[Heroes of Karameikos] Part 2 -- The Order of the Griffon

As you know, I am working on a set of house rules that adapt the old Moldvay/Cook Basic and Expert D&D rules and make them play more like a 4th edition campaign. I am calling these rules "Heroes of Karameikos" after a country in the Known World setting that was originally presented in the Moldvay/Cook sets. I have always enjoyed the Known World setting and my house rules will attempt to capture some of the flavor of the setting, but they will continually direct readers to the original rule books for additional rules.

Take my most recent addition, the Order of the Griffon, as an example. At the beginning of my Character Classes section, I make it clear that Player Characters are different from normal people. They have the potential to become heroes of legend. As such, most people are merely "Normal Men," and even special non-player characters are represented by the character classes presented in the Moldvay/Cook rules. My house rules tell you to use those rules for non-player characters, but they provide sub-classes specially designed for player characters. These sub-classes have abilities granted to them at every level in a way I believe reflects the 4th edition feel. I wanted the abilities to be significant enough to matter, but not so powerful as to make using them the equivalent of playing D&D on "easy."

For members of the Order of the Griffon, the military order of the Church of Karameikos (you can read more about them in the excellent Grand Duchy of Karameikos Gazetteer), they gain the following special abilities.

Order of the Griffon (Cleric)

• 1st Level – Cure Minor Wounds. A member of the Order of the Griffon may call upon the power of the immortals to heal up to 3 points of damage dealt to himself/herself or allies each encounter. These points of healing may be divided as the Cleric wishes.
• 2nd Level – Military Training. The member of the Order of the Griffon is now trained in the use of Normal Swords and can use them in combat.
• 3rd Level – Strike Against the Stained Soul. Once per Encounter, the Cleric may add +3 points of damage to a successful attack against an enemy of Chaotic alignment.

As always, you can find a working copy of my house rules here.

"X-Men: First Class" Trailer Has Been Released

With the exception of some missteps in the third film, the X-men movie franchise is one of the premier superhero film series. The acting has been consistently good, the stories compelling, and the effects impressive.

If the trailer is any hint, it looks like the upcoming "X-Men: First Class" is a return to the quality of the earlier entries. I'm looking forward to seeing what Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake," "Stardust") does with Marvel's Mutant Miracle.



Of the stills released for the film, I really like this one. It has a slight "Tomorrow People" quality, and that's a good thing.

From Wizards of the Coast to Self Published "Devil's Cape" by Rob Rogers Now Available on Kindle

Wizards of the Coast publishes many excellent media tie-in novels, but there was a short window of time when they published a line of original fiction under the "Discoveries" masthead. The line of books had a number of excellent entries, and unlike the media tie-in books the authors kept the copyright to their creations. Of the books published in that line, "Devil's Cape" by Rob Rogers was one of the true gems. Rob's novel is a superhero tale, but one that takes place in a very realistic setting and with a realistic representation of super powered people. The stakes for the characters in "Devil's Cape" are very real, both physically and emotionally.

It is often said that no one ever "really" dies in comic books, and it is true, but it isn't true in "Devil's Cape." The heroes of this novel fight for justice in a world of corrupt politicians and policemen, and where maintaining a secret identity is vitally important for survival. The villains of the book are ruthless and cruel and motivated by real human desires.

In the book Rob asks and answers the question, "what would happen if superheroes behaved like the Avengers, while the villains behaved like real people?" He then asks, "what would the next generation of heroes look like?"

Rob's book has all the craft and seriousness of the Wildcards series with none of the staid Baby Boomer "sex and drugs" clichés that pop up every now and then in that series. The book also provides a perfect setting for a non-alien invasion "Necessary Evil" Savage Worlds superhero campaign.

I count "Devil's Cape" as one of the best books I've read in the past couple of years. It is worth your time and money, and it's available on Kindle and other e-readers as well.

Buy it, and let's get Rob to write some more tales of "Devil's Cape."

I interviewed Rob shortly after the book was originally published for the podcast I had at the time.

Origins RPG Submissions?

Have Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, and Paizo submitted RPG entries for the Origins Awards? If not, why not?

Are they boycotting the Oscars of the gaming community in favor of the Ennies in order to promote their products at GenCon rather than at Origins?

What is the status of their submissions?

I ask, but don't know.

What I do know is that it would be a travesty if none of these companies submitted their excellent products from last year for consideration.

D&D Essentials was remarkable, Deathwatch is great, and Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide is inspiring.

What's going on here?

[Heroes of Karameikos] Part 1 -- Character Generation

I have just finished writing my "working" text for my attempt to create a game that has a "4th Edition Feel Using 1st Edition Rules." So far, I have laid out the initial steps of character creation, which only have a couple of distinct differences from standard Moldvay Basic.

First, characters pick their class before rolling statistics. A player then rolls 4d6, taking the best 3, for their prime requisite and rolls 3d6 in order for the remainder of their statistics. For those classes that have more than 1 prime requisite, they only roll 4d6 for one of the player's choice.

Second, I included my "death" rules. A character that is reduced to 0 hit points is only dead if they are at 0 hit points at the end of an encounter and fail a saving throw versus death. Otherwise they are merely unconscious.

Third, the Dexterity modifier adds/subtracts from damage as well as to hit rolls. This reflects 4e's philosophy of specialization. A philosophy I am trying to move over to my HoK rules.

You can read the full working rules here.

Free PDF of "Kobold Quarterly" #11

I'm convinced that one of the reasons that the online versions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines haven't received as many submissions as they once did is that many people are submitting to Wolfgang Baur's excellent Kobold Quarterly magazine. I've been a subscriber since day one, and have one of those rare Issue 1 print copies.

Wolfgang and crew are currently offering issue #11 for free as a pdf. Just add the issue to your cart and enter the code KQ11Gift at checkout for your free copy -- offer ends February 9th, 2011.

Let's get some more pro-4e and pro-Dragon Age people into the Kobold Community!

Hulu Recommendation Friday -- Community: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

After a long hiatus, here is the much deserved return of Hulu Recommendation Friday. This week's offering is very near and dear to my heart. I have thoroughly enjoyed the NBC sit com "Community" from its pilot episode, but now that it has fused itself with another of my loves the show has my undying loyalty. If NBC execs try to cancel the show...I'll have them performing Otto's Irresistible Dance.



Gamers...

Note the fusion of new school (Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) with old school (Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Unearthed Arcana, The Dungeon Master's Guide) in the products featured.

To those of us who saw "Role Models," it's no surprise that Ken Jeong knocks the ball out of the park in this episode.