If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Second edition discriminates between hirelings (people you pay to do a job), followers (people who choose to be with you) and henchmen (followers who are effectively low level PCs).

• Hirelings are employed for a task or season for their specific skill, easy to find, replaceable, low loyalty, GM controlled, and PCs are obligated to pay a weekly wage or a fee for a task, meal and board, pay ransom
• Followers are elite soldiers attracted by a stronghold, irreplaceable, moderate loyalty, under GM control and PCs are obligated to pay a weekly wage or a fee for a task, meal and board, pay ransom
• Henchmen are mini unique PCs, best friends with a specific PC, under PC Control and PCs are obligated to pay a portion of treasure, meal and board, pay ransom and bring back from the dead.

Basically, a long-term hireling or follower will develop into a henchman who will join the party or leave. This is a PC replacement mechanism, for the high lethality games second edition was phasing out. The problem is, these followers don’t show up until 9th level, which is effectively when the play pillars are supposed to shift. Basically, this progression appears to be out of step with the new pillars emerging in second edition, and instead is a legacy feature. So, let’s reimagine these “tiers” of PC-adjacent NPCs.

A hireling is any NPC who will do a job for the PC in exchange for a wage or a fee plus room and board. An unskilled hireling is ready to find, and a hireling with rare skill requires a Find Someone downtime action to find.

A follower is any NPC who joins a PC on grounds other than in exchange for a wage or a fee. They can have levels in a class, and are attracted by a PCs fame when the build a stronghold for the follower to stay at at a meagre to comfortable lifestyle.

A lieutenant is any NPC who the PC delegates a task to in the governance of their stronghold in exchange for a significant wage, noble lifestyle and a place of honour in the stronghold. They usually were hirelings or followers, and hence may have class levels or rare skills.

Hirelings fill the first few “funnel” levels, abs are still useful as specialists throughout the game. Followers are companions, comrades-in-arms, disciples or students of well-established heroes. Lieutenants take charge of your affairs in your absence. Clear roles, but they can move between them depending on relationship (which can be tracked by reaction or by downtime clock) and on contract. Stats should be minimal, so there are probably going to be minimal character sheets for each of these NPC types, and NPCs will be “as hireling”.

Hirelings are considered zero-level, and hence have 1d6 HP, ability scores of 10 with one exception (an 8, 12 or 14), and one, two or three proficiencies depending on age (these may be mastery spent on one skill).

Followers have levels in a class, therefore they have a simplified character sheet, based on the PCs. Experience and Encumbrance are simplified, only exceptional ability scores and proficiencies are noted, for example.

NPCs not in the party are documented similarly, and might be Therabond (0-level sage, intelligence 14, north irughai history mastery +2) or Gladhelm (2-level warrior, strength 12, double axe mastery, riverboats).

That covers most of what’s necessary, I think. It reveals a lack of clarity in the interaction mode between the reaction and reputation system and the cultivate relationship downtime action, which I’ll have to revise, and also will need revision when I get more firmly into what it looks like to build a character!

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on hirelings, followers and lieutenants, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

5th May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

In light of the wizardly and priestly magic posts, I think I need to revise some of the downtime actions I wrote, and add a few new ones. Firstly, I’ll need to change Spiritual Devotions:

Spiritual Mission: If you have the Spiritual Devotions proficiency, you may seek connection with a greater power. Specify a goal and a spiritual or mystical method through which it will be achieved (meditation, pilgrimage, service, flagellation, fasting, alms, gardening, ceremony, poetry, etc.). The GM will create a clock out of sight, and be cryptic regarding your progress. If a significant milestone is reached, and your god is impressed, you may be granted piety in addition.

Study Spellbook: If you have the study spell book proficiency, you may study a spell book to understand one of its spells. You will not know the spell until you unearth its secrets; the GM will tell you when the spell is learnt. Spend 300 GP per downtime roll to procure requires materials. The downtime clock is equal to the spell level. The GM will roll 1d10 and divide the result by 2, rounding up, to determine how many spells are in the spell book, and this will remain a mystery as well until there are no further spells to learn.

Inscribe Scroll: If you have the inscribe scroll proficiency, you may create a scroll for a spell you know. Spend 300 GP per downtime roll to procure required materials. The downtime clock is equal to the spell level. Scrolls can be stored for free in inventory.

Charge Wand: If you have the charge wand proficiency, you may imbue arcane syllables into a wand such that it might cast a spell you know. You must have a wand in which to imbue to spell. Spend 500 GP per downtime roll to procure required materials. The downtime clock is equal to the spell level. Once you have charged a wand with a spell, you can attempt to charge it with additional castings if the spell, at one additional casting per tick. On a failure, the wand cannot hold any more castings.

Create Spellbook: A wizard can create a spell book as their magnum opus. It costs 1000 GP per downtime roll, and will take at least 20 ticks to be completed, at the discretion of the GM. You can choose which spells to place in the spell book, and must title it with appropriate pomposity.

There we go, our updated magical downtime actions. Probably need polishing, but it does nail down wizardry a lot more.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on magical downtime, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

4th May 2022

Idle Cartulary

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Looking at the many environmental interaction subsystems (swimming, climbing, running, difficult terrain, sailing, and flying at a glance) in Second Edition, there are a few themes that keep recurring:

• Nonbinary success
• Speed is important
• Dual tasking
• Character skills impact outcomes

From this I infer that you’re expected to be {climbing, swimming, riding, sailing} under pressure, either being chased, trying to get somewhere urgently, or while being attacked. And so, degree of success is meaningful, and as is training in {challenge}under pressure. This draws from a bunch of rules already written:

An environmental challenge has clock. If a PC has proficiency in their approach to the challenge (for example, Swimming or Climbing proficiency) they know how many ticks the clock requires, otherwise they do not.

To tick a section of the clock, describe what you do (your approach) and roll an appropriate check. On a failure, choose a failure condition. On a success, tick the clock and choose a success condition. On a partial success, tick the clock but suffer a consequence. Continue until the GM tells you that you have completed all steps, or until you cannot continue any longer.

Approaches include abilities, proficiencies, special gear, assistance, or magical effects, If an approach is strong against a challenge grant an additional tick if it succeeds. Approaches that are weak against a challenge have disadvantage or have no effect. You cannot repeat the same approach for a single challenge.

Success and fail conditions vary according to challenge, but include: change of speed, opportunity for a second task (dodge, spell, attack, device), advantage on next approach, increase or loss of a capability, injury, healing.

If there is a competitor in the challenge, the GM may choose to grant them a clock as well, for you to race against, or may choose to incorporate their success into your failure.

This solution has dual tasking, speed, skill, and non-binary success. Not sure if that should be GM chosen success conditions, but I like putting it in the hands of PCs. This is flexible and rewards use of varied approaches. One rule to rule them all, rather than the dozen in second edition. It feels too modern, though, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, or why.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on Advanced Fantasy Dungeons so far, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

3rd May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Priestly and Wizardly magic are entirely different in principle but not in practice, in second edition, although priestly spells have their own unique qualities, and hence priests have bunch of advantages with few disadvantages;

• Priests pray to gods or their intermediaries for spells which then act like wizard spells
• Spells don’t take up inventory space because they aren’t in spell books.
• Priests don’t need a library because they don’t have spell books
• Priests have limited access to certain spheres
• Priest spells don’t go up to as high a level
• Deities might be fickle

Honestly this reeks of being shoehorned into the wizardly spell system, and that theory is supported by the fact that the DMG doesn’t even mention priestly magic aside from in magic items and as an option for new classes, while wizardly magic gets a whole chapter. First edition at least states “spells […] are obtained through the aid of supernatural servants of the cleric’s deity” and “Of utmost importance, then, is the relationship between cleric and deity.” The Complete Priests Handbook doesn’t give us much either: “The god doesn’t have to give the priest the spells the priest wants.” There is significant evidence the deity-priest relationship is intended to be central, but that the mechanics they already had didn’t support that.

So, the system as intended should lean into relationship and fickleness as primary drivers of risk and reward, instead of encumbrance and memory. I’m thinking a system where your deity gains faith in you over time, and that bonus is applied to a roll which determines how alike to your prayers the spell you ask for arrives as.

Priests need not memorise a spell to cast it, but they must spend a watch dedicated to their priestly devotions. During priestly devotions, as you pray to your god, recite your deeds of the day. If your deeds impress your god, gain 1 piety. If they are contrary to their ways, lose 1 piety. If you do nothing to move your god, your piety remains the same.

You may expend one piety to cast the exact spell you want.

If you do not want to spend piety, state the spells name, roll a d10, and pray. Look at the “Priest Spells by Sphere” index. Count both up and down on the list by the result of your roll. You can choose one of these two spells. Increment your dice down one (from d10 to d8) for each piety you have. If you roll so high as to leave the sphere, go to the next sphere you have access to on the list.

You may choose not to cast either of the spells, but one of these spells must be the next spells you cast, until your next priestly devotions. There is no limit on the amount of spells you can cast in a day.

The biggest sphere list is 31 and the smallest is 2, both which will bring interesting consequences, and the lower level cap of priestly spells is a benefit to this randomness. The priest gets a choice, but not always their choice. Gods are ineffable, and sometimes provide powerful spells and bizarre guidance. A GM may decide to provide a unique spell list for each god or maybe I put it into the rule book!

This is not an elegant rule I’m really struggling with a fickle but not useless alternative though. I’ll let it sit for a while.

Dice increments are completely new to this system and not foreshadowed in second edition anywhere. On the other hand, so is spell memorisation, and so was psionics, so why does priestly spells not get its own system?

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on priestly magic, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

2nd May 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

Magic is more complicated, but is largely unchanged from edition to edition. Instead of slots, specific spells are memorised for less flexibility. Priestly and Wizardly magic are entirely different in principle but not in practice. Wizardly spells:

• The process of leaming the correct procedure to cast a spell is difficult and taxing to the mind.
• As the wizard learns spells, he records their arcane notes into his spell books. Without spell books, a wizard cannot memorize new spells.
• Once a wizard memorizes a spell, it remains in his memory until he uses the prescribed components to trigger the casting. Upon casting the energy of the spell is spent, wiped clean from the wiurd’s mind until the wizard studies and memorizes that spell again.
• Spell books are made, and there are rules for making them, and this should happen in downtime.

Thoughts emerging from this: Spell books take up inventory space, have a limited amount of space in them, and if not carried in inventory must be held in a library. But I don’t really feel like the guts should change.

Magic is cast by memorising syllables, and the brain can only accomodate a certain number at once. When the syllables are uttered, the spell disappears from the mind. Because of this limitation, wizards often store spells in scrolls and wands to enhance their power.

Spell books contain between 1 and 5 spells, depending on their level. Spell books are rare and must be sought out in tombs or stolen from towers, and each has its own name and history. The spells on their pages, the characters and formulae burning on the page, urgently attempt to leap from the page. You cannot make a spell book, but once you have one, you can learn the spells within it by researching a spell in downtime. You can either keep spell books in your inventory where they take up one inventory slot each, or you can keep them in a library when you go adventuring.

A wizard can take a watch to memorise spells, preparing the spells they expect to need the following day. They can release previously memorised spells from their mind if there is no further need for them. In order to do so, they must have access to a spell book containing the spell — they cannot memorise a spell whose spell book has been left in the library unless they are in the library. A wizard can memorise a number of spells equal to their level plus 2.

To cast a wizard spell, the wizard simply utters the syllables. If the wizard is interrupted, the spell is not cast, and the syllables are not released from their memory. Some spells have more syllables, and take more time to cast. Some spells require physical actions to work, for example a magic circle to be drawn. These specifics are notes in the description of the spell, and any components required have to be purchased in order for the spell to be cast.

This all feels neat and in the spirit of the game, while simplifying a lot. Wizards are seeking power, so they must find spell books. Spell books cannot be created, so they must carry spell books that are inefficient. But, they can choose their spells, and can make wands and scrolls. All very neat, vancian, it feels wizardly. There’s only one departure, and that’s making a spell book. I feel like that should be it’s own, epic-level downtime action, so I need to add wands, studying spells, and making spell books into downtime. Next up, priestly magic gets a makeover (it was originally in this post, but I got angry.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on wizardly magic, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

30th April 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I realised writing about procedures that I hadn’t completed the combat procedure, because there was no way to disengage. This is simple, I think.

If you may always retreat from combat by performing a group disengagement check against a target of twenty minus the highest encumbrance in the party. You can always jettison your inventory in order to lower your encumbrance.

You have advantage on the disengagement check if you you can retreat at the beginning of initiative order. You have disadvantage if you are fleeing because you failed a morale check.

On a success, you retreat and have lost them at no cost. On a partial success, you must spend 1d6 HP in order to retreat and lose them. On a failure, you must spend 2d6 HP and you have left sign as your retreat. They are able to track you if they have the inclination.

The encumbrance target is a nod to the movement speed modifiers in the encumbrance section, which I like because I haven’t been able to find an opportunity to incorporate that easily yet. I think this is simple, opportunistic, and cool. But I hate the twenty minus. Is it better to have different targets for this one roll? Or to redefine encumbrance or create an additional term which means “spare inventory space?’.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on disengagement, if there is a simpler solution to the encumbrance issue I didn’t consider, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

30th April 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons series, there’s an index here.

I really feel like I need a working version of downtime for incorporating clocks into other areas of the game consistently, because downtime is the primary vector for clocks, but not the only one. Downtime itself is an anachronism: Second edition doesn’t mention downtime at all, only:

• Magical item research (Materials, formulae, spells, and rites are discovered, materials and preparation cost 210d100 GP, make an enchantment check or suffer perversion)
• Spell research (2 weeks and 10d100 GP per spell level)
• Build a stronghold (Nothing, literally no information in either core book)
• Healing (1 HP per day and 3 HP for bed rest, plus constitution modifier after each week)
• Training (To prevent players who play too much from leveling up too quickly – I kid you not)

Birthright has a detailed list of “Domain Actions”, but one thing I’m not interested in is an unending list of downtime actions; the iconic downtime phase, Blades in the Dark, only has six. But I’m keen on breadth, so maybe some proficiencies grant downtime actions rather than advantage on rolls?

If you choose to take a downtime proficiency, you do not gain advantage on any rolls, but rather gain access to a new action to choose from during downtime.

Let’s start with the downtime procedure. Inspiration from Blades in the Dark primarily, although Ben L has talked a lot about ways to fold clocks into old school gaming.

Downtime is measured in real-time weeks occurring between gaming sessions.

Most downtime actions will have an associated clock, the length of which is dictated by the action. When the clock is full, you have completed the downtime action.

Downtime actions can have walls; walls are points at which you cannot process with any more ticks until you perform an in-world task. Downtime actions can have branches; branches are points where the clock ends prematurely, and you have the option to continue with one of a number of new clocks.

For each week spent on the downtime action, state your action and roll an appropriate ability check. The GM must agree that your action makes sense, that the activities being described are within the power of the PC, and that they would indeed plausibly progress you towards your goal.

On a failure, tick one section of the downtime clock and there is a complication. On a partial success, tick two sections. On a full success, tick three sections. A complication is usually an unexpected wall, an unexpected branch, a relationship consequence, or a hook for further adventure.

A 1 step clock will result in a minor and temporary advantage. A 6 step clock a slight campaign goal or minor advantage. A 10 step clock a minor campaign goal or moderate advantage. 20 step clock moderate campaign goal or significant advantage. A 40 step clock is an epic or campaign-changing achievement.

The above rules apply to most downtime actions. Some downtime actions will be open to all, some available only on class lists, some only when you have a stronghold or title (we’ll see how those rules turn out). There are no failures on a downtime action, just weak successes and complications. The below downtime actions are based on Ben L’s and Nick K’s work.

Recovery. You may visit a physicker, apothecary or priest for healing, if you have a relationship with one. They roll their appropriate proficiency. On a failure, recover 2d6 HP. On a partial success, recover 4d6 HP. On a full success, recover 6d6 HP.

Training. You may train with a sage, master or expert, if you have a relationship with one. The downtime clock is equal to the number of proficiency slots you will have when you complete your training.

Non-magical Research: If you have the library research proficiency, you may perform non-magical research. Specify what you want to research, and find a trove of information relevant to the topic at hand. The GM will create a clock out of sight, and tell you when and if your trove is exhausted.

Inscribe Scroll: If you have the inscribe scroll proficiency, you may create a scroll for a spell you know. Spend 300 GP per downtime roll to procure required materials. The downtime clock is equal to the spell level.

Spiritual Devotion: If you have the Spiritual Devotions proficiency, you may seek connection with a greater power. Specify a goal and a spiritual or mystical method through which it will be achieved (meditation, pilgrimage, service, flagellation, fasting, alms, gardening, ceremony, poetry, etc.). The GM will create a clock out of sight, and be cryptic regarding your progress.

Collect Intelligence: If you have the rumourmongering proficiency, you may seek intelligence. Choose what information you seek, who you are trying to gain it from, and how you are going to attempt to get them to tell you. The GM will tell you if these people can provide you with the information required before you commence the action. Spend your downtime check x 25gp. The DM may choose to roll incognito. On a failure, two pieces of ambiguous or misleading information. On a partial success, one ambiguous or misleading and one true piece of information. On a full success, solid intelligence.

Cultivate Relationship: You may cultivate a relationship, be it romance or friendship,. Relationships are always consecutive branching clocks, with at least four ticks per clock. For friendships, these clocks are Acquaintances, Associates, Friends, and Intimates. For romantic relationships, these clocks are Attention, Flirtation, Tryst, Lovers, Paramours. Relationship often have walls that cannot be advanced past without a specific way to deepen the bond. One might also take a free tick for something that occurs outside of downtime that deepens the bond. To advance the clock on a relationship, the player says how their character is strengthening the bond between them. The GM will judge if this makes sense.

Invest in an Institution: To support or invest in an institution (for example a business, a cult, a temple, or a guild), state how you invest in the institution, and spend sufficient gold to do so as the GM suggests. On a failure, progress your clock one tick, you hit a wall and a complication occurs. On a partial success, progress your clock by two ticks, and you hit a wall and a complication occurs. On a full success, progress your clock three ticks.

Generally, speaking, robust support for the institution gives one access to the goods and services available through the institution free of charge. Typically developing an institution takes 6 ticks and cost varies by how significant the institution is. An inconsequential institution costs 250gp per roll, minor 1000gp, middling 2500gp, major 5000gp, influential 10 000gp, and famous 25 000gp. You can spend half this much again as often as you wish for a cumulative +1 bonus to your ability check.

Find Someone: When you need to find a someone hard to find, state what skills you require and how you will approach finding them. The GM will create a three tick clock. When you complete the clock, you find them. If you need them with urgency, you can take whoever you find. On a one tick, they may not be who they say they are, and are double market price and in a hard to reach place. On two ticks they may not be who they say they are, and are double market price or are in a hard to reach place. The GM will provide you with details regarding the NPC.

Find Buyer: When you need to find a buyer for something hard to sell, state what item you want to find a buyer for and how you will approach finding them. The GM will create a three tick clock. A buyer will buy a certain category of items only (for example paintings, sculpture, magic items, antique furniture, or gemstones). When you complete the clock you find a buyer who will buy at a generous price, or one that you will be able to utilise again for a similar category (for example paintings) without having to search for another buyer. If you need them with urgency, you can take whoever you find. On a one tick, you find a seller, but they offer an insulting price and only buy such a specific niche (for example art by a certain painter) that they will never buy from you again. On two ticks you find a seller, but they offer an insulting price or only buy such a specific niche (for example art by a certain painter) that they will never buy from you again. The GM will provide you with details regarding the NPC.

I’m pretty happy with these as a starting point, although they’ll need some revision of course. They’re all much simplified from the original versions. I’m lacking a carousing action, because I feel like that’s the method you use to achieve many of these goals. One potential criticism is I’m not sure it’s necessary to spell out these downtime actions, but rather to have a generic action and leave all others vague. I’m not sure. Regardless, factions and NPCsneed to act too:

Factions, NPCs and natural phenomenon do things during downtime, just as the PCs do. If those things are likely to impact the world and PCs, the GM should give them one or two goals and clocks accompanying the goals. Each week of downtime, roll a fortune check for each relevant faction or NPC and progress one of their clocks.

Factions and NPCs downtime actions can reject any goal. Pick the length of the clock in all fairness. It is less important to identify specific walls, branches and achievements, as often PCs will not be aware of the outcome of a faction or NPC action until it has been achieved.

More importantly, I’ve clearly introduced clocks into the game as a framework. I’m not sure if there is a lot of room for clocks in the rules thus far, but I think there’s something in combat for non-slaughter goals at least.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on downtime and directing actions in real time, if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

29th April 2022

As all of you who care little for my current project are no doubt aware, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on Advanced Fantasy Dungeons. It’s a project perfect for me right now: I don’t have a working PC and I can’t lay out any games; work and home life are challenging and I find generating worlds and adventures challenging when my energy levels are low; this project is large but in bite-sized morsels and I always have a clear inspiration to return to when I’m stumped.

But at night, I listen to podcasts to help me sleep. Listening to Blogs on Tape made me realise something. The ‘Pillars’ spoken of in fifth edition — a clear metaphor in my opinion — indicate a different type of board on which to play the game. These boards are procedures, which is why the exploration and social pillars feel weak in fifth edition.

In second edition, most of the pillars aside from combat feel a poor foundation for the type of play intended, and part of the fun in this project is trying to tease out that implied intended play (often through examples of play) and make it work.

Why do they feel poor foundations? I think I’ve been approaching it from the wrong angle: Each pillar of play relates to a procedure, that’s what makes it a strong foundation. A procedure is like a board in a board game. The rules are usually very similar, but on a different board, we players take a different approach. We don’t want the pillars to be identical. The procedure should be different, reflect its purpose and rewards, while calling on the same notes.

I also think that the declarations made in fifth edition skewed my perspective: Exploration is not actually a pillar. Instead, our remaining pillars are multiple iconic locations: The wilderness, the dungeon, the town and the stronghold. So, what are the procedures for these pillars?

Combat play has a cycle each round of attack and response, with transitions to and from combat managed by surprise and initiative at one end, and by either morale failure, retreat, or death at the other.

Social play has the reaction roll, followed roleplaying and social manipulation to adjust this reaction.

Wilderness play has a cycle each watch, of choosing an action (travel or rest), rolling for an encounter, and resolving the action.

Dungeon play has a cycle each turn, choosing an action, resolving the action, rolling for exploration, and resolving the exploration roll.

Town play is the downtime cycle, consisting of declaring and resolving downtime actions around the local settlement.

Stronghold (or perhaps domain or courtroom) play is superimposed on town play as you gain level, incorporating long-term politicking, building infrastructure, maintaining obligations to lords and followers, and waging war. The cycle is one of making decrees or giving orders, your followers carrying them out, messengers delivering news of the outcomes weeks or months later.

Key to this understanding of procedural pillars are two concepts: One, they interrupt and transition between each other fluidly, and to a degree characters can outgrow some pillars (generals only enter the dungeon with armies and the dukes have stewards who go to town for them) and grow into others (down-on-their-luck rogues do not hold court or have advisors).

Basic rules such as checks, clocks, and resources cross pillars. Character choices such as class, heritage, ability, proficiency precede the pillars. Rewards such as information, treasure, relationships and experience proceed from pillars. These are all key to understanding how we as players fit into the procedure of play for the different pillars. These therefore should be understood outside the context of individual pillars first.

What’s the point of all this though? Honestly, for me it’s clarifying what the structure of a roleplaying game pedagogical text should look like, because a lot of the texts are simply like this through habit. This, however, clarifies things significantly, and allows me to replicate the call and answer structure of second edition sensibly. I’m now thinking something like this:

1. Introduction
   1. Recurring Rules
   2. Resources
   3. Character Creation
   4. Rewards
2. The Player’s Guide
   1. Talking
   2. Fighting
   3. Wilderness
   4. Underworld
   5. Town
   6. Domain
3. The Gamemaster’s Guide
   1. NPCs
   2. Monsters
   3. Wilderness
   4. Underworld
   5. Factions
   6. Politics
4. Appendix of Lists
   1. Equipment
   2. Spells
   3. Treasure
   4. Monsters

Here, each GM section reflects the asymmetric play of the game, filling in the gaps. Principles for each section should remain the same, the section just fills in gaps: How to describe a dungeon, how to restock it, how to make random encounters meaningful, how to dole out secrets and have NPCs feel real.

Honestly, this is a simpler method of organisation than the game plan, and I might supersede the previous index after this model. But more meaningfully, I think the concept of pillar as procedure gives clarity on exactly how game texts can more meaningfully be organised, and in this light I understand a lot of criticism I hadn’t been able to articulate until now.

Idle Cartulary,

28th April 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon series, there’s an index here.

After looking at vision, journeying and dungeoneering, I’m coming back to timekeeping, because I’m realising that for me, specific measurements encourage the simulationism in second edition.

Combat time is rounds. A round is enough time for a back and forth between foes.

Dungeoneering time is turns. A turn is enough time to do most things you’d do as you explore a dungeon.

Journeying time is watches. A watch is enough time to travel a hex, and there are three every day.

Downtime is in weeks. Seven days of real time between gaming sessions earns a week to spend on downtime actions.

Wow, I know a lot of the previous version of these rules had moved into travel, but it’s much simpler and more pleasing. It’ll need another revision when I look at downtime as well no doubt.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on timekeeping, if there are glaring questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything important, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

27th April 2022

If you’re walking in on the middle of the advanced fantasy dungeon series, there’s an index here.

There’s a significant overlap between what we developed in timekeeping and journeying and what is here in underground travel – or perhaps we’ll call it dungeoneering.

Second edition all but ignores the dungeon procedure of earlier editions, but also appears to do this out of a desire to simplify the technical nature of the procedure. In doing so, it neuters the crawl, which in turn hobbles all the modes of play that extend out of it.

Necropraxis’ exploration die is the answer to balancing the book keeping here that didn’t exist in the 90s (although we know Marcia does not prefer it). With the exploration die, we can stop caring so deeply about the Dungeon Turn, and simply know that when the PCs spend time, something happens.

Most actions taken in a dungeon – movement, lockpicking, searching, bandaging, spell casting – take a turn. A turn procedes as follows:

1. Roll the exploration die and follow the instructions.

2. Spend time declaring and resolving actions

3. If you do not carry a light source, spend 1d6 HP.

The exploration die is a 1d6, +1 per turn with no result , interpreted as follows:

1-4, Nothing happens

5. Spoor or sign of a wandering monster

6. Wandering monster

7. The environment changes

8. Light sources exhaust

9. Spells expire

10+. Rest or spend 1d6 HP

If you are stranded in the dungeon at the end of a session, each PC rolls to return to the surface. Roll fortune or an appropriate proficiency, against a target equal to the number of turns traveled to escape the dungeon. For every point you fail by, choose either to spend that amount in HP or ten times that amount in GP.

Honestly, this is all neat and perfect, but I’m starting to think the 1d6 standard HP cost is too much; on the other hand, so long as it’s always a choice, it encourages caution. Next up, we revise timekeeping.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on underground travel (dungeoneering? dungeon crawling?), if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

26th April 2022