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Showing posts from July, 2014

Anomalous Subsurface Environment Meat-grinder

I finally got around to ordering Patrick Wetmore 's gonzo* megadungeon, the Anomalous Subsurface Environment. It is just as fun and inspiring as everyone else said it was a few years ago. The modules are written for Labyrinth Lord, and as a B/X fan, that should have been good enough for me. But I'm an idiot with poor time-management skills, so instead I wrote a Microlite20 variant for it. I also wrote it as a DCC-style meat-grinder. This obviously owes a huge debt to both the DCC funnel and Austin Schaefer's AES Character Tumbler . By huge debt, I mean "look! I can hit copy and paste!" Backgrounds 1-3       Acolyte of an orbital god (1d20 to determine deity)/ Mace / Sacred symbol, Book of Orisons 4-6       Acolyte of Science / Broken Robot Arm (as club) / Religious tattoos 6-8       Acolyte of Starry Wisdom / Sacrificial dagger / Incense burner, foul-smelling incense 9           Apprentice Scribe / Penknife / Bottle of Ink, 10 sheets of paper

Weapons

Beyond the Wall has a lovely, simple weapons mechanic. The only mechanical distinction between weapons is melee or ranged, and the amount of damage. Weapons can do 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, or 1d10, and all weapons within a given damage range cost the same. You can call your 1d6 melee weapon a short sword or a cutlass or a bearded axe or a mace—it's all the same. Wound Man I much prefer this to AD&D style weapons charts with all sorts of granular damage rates, which seem primarily derived from arguments over why a claymore is better than a carp's tongue and oh my god how can you not know what a carp's tongue is?  But I still felt the urge for some mechanical distinction between weapons. So, this. The Critical effects of each weapon are for natural 20's and 1's only, and are only suggestions. Always go with what is situationally most appropriate. Dagger, Knife D4, 4 Coppers Can use either the STR or DEX bonus to hit in melee. Can be thrown; Range:

Links to Wisdom

May I present your reading material for the next year or so? Edmund J. Sullivan, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Links to Wisdom It's a wiki-style listing of great and useful OSR material and houserules, organized along the lines of Moldvay's Basic. It looks...  oh gosh, it looks so good. Edit: The minds behind this resource are Alex Schroeder , The Jovial Priest , and Jeff Rients . Thanks, guys!