TORCHES (6): A RPG Microblog Collection 9

 

Well, 6+1, but hey, you found an extra
in the crypt...

Work has been keeping me occupied, so posting has slowed down a bit, but here are some other great works that are in the blog-o-sphere that will fuel inspiration!

Torches (6) is a collection of microblogging about cool posts I've come across. This feature is lit at irregular intervals 

[Dungeon] Fruits Are A Great Source of Nutrients [/Paralysis]: Alice over at Dungeon Dolls is back with another solid post on fruit found in the dungeon. To my eyes, each example feels like a great take on potion/scrolls. I think the post does three clever things:

1. You can't bank the fruit outside the dungeon- use it now or mark it for (maybe) later
2. Each comes with a risk
3. The risk and reward combined make eating them an exciting choice rather than a casual use item

Your Party's Spirit: Goblin Punch is out there again with another anti-cleric stance! Given general D&D's polytheistic stance and environment where the gods do tread the earth, it makes sense that PC would be far, far more religious than they often act. The key here is around incentives. 

I think this would blend well with the shrine system I cooked up for a home game.

How To Run Arden Vul: This is a pretty amazing Reddit thread form a DM who's run Arden Vul for 3 tables using 2e AD&D. I think the most interesting advice is how this DM ran each of the three tables at a set time and did not deviate. There was no West Marches player-organized time; the DM laid down the time, and you just had to show up. However, the knock-on effect was that scheduling is very simple and very consistent- food for thought:

[Arden Vul DM] I am a stickler about my schedule. Trying to arrange my schedule around when the player's are available is a no go for me. I'm simply too busy. (In addition to running 3 private tables, and 1 public, open table, I also have a comic book podcast I record 1-2 episodes a week for, plus I need to spend time with my spouse. Literally almost all my time is spoken for between spouse, hobbies, and work.)

I've also found that if you don't have a set schedule to game just doesn't work well. We play every Monday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. We play every Wednesday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. We play every Saturday from 545-845 no matter how many people show up. I'm not trying to get myself off in some scheduling hell with a west marches style set up. It just doesn't work for me, and I'm of the opinion it would kill the tables.

There is also the limiting factor of, if I open sign ups for my place on Mondays someone might be at work and miss the chance to sign up. So I don't get to see that person that week. Maybe they are always at work during the sign up time frame (2 of my players are teachers). So they always miss the time frame and I never get to see them.

Set groups on set days solves all my problems with scheduling. 

And speaking of getting people to show up, a convo on Discord recounted how a DM running an open-table zombie campaign had a rule that if you missed 3 sessions in a row, your PC got eaten by a zombie off-screen.

Room Size & Geomorphs:  Playful Void does the maths to examine average room size. I'm always interested in stuff like this. Much like average treasure, I think understanding the "environment" of D&D helps construct good DM tools for ideally more off-the-cuff play (see Human Centric Game Design). Using the calculations here, one could roll a set of 6 rooms to build out a dungeon, or better yet, fill in a dungeon geomorph

Human Centric Game Design: A Manifesto: Personable Thoughts is really zeroing in on what I think is one of the most relevant game design ideas in today's increasingly digital world. What do human-centric RPGs bring to the table? And how can that be maximized? This is especially true as video game RPGs also offer, not nessarily competing, but different RPG experiences. 

I think this is true not just in terms of a game system, but also in the raw running of games. For instance, when I run an encounter, what can I bring to that experience that a computer can't? And how can I double down in that?

A Better Equipment List: This is a nice post with equipment descriptions to better highlight to players how equipment can matter- almost like low-key powers. Some examples:

CLOAK, DARK, HEAVY: conceal; disguise; pad; bundle; smother; shadow  

ROPE, HEMP, 50 FT.: climb; bind; lower; haul; measure; rig 

I am starting to believe that one of the best things the back of the character sheet can include is common equipment, price, and descriptions like those above. It also sorta feeds into my feelings on how ultimately equipment is interesting in how much the players choose to carry. But for that to matter, Paladin is right, they have to see it as valuable.

Folks of the Guild (Still Building a Better Thief): Love this Hags post for showing that ODD is still alive and well. And the "better thief" brain worm still wiggles. I like the way this post grounds the thief's abilities in the world and creates a visual mark that is a thumbing-your-nose at the punishment the thief would receive. It also helps one back-calculate, to me, the laws of the land (and as such, you might need a sheriff). Example:

The Barbers

Automatically hit and double any damage when attacking an unaware opponent from behind.

Barbers wear scarves or cravats, a dainty reminder of both their trade - a slit throat - and the murderer's sentence - a hangman's noose. Neck adornments play a special part in Guild symbolism as one of the Two Ends: in this case, Death by the Law.

FRIDAY NIGHT DUNGEON DRAFT: Editing Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord Rooms 07 to 12

 

Continuation of my series to edit a quick "Friday Night Dungeon" using Dolmenwood.

Tomb of the Twin-Headed Hawk (Pg 4)

Link to the Draft Document: Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord

Key Detail: Room 07 is a door, so another roll on the heraldry table yielded "hawk" and for a room type I rolled "weird" so, I went with an animate door- a squawking two-headed baf relief. Its odd, will prompt discussion, and is an alarm obstacle

Initial Treasure Total (silver standard): 120sp with the opportunity to gain a large talking jug.

Three Initial Problems: 

1. More Description of Important Things: The animated door and describe the jar heads of the barrowbogeys (peak Dolmenwood monster) with a little more flavor
2. Empty Crypt (#10 & 11a) Is Too Bland: I should know better since I wrote a post on it. Something needs to go here to punch it up.
3. More Treasure: Not enough for sure at 120sp. On average, level 1 treasure is about 600sp (or gp...whatever standard you use). Treasure shouldn't be evenly parcelled because that is boring, but it should still be there.

Three Potential Solutions

1. Colorful Descriptions: Let's see...
• Door: The bas relief of a twin-headed hawk strains to grab the green grasshoppers that float past it; occasionally, the heads nip at each other in frustration
• Barrowbogey heads: "...its clay head is a squat double handled jar with a black and white checkered glaze" or "...both heads are rustic wine decanters shaped like crowing roosters..."
2. Empty but Not Nothing: Well, let's roll on the table for rooms #10 and #11a...to get... "a clue or password" and an "encounter clue"
• Okay, #10 leads to a weird room where there is a toast to summer, so how about we put a banner hanging from the beaks of two very large taxidermied twin-headed hawks, that says "TO SUMMER".
  
• For #11a, since the northern passage leads to the crypt with the zombie mermaids, let's put 4 frozen bodies in this room and an unnatural chill. They'll all have gold coins frozen in their eyes. Does it completely make sense? No. But it will make the PCs pause.
3. More Treasure: One easy thing to do is to increase the value of the holy symbol in #12 from 100 to 300. And if there is a pile of frozen bodies in #11a well, how about if you move them (2 turns) then it will reveal a bronze, fur-trimmed diadem worth 300. Now our new total treasure is 600 plus the magical jug. Not bad.

Final Thoughts

I've actually started to play this dungeon a little bit and so far I'm happy with it. I think 07-12 set of rooms is one with a strong Dolmenwood flavor because it involves the barrowbogey who I've connected to a rumor of stolen pottery locally. Whimsy that could get you killed!

DON'T SPLIT THE SESSION: Rule 0 For Avoiding A Play-Killing Mistake In Modern Lives

"We'll stop here and finish it next session, no problem!"

In my current megadungeon home game, we have not played for almost 4 months now because of a mistake I made. It's a mistake that makes sense at the time, but has had disastrous consequences for play since then. 

The mistake: I ended a session in the dungeon right at the start of a big battle because we ran out of time.

I should not have done this. I knew it could be a problem. At the time, I didn't want to risk having a PC die because we were in a "hurry up and finish" mode of combat. And I just didn't have a clever way of resolving the fight in 10 minutes that would be satisfying. I figured that stopping at the beginning of a key battle and the potential rescue of an NPC would carry enough potential energy that the next session would be focused and start with a bang! Combat! Action! High stakes!

That was 4 months ago.

Now modern life of work, kids, and family life have understabily intervined. Don't take this post as any sort of angry rant. My play group's focus is rightly on the various important aspects of their lives and playing D&D is a minor aspect. However, it IS a hobby everyone greatly enjoys and consistency is a key aspect. Long absences can dissolve the game.

I wish I had stuck to my rule of ending the session at the end of our allotted play time, and if that meant the players could not save the NPC, then so be it.

Fail Forward...Into The Next Session

In general, I think splitting the session led to three general, unwanted downstream effects in addition to delaying play for an extended period.

Denial of Agency: At the time, I thought that making the player go back to town and have the NPC become a sacrifice was robbing the players of agency, a big no-no in old-school play. However, in not completing the town-dungeon-town loop, I ended up robbing the players (and myself!) of 4 months of agency by not playing!

Decreased Flexibility in Attendance: I also decreased the flexibility of the megadungeon set-up to host a variable number of players and not require the attendance of 100% of my player pool to start a game. It is often this strengent 100% attendance requirement that kills a lot of trad-games or even any game. Hence, the joke of modern D&D is that the BBEG is "scheduling". In my experience running this game, I've been able to host a variety of out-of-town players who drop in for a session or two because we begin and end in the town. It creates a solid staging point and does the least to disrupt the narrative flow.

Yes, I could certainly have PCs with absent players be slightly off camera or function as sorta meta-ghost. But no one ever really likes doing this. And in my experience, it always results in awkward situations where present players will want to use the "ghost" PC's abilities, but then it has to be explained away why they don't directly come into harm's way or some other setup.

Missed Opportunity to Shake the Status Quo: Finally, I think the big thing I also denied my world was the chance to evolve it around an unfortunate outcome. Just look at how awesome it was when Ned Stark got it in Game of Thrones. It's a shocking twist, certainly, but it really drove home the feeling that the world moves under its own power instead of the author's. It's not true, of course. But that illusion is key in making an enthralling read AND an enthralling game.

Disruptions like the death of an NPC, particularly one the PCs witness, can be a catalyst for antagonist goal advancement AND a disruption of the status quo around the PCs. So not only do the bad guys advance but the good king now hates you for not saving the knight.

A Possible Fix...And A Suprise!

To remedy this problem, I turned to some of the RPG Discords I am on and was handed a really nice solution, which has since been turned into a blog post: Mindstorm's Quick Stakes for Tense Situations.

Exactly what I was looking for. And I set up my own table below.

It provides plenty of player choice to decide what would happen, leaving some up to chance and forcing some hard decisions. I even ramped it up by allowing players only 3 free choices before they had to move some into the WILL NOT HAPPEN category in order to remove remaining items into the WILL HAPPEN.

My players ended up deciding that both the monster and cultist WILL NOT be killed in order to ensure no PC was grievously wounded, and they saved Ambrose. But in the end, we were able to actually get everyone at the game, breaking the no-game curse.

How the fight actually went down is that they were able to save Ambrose, kill the monster, and the cultist got away- ah well- time for a new villain!

FRIDAY NIGHT DUNGEON DRAFT: Editing Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord Rooms 01 to 06

 

CONTEXT & GOALS

I have a slight fascination with understanding how much creative mileage one can get out of the Basic D&D and a couple of sheets of graph paper. I hold this idea that a DM of minimal experience should be able to hammer out a dungeon with the creative energy of Monday bored-in-class and have a good time running it Friday night. But I might be putting too much faith in random stocking and shooting-from-the-hip ideas. There is a reason both Moldvey and the Designing Dungeons Course councils are brainstorming key items, monsters, and locations as anchors when building a dungeon. Those central idea provide thematic & aesthetic guidance for the dungeon.

So to test, I grabbed a Dyson map, the Dolmenwood campaign for flavor, and started stocking with an eye toward speed-to-play, not quality-for-publication. I also took each set of rooms, six at a time, to hopefully create unified micro-areas.

But what would be interesting would be to blog an editing pass at this dungeon. What works and doesn't? What happens when you lean on a random stocking? And what are 3 things I can do to improve each section without a full re-write? I don't think I've seen this done before. And I want your comments below too!

CRYPT of the MERMAID'S ANCHOR (Pg 3)

Link to the Draft Document: Six Doors of the Forgotten Lord

Key Detail: Room 01 is a key dungeon entrance, so I rolled a on the heraldry table and got a mermaid motif- sea theme it is!

Inital Treasure Total: 900gp, no magic items

Initial Problems: 

1. Too Hostile: The six rooms have a total of 9 hostile skeletons, which feels too intense for 1st-level characters right in the first set of rooms. It promotes as sorta look-and-leave stance with little exploration. We want to draw players in.

2. Boring Treasure: The secret door is not too hard to find, and yields a helpful MU NPC, but not really an exciting treasure. They discovered a secret, so let’s get the fantastical rolling

3. Door to Nowhere: There is also a frozen fountain, 3 skeletons trapped in the ice, and a visible staircase which leads to a “level 2”- however, I don’t have that planned.

Edits to Punch It Up:

1. Unexpected Hostilities: How about behind the north door are zombie mermaids that spit freezing salt water? The skeletons around the frozen fountain will be inert, but those in the west coffins will only attack if the south door is kicked in. Honestly, maybe we should have more zombie mermaids in lieu of skeletons, which were rolled on the random encounter table

2. Thematic Treasure: Okay, so they fight off 4-6 enemies, so let's give something cool. I made a list of treasures that is under 600 gp- on of these is a wizard pipe. This wizard accidentally fell asleep so maybe a spilled bag of sleeping sand (as sleep; 1 dose left). And since we have a sorta pirate theme, how about a treasure map- which is not often seen any modern modules. Because these treasures aesthetically match other elements in this area, I think players will be triggered to spin off conclusions about how the items all connect. Maybe those musings can be DM fodder.

3. One-Way Portal Fountain: Hmm, since I don’t have a 2nd level here, perhaps we can turn this into a one-way portal. One-way doors were also a feature of older dungeons, but I don’t see often now. So let’s pick an interesting place that maybe has a mirror or have them just fall through the ceiling somewhere else. Or maybe a ship moored somewhere else- a micro-dungeon?

Final Thoughts

Undead mermaids are just plain more exciting. A one-way portal feels "WTF!" from the player side, but surprising. But the treasure needs better work. I still like the idea of releasing a PC who becomes a part of the base town.

EXTRACTION SHOOTERS: The New Dungeon Crawl?

A play report from a recent run in MARATHON.

***

I've accepted a contract from CYAC in return for gear, but importantly, an introduction to TRAXUS, another corp trying to claw a return back from their investment in the failed Tau Ceti colony.

IN ONE RUN [DIRE MARSH]:

[_] Hack the terminal at Intersection, Complex, or Bio-Research

[_] Acquire the Shipping Manifest from UESC Commander

[_] Scan the nearby stacked shipping container before it is picked up

***

I drop [ASSASSIN shell] in around MAINTENANCE with a TRAXUS-sponsored pack. Killed twice before with gear. Now I'm running the absolute minimum: gun, ammo, shield pack, and patch kit. Left with 6 open slots in my backpack.

I make a wide loop east around AI UPLINK, then north to COMPLEX, and specifically CMPLX-3 managing heat. Along the way I am grabbing mainly extra shields/health and any blue/purple items of value. My cloaking ability helps me get past most forces. I pick up a V11 PUNCH along the way.

At CMPLX-3, I realize the terminal is on a second story (good), outside walkway (bad). I'll be exposed to UESC robots as well as runners. Cloaking I complete the easy part- hacking the terminal.

An alarm goes off (very bad) and the UESC security drops (bad but the second objective).

I pick off the 3 "recruit" robots (lots of noise) and take a few potshots at the commander. I realize if I don't get aggressive, other runners will get in the area and pop me.

I heal up and drop down among the shipping containers, then throw out my smokes disks blanketing the area around the commander. It has an icon above its head, so I can unload slightly below it, and it can't really get a bead on me. A series of icon flutter overhead, shields crack, dozens of hit markers, V11 ammo gone, and finally an 8-bit skull icon- commander dead. I grab the shipping manifest card.

I want to loot the slag heap of UESC force, but I'm almost dead, and I made so much noise. Plus I have 3:00 minutes to find and scan the shipping container. Tucking myself in a small corner, I begin to heal but freeze when I hear the tell-tale rapid put*put*put*put of runner's feet.

$%&^(*! Just when I was done with this damn contract.

Fortunately, my cloak is ready, so pulling it on, I slowly creep to my right and catch a VANDAL shell coming up a ramp. I am a second earlier and unload my AR, shields break, and I hear an "ahhhgg!" on the proximity mic. Finish them off with a knife.

That was yet more noise! More potential runners.

I scramble to loot any health and ammo. No better shields- damn. But a better backpack +8 slots. Clean up the scrap in the UESC pile. Worried about time, I scramble to the shipping containers. Again, I have to climb up and be exposed with no cloak, no smoke, and little health. SCAN COMPLETE.

$%&^(*! ME! I scamper down and take a blissfully easy EXFIL out covered by smoke that had recharged on my tense run to the EXFIL.

Total IRL time [minutes]: 10:00
***

Perhaps I don't want my D&D games to feel exactly like MARATHON. They are short, tense affairs. But I do find the choice-making in extration shooters and dungeon crawls to be strikingly similar. And I've felt this way ever since I played my first extraction shooter.

This new type of FPS really does capture the essence of slot-based encumbrance with backpack and loadout evaluated against items you find by looking: loot, weapons, ammo, and health. 

You are dropped off in a large, open location that becomes familiar over many live-die-repeat cycles. You have to avoid traps, random encounters (computer NPCs), and other adventuring parties (live players). Time, noise, and resources all have to be managed. Also, how much risk are you willing to take?

What you grab and extract with helps you level up with factions and afford better gear which allows better chance of success next run. Now MARATHON had a few nice ways of bestowing some gear and completing quests (contracts) without requiring 100% exfil success every time. This is nice.

There have been digital dungeon crawls before extraction shooters- DOOM is the big one. But extraction shooters seem to really bring it all together, including the town-dungeon-town loop! I wonder if there are lessons to be learned from these games, which took so much from D&D, that could be brought back to fantasy adventure games? What are the key elements?

I'll leave that question open instead of further lengthening this post with attempted mechanics. I'm not even sure I know what I even want to add. I claim not the intensity and instead the importance of the choice- what to grab, how long to linger, loot vs objective.

But don't we already have those in RPGs? What are they missing? Or how do we make those elements more exciting?

RATLINGS NOT HALFLINGS: Or Why Beast Folk Are Better Than Demihumans

I bought some tengu from Reaper the other day just because I've always enjoyed corvid-folk and thought they would be a good miniature to have on hand. I even had a half idea about a "cleric" for these crow folks. For quick use in BX D&D, I might just stat as a halfing.

But the minatures really got me thinking about how much I like beast-folk over demi-humans in terms of class alternatives to humans for fantasy adventure campaigns. In fact, I think beast-folk have three specific advantages over humans because animals are: familiar & symbolic, mortal, and have extraordinary (but not supernatural) abilities.

Familiar & Symbolic

In terms of roleplay, its going to be easier understanding animals or animal-folks, than to imagine and role-play an immortal elf.  Animals occupy our homes, surround us, and have been with most of us throughout many aspects of our lives. 

Humans also have centuries of animal worship, either as god figures themselves, or as something adjacent to. They are central to our fables, parables, and tall tales. They are used to embody the qualities of our sports teams, from the strong to the ferocious to the quick. And they continue to be stand-ins for human personalities and class positions in pop culture, especially in animation or puppetry.

This all means that most humans can see an animal and describe its symbolic qualities, goals, and weaknesses far quicker than most any other non-human representation. For instance, if you show someone the picture of a lion, they most likely will list symbolic qualities: brave and strong, but also prideful and arrogant, with a desire to be king. Or at least give you very well-known characteristics of the literal animal itself.

Mortality & Other

Easy to sleep all day when your lifespan is 500+ years

The biggest issues for me with two common demi-human races, elves and dwarves, is that each is near-immortal or at least have increadbly long life spans. This singular facet would radically change one's stance on almost every problem. Immortality lends itself to patience, thoughtfulness, and overplanning. Years can be spent in pondering and consensus-making. For human players, time-as-a-factor is baked into all of our lives. D&D itself, these days, is a 2-4 hour, once-weekly game because time is a factor. So, I don't think human players can truly can model this behavior arising from immortality, consistantly, in a game. Animals on the other hand, are mortal and actually often more short-lived. But on the relevant timeline to fictional elves/dwarves, humans and animals are practically the same. 

Short lives promote: action, risk-taking, decisiveness, and impulsiveness. All of which makes for a good session of dungeon crawling and D&D in general.

Extraordinary, But Not Supernatural, Abilities (Maybe)

Most animals have senses and abilities that far exceed those of a human. And because many of them evolved for survival, they often are oriented around solving an environmental problem- avoiding detection, and/or tracking prey- so very gamable! For instance, a dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than a human's. A cat cannot see in total darkness, but requires only 1/6th the light of a human to see their surroundings and can survive falls up to 30 stories, versus a human's 4 stories.

Now, sure, it's not like players really understand what it's like to see through a hawk's eyes. But these abilities are not supernatural at a base level and so can easily be understood in fictional situations e.g. a dog can smell through a door, but may not smell the ghosts on the other side as they are incorporeal.

However, looping back to the familiar symbolism, some animal qualities could be cast on a "mythic" level, such as a salamander's fire resistance or foxes' natural ability to lie. Yet, again, these are abilities are still well understood by human players.

But I Like Beast-headed Humans Even More

Fortunately, there are some great beast folk already out there. Miranda of In Places Deep has some wonderful froglings. Carcass Crawler #5 has ratlings, which are cool and have a prehensile tail! And even Dolmenwood has a sorta cat and bat class in the grimalkin and woodgrue. Although the last two are technically fay and might bring on the problems above.

I have personally always enjoyed the idea of beast-headed humans. In particular, when the transformation is a curse bestowed on a human by the fay for some justified or trivial transgression. To me, this bestows the PC with a goal- to undo the curse. But it is also a very visible mark that the fictional world can react to. Which is often neglected in D&D, how your PC appears should affect how NPCs react to them. Much like it would in the real world.

And again, its even easier to role-play than a human-sized animal. What if you were you, but cursed to wear the head of an animal? You gain some abilities due to this new transformation, but also a set of assumptions and are an outcast.

Beast-headed Humans Or The Fay-Cursed

Too boorish, too clever, too desperate, and/or too ignorant to understand what you were agreeing to, who you were talking back to, or who you were stealing from, so you now wear a heraldic animal head as a mark and punishment.

Weapons & Armor: As Dwarf HD: At level 1, roll 2d8 and take the highest die; 1d8 per level there after Saves: As Dwarf Experience: As Dwarf Special Abilities:

Animal Senses: All beast-heads have a 2-in-6 to listen and smell, and a candle can provide as much light to see as a torch, but they cannot see in total darkness.

Curse: During character creation, roll 1d12 to determine what fate has befallen your PC.

1. Lion- Once a month, you may command a number of normal man-types (half your CHA) that will perform, with great bravery, one task. Afterward, they become lazy, indolent, and rest on their laurels, telling grand tales about what they did.
2. Stag- You can sleep in the woods as comfortably as you can in an inn. If you do so, the animals of the forest will tell you rumors of what is happening in all directions. Hunters believe your heart will grant them a wish.
3. Wolf- If you are clad in the skin of a sheep or the clothing of a grandmother, people will believe you are that until you attack. Children and dogs will have their deep suspicions. Abandoned by humans, you are embraced by the pack, you may call for a number of wolves equal to your hireling count by CHA
4. Fox- You can lie with ease. But no one will believe you when telling the truth. Any lie told in the service of the truth will backfire (e.g. Telling people there is gold in the well to rescue a trapped baby will delay rescue of the baby as people ask more about the gold).
5. Eagle- You are vigilant and a fierce guardian, if you fill 3 slots of encumbrance with the object/person you are in charge of protecting, you gain the ability to interpose between them and a threat as well as gain +2 AC when defending; if in a room for a week, you are only surprised on a 1 there. Horses hate you and your presence.
6. Pard- All royalty will be willing to believe you are a lost heir (3d6 under CHA). Their current children will think the opposite, and it's difficult to erase this suspicion.
7. Rat- Any item a normal rat can carry can be brought to you in roughly 3 moons, provided it is something left unattended and you are in a location with rats. Mice are too provincial and Giant rats too unruly to command. Most people will assume your presence naturally fouls the air.
8. Bull- Duplicate your highest ability score in STR or if it is highest, add 1. No normal dungeon door can impede you and you are good at mazes. However, you are easily goaded into a fight (Save vs spells to avoid), and you will break anything delicate.
9. Boar- You require twice as much food, rest, poison, or potion. Even a basilisk must look at you twice. And by that same token, demand twice as much reward, gratitude, or grace. However, you are twice as generous than most. And require twice as many buttons to keep your shirt on.
10. Raven- You wear the head of a bird that exists both here and beyond; as such, you can sense the undead as others can hear noise (2-in-6). And a good mimic, you can cast first-level non-divine spells you see and hear.
11. Goat or Donkey- Contrarian as a profession. You can never be commanded and infact, if commanded, you will refuse to do it. Even a harpy’s song, a siren’s call, or a wizard's charm will not get you to move.
12. Tygr- If you declare "I strike!", then you may move up to 20' and make a free melee attack at advantage, criting on a 19-20. If you discuss the use of this ability in the open, you must attack at disadvantage. You must then remain engaged with the target until you or it dies. People fine your gaze unnerving as if you are always on edge.

Stronghold: At 8th level, if you occupy a ruined keep deep in the woods, you will attract the following:

• Stronghold Lieutenants (roll 1d6): 1-2. Giant Talking Animal of Head-Type 3-4. Chaotic Figher (level 4 + 1d4) 5-6. 2d4 Fay Rakes (Hardly lift a hand, but throw good parties)
• Stronghold Guard: 3d6 x10 1HD brigands (75% human and 25% hound-headed)
• If there are 3+ levels, Stronghold Residents (roll 1d6, assume number as lair of monster type): 1. Werewolves 2. Hill Giant 3. Purple Wyrm 4. Minotaurs 5. Questing Beast 6. Wicked Trents

DECLARE ACTIONS: Communicating The Stakes For Interesting Combat Choices

DECLARE SPELLS & RETREATS

A funny little rule that always trips up MUs, neophyte and acolyte alike, is the need for spells (and retreats) to be declared before initiative is rolled. A runner-up, especially for players new to old-school games, is that MUs cannot move while casting a spell.

This is a very easy step to overlook, but it becomes important when high damage, long-range spells like fireball and lightning bolt (or earlier with sleep) appear. This is because if an MU is hit while casting a spell, the spellcasting is ruined and the spell is lost until memorized again. If the MU is not required to declare they are casting a spell, then it is possible for the spell to always be deployed optimally with little risk.

I like this rule, even though I screw it up all the time, for three reasons: (1) primarily it places any MU as a temporary "objective" in the combat space, (2) secondarily, while frustrating when trying to cast magic missle, it is an important limitation when casting fireball or disintegrate (on a failed save, target [any] is instantly destroyed), (3) finally it pulls away from a "optimal course of action" preserving an un-optimal state is importatnt in preserving some of the tension of old-school dungeon crawling

But much like the overloaded encounter die or random encounters as RAM, what if we broadened the declarations under this step to include other special actions/effects/events?

DECLARE ACTIONS

A big aspect of DMing today's old-school games (and really most RPGs in general) is to give the players more information rather than less. Into the ODD, for instance, extols: "The more dangerous something is, the more obvious it is." But a conundrum might be when does a DM signal something? How do we prevent a maneuver, environmental effect, or spell-like effect from being a "gotcha!" by only triggering it during the monster's turn?

By co-opting the "declare spells" portion of the encounter, we can load useful & open information into stake-setting before the initiative die roll. A byproduct is that we further increase the tension around the initiative die, drawing in player attention. The players are then required to make an important decision based on the enemy's actions.

Classic examples of things we might want to declare beyond spells:

• Breath Attack: The dragon inhales, its throat and chest glowing a fire red
• Sound Alarm: Captain of the Guard raises the horn to his lips
• Charge Attack: Scenting you, the minataur bellows and drops its head
• Set Spears: "We if that thing is gonna charge, I'll set my spear"

The classic examples above are expected actions from monsters are well known to players. Where I think "Declare Actions!" could be more useful is when a DM wants to use something from a novel monster or make up something on the fly:

• Designating a PC as a target or perhaps their backpacks
• Signaling that the area the PCs are currently standing in is changing
• Alerting PCs that reinforcements are arriving through a particular entrance
• Show that a monster/NPC will initiate a phase (either attack/defence)

In each of the instances above, the PCs will have an interesting choice to make, assuming they win the initiative roll. Do they choose to protect the PC who drew the monster's ire? Will they remain in place or opt to not to cast spells and move? Do they now move toward the sorcerer or do they guard against this gnoll guards coming through the arcway? Finally, do they proceed with the same attack or do they try to prepare for a new form?

So, while not ground-breaking in concept, this small modification or codification to a procedure you are already doing might help provide more dynamic space to your old-school games.