20 Questions answered

Oh, I'm always willing to go along with a crowd ;).  At any rate, I figured I fall in line with the latest OSR meme 20 Questions.  Here's my answers:

1.  Ability Score Generation Method?  4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired.  Not Old School, but who cares, I want the players to play the characters that they want (within the limits of the campaign) and not fuss over having to play a fighter with 9 str and 9 con. 
2.  How are death and dying handled?  0 is unconscious and anything below that is dead
3.  What about raising the dead?  Incredibly rare.  The current group is still a bunch of first level newbs so it hasn’t come up…yet.
4.  How are replacement PCs handled?  Again, hasn’t come up yet, but it probably would be a matter of the party returning to town and an new character joining at that point (or I’m open to some logical in game explanation such as meeting the new player on the road, in the wilderness, etc).
5.  Initiative?  Individual.  Again, we are just starting out so I’m open to group initiative if individual initiative becomes too unwieldy.
6.  Are there critical hits and fumbles?  Yeah, critical hits (natural 20) do double damage (and possibly can result in the loss of limb).  Fumbles on a natural 1 result in something like slipping, dropped weapon, etc. 
7.  Do I get benefits for wearing a helmet?  Yes, it can protect against a critical hit to the head.
8.  Can I hurt a friend if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?  Oh yes, yes you can.  Just ask Elenora the backshooting elven fighter about that.
9.  Will we need to run from some encounters or will we be able to kill everything?  Yes, running is a wise decision sometimes…
10.  Level Draining monsters yes or no?  Yes.  Not encountered any yet, but yes.
11.  Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?  Yup.  Stuff happens…
12.  How strictly are encumbrance and resources tracked?  They do have a bearing on the game in that if it is relevant to what is going on, then they are tracked (i.e. torches, rations, etc).  However, I’m pretty fast and loose with this as I don’t want it to become a resource management game over and above a role playing game.  Having said that, if there is a large treasure hoard or some other thing that would not be feasible for the party to manage with their current resources, then they are gaoing to have some decisions to make.
13.  What’s required for my PC to gain a level?  Training?  Do I get new spells automatically?  Can it happen during the middle of an adventure or do I have to wait for downtime?  Training is required.  No, new spells must be researched.  No, have to seek out the appropriate training.
14.  What do I get experience for?  Combat, finding innovative ways to deal with things, role playing, etc.  So far, the players are just starting to see that my game style is much more than hack and slash.  So for our early sessions, they have only been rewarded for the combat experience.  But now that they are doing things like trying to parley, figuring out innovative solutions to problems and the like, they will start to accumulate more XP.  I’ll reward good ideas and even to some bad ones if they show that the players are doing more than rolling dice to hit a target number.
15.  How are traps located?  Description, dice rolling or some combination?  A combination.  The players are now starting to actively do things like search for traps.  A simple pit trap will be easily discovered.  There are things that are a little more tricky and will require some die rolling.
16.  Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?  Yes, hirelings are important since the group consists of three players (soon to be four).  As long as the party does not try and take obvious advantage, then morale is fairly loosely tracked.  Recently the party requested that one of the hired men at arms open a door where it was pretty obvious there were monsters on the other side.  The hireling did so but immediately flattened himself against a wall and the PC behind him took a crossbow bolt in the shoulder. 
17.  How do I identify magic items?  So far, the party hasn’t come across any magic.  I intend for it to be fairly uncommon but make a significant impact.  Magic items will be fairly distinguishable and lore masters will be able to identify items (for a fee).  Otherwise, the party can try to figure it out on their own…
18.  Can I buy magic items?  Oh, come on:  How about just potions?  No.  Again, magic is not universal and it will be rewarding to possess it.  Potions?  Well, yeah, some low level stuff and perhaps some low level scrolls. 
19.  Can I create magic items?  When and how?  Yes, that will come into play at some point.  I’m working on a system for that so more on this one later… (I’m thinking it will appear as an article in Delve! Zine at some point).
20.  What about splitting the party?  Sure, if they think they can handle it ;)!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Neurodiversity and Dragons - the adventure begins!

Let the Good times roll - a bit of a ramble and Basalt Keep update