will saves against the effects of aging at 10 years, penalized each passing year. Failed saves reduce HP by 1, and running/sprinting speed by 2’.

GUARD DOG
Mastiffs, Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepards, & Bulldogs.
Big, strong, relatively intelligent.
Price (per HP): 4sp
HP: 2d6
Attack: 1@1d8, +1 bonus
Defense: 12
Morale: 7
Special: +1 encumbrance
Leveling: +1 HP, Might, AB, & Melee Defense

SHEEPDOG
Collies, Shepards, even Corgis and Dalmatians. Smaller, faster, smarter. Independent.
Price (per HP): 3sp
HP: 2d4
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 12, Missile 13
Morale: 7
Special: Wile save vs. Surprise
Leveling: +1 HP, Run speed, Wile

BIRD DOG
Setters, pointers, retrievers, even early poodles. Loyal, energetic, but disciplined.
Price (per HP): 4sp
HP: 2d4
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 13
Morale: 7
Special: Swimming 60’
Leveling: +30’ Swimming, +1 HP, Morale

HOUND
Hunting and tracking dog, for flushing out game. Best sense of smell.
Price (per HP): 4sp
HP: 2d6
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 12
Morale: 7
Special: Examination, per the skill
Leveling: +1 HP, AB, Examination

GREYHOUND
Includes Whippets and other racing/sight hunting dogs.
Price (per HP): 5sp
HP: 2d6
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 13
Morale: 7
Special: Run/Sprint 60’
Leveling: +1 HP, AB, & +2’ Run Speed

TERRIER
Small but stubborn. Vermin hunters.
Price (per HP): 3sp
HP: 2d4
Attack: 1@1d6
Defense: 12, Missile 13, Light Armor
Morale: 7
Leveling: +1 HP, Melee Defense, Attack Bonus

LAPDOG
Luxury, toy dogs for rich people.
Price (per HP): 5gp
HP: 1d4
Attack: 1@1
Defense: 12
Morale: 7
Special: Very fancy, weigh 1 stone
Leveling: +1 HP & triple value

Gravity, and Disaster Gameplay



Gravity is, in the words of Zak S, good and shit. It's an amazing disaster movie, that squeezes everything out of its setting. The dangers are so confoundingly simple, (the principles of momentum, and the clockwork orbits of the debris field, for example) and so much more dangerous because of it. Alfonso Cuaron's signature long takes (probably eased by the fact that 90% of the film is insanely photorealistic CGI) draw you directly into the action. The subtext is also hauntingly profound - the characters are utterly powerless, despite commanding what is arguably mankind's most powerful tools, and the images of disintegrating space hardware, and a drifting, derelict Space Shuttle were especially evocative. And it was excellent to see a female lead who really succeeds on her own terms. Also, everything from here on out will be SPOILERS if you haven't seen the film.

So of course we want to figure out how to put this stuff in the game.

Obviously not directly (though I do sometimes run Eclipse Phase) but thematically. Disasters, and the struggle to survive them, crops up a ton in fiction, and can be just as exciting (or more, in Gravity's case) than combat. Arguably, some forms of combat (like battling a titan) have more in common with surviving a disaster than swinging a sword. Of more immediate interest, to me, is the possibility of inflicting monsoons and tsunamis on hapless river travelers in Qelong.

So what do we do?

Surviving a disaster, as opposed to just weathering it, is a complex process dependent on both physical and intellectual skills, as well as the more esoteric quality of grit. Disasters are differentiated from simply difficult conditions by the fact that they represent an existential threat to the character, rather than simply some difficulty or penalty. In this way, they are like combat - if nothing is done, the ork will kill you, just like that oncoming avalanche will.

Luckily, ability scores already suggest a system for handling disaster. Wisdom and Intelligence speak to a character's ability to accurately perceive a situation, and plan or improvise from there, respectively. Strength and Dexterity speak to a character's capacity for manipulating objects. Constitution represents the physical endurance needed to withstand trauma. I have always interpreted Charisma to be much more about self-control and emotional intentionality than physical beauty, and under this interpretation is easily read as a character's mental endurance.

The basic mechanic would be "endurance" style checks, which isn't my idea, but rather something I picked up from somewhere I can't remember along the blogosphere. The idea is, each round that your character faces a hazard, you roll 1d6. You do that the next round, too, if you're still facing the hazard, adding it to the total of all the previous rounds, and so on and so forth. So if I have STR 10, and I'm holding up a portcullis from closing, I can do that for as long as my total is under 10 - and if I roll a 1, a 6, and a 4, I drop it at the end of the third round.

Much hay can also be made of the amount you end up exceeding your ability score by (though, not every roll requires this). The third roll in that example put the total 1 higher than my STR score - so that could mean, either 1 HP of damage as the portcullis slams down on me, or perhaps 1 round of being stunned for the same reason. Reset the counter whenever this happens.

The "endurance" mechanic is really well suited to disaster gameplay because it emphasizes the idea that a disaster is about managing hazards, rather than avoiding them - your characters WILL take damage or lose other things, and it's just a question of how much they lose.

So, using a Gravity example, Dr. Stone has to roll a d6 every round she's clambering outside of a space station, and once the total exceeds her STR score, she has to rest for a number of rounds equal to the difference. Every time she navigates between orbital points, she rolls a d6 - once that total exceeds her INT, she's spent too much time calculating, or she's moved too slowly, and now the debris field hits. Running out of oxygen? Dr. Stone can stave off panic as long as her endurance total is below her CHA. Once she's out of luck there, she starts a new endurance track, this time rolling against CON - and once she exceeds it, she passes out for a number of rounds equal to the difference.

For a more D&D-style example, we can use a party sailing along the Qelong river during a storm. The steersman will navigate into a rock or other minor obstacle each time he fails an endurance roll against WIS - and the difference counts as damage to the ship. The fighter can keep bailing water until she fails an endurance roll vs STR, and then must rest out the difference. The thief can lash down loose cargo until she runs out of DEX - and each failure means something else has been swept into the waters.. And each time a deckhand goes overboard, everyone adds to their CHA counter - failure means you're paralyzed by grief or despair. The system is pretty versatile - maybe you're channeling magic to close an alien demon gate, which requires rolls against WIS - and each time you fail, something breaks free and the rest of the party has to go deal with it.

Basically, the party survives for as long as they can manage the little losses that are bound to happen. Plan poorly, and these small failures add up and eventually the party is left without the tools and strength to face down the next challenge - plan well, and emerge scarred but unbowed.

Vornlong, The Complete City Kit

Qampong - the player character's embark point in Qelong is one of the smaller entries in the book (and rightly so, considering what the interior of the river valley contains). Swollen by refugees and foreign opportunists, it's now a misshapen port city at the mouth of a dying land. Because Qelong is intended for levels 4-7, and I'm using it as a campaign kickoff, I've decided I'm going to flesh Qampong out a bit, enough to provide fleeting interest for the rookie party. Part of the strength of Qelong as written, though, is that the concision of its entry for Qampong really prevents players from getting bogged down in the city - it forces you out, and into the interior.

So, nothing too detailed. The impression I get of Qampong is that it's dangerous and ungovernable - the book frequently mentions the anonymous 'warlords' endemic to the River Valley, but perhaps none rules here. Perhaps the influx of refugees and war profiteers has rendered the city ungovernable. Somewhat like Vornheim, except due to anarchy, rather than sprawl.

Most of Qampong - which has doubled in size as refugees have flooded in - is now rotting slum. Mapping is fruitless, as the alleys are constantly reshaped by fires, collapses, and new arrivals. The population is poor, famished, angry, and mostly male. There are 12 informal slum gangs, named for the signs of the Zodiac, though this is the only constant among their fluctuating membership and territory.   Any slum-dwelling contact the players make has a 1 in 20 chance of simply disappearing each week.

There are only two districts worth mentioning - the Seaside, which is where the merchants' Factory is and where the boats are kept, and the Hilltop, which once held the wealthiest households, and whose ruined husks now shelter the most bloodthirsty and powerful gang (roll a d12). Behind the hill is an aboveground cemetery. Both districts are actually kept relatively clear of typhus and plague, and are the only stable places where "establishments" of any sort can be found.

Every hour the players spend in the slums has a 1 in 6 chance of an encounter. And it takes at least an hour to get anywhere in the slums (including out of the city.) 1d20.

1. Desolate alley. Person lies apparently injured in street. Actually in league with the 1d6 cannibals waiting in the shadows.

2-3. Desolate alley. 2d4 dholes gnaw on something in a doorway.

4. Desolate alley. Person lies injured in street (d6 - 1-3 member of random gang 4-5 foreigner 6 - adventurer, level d4). Good chance of recovering unassisted, but will remember the players and how they treated her.

5. Crowd, minding its own business. Except for the pickpocket (Thief 1d4). Party will notice any theft, it's just a matter of before or after. Roll 1d20 for possible gang affiliation, results higher than 12 indicate no affiliation.

6. 2d6 members of a random gang (Fighter 1) stumble around drunk and looking for a fight.

7-8. Seasonal weather - intense heat doubles the effective weight of worn armor, or driving rain halves visibility and modifies balance and missile fire by -4.

9. Monsoon. If rolled on the first or last day of any month, it also carries fish or frogs. Chance of doing 1HP damage on hit, and slums will go crazy trying to gather the fallen food.

10-11. Street fight or drunken brawl between (roll 1d6 twice) - 1-2 members of random gang 3 foreign guardsmen 4 cannibals 5 strange beast 6 unarmed, helpless refugees. 

12-13. Abandoned shack (roll on table)

14. Lunatic standing on rooftop harangues small crowd about the evilness of dwarves and one other random rumor.

15. Aakom-cursed woman holding aakom-cursed baby. Tries to press baby into the arms of most charismatic adventurer.

16. Foreign guardsmen conducting deals with members of a random gang. Roll reaction with 2d4. 

17. Members of two random gangs conducting deals with each other. Roll each reaction with 2d4. 

18. Elephant experiencing musth. Morale 12. Everyone else flees. Owned by most powerful gang.

19. Guardsmen searching for waylaid shipment of cardamom or pepper. Will suspect or press-gang anyone well armed.

20. Shifty foreign merchant offers to sell the party "a great treasure" for only 200 sp. Wants 100 sp just to let them see it.

It is (1d6):

  1-A boarded-up shack (roll on table). The merchant slips away at first opportunity.

  2-A cannon with 8 granite cannonballs. No carriage, no powder.

  3-A jar of Hagen's fake anti-aakom tincture

  4-A jar of Hagen's real anti-aakom tincture

  5-A hidden group of 2d6 cannibals. The merchant slips away after they attack.

  6-A dozen jars of cardamom or pepper. False bottoms conceal aakom-laced livers soaked in wine.

What's in that boarded-up shack? (Roll a d8)

1. A pair of aakom zombie hands.

2. A pair of aakom zombie hands, and 2d100 sp buried in the floor.

3. A massive pile of shit. No joke. There are some holes in the ceiling people use to relieve themselves. 50% chance of typhus infection.

4. Nothing but a single word scratched into one wall: "Leave"

5. A pile of bones. An araq demands you bring them to the cemetary. 

6. A child's skull with the top sawn off. Filled with dozens of teeth. Eight gold coins placed in a circle around it. If anything is disturbed, a qmoc praj will emerge from this spot in three days and hunt down the desecrator.

7. A solid gold pendant in the shape of the lotus. Renders the wearer invisible to undead, but any monk will attack on sight.

8. The shack is bedecked in the worship livery of the Naga Qelong. The family of 1d4 cultists have become hungry nagakin in the weeks since they were trapped here.

 

EDIT: Two things I forgot to add.

For the most part, the "What's in that dead guy's pockets?" table is not going to apply here, since most people have very little in their pockets and even less in their bellies. The exceptions:

• Gang members have daggers and 1d20 copper pieces each. Every fourth or fifth has a mace or sword.
• Foreign guardsmen are the mercenaries defending the Factory and escorting most merchants through the city. They have leather armor, a dagger, a sword, and a light crossbow. 20 are stationed at the Factory at all times. They carry no coin, as there is nothing for them to buy.

The Sajavedran Calendar

Click to embiggen. 

I'm preparing to run a Qelong campaign - if you don't know, it's a horrific Southeast Asia setting being poisoned by a misfired magic bomb - and so I'm putting the ol' tools to work.

Here is my Qelong calendar. I based the months off of the Khmer lunar calendar, with Qelong-style syllable replacements. There are ten months for the reasons explained in this post - but in short, it's easier to not have to remember different numbers of days for different months. The yellow is, of course, the dry season, and the green is wet - changing around what would be November and April. Meqasay is the "new year."

Basically, use it to keep track of major events, past and future. At least three of the four factions in Qelong are actively attempting to increase their power, and while you can certainly have that be a foggy, unresolved background, having them dynamically clash and maneuver is, I think, much more interesting. With the calendar, you can simply jot down future clashes and some notes on them, for the party to interfere with (or ignore.)

As for the year itself, the Khmer calendar marks years with zodiac signs in the way the Chinese calendar does, but also respects a multi-year cycle, where each animal also advances in number - resetting every 60 years.

For Qelong, I decided to modify the cycle so that each decade is marked by a single zodiac sign, creating a 120-year cycle. However, changing to the next sign is usually accompanied by some sort of portent, determining the mood of the next few years, and the lack of portents can sometimes extend the "decade" well past its normal expiration date. Therefore, the dying land of Sajavedra is still in the Years of the Dog - with no end in sight.

To reflect this, add two rumors to the rumor table - they can be included normally, or you can use them in lieu of the first two duplicate rolls.

The Mage War began in the Years of the Rooster, and it will end in the Years of the Pig. After that, we'll face the long Years of the Rat...
The sign of the zodiac usually changes every ten years. But we've seen twelve Years of the Dog, and I hear there will be many more...

Descriptive Skills

Skills in action?

To my mind, the regular kind of numeral skills are needlessly dissociated and kind of confusing. Usually, they need some sort of second-order transformation in order to be useful - so, "Climb 5" becomes "Can climb 30 feet in under a minute 75% of the time" or else "Can climb any wall any distance 83% of the time."

Instead, I'd like to notate skill levels in ways that are inherently meaningful. Here, I'm drawing from Alexis' writing about thief skills that don't suck, and Charles Angus' writing about descriptive damage.



Movement Skills

The movement skills have a base time frame of one minute - your "score" is the number of feet you can move per minute. The first minute is always successful, but every minute after that requires you to check against the linked ability score. All movement skills divide their speeds by the DR of any worn armor. (So, no penalty for leather, half speed for chain, quarter speed for plate.) You can "sprint" with any of these, moving at double speed but taking 1d4 extra stones of fatigue each time.

Climb (STR) - Climbing skill advances in intervals of ten feet. Each successful check, after the first, adds an extra stone's weight in fatigue. Failure means falling, but you can make Might checks (-1 penalty per failure, cumulative) to try to catch yourself every ten feet, until you've fallen farther than your Climbing skill.
So, if you have Climb 30', you can climb 30' free, 90' with two checks, and you get three chances to stop yourself if you fall. Falling damage is 1d10 per 10 feet, to a max of 10d10.

Swim (CON) - Swimming skill advances in intervals of thirty feet. Each successful check, after the first, adds an extra stone's weight in fatigue (and remember that waterlogged fabric can double or triple in weight). Failure means you begin to drown - roll Will checks every minute. Once you fail, you lose 1d4 INT, WIS, and CHA per minute until rescue or death. Diving uses the same mechanics, but the diving interval is 1/3 of your swimming interval, and you have to get back up!

Stalking (DEX) - Hiding, I think, is better implemented as direct player interaction with the environment and any NPCs searching for people.  Stalking is the active element - how far you can move between "hides" without drawing attention to yourself. It's judged more as a defense against being heard, or noticed out of the corner of the NPC's eye - there's no such thing as "stalking" someone by walking directly towards them in their field of vision. Stalking is like being a Weeping Angel - you can only move when they can't see you.

So: intervals of twenty feet. Stalking accrues no penalties for extended time - but the first check isn't automatically successful, and you can't "sprint." Failure doesn't immediately mean detection - rather, it means you've snapped a twig, knocked down a glass, stepped on a weak floorboard, etc. The results are, of course, dependent on the situation. Snapping a twig 100' away from a sentry might not necessarily draw any attention, but doing the same thing from 10' away will certainly get you caught. Wile saves are used to duck into cover if a guard suddenly turns around, or for simple distractions (the old rock throw, etc.)

Non-Movement Skills

The other skills are given a direct time frame, which is the time needed for automatic success. You can try to complete at half-time, rolling against the linked ability score. Each additional halving applies a -5 penalty.

Tinkering (INT) - Tinkering starts at 6 turns, and reduces by 1 turn each "skill level," until it takes 1 turn. Then it reduces by 1 minute, then by the round, etc. Therefore, three Spies of levels 6, 8, and 17, will automatically pick a lock in 1 turn, 7 minutes, and 8 rounds, respectively. If you fail the INT roll when rushing, you jam the lock.
For trapped locks, detecting and disarming the trap is its own separate task and they'll automatically activate if you don't try to find it first, but you get a Wile save to dodge its activation, in addition to the Might save to resist its poison. Failing a rushed trap detection activates the trap.

Tracking (WIS) - Tracking starts at 6 turns, reducing by the turn, then by the minute, then by the round. This is the time it takes to get a pretty good look at a patch of ground - say, 20' square, or 400' in a line (like, along a fence.). You have to re-check the track every four hours, or if it's disrupted by something like a stream, or a fallen tree, or mud. Tracks remain for about a week, by default, but again that's modified by the specifics of the situation. For things half the size of a man, you have to re-check twice as often, half that is twice as often again, etc. For things larger, the time multiplies in the opposite direction - tracking a bear means you re-check every eight hours, twice that is sixteen hours. If you rush it, and you fail, well, obviously you didn't find any traps.

Procurement (CHA) - Procurement is the process of locating things. Things like henchman recruits, uncommon items, or even information - such as rumors and gossip. Procurement doesn't include the purchase itself - though information can sometimes be had for free, or for just a few too many coppers for mead - it only covers the process of finding it. And, of course, it doesn't allow you to find things that aren't there.

Procurement starts at 56 hours - or one whole week, assuming 8 hours of work per day, and a population of about 1,000-3,000 people. Decrease the time proportionally for smaller towns, but for larger cities, the work only covers a single neighborhood. This decreases by four hours per "skill level." If you rush it, and fail, you create a bit of bad blood in town - by stepping on some toes, ignoring some customs, or going to the "wrong people." Obviously, town politics are pretty situational, but "three strikes" is probably a pretty good rule of thumb.

To determine what specialized/rare items are available, you can't go wrong with the vendor saving throw - applying, say, a -2 for items with triple-digit costs, -4 for items with quadruple-digits, and assuming anything more expensive is not going to be hanging out in some pawnshop. A successful Procurement tells you everything that's there and what it costs.

For hirelings, assuming a town of 1,000, you'll find 1d4 capable mercenaries (or other professionals) are found, and 4d6 base laborers. -1 mercenary and -4 laborers each time you halve the town size. So, a village of 250 people has 1d4-2 mercenaries and 4d6-8 laborers. Yes, there can be zero hirelings.
Rumors and secrets have to be Procured by subject, if you want anything more specific than the gossip spouted by every drunkard. Obviously, not all secrets are so easily found - since Procurement involves nothing more than asking around, crawling the pubs, and being generally alert, it will never discover information guarded with any amount of competence. The best you can get in these cases are tips to where the information might be found.

Yes, exactly, a plot hook.

Notes

A lot of other skills don't make it in - for the most part, because I think those can best be resolved with simple ability checks and some planning. Sleight of Hand counts for this (and has the added bonus of preventing people from looking at their sheet, seeing "Pickpocketing" and going $$__$$). Hunting is basically Tracking that leads to an encounter (or, like modern duck hunting, sitting on your ass until an encounter finds you).

I moved Tinkering from DEX to INT in order to support different "styles" of thievery, and because picking a lock is to my mind much more about thinking about the manner in which the lock is constructed, and how to circumvent its elements, than simply sticking your pick in the right spot.

Mass Combat

So, predictably, I got sidetracked. Currently, I'm working out a system for determining politics inside-out and backwards (literally - I want to figure out how to realistically model power structures but still be able to improvise new ones in play). Of course, as Clausewitz points out, the necessary corollary to politics is war.

The biggest hurdle I see in mass combat is that it presents as, basically, a completely different game. You trade the creature-to-creature brutality of regular fighting for the clinical precision of a battlemap, and you learn new things like facing, movement rates, morale, and discipline. D&D is a first-person game, and you want to retain the ability to slide into your character's head, dump the cowardly peasant battle line, and kill that giant like you know you can. But that doesn't comport with normal mass combat rules.

It doesn't help that clinical precision is itself ahistorical, and also prevents some of the more interesting battle scenarios that tended to happen. In real battles, confused and exhausted soldiers mistook returning scouts for whole new armies, or misinterpreted enemy reinforcements as friendly units, or impulsively charged directly into obvious traps. Nothing like carefully adjudicating facing, distance, and range. Also, nothing like the tedium of tracking precise casualties at each step of the battle. Again, real battles were decided primarily by breaking the enemy's ranks or minds, not physically destroying every opposing combatant. The latter role is, of course, where cavalry actually excelled - as any close-packed infantry line could repulse a cavalry charge, spears or no, so long as it didn't break and flee.

Luckily, real-world generals tended to fight battles in a manner similar to how a D&D player would ideally wish to do the same. They commanded their units ad-hoc, in between leading a charge and forgoing a command perspective in order to get to grips with the enemy. The information they could process was limited and fairly general - and so a mass combat system should be the same.There's no real need to track the precise location of a multitude of different units when historical commanders worried only about the left, flank, the right flank, and the center.

Furthermore, the mass combat system should, as much as possible, stick to the mechanics and statistics used in the basic game. What do we really need to know about our units - and, more importantly, how can we transmit this information along the channels players are already familiar with?

Strength: In my game, I've done away with splitting the melee and ranged AB's, so Strength translates directly to how hard you can hit. So, it means the same for a whole armed unit.

Constitution: Again, in my game, Constitution provides bonuses both hit point gain and the Will save. The latter is more important for a unit - since the intent of battle is to induce the opposing force to rout, Constitution indicates resistance to routing. The unit's discipline is its staying power on the battlefield, just as constitution is the same for the individual.

Dexterity: Dexterity connotes tactile adaptability and the fine manipulation of parts. It also means a defensive bonus in any D&D style game. In battle, the unit's formation determines its resistance to damage, and ability to change formations rapidly reduces the opportunity for catching it off-guard. A dexterous formation presents its toughest face against any attack - much like a dexterous hero taking blows on the hardest parts of her armor. In my system, Dexterity also relates to how many actions you can complete per combat round. Therefore, Dexterity means both defense and mobility, as it does for the normal combat system.

Defense: I replaced AC with "defense" in my own system, modelling armor as damage reduction. It's the same thing here.

Morale: This is the first "independent" stat. It's directly affected by Charisma, and similar to the idea of morale for monsters and henchmen, but I want it to behave differently in battle. The main objective of mass combat is wearing down enemy morale so they'll break and stay broken, rather than enacting a disciplined withdrawal. A unit's morale score thus modifies the results of failed Constitution checks, and is tracked per flank, rather than per unit.

Stamina: In my game, fatigue is treated as additional encumbrance. Since encumbrance is a non-issue in battle (you drop everything at the start, then you either win and everything's safe or you lose and nobody drags along massive bags of gold while being pursued by a bloodthirsty army) it has to be treated substantially differently in mass combat. The difference, and the fact that "higher Fatigue" sounds bad but is good, means I'll call it Stamina. Stamina scores modify a unit's Strength and Dexterity.

And that's basically it. Everything else can basically be added as special rules - cavalry units get the special ability to rapidly redeploy between flanks, heavy armor is a modifer to Dexterity that increases damage resistance but reduces mobility, ranged attacks are given a "near" range and a "far" range, with separate Strengths for each.

Units attack by rolling a d20, adding their Strength modifier, trying to beat enemy Defense. Damage is not directly tracked - at least not now. A hit instead reduces Stamina by one. A critical hit means an officer is killed or ferocious warriors scythe through some significant portion of the enemy line. Reduce Stamina by one and make a Constitution check.

The CON check is 1d20 roll-under. If you fail, roll 2d6 and apply morale modifiers:

2: Destroyed. Deprived of discipline, a significant portion of the unit is destroyed and the rest flee for safety or are simply absorbed by neighboring units. 

3-5: Broken. The unit's will to fight leaves them and they immediately attempt to disengage and leave the battlefield. Move the unit to Reserves and reduce its Stamina by 1d4. Next turn, roll another CON check - if successful, it rallies as a combat unit, and if failed, it leaves the battlefield entirely.

6-8: Retreating. The unit pulls itself out of the battle line and moves to Reserves. Reduce Stamina by 1d4. The unit may return to the front line next turn as normal.

9-11: Shaken. Through hard fighting, the unit manages to reform, though it is now disorganized and exhausted. Reduce Stamina by 1d4. The unit will automatically fail any CON checks it is forced to make next turn. 

12: Counterattack - The unit fights back with such ferocity that it turns the tables! Reduce both units' Stamina by 1d4. 

Whenever a unit is forced out of the battle line, any adjacent units must also roll CON checks, in order to close the gap that is created. Passed checks, obviously, close the gap, while failed ones roll on the above table. Shaken results close the gap, while Counterattacks close it at the cost of 1 stamina, inflicting nothing upon the enemy. 

Tactically withdrawing units also requires CON checks for adjacent units according to the above procedure. The withdrawing unit itself is placed directly into reserves, no rolls required. 

Gaps allow your opponent to commit reserves to gang up on your units. Each unit absent from the line allows two enemy units to enter the gap and roll extra attacks on your units, starting with those on the immediate edges of the gap. Units exploiting holes in the line roll criticals on a 19-20.

You can close gaps by committing extra reserves to engage the excess enemy units, or by opening gaps in the enemy battle line. If you can open two gaps, and engage most of the units in between, you've isolated that segment of the enemy army - your forces can continue ganging up on them even if the enemy plugs the line. They have to be rescued.

Each turn, any flank that has a unit which has failed a CON check must make a 1d20 roll-under Morale check. Pass, and no effect. Fail, reduce Morale by one. Every time an enemy unit is Broken or Annihilated, roll another Morale check - add 1 Morale if passed.

I'm still working on exact rules for positioning, forming up, etc. but the principles are here. Most of the stats are ability-score style, with modifiers. Therefore, the average flank might start with a Morale of 12,  providing no bonuses or penalties. But if four morale checks are failed, and you're knocked back to Morale 8, then the retreats table lurches towards the "annihilated" end. Similarly, a fresh, well-trained unit might have STR 13 and 13 Stamina, which gives a +2 to attack bonuses. Lose 5 Stamina to hard fighting and it's +0. Yes, the Stamina rules mean that armed units have a practically unlimited capacity to slaughter helpless innocents.

The idea is you want to be able to run the battle in the background and give it its own personality. For the most part, it'll be a pretty inconclusive slog, where you slowwly wear down your enemy with little to show. But now and then something interesting happens - with the potential to create devastating cascade effects. Do you commit now? Or do you wait, knowing how dangerous it is to withdraw units?

Of course, the PC's can always dive in and create criticals - assassinating officers, or killing a lot of soldiers. The latter really does have to be a lot - units are considered to be 1,000 men, so you need to get them all to notice for it to count.

Putting NPC Polities into the Toolbox

I think the most important thing is to remember the Magic Number 7, and not have more than 7 things in front of you at once. Since political groups operate in the same way as World NPCs will, they compete with those for the 7 slots of global movers and shakers you can comfortably juggle at a time.

Luckily, for the most part, a World NPC will be aligned or associated with a given political entity, and can be part of the polity's entry. Only extremely charismatic, powerful, or manipulative individuals can be expect to be a global force entirely their own - others, even those having significant disagreements with the polity they participate in, will still be significantly constrained by the preferences of the polity, and should be considered within it, rather than apart from it.

The other type of World NPC that can get away with one of the 7 spots on the front page of your campaign journal is an individual with an absolutely loyal following, or crazy enough to not even go around with much of a following. Generally, these will be necromancers with armies of undead, iron-fisted cult leaders with fewer, but crazier followers, (larger cults with more than one power base will actually behave as normal polities), and lone wacko heroes like Hercules, Arjuna, or the PCs.

Honestly, for the most part, most World NPCs can be replaced by NPC polities. Instead of "King Hendrik of Lyceum," just use "Lyceum." The 7 great powers in your region will be the 7 polities you generate, unless there are 1 or 2 crazy individuals out there who can either compete on their own or are sufficiently unhinged that they can generate their own gravity on the world equal to that of a kingdom.

So, it's time for a few definitions. We want this system to be easy to port into different power levels, and easy to remember - therefore, use fractal design. Up to 7 kingdoms in your continent, each with up to 7 major internal players, each of which has up to 7 of its own major entities.

From here on out, a domain is the "setting level" at which there are up to 7 actors, which are entities both able and willing to meaningfully change the state of a given domain. A domain can be a multiverse, a continent, a kingdom, a city, a region, or even a single hamlet. An actor can be a race, a religion, a kingdom, a political party, a guild, a mercenary band, a cult, a posse, or a family.

(An actor can also be a single individual, but for the most part they will simply be subunits of other actors. Historically, even a king could never rule on his own - he needed the support of a complex network of noble, merchant, and military backers. And this network, of course, would never be completely unified - if necessary, it could be considered a domain all its own. Anyway, if you want, put in individuals as actors rather than subunits of traditional actors whenever you want to, and ignore these rules completely whenever you do so. Unless the individual in question has seven personalities.)

Therefore, each domain has up to 7 actors, each of which is their own domain, with up to 7 smaller actors, which are also domains, and so forth. Each actor uses the the stats described in my previous post:

• Strength: Isolation versus interventionism. 
• Constitution: Pacifism versus militarism. 
• Dexterity: Stasis vs. change.
• Intelligence: Social memory.
• Wisdom: Elitism versus populism.
• Charisma: Xenophobia vs cosmopolitanism.

I suggest beginning with the domain that is one higher than what the PC's will begin acting on. Perhaps more - it is easier to improvise downwards than upwards, since a strange new town they've never heard of before is accepted more easily than the appearance of a strange new empire just a few miles away. Generating this "top-level domain" is the simplest - choose the number of actors you want, roll their stats in order, then write the name, a 1-2 sentence description, and any other notes - important NPCs, controlled subunits and regions, etc. I made a summary sheet with all this inputted. Write down both the stats and the stat bonuses - the latter are important when moving downwards to a lower domain.

For example, the Kingdom of Lyceum is, from the PC's position, the most important entity in my Veil setting. The domain is functionally the World - the "Old Continent" of Estia, and the "New Continent" of Adrastia. There are two other actors on this domain - the Polikan Empire and the Safarran League - but I'll just do Lyceum for now:

STR: 9 (0)

CON: 10 (0)

DEX: 14 (+1)

INT: 8 (-1)

WIS: 8 (-1)

CHA: 12 (0)

As you can see, not particularly extreme in any area, but it is favorably disposed to social change, isn't rooted much in the past, and favors elite rule. I re-rolled the lowest die for STR and CHA, because I already have Lyceum funding exploration and colonization of a New Continent, and that wouldn't jive with scores of 7 and 5 on each of those. However, I do like that neither of those stats is particularly high - perhaps the kingdom is only exploring out of necessity? Or excitement has waned?

Of course, each actor is its own domain, so do this again for each actor. The exact manner in which you execute the next step depends on what the original actor is - most importantly on its centralization. A loosely organized religion might have its internal actors represent different schools of thought, while a rigid cult would have its internal actors representing different direct units. Political actors - such as states or empires - would have a mix of independent internal actors, such as different political parties or social groups, and subordinate ones, like militaries, tax agencies, et cetera.

Importantly, you apply the main actor's stat modifiers to the stats of every smaller actor under its direct control. Sometimes this is done crosswise - if a major actor within a kingdom is an independence movement controlled by a rival kingdom, apply the rival kingdom's stat modifiers. 

Continuing within Lyceum, one of the most important organizations in the Kingdom is the Black Chamber. It began as a cryptographic office and expanded to become a hybrid of magical and philosophical research unit, witch hunter, and spy ring. As its purview has grown, so has its power, and its secrets - both mundane and mystical - shape the entire kingdom's future.

STR: 13 (+1)

CON: 11 (0)

DEX: 9+1= 10 (+0)

INT: 10-1= 9 (-0)

WIS: 8-1=7 (-1)

CHA: 14 (+1)

So, the Black Chamber is fairly interventionist, still fairly elitist, but pretty cosmopolitan. That last might sound strange for a spy group, but remember it's equal parts mage, alchemist, and assassin. Lyceum's stats modified DEX, INT, and WIS to a small degree. Again, record the stat modifiers so they can be applied to any smaller actors the Black Chamber controls. 

Continuing on, Lyceum is a trading state, and thus Lycian merchants are socially and economically powerful, even if their political power is curtailed by the proliferation of trading guilds and shipping companies. 

STR: 11 (0)

CON: 9 (0)

DEX: 8 (-1)

INT: 10 (0)

WIS: 8 (-1)

CHA: 16 (+2)

The merchants are, of course, not under the crown's direct control. They're mildly interventionist, with a mild aversion to fighting, and are actually fairly inflexible and elitist. They're extremely cosmopolitan - I actually fudged this roll, since the first would have given me xenophobic traders - not a contradiction I'm willing to work with at this point. Inflexibility and elitism might seem counterintuitive to some, but this can easily happen if trading is conducted by smaller, entrenched family monopolies, rather than independent explorers.

From here, you can continue on down the line as far as you like. I wouldn't fully generate every actor at every domain level - keeping in mind that its easier to generate downwards rather than upwards, I'd fully generate every actor at the domain the players are starting in and the one immediately above it, and then partially generate one or two lower domains the players will likely come into contact with.

Partial generation involves rolling only the stats that players are likely to hear about from other actors - Charisma and one other stat (probably Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom). Partially generating like this greatly reduces the generation time, and provides enough information to allow incomplete actors to interact with the players from afar, buying you time to roll the other four stats.

The next post, I'll write up how to account for influences - religions, regions, social strata, and changes in command.

Polities as NPCs

The next awesome tool in LS's Campaign Toolbox is the list of World NPCs, basically the few really important people whose actions and goals cause great changes in the nature of the campaign world. Of course, these can't all be individuals, since that would be hoary old Great Man History and poorly reflects the way societies drove and determined their fates. But it's been hard to quickly model sublimated social currents.

I thought, why not use ability scores, like we use for individuals? 3d6 in order, straight up. I got the idea from Europa Universalis III's policy sliders. The major difference from normal ability scores is that "polity ability score" is a continuum - no score is strictly "better" or "worse" - instead it shows what position the polity has on an axis.

• Strength: Isolation versus interventionism. Low scores indicate an unwillingness to become involved in the political affairs of other polities, and high scores indicate eagerness to intervene.
• Constitution: Pacifism versus militarism. The low end doesn't necessarily indicate complete pacifism, just an anemic army and thinking that doesn't lend itself to violent solutions. More militarized polities have conflict as their first choice.
• Dexterity: Conservatism vs progressivism. This measures the polity's rhetoric and goals. Ignore the real-world connotations - Traditionalism means the polity wants what it wants because it believes that society is currently in a better state, progressive polities want to drive forward into that future state. Any desire for change - even "regressive" change - is modeled as "progressivism" here.
• Intelligence: Social memory. Social memory indicates how much the polity retains a sense of its past. This doesn't imply any other positions - a group can have detailed knowledge and many connections to its past, and be determined to move past it, just as much as it can wish a return to a past it knows nothing about. I can think of many real-life examples.
• Wisdom: Elitism versus populism. Fairly self-explanatory - high scores mean the polity fancies itself a champion of the people, and low scores mean they think the people are an ignorant rabble.
• Charisma: Xenophobia vs cosmopolitanism. Again, fairly self-explanatory - and remember that a polity can be cosmopolitan and still isolationist. Differs from Strength in that Strength indicates a willingness to affect other societies, and Charisma indicates the society's willingness to be affected.

I think the biggest advantage with these ability scores is that they - realistically - depict all of the internal contradictions and complexities displayed by real-life polities. You might think that the Xenophobic Interventionist Conservatives with low Social Memory are just four contradictions piled right on top of each other, except for the fact that this group exists.

10-Month Seasons

I just came across LS's post at Papers & Pencils about long-term campaign management, and am immediately going to implement it when I start a new game, after I move to the other side of the country. He writes about how he keeps track of most things - player goals, major NPC's, and regions - all in a way that cuts down on prep time and allows the various powers in the world to really flow together.

Of course, what inspired me most was his calendar. Each month, in his system, has 5 weeks, and each year has 10 months - coming out to 350 days, but much easier to keep track of. Especially when compared to the real-world system of months changing mid-week and all having different lengths. I like this much better than the alternative, suggested in the comments, of 12 4-week months. The 12-month reckoning only comes out to 336 days, which becomes increasingly significant when reckoning lifespans, aging effects, and historical timelines.

Now, the really interesting bit for me is seasons. LS suggests handling them by having 3-month summers and winters, with autumn and spring as 2-month transitional periods. This is a great simplification, but is based on the Western solar calendar, which has four seasons, rather than the ecological calendar, which has 6 seasons. I prefer reckoning by the ecological calendar because the most common challengers adventurers will face are ecological, rather than astrological. Ecological seasons determine weather, the activity of animals and plants, and thus the ability to forage, survive in the wild, etc.

In temperate areas, the "extra" seasons result from two divisions. Spring divides into pre-vernal and vernal phases, distinguishing between the budding of trees and return of migratory birds, and plants entering full bloom, with animals establishing territories and beginning to mate. Summer, on the other hand, is made up of an estival, or high summer, and serotinal phase, when leaves begin to change and young birds mature and prepare to migrate. Luckily for the 10-month model, the transition seasons of pre-spring and late summer are about half as long as the full seasons, of high summer, spring, autumn, and winter, allowing there to be two one-month seasons and four two-month seasons.

Seasons can tell you a whole lot about a new region, such as the optimum times to adventure, or to "steal a march" on an enemy, and generally dictate the pace of travel in an area. The ten-month year can easily accommodate seasonal differentiation in other biomes as well - I made seasonal wheels for, starting from the left, monsoon/savanna, subtropical (based on Thai seasons), temperate, polar, and magical polar climates.

Monsoon/savanna covers any two-season regions, either most tropics with a monsoon and dry season, or savannas experiencing rainy and dry seasons. Subtropical is based on Thai seasons (though Thailand is not "sub"tropical!), with a cool, a hot, and  alonger monsoon/rainy season. The temperate wheel has the most variation, and can accommodate both northern and southern temperate climates. In the north, run a colder, snowy pre-spring and a harsher late summer, with autumn snows, and in warm temperate regions, run a livelier pre-spring (perhaps with more diverse birds, as some species pass through to get to higher latitudes) and a much hotter late summer.

The polar wheel basically has two subtly differentiated "summer" and "winter," with a month marked off at each midpoint designating the Midnight Sun and Polar Night. And, the far right wheel represents Bloodland, a frigid, ghoul-infested continent. Here, the ghouls awaken from their slumber and walk freely upon the land during the Season of Blood, when the sun is too weak to burn their blasphemous flesh.

Finally, I whipped up a Year Page for temperate climates, with blank spaces for you to write in the names of your months, as well as keep track of major events. I faded the dates, and the lines between days, so they could be written over but still provide useful context - this tool is really designed for notes at the week-level, rather than the day level. I have the polar and tropical variants as vector files, and will try to upload them later.