Edition Wars: The Next Generation

Ah, the simple days of yesteryear, when the OSR gleefully heaped scorn and derision on the 4Er’s and Pathfinders while Grognards bitterly complained that they’d done it that way since the time of Gygax...

Of late there has been a new crop of skirmishes about whether chess is a roleplaying game, what the OSR really is and who gets to say so, whether anyone is trying to crown themselves pope, if OSR is really just a marketing term, somewhere someone is raging against The Pundit, Raggi, and/or Zak S. for doing something outrageous…

The list goes ever on, and recently it's been really distracting for me. It's too much noise!

None of this is new.

But here’s the thing I really want to want to say about it all… Pay close attention, this is vitally important!

It’s all BULLSHIT.

Seriously, all of it. No one I game with, either in person (3 different groups) or online has heard of any of it, and if I told them, they wouldn’t care. Do you know why?

Because it’s BULLSHIT.

It makes not one bit of difference to them that some people think that some of the creative consultants for 5e are assholes. Know what matters to them? Getting that critical hit on the 8th level cleric to take her down before she could get her spells off. Killing the fart demons that poisoned half the party. Finding the children who have gone missing. Finding out what happened to the last group that dared venture the depths of Stonehell. Getting to sit around a table, and roll some dice together.

The games we’re playing, the stories we’re telling, the experiences we’re sharing, that’s what matters. Whether it’s FATE or Star Wars or DCC doesn’t matter. If it’s some FORGE based experimental game, or the granddaddy of all RPGs, as long as you’re enjoying yourself, you’re doing it right. As far as I’m concerned the only bad-wrong-fun is playing something you don’t enjoy, with people you don’t like.

So stop listening to the BULLSHIT, and go have some fun!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take my own advice and write something much more interesting for tomorrow!

Are Magic Items In 5e Necessary?

I'm currently running 3 games of 5e, and at this point I've only handed out a single magic hammer... which was immediately lost to a TPK and is currently in the hands of -REDACTED- in Stonehell. That group remains at 1st level. The other two groups are 2nd and 3rd level, and thus far none of them have felt very keenly the lack of magic items.

Not that there's a big selection to pick from at the moment - officially. A mere 18 different items grace the closing pages of the DMG basic rules 0.1. Granted, these items provide a pretty clear means of adapting items from other editions to 5th (and by adapting I mean taking without much change at all), but it's still a slim selection.

So what are you doing/experiencing in your 5e games? Have you handed out magic items? Has it made much of an impact?

#6MMRPC - Week 5: The dead walk!

As with last week, I’m going to talk about my mountain and organizing it before getting to this week’s progress. So if all you’re interested in is the pictures, feel free to scroll down.

I had a couple of questions/comments last week about setting up my spreadsheet. I spend a lot of time in real life dealing with spreadsheets, and I know how massively interconnected and arcanely complex they can get. Usually to the detriment of their utility. The best spreadsheets are the ones that are simple and easy to understand at a glance. Next, they should be easy to update without breaking.

It all goes back to utility. If the sheet doesn't help you do what you want it to do without being a pain in the ass, why use it?

My sheet has 2 main goals:

1. Quantify the mountain of miniatures I’m trying to chip away
2. Track my progress at chipping away at the mountain

The first two tabs I created for the sheet were for the Bones I and Bones II minis. I picked these first, because I want the Bones minis to be the main focus of the challenge. These sheets were easy to create, since the list of minis had already been compiled by others. I just went and snagged them from the websites listed on each of the tabs. Once I cleaned out the info from the lists I didn’t want (like the sculptor names) I set up a couple of columns to show the info I wanted: number of minis, number painted, and numbed completed as part of the challenge.

Bones II was easy, since I don’t have any painted yet. Bones I took a little bit of time, but not much. Then I added the totals at the bottom. The formula for this one is easy. Type the following into the cell you want the total showing: =sum( then highlight the cells you want to add up, and hit enter.

Getting back to the simple, take a look at my Lord of the Rings tab. It’s a much smaller sheet since many of the minis are all the same type. I don’t need to spell out which warriors of gondor have spears, swords, or bows. I don’t really care for this sheet. Sure, I’ll want to know if I’m playing Lord of the Rings, but honestly the answer is “enough” for whatever I want to field. On the flip side, it’s good to know that I have only 1 Gimli to paint versus 3 Legolas minis. Characters are far more important to note, since they get a far greater level of attention and effort.

If I were focusing on an army specific project, say a space marine battleforce, I might set up my sheet listing each squad & vehicle, and keep track of it that way. My Mantic sheet is kind of like that, especially since I included an “assembled” column. The Misc. tab is for those random minis that aren't part of a specific force or manufacturer. I plan on adding more sheets as I continue my inventory. I know there will be a Battlefleet Gothic sheet, probably 40K and WHFB sheets, and I might even do a Chainmail sheet since I have a lot of those minis too.

The totals sheet was created by listing out each of the tabs, and then pulling the totals for the challenge. The totals are linked to the individual sheets, so as I update my progress on each sheet, the totals page updates automatically.

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And now, for this week's progress!

October is in full swing. I've assembled 7 skeletons, 10 zombies, and 10 ghouls from mantic, and primed them. I also worked on some of Reaper's Bone Zombies and Mummy.

Once again, crappy cell phone pictures. I really need to rig up a light box. They were all pretty simple to paint up, but that's 6 more minis done!

Sunday Inspirational Image: Frogmen

Image by Jamie Jones

Weird New World Maps

A quick post to share 4 maps for tonight's game. Don't worry, these are the areas in the manse they've already explored.

I expect more will be filled in tonight...  If they survive!

New Magic Item: Blade of Woe

"Be careful of that one." the arms master warned the princeling.

"Why?" his still too high voice asked as he ran his fingertips along the leather wrapped grip.

"It's cursed"

"Cursed!?!" the boy snatched his fingers away.

"Well..." he hedged "Not cursed, exactly. But it's vicious! It's been known to draw the strength of it's wielder to use against their opponent, whether the man holding the blade wills it or not."

"But shouldn't a man use his strength to defeat an opponent?"

"Use? Yes. Drain away, leaving him weakened as if he'd been sliced by his own blade? No... not that."

Blade of Woe
This magical blade begins combat with a +1 bonus to attack and damage. For every round it faces the same opponent it gains an additional +1, however that additional power is drawn from the bearer's own hit points, drawing 1 the second round, 2 the third, and so on. These lost hit points can only be healed magically. When a new opponent is attacked, the enchantment reverts to +1 and the process begins again.

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Prop by Folkenstal, and based on the dagger from Skyrim.

Bits and Bobs XXIV

Zak S is a well known figure in the OSR, and one I enjoy reading most of the time. I don’t usually bother including his posts here, but he’s gone above and beyond with a 10 part art history overview that’s probably 10 times better than anything you’d get in school, if only because he ties it in with D&D, and also doesn't spend any time worrying about the minutia that no one reading his posts cares about. This post is the overview of the course. I'm linking to it here for myself as much as for you.

Eric over at the Dragon’s Flagon takes a look at hit point modifiers for old school monsters. You know, those random +1 or +3 hp that monsters got for no really good reason. Well, Eric figured out a really good reason for them!  Seriously, if you're playing an old school game, you need to read this post.

Tieflings are an interesting race. Demon-touched humans… Like many, I’m not a big fan of their appearance in 4e and 5e. I like that they’re included in the game, I just don’t like the art direction.
If you want to randomly roll some demonic features, check out this random chart.
If you're looking for more visual inspiration, this is a nice collection of images from Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque that better suites my mental image of what they should look like.

For me though, this will always be my iconic image of tieflings.

Gus over at Dungeon of Signs takes a look at OD&D’s orcs, and comes to the conclusion that orcs are actually the result of some sort of disease! It’s an amazingly flavorful take on an old standard, and one I'm stealing for my table!

Did you know 5e works with the ACK economy rules? Paul at Blog of Holding did, and now you do too!

So the party found a secret door, and you don’t know what’s in the room beyond? Elfmaids and Octopi has you covered.