I know what it is like to be a first level Magic-User in 1st edition AD&D. You get one spell a day. One. And you better make it count. Up to the point you use that spell, and for the entirety of the day afterward, your goal and sole focus is to Not Die. Not easy when you only get 1d4 hit points and aren't allowed any armor to wear. True, there were lots of spells to choose from, but you wouldn't think of wasting your one spell of the day on something like Audible Glamer (sic) or Dancing Lights. It was either Sleep, Charm, or maybe Magic Missile. There were those that liked Burning Hands, but not me.
I was overjoyed with the rules in 4th edition for Cantrips. Simple spells with utilitarian applications that could be used as often as the caster wishes! And, combined with Arcana as a Skill, you no longer had to commit daily spells to Detect Magic or Read Magic. Concept! I also liked the idea of Rituals. Now, big ticket spells could be done outside of the basic spells-per-day, but they took plenty of time to do, and included a cost outlay in required ingredients.
Here is how I chose to adapt these concepts to spell casting in my reworking of the AD&D rules:
Clerics will have certain spells that can be cast as Rituals, corresponding to their duties as agents of their Demigod and as the leader of their religious order. Such spells as Ceremony should be able to be performed for religious supplicants regardless of whatever else they chose spell-wise for the day. As such, Clerics will use some rituals, but not as many as Magic-Users. Other spells they cast may seem to be rituals (like Astral Spell) in the time it takes to cast and money outlay, but due to their powerful nature they must be chosen as part of the daily limit.
Druids have very few rituals (save Ceremony), but the nice part of their type of Magic is the utilitarian nature of it. They need their mistletoe for components, but other than that very few hard-to-find or costly material components are required. They are the bare-knuckle, less fussy alternative to Clerical magic. And they get all sorts of special abilities as they advance in levels that Clerics don't.
Magic-Users get the best of all worlds: Cantrips, Spell Magic and Rituals. A number of spells serve dual purpose as both daily spells and rituals. This helps differentiate the deliberate scribing of a Magic Circle to protect against a summoned elemental from the hastily scrawled chalk pentagram used to ward off a pursuing Demon. The first is a Ritual requiring lots of time and material outlay, while the latter is a hastily cast spell with limited materials, but both are just your basic Protection from Evil spell. For Magic-Users, choose your spells carefully, and feel free to improvise their adaptation to 'off-label' use. Have a pesky Earth Elemental? Try casting Dig and see what happens!
Illusionists are the red-headed step children of the AD&D class system. They get the fewest spells to choose from, the majority of which are described in the most abstract of terms. In my reworking of the AD&D rules, Illusionists get their own Cantrips, but do not have access to Rituals. Instead, they get something no one else gets: the ability to choose their spells on the fly. The time that Magic-Users would spend 'memorizing', or that Clerics or Druids would spend 'praying', Illusionists instead spend 'practicing'. They need to practice for a length of time to have the ability to cast a given number of spells in a day, but you don't need to choose the spell until you cast it. You get three first-level spells in a day? Great! They can be three Phantasmal Forces, or a Change Self and two Spooks. You know it, you can cast it as you see fit without declaring it ahead of time, as long as you have all the necessary spell materials. They may have the fewest spells, but now they have the most versatility of all the spell casters!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Skills: What To Do When Not Beating on Orcs
As I mentioned in the first post on this blog, I really didn't like the combat-only focus of the original AD&D rules. The original skill system offered in the Survival Guides was really basic and not usable for anything aside from the most simplistic of tasks.
I've taken the skill format from 4th edition D&D and added many more skills to boot. Each character class offers many different skill types as basic training. Characters such as Thieves and Assassins will now be able to customize their advancement in the skills that they find interesting, while downplaying those that they may not choose to use as much. Now anyone with Perception can attempt to spot a trap, but only those with Traps skill can disarm them. Anyone can attempt to be sneaky with Stealth, but the traditionally sneaky classes will be the most effective at it.
As a result, characters will be defined by their skills as much or more so than the weapons they use.
I've taken the skill format from 4th edition D&D and added many more skills to boot. Each character class offers many different skill types as basic training. Characters such as Thieves and Assassins will now be able to customize their advancement in the skills that they find interesting, while downplaying those that they may not choose to use as much. Now anyone with Perception can attempt to spot a trap, but only those with Traps skill can disarm them. Anyone can attempt to be sneaky with Stealth, but the traditionally sneaky classes will be the most effective at it.
As a result, characters will be defined by their skills as much or more so than the weapons they use.
Combat: More Than Just a Beat-Down
In order to make combat flow more realistically, I opted for a 10-second combat round rather than the old-school 1-minute round. I also adopted the action-per-round model from 4th edition D&D, namely the Attack, the Move, the Minor Action and the Free action.
There is also more to do when attacking than just basic striking. I've worked in rules for parrying, for the use of shields to both attack and parry, and detailed how to grab, how to grapple, how to push, how to charge and slam a target, and how to defend against charges. I've included the use of threatened squares and opportunity attacks from 4th edition, and included descriptions of every weapon and armor in the game. I am also using the 'Weapons vs. Armor Type' table from 1st edition AD&D, as this really makes a difference in what armor characters would choose to wear, as well as what weapons they choose to use.
Weapon specialization follows that found in Baldur's Gate, with the addition of each weapon offering unique abilities as levels of specialization are gained. Fighters gain in specialization faster than all other classes, and are the only ones who can become a Grand-Master in a particular weapon.
Now combat involves strategy. What to wear, what to wield, how to wield it, how to advance, where to face, and how to defend. Combat is much more dynamic now, and much more interesting.
There is also more to do when attacking than just basic striking. I've worked in rules for parrying, for the use of shields to both attack and parry, and detailed how to grab, how to grapple, how to push, how to charge and slam a target, and how to defend against charges. I've included the use of threatened squares and opportunity attacks from 4th edition, and included descriptions of every weapon and armor in the game. I am also using the 'Weapons vs. Armor Type' table from 1st edition AD&D, as this really makes a difference in what armor characters would choose to wear, as well as what weapons they choose to use.
Weapon specialization follows that found in Baldur's Gate, with the addition of each weapon offering unique abilities as levels of specialization are gained. Fighters gain in specialization faster than all other classes, and are the only ones who can become a Grand-Master in a particular weapon.
Now combat involves strategy. What to wear, what to wield, how to wield it, how to advance, where to face, and how to defend. Combat is much more dynamic now, and much more interesting.
AD&D: A Work in Progress
I've been playing RPGs for years. Back when I was 10 years old, I got the Basic D&D boxed set, and set about teaching myself the rules of the game. I was always eager to play, but the friends I hung out with throughout much of grade school were much less inclined to gaming. They might have enjoyed the occasional adventure, but were never excited about any sort of long term campaign.
Things changed when I got into middle-school. Andy Collins (who works for Wizards of the Coast now, BTW) got a group of like-minded folks together and ran an epic AD&D campaign. I got to play a Magic-User, and the campaign covered the totality of the T 1-4 modules, the A 1-4 modules, and wrapping up with the GDQ1-7 modules. Now, previously, I had collected the A and GDQ modules as separates, but with the creation of The Temple of Elemental Evil, all these modules were combined into one mega campaign that took characters up from first level to near demi-god status.
Later on in high school, I got back to being the Game Master myself. I ran T 1-4 for another group of high-school friends, and when I went off to college, I ran it again there. I enjoyed the story and the setting, but the more I played, the more I realized the limitations of AD&D as presented. As I found other RPGs to play and compare it to, the more I was able to define those problems.
For all its talk about 'role playing', AD&D was only designed for combat. Period. The initial rules didn't even offer any skills outside of basic combat and spells. This was remedied slightly with the release of the Dungeoneers' Survival Guide and the Wilderness Survival Guide, but those skill lists were extremely primitive and lackluster.
There also was the basic imbalance of power in the character classes. At first level, Fighters and their sub-classes were all-powerful. Even then, they were the most two-dimensional of all classes. There wasn't even weapon specialization until Unearthed Arcana was released, and even those rules were fairly bare bones. So, as powerful as Fighters were compared to other classes at first, their entire adventuring career consisted solely of saying 'I attack' over and over again.
Other classes may have some special abilities to fall back on, but first level was all about surviving, not adventuring. The thought was the weakest of characters (namely Magic-Users), if they put in their time adventuring, would eventually become the strongest of characters. This didn't work out so well. True, Magic-Users ended up with some earth-shakingly powerful magic, but at the higher levels, all the monsters you meet ended up with resistances to spell results, or to Magic entirely, making everything you tried to do as a Magic-User useless.
Hands-down, my favorite role-playing game system is GURPS. It is very rule intensive compared to systems like AD&D, but I admire them for there approach. They set out to make a physical model of the gaming universe, and have all actions defined within that model. Characters could attempt anything, and there were rules for how to execute those actions. As much as I love this system, it is crushingly realistic. This takes away from the high-fantasy element lots of people like when playing games like AD&D. I may one day get to indulge my GURPS campaign dreams, but there is the need to give the players something they want to do, rather than being a tyrant of a game master.
I got back to looking at the AD&D rules and, as many have done before, attempted to tweak them into some semblance of order. I included rules that allowed for tactics, decision-making and character building. Rules that differentiated weapons, so there was a reason to use a flail instead of a longsword. Rules that provided a workable skill system that offered depth and knowledge to characters. Rules that looked at weapons as a means of defense as well as offense. Basically, rules that breathed life back into a stale system.
I believe I have managed to do so. The changes and tweaks I've made have drawn from the first, second and fourth editions of AD&D (including some rules from the Baldur's Gate AD&D video game) and elements from GURPS as well. I have expanded the skills and actions available to characters allowing everyone to have a character that can be engaged and of value at any level of experience, while keeping the high-fantasy feel and easy playability that were the hallmarks of the original system. In short, this is the version of AD&D that I've always wanted to play.
I bought many adventures with my allowance growing up, and wrote as many others. Many never got to see the light of day, and others were started never to be finished. I think I have everything in order to dust off these adventures and give them another go.
A while ago, I mentioned that autumn always feels like 'orc-killing weather'. The cold air, the fall colors, the low angle sunshine (when there is any) and the early dark in the evenings all seem somehow quite dramatic and slightly sinister, but in a good way. It always puts me in the mood for gaming, and this blog and the information contained within is the result of that mood for this year. Read on if you are interested, and let me know what you think. More posts to follow.
-Mike Keith
Things changed when I got into middle-school. Andy Collins (who works for Wizards of the Coast now, BTW) got a group of like-minded folks together and ran an epic AD&D campaign. I got to play a Magic-User, and the campaign covered the totality of the T 1-4 modules, the A 1-4 modules, and wrapping up with the GDQ1-7 modules. Now, previously, I had collected the A and GDQ modules as separates, but with the creation of The Temple of Elemental Evil, all these modules were combined into one mega campaign that took characters up from first level to near demi-god status.
Later on in high school, I got back to being the Game Master myself. I ran T 1-4 for another group of high-school friends, and when I went off to college, I ran it again there. I enjoyed the story and the setting, but the more I played, the more I realized the limitations of AD&D as presented. As I found other RPGs to play and compare it to, the more I was able to define those problems.
For all its talk about 'role playing', AD&D was only designed for combat. Period. The initial rules didn't even offer any skills outside of basic combat and spells. This was remedied slightly with the release of the Dungeoneers' Survival Guide and the Wilderness Survival Guide, but those skill lists were extremely primitive and lackluster.
There also was the basic imbalance of power in the character classes. At first level, Fighters and their sub-classes were all-powerful. Even then, they were the most two-dimensional of all classes. There wasn't even weapon specialization until Unearthed Arcana was released, and even those rules were fairly bare bones. So, as powerful as Fighters were compared to other classes at first, their entire adventuring career consisted solely of saying 'I attack' over and over again.
Other classes may have some special abilities to fall back on, but first level was all about surviving, not adventuring. The thought was the weakest of characters (namely Magic-Users), if they put in their time adventuring, would eventually become the strongest of characters. This didn't work out so well. True, Magic-Users ended up with some earth-shakingly powerful magic, but at the higher levels, all the monsters you meet ended up with resistances to spell results, or to Magic entirely, making everything you tried to do as a Magic-User useless.
Hands-down, my favorite role-playing game system is GURPS. It is very rule intensive compared to systems like AD&D, but I admire them for there approach. They set out to make a physical model of the gaming universe, and have all actions defined within that model. Characters could attempt anything, and there were rules for how to execute those actions. As much as I love this system, it is crushingly realistic. This takes away from the high-fantasy element lots of people like when playing games like AD&D. I may one day get to indulge my GURPS campaign dreams, but there is the need to give the players something they want to do, rather than being a tyrant of a game master.
I got back to looking at the AD&D rules and, as many have done before, attempted to tweak them into some semblance of order. I included rules that allowed for tactics, decision-making and character building. Rules that differentiated weapons, so there was a reason to use a flail instead of a longsword. Rules that provided a workable skill system that offered depth and knowledge to characters. Rules that looked at weapons as a means of defense as well as offense. Basically, rules that breathed life back into a stale system.
I believe I have managed to do so. The changes and tweaks I've made have drawn from the first, second and fourth editions of AD&D (including some rules from the Baldur's Gate AD&D video game) and elements from GURPS as well. I have expanded the skills and actions available to characters allowing everyone to have a character that can be engaged and of value at any level of experience, while keeping the high-fantasy feel and easy playability that were the hallmarks of the original system. In short, this is the version of AD&D that I've always wanted to play.
I bought many adventures with my allowance growing up, and wrote as many others. Many never got to see the light of day, and others were started never to be finished. I think I have everything in order to dust off these adventures and give them another go.
A while ago, I mentioned that autumn always feels like 'orc-killing weather'. The cold air, the fall colors, the low angle sunshine (when there is any) and the early dark in the evenings all seem somehow quite dramatic and slightly sinister, but in a good way. It always puts me in the mood for gaming, and this blog and the information contained within is the result of that mood for this year. Read on if you are interested, and let me know what you think. More posts to follow.
-Mike Keith
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