Back to Basic

[Stan]

I've got the itch to get back into gaming. I've got plans for a pbp game using Basic rules - actually Labyrinth Lord as it's free and 95% similar to Moldvay Basic.

It's going to be a sandbox dungeon crawl. The surface has been devastated by uncontrolled magic. You are a refugee or sorts in a Dwarven town. The Dwarves have reluctantly decided that they cannot support so many outsiders with only underground food sources and are ejecting you after a year. Now, you are about to make your way through the caves, tunnels, mines, and underground roads in search of a new life.

Let me know if you're interested. If there's enough people, we'll start in a couple of weeks.

[Ronster]

I'm in.

[Cazmonster]

I like basic rules and I like post-apocalyptic settings. Consider me in.

[Bluedevyl]

I'd love to give it a try.... I've never played a Basic game. If you're up for it, I'm in.

[Stan]

Aswesome. I'll post more details in a couple of days.

Here's the rules we'll use, legall free:
http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

If you're familiar with Basic, it's Moldvay with a few tiny tweaks, mainly for copyright reasons. Clerics get a spell at 1st level and don't have the weird jump in spells later. There's more types of armor - I'm torn whether I like that over the simplicity of 3 types but I don't want to say, "use rules A, D, and N from here and use B, F, and K from this other thing you'd have to buy." So, we'll stick with Labyrinth Lord except for a few extra options.

[Elle]

OMG, any Stan game. This is terrible, I totally want to play but it is completely non-feasible. It would be an act of sheer insanity. Which tempts me for its own sake but no - I just cannot support doing even one more thing that requires the slightest commitment. I would LOOOOOOOVE to. If I think better of this rash refusal tomorrow I'll return here.

[Cazmonster]

You know you want to game with us!

[Stan]

Here's a basic idea. I'll have two area maps (underground and surface) in a few days. I'll also have info on some locations.

Magic is in the air. Literally. And it's not all good magic. Sure, there’s tinkling sounds from nowhere and talking butterflies who know where you left your shoes. But the magic also causes wounds, mutations, and baldness, with occasional obliterating storms.

Oulap was a typical low to mid-fantasy world. A year ago, The Thing happened. No one knows why it happened. Strange stuff started going on and most of the population was destroyed. Areas not immediately affected were often overwhelmed by the initial wave of mutants.

Survivors have pieced together what has happened, though no one knows the cause. The atmosphere from 100' above sea level upwards is infused with magic. The vast majority of land is well above 100' above sea level. It's been figured out that a layer or gold or lead or a foot or more of stone block out most of the harmful magic. The magic isn’t as intense as it was except in pockets of magical storms. However, there is still enough magic to cause weirdness and strange, altered creatures roam the country side. Casting spells in infected areas occasionally have side effects and it is impossible to use magical detection in such areas.

Coastal towns and underground communities fared the best. Oulap is now a world of people hugging the coast and pockets of civilization deep underground, with possible survivors in large stone buildings and catacombs. Travel and communication between pockets of life require heroic action.

When The Thing happened, you were in or near the Dwarven town of Thamdahn. Many refugees sought sanctuary with the Dwarves and almost all were let in. In the initial wave of fear, those with mutations were turned away. Now, Thamdahn finds itself overwhelmed. Farms above ground have been abandoned and there are too many refugees to feed in addition to the residents on underground sources alone. The leaders have reluctantly decided that the refugees will have to be expelled after they have had one year of sanctuary; residents come first. Residency can be gained through adoption or marriage but the leaders have been very strict about the laws for this and enforce the 1,000 gp fee.

You have banded together with other refugees to help each other find a new home. You have a few obvious choices. The coastal town of Vaydolm is a couple of hundred miles away; you can try the above ground path or you can stick to underground passages and the old Garum Road, which was an underground tunnel leading to Vaydolm. Another option is to find a new underground home. There are hundreds of square miles of limestone and the natural caves have been expanded by mining and colonization efforts over the last two thousand years. However, many others have also sought a new life underground so conflict is inevitable. Lastly, there are towns and castles with large buildings that are closer than the coast that might be suitable but their condition and who is in them currently is unknown.

[Stan]

Chargen info:

roll 3d6 7 times. The first 6 are your ability scores in order. The 7th is an extra you can use to replace any one score. Do this twice and pick a set of scores. You may remove 2 pts from other scores to raise another ability score by 1; do this only once.

Starting gold is (2d6*10) + 80 gp. You are better equipped than most of the refugees. The Dwarves have also given each of you a set of maps, one week of standard rations, plus one week of iron rations. You can buy more food but food costs are doubled. If you have the appropriate background, you can be assumed to have made some items so cost is halved.

I'm adding a system of skills and feat like abilities called perks. You can choose two. Rules are here:


Magic users use spell books. You pick one spell, get a random one, and get read magic. Each time you level, you add a spell to your book for free. You can add more through the standard rules. Elves are like sorcerers. Their spells are ones they can cast, and that's all they know. They get one spell point at 1st and 2nd, then 2 spell points/level for the next several levels after that. Casting a spell costs the level of the spell in points.

If you make it to 3rd level, you can choose a subclass based on your class:



Don't get too hung up on race as class. Think of it as 7 roles. You wanna be a Dwarven cleric? Fine, play a cleric and describe yourself as a Dwarf. You want to be a goat girl - describe yourself as such. Maybe you're the last of a long line of sorcerer kings - play an elf. We can make minor adjustments or throw in a custom perk to make things work.

It won't affect much for a very long time but 6th level is the highest level possible. After that, you can pick special abilities or perks every 10,000 xp

We'll use the full 9 alignments but they'll mostly be descriptive.

edit:
thieves get a bit screwed in Basic. To compensate, 1st level thieves get 40 points they can spend in to increase thief abilities, no more than 20 pts in any one ability. At each level after that, they get 20 pts.

We'll start at 1,000 xp.

[Cazmonster]

I'm planning a Faun - as far as rules go, he'll be a halfling. Let me know if this works for you.

[Stan]

[Bluedevyl]

Right now I'm leaning towards a dwarf, but I need to see how I roll first.

[Cazmonster]

Garret the Faun is about finished. I went with Fighter instead of Thief because hit points and armor are good. I'll get him scanned tomorrow and posted here.

[Stan]

Sweet.

I hoped to have the maps done by now but work has been crazy, and I'm spending much of the weekend working to catch up. We should be ready to start.

Everyone who is still in, please post a character.

[Cazmonster]

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5oJA ... dxalk2ZmFB

That's Garret the Faun. He's a tough little sucker and great with a sling. I'll work out some backstory.

[Bluedevyl]

I'll have my character finished and posted by this afternoon.

[Bluedevyl]

Gadrin Bouldersmith the relapsed Dwarven cleric.

I didnt have time today to figure out how to calculate AC and stuff like that. Like I said, my first Basic game. I'll get that sorted soon.



Let me know if that works for you.

Cheers!

[Stan]

I still haven't finished the maps, will try to finish them tonight and we'll start soonish.

I've mapped out ~50 dungeons/sites in the area. No I didn't create 50 dungeons - I took classic and recent ones and one pagers and decided which area they'd be. So, there's something to do which ever way you go. There's things happening but there are so many plot hooks that you shouldn't feel like you have to respond to all of them.

[Zen]

I hadn't been looking in this forum If there's room, I'd like to give this a shot!

EDIT: Talked with Stan... I'm building a Warrior Elf... She should be ready soon.

[Zen]

BTW:

"BITCHY ELF SORCERER FROM THE WILDERNESS WHO HAS A SERIOUS WEAPONS FETISH"

Inadvertently, this appears to be just about exactly the character I have created... I'll post it up soon...