A System from Bits, part II

The early versions of D&D are deadly for low-level characters, and characters stay at low levels for longer than in later iterations of the rules. By and large, the OSR clones have kept this deadly aspect of gaming, with some attempts to mitigate things slightly. In D&D (not AD&D) PCs died at 0hp, and at low levels Resurrection and suchlike spells are almost unknown. When a Thief or MU can likely be killed by a stray arrow, a single spear-thrust from a Goblin, or an undetected blade-trap; Elves, Halflings and Clerics only have a 50:50 chance of surviving the same; and Fighters and Dwarves only slightly better than average chance, there is perhaps a case for making some provision for character survival to be slightly less difficult.

I originally came across this rule on one of the many, and wonderful, OSR blogs; however, having lost a load of links due to a fried hard-drive a few years ago I've been unable to find the original source. If this is your rule, I’d like to thank you for making the PCs in my groups (both my 'New Old Campaign' group and my 'Naked Gaming' group) a little less fragile, and I'm sure my players would be similarly (perhaps even more) grateful. Also, please link to it if you recognise where I found this - I make no pretence that this is mine, and would happily give credit where it's due.

The point of this rule is to make combat just a little more survivable - but not infinitely so, and  at a cost. One of my players, who was careless enough to die twice in three sessions, saw his CON drop from 11 to 9 and suddenly realised that the next time he reached 0hp (he only had 3hp as I recall) he was more likely to die than survive. So even with this rule, players should still be cautious.

Elementary Staunching, or surviving at 0hp

This rule is designed to provide a mechanism that gives a PC a chance of survival when they reach 0hp. It is based on the following principles:

1.                   CON is a direct measure of physical resilience and used for all calculations using this rule;

2.                   surviving comrades can administer emergency first aid to a 0hp character;

3.                   surviving a traumatic injury will have a permanent effect on a PC’s future health.

Can't remember where the image is from, but it's Beowulf.

When a character sustains an injury that causes them to reach 0hp, to give them a chance of survival, the party may attempt ‘Elementary Staunching’. The application of the rule follows three steps. First, CONx10 is the number of seconds before the PC actually dies of blood-loss (easiest if using 10-second rounds but not exactly hard in any case). If combat goes on too long or the rest of the party cannot quickly reach the stricken character – or are themselves killed or incapacitated – then there is no-one to administer first-aid and the PC dies in CONx10 seconds.

If other characters are available to perform battlefield first-aid in time, then the player of the injured PC must roll a d20. If this number is greater than the PC’s CON stat, the PC has died of system shock or blood loss in any case; if it is equal or less than CON, then PC has survived this major injury. One point of CON is permanently removed, and converted to 1hp. Healing may then take place as normal.

Additional suggestions:

Negative hp: The amount of damage the PC took in excess of the amount to take them to 0hp (so, if a character with 4hp takes 7 points of damage they are conceptually on ‘-3hp’) is the number of hours before the character comes round and begins healing (ie in the above case for 3 hours the PC would be still on the point of death). If this number is greater than the PC’s CON, another CON roll must be successfully passed, or the PC still dies.

Permanent Injury: the PC or DM determines a body-part to be permanently injured. This may involve a penalty on any ability score (due to injured limb, hideous disfigurement, brain injury etc) or a permanent penalty on ‘to hit’ rolls for either melée or missile fire.

Naked Gaming part 5

The Naked Gaming experiment is over, at least for the moment, and I didn't get round to writing up part 5 before we'd played the next session. So here is part 5, while I write up part 6...

Also, because so many people are coming and going over the course of this campaign even a after only a few updates, I can't help thinking a list of dramatis personae is in order.

Rolf Ironhead - male Dwarf
Lady Malice De Vine - female Thief
Timmy Song - male Halfling (sitting this one out)
Del Diablo - male Thief
Guy - male Fighter (NPC)
Halca - female Fighter (NPC)
Raul Derdué - male Fighter (NPC)
Tal - male NM (NPC) (not in this game)
Grig - male NM (NPC) (not in this game)
Werix - male NM (NPC) (not in this game)

These last three are usually called 'the torch-bearers'.

During the course of play, the party was also joined by -

Miguel - male Cleric

So, thinking back...

The party - or most of it, Timmy's player wasn't with us so we said that he stayed behind with sthe torch-bearerss, sleeping off his mushroom-hangover - set out of the Old Mill, and ran into Miguel, the ex-apprentice who had been working there. He told them the Old Mill had been attacked by hideous humanoids some days before. He had fled, but had been stalking the humanoids (the party assumed he meant the Orcs they'd previously run into) since the attack.

He'd found out that they kept trying to get into a cave behind a waterfall about 5 miles to the north, but something had been driving them back. He thought that perhaps they'd recently been driven out, and that was what had led them to attack the Old Mill.

This next portion of the adventure was created through the process that I outlined in Naked Gaming part 3. It consisted of a list of random encounters, somewhat multi-layered in scope. Basically, the longer the party faffed about, the more encounters they would have on their way to the caves. I had a list of 20 - in the end I used 4 of them, as the party was relatively quick about getting its act together. One was an encounter with Orcs - some of those driven from the caves. Another involved some Goblins. The presence of these little critters was unexplained, but may become clear later. They were chasing another monster from the list - some of the random encounter notes from Seventh Order detailed interaction with another monster, usually fighting or fleeing from them. When a second monster was called for, I rolled again on the table to find the other. In this case, the original encounter was with a Dryad, fleeing from something; when I rolled again, I came up with 6 Goblins. Both of these encounters involved fighting; the other two, with a wolf in a stand-off with (smallish) giant spiders ('Small Monstrous Spiders' is how they were described in the WotC dungeon generation, a description which is going to bother me, I can see), and with a swarm of spiders who really just wanted to go to sleep, were bypassed through good scouting and some quick thinking.

The Orcs were something of a problem; they were alert and meant business. But then so were the party. Lady Malice was scouting up the road, when she saw two Orcs further up; they turned and ran. Lady Malice did the same. A quick plan was hatched; the party would occupy the ground on the opposite side of the road to the river, and trap the Orcs between the two. Rolf, Guy and Helca took the centre, while Miguel hid behind Rolf. The two Thieves took up flanking positions, with Raul Derdué (who didn't have a missile weapon) close by.

In the end, the Orcs were over-cautious; they split their forces, sending the two that had been seen down the road, and the other three crept through the woods. But they got too far apart, allowing the party to dispose of the first pair before routing the remaining trio. Lady Malice looted the bodies and took the ears, and Raul armed himself with a scimitar and shield from the Orcs.

The encounters with the spiders and wolf, and then with the spider swarm, followed. The first was simply bypassed. The party is collecting ears, and spiders don't have them. They did wonder about legs, but quickly decided that the whole affair was too much trouble. They melted back into the woods leaving the spiders and wolf to their dance.

The spider-swarm caused more consternation. The trees on both sides of the road were full of spiders (not giant this time, but the party had no way of knowing how dangerous they would be). My notes said that the spiders were about to sleep; when the party lit torches the spiders scuttled round the other sides of the trees, and the party made their escape, always going north.

The last of the encounters, with the Dryad (the original result I had said 'Nymph' but Dryad seemed the best match from the rules I had access to) and the Goblins, was the most dangerous. Rolf was really unhappy about the rescue of a 'beautiful Elfin-looking female' but his hatred of Goblins is even greater than his antipathy towards Elves and their kin. Del Diablo, however, was very concerned to rescue the pretty lady.

The fight with the Goblins was brutal and pretty swift. While Lady Malice took their ears, Del Diablo tried to comfort the beautiful lady with the soft voice and very nice eyes. The rest of the party, realising that the Dryad had put some sort of Charm on him (though Del's player was doing his best to charm her before the spell), took it in turns to slap him and otherwise get through to him that he might be in danger. It was, however, when Rolf began talking about the variety of iron weapons available to the party, that this fey creature became distracted enough to allow her control to slip.

After this encounter, the party made it to the waterfall where Miguel said the caves were, and the party decided that was a good time to draw a halt.

Naked Gaming part 4 - oh why can't this be easy?

Right, here's the thing; work has sent us to different sites this week, so me, Rolf, Lady Malice and Del Diablo are here, but Timmy the Halfling is a couple of hours away and we can't get there and back. We're going to try to skype him later. Next week, it being close to Christmas, people are going back home and Del Diablo at least will be heading back to his native Poland (and you thought he was Spanish!) at the weekend. So he's not going to be around next week anyway... oh the life of an unexpected DM.

Joining us though is another game-head, who has mostly played Swedish RPGs (being from Sweden and all) but is keen on playing old-school D&D anyway. So somehow we'll get him involved - I hope, as one of the people from the Old Mill who survived. I'd come up with an idea that the Old Mill was operated by Mr & Mrs Miller, their daughter and an apprentice. Our new player can be any of them if he wishes. The two Skeletons at the Mill were of course two of the inhabitants - but that still leaves two running around somewhere. One (see the post from a few days ago) was, I thought, the miller who had gone berserk after the Orcs attacked his home. But it doesn't actually have to be that way. Did the millers' daughter stay in her room, with her mother comforting her, while her father and the apprentice went out to fight the monsters? Or perhaps it was the youngsters who went out, the old folks sheltering inside. Or maybe, it was the young ones who stayed put while the adults went to deal with the monsters. The possibilities, if not endless, at least allow for our new player to take the part of any of the inhabitants - if he so chooses.

But there are other possibilities of course. He could take the role of one of the NPCs. Or he could just be a passer-by caught up in the action. I guess I'm going to see over the course of this evening...

Naked Gaming part 3 - ahead of the game...

Right, I know I have some sessions with my new works-gamers, so I'm trying to get some stuff together right now.

I need a whole bunch of stat-blocks that I can throw in. There are going to be more Orcs, a higher-level NPC (who will probably be an enemy; he's the miller from the Old Mill who has gone mad and is now a berserker), and maybe a (very) small dragon or some other kind of hard monster at the end. Maybe a Minotaur or possibly a Medusa.

There's also going to a bit of weird magic I hope. Not sure what yet, some strange magical effect like a fountain where the water goes up into the ceiling/sky, or something. Just something a bit more fantastical than 'you're in a forest fighting some ugly dudes because reasons'.

So I've put together a random encounter list (partly from the monsters in a couple of runs of the Wizards of the Coast Dungeon Generator, and some from the Pathfinder random tables I found on the net here) and added info on what the humanoids and monsters are up to from the 'What Are Those Wandering Monsters Up To?' and 'wtf are those goblins doing?' tables at Last Gasp/Seventh Order of the Random Generator, which is as I think I may have mentioned a spiffing site, though maybe not easy to use in a hurry. Judicious use of the 'Carried by Goblin' and 'Whats in that goblins sack?' tables supplied some things that the Goblins on the list have with them. Other races will get a little further description.

The Naked Gaming enforced experiment is likely to be over this week anyway, as I've managed to get home for my dice and the Basic and Expert rulebooks. So things will be done a little less on the fly and with a little more forethought. But, as I'm also not going to be working with these fine people in a couple of weeks, this will probably be our last week of gaming anyway, which is a shame. I'll try to give them a few more fun evenings before they reach the bad boss-monster and either get the big pay-off, or all die.

Naked Gaming part 2 - At the Old Mill

More making it up again this evening - I really was just ahead of the party in terms of creating this world they're exploring. It's a bit exhausting to be honest!

The result of yesterday's action was that the party staunched the basically dead Del Diablo's wounds, made a stretcher from saplings and cloaks to carry him (the torch-bearer types being assigned to do this) then looted the Orcs (getting a small haul of coins, and several stoppered flasks of different kinds - one lamp-oil, one wine, and they haven't tried the rest). Walking wounded - Rolf, who told everyone he was fine, it was only a flesh wound, and Raul Derdue (that I'm now pronouncing 'Derdué') - are accompanying the stretcher while Timmy the Halfling is ranging ahead. Raul was quieter than yesterday, what with only having 1hp (and me not having had as much booze, so I wasn't doing silly Spanish accents as much).

In not-very-long, the mill hoves into view, and the party then has a bit of a debate about how difficult it will be to cross the water to get to it. Lady Malice volunteers so they tie a rope to her, in case she gets swept away or falls into a big hole, but she's fine and ties the rope to a convenient  protrusion on the other side. The party then crosses - stretcher and all - and everyone is safely deposited on the flat area just south of the mill.

I didn't have the map I made yesterday to hand so the mill looks a little different to the depiction on that map. The mill building itself, which houses the machinery, is two-storey; the cottage is like a crofters' cottage - single storey but with a loft-space - and the workshop range is single-storied.

The rest of the party stayed to the south while Timmy went forward, Spooked by spookyness (the mill was aparently deserted, dusty and making creaking noises) Timmy fled. So Rolf, with Halca and Guy, two of the more useful NPCs, went to investigate. They went for the western building first, and found it was a store-room-come-workshop. Bits of rusting machinery and 'things that might be useful' abounded, but they reckoned they didn't have time for a proper search. On to the centre range next, Rolf and Guy went in while Helca stayed by the door ready to call for assistance if needed. They found a room with a range, some basic furniture, a bed behind a curtain, and a ladder to the loft. Rolf cocked his crossbow and went up, into the loft-space where there were sounds of movement.

Upstairs were two Skeletons. As in undead monsters, not as in sets of human bones lying still (from an iteration of the WotC random dungeon generator I mentioned yesterday). Rolf beat a hasty retreat and warned Guy as the the skellies started to lurch down the stairs. He got a shot in with his crossbow, but the skellies kept lurching. They made their way outside as Rolf tried to remember about the difference between bludgeoning and piercing weapons and how they harm skellies (he's the guy who used to play RuneQuest and as it turns out some version of AD&D back in the day). So he readied his warhammer and told Helca to warn the others and bring any crushing weapons, then stood at one side of the door - Guy stood at the other - and they both swung for the first skellie through the door - the  one with Rolf's crossbow-bolt stuck between its ribs.

These skellies are a bit tougher than normal ones - they seem to have d12 as a base for hp rather than d8. I will make sure the XP given reflects this. The fight - Guy and Rolf were soon joined by a returning Helca, with Raul Derdué's club, Lady Malice, and Timmy, who's stolen Del Diablo's silver dagger thinking it might be good against undead - was long and brutal. As our heroes (especially as Rolf is heavily injured from the earlier fight with the Orcs) have between 2-5hp and the skellies have base d12, it went on for ages, with the skellies just trying to bash the party with the bits of wood (torn from the furniture) they had to hand. One lucky swipe even caught Rolf, opening up the wound the Great Orc had delivered, and knocking him down. Another party member 'technically dead'...

The combined attacks of Lady Malice, Timmy, Guy and Helca were at last enough to bring down both skellies, but not before Lady Malice had cunningly tried to grab the unconscious Rolf's warhammer - only to find that it was on a strap about his wrist, to great comedy effect. But at last the fight was over, and the process of saving Rolf's life began. They did what has rapidly become known as 'Rudimentary Staunching', and waited to see if they'd stopped the bleeding. He made his CON roll easily enough - he had 17 CON to begin with - so he will be back to fight again. Once they had done what they could, Lady Malice looted the house - finding a Healer's Kit (a randomly-rolled treasure on the donjon d20 Random Treasure Generator) along with some other useful stuff, and a small purse of money that she sneakily pocketed. Timmy made soup. While all this was going on, Lady Malice began wondering where these Skeltons had come from, why they were upstairs in a bedroom and what had become of the miller and his family? I don't think she entirely liked where her thoughts were leading her...

Mixing some salves and powders from the kit together, determined that no-one else was going to die there and come back from the dead, Lady Malice started by giving Raul some of the generally healing concoction, and Timmy gave him some soup - he seemed to perk up. They then went on to give some more to Rolf and Del. Both regained consciousness and proclaimed themselves a little recovered (though they're still not sure if it was the soup or the salves that helped more). Then Rolf suggested getting inside the mill building and barricading the door for the night. A good plan, and a convenient place to stop the session.

Naked Gaming part 1

Well, that was unexpected. I'm working away from home with some people I've worked with before and some new guys. Chatting to one of the people I don't know very well in the works van heading to site yesterday, he says he was at a games club at the weekend and played his first session of D&D. "Oh cool, I play too, old-school D&D that is" I replied. "Really?" comes a voice from the front of the van, from one of the older guys, same kinda age as me. "I used to play RuneQuest back in the day". "Oh, I'd love to play proper D&D" offers another of my colleagues. Then our supervisor chimes in "I've never played D&D, but I used to play Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 15 years ago"...

I mean seriously, what? There are 8 of us in the van and 5 of us are gamers?

So the long and the short of it is that last night, after we got back to base, four of us played a game of Munchkin and after that, I helped three of the four interested people roll up Basic D&D characters (after playing Munchkin with us, our supervisor had to and make a Skype call, I suspect to his wife, so I'm helping him put a character together tonight). I don't have any dice. I don't have any rules. I don't have any scenarios. I don't even have access to a printer.

What I have is access to a couple of die-roller websites and apps, the knowledge that the equipment list is on the web, and a bunch of links to various OSR and other gaming sites. I created a random dungeon from the WotC site (that is only going to take us so far, I need to soften the party up I mean get them used to playing a bit first). I generated some NPCs from Meatshields!, and tonight I'm going to get some stats for a few monsters and start the adventure proper.

The players will begin in the small town of Rock Fort (when I described the town as 'a bit like Bree' one of the players said 'what, like Camembert?'... 'maybe, but I think Rock Fort is a better name'). Anyway, the party is coming together. Lady Malice De Vine (a thief), Timmy Song (a Halfling) and Rolf Ironhead (a Dwarf) will shortly be joined by Del Diablo (another thief, a mysterious and slightly Spanish one).

So here's the deal: a herald accompanied by a couple of men-at-arms rides into Rock Fort and issues a proclamation from the local Earl that monsters have been seen in the area and bold souls are needed to go and fight them, for suitable rewards, of course. Step forward Rolf, Timmy and Lady Malice, and sort-of-hang-back-mysteriously Del Diablo, while six of the townsfolk (the NPCs from Meatshields!) join them.

They set off to the north; the 'monsters' - described as 'orrible, 'ideous, monstrous fings! Wiff 'eads.., an' fingers... an' fings! - have been seen about four miles north of the village, near 'the Old Mill'.

This is the quick map of the surroundings of Rock Fort that I've just knocked up, It'll certainly do for the moment.

The party has made its way about 3 miles to the north, taking care to send scouts and look for signs of any monsters, and have been rewarded with ample signs of Orcs (yes, they guessed in advance that they were Orcs) in the area. Scouting and sneaking stood them in good stead; they were able to ambush the Orcs, killing 5 of them and only taking one fatality and two injuries in return. Alas, Del Diabolo succumbed to an Orcish sword.

True my 'other' campaign, I'm allowing the use of a roll against CON to survive 'fatal' wounds (should the injured party be treated by his comrades). Del Diabolo has made his roll and will permanently lose 1 point of CON as a result (to represent the debilitating injury from which he'll never fully recover). However, he will live to sneak another day (actually, without his shortbow shooting the party would have been sunk).

Rolf, (the Dwarf) and one of the men-at-arms, Derdue (who now has a first name as well, 'Raul') are both heavily injured. Neither should die but the company is starting to regret not having any healing magic.

I need to go to bed now, more pondering on this strange turn of events in due course...