OSR XP Awards Expanded

The conceit of XP for gold in Dungeons & Dragons is to incentivize adventuring. To face unknown peril in the hopes of in-game rewards. And since then DMs and PCs have argued for and have given XP for behavior outside of wealth accumulation. A great example of this mechanic is found in TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes. The game incentivizes heroic action by awarding “Karma” points. The spending of Karma point values by the PC is then used to turn in-game failures into successes for the hero. Do more heroic stuff during the game and your PC continues to enhance their ability to successfully pull off heroic stuff! Play it safe (and decidedly non-heroic) and the PC will not have a means to pull the proverbial fat out of the fire when the stakes are nigh insurmountable.

And there I have let the XP for gold standard lay. The end-all and be-all means of OSR-character advancement, while expanded means of character advancement I accepted in any other game as well as the conceit implied. I mean, I never had reason to change OSR experience awards. Sure it forced me to become oblivious to standard economic reality in my fantasy settings, and what it would require for in-game financial management, let alone where are the staggering tall stacks of cash being kept! But I was young, impressionable and really didn’t care. My sandbox DM hands were kept out of meddling with value judgments and in-game awards outside of the prescribed method.

But now I am older and game time is not had everyday. It is three times a month or less. Me and my players will be long dead before multiple campaign worlds will be played out and characters risen to heroic, high fantastic deeds if I kept XP count strictly on coin. Besides, my interest in player motivation and player-driven goals leads to no other conclusion than XP awards for goals, activities and actions.

My current OSR campaign, the Dying Earth of Rom’Myr, started as a genre-enforcing thought experiment by restricting PC class. Basically house-ruling the character creation rules to suit the game worlds genre. Without diving into too much detail, here is the long and short of it. Decidedly pulp-flavored fantasy the default class is Thief. Good attributes qualify the budding PC for any of the other six character classes available. But restricting character class wasn’t going to get my desire across. That of incentivizing PC play inline with genre tropes typical of the literature.

For this task I had to offer up XP awards for actions and behaviors. For example, I wanted the PCs to take a look at some great indie-OSR product as well as take faction affiliation more seriously. Therefore I offered 250 points for a god from the Petty-Gods compendium at character creation. Completing “jobs” for Patrons gave more XP than just their financial award. Achieving party-agreed upon goals generated XP awards, causing story-appropriate reactions and results gained XP, engaging with the campaign world’s people and places gains XP.

How these XP’s are rated and distributed has been an ongoing experiment, really just giving out group XP rewards for great game play. Here is a good example of my evolving thought on these XP awards. The PCs placed a modest wager on a racing long shot. They then involved themselves mightily in the races intrigue and double-dealing to orchestrate a win! Against all odds the PCs slapped their marker down at the betting window, achieving an 8,000 dollar win! Except the poor never win in Rom’Myr. Just like the real world, when the powers that be are denied they call foul and cancel the payout! No gold, no XP. I did not like this, not one bit. So the crown and cathedral confiscated the “fairly” won spoils. Why do the PCs get no XP? The players themselves achieved an amazing in-game feat, one worthy of cataloging in any dying earth tale. So I gave the party the 8,000 XP.

Look, I want my players to succeed. That is why I don’t fudge to-hit and damage rolls. It makes those miraculous rolls, those narrow odds achieved, really memorable. I also don’t want them to toil endlessly for thousands of coin to achieve heroic stature and reputation. The geometric expansion of XP totals forces me to litter the game world with ridiculous treasure caches otherwise. Screw that noise. Specifically, cash and gems generates instant XP. Items of value must be converted into cash before XP is awarded. Pulling off risky actions typical of the genre grants individual awards. Now I am rewarded by having good players. Players who “do stuff”. They most likely would play in-character even without artificial XP awards. But sometimes they want to play it safe, drift away from trouble and take the road more traveled to save their hides. Turning up the possible XP available makes ignoring new, dangerous hooks and threads just that more harder. That the call to adventure, and its awards, can be found in completing well known tropes and attitudes. I think rewarding the PCs for completing goals agreed upon by the party the most satisfying of all. This “rapid” advancement drives the game with a fast pace, the other great ingredient marking a good game. This idea of additional XP awards driving pace is something for another blog post itself. Suffice to say, reward your PCs for doing stuff. Not just with coin and magic. But with meaningful XP awards.

We have both types of Solo Role-Play; Fantasy & Science Fiction

I recently played solo rpg-ing with two rules-lite products from the DIY gaming community. These being Sword & Backpack and In the Light of a Ghost Star. S&B is obviously a fantasy game, questing for treasure and such, while ItLoaGS is a science fiction game where players deep-dive a ruined Earth for ancient artifacts. The author of ItItLoaGS also sent me a free short fantasy adventure model, Holt of the Elk Lord, but first up is the sci-fi horror adventure.

ItItLoaGS Random Solo Surface Patrol – Collect what you can, load it up on the lander and return to orbit. I create a Science orientated PC named Dr. Drazz. Red Shirt #1 and Red Shirt #2 are assigned to me. They will provide protection on the nightmare surface of old Earth.

First roll is to determine my touchdown location. The elctro-static atmosphere is home to violent ammonia storms. Your landing is much determined by conditions than a planned route. It comes up A1, up in the mountains in the far north west. How a landing goes will be left to a toss of the dice. 2D6 will be used. Much like a D&D Reaction Roll or a Traveller Saving Throw, the spread of outcomes should be familiar. Target numbers 8 or higher are what usually counts as success. The toss is a 3! Catastrophic conditions! The lander is thrown against the stoney peaks and comes to rest. Time to assess the damage. I pull out my Space Opera rule book and roll on the starship battle damage table. Since it is a catastrophic failure I decide three tosses on the table are required; all come up Armor Belt Penetration. The lander can’t enter orbit unless the hull is patched first.

Relying on our surface hex map my Party has a choice between exploring an ancient idol surrounded by crumbling temples or a mysterious tower occupied by an Astro-Lich. The tower is more likely to have the technology we need to fix the lander. Maybe even something valuable to bring back. I order the team down the steep slopes and we head west. We are quickly out of the difficult mountains and cross a more hilly land. No monstrous danger is to be found and I quickly find out why. Hard radiation zone! I use an Arcanum Syndicate product; “Sci-Fi Random Encounter Tables” written by Brandon Williams, to generate this result. I resolved with standard ItLotGS’s 4+ for success to determine if any of us are sickened. The Red Shirts survive, their light and heavy armor making the difference. Dr. Drazz is not so lucky. Lost by 1. He is carrying a Cell-Patcher. I throw against a Science attribute of d8 and succeed in rendering a radiation remedy post-haste! I will not be able to use this device’s healing abilities for twelve hours now as it recharges.

The tower of the Astro-Lich turns out to be a sophisticated space ship under construction. It must be close to completion. Engines can be seen test-firing. A horrid screech and wail sounds from the top of the ship where smokey tendrils swirl about. Undaunted I order the Red Shirts forward, blasters ready. Near the base we walk around building equipment, pump-tubes reaching from ship to ground. Automated spider-borgs scamper hither and tither. Going into stealth mode we begin scavenging in the temporary warehouses and buildings. We strike pay dirt quickly. A throw on a Mothership Dead Planet table yields a functional life support system! We get this back to the lander and no need to patch the hull. This high tech equipment will keep my crew alive till rendezvous. Going to be difficult to bring it back. We need some way to transport it. Two security guards roll up on us and a gunfight ensues! Red Shirt #1 disintegrates the first mook with a Heavy Blaster while Red Shirt #2 lays down some “suppressing fire” with lighter weapon. The second guard dives for cover and runs away.

We load the land rover up and split. With the proper radiation antidote we are safe from the waves of purple gamma streaking across green-stained sky. Before the lander is reached another party of scavengers is encountered. We all nervously finger our holsters and ask how things are going. Long and short; they agree to help get the life support system back to the lander if we would team up and assault the tower/ship for more artifacts. Reaching the crippled lander marked my stopping point for ItLotGS.

Sword & Backpack was well matched with Nate Treme’s short sandbox adventure The

Primeval Holt of the Elk Lord. I wish I took notes on all the different ways I house-ruled success chances, but NPC encounters really set the tone of play. I had no interest in consorting with the rubes found in Grimholt so Mendalzane the Wizard plunged into the shunned Sleeping Forest in search of the Elk Lord.

Like the sci-fi game described above, Sword & Backpack, Justa Guy With an Axe Edition, is rules-lite with only a thin scaffolding of mechanics. I’m finding it makes the idea of actually solo-rpg’ing appealing. Challenging my DM skills of creativity on the fly is the point, not tactical, crunchy resolution mechanics. 

A S&B character is defined by one of three jobs; the fighter, the wizard, and the rogue. Pick your name and give yourself a weapon, wallah! You are done. All adventures resolve actions by rolling a d20. If it is something related to your “job” then add a +5. The difficulty number you must meet or exceed is set by the StoryTeller (the ST). While each of the three jobs has their own specialties, there are no “class” restrictions. You want your Wizard to swing a sword, then start swinging! Your Mercenary Reaver wants to summon demons, get out your chalk and candles! The point is, if you can fit the task within the scope of your job the ST will give you a +5 on the roll.

Fighting is abstracted by opponents throwing contested rolls for the attack and defense. High roll wins. Hitting your opponent deals a wound. Losing the roll is a miss. D20 for initiative of course and then make shit up. The driving action here is; what random tables should I use for this. This being whatever I’m up to at the moment. Cross-country travel requires a Wisdom check to not get lost. S&B does not have any attributes so a Difficulty number is set and the +5 argued for. Mendelzane succeeds in not getting lost and arrives at The Pond. Mechin, an ancient, sentient, giant goldfish calls The Pond home and Mendelzane wants to enhance his Elemental Magic. I forgot what I did to instigate a Reaction Roll, but the Wizard succeeded and was allowed to drink from the enchanted pool with a Blessing +1 on any defensive roll being the result.

With the blessing of the fish, Mendelzane decides it is time to seek Ziphek the Elk Lord and petition for favor. The journey is uneventful and my Elemental Wizard arrives at the petrified trunk which is the throne room of Ziphek. Nate was clever enough to detail the Ziphek’s with “Members of the Court”. We know the Elk Lord dislikes humans, but I’m walking in with the fish-god’s blessing. Let us see how this goes. Fimbault, a badger ends up being the gatekeeper to Mendelzane. The Reaction Roll is inconclusive. The badger will not allow entrance unless Mendelzane performs a service to the Elk Lord. Melmoon, a crazed hermit, occupies the Ruined Fort on the other side of the forest. Fimbault suggests that running this madman out of the forest might sway the court to except an audience.

More and more random tables were pulled willy-nilly as Mendelzane navigated the forest, battled the hermit and acquired a traveling companion; a Grimholt merchant with a kingly gift. Now he only needs a king to present it to. Assuring the merchant that the Wizard could easily introduce him to the Elk Lord, the two headed back through the forest. And promptly got lost. Here is where, with random tables, I derive the most pleasure of solo-rpg’ing (yes I am a seasoned pro by now). Finding out what a new encounter actually is. Before the dice are dropped, my party of two may have to confront any number of problems which could overwhelm them. What will it be, what will it be?

It appeared we had traveled to an unknown and foreboding valley, sharply defined, with a dark, silent lake laying placid before them. Further along the shore where the hills crowded in a ruined temple perched. “This is a place of death my friend,” Mendelzane spoke. “I would know what evil once stirred here, perhaps those ruins may yield a clue?” Surprisingly (or luckily, it is a dice roll) the Merchant finds some steel and agrees to search the foreboding haunt. Nothing is revealed, in treasure or knowledge, so we head out to find our way back to the Elk Lord and his court. But it is not to be! A creature from the black depths arises; a Shambling Mound!

“Flee as fast you can friend!” I cried. “This demon is more than a match for us!” I push the merchant up the hill, but his feet need no assistance. Pulling the mule cart up the hill I could see the Shambling Mound would overtake us if something wasn’t done. Mendelzane throws all his magic at the beast. The wildly unpredictable Fireball and the irresistible Waterfall spell. Scorched and washed back into the lake we reach the valley’s ridge and disappear into the forest.

Court goes well, what with the merchant presenting a magnificent gift and I detailing the successful rousting of the hermit, we were promptly knighted as Grimholt Guards. This will provide us with a +3 on reaction rolls with allies of the Elk Lord.

In closing, I find a solo rpg session a pleasant late night activity with the payoff coming from seeing stories unfold from a dynamic environment. It may strip some of the wonder from the game, seeing my particular method of creating laid bare before me, a dispassionate view of the ugly sausage-making for immersion. I am sure Dr. Drazz and the wizard Mendalzane will be face with more random trials to come!

AD&D armor types for Ascending Armor Class

One of the players in our BFRPG Rom’Myr campaign wanted to know if other armor types were available in the game. Specifically Ring Mail, Studded Leather, Splint Mail and the like. All the additional armor types you will find in 1E AD&D Players Handbook. At the time I said no, you’ll have leather, chain and plate and that should suffice.

For the record it isn’t that I was opposed to additional armor types. I was opposed to taking the time to shake out the details during game time. Now I have had the time. To assign Armor Class values at least. Still haven’t settled on price yet. I don’t want to take the prices right out of the book because in Rom’Myr your cost for armor is substantially higher than traditional OSR equipment lists. 

Here is the breakdown for BFRPG’s Ascending scale;

Padded Armor: AC 12

Ring Mail, Leather & Studded Leather: AC 13

Scale Mail: AC 14

Banded & Splint: AC 15

Rom'Myr, a dying earth setting for Magic World

Fantasy Adventures in the dying world of Rom'Myr

An OSR setting using the Magic World role playing game rules

Dying Earth is a subgenre of science fiction, fantasy, or science fantasy which takes place in the far future at either the end of life on Earth, or other Earth-like planets. The End of Time when the laws of the universe themselves fail is also a common trope. Themes of world-weariness, innocence (wounded or otherwise), idealism, entropy, (permanent) exhaustion/depletion of many or all resources (such as soil nutrients), and the hope of renewal tend to predominate.

I started this campaign setting with BFRPG in mind, but I want to have a setting to use with the d100 rules of Magic World so I am in the process of adapting the setting. Here I jigger the Character Creation rules of Magic World to fit my conception. This post will then be followed with a post outlining how the magic system works in the game. When I build up setting details suitable for use by the GM I will post them as well, but I work in fits and starts so don't hold your breath on any of this.

Here is a link for a Magic World form-fillable character sheet for those inclined.

1. Character Creation:

Only human characters may be chosen for race. The available human racial identities are Rom'Myr, and the Fir'Bax.

Rom’Myr humans are citizens of the Blue Borderlands, the farthest province east in the realm of The Trackless Empire. Sandwiched between the Cold Heath and the Groaning Mountains on the shores of the Inland Sea. The Rom'Myr of the Blue Borderlands trade for Bolfian Silk from the non-human desert nomads known as the Strangled.

The land of Fir'Bax lies north of the Blue Borderlands. Uncouth barbarians, the elaborately tattooed Fir'Bax scratch a living from the small arable land surrounding the high peaks of the Yani'Hor, the Groaning Mountains. They are extremely xenophobic and war incessantly with the Strangled. This small barbarian kingdom also resent the encroaching Rom'Myrians into their wilderness domain.

Turn to page 20-21 of the Magic World core rule book and follow “A Guide to Creating your Adventurer”. Below are listed (if any) changes to this standard procedure as they occur in the process.

Step 1: Names & Characteristics No changes.

Step 2: Characteristic Rolls No changes.

Step 3: Derived Characteristics No changes. Please note Human Move is 8, not 10. This is a typo in the rule book.

Step 4: Age and Experience Any PC choosing the Shaman occupation rolls 17+5d6 for starting age, otherwise no changes.

Step 5: Magic Adventurers must have POW 16 or higher to be able to use magic. How the magic system works in Rom'Myr is detailed in its own chapter.

Step 6: Culture and Species Only human can be chosen for PC species. All Culture options are available.

Step 7: Skill Category Modifiers No changes.

Step 8: There appears to be no step eight so this is probably a good time to assign your starting Allegiance (page 28-33).

Step 9: Occupation and Skills All Occupation and skills are available and you are free to build your character as you like. Just keep in mind you will be fitting your character into one of seven Character Classes. These seven classes are; Assassin, Barbarian, Druid, Jester, Paladin, Ranger and Thief. The significance of these classes are detailed in their own chapter.

Step 10: Starting Money and Equipment No changes. I recommend you add Thomas Wiegel's a Wretched Catalogue for more equipment choices than what is offered in the Magic World core rule book. Just convert the cost in silver to cost in bronze.

1.1 Character Class Rules:

All the classes are available to any new PC. All but the Assassin, Barbarian and Thief class have the ability to learn and or acquire magic per the included magic rules if they have a POW 16 or greater. Each particular Class may have additional limitations which are outlined below;

All Barbarian PC's must be Fir'Bax. Only the Band and Tribe cultures are available to this Class. Any of the available Occupations listed for these Cultures are available.

Jester PC's should consider themselves more as traveling monk/scholars as opposed to being a kept clown for royalty. The Jester PC may be either human race (Fir'Bax/Rom'Myr). If Fir'Bax is chosen as race only the Band and Tribe cultures are available. Rom'Myr racial identity does not limit choice of Culture. They are limited to the following Occupations: Astrologer, Begger, Crafter (Tribal), Diplomat, Lost/Forgotten, Minor Noble, Nomad, Peasant/Farmer, Physician/Apothecary, Sailor, Scribe, Shaman/Priest/Cultist, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Small Trader, Sorcerer, Thief, Troubadour/Entertainer.

The Druid is a wild shamans roaming the dying lands of Rom'Myr. A Druid must be Fir'Bax. Only the Band and Tribe cultures are available to this Class. Any of the available Occupations listed for these Cultures are available plus Astrologer, and Sorcerer.

The Ranger, civilized cousin to the Druids must be of Rom'Myer descent. Rom'Myr racial identity does not limit choice of Culture. The Ranger is limited to the following Occupations: Bandit, Craftperson, Crafter (Tribal), Fisher, Hunter, Lost/Forgotten, Nomad, Peasant/Farmer, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Small Trader, Tax/Rent Collector.

Assassins are highly trained guild specialists. They owe their skills to an established order or institution. They must be Rom'Myr and must take the State culture. The Occupations available to the Assassin are; Bandit, Hunter, Minor Noble, Paid Assassin, Cultist.

Thieves are your most common of adventuring rogues found within the Blue Borderlands. They can be either Fir'Bax or Rom'Myr. If they choose Fir'Bax they are limited to the Band and Tribal culture. All the Occupations of these cultures are available, except replace Shaman with Thief. Rom'Myrian identity requires the State culture to be chosen. They are limited to the following Occupations: Bandit, Beggar, Craftsperson, Lost/Forgotten, Sailor, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Thief.

A Paladin is a PC who has picked up the sword in defense of some aspect of the lost past. The Paladin can only be a Rom'Myr human and of the State culture. The Occupations available to the Paladin are; Mercenary/Bodyguard, Minor Noble, Slave (Freed or Escaped), Soldier/Guard/Watchman.

2. Orders and Institutions:

Most of the PC Classes are bound to some type of esoteric religion or ageless cult which claim some form of legitimacy through ancient ideas lost to the unimaginable past eons of Rom’Myr. None of these confer any mechanical benefit for the new PC, but is used to embellish this dying earth with some of the player’s ideas. Of course the Game Master can decide to create orders and institutions which do confer mechanical benefits for the PC as they see fit.

There is a wide discrepancy in intent and capability of the organizations of men in the world of Rom'Myr. Whether battle hardened mercenary corp, horrid murder cult, or starving street thugs the one galvanizing feature of orders in Rom'Myr is the expectation of complete obedience.

Fir’Baxian Battle Cults; there is no better inspiration for your own barbarian battle cult than Red Moon Medican Show's Vacant Ritual Assembly Issue #4. Furious Gods (found on pgs 15-18) is a must read! These pages will be drawn on to demonstrate the magic system of the Druid as well as some of the “gifts” a Barbarian may receive from their Battle Cult.

Pagan Religions; below are names to spur the imagination when creating your worlds and player's religious orders.

Tix-ka-tix, The Returner, The Patient One, The Slumbering Pharoh (Petty Godsp.171).

Mespilus, god of medlar trees and their fruit (Petty Gods p.109).

Lubella the Transformative (Petty Gods p.96)

Esoteric Schools suitable for any character class;

Dlarafis, Augazor, Trani, Children of the Sacrificed, Sect of the Son, Chosen Ones of Tranquility, Band of the Studied, Followers of Vranis, Faith of Drysm, Congregation of Kousha.

3. Languages; Dun-Harad is the language of the Trackless Empire. Marude is the language the Fir'Bax speak. Sahrashin is spoken by the dark skinned Ahenti. Torbarel is the language of The Strangled.  The Other Language skill is limited at character creation to these four languages. As the PC's explore the world of Rom'Myr they may come across other languages and PC's may attempt to learn these through the regular rules for Training and Experience (pages 51-53).

4. Combat Skills: The only “House Rule” I like to add to the rules for Combat Skills is in regard to thrown weapons. Instead of committing an additional skill to the particular thrown weapon the PC can assign their Throw skill as their chance to hit with any thrown weapon. This makes putting points into Throw more valuable then having to split points between Throw and an additional Weapon Skill. I take that back, I have an additional house rule; boost the Base % for Crossbows to 35%. No one needs a skill in Crossbow to shoot these weapons at the Base %.

5. Combat: This piece of crunch only applies to PC's. If an attack throw results in a fumble roll a 1d20 on the following Confirm Fumble Roll table. This will either minimize or exaggerate the rolled fumble. Feel free to ignore this step if you don't like this rule.

1 : You really messed up this time! Roll twice on Fumble table.

2 – 10: Roll on Fumble table as normal.

11 – 19: Regular miss.

20: Recover! Reroll to hit.

6. Magic Rules: these will make up the body of the next post!