You have a life outside of DnD? Stop that! The hobby needs you! Your stuff is gold. Okay let's be serious here Daniel. Absolutely adore your channel. You're very practical, you keep things simple, and yet effective without complications. And more importantly you're into high-fantasy, the only way to play. As a first edition DVD player and second edition I say keep in gritty, keep your good advice and examples coming because there's a lot of information and draw from here.
There's a a few pretty simple Sword & Sorcery D&D takes out there. Back when TSR still had the rights, there was a Lankhmar supplement series, followed by a Lankhmar rpg based on 2nd edition AD&D. Basic changes - no nonhuman races, multiclassing allowed for humans, and magic modified. Magic was divided into Black & White. White mages were reskinned clerics with access to all cleric & druid spells. Black mages were reskinned magic users with a tendency toward corruption at higher levels. Magic was slower to cast & less common. There was another online reskinning of BX D&D at a blog called Ode to Black Dougal. Fighters & Thieves were as is. Halfling became the base for Savages & Dwarfs the base for Barbarians. Elves became Atlanteans- less Elrond, more Elric. Clerics were more malevolent - the sort to commune with Cthulu. Magic Users were pretty much as is but with a risk of corruption. Normal healing was faster due to a lack of magical healing. Either is worth checking out for ideas.
I'm here from Brazil, and your videos really help broaden the perspective for both Dungeon Masters and players in the RPG community. Some content creators use your videos as a reference. In fact, some of the rules you mention in your videos have inspired the creation of a few RPGs. I even use some of the rules from your videos in my sessions, especially the one from "OSR Skills Using Turn Undead as Inspiration." The experience is a great learning opportunity. Excellent video. Please continue sharing your insights and perspectives on everything related to RPGs. Thank you very much.
Totally agree. Actually, when I first started I made sort of a reskin of 2nd edition ADnD adapted to a Brazilian/South American 17th century mythic setting. And we published it in 1992. I remember we had this huge list of monsters from ADnD and we would try and find Brazilian legends that fit that "role" in the game world. It's totally feasible and a lot of fun! Love to see you take about some of the genres. Good stuff
Long ago, while I still played AD&D, I had wanted to have an African themed campaign. Stuff happened and gaming moved out of my life, and I never got around to it. I still think that should be the next great setting. Either pre-historic, classical era, or even later.
That's very cool! If you don't mind, what was the name of that publication? I agree with the sentiment, it can be a lot of fun to re-contextualize D&D like that. Especially if some of the basic expectations of the game change through this, it can be a very exciting journey of discovery.
Space hex-crawls... I love it. My favorite AD&D setting was Spelljammer, and one of my favorite Sci-Fi shows is Star Trek (the original series). If you have random tables for ocean hex crawls, these tables can be easily modified for space - islands become planets, reefs become asteroid belts, whirlpools become black holes. I remember an old BECMI supplement (or maybe a series of Dragon Magazine articles) that presented classes for more exotic potential player races (centaur, pixie, etc.) that can be used for alien crew members.
Luke Skywalker was a cleric in space... he even levels up an gets spells. But there a good advantage in finding an in genre RPG for random tables an mechanic to borrow, I.E. if your doing a two fisted or space game then you borrow the car chase or spaceship combat rules.
In Star Wars D6, each force power was a special ability you trained/purchased with time/xp. There was one attribute and three skills to use them, like the rest of D6. Every force power you see a character in the movie use is one separate ability. When Vader grabs Han's blaster shots out of the ir that's an ability.
@@SusCalvin and base on the game master depending on given story plot play, the PC could try to use an untrain force skill ability at half dice pool for a random effect. Using the exploding 6 on d6 roll, a magic force effect could just fizz out or blow a door open alerting and Force hunters to your space sector. With WotC 3e Star Wars we just used Skill ranks for each force skill ability. Such as 5ranks in Bluff gives your PC a +2 synergy bonus to Diplomacy encounters. So 5ranks in Alter gives a +2bonus to your move objects or affect minds rolls. Or Alter/Move Object to reroute the energy electricity flow to open magnetic locks. Your telekinetic roll is used instead of open locks, now as for bypassing the computer sensor security system, that is a different roll skill. " Dam it, this is the fifth time in three hours the door sensors have been trip for no reason. Have someone in command do a computer system check to see what is wrong." -- trip an alarm enough times and the guards stop paying attention to it. My gaming shops over the years were big on Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD) vampire, werewolf, mage along with Call of Cthulhu and Ravenloft. So coming across some darkside or Sith object that floods the PC mind with a bunch of white static noise from telepathic overload doing temporary to permanent wisdom dmg. Main attribute, or starting feat: Force Sensitive, basic use for boosting ability athletic checks. Then Alter: messing with people minds, moving objects, and ripping off slot machines. prime stat Int. Control, dealing with adjusting your body in stealth, combat, and self healing. prime stat Con. Sense, three card scams, empathy/telepathy, detecting life, and how powerful the force is in a given location. prime stat Wis. In my WotC 3.5e games we had Vader face off against Gith and illthid mind flayers.
@@SuperFunkmachine Force powers in D6 could be used as much as you wanted. Vader doesn't run out of spell slots, if you shoot him again he can just roll his skill and catch another blaster beam in his hand. You had to train the different powers, I think you bought them for xp. This can be hard depending on era, when jedi teachers are rare in the Rebellion/New Republic. One thing they had was force points/dark side points. When you do evil and destructive stuff you can start veering to the dark side. But also use that for power.
I'm hosting 2 campaigns, and have hosted a few others, but my favorite so far is the one for my wife and my best friend. They are playing a "buddy cop" campaign in which they are 2 gnomes. It's a detective agency in which one is a very smart wizard and the other is a brutish fighter. Kinda blurs the line between " 2 fist detective" and sword and sorcery. They're just in it to make a name for themselves, and a few gold earned always helps.
Priests sometimes don't use spells in Conan. They have a lot of social power. The power of clerics is to tell a large amount of followers to pay tithe or the gods look unfavorably on them. The gods rarely say otherwise. Some religions have sorcerers or use sorcery or have some pet monster they treat like a demigod. My friends banged them together by taking the B/X MU and giving them the full cleric spell list. An MU can use Heal Light Wounds normally. It forced us to rethink what a cleric should be later on.
@@SusCalvin Fair point. It would have been better to say that there could be a lot of overlap. I suppose "priest" is more of a role or title within a society, and a priest may or may not be a mage.
I agree. Heck, I like doing this in general. Make Magic all one thing. It is how you choose to use it that makes the difference. Then you can have church-trained magicians clashing with hedge-mages because of their use of unorthodox spells.
@@TheEricthefruitbat Stander D&D/ or high fantasy, Cure light wounds causes the receiver to heal like Wolverine from the Xmen comics movies. Good Berry feeds many with a few berries, create food & water causes food/drink to magic appear in a pitcher and bowel. Low fantasy magic. Magic healing spells only remove lactic acids from the body and speed you natural healing, or granting PC a second wind, don't pull the stitches out while fighting. Create food & water, the party finds a pack mule with water skins, the PCs can eat the mule, or it rains and you have muddy rain puddle water and grubs/worms to eat. Good Berry just gives a bonus on survival rolls for berries, roots, and nuts. Spells under 3rd-level can be explained away by logic, Fire Ball is just an oil flask, but Lightning Bolt that IS magic. 2.) Break from stander fantasy, my last gaming shop ran games/ mini campaigns in the stone age. Magic classes from WotC 3e was Adept, druid, and sorcerer. Replace item Gp cost with full Xp value drop. Then ten months later in real time have those stone age items turn up in a burial mound, such as Craft Wonderous Item +1 weapon flint tip spear of burning with Mend cantrip to repair and help keep it from breaking, or a clay cooking pot the function as create food. Or a bear/elk fur of warmth" elemental endurance".
@@TheEricthefruitbat It depends on how active you want the gods to be in your Hyperborea. Conan himself doesn't believe the gods are active at all in the world.
I'm more of a Agatha Christie mystery fan but I've been listening to old detective radio stories. And I keep noticing the sudden way they resolve the story. The detective encounters a series of characters, at some point in the third act it becomes obvious who dunnit, the detective confronts them. Amazingly often it's resolved with a fistfight, or... bad guy pulls a gun, maybe they 'go crazy' and jump out a window, or drive off too fast and wreck their car. It's very much Barbarian stabs evil wizard, the end. Regarding Hexes in space - Coincidentally, I'm actually doing this too (starforged). Don't forget warp-gates for fast-travel! And space derelicts are just like dungeons. If you are worried about representing 3D space on a 2D map, well... spiral galaxies can be very flat. And so can solar systems.
I really like the idea of an exploration campaign. The Lost City of Z would be a great basis for an exploration campaign. There's enough resources out there like the Sandbox Generator and Manual of Hexterity that it would take next to no effort to set up.
like another guy said- an extremely underrated D&D channel. there are times you speak too quickly and mumble a bit. I'm totally guilty of that. maybe keep the pace a bit slower. we all really want to hear your thoughts. you are definitely my go-to tuber for BX OSR D&D. I'm so glad you have focused on that.
A phrase that has come up from time to time in a variety of versions is "only the Dexterity modifier applies to armor class" . This phrase acknowledges that the penetrating power of an attack is so high that conventional armors makes little difference. It would be a simple way to differentiate firearms or beam weapons from more primitive alternatives.
@@BanditsKeep Even so, there's still a lot of fun to stretching D&D out to see what other things you can do with it. In the past I've used it for both a Cyberpunk & Star Wars one shot with some reskinning of abilities and such.
before you write off demihumans and wizards in detective/noir fiction you should really read the Garrett series by Glen Cook, really delightful harboiled detective fusion with a classic "DnD-Style" fantasy
a bit late to the party but i highly recommend Fight the Power Word, Kill's article on playing OD&D/Holmes Basic in a setting inspired by medieval chinese literature like Water Margin, and how it kind of actually works better than trying to fit OD&D into like tolkien fantasy or even conan pulp fantasy (given that OD&D as a single package is a hodgepodge of influences from everywhere and lots of unique details).examples being things like clerics and their restrictions, murderhobos, spell slots etc. I personally also find that fantasy literature inns also hew closer to historical chinese jiu dian's than medieval europe's actual inns and taverns, as well as prevalence of cash, etc.
BECMI and AD&D have been good for the Mythological Ancient Greek world I'm working on, since all of the monsters are already there. Magicians are rare and powerful, enchanted weapons and armor can be had if you fall into favor with the gods, and if your hero has max in three atributes, you are probably a demigod.
Very relevant! I'm currently planning to modify BX or AD&D for a sci-fi campaign flavored a bit star-wars-ish. Sure, we could play a system more tailored to the setting, but I think I'll get more mileage out of something simpler, that my players are already pretty familiar with, and that is easy to hammer into the shape we want it to be.
Oh I love that healing for fist fights! I have rarely liked unarmed combat in most systems, then Martial Arts (and equivalents) on top often seem slightly lacking or clunky. This is a great idea, martial arts and wrestling etc can then take it up a notch to more long term damage if you wanted too. Perfect for that end boss or the Boss's right hand man/lady (or even multiples) finale punch ups where the damage is more potent and the stakes ratchet up a notch... Love it. Cleric in Sword and Sorcery, perfect, same goes for the Halfling and MU. That Exploring the lost world feel is how I always envisioned the Lustrian continent in WFRP right from first edition. This makes me want to play ALL of these. Again I would love to see you making encounters or adventure outlines for these! (Yeah I know, I'm a scratched record..)
Lustria was always hinted at more than developed, but I think Cubicle 7 have now started to under their license. There was a few early fantasy battle scenarios there and lore in the rpg rulebooks scattered about. It always begged for a kind of Indiana jones/King Solomon's Mines approach, which would have been a nice break from the Old World setting.
Interesting topic. I remember thinking about Swords & Sorcery though only inspiration from that was Conan The Barbarian and that was mosting difficult not having other books or other sources to take from for a campaign. I do say Im okay with high fantasy as that is where Lord of Rings, D&D Dragonlance chronicles books and just the general concept around it makes it appealing to me. Though besides fantasy, I like Sci-Fi and more of FromSoftware's King's Field The Ancient City for something for dark fantasy I guess? Idk just encounter some neat stuff I read/watch as I run Old school D&D campaigns at least experimenting with what to make setting-wise. At some point I run Pits & Perils (OD&D/chainmail inspired) and eventually will learn what I can tweak to suit a different genre other than just good ol fantasy. The imagination engine never runs out unless you forgot to refill it.
Hi! Love your channels, especially the one focused on Solo Play. I wanted to ask if you have some videos that I might've missed where you talk about puzzle design, for example how to make puzzles for dungeons.
Thank you for another great video, Daniel! I really enjoy your content. I think you should totally do a video on converting Old School D&D for Sci-Fi. I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding the kinds of skills you'd give thieves (engineers?) and how you'd run a space crawl! I am very inspired by your videos. I've taken a lot of your advice to use in my games. Keep up the great work!
The issue with D&D is that the combat system really falls apart as soon as you enter a genre where people aren't wearing armor. That's why many modern to sci-fi systems tend use armor as damage reduction and not making someone harder to hit. It makes those with little to no armor get behind cover while those with armor (like Mando himself) can go charging in knowing that they will take little to no damage because their armor will protect them. This even applies to historical eras where heavier armor had fallen out of favor and melee defense consisted more of blocks, dodges, and parry's (i.e. opposed skill checks). If it was just going to be a short low level campaign it's probably not going to be that big a deal, but for more high level play, you're probably best going with a system designed for the genre in question.
It's not exactly sword & sorcery (not totally, at least, but we certainly all liked the genre), but I played for a long time in a game that was very highly lethal, very dangerous, and assumed as a baseline that basically everyone, bar exceptional examples, is a level 1/level 0 character. This also went for enemies/opposition (although of course monsters are often a lot more dangerous). This meant that a lot of the time, both characters and their enemies (human enemies were a very common foe) were somewhere around level 1, with some exceptional heroic level 2-3 characters in the mix. The high lethality of the game, and the GM's merciless (not unfair or predatory, merely totally merciless and no breaks or punches pulled) attitude of hitting as hard as the opposition could meant that almost no character survived to higher levels, or a long period of time even (a level 3 D&D character is, as we all know, far from immortal, even if compared to a level 1 they're absolutely superhuman). The result of this was an extraordinary arrangement where anyone with levels was really special and felt really powerful. I haven't really experienced another campaign where a level 4 Fighter really was seen to be the Conan type who stood head and shoulders above basically everyone else and had accumulated a long list of heroic feats and war stories already. When we lost a level 3 character, it was a real, palpable loss. No character above level 1 was "just some shmuck", each and every one of them was notable and important. I'm sure it would be a frustrating game for many, losing characters often and never really "progressing" very far, except more things happening in the game world, but it was also a very unique and interesting experience. I got a character to level 3 in that campaign and retired them a winner, knowing that they'd achieved more than most people would, and were already far more impressive than almost everyone around them.
And interestingly enough (I'll add), this kind of a game meant that while these leveled characters were quite heroic, we often did not have to make contrived plans to take into account high-level D&D's particulars. Like for example the whole HP question. In a higher-level game, your plan of just laying in ambush and then charging in to slay the leader of the enemies before he can even draw his sword will very often not be likely, simply because you know that they can take like five or more swings. But in a game with low levels, there is exactly that "stab a wizard in the heart" effect where even the most heroic characters are just somewhat stronger, and you can usually rely on that (and if not, then it really is exceptional and scary!) It was a very educational experience, as far as D&D is concerned.
Sounds like a cool world (super low level with a handful of heroes) not sure I’d like rolling up a new PC all the time though as a player - unless we were running groups of PCs each perhaps. Of course I don’t know if I’d like it until I try! Thanks for sharing f
@@BanditsKeep It was definitely not something for everyone. It was an open table game we played at our university's weekly club, but it was mostly the same faces. A lot of people came to try, but it was rare to see someone actually become a regular. I played in that game long enough (I think it went on for a total of like 5-6 years) that it actually became a bit strange for me to think that in many games, having a PC that actually didn't die was not considered outlandish! Now that it's been a few years, I can definitely appreciate games that are not as insane. It's possible to play very high-stakes and exciting D&D even if it's not pawed with dozens upon dozens of corpses. I think there are upsides and downsides to it. The upside is that you can be sure that victories felt sweet. And the downside was that, well, you never should get very attached to playing a character. The game becomes really more of a story of the world when almost nobody survives for very long. Our GM was fond of setting all kinds of things in motion as they "activated" in various adventures (there are many kinds of things with big implications in various modules and he included those in his materials as well), so there was always the sense of things moving along and happening. It would probably have become really unfun in a world that was less volatile and lively!
White Star RPG uses white box 0e - and Stars Without Number uses B/X - for the sci fi and space opera genre Tall Tales is a B/X western genre game Gangbusters B/X is of course a b/x depression era crime rpg Got me stumped for Explorers rpg maybe the game Frontier Scum by Karl Druid Anyway - some nice little rules lite OSR Genre games for those who know the system but want to play something else then Dragons and Swords
The advantage of using b/x or 0e rules for a different genre is that the GM and the players are comfortable with the rules. But , as was said , sometimes the rules mechanics might not match the tone and essence of the genre. Example: You could get 5e D&D to do space fantasy / pulp space opera ( Buck Rodgers, Star Wars etc ) and maybe even Superhero ( its practically that already!!! ) but you can NOT get it to do the Horror genre at ALL.
If you haven’t checked out White Star Galaxy Edition yet I highly recommend it as inspiration fodder for your OSR Sci-Fi game. It’s based of Swords and Wizardry WhiteBox so not too far from B/X.
@@BanditsKeep I believe it is also based on S&W WhiteBox. So pretty cross compatible with other WhiteBox based games like White Star and Operation White Box, the WWII game.
Space hex-crawl would be really fun and interesting. If you do that look at Travellers or the Cepheus system sub-sector generators. They generate an 8x10 parsec sub-sector that you can drop your group in.
I'm always the DM, but I've played a good bit too. I'm explaining this only because I've managed to go 40 years and not play a Cleric. Until about a year ago, where I played A Cleric In Space Hahahaha!!!!!!
you have actually responded to my comments- which is incredible with 13k subscribers. really loved your post about using undead. I agree with just about everything you've posted, and have found all of it useful. have you done a video about randomizing dungeon contents? I actually play a lot of four against darkness 4AD, because I'm lazy and it's dead simple- I'm always looking for a better way to randomize room contents. thanks!
I do try to answer the comments - though I fall behind sometimes. I don’t have a video, but I remember watching one. I believe it may have been from hexed press, where they basically took the numbers for the rooms that had monsters and made a random table for that so the creatures could appear anywhere. Seemed interesting.
Dnd as superheros. City based. The idea is more to capture your enemies., and most characters have a civilan identiy magic items are used as powers. Look up in the sky ! It's a bird! it's a plane. It's Superknight! Yes Superknight who disguise as mild mannered scribe Clarious Kentar. Lives is Meteopal. And when danger threatens dons his magic platemail gauntlets of giant strength flying cloak and gem of fire beam to fight the never ending battle for truth justice and the goodlandia way.
WEG west end games d6 system Star Wars, which had two editions before WotC took over. Now you just have D6 generic space fantasy book, which is still the Star Wars system or WEG 3e. WotC D&D/Star Wars d20 3e system which come out with the prequal movie Phantom Menace. Follow with Attack of the Clones Revise edition. aka as WotC 3.5e Then 4e Saga Edition, which I didn't care so much for. Follow with whatever they have out now. In short my two gaming shop groups from 1998 to 2008 mix match WEG with AD&D with WotC 3e with a dash of Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD) vampire, werewolf, mage. We used Star Wars health and crit system of Wound points/constitution score and vitality/temporary Hp with short 15minute rest and prolong rests. Dodge gun fire and getting a glancing hit to your armor/low ribs is temporary Hp and can be recover after a short rest. Bruised ribs, clean flesh wound are temporary constitution dmg. Sleep it off. Broken bones and treating burns and bleeding is wound point constitution dmg. " or stander b.s D&D hp. " Which requires magic healing or a week or two of bed rest. Doing a quick run dodging behind a door frame, ban your knee against the wall as you run down a staircase for safety is burning temporary hp. Failed dexterity rolls result in temporary constitution dmg for twisted ankle running for your life. Anyone the played high school football knows you can only put so much stress on your joints before you have a sport injury resulting in nerve or joint dmg. God help you getting a broken bone from your shin hitting the grass at the wrong angle. Now you have concrete or a steel deck plate ?
Film noir detectives are a lot flimsier than D&D characters. Mickey Spillane characters don't have 30 hp and can get stabbed several times a day. Level caps is a way there. The world is level 0, a level 3 dude or even a level 1 is a formidable thing. Or characters could get less hp per level, a fighter gets +3 hp while a film noir wizard gets +1, Game of Thrones d20 gave you that sort of hp. A strong fighter in that game can probably take a blow or two but no more. Reskinning a demihuman class as a human is easy, by removing or replacing some non-human trait or ability they got. Then you can have "dwarfs" without the darkvision. Investigative games start to revolve more about characters, events and hints. Chaosium got good at this sort of game, the best adventures often have several paths to the conclusion so the PCs are not stuck if they miss one thing or two.
They are not “Giant pandas help to keep their mountain forests healthy by spreading seeds in their droppings, which helps vegetation to thrive. The Giant panda's forested habitat is also important for local people - for food, income and fuel for cooking and heating.”
You have a life outside of DnD? Stop that! The hobby needs you! Your stuff is gold.
Okay let's be serious here Daniel. Absolutely adore your channel. You're very practical, you keep things simple, and yet effective without complications. And more importantly you're into high-fantasy, the only way to play.
As a first edition DVD player and second edition I say keep in gritty, keep your good advice and examples coming because there's a lot of information and draw from here.
Thank You!
There's a a few pretty simple Sword & Sorcery D&D takes out there. Back when TSR still had the rights, there was a Lankhmar supplement series, followed by a Lankhmar rpg based on 2nd edition AD&D. Basic changes - no nonhuman races, multiclassing allowed for humans, and magic modified. Magic was divided into Black & White. White mages were reskinned clerics with access to all cleric & druid spells. Black mages were reskinned magic users with a tendency toward corruption at higher levels. Magic was slower to cast & less common.
There was another online reskinning of BX D&D at a blog called Ode to Black Dougal. Fighters & Thieves were as is. Halfling became the base for Savages & Dwarfs the base for Barbarians. Elves became Atlanteans- less Elrond, more Elric. Clerics were more malevolent - the sort to commune with Cthulu. Magic Users were pretty much as is but with a risk of corruption. Normal healing was faster due to a lack of magical healing.
Either is worth checking out for ideas.
Cool, thanks!
I'm here from Brazil, and your videos really help broaden the perspective for both Dungeon Masters and players in the RPG community. Some content creators use your videos as a reference. In fact, some of the rules you mention in your videos have inspired the creation of a few RPGs. I even use some of the rules from your videos in my sessions, especially the one from "OSR Skills Using Turn Undead as Inspiration." The experience is a great learning opportunity. Excellent video. Please continue sharing your insights and perspectives on everything related to RPGs. Thank you very much.
That’s awesome! Thanks
Totally agree. Actually, when I first started I made sort of a reskin of 2nd edition ADnD adapted to a Brazilian/South American 17th century mythic setting. And we published it in 1992. I remember we had this huge list of monsters from ADnD and we would try and find Brazilian legends that fit that "role" in the game world. It's totally feasible and a lot of fun! Love to see you take about some of the genres. Good stuff
Long ago, while I still played AD&D, I had wanted to have an African themed campaign. Stuff happened and gaming moved out of my life, and I never got around to it. I still think that should be the next great setting. Either pre-historic, classical era, or even later.
That's very cool! If you don't mind, what was the name of that publication?
I agree with the sentiment, it can be a lot of fun to re-contextualize D&D like that. Especially if some of the basic expectations of the game change through this, it can be a very exciting journey of discovery.
This is super cool. Please let me know what it's called I'd love to get a pdf of it if available. This sounds like fun
@@goblinrat6119 unfortunately it's in Portuguese. But it's called "O Desafio dos Bandeirantes" if you want to check it out. ✌️😎
@@kuriboh635 unfortunately it's in Portuguese. But it's called "O Desafio dos Bandeirantes" if you want to check it out. ✌️😎
Space hex-crawls... I love it. My favorite AD&D setting was Spelljammer, and one of my favorite Sci-Fi shows is Star Trek (the original series). If you have random tables for ocean hex crawls, these tables can be easily modified for space - islands become planets, reefs become asteroid belts, whirlpools become black holes. I remember an old BECMI supplement (or maybe a series of Dragon Magazine articles) that presented classes for more exotic potential player races (centaur, pixie, etc.) that can be used for alien crew members.
For sure
Yes for the space-based Hex Crawl.
Excellent!
Luke Skywalker was a cleric in space... he even levels up an gets spells.
But there a good advantage in finding an in genre RPG for random tables an mechanic to borrow, I.E. if your doing a two fisted or space game then you borrow the car chase or spaceship combat rules.
In Star Wars D6, each force power was a special ability you trained/purchased with time/xp. There was one attribute and three skills to use them, like the rest of D6. Every force power you see a character in the movie use is one separate ability. When Vader grabs Han's blaster shots out of the ir that's an ability.
@@SusCalvin and base on the game master depending on given story plot play, the PC could try to use an untrain force skill ability at half dice pool for a random effect.
Using the exploding 6 on d6 roll, a magic force effect could just fizz out or blow a door open alerting and Force hunters to your space sector.
With WotC 3e Star Wars we just used Skill ranks for each force skill ability.
Such as 5ranks in Bluff gives your PC a +2 synergy bonus to Diplomacy encounters. So 5ranks in Alter gives a +2bonus to your move objects or affect minds rolls. Or Alter/Move Object to reroute the energy electricity flow to open magnetic locks. Your telekinetic roll is used instead of open locks, now as for bypassing the computer sensor security system, that is a different roll skill. " Dam it, this is the fifth time in three hours the door sensors have been trip for no reason. Have someone in command do a computer system check to see what is wrong." -- trip an alarm enough times and the guards stop paying attention to it.
My gaming shops over the years were big on Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD) vampire, werewolf, mage along with Call of Cthulhu and Ravenloft. So coming across some darkside or Sith object that floods the PC mind with a bunch of white static noise from telepathic overload doing temporary to permanent wisdom dmg.
Main attribute, or starting feat: Force Sensitive, basic use for boosting ability athletic checks.
Then Alter: messing with people minds, moving objects, and ripping off slot machines. prime stat Int.
Control, dealing with adjusting your body in stealth, combat, and self healing. prime stat Con.
Sense, three card scams, empathy/telepathy, detecting life, and how powerful the force is in a given location. prime stat Wis.
In my WotC 3.5e games we had Vader face off against Gith and illthid mind flayers.
@@SusCalvin That is exactly the kind of thing you'd want to borrow , just turn the force powers in to cleric spells.
@@SuperFunkmachine Force powers in D6 could be used as much as you wanted. Vader doesn't run out of spell slots, if you shoot him again he can just roll his skill and catch another blaster beam in his hand.
You had to train the different powers, I think you bought them for xp. This can be hard depending on era, when jedi teachers are rare in the Rebellion/New Republic.
One thing they had was force points/dark side points. When you do evil and destructive stuff you can start veering to the dark side. But also use that for power.
For sure
Sword and Planet would be easy to re-favor in old-school DnD.
For sure!
I'm an O.G.DM from the 70's, recently found your channel. LOVE IT. Keep up the good work!
Welcome aboard!
Yes! Please make a video on “space hexes” and hex crawling in space! 😄
👾
I'm hosting 2 campaigns, and have hosted a few others, but my favorite so far is the one for my wife and my best friend. They are playing a "buddy cop" campaign in which they are 2 gnomes. It's a detective agency in which one is a very smart wizard and the other is a brutish fighter. Kinda blurs the line between " 2 fist detective" and sword and sorcery. They're just in it to make a name for themselves, and a few gold earned always helps.
That sounds amazing
Space hexcrawl sounds like a very good video idea
Awesome
Definitely like combining the cleric and magic-user spells in a Conan-esque setting. Priests and mages are basically the same thing.
Priests sometimes don't use spells in Conan. They have a lot of social power. The power of clerics is to tell a large amount of followers to pay tithe or the gods look unfavorably on them. The gods rarely say otherwise. Some religions have sorcerers or use sorcery or have some pet monster they treat like a demigod.
My friends banged them together by taking the B/X MU and giving them the full cleric spell list. An MU can use Heal Light Wounds normally. It forced us to rethink what a cleric should be later on.
@@SusCalvin Fair point. It would have been better to say that there could be a lot of overlap. I suppose "priest" is more of a role or title within a society, and a priest may or may not be a mage.
I agree. Heck, I like doing this in general. Make Magic all one thing. It is how you choose to use it that makes the difference. Then you can have church-trained magicians clashing with hedge-mages because of their use of unorthodox spells.
@@TheEricthefruitbat Stander D&D/ or high fantasy, Cure light wounds causes the receiver to heal like Wolverine from the Xmen comics movies. Good Berry feeds many with a few berries, create food & water causes food/drink to magic appear in a pitcher and bowel.
Low fantasy magic.
Magic healing spells only remove lactic acids from the body and speed you natural healing, or granting PC a second wind, don't pull the stitches out while fighting.
Create food & water, the party finds a pack mule with water skins, the PCs can eat the mule, or it rains and you have muddy rain puddle water and grubs/worms to eat.
Good Berry just gives a bonus on survival rolls for berries, roots, and nuts.
Spells under 3rd-level can be explained away by logic, Fire Ball is just an oil flask, but Lightning Bolt that IS magic.
2.) Break from stander fantasy, my last gaming shop ran games/ mini campaigns in the stone age. Magic classes from WotC 3e was Adept, druid, and sorcerer. Replace item Gp cost with full Xp value drop. Then ten months later in real time have those stone age items turn up in a burial mound, such as Craft Wonderous Item +1 weapon flint tip spear of burning with Mend cantrip to repair and help keep it from breaking, or a clay cooking pot the function as create food. Or a bear/elk fur of warmth" elemental endurance".
@@TheEricthefruitbat It depends on how active you want the gods to be in your Hyperborea. Conan himself doesn't believe the gods are active at all in the world.
I'm more of a Agatha Christie mystery fan but I've been listening to old detective radio stories.
And I keep noticing the sudden way they resolve the story.
The detective encounters a series of characters, at some point in the third act it becomes obvious who dunnit, the detective confronts them.
Amazingly often it's resolved with a fistfight, or... bad guy pulls a gun, maybe they 'go crazy' and jump out a window, or drive off too fast and wreck their car.
It's very much Barbarian stabs evil wizard, the end.
Regarding Hexes in space - Coincidentally, I'm actually doing this too (starforged). Don't forget warp-gates for fast-travel! And space derelicts are just like dungeons.
If you are worried about representing 3D space on a 2D map, well... spiral galaxies can be very flat. And so can solar systems.
That’s an interesting similarity between sword and sorcery and detective -
I guess it’s a pulp trope
I really like the idea of an exploration campaign. The Lost City of Z would be a great basis for an exploration campaign. There's enough resources out there like the Sandbox Generator and Manual of Hexterity that it would take next to no effort to set up.
The Lost City of Z! Yes!!
like another guy said- an extremely underrated D&D channel. there are times you speak too quickly and mumble a bit. I'm totally guilty of that. maybe keep the pace a bit slower. we all really want to hear your thoughts. you are definitely my go-to tuber for BX OSR D&D. I'm so glad you have focused on that.
Thanks!
Sci-Fi in space would be awesome. Spelljammer was always a favorite of mine.
Two-Fisted sounds great to try out. Thanks for the ideas.
My pleasure! I too love some two fisted
My homebrew setting is science-fantasy (very dying earth where technology is magic). Works well.
Cool!
A phrase that has come up from time to time in a variety of versions is "only the Dexterity modifier applies to armor class" . This phrase acknowledges that the penetrating power of an attack is so high that conventional armors makes little difference. It would be a simple way to differentiate firearms or beam weapons from more primitive alternatives.
Good point
Space Hexcrawls are great and absolutely fit the exploration style campaign well. It's hard to think of that concept separate from Traveler though.
True. Traveller is purpose built for that
@@BanditsKeep Even so, there's still a lot of fun to stretching D&D out to see what other things you can do with it. In the past I've used it for both a Cyberpunk & Star Wars one shot with some reskinning of abilities and such.
before you write off demihumans and wizards in detective/noir fiction you should really read the Garrett series by Glen Cook, really delightful harboiled detective fusion with a classic "DnD-Style" fantasy
I’ll have to check it out.
Also, Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher
a bit late to the party but i highly recommend Fight the Power Word, Kill's article on playing OD&D/Holmes Basic in a setting inspired by medieval chinese literature like Water Margin, and how it kind of actually works better than trying to fit OD&D into like tolkien fantasy or even conan pulp fantasy (given that OD&D as a single package is a hodgepodge of influences from everywhere and lots of unique details).examples being things like clerics and their restrictions, murderhobos, spell slots etc. I personally also find that fantasy literature inns also hew closer to historical chinese jiu dian's than medieval europe's actual inns and taverns, as well as prevalence of cash, etc.
I’ll have to check that out! Thanks.
My personal favorite genre to run with d&d is 1980's style fantasy anime like Lodoss War
Nice!
BECMI and AD&D have been good for the Mythological Ancient Greek world I'm working on, since all of the monsters are already there. Magicians are rare and powerful, enchanted weapons and armor can be had if you fall into favor with the gods, and if your hero has max in three atributes, you are probably a demigod.
Nice
Very relevant! I'm currently planning to modify BX or AD&D for a sci-fi campaign flavored a bit star-wars-ish.
Sure, we could play a system more tailored to the setting, but I think I'll get more mileage out of something simpler, that my players are already pretty familiar with, and that is easy to hammer into the shape we want it to be.
That sounds very cool
Oh I love that healing for fist fights! I have rarely liked unarmed combat in most systems, then Martial Arts (and equivalents) on top often seem slightly lacking or clunky. This is a great idea, martial arts and wrestling etc can then take it up a notch to more long term damage if you wanted too. Perfect for that end boss or the Boss's right hand man/lady (or even multiples) finale punch ups where the damage is more potent and the stakes ratchet up a notch... Love it.
Cleric in Sword and Sorcery, perfect, same goes for the Halfling and MU.
That Exploring the lost world feel is how I always envisioned the Lustrian continent in WFRP right from first edition.
This makes me want to play ALL of these. Again I would love to see you making encounters or adventure outlines for these! (Yeah I know, I'm a scratched record..)
Thanks! I have always heard great things about WFRP, I’ll have to look at the Lustrian continent
Lustria was always hinted at more than developed, but I think Cubicle 7 have now started to under their license. There was a few early fantasy battle scenarios there and lore in the rpg rulebooks scattered about. It always begged for a kind of Indiana jones/King Solomon's Mines approach, which would have been a nice break from the Old World setting.
I absolutely would love to see some video(s) about space hex-crawling!
Yes!
Among your best videos to date!
Thank You!
Interesting topic. I remember thinking about Swords & Sorcery though only inspiration from that was Conan The Barbarian and that was mosting difficult not having other books or other sources to take from for a campaign.
I do say Im okay with high fantasy as that is where Lord of Rings, D&D Dragonlance chronicles books and just the general concept around it makes it appealing to me. Though besides fantasy, I like Sci-Fi and more of FromSoftware's King's Field The Ancient City for something for dark fantasy I guess? Idk just encounter some neat stuff I read/watch as I run Old school D&D campaigns at least experimenting with what to make setting-wise.
At some point I run Pits & Perils (OD&D/chainmail inspired) and eventually will learn what I can tweak to suit a different genre other than just good ol fantasy. The imagination engine never runs out unless you forgot to refill it.
For sure, so much great inspiration out there
I'm up for more Boot Hill stuff!
Yes! That was really fun
Hi! Love your channels, especially the one focused on Solo Play. I wanted to ask if you have some videos that I might've missed where you talk about puzzle design, for example how to make puzzles for dungeons.
I do not, but that is a great topic.
Thank you for another great video, Daniel! I really enjoy your content. I think you should totally do a video on converting Old School D&D for Sci-Fi. I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding the kinds of skills you'd give thieves (engineers?) and how you'd run a space crawl!
I am very inspired by your videos. I've taken a lot of your advice to use in my games. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! Yes, skills would be a fun thing to work with.
Hexspace sounds like fun.
For sure!
I would really enjoy a video on how you test systems!
Cool!
The issue with D&D is that the combat system really falls apart as soon as you enter a genre where people aren't wearing armor. That's why many modern to sci-fi systems tend use armor as damage reduction and not making someone harder to hit. It makes those with little to no armor get behind cover while those with armor (like Mando himself) can go charging in knowing that they will take little to no damage because their armor will protect them. This even applies to historical eras where heavier armor had fallen out of favor and melee defense consisted more of blocks, dodges, and parry's (i.e. opposed skill checks).
If it was just going to be a short low level campaign it's probably not going to be that big a deal, but for more high level play, you're probably best going with a system designed for the genre in question.
Not sure why that is an issue - a “miss” because of your armor means they armor blocked the damage, that’s how I’ve always seen it in D&D
Great video mate! I think it would be cool to see you do a solo Sci-Fi Actual Play
Ah yes, in D&D? I was actually thinking of trying traveller for solo play
It's not exactly sword & sorcery (not totally, at least, but we certainly all liked the genre), but I played for a long time in a game that was very highly lethal, very dangerous, and assumed as a baseline that basically everyone, bar exceptional examples, is a level 1/level 0 character. This also went for enemies/opposition (although of course monsters are often a lot more dangerous). This meant that a lot of the time, both characters and their enemies (human enemies were a very common foe) were somewhere around level 1, with some exceptional heroic level 2-3 characters in the mix. The high lethality of the game, and the GM's merciless (not unfair or predatory, merely totally merciless and no breaks or punches pulled) attitude of hitting as hard as the opposition could meant that almost no character survived to higher levels, or a long period of time even (a level 3 D&D character is, as we all know, far from immortal, even if compared to a level 1 they're absolutely superhuman).
The result of this was an extraordinary arrangement where anyone with levels was really special and felt really powerful. I haven't really experienced another campaign where a level 4 Fighter really was seen to be the Conan type who stood head and shoulders above basically everyone else and had accumulated a long list of heroic feats and war stories already. When we lost a level 3 character, it was a real, palpable loss. No character above level 1 was "just some shmuck", each and every one of them was notable and important. I'm sure it would be a frustrating game for many, losing characters often and never really "progressing" very far, except more things happening in the game world, but it was also a very unique and interesting experience.
I got a character to level 3 in that campaign and retired them a winner, knowing that they'd achieved more than most people would, and were already far more impressive than almost everyone around them.
And interestingly enough (I'll add), this kind of a game meant that while these leveled characters were quite heroic, we often did not have to make contrived plans to take into account high-level D&D's particulars. Like for example the whole HP question. In a higher-level game, your plan of just laying in ambush and then charging in to slay the leader of the enemies before he can even draw his sword will very often not be likely, simply because you know that they can take like five or more swings. But in a game with low levels, there is exactly that "stab a wizard in the heart" effect where even the most heroic characters are just somewhat stronger, and you can usually rely on that (and if not, then it really is exceptional and scary!)
It was a very educational experience, as far as D&D is concerned.
Sounds like a cool world (super low level with a handful of heroes) not sure I’d like rolling up a new PC all the time though as a player - unless we were running groups of PCs each perhaps. Of course I don’t know if I’d like it until I try! Thanks for sharing f
@@BanditsKeep It was definitely not something for everyone. It was an open table game we played at our university's weekly club, but it was mostly the same faces. A lot of people came to try, but it was rare to see someone actually become a regular. I played in that game long enough (I think it went on for a total of like 5-6 years) that it actually became a bit strange for me to think that in many games, having a PC that actually didn't die was not considered outlandish!
Now that it's been a few years, I can definitely appreciate games that are not as insane. It's possible to play very high-stakes and exciting D&D even if it's not pawed with dozens upon dozens of corpses.
I think there are upsides and downsides to it. The upside is that you can be sure that victories felt sweet. And the downside was that, well, you never should get very attached to playing a character. The game becomes really more of a story of the world when almost nobody survives for very long. Our GM was fond of setting all kinds of things in motion as they "activated" in various adventures (there are many kinds of things with big implications in various modules and he included those in his materials as well), so there was always the sense of things moving along and happening. It would probably have become really unfun in a world that was less volatile and lively!
White Star RPG uses white box 0e - and Stars Without Number uses B/X - for the sci fi and space opera genre
Tall Tales is a B/X western genre game
Gangbusters B/X is of course a b/x depression era crime rpg
Got me stumped for Explorers rpg maybe the game Frontier Scum by Karl Druid
Anyway - some nice little rules lite OSR Genre games for those who know the system but want to play something else then Dragons and Swords
The advantage of using b/x or 0e rules for a different genre is that the GM and the players are comfortable with the rules. But , as was said , sometimes the rules mechanics might not match the tone and essence of the genre. Example: You could get 5e D&D to do space fantasy / pulp space opera ( Buck Rodgers, Star Wars etc ) and maybe even Superhero ( its practically that already!!! ) but you can NOT get it to do the Horror genre at ALL.
Cool, I’ve tried some of those systems, will have to check out Tall Tales
If you haven’t checked out White Star Galaxy Edition yet I highly recommend it as inspiration fodder for your OSR Sci-Fi game. It’s based of Swords and Wizardry WhiteBox so not too far from B/X.
Ah yes, I have white star
White Lies is a great OSR rule set with a modern day action movie theme. It also has some great rules for customizing equipment.
I’ll have to check that out - I think I have it actually, it’s based on black hack, right?
@@BanditsKeep I believe it is also based on S&W WhiteBox. So pretty cross compatible with other WhiteBox based games like White Star and Operation White Box, the WWII game.
Space hex-crawl would be really fun and interesting. If you do that look at Travellers or the Cepheus system sub-sector generators. They generate an 8x10 parsec sub-sector that you can drop your group in.
Oh yes, Traveller is most or less custom designed for this
I would like a video on all of these.
Also a video on a nautical themed game.
Cool, nautical would be fun for sure
@@BanditsKeep such an under utilized environment for TTRPGs
I'm always the DM, but I've played a good bit too. I'm explaining this only because I've managed to go 40 years and not play a Cleric.
Until about a year ago, where I played
A
Cleric
In
Space
Hahahaha!!!!!!
Nice!
you have actually responded to my comments- which is incredible with 13k subscribers. really loved your post about using undead. I agree with just about everything you've posted, and have found all of it useful. have you done a video about randomizing dungeon contents? I actually play a lot of four against darkness 4AD, because I'm lazy and it's dead simple- I'm always looking for a better way to randomize room contents. thanks!
I do try to answer the comments - though I fall behind sometimes. I don’t have a video, but I remember watching one. I believe it may have been from hexed press, where they basically took the numbers for the rooms that had monsters and made a random table for that so the creatures could appear anywhere. Seemed interesting.
you do very well. thanks so much!@@BanditsKeep
Reflavoring existing stuff for the win
Yes!
Love your videos
Thank You!
B/X Thundar the Barbarian!
Yes!
Cleric in Space is called Warhammer 40k.
That sounds about right
I would love if you dove deeper into all of these genres.
I may have to hit them all!
I am curious about things in life! ;-)
Aren’t we all… 😊
You do know they did most of these in 2e. Superheros, space, mystery,
As splat books? I have not seen them
Dnd as superheros. City based. The idea is more to capture your enemies., and most characters have a civilan identiy magic items are used as powers.
Look up in the sky ! It's a bird! it's a plane. It's Superknight! Yes Superknight who disguise as mild mannered scribe Clarious Kentar. Lives is Meteopal. And when danger threatens dons his magic platemail gauntlets of giant strength flying cloak and gem of fire beam to fight the never ending battle for truth justice and the goodlandia way.
Nice!
Need a video on hex space
Yes!
Night Owl Workshop cannot be recommended enough if you want to play in these genres
I’ve got a few of their games. I especially like warriors of the red planet
@@BanditsKeep I've got them all, they're outstanding
Why isn't the Patreon link working?
Not sure 🤔 I shall check
GangBusters comes to at the beginning of the video
Oh man, we loved that as kids, sadly I no longer have it
@@BanditsKeep Gangbusters with B/X is out there I think still
B/X Star Wars please!
Yes!
WEG west end games d6 system Star Wars, which had two editions before WotC took over.
Now you just have D6 generic space fantasy book, which is still the Star Wars system or WEG 3e.
WotC D&D/Star Wars d20 3e system which come out with the prequal movie Phantom Menace.
Follow with Attack of the Clones Revise edition. aka as WotC 3.5e
Then 4e Saga Edition, which I didn't care so much for.
Follow with whatever they have out now.
In short my two gaming shop groups from 1998 to 2008 mix match WEG with AD&D with WotC 3e with a dash of Whitewolf/World of Darkness(WoD) vampire, werewolf, mage.
We used Star Wars health and crit system of Wound points/constitution score and vitality/temporary Hp with short 15minute rest and prolong rests.
Dodge gun fire and getting a glancing hit to your armor/low ribs is temporary Hp and can be recover after a short rest.
Bruised ribs, clean flesh wound are temporary constitution dmg. Sleep it off.
Broken bones and treating burns and bleeding is wound point constitution dmg. " or stander b.s D&D hp. " Which requires magic healing or a week or two of bed rest.
Doing a quick run dodging behind a door frame, ban your knee against the wall as you run down a staircase for safety is burning temporary hp. Failed dexterity rolls result in temporary constitution dmg for twisted ankle running for your life. Anyone the played high school football knows you can only put so much stress on your joints before you have a sport injury resulting in nerve or joint dmg. God help you getting a broken bone from your shin hitting the grass at the wrong angle. Now you have concrete or a steel deck plate ?
Film noir detectives are a lot flimsier than D&D characters. Mickey Spillane characters don't have 30 hp and can get stabbed several times a day. Level caps is a way there. The world is level 0, a level 3 dude or even a level 1 is a formidable thing. Or characters could get less hp per level, a fighter gets +3 hp while a film noir wizard gets +1, Game of Thrones d20 gave you that sort of hp. A strong fighter in that game can probably take a blow or two but no more.
Reskinning a demihuman class as a human is easy, by removing or replacing some non-human trait or ability they got. Then you can have "dwarfs" without the darkvision.
Investigative games start to revolve more about characters, events and hints. Chaosium got good at this sort of game, the best adventures often have several paths to the conclusion so the PCs are not stuck if they miss one thing or two.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a BX character with 30HP! True Call of Cthulhu does a decent job for investigation.
Cleric in space is warhammer 40k
I didn’t realize that way the theme of 40k
clerics are just doctors.. duh
Healing is a tiny bit of what an OSR cleric does
Curious about anything in life you say? Why are pandas so useless?
They are not “Giant pandas help to keep their mountain forests healthy by spreading seeds in their droppings, which helps vegetation to thrive. The Giant panda's forested habitat is also important for local people - for food, income and fuel for cooking and heating.”