Fighting Man
Bounty Hunter, Gun Fighter, Soldier
Hit Dice: d8
Armor: Any
Weapons: Roll up to d10 damage for weapons
Martial Training: Make a number of attacks per round equal to character level against enemies under 1 Hit Dice (may choose multiple targets)
Choose One Of…
* Fast Draw: Gain initiative in first round of combat
* Hand-to-Hand: +1 with melee weapons
* Sharp Shooter: +1 with missile weapons

Fighting Men could represent a wide variety of character types, which probably means it will be popular character class in the game.

Other films like Shanghai Noon (2000) and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) also blend the Western with Martial Arts and Chinese Magic. While a Shaolin Monk might be out of place in Magical Medieval Europe, it actually seems like it would be a good fit for a Dark Fantasy Western!

Here’s my first crack at a Monk character class.

Monk
Shaolin Monk, Martial Artist
Hit Dice: d6
Armor: No Armor or Shield while using Monk class abilities
Weapons: Roll up to d4 damage for weapons
Martial Arts Attack: Attack does d4 damage (+1 dice at Levels 3,5,7,9) counts as 2 “weapons”
Martial Arts Defence: Armor Class is 8 (+1 at Levels 2-8)
Mental Discipline: +2 on Saving Throws against Mind Attacks
Climb Walls: d12
Slow Fall: Avoid damage for each 10′ fallen when near a wall by making a d4 save (+1 dice at Levels 3,5,7,9)
Meditation: Spend an hour each day meditating to regain d4 hit points (+1 dice at Levels 2,4,6,8)

Note: This class is using some new rules that I’ll cover in future posts!

I’m not sure if any of the players will want to play a Monk, but I think they add a lot to the campaign setting and suggest other elements to add as well…

Again, I found the d20 system had some excellent suggestions but found it just too much for me to manage as is. I also find that when you’re looking at rules that include traveling across desert, forest, arctic, water and by every means of travel imaginable it’s quite inclusive… but not very evocative of a particular location. By condensing it down to just the rules that are relevant to this campaign, they help create a sense of place.

By only listing the types of terrain that will commonly be found in the campaign, and sharing these rules with the players there’s already a feeling for the world.

The campaign map is 5 miles per hex.

Daily Travel (8 hours)

Regular Clothing or Light Armour	5 hexes
Medium or Heavy Armour	3 hexes
Horse & Rider	7 hexes
Mule	5 hexes
Cart	3 hexes

Additional Forced Marching (per Hex)

Regular Clothing or Light Armour	2 hours
Medium or Heavy Armour	3 hours
Horse & Rider	1/2 hour

Make a CON check (d4/6/8 vs 4) each hour of Forced Marching or take d4 Fatigue points. Reduce the CON dice (d4/6/8) by one step per hour to a minimum of d4. Horses do not make CON checks and take damage against their hit points instead.

Hurried Movement (per Hex)

Regular Clothing or Light Armour	1 hour
Medium or Heavy Armour	2 hours
Horse & Rider	1/3 hour

Make a CON check (d4/6/8 vs 4) each hour or take d6 Fatigue points. Reduce the CON dice (d4/6/8) by one step per hour to a minimum of d4. Horses do not make CON checks and take damage against their hit points instead.

Difficult Terrain

Some types of terrain is more difficult to traverse than others. When moving through a hex it may count as multiple hexes for determining travel speeds.

Plains, Light Scrub and Cactus	1 hex
Heavy Cactus, Hills, Petrified Forest, Desert	2 hexes
Badlands, Mountains	3 hexes

Note: See yesterday’s post for details on Fatigue Points, Heat, Unconciousness and CON Checks.

I’ve seen a few other bloggers write about how to encourage a more swashbuckling campaign where characters choose to wear less armour. While this wasn’t my goal from the beginning I think the effects of wearing heavy armour in the hot sun, plus the slower movement rates (and further exposure to the sun!) caused by their armour will factor into what gear players choose to equip themselves with.

In Western films like The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, or even Knights of Cydonia there’s a common theme of the danger posed by the desert heat, and characters struggling to make their way across the burning sands. While I tend to prefer the more basic rule systems for D&D, this was a case where I found the 3.5/d20 system had a good foundation that I could work with. Rather than use their entire ruleset for movement, heat and fatigue I’ve boiled it down (heh) to something I find more manageable.

This is the first part of these rules which deals with how the heat of the environment affects the characters in this campaign setting.

Heat
During the day characters outdoors are affected by heat, and may receive Fatigue Points.

Fatigue Points
Characters with Fatigue Points can not run and their Strength and Dexterity is considered 1 step lower (minimum of -1 on checks). If a character’s Fatigue Points are greater than their current hit points, they fall unconscious. Any type of magical healing removes all Fatigue Points.

Medium or Heavy Armour
Make a CON check (d4/6/8 vs 4) each hour or take d6 Fatigue points. Reduce the CON dice (d4/6/8) by one step per hour to a minimum of d4.

Desert Travel and Mid-day Sun
Make a CON check (d4/6/8 vs 4) each hour or take Fatigue points – d4 for Regular Clothing, d6 for Light Armour, and d8 for Medium or Heavy Armour. Reduce the CON dice (d4/6/8) by one step per hour to a minimum of d4.

Unconsciousness
Characters who are unconscious and outdoors in the heat must make a CON check (d4/6/8 vs 4) each hour or take damage – d4 for Regular Clothing, d6 for Light Armour, and d8 for Medium or Heavy Armour. Reduce the CON dice (d4/6/8) by one step per hour to a minimum of d4.

Note on CON Checks
Ability score checks are based on a d6 roll with a target number of 4. If a character has an exceptional ability score this is reflected by rolling a d8 or a d4 instead.

It wasn’t until I started looking at some pre-written modules and imagining them in a Dark Fantasy Wild West type setting instead of the usual Magical Middle-Ages that’s common for a D&D world that it became clear – D&D only has the veneer of Medieval to it… at heart it’s always been a Western.

Characters in Dungeons & Dragons are usually unconnected to Feudalism or Guilds – which would have been tremendously important to most people in the real-world middle-ages. People did not typically move from place to place in medieval times without having military or political reasons for doing so. D&D characters are more like gun-fighters and cowboys, wandering from place to place in search of adventure.

Towns and Cities in D&D are usually more like a Western Boom Town at the height of the Gold Rush than any European equivalent. There are trading posts to buy supplies, saloons to meet with friends (and foes), plus lots of opportunity to buy horses, and military grade weaponry.

Unlike the often oppressive life of someone living in medieval Europe with people being born into their place within the social hierarchy with no upward mobility, D&D is built on the American Dream of being able to forge your own path and through hard work (and a little luck) make a better future for yourself. There’s also a general level of lawlessness that gives players more freedom of action for their characters than would be typical for a historical european setting.

Which is all to say that when I first starting thinking of adding more “Western” elements to D&D I thought it would be a weird mix… but it’s actually seeming quite natural.

I’m not sure what the final result will look like, but possibly something along the lines of a Savage Swords of Cydonia

I’ve previously written about Alignment and Languages for D&D, and this suggestion is based on that system. All characters in the game world are either Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic – with all the Player Characters being either Lawful or Neutral and the DM controlled NPCs being any of the 3 alignments.

Characters are awarded Experience Points (XP) based on their chosen alignment for their Character. Lawful aligned characters receive XP for defeating Chaotic aligned enemies. They receive no XP for defeating Lawful or Neutral enemies, or for collecting treasure. Neutral aligned characters on the other hand receive 1 XP per Gold Piece of treasure that they return with from their adventures. They receive no XP for defeating enemies.

NPCs controlled by the GM can be motivated by many different things. Some will be more inclined to try and defeat enemies, others will seek out treasure, while some will have different motivations entirely. NPCs do not keep track of XP, and the GM can change their level and statistics when it is deemed appropriate.

When Experience Points are awarded (this could be per session, or per adventure) players decide which alignment their character is after the adventure. This is the alignment they receive XP for, and the alignment that the character will be for the next portion of the campaign (either session or adventure). Most players will keep their character acting within their alignment, but some will be more fickle and change their tactics when presented with large piles of treasure, or the discovery of a chaotic menace that requires a hero’s attention.

While players may choose to have their characters change back and forth between Law and Neutrality during a campaign to reflect their changing focus on battling chaos or collecting treasure, they should be aware that some types of classes, spells and magic items work with specific alignments, and that changing a character’s alignment to gain more experience for a particular adventure could have some unexpected consequences.

It’s possible to expand this system further and allow for additional ways for characters to receive XP based on other factors such as race/class. A Lawful Wizard might gain XP for any magic item discovered, while a Neutral Dwarf might still gain XP for defeating Goblin enemies in addition to collecting treasure. The GM may additionally reward players XP for completing plot points for certain alignments (eg. all Lawful characters may gain XP for saving the Princess) or for certain classes (eg. all Clerics gain XP for making a pilgrimage to a remote shrine). Some exploration type awards may be independent of alignment, class and race entirely (eg. First visit to Gondor / Greyhawk / Waterdeep).

I like the idea of giving players more control over how they seek out Experience Points in the game, and really like making the game mechanics like Alignment more organically reflect how the players are playing their characters.

Unlike the other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books, the Fiend Folio came from the UK gaming magazine White Dwarf before it became a house publication for Games Workshop. The monsters were largely taken from the regular Fiend Factory column which featured creatures sent in by the magazine’s readers. Being from the UK myself I think there are (or at least were) subtle differences in the styles of scifi and fantasy media popular there during the 70s and 80s compared to that in North America. This makes the tone of the creatures in the Fiend Folio just a little bit “different” from what you find in the Monster Manual and it’s sequel.

The artwork includes the excellent illustration of Russ Nicholson, famous for his work on the Fighting Fantasy series of Game Books. Since I also got into D&D through reading Choose Your Own Adventures and Fighting Fantasy, I’ve always felt this style of pen and ink artwork felt “right” for the game compared to a lot of the other approaches games have taken over the years.

Now, as much as I’ve always liked the Fiend Folio, I admit that when I first bought my copy back in the early 1980s I found many of the monsters were a bit “weird” and “too strange” for the very Tolkienish games we tended to run. I get the impression that many other people still feel this way about it.

Lately though, I’ve been warming up to the idea of more Sci-Fi and more “weird” being good things for Fantasy in general, and D&D in particular. In the new year I’m hoping to run some more RPG nights and I think the Fiend Folio will play an important role.

The Grell from the Fiend Folio would be an excellent starting point for an H.G.Wells style Martian…

As you’d expect from an RPG spell reference application for the iPhone you can browse through all the spells organized by name, class and level. In addition to this you can also save your favourite spells to a personalized “my spells” section for faster reference. Spells can be added and removed from this section whenever you like, allowing you to customize Spell Book for your own game.

Having had this app on my own iPhone for a month now, I think it can help speed up the process of looking up spells and their effects, without taking the focus away from the tabletop experience. It’s also fun to look up the different spells when you’re sitting in the dentist’s waiting room, or stuck in a meeting.

I’d like to take a moment and thank Matt Finch and Pete Mullen for their work on Swords & Wizardry. Special thanks as well to Jonathan Stark, David Kaneda, Rob Ellis, Brock Whitten, Joe Bowser, Dave Johnson, Brian Leroux, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax – who all made important contributions to this project.

Similarly, regardless of the number of men-at-arms, shield mates, and comrades around a 1st-level Wizard who decides to try and help the party out by making a melee attack – a single round of bad luck can kill the character and take one of the players out of the game.

I find the standard game mechanics in classic D&D less than ideal for groups fighting other groups. Whether abstract or with minis they do a better job depicting skirmishers than they do characters fighting in close ranks or otherwise trying to assist and defend their comrades.

Looking at how other games handle fighting in groups, I think there’s a way to make D&D combat run a bit more to my liking – without adding much more complexity to the game.

A rule found in many war games that I quite like is that the defending player is the one who gets to choose which members of a damaged unit are removed from the board. I think introducing this system into D&D, Labyrinth Lord, and Swords & Wizardry combat would be fairly straightforward as well.

Player characters can choose to fight in a group with any of their allies (other player characters, henchmen and retainers etc). When any member of that group is “hit” in combat the players can decide which member of the group will lose hit points from the attack. This must be decided before any rolls for damage are made. All players with characters in the fighting group must agree with the reallocated damage roll, or the GM assigns it to the original target.

Players might choose to have damage dealt to their retainers first, possibly resulting in more casualties, but allowing them to continue adventuring longer with their main characters. Alternately a player with higher hit points might want to assign hits against retainers to their PC first, keeping more of the party’s swords in action against their enemies.

Since the members in a group are keeping close to one another, all characters must choose to melee attack against the same target – although that target could of course be an enemy group! Additional individuals and groups that choose to attack the players group may also be attacked in melee combat as well. Attack rolls are made against individuals within the group as normal, the only difference is that the defenders may choose to reassign the damage roll to another character

This system allows weak or injured characters to be protected by their comrades, although not without additional risk to the defenders. Fighting in a group means that characters can lose hit points from attacks that would not normally be able to hit their armour class if they choose to shield an ally from harm. Trying to keep an unarmoured wizard or merchant protected amidst a swirling melee is much harder than simply focusing on the fight at hand!

Introducing fighting groups to the game can turn combat into something that requires a bit more decision making from the players. However, the players should be aware that while they can use group tactics, their enemies often will as well…

In a recent post I talked about my appreciation for the simplicity of the original D&D character generation method (and lower ability score modifiers), but there are times when you’d like to give people the option of making their character ahead of time. In the interest of fairness it only makes sense that this should be a non-random process.

Here is an alternate character creation method you can use for classic D&D or Swords & Wizardry. It builds on the idea of simplifying RPG attributes – that you only need to record whether an ability is exceptional (either good or bad) and think of a descriptive word for that attribute rather than record the 3-18 score on your character sheet.

Characters begin with one positive exceptional ability. For each negative exceptional ability that the player assigns, they may choose another positive exceptional ability as well. Since there are six abilities in the game, character creation in this manner means a player’s character can start the game with:

• 1 positive
• 2 positive, 1 negative
• 3 positive, 2 negative

So without dice I could start creating characters for my next game like this:

Strong (+Strength)

Muscular, Tough, Ugly (+Strength, +Constitution, -Charisma)

Thin, Clever, Determined, Quick, Shy (-Strength, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Dexterity, -Charisma)

Characters can be assigned additional negative abilities if the player desires to do so — and we’ll cover why they might in the next post!