"Black Dougal gasps 'Poison!' and falls to the floor. He looks dead."

Sunday, November 21, 2010

A different initiative system

An unplaytested, hypothetical, alternate sequence for resolving B/X combat:

All combatants complete each portion of the sequence before proceeding to the next portion of the sequence.

A. Morale checks, if needed (page B27)

B. Movement per round - meleed opponents may only move defensively, if not meleed the character can move and fire missiles or move and fight hand-to-hand (close for melee). Spellcasters may not move and cast spells.

C. Missile fire combat - Missile combat will be handled in the following order:
1. Thrown
2. Short Bow
3. Long Bow
4. Sling
5. Crossbow

D. Magic spells - magic spells will be handled i order of the level of the spell being cast (lowest level to highest level)

E. Melee combat - Melee combat will be handled in the following order during the first round of combat, when opponents first close:
1. Lance
2. Polearm
3. Two-Handed Sword
4. Spear
5. Staff
6. Battle axe
7. War Hammer
8. Sword
9. Mace
10. Club
11. Hand Axe
12. Short Sword
13. Dagger

For all subsequent combat rounds, after opponents have closed, melee will be handled in the reverse order (daggers to lances). combatants using the same weapon will go simultaneously.

When it becomes important to know who goes first when doing something besides straight up combat, opposed d6 individual initiative rolls (modified by DEX Initiative Adjustments), will determine what happens first. For example, two characters diving for the same object, a character trying to dive behind cover before an opponent can fire an arrow at him, or trying to move past a bodyguard to get to the evil ruler.

This might be fairly close to the system shown in the Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets but I haven't looked at those in a while so I could be wrong. What do you think?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Poor planning for winter crafts

Over the past year I took up painting minis. I am actually pretty happy with how my recent painting projects have turned out. Living in Calgary, I have found that most of my rpg playing happens during the cold, dark winter months. I have also been thinking that winter would be a good time to get some mini painting done. However, the daytime temperatures here are already barely 5 degrees celsius. I have been priming my minis with spray primers but they all require a temp higher than what we will see here in Calgary for many months. I had planned to have primed a bunch of minis to prep for the winter but suffice it to say that this didn't happen. What do other mini painters in the great white north do for priming their minis during the winter? I have a garage but it isn't heated and doesn't get warm enough and I don't want to spray primer in the house. Is there a brush on primer that is good?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The refreshing Thool air

Scott over at Huge Ruined Pile has started to revisit his Thool setting as a side project.

I am looking forward to it as I found his setting to be very imaginative.

Here is a copy of my character sheet for his long-lost play-by-post game. Oh, Ungar... How I miss you.