Hyrulian Adventures: Alignment in Legend of Zelda

Alignment in the Legend of Zelda games is an interesting beast. There is clearly an old school D&D, Law vs Chaos thing going on, right?

Kinda.

Sorta.

But there’s more to it than that. When we look at the mythology of the world, it centers around the power of the Triforce, of which there are three (four?*) parts: Wisdom, Power, and Courage. Each of these parts is personified in Zelda, Ganon, and Link, respectively.

*That fourth part would be the upside-down triangle there in the middle. The Triforce of Shadow? Not going there in this post, but it’s worth mentioning.

So, we have alignment working along these three axes. We have a Triforce of Courage that needs reassembling, and then someone to wield it. Who should that be?

Obviously, the person who has been the most Courageous! This will mean a great deal more bookkeeping for myself, as I will need to keep track of the PCs actions every game and make judgment calls (quite frankly, more than I’m really comfortable doing, but I think it will be worth it in the end) on whether their actions have been Wise, Courageous, or Power-hungry. In the end, only one of them can raise the Triforce of Courage and fight Ganon. Of course, I’m not going to tell them I’m keeping track of this kind of thing.

Side-note: what happens if someone who is not pure of heart or truly courageous enough to wield it gets his or her hands on the Triforce of Courage? Something exciting I’m sure… Because I'm not going to just come out and tell them who is supposed to wield the Triforce of Courage! 

Right now, I have it set up with a kind-of points system. Basically, each character will get a point in the appropriate column whenever they do something in-game that is especially Wise, Courageous, or Power-Hungry. I wish there was a good way to make Wisdom, Power, and Courage each PC's stats, but I'm not sure how to make it work. They feel more like personality attributes than physical statistics to me, which is why I'm keeping them separate. I do have plans to use these scores in a couple of different ways down the line, which I'll explain when we get there (eventually). 

But also, what happens to the character who has been the most Wise?

Or the most Power-hungry?

Any ideas? Sound off in the comments below! 

Hyrulian Adventures: Session 1

I was a little stressed out leading up to getting started yesterday; I haven’t run a D&D game in several months, and running a game for the kids can always be a challenge. On top of that, I didn't have as much prepared as I would have liked, and knew I would be winging some of the session. We started with character generation. We had five characters fully done up within an hour and a half. Microlite characters are pretty straightforward, of course, and most of the time was taken up buying supplies.

I explained it in an earlier post, but I’ll recap here. PCs start basically as level-0 townsfolk with three stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Mind. Stats are calculated using 12d6, dropping the three lowest rolls, and assembling three scores with what remains and assigning as the player sees fit. Ability modifiers are calculated by taking the score, minus ten, and divided by 2, rounded down. They all get 12 HP plus a Strength bonus. They all rolled on my Character (Family) Background Generator, which gave us the children of a barber, a forester, a farmer, an arrowsmith, and explorers. There are no levels. Character improvement happens through acquiring items in-game, training with NPCs, and success with certain tasks in the field. I’m still ironing out some of the details, but I have plenty of time and some good ideas, I think.

Regardless, things got off to a start with some combat. I’ve learned that with the kids, they need some action to start things off. So I explained the situation, plopped down a battle map, and we got to rolling dice.

They nearly died.

It was fantastic.

So, having successfully fended off the bokoblin attack and defended their fellow villagers and the refugees, they set off to help the town by acquiring more weapons and armor. They upgraded their “weapons” (really just hunting tools) by having the town blacksmith do a little work on some of the swords that were dropped by the bokoblins from the attack in town.

They have a general map of the area (which belongs to the daughter of the explorers), and they were faced with a few options. First, Lon Lon Ranch is some five or six miles from Kakariko Village, and there was some concern if the ranch would be okay. Also, Ordon Village, some twenty miles to the south, could also be in need of assistance. Finally, there was an area on the map clearly marked “Ruins” to the Northwest (the remains of the original Hyrule Castle, perhaps…?). They eventually settled on heading to the Ranch.

A random encounter happened first. Currently, as it is always dark and Hyrule is crawling with monsters, I’m rolling for every mile travelled. I roll 2d6, and if either face pops up a 1, bam, random encounter. Snake Eyes would be the discovery of something fairly major.

They came across a ruined tower, though it still had a second floor at least. It also had a pair of bokoblins guarding the entrance. An ambush took the guards out and they set up to move in. My father-in-law directed their movements, and they made quick progress with good cover, and the encounter with another four or five bokoblins inside didn’t last very long.

They did, however, fail to investigate upstairs. Not sure why, as bokoblins were coming at them from upstairs, but I wasn’t about to remind them. The tower’s not going anywhere, and whatever was up there will still be there, right? Maybe? Who knows.

They made it the rest of the way to Lon Lon Ranch, where they met Malon and her father Talon. Malon is the twelve year old girl who really runs the Ranch, and Talon does what he can to help out. When they come up, she is armed with a shortbow and certainly not thrilled to have strangers, but is willing to let them stay the night in the barn if they help out repairing the ranch.

Oh, and there’s a cave nearby where all these monsters seem to keep coming from, and little Malon just hasn’t been able to get over there and clear it out. Could you guys investigate?

In they went. Numerous encounters with Deku Baba plants later (the little bastards kept popping back up out of the ground after they killed them, wonder why...) and they were face to face with some robed evil dudes creating bokoblins in some kind of foul ritual involving rupees. The robed guys went down fairly quickly, but not before one of them toasted our heroes pretty good with a fireball attack of some sort.

Of course, the two youngest adventurers took the bait of the evil-looking daggers dropped by the robed fellows. And as they were trying to leave the dungeon, fighting their way through the Deku Baba plants that had grown back, one of the plants grabbed the boy as he tried to stab it with said evil dagger and chewed him up good. The rest of the group took the plants out and hauled the boy out, but he would need a few days to recover, and that only with the aid of some famous Lon-Lon Milk. Needless to say, they’re not really sure what to do with those daggers now…

And that’s where we left things. The plan is for some of the adventurers to borrow horses from Lon-Lon Ranch, leaving the injured boy there for a few days while they head back to Kakariko to deliver some of the weapons they’ve acquired, and then head back to Lon-Lon and then down to Ordon Village. We’ll see how things go, of course.

Overall, a good first session for the campaign, I think. If there’s anything that’s going to kill the kids, though, it’s greed. They all suffer from “Gimme Gimme” syndrome; they all want the shiniest new thing to show up, and it’s always a competition amongst all of them to see who can get it. They were going after fallen rupees in the middle of combat. Seriously. It nearly killed a couple of them on a couple of occasions. Once that nonsense started, any thoughts of taking it easy on them vanished. Not that I was fudging any die rolls (everything gets rolled right out in front of God and everyone), but I certainly wasn’t going to bring my B-game as far as tactics with the monsters was concerned. After all, they had been warned before the game started that their characters were fragile and could easily be killed if they weren't careful...

The kids had a good time, though. There was certainly some frustrations from every seat at the table at some point, be it from a string of poor die rolls or lamenting bad decisions, but all their characters (barely) survived to see another session, so we’ll continue on!

Hyrulian Adventures Begin

Hyrule has known peace for a thousand years at least, under the strong but caring leadership of the Royal Family.

All that changed last Thursday morning, when the earthquakes began. While rare, earthquakes are perfectly natural events, and certainly no cause for alarm. Until they continued. For three days. Much of Kakariko lay in ruins, only the sturdiest buildings surviving.

The next day, a boy, carrying a shield and a sword and wearing a green tunic, rode into town, and sought out the elder Sahasrahla. Within a couple hours, he was gone again. Apparently, he was the “Hero of Legend”, but you had never heard of this legend before.

Then the monsters came.

And then the darkness followed. The sun has not been seen in days. You can hear the howling of the monsters in the wilds.

A few hours ago, refugees arrived from Hyrule Castle Town. Hundreds of people, many of them injured, all of them terrified of what they had seen at the castle. Monsters had descended upon the town, undead rising up from the cobblestones, and the castle torn up from the very ground itself, and by some magic remains suspended there, transformed into a twisted, evil, Forbidden Fortress.

The refugees and other survivors have been gathered in the village temple. There are a few soldiers with them, and their primary concern is building up defenses for the village and its people. No one knows what has happened to the Royal Family. None of the survivors knows anything about the “Hero of Legend”. The Elder Sahasrahla pulls the five of you aside. He fears the worst; the Hero has fallen, and the Triforce of Courage is shattered and scattered across Hyrule. This evil, these monsters, can only come from someone wielding the Triforce of Power, and if what the refugees say is true, there is a good chance that someone has taken captive Princess Zelda, the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom.

The Triforce of Courage must be recovered, reassembled, and wielded by someone pure of heart if there is any hope at all of returning the light to Hyrule! 

But first, Kakariko Village must be defended from attack...

Kids' Campaign: Good ole-fashioned Dungeon Crawl

Today in my kids' campaign, they explored the caverns below the goblin caves. At the direction of Larry the Dwarf Cleric, they stayed to the right as they explored, coming across numerous forking passages. 

First up, a bunch of piercers fell off the ceiling, attacking them. Most of my attack rolls missed; I was rolling d20s out on the table for each player. The wizard, my 10-year-old son, insisted on rolling a d20 for himself, without realizing I was rolling attacks for the monsters. 

He rolled a natural 20. We spent the next five minutes as we both rolled low, him trying to knock the piercer off, and the piercer failing utterly to chew through the wizard's robes. He finally knocked it off with his staff and they avoided the rest of the piercers on the ceiling, and went into the next room, where they barely managed to avoid being caught in the filament-traps of a group of three cave fishers! This combat went quickly, although it seems the only time I roll criticals for monsters is when the wizard gets too close to combat and a monster snaps at him! 

They defeated the cave fishers and continued on, keeping ever to the right. The next foe they encountered was a big nasty roper. The roper snagged three of the heroes off the start with its tentacles, and started pulling them in, but they managed to make excellent attack rolls to slice through the tentacles and break free. They had to gang up on it, and nearly lost Snagger the Dwarf, but defeated the monstrosity and found the gems and platinum pieces in the roper's belly. 

They continued on around the map, and came to a maze-like series of passages. It wasn't long before they were attacked from two sides by some big subterranean lizards! And then a few rounds into the fight, two more joined the fray, led by their minotaur master! The fight was looking kind of grim when the minotaur showed up; the wizard dropped (lizard got a crit for 12), and Farmer George wasn't far behind. The minotaur circled around and charged the halfling thief, but rolled a two; I ruled the thief tumbled between the minotaur's legs and popped up behind it, granting her a backstab attack for extra damage. The two elves hit, with the first hit being a "ghetto crit" for maximum damage and the second elf scoring a natural 20! The 6+3 HD minotaur went down quick, and its pet lizards weren't far behind. 

After taking a few minutes to heal up, they continued on their path, ever to the right passageway, circling around the map. In the next chamber they encountered an Auromvorax! Since the book states that dwarves despise them, I gave each dwarf a roll to recognize the beast. Snagger made his roll, and knew that the monster literally eats gold for dinner. They started throwing gold pieces at it, enough to distract it for long enough to get by. 

This is when they started discovering the remains of a group of adventurers who hadn't survived the dungeon. They recovered a spellbook with high-level spells and a tube of scrolls containing several sheets worth of bad poetry. 

Having gone most of the way around the dungeon, they headed back up to the goblin lair and made camp for the night to rest up. Nothing attacked them in the night (the goblins had left, most being cowardly and having no desire to be around when the group opened the passageway down into the deadly caves). 

Further exploration the next morning revealed a hidden, ancient dwarven crypt. The dwarf cleric opened the passageway and down they went, finding a 1000-year-old internment containing several generations worth of urns and an altar, with a blessed dwarven warhammer floating above it. After saying a prayer to Moradin, the dwarf cleric took the warhammer. 

Hyrulian Adventures: Some Monsters

Hyrulian Monsters and other DM notes

Hyrule is not normally filled with monsters. The demons currently plaguing the countryside are not of this world. They are sorcerous creations sent to wreak havok and plunge Hyrule into chaos. The foul ritual that creates them uses some of Hyrule's essence, be it gems from the earth, other pieces of nature (Deku sticks and nuts, for example), or the strength of its peoples. Because they are not natural, when monsters are destroyed, they disappear, sometimes leaving behind rupees, a heart, or some other item. Rupees can be collected and spent later by PCs. Hearts, when found, must be used then to recover 1d4 hit points. If a PC grabs a heart while they have maximum hit points, they gain nothing. 

And some monsters: 

Bokoblins are vile little humanoid creatures, about four feet tall, with a toothy maw and green or blue skin. They typically carry crude spears or swords (1d8 damage) and are rarely encountered alone, typically marauding in a band of 3d4 of the creatures, with one Leader. They have a love of bloodshed and causing mayhem. Their weapons are shoddily made, and automatically break on a natural attack roll of 5 or less. Unarmed bokoblins attack with their clawed hands for 1d6 damage. 

Bokoblin: HD 1d8, AC 12, +1 attack, 1d8 (armed) or 1d6 (claws) damage, save 18 
2 in 6 chance of dropping either heart (1-3) or single rupee (4-6)

Bokoblin Leader: HD 1d8+2, AC 13, +1 attack, 1d8+1 damage (armed) or 1d6+1 (claws), save 17. Leaders carry better weapons (usually longsword, which only break on an attack roll of 1) and a wooden shield. Always drop either heart or a 5-rupee piece. 


Moblins are big and mean. Eight feet tall with a pig-like face and furry red skin, these are elite soldiers. They are usually armed with a large morningstar (1d10 damage, STR 15 to wield) and armored (Banded mail, though it is too large for a PC to wear). 

Moblin: HD 3d8, AC 16, +3 attack, 1d10 damage, save 15. They always drop 2d6 5-rupee pieces and a single heart. 


Keese are dark winged rodents that are often found in dungeons. They have a wingspan of 1 foot and are more nuisance than threat. There is a fiery version as well. 

Keese: HD 1d4, AC 18, +4 attack, 1 damage, Save 20. 1 in 6 chance of dropping either single rupee or heart. 

Flaming Keese: HD 1d4, AC 18, +4 attack, 1 fire damage and victim must make Reflex save or take 1 additional fire damage next round; Save 20. 1 in 6 chance of dropping a single rupee or heart. 


Deku Baba is a monstrous plant. It has a large, bulbous head that opens to reveal rows of sharp teeth. It is rooted in place by a five foot long stalk, but can attack anything that gets close enough. 

Deku Baba HD 2d8, AC 15, +3 attack, 1d6 damage, victim must make reflex save or be grabbed in Deku Baba's mouth. Deku Baba does 1d6 more damage each round until victim makes fortitude save to break out. Save 17. The Deku Baba's weak spot is its stalk, which has an AC of 18, but a blow with a bladed weapon automatically severs it from the ground, destroying it. Deku Baba grow back in 10 minutes unless root is dug out and burned. Always drops either Deku Stick or Deku Nuts. The root, when burned, leaves behind a single 10 rupee piece. 

Hyrulian Adventures: Character Generation

Character Generation

These rules are based on Microlite and as such are Open Game Content.

PCs are human and hail from either Kakariko Village or Hyrule Castle Town. 

Roll 3d6 in order to determine your PC's Strength, Dexterity, and Mind ability scores. You may switch one score with another. Ability modifiers are as follows: Score minus 10, divided by 2, round down. 

There are no classes, nor do PCs gain levels. PCs can use any weapon and wear any armor, as long as they meet the minimum Strength requirement. 

A PC's starting Hit Points equal their Strength score plus 1d8. 

Armor Class equals 10 + Dexterity modifier + Armor Bonus. 

There are three different attacks a PC can make: Melee, Ranged, and Magical. Add Strength modifier to Melee Attacks, Dexterity modifier to Ranged Attacks, and Mind modifier to Magical Attacks. PCs do not start with any Magical Attack they can perform, but there are items they can find in-game which will allow them to. 

There are three saving throws: Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower. PCs begin with a +4 modifier to each saving throw, plus ability score modifiers: Strength modifier to Fortitude, Dexterity modifier to Reflex, and Mind modifier to Willpower. When a saving throw is called for, a PC must roll a d20 and add their appropriate saving throw bonus. A total of 20 or more means they saved. 

Players start with 3d6 times 3 rupees, and a backpack and small money bag. 

PCs can carry a number of items up to their Strength score, including weapons and armor. 

Now, obviously, because they have no levels or bonuses from their classes, these starting characters are not quite as strong as standard Microlite characters. That is the idea; they are basically 0-level mooks to start. If they survive their first foray into the monster-infested wilderness, it won't be long before they find items to grow stronger and more powerful. Dungeons are filled with these types of treasures; they also abound in secret, hidden places in the wilderness, and can be bestowed on a PC by an NPC. 

The PCs begin knowing very little about the world. They know the area they are from, and the locations of other human settlements and the major landmarks of Hyrule (Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, etc). They know that beastly monsters have been seen in the wilderness, that Hyrule Castle Town is overrun with monsters, and that Hyrule Castle itself has been transformed into an evil fortress. They know the world has gone dark. Visibility outside is approximately 50 feet. 

The few soldiers that escaped with the refugees from Hyrule Castle Town are tasked with the defense of Kakariko. They have begun the process of forging weapons and armor and training able-bodied men and women to defend the town. 

At the beginning of the game, heavy weapons and armor are not yet available for sale in Kakariko Village, and won't be until the town is armed for defense to the liking of the soldiers. This process will take one month, unless the PCs help by taking weapons from monsters and donating them to the town. For every five weapons the PCs donate, the town becomes one day closer to being properly armed. 

The following items for adventuring can be found at the General Store:

Lantern (holds 1 pint of oil, visibility 20 ft): 10 rupees
Oil: 5 rupees per pint (pint lasts 4 hours)
Torch (burns 1 hour, visibility 20 ft): 1 rupee
Waterskin: 3 rupees
Rope 50 ft: 5 rupees
Grappling Hook: 10 rupees
Ten-foot pole: 1 rupee
Backpack: 5 rupees
Small Money bag (holds 50 individual rupees): 5 rupees
Flint and Steel: 5 rupees
Tent: 5 rupees
(Bug-Catching) Net: 5 rupees (use DEX bonus to catch something in the Net)
Bottle: 10 rupees

Armor:
Leather AC +2  10 rupees
Studded Leather AC +3  30 rupees
Wooden Shield  AC +1 (Min STR 13) 10 rupees

Weapons:
Hand axe 1d6  10 rupees
Hunting knife 1d4  5 rupees
Staff 1d4  5 rupees
Bow and arrows 1d6 (Min STR 13) 20 rupees
Sling 1d4 (Monster must make a saving throw or be dazed for a round if attack scores a Critical hit)

Hyrule Historia

It is apparently Zelda week here at the Pack of Gnolls. This post outlines a bit more of my design philosophy for Hyrulian Adventures. Later today I will post the promised Character Generation guidelines.


The Legend of Zelda video game series has continued on for more than 25 years. Personally, I've played most of the games, but have only actually conquered two: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. When you get down to it, I'm just not all that great at video games. 

One thing about the Legend of Zelda series that I personally find simultaneously interesting and inane, is the long-term debate over the Zelda Timeline(s). If you thought D&D edition wars were bad, check out the debates that rage every time a new Zelda game is released and throws the various timeline theories into chaos with new information. 

In December 2011, Nintendo released a book called the Hyrule Historia, which purports to be an "official" timeline of the video game series. It was only published in Japanese, so I'm relying on this Zelda wiki article

http://www.zeldawiki.org/Timeline

to get the gist of it all. While there are a couple of inconsistencies, overall it makes sense, I suppose. As the publisher's "official" word on the subject, I guess we have to accept it, but I personally think it's a load of bull. Nintendo has consistently pursued gameplay first in game development, and handled storyline after the fact. Certainly, some titles reference events in other games, and some are obviously direct sequels to what came before. There was never a grand design for a timeline for the games. I wouldn't be surprised when the debate is renewed again after the next game is published, and numerous details throw the entire thing once again into question (unless of course they include, in the instruction manual, exactly when amongst all titles and branching timelines this next game falls). 

Personally, I prefer to think of the games as "but one of the legends of which people speak", as stated at the beginning of The Wind Waker. This is my design philosophy as I develop my Microlite-based Legend of Zelda RPG. 

Each individual Zelda game is but a different version of the Triforce story: evil Ganon seeks the power of the Triforce, and the Hero, Link, must undertake an adventure to defeat Ganon and save Hyrule. In this table-top game, the Hero of Legend is defeated and it is up to the people of Hyrule (the PCs) to stop Ganon. 

I will be drawing inspiration from many of the different video game titles as I develop my Hyrule for my players to explore. This rendition does not fall into any place within the canonical timelines. It is Hyrule, it is plagued by evil, and it must be saved. 

Hyrulian Adventures: Basic Premise

Hyrule has known an age of peace and prosperity. All this changes quickly, however. First came three days of earthquakes, which have altered the landscape dramatically. Next came sightings of monsters in the wilderness. People began talking of ancient legends, and then a young man in green appeared, the Hero of Legend. He spent a few hours in Kakariko Village and then disappeared into the wilderness. 

Three days later, the land of Hyrule was plunged into an unnatural darkness. The sun is yet to rise. Refugees from Hyrule Castle Town have arrived in Kakariko Village, telling stories of demons stalking the streets and the overnight change of the Castle itself into a terrifying fortress, and no one knows what is become of the Royal Family. 

The village sage fears the worst: Ganondorf has returned, seeking the ancient power of the Triforce, and the Hero of Legend has fallen. Legend says that if the Hero falls, the Triforce of Courage will be broken into nine pieces and scattered across the land. These pieces must be recovered before Ganon finds them! 

Hyrulian Adventures: Initial Thoughts

Translating the Legend of Zelda video games to a tabletop D&D RPG has, thus far, been an interesting thought experiment. There are numerous conventions within the video game series that strain credulity within a D&D context. Here are a couple examples I am contending with as I build "my" Hyrule. 

Artificial barriers in the maps. In the NES Legend of Zelda, bushes and rocks were often used to block Link's progress or separate parts of the map. Obviously, these types of barriers make little sense in D&D, as clever players can easily get around them. These include the common convention, ever since Link to the Past, of requiring certain items to open up new parts of the map, such as the mallet or the power bracelet. 

Bottles. Why are there only three or four bottles Link can use to carry things in, but endless supplies of ceramic jars to break? Why can't Link just buy a simple glass bottle in a store? 

Obviously, these things serve a certain purpose within the video games that are probably unnecessary in a table-top game. The trick is identifying which tropes exist purely as a limiting factor in-game, and twist them in such a way that they still serve a purpose in the table-top world and are fun and rewarding for the players to find. 

One of the coolest things about the original NES Legend of Zelda was that a clever player could get all the way to the final battle with Ganon without ever getting a sword. You weren't funnelled along from Dungeon A to B to C. You could go take on several different dungeons, right from the beginning, if you could find them. Very little was blocked off, in the sense that it required an item key of some sort to access. That alone speaks volumes about how much the original game relied on player exploration, skill and ingenuity. I don't want to force my players along a certain, predetermined path to get to the end. I want to give them a world to explore, secrets to uncover, problems to solve, and great rewards for doing so. 

Tomorrow: Character Generation

Friday: Monster theory and samples

Zeldaspiration: Hyrulian Adventures

The Legend of Zelda video games have always served as great inspiration for me, and my wheels have really been turning lately. I've always wanted to be able to run adventures in Hyrule as a table-top RPG, but I always run into the same problem when I start working on it: the story is always focused on a single character. While this would be okay for one-on-one gaming, it's not really what I'm after. 

Instead, I want to capture the essence of what makes the gameplay fun and interesting and apply it to Microlite-type D&D. 

Puzzles, riddles, secrets: this is a huge part of what makes Zelda games fun, but obviously this aspect will be confined to adventure/dungeon/world design. I want to make this as old-school as possible. Characters won't be making any "search checks".

No levels. All growth in character power is by way of earned items. This is something I love about the games. It doesn't matter how many monsters you kill or rupees you collect, you've still got to earn the Master Sword by solving the riddles to find it. 

Sandbox. The first two Zelda titles on the NES featured big, wide-open sandboxes to explore. There were hidden secrets everywhere, it seemed. Some places were much more dangerous than others, and it was easy to get in over your head. 

I will basically be developing a sandbox setting and a set of Microlite-based rules to go hand-in-hand, specifically for running Hyrule-esque adventures with my kids. They are all in love with the Legend of Zelda video games, and table-top adventuring in this style with all of them should be tons of fun. 

This won't mean the end of our Night Below Underdark adventures on Sunday, however! That game will continue on Sundays. 

Actual Play: Kids' Campaign: Cleaning Up Haranshire

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they had just cleared the Bloodskull Orcs out of the caves and discovered a tunnel going down, where they met the Svirfneblin, the deep gnomes. 

They have also gained a couple of NPC party members: Snagged, a fourth level dwarf fighter, and Farmer George, a zero-level human who will eventually level up to a first level fighter. 

The Svirfneblin met them and gave them some more, though limited, information about what is happening in the Underdark. They know the dark dwarves have been taking magic-capable humanoids below, and they know that illithids are involved. 

The gnomes are not eager to trust surface dwelling adventurers. They are fearful that foolish adventurers might lead the dark dwarves or the mind flayers back to the gnomes, and wipe them out. To earn their trust, the party must help the gnomes out. Two tribes of trolls dwell nearby, who are constantly warring with each other; wiping out the trolls would greatly improve the gnomes' local security situation. 

The party recognized that large numbers of trolls may be a bit beyond their capabilities, despite their growing arsenal of magical items. The gnomes offered to lead them back to the surface to make preparations, with the caveat that they have about ten days before the dark dwarves will return and discover the slaughter of the orcs. 

The party returned topside. Snagger the Dwarf was eager to hunt down the bandits who kidnapped him. With the help of the ranger Kuiper, they tracked the bandits to the old abandoned Garlstone Mines. They made short work of the bandits there, including the evil priest leaders; they also finally got to take out Ranchefus, the escaped leader of the kidnappers from Broken Spire Keep.

This earned them a decent cache of magical weapons, items, and potions, as well as enough experience for the cleric, the magic-user, and one of the elf fighters to level up. 

With about a week left before their scheduled rendezvous with the Svirfneblin, they decided to go investigate the mystery of the New Mire. The New Mire, up until a couple years ago, wasn't called that. It was fertile, abundant farmland and forest. Something caused the area to become waterlogged, and no one knows what. "Blue Demons" have been spotted in the Mire, and the party quickly recognizes goblin tracks. 

They track the goblins to their lair, and discover they are, indeed, blue. Instead of slaying them outright (the goblins are quite cowardly, and have never harmed any local humans, though they have swiped some chickens and sheep), the cleric led negotiations, and they soon discovered the magic ring worn by the goblin shaman: a Ring of Water Elemental Control. They convinced him to give it up in a trade that was much to their advantage (the goblin was unaware of the ring's true power). 

Further interrogation of the shaman revealed that the goblin found the ring in the now sealed off caverns below their lair. The way can be opened, and the party is eager to see what else is below... 

D&D Wizard Spell-Learning Times Through the Editions

As a follow-up to Tuesday's post on Magic-Users learning higher-level spells, it occurred to me that there are no guidelines in M74 Extended for how long it takes a Magic-User to learn new spells. So far in our game, it's been handwaved that a few 1st level spells can be learned in about a day of study. Now that we're getting a little higher in level, it bears researching the precedent in the game. 

And it gives me an excuse to flip through my newly-acquired B/X booklets! (Like I really needed an excuse...)

My 1980 Moldvay Basic book had very little to say concerning the learning of new spells, other than the fact that on gaining a level, a magic-user or elf gains an extra spell in their spellbook. 

Cook's 1981 Expert Book goes a little deeper, saying that "when player characters gain a level of experience, they will return to their masters and be out of play for one 'game-week' while they are learning their new spells." Interesting. At low levels this is one spell, and after sixth level elves and magic-users get two spells per level.

The Mentzer Companions didn't give me a whole lot to work with in addition to what was already offered, though I did find it quite entertaining that a wizard, after attaining name-level and either building or seizing a tower, is generally expected to build a dungeon nearby, and that monsters would move into the dungeon, and furthermore, adventurers would show up to take the monsters' treasure! 

Anyway, I'm going to jump ahead to AD&D 2E (Revised), because that's the next edition of Players' Handbook I have available. There is no mention here of a length of time to learn a new spell. What is interesting, however, is the Intelligence table. It offers several important bits of information for spellcasters, primarily the maximum level of spell they can learn and cast, their chance to learn any given spell they come across, the maximum number of spells they can know per level, and, with superhuman intelligence, what level of Illusion spell they are immune to. 

Now, this next observation may sound a bit rules-lawyerly, but nowhere in the Players Handbook does it say that a magic-user must be able to cast a spell to be able to learn it. Maybe it's supposed to be obvious, I don't know. But it seems to me, with the rules as written, that a 2E magic-user could find some high level spells and learn them (if she made her "chance to learn spell" roll) well before she was actually able to cast them. Which is just a bit odd to me. I definitely don't like the static "chance to learn spell" percentage roll, which is supposed to be for any spell of any level. Wouldn't a high level wizard have a pretty easy time learning a low-level spell? 

Now, in the 2E Revised DM Guide, it gives a guideline of 2 weeks per spell level for researching new spells, which is quite different from learning an existing spell, which is given on p. 62. "The standard amount of time required to prepare a spell book is one to two days of work per spell level of the spell being entered."

Excellent. That's actually useful. That information probably should have been in the Player's Handbook, but at least I found it! 

On to 3E. "The process (of copying a spell into a spellbook) requires 1 day plus 1 additional day per spell level". This information was in the Player's Handbook, and remarkably easy to find. 

Easy enough. Similar to the 2E. 

And 4th Edition, just for grins. Spells are split between "powers" and "rituals". Wizards automatically gain both powers and rituals as they level up, without needing to find the spells or be taught them. If a 4E wizard wants another ritual beyond what is already handed to him, he can buy it or find it and copy it into his spellbook. This process takes 8 hours for rituals level 1-10, 16 hours for rituals level 11-20, and 24 hours for rituals level 21-30. 

Now that's a radical departure if I ever I saw one. 

So, what does this mean for our fledgling Microlite74 wizard who just found a mysterious spellbook in a treasure trove? I think we'll ignore Type IV's severely shortened timeframes and go with what was established before. So, here's my houserule for Microlite74 wizards learning new spells. 

If the spell is of a level the magic-user would normally be able to cast, she can learn it without a problem. This takes one day per spell level. This time is halved if the magic-user has a higher-level instructor. 

If the spell is of a higher level than the magic-user would normally be able to cast, she can attempt to learn it at the risk of misfiring it (see previous post). This takes two days per spell level. This time is halved if the magic-user has a higher-level instructor. 

Higher-level magic users will typically request payment of about 100 gold pieces per level of the spell being taught. This is completely up to the DM. Some magic-users have been known to ask for favors, for certain tasks to be completed, of for rare alchemical reagents, either in lieu of or in addition to the gold payment. Most magic-users will be reluctant to teach spells that are a higher level than they believe the student can handle, as the risk of misfire or backfire is often not worth it. The price, in this case, should rise significantly. In this case, some clever teachers will ask for a favor first, often in the form of some dangerous task that could give the student enough experience to rise to the proper level to cast the spell. 

Can a Magic-User Learn Higher-Level Spells? Sure!

I hate to tell players "no" when they want to try something, and here's a common example. The heroes uncover a treasure trove and inside is a book of magic spells. Upon studying it, the wizard discovers it contains a few spells he already knows, a few he can understand and learn, and a few that are technically a higher level than he can cast. 

Can't he try to learn them anyway, and have a chance at figuring them out? Why, sure he can! Here's a simple system to let your Microlite74 magic-user learn and cast spells of a higher level. 

Learning a higher level spell: DC=10+level of spell times 2 
Magic user rolls d20+level+Mind Bonus

Results greater than or equal to the DC means he has learned the spell and can now cast it. However, until he gains a high enough level to normally be able to cast the spell, it costs twice as many hit points to cast.

Results less than the DC means he cannot learn this spell until he has gained the proper level. 

Results of five less than the DC means the spell backfires while he is attempting to learn it (use your favorite backfire/misfire table).

Results of ten less than the DC means the spell backfires catastrophically while he is attempting to learn it (use your favorite backfire/misfire table and the magic-user is unable to cast any spells for a number of days equal to the DC). 

Rolling a 1 is an automatic catastrophic failure. 

Kids' Campaign: Assault on the Bloodskull Orcs

My Microlite kids' campaign continued apace on Sunday. They have been exploring some underground tunnels in Haranshire, searching for the dark dwarves who are part of the kidnappings that have been occuring. The dwarves are taking people kidnapped by bandits and orcs down, presumably into the Underdark, for purposes unknown but probably nefarious. 

They started by recanvassing Broken Spire Keep, and this time managed to break into the old treasury, claiming a significant haul of gold and a new spellbook for the wizard. Then they went back down into the caves. 

It took them a day and a half of exploration, including a run-in with a pair of cave bears (they ran away) and some giant rats led by a pair of wererats (they stayed and fought) before they turned down the passage that led to the lair of the Bloodskull Orcs. They encountered a Bloodskull patrol, which they dispatched with ease and took one hostage via Charm Person, who led them to the huge, thick gates barring entrance to the clan's lair. The heroes had a key for one door, but not the other. Fortunately, they had the orc, who knew the secret knock to gain entrance. They sent him in with orders to get the boss to come out. The boss came out a while later, with his bodyguards of course: the orc shaman of Gruumsh, a seven-foot tall orog, a pair of cave lizards, the charmed orc, and an extra archer. 

This fight definitely went the orcs' way first. The shaman Cursed the heroes first, and the heroes couldn't seem to penetrate the orog's armor or land any blows on the big lizards. Then, with dwindling hit points, in one round the tide turned; first a lizard was dropped and then the fighter landed a decent blow on the orog, which was followed by a critical hit by the halfling rogue using her Vicious shortsword, which dropped the orog, and the other lizard fell right after that. 

The boss ran back into the lair, but the shaman wasn't fast enough. He was cut down quickly, and the heroes made it inside before the gates could be shut, killed the orcs trying to shut the gate, and set up around a corner from the main force of orcs. 

The next half-hour was pretty tense, as both sides waited to ambush the other should they be foolish enough to come around the corner in a bottleneck hallway. This is when the party remembered they had some unidentified potions tucked away in their bag of holding. 

One of the magic items I gave the party a while back was a pocketwatch. Once per day, one person can use it to gain an extra hour of time to do something; it's cursed though, and takes that hour off the end of your natural life. So the wizard used an hour to Identify the potions, which turned out to be a Potion of Extra Healing and, rolled randomly, a Potion of Superheroism! He also learned a bit about the fishy-smelling potions they'd been finding; they make the imbiber much more susceptible to charm and control magic. Weird, huh? 

The new potions gave them the edge they needed. They wizard and the rogue drank the Extra-Healing Potion, and the elf fighter drank the Superhero Potion, which knocked her up to seventh level and granted an extra 25 temporary hit points! Both elf fighters then drank what remained of their Invisibility Potion and snuck through the waiting orcs to take up positions behind them. The rogue and the wizard drank what remained of the Potion of Flight, and flew in and started shooting from above while the cleric stepped out and cast Darkness on the rear formation of orc archers. 

It was a slaughter. The battle lasted four short rounds. 

They let the women and children orcs leave-quickly-and freede a couple of prisoners, including Snagger, a first level dwarf fighter who desires to join the party to rescue the kidnapped people taken into the Underdark. He also gave the party an important bit of information: only magic-users and clerics have been taken below by the dark dwarves. Furthermore, he had talked to the apprentice wizard Jenna, whom the party is searching for, and knows she is still alive and was taken below by the dwarves just a few days ago. 

Microlite Doesn't Suck

Seems like everyone in the OSR is debating whether or not 1st level characters in D&D "suck", and I have a few things to say about that. 

Heroes ought to be just a cut above the average joe to start out. The necessary resolve it requires in a person to have the guts or be crazy enough to risk their life on a daily basis fighting monsters and braving trap-filled dungeons simply necessitates it. The ability to swing a sword well, pick a trapped lock, or even cast simple magic spells automatically places the people who can do these things a cut above the rest of the general population of smithies, farmers, and merchants. 

First-level characters do not suck. They aren't awesome enough to face down the Balrog yet, or cleave an orc cleanly in two, but they'll get there if they're lucky and smart. 

This is one of the reasons I'm enjoying Microlite so much. PC's aren't easy to kill unless they do something really stupid. At first level they can stand up to several encounters before resting, but the threat of death is still there if they're not careful or smart. They can handle a mess of goblins and with good teamwork overcome tougher monsters as well. Saving throws are still hard to make, but not overwhelmingly so. My kids have never felt like they "sucked", even when they have to run away. Maybe that has more to do with their complete lack of experience playing at higher levels, but I think it's also built into the system at-large. In a word, it works. 

Kids' Campaign: Broken Spire Keep

Today, we gathered once again for my Kids' Campaign using the Microlite74 Extended ruleset, working our way into the Night Below boxed set module. 

This session found the heroes preparing to assault Broken Spire Keep. As they were scouting out the Keep, a small group of orcs was spotted returning to the Keep, carrying two kidnapped prisoners. (We're doing a trimmed-down version of the first book of the adventure, which basically places the Bloodskull orcs at Broken Spire)

They quickly took out the orcs and saved the hostages, both of whom smelled, literally, quite "fishy", and seemed pretty dazed. They were left with Oleanne the Druid while the party made its way across a trap-filled clearing to the front door of the Keep, wearing some of the armor and cloaks taken off the orcs.

The wizard charmed the orc at the gate, who let them in. They asked the orc to take them to where the prisoners go, which he did. That path went through the dining hall, where a number of orcs and human bandits were gathered, and a fight quickly ensued, and it didn't last long, in spite of some of the bad guys having levels in fighter or thief. 

They continued on down to the dungeon level. It took them a while to find the secret door that led to the Big Boss' chambers, and they did only after investigating the rest of the dungeon. 

The fight with the Big Boss and his zombie minions went well. The zombies all got raised once but were quickly dropped again. The Boss was down to 1 hit point when he flew away. I gave two pursuing PCs three chances to hit him with ranged weapons before he escaped. They didn't hit him. There were also a couple of dark dwarves that popped in from the connecting room, but a quick Web spell blocked their path into the room and they retreated. 

With an unconscious cleric, they barricaded themselves in the Big Boss' chambers for the night and rested. They uncovered some more of the "fishy" smelling potions, and a whole lot of gold (although they didn't get into the secret treasure room down the hall!) from the Big Boss' bedroom, and then discovered the secret door leading down into a cave system, presumably where the dark dwarves had gone. They decided to go down into the caves. 

The caves went on for miles! They encountered a group of fire beetles, which they distracted with some food and bypassed, and then a goblin tribe, which quickly surrendered after four of its number was slain in the first round. They tied the goblins up and left them there and discovered an exit to the surface, which led them back to the Thornwood. They made their way back to the Keep, wondering about Oleanne the Druid and the two rescued kidnapping victims, and set up camp. They did not find Oleanne or the rescued victims. The next day they went back into the Keep and found that the orcs had abandoned it. Very little of the treasure they had missed on their first trip through remained. 

Next time, they head back into the cave system below Haranshire. 

All in all, they got a lot accomplished for five hours of play. They are all getting better at working their way quickly through combat encounters and are seeming to enjoy more of the exploration aspect of the game. 

Boon Cards

Here is a PDF of 9 Boon cards you can hand out to your players during your D&D game. What the hell am I talking about?

Boons won't break the game. They are just little extra bonuses you can hand out to your players when they do something awesome. Say they make a hard choice based on their alignment, for example. Or get a critical hit at a critical time.Or any other awesome thing players do. Players like little rewards like these.

The boons I came up with are as follows:

Action Point: Take an extra action
Bring the Pain: +1 to damage on your next attack
Close Call: Gain 1 Experience Point (note: this is peculiar to Microlite, which uses a 1HD=1XP system; use an XP bonus appropriate to your particular system)
Dodge: +1 to AC for 1 round
Guided Strike: +1 to hit on your next attack
Second Wind: regain 1d6 Hit Points
Stroke of Luck: +1 to any roll
That Was Close: +1 to any saving throw
Try Again: reroll any die roll. You must take the second roll

I haven't tried these out yet, but I'll be testing them in my Kids' Game. I have not yet decided how often to hand them out. My original thought was that it would be something cool to hand out in lieu of treasure, when they defeated a monster that didn't have anything precious to leave behind. Especially with kids, these kinds of rewards can be a bit tricky to balance, so we will have to see.

The PDF has pretty pictures. This file is usable in MagicSetEditor but doesn't have the pictures. If you are an artist and I've used your art and you would like me to remove it, I will. Just leave me a comment or email me at sully33 at gmail dot com.

Do you have ideas for more boons? I'd prefer to have boons that are usable by any character, and not specifically tied to spellcasters or fighters or elves, etc. Leave a comment!

Microlite74 Druid Modification

My wife really liked her Type IV druid character. In particular, she liked that she could change shape into a wild beast of some sort. She preferred tiger. Needless to say, she was disappointed that this feature of the druid class wasn't available in Microlte74 until the druid reached 7th level.

So I changed it around a bit for her. I knocked the Experience Base up to 30, and changed the shapechange ability to be "once per day per level" instead of "three times per day at level 7".

We haven't playtested it much, but I don't think it'll break the game. She hasn't played with the kids at all, because she's usually trying to keep the 2-year-old from attacking all the minis on the table (poor toddler wants to play D&D SO BAD!).

More Fun with Magic Set Editor

I love using Magic Set Editor to create Magic: the Gathering type cards for use in my D&D games. My players get custom-made cards for their magical items, quests, clues, NPCs, and all kinds of other goodies.

Here is a PDF file that features the standard races and classes for Microlite74, in full-text card form, for easy reference for players at the table.

Here is a Magic Set Editor file that contains the cards in the PDF above, as well as cards for PCs (basically four cards to make up a character sheet) and three additional races that I have featured here on the blog: Tieflings, Dragonborn, and Eladrin. This file is useless without the Magic Set Editor program, which is available free at the above link.

Note: the text on these cards are pulled straight from the M74 Extended rules document. The gnome card includes my houseruled MIND attribute bonus instead of the original STR bonus. I'm making no claim to copyright or any bullshit like that. This is just an aid for your M74 Extended game.

Dragonborn for Microlite74

The dragonborn, as a player character race, is typically looked upon with scorn throughout the OSR. It's not a traditional fantasy race and has little if any precedent in the literature the game derives its roots from. I remember my first exposure to a "dragon-man" PC race was in the "Council of Wyrms" campaign setting, which included an optional half-dragon PC race. I own the box set but never had the chance to run it (though that may be a future M74 conversion, who knows), but even reading through it I found the half-dragon concept to be a bit silly and contrived, even in the midst of a campaign setting where players could literally play as dragons.

Regardless of all that, Type-IV D&D includes, in its first Player's Handbook, the Dragonborn as a PC race. The history of the implied setting is filled with references to an ancient Dragonborn Empire called Arkhosia. Even the venerable Forgotten Realms campaign setting managed to find a way to write these Dragonborn into its most recent iteration.

I'm not a huge fan of the Dragonborn by any stretch of the imagination, but my kids think they're awesome. Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon board games each came with a Dragonborn hero to play, so I have a couple miniatures, one wizard and one fighter.

Aside from their draconic appearance, their iconic ability is a breath weapon of some sort. Type IV D&D offers the following options: acid, cold, fire, lightning and poison. This must be selected at character creation and cannot be changed.

I want to avoid any of the once-per-encounter silliness that is part-and-parcel of the Type-IV experience. The way to do this well with Microlite seems to lie with the spending of hit points to use such an ability. I would have to equate this ability to at least a second-level wizard spell.

Dragonborn get +2 to STR. Experience base modifier of +7. Special Abilities: at character generation, choose fire, ice, or lightning as your breath weapon. Fire can strike up to four creatures in a small group within 30 feet for 1d8+level fire damage. Ice can strike up to four creatures within 15 feet of you for 1d8+level cold damage. Lightning can strike up to four creatures in a straight line from you within 30 feet, for 1d8+level lightning damage. Use of this ability requires a ranged attack roll vs AC and costs 3 Hit Points. Dragonborn also recieve a +4 bonus to saving throws against damage/attacks that are similar to their breath weapon type.