Foreword, Preface, Introduction

Here are a some words that sometimes get confused by folks in the hobby publishing industry. Using the correct term will contribute a professional appearance to your work. These aren't my words but I am unable to provide a cite, apparently I accidentally deleted it from the text at some point.

A foreword, if we follow the generally accepted definition in publishing, is an introduction to a book by someone other than the author. It comes right after the Table of Contents, and the pages are numbered with lower-case Roman numerals, e.g., i, ii, iii, etc., rather than the Arabic numerals used for the text of the book.

Ideally, it's written by an expert on the subject of the book who says that the author did a good job writing about the subject. The foreword generally speaks well of the author.

A foreword, as the spelling indicates, is a word that comes before. It's not a forward, which is a direction, or a foreward, which is a misspelling.

A preface is usually written by the author of a book and often gives an overview of how the book came to be written, its intended purpose, and to what extent it covers the topic. It may come before or after the foreword, but it usually comes after and follows the same page numbering system. The preface may also include acknowledgements.

An introduction is also written by the author (or, sometimes, the editor). It's an essay that sets up the full topic of a book. It states what the author's point of view is and may indicate what the reader's point of view should be. After reading the introduction to find out what's in the book, the reader can decide whether or not to read it. Since it's part of the text, the pages are numbered with the same numbering system as the text.

Spam-A-Lot!

As happens from time to time, a Blogger 'blog I follow has been borgified into posting a bunch of spam. Just a quick notice:

Everything I post on Blogger is my own work. I may endorse other products or repost the work of others over on G+ from time to time but not here. If you read something on Beer, Pretzels, and 20-Sided Dice obviously spamming the 'net? Feel free to notify me, because I assure you I will never willingly do that. I will also take steps to avoid having it done for me as best I can. With the proviso, of course, one cannot always control things when a service is being provided for free.

KH-1 Something Rotten in Riverton Update

My beginner level module compatible with OD&D (and most pre-1983 versions of D&D) is getting an update with a second level soon. My thanks to Paratime Design for the excellent work on the map. If you're in need of custom maps of any type, I highly recommend his service. Paratime Design also has some maps available, including some really nice village and town maps, through DriveThruRPG.

Something Rotten In Riverton is a beginner level module designed for 4-12 players of 1st level. The update will include a second level along with some helpful advice for beginning level referees. As with the the original version, the PDF will be free and the module will be available at cost + shipping from Lulu's print-on-demand service. This link currently leads to the original, one level version.

The Prime House Rules for OD&D

So given the rules needed some filling in here and there, what were the ones I used at the table. These, for the uninitiated, are usually referred to house rules and include everything from simple rules clarifications to entirely new rules. There are a few things I always wanted to emphasize to players in my campaigns. There are pretty general but fundamental to the way I referee.

The referee knows things you don't! In other words, something may not seem to make sense (even within the given context of a fantasy milieu) but you have limited knowledge of what is going on. You're free to question an apparent error or oversight, of course, but be accepting if the referee tells you it is not actually a problem.

If you can conceive it, your character can try it. The campaign rules establish a matrix, within that framework you can try anything you deem necessary. All else being equal, for instance, a fighter cannot cast a magic spell; this is not something within the matrix. He could, however, attempt to pole vault a bottomless crevasse even though such an action is not covered in the rules.

Actions have consequences! You have freedom to act as you will but the campaign models a living, breathing world and there will be expectations of behavior your player-character is subject to. Sure, you can bully the shopkeeper and take what you want from him if you deem that a good idea. Just remember the town guard. And ... oh, yes ... isn't there a fighter and wizard of some renown staying at local inne who just might help bring someone getting too big for their britches to heel?

What would you do? Forget about what the rules do or do not say. If you were confronted with a tough problem within the game, how would you go about solving it. Forget about whether your player-character is a fighter or magic-user, how would a person confronted with this problem go about solving it with the materials and information at hand? Improvise, adapt, and overcome!

This is a game of exploration, not combat. You'll level up more quickly and lose fewer characters if you explore and obtain treasure while avoiding combat. Combat uses up valuable resources and grants a poor return in the form of experience points. If you can swipe the treasure from under the goblin king's nose? You'll score plenty of experience and not spend weeks recovering from your wounds.

Always a chance. Last of all? There are no sure successes or absolute failures in my game. The chances in either case may be small, but there is almost always a chance.

The Scout Class

I use a variant Thief class in my campaign called the Scout. The Scout is the Greyhawk Thief with the serial numbers filed off. They can be Lawful, use a light shield called a buckler (+1 vs 1 opponent only, ineffective against missile fire) and missile weapons. They progress in steps of 4 levels in combat, and roll saves as magic-users.

So, why not just use the Thief? Thieves, by both name and alignment, have an implied mandate to steal from other player-characters. In addition, I do not allow Chaotic or Evil player-characters IMC. This is for a variety of reasons, chief among which is I just don't find refereeing evil characters a fun way to spend my time.

I've imagined the Scout class (complete with level specific names) to be agents of good trained in arts generally not known among members of polite society. My inspiration was a variety of characters who skirt the bounds of good and evil in an attempt to protect others: James Bond 007, Batman, Robin Hood. These types look into the abyss every day and struggle to keep the abyss from looking into them.

At any rate, there has been some discussion around 'web lately regarding thief skills. It is said they're next to useless at lower levels and I find myself in agreement with this opinion. Historically I've merely boosted the chance for success but I've been rather unhappy with the results. One variant I've recently envisioned is using the basic mechanic inspired by the "climb walls" skill.

Greyhawk lists the chance of slipping while climbing sheer surfaces to be 13% or, to turn that on its head, and 87% chance of success. The probability of rolling 2-6 on d6 is ... 87%! I've thought this could be applied to all the Thief/Scout skills through 4th level. Upon gaining 5th level, success would be a result of 2-10 on d10 (90%), changing at 9th level to 2-12 on d12 (92%). No matter the die used, the result of "1" would always be a failure.

The only mechanic I'm dithering over changing to this degree would be lock picking.

What do you think? As a referee I don't think being able to reliably sneak and hide is going to create a class of uber-ninjas but I'm interested in what others think about this.

Unarmed Combat System for OD&D

UNARMED COMBAT

Players may, at times, either wish to or be forced to engage in combat without the benefit of weapons. Unarmed combat comes in three different varieties: brawling, grappling, and overbearing.

Brawling: Deals a point of damage per successful attack, with fighter-types adding +1 for Strength bonus if applicable [IMC fighter-types get +1 to hand-to-hand damage if STR is 15 or greater]. If the “to hit” score is ≥ 4 higher than to target number, or if a natural 20 is rolled in any case, the victim must save versus spells or be dazed for the remainder of the round and all the following round.

Grappling: May be attempted on a target by up to 6 like-sized opponents. The attackers all roll “to hit” as per normal combat. The hit dice of all attackers who successfully hit the target is totaled and as a group the attackers roll that number of six-sided dice. The target then rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to his own hit dice. If the attackers rolled the higher number, the target is pinned and helpless. If the target rolled the higher number he has thrown off his attackers, who spend the next round recovering. If the die rolls are a tie, the two factions spend the round struggling with neither side gaining the upper hand, another set of grappling rolls are made next round.

Overbear: Simply a charge ending with a grappling attempt. Success indicates the target is knocked prone and must save versus spells to avoid being pinned. If the target makes his save he scrambles to his feet next round, ready for action.

Dazed: A dazed character can only move half-speed (unless aided by an ally), cannot attack, cast spells, or do anything else requiring concentration. A penalty of -2 applies to armor class and, if alone, to his initiative roll as well. A dazed character struck in unarmed combat must roll his Constitution or under on a 20-sided die or be knocked out.

Initiative: This is diced as normal between unarmed combatants. When facing an armed opponent, including one wielding an improvised weapon, the unarmed fighter subtracts -2 from his initiative roll. 

Pinned: These characters may be shackled, bound, or knocked-out at the victor's whim.

Improvised Weapons: Inflict 1-4 points of damage and include: bottles, table legs, sticks, chairs, pitchers; basically anything useable as a weapon in a pinch.

Instant Capture: Successful grappling attacks by four similarly sized opponents in the same round results in an automatic overbear and pin. [I got this rule directly from Gary's house rules and I really liked the way it played.]

Knocked Out: These may be dispatched in a single round by an armed opponent.

Son Of "What Wasn't In The Box?" ... The Sequel!

Original Edition Dungeons & Dragons was a compact game with an open matrix, making it easy to add modules of rules into the system without breaking game play. This calls to mind the old saw about "that isn't a bug, it's a feature!" What are sometimes seen as errors of omission were often intentional, the base assumption being the referee would of course write his own sets of rules add-ons to fill in the blanks.

Pantheons: specific deities were absent from OD&D. There were ambiguous references to "help from 'above'" and "the 'faithful'" in the description of the Cleric. Furthermore, references were made to the Cleric serving either Law or Chaos with no further information given. The Magic-User spell Contact Higher Plane makes references to creatures inhabiting "higher planes of existence" without directly referencing deities. Similarly, the Cleric spell Commune talks about powers "above." None of the following words, including their plural forms, appear anywhere in the 3 booklets of OD&D: god, higher power, deity, or divine. Similarly, no infernal creatures (demons or devils) appear in the rules. On a side note: the Balrog appeared in the early edition of the rules but expunged after a threatened lawsuit from the Tolkien estate. This monster would reappear in a later rules supplement as a Type VI Demon. Curiously, the name "Balrog" is directly referenced in that work, too.

Coins: the rules list copper, silver, and gold coins. Electrum (a gold and silver alloy) and platinum coins are listed as "optional" and electrum is suggested be either half or twice the value of gold pieces. In the equipment lists, however, everything is priced in terms of gold coins.

Armor: you had the choice of leather, chain, or plate. Field plate or full plate, what most non-gamers envision when you say the word "armor" doesn't exist in the D&D milieu. Leather armor is never explained and the likely assumption war gamers would understand this to be cuir bolloi, leather shaped then boiled in oil or tallow. There was no jack, scale, banded, ring mail, or any other historical types appearing in later editions. The rules contained no references to zero or negative Armor Class, the toughest monster listed was AC 2. Magic armor subtracted its bonus from the "to hit" roll of the attacker, meaning the target number to hit either mundane or magical armor would remain the same. The rules also state that either the magical bonus of the armor or the shield apply, 2/3 or 1/3 of the time respectively, but not both.

Unarmed Combat: no rules for wrestling, brawling, or the various unarmed fighting arts such as karate or tae kwon do. A curious omission, though I feel the combat system lends itself well to running unarmed combat and brawling. It's worked well for me, anyway.

Critical Hits & Misses: to the best of my admittedly faulty recall? With one exception, the first official critical hit rule appeared in the 1st Edition AD&D Unearthed Arcana supplemental rulebook. The exception appears in Book III: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures in the section dealing with aerial combat. This system uses hit locations for flying mounts, making the presence of a critical hit logical. Taking out the wing or head of an airborne creature would, after all, cause a rather precipitous return to earth!  In my experience, which was rather limited with regard to games outside of [small town in Texas], critical hits were not popular at all though that certainly doesn't seem to be the case any longer. For myself, I don't care for them.

Variable Weapon Damage, Weapon Versus Armor Class Adjustments,  Weapon Speed Factors: presumably it was felt Chainmail addressed these issues for gamers wanting these factors coming into play when conducting combat. If true, that line of reasoning was short lived, ending when Supplement I: Greyhawk was released.

Segments: as in Turns/Rounds/Segments. By implication a combat round was a minute long and not divided into smaller units.