Tag: homebrew

Perhaps the biggest struggle I’ve had with the #Dungeon23 challenge thus far has been simply deciding on what system I want to use for the game.  It shouldn’t be that difficult, but for whatever reason I’ve struggled to commit to a particular system to use as a base for building up the adventure.  Moving into the fourth month of this project and so far I’ve got a very generalized description of monsters and loot throughout the levels I’ve done so far, leaving a lot of room for improvements later on.  Yet, I’m quickly realizing that I need to settle on something sooner rather than later if I want to scale these dungeon levels appropriately.

 

Multiple Systems

Of course, the ultimate goal would be to make this megadungeon project compatible with multiple systems, with encounters and loot geared toward each one.  That is certainly on the radar, but very much at the fringe of the screen at this point.  I would eventually like to have the dungeon and setting made for some type of d20 system as the primary game, the reason being that is where most of my TTRPG experience has been (I started off with the Fuzion Dragonball Z system back in the day, moved to AD&D 2nd Edition, and then in 2000, my group fully jumped board the D&D 3rd Edition / d20 System train and rode it off the rails until 5th Edition launched…then went back to Pathfinder 1e for several years more after we didn’t like 5E).  I’ve experimented with other systems throughout the years, but always seem to gravitate back to some form of the d20 System in the end.  It’s just how I’m wired, I guess.

 

The Post-Apocalyptic Feel

Whatever system I choose, it needs to have the proper post-apocalyptic feel to it.  I wouldn’t want to make this system out for something like Mutants & Masterminds, for example, though a post-apocalyptic superhero setting has appeal of its own.  I also wouldn’t necessarily want to spend time learning a new system, either, hence the draw for something d20-based.

The setting for the I-89 Megadungeon is intended to be something like the Fallout series (pre-Bethesda, anyway, not counting New Vegas), but instead of an Atomic Age feel, I’m going for more of an 80s post-apocalyptic feel, like what would have happened if it was the height of the 1980s, you’re living on a post-magic fantasy world, and then the entire thing comes to a screeching halt as somehow, magic is suddenly rediscovered and mixed with nuclear weapons that obliterate the known world.  So basically all those fun 80s post-apocalypse movies.

With that in mind, what systems have I used in the past that not only play well, but would allow the gritty feel of the setting without having the players running around like superheroes? (Looking at you, 5E, now GTFO, and let the door hit you on the way out!)  Let’s have a look, shall we?

D20 Modern

Always a great choice in the d20 system space, D20 Modern has a lot going for it.  It has its own apocalypse setting book for one, and for two, I’ve played or ran multiple games with the system.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time developing homebrew content using the game, too, as I was heavily involved in a Resident Evil game for it back when the Wizards of the Coast website had forums, and ones that didn’t entirely suck at that.  Heck, it even has its own Fallout game with the serial numbers filed off in the form of Exodus.

While a good choice, Modern has some problems.  Namely, it doesn’t feel quite modern anymore, given that it’s built off of the original 3rd edition / d20 system rules.  The system could definitely use some polish, at least to advance it up to 3.5/Pathfinder standards (skills, grappling rules, that kind of thing), and the existing content is rather dated (sidenote:  anyone else remember when the FN 5.7 pistol was the most OP handgun you could get?  Interestingly, the 5.7mm is having a bit of a resurgence now, but it was nowhere near as powerful as the game made it out to be…anyway, back on track…), but that doesn’t really matter in terms of an 80s style post-apocalyptic setting, does it?  I’m just thinking about building characters and monsters in the 3rd edition era and how long it took to do, usually due to skill point distribution, and I really don’t want to go back to those days.

Star Wars Saga Edition

I enjoyed the hell out of the Star Wars Saga Edition system, and still do for the most part.  At the time it came out, I thought it was an amazing game, and felt like a proper evolution of the original d20 System.  I liked how the classes were talent-based, and you could have a crew full of soldiers, and none of them would be the same.  The way they handled the Force, while somewhat flawed, was fun and seemed like a great basis for a magic system that could be further expanded upon.  Combat was usually pretty fast (until higher levels, but that is one flaw that you just can’t get away from with the d20 system) and enjoyable.  There was just so much going for it, and the fact that it was developed as a precursor to D&D 4th edition got me excited for where the system would go.

And then it was pretty much forgotten, as 4th edition went off in ways I didn’t care for (in fact, as far as I know, there were only one or two campaigns of 4E ran by my group, though I never played a single one; my first look at the core books had me going to Pathfinder, as did the rest of the crew).  There was an attempt to crowdfund an E20 universal system based off the game that was ultimately a failure, and that was pretty much the end of it.

I actually ran two Fallout campaigns using the Saga Edition rules, and it worked well.  It was still pretty gritty given the lack of Force powers for speeding up healing, the combats were fun, and it didn’t take me nearly as long to build up monsters and NPCs due to the way the skill system worked.  There are still issues certainly, but at its core, I think there are some great elements here.

Savage Worlds

I’ve also used Savage Worlds a few times, a couple games of Deadlands, and then a short-lived Fallout campaign.  I’m not nearly as experienced with Savage Worlds as I am with the d20 systems, but I did enjoy my time with it as a game master.  There was plenty of fan-made Fallout content available at the time that I modified for my own use, and adding in some elements from the Deadlands books made for a great Fallout game set around New Vegas and larger expanse of the western United States.  Savage Worlds biggest advantage is its speed, as it’s amazingly quick to build out NPCs and monsters, and gameplay can be deadly, just as it should be. 

While I’m not opposed to using Savage Worlds for this dungeon, the system just never felt quite crunchy enough for me, like I just couldn’t quite get as deep into building a character as I’d like in something like d20.  That’s just me having stayed in that wheelhouse for so long, and I’d likely feel differently if I just had more time with the game.

The Homebrew Hack

Last year, before the whole OGL thing broke loose in January, and before I was dealing with some medical issues that stopped me from working on the game for a while, I was in the midst of developing my own homebrew system and a campaign setting to go along with it, primarily for my sci-fantasy setting and my own replacement for Star Wars (thanks Disney, for ruining that for me, btw).  The post-apocalyptic 80s setting where this megadungeon is located was meant to be the test bed for the game, and I even went so far as to run a single session using the initial system.

What was this system?  Well, at its core was the Saga Edition rules with a few modifications, namely no Force powers or Jedi, and some modifications to the Skill Focus feat to help mitigate how unbalancing it could potentially be, making armor act as Damage Reduction instead of making you harder to hit, and with a sprinkle of Savage Worlds/Deadlands thrown in (specifically the fate pot and drawing cards for initiative).  I’d made a few notes about feedback from the players (specifically the need for improved ways to heal given the intensity of the combat, made more intense by the absolutely horrible dice rolls they suffered that night), but have yet to return to working on the game.

 

A New System?

Since I got fired up in January after the Great OGL Debacle of January 2023 (because let’s be honest, WotC hasn’t finished screwing up yet, and there’s a lot of time left for them to do worse things), I’ve been doing a lot more RPG-related projects, and the idea of developing my own custom system is still there beneath it all.  I still like the Saga Edition system gameplay, and elements of its design, and since you can’t copyright game mechanics, well, it’s ripe for plunder.

Since the start of the year, I’ve been researching other games, some in the OSR like Castles & Crusades, but have specifically been diving heavily into Pathfinder 2nd edition.  I’ve just recently started up an Abomination Vaults campaign and am getting ready to try it out from a player’s side in an Age of Ashes game.  There is a lot I like about PF2e already, but until I’ve spent more time with it, I can’t say for sure if we’ll be sticking with it. 

What I can say is that it has brought back thoughts of developing my own system and has given me some new inspirations.  PF2e has a lot of elements that remind me of the Saga Edition system, and apparently has a lot of 4th edition D&D in it as well, which I’m more open to these days.  I’m wondering how the Three-Action system of PF2e would work with Saga Edition (as it was basically this already, but with more restrictions, specifically having standard, move, and swift actions), and in my head, I’m not seeing a lot of negatives.  The skill system of Saga Edition is very much a precursor to the way PF2e does its skills.  I’m thinking various elements would mesh fairly well, so it may be something I explore more in depth soon.

That’s about all I’ve got to say on the matter right now, though.  I’d be curious to hear of any suggestions you may have for systems to look at that does the post-apocalyptic setting well, as well as any thoughts you might have on my idea for combining gameplay elements into a custom system. 

Feel free to reach out to me on that Twitter thing what I made! 

Till next time!

So, in the great cluster-fuck that is the modern world, who would have thought that there would have been the equivalent of a nuke dropped on the tabletop RPG industry and the community around it?  I mean, I’m not surprised that it came from Wizards of the Coasts/Hasbro, but I was shocked when it actually happened.

The Great OGL Disaster of 2023

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll give you the quick version.  There’s this thing called the OGL 1.0a, the Open Gaming License, which has existed since the early 2000s as a part of the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  This license has literally been used for over 20 years by a vast majority of TTRPG creators, allowing their works to be referenced by other creators and to use the game systems created by WotC and others basically by just putting a copy of the OGL into the back of your product.  This is why there were so many d20 System games back in the early 2000s building off of the D&D 3e rules, and why you’ve seen a similar explosion in popularity of D&D 5e the last few years (and why Paizo created Pathfinder, though that’s a story entirely its own).  Without the OGL, the massive community would never have grown to what it is today, and D&D and other TTRPGs would be nowhere near as popular as they are.

So, late in 2022, like right before Christmas, WotC/Hasbro decided that they weren’t happy with this.  They wanted ALL THE MONEY, instead of just raking in a large portion of it with their subpar books and merch (the books in particular have been sliding in quality for years, not that I ever really liked 5e from the get go, but I digress).  So, they sneakily tried to force a new OGL on several larger creators with rather draconian requirements (like reporting your earnings to WotC, and if you make over a certain amount, they take 25%, and have the right to use your stuff without recourse to prevent them from doing so).  They wanted to strangle the community by revoking the OGL 1.0a and replacing it with this new version, which would basically have given them total control over the RPG space.

Needless to say, most of those involved in the initial attempt didn’t sign on, and thankfully, the details got leaked (cause nobody could discuss it due to NDAs), and a fire was ignited across the TTRPG space.  Not only was Youtube lit up, but the original creators of the OGL, such as Ryan S. Dancey, had come out and expressly stated that the original intention of the OGL was that it was irrevocable and intended to be that way, even though, 20+ years ago, the specific language was neither included nor considered as needed.  That’s the detail WotC/Hasbro’s lawyers latched onto, using a more modern interpretation, even though the 20+ years of common use by the community says otherwise.

That’s about as specific as I’m going to get on the matter.  There are tons and tons of videos all across Youtube if you want more details about what happened; just check your favorite TTRPGer’s vids from January this year and you’re sure to see something about it.

The short of it is:  Wizards of the Coast done fucked up (again), and this time it was seen as a personal attack on the TTRPG space.

The Fallout

With that having been said, the reaction was swift and loud.  People who had been using D&D 5e for years, including some who perhaps had never even known or considered that there were other RPGs out there, were suddenly looking to the OSR (Old School Renaissance/Revival) systems, or looking to Pathfinder 2e or Starfinder or Castles and Crusades or Call of Cthulhu, or any number of other systems.  Paizo came out almost immediately and announced that they were working on a new open gaming license, the ORC, which is intended to become the new standard license to replace the OGL, and which they would pass over to a third party to hold, keeping it open-source (similar to how Linux operates).  Kobold Press announced their Black Flag project, which seems to be on track to be D&D 5.5 currently.  WotC saw thousands of D&D Beyond subscriptions canceled in a matter of days.

I could go on, but I’d be here forever.

Personally, it did spark a new creative interest within me.  I have been playing TTRPGs since the late 90s when I first came across them in high school, literally at least once a week (up to three or four times a week in the early days) for most of the last 20+ years.  Even though I’m more the type to buy a rulebook then homebrew my own stuff, time doesn’t really permit that like it used to, especially the last few years, so my group had leaned more into published adventures.  I tried running an old school D&D 2nd edition campaign using the 5e rules (as that’s what we were using at the time), but it petered out as my interest in using the system steadily declined from its already low level to absolute disgust with it, even before WotC dropped the OGL bomb.   We recently finished up the Savage Tide AP, which another GM in the group had converted to 5e, and in his place I’ve stepped up and started running a Pathfinder 2e game (the Abomination Vaults AP).  There is currently only one other 5e game I’m involved in (a conversion of Reign of Winter), though I’m not sure how much further that one is going to make it as it seems to be limping along at a snail’s pace, but that’s another story.

In addition to getting the Pathfinder 2e core book, before the Pathfinder stuff became scarce due to Paizo selling like 8 months of inventory in SIX WEEKS (if that’s not a major backlash against WotC/Hasbro, I don’t know what is), I picked up the Castles & Crusades starter bundle from Troll Lord Games, and probably a dozen other games and dozens of other supplements through various OSR and non OGL bundles that suddenly appeared online.

Even before this, last year, I had been working on making my own homebrew system, using the Star Wars Saga Edition system as a base (I always enjoyed this one, even though the D&D 4e that came out of it was so very different, to the point I never wanted to play it and went to Pathfinder 1e), mixing in other ideas from various other games I’d been researching.  While that has been put on hold for the time being, in lieu of testing how other systems work, specifically Pathfinder 2e and the old-school feeling Castles & Crusades, it remains on my roadmap, just further down the line.

What I’m Working On

I’ve been working on several things the last couple months.  The biggest was getting myself familiar with the Pathfinder 2e rules.  My early impression of the game is good; it seems to be much more along the lines of what I enjoy in games, such as a more tactical combat system (most 5e fights devolve quickly into “beat with sword until dead” territory) with very tight mechanics, where +1 bonuses and -1 penalties actually make differences; saw it multiple times in the first game I ran, in fact.  There are so many character options with PF2e that you’d find it nearly impossible for two characters of the same class to be identical.  I’m starting off with the Abomination Vaults adventure path, and incorporating the Beginner Box adventure (which is where we’ve started) and the Troubles in Otari adventure book, since they’re all in the same area.  Though the AP is only 10 levels, this should provide several months of gameplay (since we alternate our weekly games) and give us all an honest test of the system.  I’ll be adding my own custom content and changes to the AP as we go and I get more familiar with the intricacies of PF2e.  If we enjoy how things go well enough, it’ll transition to the higher level Fists of the Ruby Phoenix AP later.

I have two secondary projects at the moment which keep me busy when I’m not prepping for the game I’m running.  

First off is the #Dungeon23 Challenge.  This is basically creating a megadungeon over the course of the entire year, with twelve different floors and a number of rooms on each floor corresponding to the number of days in the month.  The idea is to create a room a day, which should generally take like five minutes, though I’m bad to forget or get distracted by other things I’m working on and have to do a few days at a time to get caught up.  The concept I went with is for a post-apocalyptic setting, ala Fallout/Mad Max, but in a more fantasy world that went through its ‘modern’ times, so elves and orcs fighting mutants with machine guns and rocket launchers, basically.  The idea itself is that of a massive interstate, I-89, that had a very unique feature:  a fifty mile long tunnel through the mountains, with a tourist trap in the center.  The first floor of the megadungeon itself is this tourist trap, featuring a diner, clinic, gas station, and an amusement park.  Further levels will include things like the Firefly Caverns, the big draw to the tourist attraction, as well as secret government facilities hidden in the mountain above, as well as old mines and mutant-filled warrens going deeper into the earth. 

I have not yet decided on a system this will be using; initially the concept was to use the post-apocalyptic setting as the test bed for my homebrew SWSE system, but since that’s on hold, I’m just being very generic with certain things in the room entries for now.  If I don’t use the homebrew system, I’m considering creating the megadungeon using the Savage Worlds system, or maybe using an OSR game.  We’ll see how things develop over the coming months.

The second big project, and the one that I’m actually more excited about at the moment, is what I’m calling “The Curse of Cypress Isle”.  The concept for this one is an old-school island hexcrawl adventure, in the vein of the old D&D Isle of Dread adventure.  My intention is to have this ready to go by the time the Abomination Vaults game ends, so that I can then transition into trying out the Castles & Crusades system within this setting.  Castles & Crusades has a lot of similarities to the old 2nd edition AD&D rules, but modernized (no THAC0 for example), which really appeals to me.  I’m curious to see how some of our players will handle a wizard with d4 hit dice and only gaining a single hit point after 10th level.

This project is actually going to be part of a larger worldbuilding endeavor I’m doing relating to those two pieces I wrote a couple years ago about the city of Arcavarlon.  I want to more fully develop this world and setting in the ‘fantasy’ era; I’ve already done quite a bit of galactic development throughout my stories over on the main UrbanVerse page, but wanted to go back and focus on some of the original characters and stories I have to tell in what I’m tentatively calling the Age of Legends, which is when most of my fantasy stories involving the Kerryns take place.

I’ll get more into that later on, but for now, the main idea behind this adventure is based upon the legends and stories swirling around Oak Island (you’ve probably heard of it; they have a TV show that has been running for like TEN seasons now).  I’m in the midst of reading one of the books about the island’s history, and intend to incorporate some of its aspects into my own treasure-filled island, though mine is going to be filled with much more danger, many of which will have nasty big pointy teeth.  

So, stick around for future entries on these projects and updates on my setting in the coming days and weeks.  I’m tentatively scheduling the first major update and post on one of these projects for early next week, so keep your eyes peeled!

You can find me over on DeviantArt or on my Discord server if you’d like to chat.  I also have a Twitter I’m trying to actually use more often, though I’m not great with the social media stuff.

Till next time, Urban out!