In Microlite20, every spell as a DC target. This makes both Clerics and Magi skill-based spell casters. In earlier D&D there are no skill-based spell casters in the standard rules. Adding one to Andras or any retro-clone has a much different effect than doing it in Microlite20.

The same is true for any Mana based system. It doesn’t exist in earlier D&D, but all spell casters in Microlite20 use their hit points as a mana pool. Varying how the mana is used doesn’t do much in Microlite20. In fact, it looks like a record keeping nightmare. (Am I going to cast this as a 6th level Thaumaturge or save a point and cast it as a 4th level one?)

The classes themselves, however, offer an intended tradeoff. This is the element I want to keep. Over time, a Thaumaturge has to pay more to cast the same spell as a Wizard. At 15th level, a Thaumaturge will pay 9 points for a full Magic Missile while the Wizard will pay only 3. The gap closes as spell reach higher levels. At 21st Level, both the Thaumaturge and the Wizard pay 19 points for a 9th level spell. Yet, even at this high level, the cost for the Thaumaturge will continue to increase.

I also want to keep the feel of miracle magic. In other words, Shamans have strange and fearsome powers and Psions are regarded as atheists by the Priests. I like the idea that Psion create an issue of faith for a priest. This is further enhanced by the other changes that will make psionic ability much more similar to Priest spells.

Many telepathic abilities are similar to divination. A psion can determine a person’s thoughts, discover the history of a place or item, travel astrally to be in a place far away in order to gather information and much more. Psions can heal. Psions can create things in a similar fashion as the gods (though not nearly as powerful as the gods). There’s more, but you get the idea. Many abilities are already similar, so tweak the rest of the Priest spells to fit for psions.

Lastly, just like Priests can have various domains (or spheres in 2nd Edition), I have changed the Psionic disciplines from six to many. Just like 2e had Priests of Specific Mythoi, the framework is in place for GMs to create Psions of a Specific Path. This makes individual psions different based upon which school they attend. This is optional, just like the Specific Mythoi rules, but for a flavorful campaign, it feels a lot more fun.

Shamans are intended to be fun for the GM. I’ve almost ported over the D6 Fantasy Spell Building system to D&D. Since that spell building system has options for group casting, big effects, day-long rituals, etc, it becomes easier to build spells that just don’t fit into the Vancian system.

For example, to create a spell that places a wall of force around an entire village isn’t effectively possible. The spell caster would have to be a triple digit level spell caster to get a diameter that large. Using the spell builder, however, longing casting time and community help can make it possible. Not only that, it can provide a good measure of the appropriate level of this kind of spell.

Work continues on. Hopefully the next post will provide the new disciplines for psions and detailed examples of shaman spells.

Why M20-ish? Because it uses my d20+d10 mechanic. I’ve called it M2010 in other places, but will call it M200 for this point on. The 200 is what rolling a 30 will look like. Two hundred is also the number of possible die rolls using d20+d10. As mentioned previously, rolling d20+d10 provides an interesting bell curve as well as other possibilities in opposed rolls.

One last thing to mention: the text of the post is alpha. The downloadable pdf will have been edited. Today is the grand theory of magic and some crunch for the various classes. The next post will have examples.

Overview of Magic

The use of magic exists along a continuum. At one extreme, there is an intuitive understanding of the essence of magic. The force of magic in the universe is an organic part of the universe and exists inside everything. In this extreme, magic is a relationship between the spellcaster and the universe. The nuts and bolts of how magic works remains an awe-inspiring mystery. Practitioners of this type of magic are called Thaumaturges. At the opposite extreme, magic is a force to be wielded. Magic is controlled by precise ritual. These rituals are discovered through careful study and exacting experimentation. For spellcasters in this end of the continuum, magic is a skill in the same way that working leather is a skill. Practitioners of this form of magic are called Arcanists. Near the middle of this continuum are Wizards. They have the trappings of the Arcanists, specifically books with arcane formulae, various experiment, long hours of study and the like, paired with the outlook of the Thaumaturges. In other words, Magic is seen as a force that is barely understood. It is not controlled, but can only guided through a relationship with the force of magic itself.

Races for Magic Using Classes

Thaumaturges are rarely human or dwarvish. Most are elves and other fey creatures. Human spellcasters tend to be Arcanists. Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings can also be Arcanists. Exiled Elves can also be Arcanists; details about Exiled Elves will be provided in more detail elsewhere. Wizards are always human or half-human, but uncommon. Wizardry was discovered/invented by a human many generations ago. Its usage has a relatively short history as compared to Arcany and Thaumaturgy. Powerful Wizards are greatly feared as their power has the potential to exceed that of the eldest Elven thaumatuges. Despite this, Wizards are sneered as either too sloppy in research or killing the beauty of magic through that same tortuous research.

Miracles or Divine Magic

The working of miracles also exists along a continuum. Priests align themselves with a chosen deity or pantheon and draw power from this relationship to work miracles. Purists (called Psions by Priests) search for power within the Soul and draw power from it to manipulate the universe. Purists do not believe that they are performing miracles, but to common folk, the distinction between a Priest and a Purist is minimal. Both spend time in meditation to recharge their ability to work wonders. Between the two extremes are the non-human shamans. Shamans gain power from many different places, including primal forces of nature, deceased ancestors, collective consciousness, unique landmarks, and more.

Shamans are differentiated from Priests and Purists by their ability to invoke the sources of their power directly. Their invocation usually takes the form of hours-long rituals, using rare materials and a vast number of songs. These powerful invocations have been known to make entire villages disappear or cause the ground to roil beneath an invading army’s feet.

Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturges are able to use magic governed by their Magnitude and Mana. Magnitude is a measure of the character’s level of power and the potency of magic. Mana is the character’s reservoir of metaphysical energy and the Thaumaturge’s connection to the source of magic.

Magnitude influences both the spell levels that can be cast and the spell’s casting cost in Mana.

Starting Mana is Magnitude + MIND Stat. At each level, the Thaumaturge adds their MIND bonus to their Mana.

The cost for casting a spell is Magnitude + the Level of the spell.

FULL CASTING

Full Casting is when a character unleashes a spell with her full capacity. The amount of Mana required is equal to her Magnitude + Spell’s Level.

For example, a 5th level Thaumaturge casting Magic Missile with this method allows the spell to function normally. The character’s level determines its range and other bonuses. It would cost 4 Mana (3 for her Magnitude and 1 for the spell’s level) to cast the spell.

DEMI-CASTING

Demi-Casting can be used when a character is trying to conserve Mana, or only needs less than the full mana required to cast a spell. The Thaumaturge may selectively reduce his or her Magnitude, as long as it is not lower than the Spell’s Level. The benefit is that the Mana required is less than normal. However, the drawback is that the spell is considered casted at 2 levels lower for each 1 point of reduction in Magnitude.

For example, if a 7th level Thaumaturge casts Magic Missile uses full casting, the spell to functions normally. The spell is cast using 7th level to determine range and other bonuses. It would cost 5 Mana (4 for her Magnitude and 1 for the spell’s level) to cast the spell. To cast it with less Mana, using only 4 Mana, the effective casting level would be 5h level. Using only 3 Mana, the effective casting level would be 3rd level.

Demi-casting is also used for spells that do not have level-based effects. Knock is always cast as if the Thaumaturge lowering their magnitude to 2. For all Thaumatureges, casting Knock always costs 4 Mana (2 Magnitude plus 2 for the level of the spell.)

Periapts

Thaumaturges are able to create a periapt that can store Mana. A Thaumaturge can create a periapt that stores up to the thaumaturge’s Magnitude in Mana. Thaumaturges can use any periapt with stored Mana, even if the amount of stored Mana exceeds their Magnitude.

Arcanist

Arcanists has a new skill called Spellcraft. When attempting to roll under the target number given for a spell, the Spellcraft rank can be added to the target number.

GMs Note: This requires that all spells have a difficulty rating. Using the Spell Creation system, spells may vary in difficulty ratings, including numbers over 30 and less than 2. In general, use the table below to assign difficulty ratings to spells:

Arcanists take subdural hit point damage per standard M20 rules when successfully casting a spell. When a spell fails, the Arcanist loses 1 hit point and may attempt the spell again.

Optionally, an Arcanist can also use the Mana rules like a Thaumaturge. Arcanists, however, cannot create periapts to store mana.

Wizards

As per standard M20 rules.

I had posted on Google Plus about a shortcut method of performing opposed rolls. The numbers do not come out the same, but I figured that they were close enough. What I discovered in studying these numbers points to effects of specific designs. In the end, I think that my design doesn’t produce results that are always similar, but that produces results more in line with my design philosophy.

Specifically, the results show that:

• Characters with equal bonuses to skill rolls under Microlite20 will have a similar, but varied chances of success under my system.
• The Microlite20 system is affected by relative adjustments to the roll. My system is affected by the actual skill ranks and Attribute score.

Here is an example using the Microlite20 rules as written and comparing to my system.

Listen is Subterfuge + MIND.
Move Silently is Subterfuge + DEX

Aesir is attempting to sneak up on a guard. Aesir has a 16 DEX and a Subterfuge rank of 2. The Guard has a MIND of 12 and a Subterfuge rank of 4. According to the rules, the one with the highest roll wins. Each character receives a bonus to their individual rolls of Skill Rank + Attribute Bonus.

For Aesir, we get 2 (skill rank) plus 3 (Attribute Bonus in M20) to get 5.
For the guard, we get 4 (skill rank) plus 1 (Attribute Bonus in M20) to get 5.

Given these stats, Aesir will succeed 47.5% of the time. The guard will succeed 52.5% of the time because he will win all ties. By rule, ties go to the character with the highest skill rank.

Under the Microlite20 system, the chances of success will not change if the guard has a Skill Rank of 5 and a MIND of 10, a Skill Rank of 3 and a MIND of 14 or a Skill Rank of 2 and a MIND of 16. The adjustment to the roll remains +5.

In my system, success is determined by rolling-under the total of the Skill Rank and the Attribute itself. When performing an opposed roll, the Player Character has to subtract half the total of the NPC’s skill rank and attribute. In this example, Aesir’s Subterfuge rank plus DEX is 18. The guard’s Subterfuge rank plus MIND is 16. Success is determined by Aesir rolling equal to or under 10. In other words, 18 minus 8 (half of 16). This give Aesir a 50% chance of succeeding. This is a slightly better chance of succeeding than with the Microlite20 system.

What I found surprising is that if the guard is changed as I mentioned earlier, Aesir’s chances of success are affected.

All four of these guards are identical according to the Microlite20 system, but the results are slightly different under my system. Nothing is really dramatic in the results, even with very improbable NPCs (do you hire MIND 16 guards? Would a MIND 10 guard have a 5 subterfuge skill?)

For the sake of completeness, let’s say that Aesir is opposing a lower skilled guard of average intelligence. Subterfuge skill rank of 2 and a MIND of 10. Under the standard Microlite20 system, Aesir has a 62.5% chance of success. Ties no longer go to the guard, but they don’t go to Aesir either because there would be a re-roll. Under my system, Aesir has a 60% chance to succeed.

Why does it give a worse chance? The amount of change is less in my system. If you compare the original example, Microlite20 provided no advantage to Aesir. He and the guard were equal. In my system Aesir had a slight advantage, thus a higher chance for success as compared to M20.

Changing to scores provided Aesir a great advantage. Instead of being even with the Guard, he now enjoys a +3 advantage. That big of an advantage yields bigger results. In my system, Aesir already had an advantage over the first guard. Changing the skill and MIND score had less effect because the amount of advantage changed comparatively less.

Somehow I’m Awake, What Does All This Mean?

Advancement in Microlite20 provides for increasing Skill Ranks and Attributes. This makes the characters very high powered around 10th level. In my variation of M20, characters cannot change Attributes except by magic or optionally by age.

I hope this means that characters can be fun to play for more than 10 levels.

This also means that using Microlite20 as a platform to develop Andras helps me get the bones of the system working well. This will be easier to playtest, especially for newer GMs. This also allows me to playtest a solo version of M2010 (my system). Maybe I have been reading too much T&T lately, but having a solo version plus the Mythic GM appeals to me.

As always, more later.

It starts with this post from Greywulf.

The shared worlds thing was already done with Spelljammer. As I said in G+, Dragon Magazine even had an article for porting over Space:1889.

As far as writing style, I am all over the end to the Gamebooks are Technical Manuals school of thought. Even the rules to Life (boardgame) are not as dry as other game rules.

I don’t like to use minis, so I’m just skipping that part.

I wanted to focus on the bit about doing this with an OGL game like Labyrinth Lord. To do one better in this exercise, why not just go straight to Microlite 20. One page of rules, many possibilities, right? Well, let’s start with M20 Purest Essence. 17 pages.

The PHB: Remove all race and class information and the Game Master’s Guide. Also remove the spell lists and the creature lists. What you’re left with is about one page of rules to play the game.

The GMG: The entire M20 Purest Essence, although it will need to be organized.

Then we have the codices:

Humans – Race information for humans (+1 to all skills). Class information for all humans playing the various classes.  Add the spell lists, but make them different in flavor and selection. The only place with a universal spell list is the GMG. That’s just the crunchy stuff. The rest is history, a section like the Roman Way called the Human way. Outposts of humans in various game worlds, etc. Art, fluff, lots of stuff.

Elves – Race information for Elves (+2 MIND). Class information for all elves playing the various classes. Add the spell lists, but make them different in flavor and selection. You see where I’m going.

At the table, the player has a codex and a one page handout for rules. The GM has the GM Guide.

What do you think?

Why?

The main reason is that I house-rule just about every retro-clone I try. It’s not that I don’t like the system at all, it’s just that I have a ‘kitchen sink’ mentality to what is included in games I run. For example, I love Spelljammer and Mystara. Both have flying airships and interplanetary travel. (Granted, you can only get to the moon in Mystara.) Looking at rules for aerial combat in various games, I rarely find any that are really straightforward that allow the player some diverse options. This generates a set of house rules for aerial combat. Once the rules for it are generated, I think about a class that specialized in it. That generates more house rules. Then I think about aerial travel over long distances, life on an aerial craft, fresh air for interplanetary travels, etc. More house rules and bolt-ons.

This is the way my first group played and I’ve never gotten far from it. You want lasers? Okay. Flintlocks and Aliens? No problem. A class of adventurers that use origami creatures to do its bidding? Sure, here’s the XP chart.

I came this close to calling the system “Pocket Dragons & Pomegranates”

I abhor combat that takes 30 minutes for an encounter. I value combat, but not the feeling that a group of me and my friends are wading through layers of rules and charts. It’s an element of the story. It could even be the focus of the story. Still, I award XP for good role-playing, treasure, innovative tactics, etc. Players wringing the rules for every ounce of advantage is just not for me, though I don’t penalize for it. I have to admit that a couple times, this type of play generated some very unusual play that was fun  for everyone.

The real reason, though, is that I want to put together all the things my first group and I did into one cohesive whole. It’s not easy, due in part to a lack of concern for contradiction. We just called it “gamer’s paradox” and let conflicting rules lie. This time, I don’t want a paradox, but I want largely cohesive system.

Having said all that, here’s an sketch of what I imagine the system to be:

• B/X and BECMI based with a mixture of M20, 1e and 2e.
• Simple mechanics with lots of charts.
• Build systems for new and existing classes, monsters, and races.
• Race and class are separated.
• Rules for adventuring in any locale (air, water, planes, ether, planets)

That says a lot, so here’s a few specifics in no particular order. No THAC0 despite my love for it. No 2e style kits, at least not intentionally. I hope to achieve so-called game balance by XP, not by making everyone equal in power. I don’t want to re-create a HERO system style build process for everything. I’ll use BAB like Basic Fantasy does. There will be an optional silver-based economy set of rules. Lots of creatures, but not at the cost of making them look like they were created in a random generator. Yes, psionics, but using what I believe to be a non-traditional system.

In short, it will be a kit and a rudimentary setting ready for use. Folks will be able to pick and choose what rules they want to use, and what rules they want to discard.

As an added bonus, I hope to use Dokuwiki and the bookcreator plugin to allow individual players to download a customized ruleset. The layout may not be perfect and there may be a couple odd page-breaks, but it should work.

The class generator is complete. The monster generator only creates low-level creatures so far. True to my old school roots, they live as spreadsheets at the moment.

Otherwise, I can only say that I am fully aware that this is largely a vanity project. I have no illusions of ‘energizing the OSR market’ or being the next LL. More than anything, it’s a labor of love for something I loved as a kid.

Stay tuned!

The big change is the addition of the bookcreator plugin. Once I get it working correctly, I should have a post here describing it in detail.

So a quick brain dump here in an attempt to get going:

Odd Retroclone Idea One:

Wanted to be successful with M20 Odd Duck inspired by this post. Basically, the spell list would be substituted with the spells from The Fantasy Trip. Conversion of the spells has been problematic. I finally figured out that IQ level =! M20 spell level. ST cost also doesn’t seem to translate as some spells have 50, 60 or 100 ST cost while many others range from 1 to 10.

I created a spreadsheet to rank them relatively to each other. An IQ 14 spell that cost 1 ST would be a higher level than an IQ 8 spell that cost 2 ST. The formula is not that complicated as I opted out of trying to determine a normalized distribution. Besides, I’m not that good at normalization (in math or databases) anyway.

I may never finish it. Ugh. It’s a good idea that I just cannot implement.

Odd Retroclone Idea Two:

I also have some bizarre deathwish to create my own retro-clone. It would be a complete vanity project that ‘feels’ like the amalgam of B/X, 1st and 2nd edition AD&D with some new found love for BAB and other d20 conventions. The other oddity would be how everything is inspired by Paul M. Crabaugh. I will include a class generator (which only needs options for illusionists) and a monster generator. I am about 33% done with the generator – it only generates non-magical beasts at the moment.

What compels me on this idea is a mystery to me.

Part of it mentions the critters.pl script greywulf hosted on the old m20 site. I couldn’t find the original, but I found my modified script for M20 (my other post has it modified for Action!).

CODE:

#!/usr/bin/perl
srand(time ^ $$ ^ unpack “%L*”, ‘ps axww | gzip’);
$usage=”usage: $0 number maxhd\n”;
$ARGV[0]=~/^(\d+)$/ && ($numb = $1) || die $usage;
$ARGV[1]=~/^(\d+)$/ && ($maxhd = $1) || die $usage;
%rule = (
‘W’,'VF YF YF YXF YXF YXYF B’,
‘B’,'PB YNF YNXF YNXF YNXYF YXYNF’,
‘P’,'a ambi ante circum cis co de dis ob per prae se sine sub’,
‘Y’,'Ca Ce Ci Co Cu Cy Da De Di Do Dy’,
‘X’,'Ce Ci Co o’,
‘V’,'a e i o u’,
‘F’,'Ca Ca Ca Cae Cos Com Cus Cus Cus Cus Cus Cium Cium Ces’,
‘C’,'b b c c ch ch d d d g g l l m m n n p p ph r r r s s s t t th th v x z Rr sH Ll’,
‘D’,'b b c c ch ch d d g g l l m m n n p p ph r r r s s s t t t th th v x z Rr sH Ll h qu gn pt’,
‘R’,'b b c c c ch ch g g p p ph t t th th’,
‘L’,'c ch p g f’,
‘H’,'c ch cl m n p ph pl pr qu t th’,
‘N’,'n c l r’
);

for (1..$numb) { print &parse(‘W’), ” : “, &stats, “\n”; }

sub parse {
$_=pop(@_);
/[^A-Z]/ && return $_;
@TMP=split(/\s+/, $rule{$_});
$_=splice(@TMP, rand @TMP, 1);
for (split(”)) { print &parse($_); }
}

sub stats {
$tst = int(rand()*13)+1;
$hd = int(rand()*$maxhd)+1;
$hp = int($hd*4.5)+int(rand()*4*$hd);
$ac = 10+$hd+int(rand()*5);
$tohit = $hd+int(rand()*4);
$dmg = int(rand()*2)+1 . ‘d’ . (int(rand()*6)+1)*2 . (rand>0.6?’+':’-') . (int(rand()*4)+2);
%weapon = ( ’1′ => ‘Bite’,
’2′ => ‘Claw’,
’3′ => ‘Talon’,
’4′ => ‘Gore’,
’5′ => ‘Slap’,
’6′ => ‘Slam’,
’7′ => ‘Sting’,
’8′ => ‘Tentacle’,
’9′ => ‘Weapon’,
’10′ => ‘Weapon’,
’11′ => ‘Weapon’,
’12′ => ‘Weapon’,
’13′ => ‘Weapon’,);
$type = $weapon{$tst};
#    $type = (rand>0.6?”By weapon”:”Natural”);

return “HD$hd (${hp}hp), AC$ac, $type +$tohit ($dmg)”;
}

Adult Granite: HD 21d12+105 (241), AC 28, Bite +27 (2d8), or Breath 8d6 stream of rocks DC 25,  phys+DEX to dodge for half, or thorwn rock 2d6+7.

And now for the Basic Fantasy Statblock

Dragon, Granite

Granite dragons have thick, rock-like scales with small black spots on them. The scales also tend to become for red as they age. They prefer to live on top of ancient mountains or near stone quarries. In order to properly digest their food, they swallow heavy stones in a gizzard type of organ. The bite of a granite dragon is severe due to their hardened teeth. When fighting, a granite dragon prefers to be near a source of rocks. When their breath weapon is not available, a granite dragon will attempt to hurl boulders. Granite dragons are capable of great cruelty. They enjoy swallowing humanoids whole and listening to their cries as they are ground into pieces by the stone in their gizzard. Outside of this rare pleasure, granite dragons are motivated by the urge to live, breed and collect valuable items.

Granite dragons are immune to poisonous gases.

Adult Thunder: HD 18d12+72 (189), AC 27, Bite +22 (2d6+7), or Breath 6d6 sonic DC 23, phys+DEX to dodge for half. STR 23, DEX 10, MIND 10. Phys 5, Subt 8, Knowledge 5, Communication 5

And now for the Basic Fantasy Statblock

Dragon, Thunder

Thunder dragons are about the size of white dragons, but more stocky in build. They are slow fliers that prefer to move along the ground. They are light brown and distinctively marked with large, irregularly-shaped, blood-red-edged ellipses. When first seen, sages called them clouded dragons.

Thunder Dragons prefer to live in large caverns in mountains or hilly areas. Over time, they continue to enlarge their home cavern into a byzantine maze. They are considered by other dragons as more brute than intelligent dragon. As a result, thunder dragons tend to be neutral in outlook, and generally distrustful of other dragons.

Thunder dragons prefer to fight by means of a sophisticated ambush that best uses their sonic breath weapon and chameleon-like abilities. They are motivated to reproduce and accumulate treasure. They prefer a diet of vegetables and rocks, but they are not adverse to eating the occasional mountain lion or dwarf.

Thunder dragons use a sonic breath weapon. This blast of sound disorients target creatures, leaving them effectively stunned for 1d4 rounds. No attack roll is required, but a save vs. Death Ray is allowed to resist. They also have the ability to blend into their surroundings like a chameleon, allowing them to surprise prey on 1-3 on 1d6.

Thunder dragons are immune to sonic attacks.

Thunder Dragon Age Table