Books for 2023?

Although I stopped making new year's resolutions decades ago and refuse to even think about committing to such nonsense, I can at least talk about the projects I have "on the burner" right now. I can at least speculate that these are the most likely candidates to be published in 2023.

Let's go!

(All details subject to radical change.)

 

1. ROCK HARDY BOOK OF DWARFS

Of all these projects, this one is closest to completion. It is written, mostly illustrated, and is ready for some layout. Problem is I wanted to do the layout myself using a proper layout tool, such as Scribus or Affinity, but that means I have to learn how. And I'm lazy.

In the end, I might ask someone else to do it for me. Maybe Matt Hildebrand will take pity and agree to do it. Who knows?

2. HEAT DEATH

This is a space RPG idea. I'm currently running it for the Monday night Doomslakers group. I'm not sure exactly what this will be in the end, but since I'm already "playtesting it", maybe this could come together pretty quickly.

3. BLACK PUDDING ADVENTURE JOURNAL

This is going to happen for sure. Peter Regan is planning a Kickstarter to print Black Pudding #7 and reprint older issues. We're planning to include a blank GM notebook as part of that project. This is the cover for it, revealed here for the first time!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Here are some logos and images suggesting books that could be on the front burner in 2023. But it's far too soon to say for sure.

A Pan-Gea project?

Zarp comics.

Comic? I'm not sure yet.

Another space RPG idea.

Beakadon

Here's a sketch and a monster block for Doomslakers B/X.

Beakadon

Armor Class: 5 [14]

No. Enc: 2d6

Hit Dice: 3 (14 hp)

Save: F3

Move: 50’

Morale: 9

Attacks: 1 x beak or kick

Treasure Type: Nil

Damage: 1d8 or 1d6

Alignment: Neutral

XP: 65

These tall creatures walk on long, thin legs, their bulbous eyes keeping constant watch for danger (they can only be surprised on a roll of 1 on 1d6). They navigate swamps and ponds and leap over small walls or obstacles with ease, even when carrying a rider. They will kick to defend themselves, reaching as far as a polearm. But once the threat is closer they will strike with their savage, sharp beak. If a beakadon scores a natural 20 on a beak attack, something on the target will be broken (helmet, shield, armor, weapon, etc.). In the case where the target has no items other than clothing, they will lose the use of a random limb for 1 day (roll 1d4 to determine).

Beakadons are easily trained to carry riders or gear and cost twice as much as a horse. Even wild beakadons can be quickly trained to carry a mount. But when attempting to ride one for the first time, the PC must make a Charisma check. If the check fails, the creature will attack the PC. This will continue until the check is made.

The meat of this animal is delicious and sweet. It is highly valued in regions where the creature is not native. But in lands where beakadons roam wild, it is considered to be bad luck to eat them.

The Paint Job

No, this post is not about painting or art. It's about old school gaming, house rules, and hacks. It's a bit meandering. Apologies.

I've been thinking about the many, many ways I've hacked B/X to make it play closer to my ideal way. This is no more evident than in all the different posts I've made about fixing the broken Thief class.

I've been working on various ways to alter the standard rules for my upcoming Doomslakers B/X project. I have wrestled with lots of ideas and found them all too fiddly, too trivial, or just too much.

Lately I've hit upon an idea that seems promising, though. It's a simple one, nothing rocket-science about it.

Instead of hacking the rules, maybe I'll just present my "meta rules" as an option, then keep the rest of the content more-or-less defaulting to the standard rules. For my own games, I use the meta rules, But you don't have to.

Most obvious example is luck. I always include some kind of luck mechanic in my games because I feel like without some degree of direct player-facing mechanic other than mechanics tied explicitly to character action, players often feel frustrated by game play. I know I do, and this is why I include such mechanics.

But luck doesn't modify existing rules, it just goes on top of them like a nice paint job.

What other kinds of rules could function in this way?

Well, Death or Debasement is definitely going to be part of the project. This comes from GOZR. It basically says when your PC dies, you get to decide if they are actually dead or not. I mean, why not? It's your character, after all.

Choosing Debasement means your PC is miraculously alive, has 1 hit point, and will be down for 1d6 rounds (probably out of the fight). Alternatively, perhaps they need to pass a Death save to recover and act.

Choosing Death means they are dead and you get some minor perk for your next PC, such as a bonus to an ability score or something.

Meaningful choices. More interesting that flat out death at zero hp.

EDIT: Choosing Debasement also means you randomly roll (or maybe choose) one permanent effect, such as losing some HP, dropping in an ability score, or something more in-world, such as losing a hand or whatever. Surviving death isn't free.

Another meta rule concept isn't so much a meta rule as a setting rule. Not unlike the old AD&D 2e "kits", the setting itself will modify character classes and PCs with choices the player can make, such as rolling on random character traits tables.

Here's where the Thief gets a lot of love, too. Because in Yria, the world of Doomslakers and Black Pudding, all Thieves are trained by a guild and there are five guilds, one for each city. And each guild's training impacts a Thief's skills and abilities in specific ways. The player who chooses Darkmirth as their guild (and perhaps home city) will be much better at stealth while the Thief of Kanebok may be more acrobatic and better at stunts. For example.

The net result of all this is that to play games set in Yria or to just mine Yria for ideas and adventures you don't have to adopt any of the meta rules if you don't wanna. It's fine. My feelings will be hurt but that's ok.

I'll ramble more later.

Yeah But Thief Skills...

My current thinking for Doomslakers B/X Thieves is to keep to the original class but grant substantial perks based on Guild affiliation.

But I may also include an optional rule that I also quite like (and probably would use more, if I'm being honest).

Ability Check Thief Skills

All Thief skills are based on Ability checks. Each skill is linked to a particular Ability score. Dexterity is very important, but other Abilities also come into play. If two Abilities are listed, then the Thief must pass a check on both in order to be successful. If a choice is given, the player chooses which Ability to use (this decision is permanent).

Open Locks (Dex, Wis)

Remove Traps (Dex, Wis)

Pick Pockets (Dex, [Wis])*

Move Silently (Dex)

Climb Sheer Surfaces (Dex or Str)

Hide in Shadows (Dex)

Hear Noise (Wis)

Disguise (Cha, [Wis])*

Evade (Dex)

Forgery (Int)

Read Lang (Int)

Use Scrolls (Int)

Poison (Int, Con)

Mimicry (Cha)

*If the target’s level is higher than the Thief’s level, the Thief must also pass a Wisdom check to be successful.

The Thief gains +1 to one skill category per level, applicable to the Ability score for purposes of the Ability check (or just subtract it from the die roll). The Thief’s Guild also modifies Skills in particular ways.

Burer

Working on the monster section for the upcoming Doomslakers B/X book. I have been maintaining a monster document since around 2014, coded in Labyrinth Lord. So most of the monsters going into this book are from that document, updated to my current taste.

Here's an example critter that I kinda like. It's a monster that offers no threat to the party and has no treasure. But harming it is a very bad idea. In fact, if the party harms a burer the only rational thing they can do next is find a quiet room and lay low for three days. 

Burer

Armor Class: 9 [10]	No. Enc: 1d6
Hit Dice: 1 (3 hp)	Save: F1
Move: 40’	Morale: 4
Attacks: Nil	Treasure Type: Nil
Damage: Nil	Alignment: Neutral
XP: 0

This weird little potato-shaped creature lives in dens where it snuggles with mates for weeks at a time before surfacing to find some tasty butterflies and hummingbirds. It has no real defensive capabilities, but is a creature of blessed magic.

If the burer is spoken to, it will reply in perfect local dialect. The creature will go on a bit, talking at length about local happenings and revealing 1d4 local secrets of relevance to the party. On a roll of 4, the fourth secret will be the location of a treasure horde.

Any party that harms a burer will suffer 3 days of bad luck during which all random encounters do happen and all healing rolls yield a minimum result.

The Original Backstabber

When I talk about fixing the B/X D&D Thief class for Doomslakers B/X I'm not really talking about changing it too much. At least that's not what I want to do. This is why I don't embrace any of the more radical changes such as gutting the entire percentile system out of it.

No, what I want is to use the original class pretty much as-is, but layer on some additional perks and options that make the class more appealing and fun to play. I know a lot of people will argue that it's fun to play the original Thief without any house rules, and that's fine if it's your jam. Personally I just don't want to play a fantasy character who has a 10% chance to do the one thing they are "good" at doing. And I am really not sure why the original designers went with such a dreadful way of thinking. Maybe they assumed very low level play would be only a tiny portion and most people would play at over 10th level? I dunno. In my experience most people play between 1 and 9.

Anyway... I've mentioned a shitload of Thief house rules, because it's fairly easy to house rule this game into the stone age. But for Doomslakers I really want to keep that class unchanged as much as possible.

So my current thinking is that the setting itself will provide the layers of perks and house rules. It is a setting book, after all, not a generic manual. So when you roll up a Doomslakers Thief you'll choose a Guild and there are only a small number of Guilds in the world. Each has its own secrets. So the Guild you pick will modify your base skill ratings and grant you certain additional perks. THIS SHIT IS FUN.

Why do I want to avoid changing the original classes? Particularly the class tables...

Because Doomslakers B/X is a love letter, if I'm being completely saccharine. It is meant to be a 64 page saddle stitched book you can use in direct conjunction with the original game books (or OSE, Lab Lord, etc... you know the drill). It is a resource for that game not an altogether new game. It stems from the B/X 64 Challenge from the G+ days where I suggested that people should try to create a B/X supplement in 64 pages within 6 months (or something like that).

Doomslakers Elf

For the Doomslakers B/X book, my Elf class tweaks are kind of like this.

1. Lawful Elves are the keepers of tradition and knowledge, very concerned with preservation of history and continuity of the world. They are very tall, often lean. Like creepy long and alien in some ways. Maybe called "high elves".

2. Chaotic Elfs (not spelled "elves") are absolutely not concerned with that shit. They are very short and have a preference for the physical pleasures. Maybe called "low elfs".

3. Neutral Elves don't have a dog in the fight and tend to be slightly shorter than humans.

Lawfuls and Chaotics also have minor tweaks to ability scores but otherwise the class is unchanged.

This is in contrast to the Magic-User, which is significantly changed. Current plan is to replace it with the Wizard class but honestly that's just semantics. We'll see.

GAZ

Some thoughts about setting. Also, last post of 2021. Hope you are having a good New Year!

The gazetteer of the Known World from X1: The Isle of Dread is a little over 1,200 words. At the time of this writing, the gazetteer portion of Doomslakers B/X is a little under 1,200 words. I am not sure what this means. How much is too much? How much is too little? When it comes to campaign setting material, this is a matter of taste and often strong opinion.

My opinion has always leaned into less-is-more. I buy RPG books based on a few criteria and one of them is that they not be overwhelming. If the book is thick enough to deal 1d6 hit points of damage I probably won’t pick it up. My sweet spot really is the saddle-stitch realm of 32-96 pages, with a very strong (irrationally strong) love for 64 pages. If you can’t fit your idea into 64 pages then you might need to do some brutal editing. Just my opinion, for me personally.

Why? Because my time is limited, my attention span is limited, and I don’t enjoy treasure-hunting for a rule or reference in a 300 page monster of a book. I like succinct, but with style. I like brevity, but with character. The Basic and Expert rule books are excellent examples of brevity and usefulness, especially Expert since it also includes much from Basic. Star Fronters’ Expanded Rules is another classic example of delivering the goods in 64 pages.

(Aside: I do enjoy massive catalog style books, though. Here I’m really just referring to core settings and/or rule books. But if you make a 500 page monster catalog I’ll be into it. I don’t have to read it all, I can find inspiring bits and use them as I wish.)

X1 describes 16 distinct areas on a single page and includes a cool drawing of The Broken Lands by Jeff Dee. X1 gives us bare-bones descriptions. It's a beautiful little gem of world-building because it is so simple. A map coupled with some descriptions of entire nations that clock in at 100 words or less… enough to get any campaign started, with a little imagination and elbow grease from a dedicated DM. That’s pretty much the heart of old school gaming.

Of course D&D took the Known World much farther with the publication of 14 Gazetteers and a box set. Probably hundreds of thousands of words in total. Too much? Yes. Way too much, for me. I appreciate that those books exist and I own a few of them but I wouldn’t use them in any campaign. I’d steal from them though. And I have.

But I think you can do more complex settings than what is in X1. I mean, 1,200 words is perhaps a little too bare-bones. I was thinking of Yoon-Suin as a great example of a rich and complex setting that is at the same time very simple and easy to use. Because the book is composed almost entirely of random tables, it means the book isn’t prescriptive. You don’t have to know all the history and lore because you are generating it each time you use that book. I love that approach.

Another example of excellent world-building is found in Barrowmaze. The setting is small and laser focused on tomb raiding. The book is well organized and gives you all you need to run a campaign. It fits into an existing world easily or you can run it without referencing the outside world at all. Meaty and lean.

The setting of Mork Borg is a good example of image-first world-building. The details are less important than the vibe. This is the kind of setting you can pick up and run without having spent more than ten minutes examining it first. Bare-bones, but highly evocative. As if you took the text of X1’s gazetteer and reformatted it with art and layout to make it look sick.

For Doomslakers B/X there will be a lot more than 1,200 words. The book is a campaign setting, after all. But I’ll still fit the rules tweaks, new content (spells, monsters, magic items), and gazetteer into 64 pages – with art.

Umbrashade

 

Umbrashade, +2 Sword: User can see clearly in any darkness. Infernals take max damage on every hit. 1/day, user can cast Darkness of dispel it. If sword exposed to light more than 3 rounds in a row, user must save vs. Wands or the sword crumbles to dust.

Perhaps a million years ago the great Shadow Knight of Darkmirth, in their war against demons, drew Umbrashade from the obsidian mountain far beneath the city and imbued it with the Knight’s own will. The sword remained true and hard for centuries until the city fell to ruin. Now Umbrashade itself is falling into ruin and must be kept hidden away in darkness, locked in a magically sealed tomb somewhere in that black city.

Gootmaul

Gootmaul, +1 war hammer, +2 vs. reptiles: User can cast Fear, Snake Charm, or Hold Person 1/day. Weapon speaks a Contact Outer Plane spell 1/week, but user must make an offering to strange gods first. Speaks its mind when it chooses.

Deep in the Ovens of the Earth, where orcs are spawned on the regular from the passing of demons, there roamed a pack of giant snakes. These snakes were called Igg, Zind, and Broo and other than being smarter than the average serpent they were self-assured of their dominance. Though few mourned the swallowing hole of many orcs, some orcs took issue with the situation. The little-known Orc hero Bant Brashlin, an accomplished metalworker, took to the forge and, with the help of unknown magics, emerged a year later brandishing Gootmaul. Within three weeks the three dreadful snakes of the Ovens were smashed to pulp.

Battlevolf

 Battlevolf, +1 mace, +2 vs. Lawful: Smashes doors open on a 1-4 on 1d6. The mace’s head speaks with Chaotic creatures and bites Lawful creatures trying to wield it. It vomits acid as a Magic Missile once per day. The user suffers -1 on Reaction Rolls except with Chaotics.

The powers of Chaos give rise to many faces, many weapons of war. Battlevolf, an agent of Chaos, is one such weapon and its willingness to serve the cause is unquestionable. It will tell any who listen that it was forged a million, billion years ago and that it desires to wade through gore.

Wingsbane

Wingsbane, +1 battle axe, +2 vs. flying: On a Critical Hit vs. a flying target, the target is grounded for 1d4 rounds and must Save vs. Paralysis or their ability to fly is destroyed. The user can understand the languages of flying creatures.

Forged on the peak of Old Gnarly in the Rock Hardy Mountains, this axe was made for the purpose of killing wyverns. According to legend, the dwarfs at that time were engaged in a massive war with an army of wyverns lead by a cunning and powerful wyvern master. With the aid of Wingsbane, the wyvern master was brought down and since that day wyverns have not been prone to or receptive of organization and are merely flying, meat-hungry pests.

 

River Tickler

River Tickler, +1 sword, +2 vs. aquatic: The user of this flamberge can swim like a fish and can breathe water for 6 turns 1 time per day. Aquatic monsters will always attack the wielder of this sword first.

The Wizard known only as The Dolphin used this blade for many years on her exploits along the Waving Wyvern River before she was eaten by the terrible Helligator.

 

Slowpoke

Slowpoke, 1+ short sword: Each round the user waits to attack, add +1 to hit or to damage. On a Critical Hit, the target must Save vs. Poison or take 1d6 damage per round for 1d6 further rounds.

Among the Goblin peoples, patience is not a virtue. But the Goblin hero Gog the Looming (he was almost 5' tall) prided themselves on being a patient warrior. After Gog aided the wizard Gim, the old magician repaid him with the gift of a sword with patience to spare. Unfortunately for Gog, he waited too long in a battle with the Elf assassin Lier Landor and died a mere month later.

Cascade

 

Cascade, +1 Sword: Each consecutive hit after the first deals +1 additional damage. Any missed attack deals 1 point of damage to the user. 1/day, the user may speak to the sword's devil spirit as if by the Commune spell (1 question, 20% chance it is a lie).

Stormdriver Thornheart, one of the greatest of the old dwarf forgers, was challenged by a powerful and mysterious hero to make a weapon that could contain his dark soul's fury. He then heaped sacks of gold upon the table and added "If it is within your skill to do so." Thornheart, being a proud artisan, immediately agreed. When the forging was finished and the dweomers sealed, the dark stranger marveled at the blade's beauty. "And now" said the dark hero, "let us see if it can contain the fury of my soul." The dwarf's final payment was the full length of Cascade in his heart. The sword drank, the eyes of the pommel glowed, the enchantment was complete.

I Fight!

The Fighter.

I haven't posted as much about this class as others, mostly because they are pretty cool as is. I did post some simple house rules here though.

Of all the basic classes, the Fighter is perhaps the most meat-and-potatoes. The B/X Fighter's benefits are basically this:

1. Best attack values, along with Dwarfs and Halflings of course*

2. No weapon or armor restrictions

3. Can use the fuck out of magic swords

4. Best hit die, along with Dwarfs of course

For Doomslakers B/X I have really struggled to articulate this class. Because there are two competing things going on. First, you can add tons and tons of house rules to make Fighters much cooler. But the aesthetic of B/X leans toward simplicity and I'm trying to embrace that way. So I do not want a ton of fiddly bits. I want Fighters to be as unchanged from the original game as possible. They need to be simple.

That being said, here's my fairly simple additions to the B/X Fighter class for Doomslakers B/X.

Weapon Bonus

Fighters are particularly good with a single type of weapon, gaining +1 to hit and to damage when using weapons of that type. Choose between: axes, bows, daggers, swords, or other.

At every fourth level (4, 8, 12) the Fighter gains the same bonus in a different category.

Crits & Momentum

Upon scoring a Critical Hit, a Fighter can immediately attack again if there is a target within range. Also, when a Fighter slays a target they can immediately attack another target that is within range due to their killing momentum.

Battle Moves

A Fighter can declare a stunt or special battle move before making an attack roll. If the attack hits, no damage is dealt but the maneuver succeeds. For example, a Fighter can disarm their opponent, kick a brick loose to topple some stones, or some other equally cool stunt. The GM will consider the difficulty and utility of the stunt and apply an attack roll penalty as they see fit.

If a Battle Move causes a ruckus that could cause damage to foes, the GM may grant Saving Throws vs. Paralysis for the affected enemies. The damage dealt should be modest (generally 1d6). For example, knocking over a large statue into a throng of charging guards might deliver 1d6 points of damage to any guard failing to make the Save.

(Battle Moves were presented in Black Pudding #4. Clearly this is inspired by DCC RPG's Mighty Deeds mechanic, but also it flows naturally from game mechanics such as Feats, which are quite common. The genius of Mighty Deeds is to disentangle the idea of a Feat from it's spell-like clarity into a more creative outlet.)

*Though it does SUCK MUCH that all PCs attack with the same values for 3 levels. It would have made more sense and been more elegant if Fighters started with a slight advantage in this area. For a one shot game, this means playing a fighter is not the best pick, even if you wanna fight. Better to choose Elf. Sure, the hit points are SLIGHTLY less but you have the exact same fighting prowess otherwise AND you get a magic spell. But I digress...

Straightedge

 

Straightedge, +1 sword, +2 vs. chaotic: Lawful blade cannot be drawn by Chaotic users. User can repair mundane item or heal 1d6+1 damage, 1/day each.

No one knows the origin of this perfectly straight, pristine blade. It’s first recorded use was in a great battle between Nylar and Skyler just before their fall. Since then, stories abound of heroes tiring of theft and murder in their homelands and taking up Straightedge to deal out justice. Then, as quickly as the sword appears, it vanishes again. Could it be that the sword has a purpose known only to itself and uses Lawful warriors to its own ends?

Cutting Lass

 

Cutting Lass, +1 sword: Re-roll 1s when rolling damage. Cuts bonds such as chains or door hinges in 2 rounds. On a hit, deal max damage automatically, 1/day.

No Elf of Summertop was quite as well-known as Misty Morn Nighthand, a steadfast defender of The Great Stump. Neither aligned with Law or Chaos, Misty was known to cut through the manure of diplomacy with a steely edge. During the invasion of Summertop by the menacing army of dark Wizard - and former lover of Misty Morn Nighhand - Thrall Omvar, Misty and her trusty blade disappeared. Even as his head was removed from his body, Thrall Omvar merely smiled when asked what became of her.

Whiplash

 

Whiplash, +1 sword: Target gains no bonus for shield or cover. Can be thrown like a hand axe and will boomerang at end of round on a miss. Mirror blade reflects invisible things and allows user to see through a door or wall, 1/day.

This elegant blade was not forged, but was formed from a whirlwind of supernatural origin. It was the weapon of the infamous Seapath crime chief Krolton the Many Storied. He used the blade to slay a dozen crag demons in a long lost hall of pillars. The demons thought hiding behind the pillars was a good strategy. It was not.

Kneebiter

Kneebiter, +1 Two-Handed Sword: 2d6 dmg vs. giants. On a critical hit, target is knocked prone 1d4 rounds and suffers -3 Morale until regaining their footing.

Kneebiter was used by the giant-slayer Uuldskol of Red Peak to defeat the master of giants, Zeektara the Cloud Rider, along with their nine sons and daughters. The battle lasted 3 days and leveled 3 great giant halls. At the end of it Uuldskol unbuckled his magic belt which granted him supernatural strength, placed Kneebiter gently in its sheath, and promptly died.