The ethos tracker reminds me of the alignment tracker in the AD&D Dragonlance Adventures book as well as the Dark Side points in the West End Star Wars game
"David Bowie's Life on Mars is Frank Sinatra's My Way - boom, mind blown!" Hey, as a musician I'm going to say neither David or Frank wrote My Way. This basically sums up the story: th-cam.com/video/dd-b8GbOPKg/w-d-xo.html From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(song) In 1968, Bowie wrote the lyrics "Even a Fool Learns to Love", set to the music of a 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Bowie's version was never released, but Paul Anka bought the rights to the original French version and rewrote it into "My Way", the song made famous by Frank Sinatra in a 1969 recording on his album of the same name. The success of the Anka version prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording.
I wrote my own Insanity rules loosely modeled on 5e's Exhaustion system that has 6 levels of cumulative penalties (I consider Insanity to be the mental equivalent of exhaustion). The saving throw is modified by the highest mental ability modifier (int, wis, or cha) and no bonus for Proficiency. Unlike typical Insanity mechanics that compromise player agency, the GM would allow Advantage or even automatic successes on the Insanity save if the player role-plays a Quirk. Quirks are short-term mental coping mechanisms like substance abuse, narcissism, aggression, or avoidance. The higher the Insanity level, the more extreme the player must role-play the Quirk to merit the benefit.
Great ideas. I would add that as Ethos gets closer to the outsides, the things that cause a slide up or down become more severe. An Ethos +3 character may feel badly about being rude or selfish in a transaction, where a -3 may not be concerned with slaying surrendering enemies.
Here's how I've come to handle insanity: Insanity appears as psychic damage that will eat up normal HP. However, before you roll psychic damage, the player may choose to EITHER 1) roll that damage and suffer the damage, 2) Roll on a psychosis chart. The chart has a bunch of insane behaviors that the player must act-out. Most of them are harmless window dressing. A few are mechanically detrimental, and very rarely they can just lose the character to total madness. In this way, we incorporate player agency into character insanity as players play a game of chicken.
The best thing about Professor DM's Character Sheet & Insanity Rules for D&D! video is learing the word seraglio while getting an awesome little video of his expertly painted minis with the almost as awesome music
Your vids are great, and the content is always stellar, so I’d watch as much stuff as fast as you can put it out, but I think whatever pace works for you should be fine with the fans. You’ve gotta keep an eye on what you need to do to make everything go right in your life, and not just please us!
I am so happy I found this channel, so far you've given wonderful advice and just absolutely blown my mind with how easy it is when you set your mind free and let it break free of the shackles of balance and rules. While some games need rules so that everyone can have fun, you've finally helped my mind realize just how malleable the rules are... after all, as one very famous bald kid said... "Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."
Blades in the Dark and Scum and Villainy have a vices part of the game. Characters can blow off steam by indulging in a vice. I can't recommend either books enough.
There was a White Dwarf article many years ago (back in the good old days when they covered OTHER games) which was all about phobias in Call of Cthulhu. Of that list, my favourite was Blennophobia - fear of slime. Or it could be fear of a particular small fish...
You may have already realized this, but an excellent way to share something that can be served up as a PDF is to distribute it through DriveThruRPG. It's trivial to become a publisher, which allows you to list your character sheet and similar tools for download. They'll be there forever, and you don't have to start or maintain a website to keep them available. You can offer them for free, set an appropriate price, or list them as Pay What You Want, then steer your TH-cam fans who want to toss you some coffee money to use your DTRPG offerings as a means to send you a tip. You're not gonna get rich, but it's a low-effort way to share your products and maybe make back a buck or two along the way. (Black Magic Craft uses DTRPG to distribute some of the templates used in his products, so there is some relevant precedent for you!)
I love the "I don't have the ability to sell it to you RIGHT NOW"... Meaning we'll see a "DungeonCraftStore" in the near future? From a great fan, I wish you great success!
Great stuff prof...the Ethos should be an optional rule in the DMG. Can't wait to see the new concept we have running bets in the house as to what you're up to. Thanks for the knowledge.
I remember a video game (Amnesia?) in which there was an insanity mechanic tied to light. With an active light source, your sanity came back, but you tended to go nutty in darkness. Of course, the monsters (which you don’t bother trying to fight in that game) were attracted to light…
I’d kill to be in your group! So many fantastic innovations, great ideas, simplicity, and creativity. Best thing I’ve found on TH-cam in years has been finding and following you and your adventures. Keep up the amazing work, Sir.
Lots of insanity discussed here, especially having all that terrain for less than $20 and within 2 hours, haha. I can't wait for next week. Great discussion on implying insanity to your game. I greatly contemplating starting a low fantasy game such as yours but need to find the time...and friends to play with who are open to the idea.
Great Video. I created this character character sheet! However, I left off the "NOTES" section. I feel it is too small and I could make everything larger and reduce clutter (essential for new players). I ALWAYS encourage my players to assign a player each session (it can switch between sessions) to keep notes. For my campaigns I provide them with a grade school composition book (which I can get for $1 at the dollar store). I keep the book and bring it to each session. Individual notes (private/secret) players can track on the back of their sheet (more writing space)
Yeah!!!! 5k!!!!!!!!!! 🍻🍻🍻. I can't wait to see this terrain stuff next week. Congrats to the steady growth PDM! You are the man. This was a fantastic episode, thank you for the insight.
Dungeon Craft David Lee Roth said this in a recent interview with Joe Rogan. It’s on TH-cam and it’s a good interview if you like DLR. Play both songs then listen to Runnin’. You can easily hum Rhapsody over it.
My brother runs a homebrew Pathfinder based game with an insanity mechanic, and it's a lot of fun. In his world, magic and races other than human happened relatively recently in a cataclysmic event just about a thousand (local) years ago. The "gods" are just the first people who were able to harness magic. Magic isn't natural, certainly not normal, and when people perform real magic, it corrupts them. Every time someone casts a spell of any type (divine or arcane), they gain Taint. There's no way to avoid it when casting a spell. Casting a spell ... it's just not right. REAL magic isn't supposed to exist. After getting X amount of taint, you have to make a saving throw. If you fail the saving throw, your character becomes mentally and/or physically corrupted, and can manifest itself in many different ways (psychosis, physical mutations, etc.) The only way to remove taint is by direct intervention of one of the demigods (unlikely, as nearly all of them are evil), or by the most common method of using a special type of jade. Jade of varying quality can absorb X amount of taint before become useless. It's a very expensive solution, but it's the most reliable and certainly the safest (which explains why there are so many adventurers.) As a side note: All the demigods are evil except two. One is the Mad God who is either good or evil depending on an astrological chart, and the other is a Lantern Archon that got pulled into the world from elsewhere during the cataclysm. All the other "gods" are just corrupted and evil beyond redemption. By the time our characters are playing, the Lantern Archon is the equivalent of a 3rd Tier Mythic, and can grant up to 3rd level spells, so most of its followers are Paladins and Inquisitors. Also, it's difficult to get magical healing as Mujubar is the god of healing, resurrection, and ... necromancy. And yes, he's evil. And yes, his clerics run extortion and protection rackets as most clerics do in his game. Also, most of the druids run criminal enterprises, as well, ensuring the weather is good for planting crops. "Be a shame if something happened to your wheat fields." It goes without saying that the Lantern Archon's paladins and inquisitors are actively hunted and killed on sight. Cuttin' into profits, ya know. Not all is doom and gloom. One of the first quests we made was to the Lantern Archon where a couple of us made our start as fledgling Paladins. Hopefully we can turn this world around and make it a better place. :)
The best rules for insanity I ever saw were in a game called Unknown Armies by Greg Stoltze and John Tynes. The rules included some of the built in contradictions of insanity, such as a person traumatized by violence may become inured or even obsessed with violence up to a point, and then get overwhelmed by it. I'm sad I never got to play that game; it had a lot of really interesting ideas in it.
My 'gotta go to' channel for sure! Too many good ideas to not steal them! My recently run games have gone so much faster and smoother now without bogging down. My players love the new style as well! Thanks for the 'inspiration'!
I had a ranger who had several bad encounters with red dragons in a relatively short period of time, so I decided to give him a phobia of dragons. There was never a game mechanic involved; it was just there for the rp opportunity it provided. The way I see it, whether or not there's a roll involved, you've got to commit to the bit.
I tried introducing Sanity to my games, years ago. My players hated it, and as a player in another DM's game, I, too would hate it, if he tried it. In Sandy Peterson's, Call of Cthulhu, game, it is normal, and your PC's are normal humans, not heroes. In D&D, your characters are larger-than-life heroes. It is, for us, a bad fit. I even tried tying it to encounters with undead. Never set well with my players... I play 2e rules, and I even tried to introduce Faith Points (FP), wherein PC's would be encouraged to roleplay their PC's faith, and following of various deities within the game. It was game-based, not real religious worship: I tracked tithing, donations, deeds done for the various temples and deities, whether the players stated their PC's were doing worship rituals, etc. -- their PC's were doing acts of worship, not the player, never cared about the details, just that their PC's were 'worshiping' one or more deities. My goal was to inspire religion, temples, and deities, to play a role in the lives of the PC's. If they amassed enough FP, they could ask for, and receive, divine intervention on a small, limited, order. They never really got it. In reality, it is a system for the DM, which could be used without player knowledge, whatsoever. Now I do it by DM fiat, no system. I encourage involvement with various temples by roleplaying, and events, rather than a "system". In 2e rules, I only play with Specialty Priests, hence my interest in bringing deities to the non-Priest PC's. In the real world, religion plays an incredible role in the lives of common folk, as well as leaders. Wondering if you have ever toyed with roleplaying religion/temples/deities, in any manner? Cheers!
# Bruce Lee: Do you know the game "darkest dungeon"? It has "stress" as some sort of psychic damage. If you reach your threshold, you have to make a save of suffer a affliction like fear of darkness or claustropobia or a fascination with blood, wounds and torture. The game also features diseases! I love it!
Thanks for your well-thought out reply. If sanity does not work for you, ditch it! I get where you're coming from. Re: roleplaying deities, temples, etc--I encourage my clerics to create their own prayers/ mantras/ and excerpts from their "holy" scripture ("Thou shalt not suffer a goblin to live!") Adds flavor to the game.
In D&D your characters are larger-than-life heroes IF YOU WANT TO PLAY IT LIKE THAT... Everything here is optional, ideas and rules for different style games, so the rules are great.
insanity is apart of a recent character, Agot, who was a Tiefling born with a horn growth abnormality who suffers from hallucinations, fear of blindness, and I made a rule that every time a D20 roll lands on a 2 it would cause a sudden surge of spasms to wash over her for 1D4 turns.It was a fun character based entirely off of a misprint figure I found at a local store for 50 cents. I lost a lot of my gear during a spasm trying to persuade a guy we weren’t going to kill him
Great video. I have always found as a player that the character sheet is all-important and yet many games have terrible character sheets. A character sheet is to a tabletop rpg what a controller is to a console video game! It is nice to see that on your own costume character sheet all the information that is relevant on the same page, although I would perhaps want to have my weapons and armor on that page and maybe not misc. equipment.
It shouldn’t be a controller it should be a HUD. It has information like your hp and how much ammo you have left or how many torches you have. Along with the character status page. Your controller is your voice.
I remem'r Bowie talking about that. The music was from some italian song, Bowie was kired *o write English lyrics, which he did but the people who hired him decided his lyrics where not very good and didn't use them.
Woo hoo! This is a nice surprise. Couple things here: I am very curious how you handle player/character fear? I notice that you can instil so much paranoia that it will actually debilitate the players into doing anything involving going out of their fine, 1 gold a night, rooms at the local keeps inn. I have seen it so bad, that every action they take involved a step by step instruction manual in order to cover their tracks so as to not fall into any trap, chance encounter or happenstance without being fully prepared and ready. Truly the only thing I can come up with is what Hank, over their at Rune Hammer, likes to call bait, set and spring. But alas! Even this is obvious for the players as they soon realize they are in a trap against time, and become paranoid even about commitment. Secondly, you have mentioned smokablea, hallucinogens and other mind altering substances that wizards take, I was curious your approach on this, if players like to walk around always smoking things to provide an effect. I have been writing extensively in a note book about a whole rule set regarding this and was wondering if you had any simple (simple is best) insight into how you deal with this roleplay feature?
If the DM sandbags the player and traps every hall (I'm not saying you do) and door, the players will become paranoid. I shorten that process by assuming the rogue, who would be cautious by trade, is ALWAYS searching for traps/secret doors. 2nd: usually my wizard players get to the last room and if they know there's a HUGE opponent in there they say, "I'm snorting some moonsnow" before they go in. Sometimes the Gandalf-type NPC wizards can be of no use because they are out of it.
DUNGEON CRAFT thanks for the reply. Yes, so I definitely give my players lots of slack, rarely (traditionally) trap things unless they make sense (High wizards tower or thieves guild). I could inadvertently be sand bagging players but I always entertain players ideas, regardless of how insane they might be. I do however play a high fantasy game, magic, mystical things, high levels, Perhaps the steaks have gotten so high now, they are just so invested into their characters. Lvl 16 and play every week for the last 3 years, I can definitely see they are pot committed now. I love the idea behind wizards or other characters being reliant on snuffs and other drugs for making choices. I think I will work that into a possible (and likely) outcome for being addicted to these substances, the need to use before any sizeable action! Cheers!
Interesting character sheet. I can see it working for an OSR, but there are so many 'things' a PC can do in 5th, I'm not certain you can simplify THAT much and still have it useful for the player. Additionally, I'm assuming that you are having PCs use their ASIs in a single stat since you are only tracking the modifier. I like the insanity system, particularly the idea that you don't need to stare into a tome of Eldritch Horror or the eyes of an Elder God to go nuts. Just adventuring and seeing what happens to friend and foe alike can be enough to loosen that grasp on reality.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Fair enough. I'm not seeing space for spells or profession abilities, but if it works for you, that's awesome! Again, the insanity stuff is spiff. Sadly, my players wouldn't go for it, but it's very nice.
When I play magical classes I tend to write my spells in a simple notebook sheet since I'm going to need a lot of space to write down reminders for what each spell does. The space that is available in the normal character sheet for both spells and feats is really tiny, at least for me.
I adapted the sheet to ICRPG. I modified the stock ICRPG sheet and added in art from another thing Hankerin put out. Link (updated): drive.google.com/open?id=1-7TMcVjVO_aYyHRVqgQmZKYykL0mX3zB
Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' is actually Paul Anka copying a 1967 French song called "Comme d'Habitude" - a song that Bowie had recorded a version of prior to 'My Way' being written. He was a little annoyed someone else had the same idea but scored a hit, so in response he wrote Life on Mars as a parody of My Way.
You may want to try recording parts of a session. Here's the intro with the players, here's an RP moment, this is combat in full swing. It'd be a longer video - maybe 30-40 minutes total. Of course, it could be broken down to Parts 1-3. Yours is quite a different style of game. Since no one way is the right way, it's always useful to see another in action.
Professor DM, when will you begin holding seminars, I mean classes, in person? As your fan base grows, I can see you offering "classes" at conventions and other gaming gatherings. I know I would love to attend. Keep up the absolute incredible work.
My current campaign is S&W White Box, White Box Omnibus, and White Box Gothic. Ran in Midderlands Campaign World (Monty Python's England with a touch of horror) I'm using the Dolmenwood Campaign World for Ireland. (Gothic Horror Fairy World). The Module Gardens of Ynn is used for Alice in Wonderland mini adventures. Currently the Players are fishing in the module Gone Fishing but it about to transition to Deep Carbon Observatory on them. :)
The problem I have with insanity. Is... in my own life I have seen some shit, and I have been unaffected by it. I've spent my life overcoming what fears I have. I'm not special I'm not trying to make myself sound like it. I know tons of people like this. While I have met people with that kind of mental fragility. They are either a minority, or a slim majority. In my estimation.
@The Stranger Yeah I think it comes from most people baseing a "realistic" 'normal' persons sanity on the writings of lovecraft. Which wouldnt be too bad if the man wasnt suffering from deep seated psycological trauma from his childhood, and well into adulthood. (The guys life was an absoulte mess for the longest time) However I say based on his writings. Because later in his actual life he actually overcame a good deal of these traumas and was better for it. Something I think is admirable. Even if I dont personally feel the man as a end result was what I would consider a good one. The fact he strove to improve as a individual is an admirable quality.
The Insanity Rule: Yeah....nope! I do get it and I think it would totally rock for a group of players that were into that but that's gotta be a pretty rare bird. At least in my circles anyway.
While I like the idea of insanity, my issue with it is that the human animal is amazingly adaptive. So much so that we can have almost untenable conditions and adjust to them. So it seems like there should come a point when you're able to shrug some of this stuff off, because you've seen, done, and even been worse.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 fair enough, then. Though I'd probably rule it on a tiered scale myself. Because while you might not have seen the same monster, something made of human corpses might not have the same kick as seeing something like a literal demon of the abyss. So if you've seen the unspeakable baron of hell, seeing zombies probably won't have the same kick.
So I am really intrigued by ethos but having three steps either way seems a bit quick? The examples you gave for moving left or right on the spectrum are (potentially) pretty common. Could you speak more about when you have them make a jump and about how many sessions it typically takes a PC to become “saintly?”
Great Video as always! Quick question though! How do you handle a character's Skill Proficiency or do you just negate that entire mechanic for the sake of simplification?
No skill proficiencies. If you're playing a ranger he can track, hunt, fish, and handle an animal. If you are a cleric you know religion and history. A bard can play a lute and sing. A rogue can do slight of hand and is stealthy. I HATE investigation and perception checks! If there is a clue, let the characters FIND it--always.
Hey Professor, another great video, and another question, how do you manage skills in your D&D or if you used a different system how would you use those skills for the PC's? Thanks.
I don't play with skills. If you are a ranger, you know how to ride a horse and track stuff. If you are a rogue, you can be stealthy. I just say, "it's dark in the alley--roll an 8 to avoid being seen."
Another excellent vid - thanks! Question: How does a character save vs. an insanity point? Is it a straight roll, or modified by wisdom? Can you give a few examples of how you set the DC of the insanity save. Thanks again & cheers!
Dear PDM, may I make a suggestion? I am thinking about handling insanity like in the Dark Souls games. There it is a resource and it’s called insight. That’s a euphemism of course. It’s like insanity but it goes up. To a certain degree it’s a good thing to have insight. You see some things that otherwise would be invisible and understand some things better when you have insight. But if you have too much you see sings that only mad persons would see .. to the point were it’s hard to tell if the character is mad or truely enlightened.
I think youve got have special players to introduce sanity. I dont even touch fear because theres such a disconnect from the players and their characters that it just seems unfun to be forced into that kind of state of emotion.
who doesn't love a good visit to the seraglio? Professor DM... do you strictly limit by class what they can do to reduce stress? Or could a Fighter hit the magic bus pipe? for example
Great rules. I am eager to try them out. One question though, would you give a player bonus on attack hit if they are a warrior? Or what is the benefit of being a warrior instead of say mage?
Yes. I can't remember this video, but in my house rules, fighters get proficiency bonuses to hit--not other class does. Mages get to cast unlimited spells, but must roll to cast. On a natural 1, they roll again--to see how bad the spell backfires. Fighters are like infantry, Mages are like neutron bombs.
Love the character sheet. My only minor gripe about it, though, is what do you do if a character gains an increase in an attribute, like from a magic item, spell effect, etc.? Do they immediatley go up a modifier? For example, STR 13 increased to 14 would still be a +1 (if we're talking OSR D&D, that is). Thanks.
I know all the other channels you mentioned, but yours and runehammers are the best and most innovative from my point of view! Love your videos and ideas. the cave withe flickering lights looked awesome! is that how you present it to your players in game?
All praise to Hankerin'! My players are WTF?!?! How come you don't do that with OUR games? I reply, "I can't have the room that dark; you're old and can't read the dice!" You'll see what my tabletop is like in the next video.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Hahaha, japp - that's what I thought. That might be a bit dim if this is the ONLY light on the table. But, if you all had some little LED-torches at hand to read the dice and so forth, then this could be realy nice. I'm lurking for the next vid, master!!!!
I like the idea a lot. I didnt quite get what the actual Insanity check roll is. A d20 with what modifiers, target DC is what, and is it a function of current insanity points? Thank you for clarifying.
Excellent video Professor! I love the look and simplicity of your character sheet. So my question is: what RPG system do you use in your table? Is it a hacked/old-school version of 5e?
Hey guys I created a pdf to a character sheet that looks similar to the one in this video. Feel free to use this character sheet as your own: drive.google.com/file/d/14CnTERcKNUofpd6IsaKFfVldjYe-igZq/view?usp=sharing
I like the Ethos system. But I know players, who would try to work around to exploid it. What would a selfish charakter be? You know: "I slayed and ate this innocent family. But on the other hand, I rescued the orphanage from a demon without any payment. So I am +/- 0, right?"
I created my own Simplified Character Sheet based on this one. I wanted to add actions because that is what usually freezes newer players (and to be honest, experienced ones too). Enjoy! mega.nz/file/gNQT0ATb#-1yn_OJcqHSO7oqJlHNYSdkHUE3JiybZaTbIz7c7VNM It is only fillable by hand, however.
Why can't the poor wizard visit a seraglio for a change.....still haven't it google to learn what that means, but I have a good idea (Just what was Miss Kitty's job on that old show 'Gunsmoke' anyway? ^_^)
Hankerin’s ICRPG is what got me looking at different ways to approach this hobby and to return to simpler ways to run games ( I was floundering with pathfinder and modern editions of D&D ) I currently use parts of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Basic Fantasy rpg, Swords and Wizardry ... found your channel a while back and I find it just as eye opening and energizing as Hankerin’s older videos were .... Thanks
You can't just have the bonus on the stat sheet because attribute numbers can improve. If I only had +1 listed on the sheet under Strength, I wouldn't know if it was at 12 or 13 the next time I get an opportunity to raise it.
The only thing I'd do differently is the activities to get rid of insanity; I'd tie them to character motivation/personality instead of class. I love to play against type and why can't my wizard become an alcoholic gambling-addicted freak? Not fair :D
Greetings, Professor. I am working on a game system based on the 7 dice of the basic set, which uses all the dice as action, stats, damage and attack rolls based on the race-class combination (except d%). My question is: for such a system, would you recommend me to use d% for the hit dice?
I'm not the guy to answer that. I would just assign hit points.Index Card RPG just gives everyone 10 hp and raises them in 10hp increments. I like that idea.
The ethos tracker reminds me of the alignment tracker in the AD&D Dragonlance Adventures book as well as the Dark Side points in the West End Star Wars game
"David Bowie's Life on Mars is Frank Sinatra's My Way - boom, mind blown!" Hey, as a musician I'm going to say neither David or Frank wrote My Way. This basically sums up the story: th-cam.com/video/dd-b8GbOPKg/w-d-xo.html
From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(song)
In 1968, Bowie wrote the lyrics "Even a Fool Learns to Love", set to the music of a 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Bowie's version was never released, but Paul Anka bought the rights to the original French version and rewrote it into "My Way", the song made famous by Frank Sinatra in a 1969 recording on his album of the same name. The success of the Anka version prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording.
I wrote my own Insanity rules loosely modeled on 5e's Exhaustion system that has 6 levels of cumulative penalties (I consider Insanity to be the mental equivalent of exhaustion). The saving throw is modified by the highest mental ability modifier (int, wis, or cha) and no bonus for Proficiency. Unlike typical Insanity mechanics that compromise player agency, the GM would allow Advantage or even automatic successes on the Insanity save if the player role-plays a Quirk. Quirks are short-term mental coping mechanisms like substance abuse, narcissism, aggression, or avoidance. The higher the Insanity level, the more extreme the player must role-play the Quirk to merit the benefit.
cool ideas!
This right here is genius! It reminds me of GURPS, which was a great RPG system. I’m stealing your idea.
What are your six levels of insanity, could you elaborate?
Great ideas. I would add that as Ethos gets closer to the outsides, the things that cause a slide up or down become more severe. An Ethos +3 character may feel badly about being rude or selfish in a transaction, where a -3 may not be concerned with slaying surrendering enemies.
Here's how I've come to handle insanity: Insanity appears as psychic damage that will eat up normal HP. However, before you roll psychic damage, the player may choose to EITHER 1) roll that damage and suffer the damage, 2) Roll on a psychosis chart. The chart has a bunch of insane behaviors that the player must act-out. Most of them are harmless window dressing. A few are mechanically detrimental, and very rarely they can just lose the character to total madness. In this way, we incorporate player agency into character insanity as players play a game of chicken.
Veins of the Earth have some cool bizarre things happening with characters that goes insane.
I keep meaning to order it. Thanks for reminding me!
Darkest Dungeon could be a good inspiration for how insanity effects characters. It’s basically a core mechanic of the game lol.
I agree. That game also has a great background soundtrack for your game!
+4 to the groove roll felt at 9:11
+100xp for watching my video that long!
The best thing about Professor DM's Character Sheet & Insanity Rules for D&D! video is learing the word seraglio while getting an awesome little video of his expertly painted minis with the almost as awesome music
Your vids are great, and the content is always stellar, so I’d watch as much stuff as fast as you can put it out, but I think whatever pace works for you should be fine with the fans. You’ve gotta keep an eye on what you need to do to make everything go right in your life, and not just please us!
Thanks for the encouragement, Tom!
yes, vids are great, go at your own pace, don't burn out. 😁
Pretty funny that people are demanding more content.
Hello he has a job and a family
This is just a fun unpaid “side gig”
I am so happy I found this channel, so far you've given wonderful advice and just absolutely blown my mind with how easy it is when you set your mind free and let it break free of the shackles of balance and rules. While some games need rules so that everyone can have fun, you've finally helped my mind realize just how malleable the rules are... after all, as one very famous bald kid said...
"Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."
Blades in the Dark and Scum and Villainy have a vices part of the game. Characters can blow off steam by indulging in a vice.
I can't recommend either books enough.
There was a White Dwarf article many years ago (back in the good old days when they covered OTHER games) which was all about phobias in Call of Cthulhu.
Of that list, my favourite was Blennophobia - fear of slime.
Or it could be fear of a particular small fish...
You may have already realized this, but an excellent way to share something that can be served up as a PDF is to distribute it through DriveThruRPG. It's trivial to become a publisher, which allows you to list your character sheet and similar tools for download. They'll be there forever, and you don't have to start or maintain a website to keep them available. You can offer them for free, set an appropriate price, or list them as Pay What You Want, then steer your TH-cam fans who want to toss you some coffee money to use your DTRPG offerings as a means to send you a tip. You're not gonna get rich, but it's a low-effort way to share your products and maybe make back a buck or two along the way. (Black Magic Craft uses DTRPG to distribute some of the templates used in his products, so there is some relevant precedent for you!)
I borrow too many rules from too many sources. I'd rather you buy Index Card RPG.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Did that long ago! I agree with your assessment of it, btw!
I love the "I don't have the ability to sell it to you RIGHT NOW"... Meaning we'll see a "DungeonCraftStore" in the near future? From a great fan, I wish you great success!
Great stuff prof...the Ethos should be an optional rule in the DMG. Can't wait to see the new concept we have running bets in the house as to what you're up to. Thanks for the knowledge.
Up to terrain. Editing now. Thanks for watching!
I remember a video game (Amnesia?) in which there was an insanity mechanic tied to light. With an active light source, your sanity came back, but you tended to go nutty in darkness. Of course, the monsters (which you don’t bother trying to fight in that game) were attracted to light…
I’d kill to be in your group! So many fantastic innovations, great ideas, simplicity, and creativity. Best thing I’ve found on TH-cam in years has been finding and following you and your adventures. Keep up the amazing work, Sir.
Dug deep in the DC vault for today's coffee-time video. I would argue that W2s are simpler than even AD&D Character Sheets.
Lots of insanity discussed here, especially having all that terrain for less than $20 and within 2 hours, haha. I can't wait for next week. Great discussion on implying insanity to your game. I greatly contemplating starting a low fantasy game such as yours but need to find the time...and friends to play with who are open to the idea.
Working on the video right now!
Great Video. I created this character character sheet! However, I left off the "NOTES" section. I feel it is too small and I could make everything larger and reduce clutter (essential for new players). I ALWAYS encourage my players to assign a player each session (it can switch between sessions) to keep notes. For my campaigns I provide them with a grade school composition book (which I can get for $1 at the dollar store). I keep the book and bring it to each session. Individual notes (private/secret) players can track on the back of their sheet (more writing space)
I love insanity in my games also....seriously borrowing a lot of your advice and scaled down system for my next campaign.
Cool. You'll want to borrow my terrain too. Tune in tomorrow!
Yeah!!!! 5k!!!!!!!!!! 🍻🍻🍻. I can't wait to see this terrain stuff next week. Congrats to the steady growth PDM! You are the man. This was a fantastic episode, thank you for the insight.
Van Halen’s Runnin’ with the Devil is George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. INSANE!!
I have no idea if you're kidding--but now I'm going to check it out. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Dungeon Craft David Lee Roth said this in a recent interview with Joe Rogan. It’s on TH-cam and it’s a good interview if you like DLR. Play both songs then listen to Runnin’. You can easily hum Rhapsody over it.
My brother runs a homebrew Pathfinder based game with an insanity mechanic, and it's a lot of fun. In his world, magic and races other than human happened relatively recently in a cataclysmic event just about a thousand (local) years ago. The "gods" are just the first people who were able to harness magic. Magic isn't natural, certainly not normal, and when people perform real magic, it corrupts them. Every time someone casts a spell of any type (divine or arcane), they gain Taint. There's no way to avoid it when casting a spell. Casting a spell ... it's just not right. REAL magic isn't supposed to exist. After getting X amount of taint, you have to make a saving throw. If you fail the saving throw, your character becomes mentally and/or physically corrupted, and can manifest itself in many different ways (psychosis, physical mutations, etc.) The only way to remove taint is by direct intervention of one of the demigods (unlikely, as nearly all of them are evil), or by the most common method of using a special type of jade. Jade of varying quality can absorb X amount of taint before become useless. It's a very expensive solution, but it's the most reliable and certainly the safest (which explains why there are so many adventurers.)
As a side note: All the demigods are evil except two. One is the Mad God who is either good or evil depending on an astrological chart, and the other is a Lantern Archon that got pulled into the world from elsewhere during the cataclysm. All the other "gods" are just corrupted and evil beyond redemption. By the time our characters are playing, the Lantern Archon is the equivalent of a 3rd Tier Mythic, and can grant up to 3rd level spells, so most of its followers are Paladins and Inquisitors.
Also, it's difficult to get magical healing as Mujubar is the god of healing, resurrection, and ... necromancy. And yes, he's evil. And yes, his clerics run extortion and protection rackets as most clerics do in his game. Also, most of the druids run criminal enterprises, as well, ensuring the weather is good for planting crops. "Be a shame if something happened to your wheat fields." It goes without saying that the Lantern Archon's paladins and inquisitors are actively hunted and killed on sight. Cuttin' into profits, ya know.
Not all is doom and gloom. One of the first quests we made was to the Lantern Archon where a couple of us made our start as fledgling Paladins. Hopefully we can turn this world around and make it a better place. :)
Ooo 2019 PDM rocking that +1 beard of Charisma! Woah! that did go all 1970s NSFW with the seraglio sweeties. Great video!
Thank you!
The best rules for insanity I ever saw were in a game called Unknown Armies by Greg Stoltze and John Tynes. The rules included some of the built in contradictions of insanity, such as a person traumatized by violence may become inured or even obsessed with violence up to a point, and then get overwhelmed by it. I'm sad I never got to play that game; it had a lot of really interesting ideas in it.
My 'gotta go to' channel for sure! Too many good ideas to not steal them! My recently run games have gone so much faster and smoother now without bogging down. My players love the new style as well! Thanks for the 'inspiration'!
Thank you. I wish you and your players all the best.
No Such thing as stealing Ideas!!! Ideas Are meant to be shared!!! It is what enhances each other and the rest of the planet!!!
Thank you Professor Dungeon Master! Very intrigued for next weeks video. Thanks Again
PDM!!!
I had a ranger who had several bad encounters with red dragons in a relatively short period of time, so I decided to give him a phobia of dragons. There was never a game mechanic involved; it was just there for the rp opportunity it provided. The way I see it, whether or not there's a roll involved, you've got to commit to the bit.
I tried introducing Sanity to my games, years ago. My players hated it, and as a player in another DM's game, I, too would hate it, if he tried it. In Sandy Peterson's, Call of Cthulhu, game, it is normal, and your PC's are normal humans, not heroes. In D&D, your characters are larger-than-life heroes. It is, for us, a bad fit.
I even tried tying it to encounters with undead. Never set well with my players...
I play 2e rules, and I even tried to introduce Faith Points (FP), wherein PC's would be encouraged to roleplay their PC's faith, and following of various deities within the game. It was game-based, not real religious worship: I tracked tithing, donations, deeds done for the various temples and deities, whether the players stated their PC's were doing worship rituals, etc. -- their PC's were doing acts of worship, not the player, never cared about the details, just that their PC's were 'worshiping' one or more deities.
My goal was to inspire religion, temples, and deities, to play a role in the lives of the PC's. If they amassed enough FP, they could ask for, and receive, divine intervention on a small, limited, order. They never really got it. In reality, it is a system for the DM, which could be used without player knowledge, whatsoever.
Now I do it by DM fiat, no system. I encourage involvement with various temples by roleplaying, and events, rather than a "system".
In 2e rules, I only play with Specialty Priests, hence my interest in bringing deities to the non-Priest PC's. In the real world, religion plays an incredible role in the lives of common folk, as well as leaders. Wondering if you have ever toyed with roleplaying religion/temples/deities, in any manner? Cheers!
# Bruce Lee:
Do you know the game "darkest dungeon"?
It has "stress" as some sort of psychic damage. If you reach your threshold, you have to make a save of suffer a affliction like fear of darkness or claustropobia or a fascination with blood, wounds and torture. The game also features diseases! I love it!
Thanks for your well-thought out reply. If sanity does not work for you, ditch it! I get where you're coming from. Re: roleplaying deities, temples, etc--I encourage my clerics to create their own prayers/ mantras/ and excerpts from their "holy" scripture ("Thou shalt not suffer a goblin to live!") Adds flavor to the game.
In D&D your characters are larger-than-life heroes IF YOU WANT TO PLAY IT LIKE THAT... Everything here is optional, ideas and rules for different style games, so the rules are great.
insanity is apart of a recent character, Agot, who was a Tiefling born with a horn growth abnormality who suffers from hallucinations, fear of blindness, and I made a rule that every time a D20 roll lands on a 2 it would cause a sudden surge of spasms to wash over her for 1D4 turns.It was a fun character based entirely off of a misprint figure I found at a local store for 50 cents. I lost a lot of my gear during a spasm trying to persuade a guy we weren’t going to kill him
Great video. I have always found as a player that the character sheet is all-important and yet many games have terrible character sheets. A character sheet is to a tabletop rpg what a controller is to a console video game! It is nice to see that on your own costume character sheet all the information that is relevant on the same page, although I would perhaps want to have my weapons and armor on that page and maybe not misc. equipment.
It shouldn’t be a controller it should be a HUD. It has information like your hp and how much ammo you have left or how many torches you have. Along with the character status page.
Your controller is your voice.
Would be helpful to get a link to download this excellent character sheet!
I made one in about 20 minutes using NBOS. I found it here ---> www.nbos.com/nox/index.php?action=1001&id=240
@@Drakijy link didn't work.
Please Professor. A PDF.
@Carlton Tanner I think he has it on his Patreon. I looked and saw Ihave it downloaded from months ago.
"My Way" was based on an unpublished Bowie song named "even fools learn to love". BOOOOOOOOM
I remem'r Bowie talking about that. The music was from some italian song, Bowie was kired *o write English lyrics, which he did but the people who hired him decided his lyrics where not very good and didn't use them.
Woo hoo! This is a nice surprise.
Couple things here: I am very curious how you handle player/character fear? I notice that you can instil so much paranoia that it will actually debilitate the players into doing anything involving going out of their fine, 1 gold a night, rooms at the local keeps inn. I have seen it so bad, that every action they take involved a step by step instruction manual in order to cover their tracks so as to not fall into any trap, chance encounter or happenstance without being fully prepared and ready. Truly the only thing I can come up with is what Hank, over their at Rune Hammer, likes to call bait, set and spring. But alas! Even this is obvious for the players as they soon realize they are in a trap against time, and become paranoid even about commitment.
Secondly, you have mentioned smokablea, hallucinogens and other mind altering substances that wizards take, I was curious your approach on this, if players like to walk around always smoking things to provide an effect. I have been writing extensively in a note book about a whole rule set regarding this and was wondering if you had any simple (simple is best) insight into how you deal with this roleplay feature?
If the DM sandbags the player and traps every hall (I'm not saying you do) and door, the players will become paranoid. I shorten that process by assuming the rogue, who would be cautious by trade, is ALWAYS searching for traps/secret doors. 2nd: usually my wizard players get to the last room and if they know there's a HUGE opponent in there they say, "I'm snorting some moonsnow" before they go in. Sometimes the Gandalf-type NPC wizards can be of no use because they are out of it.
DUNGEON CRAFT thanks for the reply. Yes, so I definitely give my players lots of slack, rarely (traditionally) trap things unless they make sense (High wizards tower or thieves guild). I could inadvertently be sand bagging players but I always entertain players ideas, regardless of how insane they might be. I do however play a high fantasy game, magic, mystical things, high levels, Perhaps the steaks have gotten so high now, they are just so invested into their characters. Lvl 16 and play every week for the last 3 years, I can definitely see they are pot committed now.
I love the idea behind wizards or other characters being reliant on snuffs and other drugs for making choices. I think I will work that into a possible (and likely) outcome for being addicted to these substances, the need to use before any sizeable action!
Cheers!
Love how much you're hyping up the next video. Excited to see what's in store!
Interesting character sheet. I can see it working for an OSR, but there are so many 'things' a PC can do in 5th, I'm not certain you can simplify THAT much and still have it useful for the player. Additionally, I'm assuming that you are having PCs use their ASIs in a single stat since you are only tracking the modifier.
I like the insanity system, particularly the idea that you don't need to stare into a tome of Eldritch Horror or the eyes of an Elder God to go nuts. Just adventuring and seeing what happens to friend and foe alike can be enough to loosen that grasp on reality.
I just never run into a situation where I need more than the stuff that's on that sheet. Thanks for watching!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Fair enough. I'm not seeing space for spells or profession abilities, but if it works for you, that's awesome!
Again, the insanity stuff is spiff. Sadly, my players wouldn't go for it, but it's very nice.
When I play magical classes I tend to write my spells in a simple notebook sheet since I'm going to need a lot of space to write down reminders for what each spell does. The space that is available in the normal character sheet for both spells and feats is really tiny, at least for me.
Fantastic. So glad I follow your channel. At some point you're going to break that barrier and this will get huge...
I love the alignment replacement rules
Flawless man, Flawless. I won't play a game with those checks. Thanks for the video
We no longer play D&D 5th edition. Instead, we are playing D&D 5th-ish edition! Thanks for the inspiration and alternative rules.
That's pretty much my version!
LOVE the ethos point structure!
I am thirsty for that next video!
I am taking your sanity rules for my campaign, I have wanted to add this for a while.
I adapted the sheet to ICRPG.
I modified the stock ICRPG sheet and added in art from another thing Hankerin put out.
Link (updated):
drive.google.com/open?id=1-7TMcVjVO_aYyHRVqgQmZKYykL0mX3zB
Great video - loved the "seraglio" moment!
I love the reference back to the Mad Hermit from B2! :)
If you've never heard of Blades In The Dark, the trauma system is really awesome.
Regards from Brazil. Im watching all of your videos, great material! Keep doing this amazing job!
very cool ideas.... I will incorporate some of that into my games when insanity needs to be introduced and Ethos - i like these
Palladium Games i think had some of the best Psychosis in any RP i have played. Its just too bad Palladium doesnt get alot of love.
I read their rulebook 20+ years ago. Don't recall it but now I'll have to look it up again!
Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' is actually Paul Anka copying a 1967 French song called "Comme d'Habitude" - a song that Bowie had recorded a version of prior to 'My Way' being written. He was a little annoyed someone else had the same idea but scored a hit, so in response he wrote Life on Mars as a parody of My Way.
You may want to try recording parts of a session. Here's the intro with the players, here's an RP moment, this is combat in full swing. It'd be a longer video - maybe 30-40 minutes total. Of course, it could be broken down to Parts 1-3.
Yours is quite a different style of game. Since no one way is the right way, it's always useful to see another in action.
Professor DM, when will you begin holding seminars, I mean classes, in person? As your fan base grows, I can see you offering "classes" at conventions and other gaming gatherings. I know I would love to attend. Keep up the absolute incredible work.
My current campaign is S&W White Box, White Box Omnibus, and White Box Gothic.
Ran in Midderlands Campaign World (Monty Python's England with a touch of horror) I'm using the Dolmenwood Campaign World for Ireland. (Gothic Horror Fairy World). The Module Gardens of Ynn is used for Alice in Wonderland mini adventures. Currently the Players are fishing in the module Gone Fishing but it about to transition to Deep Carbon Observatory on them. :)
My rules are a mashup of Basic, 1st Ed, 5th ed, XDM and Index Card RPG. I'll be doing a show on it shortly. Thanks for watching!
Sweet!
The problem I have with insanity. Is... in my own life I have seen some shit, and I have been unaffected by it. I've spent my life overcoming what fears I have.
I'm not special I'm not trying to make myself sound like it. I know tons of people like this. While I have met people with that kind of mental fragility. They are either a minority, or a slim majority. In my estimation.
@The Stranger Yeah I think it comes from most people baseing a "realistic" 'normal' persons sanity on the writings of lovecraft. Which wouldnt be too bad if the man wasnt suffering from deep seated psycological trauma from his childhood, and well into adulthood.
(The guys life was an absoulte mess for the longest time)
However I say based on his writings. Because later in his actual life he actually overcame a good deal of these traumas and was better for it. Something I think is admirable. Even if I dont personally feel the man as a end result was what I would consider a good one. The fact he strove to improve as a individual is an admirable quality.
The Insanity Rule: Yeah....nope!
I do get it and I think it would totally rock for a group of players that were into that but that's gotta be a pretty rare bird. At least in my circles anyway.
While I like the idea of insanity, my issue with it is that the human animal is amazingly adaptive. So much so that we can have almost untenable conditions and adjust to them. So it seems like there should come a point when you're able to shrug some of this stuff off, because you've seen, done, and even been worse.
I agree. My rule is the first time you've seen a monster, it's a sanity loss, but not the second time.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 fair enough, then. Though I'd probably rule it on a tiered scale myself. Because while you might not have seen the same monster, something made of human corpses might not have the same kick as seeing something like a literal demon of the abyss. So if you've seen the unspeakable baron of hell, seeing zombies probably won't have the same kick.
My first W2 form was Palladium: TMNT and Other Strangeness. I LOVED creating those characters ... it was to unwieldy for me to play.
Another great video. Thanks for making it!
You know there was a D&d book called Heros Of Horror that had a system called "Taint" that facilitated a insanity?
Did not know that.
So I am really intrigued by ethos but having three steps either way seems a bit quick? The examples you gave for moving left or right on the spectrum are (potentially) pretty common. Could you speak more about when you have them make a jump and about how many sessions it typically takes a PC to become “saintly?”
Great video as always
Great viewers, as always!
Great Video as always! Quick question though! How do you handle a character's Skill Proficiency or do you just negate that entire mechanic for the sake of simplification?
No skill proficiencies. If you're playing a ranger he can track, hunt, fish, and handle an animal. If you are a cleric you know religion and history. A bard can play a lute and sing. A rogue can do slight of hand and is stealthy. I HATE investigation and perception checks! If there is a clue, let the characters FIND it--always.
Hey Professor, another great video, and another question, how do you manage skills in your D&D or if you used a different system how would you use those skills for the PC's? Thanks.
I don't play with skills. If you are a ranger, you know how to ride a horse and track stuff. If you are a rogue, you can be stealthy. I just say, "it's dark in the alley--roll an 8 to avoid being seen."
I love your character sheet...my question is what template did you use to create your character sheet.
Another excellent vid - thanks! Question: How does a character save vs. an insanity point? Is it a straight roll, or modified by wisdom? Can you give a few examples of how you set the DC of the insanity save. Thanks again & cheers!
The rats in the walls... Nice one xd
Great story.
Dear PDM, may I make a suggestion? I am thinking about handling insanity like in the Dark Souls games. There it is a resource and it’s called insight. That’s a euphemism of course. It’s like insanity but it goes up. To a certain degree it’s a good thing to have insight. You see some things that otherwise would be invisible and understand some things better when you have insight. But if you have too much you see sings that only mad persons would see .. to the point were it’s hard to tell if the character is mad or truely enlightened.
Bonus content! Delightfully devilish dungeon master
I hope people see it. Thanks for watching!
I think youve got have special players to introduce sanity. I dont even touch fear because theres such a disconnect from the players and their characters that it just seems unfun to be forced into that kind of state of emotion.
who doesn't love a good visit to the seraglio?
Professor DM... do you strictly limit by class what they can do to reduce stress?
Or could a Fighter hit the magic bus pipe?
for example
Great rules. I am eager to try them out. One question though, would you give a player bonus on attack hit if they are a warrior? Or what is the benefit of being a warrior instead of say mage?
Yes. I can't remember this video, but in my house rules, fighters get proficiency bonuses to hit--not other class does. Mages get to cast unlimited spells, but must roll to cast. On a natural 1, they roll again--to see how bad the spell backfires. Fighters are like infantry, Mages are like neutron bombs.
Love the character sheet. My only minor gripe about it, though, is what do you do if a character gains an increase in an attribute, like from a magic item, spell effect, etc.? Do they immediatley go up a modifier? For example, STR 13 increased to 14 would still be a +1 (if we're talking OSR D&D, that is). Thanks.
I know all the other channels you mentioned, but yours and runehammers are the best and most innovative from my point of view!
Love your videos and ideas. the cave withe flickering lights looked awesome! is that how you present it to your players in game?
All praise to Hankerin'! My players are WTF?!?! How come you don't do that with OUR games? I reply, "I can't have the room that dark; you're old and can't read the dice!" You'll see what my tabletop is like in the next video.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Hahaha, japp - that's what I thought. That might be a bit dim if this is the ONLY light on the table. But, if you all had some little LED-torches at hand to read the dice and so forth, then this could be realy nice. I'm lurking for the next vid, master!!!!
Darkest Dungeon rules!
Never played it, but I use the music at my table.
# @@DUNGEONCRAFT1 :
You simply have to play it! It has lots of dark humor and features all kinds of mental damage to characters!
@@xornxenophon3652 i also here that it will literally drive you insane as a player too! :)
I like the idea a lot. I didnt quite get what the actual Insanity check roll is. A d20 with what modifiers, target DC is what, and is it a function of current insanity points? Thank you for clarifying.
Excellent video Professor! I love the look and simplicity of your character sheet. So my question is: what RPG system do you use in your table? Is it a hacked/old-school version of 5e?
Hey guys I created a pdf to a character sheet that looks similar to the one in this video. Feel free to use this character sheet as your own: drive.google.com/file/d/14CnTERcKNUofpd6IsaKFfVldjYe-igZq/view?usp=sharing
Bless ur heart
That party scene was hilarious!
I like the Ethos system. But I know players, who would try to work around to exploid it. What would a selfish charakter be? You know: "I slayed and ate this innocent family. But on the other hand, I rescued the orphanage from a demon without any payment. So I am +/- 0, right?"
For some reason, calling them "player records" makes the sheets sound more professional than they actually are.
True.
If anyone wants a high fantasy version of insanity, check out the Shadow Weakness and Corruption in Adventurers of Middle Earth! Super useful!
I created my own Simplified Character Sheet based on this one. I wanted to add actions because that is what usually freezes newer players (and to be honest, experienced ones too).
Enjoy!
mega.nz/file/gNQT0ATb#-1yn_OJcqHSO7oqJlHNYSdkHUE3JiybZaTbIz7c7VNM
It is only fillable by hand, however.
So I stopped the video just to research the story about Bowie and Sinatra. Damn!
I know. It's a mind f----!
Good gods I love yhis channel. Thank you for sharing your great ideas!
Out of curiosity, why did you update your Morality Tracker (with 6 levels in each direction) to Ethos (with 4 levels in each direction)?
Lol. Because my crazy players are too evil for their own good. I had to rein em' in!
Serglio ;).....it make me crazy indeed!
Good DMs imitate, great DMs steal!
New subscriber here. Love the channel! Thanks for all the info.
Thanks for joining us, John! There are 65 more videos for you to watch. Get crackin'!
Why can't the poor wizard visit a seraglio for a change.....still haven't it google to learn what that means, but I have a good idea (Just what was Miss Kitty's job on that old show 'Gunsmoke' anyway? ^_^)
I guess the wizards can. I've always imagined they've moved beyond mere corporeal sensations.
cheers this stuff is great
Thanks for watching and saying so!
What about saving throws? Fortitude, reflex, and will? Are they just discarded or on another sheet?
I just say "You've been poisoned. The poison is fairly strong--roll a 12. Oh--you have +2 Con? Roll a 10."
Do you use base attack bonus in your games? Also do you not show how weapons hit and damage on your sheet? ....spells on the character sheet?
All weapons do d6. I do a challenge rating like Index Card RPG. I'll show you next campaign update.
Hankerin’s ICRPG is what got me looking at different ways to approach this hobby and to return to simpler ways to run games ( I was floundering with pathfinder and modern editions of D&D ) I currently use parts of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Basic Fantasy rpg, Swords and Wizardry ... found your channel a while back and I find it just as eye opening and energizing as Hankerin’s older videos were .... Thanks
@@terrystreet6875 I have Lamentations as well and I'l a big fan of their products. Thanks for the compliment.
You can't just have the bonus on the stat sheet because attribute numbers can improve. If I only had +1 listed on the sheet under Strength, I wouldn't know if it was at 12 or 13 the next time I get an opportunity to raise it.
Goya Solidar Yes, but it’s not an awful idea to have a quick reference card like this.
@@Panic_Pickle Never did. I'm just saying don't lose necessary information when simplifying down.
How do you handle the armor class? +dex? At character creation like index rpg? Base armor like heavy armor?
Yes.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Of Course!
The only thing I'd do differently is the activities to get rid of insanity; I'd tie them to character motivation/personality instead of class. I love to play against type and why can't my wizard become an alcoholic gambling-addicted freak? Not fair :D
Greetings, Professor. I am working on a game system based on the 7 dice of the basic set, which uses all the dice as action, stats, damage and attack rolls based on the race-class combination (except d%). My question is: for such a system, would you recommend me to use d% for the hit dice?
I'm not the guy to answer that. I would just assign hit points.Index Card RPG just gives everyone 10 hp and raises them in 10hp increments. I like that idea.
You never mention your +1 vest. Did a Rogue steal it and and you only have a mundane one now? :-)
Didn't realize it was missed. I will will wear it next episode!
DUNGEON CRAFT you didn’t realize it was missed? You can’t just toss aside a running joke
@@erikmartin4996 He's the DM, he can do what he wants, lol.