Resources for Converting D&D to Castles & Crusades

Convert or else!

I've noticed that people come across my blog a lot while searching for help for converting Dungeons & Dragons to Castles & Crusades. Here are a few great resources for converting D&D to C&C (whether it's Basic, 1e, 2e, 3e, or 3.5). I haven't seen much about converting 4e, unfortunately.

Duke Omote's Advanced Castles & Crusades Page - This page has all kind of rules expansions that incorporate rules from various D&D editions into C&C.  For example, Omote has rules for Skills and Talents (a.k.a. Feats) that might make converting PCs easier. If you are looking to convert older D&D to C&C, he has rules for Racial Classes and more.

The Crusader's Companion -  Peter J. Schroeder compiled a ton of great gamer-created C&C rules into this impressive tome and it is just awesome. It includes a lot of d20 SRD monsters, items, spells, etc. that aren't in the C&C core rules. Also, the Castle Keepering chapter has a Conversion section that provides tables and charts to help you convert D&D materials from other editions into C&C.

The Castle Keepers Guide - While it doesn't deal with conversion specifically, it does include rules for Skills and Advantages (aka Feats) that might make converting 3.0 or 3.5 D&D to C&C easier.

Happy (Very Belated) Thanksgiving!

Here is a link to last year's Thanksgiving Day post and probably the only Thanksgiving-related D&D adventure in existence:  The Feast of the Gobbler 

It's for 3.x, but if you're an OSR guy, you should be able to strip it down anyhow since it is 1.) by Casey Christofferson (the guy behind several great C&C products) and 2.) was released by Necromancer Gamers.

Oh, and this seems appropriate for the holiday:

Wow. It sure is dusty in here.  I'm still around.  Still alive.  Just been busier than a one-legged man in an arse-kicking contest.

So, quick update: After a summer sabbatical, I'm returning to the DM Screen... only this time I'm running Castles & Crusades.  Running a group of 8 or so players under D&D 3.5 is just too damn slow.

My group might convert their PCs and continue with Rappan Athuk or we might just start completely anew.  I'm letting my players vote on that. Right now, it's looking like a complete reboot.

More when time allows.

Plum Blossom - Rogue/Monk

artwork by the player, Dave "the Knave" White

Plum Blossum was Dave the Knave's second character (his first being a warlock that died fairly early on).  Plum started off as a cat burglar with questionable fighting prowess, but by the end she was kicking ass with the best of them. 

Plum, however, was known more for her seemingly endless supply of DM annoyances. And thus, let's begin her career highlights:

• Repeatedly used mundane magic items to thwart supposedly uber tough villains.  Cashe in point: she all but nullified a high priest of Orcus during a temple battle with a freakin' tanglefoot bag.
• Used a Quaal's feather token to drop an anchor on an evil centaur's back (while riding said centaur).
• Freakin' tumbled unscathed through a blade barrier cast by a rather high level goblin wizard.
• Impersonated the Great El Goblino.
• Became an alcoholism enabler to the party's resident faerie dragon.
• Was at ground zero for a Necklace of Fireballs malfunction (she was resurrected, but lost just about all her gear in the fire. It was glorious.)
• Pinned a black skeleton to the ground with an immovable rod.
• After years of heckling by the DM and fellow party members for use of shurikens (keep in mind his PC had a strength penalty), scored a triple critical with a shruriken, burying it in a bugbear barbarian's kidney (we use the Critical Hit Deck).

Race: Human
Gender: Female
Class/Level: Rogue/Monk/6/5

Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft.
HD: 11, hp: 55
BAB: +7/2
AC: 21, touch 18, 22/19 vs. dodge target, 23/20 vs. traps, 25/22 vs. AOOs provoked by movement, 26/23 vs. dodge target AOOs provoked by movement

Attack: unarmed strike +10/5 1d10-1 (20/x2), or flurry of blows +9/9/4 1d10-1 (20/x2) or masterwork shortsword +11/6 1d6-1 (19/x2)

Attributes:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 17
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 8

Saving Throws: Fort +7, Ref +12/14 vs. traps, Will +10/12 vs. enchantments

Alignment: Lawful Neutral (Evil)

Skills: Balance +18, Climb +10 (+12 with climbing kit), Disable Device +16 (+18 with masterwork tools); Disguse -1 (+9 with cloak of chameleon power), Escape Artist +16, Hide +14 (+24 with cloak of chameleon power), Jump +18, Listen +15, Move Silently +16, Open Lock +16 (+18 with masterwork tools), Search +16, Sleight-of-Hand +4, Spot +10, Survival +3 (+5 to follow tracks), Tumble +18, Use Magic Device +1, Use Rope +3 (+5 to bind person)

Class Abilities: Evasion, Flurry of Blows, Ki Strike (magic), Purity of Body, Slow Fall (20 ft.), Sneak Attack (+3d6), Still Mind, Trapfinding, Trapsense (+2), Unarmored Speed Bonus (+10 ft.), Uncanny Dodge (never flat-footed)

Feats: Ascetic Rogue, Combat Reflexes*, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike*, Mobility, Spring Attack, Stunning Fist*, Weapon Finesse

Equipment:
bracers of armor +3, brawler gauntlets, cloak of chameleon power, Heward's handy haversack, immovable rod, masterwork short sword (cold iron), masterwork short sword (silver), periapt of wisdom +2, ring of protection +1, robe of eyes, rust monster gauntlet

In Haversack: flask of acid (x2), flask of alchemist's fire, flask of ghostoil, flask of gravebane, flask of holy water (x4), flask of oil (x3), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of flying, smokestick (x3), sunrod (x3), tanglefoot bag (x3), thunderstone (x2), climbing kit, pitons (x9), chalk (x10), fish hooks (x3), fishing net, flare stones (x3), sling, magnet, money pouch (350 gp), masterwork thieves' tools, signal whistle, small steel mirror, snorkel, soap (x2), torches (x10), flint and steel, block and tackle, iron pot, portable winch, silk rope (100'), trail rations (x10), waterskin, wine and cheese (x3), winter blanket

On Heavy Horse: bit and bridle, courtier's outfit, entertainer's outfit, feed (x10), riding saddle, saddlebags

Honoring Some Dead PCs

Let's face it – no matter how tough of a player you claim to be, it blows when your character bites the dust. The pain increases exponentially based on the character's longevity. My next few posts will detail a few of the veteran characters from my Rappan Athuk campaign that recently went to their final rest. These adventurers lasted for years, and that is saying something (just ask my players ).

I know not everyone will find the stats interesting or useful (though these would make some sweet NPCs if you do play D&D 3.5), so I’ll be including a list of some of their career highlights as well.

Videos from the Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus

I've been really slacking on posting campaign updates. I hope to do so in depth at some point, but just to catch you up to speed: the party finally finished the Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus, explored the dungeon a bit more, and, yes, decided to go down the infamous well (they are still exploring down there).

Back when we first started the Showdown, Rob took a view videos.  I figured I might as well share them.  They aren't the most action packed, and dear lord, do I sound like a tool, but, hey, what the hell?  The party had just entered the temple via a magical secret backdoor.  Dave's Roxxxor the Chaotic Awesome half-orge barbarian was still alive and had taken the platform above the lava.  You can hear his theme music in the background.  For those of you playing along at home, he bit it in the next session, being pushed into said lava. 

The videos start with the party wizard, played by Sam, fireballing some priests of Orcus and their thug guards.  I'm rolling their saves, saying "ash" for those that were incinerated.  I think Sam is the one simulating the screams of the burning priests.  Oh, and you can hear me bemoaning the players working the neutral alignment loophole to the bone (i.e., they avoid a lot of penalties in Rappan Athuk because they aren't goodly aligned). Yeah, hot D&D action at its finest.  Suffice it to say, D&D is much more fun to play than watch.

Oh, I tend to swear a lot when I DM, so be warned.

Really Cheap Tact-Tiles Substitute

A while back I talked about Tact-Tiles, both the kinds you can buy and do-it-yourself ways to make them.  For my Lazy Homemade Tact-Tiles #2 idea, I suggested buying a very cheap dry erase kit from LTD Commodities. Well, it no longer appears to be available at LTD, but I did pick up a set myself before they pulled it.  I poked around a bit and, man, the kit is hard to find now, but I did find one set on eBay here: link.  So, obviously, right out of the gate, this option now has one strike against it.  I figured I’d go ahead and post my thoughts on this kit as a gaming tool anyhow.  Hopefully someone out there has better Google-Fu than I do and can locate a retailer if they’re interested.

Here is what you get:

The panels are paper-thin, but they are basically big stickers after all.

Each panel is 12 inch x 12 inch and you get 8 panels total.  That is a pretty good sized gaming area.

I put the panels down on my gaming table and they covered a large chunk.

I doodled a bit of a dungeon on them and they worked fairly well.  Understandably, I had to hold down the panel so it wouldn’t move, but it wasn’t a problem.

So here is the skinny:

• If you want a grid, you’ve got some work to do. I know from personal experience,
  
  there really is no way to permanently mark this kind of surface apart from scoring it.  These panels are going to turn into confetti if you score them.  One possibility would be to mount the panels onto sections of poster board and then score them.
• A quick note regarding a grid, keep in mind games like D&D 3.5 and 4e work on a one-inch grid, so you can really just use a tape measure without much trouble (well, I’m assuming that is true for 4e. I haven’t played it).  Savage Worlds operates on this grid too and, despite the emphasis on a battle map in the Savage Worlds rule book, the official demo I played at Origins used a tape measure.
• The panels stay in place reasonably well. I bumped the table a bit to test this and the panels more or less stayed in place.  I’m guessing inadvertent bumps by players might be more problematic. Having not played with the interlocking Tact-Tiles, I’m not sure how much of an advantage they offer.
• The panels were covered with a clear film that came off.  I initially wasn’t certain if this was suppose to happen. I’m still not sure, but the panels were still erasable after I removed the film (although shadowing did increase noticeably).

The Verdict

• You get what you pay for. These panels aren’t as snazzy as the original Tact-Tiles or the current Battlegraph Boards.  However, if you can find a set, this kit is a hell of a lot cheaper, especially if you consider the amount of playing surface you get.  You get 8 panels for a 2 foot by 4 foot playing area. In comparison, the Battlegraph Boards are $7.00 per 12 inch piece and a set of Tact-Tiles will run you several hundred dollars on eBay (no joke, check the ENWorld forums).
• If nothing else, these panels would be handy for those times combat spills off your regular battle mat.

Since I am fine with my homemade battle mat, I didn’t keep the kit for myself.  I hung it up in two sections in our kitchen, thinking it would be fun for my daughters.  They really liked it, but, whoa boy, was it a bad idea.  My girls are six and three and, well, their marker control is still rather suspect.  Suffice it to say, they didn’t always stay on the dry erase area.  Word to the wise, dry erase markers don’t wash off non-dry erase walls…  our kitchen is a bit more colorful now.  I certainly do not recommend the kit for its intended purpose unless you have a wall you probably be ok with your kids drawing on to begin with.

Duke Omote’s Castles & Crusades House Rules, Enhancements, and Conversions

Castles & Crusades Society member and FPQ Member (president? founder perhaps?), Duke Omote has created some kick ass house rules for Castles & Crusades, which he calls Advanced Castles & Crusades.  One of the great features of C&C is that it is very easy to house rule the  hell out of it.  Omote demonstrates this with style with these rules, giving his take on elements of other editions of D&D.  Want to add Feats ala D&D 3rd edition?  Try his Talents rules.  Like those Secondary Skills from 1st edition? Check out his rules for ‘em.

All of his stuff is great for supplementing your existing C&C game or perhaps easing the conversion from another version of D&D (e.g., 3.5 to C&C).

On his Rules Expansions page, he has rules for:

• Racial Classes ala Basic D&D
• Skills ala AD&D 2nd edition (err, sorry, “non-weapon proficiencies”) and D&D 3rd edition
• Secondary Skills ala AD&D
• Weapon Mastery ala Basic D&D
• Talents (a.k.a. Feats) ala D&D 3rd edition
• And, as they say, much, much more.

Many thanks, Omote, for all the hard work and thanks for sharing this with the gaming world.

Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus – An Overdue Update

[general Rappan Athuk spoiler warning]

[Update: 9/9/10 12:15 PM] After checking my notes again and conferring with my players, I realized I had a few things wrong. I've noted as such below]

[photos compliments of Dave the Knave]

It has been a long time since I mentioned the ol’ Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus scenario going on in my Rappan Athuk campaign. The campaign has been on hiatus for a couple months now, but we are firing it up again tomorrow.  Dice will roll.  Lionshead will be swilled.

Anyhow, here is the second update I promised… back in April. 

So after whipping the cadaver collector’s highly-susceptible-to-rust ass, the party added insult to injury, and used it to block one of the doors to the lower-level, hoping to blockade the seemingly unending freight elevator of death.  The party had previously used stone shape to blockade the other door, so both were corked at this point.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe the party then healed up, cast buffing spells, and generally prepared for the next wave of baddies.

The party had routed a vampire would-be bad ass last time and he came back with some friends for payback.  Here was the hit list:

• Mr. Vampire Wanna-be Bad Ass,
• his vampire spawn,
• two nightmares serving as their mounts. and
• a Phantasm (from the Tome of Horrors II)

You’ll note that these dudes all could become incorporeal, gaseous, or ethereal, and as such, were able to pass through the party’s blockades.

The battle was a lot of fun to DM, with the vampires harrying the party from the skies, the fumes of the nightmares thwarting various heroics, and such.  However, the Phantasm was a bust. It has this cool magic jar-like ability, allowing it to possess people.  But damned if that freaking NPC dwarf fighter, Lady Bombis (known to the group as Lady Marmalade) didn’t make every save to resist it.

I can’t remember too many specifics at this point, but the party eventually brought down the  vampires and their mounts (although one or both of the vampires might have escaped). [The vampire spawn couldn't breach the antipathy zone, so he was kind of screwed from the get-go. His mount had no problem, though. It's been confirmed both vampires lived to fight another day. Reoccuring villians, anyone?] I believe Bonnie’s Hunter of the Dead was lighting up the undead with her Radiant Sphere (from the Magic Item Compendium).  I had a lot of fun, especially with the nightmares. I can’t recall the last time I used that creature in play and I don’t think I ever have in 3rd edition.

There was a rather funny rules debate at one point when Sam tried to make a case for an AC bonus for being prone.  Ha, but his wizard was prone under the flying vampire who was about to toss a shortspear at him, so  technically he could have received a +4 versus missile attacks.  Suffice it to say, DM logic over-ruled by-the-book accuracy at that point. I’m not sure how being spread-eagle beneath a flying opponent warrants an AC bonus. (To clarify, this wasn’t a heated argument, rather Sam tossing out a rule and hoping the DM would go for it. I did not.)

Eventually one of the divine spell-casters, likely Rob’s Shaman, turned the Phantasm, the nightmares were brought down, and the vampires were slain or routed.

Shortly thereafter, a pair of carcasses (from the Creature Collection III) laid siege to both blocked entrances and finally removed the physical barriers to the room.  These things are basically undead transports, being hollowed out giants that carry undead within them.  They sound cooler than they are and are kind of a one-trick pony. It was pretty fun to surprise the players and launch black skeletons out of their bellies, though.  The carcasses did make attempts to envelope some of the PCs but to no avail.  The party made fairly quick work of this assault. [This combat actually just started at the end of the last session, so we'll be picking up with it tomorrow.]

So, there you have it.  This Friday we pick up here.  This whole showdown has been fun, but I’ve vowed to the group that the next session will be the last encounter.  I’ve something special planned for it and have little doubt it will make it a memorable session.  I’m pulling out the stops for this one. 

Damn,  I love this game.

Garhelm - The Map

This is Garhelm:

If you want a better look, trying downloading the PDF: link

Yep, as you can tell from the scan, I banged it out on some old notebook paper.  I make no claims to be a cartographer, so I have no clue if such a landmass is even feasible.  I think it looks pretty cool, though, so I don't really care.  There is no scale as I wasn't really sure what I wanted it to be and figured I'd tackle that as needed.  I just wanted a rough idea of the campaign world so I could place important locations, namely cities and dungeons.  You'll note names from the standard Necromancer Games (NG) heavy hitters (the Stoneheart Mountains from Tomb of Abysthor, Fairhill from the Crucible of Freya, Bard's Gate, the Vault of Larin Karr, and, of course, Rappan Athuk) as well as The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth coming out of retirement. Yep, that is Green Ronin's Freeport way to the south. 

I had big plans for the campaign, but they weren't realized after the deaths in the Vault of Larin Karr.  My general plan was for a sandbox campaign once the party had finished up there. I planned to include a world map with the loot at some point and then let the players have at it. Since I had never shown the map before, I was hoping that would be kind of a neat surprise (i.e., the idea being that few people in Garhelm have much sense of what their world actually looked like). 

I started the face-to-face campaign in Fairhill, which is the setting of NG's The Crucible of Freya.  I don't own that module (although I did play it as a player under Sam's DMing), but I used the free maps from NG's site [link (you’ll need to scroll down a bit)] and added my own NPCs and descriptions.  That worked out quite well and allowed me to impart the flavor of Garhelm right from the start.  I might write those up if I have a chance (unfortunately, I don't have those as electronic files, so no easy cutting and pasting).  I don't think I used Fairhill for the online campaign, likely because Sam was playing as a character.

Anyhow, here is a key of sorts to help you decipher things (I left off anything I thought was self-explanatory):

• Barbegazi lands: Barbegazi are a neat, semi-evil race ice gnomes from the Tome of Horrors II (and, I just realized, actual Swiss mythology: link).  You can check them out in the ToH II free sample: link
• ToA: Tomb of Abysthor
• Volk: Vault of Larin Karr
• The Pass of Dulane-Far: An underground, underwater tunnel connecting the mainland to a severed peninsula. Tunnels also connected this island to other nearby islands.  I believe I envisioned this pass having been closed off to contain the horrors of the island and the tunnels, but I’m not sure.  I do think it is one of the cooler things on the map.

So, there you have it.  Garhlem.  Some time in the future, I’ll put up my version of Fairhill and perhaps some of the home brew adventures I had for this campaign.

Garhelm - The Blood of the Einherjar

I had hoped that allowing any race to freely multi-class with Barbarian would encourage hearty PCs (see the "Classes" section of this post link).  However, it pushed players to take a level of Barbarian at first level, whether they really wanted it or not.  Besides perhaps ending up with a party solely composed of Barbarians (which seems bad-ass to me, actually), it also meant that if a player took Barbarian at first level simply to have a beefy hit point base (mmm… beefy), he’d miss out on the initial first level perks of the actual desired class (e.g., Wizard, Rogue, etc.).  On the other hand, if he didn’t take the Barbarian class at first level, the rule sort of punished him by not giving him that nice 12 hit point base.

This didn’t occur to me until a player voiced his frustration after a TPK.  So I created “The Blood of the Einherjar” rule.  Unfortunately, player interest was completely nil at that point (can’t say I blame them), so this rule was never really enacted or tested because the campaign had dissolved. 

The Blood of the Einherjar

The Einherjar are the heroes who have died with great bravery on the battle fields and have been taken by the Valkyries to Valhalla. When Valhalla emptied to purge Garhelm of the Demons and Devils, Odin and Thor led the Einherjar into battle. Some of these warriors found companionship with the natives of Garhelm during this time. Although the Einherjar departed once Garhelm was cleansed, their children remain. These lucky few have the blood of the Einherjar flowing through their veins. These fortunate ones are destined for great deeds. They are the heroes of the Third Age.

What does this mean in game terms? This means that any PC, whether he knows it or not, has the blood of the Einherjar coursing through him. As such, he is born for battle. All PCs, in effect, start off at 2^nd level, but in a particular fashion. Every PC begins with a complimentary Barbarian level to implement as he wishes. In practice this means you can use the Barbarian level as your first level or as your second. This will mainly be determined by what you actually want to play. If you plan to play a Wizard, you would most likely take your first level in Wizard to make the most of the skill points and such, and then add on the Barbarian level afterwards. However, regardless of which class is technically your first class, you will start with 12 HP + Con bonus. For example, if you decide to play a Wizard, you will begin with 12 HP + Con bonus + 1d4 HP + Con bonus. The second HD will be rolled as normal (i.e., with the DM present). [As cool as I think it would be to have an entire party with the Rage ability, if I revive Garhelm, I will give the players the option of selecting a level of Fighter or Barbarian (and they’d get the standard Fighter 10 HP + Con bonus instead of the Barbarian's 12 HP + Con bonus to start). This fits the theme and purpose just as well and gives a bit more variety to the concept.]

Garhelm – More Setting-Specific Rules

I’ve been digging through my old files (both paper and electronic) and have realized at some point I revised my initial rule-set.  Both of the Garhelm campaigns were played over four years ago (egad, time flies), so I’m not certain when certain rules were in effect.  I am fairly certain those in my first rules post were used consistently.  I’m not sure about the following ones, unless otherwise noted below.  In any event, here are a few more rules, again with annotation.

Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law

• The detect chaos/evil/good/law spell and similar spell-like abilities do not function in regard to sentient beings. What is evil to one may be not be evil to another. However, the spell does function for insentient entities, such as magic weapons or locations, because such effects are typically a function of magic.
• From a gaming standpoint, detect chaos/evil/good/law and similar spells and abilities often rob role-playing encounters of their worth. 
• [I believe this rule was used throughout both campaigns. I have never liked the problems that result from this spell. On one hand, it makes things easier: “If it’s evil, we kill it.” On the other hand, it makes things more complex:“Is it really a good action to kill an evilly aligned orc child?” or “Is it really a good action to harry any NPC in the bar that detects as evil?” 
• Given that I did not mention *protection* from chaos/evil/good/law spells in the rules, I likely let them work normally.  I might tweak that and let such spells work only for outsiders or other beings that are inherently tied to their alignment.  For example, a demon is in a sense Chaotic Evil incarnate, so it seems logical that wards against a demon should work.  A gnoll, on the other hand, is more of a natural being and not inherently evil from birth.
• Quite frankly, I’m ready to pitch alignment altogether.  It feels too forced and it seems players and DMs always find a rationale for a character’s/NPC’s action, regardless of his alignment. Polymythic Steve and I had an interesting IM chat a few weeks back about alignment.  One of these days I’ll get around to blogging about it, but it started from this question: “In a democracy, if you can detect evil, should evil people be allowed to vote?”]

Raise Dead [I had two versions of this rule, both are included below.]

• [Version 1] The raise dead spell is available, but has been modified.  A raised character does not lose a character level, but instead, as with previous editions, loses a point of Constitution.  If the character’s Constitution reaches zero, he cannot be raised.  The material component for raise dead is no longer a 1000 gp diamond. Instead, the caster must sacrifice a quantity of magic items relative to the strength of the character’s soul (i.e., his level).  There is not a hard and fast rule regarding the proper sacrificial amount.  The DM will use his discretion in such matter.
• [Version 2] The raise dead functions as described in the 3.5 Player’s Handbook except for the material component. Instead of a 5000 gp diamond, one or more willing participants much sacrifice some of their life force to restore the life of the recipient. In game terms, they must sacrifice a total of XPs equal to the minimum XP for the recipient’s former level (i.e., before the level loss of being raised). For example, to raise a 2^nd level character, four PCs would lose 500 XP each. Note: each participant must sacrifice an equal share. The caster can choose to participate in the sacrifice, but can only do so if the XP loss would not cause him to lose access to the raise dead spell.
• [At the time I believed players weren’t sufficiently penalized for PC death and I didn’t like the whole concept of buying back your dead. Version 1 also doubled as a handy way to ensure the party didn’t become overly loaded with magic loot.  I quite like the role-play concept of Version 2: the party giving of its own life to bring back the dead makes more sense (in a fantastical way) and is a much greater sacrifice than loot.  On the other hand, it sort of feels like that scene in Full Metal Jacket where the rest of the troop is punished for Private Pile’s actions (NSFW link).  I’ve come full circle on raise dead and now make it fairly easy for players to bring back the fallen (see my current house rules).  I’ve embraced the “game” part of “role-playing game” and don’t sweat it.]

PC Death

• If a PC dies and cannot be raised or resurrected, the player must roll a new PC. To ease matters for the gaming group (DM and players alike), the new PC will start at 2nd level. The PC will receive the standard HP for first level (i.e., maximum), but must roll his 2^nd level hit die in the DM’s presence. The PC will begin with the standard 1^st level starting money for his class.
• [I’m not sure what this was about because I can’t remember what level the PCs started at.]

Dice Rolling

• All die rolls that fall off the table must be re-rolled on the table. No exceptions.
• If a rolled die comes to rest without a discernable result (e.g., the die lands in a crack on the table, etc.), the die is to be re-rolled. No exceptions.
• [This might seem like overkill, but I include this in my house rules to this date.]

Action Points (from the d20 Modern SRD)

• [I don’t remember anyone actually using these points.  It seems like the players kept saving them for a rainy day that never happened. Again, although I originally had some house rule luck points in mind, I opted for what I now consider overly complex official rules. If I ever wanted something like this again, I’d just let the players earn luck points for good game play and let them use it to re-roll a die roll.]
• Characters gain a number of action points equal to 2 + one-half their character level, rounded down, at 1st level and every time they attain a new level.
• Action points provide characters with the means to affect game play in significant ways. A character can spend 1 action point to alter a single d20 roll used to make an attack, a skill check, an ability check, a level check, or a saving throw.
• When a character spends 1 action point to improve a d20 roll, add 1d6 to the d20 roll to help meet or exceed the target number. A character can declare the use of 1 action point to alter a d20 roll after the roll is made—but only before the DM reveals the result of that roll (whether the attack or check or saving throw suc­ceeded or failed) [I find this bit particularly lame. It turns into a game of How Well Can the Players Read the DM’s Reaction]. When possible, the player should state his intention to spend an action point before the die is rolled.  For example, “I may use an action point on this attack roll.”
• A character can’t use an action point on a skill check or ability check when he or she is taking 10 or taking 20.
• A character can only spend 1 action point in a round.
• Depending on the character level (see the table below), he or she may be able to roll more than one d6 when spending 1 action point. If the character does so, apply the highest result and disregard the other rolls.

Character Level	Action Point Dice Rolled
1st – 7th	1d6
8th – 14th	2d6
15th – 20th	3d6

Garhelm - Setting-Specific Rules

Here are the setting-specific rules I provided to the players.  This is kind of a hodge-podge listing and isn’t in any particular order.  I’ve added a few editorial comments about things that did or did not work well.

General Overview

• The general feel of the setting is Nordic mixed with the works of Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber and H.P. Lovecraft.

Deities

• The Norse Pantheon now rules the world of Garhelm. However, there are those who still worship the Dark Ones, the Demon and Devil Lords of the prior age. They see the Gods of Asgard as unwelcome usurpers. Although few in number, there are those who practice the ancient rites of the Elder Gods. 

Divine Magic

• Like the majority of humanity, most clerics worship the entire Norse pantheon, rather than a select deity. However, some priests do worship particular deities, with Thor, Odin  and Freya being the most common. Those few who worship the Demons and Devils still find their unholy prayers answered. As for the Elder Gods, they have all but left Garhelm. Only a few dedicated soles seek to return them to their former glory. [I used the 3rd edition Deities & Demigods for the Norse deities. If a character wanted to worship the entire pantheon, he’d just use the default cleric rules.  As needed, I would also supplement this with Necromancer Games’ free Gods & Demons document, but that really would have only come into play with evil PCs or PCs wishing to worship an Elder God.].

Arcane Magic

• Wizards and Sorcerers exist, but are not common and there are no large academies of magic.
• All arcane magic is based on runes, thus all magic items have runes etched on them. In the case of potions, the containers must have these runes to retain the potion’s magic. Note: not everything with a rune etching on it is magic. [The whole “rune magic” concept was really done more for flavor than anything.]

Races

• All standard player races exist, but demi-humans are rare. Only two allowed per party. However, Orc is considered a playable race. As a general rule, humans and demi-humans are distrustful of one another. Demi-humans blame the humans for the Age of Pains and humans resent that the demi-humans, for the most part, have isolated themselves from the outside world.
• Unlike on most prime material planes, the Orcs of Garhelm are not inherently evil. Indeed, Orcs, more than any other demi-human race, aided the humans in the battles of the Age of Pains. [I started to find it odd that half-orcs were in the Player’s Handbook, but not full-blooded orcs. On a side-note, I think Wizards of the Coast would have solved the “half-orc dilemma" a lot more eloquently by simply bringing full-blooded orcs into the Player’s Handbook and not making them inherently evil.]
• Halflings are “Furchins” (Nordic Halflings) and are known for their fierce riding dogs. Many are masters of mounted archery. [I stole that concept from the 2nd Edition The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings.]
• Dwarves and Gnomes are standard D&D fare.
• Elves are standard D&D fare, but lean more toward sorcery than wizardry. As such, they receive no experience penalty when multi-classing in Sorcerer (however, the penalty does apply to Wizard). [Given that elves are typically portrayed as forest dwellers, the Sorcerer class seemed more appropriate to me.  I just find it odd that folks who are normally seen as being one-with-nature also loved to pour over old tomes for their arcane magic.]
• Gnolls are the most populous evil humanoid race and are seen as a plague by all good races. They are demon and devil worshippers and were the Darks Lords foot soldiers during the Age of Pains.  [I really like me some gnolls and wanted something a bit different for the generic bad guys.]

Classes

• All standard player classes are allowed. However, due to the harsh nature of Garhelm and the savage life that most lead, any race can multi-class with barbarian without experience point penalty. [I did this because I wanted the PCs to be a bit beefier than normal. In part because of the weapon restrictions (see below) and also because I wasn’t planning on pulling any punches.  Plus, barbarians are cool.  This rule didn’t quite work, and I later amended it.  That will likely be in the next post.]

Settlements

• There are no large nations in Garhelm; most are city-states at best, separated by great expanses of wilderness. [Now known as a “points of light” style setting. I always liked the scenes in Conan the Barbarian of the heroes running across the land to get to a city and the wonders they found once they got there.]
  

Godmetal [a.k.a. my “Riddle of Steel” concept rip off]

• During the Second Age, amongst the chaos, metal became a rare commodity, even more so those who are skilled in crafting it. The same holds true in the Third Age.
• Bronze is the only metal moderately available, but is very precious. All bronze weapons and armor cost twice the listed book price. Bronze weapons suffer a –1 penalty to both attack and damage rolls. See The Arms and Equipment Guide for more rules concerning weapons and armor. [This is one of the “small tweaks” that came back to haunt me. It made things unnecessarily complex (although it seemed simple enough at the time). Perhaps “complex” isn’t the right term, but in hindsight, it’s not much fun to have the default campaign weapons give you a penalty. My initial thought was to simply give steel weapons a +1, etc. and that way they would sort of be the equivalent of a magic weapon. That is, I was going to give bonuses for steel weapon rather than penalties for non-steel weapons.  Then I cracked open the A & E Guide and decided to go by the book, figuring wiser men than I had made the rule for a reason. This was part of my learning to trust my own insight over an official rulebook.  Years later, I picked up Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia, which handled this much better than the A & E Guide.  In a little side blurb entitled “The Riddle of Steel” (I kid you not), the author suggests the following adjustments for weapons in this kind of setting: Wood, bone, or stone: –1, copper +0,  bronze +1, iron +2, steel +3.  Any masterwork or magic bonuses simply stacked with those.  If I revive Garhlem, that is how I will handle it.] 
• Steel, called Godmetal, is considered priceless and steel items are not normally for sale. Items of steel, particularly weapons and armor, are considered great treasures and signify wealth and status.
• Blacksmiths are held in high regard and are treated as elders in villages, towns, and cities. They are seen as priests who work the Godmetal. Finding metal, particularly steel, is considered a blessing from the gods.

Reputation

• Each character has a Reputation score, based upon the article “Fantasy Reputation” in ENWorld Player’s Journal #3.
• A character gains a +1 Reputation bonus at each level and may earn extra bonuses to Reputation for specific actions that are widely publicized. Such awards are special occasions given at the DM’s discretion, and should be noted on the character’s sheet under the Reputation section and in the List of Deeds. [The ENworld Player’s Journal article was neat and all (basically taking a d20 Modern concept and making it work in traditional D&D), but in general it was kind of a pain to track and never really amounted to much.  Perhaps it would have if the campaigns lasted longer, but in hindsight, this kind of thing is best left to role-playing rather than mechanics.]

Miscellaneous

• Although the world of Garhelm has recovered a great deal, it is still somewhat primitive. No item above the Bronze Age category listed in The Arms and Equipment Guide is normally available. [The A & E Guide was helpful in this regard.]
• The people of Garhelm do employ coinage, but barter is also often used.

Garhelm - My Homebrew Campaign Setting

My next few posts will detail a campaign setting I created a few years back for D&D 3.5.  I named the world “Garhelm.”  Why?  Because it sounded cool.  (To this day, I’m waiting for someone to tell me that it means “small scrotum” or something in a foreign dialect.)  I designed the kind of game world in which I would want to play.  It unabashedly borrows from several cliché sources, such as Howard’s Conan stories, the Conan the Barbarian movie, Norse mythology, Lovecraft, classic D&D demons, and more. I also designed the world so I could fit just about every Necromancer Games module I owned into it.

   I ran two short-lived campaigns in Garhlem, both of which ended for various reasons.  One was a face-to-face game that involved players from different states.  We didn’t meet often, so we had only about three sessions.  The other campaign was played online via ScreenMonkey.  This was before the days of Skype, so everything was chat-based.  Suffice it to say, it was very slow.  So, both of those campaigns had logistic obstacles, but, in both cases, lethality was the final campaign ender.   It’s frustrating enough when your PC dies, but even more so when you seldom get to play and/or the play format (i.e., online) is sort of inherently frustrating to begin with.

I learned a couple things from these campaigns:

• Be upfront about the death rate in the campaign. If there is going to be a high body count, let your players know from the start.  Then they can pass on the campaign from the get-go and irritation can be spared by one and all.  I made sure to do this with my Rappan Athuk campaign.
• Seemingly small mechanic adjustments added for campaign flavor can come back to haunt you.

I no longer use this setting, opting instead for the game world sparsely alluded to in Bard’s  Gate and the Rappan Athuk module.  I would like to revive Garhelm one of these days (with a few tweaks), but who knows if that will happen.

If You Like Castles & Crusades So Much, Why the Hell are You Playing D&D 3.5?

I’m in an odd situation.  I am a huge fan of Castles & Crusades but I use D&D 3.5 for my ongoing Rappan Athuk campaign. Why? Well, mainly because it’s grandfathered in, so to speak.  I started the campaign before I discovered C&C and it would be a lot of work to convert.  It wouldn’t be that tough on me as a DM.  Converting D&D 3.x materials is rather easy and I could do it on the fly.  For monsters, one basically just eliminates the Skills and Feats, interpreting them as inherent abilities if need be.  However, converting 3.5 characters to C&C characters is another story. 

I have to admit, one of the fun aspects of D&D 3.5 is that it allows players to “get under the hood” and tweak their characters to their hearts’ content (that sounds dirty).  Since C&C doesn’t involve Feats or Skills, converting a character would either require dropping those things outright or negotiating some way to add them as special abilities for the character.  In other words, it sounds like a pain in the ass. 

On top of that, no one is clamoring to change systems.  My players are happy with D&D 3.5.  I read blog and forum posts about players and GMs pissing and moaning about one system or another, complaining that this or that is broken and I think, “Man, I’m lucky.”  My players say “Have dice. Will travel.”  We just sit down and play the game, we don’t bicker about the rule set.

And, really, I myself do like D&D 3.5.  It’s a bit complicated, but my group has the system down and we enjoy the hell out of it.  Hell, we’ve never had trouble with some of the much criticized rules.  (I still don’t understand the beef with the Grapple rules. We use them all the time without a problem.)  My main gripe with D&D 3.5 is that combat is damn slow.  For example, I’m enjoying the Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus we have going on now, but we’ve played three sessions of combat and still have at least one more to go (hopefully only one more, that’s my plan anyway). Still, even with that, we’ve had a hell of a campaign, full of blood, grit, and glory.

Anyhow, since I’ve been blabbing about C&C so much, I figured I’d best explain myself. 

(If you haven’t checked out C&C yourself, take a look at the Quick Start Rules.)

Showdown in the Temple of Orcus – Update 1

Two sessions have passed since my last campaign update.  This is an update of the first of those two sessions. I can be a bit lazy with campaign posts simply because they are more time-consuming than other posts and, quite frankly, I always wonder if folks really read them.

The grinding continues. After the battle with the hezrou demon and his dretch minions, the party was left without the majority of its NPC fodder. The hezrou’s blasphemy spell had wiped out all but two of them.  I had to ret-con that due to some poor math on my part at the end of that session. I had told the party that those 3rd level NPCs were paralyzed, but when I was calculating XP between sessions, I realized that they were flat-out dead. Since that did not change the outcome of the immediate situation, I thought it fair to enforce the ruling.  I tend to let “ties go to the runner… er… player,” and if I mess up a ruling in favor of the players, I usually let it ride. However, considering the power of the hezrou, I thought it best to play this one by the book.  So, apart from some secondary PCs, the party was now down to two NPC dwarf fighters.

Ok, blah blah blah, here are the highlights in more or less chronological order.

• The PCs gathered up their dead, eight total (sans Roxxxor, who had been consumed by the lava), and used a gemgate (a magic item from Relics & Rituals that opens a temporary, teleportation portal. Think those magic red portals from the He-Man cartoon) to take the bodies back to a dwarven temple in Bard’s Gate. It was sort of a weird pop-in “Here are some dead guys!” pop-out move.  The players were mainly concerned that the unholy magic of the Orcus temple might cause the dead to rise.  Their initial plan was to throw the bodies into the lava pit, but after seeing the NPC dwarves weeping and performing last rites, it dawned on the players “oh yeah, we might want to at least role-play some respect for the fodder.”

• Snaggletooth, the party’s resident fairie dragon, cast stone shape to form a wall in front of each door (although, notably, the party forgot about the magic backdoor they themselves used to enter the temple)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• A spectre (who I described as looking like me) started peeking through the blocked doors and, after a magic arrow to his face, battle was commenced.

• A Vampire Warrior that appeared badass entered through the magic backdoor (so badass that I broke out my Warduke miniature for him), the spectre came through one of the regular doors, and a loud pounding was heard at the other door.

• The spectre was dispatched fairly quickly and the “oh, I’m a big, bad Vampire Warrior” was put in his place almost immediately by a turn check (unfortunately for him, he had arrived in a consecrated area and, well, the DM forgot his inherent turn resistance.  As I said, if I botch things, I tend to let them slide).

• The pounding continued and eventually the door and wall blocking the one entrance gave way to reveal a cadaver collector.

• The party was rather concerned at this point: the vampire, while not doing squat, was still there.  The cadaver collector was trampling the party again… and again… again. (Yeah, he has other attacks, but was being pretty effective just rolling over the PCs).

• Then the party said, “hmm, the collector is made out of a lot of metal, right?” and broke out two freakin’ magic items, both of which they had acquired in Rappan Athuk itself:
• a gauntlet of rust
• a shield covered with rust monster scales

• Both of these items work via touch attacks (I had to make this ruling for the shield since it wasn’t detailed in the RA material, but I figured as long as the PC wasn’t trying to actually bash with it, the rules for the gauntlet should apply to it as well).

• Before long, the already ineffective Vampire Warrior was without armor (bye bye +3 chain shirt) and fled.

• Although the cadaver collector was putting the hurt on the PCs, before long, he was a pile of rust.  Yeah, an AC of 29 is great… but not so great when your touch AC is frickin’ 9.

• Suffice it to say, the players found the Achilles' heel and worked it like a $2 whore.

• After combat was over, the wizard successfully cast antipathy versus Chaotic Evil off a caster level 16 scroll and the cleric began his hallow spell.

• Well-played.  

The Skull Trophy Abides

Beer, Pretzels, and Death - The House Rules of My Rappan Athuk Campaign

Here are the House Rules I have up at Epic Words for my players' perusal.  Figured I'd share them with the blogosphere.  Feedback is welcomed.

Allowed Source Material

Player and DM Sources
• Player's Handbook
• Dungeon Master's Guide
• The Hypertext d20 SRD
• Player's Handbook II
• Various "Complete..." books per DM approval
• Relics & Rituals I & II (with limitations)
• Spell Compendium
• Eldritch Sorcery
• Magic Item Compendium
• Arms & Equipment Guide
• Ultimate Equipment Guide
 

Campaign Materials
• Rappan Athuk Reloaded
• Bard's Gate
• lots and lots of monster books...

 Character Generation

Starting Level: 6
Ability Scores: Point Buy-High-powered Campaign: 32 Points (DMG p.169)
Starting HP: Maximum HP for level 1; additional HP rolled at the table with DM present
Starting Wealth: 13,000 gp (standard)
Restrictions:
o No evil alignments [Frost: Not really a moral qualm here, but I've learned allowing evil alignment causes more headaches than it's worth.]
o No custom magic items
o The DM reserves the right to refuse any character feature regardless of the materials listed as Source Material.
o Seek DM approval for using any class, item, race, etc. not listed in the Source Material.

Ensemble of Characters [Frost: This was inspired by a post at someone's blog.  I believe it was Jeff Rient's blog, but I can't find the particular post.  I've never played Dark Sun, but I think that had something similar, too].
Each player can have up three PCs at his/her disposal. This three includes any fallen PCs hoped to return to the land of the living. If a PC ever dies, the player has the option of reserving a slot for that PC or may create a new PC for that slot. Players may choose any PC prior to the session as long as we are not starting the session mid-combat. In other words, if we end one session while the party is knee-deep in the undead, the PC that was involved must still be involved in the next session. However, if the session ends with the party making camp or simply out of danger, the player can choose to use a different PC the next session. Please note, whatever items one PC carries are owned by that particular PC. On a case by case basis, I may allow players to have one PC give an item to another character so that character can give the item to another ensemble PC the next time that PC is played.

Death (from "The High Cost of Dying" by Andy Collins)
Any time a character is raised from the dead (by any effect that would normally cause a level loss), instead of losing a level, he picks up a special negative level. Unlike a normal negative level, this one can't be eliminated with restoration or any other kind of magic short of a miracle or wish. The character suffers all the normal penalties for a negative level--a -1 penalty on attacks, saves, and ability and skill checks; -5 hp; -1 to effective level for determining the effect of special abilities; and 1 spell or spell slot from the highest level castable.

This negative level remains until the next time the character gains a level. Each time you gain a level, you remove one of your special negative levels. (It's kind of like going up two levels at the same time.) If you're carrying around more than one of these special negative levels, you only lose one of them this time; you'll have to wait until your next level to lose another one.

True resurrection (and similar effects that restore life without causing level loss) bring a character back without this special negative level.

This rule applies to energy drain as well. If the saving throw caused by an energy draining attack fails, the negative level simply becomes "permanent" until the character gains another level. Restoration magics still work to remove the permanent negative level created by energy drain. Players must keep track of the origin of each of their special negative levels (since restoration can fix those from energy drain, but not from resurrection).

Critical Hits
Critical hits are resolved via the Critical Hit Deck per the rules of the deck with a couple exceptions. Players can always opt to do standard, critical damage instead of using the deck. Also, when a PC is the victim of a critical hit, the player can decide whether to receive the normal critical damage or to suffer the effects of the deck.

Critical Fumbles
Critical fumbles are resolved via the Critical Fumble Deck per the rules of the deck.

Critical Success/Critical Failure for Skill/Ability Checks
We are using the Variant rule from the DMG (p.34). If you roll a 20 on a skill roll, roll again. If you succeed again, good things happen. Likewise, if you initially roll a 1, roll again. If you fail again, bad things happen.

Gems, Baubles, and Goods
When gems, jewelry, statues, and the like are acquired by the party, the DM will immediately relate the monetary value for these items. This simply makes for easier book-keeping.

Deities
Gods from any pantheon can be worshiped, however, here is a listing of some of the common ones for this setting: Deities of the Bard's Gate Region [I can't link to the list on Epic Words, but my listing is very similar to the one Duke Omote used.  Thanks again for sharing that info, Duke!]

On Being Turned to Stone (compliments of Jonathan Drain)
A character turned to stone can attempt to strike a heroic pose in order to make a better looking statue. If sold, his statue fetches 100 gp times the result of a Charisma check.

Movement
Diagonal movement is 5 ft. instead of the normal rule for diagonal movement (i.e., every other diagonal move counts as 10 ft.). Frankly, the normal rule causes nothing but aggravation for some of us (namely, the DM) and slows down game play. Also, to speed up play, players and the DM may feel free to use the Ranger measuring tool or a tape measure to measure movement. [Frost: This is known as the "anti-Tron movement rule" as I had a tendency to move miniatures like light cycles rather than move them on diagonals because it would always throw off my counting.  I know, for some it isn't that hard, but it was nigh-impossible for this DM once a few beers were consumed.]

Purchasing Magic Items (from the Pathfinder PRD)
Magic items are valuable, and most major cities have at least one or two purveyors of magic items, from a simple potion merchant to a weapon smith that specializes in magic swords. Of course, not every item is available in every town.

The number and types of magic items available in a community depend upon its size. Each community has a base value associated with it (see Table: Available Magic Items). Bard's Gate is a metropolis. There is a 75% chance that any item of that value or lower can be found for sale with little effort in that community. In addition, the community has a number of other items for sale. These items are randomly determined and are broken down by category (minor, medium, or major).

Nonmagical items and gear are generally available in a community of any size unless the item is particularly expensive, such as full plate, or made of an unusual material, such as an adamantine longsword. These items follow the base value guidelines to determine their availability, subject to DM discretion.