Dark Sun: The Fiendish Way

I’m beginning to wonder if I have not contracted the Dreaded Lurgi, otherwise known as "Gamer ADD" (a condition diagnosed by David “Grubman” Bezios in his memorable “101 Days” project). As soon as I pick a focus for my gaming project, I seem to jump onto another. It’s interesting, but not highly conducive to productivity. Case in point: I just won an auction for Mind Lords of the Last Sea, an accessory for the DARK SUN line, and suddenly I’ve got Athas on the brain.

DS is one of those amazing settings from the 2^nd edition era, a time of intensely creative settings colliding with the inappropriateness of then-current game design philosophy and all tied-up in an outrageously over-produced bow. I have heard that these productions were so uneconomically feasible as to have directly contributed to the demise of TSR (although I can’t confirm that). I missed all of these settings when they were released as I had given up first D&D and then gaming entirely. Thus I have come to them over a decade later. With these more aged eyes, most of these offerings look like unpolished gems—covered in junk just waiting to be buffed out.

DS is a good case in point. There is so much cruft of AD&D design in there that it sometimes obscures the beauties. For example, starting everyone off at 3^rd level abnd rolling stats on 4d6+4 is just nonsensical. The awkwardness of shoehorning in the Tolkien races and extended Classes is painful (Elves? Druids?). And a setting in which clerical and wizardly magic are supposed to reside comfortably beside universal psionics makes my head spin in a bad way.

But underneath all that, DS speaks to me. It’s like E.R. Burrough’s Barsoom rewritten by William S. Burroughs. It’s like the Ta'arna segment of Heavy Metal, with less nipples and more Sorcerer-Kings. It's like a Spaghetti Western with Mantis Men playing the Eli Wallach role. It’s like butter.

For no very good reason, DS has just fought it’s way into my head lately. And in doing so, I realized how much of my version of Athas would resemble Hypernotus, the ostensible subject of this blog. And my mind just started coughing up ideas. Here they are in their rough, first-time out appearance. Note that I have felt free to use some parts of DS exactly as presented, reject some parts absolutely and totally, and heavily rewrite the rest. And, as with Hypernotus, the system here is Spellcraft & Swordplay, but should be more-or-less useable across game lines.

PART ONE: CHARACTER GENERATION

Classes:

• Slayer
  
• Scavenger
  
• Sorcerer
  

Slayers function as Warriors with the changes below:

Exceptional Strength – There is no Exceptional Strength (18+). Instead, only Slayers get a bonus on the "to hit" roll from high STR (13+); other classes only get the bonus on damage.

Combat Reflexes – Warriors levy a -1 penalty on all in-coming attacks per every 3 full levels (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc.).

Weapon Mastery – Warriors receive a +1 to hit bonus with their chosen weapon, with an additional +1 per every 3 full levels. Alternately, a warrior may choose to specialize in defensive fighting, receiving an additional -1 per every 3 levels on all in-coming attacks (making a total of -2 per every 3 levels).

Steely Thews – Warriors add +2 to all Strength-based Saves. This is in addition to Iron Constitution.

Scavengers are based upon my Rogue ideas. They a +2 to any rolls for Thiefy things, with a further +1 per 3 levels gained. Among those thiefy things are appraising the value of treasure, stalking, sneaking and hiding, and deciphering Artifacts. This makes them excellent all-round survivors.

In addition, they get +2 to DEX and CHA Saves.

Sorcerers are the wizardly equivalent on Athas. They are loosely-adapted from the Psionist class. Note that while anyone may possess sorcery on Athas, Sorcerers are the only ones to properly develop them. Slayers and Scavengers suffer penalties from their psychic powers that Sorcerers do not. Unlike Wizards, Sorcerers cannot create scrolls (?)

They develop their powers steadily. They use the Wizard Casting Table from S&S, with Discipline Level replacing Spell Level. Sorcerers begin the game with 1 Attack Mode, 1 Defense Mode, and 1 Discipline (randomly or choice, depending upon Referee). Each level they develop 1 additional Attack or Defense Mode and 1 additional Discipline (reroll duplicates). Thus, at 9th level, a Sorcerer has developed all Modes and 10 Disciplines.

Sorcerers get +2 on INT and WIS Saves.

Races

• True Men
• Muls
  
• Desert Men (replacing Elves)
  
• Wild Men (replacing Halflings)
  

Muls are artificially-bred hybrids. They may only be members of the Slayer class and can never possess sorcery. They receive a bonus of +4 to STR and CON Saves (as opposed to +2), but also suffer a penalty of -2 to WILL and CHA Saves.

Desert Men have mutated to accommodate life in the deserts. Tall and thin to radiate heat. They may take any class, but get +1 to DEX Saves and -1 STR Saves in addition to any class-based Saves.

Wild Men are either evolved or mutates. They get +2 to sneaking and hiding in the wilderness and get +1 to attacks with slings, rocks, or blowguns. They may take either the Slayer or Scavenger class. They may take both and split XP evenly, or take one class and suffer a -5% XP on earned XP.

A variety of mutants exist. In general, they are not for PC-use, however even True Men suffer from minor, physical mutations from time-to-time. Feel free to give your PC any minor mutations you desire, such as blue skin, extra digits, etc. These have no in-game effect. Note that low CHA can be indicative of mutations, as many True Men dislike mutants.

Next up: Combat and Magic!

Wheel! Of! Dismemberment!

Been thinking a lot about the nature of Hit Points recently, in part from seeing Akrasia's house-rules whereby HP's do NOT represent actual injury--once you lose HP's, then you start suffering the "real" damage to your CON. I like that. I like it a lot. Except, that is, for the fact that this effectively gives every character 10+ extra Hit Points. I'm not too crazy about that. I've had a few thoughts one this subject.

One idea is specifically in the context of Spellcraft & Swordplay, which is an entirely 2d6-based game. Entirely except for attributes, which are 3d6 as per usual. I have been playing with the idea of making S&S all 2d6 (I may post more about this later). With 2d6 CON, that's a significantly smaller kicker.

But, let's leave that idea aside for a moment. Because I've been rather excited lately about dismemberment. Not for myself, of course, but for foolish adventurers. This is, really, just an extension of my thoughts on hurting characters as worse than killing them. And, nothing says hurting like getting your sword-arm lopped off. What fun!

In addition, I have been noodling around with thoughts of tactics in combat. Before visions of battle-mats and square-counting swim before your horrified eyes, gentle, hypothetical readers, fear not. I don't mean anything like that. I mean players making meaningful choices about their character's actions in combat.

Here's the idea: a player may choose to avoid the damage of any one attack by choosing, instead, to spin the Wheel of Dismemberment. The results of the Wheel will NOT result in hit point damage (which would make the whole thing pointless). With a little luck, you get knocked down or stunned. With a great deal less luck, you lose an arm or leg and suffer attribute damage. Losing a limb would reduce DEX, having muscles damaged would reduce STR, a chest wound might reduce CON, while horrible scaring would hurt CHA.

Where is this mighty Wheel of Fun, you ask? I don't know yet. There is a perverse part of me that wants to use this:


(that's a classic critical chart from Arms Law for the uninitiated)

But that's really way too fiddly in truth, bloody fun though it may be. I think I would, instead use something more like The Major Wounds Table from Stormbringer/Elric! or Robert Fisher's Classic D&D Injury Table. What I like about this idea is that it works along the principle of Trollsmyth's Shields Shall be Splintered! -- giving a strategic option that helps with the "Argh! Cleric!" Syndrome without just adding more Hit Points to the pile (a self-defeating strategy).

Plus, I love systems that make players choose to have nasty things happen to their characters. It's so much more entertaining to watch.

To the Death? No, to the Pain.

Talking to Akrasia about his S&W House Rules reminded me of some thoughts I keep meaning to put down on...well, not paper. Electrons, maybe?

Among some grognards, Save-or-Die has a certain totemic power, not unlike Descending Armour Class. It loudly proclaims that the player characters do not possess Plot Immunity on account of being the protagonists of some Games Master-authored story. It trumpets out the fact that player's need to use their own skill or they will find their characters stone cold dead quicker than they can say 'Bree-Yark".

However, I have a significant problem with Save-or-Die: it's boring. It actually fails to generate significant tension in the game.

"What's that?", yell my illusory audience. "The threat of death is the principal means of creating tension. It's exactly this lack that makes newer iterations of the game less than satisfactory" (Note how polite my imaginary readers are towards later versions of the game. No name-calling among these hypothetical gentle-folk).

But I'll dispute that. The very ease with which OD&D characters die and are replaced, combined with the presumed availability of Resurrection spells, mitigates much of the sting of death and robs the grave of it's victory. What players really fear, what gamers will avoid at all cost, is being hurt where it counts. I'm talking, of course, about character effectiveness (What? You thought I was talking about something else?).

Notice how level-draining Undead create a terror all out of proportion to their lethality. I've known many a player who would much rather have his beloved character enter a room full of Red Dragons with nothing to defend himself with other than a dull spoon, than fight a Wraith with all their collected gizmos and gadgets. The Dragons, at least, offer the opportunity for an heroic (or, at least, comical) death. But even though the character's chance of defeating the Wraith is much greater, the character is also very likely to end up losing a level or two.

And that's just the worst.

You lose Hit Points, combat or spell-ability, maybe even a cool trick or two depending upon your class. Suddenly, you suck and your companions don't. Well, maybe not suck, but rather than having a memorable death having been eaten by a family of Dragons while gallantly fighting with less-than-optimal flatware, you now can just do less than you used to do. You are literally less than you used to be.

That's tension. That's a negative incentive. And that's why I don't use Save-or-Die. Instead, I use either level-drains or attribute damage. The former is well-known because of the Undead. The latter is less common which is probably why I prefer it (I also find it easier to rationalize). For example, in my Onderland Campaign, Grave Wights (my version of Barrow Wights) don't drain levels; they inflict Constitution damage. The cold from beyond the grave emanates from these unnatural abominations and it weakens those who feel it. They cannot be warmed, they cannot rest at ease, they cannot heal naturally. Slowly, their Constitution withers away.

Other dangers affect other attributes. I like poisons that intoxicate the mind (damaging Intelligence or Wisdom) and curses that sap one's Strength. To me, those sorts of threats are just so much more interesting than, "Oops. You're dead."