The following are working notes on hacking first edition Stormbringer to fit more comfortably with certain classic D&D core concepts--and the second Domain Game incubator-campaign coming down the pike in the next couple weeks (update on that later today).
Big shiny red, skull-boned sticker qualifier first: this is an intellectual exercise and one possible verdict by the end of the weekend might very well be that it's plain easier to stick with straight classic D&D. Good old, reliable Blue Party.
But in the meantime I do love me a kit-bashing challenge, so off we go.
Goals
I want to model the hardwired upward cycle of old school D&D: exploration leads to booty which leads to personal power growth--and back again.
Secondly, I want to model Domain Game and campaign specific goals of exploration, expansion, and social advancement. And I want a system that models all this to be easily quantifiable with points and leveled progression.
Sound familiar?
Experience Point Awards
One experience point is earned for each adventure-acquired Large Bronze piece (roughly 1/20 of a D&D gold piece) spent in any off-season activity.
Ten experience points are earned per mile of wilderness actively explored or per hour of an adventure site. Award can be modified by the degree of adversity faced (half for little, double for highly dangerous).
One hundred experience points are earned for each square mile of newly-cleared or conquered land acquired. One hundred experience points are also earned for each opponent level beaten in combat (more on that also later).
Adventurer Level Progression
Level | Exp. | Extra HP | Improvement Checks | POW Checks |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2 | 10000 | +1 | 5 | 1 |
3 | 20000 | +1 | 5 | 1 |
4 | 40000 | +1 | 5 | 2 |
5 | 80000 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
6 | 160000 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
7 | 320000 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
8 | 640000 | +1 | 6 | 2 |
9 | 1200000 | +1 | 6 | 3 |
10 | 3600000 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
11 | 4800000 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
12 | 6000000 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
13 | 7200000 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
14 | 8400000 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
My mind is stilling racing with a number of open questions. Do the numbers balance overall; is progress to slow or too quick? Do the awards build the right mechanical incentives? Does that even matter?
If I continue with this route, follow-up posts will tackle how this system will fit with the off-season activities of Hill Cantons: Borderlands Chapter 6 and the social advancement rules of Chapter 8.
Off-season activities will provide players an outlet for : 1. spending treasure (and thus gaining experience as above); 2. gaining income or other game advantage (knowledge, political power, children, etc.); and 3. gaining extra improvement checks between levels.
I even more regret dumping my webcam. And selling my copy of Stormbringer.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the number for Improvement Checks represent? The number of skills that the character can try to improve in?
ReplyDelete@Fabian
ReplyDeleteAs well you should. Ha. In the meantime we'll keep your seat warm.
@Greg
Yes that's exactly it. Players get that number of rolls when they level up and can apply them where they choose.
(For others, in the rules you have to roll under your skill level modified by Intelligence to improve it.)
Keep in mind that this necessitates tracking adventure-earned treasure and other-ways-earned treasure separately. You'll want to mark this clearly on a character sheet.
ReplyDeleteI think deviating too far from the monsters + treasure model is interesting but dangerous. Planting XP "hoards" in interesting or dangerous locations, in lieu of treasure, might be one way to have a more segmented, manageable and hard-to-game-out system.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth Stormbringer definitely stands mechanically among my top ten RPGs of all time. It's a smart, no-nonsense hack of BRP with a ton of Young Kingdoms flavor.
@trollsmyth
ReplyDeleteA good point, I don't think it should pose too difficult of a problem as we will be using the subsystems (and simple worksheets) for extra-curricular income from Borderlands.
It should be fairly obvious were the cash is coming from. (Should being the operative weasel words I use for these kinds of experiments.)
@Roger
I tend to agree with you when it comes to straight Classic D&D. The triangle not only hangs well together as written, but is pretty integral to the structure of play.
Which is why I avoided any temptation to tamper with the exp. systems as written in Borderlands and Domain Game I.
I wanted to experiment though a bit more with the edges around the traditional system, especially by trying to hang it around a few campaign and domain-play specific carrots. Maybe it's wrongheaded, too directive?
Planting XP "hoards" in interesting or dangerous locations, in lieu of treasure, might be one way to have a more segmented, manageable and hard-to-game-out system.
This sounds intriguing. Do you mean something like finding unique or significant geographic locales (Jeff Rients was playing around with this concept on his blog a while back)? You get 500 exp. for finding the Lost Mines of Yako-Yako or 250 for crossing the Whispering Wastes and the like?
Or something else?