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

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 what is here in overland travel, which I’m going to call journeying. I’ll bring some of it over, which means I’ll have to revise that again.

Each day has three watches.

For each watch, the GM rolls on the random encounter table. On a result of 1, there is a random encounter. Typically, the GM rolls a d10, however it may be decreased for hostile territory or increased for safe havens. Random encounters do not interrupt the actions taken on that watch, unless the PCs choose.

If you travel for a watch, move forward one hex. You must spend 1d6 HP to travel for a second or and 2d6 HP to travel a third watch.To travel on difficult terrain, roll fortune or a relevant proficiency or spend 1d6 HP.

If you rest rather than travel for a watch, perform a rest action such as heal, memorise spells, prayer, or repair. There is no formal lists of rest actions, but rather you can only perform one such action per watch (in addition to all of the other things you must do while travelling). You cannot travel and rest the same watch.

Using vehicles or mounts does not allow you to travel further, but horse-sized mounts provide 10 inventory slots and wagon-sized vehicles 20 inventory slots. Flying mounts do not provide inventory slots. Your mount or vehicle may not be able to travel on some difficult terrain (for example wagons in swamps, or horses on mountains). Some vehicles or mounts allow you to travel on terrain that is otherwise impassible (for example boats over lakes, wyverns through the sky).

If you are stranded in the wilderness at the end of a session, each PC rolls to return to the nearest settlement. Roll fortune or an appropriate proficiency, against a target equal to the number of days travel to the nearest settlement, plus 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. Next up, underground travel and then revised timekeeping.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on journeying (that’s better than overland travel, right?), if there are questions left unanswered, whether I’ve overlooked anything glaring, or anything of the sort!

Idle Cartulary

23rd April 2022

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

I’m going back over some complex subsystems and reconsidering them in light of my new version of hit points. General principles:

• If either anyone encounters someone else unexpectedly, they roll for surprise.
• The surprised group has disadvantage on defence.
• The unsurprised group has advantage on fleeing and attacks, and gets a free round of attacks with weapons but not spells. If they planned an ambush, they get spells too.
• Chance of being surprised is 30% and is higher if you are fleeing, in darkness or twilight, panicked, en mass or smell.
• Your opponent is more likely to be surprised if you are silenced, invisible, anticipating attack or suspicious.

If you might be surprised, make a dexterity check. On a failure, you are surprised and must spend 1d6 HP. On a success you are not surprised. On a partía success, you suffer a minor consequence.

If you can’t see as daylight or are carrying light, you have disadvantage. If you can’t see the opposing party, you are automatically surprised.

Other modifiers can impact surprise at the GMs discretion, for example noise and state of mind.

This is just so much better. So much neater. There will have to be playtesting around how much damage is feasible as these HP mechanics proliferate (I feel like they’ll be a part of forced marches and things like that as well), but I’d rather balance at the other end.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on surprise. Are there glaring questions left unanswered, or have I overlooked anything important, or is all of this a waste of time!

Idle Cartulary

24th April 2022

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

I’m the light of reimagining HP as a source of inner strength, I’m considering reimagining vision. Consider darkness as an aggressor:

If travelling in darkness, when your journey ends or is interrupted by an encounter, spend 1d4 damage per turn you have travelled underground or watch you have travelled at outdoors at night. There is no saving throw to avoid this cost.

Vision now becomes a means of not losing heart. I don’t have to mechanise movement, combat and spell casting anymore, because it’s folded into the HP cost.

• Light sources (torch, lamp, spells) are used to provide vision.
• Fuel (oil or torches) is bulky to carry, and hence take up 1 inventory slot per hour in the dungeon or watch in the wilderness.
• Light spells take up 1 spell slot per hour and space in a spell book.
• Holding a light source causes disadvantage on attacks, saving throws, and surprise.

Do I need distances and vision rules? Probably not in the original detail.

• There are three types of vision: As daylight, as twilight, or as darkness.
• Sight as daylight can see.
• Sight as twilight extends only a stone’s throw away.
• Sight as darkness cannot see.
• All light sources allow you to see as twilight.

Now I’m relying on a player having an intuitive understanding of what vision in daylight is, to simplify further. This keeps my goal of normal rooms being illuminated easily, vast chambers being creepy, and chasms bottomless. Ultravision and Infravision are similar:

• You have vision, infravision or ultravision, you do not have more than one (even temporarily).
• Infravision sees heat
  • See darkness as daylight.
  • See daylight as darkness.
  • In cold temperatures, see heat-trails and warm air currents and see as twilight in daylight if wearing sunglasses.
  • Blinded for a turn by a sudden lit torch or a glance at the sun.
• Ultravision sees magic
  • See in starlight and in indirect sunlight as daylight.
  • See direct sunlight and darkness underground as darkness.
  • Magic items and spells are visible to you at a stone’s throw.
  • Your eyes glow, and under your gaze white items glow as well.
  • Blinded for a turn by a glance at the sun.

This keeps the neat world building , which I like. Invisibility and mirrors are unchanged. I think that Surprise warrants a rewrite as well, because a page of rules to determine an extra attack is less neat than “if you’re surprised, lose heart” and then move on to the combat.

With this, HP becomes a kind of universal resource that we can attack and being cautious or careful is rewarded by not having direct hits to HP.

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

Idle Cartulary

23rd April 2022

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

There is almost nothing talking about the “Social” pillar of play in second edition. There are no ability checks to change peoples attitudes references at all. All we have is references to “starting reactions” and some rules in the DMG on reaction rolls.

The reactions are: Flight, friendly, indifferent, cautious, threatening, hostile. They are treated like a ladder, dependent on PC approach, and are clearly intended to be for combat encounters, not for petitioning nobles or bartering with merchants. The only thing that effects the roll is bardic abilities, although morale (betraying the combat-centricity) effects it. Can you move up or down the ladder? No comment is made.

First, we need to make it less combat-centric, equally valid for a goblin raiding party and a merchant. It should mirror check, where pre-existing reputation (positive or negative) is a modifier on the roll, proficiency (being a bard) gives advantage, and infamy or poor impression gives disadvantage on the roll.

Reputation, then needs some added complexity, because it is specific to location or to domain, often both. This has to be recorded, and +1 is a reward for a significant contribution to a specific place (the Village of Homelethe), or a specific domain (the Criminals of Lathegard). This might sit in the GMs domain, as reputation both negative or positive can be unknown.

Movement is not mechanised, by which I mean, you can bribe, manipulate, talk, or foot-in-your-mouth up and down the ladder once you have a starting attitude, but you can’t roll to move up or down. Let’s write the rule.

When you encounter a new NPC or group of NPCs, the GM makes a reaction check, modified by your reputation. If you have bardic influence, roll with advantage, and if they predisposed against you, roll with disadvantage. The NPCs reaction is determined by the result:

1-2. Positive (friendly, welcoming or receptive)

3-6. Possibly positive (amiable or deliberating)

7-15. Uncertain (indecisive or neutral)

15-18. Possibly negative (suspicious or skeptical)

19-20. Negative (hostile, fleeing, or unreceptive)

Once starting reaction has been determined, it is not rolled again once the NPC knows the party, and their reaction remains stable between meetings. In-world choices can effect change the NPCs disposition towards the party, but rolls (for example, a charisma check) cannot.

Reputation is awarded (+1) for a significant contribution to a location, profession or faction, and is effective only in that context.

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

Idle Cartulary

22nd April 2022

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

The core text attempts to make combat chaotic, dynamic, vivid and simple. How do the existing systems facilitate this experience?

Initiative is random, grouped, and with simultaneous declaration in second edition, aiming to induce chaos while maximising simplicity. It’s compromised in its simplicity by bucketloads of modifiers and by simultaneous declaration and spell speed. How can we simplify rules and yet maintain chaos?

Ok, so let’s give every weapon a speed factor equal to the damage dice. 1d4 is a speed of 4. 1d12 or 2d6 is a speed of 12. Spells go last. Initiative goes to the person who has the lowest speed factor. From then, a consequence of a failure or mixed success is the opposing side goes next in order of speed factor, and on a full success your side goes next in order of speed factor.

Each weapon has a speed factor equal to its highest face. Initiative order is by speed factor. If more than one person has the same speed factor, choose randomly.

Combat proceeds in initiative order, however if a PC rolls a full success, the next PC in initiative order goes next. If a PC rolls a partial success or a failure, their next foe in initiative order goes next.

Maul, heavy, 2d6 crushing.

Dagger, 1d4 piercing.

Recurve bow, unwieldy, 1d8 piercing.

Honestly, attacking as an ability check just works as described.

To make an attack, make a strength check for melee attacks, a dexterity check for ranged attacks, or a proficiency check if you have proficiency in the weapon you are using.

On a success, threaten injury. On a partial success, threaten injury and suffer a minor consequence. On a failure, suffer a major consequence.

The most common minor consequences are you are threatened with injury, the opposing side goes next and your morale is shaken. A major consequence is two of these, or anything else.

When you threaten injury, roll your damage dice to find out how much HP your target must spend to avoid injury, or how much damage their armour suffers.

Simplifying morale is easy, except we need two rules, one for PCs, and one for NPCs.

When your morale is shaken, make a morale check against either your morale rating (if you are an NPC) or your wisdom. The GM may grant you advantage or disadvantage depending on factors such as training, overwhelming opposition, ethos, and how your allies are faring.

On a full success, you rally and fight on. On a partial success, your first concern is calculated retreat. On a failure, your first concern is immediate escape.

It feels like that’s combat taken care of, but I haven’t actually talked about how NPCs attack, just how they defend.

On an NPCs turn, the GM declares who is threatened with damage. The PC makes a saving throw, and spends HP and armour as they see fit.

This has been a part of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeon Series! Let me know your thoughts on attacks, initiative or morale, particularly whether I’ve overlooked anything in combat altogether, because that’s basically the whole combat system!

Idle Cartulary

21st April 2022

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

The core text attempts to make combat chaotic, dynamic, vivid and simple. This doesn’t describe a war of attrition. Given there’s no definition of HP in second edition, let’s define it as energy, taking inspiration from Oh Injury. They can be Hero Points, Horsepower, or (I think my favourite, because when you’re out you’ve “lost heart”) Heart Points.

You can spend an amount of HP determined by the GM to perform a stunt or action to avoid injury.

Being reduced to 0 HP is no immediate effect. When you sustain an injury and have no HP remaining, you die. At the GM’s discretion, you can take a permanent injury instead of dying. Roll on the permanent injury table.

If an attack doesn’t cause damage, or causes an effect in addition to damage, for example a ghoul’s paralysing claws or wrestler’s grapple, you can’t spend HP to avoid the effect, but you can spend HP to avoid the damage.

In combination with our rules for saving throws and armour, an example of play would look like this:

“The grim-faced orc tries to spill your guts with their axe!”

“I raise my shield to block it – but I failed my save vs steel!”

“The axe whistles past your shield and you feel the wind against your belly!”

“I leap back and block with my sword!“

“That’ll cost 1d6+4 HP!”

“Yipes, I only have 6 HP left, I can’t take that risk. I spin around, putting a chunk of my armour squarely in the path of the axe.”

“Your armour takes 1d6+4 damage instead, and now it’s your turn. What do you do?”

Now, with the addition of negotiation around individual moments of combat, it becomes more fluid and more like the example given in the DMG. The mechanic fills your turn with action, when you hit 0 HP, you don’t die, you may succeed your saves (which are suddenly save or die!), or your armour may be smashed from your body before you finally succumb (which is pretty cinematic imo), and you still may take a permanent injury instead of die! Lots of drama for a simple, three-layer defence mechanic.

We’ll need an injury table, but there are hundreds of those, so that won’t be a problem.

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

Idle Cartulary

20th April 2022

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

The core text attempts to make combat chaotic, dynamic, vivid and simple. How do the existing systems facilitate this experience?

Saving Throws “save you from certain destruction, or at least lessen the damage of a successful attack”. This implies rolling to avoid attacks, not to hit, and it implies partial successes. This means we’re treating saving throws as ability checks, but you can’t be proficient in them, so we need to redefine advantage here.

Renaming them is unfortunately necessary, and calling them their definitions yields Will, Fortitude, Magic Attack, System Shock, Physical Attack, and Luck, but these names suck compared to the original. What about Domination, Poison, Wands, Transformation, Steel and Ill-Fortune and we rely on a definitions to broaden them, plus they’re closer to the originals.

If you are attacked, make a saving throw by rolling 1d20. If your position is controlled, roll with advantage, and if it is desperate, roll with disadvantage. On a full success, take no damage and no effect. On a partial success, take half damage and temporary or partial effect. On a failure, take full damage and effect.

The save you roll depends on the type of attack: Domination for psychic, enchantment, or death magic, Poison for physical fortitude, Wands for magical attacks, Transformation for anything that changes the nature of your flesh, Steel for physical attacks and Ill-Fortune for all else.

Magic Resistance is next, and in the original you roll a percentile dice, and a certain percentage of the time you aren’t effected by magic. This doesn’t need a separate mechanic to saving throws in my opinion, magic resistance should simply be a feature where you gain advantage on saving throws against all magic, and you can never voluntarily choose to fail a saving throw against magic.

If you have magic resistance, you gain advantage on all saving throws with magical sources, you cannot voluntarily fail a saving throw against magic, and you must fail a saving throw for any magic to have effect on you, even friendly magic. Magic resistance is always against a certain type, for example divine, wizardry, or demonic.

Now onto armour. Armour doesn’t absorb damage, it prevents it. Different armour types are strong or weak against different damage types (slashing, piercing, bludgeoning). This is easy, and there are trade-offs with magical gear and looking pretty which is neat, but the rule needs an example piece of armour.

At any point, a PC can use armour they are wearing to prevent damage against certain types of damage. For example:

Breastplate, heavy, 10d6 HP vs. slashing damage.

Rubber shirt, 5d6 HP vs. lightning damage.

Scale shirt, heavy, 7d6 HP vs. piercing damage.

Steel helm, 2d6 damage vs. piercing or slashing damage.

When armour is first used, roll its total HP. When it has no further HP it is destroyed. While it still has HP, it can be repaired by someone with the right proficiency and tools.

Now, in this flow, hit points is next, but this is already lengthy, so we’ll move to another post for that I think.

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

Idle Cartulary

19th April 2022