Gamma World: What We Know

I'm really excited about the upcoming Gamma World D&D product coming out. Already from the previews, I can read between the lines and see a lot of cool, innovative designs going on behind the screen. This reminds me a lot of when WotC was developing and came out with the Star Wars Sage Edition. Then as is now, there was a development of a scifi themed RPG in tandem with WotC's flagship, Dungeons & Dragons. Then, as is now, we saw a lot of crazy new ideas thrown in there, and I suspect we will see the same kind of excellent design come out of it. Some quick thoughts about what I like so far:

Skill List - Gamma World has an alternate skill list. I'm not sure how much it deviates from 4E, it may be almost identical besides some name changes (ie. arcana --> science), but let's just think about this one for a second. First, everytime a character tries to learn information about robots, he can shout out "SCIENCE!" and it's totally cool and in-character. Next, it highlight the versatility and flexibility of the 4E skill system that I've been using in my scifi themed projects at home (StarCraft and Half-Life).

Action Points - monsters don't get them! In a way. I actually think they've been done away with altogether. From the monster previews, we saw that a Solo monster gets an encounter ability (free action) to take a Standard Action, and it recharges when bloodied. Hence, 2 extra Standard Actions, just like they would get if they had 2 Action Points. Putting the Action Point mechanical into a seperate power entry makes me think it's just not in the game.

Terrestrial, Laser - This is kind of minute here, but I like the simple change in tone and theme to the game by chaging keywords and monster origins (natural becomes terrestrial, laser and radiation damage types, + becomes "radiation symbol").

Inherent Bonuses - +1/2 Level is out. The mechanics for PCs' powers have been streamlined again, throwing out the plethora of miscellaneous bonuses that characters got through levelling, magic items, and feast to keep up with the +1 to attacks and defenses that monsters received. I love it, and I expect to see that kind of thinking become more prominent in WotC's products in the future.

Mounts

Mounts, like NPC Allies, never sat well with me in the D&D game. That is to say, the rules supporting mounts never sat well with me. As written, mounts function as bonus monsters allied with the PCs, with a few added bells and whistles due to the Mounted Combat feat. They eat up experience points, slow down combat in general, and allow the mount's PC rider to have almost double the amount of "stage time" at the table. I've been playing this version of D&D on a regular weekly basis since Keep on the Shadowfell, and additional one-shots and other short-lived groups. That's about 30 months of fairly intense gaming, and in all that time, I have never ONCE seen a PC bring a mount into combat. Clearly, the rules don't work here. If something is written into the core rulebooks, and is never used, it is simply wasting space.

What typically will happen at the table, especially in groups where the majority of players are rather ignorant of the complicated mount rules, will be that players will get a stroke of inspiration and imagination. They imagine their PC galliantly riding into battle on a celestial steed, or soaring above the skies atop a leather-skinned drake. They often ask, "what kind of feats/skills/etc. does my character need to ride one of these beasts?", and they are elated to find that their heroic characters need nothing extra to do so.

...then the Dungeon Master or rules-lawyer in the group will explain the full extent of the mount rules. They talk about XP loss, and the once-excited player scraps the idea and is dejected for the rest of the session, if not the rest of the campaign.

I do think mounts should have a place in the game. Certainly not in every session, maybe not for every character, but they need to have a useful presence. So in making mounts work in the game, the very first thing I wrote down was "NO XP LOSS". XP loss is utterly intolerable to players. For those of you who remember, think back on 3rd Edition's magic item creation rules. There may have been a few sticklers here and there, there may have been a few corner cases where it was worthwhile (ie. wand of cure light wounds); but on the whole players simply didn't pursue this option for their PCs. Taking these things into consideration, I looked at the existing vehicle rules from Adventurer's Vault as a guideline. I also cut all of the mounts' Hit Points in half from their published values. With the possibility of a single stray burst or blast sending the PC hurting off on an out of control mount, your players will be forced to strategize, plan, and make a meaningful choice as to whether they bring their mounts with them on a particular adventure. The HP’s as written are so high that the Out of Control penalty simply never comes up, and so it's never an interesting question whether to bring the mounts or not. For costs, I used the highest treasure parcel value per level and reasoned that it includes the cost of buying the mount, saddle, and associated upkeep costs. Don't make your PCs worry about the money for food and stabling if the mount is in a civilized town, it'll just annoy everyone with tedium. Increase or decrease the base cost of the mount if you feel like the mounts are wrecking your combat or simply not being used.

I haven't been able to put my mount rules into too much actual use, at least not as much as I'd like to have seen. Players are hesitant on dropping gold on a set of rules that, once upon a time, left a bad taste in their mouth. I've also noticed that many players reason that horses and the like wouldn't be comfortable going into underground dungeons. Bill the Pony sure didn't. So, like all of the new rules I post here, please understand that these new rules may just break your game into pieces.


Mounts
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Use the Mount rules as presented in the DMG (p.46), except for the following:

+ Actions: While mounted, a mount has no actions of its own. A PC can use its own set of actions to control the mount, as indicated in the mount's statistics. A mount in combat with no rider will become Out of Control, attempting to flee the area as soon as possible.

+ Experience: Mounts are never considered for purposes of calculating experience points or encounter difficulty.


Riding Horse Large Mount
Cost 200 gp
HP 18; Bloodied 9; see also out of control
AC 14; Fortitude 15, Reflex 13, Will 10
Speed 8
Ride (move; at-will)
The riding horse moves up to its speed and remains In Control.
Turn About (move; at-will)
The riding horse turns up to 180 degrees and remains In Control.
Out of Control
If there is no rider on the riding horse, or if the riding horse is bloodied, it becomes Out of Control.
When the riding horse is Out of Control, it turns around and moves its speed straight ahead, avoiding any dangerous terrain, until it is brought under control.


Next time, I'll spill out all of the Monster Manual's heroic tier mounts.

NPC Allies

Allies (henchmen, cohorts, etc.) have always had a place in D&D. From the game's earliest incarnations, there have been "mooks" that player characters could hire to do the grunt work for them of exploring trapped passages, hauling heavy loot, and providing a buffer between the PC and the nearest Orc's spear. 4th Edition, as I'm sure you know, very purposefully and very strongly limits the number of actions a player may take with a character. Standard, Move, Minor on their turn. Immediate and opportunity attacks when it's not their turn. This is done to try and spread the spotlight time that all the players get at the table. You don't want any single player taking a very long time per turn, or signifigantly longer than the other players, because then all the other players get bored and frustrated. It stands to reason, then, that henchmen would be totaly anathema to this concept. For some disposable income, couldn't one simply buy a few companions, and have the same player control an army of characters? The DMG2 attempts to address some of this, but I feel like their solutions were a little sloppy. They felt awkward at the table.

What I've been doing is treating NPC Allies in a similar fashion to Wondrous Magic items. But, they're more like communal, group items that can get killed. Any PC in the group can spend one of their actions to make an NPC Ally that they have line of sight and line of effect to do the same action, as shown in their stat block. NPC Allies count as allies in the technical sense (ie. they can provide flanking) and a PC can spend a minor action to make them do a non-combat, simple task such as opening a door, picking up an object, etc.

The NPC Allies I've made all function like minions, in that they have 1 HP and can't be killed on a miss effect, but they all also have a feature (Guarded by Heroes) to keep them alive a little longer. I've jotted down appropriate Levels for the NPC Allies as a rough indication of when the PCs should meet them, and how I figured out their defenses and attacks (if any). Many of the NPCs I'll be posting will be familiar to those of us who slogged through the H-Series of adventures.

Another feature I like to include in my NPC Allies, when I can, are the foils and flaws to their personality. I generally see NPC Allies as neither strictly beneficial nor strictly harmful, so I don't factor them into any XP or wealth calculations. They are there, and the PCs can take them with them or not. With the static defenses the NPC's have compared to the escalating attack bonuses of increasingly higher level encounters, the players will always eventually come to conclusion that their lower-level NPC's are doing them more harm than good, getting in front of the real heroes and landing themselves in trouble. I've actually seen a lot of resentment towards NPC's who don't have desirable special abilities. The players see them, rightfully so, as just an easy way for monsters to nail the group. I've also seen attachment to NPC's who do have traits that helped the group out at some pooint in time, attachment to the point of irrationality and tactical mistakes; an inability to let their 'best buddy' stay back in town. That's roleplaying for you, right there, and it's really something to see.

Enough blather, here is one of my latest NPC Allies, Steven Deschaine. He is a toughened freedom fighter, resisting the tyrannical rule of the Arkhosian Empire. He also is a bit of a bully and womanizer. My thanks to Ryan O'Rourke, who provided the story for this character.

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Steven Deschaine NPC Ally (Level 10)
Agent of the Order of the Sheltering Hand.

HP 1; a missed attack never damages Steven.
Armor Class 24; Fortitude 23, Reflex 23, Will 20

Guarded By Heroes + At-Will Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: Steven is hit by an attack and you are adjacent to him.
Effect: You are hit by the attack instead.

Hustle It! + At-Will Minor Action
You command Steven to take a move action (Speed 6).

Guerilla Tactics + Recharge 6 Minor Action
You gain combat advantage against one enemy on the next attack roll you make during this encounter.

Spy Network Property
Steven provides a +2 bonus to all Streetwise and knowledge skill checks made in Iovanthor, capital of the evil Arkhosian Empire.

Terrain Powers/Features of the Area

Terrain Powers and Features are really the bread and butter of what this blog is about. In my experience, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, when I read a new published adventure, the things the interests me most are the terrain elements and features of the area. I don't care much about a page full of monsters stats, although I do appreciate that they're there for the DM's who are printing right from the PDF. In all likelihood, the PC's in my group aren't going to be the exact level the adventure was intended for (or even the right tier!), and so I'm going to be redoing a lot of the monsters anyway. Also, the plot is going to be hard for me to really work with. Now, I love the plots that a lot of published adventures have. Some of them are really awesome, and are great inspirations. However, very few line up exactly with how my current campaign is running at that time.

I can always rely on terrain elements and creative features to find a home in my game. They oftentimes inspire an encounter by themselves, and sometimes an entire adventure. They're cinematic, place narrative control that is easy to figure out (if you print them and hand them out at the table!) in the hands of timid players, and make the encounter memorable and distinguishable from the countless other straight up "warband" encounters out there. They're an unpredictable element. They're something new that the PC's now have to consider. They're a halfling chef smashing your character's face with a wheel of cheddar. They're awesome.

Be on the lookout for some wicked hardcore terrain elements in the near future.

Compiled Table / DM Screen

In my experience, the only thing I really need from a DM's Screen are Skill DC's and damage expressions by level; coincidentally, everything that DMG p.42 originally set out. Here's what I've been using as a screen, printed out and glued to a peice of posterboard. Simple, easy, elegant.

I think that there are a lot of DM's out there who use the screen like Linus (from Peanuts) uses his blanket. It's a tool to hold on to, a physical object which gives you a form of emotional protection. The DM Screen might as well be called a shield; it protects the DM from the judging eyes of the players. It's an emotional brick wall. When you up alone at the head of the table, running the show for everyone's amusement (more on that on another post), it can get extremely intimidating. The screen gives you that demarkation, a symbol of authority that lets the DM rule from afar.

Years ago, I briefly played in a D&D game in a public place; the back end of a coffee shop. The shop itself was great. I always really appreciated how accomodating there were to us and our weird hobby, and I always made sure I repaid that kindness with buying coffee and snacks from them during the session. I normally don't support gaming in public, I feel like it inhibits your creativity, roleplaying, and downright sillyness of a game by having strangers able to peek in on you. People did, in fact, ask questions to us while we were playing. One woman in particular asked something that always stuck with me and really struck a chord. She pointed to the DM at the time and asked, "Why is that man hiding from you?"

And there it was, the DM is hiding. He wasn't playing a game with us, he was playing a game at us. In the whole Gygaxian-TPK kind of vibe. The screen, it had set up our mindsets to be that way.

And so in this phase of my life, I use a flat "screen" that lays down next to my notes, or propped up off to the side, and I face my players eye-to-eye.

Encounter: Momma Mia!

Here's an encounter I ran back in March of this year. I wanted a break in the gritty and grim dungeon crawling, and so had the PCs come upon a kitchen area, stocked with a mad Halfling chef, his crew of cronies, and an unholy abomination: The Lasagna Golem.

The original inspiration for this was a Side Trek adventure put out by WotC in the 3rd Edition days about a wizard and her chef husband who were tripped up by a mischeivious imp. There was a calzone golem in there. I ran the side trek on multiple occsaions, and everyone always had a good time with it.

This encounter also gives the Dungeon Master a great opportunity to stretch their silliness factor and come out with funny names. I always thought Halflings would be more entertaining if they all spoke in Italian accents, so when I ran and wrote this, that's what I had in mind.

Also a note, I always print out the known terrain elements (wheel of cheese, etc.) for my players in very large font and have them on the table as soon as Initiative is rolled. I find it best to let everyone know way up front exactly how everything is going to work.

Introduction

Hi, and welcome to Page 42!

These days, it seems like everyone and their mother has an internet outlet into D&D; blogs, campaign websites, etc. In many ways, it is a golden age. I wanted to share my own explorations of D&D, particularly the more creative stuff that I've come up with for my own home campaigns. So, this blog will function as a repository of different things that I've designed that are not what you would find at most other D&D blogs. I want to stretch the limits of what D&D 4E can do, and help other D&D players out there begin to stretch their imaginations as well.

What you'll find here are new terrain features, mechanics for items, allies, and vehicles, and diverse encounters for you to strip down for your own game and use at your liesure. The blog is named Page 42, because I want to expand on the great premise that DMG42 started. I want to have a treasure trove of creative ideas for dungeon master's to prepare for and players to be inspired by.