Kickstarters Thread

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Backed. I am particularly interested in the character card idea and how that pans out.
 
I've gone back to check on this kickstarter several times.

I love the rich flavour of the cheesy Hammer/Amicus gothic era, and these days it really grabs me more than contemporary urban fantasy or horror.
In the 90s/00s I was quite into urban fantasy and horror, lots of cash spent on WoD, especially in the 1990s. But eventually it ran it's course, and now that the dust has settled I think I prefer classic gothic horror rather than contemporary edgey stuff.

So all those old cult classic Amicus and Hammer films appeal to me again, especially the late 60s/early 70s stuff which had an odd coldness to it at times, which offset the less serious elements. Some of those films felt like watching fragments of a dream, it was certainly it's own thing.

I can try to GM a setting like this with my Call of Cthulhu, Fate Core, Chronicles of Darkness, etc so I don't need this product.
It is really just a lens to view the source material through, so I don't need rules for this.

Heh heh, yeah right. Somehow I don't think this rational-thinking approach of mine is going to stop me pulling the trigger and backing this little gem real soon... :grin:
 
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I buckled (almost) !!!

This pandemic is really cheesing me off now; it is playing havoc with international shipping costs.
To back this project is going to set me back $AUD 155!!!

Good grief, I don't think I can justify paying that for one book; not unless it's a premimum version or something like that.
I need to really consider this before pulling the trigger now.

At this cost I would probably be more wise investing in some Blu Ray collections of Amicus and Hammer film anthologies, and just hacking it from there with one of my favourite generic systems.

Sad, but true :sad:


BACKING VERDICT: Undecided
 
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It's funny but I don't really see Hammer as cheesy as so many other do, neither the classic-era nor the 70s. Sometimes the dialogue is a bit silly in the earlier films but that is par for the course with sf/horror in general.

Amicus though tends to be much more tongue-in-cheek and films like The Beast Must Die are rather cheesy but again in a rather knowing way. That film seems to be the best fit for this game's premise.
 
This has raised some crazy money. I may pick one up in the future, I may be moving soon so it'll have to wait.

The Wyrmwood Modular Gaming Table: Coffee & Dining Models, via @Kickstarter
 
Mankcam said:
So all those old cult classic Amicus and Hammer films appeal to me again, especially the late 60s/early 70s stuff which had an odd coldness to it at times, which offset the less serious elements. Some of those films felt like watching fragments of a dream, it was certainly it's own thing.

I can try to GM a setting like this with my Call of Cthulhu, Fate Core, Chronicles of Darkness, etc so I don't need this product.
It is really just a lens to view the source material through, so I don't need rules for this.
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Couldn't agree more. My first choice to run something in this vein would probably be Cryptworld. As a matter of fact, I think Goblinoid Games should do a Cryptworld supplement specifically aimed at period gothic horror from the 60s and 70s.

Mankcam said:
BACKING VERDICT: Undecided
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Have you considered the POD level?
 
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3rik said:
Have you considered the POD level?
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I love that they have started to include the POD level in a way that makes sense. It makes backing these more likely for me. (Before, they included POD in the level with the physical copy. Why would you buy a POD if you're getting a physical copy?)
 
Yes the PoD is a good idea. However once I see the pdf I would be wanting the good quality printed hardcover, and it would be frustrating to settle for anything less. I will have to see...
 
Mankcam said:
Yes the PoD is a good idea. However once I see the pdf I would be wanting the good quality printed hardcover, and it would be frustrating to settle for anything less. I will have to see...
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The PODs from Lightning Source are pretty amazing, in all honesty.
 

I was introduced to Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic when he joined one of my campaigns as a player. At that point he was already published having written several articles and products for SJ Game. After my campaign, he branched out into independent publishing as Gaming Ballistic including the use of Kickstarter. We kept in touch and his insights into his experience with kickstarter helped me with my setting up my own project. One of the things I asked was who he used as an editor. Since his projects have a fair amount of detail that has to be looked at. He highly recommended Emily Blain.

Emily has done several editing projects already and maintains a website, Revised By Emily. I contacted her and she agreed to take on editing the Basic Rules this fall. She did an outstanding job with the Gaming Ballistic projects and I am looking forward to her feedback and input for my own work.
 
Three items today.




First is version 4 of the character sheet I been using since I started running campaign with Swords and Wizardry and my Majestic Wilderlands supplement.

Majestic Fantasy RPG, Character Sheet

My idea with this character sheet is to make it a booklet of its own. You print it off and fold it in half. The interior remains blank in order to record whatever notes you need and the front and back are filled out.



My players seem to like them and more than a few have the interior packed with notes, reminders and lists.

The second item is that I sat down with Erik Tenkar of Tenkar's Tavern for one of his Fireside Chats. It is packed with details on the Majestic Fantasy RPG.

Although I have to warn you that the first couple of minutes are more of advertisement for Necrotic's Gnomes current Old School Essential Advanced Fantasy kickstarter. Congratulations to Greg Norman and his team for storming out of the gate with their kickstarter as they continued to expand Old School Essentials.

A Fireside Chat with Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic Games.

Last but not least, I have reached over 170 backers and $2,000 pledged. I am humbled and pleased at the support shown. I thank everybody who came on board. This supplement is the first in a series so anything extra will mean that I am that much further ahead lining up what I need for the next supplement.
 
Probably should have pimped this earlier, but there's 7 hours left if anyone is interested:



This is the third campaign by these guys that Ive backed and they've always delivered on time and the online pictures do not do the sculpts justice. They really capture that 80s games workshop aesthetic, with a lot of character and grim humour.
 
Attributes in the Basic Rules


In this series of posts I will be talking about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them as one of my overall goals is to support kitbashing.

Attributes
The goal is to remain compatible with the various classic editions. When I needed to make a specific choice I opted for supporting the Swords and Wizardry RPG. Thus I use the same six attributes found in most systems based on the classic editions: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. In the this section I also discuss several other secondary attribute that most classic edition characters possess like armor class, and hit points.

Attribute modifiers
I put a lot of thought into this. Historically the various editions had several scales of different modifiers. The original edition along with Swords & Wizardry generally gives just a -1 or +1 bonus. The advanced editions generally ranged from -4 to +4. The newest editions opted to give a modifiers every other attribute points for example a 16 score would give a +3 bonus.

I felt that just having a -1 or +1 bonus was too narrow to reflect how attribute impact the things that players try as their characters. Likewise from experence I felt that the -4 to +4 range of the advanced edition, the D20 SRD, and the 5e SRD, was too generous. So I opted for a scale where a character gets a modifier for every three attribute points. With a +1 kicking in at 12, and an 18 granting a +3. This worked out in the campaigns I ran and continues to remain the bonus scale I use.

As far as incorporating different scale, the Majestic Fantasy rules will shift in feel slightly. Adopting the original edition scaled of -1 to +1 will make class and level count for more in what the character can do. Adopting the -4 to +4 scale of the advanced edition will allow characters to tackle greater challenges slightly earlier in the campaign. It start to make a noticeable difference after the middle levels of 6th to 8th levels when the party acquires more than one or two magic items.

The Other Attributes.
I write about how I interpret the various the secondary attributes classic edition character have like Armor Class, Hit Points, Movement, and Saving Throws. One of my goals when I started writing material for Swords and Wizardry is to stick closely to the original mechanics. What helped this was all the new research about the origins of the hobby and the system behind the original edition that started to be released ten years ago. One thing that was clear that the hobbyists of the time were experimenting all the time with different ideas and systems. So as old newsletters were unearthed and anecdotes recounted, I saw some of the thinking that went behind the abstract concepts of mechanics like armor class, hit points, and saving throws.

This help me build a foundation for these mechanics for when I had to make rulings. To answer questions like whether a blow completely missed or was it resisted by armor? Was kind of injury does damage represent? How does a character avoid getting a chalice of power knocked out of their hands? Players can imagine these things happening. It not always relevant but when it is it help to have something on which construct a ruling.

In the basic rules this section, is an overview. Later in the rulebook in the chapter on rulings, I get into the nuts and bolts of how make rulings based on these secondary attributes.

Next I will be talking about classes.
 


This is the second in a series of posts about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them as one of my overall goals is to support kitbashing.

Classes
The basic rules are meant to be a complete system supporting players and referees. But given the page count (140 to 160 pages) I had to pick and choose what elements to include from the larger system. For classes this meant sticking to the traditional four: Burglar, Cleric, Fighter, and Magic User and detailing levels 1 to 5.

When I started blogging, I stated the following:

To me the Old School Renaissance is not about playing a particular set of rules in a particular way, the dungeon crawl. It is about going back to the roots of our hobby and seeing what we could do differently. What avenues were not explored because of the commercial and personal interests of the game designers of the time.

With my Majestic Wilderlands supplement and later with these rules, I started with Swords & Wizardy, Core that uses the 3 Little Brown Books (LBBs) of the original edition plus selected element from later supplements as a foundation. I didn't stop there. I tweaked, and altered things to better suit the campaigns I was running. Still I wanted to easily use to all the great material the OSR was producing so that acted as a limit as to how far I would change things. Among the things that got modified and altered were the basic four classes. The reason I altered these classes was to reflect some of the specific details that were present in previous campaigns.

Balance
It is possible as a author to design a system in a way that at certain points the character have a 50-50 chance of defeating certain opponent and overcoming specific challenge. This is not what I do. Instead I define how the setting works first and then see to the rules. While I switched away from the advanced system in the mid 1980s, I still keep the basic idea that there were fighters, priests, mages, and thieves. Then fleshed out from there. So when I returned to using the original edition in the form of Swords & Wizardry, I was able to use the existing classes as a starting point but made changes due how these different character types developed in the intervening years As a result the "balance' within these rules reflect the settings I used rather than strictly sticking to the original edition.

Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG Kickstarter

Burglar
To be blunt, the thief didn't make the cut. Thus in its place I created a new Burglar class. From the days of using the advanced edition in the early 80s the thief always felt a little off to me. A 1st level thief felt way under powered compared to the other classes because of the low percentages of success for their thieving abilities. Many of these abilities covered things that even then I felt other character can do like hide in shadows, or move silently.

Later as I was fleshing out the Majestic Wilderlands supplement, I read about how the thief came to be in the first supplement to the original edition. Along with of some of the controversy around who created the class. I was already trying out my first pass of the ability system so I decided to jettison the thief and make a new set of Rouge classes that were better at doing things outside of combat and spellcasting. Among them was the Burglar.

What distinguishes the Burglar and the other rogue classes is that they have a lot more ability bonuses compared to other classes. Any character can use any ability but the rouges are generally the best. The Burglar class focuses on burglar abilities: Climbing, Eavesdrop, Legerdemain, Perception, and Stealth. At 1st level a burglar gets +8 bonuses to distribute among these abilities with no more than half going to any one ability. This means a 1st lever burglar can be competent at one or two abilities especially after you add in the relevant attribute bonus.

Not in the section on rulings, I talk about what I assume about character competence. In short I view 1st level not as a complete novice but somebody who has their initial round of training.

Compared to the thief, another major difference is the lack of an explicit backstab ability. This reflects what I read about campaigns when they only had the 3 LBBs to use. Any character was able to sneak around, and if they had a good plan had a chance to knock out a guard.

But the various accounts varied greatly as to how each referee came up with their own ruling on this and other things that character can do. When we talk about the combat rules, you will see that while any character can try to knock the guard, but the burglar has the best odds of being able to sneak behind an unsuspecting enemy and thus have the best opportunity to knock them out cold with a single blow.

If you like how the original thief was presented but still want to use my ability system, what I recommend is to give the Thief class a reduced number of ability bonuses comparable to what the cleric, fighter, and magic-user get ( +4 to +6 total). Make the the thief skills like move silently, pick locks, etc. represent an extraordinary use of that skill. With ordinary use handled by the ability system.



Clerics
Clerics in the Majestic Fantasy RPG have some additions that reflect my view of the role of religion in a fantasy setting and campaign. First they get a small amount of ability bonuses: Theology and +2 (or 2 +1s) that they can use on any other ability. At 3rd level they get the use of a specific spell once a day (typically a spell of 3rd to 4th level). This spell reflects the nature of their deity and religion. For the basic rules this spell is Prayer. The last is the ability to cast rituals which I will cover when I talk about the magic users.

An important new feature is the Shield of Faith. In my campaign divine power is superior to anything arcane (or mundane). I portray clerics as divine agents of their deity. As their understanding of their faith deepens so does their ability to resist various supernatural effects. By the time they reach 5th level, a cleric's faith makes them completely immune to spells like charm person. However this shield only works against certain spells that effect the character directly with magic. So while the shield protects against spells like sleep, charm person but doesn't protect against spells that create something else that does the damage or causes an effect like cloudkill, fireball or wall of stone. Each spells has a note stating whether it is effected by magical immunity or not.

This does makes clerics more powerful in terms of class abilities. Keep in mind that a cleric character is not a free agent, they are a representative of their religion and deity. If they do not uphold their religion's tenets they will lose their ability to cast divine magic, and their shield of faith. I realize that not all campaigns are interested in this type of roleplaying, so dropping the Shield of the Faith is fine.

In addition for the basic rules, I decided to attach a specific deity for flavor, Delaquain, the Goddess of Honor and Justice. This can be changed to suit your campaign along with the third level spell that is granted. In addition, because Delaquain is a war goddess, her clerics are trained to use any armor, and all weapons. This can also be tweaked depending on your campaign.

Clerics in the basic rules still have the ability to turn undead, and still have the same spell progression as found in Swords and Wizardry..

Fighters
Fighters have two important addition in these rules.

First they can add their to-hit bonus to their initiative roll. This change came about in the campaigns I ran after the release of the Majestic Wilderlands. Later editions pad out the fighter with extra abilities to use in combat. I resisted doing this as it didn't feel to be in the spirit of Swords and Wizardry and the other classic editions. But the issue kept coming up. So one session, I suggested adding the to-hit bonus and we tried it. It proved to be a winner among the players playing fighters. Now they generally went first in a combat round. It also felt right in that it was something that ought to happen when a character is a fighter.

The another tweak I made is to give monsters an initiative bonus equal to 1/2 of their hit dice. I initially did this because it made sense for certain monster they also got a bonus as well. But I soon found out that it also made the rest of the party appreciate the fighters even more as the fighters were the only ones that had a chance of going first before a high hit dice monster.

Second and more recent, I experimented with extending the multiple attack ability that fighter get against 1 HD foes. It can now be applied against higher HD creatures but only in proportion. A 6th level fighter can attack 6 1 HD enemies, 3 2 HD enemies or 1 foe that is 6 HD or higher. I found players learning the exact hit dice or level of their foe to be a non-issue as most of the time they generally had a rough idea what hit dice range their enemies fell into. This also reflects my experience fighting reenactments that I could get a sense of the skill level of my opponent after the first series of exchanges.

Magic Users
Like fighters magic users have two important additions in these rules.

First they have a set of ability bonuses: +1 to Thaumatology, +1 to Research, and +2 that they can split between two other abilities.

The more significant addition is the ability to cast rituals. Magic User in the Majestic Fantasy RPG can cast spells without memorization. But they have to have the spell in their spell book, it take a 10 minute ritual (and a wandering monster check) plus an expenditure of ritual components. To keep it simple the ritual component are only the total value of the components are track. A 1st level ritual takes 10d or 10 silver pieces to cast. While a second level ritual will take 40d.

Other details are that 250d worth of ritual components equal 1 lb of weight. And the higher level that a magic user can cast is equal to half (rounded down) of the higher level of spell they can cast. So magic users can only cast 1st level rituals when they reach 3rd level in their class. Clerics can also cast rituals except they can cast any cleric spell as a ritual although they are still limited to half of the highest level spell they can cast.

This reflect that the magic level of my setting went up a notch since the early 80s when I ran my campaigns with the advanced edition. I switched to other RPGs where spellcasters were more flexible But oddly despite the flexibility they never were quite as spectacular as they are in the original and advanced edition.

More importantly the ritual allowed me to come up with other types of spellcasters that dovetailed nicely into the original edition without overshadowing the magic user.

If you use rituals in your campaign, I recommend that you require players keep strict track of the value of ritual components on hand. That in most cases they will have to return to a shop in the town or city to buy more if they run out. This makes ritual a limited resource just like memorized spells. Also if you feel a base of 10d is too low. Then translate 1d = 1gp instead of 1d = 1sp.

5th level ability
In my campaigns, players just don't suddenly become a lord, high priest, boss, etc. Like in life, they start by acquiring allies and friends. Cultivating relationships with patrons. By 5th level, this has developed to a point where the players now have a small group of followers of their own. Fifth level is around the time where character undertake their first command. So in the basic rules I summarize this with a 5th level class ability. For example 5th level is around the time a magic user attracts their first apprentices or aides.

Hit Dice
I started these rules with the 2nd printing of Swords and Wizardry. At that time each classes hit points were rolled as increments of 1d6 +/- a modifier. I opted to retain this. However substituting variable hit dice (d8, d6, d4) is fine if that your preference.
 
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This is the third in a series of posts about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them. One of the goals of this project is to support kitbashing.

Backgrounds

Due to page count constraints, I focus only on racial backgrounds in the basic rules. I give a brief sketch of Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Half-Elves, and Humans. The few social details are a composite from the cultures that are part of the setting I use for my campaigns.

In later supplements I will be fleshing out this section by focusing on various cultures and subcultures within the different races. To be consistent with that I labeled this section Backgrounds.

f714e4c84d59ba1f17148e00c9794b26_original.jpg
By Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games
Abilities

This section details how to adjudicate things that the character can do that doesn't involve combat or spellcasting. It also provides a system to allow characters to be better at things outside of combat spellcasting than other characters. Either through an attribute bonus representing raw talent, or an ability bonus gain from the character's class that represents training and experience.

The base mechanic is simple, in combat or when the consequence of failure is significant roll 1d20 if the players rolls a 15 or better (30%) they succeed at the attempt. To this roll you can add the relevant attribute bonus (-3 to +3) and the relevant ability bonus. Abilities include Athletics, Climbing, Eavesdrop, Haggling, Herblore, History, Intimidation, Legerdemain, Locution, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Perception. Physician, Professional, Research, Stealth, Survival, Strategy, and Thaumatology.

Over the past decade this system has held up well. In general, I require that players to describe what they are doing as their character first then have them roll second. I explain more about this process in the section about rulings.

This system didn’t remain static. I used to have Accounting to represent knowledge about and negotiating large scale trade deals if the character was a merchant type. Then I used Locution for negotiating prices. Feedback from my players made me reconsider this and I folded accounting and that aspect of locution into a haggling ability. Another benefit is that the name fits better with the fantasy theme of the rules.

Another change was to how I granted modifiers. From reading the original rules, I figured the hardest thing that one could do is hit an invisible opponent. The traditional modifier for this was a -4 to your to-hit roll. If circumstance were very unfavorable to what the player wanted to do I would impose a -4 penalty. Conversely if the circumstances were very favorable, I would grant a +4 bonus. For slightly favorable and unfavorable circumstances I would give a +2 or -2.

Then came along Fifth Edition with the advantage and disadvantage mechanics. When you have an advantage, you roll two d20s and take the highest. When you have disadvantage, you roll two d20s and take the lowest. I some session using the fifth edition rules, and the players “got” advantage and disadvantage in a way I never seen with any other the system I used over the last forty years. I adopted this in lieu of the -4, -2, +2, +4 system I was using before. It has worked exceptionally well in the last few campaigns I ran.

The ability system forms a major part of how the Rogue classes work. For the remaining classes, the system is limited to handling things outside of combat and spellcasting. If you choose not to use this then replace the burglar with the classic edition thief and drop the notes on ability bonuses from the other classes.

Editing

A major reason for this kickstarter is so that I have the budget to get the basic rules thoroughly edited. For reasons that I am not going to get into, editing has been a major weak point for me.

Your feedback is important. A major goal of this project is to produce a product that is useful at the table. So style suggestions are helpful. I can’t promise to incorporate every style suggestion but I will be glad to answer questions on why. In addition, comments on editing mistake now will make the time Emily spends editing later that much more productive.

The comments and suggestions I gotten so far are appreciated and I don’t think anybody is being rude for pointing out various errors. I will take the feedback I been given and get a new draft out within two weeks. I want to give a shout out to Art Braun and Howard Bampton for the help they have given so far.

Two Old Friends Talk

Nearly all of the Majestic Fantasy material has been taken from the campaigns I ran and played. Two individuals have been there from the beginning, Dwayne Gillingham and Tim Shorts. It not just a case of them playing but also contributing to the details and background of my setting.

For example, one campaign involved all the players playing mages (we used GURPS) often they would come up with details about life as a mage and I would incorporate that into the campaign. In turn the details of that campaign became how I presented magic users and mages in subsequent campaigns regardless of the system I used.

Recently Joethelaywer of Not so Wondrous Imaginings, had Tim and I on a podcast where we chatted about our past experiences and more recent ones like our respective kickstarters.
 
This is the fourth in a series of posts about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them. One of the goals of this project is to support kitbashing.

Equipment
Coinage



One of the biggest difference between the Majestic Fantasy RPG and other rulesets supporting the classic edition is the use of the silver piece as the basic coin rather than the gold piece. In my early campaigns using the advanced edition, I found that the gold rapidly lost its luster. When treasure was found it gold was common enough that it no longer felt to be special. Through exposure to other settings like Columbia Game's Harn, I found that coinage based around one common type, and one valuable type to be more engaging. I adopted the silver penny as the common coin, and the gold crown which was worth 320 silver pennies as the valuable coin. I had a few other coin types for use by other cultures. For example viking cultures used the 1 1b silver mark worth 240 silver pennies. Since 1990 this system has been a mainstay of my campaigns regardless of the system I used.

Weaponry



I played various forms of live-action roleplaying and medieval reenactments for two decades. I no longer had the time to continue after my kids were born but the internet was picking up speed including Youtube. Youtube has a wealth of videos where various reenactors try out medieval weapons to see how they work. When I started using Swords & Wizardry I wanted to use some of that knowledge to make the different weapons distinctive but not at the level of detail other systems had. So I tried various things and eventually settled on the current system of describing one or two special characteristic for each weapon.

For example a battle axe is not the two bladed axe that is commonly depicted in fantasy art The battle axe has a large single blade with the bottom longer than the top. This give it the ability to be used to pin an opponent's weapon or shield. A mace is particularly effective against chainmail or gelatinous creatures. A poleaxe give the wielder a free attack when a enemy combatant first comes into range to represent its longer reach. In each case I try to keep it simple to reflect the spirit of the original editions and not to over complicate the system.

In addition to above I provide descriptions for Armor, Dungeon Equipment, Horses, Dogs, and Hirelings.

Magic
This section details common rules for magic: magical immunity, memorization, rituals, and spellbooks. There are two main differences from other classic editions rules. First I divide the magic resistance percentage by 5 and used that is a bonus to a 1d20 roll. So a creature that had 50% magic resistance would now have a +10 magical immunity. You roll 1d20 and if the modified roll is higher than a 20, the spell or effect is resisted. If you like percentages just multiply the modifier I give by 5% and use a d100.

Rituals
The other big difference are magic rituals. A ritual allows a spellcaster to cast any spell they know (spellbooks for magic users, spell list for clerics) and cast it as a ten-minute ritual as long as you have the required amount of ritual components at hand. As I mentioned before if this makes your campaign too magic rich you can omit this.



Spells
This section is perhaps the least changed from Swords & Wizardry. There are a few tweaks. Some spells I tweaked the mechanics into something that worked the same but was more playable in my judgment. For example the effect of the sleep spell is now 4d4 HD with a maximum of 4 HD creatures affected). There are some additional spells like Commmand that are not present in the Swords & Wizardry core rules. Finally there are new spells like Scryguard which protect an area from divination spells. It is a spell especially favored by Foggers, illicit magic users working for the criminal underworld of a city state.

Each spell has a note whether it is effected by magical immunity or not. Magical immunity protects characters from spells like charm person or detect thoughts which use magic to directly affect a target. While it doesn't protect from spells like fireball or magic missile which work by creating something that does the actual damage to the target.

Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG Kickstarter
 
Magic resistance is something I really liked in 2e and thought of importing to 5e, I like how you converted the percentage into a d20 roll, clean and simple.
 
Voros said:
Magic resistance is something I really liked in 2e and thought of importing to 5e, I like how you converted the percentage into a d20 roll, clean and simple.
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Thanks. I admit it was a bit of an arbitrary decision on how to make the roll but the math is the same so it good either way if folks like percentages better. For me I tried to convert everything over to d20 roll high especially if percentages and modifiers for that mechanics were being given in +/- 5% increments.
 
Hobbs and Friends Interview


A couple of days, I spent an evening having an interesting conversation with Jason Hobbs on Hobbs and Friends. I appreciate Jason having me on his show and you can listen to our conservation at the below link. We talk about our respective experiences gaming, my work, and of course the kickstarter and what it is about.

Rob Conley Interview on Hobbs and Friends

There is a Twitch stream as well.
 
This is the fifth in a series of posts about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them. One of the goals of this project is to support kitbashing.

Combat




This section is the oldest of the rules I wrote. I am 50% deaf which made refereeing a crowded table of teenagers in the early 80s challenging. One reason I used miniatures from the get go that it was far easier for me to visually see what the players wanted to do in a combat round than it was for them to describe it for me. Another technique I used was to try to stick to the rules in the book when it came to combat. It was easier for me as result of my hearing loss.

As a result I tried running the combat in ADnD 1e by the rules. Some of it was straight forward and some of it wasn't, particularly initiative and what you could do in a round. In hindsight I came close but how I handled it still bogged things down in play.

Around 1984, I made my own system. Everybody got their own initiative roll and you could do two things when it was your turn; one attack and a half move. If you wanted to do a full move that all you could do that turn.

I played this for a few years before switching over to Fantasy Hero and then GURPS. When I started playing Swords and Wizardry in 2007, I picked up where I left off with the combat rules. Started to develop them further. The system still boils down to everybody gets a initiative roll, everybody get to do two things in a round. Some of the refinements included how to handle individual initiative with a large group, and combat stunts.

Of everything in the Majestic Fantasy RPG, the combat rules have most hours behind them.

Monsters
The description reflects how I use them in my campaign. I try to keep it short and highlight the elements that turned out important in my campaign.

A minor addition is that all monster get a initiative bonus. In general it is equal to 1/2 their hit dice rounded down.

I also added a line for what you can harvest off of the monster after you kill it. You can blame Tim of Gothridge Manor for this as he sold me on the idea and showed me how fun it was to incorporate harvesting into a campaign.

Perhaps a little controversial, I use a stat block to organize the mechanics for each monster. Traditionally classic edition systems used the one line stat block to great effect. I found that works well only half the time. For the other half, you only get some of what you need from the one-line stat block. For the rest of it you have read the description and parse out the elements that are important.



In the midst of my first campaign with Swords and; Wizardry I found myself making bullets list for certain creatures so I didn't have to read through the description to reference what they can do in combat. By the second campaign, I eventually wound up with the entire list of monsters formatted this way.



In the basic rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG and future supplement, the description focus more about how the monster exists in the setting, and with the rest are detailed in the stat block. Aside from the addition of the Initiative stat, and Harvest, for most the rest is straight out of Swords and Wizardry just formatted differently.

NPCs
This section it not often found in various systems or editions. Because much of what my players do to make their mark on the world involves dealing with folks living outside of a dungeon or wilderness, I found I had a roster of common NPC types just as extensive as the list of monsters. They are formatted in a stat block similar to that of the monsters with the additions of what attribute the character has and any ability bonuses they possess.



The section on Rogues give a roster of NPCs suitable for a thieves guild, or a bandit gang.

Fighters give NPCs for any type of organized military force like a city guard or a medieval army along with knights.

Magic Users list NPCs at different levels of experience, apprentice, journeyman, and master. I also add the typical spells they memorized.

The section on Clerics also list NPCs at different levels of experience. There are two separate lists, one for the Church of Delaquain, the goddess of honor and justice. Another list for the Church of Sarrath, the Dragon God of War and Order.

Next I detail lists of NPCs for Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Lizardmen.
For example the Halfling Shadows who are gentlemen who form a club in order to protect the Halfling realms. These lists reflect some of the details I created over the years for sentient beings capable of having their own culture. Last are the Viridians, the only ones to have escaped the Abyss after the demons were imprisoned there after the Dawn War. In the introduction for each of these, I give the mechanics needed to a make a new type of character from scratch.
 
Treasure, Rulings, and the World Outside of the Dungeon.

This is the sixth and last in a series of posts about some of the design choices I made. In addition to explaining what the system is about, it will also help folks in deciding which elements are the most useful to them. One of the goals of this project is to support kitbashing.

Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG Kickstarter

Treasure
Due the limited number of pages in the basic rules, I combed through various classic edition basic rules to get a sense of what available. From that I was able to cull a subset of the larger list found in Swords and Wizardry and what I added in the Majestic Fantasy RPG.

Viz
Viz is magic in physical form. The concept was developed during a campaign where every player played a mage using GURPS. Ars Magica was a great source of inspiration for the campaign and one of the elements that was adapted was the idea of viz. Since GURPS Magic wasn't the same as the magic system in Ars Magica, it got altered into viz. For those who know GURPS, it functioned as a 1 pt powerstone that dissipated after one use.

When I started running Swords & Wizardry I ported over viz. It still dissipates after one use but now one viz allowed a magic-user or cleric to case a first level spell without losing it from memory. It gives a substantial credit towards the creation cost of a magic item. More viz can be used to cast higher level spells without losing it from memory.

In the years since it worked out well as a source of low powered magical treasure. Plus flexibility of its concept allowed it to be found or harvested in interesting ways, ranging from a dragon's teeth, to a wellspring in the midst of a forest that produces 1d6 viz in the light of the full moon.

Treasure Assortment
In the full Majestic Fantasy RPG, I have an elaborate treasure generation system. I automated it using a program called Inspiration Pad Pro from NBos. Overall the system worked out nicely for my campaign. But not everybody wants to use software at their table. In addition, people don't want to use deeply nested random tables during a session.

I used Gygax's Monster and Treasure Assortments while experimenting with randomly generating dungeons. Unlike my treasure table and the treasure tables in Swords and Wizardry, the treasure tables in those books was a simple list with a 100 entries. Each entry is a complete treasure hoard.

I then realized that a complex sets of random tables can be made much more useful, if they are accompanied by a table of pre-generated results. I am calling these types of tables a random assortment.

For the basic rules, I generated 20 items for a 100d (silver piece) treasure hoard, then repeated this for 200d, 500d, and so on up to 2,500d. If I am writing an adventure and I want to generate something special I used the main set of tables. If something happens during a session or I need something quick while writing. I used the random assortment table.

For those who like to use software while writing or running a session, I wrote an on-line random generator written in html and javascript. This allows you to randomly roll your own treasure hoards for the basic rules at any value.

Treasure Hoards for the MW RPG Basic Rules


Rulings
This is the first of two sections of referee advice I include in the basic rules. "Ruling not rules" is an idea discussed by Matt Finch in the Old School Primer. The minimalist nature of many classic editions, results in the need for a referee make a ruling for when a player does something that their character logically could do but there is no explicit mechanic to cover it. There been a lot of discussion about the idea but little in the way of describing the nuts and bolts of how one uses the classic edition mechanics to craft new rulings.

The section address that by talking about the available mechanics and how I use them to create specific rulings. I talk about when to make a ruling, assumptions about character competence, and the relevance of failure. Finally I talk about the elements that go into the ruling: Armor Class, Attribute Bonuses, the To-Hit Roll, Hit Points, Movement, Non-Combat Tasks, and Saving Throws.


The World outside of the Dungeon
Here I briefly cover the different elements that go into my campaigns. Why I focus on the World outside of the Dungeon, along with the various elements that go into bringing it to life, this includes constructing locales, characters, and plans.

Next, I talk about the World in Motion, how you take all that and make it work from session to session. The importance of the initial context, and how to handle the continuing saga as the campaign unfolds. Finally I touch on building one's Bag of Stuff. Material that you have memorized or made notes on to use when the players decide to do something unexpected like go west instead of east. Or decide to talk to the innkeeper on the other side of town, instead of consulting the sage by the waterfront.

The idea of this section to provide a useful framework as a starting point for one's own effort. In later supplements I intend to support these ideas further with various tools and techniques to handle common situations found within fantasy campaigns.

Wrapping it up.
This concludes this series of designers notes. I am currently working on various edits as are result of the feedback I gotten. I will post Rev 02 once that is completed. As part of the final push, I will make a combined document available with all these notes collected together.

I thank everybody who backed this kickstarter, your generous support, help and comments are all appreciated.

Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG Kickstarter
 


The kickstarter for the Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG has entered its last hours. This kickstarter is to fund the cover art and editing of the Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG. In addition I am offering a set of quick reference cards for character generation using these rules. The reward levels are $8 for both PDFs, and $12 for a at-cost (plus 50 cents) print coupon for DriveThruRPG that covers the book, and the quick reference cards.

Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG Kickstarter

Preview of the Table of Contents

Given the number of excellent systems that have been published for the Old School Renaissance, what makes the Majestic Fantasy RPG different? During the Kickstarter I wrote a series of posts going through the rulebook and highlighting some of its elements.

Attributes

Classes

Backgrounds & Abilities

Equipment, Magic, & Spells

Combat, Monsters, & NPCs

Treasure, Rulings, and the World Outside of the Dungeon

Bedrock Podcast Interview
Sometimes reading is not as effective hearing the case being made for a product. Recently I had a nice chat with long time friend, Brendan Davis. We talked about the kickstarter and gaming. Brendan is president of Bedrock Games, an independent publisher of RPGs. He specializes in publishing fantasy RPGs with settings inspired by different time periods and cultures outside of medieval western Europe. I have done maps for several of his products.

Bedrock Games

Bedrock Podcast Interview.

Wrapping it up.
I hope you decide to back this kickstarter during these last few hours. If not the both products will be available for sale on DriveThruRPG late this fall.

Finally thanks to everybody who backed the kickstarter. It is great to have you all on board and your comments and suggestions have been appreciated and helpful.
 


For those interested in the Cypher system. I was a huge fan of this setting in its 3.5 incarnation. Now back with a newer, snazzier system powering it.

The artwork looks really good to.
 
Doesn’t need my help but despite the system

.

the first two books are excellent visually and as a setting. Same studio who produced Shadows of Esteren.
 
hat was a strong finish and I appreciate everybody backing this kickstarter.

The deadline for this project is in November. The big unknown at this point is how long it will take to get proofs back from DrivethruRPG. With the current pandemic the times for cards and book shipping keep shifting. I will keep everybody up to date on the latest advisories as I get them. I posted the latest one (August 24th) at the end of this post.

Timeline

  • The draft is in the hands of my editor Emily. She is just starting her edits.
  • Richard Luschek is starting on the cover art. I have requested one of the pieces to be done in b/w for an interior illustration. More on that below.
  • When the editing is done I will update the quick reference cards first, apply the edits that Howard Bampton has graciously done, and post a release candidate for comment.
  • I will do the layout and cover.
  • While doing layout, order a print proof of the cards and release the final version of the quick reference cards.
  • Post a release candidate for the PDF and wait a few days for comments.
  • Make any final corrections to the layout, and order a print proof of the book.
  • Post the Reward Survey to collect everybody's email address.
  • Release all DriveThruRPG print and PDF coupons to finalize the rewards.
  • Once I know the rewards are working I will release the products for sale.
  • First piece of art and additional content.


Richard Luschek has released the first piece of art to me. A b/w version of one of the cover pieces that I will be using in the interior of the book. This particular illustration will have a background and color added for the cover.



Creature being depicted is a Silurian. It not in the current draft so I moved it and the snake category it part of into the draft I submitted to Emily.

Click to see the full size version
I made a small 4 page booklet with Snakes and Silurians from the list of Majestic Fantasy Monsters. You can download the booklet from the below link

Snakes for the Majestic Fantasy RPG

(from DriveThruRPG) Printing & Shipping Update (August 24, 2020)

Printed books are currently taking roughly one month to be printed in the US (UK production is not delayed). In addition, due to Covid-related slowdowns, shipping can also take considerably longer than usual. Note, media mail shipments cannot be tracked and will not be replaced until 45 days have passed undelivered (or 60 days for deliveries to Australia).

Card printing and shipping is also somewhat slower than usual right now. Expect delays.
 
Nice as the (mock-up) book may look, I am as of yet undecided. It's not that difficult to come up with rumors yourself and some of these are rather specific to a certain kind of fantasy setting.
 
I can say I am a fan of the things Phil Reed has put out. His system agnostic collections are not generic, they are usually pretty unique or provide a unique twist to what would be a generic scenario. Price is usually right too.
 
I have the dungeon encounters collection, and can confirm that these materials have a lot of distinctive flavor, so the book actually delivers an easy fun experience when you just flip it open and start playing what's on the page. I don't use it that often, but when I do it feels pretty worth while.
 
So there's this new trend on Kickstarters I've been seeing pop up lately. This example is from the game "Flourish" by Starling Games

ks.JPG

Apparently, if they determine your comments in the KS are not nice, or you are "spamming" the campaign (either of which seems open to a vast amount of interpretation), they'll keep your money but won't send you anything "considering your pledge a donation".

And I haven't seen Kickstarter itself do or say anything to contradict these proclamations, but, I dunno, to me that seems a little....illegal?

I mean, I can see cancelling a person's pledge or refunding them if you don't want to deal with them, but if the campaign runner decides they don't like your comments they can withold product but keep your money? Glad Gareth Michael Skarka never saw this loophole.
 
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