One of my goals for this year is to create a few projects that can maybe in their own small way give back to Ye Olde Online Gaming Communitie.
The first project along this line are a couple PDFs I've thrown together for use with Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa. I picked up Supplement V last October and ever since I've been thinking about how I'd like to implement it in game form. A couple weeks ago I got to thinking, and suddenly it struck me that Jason Vey's Spellcraft & Swordplay, with its super old school, Chainmail-derived game engine, would be a perfect fit for the arcane, pulpy vibe of the world. The discovery that S&S is now available in three separate volumes was just icing on the cake. I ordered Book II; Carcosa itself would serve as my "Book III" and setting material. So that just left me to think about how I wanted to do a "Book I" of character generation rules.
I didn't particularly care for S&S's character classes (in contrast to the basic game system, the chargen was a bit too "modern" for these purposes), so I figured on going with OD&D, or rather the Swords & Wizardry White Box classes. Furthermore, I felt I simply had to include spells from Mythmere's Eldritch Weirdness, so how could I not re-introduce magic-users? It creates a nice, pulpy trifecta: the Hero (Fighters), the Wizard (Magic-users), and the Hero-Wizard (Sorcerers) of character classes.
So my first PDF is an 18-page distillation of the S&W chargen rules (featuring fighters and magic-users only--no clerics!) and a modified spell list for magic-users.
Now that I had my nice, shiny new Book I (which I promptly printed out in booklet form), I needed a nice, shiny new character sheet to go with it. The design came to me one evening as I was falling asleep; I sketched it out the next day and finalized things over the next few days. Although I designed it with my specific mod in mind, it should work just fine for any O/BD&D-derived system.
Anyhoo, I'm pretty pleased with how things turned out and I'm happy to share them!
(N.B. I tried to cover my legal bases with the chargen PDF, but if I'm missing a thing or two feel free to let me know. Also, I used a piece of art I found online--if you know of a source attribution, let me know and I'll put it in.)
ETA: I created an OD&D-friendly version of the character sheet that features a single attack matrix and increased room for rituals and/or psionics.
Congratulations! I want to create a PDF this year myself and the task looks a bit daunting (eeep) Making it is easy. Making it look good... seems a bit harder!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! This is exactly the sort of cross-pollination that amateurs will always do better than game companies.
ReplyDeleteViriatha - Don't let the fear of lame ass production values keep you from writing!
The counterspelling was bounced around by a bunch of us - dubeers on ODD, myself on my blog, an article in Fight On! #1 (I think Jeff Rients wrote that, if I remember correctly).
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done, it looks very interesting and I hope we hear about how this plays! I might have to steal that "bind wounds" rule... where did that come from?
I eagerly look forward to reading your Carcosa stuff! :)
ReplyDeleteThat Carcosa character sheet is AWESOME. I typically use blank pieces of paper rather than character sheets, but that's going to change! Well done!
ReplyDeleteSorry for 3 posts in a row, but I have a question:
ReplyDeleteWhy does the character sheet have the "Target's AC Attack Roll" grid twice?
If that was unintentional, and if you plan on using psionics, perhaps you might want to get rid of one of the grids and replace it with a spot for writing down one's psionic abilities...
Or not! :)
I'm really jealous of you guys who can draw.
@Geoffrey - perhaps so you can have more than one weapon?
ReplyDelete*smacks forehead*
ReplyDeleteI forgot that Chainmail combat has weapon vs. armor type adjustments!
I wrote the basic counter-spell variant text and table you included in the PDF. I posted it publicly with the intention of anyone using it freely; and I think it is a fine fit for your CharGen doc.
ReplyDeleteSince you've asked, you may credit me as "Cameron DuBeers," though I assure you it is not necessary to do so.
Viriatha: Like Jeff said, production values should be the least of your concern! :) Get your material out there; you can always come back to it and do a "deluxe" version.
ReplyDeleteChgowiz: The bind wounds rule is in the S&W White Box. I thought it was quite handy indeed, since the setting lacks any healing magic.
Geoffrey: So glad you like it! :) Yes, I included two weapon matrices because S&S uses different to-hit values for different weapons. Perhaps I'll take your advice and tweak an "OD&D" version with one matrix and space for psionics.
DuBeers: Cool, I'll go ahead and add your name. :)
Thanks. By the way, I do layout for "Brave Halfling Publishing" and have already made 2 OD&D style booklets. I use MS Publisher.
ReplyDeleteIf you wish, I'd be happy to format your material into a booklet PDF with pages ordered for printing.
I ask for no money to do so, though if you list credits I'd like to have my name listed.
I love the character sheet. Much thanks.
ReplyDelete