Level 2!!!

  So earlier tonight someone recommended via the comments in the previous post that I award XP for magic items.

  I'd always shied away from doing that for the simple reason that I figured a magic item was reward enough in itself.
  But the truth is, character advancement in my game was being way too slow, an extra way of adding XP couldn't hurt. It also gives players a RP incentive to treat all magical items as something special to be treasured and not just better than average equipment. (As long as I've got a reason! Just like treasure, which is also a reward in itself but it makes for a more interesting game since players have to figure out how they will carry it with them and must avoid losing it.)
  Anyway, as I added up the XP the players would retroactively get, I realized that Rhovanor the Elf finally got to Level 2!!!
  Torad the Barbarian didn't get XP for his magic dead rat yet because he still has to have it identified and then carry and use it for a while.

New Way of Handling XP For My Campaign

  So, you can apparently learn more as an adventurer by picking up this...

  Than by doing this:

  When it comes to old-school D&D, I like the idea of treasure giving XP because it encourages the players to figure out ways to bring it back, which is always fun to watch and makes them think. The problem is that if one uses treasure as the main source of XP, it means monsters and combat in general aren't worth much. If your players don't meta-game (and mine don't) then they won't go for the nearest loot necessarily, but rather where the story and their own characterization naturally leads them. Sometimes that can mean sessions of dealing with NPCs and not going treasure hunting, especially if the adventure is happening in a city. They'll get into fights but won't get much of a chance to loot.
  I do give XP for good RP and accomplished goals per the Castles & Crusades guidelines, but that's as far as I allow my own bias to affect XP in my games and we're talking about fairly small amounts of XP anyway.
  So we've established that I like treasure as XP, but I don't want to punish my players because they're doing other stuff than looting old dangerous places all the time. Sure, I can give a gold value to an object to be retrieved or a mission to be done from a 'quest giver' if you will, but I want to encourage players to also do whatever they want beyond choosing from missions I thought of.
  While my players were stuck as gladiators, I switched the XP system to the one from Akratic Wizardry for the simple reason that they had all been captured by Drow and until they escaped all they could do would be fighting, so it seemed unfair to keep the normal XP rules during those games. That alternative XP system is mostly about XP for combat. It also seems like it would have been a better system for the campaign as it has been the last two sessions even after their escape from the gladiatorial arenas of the Underdark.
  I've decided that I'm gonna use both, but at half their value each to balance them out.
  A monster will be worth 50 XP per HD.
  2 GP will be worth 1 XP.
  From there I will also not have to worry about if I'm being fair or not in the amount of treasure or monsters they encounter along the way. Killing monsters is more dangerous but gives you the XP pretty much right away. Carrying treasure is easier if you have the resources to carry it, but if you lose it before you get to the next civilized area then you've lost all that XP. Now they'll both be worth equally as much.
  Mostly, I won't have to worry about feeling bad because the previous session didn't lead players into one huge treasure pile!
  The poor guys are STILL level 1...

Dungeon Rooms Are Still Available for 'Make My Dungeon'!

  Just letting you all know that the 'Make My Dungeon!' project is still going, where you can fill a room in the dungeon and once they're all occupied I will use it in my campaign at some point, then share the results with everyone!

  I'd also like to clarify that is is just for fun and non-profit, a way to let people from all over the world participate in my campaign and then get some feedback from it, I will not publish or make money out of it and whatever idea you come up with for a room remains yours. :)

John Woo Style!!!

 Let's start by looking at the following pictures.

  Ooooh yeah. Firing two handguns at once, running around despite having a few bullets in your body, ignoring that huge explosion behind you as bad guys fall down like flies and Salma Hayek is waiting for you...
  Ahem!
  Anyway, as I was watching John Wick the other day, I realized it would be lots of fun to do a John Woo style game. All about looking cool, acting cool and taking down armies of bad guys, logic be damned!
  I got this here game at home:

  Sure it's made for the Buffyverse spin-off 'Angel', but it has all the rules for action movie tropes! You have 'Drama Points' which allow you to do all sorts of action hero stuff! I don't just mean bonuses to rolls or things like that, you can actually influence the story with Drama Points. Actually, any of Eden Studios' Cinematic Universe books will serve you (They also made rulebooks for Buffy and Army of Darkness!), but 'Angel' is the one with rules for vehicular combat and chases, and you'll need those rules for when you're shooting at the bad guy's car while riding a motorcycle!

Wands That Would Be Useful in a Dungeon

  Just a quick thought, but it seems to me that people are always making combat wands. Or maybe it's just me and there's actually plenty of examples of the contrary out there.
In any case, an adventurer able to use wands worth his salt would have them charged with Detect Magic and Dispel Magic when going into dungeons for those magical traps.
  Heck, if your system has spells for detecting traps, unlocking doors and other stuff like that, it would be very useful too!
  Plus you get to feel like the Doctor while using them, which is always a bonus!

Unfinished Business

  Looking back on previous posts it dawns upon me that there are some things that were started but then left unfinished in this blog. Instead of sweeping them under the rug, I'm going to address them directly.

• Bruno's RPG Talk: While I haven't done an episode in a while, I do intend to continue it at some point.
• Chronicles of Adamus: As previous.
• Writing up Stats for Star Wars Characters Using Machinations of the Space Princess: I might do that at some point but probably not. The truth is, I'm working on a few actual RPG products of my own, so taking the time to stat stuff is probably better spent by doing it on some things I should have finished by now.
• OSR Online Campaign: I tried to get it started a while back with the idea that I'd upload it on YouTube but it didn't work out. I might try again in the future but lately I have an ongoing campaign with some friends, work and as I said I'm working on a few projects for actual publication along with some things I'll eventually do by myself and put up on Lulu.com or something.
• The Tale of Rhovanor: That solo game was paused for many months due to work and now the player and that character are in my ongoing campaign with other players. You'll still hear from that character here and there but I'm no longer interested in writing up what happened after every single game session because, again, I've got other stuff to write and it felt like extra prep work, only done after the game! :p (Besides, Henchman Abuse is a great blog if you need that kind of fix.)
• Pathfinding Low Life: I love, LOVE the Low Life setting, but see 'Writing up Stats for Star Wars Characters Using Machinations of the Space Princess'.
• Chronicles of Death & Dungeoneering: Continued HERE.

Your Horrible Abomination is Weaker than a Human

Look at that wuss.

  A few years ago I prepared this villain for an adventure in the desert. It was a huge centaur-like scorpion creature, kind of like the Scorpion King. I also decided to make it Undead, just to make it even more horrible.

But not as horrible as crappy CGI, of course.

 

  All that meant was that I had made it easier for the Paladin PC to kill the Big Bad in record time. It was depressing. If the creature hadn't been undead it would have lasted longer because it wouldn't have received extra damage from Positive Energy. And yes, as an undead it had plenty of scary powers, it just never had time to properly use them before he was downed.

  Heck, I've seen adventures that suggest modifying the amount of undead if no Cleric is in the party. Like to make them scary again there need to be tons of them when a Cleric is around.

  I love using undead monsters and I'm certainly not going to nerf any class, but there ARE times when a human Fighter of the same level as an undead monster's HD will be the bigger threat!