Lost Realms House rules (Basic Fantasy)

Here is a few rules changes I made to Basic fantasy to get the feel I wanted for my lost realms game.

1. All characters start with hit points equal to their Con score plus their level. Fighters and Clerics gain a 5hp bonus.
At levels 5,10,15, & 20 fighters and clerics get a +2 hit point bonus.

2. Spells that scale. Spells like fireball that normally scale a die per level now scale a die + 1 per level of the caster.

3. Spell focus. A spell user can Choose a spell to cast, but instead choose to focus the spell delaying its effect. For every turn the spell is delayed add +1 to the damage and difficulty to save against when the spell does go off. If the caster is attacked or otherwise distracted during a focus they must make an Int save to maintain focus.

4. All characters can choose to make a defensive action. Adding +1 to their AC until the beginning of the characters next turn. 

5. Recovery roll. After a combat any character who receives triage, Small breather, stop bleeding, bandage wounds gains one hit die in hit points.

Rebuke Undead.

I have never been a fan of Turn undead ability for clerics. Undead fleeing and running around a dungeon just doesn't fit my setting. So here is my alternative I'm going to try. 

Good clerics can rebuke undead, Calling on the name of his god to smite those abominations of unlife.

All undead in the presence of the cleric at the time of the rebuke must bake a save. Only creatures the same HD of the level of the caster are effected. All saves are made at a penalty of the level of the cleric.

All undead who fail its save take 1D4+the level of the caster.
All undead that fail its save with a roll of 2-3 take 1D4x the level of the caster.
All undead that fail its save with a roll of 1 are instantly destroyed.


For those that use the reverse of spells for evil priests can use this spell as a mass heal spell to controlled or summoned undead. Just reverse the damage as damage healed.

All undead who make its save its healed 1D4+the level of the caster.
All undead that make its save with a natural roll of 18-19 is healed 1D4x the level of the caster.
All undead that make its save with a natural roll of 20 are instantly healed to its max HP.

Arcane Dart

Arcane Dart, Level 0 Magic user
R 150 ft.       D instant
With a gesture, the caster sends a Dart of pure arcane power from his finger tip. The damage of the dart increases as the caster gains level. 2 damage for a caster of levels 1-4. 1d4 damage for a caster of levels 5-8. 1d6 damage for a caster of levels 9+. The material component is a small chip of moon wood with the symbol for arcana inscribed into it. Moon wood chip can often be purchased for 20 for a 10 silver. Moon wood is increasingly hard to find in some areas and prices with vary.

Classic Monsters, Castles and Crusades

(Im going to do this in 2 parts, Part1 is me rambling as I do, Part2 is my review)

Part 1.
I have said many times on this blog that I'm totally immune to nostalgia. I would never play a game out of nostalgia. My only interest in OSR games are out of my interest in simple fun systems.

 That being said, classic monsters just delivered a one two punch of nostalgia. I started gaming with a single 1E advanced Dungeons and Dragons players handbook. My collection grew over time to include five to six 1E books and a hand full of 2E books.

My taste in monsters has always been of the undead variety. my first flip through I stopped on a few of my old favorites. Apparition, Crypt thing, Dark creeper, Dark stalker, Huecuva, and so many more. My mind flashed back to games I ran so many years ago. We would start playing right after school on a Friday night, And we didn't stop till the sun was up the next day. This is the first product to date to truly make me feel nostalgia.

Part 2.
First off the MSRP of the book is $24.99. Its a hardbound and 144 pages. Also available on Kindle for $9.99. Written by Kim Hartsfield. Cover by Sarah Walker. With art from Peter Bradly, Sarah Walker, and Jason Walton. Edited by Tim Burns.

The cover is full color with black and white interior. The first seven pages are an explanation of what monsters are and how to read the stat blocks. There is a chart for figuring experience. And a page with simple and easy guidelines for creating monsters.

The individual monster art is very reminiscent of 1E AD&D. Some are very simple line sketches and others are small portraits. None of the small art attacked to a write-ups are overly exiting. But none of them are bad either. All of them look like good examples of the attached write-up. On the other hand all of the full page art is very nice.

Where classic monsters really shines to me is the individual monster write ups. Each has plenty of ecology, giving the CK plenty of ideas on how to add and where to add these monsters. Classic monsters adds a "combat" entry, explaining how the monster will act in combat. This is great, especially for first time CKs.
This is a page right out of the 4E monster manual (making the 4E MM one of the best books for the 4E system.). And combat entries is what makes this product for me. It makes classic monsters stand out among all the retro clone, nostalgia, and OSR monster books.

It has been pointed out to me that there was some popular monsters among its omissions like devils and demons. For me personally this is not an issue, in 20 years of gaming I have never used them.

Over all I would recommend Classic monsters. While it has that classic feel. It also has a touch of innovation. Taking the best of the past and adding more utility to it. That to me is what Castles and Crusades in all about.

% Skill system for OSR games.

This Idea kind came to me when thinking of a simple skill system for S&W or OSRIC. My Idea is to port over how percentile systems like basic roleplaying system or Rune Quest do skills. All skills start as 3, 5 or Cant be used unskilled. Most all unskilled skills start at 2 with the first skill point applied. 

Skill points are applied to the starting value of a skill. Then attribute bonuses are added to get the number needed to roll. For example Aurstin a ranger has the tracking skill. Being a ranger he starts with a base skill of 5. He has applied 4 of his starting skill points to tracking. Aurstin has a wisdom bonus of +1. So his total skill level is 5+4+1= 10. So on a roll of 10 or under Austin's skill check would be a success.

One of the reasons I really like this is because I use attribute checks for most on the fly rolls. This would unify most of my d20 mechanics for these systems.

The Only was to truly unify all d20 rolls is to use a form of descending Armor class with a roll under system. Interesting. Very interesting.

Retro clones and classic games.

I have been reading OSRIC, Swords and Wizardry, And a few other retro clones. Beings that I started playing with 1e AD&D I really enjoyed seeing OSRIC in print. Swords and Wizardry is a retro clone of Basic D&D or what is often referred to as 0e. While I never played or ran basic I did own a set of the box sets. While I love the nostalgia of reading them. I just don't have a desire to play them. I really am not some one who needs the new shinny game. And my tastes really are more inline with simpler and lighter rule systems now more than at any other time. Gone are the days when I used to love Complex systems and number crunching.

The problem is I think is since the days of my AD&D dungeon crawls and dragon slaying a lot has changed in gaming. With so many systems based on this system. Adding feats, Skills, and so many other options looking back on AD&D now just feels like driving a car made of just a frame, no body panels, no doors, and no windows.

But then I started thinking about the changes some of these retro clones changed, like different rules for hit points. Different options for saving throws, or adding ascending armor class. There is a lot of different takes on old school gaming out there.

Now enter Dragon Age rpg. This game has a simple mechanic that is pretty close to AD&D. Instead of a d20 you roll 3D6. Defense in the place of AC. And armor reduces damage taken rather than adding to Defense.
But the feel of it is very much like old D&D. A slick stunt system is added based on your to hit roll. It also has a proficiency system that is close to a skill system with out being complex.

This really got my brain going in its hamster wheel. Take a retro clone and bring some of then new innovations to it. What about adding ascending AC, A bell curve replacing a d20, or even making saves defenses like 4E?
Would it be old school? Would it be New? Would it be some kind of a hybrid?

I may just have to give this some more thought.