2018/01/14

OSR: GLOG-based Homebrew v.01: Rat on a Stick Edition

I've been running a hack of Arnold's GLOG system for about a year now. Here's my version of the rules. The actual rules are very compact and partially incomplete, which is part of the GLOG's charm. The bulk of the PDF consists of classes, spells, and useful tables.

Chances are fairly good I won't update this PDF for ages, but that's OK.



https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j0y6h2XXnfJS-mJRF_-0MknSazNNAij4



Spiked Goblin Punch V.01: Rat on a Stick Edition





Major changes from Arnold's system:

Spellcasting Rules
I've edit them to be shorter and more consistent, but they're still cross-compatible with all other GLOG spells/classes

HP Capped at 20
For a few reasons. Obviously this wouldn't work for a heroic game.
1. Humans are squishy.
2. Keeps things dangerous. You can never reach a level where three goblins with sticks stop being a threat.
3. Means you can roll under HP for certain tests. Life drain, for example.
4. Means that Fighters and Barbarians get better HP faster but not forever. Wizards eventually catch up. That way, I can focus on making healing or fighting or damage reduction their design space rather than just a total HP value.
5. Means I don't have to do weird math to scale damage. 4d6 damage is always scary. A 1d6 dagger is always important.
6. My players very rarely die to HP loss.
7. Makes lunches (healing 1d6+Level HP) valuable at all levels, not just early on when HP is low.
And 8. Because a new player very excitedly said "HP goes over twenty!?!" when leveling and it made me ask why. All the other numbers on the sheet are 20 or under.

No Convictions
I've never been a fan of either alignments or convictions. Real world people are complicated. PCs should be complicated too. It's worked out so far.

Skill System
Rather than a fancy mechanic, I've left skills as more-or-less descriptive modifiers rather than mechanical effects.

33 comments:

  1. Thank you. Devouring.

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  2. What is the deal with the various [animal]-ling races? I don't think you explained it before just threw the table. I mean... I like your explanations of why you chose to made things the way they are. In this case, how the animal-lings fit your campaign?

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    1. Two reasons. 1. Characters die a lot. A bunch of races makes rerolling characters more interesting and adds immediate differences between two otherwise identical level 1 fighters.

      2. It lets me introduce regional rivalries intuitively. The medieval world was all about small divisions and differences between villages and baronies. Instead of saying, "You're from Cornwall so you do this, and you're from Devon so you do this," the petty divisions are made obvious when you've got a houndling and a foxling in the same group. It's a way of introducing that mindset without any extra work.

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    2. But what is a houndling?

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    3. Second image down. https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/11/osr-class-paladin-of-word.html Dog-person, kind of jowly or silly-looking. Dribbly.

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    4. Ah. I love your second reason (and like the first), but I don't really want a bunch of animal people in my game. I think it's time for me to invent! Thanks for explaining.

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    5. Thanks, for the explanation. I liked it even more now because it also have a nice old medieval times vibe that you can find the illuminated manuscripts.

      Look at these rabbit-lings murder-hoboing...
      https://i.pinimg.com/736x/63/c6/fa/63c6faed3f9414a89aab999575860ce4--medieval-manuscript-illuminated-manuscript.jpg

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  3. Hey, nice! That's quite meaty.

    (Though the number of arrows per slot seem to differ from page A4 to 5)

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  4. Proofreading bits:

    A critical success isn't given a specific number. There's a spot in the sentence for it, it's just missing.

    No mention of how to determine a save value.

    "*Save*
    If an effect, attack, or challenge does not fall under any of the other Stats or values on a character sheet, roll Save. This represents a character’s luck, resistance, and determination to resist fate."

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    1. "With 1-5 Encumbrance Points, you cannot travel quickly and moving at normal speed it counted" should be "is counted".

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  5. Another question: why is the length of shadows cast by a light source defined?

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    1. I believe that's determining well-lit and dim-lit, area.

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    2. But there aren't any rules related to well-lit and dim-lit areas are there?

      Perhaps it's for that one room in Maze of the Blue Medusa where your shadows turn into pits.

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    3. Within the Light range you can see details or identify creatures. Within the Shadow range, you might be able to identify walls, pits, or columns. You won't know if the weird shape you see circling your light is a dog or a goblin on all fours if they're in the Shadow range, but you'll know something is out there.

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    4. That's a cool idea. The book lists shadow and light at the same range though. Maybe 60' for shadow would be reasonable?

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    5. It's easier to remember if it's the same range.

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    6. If everything in 30' is in light, why would it matter that everything in 30' is also in shadow? Wouldn't I just describe in full detail?

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    7. It's additive. 30' light range, and then 30' after that in shadow.

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  6. Awesome! This is just what I've been waiting for! A couple of things:

    Under stealth it says: Roll under movement, opposed by wisdom, to hide. Surely it should say stealth?

    Also, would rolling to escape enemies be rolled against the enemy's movement?

    Finally, it would be awesome if you could add a few examples of enemy statblocks, just so we could see what these would look like.


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    1. Correct, roll under Stealth, mot movement. Movement is used for chases.
      Lots of example enemy statblocks on my blog... but you'll note I don't details Strength, Con, etc. This is because I find it's much easier to eyeball the values based on "goblin-tier", "human-tier", "ogre-tier," etc.

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  7. "Any items that are valuable solely for their metals
    content can be counted as currency."

    At first I liked this rule but I have a query. So if i find a small gold bowl I can just write it down as gold and not having it take up an inventory slot? That sounds neat, but then what happens if I get into a situation where I suddenly find I could have used a gold bowl? Do I have the bowl or not?

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    1. If you turned it into currency but you still remember you have it, you can use it. Usually within the same session. You can also write it down separately with a GP value next to it if you'd prefer.

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  8. I'm anxiously awaiting v.02!

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  9. So, very good job! I'm seriously considering using this. I've been using the rule cyclopedia to "plug in the holes" (morale, how does that work?, for example) but I have a few comments/questions:

    I see some classes start with weapons. Some do not... is there a "default weapon" (you get a club! a light weapon that can't be thrown!) or are many simply unarmed?

    In the original GLOG, Wizards could wear robes that give them +1 MD (and explained why they didn't wear armor). I see you've removed this from your version. What was the design reason behind that? Can wizards wear armor?

    On your race table, it seems to start with humans with 11-15. I'm assuming that's a typo and it's supposed to be 1-15? Also, why no dwarves?

    thanks!

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    1. You can use any 2d6-based Morale system from most games. You can use the Reaction Roll system here as a basis: https://takeonrules.com/2013/01/20/remember-the-reaction-roll/

      -Any classes without a weapon listed are unarmed and need to punch things or rely on their friends.
      -I don't have robes in my hack. Wizards can wear armour if they want to and cast just fine, but their inventory is usually full of weird magical odds and ends.
      -Should be 1-15. No dwarves because I couldn't think of anything really interesting to do with them in a setting with Flealings and Toadlings.

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    2. No weapons? That's harsh...

      No robes: I was just wondering why - too complicated? Did it make wizards too powerful?

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    3. It means wizards can wear armor if they want, though they likely won't, there's no need to worry about wizards getting too powerful since they dye all the time.

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  10. There are multiple mentions of saves vs. fear but I can't find any description of what a failed save results in. Deerlings run instead of freezing and rabbitlings freeze instead of running, how does that work? What's the default result? I presume you could roll 50/50 whether the character freezes or runs, with deerlings always running and rabbitlings always freezing, but then it's hardly much of a disadvantage, or does the player otherwise choose what they do?

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    1. On a failed Save (with a bonus if the PC has one against Fear), I just tell the player "Your character is afraid. What do they do?" If the race specifies a reaction, they go with that. If not, they're free to choose any applicable sensible (or not-so-sensible) reaction to being afraid.

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    2. Makes sense. I've got some more questions, if you don't mind. Do spent spells return? Do the spells come back also after an hour of concentration (like during transfering, that's where "luring spells into your brain" is mentioned), or perhaps after a regular night's rest? Oh and I assume when "breeding" spells both "parent" spells remain (or are they spent?).

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    3. Sure! Spells return at dawn each day. During spell breeding, the parent spells are not spent.

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