Monday, July 1, 2019

Foreshadowing PC Doom; a game mechanic for any RPG

The TOKEN of DOOM always rests before one of the Players at the table.  It can be any small object; special die, favorite paperweight, conch shell... it serves two purposes, possibly three:

1. When a die roll must be made on behalf of the Party, rather than an individual PC - Surprise, Party Initiative, maybe an on-the-fly treasure determination, etc - the Player makes the roll, then passes the Token to the next Player (keeps it fair, helps maintain engagement)

2. The "Doom" Part; Whomever holds the Token is also under the Shadow of Doom, for should the next Encounter call for a Party member to be a trap-tripper, attacked first in a combat, or otherwise randomly selected, singled out, possibly ganged-up on (definitely, if number of foes exceeds number in Party!)... They've ALREADY been randomly selected, AND they got to "have a bad feeling about this..." beforehand.  Not that anyone else is safe, just that the Token bearer is under increased threat of extra peril.   Pass it along after doom befalls

3. Next time a Player does something solely and explicitly designed to piss off the DM, he has the option to silently yet meaningfully pass the Token from the current bearer to the offending Player, and make them keep it awhile






Wednesday, April 10, 2019

psst - Your Shield is Upside Down

Came across an old fave Dave Sutherland graphic on Old School FRP ...but something about that shield always bugged me.  You tell me...?


Am I wrong?

(according to Old School FRP, "no credit for Sutherland by name" in the module that the original drawing had inspired!  For shame!)

And while I'm at it, I suppose this big guy is Surprised, because why else would he be holding his polearm upside down?  Maybe trying to get around some Large vs Small penalty


Unrelated Link: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2019/11/watch-out-for-bucket-bob.html

Saturday, April 6, 2019