Oblivium conversion part 3

Right next up is the hollows the half undead, half construct and half fiend, this race seems to lean towards the magical so im thinking largely mirror the elf for classes levels, they get dark vision and a bunch of skill proficiencies in intelligence based skills, which is a bit tricky as unlike more dex or str based skills they don't have a direct analogue in s&w, it still gives an idea of what sort of race this is though.

They are also detected by detect good/evil due to their fiendish nature, i think this can be kept as is though i think detect evil in s&w is more along the lines of detect curse of intent.

The toper is interesting, it stating that instead of sleep they enter a toper for 4 hours but unlike an elf in 5e you can still be put to sleep by magic, this could probably be kept as is, idk if it would have much mechanical influence given rules as written rests are days in length rather than in 5e where they are 8 hours.

The last ability they have is a profane legacy which determines which of their origins is most dominant, this infers resistances and some in built magic, in s&w most resistances could be changed to a +4 to save vs that dmg or effect as with the dwarfs poison resistance for instance, in built magic is also possible in the design but not all the spells (especially the cantrips) would directly translate so im going to change the cantrips to once a day level one spells and find the closest fit in S&W spell lists 

Cabalus: flesh golem is the most dominant origin, resistance to lightning and poison (+4 vs lighting and poison) mending cantrip, at 3rd level once a day cast of create food and water, at 5th level once a day cast of alter self

Infurnus: the fiendish is the most dominant origin, resistance to fire and poison (+4 vs lighting and poison) the thaumaturgy cantrip 3rd level a once a day cast of hellish rebuke (and at 5th level a once a day cast of darkness

And lastly Necru: the undead is the most dominant origin, you have resistance to necromantic and poison dmg (+4 vs poison and um necromantic isn't that well defined in s&w magic so ill have to find something else for this...) They also get the chill touch cantrip, 

At 3rd level a once a day cast of false life, and at 5th level a once a day cast of ray of enfeeblement, 

So for classes hollows can have unlimited levels in thief, up to 8th level in magic user (9th with 18 int) up to 4th level fighter (5th with 18 str) and can multi class as fighter magic user, thief magic user or thief fighter magic user, 

They gain a +4 to saves vs poison and a +4 to saves vs either fire, lightning or death( so save or death effects etc)

They are detected by the detect evil spell as a being of evil magic regardless of what alignment they are.

Ill leave it there for now as im unsure how exactly to translate over the inbuilt spells many of them don't have direct tie in's in s&w and with the ability to be a magic user thief/fighter such ideas may be redundant either way ill talk to Obliviums creator about it.

Oblivium conversion part 2

Right next up on the conversion is the chaedran the insect rearing weasel men, in terms of classes im thinking thief fighter and magic user as options, given their proficiency for animal rearing and training druid may also be an appropriate option, this race also haz dark vision which is nice. They are Usually neutral alignment.

They get quite a few proficiencies in thief skills stealth perception and slight of hand which could be translated over quite easily, the fact they also get an ability giving advantage on smell is also interesting and clearly something important for the race. And lastly they have a bite attack and a squirm ability to get through small openings easier.

So they can go unlimited levels in thief, up to level 6 fighter, up to level 8th magic user and up to level 8 druid, they can multi class, as fighter thief, thief magic user, thief druid or magic user druid 

Thief skills first then, lets give them a +15 delicate tasks and traps, a +10 to hide in shadows, a +15 to move silently,

In terms of the smell ability, the closest thing in S&W is the rangers tracking ability, giving access to a few levels of ranger might be a good option for this, however certain restrictions might confuse things. So lets give it a 2 in 6 chance of detecting the scent if a recently nearby creature 1 in 6 automatically? 

So i think this is pretty passable for a first go, i got some feed back from Obliviums creator where he said he was planning a s&w playtest he said that the area he was planning on running focused on the apelings, reptilians, koraara and hollows, so having already done the apelings i will shift to doing these other 3 next.

Oblivium Conversion: Part 1

So Starting at the beginning, Swords and wizardry has some clear differences in pc race option design especially how they are balanced, S&W primarily balances through level caps for race, though pretty much everything can level unlimited in thief (and as a wise old man told me, that means you always want to duel class into thief), as well as non human races getting bonuses to some thief skills, so since this is something show in pretty much every race provided in S&W already its something i will keep across most of the races.

So starting with Apelings, mostly Chaotic or Neutral in the 5e version of Oblivium they have a climbing speed (possible bonus to thief skills) advantage on perception and athletic checks (again a thief skill bonus maby a reduction of surprise or a find secret door ability?) And a bite attack for d4 + str (could probably be kept as is) powerful build doesn't really have a equivalency in s&w and the encumbrance system is somewhat different so i feel its unnecessary to convert such features.

So for the class options I'd say an apeling can go up to 6th level fighter, 8th levels assassin and unlimited thief and can multi class fighter/thief or fighter/assassin.

They receive bonuses to their thief skills of:

+10% climb walls (bringing them up to 95% at first level!!!), +10% to delicate tasks and traps, a +5% to move silently, hide in shadows and open locks

The bite attack can be kept, 1d4 + str mod if fighter,

S&W race blocks tend to be quite simple in terms of actual mechanics so i think this should do for a first run. I may go back and change this once I've done a few more of the races and got used to the process a bit.

Helping a Friend convert a setting.

So Ive recently agreed to help a friend convert their 3rd party Gonzo 5e D&D setting to Swords and Wizardry, which might be a bit of an undertaking given the 11 playable race options (mutants are my favourite i briefly played a mutant that dissolved in water during a one-shot, we started in a swamp...) dozens of monster stat blocks (probably not too hard but might be time consuming) and a bunch of weird magic items, but I have a fair amount of free time at the moment that's unsuited to running or playing games.

Oblivium as i said earlier is a Gonzo science fantasy setting set on a chaotic demi plane with a multitude of weird factions, currently available for 5e D&D from drive thru rpg: Oblivium - Avenesse | DriveThruRPG.com, it recently got a rather favourable review from possibly one of the most critical reviewers in the OSR [Review] Oblivium (5e); Sons of Satanis – Age of Dusk (wordpress.com). So this setting has quite a bit to offer and i can attest from personal experience its a lot of fun to explore.

First thing to work through will of course be character race options which work somewhat differently in S&W than 5e D&D for an idea of what's on offer the race list is as follows.

1. Apeling; self explanatory
2. Chaedran; humanoid weasels that giant insects as cattle and work animals
3. Chimera; mix between several humanoid races
4. Fallen ember; living humanoid leftovers of dead gods 
5. hollow; artificial people without souls
6. Ilmite; red skinned hairy humans that lay eggs? 
7. KoraaRa; catlike humanoids that are all heavily androgynous and skilled sailors
8. Middenian; Europeans from the Victorian age
9. Mutoid; mutants that live in a big desert self explanatory main trait is their mutations 
10. Reptilians; pretty typical pulp reptilians lots of Howard and Lovecraft inspiration here
11. Vethari; plant people with wooden bones

Im properly going to break up this list and do one or two races per post to keep things fairly slow but steady, after the races equipment will be the next thing since several of the races have access to different equipment than your standard fantasy hero, then on to the monsters and magic items that will take a fair amount of time but shouldn't be too heavy on mechanics (usually to convert 5e to OSR you simply make a monster 1 HD per CR with some fiddling per special abilitys, S&W is particularly good with explaining its power level system)

Expect future posts soon (Hopefully) 

Player behaviour: path of least resistance

Been kicking myself to post something but have generally been on a bit of a hiatus so i don't have much to write about, thought it might be worth discussing something thats quite easy to observe and talk about how it relates to adventure/dungeon design.

Simply place a normal 10ft wide corridor in front of your players next to a 5ft wide crawlspace and see which one they go for, its pretty likely that they will go for the normal 10ft wide corridor, awhile ago i had a similar situation in a dungeon i ran, part of it was accessible either through crawling through giant rat tunnels or via a locked and trapped door, unsurprisingly the players didn't choose this option and explored other areas of the dungeon even going to the second floor of the dungeon, there are obvious disadvantages to picking the harder path and no obvious benefit most players want to win after all.

This somewhat relates to a conversation i had with another DM about the dungeon design where he said that he often makes use of such path options and usually has easier encounters on the harder(in the sense of navigation) and harder encounters on the more normal path, this gives a very important risk vs reward situation, i can say that in the dungeon example i mentioned above nothing in that unexplored area was particularly difficult nor lacking in treasure.

I think if players had some hint that the harder path was just as or more profitable than the easy one it would change the way they consider such obstacles and may encourage more daring feats, an idea I've had linked to another dungeon I've been spit balling is a heavy gold idol at the bottom of a deep pit filled with water, the idol will sparkle in the torch light and have no hazards apart from its weight and the water, though not something the players might retrieve on a first delve it could encourage future delves of the same site with a clear payoff and maby even lead to additional submerged areas nearby to explore, 

This has largely been rambling but i don't want to fall too far behind on blog posting as its just going to get harder to get back into the longer i wait, i hope theres something you've found useful in this post and I'll try to write again soon 

MC

Trying my hand at some OSR Spells.

Within many old D&D and OSR rules sets there are rules implying that magic users have the ability to create new spells. To be honest in my short time in the OSR I have not yet seen this be used or even discussed much. I think it is a interesting rule that I would like to see more players take advantage of as it has the ability to allow for great levels of experimentation. It also gives magic users a unique advantage over clerics in the way they can create tools to deal with their current circumstances.

Create Effigy: Level 2, duration 1 week per caster level, cast time 1 turn, taking the hair, nails or blood of another creature, this effigy is linked to their life force until the spell ends or the effigy is destroyed, if the effigy is repaired using silver thread (worth 20gp per use) heals the target by d4+1 hit points, and inflicting damage on the Effigy transfers d6+1 damage to the target. Burning the Effigy destroys it and deals d6 damage each round for d6+1 rounds to the target. having the Effigy on your person while being targeted by a breath attack also deals damage to the target (meaning that if you have an effigy of yourself all breath weapon attacks deal double damage).

Conceal Stash: Level 1, duration 1 month per caster level, cast time 1 turn, this spell magically hides some kind of container, this prevents it being found through mundane means though is easily detected with detect magic.

Grow Bow: Level 1, duration instantaneous, cast time 1 turn, the caster touches a nearby tree that immediately sprouts a longbow/short bow and 12 arrows or 24 arrows if the caster chooses not to grow a bow.

Blood Rage: Level 2, duration d6 + (caster level over 3) rounds, cause a single creature to go into a mindless battle rage, the creature gains +2 to attack, damage and Ac, but must attack the closest creature each round until the spell ends, unwilling creatures make a saving throw.

Let me know what you think of these spells and if any are particularly unbalanced.

M.C.

The Wizards Cave: A mini setting/Planer travel

Travel between one setting to another has been a longstanding trope of D&D and much of the literature that inspired it. Throughout the editions of D&D there have been many methods, from portals or gateways to magical sailing ships. However it seems that many people associate Planer travel with high level play or expressly high magic settings, after reading through some Swords and Sorcery stories on the Appendix N list I have come see this as untrue. In fact I would argue that Planer travel is a style of play that can offer a large amount of variety both for players and DM's.

But how would low level PC's travel from one world to another? they don't have access yet to casting higher level magics that allow for such travel, this limits them largely to natural gateways or those made by higher level casters. The Wizards Caves are one such creation, inspired by the cave of Ningauble of the seven eyes from the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series, it is a labyrinthine cave system that can be accessed and provide access to multiple worlds throughout the multiverse. This provides an excuse for players to change settings from adventure to adventure or stay in one for awhile if they are invested, the Wizard himself may act as a patron of the party sending them to strange and outlandish worlds to acquire certain artefacts or complete special tasks for him.

So that's the what out the way now we must more to the how. What sort of system could simulate travel through this cave system? well there could be a dungeon crawl if the caves contain dangers though this encourages mapping and layout of an area that may not be consistent, so we need somthing a bit more abstract. Though i think it shouldn't entirely be random some manor of semi random generation may be necessary for such a level of abstraction, repurposing some of the overland travel rules such as chance to get lost or navigation may be a solid idea, the chance being lower or non existent on common pathways through the wizards domain much in the same way a road would work in overland travel.

So lets say they have a 30% chance to get lost as a base, this can be increased based on the players actions such as choosing an unlit and path +10%(+20% if they themselves don't have a light source), choosing a more natural looking cavern +30% etc. upon getting lost roll on a table to determine what sort of room they encounter:

Here is an example table with some ideas. d6

1. the players find themselves in on a clear path again and the chance to get lost is reset to 30%,

2. servants quarters, filled with what ever imps, homunculi or masked henchmen the wizard employs.

3. the players enter one of the Cavens inner sanctum (cumulative 15% chance to encounter the Wizard, the 7th time is guaranteed to encounter him) the cavern is filled with cryptic scrolls, alchemical fungi, piles of rusted armour, torn banners or other esoteric miscellanea 

4. natural cavern filled with cave vermin like cave crickets or bats etc

5. dead end, return to last cross roads and reroll lost chance

6. A exit, possibly to another plane of existence, has a 10% chance for it to be the exit originally searched for by the players (if any)

This obviously needs more work and mechanical design, but i think functions as a basic concept.

let me know what you think, I will try to revisit this at some point with another post to expand this idea more but this post has been sat on my desk for about a week and I need to post somthing to get back in the habit so sorry if this isn't enough for you.